As David Fromkin put it in his widely praised history of World War I and its aftermath, “A Peace to End All Peace”: “Rape and beating were commonplace. Those who were not killed at once were driven through mountains and deserts without food, drink or shelter. Hundreds of thousands of Armenians eventually succumbed or were killed .”

The man who invented the word “genocide”— Raphael Lemkin, a lawyer of Polish-Jewish origin — was moved to investigate the attempt to eliminate an entire people by accounts of the massacres of Armenians. He did not, however, coin the word until 1943, applying it to Nazi Germany and the Jews in a book published a year later, “Axis Rule in Occupied Europe.”

But to Turks, what happened in 1915 was, at most, just one more messy piece of a very messy war that spelled the end of a once-powerful empire. They reject the conclusions of historians and the term genocide, saying there was no premeditation in the deaths, no systematic attempt to destroy a people. Indeed, in Turkey today it remains a crime — “insulting Turkishness” — to even raise the issue of what happened to the Armenians.

In the United States, a powerful Armenian community centered in Los Angeles has been pressing for years for Congress to condemn the Armenian genocide. Turkey, which cut military ties to France over a similar action, has reacted with angry threats. A bill to that effect nearly passed in the fall of 2007, gaining a majority of co-sponsors and passing a committee vote. But the Bush administration, noting that Turkey is a critical ally — more than 70 per cent of the military air supplies for Iraq go through the Incirlik airbase there — pressed for the bill to be withdrawn, and it was.

The roots of the genocide lie in the collapse of the Ottoman Empire.

The empire’s ruler was also the caliph, or leader of the Islamic community. Minority religious communities, like the Christian Armenians, were allowed to maintain their religious, social and legal structures, but were often subject to extra taxes or other measures.

Concentrated largely in eastern Anatolia, many of them merchants and industrialists, Armenians, historians say, appeared markedly better off in many ways than their Turkish neighbors, largely small peasants or ill-paid government functionaries and soldiers.

At the turn of the 20th Century, the once far-flung Ottoman empire was crumbling at the edges, beset by revolts among Christian subjects to the north — vast swaths of territory were lost in the Balkan Wars of 1912-13 — and the subject of coffee house grumbling among Arab nationalist intellectuals in Damascus and elsewhere.

The Young Turk movement of ambitious, discontented junior army officers seized power in 1908, determined to modernize, strengthen and “Turkify” the empire. They were led by what became an all-powerful triumvirate sometimes referred to as the Three Pashas.

In March of 1914, the Young Turks entered World War I on the side of Germany. They attacked to the east, hoping to capture the city of Baku in what would be a disastrous campaign against Russian forces in the Caucuses. They were soundly defeated at the battle of Sarikemish.

Armenians in the area were blamed for siding with the Russians and the Young Turks began a campaign to portray the Armenians as a kind of fifth column, a threat to the state. Indeed, there were Armenian nationalists who acted as guerrillas and cooperated with the Russians. They briefly seized the city of Van in the spring of 1915.

Armenians mark the date April 24, 1915, when several hundred Armenian intellectuals were rounded up, arrested and later executed as the start of the Armenian genocide and it is generally said to have extended to 1917. However, there were also massacres of Armenians in 1894, 1895, 1896, 1909, and a reprise between 1920 and 1923.

The University of Minnesota’s Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies has compiled figures by province and district that show there were 2,133,190 Armenians in the empire in 1914 and only about 387,800 by 1922.

Writing at the time of the early series of massacres, The New York Times suggested there was already a “policy of extermination directed against the Christians of Asia Minor.”

The Young Turks, who called themselves the Committee of Unity and Progress, launched a set of measures against the Armenians, including a law authorizing the military and government to deport anyone they “sensed” was a security threat.

A later law allowed the confiscation of abandoned Armenian property. Armenians were ordered to turn in any weapons that they owned to the authorities. Those in the army were disarmed and transferred into labor battalions where they were either killed or worked to death.

There were executions into mass graves, and death marches of men, women and children across the Syrian desert to concentration camps with many dying along the way of exhaustion, exposure and starvation.

Much of this was quite well documented at the time by Western diplomats, missionaries and others, creating widespread wartime outrage against the Turks in the West. Although its ally, Germany, was silent at the time, in later years documents have surfaced from ranking German diplomats and military officers expressing horror at what was going on.

Some historians, however, while acknowledging the widespread deaths, say what happened does not technically fit the definition of genocide largely because they do not feel there is evidence that it was well-planned in advance.

The New York Times covered the issue extensively — 145 articles in 1915 alone by one count — with headlines like “Appeal to Turkey to Stop Massacres.” The Times described the actions against the Armenians as “systematic,” “authorized, and “organized by the government.”

The American ambassador, Henry Morganthau Sr., was also outspoken. In his memoirs, the ambassador would write: “When the Turkish authorities gave the orders for these deportations, they were merely giving the death warrant to a whole race; they understood this well, and in their conversations with me, they made no particular attempt to conceal the fact.”

Following the surrender of the Ottoman Empire in 1918, the Three Pashas fled to Germany, where they were given protection. But the Armenian underground formed a group called Operation Nemesis to hunt them down. On March 15, 1921, one of the pashas was shot dead on a street in Berlin in broad daylight in front of witnesses. The gunman pled temporary insanity brought on by the mass killings and a jury took only a little over an hour to acquit him. It was the defense evidence at this trial that drew the interest of Mr. Lemkin, the coiner of “genocide.”

