Author: nina hovnanian

POLITIQUE
Forte charge de Kotacharian contre l’actuel Premier ministre

L’ancien président Robert Kotcharian a procédé à une évaluation sombre
de la situation en Arménie, fustigeant en termes inhabituellement fort
le Premier ministre Tigran Sarkissian lundi. Dans sa première
déclaration publique depuis presque un an qui ravivera les
spéculations sur son possible retour en politique , Kotcharian a de
nouveau accusé le gouvernement actuel de mauvaise gestion de
l’économie arménienne.

L’attaque verbale est venue en réponse aux derniers commentaires de
Sarkissian sur la crise qui se poursuit dans le secteur de la
construction, force motrice de la croissance économique robuste
enregistrée au cours des dix années de règne de Kotcharian.
S’exprimant lors d’une conférence de presse de fin d’année vendredi,
le premier ministre avait de nouveau déclaré que l’économie arménienne
a connu une croissance trop dépendante du secteur durant cette
période. Il a décrit le boum de la construction comme une « bulle »
qui a éclaté avec le début de la crise financière mondiale de
2008-2009.

Dans un communiqué publié sur son site officiel, 2rd.am , Kotcharian a
écrit que ces explications ` n’ont rien de commun avec la réalité. »
Il a imputé l’effondrement de la construction à `l’émigration massive,
à l’augmentation des taux des prêts hypothécaires qui résultent d’une
croissance plus lente et à ` l’ambiance parmi nos citoyens`.

` L’apathie , un sentiment de désespoir , et l’absence de foi dans
l’avenir du pays ont atteint un tel niveau que ces facteurs
influencent de façon constante le comportement et la motivation des
gens », a estimé l’homme qui a gouverné le pays de 1998-2008. ` Les
enquêtes montrent que jusqu’à 40 pour cent de la population de
l’Arménie a l’intention de partir pour de bon à la première occasion.
Une personne encline à émigrer n’acquiert jamais un bien immobilier
dans un pays ou une ville qu’il veut quitter. La même chose est vraie
pour la création d’entreprises `.

Kotcharian a continué à affirmer que le gouvernement actuel est donc
le seul responsable de la crise de la construction. « Si le premier
ministre ne comprend pas cela, c’est le signe d’une dégradation
mental. Si en toute connaissance de cause il tente de jeter le blme
sur [ l’ancien Premier ministre ] Andranik Markarian et moi , alors
que c’est le signe d’une dégradation morale. Nous assistons
apparemment à une combinaison de dégradations mentales et morales »
a-t-il accusé.

‘ Dans tous les cas , un sous premier ministre est un luxe
inadmissible pour le pays , ` a ajouté l’ex- président dans des
accusations qui seront également interprétées par beaucoup comme une
attaque contre son successeur, le président Serge Sarkissian.

Tigran Sarkissian n’a pas tardé à répondre à la critique avec des
sarcasmes à peine voilée. « Je suis très heureux que ma conférence
presse de quatre heures de la fin d’année a attiré l’attention de M.
Kotcharian , ` a-t-il écrit sur sa page Facebook. ‘ Je le suis
d’autant plus que d’importants développements ont non seulement attiré
son attention, mais aussi suscités ses évaluations. Par exemple , les
élections présidentielles et municipales d’Erevan , la candidature de
l’Arménie à l’union douanière, la réforme des retraites et ainsi de
suite. `

‘ Quant à ses évaluations professionnelles sur les volumes de prêts
hypothécaires et le secteur de la construction , je vais une fois de
plus en traité dans une analyse séparée plus tard », a déclaré
Sarkissian.

Le premier ministre a également déclaré que le leadership actuel de
l’Arménie avait été pendant des années la ` base de l’équipe politique
et le soutien Kotcharian. ` ‘ Je vais ajouter que notre équipe ,
cristallisée autour de Serge Sarkissian , est également responsable de
ce qui se fait et ne se fait pendant le deuxième mandat du président `
, a-t-il dit.

