Today we commemorate the Meds Yeghern and honor those who perished in one of the worst atrocities of the 20th century.  Ninety-eight years ago, 1.5 million Armenians were massacred or marched to their deaths in the final days of the Ottoman Empire.  We pause to reflect on the lives extinguished and remember the unspeakable suffering that occurred.   In so doing, we are joined by millions across the world an ...

  “The statement was certainly as dramatic and impressive as it was unexpected,” Richard Giragosian told me, speaking about Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s message on the Armenian tragedy. The director of a Yerevan-based think tank, Giragosian was in Istanbul to also take part in a commemoration that will take place in Istanbul. As he rightly pointed out, there have been several historic ...

  Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan delivers a speech  during a meeting at the Turkish parliament in Ankara onApril 22, 2014. (Adem Altan/AFP/Getty Images Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan made a surprising move Wednesday: Speaking on the eve of the 99th anniversary of the controversial mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman soldiers in 1915, he expressed condolences for the "inhuman ...

Dear compatriots, Today we bow to the memory of the innocent victims of the Armenian Genocide. One and a half million Armenians fell prey to such a crime which did not have a name at that time. Nor had a human language coined such an expression or a term yet. They were killed simply because they were Armenians. The crime designed minutely and in advance pursued a clear goal: to take possession of the home c ...

  Turkey has issued a first-ever statement offering condolences to the descendants of slain Ottoman Armenians just a day before of 99th anniversary of the mass killings of Armenians at the hands of the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has issued a landmark statement on the eve of the commemoration of the 99th anniversary of 1915. AA Photo Prime Minister Recep Tayyi ...

  The main gate of İstanbul’s Dolmabahçe Palace was designed by Armenian architect Garabet Balyan. (Photo: Mehmet Yaman İstanbul Modern's 2010 exhibition “Armenian Architects of İstanbul,” featuring photos of architectural structures made by Armenian architects during the rule of the Ottoman Empire, can now be seen online on the Turkish Museum of Architecture's website. A joint effort between the İstan ...

  David L. Phillips is Director of the Program on Peace-Building and Rights at Columbia University’s Institute for the Study of Human Rights. He has served as Senior Adviser to the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, Bureau for Near Eastern Affairs, and Bureau for European and Canadian Affairs at the U.S. Department of State, and as Senior Adviser to the United Nations Office for the Coordinatio ...

ÖMER TAŞPINAR o.taspinar@todayszaman.com Turkey and Armenia: What next? The issue of Armenia enters the Turkish foreign policy agenda almost exclusively in the context of Western attempts at legislating genocide resolutions. The result is often a reactive nationalist defense. In less than two years, by 2015, Turkey will find itself in a similar dilemma. Once again, it will be external dynamics that will dri ...

Staging a landmark visit to Yerevan, FM Davutoğlu declares the Ottoman deportation of Armenians in 1915 to have been ‘wrong’ and ‘inhumane’ The “deportation” of Armenians in 1915 was inhumane, and Turkey has never supported the move, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said yesterday as he made a landmark visit to the country’s long-time foe, Armenia. Accompanied by Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Feridun Sini ...

  Turkey looks to step up its efforts to normalize ties with Armenia as Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu plans to test the waters on the Armenian side in a planned visit to Yerevan. Armenain President Serg Sargisian (L) and Azerbaijani President İlham Aliyev held a meeting on the sidelines of the OSCE Summit in Vienna Nov 19. Foreign Minister Davutoğlu will be in Yerevan on Dec. 12, however, a bilatera ...