Armenian News - How The Armenian Genocide Lost Its Place In History

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoXED_7I3VA 


Dr Eugene Rogan is giving a presentation of his book 

The Fall of the Ottomans

on 10 March at 7pm 

at Daunt Books, Marylebone Hight Street

Tickets can be purchased online or phoning 0207 224 2295

This has a whole chapter on the Armenian Genocide which is indexed

under Genocide. Well worth a purchase and read. 

Here are a couple of quotes;

"The bitter irony is that the annihilation of the Armenians and 

other Christian communities  in no way improved the security of 

the Ottoman Empire" .

[on the 'relocation'  argument used by the Turkish denialists]

"But the record of these [Turkish military tribunals] trials provides the

most extensive evidence ever compiled by the Turkish authorities on

the organization and the conduct of the Armenian massacres. These

records published on Ottoman Turkish, have been in the public domain

since 1919 and make a mockery of any attempts to deny the Young

Turk government's role in ordering and organizing the annihilation of

the Ottoman Armenian community." 

[on the Turkish argument of no evidence in their archives]. 

armradio.am
EUFOA WELCOMES EPP RESOLUTION ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
03 Mar 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan

On 3 March, the European People's Party (EPP) adopted a resolution
recognising and condemning the Armenian Genocide as well as paying
tribute to the victims in the 100th anniversary. The EPP, which is
the largest European political party, has adopted the resolution
following the initiative of its sister parties from Armenia.

European Friends of Armenia (EuFoA) welcomes this resolution. EuFoA
Director, Mr Eduardo Lorenzo Ochoa, comments: "This text is meant
not only as a tribute, but also as a call for both historical justice
and historical reconciliation."

The text adopted by the EPP political assembly refers to different
aspects of this atrocious crime, such as "...dispossession of
the homeland, the massacres and ethnic cleansing aimed at the
extermination of the Armenian population, the destruction of the
Armenian heritage, as well as the denial of the Genocide, all attempts
to avoid responsibility, to consign to oblivion the committed crimes
and their consequences or to justify them, as a continuation of this
crime and encouragement to commit new genocides..."

Moreover the resolution calls upon Turkey to recognise and condemn the
Genocide committed by the Ottoman Empire as a base for the complete
normalisation and Europeanisation of its relationship along with its
international commitments and European aspirations. It also appeals to
international organisations, specially the EU and CoE member states,
to restore historical justice and pay tribute to the victims. This
political initiative puts also a strong accent on cultural and
religious component of this crime, noting that this heritage should be
repaired and returned to the Armenian and other relevant communities.

"I am particularly pleased to see the accession to EU political
families by Armenian political parties, in which I have invested
myself so intensely, has a mutually beneficial outcome also in such
transcendent matters as the Genocide" adds Mr Lorenzo Ochoa.

The EPP is the largest European-level political party of the
centre-right, which currently includes 78 member-parties from 39
countries (including 3 from Armenia: Republican Party of Armenia,
Heritage and Country of Law) the Presidents of the European Commission
and the European Council, 11 EU and 6 non-EU heads of state and
government, 14 members of the European Commission and the largest
Group in the European Parliament with 219 members.


The full text of the resolution follows: 

Resolution adopted by the EPP Political Assembly ( 3rd March 2015) 

on “The Armenian Genocide and European Values”

The European People’s Party reaffirms its recognition and condemnation 

of the Genocide and Great National Dispossession of the Armenian 

people on the eve of its 100th Anniversary on 24 April 2015.

1. We condemn the genocidal acts against the Armenian people, 

planned and continuously perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire and 

various regimes of Turkey in 1894-1923, dispossession of the 

homeland, the massacres and ethnic cleansing aimed at the 

extermination of the Armenian population, the destruction of the Armenian 

heritage, as well as the denial of the Genocide, all attempts to avoid 

responsibility, to consign to oblivion the committed crimes and their 

consequences or to justify them, as a continuation of this crime and 

encouragement to commit new genocides. 

2. We commemorate one-and-a-half million innocent victims of the 

Armenian Genocide in 1915 and bow in gratitude to those martyred 

and surviving heroes who struggled for their lives and human dignity. 

Moreover, we recognize, that the Genocide resulted in the death and 

dispossession not only of Armenian people but also extended to the 

Pontic Greeks and Assyrians peoples, and we commemorate them 

as well.

