24 Avril 1915, France 3: Le génocide des Arméniens ( vidéo)

The idea of Armenian statehood once again trampled by the ARF cowards !

La FRA a décidé de rejoindre la coalition
11 avril 2008
Lors d’une conférence de presse Alvard Petrosian, membre du Parlement sous l’étiquette de la FRA, a précisé qu’elle considérait cette décision comme juste. Elle a affirmé que le parti ne soutient pas des individus mais des plans d’actions. « La FRA est un parti qui a dû beaucoup sacrifier. Ce qui est important pour nous ce sont les programmes pour l’action et non les individus et le nouveau gouvernement va poursuivre ce que nous avons défendu depuis dix ans » a-t-elle dit.
Alvard Petrosian a critiqué l’atmosphère de mal et de mensonge dans le pays, mais a ajouté qure tous les arméniens sont parents et que cela doit devenir le point de départ pour tous.
« Nous devons être debout côte à côte parce que les positions dans le gouvernement ne sont pas éternelles » a-t-elle indiqué précisant que les Arméniens ne doivent pas être divisés dans « des tribus ayant chacune leur chef ». « Il y a beaucoup plus qui nous unit, que ce qui nous divise et la victoire suprême appartient à tous et non à ceux qui sépare les individus ».
« Il y a des gens qui n’acceptent pas Serzh Sarkisian, mais il a une extraordinaire et intéressante personnalité. Je veux que mon pays soit gouverné par un homme extraordinaire et pas par un homme plat » a-t-elle conclut.

Remembering a Dread who took control

MICHAEL 'Mikey Dread' Campbell, the maverick broadcaster who introduced underground reggae to mainstream radio in the late 1970s through his Dread At The Controls programme, died last Saturday in the United States.

Sadest news since Joe's .....

John Gotti elected Maire of New York !

John Gotti was not elected mayor of New York, nor President of the United States. But Serzh Sarkissian became President of Armenia ! As Don King would say: "Only in Armenia..."

Rediscovering Armenian Bardizag

Please check the proceeding of the lecture delivered by Ara Melkonian at Armenian House in London on 27 Jan. 2008. I would like, of course, to congratulate the author for the excellent work and admit I was moved while reading.
One might find strange the article is missing references to famous bardizagtsis like: Hadji Artin, Dr. Garabed Hatcherian, Kurken Alemshah, Bedros Dourian, and Zabel Essayan.
I should also add a few comments as concerning some bardizag particularities also:
- The so-called port of Seymen or Iskeleh was the last stop of a ferry-boat line starting from Istanbul. A picturesque description of the trip can be found in Chambers' In an Anatolian Valley , Bouregy & Curl, Inc. (New York), 1955.
- The nickname was a stong tradition - to refer to individuals - not only in Bardizag but in all the Ottoman Empire. It originated most likely from a muslim, rather than Armenian, tradition. Nicknames are very used in the nowadays independant Republic of Armenia, though. Some French Armenian might rememenber the story of 'Cheval Vartan' - named so as he owned a horse. Today nicknames are a very popular feature not only in Turkey but also in Iraq, Syria, and Jordan.
- According to the Soviet Armenian Encyclopaedia, the Bythinian village of Bardizag was always administratively dependant from the vilayet of Sivas (Sebastia) during the ruling of the Ottoman. I always wondered if this was another confusion with the original Bardizag village in Sebastia as mentioned by the author.
- It is interesting to mention than in nowadays' Turkey there are several villages bearing the name of Bahcecik in different provinces. It is likely, or at least plausible, that all these villages are former Armenian Bardizags. This could be explain by the fact that, either original Sebastia's Bardizagtsis have founded several Bardizag villages in the western territory of Asia Minor, or that Small Garden (i.e. 'Bardizag') was a a common name for green areas at the outskirts of main cities.
- Historical fact is that the Bythinian Bardizag by its fame has erased the trace of other Bardizags.
- The move of Armenian populations towards the West of Asia Minor described by the author has probably started even earlier than the 16th century. Unfortunately, the period beginning near the end of the fifteenth century may rightly be called the darkest age of Armenian cultural life. While Europe was being flooded with the light of the Renaissance, Armenia was being bathed in bloodshed, as a result of the invasion of the Turks, Tatars and Mongols.
- I believe that refugees came - not only from Agn - but from all Anatolia. Agntsis were probably the first. It is common knowledge that the last refugees came from Hadjin.
- It is commonly agreed among Istanbul scholars that the language spoke in Bardizag was amongst the purest grammatical form of Western Armenian. It might even have influenced the classical Western Armenian spoken in Bolis. The contribution of Bedros Tourian and Zabel Essayan, both descendants of Bardizagtsis, in the shaping of the wrttten form of modern western Armenian is well-known. The opposite is also true like in most cross-fertilization phenomenom (Bardizag was a famous summer resort less than 100km from the eastern suburbs of the capital).
- Indeed it did not prevent Bardizagtsis from being perfectly bilingual.
- I think the importance of the Armash monastery in the life of Bythinia Armenians is understated in the expose. The pilgrimage to Armash was an essential event in the year as important as Christmas or Easter.
- As concerning surrounding villages, one important fact to mention about the 'Laz Armenians' is that they eventually converted to Islam and were protected during the 1915 events and not deported. The most ancient families established in the outskirts of modern Bahcecik are probably so-called Laz Armenians.
- As mentionned by the author, the 'Ishkhans' did not play a prominent role in the life and administration of the village after the second half of the 19th century.
- Although non-armenian population lived around Bardizag - the 5 villages detailed by the author - it is worthy to mention that the heart of Bardizag was exclusively Armenian - a very rare situation in Ottoman Turkey. With 10,000 inhabitants, Bardizag was a large village then.
- Ancestral life was harsh but the proximity of the sea allowed men to go fishing in the morning and work in the fields in the afternoon. The extreme fertiltity of the soil allowed various culture. Bardizag was famous for its grapes and Serkefirs harvest.
- Another custom worth mentioning in Bardizag - that is specific to a few other Armenian villages also - was for young men to go outlaw to escape military service (after 1907 constitution), avoid tax collections perceived by by the bey or any vendetta organised by the agha. The outlaws were organised in small groups living in the surrounding forests of mount Minas and coming back regularly to their families in the village when deserted by Turkish gendarmerie. Eventually, after payement of a bribe, amnesty was reached with the bey or agha and outlaws could come back to their families. Chambers, in his book In An Anatolian Valley, describing the murder of an outlaw by Turkish gendarme, gives a moving description of this event.
- As I mentionned Mount Minas, I might as well say that Bardizagtsis pretend that, on a clear weather day, one can see both the Black Sea and Marmara from the top.
- Typical Bardizagtsis male would be name: Vartan, Hagop, Sahag, Sarkiss, Taniel or Mardig, while women would classicaly be named Serpouhie, Macrouhie, Azniv or Manouchag.
- It is always a strong pride and dignity for Bardizagtis to recall that, in the village, all children were schooled and educated according to European standards. This is a unique case for a Christian village in Ottoman Turkey. After the genocide and during exile, Bardizagtsis, always proud and cultured, eventually gained reputation as pretentious and arrogant personnalities.
- Bardizagtsis were also popularly characterized as Tsoug-oudor [fish-eater] and Khoumardjis [gamblers]. They were also reputed for their dry wit sense of humour.

1908-2008: Centennial of the Young Turk Revolution

An international congress entitled “1908-2008: Centennial of the Young Turk Revolution” commemorating the 100th anniversary of the second Constitutional Period of the Ottoman Empire will be hosted by The Faculty of Political Sciences of Ankara University in Ankara, during 28-30 May 2008.
Papers will consider the place of the concept of bourgeois revolution in the social sciences, the connection between the Young Turk Revolution and bourgeois revolutions at the beginning of the 20th century, the impact of the Young Turk Revolution in the world and its influence on the Turkish Republic.

THIS IS A PETITION AGAINST THE CONGRESS ! Please join me in SUBMITTING OUR OWN PAPERS to the conference coordinator:
Sina Akşin
saksin@politics.ankara.edu.tr
Faculty of Political Sciences
Ankara University

OUR PAPERS SHOULD CONCERN THE ROLE OF THE LEADERSHIP OF THE YOUNG TURKS [TALAT, ENVER, DJEMAL] IN THE ANNIHILIATION OF THE ENTIRE ARMENIAN POPULATION OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE !

No Comment Serie- Music-Discover-Beirout-Nantes

#64.1 - Beirut - Nantes
envoyé par lablogotheque

Mutaf in Décines, rue du 24, February 1, 2008

Arménie, la magie de l’écrit
Conférence/diapositives de l’exposition "Arménie, la magie de l’écrit" par Claude Mutafian, à 20h30 à la Maison de la culture arménienne, 15 rue du 24 Avril. Vente et dédicace du livre.
Claude Mutafian (b. 1942) is a mathematician and a historian who specializes in Armenian history.
Born in 1942 in Clamart, France, Claude Mutafian is an associate professor of mathematics and senior lecturer from the Paris 13 University in Villetaneuse. Following the publication of several books on algebra, Mutafian devoted himself to Armenian history since 1980, particularly to the relations of Armenia with its various neighbors over time. Ph.D. in history from Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne University, Mutafian is the author of several books on the history of Armenia.

REDISCOVERING ARMENIAN BARDIZAG (BAHCHEJIK) IN WESTERN TURKEY

INVITATION

27 January 2008, 3:00 pm
Armenian House, 25 Cheniston Gardens, London W8
London, England

Nearest tube High Street Kensington

For more information please write to Roland Mnatsakanyan
at info@gomidas.org or telephone 020 7603 7242

Entrance is free. Light refreshments will be provided. RSVP.

This presentation by Ara Melkonian will be the first in our new series, "The Lost Armenian Communities of Ottoman Turkey." Melkonian will use a rich tapestry of sources to visit Bahchejik, the ancestral village of his family, in western Turkey. He will recall the memory of his village for a new generation of Armenians to connect with their ancestral past.

Ara Melkonian is a Fellow at the Gomidas Institute, London, where he specializes in Armenian-English translations and works on other special projects. His recent work includes translations of Vahram Dadrian’s Forsaken Love (Taderon Press, 2006) and Raffi’s Tajkahayk, (Taderon Press, 2007). He just began a database series on Armenian Orphans in the Aftermath of WWI. He is the author of “Memory Faultlines” which appeared in the July 2006 issue of Ancestors, the journal of the British National Archives.

La neige tombe à Bagdad....

La neige tombe à Bagdad, qui n'avait pas connu pareil événement de mémoire d'homme. Ravis, les habitants de la capitale irakienne veulent y voir un présage de paix, bien que les lourds flocons n'aient pas tenu.
"C'est la première fois que je vois la neige à Bagdad", s'étonne Hassan Zahar. "On a déjà eu de la neige fondue, mais jamais de vrai neige. J'ai scruté le visage de chacun, tout le monde est estomaqué", poursuit ce Bagdadi sexagénaire.
Mourthada Fadhil, un agent de la police irakienne affecté à la circulation, extrêmement fluide en ce jour chômé, y voit le symbole de l'avènement d'un "nouvel Irak".
"C'est un signe d'espoir. On espère que les Irakiens purifieront leur coeur et que les politiques vont oeuvrer à la prospérité de tous les Irakiens", ajoute-t-il, abrité sous un balcon.