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VAHAGN DADRIAN AND STEPHEN FEINSTEIN REBUT GENOCIDE DENIAL IN TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT

Azg/arm
27 Nov 04

The following letter was published in the November 19, 2004 issue of the
Times Literary Supplement

Armenia in history

Sir, – The seemingly persistent attempts of Norman Stone from Ankara’s
Bilkent University to question the historical reality of the Armenian
genocide during the First World War are dismaying indeed (Letters,
October 15, November 5). A cursory examination of his use of source
materials may in part explain the nature of the problem. Professor
Stone insists, for example, that the provinces of Ardahan, Kars
and Batum “were not ceded to Turkey”. In the text of the Treaty of
Brest-Litovsk, however, Article Four, paragraph iii, reads: “Russia
will do all within her power to insure the immediate evacuation of
the provinces of eastern Anatolia . . . . The districts of Ardahan,
Kars, and Batum will without delay be cleared of Russian troops
. . . “. This can be interpreted only as Russia ceding control over
these areas (Jane Degras, ed, Soviet Documents on Foreign Policy,
Volume One, 1917â~@~S24; 1951, p53).

Stone likewise keeps insisting that, according to “the transcript
of the German court case”, the Naim-Andonian documents were
“discarded”. But on more careful reading he may recognize the critical
difference between a conscious decision not to question the central
message of the documents, on the one hand, and a decision to “discard”
them, on the other. (Tessa Hofmann, Der Völkermord an den Armeniern
vor Gericht: Der Prozess Talaat Pasha, 1985).

Moreover, Robert Kempner, a prominent German jurist who served as
Deputy to Justice Jackson – the chief American prosecutor at the
Nuremberg Trials, and who as a young law student had attended the
Talaat Pasha murder trial in Berlin, in a noted law journal identified
the jury’s verdict as a recognition and condemnation of the “gross
human rights violations caused by a government, especially genocide
perpetrated against the Armenians” (“Sixty Years Ago – A German Jury
Trial: The Genocide of the Armenians” [in German], Recht und Politik,
Volume Three, 1980, p167).

Professor Stone persists in questioning the veracity of the 1939
statement, “Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the
Armenians?”, attributed to Hitler, by discounting evidence that is
compelling. After some meticulous research, the author Edouard Calic
established the fact that, already eight years earlier, Hitler twice
had spoken in the same sense (Unmasked: Two confidential interviews
with Hitler in 1931, 1971, p154).

Perhaps the most authoritative validation in this respect issues
from University of North Carolina’s Gerhard L. Weinberg. Following
his extensive research in the archives of the British Foreign Office
and the Institute for Contemporary History in Munich in 1968 and
1971, Professor Weinberg, in his book The Foreign Policy of Hitler’s
Germany, and subsequently in the New York Times (“Hitler’s Remark
on Armenians Reported in 1939”, June 18, 1985), gave credence to
the authenticity of the document containing Hitler’s statement. He
found it in the secret notes Admiral Canaris, the head of German
counter-intelligence, had taken during Hitler’s August 22, 1939,
speech, delivered to the German generals in Obersalzberg. As to
Professor Heath Lowry, Stone’s principal source for disputing
much of the Armenian genocide, he, Lowry, characterizes American
Ambassador Morgenthau’s “wartime dispatches and written reports . . .
submitted to the US State Department” as “the real”, i.e. authentic
material – as compared to his subsequently published book (The Story
behind Ambassador Morgenthau’s Story, Istanbul, 1990, p. 91).

Well, here is then “a proper account” Stone stipulated as a condition
for conceding the Armenian genocide. In a nine-page “Private and
Confidential” letter Morgenthau sent to the US Secretary of State
Robert Lansing on November 18, 1915, he wrote, “I am firmly convinced
that this is the greatest crime of all ages . . . . The war was
a great opportunity to put into effect their long cherished plan
of exterminating the Armenian race . . . ” (US National Archives,
R.G.59.876.00/798 1/2, pp7…8).

