Month: November 2009

KU RDISH INSTITUTE OF BRUSSELS: To the Attention of Press and Public
&quot=3BDERSIM &#039=3B38 CONFERANCE&quot=3B

To the Attention of Press and Public "DERSIM ’38 CONFERANCE"

================================ ==============
KIB – on 15 October, 2008 10:47:00

It’s the 70th anniversary of the Dersim Genocide. Although 70 years
have passed since the genocide by the Turkish Government in Dersim in
1937-38, this massacre has never been forgotten nor will it be
forgotten as the culprits have not been brought out into light.

Dersim massacre started with the Turkish Republic regime presenting
Dersim as a target by stating "Dersim is a ‘Pandora’s Box’".

First by means that aren’t very common the name of Dersim was changed
to ‘Tunceli in 1935.

In order to carry out this massacre, the Council of Ministers came
together in Ankara on 4 May 1937 and formed ‘Tunceli Questioning
Operation’ Council of Ministers and signed the half a page document
classed as "Top Secret" which was the order for the Dersim massacre.

According to the official figures 12 thousand people were massacred in
the Dersim Genocide. According to the people of Dersim 70 thousand
people were massacred. After this atrocious act thousand of people
were banished from their homeland.

On 16 November 1937, Seyit Riza who was one of the Kurdish leaders and
seven of his comrades were hanged in Elazig. Despite all attempts by
the families, the grave sites of Seyit Riza and his comrades still
haven’t been disclosed.

Dersim Genocide is not the only genocide the Republican Turkey has
committed towards Kurds and Alevis. During the reign of the Ottoman
emperor Ahmet I. between 9 December 1606 and 5 August 1611, the "fire
wells" of ‘Murat Pasha the Well digger’ who had murdered almost 100
thousand Kurdish Kizilbash Alevis, are still remembered by many. The
problem Yavuz Sultan Selim couldn’t solve in 1514 by murdering 40
thousand people by sword was attempted to be solved during 1935-1938
in Dersim once again by a massacre.

The 1938 tragedy has not only left behind the dead, the wounded and
banishments, it has left behind a depopulated region whose name and
all presence has been banned. The Dersim Kurds has faced a planned,
systematic genocide and an extremely cruel assimilation process
because of their=3B identity, language, culture and religious beliefs.

The "one language and one nation" policy of the Republic of Turkey
that continues in today’s society as been the source of serious
massacres first in Kocgiri, then at Seyh Said Revolt, at Zilan and at
Dersim.

During the Dersim Genocide the Turkish government has massacred
thousands of people, those who survived were banished, Dersim was
depopulated. The cause of these merciless acts was being Kurdish,
Alevi and Kizilbash. Although 70 years have passed, Turkey is not
willing to acknowledge this Genocide like many other Kurdish
Genocides. Those responsible for the deaths of thousands of people
have never been tried nor have they been brought out into light. The
broken families could never discover their past. Thousands of people
still haven’t received news from their families and close friends. The
whereabouts of the Kurdish children taken by the Turkish Government at
the time are unknown. Many other world counties who have had a similar
experiences and committed genocide against its people have
acknowledged the injustice and sorrow they have caused and have
apologised. However Turkey is continuing to resist and use "it does
not exist" strategy with the Kurdish Genocide just as they have with
the Armenian Genocide. Latin America called it "Making Peace"=3B the
Japan called it "Leaving the past behind"=3B Italy had the "Cleaning
Operation"=3B Austria took up "Nazi Cooperation"=3B Switzerland faced
the "Nazi Accounts" and the "Nazi Gold". Australia said "Sorry" to the
Aborigines. Canada did the same for the Quebecois. South Africa put an
end do the racist regime of Apartheid. This and similar examples prove
that it is only possible to cleanse ourselves from the outworn traces
and influences of the past by abandoning ‘denial’ and ‘destroying
strategies’. As evident by these examples, the road to living together
in peace goes through a democratic mentality transformation.

However, Turkey has not abandoned its desire for massacre, which it
uses as a government policy. Kurdish regions are still being bombed,
villages are being emptied, people being murdered because of their
identity and culture. To remind the world public of Dersim Genocide in
its 70th year, we are organising the "Dersim ’38 Conference" at the
European Parliament on 13 November 2008. We will be there to face our
history, to show that we have not forgotten nor will forget our
ancestors and mothers who had been massacred.

