It's well articulated, but what's the point of bringing in the Western Armenian National Congress when it does not yet exist? There is no guarantee that it will form.
The other issue that I have with this editorial is why to have yet another organization which will pursue Hay Tad. Ostensibly all Armenian parties, on top of that the Assembly, the ANCA, ANCC, the Congress in Canada, ARCA and others in Europe are carrying the job. Aren't they?
Isn't it possible to have the leadership of all these organizations to get together say on a quarterly basis and discuss strategies and plans? They already have their respective boards and followers and thus there won't be the need of creating another one.
Not only national, political as well as financial SOUND projects must be dicussed in this Assembly to secure and have one and united ALL ARMENIAN policy for Genocide recognition and respect to our huge human losses and territorial/material claims.
Mr. Gregg Rickman has done a great and keen psychosocial analysis. Now, I better understand what corruption is. It is Mr. Sarksyan, the illegal President of Armenia who betrayed the souls of 1915 and his own. This is corruption.
De pleno acordo com sua POSIÇÃO. APOIAR É preciso Incentivar e um dos objetivos do Congresso CONCRETIZAÇÃOO Nacional Armêniocidental. Esta é a melhor ideia já surgida para unir um Diáspora no mundo ocidental. Não há tempo a perder. Harut Sassounian já expôs, aqui, como proceder para eleger os Representantes das diversas comunidades da Diáspora,terem um assento no Congresso. Mãos à obra!
No any earthquake security mesures will take into consideration as long as the corruption is the ruling power in Armenia.
There 400 appartments are under construction in Spitak or around that region. Mr. president Serj Sarkisian inspected recently and noticed the poor condition of construction. ordered to fix. But nothing is happened.
One of profecional withness said not even dogs will live in that appartments. These appartments are nearly to finish and earthquake homeless families has to occupy them soon.
This is an old problem afflicting the Lebanese Armenian community. In the microcosm of the AUB medical community, even 35 years ago I used to decry the fact that there were too many educated armenian "girls" (such as nurses) with very few armenian "boys" to pick them up. Even then far too many of these valuable assets were picked up by arabs and most of them are now lost for us. We still have no leadership or education telling us to stay Armenian when we marry non-armenians. Let's remedy that by learning from how jewish girls marrying talented non-jewish men preserve their religion and culture. It's OK if we sound racist: everyone else is racist.
In the mid-'60s I had the misfortune of traveling from Aleppo to Istanbul on a state-owned Turkish train. Adding spices to the torture of traveling on that primitive train (circa 1921) were dozens of negative memories which have left an indelible mark on my mind.
While we were crossing the Taurus Mountains, a Turkish passenger, knowing we were Armenian, referred to them as the "Gavour Daghlare" (Infidel Mountains).
In Istanbul I went to a clothing store to buy a coat. Since I knew that the owner was Armenian, I addressed him in Armenian. The man ignored me. Some time later, when the Turkish customers had left the store, the store owner approached me and said in Armenian that he was afraid to speak in Armenian in the presence of Turks.
I forget which of the Istanbul's (and Turkey's major newspaper they were, but certainly one of them was "Hurriet") had these two slogans on top of the first page year round, every day: "Let no one dare touch this lion [meaning Turkey]" and "Turkey belongs to the Turks'. In Armenian we have a saying: "Kogh, seerde togh" (The thief's heart always beats fast).
There were other examples of Turkish extreme ultra-nationalism, racism and Armenophobia, but the above should suffice as examples of Turkish mentality in the mid-'60s.
We are told that Turkey has changed; it has progressed; it has become liberated and tolerant. Armenians certainly hope that Turkey is moving away from its deplorable political past. While a tiny minority of brave Turks are speaking up, Armenians are still waiting to see real and widespread change in that country's arcane and pathological attitudes towards non-Turks and non-Moslems.
Murat is not explaining why Turkish public will curicify the government if the government gives a rational and diplomatic answer to USA acceptance of the Armenian Genocide.
I ask Murad : Isn't it true that Armenians have been villified in Turkey at every level, starting middle school all the way to High school? Isn't it true that the government has poisoned the minds of Turkish public? If one grows up with the idea of treacherous Armenian, obviously this "emotional response" is the result of 95 years of brainwashing.
I am a product of "Turk Azinlik Okullar" - Turkish Minority Schools. We had a histoy teacher in High School Hikmet Hanim. When explaining events in Eastern Anatolia during early 20th Century , she would say " Armenians did this, Armenians did that" but then she would add " Fakat siz o Ermenilerden degilsiniz" -....but you are not the same Armenians....Wow...the whole class would just stare at her....so..the same goes on, probably it is worst in Turkish schools.
I say to Murad: If the goverment's brain washing ceases may be then the Turks can face their history?
Now that the resolution has cleared committee and has a chance of reaching the house floor, we must explain to the Americans that they certainly should recognize the genocide because, in addition to being just, it is in their interest.
Matt Lewis’ article is a good summary of what has been said on both sides for all these years. Basically, the pro-Armenian side stresses moral obligations while the other side invokes realpolitik. Now let us ask how real that “politik” is.
The article lists the most important points as:
“…with two wars taking place in that part of the world…” (implying that Turkey is an island of calm and peace): In addition to its internal war with the Kurds, Turkey recently invaded Kurdish Iraq.
“…,a secular democracy,…”: (secular?) just a few lines ago it says that the main conduit for blackmailing the U.S. over "The Trail of Tears" into silence is the sole Muslim representative in congress. (And democracy?) Turkey has had numerous military coups in the past few decades and last week three generals were indicted for plotting a new takeover. The army claims it is just a plot by the government against the military. Either way, is that democracy?
“…, a $12 billion trading partner,…”: What percentage of the American economy is $12 billion? Which way is the flow?
“…America's strongest NATO ally in the region…”: Turkey is one NATO member in open enmity with another member and the only one constantly threatening the U.S. over military bases; and also an ally which has done little in these past decades, except allowing it to use an air base during the Iraq war, which itself was obviously against American interests, to begin with.
“Exit strategies”: You don’t drive your forces back to the U.S. overland!
One major obstacle might be Secretary Clinton’s beliefs. The Clintons seem to be ardent believers in Strobe Talbot, Bill’s old roommate, and his idea of a balance of power in the region (Turkey vs. Russia). Talbot in turn, seems to be a romantic, still thinking in terms of the Crimean War, on which, he is an authority. His idea of a balance is to have two great powers tying each other down and so beef Turkey up to the role – “realpolitik?’
In addition to the Russian guide's inclination to appropriate what is not theirs or perhaps her ignorance, it's worth remembering that states are hostile to nations, and particularly to ethnic groups. States are man-made administrative constructs which feel threatened by nations, races and ethnic groups. States see minority groups as challengers who might drift towards separatism, and perhaps to the dismantling of the state. Thus many states try to assimilate their minorities overtly, covertly, or forcibly.
Thus Atom Egoyan is Canadian
William Saroyan is American
Charles Aznavour is French
Aram Khachaturian is Russian
The ideal for states is to have 100% homogenous race-ethnic population. Ironically, Armenia is one such state, although it's not because of planning by the state. Japan is nearly 100% homogenous, but that condition was planned by Tokyo. Israel would love to be a homogenous state.
The Russian guide was a state employee who was tutored by the state and used state-approved texts for her "education".
I have conflicting views about America labelling the catastrophe of 1915 as genocide. I can only see positive developments on the Turkish domestic front, a good healthy dose of nationalism, a little more interest in our history, a blow to the pride of the Turkish Diaspora for their failure, and the trashing of the raprochement with Armenia. The foreign policy cost I beleive will be massive.
I don't think Americans understand the Turks well. They are expecting the Turks to retaliate considering their own national interests and the importance of our alliance with the US; they are expecting a tamed response. I heard one "analyst" saying Turkey will never cease relations with the US, or won't close the military base, that it will be business as usual.
I tend to disagree. The government may try to respond rationally and diplomatically while maintaning the alliance, however the Turkish people will crucify them. You can expect an emotional response from the people, and if the government doesn't heed to their feelings the people will replace them. This puts Erdogan in a very tough spot. If this passes and Erdogan's response is timid, I can see the calls for an early election to get stronger. This could be the nail in the coffin for the AKP government and our alliance with the US. Interesting to see how it pans out.
You sound very pessimistic about USA recognizing the Genocide of the Armenians. After all 42 out of 50 states have acknowledged, and all the past three presidents, including the present have during their candidacy held positive positions. Don't these facts tell something?
Apart from the "perceived" loss of the NATO ally Turkey, what do you think holds back USA to recognize?
After all mankind travelled to the moon. So it is possible, isn't it?
Very few in this tortured World can understand that the USA has no power to recognize Mets Yeghern or the Armenian Genocide. Recognition of the Armenian Genocide is as possible as the travel to the Moon.
A few years ago, while I was in St.Petersburg as a tourist, my group was being guided by a charming Russian lady in the museum. There were some Aivazovsky paintings and she elaborated on their famous "RUSSIAN " painter. When I told her that he was only a Russian national, was not a Russian but an Armenian, she got upset that I had contradicted her in front of the group. We had a little argument.
I do not know how the rest of the group (all English speakers) took my harangue, but I was satisfied
Had Vartan Mamigonian be a better military leader the Vartanants War would have been won. This is the conclusion of a military expert who has studied Vartanants. I do not remeber the author's name but I read the work in "the Armenian Reporter " 20-25 years ago. I was very impressed by his cold analysis. We consider Vartanants as a moral victory. I think being massacred and claiming victory is " ayratz srdi ......mkhitarank".
The gist of his analysis is that the Persian army had assembeled at Avarair plain, the Armenian forces were on much higher ground overlooking the Persians. According to historians of the time the enemy was not aware of Armenians on the hills surrounding Avarair. We are told that Mamigonian waited till sunrise to confront the Persians.
Here is the blunder: while the Persian army was sleeping thru the night, the Armenians were praying. If Armenians had attacked as the Persians slept it would have been a real military victory; but no....they had to pray the whole night and missed the opportunity.
Should The United States Recognize Armenian Genocide?
Of Course Yes.
Jews, Armenians and Darfur and all other Genocides must be confronted unconditionally at the level of American Values and humanity.
Genocide is an unforgivable crime. The leader of the free world should never let recognition of this crime reduced to a political issue.
As presidential Candidate, Mr Obama stated 'America deserves a Leader who speaks truthfully about Armenian Genocide and responds forcefully to all genocides. I intend to be that President."
Mr President now you are the president and you have still a second chance. We look to president Obama to be a man of his word and honor his pledge to recognize the Armenian Genocide.
Your very perceptive analysis of the outdated and useless Armenian so-called “political” parties didn’t go far enough.
You could have asked them to cite one good example where they have benefited the Armenian people in the 19th century, in the pre-Genocide 20th century, in the post-Genocide 20th century, and now in the 21st century. “Dividing the Armenian Community and weakening the Armenian message,” which may impress their followers, is not an acceptable answer and is not the kind of “good” the Armenians deserve and need.
You mentioned, in passing, “50s Lebanon.” That has to be one of the most disgusting and sordid actions of these harmful parties. The lies and the charges that were presented to Her Majesty’s Government were so nasty as to border on the obscene. During my time in London, I was able to speak with many of the people on the receiving end of the attempt to blacken the name of the Catholicos and, by extension, Etchmiadzin (not realizing--or caring, it could be--that it was also damaging the Armenian Church).
Fortunately, HMG’s Foreign Office had the good sense to contact the Archbishop of Canterbury who, speaking personally and for the Church of England, said there was no substance whatsoever and suggested that HMG ignore what was coming from Lebanon. The government followed the advice.
But what they must have thought about the Armenians will not strain anyone’s imagination!
Until 1915, these useless people gave Turkey the excuse it needed to “solve the Armenian question.” Since the Genocide, they have given some governments the reason to ignore the legitimate claims of the Armenians.
Any “unity” movement that includes representatives of these useless parties is planting the seeds of its destruction. They will try to dominate that “unity” movement. If they fail, they will actively work against it.
At the risk of making this too long, permit me to give one example from the past. Just after World War II, a group of young veterans in Philadelphia decided to form a Veterans Association. They asked for and received the enthusiastic support of my father and his newspaper--”at last, the younger generation is taking a role in the community.” The reaction in the community was overwhelming, and the first dinner and open meeting attracted more than 1500 people and the city’s largest ballroom was so full that tables had to be placed in the reception area and in the elevator area.
Then, the political parties decided that an independent veterans movement would be damaging to their useless existence. They strove to get the young members of their parties to get into office. One party succeeded and within five years the veterans’ group had died.
Just think what the Armenian status would be like today if that Veterans group had succeeded and had survived! And if it had grown into a national organization of World War II veterans and of the Korean War veterans and of the Vietnam War veterans. Presidents and presidential candidates would be speaking at its annual convention; politicians would seek the support of the organization; Congress would pay attention to an appeal that began “We Armenians. . . .” Cities would compete to host the annual convention. Its members would have pride of place at inter-cultural events. The list of possible benefits to the Armenians is endless. Did the competing so-called “political” parties have the vision to see this? Do pigs fly?
But enough.
When next you return to this subject, ask these outdated and useless “political” parties to tell us what good they have done.
Even if only half of what Mr. Sassounian proposes should come through, it is worth trying. Something like this should start, or have started, sometime, somewhere, by some people. It doesn't make much difference by whom, or from where. But, without wanting to be overoptimistic, I think it is time it started.
Go ahead Mr. Sassounian. May the Force be with you.
If you would like the readership of Keghart.com to discover whether PFA holds open forums or not, why would you direct them only to the Armenian Weekly website (where, incidentally, your posts are prominently featured)? They could also go to the PFA website and judge for themselves by who attended the Armenia-Diaspora Forum and what kind ofpapers and presentations they have given. Wouldn't that be a better way to discover if they are open or not, Ms. Pampalian (nee Vahramian, aka Sdepan)?
Unfortunately, by what you wrote above, I'm led to the conclusion that your purpose here, sadly, is not to inform the readers of Keghart.com. Instead, it is to carry your grudge against PFA to yet another Forum.
That is certainly your right. However, this will be increasingly difficult to do as the news releases, videos, photographs, and responses to PFA's Armenia-Diaspora Forum propogate through Armenian media. Your audiences will have ample information with which to judge whether or not PFA is open, or not.
I would urge you to undertake more constructive projects with your time.
There was a time in my childhood when we would not have school in February in celebration of Vartanants War, baderazm. I am not sure if the same tradition is still maintained by the Armenian schools in Lebanon. The month of February came and went and I remained oblivious of that important historical date. After all for some 16 centuries we have been celebrating or commemorating it, I am not sure which. It also occurred to me that Vartanants War never got mentioned in Keghart as well. I admit I also did not bring to the readers’ attention that important historical date too. As I said, I simply forgot all about what once I would not have! Is that an ominous sign of my gradual slipping away from our history and commemorative dates? Come to think of it, we, as a family, have not celebrated our Christmas on January 6 for good many and many years now. If I have happened to take off from work on a January 6, it has not been to celebrate Christmas. Would it not be nice to editorialize the month’s significant Armenian feast on Keghart?
I have attached a link about Vartanants War by Antranig Chalabian. It makes an interesting reading. The article appeared in the Military Magazine, a reputable magazine of military history. Dr. Antranig Chalabian was an invited contributor to the magazine. He may be the only Armenian historian who has published in that internationally acclaimed magazine. Something new I learned when I read the article and I want to share it with the readers in case I cannot attach the link to this note.
I never knew that Vartanats War was waged in May. Why is it that we celebrate it in February, if the war actually happened in May? Well, Dr. Antranig Chalabian concludes his article with the interesting explanation and writes “The Vardanian War, as it came to be called in Vardan's honor, began on May 26, 451, but the Armenian church celebrates the event in February. In the past, spring was considered the season for warfare. Armenia's ecclesiastical fathers had decided to commemorate the event in February, before spring, in order to inspire the youth and prepare their minds for battle, in defense of church and fatherland”.
We have seen numerous similar documentaries. Now we need to see some action!!
Why isn't there a united international team to follow-up with this criminal issue? The Armenian communities should be proactive in creating such a team full of international political, legal and media people so that we can see some tangible results.
Frankly I am getting bored of watching such documentaries, no matter how good or bad they are.
Vicken, don't waste your time waiting for an answer from AGBU, they will never answer your question or your request. Their silence is a sign of acceptance of guilt.
Vicken, as your friend, as far as I know you, since your arrival to South Africa which was more than a decade ago, you donated your work. At one stage your house had become like an Armenian club. Once a month you were organizing come together parties for the local Armenians. You did all different donations to bring The Armenian Society of South Africa to its gloriest times and you succeeded. As they say in Armenian, "VARTSKET GADAR".
Others were jealous of you, because they stayed in the shade while you were shining like the sun of the community. I remember the poems you were reciting at each party, every time a couple of different pieces. To tell the truth, nobody has as much Armenian knowledge as you do in South Africa. On the other hand others had no Armenian education at all, which was the key reason for their wrong doings to the community. For every Armenian it was so clear the reason why AGBU and some local supporters of the move sold Missak center so discretely, without the knowledge of any local Armenian. We all knew the hidden agenda, yet they got away with it...
Furthermore, it would also be good to issue a sort of personal identity card with picture documenting one's belonging to the Armenian Nation. To apply for such a document, there should be an application form in which the person explains in full detail his historical biography as an Armenian.
Thank you,
Diran
Born in Iran. Father: descendant of Julfa-Isfahan Armenians, mother: Constantinople Armenian
First a "60 Minutes" segment in December on Greeks in Turkey that angered the latter.
Now three months later a 60 Minutes piece (though highly flawed) on Armenians that will also anger Turkey.
Is it a coincidence that after all these years mainstream TV finally gets around to these two subjects? I don't think so. I believe that these 60 Minute segments came about because influential Jews at 60 Minutes and elsewhere decided to send a message to Turkey: "If you Turks don't stop saying nasty things about Israel, American Jews in the media and government will make you pay dearly."
It can't be stated publicly like that, of course, so 60 Minutes was chosen as the not-so-subtle vehicle.
Before we thank 60 Minutes, consider that the piece's purpose was not truth, human rights or to help Armenians or Greeks. And God forbid that we should think that the Jewish community has any influence in the US media.
One more thing: the segment was full of inaccuracies such as that no American president has ever used the G word to describe the Armenian genocide. Wrong, President Reagan did in 1981. See Armenian-genocide.org.
60 Minutes should be criticized for the Armenian segment, not praised. Let us not be bought off.
I fully agree with the idea that "a Diasporan umbrella organization must be fashioned around a VERY SPECIFIC project around which the multiplicity of Armenian identities CAN unite."
The WAN-C's project should not be deemed as a threat by any Armenian organization. If anything, they should all be relieved that there are competent individuals who are ready to tackle an issue in which none of the traditional Armenian organizations, to my knowledge, have made any headway.
Albert is 1000 % correct. I wish all our bretheren could give up building churches . We have enough of them to last as long as we have enough "Armenians " left in the Diaspora. Just enough. If there is no world conflagration of another world war in the next 200 years , the only Armenians left in the world will be in Motherland, not in New York, not in Paris, not in Los Angeles . Just remember the vibrant communities of Lwow Poland. We will be gone their way.LOST to history.
We have to give all our strength to Motherland.
They are building a 15 million dollar religious center in Los Angeles...FOR WHAT...That money could save orphans , hospitals, schools in Armenia and in Karabagh. What will happen to those soul-less edifices when we are gone in 200 years.?
I should have clarified what I took for granted that it is understood that our Diaspora institutions are not ends in themselves but means to the ultimate guarantor of our existence, Armenia.And yes, subscribing to an Armenian newspaper in Canada and the like are means of focusing on Hairenik.<!--StartFragment-->
Judging from the names of the participants of the discussion on this forum, Berge, Kevork, Tro, Ghazaros, Vartkes, Noubar, Mesrob, Minas, Mgo, Viken, Dikran, Vahe, I liken them, true or not I am not sure of course, to myself. Mostly Middle-aged Armenians, hopefully I do not sound offensive, born and raised in Middle East and the recipients of the education passed to us by a dedicated cadre of teachers whom many of us remember fondly. I do not believe that on these shores we are doing nearly the job they did
Therefore instead of focusing on analyzing the play of powerful forces and quote an imperial minded British knight of a by gone era, I believe we should focus on our tasks at our hands, how to improve and better our immediate communities. Whenand if these forces unleash their fury in the final Armageddon, I am afraid there may not be many who would know the Armenian alphabet well enough to utter its first three characters “Ayp, pen, kem”.By taking care of the so-called small matters, the larger matters take care of themselves, in my view that is.
As to the analogy of positive neutrality to the Armenia’s stand. The positive neutrality was not honored, but accepted, albeit very grudgingly by some.
Finalmente! Essa ideia vem, plenamente, ao encontro do que venho sustentando, desde o primeiro momento do impacto que nos causou uma Celebração dos protocoloOOL. Em mais de uma oportunidade, escrevi e falei para uma comunidade armênia de São Paulo - Brasil, e também comentários em que enviei para uma IAN, de Buenos Aires - Argentina, e também para a propria Keghart A necessidade da respeito da Criação de uma Entidade representativa de toda uma diáspora. Pensava, então, essa ser uma única maneira de ser debatida e decidida a questão dos Protocolos, pela Diáspora, com força política para influenciar o governo eo parlamento da Arménia. Era, E é, para mim, uma linda UtoPia. Perguntava-me: como Implementar essa ideia? Vejo, agora, graças ao brilhante artigo em comento, que é Possível realizar essa utopia! Louve-se a iniciativa e o plano queHarut elaborou Sassounian. É perfeito, para mim, merece apoio e integral, DEVE vir que, em profusão, em todos os Quadrantes do planeta, em que haja uma comunidade armênia. A nossa, em São Paulo, é das menores, mas palpita e vibra com a mesma intensidade de todas, especialmente neste momento histórico para nós.
Ao Harut, talvez seja queadvogado, como eu, apresentoCumprimentos efusivos, e A Keghart peço que promovaintensa mobilização em torno de sua iniciativa! Chegou a hora!
A rota está Tracada
Peter Balakian's trip to Der-Zor was funded by the US State Department ( New York Times Magazine, Dec 8th, 2005 "Bones")
Naturally, the US State Department likes the soft-Armenians like historian Peter Balakian, and the Knights-of Vartan group, etc.. Out of all the experts and international genocide scholars, it picks Balakian to try and fool Armenians to free Turkey from accountability for its crime of genocide.
The US State Department wanted this segment aired on CBS 5 days before the house resolution, in order to defeat it. The segment was riddled with strategic mis-representations; subversive language, Turkish propaganda. Half the segment was dedicated for Turksih denial; the other half was dedicated to CBS's startegic misrepresentation.
There wasn't a single map displayed; there was no reference to geography (deliberate); and led the viewer to beleive that the bulk of the Armenians hailed from Istanbul, as opposed to Western Armenian Ottoma provinces and territories of the first Armenian Republic.
By referring to the Armenian genocide as a “battle over history”, clearly shows that CBS does not understand the meaning of Genocide.Genocide stops when denial ends. The Armenian genocide (1915-2010) is on-going.Genocide is not just the act of killing; it is the eradication of any reference to history, culture, architecture, references to a group, and the names of towns and places, etc. as if the victims never existed.
The viewer is supposed to believe the following:
- There is no defined Western Armenian territory (land)
- It is a battle between historians to decide.
- Acknowledgment *without* holding Turkey Accountable for the crime of genocide.
- No reparation, No restitution and No land.
This report raises some good points and important facts on the Armenian Genocide, but is rife with big negatives, deliberate misrepresentations and outright lies:
1. Its frequent use of the terms "battle...the massacres...the events" to describe an incontestable fact is unacceptable and constitutes an unconscionable act of genocide denial -- the ultimate form of hate speech!
Allowing Amb. Sensoy the opportunity to deny the Armenian Genocide on national television is as criminal and cruel an act as airing any statements by a neo-Nazi leader denying the Jewish Holocaust!
2. It deliberately fails to identify the Armenian homeland of more than four millennia.
There is no reference to "Anatolia...eastern (Ottoman) Turkey...Western Armenia and Cilicia..."
CBS: "But our story begins where the lives of so many Armenians ended, far from Istanbul, in the desert...The survivors ended up in concentration camps hundreds of miles from Istanbul, out of sight."
Istanbul (then Constantinople) was never the Armenian homeland or part of the Armenian homeland. During the Armenian Genocide, Armenians (95%+) were cleansed and driven primarily from Western Armenia and Cilicia!
CBS deliberately does not want the nation to identify and respect the specific location and boundaries of the occupied Armenian homeland, the return of which is the crux of the Armenian Question and the main factor that would end the Armenian Genocide!
3. CBS: "Which is probably why no U.S. president has uttered the word genocide."
This is a blatant lie, as we know that Reagan used the "G" word during his presidency!
4. It highlights the power imbalance between Armenia and Turkey and stresses Turkey's "importance" to the United States and so-called "regional superpower" status.
CBS: "The use of the word genocide is regarded as an insult to the Turkish nation; it is a jailable offense..."
Why didn't CBS emphasize that the nonuse "of the word genocide is regarded as an insult to the [Armenian] nation"?!
5. With the one-sided Armenia-Turkey protocols practically dead, the timing of this report is driven by a desire to "kill the bill" using the same immoral arguments and tactics that somehow "worked" in 2007.
Most congressional supporters of the Armenian Genocide resolution are not that foolish and will not buy into these denialist measures.
When the House passed similar legislation in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Turkey didn't and couldn't retaliate! All it did was cry and verbally abuse the United States, and days later, everything was back to normal.
This righteous bill will again pass in the Foreign Relations Committee and advance to the House floor for a full and successful vote!
I wonder if Peter Balakian is as angry as we in the Armenian community are that he was used by 60 Mins as a dupe to represent "the Armenian side of the story," a side who apparently is the only one, aside from scholars, that "claim(s)" that there was a genocide?
If anyone takes up on the suggestion that we write in to 60 Mins, it should NOT be to thank them for the appalling coverage, but to CHASTISE them for taking so long to cover the Armenian Genocide, and then when they finally did, to time the airing of the program in such a way that it would spin the facts to cast doubt on this heinous and unresolved, universal injustice AND help defeat the genocide resolution by presenting Turkey as an indispensable U.S. ally, and for omitting so much -- incl homeland loss, reparations, restitution, US complicity ! Shame on 60 Minutes!
....And this organization will be divided, parties will fight over the representation, and the corrupt Armenian government will play its corrupt role, and the diaspora Armenians will have no say....
I am proud to see such an illustrious persona as a member of WANCongress. Having someone with Mr. Seraydaryan's experience is definitely an asset and makes us willing to support and believe in such an organization or group.
I am interested to see descriptions about other members of WANCongress. I hope they are with similar qualifications or better.
The Russian Federation (and Armenia) have the US State Department by the pipelines.
That is, oil & gas pipelines. Armenia & Georgia are the gateway to the Caspian basin oil & gas fields. The goals of the US State Department is to reach the gas reserves of Turkmenistan and the oil fields of Kazakhstan. It is reported that Turkmenistan has enough gas supplies to satisfy the needs of the West for the next 300 years, and Kazakhstan has more oil reserves than the entire middle-east.
Europe is dependent on gas supplies from the Russian Federation; the US State Department would like to lift that dependency. This will weaken Russian leverage and power over Europe and deprive Russia form revenues. The original plan was to bring Georgia into NATO to secure a corridor from Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan, and across the Caspian sea to Turkmenistan and Kazakistan. The project will entail several pipelines known as NABUCCO.
Should the US State Department plan have succeeded in bringing Georgia into NATO ranks, Russia and Iran would have been effectively surrounded, and Russia would have lost control of Central Asia's energy reserves. Under no circumstances was the Russian Federation going to allow that to happen; so, Georgia was invaded in August of 2008, with on-going Russian destabilization attempts in Georgia. The US State Department deems Georgia as unreliable and unstable as a route for pipelines.
Armenia is viewed as a homogeneous state with no separatist movements as in Georgia's Abkhazia or Ossetia, and does not have borders with Russia. Unlike Georgia's disastrous incalculable foreign policy conduct of siding 100% with the US State Department and 0% with its giant neighbor to the north, Armenia has proven itself to follow a balanced complimentarian foreign policy towards the superpowers' interests in the region.
Why is it so important for the West to see Armenia's borders open?
1) It provides an end to Russian dominance (leverage and influence) over gas supplies to Europe.
2) Russian Federation would be wakened and in the future dismembered into the independent republics that form it (Dagestan, Tataristan, Chechnya, etc..).
3) Control China's economic development and prevent it from challenging the West; prevent China from competing for the same energy reserves in Central Asia.
4) Prevent Iran from gaining direct access to Europe via Armenia and the Black Sea port of Batumi in Georgia. Iran is deploying oil & gas pipelines, with plans for railway and highway projects from Tabriz in Iran, across Armenia and on to the port of Batumi. The Armenia route provides Iran with the shortest direct route to Europe, for import and export independent of Turkey's influence.
During the 8th to 10th centuries, one fundamental point of Byzantine diplomacy emerged very clearly, that on no account could the Kingdom of Armenia be allowed to fall into rival Arab or Persian hands. Armenia’s independence was so essential to preserve regardless of the difficulties in dealing with it were.
Medieval Armenia was bounded on the west by the Byzantiine Empire, on the south by the Arabs of Caliphate of Baghdad, and to the east by the Persian Empire.
Armenia’s foreign policy conduct was complimentarian to the three neighboring superpowers of the era. In the interest of achieving peace – a state alien to Armenians – Armenia carefully balanced the influences of its rival neighbors. This foreign policy resulted in the golden age; Armenia’s capital city Ani flourished; Armenia became a populous and prosperous nation, exerting political and economic influence over surrounding states and nations.
Its existence depended on these rival empires desiring an independent Kingdom of Armenia as a buffer state, and Armenia itself being strong enough to maintain this status.
Fast forward to the 21st century, replace the Arabs of Caliphate of Baghdad with the Russian Federation; replace the Byzantine Empire with the West (Turkey, US State Department, and EU); and the Persian Empire with the modern state of Iran.
No sides! - Armenia can not and will not chose any side; Armenia's foreign policy is complimentarian.
I was hoping that "60 Minutes" would have devoted more time for this presentation. Alas, it was only about fifteen minutes long.
Again, Ambassador Sensoy of Turkey was there to "refute" what the overwhelming majority of historians acknowledge the massacres of the Armenians to be: a Genocide. Furthermore, CBS was engaged in reminding its audience, including the American legislatures and the White house, the strategic importance of Turkey. Did it have to?
It was comforting, though, for once not to hear the expressions "Armenians allege" or "so called Genocide". Nevertheless, I am not sure what really will it take for a mainstream TV network to finally take the right and moral step to not dilute a straightforward message: Turkey is guilty of Genocide.
The denial of the Armenian Genocide by the present Turkish government represents one-upmanship of Holocaust deniers.
The Muslim population of Turkey treated Christians as rayabs, or cattle, which were not and never, could be entitled to the privileges of Believers. The example followed by today's Taliban.
Under Abdul Hamid, known as "Abdul the Damned," the 1894-6 massacres of 350,000 Armenians took place throughout all the Armenian provinces. Christians were easy prey since they could possess no arms. This is an excellent reason for Americans to defend their Second Amendment rights "to keep and bear arms."
Rafael de Nogales, Inspector General of the Turkish forces in Armenia during World War I, attest to "the martyrdom and slaughter of the million and one-half of Christians who perished during those massacres." He quotes the Grand Vizier Talaat Pasha (one of the perpetrators of the Armenian Genocide): "The massacres! What of them! They merely amuse me." No wonder Tsar Nicholas I described Turkey as "the sick bear of Europe."
By 1917, fewer than 200,000 Armenians remained in Turkey out of a prewar population of about 3 million Armenians from the heartland of historical Armenia.
If a saying is antiquated because it was written a century ago, then the Armenian Genocide is an antiquated event... we should move on, get over it, as some supercillious people maintain.
To call Sir Mackinder an obscure British knight show lack of knowledge in geopolitics, in addition to being a cheap ad hominem tossed at a respected historian.
Re modern technological changes making Mackinder's words irrelevant, the U.S. military and diplomatic activities around the perimeter of Russia prove the British geopolitician's words remain valid. The editorial demonstrated this repeatedly through examples.
Re China and India being new and important factors in international politics, the U.S. is trying to control the rise of those two Asian giants by keeping its hands on the oil faucet. Through the support of Arab countries, Turkey and Israel, the U.S. is trying to control the oil wells from Azerbaijan to the Persian Gulf. No oil, no growth, no economic-military might.
While no one needs to mention how important our culture and heritage is to us, I am sure Vahe would agree that nothing is more important to the Armenian nation than the survival of Armenia. That's the point the editorial made.
I also believe that the editorial encourages Armenian readers not to be transfixed by minutae and look at the big picture. Even islands are not islands when it comes to international relations and wars.
After reading the balanced editorial of Keghart and then the commentary following, I just wanted to finish the last sentence of the author of the "Doom and Gloom..." with the following addition (in italics) and a short comment of my own:
"...Let us discuss how can we urge and entice our sons and daughters to learn a bit more Armenian to connect to their rich heritage, to come together and revive Gomidas’s choir, build another school or church, adopt another family and follow on their children’s well being, subscribe to an Armenian newspaper and so forth and so on..." and then disappear like the Armenian communities in Poland or in India did...
It has been 19 years that Armenia/Karabagh have become independent. The continuation of this race will only depend on a strong and prosperous Armenia/Karabagh. While having a strong Diaspora (culturally or otherwise) is desirable, our main focus should be on this last piece of land that we still managed to keep. The reason of our 3,000 plus years of survival is because until 1915 we were on our own lands. Last century we lost that essential factor. So no matter how strong we are in New York, LA, Sydney or Paris, we can not match the possibilities of an independent state, on our own lands, for our future.
As I understand from your note, you are supposing if we build churches or subscribe to an Armenian newspaper we can survive in diaspora.
As a father of two university graduates I am deeply convinced that without a homeland generations will be gone with the wind. So we must be focused on Hayrenik as a first priority not on churches and Armenian newspaper subscriptions.
Congratulations on your new post. I am sure you will make as valueable a contribution there, as you have in Keghart, and in Canadian and Armenian politics and thought.
We have two points of view. On one side there are hard facts presented by the editorial. Anybody who has a modicum of analyzing capability , without being a pundit of current Caucasian events, would see the same dangers as the article suggests
On the other side we have the wishfull thinking of Vahe. True ...I wish what he says could be accomplished..BUT as the song says " Que sera sera". Call me a pessimist but living in a dreamworld does not cancel out the "real-politik" of USA-RUSSIA- IRAN-AZERI Circle...
It's said that one of the main perpetrators of the genocide and the deportations boasted Turkey's horrific crime would not only condemn the Armenian victims but that the survivors and Armenian generations to come would feel the pain and the loss. He was right, of course. But the genocidier didn't realize that the survivors and their children would never forget... and that they would fight permanently until justice was done to the Armenian nation.
After oppressing Armenians for some 500 years, the Turkish authorities still didn't appreciate the resilience, the indomitability, and patriotism of Armenians. Gul and Associates might believe that Turkey's prevarications and delaying tactics would force us to give up our sacred mission. They have much to learn about us.
What a sanitized doom and gloom editorial based on the antiquated saying of an obscure British knight! The poor chap seemed never to envision that the sun will set down on what was once a British dominion and that world will acquire hitherto unimaginable technological advances, where communications will be fluid, instant and newer order of social realities will be ever evolving and issues such as employment, economy, environment will consume our day to day lives. I am sure the readers know what I mean.
In the sanitized version of this editorial naturally there could be no room for emerging global economic and military powers such as India and China, nor could there be room for ever evolving regional alliances such as Turkey, Syria etc. Much like the Pope who divided the world, this editorial’s world is divided into antiquated opposing camps with Armenia being in the center of their playing field.
C’mon guys. Granted that it is always easier to show one’s intellectual prowess by tackling subjects on grandeur scale. Let us humble ourselves at the cost of sounding dumb and dumber and discuss things that we can actively do to perpetuate our wonderful culture and heritage that has been entrusted to us over millennia. Let us discuss how can we be active and pro active in our immediate community rather than go to bed praying that may God All Mighty give wisdom to these opposing superpowers not to drag Armenia in their mindless game, as this editorial concludes. Let us discuss how can we urge and entice our sons and daughters to learn a bit more Armenian to connect to their rich heritage, to come together and revive Gomidas’s choir, build another school or church, adopt another family and follow on their children’s well being, subscribe to an Armenian newspaper and so forth and so on...
It's time to tell who were the organizers and perpetrators of the Armenian genocide/massacres/plunder/etc.
A simple search via Google and Wikipedia shows that Talyat, Jemal, Enver, Refik, Javid Bey along with Emannuel Carasso, the founder of Young Turks party, and Ataturk himself were NOT ethnic Turks, but Dohnme (Muslim-converted) Jews who essentially took over Turkey.
Their descendants, the infamous army generals, keep their grip over the country and the Turks. The sole purpose of the Genocide was robbery, then murder -- it was a means to rob Armenians. They did not care which ethnic group was massacred. It happened to be the Armenians -- if these were Aleutians, they would just do the same.
Based on the information available on this site it appears that the organizing committee has already laid the groundwork for bringing together people from a wide variety of professions and geographical backgrounds including what traditionally are labled as Eastern and Western Armenians. This by itself is a feat.
It bodes well, and there is no reason to doubt that the steering committee will be able to deliver what it promises in the short term, i.e. a congress with an executive council to pursue the Armenian interests in the international arena. That's what is required as we come closer to the centenary of the Genocide.
It is true that the proposed congress is not a panacea for all the ills that the Diaspora faces, but it is a firm step forward. There are several proposals to unite the Diaspora and the Armenians at large, but such initiatives that pursue all-encompassing goals serve mostly an emotional need rather than putting a brick on top of the other to build a beautiful castle that we all can admire.
As Mr. Attarian so rightly says, "History is our teacher." Haven't we learned from the lessons of the past? Do we have to repeat our mistakes time and again?
An organization with a specific goal such as the proposed WAN-C is practically achievable within very short period of time, because the infrastructure is already present. It's not an illusive dream and it is within reach.
Seraydarian is not alone in having served the United Nations, nor the UN is the only international institution where Armenians have made an impact. The World Bank, the IMF and various other organizations have seen Armenians come and go, but sadly a few have come forward such as M. H. Bouldoukian that have taken to heart Armenian interests and causes.
Professionals such as Seraydarian, Bouldoukian, Kasbar Derderian and others are much needed to push the Armenian envelope further in the international field so that this generation can proudly say that we are closer to our goals as Armenians.
Seraydarian's presence as deputy director of the organizing committee for the proposed Western Armenian Congress certainly enhances the prestige of the institution, and motivates people to join forces.
How sad but glorious at the same time. Sad that history has, by necessity, to repeat itself. Glorious, that with knowledge, every Armenian can take heart that with determination you can make the future better.
The segment on the Armenian genocide is full of *subversive language* and *strategic misrepresentation* such as, the Armenians call it their Holocaust. As if only Armenians call it genocide; no one else does.
The proper characterization would be to say, Jursit Raphael Lemkin (a lawyer of Jewish descent and Holocaust survivor) coined the word Genocide to specifically describe the destruction of the Armenians and the barbarity that befell them at the hands of the Turkish state; and he later used the term to describe the destruction of the European Jewry. It is the International Association of Genocide Scholars that calls it the Armenian genocide.
It is not a *battle over History* as the program states using subversive language; it is a battle over *Acknowledgment of the Crime of genocide* by the Turkish State with Accountability.
We, human beings agree, disagree, struggle and fight to the extent that sometimes it gets ugly. This is unfortunate. It starts with one individual or group of individuals, a party may be to start but it takes another individual or group of individuals to start a fight. If the other party does not respond responsibly, with wisdom, forgiveness and sacrifice for the good of the people, things go ugly. It went ugly in Lebanon, but it also happened that both parties cooperated very well in the face of a common threat.
There is another greater problem threatening Armenian unity, and that is the language divider: Western Armenian vs Eastern Armenian. What Jacques Hagopian taught us in school is very different from what we see in our church on Sundays because our church secretary speaks Eastern Armenian. Famous poet, intellectual, veteran teacher Jacques Hagopian, in his early 90s and still writing a book, believes Western Armenian is to be used because it is the classic Armenian.
In spite of it, I suggest that leaders of the Armenian people in Armenia or in the Diaspora to seriously consider unifying our language by compromising, e.g. instead of saying "militia" let us say "zinvoragan", as in western Armenian, and instead of counting "ootsoon" after the "yotanasoon", let us count, "yotanasoon, ootanasoon", as in Eastern Armenian, thus we will have "tear down the wall".
Language is the last thing that should divide the Armenian people into "us" and "them".
«Օրակարգում գտնվող լուրերը ճիշտ և անկողմնակալ կերպով թողարկելու» մասին, ինչպես հավակնում են այս հաղորդումների հայ պատասխանատուները, խոսք չի կարող լինել քանի այդ նույն «Թուրքիայի Ձայն» ռադիոկայանի սեփականատերն ու ֆինանսավորողը, այսինքն թուրքական կառավարությունը շարունակում է մերժել Հայոց Ցեղասպանությունը:
Խոսք չկա, որ երբ այդ հույժ կարևոր թեմայի մասին լուրեր լինեն, հրամցվելու է Թուրքիայի աղավաղված ու մոլորեցնող տարբերակը:
Where can I get more information about Manouk Tenkerian (the one involved in first resistance of Dort-yol) and his family? By the way that is also my father's name.
Recently, I was on a flight from Aleppo to Yerevan, and sitting next to me was a group of teenage women-basketball players from Lebanon, on its way to Armenia to participate in a tournament.
The girl sitting next to me and I discussed various topics related to Armenianness, sharing perspectives from our respective Armenian communities, and so on. We finally touched upon the fratricide that occurred in Lebanon during the war. Her response was dismissive, "it was all the Hnchaks' fault [what happened]".
Providing kids from Bourj-Hammoud an opportunity to play intramural sports, travel to Armenia, and have a sense of belonging is deserving of applause. Teaching their young (or implying to them) that one of the darkest chapters of contemporary Armenian political parties was a one-sided affair, is convenient, but not indicative of change.
We should never try to get rid of at least the 3 major political parties that played a big role in our history regardless of mistakes that they all made, it's dangerous. No new party will be better or perfect, instead we need to unite as one including Armenia, Diaspora, our Churches, under one flag with one voice and one aim which is to secure our homeland, save our people from the worse , liberate our historic lands, Giligia, save our language, our culture, our History and never forget the Armenian Genocide.
I beg of you all this is the time for us to take care of all these issues, otherwise there is not much time left and soon it will be to late.
One thing is for sure, we all love Armenia, we are all proud to be Armenian.
More than a century ago the Tashnags and Hnchags were socialist in their ideology while Ramgavars were centrist. Decades ago the first two stopped talking about socialism or any type of ideology, while Ramgavars these days are non-ideological and mostly cultural in their activities. I believe that because of the changing scene, the three are primarily nationalist/patriotic political parties. And another point: I would use the "political party" description advisedly since in most countries, including the U.S., Canada, France... they do not describe themselves as political parties.
I do not want to come across as staunchly advocating the traditional Armenian parties and drumbeating their cause, however, labeling their leadership, as being “Old Guards” is not simply factual.A cursory look at the leadership that comes these days from the Tashnag party displays a different reality. They are relatively young; they are not necessarily the sons or the daughters of leaders a generation ago. Most have joined the party at early age as idealists and worked themselves to positions of leadership e.g. Hagop Pakradounian from Lebanon, Hrant Markarian , Mario Nalbandian, Vahan Hovannessian from Armenia, Seto Boyadjian from LA, Dr. Antranig kasparian from East Coast, USA and of course others who are in positions of leadership and are relatively young, educated and driven.<!--StartFragment--> <!--EndFragment-->
Penso que não se trata de formar uma nova entidade visando à aglutinação dos armênios da Diáspora. De nada servirá, também, objetivar a supressão dos partidos que, bem ou mal, cumprem sua missão. Creio que, de fato, independentemente dessas questões, o que vale é que a Diáspora ninca esteve tão unida, em torno dos debates sobre os Protocolos..Isto é o mais importante. Não há necessidade de novos rótulos. Temos, hoje, o que denominaria de "Globalização da Diáspora Armênia". Não por acaso, estou me comunicando, por meio desta, de São Paulo - Brasil, com os queridos compatriotas dos USA, Canadá e outros países. Pronto, está formado nosso "time".
