Mini-Posters by Collectif VAN: Honoring Armenian, Jewish, Tutsi and Darfur Victims

Issue 7, Summer 2011

Editor's Note: GPN is publishing posters from this series in each of several issues. For a brochure of the activities of Collectif VAN, see www.collectifvan.org.

Readers who are interested in an excellent weekly source of news and information (mainly in French) about denials of the Armenian Genocide will find it on http://www.collectifvan.org/

To see previous presentation of Collectif VAN's first two posters in GPN Issue 6, please click here.

About CollectifVan
Every year up to 3,000-4,000 people visit Collectif VAN's outside exhibition in Paris aiming at raising awareness of genocides and of their denial. Collectif VAN organizes this event by themselves, but are morally supported by many French, German, Turkish and other human rights organizations.

In April 2011, Collectif VAN [Vigilance Arménienne contre le Négationnisme] - Armenian Watch against Denial - organized its 7th annual day of raising awareness about genocides and their denial.

The outdoor exhibition took place on Easter Monday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Notre-Dame Cathedral's square, Paris, as part of the 96th anniversary commemoration of the Armenian Genocide. It was entitled "1915/2011: " No Crisis for Denial." Collectif VAN's participative action included the Armenian, Jewish, Tutsi, Darfuri peoples, as well as all persecuted minorities in Turkey.

The 7th annual day of raising awareness about genocides and their denial was supported by 20 Human Rights associations including Collectif Urgence Darfour, Ibuka France [working on the genocide of the Tutsi in Rwanda], Arche, Licra [International League Against Racism and Antisemitism], SOS Racisme, UEJF [French Jewish Students' Union], MEMORIAL 98, IACS, Kurdish Institute of Paris and IHD of Turkey [Turkish Human Rights Association, member of FIDH - International Federation of Human Rights] supported Collectif VAN again this year. Among its new partners, Collectif VAN is honoured to include the Institute on the Holocaust and Genocide in Jerusalem*.

The exhibit of Collectif VAN stages eight huge steles, each representing the faces of men, women and children intended to call the public's attention to the situation of minorities in Turkey: Jews and Christians who were at least 25% of Turkey's population in 1914 and are fewer than 0.2% today, as well as non-Turkish Muslims - mainly Kurds - or non-Sunni Muslims (Alevis), who make up nearly 43% of the Turkish population, and whose rights are violated on a daily basis.

Original paintings by Dibasar, Laurent Nissou, Marc Aram, Marguerite Matéossian and Vatché, members of APAF [Armenian Visual Artists of France] were exhibited on one side of these steles to honour the Armenians, the Jews, the Tutsi and the Darfuris, victims of genocides past or current.

A ninth stele honoured the memory of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, chief editor of the weekly Agos. Since his assassination, on January 19th, 2007, in Istanbul, some Turkish intellectuals have been working courageously for the recognition of the genocide perpetrated in 1915 against Armenians, Greeks, and Assyrian-Chaldean-Syriacs.

Just like the Righteous Turks who, in 1915, risked their lives to rescue Armenian families, Turkish and Kurdish militants are today facing long jail sentences for their positions: they deserve our respect. Our work can help turn them into the new icons of Turkish youth, instead of the nationalist and racist role models that the Republic of Turkey imposes on Turkish populations both within its borders and abroad.

Beyond the usual spheres of influence of Turkish diplomacy, every citizen is potentially affected for Turkey isn't satisfied anymore with putting pressure on economic and political circles to impose its State's denial: it has now launched a decidedly aggressive policy. Since 2010, in France and the USA, academics, journalists, politicians, actors of civil society and association members have been targeted by lawsuits in a systematic way when they publicly denounce denialist facts or papers.

More than ever, it is important to attract the attention of European civil society to the protean denialist discourse that is now invading it. The fight for truth and justice must gather human beings beyond the partisan divide: it is the only guarantee for peaceful relations.

*Collectif VAN’s actions are supported by the following 20 Human Rights Associations :
Germany : AGA [Working Group Recognition Against genocide for international understanding - Berlin] - SKD [Association of opponents to genocides Soykırım Karsıtları Derneği - Ali Ertem Francfort sur le Main] - France : Aircrige [Association internationale de recherche sur les crimes contre l'humanité et les génocides] - L'Arche [Le mensuel du judaïsme français] – Centre Simon Wiesenthal - Collectif Urgence Darfour - CM98 - CPCR [Collectif des Parties Civiles pour le Rwanda] - Communauté Chypriote de France - Communauté Rwandaise de France [CRF] - IACS [Institut Assyro-Chaldéen-Syriaque] - Ibuka France - Institut Kurde de Paris – Licra - Mémorial 98 - SOS Racisme - UEJF - Vigilance Soudan - Israel : The Institute on the Holocaust and Genocide [Jerusalem] - Turkey : IHD [İnsan Hakları Derneği, a member of the FIDH – International Federation of Human Rights].

Source: Séta Papazian - Présidente of Collectif VAN
Vigilance Arménienne contre le Négationnisme
BP 20083 - 92133 Issy-les-Moulineaux-France-Boite
Vocale: 09 50 72 33 46
Email: contact@collectifvan.org - www.collectifvan.org

	I am an Assyrian from Turkey - What is Europe doing to protect me?
I am a Greek from Turkey - What is Europe doing to protect me?

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