We convey that the solution for our difference is not to kill or to
die as it was the case in the Dersim Genocide and various other
Kurdish Revolts, but to be seen as cultural richness. The solution for
the Kurdish problem can be achieved not by denial or annihilation but
by a peaceful approach. However, having a safe and secure future can
be achieved if the government can face its past. Otherwise this pain
and trauma will not end and it will not contribute to the solution to
this problem.

Armenians, Greeks, Kurds, Jews, Alevis-Kizilbashes, Syrians,
Assyrians, all citizens of Turkey and those who were classed as "the
other" are the real owners of this move for Turkey to accept its past.

It is for this reason the Association of Reconstruction of Dersim is
organising a conference regarding the Dersim ’38 Genocide at the EU
Parliament with the left party acting as the host.

We invite all EU counties, UN, civil public organisations and Kurdish
people to show sympathy to this conference which will take place on 13
November 2008.

Institute for War & Peace Reporting IWPR, UK
Nov 13 2009

Azerbaijan wrestles with nationality poser

Young Armenian, born in Azerbaijan, faces bureaucratic struggle to
gain citizenship rights.

By Aytan Farhadova in Baku and Mammad-Sadiq Fataliyev in Sheki (CRS
No. 519, 13-Nov-09)

Akif Abishov just wants to be an ordinary Azeri young man, but he has
an awkward secret in a country that still lacks diplomatic relations
with Armenia. He is an ethnic Armenian.

He was handed to a state children’s home in the town of Sheki in 1988,
the year when growing ethnic tensions forced many Armenians to leave
Azerbaijan, and his relatives left him behind when they fled.

He has no documents to confirm his identity, but such documents might
do more harm than good, since his real name ` Artur Avakyan `
identifies him clearly as an Armenian.

He left the children’s home when he turned 18 in 2002 and since then
has appealed to numerous state bodies for help in securing documents,
but without results. His only ally has been Khalida Bayramova, deputy
head of the administration in the Sabail region of Baku.

"I am very grateful to Khalida khanum," he said, using the respectful
Azeri term for a woman. "Only she has sympathised with me. She found
me this accommodation, and helps with money. But every time when I ask
about documents, she tells me to be patient, that work is going on.
But the years are passing.

"I had a high school diploma in the name Akif Abishov, and when I went
and asked for documents they took it from me, supposedly to use in
preparing them. Now I only have a copy of it and I have never seen the
birth certificate where I have an Armenian name."

Without documents, Abishov cannot travel, make a doctor’s appointment,
receive state benefits and much more. Azerbaijan has inherited the
bureaucracy-heavy Soviet system, and it is impossible for him to enjoy
the rights of a citizen without being able to confirm his identity.

Bayramova herself told IWPR that the young man’s fate was unresolved
because it raises so many legal and ethical questions, and officials
are not sure how to proceed. Their indecision, combined with the
problems caused by his lacking the papers required to receive identity
documents, has left him in a legal limbo.

"This question is being discussed in the government, in the
president’s administration, in the parliament in the ministries of
justice, internal affairs and national security," she said.

"This is a political question, and publicity for this question will
just harm Akif himself. Of course, he is not to blame that he is an
Armenian, but a fact is a fact.

"We do not know what name to put in documents for him. We cannot make
them in his Azeri name. But to go around Azerbaijan with an Armenian
name is a death sentence. Or else he could just be deported from the
country."

According to Arif Yunus, a specialist in conflict resolution and
co-founder of the Institute for Peace and Democracy, there were just
25 Armenian men with typically Armenian surnames living in Baku in
1999, but that did not mean Akif Abishov did not deserve documents.

"Not giving documents to someone for reasons of ethnicity is a
violation of the law," he said.

A spokesman for the ministry of national security denied any knowledge
of the case and referred IWPR to the ministry of the interior, where a
spokesman in turn denied any knowledge.

"If the person you are speaking about appealed in the correct manner
to the ministry of the interior then, independently of his ethnicity,
he could receive documents confirming his identity," the spokesman
said.

Bayramova said there are three other young Armenian men in the same
position as Abishov. One works as a hairdresser, a second has been
adopted by an Azeri family, and the third still lives in a children’s
home despite being 23 years old.

IWPR visited the children’s home where Abishov lived until the age of
13, before he was moved to Baku, and discovered a letter confirming
his real name as Artur Avakyan, and his year of birth as 1984. But
there was no information as to the identity of his parents, since his
birth certificate had vanished somewhere along the way.

Fazil Mustafa, a member of parliament and chairman of the Party of
Great Creation, said documents should be provided for Abishov without
delay, and that the young man would then be able to move freely.

"If he wants Akif could then move to another country," he said,
perhaps expressing a broader wish among officials to get rid of the
problem.

But Abishov himself does not want to leave, and just wants to live
like any other young man in Baku.

"I have recorded on my phone a quote from Heydar Aliyev," he said,
referring to the father of the current president of Azerbaijan who
headed the country until 2003.

"It says ‘I have always been proud and am still proud that I am from
Azerbaijan’, and I listen to it all the time. I was born here, I know
Azeri as my native language. I want to work and to live in Azerbaijan,
I don’t want to leave my homeland," he said.

Aytan Farhadova is a journalist with Express newspaper. Mammad-Sadiq
Fataliyev is a freelance journalist.

news.am, Armenia
Nov 14 2009

Armenian Premier, German Ambassador discuss cooperation

17:37 / 11/13/2009Germany is interested in developing cooperation with
Armenia in various fields, German Ambassador to Armenia Hans-Jochen
Schmidt stated at his meeting with RA Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan.

The press service of the RA Foreign Office reported that during the
meeting the Armenian Premier underlined the small and medium-sized
business crediting program implemented in Armenia by the German KfW
Bank. T. Sargsyan pointed out the program was recognized the best in
this field in 2004-2005.

news.az, Azerbaijan
Nov 14 2009

Military expert: Trainings of Armenian armed forces is a provocation
Sat 14 November 2009 | 06:05 GMT Text size:

Uzeir Jafarov Military expert Uzeir Jafarov commented on the
conduction of military exercise of the Armenian armed forces in Aghdam
calling them "low-grade".

"These are not exercises but a parody and we should not pay attention
to these provocations. They take these cheap tricks every time before
the presidential meetings. Moreover, Armenians bought a large volume
of illegal arms and by such exercises the corrupted Armenian
servicemen write them off to buy new ones. This is where the money of
poor Armenian people go, while the people themselves live in poverty
against the luxury living of the Armenian war criminals. Thus, I would
call all these exercises a bandit game", the expert said.

Notably, the Armenian armed forces have started regular exercises in
the occupied part in Aghdam.

1 news.az

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

news.am, Armenia
Nov 14 2009

Levon Ter-Petrosyan burns bridges not: weekly review

11:30 / 11/14/2009Domestic policy

This week, after an interval, the Opposition Leader, Chairman of the
Armenian National Congress (ANC) Levon Ter-Petrosyan has appeared in
public. He made a speech at a closed meeting of the ANC active
members, but the text of his speech was sent out to mass media.
Without going into details, we would like to speak of the general
impression produced by Ter-Petrosyan’s statements. It is obvious that
Ter-Petrosyan and his supporters have no intention to hold actions of
protest against the Armenian-Turkish protocols. Moreover, the
Opposition leader kept his promise: after the authorities rejected the
repeated appeals for releasing all the arrested Opposition members, he
left the authorities `face to face’ with the external pressure in
connection with the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process, without holding
rallies of protest. On November 11, however, Ter-Petrosyan did not
burn all the bridges behind him, leaving a chance of cooperation with
the authorities. The idea of releasing the 17 Opposition members ran
all through the ANC Chairman’s speech. Ter-Petrosyan addressed another
`cooperation message’ to the authorities ` with cooperation in dealing
with national problems possible provided the Opposition members are
released.

