Month: October 2006

ROMANIAN PRESIDENT: ROMANIA READY TO ASSIST TO ARMENIAN-AZERBAIJAN CONFLICT SETTLEMENT WITHIN INTERNATIONAL LEGAL NORMS
Author: S. Aghayeva

TREND Information, Azerbaijan
Oct 12 2006

Romania is ready to render it assistance in the Armenian-Azerbaijani
conflict settlement within international legal norms, Romania`s
President Traian Besesku told today during the ceremony of presentation
of the Honourary Doctor of the Baku State University to him, Trend
reports referring to "Lider TV".

Addressing the teachers and professors of the university, the Romanian
President highly appreciated cooperation between the two countries. He
informed the participants of the meeting about priorities of the
Romanian policy. According to him, it is aimed at cooperation with
the Caspian and Black Sea regions. He called Azerbaijan a state
with the highest potential in the region. "Romania ensures Europe`s
energy security and is rich in energy resources, but, nevertheless,
Azerbaijan`s energy reserves and their transit to Europe are of a
great importance to us", told the Romanian President.

He also marked Azerbaijan`s achievements the country reached in the
sphere of energy security.

The Romanian President also underlined the importance of establishment
of peace and stability in the region and the conflicts settlement.

Mr. Basesku also visited the Heydar Aliyev Fund today where he got
acquainted with the activity of National Leader of Azerbaijan Heydar
Aliyev.

GUL: "PASSING THE BILL WOULD DO HARM TO FRANCE"

Turkish Press
Oct 12 2006

Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said yesterday that if the French
Parliament passes the Armenian bill, France would lose not only Turkey
but also much else besides. Speaking to reporters after meeting with
Bahamian Foreign Minister Frederick Audley, Gul said that Ankara
had done its best to warn France of the negative consequences of
its passing the bill. Stressing that everybody from politicians to
businessmen from large sectors of society had tired to prevent this
misguided move, Gul said he hoped that France would not harm itself
for the sake of domestic politics.

EUROPE’S ENLARGEMENT COMMISSIONER HAS DENOUNCED THE BILL

EuroNews
Oct 12 2006

This comes barely six months before French elections and amid a climate
of strong French voter opposition to Turkey’s potential future EU
entry. France’s Armenian community numbers around 500,000.

President Jacques Chirac at a commemoration ceremony recently said
he believes Turkish acceptance of the country’s role in the deaths
ought to be a condition for its European Union membership.

When these negotiations began a year ago, it was not a pre-condition.

Chirac said all countries grow by coming to terms with their dramas
and errors. EU enlargement spokesperson Krisztina Nagy, in Brussels
made the European stance clear: "For the concrete framework for the
negotiations with Turkey, the European Council has taken a decision,
and this decision does not include the recognition of the Armenian
genocide as a criterion for accession for Turkey." The European
Commission warned France that it could hinder efforts to end decades
of dispute over the killings. Nagy said: "It is not up to law to
write history."

18 COUNTRIES ACCEPTED ‘GENOCIDE’ IN 41 YEARS
By Suleyman Kurt, Ankara

Zaman Online, Turkey
Oct 12 2006

Parliaments of foreign countries began to recognize the so-called
Armenian genocide 41 years ago.

To date, 18 parliaments have recognized the events of 1915 as genocide
since 1965. The number of parliaments taking a stance on this issue
increased dramatically after 2000. According to the evaluations made in
Ankara there are five factors effective in the political decisions of
these parliaments. These are pressure from Armenian minorities in these
countries, hostility against Turkey, Turcophobia or reluctance over
Turkey’s admittance into the European Union, looking for an accomplice
for the genocides they had committed in the past and religious reasons.

The Armenian Diaspora began to carry the events of 1915 on the agenda
of countries in which they live beginning in 1960. The first decision
was taken in 1965 in Uruguay. Following this decision, Southern Cyprus
made a similar decision in 1982, and the number of decisions overall
increased dramatically after 2000. The decisions reached their peak
in 2005, the 90th anniversary of 1915 events.

Armenian Pressure and Turcophobia

The authorities asserted that the decisions made in Uruguay, Russia,
Canada, Lebanon, France, Switzerland, Italy and Venezuela were taken
due to pressure of the Armenian minority population in these countries.

