Category: 2020

Armenian Genocide victims are honored in Abkhazia

Kanayan Tamar
News.am, Armenia

17:51, 25.04.2020
                  

More than 50 people attended a memorial service at the Armenian Apostolic Church in Gagra on April 24, in memory of the Armenian Genocide victims, Levon Galustyan, a member of the Abkhazian parliament, told Sputnik Radio, Sputnik-Georgia reports.

“People had come with the call of their soul,” he added, in particular.

According to Galustyan, Armenian Genocide’s recognition is necessary so that such events never happen again. “There is hope in the heart of every Armenian and sound thinker that one day this historic event will be recognized in Turkey,” he said. “The Hamshen Armenians living in Abkhazia, including my family, are the direct descendants of the victims of the genocide in the Ottoman Empire.”

2020 Aurora Humanitarians announced

Christine Harutyunian
Public Radio of Armenia

On , on the Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day, the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative hosted an online discussion to honor those who perished a century ago and celebrate modern heroes, including those fighting the global outbreak of COVID-19. In accordance with the symbolic traditions upheld by the Initiative for many years, Aurora revealed the names of 2020 Aurora Humanitarians, chosen by the Aurora Prize Selection Committee for their courage, commitment and impact.

“We’re part of the globe; we’re part of humanity. We’re setting an example that morally righteous nations can remind the humanity occasionally, during terrible times, that we are not alone. We are each other’s keepers. We represent the nation that stands for solidarity and compassion,” noted Vartan Gregorian, Co-Founder of the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative and Aurora Prize Selection Committee member. 

The online discussion “Aurora. Standing in Solidarity,” moderated by Nicola Stanisch, Aurora’s Executive Director, brought together Noubar Afeyan, Vartan Gregorian and Ruben Vardanyan, Co-Founders of the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative; Lord Ara Darzi, Chair of the Aurora Prize Selection Committee, and Marguerite Barankitse, inaugural Aurora Prize Laureate.

Lord Ara Darzi, Chair of the Aurora Prize Selection Committee, took the virtual stage to announce the 2020 Aurora Humanitarians: Fartuun Adan and Ilwad Elman, Angélique Namaika, Sophie Beau and Klaus Vogel, Sakena Yacoobi. “Aurora is about building a broader humanitarian movement and maintaining a cycle of giving and is focused on gratitude in action. By bringing these traditions online today, we are adapting to our current situation, bringing people together, remembering the kindness of humanity and celebrating the work of these heroes,” said Lord Darzi.

On behalf of the survivors of the Armenian Genocide and in gratitude to their saviors, an Aurora Prize Laureate is honored each year with a US $1,000,000 award and a unique opportunity to continue the cycle of giving by supporting the organizations that have inspired their humanitarian action. The 2020 Aurora Humanitarians have nominated the following organizations:

Marguerite Barankitse, the inaugural Aurora Prize Laureate, brought up all the ways solidarity can strengthen a community and benefit humanity on a global level։ “I think that we should stand up together. There are so many people and we can share; we can break this indifference and create compassion. Aurora Prize creates a brotherhood of people who have lost so much. If those survivors can say: “OK, I can give back to others,” then we can also give back to others․”

Noubar Afeyan, Co-Founder of the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative, drew parallels between the inspiration behind the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative and the current crisis: “The human spirit that motivates people to save others is the one that very few of us have experienced but that many Armenians are the beneficiaries of. Today, that same spirit is being thrust upon all the world. There are modern day saviors in every community and there are survivors who can’t understand why this is happening with the virus. And they feel now what Armenians felt a 105 years ago. I can’t but point out that while the perpetrator is different, the effect is much the same.”

Ruben Vardanyan, Co-Founder of the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative, highlighted the significance of the date and called for new solutions to come out of the crisis.

“What we’re commemorating today is crucial not only for the Armenians but also for the world. We are facing a new challenge now, and it’s all about the key issues – our human values. Looking forward and remembering your past, I think, are the critical messages for today. The pandemic crisis creates a new reality that we have to accept. But while we’re isolated locally, we at the same time remain connected globally. We’re all part of the global picture,” he said.