Kotcharian a critiqué à plusieurs reprises le bilan économique du
gouvernement au cours des trois dernières années , indiquant son désir
de retourner dans l’arène politique. Le leader de 59 ans, originaire
du Haut -Karabakh est considéré par les commentateurs comme le parrain
politique de Gagik Tsarukian , un riche homme d’affaires de premier
plan du Parti Arménie prospère ( BHK ) , la deuxième plus grande force
au parlement. Certains d’entre eux ont émis l’hypothèse que le BHK
pourrait servir de base pour possible retour de Kotcharian.

Toutefois, ni Kotcharian ni Tsarukian n’ont choisi de défier le
président Serge Sarkissian à l’élection présidentielle février 2013. «
J’avais désigné l’actuel président comme mon successeur , et son désir
de se faire réélire est compréhensible », a déclaré Kotcharian dans
une interview janvier 2013 avec l’agence de presse Mediamax.

L’ex- président était parmi les dignitaires qui ont assisté à
l’intronisation de Sarkissian pour un second mandat en avril. La
cérémonie a été boycottée par l’opposition arménienne ainsi que par
Tsarukian et certains députés du BHK. Pourtant, le leader BHK a
ensuite déclaré que son parti n’est pas en opposition contre
l’administration Sarkissian malgré ses critiques régulières sur la
politique gouvernementale.

Kotcharian a fait une rare apparition publique le 26 décembre lors
d’une cérémonie à l’extérieur d’Erevan que Tsarukian avait organisée
en sa qualité de président du Comité national olympique arménien.
Tsarukian a remis des prix aux athlètes arméniens de premier plan
ainsi que Kotcharian. Soulignant le statut ambigu de son parti , le
magnat avait porté un toast au Président Sarkissian lors de
l’événement.

mardi 31 décembre 2013,
Ara ©armenews.com

Patch.com
Dec 30 2013

Watertown Armenian Museum Gets New Name

The museum in Watertown Square will now be known as the Armenian
Museum of America.

Posted by Charlie Breitrose (Editor) , December 30, 2013 at 09:35 AM

The museum dedicated to Armenian American history and culture in
Watertown Square has a new name.

As of Christmas, the Armenian Library and Museum of America changed
its name to the Armenian Museum of America Inc., the museum announced
in a piece in the Armenian Reporter.

The museum is one of the largest focusing on Armenian culture and
history outside of Armenia. It includes exhibitions celebrating 3,000
years of Armenian history, and honors the victims of the Armenian
Genocide by creating a permanent museum and library.

The Armenian Museum of America is at 65 Main St. in Watertown. For
more information visit the museum website:

Unprecedented Civil Movement in Armenia

Amid the aggravating socio-economic problems, emigration, the
government’s inability to resolve public and state problems, declining
confidence in the non-governmental forces, their incapacity, a new
force was needed to identify the challenges and resolve them,
counteract the illegal, anti-state and anti-social policy of the
government, and the civil society is trying to assume this role. 2013
was unprecedented in terms of civil activeness, assuming
responsibility for the solution of problems.

In Armenia the civil society brings up a wide range of issues, from
illegal construction to fight for sovereignty.

This year the civil fight had considerable success despite a series of
shortcomings and failures which were tactical, organizational in
nature.

To wake up the society and not to live like slaves, Shant Harutiunyan
stated: `I begin the revolution.’ Shant clearly listed his steps.
Several dozens of citizens who took to the street with him were
arrested. Shant and another dozen of citizens were remanded in
custody.

On September 3 Serzh Sargsyan announced about joining the Customs
Union in Moscow which caused dissatisfaction in a considerable part of
the Armenian public. In September there were protests in front of the
president’s administration, RPA’s head office, on December 2, the day
of Putin’s visit. The police state detained over 100 citizens.

