Armenian Issues
My blog contains articles and thoughts in English, Armenian and Arabic about the Armenian affairs and genocide, as well as the life of Armenians and Christians in Iraq and the many hardships they face currently.
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Impossible to have prosperous Armenia without Diaspora contribution - President | Armenia News - NEWS.am
Karabakh’s right for self determination cannot be questioned – Armenian President | Armenia News - NEWS.am
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Akcam: Scientists who deny Armenian Genocide are corrupted by Turkish Foreign Ministry - Politics - Panorama | Armenian news
President Serzh Sargsyan’s speech at the 66th session of the UN General Assembly : Public Radio of Armenia
Friday, September 23, 2011
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Truth on Armenian Genocide in Adana witnessed by British Vice-Consul - Independent | Armenia News - NEWS.am
No strong shifts in power balance between Armenia and Azerbaijan expected in near future - Russian expert | Armenia News - NEWS.am
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Deterioration in Israeli-Turkish relations not reason for Armenian Genocide recognition – ARFD | Armenia News - NEWS.am
مؤتمر حول كيفية التوصل الى الإعتراف الدولي بغاراباغ في باريس في نوفمبر تشرين الثاني : Public Radio of Armenia
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Visit to Nakhichevan Shows Why Armenians Can Never Again Live Under Azeri Rule
Scottish researcher Steven Sim reported about his troubling experiences in Nakhichevan, a historic Armenian territory now occupied by Azerbaijan. Since Sim's 2006 revealing report has not been adequately publicized in the international media, I would like to present here some of its highlights. Sim stated that he entered Nakhichevan by land from Turkey and traveled to the village of Abrakunis at Yernjak valley. When he asked a 12-year-old about an ancient church there, the boy pointed to an empty piece of land. Sim next visited Bananiyar, known to Armenians as Aparank, where he reported that “at least until the 1970s there were some ruins of a large medieval church located on high ground in the middle of the village. Now a mosque is built on the former church grounds.” At Norashen, two Armenian churches and a graveyard had existed at the north-western edge of this village. He found no trace of either churches or the graveyard. On his 3rd day in Nakhichivan, while traveling by train to Julfa, Sim observed the remains of the Jugha graveyard. He reported seeing “a hillside covered by stone slabs, spread out over three ridges. All of the gravestones had been toppled, without any exceptions.” In Ordubad, Sim was taken to the police station where his bag was searched, as he was interrogated about the purpose of his visit. He was then placed on the next bus back to Nakhichevan city. From there he went to Shurut which used to be “a small Armenian town during the late medieval period, with churches, schools, monasteries, scriptoria and several tens of thousands of inhabitants.” At the neighboring Krna village, there were no traces of the local Armenian Church. The same was true about the village of Gah. When he asked a passerby about the church in Shurut, he was told that it had been destroyed. In Shurut, Sim was confronted by a group of villagers. When he said that he had come to see the old church, they told him that there was never a church in their village. As he left Shurut, the taxi driver told Sim that the villagers had phoned the police in Julfa and that law enforcement officials would probably be waiting for him somewhere along the road. A car was indeed waiting for Sim. “A policeman got into the back of the taxi and asked me if I had a topographic map, and an ethnographic book.” When Sim answered that he did not, the policeman made a cursory search of his bag. In Julfa, Sim stopped at the police headquarters, where his bag was searched again. After waiting in a corridor for a while, Sim was taken to the town’s Araz Hotel. He was escorted to a garden in the back of the building. Sim was finally allowed to leave after 3 hours. Everything in Sim’s “bag was taken out and carefully looked at, and the bag itself was examined for any secret compartments. This lasted for about 15 minutes, without a word being spoken.” Sim was asked about his job. How much did he earn, who paid him to come to Nakhichevan, and why would he spend his own money to come here? The officers examined carefully Sim’s notebook and checked through all of his photographs stored in his digital camera. They showed most interest in a photograph he had taken in Nakhichevan city. “It was of a stone slab that I had seen in the gardens opposite the Momina Hatun mausoleum, surrounded by a large collection of ram-shaped gravestones. On this stone was carved a cross rising from a rectangular base.” The Azeri officials told him that it was not a cross. Sim told them that he had read about the church in an Armenian book. They angrily responded: “It is wrong. It is lying to you. You see, Armenians are always lying -- they are lying to everyone.” They also stated that “there never were any Armenian churches anywhere in Nakhichevan. There were no Armenians ever living here -- so how could there have been churches here?” The Azeris told Sim: “We think that you are not here with good intentions towards the Azerbaijan republic.” Sim stated that his unpleasant experiences in Nakhichevan shed “some light onto the attitudes that Azerbaijan holds about Armenians and anything Armenian.” The report shows why it is impossible for Armenians of Artsakh (Karabagh) to live ever again under oppressive Azeri rule. If a Scottish visitor is treated so poorly, imagine how much worse Azeris treated their Armenian subjects in Artsakh until its liberation. |
Labels: Azerbaijan, Karabakh-Artsakh issue
Sunday, September 18, 2011
وكالة أنباء كردية تتطرق الى مذكرات جنرال فنزويلي خدم في الجيش العثماني عن المجزرة الأرمنية : Public Radio of Armenia
الاختصاصي الأذربيجاني في مجال السياسة جومشود نوريف يعلن أن الضابط الأذربيجاني راميل سافاروف الذي قتل الضابط الأرمني في المجر هو بطل مزيف : Public Radio of Armenia
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Book on Armenia-Turkey Protocols Warns Arabs not to Trust Turkish Friendship