On April 24th, the Armenians in particular and the world at large commemorate the systematic massacre and deportation of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire.  The date is somewhat arbitrary, coinciding with an order given on April 24th, 1915, by the Ottoman authorities to arrest some 250 Armenian intellectuals and community leaders, which by and large, opened the gates of hell.

To be sure, the forced death marches and brutal mass murders resulted in the death of 1,500,000 Armenians.

This unfathomable loss has created a huge void in the collective conscience of the Armenian people.  In Hebrew, the world “chalal” is used to describe a “slain person”, someone who died a “sudden, unnatural death”. “Chalal” also means “space”, or “void”, and this is exactly what all Armenians feel about their murdered ancestors.

As a son of the Armenian diaspora, I can say that each and every Armenian senses a tremendous “void”, which cannot be easily described by words.  I am sure this is something that the Jewish people can easily relate to, after suffering so much persecution, pogroms and the Holocaust. The Israelis too, who face an endless war and have paid such a dear price in terms of fallen soldiers and even civilians targeted by terrorism, would understand this dark sensation.

A few months ago, when I assumed my duties as Chairman of the International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation, I started to learn first-hand what makes this organization so special. Its uniqueness lies in  the emphasis it places on the positive rather than the negative. From its very inception, ever since my friend Baruch Tenembaum, together with the late US Congressman and Holocaust survivor, Tom Lantos,have founded this NGO, they have focused on the saviors of victims of the Shoah, shedding light on their magnificent feats, unveiling their unknown stories of heroism. Others deal with the atrocities of the Nazis, and that is very well, needless to say, but the Wallenberg Foundation dedicates its mission to the saviors, to make their stories know and to thank them for having made a difference.

All my life I have upheld this philosophy. As an entrepreneur, I believe in building a better reality in which prosperity and human values are intimately intertwined.

Do not misunderstand me. The past is of cardinal importance. The souls of the 1,500,000 Armenians who were massacred in the beginning of the previous century, are entrenched in the hearts of all people of good will. Their voices can be heard loud and clear.

Negating the evil is preposterous. But this is not a matter of semantics or of legislation. A definition will not bring them back to life and a law will not punish the perpetrators.

Objective historians, jurists and scholars should analyze the tragic events of 1915 in a scientific fashion. Finger-pointing is a futile exercise. Same as the Germans of today are not to blame for the sins of their forefathers, we should not blame this generation of Turks. At the same time, they – the Turks – should not be afraid of recognizing the wrongs of the Ottoman Empire. This would make a great service not only to the Armenians, but above all to the Turks themselves.

As far as Armenia and Armenians are concerned, dwelling with the past without a clear vision of the future is pointless.  Geography has created a landlocked Armenia whilst its tragic history has given birth to a landlocked people, slave of its past.

The virtual wall separating Turkey and Armenia should be torn down and replaced by millions of bridges. These two neighbors deserve to build up a shared vision of peace, co-existence and prosperity. This is the only way to start healing the wounds and to shatter into pieces the poisoned atmosphere. New relationships will be established in a gradual fashion, leading to a new and common narrative that will replace almost 100 years of mistrust and hatred. New experiences will become a new reality worth living.

Following Raoul Wallenberg’s legacy and example, our foundation has launched a number of grassroots initiatives aimed precisely at creating bridges of understanding, dialog and mutual respect between the peoples of Turkey and Armenia.

At the outset, we have created a literary contest for University students from both countries, who will write essays around this very subject of bridge-building between the two peoples. For obvious reasons, engaging the young generations is of utmost importance.

This will be followed by further projects, involving scientists, artists and professionals from both nations.  They will sit together and exchange views. They will talk to each other like good neighbors do.

This is my personal vision and I am privileged to have the backing of the Wallenberg Foundation.

So if you ask me what is the legacy of the victims of the Armenian genocide, I think the answer is clear: “Remember us, but don’t forget the living.”

The writer is the Chairman of the International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation, a global-reach NGO with offices in New York, Buenos Aires, Berlin and Jerusalem.

The US congressional vote on how to define the tragic events of 1915, scheduled for the last

15 years before April, 24 which commemorates the tragic history of the Armenians, has become a harbinger for spring in Washington. The vote in the House Foreign Affairs Committee on 4 March came less than two months before President Barack Obama is due to make an annual White House statement on April, 24.

The effect of the resolution, though non-binding, in Turkey is entirely counter-productive.

The dominant tone in Ankara is that of contempt. The vote has been slammed as a parody, many pointed out to the absurdity of bringing a historical event to trial with a jury unable to find Turkey or Armenia on a map. In comparison to 2007, reactions have been harsher and almost exclusively targeting the United States. The ire against Washington was commensurate with the degree of political courage that took the Turkish leadership to launch the normalization process with Armenia-hailed as a harbinger of winds of change in South Caucasus where the status quo characterized by conflicts divides, blockades and trade restrictions is far from satisfactory. This new resolution came in a context when positive incentives were most needed in order to rescue the ground of the bilateral intergovernmental consensus for the normalization of the relations. The Turkish-Armenian bilateral dialogue has already suffered enough from third country/third actor involvement.

