APRIL 23, 2024
ARMENIAN GENOCIDE COMMEMORATION
HAIGAZIAN UNIVERSITY
Dear Colleagues and Students.
Many thanks for inviting me today to commemorate the 109th anniversary of the first Genocide of the 20th century.
Many people sometimes tell us Armenians, to go on with our lives, Turn the Page- come on move on, yes I say but before we turn the page, we have first to read the page.
WHY DO WE COMMEMORATE APRIL 24?
Many of the deportees were killed along the way, the remaining were killed upon arrival. In fact on the first day of the systematic execution the Armenians lost their heads, brains , hearts, and souls. The rest, the bodies were easy target.
Since then April 24 is commemorated by Armenians all over the world as the day of remembrance of the victims of genocide.
Peter Balakian, the author of Black Dog of Fate says: “Commemoration is a process of making meaning out of unthinkable horror loss. Because the dead have not been literally or emotionally buried… it is also a ritual of burying the dead. It publicly legitimizes the victim’s culture’s grief. The burden of bereavement can be alleviated if shared and witnessed by a large community.
Among these deportees was My grandfather, Hagop Arsenian, a pharmacist from Izmit, 60 miles east of Istanbul, -as one of the survivors of the Armenian Genocide he writes in his memoirs Towards Golgotha published by HUP:
“On Friday evening July 24, the Armenian Prelacy received orders from the local authorities that the Armenians of Izmit would have to leave within 24 hours, without any Exception. No appeals, protests, permissions or any kind of petitions would be tolerated.”
On Saturday, July 25th, all the goods and furniture of the Armenians were displayed on the sidewalks for sale. But who was going to buy? All of them knew that they would be able to lay their hands on these items for free the next day, without paying a piaster”.
It is impossible to describe the fear and terror that filled the Izmit population.
“Finally at midnight of that fateful day of July 26, 1915, the train, with all of us crammed in one wagon, started moving from Izmit station. The Armenian quarter of Izmit was in the dark that night without any trace of movement, whereas the wagons of the trains were packed with thousands of unfortunate Armenians who had to buy their own tickets of deportation. Everywhere we could hear the outburst and sad voices of people’s complaints and suffering. Until then, I tried to control myself and keep my composure, but when the train passed in front of my pharmacy, I could no longer hold my tears and started crying like a little boy. Thus we departed without a single trace of hope to return”.
Over one million Armenians were sent to starve and perish in the Syrian desert, especially around the city of Deir Zor. Thousands of others died on the death marches from typhus, dysentery and starvation. (Mariam, my father’s grandmother is buried somewhere there. Others were forced to convert to Islam and the small minority which survived is known today as the Armenian Diaspora.
The American ambassador in Istanbul at that time, Henry Morgenthau, described the horrible events of this period with the following words: “I am confident that the whole history of the human race contains no such horrible episode as this. The great massacres and persecutions of the past seem” almost insignificant when compared with the sufferings of the Armenian race in 1915.
My grand father and 8 members of the family, including my father who was three, escaped Deir Zor , thanks to a medical prescription
ABOU HARAR – January 1916
By 1923, most of the Armenians of the Ottoman Empire had lost their lives and those who survived had lost all of their lands, properties, family members and some even their sanity.
The perpetrators remain unpunished. No judgment of Nuremberg took place for the Armenians, no recognition of the Genocide, no compensation, nor public apology. As a Method of healing , the survivors resorted to SILENCE & NUMBNESS- and the perpetrators resorted to Denial and Impunity.
By World War II, Hitler could confidently declare, “Who after all is today speaking of the destruction of the Armenians?”
Raphael Lemkin coined in 1943 the term Genocide from two rooted words genos ( Greek for Family, tribe or race) and latin cide (killing).
Turkey argues that it wasn’t Genocide since the term did not exist IN 1915.
And the list goes on — We are lucky that we are standing today in the shade of a great fountain of knowledge, the Derian Library above. Scholars from all over the world come here to do research and read the testimonies of survivors. You want evidence, go up and research……..The truth is there.
IMPUNITY : means exemption from punishment or freedom from the injurious consequences of an action
In the international law of human rights, impunity is failure to bring perpetrators of human rights violations to justice and, as such, itself constitutes a denial of the victims’ right to justice and redress.
In the 1920’s the German philosopher and jurist Carl Schmitt, came up with a concept called STATE of EXCEPTION. In this state-similar to a state of emergency (martial law)- it allows the sovereign’s to (governments) to transcend the rule of law or totally ignore it in the name of the public good.
Today the world seems to be ruled by this concept, everywhere human rights, values, constitutions, laws are ignored in the name of so called HIGHER priorities and as the result perpetrators get away with heinous acts in the name of public good. In other words, all that we see happening is for the Public Good- for our good.- Hence, Silence, denial and Impunity will continue for the public good.
Jan 26, 2024
The International Court of Justice issued a preliminary ruling in a case accusing Israel of committing genocide in Gaza
Chances are it will not pass—–because of the public good.
In the meantime, we shall continue commemorating April 24, to honor our dead, to remind the perpetrators that we have not forgotten and to encourage the future generations to go on with the struggle. The Monument on our right represents the Flower Forget-me-Not. It is the symbol of the centennial of the genocide and prompt us not to forget the victims – not to forget the past, claim our rights and not to compromise justice in the future.
Yes before turning the page, we have to read it and then only The Open wound can be closed when confession, repentance and restitution” is earned and impunity does no more prevail