UN DOES NOT AVOID DISCUSSION OF EVENTS OF 1915 NOT CALLING THEM GENOCIDE

Pan Armenian News
21.04.2005 05:55

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ «My position does not allow me evaluating
the events of 1915, however it does not mean I avoid these
evaluations,» Juan Mendez, Adviser to the UN Secretary-General on
the Prevention of Genocide, stated answering a question why he does
not qualify the massacre of Armenians as a genocide. In his words,
as a UN representative, he has to express the position of that
organization. «However, as a private person I have not studied
the events of 1915 enough and it is hard to me to define them,»
Juan Mendez added. «My mandate provides for discussion of issues
of prevention of genocides in the future and I cannot accentuate a
specific event,» he emphasized. At that he added that the fact that
the UN does not call the events of the past century a genocide does
not mean that the organization avoids discussion of the issue. The
UN is a structure that includes many countries and all UN members
should come for it giving a specific evaluation for the UN to do
it. Juan Mendez welcomed the UN passing a resolution referring to the
Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide
on 20 April. Armenia has authored the resolution. In Juan Mendez~Rs
words, the adoption of the resolution evidences the UN is interested
in preventing future genocides.

–Boundary_(ID_lltjcuqKaTdftIoq8JtO/Q)–

NKR PRESIDENT AGAINST LABELING

Pan Armenian News
21.04.2005 05:15

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The coming parliamentary election in Nagorno Karabakh
is a step that will convince the international community the NK has
a right for independence, President of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic
Arkady Ghukasian stated at a briefing today. Our duty is to organize
exemplary, transparent election, which will be of a pivotal importance
to Nagorno Karabakh,» he noted. Speaking of the situation at the
contact line between the Armed Forces of the NKR and Azerbaijan,
Arkady Ghukasian noted that the Azeri party is trying to advance its
positions, however it does not pose a serious threat. «We are always
ready to it and in many cases we did not allow Azerbaijan to advance
its positions,» the NKR President added. In his words, the Karabakh
party has addressed the OSCE MG Co-Chairs many times asking to fix
the front line in a way to be able to determine those guilty from
both sides. In Mr. Ghukasian’s words, today the OSCE tries to equally
blame both parties. «I think the principle of equal division of the
guilt being still available is incorrect,» he noted. Answering the
question on changing, specifically «mitigating» Armenia’s stand in
the solution of the Karabakh issue, Ghukasian said he was sure that
Armenia’s stand had not changed. «Speaking of defeatist policy of
Armenia is incorrect. That policy is no more defeatist than that of
Azerbaijan. I am against labeling. This also applies to the incumbent
and past authorities. Each political force has a right for its own
stand over diverse issues,» Arkady Ghukasian added.

–Boundary_(ID_B2Gig7ZxqpKWOVqoQNm3sQ)–

Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR)
April 21 2005

ARMENIA: A SPRING AWAKENING?

First rumblings of the contest to be the next Armenian president.

By Susanna Petrosian in Yerevan

After a lull of a year, Armenia’s domestic politics are livening up
again. New opposition movements are being formed and the speaker of
parliament is showing signs of political ambition.

For the moment, though, these political stirrings – both by emerging
groups and established opposition parties – have largely left the
public unmoved.

According to Natalya Martirosian, coordinator of the Armenian office
of the Helsinki Citizens Assembly, a new group calling itself Bekum,
or Breakthrough, could emerge as a potent force for change.

“The creation of Bekum is one of the potential steps towards change
in this country,” she told IWPR.

Bekum was set up by a number of non-government organisations, NGOs,
which want to see swifter progress towards a civil society.

At the beginning of April, another group called the National League
for Armenian Independence was formed, with the declared aim of
opposing any political decision that it believes poses a threat to
the country’s independence. The group pledged to use all
constitutional means to ensure that “passive social protest becomes
active”.

There has been a marked revival in the activity of mainstream
opposition parties, too. The opposition New Times and Republic Party
both held conferences recently, while the Justice bloc held a forum
at which there were calls for the resignation of the administration
of President Robert Kocharian.

Aram Karapetian, leader of the New Times party and an unsuccessful
candidate in the 2003 presidential election, believes that the
evolutionary approach is not working and the only way forward is the
kind of peaceful revolution that occurred in Georgia, Ukraine and
Kyrgyzstan.

“I am sure that we will succeed in uniting the dissatisfied masses,
pressure from which will force the government to step down. Victory
is inevitable,” said Karapetian.

The leader of the Republic Party, former prime minister Aram
Sarksian, voiced similar views, “In Armenia, we have reached a
situation where we need not just a change of power, but revolution.
Many people agree with this, and we need only to get together at a
certain time and place.

“A nationwide revolution will take place unexpectedly – and not one
window pane will be broken.”

Leaders of the nine-party parliamentary faction Justice are taking a
less radical position. They believe that the government can still be
removed by constitutional means, with the best option being to hold a
national referendum expressing no confidence in the president.