In the passing year the most large-scale and successful action was the
movement for 100 dram, against the decision of the owners of bus lines
and the City Hall to raise the fare. Thousands of young people took to
the streets to protest against this unlawful decision and forces the
government to repeal the decision. After the decision was repealed,
three citizens, Vahagn Minasyan, Suren Sahakyan and Gor Arakelyan went
on a sit-in in front of the City Hall, demanding the resignation of
non-compliant officials.

The year ended with protests against the vassal gas agreement on
December 20 and 23. Hundreds of citizens took to the streets against
an agreement that was not in line with the interests of Armenia.

The next anti-social decision of the government was the introduction
of the mandatory funded pension which will cut 6.6-13% of the income
of citizens. The IT sphere started the protest. The movement `I am
against’ was born. Four parliamentary forces have applied to the
Constitutional Court disputing the funded pension.

The Preparliament fought against illegal construction destroying the
Covered Market of Yerevan. There were a series of events in front of
the Covered Market and Mashtots Park.

This year the veterans of war in Artsakh fought for their rights. They
held rallies on Freedom Square. The police have arrested Volodya
Avetisyan, one of the leaders of this movement.

At the beginning of the year, after the presidential elections, as
well as rise in tuition fees, an attempt to organize a student strike
was made but it did not become a mass event.

An interesting initiative was taken for the first time this year. An
open university was organized on Freedom Square, specialists delivered
lectures on different topics.

The residents of 5 Komitas Street and 10 Sayat Nova started fight for
their rights and were able to stop construction of high-rise buildings
in their neighborhoods. The deceived citizens of 72-80 Aram Street
formed a united front to continue their strife together.

The employees of Nairit continue to demand their salaries for about a
year. They held marches to the president’s administration and
government several times.

A notable action was taken by the Chamber of Advocates. The advocates
went on strike against the double standards applied by the Court of
Cassation.

On December 10, the human rights day, the ANC held the traditional march.

The civic actions are not limited to this. One can remember the
protest of dentists, the action against Artsakhbank, the protest of
taxi drivers.

15:48 30/12/2013
Story from Lragir.am News:

Stories of innocent lives lost begin to emerge

The Daily Star, Lebanon
Dec 30 2013
By Elise Knutsen, Meris Lutz

BEIRUT: Largely outside the camera frames, seven families are grieving
lost loved ones, collateral damage from the car bomb assassination of
Mohammad Shatah last Friday. As the dead are buried, stories from the
incidental lives lost are beginning to emerge. Among the fallen
civilians is Kevork Takajian, a 75-year-old Lebanese-Armenian man who
was in Beirut visiting from a town just outside Houston, Texas, where
he lived.

The victim’s older brother, Sarkiss, said Takajian was a naturalized
American citizen who studied engineering at a Los Angeles University
in the early 1960s. The brothers, both lifelong bachelors, had lived
together in an affluent Houston suburb called Sugar Land. They flew to
Beirut on separate planes in early December, Sarkiss said; in case one
crashed, the other would survive.

`When we were coming, they [friends] said, `Don’t go, don’t go, don’t
go,” Sarkiss recalled. `Bad luck – we came.’

While visiting friends Downtown Friday, Sarkiss said, his brother
decided to walk down to Starco.

`He said `Let me go and buy a lotto [ticket].’ … He never came
back,’ Sarkiss said, tears welling in his rheumy eyes.

`He died for nothing,’ he added. `If he didn’t buy the lotto [ticket]
he would still be alive.’

Sarkiss says he saw the explosion from nearby and searched for his
brother for three hours. He only learned of his brother’s death after
calling the American University of Beirut Medical Center.

Doctors told Sarkiss that Kevork was thrown into the air by the force
of the explosion and died instantly.

`His heart stopped,’ Sarkiss said.

Kevork was buried by family and friends Saturday.

`As a Christian, I am thinking this is the will of God,’ his brother
said, furrowing his brows.

The brothers were born and raised in an eastern suburb of Beirut and
were the grandsons of an Armenian genocide survivor. Both Sarkiss and
Kevork had lived in the United States for many years, and it had been
over a decade since either brother had visited Lebanon.

