Meguerditchian: Lessons from Berlin

Covering an area of 19,000 sqm (4.7 acres) and comprised of 2,711 stelae concrete blocks ranging in height from 0.2 meters to 4.8 meters (8 inches to 15 feet 9 inches) is the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe.The memorial is located in Berlin within sight of the German capital’s famous Brandenburg Gate following a decision by the German Parliament to honor the memory of the victims of the Jewish Holocaust. Wholly funded by the Federal Republic of Germany, the memorial took almost six years to construct and cost more than €25 million ($32 million).

German children on a student tour of the Memorial.

The day I decide to take a walking tour of the memorial, the temperature is just below freezing. This has not stopped tourist buses from banking up on all four sides of the block. People are everywhere; Berliners, visitors, and school students are making their way through the maze of stelae. As I stroll through the memorial, every turn is unpredictable–I encounter a new face, a new person, as if symbolizing the millions of faceless victims of the Holocaust for whom the monument was built.

Beneath the stelae is a Holocaust museum. The Starting Hall is home to a permanent exhibition that chronicles the rise of the Nazi movement and the subsequent destruction of the European Jewry. Its final display reads, “The total number of Jews murdered in the area under German control is between 5.4 million and 6 million.” The next room showcases first-hand accounts of the experiences of Holocaust victims. Another room describes Jewish family life in pre-World War II Germany. The Room of Names holds a database of every known victim of the Jewish Holocaust, their short biographies, and how they met their death. The final room is the Yad Vashem Room. A room dedicated to the Jewish Holocaust monument in Israel.

I wait for 20 minutes in the cold for my turn to enter the museum. The queue is long because of the sheer number of visitors and the security checkpoint through which we have to pass. Inside, visitors stand shoulder to shoulder, and at times three or four deep, to read the displays. They take photographs, watch videos, search the computer terminals that keep a directory of all the Holocaust monuments in Europe, and browse the database for victims, possibly even ones known to them.

Huddled in groups, German students listen to the guides as they tell the horrors of the Holocaust. Some parents explain to their children in German what happened to the Jews of Europe. The memorial and museum are a place for education and reflection; a place where the descendants of the perpetrators of the Jewish Holocaust learn about the events for which their ancestors were responsible; a place in the heart of Berlin, where Germans, young and old, vow to never allow such horrible events to happen again.

As I walk through the memorial first and then the museum, my mind wonders: What if Turkey were to build an Armenian Genocide monument? It would be within sight of Taksim Square and would contain a museum. Within the museum, there would be a room dedicated to the Dzidzernagapert in Yerevan, to honor the way Armenians remember the genocide. Another room would display the Armenian Genocide monuments built by diasporan communities around the world. A life-size map of the Armenian Genocide would show the destruction route of Armenians along their ancestral homelands. Information on Armenian life in Western Armenia prior to the genocide would be a prominent feature of the museum. The resolutions passed in legislative bodies around the world repeatedly calling for Turkey to recognize the genocide, and the Turkish Parliament’s own resolution acknowledging and apologizing for this horrible crime would be openly displayed on the walls. Tours would be organized for Turkish students to take ownership of the history of the Armenian Genocide. Turkish parents would take their children to the memorial to familiarize themselves and learn from this episode in Armenian history…

The site of the information desk at the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe brings me back to reality. I notice that the memorial is not only a site for Berliners to reflect on history; among the information booklets that are available in 20 languages, I spot the words “Katledilen Avrupali Yahudiler Aniti Ve Bilgi Merkezi,” presumably for Turks to learn about the destruction of the European Jewry.

There are 300,000 Turks in Berlin and a much larger number—up to 4 million—scattered throughout Germany. Many maintain close ties with Turkey and are well placed to learn from the German experience. They have the opportunity to be the agent for change in Turkey and to encourage the Ottoman successor to face its own history.

