Armenian Genocide Day - For Justice

Reminder: Tomorrow is the little thought-about genocide commemoration of 1.5 million Armenian people

April 23, 2009

I'm going to be marching with and writing about the Armenian Genocide memorial day tomorrow in Jerusalem. For those not familiar with this Holocaust, I have compiled some information. The Turks have rewritten history, have raised a generation believing a lie and, some countries, like the US and Israel, have let them get away with it in the name of strategic relations. The Armenian people cannot begin to heal unless their pain has been acknowledged.

Info from this site.

One and a half million Armenians were killed in the Armenian Genocide, carried out by the Young Turk government of the Ottoman Empire in 1915-1916. Armenians commemorate this on April 24, because it was on that day in 1915 when 300 Armenian leaders, writers, thinkers and professionals in Constantinople (present day Istanbul) were rounded up, deported and killed. On that same day, 5,000 of the poorest Armenians were butchered in the streets and in their homes. 

The genocide was systematic: Armenians in the army were disarmed, placed into labor battalions, and then killed. Then the Armenian political and intellectual leaders were killed. Finally, Armenians were told they were being relocated so they embarked upon what became known as "death marches." Many died in this way - either starving to death or succumbing to the brutal conditions of the desert. On the Black Sea coast, Turks loaded Armenians on barges and sank them out at sea.

The Turkish government denies that there was an Armenian genocide and claims that Armenians were only removed from the eastern "war zone."

The Armenian Genocide, however, occurred all over Anatolia [present-day Turkey], and not just in the so-called "war zone." Deportations and killings occurred in the west, in and around Ismid (Izmit) and Broussa (Bursa); in the center, in and around Angora (Ankara); in the south-west, in and around Konia (Konya) and Adana (which is near the Mediterranean Sea); in the central portion of Anatolia, in and around Diyarbekir (Diyarbakir), Harpout (Harput), Marash, Sivas (Sepastia), Shabin Kara-Hissar (þebin Karahisar), and Ourfa (Urfa); and on the Black Sea coast, in and around Trebizond (Trabzon), all of which are not part of a war zone. Only Erzeroum, Bitlis, and Van in the east were in the war zone.

The American people, via local Protestant missionaries, did the most to save the wretched remnants of the death marches, the orphaned children. The New York Times published some 150 articles on the slaughters in 1915. (from a documentary on the Genocide by Two Cats Productions.)

Despite Turkish denial, there is no doubt about the Armenian Genocide. For example, German ambassador Count von Wolff-Metternich, Turkey's ally in World War I, wrote his government in 1916 saying: "The Committee [of Union and Progress] demands the annihilation of the last remnants of the Armenians and the [Ottoman] government must bow to its demands."

Much documentation exists from foreign consuls and businessmen, not to mention genocide survivors. Henry Morgenthau Sr., the American ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, sent a cable to the U.S. State Department in 1915: "Deportation of and excesses against peaceful Armenians is increasing and from harrowing reports of eye witnesses [sic] it appears that a campaign of race extermination is in progress under a pretext of reprisal against rebellion."

Morgenthau's successor as Ambassador to Turkey, Abram Elkus, cabled the U.S. State Department in 1916 that the Young Turks were continuing an ". . . unchecked policy of extermination through starvation, exhaustion, and brutality of treatment hardly surpassed even in Turkish history."

One Turkish government, that of Damad Ferit Pasha, has recognized the Armenian genocide. In fact, that government held war crimes trials and condemned to death the major leaders responsible.

The Earth Day farce

April 23, 2009

I decided to skip the Earth Day event at the Old City walls this evening, for what I believe is good reason. By not watching the farce, I spared myself copious amounts of eye rolling and a lethal dose of sarcasm. 

Jerusalem decided to copy the US and turn out the lights on the Old City walls for a nice energy-saving hour. But on my way to the Old City today, I saw increased cop patrols (completely necessary considering the president and mayor would both be there) creating a lot more pollution. I saw trucks carting in electrically powered decorative orb-like objects. Friends told me that they saw a children's model project of a windmill powered by wind, was powered by the wind of a fan, electric naturally.

Sound systems were carted in and speeches were made. More energy and hot air. Then the lights went out. I wonder what the net gain would be for that hour, especially after the previous 12 in setting up the event.

It isn't a bad idea to conserve energy, but to expend more to make your conservation more dramatic? Don't make me sneer. I want to be happy. Really.

"Preparing the way" for the Pope

And yes, I ran too :)

April 23, 2009

BETHLEHEM - From Manger Square, the traditional birthplace of Jesus, about a dozen Palestinians from Beit Sahour, Beit Jalla and Bethlehem geared up to run to Jerusalem in the sixth annual peace marathon. But the runners weren’t sure whether they could complete the race.

“We’ll see if they let me (into Jerusalem). I have a pass, but I don’t know if they’ll let me,” said Imad, 23. Imad’s temporary pass, organized by an Italian organization that sponsored the run, didn’t guarantee entry, but would help.

The logistics of the run reflect the situation. Palestinian runners started from behind the concrete barrier that keeps them from Israel and had to obtain permits to cross the checkpoint, logistics that must be worked out in advance. The Israeli runners, many of whom visited Bethlehem before the first Intifada (uprising), are no longer able to enter according to Israeli law, which prevents its citizens from entering Palestinian territories.

Instead, the Israeli delegation met the runners at the checkpoint where the Palestinian contingent’s entry into Israel would be decided.

These locals and Italian pilgrims “prepared the way” for Pope Benedict XVI, just three weeks before his arrival in Israel, with the sixth annual Pope John Paul II Pilgrimage Peace Marathon on Thursday morning. Some 50 Italians and about a dozen Palestinians and Israelis took part in the “marathon,” actually just six miles, but replete with a border crossing from Palestinian territory to Israel’s capital, an attempt to promote peace in the Holy Land. 

Centro Sportivo Italiano, the Italian Sports Association, brings pilgrims from Italy and “aims to continue the legacy of Pope John Paul II for peace, brotherhood and inter-religious cooperation” through sports, the organization said in a statement. 

Retired AC Milan soccer star Demetrio Albertini, now Deputy President of the Italian Football Association, provided star power for the run. Italian volleyball world champion Andrea Zorzi  also joined the marathon. The first stop for the Italian delegation was Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial on Wednesday.

Albertini said the race, because of its mission, was an emotional event for him. 

“It’s the sixth, but it’s a new day for a very long run in the future for peace,” he said. “In sports you don’t see that wall between the Palestinians and Israelis. This is the strength of sports, you don’t see your differences. That is why we run, why we are here, to bring this message to the young people to live without these differences.”

The race itself took place in true Italian fashion, relaxed and entertaining. It took two hours for the group to span the route, stopping for photo opportunities and extravagant greetings along the way. The Italian delegates passed out olive branches to Palestinians on one side of the wall and to Israelis on the other. 

In the end, all the Palestinian runners crossed the border without a hitch and finished the race at Notre Dame church across from the Old City. 

Would the race bring peace? Maybe not, but Murad Manoureh, a Palestinian from Beit Sahour, believes it can help.

 

“Sports is the language for everybody in the world,” he said. “It is a good language and we play by the rules. We run for peace and we run for some sport.”

“We want peace with Israel and we want to visit Jerusalem. We haven’t been here for a long time and it is nice to see it after a long time,” he said. 

Yaron Rohin, a Jerusalem runner, has participated in this run for five years. 

“It is beautiful to see that the Palestinians crossed the border with relative ease,” he said. “They met us together with the Italians. Now we just need to see some results. If the politicians will also understand this, then we will see peace.”