“The great Turk is governing in peace twenty nations from different religions. Turks have taught to Christians how to be moderate in peace and gentle in victory.”Voltaire’s Philosophical Dictionary
Turkish authorities have to recognize the Armenian Genocide of 1915, they have to accept their crime, so that the Armenians’ pain can be a little lessened. This is the opinion of Istanbul Armenian Sasun Estukyan, who, along with a few hundred others, participated in the Armenian Genocide memorial organized in Istanbul’s Taksim Square on Apr. 24. Recall, similar events were organized in other Turkish cities: Anakara, Diyarbakir, Bodrum.
Speaking to an Epress.am correspondent in Istanbul, Sasun said recognition of the Armenian Genocide is extremely important. “It’s important only in one sense: our pain will be lessened. And not only recognition, but also they have to apologize; they have to say we were wrong, forgive us.”
Another participant in Sunday’s memorial, Turkish student Esla Elmas said Turkey’s recognition of the genocide is important for the two nations, so that they may peacefully co-exist in this region.
“We share the Armenians’ pain; each person has to realize that without sharing the pain, the grief, the two nations cannot live together — these same peoples who lived together in a geographical area for centuries. Let’s forget the authorities: they often manipulate people, and ordinary people commit murders, as happened in 1915. We are not murderers and we’re not those old Turks, and we must show this by sharing the Armenians’ pain,” said Elmas.
Bekir Avjyn of Kurdish origin also participating in the Apr. 24 memorial gathering said he’s participating for one reason: so that he doesn’t think like Turkish nationalists and he doesn’t perceive the events as they do.
“Of course, you can’t bring back history, but for humanity and democracy it’s necessary for Turkish authorities to recognize the Genocide. We cannot forgive and forget even the death of one person,” he said.
Source: Epress – Originial Article
via ‘Turkish Authorities Manipulate People’: Turkey Shares Armenians’ Pain | HyeMedia | Armenian News.
Armenians who were forced to emigration, lost and killed in 1915, were commemorated with flowers and candles at Taksim Square, Istanbul. “As the official policy to deny this crime continues, the bleeding scar at the hearts of the people of this land deepens,” said Zeynep Tanbay.
Çiçek TAHAOĞLU
cicektahaoglu@gmail.com
İstanbul – BİA Haber Merkezi
25 April 2011, Monday
Say Stop to Racism and Nationalism Initiative today (Sunday) organized events in Istanbul, Ankara, Bodrum and Diyarbakır to commemorate the Armenians massacred in 1915.
Around 500 people gathered in front of a banner that read “the pain is ours”, at Istanbul’s Taksim Square. They lit candles and brought carnations
“April 24, 1915 marks the start of a disaster that tore the Armenian people from this land where they lived side by side with others since centuries, that left hundreds of thousands dead and subject to all kinds of atrocities for nothing but being Armenians,” said Zeynep Tanbay, prominent modern dancer and human rights activist.
“Since then, governments and state authorities tried to play down, if not to cover up and legitimize this history. Yet, this lethal exile is clearly a crime against humanity. We have to end denying, now. This is why we invite all our people who think that this land should be the land of fair people, to an late humanitarian duty. We have to declare that the heavy crime that’s symbolized by April 24 is our common pain.”
Arat Dink, Fethiye Çetin, Masis Kürkçügil, Zeynep Tanbay, Yıldız Önen, Osman Kavala, Ahmet İnsel, Doğan Tarkan, Ufuk Uras, Yiğit Ekmekçi, Ayşegül Altınay, Atilla Aytemür, Ayça Damgacı, Gencay Gürsoy, Tayfun Mater, Cengiz Aktar, Yavuz Önen, Yalçın Ergündoğan, Ferhat Kentel and Garo Paylan were among the participants. (ÇT/EÖ/EÜ)
via Bianet :: “We Have to End the Policy of Denial” – Bianet.
