Month: May 2008

ARMENIAN PRESIDENT: "OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE PEACEFUL RESOLUTION OF NAGORNO KARABAKH CONFLICT HAVE NOT BEEN EXHAUSTED YET"

Today
/45163.html
May 22 2008
Azerbaijan

Deepening of Armenia’s cooperation with EU will accelerate
democratization and development of the country’s economy.

The due announcement was made by Armenian President Serzh Sarkissyan
during the meeting with representatives of the diplomatic missions of
the EU countries in Armenia and delegation of the European Commission.

The program of Armenia’s actions in the framework of the European
Neighborhood Policy, fully complies with the program of the Armenian
government and the proposed democratic reforms.

Serzh Sarkisstan voiced satisfaction with the steps on the
implementation of the Armenia-EU program of actions and the due
assessments of the European Commission. He said Armenia strives
to joining the GSP+ regime, to get the market status from the
European Union and sign an agreement on free trade with the EU. In
this connection, according to the Armenian President, the priority
for the country will be the improvement of the business-atmosphere,
profound reforms in the customs sphere.

Serzh Sarkissyan noted that regardless of the post-election processes,
the conduction of democratic reforms is necessary for Armenia. He
voiced regret that the government did not manage to prevent the March
1 events in Yerevan.

According to the Armenian President, the authorities are responsible
for the events and the way out of the situation lies in the execution
of regulations of the PACE resolution. During the meeting Serzh
Sarkissyan presented his approach to the resolution of the Nagorno
Karabakh conflict, noting that official Yerevan speaks for the
peaceful resolution of the issue, while Azerbaijan continues making
militaristic declarations.

At the same time, he considers that chances of the peaceful resolution
of the problem have not been exhausted yet and are possible if talks
continue considering basic principles.

The President of Armenia said regarding the Armenian-Turkish relations
that Armenian side is ready to restore relations with Turkey without
any conditions and all disputable questions can be discussed in the
framework of intergovernmental relations and talks.

On behalf of the diplomats French Ambassador Serzh Smesov highly
assessed the tradition of such meetings and noted that these
discussions are useful for them.

PARANOIA OR REALITY: GENOCIDE
By Azad Aslan

Kurdish Globe
sp?id=4007D07D194DC5396C6DEC627B4B659B
May 22 2008
Iraq

A protester make a victory sign with his hand in front of a Kurdish
flag during a demonstration in Berlin January 26, 2008, against
cross-border operations in northern Iraq by Turkey. REUTERS

Professor Gregory Stanton, president of Genocide Watch, was in Erbil,
the capital of Kurdistan Region, and delivered a seminar on the issue
of genocide committed against the Kurds.

. His comments with regards to the Kurds in north Kurdistan (southeast
Turkey) is indeed very serious. He said: "I am afraid Turkey could
carry out genocide against Kurds since in the past Turkey committed
genocide against Armenians, yet they [Turks] deny that now. Still,
there is no punishment for them, and they also deny the existence of
Kurds in Turkey."

Coming from a distinguished scholar, this observation must be
taken very seriously and analyzed in a historical and political
context. There is real potential that Turkey may resort to genocide
against the Kurds. For some people, in this age of globalization
and interactive world-over communication, committing genocide
is unthinkable, particularly for a country such as Turkey that
is endeavoring to join the EU. Giving developments a closer look,
however, indicates a grim picture that such claim is not far-fetched.

Since its formation, the Turkish Republic has carried on a cultural
genocide against the Kurdish nation. The Kurdish language was banned
and those who spoke it were punished. The very national identity of
Kurds was classified as "mountain Turks." Kurdish names or titles of
geographical places of Kurdistan were renamed in Turkish. Millions
of Kurds in Turkey were denied education in their mother tongue. The
national identity of Kurds has not been recognized and is at most
classified in Turkish political discourse as a "sub-identity."