The decisions made in Greece and Southern Cyprus were due to hostility
against Turkey, while it is believed that reluctance over Turkey’s
accession to the European Union lies under the decisions made in Italy
and France. The decisions made in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany,
Switzerland and Poland have similar reasons, religious reasons behind
the Vatican’s decision. The attitudes of Germany, Latvia and Slovakia
are accepted as a struggle to find accomplices for their own crimes
against humanity.

Final Aim: Demanding Land from Turkey The Armenian Diaspora, which
has been the most influential force behind these countries accepting
these decisions, has made demands for Turkey.

* Advertising the "genocide"

* Recognizing the so-called genocide,

* Paying amends to the inheritors of the victims of the "genocide,"

* Giving part of eastern Turkey’s territory to Armenia.

The first decision to recognize the events of 1915 was made in Uruguay
The countries that support the so-called Armenian genocide thesis
are as follows:

Greek Cypriot Administration: April 29, 1982

Greece: April 25, 1996

Belgium: March 26, 1998

Sweden: March 29, 2000

Vatican: 2000

Lebanon: May 11, 2000

France: Jan.18, 2001

Switzerland: Dec. 16, 2003

Canada: 1996, 2000, and April 21, 2004

Slovakia: Nov. 30, 2004

The Netherlands: Dec. 21, 2004

Poland: April 19, 2005

Argentina: 1993, 2003, 3004, 2005

Russia: April 22, 2005

Uruguay: 1965, 2004, May 3, 2005

Venezuela: July 14, 2005

Latvia: Dec. 15, 2005

LE MONDE EDITORIAL ASKS FRENCH DEPUTIES TO REJECT BILL
By Ali Ihsan Aydin, Paris

Zaman Online, Turkey
Oct 12 2006

France’s Le Monde newspaper called on French deputies not to vote for
the Armenian draft bill before the session at the French parliament
today.

In an editorial, the newspaper termed the draft to penalize anyone who
denies the purported Armenian genocide as an "inappropriate discussion"
and said that politicians must not act as ministries of truth.

Before the critical session, Le Monde’s lead editorial column was on
the draft bill submitted by France’s Socialist Party.

Pointing out this initiative divided all political parties within
themselves, the newspaper said the bill would most probably pass but
it would never come to the agenda of the senate, which is the next
step before the bill becomes law.

In the article, it is said the purported Armenian genocide is not
equal to the Jewish genocide and denying the Jewish genocide was a
kind of anti-Semitism that is penalized by the French law as racism.

Le Monde said this had nothing to do with the so-called Armenian
genocide.

Reiterating that the so-called Armenian genocide had no place in the
penal code, Le Monde said "This is the memory work of the Turkish
nation."

Quoting Nicolas Sarkozy, who supports the bill, the editorial read
"Freedom of expression is not manipulating history nor denying
historical evidence," Le Monde replied to the ruling party leader
as follows: "Freedom of expression is neither taking the history and
the Armenian case hostage for political goals."

Addressing the politicians, Le Monde said "We hope deputies will not
vote for this bill and correct this wrong step."

In the article entitled "L’Armenie en otage" (Armenia in Hostage), it
is stated the bill puts forward a double problem in terms of history
and Turkey knocking at the door of the European Union. The article
handles the following points in summary:

First of all, the view that "history cannot be written down by laws,"
which was settled since the polemic on the law about "the positive
role of the colonization."

French historians published a manifesto on this.

The bill opposes this consensus approved by President Jacques Chirac.

The other problem is that the bill will be counterproductive in Turkey,
where the alleged genocide has begun to be discussed, which will give
a trump to the nationalists.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIA HAS LOST OPPORTUNITY TO BE INVOLVED IN LARGE-SCALE REGIONAL PROJECTS DUE TO ITS UNCONSTRUCTIVE POSITION – AZERI FM
Author: E.Huseynov

TREND Information, Azerbaijan
Oct 12 2006

Armenia has lost its opportunity to be involved in large-scale regional
projects due to its uncooperative behavior with regard to talks on
the peaceful solution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the Foreign
Minister of Azerbaijan, Elmar Mammadyarov stated while hosting the
group of British Parliamentarians in Baku, Trendreports with reference
to the Press Service of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry.

Speaking officially on the settlement of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,
the Minister emphasized that primarily Armenia should withdraw its
Armed Forces from occupied Azerbaijani territories. International
peace-keeping forces should then be positioned and mine-clearing
activities carried out. Refugees and internally displaced persons
should then be allowed to return to their native land.

