April24

1.5 million Armenians

admin — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 05:00:59 +0000

A publisher, television commentator, and president of the Armenian Arts Fund, Partamian said the first project planned for the centenary is to collect portrait photographs of a minimum of 1.5 million Armenians whose ancestors included victims of the Genocide. The photos will be published in a full-color book titled One and a Half Million as well as posted online.
The goal, according to Partamian, is to identify a direct line between the victims and their present-day survivors. The photos, which can include individuals, couples, or families, will be accompanied by captions which will indicate the link between the survivors and their ancestors.
Also within the framework of this project, 100 “family reunions” will be photographed in front of Genocide memorials across the world. The group photos, featuring extended Armenian families which have lost members to the Genocide, will likewise be published in the One and a Half Million volume.

Yes,We Have

admin — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 04:46:52 +0000

“No nationality has contributed more to the art, architecture, handcrafts, science, and technology of the Ottoman Empire (and, to a lesser extent, modern Turkey) than the Armenians,”Partamian said.“Yet today the Turkish people, which has been misguided by decades of denialist propaganda, knows next to nothing about the crucial and far-reaching role which the Armenians have played in Ottoman and Turkish life.”
Therefore, Partamian explained, his fifth project is to publish a Turkish version of Yes, We Have, which will celebrate the diverse contributions of Armenians to the Ottoman Empire and Turkey. In order to make the book available to as many Turkish-speaking people as possible, Partamian said, the book will be sold in Turkey and elsewhere at a nominal price or even distributed free of charge.“If knowledge leads to understanding, we need to educate the Turks about the Armenian past and, consequently, the responsibility of their ancestors in the decimation of Armenian citizens of the Ottoman Empire,” Partamian added.

The Armenian

admin — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 04:45:49 +0000

Partamian’s fourth project will expand on the initiative titled The Armenian in America, which he implemented in 2009. As he did so, Partamian became the first person in history to travel across the United States and document landmarks that have a reference to Armenian life. Subsequently he posted his photos online and announced plans to publish the material in book form by the close of this year. With a large format (9 x 12) and at over 300 pages, The Armenian in America will feature a wealth of rarely or never seen full-color photos, along with informative captions.
Partamian said The Armenian in the World will expand the theme to include the entire world, with sections devoted to Armenian-referenced landmarks in six of the globe’s seven continents.

Gifts to the World

admin — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 04:44:00 +0000

The third planned project is a dual initiative which seeks to celebrate and honor the numerous gifts which Armenians have given the world in terms of art, literature, science, technology, sports, and scholarly work. The project, Partamian said, will be a natural extension of Yes, We Have, published by him in 2009, which lists and describes a great number of Armenian contributions to the United States.
The Gifts to the World project will consist of two major endeavors:
1) the establishment of the Gifts to the World Museum in Armenia, comprising sections dedicated to each country in which Armenians have contributed their diverse talents to local life;
and
2) a book titled Gifts to the World and honoring extraordinary Armenian contributions to humanity.

Dual-citizenship drive

admin — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 04:42:38 +0000

The second project is to have a minimum of 1.5 million Armenians become dual citizens of Armenia by 2015.
“We all get deeply emotional when it comes to securing official recognition of the Genocide,” Partamian said.“We’re overjoyed when a country, even a city, proclaims recognition of the historic event, we get furious when the United States or some other government denies it. Yet precious few Armenians in the diaspora are willing to become citizens of their own homeland, let alone move there. I think this is hypocrisy of the highest order. We demand recognition of the Genocide, we want Armenia to be strong and prosperous, but we refuse to live there ourselves. How is our homeland supposed to grow and thrive when an overwhelming portion of the Armenian people is absent from the land?”

To implement the dual-citizenship project, Partamian said, a public-awareness campaign — comprising community meetings, seminars, and other mobilization events — will be launched worldwide. The initiative will also be facilitated by offering the Armenian-citizenship application form online.

Partamian added that he will move to Armenia soon.“I think anyone who considers herself or himself an Armenian must, at the minimum, seriously consider living and working in the homeland,” he said. “I think, as a people, we would be engaging in gross self-deception and denial if we continue to choose to live outside the borders of Armenia, if, that is, we exclude from the equation the very source and center of our identity.”

100th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide

admin — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 17:11:37 +0000

Five pan-Armenian projects for the centenary of the Genocide

Stepan Partamian announced the launch of five major projects on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Genocide. All five initiatives — including unprecedented publications, documentary endeavors, and a dual-citizenship drive — will be implemented by the year 2015.

“In the run-up to the 100th anniversary of the Catastrophe, we must remind the world (and ourselves) that although the Armenian people was decimated in 1915, it went on to not only survive and regroup, but contribute its diverse talents to humanity, in every single country where Armenians reinvented themselves during the decades following the massacres and deportations,” Partamian said.

“I believe that beyond protest marches, commemorations, and efforts to obtain official recognition of the Genocide, we must mobilize the worldwide Armenian community around a number of outstanding projects designed to inform, provide a new level of affirmation, and empower,” Partamian continued. “In addition, I think it’s high time to engage the Turkish masses in a genuinely constructive discourse about the history of the Armenians in the Ottoman era and the devastating impact of the Genocide.”