“We favour a calm and peaceful solution to events,” said Justice
faction secretary Viktor Dallakian.

For the moment, President Kocharian appears more secure than his
counterparts in other parts of the former Soviet Union. He is three
years away from the end of his second and final presidential term in
2008. To achieve the kind of national ballot it wants, the opposition
would have to get parliament – with its pro-government majority – to
agree amendments to the law governing referendums.

The opposition has been boycotting sessions of parliament for more
than a year. Despite this, opposition deputies make monthly
statements and are given a small amount of airtime once a week on
national television.

Pro-government politicians say the current opposition poses them no
threat.

“There will be no outside-inspired revolution in Armenia because,
unlike other former Soviet republics, Armenia cannot create problems
for the superpowers,” said Galust Saakian, leader of the Republican
Party of Armenia faction, a pro-government group (not to be confused
with the Republic party).

“Both the opposition and the government will be careful not to erase
15 years of statehood for the sake of satisfying the great powers and
other dubious forces,” said Prime Minister Andrannik Margarian
robustly.

Government supporters say Armenia lacks the same kind of problems
that made revolutions possible in Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan.
Moreover, they believe a prerequisite for this kind of revolution is
the catalyst provided by elections, which in Armenia’s case are more
than two years away.

“It’s highly unlikely that there’ll be a new scenario in Armenia,”
said Samvel Nikoyan, a pro-government member of parliament.

Kocharian was in confident mood when he spoke to students in Yerevan
on April 11, telling them, “I call on the opposition to stop worrying
about the fact that they are weak and have achieved nothing. They
have achieved nothing because the country and government is better.”

However, some observers reading the political runes in Armenia say
they see signs of nervousness at the top, and even the start of a
campaign to succeed Kocharian from inside the ruling elite.

At the end of March, Kocharian was invited to Paris by French
president Jacques Chirac. But for the first time in his seven-year
presidency, Kocharian declined an invitation to go abroad.

Although official sources cited a leg injury as the reason, the
opposition press wrote that the president had no health problems, so
there was speculation that the delay had a political rather than a
medical cause. The Armenian president finally left for France on
April 20.

His trip took place just as National Assembly speaker Artur
Bagdasarian – whose position makes him the second most senior
official in Armenia’s hierarchy – was making his presence felt.

Two weeks ago, an article written by Bagdasarian appeared in the
press, discussing the need to hold democratic presidential and
parliamentary elections in Armenia.

Many observers believe that Bagdasarian’s article is essentially a
pre-election political manifesto. “The revolution has already begun:
read Bagdasarian’s article carefully,” said opposition leader Aram
Sarkisian.

Bagdasarian’s Orinats Yerkir or Country of Law party has also been
courting other parties, including opposition groups.

Even some of Bagdasarian’s colleagues from the ruling coalition say
the speaker is beginning an election campaign. “He has turned
parliament into an election headquarters,” said Galust Saakian.

Bagdasarian recently made a high-profile trip to Moscow, where he
discussed economic matters with Russia’s minister of transport and
the co-chairman of the Armenia-Russia intergovernmental commission,
even though these issues are the business of the government rather
than parliament.

With Kocharian’s return from France, political commentators are
waiting for the next episode in this slowly evolving political drama.

Susanna Petrosian is a journalist with Noyan Tapan news agency.

Which electoral law will the new Cabinet choose?
By Nada Raad, Special to The Daily Star

The Daily Star, Lebanon
April 22 2005

BEIRUT: Barring any surprises, the new Cabinet is widely expected to
announce in its Ministerial Statement next week an electoral law that
will shape parliamentary elections to be held this spring.

Currently, there are three possible draft laws for Prime
Minister-designate Najib Mikati’s government to choose from.

The first option would be to approve the draft electoral law
presently before Parliament; it proposes the division of Lebanon
into small electoral districts known as qadas paired with a majority
representation system.

Such a law was implemented during the 2000 elections and included
redrawing some electoral districts, particularly in Baabda-Aley
and Beirut.

The 2000 law divided the country into 14 electoral districts, ranging
in size from governorates to qadas.

The current draft law is being championed by members of the
opposition, particularly Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Butros Sfeir
and the Christian Qornet Shehwan Gathering, because they feel it will
guarantee their candidates a victory at the next polls.

It is understood that opposition candidates, particularly Christians
and Druze – who possess a slight majority in their respective
strongholds – can form a majority in Parliament if smaller districts
are designated.

But, this may not be the case if electoral districts are enlarged,
as the opposition risks losing considerable support by having to
forge alliances to guarantee victory.

However, the current draft law is opposed by several loyalist members,
particularly the two Shiite blocs in Parliament, Hizbullah and the
Amal Movement, despite their acceptance of the similar law in 2000.

The second option, which both Hizbullah and Amal have called for, is
the designation of an electoral law of proportional representation in
larger districts known as mohafazat or governorates. (For an example
of how to calculate the appointment of seats in a proportional
representation system, see box on left).

