Month: April 2007

PRESS RELEASE – 24 April 2007
Armenia Solidarity
British Armenian All Party Parliamentary Group
Nor Serount Publications
Tel 07876561398 or 07718982732

e-mails : [email protected], [email protected]
[email protected] [email protected]

Press Release
A major presentation of evidence for the Armenian Genocide to be held in the
Grand Committee Room, The House of Commons, on the 24th April (Armenian
Genocide Day) at 4.00 p.m. The experts include Greg Topalian, Christopher
Walker, Desmond Fernandes, Linda Melvern, Dr Margaret Brearley, Professor
Theo van Lint and Farhad Malekian, director of the Institute of
International Criminal Law, Uppsala, Sweden

The UK government has declined an invitation to attend this presentation.
Their position that there is insufficient evidence for the Armenian Genocide
is opposed by the overwhelming majority of independent genocide scholars and
historians in the UK and across the world. Their reluctance to listen to
this presentation while repeating the Turkish official line without
qualification is a concern and an untenable position. The UK government will
not rise to the challenge of persuading the Turkish authorities to prepare
for EU entry by adopting European values including facing up to their
history.

102 MPs have signed Early Day Motion 357 recognising the Armenian Genocide.
Of the other international EDMs only those on Darfur, Burma and Zimbabwe
have received more signatures.

We understand that the government whips are actively discouraging
parliamentarians to attend our events that include a prayer meeting at St
Mary’s under Croft Chapel in the House of Lords.

MPs will be wearing the white poppy in parliament next week as a visible
sign of their recognition of the Armenian Genocide.

Program of Events

Armenia Solidarity

British-Armenian All-Party Parliamentary Group

Nor Serount Publications

You are warmly invited to the following events on

Armenian Genocide Day, the 24th April.

Commemoration of the Armenian Genocide

1 Leafleting at the gates of parliament (9.00 a.m. till noon)

2.. Remembrance at St Mary’s-under-Croft Church, the House of Lords
at 11.00 am (until 11.20 am )

3.. Wreath-laying at the Monument to the Innocents outside
Westminster Abbey (with Darfuri representatives) – (12.00 till 12.15 pm)

4.. Major Presentation of evidence for the Armenian Genocide in
the Grand Committee Room, The House of Commons
at 4.00 pm, till 5.30 pm

Chaired by Lord Avebury & sponsored by John Bercow M.P.

Followed by: Appeal to all MPs to support Early Day Motion 357 on the
Genocide and the Formation of a Future Delegation to meet the Rt. Hon Geoff
Hoon

5.. At 5.45 pm: Proceed together from the House of Commons to a
Laying of a wreath at the Cenotaph,
at 6.00 pm

Please reply to Eilian Williams, by email [email protected] or
by telephone 07876 561 398, to the British-Armenian All-Party Parliamentary
Group ([email protected]) and the Nor Serount Publications
([email protected]) if you are willing to help and to put your name
down for the Remembrance at St Mary’s-under-Croft Church (event number 2
above), the House of Lords at 11.00 am

Additional Notes for Editors

Greg Topalian

Gregory Topalian is a historian focusing on comparative memories of the
Armenian genocide, the Holocaust and other genocides. His current work looks
at different levels of denial, from the blatant approach of the Turkish
State, to the role academia and the media play in the denial process.
Topalian has acted as an academic advisor to a number of organizations,
contributed to a number of radio and television documentaries on the
Armenian genocide and currently directs the Gomidas Institute’s educational
programmes aimed at young people in the United Kingdom.

Christopher Walker

Christopher Walker is a recognised expert with an extensive bibliography on
the Armenians and their history from co-authoring the Minority Rights Group
publication, The Armenians, through Armenia, Survival of a Nation to editing
Vision of Ararat, Writings on Armenia

Desmond Fernandes

Desmond Fernandes is the author of ‘The Kurdish Genocide in Turkey’
(to be published in 2007 by Apec Press, Stockholm) who has written a number
of articles on genocide, Turkish state terror, tourism and the ‘Kurdish
Question’. He was a Senior Lecturer in Human Geography at De Montfort
University in Bedford from 1994 to 2006, specialising in Genocide Studies,
Sustainable Development, Globalisation and Imperialism. He is currently a
member of the Consortium for Research on Terrorology and Political Violence
(CRTPV). CRTPV is a consortium of academics operating under the auspices of
NASPIR (The Network of Activist Scholars of Politics and International
Relations) and the Public Interest Research Network (PIRN) on issues
relating to the ‘War on Terror’.

