Month: November 2009

TURKISH AUTHOR REVEALS ARMENIAN, KURDISH MASSACRES IN MODERN TURKEY

By Asbarez Staff
Nov 19th, 2009

ANKARA (Hurriyet)–In the late 1930s, the nascent Turkish Republic
massacred a village of Kurds and Armenian Genocide Survivors under
the guise of an operation against a fabricated Kurdish rebellion,
previously unseen photographs, historically important documents and
eye-witness accounts reveal.

Hasan Saltuk the author of a new 600-page book said his research
seeks to unravel the taboo of the Dersim Massacres.

Set to be released in May in both English and Turkish, the book will
challenge the official history of the incident, using primary sources
to reveal the government’s role in the brutal massacre of this Kurdish
village in the formative years of the modern Turkish Republic.

"Over 13,000 people were killed by Turkish armed forces during the
operation and 22,000 were exiled. Orphaned children were subjected
to Turkification policies in orphanages," Saltuk said.

The official historical sources say the 1938 operation in Dersim, now
called Tunceli, was implemented to quash a Kurdish tribal rebellion.

Saltuk’s research, however, reveals otherwise.

"We see in the documents that the Dersim operation was planned;
the reports were prepared in 1920. The law related to the operation
was passed in 1935 and action was taken in 1937. Seyit Rıza and his
friends were hanged on grounds that they were leading a rebellion,"
Saltuk said.

Although the government at the time labeled it a Kurdish tribal
insurrection, Saltuk said the fundamental reason behind the operation
was that the region was home to Tunceli Alevis who were merely Armenian
Genocide survivors that had changed their identities.

"The official sources say Dersim residents were not paying taxes or
performing military service and that they were always rebelling.

However, we have documents proving the opposite. Ataturk led the
Dersim operation himself," he said.

"Historians here cannot go beyond the official ideology; they do
not do any research. Those who do research and know the truth cannot
raise a voice because they are afraid," Saltuk said.

The book reprints the comments he found on the back of all the
photographs he obtained. In many cases, the comments expressed remorse
for the events in Dersim. "[Many] felt qualms of conscience for
what was experienced. Some expressed their feelings with the words,
‘I have become a murderer.’ Others wrote, ‘I caused the deaths of
250 people,’" Saltuk said.

The project involved following the trails of surviving soldiers who
participated in the operation, Saltuk said, adding that he saw many who
were unable to adapt to social life. "Many soldiers we [interviewed]
demanded their names be made public after their deaths.

A few people did not mind having their names in the book; some said,
‘They ordered us to kill and we did,’" he said.

He obtained hundreds of original photos and maps alongside two dossiers
of population records from the grandchild – whose name Saltuk withheld
– of a high level civil servant from that era. "The invaluable
documents and photographs in the dossiers reveal the operation in
all its detail. However, it is without doubt that much more striking
files are in the archives of the Turkish General Staff."

Saltuk, who is the owner of the Kalan record label, a researcher and
an ethnomusicologist, has spent nine years collecting previously
unseen photographs, historically important documents and comments
from soldiers who participated in the operation..

A member of one of the oldest families of Dersim, Saltuk said that
even though he was from a Turkmen tribe on his father’s side, dozens
of their relatives were murdered during the operation.

"My grandmother was pregnant with my mother but she saved herself from
the firing squad at the last minute," Saltuk said in an interview with
the Turkish Hurriyet Daily News & Economic Review. "Dersim residents
are still afraid to talk. The elderly still think somebody’s going
to come and kill them."

Saltuk said he believes that Turkey has entered an age of great
change. "All the taboos of this country will be broken and, in the
future, there will not be anything that cannot be spoken about."

SHAVARSH KOCHARYAN: AZERBAIJAN USES THE TALKS AS A COVER FOR ITS PROPAGANDA

armradio.am
20.11.2009 12:02

Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov has made statements
about the Azerbaijani view of the process of settlement and the
resolution of the Karabakh conflict. Asked to comment on the
statements, Armenian Deputy Foraging Minister Shavarsh Kocharyan said:

"It has already become usual for the Azerbaijani side to make
statements preceding the presidential meetings with a view of hindering
the progress that could be expected from those meetings.

