Kegham Balian

Ernest Hemingway wrote about the burning of the port city of Smyrna, which was set on fire in 1922 during the Greco-Turkish War under the command of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, in order to completely eradicate the Christian presence in Anatolia. Over 100,000 Greeks and Armenians were killed. "The worst, he said, were the women with dead babies. You couldn’t get the women to give up their dead babies. They’d have babies dead for six days. You couldn’t get them to give them up. Nothing you could do would make them give them up."

The SavetheArQ Movement extends its warmest congratulations on the occasion of Eid Al-Fitr to the Jerusalemite Muslim community, as well as to our friends and supporters around the world celebrating this blessed time. We pray that these days bring peace, prosperity, and safety to all. Eid Mubarak! تتقدم حركة SaveTheArQ بأحرّ التهاني والتبريكات بمناسبة عيد الفطر السعيد إلى أبناء المجتمع المسلم في القدس، وإلى أصدقائنا وداعمينا حول العالم الذين يحتفلون بهذه المناسبة المباركة. نطلب من الله أن تحمل هذه الأيام السلام والازدهار والأمان للجميع. عيد مبارك!

I asked a composer friend of mine about the authenticity of the clip. He said that the notes played in the clip correspond to Khachaturian's piece, but the audio was added later more likely than not in a studio (the piano in the audio is a clear giveaway)

Lebanese cellist Mahdi Saheli playing Armenian composer Aram Khachaturian's Andantino in the ruins of southern Beirut.

The stories from Smyrna. My grandmother told me many as well. 100 years on, more great cities being burned to the ground so their histories will be erased and rewritten by perpetrators and then repopulated by people who have no interest in knowing what came before them.

PRESS RELEASE 17 March 2026 Buenos Aires, Argentina Urgent Appeal to the International Committee of the Red Cross to Restore Humanitarian Access to Armenian Prisoners in Azerbaijan The Buenos Aires Chapter of the Society for Orphaned Armenian Relief (SOAR), under the leadership of Attorney Luciana Minassian, has formally addressed an urgent appeal to Mirjana Spoljaric Egger, President of the International Committee of the Red Cross, calling for the immediate restoration of humanitarian access to Armenian prisoners currently detained in Azerbaijan. The appeal highlights the alarming situation faced by detainees, including prominent Armenian figure Ruben Vardanyan, who remain without access to basic humanitarian safeguards. More than a month after the conclusion of their trials, detainees have reportedly not received official verdicts, remain uninformed of the charges against them, and lack clarity regarding their place of detention. Serious concerns have also been raised regarding the physical and psychological condition of the prisoners. Testimonies from individuals released in January 2026 point to deteriorated health conditions, intensifying fears for those who remain in custody. The situation has been further aggravated by the absence of independent monitoring mechanisms following the departure of the International Committee of the Red Cross from Azerbaijan. Families are now left to rely on rare and brief telephone communications as their only connection to detained relatives,communications that are themselves increasingly uncertain. In its appeal, SOAR calls upon the International Committee of the Red Cross to: • Re-establish access to places of detention; • Ensure detainees receive official legal documentation in a language they understand; • Facilitate regular and protected communication with families; • Monitor the health and treatment conditions of all detainees. “This is a matter of fundamental human dignity and humanitarian law,” stated Luciana Minassian. “No individual should be left without oversight, without information, and without the ability to communicate with their family. The restoration of humanitarian access is not optional, it is essential.” SOAR emphasized its full confidence in the mandate and historic role of the International Committee of the Red Cross as a neutral and indispensable humanitarian actor and expressed readiness to cooperate in any efforts aimed at protecting the rights and wellbeing of detainees. Media Contact: Luciana Minassian Buenos Aires Chapter President Society for Orphaned Armenian Relief (SOAR) Buenos Aires, Argentina buenosaires@soar-us.org @FreeArmHostages @RubenVardanyan_ @AravotEN @DiarioArmenia @varelacorina1 @Adriel_Mzz @Arm_Libertarios @FreeArmenianPOW @Artak_Beglaryan @MorenoOcampo1 @Mialygosa @ArmenianWeekly @RedCrossArmenia

@vartan84 @ArmenianWeekly Because otherwise, at this rate, we are setting ourselves up to win?

@kbalian90 @ArmenianWeekly I don't understand these takes, it's like being surprised the sky is blue. The Trump (& Biden) admin was already totally clear on NK policy. Acting like Vance might have done something different, and then chalking it up as a loss for us, feels like setting ourselves up to lose.

"Vice President Vance refused to back the right of return of the people of Artsakh: He failed to affirm the internationally protected right of more than 150,000 forcibly displaced Armenians from Artsakh to return safely to their ancestral and indigenous homeland, normalizing Baku’s policy of ethnic cleansing."

Full article: armenianweekly.com/2026/03/12/van…

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan posted a clip of himself eating soup while watching a clip of himself giving a speech.

