Month: March 2007

Today, Azerbaijan
March 16 2007

Alleged Armenian genocide resolution can inflict significant damage
to US efforts to reconcile Turkey-Armenia dispute

16 March 2007 [14:17] – Today.Az

The text of the identical letter sent to the House of Representatives
by the US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary
Robert Gates in connection with Armenian ‘genocide’ resolution has
been published.

In the letters, Rice and Gates drew attention to the consequences of
French Parliament’s passing genocide bill that made it crime to deny
Armenian genocide.

"Turkey cut off all relations with France, including military sphere
and refused military contracts under discussion due to the adoption
of that bill. The resolution could inflict significant damage on the
US soldiers dislocated in the region and create problems for the
divisions deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan and inflict significant
damage on US efforts to reconcile the long-standing disupute between
Turkey and Armenia," they said.

The appeals went to Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and
representatives John Boehner, leader of the House’s Republican
minority, and Tom Lantos, the Democrat who chairs the House Committee
on Foreign Affairs. APA

URL:

Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
March 16 2007

US Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Fried: Turkey can close
Incirlik air base

[ 16 Mar 2007 13:35 ]

US Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Fried warned Congress
yesterday against passing a resolution supporting Armenian claims of
genocide, saying the move could result in Turkey closing the Ýncirlik
air base that is used by the US military, APA reports.

The senior State Department official, told a hearing of a House
Foreign Affairs subcommittee on Europe that Turkish officials have
informed the US that approval of the resolution could lead to a
shutdown of the base or a restriction on US overflight privileges
granted by Turkey. He also said the US has been informed that Ankara
would respond with "extreme emotion" if the Armenian resolution were
approved.
He added the US fear was that `passage of any such resolution would
close minds and harden hearts.’
At the same time, Daniel Fried regarded the events happened in the
Ottoman Empire in 1915 as massacre.
Robert Wexler, Chairman of the Europe Subcommittee and the US-Turkey
Friendship group also underlined that anti-American mood increased in
Turkey and if genocide draft is adopted US adversaries will increase.

Joseph Ralston, the US special envoy for countering the PKK and
Daniel Fata, Pentagon representative said that cold relations with
Turkey will influence on US operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. /APA/

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

KurdishMedia, UK
March 16 2007

Have Your Say: The international responsibility for genocide of Kurds

3/16/2007 KurdishMedia.com

In the memory of Halaja: we must not forget Halabja!

London (KurdishMedia.com) 16 March 2007: On 16 March 1988, the
Kurdish town of Halabja came under chemical attack, killing most of
its inhabitants and poising the regions for generations to come.

The people of Halabja, in particular, and Kurds, in general, did not
get justices that they were expected and deserved, after ousting the
regime of Saddam Hussein. In a political twist by the current Iraqi
Shiia regime, Saddam and two of his co-workers were hanged for the
crimes committed against dozens of Shiia in the town of Dujail, not
Halabja. This is exactly what Saddam Hussein did, using the Iraqi
political power for the benefit of one single community in Iraq,
Sunni Arabs. Saddam and others were vital witnesses in this genocide
of the 20th century which is similar to Armenian genocide by Othman
Turks and Holocaust by Nazi Germans. All the party and government
officials and loyalists of the former Iraqi regime who had hands in
the genocide of Kurds never came to the justices. Hence the human
history lost an impotent lesson and an opportunity to build a
brighter future upon it for all of us, the inhabitants of this
planet. It is the case that this genocide involves Kurds, but it is
not Kurdish; it belongs to humanity. It shows the failure of today’s
world order and the current leadership of the international
community.

Sadly, genocide of Kurds is and will not be the last on our planet.
One can argue that the oppression of Kurds in Turkey, Iran and Syria
amounts to genocide, perhaps in a different form.

How do you see the international community’s responsibility in
creating an environment in the world which is free from genocide?

What do you think? Have your say!

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

KurdishMedia, UK
March 16 2007

The Genocide of Kurds and the Unethical International Scheme

3/16/2007 KurdishMedia.com – By Aram Azez

During his 35-year tenure, Saddam Hussein and his regime turned
Kurdisan and Iraq into hell. Imposing two unjustifiable wars on
neighboring Iran and Kuwait, Saddam and his regime took the country
through numerous catastrophes, atrocities and murdering of countless
Iraqis. However, world experts believe the gravest and the best
documented crimes of the defunct Iraqi regime were those conducted
during the Anfal genocide against the Kurdish people. The Iraqi
military campaign code name `Anfal’ (spoilers of war) in 1988 was the
gratuitous and obvious systematic genocide by all means but there was
no international recognition. The Iraqi state recorded and kept
detailed documents and videotapes of their crimes, which included
executions, torture sessions, mass killing and forcibly relocating
the Kurdish people, some dating back to1970s.

Right after the collapse of the Kurdish revolution led by then
Kurdistan Democrat Party leader Mustafa Barzani in the mid-1970s, a
systematic wave of Anfal operation was planed: forceful evacuation of
some quarter of a million Kurds from Iraq’s borders with Iran and
Turkey, known as `Terhil’. Then, the regime destroyed all of the
evacuated villages to create barrier sanitary along these `sensitive
frontiers’ where the Kurdish resistances have had always taken arms
against their oppressors. Most of the displaced Kurds from these
areas were transferred into compulsory camps and crude new
settlements located on the main highways, surrounded by army,
monitored and controlled by Iraqi secret agencies. Similar producers,
or even worst were expected in the years ahead.

