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Mouradian: Ankara Conference Looks Beyond Genocide, Debates Reparations
By: Khatchig Mouradian
ANKARA, Turkey (A.W.)—On April 24, as genocide commemoration events were being held one after the other in different locations in Istanbul, a groundbreaking two-day conference on the Armenian Genocide began at the Princess Hotel in Ankara.
L to R: Nishanian, Theriault, moderator Eugene Shouglin, Mouradian, and Demirer.
The conference, organized by the Ankara Freedom of Thought Initiative, was held under tight security measures. The hall was thoroughly searched on both mornings by policemen and security dogs; metal detectors were installed at the entrance of the hotel; and all members of the audience had to be cleared by the organizers before entering. Unlike the commemoration events in Istanbul, however, no counter-demonstrations were allowed to materialize.
The conference attracted around 200 attendees, mostly activists and intellectuals who support genocide recognition. Among the prominent names from Turkey were Ismail Besikci, Baskin Oran, Sevan Nishanian, Ragip Zarakolu, Temel Demirer, and Sait Cetinoglu.
Besikci was the first in Turkey to write books about the Kurds “at a time when others did not even dare to use the ‘K’ word,” as one Turkish scholar put it. Besikci spent years in Turkish prison for his writings. Oran is a professor of political science. He was one of the initiators of the apology campaign launched by Turkish intellectuals. Nishanian is a Turkish-Armenian scholar who has authored several books and also writes for Agos. Zarakolu is a publisher who has been at the forefront of the struggle for Armenian Genocide recognition in Turkey with the books he has published over the years. Demirer is an author who has been prosecuted for his daring writings and speeches. Cetinoglu is a scholar and activist, and was one of the key organizers of the conference.
The poster of the conference
The foreign scholars and activists who were scheduled to speak were David Gaunt (genocide scholar, author of Massacres, Resistance, Protectors: Muslim-Christian Relations in Eastern Anatolia During World War I), Henry Theriault (professor of philosophy, Worcester State University), Khatchig Mouradian (doctoral student in Holocaust and genocide studies, Clark University; editor, the Armenian Weekly), Harry Parsekian (president of Friends of Hrant Dink in Boston), and Eilian Williams (writer and activist from Wales). All except for Gaunt spoke on the panel dealing with “The Armenian Issue: What is to be done and how?”
Reparations: Unjust or Indispensable?
That panel, which proved to be the most controversial, also featured Nishanian, Zarakolu, and Demirer, and turned out into a debate on reparations for the Armenian Genocide with all the panelists, as well as Oran and others from the audience, pitching in.
Mouradian spoke about the importance of reframing the discourse in Turkey and dealing with the Armenian Genocide issue not only from the perspective of democracy and freedom of speech, but also that of justice. He dealt with the concepts of apology and restitution.
Theriault, in turn, said, “Turkey must return or compensate for all expropriated property. It should return land and other wealth, including Armenian Church properties, when that wealth has been preserved.” He noted that Turkey should also compensate for (1) all destroyed property and wealth that is otherwise no longer accessible, (2) the interest that can be calculated on the original material losses, (3) slave labor, (4) the pain and suffering of those who died and all who survived, (5) the loss of 1.5 million people in general and as specific family and community members, and (6) the loss of cultural, religious, and educational institutions and opportunities.
Nishanian categorically dismissed Theriault’s demands for reparations, considering them a dead-end, and noting that such an approach is unjust, unacceptable, and would open the door for further conflict. Demirer, in a brilliant intervention, provided a scathing response to Nishanian, arguing powerfully for reparations. Williams, too, spoke in support of reparations.
Armenian property and the historical context
The panel on “abandoned” Armenian properties also generated a lot of interest. It featured scholars and writers Asli Comu, Nevzat Onaran, Mehmet Palatel (whose MA dissertation is on the confiscation of Armenian property), and Cemil Ertem.
The panel on “Official ideological denial and extirpation from the Committee of Union and Progress to Kemalism” featured scholars Osman Ozarslan and Tuma Celik, as well as Cetinoglu and Besikci.
The panel on the Armenian Genocide from a historical perspective featured Adil Okay, Nahir Sayin, and Oran. Gaunt was scheduled to speak on this panel but could not attend.
The representatives of the organizations supporting the conference spoke at the last session.
Significance of the conference
It was the first time that a conference on the Armenian Genocide that did not host any genocide deniers was held in Ankara. Moreover, the conference did not simply deal with the historical aspect of 1915. For the first time in Turkey, a substantial part of the proceedings was dedicated to topics such as confiscated Armenian property, reparations, and the challenges of moving forward and confronting the past in Turkey.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Frozen Protocols…: And Warmed Over Obama Statement
Frozen Protocols…: And Warmed Over Obama Statement
12:50 • 28.04.10
Harut Sassounian, An outstanding Armenian-American and publisher of The California Courier, has touched upon recnet development in the Armenia-Turkey Protocols. Below is the article.
Two developments on Armenian-Turkish issues spilled a lot of ink last week. Neither one was significant, but assumed significance because of extensive international media coverage.
On April 22, exactly a year after the release of the roadmap, ostensibly to normalize Armenia-Turkey relations, and six months after the infamous Protocols were signed by the two countries with great fanfare, Pres. Serzh Sargsyan announced their suspension.
There was actually nothing new in this announcement. It has been crystal clear for months that Turkey's leaders never intended to ratify the Protocols. They simply wanted to exploit them in order to extract further concessions from Armenia. Turks repeatedly announced that unless Armenia turned over Karabagh (Artsakh) to Azerbaijan, the Turkish Parliament would not ratify the Protocols. As time went by, Turkey added more inane demands, such as reversal of the Armenian Constitutional Court's decision, and withdrawal of genocide resolutions from Parliaments of other countries. Since Armenia had repeatedly announced that it would not be the first to ratify the Protocols, the accords were already frozen for months, if not stillborn.
Even though some may view Pres. Sargsyan's decision as a bold move, it would have been far more preferable for him to withdraw his country's signature from the Protocols, since they were dead in the water anyway. He could have easily blamed their collapse on Turkey's intransigence. He did acknowledge in his last week's public announcement that he decided to suspend the Protocols, after Russia, France and the United States asked him not to abandon them completely.Now that Armenia has blinked first, Turkey is blaming it for causing the collapse of the Protocols. Armenia has thus helped Turkey to wiggle its way out of the intense international pressure it was subjected to in recent months for its failure to ratify them.
Moreover, as long as the Protocols are not completely discarded, Turkey will continue to exploit them by cleverly claiming that it is still committed to their ratification under the "right" conditions, and will use them as a viable tool to defeat all initiatives by third countries on the Armenian Genocide.
Regrettably, Turkey is not the only country exploiting the Protocols. Pres. Obama, after pressuring Armenia not to reject the Protocols, dodged the term "Armenian Genocide" once again in his annual statement. He used as an excuse the non-existent "dialogue among Turks and Armenians."
Just as he had done last year, Pres. Obama substituted the term "Meds Yeghern" [Great Calamity] for the Armenian Genocide and used the same worn out euphemisms and shameful word games for which, as a Senator and presidential candidate, he had condemned Pres. George W. Bush.
The overwhelming majority of Armenian-Americans, who had supported Obama's candidacy and trusted him, now feel disillusioned and deceived. He ran his campaign on the promise of change, only to adopt the same immoral position of his predecessors, even though he keeps saying that he has not changed his mind regarding his pledge to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide!
In a column I wrote last year after Pres. Obama first broke his campaign promise on the Armenian Genocide, I stated that Armenian-Americans do not need to beg him to acknowledge the Genocide. Thirty years ago, Pres. Reagan issued a Presidential Proclamation referring to the Armenian Genocide. Therefore, Armenian-Americans see no special advantage in a repeat statement by Pres. Obama. By not keeping his word, however, Pres. Obama succeeded in undermining his own reputation and credibility with the American people and world public opinion.
It is simply mind-boggling that the President of the United States would go out of his way to issue a statement that would alienate the very people he is trying to accommodate.
Just imagine what the outcry would be had Pres. Obama referred to the Holocaust as a massacre or a tragic event. Yet, this is exactly what he has done on the Armenian Genocide by using a series of euphemisms in his April 24 statement: "Dark past," "Dark moment in history," "painful history." "awful events of 1915," " a devastating chapter," "one of the worst atrocities of the 20th century," "murder," and "terrible events." Pres. Obama's aides could have spent their time more usefully by reading a history book rather than a dictionary of synonyms.
The only new idea in Pres. Obama's April 24, 2010 statement is the following brief sentence: "I salute the Turks who saved Armenians in 1915." This is a commendable notion which unfortunately becomes devoid of any meaning, in the absence of who or what exactly these Armenians were saved from!
We all hope that the solemn commemorations next April 24 would not be tarnished either by the Protocols (frozen or thawed) or by Pres. Obama's offensive statement!
Tert.am
12:50 • 28.04.10
Harut Sassounian, An outstanding Armenian-American and publisher of The California Courier, has touched upon recnet development in the Armenia-Turkey Protocols. Below is the article.
Two developments on Armenian-Turkish issues spilled a lot of ink last week. Neither one was significant, but assumed significance because of extensive international media coverage.
On April 22, exactly a year after the release of the roadmap, ostensibly to normalize Armenia-Turkey relations, and six months after the infamous Protocols were signed by the two countries with great fanfare, Pres. Serzh Sargsyan announced their suspension.
There was actually nothing new in this announcement. It has been crystal clear for months that Turkey's leaders never intended to ratify the Protocols. They simply wanted to exploit them in order to extract further concessions from Armenia. Turks repeatedly announced that unless Armenia turned over Karabagh (Artsakh) to Azerbaijan, the Turkish Parliament would not ratify the Protocols. As time went by, Turkey added more inane demands, such as reversal of the Armenian Constitutional Court's decision, and withdrawal of genocide resolutions from Parliaments of other countries. Since Armenia had repeatedly announced that it would not be the first to ratify the Protocols, the accords were already frozen for months, if not stillborn.
Even though some may view Pres. Sargsyan's decision as a bold move, it would have been far more preferable for him to withdraw his country's signature from the Protocols, since they were dead in the water anyway. He could have easily blamed their collapse on Turkey's intransigence. He did acknowledge in his last week's public announcement that he decided to suspend the Protocols, after Russia, France and the United States asked him not to abandon them completely.Now that Armenia has blinked first, Turkey is blaming it for causing the collapse of the Protocols. Armenia has thus helped Turkey to wiggle its way out of the intense international pressure it was subjected to in recent months for its failure to ratify them.
Moreover, as long as the Protocols are not completely discarded, Turkey will continue to exploit them by cleverly claiming that it is still committed to their ratification under the "right" conditions, and will use them as a viable tool to defeat all initiatives by third countries on the Armenian Genocide.
Regrettably, Turkey is not the only country exploiting the Protocols. Pres. Obama, after pressuring Armenia not to reject the Protocols, dodged the term "Armenian Genocide" once again in his annual statement. He used as an excuse the non-existent "dialogue among Turks and Armenians."
Just as he had done last year, Pres. Obama substituted the term "Meds Yeghern" [Great Calamity] for the Armenian Genocide and used the same worn out euphemisms and shameful word games for which, as a Senator and presidential candidate, he had condemned Pres. George W. Bush.
The overwhelming majority of Armenian-Americans, who had supported Obama's candidacy and trusted him, now feel disillusioned and deceived. He ran his campaign on the promise of change, only to adopt the same immoral position of his predecessors, even though he keeps saying that he has not changed his mind regarding his pledge to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide!
In a column I wrote last year after Pres. Obama first broke his campaign promise on the Armenian Genocide, I stated that Armenian-Americans do not need to beg him to acknowledge the Genocide. Thirty years ago, Pres. Reagan issued a Presidential Proclamation referring to the Armenian Genocide. Therefore, Armenian-Americans see no special advantage in a repeat statement by Pres. Obama. By not keeping his word, however, Pres. Obama succeeded in undermining his own reputation and credibility with the American people and world public opinion.
It is simply mind-boggling that the President of the United States would go out of his way to issue a statement that would alienate the very people he is trying to accommodate.
Just imagine what the outcry would be had Pres. Obama referred to the Holocaust as a massacre or a tragic event. Yet, this is exactly what he has done on the Armenian Genocide by using a series of euphemisms in his April 24 statement: "Dark past," "Dark moment in history," "painful history." "awful events of 1915," " a devastating chapter," "one of the worst atrocities of the 20th century," "murder," and "terrible events." Pres. Obama's aides could have spent their time more usefully by reading a history book rather than a dictionary of synonyms.
The only new idea in Pres. Obama's April 24, 2010 statement is the following brief sentence: "I salute the Turks who saved Armenians in 1915." This is a commendable notion which unfortunately becomes devoid of any meaning, in the absence of who or what exactly these Armenians were saved from!
We all hope that the solemn commemorations next April 24 would not be tarnished either by the Protocols (frozen or thawed) or by Pres. Obama's offensive statement!
Tert.am
Israeli Knesset pushes the Armenian Genocide issue into agenda
Israeli Knesset pushes the Armenian Genocide issue into agenda
With 12 pros and 8 cons the Israeli Knesset has pushed the Armenian Genocide issue into the parliament agenda, expert of Jewish studies Artak Grigoryan told Panorama.am.Haim Oron, a supporter of the Genocide issue in the parliament, delivered a 15-minute long speech on the issue, the discussion took 25 minutes. Artak Grigoryan assessed it positively that the discussion took that long. “Serious pro-Armenian views have been expressed during the discussion, those not being as many previously. Of course, some parliamentarians were con,” Artak Grigoryan conveyed the information received from Israel.
He felt hard to say which committee will introduce the issue in the parliament. “The Knesset will decide on the issue in the upcoming two weeks,” he said.
Source: Panorama.am
With 12 pros and 8 cons the Israeli Knesset has pushed the Armenian Genocide issue into the parliament agenda, expert of Jewish studies Artak Grigoryan told Panorama.am.Haim Oron, a supporter of the Genocide issue in the parliament, delivered a 15-minute long speech on the issue, the discussion took 25 minutes. Artak Grigoryan assessed it positively that the discussion took that long. “Serious pro-Armenian views have been expressed during the discussion, those not being as many previously. Of course, some parliamentarians were con,” Artak Grigoryan conveyed the information received from Israel.
He felt hard to say which committee will introduce the issue in the parliament. “The Knesset will decide on the issue in the upcoming two weeks,” he said.
Source: Panorama.am
Monday, April 26, 2010
KIM KARDASHIAN CALLS TO RECOGNIZE THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
Turks saw red for Kardashian’s call to recognize Genocide14:46 / 04/26/2010
U.S. Armenian reality star Kim Kardashian call to recognize Armenian Genocide on her Twitter blog infuriated Turks.
Turk user (nickname Meraals) left a comment, saying it is impossible to recognize something that never happened, while Kim Kardashian added: “It’s time to recognize Armenian Genocide”.
Note under one of Kardashian’s photos reads: “Indeed, Armenian Genocide should be recognized.” Turks responded immediately, posting slogans praising Turkish nation under the photo.
A.G.
News from Armenia - NEWS.am
U.S. Armenian reality star Kim Kardashian call to recognize Armenian Genocide on her Twitter blog infuriated Turks.
Turk user (nickname Meraals) left a comment, saying it is impossible to recognize something that never happened, while Kim Kardashian added: “It’s time to recognize Armenian Genocide”.
Note under one of Kardashian’s photos reads: “Indeed, Armenian Genocide should be recognized.” Turks responded immediately, posting slogans praising Turkish nation under the photo.
A.G.
News from Armenia - NEWS.am
Armenian, Azeri Religious Leaders Call For Karabakh Peace
Armenian, Azeri Religious Leaders Call For Karabakh Peace
Armenia -- Catholicos Garegin II, head of the Armenian Apostolic Church, undated.
26.04.2010
The spiritual leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan voiced support for the long-running efforts to peacefully resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and vowed to help reconcile their estranged nations after a landmark meeting in Baku on Monday.The supreme head of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Catholicos Garegin II, met with Azerbaijan’s Shia Muslim leader, Sheikh-ul-Islam Allahshukur Pashazade, as well as the Russian Orthodox Church leader, Patriarch Kirill II, on the sidelines of a summit of world religious leaders held in the Azerbaijan. Garegin attended the forum at their invitation.The three leaders appealed for Karabakh peace in a joint declaration issued after their meeting. The declaration encourages the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents as well as international mediators to continue to look for a compromise solution to the bitter dispute. “It is vitally important not to allow a return to military ways of solving contentious issues,” reads the document. “With our peace efforts, we will be sustaining people’s hopes for the elimination of existing divisions, barriers and animosity, for war, if it is continued, will have no end.” It welcomes liberation of prisoners and other “acts of goodwill” between the warring sides and condemns any “acts of vandalism” committed in the conflict zone.