@KnessetT @tzvikafoghel @AidaTuma איך ייתכן שערוץ הכנסת מפרסם אודות אירוע שקרי כמו שמתאר אותו ח"כ פוגל? מתבקש מערוץ הכנסת לפרסם לא רק את אמירתו הנבזית והשקרית של ח"כ פוגל אלא גם את הסרטון המלא שבו ניתן לראות שאמירותיו כלל ולא תואמות את המציאות ומה שהתרחש בשטח.

It is the East Jerusalem settlers and their patrons in the Knesset and the Netanyahu regime who are threatening the viability of the Armenian Quarter of Jerusalem's Old City. They are desperately trying to tar the Armenian community with anti-Semitism with zero basis in fact.

BREAKING: Tzvika Fogel, Chairman of the Knesset’s National Security Committee and a member of the far-right Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) party, is blatantly lying about his encounter with Armenians in Jerusalem’s Armenian Quarter. “I was surrounded by 15 Armenians. They threatened my life and my health, and within two minutes ten Border Police officers arrived,” said MK Tzvika Fogel. You can watch the footage in its entirety where you can clearly see the arrival of MK Fogel, with the Police already present, and not a single Armenian surrounding him nor threatening his life. Furthermore, he mentions that the parking lot in question is public. This is also wrong: there is a sign at the entrance which very clearly states, in 3 languages, that the parking lot is private property. Mr. Fogel owes the Armenian community of Jerusalem an apology.

On March 15, 1921, Soghomon Tehlirian avenged the Armenian nation by killing Talaat Pasha in Berlin. Talaat, the former Ottoman interior minister and grand vizier, had been one of the chief perpetrators and overseers of the Armenian Genocide. The assassination was part of Operation Nemesis, a covert mission organized by the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) to track down and punish the Young Turk leaders responsible for orchestrating the 1915 Armenian Genocide. After locating Talaat Pasha’s address at 4 Hardenbergstraße in Berlin’s Charlottenburg district, Tehlirian rented an apartment directly across the street in order to observe his daily movements. On the morning of March 15, 1921, Tehlirian followed Talaat as he left his residence, crossing the street twice to confirm his identity. When the two men finally came face to face, Tehlirian called out, “Hey, Talaat.” It was reportedly the first time Talaat had heard his real name spoken since arriving in Germany. Realizing the danger, Talaat attempted to flee. Tehlirian fired a single 9mm round from a Luger P08 behind his ear, killing him instantly. Tehlirian was arrested at the scene and brought to trial in Berlin. After two days of trial, he was acquitted by the German court on June 3, 1921.

It's pretty disgusting that the city of Berlin is allowing a demonstration to honor Talaat Pasha, one of the main architects of the Armenian Genocide. Especially since Germany formally recognizes the Armenian Genocide.

Kegham Balian : La cinéaste kurde Rojhilat Aksoy fait l'objet de poursuites judiciaires en Turquie armenews.com/kegham-balian-…

Berlin police have authorized a gathering on March 15 commemorating the assassination of Talaat Pasha, an Ottoman leader and one of the main perpetrators of the Armenian Genocide, prompting protests from Armenian community groups in Germany. According to a notice cited by the Armenian weekly Azg, the event is scheduled for 11:00–11:30 a.m. at Hardenbergstraße 16 and is described as marking “the assassination of Talaat Pasha, architect of modern Turkey and a revolutionary.” The notice does not identify the organizers. A separate rally will take place the same day at 11:00 a.m. at Hardenbergstraße 22, organized by the Union of Activists Against Racism, Nationalism and Discrimination (AKEBI). The group said it will address the role of Talaat Pasha as one of the principal perpetrators of the Armenian Genocide within the intertwined history of the German and Ottoman empires. On March 15, 1921, Armenian Genocide survivor Soghomon Tehlirian shot and killed Talaat Pasha on Hardenbergstraße in Berlin. Tehlirian was later acquitted by a German court in a trial that drew international attention. Members of the Armenian community in Germany have expressed outrage over the planned commemoration. Several organizations, including the Union of Armenian Lawyers in Germany and the “Miatsin” Union of Armenian Students in Germany, have called on authorities to ban the event. “Honoring criminals must not be tolerated,” Bishop Serovbé Isakhanyan, Primate of the Armenian Diocese in Germany, wrote in a statement. He said portraying Talaat Pasha as a revolutionary and architect of modern Turkey ignores his responsibility for the Armenian Genocide and insults the memory of its victims. Germany’s Bundestag formally recognized the Armenian Genocide in 2016, making the issue particularly sensitive in the country.

Please share widely Genocide scholars condemn removal of AGMI director Edita Gzoyan armenianweekly.com/2026/03/13/gen…

Israeli activist and researcher with Ir Amim, Aviv Tatarsky, was brutally beaten by settlers while trying to protect Palestinian farmers in the village of Deir Istiya in the West Bank.

Full article: stockholmcf.org/filmmaker-on-t…

Kurdish filmmaker Rojhilat Aksoy is being prosecuted in Turkey for screening an animated film about the Armenian Genocide in Diyarbakir province. The charges? “Publicly insulting the Turkish nation and state institutions."