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ANDRAS KUPPER SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF PARLIAMENT ON 3RD MAY
Story from Lragir.am News:
http://www.lragir.am/engsrc/society21721.html
Published: 11:57:07 - 11/05/2011
Andras Kupper is the Chairman of the Hungarian-Armenian Parliamentary
Group
Thank you for the word, Dear Chairman, Right Honourable Members of the
Parliament, Among the emperors of the Roman Empire Galerius was the
first one who provided freedom of religion for christian people in the
toleration act in his deathbed in AD 313. Later it was confirmed by the
western and oriental emperors Constantine and Licinius in Mediolanum,
today called Milan. So Christianity was officially legalized in the
Roman Empire in the Edict of Milan in 313. After this Christianity
was made the official religion of the Empire by Theodosius I and it
determined the further direction of European progress. We, European
people are tending to suppose that christianity expanded from small
sects in Israel towards the western part of the continent. According
to less-known facts it started to spread into east-northeast direction
and the first christian powers evolved in Caucasus mountains. Armenia
was the first one, who made christianity the official religion in AD
301 then Georgia followed her in 330.
These two little folks preserved their faith and culture during
critical centuries. This year Easter was especially highlighted in
christian complex, because Western (Catholic, Anglican, and Protestant)
Christian and Eastern (Orthodox) Christian Easter is celebrated on
the same day. For the Armenians this Easter was on the same day with
the Armenian Genocide also known as the Armenian Holocaust. The day
24 April 1915 is Genocide Remembrance day for Armenians. That night
the Ottoman government rounded-up, imprisoned and killed an estimated
200-250 Armenian intellectuals. The same happened to hundreds of people
in the following days. The captured were taken to prisons in Anatolia
and killed. Armenian soldiers in the Ottoman army were disarmed and
persuaded to labour camps. On 29 May 1915, the CUP Central Committee
passed the Temporary Law of Deportation, giving the Ottoman government
and military authorization to deport anyone it 'sensed' as a threat
to national security. The Armenians were marched out to the Syrian
desert. A good deal of evidence suggests that the Ottoman government
did not provide any facilities or supplies to sustain the Armenians
during their deportation, nor when they arrived. On 15th August 1915,
The New York Times reported that ~Sthe roads and the Euphrates are
strewn with corpses of exiles, and those who survive are doomed to
certain death.
It is a plan to exterminate the whole Armenian people.~TOttoman troops
escorting the Armenians not only allowed others to rob, kill, and rape
the Armenians, but often participated in these activities themselves.
Deprived of their belongings and marched into the desert, hundreds
of thousands of Armenians perished. The New York Times wrote:
~DNaturally, the death rate from starvation and sickness is very
high and is increased by the brutal treatment of the authorities,
whose bearing toward the exiles as they are being driven back and
forth over the desert is not unlike that of slave drivers. With few
exceptions no shelter of any kind is provided and the people coming
from a cold climate are left under the scorching desert sun without
food and water. Temporary relief can only be obtained by the few able
to pay officials.~TIt is believed that 25 major concentration camps
existed and some were only temporary transit camps. Some experts also
maintain that some camps were built specifically for those who had a
life expectancy of a few days. Some months later the Ottoman parliament
passed the 'Temporary Law of Expropriation and Confiscation', stating
that all property, including land, livestock, and homes belonging
to Armenians, was to be confiscated by the authorities. With this
implementation, the confiscation of Armenian property and the slaughter
of Armenians ensued upon the law's enactment outraged much of the
western world. In the United States, The New York Times reported
almost daily on the mass murder of the Armenian people, describing
the process as ~Ssystematic~T, ~Sauthorized~T and ~Sorganized by
the government.~T Theodore Roosevelt would later characterize this
as 'the greatest crime of the war.'Accord to historians without the
Armenian Genocide there would be about 40 million Armenian people. Due
to the facts there are about 9-10 million Armenians spread all over
the world but not without roots. Their national identity is stronger
than at any other nations maybe because of the survived horror or the
experience given by senior generation. They preserve and sustain the
great culture and traditions of the state, which became christian one
of the first ones. High respect not only the memory of the deceased
but even their heirs. It is all over the world and it also happens
in Hungary. Thank you for your attention.
Story from Lragir.am News:
http://www.lragir.am/engsrc/society21721.html
Published: 11:57:07 - 11/05/2011
Andras Kupper is the Chairman of the Hungarian-Armenian Parliamentary
Group
Thank you for the word, Dear Chairman, Right Honourable Members of the
Parliament, Among the emperors of the Roman Empire Galerius was the
first one who provided freedom of religion for christian people in the
toleration act in his deathbed in AD 313. Later it was confirmed by the
western and oriental emperors Constantine and Licinius in Mediolanum,
today called Milan. So Christianity was officially legalized in the
Roman Empire in the Edict of Milan in 313. After this Christianity
was made the official religion of the Empire by Theodosius I and it
determined the further direction of European progress. We, European
people are tending to suppose that christianity expanded from small
sects in Israel towards the western part of the continent. According
to less-known facts it started to spread into east-northeast direction
and the first christian powers evolved in Caucasus mountains. Armenia
was the first one, who made christianity the official religion in AD
301 then Georgia followed her in 330.
These two little folks preserved their faith and culture during
critical centuries. This year Easter was especially highlighted in
christian complex, because Western (Catholic, Anglican, and Protestant)
Christian and Eastern (Orthodox) Christian Easter is celebrated on
the same day. For the Armenians this Easter was on the same day with
the Armenian Genocide also known as the Armenian Holocaust. The day
24 April 1915 is Genocide Remembrance day for Armenians. That night
the Ottoman government rounded-up, imprisoned and killed an estimated
200-250 Armenian intellectuals. The same happened to hundreds of people
in the following days. The captured were taken to prisons in Anatolia
and killed. Armenian soldiers in the Ottoman army were disarmed and
persuaded to labour camps. On 29 May 1915, the CUP Central Committee
passed the Temporary Law of Deportation, giving the Ottoman government
and military authorization to deport anyone it 'sensed' as a threat
to national security. The Armenians were marched out to the Syrian
desert. A good deal of evidence suggests that the Ottoman government
did not provide any facilities or supplies to sustain the Armenians
during their deportation, nor when they arrived. On 15th August 1915,
The New York Times reported that ~Sthe roads and the Euphrates are
strewn with corpses of exiles, and those who survive are doomed to
certain death.
It is a plan to exterminate the whole Armenian people.~TOttoman troops
escorting the Armenians not only allowed others to rob, kill, and rape
the Armenians, but often participated in these activities themselves.
Deprived of their belongings and marched into the desert, hundreds
of thousands of Armenians perished. The New York Times wrote:
~DNaturally, the death rate from starvation and sickness is very
high and is increased by the brutal treatment of the authorities,
whose bearing toward the exiles as they are being driven back and
forth over the desert is not unlike that of slave drivers. With few
exceptions no shelter of any kind is provided and the people coming
from a cold climate are left under the scorching desert sun without
food and water. Temporary relief can only be obtained by the few able
to pay officials.~TIt is believed that 25 major concentration camps
existed and some were only temporary transit camps. Some experts also
maintain that some camps were built specifically for those who had a
life expectancy of a few days. Some months later the Ottoman parliament
passed the 'Temporary Law of Expropriation and Confiscation', stating
that all property, including land, livestock, and homes belonging
to Armenians, was to be confiscated by the authorities. With this
implementation, the confiscation of Armenian property and the slaughter
of Armenians ensued upon the law's enactment outraged much of the
western world. In the United States, The New York Times reported
almost daily on the mass murder of the Armenian people, describing
the process as ~Ssystematic~T, ~Sauthorized~T and ~Sorganized by
the government.~T Theodore Roosevelt would later characterize this
as 'the greatest crime of the war.'Accord to historians without the
Armenian Genocide there would be about 40 million Armenian people. Due
to the facts there are about 9-10 million Armenians spread all over
the world but not without roots. Their national identity is stronger
than at any other nations maybe because of the survived horror or the
experience given by senior generation. They preserve and sustain the
great culture and traditions of the state, which became christian one
of the first ones. High respect not only the memory of the deceased
but even their heirs. It is all over the world and it also happens
in Hungary. Thank you for your attention.