Azerbaijan -- Head of the Caucasus Muslims Sheikh-ul-Islam Allakhshukur Pashazade in Baku, 07Nov2007“I believe that all problems in the Caucasus, including the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, will be solved by peaceful and just means,” the Azerbaijani Trend news agency quoted Pashazade as telling Garegin at the meeting. “I am confident that you too will strive to make sure that the problem does not take on a religious character.” Garegin was reported to agree, saying that the two clergies should jointly make sure that the Karabakh conflict does not transform into a “religious confrontation.” The Karabakh conflict was also a key theme of Garegin’s speech delivered at the Baku summit and publicized by his press office in Echmiadzin earlier in the day. “It is our duty to urge our peoples to help the presidents of our states peacefully move towards a solution to the existing problems and a final settlement of the conflict,” he told over 150 religious leaders from around the world. “We are praying to see the nice day when all the closed borders in the region will be open and when all people will be able to move freely,” the Catholicos said, referring to himself. He ended the speech by publicly inviting Pashazade to visit the Echmiadzin headquarters of the Armenian Church. Garegin and two bishops accompanying him became the first high-ranking Armenian clerics to set foot in Azerbaijan since the outbreak of the Karabakh conflict in 1988. Archbishop Vicken Aykazian, an Armenian Apostolic Church legate in the United States, also attended the forum in his capacity as president of the U.S. National Council of Churches.
Armenia -- Catholicos Garegin II, head of the Armenian Apostolic Church, undated.
26.04.2010
The spiritual leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan voiced support for the long-running efforts to peacefully resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and vowed to help reconcile their estranged nations after a landmark meeting in Baku on Monday.The supreme head of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Catholicos Garegin II, met with Azerbaijan’s Shia Muslim leader, Sheikh-ul-Islam Allahshukur Pashazade, as well as the Russian Orthodox Church leader, Patriarch Kirill II, on the sidelines of a summit of world religious leaders held in the Azerbaijan. Garegin attended the forum at their invitation.The three leaders appealed for Karabakh peace in a joint declaration issued after their meeting. The declaration encourages the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents as well as international mediators to continue to look for a compromise solution to the bitter dispute. “It is vitally important not to allow a return to military ways of solving contentious issues,” reads the document. “With our peace efforts, we will be sustaining people’s hopes for the elimination of existing divisions, barriers and animosity, for war, if it is continued, will have no end.” It welcomes liberation of prisoners and other “acts of goodwill” between the warring sides and condemns any “acts of vandalism” committed in the conflict zone.
Azerbaijan -- Head of the Caucasus Muslims Sheikh-ul-Islam Allakhshukur Pashazade in Baku, 07Nov2007“I believe that all problems in the Caucasus, including the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, will be solved by peaceful and just means,” the Azerbaijani Trend news agency quoted Pashazade as telling Garegin at the meeting. “I am confident that you too will strive to make sure that the problem does not take on a religious character.” Garegin was reported to agree, saying that the two clergies should jointly make sure that the Karabakh conflict does not transform into a “religious confrontation.” The Karabakh conflict was also a key theme of Garegin’s speech delivered at the Baku summit and publicized by his press office in Echmiadzin earlier in the day. “It is our duty to urge our peoples to help the presidents of our states peacefully move towards a solution to the existing problems and a final settlement of the conflict,” he told over 150 religious leaders from around the world. “We are praying to see the nice day when all the closed borders in the region will be open and when all people will be able to move freely,” the Catholicos said, referring to himself. He ended the speech by publicly inviting Pashazade to visit the Echmiadzin headquarters of the Armenian Church. Garegin and two bishops accompanying him became the first high-ranking Armenian clerics to set foot in Azerbaijan since the outbreak of the Karabakh conflict in 1988. Archbishop Vicken Aykazian, an Armenian Apostolic Church legate in the United States, also attended the forum in his capacity as president of the U.S. National Council of Churches.
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Grandson of a Genocide Perpetrator Calls on Commemorating 1915 Victims
Grandson of a Genocide Perpetrator Calls on Commemorating 1915 Victims
12:14 • 24.04.10
In an article titled "I share Armenian's Pain on April 24" Famous Turkish journalist and a columnist of the local Turkish daily Milliyet, Hasan Cemal calls for paying tribute to those who fall victims to the Genocide.Hasan Cemal is the grandson of Cemal Pasha, one of the organizers of the Armenian Genocide in 1915. "Today is April 24. April 24, 1915 is one of the shameful pages of the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Armenians living and creating for centuries in Anatolia endured great anguish on the lands they lived; they stood great pains in their own state: they were eradicated, slaughtered and subjected to eventual extinction. Some call these pages of history as deportation, some - as tragedy, some - Genocide, while others call it Great Calamity. But it cannot be denied," writes Cemal. "But today is April 24, the commemoration day of the Armenians, the tragedy the Armenian nation suffered on these lands. Thus let's first share the Armenian's grief on April 24, let's try to feel their pain in our hearts, let's equally mourn with Armenians," Cemal calls on Turks. In reference to his memoires relating to his visit to Tsitsernakaberd in 2008, the memorial of the Armenian Genocide, Cemal writes the following. "In September 2008 I was in Yerevan and visited the memorial complex of the Genocide victims. For a moment I remained alone with my dear Hrant [Dink]. It was Hrant's pain that brought me to the memorial ... My ears caught Hrant's voice. 'Let's respect each others pain'," writes Cemal."It is high time that we share Armenian's April 24 grief both at the individual and the state level. Hrant, my brother, I do share that pain, I miss you, have your rest there," concludes Further Cemal.
Tert.am
12:14 • 24.04.10
In an article titled "I share Armenian's Pain on April 24" Famous Turkish journalist and a columnist of the local Turkish daily Milliyet, Hasan Cemal calls for paying tribute to those who fall victims to the Genocide.Hasan Cemal is the grandson of Cemal Pasha, one of the organizers of the Armenian Genocide in 1915. "Today is April 24. April 24, 1915 is one of the shameful pages of the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Armenians living and creating for centuries in Anatolia endured great anguish on the lands they lived; they stood great pains in their own state: they were eradicated, slaughtered and subjected to eventual extinction. Some call these pages of history as deportation, some - as tragedy, some - Genocide, while others call it Great Calamity. But it cannot be denied," writes Cemal. "But today is April 24, the commemoration day of the Armenians, the tragedy the Armenian nation suffered on these lands. Thus let's first share the Armenian's grief on April 24, let's try to feel their pain in our hearts, let's equally mourn with Armenians," Cemal calls on Turks. In reference to his memoires relating to his visit to Tsitsernakaberd in 2008, the memorial of the Armenian Genocide, Cemal writes the following. "In September 2008 I was in Yerevan and visited the memorial complex of the Genocide victims. For a moment I remained alone with my dear Hrant [Dink]. It was Hrant's pain that brought me to the memorial ... My ears caught Hrant's voice. 'Let's respect each others pain'," writes Cemal."It is high time that we share Armenian's April 24 grief both at the individual and the state level. Hrant, my brother, I do share that pain, I miss you, have your rest there," concludes Further Cemal.
Tert.am
OBAMAS STATEMENT ON THE 95TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
****
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
April 24, 2010
Statement of President Barack Obama on Armenian Remembrance Day
On this solemn day of remembrance, we pause to recall that ninety-five years ago one of the worst atrocities of the 20th century began. In that dark moment of history, 1.5 million Armenians were massacred or marched to their death in the final days of the Ottoman Empire.
Today is a day to reflect upon and draw lessons from these terrible events. I have consistently stated my own view of what occurred in 1915, and my view of that history has not changed. It is in all of our interest to see the achievement a full, frank and just acknowledgment of the facts. The Meds Yeghern is a devastating chapter in the history of the Armenian people, and we must keep its memory alive in honor of those who were murdered and so that we do not repeat the grave mistakes of the past. I salute the Turks who saved Armenians in 1915 and am encouraged by the dialogue among Turks and Armenians, and within Turkey itself, regarding this painful history. Together, the Turkish and Armenian people will be stronger as they acknowledge their common history and recognize their common humanity.
Even as we confront the inhumanity of 1915, we also are inspired by the remarkable spirit of the Armenian people. While nothing can bring back those who were killed in the Meds Yeghern, the contributions that Armenians have made around the world over the last ninety-five years stand as a testament to the strength, tenacity and courage of the Armenian people. The indomitable spirit of the Armenian people is a lasting triumph over those who set out to destroy them. Many Armenians came to the United States as survivors of the horrors of 1915. Over the generations Americans of Armenian descent have richened our communities, spurred our economy, and strengthened our democracy. The strong traditions and culture of Armenians also became the foundation of a new republic which has become a part of the community of nations, partnering with the world community to build a better future.
Today, we pause with them and with Armenians everywhere to remember the awful events of 1915 with deep admiration for their contributions which transcend this dark past and give us hope for the future.
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
April 24, 2010
Statement of President Barack Obama on Armenian Remembrance Day
On this solemn day of remembrance, we pause to recall that ninety-five years ago one of the worst atrocities of the 20th century began. In that dark moment of history, 1.5 million Armenians were massacred or marched to their death in the final days of the Ottoman Empire.
Today is a day to reflect upon and draw lessons from these terrible events. I have consistently stated my own view of what occurred in 1915, and my view of that history has not changed. It is in all of our interest to see the achievement a full, frank and just acknowledgment of the facts. The Meds Yeghern is a devastating chapter in the history of the Armenian people, and we must keep its memory alive in honor of those who were murdered and so that we do not repeat the grave mistakes of the past. I salute the Turks who saved Armenians in 1915 and am encouraged by the dialogue among Turks and Armenians, and within Turkey itself, regarding this painful history. Together, the Turkish and Armenian people will be stronger as they acknowledge their common history and recognize their common humanity.
Even as we confront the inhumanity of 1915, we also are inspired by the remarkable spirit of the Armenian people. While nothing can bring back those who were killed in the Meds Yeghern, the contributions that Armenians have made around the world over the last ninety-five years stand as a testament to the strength, tenacity and courage of the Armenian people. The indomitable spirit of the Armenian people is a lasting triumph over those who set out to destroy them. Many Armenians came to the United States as survivors of the horrors of 1915. Over the generations Americans of Armenian descent have richened our communities, spurred our economy, and strengthened our democracy. The strong traditions and culture of Armenians also became the foundation of a new republic which has become a part of the community of nations, partnering with the world community to build a better future.
Today, we pause with them and with Armenians everywhere to remember the awful events of 1915 with deep admiration for their contributions which transcend this dark past and give us hope for the future.
Friday, April 23, 2010
Nancy Pelosi calls on Congressmen not to rest until the entire U.S. government properly recognizes the Armenian Genocide
Nancy Pelosi calls on Congressmen not to rest until the entire U.S. government properly recognizes the Armenian Genocide
The US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), a longtime supporter of Armenian Genocide recognition, stressed the remaining survivors of this crime challenge the conscience of America during the annual Armenian Genocide Observance, organized by the Congressional Armenian Caucus with the support of Armenian American organizations.
According to ANCA, Pelosi welcomed the passage of H.Res.252 by the Foreign Affairs Committee and called on her colleagues not to rest until the entire U.S. government properly recognizes this crime as genocide.
The lead author of H.Res.252, Adam Schiff (D-CA), spoke of his commitment to secure final adoption of the Armenian Genocide Resolution by both houses of Congress and the full recognition of this crime by both the U.S. government and, ultimately, the government of Turkey as well.House Majority Leader, Steny Hoyer (D-MD) offered moving comments about the core issues of conscience at stake in U.S. recognition of the Armenian Genocide, and called on his colleagues and all Americans to never stand as mere witnesses to genocide.
Many Congressmen supported the endorsement of the Armenian Genocide Resolution in their speeches and condemned Turkey’s rejecting policy over the offense against humanity, carried out by the Ottoman Turkey.Among the many other notable speeches delivered at the program was the one given by New Jersey Congressman Steve Rothman (d), who, in powerful remarks warmly welcomed by the hundreds in attendance, noted that he has consistently told Turkish leaders that Turkey-U.S. relations will suffer “until and unless they recognize the genocide and discuss compensation and reparations with Armenians.”
Armenian Ambassador to the US Tatul Margaryan, Nagorno-Karabakh representative in Washington Robert Avetisyan were attending the meeting.
Source: Panorama.am
The US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), a longtime supporter of Armenian Genocide recognition, stressed the remaining survivors of this crime challenge the conscience of America during the annual Armenian Genocide Observance, organized by the Congressional Armenian Caucus with the support of Armenian American organizations.
According to ANCA, Pelosi welcomed the passage of H.Res.252 by the Foreign Affairs Committee and called on her colleagues not to rest until the entire U.S. government properly recognizes this crime as genocide.
The lead author of H.Res.252, Adam Schiff (D-CA), spoke of his commitment to secure final adoption of the Armenian Genocide Resolution by both houses of Congress and the full recognition of this crime by both the U.S. government and, ultimately, the government of Turkey as well.House Majority Leader, Steny Hoyer (D-MD) offered moving comments about the core issues of conscience at stake in U.S. recognition of the Armenian Genocide, and called on his colleagues and all Americans to never stand as mere witnesses to genocide.
Many Congressmen supported the endorsement of the Armenian Genocide Resolution in their speeches and condemned Turkey’s rejecting policy over the offense against humanity, carried out by the Ottoman Turkey.Among the many other notable speeches delivered at the program was the one given by New Jersey Congressman Steve Rothman (d), who, in powerful remarks warmly welcomed by the hundreds in attendance, noted that he has consistently told Turkish leaders that Turkey-U.S. relations will suffer “until and unless they recognize the genocide and discuss compensation and reparations with Armenians.”
Armenian Ambassador to the US Tatul Margaryan, Nagorno-Karabakh representative in Washington Robert Avetisyan were attending the meeting.
Source: Panorama.am
Andranik Migranyan writes about Obama’s tough choice
Andranik Migranyan writes about Obama’s tough choice
Andranik Migranyan the director of Institute for Democracy and cooperation posted his articles on “The Huffington Post” writing about his observation over U.S. President’s April 24 address. Read the original story below:
On April 24 every year the U.S. President addresses the American people and the world to express solidarity with those who pay tribute to the 1915 genocide victims when 1.5 million Armenians were destroyed in the Ottoman Empire.
Every presidential candidate promises to the U.S. Armenian community that when he comes to office he will recognize the fact of the genocide but neither President Clinton, nor Bush, nor President Obama have fulfilled their election pledges yet. The last President to keep his word on this was President Reagan who explicitly recognized Armenian Genocide in 1981.
Last year, when on a trip to Ankara in April, President Obama, answering the question on Armenian-Turkish relations, did not use the word 'genocide' but said that his views on the issue had not changed since his election campaign. Then, he said "America deserves a leader who speaks truthfully about the Armenian Genocide," and more. To avoid using the word genocide in the U.S.
President's address on April 24, 2009 the U.S. administration had asked the President of Armenia to publicly announce on the eve of that date that some progress had been made in the negotiations with Turkey, and two protocols had been initialed that were aimed at normalizing the Armenian-Turkish relations.
The Armenian leadership agreed to do that despite the anticipation of serious criticism on the part of the Diaspora and especially the Armenian community in the United States who thought that this played into the hands of the Turks and helped Obama to save face and not to use the word 'genocide' in his speech on April 24, the reason being that he did not want to impede the normalization process in the relations between Armenia and Turkey. Instead, he used an Armenian language term for the genocide. After announcing the news regarding the protocols right before the genocide memorial date, the Armenian leadership received a statement from the U.S. Department of State to the effect that the parties should sign the protocols without any preconditions and within a reasonable time frame. By virtue of this action Washington, to a large extent, assumed the responsibility of being the guarantor of signing and ratification of these protocols. This was followed by the signing of the protocols in Zurich by the foreign ministers of Turkey and Armenia, with the active mediation of U.S. State Secretary Hillary Clinton.
The Turkish side, however, kept putting forward new conditions for the ratification, thus protracting the process and using the negotiations with Armenia to block the passing of the resolution by U.S. Congress denouncing the genocide of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire and recognition of the genocide by other states.
