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World Council of Churches to Observe Genocide Centennial

(horizonweekly.ca) GENEVA—The World Council of Churches (WCC) has addressed the issue of the Armenian Genocide in international fora on several occasions. During the 1979 Session of the United Nations Human Rights Commission, the Commission of the Churches on International Affairs (CCIA) raised the question of the need for recognition of the Armenian genocide by the UN.

The 6th Assembly of the WCC held in Vancouver, recognized the importance of the need to continue to address the effects of the Armenian genocide in appropriate contexts. A minute adopted at the Vancouver assembly stated, “The silence of the world community and deliberate efforts to deny even historical facts have been consistent sources of anguish and growing despair to the Armenian people, the Armenian churches and many others.”

The role of the WCC in “enabling the Armenian churches to speak out and work towards the recognition of the first genocide of the 20th century” was recognized by the Armenian churches over the years.

Prior to the 10th Assembly of the WCC the Armenian churches reminded the WCC General Secretary of the historical reality that the 10th Assembly will be held on the threshold of the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide in 2015. Requests have been made by the leaders of the Armenian churches for the WCC to initiate programs to observe the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide in appropriate ways, the Armenian Catholicos of Cilicia reports.

Therefore, the 10th Assembly of the World Council of Churches meeting in Busan, Republic of Korea, from 30 October to 8 November 2013, requests the general secretary to:

A. Organize in 2015, around the commemorative 100th anniversary date 24 April 2015, an international conference in Geneva on the recognition of and reparation for the Armenian Genocide with the participation, among others, of WCC member churches, international organizations, jurists, historians and human rights defenders.;

B. Organize an ecumenical prayer service commemorating the victims of the Armenian Genocide at the Cathedral of Geneva in conjunction with the international conference; and

C. Invite member churches of the WCC to pray for the memory of the Armenian martyrs around the dates of the international conference and also for recognition of the Armenian Genocide.

First Genocide Monument in Canada Inaugurated

LAVAL, Quebec (Horizon Weekly)—The Canadian-Armenian community gathered on Sunday for the unveiling ceremony of an Armenian Genocide monument here, the third largest city in Quebec and the first Armenian Genocide monument in Canada.

With this unveiling, the Canadian-Armenian community renewed its dedication and commitment to our national demands and to the Armenian Cause.

Leaders of all Armenian denominations gathered at the monument, called “Crucifixion, Resurrection, Rebirth,” and performed the religious blessing ceremony, while community leaders, among them the chairman of the Joint Monument Committee, Sako Yacoubian, committee member, Hovig Tufenkndjian and chairman of Canada’s Genocide Centennial Committee, Mher Karakashian all expressed the Canadian-Armenian community’s commitment to justice.

The monument’s creator, sculptor Arto Tchakmakdjian, said the meaning of the monument is hope.

Also speaking at the event was Armenia’s Ambassador to Canada Armen Yeganian who called on the international community to recognize the Armenian Genocide.

Local, regional and federal officials, past and present, were in attendance at the event and spoke about the need for the recognition of the Armenian Genocide and condemned the government of Turkey for its continued denial of the crime.

National Center for Armenian Remembrance Inaugurated in Décines, France

The National Center for Armenian Remembrance, in Décines, France

(asbarez.com) DÉCINES, France — On Sunday, October 20, French Minister of Culture Aurelie Filipetti inaugurated the National Center for Armenian Remembrance (Centre National de la Mémoire Arménienne) in the French city of Décines, journalist Jean Eckian reports.

For this occasion the Minister declared, “Never forget what happened in 1915. The facts are established, and the Armenian Genocide was recognized by law in the Republic.”

“The propaganda of its deniers can not be accepted,” Filipetti continued. “Therefore, with the commitment of President François Hollande, the government is considering legal means to ensure the observance of these principles established by our Constitution and our international and European obligations”, she said, referring to recently renewed efforts to make the denial of the Armenian Genocide illegal in France.

The center, housed in an ultra-modern building of 900 square meters, has a library, an archival chamber of 100 sq. meters and a conference room.

The Center’s collection is comprised of about 12,000 books and 110,000 documents, “part of which is processed, standardized and digitized.” The works cover the history, memory, language, culture, and art of the Armenian community of France and Europe.

Monument Of Common Conscience Opens In Diyarbakir. Kurds Apologize For Genocide

"We share the pain so that it is not repeated", the inscription on the monument (Photo by Gulisor Akkum, The Armenian Weekly) — “We share the pain so that it is not repeated”, the inscription on the monument (Photo by Gulisor Akkum, The Armenian Weekly)

DIYARBAKIR, Turkey (armenianweekly.com) — The Sur Municipality of Diyarbakir held the official inauguration of the Monument of Common Conscience on Sept. 12, with mayor Abdullah Demirbaş apologizing in the name of Kurds for the Armenian and Assyrian genocides.

