Foreign delegation to commemorate Armenian Genocide in Istanbul

April 24, 2013 - 14:21 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - On April 24, Turkish people commemorating the 98th anniversary of the 1915 Armenian Genocide will be joined for the first time by a foreign delegation composed of 20 anti-racist and Armenian representatives from 15 countries, Today's Zaman reported.

“The delegation consists of two main groups; one group is represented by people who work in organizations fighting racial discrimination, and the other group is from the Armenian diaspora,” said Levent Şensever from DurDe! (Say Stop to Racism and Nationalism!)

The organizations include the Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU) Young Professionals from Bulgaria, the Roma Center in Romania, and France’s AGBU office. There are also representatives from the Netherlands, Czech Republic, Italy, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina fighting against racism.

The delegation came together this week with representatives from Turkish civil society organizations in Istanbul, including the Association of Human Rights and Solidarity for Oppressed Peoples (MAZLUM-DER), the Hrant Dink Foundation and the Human Rights Association (İHD).

“It is historic for the delegation to commemorate April 24 in Istanbul. It was unthinkable 10 years ago,” said Benjamin Abtan, president of the European Grassroots Antiracist Movement (EGAM), which was created two years ago to combat racism and anti-Semitism.

The first commemoration ceremony in recent years was held in 2010 in Taksim Square, in İzmir and in Diyarbakır. This year a commemoration is planned in İzmir and Adana.

The İHD will mark April 24 at 12:30 p.m. at the Sultanahmet Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts, which was a prison in 1915 when prominent Armenian figures were held before they were imprisoned and then killed.

Following the commemoration at Sultanahmet, the group will visit the grave of Sevag Balıkçı, a young man of Armenian descent who was killed on April 24, 2011 while serving in the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) as a conscripted private. His death is believed to be a hate crime committed because of the victim's ethnic background.

The Armenian Genocide

The Armenian Genocide (1915-23) was the deliberate and systematic destruction of the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire during and just after World War I. It was characterized by massacres and deportations, involving forced marches under conditions designed to lead to the death of the deportees, with the total number of deaths reaching 1.5 million.

The majority of Armenian Diaspora communities were formed by the Genocide survivors.

Present-day Turkey denies the fact of the Armenian Genocide, justifying the atrocities as “deportation to secure Armenians”. Only a few Turkish intellectuals, including Nobel Prize winner Orhan Pamuk and scholar Taner Akcam, speak openly about the necessity to recognize this crime against humanity.

The Armenian Genocide was recognized by Uruguay, Russia, France, Lithuania, Italy, 45 U.S. states, Greece, Cyprus, Lebanon, Argentina, Belgium, Austria, Wales, Switzerland, Canada, Poland, Venezuela, Chile, Bolivia, the Vatican, Luxembourg, Brazil, Germany, the Netherlands, Paraguay, Sweden, Venezuela, Slovakia, Syria, Vatican, as well as the European Parliament and the World Council of Churches.