Month: April 2007

NKR President signs a decree on spring call up

ArmRadio.am
21.04.2007 12:09

On April 20 the President of the Nagorno Karabakh Republc Arkady
Ghukasyan signed a decree on 2007 spring call up and demobilization,
NKR President’s Press Office informs

Pallone urges UN to stand up against Turkey’s denials

ArmRadio.am
21.04.2007 14:11

In remarks delivered on the floor of the US House of Representatives,
Congressional Armenian Caucus Co-Chairman Frank Pallone (R-MI) sharply
criticized the United Nations for caving in to Turkey’s pressure to
block a long-awaited exhibit on the Rwanda Genocide because one of
its display panels included a reference to the Armenian Genocide,
reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).

The New Jersey legislator stressed, in his remarks to his House
colleagues, that, "As a representative of the international community,
the United Nations must be the leading voice against genocide. That
includes all genocides, including the Armenian Genocide. Unless the
United Nations takes a stand against Turkey’s denial, its value
to the international community is greatly undermined." Speaking
to the dangerous precedent set by genocide denial, he noted that,
"Turkey’s policy of denying the Armenian genocide gives cover to
those who perpetrate genocide everywhere. If the cycle is to end,
there must be accountability for genocide."

Italy Declares Turkey ‘Unfit for EU’ After Malatia Slaying

20 Apil 07

GOME (AFP)–Italy’s opposition today demanded the Government block
Turkey’s European Union bid, saying the killing of three Christians
at a Bible publishing house proved the country could not control
violent Islamists.

"Yet another attack against Christian values. Turkey should forget
about the European Union," Massimo Polledri, a senator from the
anti-immigrant Northern League, said.

The three Christians, including a German, were found with their
throats slit yesterday at the Zirve publishing house in Malatya,
a city in the predominantly Muslim country’s southeast.

Alessandra Mussolini, a parliamentarian who is granddaughter of
Italy’s wartime dictator, urged Italians to sign her petition to
the EU condemning the killings and stating the "refusal of Italian
citizens to allow Turkey into the European Union".

"After this the question of Turkey’s EU entry cannot be just a
bureaucratic decision," she said, also referring to last year’s
killing of an Italian missionary priest in Turkey.

Ankara began membership talks in October 2005 but the EU has frozen
negotiations in eight of the 35 policy areas because of a row over
Cyprus.

Opinion polls in predominantly Catholic Italy have showed that many
people oppose Turkey in the EU because of its Muslim background and
human rights record.

"The Government must send a clear signal to the Turkish Government
– that the violation of religious freedom and human rights are
incompatible with any hypothesis of Turkish membership in Europe,"
said Luca Volonte, from the UDC party.

She said Ankara tolerated "Islamist extremists… who see Christians
as sacrificial animals whose throats should be slit".

Prime Minister Romano Prodi, on a trip to Asia, said the killings
"certainly will not help" Turkey’s EU bid but that such incidents
should not be allowed to influence "policy regarding long-term
horizons".

Prodi’s comments were met with scorn by opposition parliamentarian
Andrea Gibelli, who called them "chilling".

The Northern League and the UDC called on the Government to address
Parliament next week about its position on Turkey.

A wave of nationalism has swept the secular but predominantly Sunni
Muslim country over the past year.

For many Turkish nationalists, missionaries are enemies of Turkey
working to undermine its political and religious institutions.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Unless UN takes a stand against Turkey’s denial, its value is greatly undermined

PanARMENIAN.Net
21.04.2007 13:11 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ In remarks delivered yesterday on the floor of
the U.S. House of Representatives, Congressional Armenian Caucus
Co-Chairman Frank Pallone sharply criticized the United Nations for
caving in to Turkey’s pressure to block a long-awaited exhibit on the
Rwanda Genocide because one of its display panels included a reference
to the Armenian Genocide. The New Jersey legislator stressed as a
representative of the international community, the United Nations must
be the leading voice against Genocide, including the Armenian Genocide,
the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) reported. "Unless
the United Nations takes a stand against Turkey’s denial, its value
to the international community is greatly undermined.

Turkey’s policy of denying the Armenian genocide gives cover to those
who perpetrate genocide everywhere," he stated.

An exhibition about the Rwandan Genocide entitled "Lessons learnt from
Rwanda" was due to be opened in the United Nations with the assistance
of Aegis Trust, a British NGO. However it was postponed under the
pressure of the Turkish government, since there was a reference to
the Armenian Genocide as the first genocide of the 20th century in
the exhibition.

