3459) Turkish Flag Burning, Yerevan / Congressional Delegation Commemorates Genocide, Yerevan, 24 April 2014

Post by Armenian Genocide Resource Center.

Protesters Burn Turkish Flag In Yerevan

Armenian President Accuses Turkey Of Genocide Denial

Serzh Sarkisian ignores Ankara's offer of condolences and says 100th anniversary next year offers chance to repent

Agence France-Presse in Yerevan
theguardian.com, Thursday 24 April 2014

Armenia's president has accused Turkey of an "utter denial" in failing to recognise the mass killings of Armenians in the Ottoman empire during the first world war as genocide.

On Wednesday the Turkish prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, offered condolences over the massacres, calling them "our shared pain". The US hailed the move as historic.

But in a statement on Thursday marking the 99th anniversary of the start of the killings and mass deportations, President Serzh Sarkisian made no acknowledgement of Erdogan's statement and instead accused Turkey of continuing to ignore the facts. . . .
"The Armenian genocide … is alive as far as the successor of the Ottoman Turkey continues its policy of utter denial," he said. "The denial of a crime constitutes the direct continuation of that very crime. Only recognition and condemnation can prevent the repetition of such crimes in the future."

He said the looming 100th anniversary offered "Turkey a good chance to repent and to set aside the historical stigma in case if they make efforts to set free their state's future from this heavy burden". He stressed that the events of 1915 "should not prevent Turks and Armenians from establishing compassion and mutually humane attitudes towards one another".

The US state department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Washington welcomed Erdogan's "historic public acknowledgement of the suffering that Armenians experienced in 1915".

Thursday was a day of national mourning in Armenia. Requiem masses were held in churches across the country marking the anniversary. All national television channels ran live broadcasts of an annual ceremony in which thousands of Armenians flock to a hilltop memorial above Yerevan to lay flowers at an eternal flame.

"I came here for the first time with my father when I was a five-year-old, today I came here with my grandson and he knows what we expect from the world and from Turkey," said Narine Balayan, 58, a resident of Yerevan. "I do hope that when he comes here with his grandchildren all problems with Turkey will be resolved."

Commemorations also took place in Istanbul, but on a far smaller scale, gathering a few hundred people. A group calling itself The Platform for the Commemoration of 24 April's Armenian Genocide organised a rally on the steps of Haydarpasa train station, from where the first Armenians were deported on 24 April 1915.

The group carried black and white photos of deportees and a banner that read "We commemorate the victims of Armenian genocide: some wounds do not heal with time".

Another demonstration was to be held later in Taksim Square, which was the scene of mass anti-government protests in June.

Traditionally, thousands of members of the Armenian diaspora arrive in Yerevan to take part in the ceremony. This year saw many from Syria – descendants of those who fled Ottoman persecution in 1915 – return to the ancestral homeland. Sarkisian said the fate of Armenians in Syria was "our open wound and the issue of our primary concern".

On Wednesday, young activists of the nationalist Dashnaktsutyun party burned Turkish flags and led a 15,000-strong torch-lit procession in Yerevan. They held placards that read "Recognition-Condemnation-Compensation" and "Turkey still hides behind lies". One of Dashnaktsutyun's leaders, Kiro Manoyan, denounced Erdogan's statement as an "attempt to deceive us and the world".

Erdogan acknowledged that the events of 1915 had "inhumane consequences" but also said it was "inadmissible" for them to be used as an excuse today for hostility against Turkey. Using both diplomatic levers and its influential diaspora abroad, Armenia has long sought international recognition of the massacres as genocide. More than 20 countries have given such recognition.

Armenians say up to 1.5 million people were killed during the first world war as the Ottoman empire was falling apart, a claim supported by several other countries. Turkey argues that 300,000 – 500,000 Armenians and at least as many Turks died when Armenians rose up against their Ottoman rulers siding with invading Russian troops.
— in Yerevan, Armenia.

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Congressional Delegation Commemorates Genocide in Yerevan

April 25, 2014

“It’s much harder to get tomorrow right if we get yesterday wrong.” —Chairman Ed Royce, U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee, Speaking at the Armenian Genocide Memorial in Armenia

YEREVAN—In a powerful show of American solidarity with the Armenian people, the Chairman and Ranking Member of the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee traveled to Armenia this April 24th to join with government officials and hundreds of thousands of Armenian citizens participating in events marking the 99th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).

Rep. David Cicilline (D-RI), Chairman Ed Royce (R-CA), Ranking Democrat Eliot Engel (D-NY), ANCA Chairman Ken Hachikian and Rep. Lois Frankel (D-FL) in a moment of silence as they approach the Armenian Genocide Memorial.

Rep. David Cicilline (D-RI), Chairman Ed Royce (R-CA), Ranking Democrat Eliot Engel (D-NY), ANCA Chairman Ken Hachikian and Rep. Lois Frankel (D-FL) in a moment of silence as they approach the Armenian Genocide Memorial.

Chairman Ed Royce (R-CA) and Ranking Democrat Eliot Engel (D-NY) were joined on this Congressional Delegation by House Foreign Affairs panel members David Cicilline (D-RI) and Lois Frankel (D-FL). The Congressional delegation held meetings with Armenian President Serge Sarkissian, Garegin II, Catholicos and Supreme Patriarch of All Armenians, and other senior Armenian officials, and paid a solemn April 24th visit to Tsitsernakaberd, the national memorial to the Genocide. Additional meetings are scheduled for Friday, April 25.

Chairman Ed Royce, after placing a wreath at Tsitsernakaberd, noted that: “I am honored to be here in Armenia to express support and solidarity with the Armenian people on this day of solemn remembrance 99 years after the Armenian Genocide. History is a continuum. It’s much harder to get tomorrow right if we get yesterday wrong. It is vital for the world to accurately acknowledge the wrongs of yesterday, so that atrocities like this genocide of 1.5 million Armenians are never again witnessed.” The senior California legislator added: “I have long and wholeheartedly agreed with President Ronald Reagan, who called this first genocide of the last century exactly what it was—a genocide.”

Congressman Eliot Engel, the senior Democratic member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, speaking during a press conference today, said: “I stand here in solidarity with our Chairman and other members of the Committee to say that it is very important for the world to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide, and we call upon Turkey to immediately recognize and apologize for the Armenian Genocide.”

Congressman Cicilline, in a strongly worded statement at Tsitsernakaberd, noted that he was “honored to be here today to remember the one and a half million martyrs who were killed during the Armenian Genocide,” and then went on to “call on Turkey to recognize this historic fact so that we can begin a real conversation about reparations.” In her comments, Rep. Frankel underscored how honored she felt, “as a Congresswoman and a mother, to stand in solidarity with the people of Armenia.”

Chairman Ed Royce (R-CA) and Congressional colleagues with ANCA leaders at the Armenian Genocide Memorial in Armenia. From Left to Right: ANCA Legislative Affairs Dir. Raffi Karakashian, ANCA WR Chairwoman Nora Hovsepian, ANCA Chairman Ken Hachikian, Rep. Lois Frankel (D-FL), Ranking Democrat Eliot Engel (D-NY), Mrs. Marie Royce, Chairman Ed Royce (R-CA), Rep. David Cicilline (D-RI), ANCA National Board Members Steve Mesrobian and Raffi Hamparian.

Chairman Ed Royce (R-CA) and Congressional colleagues with ANCA leaders at the Armenian Genocide Memorial in Armenia. From Left to Right: ANCA Legislative Affairs Dir. Raffi Karakashian, ANCA WR Chairwoman Nora Hovsepian, ANCA Chairman Ken Hachikian, Rep. Lois Frankel (D-FL), Ranking Democrat Eliot Engel (D-NY), Mrs. Marie Royce, Chairman Ed Royce (R-CA), Rep. David Cicilline (D-RI), ANCA National Board Members Steve Mesrobian and Raffi Hamparian.

Video of the Congressional Delegation’s press conference is available at:

http://youtu.be/3l1Un5AByKQ

A delegation of ANCA leaders traveled to Yerevan earlier in the week to welcome Chairman Royce and his colleagues to Armenia. ANCA Chairman Ken Hachikian thanked the members of the delegation, giving voice to the profound appreciation of Armenians worldwide for their travels to be in Armenia on April 24th and to take part of the nation’s solemn commemoration of the Armenian Genocide. “We join with Armenians from around the world in thanking Chairman Royce, Ranking Member Engel, Congressman Cicilline, and Congresswoman Frankel for their strong leadership and sincere devotion to a truthful and just resolution of the Armenian Genocide—a crime against all humanity.”

Hachikian is joined by ANCA National Board members Raffi Hamparian and Steve Mesrobian, ANCA Western Region Chairwoman Nora Hovsepian, longtime Orange County area community leader Sylvie Tertzakian and ANCA Legislative Affairs Director Raffi Karakashian.

Pictures from the Congressional delegation’s visit are posted to the ANCA Facebook page at:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152166515631859.1073741870.16968936858&type=3

Complete coverage of the Congressional delegation’s visit to Armenia will be provided in upcoming days.

http://www.armenianweekly.com/2014/04/25/congressional-delegation-commemorates-genocide-yerevan/

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