During the online discussion, the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative also officially announced the opening of the nomination period for the 2021 Aurora Prize and called for putting forward inspiring humanitarians, including those fighting the global outbreak of COVID-19.

105 years on, generations of Armenian Genocide survivors demand justice with the same determination – FM

Emil Lazarian
Public Radio of Armenia

Even 105 years later, the fourth-fifth generations of genocide survivors demand justice with the same determination, Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan said in an interview with Public TV.

“We all, as a united nation, demand justice, we demand recognition. This demonstrates the depth of this crime of genocide, the depth of the damage done to an entire nation, because the denied justice is a very deep wound and damage for an entire nation,” the Foreign Minister said.

“Another message is that 105 years ago the Armenian nation was supposed to be wiped out. Today, confidently demonstrating our civilization, history, our power and capability, we have survived the genocide, we have survived everywhere our compatriots live; we have survived it in our homeland as well by creating our statehood and restoring our independence,” he added

He noted that statehood is a very important instrument for protecting our national identity, and the state and the power of the state are one of the most important and powerful weapons in our hands.

“The use of this powerful tool is a very important defense instrument. A powerful state, a strong state, our inner strength, strengthens our capacity to protect our sovereignty, our national identity and our security. But we also understand that, yes, quite different processes took place in international relations, and are currently taking place, and in that sense, as a member of the international community, as a member of the international family, as a state, taking into consideration our small size, we attach great importance to cooperation. Diplomacy, involvement in international relations, multilateralism, all these are also very important tools for us to ensure and complement our security capabilities,” the Foreign Minister stated.

Mnatsakanyan stated that respecting the dignity of the victims and commemorating the day of remembrance is very important because it is about justice, because the victims have dignity, the victims are the part of the collective identity of the people that has been annihilated.

“If we do not respect the victims, if we deny justice, we strengthen impunity. Impunity means that a new genocide is possible. Non-recognition of the Armenian Genocide is a threat to us in that sense, because impunity presumes the threat of genocide repetition.” he said.

Journalist John Christie releases memoir of Armenian Genocide

Emil Lazarian
News.am, Armenia

17:18, 25.04.2020
                  

Journalist John Christie has released a memoir on the Armenian Genocide called “The Prince of Wentworth Street,” RockPort reported.

When the journalist John Christie faced difficulties in his own life, he decided to use his research skills as a journalist, to tell his own story.

“What he discovered about his family’s past opened his eyes to a world he could have never imagined, a world lived in the shadow of genocide,” the article says.

In 1909, the grandmother of Christie Gulenia Hovsepian, who lived in Turkey with her family, was nine years old. One day she was sent by her family to herd cows on a hill above her village. A boy ran up to her and warned that armed people had come for people like her. The boy told her that her father had already been killed and the rest of her family went into hiding.

In his memoirs, John Christie tells stories that his grandmother once told him, including the flight from Turkey in 1919, when she was 19 years old.

She came to America as a mail order bride after World War I. She not only survived the Great Depression, but herself raised six children after the unexpected death of her husband. She then watched her own children go off to war.

“Not facing the struggles his grandmother endured but hearing her vivid tales of triumph in the face of adversity allowed him to find strength in her legacy,” the article concluded.

We must remember past atrocities to prevent new crimes, Armenian President writes in Le Monde

Karakhanian Suren
Public Radio of Armenia

Denial of crimes perpetrated between 1915 and 1923 creates a space for xenophobia, discrimination and intolerance, President Armeni Sarkissian writes in a piece for the French Le Monde on the 105th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.

“The whole world is going through an unprecedented and spectacular crisis today. We are far from overcoming it, and it occupies every page of our newspapers. To face the torments of the present, it is essential to have a memory of past trials. One disaster does not drive the other away, and the Armenian people are best aware of it,” the President writes.

“It was while taking advantage of the tumult of the First World War that the Turkish government, in 1915-1916, implemented its program of total extermination of the Armenians of Turkey, of unprecedented violence and magnitude,” he adds.