`I came to visit here, tragedy happened, and now I am coming back
alone,’ Sarkiss said.

Sarkiss recalled his brother fondly, calling him a `jolly fellow.’ He
continued to `engineer things’ for fun throughout his semi-retirement,
living quietly and comfortably.

They enjoyed Christmas together and had planned to spend New Year’s
Eve in Zalka with family. Now, however, his plans have changed.

`On the new year, I am going to stay here alone,’ Sarkiss said.

Sarkiss and Kevork had originally intended to return to Houston on
Jan. 5. Following the death and burial of his brother, however,
Sarkiss said he hoped to stay for another month.

`After 40 days we are going to have a requiem in the church,’ in
keeping with the Armenian Orthodox tradition, he said.

In the meantime, Kevork’s death weighs heavily upon his older brother,
who says he blames himself for suggesting the trip.

`I cannot eat, neither drink. I am lost,’ he said, sighing. `We were
so good together.’

Among those killed was also Tarek Badr, Shatah’s personal bodyguard.
His brother Mustapha mourned Tarek as someone who had `every good
quality you could find in a person.’

Badr described his brother as responsible and family-oriented. After
Mustapha and his brother Maher left the country, Tarek looked after
their parents, nursing their father through his final days and
continuing to care for their mother.

`He loved to help and he loved his work,’ Mustapha said, adding that
Tarek was extremely close to Shatah and took his job very seriously.

`He loved him a lot; they were together all day, every day. [Tarek]
died next to him,’ Mustapha said. `I live abroad and I was always
telling him to get out, to travel, but he said no because he loved his
job.’

Tarek was about to be engaged and was looking forward to marriage and
building a family before he was killed, his brother said.

Anwar Badawi, a taxi driver, was just parting ways with friends to
head to work when the blast occurred. His friend and colleague,
Mohammad Zeaiter, was standing just a few feet away when he said there
was a flash of blinding light and a deafening boom.

`I didn’t realize what was happening,’ Zeaiter said.

He recalled his friend Badawi, who is survived by a wife and three
children, as lightheartened and loyal.

`Whenever we were at work and someone was upset about something, he
would make a joke,’ he said. `He talked about his children a lot,
especially his daughter. He was always thinking about them.’

Zeaiter lamented Badawi’s passing, adding that while he was alive, he
hoped for nothing more than to stay afloat amid deteriorating economic
and security conditions.

`We are taxi drivers, we live day to day,’ Zeaiter said.

Nanor Yezegelian, the manager of the taxi company where Badawi worked,
described him as a gregarious man with many friends.

`I know when people die, no one ever says anything bad about them, but
he really was loved by everyone,’ she told The Daily Star. `He loved
life, he loved going out, he was always saying, `Come on, let’s
party.”

`He loved to joke, but he was quick to anger as well,’ she added.

Yezegelian went on to say that Badawi usually made the commute from
his home in Hadath much later, but he decided to come down early
Friday to have coffee with some friends. She resists the temptation to
wonder what might have happened if he had stuck to his regular
schedule.

`We can say that, but we don’t really know,’ she said.

In the south, the town of Kawtharieh buried Mohammad Nasser Mansour, a
Jordanian national who was working as a guard at one of the banks in
Starco when the bomb struck. Mansour’s body was turned over to his
family by the judiciary after the relevant examinations had been
carried out. No national public officials attended, with all the
mourners local townspeople. – Additional reporting by Mohammed Zaatari

2013 in Arts and Culture: Losses of legends; memorable performances

ARTS AND CULTURE | 30.12.13 | 12:04

Closing its doors the departing 2013 has taken with it into eternity
several prominent art figures, whose names will always remain in the
history of Armenian culture for their undeniable imprint – Hakob
Hakobyan, Sos Sarsyan, Azat Gasparyan, Gerard Cafesjian, Aramayis
Sahakyan, Vrezh Israyelyan, Levon Ananyan, Hrachya Berberyan, as well
as talented actors of younger generation Mark Saghatelyan and Yervand
Yengibaryan.