However, renewed Kurdish arms resistance in late 1970s and the
Iraq-Iran war in early 1980s, interrupted the Ba’ath Party’s Anfal
plans, at least for several years. Yet the defunct Iraqi regime
attempted to resume the Anfal diagram in 1983, when Iraqi troops
surrounded one of the complexes where thousands of the Barzani clan
families were resettled, and within hours kidnapped 8000 males from
the camp aged twelve to seventy! Their fates for the public were
known only as `despaired Barzanis.’

In the mid-1970s and the early1980s the procedures used against the
Kurdish border villagers and Barzanis, were the techniques that would
be used on a grander scale for continuing the Anfal campaign.
Undoubtedly, the absence of international objections encouraged
Saddam to believe that he could get away with an even larger method
without any hostile response. Actually, in this respect the Iraqi
regime seemed to have been accurate in its computation and judgment
of the international functioning, which was a green light for Saddam
to go ahead with the Anfal preparation!

Therefore, the Anfal Genocide’s full scale was a concerted series of
nine military operations which began on February 26, 1988, conducted
in several distinctive Kurdish geographic areas, and by September 6,
1988, reached its climax. By then, the now defunct Iraqi regime had
shattered 4500 of some 5000 Kurdish villages, and evidently used
chemical weapons to attack at least 250 villages and towns, the worst
of which was the gassing of March 16, 1988, on Halabja, town where
more than 5000 civilians died and some 11,000 others injured.

These chemical attacks paved the way for the Iraqi army to replace an
estimated two million of villagers in 1988. Hundreds of thousands of
these civilians were gather at first stage camps, and then driven
away in convoys of sealed military vehicles to southern Iraq. But
eventually more than180, 000 of them were massacred by the Iraqi
secret firing squads, who were waiting for the victims to arrive at
the edge of pre-dug mass graves. The ones that escaped the death
squads were buried alive and any information about the victims’
destinies to their relatives or to the public was denied for years.

However, during the 1991 Kurdish people rose up following the first
Gulf War, and the Kurds captured millions of paper records and
videotapes which were produced by security, secret intelligence,
military, Baath party and other Iraq state official agencies. 18 tons
of these evidences were eventually relocated to the US National
Archives for `safe keeping.’ As a result of the second Gulf War,
further documents and evidences about the Anfal Genocide was
discovered. According to the NIDS, its organization holds
approximately 2.4 million pages of official Iraqi documents most of
which relates to the Anfal atrocities.

In the aftermath of toppling of Saddam’s regime in 2003, Kurdish
authorities sent special teams to search for potential Anfal victims’
mass graves, especially the Barzanis in South Iraq. According to
these teams, the vast majority of the Kurdish victims’ remains were
recovered in three mass grave sites around Iraq’s Rumadi, Hather and
Samawa cities where 1400 of the Barzanis’ remains were relocated, but
due to security concerns the remains could not be returned to
Kurdistan.

The teams’ searches were based on the defunct regime’s documents,
local civilians’ information; and the only five men and a twelve-
year- old boy who escaped and survived the mass killings. These
survivors’ testimony at the Anfal genocide trail was significant
evidence against the defendants.

The former Iraqi regime members did not deny the Anfal Operations in
their public and medium announcements and during the trail of those
were responsible for the genocide. In one of his recorded video
speeches dated September 1983, Saddam gave the clearest hint
regarding the fate of the abducted Barzani men. `Those so-called
Barzanis, betrayed the country and betrayed the covenants, and we
meted out a stern punishment to them and they went to hell,’ he said.
During the Anfal trial, evidences of defendants’ crimes piled against
them. `Chemical Ali’ also repeatedly told the court trying him for
genocide, he had ordered Kurdish villages cleared in the 1988 "Anfal"
campaign which cost tens of thousands of innocent children, women and
men lives. This couldn’t have been achieved without regional and
western bureaucrats’ support.

Even though Saddam got the justice he so deserved, yet if his trial
for genocide against the Kurdish people had continued, it would have
assured to shed light on a deeply unethical period in both
Islamic-world and western policies where the major countries,
including the United States, keep silent during the Anfal crimes for
strategic and economic interests. According to some former Iraqi
regime members, Saddam apparently wished-for making an issue of
western support during his trial, but his premature execution left no
time for such testimony. The former dictator’s trial could also have
revealed further concrete evidence of western involvement in the
Anfal Genocide.

The former staff member of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee,
Peter W. Galbraith’s words also could have been useful evidence
against both former Iraqi defendants and their western advocate’s
involvement in the Anfal genocide. He visited Kurdistan at the time
and in the aftermath of the Anfal genocide against the Kurdish
people. Here is an example of what he has experienced. ..I stumbled
across it beginning in September 1987… I got permission to visit
Kurdistan. When Haywood Rankin from the US embassy in Baghdad and I
crossed from Arab to Kurdish territory, we were amazed that places
shown on our maps no longer existed. Later, we came across deserted
towns with bulldozers parked next to partially destroyed houses and
realized what was happening.

Mr. Galbraith also admits the US government’s significant role in the
defunct Iraqi regime’s crimes during the Anfal campaign: While
serving in the Reagan or Bush administrations, some of the principals
of the current war — including Donald Rumsfeld and Colin Powell —
played down the significance of Iraq’s use of poison gas, including,
in the case of Powell, against the Kurds. And months after the 1988
gas attacks on the Kurds, the current president’s father — with the
apparent support of his defense secretary, Richard Cheney — doubled
US financial assistance to Iraq.