The developments involving by-elections to the RA Parliament in
election District #10 are getting more and more interesting. The most
intriguing is the registration of Nikol Pashinyan, Editor-in-Chief of
the Haykakan Zhamanak newspaper, who is on trial. Hardly anyone had
any doubts that the authorities would do their best to refuse
registration. One more conclusion can be drawn from the authorities’
actions: they are acting in the `best’ traditions of fighting the
Opposition. Only the `brave’ law-enforcers of Armenia could issue a
certificate informing that Nikol Pashinyan was absent from Armenia
from February 26, 2008, to July 7, 2009, considering the fact that
late last February Pashinyan was at the head of massive opposition
rallies in Liberty Square and is now charged with having organized
riots on March 1, 2008, the time when he was allegedly absent from
Armenia. If the authorities made a political decision to prevent the
oppositionist from participating in the by-elections, they might have
invented less absurd reasons than denying him a document confirming
his presence in Armenia during a certain period and, at the same time,
demonstrating a video record with his active participation in the
protest rallies in Yerevan on March 1, 2008. The Armenian
law-enforcement agencies must be unable to understand their own
actions and possible consequences. As regards the Armenian
authorities, they are most likely to fight `until the last gun is
fired’ to prevent Pashinyan’s participation in the by-elections, which
will only add political dividends to the Opposition. Besides the
`epic’ about Pashinyan’s nomination, another intrigue is that the
businessman Eduard Madatyan, who intends to run for Parliament in the
by-elections, was denied a certificate confirming his presence in
Armenia over the last few years. Madatyan is trying to pose as a
`secret’ nominee of the ruling coalition. He was denied the
certificate in conformity with the law: after he was charged with an
attempted crime against Armenian top-officials in 2004, he was on the
list of wanteds and lived in Russia for a long period. The question
is: who will lay hands on the `fatty’ constituency if neither
Pashinyan nor Madatyan is finally registered as a candidate. Did the
Armenian authorities decide to back the political scientist Hamayak
Hovhannisyan, who, under the circumstances, is the only acceptable
parliamentary candidate? Since Armenia gained independence, Hamayak
Hovhannisyan has managed to join and leave several political parties,
and is now highly critical of the authorities. It seems absurd, but
everything is possible in Armenia’s political life.

The Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP) led by the oligarch Gagik
Tsarukyan, which is part of the ruling coalition, disproved the rumors
about possible resignation of RA Minister of Labor Social Security
Gevorg Petrosyan. The PAP representative Aram Safaryan said that the
rumors are `somebody’s order.’ `We are satisfied with our Minister’s
work, and the party has not discussed the issue of his resignation,’
Safaryan told NEWS.am. Some media outlets have reported this week that
PAP intends to replace Gevorgyan.

Nagorno-Karabakh peace process and region

The major developments in the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process have
taken place under the sign of an Armenian-Azerbaijani presidential
meeting scheduled for late November. The negotiation process seriously
intensified after the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs’ recent visit to the
region. A number of facts confirm this, the international mediators’
visit to the region scheduled for mid-November being one of them.

In this context, interesting statements were made in Baku. The main
aim behind the stock phrases is preparing the Azerbaijani society for
inevitable concessions after many years of militant rhetoric, as the
conflict is impossible to settle otherwise. Convinced of the futile
attempts to get new concessions from the Armenian side, official Baku,
pressured by international mediators, had to think of what Azerbaijan
has to propose in exchange for the most substantial, and painful,
concessions outlined by the Armenian authorities.

As a result, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mamedyarov made a
plain statement on the intensification of negotiations. Singing the
same old song about Azerbaijan’s demands ‘ `the earliest possible
withdrawal of Armenian troops from Azerbaijani territories’ ` the
top-ranking official `explained the point’ of negotiations. After a
long talk about the need for returning the territories round
Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijan, Mamedyarov dwelt on the status of
Nagorno-Karabakh. Although he once again stated Azerbaijan’s readiness
to grant Nagorno-Karabakh the highest degree of autonomy within
Azerbaijan’s borders, Minister Mamedyarov admitted the fact that it is
a central issue of the negotiations. Speaking of the highest status of
Nagorno-Karabakh is utterly absurd, as a referendum on independence
was held in the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR), and the overwhelming
majority of the population supported the idea.

It is obvious that the negotiators are currently disputing over the
terms and form of referendum on Nagorno-Karabakh’s status, which is
provided for by the Madrid Principles referred to by the Armenian and
Azerbaijani authorities, as well as by the international mediators. In
this context, Minister Mamedyarov’s latest statements are clear: being
well aware of their inevitable consent to the referendum (which is a
necessary condition for the withdrawal of Armenian troops from the
security zone round Nagorno-Karabakh), the Azeri authorities are
trying to `play false’ by focusing attention on official Yerevan’s
concessions and doing their best to delay the plebiscite.

Incidentally, the political scientist Rasim Musabekov, who is close to
the Aliyev clan, has admitted the fact that Nagorno-Karabakh’s status
is a central issue of the negotiation process. He proved even franker
than Mamedyarov by actually urging the Azerbaijani public to focus its
attention on the first stage of the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process,
namely, a phased return of the regions round the NKR, which scenario
is ruled out unless an agreement on the terms and form of referendum
on Nagorno-Karabakh’s status is reached.

