This khachkar cross-stone in Jerusalem's Old City recalls the Armenian genocide, a painful and complex chapter of history still waiting for wider recognition.
Yesterday, after prayer, eighteen Jerusalem churches rang their bells one hundred times to mark the 100th anniversary of the beginning of the genocide.
Today, after a memorial Mass at St. James, wreaths were laid at the monastery in the Armenian Quarter.
At noon there were demonstrations at the Turkish consulate in Jerusalem and at the Turkish embassy in Tel Aviv.
In the afternoon all the Patriarchs of Jerusalem gathered at the Holy Sepulchre for a memorial Mass.
In Armenia one and a half million victims were yesterday canonized.
There is also a video of today's ceremony at the monument in Yerevan, Armenia, to which Israel sent an official delegation of several Knesset members.
.
For more about Armenian Christians in Jerusalem see my earlier posts.
May justice be done, as we remember this tragedy.
.
To learn more:
http://www.timesofisrael.com/imploring-for-recognition-jerusalems-armenians-to-mark-100th-anniversary-of-genocide/
http://www.newsweek.com/souls-vanished-armenian-genocide-1915-and-so-did-stories-323851
Video of "Face the Shadow," Armenia's 2015 song for the Eurovision contest.
.
Poignant and fitting. I wasn't downtown, but there was a large demonstration on Parliament Hill and march to the Turkish embassy.
ReplyDeleteThank You - Good Shabbos
ReplyDeleteALOHA from Honolulu,
ComfortSpiral
=^..^=
A very nice blog post
ReplyDeleteAlice
I don't understand why the Turks don't acknowledge that "terrible, terrible things happen in war. So many of our lads were killed, and so many Armenians were killed. It must never happen again."
ReplyDeleteAfter all it is not unknown that previous enemies could acknowledge what happened in war. Atatürk wrote a very moral tribute to the Anzacs killed at Gallipoli: "Those heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives ... You are now lying in the soil of a friendly country. Therefore rest in peace. There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side here in this country of ours ... You, the mothers who sent their sons from faraway countries, wipe away your tears; your sons are now lying in our bosom and are in peace. After having lost their lives on this land they have become our sons as well."
Lovely, Dina. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteWhy is so much of history so sad?
ReplyDeleteNot surely a priority of the actual Turkish government...
ReplyDeleteI didn't know about any of this until an Armenian friend enlightened me to the horrible tragedy.
ReplyDelete