Antisemitism in Armenia

[Elin]

Two Examples

Armenian Studies Materials


Sunday , 23 April 2006


"On 25 January 2005 the General Prosecutor's Office in Armenia announced the arrest of the chairman of the small ultra-nationalist Union of Armenian Aryans, Armen Avetisian. Avetisian was charged with inciting ethnic intolerance ("inciting national racial or religious hostility," Article 226 of the Armenian Criminal Code) for making repeated antisemitic statements. Avetisian will face 3-6 years imprisonment if found guilty. His supporters have established a committee in his defense, maintaining that the real reason behind his arrest is his fight against homosexuality. In an interview with the weekly IRAVUNK in January 2005, Avetisian promised to make sure that the Jews were expelled from Armenia.

Members of the small Armenian Jewish community, who until recently had not been confronted with antisemitism, are alarmed over the rise in antisemitic propaganda since 2004, when Tigran Karapetian, owner of the private pro-government TV station ALM, used a talk show to disseminate antisemitic views, portraying Jews as dominating Armenia and the world and blaming them for Armenia's political and socio-economic problems."


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Source: Yerevan Press Club, January 2005; Armenian News network, 26 January 2005; Eurosianet, 29 January 2005; Armenialiberty news, 25 January 2005; TruthNews, 26 January 2005.



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REPUBLIC OF ARMENIA
Rimma Varzhapetyan,
Chairman, The Jewish Community of Armenia

ANTI-SEMITISM IN ARMENIA

To read the full story: http://www.eajc.org/program_art_e.php?id=6


The abstract from the letter from Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister in Armenia Mr. Ruben Shugaryan to the chair of Armenia’s Jewish Community, Mrs. Rimma Varzhapetyan, dated May 16, 2003.

“I would like to ensure you that the Armenian government unambiguously denies any hatred of other nationalities, which would be in itself alien to the Armenian people”.

I received this affirmation in response to my anxious letter to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia concerning the burning of the Turkish flag by representatives of the Dashnaktsutiun youth faction on the eve of April 24, the Day of Remembrance of the genocide in Ottoman Turkey. Lighting their torches from the burning flag, the organizers of the flag burning walked in procession while shouting hateful words about Turkey and Israel, which do not recognize the Armenian genocides. The Yerevan Russian language newspaper published a photograph of the flag on the front page of the paper, as well as the information about its burning. The Dashnaktsutiun faction arranged a similar event the year before.

“One must not see the anti-Semitism in the incident,” as Mr. Shugaryan urged us in his letter. He wrote: “We know the meaning of the 24th of April for the Armenian people, and specific displays of emotion amongst young Armenians in connection to this day do not represent the Armenian people’s attitude toward our Jewish neighbors or Jewish people in general, whom we respect and appreciate”.

Indeed, manifestations of anti-Semitism in Armenia are rare, but such events do occasionally take place.

In front of the Yerevan Writers’ House in February 2002, there was a presentation of Romen Episkopyan’s book The National System, published in Russian and Armenian. Nobody knows the author’s name in Armenia. The book was conceived as an instrument for forming some national system. In the book, the Turks are named the assassinator nation, and the Jews, the destroyer nation. In the chapter entitles The Greatest Falsification of the XX Century the author states that the Holocaust is a myth.

The book presentation attracted mainly the author’s followers, and there was not a positive response in the mass media. On the same day as the presentation, the popular A+ television channel gave me the opportunity to appear on air, to express my position and to call upon the Armenian society to denounce such theorists. Soon afterwards, the Russian-language newspaper The Republic of Armenia published an article condemning the book.

However, I met the ironic and surprising reaction of the President Counselor Mr. Davoyan when I asked him to officially condemn the book, and halt its sales. Mr. Davoyan was indifferent to my request.

It is possible to say that Anti-Semitism in Armenia is characterized by juxtaposing forces. On the one hand, the city administration reacted positively to the proposal to erect a memorial for victims of the Holocaust. In 1999, the city administration was open to the idea of a Yerevan center, and Armenian community representatives participated in the opening ceremony.

On the other hand, we feel anti-Semitic sentiments as a result of Israel’s bitter statements of non-recognition regarding the Armenian genocides. In the days following Israel’s statement, the fascist swastika appeared on the aforementioned memorial and the doors to the Jewish community. The press published anti-Israeli comments that took on a slightly anti-Semitic tone.