Despite such forceful assimilation, the Kurds proved to be resilient
and preserved their distinct cultural and national identity. Turkey,
on the other hand, has yet to make serious steps toward becoming a real
democratic country. Democratization of Turkey is undeniably problematic
and closely related to the Kurdish national question. The political
formation of the Turkish regime since 1923 has been anti-democratic and
totalitarian. At the root of this anti-democratic political formation
of the Turkish regime lies the construction of an artificial Turkish
nation upon the ruins of a multi-ethnic and multi-religious Ottoman
Empire.

The main objective of the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) was to
secure the Ottoman state and make it 99% Muslim. The Turkish Republic,
which was established by Kemalists, themselves a continuation of CUP,
embarked upon a new Turkish state that was, as A. Roshwald argued,
"built on a legacy of genocide and ethnic cleansing and propagated
by a dictatorial regime with little patience for the niceties of
pluralistic policies." The main tenet of Kemalism was and still is
to make Turkey 99% Turk. This explains a grim reality that expecting
democratization of the Turkish political establishment, which grew
and evolved throughout the 20th century with a mentality of exclusive
Turkish identity, would be illusionary and misleading.

I am afraid Turkey could carry out genocide against Kurds since in
the past Turkey committed genocide against Armenians, yet they [Turks]
deny that now. Still, there is no punishment for them, and they also
deny the existence of Kurds in Turkey.

Despite EU pressures, Turkey still resists even granting the Kurds
minority status let alone recognizing Kurdish national identity. The
fact that the Kurds dispersed among four states in the Middle
East makes the Kurdish national question a regional and indeed an
international question. The relative freedom and political status of
the Kurds in south Kurdistan (Iraqi Kurdistan) and its international
recognition makes the Kurdish national question in Turkey even
more serious. The fact is that Turkey can no longer sustain its
current Kurdish policy with the existence of a legally established
Kurdistan Regional Government. Realizing that diminishing the KRG
is now an impossible task, Turkey must find a way to deal with its
own Kurds. Recognizing Kurdish national identity would shatter the
foundation of the Republic and its artificial construction of a Turkish
nation. In that sense, the Kurdish national question for Turkey is
not solely a democratic issue but a grave issue for its very existence.

The question here is whether Turkey would shift its cultural genocide
policy toward an ethnical one. This is surely not a hypothetical
but a very real question. CUP exploited World War I conditions to
eliminate the Armenians and they succeeded in that. Turkey, which is
built on the CUP legacy, may commit the same sin against the Kurds,
only within a regional context. In other words, Turkey may exploit
the chaotic political and military condition in case the Middle
East moves further into bloody conflict and regional war. The KRG’s
position with regards to Turkish policy against the Kurds would also
be detrimental in any potential Turkish move. The destiny of Iraqi
Kurdistan is closely interconnected with the Kurds in the north.

It is imperative for the Kurdish political actors throughout Kurdistan
not to take lightly Professor Stanton’s remarks. Indulging solely in
the belief that in this age of globalization democracy and human rights
would reign, the Kurds may blind themselves to the real politics of
the Middle East and face the same destiny as that of the Armenians
a century ago.

POLITICAL SCIENTIST RAUF RAJABOV: "OSCE MINSK GROUP CO-CHAIRS HAVE CEASED TO BE MEDIATORS IN THE ISSUE OF THE PEACEFUL RESOLUTION OF NAGORNO KARABAKH CONFLICT"

Today
itics/45166.html
May 22 2008
Azerbaijan

"OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs have ceased to be mediators in the issue of
the peaceful resolution of Nagorno Karabakh conflict by demonstrating
open subjectivity".

The due announcement was made by Rauf Rajabov, editor-in-chief of
the "Third outlook" news agency, speaking at today’s international
conference "Caucasus-2007" in Yerevan.

He said serious internal differences are observed among the co-chairs,
which prevent them from being unbiased till the end. "Moreover, I do
not understand, how one can trust to speaker of Russia’s State Duma
Boris Gryzlov, who visiting Baku assures Azerbaijan of friendship and
at the same time holds a conference on the so-called Lezguin problem
in Moscow", says the Azerbaijani political scientist.

