Armenian Cause Foundation

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

Turkey And The Armenian Ghost: On The Traces of Genocide

(Le Figaro, March 30, 2013) – In a review about the book “Turkey and the Armenian ghost: on the traces of Genocide”, co-authored by Laure Marchand, correspondent for “Le Figaro” and Guillaume Perrier, correspondent for “Le Monde”, Pierre Rousselin highlights the fact that while the world stands just two years before the centennial commemoration of the Armenian Genocide in 2015, Turkey seems incapable of coming to terms with her past. Rosselin wonders whether the Centennial will incite Turks and their government to confront their history.

The book is a study conducted on the field with numerous interviews, testimonials and visits to churches, villages and sites that have survived destruction, sacrilege and oblivion. Escapees, forcibly converted to Islam, and “justs” who saved persecuted victims are given the chance to speak through this book. The two journalists describe how the Turkish authorities refused the use of the word “genocide” and the historical concequences of this crime. Rousselin writes that irrespective of what one may think about the Armenian Cause, one thing is clear; the determination of the Turkish state to minimize the scope of their “problem”. The “Le Figaro” columnist underlines that at a time that Turkey aspires joining the European family which is built exactly on working with history, Turkey should revisit the subject of the Genocide.
The book also explains why the Armenian Cause remains in the heart of the Franco-Turkish relations.

Watch the interview of Marchand and Perrier to France 24 (in french).

Laure Marchand et Guillaume Perrier, auteurs de “La Turquie et le fantôme arménien”

State of Paraná Passes Law for Armenian Genocide Rememberance Day

The Legislative Assembly of the State of Paraná, Brazil, passed a law recognizing the Genocide of the Armenian people. The draft law which was submitted by deputy Ney Leprevost and was signed by Governor Beto Richa, came into effect on March 28.

In the supporting text of the law, Leprevost had written “The recognition of the Armenian Genocide by the Legislative Assembly of Paraná would ease the suffering of millions of Armenians scattered throughout the world and Turkey would become more aware of its past.”

According to the law, April 24 is set as the Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day and will henceforth be included in the official calendar of events of the State of Paraná.

On The Road To Exile

On The Road To Exile – Aram Andonian

(imprescriptible.fr) Aram Andonian was born in 1876 in Constantinople. Journalist, writer and author of the Complete Illustrated History of the Balkan War (Vol. 1-4, 1912–1913, Histoire de la Guerre des Balkans), published originally in Armenian. He was among the Armenian intellectuals of Constantinople that were arrested on Apri l 24, 1915 and which later was deported and almost uprooted. A survivor of the Genocide in exile, he was the first Director of Nubar library. Andonian dedicated the rest of his life in collecting and publishing testimonies that showed the destruction of the Ottoman Armenians. He passed away in Paris in 1952.
Hervé Georgelin is a historian and an Armenian and Modern Greek languages translator. He has translated Andonian’s In Those Dark Days (En ces sombres jours, Métispresses, 2007) and Zaven Biberian’s The Twilight of the Ants (Le crépuscule des fourmis, Métispresses, 2012). Georgelin is also the author of The End of Smyrna. From cosmopolitanism to nationalisms (La fin de Smyrne. Du cosmopolitisme aux nationalismes, CNRS Éditions, 2005).

On the Road to Exile (Sur la route de l’exi) is the description of a survivor who couldn’t have survived.
Andonian places us in the center of this group of teachers, artists, journalists, merchants, politicians who are the intellectual and active elite of the Armenian community in Constantinople. Initially incredulous as to the true motives of the Young Turks government, this elite ends up eliminated in central Anatolia.
While portraying a culture in suspension through its most notable characters, the text refers to the early stages of the annihilation process, where the lies of executioners mask the worst to come.
Andonian follows the trace of his friend Parsegh Chahbaz, an investigative journalist until the latter gets murdered. From Istanbul to Kharpert Aram Andonian tries to restore his friend’s wandering and give the reader the picture of the mass destruction around him.