However, despite of all these best documented crimes during the
defunct Baath regime’s military campaigns against the Kurds; the
Anfal has neither internationally nor regionally been recognized as
genocide! Whereas, the International convention (260A) of September
1948 regarding the prevention and punishment of those who commit
genocide, clearly indicates that the Anfal must be accounted as
genocide.

In regards to the similar atrocities, only two nations have been
persecuted more than the Kurds in modern history–the Armenians by
the Kemalist Turks and the Jews by Nazi Germans, but with their
political powers, Jewish genocide is internationally recognized and
the Armenians are struggling for international genocide recognition.
Yet the Kurdish case has been dismissed!

Now, 19 years later, the horrible images of Anfal campaign are still
vivid in the memories of the family members of the victims or
survivors, with no much hope for the their case to be officially
recognized as genocide; especially after Saddam’s premature
execution. Even though Saddam got the justice he so deserved, yet an
international recognition for the Anfal genocide, and an official
apology from the current Iraqi government could have been achieved if
the trial of the deposed dictator had continued! His premature
execution is evidence that there was fear of revealing foreign
involvements in the Anfal crimes, which was a systematic genocide of
the Kurdish people that the Ba’ath party prepared from the mid-1970s
but reach its peak in 1988 when the Iraq regime massacred and gassed
more than 200,000 innocent civilians. This has been a bloodstained
period for the Kurdish people.

Today, Azerbaijan
March 16 2007

Turkey’s National Security Council official: "We do have evidence
against Armenians’ claims"

16 March 2007 [13:02] – Today.Az

"In 1919, the Ottoman government requested Switzerland, Sweden,
Denmark, the Netherlands and Spain-countries that did not take part
in the World War I to investigate the claims on so called Armenian
genocide," Turkey’s National Security Council department chief Gursel
Demirok said.

He told the APA Turkey bureau that the Ottoman’s appeal to neutral
countries has been found from the archives and made public.

"At the same time another document that I found from English archives
proves that England was against the establishment of a commission
composed of these five countries to investigate groundless genocide
claims. Now I ask these states – Why did not you reply the request of
the Ottoman empire? The realities of that period are quite different.
I was born in Gazientep, the French dressed Armenian soldiers their
uniforms and made them attack on Turkish soldiers during the World
War. Our family was also subject to genocide committed by Armenian
soldiers in French uniform. I call for Armenians to give up their
malice. Every nation should posses its own culture and traditions.
Ethnic identity cannot be preserved though malice" Mr.Demirok
underlined.

Gursel Demirok said that the Armenian lobby in the west tries to
oppress Turkey.

"Our archives are open to Armenians. We call them to come and
investigate them. But they refuse to see and hear the truth. We do
have evidence against their claims. A lot of evidences prove who is
murderer. I have found some documents in the archived of the German
empire that appraise the governors of the Ottoman Empire – Enver
Pasha, Telet Pasha, Midhet Pasha. Armenians committed genocide in the
Azerbaijani town of Khojaly, in 1992. They cast aspersions on other
countries to cover up their crimes," he concluded.

URL:

President Kocharyan received WB Regional Director Donna Dausette-Coyrolo

ArmRadio.am
16.03.2007 16:16

President Robert Kocharyan received the World Bank Regional Director
Donna Dausette-Coyrolo and the newly appointed Director of the World
Bank Office in Yerevan Aristomene Varudakis.

The parties appreciated the high level, volume and effectiveness of
bilateral cooperation.

Considering the rapid and quality reforms the guarantee of the future
and success of the country, the President emphasized the importance of
the relations with the World Bank from this very
perspective. According to Robert Kocharyan, the economic success
Armenia registers is greatly conditioned by the productive activity of
the World Bank.

Presenting the newly appointed Director of the WB Yerevan Office,
Donna Dausette-Coyrolo assured he will uphold the path of positive
cooperation and will promote the process of economic
reforms. Aristomene Varudakis confirmed he will apply all efforts for
the accomplishment of more large-scale programs.

The interlocutors exchanged views on the programs the World Bank
implements in Armenia and reforms under way in different spheres. The
President said social issues remain a priority for the country and
suggested to pay greater attention to the programs of the field.

Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
March 16 2007

Armenian forces violate ceasefire in Agdam

[ 16 Mar 2007 11:36 ]

Armenian armed forces violated the ceasefire in the direction of
occupied part of Azerbaijani region of Agdam, Karabakh, again,
Defense Ministry’s press service told the APA.

Armenian Armed Forces fired on the positions of Azerbaijani Army from
the occupied Kengerli village of Agdam region from 03.00 till 03.20
today. The enemy was silenced by response fire. No casualties were
reported.
Azerbaijani province of Nagorno-Karabakh and adjoining regions still
remain occupied by Armenian armed forces./APA/

International Working Group for Search of Missings, Hostages and
Release of Captives in Karabakh Conflict Zone Has to Curtail Part of
Programs Because of Lack of Financing

Arminfo
2007-03-16 12:51:00

The International Working Group for search of the missings, hostages
and release of captives in the Karabakh conflict zone has to curtail
part of programs because of lack of financing, the Armenian
Coordinator of IWG Karine Minasian told ArmInfo.

According to K. Minasian, the IWG carries out several programs to
assist to the former captives and hostages. This is a juridical
assistance to the relatives of the missings, former captives and
hostages. She noted there is an educational program, within the frames
of which the IWG assists in a payment of education to those wishing to
study at computer courses. This program concerns not only the former
captives but their relatives as well. However, presently we have
financing problems that do not allow to carry out the long-term
programs. There are many plans, but we had to curtail the most of the
programs", K. Minasian said.

To remind, the IWG’s financing the previous years was carried out by
the German Foreign Ministry and, then, by the "Caritas" charitable
organization.

PRESS OFFICE
Fund for Armenian Relief (FAR)
630 Second Avenue, New York, NY 10016
Tel: (212) 889-5150; Fax: (212) 889-4849
E-mail: [email protected]
Website:

March 16, 2007
___________________

COMPUTER EXPERT FROM TEXAS HEADS TO ARMENIA TO EMPOWER NEXT GENERATION

Jason Kazarian is a third-generation Armenian-American living in Dallas,
Texas. But he’s empowering the next generation of Armenians halfway around
the world in order for them to build a better future for the motherland.

He’s using his knowledge of cutting-edge technology to teach at the Gyumri
Information Technology Center (a program created by the Fund for Armenian
Relief (FAR) in partnership with Enterprise Incubator Foundation and
Armenian American entrepreneurs Zabel Vassilian and Patrick Sarkissian) to
improve the economic situation of northern Armenia.

CREATING OPPORTUNITY

He didn’t set out to visit Armenia, let alone go there to teach for two
weeks, it was really almost accidental. A parishioner at the St. Sarkis
Armenian Church of Dallas, Kazarian sometimes attends services organized by
the mission parish in Austin.

Last year Dn. Ken Maranian of Austin went on the Young Professionals Trip to
Armenia organized by FAR. He sent out an e-mail to the Armenian community
in Texas describing the programs operated by FAR which give hope,
opportunity, and empowerment to the citizens of Armenia. One of those
programs was the Gyumri Information Technology Center (GITC).

Launched in 2005, the GITC develops employment opportunities in the
earthquake zone by training students and linking U.S. IT companies to Gyumri
graduates. With more than 20 years of professional experience in software
and systems engineering, Kazarian was interested in the GITC when Maranian
described it.

In July 2006, Kazarian dashed off an email to FAR and soon was writing back
and forth to the director and staff of the GITC trying to ascertain the
needs of the center’s students. The staff wanted someone to help teach
Linux and Oracle, and Kazarian had both the skills and desire to teach.

So, without even speaking Armenian, he headed off to give of his time and
skills by leading a 12-day, intensive series of classes in Armenia.

PERSONAL CONNECTION

At first, his decision was greeted with suspicion from his family, who had
never been to Armenia, and friends who hadn’t been there recently.

"When I talked to people in church who went to Armenia maybe five years ago,
they warned me to be prepared for something unsavory. But I found most of
their fears were unwarranted," he said. "The Diaspora forgets Armenia has
been independent for 15 years. Things have greatly improved in that time."

He has taught various classes in the United States, including specialized
in-house training for development and engineering firms such as
Alcatel-Lucent, NASA, and Raytheon. He has also been a guest lecturer at
California State University. In Armenia there were some translation issues,
especially with technical terminology. But the students were eager to
learn.

"The hunger for knowledge was more than I expected," Kazarian said. "The
students in the U.S. are interested, but the students at the GITC wanted to
know in excruciating detail every subtle part of the course. They had
questions about why things were. They wanted to really know. In the U.S.,
I might say there’s an algorithm and people are satisfied. The students in
Gyumri wanted to know how the algorithm worked."

EMPOWERING THE FUTURE

Kazarian said the capabilities and interest of the students in Armenia far
exceeded his expectations. In fact, with his students’ strong desire for
more, his teaching didn’t end after he left Armenia.

Using Skype, an Internet-based teleconferencing program, he began teaching a
new systems development course in February. This course, which will run
through June, is a unique program in the region.

It is a senior seminar in which students team up to build a functioning
software product, in this case a registration database for the GITC. They
will go through all phases of the product lifestyle: identifying customer
requirements, designing and developing their software solution, and testing
the finished product.

The course is designed to teach beyond the classroom environment, placing
students into a real world challenge and push their capabilities beyond
their comfort zone.

The new class is designed to give the students the skills and experiences
they need to work in the highly competitive IT industry, bringing needed
income to the Gyumri region. Already 10 graduates have found jobs, many
with entrepreneurs who have successful IT firms in Yerevan. With the
quality of students found at the GITC, these businessmen are going where the
talent is and opening branch offices in Gyumri.

"The students are willing to do work if we give it to them," Kazarian said.
"And now they can go into interviews and say ‘I’ve actually done this.’"

Each year the GITC, a one-room school with no full-time faculty, has to turn
down applicants who want to empower themselves and build a better future for
their families and community.

Thanks to professionals such as Kazarian, the GITC is able to offer its
students a cutting-edge education. And for Kazarian the experience of
traveling halfway around the world to teach was a profoundly deep one.

"Not that I intend to in the near or not too near future, but I can die
happy now. I’ve actually done something that is essentially a life’s work,"
he said emotionally. "You listen to Americans complain about how terrible
things are. You go to Armenia and see what it is like and what we Americans
take for granted. Then you can’t complain."

"It is gratifying to be able to do something for people who appreciate the
work you’re doing and the effort and time you’re giving," he added.
"They’re so hungry and thirsty for knowledge. And I’m thrilled I’m teaching
something that is cutting-edge and of great benefit to northern Armenia.
And it is something I never thought about doing, but after a click on a web
page and e-mails back and forth look what happened."

He encourages other IT professionals to give back by teaching classes in
Armenia. Interested individuals can contact FAR through its website,
or simply call 212-889-5150.

"We’ve got to start giving back," Kazarian said. "This is a new future for
Armenia."

— 3/16/07

PHOTO CAPTION: Some of the students building a better future for themselves
and their families by studying at FAR’s Gyumri Information Technology
Center, which was established to give the young people of the impoverished,
earthquake damaged region increased job opportunities.