Mammadyarov updated the delegates on the co-operation and prospects
of relations with the international organizations including NATO and
the European Union, and the current situation in the region.

IF ONLY GETTING ANGRY WITH FRANCE WERE THE SOLUTION
Abdulhamit Bilici

Zaman Online, Turkey –
Oct 12 2006

The agenda related to the Armenian genocide claim previously had a
routine schedule. Everyone knew that the issue would confront us on
the commemoration day of the genocide claim in April.

As a result of the powerful Armenian lobby’s efforts, the subject
would be put on the agenda of the American Congress. But by putting
its own weight on the American government, Ankara would try and
prevent a dangerous development.

This issue, repeated again and again, had become so trying that it
is said that during Turgut Ozal’s visit to Washington in 1991, he
asked our American ambassador Nuzhet Kandemir if it wouldn’t just be
better to acknowledge the genocide and end the matter. Kandemir is
said to have replied, "Honorable President, this is not a matter to
be resolved hastily. It is necessary to think well and be careful."

Years have passed since this conversation. Maybe this accusation that
our nation perpetrated genocide is really not an issue to be resolved
hastily, but it’s certain that Turkey hasn’t been able to prevent
it by thinking well. The matter has rapidly gone beyond a routine
calendar date. Due to the impossibility of an early diagnosis being
made, it has spread like cancer. It has become an issue that appears
before us in every month of the year and in almost every place in
the world. Let’s look at the latest examples together:

A case was opened a year ago in Switzerland against Yusuf Halacoglu,
director of the Turkish History Institute, because he said at a meeting
that the events the Armenians experienced in history were not genocide.

Turkish recognition of the genocide claim was put in the latest report
on Turkey by the European Parliament. This was not the first decision
for this institution, but recognition of the genocide claim was put
in the draft report as a precondition for EU membership. The text was
softened a little during the report’s approval process. It was not a
precondition, but there was no change in the request for recognition
of the genocide.

At the same time the genocide claim surfaced in Holland.

Parliamentary candidates of Turkish origin were removed from the
voting lists because they rejected the claims of genocide.

Now we are locked in by a decision the French parliament will
give. A proposal brought forth by the opposition makes it a crime
to "deny the Armenian genocide." The French government says it is
opposed to this. Optimism continues that if the proposal passes in
the French Congress, it will be stopped by the Senate. Perhaps with
the intervention of the European Union and France not wanting to lose
the Turkish market, this initiative might fall through. However, even
if it is prevented, we shouldn’t neglect this point: It is no longer
being debated whether or not the genocide occurred. The matter has
passed to a more advanced stage. Now the discussion is on whether or
not recognition should be a precondition for EU membership or whether
or not those rejecting genocide should be put in jail.

Consequently, those in responsible positions should finally cease
closing their ears to alarms that have been ringing for a long time.

As we continue to neglect taking up this issue, it doesn’t remain
in the same place. Today what faces our brothers in Holland will
probably confront our history professors tomorrow and our statesmen
the next day. In view of this serious danger, we have to develop
a pro-active political strategy instead of assigning the matter to
historians. It is foremost a political task. Otherwise, we’re going
to have to declare war on a different country each day or boycott
their products. We need to get results in this direction in one or
two events; we can’t close our eyes to our citizens’ walking around
in the world as if they were trying to hide a fault. Enemies will act
with enmity, but we need to question why we haven’t explained our own
case as a nation possessing perhaps the most magnificent history in
the world in regard to tolerance.

As a matter of fact, Professor Sukru Hanioglu, an important name on
the subject of recent history, indicated that the official thesis
of leaving the last word to historians regarding the 1915 Migration
Law and events that followed in its wake didn’t make sense. He wrote
that instead of an unrealistic thesis such as this, which doesn’t
have much chance of being accepted outside of Turkey, Turkish
politicians, in consultation with historians, should develop a new
"political strategy." (Zaman, 1/20/05) Alarming developments make a
new political strategy more necessary every day.

FRENCH IN ARMENIA ‘GENOCIDE’ ROW

BBC News, UK
Oct 12 2006

Ethnic Armenian campaigners in France hailed the result The French
parliament has adopted a bill making it a crime to deny that Armenians
suffered "genocide" at the hands of the Turks, infuriating Turkey.

The bill, proposed by the Socialists and opposed by the government,
needs approval from the Senate and president.

Turkey called the decision a "serious blow" to relations with France.

It has already threatened economic sanctions.

Armenia says Ottoman Turks killed 1.5 million people systematically
in 1915 – a claim strongly denied by Turkey.

The European Commission has said that the bill, if passed into law,
will "prohibit dialogue which is necessary for reconciliation"
between Turkey and Armenia on the issue.

The opposition against Turkey in the EU has begun to present an
ugly face

Cengiz Candar Turkish commentator

Turkish press divided Send us your comments

Turkey has been warning France for weeks not to pass the bill.

"Turkish-French relations, which have been meticulously developed over
the centuries, took a severe blow today through the irresponsible
initiatives of some short-sighted French politicians, based on
unfounded allegations," the Turkish foreign ministry said.

Nobel prize

The bill sponsored by the opposition Socialist party provides for a
year in jail and a 45,000-euro (£30,000) fine – the same punishment
that is imposed for denying the Nazi Holocaust.

Q&A: Armenian genocide Turkish writer wins Nobel prize

The ruling Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) did not back the law,
but gave its deputies a free vote.

It passed by 106 votes to 19, after most deputies left the chamber
in protest against what critics say is an attempt to attract votes of
the some 500,000 people of Armenian descent in presidential elections
next year.

Ethnic Armenians in Paris celebrated the result.

"The memory of the victims is finally totally respected," said Alexis
Govciyan.

But French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin distanced himself
from the bill.

It is "not a good thing to legislate on issues of history and of
memory," he said.

The vote came as controversial Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk won the
2006 Nobel Prize in Literature.

He has faced prosecution in Turkey for talking about the murder of
hundreds of thousands of Armenians during World War I and thousands
of Kurds in subsequent years.

The charges have since been dropped.

EU membership bid

Debate on the Armenian issue has been stifled in Turkey.

Arguments have raged for decades about the Armenian deaths

The official Turkish position states that many Christian Armenians
and Muslim Turks died in fighting during World War I – but that there
was no genocide.

The BBC’s Sarah Rainsford in Istanbul says many Turks are angry
at what they see as double standards in the EU, where opinions are
sharply divided about whether Turkey should be allowed to join.

Turkey’s chief negotiator in EU membership talks, Ali Babacan, said:
"This is violating one of the core principles of the European Union,
which is freedom of expression."

"Leave history to historians," he added.

France’s President Chirac and Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy have
both said Turkey will have to recognise the Armenian deaths as genocide
before it joins the EU – though this is not the official EU position.

There are accusations in Turkey that the Armenian diaspora and
opponents of Turkey’s EU membership bid are using this issue to
prevent Turkey joining the 25-member bloc.

–Boundary_(ID_oiYkTkdql/I+I2PcSk2t/w)–

GENOCIDE IS NOT JUST A WORD
by Brian Brivati

The Guardian, UK
Oct 12 2006

While the French and Turkish governments rake over the past, mass
murder and mass rape continues in Darfur.

The French parliament votes today on a bill which will make it an
offence to deny that genocide took place in Armenia.

In response the Turkish parliament is drafting a bill to make it
illegal to deny that the French committed genocide in Algeria.

Another committee is proposing to make May 8 Algeria genocide memorial
day in Turkey. If universal jurisdiction is to be rejuvenated as
a concept after the Belgian laws on genocide were reversed then of
course anyone can get in on the act. The Turkish response is natural
enough. What is interesting is that many Turkish dissenters, including
people arrested for telling the truth about the Armenia genocide,
have come out strongly against the bill. The French government has also
opposed the passage of the legislation. The Algerians, enjoying French
discomfort, have welcomed the proposed Turkish legislation. There
are many issues wrapped up in this storm.

The positive aspect is that the Armenian genocide, often the forgotten
genocide of the 20th century, is being debated across Europe. If
that was the intention of the bill’s sponsors then they have achieved
their objective. In turn the Turkish response forced the French onto
the defensive about their colonial past.

The negative aspect of all this is the ever greater politicisation
of the word "genocide" and its reduction in impact. Genocide is only
a word, of course, and whether or not we use it to describe crimes
against humanity should not really matter in terms of our response
to events. However, because of the genocide convention, it does
matter if we call something by this term rather another term. The
case of Darfur shows this. When the UN report on the first phase of
the Sudanese government’s campaign against its African population in
Darfur was published it concluded that terrible violations of human
rights, including mass murder, has taken place, but that the events
fell short of the definition in the convention.

