Nagorno-Karabakh will not be Azeri unless the last ethnic Armenian leaves the region

"But I'll give you a lovely, personal example of how 'competing narratives' come undone. Last month, I gave a lecture in Toronto to mark the 95th anniversary of the 1915 Armenian genocide, the deliberate mass murder of one and a half million Armenian Christians by the Ottoman Turkish army and militia. Before my talk, I was interviewed on Canadian Television, CTV, which also owns the Toronto Globe andMail newspaper. And from the start, I could see that the interviewer had a problem. Canada has a large Armenian community. But Toronto also has a large Turkish community. And the Turks, as the Globe and Mail always tell us, "hotly dispute" that this was a genocide. So the interviewer called the genocide "deadly massacres".

http://english.aljazeera.net

ANCA calls on Senators to scrutinize Bryza’s diplomatic record

http://www.panorama.am/en/politics/2010/05/26/anca-copaign/

Labels: ANCA

Bako Sahakyan: young Armenians from abroad welcome in Artsakh

http://www.panarmenian.net

Parliamentary elections in NKR comply with international standards

http://www.panarmenian.net

European Parliament’s Resolution on South Caucasus is controversial document

http://www.panarmenian.net

Senate Should Scrutinize Bryza Before Confirming him as Ambassador to Baku

By Harut Sassounian

Publisher, The California Courier

After a lengthy delay, Azerbaijan consented last week to the appointment of Matthew Bryza as U.S. Ambassador to Baku, an unnamed American official told EurasiaNet.org. The California Courier confirmed Bryza’s nomination through its own Washington sources. The White House is expected to shortly issue an official announcement.

It is noteworthy that there has not been an American Ambassador in Azerbaijan since last July. When John Evanswas recalled as Ambassador to Armenia in 2006 for using the term Armenian Genocide, the Bush administrationpressured the Senate to quickly confirm his successor, claiming that the United States urgently needed an Ambassador in that country. Surprisingly, there has not been a similar sense of urgency in Washington, during the year-long absence of a U.S. Ambassador from Azerbaijan! Pres. Aliyev must have viewed this holdup as a snub to his country.

Until 2009, Matthew Bryza served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State and U.S. Co-Chair of the Minsk Group negotiators on the Karabagh (Artsakh) conflict. Interestingly, he was dubbed by colleagues as "Baby DAS" (Deputy Assistant Secretary) for his swift promotion, despite his youthful age and limited diplomatic experience.

The delay in his appointment to Baku could be attributed to Azerbaijan’s misgivings concerning Bryza and discontent with recent U.S. foreign policy initiatives. During the course of his upcoming Senate confirmation, Bryza should be questioned regarding his past actions and recent tensions between Azerbaijan and the United States.

Here are some questions that members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee should consider asking Bryza during his nomination process:

-- Why did it take so long for Azerbaijan to consent to your appointment? What complaints did Azerbaijan have against you and against U.S. foreign policy in the region? What assurances were given by the United States to Azerbaijan to allay its concerns before consenting to your appointment?

-- Despite your and Minsk Group’s persistent efforts to resolve the Karabagh conflict, Armenia and Azerbaijan are still far from reaching a peace agreement. What do you think are the remaining obstacles to resolving this conflict? Given your expertise in this region, what steps would you take as U.S. Ambassador to secure Azerbaijan’s consent to a peaceful resolution of the Karabagh conflict rather than resorting to war?

-- Pres. Aliyev has been pressuring Turkey not to lift its blockade of Armenia. How would you dissuade Azerbaijan from undermining Armenia-Turkey relations?

-- Given the absence of democratic norms in Azerbaijan, known for forged elections, lack of media freedom, and repressive measures against opposition parties and minorities, how would you persuade Azerbaijan’s leaders to establish rule of law?

-- What messages did you convey to Georgia’s leadership prior to the Georgia-Russia war of 2008? Is there any truth to reports that you had advised the Georgians that the United States would intervene militarily in case of an attack by Russia?

-- Do you believe you can carry out your diplomatic duties professionally and objectively, given your wife’s outspoken views on Armenian, Azeri and Turkish issues? [Bryza married Zeyno Baran, a Turkish-born foreign policy analyst at the Hudson Institute. Their wedding took place at the former home of the prominent Balian family of architects on an island near Istanbul. It was attended by Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov and high-ranking Turkish, Georgian, and American officials].

-- Did you have any role in the recall and premature retirement of Amb. John Evans? Do you think that an Ambassador should be fired simply for using the term Armenian Genocide? What are your own views on the Armenian Genocide? Do you think it is appropriate for Pres. Obama to break his campaign promise to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide?

-- In a letter to Secretary Clinton, the Armenian National Committee of America accused you of not being impartial on "Armenia-related matters," harboring a "pro-Azerbaijani bias in the Nagorno Karabagh peace process," and advocating "U.S. complicity in Turkey’s denials of the Armenian Genocide." What assurances can you give theAmerican people that you would fairly and objectively carry out your diplomatic duties in Azerbaijan as the official representative of the United States?

The members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee should closely scrutinize Bryza’s nomination to ensure that, if confirmed, he represents U.S. interests in Baku, and not the other way around, since both he and his wife, Zeyno Baran, have had extensive ties with both Turkey and Azerbaijan. In her 2005 Senate testimony, Baran expressed her opposition to the congressional resolution on the Armenian Genocide, while her husband, Bryza, told a reporter that Turkey was his "second home."