Linda Melvern

Linda Melvern is the second Vice President of the International
Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS), the pre-eminent group of
independent scholars specialising in the area of research. IAGS has been in
the forefront of combating the denial of the Armenian Genocide including
writing an open letter to the Turkish Prime Minister. She is an Honorary
Professor in the Department of International Politics, University of Wales,
Aberystwyth, and her most recent published work is the Conspiracy to Murder.
The Rwandan Genocide.

Margaret Brearley

Margaret Brearley has been a Lecturer in Mediaeval and Renaissance
German Literature at Birmingham University and Honorary Holocaust Adviser to
the Archbishops’ Council, and held academic posts at Selly Oak Colleges and
the Institute of Jewish Affairs, London. She is currently on the National
Executive of WIZO. She has published The Forgotten Genocide that uncovers
the links between the Armenian Genocide, anti-Semitism and the Holocaust.

Professor Theo Van Lint of Oxford University

Theo van Lint is the Calouste Gulbenkian Professor of Armenian Studies
at Oxford University. He has extensive interests over many years in
Armenian culture, language and history, and chairs the London based Armenian
Institute.

Farhad Malekian, Director of The Institute of International Criminal Law,
Uppsala ,Sweden

Farhad Malekian is the founder and the director of the Institute of
International Criminal Law in Uppsala, Sweden. Malekian has contributed a
scholarly acknowledged chapter governing International Criminal
Responsibility of Individuals and States to the well-known book on
International Criminal Law (M. Cherif Bassiouni, 1999). He introduced for
the first time the Principle of International Tribunality of Jurisdiction in
international criminal law at the Cornell Law School, Cornell University in
2005, embodied in his article on `Emasculating the Philosophy of
International Criminal Justice in the Iraqi Special Tribunal’ He lectures
international criminal law and public international law and is also the
editor of the Contemporary Journal of International Criminal Law to be
published by the Institute of International Criminal Law in 2005. His work
on Crucifying the Philosophy of International Criminal Justice is also
forthcoming. His lecture is part of a panel considering War Crimes, Crimes
Against Humanity, and Resolution.

Written Evidence

Dr Mark Levene of Southampton University
Prof Martin Shaw of Sussex University
Prof Donald Bloxham of Edinburgh University

Statement from the International Association of Genocide Scholars
Compilation of Evidence in the book "Remember" by John Torosyan,
Cardiff, as presented to the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust

List of Armenian Genocide references

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WESTERN DIOCESE E-NEWSLETTER
===========================
Diocesan News
—————–

PRIMATE OFFERS OPENING PRAYER IN THE CALIFORNIA STATE ASSEMBLY
Thanks State Leadership for their consistent support; Genocide
Resolution adopted by State Assembly

On Monday April 9th, 2007 His Eminence Archbishop Hovnan Derderian,
Primate of the Western Diocese, offered the opening prayer for the
California State Assembly. The Primate was in Sacramento as part of a
delegation that traveled to the state capitol to support the passage
of Assembly Joint Resolution 15 (AJR 15), which declares April 24th,
2007 an Official Day of Remembrance in California.
( story.php?id=407)

PRIMATE OFFERS OPENING PRAYER IN THE CALIFORNIA STATE ASSEMBLY
Thanks State Leadership for their consistent support; Genocide
Resolution adopted by State Assembly

On Monday April 9th, 2007 His Eminence Archbishop Hovnan Derderian,
Primate of the Western Diocese, offered the opening prayer for the
California State Assembly. The Primate was in Sacramento as part of a
delegation that traveled to the state capitol to support the passage
of Assembly Joint Resolution 15 (AJR 15), which declares April 24th,
2007 an Official Day of Remembrance in California.
( story.php?id=407)

PRIMATE’S OFFICIAL VISIT TO HOLY ETCHMIADZIN
12 Priests Ordained by Abp. Hovnan Derderian

It is with spiritual joy that we convey to our Pastors, Parish
Councils, Diocesan Delegates, and faithful that upon the invitation of
His Holiness Karekin II, Catholicos of All Armenians, our Primate
visited the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin and ordained 12 deacons to
the Priesthood on Sunday April 15th.
( php?id=416)

PRIMATE MEETS WITH YOUTH REPRESENTATIVES FROM THE DIOCESES OF ARMENIA,
ARTSAKH, AND GEORGIA

On April 16th His Eminence Abp. Hovnan Derderian, Primate of the
Western Diocese, presided of a meeting of youth representatives
regarding the ongoing mission to establish an International Armenian
Church Youth Organization.
( s/story.php?id=417)

PRIMATE OF THE WESTERN DIOCESE VISITS TWIN TOWERS CORRECTIONAL FACILITY
Celebrates Divine Liturgy