According to the President, while more than a century has passed since the genocide of the Armenians, its consequences still persist, preventing peace and security in the region.

He notes that there were two motivations behind the Young Turks’ project. “The first was a political motivation, because the independence which the Armenian nation was aspiring for would deprive the Empire of a an essential part, which was paving a way to the Caucasus and Central Asia.”

“The other was an ideological motivation, because the young Turkish nationalism wanted to transform the immense multiethnic and multicultural Empire into a monolithic and homogeneous nation-state, eyeing a political advancement to the Caucasus and Central Asia,” the President continues.

According to him, Armenians and Greeks living between those two territories were the main obstacles on that path.

“These motivations are still felt, first in Artsakh because of Turkey’s interventionist policy; and then, in the blockade imposed against Armenia.

“Recognition of the Armenian genocide is as important to humanity as a whole as it is to the Armenians. After half a century of silence, in the years 1960-1970, the world began to speak again of the genocide of the Armenians. Uruguay was the first country to officially recognize it in 1965. The number of countries that have joined it grows year by year,” President Sarkissian notes.

“Lessons learned from the Holocaust, the Armenian genocide, genocide in Cambodia and Rwanda must be carefully preserved and passed on to future generations,” he stresses.

“Today, the remembrance of the events of 1915 is aimed at the future. We must remember these atrocities to prevent new crimes. Their denial paves the way for xenophobia, discrimination and intolerance,” the President notes.

“In 1915 the Armenians’ aspirations for freedom and rights led to violence and crime. Today particularly after the revolution of 2018, Armenia embodied these values. That is why Armenia needs political, diplomatic and economic support. Strong Armenia is a trump card for the stability of the region, for Europe and France. Armenia can be a bridge between different worlds,” the President concludes.

Armenians mark the 105th anniversary of mass killings by the Ottoman Empire

Khoyetsian Rose
Merco Press
Saturday, April 25th 2020 – 08:04 UTC

Armenians have used text messages and mobile phone flashlights to mark the 105th anniversary (24 April) of mass killings in the Ottoman Empire, dropping their usual march because of coronavirus restrictions.

Yerevan, which describes the 1915 killings of Armenians in what is now Turkey as genocide, has traditionally held annual torchlight processions to a hilltop memorial.

That description and commemorations around the world have enraged Turkey, which denies the killings were systematically orchestrated and constitute a genocide, and disputes the figures.

Armenia’s government said it was calling on citizens not to go out on Friday, but instead to send text messages to be projected onto the pillars of the memorial.

On Thursday night, in the build-up to the anniversary, it asked people to turn off lights in their houses and light a candle or shine their mobile phone flashlights towards the memorial.

Streets and public squares also went dark as church bells rang out.

“This year millions of people from around the world will have the opportunity to attend the Apr 24 march that will take place in a virtual space,” Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said in a national address on Friday.

Sports: Gegam Kadimyan dedicates his goal to Armenian Genocide victims

Hunanian Jack
News.am, Armenia

Neman Grodno played host to Energetik-BGU of Minsk and won 3-0 in their Belarusian Premier League football match.

Armenian forward Gegam Kadimyan scored Neman’s first goal in the 66th minute of the match, and after the match he announced that he dedicates this goal to the victims of the Armenian Genocide.

“I want to dedicate this victory and my goal to the memory of the victims of the Armenian Genocide,” Sport24 quoted Kadimyan as saying.

Armenian Hakob Ghasabian in the semi-final of the French The Voice

Mary Lazarian
Public Radio of Armenia

Lille-born Armenian high-school student Hakob Ghasabian will perform in the semi-final of the French The Voice tonight.

Today’s knockout stage is the last step before the grand final show at Palais des Sports. Coach Pascal Obispo is due to select only three of the eight competitors. 

Weeks ago, he captured the hearts of the jury composed of famous French stars Lara Fabian, Pascal Obispo, Amel Bent and Marc Lavoine with a wonderful performance to be selected to the project.

