Author: Karapetian Hovik

ARMENIAN GENOCIDE: A LESSON TO BE LEARNED
By Geghard Arakelian

Valley Sun, CA
April 19 2007

Guest Column:

Every year some light is shed on the atrocities that took place from
1915 to 1917 in Armenia; what follows is community support, genocidal
awareness and bigotry.

To start off, the Armenian Genocide was executed by what was known
as the Young Turk Government. This government viewed the Armenian
population that lived in the Ottoman Empire as second class citizens.

Through deceit and with extreme prejudice death squads were sent out
to round up Armenians and murder them mercilessly. It is estimated
that more than one million Armenian men, women and children died due
to this process.

Expansionism and ethnocentrism are two of the most cited reasons
these actions were carried out by the Turks.

Unfortunately there are people who grow tiresome and even irate by the
coming and going of the protests and information offered on either
TV or in the schools of the Glendale Unified School District every
April 24, the date in 1915 when the attrocities began.

But why should anyone feel annoyed or angered when it comes to
remembering those who died unreasonable and unjust deaths so long
ago? The answer is actually very simple: there are bigots among us.

When I was attending Crescenta Valley High School an acquaintance of
mine at school explained to me that he was upset about the observance
of April 24. When asked why, he said all Armenians deserved to die
because there is no proof of what the Turks did and that Armenians
are normally liars.

Two years later a math teacher turned off the classroom TV as soon
as a slideshow of the genocide was played following the televised
bulletin. He claimed that every year the same information was,
"shoved down his throat" and that remembrance needs to be given to
countries that have experienced greater mass exterminations. A few
classmates even backed him.

The Armenian Genocide should be remembered as much as possible. Those
who believe that the Turkish government should take responsibility
for the crimes of the past have no intentions of taking spotlights
off people of other ethnic backgrounds.

Mass killings aren’t like "American Idol," they’re definitely not
popularity contests and the killings are not tallied from cell
phone texts.

Those skeptical about what happened tend to argue that Armenians
weren’t the only ones that were at one point dealt a brutal hand.

After all, there are the causalities of all the wars in history and
every country on this planet has lived through some dark days.

But one cannot take the Armenian Genocide and throw into a general
pile of genocides without a label. The genocide of 1915 was an evil
crime against man and not simply against Armenians.

But the cultural and ethnic tag of any massacre can tell us where,
when, how and why it happened.

Imagine if people professed that the Holocaust should not be recognized
– that all Jews should shut their mouths because people are force
fed the same information and have seen Schindler’s List a dozen
times. What then? Do we go about forgetting why Hitler provoked a
war of aggression?

No one is asking people to stop their day for what happened in 1915,
those who are raising awareness are only asking that people take a
small fraction of effort to remember what happened so that it may
never happen again.

Hitler once asked, "Who after all will remember the Armenian
Genocide?" I’ve answered this question many times before and in the
same fashion: certainly not those who don’t want it remembered.

This April 24 egos, prejudice and apathy have to be put aside. Don’t
think of it as a day that Armenians want to start a ruckus. Think of
it as a day to remember those who died and the reasons for why they
were killed.

Why should people learn how the wrong came about? Simple intuition
leads me to believe it will teach people how to prevent the same
wrong from happening again.

If the reader is still uncertain of all the above then answer this
question: If you and your family were about to be brutally murdered for
an unjust reason, wouldn’t you want your last cries to be remembered
for generations on end?

ASSASSINATION OF PRIESTS CAST DOUBT ON TURKEY’S ABILITY TO BECOME EU MEMBER-STATE

PanARMENIAN.Net
20.04.2007 18:03 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Irrespective of the fact if this monstrous crime has
been committed by radical Islamists or ordinary criminals, people of
Western countries now think Turkey has made one more step back form the
united Europe, German Berliner Morgenpost reports in connection with
the assassination of three Christian missioners in Malatia – Turkey.

"The principle of religious freedom again appeared under doubt. The
tiny Christian minority in Turkey is being put obstacles in its way
everywhere, all possible kinds of barriers are created. At the same
time the Turkish minority in Germany enjoys all privileges that the
Organic Law provides. In fact authorities in Ankara do not undertake
any actions to protect Christian institutions. The publishing house
that publishes Bible and religious literature has been repeatedly
threatened. These assassinations were a big blow to Turkey himself and
cast doubt on his ability to become a member of the European Union,"
the newspaper writes.

Three evangelic pastors have been assassinated in Malatya – Turkey. The
ecclesiastics were lacerated innumerable blows of knives, so much
that they were unrecognizable. The genitals would have been torn off.

Five principal suspects stopped by the Turkish Police have from 17
to 20 years old.

Armenian National Committee of America
1711 N Street NW
Washington, DC 20036
Tel. (202) 775-1918
Fax. (202) 775-5648
Email [email protected]
Internet

PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 20, 2007
Contact: Elizabeth S. Chouldjian
Tel: (202) 775-1918

PALLONE URGES U.N. TO STAND UP AGAINST TURKEY’S DENIALS

Unless the United Nations takes a stand against
Turkey’s denial, its value to the international
community is greatly undermined.
— Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ)

WASHINGTON, DC – In remarks delivered yesterday on the floor of the
U.S. House of Representatives, Congressional Armenian Caucus Co-
Chairman Frank Pallone (R-MI) sharply criticized the United Nations
for caving in to Turkey’s pressure to block a long-awaited exhibit
on the Rwanda Genocide because one of its display panels included a
reference to the Armenian Genocide, reported the Armenian National
Committee of America (ANCA).

The New Jersey legislator stressed, in his remarks to his House
colleagues, that, "As a representative of the international
community, the United Nations must be the leading voice against
genocide. That includes all genocides, including the Armenian
Genocide. Unless the United Nations takes a stand against Turkey’s
denial, its value to the international community is greatly
undermined." Speaking to the dangerous precedent set by genocide
denial, he noted that, "Turkey’s policy of denying the Armenian
genocide gives cover to those who perpetrate genocide everywhere.
If the cycle is to end, there must be accountability for genocide."

The controversy surrounding Turkey’s objections to the Rwanda
exhibit, which had been organized by the Aegis Trust, has been
covered extensively in the international media, and was the subject
of a powerful New York Times editorial criticizing the United
Nations for caving in to Turkey’s objections.

The ANCA, on April 11th, called upon the United Nations to reject
Turkey’s historically unfounded and patently immoral objections,
and to reverse its recent decision to close the Rwanda Genocide
exhibit. In a letter addressed to Kiyotaka Akasaka, Under-
Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information, ANCA
Chairman Ken Hachkian expressed the "Armenian American community’s
profound disappointment over [the] decision to allow the Turkish
government to delay – and quite possibly cancel – a United Nations
exhibit intended to help ensure that the lessons of the Rwanda
Genocide are used to help prevent future genocides."

The full text of Congressman Pallone’s remarks is provided below.

#####

Remarks by Congressman Frank Pallone (D-NJ)
April 19, 2007

UNITED NATIONS MUST BE LEADING VOICE AGAINST GENOCIDE

Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I am strongly disappointed that United
Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has given in to Turkey’s
demands and cancelled an exhibit commemorating the 13th anniversary
of the Rwanda genocide.

Turkey, as usual, was offended by references in the exhibit to the
Armenian genocide in Turkey during World War I.

As a representative of the international community, the United
Nations must be the leading voice against genocide. That includes
all genocides, including the Armenian genocide. Unless the United
Nations takes a stand against Turkey’s denial, its value to the
international community is greatly undermined.

As the 92nd anniversary of the Armenian genocide approaches,
Turkey’s recent behavior is yet another example of why it is so
important for Congress to reaffirm the Armenian genocide by passing
H. Res. 106. Over the past year, Turkey has pulled out of NATO
exercises after France affirmed the Armenian genocide. They have
threatened U.S. troops in Iraq if the U.S. reaffirms the Armenian
genocide. And now they are preventing the U.N. from honoring the
victims of the Rwandan genocide. Their denial has no limits.

The United States must never allow crimes against humanity to pass
without remembrance and condemnation. As a society, we cannot
effectively work to end crimes against humanity without recognizing
those that have previously occurred.

Far too many times we have seen the horrible consequences of
ignoring genocide. Even after unprecedented humanitarian efforts by
Americans, the Armenian genocide had become the "forgotten
genocide," and in 1939 Adolf Hitler exclaimed to his generals to
have no mercy by stating, and I quote, "who, after all, speaks
today of the annihilation of the Armenians?

In 1994 world leaders witnessed the Hutu leaders of Rwanda kill
800,000 Rwandans, and did nothing. Today we sit idly by as militias
massacre innocent citizens in Darfur; and, again, world leaders do
virtually nothing. There are lessons to be learned by history.
Unfortunately, Turkey has undermined the intent of the U.N. exhibit
to help teach the lessons of genocide inaction.

Turkey’s policy of denying the Armenian genocide gives cover to
those who perpetrate genocide everywhere. If the cycle is to end,
there must be accountability for genocide. Genocide denial is the
last stage of genocide.

Mr. Speaker, when will today’s world leaders stop letting Turkey
deny its past? It is bad enough for Turkey to threaten and
prosecute its own citizens for discussing these crimes, but to
threaten to retaliate against countries that acknowledge the
Armenian genocide is appalling and unacceptable. As a global
community we must collectively stand for historical truth and
recognize the worst humanitarian crimes that we have seen.