Labels: Aliyev, Azerbaijan

لا خطر على الكنيسة الشرقية في العراق من المسيحية الصهيونية مطراني الكنيسة الكلدانية والسريان الارثوذكس يردان على الكاتب فاضل الربيعي

http://www.ankawa.com

Armenia looks to Gulf for energy investments

http://gulfnews.com

Arstakh is a self-made country

http://www.panarmenian.net

Turnout at NKR parliamentary elections exceeded 70%

http://www.panarmenian.net

Throwing Children in Jail by Turkey Raising Political Debate

http://www1.voanews.com

Azerbaijan tries to put the blame for its soldiers’ deaths on Armenia

http://www.panarmenian.net

Comment: Azerbaijan's dictatorial rule and propaganda machine spread misinformation every day about the conflict trying to cover up the miserable condition of the Azeri army and divert attention from the much problems of the society. Azeri officials, while making war statements, know well that any military adventure would have serious consequences on the country and their Army would face further defeats from the fighters who defend their country and just cause.

Uzhgorod city council recognizes Armenian Genocide

http://www.panarmenian.net/eng/world/news/48845/

Labels: Armenian Genocide

No question of surrendering the territories

http://www.aysor.am

موقف أرمينيا من تقرير البرلمان الأوروبي حول كاراباخ

http://www.azg.am/AR/2010052203

مجلس للدفاع عن حقوق المسيحيين في البصرة

http://www.zahrira.net/?p=7144

Erdogan and Gul in conflict over Armenia-Turkey normalization process

http://www.panorama.am/en/politics/2010/05/22/mitat-chelikpala/

Friends of Azerbaijan Shape EU Policy Toward Armenia

http://www.huliq.com/1/93597/friends-azerbaijan-shape-eu-policy-toward-armenia

الذكرى الخامسة والتسعون لإرتكاب مجازر إبادة المسيحيين في السلطنة العثمانية المذابح في أرمينيا

http://www.ankawa.com/forum/index.php?topic=409297.0

نتطلع للمزيد من المواقف المشرفة يا يرفان ..!؟

http://www.ankawa.com/forum/index.php?topic=414604.0

The first trial of religious discrimination in Iraq

http://www.hhro.org/hhro/news_en.php?lang=en&art_id=224

Activists Ask Congress to Investigate Planned Wilson Center Award to Davutoglu

http://www.armenianweekly.com

ANCA commemorates Pontian Greek Genocide

http://www.panarmenian.net

Labels: ANCA

TURKEY ALLOCATES MORE THAN $40 MILLION ANNUALLY FOR DISSEMINATION OF MISINFORMATION ABOUT ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

http://www.arka.am/eng/politics/2010/05/19/19948.html

Labels: Armenian Genocide

طلب إنشاء صندوق لمساعدة لاجئي أرمن العراق

http://www.azg.am/AR/2010052003

مذابح الأرمن- زافين مسريليان

http://www.scribd.com/doc/31597291/مذابح-الأرمن-زافين-مسريليان

Eva Mezdorian: Azeris, who burnt our houses and killed civilians, labeled Armenians as terrorists

http://www.panarmenian.net

Sumgait, February, 1988 documentary to premiere on May 15

http://www.panarmenian.net

Armenia’s delegation to boycott PACE subcommittee on Nagorno Karabakh

http://www.panarmenian.net

RPA: Azerbaijan should withdraw its troops from Shahumyan and Getashen

http://www.panarmenian.net

السويد ترسل المسيحيين العراقيين الى الموت

http://www.ankawa.com

تقرير عن محاضرة يوحنا بيداويد عن مذابح الدولة العثمانية ضد الاقوام المسيحية في ملبورن

http://www.ankawa.com/forum/index.php/topic,413978.0.html

20 Congressmen urge U.S. funding for Iraqi Armenians’ resettlement

http://www.reporter.am

Labels: Iraqi Armenians

Turkish President of European Council Should be Barred from Armenia

By Harut Sassounian

Publisher, The California Courier

Mevlut Cavusoglu, the Turkish President of PACE (Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe), offended his hosts by refusing to lay a wreath at the Armenian GenocideMonument during his visit to Yerevan last week.

When the Armenian media questioned him about his refusal, Cavusoglu lied by saying that his predecessors had not done so either. Armenian journalists corrected him by pointing out that his predecessors had in fact visited the Genocide Monument. After getting caught, he changed his tune and confessed that it was his personal decision not to visit the Monument and asked that Armenians respect his wishes.

Why should Armenians respect a genocide denier and a liar? Although a founder of the ruling Justice and Development Party and member of the Turkish Parliament, Cavusoglu was not visiting Armenia as a Turkish official, but as President of PACE. It is regrettable that earlier this year Armenia’s delegates to PACE were not successful in blocking his election to the Presidency of this influential European institution.

The real issue is not Cavusoglu’s ethnic background. No one should be disqualified from any post due to his or her ethnicity. The objections are based on his long-standing opposition to Armenian issues, including denials of the Armenian Genocide and support forAzerbaijan in the Artsakh conflict.

Upon learning that Cavusoglu would not visit the Genocide Memorial -- a standard protocol for all high-ranking dignitaries visiting Yerevan -- the Armenian government decided to downgrade the status of his visit from "official" to that of a "working" one. Needless to say, this was just a slap on the wrist, given the gravity of his offense. Regrettably, Armenian officials did not issue a single word of criticism or condemnation. They should have taken a harsher measure against Cavusoglu and cancelled his trip to Yerevan. By not enforcing the country’s long established protocol, Armenian officials are simply encouraging future visiting dignitaries not to respect the memory of Armenian Genocide victims.

