Genocide News Now

Join us in an interview with Assyrian-Armenian scholar and human rights advocate Dr. Anahit Khosroeva to discuss US President Joe Biden's April 24, 2021 recognition of the Armenian Genocide. We discuss the history of Armenian Genocide recognition in the United States, the implications of Biden's decision, the importance of recognition to reconciliaton, and the relevance of this recognition to Armenia's future, to the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, and to the wider Christian world in the Middle East, with particular focus on the Assyrian populations.

We also bring out listeners up-to-date on recent news in genocide and its prevention, including:

• UK House of Commons recognition of the ongoing genocide in China against the Uyghur people;

• The struggle to identify and bury the victims of the Anfal genocide in northern Iraq;

• Recent attacks by Turkish forces against the PKK in northern Iraq;

• Threat of famine in the Tigray region in northern Ethiopia;

• Recent testimony by Armenian POWS and survivors of torture during detention in Azerbaijan; and

• Why Israel refuses to recognize the Armenian Genocide.

Join the Anti-Genocide Coffee Break team f0r an interview with Burmese scholar-activist Maung Zarni, who discusses the relationship between scholarship, activism, and truth-telling; his childhood in Burma; his formative influences, especially his mother and father; his decision to pursue activism against the autocratic Myanmar state; and the seismic shift that has occurred in Myanmar since the February 2021 military coup.

We also discuss recent news, including:

• Leaked cables that show neglect of migrants in the Mediterranean by Italian and Libyan officials, which led to the deaths of over 100 people in one specific instance;

• State violence against residents of favelas in Brazil;

• A new Rwandan government report on France's role in the Rwandan genocide;

• Threats by Azerbaijan to invade Armenian territory; and

• Struggles of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh during Ramadan.

Co-hosts Elisa von Joeden-Forgey and Irene Massimino welcome guest co-host Luciana Minassian, Argentine lawyer and Assistant Professor at the University of Buenos Aires Law School, to discuss the Second Artskah War and Azerbaijan's new Military Trophy Park, which includes displays of helmets of killed Armenian soldiers and racist wax figures depicting Armenian soldiers in various positions, including poses that suggest they are in the process of dying or already dead.

Luciana shared her experiences visiting Artsakh in December 2016 and discusses the question of indigeneity, self-determiniation, war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, the mistreatment of Armenian POWs, and the power and varieties of activism.

At the end of the podcast they ask whether Azerbaijan may have gone one step too far with the Military Trophy Park, even for its most blind and willing supporters.

The hosts also discuss Amnesty International's recent report on Boko Haram and crimes against women and girls in Nigeria, the upcoming House of Commons vote in the UK about the Uyghur genocide, and the doctored photos of Tuol Sleng/S21 victims from the Cambodian genocide.

As always, you can find all the articles and news discussed on our podcast at our website - iraqproject.org - and can subscribe to our podcast on Patreon. All subscription proceeds go to supporting the Iraq Project for Genocide Prevention.

n this episode we discuss Turkish foreign policy, the position of Armenia in the global order, the war in Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh), the Grey Wolves terrorist organization, anti-Armenianism, and the way forward for the Middle East.

The hosts dedicate this podcast to Yeghia Tashjian's father, Sarkis Tashjian.

Among other things, our interview covers:

- Yeghia's early life in Lebanon and introduction to politics;

- Turkish-Azerbaijan military collaboration and Turkey's involvement in the Second Artsakh War;

- How Armenia's foreign policy miscalculated of European support;

- Armenia's domestic politics and the up-coming 'snap elections';

- Armenia, Turkey and Azerbaijan's relationships with China, Russia, Iran, and south Asia.

- The role of human rights in foreign policy;

- The need for Armenia to invest in cultural diplomacy to counteract Turkish and Azerbaijani propaganda;

- The fight against racism;

- How to counteract growing Anti-Armenianism worldwide, especially though collaboration with other non-dominant groups in the Middle East;

- The Indigenous People of Asia Minor conference;

- Turkey's rightward shift under Erdogan and the violence of the Grey Wolves terrorists;

- Demographic engineering in Turkish-controlled northern Syria;

- The growing use of mercenaries by Turkey all over the world, including the Sadat mercenary company;

- Armenian Genocide recognition, genocide denial, and the proliferation of genocide in the future.

- Yeghia's work with the Paris-based NGO Women in War.

In this episode we speak with Dr. Amy Beam, expert on the Yezidi genocide and author of the book, The Last Yezidi Genocide (available at Amazon.com). Dr. Beam has spent many years working closely with the Yezidi people since ISIS's 2014 invasion of the Shengal territory in Northern Iraq, which led to a genocide against the Yezidi people that is still ongoing.

Dr. Beam speaks with us about the regional politics that created and empowered ISIS, the controversy surrounding the pullout of the Kurdish military (the peshmerga) from Shengal just hours before ISIS's arrival, what regional and world powers may have known about ISIS's planned invasion of Shengal before it occurred, why ISIS may have been allowed to invade by internal and external decision-makers, and how ISIS instrumentalized gender roles to commit genocide. She brings us up-to-date on the plans for a tribunal to try ISIS militants for atrocity crimes in Iraq, including the crime of genocide, and offers listeners many ways in which they can be involved in helping the Yezidi people in their ongoing struggle for security and justice.

Dr. Beam can be reached at: [email protected]. She accepts donations for her humanitarian work among the Yezidi through Paypal using her email address. She is offering a free copy of her book to anyone who donates $50 or more.

CORRECTIONS: Dr. Beam's list of countries attending the meeting in Amman, Jordan in May 2014 should not have included Kuwait but instead Qatar. Kuwait was not represented at the meeting. Also, Mosul is east of Shingal, not west.

Global affairs expert Yeghia Tashjian speaks to us about global politics, Turkish foreign policy, hard and soft power, indigenous solidarity in the Middle East, and Armenia's future in episode 5 of our podcast. The full episode will be published on Sunday, April 4 and is available for our Patreon subscribers. Subscriptions start at only $2/month. Please join us!

Co-hosts Elisa von Joeden-Forgey, Irene Victoria Massimino, and Hoshman Ismail engage in a wide-ranging discussion of the news of the past two weeks, including news from Brazil, Ethiopia, Myanmar, Bangladesh, France, Rwanda, Turkey and Iraq, and do a deeper dive into the pandemic and inequality.

Listen to the full episode by subscribing to our Patreon. Subscriptions start at just $2/mo. All proceeds go to supporting the genocide-prevention work of the Iraq Project for Genocide Prevention (iraqproject.org).

Co-hosts Elisa von Joeden-Forgey, Irene Massimino, and Hoshman Ismail return to discuss recent news across the world related to genocide, to do a deep dive into Turkish foreign policy, and offer a quick update on Iraq.

To commemorate the 33rd anniversary of the Halabja genocide on March 16, Hoshman shares his experiences as a ten year old boy during the chemical attacks. Other news briefly mentioned are the new report from the nonpartisan US-based Newslines Institute for Strategy and Policy on "The Uyghur Genocide"; the coup in Myanmar; recent atrocities in Mozambique; continuing conflict and genocide in the Tigray region of Ethiopia; and renewed threats to Armenian territorial integrity from Azerbaijan and Turkey.

The "In Depth" segment involves a wide-ranging discussion of Turkish foreign policy in Syria, Iraq and the South Caucus in the past decade based on Hoshman's research, outlining Turkish links to ISIS and longer-term aims in the region.

Finally, the hosts discuss the recent rejection by Yazidi elders of children born to Yazidi women who were held captive and raped by ISIS militants.

Co-hosts Elisa von Joeden-Forgey, Irene Massimino, and Hoshman Ismail introduce the Anti-Genocide Coffee Break: A Multinational Podcast. They also discuss the Iraq Project for Genocide Prevention (IPG) and Pope Francis's recent visit to Iraq!

Along the way, Elisa reads the Al Jazeera Op-Ed written by Cal State professor Ibrahim Al-Marashi entitled "Pope Francis’s Visit to Iraq: Beyond the Symbolism" in which he argues that "Interfaith dialogue is important, but the fate of Iraqi minorities is hinged on the success of state-building in Iraq." The team agrees, but also points out the political implications and ramifications of the Pope's message to Iraqis.