Vahrij, each of the Armenian political parties have a different ideology, hence it would be impossible for them to unite and we need to respect that. However, a new party or group should emerge that might be able to bring together most of the Armenians and be independent of the 'old' ideological concept, instead have an aim, e.g.: to get the lands back or more realistically, find people who still have deeds to the western lands or any proof as such and try to help them legally and politically to get their lands back.
We need to be more realistic than emotional to reach our aims.
Այո, արեւմտահայերէն «բարբառի» մահը անխուսափելի է, որովհետեւ նոյնինքն սփիւռքի մահը անխուսափելի է։ Բայց նոյն տրամաբանութեամբ, արեւմտահայերէնէն ետք, թերեւս անկէ ալ առաջ, անխուսափելի է մահը նաեւ սփիւռքի մէջ խօսուող արեւելահայերէնին, որովհետեւ անխուսափելի է մահը այն 2 միլիոնին, որոնք Հայաստանէն հեռացան վերջին 20 տարիներուն։ Իսկ հայկական իմաստով ողջ կը մնան միայն այն երկու միլիոնը, որոնք կը բնակին Հայաստանի մէջ։ Բայց այս կացութեան դիմաց ես չեմ կրնար ըսել «ոչ մի ողբերգութիւն չեմ տեսնում»...։
Indeed “there is a huge trust deficit towards the established parties” be it the Armenian or American. However, I do not think it implies that there will be trust in a new non-traditional or contemporary (whatever that means) emerging political party.
The phenomenon, in my view, is manifestation of prevailing complex social norms to not belong to a political organization, to have a choice etc. What is paradoxical in my view is that there won't be choices to make if there are no organized political or social entities to chose from.
As to the Armenian political parties, my view is that each of us must be the instrument of the change we want to see and that does not come without participating in the parties and bring change. No emerging Armenian social entity can possibly replace the rich history of the traditional Armenian political parties and their affiliates and claim the legitimacy the traditional Armenian parties have.
The so called "Policy Forum Armenia" is not open to all, it seems. I had written them to participate in the so-called first "forum". I never heard back from them. I just found out, I was not the only one. Please see the exhange by clicking on the link to the Armenian Weekly below:
Since nowadays there are no serious ideological differences among the three political parties, and patriotism-survival of Armenian Diaspora is, by any measure, the top item on their agendas, I don't know why the Tashnag, Hnchag, Ramgavar parties don't unite and form a single party. Imagine the clout they would have. But we know better... the Old Guard will hold on to their "thrones" to the bitter end, even if it means jepardizing our survival away from Armenia.
Ներկան յուզող կարեւորագոյն հարցն է, որ Սփիւռքի լիազօրութիւնը ունեցող, սփիւռքը իր զանազանութիւններով ներկայացնող մարմին մը ստեղծուի, որը՝ ստիպողականօրէն Սփիւռքի եւ Հայաստանի միջեւ հանգամանքային անհրաժեշտ հաւասարակշռութիւնը պահպանելու պիտի ծառայէ։
Արտայայտուած հանրային կարծիքի նշանակալից բարձր համեմատութիւնը նկատի ունենալով, եւ նկատի առնելով 2009 թուականի քաղաքահայեցողական անակնկալ տարակարծութիւններու ճակատագրական զարգացումը, աւելի քան համահայկական զօրակցութեան ու համակրանքին պիտի արժանանայ գոյանալիք Սփիւռքահայ ներկայացուցչական մարմինը, որու երկարատեւ բացակայութիւնը, կրնայ Սփիւռքահայութեան հայապահպանման առաքելութիւնը ջլատել։
Our grandfather might be among the descendents of the 40 orphans adopted by the Emperor.
My maternal grandfather, Vardan is an Armenian & was working for Seferian & Company Ltd. The company existed both in Sudan & Ethiopia. We do not know more on what happened to him. We are wondering, if anyone knows about him?
For your info, my mother was born in Gambella, Ethiopia. Hope to hear some news about my grandfather!
It's about time scholars spoke up! Alas, this statement isn't as strong as it could be, and comes late in the game. But still, it's something for which defenders of the truth should be grateful. It's coming from those who have studied the subject meticulously. I do wonder why this communique isn't addressed to anyone in particular. Why not to the (albeit undemocratically un-elected) President of Armenia, Serge Sarkissian? Instead, the SAS statement speaks of Sarkissian's formally stated position on Armenian Genocide recognition -- recognition that neither Sarkissian, Nalbandian, the Parliament nor ROA ambassadors abroad have promoted on domestic, regional or international fronts! Does this statement's reference to Armenia's "patrimony" give a nod to restitution, reparations and right of return?
I congratulate and thank Turkish intellectuals for their courage, integrity and honesty. I hope that they set an example to Turkey to do likewise and to compensate for the diabolical crimes of its predecessors by compensating the Armenian people and by returning Western Armenia to its rightful owners.
While I believe that the apology of the Turkish intellectuals is sincere, I worry that official Turkey would use it to mislead the world that things are improving in Turkey, and thus burnish its image as a credible EU candidate.
You raise valid points and I would partially agree with you. Unfortunately, privatization was thought to be panacea for all ills and some Diaspora people have a responsibility of acknowledging that they encouraged the rulers of Armenia in that direction right from the beginning.
I would, however, try to refrain from finger-pointing only one particular sector, as in those what you call "Etchmiadznagans" there were quite a few influential people both in the Diaspora and in Armenia who believed in what otherwise I would call mixed economy. The assassinations of October 1999 eventually helped the oligarchs to consolidate themselves. Don't you think?
And what about the decade that followed the tragedy? Whole sectors of the economic infrastructure, and more importantly strategic elements were given away for private gains.
May I suggest to read Harut Der-Tavitian's excellent analysis of the Wasted Decade?
Cassandra had a conversation with Avedis while on a bus ride, most probably in Philadephia. Strangely though Cassandra is reminscing while she is supposed to correctly predict the future while knowing that no one will believe her because she is under a curse. She must feel frustrated! Cassandra says: "Part of the problem, of course, is that the Armenians are experts on everything and they never doubt their infallibility. They have made an art of being divided. The thought of unity to the Armenians means 'unity if I am on top and I dictate what we do.". Not much of novelty in her revelation. Ara Baliozian has been conveying the same for ages and much more colorfully! Naturally Armenians do not have a monoply of controlling all of the events in the course of their millenia old histroy much like the Illuminati who supposedly have and are running the world affairs at their fingertips. However I am inclinded to believe that the Armenians survived because they were not under a centralized command as Rome was. While part of them was annihiliated, another segment thrived. Was not that ingenious?
Oligarchs were the result of LTP administered so called democracy in RA supported by super-wealthy Armenians, mainly from USA "ramgavaragans", previously called Etchmiadzanagans.
They were against those who would have wished RA to be a European, rather Swedish-Danish-Finnish style Euro-Socialistic system.
Why are you so surprised that this has occured.
Capitalism has shown its failure...Wise up and think Euro-Sedish socialism for our Patria, not this wild free market economy that has brought the world to the brink of catastrophe.
My great grandfather was Samuel Behesnilian. I believe he and his five brothers came from the Ottoman Empire to Ethiopia after the massacres of 1896. He married I believe Mary Sevadjian and had many sons and daughters. His daugther was my paternal grandmother (Arousiag Behesnilian-Saatjian) My grandfather Yervant Saatjian came from Hadjin and was a survivor of the Genocide of 1915. He survived the marches to Aleppo as a child. From there he went to Beirut and through meeting Antranig Behesnilian in school in Beirut, he went to Ethiopia. He married Antranig's sister. When the Italians took over Ethiopia in 1937 (?) during WW II he made his way to Kenya. After six months he telegrammed for his wife and four year old son (Sirak Saatjian) to come to Mombassa and they took the train to Nairobi. In Kenya he changed his name to Edward Sargent and thus our family name was changed before I was born.
I live now in New York City and am doing research for myself on the history of Ethiopians in Armenia. I am intrigued by Anna's book and will buy it. While I didnt grow up in Ethiopia, my upbringing was colored by the world of the Ethiopian Armenian Community and I feel a part of it. My great grandfather I believe was a big part of the community. If you have more information about the Behesnilians in Ethiopia or stories of my grandmother, I would love to hear them. My father passed away in 2009, and like so many Armenians of his generation and older, he took many of his stories and our history with him, despite my numerous request to hear more.
Please contact me at antonsrgnt[at]aol.com I don't check the email every day so it might take a few days to get back..or post here too.. thanks! Tony
I've read the other articles of Mr.kradjian and being familiar to his writing pen, I don't see any subjectivity in this article. I think what he wants to do is highlight us facts that have occurred in our history so that readers acknowledge the right and wrong of our people.
In my opinion, it is a good thing to understand our defeats and ask questions about the past to have a better future..
By the way, Mr.kradjian has written this article after a lot of research (based on his bibliography). It's not an amateur's works I might add.
I hope some learned friends would answer Shavarsh's intriguing questions. I wonder if Dr. Hovanissian of UCLA is reading these questions as he is one of our most prominent historians...
You can always translate any comments on this site by clicking on the small links at the top of the comment. Each one translates it to a different language as follows:
I am not a historian, but it baffles me when history is written by amateurs, pretending to explain what really took place some ninety years ago, and specially trying to interpret treaties. Despite my interest in reading Krajian's writings with pleasure, I would consider that he never did pen above article.
Citing Vratsian's "thoughts" may or may not shed light on what our leaders at the time were thinking, however there are so many contradictory bits and pieces here and there that one wonders who actually was leading the Armenians and the "independent" Armenia at the time.
Here are some contradictions:
1. How come Vratsian and co. were so anti-bolshevik yet Dashnaks co-operated with Sdepan Shahumyan in the Baku commune?
2. Why did Zoravar Antranig following the liberation of Nakhichevan hand over the responsibility of governing it to Shahumyan and not to the national government in Yerevan?
3. Why did the government in Yerevan not accept Moscow's offer to keep Armenia neutral in the overall conflict like it was offered to Finland which was spared being "invaded" by the Bolsheviks?
4. Why Vratsian and Co. who were offered to be part of the new Soviet government in Yerevan ultimately made matters worse by staging "Pedervaryan Abesdamutyun" - February insurrection?
Nowadays, it has become quite fashionable to equate the then Bolsheviks with Turkey , and not see the gross mistakes that some of our leaders committed. Was it because of not grasping the gravity of what was shaping up in the north, namely the new order in Russia and beyond?
Could it be that long before the May 1920 Bolshevik insurrection and eventual entry of the 11th Red Army Vratsian and Co. (not all Dashnaks) had already made up their mind?
Could somebody shed light on the following bit of information?
In September-October 1919 the Dashnkas held their 9th General conference in Yerevan. During the gathering the matter of punishing the perpetrators of the Armenian massacres was discussed leading to the creation of the secret group Nemesis. Several delegates, including S. Vratsian, R. Ter-Minasyan, A. Djamalian and R. Darbinyan were against such measures arguing that "The newly formed republic was in need of Turkey's friendship." (Quoting Shahan Natali in Hayastan 661, Jan. 30, 2010, p.24).
Dikran, of course we need to start a dialogue if we are to solve the many issues between Armenians and Turkey. However, so far Turkey--except for a minority of righteous Turkish intellectuals usually in Istanbul and overseas--has given no signs that it is ready for an honest dialogue. They continue to play games, just as Sultan Abdul Hamid II did in the 19th century, promising human rights, democracy, etc. and then butchering those who took his word for his true intentions. The same deception was repeated by the Young Turks. Ataturk, the "Westernized progressive" did the same. Didn't one of Turkey's recent leaders (I forget his name), a few years ago threaten Armenia's existence?
We need proof that they are New Turks--truly enlightened, that their intentions are honorable. We don't want the fate of martyr Krikor Zohrab.
You are lucky that you are in the USA. Maybe you are not aware of it but there is vast infomation on the world events in this country. I suggest you take advantage of that.
You recognize the right of Turkey to invade Cyprus in order to save Turkish kinsmen and yet you deny those rights to Karabagh Armenians. Any reasonable person will call it HYPOCRISY..
Obviously your knowledge of history is formed and manufactured by Azeri propaganda , not by facts.
Facts # 1 Azerbaijan declared its independence from Soviet Union , according to Soviet constitution
Fact # 2 Karabagh declared its independence from Azeri overlords by the same constituton.
Fact #3 Upon this declaration Azeris started the Sumgait massacre of Armenians. ( Aydin Bey, do not believe me just put a search in Google and click Sumgait)
Azeris could not swallow their misguided sense of pride and attacked Karabagh Armenians AND Armenians of Armenia went to the aid of their kinsmen. As they say in Turkish :" evdeki hesap carsiya uymadi" loosely translated " the results were not same as what they had hoped for " that is to say eradicating Armenians.
Well, Aydin, can you see the parallel here?
As they say, "Yalancinin mumu yatsiya kadar yanar". For those who do not know Turkish it means " the liar's candle stays lit untill bed time"
In my view, this historical article shows how much our leaders have not only missed the train but have been on a train going in a completely different direction. Papken's comment and citation of Mr. Veratsian's thoughts, one of the "architects" of the treaty of Aleksandrapol, shows the origins of our diasporan fratricidal conflicts.
By the way, Mr. Krajian has neither mentioned the name of Ataturk in this article, nor any implication that today's turks are different from the past. maybe Mesrob and Vrej should read the article a second time.
1) «Այսօր մենք երկու իրական ուժ ունինք մեր կողքին, մէկը Սովետական Ռուսաստանն է, միւսը Թուրքիան: Միւս ուժերը մեզանից շատ հեռու են: Առաջինի հետ, ինչպէս ցոյց տուեց դառը փորձը, հաշտուէլ չենք կարող, Մենք պէտք է հաշտուենք ու բարեկամանանք միւսի հետ: Այդ անհնարին չէ, որորվհետեւ մենք եւ Թուրքերը ունինք ընդհանուր շահեր որ ամենայն համերաշխութեամբ կարող ենք պաշտպանել ընդհանուր ուժերով.»
(Տես Ս. Վրացեան, «Կեանքի Ուղիներով», հատոր Զ, էջ 46 )
2) Ներկա Թուրքիան այլեւս չի նմանիր հին Թուրքիային, ոչ ալ Քէմալը կը նմանի Էնվէր-Թալաաթի: Անոնք կոտորիչներ չե՛ն, ինչպէս հիները էին:
In c1911, communiques were received and documented in Washington, D.C., by the
newly elected President Wilson sent by witnesses: Missionaries in Turkey. President Wilson was informed of the upheavals and pending violations of human rights that resulted in their persecution, torture, and death of 1.2 million Armenians in Turkey through c1918. Then, .
President Wilson won the c.1919 NOBEL PEACE PRIZE. His advisors told him to leave Turkey to resolve their ethnic cleansing. Because of this tragedy Armenians have had to scatter throughout the globe even though treaties between the Allies were to be enforced (USA,Britain, Germany and France). .
The survival of one family persecuted during the Ottoman Empire in Turkey is incredible. All were forced to flee. This family fled to Aintab, then Aleppo in Syria c.1915-1918. This family relocated in Beirut, Lebanon but in c1973, Beirut was destroyed. The surviving 25 members of the family migrated to USA by my deceased husband, Avedis H. Aintablian, living in San Francisco. The mother, a single-parent, five siblings and their children can still track the lineage of those tortured and killed.
Prior to c1973, my husband was studying at UC, Berkeley and Stanford, CA. At his first opportuniity he founded the St. Gregory Armenian Church in San Francisco. He had the first USA Patent in Waste-Recycling "WAMAR", c1971: Plastics as Construction Bricks. Also, prior to that time he was instrumental in the Bechtel first International Petroleum Pipeline, c1955 in Shiraz, Iran. He acted as manager of 500-engineers on the Agena-Rocket Launch at Lockheed. He spoke six languages which enabled his travels during exile.
The Armenian Christians in Turkey, Syria, and especially Iraq were the first Christian martyrs in bliblical times c300 AD. Are we still creating martyrs in those countries?
Turkey and its Western allies make a big production of "progressive" Mustafa Kemal. His successors have supposedly continued that august tradition, although everybody knows that Kemal was a fascist dictator and Turkey has been a military dictatorship since his death in the late '30s.
According to "Ataturkun soylev ve demecleri" (Ankara: Ataturk Kultur Dil ve Tarih Yuksek Kurumu, 1997), 2:130, cited by Rifat Bali, Ataturk declared in 1923 to an assembly of Muslim Turkish craftsmen that "Armenians have no rights all in this prosperous country. This land is yours, the land belongs to the Turks. In history this land was Turkish, therefore it is Turkish and will remain Turkish for ever. The land has finally been returned to its rightful owners. The Armenians and the others have no rights here at all. These blessed regions are the native land of the true Turks."
Yes, Asia Minor was originally located in Central Asia but because of tectonic shifts it sled west to separate the Black and Mediterranean Seas. That should scientifically explain why Occupied Armenia is now the native land of the true Turks.
Mr. Krajian says today's Turks are different. Tell it to the Kurds, to the Alevis, to the Hamshen Armenians, to the Greek Cypriots. Tell it to the Israelis who for decades have supported Turkey and now find themselves hate target of Ankara and Turks in general. And finally tell it to the average Turk who is deprived of basic human rights.
By the way, until recently I had assumed that the Ataturk honorific was bestowed on Kemal by the Turks. Wrong! Modest Mustafa gave the title to himself. Only if we could find an Anaturk. But then again, the womanizing bachelor didn't have much use for women, except for the obvious.
While it's true that Erdogan is no Mustafa Kemal and the latter was no Tala'at, the question for Armenians is how does the change materially impact our nation? Is Tala'at or Kemal light acceptable?
Needless to say, Erdogan will not commit genocide. However, if the world situation allowed him, he would have no compunction to invade Armenia and remove the bothersome "obstruction" to continuous Turkic land from the Bosphorus to China.
While Erdogan will not commit genocide (there is no substantial Armenian minority left in Turkey), Turkey continues to persecute millions of Kurds, and the Alevi Turks are considered second-class citizens.
As well, our distrust of Turkey is not just one of having little faith in its leaders regarding Armenians. The fabric of Turkish society suffers from the anti-Armenian virus, to the point that to call someone Armenian is to curse him or to denigrate him. Centuries of Turkish domination of the ra'iya (herd) have made Turks racist Armenophobes in both sense of the word--hatred and fear.
Turkish invasion of Cyprus was necessitated by the the atrocities of Greeks to exterminate the Turkish minority in the Island. Of course no need to repeat elected Cypriot President Makarios's open policy statements to join Cyprus with Greece in his lifetime, also Greek military junta's continuous arming/militarizing the island in contravention of the treaties between Britain, Greece and Turkey.
Turkey did everything diplomatically possible and only when the situation became even more dire used the military option.
Border closing with Armenia happened due to Armenian invasion of Nogorno Karabakh. Turkey could not tolerate aggressive military action near its borders, especially when it involved Azerbaijan, a Turkish kin and ally. However, other communication routes were not closed as there are flights between Yerevan and Istanbul twice a week. Turks and Armenians are free to travel, shop freely. Of course, this border closing hurt Armenians but also had major negative impact on local Turkish community as well. Recent moves are giving me hope that the border will again be opened soon.
As far as genocide being committed against Palestinians, I agree with you to an extent. There is no doubt Palestinians are suffering under Israeli occupation, but calling their suffering as genocide is wrong. When people start using these type of loaded legal terms to depict any human tragedy, solutions become impossible to achieve...
UN is a body of nations causing problems and it is not in its charter to interfere aggressively in the affairs of nations. Having said that, their work goes on to minimize such problems and to ease the human suffering all over the world, albeit not in very noticeable and visible manner.
There is no institution in the world to prevent or solve big problems we all encounter.
No matter what kind of weapons Zionist sell to Azeris the RESOLVE of Armenians has been proven. After all arms, bombs, tanks are nothing but iron. What is important the resolve of people who will use them.....and ...my friends that is the crux of the matter.
According to latest news from Azerbaijan each time that their king makes warlike statements lots of young Azeris run away from Azerbaijan to other CIS countries. In the last war most of front soldiers were minorities of Azerbaijan....Why should they sacrifice their lives for a despot?
The miserable status of only the Armenia churches in Tibilisi is cause for action against Georgia. In fact more work in Washington DC and Europe should be done by the Armenian lobby against Georgia.
The government's Anti-Armenian pressures were obvious and visible even to tourists. I found that the Armenian communities, rather resiliently, stand by their principles and looking forward and hoping for some positive help from diaspora and specially from our snail pacing RA government.
Zory Balayan made a world tour some eight years ago, pointing all those sufferings and difficulties, but who took notice of him?
United Nations <==> Useless Nations. So far I haven't seen them do anything for humans, either in Lebanon, Israel, Armenia and other countries. They have just been observers and haven't defended any nation or stood-up for their rights.
Examples:
1. Cyprus got invaded by Turks illegally and what did the UN do? - nothing!!
2. Genocide is being committed against the Palestinians and UN is just 'observing' and in some instances becoming a victim itself !!...
3. Border closing of a landlocked country is internationally condemned, yet Turks are getting away with it by blockading Armenia.
Armenians should leave any country if we are being oppressed there (e.g. Georgia in this case) and the Armenian government should help those people get free homes, immediate jobs, food, transportation, etc. We need to increase the population in Armenia and we can start by bringing people from those places where they are being oppressed.
But of course the Armenian government is corrupt as the Mafia...oops!
Should Armenia ever get an alternate route through Turkey with access to the outside world, Georgia will pay the price.
The Georgian authorities jumped at the opportunity to build a rail line from Kars that would bypass Gyumri and further isolate Armenia. One should never forget that in 1915 the dominant nationality in Tiflis was Armenian. When the 1st First World War ended, Armenia was willing to pay for an access route to Batumi port and the Georgians refused.
To my Georgian friends I say, "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap".
Thank you for such an informative article that opens our eyes to a new space of Armenianness. I confess that it's the first time that I hear about Javakhk Armenians, and I read with big pain the new genocide that is perpetrated in Georgia - it's not only cultural, but also against human beings.
I don't know why a supposedly Christian country like Georgia can't respect human life. On the other hand experiences, like Serbians', show that many a times faith is only a religious definition, not a style of life. Sometimes, under human skin, a wild animal lives that looks to devour "preys".
I don't know how I could help. I will distribute this article, but, of course, I think it isn't enough.
Did the United Nations take any action in defense of those minorities? What is the Armenian goverment doing for its own people in Georgia? Still, most importantly, what can we do for them? Martin Luther King said "Not only will we have to repent for the sins of bad people, but we also will have to repent for the appalling silence of good people". I don't want to be a silent accomplice.
Paraphrasing Jorge Luis Borges, being Armenian is not a place of birth, but is a destiny. Destiny in not written in stones. We write our own destiny with our thoughts, decisions, efforts and acts.
It's about time Armenian organizations got together and started to address this very serious issue.
The ironic part is that it's Georgian policies above that led them to losel S. Ossetia and Abkhazia for good, and other regions will likely follow if the jingoistic tendencies of official Tiflis continue.
The topic of Diaspora representation or who should talk in the name of the Diaspora is very important and very interesting and it needs to be seriously studied and the many options thoroughly discussed.
A few ideas in this respect that I would like to throw out as a visitor to this website:
No diaspora can sustain itself without the support of an official state aparatus. Whether we like it or not, the Diaspora needs the backing and support of the Republic of Armenia to continue maintaining any organizational structure. Otherwise, any organizational structure we - expat Armenians - devise will get fragmented sooner or later.
The diaspora cannot be organized under a single umbrella taking care of all its aspects. The diaspora has to be active within the polticial, cultural and social spheres and all these spheres require that each community interacts with the local population and adapts to the local rules, regulations and values. Considering that none of those local values has precedence over the others, which one will be guiding the instance speaking in the name of the diaspora? This takes you back to my first point, where the Republic of Armenia has the right and is expected to set its own set of rules and values.
Up until the independence of Armenia, a few abstract notions represented by a few slogans were enough to create some kind of a momentum in the Armenian diaspora. Things have changed since the 1990-s. The idea of repatriation, for example, which was a serious topic before that date, simply crumbled; how many of us repatriated to Armenia after independence? The notion that young Armenians were ready to fight for the homeland just vanished; how many of us took the trip to Karabagh? The Armenian diaspora is here to stay and it cannot be sustained by abstract notions anymore. In this situation, a re-evaluation of the diaspora, its capabilities, potential and goals should be performed in a rational and scientific manner then start looking for the best means and structure - if needed - to reach those goals. Here is where the Armenian academics have a crucial role to play.
I am shocked at your comment Valeh. You need to go back to understanding the issues. How much of the region's history do you know? Also, why do you think Israel is making friends with Azerbaijan? It's because of something called OIL.
Sooner or later those two will clash. Do you really think Israel will ever trust Muslim Azerbaijan? By the way did you miss the Turkish Israeli conflict over Gaza's Palestinians?
Նոյն ձրի փաստաբանութիւնն է, որ տասնամեակներէ ի վեր կը լսենք:
Իրարու քով գանք, պահիկ մը դադրինք զիրար յօշոտելէ եւլն եւլն: Հայ ջոջերը ամէն տեսակի եւ դասակի շատ ալ միասնական են, երբ խնդիրը ազգը ծախելու կու գայ: Իսկ ծախելիք տակաւին կայ. միայն Մելգոնեանով կամ Մուրատ Ռափայէլեանով չի վերջանար խնճոյքը:
Երբ որ բոլոր ինչքերը ծախենք եւ դրամը մսխենք, այն ատեն Հայ դատը լրջօրէն պիտի հետապնդենք, որպէս զի Թուրքիայէն ալ հետագային ծախելիք պատառ մը փրցնենք, ինչո՞ւ չէ:
Once in a blue moon when the United States administration made an impartial statement about the Arab-Israeli conflict, Israel and its busy-bee lobbyist on this side of the Atlantic would wail that America was selling Jewish blood for Arab oil.
Now that Israel is selling arms and providing military training, in addition to electronic espionage facilities to the Azeris, no one is moaning that Israel is trading Armenian blood for Azeri oil. I guess "Romancing The Petrol--Israeli Style" is kosher when the beneficiary is the Zionist entity.
I agree with Vartkes. Why should the church get involved?
Antelias Catholicosate has not freed itself from the influence of ARF. Etchmiadzin has become a tool in the hands of the present authorities in Armenia, and some even claim that Diaspora personalities have a say too in how the institution conducts itself. Both are politicized and their moral authority is tarnished. Let them first resolve their differences before they are considered to be involved in new initiatives.
Getting the political parties together is a futile exercise. The Diaspora has seen it all thus far. For as long as they have not apologized to the Armenian public for their murderous acts, such as the fratricide in Lebanon in 1958, they should have no say in shaping our future. They ask Turkey to apologize, but does the leadership of each one of the parties think for a moment to come clean for what they have done?
I neither would support the inclusion of the parties nor the church. The rest, the vast silent majority either lives with the status quo or takes seriously what's ahead and does something about it. That's my choice.
You need to study history Valeh. Azerbaijan started massacring Armenians in Baku and then deporting Armenians from Karabakh because they new that the land belongs to Armenia historically and was given to them, 'on a silver plate', by the criminal Stalin.
Turkish/Azeri contribution to history:
- Stealing other people's culture
- Genocide of several nations (Armenians, Greeks, Assyrians, etc.)
- Destruction
- Killings
- Stealing
- Rape
...and more
I think in all fairness you should have added a last option asking for suggestions. I think for example, that it should be a new hybrid structure composed of the political parties (to tap their resources), church repressentatives (authority on the ground whether one likes it or not) etc.
Azerbaijan is a Turkic fabrication, just as Israel is a Zionist fabrication. Azerbaijan was patched together by Russia, slicing parts of northern Iran, while Israel was pieced together from Arab Palestine by the wealthy Zionist lobby and the colonialist British. No wonder the two undersized Frankensteins get along so nicely: after all, they speak the same language... the language of illigitimacy and phoney history.
Armenians have been mentioned in Akkadian inscriptions (Naram-Sin) as early as 2,500 B.C. And Armenians have remained on their land, despite constant invasions, most recently by the Turks and the Russians. We have seen empires (Assyrian, Egyptian, Babylonian, Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Arab, Memeluke, Persian) come and go. We are still here. We shall stay here and continue the struggle to regain Western Armenia, now occupied by Turkey, in addition to Occupied Nakhichevan and the rest of Artsakh.
I understand Aliev is spending some of his petrodollars to launch a campaign "proving" that Azeris have been in the so-called Azerbaijan since Adam and Eve were teenagers. If you have the money, you buy the 'history' professor and the 'history' books you want. Good luck to you as you continue to hallucinate, just as Mustafa Kemal did when he rewrote not just the history of Turks but also the history of mankind, claiming that all humanity descends from....(take a guess!) the Turks. But we forgive the demented guy: he liked his raki too well. Azeri history books, just like Turkish history books belong in the fiction section of libraries. Azeris are separatist Iranians. A flag doesn't make a state or a people.
Now go and stuff your face with garlick-studded dolma, and don't pollute this site with your rants and ravings. "I Love Azerbaijan!" Can't you do better than that? Pitiful.
We all would like to see an Armenia which is politically, economically, militarily, culturally independent. There's no point in wasting out breath on that wish. But due to circumstances Armenians are generally familiar with, Russia is the only game in town, as far as Armenia is concerned.
The West, especially the United States, gives priority to Turkish interests. If I were in charge of U.S. foreign policy, I would do the same. So who else is there we can count on? The European Union? Iran? Not likely. It's back to Moscow--willy, nilly.
Azerbaijan and Israel never had any problems in history. There are a lot of Jews in Azerbaijan in all spheres from business to government positions. Jews have always been advanced people and their presence in Azerbaijan contributes greatly to the economy.
By the way, Armenians also could have been successful in much richer Azerbaijan if they had not followed their stupid nationalistic ideas to seperate Nagorniy Karabakh from Azerbaijan and unite it with Armenia.
Nationalism plays into the hands of only a handfull of Armenians and also supports Moscow's imperialisitic ambitions.
I am not a pro-soviet person, however logic, diplomacy and politics indicate our only hope now is Russia. They would never accept creation of a Turkish belt under their border. That's one of the reasons that they will guard our borders and interests.
Also note that it was Stalin that divided the region, including Armenia and he was considered as a criminal even by his own people.
We would kindly request from AGBU to update us in which year's statement appears the income of the sale of Missak Museum in Johannesburg, South Africa. If the money is still not transferred to AGBU New York since 2005, then what was the goal of Ms. A. Anserlian and Mr & Mrs. Jacques and Janine Adanalian selling our only get-together place in such a rush? We could have used it for another five more years.
In the last two years, in South Africa, prime interest rates dropped from 16% to 10.5% which means for the capital of the sale value which was around US$1.5Million, with the interest earned in one year, we, the Armenian Society of South Africa could have bought a new place, and still we are not considering the interest of five years since the sale of Missak Museum.
In 2004 Ms. Anita Anserlian was asked by the Armenian Society of South Africa (When I was serving as chairman and now I serve as vice chairman of the society) to consider offering a small percentage of that money to us, to buy a small and less fancy place for which she promised to get back to us in the very near future, and after six years, we are still waiting for that so called "very near future" and her response.
Note that, Missak museum was not donated by AGBU, it was the residence of late Missak who donated it to the local community.
Hi, I would like to know more. I believe my great grandfather was involved. His name was Sarkis Majarian. I am trying to look into my family tree. Maybe you could help me.
Lragir.am
ՌՈՒՍԱՍՏԱՆԻ ՆԱԽԱՁԵՌՆՈՒԹՅՈՒՆՆԵՐԸ ՂԱՐԱԲԱՂՅԱՆ ՀԻՄՆԱԽՆԴՐՈՒՄ
Ռուսաստանը միշտ եղել է ղարաբաղյան հակամարտության կարգավորման գործընթացի առավել անսպասելի ու վտանգավոր միջնորդն ու նախաձեռնողը։ Որովհետև տիրապետել է ավելի գործուն լծակների, ընդհանուր առմամբ, Հարավային Կովկասում ստեղծվող իրավիճակներում, այդ թվում` ղարաբաղյան հիմնախնդրում։
«Կարգավորման» գործընթացից Ռուսաստանի որոշակի զսպվածությունը և նույնիսկ ինքնամեկուսացումը պատրանք ստեղծեցին, թե նա այլևս չունի իրական լծակներ շահագրգռված կողմերի պահվածքի վրա ազդելու համար։ Իրականում, սակայն, Ռուսաստանը միշտ ունեցել է բավարար ազդեցություն հակամարտության կողմերի վրա, ինչպես նաև այն արտաքին ուժերի, որոնք այս կամ այն չափով ներկայացված են եղել տարածաշրջանային քաղաքականության բեմահարթակում։
ԵԱՀԿ Մինսկի խմբի գործունեությունը և գոյության էությունը, ի վերջո, հանգեցին ուժերի հավասարակշռության ապահովմանը`երեք ուժային կենտրոնների ազդեցությամբ, որոնք են` ԱՄՆ-ը, Ռուսաստանը և Եվրոպան` ի դեմս Ֆրանսիայի։ Այսինքն` գործընթացը հանգեց այդ «բևեռների» շահերի ապահովմանը, թեպետ այդ հավասարակշռության հիմնական առանցքում ռուս-ամերիկյան հարաբերություններն էին։ Երեք կողմերի գլխավոր խնդիրը դարձավ թույլ չտալ, որ եռյակից որևէ մեկը խլի նախաձեռնությունը հակամարտության կարգավորման մեջ և արդյունքների հասնելու ուղղությամբ, հատկապես այն դեպքում, երբ Ռուսաստանը կամ ԱՄՆը կարող էին ավելի նախընտրելի դիրքեր ապահովել Հարավային Կովկասում:
Շարունակութիւնը տեսնել Lragir.am
Keghart has been informed human rights activist "Deli" (Crazy) Kevork Hatspanian passed away in Cologne(Koln), Germany on Jan. 28. Turks called him "Gavuroglu"(Son of Infidel). Kevork spent a significant part of his early life in Turkish prisons where he was tortured. He gained his freedom in 1974 through Amnesty International. His "crime" was advocating human rights. He never hid his Armenian identity, and demanded restitution for the descendents of Genocide survivors.
His son, Sarkis Hatspanian, wrote from prison in Vardashen, Armenia, "I will keep the memory of my honest, honorable father who fought to live in dignity with a big heart and longing desire, and to be the 'crazy' heir to all my father's dreams which could not be realized."
Keghart.com mourns the passing away of Kevork, and conveys its condolences to Kevork's son, his family and friends.
Attarian's well articulated notes provide an opportunity to air suggestions and remarks for all those who are willing to give a chance for the Congress to unfold. Whether the name gets a new touch or remains the same, I presume, will eventually be dependent on the assembly that will gather in Paris in November 2010 as proposed.
Analyzing the various documents posted on the IOC's website reveal several contradictions at least in the English versions. Some interpretations of historical events appear to be lopsided and should have not even been included. They may be the views of a few in the IOC and may not be shared by others or future adherents to the concept of having a viable congress representing the claims of the descendents of the Genocide.
The mission statement should be clearly stated in very concise, non convoluted and straightforward fashion. That's not the case, as presented, and there is confusion as to what the long-term goals are.
Another issue is participation and membership in the proposed congress. It is not clear, for example, whether interested individuals irrespective of whether they are descendents of the survivors of the Genocide, and whatever citizenship they hold, can or can not be part of the congress. A typical case would be the situation of Armenians from India or Iran. They are, by and large not descendents of the survivors of the Genocide, and their claims are not directly related to the horrific events. However, both communities historically have actively engaged in many Armenian related endeavours and have even provided solutions.
Hopefully, the initiating committee will look at the different remarks, comments and proposals, and act upon them to ensure the participation of all who have an interest and a stake in the proposed congress. That would be a sign of being responsive to the public and ensure transparency.
Mehtab is actually a Persian name/word whose correct pronunciation is Mahtaab (the first a pronounced as in "can" and the second a as in "all", meaning: moonlight. Even though many Turkish Armenians have Turkish names, this is not one that one would expect to come from a Turkish-Armenian. It is also possible that Ms. Mehtab Kenepek is actually a Turk who studied Armenian and is reading with her own voice and not just moving her lips.
David Boyajian’s commentary should sober up those Armenians who despite every historic betrayal, think that the U.S. and Russia are benevolent saviors who will protect us! The Georgian-Russian standoff resulting in Georgian instability shows us that the U.S. is eager to find alternate routes that more reliably suit their interests!
Serj, since your reply is to Yeghish's comment, you should hit the Reply option so that we can see the thread. Otherwise it's hard to see which one you are commenting for...
You don't honestly think they will ever build a pipeline through Armenia do you? When they built the pipeline recently from Azerbaijan through Georgia and then to Turkey and not through the logical direct route through Armenia (Turkey's insistance) our US Senators threatened all kinds of monetary reprisals. Results? Nothing came of their bluster for public consumption! There will NEVER be a pipeline built through Armenia --- only unmet promises.
I have always wondered why our forces halted their advance into Azerbaijan proper. Two explanations I have heard, which sound militarily sound, are that had our forces continued to advance from high ground to the lowlands, they would have been sitting ducks on hard-to-defend lands and because we didn't have sufficient troops to defend larger territory. A case of easier to take than to defend.
I would like to hear the opinion of a well-informed person.
This is a good start. Finally someone is doing something. It is very easy to sit on the sidelines and criticize but it would take time and effort to take the initiative to start something and contribute.
My only suggestion would be that we should elect people to this committee based on what they know and how they can contribute, rather than whom they know and what political affiliation they have. I am surprised that it took about 100 years to actually do something.
Best of luck to you and anything I can do to help, please don't hesitate to ask.
You are right. I am sure Prof. Kherlopian was also optimistic. History has proven many times over that foreign forces dictate our lives. Was it not the British who stopped us when we were ahead (if Gen Antranig could talk). I think during Artsakh liberation the same thing happened. The Armenian momentum was stopped by external forces. We will find out in about 50-60 years.
As for "Jewish" strategy...Yes..I am 100% in agreement with you. The whole world is run by them no matter what the sceptics say. Can we be like them? In commerce, maybe BUT in politics no way.....
Ref: "Moreover, up to 2 million Turks in Anatolia are now learning that they are part-Armenian. They are the descendants of the small children who survived, usually because their Armenian parents entrusted them to Turkish friends to keep while the Armenian family was sent on the exile. When it became clear that the Armenian family would not return, the Turkish family raised the child as an Osmanli, a Turkish Muslim."
It upsets me that our dear lecturer is simplifying the question of armenian children,entrusted as she says to kind Turks who raised them as osmanlis.
Even if it could be that some Armenian parents entrusted their children to some neighbours , the majority however were taken by force, abducted. The Armenian genocide is the greatest theft in history, the Turks were stealing our children, they were seen merely as commodities.
There is new research on this issue. I suggest reading Vahe Tachdjian, Mathias Björnlund and even Turkish sources. The latest book is called "Our Grandchildren" - Torunlar, where you can hear the stories of these young girls who were abducted, forced to marriage, distibuted to officers and Turkish elites.
Moving children from a group to another group by force is Genocide, according to the genocide convention. How about compensating for this loss!!!
To my understanding the intent of the organizing committee is not to exclude any participants wherever they are, whatever their geographic roots and orientations may be. Anushavan Danielyan, the present chair of the IOC, for example, is former prime minister of Artsakh, and the executive director Karen Mikaelyan is from Armenia, and has served in the UN as a representative of former USSR. At least two of the deputy directors that I know of are what amongst ourselves would call western Armenian. One of them being Souren Seraydarian, originally from Syria, who too has served in the UN representing the Secretary of that organization in some hot spots.
Hence, as we notice, there is no distinction of Eastern or Western Armenian right at the start in the initiating committee itself.
My impression is that the term Western is used because of the particular nature of the claim which is related to present day Turkey and traditionally is known as Western Armenia, and is understood as such in international politics. What Mr. Petrossian proposes, i.e. WWAC is already exercised by participants in IOC, but having such a name for the organization could potentially create legal complications, because it entails inclusion of Armenia as a state. Such a designation would definitely be objectionable by courts and international institutions, including Armenia as a sovereign entity. It would be an infringement. I am sure you know the controversy between Macedonia and Greece.
The goal is not creating yet another Armenian organization for Armenians for the content of what some call the "disgruntled". That would be a misadventure. The concept is to have a representative organization that can present claims to Courts and International Organizations.
Let me give you an example. Here in Canada up to few years ago there was an organization calling itself Armenian World Alliance. Nobody did object to the name as long as it was functioning within the Armenian community and in the Canadian context. It would have been a different matter if it tried to present itself as representative of worldwide Armenians on the international scene. That name definitely would have been unacceptable, to begin with by Armenia.
Some have suggested to call the proposed congress as Diasporan. That too is faulty, because there are citizens of Armenia who are descendents of the Genocide survivors and are legally considered claimants. The term would exclude them.
My hunch is that the term "Western Armenian" is arrived at following long discussions with legal experts. Viken Attarian too is suggesting change of name, but again, he as well is raising the possibility that those terms may have been adopted because of legalities. Please see his excellent remarks at http://www.keghart.com/Attarian_WAN_C
Between now and November, when the Congress is proposed to take place in Paris, I am sure, many such comments about the name will be made. Ultimately those who gather at the convention and elect an Assembly will be the ones that will decide following legal advice. Incidentally, the IOC has a committee of legal experts and the organization is registered in France.
I would certainly not use words as strong as Vahe Avetian’s, but I understand his feelings very well. What surprises me is that in nearly all the views expressed in Keghart the terms West Armenian and East Armenian are taken for granted, as if Armenians were two distinct nations, each with its own sphere of concerns.
The mere name of the congress implies the existence of a nation needing an assembly of its own,
and the way it styles itself heir to genocide survivors, suggests the exclusion of many Armenians from the national cause.
Why not call it WWAC (for World Wide Armenian Congress) and invite the whole Diaspora to join?
You are correct that the political parties will not relinquish. However, those parties are becoming old-fashioned and gradually will fade away. Now don't say it's not possible, we witnessed what happened to communism...puff gone!
I am not saying that the WANCongress will replace them, NO! their mission is completely different.
But they might not need the support of those stagnating parties after all...hopefully.
You are too optimistic Serj. Remember that without the foreign aid, arms and 'green light' we couldn't have taken Artsakh. Now that the Azeris have rebuilt their army multifold with oil money, we have to be very careful in going to war. Russia and US will not let a Turkic state to be built in that border, so they will help us, but in return we will owe them big time!
We need to be independant, strong and smart. How to do it? easy, use the Jewish strategy; put people in key positions in foreign governments, industry, economics, finance, etc.
OK, OK it's not that easy, we should've started long time ago, it takes time; but the sooner we start, the more chances we will have.
I remember Prof. Kherlopian in Los Angeles several years ago talking to some friends. It was just after the cease fire and at a gathering. I just happened to eavesdrop "if they had not tied our hands our boys were going all the way to Baku ".
Dreaming ? Who knows.....but the perfidious Azeris know that it will not be easy for them.
If there is a plan like Dikran suggests.....vay...vay...our poor boys who will shed their lives!
It is common knowledge that many many Armenians in Turkey have Turkish surnames, thus announcer's name KEPENEK does not surprise me. However, what kind of Armenian will call her daughter Mehtap, which means full moon in Turkish? In Armenian it would have been Lucine or Lucineh. It is extemely disconcerting. I would tend to believe that Mehtap Kepenek is Turkish and an Armenian voice was dubbed in.