About the book:
• a preface by Raymond H. Kevorkian
• introduction of Hervé Georgelin, historian and translator
• a postface by Janine Altounian
• index and maps
• Release date: February 2, 2013
• Publisher: MétisPresses
• No. ISBN: 978-2-940406-67-8
• Number of pages: 203
• Price: € 19.00

http://www.imprescriptible.fr/parutions/andonian

Genocide Reparations Topic of Armenian Review Special Issue

(Asbarez.com, WATERTOWN, Mass., December 21) —The Armenian Review, the leading journal of Armenian Studies, is pleased to announce the publication of a special issue about “The New Global Reparations Movement,” the growing movement to require reparations for cases of mass human rights violation.

The articles in the issue examine the necessity for reparations for the Armenian Genocide, both as a matter of international law and in contrast to the limited dialogue and acknowledgment models currently ongoing. The current issue of the journal, places the Armenian case within a broader context by describing reparations models and movements including South Africa, Argentina, Japan, and for African-Americans.

Professor Henry Theriault of Worcester State University is the guest editor of the special issue and also contributes his analysis of the moral imperative requiring reparations for the Armenian Genocide. International law expert Dr. Alfred de Zayas brilliantly argues the case that the U.N. Genocide Convention is both applicable to the Armenian Genocide and requires that reparations be made.

For many years, reparations had not been a central element in political, legal, or ethical engagements with past group harms. Since the 1988 decision by the United States to compensate Japanese-Americans interned during World War II, however, reparations have been raised by victim groups as a key requirement for justice and have become intertwined with truth and reconciliation processes.

Thus the articles in the special issue present many of the other key reparations movements. Jermaine McCalpin and M.P. Giyose discuss the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa and connect it to other cases: McCalpin to African-American and Native American reparations and Giyose to the legacy of former colonies burdened by the huge state debts incurred by their former rulers. Patrick Sargent analyzes South Africa, Indonesia, Pakistan, and Haiti as four cases of such “odious debt.” Kibibi Tyehimba analyzes the need for reparations for the historical legacy of sustained violence against African-Americans and Haruko Shibasaki presents the legal movement in Japan for reparations for the “Comfort Women” who were forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese Army during World War II. A group of authors present the issue of reparations for indigenous peoples who were dispossessed by Argentina’s military during the country’s “Campaign to the Desert” in the 19th Century.

The special issue of the Armenian Review, Volume 53, no. 1-4, may be ordered by itself or as part of a subscription to the academic journal from its website, www.armenianreview.org. All subscription, order, and renewal inquiries should be addressed to the publisher by writing to the Armenian Review, Inc., 80 Bigelow Avenue, Watertown, MA 02472-2012; by emailing orders@armenianreview.org; or by calling (617) 926-4037.

Oprah.com Picks Armenian Genocide Epic “The Sandcastle Girls” as Book of the Week‏

WASHINGTON, DC – Oprah Winfrey’s Blog today declared New York Times best-selling author Chris Bohjalian’s novel on the Armenian Genocide, “The Sandcastle Girls”, as the must-read Book of the Week, reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).

The announcement was first posted on Oprah.com, where the editors of O and Oprah.com informed their fans about “the newest releases that they couldn’t stop reading.” This week, “The Sandcastle Girls” was at the top of their list.

Oprah.com’s Nathalie Gorman explained “best known for his thrillers like Midwives, Chris Bohjalian has come out with a different kind of page turner—a searing, tautly woven tale of war and the legacy it leaves behind.” She goes on to note, “This rendering of one of history’s greatest (and least known) tragedies is an nuanced, sophisticated portrayal of what it means not only to endure, but to insist on hope.”

The complete Oprah.com review is posted below.

“The overwhelming and well-deserved praise for Bohjalian’s masterful literary piece about the Armenian Genocide in prominent mainstream American media outlets, such as Oprah’s Blog, highlights the powerful role that his novel is playing in educating readers about this crime, and Turkey’s ongoing denial of both truth and justice,” said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian. “’The Sandcastle Girls’ represents – in addition to a great literary work – a great contribution to the American and global public awareness that will be required to end, forever, the cycle of genocide and denial.”

More Praise for “The Sandcastle Girls” in Newspapers Across the U.S.