But such a system has never existed in Lebanon and would require
a thorough count of the country’s population to accurately divide
the electoral districts, particularly considering the sectarian
requirements for the 128 seats in Parliament.

According to the 1989 Taif Accord, Parliament’s 128 seats must be
split 50-50 between Christians and Muslims, with each half required
to include representation of the country’s 18 recognized confessions.

Considering the monumental undertaking this system would entail,
observers have said calls for its implementation can only serve to
delay polls.

If the system is implemented in Lebanon, it is expected to be designed
in a way that respects the sectarian division of parliamentary
seats. Several suggestions have been put forward by electoral experts
on how to implement the system, but none has yet been approved.

Proportional representation asks voters to elect one entire list
of candidates as opposed to individual names. It could be applied
on a national level drawing the whole country as a single electoral
district or in large regions known as governorates.

The third option is a possible compromise between the two previous
electoral systems that some observers have said Mikati may suggest.
It considers the implementation of a mixed system, including both
majority and proportional representation.

This system was first implemented in Germany and stipulates the
election of half of Parliament based on a majority system and the
other half based on proportional representation.

Voters would simultaneously elect a candidate that represents
their electoral district and a list that represents their political
affiliations.

But this system has also never been implemented in Lebanon and
would require preparations to explain it to voters and candidates.
Therefore, it could also be seen as a means to delay elections.

Another complication for Mikati’s new Cabinet is the fact there is
no clear-cut preference for an electoral law among the loyalists as
a group or among the opposition.

As it now stands, the sectarian division of Parliament is as follows:
Maronite 34, Sunni 27, Shiites 27, Greek Orthodox 14, Greek Catholic
8, Druze 8, Armenian Orthodox 5, Alawite 2, Armenian Catholic 1,
Protestant 1 and Christian Minority 1.

PRESS RELEASE
Eastern Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church of America
138 East 39th Street
New York, NY 10016
Tel: 212-689-7810
Fax: 212-689-7168
e-mail: [email protected]
Website:
Contact: Iris Papazian

CROSSROADS E-NEWSLETTER – April 21, 2005

SUNDAY IS APRIL 24TH-MARTYRS’ DAY;
JOINT UNITED COMMEMORATION IN NEW YORK
Thousands of Armenian Americans will join forces in New York City on
Sunday, April 24, to attend the various commemorative events on the occasion
of the 90th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide of 1915. More than 45 buses
are expected from outlying areas, joining many coming from the metro area
through their own mode of transportation.
The day will begin at 9 am with Divine Liturgies celebrated at St.
Vartan and St. Illuminator’s Cathedrals in New York City. Mass will also
take place at St. Ann’s Armenian Catholic Church in Brooklyn, and services
will take place at the Armenian Evangelical Church in New York City, and the
Armenian Presbyterian Church in Paramus, New Jersey.
The Memorial Gathering at Times Square will begin at 12 noon and
continue until 1:30 pm. The day will conclude with a solemn ecumenical
requiem service at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Fifth Avenue at 50th Street,
beginning at 2:30 pm and concluding at 4:30 pm.
Detailed information is available at

CANDLELIGHT VIGIL TOMORROW EVENING
AT BEAST ON THE MOON PERFORMANCE
The Joint Committee of the 90th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide and
the producers of the internationally acclaimed Beast on the Moon will join
together to hold a candlelight vigil in remembrance of the victims and
survivors of the 1915 Armenian Genocide. The vigil will begin tomorrow
evening, Friday, April 22, at 9:30 pm outside the Century Center for the
Performing Arts, 111 E. 15th Street), where the Beast on the Moon is
currently being performed.
The vigil is a prelude to the 90th anniversary memorial observance on
April 24 as described above.
Some of us here at Crossroads went last weekend to see Beast on the
Moon, and found it to be a poignant and riveting production. The critically
acclaimed play by Richard Kalinoski, is an immigrant love story whose two
central characters are survivors of the Armenian Genocide. Although this is
the New York premiere, the play has been performed in 17 countries and has
received 40 awards including “best play” in Paris and Buenos Aires. The
acting in this New York production is superb and should not be missed. For
information go to:
We have just heard from a friend of Crossroads that about 10 tickets are
still available for Saturday matinee performance, April 23, through St. Leon
Church (NJ). Contact Ara Araz, 917-837-1297. Especially good for
out-of-towners who will be in New York for the commemorative events and
would like to see the performance.

ARCHBISHOP OSHAGAN ATTENDS CAPITOL HILL
COMMEMORATION FOR APRIL 24
Archbishop Oshagan attended the Capitol Hill remembrance of the Armenian
Genocide yesterday, sponsored by the co-chairs of the Congressional Caucus
on Armenian Issues, Congressmen Joe Knollenberg and Frank Pallone.
More than 200 members of Congress have signed the letters asking
President Bush to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide in his statement of
remembrance.
His Eminence delivered the opening prayer in which he said, in part:
Nine decades ago the Armenian people went through the cruel valley of
death. No people can remain the same after it has endured the terror and
suffering of genocide. The recollections rekindle memories and open the
incurable wound in the soul of the Armenian nation. We humbly acknowledge
Your power and goodness and look to You to heal our wounds.