All this casts in stark relief Norman Stone’s purported “neutrality”
on the subject. Should he need to overcome this, he might obtain
special inspiration from the 126 Holocaust scholars, including the
Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel, who at the thirtieth anniversary of
the Scholars’ Conference on the Holocaust and the Churches held
in Philadelphia, issued a declaration. That statement, published
in the June 8, 2000, issue of the New York Times, and subsequently
in the Jerusalem Post, declared that: “The Armenian genocide is an
Incontestable historical Fact”.

By Vahagn Dadrian and Stephen Feinstein, Center for Holocaust and
Genocide Studies, University of Minnesota

–Boundary_(ID_zmDSdxqjNtncQnBL+tKp/A)–

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Solidarity hero joins the men trying to organise a peaceful revolution
By Arnold Krushelnycky in Kiev

Belfast Telegraph
Nov 26, 2004

Yuriy Kostenko’ dark Toyota limousine slid along the sometimes steep,
snow-covered streets of the Ukrainian capital. His driver, Volodya,
relegated to the back seat, grumbled.

Mr Kostenko is in a rush these days and often jumps into the driver’s
seat before Volodya can stop him. Mr Kostenko, 50, is leader of
the People’s Party, and one of the closest political allies of the
pro-democracy opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko, the man at the
centre of the political storm gripping Ukraine that has even drawn
in that old political warhorse Lech Walesa.

As Mr Yushchenko leading ally, Mr Kostenko’s days have been manic as
he stokes the mood of thousands of protesters. Their camp is preparing
for power and a possible revolution.

Sometimes, Volodya doesn’t even make the back seat of Mr Kostenko’s
limo. Yesterday, his boss left without him. “I know it annoys him a
bit but, right now, driving myself is the only way I have to relax
for a few minutes,” Mr Kostenko said.

He talked in measured tones, sometimes raising his eyebrows and
grinning as his mobile phone brought yet another call. The drive took
him to his office in parliament where he looked through a pile of
faxes and took note of a long list of messages logged by his secretary.

The office is lined with photographs of mountains and climbers. Mr
Kostenko is an accomplished mountaineer, having tackled the Alps,
the Andes and the Caucasus. He is also a potholer and in 1988 he
volunteered to rescue victims of an earthquake that had hit Armenia. He
remembers fondly some of the British rescue teams he met there.

The fitness that climbing demands probably gives him the reserves of
energy to keep going on the less than four hours’ sleep he has had
each night since Saturday.

The next stop was one of the buildings the opposition uses for its
meetings in the old city near one of Europe’s first universities, the
Kiev Mohyla Academy. Here the atmosphere crackled as young volunteers
worked furiously.

Clad in orange sweaters, dresses, hats, boots, ribbons, scarves ­ some
of the women also had orange nails ­ they rushed around, focused but
quick to smile for Mr Kostenko who greeted them all with affection.

Next, he made for a meeting with the Polish Solidarity leader Mr
Walesa, who was in Kiev to lend support. With Mr Yushcehnko and other
close aides, the small group discussed the unfolding drama which Mr
Walesa said he hoped would lead to Ukrainian democracy. He was sped
to Kiev’s main street where he made a pledge of support in front of
a cheering crowd of 200,000.

Moving on, Mr Kostenko fielded calls from all around Ukraine as local
organisers of the opposition movement looked for news. Government-run
television channels and newspapers were saying little about the
political turmoil. Mr Yanukovych himself has said “nothing unusual
is happening”.

The election commission proclaimed Mr Yanukovych the winner on
Wednesday by a slim margin. Mr Kostenko said: “That was ominous
because it meant that they were ready to use violence. Perhaps it
will come to that, but I am still optimistic we can overturn

the results and get true democracy for Ukraine without bloodshed.”

Mr Kostenko, who studied engineering, was a prominent member of
Ukraine’s independence movement in the 1980s. He became a minister
a decade ago in a government run by the outgoing President, Leonid
Kuchma, who nominated Mr Yanukovych as his successor.

He was responsible for talks to rid Ukraine of the nuclear arsenal it
inherited from the Soviet Union and also for getting help in handling
the effects of the Chernobyl reactor explosion. Eventually he could
no longer bear to work for Mr Kuchma; he was one of the few ministers
who resigned rather than being fir ed.

He drove on and smiled as a phone call confirmed that another local
administration had declared it would only recognise Mr Yushchenko
as president.

