Trump Joins Grand Bipartisan Tradition Of Denying Armenian Genocide by Ottoman Turkey.

Trump Joins Grand Bipartisan Tradition Of Denying Armenian Genocide by Ottoman Turkey. (HuffingtonPost).

President Donald Trump on Monday adopted a controversial but traditional Washington line by avoiding the term “genocide” in describing the Turkish government’s pogrom against its Armenian citizens in 1915.

In a statement issued on the day historians say the genocide began, Trump noted Armenians’ mass suffering and the deaths of more than 1 million people, but he did not say there was a “genocide,” a step advocates say is essential for the sake of victims, honesty about the past and America’s credibility as a moral actor.

For years, concerns about angering Turkey, a strategically important partner for the U.S., and strong lobbying efforts by the Turks have stymied attempts to change official U.S. government policy to acknowledge the genocide.

Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan did use the term in office, but George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama shied away from it, even fighting congressional efforts to endorse it.

Trump crafted an image of himself as a gutsy outsider on the campaign trail and in doing so had raised expectations that he might challenge the taboo, Oshana said. But his statement reflected the power that Washington orthodoxy ― the logic of the “swamp” that he pledged to drain ― retains in the nation’s capital.

It’s hard to publicly admit to toeing the Washington line while in office. But former top officials have more leeway to expose hypocrisy and moral failures. Hours after Trump issued his statement, Samantha Power, a top aide to Obama, tweeted out a public apology for the former administration’s failure to acknowledge the genocide ― rare for a member of a team that has loudly defended its approach to foreign policy and human rights in the face of serious criticism.

Calls for Boycott of Turkish Film That blatantly Denies Assyrian, Greek, Armenian Genocide.

Calls for Boycott of Turkish Film That blatantly Denies Assyrian, Greek, Armenian Genocide. (AINA).

The American Hellenic Council (AHC) recently released a statement, urging the Greek American community and all descendants of the Armenian, Greek, and Assyrian Genocide, to boycott the new Turkish-produced film The Ottoman Lieutenant. "The film is a blatant attempt to repudiate the upcoming movie, The Promise, and mislead impressionable youth into believing the Genocide was a 'two-sided' event," reads a part of the statement.

Related: Assyrian Genocide

Signed by AHC Executive Director Ioannis Fidanakis, the statement also calls for the public to join an AYF-initiated letter writing campaign to local theaters to educate them about the purpose of this film.
Following is the statement:

We, the American Hellenic Council (AHC), in solidarity with the Armenian Youth Federation (AYF) Western United States, urge the Greek-American community, as well all descendants of the Armenian, Greek, and Assyrian Genocide, to jointly boycott the recently released film, The Ottoman Lieutenant. 

The movie, which was produced by a Turkish production company, was released on March 10 and stars Michiel Huisman, Hera Hilmar, Josh Hartnett, and Ben Kingsley, is set in Ittihadist Turkey at the time of the Genocide. The film is a blatant attempt to repudiate the upcoming movie, The Promise, and mislead impressionable youth into believing the Genocide was a "two-sided" event. 

Although we at the AHC, acknowledge that Ottoman Turks were affected by the state of war throughout the Empire, like all Ottoman citizens, their suffering cannot be equated with a systematic campaign of extermination, which befell the native Greek, Armenian, and Assyrian peoples of Eastern Thrace and Anatolia. 

Therefore, we ask the Greek-American community to refrain from paying to watch this film in theaters or supporting it in any way. Those interested in joining an AYF-initiated letter writing campaign to local theaters to educate them about the purpose of this film should contact us at ioannis@americanhellenic.org. 

Sincerely,
Ioannis Fidanakis
Executive Director
American Hellenic Council

Video - Armenian Bishop Armash Nalbandian: Countries Supporting the Turkish Criminals in Syria Bear Responsibility for Genocide.

Video - Armenian Bishop Armash Nalbandian: Countries Supporting the Turkish Criminals in Syria Bear Responsibility for Genocide. HT: MEMRI.

Bishop Armash Nalbandian, Primate of the Armenian Church of Damascus, accused Turkey of giving militants in Syria instructions "to target Armenian places, churches, and schools, and to target the very identity of the Armenians." Bishop Nalbandian, speaking on the Egyptian ON TV channel on January 28, said that a new genocide was taking place in Syria and that "the Arab and non-Arab countries that support the Turkish criminals in Syria bear responsibility for the new genocides." Recognizing the Armenian genocide and condemning it would "send a message to the world that genocides should never take place," he said.