In addition to captivating the interest of Oprah Winfrey’s editors, “The Sandcastle Girls” and the Armenian Genocide issue has caught the attention of many notable American newspapers and online publications, including -“The Miami Herald”, “The Florida Times Union”, “The Minneapolis Star Tribune”, Ohio’s “The Columbus Dispatch”, “The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel”, South Carolina’s “The Hilton Head Island Packet”, Boston.com and MyCentralJersey.com.

Amy Driscoll, in her review for The Miami Herald, wrote about the real potential impact the novel has on educating American civil society about the Armenian Genocide. “Bohjalian’s book is about the ways the past informs the present, about the pain but also the richness of heritage. If his goal is to educate us, make us see what has been almost left behind in the dust of history, he succeeds. And after reading this book, we aren’t likely to forget,” noted Driscoll.

The complete Miami Herald review is available online (http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/07/20/2902778/chris-bohjalian-mines-his-armenian.html#storylink=cpy) and was published in the Friday, July 20 issue of the print edition.

Brandy Hilboldt Allport of The Florida Times Union wrote, “Bohjalian deftly widens a telescopic lens to encompass the ‘Meds Yeghern,’ or ‘Great Calamity’ of the Armenian genocide and then narrows it so that readers focus on the characters and join them in their passage through the story. The well-researched history that forms the background informs, intrigues and enchants — even as recollections of horror mount.”

The complete Florida Times Union review is available online (http://jacksonville.com/entertainment/literature/2012-07-22/story/book-review-sandcastle-girls-story-love-world-history-and#ixzz21SumaOhA) and was published in the Sunday, July 22 issue of the print edition.

Margaret Quamme of The Columbus Dispatch claimed, “For a historical novel, ‘The Sandcastle Girls’ is remarkably supple, employing only the most telling of details.” Quamme further wrote about the novel’s potential of galvanizing a growing movement to help raise awareness about the cycle of genocide. “Laura and Bohjalian keep their eyes on the personal, the little moments that illuminate broader social movements. But moment-by-moment, and passage by passage, the novel lights up a disturbing period of history.”

The complete Columbus Dispatch review is available online (http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/life_and_entertainment/2012/07/22/familys-story-illuminates-genocide.html) and was published in the Sunday, July 22 issue of the print edition.

Additionally, last week, “The Sandcastle Girls” received stellar appraisals from the Washington Post, USA Today, The Boston Globe, Entertainment Weekly and People Magazine. These follow powerhouse literary reviews from Publisher’s Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, Library Journal, and Booklist, collectively offering exceptional praise for both the author and the book, with excerpts posted on www.chrisbohjalian.com/the_sandcastle_girls.

Hours before his novel hit book stores, Bohjalian launched his book tour in Los Angeles and continued traveling to events in San Francisco, California and Watertown, Massachusetts. Bohjalian will be having a Capitol Hill Debut of the book in Washington D.C., co-hosted by Congressional Armenian Genocide Resolution lead sponsors, Representatives Robert Dold (R-IL) and Adam Schiff (D-CA). Bohjalian will be meeting with Congressional members throughout the day on August 1, 2012 and then offering remarks and signing books beginning at 6 p.m. at the Rayburn House Office Building, Room B-369.

Bohjalian will also be in New Milford, New Jersey at 7:30pm on August 2 at the Hovnanian School for an event sponsored by the ANC of New Jersey, as well as and event organized by the ANC of New York and hosted by the Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU) at 7:00pm on August 3, 2012.

The complete roster of events across the country is http://www.chrisbohjalian.com/events.

In his 15th book, “The Sandcastle Girls,” Bohjalian brings us on a very different kind of journey. The spellbinding tale travels between Aleppo, Syria in 1915 and Bronxville, New York in 2012 – a sweeping historical love story steeped in the author’s Armenian heritage, making it his most personal novel to date.

Armenian Americans and interested readers are encouraged to purchase “The Sandcastle Girls” online from Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble and Indiebound or from their local book sellers.

To join the ANCA in helping put “The Sandcastle Girls” on the Congressional summer reading list through a contribution to the ANCA Endowment donate-a-book program – .