ARAM I WILL COMMEMORATE MARTYRS DAY IN DEIR ZOR
His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia, will
commemorate the 90th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide in Deir Zor, the
very site where thousands and thousands of Armenians perished during the
forced deportation and death march.
On Saturday, April 23, His Holiness will lead the Hsgoum Service and
candlelighting ceremony. On Sunday, April 24, the Catholicos will officiate
over the Divine Liturgy and Solemn Requiem Service. The services will take
place in the chapel and martyrs monument built in Deir Zor during the
pontificate of His Holiness Karekin II of Cilicia, and which has now become
a sacred pilgrimage site.

CATHOLICOS ARAM CONGRATULATES NEW POPE
On the occasion of the election of His Holiness Benedict XVI as Pope of
the Roman Catholic Church, His Holiness Aram I offered congratulations with
the following message:
Your Holiness: It is with profound spiritual joy that I greet your
election as Bishop of Rome and the Pontiff of the Catholic Church. Long
standing ecumenical collaboration exists between the Armenian Catholicosate
of Cilicia and the Catholic Church. In the last few decades collaboration
was further deepened through mutual visits and theological dialogue. I am
sure that during your pontificate a new impetus will be given to our
ecumenical collaboration.
As Moderator of the Central and Executive committees of the World
Council of Churches, I also warmly congratulate you. It is my firm
expectation that the ecumenical collaboration between the Vatican and the
World Council of Churches through the Joint Group and in different ways will
acquire a renewed importance in the context of our common engagement for the
visible unity of the church.
I look forward to closer collaboration with Your Holiness and with the
Catholic Church. May our common Lord Jesus Christ strengthen you spiritually
and physically as you assume this heavy responsibility at a crucial time in
the modern history of humanity.

MINISTER OF ENVIRONMENT VISITS PRELACY
Vartan Ayvazian, Armenia’s Minister of Environment and Natural
Resources, visited Archbishop Oshagan at the Prelacy today. The Minister was
accompanied by Ambassador Armen Martirossian, Permanent Representative of
the Republic of Armenia to the United Nations. Minister Ayvazian is here to
attend an international conference on environmental issues at the United
Nations. The Minister and Ambassador shared information with Archbishop
Oshagan pertaining to environmental issues in Armenia.

PRELATE AND VICAR ATTEND OPENING OF EXHIBIT
Archbishop Oshagan and V. Rev. Fr. Anoushavan attended the opening of a
new exhibit, “The Human Face of Anthropology” and “Armenia: Memories from my
Home,” by the Anthropology Museum of the People of New York and The Armenian
Cultural Educational Resource Center Gallery, on Saturday, April 16.

CATHOLICATE OF CILICIA PARTICIPATES IN
SPECIAL COMMISSION
The Special Commission on Orthodox participation in the World Council of
Churches took place in Etchmiadzin, Armenia, April 12 to 18.
His Holiness Karekin II, Catholicos of All Armenians, hosted the meeting
and met with the participants and conveyed warm greetings and wishes for
success.
Bishop Nareg Alemezian, a member of the steering committee of the
commission and ecumenical officer of the Catholicate of Cilicia,
participated on behalf of the Cilician See.

WNYW-TV FOCUS ON THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
This Saturday, April 23, WNYW-TV (channel 5) will air “Street Talk” a
community affairs show focusing on the Armenian Genocide. Metro New York
area residents will be able to see the show at 6 am. The tentative line up
of guests includes: Senator Chuck Schumer, Congressman Frank Pallone, Prof.
Peter Balakian, and Dr. Anie Kalayjian.

CBS WILL BROADCAST INTERVIEWS
The news director of WCBS News Radio (880 AM) has informed us that
tomorrow, Friday, April 22 and Sunday, April 24, they will broadcast
interviews they have done relative to the Armenian Genocide. The interviews
will be broadcast at various times between 5 a.m. and 12 noon.
Interviewees include Archbishop Oshagan Choloyan, Mrs. Rahan Kachian (a
survivor of the Genocide), and Professor Dennis Papazian.

ARTICLES IN NEWSPAPERS, ETC.
During the past week there have been a number of articles relative to
the 90th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. No doubt, during the coming
week there will be more. Next week we will give you a summary report and try
to put as many as possible on the joint commemorative committee’s web site:

WIFE OF GENERAL DRO DIES IN BOSTON
Crossroads has just been informed of the passing of Mrs. Gayane Kanayan,
the widow of the famed General Dro. Mrs. Kanayan died in Boston where she
lived. Funeral arrangements have not been finalized.

