Armenians commemorating the genocide at the Memorial Church on April 24, 2004. (Photo by Studio Ashnag)
Armenia’s Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian issued a statement condemning the destruction of the church, which housed the remains of victims of the Armenian Genocide, calling it a “horrible barbarity.”
Nalbandian called on the international community to cut the Islamic State’s sources of supply, support, and financing, and eradicate what it referred to as a disease that “threatened civilized mankind.”
The church was built in 1989-90, and consecrated a year later. A genocide memorial and a museum housing remains of the victims of the genocide was also built in the church compound.
Thousands of Armenians from Syria and neighboring countries gathered at the memorial every year on April 24 to commemorate the genocide.
Hundreds of thousands of Armenians perished in Der Zor and the surrounding desert during the genocide. In the summer of 1916 alone, more than 200,000 Armenians, mostly women and children, were brutally massacred by Ottoman Turkish gendarmes and bands from the region.
Commemorating the genocide at the Memorial Church in Der Zor. (Photo by Studio Ashnag)
Egregious and unconscionable to be sure.
What is Turkey’s hand in this?
(Rhetorical question)
Just sad.
This is related to Turkey one way or another. The only Church ISIS destroys is the one with Genocide museum and the one that houses the remains of Genocide victims. The government of Armenia and the Armenian diaspora must raise hell. Everyone is watching if we let this go like all other events it will be an indicator to actors that Armenians will not care about what happens on April 24, 1915
1) Distructions in Nakhijevan
2) every soldier and civil death in Armenia and Artsakh
3) Killings in Kesab
4) Destruction of Armenian churches and graves in Georgia
5) Killing of Gurgen Margaryan in Europe
6) All falsifications of Armenian history and language
7) etc……………..
So …
It is no coincidence that this particular Armenian Church and Genocide Memorial in Der-Zor was targeted. It is a reminder to the Turks of their past criminal activities and genocide, which like the French guillotine is hanging on the back of their necks, and it is geographically closest to the Turkish border. The destruction of this Genocide Memorial Church is the Turkish way of getting rid of evidence so close to home.
As the criminal and opportunistic Turkish leaders have used our enemy next door, in a conflict (Artsakh) that has nothing to do with them, to score political points through illegal border closings and to punish the Armenians for their pursuit of the worldwide Armenian Genocide recognition, they are now using ISIS (which they funded and armed) to destroy the symbols of the very crime they are accused of and are trying very hard to distance themselves from.
The invasion of Iraq by the US, and subsequent disorder, are also partly to blame, and we know the people in the US government who brought THAT about.
And this Cancer will spread and repeat itself every now and then unless they take out the Idiologies of distructio and beheading from their BOOKS and BURN THEM; and stop teaching them in AL-Azhar, Mosques and Madrassas.
It makes you wonder.
As soon as _you_ volunteer, there will be 1000s right behind you.
{“If we don’t act now it will be too late.”}
Since you would be part of ‘we’, please act now yourself: others will act as soon as you do.
This event will throw a spotlight on the Tragic history of Christians in this area and make clear that the conflict in this region and the violence and hatred aimed at Christians, Armenians and Assyrians is but an echo and last stage of that which was perpetrated against NATIVE Christians beginning in 1898-1922.
This can be used to EDUCATE and MOTIVATE Westerners, their media and public to act RESPONSIBLY and MORALLY this Time and in the future.
Want to not repeat these tragedies?
CALL THE EDITORS OF the Media you use and tell them to cover this tragedy and its repercussions.
DO NOT SUFFER IN SILENCE.
I was there some years ago. Gathered some bone fragments. Two candles unlit from the church. It was a most moving pilgrimage with no possibility of catharsis….
what are we waiting for. the french president charles de gaulle once said,’l’union fait la force’, roughly translated… ‘unity is power’
so what are we waiting for. there’s only about 10 million of us left.
Got tired spreading your Anti-Armenian Turkophile disinformation @Asbarez, so decided to try your luck @AW ?
Welcome: myself and likeminded posters will debunk your Turkophile propaganda with pleasure.
Indeed, what has become of us, Armenians, is proof that we agree on and work together to achieve a lot of great things.
For example, Armenians from all over the world, and primarily Artsakh and RoA, united to crush your invadonomad Turkbaijani kin and their radical Islamist terrorist supporters.
We, Armenians, now have two little miracle Gampr pups in Caucasus, growing stronger every year.
That’s what we have become, Turkoglu ‘Hratch’.
The Armenian government must ask the U.N.securiry Council to adopt a resolution to;
1. Condemn the attack.
2. Ask to rebuild the monument and museum
3. Put boots on the ground to irradiate ISIS.
4. Since Turkey is aiding ISIS to do its diety work,Turkey must be held reaponsible.
Thanks for your attention.
Amen to doing this through the U.N. It’s darned hard to deal rationally with irrational people. And I see a lot of irrational responses above.
‘Praying’ to bones under the glass is definitely out.
They don’t allow anything even cemetery stones.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julfa,_Azerbaijan_(city)
1. ISIS fighters were funded, armed and given safe passage into Syria through Turkish-Syrian border with full knowledge of the Turkish government.
2. Several thousand of ISIS members and foot soldiers either volunteered or were recruited from Turkey.
3. The three captured western hostages, two Americans and one British, were executed (beheaded) and with utmost brutality for the world to see but the so-called 49 Turkish hostages were unharmed.
4. The Turkish hostages were given access to cell phones which they used to call their loved ones back home. It takes no brain surgeon to know that phone calls can be traced and by granting Turkish hostages access to cell phones, ISIS was compromising its own security.
5. Turkey refused to cooperate with the United States, France, Britain and others to engage and confront ISIS under false pretenses.
6. All Turkish hostages were released unharmed and returned to Turkey and displayed and paraded in front of the unsuspecting Turkish public by the Turkish leaders like trophies to claim fame as heroes and their saviors.
7. Turkey refuses to share the details of the Turkish hostage crisis and the reasons why only Turkish hostages were let go unscathed while all the others were murdered in cold-blood.
8. The Turkish hostage crisis took place in Mosul in northern Iraq far from Turkey and released uneventfully and the Armenian Church and Genocide memorial destruction in Der-Zor, with farthest proximity to ISIS activities but with closest proximity to Turkey, coincided with the release of the Turkish hostages.
9. Need I say more?
Now, you do the math and come to your own conclusions. I did and all the reasons for this sudden, unexpected and seemingly “random” attack point to Turkey. Also, take into account the significance of this particular Church and Genocide Memorial to both Armenians and the Turks, the initial attack by ISIS on mainly Armenian-populated town of Kessab on the Turkish border, the frozen conflict in the region and Turkish covert involvement in it on the side of our enemy and the Armenian Genocide centennial commemoration around the corner.
I strongly believe the Turkish hostage crisis by ISIS was staged with full knowledge of both sides and Turkey’s hands are bloody as always. The Turkish leaders must not be let go unpunished and must be made to pay a heavy price for their crimes against humanity.
If Hitler had trampled an Armenian Church in Austria, or Czechoslovakia, would our focus be just on the Church, or on all mankind he threatened to kill or enslave? If Hitler allowed our hypothetical Church to be left alone, would we turn a blind eye?
ISIS is today’s episode of a recurring modern nightmare: men with arms eager to kill innocent men, women and children. They must be opposed by an armed and aggressive mankind as ruthless as they are. Unfortunately many regional governments see some advantage in allowing them to kill their opponents in the false belief that ISIS will not eventually kill them too.
They will join with their friends in Pak. to get nukes. Then we will have a first class crisis making every other one since the Black Death look quaint.
The problem with people like you is that you do not accept reality. There is a reason why we have been destroyed and are now reduced to begging others for help. These things just don’t happen overnight. We’ve been on the path of extinction for the last 200 years. So, instead of living in lalaland, I suggest you reexamine your priorities and start doing something constructive with your time. To begin, you can read Garen Yegparian’s article on how things really are in Armenia today.
http://asbarez.com/127160/re-independence-at-23-a-lamentation/
For the past 20 years Artsakh soldiers have been getting murdered by Azeri aggression in a supposed cease-fire, and what did we do to stop it once and for all? Nothing.
Turkey and Azerbaijan continually steal Armenia’s history and culture and get the backing and recognition from UNESCO and what do we do about it? Nothing.
Foreign elements imposed the protocols on Armenia to harm Armenian interests and what did we do about it? Nothing.
Each year the liars in the American government on their promise to recognize the Armenian Genocide fail to recognize it and what do we do? Nothing.
Israel and its US operatives continually sabotage the recognition of the Armenian Genocide and have no business meddling in the war between Artsakh and Azerbaijan, but next provide weapons to Azerbaijan to bring harm on Artsakh and what do we do about it? Nothing.
Turkey caused the destruction of Kessab and set back the progress of Armenians there by 50 years and what did we do? Nothing.
Azeri and Turk terrorist jihadists went to Aleppo, Syria for the specific reason to hunt and harm Armenians, and what did we do? Nothing.
Now ISIS, under orders from Turkey destroys the Armenian Genocide Memorial Church in Der Zor, and what WILL we do about it? NOTHING.
In the future with more acts of aggression and incidents by our enemies, my prediction is again we will do nothing.
There must be an Armenian how-to bible out there which we have apparently been following for thousands of years which states that we can only act to defend ourselves when we are attacked. That’s a fairly honorable philosophy, but I suppose that’s also the reason why we have 90% of our lands lost and under occupation, and most of us dispersed around the world.
Also agree with [Krikor] and [Hagop D].
Overwhelming evidence Turks are behind each and every Anti-Armenian act in Syria and elsewhere in Middle East.
My thinking was that the ‘hostage’ incident was manufactured by Turkish leadership to give them the excuse to invade and grab some oilfields around Mosul in the convenient chaos they helped create (….by massively supporting and nurturing ISIL/ISIS/IS).
One thing Turks desperately need is hydrocarbon sources under their own control.
Anyone who thinks Turks would not possibly endanger their own diplomatic personnel to steal more of somebody else’s property, let us recall.
A while back FM Davutoglu, MIT chief Hakan Fidan, and some other Turkish leaders were secretly* tape recorded discussing manufacturing an attack on their own Turkish soldiers guarding a Turkish tomb inside Syria, to give them the excuse to invade Syria and steal more land.
It is interesting that afterwards Davutoglu did not deny the criminal act they were planning, but instead they went into a hysterics about being ‘betrayed’.
Something went wrong with ‘hostages’ project, it got away from the Turks, so they decided to wrap it up: ‘hostages’ heroically ‘rescued’ by the heroic efforts of Turkish intelligence.
—-
* an interesting side story is what entity had the ability and the technical means to penetrate and record such a high level meeting of Turk leaders.
I’m also sorry for the church. Next time you build something of importance though pick your location more carefully.
http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-1172050
The message is so clear: It is a clear threat and a warning by Turkey to Armenia and it’s independence, if tarnishing of Turkey’s image internationally continues by the ongoing worldwide activities of Armenians for the Recognition of 1915 Genocide. It is crystal clear, the attack on Kessab and destruction of the Der Zor monument, are proactive counter attacks response by Turkey to the 100th Anniversary Genocide activities .
Ohan