3. We join and strongly support the commitment of Armenia and the 

Armenian people to continue the international struggle for the prevention 

of genocides, the restoration of the rights of people subjected to 

genocide and the establishment of historical justice.

4. We invite Turkey, in the finest example of integrity and leadership 

proffered by the Federal Republic of post-war Germany, to face history 

and finally recognize the ever-present reality of the Armenian Genocide 

and its attendant dispossession, to seek redemption and make restitution 

appropriate for a European country, including but not limited to ensuring 

a right of return of the Armenian people to, and a secure reconnection 

with, their national hearth―all flowing from the fundamental imperative 

of achieving Reconciliation through the Truth.

5. We call upon the Government of Turkey to respect and realize fully 

the legal obligations which it has undertaken including those provisions 

which relate to the protection of cultural heritage and, in particular, to 

conduct in good faith an integrated inventory of Armenian and other 

cultural heritage destroyed or ruined during the past century, based 

thereon to develop a strategy of priority restoration of ancient and 

medieval capital cities, churches, schools, fortresses, cemeteries, and 

other treasures located in historic Western Armenia, and to render the 

aforementioned fully operational cultural and religious institutions.

6. We appeal to EU and CoE member states, international organizations, 

all people of good will, regardless of their ethnic origin and religious 

affiliation, to unite their efforts aimed at restoring historical justice and 

paying tribute to the memory of the victims of the Armenian Genocide.

7. Taking the foregoing into account, the European People’s Party 

invites Turkey to take the following measures pursuant to its 

international commitments and the European identity to which it 

aspires: 

- to recognize and condemn the Armenian Genocide committed by 

the Ottoman Empire, and to face its own history and memory through

 commemorating the victims of that heinous crime against humanity;

- to provide a vision and an implementing plan of action worthy of a 

truly European Turkey, including a comprehensive resolution of issues 

relating to the freedom of expression and reference to the Genocide 

in state, society and educational institutions, as well as the repair of 

religious and other cultural sites and their return to the Armenian and 

other relevant communities;

- to launch the long-awaited celebration of the Armenian national 

legacy based on a total Turkish-Armenian normalization anchored in 

the assumption of history, the pacific resolution of all outstanding 

matters, and a complete Europeanization of their relationship.

8. It also invites the European Union, its Commission, Council and 

Parliament, and the international community as a whole, in assessment 

of the honoring of commitments and obligations undertaken by Turkey, 

t o accord continued attention to the recognition, restoration, and 

restitution of our shared heritage as herewith tendered, and hereafter 

officially to commemorate April 24 as a day to remember and condemn 

the Armenian Genocide and man’s inhumanity to man. 

9. We express the hope that recognition and condemnation of the 

Armenian Genocide by Turkey will serve as a starting point for the 

historical reconciliation of the Armenian and Turkish peoples. 

The speech by  Artak Zakaryan, the Chairman of the Standing
Committee on Foreign Relations of the National Assembly of the 

Republic of Armenia, preceding the EPP vote:

"I would like to express my profound gratitude to the European People's
Party for the opportunity of such a resolution within the framework
of the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.

We highly appreciate political courage and strong will of the
states, international organizations, religious and non-governmental
organizations to recognize and condemn the Armenian Genocide.

This resolution can be another step against the denialism of genocide
crimes, an obstacle - for new crimes.

The start of a new level of the international recognition and
condemnation of the Armenian Genocide has been defined as a priority
in the foreign policy agenda of the Republic of Armenia. Such a policy
isn't an end in itself, directed towards relieving only its own pain.

We realize that the people, who have survived the Genocide, the people,
who during the last century demonstrated an unbending will and national
self-consciousness, restored its sovereign statehood, gave birth to
a struggling generation, also has its own part of responsibility
in prevention of new genocides. Through achieving recognition and
condemnation of a crime we are obliged to remember and make remember,
condemn and criticize. Several draft bills on recognizing genocide
have already been included in the agenda of our parliament. Every
crime of genocide is a manifestation of human cruelty, born as a
result of a sense of impunity.

We consider the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide an important
milestone in the ongoing struggle for historical justice under the
motto "I remember and demand".

The commencement of the recognition and condemnation process of the
Armenian Genocide was first mentioned in 1915 by the joint declaration
of France, Great Britain and Russia, where the term "crime against
humanity" was used for the first time in the history.

Various documents have been adopted by different countries concerning
the recognition of the Armenian Genocide. Any condemning resolution,
every criticizing speech and bill has been a unique attitude against
Turkish policy of denialism, proof, that restoration of historical
justice is inevitable.