On March 14, Armenia’s `chief hedgehog’, writer, satire, poet and
publicist Aramayis Sahakyan passed away, at age 76. He was a pan-USSR
music award winner for his song lyrics. His poetry has been translated
into many languages and his Vozni (`Hedgehog’) satirical magazine
brought joy and laughter to hundreds of readers for many years.

Renowned Armenian painter Hakob Hakobian passed away March 9 of heart
attack, at age 89. Born in Egypt, Hakobian immigrated to Soviet
Armenia in 1962, where he later earned a `People’s artist’ title. `A
Woman Frying Fish’, `Spring’, `The Village of Malishka’ are among the
artist’s best paintings.

Vrezh Israelyan, a well-known writer and dramatist, was found dead in
his apartment on June 14. Terminally ill, Israelyan was found lying on
the couch in his living room with a fatal gunshot wound and a gun in
his right hand. A suicide note was found on the desk in the room in
which he thanked God for having `a good wife, a good son, good
grandchildren, brother and friends’.

On July 31, well-known Armenian actor-entertainer Mark Saghatelyan
died at the age of 41 after having suffered from acute leukemia.

On August 2, People’s Artist of Armenia, multiple Soviet Armenia award
winner, honorable resident of Armenia, actor of cinema and theatre,
Azat Gasparyan died, aged 70.

President of the Writers’ Union of Armenia Levon Ananyan died on
September 3, aged 66.According to reports in the media, Ananyan
suffered from cancer.

Gerard Cafesjian, a prominent Armenian benefactor, died on September
17, aged 88. Cafesjian founded the Cafesjian Family Foundation (CFF),
the Cafesjian Museum Foundation (CMF) and the Cafesjian Center for the
Arts.

Prominent Armenian actor Sos Sargsyan, the `last Mohican’ of his
generation of beloved actors, died on September 27, after long illness
at the age of 84.

Yervand Yengibaryan, a popular theater and cinema actor, was killed in
a car crash in Yerevan on October 21. The 30-year-old Stanislavski
Russian Theater actor, driving his Mercedes car, reportedly collided
with a lamp post and died on the spot.

On December 13, poet, member of Armenian Writers’ Union Hrachya
Berberyan died of brain stroke, at the age of 61.

In 2013, two of Armenia’s creative unions held congresses during which
new chairmen of those unions were elected.

On October 28, Aram Satyan, a candidate representing the `opposition’
wing of the Union of Composers and Musicologists of Armenia was
elected new chairman of the organization with 43 votes of fellow Union
members.

Earlier, On October 21, poet and prose writer Edward Militonyan was
elected new chairman of the Armenian Writers’ Union in the ballot that
was reportedly preceded by heated discussions.

A concert took place in Gyumri’s Vardanants Square on June 30 during
which the 2013 CISCultural Capital certificate was handed to the city
mayor.

World-renowned opera singer Montserrat Caballé paid a visit to Nagorno
Karabakh in early June before giving a concert in the Armenian capital
Yerevan later that month. Officials in Baku threatened to `black list’
the Spanish opera singer if she visited Karabakh which they claim to
be Azerbaijan’s `occupied lands’.

The Spanish operatic soprano was received by Nagorno Karabakh Republic
President Bako Sahakyan, while days later the Opera House in Yerevan
was filled with her majestic voice.

Julio Iglesias, a well-known Spanish singer and songwriter, gave a
concert in the Armenian capital of Yerevan on March 18 as part of a
jubilee tour including some other post-Soviet countries.

The 10th International Golden Apricot Film Festival in Yerevan turned
the Armenian capital into one big cinema for one week, where film
masters visiting from different corners of the world present their
creations, both features and documentaries.

Since 2005, Night at the Museum event, the initiative of culture and
communications ministry of France, is held on the Saturday after the
International Museum Day, and this year 88 museums in Armenia joined
the project.