As regards the Armenian-Turkish protocols and their ratification by
the two Parliaments, no changes have taken place `on the front.’ Both
in Ankara and in Yerevan, the documents `got stuck’ at the stage of
what is known as `interagency endorsement.’ In Armenia, the protocols
have not yet reached the Constitutional Court, which is to confirm
their constitutionality, whereupon they can be submitted to the RA
Parliament for ratification. A similar situation has developed in
Turkey: the protocols at held up at the Foreign Affairs Committee.
When the documents will be submitted to the Turkish Parliament for
ratification is unknown. The sides seem to be waiting for something¦

In any case, they have so far held a pompous and `thrilling’ signing
ceremony of the protocols, with no actual steps to put them into
practice being taken.

Despite the `relative stagnation’ in the Armenia-Turkey normalization
process, which is the result of official Ankara’s unwillingness to
`turn a stone deaf ear’ to the howl in Baku, irreversible processes
seem to be going on inside Turkish society. A poll conducted by the
NTV Company showed that most that most Turks want Hayko Cepkin, a
Turkish musician of Armenian descent, to represent Turkey at
Eurovision-2010 ‘ 16% of the 10,000 respondents spoke in his favor.

Economy and social life

This week the Armenian society has been shocked by reports on swine
flu cases in the country. The real number of patients must be much
higher, but the RA Ministry of Health provides information `in scraps’
to prevent panic. In any case, the fact is that the contradictory
statements on the vaccine made by officials and specialists may only
add to the population’s concern.

The RA Government has approved a concept of digitizing the
broadcasting. At its sitting the cabinet instructed the interagency
commission to work out a schedule of public discussions and submit it
to the Government within a month. The Government also approved a plan
of developing an anti-hail system in 2010-2011. The anti-hail systems
will first of all be installed in Aragatsotn, Ararat, Armavir, Kotayk,
Lori and Shirak. RA Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan stated that about
1bn AMD (U.S. $2.6m dollars) will be allocated for this purpose.

The water level of Lake Sevan, which is currently 1,899 meters is
expected to rise by 4.6 meters by 2013. Chairman of the Commission for
Lake Sevan Vladimir Movsisyan said that over 40% of the lake’s water
reserves have been used for irrigation and energy generation since
1993, and steps to preserve the ecosystem are being made now. `The
water level had risen by 45 cm by January 1, 2009, as compared with
the corresponding date last year. By January 1, 2010, it is expected
to rise by 31 cm,’ Movsisyan said. He also reported that cleaning work
on 499 hectares of the coastal zone has been carried out this year.
Movsisyan also pointed out the negative consequences of the raising of
water level. By preliminary estimates, 1,697 water-front constructions
` with only 481 of them being legal ‘ will be inundated. Also, the
water will cover four pumping stations and 15km of roads. Eighteen
kilometer-long power transmission lines, 19km of gas pipelines and
about 2,800 hectares of forests will be flooded as well.

Seven old people’s homes ` four government-financed and three
privately-owned ones ` are working in Armenia, Anahit Gevorgyan of the
RA Ministry of Labor and Social Security told NEWS.am.

She reported that 1,100 old people are currently in charge of the
institutions, with 1,010 of them in government-financed and only 90 in
privately-owned ones in Vanadzor, Gyumri and Abovyan. The daily
allowance for one person is 2,860 AMD (less than U.S. $8), with 1,160
AMD of this amount provided for food. The situation is a little
`better" at the Vanadzor mental home ` 5,000 AMD per patient.

Gevorgyan said that the `charges” relatives can hardly help them.
Rather, it is grave social conditions that force people to send their
old parents to nursing homes. Gevorgyan said not a single instance of
children taking their parents back home has been registered over the
last 20 years.

news.am, Armenia
Nov 14 2009

4 more suspected of swine flu in Armenia

14:54 / 11/14/2009New swine flu cases are not registered in Armenia
yet. The number of AH1N1 virus cases is 11, Armenia’s chief
infectiologist Ara Asoyan told NEWS.am.

Meanwhile, presently four people suspected of swine flu are under
medical examination in Nork infectious diseases hospital, Asoyan
outlined.