Such conduct on the part of the Turkish side left Armenia no choice under the circumstances but suspend further proceedings of the protocols placing the full responsibility for frustrating the talks on Turkey. Armenia formally did so today. It is now up to Turkey to settle things with the United States, France, European Union and Russia regarding the issue since the foreign ministers of France, the U.S. and Russia, as well as the representative of the EU took part in the protocol signing process in Zurich.
In order to maintain the negotiations process, the President of Armenia was invited to participate in the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, DC on April 12-13, and within the framework of the Summit he had meetings with the Prime Minister of Turkey, President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton.
The Turkish side made the ratification of the protocols contingent on the progress in the relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan and on the upcoming parliamentary elections in Turkey, which is not due until 2011. Such conduct on the part of Turkey runs contrary to the very essence of the protocols and the statement of the U.S. Department of State on normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations without any preconditions and within a reasonable time frame.
Washington was not able to convince Ankara to comply with its obligations to ratify the protocols. It is just as unlikely to be able to keep Armenia in this negotiations process so as to have a chance for President Obama to save face this year again, in case on April 24 he does not use the word 'genocide' in his address.
The Armenian side could stay in the negotiations for a while longer even without the ratification of the protocols by the Turkish Parliament if the President of the United States used the word 'genocide' in his address on April 24. In that case neither the Diaspora nor the Armenian political circles in the opposition would be able to accuse the President of Armenia of his staying in the process, in fact, assisting the Turkish diplomacy and blocking the process of recognizing the genocide by the U.S. administration and Congress.
The Armenian side could stay in the negotiations process given the certainty that this year the Congress would pass a resolution on the genocide of Armenians which has already gone through the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives. It might stay in this process if there is any progress in the position of the mediators on the Nagorny Karabakh settlement issue and clarification of the issue of its status. Without some positive results on a wide range of issues in the Armenian-Turkish and Armenian-Azeri relations, it will be difficult for the Armenian leadership to remain in this process without causing itself political damage.
In my view, as a result of the Armenian withdrawal from the process it is Turkey who will be the biggest loser, because yet again the Turkish side will show the world that it is not ready to recognize the genocide and apologize to the Armenian people; furthermore, it is not even ready to agree to a normalization of relations, thus presenting itself as a dangerous neighbor for Armenia and unreliable partner for all the countries that participated in the drafting and signing of the protocols.
Obviously, not only Obama but also the United States will sustain serious blows to their reputation since Washington acted as an unbiased mediator and, even more, gave the world reasons to believe that he had sufficient resources to convince Turkey to sign as well as ratify the protocols.
On April 24 the U.S. President is to deliver another address with regard to the 95th anniversary of the genocide of Armenians. He would do well if he came up with some language not to alienate the U.S. Armenian community and the Armenian people either from him personally or from his party on the eve of midterm elections to Congress, and here he should take into account certain capabilities of the Armenian lobby and the Armenian constituency.
Thus, the U.S. President is facing a difficult choice. If he recognized the genocide he would avoid challenges to his credibility, and gain the support of the Armenian-American community; he would also perform a moral duty as President Reagan did and which, incidentally, has already been done by such states as France, Germany, Russia and others. At the same time, that would create tensions in the relations with Turkey which is a NATO ally and a strategic partner. Indeed, Turkey is still viewed as such mechanically by many in Washington. However, only those totally divorced from politics cannot see that Turkey's recent policy on all major internal and external issues has been shifting. Turkey has been moving from a secular state toward an Islamic state. Moreover, it is pursuing the ambitions to re-instate its role as a leader of a neo-Ottoman world and as the leader of all Islamic states. Internally, the Army and the Joint Chiefs of Staff are rapidly losing their influence as the main guarantors of Turkey as a secular state. In the external policy, Erdogan has repeatedly subjected Israel to verbal accusations and made statements on protecting Iran from tougher U.S. sanctions in the UN Security Council. If this rapid slide of the Turkish policy continues in the future, then we may not find too unrealistic the strategic forecast of George Friedman, founder of STRATFOR, in his book "The Next 100 Years", on the inevitability of a full-scale war between the neo-Ottoman Turkey and the United States as early as the middle of this century.
In view of all these circumstances, the U.S. President will be presented with a tough choice that is really not too difficult.
Source: Panorama.am
Andranik Migranyan the director of Institute for Democracy and cooperation posted his articles on “The Huffington Post” writing about his observation over U.S. President’s April 24 address. Read the original story below:
On April 24 every year the U.S. President addresses the American people and the world to express solidarity with those who pay tribute to the 1915 genocide victims when 1.5 million Armenians were destroyed in the Ottoman Empire.
Every presidential candidate promises to the U.S. Armenian community that when he comes to office he will recognize the fact of the genocide but neither President Clinton, nor Bush, nor President Obama have fulfilled their election pledges yet. The last President to keep his word on this was President Reagan who explicitly recognized Armenian Genocide in 1981.
Last year, when on a trip to Ankara in April, President Obama, answering the question on Armenian-Turkish relations, did not use the word 'genocide' but said that his views on the issue had not changed since his election campaign. Then, he said "America deserves a leader who speaks truthfully about the Armenian Genocide," and more. To avoid using the word genocide in the U.S.
President's address on April 24, 2009 the U.S. administration had asked the President of Armenia to publicly announce on the eve of that date that some progress had been made in the negotiations with Turkey, and two protocols had been initialed that were aimed at normalizing the Armenian-Turkish relations.
The Armenian leadership agreed to do that despite the anticipation of serious criticism on the part of the Diaspora and especially the Armenian community in the United States who thought that this played into the hands of the Turks and helped Obama to save face and not to use the word 'genocide' in his speech on April 24, the reason being that he did not want to impede the normalization process in the relations between Armenia and Turkey. Instead, he used an Armenian language term for the genocide. After announcing the news regarding the protocols right before the genocide memorial date, the Armenian leadership received a statement from the U.S. Department of State to the effect that the parties should sign the protocols without any preconditions and within a reasonable time frame. By virtue of this action Washington, to a large extent, assumed the responsibility of being the guarantor of signing and ratification of these protocols. This was followed by the signing of the protocols in Zurich by the foreign ministers of Turkey and Armenia, with the active mediation of U.S. State Secretary Hillary Clinton.
The Turkish side, however, kept putting forward new conditions for the ratification, thus protracting the process and using the negotiations with Armenia to block the passing of the resolution by U.S. Congress denouncing the genocide of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire and recognition of the genocide by other states.
Such conduct on the part of the Turkish side left Armenia no choice under the circumstances but suspend further proceedings of the protocols placing the full responsibility for frustrating the talks on Turkey. Armenia formally did so today. It is now up to Turkey to settle things with the United States, France, European Union and Russia regarding the issue since the foreign ministers of France, the U.S. and Russia, as well as the representative of the EU took part in the protocol signing process in Zurich.
In order to maintain the negotiations process, the President of Armenia was invited to participate in the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, DC on April 12-13, and within the framework of the Summit he had meetings with the Prime Minister of Turkey, President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton.
The Turkish side made the ratification of the protocols contingent on the progress in the relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan and on the upcoming parliamentary elections in Turkey, which is not due until 2011. Such conduct on the part of Turkey runs contrary to the very essence of the protocols and the statement of the U.S. Department of State on normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations without any preconditions and within a reasonable time frame.
Washington was not able to convince Ankara to comply with its obligations to ratify the protocols. It is just as unlikely to be able to keep Armenia in this negotiations process so as to have a chance for President Obama to save face this year again, in case on April 24 he does not use the word 'genocide' in his address.
The Armenian side could stay in the negotiations for a while longer even without the ratification of the protocols by the Turkish Parliament if the President of the United States used the word 'genocide' in his address on April 24. In that case neither the Diaspora nor the Armenian political circles in the opposition would be able to accuse the President of Armenia of his staying in the process, in fact, assisting the Turkish diplomacy and blocking the process of recognizing the genocide by the U.S. administration and Congress.
The Armenian side could stay in the negotiations process given the certainty that this year the Congress would pass a resolution on the genocide of Armenians which has already gone through the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives. It might stay in this process if there is any progress in the position of the mediators on the Nagorny Karabakh settlement issue and clarification of the issue of its status. Without some positive results on a wide range of issues in the Armenian-Turkish and Armenian-Azeri relations, it will be difficult for the Armenian leadership to remain in this process without causing itself political damage.
In my view, as a result of the Armenian withdrawal from the process it is Turkey who will be the biggest loser, because yet again the Turkish side will show the world that it is not ready to recognize the genocide and apologize to the Armenian people; furthermore, it is not even ready to agree to a normalization of relations, thus presenting itself as a dangerous neighbor for Armenia and unreliable partner for all the countries that participated in the drafting and signing of the protocols.
Obviously, not only Obama but also the United States will sustain serious blows to their reputation since Washington acted as an unbiased mediator and, even more, gave the world reasons to believe that he had sufficient resources to convince Turkey to sign as well as ratify the protocols.
On April 24 the U.S. President is to deliver another address with regard to the 95th anniversary of the genocide of Armenians. He would do well if he came up with some language not to alienate the U.S. Armenian community and the Armenian people either from him personally or from his party on the eve of midterm elections to Congress, and here he should take into account certain capabilities of the Armenian lobby and the Armenian constituency.
Thus, the U.S. President is facing a difficult choice. If he recognized the genocide he would avoid challenges to his credibility, and gain the support of the Armenian-American community; he would also perform a moral duty as President Reagan did and which, incidentally, has already been done by such states as France, Germany, Russia and others. At the same time, that would create tensions in the relations with Turkey which is a NATO ally and a strategic partner. Indeed, Turkey is still viewed as such mechanically by many in Washington. However, only those totally divorced from politics cannot see that Turkey's recent policy on all major internal and external issues has been shifting. Turkey has been moving from a secular state toward an Islamic state. Moreover, it is pursuing the ambitions to re-instate its role as a leader of a neo-Ottoman world and as the leader of all Islamic states. Internally, the Army and the Joint Chiefs of Staff are rapidly losing their influence as the main guarantors of Turkey as a secular state. In the external policy, Erdogan has repeatedly subjected Israel to verbal accusations and made statements on protecting Iran from tougher U.S. sanctions in the UN Security Council. If this rapid slide of the Turkish policy continues in the future, then we may not find too unrealistic the strategic forecast of George Friedman, founder of STRATFOR, in his book "The Next 100 Years", on the inevitability of a full-scale war between the neo-Ottoman Turkey and the United States as early as the middle of this century.
In view of all these circumstances, the U.S. President will be presented with a tough choice that is really not too difficult.
Source: Panorama.am
Thursday, April 22, 2010
U.S. Congressmen paid tribute to Armenian Genocide victims
U.S. Congressmen paid tribute to Armenian Genocide victims11:07 / 04/22/2010
“Calls for President Barack Obama to properly recognize the Armenian Genocide and upon the Congressional leadership to schedule a vote on the Armenian Genocide Resolution took center stage, today, at the Capitol Hill Armenian Genocide Observance, with Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Minority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) leading more than 20 of their House colleagues at this remembrance calling for official U.S. condemnation and commemoration of this crime against humanity,” Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) website reads.The annual Armenian Genocide Observance was hosted by Caucus Co-Chairs Frank Pallone (D-NJ) and Mark Kirk (R-IL). Opening prayers were offered by His Eminence Oshagan Choloyan, Prelate of the Armenian Apostolic Church of Eastern United States and Archbishop Yeghishe Gezirian, representing the Diocese of the Armenian Church of America Eastern Region. Earlier in the day, Archbishop Choloyan had offered the opening prayer for the U.S. House earlier in the day. Remarks were also offered by Armenian Ambassador to the U.S., His Excellency Tatoul Markarian, and the Nagorno Karabagh Republic's representative in Washington, DC, Robert Avetisyan. In speech after speech, Members of Congress condemned Turkey’s refusal to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide and its ongoing campaign to pressure the international community into complicity in Ankara's denial of this crime.Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), a longtime supporter of Armenian Genocide recognition, stressed the remaining survivors of this crime challenge the conscience of America. She welcomed the passage of H.Res.252 by the Foreign Affairs Committee and called on her colleagues not to rest until the entire U.S. government properly recognizes this crime as a genocide. House Majority Leader, Steny Hoyer (D-MD) offered moving comments about the core issues of conscience at stake in U.S. recognition of the Armenian Genocide, and called on his colleagues and all Americans to never stand as mere witnesses to genocide. Congressman Howard Berman, who, as Chairman, shepherded the Armenian Genocide Resolution through the Foreign Affairs Committee, spoke powerfully about the moral obligation that all Americans bear to both stand up against genocide and to oppose efforts to deny the reality of genocidal crimes. The lead author of H.Res.252, Adam Schiff (D-CA), spoke of his commitment to secure final adoption of the Armenian Genocide Resolution by both houses of Congress and the full recognition of this crime by both the U.S. government and, ultimately, the government of Turkey as well.Among the many other notable speeches delivered at the program was the one given by New Jersey Congressman Steve Rothman (D), who, in powerful remarks warmly welcomed by the hundreds in attendance, noted that he has consistently told Turkish leaders that Turkey-U.S. relations will suffer “until and unless they recognize the genocide and discuss compensation and reparations with Armenians.” New York Congressman Elliot Engel expressed frustration at the Turkish government's efforts to characterize the slaughter of 1.5 million Armenians as the result of a civil war, stating: “How dare they,” and pledging to continue his support for the Armenian Genocide Resolution. Congressman Jim Costa (D-CA) took direct aim at those who perennially argue that “this is not the right time” to pass the Armenian Genocide Resolution, noting that this excuse will always be around: “We will always hear that this is not the right time. I say we do it now!” Congressman Brad Sherman (D-CA), who, as a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee helped ensure its adoption by this panel, offered a comprehensive review of Armenian Genocide recognition efforts and made a strong moral and practical case for its adoption by the full U.S. House.Among the Members of Congression joining Speaker Pelosi, Majority Leader Hoyer and Congressional Armenian Caucus Co-Chairs Frank Pallone and Mark Kirk were Representatives Howard Berman (D-CA), Lois Capps (D-CA), Jim Costa (D-CA), David Dreier (R-CA), Elliott Engel (D-NY), Anna Eshoo (D-CA), Scott Garrett (R-NJ), Rush Holt (D-NJ), Dan Lipinski (D-IL), Ed Markey (D-MA), George Miller (D-CA), Steve Rothman (D-NJ), Ed Royce (R-CA), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Bobby Scott (D-VA), Brad Sherman (D-CA), and Jackie Speier (D-CA).
News from Armenia - NEWS.am
“Calls for President Barack Obama to properly recognize the Armenian Genocide and upon the Congressional leadership to schedule a vote on the Armenian Genocide Resolution took center stage, today, at the Capitol Hill Armenian Genocide Observance, with Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Minority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) leading more than 20 of their House colleagues at this remembrance calling for official U.S. condemnation and commemoration of this crime against humanity,” Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) website reads.The annual Armenian Genocide Observance was hosted by Caucus Co-Chairs Frank Pallone (D-NJ) and Mark Kirk (R-IL). Opening prayers were offered by His Eminence Oshagan Choloyan, Prelate of the Armenian Apostolic Church of Eastern United States and Archbishop Yeghishe Gezirian, representing the Diocese of the Armenian Church of America Eastern Region. Earlier in the day, Archbishop Choloyan had offered the opening prayer for the U.S. House earlier in the day. Remarks were also offered by Armenian Ambassador to the U.S., His Excellency Tatoul Markarian, and the Nagorno Karabagh Republic's representative in Washington, DC, Robert Avetisyan. In speech after speech, Members of Congress condemned Turkey’s refusal to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide and its ongoing campaign to pressure the international community into complicity in Ankara's denial of this crime.Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), a longtime supporter of Armenian Genocide recognition, stressed the remaining survivors of this crime challenge the conscience of America. She welcomed the passage of H.Res.252 by the Foreign Affairs Committee and called on her colleagues not to rest until the entire U.S. government properly recognizes this crime as a genocide. House Majority Leader, Steny Hoyer (D-MD) offered moving comments about the core issues of conscience at stake in U.S. recognition of the Armenian Genocide, and called on his colleagues and all Americans to never stand as mere witnesses to genocide. Congressman Howard Berman, who, as Chairman, shepherded the Armenian Genocide Resolution through the Foreign Affairs Committee, spoke powerfully about the moral obligation that all Americans bear to both stand up against genocide and to oppose efforts to deny the reality of genocidal crimes. The lead author of H.Res.252, Adam Schiff (D-CA), spoke of his commitment to secure final adoption of the Armenian Genocide Resolution by both houses of Congress and the full recognition of this crime by both the U.S. government and, ultimately, the government of Turkey as well.Among the many other notable speeches delivered at the program was the one given by New Jersey Congressman Steve Rothman (D), who, in powerful remarks warmly welcomed by the hundreds in attendance, noted that he has consistently told Turkish leaders that Turkey-U.S. relations will suffer “until and unless they recognize the genocide and discuss compensation and reparations with Armenians.” New York Congressman Elliot Engel expressed frustration at the Turkish government's efforts to characterize the slaughter of 1.5 million Armenians as the result of a civil war, stating: “How dare they,” and pledging to continue his support for the Armenian Genocide Resolution. Congressman Jim Costa (D-CA) took direct aim at those who perennially argue that “this is not the right time” to pass the Armenian Genocide Resolution, noting that this excuse will always be around: “We will always hear that this is not the right time. I say we do it now!” Congressman Brad Sherman (D-CA), who, as a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee helped ensure its adoption by this panel, offered a comprehensive review of Armenian Genocide recognition efforts and made a strong moral and practical case for its adoption by the full U.S. House.Among the Members of Congression joining Speaker Pelosi, Majority Leader Hoyer and Congressional Armenian Caucus Co-Chairs Frank Pallone and Mark Kirk were Representatives Howard Berman (D-CA), Lois Capps (D-CA), Jim Costa (D-CA), David Dreier (R-CA), Elliott Engel (D-NY), Anna Eshoo (D-CA), Scott Garrett (R-NJ), Rush Holt (D-NJ), Dan Lipinski (D-IL), Ed Markey (D-MA), George Miller (D-CA), Steve Rothman (D-NJ), Ed Royce (R-CA), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Bobby Scott (D-VA), Brad Sherman (D-CA), and Jackie Speier (D-CA).
News from Armenia - NEWS.am
WHEN WILL THE FARCE END ?--ARMENIAN GENOCIDE DENIAL
Gibrahayer e-magazine Editorial by Jean Ipdjian - Nicosia - Wednesday 21 April 2010 - Every time that a country discusses the recognition of the Armenian Genocide or worse still it votes to recognise the Armenian Genocide, Turkey and the Turkish government go into a frenzied and hysterical theatrics which starts with threats about cutting trade agreements and ends up with recalling their ambassador to that country ‘indefinitely’, which usually means for a couple of weeks until the furore passes away. Then the ambassador sneaks back into the country and its business as usual. The same scenario has happened on and on again, as it happened lately after the successful adoption of a resolution regarding the recognition of the Armenian Genocide in the US House of Representatives’ foreign relations committee and by the adoption of a resolution recognizing the Armenian Genocide by the Swedish Parliament, which was backed ironically by the minority opposition parties there. The Turkish reaction is understandable. She has to keep appearances and entertain to the internal audience of semi-literate peasants in the ‘Anadolou’ regions and to the whims and appetites of extremist groups such as the ‘Grey Wolves’, who are overtly frowned upon by the State and covertly backed, encouraged and managed by the state and the almighty military hierarchy. As for the reaction of Western governments and notably of the United States, who seem to bend backwards to accommodate Turkish wishes, it can only be said that it is beyond hypocritical, and that it gives the word a new twisted meaning. It is so hypocritical and tragic, because these governments know very well the extent of Turkey’s reliance on their trade, the extent of Turkey’s reliance on the near blanket diplomatic cover they extend to her actions against neighbouring countries such as Greece, Cyprus, Syria and of course, Armenia. The only logical explanation to their actions and behaviour seems to be a carrot and stick game being played to keep Turkish appetites at bay while at the same time not antagonising her too much. However despite all these machinations, sooner rather than later more and more countries will follow suite and will put aside their cautious policies towards Turkey and will recognise the Armenian Genocide building up the pressure not only on Turkey, but on the rest of the few countries, who I suspect will steadfastly continue to back her in her denial of the undeniable fact of genocide planned, organised and executed by the forefathers of present day ‘civilised’ and ‘Europeanised’ Turkey against the Armenian people living in their homeland from times immortal. And each time one more country recognises the Armenian genocide, Turkey will act out her already ineffectual and hollow series of threats and actions. One of the most potent tools of strengthening an idea or a movement, experience and history have shown, is confrontation, forceful suppression and in the case of historic happenings and events, their distortion and denial. Ideas and movements, causes and aspirations thrive in hostile circumstances. Every time Turkish politicians, historians in their employment or personalities in other countries repeat their denial and contortions of the undeniable fact of the Armenian Genocide they not only strengthen our resolve to succeed, they also concentrate the attention of the international media and public opinion on the matter and thus inevitably increase the awareness of the world regarding the Genocide and the futility and absurdity of their denial of it. Therefore, one comes and wonders when will this farce end and when will Turkey realise that just like in the case of drug addicts, alcoholics, rapists, usurpers of other people’s properties and thieves, the process of healing and acceptance into society and in this case in the society of nations, starts from the time they genuinely admit to themselves and others that they are any one of the above mentioned. Only then they can hope to heal themselves and hope to be accepted as equals.
News in Brief - by Sevag Devletian
WHEN WILL THE FARCE END ?--ARMENIAN GENOCIDE DENIAL
Gibrahayer e-magazine Editorial by Jean Ipdjian - Nicosia - Wednesday 21 April 2010 - Every time that a country discusses the recognition of the Armenian Genocide or worse still it votes to recognise the Armenian Genocide, Turkey and the Turkish government go into a frenzied and hysterical theatrics which starts with threats about cutting trade agreements and ends up with recalling their ambassador to that country ‘indefinitely’, which usually means for a couple of weeks until the furore passes away. Then the ambassador sneaks back into the country and its business as usual. The same scenario has happened on and on again, as it happened lately after the successful adoption of a resolution regarding the recognition of the Armenian Genocide in the US House of Representatives’ foreign relations committee and by the adoption of a resolution recognizing the Armenian Genocide by the Swedish Parliament, which was backed ironically by the minority opposition parties there. The Turkish reaction is understandable. She has to keep appearances and entertain to the internal audience of semi-literate peasants in the ‘Anadolou’ regions and to the whims and appetites of extremist groups such as the ‘Grey Wolves’, who are overtly frowned upon by the State and covertly backed, encouraged and managed by the state and the almighty military hierarchy. As for the reaction of Western governments and notably of the United States, who seem to bend backwards to accommodate Turkish wishes, it can only be said that it is beyond hypocritical, and that it gives the word a new twisted meaning. It is so hypocritical and tragic, because these governments know very well the extent of Turkey’s reliance on their trade, the extent of Turkey’s reliance on the near blanket diplomatic cover they extend to her actions against neighbouring countries such as Greece, Cyprus, Syria and of course, Armenia. The only logical explanation to their actions and behaviour seems to be a carrot and stick game being played to keep Turkish appetites at bay while at the same time not antagonising her too much. However despite all these machinations, sooner rather than later more and more countries will follow suite and will put aside their cautious policies towards Turkey and will recognise the Armenian Genocide building up the pressure not only on Turkey, but on the rest of the few countries, who I suspect will steadfastly continue to back her in her denial of the undeniable fact of genocide planned, organised and executed by the forefathers of present day ‘civilised’ and ‘Europeanised’ Turkey against the Armenian people living in their homeland from times immortal. And each time one more country recognises the Armenian genocide, Turkey will act out her already ineffectual and hollow series of threats and actions. One of the most potent tools of strengthening an idea or a movement, experience and history have shown, is confrontation, forceful suppression and in the case of historic happenings and events, their distortion and denial. Ideas and movements, causes and aspirations thrive in hostile circumstances. Every time Turkish politicians, historians in their employment or personalities in other countries repeat their denial and contortions of the undeniable fact of the Armenian Genocide they not only strengthen our resolve to succeed, they also concentrate the attention of the international media and public opinion on the matter and thus inevitably increase the awareness of the world regarding the Genocide and the futility and absurdity of their denial of it. Therefore, one comes and wonders when will this farce end and when will Turkey realise that just like in the case of drug addicts, alcoholics, rapists, usurpers of other people’s properties and thieves, the process of healing and acceptance into society and in this case in the society of nations, starts from the time they genuinely admit to themselves and others that they are any one of the above mentioned. Only then they can hope to heal themselves and hope to be accepted as equals.
News in Brief - by Sevag Devletian
News in Brief - by Sevag Devletian
A MESSAGE FROM ARMENIAN PRIME MINISTER
"Fellow Armenians;"A year has passed since the Armenian-Turkish-Swiss joint statement on steps to normalize the relations between Armenia and Turkey. During this period, the two Protocols aimed at normalization of the relations have been publicized, discussed in the public domain, and signed. The documents have for quite a lengthy time now been in the parliaments of Armenia and Turkey, awaiting ratification. Armenia has all along demonstrated her commitment to the process of normalization of relations, to the point of including the Protocols in the agenda of the National Assembly. We have made clear to the whole world that our position is nothing but firmly constructive. We have stated that, if Turkey ratified the Protocols, as agreed, without preconditions and in a reasonable timeframe, failure by the Armenian Parliament to ratify them would be precluded."Now, the time has come to gauge the notion of a reasonable timeframe and whether a conduct is without preconditions. These criteria were set forth by not only Armenia, but also all the mediators involved in the process, all of our international partners."For a whole year, Turkeys senior officials have not spared public statements in the language of preconditions. For a whole year, Turkey has done everything to protract time and fail the process. Hence, our conclusion and position are straightforward: 1. Turkey is not ready to continue the process that was started and to move forward without preconditions in line with the letter of the Protocols.2. The reasonable timeframes have, in our opinion, elapsed. The Turkish practice of passing the 24th of April at any cost is simply unacceptable.3. We consider unacceptable the pointless efforts of making the dialogue between Armenia and Turkey an end in itself; from this moment on, we consider the current phase of normalization exhausted."My Fellow Armenians;"During this period, I have discussed and continue discussing the future of the process launched with Turkey with Presidents Nicolas Sarkozy of France, Barack Obama of the United States, Dmitri Medvedev of Russia, as well as our colleagues in a number of European organizations. We are grateful to them for supporting our initiative, encouraging the process, and exerting efforts to secure progress. The matter of the fact is that our partners have urged us to continue the process, rather than to discontinue it."Out of respect for them, their efforts, and their sincere aspirations, we have decided after consulting our Coalition partners and the National Security Council not to exit the process for the time being, but rather, to suspend the procedure of ratifying the Protocols. We believe this to be in the best interests of our nation."Armenia shall retain her signature under the Protocols, because we desire to maintain the existing momentum for normalizing relations, because we desire peace. Our political objective of normalizing relations between Armenia and Turkey remains valid, and we shall consider moving forward when we are convinced that there is a proper environment in Turkey and there is leadership in Ankara ready to reengage in the normalization process."While announcing to the world the end of the current phase of the process, which was launched with the September 2008 match between the national football teams of Armenia and Turkey, I express gratitude to President Abdullah Gl of Turkey for political correctness displayed throughout this period and the positive relationship that developed between us."Fellow Compatriots;"In two days, we will commemorate the 95th anniversary of the first genocide of the 20th century, the remembrance day of the Armenian Genocide. Our struggle for the international recognition of the Genocide continues. If some circles in Turkey attempt to use our candor to our detriment, to manipulate the process to avoid the reality of the 24th of April, they should know all too well that the 24th of April is the day that symbolizes the Armenian Genocide, but in no way shall it mark the time boundary of its international recognition."We express our gratitude to all the states, organizations, and individuals that support us in deploring and preventing crimes against humanity. We are also grateful to all those Turkish intellectuals that struggle for the restoration of historical justice and share our grief. On this eve of the 95th anniversary, we call upon everyone to remember that the memory of one and a half million innocent victims exterminated under a state-orchestrated program merely for being Armenian continues to pose before mankind the demand for recognition and condemnation."Fellow Compatriots;"We are stronger today than ever before and stand straight as always. Henceforth, our efforts for a better Armenia, a better region, a better world, and a more solid unity of Armenians worldwide will only multiply. Rest assured that results will be visible all along.God bless us!"
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Turkey, Azerbaijan continue with Armenian cultural heritage genocide
Turkey, Azerbaijan continue with Armenian cultural heritage genocide
April 20, 2010 - 14:15 AMT 09:15 GMT
PanARMENIAN.Net -
Cultural Genocide international conference was organized in Yerevan in commemoration of Armenian Genocide 95th anniversary.
The event was sponsored by Armenian Diaspora Ministry, National Academy of Sciences and Armenian Genocide Museum.
“For 95 years, Armenian nation has been struggling for the recognition of Genocide. Armenian Genocide in Ottoman Empire was followed by a cultural one – extermination of Armenian cultural heritage in Julfa. We condemn the atrocities and urge for the punishment of perpetrators,” Armenian Diaspora Minister Hranush Hakobyan emphasized, opening the conference.
She called on Armenia and Diaspora forces to unite in developing a program aimed at restoration of Armenian nation's rights.
YSU rector Aram Simonyan, in turn, stated that architectural monuments genocide continues to this day. “Today, cultural genocide can also be perceived in Turkey and Azerbaijan's appropriation of Armenian culture. We must create a unified package of programs to struggle against this occurrence,” he stressed, expressing readiness on behalf of the university to help state structures undertake measures in this direction.
April 20, 2010 - 14:15 AMT 09:15 GMT
PanARMENIAN.Net -
Cultural Genocide international conference was organized in Yerevan in commemoration of Armenian Genocide 95th anniversary.
The event was sponsored by Armenian Diaspora Ministry, National Academy of Sciences and Armenian Genocide Museum.
“For 95 years, Armenian nation has been struggling for the recognition of Genocide. Armenian Genocide in Ottoman Empire was followed by a cultural one – extermination of Armenian cultural heritage in Julfa. We condemn the atrocities and urge for the punishment of perpetrators,” Armenian Diaspora Minister Hranush Hakobyan emphasized, opening the conference.
She called on Armenia and Diaspora forces to unite in developing a program aimed at restoration of Armenian nation's rights.
YSU rector Aram Simonyan, in turn, stated that architectural monuments genocide continues to this day. “Today, cultural genocide can also be perceived in Turkey and Azerbaijan's appropriation of Armenian culture. We must create a unified package of programs to struggle against this occurrence,” he stressed, expressing readiness on behalf of the university to help state structures undertake measures in this direction.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
A PRAYER FOR THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE VICTIMS IN CONGRESS
April 18, 2010
SPECIAL ISSUE
ARCHBISHOP OSHAGAN WILL OFFER INVOCATION
IN HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ON WEDNESDAY
His Eminence Archbishop Oshagan Choloyan, Prelate of the Armenian Apostolic Church of America, Eastern United States, has been invited to deliver the invocation to open the House of Representatives in Washington, DC, this Wednesday, April 21, at 10 a.m.
We wish to remind our Crossroads readers that the proceedings of the House of Representatives are televised on C-Span. They can also be seen online at http://e2ma.net/go/8191189813/2740394/93732390/24882/goto:http://www.c-span.org/.
Eastern Prelacy of the
Armenian Apostolic Church of America
A PRAYER FOR THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE VICTIMS IN CONGRESS
April 18, 2010
SPECIAL ISSUE
ARCHBISHOP OSHAGAN WILL OFFER INVOCATION
IN HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ON WEDNESDAY
His Eminence Archbishop Oshagan Choloyan, Prelate of the Armenian Apostolic Church of America, Eastern United States, has been invited to deliver the invocation to open the House of Representatives in Washington, DC, this Wednesday, April 21, at 10 a.m.
We wish to remind our Crossroads readers that the proceedings of the House of Representatives are televised on C-Span. They can also be seen online at http://e2ma.net/go/8191189813/2740394/93732390/24882/goto:http://www.c-span.org/.
Eastern Prelacy of the
Armenian Apostolic Church of America
SPECIAL ISSUE
ARCHBISHOP OSHAGAN WILL OFFER INVOCATION
IN HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ON WEDNESDAY
His Eminence Archbishop Oshagan Choloyan, Prelate of the Armenian Apostolic Church of America, Eastern United States, has been invited to deliver the invocation to open the House of Representatives in Washington, DC, this Wednesday, April 21, at 10 a.m.
We wish to remind our Crossroads readers that the proceedings of the House of Representatives are televised on C-Span. They can also be seen online at http://e2ma.net/go/8191189813/2740394/93732390/24882/goto:http://www.c-span.org/.