Armenia finished in 18th place in the 26-nation Eurovision final on
its seventh appearance in Europe’s biggest pop music contest on May 18
held in Malmo. The winner of one of the world’s most-watched events on
television this year was betting agencies’ favorite Emmelie de Forest
from Denmark with her song `Only Teardrops’.

On November 30, Armenian representative Monica Avanesyan took 6th
place in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2013 held in Kiev,
Ukraine, on November 30. The 15-year-old singer presented the `Choco
Factory’ song, an upbeat tune with lyrics in both Armenian and
English, which scored 69 points. The winner of the Junior Eurovision
2013 became Gaia Cauchi from Malta with the song `The Start’, which
scored 130 points.

French-Armenian actor, director and producer Serge Avedikian’s
re-staging of Tigranyan’s famous `Anush’ (or `Anouche’ by French
spelling) opera performance first staged a century ago premiered in
Yerevan on April 26.

After its Yerevan premier, the opera has become `this spring’s most
outstanding and much talked-about cultural event’, just as the authors
had promised.

Film director Hrach Keshishyan’s `Garegin Nzhdeh’, dedicated to the
21st anniversary of the Armenian army, telling the story of national
hero, General Garegin Nzhdeh, his life and military path, received
controversial reactions. The film is a story of boundless love for
homeland, heroism, betrayal and disappointments, and also of
unbreakable will, endless faith and dreams.

Armenia can rely on France – envoy

December 30, 2013 | 14:07

YEREVAN. – The Ambassador of France to Armenia Henri Reynaud
celebrates Christmas with his family, the envoy told in an interview
with Armenian News-NEWS.am.

The Christmas Eve begins with giveaways and a candle lighting, then
everyone gets traditional cookies. Then the family sings Christmas
songs by the piano accompaniment.

`I wish Armenia great achievements in development. Europe will be next
to you, and Armenia can rely on France. I wish Armenian people reward
for all the effort, a reward that they deserved, as well as more
success in the coming year. In addition, in light of the upcoming
state visit of the President of France to Armenia, I wish that in 2014
the friendship between our two countries strengthen and our
cooperation deepen,’ the ambassador said.

News from Armenia – NEWS.am

We will supply never-had-before modern weapons to army – Armenia PM (PHOTOS)

December 30, 2013 | 12:34

YEREVAN. – In 2014, we will supply modern weapons, which we have not
yet had, to the army.

Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan stated the aforesaid Monday
during his visit to an MOD military unit, on the occasion of the
forthcoming New Year and Armenian Christmas holidays.

Sargsyan congratulated the Armenian military servicemen on the coming
holidays and thanked them for their dedicated service.

`Today, all members of the Government of Armenia are at the military
units to congratulate the Armenian soldier because you are the
guarantee of our security, safe life. I hope that your [military]
service be safe.

`The year 2013 was a year of hard and strenuous work. This year we
have seen to it that the weaponry [supplied to the army] be modern and
so that the degree of professionalism of our soldier may rise.

`The year 2013 was successful for numerous domains of [Armenia’s]
economy. [But] we also had shortcomings and failures.

`[But] the capabilities that are formed in Armenia give hope that the
year 2014 will be a year of new accomplishments [for Armenia],’ PM
Sargsyan said, in particular.

ARMENIA
Bill the Government to ban advertising on public television

The Armenian government has approved an amendment to the law on
television and radio in which the Armenian Public Television will not
broadcast advertisements.

According to the Minister of Justice Hray Tovmasyan, the measure would
allow further time for free antenna that could be used to deliver
higher emissions. He said that it is a practice accepted
internationally.

Under the bill, public television would be allowed to broadcast only
social ads and provide information on the promoters of cultural and
sports programs.

Under current law, the airtime given to advertisements shall not
exceed 7% of the airtime.