Can someone answer a question please? When WAN-Congress takes shape does anybody think that Ramgavars, Hunchaks, Tashnags will support it? It is unfortunate that they all have different agendas, but do you think they are focused other than their own vision of things to be?
What makes you think that they will shed their 100 plus years of expectations, experiences and support WAN-Congress?
Although the effort is well meaning I think it is a wishful thinking...Call me Jeremiah or Cassandra..
You reminded me a couple of popular songs that people used to sing in Armenia some twenty, thirty years ago. Probably they still do. No matter which wedding or other gatherings one would attend, invariably these songs, or variations would come up. People would sing with determined looks, some would dance and the vodka bottles would get empty one after the other.
One of the songs was:
Հայաստանի քաղաքներից Կարս էր անունը,
Կարս,Կարս,Կարս,
Հայրենի հարս,
Ե՞րբ պիտի դու մայր Հայաստան
Ետ վերադաոնաս:
The other:
Խեղճ Մշեցին մեոաւ լալով,
Օտար երկրներ ման գալով.
Մեոանք թուրքին հարկը տալով
Զարթնիր Լաո մըոնիմ քըզի:
Now a group of people are singing the same song in a different way. Instead of determined looks they have a plan, instead of dancing they want to challenge the courts, and rather than spilling vodka they will most probably waste tons of papers.
So what's wrong? Is it not an insult to call them self-appointed commisars?
I totally agree. But would like to see a logical argument that can convince us otherwise. Those who are opposing WANCongress or the idea of what they are doing, let them give their opinions in a logical manner and show us that the concept is not good. But please don't generalize and don't say that this will never succeed. Trying is better than being passive!
Ghazaros is accurate in his description of Cassandra, the mythical seer who foresaw the disaster of the Trojan War for all concerned. However, over the three millennia since Homer sang about her, Cassandra has, at least in the English language, changed shape and has become a symbol of negativity, someone who cries wolf at all occasions.
Google and Wikepedia came to my rescue. According to Wikipedia "Apollo put a curse on her so that no one would believe her predictions". It is claimed that she foresaw the destruction of Troy but could not do anything about it because no one would believe her. I wonder now what to make of the Cassandras when it comes to the Western National Congress.
That does not mean I do not support the WNC's participation in national dialogue, I do.
As I was reading the comments written about WANCongress, I felt so sad thinking that our nation will never learn from the past. We are always in doubts and continue to be so , instead of coming out and for once in our lifetime unite and work as one.
I think that this is the time to decide and work as a whole or else we are going to lose all that remains, even our country, in this dirty political turmoil of the world.
Whatever propaganda goals the Turkish side may have had from opening a news program in Armenian, this should be considrered as an acknowledgment of the existence of Armenian language and culture in Turkey. The time may come when other aspects of the Armenian life and history in Turkey would also be acknowledged.
Note: Ms. Mehtab Kepenek (a Turkish name) is actually reading in Armenian and not " in Turkish later dubbed into Armenian" as suggested by the news information. Her lip movements are well in synch with the audio, but with a slight delay.
Mr. Avetian, perhaps you haven't read or understood the main tasks that WANCongress will try to achieve. Please go back and read them in keghart.com and then you might be enlightened as how important it is for all Armenians to have such an organization.
I didn't see any mention of dividing the Armenians; can you please provide links as how you came up with such a wrong conclusion?
Avetian's invective is typical of the man. I have had the misfortune of reading his intemperate "contributions" elsewhere. He boasts that his family comes from various parts of Armenia, as if the rest of us were born in Central Asia. He also typically chooses to misunderstand one of the core goals of WAN-Congress. My understanding is that since the government of Armenia has shown a lack of enthusiasm in pursuing the rights of Western and Cilician Armenians, the Geneva-based group has stepped in to fulfill this important mission. Nobody is trying to divide Armenians, as Avetian imagines.
I am always sad that we Armenians do not appreciate what really dedicated foreigners have done for us; we always forget them!
I read the interesting Azounieh interview and in the historical part Mr. Boyadjian failed to mention Jacob Kunzler or the better known Papa Kunzler the Swiss missionary who stayed in Urfa with Armenians prior (After Hamidian Massacres in1899) and after 1915. In 1922 he brought to Lebanon and Syria over 8000 Armenian children through very dangerous roads of Anatolia.
He was the director of Ghazir orphanage for girls, which is very close to the original Maameltein sanatorium mentioned in the interview! Papa Kunzler as a professional medic was the one recommended moving out of Maameltein… He even went all the way to USA to collect money from Armenians for the Sanatorium in Azounieh…
Forgetting a unique personality like Jacob Kunzler in the making of Azounieh is a mistake! He was not even mentioned in the opening new ward in the summer as well…
What Jacob Kunzler and his wife have done is out of this world! No Armenian has done to his nation what the Kunzler family has for the Armenian people… They could have lived in their country Switzerland but they chose to live all their life with the Armenians in the refugee camps of Lebanon, Syria and previously in Urfa even during the Armenian Resistance in Urfa (Sept 29 – Oct 23, 1915).
He lost his right arm to infection while treating an Armenian child in Ghazir… yet he continued to serve with one arm to take care of abused girls from Turkish Harems, educate them and tend to their medical needs until he passed away in Lebanon January 15, 1949! Yes, he dedicated 50 years of his life for the needy Armenians… yet we forget to mention him (It might be lack of history knowledge in this particular case), but looking around this has been an ugly Armenian pattern! We complain that the Turks do not recognize us, yet we do not recognize those supernatural Men & Women who have served the Armenians like nobody has ever served, be it US, Danish, Swiss, German and of many other nationalities….
I recommend to read his book “In the Land of Blood & Tears” which was translated from German into English in 2007, Available from Amazon.com
Առնուազն 26 հոգի կը ծրագրէ այցելել:
Հաւանաբար աւելի շահեկան պիտի ըլլար եթէ երկրորդ հարցում մըն ալ հարցուէր: Ե՞րբ վերջին անգամ այցելեցիր: Իմ պատասխանս պիտի ըլլար Ոչ, 2009:
Any individual who makes a proposal or provides an opinion is self-appointed. That's a self-evident fact. It's neither a criticism nor an evaluation. Your statement and this message are made by self-appointed people too.
Does making a proposal on its own diminish the importance of what's being proposed? I don't think so.
Mr. Mikaelyan and his friends have taken an initiative which is very timely given the less than satisafactory condition of the status-quo. Some people may agree others may not. A response to the content would have been more appropriate than a dismissive statement.
I gather you have serious grounds to dispute the proposal, and that surely people would like to hear.
Este Revelou editorial excelente, com absoluta precisão, a Arménia "alma". Nossa sofrida, a dolorida Alma. Extranho, Extraordinário fenômeno, uma Atingir cada um de nós, Estejamos onde quer que, em toda Diáspora. Tratado um tema que merece. E a cura para esse mal da alma? Qual será? Quando virá? Ou será essa uma cruz que teremos de carregar eternamente?
To Ghazaros. I think the "Out of the Fog" editorial mentioned that we are witnessing new vigour, new ideas, and new groups to address our goals. In no way, to my understanding, did the piece advocate idle patience. WAN-Congress is one such new group which seems to have a new approach to obtain justice for the Armenian people.
My elementary, primary and part of the secondary education took place at St. Nshan Armenian School in Beirut where many of my teachers would tell us that we as students, or our children may not see the realization of our national aspirations in our lifetimes, but they were surely to come. Those were the pre 1965 years when the Armenian Genocide was more an indoor lamentation than a public commemoration. The fact of the matter is that I never expected then to experience in my lifetime what transpired and has been transpiring since then, especially the last two decades. The Armenian Genocide is widely recognized now, albeit still alleged by some. Armenia is a free and independent country now, who would have guessed that then? My maternal and paternal grandparents were orphaned survivors of the Armenian Genocide and they avoided the subject. In hindsight, I realize now that they were traumatized. I, as their firstborn grandchild and a grandfather as well, feel burdened to rectify the historical injustice to the extent that it is ever possible to rectify. We have come a long, long way and there is no reason that in time we will not achieve recognition, meaning reparation.
Չնայած նրան որ Հայաստանում դասավանդում են արևմտահայերեն լեզուն և գրականությունը հա՛մ դպրոցներում հա՛մ համալսարաններում, հայաստանցիների համար ոչ մի իմաստ չկա արևմտահայերեն բարբառը վերակենդանացնել և օգտագործել առօրյա կյանքում, քանի որ արևելահայերենը բավարարում է բոլոր պահանջները։
Իսկ սփյուրքը իր հերթին կամաց-կամաց մոռանում է արևմտահայերենը։
Այս բաները հաշվի առնելով արևմտահայերեն բարբառի մահը անխուսափելի է, բայց ես դրա մեջ ոչ մի ողբերգություն չեմ տեսնում։
Thank you editors, for articulating concerns shared by your brethren around the world. We must stay strong and empower our institutions to stay strong so that Armenia will live in coming "nor serounts" no matter where they live in the world. Something in this editorial needs to be fleshed out. Is "patience" really all that's required of us now? No strategy? If and when a Western Armenian National Congress is established, its primary job must be securing Western Armenian land return, along with restitution, reparation, restoration. That will require strategic thinking and action. While we are indeed still deeply traumatized, this should not prevent us from remaining active on the political stage, no matter how severely we feel hurt, insulted, paralyzed. The Turkish government needs no encouragement to marginalize righteous Armenian demands by bleating to anyone who will listen that Armenians instead suffer from mental illnesses and alleged genocide complexes. If it were left up to the likes of Jemal Pasha's grandson, Armenians would be force-fed a diet of twisted logic and one-upmanship. In one big therapeutic session to achieve universal brotherhood, Armenians would be called on to quell their demands and instead sit down and dialogue with Turks -- to hear of the devastating pain Turks feel about losing their grand Ottoman empire -- an empire, need we be reminded, that was built on rape, abduction, slavery and genocide of native populations such as ours and the pillage, theft, and confiscation of our beloved homeland usurped by the Turks themselves!
Well, at least someone is trying to do something, unlike people like you!!
Don't be a pessimist, we can do things right if we all think positive for a change...
Thank you for writing such a heartfelt and poignant article. I feel it is the duty of every Armenian to continue doing all they can to eventually get the Turkish government to admit to their role in the Armenian Genocide in 1915. The facts will not disappear. History cannot be altered. Turkey will advance themselves in the eyes of the world by leaps and bounds if they take responsibility in admitting what happened 95 years ago.
This is a good start. I expect from you - I am sure you can - to be more specific by giving numbers, statistics, quotes, data, short analytical articles.
I don't know why the present Turkish government is protecting the Ottoman actions and committed Genocide against the Armenia nation; in fact they are the ones who toppled the Ottoman Empire. Normally, when a change in the regime occurs in any country, specially from monarchy to Republic, the new regime will change the flag of that country, as it is done in Iran.
In Turkey nothing is changed since Mustafa Kemal took the control of the country. It is the same flag, the same army, and most damaging is the thinking of the officers of Turkish army's hierarchy which has remained the same, Influenced by the past.
The Ottoman mentality still exists in the mind of many army officers and government personnel.
Or rather, the leadership of Armenia. Already the US media - which often as not referred to the Genocide as "the genocide" has tacitly decided that if Armenians are willing to make peace with the Turks without demanding recognition of the Genocide then there must be something to Turkish claims that it was an internal matter, a civil war, "both sides did it," etc. Want proof: A recent article in The Christian Science Monitor discussing the Protocols referred to the "100 year old dispute." Progressive Turks will no longer have to press for recognition of the Genocide. No one will speak of the Armenians. It never happened. Hitler would have been proven right in the end.
The Jews know this, which is why they never, ever let the world forget about the Holocaust and they fight any and all attempts to minimize it or trivialize it. Imagine the course of history had the newly formed Israel made peace with Germany. The Geneva Conventions (1949) and Nuremberg Principles (1950) would not have been written and enacted. And certainly, Israel would have not gotten a Reparations Agreement with West Germany in 1952.
Dr. Babjanian's comments remind me self- appointed critic Ara Baliozian's comment on our endurance and longevity in the world history. Some time ago I had given my opinion about the same and his answer was that " cockroaches also survive as long"....Well you draw your conclusions from this self-proclaimed pessimist.
My personal experience with Armenian schools has been positive regarding education, Armenian spirit (without anatagonism against or adherence to any party), and the Christian faith.
These 3 fields have been properly balanced within the three various Armenian Evangelical Schools that I attended. I have also heard the same positive feedback about some Armenian Catholic Schools here in Lebanon.
ISTANBUL (Combined Sources)–Thousands gathered Tuesday at the site in Istanbul where Armenian journalist Hrant Dink was murdered three years ago, a slaying that caused a national outcry for both Turks and Armenians.
The crowd, numbering around 2,000 to 3,000 according to police, braved snowfall to gather outside the offices of the Agos newspaper where Dink was editor-in-chief, chanting “The murderer state has to account for this!”, “We know the murderers, we want justice!”
“As long as light is not shed on this murder, we will be here, we will not give up,” said one of the many people who addressed the crowd from the window of the Agos office from which hung a picture of the slain journalist.
Several people left carnations and candles at the place where then 52-year-old Dink was killed on January 19, 2007.
This year’s slogan during the commemoration was “We know the killer, we want justice.”
“I am eminently enraged,” retired teacher Semra Tugcu said as she stood in the crowd.
She said she was not hopeful about Dink’s murder case. “I am a Turk, but this does not mean that I am not a minority in this country,” she said. “I feel like a minority, too.”
Hrant Dink’s wife, Rakel Dink, and their son and daughter were also at the Agos newspaper office.
Arat Dink, Hrant Dink’s son, spoke to the crowd. “Were those kids [those suspected of murdering Dink] alone while they were making fun of us in the court? … I do not trust justice in this country. But being here for the last three years with you makes me hopeful,” Arat Dink said.
Dink’s speech was frequently cut by slogans from the crowd such as, “Murderer state will give account,” “Despite fascism, you are my brother Hrant,” and “Either all together, or none of us, there is no salvation alone.”
The gunman, an unemployed nationalist who was 17 at the time, was captured shortly after the killing. He went on trial along with 19 suspected accomplices in 2007. The investigation, however, has yet to reveal the masterminds behind the killing.
Hours after the procession, a number of people climbed up a street pole at the corner of the Pangalti crossway in Istanbul’s central Sisli district where the commemoration had taken place and removed the “Ergenekon” street sign, replacing it with a street sign that read: “Hrant Dink Street.”
Ergenekon is also the name of an alleged gang that is accused of aiming to topple the government by creating turmoil in society and that is alleged to be connected to the “deep state.” Dink’s assassination is also linked to the “deep state,” according to investigators.
A group called Art for Peace organized the changing of the street signs. The group requested a meeting with Sisli Mayor Mustafa Sarigul to officially change the name of the street, but the meeting will be possible only after Jan. 19, the group said in a leaflet it distributed to the crowd in Sisli.
Members of the group changed the name of the street themselves without waiting for the meeting to take place.
Armenians want Never Again. To accomplish this goal Armenians need a viable state. To have a viable state, Armenia must have access to the free world. Therefore, Turkey must return Western Armenia, period. Why? Because Turkey and its Big Brothers need peace and security, not justice, to transport energy from East to the West. To reach this goal, they need peacful Armenia. The only card Armenia needs to play. You need business, then I need to survive as a viable state.
Armenia does not have anything else to negotiate other than creating trouble in the region. All of the world
knows that Armenians are very good at that.
Why Armenians are such? Because they have been oppressed by the same people who today demand Armenia to sign this and that.
My family is from El Salvador. My grandmother's maiden surname on my father's side is Sibrian. I've seen this name through out El Salvador. Aparently the name is of Armenian origin. My family comes from Chalatenango department near the Honduran border. However there is no cultural trace of any Armenian in the family, other than maybe certain phenotypes. I find this very interesting.
You can take online Armenian language, history, architecture courses on line in English, Eastern Armenian or Western Armenian, French, Russian and Spanish at The Armenian Virtual College
ANKARA, YEREVAN (Combined Sources)—In response to last week’s ruling by Armenia’s Constitutional Court, the Turkish Foreign Ministry Tuesday issued an announcement condemning Armenia for setting “unacceptable” preconditions on the Armenia-Turkey protocols.
In a statement issued late Monday, Turkey’s foreign ministry said “It has been observed that this [Constitutional Court] decision contains preconditions and restrictive provisions which impair the letter and spirit of the Protocols.”
“The said decision undermines the very reason for negotiating these Protocols as well as their fundamental objective. This approach cannot be accepted on our part,” continued the Turkish statement.
“Turkey, in line with its accustomed allegiance to its international commitments, maintains its adherence to the primary provisions of these Protocols,” added the statement.
“We expect the same allegiance from the Armenian Government,” the Turkish Ministry said in a statement,” concluded the brief statement.
On January 12, Armenia’s Constitutional Court upheld the constitutionality of the protocols, adding however, that the documents cannot have any connection with the ongoing Nagorno-Karabakh conflict resolution process or impede Armenia of its pursuit of international recognition of the Armenia Genocide. To reinforce the latter point, the Court referenced Article 11 of Armenia’s Declaration of Independence, which states: “The Republic of Armenia stands in support of the task of achieving international recognition of the 1915 Genocide in Ottoman Turkey and Western Armenia.”
Official Yerevan was quick to react with Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandian saying that he will personally phone his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu to “express my bewilderment and clarify where exactly the Turkish side sees preconditions and just how the decision by Armenia’s Constitutional Court contradicts the fundamental objectives of the protocols.”
Nalbandian also suggested that the Turkish government was looking for excuses to delay the process and add further preconditions on the protocols.
Despite countless arguments by the Armenian President and foreign minister that Armenia has entered this process without preconditions, Turkey has repeatedly linked the normalization of relations between the two countries with the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in favor of Azerbaijan.
As recently as late last week, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the protocols would not be ratified until a resolution to the Karabakh conflict is reached. These remarks came after his meeting with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin who bluntly said that the processes were separate and could not be interconnected. The same position was expressed by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov last week during his official visit to Yerevan.
The Armenian Revolutionary Federation, which has spearheaded vocal opposition to the protocols both in Armenia and the Diaspora, rejected Turkey’s statement. The party’s political director Giro Manoyan told reporters Tuesday that with its statement Turkey proved, once again, that, aside from its own interpretations, it rejects any other explanation of the protocols.
Manoyan warned that after this announcement by Turkey, Armenian authorities should not attempt to weaken the Armenian high court’s position.
“It is imperative for the Armenian authorities to not seek to weaken the Armenian Constitutional Court’s decision,” said Manoyan explaining, “The Armenian government must continue the process in the spirit of the court ruling.”
In a statement issued by the ARF following the Court ruling, the party expressed its continued rejection of the protocols, but added that the Constitutional Court provisions referenced above provide an opportunity for revisions in the next phase of the ratification process.
“We have launched a process of normalization in relations with Armenia and in good faith taken steps that include the signing of the protocols,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Burak Ozugergin told the Hurriyet Daily News & Economic Review. “We have often expressed our views about what the necessary conditions are for the maintenance of peace and stability in the Caucasus.”
The Turkish government submitted the protocols to Parliament, but they have not been submitted for ratification because they depend on the progress in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, added Hurriyet in its news report on the matter.
Burcu Gultekin Punsmann, a Caucasus expert at the Turkish think tank TEPAV, said the diplomatic agreements were a product of consensus between the states concerned and argued that the Armenian constitutional court’s reasoning was putting limits on points for which the sides had already reached an agreement, reported the Hurriyet.
Turkish State Wages War Against Kurdish Civilian Political Movement
(Special report from Istanbul by Armenian Weekly columnist Ayse Gunaysu)
December 24, 2009
ISTANBUL, Turkey (A.W.)–The Turkish state started a new war against the civilian Kurdish political movement in 11 provinces, from Diyarbakir and neighboring cities to Istanbul and Izmir. Homes of prominent DTP (the Kurdish party recently closed down by the Constitutional Court) leaders were broken into at 5 a.m. and around 60 people, including mayors of Kurdish provinces and districts and the human rights association chairperson in Diyarbakir were arrested. Their rights to see their lawyers are suspended for the first 24 hours.
The Human Rights Association (HRA) Diyarbakir branch was among the places where searches were made. Raids and searches by security forces in HRA branches was something that did not happen even during the most difficult times of the emergency rule in the region in the 1990’s.
The news came as a shock as the former DTP leaders had declared that they gave up on their plans to leave the parliament and decided to continue their parliamentary struggle. Earlier, all hope had disappeared because of the closure of DTP just after the launching of the governments alleged peace initiative, the violent street protests that followed, and a suspicious ambush on a military unit in Tokat by a group of guerillas killing 7 soldiers triggering hateful protests in the west by nationalists.
Diyarbakir Mayor Osman Baydemir gave a press conference in front of the Diyarbakır DTP organization offices protesting the arrests. He was surrounded by DTP MPs and party leaders.
Baydemir, regarded as a most polite and refined Kurdish leader, used very harsh language, even resorting to the F-word (which is, in Turkish, much stronger than its equivalents in western languages), shocking everybody. He added, “We are now violating and will continue to violate whatever law our arrested party leaders and mayors have violated.” He also said, addressing the government, that they will not find any hand to hold when they themselves reach out tomorrow to the Kurdish people.
North Kurdistan People’s Initiative, a section of PKK, called for a “total revolt” in cities, on the streets and on the mountains.
Constitutional Court Limits Protocols’ Damage to Armenian National Interests
By Harut Sassounian, Publisher, The California Courier, 21 January 2010
After months of bickering among Armenians the world over about the Armenia-Turkey Protocols, the Constitutional Court of Armenia on January 12 pronounced its judgment on whether the obligations stipulated by the Protocols comply with the constitution.
The Court’s task would have been relatively easier, if it were to simply deal with the legal aspects of the Protocols which would have required a yes or no decision followed by a brief explanation. Yet the fact that the Court’s verdict was eight pages long and contained scores of clarifications, interpretations, explanations, and restrictions, indicated that the Justices of the Court had to walk a tightrope between safeguarding Armenia’s relations with major foreign powers and minimizing the potential damage the Protocols could cause to the Armenian national interest.
Since the Court was apparently reluctant to reject outright these badly-negotiated and poorly-worded Protocols, it did the next best thing: accept the Protocols after placing a large number of restrictions on their legal interpretation and implementation. Thus, the Court’s decision partially vindicates all those who have been expressing their serious reservations regarding the negative aspects of the Protocols.
Here are some of the main interpretations and limitations that the Court placed on the Protocols:
1) The Court made all clauses of the Protocols conditional on the implementation of two main obligations: "establish diplomatic relations" and "open the common border." The Justices thus made these two actions a necessary prerequisite for the fulfillment of all other obligations to be undertaken by Armenia and Turkey.
2) The Court narrowly interpreted the "open the common border" clause of the Protocols, indicating that Armenia was simply making a commitment "to resolve legal-organizational and institutional issues connected to safeguarding the normal operation of border checkpoints." Significantly, the Court used the term "checkpoint" rather than "border," thereby indirectly refusing to accord legal recognition to Armenia’s present boundary with Turkey. Since it was Turkey that closed the border, it alone is responsible for re-opening it. Armenia’s obligation, on the other hand, is limited to simply making the necessary administrative arrangements to permit passage through a checkpoint.
3) The Court ruled that only those international treaties that have been ratified under the constitution of the present Republic of Armenia could be considered legally valid. The clear implication is that border issues regulated by treaties pre-dating the Republic’s existence cannot be considered valid. This interpretation contradicts frequent Turkish declarations that the Protocols reconfirm Armenian territorial concessions to Turkey, specifically referencing the 1921 Treaty of Kars. Indeed, the Court pointedly downplayed the overall significance of these Protocols by mandating that all future treaties that establish and further develop relations between Armenia and Turkey require its specific approval.
4) The Court countered the text of the Protocols which included specific language about multilateral obligations, by asserting that the documents in question were "exclusively of a bilateral interstate nature." The Justices thus precluded Turkey from interfering in the Karabagh (Artsakh) negotiations and making the improvement of Armenia-Turkey relations conditional on the resolution of that conflict.
5) The Court took issue with Turkish statements that the aim of the historical commission envisaged by the Protocols is to review the facts of the Armenian Genocide. The Justices clearly stated that the provisions of the Protocols could not contradict the preamble of the constitution which includes a reference to Armenia’s Declaration of Independence. Article 11 of the Declaration stated: "The Republic of Armenia stands in support of the task of achieving international recognition of the 1915 Genocide in Ottoman Turkey and Western Armenia."
The key question now is what happens next?
At a minimum, the Constitutional Court has limited some of the damaging aspects of the Protocols by ruling that any laws emanating from the Protocols, after parliamentary ratification, cannot violate the constitution of the Republic of Armenia.
Of course, it would be far more preferable if the Parliament were to reject these Protocols outright. Regrettably, this is unlikely, as the Parliament is dominated by pro-government deputies. If rejection is not a possibility, the President of Armenia and the Parliament should at least consider specific reservations or changes to these Protocols in line with the Constitutional Court’s decision.
Failing that, Armenians who oppose the Protocols must pin their last hope on the Turkish Parliament’s insistence that it would not ratify the Protocols until Armenia withdraws from Artsakh. Should the Turkish Parliament not ratify the Protocols, it would be highly ironic if Armenians had to rely on Turkish actions in order to protect their national interest!
"Քանի ժամանակը կ՚անցնի ու հայութիւնը, իր մեծ մասով կը մնայ ցրուած ու կը շարունակէ ցրուիլ աշխարհով մէկ՝ Հայ դատի հետապնդումը եւ լուծումը աւելի ու աւելի կախում կ՚ունենայ ոչ միայն մեր քաղաքական ճիգերէն, այլեւ ու մանաւանդ մեր մշակութային ճիգերէն, որոնց կարգին առաջին գծի վրայ կու գայ արեւմտահայերէնի վերապրումը:"
Համաձայն չեմ։ Լուծումն է Հայաստանի մէջ ստեղծել օրինաւոր պետութիւն ու տնտեսութիւն եւ ոչնչացնել կաշառակերութիւնը։
"The signing of the protocols is the result of the poor performance of Armenia’s Foreign Minister"( ARF Statements on protocols court ruling, Asbarez January 13, 2010) =============================================================
Sir, it seems for you "Հաւը միայն մէկ վոտք ունի".
Again and again you insist that "The signing of the protocol is the result of the poor performance of Armenia's Foreign Minister", and repeatedly you're asking only for Mr. Nalbandyan's resignation, while the principal responsibility rests with President Sargsyan.
We wonder and don't understand why you People bypass "khnami" President Sargsyan and put all the blame on his Foreign Minister?
"THE BUCK STOPS WITH PRESIDENT SARGSYAN NOT MR. NALBANDYAN"!!
Whilst you are all scratching your heads, the regime is marching on with its sell-out of Armenia's genocide, etc. with Turkey and shortly (before 24th April) the sell-out of Karabakh.
YEREVAN (ARF Press Office)—The Armenian Revolutionary Federation’s governing Bureau on Wednesday issued a statement on the January 11 decision by Armenia’s Constitutional Court to uphold the legality of the government’s controversial normalization agreements with Turkey. We present the translated text of the statement.
Fellow compatriots
On January 12, 2010 the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Armenia examined the constitutionality of the responsibilities undertaken by the Armenian side according to the signed Armenian-Turkish protocols.
Thus began the process of ratifying the Protocols that endanger out national interests and contradict the founding principles of our state, as stipulated in the Constitution.
The ARF had, from the start, rejected the three main points in the protocols which it considered to be preconditions aiming at: undermining the international recognition of the Armenian Genocide; legitimizing the current border between Armenia and Turkey; and linking the normalization of the relations between Armenia and Turkey with the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in Azerbaijan’s favor.
We were, and still are, convinced that the signed protocols contradict with Armenia’s constitution to a degree sufficient to provide the Constitutional Court with valid legal basis to consider the protocols unconstitutional.
While, unfortunately that didn’t occur, we are convinced that the mounting resentments expressed in Armenia and the Diaspora against the protocols is yielding results. First, as the decision reached by the Constitutional Court also indicates, the signing of the protocols is the result of the poor performance of Armenia’s Foreign Minister. Second, the Constitutional Court has indicated that the establishment of relations with Turkey should be strictly diplomatic in nature, and has accepted the opening of the border between Armenia and Turkey. Moreover the Constitutional Court did refer to the expressed concerns regarding the protocols and has provided enough legal basis for Armenia to express reservations regarding some of the points in the protocols.
The Constitutional Court specifically passed a decision that the protocols are considered to be a bilateral agreement between Armenia and Turkey and that the Republic of Armenia could not speak on behalf of a third party, in this case Nagorno-Karabakh.
On the issue of the Genocide, any responsibilities that Armenia should undertake based on the provisions of the protocols can not contradict the preamble of Armenia’s constitution and the 11th point of Armenia’s declaration of independence which explicitly mentions that the Republic of Armenia will support the international recognition of the Genocide of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire and in Western Armenia.
As far as defining the border between Armenia and Turkey is concerned, the protocols do not have any legal premise to delineate those boundaries. Hence this is still an open issue, and one that could be resolved solely based on a future inter-state agreement.
Having the Constitutional Court’s decision, the ARF is convinced that the decision could diffuse the dangers expressed in the protocols if at the time of the ratification, the reservations expressed by the Constitutional Court become an integral part of the ratified protocols.
Fellow compatriots,
We consider that the decision reached by the Constitutional Court is the successful end product of a struggle that has brought together the efforts of the ARF, other political and social groups as well as the whole nation. However the challenge still, lies ahead. We have to increase our efforts exponentially and force the authorities of Armenia to bring this process to a conclusion
Our final goal is to normalize Armenian –Turkish relations without undermining the interests of the nation and the state and specifically without giving any concessions from the rightful demands of generations of our people.
Armenian Revolutionary Federation
January 12, 2010
Does anyone know whether there was/is an Armenian community in Somalia, next to Ethiopia? The reason I am asking is because I noticed, in a recent article in a U.S. magazine about Somalia, an urban panorama with our distinctive church kmpet in the skyline.
An Eastern saying says, 'To attain something you must throw away the previous prejudice.'
In the contemporary American language it goes this way 'If You want to overcome global terrorism and have something, throw away Turkey and go to Russia."
Thank You, Mr. Dikran Abrahamian, to make us learn about Avedis Kalayjian, the True Christian, the liberal-democratic politician, the great patriot, and the freedom fighter. With my prayers, I join Avedis Kalayjian to fight the Turks including the illegal presidents of Armenia.
When I was a young student studying in Geneva Switzerland in early 1960s, I met a young man of my age with whom I practiced judo. Unfortunately, I forgot his name. He was from Ethiopia and he claimed that his father was Haile Selassie's personal watchmaker. He was also working in one of the Swiss watch factories to further his knowledge in watchmaking.
The question is not if Mandela really sent that letter. The question is its contents. I think Zionists should answer if those comments are true or not. Well..we all know where truth lies..
Kudos to Mrs. Cetin for her courage and integrity. Her touching story could be that of hundreds of thousands or even millions of present day Turkish citizens, but that not everyone would dare, or even like, to make it public. Let us hope that the Turkish poeple at large too could one day "see the world through different eyes", just as Mrs. Cetin did at the revelation of the truth. Then the real reconciliation would be at hand.
For many years I have been following debates about the Armenian Genocide. I have come to the conclusion that NO Turkish scholar, in the Western world, will see what we see. They are using eloquent words, i.e. we should look forward (read as forget) not backward (read as forget what Turks did to you) Yes, there were massacres!!!!! but.......they finish their sentences with a CAVEAT...Let's be friends, we are humanists etc.etc. Consider the circumstances of WWI etc. etc. Have we not heard the same explanations, embellished with philosophical views?
The best I like is when they say that Armenians killed Turks...Yes, indeed. That happened. Did we burn villages? Yes. But they forget to put it in chronological order. These atrocities perpetrated by Armenians were after 1915....I wonder why? Does any of these so called scholars know the meaning of "revenge", a natural human feeling?
Mr. Baskoy says "We should take concrete initiatives to build peace and prosperity instead of deepening divisions with empty rhetoric"..EXCUSE ME???? Empty rhetoric???? He should tell them to those Anatolian Armenians that vanished in thin air!!!! There are no more divisions left to deepen. We are at the bottom.Yes to Peace and Prosperity, but not on Turkish terms but on the basis of historical truth.
The only, but the only Turkish scholar that accepts the Armenian Genocide is TANER AKCAM...There might be more in Turkey but they are muzzled by article 301.
When will the "authourities" accept DEMOCRACY and give equality to it's people? Freedom to "think" and freedom to "speak" one's views should be seen as a good thing, not something for which one should be jailed. Western democratic ideas are not perfect, but one's views are allowed to be expressed.
Avedis, it seems that you have a hard time understanding what WAN is all about.
They are not trying to kill any Hye group.
They will not speak for or represent other Hye groups.
WAN does not think that all the Hye groups will join it, and they don't even have to. This is a completely different concept or entity that will work independently and with different goals than other Hye groups.
And, someone has to be sick in the head and in need of close care if he or she thinks that WAN will tell the Hyes in their own land what they are to do and what they are not to do...
"The group who runs the land of the Hyes is the sole group to speak for the land of the Hyes" YES, they can speak of the current land of the Hyes, but they definitely are not speaking for the Western Armenian lands, where we, as individuals and inheritors of those lands, have full right to defend our rights since they are not defending us and selling our lands and cause!!
It's a nice thing to have a dream and make it come true! but being hopeless like you is surely not a good thing to be!
It's better to try and fail, than to stay idle and be a pessimist. Just give them a chance and wish they will succeed.
Avedis, in your 1st paragraph you seem to be giving-up on us as well by saying "this will be my last word on this theme", why would a smart person like you assume that everyone else must agree with your thoughts? You are not doing the same to them, are you?
Why would Armenians agree to a historical commission to study Genocide perpetrated by Ottoman Turks against Armenians, my ancestors included, when modern Turkish government openly states that they, as a nation, will not accept any outcome from commissions that will confirm there was a Genocide.
These commissions are nothing, but a tactic to further deny and trivialise history.
In addition to the said positive goals of the Western Armenian National Congress, I see other potential benefits in the establishement of the group.
1. Since several nascent Western Armenian groups seem to have similar goals, their leadership and that of the National Congress might see the wisdom of joining forces.
2. The mushrooming of these new organizations might awaken the traditional political parties to the realization that Armenians in Diaspora have had enough of the time-wasting, mercenary, divisive, unintentionally subversive activities of our leading political parties.
3. The Congress, et al signal that the Diaspora is alive and kicking, with new blood, new vigour, new vision... that we will not settle for the business as usual mode of the traditional political parties.
4. The "threat" from the Congress and similar groups might force our Diaspora political parties to join them, borrow from their policy book, adopt the right-thinking strategy of the new groups. This would create the mass that any group needs to go forward.
5. A united Diaspora, with a clear agenda, would force the leaders of Armenia--present and future--to pay heed to the Diaspora and not to call us "orange-eaters". This also applies to the recognition by the U.S., Russia, Turkey, etc. that the Armenian Diaspora is not a fragmented entity but a relevant voice with widespread following.
You are absolutely correct when you state our enemies, primarily Turkey, want us to be divided.
Here is my question: Aren't already we divided almost beyond repair? Why for the past many decades our organizations, principally our parties have not come together and proposed a long term plan of action with respect to bringing our issues to international organizations and courts?
It's only at times of imminent crises that at the 11th hour they get together. It happened in Lebanon during the civil war when the extreme right Christian phalngist party and its allies harassed the Armenians to the point of bombarding the Armenian quarters. Why following that solidarity among the parties, that same spirit did not continue with regards to our most essential issues?
Give me a break. You are talking about individual ambitions. Again you are correct. What about the individual ambitions of the leaders of the parties that all along kept us apart. What about the ambitions of each individual party and above all ARF.
I single out ARF, because it's the most influential. If ARF really wanted solidarity it could have been achieved long time ago. The recent so called cooperation took place simply because ARF was turfed out of the ruling elite in Armenia and now it is flexing its muscles in the Diaspora. For a whole decade ARF was part of the government. Are you so naive to think that they did not know what was going on behind closed-doors? As soon as this crisis is over, you may say goodbye to cooperation.
Why in the name of the almighty they did not, for example, in cooperation with the other parties pursue matters through legal means? Give me just one example. There is none! All sorts of arguments have been put forward to cover their inaction in this area. Recognition of the Genocide alone is not going to solve our problems. It's just a smoke-screen delaying our claims until we fade away.
Now a new organization is planning primarily to bring our claims into the arena of the legal battle. Tell me what is wrong with that? Why instead of looking at the merits of the proposal suddenly all hell as if has broken loose and it is looked at as another element of dividing us?
Անշուշտ փափաքելի պիտի ըլլար որ նմանապէս արեւմտահայերէնով ըլլային զանազան յայտարարութիւնները: Չմոռնանք սակայն որ Հայաստանի բնակչութեան կարեւոր զանգուած մը սերած է արեւմտահայ գաղթականներէն որոնք հաստատուեցան Հայաստանի Հանրապետութեան մէջ ցեղասպանութեան պատճառով - շուրջ ութը հարիւր հազար: Նաեւ ներգաղթի շնորհիւ աւելի քան հարիւր հազար սփիւռքահայեր հաստատուեցան Սովետական Հայաստանի մէջ: Վերոյիշեալներու զաւակներն ու թոռները արեւելահայերէն կը գրեն ու կը խօսին նոյնիսկ սփիւռք փոխադրուելէ ետք: Արդեօք իրենք անտեսուած պիտի չզգա՞ն եթէ արեւմտահայերէն օգտագործուի: Հապա պարսկահայե՞րը (կամ իրանահայերը):
Բացի այդ, արեւմտահայ ծագում ունեցող սփիւռքահայերու քանի՞ տոկոսը միթէ հայերէն կը գործածէ իր ամէնօրեայ կեանքին մէջ: Ի՞նչպէս օրինակ բացատրել շարք մը հայկական հրատարակութիւններու անգլերէն եւ կամ այլ լեզուներով գոյութիւնը: Օրինակները բազմաթիւ են - The Armenian Reporter, Asbarez, The Armenian Mirror Spectaor, The Armenian Weekly, և այլն: Ամենաշատ կարդացուող հրապարակագիրներէն է օրինակ Յարութ Սասունեանը: Պիտի չուզէի՞ք հարց տալ ինչու հայերէնով չի գրէր:
Ձեր կատարածը պարզապէս մատի փաթթոց է:
Գալով գրասենեակի հարցին այնպէս կը թուի թէ դուք նոյնիսկ չէք կարդացած այս տողերը - "Միջազգային կազմակերպչական կոմիտեն մասնաճյուղեր ունի Փարիզում, Ժնևում, Երևանում, Մոսկվայում, Լոս Անջելեսում: Հիմնադիր անդամների կազմում են Եվրոպայի, Հյուսիսային Ամերիկայի, ՀՀ-ի, Ռուսաստանի, Միջին Արևելքի հայ համայնքների ներկայացուցիչները: Այն համալրվում է նոր անդամներով Լատինական Ամերիկայից, Ավստրալիայից և այլն: Նոր անդամներ կարող են լինել նրանք, ովքեր կցանկանան մասնակցել Կազմակերպչական կոմիտեի աշխատանքներին:" http://www.wancongress.org/am/
Լրջամտութիւնը կը պահանջէ որ նմանօրինակ յոյժ կարեւոր հարցերու քննարկման ժամանակ մեծխօսիկ եւ աժան զրպարտութիւններով ժամավաճառ չըլլալ:
The above quotes are being disputed in some quarters as not having originated from Mandela, but Arjan El Fassed, a Dutch-Palestinian political scientist, human rights activist and affiliated with the the Palestine Right to Return Coalition (Al-Awda) maintains otherwise.
Տարօրինակ է, որ Արեւմտահայոց կոչուած խորհուրդը չի գործածեր արեւմտահայերէնը: Աւելին. Խորհուրդին գրասենեակը Մոսկուա կը գտնուի: Երբուընէ՞ արեւմտահայոց ճակատագիրը Մոսկուայէն կը տնօրինուի:
Մենք գնչու չենք, որ ցեղապետներ ունենանք: Սփիւռքին վերջը հասած է, մինչ հոս ու հոն դիւանակալ կառոյցներ կը բուսնին սունկերու պէս:
Nor Or is published in the USA. It was Pro- Soviet Armenia. Thus, its former editor, the late Antranig Antreassian came to the attention of FBI during the height of the Cold War. He was under surveillance by the Federal agents day and night. Finally, they pulled him in for an interview and asked about his connections with Soviet Armenia. His answer was, " Gentelmen, imagine you have a child who on death bed and will die very soon. One day a doctor shows up and saves the child. Do you worry what color is the doctor's suite , do you care if he is wearing red apron or white?"
Greetings to all, especially to the Armenians of Ethiopia. A very happy New Year. Hope to hear from some of you from Ethiopia. I had a brief contact from one such person from Addis, but unfortunately it was short lived. Please email me and perhaps one day we will meet in Ethiopia.
I presently reside with my wife in Oregon, USA. Came here from Baghdad, in 1956.
My best wishes to all,
Varoujan
It seems that there are some who have a hard time with what I write, so this will be my last word on this theme, and I will use short words and those with one sound.
No Hye group will die of its own free will.
No Hye group will say to a Hye group--old or new--”We will let you speak for us.”
No Hye group will say to a Hye group--old or new--”We will let you speak for the Hyes, and we will not claim that right for us, any more.”
In short, if WAN thinks that all the Hye groups will join it and not say a word and, thus, let WAN be the one, sole, voice for the Hyes who do not live in the home of the Hyes, it is not in this world.
And, if WAN thinks that it has the right to tell the Hyes in their own land what they are to do and what they are not to do, they could be thought sick in the head and in need of close care.
And, if WAN thinks that those who head the groups who run the world will pay heed to what WAN says--when WAN can not speak for the land of the Hyes since it is not part of that land of the Hyes--then it could be said that those who run WAN are to be feared for they may not be in their right mind. The group who runs the land of the Hyes is the sole group to speak for the land of the Hyes and to those who run the world. It is a clear fact that the state--a state--is the sole group that can send pleas to world groups, not self-formed groups who think and say they have the right. States speak to states on things that bear on the rights of states.
If WAN wants to think it can be the one, sole, voice for the Hyes, and that it will then speak for the Hye cause (what that may be), it will find that it, like all the Hye groups, is just one more such group with big--and false--views of its role.
But, let them dream, for a dream it be. Is it not called a dream when it makes seem real what is not real? But, when a group thinks the dream is real and tries to act on it, the time has come to say, “Face up to the truth; and the truth is the world out there does not give a damn about the Hyes.”
Join the queue of those who have been lied to, but know that you, too, will be lied to. Thus it has been, and thus it will be as long as the Hyes think as they do--that “our cause is just and if my group tells the world, the world will see it our way.”
Your assertion that " it is now widely believed that the leadership in Armenia has abandoned Hay Tad" is actually the viewpoint of the three traditional political parties, each separately claiming to be the pursuer of Hay Tad. You may not be naive to think that the traditional organizations will welcome the proposals of the Western Armenian national Congress, but who says that such an assembly will be different from the long list of organizations each claiming to be the real patriotic one, only exchanging accusations.
For once, let us give the leaders of Armenia, government and opposition, the chance to work according to their evaluation of all the facts and data; internal social and political difficulties, geopolitical and military considerations, all kinds of pressures, etc, etc.
Historically, representatives of western armenians met in February 1919 in Yerevan and proclaimed the union of the two Armenias, eastern (Caucasian) and western (Turkish). The declaration was officially announced on May 28, 1919 by PM A. Khadissian in the parliamentary session.
" ... equivalent to social diabetes in Armenian reality". What a funny and queer expression !!
I quite agree with the writer's position and the need to leave the door open for any possible reconnection with these groups of forcibly alienated 'Armenians'. And, indeed, this can be best acheived by working on commonalities, rather than emphasizing on the defferences which separate us. What concerns the writer's hope for "... Turkey’s evolution into a truly modern, democratic, non-hate-based state", however, I have serious doubts that it will ever materialize - in any case, not in the foreseeable future. Still, whatever can be rehabilitated from the lost chunks of our people, could be deemed as a win and as righted injustice.