“We Kurds, in the name of our ancestors, apologize for the genocide of the Armenians and Assyrians in 1915,” Demirbaş declared in his opening speech. “We will continue our struggle to secure atonement and compensation for them.”
The mayor called upon the Turkish authorities to issue an apology and do whatever needed to atone for the genocide. “We invite them to take steps in this direction,” he said.

The inscription on the monument at the Anzele Park, near a recently restored historic fountain, reads, in six languages including Armenian: We share the pain so that it is not repeated.

“This memorial is dedicated to all peoples and religious groups who were subjected to genocide in these lands,” Demirbaş said. “The Monument of Common Conscience was erected to remember and demand accountability for all the massacres that took place since 1915.”

Demirbaş noted that the monument remembers all the Armenians, Assyrians, Jews, Yezidis, Alevis who were subjected to genocide, as well as all the Sunni who “stood against the system.”

A scene from the inauguration of the monument. (Photo by Gulisor Akkum, The Armenian Weekly)

Representatives of the Armenian, Assyrian, Alevi, and Sunni communities also spoke at the opening event. Diyarbakir Armenian writer Mgrditch Margosyan welcomed the opening of the memorial, noting that he awaits the steps that would follow.
In turn, Zahit Çiftkuran, head of the Diyarbakir association of the clergy, apologized for the genocide. He recounted the story of a man who, while walking by a restaurant, notices the following sign: “You eat, your grandchildren pay the bill.” Enthused by the promise of free lunch, the man goes in and orders food. Soon, they bring him an expensive bill. “But I was not supposed to pay! Where did this bill come from?” the man asks. The owner of the restaurant responds: “This is not your bill. It is your grandfather’s!”

Çiftkuran concluded, “Today, we have to pay for what our grandparents have done.”

The Armenian Weekly Diyarbakir correspondent Gulisor Akkum prepared this report.

ABC 7.30 airs feature on Turkish Gallipoli ban threat against Australians

(armenia.com.au, SYDNEY) – Australia’s national broadcaster, the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation), aired a powerful feature on Australia’s connection to the Armenian Genocide, and the recent threats made by the Turkey’s Foreign Ministry to ban Australian politicians from attending ANZAC Day centenary commemorations in Gallipoli.

The feature was part of the prime-time “7.30” program (WATCH THE FEATURE BY CLICKING HERE), and was prepared by the ABC’s Chief Defence Correspondent, Michael Brissenden.

The threat to ban Australian politicians was initially made after the country’s largest state’s parliament (New South Wales) adopted a unanimous motion to recognise and condemn the Armenian, Greek, and Assyrian genocides perpetrated by the Ottoman-Turkish Empire.

In the 7.30 program, Turkey’s Consul General in New South Wales, Ms Gulseren Celik, confirmed the threat. Since the threats were made, politicians including NSW Premier Barry O’Farrell, Rev. Fred Nile and Marie Ficarra have condemned them as an attempt by Turkey to muzzle allies from recognising a dark chapter in the country’s history.

During World War I, countless numbers of Australian Prisoners of War recorded witnessing the mass deportations and massacres of the Armenian people. Turkish Consul General Celik also claimed that these testimonies are fabrications of history; a claim denied by some of Australia’s leading historians, including Dr. Peter Stanley, the pre-eminent expert on Australian WWI history.

This intertwining of Australian and Armenian histories was covered in the 7.30 feature, which included direct quotes from prominent Australian ANZACs, one of whom ended up a Minister in government.

The Armenian National Committee of Australia’s Executive Director, Vache Kahramanian, remarked: “The 7.30 feature provides a powerful insight into the extent that the Turkish Government is willing to go to deny the Armenian Genocide.”

“We thank Michael Brissenden and the ABC for covering an important part of Australian and Armenian history, which will set the foundations for continued education of mainstream society,” he added.

Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Broadcast: 21/08/2013

Reporter: Michael Brissenden

The Turkish government uses the centenary celebrations at Gallipoli to try to shut down criticism of the Armenian genocide.

Transcript of the broadcast

LEIGH SALES, PRESENTER: The Turkish Government is threatening to ban a group of Australian politicians from the centenary celebrations at Gallipoli in 2015 in what some see as a bald attempt to rewrite its own World War I history.

It goes back to May this year when the New South Wales Parliament passed a motion recognising the Armenian genocide, carried out by the Ottoman Turk regime, in which an estimated million and a half people died.

