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  • EAFJD President Addresses World Kurdish Congress

    EAFJD President Addresses World Kurdish Congress

    http://www.arfd.info/2013/10/11/eafjd-president-addresses-world-kurdish-congress/
    October 11, 2013

    EAFJD President, Kaspar Karampetian addresses the 3rd World Kurdish
    Scientific Congress

    Kurdistan Regional Government's financial, scientific and cultural
    issues were touched at the 3rd World Kurdish Scientific Congress which
    was convened on October 11-13, 2013, in Stockholm, Sweden. During the
    three-day event experts in the aforementioned fields delivered
    presentations and reports and laid the foundations for future plans.
    The main objectives of the Congress were the strengthening of the
    existence and role of Kurdistan within the framework of the
    continuously developing, progressive and contemporary global society
    and at the meantime providing peace and prosperity for the Middle East
    region.
    Welcoming speeches were given by the Head of the Department of Foreign
    Relations of the Kurdistan Regional Government, Falah Mustafa Bakir,
    Swedish MP, Fredrik Malm, WKC President, Alan Dilani and other
    prominent figures such as Canadian MP Jim Karygiannis.

    The European Armenian Federation for Justice and Democracy (EAFJD) was
    invited to take part in the panel of the first session called `Lessons
    Learned from a Successful Diaspora' and address the Congress with a
    keynote speech. EAFJD President, Kaspar Karampetian referred to the
    causes that formed the Armenian Diaspora as well as to its present
    state of affairs. Karampetian emphasized on the respect of the
    political rights of the Kurdish minority during the 1st Republic of
    Armenia (1918-1920) such as the election of a Kurdish member of
    Parliament as well as during the Soviet times when the Kurdish
    minority could enjoy the benefits of having a radio and a newspaper
    using their native language.

    Following is the speech of EAFJD President, Kaspar Karampetian.

    The Experience of the Armenian Diaspora
    KASPAR KARAMPETIAN
    President of European Armenian Federation, Brussels-Armenia
    Session 1: Lessons Learned from a Successful Diaspora

    Honorable ministers,
    Dear friends, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,

    On behalf of the European Armenian Federation for Justice and
    Democracy I bring warm greetings to the 3rd Scientific World Kurdish
    Congress. We thank the organizers of this Congress for the invitation
    and the opportunity to address the honorable participants.
    Just as the not so distant past of the Armenian and Kurdish peoples is
    closely related, so are the present and the future of our two peoples.
    Destined to share a common geography, dialogue and discussions between
    Armenians and Kurds, even when at times characterized more as
    disagreements than agreements, are surely preferable than the conflict
    and carnage which have at times marred our common history.
    The European Armenian Federation for Justice and Democracy, of which I
    am the President, was founded in 2000 in Brussels, as the interlocutor
    within the institutions of the European Union, as well as the Council
    of Europe, representing the European citizens of Armenian origin and
    coordinating the activities of the Armenian National Committees (ANCs)
    in Europe.
    The European Armenian Federation advocates for the rights of the
    Armenian population (in the Nagorno Karabakh Republic, the
    Samtskhe-Javakheti region in Georgia, and in Turkey including the
    historically Armenian territories), and denounces the hostile attitude
    towards these populations (blockade against Armenia, Genocide denial,
    threat of war, violation of the rights of the Armenians, etc.). Also,
    the EAFJD assists the citizens of the Republic of Armenia in their
    democratization process of the country.
    The Armenian Diaspora is a historical phenomenon almost as old as the
    history of Armenians in their cradle of civilization in Asia Minor. In
    the fourth century, Armenian communities already existed outside of
    Greater Armenia. Armenian communities emerged in the Sassanid and
    Persian empires, and also to defend eastern and northern borders of
    the Byzantine Empire. In order to populate depopulated regions of
    Byzantium, Armenians were relocated to those regions. Although an
    Armenian Diaspora existed during Antiquity and the Middle Ages, it
    grew in size due to emigration from the Ottoman Empire and the
    Transcaucasia in the Russia Empire. In short, throughout history
    Armenians have established communities in many regions throughout the
    world, from imperial Rome to Christian Jerusalem, from India to
    Bavaria to England. Hence it should not surprise anyone to know that
    the Armenian cultural centres during several centuries preceding the
    19th century were cities like Venice, Amsterdam, Constantinople,
    Tiflis, Isfahan, Madras, Kolkata, Saint Petersburg.
    It is due to this global reach and influence that the Armenian
    National Awakening in the 19th century, which actually began in the
    Diaspora, reached the Armenian towns and villages in the Ottoman and
    Romanov empires. Indeed, the Armenians were awakening to a new
    national consciousness that brought forth a fighting spirit. This
    change was produced by political, social and economic forces that were
    at work both in foreign lands and in the Armenian divided homeland.
    The more active and enlightened Armenians began organized action for
    self-protection, for human rights and eventually for political
    independence.
    With this background, the modern Armenian Diaspora was formed largely
    after the World War I as a result of the Armenian Genocide of
    1915-1923 committed by the Ottoman Empire and Turkey. It is in this
    period of state planned and organized extermination attempt, that the
    darkest pages of Armenian and Kurdish common history were written. As
    a result of the genocide, Armenians were forced to flee to different
    parts of the world and created new Armenian communities far from their
    native land. Today around 3 million Armenians live in Armenia and
    around 7 million Armenians in the Diaspora.
    However, while the Genocide was still going on, another historical
    event had a tremendous effect on the course of Armenian history. In
    May of 1918, when the disintegration of the Russian empire was
    followed by the fragmentation of the Trans Caucasus, and following
    decisive battles near Yerevan and to further north-east, the Armenian
    National Council, announced the creation of the Republic of Armenia.
    The creation of the Republic proved to be the single most effective
    way to save the remnants of the Armenian people and preserve the few
    historically Armenian districts still free of Turkish occupation. In
    the Republic of Armenia of 1918-1920 the Kurds received political
    rights: a Kurdish representative was elected to the Armenian
    parliament, some Kurds became officers of Armenian army and organized
    Kurdish volunteer units.
    Although the independence of the Republic was short lived, less than
    three years, and the fact that an Armenian state structure continued
    to exist - albeit as part of the Soviet Union - , the Armenian existence
    was transformed. With a significant portion of the surviving Armenians
    living abroad, the quasi-state of Armenia became both a rallying point
    for those who believed and strived for an independent Armenia and an
    apparatus which helped the revival of Armenians both physically and
    culturally.
    Following the years after the Genocide when the Armenians who
    survived, found shelters in other countries, the first preoccupation
    of the leaders was to take all the necessary steps to insure that
    Armenians be able to safeguard their national identity. They founded
    schools, churches and cultural centers. The main objective was for the
    first decades, that the Armenians of Diaspora, could establish
    themselves in the countries they were living, assuring decent living