According to Mr. Azimov’s comprehension of international law, the
perpetration of ethnic cleansing against a self-determined people,
the organization of terrorist acts with involvement of militants,
the launching of a large-scale aggression against Nagorno Karabakh
that resulted in a thousands of human and material losses, and the
unsuccessful attempts to lay the burden on Armenia correspond standards
of international law.

Unless Azerbaijan refuses from its militant statements, the propagation
of ethnic hatred, and the non-constructive statements severely
violating the international law, unless they realize that according
to the norms and provisions of international law, it’s he people of
Artsakh that should determine the status of Nagorno Karabakh, it’s
obvious that they are using the negotiations as a cover for their
groundless propaganda."

ADMINISTRATIVE COURT UPHOLDS NIKOL PASHINYAN’S ACTION AGAINST POLICE
Lusine Vasilyan

"Radiolur"
20.11.2009 14:08

The Administrative Court today returned the verdict on Nikol
Pashinyan’s action against Police. The Court decided to uphold the
action and require the authorized body to provide a certificate
confirming Nikol Pashinyan’s permanent residence in the Republic
of Armenia over the past five years. The verdict was unexpected for
Pashinyan’s defenders and his representative.

"We have already taken certain steps. Very quickly we have mobilized
all forces to ensure Nikol Pashinyan’s victory at the elections of
January 10," said David Matevosyan, Nikol Pashinyan’s representative.

ERGENEKON PROBE EXPOSES SURVEILLANCE OF ARMENIAN COMMUNITY OF TURKEY

armradio.am
20.11.2009 14:30

The investigation into an alleged illegal network known as Ergenekon
has revealed that a civilian who was formerly employed by the Turkish
Armed Forces (TSK) had collected detailed information on Turkey’s
ethnic Armenian population, Today’s Zaman reported.

Ergenekon investigators found that Fatma Cengiz, who is currently
a suspect in the case against Ergenekon, collected various dossiers
regarding the Armenian community in Turkey. The file included a list
of subscribers to the bilingual Armenian weekly Agos.

In addition, there were lists of names and members of Armenian
foundations and churches, which were classified as "active" or not,
as well as the balance sheets of Agos.

Cengiz had been in the limelight before after claims that she gave
information to Ýbrahim Þahin, a former deputy head of the National
Police Department’s Special Operations Unit, to establish "S-1 and
S-2 teams" to assassinate intellectual leaders in society.

According to sources, Cengiz also tracked the names of academics,
writers and journalists who participated a two-day academic
conference held on Sept. 24-25, 2005, at Istanbul Bilgi University
titled "Ottoman Armenians during the Decline of the Empire: Issues
of Scientific Responsibility and Democracy." The conference openly
disputed the official Turkish account of the Armenian massacres.

In the files allegedly belonging to Cengiz, who is also known as
Asena Ozturk, there are several famous names, with notes next to
their names: Halil Berktay, "professor, he had publicly said that
Armenians were massacred"; Kazým Akýncý, "secret Armenian, he applied
to a court to change his religion after Dink [Turkish-Armenian editor
Hrant Dink who was assassinated by an ultranationalist teenager in
2007]"; Ece Temelkuran, "she said that if something happens to her the
prime minister is responsible for it, she is a graduate of the Ankara
faculty of law"; Herkul Milas, "he is not an Armenian"; Sevan Niþanyan,
"writer at Taraf, maybe from Agos, needed to be investigated"; Markar
Esayan, "Taraf writer, information regarding him will come together
with Etyen Mahcupyan"; Aytac Ýlhan, "he might be a student in Iðdýr,
he should be investigated, he had applied to change his religion";
Baskýn Oran, Adalet Aðaoðlu and Elif Þafak.

Investigators have also found a PowerPoint presentation which was
allegedly prepared by Cengiz, who signed it as Asena Ozturk. In that
presentation, pictures of Þahin and Korkut Eken, a former officer of
the TSK Special Operations, are placed side by side. There is also
a photograph of former Chief of General Staff Gen. Yaþar Buyukanýt,
in addition to the expression "Everything is for the country,"
written in blood on a background of weapons and the Turkish flag.

NA SPEAKER MEET MEMBERS OF THE AGO GROUP

armradio.am
20.11.2009 17:11

On November 20 the Speaker of the National Assembly of Armenia, Hovik
Abrahamyan, received members of the Ago Monitoring Group of the Council
of Europe Committee of Ministers headed by Ambassador Stelian Stojan,
Romania’s Permanent Representative at the Council of Europe.

Greeting the guests, Speaker Hovik Abrahamyan presented the
developments following the 2008 elections and the measures taken to
overcome the consequences of the tragic events of March 1-2.

The parties discussed the development of the past 1.5 years,
emphasizing that a serious progress has been registered.

The interlocutors agreed that it was necessary to continue working
to reinforce that progress, emphasizing the importance of trust in
the government agencies.

During the meeting the parties referred to the issue of normalization
of Armenian-Turkish relations without preconditions.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

COMPARE THE ARMENIAN CEMETERY OF JUGHA AND THE AZERBAIJANI CEMETERY OF AGDAM
Alisa Gevorgyan

"Radiolur"
20.11.2009 17:25

"Armenians are barbarously destroying Garaji cemetery in Azerbaijan’s
occupied Agdam region," representative of the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs of Azerbaijan declared a few days ago.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic has
already issued a statement on this occasion, saying that" Polukhov’s
statements can be evaluated as a regular attempt to cast a shade on
the Nagorno Karabakh Republic and draw the international community’s
attention away from the vandalism organized systematically by the
Baku authorities, in particular, the destruction of the primarily
Armenian Narimanov cemetery in Baku on the pretext of building a
highway, or the recent destruction of khachkars (cross stones) in
Old Jugha in Nakhichevan where no military activities took place."

According to Samvel Karapetyan, head of Research on Armenian
Architecture NGO, this is a usual policy of Azerbaijan to conceal
its own barbarity and crimes. Maybe, in Azerbaijan’s logic, the
loss of two damaged gravestones of a Soviet-times cemetery can be
considered barbarity as compared to the destruction of the thousands
of crossstones of the millennia-old Jugha cemetery.

According to the same Azerbaijani logic, Armenians that have liberated
their own motherland are called occupants.

The false alarm of our neighbors made Samvel Karapetyan recall the
real barbarities not only in Nakhijevan, but also in other regions
under Azerbaijani control. Because of well-known reasons, it’s nearly
impossible to find information about the Armenian monuments of those
regions, Samvel Karapetyan said.

ARMENIAN PM: AMD 3.5 BILLION PROVIDED TO CONSTRUCTORS BY GOVERNMENT SINCE BEGINNING OF 2009

ARKA
NOVEMBER 20, 2009
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, November 20. /ARKA/. The government has provided budget
guarantees of AMD 3.5 billion to constructors since the beginning of
this year, Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan said at a routine
governmental meeting on Thursday.

"This small amount has been lent on quite strict terms and only to
those constructors having 50% of their construction completed," he
said. "This makes us confident that this money will help to complete
construction."

The premier said that the government-provided credit guarantees gave
ground for rumors, which have nothing in common with the reality.

"This is one of the decisions that have prompted criticism from
our opponents, who are unhappy about the government’s support for
constructors," Sargsyan said.

"It seems constructors are foes to our nation and deserve no support,
because the crisis is their fault."

"These funds are insignificant, and allegations that we dissipate
the credit resources received from Russia are groundless," the
premier said.

He stressed that the government provides guarantees, and commercial
banks extend loans.

So, banks control risks. It means if banks find borrowers risky,
they refuse to lent money them.

Besides, he said, the guarantees are under public control, since all
criteria are worded quite clearly and observed accurately.

On Thursday, the government provided another guarantee.

The guarantee of $500,000 was given to Norashen Constructor Company
for completing construction of an apartment block.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

WASHINGTON-CAPITAL’S CREDIT PORTFOLIO MAKES AROUND 600 MILLION DRAMS

ARKA
NOVEMBER 20, 2009
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, November 20, /ARKA/. Armen Khachian, director general of
Washington-Capital universal credit organization, said to ARKA the
company’s credit portfolio makes around 600 million Drams. He said
the company’s major direction is provision of mortgage credits.

The company was actively allocating mortgage credits in 2005 and 2006,
later the pace slowed down a little and then it joined a mortgage
program funded by German KfW bank in 2007.

In 2007 the company’s credit portfolio stood at 250 million Drams,
rising to 400 million in 2008 and to 600 million as of October 1, 2009.

Armen Khachian said Washington-Capital joined October 1 the National
Mortgage Company offering mortgage credits up to 20 million Drams at
12-14% interest rate repayable in 20 years.

The universal credit organization Washington-Capital was founded
in 2005.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

MURDER OF DIRECTOR OF GNGO ‘KHOSROV FOREST STATE RESERVE’ SOLVED

ArmInfo
2009-11-20 14:39:00

ArmInfo. Murder of Director of GNGO "Khosrov Forest State Reserve"
Samvel Shaboyan has been solved, Head of the Central Criminal
Investigation Department of Armenia’s Police, Colonel of Police
Hovhannes Tamanyan said at a press-conference today. According to
him, the criminal, Karen Petrosyan, a resident of the town of Vedi
of Ararat region, born on 1978, has already been arrested, and the
arms have been withdrawn.

"I have currently no right to characterize the crime as vendetta,
since the motives of the murder will be clarified after preliminary
investigation", Tamanyan said when speaking about the reasons of the
murder. When asked why the body of the killed was carried to Artashat
from Yerevan, H. Tamanyan replied that an information about murder was
received from Artashat, where Shaboyan’s body was already delivered
to by his driver in his official car.

To recall, Samvel Shaboyan was killed on November 18 at about 11:50
PM local time in Myasnikyan Str. in Yerevan. At the moment of attack,
he was in his official car Toyota Prado with numbers 007 LL 71.

ILLOGICAL DECISIONS ON DENO GOLD MINING CASE

ArmInfo
2009-11-20 14:32:00

ArmInfo. The verdict of the Syunik regional court to reject suit
against Deno Gold Mining company still causes many questions. To
recall, the lawsuit was filed by the public organization "On ensuring
ecological safety and democracy development", which represents the
interests of 140 owners living not far from the DGM of Shaumyan
deposit. Permanent explosion and making holes led to destruction of
houses and communications. In 2008 Deno Gold Mining company gave
compensation only to 8 owners living in Shahumyan region, all the
rest 140 families did not get compensation.

As the of the ‘Ecolur’ organization Inga Zarafyan told ArmInfo
correspondent, on 23 October the regular court of Syunik region issued
a verdict which sounds a little bit misty ‘About prevention of danger
to the life and health of Shaumyan region residents because of the
mining activity at this territory’. But it is not clear what events are
supposed under the word "prevention". Some time later, in November the
same judge Anahit Tumanyan rejected suit against DGM, grounding such
a decision that no proof of threatening the life and health of people
was presented in the materials of the case. ‘We think that the court
issued judicially wrong verdict. If on 23 October the court made a
verdict to prevent danger to life and health of Shahumyan residents,
it means that time it had all the needed proof’, – Zarafyan said.

According to her, the experts have multiply indicated a number of
violations revealed in the activity of Deno Gold Mining. "We are much
concerned over the poisonous dump, which numbers a thousand tons
and which are overthrown right in the center of Kapan. Noteworthy,
Armenia’s Ministry of Nature Protection said, responding to our
request, that the dump is in the territory the Company owns. However,
this territory is actually the property of Kapan community", I.

Zarafyan said. Another circumstance, which is neglected by the
authorized instances, is illegal change of Atchanan riverbed aimed
at facilitation of ore generation in the mine. As a result of
investigation, it was cleared up that DPM company contaminates both
the river and the riverside territories by wastes. "We think that
Armenia’s Nature Protection Inspection is in close relations with
DGM company", Zarafyan said.

To note, all the issues related to the activity of DGM in Armenia,
will be raised by Inga Zarafyan on November 24 within the frames of
international conference in London.