Eastern Prelacy of the
Armenian Apostolic Church of America
Turkish intellectuals say Genocide is their pain
Turkish intellectuals say Genocide is their pain14:08 / 04/20/2010
Renowned Turkish intellectuals urged to get together in Istanbul and mourn for 1915 victims on April 24 (Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day).
The statement reads: “In 1915 Turkish population was estimated at 13 million with 1.5-2 million Armenians in Frakia, Aegean Region, Adana, Malatya, Van, Kars, Samatya, Sisli and other places. They were our friends from the blocks: our tailors, jewelers, shoemakers, millers, classmates, teachers, officers, soldiers, MPs, historians and composers. They were our akin neighbors, facing same challenges as we did. They were displaced since April 24, 1915 and we lost them. They are no more with us. The majority is gone, not even their grave sites are known. But our heart sores for 95 years for that pain and great catastrophe. We call on all Turks feeling this pain deep in the heart to pay tribute to 1915 victims, wearing black, silent and with lighted candles and flowers. As this pain is OUR pain. This is our sorrow. So we meet April 24 at 7:00 p.m. local time in Taksim square of Istanbul.”
The statement was signed by Turkish intellectual Baskin Oran, lawyer Fethiye Cetin, historian — Nese Duze, Chairman of Human Rights Association Ozturk Turkdogan, Turkish MP Ufuk Uras and others.
A.G.
News from Armenia - NEWS.am
Renowned Turkish intellectuals urged to get together in Istanbul and mourn for 1915 victims on April 24 (Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day).
The statement reads: “In 1915 Turkish population was estimated at 13 million with 1.5-2 million Armenians in Frakia, Aegean Region, Adana, Malatya, Van, Kars, Samatya, Sisli and other places. They were our friends from the blocks: our tailors, jewelers, shoemakers, millers, classmates, teachers, officers, soldiers, MPs, historians and composers. They were our akin neighbors, facing same challenges as we did. They were displaced since April 24, 1915 and we lost them. They are no more with us. The majority is gone, not even their grave sites are known. But our heart sores for 95 years for that pain and great catastrophe. We call on all Turks feeling this pain deep in the heart to pay tribute to 1915 victims, wearing black, silent and with lighted candles and flowers. As this pain is OUR pain. This is our sorrow. So we meet April 24 at 7:00 p.m. local time in Taksim square of Istanbul.”
The statement was signed by Turkish intellectual Baskin Oran, lawyer Fethiye Cetin, historian — Nese Duze, Chairman of Human Rights Association Ozturk Turkdogan, Turkish MP Ufuk Uras and others.
A.G.
News from Armenia - NEWS.am
Monday, April 19, 2010
Turkey Insists On Karabakh Linkage For Armenia Ties
Turkey Insists On Karabakh Linkage For Armenia Ties
Turkey -- Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses members of parliament from his ruling AK Party in Ankara, 19Apr2010
19.04.2010
Turkey has again reiterated its long-standing linkage between the ratification of its fence-mending agreements with Armenia and a resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict acceptable to Azerbaijan.“We shut the [Turkish-Armenian] border because of the occupation of Azeri soil,” Turkish Prime Recep Tayyip Erdogan was quoted as saying by the Anatolia news agency on Sunday in a report cited by Agence France Presse. “The occupation should end so that Turkey can easily open its [border] gates. But if the occupation continues, we will not take such a step,” he said.Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Monday dismissed some Armenian pro-government politicians’ suggestions that Ankara might open the frontier without ratifying the Turkish-Armenian protocols. “It is out of question for Turkey to open its border gate without the ratification of the protocols,” he said, according to Anatolia.Davutoglu was speaking at a news conference in Ankara ahead of his visit to Azerbaijan, Turkey’s closest regional ally strongly opposed to the unconditional normalization of Turkish-Armenian relations.The remarks by Erdogan are a further indication that he and Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian failed to make further progress in the normalization process at their talks held in Washington last week. The lack of such progress made a unilateral Armenian pullout from the agreements more likely. Still, Davutoglu insisted that the dramatic Turkish-Armenian rapprochement, which began two years ago, is not over. “We are positive on the process and we have full confidence that in the end it will lead us to a point,” he said.
Turkey -- Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses members of parliament from his ruling AK Party in Ankara, 19Apr2010
19.04.2010
Turkey has again reiterated its long-standing linkage between the ratification of its fence-mending agreements with Armenia and a resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict acceptable to Azerbaijan.“We shut the [Turkish-Armenian] border because of the occupation of Azeri soil,” Turkish Prime Recep Tayyip Erdogan was quoted as saying by the Anatolia news agency on Sunday in a report cited by Agence France Presse. “The occupation should end so that Turkey can easily open its [border] gates. But if the occupation continues, we will not take such a step,” he said.Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Monday dismissed some Armenian pro-government politicians’ suggestions that Ankara might open the frontier without ratifying the Turkish-Armenian protocols. “It is out of question for Turkey to open its border gate without the ratification of the protocols,” he said, according to Anatolia.Davutoglu was speaking at a news conference in Ankara ahead of his visit to Azerbaijan, Turkey’s closest regional ally strongly opposed to the unconditional normalization of Turkish-Armenian relations.The remarks by Erdogan are a further indication that he and Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian failed to make further progress in the normalization process at their talks held in Washington last week. The lack of such progress made a unilateral Armenian pullout from the agreements more likely. Still, Davutoglu insisted that the dramatic Turkish-Armenian rapprochement, which began two years ago, is not over. “We are positive on the process and we have full confidence that in the end it will lead us to a point,” he said.
Thursday, April 15, 2010
University of Ankara announces launch of Armenian language course
University of Ankara announces launch of Armenian language course
April 15, 2010 - 18:14 AMT 13:14 GMT
PanARMENIAN.Net - The University of Ankara announced it will launch an Armenian language course toward the end of 2010.
According to a member of the university’s governing board, Dr. Durmus Gunay, a dwindling number of people in Turkey still speak Armenian.
“Increasingly, the organizers are looking for members of staff who speak Armenian, and therefore there is a demand for such language courses,” he said.
Dr. Gunay said the understanding of universities has changed over the past 20 to 30 years. “We are going through a period of globalization. Therefore it is crucial to train people in as many languages as possible,” he said.
“The focus is on English as a second language at the university,” Dr. Gunay said, adding that the institution is aspired to have many language courses available for as many students as possible.
The curriculum drawn up by the university for the new language course has been reviewed and approved by the Higher Education Board, or YOK.
April 15, 2010 - 18:14 AMT 13:14 GMT
PanARMENIAN.Net - The University of Ankara announced it will launch an Armenian language course toward the end of 2010.
According to a member of the university’s governing board, Dr. Durmus Gunay, a dwindling number of people in Turkey still speak Armenian.
“Increasingly, the organizers are looking for members of staff who speak Armenian, and therefore there is a demand for such language courses,” he said.
Dr. Gunay said the understanding of universities has changed over the past 20 to 30 years. “We are going through a period of globalization. Therefore it is crucial to train people in as many languages as possible,” he said.
“The focus is on English as a second language at the university,” Dr. Gunay said, adding that the institution is aspired to have many language courses available for as many students as possible.
The curriculum drawn up by the university for the new language course has been reviewed and approved by the Higher Education Board, or YOK.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Berman Slams Effort to Block House Vote on Resolution
Berman Slams Effort to Block House Vote on Resolution
16:53 • 14.04.10
Howard Berman, the chairman of the powerful House Foreign Affairs Committee, denounced efforts by his colleagues in the Turkish Caucus to question the historical truth of the Armenian Genocide, rejecting the flawed national security and economic arguments put forth by these legislators to block the adoption of the Armenian Genocide Resolution (H.Res.252) by the full U.S. House of Representatives, reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).In a strongly worded response to a Congressional Turkish Caucus letter urging Nancy Pelosi to block floor consideration of the measure, Berman took "strong exception" to their references to the "so-called Armenian Genocide Resolution," stating that the assertion, "flies in the face of the overwhelming weight of unimpeachable historical evidence and the virtually unanimous opinion of genocide scholars."Berman also rejected the flawed national security arguments against the Armenian Genocide Resolution, stating, "I believe that U.S.-Turkish security relations are founded on mutual interests and that Turkey is not about to discard the immense benefits it derives from bilateral security relations for the sake of 'punishing' the U.S. for a non-binding resolution, however much it may resent that resolution." The chairman also disputed the effect of Congressional genocide affirmation on Turkey-Armenia relations, arguing that the Turkey-Armenia protocols "have been gathering dust in the Turkish Parliament" due to Turkish preconditions on the process.The chairman's letter coincides with bilateral meetings held between President Barack Obama and Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan, and also between Sargsyan and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Both foreign leaders are in Washington this week as part of a major multilateral nuclear summit.
Tert.am
16:53 • 14.04.10
Howard Berman, the chairman of the powerful House Foreign Affairs Committee, denounced efforts by his colleagues in the Turkish Caucus to question the historical truth of the Armenian Genocide, rejecting the flawed national security and economic arguments put forth by these legislators to block the adoption of the Armenian Genocide Resolution (H.Res.252) by the full U.S. House of Representatives, reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).In a strongly worded response to a Congressional Turkish Caucus letter urging Nancy Pelosi to block floor consideration of the measure, Berman took "strong exception" to their references to the "so-called Armenian Genocide Resolution," stating that the assertion, "flies in the face of the overwhelming weight of unimpeachable historical evidence and the virtually unanimous opinion of genocide scholars."Berman also rejected the flawed national security arguments against the Armenian Genocide Resolution, stating, "I believe that U.S.-Turkish security relations are founded on mutual interests and that Turkey is not about to discard the immense benefits it derives from bilateral security relations for the sake of 'punishing' the U.S. for a non-binding resolution, however much it may resent that resolution." The chairman also disputed the effect of Congressional genocide affirmation on Turkey-Armenia relations, arguing that the Turkey-Armenia protocols "have been gathering dust in the Turkish Parliament" due to Turkish preconditions on the process.The chairman's letter coincides with bilateral meetings held between President Barack Obama and Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan, and also between Sargsyan and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Both foreign leaders are in Washington this week as part of a major multilateral nuclear summit.
Tert.am
Meeting of Serzh Sargsyan with Turkish PM gives idea about stance of Ankara
Meeting of Serzh Sargsyan with Turkish PM gives idea about stance of Ankara
April 14, 2010 - 19:21 AMT 14:21 GMT
PanARMENIAN.Net - Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian said that the meetings of Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan with the U.S. President and Turkish Prime Minister in Washington have strengthened conclusions of the Armenian side with respect to the decision on process of the Armenian-Turkish normalization. This decision will be made public as soon as the Armenian President thinks it is an appropriate time to inform the Armenian society, Nalbandian told a briefing in Washington, DC.
According to him, the meeting of Serzh Sargsyan with the Turkish Prime Minister allowed Yerevan to get a clearer idea about the stance of Ankara. The Armenian Foreign Minister stated that the meetings provided Armenia with another opportunity to ascertain that the Armenian side was right in its assessments of recent processes around the Armenian-Turkish normalization. “Our ideas about and approaches towards further actions have strengthened after these meetings,” the Foreign Minister said.
April 14, 2010 - 19:21 AMT 14:21 GMT
PanARMENIAN.Net - Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian said that the meetings of Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan with the U.S. President and Turkish Prime Minister in Washington have strengthened conclusions of the Armenian side with respect to the decision on process of the Armenian-Turkish normalization. This decision will be made public as soon as the Armenian President thinks it is an appropriate time to inform the Armenian society, Nalbandian told a briefing in Washington, DC.
According to him, the meeting of Serzh Sargsyan with the Turkish Prime Minister allowed Yerevan to get a clearer idea about the stance of Ankara. The Armenian Foreign Minister stated that the meetings provided Armenia with another opportunity to ascertain that the Armenian side was right in its assessments of recent processes around the Armenian-Turkish normalization. “Our ideas about and approaches towards further actions have strengthened after these meetings,” the Foreign Minister said.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
ARMENIAN PM: ARMENIAN GENOCIDE RECOGNITION IS INEVITABLE
Serzh Sargsyan: Armenian Genocide recognition is inevitable
April 12, 2010 - 22:28 AMT 17:28 GMT
PanARMENIAN.Net - “US Armenian community became one of the strongest links in the issue of international recognition of Armenian Genocide. I am sure the Diaspora will proceed with its mission. Armenian Genocide recognition is inevitable,” RA President Serzh Sarsyan stated in Washington National Cathedral.
Addressing Diaspora’s concerns over the possibility for Armenia-Turkey Protocols to impede international recognition of Armenian Genocide, he stated: “Time came to prove these concerns to be groundless. Over the last months, we witnessed Turkey's failed attempts at presenting Armenia and Diaspora as divided in their opinions. We’re here to disprove these hollow surmises. There are no separated Armenia and Diaspora, but only a united Armenian nation,” Serzh Sargsyan stressed.
According to the President, Ankara is ready to normalize ties with neighboring countries, unwilling, yet, to yield to preconditions. “Our position in Armenia-Turkey rapprochement remains unchanged: we will not allow Ankara to set preconditions to Armenia and Diaspora.”
Armenian President stressed that Armenia will not allow to question the fact of the Genocide, or allow suppositions on the possibility for Turkey to play a positive role in Karabakh conflict settlement issue. As he noted, it is a norm for any newly-adopted direction in foreign policy to be put to the test. “And I’m confident, we will pass this test with dignity,” Armenian President emphasized.
April 12, 2010 - 22:28 AMT 17:28 GMT
PanARMENIAN.Net - “US Armenian community became one of the strongest links in the issue of international recognition of Armenian Genocide. I am sure the Diaspora will proceed with its mission. Armenian Genocide recognition is inevitable,” RA President Serzh Sarsyan stated in Washington National Cathedral.
Addressing Diaspora’s concerns over the possibility for Armenia-Turkey Protocols to impede international recognition of Armenian Genocide, he stated: “Time came to prove these concerns to be groundless. Over the last months, we witnessed Turkey's failed attempts at presenting Armenia and Diaspora as divided in their opinions. We’re here to disprove these hollow surmises. There are no separated Armenia and Diaspora, but only a united Armenian nation,” Serzh Sargsyan stressed.
According to the President, Ankara is ready to normalize ties with neighboring countries, unwilling, yet, to yield to preconditions. “Our position in Armenia-Turkey rapprochement remains unchanged: we will not allow Ankara to set preconditions to Armenia and Diaspora.”
Armenian President stressed that Armenia will not allow to question the fact of the Genocide, or allow suppositions on the possibility for Turkey to play a positive role in Karabakh conflict settlement issue. As he noted, it is a norm for any newly-adopted direction in foreign policy to be put to the test. “And I’m confident, we will pass this test with dignity,” Armenian President emphasized.
Monday, April 12, 2010
Turkey Cannot Speak with Pre-conditions to Armenia: Sargsyan
Turkey Cannot Speak with Pre-conditions to Armenia: Sargsyan
21:25 • 12.04.10
"We are ready and want to have normal relations with all our neigbors, but we will not tolerated pre-conditions to be dictated to us. This morning I met with Turkish Prime Minister. Our approach has been and remains very clear. Turkey cannot speak with pre-conditions to Armenia. We will not simply allow that. We cannot allow the fact of Armenian Genocide be a subject to examination or pretend that Turkey can play a positive role in the Karabakh conflict settlement process. Any new foreign policy line is subject to trial because we are passing through an untrampled path. We are sure that Armenia will pass this way with honor too," said Sargsyan today at meeting with Armenian American Diaspora in Washington.
"In the recent months we witnessed how Turkey attempted to split the homeland and the Diaspora and to present the situation as if there are two different viewpoints in Armenia and in the Diaspora. Today together with you we deny those empty allusions. There is no difference between the viewpoints of Armenia and Diaspora: there is a unified Armenian people ...," said Sargsyan. Armenia’s President Sezh Sargsyan visited Woodrow Wilson’s tomb in the Washington National Cathedral. The President placed a wreath on the tomb.
Our correspondent in Washington says that Sargsyan said he had told Erdogan that Armenia has not changed its approach over the Armenia-Turkey normalization, that Turkey cannot speak with Armenia with pre-conditions, and that Armenia will never allow anyone to question the fact of Genocide.
Earlier a meeting took place between Serzh Sargsyan and Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the framework of the World Nuclear Security Summit. There were reports that the main issue on the agenda would be the Armenia-Turkey normalization and the ratification of Armenia-Turkey Protocols.Besides Serzh Sargsyan Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandyan, President’s Deputy Chief of Staff Vigen Sargsyan were participating in the meeting.From the Turkish side together with Erdogan Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and Turkey’s Deputy Undersecretary Feridun Sinirlioglu participated in the meeting that took place in a room behind transparent windows in the background of the World Nuclear Security Summit wallpaper.