He noted that "a direct dialogue between Yerevan and Baku with
participation of the Armenian and Azerbaijani communities of Nagorno
Karabakh" is needed for the resolution of Nagorno Karabakh conflict.

SURVIVOR TOLD CHILLING TALES ABOUT ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
By Jim Steinberg

Fresno Bee

May 22 2008
CA

George Hakalmazian was 99 or 100 when he died May 15 in Fresno. His age
and birth date were an impenetrable mystery, but not the place of his
birth, Peri, Armenia, nor the horrors he witnessed there as a child.

Ninety-three years ago, turmoil and massacres at the hands of Ottoman
Turks nearly killed him, and did kill some 1.5 million other Armenians.

His family retells his death-defying experience as one boy’s chapter
in the sad saga of the Armenian genocide.

Grandson Scott Tejerian recounted the word-of-mouth family history
that passes from one generation to the next. As an Armenian boy of
6 or 7, Mr. Hakalmazian escaped Peri, but without certification of
his birth. There was no time to retrieve documents.

In an uncanny family coincidence in Fresno, Scott Tejerian’s father,
Thomas, died Friday of cancer, one day after Mr. Hakalmazian.

Scott’s father and his maternal grandfather were not blood relatives,
but they were close friends who shared vital history, Scott Tejerian
said, because they shared memories of mass slaughter not far from
the Yeprat River, better known as the Euphrates.

Mr. Hakalmazian never forgot the brutal and terrifying massacre he
witnessed as a small boy.

He talked about it often with his grandson in his still-thick Armenian
accent, and Tejerian retells it, keeping alive his grandfather’s
account of the Armenian genocide:

Mr. Hakalmazian’s sister was forced to marry a son of the Turkish
mayor of Peri. The sister, whose name Tejerian doesn’t know, married
the Turk on the promise that these nuptials would guarantee the safety
of Mr. Hakalmazian’s family. That promise was betrayed, Tejerian said.

His mother and father were taken and killed.

Turkish soldiers took Mr. Hakalmazian and an older brother, Hagop,
for slave labor. A third brother, Marderos, already had left Armenia
and was living in Chicago.

Soldiers grabbed Mr. Hakalmazian’s small nephew, too small for labor,
and threw him into the Yeprat to drown. But the nephew, whose name
has disappeared in the century since, had often swum the Yeprat.

He stroked easily until, as family history has it, horrified relatives
saw soldiers shoot him dead in the water.

That execution haunted Mr. Hakalmazian forever.

"It didn’t matter how old he was," Tejerian said. "As he told us that
story, he cried."

Mr. Hakalmazian was taken for slave labor for a Turkish farmer and
toiled for him for several years. A cousin in his late teens sometimes
sneaked into the camp to check on him until the night he finally took
Mr. Hakalmazian and several others and shepherded them to an orphanage,
Mr. Hakalmazian’s daughter, Margaret Tejerian, recalled.

The orphanage arranged for them to get to another orphanage in Lebanon.

In 1923, brother Marderos Hakalmazian sponsored them for immigration
to the United States.

In a fitting coincidence, Mr. Hakalmazian entered his new country on
Ellis Island under the watchful gaze of the Statue of Liberty on the
Fourth of July, 1923. Mr. Hakalmazian always treasured the timing.

U.S. Customs agents asked the teen for his birth date, which was
a mystery to him and his surviving relatives. They didn’t know,
so they told the agents it was that day, July 4.

"He always loved that," Margaret Tejerian said. "It made him very
proud to have the same birth date. … He was happy be alive and go
to school."

Mr. Hakalmazian arrived with no English. Marderos Hakalmazian
brought him to Chicago, where he got work in a print shop and learned
English. He started first grade as a teenager and graduated from high
school at 21.

He worked in a Chicago dry cleaning shop and learned to become
a tailor.

Later, he moved to Glendale — whose large Armenian community welcomed
him — and opened his own dry cleaning store with money he had saved
in Chicago.

Scott Tejerian grieved for his father and grandfather this week.