On April 19th, upon the invitation of Sheriff Leroy D. Baca, His
Eminence Archbishop Hovnan Derderian, Primate of the Western Diocese,
made a pastoral visitation to the Twin Towers Correctional
Facility. Accompanying the Primate were Fr. Vazken Movsessian, Pastor
of St. Peter Armenian Church Youth Center in Glendale, Mashdots
Chobanian, and Dn. Mkrtich Ksachikyan.
( story.php?id=409)

ARMENIAN GENOCIDE COMMEMORATED BY THE LOS ANGELES CITY COUNCIL

April 20th was a memorable day for the Armenian American community of
the Greater Los Angeles Area. Through the initiative of Los Angeles
Council President, Honorable Eric Garcetti, a great friend of the
Western Diocese, the Armenian Genocide was commemorated by the Los
Angeles City Council.
( ry.php?id=415)

DIOCESE MOURNS THE LOSS OF MR. JAMES ALJIAN

It is with deep sorrow that the Western Diocese informs the faithful
of the passing of Mr. James Aljian.
( y.php?id=413)

DIOCESE MOURNS THE PASSING OF MR. JOHN STEVENS

It is in mourning that the Western Diocese informs the faithful of the
passing of Mr. John Stevens, a well know benefactors of Holy
Etchmiadzin, the Western Diocese, and St. Paul Armenian Church of
Fresno.
( tory.php?id=414)

PRIMATE’S APRIL 24TH SCHEDULE

The Primate is scheduled to participate in events related to the 92nd
Anniversary of the Armenian- Genocide throughout the Los Angeles
area. Please find the schedule below. For more information regarding
these events please visit or contact the
Western Diocese at 818-558-7474.
( s/story.php?id=410)

Upcoming Events
—————–

4/25: Ecumenical Commemoration of the Armenian Genocide
( /detail.php?id=56)
4/27: Armenian Shabbat
( detail.php?id=53)
5/2: 80th Annual Diocesan Assembly
( /detail.php?id=52)
5/11: YerazArt in Concert at the Western Diocese
( detail.php?id=58)

============================
Th e Western Diocese of the Armenian Church of North America, providing
spiritual guidance and leadership to the Armenian Apostolic community,
is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit, tax-exempt organization comprised of 47
churches in 16 western states. It was established in 1898 as the
Diocese of the Armenian Church encompassing the entire United States
and Canada. In 1927 the Western Diocese was formed to exclusivly serve
the western United States.

3325 North Glenoaks Blvd. Burbank, CA 91504
Tel: (818) 558-7474 Fax: (818) 558-6333
E-mail: [email protected]
Website:

Thursday, April 26, 2007
*******************************************
ON IDEALS AND THEIR ABUSERS
*********************************************************
To some misguided patriots, nationalism may appear as a noble, even a necessary, ideology; but like all ideologies (from Christianity to Marxism) it has had and will continue to have its share of abusers and perverts. Talaat was a nationalist, Stalin a Marxist, and Torquemada a Christian. Does that mean we should suspect all ideals and principles? Of course not! What we should suspect is power, doubletalk, and propaganda. That’s where critics come in, and that’s why brainwashed dupes are their greatest adversaries.
*
All power is suspect; but even more suspect is the apathy of the average, well-intentioned, law-abiding citizen who thinks he is in good hands, and that those in power will leave him alone as long as he doesn’t dirty his hands by getting involved in politics. The root of all major tragedies may be traced to this mindset.
*
The reason why I target Armenians rather than Turks for criticism is that there are better men than myself engaged in criticizing their fellow Turks. Another reason, attacking Turks has become a lucrative sport with our Turcocentric pundits and academics, whose aim is not so much to expose Turkish criminal conduct but to cover up our own.
#
Friday, April 27, 2007
*****************************************
PAST AS PROLOGUE
*******************************
A few years ago Church Unity was the hot topic in our press. There was an endless stream of commentaries, polemics, and letters to the editor. Everybody was for it, it seems. Both proponents of unity and the two sides in the controversy agreed that unity was an important goal and the sooner it was reached the better for all concerned. In the end nothing was done because both sides kept stonewalling. As a result, the controversy died down not to rise again. I suspect something similar will happen to the Genocide issue. It’s our style – the Ottoman way.
*
OLD TIME RELIGION
**********************************
In a democratic environment there are investigative reporters and the loyal opposition whose combined job is to contradict, criticize, and expose corruption within the executive branch. Where are our investigative reporters? Where is our loyal opposition? Throughout our millennial existence, did we ever have them? When some of my gentle readers identify me as an enemy of the people who takes his marching orders from Ankara, what they really mean is, we have no use for democracy and free speech. The Ottoman way is good enough for us.
#
Saturday, April 28, 2007
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BEN BAGDIKIAN ON U.S. MEDIA
****************************************************
“Trying to be a first-rate reporter on the average American newspaper is like trying to play Bach’s SAINT MATTHEW PASSION on a ukulele.”
*
“The central function of journalism is to permit a more valid view of reality.”
*
“Arguers against change like to say, ‘You can’t legislate morals,’ but it is hard to convince me that authority figures can’t evoke more humane attitudes, just as they obviously do the opposite.”
*
“Our major media probably offer the narrowest range of ideas available in any developed democracy.”
*
One point in favor of the American press: it has produced a major investigative reporter like Ben Bagdikian. Now then, name if you can a single Armenian journalist – and I don’t mean ghazetaji. I could name several who were rudely silenced by mediocrities whose “greatest enemy is free speech” (Zarian).
#

