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OpEd News
Sept 13 2014
I Am Armenian
By Declan Hayes
I am not Armenian. I am Irish, as it happens. However, in the Armenian
language, my family name means I am Armenian.
If I were Armenian, I would be very angry with my fellow-Armenians,
those in the USA in particular. They are, we hear, the second richest
minority group in the USA and they are, we hear, making big
preparations to commemorate the 24 April 2015 genocide when 1.5
million Armenians were butchered in Syria for the simple crime of
being born Armenian.
The American Armenians, we hear, remember those far-gone atrocities
and are determined the world will know about it. In France, we hear,
it is a crime to deny that genocide was perpetrated by Turkey on the
Armenians, along with the Greeks, the Assyrians and a number of other
minorities in April 1915. France, Syria, Chile, Uruguay and numerous
other countries have, from time to time, commemorated that genocide
with postage stamps, a nice initiative, instigated no doubt by
concerned Armenians who remember those far-off atrocities and are
determined the world will smugly and silently remember them.
So, why the anger, you ask. Today, 7th September, the Armenian
civilians of Jaramana in Damascus are still under constant bombardment
by the moderate rebels America's President Peace prize winner Barack
Obama has just promised another $4 bn to, the Armenians of Aleppo have
had their homes and factories looted and their contents sold off as
booty in Turkey, they have buried their friends and relatives by the
score, and the Armenians of Kasab have likewise had their relatives
slaughtered, their community destroyed and their elderly folk taken as
hostages to Turkey where they were paraded in front of the American
ambassador and his beautiful wife for their entertainment.
Whatever about the fat cats of the Armenian Diaspora, the Armenians of
Syria are by and large simple people who got their kicks by singing
hymns in church and their living by picking apples. Those simple
pleasures and livelihoods are now denied them and the American
Armenians, no doubt too busy following Kim Kardashian on twitter or
listening to Cher's ditties on their expensive sound systems, do
absolutely nothing to help their fellow-Armenians who remain at the
business end of the Turkish cosh.
Even though American Armenian lawyers, we hear, are great advocates,
we see none of them getting off their well-waxed posteriors to take
class actions on behalf of the elderly Kasab Armenians taken as
hostages to Turkey for the entertainment of their ambassador and his
beautiful wife. Even though American Armenian churches, we hear, are
very generous donors to all types of charities and they have the
welfare of the larger and less fortunate Armenian community very much
at heart, their fellow Armenians in Syria have yet to see one single,
solitary dime from these generous flag-bearers of atrocities committed
long ago, atrocities those in Kasab who suffered similar atrocities
this year, heard first-hand accounts about when, as little children,
they sat on their mothers' knees almost a century ago. Not for them
the narcissistic keening by the rivers of Gotham. Their mess of
pottage has a sharper edge, the unforgiving sword of the Saudi funded
jihadists who are well on the way to exterminating them and their way
of life.
Syria's Armenian community have been stripped of their livelihoods by
foreign gunmen who enjoy the largesse of the American government which
depends, in part, on the tax dollars of America's Armenian community.
Syria's Armenian community, like all the people of Syria they have
lived peaceably with for untold centuries, need the help of the
outside world, members of the Armenian Diaspora in particular.
Although simple people, Syria's Armenians are not stupid. They know
there is a plan afoot to denude the traditional bible lands of Syria,
Iraq, Lebanon and Palestine of their Christians and other minorities.
They know they are in the line of American fire through no fault of
their own, save that of being born Armenian Christians. What they do
not know or cannot understand is why the well-heeled members of the
Armenian Diaspora in the United States and France care so little for
their fate that they will not even do the most simple, elementary and
rudimentary things in solidarity with their Syrian confreres.
Why no Armenian or Christian aid? Why no political pressure on
Washington's warlords? Why no legal challenges against Turkey's
Erdogan regime and why is America's ambassador to Turkey and his
beautiful wife not behind bars? These are simple questions I would put
to America's Armenian leaders if our paths crossed -- in America or
they will hardly cross here in Syria as America's Armenian community
are either too busy or too scared here to "come and visit" as St Paul,
himself no stranger to Damascus, put it.
I am not Armenian but, if I were, I would be angry. I would try not to
sink into the type of despair that is the ghost at the bedside of
Syria's Armenian community. If America's Armenian community refuse to
help, perhaps salvation for the Armenians and Syria's other Christian
remaining communities lies where with it has traditionally lay, with
the Syrian Arab Army and its ultimate protector, Mother Russia.
I will put these issues to the nuns of Saidnaya when I meet them later
today for their great festival. In the meantime, as we say in Russian,
Dosvidan'ya.
Dr Declan Hayes is currently on his third trip to Syria this year. He
is helping organize a conference in Damascus for April 24th 2015,
tentatively called: Syria: Between Destruction and Reconstruction to
mark the murder of all Syria's innocents and to help plot a way
forward out of the morass.
http://www.opednews.com/articles/I-Am-Armenian-by-Declan-Hayes-2014_America_Christian_Destruction-140913-919.html
From: A. Papazian
Sept 13 2014
I Am Armenian
By Declan Hayes
I am not Armenian. I am Irish, as it happens. However, in the Armenian
language, my family name means I am Armenian.
If I were Armenian, I would be very angry with my fellow-Armenians,
those in the USA in particular. They are, we hear, the second richest
minority group in the USA and they are, we hear, making big
preparations to commemorate the 24 April 2015 genocide when 1.5
million Armenians were butchered in Syria for the simple crime of
being born Armenian.
The American Armenians, we hear, remember those far-gone atrocities
and are determined the world will know about it. In France, we hear,
it is a crime to deny that genocide was perpetrated by Turkey on the
Armenians, along with the Greeks, the Assyrians and a number of other
minorities in April 1915. France, Syria, Chile, Uruguay and numerous
other countries have, from time to time, commemorated that genocide
with postage stamps, a nice initiative, instigated no doubt by
concerned Armenians who remember those far-off atrocities and are
determined the world will smugly and silently remember them.
So, why the anger, you ask. Today, 7th September, the Armenian
civilians of Jaramana in Damascus are still under constant bombardment
by the moderate rebels America's President Peace prize winner Barack
Obama has just promised another $4 bn to, the Armenians of Aleppo have
had their homes and factories looted and their contents sold off as
booty in Turkey, they have buried their friends and relatives by the
score, and the Armenians of Kasab have likewise had their relatives
slaughtered, their community destroyed and their elderly folk taken as
hostages to Turkey where they were paraded in front of the American
ambassador and his beautiful wife for their entertainment.
Whatever about the fat cats of the Armenian Diaspora, the Armenians of
Syria are by and large simple people who got their kicks by singing
hymns in church and their living by picking apples. Those simple
pleasures and livelihoods are now denied them and the American
Armenians, no doubt too busy following Kim Kardashian on twitter or
listening to Cher's ditties on their expensive sound systems, do
absolutely nothing to help their fellow-Armenians who remain at the
business end of the Turkish cosh.
Even though American Armenian lawyers, we hear, are great advocates,
we see none of them getting off their well-waxed posteriors to take
class actions on behalf of the elderly Kasab Armenians taken as
hostages to Turkey for the entertainment of their ambassador and his
beautiful wife. Even though American Armenian churches, we hear, are
very generous donors to all types of charities and they have the
welfare of the larger and less fortunate Armenian community very much
at heart, their fellow Armenians in Syria have yet to see one single,
solitary dime from these generous flag-bearers of atrocities committed
long ago, atrocities those in Kasab who suffered similar atrocities
this year, heard first-hand accounts about when, as little children,
they sat on their mothers' knees almost a century ago. Not for them
the narcissistic keening by the rivers of Gotham. Their mess of
pottage has a sharper edge, the unforgiving sword of the Saudi funded
jihadists who are well on the way to exterminating them and their way
of life.
Syria's Armenian community have been stripped of their livelihoods by
foreign gunmen who enjoy the largesse of the American government which
depends, in part, on the tax dollars of America's Armenian community.
Syria's Armenian community, like all the people of Syria they have
lived peaceably with for untold centuries, need the help of the
outside world, members of the Armenian Diaspora in particular.
Although simple people, Syria's Armenians are not stupid. They know
there is a plan afoot to denude the traditional bible lands of Syria,
Iraq, Lebanon and Palestine of their Christians and other minorities.
They know they are in the line of American fire through no fault of
their own, save that of being born Armenian Christians. What they do
not know or cannot understand is why the well-heeled members of the
Armenian Diaspora in the United States and France care so little for
their fate that they will not even do the most simple, elementary and
rudimentary things in solidarity with their Syrian confreres.
Why no Armenian or Christian aid? Why no political pressure on
Washington's warlords? Why no legal challenges against Turkey's
Erdogan regime and why is America's ambassador to Turkey and his
beautiful wife not behind bars? These are simple questions I would put
to America's Armenian leaders if our paths crossed -- in America or
they will hardly cross here in Syria as America's Armenian community
are either too busy or too scared here to "come and visit" as St Paul,
himself no stranger to Damascus, put it.
I am not Armenian but, if I were, I would be angry. I would try not to
sink into the type of despair that is the ghost at the bedside of
Syria's Armenian community. If America's Armenian community refuse to
help, perhaps salvation for the Armenians and Syria's other Christian
remaining communities lies where with it has traditionally lay, with
the Syrian Arab Army and its ultimate protector, Mother Russia.
I will put these issues to the nuns of Saidnaya when I meet them later
today for their great festival. In the meantime, as we say in Russian,
Dosvidan'ya.
Dr Declan Hayes is currently on his third trip to Syria this year. He
is helping organize a conference in Damascus for April 24th 2015,
tentatively called: Syria: Between Destruction and Reconstruction to
mark the murder of all Syria's innocents and to help plot a way
forward out of the morass.
http://www.opednews.com/articles/I-Am-Armenian-by-Declan-Hayes-2014_America_Christian_Destruction-140913-919.html
From: A. Papazian