What he said of his father, who served under Gen. George S. Patton
in World War II, applied as well to his grandfather: "My dad was a
very proud man. He didn’t talk about it a lot. He loved the Armenian
traditions, but loved being American. He said this was the best place
to live."

MATTHEW BRYZA: EARLY TO EXPECT ANY RESULTS FROM THE MEETING OF AZERBAIJANI AND ARMENIAN PRESIDENTS

Azeri Press Agency
May 22 2008
Azerbaijan

Baku. Tamara Grigoryeva-APA. OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs Mathew Bryza,
Bernard Fassier and Yuri Merzlyakov will have next talks in Moscow on
June 3. They also plan to meet with Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia
Grigory Karasin, US co-chair of OSCE Minsk Group Matthew Bryza told
APA about it.

He said that the co-chairs and Grigory Karasin would discuss the
continuation of the cooperation for completing the core principles
of the settlement of Nagorno Karabakh conflict.

"Later Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents will have the opportunity
to get acquainted with each other within the framework of the 12th
St. Petersburg international energy forum. It is early to expect any
results from the meeting, it will be a meeting of familiarization,"
he said.

Matthew Bryza said the co-chairs would later meet with OSCE
Chairman-in-Office Alexander Stubb in Helsinki. The American diplomat
noted that it was early to speak about the steps to be taken after
the meeting of the presidents.

"Everything will depend on the meeting," he said.

ARF DASHNAKTSUTYUN FOR KARABAKH TALKS

DeFacto Agency
May 22 2008
Armenia

YEREVAN, 22.05.08. DE FACTO. "ARF Dashnaktsutyun believes that
the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict will be settled via talks, however,
we believe we have the right to require peace guarantees from
the international community", Hrant Margarian, a member of ARF
Dashnaktsutyun Bureau, said at the opening of the ARF Dashnaktsutyun
30th General Meeting.

In his words, west-sponsored defeatist moods of Azerbaijan manifested
in its threats of the issue’s military resolution can result in
weakening of Armenia’s stand. "We stand for talks, however, only for
the ones, which will guarantee our security", Margarian underscored,
PanARMENIAN.Net reports.
From: Baghdasarian

ARMENIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: "AZERBAIJAN SHOULD STOP ITS ANTI-ARMENIAN PROPAGANDA"

Today.Az
s/politics/45158.html
May 22 2008
Azerbaijan

To create favorable conditions for continuation of talks on the
Karabakh conflict in the right direction, it is necessary to stop
anti-Armenian propaganda.

The due announcement was made by Armenian Foreign Minister Edward
Nalbandyan in his interview to the second Armenian TV channel.

"Not a single conflict can be settled, if one party continues
propaganda against the other.

He said "Anti-Armenian propaganda" sometimes leads to unexpected
results.

Armenian Foreign Minister presented results of public polls, recently
held in Azerbaijan. According to them, 82% of population negatively
assess the activity of the OSCE Minsk Group, while 29% of Azerbaijani
population, taking part in the polls, considers that the Karabakh
issue can be settled through war.

According to the Armenian Foreign Minister, this is a serious and
dangerous indicator.

"I can not imagine that in any other country so many people can speak
for renewal of hostilities", said Nalbandyan.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

NASIB NASIBLI: "WE SHOULD STOP BEING SURPRISED THAT IRAN CONSIDERS IT NORMAL TO HAVE DIRECT CONTACTS WITH KARABAKH SEPARATISTS"

Today.Az
ws/politics/45156.html
May 22 2008
Azerbaijan

"We should stop being surprised that Iran, which officially recognizes
the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, considers it normal not only
to develop comprehensive relations with Armenia, which occupied 20%
of Azerbaijani lands, but also to have direct contacts with Karabakh
separatists".

The due announcement was made by Milli Medjlis deputy from Musavat
party, former ambassador of Azerbaijan to Iran Nasib Nasibli,
commenting on the information that the Telecommunication Kish Company,
one of the mobile operators of Iran, concluded a roaming agreement
with the Karabakh Telecom company, operating in the occupied land of
Azerbaijan-Karabakh, thus violating international norms.

