Category: Main Issues

Genocide conference in NYC

As Genocide Continues to Shape World History, Landmark Conference will Seek Answers and Understanding

International Group of Scholars Gather to Focus Lens on Genocide through examination of Raphael Lemkin, Advocate and Initiator of United Nations Genocide Convention in 1948
Wed Oct 21, 2009 8:30am EDT

NEW YORK, Oct. 21 /PRNewswire/ — Current news headlines are a sad reminder
that genocide has been, and continues to be, a stain on human existence in all
corners of the world, from Rwanda to Armenia, to Darfur and beyond. Those
headlines also underscore the urgency of addressing every instance of the
crime, particularly in light of a statement made by Adolf Hitler before
invading Poland in 1939: “… I put ready my Death’s Head units, with orders
to send to death, mercilessly and without compassion, all men, women, and
children of the Polish race or language. … Who, after all, still talks
nowadays of the extermination of the Armenians?”

Inscribed on the wall of the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C., that quote
illustrates that Hitler was emboldened by the lack of international response
to Turkey’s killing of more than a million ethnic Armenians during World War
I. By contrast, however, that episode in human history was also the spark that
led to the tireless efforts of one man to define the crime of genocide under
international law and enable perpetrators, such as a recently arrested suspect
in the Rwandan genocide, to be charged and brought to justice. That man was
Raphael Lemkin, whose life-long devotion to the cause not only coined and
defined the word “genocide,” but led to the 1948 United Nations Convention on
the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

The invaluable contributions of Lemkin will be the focus of an international
public conference, “Genocide and Human Experience: Raphael Lemkin’s Thought
and Vision,” to be held Sunday, November 15, from 9:00 a.m.-6:30 p.m., at the
Center for Jewish History, 15 West 16th Street in New York City. Bringing
together for the first time an international group of historians, political
scientists, anthropologists, philosophers, philanthropists, and legal
authorities to explore the tremendous legacy and impact of Lemkin’s work, the
landmark conference will also delve into perpetually relevant questions of
human rights and the nature of human behavior.

“Raphael Lemkin died in 1959, and while few people today may recognize his
name, most feel the impact of his work,” said Michael Glickman, Center for
Jewish History COO. “As a young Jewish lawyer in Warsaw almost 90 years ago,
Lemkin could not understand why it was a crime for an Armenian youth to murder
the Turkish official responsible for the attempted destruction of the Armenian
community in the Ottoman Empire, but not a crime for the government to murder
more than a million Armenians. That question inspired Lemkin to devote the
rest of his life to fight against such horrors and to wage a campaign of
international advocacy that led to the United Nations Genocide Convention.”

A wealth of Lemkin’s correspondence, along with papers documenting Lemkin’s
work as an activist, are housed in the archives of the American Jewish
Historical Society at the Center for Jewish History. The documents include
correspondences with public figures such as Eleanor Roosevelt, General Dwight
D. Eisenhower, and Pearl S. Buck; Lemkin’s unfinished manuscript History of
Genocide; and archival footage of interviews from the 1950s. The Lemkin
archives will also be the subject of a special exhibition at the Center for
Jewish History in partnership with Yeshiva University Museum scheduled to run
from November 16, 2009, to March 19, 2010.

Even though the crime of genocide is often understood as mass murder alone,
Lemkin viewed genocide as a nuanced concept, which shapes and is determined by
the spheres of economics, law, society, and culture. Through Lemkin’s archival
writings, the conference will focus on these gradations of genocide, as Lemkin
understood them.

Opening the conference will be an historical overview and brief biographical
account of Lemkin’s life, legal and other accomplishments, and perspectives on
the human condition, setting the context for the panel discussions to follow.
Topics to be explored by three different panels fall under the broad subjects
of Lemkin’s perspective on cultural genocide, the complex economic and social
issues surrounding genocide, and the challenging relationship between
international law and genocide.

Among the distinguished list of presenters are Vartan Gregorian, President,
Carnegie Corporation of New York; Peter Balakian, Colgate College; Donna-Lee
Frieze, Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia; Alexander Laban Hinton,
Rutgers University; Jim Fussell, PreventGenocide.org; Tanya Elder, American
Jewish Historical Society; Berel Lang, Wesleyan University; Benjamin
Valentino, Dartmouth College; Lawrence Woocher, US Institute of Peace; Hilary
Earl, Nipissing University, North Bay, Ontario; Benedict F. Kiernan, Yale
University; Muhamed Mesic, Bosnia; William A. Schabas, National University of
Ireland; and Steven Leonard Jacobs, University of Alabama.

“It is the hope of the Center and the conference sponsors that this historic
gathering will not only provide some clearer understandings of both the
extraordinary courage and dynamic intellect of one individual, but will also
clarify the challenges that lie ahead in confronting the evil of genocide in
the modern world,” continued Mr. Glickman. “It is said that those who do not
learn from history are doomed to repeat it. ‘Genocide and Human Experience:
Raphael Lemkin’s Thought and Vision’ represents one small step to teach the
lessons humankind so desperately needs, as history continues to repeat itself
in the 21st century.”

The conference is open to the general public. For more information, visit
www.cjh.org/lemkin; or to register, log on to www.smarttix.com or call
212-868-4444.

SOURCE Center for Jewish History

Cathy Callegari, +1-212-579-1370, [email protected]

URL:

October 23, 2009
Armenian “Genocide” Resolution Introduced In U.S. Senate

U.S. — The Dome of The Capitol Building. Note the flag at the base of the dome (right) and the pole above the Senate Chamber (left, no flag means the Senate is not in session), 2006

22.10.2009

Emil Danielyan

Two members of the U.S. Senate have introduced legislation calling on President Barack Obama to officially term the 1915-1918 mass killings and deportations of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire a genocide.

The resolution drafted by Senators Robert Menendez and John Ensign urges him to “accurately characterize the systematic and deliberate annihilation of 1,500,000 Armenians as genocide.”

“One and a half million Armenians experienced Hell on Earth, and to sweep their plight under the rug is to insult their memories and their descendants,” Menendez said as he presented the resolution on Wednesday. “It is long past time that our nation help set the historical record straight and provide a foundation of understanding that helps prevent future atrocities.”

“By joining together and affirming that genocide was committed on the Armenian people, we send a strong message to the international community that we will not turn a blind eye to the crimes of the past simply because they are in the past,” Ensign said for his part.

A similar bill was circulated by other pro-Armenian lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives early this year. It has yet to reach the House floor despite being co-sponsored by over 130 lawmakers and tacitly endorsed by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a longtime supporter of Armenian issues.

Progress of the House bill stalled this spring amid an intensifying dialogue between Armenia and Turkey. Obama cited the Turkish-Armenian rapprochement when he backtracked on his campaign pledge to reaffirm his recognition of the Armenian genocide once in office, in an April 24 statement on the 94th anniversary of the massacres. His stance angered the influential Armenian-American community that had overwhelmingly backed his presidential bid.

Obama’s failure to use the word “genocide” was clearly facilitated by the April 22 announcement of a U.S.-brokered “roadmap” to normalizing Turkish-Armenian relations. As part of that roadmap, Armenia and Turkey signed earlier this month agreements on establishing diplomatic relations and reopening their border.

The agreements, strongly supported by the Obama administration, have split the Armenian Americans and, in particular, their two main advocacy groups that have for decades lobbied for genocide recognition. One of them, the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA), has been at the forefront of Diaspora criticism of the deal.

The ANCA and other critics are especially opposed to Ankara’s and Yerevan’s plans to set up a commission tasked with looking into the 1915 massacres. They say the very existence of such a body would discourage the United States and other countries from recognizing what many historians consider the first genocide of the 20th century.

U.S. — Democratic Senator from New Jersey Robert Menendez, 05Aug2009

Menendez condemned the planned historical commission as an “insult to the Armenian people” in a speech at an ANCA event organized earlier this month. The New Jersey Democrat had earlier blocked the congressional approval of former President George W. Bush’s choice of a new U.S. ambassador to Armenia, in protest against the dismissal of the previous envoy, John Evans. The latter is believed to have been recalled to Washington because of publicly describing the slaughter of Ottoman Armenians as genocide.

Turkish pundits welcoming the deal agree that Ankara will now find it easier to ward off embarrassing genocide resolutions in the U.S. and elsewhere. Writing in “Hurriyet Daily News” on October 13, veteran commentator Mehmet Ali Birand said: “It will be very difficult for Armenian representatives to go before the U.S. Congress or the French Senate and ask for pressure on Turkey regarding genocide and the acceptance thereof. And it will become impossible for them to go before parliaments of countries that have committed genocide themselves and ask for Ankara’s punishment.”

“We will no longer be on pins and needles on the April 24s and ask ‘What will the U.S. Congress do?’ U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the rear row of this picture is our biggest guarantor,” another columnist, Cuneyt Ulsever, wrote in an op-ed article published by the English-language paper the previous day.

President Serzh Sarkisian and other Armenian leaders insist that the historical commission would not seek to determine whether the 1915 killings constituted genocide and would thus not thwart genocide recognition. Their policy on Turkey enjoys the backing of some of the leading Diaspora organizations, notably the Armenian Assembly of America.

The Assembly on Wednesday joined the ANCA in welcoming the genocide resolution submitted to the Senate. “The Assembly will not rest until Armenian Genocide denial is defeated,” Bryan Ardouny, the lobbying group’s executive director, said in a statement.

Another Armenian-American leader familiar with congressional affairs, who asked not to be identified, also hailed the Menendez-Ensign bill, while noting that the Senate is unlikely to approve it soon. “It shows that the [Turkish-Armenian] protocols and U.S. reaffirmation of the Armenian Genocide are not connected, even though it has little chance of passing Senate this year,” he told RFE/RL. “Senate is a harder mountain for us to climb. But next year is an election year, and there are other factors that will help.”

Turning to the genocide recognition push in the House of Representatives, he said, “My guess is that it will not get serious until after April of next year, and people will see how Turkey performs. If Turkey does not ratify the protocols or open the border [with Armenia] on time, the resolution will be relatively easy to pass.”

“Even if Turkey does perform, the resolution should pass the House, as the U.S. has been clear on no linkage and despite some wishful thinking, the [historical] commission actually agreed to is not to determine whether or not there was genocide,” added the leader.

https://www.azatutyun.am/a/1858487.html

October 22, 2009
INTRODUCE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE RESOLUTION

PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release: October 21, 2009

Contact: Elizabeth S. Chouldjian – Tel: (202) 775-1918

SENATORS MENENDEZ AND ENSIGN INTRODUCE
ARMENIAN GENOCIDE RESOLUTION

— Renew Senate Drive for U.S. Condemnation of Crime against Humanity

WASHINGTON, DC – The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) welcomed the introduction today of the Armenian Genocide Resolution in the U.S. Senate by Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and John Ensign (R-NV).

The measure is similar to legislation in the U.S. House, H.Res.252, introduced earlier this year by Representatives Adam Schiff (D-CA), George Radanovich (R-CA), and Congressional Armenian Caucus Co-Chairs Frank Pallone (D-NJ) and Mark Kirk (R-IL). This measure already has over 130 cosponsors.

In introducing the measure, Sen. Menendez noted, “Only when history’s darkest hours are acknowledged and understood can we truly learn from them and build a peaceful future upon those lessons. One and a half million Armenians experienced Hell on Earth, and to sweep their plight under the rug is to insult their memories and their descendants. It is long past time that our nation help set the historical record straight and provide a foundation of understanding that helps prevent future atrocities.”

Senator Ensign explained, “It inconceivable that after so many years the international community has yet to affirm that the deportation, expropriation, abduction, torture, massacre and starvation of the Armenian people was genocide. By joining together and affirming that genocide was committed on the Armenian people, we send a strong message to the international community that we will not turn a blind eye to the crimes of the past simply because they are in the past.”

“On behalf of all Armenian Americans, we thank Senators Menendez and Ensign for their tireless leadership in moving America toward a full and proper commemoration and condemnation of the Armenian Genocide,” said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian. “This legislation, in seeking to end U.S. silence in the face of Turkey’s denial of this crime, not only honors the past, but also, very powerfully, helps make Armenia and all the world safer from future genocides.”

Earlier this month, Senator Menendez had spoken out about the importance of international affirmation of the Armenian Genocide, and condemned provisions in the Turkey-Armenia protocols, which would create a historical commission as “frankly absurd” and an “insult to the Armenian people.” He went on to note, “It is time that Turkey recognizes it [the Armenian Genocide] and accepts it. It is time that the world acknowledges this fact of history and moves on towards a viable peace that honors the true history of the Armenian people.” His complete remarks, delivered at an event supporting the efforts of the ANCA Eastern Region can be viewed at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7g7gQBeWuY8

The resolution introduced today calls upon the President to ensure that the foreign policy of the United States reflects appropriate understanding and sensitivity concerning issues related to human rights, ethnic cleansing, and genocide documented in the United States record relating to the Armenian Genocide.” The resolution includes extensive findings from past U.S. hearings, resolutions and Presidential statements on the Armenian Genocide from 1916 through the present, as well as references to statements by international bodies and organizations.

Armenian National Committee of America
1711 N Street, NW
Washington, DC 20036
Tel. (202) 775-1918
Fax. (202) 775-5648
Email. [email protected]
Internet www.anca.org

October 22, 2009
Turkish Foreign Minister to Meet with Azeri Counterpart, President

ANKARA (Combined Sources)—Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu will travel to Baku on Thursday for a ministerial meeting of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) where he will also address what Turkish media is describing as growing concerns by Azerbaijan over Turkey’s push to normalize ties with Armenia, the Turkish Hurriyet Daily reported.

Davutoglu is expected to meet with his counterpart Elmar Mammadyarov and President Ilham Aliyev on the sidelines of the meeting, Hurriyet said.

The meeting will come a week after Aliyev threatened to derail the Western Backed Nabucco pipeline project to bring gas from the Caspian Sea to Europe via Turkey.

Media reports in recent weeks have said the historically strong Turkish-Azeri alliance is in danger of breaking down due to Baku’s uncompromising demands for the Karabakh conflict to be linked to Turkish-Armenian rapprochement.

Although Aliyev presented his threat as a purely commercial move, analysts believe the underlying motive was to send a signal on the Turkish-Armenian deal.

Baku’s outbursts have been seen as a tactic to force the Karabakh linkage on Armenia, which is already under heavy international pressure to quickly normalize its relations with Turkey and resolve the Karabakh conflict.

“The timing of Aliyev’s announcement, less than a week after the accord between Yerevan and Ankara was signed, left little doubt.” Said Brian Whitmore, a senior correspondent at RFE/RL. “Baku had argued strenuously that a deal to reestablish relations between Ankara and Yerevan should not be signed while Armenia continued to occupy Nagorno-Karabakh, and it threatened to take unspecified countermeasures if one was.”

Turkish President Abdullah Gul, meanwhile, phoned his Azeri counterpart, Ilham Aliyev on Wednesday to brief him on discussions with US President Barack Obama and Dmitri Medvedev on the Karabakh conflict, the Anatolian News Agency reported.

The two leaders also discussed the recent removal of Turkish flags from a diplomatic mission in Azerbaijan a monument for Turkish soldiers who fought for Azerbaijan in the early 20th century. The move, a breach of international agreements between Azerbaijan and Turkey, was officially protested by Turkey’s ambassador to Azerbaijan.

Diplomatic sources have said Turkey and Azerbaijan are confident that the two countries will overcome “this period of strain” and will continue their cooperation for providing regional stability.

According to the Anatolian, Gul and Aliyev agreed that “misunderstandings and misperceptions brought about by some emotional reactions” while the two countries “were passing through hard times have been cleared.” It added that the two leaders “confirmed that impressions that ties between Turkey and Azerbaijan had weakened were not good for both countries.”

The Turkish flag was removed after Azeri flags were banned by FIFA at the Turkey-Armenia World Cup qualifying match soccer match in Bursa on October 14. The Turkish flags were replaced Tuesday, Azeri media reported, speculating that the decision to remove the flags came in response to a “Turkish ban” on Azeri flags in Bursa.

Asbarez

October 21, 2009
Struggle to go on, ASALA rep states

18:18 / 10/20/2009

“We want to warn everyone – from the authorities to the local criminal leaders – that we will not give up our struggle for national dignity,” Alek Yenigomshyan, member of the Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA) and of the Miatsum (Unity) initiative, told reporters.

The statement was intended for those putting obstacles to the signature-gathering campaign against the Armenian-Turkish protocols and Madrid Principles.

The Miatsum initiative member Armen Yeghyan said that the incident in the Nor-Nork community of Yerevan clearly demonstrated policemen’s “collaboration” with the local criminal elements.

The film director Tigran Khzmalyan pointed out that Armenia’s special services are obviously persecuting “active citizens,” including students and Karabakh war veterans. In behalf of the Committee in Defense of Political Prisoners and Victims of Political Repressions, Khzmalyan stressed that all those subjected to repressions for pronouncing against the Armenian-Turkish protocols will be declared political prisoners.

News from Armenia – NEWS.am

October 21, 2009
Sarafian Speaks On Massacre

By Michael Hamlin Jr. | October 14, 2009, Brianna Campbell / The Collegian –

Ara Sarafian, an archival historian who specializes in late Ottoman history, presented information to California State University, Fresno students Monday night about the Adana massacre of Armenian’s in the Ottoman Empire. . .