But unfortunately we are still struggling against the Turkish
policy of denialism on the eve of the 100th anniversary of the
Armenian Genocide. For nearly 100 years the historical memory of
the whole nation has been violated and denied. In the international
platforms the official Turkish lobby spares no efforts to distort
historical justice. Turkey doesn't realize that the denial of the
Armenian Genocide and concealment of the historical truth first of
all threatens just Turkey on its way of becoming a democratic country.

We call upon the Republic of Turkey to recognize and condemn the
Armenian Genocide committed by the Ottoman Empire, and to face its own
history and memory through commemorating the victims of that heinous
crime against humanity. Distortion, denial of irrefutable reality is
nothing but a death caused by the disease of its past.

We are hopeful that recognition and condemnation of the Armenian
Genocide by Turkey will serve as a starting point for the historical
reconciliation of the Armenian and Turkish peoples.

Impunity gives birth to new crimes.

We will develop our further steps according to this belief.

It is a priority for us to raise the recognition of the Genocide as
an important step for humanitarian reasons.

Once again I would like to express my gratitude to our dear friends
from the EPP Political Assembly for evidencing the fact of the Armenian
Genocide in the international political agenda, for sharing our pain.

The motto "Recognize and condemn in order not to repeat" will always
be urgent by us.

Thank you for your attention." 

NO "ARMENIAN GENOCIDE" IN TURKEY'S HISTORY
AzerNews, Azerbaijan
Feb 25 2015
By Mushvig Mehdiyev

There was no "genocide" against Armenians in the history of Turkey,
a top Turkish official said on February 25.

Turkish Parliamentary Speaker Cemil Cicek said Ankara was doing its
best to stand against the Armenian diaspora worldwide as it attempts
to denigrate and sully Turkey's reputation and history.

"Turkey has always ensured that its archives remain open to
investigation into the events of 1915," he noted, calling on Yerevan
to do the same, if they indeed had similar archives.

In his early remarks, Cicek accused Armenia of trying to turn its
1915 propaganda into a source of income exploiting its so-called
"genocide" to further its political and financial standing amid the
international community.

"Turkey holds no ill feelings towards the Armenian people. But 

this does not mean that we will remain silent and inactive before 

Armenia's anti-Turkish campaign," Cicek declared.

Turkey is ambiguously denying Armenia's claims that the Ottoman Empire
systematically executed Armenians back in 1915.

Top Turkish leaders have said the events of 1915 were a difficult
time not only for Armenians, but also for Arabs, Kurds and other
ethnic minorities in the region.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu highlighted Armenia's 

groundless 1915 genocide propaganda as a hindrance to the 

normalization of relations between Ankara and Yerevan.

He insisted that although Ankara hopes for the normalization of
relations with Yerevan, Armenia would need to end its campaign against
Turkey and turn the page on its prejudices.

Armenia and the Armenian lobby claim that Turkey's predecessor, the
Ottoman Empire allegedly carried out a "genocide" against Armenians
living in Anatolia in 1915.

The Armenian authorities have always hanged on the hope that world
leaders would support their allegations.

But before a lack of historical evidences, such claims have been
rejected en masse.

U.S. President Barack Obama, actually unequivocally avoided to use
the word genocide in his annual speeches on the falsified "Armenian
genocide."

Hasan Celal Guzel, a well-known Turkish journalist and politician,
claims that the alleged "Armenian genocide" is a mere falsification
of historical events.

"Relocation of the Armenians dating back to May 27, 1915, is not an
"Armenian genocide. When the Armenians massacred more than 30,000
Turks and Kurds in Van, the leadership of the Ottoman empire decided
to relocate the Armenian population. Relocation cannot be interpreted
as genocide or massacre under any circumstances," Guzel said.

"The Ottoman archives along with the U.S. National Archives and Records
Administration and national archives of England, Russia, France and
Germany clearly reveal that the number of Armenians who were lost
over that period stand at about 400,000," confirmed Guzel, adding that
Armenia's number - 1.5 million deaths - carries no link with reality.

The Armenian authorities and diaspora are preparing to solemnly mark
the 100th anniversary of the so-called "genocide" on April 24, 2015.

Armenia insisted it wants Turkey to admit to its so-called guilt even
though all evidences prove that no genocide ever took place.

But since Armenia has been unable to command any factual proofs 

to support its claims, its calls for "recognition" have fallen into
deaf ears.