Hakob Ghasabian is a recipient of a number of awards. In 2016 he won the the classical music contest on the program “Prodigies” on France 2 at age 12.

Hakob has been singing for neighbors during the lockdown imposed as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

He dedicated a special performance to the memory of victims of the Armenian Genocide on .


Music: SERJ TANKIAN Releases ‘Hayastane’ Solo Song Based On Lyrics By Armenian Prime Minister

Liana Toganian
Blabbermouth
SERJ TANKIAN Releases ‘Hayastane’ Solo Song Based On Lyrics By Armenian Prime Minister

  

SYSTEM OF A DOWN frontman Serj Tankian has released a new solo song called “Hayastane” (Hayastan is the Armenian name for Armenia). The track, which features lyrics by Armenian prime minister Nikol Pashinyan, can be streamed below.

One hundred percent of the proceeds from “Hayastan” will be donated to the public health, educational, cultural, social and environmental programs of My Step Foundation. The song is dedicated to the victorious spirit of Armenia and the past, present and future of the Armenian people.

“During these challenging times of pandemic and lockdown, we wanted to give the people of Armenia a present of hope that they themselves can share with the world,” Tankian wrote in a social media post. “The goal was to write a song that represented a victorious celebration of the Armenian spirit, covering the past, present, and future of our nation. Please enjoy!

“My Step Foundation is an amazing charity that is spearheading many meaningful initiatives within Armenia focusing on public health, education, culture, social welfare, environment along with other sectors in need, including the current crisis surrounding COVID-19. Their current COVID-19 response for Armenian citizens include support to elderly groups, the disabled and other vulnerable populations in the country in the form of care packages, nutrition and hygiene products; the purchasing of vital medical supplies (masks, gloves, insulators, and other personal protective equipment) for medical and other first response teams within Armenia, and the purchasing and distribution of computers and tablets, while helping to provide education for students in need within vulnerable families in regions of severe distress.”

Pashinyan thanked Tankian for writing a song based on his poem.

Tankian is the grandchild of Armenian Genocide survivors and achieved fame as the frontman of SYSTEM OF A DOWN, which has sold over 40 million records worldwide. While still touring with the hard rock group, Tankian has also recorded success as a solo musician and singer, songwriter, film score composer, multi-instrumentalist, record producer, poet and political activist.

Biden vows to recognize Armenian genocide if elected president

Hovik Karapetian
The Hill, Washington DC
By Tal Axelrod – 04/24/20 11:00 PM EDT

Former Vice President Joe Biden Joe BidenOvernight Health Care: Coronavirus spreads to Trump country | Disinfectant remarks draw blowback | FDA issues warning about drugs touted by TrumpStacey Abrams makes case for VP: ‘I would put my capacity to win an election’ against anyone else’sMORE vowed to officially recognize the 1915 Armenian genocide if elected to the White House, a move past presidents have avoided for years.

“If we do not fully acknowledge, commemorate, and teach our children about genocide, the words ‘never again’ lose their meaning,” Biden wrote in a Medium post. “The facts must be as clear and as powerful for future generations as for those whose memories are seared by tragedy.

“If elected, I pledge to support a resolution recognizing the Armenian Genocide and will make universal human rights a top priority for my administration,” he continued.

An estimated 3 million Armenians, Assyrians and Greeks were killed by the Ottoman Empire in the early 1900s, though presidents have been reluctant to label the massacre a genocide for political reasons.

President Trump dubbed the killing as “one of the worst mass atrocities of the 20th century” in a statement, and former President Obama never declared the slaughter as a genocide despite vowing to do so on the campaign trail. 

The House and Senate both passed a resolution last year dubbing the 1915 killings a genocide, but the Trump administration distanced itself from the bill.

Past administrations have been hesitant to call the massacre a genocide in part out of fear of damaging relations with Turkey, a NATO ally and partner in the Middle East.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has slammed efforts to use the term “genocide,” with a spokesperson saying last year that any such recognition would “endanger the future of [U.S.-Turkish] bilateral relations.”