“You can see that the people, all ages, all walks of life, are with
us,” he said. “Ukraine has been waiting for this moment for a long
time and they are not going to lose the opportunity for real freedom
and real dignity.”

As he got out of the car at one stop a young man, one of the hundreds
of thousands of opposition supporters occupying the centre of Kiev,
ran towards him. He recognised Mr Kostenko and asked him to sign the
Ukrainian flag draped around his shoulders. Mr Kostenko asked his
name and signed the flag, adding “Glory to Ukraine”.

Next stop was at a former union building on Khreschatyk Street,
surrounded by a growing crowd of opposition supporters. The political
council chaired by Mr Yushchenko was meeting, incorporating the
Committee for National Salvation formed on Wednesday. It was held
behind closed doors.

After several hours Mr Yushchenko emerged to reveal: “Ukraine’s
intelligence agency is coming over to our side and the Supreme Court
has cast doubt on the election results.” Then, flanked by Mr Walesa
and Mr Kostenko, he said: “We’re creating a national guard. We’ve
had hundreds of soldiers and militiamen asking who they should report
to. They want Yushchenko as commander-in-chief.”

Soon, officers of the militia came on stage to declare their allegiance
to Mr Yushchenko. The crowd cheered. Afterwards, Mr Kostenko, who is
married with a son, said he needed a break: “I think I can meet my
wife for 15 minutes.”

–Boundary_(ID_7Ah3mv47NPuYIMeAkviEaQ)–

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

FACTIONS LEADERS DISAGREE ON SENDING ARMENIAN CONTINGENT TO IRAQ

25.11.2004 18:36

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ G. Sahakian, the head of the Republican Party
of Armenia forming the ruling coalition, stated during today’s
press conference that not only he, but also all Armenian people
are against sending Armenian servicemen to Iraq. Representatives of
Justice and National Unity opposition blocs were also against the
sending while members of Dashnaktsutyun and Orinats Yerkir factions
refrained from expressing their opinion. To remind, on September 6,
2004 Armenian and Polish Presidents Robert Kocharian and Alexander
Kwasniewski signed an agreement on security cooperation according to
which Armenian contingent consisting of 50 medical officers, combat
engineers and drivers are to be sent to Iraq early next year to
join the coalition forced under the Polish command. Both Armenia and
Diaspora are seriously concerned over the issue since this measure
can jeopardize the security of the Armenian communities numbering
many thousands of people in Iraq and other Islamic counties.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Life behind bars in South Africa
By Raymond Whitaker

The Independent – United Kingdom
Nov 26, 2004

LAST CHRISTMAS, the recently widowed Baroness Thatcher enjoyed an
afternoon in the company of her son and some of his friends by the
sun-drenched pool of his luxury home in Cape Town.

Among them was a certain Simon Mann, and several other former crack
soldiers known to Sir Mark. The Iron Lady could have had no idea
that months later, some of those present would be desperately denying
involvement in a mercenaries’ plot to overthrow the dictatorship of
President Teodoro Obiang of Equatorial Guinea.

Sir Mark himself faces questioning regarding his alleged role. A
hearing scheduled for today has been postponed for two weeks. The
wait goes on.

But a year ago it was all so different. He and Mann were among the
elite of South African society, luxuriating in the tree-lined avenues
and gardens where as much fine wine sloshed around as there was water
in swimming polls. They had bought into a lifestyle. They had found
Constantia.

Since the demise of apartheid made South Africa fashionable, those
lured to Cape Town by the weather, the wine, the mountains and the
ocean – not to mention a cheap exchange rate – have wanted to live
in one place: Constantia. But they had to have money.

“What we have here is unique,” said a long-time resident as we sat by
his pool, and it was easy to see what he meant. Sheltered from the
south- easterly gales which batter the rest of the Cape Peninsula,
sycamores, planes and centuries-old oaks soar to the azure sky. All
the tracks found on the earliest maps have been preserved as bridle
paths, which wind across the valley untainted by any motor traffic.

Subdivision of properties is banned; in High Constantia, where
the minimum plot size is two acres, millionaires’ mansions form a
contour line of their own, with mountains behind and False Bay in
the distance. It is as though Beverly Hills has been transplanted to
San Francisco.