BBC NEWS FEATURES ANJAR, LEBANON
Today’s edition of BBC News has a story about Anjar, Lebanon, entitled
“Change Comes to Syria’s Lebanon ‘Home.'”
Anjar is a town in Lebanon bordering on Syria in the Bekaa Valley
inhabited by Armenians. The original Armenian settlers in Anjar were the
remnants of Musa Dagh, where Armenians made a heroic last stand against the
Turkish onslaught.
The story is about the Syria withdrawal from the area, which had become
one of Syria’s main military bases in the area.
To read the entire story go to:

SHAKESPEARE’S BIRTHDAY
This Saturday, April 23, is the 441st birthday of William Shakespeare,
the most influential writer in the history of English literature.
The most famous quotes in the English language are either from
Shakespeare or the King James version of the Bible.

FINALLY..
A reminder to take part in April 24th commemorations this weekend. If
you are residents on the east coast, especially between Boston and
Washington, plan to be in New York City for the massive joint and united
commemoration.
Let us pay our respects to our ancestors while directing all of our
efforts to our future.

Visit our website at

The Statesman, India
April 22 2005

100 years ago today

APRIL 22, 1905
(News Items)
Armenian College Prize Distribution

The annual distribution of prizes to the pupils of the Armenian
College and Philanthropic Academy was held last evening at the
Theatre Royal in the presence of a large gathering of parents,
guardians, friends. His Grace the Archbishop of Armenia, Persia, and
India presided. The proceedings included vocal and instrumental items
besides recitations in Armenian French and English, all of which were
rendered in a manner which reflected much credit on the training
of the boys. The report of the management was read by Mr W.P.S.
Milstead, Principal of the Institution.

‘Mothers threw their children in the lake rather than let the Turks have them’
By Jeremy Page and Anthony Browne

The Times, UK
April 22 2005

Ninety years on, Armenian massacres are still causing political fallout

VARAZDAT was six when his family were driven from their home by
Turkish troops in 1915. But even 90 years after Ottoman troops began
the slaughter of up to 1.5 million Armenians, fear still flickers in
his eyes.

As the family and 200,000 other Armenians fled east from their homes
in Van, near modern Turkey’s eastern border, Turk and Kurdish forces
opened fire from both sides. “They killed so many. Mothers threw their
children in the lake. They said it was better to drown them than let
the Turks have them,” Varadzat Harutyuniyan told The Times.

Mr Harutyuniyan will join 1.5 million Armenians on Sunday in a march
through Yerevan to mark the 90th anniversary of what many countries
call the Armenian genocide. It will be the biggest event so far in
a campaign to force Turkey to recognise the massacres as genocide,
and to open diplomatic ties – and its border – with Armenia before
joining the EU. And as Ankara prepares to begin EU entry talks in
October, the Armenians are winning international sympathy.

“We remember the past with pain, but without hatred,” President
Kocharyan of Armenia told a conference on genocide this week. “For
us it is difficult to comprehend the response of the Turkish side,
which is represented not only by the denial of the past but also by
the blockade of modern Armenia.”

On April 24, 1915, the Young Turk regime had 200 prominent Armenians
arrested at the start of what Armenians call a programme to eliminate
them from the crumbling Ottoman Empire. About 1.5 million Armenians
were slaughtered by the Turks, or died of starvation and disease
during mass deportations between 1915 and 1918.

Turkey denies responsibility, saying 300,000 Armenians and 500,000
Turks died in inter-ethnic conflict after nationalist Armenians
sided with invading Russian troops. But a growing number of Western
governments are rejecting the official Turkish line. A European
diplomat described it as “baloney”.

On Tuesday Poland joined 15 countries, including France, Canada
and Switzerland, that have officially acknowledged the killings as
genocide – a move that Turkey denounced as irresponsible.

“The truth must come out,” said Lech Walesa, the former Polish
President, at this week’s conference. “It is a just claim of the
Armenians that Turkey’s entrance into the European Union should come
after admitting genocide.”

President Chirac of France has also insisted that Turkey recognises
the genocide before entering the EU – not least because 400,000
Armenians live in France. Britain and the US have yet to follow suit,
anxious not to upset a key Nato ally on the borders of Iraq. The
British Government, a strong supporter of Turkey’s EU membership,
says the issue is a “matter for historians” .

But the powerful Armenian diaspora has been energetically lobbying
the British Parliament and the US Congress, and pressing President
Bush to use the “g” word in his annual message to the Armenian people
on Sunday.

At the same time, pressure has been mounting within Turkey for a
review of its official history after decades during which any public
discussion of the issue was banned. Only last year the Government
adopted an amended penal code making it a criminal offence to promote
the idea that genocide had happened. In February the award-winning
Turkish novelist, Orhan Pamuk, told a Swiss newspaper that “one
million Armenians were killed in Turkey”, prompting one governor to
order his books to be burnt.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish Prime Minister, last week suggested
setting up a joint commission to study the genocide allegations.

For Armenians, however, the offer came far too late. History, they
say, is no longer up for debate. “I have no doubt the question of
genocide will be on the agenda for the talks between the EU and
Turkey,” said Vardan Oskanyan, the Armenian Foreign Minister. “We,
of course, would like the EU to put it forward as a condition.”