I would like to support Mr. Shugaryan in this issue. The Armenian community is extremely sensitive about the recognition of the genocide, or in this case, the non-recognition. In recent years many countries – Russia, France, Italy, Greece, Sweden, and many of the United States have officially recognized the Armenian genocide. Israel’s point-blank denial of this fact cannot be expected to pass without opening up an old wound.

I would like to bring attention to the positive role of the Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and especially Mr. Vardan Oskanyan, as well his deputy Mr. Ruben Shugaryan, in supporting Armenia’s Jewish community. It is essential to mention that following participation in the Annual AJC meeting in Washington (May 5-11, 2003), I visited Los Angeles, where a local Armenian television program invited me to speak on air. I used the opportunity to explain the position of Armenia’s Jewish community on the Armenian recognition issue, as well as relations between citizens and the government in Armenia. The show lasted over one hour, and was met with understanding, based on the phone calls we received. Hopefully these steps will allow us the opportunity to feel safe, just as before.

It is important to note that the appearance of anti-Semitism in Armenia is mainly the result of Armenian immigrants who moved to Russia and Ukraine in search of better economic prospects. Children and young people had never harbored negative perceptions of Armenian Jews in the past, but now immigrants are returning back to Armenia with new anti-Semitic ideas that were previously alien to Armenian society. The so-called Youth Party even distributed Nazi literature, which came from Russia.

The Tolerance – Lessons of the Holocaust seminar, which we organized under the sponsorship of EAJC, demonstrated the importance of this topic within the context of Armenia’s secondary schools. Some of the teachers were not open to our message in the beginning. Nevertheless, words of gratitude and the hope that we will continue to promote tolerance and mutual understanding were expressed at the end of the seminar. The Armenian side expressed its readiness to initiate the Tolerance course in the secondary school program, which we consider to be a serious achievement.

2006

[Elin]

Armenia: Country’s Jews Alarmed Over Nascent Anti-Semitism

By Emil Danielyan

Sunday , 23 April 2006

Armenia’s tiny Jewish community is growing concerned by what it says is mounting anti-Semitism in the South Caucasus country. Virtually nonexistent in the past, the issue has emerged over the past year amid a rise in anti-Jewish propaganda and the desecration of a Holocaust memorial in Yerevan. The government has so far done little to address the Jewish community's concerns.


Yerevan, 26 January 2005 (RFE/RL) -- Rimma Varzhapetian says she always felt proud of Armenia when she met fellow Jews from other parts of the former Soviet Union.
“We always declare everywhere that there has never been anti-Semitism in Armenia, that Armenia is a good place for Jews to live and, more importantly, that Armenia is quite a stable country in political and social respects,” Varzhapetian says.

That is why the secular leader of Armenia’s Jewish community has had trouble coming to terms with what she says is a recent rise in anti-Semitic propaganda.

It began in 2004, when ALM, a private pro-government television channel, began broadcasting a phone-in talk show hosted by the station's owner, Tigran Karapetian. For months, Karapetian used the platform to air views that portrayed Jews as an unsavory race bent on dominating Armenia and the wider world.

Varzhapetian says her office in Yerevan received threatening phone calls after the first series of ALM broadcasts.

Karapetian's rhetoric appeared to embolden Armen Avetisian, the openly anti-Semitic leader of the Armenian Aryan Union, a small ultranationalist party. Avetisian in a recent newspaper interview alleged that there are as many as 50,000 "disguised" Jews in Armenia, and promised he would work to have them expelled from the country. He was arrested on 24 January on charges of inciting ethnic hatred.

A Holocaust memorial in a public park in the center of Yerevan also came under attack in September, when vandals desecrated the memorial on the final day of Jewish New Year celebrations.

Yet what shocked the Jewish community most was an interview with Hranush Kharatian, a prominent ethnologist who heads the Armenian government’s department on religious and minority affairs. Speaking to the “Golos Armenii” (Voice of Armenia) Russian-language newspaper a month after the memorial's desecration, Kharatian accused Jewish leaders of preaching extreme intolerance toward all non-Jews.

In a recent interview with RFE/RL, Kharatian cited what she called the "aggressive ideology" contained in the Talmud, the book of Jewish religious laws. “I see in the Talmud numerous points which clearly state that non-Jews, or infidels that are not Jews, are not human beings and are animals,” she said.

Varzhapetian and other community leaders, including Chief Rabbi Gersh Meir Burshtein, met last month with Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian to ask for help in addressing the problem. A ministry spokesperson, however, said last week the issue is not sufficiently serious to warrant government attention.

Mikael Danielian heads the Armenian Helsinki Association, a human rights group that closely monitors anti-Semitic activity in the country. He criticized the government's failure to address the issue. “I am surprised at the serenity of our state officials," he told RFE/RL. "It could have very serious consequences for Armenia."

Armenia's Jewish community is estimated to number less than 1,000 people. It is largely formed of scientists and other professionals who moved to Armenia in the 1960s and '70s to escape persecution in Russia and Ukraine. Most integrated quickly into society, marrying ethnic Armenians and adopting Armenian surnames.

Until recently, anti-Semitic sentiment in Armenia was limited to occasional allegations by nationalist scholars that Jews had aided the 1915 genocide of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey. The theory -- which is not supported by historical evidence -- was first aired during the presentation of an anti-Semitic book at a 2003 meeting of the Armenian Writers Union. No one in the audience condemned the text.

A global report on anti-Semitism issued this month by the U.S. State Department dedicates just three paragraphs to Armenia. But that was sufficient to unleash a fresh wave of anti-Jewish criticism. ALM's Karapetian, who was cited by name in the U.S. study, responded with a two-hour televised monologue lambasting the United States and the contents of the report.

Several days later, Karapetian received an unexpected phone call during an ALM broadcast. An Armenian woman living in Israel criticized his sweeping bias against Jews, but was quickly cut off by the broadcaster.

"If someone has offended you personally, or if you have problems with your business, it doesn't mean you should hold an entire nation responsible," the woman said in Russian. “Stop asking hysterical questions on air," Karpetian replied. "Shut up and listen to me. You say it’s inadmissible to say ‘Jewish tricks.' But is it permissible to spit at a priest?”

Karapetian was referring to two recent incidents in Jerusalem in which Jewish religious students spat at Armenian priests in a show of their contempt for their Christian faith. The Armenian Apostolic Church has had a presence in Jersualem's Old City for centuries.

The incidents have been cited repeatedly in Armenia as supporting claims of anti-Semitism. But Varzhapetian said Armenia's Jews are still hoping not only the government but also civil society will take steps to stem the rising hatred.

“We are still awaiting a statement [of protest] from prominent Armenians. Armenians themselves must express indignation. First of all, because there are very few of us [in Armenia]. Secondly, protecting ourselves is not quite appropriate,” Varzhapetian said.

Varzhapetian and other community leaders sent an open letter to President Robert Kocharian urging an end to the government's "conspicuous failure to see those inciting anti-Semitism." But the only response to date has been a statement by a cabinet minister saying ethnic and religious discrimination does not exist in Armenia.

First published b y RFE on 26 January 2005. Republishe with permission.
Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty © 2006 RFE/RL, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

[Elin]

The Ottoman experience proves that anti-Semitism is an 'old Armenian habit'. The main reason for anti-semitism among the Ottoman Armenians was mainly religious biases. For the Christian Armenians the Jews were in great sin. It was a common belief among the Armenians that the Jews slaughter young Christian Armenians and use their blood at the Passover feast. In Amasya province for instance local Armenian priests and notables claimed that an Armenian woman had seen Jews slaughter a young Armenian boy and use his blood for religious purposes. Stanford J. Shaw describes the following events:

"Several days of rioting and pillaging and attacks on Jews followed, with Armenian mobs devastating the Jewish quarter of the city, beating men, women and children alike. The Armenian notables convinced the local Ottoman governor to imprison several Jewish leaders, including Rabbi Yakub Avayu, who was accused of having supervised the blood letting. They were said, after undergoing severe torture, to have confessed to their crimes and were hanged. Later, however, the Armenian boy who supposedly had been murdered was found and a new Ottoman governor punished the accusers, though nothing could be done about the Jews who had suffered in the process."

As Abraham Ben-Yakob put it, the Armenian and Greek attacks against the Armenians continued in the following years:

"There were literally thousands of incidents in subsequent years, invariably resulting from accusations spread among Greeks and Armenians by word mouth, or published in their newspapers, often by Christian financiers and merchants who were anxious to get the Jews out of the way, resulting in isolated and mob attacks on Jews, and burning of their shops and homes."

Apart from the religious prejudices, the Jewish community in the Empire dramatically rose in numbers and their influence over the administration and economy increased, and this development made the Christian subjects (Armenians, Greeks etc.) worried. Unfortunately this competition between the Jews and Christians resulted in a long series of attacks against the Jews by the Armenians and Greeks, who simply did not want to lose their influential position in terms of politics and economy. In these assaults many Jews were assassinated. When the Europeans increased their economic and political influence over the Ottoman Empire they publicly supported the Ottoman Christians and the Armenians and Greeks gained a clear privilege in trade, which was unfavourable to the Jews. The local Armenians and Greeks had the American and the European diplomats and businessmen with them, while the Jews had to rely on their own sources and their good relations with the Ottoman bureaucracy. In addition, as the Armenians and Greeks got richer and more influential, harassments and the constant attacks against the Jews increased as witnessed in Izmir during the 19th century. The competition between the Armenians and the Jews was severe in Palace and the financial system in particular. When the Armenian bankers sustained monopoly over the Ottoman financial system they did everything to get the Jews out of the Palace, and even libelled Jews by accusing the Jews of not being loyal to the Sultan. As a result of these slanders, many Jews lost their life.

Another dramatic development for the Jews was the impact of the European military victories and conquests of Ottoman territories by the European armies, because when the Christian European armies occupied the Ottoman possessions they were supporting their Christian ‘brothers’, Armenians, Greeks and Bulgarians, and punishing the Jews and Muslims alike. Consequently the Jews became the most loyal ones to the government in the 19th century and this also worsened the relations between the nationalist Armenians and the Jews. The radical Armenians perceived the Jews as the agent of the state against their ‘revolutionary’ movement. Even some Armenians would claim that some of the responsible officers for the 1915 events, which the Armenians see these events as ‘genocide’, were Jews, freemasons or supported by the Jews or freemasons. Although this kind of claims cannot be considered as serious or scholarly, they are useful to understand the degree of the Armenian anti-semitism.

The fourth negative development for the Ottoman Jews was the nationalist-separatist movements in the Arab territories, the Balkans and in Anatolia. The only protector of the Jews in these regions was the Ottoman state and its governor because the Arabs and the Christians hated the Jews due to the tradition and religion. That is why the Jews became more and more loyal to their state, and this more annoyed the nationalist groups, particularly the Greeks and the Armenians. In many Greek uprisings for instance the Jews supported the Ottoman State against the rioters as witnessed in the Ottoman – Greek War in 1897 for Crete island. The Ottoman security forces had to intervene to protect the Jews from the Armenians, Greeks and the Arabs especially in the 19th century. In Syria in particular the Christian Arabs and Armenians hated the Jews as a result of the religious biases.

In summary, the Armenians continually attacked the Jews for the religious reasons and for personal and ethnic interests. In the words of Shaw, ‘the attacks were brutal and without mercy. Women, children, and aged Jewish men were frequently attacked, beaten and often killed’.[8] These attacks inevitably caused a severe tension and nourished mutual hate between the Armenians and the Jews. As a result the Jews sometimes co-operated with other ethnic groups against the Armenians as Shaw puts it:

"Jewish resentment against the continued persecution and ritual murder attacks by Greeks and Armenians led to such hatred that, for example, many Jews actively assisted the attacks of Kurds and Lazzes on the Armenian quarters of Istanbul in 1896 and 1908, showing the Kurds where Armenians lived and where many of them were hiding and joining them in carrying away the booty. The result was even greater Armenian hatred for Jews than had been the case before, leading to further persecution and attacks in subsequent years’"

[Elin]

http://www.israelforum.com/board/sho...36&postcount=9

This is Israel-Turkey Friendship forum, if anyone wonder about their opinions they can directly ask Turkish Jews and get a direct answer. Most of them immigrated to Israel many years ago but they never lost contact with Turkey.

http://www.turkey.co.il/turkce/viewforum.php?f=1

Moreover we have very famous Jewish journalist,writer in this forum, RIFAT BALI (you can search his name on the net). He wrotes several books about anti-semitism,Turkish Jews,Aliya...etc. He dedicated his life to judaism and to Jews of Turkey,you also have a chance to learn his opinions as well.

He is member of the forum,we know because he mentioned about Israel-Turkey Forum in his interview in Aksam Newspaper.

http://www.aksam.com.tr/haber.asp?a=49007,104

[Elin]

I'm sorry,i'm really sorry but i did not start,i thought these Turkish-Armenian things closed in israelforum but it seems some people did not finished yet.

I will write here again,"Mein Kampf" issue,this book sold 50.000 copies sond in Turkey and Turkey's population is 70 MILLION. I am one of them who bought this book,and i am the last person on the earth who can be blame for being anti-semitist.

[Cellis]

if I was moderator, i could drop your this topic aswell.
there are better things, go to cultures section and waste time for philosophy or science.

Israeli+Americans are really cool about science...