Monday, December 30, 2013,
Stéphane © armenews.com

The Moral Liberal
dec 28 2013

Muslims slaughtering Christians ` nothing new¦

American Minute with Bill Federer

Armenia was one of the first nations to become Christian around 301
AD, with its capitol of Ani called the `city of a 1,001 churches.’

Muslim Turks began invading in the 11th century, making Christians
second-class citizens called `dhimmi,’ and forcing boys to convert and
serve in the Muslim army as `Janissaries,’ or in their pederasty.

When the Turkish Ottoman Empire declined in the 1800²s, Greece,
Serbia, Bulgaria and Romania began winning their independence, but
Armenia was trapped by Sultan Abdul Hamid, who killed 100,000.

President Grover Cleveland told Congress, December 2, 1895:

`Occurrences in Turkey have continued to excite concern¦Massacres of
Christians in Armenia and the development¦of a spirit of fanatic
hostility to Christian influences¦have lately shocked civilization.’

President Grover Cleveland told Congress, December 7, 1896:

`Disturbed condition in Asiatic Turkey¦rage of mad bigotry and cruel
fanaticism¦wanton destruction of homes and the bloody butchery of men,
women, and children, made martyrs to their profession of Christian
faith¦

Outbreaks of blind fury which lead to murder and pillage in Turkey
occur suddenly and without notice¦It seems hardly possible that the
earnest demand of good people throughout the Christian world for its
corrective treatment will remain unanswered.’

President William McKinley told Congress, December 5, 1898:

`The¦envoy of the United States to¦Turkey¦is¦charged to press for a
just settlement of our claims¦of the destruction of the property of
American missionaries resident in that country during the Armenian
troubles of 1895.’

President Theodore Roosevelt described to Congress, December 6, 1904:

`¦systematic and long-extended cruelty and oppression¦of which the
Armenians have been the victims, and which have won for them the
indignant pity of the civilized world.’

Theodore Roosevelt wrote in Fear God and Take Your Own Part (1916):

`Armenians, who for some centuries have sedulously avoided militarism
and war¦are so suffering precisely and exactly because they have been
pacifists whereas their neighbors, the Turks, have¦been¦militarists¦

During the last year and a half¦Armenians have been subjected to
wrongs far greater than any that have been committed since the close
of the Napoleonic Wars¦Fearful atrocities¦

Serbia is at this moment passing under the harrow of torture and
mortal anguish¦Armenians have been butchered under circumstances of
murder and torture and rape that would have appealed to an old-time
Apache Indian¦

Wholesale slaughter of the Armenians¦The crowning outrage has been
committed by the Turks on the Armenians¦

I trust that all Americans worthy of the name feel their deepest
indignation and keenest sympathy aroused by the dreadful Armenian
atrocities.’

During World War I, `Young Turks’ implemented a genocidal plan to rid
Turkey of Armenians.

They first recruited unsuspecting Armenian young men into the
military, then made them `non-combatant’ soldiers, then marched them
into the woods and deserts where they were ambushed and massacred.

With Armenian cities and villages now defenseless, nearly 2 million
old men, women and children were marched into the desert, thrown off
cliffs or burnt alive.

Armenian cities of Kharpert, Van and Ani were leveled. Russia came to
their aid till the Bolshevik revolution began.

Armenia’s pleas at the Paris Peace Conference led Democrat President
Wilson in a failed effort to make Armenia a U.S. protectorate.

Woodrow Wilson, who was born DECEMBER 28, 1856, had addressed
Congress, May 24, 1920:

`The Senate Committee on Foreign Relations has established the truth
of the reported massacres and other atrocities from which the Armenian
people have suffered¦deplorable conditions of insecurity, starvation,
and misery now prevalent in Armenia¦

Sympathy for Armenia among our people has sprung from untainted
consciences, pure Christian faith and an earnest desire to see
Christian people everywhere succored in their time of suffering.’

The Moral Liberal contributing editor, William J. Federer, is the
bestselling author of `Backfired: A Nation Born for Religious
Tolerance no Longer Tolerates Religion,’ and numerous other books. A
frequent radio and television guest, his daily American Minute is
broadcast nationally via radio, television, and Internet. Check out
all of Bill’s books here.