#####

US EMBASSY NOT TO CONDUCT EXIT POLLS IN ARMENIA – ENVOY SAYS

Mediamax news agency
18 Apr 07

Yerevan, 17 April: US charge d’affaires in Armenia Anthony Godfrey
stated in an exclusive interview to Mediamax that "we don’t have
plans for nation-wide exit polling or alternative calculations"
during the parliamentary elections in Armenia.

"Frankly, exit polls have been problematic in the United States
and elsewhere, largely due to technical problems, which have raised
issues of their accuracy. But of course, the USA supports fully the
work of the OSCE Office of Democratic Institutions and Human Rights
(ODIHR). US observers will be taking part in the short-term mission,
and we have an expert in the long-term mission.

We are confident that our view of how the elections went will coincide
with the OSCE ODIHR’s view", Anthony Godfrey stated in an interview
to Mediamax.

FOUR KILLED, THREE WITH THEIR THROATS CUT, AT BIBLE PUBLISHING HOUSE
by Mavi Zambak

AsiaNews.it, Italy
April 18 2007

Zirve, a publishing house in Malatya, is attacked. It had received
threats for some time. Ultra-nationalist groups are suspected.

Ankara (AsiaNews) – Assailants killed four people late Wednesday
morning at the offices of Zirve, a Christian publishing house that
distributed Bibles in the city of Malatya, Hurriyet online reported.

Three of the four victims had their throats cut, one of them Zirve’s
owner. The fourth victim died after jumping from the third floor
where he was working in order to escape.

Still under shock, Zirve’s general manager Hamza Ozant was on his way
to the publishing house’s offices but was able to tell a TV network
that his company had been receiving threats. Started a year ago, it
had already requested police protection for its employees. One reason
is that many people in Turkey resent the publication and distribution
of Bibles in Turkish.

Although Mr Ozant said he could not say who made the threats,
suspicions fall on Turkish ultra-nationalists, especially since the
murder of Turkish Armenian journalist Dink Hrant.

Coincidentally, both Mr Hrant and Mehmet Ali Agca, the man who shot
Pope John Paul II in 1981, were born in Malatya.

A police investigation is underway to find the culprits of such
barbarous act.

Zirve is probably a Protestant publishing house since Protestants
are the only ones who distribute Christian texts in the country.

Catholics also rely on them to have their own material printed.

CO-CHAIRS OF THE CONGRESSIONAL CAUCUS ON ARMENIAN ISSUES FRANK PALLONE AND JOSEPH KNOLLENBERG URGED U.S. PRESIDENT TO REAFFIRM THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

DeFacto Agency, Armenia
April 18 2007

The Armenian Assembly of America commends the Co-Chairs of the
Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues Reps. Frank Pallone, Jr.
(D-NJ) and Joseph Knollenberg (R-MI), for sending a letter today,
urging President George W. Bush to reaffirm the United States’ record
on the Armenian Genocide in his upcoming April 24th commemorative
statement.

Last year in his annual commemorative speech, the President noted it
was a "tragedy for all humanity and one that we and the world must
never forget," but he has repeatedly failed to use the word genocide,
when referencing the tragic killings of 1.5 million Armenians from
1915-1923 by the Ottoman Turks.

In their letter the Co-Chairs encouraged the President to recognize
the atrocities committed against the Armenian people as genocide,
stating in part: "The United States must never allow crimes against
humanity to pass without remembrance and condemnation." In addition
the letter emphasizes the importance of the U.S. commitment to prevent
future occurrences of genocide, reiterating that "it is imperative
that we pay tribute to the memory of others, who have suffered,
and to never forget the past."

This year Armenians across the world will commemorate the 92nd
anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. On Capitol Hill Pallone
and Knollenberg, in conjunction with the Armenian Embassy and
Armenian-American organizations will be spearheading an April 24th
event.

US Assistant Secretary of State on Europe and Eurasian Affairs: The Turkish
Government has never

Arminfo
2007-04-16 10:40:00

US Assistant Secretary of State on Europe and Eurasian Affairs Daniel
Fried said when replying to ArmInfo correspondent’s question over the
press conference in Washington that the Turkish Government has never
blackmailed or threatened the U.S. Government in case of passing the
resolution on the Armenian genocide.

He is sure that they will take retaliatory steps if this resolution
passes. " The Turkish government has said that Turkish opinion would
be inflamed and outraged by this resolution and that they, the Turkish
government, fear what the Turkish parliament might do in reaction to
something our parliament might do. So it’s a little bit different than
what you described. Turkey is a good ally. It is also a country which
is undergoing a profound democratic transformation itself. These
things are advancing, and as this happens there is a growing
discussion in Turkey about their own past, and in particular the past
of the Ottoman Empire and its relationship to the Armenian community
there and the mass killings that took place in 1915 and afterwards.
Turks are beginning to discuss this. We encourage them to examine
their history and the painful, what can be called dark spots, and
they’re not the only country that has them. The United States has
plenty of our own: slavery, treatment of American Indians, etc,"
Daniel Fried said.