Confessing ignorance, I am not familiar with the machinations of current Armenian organizations, or what the Armenian Church is doing. Being a strong advocate of separation of Church and State, I am suspicious whenever the two engage in "unholy" alliances ... whenever the Church craves inappropriate power ... whenever the State or political organizations seek to manipulate the Church ... or whenever the Church becomes unduly submissive/subservient to the State.
Having said that, I believe the Church must be obedient to the teachings of Jesus Christ and to maintain a faithful prophetic Christian ministry, irrespective of the cost.
Ao participar de um "Fórum de Debates sobre os Protocolos ", realizado em São Paulo - Oportunidade, Brasil tive de expor meu pensamento a respeito do tema em foco. Vejo, agora,Graças ao seu excelente editorial, tese minha que coincidem precisamente com um ex neleposta! Empolgado, sem entusiasmo meu Conter, peço licenca para Reproduzir o texto então que elaborei:
"CONSULTA PELA POLÍTICA diáspora
Por ELIAS Katudjian - Advogado em São Paulo
No preâmbulo dos Protocolos, lemos que "consultas políticas internas dos dois Países Deverão ser concluídas dentro de seis semanas, após o que os dois Protocolos Deverão ser ASSINADOS e Submetidos aos respectivos Parlamentos um Fim de Serem ratificados pelas duas partes. "Tudo bem, essa é uma via regular do processo.
No entanto, ocorre neste caso uma circunstância extraordinária, que não pode ser ignorada pelo Governo e pelo Parlamento da Arménia. Consiste na alta relevância da POSIÇÃO Que venha a assumir uma Diáspora Armênia em face dos protocoloOOL. Como parte integrante da Nação Arménia, ela também DEVE ser consultada para a aprovação, ou não, dos Protocolos, cujos objetivos dizem respeito a toda nacionalidade armênia. Impõe-se uma consulta à Diáspora, para declarar sua posição, em caráter político, de modo a produzir efeitos na decisão final que Irá ratificar, ou não, os Protocolos. Sob pena de carecer de legitimidade de fato uma decisão que venha a ser tomada pelo Parlamento Armênio que, indiscutivelmente, representa apenas parte de nossa Nação. No caso específico da Nação Armênia, uma representação de seus direitos e Interesses não pode se Restringir ao Parlamento e ao Estado Armênio, numa perspectiva estrita do conceito de Nação, compreensiva, apenas, de Territ E POVOOrio. A Nação Armênia não é só isso: é isso e mais um Diáspora.
As políticas decisões, enquanto um Reduzidas consultas internas - deixando de atentar para uma Suma Importância da POSIÇÃO QUE A Diáspora venha a assumir, face aos termos dos Protocolos, que concernem à Nação Armênia, enTendida como uTodo m - Irão fulminar de nulidade insanável, se não de Direito, certamento No plano da Ética, sua pretendida e evntual Aprovação pelo Parlamento Armênio, seguida de Ratificação.
Resta saber como proceder Para alcançar esse desiderato, a quem o Governo da Armênia Deverià endereçaruma consulta Política Externa, dezdo em vista que um Diáspora é uma Entidade abstrata. Para tal, defendemos a ideia de ser formado um Parlamento da Diáspora, algo como um "Congresso Armênio da Diáspora", integrado por membros das entidades importantes e partidos políticos existentes em vários Países, realmente representativos das Comunidades Armenias, para o fim exclusivo de apreciar Decidir e uma questão dos Procolos. E que seja dotado do Poder de vale para Emitir uma delaração,R Oficialmente, caracterizando resposta A UMA inescusável "consulta Política Externa", e não só interna, como previsto em seu preâmbulo.
Reconhecemos uma ousadia de nossa tese, como uma miniatura ea grandes dificuldadeslexidade para sua implementação. Cremos, porém, que Valerá a pena Desenvolver incomum Esforço um, buscando apoio junto a todas entidades Armenias pelo mundo para, SE ACeita um ideia, passarImediatamente-se à formação e organização do "Congresso Armênio da Diáspora "e sua convovação para deliberar sobre os Protocolos, disto dando-se ciência ao Poder Executivo e ao Parlamento da Armenia, visando à Obtenção de Reconhecimento e Ratificação dos poderes outorgados aos representantres da Diáspora.
É preciso considerar que estamos diante de uma situaçãoção crucial - que em como jamais ocorreu - correm perigo grave os Supremos, valores principalmente EspiriUAIS, da Causa Armênia. O momnto é de decisão, um to claim de todos nós não participação efetiva dos Protocolos processamento. "
Desculpando-me por abusar de sua pela atenção, agradeço Oportunidade de congratular-me com os Irmãos Armenios que compartilham da mesma ideia.
Avedis, the Armenian organizations will try to penetrate and destroy this initiative. That's what they do to keep their power and control over Armenians. But we have to wait and see what will be the result and who will 'win', in the meantime we have to do our best to make a change for our cause and future by helping this initiative. You are either in or out.
I never said that the WAN will unify all Armenian organizations! that is impossible and will never happen!! but hopefully they will end-up representing all Armenians, at least in the diaspora.
I have to agree with you that we give too much importance to the church, that has to go!! the church should stay out of politics, we have had too much divisions because of the church, they are not as innocent in their actions either...
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Exactly to the point! Bravo Norair. It's so sad to see some Armenians have given-up already, they look back to history and think that we can never change.
If we don't change starting NOW, then we will be only in history books in 50 to 100 years max!
The Armenian political parties are obsolete. We need to find better and practical means, like recruiting high-class lawyers, politicians, military people, intellectuals, etc. and not as volunteers (as most other Armenian organizations do) but on payroll. WAN-C is doing that and more. Shame on those Armenians who can't grasp the importance of this initiative and don't support it wholeheartedly, it's our only hope! if not, then tell me what other steps have been planned for us? don't even mention the lobbying crap!
We can change, we can do it, start now and don't listen to people who have given up and aren't ready to help Armenia and Armenians in any way. As Norair said: "I would prefer to try my best and if it fails let my conscious be at rest that I did not stay on the sidelines watching our rights thrown in the dustbin of history."
What most people aren't aware of is some of the levers the superpowers used. For example, Armenia had many very damaging cases before the European Court of Human rights that were thrown out in October 2009, in exchange for Armenia's subservience.
Also, everyone in the West knew that Serge was not a democratically elected president. They are more willing to treat him as such now that he went along with the superpowers and betrayed his people (who hadn't elected him in the first place).
Kevorkian is not ready to argue any point. That's absurd. He cannot. He's a leftist. "Sovietization was the best thing." What utter trash.
But the "western armenian" rubric is a CIA/Homeland Security concoction, just as the "Hay Heghapokhakanneri Dashnaktsutyune" which then morphed into yet another splinter group.
May there be light, but this will not happen here. Here we have leftists pretending to be balanced and yet other leftists pretending to be on the right, and so on.
I agree with your last comment along with the unwillingness of our traditional parties to give up their perceived "sovereignity".
That's the status quo which surprisingly almost everybody agrees on. I know of Tashnags who individually will admit that's the case. I am highlighting them as they are the most organized and voiceful in the Diaspora compared to the others.
Here is my question: Do we resign to the status quo and let nature take its course, which eventually will lead us to getting nowehere?
Or, do we come to our senses and do something about it? Do we still want to remain in our "otomanized" tribal mentality as Ara Baliozian would have said?
Aren't there enough people with a liberated mentality to leave the past behind and think of constructive ways to shape our future? Will we languish in the wilderness and tear ourselves apart by letting things continue the way they are?
I, as an individual, would prefer to do something about it, try my best and if it fails let my conscious be at rest that I did not stay on the sidelines watching our rights thrown in the dustbin of history.
Recognition of Genocide is not enough. May be return of lands is wishful thinking; but there are a host of other matters, such as our cultural monuments, churches and personal properties, the right to return. These are all matters that are too important to neglect. WAN-C is willing to undertake the pursuit of those issues through legal means in international courts. Why don't we give it a chance?
It seems that we do not learn from our mistakes . I think Mr. Avedis Kevorkian has put his finger on all shortcomings of this new organization. Vartkes' criticism falls short on many issues:
Is it not true that this is another organization among many? What makes him think that this WAN-C will be able to do what the others could not accoplish? Wishfull thinking maybe!
OK..OK we have a mafioso government but does Vartkes think that any Diaspora organization can change that? Logic dictates the contrary . The change has to come within.
An historical observation: Never..never..never in our history Armenians have ever showed a unified front . All one has to do is study history starting with the actions of many Nakharars to modern (!!!!) political parties.
These individuals of good will who are trying to establish this new organization , honestly do they think that Ramgavars, Hunchaks or Tasnags will join forces. ? It is an emphetic NO...They will try to "run" WAN-C according to their agendas, thus, a non effectual organization.
One wishes that WAN-C would be all that it promises to be, BUT, historical experience , our ingrained political agendas which are "Hodatz" will prevent that.
If Russian "Sovietization" was, as this author claims, the "best" thing to have happened to Armenia in 1920, then the author must also be against present-day Armenian independence as declared in 1991. After all, the threat of a Turkish invasion still exists so why did not Armenia stay under Russian protection in 1991 instead of going it alone? And don't tell me that Russian troops are still in Armenia. They could leave at any time and thus do not offer permanent protection.
This author has a very unfortunate tendency to exaggerate and be sarcastic. The fact that the Russian Soviets took over Armenia in 1920 was not a "good" thing per se. The protection that it offered was simply a by productof Russian/Soviet imperialism. Russia did not mean to "protect" Armenia. Indeed, the Soviets aided Kemalist Turkey at the same time it "protected" Armenia. Soviet Russia arrested and tortured and murdered many good Armenians in the ensuing decades. Does the author consider that to be a "good" thing?
The author knows all this but likes to stick his finger in peoples' eye to make a point. That is not right, and he loses credibility by doing so, making him look like a know-it-all.
If a woman is about to be murdered and a rapist comes along and snatches her away and saves her from being murdered, we don't say that it is the "best" thing that could have happened to her. To say so is utter stupidity.
As for a Diasporan Congress, there is much validity to this. Western Armenians have rights that the present Arnenian government could not care less about. Indeed, the present corrupt and unfairly "elected" government of Armenia does not even protect the interests of its own citizens. It would be nice to see the author suggest positive steps that we all could take instead of writing snarling sarcasm.
Dear Avedis, You are right in almost all your points. This new Armenian "organization" is going to bring new divisions and additional hostility among the Diaspora Armenians as well as between the Armenians of Diaspora and the homeland. Another sound analysis of this ill-conceived "Western Armenian" was provided by Dr. Armen Ayvazyan in his PROBLEMS OF SELF-ORGANISATION OF ARMENIANS IN THE MODERN PHASE OF THE ARMENIAN QUESTION -
Thank out for your concern about me. I will add you to the list of those who worry about me, thus freeing me from worrying about myself and getting on with other things. But to important matters.
I am pleased to learn that the Western Armenian National Congress is to unify all Armenian organizations and become its spokesman, thus representing to the world one, unified voice. The day that happens will mean that you and I are the two oldest people in the world.
If you think for one minute that an Armenian organization--ANY Armenian organization--is going to defer to another super/supra organization, in effect giving up its independence, then permit me to suggest politely that you, too, stop smoking whatever it is you are smoking.
Does WAN-C actually expect the so-called "political" parties--and their satellite groups--to stand down and no longer proclaim "WE represent the Armenians; WE speak for the Armenians"?
Do you?
Recently, I became involved with our local Veterans organization which, uniquely in America enjoys the support of all the Churches in the area, and we have set ourselves the task of erecting a khatchkar on the now-unmarked grave of the only (to our knowledge) Armenian to have served in the Union Navy during America's Civil War (and later settled in Philadlehia as its first Armenian). In our effort to enlist the support of other veterans groups, I wrote to one for support. The first question I was asked was "To which Church do you belong?"
I hope the good doctor who administers to the health of this web-site will forgive me, "But, what in Hell's name does our Church affiliation have to do with erecting a khatchkar on the grave of a Civil War Naval Officer?" It is obvious that his Veterans group belongs to one or the other church and that affiliation is more important than honoring an Armenian. When Uncle Sam was seeking his servicemen and women to fight in the country's wars, he didn't give one little old Yankee Doodle damn about which church Armenians belonged to. But, I digress.
Every Armenian organization invited to Paris--you can be sure that no chezoks will be invited--will want to control the "one" voice or it will not join.
It was ever thus and thus it will ever be.
And the idea that the Diaspora has the right to dictate to Yerevan and Yerevan will allow itself to be dictated to is so preposterous that it defies belief.
It seems that a lot of groundwork has already been laid by the IOC of the WAN Congress.
Is what is being presented the ideal? Of course not.
But any naysayers should have valid alternatives to propose. Knowing the people invloved in this initiative, one cannot see but a sincere effort to do the right things, with a lot of room for improvement.
The ball is in the court of the traditional organizations. They have been kept abreast of what was going on. They need to select among their own ranks those forward thinkers who are change agents.
They would be doing themselves a service by doing so. After all, they need those change agents to give themselves a new and a real raison d'etre, which is nothing short of relevance in the every day lives of Armenians in the Diaspora.
The future has never been more pregnant with so many opportunities.
Now that we are on the right track, we have to have a membership drive. All Armenians will become part of this. I am sure we will be able to register many from all around the world.
As long as there are no political and relegious divisive agendas many will sign up, I for one will join.
Baron Avedis, you should look into the mirror and see the arrogance in your writing my friend.
Here are my views of the WAN-C and I hope I am right in my assumptions:
- This is not an additional organization to the ones exisiting; it's an entity that will eventually represent all of them legally to other governments.
- They will not 'dictate' what the homeland government will do, but they will have a say in their decisions
- Does the word 'arrogance' come to mind when you remember what the 'homeland' government did with the protocols without even considering the 7million+ diaspora Armenians?? We don't want that to be repeated anymore and we don't want our homeland to be sold by corrupt mafioso governments.
- If the homeland government is not recognizing the diaspora Armenians, then who will represent us? Nalbandian said in Paris; "We don't need the opinions of the diaspora Armenians"...if the word "arrogance" didn't come to mind above, does it come to mind, now? - Finally, we should never give-up, we have to fight for our rights and the blood of the innocent victims of the Genocide. History doesn't change, but politics can change...
I hope you will never get an invitation to Paris, since with your pessimism you might hinder what might be the best solution for our homeland. On second thought may be your presence might change your views and you might become a supporter.
I agree with the wisdom of the quotations. However I find them misplaced. It's only after the Protocols were announced that the Armenian parties got together. It was almost like knee-jerk reaction more than anything else. It was not the result of a well thought-out far-reaching plan. Mostly it was due to the frustration and embarrassment of ARF in Armenia that led it to flex its muscles in the Diaspora.
Where were these three parties all along for year after year, better still decade after decade? Why did they not unify under one roof for at least to serve the main goals that all parties share? Why each one of them has an advocacy group of its own? Have you thought of these matters?
What you are suggesting is to wait for a few more decades so that they come to their senses. By then there won't be left any motivated Armenian to look after Armenian affairs. So what's wrong if some new energetic people propose to get together and form a unified front? They are not against the parties; in fact they are against nobody and it seems they want to be all-inclusive. I don't think it's accidental that they have the famous words of Charentz on their banner.
Mack, what are you talking about? So far we have not been united, I think this is the only way to unite all Armenians, including the political parties. With this concept, Armenians have the option to have one central representation in the Diaspora, as a legitimate 'government' recognized by all nations, hopefully.
Remember what Arafat did? He had a government 'in-exile'. I think this will do something similar. The 7Million+ Armenians in the diaspora will have a say in their rights and will have real power to make governments listen to our concerns and cause.
Hope I'm not wrong in my assumptions about this Congress.
Also Mr. president, what about the inocent people who are in prison for almost two years without a trial. Thier only crime was that they oppose you and your policies.
This is the most comprehensive and professional production I've ever seen, prepared with special co-operation of Ani Tour in Yerevan .www.anitour.org
Don't visit Western Armenia without watching this valuable documentary first. You would then fully realize and comprehend what we are giving away through thes infamous "Protocols".
As far as I can comprehend, I am afraid your wishful thinking and patriotic words are nothing but a bunch of hot air. It does not match or correspond to your un-Armenianness, as far as your "Protocols" are concerned.
Giving away Kars, Ardahan, Ararat region and the Arax river, under any pressure, in my view, is nothing but stupidity and an act of treason!
This is exactly what our enemies and foreign powers want us to do. “Divide and Rule”
Haven’t we been taught by our forefathers that “Single thread strings break so easily, but if you plait them together, then it would be a different story” !!!
Let’s put our individual ambitions aside and stick to the most valuable motto, “UNITED WE STAND” !!!
It is in English and Eastern Armenian. Excellent narrative and exceptional visual presentation. I believe there is a version in Russian too but does not appear on the copy that I have.
I would not hesitate to recommend people to have a copy in their personal collection and present another one as a gift to their non-Armenian friend.
I also went to Turkey and the Baderiarkaran to find my mother's sister. They were both orphaned during the Genocide and then separated by the missionaries . By the time I found my mom's relatives, her sister had passed away. My cousins snubbed me and did not want to start a relashinship, accusing my mom for leaving her sister behind. My mom was the younger of the two.
I must add that the people in the Baderiarkarn in Istanbul did not offer me any leads to find my mother's sister after waiting around for a month. At the end, a Turkish clerck at the hotel where I was staying was the one who helpmed me find them.
Known California painter, a close friend of Wm. Saroyan, Kero Antoyan, was from Malatya. He was a staunch supporter of anything Armenian. Unfortunately his brother was Turkified.
They were separated in 1915, Kero came to the USA. He found that his brother was alive in 1960s.
By the time he went to Turkey to see his long lost brother he had passed away. However, he found his nephew.
After cajoling him to take a trip to Istanbul and go to the "Badriarkaran", the nephew seeing the cross on the building said "I am not going to become a GAVUR" and went back to Malatya...How heartbraking it was for Kero. He used to get letters from his nephew all thru 1970's asking for money for the barn, for the seeds to plant, etc., etc.
I know so because I used to translate Turkish letters for Kero when I was a young man. This is just a snippet from our history.
My feeling is that there still is a large amount of "polarization" among these sectors of Armenian society. I do not think we have really moved away from that era. It seems that old habits have not died with the event of the rebirth of the Republic of Armenia.
If I sound pessimist, well.....I am....When are we going to get our act together?
Այս շնորհաւորագիրէն կ՚ենթադրեմ թէ, բացայայտ կոչ մըն է պարզապէս Հայաստանի ներկայ իշխանութիւններու վարած ձախաւէր եւ հակա-արեւմտահայ քաղաքականութիւնը սատարելու, ինչ որ ինքնին խիստ վնասակար է եւ վարկաբեկիչ։
Առաջին անգամ ըլլալով, նման կազմակերպութիւն մը, յանուն Եւրոպահայերու հանդէս կու գայ «եւրոպայի Հայերի Համագումար» պիտակի տակ, անպաշտպանելին պաշտպանելու համար։
Գրութիւնը ոչինչ ունի գնահատելի, որպէս նոր տարուայ շնորհաւորագիր։ Ովքե՞ր են Եւրոպայի Հայութիւնը ներկայացնող անձնաւորութիւնները, որոնք՝ արեւմտահայերէն մեր չքնաղ լեզուն մէկդի շպրտելով, արաւելահայերէնով կը հաւակնին յանուն Եւրոպահայերու արտայայտուիլ։
Պայքար մը եւս, Արեւմտահայը անտեսող չարաշահ եւ դիտումնաւոր տրամադրութիւն մը։ Այնպէս չ՞է։ Քանի որ իշխանաւորները նկատի չեն առներ Արեւմտահայուն կարծիքը, պէտք է վերեւ յիշուած շնորհաւորագրին հեղինակները, հաւատարիմ մնան իրենց պաշտպանեալներու տեսակէտին եւ արտայայտուին պարզապէս յանուն արեւելահայերուն, որոնց գրութիւնը արդէն արեւելահայերէնով շարադրուած է եւ ոչ թէ Եւրոպահայերու լեզուով, այսինքն Արեւմտահայերէնով։
Հետաքրքրական պիտի ըլլար թմբկահարներու ինքնութիւններու հրապարակումը, ըստ այնմ գնահատելու իրենց «ազգօգուտ» խրատական արտայայտութիւնները եւ իրենց ներկայացուցած միութեան վարկը։
«Եւրոպահայ» կոչումը բացարձակ իրաւասութիւնն է Եղեռնի արհաւիրքէն մազապուրծ ազատուած հայերուն, թող որ հանգամանքները ճշդուին։
We live in the times of self appointed presidents and I don't only mean Serzh Sargsyan, but also all kind of individuals like the self appointed president of European Armenians or their congress, who signed under this New Year address above.
Not only the ARF honored the Tricolor, it also honored the Emblem of the First Republic of Armenia. When the Third and the present Republic accepted the Emblem as its own, the worldwide ARF central committee - Bureau- sent a circular requesting that the Emblem, having found its owner- be henceforth removed from the Party's letterhead.
I wish that circular was made public instead of being confined to the rank and file. I was moved when that circular was read to us. The Party's letterhead now displays only the symbolic hammer, shovel and rifle against a red flag held high.
I believe history will value more and more the boldness with which the ARF tenaciously held to symbols of our national endeavors.
Hamazasb, I agree with your concerns; I am also curious as who are behind this, who is financing them, will they finally succeed? are the Armenian political parties supporting them?
On the other hand, we are fed-up with divisions, parties and fighting. We need something like this to unite us and achieve justice and our rights. We need an organization like this to protect the Diaspora Armenians and represent them to other nations, cultures, etc.
I wish them luck and success. They have my full support.
Sorry folks, I am really confused. I admit. One talks about Armenian rights, like CCAF in Europe, another about Assembly of Armenians in Europe and now a Western Armenian National Congress. Isn't this too much to handle? Aren't they all striving for the same goals? What happened to the traditional parties?
It appears this Congress to be all inclusive. Can it?
There have been so many previous attempts to get all Armenians, or at least western Diaspora Armenians under the same roof. They have all failed. What are the chances of this initiative succeeding. I must confess, I have no answers.
In 2006 I made a journey to the Armenian occupied land, making an impressive documentary film, calling it Journey to the Home Land, thinking and not accepting the present situation that the land belongs to Turkey.
Giligia and all Western Armenia are always Armenian and belong to the Armenian people.
Some of my friends did not accept the name I called the film, thinking that I am calling Turkey as Homeland, forgetting their original roots.
A note about Ararad -- Ararad is the eternal symbol for our existence as people, but unfortunately it is like the beautiful Princess you are in love with, but you can't touch. I do belive that one day it will be for all Armenians.
Serj, do not be ashamed or intimidated to mentionn the Tashnag party for it always stood for independant and free Armenia, and the tri-color was always cherished and defended by this political party . There are many stories of ridicule and rejection of the tri-color by the other political parties that you mentioned , but let us move on and away from that era , the era of the Soviet and Communisim which divided the Armenians all over the world.
I have no party affiliations, but I ask you ladies and gentelmen, what organization stood behind the idea of free and independent Armenia and respect to Tri-Colors?
Since the inception of Soviet Armenia who proudly displayed our tri-colors? Was it Soviet Armenia, was it Ramgavars, was it Hunchags? No. The tri-color has been the representative of our Armenian soul and it was defended by the other party...well...you know the one that was ridiculed by Ramgavars and Hunchags. They even ridiculed the tri-color.
My son attended a well known Armenian High School in Los Angeles and graduated right before Armenia gained its independence. One day he brought a mini tri-color to school and all hell broke loose. Yes, because of the tri-color. The reason was that this famous high school, was affiliated with the sympatizers of Ramgavar conviction. There was no room for our tri-color on the campus because of political convictions. Come independence, suddenly our tri-color was all over the campus.
Sorry chums. I do not see eye to eye with these marginal parties; their time has come and gone.
Չնայած այն հանգամանքին, որ տարեվերջին կուսակցությունների տարեկան գործունեությունը ներկայացնելը մի տեսակ մոդայիկ է դարձել Հայաստանում, այնուամենայնիվ զերծ կմնամ նման գործելաոճից: Հետաքրքրվողները կարող են ծանոթանալ Հայաստանի Ռամկավար Ազատական կուսակցության գործունեությանը 2003 թվականից գործող եւ վերջերս թարմացված HRAK կայքէջից:
Խոսքս ուղղում եմ մեր ներկա իրավիճակին չհամակերպվողներին, բայց միաժամանակ' լուծումներ առաջարկողներին: Օգտագործելով Ամանորի հանգստյան օրերը, մտածենք, թե ի՞նչ հանգրվանի ենք հասել ազգովի,. եւ արդյոք ազգովի՞ ենք հասել... Ի՞նչ է մեզ սպասում, եւ տանք հավերժական հարցը' ո՞րն է ելքը այս իրավիճակից, կամ միգուցե այլեւս ելքեր չկա՞ն...
Հարցերին ճշգրիտ պատասխանելու համար հարկավոր է բաց աչքերով նայել իրականությանը, որն էլ հենց փորձում եմ անել ստորեւ...
Ապրեցինք 21-րդ դարի առաջին տասնամյակը եւ ի՞նչ...
Ու ստացվեց այնպես, որ ապրում ենք մի երկրում,
-որտեղ օրինական գործարարությամբ զբաղվելը դարձել է ոչ շահութաբեր,
- որտեղ պետական-անվճար կրթակարգը հնարավորություն չի տալիս դպրոցում ստացած գիտելիքներով բարձրագույն ուսումնական հաստատություն ընդունվել,
-որտեղ բարձրագույն կրթություն ստացածի ճակատագիրը որեւիցե պետական կառույցի չի հետաքրքրում, արդյունքում ունենում ենք աննպատակ գոյատեւող երիտասարդություն,
-որտեղ քրիստոնյա հասարակությունը ամեն օր ենթարկվում է աղանդների «գաղափարական» գրոհին,
-որտեղ հաշմանդամը, թոշակառուն ու նպաստառուն չեն կարողանում ֆիզիկապես գոյատեւել, առանց որեւէ մեկի օգնության,
-որտեղ կոռուպցիան ու կաշառակերությունը, հովանավորչությունն ու "ընտրյալների" անպատժելիությունը համատարած են եւ դրա արդյունքում, անթրաշ մի պաշտոնյա, առանց խղճի խայթ ունենալու կարող է վաճառել երկրի պահուստային ոսկիները ու դեռ դժգոհելով սովորեցնել, թե պահուստային ֆոնդերը հենց վաճառքի համար են,
-որտեղ 18 տարեկան երկրի պետական պարտքը քառապատկվել է վերջին մեկ տարվա ընթացքում' հասնելով 4 միլիարդ դոլարի, դրանով իսկ դատապարտելով գալիք սերունդներին ստրկության,
-որտեղ բացակայում են քաղաքական, հասարակական, լեզվի, գովազդի, ճգնաժամերի կառավարման եւ այլ մշակույթներ. եւ ոչ միայն բացակայում են, այլեւ ջանք էլ չենք գործադրում, որ դրանք ստեղծվեն ու պահաջարկ վայելեն....
Ստացվել է այնպես, որ ապրում ենք մի երկրում, որտեղ ծայրահեղ ընդդիմություն կոչվածը իշխանություններին հայհոյելու արանքում միշտ աչքով է անում վարչակազմին, ուղարկում օդային համբույրներ, բայց վարչակազմն էլ միշտ պատասխանում է' ես քո իմացածներից չեմ, ու շարունակում է կատարելագործել ցինիզմը:
Ստացվել է այնպես, որ ապրում ենք մի երկրում, որտեղ փոքր սրիկաները ցերեկը հայհոյում են մեծ սրիկաներին, իսկ գիշերը չեն կարողանում քնել, քանի որ մտածում են' ինչպես անեն, որպեսզի կարճ ժամանակահատվածում դառնան խոշոր սրիկա:
Ստացվել է այնպես, որ ապրում ենք մի երկրում, որտեղ ամենաթեժ ու ամենադաժան ելքով կռիվները տեղի են ունենում վարչակազմին հաճոյանալու հանրային հերթերում:
Ստացվել է այնպես, որ ապրում ենք մի երկրում, որտեղ մարմնավաճառները երբեմն տրվում են անվճար' «սիմպատիայից» ելնելով, իսկ ժողովրդի շահերը պաշտպանողների ճնշող մեծամասնությունը ոչ մի «անվճար» գործարք չի կատարում: Եվ ամենակարեւորն ու զավեշտալին այն է, որ «անվճար չտրվողներն» օրենք չեն խախտում, քանի որ ձեռքների տակ ունեն օրենքների մի քանի փաթեթ' նույն հարցի վերաբերյալ:
Ստացվել է այնպես, որ ապրում ենք մի երկրում, որտեղ բոլորը բարիք են ուզում, բայց չեն հասկանում, որ բարիք ունենալու համար հարկավոր է իջնել բարիք արարողի շալակից:
Ստացվել է այնպես, որ ապրում ենք մի երկրում, որտեղ բնական պաշարներն օգտագործում ենք այնպես, կարծես այլեւս գալիք սերունդներ չենք ունենալու. ոչնչացնում ենք անտառները, անապատացնում դաշտերը, ինչը չեն արել օտարազգի նվաճողները:
Ստացվել է այնպես, որ ապրում ենք ապսուրդի հասնող երեւույթների պայմաններում'
-որտեղ որքան շատ են հեռանում երկրից, այնքան բնակչության թիվն ավելի է մեծանում.
-որքան պակասում են մեքենաները, այնքան շատանում են բենզա ու գազալցակայանները.
-արժեւորված դրամի պատճառով որքան պակասում են գնորդներն, այնքան շատանում են խանութները.
-որքան շատանում են սովածներն, այնքան ավելանում են ռեստորանները.
-որքան պակասում են հանցագործներն, այնքան շատանում են ոստիկանները.
-որքան պակասում են հարկատուներն, այնքան շատանում են հարկահավաքները:
Ստացվել է այնպես, որ ապրում ենք մի երկրում, որտեղ թիմով չենք պայքարում չարի դեմ, այլ կողքից նայում ենք, թե երբ է մի տղա գնալու Հրեշի դեմ ու եթե հաղթեց' կհերոսացնենք (հետագայում ոչնչացնելու համար), եթե պարտվեց' կծիծաղենք ու կհայհոյենք, որովհետեւ ազգային ավանդույթ է դարձել հերոսներին հայհոյելը, հայհոյվածներին' հերոսացնելը:
Ստացվել է այնպես, որ ապրում ենք մի երկրում, որտեղ պարծենում են, թե թատրոն ենք ունեցել այն ժամանակ, երբ եվրոպացիները ծառերի վրա էին, բայց չեն ասում, որ ծառից հանգիստ իջնելու փոխարեն' հետույքի վրա վայր ենք ընկել ծառից, քանի որ ազգովի կտրել ենք այն ճյուղերը, որոնց վրա նստած ենք եղել...
Ինչ կասեք' շարունակե՞մ, թե նոր տարի եք անում... Ուրախանո՞ւմ եք...
Ինչների՞դ վրա...
Դե, որ սկսել եմ' պիտի շարունակեմ:
Ստացվել է այնպես, որ ապրում ենք մի երկրում, որտեղ հայրենասիրության ու բարոյականության մասին ազնվորեն արտահայտվողները խոշոր "հիմարներ" են համարվում, իսկ անբարոյականությունը պաշտպանված է օրենքով: Եվ դրա արդյունքում է, որ բամփում են զոհված ազատամարտիկի որդու գլխին ու ասում, թե' հերդ «ապուշ» էր, որ գնաց, մեռավ:
Ստացվել է այնպես, որ ապրում ենք մի երկրում, որտեղ «ազնիվ» եւ «հիմար» բառերը հոմանիշներ են, "ինտելիգենտ"-ը' հայհոյանք, իսկ մտածելու կարողություն ունեցողները' դժբախտ:
Ստացվել է այնպես, որ ապրում ենք մի երկրում, որտեղ նաեւ սեքսով են զբաղվում ու երեխաներ ունենում, իսկ վերջիններս էլ անիծում են իրենց ծնողներին' Երկիր մոլորակի այս կոորդինատների վրա լույս աշխարհ բերելու համար:
Ստացվել է այնպես, որ ապրում ենք մի երկրում, որտեղ նախկինները առավել հրճվում են ներկաների անհաջողությամբ, քան թշնամիների' մոռանալով, որ երբ նավը խորտակվում է, բոլորն են խորտակվում: Էլ չեմ ասում ոմանց մասին, որոնք «նավի» խորտակման պահին «նավասենյակներն» են թալանում:
Ստացվել է այնպես, որ ապրում ենք մի երկրում, որտեղ նեղ մտահորիզոնի տեր գեղցիները քաղաքավարություն, ինչպես նաեւ «ճշտին ծառայող քաղաքականություն» են սովորեցնում եւ դրա արդյունքում է, որ գավառամտությունը մեծ պահանջարկ է վայելում ու լավ վարձատրվում... Ցավոք, փաստ է, որ մեր երկրում տիրում է հռոմեական բարքերի հակառակ պատկերը. իշխում են պլեբեյները, իսկ պատրիկները վերածվել են մուրացկանների:
Ստացվել է այնպես, որ ապրում ենք մի երկրում, որտեղ առաջինն ենք դավաճանել Աստծուն եւ, ի ապացույց այդ դավաճանության ու քավության, տաճար ենք կառուցել «քրչի բազառում», իսկ հոգեւորականների վեղարների տակ շարունակում են թաքնված մնալ բազմաթիվ հաջողակ կոմերսանտներ:
Ստացվել է այնպես, որ ապրում ենք մի երկրում, որտեղ տղամարդկանց մի հոծ բազմություն ճշգրիտ ցույց է տալիս թշնամու կոորդինատները, իսկ մյուսների կանայք այդ նույն կոորդինատներում պոռնկություն են անում, որ պահեն իրենց տղամարդկանց ու նրանցից սեքսի արդյունքում ծնվածներին:
Ստացվել է այնպես, որ ապրում ենք մի երկրում, որտեղ տղամարդ կոչվածի մի մասն էլ թշնամու հետ մերձեցման, հաշտեցման, գրկախառնվելու համատեղ հանձնաժողովներ է ստեղծում ու ասում' բա ոնց, բա իմ «համարձակությունը...»: Բայց «համարձակությունը»չի բավարարում հանցագործին միջազգային դատարան տանելու համար, այլ ընկերավարի համոզում է. «Արի վիզ վեկալ' պրծնի գնա, որ հանգիստ անցնենք նյութապաշտությանն ուղղված մեր համատեղ բիզնես ծրագրերին»:
Էստեղ քաշում եմ «ստոպ» բռնակը...
Ստացվել է այնպես, որ ապրում ենք մի երկրում, որտեղ սա է իրականությունը, հետեւաբար այն շտկելու հետագա քայլերն ու դրանց առաջնահերթությունները պետք է գծագրվեն հենց իրականությունը ճշմարտացիորեն գնահատելով:
Գալով նախաբանում արտահայտված հարցադրումներին, միանգամից նշեմ, որ չհամակերպվելով ներկա իրավիճակին, ընկերներիս հետ մշակել ենք նախագծեր, կյանքում կիրառելի առաջարկություններ'
Հայաստանի Չորրորդ Հանրապետության ստեղծման համար' առանց հեղափոխության ու արյուն թափելու:
Փաստ է, որ Հայաստանի երեք հանրապետությունները ավարտել են իրենց առաքելությունը, հետեւաբար նոր, գաղափարական ու նպատակային երկիր կառուցելու մարտահրավերի առջեւ ենք կանգնած: Միաժամանակ համոզված ենք, որ այս նախագիծը լայն մասսաներին չի հետաքրքրի ու նրա լուծելիք խնդիրն էլ չէ, մանավանդ այսօրվա ժանտախտի ժամանակ կազմակերպվող քեֆերի ֆոնի վրա...
Իսկ եթե հետաքրքրեց՝ համեցե՛ք:
Գրեք այս հասցեով harakelyan[at]gmail.com կամ զանգահարեք +374 91429353
ՀՌԱԿ ատենապետ
Հարություն Առաքելյան
Հ. Գ. Քիչ էր մնացել մոռանայի... Շնորհավոր Ամանոր եւ Սուրբ Ծնունդ
RAG is an Armenian party, whether effective enough or not. Even though I am not a member of the party, I received numerous emails that were in question. The people mentioned, Kharabian and Azadian are elected public figures by party members. I do not subscribe to their ideas and opinions, but it is important to learn from these series of “disgusting” emails that the public will turn against them. Those who send anonymous email or post anonymous messages with vulgarity on forums, harm the values of that organization or forum.
I have seen similar anonymous personal attacks on a different forum. Sometimes moderators are intimidated by their business associates and bend the rules that they have put in the first place. Naturally, that fired back on the forum with decline in postings.
Armenian mentality is far different today than it was some fifty years ago. Isn’t that the reason why the membership of the traditional organizations and church attendance are in decline? Isn’t that the reason we read Keghart and not any other site?
What is you problem Arsen ? Sarkis Assadourian did not insult any other nationality or a religious group . he simply wanted to enjoy his Christmas , which happens to be January 6 or 7 the same as all other Orthodox Christians in Canada , now you get over it .
Vrejouhy.
Calgary
I admit that I may have missed the point of Let us Play Fair editorial but I still have not gotten it and remain perplexed as to what it serves me to know of internal squabbles of the Ramgavar, or Tashnag or Hnchak party on a forum that is supposed to discuss and expect to hear our opinions on matters that affect our nation by the policies and conducts of our nationally elected officials in the ROA and its representatives in the Diaspora.
This editorial must have been written by someone who is a member of the Ramgavar party or has intimate knowledge of their working to know of meetings held, party members being elected etc.This tempests in the Ramgavar teapot, ugly as it is, its up to the Ramgavar party members to solve. I am not sure what can the reader conclude having read the editorial other then say maybe that grown up men or women should act with civility. Wow!
Since the editorial is written on a forum that has done wonderful job of discussing issues that affect our nation, this editorial in fact has the potential of miscommunication much like with Jerry N. who laments of the infighting of our readers. Let me point to Jerry that Azadian, or any other name mentioned in the editorial are not nationally elected members and as far as I know do not advise the ROA on setting up course on our national interests be it political, social, economic that deal with opening of borders, establishing bilateral relationships with Armenia’s neighbors and other distant countries, of enacting laws that foster investment in Armenia and or fight corruption, deforestation in Armenia and its environmental controls etc., etc. etc. etc., etc. to emphasize the many issues that affect our nation.
I still maintain that the squabbles of the Ramgavar party should not make into an editorial titled Let Us Play Fair. I could have found the editorial more palatable if it was titled maybe Let the Ramgavar Party Members Play Fair but then the thought would have crossed my mind, what does the squabbles of Ramgavar party have to do on this forum?
Chahe Tanachian stands out as someone that was insipired by Viktor Hampartsoumyan.
There are literally millions of Armenians and non-Armenians that have been inspired by the generosity of spirit and of the mind of the great man.
Chahe chose to reciprocate. The whole world, literally, came to his assistance.
That is the significance of this great success story. Armenians all over the world essentially shamed the government of the ROA into positive action. All Armenians said loud and clear what mattered to them, that great achievements deserve to be preserved, to be immortalized but also to be taught as lessons to future generations.
Individuals matter; actions matter, even when they start as small efforts; ideas matter because they are catalysts for collective action. That is the true lesson learnt.
Chahe must be thanked for once again teaching us this important lesson. Although we seem to be a forgetful people, but luckily there are those like him among us who from time to time awaken us from our slumber.
Our race has a huge crisis of "Existence" and our so-called organizations and their leaders, instead of finding solutions for our future, are continuously fighting with each other.
It is like "Re-arranging the chairs on the Titanic".
What's the big deal about a Christmas Tree? There is no spiritual value in a tree nor any importance whatsover. Notice that each religion, nation, sect, etc. have their own symbol, that doesn't mean that the Christian is better than others, nor does it mean that other symbols are better than Christian, they are all human inventions for marketing purposes.
I was shopping the morning of Dec. 27 at Sobeys near my home in Toronto. I noticed a young man was removing Christmas decorations from the store. I approached him and reminded that Christmas celebrations for some Christians (Orthodox) is on Jan. 6 and 7.
I asked to see the manager for an extension of Christmas displays up to Jan. 7, so that we all feel included in our religious celebrations. In reply he told me that the decision was taken by the Head Office. I told him to convey my request to the head office reminding him that The House of Commons (Where I served for 11 years) was also removing Christmas lights and decorations soon after Dec. 25. They changed their policy to make it inclusive and extended the display of beautiful lights in and around the Parliament Building up to Jan 7. This was also thanks to the late Speaker of the Canadian Parliament for understanding my concerns.
My message to you all is to be kind enough to send an email to the Head Offices of department stores (any department store or a national grocery chain) and ask them to be inclusive in their cultural and religious policies in a multicultural society like ours.
Why has the age of fables been overlooked? Fables are classic stories that highlight important and weighty topics such as political aspirations, moral dilemmas, and ethical quagmires in an easily digestible and spreadable format - they are the original forms of viral marketing.
Shavarsh, isn't it too early to judge as how many people will visit? the poll is still new and only a few people (6) replied so far. I will reconsider your points when the votes reach the 100 mark.
After all not all priorities and chances to visit Armenia are linked to the president.
The majority is saying will not visit. No wonder. All the news that comes out of Armenia is mostly negative. One doesn't visit a country only for patriotic reasons. The recent show of contempt towards the president does not help matters either. Who after all will respect him if he did not show sensitivity towards the most crucial issue of the Genocide that attracts Armenians to each other and to the country. It was and is his prerogative to pursue an independent foreign policy, but at least he should have consulted with the leadership of the Diaspora prior to taking such a bold step.
Իրաւունք ունիս պահանջելու, որ տարակարծութիւնները ու քննադատութիւնները մնան քաղաքավարութեան սահմաններուն մէջ։
Իբր դաշնակցական, ցաւ կը զգամ, որ այլ աւանդական կուսակցութիւն մը երկպառակտուած է։ Երկու կողմերուն մէջ ալ ունիմ մօտիկ ծանօթներ ու բարեկամներ, կը հասկնամ որ տարակարծութիւններ ըլլան, սակայն գործածուած լեզուն եւ ոճը յարիր չեն քաղաքական կուսակցութեան մը անդամներուն։
Եթէ չեն կրնար հաշտուիլ, թող երկու տարբեր կուսակցութիւններ ըլլան, ինչպէս կ՚երեւի, որ պիտի ըլլան, բայց զիրար յարգեն, ու չնախատեն։ Եթէ մեծ մեղքեր կան գործուած, թող անկեղծ ու բաց արտայայտուին, առանց ծածկանուններու ետեւ պահուըտելու։ Վաղը ի՞նչ երեսով պիտի քով քովի գան ու գործակցին՝ երբ մեր կեանքի ստիպողական պայմանները այդ պահանջեն։
The overall well being, a healthy democratic, transparent and accountable atmosphere in each of the traditional Armenian political parties is a must, more than ever. The nation as a whole is facing unsurmountable hurdles. Without changing attitudes of the past the credibility of the parties is at risk with the attendent non-involvement of the public at large in the political process.
Neither outmoded methods of crude discipline, nor unrealistic goals within the context of the Western mode of life, which breeds extreme individualism at times, will in the long run attract the vast majority of people. It's the hearts and souls of individuals that the traditional parties have to compete for.
The article partly addresses this matter.
A salient point, which is brought up is the mode of succession. It appears from the information provided that the new leadership has come to position through lawful means over the span of three years by holding two conventions under the watchful eyes of, allow me to say, the old guard. Hence, one wonders why then Azadian and his company are up in arms and accusing the present leadership of not representing the traditional RAG party?
Azadian and company have all the democratic rights to dissociate themselves from the lawfully elected leadership and form their own new "party" under whatever name they chose, which already they have done so. However, in transitioning themselves to a new entity yet at the same time holding unto the assets of the traditional RAG party is simply piracy.