This has happened in every case of genocide since the convention
was passed. Remember the linguistic games during Rwanda, the lengths
to which officials would go not to use the word. So we live in this
strange world in which politicians and activists rush to label things
genocide so that they can wrap their particular suffering in the most
extreme form of human suffering – the US and UK are committing genocide
in Iraq, apparently – while the UN contorts itself in order to avoid
calling Darfur or Rwanda genocide. The author of that UN report has
recently said that it does not matter what word you use to describe
what happened in Darfur, but something had to be done about it. As it
happens again in Darfur the debate is reopened about how to describe
what is taking place. It is a looking glass world in which scale and
intent do not matter as much as the political case to be made at any
one time.

As a historian, I welcome all debate about the past and it is important
that we analyse Turkish guilt in Armenia and French guilt in Algeria,
but perhaps, just at the moment, the French and Turkish parliaments
should be spending their time a little more usefully by debating
how to stop the mass murder and mass rape which is currently being
perpetrated by the Sudanese government in Darfur.

FRENCH MPS DEBATE ARMENIA ‘GENOCIDE’ BILL TO TURKEY’S FURY

Turkish Press
Oct 12 2006

PARIS – French MPs began debate Thursday on a bill that has provoked
fury in Turkey because it aims to criminalise opinions dissenting from
France’s official view that the 1915-1917 massacres of Armenians by
the Ottomans constituted genocide.

Introduced by the left-wing Socialist opposition, the draft law would
make it a crime in France to deny that the killings were genocide,
hitting violators with a prison term of up to one year and a fine of
up to 45,000 euros (57,000 dollars).

Turkey, the modern state which emerged from a sprawling Ottoman empire
that included Armenia, has said that, if the legislation is passed,
it would threaten France’s economic investments on its soil.

"If the bill is adopted, Turkey will not lose anything, but France
will lose not only Turkey, but something of itself as well," Turkish
Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said Wednesday.

Ankara contests the term "genocide" for the killings and strongly
opposes the bill’s provisions.

It says 300,000 Armenians, and at least as many Turks, died in civil
strife when Armenians took up arms for independence and sided with
invading Russian troops as the Ottoman Empire fell apart during World
War I.

Armenians claim up to 1.5 million of their ancestors were slaughtered
in orchestrated killings that can only be seen as genocide.

Around 400,000 people of Armenian origin are estimated to live in
France, the most famous being the singer Charles Aznavour, born
Chahnour Varinag Aznavourian to immigrant parents.

One French MP of Armenian descent Patrick Devedjian, who belongs
to the ruling conservative UMP party, told RTL radio that "I see no
reason why the right shouldn’t vote" in favour of the bill.

He said an amendment he had attached to it which would exclude
scientists, historians and academics from the provision of the law
made the bill "more reasonable".

Turkey was simply trying to employ "denial propoganda" over the
Armenian killings, he claimed.

France in 2001 already adopted a law officially calling the massacres
a genocide — sparking a first found of Turkish anger that had
short-lived negative consequences for French firms in Turkey.

The new bill would go further by making it illegal to deny that
genocide took place, much in the way denial of the Holocaust during
World War II is a crime in France.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called the proposed law
"a blunder" and Turkish newspapers Thursday were scathing in saying
the bill undermined France’s commitment to freedom of expression.

"Liberty, equality and stupidity," was how one daily, Hurriyet,
headlined its opinion.

The French press showed less interest in the furore, relegating
coverage of the debate to deep inside its newspapers.

Liberation, a left-wing daily, printed a letter from the Socialist
MP who wrote the bill, Didier Migaud, in which he argued that it was
needed so France "is not an accomplice to a censorship" of history.

The vote on the bill which is to follow its debate could come as
early as Thursday. But even if the MPs pass it, that would only be
the start of a lengthy process.

>>From the French National Assembly, the lower chamber of parliament,
it would then be sent up to the UMP-dominated Senate, or upper chamber,
for another vote before returning to the National Assembly.

If adopted by both chambers, Chirac would be required to sign it
into law.

Ankara has warned that if that eventually happens, French companies
will be barred from economic projects in Turkey. A boycott of French
goods has also been threatened by Turkish businesses.

Bilateral trade totalled 8.2 billion euros (10 billion dollars) in
2005, and France is a major investor in Turkey, with some 250 firms
active in that country.