TORCH PROCESSION DEVOTED TO THE MEMORY OF THE VICTIMS OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE COMMITTED IN OSMANIAN TURKEY TO BE HELD IN ARTSAKH

DeFacto Agency, Armenia
April 13 2007

April 23, at 8 p.m., ARF Dashnaktsutyun Aram Manukian student
organization and the Youth Union of Artsakh will hold a torch
procession devoted to the memory of a million and a half victims of
the Armenian Genocide committed in 1915.

According to the information KarabakhOpen got at the student union, the
torch procession will start in Stepanakert, from the Freedom Square.

DELEGATES OF ARMENIA ARE ABSENT IN GROUP OF LEADERS AT EUROPE CHESS INDIVIDUAL CHAMPIONSHIP
Author: Editor: Eghian Robert

Noyan Tapan
Apr 13 2007

DRESDEN, APRIL 13, NOYAN TAPAN. The 9th stage meetings of the Europe
Chess Individual Championship took place in Dresden on April 12.

Andrey Volokitin (Ukraine), having 7 points, is the individual leader
in the men’s tournament. 21 chess players have 6.5 points each. Among
the delegates of Armenia, Tigran Petrosian and Artashes Minasian have
6 points each.

Tatyana Kozintseva (Russia), having 8 points, is the leader in the
women’s tournament. 3 sportswomen have 7 points each. Elina Danielian
who shares the 5-11th places with other 6 participants having 6.5
points, is the best among the representatives of Armenia.

‘JOURNEY’ INTO ARMENIA HISTORY
By Jim Slotek

Sun Media
April 13, 2007

Not being Armenian, I’ve never given much thought to what it means
to be Armenian.

And after seeing French director Robert Guediguian’s heartfelt Journey
to Armenia, I’m no closer to understanding that inner feeling of
Armenian-ness.

This despite many lectures about Mount Ararat and the Armenian state
of mind that are heaped upon Anna (Ariane Ascaride), a proper French
woman of Armenian descent, who comes face to face with a culture she
never knew or cared about.

On the other hand, most of us having roots strong or tenuous in some
other place, we can at least understand what motivates Guediguian
(Marius Et Jeannette) in his odd filmic love-letter to his father’s
homeland.

Journey to Armenia opens in Marseilles with a young French woman named
Jeannette (Madeleine Guediguian) taking part in a traditional Armenian
folk dance. Shift to Jeannette’s grandfather Barsam (Marcel Bluwal)
receiving bad news about his heart from his doctor, who also happens
to be his daughter Anna (Ascaride, Guediguian’s real-life wife).

Though Anna is chilly toward the old man, ostensibly because of
the rough treatment she feels her late mother received from him,
she makes arrangements for possible life-saving surgery.

And then Barsam disappears. Perturbed, Anna (who unlike her daughter
has never expressed any interest in things Armenian) traces his steps
via the local Armenian community and follows him to the capital city
of Erevan.

And there she more or less falls into an Armenian rabbit-hole, carried
along on a course of events that have been apparently plotted out
for her.

Her "guide," the vaguely sinister Sarkis (Simon Abkarian) drives her to
her father’s small village and then leaves her to the mercies of the
locals, who also appear to be in on whatever’s going on. The role of
protector/guide then falls to an ex-soldier and patriot named Yervanth
(Gerard Meylan) who negotiates Anna’s way through faux pas and more
serious troubles, and is determined to nurture her ethnic rebirth
(frequently asking, in so many words, "Are you feeling Armenian yet?")

Anna is very, well, French about the whole thing, unimpressed and often
annoyed, and yet sympathetic. Her meandering voyage is complicated
when she attracts a travelling mate, a young woman named Schake who
supports her family by working as a stripper, and who is desperate
to have Anna sponsor her move to France.

Along with her general antipathy toward her native land, Schake has
another reason to leave — she’s run afoul of local gangsters who are
smuggling pharmaceuticals, leading to one of Journey to Armenia’s most
dissonant and incongruous scenes — in which Anna grabs someone’s
gun during an attack and shoots three thugs (turns out she used to
belong to a gun club).

Thus does Anna’s voyage dovetail with another’s. Both she and Schake
must come to understand this historically beleaguered country better
before the end of the movie. And it’s going to involve many more
images of (Turkish controlled) Mount Ararat, as well as didactic
dialogue invoking the 1915 genocide and the 1988 earthquake.

Armenian-ness, it turns out, comes to one as an epiphany — one you
non-Armenians may not actually experience as you watch Journey to
Armenia. But at least you’ll have painlessly learned a thing or two.

(This film is rated PG)

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