The last time Armenia was the first section of Google's breaking News was in May of 2006, when an Armenian airplane had crashed over the Black Sea.

Five months after the tragedy, Armenia is again top news leaving behind North Korea’s nuke tests, the plane crash in New York, Madonna’s application for adoption and Republican party’s infamous adventures in the U.S. Congress.

Faces of Denial: Official Turkish denialists watch as the Lower House of French parliament makes it a crime to say the Armenian Genocide never happened

Armenia usually makes news for tragedies. In the 1910s, there were hundreds of news headlines in the New York Times and the rest of the world press about Armenian massacres. In 1988, Armenia made the top news for the earthquake that left tens of thousands of people dead.

The current top Google News is also about an Armenian tragedy. It is news about a French law, passed today, that criminalizes denial of the Armenian Genocide.

The next top news is North Korea’s nuke tests – indeed, a major issue that might become a world tragedy.

Once you scroll down the page, the third top news also deals with the Armenian tragedy, more precisely with the recognition of a righteous man who made news in the last months for speaking on the Armenian Genocide. The Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk received the Nobel Prize today.

(Actually I learned about both of the events while talking to Armenia this morning, October 12, 2006.)

From the Associated Press…

Turkish Novelist Orhan Pamuk Wins Nobel
By HILLEL ITALIE, AP National Writer

Thursday, October 12, 2006

[…]

The real Orhan, the famous one, is now an international symbol of literary and social conscience, whose frank talk about the slaughter of Armenians brought the threat of imprisonment, and whose poetic, melancholy narratives brought him the book world's ultimate blessing.

[…]

The selection of Pamuk, whose recent trial for "insulting Turkishness" made headlines worldwide, continues a trend among Nobel judges of picking writers in conflict with their own governments. British playwright Harold Pinter, a blunt opponent of his country's involvement in the Iraq war, won last year. Elfriede Jelinek, a longtime critic of Austria's conservative politicians and social class, was the 2004 winner.

Pamuk, whose novels include "Snow" and "My Name Is Red," was charged last year for telling a Swiss newspaper in February 2005 that Turkey was unwilling to deal with two of the most painful episodes in recent Turkish history: the massacre of Armenians during World War I, which Turkey insists was not a planned genocide, and recent guerrilla fighting in Turkey's overwhelmingly Kurdish southeast.

"Thirty-thousand Kurds and 1 million Armenians were killed in these lands, and nobody but me dares to talk about it," he said in the interview.

[…]

"I think that Orhan Pamuk was a splendid choice for the Nobel Prize, not only for the evident literary merit of his work, but because of his courageous defiance of political pieties in Turkey," historian Ron Chernow, president of the PEN American Center, the U.S. chapter of the international writers-human rights organization, said in an e-mail to the AP.

[…]

Pamuk will receive a $1.4 million check, a gold medal and diploma, and an invitation to a lavish banquet in Stockholm, Sweden, on Dec. 10, the 110th anniversary of the death of prize founder Alfred Nobel.

From Voice of America…

French Lawmakers Vote to Outlaw Denials of Armenian Genocide
By VOA News
12 October 2006

French lawmakers have approved a draft law making it a crime to deny that mass killings of Armenians in Turkey nearly a century ago were genocide. The vote prompted immediate criticism from Turkey and the European Union.

The measure passed by the lower house of the French parliament Thursday would impose jail terms and fines on those who deny the Armenian genocide.

Turkey's Foreign Ministry called the French action a "heavy blow" to bilateral relations. In Brussels, the European Commission said the vote could hinder efforts for dialogue needed for Turkey and Armenia to resolve the dispute.

Armenians say the Ottoman Turks slaughtered up to 1.5 million Armenians from 1915 to 1923, in a push to drive them out of eastern Turkey.

Turkey calls the figure exaggerated, and says a large number of people died in civil unrest during the collapse of the Ottoman Empire.

France's conservative government has called the opposition-sponsored draft unnecessary. The measure still needs the approval of the French Senate and President Jacques Chirac.

There is an ongoing online discussion in a Turkish-Armenian group (mostly genocide scholars and students) where many of the participants have so far expressed their disagreement with the French proposal to criminalize denial of the Armenian Genocide. Their argument is that freedom of expression shall not be limited by any means.

The discussion started after a Turkish user from Turkey said shame on you to the group members for not speaking out against the French bill.

After some members, with the exception of myself, joined the protest against the criminalizing law, an e-mail titled "If I am to be ashamed of anything" arrived from Turkey.

Ayse Gunaysu wrote,

I'm ashamed of the unleashed chauvinism in Turkey nowadays, not only ashamed but deeply, deeply depressed at the extent of aggressivity. The spokesperson of the Turkish foreign ministry said "We may not be able to control the Turkish people's outrage". He says this in a country where the memory of horrible examples of such outrage are still haunting. Suggestions are made to expel the Armenians from Armenia who work in Turkey illegally for very low salaries. If all the articles in the newspapers and all what is said on the TV channels were to be translated and broadcast to the world the dimensions of what is going on here in Turkey would be better understood. And all these are done under the pretext of "freedom of _expression". The Prime Minister says Turkey is like Galileo punished for telling the truth! It is as if a nationwide farce is being staged across the country, a comedy that nobody would feel like laughing. It hurts. Turkey deserves this law.

My observation is that we have state denialist propaganda vs. limitation of freedom of denialist propaganda on the table. The state denialist propaganda is a hate crime that in essence acknowledges the Genocide. You think they think that they did not massacre 1.5 million Armenians? If you do, you are damn wrong. The deniers are unhappy that they were not sucessful in massacring all; deniers know more than anybody what they did.

Nationalist Turks shout slogans to protest against a French proposal to make it a crime to deny that the killings of up to 1.5 million Armenians during World War I was a genocide, as they march with a black wreath to the French embassy in Ankara, Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2006. The French law, apparently aimed at the Turks, has sparked outrage against France and the European Union in the predominantly Muslim country that is negotiating to join the 25-nation bloc. Several groups were planning small-scale protests against France on Wednesday and there are calls for a boycott of French goods. (AP Photo/Burhan Ozbilici)

If you look to the pictures of the "protests in Turkey" you will understand. The protesters are the Grey Wolves, the Turkish chauvinists whose platform includes annihilation of what they great ancestors have left of Armenia. These people hate Armenians more than anything; these people will massacre the remaining Armenians if they have the chance.

As the 9th Annual International Telethon to benefit Armenia and Artsakh is approaching, good news have arrived from Artsakh’s Madaghis village.

Toronto resident Artin Boghossian’s forwarded press release informs that Toronto’s (Canada) Hayastan All-Armenian Fund chapter has opened a 21st-century-like secondary school in Madaghis to serve 150 students with 11 classrooms, a computer lab and a library.

The opening ceremony took place on September 27, 2006 and the ribbon was cut by Baroness Caroline Cox, the Deputy Speaker of the U.K. House of Lords.

Hayastan Fund’s 9th Telethon will take place on Thanksgiving Day, November 23, 2006. Donations can already be made at http://www.armeniafund.org/donate/donations.php or by sending a check or money order to
Armenia Fund, Inc.
111 North Jackson Street, Suite 205
Glendale, CA 91206.

The telethon will be broadcasted at http://www.armeniafund.org and most likely at www.yerevannights.com as well.

According to the official Hayastan Fund website, “Proceeds from Telethon 2006 will benefit the war torn region of Hadrut in Nagorno Karabakh. Among various major projects, the plan calls for the reconstruction of a regional hospital, a series of new schools, new water pipelines and distribution networks, as well a comprehensive regional agricultural development program all designed to enhance the socio-economic standards of the region. The plan will draw parallels to the Martakert Regional Development plan, which is currently underway, after months of planning and fund collection.”

Last year I sent a small donation to the Fund. Our financial situation was, to say the least, not so good but I really wanted to have my contribution. In several months, I found my name listed on their website’s report!

This Fund is truly devoted to reducing poverty and promoting education in Armenia and Artsakh, and I hope every one of you who reads this post will contribute this year.

If you have contributed in the past, double your donation this year or donate at least 20% of your one-month’s salary. We can make Armenia and Artsakh a better place!

Although some people, especially who live outside of the United States, are not crazy about Halloween, I am looking forward to it!

Guess who is going to be the scariest person this year? No, not me.

Cold War propaganda says Halloween is Devil worshiping. Please, people, it is not the case. Halloween is a ghool thing, and especially Armenians have to like it!

Why? Well, a blogger from LiveJournal, has decided to dress up as armo (Armenians from the Republic of Armenia) to scare the crap out of people! Could something be scarier in this world?

Frenshit writes, “I'm gonna dress like an armo (armenian).
I need to get adidas sweat pants and jacket,open half way down so my chest hair can stick out,with some cheap bling bling everywhere,draw me a unibrow,wear some dressed shoes..I also will walk around all over town looking pissed off and staring at people,with a cigarette stuck in my mouth..a scary armo.”

Will I dress up? Of course! In what? Well, most of my friends will know the answer – in Greek toga, of course. Needless to say, I have been dressing up in toga too many times in the last two years. No, no, not for animal parties…

Some pics from last year

Riot police take security measures in front of the French consulate during a protest in Istanbul October 8, 2006. Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has added his voice to a growing chorus of Turkish protests over French plans to make it a crime to deny that Armenians suffered 'genocide' at the hands of Ottoman Turks in World War One. REUTERS/Anatolian News Agency/Erhan Sevenler (TURKEY)

I am not sure when the exact update was made, but CIA’s current (last updated Oct 5, 2006) Factbook on Armenia, https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/am.html, acknowledges that the WWI “forced resettlement” (the Armenian Genocide) took place “in the western portion of Armenia.”

The original 2006 Factbook had no mention of “the western portion of Armenia” (see http://www.theodora.com/wfbcurrent/armenia…roduction.html), but it did refer to “eastern area of Armenia” suggesting that there was also western Armenia.

For many years Turkey has campaigned for the elimination of the phrase “Western Armenia” (or Armenia) from history books and maps changing the 2500-year-old phrase to “eastern Turkey” or “eastern Anatolia” since the Armenian Genocide of 1915.

The Factbook has also been referring to “Armenian Highland” – the thousands of years old geographical name of what are now eastern Turkey, northern Iran, the Armenian Republic and eastern part of the Azerbaijani Republic. Turkish propaganda has worked hard to eliminate the term “Armenian Highland” by calling it “Anatolia,” although by “Anatolia” it is generally meant Asia Minor

You think I have forgotten about your homework? Hell no!
Actually I was kind of disappointed. Only 25 of your examined the tree, but did not bother to write the essay.

Speaking of writing essays, since I am writing this post instead of writing my 10-page essay on democracy in South Asia, I think you should be excused for not writing the first paper (which will not of course happen to me. I mean the excuse).

But I still want to share my thoughts about the picture. I still want you to know why I posted it on Blogian.

As most of you have guessed the picture is a family tree: an Armenian family tree.

You see, I am Armenian and I know a lot about my family. I have seen many pictures of my ancestors and relatives around the world, but one thing I will never see is the tree.

My family tree was cut down to hundreds of pieces between 1895 and 1923, when the powerful Maghakyan family of Urfa (what now Turks call Sanliurfa) was killed, raped, converted, forced to leave and never return back. There are hundreds of Maghakyans (Maghakians, Malakians, Magakians) in the world today, and most of us don’t know we are relatives, and even if we do, we cannot find the tree, guess because why? The tree was destroyed.

The tree I have posted is of an Armenian family the recent history of which traces back to Iran. Yes, they did not become victims of the Genocide because they lived in Iran. So they have a tree (and I am really jealous).

But if you think more of this tree, it will make you think more and more. See, the tree only starts in 1603, the century when Armenians were deported to Persia (Iran) by Persians to make their country better. What is wrong about that? Well, they lost the hundreds of more pieces of their tree.

When you think more, you realize that there is 90% chance that the tree could have been traced back to earlier years, at least in terms of archaeological evidence, a year ago. You see, a year ago there was still a cemetery in Nakhichevan called Hin Jugha, where thousands of medieval hand-carved khachkars (cross stones) were standing as a reminder of the story of Iranian Armenian community’s famous ancestors.

But starting on December 15, 2005, the khachkars were destroyed by bulldozers and axes. Perhaps most of you have seen the video, right? If not, you can still do it at www.julfa.cjb.net.

Now you know why I wanted you to think about the Armenian tree. For the descendants of genocide survivors, the tree is attractive, since we don’t have one (or if we do, it is cut to pieces). But when you continue thinking of the tree, you realize that it only starts in 1603; that it had been cut to pieces in that year or somewhere near that day. And then you realize that the tree could still be traced back had Julfa’s murder not been finalized last year. And you once again tell to yourself,

REMEMBER, REMEMBER the 15th of DECEMBER…

Ed Sadowski’s Fall 2006 “Quick action saves Library from intruders” report includes the details of my participation in ant-terrorist investigation.

It was a dark and not too stormy Thursday night. All was quiet and peaceful in the ACC Library. The peace and tranquility was broken by a startling discovery by Library student assistant Simon Maghakyan. Simon stumbled onto a gang of invaders on the lower level of the Library…

The investigation took place in early 2006, when I was still employed at the Arapahoe Community College Library.

The full report is available on page 2 of http://www.arapahoe.edu/lrc/newsletter8.06.pdf.

The first modern Turkish politician to acknowledge that the Armenian Genocide was indeed Genocide has come forward.

Her name is Nebahat Albayrak, but she lives in the Netherlands.

photo WFA

The Dutch-language NRC.nl reports in its October 4, 2006 issue that Albayrak finds it “correct” to call the Armenian extermination “genocide.”

Albayrak’s public recognition of the Armenian Genocide comes after some Turkish political candidates were removed from Dutch parties for denying the Genocide.

Apparently, the Dutch lesson works.

Today, when Armenians speak of their genocide’s awareness they make frequent comparisons with the Holocaust. Turkish deniers attack the comparison as a “propagandistic technique of advancing the Armenian cause.”

But there is one thing Turkish deniers will never tell you. Starting the 1930s and for the next couple decades to come, Jews themselves would compare their tragedy to the Armenian Genocide to let the world know about the Holocaust.

Raphael Lemkin, a Jew who coined the term “genocide,” would generally start talking about genocide with “Armenians.” For example, in the 1949 CBS Interview with Lemkin, he said, “I became interested in genocide because it happened to the Armenians.”

—

A few days ago, when I wrote about my visit to the Holocaust museum in Washington D.C., I mentioned that Frantz Werfel, the author of the best-selling “Forty Days of Musa Dagh,” was the first in the list of Jewish authors whose works had been destroyed by the Nazis as part of the plan to eliminate every trait of Germany’s Jewish influence.

I also mentioned Prof. Herbert Hirsch’s lecture in which he said “Forty Days of Musa Dagh” was the most-read book in the Nazi concentration camps.

Werfel’s book about the Armenian genocide and the heroic self-defense of the Armenians of Musa Dagh area was already popular among world’s Jewish community in the 1930s.

In 1935 Leon Fram, a Jewish Rabbi in Detroit, talked to a 1000-people-audience about Werfel’s book and Hiterl’s treatment of Germany’s Jews. He said what was happening to the Jews was what had happened to the Armenians.

Rabbi Fram observed, “Hitler is achieving what the Turks hoped to accomplish and failed. They hoped the annihilation of the Armenians would take place so quietly that no one would notice it … In broad daylight, Nazi Germany is carrying out the annihilation of a people and no one does anything about it.”

The entire article (from Hairenik Weekly’s Friday, March 8, 1935 issue) is posted below. Click on it for enlargement in JPEG format.

Thank you to Marc A. Mamigonian, Director of Programs and Publications at National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR), for scanning the article and sharing it.