Hundreds of Turks have rallied in downtown Istanbul to remember the mass killings of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire nearly a century ago, RFE/RL’s Armenian Service reports.
Kneeling on the ground in the city’s central Taksim Square on April 24, they lit candles and held red carnations to the accompaniment of melancholy Armenian music played on loudspeakers. They then laid the flowers on a big banner that said, “This pain is our pain.”
Speakers at the rally — which was organized by Turkish intellectuals and human rights activists — read out the names of more than 250 Armenian political leaders, intellectuals, and artists in Istanbul who were rounded up by the Ottoman government on April 24, 1915, and subsequently executed.
Earlier on April 24, several dozen Turkish intellectuals gathered outside an Istanbul museum that served as a prison for the arrested Armenians in 1915.
It was the second public commemoration of the “genocide anniversary” ever held in Turkey’s largest city. The first such gathering in April 2010 drew a considerably smaller crowd that challenged the official Turkish version of the 1915 events.
As the Taksim rally was held, a smaller group of Turkish nationalists rallied at the other end of the square to condemn the commemoration and deny that the last Ottoman rulers committed genocide against Armenians.
Riot police were deployed between the two crowds to prevent possible clashes between them.
Armenian officials say up to 1.5 million Armenians were systematically killed between 1915-19, and they describe the killings as genocide. Turkey rejects that charge and says 300,000-500,000 Armenians were killed, but a similar amount of Turks also died in the civil strife that occurred in the final years of the Ottoman Empire during World War I.
Once again, President Obama stepped carefully into the historic dispute between Turkey and Armenia, but he still got criticized.
Obama issued the annual statement on Armenian Remembrance Day on Saturday, honoring the “horrific events” that took the lives of 1.5 million Armenians in 1915 — but declining to label it as “genocide.”
Turkey, a key Islamic ally of the U.S. that angrily denies accusations of genocide, attacked Obama’s statement as “one-sided.”
“The statement distorts the historical facts.” said the Turkish foreign ministry. “Therefore, we find it very problematic and deeply regret it … One-sided statements that interpret controversial historical events by a selective sense of justice prevent understanding of the truth.”
In his statement — issued late Saturday — Obama said: “I have consistently stated my own view of what occurred in 1915, and my view of that history has not changed. A full, frank, and just acknowledgment of the facts is in all our interests.”
In the meantime, the chairman of the Armenian National Committee of America, Ken Hachikian, criticized Obama for a “disgraceful capitulation to Turkey’s threats” and failing to acknowledge what many historians describe as genocide.
“His complicity in Turkey’s denials, and his administration’s active opposition to congressional recognition of the Armenian Genocide represent the very opposite of the principled and honest change he promised to bring to our country’s response to this crime,” Hachikian said.
The Associated Press reports:
Armenians say that 1.5 million Armenians were killed by Ottoman Turks around the time of World War I, which Armenians and several nations around the world recognize as the first genocide of the 20th century.
Turkey denies that the massacres were genocide, saying the death toll is inflated and Armenians were killed in civil unrest as the Ottoman Empire collapsed.
Here is Obama’s statement in full:
We solemnly remember the horrific events that took place ninety-six years ago, resulting in one of the worst atrocities of the 20th century. In 1915, 1.5 million Armenians were massacred or marched to their death in the final days of the Ottoman Empire.
I have consistently stated my own view of what occurred in 1915, and my view of that history has not changed. A full, frank, and just acknowledgment of the facts is in all our interests. Contested history destabilizes the present and stains the memory of those whose lives were taken, while reckoning with the past lays a sturdy foundation for a peaceful and prosperous shared future.
History teaches us that our nations are stronger and our cause is more just when we appropriately recognize painful pasts and work to rebuild bridges of understanding toward a better tomorrow.
The United States knows this lesson well from the dark chapters in our own history. I support the courageous steps taken by individuals in Armenia and Turkey to foster a dialogue that acknowledges their common history.
As we commemorate the Meds Yeghern and pay tribute to the memories of those who perished, we also recommit ourselves to ensuring that devastating events like these are never repeated. This is a contemporary cause that thousands of Armenian-Americans have made their own.
The legacy of the Armenian people is one of resiliency, determination, and triumph over those who sought to destroy them.
The United States has deeply benefited from the significant contributions to our nation by Armenian Americans, many of whom are descended from the survivors of the Meds Yeghern. Americans of Armenian descent have strengthened our society and our communities with their rich culture and traditions.
The spirit of the Armenian people in the face of this tragic history serves as an inspiration for all those who seek a more peaceful and just world.
Our hearts and prayers are with Armenians everywhere as we recall the horrors of the Meds Yeghern, honor the memories of those who suffered, and pledge our friendship and deep respect for the people of Armenia.
via Obama treads carefully between Armenia and Turkey – The Oval: Tracking the Obama presidency.
AFP – Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian (centre) attends a ceremony with Catholics of all Armenians Garegin …
ANKARA (AFP) – Turkey on Sunday voiced “deep regret” over US President Barack Obama’s remarks on Armenian massacres under the Ottoman Empire, slamming them as “one-sided”.
“The statement distorts the historical facts. Therefore, we find it very problematic and deeply regret it… One-sided statements that interpret controversial historical events by a selective sense of justice prevent understanding of the truth,” the foreign ministry said.
“We expect the United States to facilitate the normalisation process between Turkey and Armenia, and not to make it more difficult,” the statement added.
In an annual message commemorating the World War I massacres, Obama on Saturday stopped short of using the “genocide” label that Turkey, a NATO ally, fiercely rejects, while urging “full” acknowledgment of the “horrific events.”
On April 24, 1915, the Ottoman authorities rounded up more than 200 Armenian intellectuals and community leaders in Istanbul in a clampdown that was followed by massacres and deportations.
[ For complete coverage of politics and policy, go to Yahoo! Politics ]
Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their kin perished by 1917, pressing a campaign to have the killings internationally recognised as genocide.
Turkey, successor of the Ottoman Empire, counters that 300,000 to 500,000 Armenians and at least as many Turks died in civil strife when Armenians rose up against their Ottoman rulers and sided with invading Russian forces.
“We wished that the president of the United States, our friend and ally, had shared the pain of the Turks as well and issued a message … with a fresh perspective,” Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said in the nortwestern city of Canakkale, according to Anatolia news agency.
In 2009, Turkey and Armenia signed landmark accords to end decades of animosity, establish diplomatic relations and reopen their border.
But the reconciliation drive faltered amid mutual accusations that the other side was not committed to the terms of the deal, prompting Armenia to freeze the ratification process accords in April 2010.
“Despite all attempts to interfere with the writing of history… we will maintain our determination to reach a just memory and build a common future with Armenia,” the foreign ministry statement said.
The massacres have long been a taboo in Turkey, but a public debate has begun in recent years, with more and more historians and intellectuals questioning Ankara’s official line and urging reconciliation.
Rare commemorations of the victims were to be held in Istanbul and Ankara later on Sunday, organised by a platform of intellectuals campaigning against racism and nationalism.
via Turkey condemns Obama for Armenia remarks – Yahoo! News.
We wonder what happens if/when Obama finds out the background image, behind Obama, is of the Turks killed by Armenian thugs In Subatan in 1918.
armenians-1915.blogspot.com
Turkish authorities have to recognize the Armenian Genocide of 1915, they have to accept their crime, so that the Armenians’ pain can be a little lessened. This is the opinion of Istanbul Armenian Sasun Estukyan, who, along with a few hundred others, participated in the Armenian Genocide memorial organized in Istanbul’s Taksim Square on Apr. 24. Recall, similar events were organized in other Turkish cities: Anakara, Diyarbakir, Bodrum.