I didn't see anything partisan in the editorial. While recognizing the contribution of Ramgavars to our nation, it offered fraternal advice on how to resolve the conflict, and called for a civil dialogue by the so-called "Esh-Kesh" email perpetrator(s). The rivalry has been corroding our public life for nearly three years. Through Keghart's public discussion of the issue one hopes that Ramgavars--old and new--will realize the damage the rivalry is causing to our national political agenda.
I believe the article was very well balanced. The problem with Perplexed and many other readers is that they are not used to read such material in the Armenian press, because nothing similar has been offered to them in the past. The official RAG has not said anything official and is disregarding the anonymous email campaign without providing anything substantial to the public in terms of information or counter-information.
Anonymous email writers like KESH are taking the podium to fill the gap and people are depending on them for information. These issues and affairs should not be avoided and dismissed as not related to us, rather they should be dealt with clarity and continuous attention, because leaving them hidden and behind the scenes has led us to the current situation, with the result one traditional Armenian party is crippled and consumed in inner strife.
Should the media behave like ostrich so that some continue their happily floating life?
Allow me Mr. or Ms. Perplexed to point out that you missed the point. Internal conflicts are not something unique to RAG. Others have had similar problems with fatal consequences. The message conveyed is to have civility. Whether it's RAG or some other party. That's how I interpret this editorial which I find very balanced and not taking sides at all. Where is the partisanship?
I found this editorial too partisan for what I thought Keghart strived for. I am not sure what was the purpose of letting us know of meetings in Toronto or Amman and of the splits in the Ramgavar party along different camps and of anonymous emails I bet most of us have not received. Was it meant to be a prelude for the requiem of the Ramgavar party as we knew of in its hey days in Beirut?
OK, why do we write armenian with latin characters? we have to stop this bad habit. Windows has provided a great free tool that enables us to write in Armenian characters easily anywhere.
Please see the following related article: Հայերէն գրենք հայկական տառեր օգտագործելով
or www.keghart.com/Armenian_In_Unicode
Armenia is to receive $100 million from Russia to revitalize the diamond industry which collapsed in 2006/7 when Kocharian forced Ara Abrahamyan out, one of Armenia’s most prominent and ‘real’ foreign investors. The industry has since been dominated by Kocharian, so the vast majority of this $100 million will inevitably end up in Kocharian’s pockets. http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=14679539&PageNum=0
In the meantime the Asian Development Bank is to provide USD 60 million for Armenia to implement a feasibility study for the South North highway through Georgia. That looks likely to be money well spent on behalf of the people of Armenia. http://www.panarmenian.net/details/eng/?nid=1123
It's unhealthy for a society to idolize a mortal who had more than his share of weaknesses.
The belief in a Saviour, of a Christ figure, who would solve all the problems of a nation is primitive and universal. In recent times we have seen the disastrous phenomenon in Nasser's Egypt, in Musollini's Italy, in Franco's Spain, and in North Korea nowadays. However, people eventually outgrow that infantile and needy stage and begin to take on their responsibilities as free citizens.
"What would Ataturk Do?" "What would Ataturk Say?" attitude fossilizes Turkey. Seeing the million busts of Ataturk, his giant posters, Ataturk riding on a horse, Ataturk profiles in every office, shop and classroom, looking sternly and forbiddingly at Turks, seems psychologically damaging to a society.
Since day one, Christians and Jews have been interpreting, modifying, updating what their founders said and wrote. Turkey, under the so-called secularists, has remained hidebound in a oudated, ultranationalistic Ataturk trance.
Wake up, guys. He probably became hungry at least once a day. He probably went to the washroom, too. I know he liked his raki. He was the issue of his parents, not the Son of God.
It is simply not true to say most Armenians spokeTurkish. Most spoke ARMENIAN. My mother learned Turkish in Iraq from Turkomans. Her grandparents in Van spoke Kurdish and Armenian fluently, but not Turkish.
They even had a printing press in Van. It is our homeland and our central city. Van and Gyumri (all Vanetsies) are the purest Armenian speakers according to linguist expert Bert Vaux.
Shnorhagalouteun. Housahad mi ullar. Loudzeh. Mi housahadvir.
Aram (if that's your real name), what do you mean by the two nations turn the page once and for all ("les deux peuples tournent la page une fois pour toutes").
How can you forgive and forget a Genocide without the proper recognition and apology by one of the nations you mentioned?
Isn't it a shame on all nations that after 95 years this issue is still pending and being dragged on and on just because of personal interests and national profits?
Western Armenian is about to disappear and find its eternal peace next to Krapar if nothing is done soon. Who is responsible? I would say most of us are, half victim half accomplice as the saying goes. For decades, Armenians have been supporting an antiquated church, partisan gazetecis, and a mostly substandard and politicized school system in the Diaspora.
So, what can then we do? As individuals, we can all start by supporting the Armenian book. Buy Tintin in Armenian to your children along with its English, French or Spanish version. Support independent publishers who against all odds are trying to publish in Armenian. Example, order Zahrad's poems or Zaven Biberyan's masterpiece novel (Մրջիւններու Վերջալոյսը) from Aras yayincilik in Bolis.
But we all know that this will not be enough. Much more must be done. Armenian courses in each community, an independent publishing house to publish Armenian classics, supporting translations into Armenian, literary classes, scholarships to deserving individuals and not necessarily to those with connections. Where would the money come from you say? The answer is simple. We need to prioritise.
I can give you one example that comes to my mind. Imagine if we can stop building new churches, especially in communities where there are a few empty ones. Ask yourself, do I need a new church in Laval, while within 5-10 minutes drive I can cross to Montreal, where there are 3-4 empty ones standing by? With the money saved, who knows, we may even have enough to feed some of the estimated 30% Armenian children going to school hungry each morning.
Let me finish by quoting K. Zohrab, from an article Համալսարանական Կրթութեան Պակասութիւնը Մեր Մէջ that he published in 1892.
«Գլխաւոր բանը որ կը պակսի մեզի, մեր յետամնացութեան աստիճանին վրայ ճշմարիտ գիտակցութիւնն է։
I guess what was true then, a hundred and so years later is still true today.
Though I agree with the 1st part of your comments about peace and friendship, I disagree with the non importance of religion, color and nationality. Those are what define you as "you". Otherwise, you, Ali, as a possible Muslim, why don't you change your name to a Western name, denounce your religion and become a Christian or a Jew and denounce the fact that you are an Iranian. How would you feel about it?
Even if you want to change all of those, or do change all of these, hypothetically speaking, deep down in your heart and in your soul, you are still an Iranian and a Muslim. You will gravitate towards your culture, your language, your music, you food and everything Iranian/Persian.
No, my friend!!!! If friendship and peace is part of the deal, so is the importance of religion, color and nationality. That is our identity and what our ancestors have given us. We are responsible to pass them on to our children, as our parents have done the same with us.
Please..all of you.... Our language will die in the diaspora in the next 100 years. It seems that nobody takes into consideration the pressure of social forces . The language will survive only in Armenia even if it is bastardised with many foreign words.
History has shown that we Armenians thrive under political pressure, thus we stick to our language. Even before the genocide, most Armenians in the historical Armenia communicated in Turkish. How many of you had grand parents who did not speak Armenian but Turkish.? Because it was easier to live in their evironemet.
It is very unfortunate that slogans like " heyeren khosink, hayeren gartank" will not hit its target. Whereever we are in the Western world our children will communicate in English, French, Dutch or German. The Armenian language will be practised among the elders and with elders..and once they are gone..guess what.....they will speak the local language among themselves.
My hope is that even if they do not speak Armenian in 100 years in the Diaspora , at least they will have a modicum of "Armenianness" left in them.UNLESS...there is another war in the middle east and another wave of immigrants come to the western world just like it happened 30 years ago, thus replenishing the Western Armenian society...
I whole heartedly agree to these slogans but as they say in Armenian " airatz srdi k... meghitarank"
Quem - como eu - já visitou o monumento a Ataturk, em Ankara, sabe muito bem o que é um inacreditável "culto à personalidade" ! Muçulmanos, os turcos deveriam substituir a expressão "Alah é grande e Maomé é seu profeta" por "Alah é grande e Ataturk é seu profeta" ! Nessa visita, estava eu, num museu, observando objetos de uso pessoal de Ataturk (em sua grande maioria, diversos tipos de armas...), quando ingressou no recinto um grande número de jovens estudantes, certamente alucinados, atirando-se loucamente em direção a tudo quanto se referisse a Atatuk. Fiquei pasmo diante de tanta adoração e retirei-me do local, fortemente impressionado com o que vira. E passei a ter compaixão por aqueles jovens, inteiramente deturpados em suas mentes. Qual o futuro que os aguardava, após essa "lavagem cerebral" ? Esse episódio explica tudo, para mim, com relação à deformação das pessoas na Turquia, fato que marca suas instituições e legislação, principalmente a penal. Remember "Midnight Express". Passado, presente e futuro, na Turquia, são imutáveis. E dizer que a Armênia celebrou os maldafados Protocolos.... Esperando o quê ? Certamente, "Esperando Godot"...
In this age of globalisation, which includes cultural assault too, it has become all the more difficult to keep national identities. The Armenian Diaspora has become much more vulnerable. What's bothering is the silence of the authorities in post-Soviet Armenia about this matter. It is almost incomprehensible. Many of the ills are incorrectly attributed to pre-"independence" regime. What about today? If the national government does not show leadership despite the attempts of intellectuals to redress matters, then how do they differ from buraucrats of the past who were a hindrance to ameliorating the situation?
Allow me to digress when all ills are attributed to an "unwieldy, unrealistic political ideology". It was during the Soviet era after all that Armenian culture lived a new renaissance. Witness the many writers such as Shiraz, Kaputikyan, Charentz and Sevag... not to mention the exceptional ground-breaking works in music, painting and the performed arts. Where are those giants? In which period were they nurtured? Where are the various centres of science and their lost global stature such as Byurakan, the Alikhanyan Brothers, Mergelian Institute?
Bureaucrats are the same in any regime, whether Soviet, capitalist or aligned with the Armenian oligarchs. The enemy is within.
I'm not sure how to respond to the article. The only Armenian education I got in Lebanon was in elementary school, and during the civil war in Lebanon, I was forced to continue at a non-Armenian school because most in my area closed; crossing the green line - with the daily risk of getting a sniper's bullet - was a chance my parents did not wish to take.
Now, after many years, I try to improve my Armenian language, but to no avail. There is NO book or program - in-class or on-line - specially prepared for adults. Registering at one such course was excruciatingly painful as I had to read about "Maralig and Arayig" or the fact that the teacher felt it was more important to know the word Arkayakhentsor than any other Armenian expression.
As I did some more research into the matter - within my expertise as an educator and curriculum developer (but for English) - it turns out that we don't even have proper books for our children to learn Armenian. The children in my family are enjoying French or English and even Arabic, but not the Armenian classes.
Don't blame those who don't speak Armenian well. There is a deeply rooted problem in the education system itself that needs work, not patchwork style as has been done for the past 50-60 years.
Not all Armenian individual survivors are in a financial position to make individual searches for compensation. It should have been the Armenian Government(s) and the Armenian Church who should have been setting up national committees to start the long delayed unprecedented search for securing compensation.
This would benefit all/any survivor(s) for the lost properties of the 1.5 million Armenians. The survivors abandoned their homes and belongings by force and were uprooted during the Ottoman Turkish government perpetrated and well documented Armenian Genocide(s) - mainly that of the 1915-1923.
If no survivors are found the documented assets should be handed over by the "inheritors" (The ruling Turkish government) to an Armenian National Humanitarian Organization under the auspices of mainly the Armenian Church in cooperation with the Armenian government. Funds should be used to improve the Armenian nation in all fields, mainly educating the younger generations and for the development of Armenia towards becoming a modern democratic country and help secure a better life for the unpriviledged population.
I live in Southern California, and specifically in the Glendale area where Armenians are plenty. One would expect that due to the large community, the Armenians preserve, promote and are proud of their heritage, language and culture. To a large extent, this is a misconception.
Recently, while shopping at a store, I came across a mother with two children, one about a 4 years old boy and the other about a 2 years old girl. The boy was complaining to the mother that his sister was misbehaving, all in English, and the mother, who spoke broken English, was responding to the child, also in English. It was a sad scene to witness. It made me wonder; was the mother trying to learn English from her 4 year old, or trying to be cool? I couldn't help but to tell the mother how disappointing it was to see an Armenian mother speak to her young children in an "odar's" language.
Our ancestors fought wars for years, and were killed by those who attempted to cleanse our race off this earth, not to mention their painstaking exiles through deserts, only to lead us to move to other’s countries and take on other identityIf we don't commit to speaking Armenian to our children and teach them about who we are and what we stand for, who will? In this melting pot called the Western World, it is really easy to become part of the large society and only maintain a name ending with an "ian" or "yan". It is every parent’s responsibility to pass on, everything Armenian, to their child, or else, we will disappear as an ancient race, and our name will only be in history books.
I just discovered this site. Lot of interesting reading material. I will tell many of my friends about this site. Good work keep it up. Thanks for the awsome reading...
I think that Professor Romano makes a tremendous amount of sense. "Sophomoric and misguided"??? Please. As he states, it is a matter of degree. While we are busy getting all wrought up over comparatively trivial matters, we are losing our perspective, and losing sight of the larger injustices that exist in this world. This essay is one of the most clearly articulated and logical pieces that I have ever read on this subject, and I think that the author has incredible intellect. I intend on showing this article to anyone who attempts to utilize a hypocritical double-standard with regard to "prejudice against Islam".
13 hours 55 min ago
The other issue that I have with this editorial is why to have yet another organization which will pursue Hay Tad. Ostensibly all Armenian parties, on top of that the Assembly, the ANCA, ANCC, the Congress in Canada, ARCA and others in Europe are carrying the job. Aren't they?
Isn't it possible to have the leadership of all these organizations to get together say on a quarterly basis and discuss strategies and plans? They already have their respective boards and followers and thus there won't be the need of creating another one.
Am I missing something?
15 hours 29 min ago
Not only national, political as well as financial SOUND projects must be dicussed in this Assembly to secure and have one and united ALL ARMENIAN policy for Genocide recognition and respect to our huge human losses and territorial/material claims.
We must start as soon as possible WAN-C.
19 hours 54 min ago
For the sake of the Armenian Diasporan culture, there are certain values and principles which may require a concentrated western approach.
20 hours 21 min ago
Mr. Gregg Rickman has done a great and keen psychosocial analysis. Now, I better understand what corruption is. It is Mr. Sarksyan, the illegal President of Armenia who betrayed the souls of 1915 and his own. This is corruption.
1 day 4 hours ago
De pleno acordo com sua POSIÇÃO. APOIAR É preciso Incentivar e um dos objetivos do Congresso CONCRETIZAÇÃOO Nacional Armêniocidental. Esta é a melhor ideia já surgida para unir um Diáspora no mundo ocidental. Não há tempo a perder. Harut Sassounian já expôs, aqui, como proceder para eleger os Representantes das diversas comunidades da Diáspora,terem um assento no Congresso. Mãos à obra!
1 day 8 hours ago
No any earthquake security mesures will take into consideration as long as the corruption is the ruling power in Armenia.
There 400 appartments are under construction in Spitak or around that region. Mr. president Serj Sarkisian inspected recently and noticed the poor condition of construction. ordered to fix. But nothing is happened.
One of profecional withness said not even dogs will live in that appartments. These appartments are nearly to finish and earthquake homeless families has to occupy them soon.
2 days 12 hours ago
That's what poetry is all about. What a vivid imagination and creativity
2 days 12 hours ago
4 days 39 min ago
While we were crossing the Taurus Mountains, a Turkish passenger, knowing we were Armenian, referred to them as the "Gavour Daghlare" (Infidel Mountains).
In Istanbul I went to a clothing store to buy a coat. Since I knew that the owner was Armenian, I addressed him in Armenian. The man ignored me. Some time later, when the Turkish customers had left the store, the store owner approached me and said in Armenian that he was afraid to speak in Armenian in the presence of Turks.
I forget which of the Istanbul's (and Turkey's major newspaper they were, but certainly one of them was "Hurriet") had these two slogans on top of the first page year round, every day: "Let no one dare touch this lion [meaning Turkey]" and "Turkey belongs to the Turks'. In Armenian we have a saying: "Kogh, seerde togh" (The thief's heart always beats fast).
There were other examples of Turkish extreme ultra-nationalism, racism and Armenophobia, but the above should suffice as examples of Turkish mentality in the mid-'60s.
We are told that Turkey has changed; it has progressed; it has become liberated and tolerant. Armenians certainly hope that Turkey is moving away from its deplorable political past. While a tiny minority of brave Turks are speaking up, Armenians are still waiting to see real and widespread change in that country's arcane and pathological attitudes towards non-Turks and non-Moslems.
4 days 21 hours ago
Obama won't tell anything bad about Turkey, because they are muslims like him, whose career was built upon Saudi money.
5 days 37 min ago
I ask Murad : Isn't it true that Armenians have been villified in Turkey at every level, starting middle school all the way to High school? Isn't it true that the government has poisoned the minds of Turkish public? If one grows up with the idea of treacherous Armenian, obviously this "emotional response" is the result of 95 years of brainwashing.
I am a product of "Turk Azinlik Okullar" - Turkish Minority Schools. We had a histoy teacher in High School Hikmet Hanim. When explaining events in Eastern Anatolia during early 20th Century , she would say " Armenians did this, Armenians did that" but then she would add " Fakat siz o Ermenilerden degilsiniz" -....but you are not the same Armenians....Wow...the whole class would just stare at her....so..the same goes on, probably it is worst in Turkish schools.
I say to Murad: If the goverment's brain washing ceases may be then the Turks can face their history?
5 days 2 hours ago
Now that the resolution has cleared committee and has a chance of reaching the house floor, we must explain to the Americans that they certainly should recognize the genocide because, in addition to being just, it is in their interest.
5 days 2 hours ago
Dear Serj,
Good for you.
In addition to the Russian guide's inclination to appropriate what is not theirs or perhaps her ignorance, it's worth remembering that states are hostile to nations, and particularly to ethnic groups. States are man-made administrative constructs which feel threatened by nations, races and ethnic groups. States see minority groups as challengers who might drift towards separatism, and perhaps to the dismantling of the state. Thus many states try to assimilate their minorities overtly, covertly, or forcibly.
Thus Atom Egoyan is Canadian
William Saroyan is American
Charles Aznavour is French
Aram Khachaturian is Russian
The ideal for states is to have 100% homogenous race-ethnic population. Ironically, Armenia is one such state, although it's not because of planning by the state. Japan is nearly 100% homogenous, but that condition was planned by Tokyo. Israel would love to be a homogenous state.
The Russian guide was a state employee who was tutored by the state and used state-approved texts for her "education".
5 days 10 hours ago
I don't think Americans understand the Turks well. They are expecting the Turks to retaliate considering their own national interests and the importance of our alliance with the US; they are expecting a tamed response. I heard one "analyst" saying Turkey will never cease relations with the US, or won't close the military base, that it will be business as usual.
I tend to disagree. The government may try to respond rationally and diplomatically while maintaning the alliance, however the Turkish people will crucify them. You can expect an emotional response from the people, and if the government doesn't heed to their feelings the people will replace them. This puts Erdogan in a very tough spot. If this passes and Erdogan's response is timid, I can see the calls for an early election to get stronger. This could be the nail in the coffin for the AKP government and our alliance with the US. Interesting to see how it pans out.
5 days 14 hours ago
Dear Savel,
You sound very pessimistic about USA recognizing the Genocide of the Armenians. After all 42 out of 50 states have acknowledged, and all the past three presidents, including the present have during their candidacy held positive positions. Don't these facts tell something?
Apart from the "perceived" loss of the NATO ally Turkey, what do you think holds back USA to recognize?
After all mankind travelled to the moon. So it is possible, isn't it?
5 days 21 hours ago
Very few in this tortured World can understand that the USA has no power to recognize Mets Yeghern or the Armenian Genocide. Recognition of the Armenian Genocide is as possible as the travel to the Moon.
6 days 47 min ago
I do not know how the rest of the group (all English speakers) took my harangue, but I was satisfied
6 days 58 min ago
The gist of his analysis is that the Persian army had assembeled at Avarair plain, the Armenian forces were on much higher ground overlooking the Persians. According to historians of the time the enemy was not aware of Armenians on the hills surrounding Avarair. We are told that Mamigonian waited till sunrise to confront the Persians.
Here is the blunder: while the Persian army was sleeping thru the night, the Armenians were praying. If Armenians had attacked as the Persians slept it would have been a real military victory; but no....they had to pray the whole night and missed the opportunity.
6 days 13 hours ago
Dear Mr. Matt Lewis,
Should The United States Recognize Armenian Genocide?
Of Course Yes.
Genocide is an unforgivable crime. The leader of the free world should never let recognition of this crime reduced to a political issue.
As presidential Candidate, Mr Obama stated 'America deserves a Leader who speaks truthfully about Armenian Genocide and responds forcefully to all genocides. I intend to be that President."
Mr President now you are the president and you have still a second chance. We look to president Obama to be a man of his word and honor his pledge to recognize the Armenian Genocide.
Thank you
Dr Babajanian
USA
6 days 14 hours ago
Your very perceptive analysis of the outdated and useless Armenian so-called “political” parties didn’t go far enough.
You could have asked them to cite one good example where they have benefited the Armenian people in the 19th century, in the pre-Genocide 20th century, in the post-Genocide 20th century, and now in the 21st century. “Dividing the Armenian Community and weakening the Armenian message,” which may impress their followers, is not an acceptable answer and is not the kind of “good” the Armenians deserve and need.
You mentioned, in passing, “50s Lebanon.” That has to be one of the most disgusting and sordid actions of these harmful parties. The lies and the charges that were presented to Her Majesty’s Government were so nasty as to border on the obscene. During my time in London, I was able to speak with many of the people on the receiving end of the attempt to blacken the name of the Catholicos and, by extension, Etchmiadzin (not realizing--or caring, it could be--that it was also damaging the Armenian Church).
Fortunately, HMG’s Foreign Office had the good sense to contact the Archbishop of Canterbury who, speaking personally and for the Church of England, said there was no substance whatsoever and suggested that HMG ignore what was coming from Lebanon. The government followed the advice.
But what they must have thought about the Armenians will not strain anyone’s imagination!
Until 1915, these useless people gave Turkey the excuse it needed to “solve the Armenian question.” Since the Genocide, they have given some governments the reason to ignore the legitimate claims of the Armenians.
Any “unity” movement that includes representatives of these useless parties is planting the seeds of its destruction. They will try to dominate that “unity” movement. If they fail, they will actively work against it.
At the risk of making this too long, permit me to give one example from the past. Just after World War II, a group of young veterans in Philadelphia decided to form a Veterans Association. They asked for and received the enthusiastic support of my father and his newspaper--”at last, the younger generation is taking a role in the community.” The reaction in the community was overwhelming, and the first dinner and open meeting attracted more than 1500 people and the city’s largest ballroom was so full that tables had to be placed in the reception area and in the elevator area.
Then, the political parties decided that an independent veterans movement would be damaging to their useless existence. They strove to get the young members of their parties to get into office. One party succeeded and within five years the veterans’ group had died.
Just think what the Armenian status would be like today if that Veterans group had succeeded and had survived! And if it had grown into a national organization of World War II veterans and of the Korean War veterans and of the Vietnam War veterans. Presidents and presidential candidates would be speaking at its annual convention; politicians would seek the support of the organization; Congress would pay attention to an appeal that began “We Armenians. . . .” Cities would compete to host the annual convention. Its members would have pride of place at inter-cultural events. The list of possible benefits to the Armenians is endless. Did the competing so-called “political” parties have the vision to see this? Do pigs fly?
But enough.
When next you return to this subject, ask these outdated and useless “political” parties to tell us what good they have done.
Avedis Kevorkian
Philadelphia, PA USA
3 March 10
6 days 18 hours ago
Go ahead Mr. Sassounian. May the Force be with you.
6 days 19 hours ago
"Ms. Pampalian and Mr. Voskanyan"
Unfortunately, by what you wrote above, I'm led to the conclusion that your purpose here, sadly, is not to inform the readers of Keghart.com. Instead, it is to carry your grudge against PFA to yet another Forum.
That is certainly your right. However, this will be increasingly difficult to do as the news releases, videos, photographs, and responses to PFA's Armenia-Diaspora Forum propogate through Armenian media. Your audiences will have ample information with which to judge whether or not PFA is open, or not.
I would urge you to undertake more constructive projects with your time.
Sincerely,
Zaven Kalayjian
PFA Senior Member
1 week 16 hours ago
There was a time in my childhood when we would not have school in February in celebration of Vartanants War, baderazm. I am not sure if the same tradition is still maintained by the Armenian schools in Lebanon. The month of February came and went and I remained oblivious of that important historical date. After all for some 16 centuries we have been celebrating or commemorating it, I am not sure which. It also occurred to me that Vartanants War never got mentioned in Keghart as well. I admit I also did not bring to the readers’ attention that important historical date too. As I said, I simply forgot all about what once I would not have! Is that an ominous sign of my gradual slipping away from our history and commemorative dates? Come to think of it, we, as a family, have not celebrated our Christmas on January 6 for good many and many years now. If I have happened to take off from work on a January 6, it has not been to celebrate Christmas. Would it not be nice to editorialize the month’s significant Armenian feast on Keghart?
I have attached a link about Vartanants War by Antranig Chalabian. It makes an interesting reading. The article appeared in the Military Magazine, a reputable magazine of military history. Dr. Antranig Chalabian was an invited contributor to the magazine. He may be the only Armenian historian who has published in that internationally acclaimed magazine. Something new I learned when I read the article and I want to share it with the readers in case I cannot attach the link to this note.
I never knew that Vartanats War was waged in May. Why is it that we celebrate it in February, if the war actually happened in May? Well, Dr. Antranig Chalabian concludes his article with the interesting explanation and writes “The Vardanian War, as it came to be called in Vardan's honor, began on May 26, 451, but the Armenian church celebrates the event in February. In the past, spring was considered the season for warfare. Armenia's ecclesiastical fathers had decided to commemorate the event in February, before spring, in order to inspire the youth and prepare their minds for battle, in defense of church and fatherland”.
http://www.armenians.com/famous/vartan-m.html
1 week 18 hours ago
Thank you Vrouyr, if all Armenians have the same common sense as you do, then we will not be in a similar situation.
1 week 18 hours ago
We have seen numerous similar documentaries. Now we need to see some action!!
Why isn't there a united international team to follow-up with this criminal issue? The Armenian communities should be proactive in creating such a team full of international political, legal and media people so that we can see some tangible results.
Frankly I am getting bored of watching such documentaries, no matter how good or bad they are.
1 week 19 hours ago
Vicken, as your friend, as far as I know you, since your arrival to South Africa which was more than a decade ago, you donated your work. At one stage your house had become like an Armenian club. Once a month you were organizing come together parties for the local Armenians. You did all different donations to bring The Armenian Society of South Africa to its gloriest times and you succeeded. As they say in Armenian, "VARTSKET GADAR".
Others were jealous of you, because they stayed in the shade while you were shining like the sun of the community. I remember the poems you were reciting at each party, every time a couple of different pieces. To tell the truth, nobody has as much Armenian knowledge as you do in South Africa. On the other hand others had no Armenian education at all, which was the key reason for their wrong doings to the community. For every Armenian it was so clear the reason why AGBU and some local supporters of the move sold Missak center so discretely, without the knowledge of any local Armenian. We all knew the hidden agenda, yet they got away with it...
1 week 1 day ago
Diran
Born in Iran. Father: descendant of Julfa-Isfahan Armenians, mother: Constantinople Armenian
1 week 1 day ago
Now three months later a 60 Minutes piece (though highly flawed) on Armenians that will also anger Turkey.
Is it a coincidence that after all these years mainstream TV finally gets around to these two subjects? I don't think so. I believe that these 60 Minute segments came about because influential Jews at 60 Minutes and elsewhere decided to send a message to Turkey: "If you Turks don't stop saying nasty things about Israel, American Jews in the media and government will make you pay dearly."
It can't be stated publicly like that, of course, so 60 Minutes was chosen as the not-so-subtle vehicle.
Before we thank 60 Minutes, consider that the piece's purpose was not truth, human rights or to help Armenians or Greeks. And God forbid that we should think that the Jewish community has any influence in the US media.
One more thing: the segment was full of inaccuracies such as that no American president has ever used the G word to describe the Armenian genocide. Wrong, President Reagan did in 1981. See Armenian-genocide.org.
60 Minutes should be criticized for the Armenian segment, not praised. Let us not be bought off.
1 week 1 day ago
I fully agree with the idea that "a Diasporan umbrella organization must be fashioned around a VERY SPECIFIC project around which the multiplicity of Armenian identities CAN unite."
The WAN-C's project should not be deemed as a threat by any Armenian organization. If anything, they should all be relieved that there are competent individuals who are ready to tackle an issue in which none of the traditional Armenian organizations, to my knowledge, have made any headway.
1 week 1 day ago
We have to give all our strength to Motherland.
They are building a 15 million dollar religious center in Los Angeles...FOR WHAT...That money could save orphans , hospitals, schools in Armenia and in Karabagh. What will happen to those soul-less edifices when we are gone in 200 years.?
1 week 1 day ago
Judging from the names of the participants of the discussion on this forum, Berge, Kevork, Tro, Ghazaros, Vartkes, Noubar, Mesrob, Minas, Mgo, Viken, Dikran, Vahe, I liken them, true or not I am not sure of course, to myself. Mostly Middle-aged Armenians, hopefully I do not sound offensive, born and raised in Middle East and the recipients of the education passed to us by a dedicated cadre of teachers whom many of us remember fondly. I do not believe that on these shores we are doing nearly the job they did
Therefore instead of focusing on analyzing the play of powerful forces and quote an imperial minded British knight of a by gone era, I believe we should focus on our tasks at our hands, how to improve and better our immediate communities. When and if these forces unleash their fury in the final Armageddon, I am afraid there may not be many who would know the Armenian alphabet well enough to utter its first three characters “Ayp, pen, kem”. By taking care of the so-called small matters, the larger matters take care of themselves, in my view that is.
As to the analogy of positive neutrality to the Armenia’s stand. The positive neutrality was not honored, but accepted, albeit very grudgingly by some.
1 week 1 day ago
Ao Harut, talvez seja queadvogado, como eu, apresentoCumprimentos efusivos, e A Keghart peço que promovaintensa mobilização em torno de sua iniciativa! Chegou a hora!
A rota está Tracada
1 week 1 day ago
Naturally, the US State Department likes the soft-Armenians like historian Peter Balakian, and the Knights-of Vartan group, etc.. Out of all the experts and international genocide scholars, it picks Balakian to try and fool Armenians to free Turkey from accountability for its crime of genocide.
The US State Department wanted this segment aired on CBS 5 days before the house resolution, in order to defeat it. The segment was riddled with strategic mis-representations; subversive language, Turkish propaganda. Half the segment was dedicated for Turksih denial; the other half was dedicated to CBS's startegic misrepresentation.
There wasn't a single map displayed; there was no reference to geography (deliberate); and led the viewer to beleive that the bulk of the Armenians hailed from Istanbul, as opposed to Western Armenian Ottoma provinces and territories of the first Armenian Republic.
By referring to the Armenian genocide as a “battle over history”, clearly shows that CBS does not understand the meaning of Genocide. Genocide stops when denial ends. The Armenian genocide (1915-2010) is on-going. Genocide is not just the act of killing; it is the eradication of any reference to history, culture, architecture, references to a group, and the names of towns and places, etc. as if the victims never existed.
The viewer is supposed to believe the following:
- There is no defined Western Armenian territory (land)
- It is a battle between historians to decide.
- Acknowledgment *without* holding Turkey Accountable for the crime of genocide.
- No reparation, No restitution and No land.
1 week 1 day ago
1. Its frequent use of the terms "battle...the massacres...the events" to describe an incontestable fact is unacceptable and constitutes an unconscionable act of genocide denial -- the ultimate form of hate speech!
Allowing Amb. Sensoy the opportunity to deny the Armenian Genocide on national television is as criminal and cruel an act as airing any statements by a neo-Nazi leader denying the Jewish Holocaust!
2. It deliberately fails to identify the Armenian homeland of more than four millennia.
There is no reference to "Anatolia...eastern (Ottoman) Turkey...Western Armenia and Cilicia..."
CBS: "But our story begins where the lives of so many Armenians ended, far from Istanbul, in the desert...The survivors ended up in concentration camps hundreds of miles from Istanbul, out of sight."
Istanbul (then Constantinople) was never the Armenian homeland or part of the Armenian homeland. During the Armenian Genocide, Armenians (95%+) were cleansed and driven primarily from Western Armenia and Cilicia!
CBS deliberately does not want the nation to identify and respect the specific location and boundaries of the occupied Armenian homeland, the return of which is the crux of the Armenian Question and the main factor that would end the Armenian Genocide!
3. CBS: "Which is probably why no U.S. president has uttered the word genocide."
This is a blatant lie, as we know that Reagan used the "G" word during his presidency!
4. It highlights the power imbalance between Armenia and Turkey and stresses Turkey's "importance" to the United States and so-called "regional superpower" status.
CBS: "The use of the word genocide is regarded as an insult to the Turkish nation; it is a jailable offense..."
Why didn't CBS emphasize that the nonuse "of the word genocide is regarded as an insult to the [Armenian] nation"?!
5. With the one-sided Armenia-Turkey protocols practically dead, the timing of this report is driven by a desire to "kill the bill" using the same immoral arguments and tactics that somehow "worked" in 2007.
Most congressional supporters of the Armenian Genocide resolution are not that foolish and will not buy into these denialist measures.
When the House passed similar legislation in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Turkey didn't and couldn't retaliate! All it did was cry and verbally abuse the United States, and days later, everything was back to normal.
This righteous bill will again pass in the Foreign Relations Committee and advance to the House floor for a full and successful vote!
1 week 1 day ago
If anyone takes up on the suggestion that we write in to 60 Mins, it should NOT be to thank them for the appalling coverage, but to CHASTISE them for taking so long to cover the Armenian Genocide, and then when they finally did, to time the airing of the program in such a way that it would spin the facts to cast doubt on this heinous and unresolved, universal injustice AND help defeat the genocide resolution by presenting Turkey as an indispensable U.S. ally, and for omitting so much -- incl homeland loss, reparations, restitution, US complicity ! Shame on 60 Minutes!
1 week 2 days ago
....And this organization will be divided, parties will fight over the representation, and the corrupt Armenian government will play its corrupt role, and the diaspora Armenians will have no say....
1 week 2 days ago
I am interested to see descriptions about other members of WANCongress. I hope they are with similar qualifications or better.
1 week 2 days ago
That is, oil & gas pipelines. Armenia & Georgia are the gateway to the Caspian basin oil & gas fields. The goals of the US State Department is to reach the gas reserves of Turkmenistan and the oil fields of Kazakhstan. It is reported that Turkmenistan has enough gas supplies to satisfy the needs of the West for the next 300 years, and Kazakhstan has more oil reserves than the entire middle-east.
Europe is dependent on gas supplies from the Russian Federation; the US State Department would like to lift that dependency. This will weaken Russian leverage and power over Europe and deprive Russia form revenues. The original plan was to bring Georgia into NATO to secure a corridor from Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan, and across the Caspian sea to Turkmenistan and Kazakistan. The project will entail several pipelines known as NABUCCO.
Should the US State Department plan have succeeded in bringing Georgia into NATO ranks, Russia and Iran would have been effectively surrounded, and Russia would have lost control of Central Asia's energy reserves. Under no circumstances was the Russian Federation going to allow that to happen; so, Georgia was invaded in August of 2008, with on-going Russian destabilization attempts in Georgia. The US State Department deems Georgia as unreliable and unstable as a route for pipelines.
Armenia is viewed as a homogeneous state with no separatist movements as in Georgia's Abkhazia or Ossetia, and does not have borders with Russia. Unlike Georgia's disastrous incalculable foreign policy conduct of siding 100% with the US State Department and 0% with its giant neighbor to the north, Armenia has proven itself to follow a balanced complimentarian foreign policy towards the superpowers' interests in the region.
Why is it so important for the West to see Armenia's borders open?
1) It provides an end to Russian dominance (leverage and influence) over gas supplies to Europe.
2) Russian Federation would be wakened and in the future dismembered into the independent republics that form it (Dagestan, Tataristan, Chechnya, etc..).
3) Control China's economic development and prevent it from challenging the West; prevent China from competing for the same energy reserves in Central Asia.
4) Prevent Iran from gaining direct access to Europe via Armenia and the Black Sea port of Batumi in Georgia. Iran is deploying oil & gas pipelines, with plans for railway and highway projects from Tabriz in Iran, across Armenia and on to the port of Batumi. The Armenia route provides Iran with the shortest direct route to Europe, for import and export independent of Turkey's influence.
1 week 2 days ago
During the 8th to 10th centuries, one fundamental point of Byzantine diplomacy emerged very clearly, that on no account could the Kingdom of Armenia be allowed to fall into rival Arab or Persian hands. Armenia’s independence was so essential to preserve regardless of the difficulties in dealing with it were.
Medieval Armenia was bounded on the west by the Byzantiine Empire, on the south by the Arabs of Caliphate of Baghdad, and to the east by the Persian Empire.
Armenia’s foreign policy conduct was complimentarian to the three neighboring superpowers of the era. In the interest of achieving peace – a state alien to Armenians – Armenia carefully balanced the influences of its rival neighbors. This foreign policy resulted in the golden age; Armenia’s capital city Ani flourished; Armenia became a populous and prosperous nation, exerting political and economic influence over surrounding states and nations.
Its existence depended on these rival empires desiring an independent Kingdom of Armenia as a buffer state, and Armenia itself being strong enough to maintain this status.
Fast forward to the 21st century, replace the Arabs of Caliphate of Baghdad with the Russian Federation; replace the Byzantine Empire with the West (Turkey, US State Department, and EU); and the Persian Empire with the modern state of Iran.
No sides! - Armenia can not and will not chose any side; Armenia's foreign policy is complimentarian.
1 week 2 days ago
Again, Ambassador Sensoy of Turkey was there to "refute" what the overwhelming majority of historians acknowledge the massacres of the Armenians to be: a Genocide. Furthermore, CBS was engaged in reminding its audience, including the American legislatures and the White house, the strategic importance of Turkey. Did it have to?
It was comforting, though, for once not to hear the expressions "Armenians allege" or "so called Genocide". Nevertheless, I am not sure what really will it take for a mainstream TV network to finally take the right and moral step to not dilute a straightforward message: Turkey is guilty of Genocide.
1 week 2 days ago
Under Abdul Hamid, known as "Abdul the Damned," the 1894-6 massacres of 350,000 Armenians took place throughout all the Armenian provinces. Christians were easy prey since they could possess no arms. This is an excellent reason for Americans to defend their Second Amendment rights "to keep and bear arms."
Rafael de Nogales, Inspector General of the Turkish forces in Armenia during World War I, attest to "the martyrdom and slaughter of the million and one-half of Christians who perished during those massacres." He quotes the Grand Vizier Talaat Pasha (one of the perpetrators of the Armenian Genocide): "The massacres! What of them! They merely amuse me." No wonder Tsar Nicholas I described Turkey as "the sick bear of Europe."
1 week 2 days ago
To call Sir Mackinder an obscure British knight show lack of knowledge in geopolitics, in addition to being a cheap ad hominem tossed at a respected historian.
Re modern technological changes making Mackinder's words irrelevant, the U.S. military and diplomatic activities around the perimeter of Russia prove the British geopolitician's words remain valid. The editorial demonstrated this repeatedly through examples.
Re China and India being new and important factors in international politics, the U.S. is trying to control the rise of those two Asian giants by keeping its hands on the oil faucet. Through the support of Arab countries, Turkey and Israel, the U.S. is trying to control the oil wells from Azerbaijan to the Persian Gulf. No oil, no growth, no economic-military might.
While no one needs to mention how important our culture and heritage is to us, I am sure Vahe would agree that nothing is more important to the Armenian nation than the survival of Armenia. That's the point the editorial made.
I also believe that the editorial encourages Armenian readers not to be transfixed by minutae and look at the big picture. Even islands are not islands when it comes to international relations and wars.
1 week 2 days ago
"...Let us discuss how can we urge and entice our sons and daughters to learn a bit more Armenian to connect to their rich heritage, to come together and revive Gomidas’s choir, build another school or church, adopt another family and follow on their children’s well being, subscribe to an Armenian newspaper and so forth and so on..." and then disappear like the Armenian communities in Poland or in India did...
It has been 19 years that Armenia/Karabagh have become independent. The continuation of this race will only depend on a strong and prosperous Armenia/Karabagh. While having a strong Diaspora (culturally or otherwise) is desirable, our main focus should be on this last piece of land that we still managed to keep. The reason of our 3,000 plus years of survival is because until 1915 we were on our own lands. Last century we lost that essential factor. So no matter how strong we are in New York, LA, Sydney or Paris, we can not match the possibilities of an independent state, on our own lands, for our future.
1 week 2 days ago
Dear Vahe,
As I understand from your note, you are supposing if we build churches or subscribe to an Armenian newspaper we can survive in diaspora.
As a father of two university graduates I am deeply convinced that without a homeland generations will be gone with the wind. So we must be focused on Hayrenik as a first priority not on churches and Armenian newspaper subscriptions.
1 week 2 days ago
I think your idea about reciprocal compromise to reach a unified language is keen and useful.
The last thing you want is to feel not part of collective because you speak a different kind of Armenian.
Outbursts about which is the more correct Armenian would be avoided too.
1 week 2 days ago
Dear Viken,
Congratulations on your new post. I am sure you will make as valueable a contribution there, as you have in Keghart, and in Canadian and Armenian politics and thought.
1 week 2 days ago
On the other side we have the wishfull thinking of Vahe. True ...I wish what he says could be accomplished..BUT as the song says " Que sera sera". Call me a pessimist but living in a dreamworld does not cancel out the "real-politik" of USA-RUSSIA- IRAN-AZERI Circle...
1 week 3 days ago
After oppressing Armenians for some 500 years, the Turkish authorities still didn't appreciate the resilience, the indomitability, and patriotism of Armenians. Gul and Associates might believe that Turkey's prevarications and delaying tactics would force us to give up our sacred mission. They have much to learn about us.
1 week 3 days ago
In the sanitized version of this editorial naturally there could be no room for emerging global economic and military powers such as India and China, nor could there be room for ever evolving regional alliances such as Turkey, Syria etc. Much like the Pope who divided the world, this editorial’s world is divided into antiquated opposing camps with Armenia being in the center of their playing field.
C’mon guys. Granted that it is always easier to show one’s intellectual prowess by tackling subjects on grandeur scale. Let us humble ourselves at the cost of sounding dumb and dumber and discuss things that we can actively do to perpetuate our wonderful culture and heritage that has been entrusted to us over millennia. Let us discuss how can we be active and pro active in our immediate community rather than go to bed praying that may God All Mighty give wisdom to these opposing superpowers not to drag Armenia in their mindless game, as this editorial concludes. Let us discuss how can we urge and entice our sons and daughters to learn a bit more Armenian to connect to their rich heritage, to come together and revive Gomidas’s choir, build another school or church, adopt another family and follow on their children’s well being, subscribe to an Armenian newspaper and so forth and so on...
1 week 3 days ago
A simple search via Google and Wikipedia shows that Talyat, Jemal, Enver, Refik, Javid Bey along with Emannuel Carasso, the founder of Young Turks party, and Ataturk himself were NOT ethnic Turks, but Dohnme (Muslim-converted) Jews who essentially took over Turkey.
Their descendants, the infamous army generals, keep their grip over the country and the Turks. The sole purpose of the Genocide was robbery, then murder -- it was a means to rob Armenians. They did not care which ethnic group was massacred. It happened to be the Armenians -- if these were Aleutians, they would just do the same.
1 week 3 days ago
It bodes well, and there is no reason to doubt that the steering committee will be able to deliver what it promises in the short term, i.e. a congress with an executive council to pursue the Armenian interests in the international arena. That's what is required as we come closer to the centenary of the Genocide.