As NEWS.am reported previously, out of 11 infected, three patients are
already discharged from the hospital. The health state of others is
stable. Among 11 swine flu infected there are 2 Iranian, 1 Turkish and
8 RA citizens. There is no vaccine available for adults and children
in Armenia yet. There is only certain amount of Tamiflu in the
country.

news.az, Azerbaijan
Nov 14 2009

Turkish minister: "Azerbaijan should believe Premier Erdogan"
Sat 14 November 2009 | 07:32 GMT Text size:

Egemen Bagis, Turkey’s state minister for European affairs, said
during a meeting with Turkish diaspora representatives in Sweden that
our Azerbaijani brothers should trust Erdogan when he says that the
borders with Armenia will not open without the settlement of the
Karabakh conflict, Hurriyet newspaper reports.

Meanwhile, Turkey should not stop negotiations. "We should negotiate
to attain results," Bagis said.

1 news.az

news.am, Armenia
Nov 14 2009

Azerbaijani media speaks on behalf of State Department

14:25 / 11/14/2009U.S. is thoroughly monitoring developments in the
Ergenekon case, Turkish Zaman daily reads.

According to the daily, in the course of his visit to Turkey, the
assistant secretary of state for Europe and Eurasian affairs Philip
Gordon stated that Obama administration is `very interested in things
that dominate the headlines in Turkey.’ However he added that `when
you have judicial and internal political developments, they are not
for us. We watch it closely because it has an impact on one of our key
partners.’

Gordon also touched upon Turkish efforts to settle the Kurdish
problem, saying ""It does seem to be an opportunity to not only fully
integrate all of Turkey’s citizens but to get beyond the conflict that
has been devastating Turkey for many years. ¦ Obviously that is
something the US supports."

The U.S. diplomat also underlined the significance of Middle East
peace, Armenia-Turkey normalization, as well as discussed the issues
on Cyprus, Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran’s nuclear program.

The day before Azerbaijani mass media spread misinformation concerning
Gordon’s statements in Turkey. According to Azeri press, Gordon said
it would be difficult to ratify Armenia-Turkey Protocols without
progress in Karabakh peace process.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Aysor, Armenia
Nov 14 2009

A/H1N1: No death cases recorded in Armenia

Armenia’s chief virologist, Ara Asoyan called for the people to stop
the `aggressive races’ to the pharmacies. According to the information
of Aysor.am reporter, he has mentioned that `Tamiflu’ the medicine
against the influenza is recommended only in difficult cases, which is
not found in our country at the moment.

`The first step to undertake after starting the measures preventing
A/H1 N1 was informing the people about it, and we discovered the 11
sick citizens in t hat way’, – stated A. Asoyan and added `3 of them
have applied to hospital with the suspect of being infected by A/H1 N1
influenza, 3 more citizens found in the airport, which is speaking
about the people being informed.’

According to A. Asoyan he is getting many calls and the created
situation is reaching to psychos.

A. Asoyan informed that in abroad the 9% of those who died of A/H1 N1
actually died not because of the A/H1 N1 but because of the
complication of the state of the patient.

Today more than 503536 people are infected in the whole world and 6000
of them are dead. The dead cases are mainly recorded in the USA, in
Europe the dead cases have less percentage.

The number of the infected is 11 in Armenia 3 of them are cured and
the other 8 are under control of the doctors.

United Press International UPI
Nov 14 2009

Armenians urged to reject peace deal

ANKARA, Turkey, Nov. 14 (UPI) — The leader of an Armenian-American
group is urging Armenians worldwide to reject a reconciliation process
with Turkey.

The process would hinder efforts to win formal U.S. recognition of
World War I-era killings of Armenians as genocide, said Ken Hachikian,
head of the Armenian National Committee of America.

After decades of hostile relations, Turkey and Armenia last month
agreed to establish normal diplomatic relations and reopen their
border lands. The deal still must be ratified by the parliaments of
each country.

More than 1 million Armenians died in forced marches and massacres
during and just after World War I in conflicts with armies of the
Ottoman Empire, Hachikian told an audience in Pasadena, Calif.,
Thursday.

Turkey, the successor state of the Ottoman Empire, long has denied
genocide is an accurate description of the conflict, Hurriyet Daily
News reported Saturday.

The agreement reached last month would "reduce the Armenian genocide
from a crime against all humanity" to a simple, and unacceptable,
bilateral dispute, Hachikian said.