By Harut Sassounian
Publisher of The California Courier
I was privileged to attend a special program in Beirut last Friday, sponsored by the Armenian National Committee of Lebanon, dedicated to the publication of my new book in Arabic: “Armenia-Turkey Protocols: Truth or Deception?” The book is the compilation of 43 columns I had written in The California Courier in the last three years on the controversial Protocols. After introductory remarks by George Sabounjian of the local ANC, Dr. Nora Arissianof Damascus, Syria, the translator of the book, asserted that Sassounian's columns exposed the Turkish government’s fake intent. She reminded the audience that the author had accurately predicted at the outset of the negotiations that Turkey would not keep its promise to ratify the Protocols and lift the blockade of Armenia. Dr. Arissian was followed by veteran Lebanese Minister Michel Edde who had written a lengthy and insightful introduction to the book. Mr. Edde had held five ministerial posts during his long and distinguished career in various Lebanese cabinets. In his remarks, the prominent Minister commended the author for his analytical columns, praised the Armenian community of Lebanon for its active role in the country’s progress, and condemned Turkey for its denial of the Armenian Genocide. At the end of his remarks, Minister Edde surprised the audience by announcing a generous and unexpected personal contribution of $25,000 to the ANC of Lebanon. The evening’s program was conducted in Arabic, given the fact that there were Arab guests in the audience and the book was intended for Arab leaders and masses. I was gratified to be able to deliver a portion of my remarks in Arabic. Surprisingly, I still remembered the Arabic I had learned over 40 years ago as a student at the local SophiaHagopian High School. I reminded the attendees that the Turkish government’s true intent was to exploit the Protocols in order to pressure Armenia into giving up its pursuit of the international recognition of the Armenian Genocide, and create a smokescreen of peaceful negotiations so that other countries, particularly the United States, would be warned not to undermine this make-believe reconciliation and budding relationship by recognizing the Armenian Genocide. In addition, Turkey wanted Armenia to return Nagorno Karabagh (Artsakh) to Azerbaijan's control, give up its demands for Western Armenia which is currently under Turkish occupation, and to tried undermine overall Armenian unity by pitting the Diaspora against the homeland. Doggedly pursuing its intent to extract additional concessions from Armenia, the Turkish government kept refusing to ratify the Protocols it had signed two years ago. Failing to accomplish its self-serving objectives, the Turkish Parliament recently took the final step to kill the Protocols by removing them from its agenda, citing a technicality. This failed experiment of Armenia-Turkey Protocols clearly proves that Turkey is more interested in playing diplomatic games and creating false impressions than pursuing peaceful co-existence. Turkish commitments cannot be taken seriously and Turkey's leaders' signatures on international agreements are not worth the paper they are written on. In my remarks, I pointed out that Turkish leaders have been presenting themselves as defenders of the Palestinian cause, and supporters of all Arabs and Muslims, while continuing to be Israel’s strategic partner, and covertly sharing with it some of the most sensitive military secrets of Arab countries. In my opinion, Palestinians and Arabs in general do not need the fake friendship of Turkey’s neo-Ottoman leaders. Arab masses must demand that their own indigenous leaders, not self-serving foreign rulers, defend their national interest. We just saw how Turkey sided with the despotic regimes in Egypt and Libya until the very last moment when the dictators of these countries were about to be toppled. This is not genuine friendship. This is crass opportunism! Since Arabs and Armenians have both experienced horrendous suffering and atrocities under the Ottoman yoke, they can not be fooled easily by dishonest Turkish gestures of rapprochement. The survivors of the Armenian Genocide were the grateful beneficiaries of Arab hospitality throughout the Middle East. Without such humanitarian intervention, many more Armenians would have perished. I ended my remarks by expressing my gratitude to Minister Michel Edde for writing an inspiring introduction to my book, and to Dr. Nora Arissian who had spent countless hours to painstakingly translate it from English into Arabic, as well as my previous book on the Armenian Genocide. I also thanked the Armenian National Committee of Lebanon for hosting the evening’s program at the Pyunic Hall of Aztag newspaper, and the Hamazkayine Publishing House for publishing the book. I expressed my special gratitude to benefactor GabrielChemberjian and his Pyunic Foundation for sponsoring the book’s translation and publication. At the end of the program, signed copies of the book were distributed to the guests. |
Labels: Turkey-Armenia protocols
Saturday, September 10, 2011
عضوة وفد أرمينيا في الجمعية البرلمانية للمجلس الأوروبي: تقرير لجنة المراقبة التابعة للجمعية البرلمانية الأوروبية بشأن أرمينيا إيجابي : Public Radio of Armenia
وزير خارجية الاورغواي: غاراباغ جزء من أرمينيا التاريخية ويجب أن تكون مستقلة أو تتحد بأرمينيا : Public Radio of Armenia
Robert Fisk: New light on an old horror – and still there is no justice - Robert Fisk, Commentators - The Independent
Friday, September 09, 2011
Thursday, September 08, 2011
وزير خارجية أرمينيا: عضوية أذربيجان غير الدائمة في مجلس الأمن الدولي لن تعلي شأنه : Public Radio of Armenia
Initiators and perpetrators of Armenian genocide should be imprisoned and cruelly sentenced - Sheriff Bey | Armenia News - NEWS.am
Israeli activist accuses Erdogan of historical amnesia for denying Armenian Genocide | Armenia News - NEWS.am
Wednesday, September 07, 2011
Tuesday, September 06, 2011
Turkey Can Run, but Can’t Hide From the Long Arm of US Law
World heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis once warned one of his opponents: "You can run, but you can’t hide." This same warning now applies to the Turkish government and two of its major banks.
