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ARMENIAN DIASPORA TO HOLD CONGRESS IN SEVRES
Hurriyet
July 22 2011
Turkey
Leading diaspora Armenians will meet in the historical French city
of Sevres in December for the Congress of Western Armenians to draft
a series of demands from Turkey in relation to the events of 1915.
"Western Armenians have demands from Turkey. A people and a country
were annihilated at the beginning of the 20th century," Jean-Varoujan
Gureghian, a French citizen of Armenian descent and a member of the
congress, recently told the Hurriyet Daily News by e-mail.
Some 200 prominent individuals from the Armenian diaspora are expected
to attend the congress, which was first held 90 years ago.
Armenians from all corners of the world will be attending the congress,
Gureghian said, adding that their demands were going to be presented
through lawyers first to Turkey, as well as to the rest of the world,
in accordance with international law.
"The commemoration of the 100th anniversary of 'Mezs Yeghern' [the name
Armenians give to the mass killing of their Ottoman kinsmen in 1915]
will undoubtedly be as ostentatious as the commemoration of its 50th
anniversary held in 1965," Gureghian said.
The 100th anniversary of Mezs Yeghern in 2015 will also be on the
congress's agenda, he added.
The city of Sevres is best known in Turkey for the treaty that bears
its name. The Sevres Treaty, which would have left Turkey mainly
as a rump state, was signed between the ailing Ottoman government
and the Allied powers shortly after World War I in 1920 but never
went into effect. Instead, it was later replaced in 1923 by the much
more generous Treaty of Lausanne, which roughly determined Turkey's
present-day borders.
"Turkish and Armenian peoples lived in peace during the Ottoman era
until the time of the genocide. In fact, many Turks saved thousands
of people by putting their own lives on the line during the bitter
events. [Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant] Dink was like a symbol of
that friendship. The enemies of friendship killed him," Gureghian said.
Dink, the chief editor of the weekly Agos, a newspaper in both Armenian
and Turkish, had been working to re-establish ties between Turks and
Armenians until he was shot in the back and killed on Jan.
19, 2007. His assassination provoked widespread sympathy in the
country and brought together people from different backgrounds to
demand that all those involved in the murder be brought to justice.
Differentiating the diaspora issue and Turkish-Armenian rapprochement,
Gureghian said: "Armenia is an independent republic. As such, it must
consider the future of its own people and establish good relations
with its neighbors, including Turkey."
Hurriyet
July 22 2011
Turkey
Leading diaspora Armenians will meet in the historical French city
of Sevres in December for the Congress of Western Armenians to draft
a series of demands from Turkey in relation to the events of 1915.
"Western Armenians have demands from Turkey. A people and a country
were annihilated at the beginning of the 20th century," Jean-Varoujan
Gureghian, a French citizen of Armenian descent and a member of the
congress, recently told the Hurriyet Daily News by e-mail.
Some 200 prominent individuals from the Armenian diaspora are expected
to attend the congress, which was first held 90 years ago.
Armenians from all corners of the world will be attending the congress,
Gureghian said, adding that their demands were going to be presented
through lawyers first to Turkey, as well as to the rest of the world,
in accordance with international law.
"The commemoration of the 100th anniversary of 'Mezs Yeghern' [the name
Armenians give to the mass killing of their Ottoman kinsmen in 1915]
will undoubtedly be as ostentatious as the commemoration of its 50th
anniversary held in 1965," Gureghian said.
The 100th anniversary of Mezs Yeghern in 2015 will also be on the
congress's agenda, he added.
The city of Sevres is best known in Turkey for the treaty that bears
its name. The Sevres Treaty, which would have left Turkey mainly
as a rump state, was signed between the ailing Ottoman government
and the Allied powers shortly after World War I in 1920 but never
went into effect. Instead, it was later replaced in 1923 by the much
more generous Treaty of Lausanne, which roughly determined Turkey's
present-day borders.
"Turkish and Armenian peoples lived in peace during the Ottoman era
until the time of the genocide. In fact, many Turks saved thousands
of people by putting their own lives on the line during the bitter
events. [Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant] Dink was like a symbol of
that friendship. The enemies of friendship killed him," Gureghian said.
Dink, the chief editor of the weekly Agos, a newspaper in both Armenian
and Turkish, had been working to re-establish ties between Turks and
Armenians until he was shot in the back and killed on Jan.
19, 2007. His assassination provoked widespread sympathy in the
country and brought together people from different backgrounds to
demand that all those involved in the murder be brought to justice.
Differentiating the diaspora issue and Turkish-Armenian rapprochement,
Gureghian said: "Armenia is an independent republic. As such, it must
consider the future of its own people and establish good relations
with its neighbors, including Turkey."