NEWS.am

NEWS.am presents the abridged version of the article by Iraqi novelist Layla Qasrany, published in the Canadian newspaper Oye! Times. Qasrany has recently visited Turkeyto commemorate the Armenian Genocide and visit sites mentioned in her latest novel.  

“We say in Arabic that there are five benefits to travel. No one seems to know just what these are, but I derived many benefits from a trip I took recently. The journey began with my arrival in southern Turkey to attend the commemoration of the centennial of the Armenian genocide, in which we paid tribute to the million-plus souls deported from Diyarbakkir who consequently died in the desert of Syria.

The first thing I did on the 23rd of April was to make a pilgrimage to the Armenian church of Sourp Giragos, in Turkey. The first person I noticed there was Gafur Turkay, who was sitting in the church’s courtyard with some French men and women and some Kurds who had discovered that their grandparents were Armenians and had then converted to their people’s Christian faith.

It was a gloomy, chilly afternoon when I walked to see the exhibition of the French Armenian photographer Antoine Agoudjian, “They Cry of Silence.” That same evening, I went back to the Armenian church to attend a concert conducted by the pianist Raffi Bedrousyan. To my surprise, most in the audience were Kurds from Diyarbakkir, along with many Armenians who had flown in from Europe, especially France, and from other parts of the globe.

The city officials and the Mayor of Diyarbakkir attended the solemn commemoration as we marched towards the ruins of the Armenian church of St. Sarkis — used as a weapons depot by the Ottomans during WWI. We positioned ourselves in front of the church to bring attention to the need for a restoration of the church.

When the official speeches were over, we gathered under the ruins where the holy altar once stood.  Some Armenian women and men formed a spontaneous choir and sang the Armenian composer Gomidas’ hymn: “Der Voghormia,” or “Lord Have Mercy.” This may have been the first time in over 100 years that a prayer had gone up from this place.”

On July 21, the governor of Rio de Janeiro, Luiz Fernando Pezão, enacted Law 7046/2015 filed by Deputy Jorge Picciani, president of the Legislative Assembly of the State of Rio de Janeiro, which establishes all April 24 in Rio as the “Day of Recognition and Memory of the Victims of the Armenian Genocide” in the official calendar.

According to Agencia Prensa Armenia, Rio de Janeiro is the fourth State in Brazil that recognizes the Genocide, along with Parana, Ceara and São Paulo. Months ago, the Brazilian Senate passed a vote of solidarity with the Armenian people for the centenary of crime against humanity.

James Onnig Tamdjian, Director of Politics and International Relations of the Armenian National Committee of Brazil, told Prensa Armenia that “the Armenian communities of São Paulo and Osasco always played a key role in the statements of local authorities in favor of Armenian claims.”

“In other Armenian communities of the State of São Paulo, such as the city of São Jose do Rio Preto, there are declarations of solidarity of the local legislatures with the Armenian people. The presence of Armenian families in other states such as Ceara and Parana was also important for political leaders to join in the cause,” he said, recalling the recognition by the Federal Senate.

“In the case of Rio de Janeiro the initiative came from the president of the Clube de Engenharia (Engineering Club) Francis Bogossian, son of one of the survivors of the Armenian Genocide,Jacob Bogossian, active member of the Armenian community in that city that fought for decades for the maintenance of Armenian history,” he added.

Clube de Engenharia is an organization founded in 1880 and now works as a “think tank” and participates in discussions of national development. On May 22, Francis Bogossian sent anofficial letter to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mauro Luiz Vieira Iecker, transmitting the position of the board of the Clube to support the Armenian Cause and calling for Brazil to officially recognize the slaughter of the Armenian people as genocide.

Following these steps, Deputy Jorge Picciani introduced the bill in January, a project that was approved last week. The resolution of Picciani notes that “on April 24, 1915, dozens of Armenian leaders were arrested and killed in Istanbul. The slaughter was aimed to exterminate the Armenian people and characterized by the brutality and the use of forced marches with deportations that often led to death.”

“More than twenty countries recognize the genocide of the Armenian people, but the Turkish government denies that the deaths were intentional,” concludes the resolution.

The Republic of Armenia has maintained its Tier I status for a third year in a row in the US State Department’s 2015 Trafficking in Persons assessment. Armenia is among just 31 countries out of 188 to have achieved Tier I status.

The Embassy of the United States in Yerevan congratulated the government of Armenia for maintaining its Tier I status after taking concrete actions to fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking.

In 2014, Armenian Parliament approved a law establishing standard procedures for the identification, support, protection, and reintegration of suspected and identified trafficking victims by national and local government bodies, NGOs, international organizations, and civil society.  In addition, Armenian police have successfully identified foreign victims trafficked in Armenia and referred them to care, and the government has maintained strong collaborative working ties with anti-trafficking NGOs, local media, donor organizations, and regional partners.

The 2015 Trafficking in Persons Report also contains several recommendations for the government of Armenia to consider implementing in order to more effectively identify, treat, and reintegrate victims of trafficking and to prosecute traffickers.  Many of the recommendations depend not just on government actions alone, but require enhanced cooperation with domestic NGOs and civil society, as well as with regional authorities and NGOs.

The US Embassy has stated that it values its partnership with the government of Armenia in the fight against trafficking in persons, and looks forward to working with the government more, particularly in the areas of formal victim-witness protection and victim identification.

The American Congresswoman Anna Eshoo, family name ­ Babayan, who has Armenian roots, is one of the most active supporters of Armenian­American relations.

She is hopeful to contribute to the deepening of the ArmenianAmerican relations. She reminded that the Armenian people have many friends in the U.S. Congress. According to theCongresswoman she may play a special role in fostering those relations taking into account her Armenian–Assyrian origin. “I feel I have a special responsibility to help the Armenian nation on the development of these relations.” “Armenpress” reports the aforementioned citing “Voice of America”.

Anna Eshoo is confident that the USA must support Armenia in the development of state and public institutions because these institutions later on become the best tools for Democracy development and the latter improves the country’s economy.