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“Following the April developments, the day of recognition of Artsakh by Armenia is not far away,” California Courier editor-in-chief Harut Sassounian told reporters in Yerevan today. He’s a strong believer that Artsakh should be declared an integral part of Armenia.

“Armenia’s earlier position was understandable. Recognition of Artsakh could endanger the negotiation process, but the situation has changed after the April events.

As for the Armenian Genocide recognition, Harut Sassounian said “the US has long recognized it.”

“If Obama refrained from uttering the word ‘genocide’ in his April 24th address, that’s his problem, because he will be remembered in American history as a liar President,” the publisher said.

London-based Mahmud Uzuni, an ethnic Kurd, who served a sentence in Turkey for his pro-Armenian views, also urges Ankara to get rid of historic lies.

He’s visiting Yerevan as representative of the Turkish-German Association “Union Against Genocide,” whose members visit Tsitsernakaberd every April 24 to apologize to Armenians and join the civilized world to call for Armenian Genocide recognition by Turkey.

Uzuni says it’s his obligation to apologize for the crimes committed by Kurds against Armenians.

Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi released the following statement in remembrance of one hundred and one years since the beginning of the Armenian Genocide:

“More than a century ago, starting in 1915 and lasting nearly a decade, more than 1.5 million innocent Armenian children, women, and men were systematically slaughtered during the horrific genocide committed by leaders of the Ottoman Empire.  Today, we remember the victims of this brutal, inhumane period of ethnic cleansing.  We honor their memories by acknowledging the past.

“We must never forget this wretched campaign that destroyed lives, upended communities, and attempted to eradicate an entire culture.  Too often the tragic crimes of history have been ignored, minimized, or denied.  We owe it to future generations to confront the painful past so we can create a more hopeful future.

“On this solemn anniversary, we must embrace the truth.  It is our moral responsibility, every day in every community, to work together to speak out against the bigotry, discrimination and hatred of difference that too often fuel acts of violence.”

President Serzh Sargsyan received today the Minister of State for European Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of France Harlem Désir, President’s Press Office reports.

Welcoming the guest and his delegation, the President of Armenia noted that he recalls with special warmth his meeting with Mr. Désir in October 2015 in the framework of the Ministerial Conference on Francophonie during which they discussed in detail the agenda of the Armenian-French relations, possibilities to develop the Armenia-EU partnership as well as spoke about the NK peace process. The President noted with disappointment that Azerbaijan’s destructive stance and his predictions of the time regarding the possible consequences came true: at the beginning of April, during the aggression unleashed by Azerbaijan, servicemen of that country committed numerous crimes, targeting also civilian dwellings and peaceful population. The NK Defense Army not only held out but also gave a worthy counterblow to the enemy. Azerbaijan nevertheless continues its provocations, and the situation remains tense. At the request of the French State Minister, the President of Armenia presented his views regarding the causes and motives of the situation established at the NK line of contact, as well as regarding his views on its possible resolution.

At the beginning of the meeting, the Minister of State for European Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of France Harlem Désir conveyed to Serzh Sargsyan warm regards and best wishes from the President of France François Hollande and reiterated the position of France, which is also a Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, on the resolution of the Nagorno Karabakh problem. He said that in his country they believe that there is no military resolution to this conflict, and France is interested in the resumption of negotiations for the benefit of a peaceful resolution of the problem.

The parties concurred that in this situation it is necessary to expeditiously establish mechanisms for the monitoring of the violations of the ceasefire regime and introduction of the confidence building measures to prevent aggressive interventions and to create a possibility for reaching at the table of negotiations mutually acceptable solutions.

According to Harlem Désir, presence in his delegation of the French Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group Pierre Andrieu proves once again that France spares no effort to find a speedy and peaceful solution to the problem.

More than 3,000 activists from across Canada gathered in Ottawa on April 24, to commemorate the 101^st anniversary of the Armenian Genocide and protest the Turkish government’s ongoing denial of the crime, the reports.

The demonstrators gathered at the steps of Parliament Hill to thank the Canadian government for recognizing the Armenian Genocide, and to call on it to exert pressure on its NATO ally, Turkey, to come to terms with its past and put an end to its ongoing policy of genocide denial.

