Mercosur Parliament recognises and condemns the Armenian Genocide

Legislative representatives from the four country members, Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay condemned the “Armenian Genocide, perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire, which took 1.5 million lives from 1915 to 1923.”

The Mercosur resolution also expressed its support for the Armenian Cause and called on all countries to recognize the Genocide.

The resolution was introduced by the representatives of Argentina and Uruguay, and after approval by the Human Rights Committee, was passed by the entire Mercosur parliament.

AXA pays out to the descendants of victims of the Armenian Genocide

PARIS, Nov. 19, 2007 (Thomson Financial delivered by Newstex) -- The French insurance company Axa (NYSE:AXA) paid out the sum of 1 mln usd (680,000 eur) Monday, as the first instalment of a 17.5 mln usd settlement to compensate life-policy holders killed in the Armenian genocide. The settlement was reached in 2005 following a class-action suit brought in the United States by descendants of victims who held policies with insurance companies now incorporated into Axa. The money was handed over to three French-Armenian charities, who will receive a further two million dollars in the next two months. The rest of the money is to go to individuals, who have until January 7 to register on the Internet. So far 5,000 people -- mainly in the USA, Armenia and France -- have laid a claim. The American insurance company New York Life made a similar settlement for 20 million dollars in 2000, and lawyers have actions pending against Deutsche Bank (NYSE:DB) and Dresdner Bank of Germany.

Bernard Lewis, Abe Foxman, Genocide, and ‘Genocide’

"The bottom line, pace Bernard Lewis, is that the crime of genocide was originally conceived to describe what Turkey did to the Armenians. Just as it is a priori that a meter stick is one meter long, so it is a priori that the Turkish mass-murder of Armenians was genocide, and a denial of this fact is not merely an expression of ignorance, and not even, strictly speaking, false. To say "there was no Armenian genocide" amounts to what the logical positivists called vocus flatus, a syntactical and seemingly articulate string of symbols that nevertheless is literally meaningless, due, in this case, to its containing an analytic inconsistency. "There was no Armenian genocide" is not a false sentence because it is not even a sentence. It's like trying (and failing) to refer to "the married bachelor."

Petition to recognise the Armenian Genocide submitted to the Prime Minister

The following petition signed by 1,135 British citizens or residents has been submitted to the Prime Minister Gordon Brown today:

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to recognise the Armenian Genocide of 1915
More than a million Armenians were massacred by the government of Ottoman Empire (now Turkey) in the twentieth century's first genocide. We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister and Her Majesty's Government to recognise the Armenian Genocide of 1915 because denial is "killing them twice."

Response from the Prime Minister's Office is expected in December 2007 and will be published on this site in addition to being sent to all signatories.

Scholars from “Global Conference on the Prevention of Genocide” urge U.S. Congress to recognize Armenian Genocide

"The 20th century has been described as the Century of Genocide. It opened in 1915 with the mass killing of almost 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman Empire," Payam Akhavan, S.J.D., chair of the symposium, noted in his opening remarks.

The petition, which asks members of the U.S. Congress to approve a vote for H. Resolution 106 calling on the White House administration to recognize the genocide, was signed by the likes of Dr. Akhavam, Faculty of Law, McGill University, Professor Frank Chalk, Director, Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies, and Professor of History, Concordia University, Senator Roméo Dallaire, former commander of UN peacekeeping forces in Rwanda, Professor Yehuda Bauer, Holocaust historian and scholar, Yad Vashem and Hebrew University, Dr. Irwin Cotler M.P., Former Minister of Justice & Former Attorney-General of Canada,, Dr. Gregory Stanton, President of Genocide Watch, and many others.

"The scholars' reaffirmation of the Armenian Genocide's historical reality and their commitment to justice once more show how Turkey's claims that ‘history should be left to the historians is a cheap political ruse," remarked Dr. Girair Basmadjian, president of the Armenian National Committee of Canada (ANCC). "Everybody on that petition, as well as Turkey, know that the true historians have already passed their verdict. We hope the U.S. Congress will now do the same, and thank the symposium's organizers and participants for their hard work," he concluded. "I cannot help but feel pride as a Canadian for the moral stance that the Canadian Senate, Parliament and especially the Government have taken in affirming and reaffirming the historical fact of the genocide."

Turkey has to grasp the past to survive (Sunday Herald)

"MY WIFE has no idea where her grandmother was born. Nothing remarkable about that. In the long century of emigres and immigrants, when the ships were arriving or escaping, many people grew vague about half-remembered farmsteads, deserted villages or tenement rooms in forgotten ports. It happened.

My wife is entitled to be a little more precise, though. "No idea", means none, nothing. Not a scrap of evidence. Once upon a time, someone eradicated a large part of her ancestry. This also happened.

Just to ensure that a daughter's daughter would be forever mystified, they spent the best part of the long century insisting, sometimes with extraordinary violence, that no such eradication was ever contemplated. Just to say so is, to them, an outrage. In their country there is a law forbidding traitors, fools, journalists and novelists from mentioning the thing that never happened."

Survivors protest at Israel's stance on Armenian genocide (The Independent)

"She has no memory of her father or mother. She was abandoned as an infant –it almost certainly saved her life because she was found on the side of the road by an American missionary – on one of the death marches in 1915 from Gurun, in central Anatolia. Even her name was given to her by the Near East Relief orphanage in Lebanon where she grew up. Sadly, she says, most of her fellow survivors in Jerusalem of the Armenian genocide have died.

But Mary Kevorkian, a sprightly widow of 93, is proud of the independent life she leads – including the daily shopping and cleaning of her home in Jerusalem's Old City. "I do all my own work," she says cheerfully. "I don't need anybody."

This week she joined more than 100 other, rather younger, demonstrators –about 10 per cent of a once much larger Jerusalem Armenian community dating back to Roman times – outside the Foreign Ministry. They were protesting against what they believe is the Israeli government's use of its considerable lobbying influence on Capitol Hill to try to thwart the bill which would mean US recognition of the genocide in which 1.5 million Armenians, including Mrs Kevorkian's parents, died."

Desmond Fernandes: "Denialism and the Armenian Genocide"

"Elif Shafak is currently being prosecuted in Turkey because fictional characters in her novel The Bastard of Istanbul speak of a genocide and the mass killing of Armenians. Academics, journalists, teachers, human rights activists and publishers also continue to be labelled as “traitors” to the state, criminalised and subjected to death threats and other forms of intimidation (both nationally and internationally) for merely recognising or debating this genocide."

Speech by Lord Dafydd Elis-Thomas, National Assembly of Wales

“I am greatly honoured to be here today at the kind invitation of the Wales-Armenia Society to accept this marble cross – the khatchkar – on behalf of the people of Wales, and in order to dedicate the cross to the memory of those people of Armenia who were killed in one of the biggest genocides the world has ever seen when, in 1915, one and a half million Armenians were massacred by the Turks.”

“It gives me great pleasure also to welcome to Wales Mr. Vahe Gabrielyan, the Armenian Ambassador to the United Kingdom, and Bishop Nathan Hovhannissian, the Primate of the Armenian Apostolic Church in the United Kingdom.”

“The fact that the funds for this fine memorial have been raised entirely by the Armenians who live in Wales and that it will occupy a special place here in the Temple of Peace, reflects the vibrant interest in the history of Armenia.”

“Ever since it was founded following the First World War, this building – the Temple of Peace – is a symbol of Wales’s desire and ambition to be heard in international affairs.”

“I am pleased to say that Wales, as a nation, has acknowledged Armenia’s right to self-government and to have the suffering of her people recognised by the world.”

“And it is not merely a case of sentiment that Wales can identify with a small country with its own unique language; characterised by a religion which has its roots in the oldest Christian Church in the world; and the experience of living next door to a powerful and imperialistic neighbour.”

“The story of Wales’s relationship with one of the oldest states and the oldest Christian Church in the world can be traced to the end of the nineteenth century and the massacre of the Armenian people in Sassoun in 1894.”

“Llewelyn Williams, a Liberal MP from Wales, wrote a volume on the history of Armenia and the infamy of the Sassoun massacre.”

“When this dreadful event occurred, protest meetings were held, money raised to alleviate the suffering and the Wales-Armenia Society formed.”

“But the support for the people of Armenia has not been confined to the realms of history.”

“In March 2000, a majority of Assembly Members voted in support of a motion by Rhodri Glyn Thomas AC, the current Heritage Minister ,

acknowledging the verity of the Armenian genocide which happened under Turkish rule in 1915
Calling on Turkey to cease the economic blockade of the Armenian republic
And exerting pressure on the British Parliament to refuse to support Turkey’s application for membership of the EU until they acknowledge the truth about the genocide in 1915, in addition to ceasing the economic sanctions.”

“To this end, a majority of Welsh MPs have also signed motions in the House of Commons. In 2001, Wales’s First Minister presented a wreath to commemorate those who suffered in that genocide and, this year, Armenians were included alongside Jews and the people of Darfur in a ceremony where genocides were the subject of recollection.”

Lord Dafydd Elis-Thomas to dedicate Armenian memorial

Lord Dafydd Elis-Thomas, Llywydd of the National Assembly for Wales will speak at a ceremony to unveil a memorial to those who lost their lives in the Armenian genocide of 1915.

The memorial in the gardens of the Temple of Peace in Cardiff has been erected by the Wales-Armenian Society and will be consecrated in a service conducted by His Grace Bishop Nathan Hovhannisian, Pontifical Legate and Primate of the Armenian Apostolic Church of Great Britain. Also in attendance will be His Grace David Yeoman, the Assistant Bishop of Llandaff, and the Reverend Stuart Windsor, the National Director of Christian Solidarity Worldwide.

This is the first time in the UK that a piece of public land has been donated for an Armenian memorial and the first monument commissioned by non-Armenians in the UK.

Lord Elis-Thomas will receive, on behalf of the people of Wales, a marble cross, a khatchkar. He said “I am greatly honoured to accept the khatchkar, and to dedicate the cross to the memory of those people of Armenia who lost their lives in the genocide.

Wales’s relationship with one of the oldest states and the oldest Christian Church in the world goes back centuries and the fact that the funds for this fine memorial have been raised entirely by the Armenians who live in Wales and that it will occupy a special place here in the Temple of Peace, reflects the vibrant Welsh interest in the history of Armenia.”

Speech by Reverend Canon Dr Patrick Thomas at the Unveiling of the Welsh National Monument to the Armenian Genocide on 3 November 2007

"It is a special privilege to be part of this historic occasion to pay tribute to those who suffered in the Armenian genocide during the First World War.

In Wales we are familiar with the idea of being air-brushed out of history. The old encyclopaedias used to have the advice ‘for Wales, see England’. School text-books jump straight from the Romans to the Saxons, forgetting the native British, who became Welsh. Cultural historians ignore poets and novelists who wrote and write in Welsh. Church historians right as though Christianity first came to Britain with Augustine in 597, at a time when our glorious ‘Age of Saints’ in Wales was in fact drawing to a close.

That may be painful and irritating at times, but there is nothing in our experience that is as appalling as the genocide that systematically destroyed a million and a half Armenians in the Ottoman Empire during the First World War and the years immediately afterwards. And whatever historical air-brushing we have on occasion suffered from in Wales, it is quite trivial in comparison with the repeated denial of the Armenian genocide and the attempt to discount or relativize such unspeakable suffering.

One of our familiar sayings in Wales is ‘Y Gwir yn erbyn y Byd’ (‘The Truth against the World’), and it’s fitting and appropriate that our small nation stands side by side with our Armenian brothers and sisters to acknowledge the hideous suffering of the past and to deny the lies that seek to hide the uncomfortable truth of the genocide.

When we are faced with the statistics of genocide – with numbers of deaths running into six or seven figures – it’s often easy for those of us who are outside the tragedy to forget its intense human dimension.

A memory comes back to me of a visit to the Genocide Memorial in Yerevan. What left an indelible impression on me there was the single skull of one of the martyrs of the genocide, brought back to Armenia from the sands of the Syrian desert where so many died in such agony. It was a reminder that each one of those who died was an individual – a precious person made in the image and likeness of God, with a family and loved ones and a potential for life that was brutally and cruelly snuffed out.

And another memory – of a party of schoolchildren, laughing and smiling on the steps of the Matenadaran, as they visited that wonderful shrine to Armenia’s astonishingly rich culture. Seeing them, I thought, ‘Children like these were those who were murdered, brutalized, enslaved, starved or orphaned during those horrendous years between 1915 and 1923.’ Again I was reminded of the need for a respectful acknowledgment of all that pain.

The idea of ‘parch’ (‘respect’) is something else that is important to us in Wales: respect for those who deserve respect. And who is more worthy of respect than these sufferers who have been scorned and swept away by those who want to forget or deny the terrible reality of their suffering?

One of those small children spotted an ancient cross-stone by the entrance to the Matenadaran and shouted excitedly “Khatchkar! Khatchkar!” – and today we have unveiled and dedicated Wales’ first khatchkar, with its Armenian cross that is such a powerful sign of suffering and hope.

In Wales we are used to our Celtic cross which is a symbol of the world made whole and redeemed through the sacrificial suffering of Christ. The Armenian cross also represents Christ’s suffering and its four corners embrace the four corners of the world. In the version of it on many ancient khatchkars the branches of the Tree of Life grow from the cross – that tree whose leaves, the Bible tells us, are ‘for the healing of the nations’. So the Armenian cross is not only a sign of the suffering of a Christian nation which has known more than any other what it is to be crucified with Christ. It is also a sign of hope for the future of all humanity.

So the khatchkar can teach us in Wales to rediscover the true meaning of our Celtic cross as a sign that offers hope to our world. It also reminds us of the way in which the Christian gospel has shaped the history and culture and identity of our two nations across the centuries.

The monastery of Geghard in the mountains of Armenia, with its extraordinary churches carved out of the living rock, is one of the most remarkable and powerful architectural and spiritual masterpieces in the world. And in one of those churches, right in the heart of the rock, there is a unique and very moving khatchkar. Instead of leafy branches growing out from the foot of the cross, there are two doves: signs of the Holy Spirit and of peace, recalling that dove which Noah released from the Ark.

They reminded me of the dove that I held between my hands outside the church of Saint Gayané in Holy Etchmiadzin, sensing its vulnerability and its beating heart. There is a tradition that goes back to the teaching of St. Grigor himself, and which seems to surface again and again in Armenian thought and writings, which describes the souls of the faithful departed, winging like doves towards heaven. And in his final article that courageous journalist Hrant Dink, murdered at the beginning of this year, wrote ‘I feel like a dove’.

The dove is vulnerable – a reminder of the innocent defenceless martyred dead – and yet it also stands for freedom and hope. The dove which I released with a prayer on that Sunday morning outside Saint Gayané flew towards Mount Ararat – Masis.

Think for a moment how we Welsh people would feel if Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon), our special symbolic mountain, was controlled by foreigners and we were prevented from going there by watchtowers, high fences, minefields and armed soldiers. That is what it is like for the Armenians. They can see the beauty and wonder of Ararat – but they cannot get close to it.

My prayer today, remembering that dove and the beauty of the snows on Ararat shining in the sun, is that a time may come not only when the government of Turkey will admit the truth of the genocide of 1915, but also when Armenians will once again walk freely on that holy mountain Ararat, Masis – as a salve to help to heal a wound that has been open for far too long."

The Reverend Canon Dr Patrick Thomas
The Church in Wales / Yr Eglwys yng Nghymru
Vicar of Christ Church, Carmarthen and Canon Librarian of St Davids Cathedral, Pembrokeshire

Bernard-Henri Levy on the Armenian Genocide (video)

Bernard-Henri Levy puts into parallel the dramas suffered by the Jews and Armenian people. He recalls that "Denying the genocide. Denying it for twenty years, thirty years, fifty years or ninety years, it is for this very reason a cynical, horrible, sordid way to continue perpetrating the crime, reproducing it and perfecting it so that the crime becomes flawless. The Jews know it well and the Armenians knew it before them. For the crime to be perfect, it has to be traceless. And for it to be traceless, it has to be annihilated even from the memories of survivors and descendents. There must be a law against genocide denial, because genocide denial is, in a strict sense, the ultimate stage of genocide".