ROMANIAN EX-PRESIDENT IN FAVOUR OF RESOLUTION OF NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT FOR BOTH SIDES

Trend News Agency, Azerbaijan
April 27 2007

Azerbaijan, Baku / corr Trend S.Agayeva / Ion Iliesku, the Romanian
Ex-President stated, in Baku on 27 "it is difficult for me to comment
on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. It is a very complicated conflict,
but fortunately there are positive milestones".

The issue was discussed during the meeting with Azerbaijani President
Ilham Aliyev. "I want the conflict to be resolved with the assistance
of the world community and the resolution to be acceptable for all
conflicting sides," Iliesku stressed. The Romanian ex-President
also supported the discussion of the ‘lingering conflicts’ at the
UN session.

Iliesku arrived in Baku to participate in the conference ‘Role of
Media in Tolerance and Mutual Understanding’.

WASHINGTON’S POLICY ON NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT REMAINS UNCHANGED – US OFFICIAL

Trend News Agency, Azerbaijan
April 27 2007

Azerbaijan, Baku / corr Trend E.Huseynov, A.Gasimova / Tom Casey,
Deputy Spokesman for the US Department of States has recently stated
at a White House briefing that the US policy on Nagorno-Karabakh has
not changed.

"Certainly nothing in the Human Rights Report should be interpreted as
differing from that longstanding policy. In the Human Rights Report,
as well as in all of our documents, we try and be as accurate and as
factual as we can. Certainly, we are fallible. But again, with respect
to this issue, the policies remain the same and I think that’s the
main point," he stated.

On 6 March the US Department of State issued its Human Rights
Practices Report, which indicated the occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh
and 7 districts attached to it by Armenia. However, on 20 April the
formulation indicating the fact of occupation of Armenia was changed.

The Azerbaijani officials insisted on the necessity to inject changes
to their incorrect statement and to cement this Baku delayed its
visit to Washington to discuss security issues.

On 25 April the US Department of State restored the initial version
of the report.

AZERBAIJAN NOT TO ATTEND JOINT TENDENCY-2007 MANEUVERS HELD IN ARMENIA

Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
April 27 2007

The solemn opening ceremony of the US European Command’s "Joint
Tendency-2007" maneuvers started in Armenian Defense Ministry’s
Military Aviation Institute. Azerbaijani military men do not attend
these maneuvers.

Armenian Defense Ministry press secretary Seyran Shahsuvaryan told
that through Azerbaijani side agreed to participate in these maneuvers
that are being carried out in the framework of "Partnership for Peace"
program, it refused later on.

Azerbaijani Defense Ministry spokesman Ilgar Verdiyev said that the
ministry is unformed about any events organized in partner states in
accordance with NATO’s procedure.

"But, we were not informed beforehand in what country the maneuvers
will take place. It is up to the partner states to decide whether to
attend the events. We refused to participate in the maneuvers that
will take pace in Armenia. We do not need to knock at the enemy’s
door," the spokesman said.

AZERBAIJANI REPUBLIC DAY TO BE MARKED IN ISRAEL

Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
April 27 2007

Israeli-Azerbaijan International Association (IAIA) is planning to hold
solemn event on May 28 – Republic day of Azerbaijan, the vice-president
of organization Alex Shapiro told the APA Israeli bureau.

He stated that holiday event will be held in Israeli Knesset dedicated
to the 89th anniversary the first democratic Islamic republic in the
East on May 24. Israeli-Azerbaijan International Association promised
to do all organizational works as there is not Azerbaijani Embassy
in Israel. Israeli President, Prime Minister, parliamentarians and
foreign diplomats are expected to attend the event.