The year 2009 marks the 100 year anniversary of the state led massacre that killed at least 20,000 Armenians in 1909. The massacre was entrenched in political, economical and religious differences.

In his presentation entitled ‘Remembering Adana’, Sarafian illustrated the destruction the massacre caused through the use of vivid pictures and hauntingly descriptive text that described the devastation and tragedy that occurred in Adana.

“The massacre was completely out of the blue,” Sarafian said during his presentation. “The devastation is breathtaking; the pictures bring the damage to life. I like to show them because if I did not, you would think I was lying or telling a story.”

Fresno State student and audience member Lauren Beal believes Fresno State students can learn many things from Sarafian’s presentation.

“Students can learn a lot about Armenian history,” Beal said. “If you can learn from history, it most likely will not be repeated.”
Barlow Der Mugrdechian, director for the center for Armenian studies, agrees that history can teach many things.

“History tells us a lot about ourselves,” Mugrdechian said after Sarafian’s lecture had concluded. “It [history] can happen again, we have to be careful of that fact and learn from our past mistakes.”

The Turkish government disputes the history of the events in Adana in 1909. The government contends that the Adana Massacre was an Armenian attack on the Muslim majority.

Sarafian addressed this issue while speaking about the importance of writing the correct history of the past. He said there is no place for lies or inaccuracies.
“The Turkish government said the Armenians were rebels [speaking about the Adana massacre of 1909]. That is a flat-out lie,” said Sarafian, founding director of the Gomidas Institute in London, a leading research center which republishes English translations of Armenian texts about the Armenian Genocide. “Historical writing is up to you. History does not write itself, states do not write history, people do.”

As well as speaking about the Adana massacre, Sarafian also had a message for Fresno State students.

“Students should have awareness for prejudice,” Sarafian said. “We are the guardians of our own freedom. We need to take a moral stance. Maybe the real question we should ask is how to stop the violence.”

On Oct. 10, the countries of Turkey and Armenia signed an agreement to establish diplomatic relations and open their border after one century of hostility towards each other. The issue of whether or not the killings of Armenians during the end of the Ottoman Empire is only hinted at, but none the less, the peace treaty was still signed.

Sarafian also put a positive perspective on the tragic massacre of 1909.

“History doesn’t always have to be negative, it can bring people together,” Sarafian said. “The legacy of Adana may not be to divide people, but to bring them together.”

Comments

Ergun KIRLIKOVALI:

Salahi Sonyel’s book “The Great War and the Tragedy of Anatolia”, TTK, Ankara, 2001, has an entire chapter on Adana; “Chapter 3: The Counter-Revolution” whose four sub-chapters are:

“The Events of 13 April 1909 (31 Mart Val’asi), pages 48-52

“The Adana Incidents”, pages 52-60

“Who was responsible for the Adana Incidents”, pages 61-64

“The Commission of Inquiry into the Adana Incidents”, pages 65-70.

All of these findings squarely refute Sarafian’s claims. Here is one excerpt from page 66 where one of the most experienced American missionaries in Anatolia, Rev. Dr. Christie, gives an account to of the very origin of the Adana incident to the American diplomatic representative who, in turn, furnishes it to British ambassador in Istanbul (Lowther)

“… that the young Armenians of Adana were nearly all revolutionaries, that arms and ammunition were on sale for months, and that both sides had been laying in store of them. He also attributed a large share in the (Adana) events to the ‘evil counsels’ of the Armenian bishop, whom (Dr. Christie) described as ‘a very bad man’…”

These comments of Dr. Christie refute Sarafian’s claims and show that the idea of a revolutionary plot did in fact exist among many Armenians headed by their ‘evil’ bishop. The Armenians were well armed and supplied, motivated, even arrogant, and quite aggressive; attributes in stark contradiction with the Sarafian misrepresentation of innocent, unarmed Armenians.

There is much more in this book and elsewhere to clearly demonstrate to truth-seekers that one-sided accounts of historic controversies, such as that by Sarafian of Adana incidents, do not help promote scholarship, truth, peace, or closure.

Dr. Gwynne Dyer, a London-based independent journalist, may have put it best in1976 after all:

“… The deafening drumbeat of the propaganda, and the sheer lack of sophistication in argument which comes from preaching decade after decade to a convinced and emotionally committed audience, are the major handicaps of Armenian historiography of the Diaspora today…”Ergun.

October 21, 2009