It is true that the proposed congress is not a panacea for all the ills that the Diaspora faces, but it is a firm step forward. There are several proposals to unite the Diaspora and the Armenians at large, but such initiatives that pursue all-encompassing goals serve mostly an emotional need rather than putting a brick on top of the other to build a beautiful castle that we all can admire.
As Mr. Attarian so rightly says, "History is our teacher." Haven't we learned from the lessons of the past? Do we have to repeat our mistakes time and again?
An organization with a specific goal such as the proposed WAN-C is practically achievable within very short period of time, because the infrastructure is already present. It's not an illusive dream and it is within reach.
1 week 3 days ago
Seraydarian is not alone in having served the United Nations, nor the UN is the only international institution where Armenians have made an impact. The World Bank, the IMF and various other organizations have seen Armenians come and go, but sadly a few have come forward such as M. H. Bouldoukian that have taken to heart Armenian interests and causes.
Professionals such as Seraydarian, Bouldoukian, Kasbar Derderian and others are much needed to push the Armenian envelope further in the international field so that this generation can proudly say that we are closer to our goals as Armenians.
Seraydarian's presence as deputy director of the organizing committee for the proposed Western Armenian Congress certainly enhances the prestige of the institution, and motivates people to join forces.
Thank you Mr. Seraydarian.
1 week 3 days ago
How sad but glorious at the same time. Sad that history has, by necessity, to repeat itself. Glorious, that with knowledge, every Armenian can take heart that with determination you can make the future better.
1 week 3 days ago
Committed, knowledgeable and experienced Armenians such as Mr. Seraydarian are confidence builders for the WAN-C project.
1 week 3 days ago
The proper characterization would be to say, Jursit Raphael Lemkin (a lawyer of Jewish descent and Holocaust survivor) coined the word Genocide to specifically describe the destruction of the Armenians and the barbarity that befell them at the hands of the Turkish state; and he later used the term to describe the destruction of the European Jewry. It is the International Association of Genocide Scholars that calls it the Armenian genocide.
It is not a *battle over History* as the program states using subversive language; it is a battle over *Acknowledgment of the Crime of genocide* by the Turkish State with Accountability.
1 week 4 days ago
We, human beings agree, disagree, struggle and fight to the extent that sometimes it gets ugly. This is unfortunate. It starts with one individual or group of individuals, a party may be to start but it takes another individual or group of individuals to start a fight. If the other party does not respond responsibly, with wisdom, forgiveness and sacrifice for the good of the people, things go ugly. It went ugly in Lebanon, but it also happened that both parties cooperated very well in the face of a common threat.
There is another greater problem threatening Armenian unity, and that is the language divider: Western Armenian vs Eastern Armenian. What Jacques Hagopian taught us in school is very different from what we see in our church on Sundays because our church secretary speaks Eastern Armenian. Famous poet, intellectual, veteran teacher Jacques Hagopian, in his early 90s and still writing a book, believes Western Armenian is to be used because it is the classic Armenian.
In spite of it, I suggest that leaders of the Armenian people in Armenia or in the Diaspora to seriously consider unifying our language by compromising, e.g. instead of saying "militia" let us say "zinvoragan", as in western Armenian, and instead of counting "ootsoon" after the "yotanasoon", let us count, "yotanasoon, ootanasoon", as in Eastern Armenian, thus we will have "tear down the wall".
Language is the last thing that should divide the Armenian people into "us" and "them".
1 week 4 days ago
Խոսք չկա, որ երբ այդ հույժ կարևոր թեմայի մասին լուրեր լինեն, հրամցվելու է Թուրքիայի աղավաղված ու մոլորեցնող տարբերակը:
1 week 4 days ago
Where can I get more information about Manouk Tenkerian (the one involved in first resistance of Dort-yol) and his family? By the way that is also my father's name.
Thanks.
1 week 5 days ago
The girl sitting next to me and I discussed various topics related to Armenianness, sharing perspectives from our respective Armenian communities, and so on. We finally touched upon the fratricide that occurred in Lebanon during the war. Her response was dismissive, "it was all the Hnchaks' fault [what happened]".
Providing kids from Bourj-Hammoud an opportunity to play intramural sports, travel to Armenia, and have a sense of belonging is deserving of applause. Teaching their young (or implying to them) that one of the darkest chapters of contemporary Armenian political parties was a one-sided affair, is convenient, but not indicative of change.
1 week 5 days ago
Sireli Hayrenagitsner,
We should never try to get rid of at least the 3 major political parties that played a big role in our history regardless of mistakes that they all made, it's dangerous. No new party will be better or perfect, instead we need to unite as one including Armenia, Diaspora, our Churches, under one flag with one voice and one aim which is to secure our homeland, save our people from the worse , liberate our historic lands, Giligia, save our language, our culture, our History and never forget the Armenian Genocide.
I beg of you all this is the time for us to take care of all these issues, otherwise there is not much time left and soon it will be to late.
One thing is for sure, we all love Armenia, we are all proud to be Armenian.
1 week 5 days ago
Dear Vartkes,
1 week 5 days ago
1 week 5 days ago
Dear Viken,
Congratulations for the exceptional accomplishment.
Best Regards,
Harout Chitilian
City Councillor Bordeaux-Cartierville
1 week 6 days ago
I am not surprised to read this information about these 'so-called' forum organizers. I experienced the same thing last year from these people.
Any one that wants to be fooled can apply again. Sorry, not I. Let them keep their photos to themselves!
GV
1 week 6 days ago
Don't we learn from our past experiences? It's too early and too late to see the bill recognized. It WILL NOT HAPPEN!!
1 week 6 days ago
Toutes mes félicitation, je soutiens tous les intellectuels :)
1 week 6 days ago
2 weeks 41 min ago
Vahrij, each of the Armenian political parties have a different ideology, hence it would be impossible for them to unite and we need to respect that. However, a new party or group should emerge that might be able to bring together most of the Armenians and be independent of the 'old' ideological concept, instead have an aim, e.g.: to get the lands back or more realistically, find people who still have deeds to the western lands or any proof as such and try to help them legally and politically to get their lands back.
We need to be more realistic than emotional to reach our aims.
2 weeks 3 hours ago
2 weeks 14 hours ago
Indeed “there is a huge trust deficit towards the established parties” be it the Armenian or American. However, I do not think it implies that there will be trust in a new non-traditional or contemporary (whatever that means) emerging political party.
The phenomenon, in my view, is manifestation of prevailing complex social norms to not belong to a political organization, to have a choice etc. What is paradoxical in my view is that there won't be choices to make if there are no organized political or social entities to chose from.
As to the Armenian political parties, my view is that each of us must be the instrument of the change we want to see and that does not come without participating in the parties and bring change. No emerging Armenian social entity can possibly replace the rich history of the traditional Armenian political parties and their affiliates and claim the legitimacy the traditional Armenian parties have.
2 weeks 14 hours ago
Thank you very much for this useful article and the comments. I love this site as it contains good materials.
2 weeks 15 hours ago
A new entity which encompasses the cultural, social, political, and religious make up of the Armenian nation.
2 weeks 17 hours ago
The so called "Policy Forum Armenia" is not open to all, it seems. I had written them to participate in the so-called first "forum". I never heard back from them. I just found out, I was not the only one. Please see the exhange by clicking on the link to the Armenian Weekly below:
http://www.armenianweekly.com/2010/02/20/second-annual-pfa-forum-on-arme...
2 weeks 19 hours ago
Since nowadays there are no serious ideological differences among the three political parties, and patriotism-survival of Armenian Diaspora is, by any measure, the top item on their agendas, I don't know why the Tashnag, Hnchag, Ramgavar parties don't unite and form a single party. Imagine the clout they would have. But we know better... the Old Guard will hold on to their "thrones" to the bitter end, even if it means jepardizing our survival away from Armenia.
2 weeks 21 hours ago
Արտայայտուած հանրային կարծիքի նշանակալից բարձր համեմատութիւնը նկատի ունենալով, եւ նկատի առնելով 2009 թուականի քաղաքահայեցողական անակնկալ տարակարծութիւններու ճակատագրական զարգացումը, աւելի քան համահայկական զօրակցութեան ու համակրանքին պիտի արժանանայ գոյանալիք Սփիւռքահայ ներկայացուցչական մարմինը, որու երկարատեւ բացակայութիւնը, կրնայ Սփիւռքահայութեան հայապահպանման առաքելութիւնը ջլատել։
2 weeks 1 day ago
Without President Obama acknowledging the genocide we will always have a dead duck (or turkey) in the water.
Is there any way we can tell our President to keep his promise? I believe only then will things pan out... rather fast.
2 weeks 1 day ago
Hello Houry, we cannot vote on your behalf, the poll is still open and accessible at: www.keghart.com/4diaspora
Thank you,
Team keghart
2 weeks 1 day ago
Sorry I missed the voting session but you can add my voice to the first group (a new entity is required). Houry
2 weeks 1 day ago
Dear Vicken,
Wishing you success on this new mission!
Houry
2 weeks 2 days ago
Like parents, like son!
Յաջողութիւն ապագայի բոլոր ձեռնարկումներուդ մէջ Վիգէն։
2 weeks 2 days ago
2 weeks 3 days ago
What an article?
Our grandfather might be among the descendents of the 40 orphans adopted by the Emperor.
My maternal grandfather, Vardan is an Armenian & was working for Seferian & Company Ltd. The company existed both in Sudan & Ethiopia. We do not know more on what happened to him. We are wondering, if anyone knows about him?
For your info, my mother was born in Gambella, Ethiopia. Hope to hear some news about my grandfather!
Bedilu
2 weeks 4 days ago
Շնորհաւոր Վիգէն Ճա՛ն, We need people like you in every Armenian community of every country. -V-
2 weeks 4 days ago
Dear Viken,
Once again, you made us proud.
Paregamoren,
Hagop
2 weeks 5 days ago
2 weeks 6 days ago
I congratulate and thank Turkish intellectuals for their courage, integrity and honesty. I hope that they set an example to Turkey to do likewise and to compensate for the diabolical crimes of its predecessors by compensating the Armenian people and by returning Western Armenia to its rightful owners.
While I believe that the apology of the Turkish intellectuals is sincere, I worry that official Turkey would use it to mislead the world that things are improving in Turkey, and thus burnish its image as a credible EU candidate.
2 weeks 6 days ago
Congratulations to the Turkish intellectuals and to the Armenians. I salute you for your courage. Viva!
2 weeks 6 days ago
El genocidio Armenio es una situación muy trágica.
3 weeks 13 hours ago
Gaytzag,
I would, however, try to refrain from finger-pointing only one particular sector, as in those what you call "Etchmiadznagans" there were quite a few influential people both in the Diaspora and in Armenia who believed in what otherwise I would call mixed economy. The assassinations of October 1999 eventually helped the oligarchs to consolidate themselves. Don't you think?
And what about the decade that followed the tragedy? Whole sectors of the economic infrastructure, and more importantly strategic elements were given away for private gains.
May I suggest to read Harut Der-Tavitian's excellent analysis of the Wasted Decade?
3 weeks 17 hours ago
Nice job, Avedis.
3 weeks 19 hours ago
3 weeks 1 day ago
They were against those who would have wished RA to be a European, rather Swedish-Danish-Finnish style Euro-Socialistic system.
Why are you so surprised that this has occured.
Capitalism has shown its failure...Wise up and think Euro-Sedish socialism for our Patria, not this wild free market economy that has brought the world to the brink of catastrophe.
3 weeks 1 day ago
I live now in New York City and am doing research for myself on the history of Ethiopians in Armenia. I am intrigued by Anna's book and will buy it. While I didnt grow up in Ethiopia, my upbringing was colored by the world of the Ethiopian Armenian Community and I feel a part of it. My great grandfather I believe was a big part of the community. If you have more information about the Behesnilians in Ethiopia or stories of my grandmother, I would love to hear them. My father passed away in 2009, and like so many Armenians of his generation and older, he took many of his stories and our history with him, despite my numerous request to hear more.
Please contact me at antonsrgnt[at]aol.com I don't check the email every day so it might take a few days to get back..or post here too.. thanks! Tony
3 weeks 1 day ago
Well shavarsh,
I've read the other articles of Mr.kradjian and being familiar to his writing pen, I don't see any subjectivity in this article. I think what he wants to do is highlight us facts that have occurred in our history so that readers acknowledge the right and wrong of our people.
In my opinion, it is a good thing to understand our defeats and ask questions about the past to have a better future..
By the way, Mr.kradjian has written this article after a lot of research (based on his bibliography). It's not an amateur's works I might add.
3 weeks 2 days ago
3 weeks 2 days ago
Yes, Shavarsh, by asking so many questions about our past, and quoting Natali, you are on the right track.
3 weeks 2 days ago
You can always translate any comments on this site by clicking on the small links at the top of the comment. Each one translates it to a different language as follows:
We will be replacing those codes with the corresponding country flags soon.
3 weeks 2 days ago
Citing Vratsian's "thoughts" may or may not shed light on what our leaders at the time were thinking, however there are so many contradictory bits and pieces here and there that one wonders who actually was leading the Armenians and the "independent" Armenia at the time.
Here are some contradictions:
1. How come Vratsian and co. were so anti-bolshevik yet Dashnaks co-operated with Sdepan Shahumyan in the Baku commune?
2. Why did Zoravar Antranig following the liberation of Nakhichevan hand over the responsibility of governing it to Shahumyan and not to the national government in Yerevan?
3. Why did the government in Yerevan not accept Moscow's offer to keep Armenia neutral in the overall conflict like it was offered to Finland which was spared being "invaded" by the Bolsheviks?
4. Why Vratsian and Co. who were offered to be part of the new Soviet government in Yerevan ultimately made matters worse by staging "Pedervaryan Abesdamutyun" - February insurrection?
Nowadays, it has become quite fashionable to equate the then Bolsheviks with Turkey , and not see the gross mistakes that some of our leaders committed. Was it because of not grasping the gravity of what was shaping up in the north, namely the new order in Russia and beyond?
Could it be that long before the May 1920 Bolshevik insurrection and eventual entry of the 11th Red Army Vratsian and Co. (not all Dashnaks) had already made up their mind?
Could somebody shed light on the following bit of information?
In September-October 1919 the Dashnkas held their 9th General conference in Yerevan. During the gathering the matter of punishing the perpetrators of the Armenian massacres was discussed leading to the creation of the secret group Nemesis. Several delegates, including S. Vratsian, R. Ter-Minasyan, A. Djamalian and R. Darbinyan were against such measures arguing that "The newly formed republic was in need of Turkey's friendship." (Quoting Shahan Natali in Hayastan 661, Jan. 30, 2010, p.24).
3 weeks 2 days ago
We need proof that they are New Turks--truly enlightened, that their intentions are honorable. We don't want the fate of martyr Krikor Zohrab.
3 weeks 2 days ago
Unfortunately Hrant Dink thought that he could change the spots on a leopard with kind words...Not so......
3 weeks 2 days ago
Aydin Bey,
You recognize the right of Turkey to invade Cyprus in order to save Turkish kinsmen and yet you deny those rights to Karabagh Armenians. Any reasonable person will call it HYPOCRISY..
Obviously your knowledge of history is formed and manufactured by Azeri propaganda , not by facts.
Facts # 1 Azerbaijan declared its independence from Soviet Union , according to Soviet constitution
Fact # 2 Karabagh declared its independence from Azeri overlords by the same constituton.
Fact #3 Upon this declaration Azeris started the Sumgait massacre of Armenians. ( Aydin Bey, do not believe me just put a search in Google and click Sumgait)
Azeris could not swallow their misguided sense of pride and attacked Karabagh Armenians AND Armenians of Armenia went to the aid of their kinsmen. As they say in Turkish :" evdeki hesap carsiya uymadi" loosely translated " the results were not same as what they had hoped for " that is to say eradicating Armenians.
Well, Aydin, can you see the parallel here?
As they say, "Yalancinin mumu yatsiya kadar yanar". For those who do not know Turkish it means " the liar's candle stays lit untill bed time"
3 weeks 3 days ago
Excellent Analysis! I may add that Armenia has golden opprtunity to claim Western Armenia!
3 weeks 3 days ago
In my view, this historical article shows how much our leaders have not only missed the train but have been on a train going in a completely different direction. Papken's comment and citation of Mr. Veratsian's thoughts, one of the "architects" of the treaty of Aleksandrapol, shows the origins of our diasporan fratricidal conflicts.
By the way, Mr. Krajian has neither mentioned the name of Ataturk in this article, nor any implication that today's turks are different from the past. maybe Mesrob and Vrej should read the article a second time.
3 weeks 4 days ago
Ս. Վրացեան
1) «Այսօր մենք երկու իրական ուժ ունինք մեր կողքին, մէկը Սովետական Ռուսաստանն է, միւսը Թուրքիան: Միւս ուժերը մեզանից շատ հեռու են: Առաջինի հետ, ինչպէս ցոյց տուեց դառը փորձը, հաշտուէլ չենք կարող, Մենք պէտք է հաշտուենք ու բարեկամանանք միւսի հետ: Այդ անհնարին չէ, որորվհետեւ մենք եւ Թուրքերը ունինք ընդհանուր շահեր որ ամենայն համերաշխութեամբ կարող ենք պաշտպանել ընդհանուր ուժերով.»
(Տես Ս. Վրացեան, «Կեանքի Ուղիներով», հատոր Զ, էջ 46 )
2) Ներկա Թուրքիան այլեւս չի նմանիր հին Թուրքիային, ոչ ալ Քէմալը կը նմանի Էնվէր-Թալաաթի: Անոնք կոտորիչներ չե՛ն, ինչպէս հիները էին:
3 weeks 4 days ago
In c1911, communiques were received and documented in Washington, D.C., by the
newly elected President Wilson sent by witnesses: Missionaries in Turkey. President Wilson was informed of the upheavals and pending violations of human rights that resulted in their persecution, torture, and death of 1.2 million Armenians in Turkey through c1918. Then, .
President Wilson won the c.1919 NOBEL PEACE PRIZE. His advisors told him to leave Turkey to resolve their ethnic cleansing. Because of this tragedy Armenians have had to scatter throughout the globe even though treaties between the Allies were to be enforced (USA,Britain, Germany and France). .
The survival of one family persecuted during the Ottoman Empire in Turkey is incredible. All were forced to flee. This family fled to Aintab, then Aleppo in Syria c.1915-1918. This family relocated in Beirut, Lebanon but in c1973, Beirut was destroyed. The surviving 25 members of the family migrated to USA by my deceased husband, Avedis H. Aintablian, living in San Francisco. The mother, a single-parent, five siblings and their children can still track the lineage of those tortured and killed.
Prior to c1973, my husband was studying at UC, Berkeley and Stanford, CA. At his first opportuniity he founded the St. Gregory Armenian Church in San Francisco. He had the first USA Patent in Waste-Recycling "WAMAR", c1971: Plastics as Construction Bricks. Also, prior to that time he was instrumental in the Bechtel first International Petroleum Pipeline, c1955 in Shiraz, Iran. He acted as manager of 500-engineers on the Agena-Rocket Launch at Lockheed. He spoke six languages which enabled his travels during exile.
The Armenian Christians in Turkey, Syria, and especially Iraq were the first Christian martyrs in bliblical times c300 AD. Are we still creating martyrs in those countries?
3 weeks 4 days ago
According to "Ataturkun soylev ve demecleri" (Ankara: Ataturk Kultur Dil ve Tarih Yuksek Kurumu, 1997), 2:130, cited by Rifat Bali, Ataturk declared in 1923 to an assembly of Muslim Turkish craftsmen that "Armenians have no rights all in this prosperous country. This land is yours, the land belongs to the Turks. In history this land was Turkish, therefore it is Turkish and will remain Turkish for ever. The land has finally been returned to its rightful owners. The Armenians and the others have no rights here at all. These blessed regions are the native land of the true Turks."
Yes, Asia Minor was originally located in Central Asia but because of tectonic shifts it sled west to separate the Black and Mediterranean Seas. That should scientifically explain why Occupied Armenia is now the native land of the true Turks.
Mr. Krajian says today's Turks are different. Tell it to the Kurds, to the Alevis, to the Hamshen Armenians, to the Greek Cypriots. Tell it to the Israelis who for decades have supported Turkey and now find themselves hate target of Ankara and Turks in general. And finally tell it to the average Turk who is deprived of basic human rights.
By the way, until recently I had assumed that the Ataturk honorific was bestowed on Kemal by the Turks. Wrong! Modest Mustafa gave the title to himself. Only if we could find an Anaturk. But then again, the womanizing bachelor didn't have much use for women, except for the obvious.
3 weeks 4 days ago
Needless to say, Erdogan will not commit genocide. However, if the world situation allowed him, he would have no compunction to invade Armenia and remove the bothersome "obstruction" to continuous Turkic land from the Bosphorus to China.
While Erdogan will not commit genocide (there is no substantial Armenian minority left in Turkey), Turkey continues to persecute millions of Kurds, and the Alevi Turks are considered second-class citizens.
As well, our distrust of Turkey is not just one of having little faith in its leaders regarding Armenians. The fabric of Turkish society suffers from the anti-Armenian virus, to the point that to call someone Armenian is to curse him or to denigrate him. Centuries of Turkish domination of the ra'iya (herd) have made Turks racist Armenophobes in both sense of the word--hatred and fear.
3 weeks 4 days ago
I would like to dispute some of your claims.
Turkey did everything diplomatically possible and only when the situation became even more dire used the military option.
Border closing with Armenia happened due to Armenian invasion of Nogorno Karabakh. Turkey could not tolerate aggressive military action near its borders, especially when it involved Azerbaijan, a Turkish kin and ally. However, other communication routes were not closed as there are flights between Yerevan and Istanbul twice a week. Turks and Armenians are free to travel, shop freely. Of course, this border closing hurt Armenians but also had major negative impact on local Turkish community as well. Recent moves are giving me hope that the border will again be opened soon.
As far as genocide being committed against Palestinians, I agree with you to an extent. There is no doubt Palestinians are suffering under Israeli occupation, but calling their suffering as genocide is wrong. When people start using these type of loaded legal terms to depict any human tragedy, solutions become impossible to achieve...
UN is a body of nations causing problems and it is not in its charter to interfere aggressively in the affairs of nations. Having said that, their work goes on to minimize such problems and to ease the human suffering all over the world, albeit not in very noticeable and visible manner.
There is no institution in the world to prevent or solve big problems we all encounter.
3 weeks 5 days ago
According to latest news from Azerbaijan each time that their king makes warlike statements lots of young Azeris run away from Azerbaijan to other CIS countries. In the last war most of front soldiers were minorities of Azerbaijan....Why should they sacrifice their lives for a despot?
3 weeks 5 days ago
Great article.
3 weeks 5 days ago
The government's Anti-Armenian pressures were obvious and visible even to tourists. I found that the Armenian communities, rather resiliently, stand by their principles and looking forward and hoping for some positive help from diaspora and specially from our snail pacing RA government.
Zory Balayan made a world tour some eight years ago, pointing all those sufferings and difficulties, but who took notice of him?
3 weeks 5 days ago
Այսօր ալ Ջաւախքի հայ շարժումը մեծաւ մասամբ կը ծառայէ Մոսկուայի շահերուն: Աւելի քան բուն ջաւախահայութեան շահերուն:
Անշուշտ չեմ արդարացներ Թիֆլիսի օտարատեցութիւնը, սակայն մոռնալու չէ, որ խնդիրը երկու երեսակ ունի:
3 weeks 5 days ago
Examples:
1. Cyprus got invaded by Turks illegally and what did the UN do? - nothing!!
2. Genocide is being committed against the Palestinians and UN is just 'observing' and in some instances becoming a victim itself !!...
3. Border closing of a landlocked country is internationally condemned, yet Turks are getting away with it by blockading Armenia.
Armenians should leave any country if we are being oppressed there (e.g. Georgia in this case) and the Armenian government should help those people get free homes, immediate jobs, food, transportation, etc. We need to increase the population in Armenia and we can start by bringing people from those places where they are being oppressed.
But of course the Armenian government is corrupt as the Mafia...oops!
3 weeks 5 days ago
Should Armenia ever get an alternate route through Turkey with access to the outside world, Georgia will pay the price.
The Georgian authorities jumped at the opportunity to build a rail line from Kars that would bypass Gyumri and further isolate Armenia. One should never forget that in 1915 the dominant nationality in Tiflis was Armenian. When the 1st First World War ended, Armenia was willing to pay for an access route to Batumi port and the Georgians refused.
To my Georgian friends I say, "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap".
3 weeks 5 days ago
Thank you for such an informative article that opens our eyes to a new space of Armenianness. I confess that it's the first time that I hear about Javakhk Armenians, and I read with big pain the new genocide that is perpetrated in Georgia - it's not only cultural, but also against human beings.
I don't know why a supposedly Christian country like Georgia can't respect human life. On the other hand experiences, like Serbians', show that many a times faith is only a religious definition, not a style of life. Sometimes, under human skin, a wild animal lives that looks to devour "preys".
I don't know how I could help. I will distribute this article, but, of course, I think it isn't enough.
Did the United Nations take any action in defense of those minorities? What is the Armenian goverment doing for its own people in Georgia? Still, most importantly, what can we do for them? Martin Luther King said "Not only will we have to repent for the sins of bad people, but we also will have to repent for the appalling silence of good people". I don't want to be a silent accomplice.
Paraphrasing Jorge Luis Borges, being Armenian is not a place of birth, but is a destiny. Destiny in not written in stones. We write our own destiny with our thoughts, decisions, efforts and acts.
Best regards.
3 weeks 5 days ago
The ironic part is that it's Georgian policies above that led them to losel S. Ossetia and Abkhazia for good, and other regions will likely follow if the jingoistic tendencies of official Tiflis continue.
3 weeks 6 days ago
A few ideas in this respect that I would like to throw out as a visitor to this website:
No diaspora can sustain itself without the support of an official state aparatus. Whether we like it or not, the Diaspora needs the backing and support of the Republic of Armenia to continue maintaining any organizational structure. Otherwise, any organizational structure we - expat Armenians - devise will get fragmented sooner or later.
The diaspora cannot be organized under a single umbrella taking care of all its aspects. The diaspora has to be active within the polticial, cultural and social spheres and all these spheres require that each community interacts with the local population and adapts to the local rules, regulations and values. Considering that none of those local values has precedence over the others, which one will be guiding the instance speaking in the name of the diaspora? This takes you back to my first point, where the Republic of Armenia has the right and is expected to set its own set of rules and values.
Up until the independence of Armenia, a few abstract notions represented by a few slogans were enough to create some kind of a momentum in the Armenian diaspora. Things have changed since the 1990-s. The idea of repatriation, for example, which was a serious topic before that date, simply crumbled; how many of us repatriated to Armenia after independence? The notion that young Armenians were ready to fight for the homeland just vanished; how many of us took the trip to Karabagh? The Armenian diaspora is here to stay and it cannot be sustained by abstract notions anymore. In this situation, a re-evaluation of the diaspora, its capabilities, potential and goals should be performed in a rational and scientific manner then start looking for the best means and structure - if needed - to reach those goals. Here is where the Armenian academics have a crucial role to play.
Just a few thoughts...
4 weeks 22 hours ago
always proud of you
4 weeks 2 days ago
Sooner or later those two will clash. Do you really think Israel will ever trust Muslim Azerbaijan? By the way did you miss the Turkish Israeli conflict over Gaza's Palestinians?
Vrejouhy
Calgary, Alberta
4 weeks 2 days ago
Մենք որ խելք չունինք՝ Ռուսիոյ առաջնորդութիւնը անհրաժեշտ է որ փոսը չիյնանք:
Խորհրդային 14 միւս ազգերը գլուխը առեր գացեր են, իսկ մենք մեր ստրկութեան քաղցր օրերը կ'երազենք տակաւին:
4 weeks 2 days ago
Իրարու քով գանք, պահիկ մը դադրինք զիրար յօշոտելէ եւլն եւլն: Հայ ջոջերը ամէն տեսակի եւ դասակի շատ ալ միասնական են, երբ խնդիրը ազգը ծախելու կու գայ: Իսկ ծախելիք տակաւին կայ. միայն Մելգոնեանով կամ Մուրատ Ռափայէլեանով չի վերջանար խնճոյքը:
Երբ որ բոլոր ինչքերը ծախենք եւ դրամը մսխենք, այն ատեն Հայ դատը լրջօրէն պիտի հետապնդենք, որպէս զի Թուրքիայէն ալ հետագային ծախելիք պատառ մը փրցնենք, ինչո՞ւ չէ:
4 weeks 4 days ago
Once in a blue moon when the United States administration made an impartial statement about the Arab-Israeli conflict, Israel and its busy-bee lobbyist on this side of the Atlantic would wail that America was selling Jewish blood for Arab oil.
Now that Israel is selling arms and providing military training, in addition to electronic espionage facilities to the Azeris, no one is moaning that Israel is trading Armenian blood for Azeri oil. I guess "Romancing The Petrol--Israeli Style" is kosher when the beneficiary is the Zionist entity.
4 weeks 4 days ago
I agree with Vartkes. Why should the church get involved?
Getting the political parties together is a futile exercise. The Diaspora has seen it all thus far. For as long as they have not apologized to the Armenian public for their murderous acts, such as the fratricide in Lebanon in 1958, they should have no say in shaping our future. They ask Turkey to apologize, but does the leadership of each one of the parties think for a moment to come clean for what they have done?
I neither would support the inclusion of the parties nor the church. The rest, the vast silent majority either lives with the status quo or takes seriously what's ahead and does something about it. That's my choice.
4 weeks 4 days ago
With all due respect, we should stop including the church in political matters.
4 weeks 4 days ago
Turkish/Azeri contribution to history:
- Stealing other people's culture
- Genocide of several nations (Armenians, Greeks, Assyrians, etc.)
- Destruction
- Killings
- Stealing
- Rape
...and more
4 weeks 5 days ago
"Other" is too diluted as suggestions go.
H. Kouyoumjian
4 weeks 5 days ago
Armenians have been mentioned in Akkadian inscriptions (Naram-Sin) as early as 2,500 B.C. And Armenians have remained on their land, despite constant invasions, most recently by the Turks and the Russians. We have seen empires (Assyrian, Egyptian, Babylonian, Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Arab, Memeluke, Persian) come and go. We are still here. We shall stay here and continue the struggle to regain Western Armenia, now occupied by Turkey, in addition to Occupied Nakhichevan and the rest of Artsakh.
I understand Aliev is spending some of his petrodollars to launch a campaign "proving" that Azeris have been in the so-called Azerbaijan since Adam and Eve were teenagers. If you have the money, you buy the 'history' professor and the 'history' books you want. Good luck to you as you continue to hallucinate, just as Mustafa Kemal did when he rewrote not just the history of Turks but also the history of mankind, claiming that all humanity descends from....(take a guess!) the Turks. But we forgive the demented guy: he liked his raki too well. Azeri history books, just like Turkish history books belong in the fiction section of libraries. Azeris are separatist Iranians. A flag doesn't make a state or a people.
Now go and stuff your face with garlick-studded dolma, and don't pollute this site with your rants and ravings. "I Love Azerbaijan!" Can't you do better than that? Pitiful.
4 weeks 5 days ago
The West, especially the United States, gives priority to Turkish interests. If I were in charge of U.S. foreign policy, I would do the same. So who else is there we can count on? The European Union? Iran? Not likely. It's back to Moscow--willy, nilly.
4 weeks 6 days ago
By the way, Armenians also could have been successful in much richer Azerbaijan if they had not followed their stupid nationalistic ideas to seperate Nagorniy Karabakh from Azerbaijan and unite it with Armenia.
Nationalism plays into the hands of only a handfull of Armenians and also supports Moscow's imperialisitic ambitions.
4 weeks 6 days ago
Quite right !
Abriss Naomi
4 weeks 6 days ago
Esd sovoroutian, shad hadjeli hotvadz muh ;-)
4 weeks 6 days ago
I am not a pro-soviet person, however logic, diplomacy and politics indicate our only hope now is Russia. They would never accept creation of a Turkish belt under their border. That's one of the reasons that they will guard our borders and interests.
Also note that it was Stalin that divided the region, including Armenia and he was considered as a criminal even by his own people.
4 weeks 6 days ago
5 weeks 22 hours ago
In the last two years, in South Africa, prime interest rates dropped from 16% to 10.5% which means for the capital of the sale value which was around US$1.5Million, with the interest earned in one year, we, the Armenian Society of South Africa could have bought a new place, and still we are not considering the interest of five years since the sale of Missak Museum.
In 2004 Ms. Anita Anserlian was asked by the Armenian Society of South Africa (When I was serving as chairman and now I serve as vice chairman of the society) to consider offering a small percentage of that money to us, to buy a small and less fancy place for which she promised to get back to us in the very near future, and after six years, we are still waiting for that so called "very near future" and her response.
Note that, Missak museum was not donated by AGBU, it was the residence of late Missak who donated it to the local community.
5 weeks 1 day ago
Hi, I would like to know more. I believe my great grandfather was involved. His name was Sarkis Majarian. I am trying to look into my family tree. Maybe you could help me.
Thank you for your time.
Regards,
Charles Majarian
5 weeks 1 day ago
5 weeks 1 day ago
Keghart has been informed human rights activist "Deli" (Crazy) Kevork Hatspanian passed away in Cologne(Koln), Germany on Jan. 28. Turks called him "Gavuroglu"(Son of Infidel). Kevork spent a significant part of his early life in Turkish prisons where he was tortured. He gained his freedom in 1974 through Amnesty International. His "crime" was advocating human rights. He never hid his Armenian identity, and demanded restitution for the descendents of Genocide survivors.
His son, Sarkis Hatspanian, wrote from prison in Vardashen, Armenia, "I will keep the memory of my honest, honorable father who fought to live in dignity with a big heart and longing desire, and to be the 'crazy' heir to all my father's dreams which could not be realized."
Keghart.com mourns the passing away of Kevork, and conveys its condolences to Kevork's son, his family and friends.
5 weeks 2 days ago
This is a holy nationaI mission. Thank you for a timely and excellent initiative. I join you if I can be of any help in any way.
God Bless You.
Avedis Kalayjian
5 weeks 2 days ago
Analyzing the various documents posted on the IOC's website reveal several contradictions at least in the English versions. Some interpretations of historical events appear to be lopsided and should have not even been included. They may be the views of a few in the IOC and may not be shared by others or future adherents to the concept of having a viable congress representing the claims of the descendents of the Genocide.
The mission statement should be clearly stated in very concise, non convoluted and straightforward fashion. That's not the case, as presented, and there is confusion as to what the long-term goals are.
Another issue is participation and membership in the proposed congress. It is not clear, for example, whether interested individuals irrespective of whether they are descendents of the survivors of the Genocide, and whatever citizenship they hold, can or can not be part of the congress. A typical case would be the situation of Armenians from India or Iran. They are, by and large not descendents of the survivors of the Genocide, and their claims are not directly related to the horrific events. However, both communities historically have actively engaged in many Armenian related endeavours and have even provided solutions.
Hopefully, the initiating committee will look at the different remarks, comments and proposals, and act upon them to ensure the participation of all who have an interest and a stake in the proposed congress. That would be a sign of being responsive to the public and ensure transparency.
5 weeks 3 days ago
Arsen (Persian translator)
5 weeks 3 days ago
5 weeks 4 days ago
Serj, since your reply is to Yeghish's comment, you should hit the Reply option so that we can see the thread. Otherwise it's hard to see which one you are commenting for...
5 weeks 4 days ago
5 weeks 4 days ago
I would like to hear the opinion of a well-informed person.
5 weeks 4 days ago
My only suggestion would be that we should elect people to this committee based on what they know and how they can contribute, rather than whom they know and what political affiliation they have. I am surprised that it took about 100 years to actually do something.
Best of luck to you and anything I can do to help, please don't hesitate to ask.
5 weeks 5 days ago
Yegish,
As for "Jewish" strategy...Yes..I am 100% in agreement with you. The whole world is run by them no matter what the sceptics say. Can we be like them? In commerce, maybe BUT in politics no way.....
5 weeks 5 days ago
It upsets me that our dear lecturer is simplifying the question of armenian children,entrusted as she says to kind Turks who raised them as osmanlis.
Even if it could be that some Armenian parents entrusted their children to some neighbours , the majority however were taken by force, abducted. The Armenian genocide is the greatest theft in history, the Turks were stealing our children, they were seen merely as commodities.
There is new research on this issue. I suggest reading Vahe Tachdjian, Mathias Björnlund and even Turkish sources. The latest book is called "Our Grandchildren" - Torunlar, where you can hear the stories of these young girls who were abducted, forced to marriage, distibuted to officers and Turkish elites.
Moving children from a group to another group by force is Genocide, according to the genocide convention. How about compensating for this loss!!!
5 weeks 5 days ago
Arpiar Petrossian's remarks are well taken.
Hence, as we notice, there is no distinction of Eastern or Western Armenian right at the start in the initiating committee itself.
My impression is that the term Western is used because of the particular nature of the claim which is related to present day Turkey and traditionally is known as Western Armenia, and is understood as such in international politics. What Mr. Petrossian proposes, i.e. WWAC is already exercised by participants in IOC, but having such a name for the organization could potentially create legal complications, because it entails inclusion of Armenia as a state. Such a designation would definitely be objectionable by courts and international institutions, including Armenia as a sovereign entity. It would be an infringement. I am sure you know the controversy between Macedonia and Greece.
The goal is not creating yet another Armenian organization for Armenians for the content of what some call the "disgruntled". That would be a misadventure. The concept is to have a representative organization that can present claims to Courts and International Organizations.
Let me give you an example. Here in Canada up to few years ago there was an organization calling itself Armenian World Alliance. Nobody did object to the name as long as it was functioning within the Armenian community and in the Canadian context. It would have been a different matter if it tried to present itself as representative of worldwide Armenians on the international scene. That name definitely would have been unacceptable, to begin with by Armenia.
Some have suggested to call the proposed congress as Diasporan. That too is faulty, because there are citizens of Armenia who are descendents of the Genocide survivors and are legally considered claimants. The term would exclude them.
My hunch is that the term "Western Armenian" is arrived at following long discussions with legal experts. Viken Attarian too is suggesting change of name, but again, he as well is raising the possibility that those terms may have been adopted because of legalities. Please see his excellent remarks at http://www.keghart.com/Attarian_WAN_C
Between now and November, when the Congress is proposed to take place in Paris, I am sure, many such comments about the name will be made. Ultimately those who gather at the convention and elect an Assembly will be the ones that will decide following legal advice. Incidentally, the IOC has a committee of legal experts and the organization is registered in France.
Paregamoren,
Dikran
5 weeks 5 days ago
The mere name of the congress implies the existence of a nation needing an assembly of its own,
and the way it styles itself heir to genocide survivors, suggests the exclusion of many Armenians from the national cause.
Why not call it WWAC (for World Wide Armenian Congress) and invite the whole Diaspora to join?
5 weeks 5 days ago
I am not saying that the WANCongress will replace them, NO! their mission is completely different.
But they might not need the support of those stagnating parties after all...hopefully.
5 weeks 5 days ago
We need to be independant, strong and smart. How to do it? easy, use the Jewish strategy; put people in key positions in foreign governments, industry, economics, finance, etc.
OK, OK it's not that easy, we should've started long time ago, it takes time; but the sooner we start, the more chances we will have.
5 weeks 5 days ago
I remember Prof. Kherlopian in Los Angeles several years ago talking to some friends. It was just after the cease fire and at a gathering. I just happened to eavesdrop "if they had not tied our hands our boys were going all the way to Baku ".
Dreaming ? Who knows.....but the perfidious Azeris know that it will not be easy for them.
If there is a plan like Dikran suggests.....vay...vay...our poor boys who will shed their lives!
5 weeks 5 days ago
Perfidious Turks....as ever...
5 weeks 5 days ago
What makes you think that they will shed their 100 plus years of expectations, experiences and support WAN-Congress?
Although the effort is well meaning I think it is a wishful thinking...Call me Jeremiah or Cassandra..
5 weeks 6 days ago
I love these examples Norair.
5 weeks 6 days ago
Dear Vahe,
One of the songs was:
Հայաստանի քաղաքներից Կարս էր անունը,
Կարս,Կարս,Կարս,
Հայրենի հարս,
Ե՞րբ պիտի դու մայր Հայաստան
Ետ վերադաոնաս:
The other:
Խեղճ Մշեցին մեոաւ լալով,
Օտար երկրներ ման գալով.
Մեոանք թուրքին հարկը տալով
Զարթնիր Լաո մըոնիմ քըզի:
So what's wrong? Is it not an insult to call them self-appointed commisars?
5 weeks 6 days ago
I totally agree. But would like to see a logical argument that can convince us otherwise. Those who are opposing WANCongress or the idea of what they are doing, let them give their opinions in a logical manner and show us that the concept is not good. But please don't generalize and don't say that this will never succeed. Trying is better than being passive!
5 weeks 6 days ago
Ghazaros is accurate in his description of Cassandra, the mythical seer who foresaw the disaster of the Trojan War for all concerned. However, over the three millennia since Homer sang about her, Cassandra has, at least in the English language, changed shape and has become a symbol of negativity, someone who cries wolf at all occasions.
5 weeks 6 days ago
Google and Wikepedia came to my rescue. According to Wikipedia "Apollo put a curse on her so that no one would believe her predictions". It is claimed that she foresaw the destruction of Troy but could not do anything about it because no one would believe her. I wonder now what to make of the Cassandras when it comes to the Western National Congress.
That does not mean I do not support the WNC's participation in national dialogue, I do.
5 weeks 6 days ago
I think that this is the time to decide and work as a whole or else we are going to lose all that remains, even our country, in this dirty political turmoil of the world.
5 weeks 6 days ago
Note: Ms. Mehtab Kepenek (a Turkish name) is actually reading in Armenian and not " in Turkish later dubbed into Armenian" as suggested by the news information. Her lip movements are well in synch with the audio, but with a slight delay.
Best regards.
5 weeks 6 days ago
Vahe presented the KEA as a priceless tapestry of history, dignitaries, vision and achievements.
An excellent summary.
5 weeks 6 days ago
The Keghart Editors have mistakenly called naysayers, negativists and cynics "Cassandras."
In Greek mythology, Cassandra had been granted the power of foresight and correctly predicted destruction.
Her curse was that no one believed her and so her warnings went unheeded !
5 weeks 6 days ago
5 weeks 6 days ago
I didn't see any mention of dividing the Armenians; can you please provide links as how you came up with such a wrong conclusion?
6 weeks 25 min ago
6 weeks 2 hours ago
My grand mom was from Mush; the other one was from Zangezur, a grandfather was from Kars, the other from Lori...
Who are you self-appointed commissars to divide my entity, one and indivisible Armenia, into Western and Eastern, or Southern and Northern?
Who are you gypsies, to divide one Armenia into many?
Vahe6 weeks 4 hours ago
Another reflective and evocative article.
Thank you Vahe.
6 weeks 6 hours ago
6 weeks 21 hours ago
Առնուազն 26 հոգի կը ծրագրէ այցելել:
Հաւանաբար աւելի շահեկան պիտի ըլլար եթէ երկրորդ հարցում մըն ալ հարցուէր: Ե՞րբ վերջին անգամ այցելեցիր: Իմ պատասխանս պիտի ըլլար Ոչ, 2009:
6 weeks 1 day ago
Dear Vahe,
Does making a proposal on its own diminish the importance of what's being proposed? I don't think so.
Mr. Mikaelyan and his friends have taken an initiative which is very timely given the less than satisafactory condition of the status-quo. Some people may agree others may not. A response to the content would have been more appropriate than a dismissive statement.
I gather you have serious grounds to dispute the proposal, and that surely people would like to hear.
Paregamoren,
Nareg
6 weeks 3 days ago
We must Never Never Never give up.
6 weeks 4 days ago
6 weeks 4 days ago
To Ghazaros. I think the "Out of the Fog" editorial mentioned that we are witnessing new vigour, new ideas, and new groups to address our goals. In no way, to my understanding, did the piece advocate idle patience. WAN-Congress is one such new group which seems to have a new approach to obtain justice for the Armenian people.