CollectifVAN.org, France
March 16 2007

Taner Akçam : une cible à abattre ?
Publié le : 16-03-2007

Info Collectif VAN – – Le Collectif VAN vous
propose la traduction d’une lettre en anglais envoyée par mail, du
démocrate turc Taner Akçam, Professeur à l’Université du Minnesota –
Centre pour l’Etude de l’Holocauste et du Génocide (Minneapolis/USA).
Le chercheur est dans la ligne de mire des autorités d’Ankara et de
ses relais zélés aux USA : il lance ici un appel.

L’éminent historien turc, spécialiste du génocide arménien, est
victime d’une campagne d’intimidation, orchestrée par le gouvernement
turc et relayée aux USA par les associations turco-américaines et les
diplomates en poste de l’autre côté de l’Atlantique.

Moins d’un mois après l’assassinat du journaliste arménien, Hrant
Dink, abattu à Istanbul le 19 janvier 2007 par un jeune nationaliste
turc, Taner Akçam a été victime le 16 février dernier, d’attaques et
de menaces téléguidées par les autorités turques.

Comme nous l’avions rapporté dans nos Infos Collectif VAN, alors
qu’il se rendait au Canada pour y donner une Conférence sur son
dernier ouvrage consacré au génocide arménien « A Shameful Act »,
Taner Akçam a été arrêté et retenu durant quatre heures à la douane
de l’Aéroport de Montréal.
La cause ? Une biographie falsifiée de l’universitaire se trouve en
ligne sur le site Wikipedia (encyclopédie en ligne modifiable par
tout un chacun) : cette biographie, postée par les nationalistes
turcs, le désigne clairement comme « terroriste ». Parvenue de
manière fort opportune aux mains des douanes canadiennes, cette
biographie a semé le trouble et le doute chez les fonctionnaires
québecquois…

Taner Akçam a pu se sortir de ce guêpier, mais il a de nouveau été
confronté au même problème avant d’embarquer pour son vol retour vers
les Etats-Unis.
Les douanes américaines lui ont aimablement conseillé de prendre un
avocat et de ne plus voyager à l’extérieur du pays en attendant que
cette histoire fcheuse soit réglée. Taner Akçam a donc dû annuler sa
tournée à l’étranger tandis que ses conférences dans les Universités
américaines sont l’objet d’attaques régulières d’ultra-nationalistes
turcs. Le savant turc doit donc désormais animer ses conférences aux
Etats-Unis sous protection policière.

Ce qui est inquiétant, au-delà de l’attitude fascisante d’Ankara qui
se cache (à peine) derrière les pressions que subit Akçam aux
Etats-Unis, c’est le silence de la communauté universitaire.
Curieusement, alors que Taner Akçam est membre de la liste de
diffusion réunissant des centaines de chercheurs concernés par la
thématique du génocide arménien et initiée par la turco-américaine
Fatma Muge Gocek, on ne note aucun mouvement de soutien de la part de
ses collègues.
Pire, lorsqu’une inititiative en ce sens a été lancée sur cette liste
par une universitaire arménienne de Turquie, celle-ci s’est vue
vertement remettre en place par la grande prêtresse du jeu (Fatma
Muge Gocek). Visiblement, chez les « démocrates » turcs, il ne fait
pas bon soutenir les quelques démocrates réellement sincères qui
reconnaissent sans langue de bois, le génocide arménien.
Les intellectuels turcs vont-ils attendre que Taner Akçam devienne à
son tour une cible, pour verser des larmes de crocodile ?

© Collectif VAN

Ci-dessous la Lettre de Taner Akçam accompagnant son texte
"A Shameful Campaign" (voir plus bas).

Mail de Taner Akçam en date du Jeudi 08 Mars, 2007 – 10:28 PM
Traduit avec l’accord de l’auteur. Un appel clair à le soutenir.

=======

Chers Amis,

Vous trouverez ci-joint mon compte rendu de ce qui s’est passé
pendant le mois écoulé. Ce texte sera aussi mis sur le site du Centre
d’études sur l’Holocauste et les Génocides de l’Université du
Minnesota.

J’ajoute un tract qui a été distribué lors de ma conférence à la City
University of New York en novembre dernier. Le contenu est très
proche d’un texte d’"opinion" d’un certain "Mustafa Artun," publié
par l’Assembly of Turkish American Associations (ATAA) en 2001, qui a
ensuite été diffusé auprès des 19 000 membres du Turkish Forum et qui
se trouve désormais sur le site (ultra-négationniste NdT) Tall
Armenian Tale qui sert de source à des diffusions plus larges encore.
Voyez, par exemple, comment ma biographie est en permanence
vandalisée sur Wikipedia et à la rubrique "opinions des lecteurs" de
mes livres sur Amazon.com.

Avec une égale persistance et malveillance, des membres du Turkish
Forum et divers individus envoient des messages diffamatoires me
concernant à des personnalités ou à des organisateurs de conférences
etc. au sein des universités où il est prévu que j’intervienne.

Quel que soit l’expéditeur, il y a assez de ressemblance dans la
langue et le style pour indiquer qu’il s’agit d’une campagne
organisée. Par exemple le nom de Ergun Kirlikovali est appparu dans
le cadre de ces actions et le contenu de son message est, là encore,
très proche des envois ci-dessus et du tract de New York.
Par contraste avec ce que j’ai vécu à CUNY, l’absence notable
d’interruption quand j’ai participé à une conférence à la Yeshiva
University’s Cardozo Law School last December en dit vraiment long.