Unfortunately, however, the Turks of Germany have so far not demonstrated a readiness to play this role; nor has the Turkish government been willing to learn from the German experience. Far from demonstrating genuine remorse, Turkey more and more aggressively denies the Armenian Genocide. Turkish leaders continue to threaten nations that acknowledge the historical reality of the Armenian Genocide. A revised version of history is taught to students in Turkish schools. Intellectuals who speak about the Armenian Genocide are persecuted. Armenians are considered liars, the Armenian lobby is denounced, and the Republic of Armenia is considered an enemy.

While a monument to the victims of the Armenian Genocide in Turkey would be only one component of a just resolution of the Armenian Genocide, it would serve as a vital reminder of this tragic event to future Turkish generations. Until such a monument is built in Turkey, all Turkish citizens need to do to learn about and remember the Armenian Genocide is visit the open air museums of blackened city quarters and old ruined churches in the east of their Republic where Armenians once lived and thrived.

Varant Meguerditchian

Varant Meguerditchian

Varant Meguerditchian is the former executive director and president of the Armenian National Committee (ANC) of Australia. He currently works as a government relations professional in Sydney. He holds a master’s degree in management from the Macquarie Graduate School of Management (MGSM) and a master’s in international relations from Griffith University.

32 Comments

  1. Such a stark contrast between Germany and Turkey. And to think Turkey has been denying the AG years before the Holocaust and continues to do it today. Many non-Armenians just do not understand the depth of nationalism and hatred that pervades the Turkish government, institutions and much of the country.

    • Random Armenian,

      You can never compare Germans to Turks. Those two are totally different nations. Germans in Germany when learned I was Armenian apologized to me (Armenian people) for there involvement in Armenian genocide. Germans educate their children from very young age and do not brainwash them like Turks do.

  2. The common denominator between the Jewish holocaust and the Armenian genocide – Yes, both were ethnic cleansing on an unprecedented scale (it stops there).
    We Armenians were uprooted from our millennia-old ancestral lands (not so in the Jewish holocaust).
    Turkey is obsessed with the fear (it is a Damocles sword) that the Armenians will not let go and that ultimately they will come back.

  3. Germany has admitted its guilt of the Jewish holocaust. It also admitted that it was
    the Germans fault not to stop the Turkish holocaust against Armenians.

    Why is it so difficult for the German Government to recognize the Genocide of the
    Armenians as such ?

    If you feel as a friend, you have the obligation to support him acting upright and truthful.

    I doubt that Germany was ever a friend of the Turks. [ Read, what emperor Wil –
    helm II. expressed about his “friend” Sultan Abdul Hamid. ]

  4. Your just resolution from Turks is me losing a third of my country. I’d rather keep my country and thus keep the status quo.

    • Tuna,

      Your country? You mean the one soaked in blood? Let’s see how long it will be your country. Your country was build on rape, murder and theft to me this is not a strong foundation for a country. It will be divided-it is a matter of time. But, until then just enjoy it. Who knows when it will happen. After all Turks are very good at diplomacy.

    • it is not your country to lose: receiving stolen property is against the law in any civilized country.

      what you call your country belongs to Armenians. the fact that Turks are in illegal possession of it as a result of committing Genocide, as result of exterminating its indigenous population – about 2 million Armenians – gives you adverse possession at this time, but only at this time.

      and you will lose a third of what does not belong to you anyway: in the beginning to Kurds. then to Armenians. only matter of time.
      maybe even more than third.

      The Wilsonian Arbitral Award is a legally enforceable document: Armenians cannot enforce it now; but we will when the time is right.

    • Hey tuna how shamefully and unjustly you call my homeland your country.
      Wake up and smell the history , you’re noting but invading Tatars and you belong in Mongolia.
      Sooner or later justice will be served , it would be easier and more just if Turks like you come forward and make it wright.
      I still see my late grandmothers tears in my dreams, don’t you think we are going to forget or give up .
      Turkey would be much better off with the Armenian issue resolved and move forward.
      I wish one day I can go to Ancara and lay a flower in an Armenian genocide monument and tell my grandparents to rest in peace.