Thursday, April 19, 2007
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THE MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION
**************************************************
We have become such compulsive players of the blame-game that it doesn’t even occur to us to ask the most important of all questions: Where did we go wrong? Were we justified in trusting the Russians, the Great Powers, and the Young Turks? Was our trust in them based on historic precedent or propaganda? Was our optimism a result of objective analysis or wishful thinking?
My purpose in raising these questions is not to find fault with our past conduct – after all, what’s done is done and cannot be undone – but to ask, how justified are we when we predict the future by saying such things as, it will take two or three generations for our bloodsuckers to see the light and behave like servants of the people? Or, how justified are we in sinking millions on our anti-Turkish campaign in the hope that, since historic Armenia was ours 600 years ago, it will be ours again in the near or distant future because a fraction of the civilized world is with us? Or again, how justified are we in placing our trust in the verbiage of our bosses, bishops, benefactors, and Turcocentric baloney artists?
Another reason I ask these questions is that, if we want to convince the Turks to behave with some degree of honesty and decency, we must first put our own house in order. If we want to educate that fraction of the so-called civilized world that is not with us, we must begin by educating ourselves. If we want others to do the right thing, the least we can do is refrain from doing the wrong thing.
#
Friday, April 20, 2007
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AN ESSAY THAT COMES WITH A WARNING
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In what follows I speak only for myself and all those who brought me up to hate Turks. Repeat: none of the sentiments and thoughts expressed here applies to our Turcocentric pundits and miscellaneous baloney artists who, very much like all baloney artists, speak with a forked tongue when they say they hate no one, they only ask for what is theirs.
*
What does it take to understand a nation? The jury of historians and psychologists is out on that one, because, like individuals and human nature in general, nations are bundles of contradiction. They harbor within them the best and the worst. It is the easiest thing in the world to love or hate them by selecting and cataloguing their crimes or selfless heroic deeds and triumphs over adversity – an academic field of enquiry favorite by nationalist historians.
It may be flattering to our vanity to divide mankind into two, the good (us and our friends) and the bad (our enemies and their partisans). But how objective or valid is it? If we paint ourselves all white and our enemies all black, we shouldn’t be surprised if they do the same. Do we judge Germans by Bach and Beethoven or by Hitler and the Holocaust?
By repeating ad nauseam as we do that we are the victims and they are the victimizers, we may eventually end up convincing ourselves that we can do no wrong even as we behave like swine.
Zohrab observes somewhere that there are as many kinds of Armenians as there are environments in which they live. So that an Ottomanized Armenian and a Frenchified Armenian are as different from one another as a Turk is from a Frenchman – assuming of course there is such a thing as a typical Turk or Frenchman.
“Betrayed by an Armenian, he was saved by a Turk.” I remember to have heard or read this sentence somewhere in reference to Gomidas (Komitas) Vartabed. To make sure my memory is not deceiving me, I consult a recent biography, where I read the following: “Komitas’s opponents [among them Patriarch of Istanbul Ghevont Turian] contacted the Turkish secret police and falsely accused him of including politically subversive songs in his concert program.” (Rita Soulahian Kuyumjian, ARCHEOLOGY OF MADNESS: KOMITAS – PORTRAIT OF AN ARMENIAN ICON [Princeton, NJ], Gomidas Institute, page 74.)
Speaking of religious faith, Sartre says somewhere: “We believe that we believe, but we don’t believe.” Likewise, we may believe that we understand Turks and Armenians, but we don’t.
#
Saturday, April 21, 2007
*******************************************
WHY I WRITE THE WAY I WRITE
************************************************
Whenever I see someone’s two cents’ worth on my monitor, I am provoked into posting my own one-cent’s worth. If that’s vainglorious, I plead guilty as charged.
*
There are many good Armenians, concerned readers remind me once in a while, but I keep harping on the bad ones thus projecting a bad image. Image is a PR concern and I have no desire to muscle in their territory. My concern is elsewhere. My concern is the nation’s direction. If you read our writers from Khorenatsi (5th century) to Zarian (20th) you may notice they too were concerned with the same thing.
*
Good Armenians exist in the same way that good Turks do. But these good men are not represented in Yerevan and Ankara. There may even be good bosses, bishops, and benefactors, but they are as much at the mercy of their bad counterparts as the rest of us who are in no position to change the direction of our collective destiny.
*
Those who oppose the war in Iraq today are convinced the Bush administration is ego-driven, misinformed, and wrong, in addition to being corrupt and incompetent. That doesn’t mean everyone in the executive branch is rotten. None of us can predict the future. If tomorrow or next month or year the Middle East is democratized, I am sure everyone will rejoice – everyone, including those who oppose the surge today. Likewise, if one of these days or before I drop dead, our leaders see the light and change direction, I will be the happiest Armenian alive. But until then I will continue to be critical of our charlatans and dupes who in the name of misguided patriotism try to convince us we are in good hands and Turks are the source of all evil.
*
Finally, I don’t write against anyone. I write against the self-centered, prejudiced ignoramus that I was, and according to some of my gentle reader, I still am.
*
Because I speak of tolerance I am accused of being intolerant. Because I speak against the knee-jerk anti-Turkism of our Turcocentric pundits, I am accused of being anti-Armenian. That’s not criticism. That’s infantile nonsense. And remember: bad leaders have ruined empires; bad writers – in addition to being unreadable — have harmed no one but themselves.
#

ARMENIANS MUST TAKE SMALL BUT STABLE STEPS IN DIRECTION OF RECOGNIZING GENOCIDE BY TURKEY, ISTANBUL "ZHAMANAK" NEWSPAPER EDITOR SAYS

Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
Apr 19 2007

YEREVAN, APRIL 19, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. "Hrant Dink’s loss at
some extent brought pessimism in the moods of the Armenian community
of Istanbul but that pessimism is being gradually overcome." Ara
Kochunian, the editor of the Istanbul Armenian "Zhamanak" (Time)
newspaper stated about it in the interview to Noyan Tapan.

In his words, murder of the Agos editor at great extent influenced
on the Armenian mass media as well, particularly, on the "Zhamanak"
activity, but, in his words, all journalists and editors strive for
keeping H. Dink’s memory bright with their work.

Touching upon recognition of the fact of the Armenian Genocide by
Turkey, A. Kochunian mentioned that it is a process demanding rather
great patience, and Armenians must take small but stable steps in that
issue. In Kochunian’s words, the Turkish public consciousness is not
ready yet to recognize the reality of the Armenian Genocide. "There
are cases when the genocide issue is touched upon at the state level:
it assists increase of the pulic consciousness."

SPEAKER OF U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONCE MORE REFUSES TO MEET WITH TURKISH PARLIAMENTARIANS

Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
Apr 19 2007

WASHINGTON, APRIL 19, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. Speaker of
U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi once more refused to receive
the members of delegation of Turkish Grand National Assembly who had
arrived in Washington lately for the purpose of preventing adoption
of resolution on recognition of Armenian Genocide in the Congress.

The Hurriyet Turkish newspaper regrets to register that fact and
affirms that Pelosi paid a visit to Syria, which is a "refuge of
terrorist organizations" and met with President Bashar Asad, but
refused to meet with "representatives of Turkish government and public
being the ally of U.S. in NATO for half a century."

DURING HIS VISIT TO YEREVAN LATVIAN FM WILL LAY FLOWERS TO ARMENIAN GENOCIDE MEMORIAL

Arminfo
2007-04-19 17:00:00

During his visit to Yerevan Foreign Minister of Latvia Artis Pabriks
will lay flowers to the Armenian Genocide Memorial.

The press service of the Foreign Ministry of Armenia reports
that Pabriks will meet with Armenian President Robert Kocharyan,
Parliamentary Speaker Tigran Torossyan, Catholicos of All Armenians
Garegin II, Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan, Foreign Minister Vardan
Oskanyan.

Pabriks and Oskanyan will give a joint press-conference.

ARMENIAN FM URGES TURKEY TO ESTABLISH NORMAL RELATIONS WITHOUT PRECONDITIONS

Arminfo
19 Apr 07

Yerevan, 19 April: Armenia had proposed to Turkey, Azerbaijan and
Georgia to use the railway Kars-Gyumri-Akhalkalaki, promising that
Armenia would neither charge transit free and nor use the railway to
transport its own goods. However, Ankara and Baku turned down the
proposal, Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan has said when
addressing the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna.

"It is strange that these countries are ready to spend up to 1bn
dollars to implement a project bypassing Armenia when an existing
railway is standing idle," he said. Turkey spares no efforts to expand
Armenia’s blockade, and the construction of the Kars-Tbilisi-Baku
railway is evidence of this, Oskanyan said.

Despite the fact that "after the cease-fire was signed, Azerbaijan
and its ally Turkey expected that in the condition of total blockade
Armenia would collapse under the weight of poverty and economic
stagnation, the republic continues to develop dynamically," Oskanyan
said.

"Let me repeat, the implementation of such programmes will not isolate
Armenia or do more harm than the blockade, but it will promote the
country’s alienation," he said, adding that the political environment
in the region would suffer. He went on to say that Armenia would
continue advocating the use of Kars-Gyumri-Akhalkalaki railway and
would demand that the Armenian-Turkish border be opened and that
relations with Ankara be normalized.

Oskanyan stressed once again that Armenia did not put forward
preconditions for normalizing relations with Ankara and expected the
same from Turkey. "The Armenian-Turkish border is the last closed
border in Europe. It needs to be open, so that Turkey can play a
positive role in the regional processes, including to the Karabakh
conflict settlement," he said.

Source: Arminfo, Yerevan, in Russian 0933 gmt 19 Apr 07

AZERI, ARMENIAN FMS AGREE TO SUSPEND KARABAKH TALKS TILL MID-MAY

Turan news agency
19 Apr 07

Baku, 19 April: The main principles of the Nagornyy Karabakh settlement
were discussed during the Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers’
meeting in Belgrade yesterday. The talks were held as part of the
Prague process. The OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs made proposals on two
of eight elements of the settlement "to bring the sides’ positions
closer", the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry press secretary, Xazar
Ibrahim, has told Turan.

He also said that the co-chairmen would visit the region after the
Armenian parliamentary election [on 12 May].

Ibrahim added that the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs attended the talks
between Elmar Mammadyarov and Vardan Oskanyan. The talks lasted about
five hours.

[Ayna reported on 19 April that the ministers agreed to suspend
the talks until after the Armenian parliamentary election. After
the election, Mammadyarov and Oskanyan will have another meeting to
define the venue and date of the Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents’
meeting.]