04/24/2013 = 98th Armenian Martyr's Day Commemeration
Wednesday, April 24, 2013 at 8:53AMIn two years we will be commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. For some reason the Turkish government hates that word: "Genocide" which was coined by Raphael Lemkin. The term "genocide" was born by combining Greek genos (γένος; race, people) and Latin cīdere (to kill).
Over the years, the Turkish Government has indirectly forced politicians to find other words to take its place: "catastrophe", "victims", "tragedy", "slaughter", "atrocities", "massacres". Yes these are all good descriptions but it was still a Genocide.
A little history for those of you who are not in tune with this: In April 1915 the Ottoman government embarked upon the systematic decimation of its civilian Armenian population. The persecutions continued with varying intensity until 1923 when the Ottoman Empire ceased to exist and was replaced by the Republic of Turkey. The Armenian population of the Ottoman state was reported at about two million in 1915. An estimated one million had perished by 1918, while hundreds of thousands had become homeless and stateless refugees. By 1923 virtually the entire Armenian population of Anatolian Turkey had disappeared.
Armenians throughout the world are uniting today in spirit, in resonance, in energy, in consciousness.
God bless all of you,
Keri Topouzian
BTW: I just looked out the window and its snowing...
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