Demonstrators then marched via Rideau St. to the Turkish Embassy to protest against Turkey’s ongoing denial policies and human rights violations, and to demand justice and reparations for the 1.5 million victims of the Armenian Genocide.

The Armenian Youth Federation (AYF) of Canada stressed the need for recognition and reparations in their annual speech. “We are here to tell this embassy that we will never accept an apology from the Turkish Government, which offers no recognition, accepts no responsibility, expresses no regret, and suggests no reparations for the crimes committed”, read the statement.

AYF Canada members read information about the lost churches and cultural centers, as well as the traditions of the confiscated provinces of Western Armenia, making clear the Armenian losses are tangible and reinforcing the importance of reparations in any resolution for their cause.

Protest organizers also highlighted the various human rights abuses committed by the Turkish government today. “President Erdogan’s infamous regime not only shamelessly continues to deny the Armenian Genocide, but actively suppresses freedom of speech and continues its notorious mistreatment and marginalization of minorities in Turkey, with minimal regard to human rights and democracy,” read a part of the statement.

Addressing the participants of the rally, Armenia’s Ambassador to Canada Armen Yeganian said: “On behalf of all Armenians, I am grateful to the Government of Canada. Both the Senate and the House of Commons have adopted resolutions referring to the Armenian Genocide. All Canadian Prime Ministers since 2006 issue a proper proclamation on that day. We are grateful to the global civil society and international press representatives that have been voicing the importance of the Armenian Genocide recognition. We are grateful to all people of good will — all those who stood by the side of the Armenian people in the course of commemoration events around the world this year.”

 

Photo: Daro Salukauri/Bloomberg

 

War can break out “at any moment” in Nagorno-Karabakh and there’s little prospect of talks to resolve the conflict, the President of Armenia said.

A Russian-brokered truce may not be enough to prevent fighting “on an even larger scale” after four days of war between Azeris and Armenians this month that involved “several hundred tanks” and 30,000 artillery rounds, Serzh Sargsyan said in an interview with at the presidential residence in Yerevan.

It’s “unreasonable” for Armenia to resume peace talks with Azerbaijan without security guarantees because “the situation is entirely different now,” he said.

“On the one hand we’d be talking somewhere while, on the other, military officials would be engaging in war here to try to settle the conflict,” he said.

Speaking about Russian Foreign Minister’s visit to Armenia, President Sargsyan said “Lavrov didn’t “bring any new proposals” because “he realizes very well that it doesn’t make sense to talk about negotiations immediately after a four-day war.”

Battles raged along the full 200-kilometer length of the front line as Azerbaijan tried to punch through to Nagorno-Karabakh itself and then “issue an ultimatum” to Karabakh, he said.

Sargsyan said Azeri troops took “very small pieces” of land in the north and south of the contact line that “had no strategic importance” for Armenian forces, who didn’t try to reclaim them “to avoid additional losses” of life, he said.

While the chief of the defense staff in Moscow mediated the cease-fire talks, there’s no place for Russian peacekeepers in the conflict zone to separate the two sides, Sargsyan said. Talk of deploying Russian forces “wasn’t entirely without grounds” in previous peace negotiations, though “I don’t see any such opportunity” now, he said.

“If there are no negotiations, how can Russian forces appear in Karabakh or between Azeri and Karabakh forces?” Sargsyan said. Russia’s pursuing a “balanced policy” between Armenia and Azerbaijan while seeking to avert “large-scale military conflict,” he said.

Sargsyan said Russian, U.S. and French mediators from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe must put in place “confidence-building measures” before any new peace talks, and particularly “an investigation mechanism for violations of the cease-fire that would pinpoint exactly which party” was responsible. Armenia also requires “assurances that these kinds of violations will not happen again,” he said.

s – Thousands of Armenian-Americans and their supporters rallied in front of the Turkish Consulate on Sunday, the 101st anniversary of the start of the Armenian Genocide, demanding formal recognition and reparations following a march in Little Armenia.

Some carried large Armenian flags. Others carried signs of a closed fist that read “Justice” or simply “Shame on Turkey.”

“Everybody thought that with the centennial that would be the end of it, but our struggle has only begun,” said Nora Hovsepian, chairwoman of the National Armenian Committee of America’s Western Region, before the Rally for Justice on Wilshire Boulevard.

Many speakers featured at the rally expressed anger not only at Turkey for refusing to acknowledge the genocide by Ottoman Turks that killed up to 1.5 million Armenians more than a century ago but also at President Barack Obama who failed to use the word genocide again this year despite campaign promises to the contrary.

The U.S. Congress has also failed to pass a proposed resolution in recent years that would formally recognize the events from 1915-1923 as a genocide.

“The United States of America has openly condemned the atrocities committed by ISIS as genocide,” Tamar Poladian told attendees on behalf of the Armenian Genocide Committee. “The time has come for the United States of America to recognize the atrocities committed by the Turks against the Armenians as genocide.”

Poladian said they demand from the government of Turkey full compensation for all they have lost. That includes 1.5 million lives, billions of dollars in properties and priceless cultural and religious monuments as well as the return of historical Armenian lands located in eastern Turkey, she said.

Turkey has long denied that there was a systematic killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks a century ago.

Organizers estimated that as many as 60,000 people rallied in front of the Turkish Consulate on Sunday. A small plane continuously flew over the protest with a banner of the Turkish flag, which prompted the crowd to chant “Shame on Turkey” several times.

Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Burbank, whose district includes a large contingent of Armenian-Americans, called Obama’s decision not to use the term genocide last week in his final year in office “a grave disappointment.”

“How many administrations must be intimidated into silence before we realize it never changes Turkish behavior for the better and only emboldens their increasingly authoritarian regime?” Schiff asked to loud applause.

Christians in Syria, including Armenians who are descendants of those killed in the genocide a century ago, also are facing genocide today at the hands of “a terrorist scourge in Syria,” Schiff said. Turkey has “aided and abetted” the destruction of these Christians by failing to close its border to weapons, foreign fighters, oil and money, he said.

Meanwhile, the Eurasian country of Azerbaijan — which is aided by Turkey — has instigated “the worst violence in years” with tanks and heavy artillery and aircraft against Armenians struggling for self-determination in the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, he said.

In addition to Armenians, a contingent of some 200 Assyrians waved their white national flags in a sea of Armenian flags at the rally.

The ancient Christian community that originally hailed from Mesopotamia, now present-day Iraq, lost some 750,000 of its people at the hands of Ottoman Turks a century ago — which was about three-quarters of its pre-war population, according to historians.

Earlier in the day, many thousands — most of whom were wearing black — also marched in Little Armenia in Hollywood in commemoration of the somber anniversary. Among them was Armenian-American Hermine Chobanyan of Sherman Oaks, who has marched every year here for at least the last four years.

“My mom’s grandmother is a survivor of the genocide,” she said. “We want justice. We want America to recognize (the genocide), Turkey to recognize it and to give our lands back.”

Her aunt Mareta Melkonyan said her grandmother was a child when she witnessed her parents killed with swords before her eyes by Ottoman Turks a century ago. Her family had a lot of wealth that they had buried and had to leave behind, something her grandmother never got to see returned to her before she passed away.

“We want everything back,” Melkonyan said. “We’re going to fight until the end.”

Following the latest controversies, Sweden’s Turkish National Association risks having to pay back millions of krona the union earlier received in government grants; competent bodies question whether the association can be considered democratic at all, reports.

On April 9, Barbaros Leylani, then vice president of the Turkish National Association, raised hell with a speech at a demonstration in Stockholm, where he announced his support for Azerbaijan in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Also, a number of flag-waving members of the Grey Wolves, a Turkish supremacist, far-right and neo-fascist organization, were spotted at the demonstration.

“Death to the Armenian dogs! Death! Death!” Leylani shouted, among other things, according to .

This triggered an investigation to find out whether the Turkish National Association reflects the basic requirements of democratic values.

“This statement was not consistent with respect for human equality and human rights, and therefore we [initially] started this investigation on our own initiative,” says Anders Hagquist, communications director at the National Agency for Youth and Civil Society, MUCF.

Barbaros . However, his confrontational statements are not the only thing that is now being investigated, according to Anders Hagquist. Numerous minority organizations and former members of the Turkish National Association have formally the organization’s texts and speeches for being “hateful.”

“We have received many complaints in the past and now we need to examine them again, considering the recent situation,” he said.

Earlier, Sweden’s reported the incident to the police.

“I was very, very worried when I saw the clip. This is very unnerving,” president Garlen Mansourian told TV4.

Despite the frequent complaints, the Turkish National Association has continued to receive state support of over half a million krona per year. According to the news portal , the state aid from MUCF (whose primary aim is to combat racism and promote integration in Sweden) amounted to 630,000 krona (roughly 80,000 dollars) last year alone. Now, MUCF may very see its funding cut, which spells doom.

This would be a disaster for the Turkish National Association, Union Secretary Yasin Ipek told .

“We would probably go out of business and cease to exist as an association,” he said.

Yasin Ipek believes that last week’s debate was unfair.

“We are neither racists nor fascists. You cannot punish the whole union because of one person,” he says.

According to the Swedish , which endorses state aid to minority societies, the Turkish National Organization is a large association, comprising over 12,000 members. At present, over 50,000 Turks are estimated to be living in Sweden.

A German orchestra said on Saturday that Turkey attempted to pressure it and the EU to keep the term “genocide” out of a concert marking the massacres of Armenians by Ottoman forces during World War I, reports.

The controversy centres on texts that will be sung or spoken during the April 30 show in the eastern German city of Dresden, as well as the event’s programme, which uses the word.

“It’s an infringement on freedom of expression,” said Markus Rindt, director of the Dresdner Sinfoniker orchestra.

Rindt said Turkey’s delegation to the European Union demanded the European Commission withdraw 200,000 euros ($224,500) in funding for the concert.

The commission ultimately maintained its financial support, but asked the orchestra to not mention genocide and has removed any mention of the event from its website, Rindt said.

“We find all of this very questionable,” he added.

A commission spokeswoman confirmed that details of the concert had been pulled from the body’s website.

“Due to concerns raised regarding the wording used in the project description, the Commission temporarily withdrew it,” the spokeswoman said. “A new project description will be republished in the coming days.”

Turkey As the successor state of the Ottoman Empire is internationally responsible for Armenian Genocide and will be held accountable

Many are the great and small unresolved problems facing mankind today.  One of them, still remains as the heaviest burden on the human conscience, as the first genocide of the 20^th Century perpetrated by the Ottoman Turks (1915-21) against the Armenian nation, sacrificing/slaughtering over 1, 5 million Armenians … hundreds of thousands at a time were uprooted from their ancestral homes in Armenia, forced onto death marches to the Syrian deserts (of Deir-El-Zor, part of the vast Ottoman Empire) thirsting and starving on the way … The ‘civilized’ Young Turks plundered and looted the material and cultural wealth created by the ancient Armenians over thousands of years in their native lands, which today incredibly still remain occupied by the inheritors of the Ottoman Turks, the modern Turkish fascist State.   The latter continues precisely the same policies of genocide visibly and invisibly in new forms and under new disguises.

Last year much of the world marked the centenary of the Armenian genocide demanding recognition, justice and compensation.  Notably, the European Parliament unanimously passed a commemorative resolution on 15 April 2015, and invited the European Commission to join in the commemorations.

The genocide of the Armenians is still being stubbornly negated by the Turkish State – massive depositions and monetary resources (government bribes to individuals and arms manufacturing companies) are being wasted, totally immoral political decisions are taken daily, to escape responsibility and liability in the destruction of international policy obligations.  The Turks could not achieve – they did not even attempt to do so – the moral heights of the German people.   The Jewish Holocaust did find its resolution though – Germany, and the whole world acknowledged the crime and compensated the Jewish survivors, and rightly so.  The Jewish nation received back its country and historical fatherland, while the millennia old Armenia still remains today occupied, ‘conquered’, “empty of its native nation!”

After the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, many nations and peoples liberated their countries creating national states, except for the Armenians – the perversity of global war-weariness was such that, as if … punishment for the enormous contribution the Armenians had made to world civilization and cultures, slaughter, massacres and genocide fell to their lot…

The present rulers of Turkey, ignoring all the firm objective historical facts, conduct negative denialist policies, thus proving unequivocally before the very eyes of the international community that their aims have not altered.

– they have learnt nothing from history –

Turkey and now his “younger brother” Azerbaijan has the common aim and intents to put an end to the existence of Armenians in Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh. Turkey’s openly supported Four –Day War (2-5 April) of Azerbaijanis aggression against the peaceful people of Nagorno-Karabakh gives no doubt to above mentioned intentions.

The Azerbaijani government has been busily buying up the deadliest weapons its oil-rich money just to seek revenge against Armenians living in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Moreover, relative to the size of the American Presidential map of Armenia (known as the Wilsonian Armenia of 300,000 km2), the stamp-sized Republic of Armenia (a mere 30,000 km2) saved from genocidal extinction, today is squeezed between the same two genocidal states of Turkey and Azerbaijan, who lose no brotherly occasion in international diplomacy to shamelessly threaten their neighbour literally, intent on swallowing up the leftovers of their historical crime.

The current government of Turkey headed by Erdogan showing its horrible face declare his intends to reestablish the Ottoman Empire, which means once again atrocities and genocide against all non-Turkish ethnic nationalities and peoples especially Armenians and The Kurds.

The genocide of the Armenians was perpetrated before the eyes of the ‘civilized’ Europeans, unfortunately, to our great regret, even by their ‘permission’, now the civilized world is silent. Such a silence means acceptance of atrocities and encourages the murderers to become more killing and crime against humanity.

The present government of Turkey is the Patron of pseudo-Islamic Caliphate of ISIS and its co-conspirators Al-Qaida & Al-Nousra.
Those hordes of terrorist murder-squads enjoy free entry-and-exit in and out of Turkey, enjoy the logistical support of Turkey’s military-industrial complex, and are trained and well-equipped with up-to-date weaponry in Turkish military camps. This mercenary murderers have brutally slaughtered many Genocide survival Armenians of Kesab in Syria.

We call upon the United Nation, European Union and the International Community to strongly condemn   most recent war crime atrocities committed by the Azerbaijani military     against Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh and take the necessary measures without delay to stop the continuing, genocidal, murderous crimes against Armenians and Kurds by Azerbaijan and Turkey.

What is the humanitarian moral duty of international political centers and their co-workers?

Today’s international public organizations must absolutely remain faithful to their own declared values and aims.  The consequences of the genocide of the Armenians can only be resolved by solutions binding on the international community via the United Nations, based on past and presently active international laws.

The Assembly of the Armenians in Europe, as an NGO active in the family of the European Communities – a pan-European but also a world-wide organization – is determined, on the occasion of the 101th anniversary of the Young Turkish genocide, to finally focus the attention of the international public opinion on the overdue need of the genocide recognition its unequivocal condemnation, and commitment to remove its tragic consequences through necessary material and territorial compensations.

We know very well that in all the countries of the world there are millions of people determined to fight for Human Rights and justice for all, until a final victory.  We demand of the International Public Opinion to finally hear and listen to the scream for Justice by the global millions.

We witness daily how even in Turkey itself the democratic and freedom-loving forces are evolving day-by-day, and blossoming into political movements that are determined to correct their historical criminal errors, wipe off the wounds they caused in the past, with the aim of living in harmony and peace with the children of the generation of their innocent victims decimated by the evil forces of the Ottoman tyranny.

Our expectation is that, after 101 very long years as a direct result of the endless efforts of the Armenians all over the world, and in close and immediate co-operation with the progressive forces of mankind, the practical realization of the international law and Rights becomes at last manifest as a newly minted historical fact, causing the final removal of all criminal consequences of the murderous act against mankind, awarding the Armenian people accordingly a just compensation long overdue for a century!  Thus, the ultimate justice fought for a hundred years shall rise up proudly as mankind’s greatest victory in modern history. 

According to German paper , the Blues submitted a €60m for Mkhitaryan last summer and are ready to go back in for him when the transfer window reopens at the end of the season,

The Armenia international has enjoyed a phenomenal season, scoring 23 goals and creating a further 30 in 49 appearances.

He is about to enter the final 12 months of his contract and appears no closer to a new deal after snubbing a £6.4m-a-year extension.

Asked by Bild if he is about to pen fresh terms, Mkhitaryan said: “I do not know yet.”

And when pressed on Chelsea’s interest, he replied: “I do not know.”

Chelsea are prepared to back new boss Antonio Conte in the transfer market and the Italian reportedly has a £130m kitty to play with.

Unsurprisingly, Mkhitaryan has plenty of admirers including Arsenal and Juventus.