Saturday, April 30, 2016

United Nations: Aleppo in ‘Catastrophic’ State

Dr Vickie Hawkins, executive director of Doctors Without Borders: Attack on hospital is "absolutely devastating" (Photo: BBC)
Dr Vickie Hawkins, executive director of Doctors Without Borders: Attack on hospital is “absolutely devastating” (Photo: BBC)
NEW YORK (BBC) —The United Nations says the situation in Syria’s city of Aleppo is catastrophic, after dozens of people were killed in attacks on targets including a hospital, the BBC reports.
Air strikes on and around the Medecins Sans Frontieres-backed al-Quds hospital killed at least 27 people, while more than 30 died in other attacks.
UN envoy Jan Egeland said the next few days are vital for the humanitarian aid lifeline for much of Syria.
The violence has left a partial truce hanging by a thread.
UN envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura warned the cessation of hostilities agreed between non-jihadist rebels and government forces on February 27 were now “barely alive.”

Friday, April 29, 2016

Yet another attempt to deny The Armenian Genocide---sad but true

Only two countries deny the Armenian Genocide — Turkey and its close ally, Azerbaijan — but the European Parliament and 29 countries including Canada, France, Germany and Russia recognize the systemic massacres by the Ottoman Empire as genocide. U.S. efforts to formally recognize the Armenian Genocidehave repeatedly fallen flat due in part to pro-Turkish opposition, but 44 states have recognized the atrocities as genocide including New Jersey.
Taskin's letter on the Michigan school books issue was posted the day after the annual day of remembrance of the Armenian Genocide on April 24 and several days after recent pro-Turkey skywriting appeared over New York City. According to Vice News, that skywriting featured messages such as as "101 years of Geno-lie," "Gr8 ally = Turkey," "BFF = Russia + Armenia," and "FactCheckArmenia.com."
Drew to commemorate Armenian genocide, host former CIA director
Drew University will host a commemoration event for the Armenian Genocide as well as host the former director of the CIA for a lecture this week.

Turkey has repeatedly denied the killing of Armenians in the early 20th century was organized and systematic, disputed the number killed and opposed international efforts to recognize it as genocide — going so far last year during the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, according to the BBC, as to recall its ambassador to the Vatican when Pope Francis referred to the atrocities as "the first genocide of the 20th century."
Taskin's website for the Turkish Institute for Progress lists three issues as its top priorities: denying the killing of Armenians from 1915 to 1917 amounted to genocide; encouraging a reconciliation of Turkey and Armenia; and highlighting Turkey's role in NATO and global security.
Taskin's website also disputes the number of Armenians killed, saying only "600,000 Armenians died" and those killings were not "premeditated" or "systematic." The website also states 2.5 million Turks, Kurds and Arabs also died.
In a statement sent to NJ Advance Media Friday morning, Taskin said her group recognizes "that the events around 1915 and earlier were tragic."
"Many millions of lives were lost, including Turkish, Armenian, Muslim, and Jewish lives," she said. "We do not dispute this.  We do dispute the accusations that the events of 1915 raise to the level of 'genocide.'"
She also said an open dialogue needs to occur between Turkey and Armenia in order to foster reconciliation. Taskin has not yet addressed how a reconciliation can be possible given Turkey's failure to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide.
According to an overview by the New York Times, Armenians mark April 24, 1915 as start of the genocide — the day Armenian intellectuals were rounded up, arrested and later executed. Figures compiled by the University of Minnesota's Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies by province and district show there were about 2.1 million Armenians in the empire in 1914 and only about 387,800 by 1922, according to the newspaper.
The overview states the Times "covered the issue extensively — 145 articles in 1915 alone by one count — with headlines like 'Appeal to Turkey to Stop Massacres.' The Times described the actions against the Armenians as 'systematic,' 'authorized,' and 'organized by the government.'"
Paterson Mayor Jose Torres referred comment on the issue to Taskin herself.
Justin Zaremba may be reached at jzaremba@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JustinZarembaNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

The Armenian Genocide in the American Humanitarian Imagination

The Armenian Weekly Magazine
April 2016
Bread from Stones: The Middle East and the Making of Modern HumanitarianismBy Keith David Watenpaugh
Berkeley: University of California Press, 2015
Paperback, 272 pages
ISBN: 9780520279322
$34.95
Cover of Watenpaugh’s ‘Bread from Stones’
Among the wealth of recently published Armenian Genocide commemorative books is Keith Watenpaugh’s tour de forceBread from Stones: The Middle East and the Making of Modern Humanitarianism. With evidence gathered from a half-dozen archives, Watenpaugh situates the Armenian Genocide seamlessly within the larger history of modern humanitarianism. By telling these stories together, Watenpaugh has effectively written the Armenian Genocide back into the American humanitarian imagination, a place it once held before it was conveniently forgotten.
Bread from Stones offers an in-depth look at international humanitarian efforts on the eve of World War I, a period when, Watenpaugh argues, missionary-based humanitarian relief transitioned to a modern secular humanitarian approach. He supports this argument with the writings of philanthropists from America and Europe, among them American physician Stanley E. Kerr who stayed behind in Marash to document the atrocities committed by Turkish forces as they overran French forces in 1920 and massacred Armenians, many of whom were genocide victims who had returned at war’s end. Kerr put his own life at risk in order to document the atrocities, and it is the special care to detailed documentary evidence gathering that sets modern humanitarianism apart from earlier philanthropic models. Production of “humanitarian knowledge” included collecting eyewitness documentary evidence and photography, and the gradual secularization in tone in the writings of humanitarian workers. This shift to document humanitarian crises can also be found during the Hamidian Massacres (1894-96) in the writings of American Red Cross founder Clara Barton, German Protestant missionary Johannes Lepsius, and Ottoman Armenian Zabel Yesayan’s documentation of the massacres in Adana (1909).
The personal writings of relief workers feature prominently in Watenpaugh’s history writing and breathe life into this historic moment for humanitarianism. Noteworthy is the inclusion of writings from women relief workers, American physician Dr. Mabel Evelyn Elliot (1881-1944) of Near East Relief (NER) and Zabel Yesayan (1878-1943) of the American Red Cross. The story of the American Committee for Armenian and Syrian Relief, which later evolved into Near East Relief, is told in a way that includes Armenian philanthropic organizations and the Armenian Apostolic Church within broader international relief efforts. The influence of the memoirs of Armenian orphans who were cared for by NER—Karnig Panian, Asdghig Avakian, and Antranik Zaroukian—helped shape the outlook on the Armenian Genocide as well as note the success of the program on its graduates. So, while Near East Relief was American, Watenpaugh shows how several international players merged to publicize the Armenian cause in an effort to recover national rights, which was emphasized above individual rights.
A poster by the American Committee for Relief in the Near East
Watenpaugh documents the way that humanitarian workers and international human rights advocates understood the unfolding crisis in the Ottoman Empire during World War I through the lens of what he calls a humanitarian imagination, which marked certain individuals as objects of organized compassion. This compassion, however, did not come without some benefit since it was informed by what Watenpaugh callsAmerican humanitarian exceptionalism, which held relief efforts to be “a means to an end of the social, political, and moral reordering of the region.” The political calculation made by international relief agencies can be observed in responses to crises resulting from the famine caused by a combination of locust infestation and the Allied blockade against the Ottoman Empire. The war prompted the Ottoman government to shift the flow of supplies to the front, leaving many of the empire’s poor without food. Discussion of the famine in Beirut, the floods in Baghdad, and food shortages in Jerusalem sets up a context for humanitarianism in the Middle East at the beginning of the war. Organizations like the American Red Cross were already on the ground in Beirut distributing food; yet, humanitarianism was more complex in areas like Palestine, where Zionist relief organizations framed deservingness along sectarian lines. This track is followed up in the coverage of the Armenian Genocide when humanitarian workers understood the genocide in largely civilizational terms and offered targeted assistance to groups considered protégés of aspirational empires.
The richness of documentation offered by Watenpaugh pulls the reader into how international bodies tried to make sense of the senseless act that was the Armenian Genocide. Accounts of trafficking of women and children resonated with 19th-century slavery abolition and fed into civilizational narratives. Rescuing Armenians was an extension of the white man’s burden and civilizing mission, both situated within the emerging concept of humanitarian intervention. In this way, as products of their time, many of these emerging humanitarian agencies “embraced modes of colonialism—most importantly a civilizing mission—without possessing a colony, and consequently without the attendant brutality.”
Deservingness was formulated through unstrangering the object of humanitarian assistance. This was achieved through a number of rhetorical devices, visual and linguistic, to effectively portray Armenians as civilizationally similar to Americans, thereby unstrangered and legible for humanitarian relief. “Instead of making new Near Easterners, NER had helped make new Americans in the Middle East, or at least Armenians who were both modern but still ‘out of place’ in the societies where they found refuge.” The issue of deservingness raises a number of interesting questions for the treatment of subsequent refugee flows throughout the 20th century to the present.
While we are currently living through the largest refugee crisis since World War II, Watenpaugh gives us food for thought as we think historically and critically about theproblem for humanity.

problem for humanity because it was a problem of humanity, the Armenian Genocide was a staging point for the mobilization of contemporary human rights thinking. Reading Watenpaugh’s work on the fifth anniversary of the Syrian Uprising-turned-proxy war is a potent reminder of how regressive the American—and to a greater degree the world’s—approach to refugees is compared to a hundred years ago. The Armenian Genocide mobilized humanitarian relief to the point where Near East Relief alone raised $110 million dollars by 1921 and fed 300,000 people daily; such massive humanitarian assistance lies in stark contrast to the decaying ethical standards surrounding the problem of humanity today. By the signing of the Treaty of Lausanne (1923), the world had abandoned its commitment to national recovery previously offered to Armenian refugees. Importantly, Watenpaugh suggests this may have modeled the approach to future refugee crises, including the Palestinian refugee crisis of 1948. As an international community, we are no longer troubled by statelessness. While we are currently living through the largest refugee crisis since World War II, Watenpaugh gives us food for thought as we think historically and critically about the problem for humanity. The turn toward popular vilification and criminalization of refugees over the last year provides us with examples of strangering that unravels the humanitarian imagination Watenpaugh so carefully constructs in his work. While we are unlikely to see any end to this suffering, we can consider how Watenpaugh’s broader question of deservingness bears on contemporary realities and ask, What it is that makes some communities less deserving than others of humanitarian assistance?

US Legislators Call for Justice for Armenian Genocide; Warn of Renewed Anti-Armenian Atrocities

Annual Armenian Caucus Capitol Hill Remembrance Draws Standing-Room-Only Audience of Community Leaders, Coalition Partners 
WASHINGTON—Members of U.S. Senate and House taking part in the annual Capitol Hill remembrance of the Armenian Genocide stressed that the United States, as a matter of national policy, should be working toward a truthful and just recognition of this crime, reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).
Scenes from the 2016 Capitol Hill Armenian Genocide Observance
During the evening remembrance program, legislators raised serious concerns, on a bipartisan basis, regarding the dangerous modern day implications of continued official U.S. and international indifference to a century of unchecked anti-Armenian violence and genocide, even amid warning signs of renewed atrocities against Nagorno-Karabagh Republic (NKR/Artsakh).
“We want to thank each of the legislators who joined us today, and the many more who are working to stop official U.S. complicity in Ankara’s genocide denials and bring an end to the Administration’s troubling silence in the face of Azerbaijan’s reckless military escalation against Nagorno-Karabagh,” said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian.  “Sadly, we are seeing today—in Azerbaijan’s attacks all along the Nagorno-Karabagh line-of-contact—the results of longstanding U.S. appeasement of Turkey and international indifference to Azerbaijan’s anti-Armenian aggression, even amid clear warning signs of renewed atrocities.”
Congressman Adam Schiff
A prominent theme was the escalation of Azerbaijan’s attacks against Nagorno-Karabagh, which claimed several hundred Armenian and Azerbaijani lives between April 2 and 5. Constant ceasefire violations continue to undermine peace in the region, with three members of Artsakh’s defense forces killed in just the last two days.  Members of Congress called for zeroing out military aid to Azerbaijan, with many urging an increase in assistance to Artsakh in light of recent violence.
The annual Capitol Hill observance of the Armenian Genocide was organized by the Congressional Armenian Caucus in cooperation with the Embassy of the Republic of Armenia, Office of the Republic of Nagorno-Karabagh in the U.S., and Armenian American organizations.
Congresswoman Anna Eshoo
Among the federal legislators offering remarks were Senator Robert Menendez (D-Calif.), Congressional Armenian Caucus Co-Chairs Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) and Robert Dold (R-Ill.) as well as, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce (R-Calif.), Select Committee on Intelligence Ranking Democrat Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Armenian and Assyrian American Congresswoman Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.), Judy Chu (D-Calif.), Katherine Clark (D-Mass.), Jim Costa (D-Calif.), Linda Sanchez (D-Calif.), Loretta Sanchez (D-Calif.), John Sarbanes (D-Md.), Brad Sherman (D-Calif.), Dina Titus (D-Nev.), and David Trott (R-Mich.).  Also in attendance were Rep. David Brat (R-Va.), Hellenic Caucus Co-Chair Gus Bilirakis (R-Fla.), Tony Cardenas (D-Calif.), Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission Co-Chair James McGovern (D-Mass.), and Armenian Genocide Resolution lead author David Valadao (R-Calif.).
Rep. Linda Sánchez
Capitol Hill veteran and Greater Washington D.C. community activist Elise Kenderian Aronson served as Mistress of Ceremonies for the evening, inviting clerical leaders His Eminence Oshagan Choloyan, Prelate of the Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church of Eastern U.S. and Rev. Fr. Tatev Terteryan of St. Mary Apostolic Church to offer the benediction and invocation.  Also offering keynote remarks were His Excellency Grigor Hovhannissian, ambassador of the Republic of Armenia to the U.S., and the Honorable Robert Avetisyan, Nagorno-Karabagh representative to the U.S.
Congressman Jim Costa
Armenian Americans were joined by representatives from the Hellenic, Assyrian and Kurdish communities at the observance, including Ted Katsoubas from the Hellenic American Leadership Council (HALC); Steve Oshana, Executive Director of A Demand for Action; and, Dasko Shirwani of the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) among many others.
An ANCA pictorial review of the annual Armenian Genocide observance is available on Facebook.
In addition to live video offered on the ANCA Facebook site during the event, the ANCA will be posting individual remarks from the event throughout the week on its Facebook page,website, and via twitter.
Armenian Caucus Capitol Hill Remembrance
Amb. Grigor Hovhannissian of the Embassy of Armenia to the United States
Robert Avetisyan, the Permanent Representative of the Nagorno-Karabagh Republic in Washington, DC
Congresswoman Katherine Clark
Congressman John Sarbanes
Congressman Frank Pallone Jr., Co-Chairman of the Congressional Armenian Caucus
Senator Menendez
Congressman Robert Dold
Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Ed Royce, at Armenian Genocide 101: Capitol Hill Commemoration
Remembrance MC Elise Kenderian Aronson
Archbishop Oshagan Choloyan of the Armenian Prelacy, Rev. Father Sarkis Aktavoukian of Soorp Khatch Armenian Apostolic Church, and Rev. Fr. Tatev Terteryan of St Mary Church

Thursday, April 28, 2016

Secret Archives Show Vatican Tried to Stop Armenian Genocide

http://aleteia.org/2015/04/15/secret-archives-show-vatican-tried-to-stop-armenian-genocide/?utm_campaign=english_page&utm_medium=aleteia_en&utm_source=Facebook#link_time=1461603437

Documentary "TURKEY EXPOSED!" features conversation with Turkish man

101 years ago, millions of Christians (Armenians, Greeks and Assyrians) lost their lives at the hands of the Ottoman Turks in a brutal genocide. Over a century of efforts to wipe this genocide from the history books have failed. History forgotten will be history repeated.
In this rare footage, DavidMTv has a conversation about the Armenian genocide to a Turkish man at the University of New Mexico. Please share with your friends and family to keep people aware about the atrocities that STILL hasn’t been acknowledged by the Turkish Government. Thank you.

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KIM KARDASHIAN DENOUNCES WALL STREET JOURNAL FOR RECKLESS AD DENIAL OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

#STRAIGHTUP

THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

Money talks, and right now it's talking shit.
My family and I are no strangers to BS in the press. We've learned to brush it off. Lies make good headlines, good headlines make great covers, great covers sell magazines. But when I heard about this full-page ad that ran in the Wall Street Journal denying the Armenian genocide, I couldn't just brush it off.
The ad was paid for by Turkic Platform. I won't list the group's website, as I don't want to give them the traffic, but basically they say that not as many people died as historians say, and that the Armenians were to blame.
For the Wall Street Journal to publish something like this is reckless, upsetting and dangerous. It's one thing when a shitty tabloid profits from a made-up scandal, but for a trusted publication like WSJ to profit from genocide—it's shameful and unacceptable. Why is it that every time we take one step forward, we take two steps back?
Gawker asked the Wall Street Journal why they would run an ad like this. Their response was: "We accept a wide range of advertisements, including those with provocative viewpoints. While we review ad copy for issues of taste, the varied and divergent views expressed belong to the advertisers."
Advocating the denial of a genocide by the country responsible for it—that's not publishing a "provocative viewpoint," that's spreading lies. It's totally morally irresponsible and, most of all, it's dangerous. If this had been an ad denying the Holocaust, or pushing some 9/11 conspiracy theory, would it have made it to print?
Many historians believe that if Turkey had been held responsible for the Armenian genocide, and reprimanded for what they did, the Holocaust may not have happened. In 1939, a week before the Nazi invasion of Poland, Hitler said, "Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?" We do. We must. We must talk about it until it is recognized by our government because when we deny our past, we endanger our future. When we allow ourselves to be silenced by money, by fear and by power, we teach our children that truth is irrelevant. We have to be responsible for the message we pass on to our children. We have to honor the TRUTH in our history so that we protect their future. We have to do better than this.

Wednesday, April 27, 2016

HDP Calls for Genocide Recognition, Reparations, Return of Stolen Property

ANKARA, Turkey (A.W.)—The Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) of Turkey released a statement on April 24 condemning the Turkish government’s denial of the Armenian Genocide and urging a full restoration of justice. Specifically, the HDP called for recognition of the genocide of Armenians and Syriacs (Assyrians), reparations for genocide victims, and the return of all seized and appropriated properties taken during and after the crime.
The statement also called for the lifting of the unilateral blockade imposed by Turkey on Armenia; the removal of genocide denial and hate speech from Turkish textbooks; an end to Turkey’s policy of racial and religious profiling; and the granting of citizenship to all those who trace their roots to the country.
Below is the HDP’s statement in its entirety.
(Note: The statement has been edited for clarity and style).
***
One hundred and one years ago, on April 24, 1915, the [Armenian Genocide] began with the arrest of more than 200 Armenian intellectuals from their homes and their sentencing to death byIttihad and Terakki’s [the Committee of Union and Progress] Teşkilat-ı Mahsusa [Special Organization]. The process continued with the deportation and systematic killing of thousands of Armenians. April 24 is regarded as the start of the genocide perpetrated against the Armenian and Syriac peoples.
Even 101 years after the Great Catastrophe (Medz Yeghern, in Armenian), the planned genocide of an ethnicity and faith, the politics of denial continues on the lands that have witnessed this immense pain. Turkey’s peoples have not yet faced the hefty crimes that have rendered our geography infertile, and the price continues to be enormous for all of us. That is because the monistic state mentality that aims to wipe out our differences—and create in its place one race, one religion, and one language—has attacked the people of this region in the name of homogenization.
On the lands where different peoples and faiths co-exist, no ethnic identity, language, culture, or faith can be superior to others. The state’s policy that aims at forgetting that different peoples and faiths have lived on these lands, has destroyed much of the cemeteries, schools, and churches belonging to the Armenians and the Syriacs; has seized the ones that [it] could not destroy; and has changed place names. Profiling has taken place on a state level, with hateful and insulting discourse in school textbooks and control over schools and faith centers, which are blunt proof of the monistic and hegemonic state perspective. Hrant Dink and Sevag Şahin Balıkçı’s murders are the continuation of these state policies.
We know from examples around the world that condemning crimes against humanity, facing the truth, and apologizing are very important steps towards building public peace and developing feelings of conscience and justice. Sharing the pain is an element of thinking in partnership and being able to create a democratic, peaceful, and egalitarian future together. It is an obligation of the U.N. Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Crime of Genocide—to which Turkey is a signatory—to recognize the genocide, to apologize to the victims, to name the responsible perpetrators, and to sympathize with each other. Wounds have to heal and these are the first steps that must be taken.
The next steps should be the opening of the one-sided blockade of the Turkey-Armenia border; giving citizenship rights to the Armenians and Syriacs who trace their roots to these lands; ending profiling; clearing out hateful discourse from school textbooks; paying compensation to genocide victims; and returning and restoring the Armenian and Syriac peoples’ schools, churches, and other public properties.
In order to construct a just future, a united and decisive struggle by the people is necessary. As the grandchildren of the ancient peoples of Anatolia, we face the 101-year-old shame, share the pain, hear the tragedy in our deep heart, and commemorate all those who have fallen with grief and respect.

Activists Turn Their Backs to Genocide Denier at UChicago

Protest Justin McCarthy’s Denial Lecture by Staging Mass Walk-out

CHICAGO, Ill. (A.W.)—A group of activists held a protest on April 25 during a lecture in Chicago entitled, “Turks and Armenians: Nationalism and Conflict in the Ottoman Empire,” which featured genocide denier Justin McCarthy. Jointly sponsored by the Global Voices Lecture Series, the Consulate General of the Republic of Turkey in Chicago, and the Turkish American Cultural Alliance, the lecture was held at the International House (I-House) at the University of Chicago (UChicago) one day after the international Armenian Genocide commemoration day.
Activists protest a denialist lecture at the University of Chicago (Photo: Zoe Kaiser/The Chicago Maroon)
Prior to the start of the lecture, members of the UChicago Armenian Students Association (ASA), together with Students for Justice in Palestine, the UChicago Hellenic Students Association, and the Armenian Youth Federation (AYF), handed out flyers to attendees condemning the event.
At the beginning of McCarthy’s talk, protesters placed red tape over their mouths, held up banners, and conducted a silent protest by standing in unison and turning their backs to the lecturer. They then staged a mass walk-out in protest of McCarthy’s denial of the Armenian Genocide.
The lecture was held at the International House (I-House) at the University of Chicago (Photo: Robert Kozloff)
“The University of Chicago has a long history of protecting the right to free speech. But in the case of the Armenian Genocide, the historical facts are clear and genocide denial should not be tolerated by any degree,” Daron Bedian, a member of the UChicago ASA, told the Armenian Weekly.
Bedian, who is also the chair of the AYF Chicago “Ararat” Chapter, said that such lectures only give genocide deniers like McCarthy unwarranted credibility. “We feel that the denial of genocide is not the same as providing an alternate perspective, and not the same as debating, let’s say, neo-liberal ideals with socialist ideals. Denial of genocide perpetually leads to other genocides,” said Bedian, who added that by having McCarthy speak, the university’s reputation was put on the line.
According to Bedian, while several groups—including the Armenian National Committee of Illinois (ANC-IL)—sent e-mails to the university urging that the event be canceled, McCarthy’s talk was allowed to take place.
A poster for the lecture
“We [the ASA] will be distributing a petition urging the university to explain itself. We want to know why this event was held, and will expect an apology to the ASA and the university in general,” Bedian said. “In addition to that, we would expect that the university does not allow such talks sponsored by the Turkish Consulate and Turkish organizations who wish to deny the truth,” he added.
The Turkish Consulate of Chicago has a long history of working with the University of Chicago in the past, according to Bedian. “By bringing Justin McCarthy—who engages in selective scholarship and genocide denial—the consulate betrays the trust of the university. The university must prove that it isn’t going to serve as a political mouthpiece of the Turkish government,” he said.
Bedian said that the university surely would not allow a neo-Nazi to spread Holocaust denial on campus, and that “the university must then explain allowing an Armenian Genocide denier to speak.”
Activists protest a denialist lecture at the University of Chicago (Photo: Zoe Kaiser/The Chicago Maroon)
According to the UChicago I-House website, McCarthy’s talk focused on his new book, which examined Ottoman-Armenian relations. “McCarthy challenges existing assumptions and contributes to the most central problem of late Ottoman historiography with a new interpretation explaining the conflict between the Ottoman Empire and its Armenian minority. This study is highly recommended for a broad audience as well as for those seeking a new analysis of the circumstances leading to the tragic events of 1915,” read the advertisement for the lecture on the university’s website.
McCarthy, who was turned away from the University of Melbourne and Art Gallery of New South Wales in 2013 and was protested against at the University of Toronto in February 2015, has long been regarded as a mouthpiece of the Turkish state in spreading denial of the Armenian Genocide. He has been accused of being a genocide denier and discredited by many historians and genocide scholars such as Yair Auron and Richard G. Hovannisian, and several groups and organizations, including the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS) and the ANCA, who has called McCarthy “a known genocide denier” and an “academic mercenary.”

Ankara’s US Embassy Uses ‘G’ Word when Tweeting Obama’s April 24 Statement

A screenshot of the Ankara's US Embassy Twitter post
A screenshot of the Ankara’s US Embassy Twitter post
ANKARA—The US Embassy in Turkey, in what can be deemed a scandal is some circles, used the Turkish word Soykirim—Genocide—on Twitter while sharing President Obama’s statement on April 24, in which he, once again refused to properly acknowledge the Armenian Genocide.
Daily Sabah reported that the incident garnered a considerable amount of reaction on social media in Turkey, adding that the US Embassy removed the message from its Twitter page.
Speaking to Daily Sabah, a U.S. Turkish Embassy official said that it was a mistake in terms of translation and the embassy offered apologies for the mistake on the sensitive issue.

Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Yerevan Calls Erdogan’s April 24 Address ‘Denial’

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan
YEREVAN—Armenia called Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s statement issued on April 24 a “failed expression of denialism.”
Armenia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Shavarsh Kocharyan told a press conference Sunday that the Turkish leader’s policy to equate victims of war with that of a state-planned and perpetrated crime on the same level further increases the wedge between the people of Armenia and Turkey.
“Acknowledging history and making restitution is the best way to overcome the past,” Kocharyan said.
On Sunday, Erdogan issued a statement in which paid tribute to the victims of “tragic conditions” of war. The statement was read at a commemoration event for the Armenian Genocide in Istanbul by the Locum Tenens of the Armenian Patriarchate in Istanbul, Archbishop Aram Ateshian.
“I welcome this commemoration which is taking place once again in Turkey, the most meaningful place to share the grief endured by the Ottoman Armenians, as well as to honor their memories,” Erdogan said in the statement.
“In the lands of Anatolia, where humanitarian duties are never neglected and happiness and grief are sincerely shared, the sense of conscience and justice are held above all,” added Erdogan.
“We will never give up working for amity and peace against those who try to politicize history through a bitter rhetoric of hate and enmity and strive to alienate the two neighboring nations, who are bound with their common history and their similar traditions,” he added.
“With this in mind, I once again commemorate the Ottoman Armenians who passed away and extend my condolences to their children and grandchildren,” said Erdogan who went on the pay tribute to all Ottoman citizens “regardless of their ethnic or religious origins” who lost their lives.
“I would like to reiterate that we share this common pain,” he said.