Canada’s Last Armenian Genocide Survivor Passes Away in Montreal at age 107.

Canada’s Last Armenian Genocide Survivor Passes Away in Montreal at age 107. (AW).

Knar Yemenidjian, who was believed to be the last Armenian Genocide survivor in Canada, passed away in Montreal on Jan. 19, just short of her 108^th birthday.

Yeminidjian (née Bohjelian) was born in Ottoman Kayseri in 1909. When the massacres and the assault on Kayseri began, she and her family sought refuge in a barn for a few months. Her family was then deported.

Following a governmental decree and with their grandmother’s backing, Bohjelian’s family was forced to Turkify themselves in order to survive. Subsequently, Bohjelian and her entire family bore Turkish names.

Once a cease-fire was announced, her parents decided to flee the region. In 1928, they travelled to Ankara, then Istanbul. After staying there for 11 months, they made their way to Greece by boat and two days later, arrived in Alexandria, Egypt.

Bohjelian got married and lived in Egypt for over 40 years before moving to Montreal in 1971 with her family.

The Armenian National Committee of Canada (ANCC) mourned the passing of Yemenedjian and expresses its deepest condolences to her family in a short statement on its official Facebook page. The ANCC also said that it will release a more thorough statement shortly.


On Sept. 26, another one of Canada’s last survivors of the Armenian Genocide Keghetsik Hagopian-Zourikian, passed away in Montreal at age 107. More on the Armenian genocide by the Ottomans can be read here.

Armenian Church appeals to the European Court for Human Rights against Turkey for the failure to return some properties of Sis.

Armenian Church appeals to the European Court for Human Rights (ECHR) against Turkey for the failure to return some properties of Sis. (Fides).

Aram I, Armenian Apostolic Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia, in Antelias, Lebanon, announced that today, December 6, the request for the return of the ancient residences and properties belonging to the Catholicosate and located in Sis, in Turkish territory, will be submitted to the European Court for Human Rights - based in Strasbourg - after the Constitutional Court of Turkey did not accept the request to discuss and resolve the dispute on the properties of Sis within the Turkish legal system .

"This - remarked Catholicos Aram I in the video message in which he announced the initiative - is the first legal action taken against Turkey after the Armenian Genocide of 1915, is the result of long and serious discussions, studies and consultations, and is based on international legal provisions, including the decisions of the Treaty of Lausanne of 1932, regarding the minorities living within the boundaries of the Turkish Republic".

The cause to obtain the restitution of the Catholicosate’s historic buildings located in the city of Sis, started by Catholicos Aram I in 2015, had not been taken into account neither by the Turkish Ministry of Justice nor by the Turkish Constitutional Court. Both Turkish institutions had not recognized any legal basis to the cause.

Sis, the ancient capital of the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia, corresponds to the current Turkish town of Kozan. The intention to appeal, in April 2015, had already been announced on several occasions by the Catholicos of Cilicia between September and October 2014.

"We cannot remain apathetic with regards to the violated rights of our nation", said Aram on September 19, 2015 in Yerevan, on the occasion of the 5th Conference of the Armenian Diaspora. As already reported by Agenzia Fides (see Fides 01/10/2014), the Catholicos himself had predicted that, in the event that the Turkish institutions would take the matter into consideration, the appeal would be submitted to the European Court of Human Rights.

Agenzia Fides - Palazzo “de Propaganda Fide” - 00120 - Città del Vaticano Tel. +39-06-69880115 - Fax +39-06-69880107

The contents of the site are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Islamist 'Dictatorship' Turkey Once Again 'Ignores' German MP's Request to Visit Incirlik Airbase.

Islamist 'Dictatorship' Turkey Once Again 'Ignores' German MP's Request to Visit Incirlik Airbase. (SP).

According to German newspaper "Welt am Sonntag", the foreign policy spokesman of the Left Party, Jan van Aken, informed the Turkish Federal Foreign Office about his plans to visit the Turkish base and talk to 250 Bundeswehr soldiers stationed there.

However, so far, the Turkish authorities have not responded to his request. "There has been no reply to the request I've sent on Wednesday to the Federal Foreign Office," van Aken told the newspaper.

The politician demanded that the Bundestag should not adopt the upcoming extension of the Incirlik mandate in November if Turkey bans German MPs from visiting the military base again.

Earlier, a representative of the Turkish parliamentary committee on defense warned members of the German Bundestag against raising the Armenian issue again, a statement that clearly sounded like a kind of threat, the politician noted.  Read the full story here.