The risk, however, is that right-wing elements in the EU and Turkey
are now latching on to the issue to derail Turkey’s EU entry. On
Wednesday the head of the Turkish Armed Forces, General Hilmi Ozkok,
called on Armenia to drop the genocide allegations. The 1923 Lausanne
Treaty, which established modern Turkey, “put an end to the baseless
genocide claims politically and legally,” he said.

Turkey’s state archive put out a list last weekend of more than
500,000 Turks it said were massacred by Armenians.

Turkey’s state archive put out a list last weekend of more than 500,000
Turks it said were massacred by Armenians. For the few remaining
survivors of the massacres, time is fast running out. Last October
there were 289 living in Yerevan. Today there are only 200.

At 102 years old, Gulinia Musoyan is too frail to leave her bed. But
she is still determined to relate how Turkish soldiers forced her
from her home in Kessab, near the coast, and marched her barefoot
across the desert in 1915. “They were just forcing us to walk,” she
said. “We were so hungry and thirsty. At times I couldn’t walk at all.”

Of the 6,000 who left Kessab, only 2,000 survived.

DEATH MARCH

Up to 1.5 million people were killed or died during deportation
from Turkey between April 24, 1915 – when 200 prominent Armenians
were executed – and 1917 Up to a million Armenians were interned or
died on forced marches to Mesopotamia and modern Syria The event is
recognised as genocide by 15 countries including Russia, France and
Switzerland, but not by Britain or the US The diplomatic dispute
continues and the Turkish and Armenian borders remain closed

Richard Kalinoski’s intimate account of Armenian genocide comes to NY
By JERRY TALLMER

Gay City News, NY
April 21 2005

The Shelter of Love

The horrors are planted so deep, they all but wreck the marriage
before it begins for Aram Tomasian and Seta, the child bride that
Tomasian, as she calls him, had imported from Istanbul to Milwaukee
in 1921. It was in fact another girl’s photograph that had been sent
to him-he himself, Aram Tomasian, was an up-and-coming photographer
in Milwaukee-but Seta wasn’t bad looking, she was quiet, so she’d do.

Except for the nightmares. When Tomasian saw his wife driving nails
into the arms of her doll, he thought she was crazy. But then it came
out. Seta found her tongue. “My mother nailed into wood-crucified
by the Turks-because she would not forsake her God! My sister raped.
Because I was a child, I was left.”

And then it also came out, from her husband, her stiff strange husband,
who cut the heads off his family photographs. On another day, back
in that other country, he had run from his hiding place, a hole in
the floor, out into the backyard where his mother had a clothesline
for the wash, and on that clothesline the Turks had hung the heads
of his mother, his father, his sister, his brother, everybody.

Ninety years ago this month, on April 24, 1915, a genocide that would
result in the deaths of a million and a half Armenians at the hands
of the Turks began-the slaughter that Hitler cited as prelude to his
own. Yet, who today remembers the extermination of the Armenians?

On April 27, the New York City premiere of a play called “Beast on
the Moon”-having to date been seen in 17 other countries and some
45 American cities-takes place. The piece is now in previews at the
Century Center for the Performing Arts, on East 15th Street.

It’s a play about the Armenian genocide. But apart from all the
horrors, the man who wrote it wants to stress, this is a love
story-Aram and Seta’s story-showing what people can make of their
lives even with all these horrible things.

The writer’ name is Richard Kalinoski, and his own blood, he said the
other day, is “one-half Polish American, about one-quarter Irish,
some German in there, and some other stuff I don’t know.” Nothing
Armenian. But from 1972 until a divorce in 1979, Kalinoski was
married to an Armenian-American woman from Racine, Wisconsin, whose
grandparents were survivors of the Armenian genocide of 1915.

“Her grandmother was a sweet, charming, compelling woman who spoke
Armenian and had herself been a child bride of 14 or 15, ostensibly
plucked from some orphanage in Istanbul,” Kalinoski recalled. “She
had struggled in her own life, against a dictatorial husband, for
the opportunity and the right to learn to read. I like to think an
image of her lives on in Seta.”

Back in 1972, Kalinoski-“wanting to explore what I call courage
in the face of the beast, especially the courage in some women to
cope quietly, and sometimes not so quietly”-had, on the basis of
interviews with members of his then-wife’s family, written a “very
different, very much more literal” play about the Armenian genocide.
It was called “Lifeline,” but it did not have a life.

In 1991, when Kalinoski was teaching playwriting and English at
Nazareth College in Rochester, New York, a colleague who read that
earlier play and “had said to me: ‘There’s something powerful there,
maybe you should revisit these people.'”

Kalinoski conducted as many interviews as he could with thoughtful
Armenian Americans in Rochester-“a small community with only one
church, and not even a church building”-and came up with the central
dramatic idea of a child bride.