The move infuriated Turkish authorities, who are now threatening retaliation.

National security correspondent Michael Brissenden has this exclusive report.

MICHAEL BRISSENDEN, REPORTER: Every April, Australians in their thousands make the pilgrimage to Gallipoli to commemorate the national mythology forged on the beaches of Anzac Cove. What few Australians realise is that the day coincides with another anniversary of an even more tragic episode in history.

PETER STANLEY, MILITARY HISTORIAN: So as well as the myths that we seem to find ourselves unable to escape from, we also want to embrace the truth of Gallipoli, and the fact is is that the Armenian genocide happened almost within days of the invasion of Gallipoli.

COLIN TATZ, VISITING FELLOW, ANU: In my view, it’s both. It’s the 100th anniversary of the genocidal events and the 100th anniversary of the famous Gallipoli landings.

MICHAEL BRISSENDEN: On the eve of what Australians call Anzac Day, Armenians around the world hold their own day of remembrance to mark the wholesale annihilation of Armenian Christians in the dying days of the Turkish Ottoman Empire.

FRED NILE, NSW LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL: And they just eliminated people systematically, community by community, village by village. And in fact it’s interesting when Adolf Hitler planned to have the genocide of the Jews, there were some questions asked, and he said himself, “Don’t worry, who remembers the Armenian genocide?”

MICHAEL BRISSENDEN: Fred Nile has just returned from a tour of Armenia with a cross-party delegation.

FRED NILE: Well I think we have to deal with the truth and I hope Australia is mature enough to do that.

MICHAEL BRISSENDEN: But the response from the Turks to the motions passed by both houses of the NSW Parliament recognising and condemning the Armenian genocide has been blistering.

GULSEREN CELIK, TURKISH CONSUL-GENERAL, NSW: These people want to hijack this very special bond, the Turkish ANZAC spirit, this is their target.

MICHAEL BRISSENDEN: The Turkish Consul-General has written a lengthy and angry response to the NSW Parliament, condemning what she describes as the baseless allegations of genocide.

GULSEREN CELIK: There certainly is no scholarly consensus on the events of 1915. There are quite a few number of non-Turkish historians who do not accept the genocide thesis.

MICHAEL BRISSENDEN: The genocide debate has long inflamed passions on both sides. The description “genocide” has consistently been dismissed by the Turks as a one-sided representation of history.

Despite reports at the time of mass evacuations of Armenian villages far from conflict zones, evidence of forced marches, eyewitness testimony and countless academic investigations.

COLIN TATZ: There is categorical evidence from scholarship around the world that what happened between 1915 and 1922 was a genocide of the Armenians, the Pontian Greeks and the Assyrian community to the extent of roughly one half of their total population.

MICHAEL BRISSENDEN: Colin Tatz is one of the world’s most prominent genocide scholars. He’s vilified by Turkish nationalists and his research has been challenged by the Turkish Government.

COLIN TATZ: Never in history has a nation state been so dedicated to the eradication of what they call a lie.

MICHAEL BRISSENDEN: And the Turkish state has hit back with a threat to the one event that has for decades now underpinned our close diplomatic relations. A Foreign Ministry statement says the proponents of this motion will no longer be welcome at the Gallipoli commemorations.

TURKISH FOREIGN MINISTRY STATEMENT (male voiceover): “These persons who try to damage the spirit of Canakkale/Gallipoli will also not have their place in the Canakkale ceremonies where we commemorate our sons lying side by side in our soil.”

MICHAEL BRISSENDEN: The local council at Gallipoli has also made it clear that critics will not be welcome at the centenary celebrations in 2015.

GALLIPOLI LOCAL COUNCIL (male voiceover): “We announce to the public that we will not forgive those who are behind these decisions and that we do not want to see them in Canakkale anymore.”

MICHAEL BRISSENDEN: So the Premier and members of the Parliament will not be welcome at the 2015 celebrations?

GULSEREN CELIK: Well, I think one should read the press statement of our ministry carefully.

MICHAEL BRISSENDEN: Well the press statement says they won’t be welcome, so one would assume that they won’t be given the visas to go.

GULSEREN CELIK: Yes.

FRED NILE: I’m not gonna have a heart attack if I can’t go there, but I think it’s unfair to have some blanket ban on all members of the NSW Parliament.

MICHAEL BRISSENDEN: But the motion passed by the NSW Parliament is a moment the Australian, Armenian, Greek and Syrian communities have been waiting for for some time.

Panayiotis Diamadis has been collating evidence and eyewitness accounts of the genocide written by Australian POWs captured by the Turks. Most were held in empty Armenian churches in emptied out Armenian villages.

