MARCH 3, 2018 Mirror-SpeTHE ARMENIAN ctator Volume LXXXVIII, NO. 32, Issue 4527 $ 2.00 NEWS The First English Language Armenian Weekly in the United States Since 1932 INBRIEF (AP PHOTO) Azerbaijan Distorts Killing Orders Lays Bare Reality over Khojaly Orders for Armenian YEREVAN (Armenpress) — Twenty two Members of the European Parliament MEPs representing the Annihilation by Turkish Club of Azerbaijan`s Friends in the European Government Parliament have signed a declaration where noth- ing is mentioned about “genocide,” or Armenians or Armenia. A day before the Azerbaijani mass media spread information that allegedly the By Alin K. Gregorian European parliament has adopted a declaration Mirror-Spectator Staff over the “Khojaly events.” Earlier, in a meeting with Azerbaijanis in the Georgian city Marneuli, President of Georgia Giorgi Margvelashvili did not WORCESTER — Prof. Taner Akçam has yield to the provocation of one of the participant been at the forefront of finding evidence young men, who asked the President to honor the confirming the Armenian Genocide and the memory of the victims of the so-called “Khojaly role of the Ottoman central government in events” with a minute of silence. Azerbaijani media the murders for decades. His latest book, outlets note that the ceremony of the one-minute Killing Orders: Talat Pasha’s Telegrams and silence did not take place, instead Margvelashvili the Armenian Genocide, is the latest volley noted that he follows Nagorno Karabakh conflict he has launched to bring down the curtain People pray next to the closed doors of the Holy Sepluchre Church on February 25 settlement process. “Georgia is against the escala- of denial of the tion of Nagorno Karabakh conflict,” he said. Turkish govern- ment. The book, pub- Israel Suspends Plan to Tax Paylan Requests lished this week by Palgrave Mac- Explanation on Gov. millian, is an Jerusalem Church Properties expanded with Patriarchate additional two “As a result, the Jerusalem Interference new chapters By Nebi Qena Municipality is suspending the collec- available only in tion actions it has taken in recent ISTANBUL (Armenpress) —Armenian-Turkish English-language weeks,” it said. Member of Parliament representing the People’s translation of his book on Naim Bey, which JERUSALEM (AP) — Jerusalem’s There was no immediate reaction Democratic Party (HDP) Garo Paylan has sent an was originally published in Turkish last year. mayor on Tuesday, February 27, sus- from church leaders, and it was unclear inquiry to Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu regard- In it, Akçam literally shows the orders pended a plan to impose taxes on whether the Church of the Holy ing the Istanbul government’s interference and from the central government to extermi- properties owned by Christian church- Sepulchre would reopen. obstruction of the Armenian Patriarchal election, nate Armenians in various parts of the es, backing away from a move that Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox and Agos reports. country. Many have referred to the book’s had enraged religious leaders and led leaders of other Christian denomina- In the inquiry, Paylan said that in 2017, before explosive content which once and for all to the closure of the Church of the tions closed the famed church on the constitutional referendum, President Recep shows that not only the genocide happened Holy Sepulchre. Sunday to protest an order by Tayyip Erdogan had promised the Armenian com- but that it was done on orders of the cen- In a statement, Prime Minister Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat to begin munity of Turkey to deal with the patriarchal elec- tral government, as an “earthquake” in the Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said a pro- taxing their properties. tion issue. field of Armenian Genocide studies. fessional team was being established to The church is revered as the site Paylan mentioned that Patriarch Mesrop see AKÇAM, page 8 negotiate with church officials to “for- where Jesus was crucified and Mutafyan is incapacitated due to severe illness, mulate a solution.” see HOLY SEPULCHRE, page 20 which was the reason of Aram Atesian’s appoint- ment as patriarchal vicar in 2010, however the appointment was against the rules of the Armenian Church. Although Archbishop Karekin Bekjian was Wallenberg Foundation elected as locum tenens on March 15, 2017 in Decries Israeli Vote not accordance to the constitution and necessary pro- cedures, the Istanbul Governor’s Office sent a let- To Recognize Armenian ter on February 5, 2018 to the patriarchate, claim- ing they only acknowledge Atesian. Genocide “In the case when the Armenian community was waiting for the patriarchal elections to which it is enti- tled, state interference in the process both ignores our By Tamara Zieve church traditions and causes despair within the com- munity,” Paylan said. In this context, he asked the interior minister on what grounds the state interfered JERUSALEM (Jerusalem Post) — The in the patriarchal election process. International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation He also asked why the process was stopped and expressed “deep disappointment” in the why the deputy governor used the term “so called” Knesset’s rejection of a bill to recognize the when addressing the elected locum tenens. Prof. Tessa Hofmann at the genocide memorial Armenian Genocide earlier this month. Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely Ecumenical Altars of Remembrance in Berlin said that while Israel had sent a parliamen- tary delegation to the 100th anniversary BERLIN — It was a bitter cold day in mid-February, with a strong wind that event in Yerevan, it will not take an official INSIDE chilled to the bone. As we walked from the bus stop and entered the stance on the matter, “in light of its com- Luisenkirchhof III cemetery plexity and diplomatic repercussions, and through the huge gate, I thought because it has a clear political connection.” By Muriel Mirak-Weissbach about the women and children The Raoul Wallenberg Foundation sent a Demoyan on Special to the Mirror-Spectator being deported from their homes in letter on Thursday, February 22, to Knesset Ottoman Empire over a hundred Speaker Yuli Edelstein, with a copy to years ago, and what immense suffer- Hotovely and Yesh Atid leader Knesset America ing they must have faced as they wound their way through inclement weath- Member Yair Lapid, who sponsored the bill. er, on their march toward death. Edelstein called on the government in Page 12 My guide and companion, Prof. Tessa Hofmann, was as warmly bundled up as 2015 to change its stance, and in 2016 the I was, so we could go on walking up to the central chapel and beyond, with no Knesset Education Committee recognized fear of freezing. On the other side of the chapel, the path continued until we the genocide. reached a façade of massive altars, which stretched out to the left and right in However, any motion for official state INDEX front of us. The three altars in the middle stood solemn and dignified, each with recognition of the genocide has failed to go Arts and Living . 13 a cross of a different kind placed in the arch. The first altar on the left with its through. Armenia . 2,3 graceful khachkar must be the house of the Armenians; the next had a cross with “Regrettably, this voting down has been Community News. 6 arms of equal length to designate the house of the Greeks from Asia Minor, repeating itself, time and again, for the last Editorial . 18 Pontos and Eastern Thrace; and the third displayed the cross of the Aramaens, few years, as a constant ritual,” read the let- International . .. 4,5 Assyrians and Chaldeans. ter, signed by foundation chairman see ALTARS, page 5 see WALLENBERG, page 20 2 S ATURDAY, M ARCH 3 , 2 0 1 8 T HE A RMENIAN M IRROR -S PECTATOR ARMENIA News From Armenia Parliament Observes Moment of Silence in Honor of Sumgait Victims YEREVAN (Armenpress) — A moment of silence was observed in the Armenian parliament during hearings on the Sumgait pogroms on February 27. Larisa Alaverdyan, president of the Against Legal Arbitrariness NGO, offered to pay tribute to the vic- tims of the event during the parliamentary hearings titled “Sumgait Pogroms: Armenophobia as Azerbaijan’s State Policy.” Alaverdyan stressed that survivors of the Sumgait pogroms are among the participants of the discus- sion. “I bow before all of you,” she said Prayer for Peace Offered In the Mother Cathedral President Michel Aoun toasts with Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan and Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan ECHMIADZIN — On February 23, with the bless- ings of Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians; in response to an appeal made by Lebanon’s President Aoun Visits Armenia Pope Francis on February 4, a special prayer for YEREVAN (Combined Sources) — is best relished by thousands of tainable development of our two peo- peace was offered during the Great Lent Evening Lebanese President Michel Aoun Lebanese Armenians with their ples,” Sargsyan said. Service in the Mother See of Holy Echmiadzin, for arrived for a state visit in Armenia on peaceful and creative activities, devo- In turn, Aoun thanked President peace in war-torn nations, in particular for the Thursday, February 22. He was tion to Lebanon and filial love for Sargsyan for a warm welcome, stress- Democratic Republic of Congo and for South Sudan. received by President Serzh Sargsyan. Armenia,” Sargsyan said. ing that this was his first trip to Present at the Prayer for Peace were the Supreme The presidents held a meeting fol- “While walking down Beirut Armenia and, while being an official- Spiritual Council members and staff of the Mother lowed by a press conference, during streets, the Armenian breath exists political visit, it bears a special charac- See. which they confirmed the close ties everywhere. I feel great pride that ter.