He also started reading: Michael Arlen’s “Passage to Ararat,”
Franz Werfel’s “The Forty Days of Musa Dagh,” the dispatches of Hans
Morgenthau, former U.S. ambassador to Turkey, and poet Peter Balakian’s
“The Black Dog of Fate.”

The actors in the New York premiere are Omar Metwally, Louis Zorich,
Matthew Borish, and, as Seta, Lena Georgas.

About the crucifixion of Seta’s mother:

“Lots of survivors have told how the Turkish gendarmes liked to make
examples out of Christians, and there is evidence of crucifixions. I
would not say it was common,” Kalinoski said, “but I have seen
photographs of it. Also of decapitations.”

How come it has taken “Beast in the Moon” so long to get to New York?

“Well, we could do a whole interview about that. Just let me say
that along the way I had some terrible offers, where I would not be
part of the artistic process. So I said no, a lot. Some were so bad,
it was easy to say no. Though I desperately wanted New York.”

Two people who have been instrumental in bringing it here are
co-producer David Grillo, who fell in love with the show when, as an
actor, he played Aram in a 1998 New Repertory Theater production in
Newton Square, Massachusetts, and director Larry Moss, who, said the
playwright, “in launch week of rehearsals here proved to be a source
of epiphany and revelation in everything regarding the play.”

Kalinoski has never yet been to Armenia, but he is going there soon,
to Yerevan, where on July 6 two productions of “Beast on the Moon”
are to open, one by the Moscow Art Theater and one by the Armenian
State Youth Theater.

Die Welt, Deautschland
20 April 2005

——-
Protest against commemoration ceremony
Turkish organizations criticize Armenian meeting
——-

Protest gegen Gedenkfeier

Türkische Organisationen kritisieren armenische Veranstaltung
von Ayhan Bakirdögen

Die Gedenkveranstaltung im Abgeordnetenhaus am kommenden Sonnabend
für die Opfer der armenischen Deportationen im Osmanischen Reich
während des Ersten Weltkrieges stößt bei türkischen Organisationen
auf heftige Kritik. Eine aus acht großen Vereinen – darunter auch die
Türkische Gemeinde zu Berlin – gebildete “Initiative Türkischer
Organisationen” ruft alle türkischen Mitbürger auf, per Fax oder
E-Mail gegen die Veranstaltung zu protestieren.

“Solche Provokationen gefährden den sozialen Frieden in der Stadt und
führen zu Polarisierungen. Es ist traurig, daß der
Parlamentspräsident Walter Momper dort eine Rede halten wird”, sagt
der Sprecher der “Initiative Türkischer Organisationen”, Taciddin
Yatkin. Hintergrund ist der 90. Jahrestag der von beiden Seiten seit
Jahrzehnten umstrittenen Deportation von Armeniern zwischen 1915-18.
Dabei sollen bis zu 1,5 Millionen Armenier ums Leben gekommen sein.
Der eigentliche Gedenktag ist jedes Jahr am 24. April. Die Armenische
Gemeinde zu Berlin hat die Veranstaltung einen Tag vorgezogen, da am
nächsten Tag in Frankfurt am Main die zentrale Gedenkveranstaltung
stattfindet.

Dagegen ist der 23. April fast heilig für die Türken. An diesem Tag
im Jahre 1920 bildete Staatsgründer Mustafa Kemal Atatürk das
türkische Parlament und widmete diesen Tag den Kindern aus aller
Welt. Auch in Berlin wird er jährlich gefeiert. “Es war keine
Provokation. Wir wollten unseren Mitgliedern die Gelegenheit geben,
am nächsten Tag nach Frankfurt zu fahren”, sagt das Vorstandsmitglied
der Armenischen Gemeinde, Vartkes Alyanak. Weiterer Kritikpunkt ist
die Vermietung des Plenarsaals des Abgeordnetenhauses für diesen
Zweck. “Man sollte sich über die Befindlichkeiten von anderen
Volksgruppen informieren, bevor man solche symbolischen Säle
vermietet”, sagt Yatkin.

Walter Momper will sich indes zu dem Thema nicht äußern. Alles was er
zu sagen habe, werde er am Sonnabend auf der Veranstaltung sagen,
ließ der SPD-Politiker mitteilen. Bei einem persönlichen Gespräch
soll er allerdings den Vertretern der “Initiative Türkischer
Organisationen” gestanden haben, die Bedeutung des 23. April für die
Türken nicht gekannt zu haben. “Er lebt seit Jahren in Kreuzberg. Es
ist schwer zu glauben, daß er das nicht gewußt haben kann”, sagt
Yatkin.

–Boundary_(ID_qOTJNl+QfcyOPCGFXjY+pQ)–

Der Tagesspiegel, Deautschland
20 April 2005

——-
DISPLACED HISTORY: the Genocide of the Armenians90 years ago.

During the First World War

In the Ottoman empire, one million Armenians died between 1915 and
1916 – Germany did not want to intervene.

