April 24, 2014

[Videos] Marked for Destruction: The Plight of Syria's Christians with Christian Community Leaders + Armenia's Ambassador to the UN, H.E. Garen Nazarian at the UNSC

"Forgotten Fire" by Adam Bagdasarian, a novel about the Armenian Genocide. It was a finalist for the National Book Award in 2002. 

Today, April 24, 2014, marks the 99th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. A hundred years later, Armenians and other minorities in northern Syria continue to face threats to their lives from the Turkish government, its NATO partners, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and global Jihadist terrorists who are under their influence.

An excerpt from, "Turkey’s Armenian syndrome" by Fehim Taştekin, Al Monitor, April 22, 2014:
The three simultaneous events above illustrate Turkey’s “Armenian syndrome,” which recurs on each anniversary of April 24, 1915. The Armenian couple in the first story represents the legacy of a historical tragedy and a numerical proof of what happened. The empathy accorded to the couple shows that facing up to history is possible in places of cohabitation. The second story reflects the popular sentiment that matches the state’s narrative of the “Armenian atrocities.” It's symbolic of the large social base in which the official policy of denial of the events of 1915 is readily embraced. The third story is quite new for Turkey. It represents the urge to face its own history, a trend that currently lacks popular support.

It took ages for a small group of Turkish intellectuals and politicians to utter the words “Armenian genocide” in a country where the 1915 chapter of history books was headed the “Armenians’ atrocities.” A newly published book — "1965: 50 years before 2015, 50 years after 1915" by Aris Nalci and Serdar Korucu — provides a striking account of Turkey’s attitude on the “genocide” throughout the years.
Video Title: Marked for Destruction: The Plight of Syria's Christians with Christian Community Leaders. Source: ArmenianAssemblyDC. Date Published: April 17, 2014. Description:
Remarks by Bishop Armash Nalbandian, Primate of the Armenian Church in Damascus, Syria at an event at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C. entitled "Marked for Destruction: The Plight of Syria's Christians with Christian Community Leaders" on January 27, 2014.
"Today, we are faced with the potential extinction of the Church, not just in Syria, we have seen it in Iraq. Potentially, if Syria collapses, we face it in Lebanon and other surrounding countries."


Video Title: Armenia's Ambassador to the UN, H.E. Garen Nazarian at the UNSC - January 29, 2014. Source: ArmenianAssemblyDC. Date Published: April 17, 2014. Description:
Armenia's Ambassador to the United Nations, H.E. Garen Nazarian gives a history lesson to the Turkish Ambassador during a thematic debate of the UN Security Council entitled "War, its lessons, and the search for a permanent peace" focusing on prevention, mechanisms of truth, systematic approach to reconciliation, particularly in the aftermath of conflicts. The debate was presided by Prince Zeid Ra'ad Zeid Al-Hussein, Ambassador of Jordan, which held the Council's rotating presidency for the month of January.