A bad precedent was already set in September 2008, when Pres. Gul was invited to Yerevan. I wrote a column then urging Armenian authorities to ask the Turkish President to lay a wreath at the Genocide Monument. Unfortunately, no such request was made of Pres. Gul, and he was more than happy to sidestep the issue!

I must commend the Armenian Revolutionary Federation for refusing to meet with Cavusoglu during his Yerevan visit, because of his disrespect for Armenian Genocide victims. His visit was also condemned by the local Student Union of the Hnchag Party.

Unfortunately, officials of an opposition party met Cavusoglu in Yerevan to pursue their own agenda, asking him -- a Turk -- to condemn the Armenian government’s human rights record. Meanwhile, pro-government parties met Cavusoglu to familiarize him with Armenia’s position on major regional issues, as if he would be willing to change his views on the Armenian Genocide, Artsakh and Armenian-Turkish relations.

Regardless of his own and his government’s denialist position on the Armenian Genocide, Cavusoglu should not be excused for not having visited the Genocide Monument. Even Ambassadors of countries that do not formally acknowledge the Armenian Genocide take part in the solemn procession on April 24 and lay a wreath at the Genocide Monument.

By refusing to follow protocol, Cavusoglu not only insulted the Armenian nation, but also violated the long-standing recognition of the Armenian Genocide by the European Parliament.

In the end, by his words and deeds, the Turkish diplomat managed to embarrass himself and undermine his own credibility as a political figure unworthy of representing a prominent European institution and its values.

To avoid similar scandals in the future, Armenian officials must contact foreign dignitaries in advance of their planned visits and impress upon them the importance of respecting Armenia’s established protocol on laying a wreath at the Genocide Monument. Should they refuse, their visit should be promptly canceled. Can anyone imagine a foreign dignitary visiting Jerusalem and refusing to lay a wreath at the Yad Vashem memorial for Holocaust victims? He or she would not be allowed to set foot in Israel again. The Armenian government should take a similar stand vis-à-vis the Armenian Genocide Memorial!

At the end of his first visit to Armenia, Cavusoglu announced that he would be back in Yerevan in October. I hope Armenian officials do not let him into the country, unless he is prepared to respect Armenia’s established protocols for all foreign dignitaries.

If Armenian officials do not insist on applying their own rules and regulations, foreign dignitaries would have no reason to comply!

'Obliterating' Iraq's Christians

http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com

Labels: Iraqi Christians

Armenian community to organize protest action at French Senate on May 18

http://www.panarmenian.net

Not Nations’ but Peoples’ Right to Self-Determination: Kocharyan Responds to Aliyev

http://www.tert.am/en/news/2010/05/15/kocharyan/

Labels: Aliyev, Azerbaijan

Kurdish Editor Jailed for 166 Years in Turkey!!

http://asbarez.com/80709/kurdish-editor-jailed-for-166-years-in-turkey/

Mevlut Cavusoglu: it is my decision to not visit Tsitsernakaberd

http://www.panarmenian.net

Mevlut Cavusoglu wearing two hats: Odette Bazil:

http://www.panorama.am/en/politics/2010/05/19/odet-bazil/

PACE President’s Agenda Could Spell Trouble for Armenia

http://asbarez.com/80673/pace-president’s-agenda-could-spell-trouble-for-armenia/

Heritage party addresses those who avoid visiting Armenian Genocide Memorial

http://www.panarmenian.net

لأول مرة في التاريخ ! لوحة انجيلية في صدر احدى قاعات مجلس الوزراء العراقي ( ما من حب أعظم من هذا ، ان يضحي الإنسان بنفسه في سبيل أحبائه - يوحنا 15-13

وضعت لوحة كبيرة مكتوب عليها نص من الكتاب المقدس هو ( ما من حب أعظم من هذا ، ان يضحي الإنسان بنفسه في سبيل أحبائه) يوحنا 15-13 ، في صدر احدى القاعات الرئيسية لمجلس الوزراء العراقي بالعاصمة العراقية بغداد ، وهو ما يحدث لأول مرة في التاريخ العراقي السياسي الحديث. إلى جانب لوحتين أخريين تحملان نصين الأول حديث للنبي محمد ( ص) مضمونه ( الصدق يورث الرزق ، والكذب يورث الفقر)، والثاني حديث للإمام علي بن

أبي طالب ( رض) مضمونه ( ما تدارس من أمر إلا وعلم مواضع الضرر فيه)

أعلن ذلك السيد رغيد حنا بني مدير عام الدائرة الادارية و المالية في مجلس الوزراء العراقي وقال : ان طلب ذلك جاء من قبل الدكتور خضير فاضل عباس الأمين العام لمجلس الوزراء في وضع لوحات تزين صدر احدى القاعات وتمثل أديان ومذاهب عراقنا الجديد ، عراق الجميع .

وأضاف السيد رغيد بني بأنه اتصل بالنائب البطريركي ببغداد المطران أندراوس أبونا والمطران لويس ساكو مطران كركوك للكلدان ومطرانية السريان الكاثوليك من أجل تزويد مجلس الوزراء بنص انجيلي يمثل أحد تعاليم السيد المسيح التي تمثل التسامح والمحبة والفداء والتي يمكن تطبيقها على جميع العراقيين بغض النظر عن انتمائاتهم الدينية والمذهبية ، والذين زودوني شخصيا مشكورين بعدد من النصوص ، تم عرضها على الأمين العام الذي أبدى اعجابه الكبير بها وبكلام السيد المسيح ، وأضاف : أنه بعد المداولة اقترحت عليه النص أعلاه من انجيل ( يوحنا) لعمق كلماته ومعناها الواضح ، هذا الكلام الذي ينطبق تماما على عمل ومنهج الحكومة العراقية التي تعمل من أجل خدمة الشعب وتبذل جهدها من أجله .

