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First things first, I’d like to start this blog by thanking each and every one of you who contributed to and participated in this campaign. This should show you how much an online presence can pay off.

If you’re not aware of what I’m talking about, on April 22nd, 2011 I posted the Twitter: The Armenian Genocide Campaign article in which I suggested starting a campaign, as the name suggests, for the Armenian Genocide recognition, by using Twitter’s hashtag symbol “#” in order to ‘trend’ the wording and make the ‘Armenian Genocide’ show up on every Twitter users’ account when they log in, hopefully giving them the option to click on the trend, and learning more about the issue.

Incredibly, this campaign started the same night, as the Facebook event page was started, about 5,000 members were invited to join, and boy did people join! We had tweets updating the #armeniangenocide page every minute or two on April 23rd, and by April 24th, we had tweets coming about every 7 seconds or so average!!!!! It was insane!

Our goal to trend the #armeniangenocide wasn’t perfectly met, however we did pull off to trend it in Los Angeles, with the tweet numbers reaching 6 digit numbers, we had ‘Armenian’ trending first, and ‘#armeniangenocide’ later on; the latter with the help of Kim Kardashian and the Armenian Youth Federation (AYF).

What did Kim Kardashian do?

Well, Kim Kardashian actually wrote a very nice blog condemning the event and asking for it to be recognized, although still blogging to her millions of fans to call their state representatives and asking them to recognize the Armenian Genocide. That alone, in my book at least, is enough of teaching odars (Armenian for ‘foreigners’) about the Armenian Genocide! Since we’re survivors, we should teach! Soon enough, Kim Kardashian, with the help of the #armeniangenocide hashtag supporters who made sure they tweeted Kim as many times as they could, and once she was online she did post a tweet that got re-tweeted lord knows how many times and boom! WE WERE TRENDING AN HOUR LATER!

By achieving this, we actually had the chance to teach many people (by many, the number is in thousands) of people who asked about what the fuzz and trending was about, and myself and many users actually helped answer these questions and got their support or at least taught them a fact. I’m proud of every single person who did this or spread the word about it, thank you very much, this cause is very dear to me and the recognition has been my life goal, still is, and always will be. No words can thank you enough on behalf of the one million and a half dead during the Armenian Genocide. You made the unheard voices heard. Thank you again.

People credited with the first initial push of this project deserve the credit and recognition for what they have done. They taught people by the simple action of posting or spreading the word about the initial process of this campaign, and they include, but are not limited to:

My partner in crime: Alex Trebor.

Close people to me/friends of mine: Seza B., Edith K., Shant Avedissian, Caroon A., Mary K., Norair V. and everyone else who posted or spread the word that I wasn’t aware about.

An honest photographer who helped with his heart: Sako San.

And a close friend of mine, and an AYF member: Levon A.

Model, beautiful inside and out: Rose Lopez.

Rapper, fresh out of the oven starter: Enfinal.

Here are some pictures for you to show you what we achieved, click on the pictures to see them in their real sizes with no distortions:

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Hi there!

As the Armenian Genocide remembrance day gets closer, I’ve decided to share an idea with you, the reader.
Twitter.com has an hourly updated ‘trends’ list for popular words or phrases posted in ‘tweets’. What does that mean? Well, it means more recognition and teaching from our side.
Ladies and gentlemen, Armenians or not, if you use Twitter, for the next week or so, let’s all post daily tweets mentioning the hashtag: #armeniangenocide.
All you have to do is write something about the Armenian Genocide, and instead of writing ‘Armenian Genocide’ like that.. all you have to do is make it an: #armeniangenocide.
What does this do? This, if posted enough times on these days, might get that phrase trending, and when a phrase trends, the phrase shows up on the homepage of TWITTER.COM!!!!!
The trend already started, but with us holding each others’ hands and doing this together, we can get it to trend on the homepage. Here is what a person, non-familiar with the Armenian Genocide history or facts, will see when they search for or click on the #armeniangenocide.
http://twitter.com/#!/search/%23armeniangenocide

If you don’t know, the Armenian Genocide took place during the early 1900s and cost us as much as a million and a half Armenians killed by the Ottoman Empire, while the rest were sent out on marches that went straight from Armenia to Iran and other Arabic countries such as Syria and Lebanon. My family walked from Armenia to Iran to Iraq all alone, and every other Armenian can tell you their family’s history. The genocide has still not been recognized by the U.S., let’s push for that. The 1.5 million human beings deserve at least that much respect. If this genocide is unrecognized, how many will happen because of the lesson we teach them about consequences?

Here’s the facebook event page for this campaign:

https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=195053990538545
Please pass this word around. I’m sure we have enough Armenians who are willing to do this than #imsinglebecause and #biebergonewild.

Let’s do this.
Post and pass the word and invite others. We need this. Especially on April 24th it self. Imagine the amount of media coverage that this will get all over the U.S. not just the local channels.

Thank you by the way!
-Apo –  @gr8apo

Today, in 1915, a campaign to make my people disappear was almost starting. April 24, 1915, Ottoman Empire, about two hundred intellectuals, artists, and thinkers of my people were arrested then beheaded. The rest had been either killed or moved out. Within three years about 1,500,000 of my people were dead. A million and a half human beings. Butchered, heads sliced, pregnant women with open wounds. They moved from Cilicia to Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and many other countries. Allow me to correct my self, exchanged the word “moved” with “walk” in the previous sentence, and add “were forced to” before it. My people had a curse on them of disappearing, why ? Because they are my people.

About a decade ago the first genocide of the 20th century went on. The intention to kill an entire race is genocide, and genocide happened. Ottoman soldiers came in and brutally decided to move everyone out of the Ottoman Empire. Yes, they claimed relocating them.. with swords. These “walks” came to be known as death marches. Besides having to walk all that distance with almost no food on them, they were harassed and constantly receiving death blows. Mothers saw their children die of hunger and thirst. And then these mothers saw their kids being eaten by dogs after minutes from burial. When I say burial, imagine having to leave your dead son on a curb and keep walking. No, not because of heartlessness, but because of the heart they had of survival and taking care of the ones that are still alive. These mothers had to put their babies on the side of their marching ways, not curbs. They had seconds for a last view of their babies. Not only babies, but mostly. Then came a stick by a soldier to treat them like animals. Just for the record, not even animals should be treated that way.

It’s amazing what a government can do without being judged. It’s amazing how a government doing this could be a role model to the other, one of the biggest, genocides. The Holocaust. Adolf Hitler was quoted saying “Who after all remembers the Armenian annihilation” as a reason why he wouldn’t be judged if he went for it. And he did. The irony is he was judged, while my people still wait for justice. President Obama pledged for recognizing the Armenian Genocide. I don’t see it. Does anybody else ? The footage does exist and will be used, but what’s the point when he doesn’t go by his word, unlike many things he hasn’t yet, but that’s a different story for a different time. He’s also not the only president pledging recognizing the Armenian Genocide.

The Armenian Genocide case has locked all Armenians together. You might think that it only was a cause we all fought for, but I got to say, it does keep many Armenians together. Let the genocide be recognized, and watch U.S. Armenians lose the culture within a couple of hundred of years, and lose the language soon after. By U.S. Armenians I don’t mean Armenians who have been here since the 19th century but Armenians who have been born here no matter when. This is a huge issue and it needs to be looked upon. The genocide fight has been keeping us tied together, but once it is recognized we will be proud of it. Our grandchildren’s kids will most likely lose the culture, however.

Things like this need to be viewed from a wide angle point of view, not only close up. We need to see the psychology of it. We need to talk with people who know details that not everyone does. We need to hold hands with each other and carry our culture together. I could’ve said “we’ll lose the culture withing 200 years, oh well” since I won’t be alive then (I might).. but instead I ask you to work with me to keep it. I ask you to save these ideas and work on them. I ask you to teach your kids and brothers and sisters and parents and neighbors about our culture. It is difficult to be in an open minded society and keep the Armenian values around, but they need to be known and implemented. Whether or not they get practiced is another story, but they need to be clear and known to everyone. Only then they will be practiced.

Help me make this a clear point to all the non-Armenians around us. Help me make this clear to anyone who wants to learn. So please, help.

Thank you,
Apo Avedissian

Hi there, guess who’s back ? =)
It’s been a while since I wrote a personal update, but now is the time you all love. [Cough].
Okay, so, I’ve been working on a much anticipated project, previously called Unheard Voices, now called Yergat, for the past 3 years. Ideas come and go. A lot had happened but I did not mess around with the project and decided to keep it until my financial and promotional back is covered. I believe that the time is close by and I need to pick up with the project. I’ve seen many Turkish documentaries against the “Armenian claims” being promoted on random websites online, and I think it is time we show them who we are. I think it is time to also remind our selves of who we are.

Fellow non-Armenian readers, you might get lost here, but I need you to stick with me as well. My idea of a documentary is not the usual historical facts, but today’s Armenians’ point of view. The life we live now. The hiphop fan and the punk rockstar’s ideas generated into this documentary. We are no longer eye-witnesses like our grandparents were, but we definitely have a culture we proudly represent. A culture we always incorporate in our daily lives and work. We represent our history through art, whether we intend to or not.

I have a strong vision of where this documentary is going, and I need your help supporting it. Yergat is not sponsored. I do not believe in companies paying me a specific amount of money in order to mention their names or say things in support of them. Yergat will be a free independent documentary based on what the camera sees, not on what I aim the camera at. So if that’s the purpose, and you’re doing it for the cause, you’re more than welcome to donate and sponsor Yergat.

Please spread the word and start helping me out. If you take out your credit card and donate $1, it could do so much for Yergat. There are about half a million Armenians in California alone, if 5,000 people from the 500,000 (1%) donated $1 each, I can still have a movie to showcase. I can still make this documentary into a reality. I can still produce something for the non-Armenian to watch and learn. Yergat needs about $6,000 to stand up on its own feet. I updated www.yergat.com and added a widget [the same as you see below this article] and it already received $10. 1/600 is our progress. I believe hand in hand we can all make it. Please contribute. Buying these equipment will not limit me to Yergat only but many documentaries and works to come.

The Armenian Genocide should get recognized. 1,500,000 Armenians perished during that period, and the world should know.

Thank you,
Your support is highly appreciated.
Apo Avedissian