Turkish 'trolls' trying to denigrate 'The Promise' The Armenian Genocide Epic.

Turkish 'trolls' trying to denigrate 'The Promise' The Armenian Genocide Epic Kirk Kerkorian Spent a Fortune to Make. (Variety).

“The Promise,” a sweeping historical romance starring Oscar Isaac and Christian Bale, is the kind of movie epic they just don’t make anymore.

It’s risky, but not just in that way. Not only is it one of the most expensive independently financed films ever made, it also deals frankly with the Armenian genocide. The mass killings of 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman Empire took place between 1915 and 1922, but decades later, the episode remains politically fraught. Bringing the story to the masses was a mission for Kirk Kerkorian, a businessman of Armenian descent who once owned Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. He died in 2015 as the film was going into production.

His vision wasn’t cheap. “The Promise,” co-written and directed by Terry George (“Hotel Rwanda”), cost nearly $100 million to make before tax breaks. Kerkorian provided all of the financing through Survival Pictures, a company he set up with Esrailian. The film, which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival, has yet to close a distribution deal. Esrailian thinks the subject matter may be scaring some buyers away.

There’s a reason for that fear. Officials in Turkey continue to deny that systematic killings of Armenians took place. “I’ll just say that there are some studios that have business interests in Turkey, and you can form your own opinion,” says Esrailian.

There were no public protests at the Toronto premiere, but there is already evidence of a propaganda campaign to discredit “The Promise.” The film’s IMDb page has received more than 86,000 user votes, the bulk of them one-star ratings, despite the fact that the movie has had only three public screenings.

That’s more user reviews than appear for “Finding Dory,” the highest-grossing film of the year. The filmmakers say reaction on social platforms has been equally intense.

“The day after we screened the movie, 70,000 people went on IMDb and said they didn’t like the movie,” says Mike Medavoy, one of the film’s producers. “There’s no way that many people saw the movie after one screening. There aren’t that many seats in the theater. ”

Egoyan warns that the controversy is just starting. “It’s going to be a tough ride,” he says. “The denialist lobby is very well-organized.”Read the full story here.

More on the Armenian Genocide here.

Video - Roasting Turkey: First Ever Hollywood Film About Armenian Genocide Debuts in Toronto.

Roasting Turkey: First Ever Hollywood Film About Armenian Genocide Debuts in Toronto. (Showbizz).

“Our revenge will be to survive, and have children,” rallies the mayor of an Ottoman city whose Armenian population is targeted for annihilation in Terry George’s “The Promise” — “…and one day, to make movies,” he might as well add, since that is ultimately what “The Promise” is about: Aiming to do for the 1915 Armenian Genocide what “Doctor Zhivago” did for the Russian Revolution, this sweeping romantic epic intends to dramatize a dark chapter so often denied and so seldom depicted onscreen — and yet, the events in question deserve better than a sloggy melodrama in which the tragedy is forced to take a backseat to a not especially compelling love triangle.

“The Promise”– the first ever Hollywood movie about the Armenian genocide of 1915-17– debuted last night in Toronto to standing ovation. Famed director Terry George made the film, funded by late billionaire Kirk Kerkorian– starring Christian Bale and Oscar Isaac. The sweeping epic is gorgeous, beautifully acted, and exacting in its laying blame on Turkey for exterminating 1.5 million Armenians.

The movie is notable because this week is the 100th anniversary of the genocide, the first Holocaust of the 20th century. “The Promise” also raises questions about the current waves of ethnic cleansing coming from Syria and the immigration of millions of refugees.

“The Promise” also serves as a counterpoint to the evacuation of millions of Jews from Russia around the same time, the story that most of us know from “Fiddler on the Roof.”

George, whose “Hotel Rwanda” is a modern classic, couldn’t film in Turkey as he once did in Africa. So he used Spain and Malta to re-create the Armenians’ tragedy, and the results are stunning. Read the full story here.

Pope Francis denounces 'the ideologically twisted and planned "genocide" of Armenians by Ottoman-era Turks'.

Pope Francis denounces 'the ideologically twisted and planned "genocide" of Armenians by Ottoman-era Turks'. (ARNews).

Pope Francis denounced what he called the ideologically twisted and planned "genocide" of Armenians by Ottoman-era Turks a century ago as he arrived in Armenia on Friday for a deeply symbolic weekend visit to mark the centenary of the massacre.

In the most carefully watched speech of his visit, Francis ad-libbed the key word "genocide" to his prepared text that had conspicuously left it out.

And rather than merely repeat what had said last year — that the slaughter was "considered the first genocide of the 20th century," Francis declared it genocide flat out on the first day of his three-day visit to the country.

"Sadly that tragedy, that genocide, was the first of the deplorable series of catastrophes of the past century, made possible by twisted racial, ideological or religious aims that darkened the minds of the tormentors even to the point of planning the annihilation of entire peoples," he said.

In the run-up to the visit, the Vatican had backed off using the term "genocide," mindful of Turkish opposition to the political and financial implications of the word given Armenian claims for reparations.

But Francis, never one to shy from speaking his mind, added the word in at the last minute in a speech at the presidential palace to President Serzh Sargsyan, Armenian political and religious leaders and the diplomatic corps.

They gave him a standing ovation.

Many historians consider the massacres of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians genocide. Turkey rejects the term, says the death figure is inflated and that people died on both sides as the Ottoman Empire collapsed amid World War I.

In a largely Orthodox land where Catholics are a minority, Armenians have been genuinely honored to welcome a pope who has long championed the Armenian cause from his time as an archbishop in Argentina and now as leader of the 1.2-billion strong Catholic Church. His 2015 declaration that the massacres were "genocide" sealed their affection for him.

In his initial remarks in the ornate Armenian Apostolic Church in Etchmiadzin, Francis spoke of the "holy sign of martyrdom" of Armenians who died at the hands of Ottoman Turks starting in 1915.

With the Apostolic patriarch Karekin II by his side, Francis praised Armenia for becoming the first nation to declare Christianity the state religion in 301 and for keeping alive the "light of faith" even in its darkest times. He urged all Christians to unite to prevent religion from being exploited and manipulated today, an apparent reference to the current-day Islamic extremist attacks on Christians in the Middle East.

"It is vitally important that all those who declare their faith in God join forces to isolate those who use religion to promote war, oppression and violent persecution, exploiting and manipulating the holy name of God," he said.




The Vatican has long cheered the Armenian cause, holding up the poor nation of 3 million mostly Orthodox Christians as a bastion of faith and martyrdom in a largely Muslim region.

German MP calls for ban on Erdogan entering Germany after 100,000 Euro bounty put on her head.

German MP calls for ban on Erdogan entering Germany after 100,000 Euro bounty put on her head. (TurkishSun).

One of the 11 German-Turkish MPs who voted in favour of the German bill to recognize the Armenian Genocide has called for a ban on entry to Germany for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Sevim Dagdelen urged the action after receiving death threats, she demanded that “anyone in Turkey who calls for violence against the German parliament to get an entry ban (to Germany). This includes President Erdogan,” while speaking to German newspaper Bild am Sonntag.


The paper also said the politician has a 100,000 euro (TL 330,000) bounty on her head following the June 2 resolution by German lawmakers to interpret the mass killing of up to 1.5 million Armenians by Ottoman Turks during World War One as genocide. They joined more than 20 states including France and Russia, as well as the European Parliament.

Since the vote, the 11 German MPs of Turkish origin who voted for the symbolic bill have faced the ire of Turkish nationalists, receiving death threats and even having their personal details published in newspapers and in mosques.

Cem Özdemir, who put forward the bill, has born the brunt of the anger and has even been disowned by his family’s home province of Tokat in Turkey’s Black Sea region. Betinna Kudla, the only German MP to vote against the bill was offered honorary citizenship instead.


The politicians are now under 24-hour police protection after Erdogan compared them to terrorists and demanded they have blood tests to prove their Turkish origins.

German Parliament Recognizes Armenian Genocide by Ottoman Turkey.

German Parliament Recognizes Armenian Genocide by Ottoman Turkey. (Bloomberg).

Germany’s parliament voted overwhelmingly to recognize the Ottoman Empire’s 1915 killings and deportations of Armenians as genocide, setting up the next potential source of conflict between Chancellor Angela Merkel and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Lawmakers in the 630-member lower house, or Bundestag, passed the resolution on Thursday by a show of hands, with one vote against and one abstention, according to the count announced by Bundestag President Norbert Lammert.

The vote puts Germany in line with countries such as France, Russia, Greece, Sweden and the Netherlands that recognize the events during World War I as a deliberate campaign of mass killings.

“Turkey’s current government isn’t responsible for what happened 100 years ago, but it does share responsibility for what happens going forward,” Lammert said in a speech to the lower house. Read the full story here.

More on the Armenian Genocide can be read here.

Complete text of resolution on #ArmenianGenocide adopted by Bundestag
https://t.co/rkpLOqNaYm pic.twitter.com/2QRn1jM9CZ

— MFS - The Other News (@MFS001) June 2, 2016

German resolution also claims the Ottomans committed genocide against the Assyrians, Syriacs and Chaldeans: https://t.co/LJYjj5IIsi

— Ankaralı Jan (@06JAnk) June 2, 2016

VIDEO: Armenians celebrate #Germany's genocide resolution today - @HasanSari7 pic.twitter.com/Z8uwLalibO

— Conflict News (@Conflicts) June 2, 2016

TURKEY: Senior AKP lawmaker: German MPs of Turkish origin who signed genocide bill should not set foot in #Turkey https://t.co/qLyF4VyTpK

— Conflict News (@Conflicts) June 2, 2016

Justice Minister Bozdağ: "You burn Jews in ovens, then you get up and decide to accuse the Turkish nation of genocide."

— Ankaralı Jan (@06JAnk) June 2, 2016

Turkish Parliament: Armenian MP 'resurrecting' Armenian genocide staged?

Turkish Parliament: Armenian MP 'resurrecting' Armenian genocide staged? (AN).

Aravot.am asked Edik Gevorgyan, Associate Professor of the Department of Armenian History at the Pedagogical University after Kh. Abovyan, how he estimates the pro-Kurdish “People’s Democratic” part ethnic Armenian deputy Garo Paylan’s speech at the Turkish parliament where Paylan raises the issue of the Armenian Genocide and calls on Turkey to face its history.

Mr. Gevorgyan said that the Armenian deputy’s speech truly gives reason to think, given the current geopolitical developments. 

The historian thinks that the speech seemed staged along with the applauses followed by. “The recent elections in Turkey, the incidents with the Kurds and afterwards, the speeches of the Armenian deputies from various political parties and alliances at the Turkish parliament gives rise to thinking but in all cases it is applauded.

In recent days, I learned from the Internet that Armenian deputy Garo Paylan delivered a speech at the Turkish parliament and on the eve of April 24, has talked about the Armenian Genocide, illustrating even facts and examples, showed the photos of 7 Armenian deputies in the Ottoman empire Parliament (Krikor Zohrab, Bedros Halachean, Nazareth Dağavaryan, Garabed Paşayan, Ohanes Serengulyan, Hampartsum Boyacıyan, Onik Dercakyan), suggested to examine the files of their arrest and murder and so on. In the end, the speech won applauses.

Today, we are living on the threshold of such events when any voicing about the Armenian genocide and Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, especially beyond Armenia, in the international arena, attracts our attention.

In my opinion, in given case, Turkey wants to wash its hands with the help of the Armenian MP and show that it has nothing to do with the internal developments of the region, it is a democratic country where the freedom of expression is at a high level.

While Paylan’s speech must be viewed in the following context: we are standing on the threshold of major events – the April four-day war, the incidents in Artsakh, the Armenian-Russian relations and the following Russian-Turkish strained relations, even today Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s visit and meetings with top officials of Armenia, the problems discussed in the Armenian and world press that Russia is presenting a package of proposals and these recommendations refer also to the territorial problems.

This is our approach which perhaps is also a private opinion but a historian’s point of view. We know the Turkish-Azerbaijani close relations and the recent Turkish senior leaders statements that they are twin brothers and kinsfolk with Azerbaijan.

This has been voiced through the lips of Davutoglu and others. Azerbaijani Foreign Minister also spoke about it. In short, Armenian deputy’s speech days before the Armenian Genocide seems a bit suspicious, I repeat, Turkey wants to show at the international platform that allegedly it is a democratic country.” Hmmmm.......Islamist style Kabuki theater. 

Iran Stood with Armenians in Grief over 1915 Armenian Genocide: Archbishop.

Iran Stood with Armenians in Grief over 1915 Armenian Genocide: Archbishop. (IranFrontpage).

Speaking in a press conference held on Saturday in Tehran to mark the 101st anniversary of the genocide of the Armenian population in the Ottoman Empire, Sebouh Sarkissian, the Armenian archbishop in Tehran, appreciated Iran’s solidarity with the Armenian people over the grief, and criticized Turkey over its refusal to recognize the killings.

“Iranians have always shared our grief over the large genocide, in which 1.5m Armenians were killed,” Sarkissian said, expressing Armenians’ happiness with Iran’s solidarity.

“It has been a century since the genocide, and during all these years, we Armenians have always tried to assert our rights, and are hopeful about the future,” he added.

The past century was full of wars and bloodshed, he said, at the same time noting that such problems had not prevented the Armenians from moving forward. “We continued our life and progress,” the Armenian archbishop said.

He further lashed out at Turkey over its failure to recognize and condemn the genocide after one hundred years, adding, “If world figures and organizations express their support in denouncing the genocide, it would cause peace-seeking countries to stand by us so that we would be able to protect our rights.”

“On the 101st anniversary of the genocide, we want to call on Turkish officials either to understand their own history or to recognize the realities of the genocide,” he added.

“After all these years, we still remember the victims of the painful disaster every day and believe that justice will one day be restored to its real position in human life,” Sarkissian continued.

April 24 is the 101st anniversary of the Ottoman Empire’s massacre of Armenian nationals, which took place in 1915. On this day, a ceremony entitled “Genocide and Extremism: from Armenia to Syria” is held in Ararat Club in Tehran.

Quoting materials from Iran Front Page is permitted only if the source is mentioned by name.

#Iran’s #Armenians hold rally in Saint Sarkis Cathedral in #Tehran to mark anniversary of "1915 Genocide".#Armenia pic.twitter.com/ncynMnsvQP

— Abas Aslani (@abasinfo) April 24, 2016

'Islamist Dictatorship' Turkey puts pressure on EU over German project on Armenian Genocide.

'Islamist Dictatorship' Turkey puts pressure on EU over German project on Armenian Genocide. (Newsam).

Turkey is trying to put pressure on Dresden Symphony Orchestra on European level for the project dedicated to the Armenian Genocide committed 100 years ago.

The Turkish Ambassador to Germany has demanded to stop financing Aghet project, orchestra intendant Markus Rindt said.  In his words, this step is an “infringement on the freedom of expression,” dpa agency reports.

Despite Turkey’s pressure, the European Commission agency for education and culture continues supporting the project, Dresdner Neuste Nachrichten newspaper writes.

However, according to Rindt, the agency still met the Turkish side halfway, removing the information on Aghet project from its website. The orchestra itself doesn’t approve this decision.

The European agency confirmed that they have removed the information on the project from their webpage due to doubts on the right wording in the description. The agency representative told dpa that the project implementation had never been called into question. The agency has allocated 200,000 euro to that project.

In November 2015, Dresden Symphy Orchestra launched Aghet musical project, its premiere taking place in Berlin. It is dedicated to the mass extermination of the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, which took place 100 years ago during WWI.  Ankara still refuses to recognize these events as genocide, whereas the project website uses that word.


According to the website, the German Empire used to be the key ally of the Ottomans then, and the German officers took part in the massacre. The project which symbolizes reconciliation includes musicians from Turkey, Armenia and Germany, as well as Baltic countries. Following several performances in Germany, the project is planned to be presented in Belgrade, Yerevan and Istanbul in November 2016, Deutsche Welle writes.  Hmmm.......EU leadership = EUnuchs.

Video - Armenian Genocide--A Genocide Denied is A Genocide Repeated.

Obama does not call 1915 slaughter of Armenians Genocide, but a "Great Catastrophe," in final year in office.

Obama does not call 1915 slauagter of Armenians Genocide, but a "Great Catastrophe," in final year in office. (DS)

This year's statement came two days earlier than the April 24 Armenian Remembrance Day, which commemorates the date when exterminations 'deportations'  in Istanbul began in 1915.

In the statement, which was longer than previous ones, Obama defined the 1915 events as the first mass atrocity of the 20th century.

He praised the role of the U.S. ambassador to the Ottoman Empire at the time, Henry Morgenthau, Sr., who was the source of most reports and records on the atrocities. Obama also mentioned Polish jurist Raphael Lemkin, who had studied the 1915 events and later coined the term 'genocide' during World War II and laid the groundwork for genocide convention.

Obama also pointed out the importance of historical remembrence to prevent such event from occurring in the future.

"I have consistently stated my own view of what occurred in 1915, and my view has not changed. I have also seen that people and nations grow stronger, and build a foundation for a more just and tolerant future, by acknowledging and reckoning with painful elements of the past," he said.

"We continue to welcome the expression of views by those who have sought to shed new light into the darkness of the past, from Turkish and Armenian historians to Pope Francis."

Obama also praised Armenian-Americans that arrived to the U.S. as refugees and formed an important of the nation, along with Armenia accepting 17,000 Syrian refugees.

Top White House officials previously told Armenian-American leaders on Thursday that Obama will not use the term "genocide."

Aram Hamparian, executive director of the Armenian National Committee of American (ANCA), said that White House National Security officials informed Armenian community leaders that Obama would commemorate his final Armenian Remembrance Day on April 24 without describing the mass Armenian deaths as genocide, an important defeat for Obama's backers because he said before his election that he was going to recognize the Armenian genocide.

He only used the term "Medz Yeghern," Armenian for the "Great Catastrophe," to describe the Ottoman government's decision to exile hundreds of thousands of Armenian civilians.

Armenians accuse the Ottoman Empire of committing genocide in 1915 by killing 1.5 million Armenian Ottoman subjects.

Hamparian accused Obama of "caving in to pressure from Turkey" and "betraying his commitment to speak honestly about the Armenian Genocide." He also blamed the Obama administration for its inaction in recent clashes between Armenia and Azerbaijan.


Meanwhile, thousands of Turkish-Americans are also expected to march from the White House to the Turkish Embassy on April 24 and a 24-hour vigil is organized on Massachusetts Avenue where Armenian claims were protested. Hmmm........Erdogan's BFF ......Hussein Obama. Read the full story on the Armenian Genocide perpetrated by the Ottomans here.

Some countries, including Italy, Greece, Switzerland, Slovakia and Cyprus have adopted laws that punish genocide denial. In November 2015, after the shootdown of a Russian jet by Turkish F-16's on the Syria–Turkey border, a group of Russian lawmakers have submitted a bill to the Russian Duma on accountability for the Armenian Genocide denial. The bill proposes a fine of up to 500,000 rubles (US$7,500) for any denial of genocide.

Turks in New York dance & "celebrate" 101 anniversary of slaughter, the Armenian Genocide.

Turks in New York dance & "celebrate" the 101 anniversary of slaughter the Armenian Genocide. (DM).

New Yorkers are left baffled as skywriters paint 'How happy is the one who says I am a Turk' in TURKISH in the sky above Manhattan - but Armenians are not amused.

New Yorkers gazed into the blue sky with bemusement as a skywriting plane carefully scribbled the phrase 'How happy Is the one who says, I am a Turk' in Turkish over Manhattan.

The phrase was coined by the founder of modern Turkey, Kemal Ataturk, in 1933 and was until recently an oath which every Turkish child was obliged to repeat twice a week at school.

But the plane then went on to scrawl more controversial slogans in the sky, including several which denied the Armenian genocide in 1915.

These included '101 years of geno-lie' and 'Truth=Peace' and the URL of a website which is designed to 'counter Armenian misinformation' about the deaths of 1.5 million Armenians during and just after World War I.

Luke O'Brien tweeted: 'Nothing screams 'we have nothing to hide' than a denial over Manhattan.

Last year Kim Kardashian launched an outspoken attack on President Obama for refusing to use the word 'genocide' as he marked the 100th anniversary of the massacre of 1.5 million Armenians.Read the full story here.

Turkish government planning to wipe out Christian Armenian History with government expropriated land?

Turkish government planning to wipe out Christian Armenian History with government expropriated land? (AA).

Turkey has been making drastic decisions in different towns of the majority Kurdish southeast in the past few weeks. On March 21, Turkey's Justice and Development Party (AKP) government hastily passed legislation referred to as “urgent expropriation of the Sur district” of Diyarbakir province. On March 26, the government's Official Gazette announced all the addresses of the properties to be expropriated.

But the Sur situation generated global reactions because of the town's history — so much so that Galip Ensarioglu, a prominent AKP parliamentarian, told the press that the US Embassy had called him asking about the reports. Ensarioglu said the reports amounted to a smear campaign spreading false information about the confiscation process. Others beg to differ.

Indeed, the story of Sur evolves around historic churches and citadels of the town, which are on UNESCO’s World Heritage List. Months of fighting with the Kurdistan Workers Party have left the region in ruins, and ambiguous government statements furthered the frustration of civilians who were obliged to leave their homes. One of the concerned groups is Armenian. About 110 years ago, the region’s population distribution shows Sur was an Armenian majority town.

As aerial images of Sur expropriations started circulating on social media, Armenians all around the world became concerned, particularly about one church that was reopened only in 2011.

Soon it became clear that several inalienable religious endowment properties, or waqf, along with the largest Armenian Church, St. Giragos Armenian Apostolic Church, were included on the list.

About 82% of the district is estimated to have been expropriated by the government. Hmmmm.....Rewriting History one of the favorite pass times of Islamists. Read the full story here.

Turkey calls joint ‘genocide’ remarks by Armenian and Greek leaders ‘pathetic’.

As of 2015 [update], the governments of twenty-six countries, including Russia, France, and Germany, as well as forty-three states of the United States of America, have recognized the events as 'genocide'. The governments of Turkey and Azerbaijan deny the Armenian Genocide.


 Turkey calls joint ‘genocide’ remarks by Armenian and Greek leaders ‘pathetic’. (HD).

Armenian and Greek leaders’ joint portrayal of the events that took place in Anatolia during World War I as “genocide” has deeply angered Ankara, which labeled their statement as “the product of a pathetic mentality.”

Titled “Regarding the Statements of the Greek Prime Minister Mr. Alexis Tsipras, and President Mr. Prokopis Pavlopoulos on the Occasion of the Visit of the President of Armenia Mr. Serzh Sargsyan, Referring to Historical Events During the Disintegration of the Ottoman Empire and Containing Grave Allegations Against Turkey and the Turkish Identity,” the Turkish Foreign Ministry’s reaction came in the form of an official answer to a journalist’s question by Spokesperson Tanju Bilgiç late on March 17.

“The statements in question are the product of a pathetic mentality proving that the relations and solidarity between Greece and Armenia are built upon a joint hostility and slander language directed against the Turkish identity,” Bilgiç said.

“Turkey and the Turkish people will never give credit to those bringing to the fore at every opportunity a dictum of history which is unlawful, disconnected with realities, one-sided and obsessive,” he concluded.

Greece says thousands of ethnic Greeks who had been living on the southern shores of the Black Sea for centuries were massacred in Turkey during strife that accompanied the fall of the Ottoman Empire and the creation of the modern Turkish state.

Armenia charges that as many as 1.5 million of its kin were victims of genocide during World War I under the Ottoman Empire.

Ankara rejects the “genocide” charge, countering 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.

Tsipras was meanwhile quoted in media as speaking of “Greeks’ and Armenians’ history of suffering and persecution,” on the same occasion.

Tsipras said that both peoples were “victims of genocide perpetrated by the Ottoman Turks during World War I,” according to Massis Weekly, an official publication of the Armenian Social Democratic Hunchakian Party.

'Islamist' Turkey - Armenian orphanage’s ownership deed false return claim, turns into election ruse.

'Islamist' Turkey - Armenian orphanage’s ownership deed false return claim, turns into election ruse. (TZ).

The Nor Zartonk, a civil society group representing Turkey's Armenian community, condemned false reports that the deed for a former Armenian orphanage widely referred to as Camp Armen has been returned to the Gedikpaşa Armenian Proestant Church Foundation and called the false reports a ploy for votes in the run-up to Sunday's election during a press conference held in İstanbul on Thursday morning.

Thursday marked the 30th day of Nor Zartonk's occupation of the land in an effort to prevent the demolition of the camp, preserve its historic symbolism and protest the continuation of the unjust seizure of property from minorities by the state. The camp was opened by the Gedikpaşa Armenian Protestant Church Foundation in 1963 and built in part by the camp's orphans. A high court ruling issued in 1974 stated that "minority foundations cannot own property." 

 In 1983, the camp was closed and the deed to the land was returned to its former owner, despite legal action taken by the Gedikpaşa Armenian Protestant Church, which owned and operated the camp, to prevent its closure. The ownership of the land has since changed hands several times.

“We are in the 30th day of our Camp Armen resistance, and we wanted to share [our experiences] of these 30 days, for there have been several false reports circulating in the media regarding the camp. […] It's unfortunate but some of these lies are being produced in an effort to win votes [for the upcoming June 7 general election], and this includes Armenian media outlets. 

To gain these votes, there are reports being produced stating that the deed to the camp has been returned to the Gedikpaşa foundation, but unfortunately, this is not true,” said Sayat Tekir, spokesperson for Nor Zartonk, during Thursday's meeting.


What Tekir was referring to was the latest issue of Paros monthly magazine, an İstanbul-based magazine that focuses on the local Armenian community. 

The magazine published an article about the camp with the headline, “Camp Armen has been returned to the foundation” on one page and a full page ad for Justice and Development Party (AK Party) deputy candidate Markar Esayan, who is also a prominent columnist of Armenian descent, on the adjacent page.

In addition to falsely stating that the title to the property had been returned to the foundation, the article described Esayan as “the one who has undertaken the coordination for the Armenian orphanage to be returned to the foundation,” portraying Esayan as being at the forefront of the resistance to the demolition.

The members of Nor Zartonk openly criticize Esayan for using the Camp Armen resistance to promote the AK Party. Hmmm.........OMG Islamist would lie? Read the full story here.