The degree of disappointment and disillusion in case of a total failure of the rapprochement process will be commensurate with the intensity of hope generated by the visits of the Presidents and the breathtaking signature ceremony in Zurich. The personal re-involvement of the Presidents of both countries can raise the issue of the normalization of bilateral relations and efforts at reconciliation above domestic political concerns. There is a pressing need to keep the momentum alive and support the decision-making process with practical and symbolical steps.

The politicization of history

So much effort goes into passing resolutions from the Armenian side. What are they ultimately trying to accomplish? Otherwise what do Armenian communities hope to accomplish through recognition? Most of the Armenian organizations are looking at regional power balance in a realistic way. The recognition and acknowledgement is seen as a victory for the Armenian moral issue. The recognition is expected to heal the individual and collective emotional wounds of the survivors and the nation as a whole; and is sometimes depicted as a foreign policy issue as a way of maintaining vigilance against the Turkish threat.

23 countries, together with Sweden, are today officially qualifying the tragic events of 1915 as genocide, 11 states of NATO and 42 US states. Uruguay was the first country, the recognition bill was adopted in 1965, followed in 1982 by Cyprus, in 1985 by a subcommission of the UN, in 1987 by the European Parliament, in 1995 by Russia, in 1998 by the Council of Europe. The process speeded up in the 70’s and gained a new momentum after 1998 with the support given to the international campaign under President Kocharian and the launch of the Turkey-EU accession process. The international campaign has started well before the creation of an independent Armenia. Between 1991-1998, President Petrosyan had avoided politicizing history. The turning point with the accession of Kocharian to power gave a boost to the international recognition efforts. Until the creation of the independent Armenian state, the Diaspora perceived themselves as the sole representative of their nation. With the formation of the Republic of Armenia, the Diaspora became the representative of Armenia abroad. The recognition by France in 2001 provoked a strong reaction. Interestingly during the EU enlargement and Turkey-EU accession process, many EU countries join the list. New EU member countries, though with no significant Armenian community, are following suit after their accession.

Search for morality

Turkey has once again launched her Geostrategy versus Morality struggle. Infuriated by the vote of 4 March, she warned that the consequences of the adoption of the resolution would be felt across the range of issues of shared concern to Turkey and the United States. The US can’t ignore the strategic importance of Turkey, a vital American ally and the second biggest army in NATO. The country is home to an important American airbase and is a crucial supply route for America’s forces in Iraq. Turkey helps in stabilizing Iraq and Afghanistan, without of course forgetting the need for Turkey’s constructive approach, as a non permanent UN Security Council, in modeling UN policy towards Iran. Even doubts on Prime Minister Erdogan’s participation to the International Nuclear Security Summit to be held in Washington on 12-13 April were raised. Decisions on such vital issues for Turkey’s national security should be guided by national policy rather than the outcome of a trade-off. Furthermore, the publicity given to the support received by the US defense industry is totally disqualifying Turkey on moral high grounds. And that in a play mainly taking place on moral grounds.

Interestingly the protest at Prime Minister Erdo?an’s statement on March, 16 in an interview with the BBC Turkish service in London, threatening to send back irregular Armenian workers in Turkey in retaliation to the US resolution, brought in the Turkish political debate this much missing moral dimension. No doubt that an administration has the right and indeed the duty to fight with illegal immigration, however the intention to target irregular workers, selected on an ethnic basis, as a bargaining chip in relation with other countries, has been unanimously condemned. Taking the needy Armenians hostage of blackmail appeared profoundly immoral. What might be seen as a second deportation or forced relocation would tarnish Turkey’s international reputation and overshadow her magnanimity. All were acknowledging that arrogance was becoming a nuisance for Turkey.

On the other side, it is doubtful whether the politicization of the unhealed sufferings of the past is serving well the moral aim. An impartial observer could have hardly reached the conclusion at the end of the vote of 4 March that human rights and justice had prevailed.

That spectacle – the vote was this time broadcasting on Turkish news channels – could hardly convince the audience of the strong devotion of the American people to universal human values. That human sufferings can become a chip for cheep political bargaining contradicts with the presumed search for morality.

It is disputable whether the objectives behind the international campaign have ever been met. Can a resolution bring real satisfaction? Resolutions cut communication. Groups advocating on both sides for the normalization of the Turkish-Armenian relations have to focus on damage control. The priority should be to have an impact within Turkey. The struggle for the acknowledgement of the Armenian identity calls for engaging constructively with Turkey.

Building jointly the future to deal with the past

The way forward necessitates a pathway for collaboration between Turkey and Armenia. The intensification of contacts between Turks and Armenians will create opportunities for new experiences, new memories, new interactions to build up alongside the old. Yet it is exactly because Turks and Armenians live right next door that the willingness and preparation to transcend the past is an obligation. We share the burden of the past and bear a joint responsibility for a bright future for our peoples.

Turks and Armenians share five centuries of common history, which the nationalist narratives constructed in the 20th century have almost entirely erased from memory on both sides of the border. On both sides, five centuries of commercial, social and political interaction seem to have been erased. Armenians were an important and visible part of the Ottoman Empire’s economic and cultural life and they prospered in the Ottoman Empire until the last decades of the 19th Century; Istanbul was the main cultural centre for Armenians at a time when Yerevan was a small trading post. Past events must be seen in the context of a far longer period of history and help to unravel the Ottoman-Armenian heritage.