PANAYIOTIS DIAMADIS, UTS: “Turkish soldiers armed with whips were driving the women and children into the sheep trucks. It was evidently intended to transport them to some distant concentration camp.”

MICHAEL BRISSENDEN: That’s one of many accounts written by POWs who returned. Another one of them was Colonel Thomas White, who later became a politician and a minister in the Lyons Government. His eyewitness account describes passing columns of Armenians being marched to certain death in the desert. Dead bodies littered the side of the road.

The Turkish Consul-General describes the claims that Australian POWs witnessed genocide as a fabrication.

GULSEREN CELIK: They were imprisoned in western part of Anatolia, so they could not witness the so-called genocides.

MICHAEL BRISSENDEN: And even here at the Australian War Memorial, there’s almost no mention of the Armenian genocide.

The link between the ANZACs, Gallipoli and the Armenian genocide is a sensitive area for all, wrapped as it is in the legend of two nations who cling to the significance that this one military campaign has had on their national identities. Turkish officials are frequent visitors here and Armenian Australians have long been critical of the influence they believe the Turks have had on how the memorial has depicted Australia’s First World War experience.

PETER STANLEY: I think the Turks are expecting that the friendship that we forged through Gallipoli, which is genuine, is enough to paper over our knowledge of the Armenian genocide. But the fact is it isn’t, because Australians want to know the truth about the First World War, and the truth about the Great War is is that 1.5 million Armenians died at the hands of the Ottoman Empire.

LEIGH SALES: Michael Brissenden reporting.

Turkey’s “race codes” and the Ottoman legacy

VICKEN CHETERIAN 20 August 2013

The revelation that modern Turkey continues secretly to classify its citizens according to religious criteria reflects the weight of the Ottoman past. It also has implications for those in the middle east seeking a state based on equality before law, says Vicken Cheterian.

Only days before the verdict in the latest “Ergenekon” trials in Turkey, an equally important but far less publicised scandal was revealed by a small-circulation newspaper: the Armenian-Turkish weekly Agos. The paper, which established its reputation under the editorship of Hrant Dink, who was assassinated in January 2007, revealed on 1 August 2013 that the Turkish state was using “race codes” in official statistics to codify the religious belonging of its citizens.

The newspaper made the discovery after a family had applied to register its children with an Armenian school in Istanbul, and were then asked to prove that they had the so-called “2 code”. Agos went on to claim that the Turkish government codified its minority citizens according to numbered categories: “1” for Greeks, “2” for Armenians, and “3” for Jews. Some Turkish newspapers, picking up the story, added that Assyrians were filed under “4”, and “others” under “5”.

A week after Agos’s revelations, Turkey’s interior ministry confirmed the practice. In a communiqué it declared: “A minority citizen’s race status is given to the education ministry depending on the nationality or race information taken from the state register of the Ottoman period.” Turkish official sources confirm that the practice has continued since 1923: that is, since the establishment of the modern Turkish republic. Although there have been rumours and allegations, this is the first time Turkish state officials have openly admitted to it.

At first glance it is surprising that for nine decades the Turkish state has been operating “race codes” that enable it to collect information about the religious identity of its citizens. After all, the state still pretends to be secular: that is, to upholding the separation of political institutions (and especially the practice of justice) from influence by individual and collective religious beliefs. But the revelation also draws renewed attention to the continued power of the Ottoman legacy in modern Turkey, and is too important to be buried under the media’s never-ending stream of headline news.

The Ottoman contradiction

At its heart, what Agos has exposed highlights the internal contradictions of the Ottoman empire, and thus its failure to reform itself in the 19th-century – a tragedy that has left its marks on post-Ottoman political systems. Indeed, the failure is freshly relevant today with regard to political battles both in Turkey and across the entire middle east. The outcome of these battles – whetherbuilding the rule of law, or allowing the “Arab spring” to decay and ultimately collapse – will depend to a great extent on how far the post-Ottoman inheritance is understood.

The decline and fall of the Ottoman empire is a long story, but two key points stand out. The first is the the empire’s incapacity to create conditions of equality to its subjects. The Ottoman state was constructed as theocratic. The majority, ruling religion was Sunni Muslim, but the “millet system” also recognised confessional communities (mainly Rum [i.e. Orthodox Greeks], Armenians and Jews as well as Muslims); these were guaranteed religious freedom and self-rule in exchange for loyalty.

The power of the empire weakened throughout the 19th century, and the theocratic nature of its political system became increasingly pronounced. Around 40% of the population of the empire was then non-Muslim, mainly belonging to various Christian denominations, yet they were not admitted to be equal under the Ottoman juridical system. For example, Muslims but not Christians had the right to bear arms, a rule that reflected a division of labour whereby the former served in the army and state bureaucracy while the latter were mainly artisans, traders, and farmers.