    standards, thus allowing them to provide to the younger generation,
    the possibility to get educated, understand the complexity of the
    problems that we were facing and be able in the future to take
    initiatives, in pursuing the struggle for the rights of our nation.
    And indeed, after the Second World War, during the decades of the 50s
    and 60s, we already had a generation which was not facing any more, in
    general, problems of survival, was somehow educated and was ready to
    take over the responsibility of the pursuance of the legitimate
    national claims. It was in 1965, on the 50th anniversary of the
    Genocide, that for the first time the Armenians of all over the world,
    declared their decision to pursue by all political means the
    recognition of the Genocide by the International Community and most of
    all from Turkey. That period the biggest political party of the
    Armenian Diaspora ARF Dashnaktsutyun, formed the Armenian National
    Committees (known as ANCs), in all the countries where Armenian
    communities existed.
    The ANCs with planned and persistent work, in the next decades, broke
    the wall of silence imposed to Armenians regarding the Genocide. Many
    countries, among them almost half of the countries of EU, recognized
    the Genocide, as well as the European Parliament, the Mercosur and
    other international bodies. Today, Turkey still denies a crime against
    the humanity, that no one in the world has any doubts about it. We
    will continue our struggle to oblige Turkey to recognize the genocide
    and bear the responsibility of the reparations to the Armenian nation.
    The Armenian Diaspora is playing a crucial rolein in the political and
    economic evolution of today's independent Armenia. From the early 90's
    the Armenian Diaspora has organized many times special events to
    gather amounts and help to the amelioration of the infrastructure of
    Armenia.
    Armenian Republic is today under blockade by Turkey and Azerbaijan,
    because of the conflict of Nagorno Karabakh5 where the people living
    there decided by a referendum the basic value of self determination,
    to create an independent country, the Nagorno Karabakh Republic. Thus,
    the role of the Armenian Diaspora grows every day, and from 2008 the
    Armenian Republic has the Ministry of Diaspora, which handles directly
    in every way the relations with the Armenian Diaspora, promoting and
    solving all the problems. It is proven so for that it was a successful
    initiative and of course when it will accumulate more experience and
    means it will play even greater role between the motherland and the
    Diaspora.
    It was in the Soviet Armenian quasi-state that the Kurds enjoyed
    substantial state-sponsored cultural support. It is here that the
    Kurds of the Soviet Union first began writing Kurdish in the Armenian
    alphabet in the 1920s, followed by Latin in 1927, then Cyrillic in
    1945, and now in both Cyrillic and Latin. The Kurds in Armenia
    established a Kurdish radio broadcast from Yerevan and the first
    Kurdish newspaper Riya Teze. The Kurds of Armenia were the first to
    have access to media such as radio, education and press in their
    native tongue. Armenian radio station Denge Erivan (The Voice of
    Yerevan) broadcast in Kurdish for one hour a day, drawing an audience
    of ethnic Kurds from across the border in Turkish occupied Western
    Armenia.
    It is also worth reminding ourselves that in the 1920s and early
    1930s, the most active and positive page in the history of
    Armenian-Kurdish relations, was written prior to and during the actual
    Kurdish rebellions of Dersim and especially Mt. Ararat. The Armenian
    Revolutionary Federation-Dashnaktsutyun was instrumental in providing
    much needed aid to the Kurdish national movement. It provided the
    moral support that Kurdish warriors needed in their battles against
    the Turkish armies. It was within the confines of this moral support
    that the ARF-Dashnaktsutyun provided critical help to the Kurdish
    Revolution and its leading organization, Hoyboun. This was achieved
    through the channels of the Second Socialist International.
    The ARF-Dashnaktsutyun did all this with only one goal in mind: to
    make the world understand that in the far away mountain of Ararat a
    people was fighting for freedom. It was besieged by regular army
    battalions that were shelling not only freedom fighters but even
    families, children, and elderly people. The ARF-Dashnaktsutyun
    delivered a historical background of the Kurdish people to the General
    Assembly of the Socialist International concentrating particularly on
    the events of 1920-1930. It emphasized the deportation and relocation
    policies deployed by the Kemalist government that aimed at the
    Turkification of the Kurds and their uprooting from their ancestral,
    national, and historical homeland.
    Today, the Middle East is at a crossroads; the artificially set
    borders are under pressure to give in to the realities on the ground.
    The Kurdish people and the Kurdistan Region are at the core of these
    prospective changes. The Republic of Armenia and Armenians in the
    region and around the world have a vested interest in these changes
    and are able to influence them. A new Armenian-Kurdish global alliance
    - based on mutual respect and consideration of the interests of both
    peoples - would surely be not only mutually beneficial, but would also
    help the development of a more tolerant, progressive, inclusive Middle
    East. We should avoid our past mistakes; we should not allow others to
    sow enmity between us.
    Once again, I thank you for this invitation and wish the 3rd
    Scientific World Kurdish Congress success in its deliberations.

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