وشكر السيد رغيد بني في ختام تصريحه وسائل الإعلام المختلفة على أهتمامها بعكس وجه العراق الجديد ، كما قدم شكره للسادة الأساقفة الذين ساعدوه في اختيار النصوص الإنجيلية .

Who is Mevlüt Çavusoglu?

http://www.armradio.am/news/?part=pol&id=17494

Baku propaganda machine seeks to create a myth of mighty Azeri army

http://www.panarmenian.net

Azeri military and political authorities can’t shed defeatist syndrome

http://www.panarmenian.net

Azerbaijan still tries to justify its defeat in Karabakh war

http://www.panarmenian.net

Labels: Artsakh-Karabakh issue

Do we have to defend the actions of the Committee of Union and Progress? by Ümit Kardaş*

http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/news-209026-109-centerdo-we-have-to-defend-the-actions-of-the-committee-of-union-and-progress-bribyibr-umit-kardascenter.html

The term “genocide,” defined as the “crime of crimes” in the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) Rwanda decision, was first coined by Raphael Lemkin, a Jewish lawyer from Poland.

He was particularly known for his efforts to draft the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, which cast genocide as an international crime in 1948.

Dealing with the case of Talat Paşa being murdered by an Armenian youth in Berlin in 1921, Lemkin started to compile a file about what happened in the Ottoman Empire in connection with the case. As he discussed the case with his professor, he learned that there was no international law provision that would entail the prosecution of Talat Paşa for his actions, and he was profoundly shocked when his professor likened the case of Talat Paşa to a farmer who would not be held responsible for killing the chickens in his poultry house.

In 1933, Lemkin used the term “crime against international law” as a precursor of the concept of genocide during the League of Nations conference on international criminal law in Madrid. After Nazi-led German forces devastated Europe and invaded Poland in 1939, Lemkin was enlisted in the army, but upon the defeat of Polish forces, he fled to the US, leaving his parents behind. Later, while working as an adviser during the Nuremberg trials, he would learn that his parents had died in the Nazi concentration camps.

In his book “Axis Rule in Occupied Europe,” published in 1944, he defined genocide as atrocities and massacre intended to destroy a nation or an ethnic group. Coining the term from the Greek genos, meaning race or ancestry, and the Latin cide, meaning killing, Lemkin argued that genocide does not have to mean direct destruction of a nation. In 1946, the UN General Assembly issued a declaration on genocide and unanimously accepted that genocide is a crime under international law, noting that it eliminates the right of existence of a specific group and shocks the collective conscience of humanity. However, Lemkin wished that in addition, a convention should be drafted on preventing and punishing the crime of genocide. This wish was fulfilled with the signature of the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in 1948. Lemkin died in a hotel room in New York in a state of poverty at the age of 59 in 1959. Although they left this idealist defender of humanity alone, people were gentle enough to write, “The Father of the Genocide Convention,” as an epitaph on his grave.

1843-1908 period

In 1843, Bedirhan Bey, who commanded the Kurds who were assigned with the duty of massacring the people of Aşita (Hoşud), connected to the sanjak of Hakkari, where the population was predominantly Armenian and Nestorian, persuaded the Armenians and Nestorians who had fled to the mountains to return and hand in their weapons, and then, the people who were massacred were largely thrown in the Zap River. The majority of their women and children were sold as slaves. It is reported that at least 10,000 Armenians and Nestorians were killed in this massacre. In 1877, the Ottoman Army and the Russian Army started to fight again, and availing of this opportunity, Armenia once again became a battlefield, and the soldiers shouted, “Kill the disbelievers.” Circassians and Kurds slaughtered 165 Christian families, including women and children, in Beyazıt. In 1892, Sultan Abdülhamit II summoned the Kurdish tribal chiefs to İstanbul and gave them military uniforms and weapons, thereby establishing the Hamidiye cavalry regiment with some 22,500 members. In this way, Abdülhamit II played with the foreign policy equilibrium between the UK and Russia and organized a specific ethnic/religious group against another ethnic/religious group based on a Muslim vs. non-Muslim dichotomy. The Ottoman administration appointed the worst enemies of Armenians as their watchdogs, thereby creating a force that could crush them even in peacetime. The persecution of Armenians peaked in the Sason massacre in September 1894. Abdülhamit II declared resisting Armenians rebels and ordered that they should be eradicated.

1908-1914 period

Europe and America extensively supported the Young Turks, who were seeking legitimacy. When the Movement Army threatened to launch a campaign against İstanbul, Abdülhamit II declared a constitutional monarchy on July 24, 1908. Without using any discretion, ordinary people were both amazed and pleased. Moved by slogans calling for equality, freedom and brotherhood, Armenians, too, welcomed with joy the government backed and controlled by the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP).

Britain and France made loans available to the new regime and sent consultants for the treasury and the navy in support. To alleviate the consequences of the massacres of 1895 and 1896, European countries increased their humanitarian assistance. Orphaned children of Christian families were placed in care centers, and schools were opened in eastern Anatolia. The introduction of the second constitutional monarchy was seen as an assurance of the creation of equality among all races and religions. However, on April 14, 1909, a new wave of slaughter started against Christians in Adana. The CUP’s close alliance with the Armenian Dashnak Party was a major reason for the rekindling of these massacres. For the first time, these attacks did not discriminate between Armenians and eastern Christians. Thus, Orthodox Syriacs, Catholic Syriacs and Chaldeans were also killed. Apparently, Armenians had stood apart with their penchant for trade, banking, brokerage as well as for pharmacy, medicine and consulting and other professions; they constituted a wealthy portion of the population. As a result, this and their identity as non-Muslims made Armenians a clear target. As a commercial and agricultural factor, Armenians also served as an obstacle to the Germanification of Anatolia.

After the Adana massacre of 1909, there was a period of good faith that lasted until 1913. Meanwhile, the CUP improved its ties with the militant Dashnak Party. After transforming into a democratic party, this party was represented with three deputies in the Assembly of Deputies (Meclis-i Mebusan) that was renewed in 1912. This assembly also had six independent Armenians members. In 1876, the Assembly of Deputies had 67 Muslim and 48 non-Muslim deputies. However, in January 1913, following the defeat in the first Balkan War, the CUP overthrew the government (known as the Raid of Bab-ı Ali) and started to implement a policy to homogenize the population through a planned ethnic cleansing and destruction and forced relocation.

Talat Paşa prepared plans for homogenizing the population by relocating ethnic groups to places other than their homeland. According to the plan, Kurds, Armenians and Arabs would be forced to migrate from their homeland, and Bosnians, Circassians and other Muslim immigrants would be settled in their places. The displaced ethnic groups would not be allowed to comprise more than 10 percent of the population in their destinations. Moreover, these groups would be quickly assimilated. The Greeks had already been relocated from the western coasts of the country in 1914.

In addition to the regular army, Enver Paşa believed that there must be special forces that would conduct undercover operations. Thus, he transformed the Special Organization (Teşkilat-ı Mahsusa), which he had established as a secret organization before the Balkan War, into an official organization. This organization had intelligence officers, spies, saboteurs and contract killers among its members. It also had a militia comprised of Kurdish tribes. Former criminals worked as volunteers for this organization. Talat Paşa created the main body of the Teşkilat-ı Mahsusa from gangs of former criminals whom he arranged to be released from prisons. In Anatolia, the Teşkilat-ı Mahsusa worked at the disposal of the 3rd Army.

Forced relocations of 1915-1916

The German-backed pan-Islamist policy implied a fatal solution for non-Muslims living within the borders of the empire. The conditions for the forced relocation campaign launched in 1915 were different from previous ones. The two-month campaign covered not only Armenians but also all Christians in eastern Anatolia. These relocations could not be considered a resettlement because the specified destinations were not inhabitable and only very few could make it there. Many people were immediately killed either inside or outside the settlements where they were born or living, and others were murdered on the roads on which they were forced to walk on foot.

Most of those who were immediately killed were men. Women and children formed the largest portion of the groups banished toward the southern deserts. There were continual attacks on these processions, accompanied by rapes of women and kidnappings of children. Provincial officials did not take any measures to provide the convoys with food, water and shelter. Rather, high-level officials and local politicians mobilized death squads against them. These squads would confiscate the goods of the relocated people, sending some of them to the Interior Ministry and embezzling the rest.

Eventually, the forced relocation campaign turned into a series of atrocities which even bothered the Germans. The ongoing campaign was never a population exchange. As noted by British social historian David Gaunt, the purpose of these forced relocation campaigns was to remove a specific population from a specific location. Because it was intended to be performed quickly, this added to the intimidation, violence and cruelty involved. As resettlement was not intended, neither the administration nor the army cared about where the deported population was going or whether they would survive physically. The high degree of the culture and civilization exhibited by Armenians made the atrocities against them all the worse in the eyes of the world. Talat Paşa mistakenly made his last conclusion: “There is no longer an Armenian problem.”

Conclusion and suggestions

The foregoing account cannot duly express what really happened in its scope, dimension and weight. These atrocities and massacres were not only regularly reported on in European and US newspapers, but were also evidenced in the official documents of Britain and the US and even Germany and Austria, which were allies of the Ottoman Empire, and in the minutes of the Ottoman Court Martial (Divan-ı Harbi), the descriptions of diplomats and missionaries, in commission reports and in the memoirs of those who survived them.

No justification, even the fact that some Armenian groups revolted with certain claims and collaborated with foreign countries, can be offered for this human tragedy. It is misleading to discuss what happened with reference to genocide, which is merely a legal and technical term. No technical term is vast enough to contain these incidents, which are therefore indescribable. Atrocities and massacres are incompatible with human values. It is more degrading to be regarded as a criminal in the collective conscience of humanity than to be tried on charges of genocide.

A regime that hinges upon concealing and denying the truth will make the state and the society sick and decadent. The politicians, academics, journalists, historians and clerical officials in Turkey should try to ensure that the society can face the truth. To face the truth is to become free. We can derive no honor or dignity from defending our ancestors who were responsible for these tragedies. It is not a humane or ethical stance to support and defend the actions of Abdülhamit II and senior CUP members and their affiliated groups, gangs and marauders. Turkey should declare to the world that it accepts said atrocities and massacres and that in connection with this, it advocates the highest human values of truth, justice and humanism while condemning the mentality and actions of those who committed them in the past.

After this is done, it should invite all Armenians living in the diaspora to become citizens of the Turkish Republic. As the Armenians of the diaspora return to the geography where their ancestors lived for thousands of years before being forced to abandon it, leaving behind their property, memories and past, this may serve to abate their sorrow, which has now translated into anger. The common border with Armenia should be opened without putting forward any condition. This is what conscience, humanity and reason direct us to do. Turkey will become free by getting rid of its fears, complexes and worries by soothing the sorrows of Armenians.

*Dr. Ümit Kardaş is a retired military judge.