Tert.am
21:25 • 12.04.10
"We are ready and want to have normal relations with all our neigbors, but we will not tolerated pre-conditions to be dictated to us. This morning I met with Turkish Prime Minister. Our approach has been and remains very clear. Turkey cannot speak with pre-conditions to Armenia. We will not simply allow that. We cannot allow the fact of Armenian Genocide be a subject to examination or pretend that Turkey can play a positive role in the Karabakh conflict settlement process. Any new foreign policy line is subject to trial because we are passing through an untrampled path. We are sure that Armenia will pass this way with honor too," said Sargsyan today at meeting with Armenian American Diaspora in Washington.
"In the recent months we witnessed how Turkey attempted to split the homeland and the Diaspora and to present the situation as if there are two different viewpoints in Armenia and in the Diaspora. Today together with you we deny those empty allusions. There is no difference between the viewpoints of Armenia and Diaspora: there is a unified Armenian people ...," said Sargsyan. Armenia’s President Sezh Sargsyan visited Woodrow Wilson’s tomb in the Washington National Cathedral. The President placed a wreath on the tomb.
Our correspondent in Washington says that Sargsyan said he had told Erdogan that Armenia has not changed its approach over the Armenia-Turkey normalization, that Turkey cannot speak with Armenia with pre-conditions, and that Armenia will never allow anyone to question the fact of Genocide.
Earlier a meeting took place between Serzh Sargsyan and Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the framework of the World Nuclear Security Summit. There were reports that the main issue on the agenda would be the Armenia-Turkey normalization and the ratification of Armenia-Turkey Protocols.Besides Serzh Sargsyan Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandyan, President’s Deputy Chief of Staff Vigen Sargsyan were participating in the meeting.From the Turkish side together with Erdogan Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and Turkey’s Deputy Undersecretary Feridun Sinirlioglu participated in the meeting that took place in a room behind transparent windows in the background of the World Nuclear Security Summit wallpaper.
Tert.am
Saturday, April 10, 2010
TURKEY MUST PROVE ITS SINCERE IN IMPROVING RELATIONS WITH ARMENIA
Erdogan and Sargsyan to discuss stalemated talks16:51 / 04/10/2010
Turkish Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan and RA President Serzh Sargsyan will discuss resumption of stalemated talks at their meeting on the sidelines of the Global Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, Turkish Ambassador to U.S. Namik Tan told The Associated Press.
He also noted that returned to Washington after “Obama administration's assurances that it will oppose congressional actions and not label killings of Armenians in Ottoman Empire in 1915 as Genocide,” AP reports.
Commenting on Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu’s cancelled visit to Washington, Turkish Ambassador stated that Israel’s nuclear program is not on their agenda.
Earlier, Netanyahu called off his visit to nuclear security summit, as Egypt and Turkey intended to place the issue of Israel’s signing nuclear non-proliferation treaty on the agenda.
News from Armenia - NEWS.am
Turkish Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan and RA President Serzh Sargsyan will discuss resumption of stalemated talks at their meeting on the sidelines of the Global Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, Turkish Ambassador to U.S. Namik Tan told The Associated Press.
He also noted that returned to Washington after “Obama administration's assurances that it will oppose congressional actions and not label killings of Armenians in Ottoman Empire in 1915 as Genocide,” AP reports.
Commenting on Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu’s cancelled visit to Washington, Turkish Ambassador stated that Israel’s nuclear program is not on their agenda.
Earlier, Netanyahu called off his visit to nuclear security summit, as Egypt and Turkey intended to place the issue of Israel’s signing nuclear non-proliferation treaty on the agenda.
News from Armenia - NEWS.am
Friday, April 9, 2010
THE STARVING ARMENIANS
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (Little Rock)April 7, 2010 WednesdayThey were the first victims of one genocide among so many in the 20thCentury, but it's not diplomatic to say so. The Turkish governmentmight be offended. So the Obama administration pulled out the usualstops the other day, urging the House Foreign Affairs Committee toshelve a resolution taking note of the Armenian massacres during theFirst World War.Yes, Barack Obama had promised to recognize the Armenian genocide whenhe was running for president, but he's president now. He's in power,and with great power come great responsibilities, prominent amongthem not speaking truth. Truth can be impolitic.The secretary of state dutifully echoed her boss. "Both PresidentObama and I have made clear, both last year and again this year," saidHillary Clinton, "that we do not believe any action by the Congressis appropriate, and we oppose it." What's fealty to history comparedto the demands of Realpolitik?In the end, the House committee did decide to call genocide genocide.By one vote. The final tally was Truth 23, Silence in the Face ofEvil, 22.The vote may say less about what happened in Turkey a century ago thanabout what has happened to the American spirit since. For there wasa time when America did not hesitate to cry bloody murder. ("500,000Armenians said to have perished/ Washington asked to stop slaughter ofChristians by Turks and Kurds."-New York Times, September 24, 1915.)It was a time when the mass deportation and annihilation of a wholepeople could still shock the world, and move even diplomats toprotest. Our secretary of state at the time not only had convictionsbut dared expressed them. William Jennings Bryan protested themassacres "as a matter of humanity." How undiplomatic.The American ambassador to Turkey, Henry Morgenthau, did what he couldto publicize the genocide even before there was such a word for acrime so immense. He was determined that the whole world would knowwhat was happening in Turkey. To quote one of his public appeals:"More than 2 million persons were deported. The system was aboutthe same everywhere. The Armenians, men, women, and children, wouldbe assembled in the marketplace. Then the able-bodied men would bemarched off and killed by being shot or clubbed in cold blood at somespot which did not necessitate the trouble of burial. . . . As a laststep, those who remained, mothers, grandmothers, children were drivenforth on their death pilgrimages across the desert of Aleppo, withno food, no water, no shelter, to be robbed and beaten at every halt."Ambassador Morgenthau's conclusion: "If America is going to condonethese offenses . . . she is party to the crime." Teddy Roosevelt,who was always ready for a fight, was long out of the White House bythen, but when the massacres came to light, he demanded a declarationof war against Turkey.The whole country rang with protests. The massacres even entered theAmerican vernacular. When children wouldn't eat their vegetables,they might be told to remember "the starving Armenians." Old-timersmay remember the phrase; it remains in the language even if thehistory behind it has been forgotten.Now, if the pundits and analysts note this congressional resolutionat all, they seem more interested in the politics of it than thehistorical truth it expresses. Which is how politics loses its moraledge and becomes only a power game.The Turks responded to the passage of the resolution in committeeby recalling their ambassador for "consultations"-a show of Ankara'sdispleasure.For official purposes, the Turkish government still claims theArmenians weren't victims of any organized massacre in the years1915-1918. It seems they just disappeared one day by the hundredsof thousands. Or they met with a series of unfortunate accidents inwartime. Or for their own reasons they chose to decamp for the desertsof Syria. Or they were wiped out in a series of spontaneous riotsthat the beleaguered authorities could do nothing to prevent. Or,to use a phrase from another genocide, they were resettled in the East.In short, when a single truth must be avoided, falsehoods multiply.And diplomats impose a discreet silence. Why offend?Over time the Armenian massacres faded from the world's memory, butsome statesmen remembered, and drew the inevitable conclusion: that theworld would scarcely notice a little genocide among friends. To quoteone of them speaking to a group of his confidants: "It's a matter ofindifference to me what a weak Western European civilization will sayabout me. I have issued the command-and I'll have anybody who uttersbut one word of criticism executed by a firing squad-that our waraim does not consist in reaching certain lines, but in the physicaldestruction of the enemy. Accordingly, I have placed my death-headformations in readiness-for the present only in the East-with ordersto them to send to death mercilessly and without compassion men,women, and children. . . . Only thus shall we gain the living spacewe need. Who, after all, speaks today of the extermination of theArmenians?" -A. Hitler------ :: ------Paul Greenberg is the Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial page editorof the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
OBAMA HAS SAID THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE SHOULD BE RECOGNIZED--SO , WHAT HAPPENED
ANCA Calls Obama to Honor Armenian Genocide Recognition Pledge
Letter to White House Calls for a U.S. Stand that is “Truthful, Just, and Worthy of the American People”
WASHINGTON, DC - The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) today went on record, once again, asking President Obama to honor his campaign promise to recognize the Armenian Genocide.
The one-page letter, signed by ANCA Chairman Ken Hachikian and sent in the days leading up to President Obama's second April 24th in office, asks, simply, that President Obama keep his commitment and "stand for a policy that is truthful, just, and worthy of the American people.”
Hachikian also addressed two points of special concern that have further compounded the anger and outrage felt by Armenian American voters over the President's broken promise; his pressure on Armenia to accept the one-sided, pro-Ankara Protocols; his support for Turkey's "historical commission" denial tactic; and his attacks on the Armenian Genocide Resolution. The first dealt with the unfortunate and inappropriate practice by the current and previous presidents to use April 24th, a day of solemn remembrance, as a platform to offer policy statements about Armenia, Turkey, and the surrounding region. The second concerned the fact that the President, despite devoting considerable attention to Armenian issues, has yet to agree, consistent with his campaign promise, to meet with the broad-based leadership of the Armenian American community.
Read the ANCA letter to Obama
Letter to White House Calls for a U.S. Stand that is “Truthful, Just, and Worthy of the American People”
WASHINGTON, DC - The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) today went on record, once again, asking President Obama to honor his campaign promise to recognize the Armenian Genocide.
The one-page letter, signed by ANCA Chairman Ken Hachikian and sent in the days leading up to President Obama's second April 24th in office, asks, simply, that President Obama keep his commitment and "stand for a policy that is truthful, just, and worthy of the American people.”
Hachikian also addressed two points of special concern that have further compounded the anger and outrage felt by Armenian American voters over the President's broken promise; his pressure on Armenia to accept the one-sided, pro-Ankara Protocols; his support for Turkey's "historical commission" denial tactic; and his attacks on the Armenian Genocide Resolution. The first dealt with the unfortunate and inappropriate practice by the current and previous presidents to use April 24th, a day of solemn remembrance, as a platform to offer policy statements about Armenia, Turkey, and the surrounding region. The second concerned the fact that the President, despite devoting considerable attention to Armenian issues, has yet to agree, consistent with his campaign promise, to meet with the broad-based leadership of the Armenian American community.
Read the ANCA letter to Obama
FREE LECTURE AT SAGE APRIL 15TH 730PM--CAN GENOCIDE HAPPEN IN MODERN DAY
The Pursuit of Self Determination and Perpetual Peace: President Wilson and Armenia
The 2010 Armenian Lecture
Date: Thursday, April 15th, 2010
Time: 7:30 pm
Location: Bush Memorial Hall, Troy campus
Sponsored by: The Sage Colleges
Import into your calendar program
Jarod Kearney, curator of the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library and Museum in Staunton, Va., has been in the museum field for over a decade, has lectured extensively on historical and curatorial topics, and his work has been published by the Columbia Journal of American Studies, Salem Press, and Routledge.
C
The 2010 Armenian Lecture
Date: Thursday, April 15th, 2010
Time: 7:30 pm
Location: Bush Memorial Hall, Troy campus
Sponsored by: The Sage Colleges
Import into your calendar program
Jarod Kearney, curator of the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library and Museum in Staunton, Va., has been in the museum field for over a decade, has lectured extensively on historical and curatorial topics, and his work has been published by the Columbia Journal of American Studies, Salem Press, and Routledge.
C
WORSE THAN WAR--Wednesday, April 14, 2010 9:00-11:00 p.m. on WMHT
WORSE THAN WAR
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
9:00-11:00 p.m. on WMHT
- Groundbreaking Documentary on Worldwide Phenomenon of Genocide
Airs During National Holocaust Remembrance Week -
Since the beginning of the 20th century, there have been more than
100 million innocent victims of genocide worldwide - more than the
number of combat deaths in all the wars fought in every corner of
the globe during the same period.
With his first book, the international best-seller Hitler's Willing
Executioners (Vintage, 1997), Daniel Jonah Goldhagen - then a
professor of political science at Harvard University - forced the
world to re-think some of its most deeply held beliefs about the
Holocaust. Hitler's Willing Executioners inspired an unprecedented
worldwide discussion and debate about the role ordinary Germans
played in the annihilation of Europe's Jews.
A decade later - and more than half a century after the end of World
War II - Goldhagen is convinced that the overall phenomenon of
genocide is as poorly understood as the Holocaust had once been. How
and why do genocides start? Why do the perpetrators kill? Why has
intervention rarely occurred in a timely manner? WORSE THAN WAR,
airing Wednesday, April 14, 2010, 9:00-11:00 p.m. ET on PBS during
National Holocaust Remembrance Week, explores these and other
thought-provoking questions.
Based on Goldhagen's book of the same title, which has been called
"magisterial" by The New York Times, "convincing" and "wholly
original" by Kirkus, "pathbreaking" by Die Presse and "masterful" by
the Daily Telegraph, WORSE THAN WAR is the first documentary to step
back and focus on the general phenomenon of genocide - offering
viewers profound insights into its dimensions, patterns and causes
and tragic role in politics and human affairs.
"By the most fundamental measure - the number of people killed - the
perpetrators of mass murder since the beginning of the 20th century
have taken the lives of more people than have died in military
conflict. So genocide is worse than war," iterates Goldhagen. "This
is a little-known fact that should be a central focus of
international politics, because once you know it, the world,
international politics and what we need to do all begin to look
substantially different from how they are typically conceived."
WORSE THAN WAR documents Goldhagen's travels, teachings and
interviews in nine countries around the world, bringing viewers on
an unprecedented journey of insight and analysis. In a film that is
highly cinematic and evocative throughout, he speaks with victims,
perpetrators, witnesses, politicians, diplomats, historians,
humanitarian aid workers and journalists, all with the purpose of
explaining and understanding the critical features of genocide and
how to stop it.
In Rwanda, perpetrators of genocide speak candidly about their
participation in mass murders, and Minister of Justice Tharcisse
Karugarama discusses the perpetrators' willingness, the world's
failure and how we can prevent the same fate in other countries. In
Guatemala, Goldhagen explores the concept of "overkill" with the
country's leading forensic pathologist; in an extraordinary
interview, he confronts former president José Efraín Ríos Montt,
the person in power during the genocide of Maya in the early 1980s.
In Bosnia, he attends the annual commemoration of the massacre at Sr
ebrenica, the worst mass-killing in Europe since World War II, and h
as a candid discussion with the nation's president Haris Silajdžić a
bout his efforts to convince U.S. and world leaders to intervene whe
n it became apparent that "ethnic cleansing" was underway. In Ukrain
e, Goldhagen returns with his father Erich (also a scholar of the Ho
locaust) to the town where Erich was nearly killed during the Holoca
ust.
Goldhagen also conducts probing and revealing interviews with
Madeleine Albright, former U.S. Secretary of State; Francis Deng, UN
Special Advisor for the Prevention of Genocide; and Clint
Williamson, U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
9:00-11:00 p.m. on WMHT
- Groundbreaking Documentary on Worldwide Phenomenon of Genocide
Airs During National Holocaust Remembrance Week -
Since the beginning of the 20th century, there have been more than
100 million innocent victims of genocide worldwide - more than the
number of combat deaths in all the wars fought in every corner of
the globe during the same period.
With his first book, the international best-seller Hitler's Willing
Executioners (Vintage, 1997), Daniel Jonah Goldhagen - then a
professor of political science at Harvard University - forced the
world to re-think some of its most deeply held beliefs about the
Holocaust. Hitler's Willing Executioners inspired an unprecedented
worldwide discussion and debate about the role ordinary Germans
played in the annihilation of Europe's Jews.
A decade later - and more than half a century after the end of World
War II - Goldhagen is convinced that the overall phenomenon of
genocide is as poorly understood as the Holocaust had once been. How
and why do genocides start? Why do the perpetrators kill? Why has
intervention rarely occurred in a timely manner? WORSE THAN WAR,
airing Wednesday, April 14, 2010, 9:00-11:00 p.m. ET on PBS during
National Holocaust Remembrance Week, explores these and other
thought-provoking questions.
Based on Goldhagen's book of the same title, which has been called
"magisterial" by The New York Times, "convincing" and "wholly
original" by Kirkus, "pathbreaking" by Die Presse and "masterful" by
the Daily Telegraph, WORSE THAN WAR is the first documentary to step
back and focus on the general phenomenon of genocide - offering
viewers profound insights into its dimensions, patterns and causes
and tragic role in politics and human affairs.
"By the most fundamental measure - the number of people killed - the
perpetrators of mass murder since the beginning of the 20th century
have taken the lives of more people than have died in military
conflict. So genocide is worse than war," iterates Goldhagen. "This
is a little-known fact that should be a central focus of
international politics, because once you know it, the world,
international politics and what we need to do all begin to look
substantially different from how they are typically conceived."
WORSE THAN WAR documents Goldhagen's travels, teachings and
interviews in nine countries around the world, bringing viewers on
an unprecedented journey of insight and analysis. In a film that is
highly cinematic and evocative throughout, he speaks with victims,
perpetrators, witnesses, politicians, diplomats, historians,
humanitarian aid workers and journalists, all with the purpose of
explaining and understanding the critical features of genocide and
how to stop it.
In Rwanda, perpetrators of genocide speak candidly about their
participation in mass murders, and Minister of Justice Tharcisse
Karugarama discusses the perpetrators' willingness, the world's
failure and how we can prevent the same fate in other countries. In
Guatemala, Goldhagen explores the concept of "overkill" with the
country's leading forensic pathologist; in an extraordinary
interview, he confronts former president José Efraín Ríos Montt,
the person in power during the genocide of Maya in the early 1980s.
In Bosnia, he attends the annual commemoration of the massacre at Sr
ebrenica, the worst mass-killing in Europe since World War II, and h
as a candid discussion with the nation's president Haris Silajdžić a
bout his efforts to convince U.S. and world leaders to intervene whe
n it became apparent that "ethnic cleansing" was underway. In Ukrain
e, Goldhagen returns with his father Erich (also a scholar of the Ho
locaust) to the town where Erich was nearly killed during the Holoca
ust.
Goldhagen also conducts probing and revealing interviews with
Madeleine Albright, former U.S. Secretary of State; Francis Deng, UN
Special Advisor for the Prevention of Genocide; and Clint
Williamson, U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues.
Shut Up About Armenians or We'll Hurt Them Again
fighting words : A wartime lexicon.
Shut Up About Armenians or We'll Hurt Them Again
Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan's latest sinister threat.
By Christopher Hitchens
Posted Monday, April 5, 2010, at 10:43 AM ET
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan April is the cruelest month for the people of Armenia, who every year at this season have to suffer a continuing tragedy and a humiliation. The tragedy is that of commemorating the huge number of their ancestors who were exterminated by the Ottoman Muslim caliphate in a campaign of state-planned mass murder that began in April 1915. The humiliation is of hearing, year after year, that the Turkish authorities simply deny that these appalling events ever occurred or that the killings constituted "genocide."
In a technical and pedantic sense, the word genocide does not, in fact, apply, since it only entered our vocabulary in 1943. (It was coined by a scholar named Raphael Lemkin, who for rather self-evident reasons in that even more awful year wanted a legal term for the intersection between racism and bloodlust and saw Armenia as the precedent for what was then happening in Poland.) I still rather prefer the phrase used by America's then-ambassador to Turkey, Henry Morgenthau. Reporting to Washington about what his consular agents were telling him of the foul doings in the Ottoman provinces of Harput and Van in particular, he employed the striking words "race extermination." (See the imperishable book The Slaughterhouse Province for some of the cold diplomatic dispatches of that period.) Terrible enough in itself, Morgenthau's expression did not quite comprehend the later erasure of all traces of Armenian life, from the destruction of their churches and libraries and institutes to the crude altering of official Turkish maps and schoolbooks to deny that there had ever been an Armenia in the first place.
This year, the House foreign affairs committee in Washington and the parliament of Sweden joined the growing number of political bodies that have decided to call the slaughter by its right name. I quote now from a statement in response by Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the current prime minister of Turkey and the leader of its Islamist party:
In my country there are 170,000 Armenians. Seventy thousand of them are citizens. We tolerate 100,000 more. So, what am I going to do tomorrow? If necessary I will tell the 100,000: OK, time to go back to your country. Why? They are not my citizens. I am not obliged to keep them in my country.
This extraordinary threat was not made at some stupid rally in a fly-blown town. It was uttered in England, on March 17, on the Turkish-language service of the BBC. Just to be clear, then, about the view of Turkey's chief statesman: If democratic assemblies dare to mention the ethnic cleansing of Armenians in the 20th century, I will personally complete that cleansing in the 21st!
Where to begin? Turkish "guest workers" are to be found in great numbers all through the European Union, membership of which is a declared Turkish objective. How would the world respond if a European prime minister called for the mass deportation of all Turks? Yet Erdogan's xenophobic demagoguery attracted precisely no condemnation from Washington or Brussels. He probably overestimated the number of "tolerated" economic refugees from neighboring and former Soviet Armenia, but is it not interesting that he keeps a count in his head? And a count of the tiny number of surviving Turkish Armenians as well?
Shut Up About Armenians or We'll Hurt Them Again
Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan's latest sinister threat.
By Christopher Hitchens
Posted Monday, April 5, 2010, at 10:43 AM ET
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan April is the cruelest month for the people of Armenia, who every year at this season have to suffer a continuing tragedy and a humiliation. The tragedy is that of commemorating the huge number of their ancestors who were exterminated by the Ottoman Muslim caliphate in a campaign of state-planned mass murder that began in April 1915. The humiliation is of hearing, year after year, that the Turkish authorities simply deny that these appalling events ever occurred or that the killings constituted "genocide."
In a technical and pedantic sense, the word genocide does not, in fact, apply, since it only entered our vocabulary in 1943. (It was coined by a scholar named Raphael Lemkin, who for rather self-evident reasons in that even more awful year wanted a legal term for the intersection between racism and bloodlust and saw Armenia as the precedent for what was then happening in Poland.) I still rather prefer the phrase used by America's then-ambassador to Turkey, Henry Morgenthau. Reporting to Washington about what his consular agents were telling him of the foul doings in the Ottoman provinces of Harput and Van in particular, he employed the striking words "race extermination." (See the imperishable book The Slaughterhouse Province for some of the cold diplomatic dispatches of that period.) Terrible enough in itself, Morgenthau's expression did not quite comprehend the later erasure of all traces of Armenian life, from the destruction of their churches and libraries and institutes to the crude altering of official Turkish maps and schoolbooks to deny that there had ever been an Armenia in the first place.
This year, the House foreign affairs committee in Washington and the parliament of Sweden joined the growing number of political bodies that have decided to call the slaughter by its right name. I quote now from a statement in response by Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the current prime minister of Turkey and the leader of its Islamist party:
In my country there are 170,000 Armenians. Seventy thousand of them are citizens. We tolerate 100,000 more. So, what am I going to do tomorrow? If necessary I will tell the 100,000: OK, time to go back to your country. Why? They are not my citizens. I am not obliged to keep them in my country.
This extraordinary threat was not made at some stupid rally in a fly-blown town. It was uttered in England, on March 17, on the Turkish-language service of the BBC. Just to be clear, then, about the view of Turkey's chief statesman: If democratic assemblies dare to mention the ethnic cleansing of Armenians in the 20th century, I will personally complete that cleansing in the 21st!
Where to begin? Turkish "guest workers" are to be found in great numbers all through the European Union, membership of which is a declared Turkish objective. How would the world respond if a European prime minister called for the mass deportation of all Turks? Yet Erdogan's xenophobic demagoguery attracted precisely no condemnation from Washington or Brussels. He probably overestimated the number of "tolerated" economic refugees from neighboring and former Soviet Armenia, but is it not interesting that he keeps a count in his head? And a count of the tiny number of surviving Turkish Armenians as well?
Thursday, April 8, 2010
WILL TURKEY KEEP THEIR WORD ABOUT THE PRTOCOLS SIGNED WITH ARMENIA
Armenia -- President Serzh Sarkisian, undated
08.04.2010
Ruzanna Stepanian
President Serzh Sarkisian has agreed to meet with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip in Washington next week, his office said on Thursday.
Erdogan proposed such a meeting in a written message that was taken to Yerevan by a high-ranking Turkish diplomat on Wednesday.
The presidential press secretary, Armen Arzumanian, told RFE/RL’s Armenian service that Sarkisian accepted the proposal. He said no concrete date for the talks has been set yet.
The two leaders are due to attend a nuclear security summit that will take place in Washington on April 12-13.
Feridun Sinirlioglu, the Turkish Foreign Ministry undersecretary, discussed with Sarkisian and Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian the current state of the Turkish-Armenian normalization process. According to official Armenian sources, Sinirlioglu was told that Yerevan expects Ankara to take “practical steps” towards an unconditional ratification of the fence-mending protocols signed by the two governments last October.
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu was reported to describe Sinirlioglu’s talks in Yerevan as “positive and constructive.” “We sincerely believe our relations with Armenia will be normalized in accordance with the protocols’ letter and spirit,” he said, according to “Hurriyet Daily News.”
A separate statement by the Turkish Foreign Ministry said the sides “confirmed mutually their commitment to the (normalization) process and their understanding that, despite the difficulties, this window of opportunity should not be missed.”
Sinirlioglu proceeded to Baku and was due to meet there with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on Thursday.
“We gave a clear message of our loyalty to the normalization process during the talks in Armenia,” an unnamed Turkish diplomatic source was quoted by “Hurriyet Daily News” as saying. “Now, we need to share our impression with the Azerbaijani side.”
“Once again, we will affirm that Turkey is sharing Azerbaijani concerns over the Karabakh conflict,” the diplomatic source added.
Armenia has repeatedly rejected the Turkish linkage between protocol ratification and a resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict that would satisfy Azerbaijan.
08.04.2010
Ruzanna Stepanian
President Serzh Sarkisian has agreed to meet with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip in Washington next week, his office said on Thursday.
Erdogan proposed such a meeting in a written message that was taken to Yerevan by a high-ranking Turkish diplomat on Wednesday.
The presidential press secretary, Armen Arzumanian, told RFE/RL’s Armenian service that Sarkisian accepted the proposal. He said no concrete date for the talks has been set yet.
The two leaders are due to attend a nuclear security summit that will take place in Washington on April 12-13.
Feridun Sinirlioglu, the Turkish Foreign Ministry undersecretary, discussed with Sarkisian and Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian the current state of the Turkish-Armenian normalization process. According to official Armenian sources, Sinirlioglu was told that Yerevan expects Ankara to take “practical steps” towards an unconditional ratification of the fence-mending protocols signed by the two governments last October.
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu was reported to describe Sinirlioglu’s talks in Yerevan as “positive and constructive.” “We sincerely believe our relations with Armenia will be normalized in accordance with the protocols’ letter and spirit,” he said, according to “Hurriyet Daily News.”
A separate statement by the Turkish Foreign Ministry said the sides “confirmed mutually their commitment to the (normalization) process and their understanding that, despite the difficulties, this window of opportunity should not be missed.”
Sinirlioglu proceeded to Baku and was due to meet there with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on Thursday.
“We gave a clear message of our loyalty to the normalization process during the talks in Armenia,” an unnamed Turkish diplomatic source was quoted by “Hurriyet Daily News” as saying. “Now, we need to share our impression with the Azerbaijani side.”
“Once again, we will affirm that Turkey is sharing Azerbaijani concerns over the Karabakh conflict,” the diplomatic source added.
Armenia has repeatedly rejected the Turkish linkage between protocol ratification and a resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict that would satisfy Azerbaijan.
Monday, April 5, 2010
OPEN LETTER TO THE TURKISH FM
Turkish Foreign Minister Davutoglu
Below is an open letter to Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu in response to his interview as quoted in F. Bila’s Milliyet column (March 26, 2010).
March 28, 2010
Your Excellency Mr. Ahmet Davutoğlu:
You are right to want to normalize relations not only with Armenia, but also Armenians in the Diaspora, and you will find that most Armenians also want to normalize relations, but without any preconditions.
You are right that Diaspora Armenians are not one category. Four generations removed from 1915, they are integrated in their adopted countries and some are totally assimilated. They see themselves as American, Argentinean, French, Iranian, Lebanese, Russian or Syrian. There are some who have married Moslems and converted to Islam. They are all quite different from each other, depending on where they live.
They all share a common history and unshakeable trauma, however, resulting from the crime of genocide committed by the Ottoman Turks in 1915. This has created a very strong collective sense of responsibility in them to pursue justice. If the “prominent names who participated in the funeral after the death of Hrant Dink” in 2007 were touched when Turkish people embraced Hrant Dink,” it is because those Turks carrying placards saying “we all are Armenians” were in fact acknowledging that their countrymen who had killed Hrant Dink displayed the same mentality as that of the Young Turks in 1915.
I am sure that the Armenian people worldwide would embrace the whole nation of Turkey, if the Government of Turkey acknowledged the responsibility of its predecessor, the Ottoman Government, in the planned annihilation of its Armenian citizens, expressed a sincere apology, and made appropriate efforts at atonement. That would build trust between the parties and allow peace to prevail.
“We need to show empathy in order to understand what Armenians lived through and what they felt, but they need to show respect to our memory…. 1915 may be the year of the deportations [tehcir] but, at the same time, it is the year of Canakkale [Battle of Gallipoli].” This is very misguided, because while Armenians were not the cause of Canakkale, the Ottoman government was the cause of the annihilation of their Armenian citizens. One can understand the trauma of Turkish soldiers fighting for their country’s existence, but how is this comparable to the atrocities committed against unarmed Armenian civilians? Should we equate the pain and the suffering of the Jews and others resulting from the Holocaust to the pain of the Germans who were killed by the Allies during World War II, which was started by their government?
You state “The issue has a psychological dimension. It has a legal dimension. And a political and historical dimension.” For Turks, they are embodied in the loss of a massive amount of the territory of the Empire, the expulsion of the Moslems from the Balkans, the intervention of the Europeans in Ottoman internal affairs, and the existential struggle for the existence of the country. For Armenians, they are embodied in the massacres of 1894-1896, when some 200,000 Armenians were slaughtered, then in the Adana massacres in 1909, when 15,000 to 30,000 Armenians were killed, followed by the deportations and murders of 1915 to 1922, when some 1.5 million Armenians were annihilated. This mistreatment continued after the establishment of the Turkish Republic with the destruction of Armenian cultural monuments and churches, the confiscation of church assets, the forced assimilation and name changes, the Varlik Vergisi of 1942, the assassination of Hrant Dink in 2007, when the police had their picture taken proudly with Ogun Samast and holding the Turkish flag as if they were part of a great patriotic event. These all display a deep and persistent hostility towards the Armenians and other non-Turkish minorities in your country, for which no one in Turkey has ever been called to account, and this impunity has only encouraged further acts of hostility and political violence. Most recently, on March 17, 2010, the threat of your own Prime Minister, Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, to deport Armenians from Turkey reveals the extent of political violence in the Turkish psyche and a complete disrespect for human rights.
The people of the world are becoming increasingly aware of the phenomenon of genocide every day. These are people with a strong commitment to universal human rights. They demand their governments intervene to prevent injustices, such as in Darfur. They understand that to be able to prevent genocide from recurring, they have to stop being accomplices in the denial of genocide. That is why places like Catalonia, Sweden and the United States House Foreign Relations Committee still pass resolutions recognizing the Armenian Genocide. Because forgetting and impunity for violence encourage further violence.
You say that “If intellectuals and politicians fulfill the parts that fall on their shoulders, a new and possibly a more rooted period of peace stretches before us.” We heartily agree. Therefore, please give your intellectuals the freedom to talk openly about the historical facts surrounding 1915. Do not prosecute them when they speak about these events as genocide. Do not call them “traitors trying to stab the nation from the back” when they organize conferences as they did in Istanbul in 2005. Do not let them be killed like Hrant Dink.
Most Armenians can distinguish between the Turkey of 1915 and that of today. No one holds any Turk living today responsible for the crime of the genocide committed by the Ottomans. Yet, they do hold your country and your government responsible for the act of denial, which itself is considered the continuation of the crime of genocide.
“Defending our national honour” will occur when your own countrymen are allowed to learn about their history without risk of persecution. This would empower them with the knowledge to find a new language for dialogue. That is the most important psychological barrier to overcome. When your country is able to accept the fact that there was a planned annihilation of the Armenians in 1915, not only would you find “Armenian communities with which you will be able to start a dialogue,” but you would be able to win the hearts and the minds of the people of your neighbouring country, the Republic of Armenia, and Armenians worldwide would become ambassadors of goodwill for Turkey and its people.
Respectfully yours,K. M. Greg Sarkissianglas@sprynet.com
Interview of the RA President Serzh Sargsyan to the German Der Spiegel weekly.
NKR people’s right to self-determination most vital issue: RA President19:38 / 04/04/2010
NEWS.am posts the full text of the interview of the RA President Serzh Sargsyan to the German Der Spiegel weekly.
In his interview with Der Spiegel, speaking about the Genocide which had taken place during World War I, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated that “there can be no talk of genocide.” Why cannot your neighboring country come to terms with its own past?
Recently another statement was made that the Turks couldn’t have possibly committed the Genocide and the Turkish history is “bright and clear as the sun”. The Turks are opposed to the definition of the event as Genocide. However, Ankara is not the one to decide on this issue.
Now Erdogan is even threatening to expel thousands of Armenians illegally residing in Turkey.
Unacceptable statements such as that one stir up in our nation the memories of the Genocide. Unfortunately, such statements articulated by the Turkish politicians come as no surprise to me.
How should the international community respond?
The international community must respond resolutely. The US, Europe, as well as Germany, all those countries that have been involved in this process of Armenian-Turkish rapprochement should unequivocally state their position. Had all the states recognized the Armenian Genocide by now, the Turks wouldn’t talk that way. It is however inspiring that many young people in Turkey stood up against that statement. A new generation is growing in Turkey and the political leadership of that country should reckon with its opinion.
Turkey accuses you of maintaining a tough position on setting up a bilateral commission of historians. Why do you oppose the creation of such a commission?
How can such a commission work impartially if in Turkey people are persecuted and tried for a criminal offence if they use the very term Genocide? For Ankara it is important to protract the process of decision-making indefinitely so that when parliaments or governments of other countries undertake the adoption of a resolution on the Genocide recognition, they can say, “don’t meddle in, these issues are being sorted out by our historians.” Creation of such a commission would have meant casting doubt on the veracity of the Genocide perpetrated against our people. It is unacceptable. Had Turkey admitted its guilt, the creation of the commission would have been justified. In that case the scholars could have studied jointly the causes triggering that tragedy.
The Genocide took place 95 years ago. Why its recognition is so important for Armenia?
It is a matter of historical justice and it is also a matter of our national security. The best way to prevent the repetition of such horrendous events is to condemn them unambiguously.
From the windows of your office one can see the symbol of Armenia – Mount Ararat. Today, it is on the other side of the border – unreachable. Turkey is afraid of territorial and retribution claims. Do you want Ararat back?
Nobody can take it away from us: Ararat is in our hearts. In every Armenian home, in every corner of the world you will find the image of Mount Ararat. I believe that the time will come when Ararat instead of being the symbol of divide will become the symbol of common understanding between our two nations. However, I would like to clarify the following: no official in Armenia has ever presented any territorial claims to Turkey. The Turks ascribe such claims to us themselves, probably since they have a sense of guilt?
Your borders with Turkey and Azerbaijan are closed; Iran and Georgia are difficult neighbors. Won’t it be a better trade-off to get a breakthrough in that isolation instead of quarrelling indefinitely with Turkey about the Genocide?
We don’t link the Genocide recognition to the opening of borders. And it is not our fault that the rapprochement is not getting through.
Turkey wants to link the opening of the border with the progress in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict resolution. The Armenians held up in the war unleashed on that territory towards which Azerbaijan have been laying claims since the break up of the Soviet Union.
Turkey constantly wants us to make concessions, but it is impossible. The most vital issue is the implementation by the people of Nagorno-Karabakh of its right to self-determination. If Azerbaijan recognizes the independence of Nagorno-Karabakh, I believe the issue can be solved in a matter of hours. Unfortunately, they still believe that they should bring Nagorno-Karabakh back, while returning Nagorno-Karabakh back under the control of Azerbaijan would mean that before long Nagorno-Karabakh will be rid of all its Armenian population.
What kind of solution would you propose?
Why the republics of the former Yugoslavia had been able to become independent? Why, then, should Nagorno-Karabakh be denied the same rights? Is it just because Azerbaijan has got some oil and gas and a patron like Turkey? We cannot consider it fair.
News from Armenia - NEWS.am
NEWS.am posts the full text of the interview of the RA President Serzh Sargsyan to the German Der Spiegel weekly.
In his interview with Der Spiegel, speaking about the Genocide which had taken place during World War I, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated that “there can be no talk of genocide.” Why cannot your neighboring country come to terms with its own past?
Recently another statement was made that the Turks couldn’t have possibly committed the Genocide and the Turkish history is “bright and clear as the sun”. The Turks are opposed to the definition of the event as Genocide. However, Ankara is not the one to decide on this issue.
Now Erdogan is even threatening to expel thousands of Armenians illegally residing in Turkey.
Unacceptable statements such as that one stir up in our nation the memories of the Genocide. Unfortunately, such statements articulated by the Turkish politicians come as no surprise to me.
How should the international community respond?
The international community must respond resolutely. The US, Europe, as well as Germany, all those countries that have been involved in this process of Armenian-Turkish rapprochement should unequivocally state their position. Had all the states recognized the Armenian Genocide by now, the Turks wouldn’t talk that way. It is however inspiring that many young people in Turkey stood up against that statement. A new generation is growing in Turkey and the political leadership of that country should reckon with its opinion.
Turkey accuses you of maintaining a tough position on setting up a bilateral commission of historians. Why do you oppose the creation of such a commission?
How can such a commission work impartially if in Turkey people are persecuted and tried for a criminal offence if they use the very term Genocide? For Ankara it is important to protract the process of decision-making indefinitely so that when parliaments or governments of other countries undertake the adoption of a resolution on the Genocide recognition, they can say, “don’t meddle in, these issues are being sorted out by our historians.” Creation of such a commission would have meant casting doubt on the veracity of the Genocide perpetrated against our people. It is unacceptable. Had Turkey admitted its guilt, the creation of the commission would have been justified. In that case the scholars could have studied jointly the causes triggering that tragedy.
The Genocide took place 95 years ago. Why its recognition is so important for Armenia?
It is a matter of historical justice and it is also a matter of our national security. The best way to prevent the repetition of such horrendous events is to condemn them unambiguously.
From the windows of your office one can see the symbol of Armenia – Mount Ararat. Today, it is on the other side of the border – unreachable. Turkey is afraid of territorial and retribution claims. Do you want Ararat back?
Nobody can take it away from us: Ararat is in our hearts. In every Armenian home, in every corner of the world you will find the image of Mount Ararat. I believe that the time will come when Ararat instead of being the symbol of divide will become the symbol of common understanding between our two nations. However, I would like to clarify the following: no official in Armenia has ever presented any territorial claims to Turkey. The Turks ascribe such claims to us themselves, probably since they have a sense of guilt?
Your borders with Turkey and Azerbaijan are closed; Iran and Georgia are difficult neighbors. Won’t it be a better trade-off to get a breakthrough in that isolation instead of quarrelling indefinitely with Turkey about the Genocide?
We don’t link the Genocide recognition to the opening of borders. And it is not our fault that the rapprochement is not getting through.
Turkey wants to link the opening of the border with the progress in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict resolution. The Armenians held up in the war unleashed on that territory towards which Azerbaijan have been laying claims since the break up of the Soviet Union.
Turkey constantly wants us to make concessions, but it is impossible. The most vital issue is the implementation by the people of Nagorno-Karabakh of its right to self-determination. If Azerbaijan recognizes the independence of Nagorno-Karabakh, I believe the issue can be solved in a matter of hours. Unfortunately, they still believe that they should bring Nagorno-Karabakh back, while returning Nagorno-Karabakh back under the control of Azerbaijan would mean that before long Nagorno-Karabakh will be rid of all its Armenian population.
What kind of solution would you propose?
Why the republics of the former Yugoslavia had been able to become independent? Why, then, should Nagorno-Karabakh be denied the same rights? Is it just because Azerbaijan has got some oil and gas and a patron like Turkey? We cannot consider it fair.
News from Armenia - NEWS.am
Armenian Genocide Recognition Becoming an Irreversible Process: Nezavisimaya Gazeta
Armenian Genocide Recognition Becoming an Irreversible Process: Nezavisimaya Gazeta
15:55 • 05.04.10
Turkish Ambassador to the US Namik Tan will return to Washington today to prepare for Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s upcoming visit to the US where, apart from holding separate meetings, he will participate in the World Nuclear Security Summit.
According to Russian daily Nezavisimaya Gazeta (“Independent Newspaper”), Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan, also invited to the same summit, is set to meet with US President Barack Obama. Besides, a meeting among Erdoğan, Sargsyan and Obama is also likely to take place in the framework of the summit as Washington is spending all possible efforts to ensure that Armenia-Turkey reconciliation will not stop once and for all.
Furthermore, analyzing recent developments in Armenia-Turkey rapprochement, the Russian publication recalls sources in Yerevan, saying that the process of Armenian Genocide recognition by the international community has now taken on an irreversible nature. In turn, the sides have so far been exchanging statements, accusing each other. These statements, according to Nezavisimaya Gazeta, are not extremely optimistic, given recent serious developments in Turkey; that is, through interviews with different local papers, some local historians, attorneys, and legal experts have called on Turkish authorities to recognize the facts of mass killings and deportations of Armenians, that reached their climax in 1915, and put an end to those tragic pages of Turkey’s history.
Against the backdrop of such a complex foreign and domestic situation, Erdoğan will have to hold talks with Obama, and also probably with Sargsyan, over issues painful for Turkey. Thus, using the metaphor of the carrot on a stick, it’s not unlikely that Erdoğan may still have to show some more carrot rather than stick.
Tert.am
15:55 • 05.04.10
Turkish Ambassador to the US Namik Tan will return to Washington today to prepare for Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s upcoming visit to the US where, apart from holding separate meetings, he will participate in the World Nuclear Security Summit.
According to Russian daily Nezavisimaya Gazeta (“Independent Newspaper”), Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan, also invited to the same summit, is set to meet with US President Barack Obama. Besides, a meeting among Erdoğan, Sargsyan and Obama is also likely to take place in the framework of the summit as Washington is spending all possible efforts to ensure that Armenia-Turkey reconciliation will not stop once and for all.
Furthermore, analyzing recent developments in Armenia-Turkey rapprochement, the Russian publication recalls sources in Yerevan, saying that the process of Armenian Genocide recognition by the international community has now taken on an irreversible nature. In turn, the sides have so far been exchanging statements, accusing each other. These statements, according to Nezavisimaya Gazeta, are not extremely optimistic, given recent serious developments in Turkey; that is, through interviews with different local papers, some local historians, attorneys, and legal experts have called on Turkish authorities to recognize the facts of mass killings and deportations of Armenians, that reached their climax in 1915, and put an end to those tragic pages of Turkey’s history.
Against the backdrop of such a complex foreign and domestic situation, Erdoğan will have to hold talks with Obama, and also probably with Sargsyan, over issues painful for Turkey. Thus, using the metaphor of the carrot on a stick, it’s not unlikely that Erdoğan may still have to show some more carrot rather than stick.
Tert.am
Saturday, April 3, 2010
TURKISH PM DAVUTOGLU PREPARES TO LIE TO THE ARMENIANS IN THE DIASPORA
Armenian Diaspora should be careful not to be entrapped by Turkey once again, Chief Editor of Beirut-based Armenian Aztag newspaper Shahan Kandaharian told NEWS.am, commenting on Turkish FM Davutoglu’s intention to meet with Armenian Diaspora representatives.
He emphasized that Turkey seeks to sow discord within Diaspora after initial attempts to do so with Armenia and its communities. “Various Armenian Diaspora communities favour different stances on Armenia-Turkey reconciliation and during these meetings Turkish representatives will definitely try to play up the fact to galvanize Armenians against each other,” Kandaharian said. Thus, Armenians should reject the meetings particularly considering the impending Genocide anniversary, when Ankara is seeking to simulate dialogue with Armenians to pave the way for those denying the Genocide and avoiding this word, yet not finding sufficient ground for it.
Kandaharian underlined that Davutoglu’s proposal should be viewed by Diaspora in the context of Ankara’s policy. “Turkey tries to carry out carrot and stick policy, clearly casting parts to the actors. Erdogan voices threats and tough statements, while Davutoglu plays a humanist,” he stated, adding that this nothing else but Ankara’s game with Armenians.
A.G.
News from Armenia - NEWS.am
He emphasized that Turkey seeks to sow discord within Diaspora after initial attempts to do so with Armenia and its communities. “Various Armenian Diaspora communities favour different stances on Armenia-Turkey reconciliation and during these meetings Turkish representatives will definitely try to play up the fact to galvanize Armenians against each other,” Kandaharian said. Thus, Armenians should reject the meetings particularly considering the impending Genocide anniversary, when Ankara is seeking to simulate dialogue with Armenians to pave the way for those denying the Genocide and avoiding this word, yet not finding sufficient ground for it.
Kandaharian underlined that Davutoglu’s proposal should be viewed by Diaspora in the context of Ankara’s policy. “Turkey tries to carry out carrot and stick policy, clearly casting parts to the actors. Erdogan voices threats and tough statements, while Davutoglu plays a humanist,” he stated, adding that this nothing else but Ankara’s game with Armenians.
A.G.
News from Armenia - NEWS.am
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Turkish Citizens Advise Ankara to Follow Serbia’s Example and Apologize to Armenians
Turkish Citizens Advise Ankara to Follow Serbia’s Example and Apologize to Armenians
16:46 • 01.04.10
Some people in Turkey believe that Ankara should follow Serbia’s example (as it retains to the Srebrenica massacre) and apologize to Armenians for the Armenian Genocide so that Turkey can become a full member of the European Union. Earlier this week, Serbia's parliament passed a landmark resolution offering an apology for the 1995 Srebrenica massacre — the worst incident of the Bosnian War — but stopped short of calling it genocide. In an interview with Turkish paper Habertürk, columnist Soli Ozel, who specializes in international relations, said that since Serbia was on the path toward EU membership, it was necessary to implement measures addressing those accusations of genocide directed at the country.
“That is, that decision is directly related to EU membership. Serbian authorities, though it was a difficult decision, made it, while facing harsh criticism and counter-reaction from nationalists ... But as for what concerns Turkey, on the issue of the Armenian Genocide, it has not yet reached that point. But it will be easier for Turkey from now on to take such initiatives. Turkey’s Foreign Ministry needs to work on that issue,” said Ozel.Maya Arakon, a professor of Turkey’s Yeditepe University, in turn, told Habertürk that with that apology Serbia is trying to whitewash its history in accordance with EU standards, as its aim is to be a member of the EU.“We too, having before us the Armenian Genocide issue, can take such an initiative... For the EU, such an apology means progress in democracy... As we know, we are surrounded by the Armenian Genocide issue on all four sides. Following Serbia’s example, Turkey can also apologize, without qualifying the 1915 events as genocide,” said Arakon, adding that it would strengthen Turkey’s positions in the domain of foreign policy.
Tert.am
16:46 • 01.04.10
Some people in Turkey believe that Ankara should follow Serbia’s example (as it retains to the Srebrenica massacre) and apologize to Armenians for the Armenian Genocide so that Turkey can become a full member of the European Union. Earlier this week, Serbia's parliament passed a landmark resolution offering an apology for the 1995 Srebrenica massacre — the worst incident of the Bosnian War — but stopped short of calling it genocide. In an interview with Turkish paper Habertürk, columnist Soli Ozel, who specializes in international relations, said that since Serbia was on the path toward EU membership, it was necessary to implement measures addressing those accusations of genocide directed at the country.
“That is, that decision is directly related to EU membership. Serbian authorities, though it was a difficult decision, made it, while facing harsh criticism and counter-reaction from nationalists ... But as for what concerns Turkey, on the issue of the Armenian Genocide, it has not yet reached that point. But it will be easier for Turkey from now on to take such initiatives. Turkey’s Foreign Ministry needs to work on that issue,” said Ozel.Maya Arakon, a professor of Turkey’s Yeditepe University, in turn, told Habertürk that with that apology Serbia is trying to whitewash its history in accordance with EU standards, as its aim is to be a member of the EU.“We too, having before us the Armenian Genocide issue, can take such an initiative... For the EU, such an apology means progress in democracy... As we know, we are surrounded by the Armenian Genocide issue on all four sides. Following Serbia’s example, Turkey can also apologize, without qualifying the 1915 events as genocide,” said Arakon, adding that it would strengthen Turkey’s positions in the domain of foreign policy.
Tert.am
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