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Oprah.com Book of the Week Announcement

Book of the Week: The Sandcastle Girls

Posted: Mon 07/23/2012 01:30 PM | By: Nathalie Gorman

Each week, we’ll be letting you know about new releases the editors of O and Oprah.com couldn’t stop reading. This Monday, we’re bowled over by the new novel:

The Sandcastle Girls

By Chris Bohjalian

Best known for his thrillers like Midwives, Chris Bohjalian has come out with a different kind of page turner—a searing, tautly woven tale of war and the legacy it leaves behind. The novel is actually two stories in one: That of Elizabeth Endicott and Armen Petrosian, lovers who meet in Syria during the Armenian genocide, and that of Laura Petrosian, their adult granddaughter, who, nearly a century after her grandparents met, wants to make sense of why they were so silent about their youth. Laura’s suburban existence is radically different from the violent setting in which her grandparents fell in love. Yet all three want the answer to one question: After such horror, is any kind of happiness possible? As a reader you want so badly for Bohjalian’s passionate characters to find some version of yes. And find it they do—but at a terrifying cost. This rendering of one of history’s greatest (and least known) tragedies is an nuanced, sophisticated portrayal of what it means not only to endure, but to insist on hope.

PHOTO CAPTION: Image from Oprah.com

The Knesset insists on Armenian Genocide discussion

On June 12, 2012, in a discussion that lasted over an hour and a half the Israeli Knesset decided to continue discussing the recognition of the Armenian Genocide, within the Education, Culture and Sports Committee’s framework where was initially introduced in December 2011. (https://www.armeniancause.net/2011/12/26/knesset%E2%80%99s-education-committee-positive-on-armenian-genocide-recognition-discussion-postponed/).

Www.jpost.com reports that “Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin said Tuesday that Israel had an obligation to remember the murder of more than a million Armenians at the hands of the Turks nearly a hundred years ago, but warned that the issue should not be turned into an attack on the Turkish government of today” referring to the State Comptroller report about the 2010 Turkish flotilla incident, that was scheduled to be released on June 13th. “Those who drafted the Final Solution for the Jews figured the world would be silent as they were when the Armenians were murdered,” Rivlin said.

“We cannot forgive nations who ignore our disaster and we cannot ignore the disasters of others,” Meretz chairwoman Zehava Gal-On, who initiated the Knesset discussion, accused the government of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu of using the Armenian tragedy to attack Turkey. According to www.jpost.com, Gal-On said the government should “finally recognize” the episode as a Genocide and restore relations with Turkey by agreeing to apologize for the deaths of nine Turkish pro-Palestinian activists that were on the flotilla. “The Armenian Genocide is not an opportunity for public diplomacy,” Gal-On told the Knesset plenum. “Israel is strong enough to apologize for the killing of Turkish citizens without it harming Israel’s honor or its security. We don’t need to choose between recognizing genocide and relations with Turkey. We can have both.” “The Jewish people who have experienced the worst Holocaust have an obligation to show sensitivity to the disasters of others,” she added.

National Union MK Arieh Eldad called on Turkey to recognize its responsibility for its “historical crime,” which he said included children being “put into cellars and gassed.” He also quoted Hitler’s “Who remembers what happened to the Armenians,” when he was asked what the world would say about his Final Solution against the Jews.

Kadima MK Robert Tibayev was the only lawmaker to speak against Israel recognizing the Armenian Genocide, saying the state should not interfere in the issue but let historians or an international body determine if there was a genocide.

Balad MK Said Nafa, a Christian, took the opportunity to accuse current Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of being hypocritical by complaining about the atrocities being committed by Syrian President Bashar Assad against his people while he himself has killed dozens of Kurds.

Hagop Sevan, representative of the Armenian National Committee of Jerusalem highlighted the importance of Government member, Gilad Erdan’s remarks who said that the Education, Culture and Sports’ Committee should continue with the discussion which should result to the recognition of the Armenian Genocide. The Armenian National Committee of Jerusalem believes that Erdan’s remarks reflect the Government’s green light for the recognition of the Armenian Genocide by Israel.

Santa Coloma de Gramenet Recognizes The Armenian Genocide

On May 2, the City Council of Santa Coloma de Gramenet (Barcelona) adopted a resolution condemning the Genocide against the Armenian people committed by Turkey in 1915-1921, reported the Armenian National Committee office in Spain.

The resolution of the Santa Coloma de Gramenet City Council calls the Spanish central government to recognize and condemn the Armenian Genocide based on the European Parliament’s 1987 respective resolution (Doc. A2-33/87). Moreover, the City Council declares its intention to support the democratization process of Armenia through the collaboration with Armenian associations that are established in Catalonia.
The Socialists’ Party of Catalonia (Partit dels Socialistes de Catalunya), the Initiative for Catalonia Greens (Iniciativa per Catalunya Verds) and the Convergence and Union (Convergència i Unió) parties voted in favor of the resolution.

Representatives of the Armenian organizations in Spain attended the session.

To read the text in Spanish, follow the link below
http://www.gramenet.cat/fileadmin/Files/Ajuntament/mocions/2012abril/armenia.pdf

Two More Italian Cities Recognize The Armenian Genocide

On March 20 and April 17 respectively, the City Councils of Rieti and Scafati, Italy, have proceeded in the recognition and condemnation of the 1915 Genocide of the Armenians, perpetrated by Ottoman Turkey. Once more, the Italian local authorities urge Turkey to reconcile with its history and admit the crimes that she masterminded and executed in the past. Massacres and atrocities against the Armenians starting from 1895, are highlighted in the adopted resolution.

As in Turin City Council’s case, Rieti’s resolution also commits to express full solidarity with the Armenian people in its struggle for recognition of the historical truth and the defense of the inviolable rights, to intervene with the appropriate bodies in order to preserve the Christian-Armenian artistic, historical and religious heritage which is in a serious state of degradation, to invite the European Parliament to take action so that Turkey, a candidate to be part of ‘the European Union, formally recognizes and condemns the genocide of Armenians and to support any useful initiative to promote reconciliation between Turkey and Armenia.

Both City Councils passed the resolutions, unanimously.

To read the italian text of the Rieti City Council Resolution, follow the link below:

http://www.ilgiornaledirieti.it/public/files/genocidio.pdf

Turin’s City Council Recognizes The Armenian Genocide

On February 6, 2012 the City Council of Turin, Italy adopted a resolution recognizing and condemning the Armenian Genocide. Moreover, the City Council calls on the European Parliament to take action so that Turkey, a candidate for European Union membership, formally recognizes and condemns the Genocide of the Armenians.

According to the resolution apart from the 1915 Genocide fact, Turin’s City Council took under account the Ottoman Empire’s 1895 and 1909 massacres of the Armenians, the forced adoption by Turkish and Kurdish families of almost 100.000 Armenian infants resulting to the loss of their own faith and language, the 1920 and 1922 Turkish Republic’s attacks on Cilician Armenia, Turkey’s categorical denial to recognize the Genocide as opposed to Germany and Austria who recognized the Holocaust, the European Parliament’s 18/6/1987 resolution on the possibility of Turkey’s adhesion in the European Union only after having recognized the Genocide of the Armenians, the over 40 Italian city councils decisions formally recognizing the Genocide, the 2000 Chamber of Deputies decision, the Statement of Pope John Paul II to the Armenian Patriarch and the architectural and historic cultural heritage of the Armenians that is endangered in present Turkey.

The resolution commits to express full solidarity with the Armenian people in its struggle for recognition of the historical truth and the defense of the inviolable rights, to intervene with the appropriate bodies in order to preserve the Christian-Armenian artistic, historical and religious heritage which is in a serious state of degradation, to invite the European Parliament to take action so that Turkey, a candidate to be part of ‘the European Union, formally recognizes and condemns the genocide of Armenians and to support any useful initiative to promote reconciliation between Turkey and Armenia.

To read the text in Italian follow this link

http://www.comune.torino.it/consiglio/documenti1/atti/testi/2012_00549.pdf