02 May 2010, Sunday

In response to Kardash (1)

Such people should be commended. I hope such people in Turkey will stay this course. But the issue of Armenian Genocide goes beyond emotions and good feelings caused by some kind words by some kind (and yes, courageous) Turkish intellectuals. The Armenian Genocide is a legal and political issue, where emotions and kind words have no place. The Turkish language is a treasure trove for nice words - "sekerim, guzelim, etc..." - and the Turkish people - especially the politicians - are lavish in their usage of such nice words. As long as nice words and apologies are not coupled with deeds setting the record straight and establishing justice by just restitution, we should be careful in our accolade for people such as judge Kardas. Remember, the leadership of Ittihad ve Terakki also uttered nice words to Armenians while they were planning the first Genocide of the 20th Century.
Seto Boyadjian, Attorney at Law, California

In response to Kardash (2)

Judge Kardash assumes to have found the “just” solution to the Armenian question. His solution, of course, is full of smoke and mirror. First, Judge Kardaş discusses at length Raphael Lemkin, the genesis of the word "Genocide", and the adoption of the U.N. Genocide Convention. But he cleverly avoids to mention that Lemkin considered the Armenian massacres as a defining example of his newly coined "Genocide". But to mention that would destroy his entire thesis. Next, the judge elevates the Armenian massacres to a higher level of criminal act than what is purported by the term "Genocide." He claims that it would be misleading to consider the Armenians massacres by the “technical” term of “Genocide”, because, as he puts it, “No technical term is vast enough to contain these incidents, which are therefore indescribable”. Of course, we know why the honourable judge is refusing to label the massacres as "Genocide." He shuns that term with the pretext that it is "merely a legal and technical term." But as a judge he knows very well that when a criminal act is grounded on legal basis, it requires retribution and restitution. Hence the judge’s heart pours out to consider the Armenian massacres as being greater than "Genocide". This way his trick is to bypass the legal consequences by elevating the Armenian massacres to a higher crime than the technically defined crime of "Genocide". At the same time the judge’s attempt is to show that Turks have a great heart - "Armenians, you want it to be called Genocide, we want to accept it as a crime higher than Genocide!" Now that the judge has stripped the Armenian massacres from any legal consequences, he suggests that Turkey and the Turkish leadership face the truth and acknowledge the Armenian “tragedy” (not the “Genocide”). Once this acknowledgement is done, he proposes, as a just solution, that Turkey invite all Armenians living in the Diaspora to become citizens of the Turkish Republic. The honourable judge forgets to add that this “invitation” should go out with the following message: “Ermeni kardaslar, come back, we forgive you.” Obviously this military judge seems to believe that crime does pay.
Seto Boyadjian, Attorney at Law California

Labels: Armenian Genocide

Ruben Safrastyan: regional rivalry between Moscow and Ankara continues

http://www.panarmenian.net

Yerevan to mark 2150th anniversary of great Armenian king

http://www.panarmenian.net

Armenian Blog Feeds site includes around 110 blogs

http://www.panarmenian.net

Armenian army should be among most efficient in the world

http://www.panarmenian.net

Amberin Zaman: Armenia will not leave Karabakh similarly to Turkey not withdrawing troops from Cyprus

http://www.panarmenian.net

International Conference on Armenian Genocide Held in Brazil

http://www.armenianweekly.com

Labels: Armenian Genocide

Ashot Gulyan: Armenian Genocide and NKR’s right for self determination indisputable

http://www.panarmenian.net

Turkish Scholar Taner Akcam Advocates Change in Policy of Genocide Denial

By Harut Sassounian

Publisher, The California Courier

Dr. Taner Akcam, one of the first Turkish scholars to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide, delivered two important lectures in Southern California last week. Based on historical research, he analyzed the underpinnings of Turkey’s denial of the Armenian Genocide and proposed solutions for its official acknowledgment.

Prof. Akcam made his first presentation at Valley Beth Shalom in Encino on May 6, before the screening of Dr. J. Michael Hagopian’s Genocide documentary “The River Ran Red.” Rabbis Harold Schulweis and Edward Feinstein,Jewish World Watch President Janice Kamenir-Reznik, Dr. Hagopian, 96, a genocide survivor, and Archbishop Hovnan Derderian made brief remarks.

Dr. Akcam, Associate Professor of History and Chair of Armenian Genocide Studies at Clark University, explained that the “continuity” of the “military and civilian bureaucracy,” which has been ruling Turkey ever since the inception of the Republic in 1923, is a key reason for denial of the Armenian Genocide. “The founders perceived the ethnic-cultural plurality of society at that time to constitute a problem for the continuity and security of the state.”

Specifically, the Professor identified Hasan Fehmi Bey, a leader of the Union and Progress party that implemented the Armenian Genocide, who had confessed in a speech to Parliament in 1920 that his group knew the international community would call them “murderers” for eliminating the Armenians. However, he indicated that his party’s leaders were prepared to accept being called “murderers,” as their aim was securing “the future of the fatherland.”

In his second presentation on May 7, organized by the Armenian Rights Council of America in Altadena, Dr. Akcam disclosed that “Ergenekon,” the recently exposed criminal group that enjoyed support of the Turkish military, had prepared a hit list of five individuals, including journalist Hrant Dink, Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk, and Akcam himself, all targeted for assassination because they spoke out on the Armenian Genocide. They were condemned to death as “Traitors to National Security.”