Improving mutual knowledge and rediscovering a shared past would foster reconciliation by eroding stereotypes and enemy images of the other and giving back to both Turks and Armenians a larger share of their collective identities. Architecture acts as powerful testimonials of the common Turkish-Armenian past. Supporting the cultural revival of Armenians in Turkey today would act as a powerful signal of the Ottoman-Armenian heritage, Turkish-Armenian common past, identity and peaceful coexistence. Future restoration projects most notably in the Armenian site of Ani in Turkey carried out in cooperation with Armenian counterparts would further contribute to normalization. Promoting reconciliation by fostering of Turkey’s Armenian heritage would also boost Turkey’s tourism sector, which, while burgeoning and representing an important source of income for the western part of the country, remain highly underdeveloped in the east.

Ani: a three way bridge of peace between Armenia, Turkey and the Diaspora

The acknowledgment of past sufferings, present yearnings and hopes should inspire a confidence-building scheme, aimed at promoting cultural dialogue and cross-border tourism and at preparing the ground to rebuild the ancient Silk Road Bridge at Ani that once spanned the Arpacay-Akhourian river separating Turkey from Armenia. This initiative will prepare the road for the restoration of the Medieval Silk Road Bridge at Ani, support the development of a Turkish-Armenian tourism cluster and open a cultural corridor across the Arpacay/Akhourian river for rebridging the Turkey-Armenia divide.

The rediscovery of the common cultural heritage in Anatolia will help to eliminate the human barrier between the peoples of Turkey and Armenia. The rediscovery through economically relevant projects of the Turkish-Armenian borderland will help to build trust and transcend mental and physical borders. Furthermore the initiative will keep the border opening as a shared objective on the political agenda of both governements. The physical restoration of the Ani bridge should lead to the opening of a cultural corridor between Turkey and Armenia. The ultimate aim of the initiative is to open the bridge for pedestrian crossings: the creation of a free tour zone will allow tourists to cross the Turkish-Armenian border.

PanARMENIAN.Net – Between 1933 and 1945 tens of thousands of people went beyond the line of duty and violated laws and regulations strictly for the purpose of extending a hand to those in desperate need. Their names and actions deserve the permanent reminder, Asbarez reports.

To honor these exceptional people the International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation conducts a program that aims at issuing commemorative stamps to promote exemplary behaviors during the Holocaust.

Moreover, the Wallenberg Foundation pays tribute to people who have excelled for their spirit of solidarity, for their righteousness and their performance in their respective occupations.

Therefore, the International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation is proud to present a new commemorative stamp dedicated to the memory and literary legacy of Franz Werfel.

Franz Werfel (1890-1945), Austrian poet, modernist playwright, and novelist, was born in Prague, the son of a Jewish merchant. During World War I, Werfel served for several years on the Russian front as a soldier in the Austrian army. A friend of authors Max Brod and Franz Kafka, Werfel later moved to Vienna and Berlin. He was forced to leave the Prussian Academy of the Arts in 1933. His 1933 novel, Die vierzig Tage des Musa Dagh (The Forty Days of Musa Dagh), detailed the mass murder and expulsion of Armenians from eastern Anatolia in 1915 and received much attention in the United States. It stood as a warning against future acts of mass murder and won lasting respect from Armenian communities throughout the world.

Werfel’s books were burned by the Nazis as those of a Jewish author who advocated pacifism, love for all mankind, and hostility to extreme nationalism and Nazism. Werfel had to flee Austria after the German annexation. He then escaped from France by hiding in the Catholic sanctuary of Lourdes, crossing the Pyrenees on foot to safety in Spain, and leaving from there for the United States. With gratitude for his sanctuary at Lourdes in mind, he wrote the best-selling novel, The Song of Bernadette. Though he remained a Jew all of his life, Werfel was attracted to many aspects of Catholicism.

“I’ve been getting hundreds and hundreds of emails and letters,” says Khardalian, who directed and produced the film that chronicles the forgotten story of the fate of women – including that of her own grandmother – who survived the Armenian Genocide.

The letters, some from South Africa, others from India and just about every other country you can think of, relay appreciation and at times shock about the physical, emotional and psychological scars of Armenian women who were distinguishably tattooed, raped and sometimes forced into prostitution at the beginning of the 20th century.
Now living in Sweden and with more than 20 films under her belt, Khardalian spoke to ianyanmag about the sometimes difficult process of talking to genocide survivors, how easily women’s narratives get lost in the vaults of history and how Armenian women today need a big dose of courage.

Q. Why did you decide to make this film?

A. Genocide has been on my agenda for a very long time.  What I wanted to do was do something about the genocide in Rwanda, especially tackling the question of gender and genocide – a topic we’ve only begun to start talking about. Usually, the fate of women is not discussed.  I met some of these Rwandan women in Stockholm at a conference; these were the women who had been undergoing the horrors of the war and the main problematic issue was of course rape, and rape en masse, in hundreds of thousands, having rape as a strategy you use during genocide to complete it. Of course I was thinking about the Armenian Genocide in the back of mind and suddenly I came to realize that when it comes to the Armenian Genocide or to the Holocaust, there’s so little written about the women.

The amazing thing is when you look at the Armenian case, there’s a huge amount of literature on this and all you read is “and the women were raped,” these very very short sentences…but no details, there’s no story about it. Give me an example. Do you happen to know the name of an Armenian woman who was the hero of the genocide? Fighting that and trying to survive? You don’t have that, and it was very discouraging and I was fascinated by that. Once I stumbled upon those photos, the whole thing took on a very different aspect, the story became very very personal, because suddenly I found out my own grandma was a victim, she was there all the time and we had no idea about it.

I’m not a feminist, but let me say but it is very very strange to see how even in tragedy the destiny of women is somehow by selection taken away or forgotten, or  amnesia is organized around it so people will forget.

Q. Often in Armenian history and sometimes literature, Armenian women’s narratives get lost, do you think your film has filled one part of the story, either as a whole or for your family? Do you still have more questions?

A. Oh yes. Look there’s so many questions that very few have been answered. I still feel that my mom is not willing to continue because well look this is something that is associated with shame and feelings of guilt – where in a strange way you are the victim of an atrocity but at the same time you feel you’re responsible for that atrocity. I have been talking to victims of rape, when you talk to these women, very strangely they say the same thing. They’re ashamed, they think they’re responsible for it Everybody thinks that the way to deal with it is just to forget it. If you forget it it will go away,  and of course it doesn’t go away.

So there’s lot to discover, the film is only a fraction of what I have been doing. A film is a film, and you have to limit lots of stories. There’s fascinating things to tell, I hope one day I can make a second film on this, there’s a lot to do.

Q. When you went to Yerevan to meet the 104-year-old Genocide survivor – for me that was the most emotional part of the movie, because unlike your great aunt, she was very honest and raw. How did you feel in that setting?

A. I’ve been working with genocide survivors for such a long time now, so I had been working with these old people all the time, they are all very, very sweet and it’s amazing to see how until the end of their lives that these people remember things, especially in their childhoods, there are certain details. I remember one survivor I was filming in France, he had one fantastic segment of a memory. He said, ‘I remember the feeling of my mom’s blouse, that silk feeling on my face when she used to carry me,’ and that feeling, and I could feel it my self, it’s very very small detail, it is about your mom and what ‘mom’ is to you today, and just that feeling on your face about a piece of silk. It’s very abstract and it’s very human.

When I came to Maria Vartanyan in Yerevan, she was sweet – what is fascinating with Maria is that she is so lucid she remembers quite a lot, and one more thing that was different, when I wanted to talk to her, I told her from the beginning, I want you to tell me the story of women, tell me what happened to the women. Do you have any stories like that? And she said, ‘Come back to me the next day.’  She had a whole laundry list of stories, about women she knew and what happened to them and how they survived the genocide. When you look at the interview, it is the first time I’m discussing a subject about sex or slavery with a woman who is 104 years old. I was sitting there and she was telling me for example, how her menstruation stopped and she was praying to god that she would never get pregnant. Details like that. She was telling me that the Armenian men became infertile, they had no sexual potency left. The men too lose their sexual appetite. The men weren’t able to give children as well. She was referring to this when she came to Armenia,  especially from Turkey to Soviet Armenia.

Q. What happened when  people were reluctant to speak with you about these topics?

A. I remember one case when I was filming in Fresno. I had met this lady, she had a tattooed mother, but she had decided for herself that her mom was not tattooed, people around her, they knew she had been, but she had decided her mom was not tattooed, so it was like talking to a wall, there was no where to go. It as the same with Lucia [Khardalian's great aunt], you talk and there’s a certain barrier when it all stops. Working with survivors needs a technique, I’ve written a book on this, how to film genocide survivors, it takes time to build trust.

A major problem has been the family of survivors -  they’re not willing to bring the issue forward. I didn’t fight against this in this film, it shows it’s symptomatic of the situation we’re in, as a community, as Armenians, it’s a taboo, you don’t want to talk about it, I wanted to show that people are not willing to talk about this. But yet I think we have to talk about it. I’m interested in the process of making this known.  I think knowledge is very important in this aspect, knowledge about the fate of the women is very stereotyped when it comes to the Armenian question and changing that is a challenge.

Some said to me ‘Why are u doing this?’ ‘Why are you bringing this into the open, making it public?’ ‘This is considered dirty laundry, this is disgraceful for our nation.’ No I don’t think so, what is wrong in choosing life, because the way I see it, the women who survived, even if they were tattooed, kidnapped, raped and they gave birth to children of the rapists,  all this for me is that there were people who chose life. I want us when we talk about these women, I want us to remember them, not as women who were raped, but as the real heroes. Who were the one who gave birth, to all the Armenians living around the world today. We are the children of these women, we just need to accept and be proud of it.

Q. When you made the film and people began to view it, did you have anyone else contact you whose grandma had the same tattoos?

A. Very very many. When I was going around screening this film, after each screening, there were at least 10-15 people approaching me saying ‘my grandma was tattooed.’

Some of these girls never came back to their nation, to Armenian society, they had no chance, they stayed behind because they had no possibility.  Today Turkish society has started to talk, about Grandmas that were Armenian. It’s always Grandmas, not Grandfathers, when they’re talking about this…this brings up the issue of identity, what is happening to Turkish identity.  I think when we look at this in this way, it becomes urgent matter to look into ourselves and decide what or who makes an Armenian. And because this brings up the issue, do genetics make you an Armenian? if that is the case, look at these raped women who had children, these Muslim Armenians, hidden Armenians in Turkey today , aren’t we supposed to look at them as Armenians? Are Armenians are only supposed to be Christians?

Making this film brings so many more questions, as a collective , for how much longer every time an Armenian has slightly different religion or identity  are we going to throw them out, not take them as Armenians?

Q. What are some current issues in the Armenian diaspora, or in Armenia in regards to women that are of interest to you?

A. One, when are we going to learn that women are as intelligent, as talented and as motivated as men are? Not only in Armenia, but in diaspora as well. Look at our organizations, how many women do you see around you? All those committees, they create, how many women are there? I think it’s just stupid, ignorant to ignore the women. We are an essential part of the Armenian nation and if the men decide to discard us, then they’re discarding themselves.

Unfortunately the women are as responsible for this too.  There’s a lack of courage, or  interest in political issues especially. I want women to be involved in politics, and politics is not just becoming a member of the parliament. If you’re engaged in environment issues, there’s politics as well, everything we do in our lives is politics at the end of the road. I want us to be courageous enough and push the doors open with your elbows.

It’s unfortunate, look we’re living in the States, we’re living in the Europe, but still our women, when it comes to the community you can hardly hear them. If a woman is responsible for a hospital, or a big dept. somewhere or a physicist, if she has the capacity to do that work, we should be able to trust the women with political missions as well.

Watch Grandma’s Tattoos on Al Jazeera’s Witness series.

The International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation, whose mission is to research, document and divulge the legacies of the Rescuers, has opened a riveting chapter aimed at unveiling the amazing stories of the brave Armenians who, risked their lives during the Holocaust, in their efforts to save the victims of the Nazi persecution.

This chapter was launched under the helm of the IRWF’s newly appointed Honorary President, Mr. Eduardo Eurnekian, in line with the vision of the Wallenberg Foundation, namely, to stress the positive and to shed light on role models for the younger generations.

Georges Dilsizian feld to France in the end of the 19^th century, following the persecution of Armenians in Turkey. His son, Andre Gustave, born in France, married Lea, a Jewish woman, whose family moved to France from Turkey. During the German occupation of France, the Dilsizian’s (father and son) actively gave shelter to Lea’s relatives.

Armenia is a small country, with some 3 million inhabitants and a large diaspora scattered among several countries. According to the IRWF’s Special Research Committee on Armenian Rescuers, “the actual number of Armenians who were involved in life-saving actions during the Holocaust, is impressive, well beyond the 21 Armenians who have been officially recognized…..Further research will certainly unveil unknown stories of heroism”.

Even the current number of Armenian rescuers is high in relation to the size of its population. Turkey, for instance, with a population of 75 million, has only one recognized rescuer.

In the nineteenth century, after the territory of Armenia was joined to the Russian Empire according to the agreement of Turkmanchai in 1828, Georgian and Ashkenazi Jews arrived, as well as Sabbatarians, Russian peasants who accepted Judaism and were banished to the outskirts of the new empire. By 1970 the Jewish population in Armenia numbered 1,048 people. At the end of 1980, this number (including the Sabbatarians) increased to about 3,000 people.

In the 1990s a large portion of Armenian Jews, about 1,800 people, left Armenia… Currently, in Armenia there are about 700 Jews. Despite the fact that annually 90-100 people emigrate, the community has not diminished. The main Jewish organization of the republic is the above-mentioned Jewish Community of Armenia in Yerevan. Since 1996, it has been chaired by Rima Varzhapetyan-Feller. She is also a member of the General Council EAJC (Euro-Asian Jewish Congress), the Continental section WCRJ (World Congress of Russian Jewry), and the Council and Coordination Council and Public Council under the President of the Republic of Armenia. Rima Varzhapetyan-Feller also serves on the panel of national Human Rights Defenders.

With the support of EAJC, the Community has published a newspaper, “Magen David,” since 2002. Adelina Livshits became the chief editor of the paper in August 2009. In 2004 the website www.jewish.am was launched.

The community has a children’s vocal ensemble, “Keshet”, a Sunday school and the Ulpan, as well as the Israeli Cultural Center, whose director is Georgi Fayvush, an academician and doctor of biological sciences.

A small group of Jews lives in the city of Vanadzor. In addition, in Sevan, formerly in the village Yelenovka, there is a community of Sabbatarians. Most of its members fled from Armenia in 1990. For many years, the Sevan, Vanadzor and Yerevan communities received regular humanitarian aid, medicine, food parcels and money to pay for electricity from the Jewish Community of Armenia, which, in its turn, was supported by Jewish organizations in America was very difficult because of the global crisis, and to date no assistance from the United States is received.

In Yerevan, operates the only synagogue in the country (its rabbi is the Chief Rabbi of Armenia, Gersh Meir Burshtein).

With the assistance of EAJC every year matzah was brought to Armenia from the Ukraine. The Jewish community is working closely with the “HaSochnut”, arranging seminars, young people participating in programs of the Jewish Agency for Israel. In 2011, for the first time in the history of immigration from Armenia has been established direct flights Yerevan – Tel-Aviv. Until that time, the repatriation was carried out through Tbilisi.

In May 2008, Yerevan hosted celebrations dedicated to the 60th anniversary of the State of Israel. The solemn opening ceremony, the Avenue of Friendship between Armenia and Israel, “Keren Kaeemet le Israel”, was organized by EAJC and held in Victory Park on March 20, 2009. This official opening was attended by the General Secretary of the EAJC, Mikhail The Monument Devoted to the Victims of the Holocaust and the Genocide Chlenov, the mayor of Yerevan, representatives of the Office of the President of Armenia, the Ministry of Defense, and the Ministry of Culture and other officials. Armenian-Israeli relations have been complicated by the problem that the government of Israel does not recognize the Armenian massacres of 1915 as genocide.

Community members participate regularly in rallies dedicated to the victims of the genocide. The grand opening of the monument to the victims of the Armenian Genocide and the Holocaust, designed by artist Ruben Arutchyan, was held in Yerevan on October 27, 2006. The monument was commissioned by the Jewish Community of Armenia and personally of its chairman, Rimma Varzhapetyan-Feller. The Republican Party of Armenia, as well as the United States Commission on preservation of the heritage of America abroad and members of the community, supported the creation of the monument financially. On days of mourning, those who want to honor the memory of the innocent victims of the Genocide and the Holocaust gather around the monument. The monument is visited by diplomats, foreign officials and tourists.
Yerevan State University has a department of Hebraic studies. In 2003, a textbook, “Modern Hebrew” was published in the Armenian language.

In the district center of Armenia Yeghegnadzor, in the village of Yeghegis, a Jewish cemetery dating back to the eleventh through the thirteenth centuries has been discovered. The excavations were conducted by Dr. Michael Stone, professor and head of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, as well as the head of Syunik Diocese, Bishop Abraham Mkrtchyan. Presently, restoration work in the excavation area has been completed. The cemetery has been restored with the help of funding from the Government of Armenia.

Yeghegis hosted a scientific symposium entitled “The Jewish Cemetery in the village of Yeghegis” on May 11 and 12, 2009, explaining the extent of the enormous scientific and restoration work which had been accomplished there. Based on the symposium materials, the Jewish community of Armenia, with the financial support from the U.S. Embassy in Armenia and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel, published the book “Jews in Armenia, Middle Ages.” Currently another book, “Jews in Armenian, Modernity” is set to be published. The opening of the Jewish Museum in the building of Yeghegnadzor History museum is scheduled for May 12, 2011.

The Jewish community of Armenia is implementing various projects aimed at strengthening friendship between Jewish and Armenian people. The Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia awarded a medal for the development and strengthening of the Armenian-Jewish relations to the Chairperson of the Jewish Community of Armenia, Rimma Varzhapetyan-Feller, in 2009. In 2010, she was also awarded an honorary Diploma by the President of Armenia for her long-term and extensive work on the Coordinating Council of National Minorities of Armenia and for promoting intercommunity cooperation.

Diyarbakir is a picturesque city in southeastern Turkey near Syria and Iraq, with 600,000 inhabitants, rich in folklore and famous for its watermelons.  It is on the banks the Tigris River and has become the most important city in the ancient region of Anatolia.  Most of its inhabitants are ethnic Kurds.  It is considered to be the potential capital of Kurdistan, a sovereign country that had been proposed at the end of the First World War, but still remains an repressed and unfulfilled desire of the Kurdish people.  On October 23, an event took place that the press does not seem to have bothered to report widely.

Just hours before the earthquake that shook the area, as if the depths of the earth wanted to send a message of ecstasy, some three thousand people crammed the ancient Armenian cathedral of St. Giragos to inaugurate its magnificent restoration.  It was Sunday and for the first time in many years, and after many desecrations, a solemn religious service was finally held.  The temple was built 350 years ago and is still the largest Armenian Church in the Middle East, but Diyarbakir has been “cleansed” of Armenians.  The event attracted pilgrims from neighboring countries and as well as from Holland, Germany and the United States.  The Armenian, victims of an attempted genocide, now constitute a diaspora that has maintained its historical r, linguistic, religious, culinary and musical, roots

At the end of the mass, the mayor Osman Baydemir addressed the congregation that had filled the cathedral to capacity. In Armenian, Kurdish, Turkish and English, he said, “Welcome to your home! You are not guests here, but at home. “  It was a poignant moment, almost as recognition of the atrocities suffered by Armenians at the beginning of the twentieth century and even earlier.

The cathedral is truly a grand edifice.  It has seven altars, with Gothic columns and arches, and hints of the Romanesque style.  But it was virtually abandoned after the massacres and deportations that started in 1915.  At one time it was used as barracks for the German troops and then became stable and finally a cotton mill.  But irrational hatred was not content with these offenses, and the building was looted with impunity.  Only the columns stood firm, the walls and portions of the vaults.

The journalist Esayat comments that, “When I saw the conditions of the church at those dark times, I never imagined a restoration this impressive.”  Armenian communities around the world covered most the cost and, it must be emphasized, there a significant contribution from the Diyarbakir city council.

And here comes the most wrenching part.  The next day, in a secret ceremony, ten people were baptized in the restored cathedral.  They were Turks who for many generations had continued to consider themselves Armenians and had been forcibly converted to Islam.  Forced conversion was common in the territories of both Islam and Christianity during many sad centuries.  The mountainous and more impregnable part of Armenia had resisted heroically.  They had been the first people to become Christians thanks to the fiery sermons of St. Gregory the Illuminator.  With the Enlightenment the practice of forced conversions was questioned and its momentum slowed.  Even so, according to the Armenian Patriarchate of Istanbul, since 1915, when the genocide began, about 300,000 Armenians had to accept conversion to Sunni or Alawite Islam if they wanted to avoid the massacres or deportation.  If we add to those who were forced to take this step in previous decades or centuries the Patriarchate calculates that there are some half a million Armenians who are officially declared to be Muslims, but who feel that they are really Christians.  They keenly felt the gnawing pain of not being able to recover their faith or traditions.  Although Turkey is officially secular, thanks to the revolution of Kemal Ataturk, for Muslims to abandon their religion are an unforgivable crime.  An Armenian Christian, who has converted to Islam, even under pressure, cannot return to their original faith, because they would become an apostate, a villain, someone who does not deserve any respect or consideration.

“‘I want this cathedral to be always open”, said one of the newly baptized ‘Armenian Marranos’. “It is incredible to be here with people from around the world with whom I share the same origin”.

“It’s like returning from exile”, said another, breaking into tears.

A journalist, who would not give his name, told me that  elderly Armenians who had lived in Diyarbakir before the mass expulsion and pretended to have given up their roots would often come back, looking at their former homes  from the street, walking pas the ruined cathedral and giving free rein to their nostalgia. They all spoke Turkish, Kurdish and Armenian. But no one dared to cross themselves in public.

In many areas of modern Turkey you see the religious pluralism of the best of times, although the governing Islamic party is peeling back some of that.  Within walking distance of the cathedral stands the Chaldean Catholic Church of St. Peter (currently under restoration), a mosque, a Protestant church and a tiny modest synagogue.  The mayor told the pilgrims with his infectious enthusiasm that Diyarbakir will become the Jerusalem of Anatolia.  He even dared to make vague reference to events that began in 1915 and added: “Let our children celebrate together the achievements of the future.”

Unlike the church of Akdamar in the city of Van (“people” in Armenian), which was erected in the tenth century and has become a museum, open only once a year for religious services, the Diyarbakir Cathedral will have a regular mass; there will be concerts and exhibitions.  It will have life.  As much life as the new Marranos, who are now returning to their roots filled with gratitude and hope.

Translation: John Casey, volunteer IRWF NY

Zarakolu was taken into custody on Oct. 28, during a large-scale manhunt in Istanbul against Kurdish and human rights activists.

His son, Deniz Zarakolu, the editor of the Belge Publishing House, was arrested on Oct. 4.

Belge has published numerous books on the oppression of the national minorities in Turkey and the Armenian Genocide.

Counter-terrorism units launched simultaneous operations against suspected KCK members early on Friday and detained 41 people. Police also raided various offices of the BDP, the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party, in Istanbul, including the BDP Istanbul Politics Academy and several BDP branches.

BDP co-chairman Selahattin Demirtas strongly criticized the new wave of detentions on Friday. “We will not be able to talk about a healthy constitution-making process if we go ahead like this. We will have no party member who can join efforts for [drafting] a new constitution,” he said.

New York, October 2011

H.E.
The President of the French Republic
Nicolas Sarkozy

Sir,

On behalf of the International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation, a global-reach educational NGO, allow us to express through these brief lines our heartfelt congratulations for the statements you made during your recent visit to Armenia.

In Yerevan you clearly expressed that the Armenian Genocide is a historic fact that deserves a bigger than just a personal condemnation and that the period that elapsed from 1915 to 2011 represents enough time for reflection. “The Armenian genocide is a historical reality. Collective denial is even worse than individual denial.”, you clearly said while, at the same time, you urged to revisit the history about the killings of hundreds of thousands of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire.

It is also worth underlying here your suggestion that the French Parliament might consider a law making denial of the deaths of Armenians as genocide a crime, similar to the law against Holocaust denial.

Moreover, we are glad to inform you about the latest activities of the Wallenberg Foundation regarding its worldwide campaign of awareness and reconciliation vis a vis the Armenian people, its history and its heritage.

The board of the International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation unanimously approved the initiative to pay tribute to the Armenian Christian heroes who helped Jews and others persecuted by the Nazis during WWII. A Memorial, the first of its kind in the world, would be erected in several cities around the globe. The guiding concept that inspires us in the search of everlasting pieces may be expressed using the words of the proverb: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself”.

At the Wallenberg Foundation we do not deal specifically with the Holocaust victims’ chapter, albeit we consider it decisive and unavoidable, but with what we call the luminous side of the Shoah. The memory of the Saviors’ heroic deeds and the values they stood for must become a daily commitment to upholding humanitarian principles and a stance against prejudices, stereotypes and fallacies.

Our line of thinking always looks for positive conclusions. We consider that even in the most challenging situations it is worth waving the flag of the values of solidarity and civic courage. In this spirit we strive to educate our children and the generations to come.

Hoping to have the opportunity to congratulate you in a private meeting, we remain,

Eduardo Eurnekian                          Baruch Tenembaum
Honorary Chairman                                                 Founder

PS: We want to extend our congratulations to you and Mme Carla Bruni Sarkozy on the birth of your daughter Giulia. May you have many years of happiness together.