Agence France Presse — English
December 29, 2013 Sunday 1:17 AM GMT

Europe unity tested on WWI centenary

PARIS, Dec 29 2013

A Europe badly shaken by a faltering economy and rising populism is
set to commemorate the centenary of Word War I, the conflict still
known as the “Great War” that scarred the continent and shaped the
20th century.

Commemorations for the 1914-18 Great War are planned through the
summer on either side of the Western Front, but with no single event
bringing all of the former foes together.

Plans for a major gathering in Sarajevo — where the assassination of
the Austro-Hungarian heir Franz Ferdinand by a Serbian nationalist is
seen as sparking the conflict in June 28, 1914 — had to be dropped
due to a lack of international consensus.

Europe was left ruined by four years of all-consuming warfare, but
while European nations shared in the trauma of what some historians
called a collective “suicide”, how they remember the Great War varies
greatly.

Europeans “continue to approach this transnational event through the
narrow framework of national memory”, explained the Australian
historian John Horne, of Dublin University.

For the British and French, World War I is vividly etched in the
collective imagination as a just and necessary victory, secured at a
terrible human cost.

Remembering the war is a big deal in France and Britain, as well as in
Australia and New Zealand whose very sense of identity is tied to the
conflict, with hundreds of official projects and wall-to-wall media
coverage.

In Germany and Russia, by contrast, the Great War’s memory was all but
supplanted by the cataclysm of World War II, two decades later.

The centenary also comes as the very idea of a shared European future
is under attack, with eurosceptics, nationalists and the far-right
gaining ground across the continent as the eurozone heads into a
fourth year of economic crisis.

‘Different experience for each country’

Delegations from the warring parties in World War I have been invited
to France for a “peace demonstration” on Bastille Day, July 14. The
presidents of Germany and France, Joachim Gauck and Francois Hollande,
will also stand side by side in France on August 3 to mark the start
of the war “with gravity and reverence”.

And a German-British ceremony is planned the following day in Belgium,
invaded by German troops on the first day of the war, August 3, 1914.

But in Germany itself, as in Italy and central Europe, the centenary
has so far gone largely unnoticed.

The diversity of national memories makes it difficult — if not
impossible — for all the former foes to commemorate the war together,
historians explain.

“It is a different experience for each country,” argued the German
historian Gerd Krumeich, proof that “there is no such thing as a
common European mindset or sensitivity, Europe very much remains a
rational idea.”

The Bosnian capital will be hosting a string of cultural events,
organised by France and Germany.

But neighbouring Serbia — which resents the notion that Serbian
nationalism was to blame for triggering the war — wants to use the
centenary as a chance to set the record straight, and lay historical
responsibility squarely with the Austro-Hungarian empire.

Vladimir Putin’s Russia, meanwhile, has seized on the chance to fan
national pride, reviving the memory of a war it says was unjustly
forgotten under the Soviet regime — which today’s Russian rulers
accuse of bowing shamefully to Germany in 1917.

The Great War dragged almost half the world’s population into a cycle
of violence of unprecedented scale and intensity.

Over the course of 52 months, it left some 10 million dead and 20
million injured and maimed on battlefields that sprawled from the
howling North Sea coast to the Russian steppes and the deserts of the
Middle East.

Millions of civilians perished under occupation, through disease,
hunger or deportation, including a million Armenians systematically
massacred by Turkish forces.

Four of the world’s most powerful empires — Russian, German,
Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman — collapsed as the world map was
redrawn, giving rise to dozens of new nation states.

World War I fanned the emergence of many of the ideologies that were
to fashion the 20th century, and its looming conflicts: Communism,
Fascism, Nazism, anti-colonialism, pacifism.

And Europe’s economic and political ruin cleared the way for the rise
of a new economic and military superpower, the United States, which
was to dominate the second half of the century.