6 weeks 4 days ago
My elementary, primary and part of the secondary education took place at St. Nshan Armenian School in Beirut where many of my teachers would tell us that we as students, or our children may not see the realization of our national aspirations in our lifetimes, but they were surely to come. Those were the pre 1965 years when the Armenian Genocide was more an indoor lamentation than a public commemoration. The fact of the matter is that I never expected then to experience in my lifetime what transpired and has been transpiring since then, especially the last two decades. The Armenian Genocide is widely recognized now, albeit still alleged by some. Armenia is a free and independent country now, who would have guessed that then? My maternal and paternal grandparents were orphaned survivors of the Armenian Genocide and they avoided the subject. In hindsight, I realize now that they were traumatized. I, as their firstborn grandchild and a grandfather as well, feel burdened to rectify the historical injustice to the extent that it is ever possible to rectify. We have come a long, long way and there is no reason that in time we will not achieve recognition, meaning reparation.
6 weeks 4 days ago
Չնայած նրան որ Հայաստանում դասավանդում են արևմտահայերեն լեզուն և գրականությունը հա՛մ դպրոցներում հա՛մ համալսարաններում, հայաստանցիների համար ոչ մի իմաստ չկա արևմտահայերեն բարբառը վերակենդանացնել և օգտագործել առօրյա կյանքում, քանի որ արևելահայերենը բավարարում է բոլոր պահանջները։
Իսկ սփյուրքը իր հերթին կամաց-կամաց մոռանում է արևմտահայերենը։
Այս բաները հաշվի առնելով արևմտահայերեն բարբառի մահը անխուսափելի է, բայց ես դրա մեջ ոչ մի ողբերգություն չեմ տեսնում։
6 weeks 4 days ago
Thank you editors, for articulating concerns shared by your brethren around the world. We must stay strong and empower our institutions to stay strong so that Armenia will live in coming "nor serounts" no matter where they live in the world. Something in this editorial needs to be fleshed out. Is "patience" really all that's required of us now? No strategy? If and when a Western Armenian National Congress is established, its primary job must be securing Western Armenian land return, along with restitution, reparation, restoration. That will require strategic thinking and action. While we are indeed still deeply traumatized, this should not prevent us from remaining active on the political stage, no matter how severely we feel hurt, insulted, paralyzed. The Turkish government needs no encouragement to marginalize righteous Armenian demands by bleating to anyone who will listen that Armenians instead suffer from mental illnesses and alleged genocide complexes. If it were left up to the likes of Jemal Pasha's grandson, Armenians would be force-fed a diet of twisted logic and one-upmanship. In one big therapeutic session to achieve universal brotherhood, Armenians would be called on to quell their demands and instead sit down and dialogue with Turks -- to hear of the devastating pain Turks feel about losing their grand Ottoman empire -- an empire, need we be reminded, that was built on rape, abduction, slavery and genocide of native populations such as ours and the pillage, theft, and confiscation of our beloved homeland usurped by the Turks themselves!
6 weeks 4 days ago
Well, at least someone is trying to do something, unlike people like you!!
Don't be a pessimist, we can do things right if we all think positive for a change...
6 weeks 4 days ago
Thank you for writing such a heartfelt and poignant article. I feel it is the duty of every Armenian to continue doing all they can to eventually get the Turkish government to admit to their role in the Armenian Genocide in 1915. The facts will not disappear. History cannot be altered. Turkey will advance themselves in the eyes of the world by leaps and bounds if they take responsibility in admitting what happened 95 years ago.
6 weeks 4 days ago
This is a good start. I expect from you - I am sure you can - to be more specific by giving numbers, statistics, quotes, data, short analytical articles.
Good job and I congratulate you.
Minas Kojayan
6 weeks 4 days ago
Dear Compatriots;
I don't know why the present Turkish government is protecting the Ottoman actions and committed Genocide against the Armenia nation; in fact they are the ones who toppled the Ottoman Empire. Normally, when a change in the regime occurs in any country, specially from monarchy to Republic, the new regime will change the flag of that country, as it is done in Iran.
In Turkey nothing is changed since Mustafa Kemal took the control of the country. It is the same flag, the same army, and most damaging is the thinking of the officers of Turkish army's hierarchy which has remained the same, Influenced by the past.
The Ottoman mentality still exists in the mind of many army officers and government personnel.
Hagop Karlozian
6 weeks 5 days ago
Or rather, the leadership of Armenia. Already the US media - which often as not referred to the Genocide as "the genocide" has tacitly decided that if Armenians are willing to make peace with the Turks without demanding recognition of the Genocide then there must be something to Turkish claims that it was an internal matter, a civil war, "both sides did it," etc. Want proof: A recent article in The Christian Science Monitor discussing the Protocols referred to the "100 year old dispute." Progressive Turks will no longer have to press for recognition of the Genocide. No one will speak of the Armenians. It never happened. Hitler would have been proven right in the end.
The Jews know this, which is why they never, ever let the world forget about the Holocaust and they fight any and all attempts to minimize it or trivialize it. Imagine the course of history had the newly formed Israel made peace with Germany. The Geneva Conventions (1949) and Nuremberg Principles (1950) would not have been written and enacted. And certainly, Israel would have not gotten a Reparations Agreement with West Germany in 1952.
6 weeks 5 days ago
Dr. Babjanian's comments remind me self- appointed critic Ara Baliozian's comment on our endurance and longevity in the world history. Some time ago I had given my opinion about the same and his answer was that " cockroaches also survive as long"....Well you draw your conclusions from this self-proclaimed pessimist.
6 weeks 5 days ago
My personal experience with Armenian schools has been positive regarding education, Armenian spirit (without anatagonism against or adherence to any party), and the Christian faith.
These 3 fields have been properly balanced within the three various Armenian Evangelical Schools that I attended. I have also heard the same positive feedback about some Armenian Catholic Schools here in Lebanon.
6 weeks 5 days ago
More self appointments.
6 weeks 5 days ago
Coming Out of the Fog
Despite all this stormy data our nation has faith in survival.
7 weeks 13 hours ago
By Asbarez Staff Jan 19th, 2010
The crowd, numbering around 2,000 to 3,000 according to police, braved snowfall to gather outside the offices of the Agos newspaper where Dink was editor-in-chief, chanting “The murderer state has to account for this!”, “We know the murderers, we want justice!”
“As long as light is not shed on this murder, we will be here, we will not give up,” said one of the many people who addressed the crowd from the window of the Agos office from which hung a picture of the slain journalist.
Several people left carnations and candles at the place where then 52-year-old Dink was killed on January 19, 2007.
This year’s slogan during the commemoration was “We know the killer, we want justice.”
“I am eminently enraged,” retired teacher Semra Tugcu said as she stood in the crowd.
She said she was not hopeful about Dink’s murder case. “I am a Turk, but this does not mean that I am not a minority in this country,” she said. “I feel like a minority, too.”
Hrant Dink’s wife, Rakel Dink, and their son and daughter were also at the Agos newspaper office.
Arat Dink, Hrant Dink’s son, spoke to the crowd. “Were those kids [those suspected of murdering Dink] alone while they were making fun of us in the court? … I do not trust justice in this country. But being here for the last three years with you makes me hopeful,” Arat Dink said.
Dink’s speech was frequently cut by slogans from the crowd such as, “Murderer state will give account,” “Despite fascism, you are my brother Hrant,” and “Either all together, or none of us, there is no salvation alone.”
The gunman, an unemployed nationalist who was 17 at the time, was captured shortly after the killing. He went on trial along with 19 suspected accomplices in 2007. The investigation, however, has yet to reveal the masterminds behind the killing.
Hours after the procession, a number of people climbed up a street pole at the corner of the Pangalti crossway in Istanbul’s central Sisli district where the commemoration had taken place and removed the “Ergenekon” street sign, replacing it with a street sign that read: “Hrant Dink Street.”
Ergenekon is also the name of an alleged gang that is accused of aiming to topple the government by creating turmoil in society and that is alleged to be connected to the “deep state.” Dink’s assassination is also linked to the “deep state,” according to investigators.
A group called Art for Peace organized the changing of the street signs. The group requested a meeting with Sisli Mayor Mustafa Sarigul to officially change the name of the street, but the meeting will be possible only after Jan. 19, the group said in a leaflet it distributed to the crowd in Sisli.
Members of the group changed the name of the street themselves without waiting for the meeting to take place.
7 weeks 15 hours ago
Armenia does not have anything else to negotiate other than creating trouble in the region. All of the world
knows that Armenians are very good at that.Why Armenians are such? Because they have been oppressed by the same people who today demand Armenia to sign this and that.
7 weeks 19 hours ago
My family is from El Salvador. My grandmother's maiden surname on my father's side is Sibrian. I've seen this name through out El Salvador. Aparently the name is of Armenian origin. My family comes from Chalatenango department near the Honduran border. However there is no cultural trace of any Armenian in the family, other than maybe certain phenotypes. I find this very interesting.
7 weeks 20 hours ago
http://www.avc-agbu.org/home.php
Good Luck
7 weeks 21 hours ago
By Asbarez Staff on Jan 19th, 2010
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu
In a statement issued late Monday, Turkey’s foreign ministry said “It has been observed that this [Constitutional Court] decision contains preconditions and restrictive provisions which impair the letter and spirit of the Protocols.”
“The said decision undermines the very reason for negotiating these Protocols as well as their fundamental objective. This approach cannot be accepted on our part,” continued the Turkish statement.
“Turkey, in line with its accustomed allegiance to its international commitments, maintains its adherence to the primary provisions of these Protocols,” added the statement.
“We expect the same allegiance from the Armenian Government,” the Turkish Ministry said in a statement,” concluded the brief statement.
On January 12, Armenia’s Constitutional Court upheld the constitutionality of the protocols, adding however, that the documents cannot have any connection with the ongoing Nagorno-Karabakh conflict resolution process or impede Armenia of its pursuit of international recognition of the Armenia Genocide. To reinforce the latter point, the Court referenced Article 11 of Armenia’s Declaration of Independence, which states: “The Republic of Armenia stands in support of the task of achieving international recognition of the 1915 Genocide in Ottoman Turkey and Western Armenia.”
Official Yerevan was quick to react with Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandian saying that he will personally phone his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu to “express my bewilderment and clarify where exactly the Turkish side sees preconditions and just how the decision by Armenia’s Constitutional Court contradicts the fundamental objectives of the protocols.”
Nalbandian also suggested that the Turkish government was looking for excuses to delay the process and add further preconditions on the protocols.
Despite countless arguments by the Armenian President and foreign minister that Armenia has entered this process without preconditions, Turkey has repeatedly linked the normalization of relations between the two countries with the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in favor of Azerbaijan.
As recently as late last week, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the protocols would not be ratified until a resolution to the Karabakh conflict is reached. These remarks came after his meeting with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin who bluntly said that the processes were separate and could not be interconnected. The same position was expressed by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov last week during his official visit to Yerevan.
The Armenian Revolutionary Federation, which has spearheaded vocal opposition to the protocols both in Armenia and the Diaspora, rejected Turkey’s statement. The party’s political director Giro Manoyan told reporters Tuesday that with its statement Turkey proved, once again, that, aside from its own interpretations, it rejects any other explanation of the protocols.
Manoyan warned that after this announcement by Turkey, Armenian authorities should not attempt to weaken the Armenian high court’s position.
“It is imperative for the Armenian authorities to not seek to weaken the Armenian Constitutional Court’s decision,” said Manoyan explaining, “The Armenian government must continue the process in the spirit of the court ruling.”
In a statement issued by the ARF following the Court ruling, the party expressed its continued rejection of the protocols, but added that the Constitutional Court provisions referenced above provide an opportunity for revisions in the next phase of the ratification process.
“We have launched a process of normalization in relations with Armenia and in good faith taken steps that include the signing of the protocols,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Burak Ozugergin told the Hurriyet Daily News & Economic Review. “We have often expressed our views about what the necessary conditions are for the maintenance of peace and stability in the Caucasus.”
The Turkish government submitted the protocols to Parliament, but they have not been submitted for ratification because they depend on the progress in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, added Hurriyet in its news report on the matter.
Burcu Gultekin Punsmann, a Caucasus expert at the Turkish think tank TEPAV, said the diplomatic agreements were a product of consensus between the states concerned and argued that the Armenian constitutional court’s reasoning was putting limits on points for which the sides had already reached an agreement, reported the Hurriyet.
7 weeks 21 hours ago
Turkish State Wages War Against Kurdish Civilian Political Movement
(Special report from Istanbul by Armenian Weekly columnist Ayse Gunaysu)
December 24, 2009
The Human Rights Association (HRA) Diyarbakir branch was among the places where searches were made. Raids and searches by security forces in HRA branches was something that did not happen even during the most difficult times of the emergency rule in the region in the 1990’s.
The news came as a shock as the former DTP leaders had declared that they gave up on their plans to leave the parliament and decided to continue their parliamentary struggle. Earlier, all hope had disappeared because of the closure of DTP just after the launching of the governments alleged peace initiative, the violent street protests that followed, and a suspicious ambush on a military unit in Tokat by a group of guerillas killing 7 soldiers triggering hateful protests in the west by nationalists.
Diyarbakir Mayor Osman Baydemir gave a press conference in front of the Diyarbakır DTP organization offices protesting the arrests. He was surrounded by DTP MPs and party leaders.
Baydemir, regarded as a most polite and refined Kurdish leader, used very harsh language, even resorting to the F-word (which is, in Turkish, much stronger than its equivalents in western languages), shocking everybody. He added, “We are now violating and will continue to violate whatever law our arrested party leaders and mayors have violated.” He also said, addressing the government, that they will not find any hand to hold when they themselves reach out tomorrow to the Kurdish people.
North Kurdistan People’s Initiative, a section of PKK, called for a “total revolt” in cities, on the streets and on the mountains.
7 weeks 1 day ago
By Harut Sassounian, Publisher, The California Courier, 21 January 2010
After months of bickering among Armenians the world over about the Armenia-Turkey Protocols, the Constitutional Court of Armenia on January 12 pronounced its judgment on whether the obligations stipulated by the Protocols comply with the constitution.
The Court’s task would have been relatively easier, if it were to simply deal with the legal aspects of the Protocols which would have required a yes or no decision followed by a brief explanation. Yet the fact that the Court’s verdict was eight pages long and contained scores of clarifications, interpretations, explanations, and restrictions, indicated that the Justices of the Court had to walk a tightrope between safeguarding Armenia’s relations with major foreign powers and minimizing the potential damage the Protocols could cause to the Armenian national interest.
Since the Court was apparently reluctant to reject outright these badly-negotiated and poorly-worded Protocols, it did the next best thing: accept the Protocols after placing a large number of restrictions on their legal interpretation and implementation. Thus, the Court’s decision partially vindicates all those who have been expressing their serious reservations regarding the negative aspects of the Protocols.
Here are some of the main interpretations and limitations that the Court placed on the Protocols:
1) The Court made all clauses of the Protocols conditional on the implementation of two main obligations: "establish diplomatic relations" and "open the common border." The Justices thus made these two actions a necessary prerequisite for the fulfillment of all other obligations to be undertaken by Armenia and Turkey.
2) The Court narrowly interpreted the "open the common border" clause of the Protocols, indicating that Armenia was simply making a commitment "to resolve legal-organizational and institutional issues connected to safeguarding the normal operation of border checkpoints." Significantly, the Court used the term "checkpoint" rather than "border," thereby indirectly refusing to accord legal recognition to Armenia’s present boundary with Turkey. Since it was Turkey that closed the border, it alone is responsible for re-opening it. Armenia’s obligation, on the other hand, is limited to simply making the necessary administrative arrangements to permit passage through a checkpoint.
3) The Court ruled that only those international treaties that have been ratified under the constitution of the present Republic of Armenia could be considered legally valid. The clear implication is that border issues regulated by treaties pre-dating the Republic’s existence cannot be considered valid. This interpretation contradicts frequent Turkish declarations that the Protocols reconfirm Armenian territorial concessions to Turkey, specifically referencing the 1921 Treaty of Kars. Indeed, the Court pointedly downplayed the overall significance of these Protocols by mandating that all future treaties that establish and further develop relations between Armenia and Turkey require its specific approval.
4) The Court countered the text of the Protocols which included specific language about multilateral obligations, by asserting that the documents in question were "exclusively of a bilateral interstate nature." The Justices thus precluded Turkey from interfering in the Karabagh (Artsakh) negotiations and making the improvement of Armenia-Turkey relations conditional on the resolution of that conflict.
5) The Court took issue with Turkish statements that the aim of the historical commission envisaged by the Protocols is to review the facts of the Armenian Genocide. The Justices clearly stated that the provisions of the Protocols could not contradict the preamble of the constitution which includes a reference to Armenia’s Declaration of Independence. Article 11 of the Declaration stated: "The Republic of Armenia stands in support of the task of achieving international recognition of the 1915 Genocide in Ottoman Turkey and Western Armenia."
The key question now is what happens next?
At a minimum, the Constitutional Court has limited some of the damaging aspects of the Protocols by ruling that any laws emanating from the Protocols, after parliamentary ratification, cannot violate the constitution of the Republic of Armenia.
Of course, it would be far more preferable if the Parliament were to reject these Protocols outright. Regrettably, this is unlikely, as the Parliament is dominated by pro-government deputies. If rejection is not a possibility, the President of Armenia and the Parliament should at least consider specific reservations or changes to these Protocols in line with the Constitutional Court’s decision.
Failing that, Armenians who oppose the Protocols must pin their last hope on the Turkish Parliament’s insistence that it would not ratify the Protocols until Armenia withdraws from Artsakh. Should the Turkish Parliament not ratify the Protocols, it would be highly ironic if Armenians had to rely on Turkish actions in order to protect their national interest!
7 weeks 3 days ago
Tank you for your confidence and support.
You may wish to visit our site http://martyrs.epage.ru
Avedis Kalayjian
7 weeks 6 days ago
Համաձայն չեմ։ Լուծումն է Հայաստանի մէջ ստեղծել օրինաւոր պետութիւն ու տնտեսութիւն եւ ոչնչացնել կաշառակերութիւնը։
7 weeks 6 days ago
"The signing of the protocols is the result of the poor performance of Armenia’s Foreign Minister"( ARF Statements on protocols court ruling, Asbarez January 13, 2010) =============================================================
Sir, it seems for you "Հաւը միայն մէկ վոտք ունի".
We wonder and don't understand why you People bypass "khnami" President Sargsyan and put all the blame on his Foreign Minister?
"THE BUCK STOPS WITH PRESIDENT SARGSYAN NOT MR. NALBANDYAN"!!
Respectfully,
Dr. Babajanian
(independent)
USA
7 weeks 6 days ago
Team Keghart,
Whilst you are all scratching your heads, the regime is marching on with its sell-out of Armenia's genocide, etc. with Turkey and shortly (before 24th April) the sell-out of Karabakh.
Too Little - Too Late!!
7 weeks 6 days ago
YEREVAN (ARF Press Office)—The Armenian Revolutionary Federation’s governing Bureau on Wednesday issued a statement on the January 11 decision by Armenia’s Constitutional Court to uphold the legality of the government’s controversial normalization agreements with Turkey. We present the translated text of the statement.
Fellow compatriots
On January 12, 2010 the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Armenia examined the constitutionality of the responsibilities undertaken by the Armenian side according to the signed Armenian-Turkish protocols.
Thus began the process of ratifying the Protocols that endanger out national interests and contradict the founding principles of our state, as stipulated in the Constitution.
The ARF had, from the start, rejected the three main points in the protocols which it considered to be preconditions aiming at: undermining the international recognition of the Armenian Genocide; legitimizing the current border between Armenia and Turkey; and linking the normalization of the relations between Armenia and Turkey with the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in Azerbaijan’s favor.
We were, and still are, convinced that the signed protocols contradict with Armenia’s constitution to a degree sufficient to provide the Constitutional Court with valid legal basis to consider the protocols unconstitutional.
While, unfortunately that didn’t occur, we are convinced that the mounting resentments expressed in Armenia and the Diaspora against the protocols is yielding results. First, as the decision reached by the Constitutional Court also indicates, the signing of the protocols is the result of the poor performance of Armenia’s Foreign Minister. Second, the Constitutional Court has indicated that the establishment of relations with Turkey should be strictly diplomatic in nature, and has accepted the opening of the border between Armenia and Turkey. Moreover the Constitutional Court did refer to the expressed concerns regarding the protocols and has provided enough legal basis for Armenia to express reservations regarding some of the points in the protocols.
The Constitutional Court specifically passed a decision that the protocols are considered to be a bilateral agreement between Armenia and Turkey and that the Republic of Armenia could not speak on behalf of a third party, in this case Nagorno-Karabakh.
On the issue of the Genocide, any responsibilities that Armenia should undertake based on the provisions of the protocols can not contradict the preamble of Armenia’s constitution and the 11th point of Armenia’s declaration of independence which explicitly mentions that the Republic of Armenia will support the international recognition of the Genocide of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire and in Western Armenia.
As far as defining the border between Armenia and Turkey is concerned, the protocols do not have any legal premise to delineate those boundaries. Hence this is still an open issue, and one that could be resolved solely based on a future inter-state agreement.
Having the Constitutional Court’s decision, the ARF is convinced that the decision could diffuse the dangers expressed in the protocols if at the time of the ratification, the reservations expressed by the Constitutional Court become an integral part of the ratified protocols.
Fellow compatriots,
We consider that the decision reached by the Constitutional Court is the successful end product of a struggle that has brought together the efforts of the ARF, other political and social groups as well as the whole nation. However the challenge still, lies ahead. We have to increase our efforts exponentially and force the authorities of Armenia to bring this process to a conclusion
Our final goal is to normalize Armenian –Turkish relations without undermining the interests of the nation and the state and specifically without giving any concessions from the rightful demands of generations of our people.
Armenian Revolutionary Federation
January 12, 2010
8 weeks 17 hours ago
Does anyone know whether there was/is an Armenian community in Somalia, next to Ethiopia? The reason I am asking is because I noticed, in a recent article in a U.S. magazine about Somalia, an urban panorama with our distinctive church kmpet in the skyline.
8 weeks 1 day ago
I support Avedis Kalayjian's views and motives.
8 weeks 1 day ago
An Eastern saying says, 'To attain something you must throw away the previous prejudice.'
In the contemporary American language it goes this way 'If You want to overcome global terrorism and have something, throw away Turkey and go to Russia."
8 weeks 1 day ago
Thank You, Mr. Dikran Abrahamian, to make us learn about Avedis Kalayjian, the True Christian, the liberal-democratic politician, the great patriot, and the freedom fighter. With my prayers, I join Avedis Kalayjian to fight the Turks including the illegal presidents of Armenia.
8 weeks 1 day ago
I wonder where he now is.
8 weeks 1 day ago
The question is not if Mandela really sent that letter. The question is its contents. I think Zionists should answer if those comments are true or not. Well..we all know where truth lies..
8 weeks 1 day ago
Arsen
The Hague
8 weeks 2 days ago
For many years I have been following debates about the Armenian Genocide. I have come to the conclusion that NO Turkish scholar, in the Western world, will see what we see. They are using eloquent words, i.e. we should look forward (read as forget) not backward (read as forget what Turks did to you) Yes, there were massacres!!!!! but.......they finish their sentences with a CAVEAT...Let's be friends, we are humanists etc.etc. Consider the circumstances of WWI etc. etc. Have we not heard the same explanations, embellished with philosophical views?
The best I like is when they say that Armenians killed Turks...Yes, indeed. That happened. Did we burn villages? Yes. But they forget to put it in chronological order. These atrocities perpetrated by Armenians were after 1915....I wonder why? Does any of these so called scholars know the meaning of "revenge", a natural human feeling?
Mr. Baskoy says "We should take concrete initiatives to build peace and prosperity instead of deepening divisions with empty rhetoric"..EXCUSE ME???? Empty rhetoric???? He should tell them to those Anatolian Armenians that vanished in thin air!!!! There are no more divisions left to deepen. We are at the bottom.Yes to Peace and Prosperity, but not on Turkish terms but on the basis of historical truth.
The only, but the only Turkish scholar that accepts the Armenian Genocide is TANER AKCAM...There might be more in Turkey but they are muzzled by article 301.
8 weeks 2 days ago
Repressive regimes are not progressive.
8 weeks 2 days ago
They are not trying to kill any Hye group.
They will not speak for or represent other Hye groups.
WAN does not think that all the Hye groups will join it, and they don't even have to. This is a completely different concept or entity that will work independently and with different goals than other Hye groups.
And, someone has to be sick in the head and in need of close care if he or she thinks that WAN will tell the Hyes in their own land what they are to do and what they are not to do...
"The group who runs the land of the Hyes is the sole group to speak for the land of the Hyes" YES, they can speak of the current land of the Hyes, but they definitely are not speaking for the Western Armenian lands, where we, as individuals and inheritors of those lands, have full right to defend our rights since they are not defending us and selling our lands and cause!!
It's a nice thing to have a dream and make it come true! but being hopeless like you is surely not a good thing to be!
It's better to try and fail, than to stay idle and be a pessimist. Just give them a chance and wish they will succeed.
Avedis, in your 1st paragraph you seem to be giving-up on us as well by saying "this will be my last word on this theme", why would a smart person like you assume that everyone else must agree with your thoughts? You are not doing the same to them, are you?
8 weeks 2 days ago
Why would Armenians agree to a historical commission to study Genocide perpetrated by Ottoman Turks against Armenians, my ancestors included, when modern Turkish government openly states that they, as a nation, will not accept any outcome from commissions that will confirm there was a Genocide.
These commissions are nothing, but a tactic to further deny and trivialise history.
8 weeks 3 days ago
1. Since several nascent Western Armenian groups seem to have similar goals, their leadership and that of the National Congress might see the wisdom of joining forces.
2. The mushrooming of these new organizations might awaken the traditional political parties to the realization that Armenians in Diaspora have had enough of the time-wasting, mercenary, divisive, unintentionally subversive activities of our leading political parties.
3. The Congress, et al signal that the Diaspora is alive and kicking, with new blood, new vigour, new vision... that we will not settle for the business as usual mode of the traditional political parties.
4. The "threat" from the Congress and similar groups might force our Diaspora political parties to join them, borrow from their policy book, adopt the right-thinking strategy of the new groups. This would create the mass that any group needs to go forward.
5. A united Diaspora, with a clear agenda, would force the leaders of Armenia--present and future--to pay heed to the Diaspora and not to call us "orange-eaters". This also applies to the recognition by the U.S., Russia, Turkey, etc. that the Armenian Diaspora is not a fragmented entity but a relevant voice with widespread following.
Mesrob
8 weeks 3 days ago
Here is my question: Aren't already we divided almost beyond repair? Why for the past many decades our organizations, principally our parties have not come together and proposed a long term plan of action with respect to bringing our issues to international organizations and courts?
It's only at times of imminent crises that at the 11th hour they get together. It happened in Lebanon during the civil war when the extreme right Christian phalngist party and its allies harassed the Armenians to the point of bombarding the Armenian quarters. Why following that solidarity among the parties, that same spirit did not continue with regards to our most essential issues?
Give me a break. You are talking about individual ambitions. Again you are correct. What about the individual ambitions of the leaders of the parties that all along kept us apart. What about the ambitions of each individual party and above all ARF.
I single out ARF, because it's the most influential. If ARF really wanted solidarity it could have been achieved long time ago. The recent so called cooperation took place simply because ARF was turfed out of the ruling elite in Armenia and now it is flexing its muscles in the Diaspora. For a whole decade ARF was part of the government. Are you so naive to think that they did not know what was going on behind closed-doors? As soon as this crisis is over, you may say goodbye to cooperation.
Why in the name of the almighty they did not, for example, in cooperation with the other parties pursue matters through legal means? Give me just one example. There is none! All sorts of arguments have been put forward to cover their inaction in this area. Recognition of the Genocide alone is not going to solve our problems. It's just a smoke-screen delaying our claims until we fade away.
Now a new organization is planning primarily to bring our claims into the arena of the legal battle. Tell me what is wrong with that? Why instead of looking at the merits of the proposal suddenly all hell as if has broken loose and it is looked at as another element of dividing us?
8 weeks 3 days ago
Պրն. Ենովք Լազեան,
Բացի այդ, արեւմտահայ ծագում ունեցող սփիւռքահայերու քանի՞ տոկոսը միթէ հայերէն կը գործածէ իր ամէնօրեայ կեանքին մէջ: Ի՞նչպէս օրինակ բացատրել շարք մը հայկական հրատարակութիւններու անգլերէն եւ կամ այլ լեզուներով գոյութիւնը: Օրինակները բազմաթիւ են - The Armenian Reporter, Asbarez, The Armenian Mirror Spectaor, The Armenian Weekly, և այլն: Ամենաշատ կարդացուող հրապարակագիրներէն է օրինակ Յարութ Սասունեանը: Պիտի չուզէի՞ք հարց տալ ինչու հայերէնով չի գրէր:
Ձեր կատարածը պարզապէս մատի փաթթոց է:
Գալով գրասենեակի հարցին այնպէս կը թուի թէ դուք նոյնիսկ չէք կարդացած այս տողերը - "Միջազգային կազմակերպչական կոմիտեն մասնաճյուղեր ունի Փարիզում, Ժնևում, Երևանում, Մոսկվայում, Լոս Անջելեսում: Հիմնադիր անդամների կազմում են Եվրոպայի, Հյուսիսային Ամերիկայի, ՀՀ-ի, Ռուսաստանի, Միջին Արևելքի հայ համայնքների ներկայացուցիչները: Այն համալրվում է նոր անդամներով Լատինական Ամերիկայից, Ավստրալիայից և այլն: Նոր անդամներ կարող են լինել նրանք, ովքեր կցանկանան մասնակցել Կազմակերպչական կոմիտեի աշխատանքներին:" http://www.wancongress.org/am/
Լրջամտութիւնը կը պահանջէ որ նմանօրինակ յոյժ կարեւոր հարցերու քննարկման ժամանակ մեծխօսիկ եւ աժան զրպարտութիւններով ժամավաճառ չըլլալ:
8 weeks 3 days ago
The above quotes are being disputed in some quarters as not having originated from Mandela, but Arjan El Fassed, a Dutch-Palestinian political scientist, human rights activist and affiliated with the the Palestine Right to Return Coalition (Al-Awda) maintains otherwise.
8 weeks 3 days ago
Մենք գնչու չենք, որ ցեղապետներ ունենանք: Սփիւռքին վերջը հասած է, մինչ հոս ու հոն դիւանակալ կառոյցներ կը բուսնին սունկերու պէս:
8 weeks 4 days ago
Little known history :
That was the last time he was bothered by FBI.
8 weeks 4 days ago
Greetings to all, especially to the Armenians of Ethiopia. A very happy New Year. Hope to hear from some of you from Ethiopia. I had a brief contact from one such person from Addis, but unfortunately it was short lived. Please email me and perhaps one day we will meet in Ethiopia.
I presently reside with my wife in Oregon, USA. Came here from Baghdad, in 1956.
My best wishes to all,
Varoujan
8 weeks 4 days ago
It seems that there are some who have a hard time with what I write, so this will be my last word on this theme, and I will use short words and those with one sound.
No Hye group will die of its own free will.
No Hye group will say to a Hye group--old or new--”We will let you speak for us.”
No Hye group will say to a Hye group--old or new--”We will let you speak for the Hyes, and we will not claim that right for us, any more.”
In short, if WAN thinks that all the Hye groups will join it and not say a word and, thus, let WAN be the one, sole, voice for the Hyes who do not live in the home of the Hyes, it is not in this world.
And, if WAN thinks that it has the right to tell the Hyes in their own land what they are to do and what they are not to do, they could be thought sick in the head and in need of close care.
And, if WAN thinks that those who head the groups who run the world will pay heed to what WAN says--when WAN can not speak for the land of the Hyes since it is not part of that land of the Hyes--then it could be said that those who run WAN are to be feared for they may not be in their right mind. The group who runs the land of the Hyes is the sole group to speak for the land of the Hyes and to those who run the world. It is a clear fact that the state--a state--is the sole group that can send pleas to world groups, not self-formed groups who think and say they have the right. States speak to states on things that bear on the rights of states.
If WAN wants to think it can be the one, sole, voice for the Hyes, and that it will then speak for the Hye cause (what that may be), it will find that it, like all the Hye groups, is just one more such group with big--and false--views of its role.
But, let them dream, for a dream it be. Is it not called a dream when it makes seem real what is not real? But, when a group thinks the dream is real and tries to act on it, the time has come to say, “Face up to the truth; and the truth is the world out there does not give a damn about the Hyes.”
Join the queue of those who have been lied to, but know that you, too, will be lied to. Thus it has been, and thus it will be as long as the Hyes think as they do--that “our cause is just and if my group tells the world, the world will see it our way.”
Avedis Kevorkian
Philadelphia, PA USA
8 january 2010
o0o
8 weeks 6 days ago
To Keghart Editorial Team
Your assertion that " it is now widely believed that the leadership in Armenia has abandoned Hay Tad" is actually the viewpoint of the three traditional political parties, each separately claiming to be the pursuer of Hay Tad. You may not be naive to think that the traditional organizations will welcome the proposals of the Western Armenian national Congress, but who says that such an assembly will be different from the long list of organizations each claiming to be the real patriotic one, only exchanging accusations.
For once, let us give the leaders of Armenia, government and opposition, the chance to work according to their evaluation of all the facts and data; internal social and political difficulties, geopolitical and military considerations, all kinds of pressures, etc, etc.
Historically, representatives of western armenians met in February 1919 in Yerevan and proclaimed the union of the two Armenias, eastern (Caucasian) and western (Turkish). The declaration was officially announced on May 28, 1919 by PM A. Khadissian in the parliamentary session.
" ... equivalent to social diabetes in Armenian reality". What a funny and queer expression !!
8 weeks 6 days ago
9 weeks 17 hours ago
Having said that, I believe the Church must be obedient to the teachings of Jesus Christ and to maintain a faithful prophetic Christian ministry, irrespective of the cost.
Thank you.
9 weeks 1 day ago
Ao participar de um "Fórum de Debates sobre os Protocolos ", realizado em São Paulo - Oportunidade, Brasil tive de expor meu pensamento a respeito do tema em foco. Vejo, agora,Graças ao seu excelente editorial, tese minha que coincidem precisamente com um ex neleposta! Empolgado, sem entusiasmo meu Conter, peço licenca para Reproduzir o texto então que elaborei:
"CONSULTA PELA POLÍTICA diáspora
Por ELIAS Katudjian - Advogado em São Paulo
No preâmbulo dos Protocolos, lemos que "consultas políticas internas dos dois Países Deverão ser concluídas dentro de seis semanas, após o que os dois Protocolos Deverão ser ASSINADOS e Submetidos aos respectivos Parlamentos um Fim de Serem ratificados pelas duas partes. "Tudo bem, essa é uma via regular do processo.
No entanto, ocorre neste caso uma circunstância extraordinária, que não pode ser ignorada pelo Governo e pelo Parlamento da Arménia. Consiste na alta relevância da POSIÇÃO Que venha a assumir uma Diáspora Armênia em face dos protocoloOOL. Como parte integrante da Nação Arménia, ela também DEVE ser consultada para a aprovação, ou não, dos Protocolos, cujos objetivos dizem respeito a toda nacionalidade armênia. Impõe-se uma consulta à Diáspora, para declarar sua posição, em caráter político, de modo a produzir efeitos na decisão final que Irá ratificar, ou não, os Protocolos. Sob pena de carecer de legitimidade de fato uma decisão que venha a ser tomada pelo Parlamento Armênio que, indiscutivelmente, representa apenas parte de nossa Nação. No caso específico da Nação Armênia, uma representação de seus direitos e Interesses não pode se Restringir ao Parlamento e ao Estado Armênio, numa perspectiva estrita do conceito de Nação, compreensiva, apenas, de Territ E POVOOrio. A Nação Armênia não é só isso: é isso e mais um Diáspora.
As políticas decisões, enquanto um Reduzidas consultas internas - deixando de atentar para uma Suma Importância da POSIÇÃO QUE A Diáspora venha a assumir, face aos termos dos Protocolos, que concernem à Nação Armênia, enTendida como uTodo m - Irão fulminar de nulidade insanável, se não de Direito, certamento No plano da Ética, sua pretendida e evntual Aprovação pelo Parlamento Armênio, seguida de Ratificação.
Resta saber como proceder Para alcançar esse desiderato, a quem o Governo da Armênia Deverià endereçaruma consulta Política Externa, dezdo em vista que um Diáspora é uma Entidade abstrata. Para tal, defendemos a ideia de ser formado um Parlamento da Diáspora, algo como um "Congresso Armênio da Diáspora", integrado por membros das entidades importantes e partidos políticos existentes em vários Países, realmente representativos das Comunidades Armenias, para o fim exclusivo de apreciar Decidir e uma questão dos Procolos. E que seja dotado do Poder de vale para Emitir uma delaração,R Oficialmente, caracterizando resposta A UMA inescusável "consulta Política Externa", e não só interna, como previsto em seu preâmbulo.
Reconhecemos uma ousadia de nossa tese, como uma miniatura ea grandes dificuldadeslexidade para sua implementação. Cremos, porém, que Valerá a pena Desenvolver incomum Esforço um, buscando apoio junto a todas entidades Armenias pelo mundo para, SE ACeita um ideia, passarImediatamente-se à formação e organização do "Congresso Armênio da Diáspora "e sua convovação para deliberar sobre os Protocolos, disto dando-se ciência ao Poder Executivo e ao Parlamento da Armenia, visando à Obtenção de Reconhecimento e Ratificação dos poderes outorgados aos representantres da Diáspora.
É preciso considerar que estamos diante de uma situaçãoção crucial - que em como jamais ocorreu - correm perigo grave os Supremos, valores principalmente EspiriUAIS, da Causa Armênia. O momnto é de decisão, um to claim de todos nós não participação efetiva dos Protocolos processamento. "
Desculpando-me por abusar de sua pela atenção, agradeço Oportunidade de congratular-me com os Irmãos Armenios que compartilham da mesma ideia.
9 weeks 1 day ago
Avedis, the Armenian organizations will try to penetrate and destroy this initiative. That's what they do to keep their power and control over Armenians. But we have to wait and see what will be the result and who will 'win', in the meantime we have to do our best to make a change for our cause and future by helping this initiative. You are either in or out.
I never said that the WAN will unify all Armenian organizations! that is impossible and will never happen!! but hopefully they will end-up representing all Armenians, at least in the diaspora.
I have to agree with you that we give too much importance to the church, that has to go!! the church should stay out of politics, we have had too much divisions because of the church, they are not as innocent in their actions either...
If you want to reply to any comment, please click on the reply option under that comment. That way we can see the sequence of the communication. Thanks!
9 weeks 1 day ago
Exactly to the point! Bravo Norair. It's so sad to see some Armenians have given-up already, they look back to history and think that we can never change.
If we don't change starting NOW, then we will be only in history books in 50 to 100 years max!
The Armenian political parties are obsolete. We need to find better and practical means, like recruiting high-class lawyers, politicians, military people, intellectuals, etc. and not as volunteers (as most other Armenian organizations do) but on payroll. WAN-C is doing that and more. Shame on those Armenians who can't grasp the importance of this initiative and don't support it wholeheartedly, it's our only hope! if not, then tell me what other steps have been planned for us? don't even mention the lobbying crap!
We can change, we can do it, start now and don't listen to people who have given up and aren't ready to help Armenia and Armenians in any way. As Norair said: "I would prefer to try my best and if it fails let my conscious be at rest that I did not stay on the sidelines watching our rights thrown in the dustbin of history."
9 weeks 1 day ago
Also, everyone in the West knew that Serge was not a democratically elected president. They are more willing to treat him as such now that he went along with the superpowers and betrayed his people (who hadn't elected him in the first place).
9 weeks 1 day ago
But the "western armenian" rubric is a CIA/Homeland Security concoction, just as the "Hay Heghapokhakanneri Dashnaktsutyune" which then morphed into yet another splinter group.
May there be light, but this will not happen here. Here we have leftists pretending to be balanced and yet other leftists pretending to be on the right, and so on.
Leave us alone.
9 weeks 1 day ago
Serj,
That's the status quo which surprisingly almost everybody agrees on. I know of Tashnags who individually will admit that's the case. I am highlighting them as they are the most organized and voiceful in the Diaspora compared to the others.
Here is my question: Do we resign to the status quo and let nature take its course, which eventually will lead us to getting nowehere?
Or, do we come to our senses and do something about it? Do we still want to remain in our "otomanized" tribal mentality as Ara Baliozian would have said?
Aren't there enough people with a liberated mentality to leave the past behind and think of constructive ways to shape our future? Will we languish in the wilderness and tear ourselves apart by letting things continue the way they are?
I, as an individual, would prefer to do something about it, try my best and if it fails let my conscious be at rest that I did not stay on the sidelines watching our rights thrown in the dustbin of history.
Recognition of Genocide is not enough. May be return of lands is wishful thinking; but there are a host of other matters, such as our cultural monuments, churches and personal properties, the right to return. These are all matters that are too important to neglect. WAN-C is willing to undertake the pursuit of those issues through legal means in international courts. Why don't we give it a chance?
9 weeks 2 days ago
Is it not true that this is another organization among many? What makes him think that this WAN-C will be able to do what the others could not accoplish? Wishfull thinking maybe!
OK..OK we have a mafioso government but does Vartkes think that any Diaspora organization can change that? Logic dictates the contrary . The change has to come within.
An historical observation: Never..never..never in our history Armenians have ever showed a unified front . All one has to do is study history starting with the actions of many Nakharars to modern (!!!!) political parties.
These individuals of good will who are trying to establish this new organization , honestly do they think that Ramgavars, Hunchaks or Tasnags will join forces. ? It is an emphetic NO...They will try to "run" WAN-C according to their agendas, thus, a non effectual organization.
One wishes that WAN-C would be all that it promises to be, BUT, historical experience , our ingrained political agendas which are "Hodatz" will prevent that.
9 weeks 2 days ago
This author has a very unfortunate tendency to exaggerate and be sarcastic. The fact that the Russian Soviets took over Armenia in 1920 was not a "good" thing per se. The protection that it offered was simply a by productof Russian/Soviet imperialism. Russia did not mean to "protect" Armenia. Indeed, the Soviets aided Kemalist Turkey at the same time it "protected" Armenia. Soviet Russia arrested and tortured and murdered many good Armenians in the ensuing decades. Does the author consider that to be a "good" thing?
The author knows all this but likes to stick his finger in peoples' eye to make a point. That is not right, and he loses credibility by doing so, making him look like a know-it-all.
If a woman is about to be murdered and a rapist comes along and snatches her away and saves her from being murdered, we don't say that it is the "best" thing that could have happened to her. To say so is utter stupidity.
As for a Diasporan Congress, there is much validity to this. Western Armenians have rights that the present Arnenian government could not care less about. Indeed, the present corrupt and unfairly "elected" government of Armenia does not even protect the interests of its own citizens. It would be nice to see the author suggest positive steps that we all could take instead of writing snarling sarcasm.
9 weeks 2 days ago
http://hayq.org/upload/files/Problems_of_Self-Organization_ENG.pdf
9 weeks 2 days ago
I am pleased to learn that the Western Armenian National Congress is to unify all Armenian organizations and become its spokesman, thus representing to the world one, unified voice. The day that happens will mean that you and I are the two oldest people in the world.
If you think for one minute that an Armenian organization--ANY Armenian organization--is going to defer to another super/supra organization, in effect giving up its independence, then permit me to suggest politely that you, too, stop smoking whatever it is you are smoking.
Does WAN-C actually expect the so-called "political" parties--and their satellite groups--to stand down and no longer proclaim "WE represent the Armenians; WE speak for the Armenians"?
Do you?
Recently, I became involved with our local Veterans organization which, uniquely in America enjoys the support of all the Churches in the area, and we have set ourselves the task of erecting a khatchkar on the now-unmarked grave of the only (to our knowledge) Armenian to have served in the Union Navy during America's Civil War (and later settled in Philadlehia as its first Armenian). In our effort to enlist the support of other veterans groups, I wrote to one for support. The first question I was asked was "To which Church do you belong?"