When the likes of Hugh Grant or Richard Branson are in town, this
is where they are to be found. It is just a pity that so many of
the expatriate crowd who settle here seem to be getting away from
something.

“You can buy a superb lifestyle here,” said the previously mentioned
resident. (Like everyone else I spoke to in this Nirvana, he did not
want to be quoted by name.) “Cape Town does not produce much wealth –
all the minerals and the big financial deals are up north – but this
is where they come to spend their money.”

The secret was long known to some in international high society,
but it began to leak out when Earl Spencer moved here in 1993, just
before South Africa’s first free election, and his royal sister was
seen around Constantia. By the time Mark Thatcher (as he was then)
arrived two years later, the rush was on. European and American
expatriates joined in, buying up languishing wine estates such as
Buitenverwachting and Steenberg and transforming them into luxury hotel
and golf complexes which just happened to produce fine wine as well.

It did not always do to ask where the money came from. One of the
biggest German property buyers in Constantia is in jail back in his
native land. And African dictators have turned up to buy mansions with
suitcases full of cash. Bizarrely, Sir Mark’s stunning home has as
neighbours properties owned by none other than President Obiang and
several other members of the Obiang clan.

The old inhabitants of the Constantia Valley watched with a mixture
of delight at the surging value of their houses, and horror at the
brashness of some of the newcomers. (“That’s the thing about this
place,” said one of them. “We seem to attract all the bad boys.”)

For Constantia has a long and rich history. It first became renowned
in Britain for its wine. The exiled Napoleon Bonaparte on St Helena
had a love of the sweet produce of the vineyards tucked away behind
Table Mountain. Vin de Constance did not maintain its pre-eminence
for long, however.

English tastes moved to sherry and Marsala, which could be shipped in
quantity over shorter sea routes, and by the 1870s Constantia’s fame
had ebbed. Eventually, the South African government had to take over
Groot Constantia, the oldest vineyard in the southern hemisphere, and
turn it into a national museum to stop it going down market or closing.

That has contributed, however, to the sylvan atmosphere which has
again given Constantia name-recognition in Britain and made it one
of the most desirable places to live on earth, attracting a new wave
of wealthy residents.

There was no doubt how Pam Golding, one of Cape Town’s leading estate
agents, felt about the influx of new residents. Shortly after she
sold Sir Mark his 15,000 sq ft house, she gushed: “Yes, Constantia
is a very prestigious address for him. We have all sorts of foreign
investors acquiring at the moment. The most popular ones are what I
call the gentleman’s country estate, with glorious manor houses and
villas. It’s really a millionaire’s pride and joy.”

But, despite the unstinted admiration of many Constantia-ites for his
mother, Mark did not gain automatic acceptance in local society. “We
weren’t impressed,” said a guest at a dinner party Ms Golding gave for
the new arrival. “What really left a sour taste was his boasting about
living the grand life in Cape Town and not having to pay any tax. It
was a very silly thing to say in front of complete strangers who did
have to pay their taxes.” Other rebuffs followed, most notoriously
his failure to gain membership of the Royal Cape Golf Club.

After a scheme to make loans to Cape Town policemen collapsed amid
rancour in 1998, his less-than-glorious past began to be raked up –
how he had left Harrow with three O-levels, failed his accountancy
exams three times, got lost in the Sahara, and decamped to Texas
following complaints about commissions gained in the Middle East
while his mother was prime minister.

Amid all the gleeful bitchiness – it was rumoured that he had first
come to the Cape when his mother sent him here as a teenager to clear
his spots, which had allegedly earned him the nickname “Scratcher” at
Harrow – perhaps it is not surprising that he began to look around for
new friends. If one “Constantia set” rejected him, he found another:
men who, like him, were happier talking about aircraft and fast cars
than world politics or the kind of Third World poverty you can observe
in Cape Town, if you emerge from the Constantia cocoon.

Though he carries himself with a ramrod military bearing, Sir Mark
has never been in the army. But most of his new friends had, notably
the one to whom he seems to have been closest. It is easy to imagine
that the former prime minister’s socially inept son found much to
admire in Simon Mann, an old Etonian his own age – they are both in
their early 50s – who served in the Guards and the SAS before making
a fortune in Africa with Executive Outcomes, the first of the private
military companies which have proliferated in the world’s trouble
spots. With his wealth he acquired a property in Constantia and an
estate in Hampshire.