"Such close cooperation of Iran with Armenians does not comply with the
officially declared position of official Tehran, which states that it
takes care of the interests of Muslims in the whole world. But Iran
is used to conducting of such a policy, while Azerbaijan should be
aware of it and react in the duly manner", said Nasibli.

EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT ADOPTS REPORT ON TURKEY

Turkish Press
May 22 2008

STRASBOURG – The European Parliament (EP) adopted on Wednesday a
report on Turkey urging the government to accelerate reforms.

In a plenary session the EP debated and voted the report, prepared by
Dutch parliamentarian Ria Oomen-Ruijten. The report is a non-binding
and recommendatory one.

The parliament rejected amendments to the report regarding the
incidents of 1915 submitted by a group of French MEPs trying to
support Armenian allegations against Turkey.

However, the amendment on EP`s concerns about news reports regarding
Turkish riot police`s disproportional use of force during May Day
celebrations was accepted.

The amendment also said that the changes made in article 301 of Turkish
Penal Code were not enough and urged Turkish parliament to revise
the article and completely remove other restrictive stipulations.

The report, adopted last month by the European Parliamentary Committee
on Foreign Affairs, expressed concern about the potential consequences
of the recent dissolution case filed against Turkey`s ruling Justice &
Development (AK) Party.

Another amendment to the report said the EP expected Turkish
Constitutional Court to act in accordance with the Venice Commission
guidelines and European standards on the prohibition of political
parties.

It also called on the Turkish government to respect pluralism,
secularism and democracy while carrying out reforms and to reach a
compromise with political parties and urged the political parties to
distance themselves from violence and terrorist organizations.

-THE REPORT-

The report says the parliament takes note of the process underway to
prepare a new, civilian constitution; regards it as a key opportunity
to place the protection of human rights and freedoms at the core of
the constitution and underlines the need for a broad involvement of
civil society in this process.

The report also says the parliament "welcomes the commitment of
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan that 2008 is going to be the year
of reforms; urges the Turkish government to make use of its strong
parliamentary majority to resolutely pursue reforms that are crucial
for Turkey`s transformation into a modern democratic and prosperous
society."

It says "(the parliament) encourages the Turkish government to make
further systematic efforts to ensure that the democratically elected
political leadership bears full responsibility for formulation of
domestic, foreign and security policy and that the armed forces
respect this civilian responsibility; points out, in particular,
the need to establish full parliamentary oversight of military and
defence policy and all related expenditure."

-PRIORITY TO ARTICLE 301-

The report also urges the Turkish government and the parliament
to abolish immediately article 301 of the Penal Code as a symbolic
and substantive step towards full respect of freedom of expression
in the country and underlines that, once the urgently needed
abolition of article 301 has been carried out, further legislative
and implementation steps will be required in order to ensure that
Turkey fully guarantees freedom of expression and press freedom in
line with ECHR and European democratic standards.

It says the parliament encourages the Turkish authorities to resolutely
pursue investigations into the Ergenekon affair, "to fully uncover
its networks reaching into the state structures and to bring those
involved to justice."

The report welcomes the recent adoption by the Turkish Parliament
of the Law on Foundations and says "the European Commission should
analyse whether the Law addresses all shortcomings faced by non-Muslim
religious communities with regard to property management and
acquisition, including expropriated property sold to third parties."

The report also calls upon the Democratic Society Party (DTP), its
members at the parliament and mayors "to engage constructively in
the quest for a political solution to the Kurdish issue within the
democratic Turkish state."

It strongly condemns the violence perpetrated by the terrorist
organization PKK and reiterates European Parliament`s solidarity with
Turkey in its fight against terrorism. The report urges the Iraqi
government and the regional Kurdish administration not to allow Iraqi
territory to be used as a base for terrorist acts against Turkey.

The report stresses the need to arrive at a comprehensive settlement
of the Cyprus question within the UN framework, claiming that "the
withdrawal of Turkish forces would facilitate the negotiation of
a settlement."

Oomen-Ruijten`s report also calls on the European Commission and
the Turkish government to start negotiations on an agreement to ease
granting of visas to Turkish nationals .

BARACK OBAMA AND TURKISH FOREIGN POLICY
By Emre Uslu & öNder Aytac*

Today’s Zaman
May 22 2008
Turkey

With his latest victory in Oregon on Tuesday, it became clear that
Barack Obama will be the Democratic Party’s nominee for president of
the United States to run against Republican John McCain.

Given the current economic conditions and the bitter frustrations of
the American people over the war in Iraq, unless there is a dramatic
change before November 2008, it is very likely that Obama will be
the next president of the US.

Obama’s presidency would influence Turkey’s relations with the US
for a number of reasons. The first thing Turkey has to deal with
is the Armenian genocide issue. Obama has already declared that
he would recognize the events of 1915 as genocide if he becomes
president. McCain on the other hand thinks that it is not in the
best interests of the US to confront Turkey based on an event that
occurred close to a hundred years ago. McCain’s position on the
Armenian issue naturally gained some sympathy from Turkish people,
including politicians and diplomats. However, for a number of reasons,
Obama’s basic foreign policy position would be more beneficial to
Turkey’s interests than that of McCain.

Obama outlined his foreign policy initiative as a dialogue not just
with the US’s allies but with its foes as well. He very straight
forwardly suggested that the US engage in dialogue with Iran and
Syria. His position on the foreign policy of the US is clear —
change. Obama states that he will carefully withdraw the US troops
from Iraq as soon as possible.

Obama’s foreign policy position would help Turkey on three
fronts. First, Obama’s basic premise of finding a solution to
international problems through dialogue overlaps a great deal with
Turkey’s current foreign policy initiative of a multi-dimensional
approach to find ways to solve its international problems through
dialogue. Despite the Bush administration’s open criticism of Turkey’s
efforts to maintain friendly relations with Iran and Syria, the
Turkish government’s new foreign policy initiative would become an
opportunity to strengthen its strategic relations with the US during
Obama’s presidency. In fact, Turkey would play an intermediary role
between the US and Iran to prepare basic necessities between the
two countries. Even if Turkey did not play such an intermediary role
between Iran and the US at least the US would not criticize Turkey
for the initiative to develop dialogue between its neighbors.

Second, Obama’s decision to withdraw the US troops from Iraq
would eventually benefit Turkey in its relation with northern
Iraq. Iraqi Kurds now realize that they will need Turkey after US
troop withdrawal. If Turkey manages to present the similarities
between its foreign policy initiative and that of the US this would
lead to more cooperation between the US and Turkey on the issue
of fighting terrorism and sharing similar views on the issue of the
Kurdish question. Obama’s foreign policy perspective would provide the
basics for dialogue between Kurds in northern Iraq and Turkey. This
eventually would lead to finding a permanent solution for the problem.

Obama’s position on the Armenian genocide issue seems to be
a problematic one for Turkey. However, if Turkey were able to
demonstrate its openness to solving this issue through dialogue
— i.e., establishing a commission for independent historians to
investigate the issue objectively by examining international archives,
including Ottoman, Russian, British and Dashnak archives in Boston —
Obama would put pressure on the Armenian side to accept Turkey’s offer
as the first step of establishing dialogue between the two sides. Thus,
what Turkey should do is to choose a way to demonstrate its openness to
dialogue if the Armenian side accepts Turkey’s offer to establish the
commission of historians. On this matter, Professor Yusuf Halacoglu’s
recent statement of suggesting $20 million of financial help to open
the Dashnak archive in Boston would be clear evidence of the Turkish
authorities’ openness to dialogue on this subject.

* Emre Uslu is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Utah Middle
East Center. Onder Aytac is an associate professor at Gazi University
department of communications and works with the Security Studies
Institute in Ankara.

–Boundary_(ID_BIC6TaCRSfpPMoZ7C0mYJw)–

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress