Turkey: Repression continues despite so-called ’reforms’

According to the independent Turkish press, AKP Minister of Justice, Mr. Mehmet Ali Şahin, has authorized the prosecution of Turkish intellectual dissident Temel Demirer under Article 301. During a tribute dedicated to Hrant Dink, Temel Demirer stated: “We live in a country where not shouting the truth makes us complicit in the murder. Hrant was killed not only because he was an Armenian, but because he voiced the truth about the Genocide in this country. If Turkish intellectuals do not commit the crime outlined in Article 301 301 times, then they will be accomplices to this murder. There is genocide in our history. It’s called the Armenian Genocide. […]. Those who massacred Armenians yesterday are attacking our Kurdish brothers today. Those who desire the brotherhood of peoples must reconcile with this history. […]. I ask everyone to commit this crime. Yes, there was Armenian Genocide in this country.”

AVIVA IS 11TH INSURER SUED BY VICTIMS OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

Los Angeles, CA--Descendants of the Armenian Genocide filed a class action lawsuit yesterday against Aviva, a British Insurance company that is the successor in interest to Norwich Union and Commercial Union, companies that sold insurance to Armenians in Turkish Ottoman Empire prior to the 1915 genocide (Baghtchedjian and Papazyan et al vs. Aviva et al , U.S. District Court, Central District of Calif.). The lawsuit seeks to recover life and fire insurance benefits that were wrongfully withheld from beneficiaries of those killed during the genocide . AVIVA is the 11th insurance company to be sued on behalf of Armenian Genocide victims and their heirs. Raffi Baghtchedjian and Nisan Papazyan, the lead plaintiffs of the federal class action lawsuit, are suing on behalf of all Armenians who owned Norwich Union life insurance and Commercial Union life and fire insurance policies during the Armenian Genocide, and whose beneficiaries were never paid insurance benefits. Baghtchedjian and Papazyan are represented by attorney Vartkes Yeghiayan of Glendale-based Yeghiayan & Associates, who is co-counsel for similar class action cases, including Marootian v. New York Life Insurance Company, Kyurkjian v. Axa, Movsesian v. Victoria Versicherung AG, and Deirmenjian, v. Deutsche Bank AG. From 1880 to 1915, many Armenians living in Turkey purchased life and fire insurance policies from various European and American Insurance companies. This case involves those who purchased policies from Norwich Union and Commercial union. On April 24, 1915, the Turkish Ottoman Empire launched a systematic campaign to destroy Armenians through a process of massacre and deportation, known as the Armenian Genocide. Between 1915 and 1922, approximately two million Armenians perished as a result. Among the victims were the owners of life and fire insurance policies issued by Norwich Union and Commercial union. "These companies never paid benefits to victims of the Armenian Genocide or their heirs," says Yeghiayan. In the lawsuit, Baghtchedjian and Papazyan are asking the federal court for an order requiring Aviva to identify the insurance benefits that belong to Armenians, identify the rightful heirs and to pay the benefits to them. "For more than 93 years, Aviva and its subsidiary companies have been holding millions of dollars that belong to the heirs of the victims of the Armenian Genocide," says Yeghiayan. " No organization should be allowed to profit from genocide, but until now, Aviva has had no incentive to identify the rightful heirs and pay the money owed to them. With this federal lawsuit, we intend to give them an incentive."

Turkey’s President Makes Historic Visit to Armenia

Turkey’s president arrived in Armenia on Saturday, the first visit by a Turkish leader in the two nations’ history. The president, Abdullah Gul, was invited by the Armenian president, Serge Sargsyan, to attend a soccer game in Yerevan, the capital, between the national teams.

The trip was widely seen as a symbolic gesture to normalize relations between the countries, which have recognized each other but have not established diplomatic relations. The two nations have deeply held disagreements about what is widely referred to as the Armenian genocide, in which more than one million Armenians were killed by the Ottoman Army in the early 1900s.

Many Western countries support the genocide designation, but the official narrative in Turkey is that both Turks and Armenians were killed in warfare as the Ottoman Empire dissolved. The issue remains taboo in Turkey; many writers and intellectuals, including the Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk, have faced criminal charges for discussing the events that began in 1915.