During poolside barbecues Sir Mark met Mr Mann’s friend David Tremain,
an Anglo-South African and fellow Constantia resident who, like Sir
Mark, was engaged in dealmaking around Africa. There were also former
members of South Africa’s apartheid-era special forces who supplied
the bulk of Executive Outcomes’ muscle, such as Nick du Toit and
Crause Steyl.

Mr Mann was arrested at Harare airport in Zimbabwe with a cache of
arms. He had just met an aircraft which had arrived from Pretoria
with more than 60 former members of South Africa’s special forces
aboard. All were jailed for up to a year on immigration charges, while
Mr Mann is serving seven years for illegal arms buying. Mr du Toit,
seven other South Africans and six Armenian aircrew are on trial in
Malabo, the capital of Equatorial Guinea, where they are due to hear
the verdicts today.

David Tremain, meanwhile, is said to have been on a light aicraft,
flown by Crause Steyl, which was flying to Equatorial Guinea. They
reached Mali before they learned that the coup had collapsed, and
turned back. Mr Tremain denies the allegations, but has not deemed
it prudent to return to South Africa to contest them.

Sir Mark, whose circle had left Constantia, was preparing to leave
himself. Under pressure from Diane to return to Texas, he put the
mansion on the market for just under pounds 2m – though not with Pam
Golding, locals have noticed. But on 25 August, just a day before
he was due to depart, he was arrested.

In the torrent of leaks, allegations and off-the-record briefings
which has poured out since, Ely Calil, a Lebanese-born oil trader
based in London, has been named as the mastermind of the plot,
which he denies. His friend, Lord Archer of Weston-super-Mare, has
denied being the “JH Archer” listed as transferring money to one of
Mr Mann’s companies just before the attempted coup. And Sir Mark has
denied being the “Scratcher” named in an intercepted note smuggled
from prison by Mr Mann.

All the allegations will eventually be tested in court, but when and
where remains uncertain. In the meantime, Equatorial Guinea is enjoying
its moment in the spotlight, launching court actions in Britain against
alleged coup backers and in South Africa to question Sir Mark. It has
also charged him in absentia, and is talking of seeking extradition.

The South African authorities, determined to show that they no longer
tolerate mercenary activity, have charged him under the Foreign
Military Assistance Act. On Wednesday, Sir Mark lost a court bid to
stop Equatorial Guinea asking him questions, and is due to return
today to answer them. In a two-minute hearing yesterday at Wynberg
magistrate’s court, next to the police station where he has to report
every day, South Africa’s case against him was postponed until April.

Sir Mark is fighting alone. His passport has been impounded and he is
restricted to the Cape Peninsula area. His wife came back to Constantia
for a visit in October, but says the US school holidays are too short
to return for Christmas. Lady Thatcher, however, will arrive soon to
spend the festive season with him. It will be the first time she has
seen him since she put up his pounds 180,000 bail.

Outside the heavy gates of his thatched residence yesterday, Sir Mark
was all too aware that his legal problems could drag on. “I have heard
of some people waiting more than four years for a court date,” he said.

Although there had been “a lot of interest”, the house has not yet
been sold. He is now a reluctant partaker in the lifestyle that
is Constantia.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Southland Celebrates Thanksgiving

KABC, CA
Nov 26 2004

LOS ANGELES – It’s Thanksgiving, and groups around the Southland are
making sure that the less fortunate have some holiday cheer.

In Long Beach, the “Long Beach 5K/10K Turkey Trot & Chicken Chucking
Championship is holding a walk to benefit the nonprofit Community
Action Team, followed by participants hurling rubber chickens to
raise money for local food bank charities.

Pasadena’s Union Station Foundation is holding its annual
Thanksgiving Dinner-in-the-Park, billed as the “biggest potluck in
the nation.” Volunteers are expected to serve more than 5,000 meals
to the poor, homeless and elderly.

