ARMENIAN GENOCIDE COMMEMORATION HIGHLIGHTS STRUGGLE FOR CAUCASUS
Bill Weinberg
World War 4 Report, NY
April 24 2008
Thousands marched in Yerevan April 24, the 93rd anniversary of the
start of the mass killing campaign of at least 1.5 million Armenians
by the Ottoman Empire. More than 10,000, mostly youths and students,
carried torches and candles, demanding Turkey join several other
countries around the world in officially recognizing the massacres as
genocide. After burning a Turkish flag in Yerevan’s Freedom Square,
participants marched to a monument to the victims of the genocide,
where they laid wreaths and flowers. Many carried flags of the
23 countries whose governments or parliaments have recognized the
killings as genocide, including Canada, France, Switzerland and Poland.
Turkey rejects the killings constituted genocide, saying that 300,000
Armenians and at least an equal number of Turks were killed in civil
strife between 1915 and 1917. The dispute remains 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. Some
marchers in Yerevan held banners reading "Save Europe! Keep Turkey
out of the EU!" (The Austrialian, April 24)
Turkish media reports highlight recent overtures by Ankara to normalize
relations. Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ali Babacan wrote a letter to
his Armenian counterpart April 22, saying that Turkey is open to
dialogue. Yerevan also says it is for dialogue, but calls for the
re-opening of closed borders first. (Turkish Daily News, April 22)
In October 2007, the Foreign Affairs Committee of the US House of
Representatives approved a resolution officially recognizing the
Armenian genocide. The issue is yet to be discussed on the House floor.
Armenian political scientist Arman Ayvazyan, head of Yerevan’s Center
of Strategic Research, said US reluctance to recognize the genocide is
due to Washington’s need to secure Turkey’s cooperation in stabilizing
northern Iraq. He said the Armenian genocide "should be considered
not as a historical but as a modern problem," and also linked it to
the contest over the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.
"The problem of Nagorno-Karabakh emerged as a result of genocide
of Armenians," he said. "Turkey calls us aggressors, saying that we
occupied Nagorno-Karabakh… Turkey…occupied the western part of
our territory and now helps Azerbaijan occupy our eastern lands as
well." (Today.az, Azerbaijan, April 23)
Nagorno-Karabakh Republic–known to Armenians as Artsakh–has been an
unrecognized de facto independent state since a 1994 ceasefire left
Armenian separatist forces in control there. Negotiations continue
on the return of Azeri prisoners of war still held by the Artsakh
authorities. (De Facto News, April 23) A two-day conference on the
Armenian genocide held at Artsakh State University was pointedly
entitled "Western Armenia: past and present"–a name clearly implying
that Turkey’s eastern provinces are considered occupied Armenian
territory. (PanArmenian.net, April 11)