——-

VERDRÄNGTE GESCHICHTE: Der Völkermord vor 90 Jahren an den Armeniern

Im Windschatten des Ersten Weltkrieges

Im Osmanischen Reich starben zwischen 1915 und 1916 eine Million
Armenier ~V Deutschland wollte nicht einschreiten

Von Wolfgang Gust

Am 20. Januar 1942 beschlossen 15 hochrangige Vertreter der deutschen
Ministerialbürokratie und führende SS-Leuten in der Villa am Großen
Wannsee in Berlin die Vernichtung der europäischen Juden. Das
Protokoll dieser Konferenz aber liest sich wie eine Anordnung zur
Abschiebung unliebsamer Asylanten. Nachdem die erhoffte Auswanderung
nicht den gewünschten Erfolg gebracht hatte, so das Protokoll,
müssten nun weitere so genannte ~DLösungsmöglichkeiten~S erörtert
werden. Es ist sodann die Rede von allgemeinen ~DEvakuierungen~S,
ältere Juden sollten ~Düberstellt~S, andere ~Dentfernt~S werden. Von
Tötung, Erschießungen, Mord oder Massenmord war nirgendwo die Rede.
~DDas Verfahren ermöglichte eine partiell aktive, insgesamt aber
passive Komplizenschaft mit der Regierung einzugehen~S, schrieb der
Historiker Götz Ali. ~DMehr wurde nicht verlangt, mehr war in
Deutschland nicht nötig.~S

Gut ein Vierteljahrhundert zuvor hatte ebenfalls ein Völkermord
stattgefunden, auch in ihn waren Deutsche verwickelt. Auch dort
herrschte bei den Entscheidungsträgern die Verschleierungssprache. Es
wurde abgeschoben, verschickt, ausgesiedelt, umgesiedelt. Das Wort
Mord oder Völkermord sprach kein deutsche Spitzenpolitiker und
Diplomat aus. Am Ende waren eine Million Armenier tot. In den Nächten
vom 24. und 25 April 1915 hatte die türkische Polizei in
Konstantinopel, wie Istanbul damals hieß, die armenische Elite
verhaftet. Nicht nur Politiker und Publizisten, auch Ärzte und
Künstler wurden ins Landesinnere deportiert und dort fast alle
umgebracht. Seither gedenken die Armenier in aller Welt an diesem Tag
des Beginns des ersten großen Völkermords im 20. Jahrhundert.

Die Jungtürken hatten auf den Verlust der europäischen Gebiete des
Osmanischen Reichs mit einem extremen Nationalismus reagiert, dessen
Hauptziel eine ethnisch reine Türkei war und das bedeutete die
Vernichtung der bedeutenden Minderheiten. Der zweite Teil des
armenischen Stammvolkes lebte im Kaukasus und damit unter russischer
Herrschaft. Russland aber war Weltkriegsgegner von Deutschland und
der verbündeten Türkei. So wurden sich Deutsche und Türken schnell
einig, dass die Armenier aus den Grenzgebieten deportiert werden
müssten. Doch was dann geschah, ging weit über militärische Sicherung
hinaus. Die radikale Linie des Komitees für Einheit und Fortschritt
hatte sich durchgesetzt und die Deportation aller Armenier
beschlossen, wobei von Anfang an feststand, das die Deportationen
nichts anderes waren als physische Liquidierung nahezu aller
armenischen Männer. Die Frauen und Kinder wurden so lange durch zum
Teil wasserlose Regionen getrieben, bis sie verhungerten oder
verdursteten, abgesehen von den schöneren Frauen, die in Harems
landeten, oder von den Kindern, die als Muslime aufwuchsen.
Schändungen waren das Alltagsschicksal der Armenierinnen auf den
Deportationsmärschen, Sklavenarbeit die Haupttätigkeit der
gestohlenen Kinder. Aber es gab auch Türken, Kurden und Araber, die
Armenier zu sich nahmen, um sie zu beschützen.

Die Deutschen akzeptierten die Deportation aller Armenier aus den
östlichen Provinzen ~V dem jahrtausendealten Siedlungsland der
Armenier ~V und ließen auch die Vernichtungswelle im Westen des Landes
zu, mit Ausnahme von Konstantinopel. Und mit Ausnahme von Smyrna, wie
Izmir damals hieß, wo der deutsche General Liman von Sanders die
Deportationen verbot und sich damit durchsetzte. ~DTraurige Vorgänge~S
nannte Außen-Staatssekretär Arthur Zimmermann den Völkermord
gegenüber deutschen Parlamentariern. ~DWir haben alles getan, was wir
konnten. Das Äußerste, was uns übrig bliebe, wäre, das Bündnis mit
der Türkei zu brechen. Sie werden verstehen, dass wir uns dazu unter
keinen Umständen entschließen können.~S Damit vollstreckte er nur, was
Kanzler Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg intern festgelegt hatte. ~DUnser
einziges Ziel ist, die Türkei bis zum Ende des Krieges an unserer
Seite zu halten, gleichgültig ob darüber Armenier zu Grunde gehen
oder nicht.~S

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From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress