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Zionist Union MK Itzik Shmuly and Likud MK Amir Ohana stated they would submit legislation to make Israel the 30th country to recognize the Armenian genocide. Bills to recognize the Armenian Genocide by the Turks were back on the Knesset’s agenda on Wednesday, after Turkey and Israel expelled each other’s envoys. Zionist Union MK Itzik Shmuly and Likud MK Amir Ohana both said they would submit legislation to make Israel the 30th country to recognize the genocide of 1915, in which the Ottoman Empire took the lives of 1.5 million Armenians. Be the first to know - Join our Facebook...

The Turkish foreign ministry has issued a rebuttal of U.S. President Donald Trump’s statement on the Armenian genocide. “We reject the inaccurate expressions and the subjective interpretation of history in the written statement by Mr. Donald Trump, President of the USA, released on 24 April 2018 regarding the events of 1915,” it said. “In this context, we remind President Trump that during the same period more than 500.000 Muslims were slaughtered as a result of the events in which Armenian insurgents took part.” It said that Turkey was offering to establish a Joint Historical Commission to research the historical period,...

The ceremony to be held at Sultanahmet Square in Ä°stanbul today (April 24) to commemorate the ones who lost their lives in the Armenian Genocide of April 24, 1915 was cancelled. The commemoration ceremony would be held by Human Rights Association (Ä°HD) Ä°stanbul Branch, Commission Against Racism and Discrimination and the European Grassroots Antiracist Movement (EGAM) at 12 p.m. Ä°stanbul Governorship's request that the word "genocide" be removed from the statement to be read out during the commemoration was announced as the reason for the cancellation of the ceremony. Three people have been detained Three members of the Ä°HD, Jihan...

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s message was read at the commemoration mass that was held at the Feriköy Surp Vartanants Church in Istanbul on April 24—the 102nd anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.The message said, in part:“On this occasion, I would like to emphasize that the peace, security and happiness of our Armenian community are of special importance to us. We have no tolerance for the alienation and exclusion of our Armenian citizens and for a single Armenian citizen to feel second-class… With these thoughts, I once again pay tribute to the memories of the Ottoman Armenians who lost their lives...

The Egyptian Parliament issued a warning that methods of annihilation and exile Turkey utilizes in Afrin are reminiscent of the Armenian Genocide. The Egyptian Parliamentary committee on the matters of Arab countries issued a statement and stressed that the invasion of Afrin is “an ethnic cleansing”. The statement warned against an ethnic cleansing against Kurds in Rojava and Southern Kurdistan and stressed that Turkey’s attacks against Afrin and Shengal are attacks against the independence of Syria and Iraq. The statement also pointed out the massacres and exile involved in the invasion of Afrin and said the events are reminiscent of...

Geneva Canton Court has approved the building of an Armenian Genocide Monument. The monument will be opened on the 103rd anniversary of the genocide. The Geneva Canton Court has said the final word on the discussions on the monument the public wanted to erect in Geneva for years to commemorate the victims of the Armenian Genocide, but were prevented by Turkey’s diplomatic pressure. The court ruled that the appeals to prevent the building of the monument are baseless and that the monument can be erected inside the Trembley Park in Geneva. The monument project prepared by Parisian Armenian Melik Ohanyan...

Only in Turkey is the identity of a citizen a matter of national security. That’s why the population registry in Ankara was until now a closed book, its details a state secret. Mustafa Kemal Ataturk’s definition of “Turkishness” was “anyone who is attached to the Turkish state as a citizen”. Turks came from a clear ethnic identity, untainted by racial minorities or doubtful lineage. That’s one reason why the Nazis lavished praise on Ataturk’s republic, their newspapers mourning his death in black-bordered front pages. After all, as Hitler was to ask in several newspaper interviews – and to his generals...

The Armenian Massacres in 1894-1896 were the first near-genocidal series of atrocities committed against the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire. They were carried out during the reign of Abdul Hamid (Abdulhamit) II (1876-1909), the last sultan effectively to rule over the Turkish state. The massacres broke out in the summer of 1894 in the remote region of Sasun in southern Armenia, where the government relied on the excuse of Armenian resistance to Kurdish encroachment into the last recesses of the mountains to order the sacking of the alpine hamlets. The incident resulted in strong Armenian protests against the sultan's...

Dutch parliament has recognized the Armenian genocide. The government will send a delegation to the commemoration to take place in Yerevan on April 24. The Dutch parliament on Thursday passed a motion presented by the Christian Union recognizing the genocide of as many as 1.5 million Armenians in 1915. Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs announced that a delegation representing the government will attend the ceremony to commemorate the victims of the Armenian Genocide, on 24 April 2019 in Yerevan, Armenia. The motion presented by Christian Union MP Joel Voordewind has been opposed only by three lawmakers while 142 voted in...

WASHINGTON—The Hellenic American Leadership Council (HALC) and the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) have launched a national advocacy campaign encouraging U.S. Senators to block a planned sale of U.S. F-35 stealth fighters to Turkey’s increasingly erratic and anti-American Erdogan regime. The ANCA and Hellenic American Leadership Council have joined forces to launch a grassroots campaign to block the impending F-35 sale to Turkey (Graphic: ANCA) This joint Hellenic-Armenian American initiative – the most recent in a series of ANCA-HALC advocacy campaigns – warns Senators against the dangers of providing Erdogan with advanced weapons that he may turn against our...

Afrin, Syria after the Turkish attack Rosher Konis, an Armenian man whose family has lived in the Syrian region of Afrin since his ancestors escaped the Genocide, was reportedly killed last week after the Turkey launched an attack in its continuing campaign against Syria.According to the Hawar News Agency, Konis’ mother, Shamsa, 57 was injured and his sister, Hanifa, was badly injured forcing the amputation of her leg.The agency quoted Hartyon Kivork, a relative of the family, as saying: “Their ancestors fled the oppression of the Turkish authorities nearly 100 years ago in the result of the massacres committed...

Historian Taner Akçam decpihred the telegram by executive of Teşikilat-ı Mahsusa (Secret Organization) and Commitee of Union and Progress Bahaettin Şakir dated July 4, 1915. The telegram is about coordination of deportation and annihilation of Armenians. The letterhead on the telegram proves that it is indeed original.We have a telegram written by Bahaettin Şakir on July 4, 1915, which was sent to Governor Sabit Bey for delivering it to Elağız (Harput/Kharpet) Inspector of CUP Nazım Bey. The purpose of the telegram was to coordinate deportation and annihilation of Armenians. The telegram reads: “Are the Armenians who were deported from...

Special for the Armenian Weekly “Turkey’s president wants to purge Western words from its language,” reported The Economist on June 15.[Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s] latest purge has a more abstract target. Mr. Erdoğan wants to rid Turkish of unsightly Western loan-words. Turkey faces a mortal threat from foreign “affectations”, Mr. Erdoğan declared on May 23rd. “Where do attacks against cultures and civilisations begin? With language.” Mr. Erdoğan started by ordering the word “arena”, which reminded him of ancient Roman depravity, removed from sports venues across the country. Hagop Martayan, or Agop Dilaçar, was the first Secretary General and head specialist of the...

Mukaddes Alataş, a Kurdish human rights activist from Diyarbakir, was recenly arrested for “being a member of a terror organization.” Her crime? She posted about the Armenian Genocide on social media and engaged in women’s rights activism.Mukaddes Alataş Alataş was detained in her home on May 11 after a police raid and was jailed after eight days in police custody.“The reason for her detention is her activities regarding human rights, women’s rights, and her social media posts about the Armenian Genocide,” said Eren Keskin, a leading human rights lawyer and co-head of the Human Rights Association (IHD). “Mukaddes worked as...

April 24 marked the 102nd anniversary of the 1915 Armenian Genocide. Armenians around the world – as well those in the international community who care about human rights – remembered the 1.5 million victims of the genocide and paid homage to their legacy. The Armenian Genocide began on April 24, 1915, when the Ottoman Turkish government ordered the deportation of approximately 250 Armenian intellectuals.In the meantime, Turkey has been in a period of political turmoil – particularly following last year’s abortive coup. Since then, the mass dismissal of academics from universities seems to have become the norm in Turkey. According...

Yes, until World War II, the Medz Yeghern of 1915 was unprecedented not only in the history of our people, but in the entirety of humankind. An entire people, an entire nation coming from the depths of millennia was killed, was dying.We condemn genocide [genotsid] or zhoghovrtasbanutiun with all our heart and soul.There is and there cannot be either juridical justification or any motion of prescription for genocide.Genocide, be it the horrifying slaughter of Armenians in Der or in the banks of the Euphrates in 1915, or the torturing death by massacre of the other peoples during World War II...

Today, we remember and honor the memory of those who suffered during the Meds Yeghern, one of the worst mass atrocities of the 20th century.  Beginning in 1915, one and a half million Armenians were deported, massacred, or marched to their deaths in the final years of the Ottoman Empire.  I join the Armenian community in America and around the world in mourning the loss of innocent lives and the suffering endured by so many. As we reflect on this dark chapter of human history, we also recognize the resilience of the Armenian people.  Many built new lives in the United...

US President Donald Trump (File photo). Turkey’s Foreign Ministry has slammed comments made by US President Donald Trump on the 102. anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, saying it contained “misinformation and false definitions”.Speaking at a commemoration event on Monday, Donald Trump, using the Armenian term – Meds Yeghern – for the genocide said it was “one of the worst mass atrocities of the 20th century.”“We must remember atrocities to prevent them from occurring again. We welcome the efforts of Turks and Armenians to acknowledge and reckon with painful history, which is a critical step toward building a foundation for a...

In a letter dated April 21 and addressed to the Armenian National Committee of America Western Region (ANCA-WR), Wyoming Governor Matthew H. Mead has recognized the Armenian Genocide and praised the work of Armenian American grassroots. “The atrocities of both the Armenian and Jewish Holocausts were unimaginable,” reads Governor Mead’s letter, “but it is important for all to remember—history must not repeat itself.” ... “I congratulate the Governor for his courageous stance on this moral issue amid lavish anti-Armenian lobbying in Wyoming, which has included all-inclusive junkets to the dictatorship of Azerbaijan by legislators across our nation, who should know...

Former United States Ambassador to the United Nations (UN) publicly apologized for not properly acknowledging the Armenian Genocide during her tenure under the administration of U.S. resident Barack Obama. Almost every Armenian-American family was touched in some way by the genocide. Ongoing Turkish denial makes the genocide an open wound… I am very sorry that, during our time in office, we in the Obama administration did not recognize the Armenian Genocide,” Power said in a series of tweets. .... Power has faced much criticism for her silence on Obama’s failure to recognize the Armenian Genocide, and had refused to publicly...