A mon avis cela montre encore mieux la coordination entre les
diplomates turcs, l’ATAA et le Turkish Forum. Bien que je ne sois pas
en mesure de prouver une chaîne de commandement directe, je suis tout
à fait convaincu que certains diplomates turcs ont pour mission
officielle de coordonner les activités des militants de base aux USA.

En outre, les relations étroites entre les diplomates turcs et l’ATAA
ne sont un secret pour personne. Certains d’entre eux ont été membres
de commissions de l’ATAA par exemple.

Bref, il est clair pour moi que nous n’avons pas affaire ici à une
foule de brutes fascistes en provenance de Turquie, mais à une
campagne menée dans le cadre d’une guerre psychologique dirigée par
les autorités turques. Pendant ce temps, je continue mes tournées de
signatures et de conférences sous haute sécurité. Bien que cela soit
stressant et très triste de faire des conférences sous protection
policière, je n’ai aucune intention d’annuler le moindre de ces
événements. Qu’un universitaire se laisse convaincre, par des
pressions, de ne pas s’exprimer dans une université serait
scandaleux. C’est exactement ce que les autorités veulent obtenir :
nous réduire au silence.

A cause de cette campagne, qui est, je crois, organisée par l’ATAA et
le Turkish Forum et contrôlée par des diplomates turcs, la liberté
d’expression, au moins pour certains d’entre nous, est devenue un
motif de lutte, non seulement en Turquie, mais également aux USA.

Je nous invite tous instamment à prendre la situation très au
sérieux. Tant que nous garderons le silence ils pourront continuer à
insulter et attaquer des universitaires partout dans le monde. Ce qui
m’arrive aujourd’hui peut arriver à n’importe lequel d’entre nous
dans l’avenir si les autorités ont l’impression d’avoir gain de
cause.

Nous tous qui vivons aux USA devrions faire savoir clairement à nos
représentants élus démocratiquement que ce pays n’est pas la
République de Turquie.

Les autorités turques, que ce soit directement ou par l’intermédiaire
de leurs agents dans la population, n’ont aucun droit de harceler des
savants qui exercent leur liberté d’expression au sein d’universités
américaines. En tant qu’ancien prisonnier d’opinion j’ai appris d’une
manière qui ne peut s’oublier le prix de cette liberté, et j’entends
en faire usage en toute occasion.

Taner Akçam.

© Traduction Collectif VAN (2007)

A Shameful Campaign

by Taner Akçam

For many who challenge their government’s official version of events,
slander, emailed threats, and other forms of harassment are all too
familiar. As a former Amnesty International prisoner of conscience in
Turkey, I should not have been surprised. But my recent detention at
the Montreal airport – apparently on the basis of anonymous insertions
in my Wikipedia biography – signals a disturbing new phase in a Turkish
campaign of intimidation that has intensified since the November 2006
publication of my book, A Shameful Act: The Armenian Genocide and the
Question of Turkish Responsibility.
At the invitation of the McGill University Faculty of Law and
Concordia University, I flew from Minneapolis to Montreal on Friday,
February 16, to lecture on A Shameful Act. As the Northwest Airlines
jet touched down at Trudeau International Airport about 11:00 a.m., I
assumed I had plenty of time to get to campus for the 5:00 p.m.
event. Nearly four hours later, I was still at the airport, detained
without any explanation.
`Where are you going? Where are you staying? How many days are you
staying here?’ asked the courteous officer from Citizenship and
Immigration Canada. `Do you have a return ticket? Do you have enough
money with you?’
As the border control authorities were surely aware, I travel
frequently to Canada: three or four trips a year since 2000, most
recently with my daughter in October 2006, just before the
publication of A Shameful Act. Not once in all that time had I been
singled out for interrogation.
`I’m not sure myself why you need to be detained,’ the officer
finally admitted. `After making some phone calls, I’ll let you know.’

While he was gone, my cell phone rang. The friend who had arranged to
pick me up at the airport had gotten worried when I failed to emerge
from Customs. I explained the situation as well as I could, asking
him to inform my hosts, the Centre for Human Rights and Legal
Pluralism at McGill and the Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human
Rights Studies at Concordia, that I might be late for the lecture.
The Zoryan Institute and the Armenian Students’ Associations of
Montreal, co-presenters of the event, would also need to be updated.
The immigration officer returned with a strange request: could I help
him figure out why I was being detained? You’re the one detaining me,
I was tempted to say. If you don’t know the reason, how do you expect
me to know? You tell me. However, I knew better than to challenge
him, giving the impression that I had something to hide.
`Let me guess,’ I answered. `Do you know who Hrant Dink was? Did you
hear about the Armenian journalist who was killed in Istanbul?’ He
hadn’t.
`I’m a historian,’ I explained. `I work on the subject of the
Armenian Genocide of 1915. There’s a very heavy campaign being waged
by extreme nationalist and fascist forces in Turkey against those
individuals who are critical of the events that occurred in 1915.
Hrant Dink was killed because of it. The lives of people like me are
in danger because of it. Orhan Pamuk, Turkey’s Nobel Laureate,
couldn’t tolerate the attacks against him and had to leave the
country. Many intellectuals in Turkey are now living under police
protection.’ The officer took notes.
`In connection with these attacks there has been a serious campaign
against me in the US,’ I went on. `I know that the groups running
this campaign are given directives and are controlled by the Turkish
diplomats. They spread propaganda stating that I am a member of a
terrorist organization. Some rumors to that effect must have reached
you.’ The officer continued to write.
`For your information, in 1976, while I was a master’s degree student
and teaching assistant at Middle East Technical University, I was
arrested for articles I had written in a journal and sentenced to 8
years and 9 months in prison. I later escaped to Germany, where I
became a citizen. The Turkish criminal statute that was the basis for
my prosecution, together with similar laws, was repealed in 1991. I
travel to Turkey freely now and went there most recently for Hrant
Dink’s funeral.’
The officer finished his notes. `I’m sorry, but I have to make some
more phone calls,’ he said, and left.
My cell phone rang again. It was McGill legal scholar Payam Akhavan,
an authority on human rights and genocide, who was to have introduced
my lecture. Apologizing for my situation, Prof. Akhavan let me know
that he’d contacted the offices of Canadian Minister of Public Safety
Stockwell Day and Secretary of State for Multiculturalism and
Canadian Identity Jason Kenney. Bishop Bagrat Galstanian, Primate of
the Diocese of the Armenian Church of Canada, also called to confirm
that he too had been in touch with Secretary Kenney’s office. I was
going to be released.
About 3:30 p.m. the officer returned with a special one-week visa.
Upon my insistence that I had a right to know exactly why I had been
detained, he showed me a sheet of paper with my photograph on top and
a short block of text, in English, below.
I recognized the page at once. The photo was a still from the 2005
documentary Armenian Genocide: 90 Years Later, a co-production of the
University of Minnesota Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies and
Twin Cities Public Television. A series of outtakes from the film,
originally posted on the CHGS Web site, could be found on the popular
Internet video site, YouTube, and elsewhere in cyberspace. The still
photo and the text beneath it comprised my biography in the
English-language edition of Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia which
anyone in the world can modify at any time. For the last year – most
recently on Christmas Eve, 2006 – my Wikipedia biography had been
persistently vandalized by anonymous `contributors’ intent on
labeling me as a terrorist. The same allegations had been repeatedly
scrawled, like gangland graffiti, as `customer reviews’ of A Shameful
Act and my other books at Amazon.com.
It was unlikely, to say the least, that a Canadian immigration
officer found out that I was coming to Montreal, took the sole
initiative to research my identity on the Internet, discovered the
archived Christmas Eve version of my Wikipedia biography, printed it
out seven weeks later on February 16, and showed it to me as a
result.
The fact was that my upcoming lecture had been publicized well in
advance in the Canadian print and broadcast media. An announcement
had even been inserted in Wikipedia five days before my arrival.
Moreover, two Turkish-American Web sites hostile to my work – the
500-page Tall Armenian Tale and the 19,000-member Turkish Forum
listserv – had been hinting for months that my `terrorist’ activities
ought to be of interest to American immigration authorities. It
seemed far more likely that one or more individuals had seized the
opportunity to denounce me to the Canadians. Although I was forced to
cancel two radio interviews, I made it to the McGill campus in time
to lecture on A Shameful Act.
On Sunday, February 18, before boarding my return flight to
Minneapolis, I was detained for another hour. It was obvious that the
American customs and border authorities knew what had happened at the
adjacent offices on the Canadian side. `Mr. Akçam,’ I was gently
advised, `if you don’t retain an attorney and correct this issue,
every entry and exit from the country is going to be problematic. We
recommend that you do not travel in the meantime and that you try to
get this information removed from your customs dossier.’
The well meaning American customs official could hardly have known
the extent of the problem. Wikipedia and Amazon are but two examples.
Allegations against me, posted mainly by the Assembly of American
Turkish Associations (ATAA), Turkish Forum, and Tall Armenian Tale,
have been copy-pasted and recycled throughout innumerable Web sites
and e-groups ever since I arrived in America. By now, for example, my
name in close proximity to the English word `terrorist’ turns up in
well over ten thousand Web pages.
The first salvo in this campaign came in response to the English
translation of my essay, `The Genocide of the Armenians and the
Silence of the Turks.’ In a sensational March 19, 2001, commentary
from the ATAA Turkish Times (`From Terrorism to Armenian
Propagandist: The Taner Akçam Story’), I was introduced to
Turkish-Americans as a mastermind of terrorist violence, including
the assassinations of American and NATO military personnel. Posted at
the ATAA Web site in April 2001 and circulated via Turkish Forum in
December 2001 and June 2003 – my protests notwithstanding – `The Taner
Akçam Story’ ended up by March 2004 at Tall Armenian Tale next to a
photo of a PKK member, which was captioned as `a younger Taner Akçam,
from PKK.org.’ Three years later, the photo has been updated, but
Artun’s commentary remains, a frequently cited resource for
copy-pasters.
As further evidence of my `terrorist’ past, Tall Armenian Tale posted
a detailed chronology related to incidents of arrest, on dates that
even I can’t remember, for leafletting and postering in my student
movement days. Whoever provided this information failed to note,
however, that people were frequently arrested for such activities
even after official permission had been obtained. An entire 9-page
section of Tall Armenian Tale is now dedicated to vilifying me and my
work, and well over 200 pages of that site mention my name.
Next came an announcement from Turkish Forum: `For the attention of
friends in Minnesota….Taner Akçam has started working in America…It
is expected that the conferences about so called Genocide will
increase in and around Minnesota. Please follow the Armenian (Taner
Akçam’s) activities very closely.’ My contact information at home and
at work was conveniently provided `in case people would like to send
their `greetings’ to this traitor.’ Soon enough, harassing emails
were sent anonymously to my employer, the University of Minnesota,
and to me personally. A profile of the Center for Holocaust and
Genocide Studies and its director, my colleague Stephen Feinstein,
was added to Tall Armenian Tale.
With the publication of A Shameful Act, the circle began to close in.

On Nov. 1, 2006, the City University of New York Center for the
Humanities organized a gathering at the CUNY Graduate Center to
introduce my book. Before I rose to speak, unauthorized leaflets
bearing an assault rifle, skull, and the communist hammer and sickle
were distributed in the hall. In rhetoric obviously inspired by
Mustafa Artun’s commentary, I was labeled as a `former terrorist
leader’ and a fanatic enemy of America who had organized `attacks
against the United States’ and was `responsible for the death of
American citizens.’
As soon as I finished my lecture, a pack of some 15 to 20
individuals, who had strategically positioned themselves in small
groups throughout the hall, tried to break up the meeting.
Brandishing pictures of corpses (probably Muslims killed by
revenge-seeking Armenians in 1919), they loudly demanded to know why
I had not lectured on the deaths of `a million Muslims.’
Shouting and swearing in Turkish and English, they completely
disrupted the discussion in the lecture hall and the book-signing
session nearby. I was verbally assaulted as a `terrorist-communist’
and lashed with the vilest Turkish profanities. Two individuals
dogged my footsteps from the podium to the elevator doors, howling,
`We are the soldiers of Alparslan Türke?!’ (A Turkish politician who
was arrested in 1944 for spreading Nazi propaganda, Türke? later
founded the Nationalist Movement Party.) The security guards
surrounding me had to intervene when I was physically attacked.
A month later, on December 4, I was scheduled to speak at another New
York event, a symposium at Yeshiva University’s Cardozo School of Law
on `Denying Genocide: Law, Identity and Historical Memory in the Face
of Mass Atrocity.’ As if to illustrate this very theme, a 4,400-word
letter signed by Turkish Forum’s Ibrahim Kurtulus `on behalf of Dr.
Ata Erim the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Federation of
Turkish American Association, FTAA and Dr. Kaya Buyukataman the
President of Turkish Forum’ was sent to the law school dean and
faculty three weeks in advance, urging the cancellation of the
symposium and labeling me as `a propagandistic tool of the
Armenians.’
Two days later, on November 19, Turkish Forum published an 800-word
letter to the dean from Turkish-American activist Ergun Kirlikovali,
with the title, `Turkish Forum’s Letter to the University’.
Kirlikovali characterized me in this official Turkish Forum’s letter
as `a convicted terrorist in Turkey… one of the leaders of an armed
and clandestine group advocating a Marxist-Leninist takeover of
Turkish Republic caught red-handed in a bombing plot in late 1970s…
part of a group which bombed the limousine of the American ambassador
Comer in Ankara in 1969… He is in America probably illegally.’
Gusan Yedic of Turkish Forum posted further `terrorist’ allegations
about me on November 24, with this sarcastic admonition: `The friends
who are going to attend the concert of Taner Akcam and his orchestra
at Yeshiva University are earnestly requested to behave in a
gentlemanly manner. Attendees are obliged to follow black-tie party
rules.’ On November 30, Turkish Forum mobilized an email campaign
against the `Taner Akcam conference.’ Members were also urged to
attend the symposium and a `pre-meeting for Turks,’ coordinated by
Ibrahim Kurtulus.
I forwarded this information to the event organizers with a request
that appropriate precautions be taken. I let them know that if they
were going to allow intruders from Turkish Forum to leaflet my
presentation and disrupt the symposium, I wasn’t going to
participate. Yeshiva was concerned. An organizer who had attended the
CUNY gathering on Nov. 1 assured me that security would be increased.

As a pre-emptive step, the event committee informed the Turkish
Consulate that the law school symposium was intended to be general in
scope, comparative and scholarly in approach, and not focused on
either Taner Akçam or Turkey. They made it clear that any disruption
similar to the CUNY incident would not put Turkey in a favorable
light. A Turkish consular official disavowed any government
involvement in the disruption at CUNY, which he attributed to `the
actions of civilians’ in grassroots organizations. There was nothing
the Consulate could do about them, he said. The organizers stressed
that they intended to take extra security precautions and that the
Consulate ought to think hard about what would happen if the
symposium was invaded and its participants attacked.
Just one day before the symposium there was another phone
conversation between the Turkish consular official and the
organizers. He assured them that no disruption would take place and
only two or three Turkish representatives would attend.
The government kept its word. The symposium was peaceful and no
leaflets were distributed. The Turkish consular official attended
with ATAA President-elect Gunay Evinch, both of whom were
scrupulously polite. It was as though three intense weeks of
mobilization had never happened.
For many Turkish intellectuals, freedom of speech has become a
struggle in North America as well as in our native country. What is
happening to me now could happen to any scholar who dissents from the
official state version of history.
Since my return from Montreal, the Canadian immigration authorities
have refused to say exactly why I was detained. As a result, I am
unable to face my accusers or examine whatever `evidence’ may be
filed against me. Although I have formally requested access both to
my Canadian and American dossiers – a process that could take months – I
have had to cancel all international appearances. Meanwhile, my
Wikipedia biography and Amazon book pages remain open to malicious
insertions at any time.
Nevertheless, my American book tour continues under tightened
security. Although it is stressful and very sad to have to lecture
under police protection, I have no intention of cancelling any of my
domestic appearances. After all, the United States is not the
Republic of Turkey. The Turkish authorities whether directly or
through their grassroots agents have no right to harass scholars
exercising their academic freedom of speech at American universities.
Throughout my life I have learned in unforgettable ways the worth of
such freedom, and I intend to use it at every opportunity

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