I hope the good doctor who administers to the health of this web-site will forgive me, "But, what in Hell's name does our Church affiliation have to do with erecting a khatchkar on the grave of a Civil War Naval Officer?" It is obvious that his Veterans group belongs to one or the other church and that affiliation is more important than honoring an Armenian. When Uncle Sam was seeking his servicemen and women to fight in the country's wars, he didn't give one little old Yankee Doodle damn about which church Armenians belonged to. But, I digress.
Every Armenian organization invited to Paris--you can be sure that no chezoks will be invited--will want to control the "one" voice or it will not join.
It was ever thus and thus it will ever be.
And the idea that the Diaspora has the right to dictate to Yerevan and Yerevan will allow itself to be dictated to is so preposterous that it defies belief.
But, enough.
Avedis Kevorkian
9 weeks 2 days ago
It seems that a lot of groundwork has already been laid by the IOC of the WAN Congress.
Is what is being presented the ideal? Of course not.
But any naysayers should have valid alternatives to propose. Knowing the people invloved in this initiative, one cannot see but a sincere effort to do the right things, with a lot of room for improvement.
The ball is in the court of the traditional organizations. They have been kept abreast of what was going on. They need to select among their own ranks those forward thinkers who are change agents.
They would be doing themselves a service by doing so. After all, they need those change agents to give themselves a new and a real raison d'etre, which is nothing short of relevance in the every day lives of Armenians in the Diaspora.
The future has never been more pregnant with so many opportunities.
Paregamoren
Viken L. Attarian
Mount Royal, Quebec
CANADA
9 weeks 2 days ago
As long as there are no political and relegious divisive agendas many will sign up, I for one will join.
Shayen Tuntoglu
Toronto, Canada
9 weeks 2 days ago
Here are my views of the WAN-C and I hope I am right in my assumptions:
- This is not an additional organization to the ones exisiting; it's an entity that will eventually represent all of them legally to other governments.
- They will not 'dictate' what the homeland government will do, but they will have a say in their decisions
- Does the word 'arrogance' come to mind when you remember what the 'homeland' government did with the protocols without even considering the 7million+ diaspora Armenians?? We don't want that to be repeated anymore and we don't want our homeland to be sold by corrupt mafioso governments.
- If the homeland government is not recognizing the diaspora Armenians, then who will represent us? Nalbandian said in Paris; "We don't need the opinions of the diaspora Armenians"...if the word "arrogance" didn't come to mind above, does it come to mind, now?
- Finally, we should never give-up, we have to fight for our rights and the blood of the innocent victims of the Genocide. History doesn't change, but politics can change...
I hope you will never get an invitation to Paris, since with your pessimism you might hinder what might be the best solution for our homeland. On second thought may be your presence might change your views and you might become a supporter.
Please keep us informed.
9 weeks 2 days ago
Dear Mack,
Where were these three parties all along for year after year, better still decade after decade? Why did they not unify under one roof for at least to serve the main goals that all parties share? Why each one of them has an advocacy group of its own? Have you thought of these matters?
What you are suggesting is to wait for a few more decades so that they come to their senses. By then there won't be left any motivated Armenian to look after Armenian affairs. So what's wrong if some new energetic people propose to get together and form a unified front? They are not against the parties; in fact they are against nobody and it seems they want to be all-inclusive. I don't think it's accidental that they have the famous words of Charentz on their banner.
9 weeks 2 days ago
Remember what Arafat did? He had a government 'in-exile'. I think this will do something similar. The 7Million+ Armenians in the diaspora will have a say in their rights and will have real power to make governments listen to our concerns and cause.
Hope I'm not wrong in my assumptions about this Congress.
9 weeks 2 days ago
I completely agree with Mack Vahanian.
Also Mr. president, what about the inocent people who are in prison for almost two years without a trial. Thier only crime was that they oppose you and your policies.
Please practice some democracy.
9 weeks 3 days ago
Don't visit Western Armenia without watching this valuable documentary first. You would then fully realize and comprehend what we are giving away through thes infamous "Protocols".
9 weeks 3 days ago
Dear President,
Giving away Kars, Ardahan, Ararat region and the Arax river, under any pressure, in my view, is nothing but stupidity and an act of treason!
9 weeks 3 days ago
9 weeks 3 days ago
It is in English and Eastern Armenian. Excellent narrative and exceptional visual presentation. I believe there is a version in Russian too but does not appear on the copy that I have.
I would not hesitate to recommend people to have a copy in their personal collection and present another one as a gift to their non-Armenian friend.
9 weeks 3 days ago
I also went to Turkey and the Baderiarkaran to find my mother's sister. They were both orphaned during the Genocide and then separated by the missionaries . By the time I found my mom's relatives, her sister had passed away. My cousins snubbed me and did not want to start a relashinship, accusing my mom for leaving her sister behind. My mom was the younger of the two.
I must add that the people in the Baderiarkarn in Istanbul did not offer me any leads to find my mother's sister after waiting around for a month. At the end, a Turkish clerck at the hotel where I was staying was the one who helpmed me find them.
Another snippet to add to our history .
9 weeks 3 days ago
Is the DVD Lost Motherland translated into French or Armenian? or subtitled?
9 weeks 4 days ago
Known California painter, a close friend of Wm. Saroyan, Kero Antoyan, was from Malatya. He was a staunch supporter of anything Armenian. Unfortunately his brother was Turkified.
They were separated in 1915, Kero came to the USA. He found that his brother was alive in 1960s.
By the time he went to Turkey to see his long lost brother he had passed away. However, he found his nephew.
After cajoling him to take a trip to Istanbul and go to the "Badriarkaran", the nephew seeing the cross on the building said "I am not going to become a GAVUR" and went back to Malatya...How heartbraking it was for Kero. He used to get letters from his nephew all thru 1970's asking for money for the barn, for the seeds to plant, etc., etc.
I know so because I used to translate Turkish letters for Kero when I was a young man. This is just a snippet from our history.
9 weeks 4 days ago
Verjouhi,
I am neither ashamed nor intimdated.
My feeling is that there still is a large amount of "polarization" among these sectors of Armenian society. I do not think we have really moved away from that era. It seems that old habits have not died with the event of the rebirth of the Republic of Armenia.
If I sound pessimist, well.....I am....When are we going to get our act together?
9 weeks 4 days ago
Առաջին անգամ ըլլալով, նման կազմակերպութիւն մը, յանուն Եւրոպահայերու հանդէս կու գայ «եւրոպայի Հայերի Համագումար» պիտակի տակ, անպաշտպանելին պաշտպանելու համար։
Գրութիւնը ոչինչ ունի գնահատելի, որպէս նոր տարուայ շնորհաւորագիր։ Ովքե՞ր են Եւրոպայի Հայութիւնը ներկայացնող անձնաւորութիւնները, որոնք՝ արեւմտահայերէն մեր չքնաղ լեզուն մէկդի շպրտելով, արաւելահայերէնով կը հաւակնին յանուն Եւրոպահայերու արտայայտուիլ։
Պայքար մը եւս, Արեւմտահայը անտեսող չարաշահ եւ դիտումնաւոր տրամադրութիւն մը։ Այնպէս չ՞է։ Քանի որ իշխանաւորները նկատի չեն առներ Արեւմտահայուն կարծիքը, պէտք է վերեւ յիշուած շնորհաւորագրին հեղինակները, հաւատարիմ մնան իրենց պաշտպանեալներու տեսակէտին եւ արտայայտուին պարզապէս յանուն արեւելահայերուն, որոնց գրութիւնը արդէն արեւելահայերէնով շարադրուած է եւ ոչ թէ Եւրոպահայերու լեզուով, այսինքն Արեւմտահայերէնով։
Հետաքրքրական պիտի ըլլար թմբկահարներու ինքնութիւններու հրապարակումը, ըստ այնմ գնահատելու իրենց «ազգօգուտ» խրատական արտայայտութիւնները եւ իրենց ներկայացուցած միութեան վարկը։
«Եւրոպահայ» կոչումը բացարձակ իրաւասութիւնն է Եղեռնի արհաւիրքէն մազապուրծ ազատուած հայերուն, թող որ հանգամանքները ճշդուին։
9 weeks 4 days ago
9 weeks 4 days ago
Serj,
I wish that circular was made public instead of being confined to the rank and file. I was moved when that circular was read to us. The Party's letterhead now displays only the symbolic hammer, shovel and rifle against a red flag held high.
I believe history will value more and more the boldness with which the ARF tenaciously held to symbols of our national endeavors.
Vahe
9 weeks 4 days ago
Hamazasb, I agree with your concerns; I am also curious as who are behind this, who is financing them, will they finally succeed? are the Armenian political parties supporting them?
On the other hand, we are fed-up with divisions, parties and fighting. We need something like this to unite us and achieve justice and our rights. We need an organization like this to protect the Diaspora Armenians and represent them to other nations, cultures, etc.
I wish them luck and success. They have my full support.
9 weeks 4 days ago
Sorry folks, I am really confused. I admit. One talks about Armenian rights, like CCAF in Europe, another about Assembly of Armenians in Europe and now a Western Armenian National Congress. Isn't this too much to handle? Aren't they all striving for the same goals? What happened to the traditional parties?
It appears this Congress to be all inclusive. Can it?
There have been so many previous attempts to get all Armenians, or at least western Diaspora Armenians under the same roof. They have all failed. What are the chances of this initiative succeeding. I must confess, I have no answers.
9 weeks 4 days ago
Dear Compatriots,
In 2006 I made a journey to the Armenian occupied land, making an impressive documentary film, calling it Journey to the Home Land, thinking and not accepting the present situation that the land belongs to Turkey.
Giligia and all Western Armenia are always Armenian and belong to the Armenian people.
Some of my friends did not accept the name I called the film, thinking that I am calling Turkey as Homeland, forgetting their original roots.
A note about Ararad -- Ararad is the eternal symbol for our existence as people, but unfortunately it is like the beautiful Princess you are in love with, but you can't touch. I do belive that one day it will be for all Armenians.
9 weeks 4 days ago
The tri-color is Armenia's flag.
9 weeks 4 days ago
Since the inception of Soviet Armenia who proudly displayed our tri-colors? Was it Soviet Armenia, was it Ramgavars, was it Hunchags? No. The tri-color has been the representative of our Armenian soul and it was defended by the other party...well...you know the one that was ridiculed by Ramgavars and Hunchags. They even ridiculed the tri-color.
My son attended a well known Armenian High School in Los Angeles and graduated right before Armenia gained its independence. One day he brought a mini tri-color to school and all hell broke loose. Yes, because of the tri-color. The reason was that this famous high school, was affiliated with the sympatizers of Ramgavar conviction. There was no room for our tri-color on the campus because of political convictions. Come independence, suddenly our tri-color was all over the campus.
Sorry chums. I do not see eye to eye with these marginal parties; their time has come and gone.
9 weeks 4 days ago
"the land is still ours, you are the owner, we should bring the lost motherland back." Aaaahhh
9 weeks 5 days ago
Shavarsh,
You are jumping the gun. Let at least some hundred or so people cast their vote before making such outlandish remarks.
9 weeks 5 days ago
Խոսքս ուղղում եմ մեր ներկա իրավիճակին չհամակերպվողներին, բայց միաժամանակ' լուծումներ առաջարկողներին: Օգտագործելով Ամանորի հանգստյան օրերը, մտածենք, թե ի՞նչ հանգրվանի ենք հասել ազգովի,. եւ արդյոք ազգովի՞ ենք հասել... Ի՞նչ է մեզ սպասում, եւ տանք հավերժական հարցը' ո՞րն է ելքը այս իրավիճակից, կամ միգուցե այլեւս ելքեր չկա՞ն...
Հարցերին ճշգրիտ պատասխանելու համար հարկավոր է բաց աչքերով նայել իրականությանը, որն էլ հենց փորձում եմ անել ստորեւ...
Ապրեցինք 21-րդ դարի առաջին տասնամյակը եւ ի՞նչ...
Ու ստացվեց այնպես, որ ապրում ենք մի երկրում,
-որտեղ օրինական գործարարությամբ զբաղվելը դարձել է ոչ շահութաբեր,
- որտեղ պետական-անվճար կրթակարգը հնարավորություն չի տալիս դպրոցում ստացած գիտելիքներով բարձրագույն ուսումնական հաստատություն ընդունվել,
-որտեղ բարձրագույն կրթություն ստացածի ճակատագիրը որեւիցե պետական կառույցի չի հետաքրքրում, արդյունքում ունենում ենք աննպատակ գոյատեւող երիտասարդություն,
-որտեղ քրիստոնյա հասարակությունը ամեն օր ենթարկվում է աղանդների «գաղափարական» գրոհին,
-որտեղ հաշմանդամը, թոշակառուն ու նպաստառուն չեն կարողանում ֆիզիկապես գոյատեւել, առանց որեւէ մեկի օգնության,
-որտեղ կոռուպցիան ու կաշառակերությունը, հովանավորչությունն ու "ընտրյալների" անպատժելիությունը համատարած են եւ դրա արդյունքում, անթրաշ մի պաշտոնյա, առանց խղճի խայթ ունենալու կարող է վաճառել երկրի պահուստային ոսկիները ու դեռ դժգոհելով սովորեցնել, թե պահուստային ֆոնդերը հենց վաճառքի համար են,
-որտեղ 18 տարեկան երկրի պետական պարտքը քառապատկվել է վերջին մեկ տարվա ընթացքում' հասնելով 4 միլիարդ դոլարի, դրանով իսկ դատապարտելով գալիք սերունդներին ստրկության,
-որտեղ բացակայում են քաղաքական, հասարակական, լեզվի, գովազդի, ճգնաժամերի կառավարման եւ այլ մշակույթներ. եւ ոչ միայն բացակայում են, այլեւ ջանք էլ չենք գործադրում, որ դրանք ստեղծվեն ու պահաջարկ վայելեն....
Ստացվել է այնպես, որ ապրում ենք մի երկրում, որտեղ ծայրահեղ ընդդիմություն կոչվածը իշխանություններին հայհոյելու արանքում միշտ աչքով է անում վարչակազմին, ուղարկում օդային համբույրներ, բայց վարչակազմն էլ միշտ պատասխանում է' ես քո իմացածներից չեմ, ու շարունակում է կատարելագործել ցինիզմը:
Ստացվել է այնպես, որ ապրում ենք մի երկրում, որտեղ փոքր սրիկաները ցերեկը հայհոյում են մեծ սրիկաներին, իսկ գիշերը չեն կարողանում քնել, քանի որ մտածում են' ինչպես անեն, որպեսզի կարճ ժամանակահատվածում դառնան խոշոր սրիկա:
Ստացվել է այնպես, որ ապրում ենք մի երկրում, որտեղ ամենաթեժ ու ամենադաժան ելքով կռիվները տեղի են ունենում վարչակազմին հաճոյանալու հանրային հերթերում:
Ստացվել է այնպես, որ ապրում ենք մի երկրում, որտեղ մարմնավաճառները երբեմն տրվում են անվճար' «սիմպատիայից» ելնելով, իսկ ժողովրդի շահերը պաշտպանողների ճնշող մեծամասնությունը ոչ մի «անվճար» գործարք չի կատարում: Եվ ամենակարեւորն ու զավեշտալին այն է, որ «անվճար չտրվողներն» օրենք չեն խախտում, քանի որ ձեռքների տակ ունեն օրենքների մի քանի փաթեթ' նույն հարցի վերաբերյալ:
Ստացվել է այնպես, որ ապրում ենք մի երկրում, որտեղ բոլորը բարիք են ուզում, բայց չեն հասկանում, որ բարիք ունենալու համար հարկավոր է իջնել բարիք արարողի շալակից:
Ստացվել է այնպես, որ ապրում ենք մի երկրում, որտեղ բնական պաշարներն օգտագործում ենք այնպես, կարծես այլեւս գալիք սերունդներ չենք ունենալու. ոչնչացնում ենք անտառները, անապատացնում դաշտերը, ինչը չեն արել օտարազգի նվաճողները:
Ստացվել է այնպես, որ ապրում ենք ապսուրդի հասնող երեւույթների պայմաններում'
-որտեղ որքան շատ են հեռանում երկրից, այնքան բնակչության թիվն ավելի է մեծանում.
-որքան պակասում են մեքենաները, այնքան շատանում են բենզա ու գազալցակայանները.
-արժեւորված դրամի պատճառով որքան պակասում են գնորդներն, այնքան շատանում են խանութները.
-որքան շատանում են սովածներն, այնքան ավելանում են ռեստորանները.
-որքան պակասում են հանցագործներն, այնքան շատանում են ոստիկանները.
-որքան պակասում են հարկատուներն, այնքան շատանում են հարկահավաքները:
Ստացվել է այնպես, որ ապրում ենք մի երկրում, որտեղ թիմով չենք պայքարում չարի դեմ, այլ կողքից նայում ենք, թե երբ է մի տղա գնալու Հրեշի դեմ ու եթե հաղթեց' կհերոսացնենք (հետագայում ոչնչացնելու համար), եթե պարտվեց' կծիծաղենք ու կհայհոյենք, որովհետեւ ազգային ավանդույթ է դարձել հերոսներին հայհոյելը, հայհոյվածներին' հերոսացնելը:
Ստացվել է այնպես, որ ապրում ենք մի երկրում, որտեղ պարծենում են, թե թատրոն ենք ունեցել այն ժամանակ, երբ եվրոպացիները ծառերի վրա էին, բայց չեն ասում, որ ծառից հանգիստ իջնելու փոխարեն' հետույքի վրա վայր ենք ընկել ծառից, քանի որ ազգովի կտրել ենք այն ճյուղերը, որոնց վրա նստած ենք եղել...
Ինչ կասեք' շարունակե՞մ, թե նոր տարի եք անում... Ուրախանո՞ւմ եք...
Ինչների՞դ վրա...
Դե, որ սկսել եմ' պիտի շարունակեմ:
Ստացվել է այնպես, որ ապրում ենք մի երկրում, որտեղ հայրենասիրության ու բարոյականության մասին ազնվորեն արտահայտվողները խոշոր "հիմարներ" են համարվում, իսկ անբարոյականությունը պաշտպանված է օրենքով: Եվ դրա արդյունքում է, որ բամփում են զոհված ազատամարտիկի որդու գլխին ու ասում, թե' հերդ «ապուշ» էր, որ գնաց, մեռավ:
Ստացվել է այնպես, որ ապրում ենք մի երկրում, որտեղ «ազնիվ» եւ «հիմար» բառերը հոմանիշներ են, "ինտելիգենտ"-ը' հայհոյանք, իսկ մտածելու կարողություն ունեցողները' դժբախտ:
Ստացվել է այնպես, որ ապրում ենք մի երկրում, որտեղ նաեւ սեքսով են զբաղվում ու երեխաներ ունենում, իսկ վերջիններս էլ անիծում են իրենց ծնողներին' Երկիր մոլորակի այս կոորդինատների վրա լույս աշխարհ բերելու համար:
Ստացվել է այնպես, որ ապրում ենք մի երկրում, որտեղ նախկինները առավել հրճվում են ներկաների անհաջողությամբ, քան թշնամիների' մոռանալով, որ երբ նավը խորտակվում է, բոլորն են խորտակվում: Էլ չեմ ասում ոմանց մասին, որոնք «նավի» խորտակման պահին «նավասենյակներն» են թալանում:
Ստացվել է այնպես, որ ապրում ենք մի երկրում, որտեղ նեղ մտահորիզոնի տեր գեղցիները քաղաքավարություն, ինչպես նաեւ «ճշտին ծառայող քաղաքականություն» են սովորեցնում եւ դրա արդյունքում է, որ գավառամտությունը մեծ պահանջարկ է վայելում ու լավ վարձատրվում... Ցավոք, փաստ է, որ մեր երկրում տիրում է հռոմեական բարքերի հակառակ պատկերը. իշխում են պլեբեյները, իսկ պատրիկները վերածվել են մուրացկանների:
Ստացվել է այնպես, որ ապրում ենք մի երկրում, որտեղ առաջինն ենք դավաճանել Աստծուն եւ, ի ապացույց այդ դավաճանության ու քավության, տաճար ենք կառուցել «քրչի բազառում», իսկ հոգեւորականների վեղարների տակ շարունակում են թաքնված մնալ բազմաթիվ հաջողակ կոմերսանտներ:
Ստացվել է այնպես, որ ապրում ենք մի երկրում, որտեղ տղամարդկանց մի հոծ բազմություն ճշգրիտ ցույց է տալիս թշնամու կոորդինատները, իսկ մյուսների կանայք այդ նույն կոորդինատներում պոռնկություն են անում, որ պահեն իրենց տղամարդկանց ու նրանցից սեքսի արդյունքում ծնվածներին:
Ստացվել է այնպես, որ ապրում ենք մի երկրում, որտեղ տղամարդ կոչվածի մի մասն էլ թշնամու հետ մերձեցման, հաշտեցման, գրկախառնվելու համատեղ հանձնաժողովներ է ստեղծում ու ասում' բա ոնց, բա իմ «համարձակությունը...»: Բայց «համարձակությունը»չի բավարարում հանցագործին միջազգային դատարան տանելու համար, այլ ընկերավարի համոզում է. «Արի վիզ վեկալ' պրծնի գնա, որ հանգիստ անցնենք նյութապաշտությանն ուղղված մեր համատեղ բիզնես ծրագրերին»:
Էստեղ քաշում եմ «ստոպ» բռնակը...
Ստացվել է այնպես, որ ապրում ենք մի երկրում, որտեղ սա է իրականությունը, հետեւաբար այն շտկելու հետագա քայլերն ու դրանց առաջնահերթությունները պետք է գծագրվեն հենց իրականությունը ճշմարտացիորեն գնահատելով:
Գալով նախաբանում արտահայտված հարցադրումներին, միանգամից նշեմ, որ չհամակերպվելով ներկա իրավիճակին, ընկերներիս հետ մշակել ենք նախագծեր, կյանքում կիրառելի առաջարկություններ'
Հայաստանի Չորրորդ Հանրապետության ստեղծման համար' առանց հեղափոխության ու արյուն թափելու:
Փաստ է, որ Հայաստանի երեք հանրապետությունները ավարտել են իրենց առաքելությունը, հետեւաբար նոր, գաղափարական ու նպատակային երկիր կառուցելու մարտահրավերի առջեւ ենք կանգնած: Միաժամանակ համոզված ենք, որ այս նախագիծը լայն մասսաներին չի հետաքրքրի ու նրա լուծելիք խնդիրն էլ չէ, մանավանդ այսօրվա ժանտախտի ժամանակ կազմակերպվող քեֆերի ֆոնի վրա...
Իսկ եթե հետաքրքրեց՝ համեցե՛ք:
Գրեք այս հասցեով harakelyan[at]gmail.com կամ զանգահարեք +374 91429353
ՀՌԱԿ ատենապետ
Հարություն Առաքելյան
Հ. Գ. Քիչ էր մնացել մոռանայի... Շնորհավոր Ամանոր եւ Սուրբ Ծնունդ
9 weeks 5 days ago
RAG is an Armenian party, whether effective enough or not. Even though I am not a member of the party, I received numerous emails that were in question. The people mentioned, Kharabian and Azadian are elected public figures by party members. I do not subscribe to their ideas and opinions, but it is important to learn from these series of “disgusting” emails that the public will turn against them. Those who send anonymous email or post anonymous messages with vulgarity on forums, harm the values of that organization or forum.
I have seen similar anonymous personal attacks on a different forum. Sometimes moderators are intimidated by their business associates and bend the rules that they have put in the first place. Naturally, that fired back on the forum with decline in postings.
Armenian mentality is far different today than it was some fifty years ago. Isn’t that the reason why the membership of the traditional organizations and church attendance are in decline? Isn’t that the reason we read Keghart and not any other site?
9 weeks 5 days ago
What is you problem Arsen ? Sarkis Assadourian did not insult any other nationality or a religious group . he simply wanted to enjoy his Christmas , which happens to be January 6 or 7 the same as all other Orthodox Christians in Canada , now you get over it .
Vrejouhy.
Calgary
9 weeks 5 days ago
Hayeren gar mesrob mashdotsen arach.
Hagop Dilachar Martaian@ latinagan darer@ pokhets yev shdgets Terkeren lezvin hamar.
grnam kordzadzel latinagan aypoupen@ yev gam mesrobian@.
Hayeren@ hayeren eh.
Adelouteun@ hanetsek tser sirderen.
Haygagan lezoun aveli garevor eh 100 ar hareur kan te MESROBIAN kirer@.
9 weeks 6 days ago
I admit that I may have missed the point of Let us Play Fair editorial but I still have not gotten it and remain perplexed as to what it serves me to know of internal squabbles of the Ramgavar, or Tashnag or Hnchak party on a forum that is supposed to discuss and expect to hear our opinions on matters that affect our nation by the policies and conducts of our nationally elected officials in the ROA and its representatives in the Diaspora.
This editorial must have been written by someone who is a member of the Ramgavar party or has intimate knowledge of their working to know of meetings held, party members being elected etc. This tempests in the Ramgavar teapot, ugly as it is, its up to the Ramgavar party members to solve. I am not sure what can the reader conclude having read the editorial other then say maybe that grown up men or women should act with civility. Wow!
Since the editorial is written on a forum that has done wonderful job of discussing issues that affect our nation, this editorial in fact has the potential of miscommunication much like with Jerry N. who laments of the infighting of our readers. Let me point to Jerry that Azadian, or any other name mentioned in the editorial are not nationally elected members and as far as I know do not advise the ROA on setting up course on our national interests be it political, social, economic that deal with opening of borders, establishing bilateral relationships with Armenia’s neighbors and other distant countries, of enacting laws that foster investment in Armenia and or fight corruption, deforestation in Armenia and its environmental controls etc., etc. etc. etc., etc. to emphasize the many issues that affect our nation.
I still maintain that the squabbles of the Ramgavar party should not make into an editorial titled Let Us Play Fair. I could have found the editorial more palatable if it was titled maybe Let the Ramgavar Party Members Play Fair but then the thought would have crossed my mind, what does the squabbles of Ramgavar party have to do on this forum?
9 weeks 6 days ago
There are literally millions of Armenians and non-Armenians that have been inspired by the generosity of spirit and of the mind of the great man.
Chahe chose to reciprocate. The whole world, literally, came to his assistance.
That is the significance of this great success story. Armenians all over the world essentially shamed the government of the ROA into positive action. All Armenians said loud and clear what mattered to them, that great achievements deserve to be preserved, to be immortalized but also to be taught as lessons to future generations.
Individuals matter; actions matter, even when they start as small efforts; ideas matter because they are catalysts for collective action. That is the true lesson learnt.
Chahe must be thanked for once again teaching us this important lesson. Although we seem to be a forgetful people, but luckily there are those like him among us who from time to time awaken us from our slumber.
That is what must give us hope.
Paregamoren
Viken L. Attarian
9 weeks 6 days ago
Our race has a huge crisis of "Existence" and our so-called organizations and their leaders, instead of finding solutions for our future, are continuously fighting with each other.
It is like "Re-arranging the chairs on the Titanic".
9 weeks 6 days ago
What's the big deal about a Christmas Tree? There is no spiritual value in a tree nor any importance whatsover. Notice that each religion, nation, sect, etc. have their own symbol, that doesn't mean that the Christian is better than others, nor does it mean that other symbols are better than Christian, they are all human inventions for marketing purposes.
Get over it!
9 weeks 6 days ago
I was shopping the morning of Dec. 27 at Sobeys near my home in Toronto. I noticed a young man was removing Christmas decorations from the store. I approached him and reminded that Christmas celebrations for some Christians (Orthodox) is on Jan. 6 and 7.
I asked to see the manager for an extension of Christmas displays up to Jan. 7, so that we all feel included in our religious celebrations. In reply he told me that the decision was taken by the Head Office. I told him to convey my request to the head office reminding him that The House of Commons (Where I served for 11 years) was also removing Christmas lights and decorations soon after Dec. 25. They changed their policy to make it inclusive and extended the display of beautiful lights in and around the Parliament Building up to Jan 7. This was also thanks to the late Speaker of the Canadian Parliament for understanding my concerns.
My message to you all is to be kind enough to send an email to the Head Offices of department stores (any department store or a national grocery chain) and ask them to be inclusive in their cultural and religious policies in a multicultural society like ours.
Thanks for your attention and co-operation..
Best regards,
Sarkis Assadourian
Sarkisassadourian[at]hotmail.com
9 weeks 6 days ago
- Mr. Murs, HPU
9 weeks 6 days ago
After all not all priorities and chances to visit Armenia are linked to the president.
10 weeks 1 hour ago
The majority is saying will not visit. No wonder. All the news that comes out of Armenia is mostly negative. One doesn't visit a country only for patriotic reasons. The recent show of contempt towards the president does not help matters either. Who after all will respect him if he did not show sensitivity towards the most crucial issue of the Genocide that attracts Armenians to each other and to the country. It was and is his prerogative to pursue an independent foreign policy, but at least he should have consulted with the leadership of the Diaspora prior to taking such a bold step.
10 weeks 2 hours ago
Տիգրան,
Իբր դաշնակցական, ցաւ կը զգամ, որ այլ աւանդական կուսակցութիւն մը երկպառակտուած է։ Երկու կողմերուն մէջ ալ ունիմ մօտիկ ծանօթներ ու բարեկամներ, կը հասկնամ որ տարակարծութիւններ ըլլան, սակայն գործածուած լեզուն եւ ոճը յարիր չեն քաղաքական կուսակցութեան մը անդամներուն։
Եթէ չեն կրնար հաշտուիլ, թող երկու տարբեր կուսակցութիւններ ըլլան, ինչպէս կ՚երեւի, որ պիտի ըլլան, բայց զիրար յարգեն, ու չնախատեն։ Եթէ մեծ մեղքեր կան գործուած, թող անկեղծ ու բաց արտայայտուին, առանց ծածկանուններու ետեւ պահուըտելու։ Վաղը ի՞նչ երեսով պիտի քով քովի գան ու գործակցին՝ երբ մեր կեանքի ստիպողական պայմանները այդ պահանջեն։
Շնորհաւոր Նոր Տարի ու Սուրբ Ծնունդ։
Վրէժ-Արմէն Արթինեան
10 weeks 3 hours ago
Neither outmoded methods of crude discipline, nor unrealistic goals within the context of the Western mode of life, which breeds extreme individualism at times, will in the long run attract the vast majority of people. It's the hearts and souls of individuals that the traditional parties have to compete for.
The article partly addresses this matter.
A salient point, which is brought up is the mode of succession. It appears from the information provided that the new leadership has come to position through lawful means over the span of three years by holding two conventions under the watchful eyes of, allow me to say, the old guard. Hence, one wonders why then Azadian and his company are up in arms and accusing the present leadership of not representing the traditional RAG party?
Azadian and company have all the democratic rights to dissociate themselves from the lawfully elected leadership and form their own new "party" under whatever name they chose, which already they have done so. However, in transitioning themselves to a new entity yet at the same time holding unto the assets of the traditional RAG party is simply piracy.
10 weeks 5 hours ago
10 weeks 9 hours ago
I believe the article was very well balanced. The problem with Perplexed and many other readers is that they are not used to read such material in the Armenian press, because nothing similar has been offered to them in the past. The official RAG has not said anything official and is disregarding the anonymous email campaign without providing anything substantial to the public in terms of information or counter-information.
Anonymous email writers like KESH are taking the podium to fill the gap and people are depending on them for information. These issues and affairs should not be avoided and dismissed as not related to us, rather they should be dealt with clarity and continuous attention, because leaving them hidden and behind the scenes has led us to the current situation, with the result one traditional Armenian party is crippled and consumed in inner strife.
Should the media behave like ostrich so that some continue their happily floating life?
10 weeks 10 hours ago
10 weeks 17 hours ago
10 weeks 1 day ago
Superior journalistic approach to this paniful subject
10 weeks 2 days ago
OK, why do we write armenian with latin characters? we have to stop this bad habit. Windows has provided a great free tool that enables us to write in Armenian characters easily anywhere.
Please see the following related article:
Հայերէն գրենք հայկական տառեր օգտագործելով
or
www.keghart.com/Armenian_In_Unicode
10 weeks 3 days ago
Armenia is to receive $100 million from Russia to revitalize the diamond industry which collapsed in 2006/7 when Kocharian forced Ara Abrahamyan out, one of Armenia’s most prominent and ‘real’ foreign investors. The industry has since been dominated by Kocharian, so the vast majority of this $100 million will inevitably end up in Kocharian’s pockets.
http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=14679539&PageNum=0
In the meantime the Asian Development Bank is to provide USD 60 million for Armenia to implement a feasibility study for the South North highway through Georgia. That looks likely to be money well spent on behalf of the people of Armenia.
http://www.panarmenian.net/details/eng/?nid=1123
Happy New Year Armernia!!
10 weeks 4 days ago
It's unhealthy for a society to idolize a mortal who had more than his share of weaknesses.
"What would Ataturk Do?" "What would Ataturk Say?" attitude fossilizes Turkey. Seeing the million busts of Ataturk, his giant posters, Ataturk riding on a horse, Ataturk profiles in every office, shop and classroom, looking sternly and forbiddingly at Turks, seems psychologically damaging to a society.
Since day one, Christians and Jews have been interpreting, modifying, updating what their founders said and wrote. Turkey, under the so-called secularists, has remained hidebound in a oudated, ultranationalistic Ataturk trance.
Wake up, guys. He probably became hungry at least once a day. He probably went to the washroom, too. I know he liked his raki. He was the issue of his parents, not the Son of God.
10 weeks 5 days ago
Hayeren gu khoseyin.
Yete medz hayrt yev medz mayrt Trkerenov gu khoseyin, tereves Giligetsi eyin.
It is simply not true to say most Armenians spokeTurkish. Most spoke ARMENIAN. My mother learned Turkish in Iraq from Turkomans. Her grandparents in Van spoke Kurdish and Armenian fluently, but not Turkish.
They even had a printing press in Van. It is our homeland and our central city. Van and Gyumri (all Vanetsies) are the purest Armenian speakers according to linguist expert Bert Vaux.
Shnorhagalouteun. Housahad mi ullar. Loudzeh. Mi housahadvir.
Hayakhos yev Hayaser
10 weeks 5 days ago
How can you forgive and forget a Genocide without the proper recognition and apology by one of the nations you mentioned?
Isn't it a shame on all nations that after 95 years this issue is still pending and being dragged on and on just because of personal interests and national profits?
10 weeks 5 days ago
So, what can then we do? As individuals, we can all start by supporting the Armenian book. Buy Tintin in Armenian to your children along with its English, French or Spanish version. Support independent publishers who against all odds are trying to publish in Armenian. Example, order Zahrad's poems or Zaven Biberyan's masterpiece novel (Մրջիւններու Վերջալոյսը) from Aras yayincilik in Bolis.
But we all know that this will not be enough. Much more must be done. Armenian courses in each community, an independent publishing house to publish Armenian classics, supporting translations into Armenian, literary classes, scholarships to deserving individuals and not necessarily to those with connections. Where would the money come from you say? The answer is simple. We need to prioritise.
I can give you one example that comes to my mind. Imagine if we can stop building new churches, especially in communities where there are a few empty ones. Ask yourself, do I need a new church in Laval, while within 5-10 minutes drive I can cross to Montreal, where there are 3-4 empty ones standing by? With the money saved, who knows, we may even have enough to feed some of the estimated 30% Armenian children going to school hungry each morning.
Let me finish by quoting K. Zohrab, from an article Համալսարանական Կրթութեան Պակասութիւնը Մեր Մէջ that he published in 1892.
«Գլխաւոր բանը որ կը պակսի մեզի, մեր յետամնացութեան աստիճանին վրայ ճշմարիտ գիտակցութիւնն է։
I guess what was true then, a hundred and so years later is still true today.
Վարուժան Պալթազար
10 weeks 5 days ago
Ali,
Though I agree with the 1st part of your comments about peace and friendship, I disagree with the non importance of religion, color and nationality. Those are what define you as "you". Otherwise, you, Ali, as a possible Muslim, why don't you change your name to a Western name, denounce your religion and become a Christian or a Jew and denounce the fact that you are an Iranian. How would you feel about it?
Even if you want to change all of those, or do change all of these, hypothetically speaking, deep down in your heart and in your soul, you are still an Iranian and a Muslim. You will gravitate towards your culture, your language, your music, you food and everything Iranian/Persian.
No, my friend!!!! If friendship and peace is part of the deal, so is the importance of religion, color and nationality. That is our identity and what our ancestors have given us. We are responsible to pass them on to our children, as our parents have done the same with us.
10 weeks 5 days ago
Thank you Mr. Fisk. We Armenians need more men like you.
10 weeks 5 days ago
Please..all of you.... Our language will die in the diaspora in the next 100 years. It seems that nobody takes into consideration the pressure of social forces . The language will survive only in Armenia even if it is bastardised with many foreign words.
History has shown that we Armenians thrive under political pressure, thus we stick to our language. Even before the genocide, most Armenians in the historical Armenia communicated in Turkish. How many of you had grand parents who did not speak Armenian but Turkish.? Because it was easier to live in their evironemet.
It is very unfortunate that slogans like " heyeren khosink, hayeren gartank" will not hit its target. Whereever we are in the Western world our children will communicate in English, French, Dutch or German. The Armenian language will be practised among the elders and with elders..and once they are gone..guess what.....they will speak the local language among themselves.
My hope is that even if they do not speak Armenian in 100 years in the Diaspora , at least they will have a modicum of "Armenianness" left in them.UNLESS...there is another war in the middle east and another wave of immigrants come to the western world just like it happened 30 years ago, thus replenishing the Western Armenian society...
I whole heartedly agree to these slogans but as they say in Armenian " airatz srdi k... meghitarank"
10 weeks 6 days ago
Գալով աշխարհաբարի գործածութեան, այդ արդէն տեղի կ՛ունենայ քարոզին եւ Աստոածաշունչի ընթերցման մէջ:
10 weeks 6 days ago
Touk inchkan gu kordzdzek ankleren yerp vor hayereni masin gu khosik. Zarmanali eh. Ays tser kradzneru g'ouzem okordzadzel kal amouwa hamar (Aveli jisht pedrvarin) yerp menk - yes yev im kaghoutis hayer@ (manavant anonk voronk gu batganin Hamazkayin Grtagan yev
Mshagoutagan kragan hantsnakhoumpin) bidi pats khoselou ASOULIS gam HARTSOUBADASKHANi jhoghov@ badrasdenk. Ays joghov@ bidi ullah pats yev voronk vor ouzen grnan kal, te Hay Parekordzagan Entanour Miyoutenen, te al Hay Hegh. Tashn-en.
Hima, touk vor kankadetsak yev housahadouetsak, inch g'@sek? Anklerenov kretsi ays amen@ te voch hayerenov?
www.hamazkayinchicago.com
Hacho Dakarean
10 weeks 6 days ago
Simply change the badarak to modern Armenian. Hopefully Western Armenian!
10 weeks 6 days ago
Quem - como eu - já visitou o monumento a Ataturk, em Ankara, sabe muito bem o que é um inacreditável "culto à personalidade" ! Muçulmanos, os turcos deveriam substituir a expressão "Alah é grande e Maomé é seu profeta" por "Alah é grande e Ataturk é seu profeta" ! Nessa visita, estava eu, num museu, observando objetos de uso pessoal de Ataturk (em sua grande maioria, diversos tipos de armas...), quando ingressou no recinto um grande número de jovens estudantes, certamente alucinados, atirando-se loucamente em direção a tudo quanto se referisse a Atatuk. Fiquei pasmo diante de tanta adoração e retirei-me do local, fortemente impressionado com o que vira. E passei a ter compaixão por aqueles jovens, inteiramente deturpados em suas mentes. Qual o futuro que os aguardava, após essa "lavagem cerebral" ? Esse episódio explica tudo, para mim, com relação à deformação das pessoas na Turquia, fato que marca suas instituições e legislação, principalmente a penal. Remember "Midnight Express". Passado, presente e futuro, na Turquia, são imutáveis. E dizer que a Armênia celebrou os maldafados Protocolos.... Esperando o quê ? Certamente, "Esperando Godot"...
10 weeks 6 days ago
Allow me to digress when all ills are attributed to an "unwieldy, unrealistic political ideology". It was during the Soviet era after all that Armenian culture lived a new renaissance. Witness the many writers such as Shiraz, Kaputikyan, Charentz and Sevag... not to mention the exceptional ground-breaking works in music, painting and the performed arts. Where are those giants? In which period were they nurtured? Where are the various centres of science and their lost global stature such as Byurakan, the Alikhanyan Brothers, Mergelian Institute?
Bureaucrats are the same in any regime, whether Soviet, capitalist or aligned with the Armenian oligarchs. The enemy is within.
10 weeks 6 days ago
Now, after many years, I try to improve my Armenian language, but to no avail. There is NO book or program - in-class or on-line - specially prepared for adults. Registering at one such course was excruciatingly painful as I had to read about "Maralig and Arayig" or the fact that the teacher felt it was more important to know the word Arkayakhentsor than any other Armenian expression.
As I did some more research into the matter - within my expertise as an educator and curriculum developer (but for English) - it turns out that we don't even have proper books for our children to learn Armenian. The children in my family are enjoying French or English and even Arabic, but not the Armenian classes.
Don't blame those who don't speak Armenian well. There is a deeply rooted problem in the education system itself that needs work, not patchwork style as has been done for the past 50-60 years.
10 weeks 6 days ago
This would benefit all/any survivor(s) for the lost properties of the 1.5 million Armenians. The survivors abandoned their homes and belongings by force and were uprooted during the Ottoman Turkish government perpetrated and well documented Armenian Genocide(s) - mainly that of the 1915-1923.
If no survivors are found the documented assets should be handed over by the "inheritors" (The ruling Turkish government) to an Armenian National Humanitarian Organization under the auspices of mainly the Armenian Church in cooperation with the Armenian government. Funds should be used to improve the Armenian nation in all fields, mainly educating the younger generations and for the development of Armenia towards becoming a modern democratic country and help secure a better life for the unpriviledged population.
10 weeks 6 days ago
I live in Southern California, and specifically in the Glendale area where Armenians are plenty. One would expect that due to the large community, the Armenians preserve, promote and are proud of their heritage, language and culture. To a large extent, this is a misconception.
Recently, while shopping at a store, I came across a mother with two children, one about a 4 years old boy and the other about a 2 years old girl. The boy was complaining to the mother that his sister was misbehaving, all in English, and the mother, who spoke broken English, was responding to the child, also in English. It was a sad scene to witness. It made me wonder; was the mother trying to learn English from her 4 year old, or trying to be cool? I couldn't help but to tell the mother how disappointing it was to see an Armenian mother speak to her young children in an "odar's" language.
Our ancestors fought wars for years, and were killed by those who attempted to cleanse our race off this earth, not to mention their painstaking exiles through deserts, only to lead us to move to other’s countries and take on other identityIf we don't commit to speaking Armenian to our children and teach them about who we are and what we stand for, who will? In this melting pot called the Western World, it is really easy to become part of the large society and only maintain a name ending with an "ian" or "yan". It is every parent’s responsibility to pass on, everything Armenian, to their child, or else, we will disappear as an ancient race, and our name will only be in history books.
10 weeks 6 days ago
I just discovered this site. Lot of interesting reading material. I will tell many of my friends about this site. Good work keep it up. Thanks for the awsome reading...
10 weeks 6 days ago
I think that Professor Romano makes a tremendous amount of sense. "Sophomoric and misguided"??? Please. As he states, it is a matter of degree. While we are busy getting all wrought up over comparatively trivial matters, we are losing our perspective, and losing sight of the larger injustices that exist in this world. This essay is one of the most clearly articulated and logical pieces that I have ever read on this subject, and I think that the author has incredible intellect. I intend on showing this article to anyone who attempts to utilize a hypocritical double-standard with regard to "prejudice against Islam".
Wayne Berberian,MD,MBA