    • Tuna,

      Don’t worry about losing a third of what does not belong to you. Instead be worried about being hunted down and eaten by the sharks. You know sharks love tuna, especially those fat dumb ones.

      Taking even a third of the artificial and illegal state of Turkey, a fake country built upon the corpses of its murdered indigenous Christians, won’t do justice to those whom they murdered in cold blood in the name of Turkism.

      Turkey is like an advanced cancer that must be attacked fiercely, ferociously and from every direction until it ceases to exist. It must be eradicated and that day will come sooner or later, it is just a matter of time. Run for your life Tuna if I ever get to play any part in the attack.

  5. To Tuna,

    If you consider the award of land (as specified by US President Woodrow Wilson) to Armenians following the Genocide, it’s actually much smaller than a third of your country. Really it’s only the area not much further west than Erzerum and south only to Van.

    Lets just assume (much more complicated in practical terms I admit) for the moment that the above mentioned land was awarded to the Armenians. What would both sides get.

    Armenians get their homeland and can at last not have to spend so much time and energy on Genocide recognition. Their economy greatly improves because they now have free access to Turkish markets.

    Turks now gain a friendly neighbor country resulting in significant economic gains and investment opportunities. The world wide Armenian diaspora now looks to partner with Turkey instead of constantly fighting with it, the result being that Turkey has a much improved standing (economic, political, cultural) both domestically and internationally. Perhaps most importantly, there could be acknowledgement and healing of historical memory, e.g. honoring those many Turkish heros who helped Armenians during the Genocide.

    There’s of course much more that could be said in the way of mutual benefit to both Turkey and Armenia. Both peoples could at last put away their enmity towards each other, and instead embrace our common Anatolian culture of which we share so much. Personally I can say that on an individual level, the Turks I’m met were people I found much commonality with. I enjoyed being around them, both in Turkey itself and here in the US.

    One last point to make here – I think I get (correct me if I’m wrong) the essential reason why Turks resist recognition of the Armenian Genocide and it’s exactly to you point of not wanting to give up a third of your country. The analogy I go with is to imagine that a cop pulls you over and asks you to sign a ticket. When you ask the cop how much it will cost, he shakes his head and says, “not really sure… could be a few dollars or maybe a million dollars”. Who in their right mind would sign such a ticket. So it is with Turks being asked to recognize the Genocide before knowing what the cost will be. Perhaps it’s time to talk reparations first, work that out, and then watch recognition follow naturally. Not saying this will be easy, but definitely worth it.

    • Dr D, first of all you made a very good point. As a person I recognize what happened in 1915 surmounts to genoicde and I accept it as fact. But I also agree with my country’s position vis a vis in denying that the Ottoman Empire commited genocide.

      There are many reasons for this but the main one being I have no intention of losing a third of my country and accept it as fact or whatever some here might here write that piece of land is mine.

      Now I think first there must be dialogue between Turkey, Armenia and Armenian Diaspora on how to move forward. At the moment it is deadlocked. Should Turkey accept that a genocide took place? It should. Should Turkey appologize? It should. Should Turkey build memorials remembering the victims of the genocide? It should.

      Now here is the part which we will probably never agree upon. Should Turkey pay compensation? That is a very tricky question to answer. I was born almost sixty years after the genocide took place and have nothing to do with. I have no desire of seeing my tax money go to another country when there is still to much social things to do in mine so my answer is no to monetary compensations of any kind. Even symbolic.

      Now to the matter of territorail compensations. As I said before, I don’t see those lands as yours. My ancestors did not take them from Armenians. It took them and colonized them from the Byzantine Empire and it has been a part of us ever since. So any mention of land transfer is unacceptable and I say this with the full extent of honesty. If it is opened up in any negotiation, it should just end right there.

      That being said however, there are things we could do. Like returning churces and other historic buildings to Armenians and so forth.