The empire’s growing crisis, including its financial problems, led to increased taxes being imposed on the Christian population, igniting successive revolts that were met by outright massacres. Any struggle between Muslims and Christians, for example between Armenians and Kurds over land in eastern Anatolia, tended to remain unequal, for only the former group was armed and supported by the state bureaucracy. This formed the background of European powers’ intervention in Ottoman internal affairs, where they both demanded reforms and advanced their own imperial interests.

The Ottoman state made various reform attempts. The most important was the “tanzimat” that began in 1839, which aimed at guaranteeing all Ottoman subjects civil rights. The declaration of Hatt-i Humayun in 1856 affirmedequality of treatment regardless of religion or creed. Yet neither equality nor guarantees of security resulted, for both the Sultan himself and powerful religious networks sabotaged the reforms’ application. It was often the case that a formal declaration of reform was the prelude to great violence against minorities.

Here is the second important point about Ottoman decline: legal reform had no impact in practice, in fact it could even have the opposite effect. In the end, the inability of the Ottoman state to reform led to its demise. The Balkan peoples revolted one after the other, and by then continuous Ottoman massacres and threats could not save the empire.

The political failure

What happened after collapse? What is most striking about the post-Ottoman political systems is that amid much talk of “modernism” and “secularism”, the old practice – of regimes considering their people as subjects who were part of a millet, rather than as citizens enjoying legal rights – continued.

The legacy was powerful. In 1908, with the Ittihadist (Young Turk) revolution in Turkey, the first “modernising” party had come to power in Istanbul, and planned a new political order. Most Ittihadist leaders were avowed atheists, but nevertheless they denied equality in law between Muslims and gavur(infidels), and launched a campaign of annihilation against religious minorities (Armenians, Assyrians, and Greeks).

The Turkey led after 1923 by Kemal Ataturk – hailed by many in the west as a model of authoritarian modernism – declared itself to be secular even as it discriminated against – and secretly “coded” – religious minorities (which after war, genocide and expulsion collapsed). In the 1927 census, non-Muslim minorities constituted 2.5% of the Turkish population, down from 20% in 1906. In a country of 75 million today, the proportion is not more than 0.1%). The number of Armenians in Turkey is estimated at 60,000, Jews at 5,000, Assyrians at 3,000, and Greeks at 2,000.

The coding of the minorities has consequences. There is anecdotal evidence that even grandchildren of converts from Christianity to Islam (which often happens under duress) are not only “filed” by state officials, but also regarded with suspicion: descendants of converts have been barred from accessing certain jobs, such as within the military, diplomatic service, or even as civilian pilots.

The policy of discrimination against minorities was also exercised collectively. This is shown by the controversy around the (Greek) Haghia Triada monasteryon Heybeliada island with its theological school, confiscated by the Turkish authorities – along with 1,410 other properties belonging to minority foundations – in 1971. The confiscation of half the lands of the (Assyrian) Mor Gabriel monastery in 2008 is a more recent example, an act that is threatening the viability of this 1,700-year-old foundation.

This practice has not ended, despite continuous official claims. On 5 July 2013, the Mufti of Trabzon entered the Haghia Sophia church in the city with a group of believers, both to pray and to “reconvert” this former Byzantine church (it was turned into a mosque after the Ottoman conquest, then in 1964 into a museum). There is increasing pressure to change Istanbul’s Haghia Sophia, now a museum, into a mosque.

When Caliph Omar ibn Al-Khattab entered Jerusalem he visited the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to receive the keys of the city from the Patriarch Sophronius. When he heard the call for prayer he hurried to leave the church and pray outside. When the priests invited him to pray inside the church he declined, saying that if he prayed inside the church Muslims after him would take that an excuse to convert the church into a mosque.

Yet, the example given by such companions was soon forgotten. Politics is the art of balancing power relations and making compromises, while religion is supposed to provide people with guidance of a “higher”, moral type. The constant mixing of religion with politics has both failed to alleviate politics and corrupted religion by involving it in the daily practice of power and the crimes associated with it. In the 19th-century Ottoman world the major division of inequality was between the ruling Muslim majority and the Christian millet; in the middle east today it is upheaval and chaos caused by the disintegration of the political space on confessional lines, pitting Sunni and Shi’a Islam against each other, as a veil behind the developing power-struggle.

The next Arab model

This new Turkish scandal is relevant in two ways to the current debate over the Arab upheaval. The first is the much-discussed issue of whether Turkey can provide a role model for the future Arab political system. Both before and after the Arab spring, many argued that Turkey represented a harmonious synthesis between Islam and democracy, and suggested that Arab political currents should learn from it. Now, a series of events – the violent treatment of the Gezi park demonstrations, the latest Ergenekon episode and its attention to Turkey’s “deep state”, the record numbers of imprisoned journalists, followed by the scandal of the race codes – shows that Turkey itself is moving further away from the rule of law, and is hardly in a position to suggest solutions for others.

The second area where Turkey is relevant is the revived debate about secularism. Many in the middle east associate secularism with political systems such as Ba’athism in Iraq and Syria, and Nasserism in Egypt. It’s true that Lebanon continues to be a classic post-Ottoman system, in which the millet system survived and prospered; but the other three states also operated the millet system while pretending to be secular and modern – much like Kemalist Turkey. The Kemalist model also failed in other ways; although it managed to eliminate its Christian millet, it could not assimilate Turkey’s Kurdish population in spite of several decades of imposed “Turkification”.

Just like the nationalist regimes of the past, the Arab political movements that have emerged since 2011 continue to be ambivalent when it comes to the rule of law. Although they demand freedom, it is not clear what kind of institutional set-up many of those movements are seeking.

If the rule of law is the aim, then every citizen in that system should be treated equally in face of the justice system. It s not possible to have the rule of law for only one section of society, while other sections are treated as second-degree based on their religious beliefs (or lack of belief). In this domain, the question of race codes is a reminder that Turkey is still living under the long shadow of the Ottoman empire. For their part, the Arab political movements have still a long journey to make before they evolve from members of a milletinto citizens.

Uruguay Initiates The Establishment Of An Armenian Genocide Museum

July 17, 2013 was yet another landmark for the Armenian community of Uruguay. The decision to establish a museum dedicated to the Armenian Genocide was announced in the presence of Armenia’s Ambassador to Argentina and Chile, Vahakn Melikyan, honorary Consul Ruben Abrahamyan, ARF-D Bureau member Mario Nalbandian, religious leaders headed by Archbishop Hagop Keledjian, senator Rafael Michelini and deputy Rubén Martínez Huelmo who were the driving force behind the approval of the resolution concerning this project, Minister for Tourism and Youth, Lilian Keshishian and other officials.

Remarks were delivered by Education and Culture Deputy Minister, Oscar Gomez, Archbishop Keledjian, Ambassador Melikyan and Education and Culture Minister, Ricardo Ehrlich. All the speakers pointed out that the museum to-be established will contribute to the pressing fight against intolerance, denial and hatred.

With this bold announcement, the state and the government of Uruguay proved once more that they haven’t deviated from the fundamental principle of defending human rights and reconfigured the assignment they have undertaken to support the Armenian Cause until the restoration of the truth and justice that Armenians were deprived of in 1915 during the Genocide.

It should also be added that the recently formed Centennial Commemoration Commission of the Armenian Genocide, that is comprised of representatives from all the organizations of the community, supports this project initiated by the Education and Culture Ministry’s.

Armenians of Uruguay extend their deepest gratitude to the Uruguayan authorities, an old friend, who after realizing that the Armenian Genocide’s Centennial is insurmountable, have proceeded in such a step.

In 1965, Uruguay was the first state to recognize the Armenian Genocide and today, in 2013 is yet again the first, with the exception of Armenia, to launch a project for the creation of an Armenian Genocide Museum.

This pioneer of human rights with its state, governmental and civic structures is again standing on the front line, firm and assertive, against all sorts of pressure as far as supporting the fair resolution of the Armenian Cause is concerned.

In Vatican, Pope Recognizes Genocide

Pope Francis greets an Armenian delegation in the Vatican with Nerses Bedros XIX, Catholicos Patriarch of Cilicia of the Armenian Catholics in the background

“The first genocide of the 20th Century was that of the Armenians,” says Pope Francis

(www.asbarez.com, June 4, 2013) — Pope Francis, during a meeting Monday with a delegation led by Nerses Bedros XIX, Catholicos Patriarch of Cilicia of the Armenian Catholics at the Vatican reiterated his earlier recognition of the Armenian Genocide.

During the visit, the pope met with members of the delegation, when one of them said that she was a descendant of Genocide victims, to which the pontiff responded: “The first genocide of the 20th Century was that of the Armenians,” thus reiterating his earlier recognition of the Armenian Genocide while he headed the Catholic Church in Buenos Aires as Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio.

Seven years ago, during events marking the 91st anniversary of the Armenian Genocide in Buenos Aires, then Archbishop of Buenos Aires Jorge Mario Bergoglio urged Turkey to recognize the Genocide as the “gravest crime of Ottoman Turkey against the Armenian people and the entire humanity.”

Director of the Armenian National Committee of South America, Dr. Alfonso Tabakian explained that this was the first such statement from the pontiff since being elevated to pope and leader of the Roman Catholic Church.

Tabakian called the statement “very important since his words transcend any state or religion.”

“This recognition of the Armenian Genocide as the first genocide of the twentieth century reaffirms the statements of John Paul II [which were made] upon his arrival in Armenia on September 25, 2001, demonstrating that more and more states, parliaments and international organizations are adopting this position against the denial of history perpetrated by the Turkish State,” added Tabakian.

During the visit, Nerses Bedros XIX presented the pope with a painting depicting Jesus Christ on the crucifix.

[Updated] Australia’s New South Wales State Recognises Greek, Assyrian Genocides, Reaffirms Armenian Genocide Recognition

The Peak Public Affairs Committee of the Armenian-Australian Community

NSW Lower House joins Upper House in recognising Armenian, Assyrian and Greek Genocides

SYDNEY (May 8, 2013): The New South Wales Parliament’s Legislative Assembly (Lower House) today adopted a unanimous motion recognising the Armenian, Assyrian and Greek genocides. This follows a similar motion passed by the NSW Parliament Legislative Council (Upper House) last week.

This motion, introduced by the Premier of New South Wales, Barry O’Farrell, formally recognised the Assyrian and Greek genocides, while at the same time reaffirming the historical reality of the Armenian genocide.

Last week’s Legislative Council motion was introduced by the Hon. Rev Fred Nile. That motion was also passed unanimously.

The Executive Director of the Armenian National Committee of Australia (ANC Australia), Vache Kahramanian remarked: “Today is a historic day for the great state of New South Wales. Once again it has stood as a shining beacon in ensuring that the historical reality of the Armenian, Assyrian and Greek genocides are never forgotten.”

“We thank the New South Wales Parliament, and in particularly the Honourable Barry O’Farrell MP – the Premier of New South Wales – for introducing the motion to the house and to all Members for standing on the side of truth on this important issue.”

The passing is the result of the combined advocacy efforts of the Armenian National Committee of Australia, the Assyrian Universal Alliance, and the Australian Hellenic Council.

NSW is Australia’s largest state, and the first state in Australia to have recognised the Armenian Genocide in 1997.

The full text of the motion can be read below:

I give notice that this House:

1. notes that on 17 April 1997 this House recognised and condemned the Genocide of the Armenians by the then Ottoman Government between 1915 and 1922 and designated 24 April of every year thereafter as a day of remembrance of the 1.5 million Armenians who fell victim to the first genocide of the twentieth century,

2. recognises that Assyrians and Greeks were subjected to qualitatively similar genocides by the then Ottoman Government between 1915 and 1922,

3. reaffirms its condemnation of the genocide of the Assyrians, Armenians and Greeks, and all other acts of genocide as the ultimate act of intolerance,

4. recognises the importance of remembering and learning from such dark chapters in human history to ensure that such crimes against humanity are not allowed to be repeated,

5. acknowledges and pays tribute to the contribution of the ANZAC servicemen who aided the survivors of the genocide, and

6. acknowledges the significant humanitarian relief contribution made by the people of New South Wales to the victims and survivors of the genocide.

Armenian, Greek And Assyrian Genocide Recognised By Largest Australian State

SYDNEY (May 1, 2013): The New South Wales (NSW) Legislative Council has passed a unanimous motion recognising the Assyrian and Greek genocides, and reaffirming its 1998 motion recognising the Armenian Genocide.

The motion, which was introduced by Rev. The Hon. Fred Nile MLC, formally recognises the “qualitatively similar genocides [of Assyrians and Greeks] by the then Ottoman Government between 1914 and 1923.”

The NSW Legislative Assembly recognised the Armenian Genocide in a unanimous motion in 1997, which was followed by a motion in the Legislative Council in 1998. The latest motion again calls on the Australian Government to “condemn the genocides of the Assyrians, Armenians and Greeks”.

The motion was the result of the combined efforts of the Assyrian Universal Alliance, the Armenian National Committee of Australia (ANC Australia) and the Australian Hellenic Council.

Executive Director of ANC Australia, Vache Kahramanian said: “Today is another historic day in the international quest for genocide recognition. We thank Rev. Nile for all his efforts in introducing the motion and to all members of the Legislative Council for taking this principled stance on genocide recognition.”

After the passing of the motion, Deputy Secretary of the Assyrian Universal Alliance, Hermiz Shahen said: “This recognition will act as a powerful counter to those, especially in present-day Turkey, who still ignore or deny outright the genocides of the Ottoman Christian minorities. Assyrians in Iraq, Syria and Turkey are continuously paying the price as a consequence of the denial of their genocide.”

Dr. Panayiotis Diamadis from the Australian Hellenic Council thanked the NSW Parliament for his historic motion, stating: “New South Wales has always stood as a beacon in ensuring that history is never forgotten and today is clear testament to the courage of every member of the Legislative Council.”

The text of the motion is below:

ASSYRIAN, ARMENIAN AND GREEK GENOCIDES

1. That this House notes that:

(a) on 5 May 1998, the Legislative Council passed a motion recognizing and condemning the Genocide of the Armenians, and

(b) Assyrians and Greeks were subjected to qualitatively similar genocides by the then Ottoman Government between 1914 and 1923. Legislative Council Notice Paper No. 138—Wednesday 1 May 2013 8374

2. That this House:

(a) joins the Assyrian, Armenian and Greek communities of New South Wales in honouring the memory of the innocent men, women and children who fell victim to the first modern genocides,

(b) condemns the genocides of the Assyrians, Armenians and Greeks, and all other acts of genocide as the ultimate act of intolerance,

(c) recognises the importance of remembering and learning from such dark chapters in human history to ensure that such crimes against humanity are not allowed to be repeated,

(d) condemns and prevents all attempts to use the passage of time to deny or distort the historical truth of the genocides of the Assyrians, Armenians and Greeks, and other acts of genocide,

(e) recalls the testimonies of ANZAC prisoners-of-war and other servicemen who were witness to the genocides of the Assyrians, Armenians and Greeks,

(f) recalls the testimonies of ANZAC servicemen who rescued Assyrians, Armenians and Greeks genocide survivors,

(g) acknowledges the significant humanitarian relief contribution made by the people of New South Wales to the victims and survivors of the Assyrians, Armenians and Greeks,
and

(h) calls on the Commonwealth Government to condemn the genocides of the Assyrians, Armenians and Greeks.

Catholicoses Karekin II and Aram I Urge Turkey To Return Armenian Churches

Catholicos Karekin II, Catholicos Aram I

We Urge Turkey to Return Confiscated Armenian Churches and Church Estates

In 2015, the Armenian people of the Republic of Armenia, the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh and the diaspora will commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide committed by the Ottoman Empire.

In 1915, more than 1.5 million Armenians became victims of genocide. The survivors on the roads of exile found shelter in Eastern Armenia, present-day Republic of Armenia, Syria, Lebanon and other Arabic nations, and in a number of other countries of the world.

The Genocide victims and the internally displaced people who lived under the jurisdiction of the Ottoman Empire in Western Armenia, Cilicia, and other regions of the Ottoman Empire, along with their own personal estates, also lost estates and holdings owned by the church – churches , sanctuaries and monasteries; religious, educational and charitable institutional centers; treasures of cultural and religious value – cross-stones (khachkars), illuminated manuscripts, icons and other items of value; and holdings owned by the State of Turkey under the classification of “abandoned estates”.

98 years after the Genocide the present Turkish nation, as the successors of the Ottoman Empire, not only deny that its predecessors plotted and committed the Genocide, but also continues its anti-Armenian policy, still retaining confiscated church estates and properties, and religious and cultural treasures of the Armenian people.

Therefore, We call on the Republic of Turkey and demand the following:

To recognize the Armenian Genocide;
To fully compensate the Armenians who suffered losses and the violation of their human and national rights;
To immediately return the Armenian churches, monasteries, church properties, and spiritual and cultural treasures, to the Armenian people as their rightful owner.

Remembering the victims of the Armenian Genocide with prayers, We condemn any violation against God- given life, human dignity and the peaceful coexistence of people “For God is not the God of discord, but of peace ” (Corinthians 14.33), and has called on people for love, solidarity and cooperation.

With gratitude We honor all nations and peoples who gave shelter to the Armenians displaced by Genocide, and showed compassion and brotherly love for the dispersed and exiled Armenians.

The Armenian nation will also be eternally grateful to all the nations who, guided by the principles of humanity and justice, have condemned and officially recognized the Armenian Genocide.

On the eve of the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide we must put all our efforts into action to realize the demands of the Armenian nation for the sake of justice and defense of the rights of all Armenians.

HIS HOLINESS KAREKIN II,
CATHOLICOS OF ALL ARMENIANS

HIS HOLINESS ARAM I,
CATHOLICOS OF THE HOLY SEE OF CILICIA

24 April, 2013