Tweet
JEWS, ARMENIANS SPONSOR GENOCIDE FORUM
New Jersey Jewish News
Feb 25 2015
Speakers in Whippany call for recognition of Turkey's culpability
by Johanna Ginsberg February 25, 2015
Jews and Armenians gathered in Whippany last week for an event drawing
parallels between the Holocaust and the genocide of Armenians during
and following World War I.
Coinciding with an annual exhibit on local survivors of the Holocaust,
the Feb. 18 event at the Aidekman Jewish Community Campus featured
an Armenian diplomat and Armenian-American activists and clergy.
More than 80 people, evidently split evenly between Jews and Armenians,
attended the event, which included a screening of the 2007 documentary
The Armenian Genocide.
The event was cosponsored by St. Mary Armenian Church in Livingston
and the Holocaust Council of Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest NJ.
All of the presenters are seeking official recognition and reparations
from Turkey for the events of April 1915 through 1918, when Turks were
accused of brutal forced deportations and massacres that annihilated
about 1.5 million Armenians.
Many historians say the massacres ushered in a century of brutal
ethnic cleansing and served as a model for Adolf Hitler as he planned
the Final Solution.
Turkey has never recognized the slaughter as genocide, claiming the
number of Armenian dead was far smaller and that there were atrocities
on all sides of an "inter-communal conflict."
Speakers explained that the international Armenian community continues
to lobby for official recognition of genocide.
Last year the United States Senate Foreign Relations Committee adopted
a resolution -- spearheaded by its chair, NJ Sen. Robert Menendez --
calling upon Turkey to acknowledge that the massacres of Armenians in
1915 constituted "genocide," and encouraging the president to reinforce
the lessons inherent in the historical record. Such legislation has
never been put to a full vote by the House or Senate.
However, said Karine Birazian Shorhokian, former executive director
of the Armenian National Committee of America, eastern region,
"the end game is not to get American recognition of the genocide;
we've done that."
The end game, she said, "is to get Turkey's recognition. To have
them acknowledge what they did. And then to take the next step:
retribution -- what is owed to us as victims."
Having spent much of her career advocating for recognition of the
Armenian community's history, she said, "Launching these bills again
and again -- it's a little exhausting."
And she pointed out that the Armenian community "must decide what we
want as a whole. My family still has a deed to our land in Marash. But
we are settled in the Diaspora." A nurse at Holy Name Hospital in
Teaneck, she added, "I don't want to give up my American citizenship."
An audience member challenged her assertion regarding American
recognition, saying President Barack Obama "never followed through"
on promises to use the word "genocide" as president in referring to
the events of 1915-18 -- presumably, say critics, out of deference
to Turkey, a NATO ally.
Shorhokian accepted the correction. "Shame on him," she said, referring
to Obama. She elaborated that many politicians have signed official
recognitions. "Twenty years ago we had to educate people in Congress
about the Armenian genocide. Now, they know it happened. The battle
we are fighting today is: If we do this, Turkey will do that.
Everyone knows it happened, but we get excuses when we go to lobby
on the issues."
The program was originally scheduled to coincide with the Jan. 26
opening of the 10th-anniversary installation of the exhibit "From
Memory to History: Faces and Voices of the Holocaust," which profiles
survivors who live or lived in the Greater MetroWest area. This year,
to mark the 100th anniversary of the Armenian genocide, it includes
additional material on "Who Remembers the Armenians?" The opening
event was postponed twice due to inclement weather. The dual exhibit
is on display at the Aidekman campus through April 30.
Armenian Ambassador to the United States Tigran Sargsyan paid tribute
to the late attorney Rafael Lemkin, a Polish-Jewish immigrant to
the United States who coined the term genocide. Sargsyan made the
first plea of many that evening for Turkey to recognize its actions
as genocide.
A man identifying himself only as Vartan quoted Elie Wiesel's comments
on Israel's reconciliation with Germany. "If it was easy for the Jewish
people in Israel to enter into a blessed period of reconciliation with
Germany -- think about it. Jews and Germans can cooperate within the
framework of humanizing history. If we can do that, others can do it."
He continued, "But there's one problem I have here." Armenians are
expected "to reconcile with Turkey. But unlike Germany -- if we are
to forgive, someone must ask for forgiveness. Up to this century,
we have not had that."
Shorhokian urged people to write to their members of Congress to
address the issue of official recognition of the Armenian genocide.
Baskets of forget-me-not seed packets were provided as a symbol of
remembrance of the events of 1915.
The event also included a reading by poet Deborah Gerrish and an
ecumenical prayer delivered by Father Arakel Vardazaryan, pastor of
St. Mary Armenian Church.
http://njjewishnews.com/article/26347/jews-armenians-sponsor-genocide-forum#.VO4g6MYcTIU
From: A. Papazian
New Jersey Jewish News
Feb 25 2015
Speakers in Whippany call for recognition of Turkey's culpability
by Johanna Ginsberg February 25, 2015
Jews and Armenians gathered in Whippany last week for an event drawing
parallels between the Holocaust and the genocide of Armenians during
and following World War I.
Coinciding with an annual exhibit on local survivors of the Holocaust,
the Feb. 18 event at the Aidekman Jewish Community Campus featured
an Armenian diplomat and Armenian-American activists and clergy.
More than 80 people, evidently split evenly between Jews and Armenians,
attended the event, which included a screening of the 2007 documentary
The Armenian Genocide.
The event was cosponsored by St. Mary Armenian Church in Livingston
and the Holocaust Council of Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest NJ.
All of the presenters are seeking official recognition and reparations
from Turkey for the events of April 1915 through 1918, when Turks were
accused of brutal forced deportations and massacres that annihilated
about 1.5 million Armenians.
Many historians say the massacres ushered in a century of brutal
ethnic cleansing and served as a model for Adolf Hitler as he planned
the Final Solution.
Turkey has never recognized the slaughter as genocide, claiming the
number of Armenian dead was far smaller and that there were atrocities
on all sides of an "inter-communal conflict."
Speakers explained that the international Armenian community continues
to lobby for official recognition of genocide.
Last year the United States Senate Foreign Relations Committee adopted
a resolution -- spearheaded by its chair, NJ Sen. Robert Menendez --
calling upon Turkey to acknowledge that the massacres of Armenians in
1915 constituted "genocide," and encouraging the president to reinforce
the lessons inherent in the historical record. Such legislation has
never been put to a full vote by the House or Senate.
However, said Karine Birazian Shorhokian, former executive director
of the Armenian National Committee of America, eastern region,
"the end game is not to get American recognition of the genocide;
we've done that."
The end game, she said, "is to get Turkey's recognition. To have
them acknowledge what they did. And then to take the next step:
retribution -- what is owed to us as victims."
Having spent much of her career advocating for recognition of the
Armenian community's history, she said, "Launching these bills again
and again -- it's a little exhausting."
And she pointed out that the Armenian community "must decide what we
want as a whole. My family still has a deed to our land in Marash. But
we are settled in the Diaspora." A nurse at Holy Name Hospital in
Teaneck, she added, "I don't want to give up my American citizenship."
An audience member challenged her assertion regarding American
recognition, saying President Barack Obama "never followed through"
on promises to use the word "genocide" as president in referring to
the events of 1915-18 -- presumably, say critics, out of deference
to Turkey, a NATO ally.
Shorhokian accepted the correction. "Shame on him," she said, referring
to Obama. She elaborated that many politicians have signed official
recognitions. "Twenty years ago we had to educate people in Congress
about the Armenian genocide. Now, they know it happened. The battle
we are fighting today is: If we do this, Turkey will do that.
Everyone knows it happened, but we get excuses when we go to lobby
on the issues."
The program was originally scheduled to coincide with the Jan. 26
opening of the 10th-anniversary installation of the exhibit "From
Memory to History: Faces and Voices of the Holocaust," which profiles
survivors who live or lived in the Greater MetroWest area. This year,
to mark the 100th anniversary of the Armenian genocide, it includes
additional material on "Who Remembers the Armenians?" The opening
event was postponed twice due to inclement weather. The dual exhibit
is on display at the Aidekman campus through April 30.
Armenian Ambassador to the United States Tigran Sargsyan paid tribute
to the late attorney Rafael Lemkin, a Polish-Jewish immigrant to
the United States who coined the term genocide. Sargsyan made the
first plea of many that evening for Turkey to recognize its actions
as genocide.
A man identifying himself only as Vartan quoted Elie Wiesel's comments
on Israel's reconciliation with Germany. "If it was easy for the Jewish
people in Israel to enter into a blessed period of reconciliation with
Germany -- think about it. Jews and Germans can cooperate within the
framework of humanizing history. If we can do that, others can do it."
He continued, "But there's one problem I have here." Armenians are
expected "to reconcile with Turkey. But unlike Germany -- if we are
to forgive, someone must ask for forgiveness. Up to this century,
we have not had that."
Shorhokian urged people to write to their members of Congress to
address the issue of official recognition of the Armenian genocide.
Baskets of forget-me-not seed packets were provided as a symbol of
remembrance of the events of 1915.
The event also included a reading by poet Deborah Gerrish and an
ecumenical prayer delivered by Father Arakel Vardazaryan, pastor of
St. Mary Armenian Church.
http://njjewishnews.com/article/26347/jews-armenians-sponsor-genocide-forum#.VO4g6MYcTIU
From: A. Papazian