107 years since the start of the Armenian genocide on 24 April 1915. 1.5 million estimated Armenians were systemically killed between 1915-1923 by the Turks on the orders of Talaat Pasha. Another estimates 250,000 Assyrians were killed and 900,000 Greeks were killed.
Turkey has never been held accountable for their actions. They actively deny the genocide to this day. Turkey is guilty of genocide.
107 years ago turkey tried to wipe out the Armenians. 1.5million gone, but we are still here. Turkey failed.
Armenians have lived in Jerusalem for 1,600 years and Armenian Palestinians are the oldest group in the Armenian diaspora. From their indigenous land in Artsakh to the Armenian Quarter in Jerusalem, Armenians have been facing ethnic cleansing and persecution on multiple fronts. With the escalating genocidal violence in Gaza and the West Bank, armed settler encroachment into Armenian holdings in Jerusalem has fallen under the radar of some pro-Palestine activism and it is critical we do not allow this to happen.
Some context:
( In 1948, Armenians in Jerusalem numbered about 16,000. Today, that number has shrunk; estimates range from 700-1000, with a smaller community in Bethlehem. )
“We are not the objectives of the Israelis, but we occupy a huge chunk of Jerusalem. The fact that we’re here is an obstacle for them, but we’ve been here for 1,600 years and we’re not going anywhere.”
"These are only the most visible of the challenges facing the community....Israeli discrimination, economic decline, and political insecurity have taken a toll on Armenians, encouraging emigration.
A century after the community was nearly annihilated, Armenian Palestinians today say they feel deeply at home in the Holy Land, but fear how much longer they will be able to hold on."
“Don’t ask me about the massacres that happened 100 years ago [1915],” Annie Guluzian said when asked about her experiences as an Armenian Palestinian. “I won’t open [up about] those topics. Because if I do, I will start talking about my brother who was martyred by the Israelis in the [second] Intifada.”
The toll of the Israeli occupation in Palestine is what defines her life today, Guluzian added. Source
Since October 26th, 2023, when the leader of the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem announced it would cancel a once-secret 2021 land lease deal with a real estate company that has alleged links to settler interests, the company, Xana Gardens, has sent in armed settlers and bulldozers to steal the land (including Armenian Chruch property and several Armenian families). Armenians have been resisting the occupational forces day in and day out.
From November 5th:
Link to tweet and video
November 5th:
Link to tweet and video
November 22nd:
Link to tweet and thread
November 25th:
Link to tweet and thread
In response, Armenians have created an account on Twitter called SaveTheArq which has been documenting and updating on social media the recent land demolitions by Israeli settlers in the Armenian quarter, they have also launched a fundraiser for legal actions to protect the Armenian quarter and I highly recommend donating, if you can't, please share it around:
[left: Anam is 90 years old. She lived through the Nakba in 1948, and today she was displaced again from the city to the south of the Gaza Strip.]
via ig: belalkh
[right: Amalia born in Martakert, Artsakh in 1920. Older than the borders of her region. She has experienced genocide all her life. She is now a refugee.]
"The images speak to what the Turkish state wants people to remember, and what it wants them to forget."
"Questioning the dominant narratives can be dangerous, however. Historians, authors, human rights activists, and ordinary citizens in Turkey have been investigated, prosecuted, or arrested for “insulting the memory of Atatürk,” a crime under Turkish law; while journalists and TV directors have been threatened with legal action for purportedly mocking or misrepresenting the Ottoman sultans. Statements related to the Armenian genocide are among those that have been deemed objectionable."
As we witness the ongoing ethnic cleansing by the state of Israel of the Palestinian people, we can look at its template, the progress of eradication by Turks of Armenians, both their persons and their culture, in the 108 years since Turkey launched the first genocide.
Only 3 months after completing the long-planned ethnic cleansing of Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) by forcing out Armenians, the indigenous population with a history of over 3000 years and, thus, having successfully carried out yet another step of turk-azeri multi-stage strategy of the (second!) genocide of Armenians...And yet, rather than be held accountable for the above-mentioned, azerbaijan recently won the bid to host the United Nation's climate summit next year.
REWARDED 3 months after carrying out an ethnic cleansing! It's funny how the world is so selective about which war crimes must be reprimanded and which ones— rewarded.
I've been really angry and drained from the state of the world at the moment, so I felt the need to draw something that spelt out my desire for peace. Spread awareness for all of this.
Who Remembers the Armenians?, Najwan Darwish / Myth of the Vanishing Indian, Rena Priest / Shadow Procession, William Kentridge / The Wretched of the Earth, Frantz Fanon / Darfur (Jesus Wept), William F. DeVault / Srebrenica, Safet Zec
Kozandere served as the stage for a macabre spectacle: the corpses of Armenians tortured and killed there were dressed in Muslim costume, capped with turbans, and photographed. ...The pictures were then reproduced and widely distributed, first in Dyarbekir, later in Istanbul, and even Germany. They were supposed to show victims of atrocities committed by the Armenian “insurgents,” “in order to incite the population against the Armenians.”