Last December, when three Armenian-Americans filed a multi-million dollar lawsuit in U.S. Federal Court against the Republic of Turkey, the Central Bank and Ziraat Bank, the Turkish government ridiculed the charges, claiming "sovereign immunity."
The Armenian-American plaintiffs were seeking $64 million in compensation for confiscation of their properties in Adana, Turkey, in the aftermath of the Armenian Genocide. The plaintiffs were also demanding additional millions of dollars for the accrued rent and interest the U.S. government paid Turkey in the past 60 years for use of the strategic Incirlik Air Base, located on Armenian-owned land.
Since one of the first steps in filing a lawsuit is to serve a copy of the court documents to the defendants, the three Turkish entities concocted elaborate schemes to avoid receiving the legal papers, in order to delay or obstruct the trial. As a result, the plaintiffs’ attorneys had to go to extraordinary lengths in the past nine months to deliver the court documents to the Turkish defendants.
Ironically, after making every effort to block the serving of court papers, the Central Bank and Ziraat Bank filed a motion on June 1, 2011, seeking dismissal of the case, arguing that they had not received the proper documents.
On August 2, 2011 U.S. Federal Judge Dolly Gee rejected the Turkish request, asserting that the plaintiffs’ representatives "made several attempts to serve the Bank defendants at their addresses in New York City. After being repeatedly denied access to the buildings and, in one case, being misdirected as to ZiraatBank’s actual location, the process servers left copies of the summonses and complaint with the building security guards. Plaintiffs’ counsel then mailed additional copies to the each of the Bank defendants at these same addresses."
The Judge ruled that the Republic of Turkey had been adequately served with legal documents and ordered the Turkish entities to present their pleading in court no later than August 19, 2011.
The plaintiffs’ attorneys faced greater difficulties in serving the court documents to the Turkish authorities than to the New York offices of the two banks. On January 26, 2011, the English and Turkish versions of the complaint were mailed to the Ministry of Justice in Ankara, as required by the Hague Convention. On March 1, 2011, Turkey informed the plaintiffs’ lawyers in writing, its refusal to accept the court papers, claiming that the lawsuit infringes Turkey’s "sovereignty and security."
After exhausting all other channels, the plaintiffs’ lawyers submitted the court documents to the U.S. Department of State on April 14, 2011, asking the latter to present them officially to the Turkish government. On June 20, 2011, the State Dept. advised the plaintiffs that the documents were forwarded through diplomatic channels to the Republic of Turkey.
The American Embassy in Ankara transmitted the documents with a "diplomatic note," warning the Turkish government that under U.S. law "a defendant in a lawsuit must file an answer to the complaint within 60 days from the date of notice or face the possibility of having judgment entered against it." The U.S. Embassy strongly urged the Turkish Foreign Ministry to comply with the requirements of United States laws or face "a default judgment."
On August 29, 2011, after the mandated 60 days had expired and no response received from Turkey, the attorneys for the Armenian-American plaintiffs asked the Federal Court to enter a default judgment against the Turkish defendants.
Vatan newspaper reported last week that the two Turkish banks, alarmed by the serious prospect of losing a multi-million dollar lawsuit due to their failure to respond to the U.S. Federal Court, rushed to hire a lawyer and asked for more time until Sept. 19, 2011 to file a response.
Should the Turkish defendants not show up in court on Sept. 19, the Federal Judge could enter a default judgment and order that their assets in the U.S., up to the value of the judgment, be seized and turned over to the Armenian-American plaintiffs.
The Turkish government can no longer hide from its responsibilities for the devastating damage caused to the Armenian people as a result of the Genocide. It is high time for Turkey to acknowledge its long history of colossal criminal acts and make appropriate amends.
|

Armenian Dram Converter