In Akcam’s view, this mindset was not simply the perverted view of an isolated terror group, but that of Turkey’s legal establishment. During the sentencing of two Turkish-Armenian journalists in 2007 for using the term genocide, a Judge ruled that: “Talk about genocide, both in Turkey and in other countries, unfavorably affects national security and the national interest. The claim of genocide... has become part of and the means of special plans aiming to change the geographic, political boundaries of Turkey... and a campaign to demolish its physical and legal structure.” The ruling further stated that the Republic of Turkey is under “a hostile diplomatic siege consisting of genocide resolutions.… The acceptance of this claim may lead in future centuries to a questioning of the sovereignty rights of the Republic of Turkey over the lands on which it is claimed these events occurred.”

According to Akcam, the United States is avoiding the official recognition of the Armenian Genocide out of a similar misguided concern for national security in the Middle East. He stated that “Morality is a very real issue, and forrealpolitik to be successful in the region; moral values, in this instance, the specific one of acknowledging historic wrongdoings, must be integrated into a policy of national security…. Failure to confront history honestly is one of the major reasons for insecurity and instability in the region.”

Akcam revealed that after World War I, Turkey’s leaders, including Mustafa Kemal, acknowledged the Armenian massacres and favored the prosecution of their perpetrators in order to gain support of the Allies for the preservation of the territorial integrity of Ottoman Turkey.

However, the hopes of Turkey’s leaders were dashed on both counts. The Treaty of Sèvres in 1920 called for dismemberment of the Ottoman Empire, while the Istanbul Court Martial sentenced to death in absentia the Turkish national leadership, including Mustafa Kemal.

Akcam indicated that the Turkish mindset to this day views “democratization, freedom of thought and speech, open and frank debate about history, [and] acknowledgment of one’s past historical misdeeds, as a threat to national security. Those who invite society to engage in an open examination of the past are therefore labeled ‘traitors’ and made targets of smear campaigns -- dragged into courts and prosecuted under Turkish Criminal Code Article 301 for ‘insulting Turkishness.’”

Akcam warned the United States that any policy “that ignores morality and forgets the addressing of historic wrongdoings is doomed to fail in the end.” He suggested that Turkey should be made to understand that “bullying and threatening others is not the behavior of an international actor. Turkey cannot continue with the same repressive domestic policies towards its own history and minorities under the guise of national security and cannot threaten other countries in expressing their thoughts on 1915, and at the same time pretend to be a member of democratic countries in the world. An open, official acknowledgment by the US government might force Turkey to understand that blackmailing and threatening other states and suppressing and persecuting its own intellectuals do not offer solutions for historical problems and for security.”

At a small gathering, after the May 7 lecture, Akcam disclosed for the first time an alarming incident that had taken place in 1995, following a talk he had delivered on the Armenian Genocide in Yerevan. At the last minute, he had cautiously decided to give a milder version of his prepared remarks. Upon his return to Istanbul, he was shocked when confronted at the airport by Turkish police who had in their possession the harsher version of his talk. He had handed that original version to Armenian officials -- the organizers of the Genocide conference. Someone in Armenia must have leaked his text to the Turkish authorities. Dr. Akcam was able to save his neck from Turkish intelligence agents by showing them the copy of the milder speech that he had actually delivered!

Labels: Armenian Genocide

Kurdistan regional government to help Armenians

http://news.am/en/news/21083.html

Turkey - Armenian Genocide commemoration in Istambul 2010

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gefh0IGlZ9A

Labels: Armenian Genocide

Robert Fisk speaks about the Armenian Genocide by the Turks. The 1st Holocaust

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5hwD9bqOuE&feature=youtu.be&a

Labels: Armenian Genocide

With liberation of Shushi spirit and confidence of Armenian people restored: NKR President

http://news.am/en/news/21030.html

Namik Tan: Armenians would not achieve anything regarding Congressman Adam Schiff's initiative

http://www.panarmenian.net

Baku is trying to prove so-called Azerbaijani genocide through shots of wars in Chechnya and Afghanistan- (Khojaly)

http://www.panarmenian.net

Adam Schiff launches new campaign

http://www.panorama.am/en/world/2010/05/07/adam-shiff/

نائب رئيس حكومة إقليم كوردستان يستقبل رجال الدين المسيحيين ورئيس طائفة الأرمن في العراق

http://www.ishtartv.com/viewarticle,28987.html

ألمانيا مذنبة في إرتكاب مجزرة الأرمن

http://www.khabararmani.com/site/News/files/2010/0473.htm

Germany partially guilty in Armenian Genocide: Kurdish historian

http://news.am/en/news/20559.html

Labels: Armenian Genocide

الاعتذار والندم والتسامح أفعال أيها السادة!

http://www.elaph.com/Web/opinion/2010/5/558790.html

Hyke Demoyan exposes Turkey’s intentions

http://www.aysor.am/en/news/2010/05/06/demoyan/

Armenian-Turkish protocols devaluated, H. Demoyan says

http://www.panorama.am/en/politics/2010/05/06/hayk-demoyan/

Armenian Bishop About Religions Leader of Azerbaijan: "A Good Man"

http://www.huliq.com

'لأنن ارمن': فيلم يدعو للاعتراف بالمجزرة ضد الارمن

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:UdJfClL3X40J:www.alquds.co.uk

مأساة إبادة وتهجير الأرمن في الذكرى ال95 على ضوء المتغيرات الدولية

http://www.azad-hye.org/article.php?op=details&id=430

مواجهة بين "العثمانيين الجدد" والارمن في الدول العربية

http://www.azad-hye.org/news.php?op=details&id=725

The Arab World And The Armenian Genocide

On the occasion of the 95^th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, I delivered a lecture in the RA National Academy of Sciences- Institute of Oriental Studies entitled "The Arab World and the Armenian Genocide".

