April 24th in Your Community - Campaign for Recognition of the Armenian Genocide (CRAG)

PENCIL IN YOUR DATES: 23, 24 and 25 April 2004 for the 89th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.


1) Friday, 23 April 2004, at 7:30 pm:

A 90-minute ARMENIAN GENOCIDE SPECIAL MEMORIAL SERVICE with the theme WE SHALL NOT DIE takes place at St John's Anglican Church, Lansdowne Crescent, Ladbroke Grove, (closest to Notting Hill Gate, Ladbroke Grove or Holland Park tube stations) in London W11 2NN.

Thematising the Armenian Genocide, the Memorial Service will include a mix of short addresses by distinguished speakers with short performances by internationally-acclaimed and British-based Armenian artists who will generously blend spiritual dance (Shakeh Avanessian), poetry (Garo Toughtarian), violin (Tatevik Khacahtryan), piano (Anna Saradjian), organ (Arthur Babikian), song (Nicole Carapiet) and duduk (Ara Petrosyan).

CRAG invites you all to support this unique and outward-looking evening. It is an open and free public event, and you are encouraged to invite your Armenian and British friends to attend this special remembrance event and pay homage to the victims of the first genocide of the 20th century and to the surviving and prevailing spirit of Armenians worldwide today.


2) Saturday, 24 April 2004:

a) MARCH from Marble Arch to the Cenotaph at Whitehall. The assembly point is at 12:30 pm at Marble Arch (nearest tube station, Marble Arch on the Central line), and the starting time will be at 1:00 pm sharp.

A prayer and commemorative wreath at the Cenotaph, will be followed by the handing of a letter a letter to PM Tony Blair.

A coach service is available from Acton Town, near Hayashen / Acton High School. It departs at 11:30 am.

b) SILENT VIGIL outside the Turkish Embassy, 43 Belgrave Square, Belgravia, London SW1, from 4:30 pm until 6:30 pm.

Nearest tube station is Hyde Park Corner.

c) Requiem Service / HOKEHANKISD presided by HG Bishop Nathan Hovhannisian, at St Sarkis Church at 7:00 pm.


3) Sunday, 25 April 2004, at 1:30 pm:

CRAG is also privileged to sponsor a lecture by the Armenian American lawyer Vartkes Yeghiayan, and chaired by member of BALA, the British Armenian Lawyers' Association in the UK.

The timely topic will be the $20 million Armenian Genocide Insurance Settlement. Mr Yeghiayan will elaborate on the proposed settlement of class action lawsuit pending in the California Federal Court.

The venue is the Gulbenkian Hall, next to St Sarkis Church, Iverna gardens, London W8. (Closest tube station, Kensington High Street on the Circle and District lines).

CRAG invites all Armenian individuals and organisations to ATTEND those commemorative and marking events.

New York Times Reverses Policy On Armenian Genocide

In a move aimed at reaffirming its past record on the first genocide of the 20th Century, the New York Times has lifted its long-standing policy against the use of the term "Armenian Genocide," reported the Armenian National Committee (ANC) of New York.

According to a news release by the International Association of Genocide Scholars, The New York Times revised guideline for journalists states that "after careful study of scholarly definitions of 'genocide', we have decided to accept the term in references to the Turks' mass destruction of Armenians in and around 1915." The policy goes on to note that "the expression 'Armenian genocide' may be used freely and should not be qualified with phrasing like 'what Armenians call,' etc.

For full details, log on www.accc.org.uk

The Armenian Genocide and Historical Memory

A newly-published book in English, by Ethnographer Dr Vergine Svazlian, consists of 650 survivors' stories and eye-witnesses accounts of the Armenian Genocide, methodically carried out by the government of Turkey between 1915-1922.

This book is a heavy contribution to the history of the Armenian Genocide. Published in 500 copies it will be distributed to foreign embassies in Armenia, international organizations, researching in Armenian history. Its Turkish-language edition will appear soon.

For full details, log on www.accc.org.uk

Historic Maps of Armenia: The Cartographic Heritage

A new book by Rouben Galitchian, private scholar and collector, brings together an extraordinary collection of maps from the earliest times into the modern era. It reproduces the most important representations of Armenia, and consists a work of reference and artistic distinction which will prove an essential tool to all who follow the history of Armenia, the Caucasus, the Ottoman and Iranian worlds, collectors and enthusiasts of cartography.

Publishers are I. B. Tauris, and you can access them for full information and
order forms at www.ibtauris.com.

For full details, log on www.accc.org.uk

Genocide and Minorities, Preventing the Preventable

CRAG refers to the advocacy briefing, Genocide and Minorities, Preventing the Preventable, by John Packer and Erik Friberg, that was launched by the UK-based Minority Rights Group International on 15 April 2004 at the United Nations Office, Palais des Nations, Geneva.

To access directly, www.accc.org.uk/__CRAG/__crag.html,where you can also read the full briefing (in pdf format). Again, for this document as well
as other events and documents, log on www.accc.org.uk.


Contact us: Armenia - Diaspora Official Web Site
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia
Government House 2, Republic Square, Yerevan 375010, Republic of Armenia

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