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The Official Unveiling of the Genocide Monument in South Australia
On Sunday, May 20, 2012 in the city of Adelaide in South Australia, a special ceremony was organised to commemorate the unveiling of a monument dedicated to the victims of the Armenian, Assyrian and Pontian Greeks genocide committed by Turkey’s Ottoman government during World War I, 1914-1923. The genocide perpetrated against the Christian population of Anatolia, a shameful act by the Ottoman Empire in its final years, claimed the lives of one and a half million Armenians, half a million Pontian Greeks and 750,000 Assyrians.Erecting the South Australian genocide monument was the result of great efforts made by three brotherly organizations: the Pontian Brotherhood of South Australia, the Armenian Cultural Association of South Australia, and the Assyrian Universal Alliance-Australia Chapter.The commemoration began with a mass held at St. Dimitrios Greek Orthodox Church of Salisbury in memory of the victims of the said genocide. It was conducted by His Grace Bishop Nikandros of Doryleon and Rev. Fathers Christos Tsoraklidis and Silouan Fotineas, and was attended by more than 20 representatives from local, state and federal government.
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Five Prominent Assyrians Receive Outstanding Community Service Award
Five Assyrian leaders were presented the outstanding Community Service Award on Wednesday 11 May, 2012. The Ceremony took place in the Jubilee Room of the New South Wales (NSW) Parliament House, Macquarie Street in Sydney.A Resolution authored by the Hon. Marie Ficarra MLC, Parliamentary Secretary to the Premier of NSW, was passed unanimously by the Legislative Council of the Parliament of NSW in relation to the outstanding community service of certain Assyrian community leaders.Mr. David M. David, President of the Assyrian Australian National Federation, Mr. Hermiz Shahen, Deputy Secretary General of the Assyrian Universal Alliance (AUA), Mr. Simon Essavian, president of the Assyrian Charity and Education Community, Mr. Yacop Barhy, member of the NSW Babylon Cultural Association, and Mr. Ninos Aaron, Chairman of the Young Assyrians.
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Introducing Dragons and Violins, A True Assyrian Story
Dragons and Violins is the story of George Edgar, born in Persia at a time of terrible violence against Assyrian Christians. His family escaped to Russia, then Constantinople, and finally to the United States on July 4th, 1921. In World War II, he helped build assault bridges from Normandy to the outskirts of Berlin, his life unfolding against the backdrop of monumental events. But despite all obstacles, nothing deterred him from his one true dream - to become a violinist.The author of the book is David A. Armstrong, George’s grandson. Like Not Even My Name by Thea Halo and The Crimson Field by Rosie Malek-Yonan, Dragons and Violins also covers the tragic events of the genocide of 1914.In the introduction of the book, David writes:"Chicago, 1956 — I HAVE ONLY one photograph of the occasion, yet the image shows me many things. With it and the imagination my grandfather nurtured in me, I can relive as if I were there the important evening in the sweltering summer of 1956 when he performed a violin solo at Orchestra Hall with members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra as part of the conservatory’s summer season opening concert. His performance of Mozart’s “Concerto in A Major for Violin and Orchestra” was the culmination of an intense, region-wide competition, one for which he had practiced ceaselessly for months, the kind of accomplishment he had set his heart on for four decades at least—since the time when he had been a small boy in Persia, the son of a skilled Assyrian craftsman who made tars, the long-necked Persian lutes whose sound bowls are covered with lambskin.My grandfather was born a musician and throughout a life of huge challenge and high adventure—one in which he repeatedly struggled to survive—it was the violin and the music of Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, and Mendelssohn that fascinated him, moved him, and to which he brought his colossal persistence and dedication. Born near the salt-encrusted shore of Lake Urmia in far northwestern Persia—a place that today is part of Iran—my grandfather traveled with his family on foot and by train to Russia to escape the slaughter of Assyrian, Armenian and Pontic Greek Christians by marauding Kurds and Turks, endured the famine that presaged the Russian revolution, saved his mother from rape at the hands of a tsarist soldier, then, miraculously, escaped with her to teeming Constantinople, now Istanbul, where they awaited visas that eventually would allow them to sail to the United States.
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The Assyrian Flag and its Designer
By Arianne Ishaya, Ph.D.This article is an excerpt from a book titled The Assyrian Flag. It is in the form of an extensive interview that Mr. Homer Abramian, the chief editor of Kirkha (an Assyrian periodical published in Iran), had with the designer of the Assyrian flag, Mr. George Bet Atanous (1919-2000).The interview touches on many different topics including the history, mythology, and the art of ancient Assyrians as well as contemporary issues regarding the legal status of the Assyrian minority in the constitution of Iran in the post Islamic revolution era.George Bet Atanous published this interview in the form of a book to be distributed freely to friends and fellow Assyrians. It should be noted that almost every page is adorned with ancient Assyrian art motifs and designs, some of which he analyzes as to their symbolic significance in response to the questions from the interviewer. In that context, he also tells the reason why he was prompted to design the present Assyrian national emblem, the flag, and how he chose the representational symbols for it.
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Assyrian Genocide Monument Unveiled in Armenia
Yerevan, May 3, 2012 – Once again the Assyrian nation has proved that it will mass stronger against all attempts to deny the Assyrian genocide committed by the Ottoman Turkey during WWI, which claimed about 750,000 innocent lives, and show to the world the heinous crimes committed against its people. “Turkey is still living in denial of this fact” Mr. Arsan Mikhaylov said. On Wednesday 25th April 2012, the Assyrian people of Armenia gathered en masse to celebrate the official unveiling of the Assyrian genocide monument in a public land located at Crossroads of Moskovyan and Nalbandyan in central Yerevan. A special prayer service was organised by the Rev. Father Isaac Tamras from the Assyrian church of the East at the beginning of the ceremony. The formal proceedings began with the Armenian and the Assyrian national Anthems, followed by a minute silence observed in memory of victims of the Assyrian genocide .After welcoming the attendees by the Master of ceremonies Mr. Razmik Khosroev, RA Meritorious Artist, lecturer at Yerevan Theatre and Film, State Pedagogical University, he then invited Mr. Arsan Mikhaylov, president of the Atour Association in Armenia and the Secretary of Eastern Europe of the Assyrian Universal Alliance to welcome the attendees.“What prompted us to build this Assyrian genocide monument in Armenia is our respect for our martyrs who gave their lives for the preservation of our Assyrian cultural and ethnic identity, and also to add our voice to those of our fellow Armenians in this country” Mr. Arsan Mikhaylov said. Mr. Mikhaylov continued that many Assyrian organisations from different countries have contributed to the cost of the entire project. The site is expected to become a pilgrimage site not only for the Assyrians but for Armenians and Pontic Greeks who are also victims of the same genocide.
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