Shapiro commenting on Armenians’ marking the anniversary of so-called
genocide in Israel, said he expresses his solidarity with the official
position of the country regarding this issue. He said that Jews were
subject to genocide by fascists in the 20th century and Holocaust
can not be compared with any genocide in the history of mankind.

"It is unacceptable to identify Armenians and Jews in genocide issue,"
he stressed.

MAINSTREAM CALIPHATE CONFESSIONS
By Andrew G. Bostom

FrontPage magazine.com, CA
April 27 2007

Writing in 1916, C. Snouck Hurgronje, the great Dutch Orientalist,
underscored how the jihad doctrine of world conquest, and the
re-creation of a supranational Islamic Caliphate remained a potent
force among the Muslim masses:

…it would be a gross mistake to imagine that the idea of universal
conquest may be considered as obliterated…the canonists and the
vulgar still live in the illusion of the days of Islam’s greatness.

The legists continue to ground their appreciation of every actual
political condition on the law of the holy war, which war ought
never be allowed to cease entirely until all mankind is reduced to
the authority of Islam-the heathen by conversion, the adherents of
acknowledged Scripture [i.e., Jews and Christians] by submission.

Hurgronje further noted that although the Muslim rank and file might
acknowledge the improbability of that goal "at present" (circa 1916),
they were,

…comforted and encouraged by the recollection of the lengthy period
of humiliation that the Prophet himself had to suffer before Allah
bestowed victory upon his arms…

Thus even at the nadir of Islam’s political power, during the World
War I era final disintegration of the Ottoman Empire, Hurgronje
observed how

…the common people are willingly taught by the canonists and
feed their hope of better days upon the innumerable legends of
the olden time and the equally innumerable apocalyptic prophecies
about the future. The political blows that fall upon Islam make less
impression…than the senseless stories about the power of the Sultan
of Stambul [Istanbul], that would instantly be revealed if he were
not surrounded by treacherous servants, and the fantastic tidings
of the miracles that Allah works in the Holy Cities of Arabia which
are inaccessible to the unfaithful. The conception of the Khalifate
[Caliphate] still exercises a fascinating influence, regarded in
the light of a central point of union against the unfaithful (i.e.,
non-Muslims). [emphasis added]

Nearly a century later, the preponderance of contemporary mainstream
Muslims from Morocco to Indonesia, apparently share with their
murderous, jihad terror waging co-religionists from al-Qaeda the goal
(if not necessarily supporting the gruesome means) of re-establishing
an Islamic Caliphate. Polling data just released (April 24, 2007)
in a rigorously conducted face-to-face University of Maryland/
WorldPublicOpinion.org interview survey of 4384 Muslims conducted
between December 9, 2006 and February 15, 2007-1000 Moroccans, 1000
Egyptians, 1243 Pakistanis, and 1141 Indonesians-reveal that 65.2% of
those interviewed-almost 2/3, hardly a "fringe minority"-desired this
outcome (i.e., "To unify all Islamic countries into a single Islamic
state or Caliphate"), including 49% of "moderate" Indonesian Muslims.

The internal validity of these data about the present longing for
a Caliphate is strongly suggested by a concordant result: 65.5%
of this Muslim sample approved the proposition "To require a strict
[emphasis added] application of Shari’a law in every Islamic country."

Notwithstanding ahistorical drivel from Western Muslim "advocacy"
groups such as the Muslim Association of Britain, which lionizes
both the Caliphate and the concomitant institution of Shari’a as
promulgators of "a peaceful and just society", the findings from the
University of Maryland/ WorldPublicOpinion.org poll are ominous.

Umar Ibn al-Khattab (d. 644), was the second "rightly guided" caliph
of Islam. During his reign, which lasted for a decade (634-644), Syria,
Iraq and Egypt were conquered. Umar was responsible for organizing the
early Islamic Caliphate. Alfred von Kremer, the seminal 19th century
German scholar of Islam, described the "central idea" of Umar’s regime,
as being the furtherance of "…the religious-military development
of Islam at the expense of the conquered nations." The predictable
and historically verifiable consequence of this guiding principle
was a legacy of harsh inequality, intolerance, and injustice towards
non-Muslims observed by von Kremer in 1868 (and still evident in
Islamic societies to this day):

It was the basis of its severe directives regarding Christians
and those of other faiths, that they be reduced to the status of
pariahs, forbidden from having anything in common with the ruling
nation; it was even the basis for his decision to purify the Arabian
Peninsula of the unbelievers, when he presented all the inhabitants
of the peninsula who had not yet accepted Islam with the choice: to
emigrate or deny the religion of their ancestors. The industrious and
wealthy Christians of Najran, who maintained their Christian faith,
emigrated as a result of this decision from the peninsula, to the
land of the Euphrates, and ‘Umar also deported the Jews of Khaybar. In
this way ‘Umar based that fanatical and intolerant approach that was
an essential characteristic of Islam, now extant for over a thousand
years, until this day [i.e., written in 1868]. It was this spirit,
a severe and steely one, that incorporated scorn and contempt for
the non-Muslims, that was characteristic of ‘Umar, and instilled by
‘Umar into Islam; this spirit continued for many centuries, to be
Islam’s driving force and vital principle.

During the jihad campaigns of Umar’s Caliphate, in accord with
nascent Islamic Law, neither cities nor monasteries were spared
if they resisted. Thus, when the Greek garrison of Gaza refused to
submit and convert to Islam, all were put to death. In the year 640,
sixty Greek soldiers who refused to apostatize became martyrs, while
in the same year (i.e., 638) that Caesarea, Tripolis and Tyre fell to
the Muslims, hundreds of thousands of Christians converted to Islam,
predominantly out of fear.

Muslim and non-Muslim sources record that Umar’s soldiers were allowed
to break crosses on the heads of Christians during processions and
religious litanies, and were permitted, if not encouraged, to tear
down newly erected churches and to punish Christians for trivial
reasons. Moreover, Umar forbade the employment of Christians in public
offices. The false claim of Islamic toleration during this prototype
"rightly guided" Caliphate cannot be substantiated even by relying
on the (apocryphal?) "pact" of Umar (Ibn al-Khattab) because this
putative decree compelled the Christians (and other non-Muslims) to
fulfill self-destructive obligations, including: the prohibition on
erecting any new churches, monasteries, or hermitages; and not being
allowed to repair any ecclesiastical institutions that fell into ruin,
nor to rebuild those that were situated in the Muslim quarters of a
town. Muslim traditionists and early historians (such as al-Baladhuri)
further maintain that Umar expelled the Jews of the Khaybar oasis, and
similarly deported Christians (from Najran) who refused to apostasize
and embrace Islam, fulfilling the death bed admonition of Muhammad
who purportedly stated: "there shall not remain two religions in the
land of Arabia."

Umar imposed limitations upon the non-Muslims aimed at their ultimate
destruction by attrition, and he introduced fanatical elements
into Islamic culture that became characteristic of the Caliphates
which succeeded his. For example, according to the chronicle of
the Muslim historian Ibn al-Atham (d. 926-27), under the brief
Caliphate of Ali b. Abi Talib (656-61), when one group of apostates
in Yemen (Sanaa) adopted Judaism after becoming Muslims, "He [Ali]
killed them and burned them with fire after the killing." Indeed,
the complete absence of freedom of conscience in these early Islamic
Caliphates-while entirely consistent with mid-7th century mores-has
remained a constant, ignominious legacy throughout Islamic history,
to this day. During the long twilight of the last formal Caliphate
under the Ottoman Turks, Sir Henry Layard, the British archeologist,
writer, and diplomat (including postings in Turkey), described this
abhorrent spectacle which he witnessed in the heart of Istanbul, in
the autumn of 1843, four years after the first failed iteration of
the so-called Tanzimat reforms designed to abrogate the sacralized
discrimination of the Shari’a:

An Armenian who had embraced Islamism [i.e., common 19th century usage
for Islam] had returned to his former faith. For his apostasy he was
condemned to death according to the Mohammedan law. His execution
took place, accompanied by details of studied insult and indignity
directed against Christianity and Europeans in general. The corpse was
exposed in one of the most public and frequented places in Stamboul
[Istanbul], and the head, which had been severed from the body,
was placed upon it, covered by a European hat.

Salient examples from within the past 25 years confirm the persistent
absence of freedom of conscience in contemporary Islamic societies, in
tragic conformity with a prevailing, unchanged mindset of the earliest
Caliphates: the 1985 state-sponsored execution of Sudanese religious
reformer Mahmoud Muhammad Taha for his alleged "apostasy"; the infamous
1989 "Salman Rushdie Affair", which resulted in the issuance of a
fatwa by Ayatollah Khomeini condemning Rushdie to death; the July 1994
vigilante murder of secular Egyptian writer Farag Foda-supported by
the prominent Egyptian cleric, Sheikh Muhammad al-Ghazali, an official
of Al Azhar University, who testified on behalf of the murderer,
"A secularist represents a danger to society and the nation that
must be eliminated. It is the duty of the government to kill him.";
and the recent (March, 2006) tragic experience of Abdul Rahman, an
unassuming Afghan Muslim convert to Christianity, forced to flee his
native country to escape the murderous wrath of Muslim clerics and the
masses they incited in "liberated", post-Taliban Afghanistan. An even
more alarming and utterly intolerable phenomenon was on display just
this week in the United States when a Johnstown (western Pennsylvania)
area imam Fouad El Bayly openly sanctioned the punishment by death
of former Dutch Parliamentarian Ayaan Hirsi Ali-born and raised a
Muslim in Somalia-for her open avowal of secularism.

Ibn Warraq has observed aptly that the most fundamental conception
of a Caliphate, "…the constant injunction to obey the Caliph-who is
God’s Shadow on Earth", is completely incompatible with the creation
of a "rights-based individualist philosophy." Warraq illustrates the
supreme hostility to individual rights in the Islamic Caliphate, and
Islam itself, through the writings of the iconic Muslim philosopher,
jurist, and historian, Ibn Khaldun (d. 1406), and a contemporary
Muslim thinker, A.K. Brohi, former Pakistani Minister of Law and
Religious Affairs:

[Ibn Khaldun] All religious laws and practices and everything that
the masses are expected to do requires group feeling. Only with the
help of group feeling can a claim be successfully pressed,…Group
feeling is necessary to the Muslim community. Its existence enables
(the community) to fulfill what God expects of it.

[A.K. Brohi] Human duties and rights have been vigorously defined
and their orderly enforcement is the duty of the whole of organized
communities and the task is specifically entrusted to the law
enforcement organs of the state. The individual if necessary has to
be sacrificed in order that that the life of the organism be saved.

Collectivity has a special sanctity attached to it in Islam.

In contrast, Warraq notes, "Liberal democracy extends the sphere of
individual freedom and attaches all possible value to each man or
woman." And he concludes,

Individualism is not a recognizable feature of Islam; instead the
collective will of the Muslim people is constantly emphasized. There
is certainly no notion of individual rights, which developed in the
West, especially during the eighteenth century.

Almost six decades ago (in 1950), G.H. Bousquet, a pre-eminent
modern scholar of Islamic Law, put forth this unapologetic, pellucid
formulation of the twofold totalitarian impulse in Islam:

Islam first came before the world as a doubly totalitarian system. It
claimed to impose itself on the whole world and it claimed also,
by the divinely appointed Muhammadan law, by the principles of the
fiqh, to regulate down to the smallest details the whole life of
the Islamic community and of every individual believer….the study
of Muhammadan law (dry and forbidding though it may appear to those
who confine themselves to the indispensable study of the fiqh) is of
great importance to the world today.

The openly expressed desire for the restoration of a Caliphate
from two-thirds of an important Muslim sample of Arab and non-Arab
Islamic nations, representative of Muslims worldwide, should serve as
a chilling wake-up call to those still in denial about the existential
threat posed by the living, uniquely Islamic institution of jihad.

Article.asp?ID=28064

EDITORIAL: THE FORGOTTEN HOLOCAUST

UT The Daily Texan, TX
University of Texas at Austen
April 27 2007

Much lies hidden in the hills of Turkey. Buried beneath them, the
bones of countless thousands of Armenians bear silent witness to a
mass murder considered one of the greatest atrocities in a century
stained with blood. Yet, even as remains from mass graves continue
to be exhumed, there are still many – including some students on
this campus – who continue to deny the scope of these massacres,
refusing to call them by the only appropriate name: genocide.

The Armenian Genocide, or the Armenian "Tragedy" as it is
euphemistically called, began in 1915, as the Ottoman Empire was
fighting off an invasion from Russia during World War I. Burgeoning
Armenian nationalism caused uprisings at the Armenian-controlled city
of Van and elsewhere, where some Armenians joined invading Russian
forces. Fearing a nationwide revolt, the Committee for Union and
Progress ­- the ultra-nationalist wing of the ruling Young Turk
Party – began liquidating the leadership of the Armenian resistance
movement through imprisonment and executions.

Almost immediately afterward, the CUP party started "relocating"
Armenians, citing a security threat from the minority group. Many argue
the relocation was a legitimate measure, the unintended consequences
of which were massacres of Armenians by groups of Kurdish and Muslim
"bandits." The killing of anywhere between 800,000 and 1 million
Armenians was a "tragedy" rather than a "genocide," because it wasn’t
the Ottoman government’s intention to exterminate the Armenians,
or so the argument goes.

Those who refute the genocide allegation point to the original
government decree, which calls for the protection of Armenian
relocation convoys, and the provision of food and supplies for
Armenians. However, there is a mountain of evidence to the contrary,
showing that killings did, in fact, have government support.

Authenticated documents from a war crimes tribunal following the war,
at which top CUP members were convicted and sentenced to death in
absentia, show high levels of government involvement.

CUP leader Ismali Enver Pasha organized the Teshkilâti Mahsusa,
meaning "Special Organization," which recruited bands known as "chetas"
composed of Turkish refugees, violent criminals released from prison
and Kurds to carry out massacres. The brutality of their methods
was matched only by their efficiency. In some cases, men, women and
children were bound together in a river, where one person was shot,
dragging the rest down, drowning them. Other methods included herding
Armenians into a cave and lighting a fire at the entrance, suffocating
those inside – a primitive gas chamber.

Far from providing for Armenians, as the relocation decree dictated,
the deportations were a death march. In addition to the thousands who
died from the direct slaughter of Turkish troops and their civilian
accomplices, many thousand more died of starvation.

U.S. Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire Henry Morgenthau said of
his meeting with a CUP member, "He made no secret of the fact that
the government had instigated [the massacres]. Each new method of
inflicting pain was hailed as a splendid discovery … They even
delved into the records of the Spanish Inquisition and other historic
institutions of torture and adopted all the suggestions found there."

Despite all of this, some in the Turkish University Students
Association continue to push the claim that while the killings did
happen, they were an unfortunate "tragedy" of a communal civil war,
where both sides committed massacres. The group will be showing a video
called "Sari Gelin," which attempts to debunk the Armenian Genocide
"myth." It is fuzzy moral math to excuse the mass extermination of
Armenians as a response to isolated Armenian massacres.

It’s time for Turkey and the Turkish University Students Association to
own up to the crimes of Turkey’s past. Why is it important to remember
the Armenian Genocide? Adolf Hitler’s remarks in response to a question
about the international community’s reaction to a possible invasion
of Poland gives a good enough reason: "Who, after all, remembers the
annihilation of the Armenians?"

e.com/media/storage/paper410/news/2007/04/27/Opini on/Editorial.The.Forgotten.Holocaust-2885063.shtml

–Boundary_(ID_Fi7cLpoiHRDIQ+odpazmZA)–

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIANS MARK 92ND ANNIVERSARY OF MASS KILLINGS

The Brunei Times, Brunei Darussalam
April 27 2007

ARMENIANS on Tuesday marked the 92nd anniversary of the killing of
hundreds of thousands of their compatriots under the Ottoman Empire,
an event recognised as genocide by many countries but a flashpoint
in relations between Turkey and the West.

Amid heavy snowfall, thousands climbed to a hilltop memorial for the
victims in the Armenian capital. Flowers were laid at the foot of the
memorial, where an eternal flame has burned since its construction
in 1965.

Officials including President Robert Kocharian were among those
paying tribute. "The memory of this evil deed will always remain in
our souls," Kocharian said in a statement.

"The international community has realised that genocide is not only
a crime against a distinct people, but against all mankind and that
the denial and concealment of such a crime is as dangerous as its
preparation and execution."

Many from Armenia’s widespread diaspora descend on Yerevan every year
for the annual ceremony. Among them this year was US filmmaker Karla
Garapedian, whose recently released documentary Screamers examines the
efforts of US-based rock band System of a Down to have the killings
recognised as a genocide. The band’s members are all grandchildren
of survivors of the massacres.

"We will speak the truth about our own history, about what happened
to Armenians," Garapedian said. "I know that Turkey wants to join
the EU. They have to apologise, to say ‘we made a great mistake and
we are sorry’."

Hrant Gazarian, 24, arrived from Turkey and said he would lay a flower
at the memorial this year in honour of Hrant Dink, the Turkish-Armenian
journalist killed in Turkey in January after being branded a traitor
by nationalists for urging an open debate on the 1915 killings.

Eleven suspects have been charged in Dink’s murder.

"Unfortunately, this time I am laying one more flower at the eternal
flame for Hrant Dink," Gazarian said.

"It has already been 100 days and those behind his murder have still
not been found and punished … Turkey must recognise the genocide
so that there will not be more victims like Dink."

Armenians say up to 1.5 million died in orchestrated killings during
the final years of the Ottoman Empire.

Turkey strongly rejects claims of a genocide, saying that 300,000
Armenians and at least an equal number of Turks were killed in civil
strife in 1915-1917 when the Christian Armenians, backed by Russia,
rose up against the Ottoman Empire.

The dispute has been a major obstacle in relations between Turkey and
Armenia, which have no diplomatic ties and whose border has remained
closed for more than a decade.

It has also complicated relations between EU-aspirant Turkey and
many Western countries, especially those with large ethnic Armenian
communities.

More than 20 countries have officially recognised the killings as
genocide, including Belgium, Canada, Poland, Russia and Switzerland.

But many, including Britain and the US, refuse to use the term.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress