Reminder post...Armenian News...

This is why we individually need to up our game and shout from the rooftops.

All of us.

No excuses.

Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey
Jan 9 2015
Crown princes, Russell Crowe to attend Çanakkale commemoration
Sevil ErkuşANKARA

Crown Prince Charles and Prince William of Great Britain, as well as
Australian actor Russell Crowe, are scheduled to attend the centennial
of the Battle of Gallipoli in Çanakkale in late April.

The Turkish government, meanwhile, is considering decorating Crowe for
his recent film “The Water Diviner,” which is set four years after the
Gallipoli campaign in World War I and follows the journey of an
Australian farmer who travels to Turkey to discover the fate of his
three sons.

Ankara has extended invitations for the gathering, at which
high-profile participation is expected from a number of Commonwealth
countries.

The prime ministers of New Zealand and Australia are expected 

to attend, along with a minister from Canada.
In response to a campaign by Armenians to attain greater 

recognition on the 100th anniversary of what many in the world 

term the Armenian Genocide, Turkey plans to commemorate the 

centennial of the Çanakkale campaign on April 23-24-25 this year, 

in a bid to counter the adverse effects of Armenian efforts.

Traditionally, Turkey marks the Anniversary of the Battle of 

Gallipoli on March 18, which is declared Martyrs’ Day. Armenians, 

meanwhile, commemorate their killed ancestors on April 24.

Gallipoli is a venue that traditionally hosts thousands of Australians
and New Zealanders on April 25, the day of remembrance, known as 

ANZAC Day after Australian and New Zealand Army Corps soldiers 

who lost their lives.

By merging the two occasions, Ankara is hoping to increase the
visibility of the commemoration of the Battle of Gallipoli in the eye
of the international community at a time when attention will likely be
on the centennial anniversary of the mass killings of Anatolian
Armenians during the Ottoman era.

Speaking during parliamentary budget talks about the Foreign Ministry
on Dec. 14, 2014, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said a “meaningful
commemoration” of the Battle of Gallipoli was being organized.

“We are organizing the [commemoration] of the Battle of Gallipoli in a
meaningful and positive way. We are also inviting the countries that
were involved in World War I or were affected by it to take part,”
said Çavuşoğlu.

He also referred to the 100th anniversary of the forced migration of
Ottoman Armenians, which led to hundreds of thousands of deaths,
saying Turkey “will deliver messages of peace and tolerance to the
world in Çanakkale on April 24, 2015.”

Gallipoli is a district of Çanakkale province, which is also home to
the Dardanelles. The heroic resistance in Gallipoli from 1915-1916 by
the Ottoman army during World War I is known in Turkey as the
“Çanakkale Wars.”


Today's Zaman, Turkey
Jan 6 2015
Is Etyen Mahcupyan a national security threat?
by JOOST LAGENDIJK
January 06, 2015, Tuesday

Whether Turkey likes it or not, 2015 is going to be the year when this
country, the successor to the Ottoman Empire, will be faced again with
the question - more pertinent than ever before--of how it looks back at
the atrocities committed against the Ottoman Armenians in 1915.

The rest of the world will be watching how Turkey will deal with the
allegations of genocide placed at its feet by Armenians all over the
world, morally supported by global public opinion that believes Turkey
has the responsibility to come up with a convincing answer. After 100
years of denial and failed efforts to redefine the issue, Turkey will
at least have to show it recognizes this unsolved problem and 

respond to it in a constructive and compassionate way.
Many hope Turkey will continue where then-Prime Minister and current
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ended last year when he extended his
condolences for the Armenian losses in 1915. His actions were a
historic first and, together with speeches from then-Foreign Minister
and current Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, seemed to indicate a
willingness to initiate a new phase in currently frozen
Armenian-Turkish relations and in dealing with the haunting disputes
of the past.

I am sure that from now until April 24, we will see a lot of
speculation about what Turkey is planning to do in the run-up to 

and on the day of the centennial. Expectations are high that Etyen
Mahcupyan, one of the most well-known Turks of Armenian descent 

who has been nominated to be adviser to Prime Minister Davutoglu, 

can play a positive role in that process.

Against this background of cautious optimism, reading a recent article
examining how Turkish textbooks deal with the Armenian genocide was an
alarming wake-up call, revealing the distance that still has to be
covered. Taner Akcam, the Turkish historian who opened the 

eyes of many Turks to the horrors of 1915 and now works in 

the  U.S., took a close look at the history textbooks that are 

being used today in Turkish schools, prepared and approved 

by the Ministry of National Education. His conclusions are 

both shocking and sad.

Akcam cites many examples of blatant errors and obvious fabrications
that are being used in the textbooks to paint a picture of Armenians
as the true aggressors and Turks as innocent victims. Incredibly,
after all that has been published on this issue, history is still
being distorted and manipulated in order to legitimize the massacres
that took place. Akcam's conclusion is clear: "There is nothing new
about the New Turkey. Everything here is a repeat of what's been going
on for decades."

On top of these historical falsifications, what is most upsetting is
the way today's Armenians, in Turkey and abroad, are presented as 

one of the biggest national security threats to Turkey. Turkish history
textbooks convey the message that every Armenian is an enemy. 

In the words of Akcam: "Even if we set aside for a minute the diaspora 

and Armenians in Armenia, it is clear that the government perceives a
segment of its own citizens and their problems to be a threat against
national security, and educates all of its citizens to engender
feelings of hatred an enmity towards this one segment."

How schizophrenic is a country in which students are indoctrinated
against Armenians, while at the same time Etyen Mahcupyan -- the 

most visible representative of that ethnic group-- is one of the main
advisers to the prime minister?

At the end of his article, Akcam makes an almost desperate call 

to his readers, one that I support wholeheartedly: "The Turkish 

government is going to put up smokescreens, claiming to be 

interested in making amends, and claiming that Armenians are 

the ones who keep backing away, etc. It is going to try to create

the impression that it is the side willing to compromise and to 

find solutions. Please place these textbooks directly in front of 

them at each and every opportunity, and make it clear to them 

that if they want to reclaim any kind of integrity on the subject 

they should first pull these books from circulation."