      There is just to much bitterness from the Armenian side for there to be any friendly relations with Turkey. From Armenian sources there are 10,000 to 20,000 Armenin illegals working in Turkey ( Turkish sources put that number at around 100,000) and they are allowed to work and live among Turks freely. If there was hate among Turks towards Armenians how could that be the situation? For us the matter with Armenia is history and we have no bitterness or animosity towards your people. Even when a prominent Armenian Writer was murdered, his assailant was found and persecuted and put behind bars. Yes there was a nationalistic element in Turkey that saw him as a hero, but there according to Turkish law he commited a crime and was thus put behind prison.

      I really don’t see our people reconciling in the near future, due to Armenians claim of my homeland.

    • Nice ideas, Dr. D., and much I agree with, but be careful in assuming you know why Turks resist Genocide recognition. There are a plethora of reasons, the idea of ‘unknown cost’ being only one of these. We Armenians earnestly knock on the door of justice with our proverbial cup in hand, ready to receive our share, but forget that there is much backroom and under the table dealing among geopolitical players behind that door. We haven’t even got a foot over the threshold!

      This is a complicated dilemma that requires a many-pronged approach. I think you have touched on some important aspects.

    • “Should Turkey pay compensation? That is a very tricky question to answer. ”

      Many of the businesses and properties of Armenians either killed immediately or in the marches, were given to Turks. They were carefully accounted for and distributed to build up Turkish businesses. We’re not talking about putting a symbolic price on each death but ill gotten gains. If I understand it correctly, the Sabanci family got their start because such an Armenian “abandoned property” was given to them. There is injustice here that followed another one. Turkey had monetary benefit from getting rid of the Armenians.

      “I really don’t see our people reconciling in the near future, due to Armenians claim of my homeland.”

      The Turkish government has not only been denying the genocide but trying to hide that anything had happened at all. This all goes back to the 20s and 30s. Over the years they had to acknowledge that something happened as we Armenians found our voice in the 60’s. How do you think we feel about having our history and wounds spat upon all these decades.

    • “and instead embrace our common Anatolian culture of which we share so much”

      Dr. D—

      There are four blunders in one sentence.

      First, Armenians and Turks by definition have no common culture: Armenians are originally sedentary, indigenous people who trace their origins back for several millennia, while Turks are originally nomadic, alien people who invaded the region only in the 11th century AD. How can these divergently different people have any commonality?

      Second, “Anatolia-Anadolu” is a newest Turkish creation meant to Turkify eastern regions of Turkey historically inhabited by the Armenians. There has been no such a toponym in history as Anadolu. The area was known throughout millennia as eastern part of Asia Minor.

      Third, what culture of their own, repeat: of their own, do Turks have? Name just one cultural trait that’s uniquely Turkish?

      Fourth, we don’t actually share culture with the Turks. When nomadic Seljuk tribesmen intruded Asia Minor in the 11th century what culture could they possibly have (except perhaps for sheep-breeding and yurt-pitching) that the Armenians came to share? Also, it is the less civilized people who come to share, or borrow to be exact, the culture of more civilized people, not the other way around and not on the same level of sharing.

    • Tuna—

      The fact that you personally have nothing to do with the genocide of the Armenians and that you have no desire of seeing your tax money go to another country doesn’t essentially matter because the modern-day Republic of Turkey is the legal successor-state of the Ottoman empire that committed such a despicable crime. And crimes must be punished. One way of paying for a crime is to make reparations for wiping out a whole nation and stealing one-third of our ancestral lands. And, Tuna, the lands that must be returned were never originally Turkish. There was no Turk in sight up until the 11th century when Seljuk nomads invaded the region. Armenia was forcibly incorporated into the Ottoman empire in the 16th century. This doesn’t make Turkey the historical owner of those lands. Be reasonable.

    • [Now to the matter of territorial compensations. I don’t see those lands as yours. My ancestors did not take them from Armenians. It took them and colonized them from the Byzantine Empire and it has been a part of us ever since.]

      You’ve made, intentionally I suspect, several historical mistakes, Tuna.

      First, let’s define the verb “to take”. What do you mean by that? Do you seriously consider invading the lands of other peoples as “taking”?! A typical Turkish mentality: if you captured the homeland of other peoples by arms then you become its historical rightful owner? No, you don’t. The colonized people remember this and they strive to kick the colonizers out, as they did with the Turks in the Balkans, for instance.

      Second, Seljuk and Ottoman Turks did not “take” those lands from the Byzantine Empire. At the battle of Manzikert of 1071 both Greeks and Armenians were fighting the invader Seljuk Turkish nomads. Formally, there was Byzantine Empire but its eastern part was known as Byzantine Armenia that only recently, in 1045, became part of the Byzantine Empire after the Armenian Bagratid Kingdom (884-1045) fell to the Byzantines. The Bagratid king of Kars, Gagik-Abas, still kept his throne even when tthe ancient Armenian capital of Ani (now ruins in Turkish hands) was captured by the Seljuk Turks in 1064.

      Third, your ancestors did not take the Armenian lands from the Byzantine Empire because from the 12th to the 15th centuries there has been another independent Armenian state, the Kingdom of Cilicia, situated between the Taurus and Amanus mountains close to the Mediterranean coast. By no account was Cilicia a part of the Byzantine Empire.

      From whoever the Turks “took” the lands, they were never originally Turkish. Your ancestors invaded those lands, colonized their indigenous peoples, and, by the early 20th century physically exterminated them in the most barbarous ways. You call this “to take” the lands? We call it military invasion, colonization, mass murder, and unrepentance.

    • Oh, really, Tuna? “Your homeland”? May I remind you that your homeland is some 3000 mi away from where you currently live: in the Mongolian steppes and the mountains of Altai. The fact that you now possess the ancestral homeland of other peoples–through stealing and murder–doesn’t make it “your” homeland. Throughout history it was originally the homeland of the Hittites, Byzantine Greeks, Armenians, Assyrians, and Kurds. Never Turks’.

  6. Indeed the difference between Germans and Turks is enormous,Gigantic.
    Germans,according my knowledge and actual life experience, honour their debts(in business I have had with them,rather come to me from my father´s during war time Germany and its aftermath.My father had claim, which they honoured.I went and collected it from them in Germany a country as yet not what it is now(economically).it was in 1960´s…
    Also in contact withone or two Germans(one friend with wife Armenian).They ahve long accepted the realitrs of their fathers´wrongdoings and are now PROUD,since they did so and compensated the Jews quite well.
    Turks?? in my modest view an impossibility that they do so ,UNLESS!!!!
    One or two important powers press them and I mean PRESS in many ways into their psyche, economy, (sanctions etc.,) or outright just boycott them from ALL IMPORTANT INTERNATIONAL instants.
    Which is far from being so realized.At present it is quite the contrary.Most as yet are afraid that if they loose Turkey, they are done in the Middle East and their riches.
    Reality of course is not so.IRAN,plus a few Arab states-those that are not Revolution prose-can commence a slow and steady move towards talking some sense into the powers and also by and by themselves taking over some of the tasks that suppossedly great Turkey is realizing.
    To add that I would not care if k u r d s plus some other non Turks within their bounds stick hard to the lands they are on (Hemshenstis etc.,) and wait the day above transformation takes place.
    Everything is possible in today´s world. Otherwise I do not think Turks will ever wish to come FWD and extend real conciliatory hand to us…

  7. WR writes:
    Germany has admitted its guilt of the Jewish holocaust. It also admitted that it was the Germans fault not to stop the Turkish holocaust against Armenians.

    See the documentary ‘Aghet.’ Armenians should promote it internationally.

    Turkey is not civilized enough to do what the Germans do in remorse (if not maybe forced to some degree).

  8. Random Armenian says,
    Quote, “How do you think we feel about having our history and wounds spat upon all these decades.” Unquote.
    The genocide martyrs’ descendants say – “boghazneen munah” which when translated to English is “let them choke on their ill gotten gains.”

    Admittedly under normal circumstances that’s not a nice expression nevertheless that is the sum total of the prevailing feeling.

  9. Dear Dr. D
    Your proposal to Turks sounds quite good actually .When you are handed over one third of Turkey you guys will be the first in human history to achieve this greatest target without an armed struggle so I will be the firsts to congratulate you when you succeed

    • Turk—

      You exhibit the typically Seljuk/Ottoman bellicose mentality. Just like your ancestors intruded our region in the 11th century with fire and sword, likewise you think that lands are only acquired by armed struggle. This is a distinctive mentality of the Turks who are known throughout history as invaders, looters, colonizers, and mass murderers. Be aware that in the modern world armed struggle is not the only way of restoring ancestral lands. Lands can be given to their rightful owners as a result of many other events, such as internal disintegration of a state, economic collapse, self-determination struggle, revolutions, etc. If you look from a non-Turkish perspective (if you can at all), you’ll see that Kurdish freedom-fighting bears exactly some of these components. For Armenians, independent Kurdistan is a blessing: the farther from the bloodthirsty unrepentant Turks, the better.

    • Lol, Ok Nvair. Turks were the only humans in history to invade, steal, and take over a land which wasn’t there homeland right? Seems legit.

      It is nice that you bring up the Kurdish struggle. Kurds, are attempting to do it through an armed struggle, and guerrilla warfare… As are the Palestinians..

      Now, refresh my memory, was the break up of the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia “peaceful”? Does the name Srebrenica ring any bells? The Arab Spring was a string of revolutions. Was there peace in Egypt and Libya during this time? You speak of “self determination struggles”. What the hell is that? You mean like what is happening in Catalonia in Spain where there will allegedly be another referendum for Catalan secession from Spain? Are you naive enough to believe that if the Catalan people vote to secede that Spain will let them?

      The only peaceful separation I can think of in recent times was Czechoslovakia. The Czech Republic and Slovakia are the EXCEPTION, not the rule.

      Yes, eastern Turkey should be western Armenia. It was your peoples lands and it should be returned to its rightful and historical owners- the Armenians. You deserve to have back the lands you ancestors were driven and murdered off of. However, you incorrectly assume that the world we live in is a fair one, and that justice will be served sooner or later. We, however, do not live in such a world. In the real world, countries like Turkey don’t just give back what they’ve taken. They don’t just admit to a crime knowing how much they will have to give back as a result. And if you have no means to force said country into giving what theyve taken back, well then it would 2012 and the AG would be fiercely denied by an unrepentant state. So yeah, you have the moral high ground, you have facts, history, and most scholars worldwide firmly on your side. Too bad that doesn’t change anything.

    • Lol your Turkish ilk, RVDV.

      No, Turks were not the only humans in history to invade, steal, and take over a land which wasn’t their homeland, but was this the point I was making that seems to so amuse you? One of my points was that Turks were known throughout history as invaders, looters, colonizers, and mass murderers. What makes Turks, softly speaking, “distinct” humans is the fact that they belong to a very few nations who physically mass annihilated the native peoples whom the Turks colonized as a result of their military intrusions into foreign lands.

      It is nice that you admit the Kurdish struggle as a means for Turkey’s disintegration, but had you read my post without a grim you’d see that I said that “armed struggle is not THE ONLY way of restoring ancestral lands”. Might you have a reading comprehension problem?
      The break-up of the Soviet Union was, in fact, non-violent. Three(!) people died as a result of non-combat deaths during the August 1991 Moscow putsch that was a prelude to Soviet disintegration.

      In 1987-1989, the so-called Singing revolution, a cycle of non-violent singing mass demonstrations, followed by a living chain across the Baltic states of Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, led to regaining lands as independent entities from the Soviet Union.

      In 1989, a peaceful revolution in East Germany led to the fall of the Berlin Wall and reunification of eastern German lands with the Federal Republic of Germany.
      And you already brought up the 1989 Velvet revolution, the bloodless revolution in Czechoslovakia that led to acquiring lands for the Czech and Slovak nation-states.

      Hardly can these non-violent revolutions that led to land acquisitions or re-acquisitions be considered exceptions.

      As for the Arab Spring, protests in Tunisia and Egypt have been mostly nonviolent earning a term “social media revolutions” for them. But these examples are irrelevant because there was no land restitution demand there.

      I have no gift of looking into the crystal ball as far as the fate of the Catalan people is concerned, but I’m sure Spain won’t mass murder and starve to death innocent people, as Turks did to the Armenians.

      I don’t expect countries like Turkey to just give back what they’ve stolen. But there are grounds to believe that it may happen as a result of Turkey’s disintegration or the creation of new nation-states in the broader Middle Eastern region. Kurdistan, as the most real possibility, comes immediately to one’s mind.

    • “You speak of “self determination struggles”. What the hell is that?”

      For instance, the hell (for Azeri Turks) that’s befallen their heads in Artsakh (formerly Nagorno-Karabakh). This self-determination struggle was started by the Karabakhi Armenians in the most peaceful, constitutional, and non-violent way.

    • RVDV,

      May I ask why you chose an avatar that represents the Christian Byzantine coat of arms? What relation might there be with you as a Muslim Turk? Just out of curiosity. It reminds me of a denialist posting under the ridiculous pen name “john the turk”. What does Christian revered saint John have to do with the turk, I don’t understand.

  10. Hardly more is left to express here as rgds our demands..Avery and others have very clearly and justly said it all.But one thing all fail to see is the following.>/
    GREAT tURKEY -MADE SO BY …YOU KNOW WHO-IS AT PRESENT economicaally quite well positioned.Fact of the matter is so much so-read TIME magazine and other US media.They are openly opting to INVEST IN AFRICA!!!!
    Please, I repeat Land is there it won’t pull the disappearing act. Especially so as there are 16/18 miilion Kurds-now not so well disposed against Turks- there on those lands STATIONARY..cannot expel them to Deserts or throw them in Black SEA…Too many…
    Thence, WE MUST GO AFTER B L O O D M O N E Y.
    I just saw onm youtube a Conference wherein Harut Sassounian, Vicken Hovsepian*ARF, and Raffi Hovannissian delivered the -almost- usual discourses. Nothing new there with all due respect to them….and INDEED THIS ORGANZIED THROUGH THE Armenian BAR Associaiton which Raffi has founded BTW…-kudos to him many times over…
    They are -especially the ARF chieftian of West US adevocating-much like a sermon…. of a clergy…*except Raffi’s which is more like an Evolutionary!!!!
    But none of them as much as a hint-dropped- speak of our D E M A N Ds from great Turkey.
    It has become like a R I T U A L amongst Armenian….
    I “suggest” WE BEGIN N O W , BEFORE TOO LATE PRESSING FOR..
    B L O O D money.All else can wait!!!!
    AND YOU KNOW WHAT….WHOSE RESPONSIBILITY THAT IS…
    No not our traditional political Parties and Spirituals….-though these can certainly support … T H E B A R ASSOCIATION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    prepare the file and Lodge it with the proper instances worldwide.
    AMOUNT BEING DEMANDED o n e h u n d r e d AND FIFTY billion DOLLARS!!!!! FOR OUR 1.5 MILLIONS MARTYRS…
    I beg to differ.

  11. There is a Turkish-German politician named Cem Özdemir who acknowledges the Armenian Genocide and takes part in debates both in Germany and Turkey. I believe he has Circassian (Cherkes) ancestry (there is a large Circassian population in Turkey), so perhaps he was in a better position to understand since the same thing happened to his people in Russia.

    There’s a video on YouTube of a lecture given by Mitat Celikpala, a Circassian professor from Turkey, who says that the older generation of Circassians did not and do not use the term “genocide” to describe what happened to them (instead using “exile” or “exodus” as descriptors) because they are/were afraid of being connected to Armenians. Apparently, that is (slowly) changing with the younger generation.

  12. Circassians had took infamous part in the Armenian genocide. Along with the Turks and Kurds, Circassian bands often pillaged, looted, and murdered Armenian villagers.

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