During the lecture I stressed the importance to know the attitude of different nations towards the Armenian Genocide, especially the attitude of the Arab nation, which has old historical and cultural relations with the Armenian nation. Besides, the two nations have similar issues.

I reviewed the persecution policy of the "Young Turks” towards all subject nations of the Ottoman Empire, especially towards Armenians and Arabs. I stated the names of the Arab governors who refused to carry out state orders to deport and liquidate the Armenian population. As a result of this honorable stance they were either dismissed from office or killed. The Turkish government adopted the policy of starvation against the Arabs in

Syria

and

Lebanon

, which left 320 thousand people dead till 1917. The Turkish government's persecution policy also targeted Muslim Syrians, Kurds and Shias. I noted that Turk officials thought that Arabs would continue their genocidal action against Armenians. However, Arabs aided and protected the genocide survivals. Sherif of Mecca Al-Husayn Ibn Ali, who declared "the Great Arab Revolution" in 1916 against the Ottoman yoke, issued the Decree for Protecting the Armenians in 1917.

I referred to the fact that, unfortunately, there is no united attitude towards the issue of the Armenian Genocide among Arab intellectuals and among Arab states, only Lebanon recognized the Armenian Genocide in 1997 and 2000. At the end of my lecture, I highlighted that historical and cultural relations between the two peoples can serve as a base to developed relations in all aspects. I stressed the importance of paying more attention to oriental and Arab studies in Armenia and setting up relations between the young people of the two nations. I expressed hope that

Armenia

will set plans with the friendly Arab states to keep its national security. Nothing separates Armenia from the Arab states, however, common interests, including strategic interests; unite them.

Labels: Armenian Genocide

آلاف المسيحيين يتظاهرون بعد إنفجار بشمال العراق

http://www.elaph.com/Web/news/2010/5/558040.html

"ألمانيا قد دعمت حزب تركيا الفتاة"

http://www.azg.am/AR/2010050401

Is Turkey’s Consul Unhappy that not All Armenians were Slaughtered like Sheep?

By Harut Sassounian

Publisher, The California Courier

Hakan Tekin, the young and inexperienced Turkish Consul General in Los Angeles, is trying hard to earn brownie points with his bosses in Ankara by countering any reference to Armenians in the U.S. media. He went overboard last week by sending an offensive letter to the Los Angeles Times.

Tekin was displeased with Patt Morrison’s interview with me published by the Times in its op-ed page on April 24. The article was titled, “Harut Sassounian: True to the Past.”

In his brief letter, Consul General Tekin made several misjudgments. The first was to criticize the L.A. Times’ Pulitzer-Prize winning veteran journalist Patt Morrison, alleging that there were “many misleading elements” in her interview, without naming a single one.

Judging from the text of the Consul General’s letter, it was probably drafted by one of the many American public relations firms hired by the Turkish government at great cost. While the words may have been written by Americans, the thoughts are definitely those of a Turkish denialit! P.R. firms don’t really care how silly their letters sound, as long as their employer is satisfied and compensates them handsomely. Here is a piece of free advice that the Turkish government and the Consul General should keep in mind before taking on again the free press in a free country: “Never pick a fight with someone who buys ink by the barrel.”

Tekin is behaving as if he is still in Turkey, where the media is routinely suppressed by such fascist tactics as throwing journalists in jail or physically eliminating them. He is vainly trying to import Turkey’s undemocratic “gag rule” into the United States by trying to silence the L.A. Times!

The Consul General goes on to attack me for the photograph that accompanies the L.A. Times article, in which I am holding the picture of my grandmother “garlanded with a bandolier of bullets.” I am very proud of grandma Gadar, because at a time when more than a million Armenians were being marched to their deaths by the genocidal rulers of Tekin’s ancestors, she and her fellow Zeitountsis -- men, women and children -- defended themselves valiantly and refused to be slaughtered like sheep. Had she not fought to save her life, I would not have existed today, which may have made the Consul General happier! Is Tekin upset that the Turkish government was unable to finish the job of exterminating every last Armenian?

Consul General Tekin then criticizes me for my “relentless opposition” to the infamous Armenia-Turkey Protocols. He has no one else to blame than his own government for not ratifying these Protocols which have been collecting dust in the Turkish Parliament for more than six months. Armenians are indeed fortunate that Turkey’s leaders have inadvertently protected Armenia’s national interests by not ratifying the Protocols, so that they could extract more concessions from the Armenian government!

Incredibly, Tekin ends his pathetic letter by admonishing me to be more like William Saroyan, who he claims was “compassionate” toward Turks! May I remind the Turkish Consul of Saroyan’s well-known statement castigating the Turks for having destroyed Armenia and its people. Here is the original version of that quotation, as it was published in Inhale & Exhale, New York: Random House, 1936: “Go ahead, destroy this race. Let us say that it is again 1915. There is war in the world. Destroy Armenia. See if you can do it. Send them from their homes into the desert. Let them have neither bread nor water. Burn their houses and their churches. See if they will not live again. See if they will not laugh again. See if the race will not live again when two of them meet in a beer parlor, twenty years after, and laugh, and speak in their tongue. Go ahead, see if you can do anything about it. See if you can stop them from mocking the big ideas of the world, you sons of bitches, a couple of Armenians talking in the world, go ahead and try to destroy them.”

Could it be that the Turkish Consul General is trying to denigrate me, because I have rejected his repeated invitations to get together, and his persistent attempts to co-opt me? If it is any consolation for this novice diplomat, I have not been tricked by his superiors either, who are far more experienced than him in the art of fishing for Armenian collaborators!