The Los Angeles Police Department, West Valley Pals and Woodland
Hills Optimist Club are hosting a free Thanksgiving dinner at the
Guadalupe Community Center.

In Valley Village, more than 500 men, women and children will enjoy a
traditional turkey dinner with all the trimmings. Needy residents of
the East Valley will receive vouchers provided by Temple Beth Hillel
and distributed by numerous outreach organizations, including Jewish
War Veterans, the East Valley Multi-Purpose Center, Loaves and Fishes
and The Salvation Army, among others.

In Hollywood, Food on Foot will feed and distribute backpacks to the
homeless and poor. For every two 64-pound bags of trash collected from
the streets of Hollywood, Food on Foot will reward individuals with a
$5 food gift certificate from a fast-food restaurant or grocery store.

In Orange County, the 27th annual Dana Point Turkey Trot will feature
5K, 10K and children’s races; the Orange County Rescue Mission will
serve Thanksgiving dinner in Santa Ana; and Rep. Loretta Sanchez,
D-Garden Grove, Hon. Bishop Jaime Soto and others will join in serving
Thanksgiving dinner to the needy during the 19th annual Casa Garcia
Thanksgiving dinner that owner Frank Garcia serves in the parking
lot of his eatery in Anaheim.

And in Glendale, Armenia Fund Inc. is holding its annual Thanksgiving
telethon, “Make It Happen,” to raise funds to complete the remaining
56 miles of the North-South “Backbone” Highway in Karabakh, Armenia.
Proceeds will also benefit continued assistance in the areas of
health care, education and infrastructure development in the Republic
of Armenia. The 12-hour event will be televised live from Glendale
throughout the United States, South America, the Middle East, Canada
and Armenia.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Newropeans Magazine
Nov 26 2004

Turkey: Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow?
– 2nd Part –

© Newropeans Magazine

An exhibition currently at the German Historical Museum on the Unter
den Linden in Berlin entitled Myths of the Nations has attracted
considerable attention with its displays of how people from different
nations have formed and reformed the narratives of their experiences
both of WWII and the Holocaust over the past sixty years. The purpose
of the exhibition is to impress upon the visitor that national memory
is really the past continuously re-interpreted through the present.

United Kingdom , our partner
For example, the report implied that if the Lausanne Treaty of 1923 –
the basis of the Turkish State and its foreign relations – had been
fully implemented after WWI, the bloodshed between Turks and Kurds
might well have been avoidable. To justify this argument, which is
volatile in Turkey however mild it might be perceived elsewhere, the
report cited article 39 of the treaty that allows Turkish nationals
to use “any language they wish in commerce, in public and private
meetings and all types of press and publication”. It added that those
articles supposedly protecting non-Muslim minorities have been read
too narrowly: as well as covering Jews, Armenians and Greeks, these
articles should have been applied, for example, to Syrian Orthodox
Christians. More controversially, still, it suggested replacing the
term “Turk” with a more inclusive word to cover all ethnicities and
faiths such as Turkiyeli [of Turkey].

This report provoked a furore within the Turkish establishment. The
Turkish authorities have gone so far as to investigate whether the
board members who drafted this report committed treason, and there is
every possibility that both authors of the report might end up being
prosecuted under article 305 of the new penal code approved in
September 2004 providing for up to ten years’ imprisonment for those
who engage in unspecified “activities” against Turkey’s “national
interest”. But what might such activities be? In a footnote, this
discriminatory law deems “anti-national” anyone who describes as
“genocide” the killing of Armenians in 1915 [during the Armenian
Genocide] or advocates a withdrawal of Turkish troops from Cyprus.

A long road of improvements lies ahead of Turkey with respect to
civil liberties and fundamental rights. If it wishes to become member
of the Club of 25, and to be seen as a democracy wherein human and
minorities’ rights are not squelched systemically, it is imperative
that Ankara proceed in its reforms and commitments to include ipso
facto the recognition of the Armenian Genocide of 1915 and the
lifting of the economic blockade against Armenia. Instead of
legislating laws in its penal code that would outlaw any mention of
the Armenian Genocide perpetrated by its predecessor Ottoman regime,
it should move forward to recognise this genocide as much as adopt
the recommendations of the panel it set up.

Despite its aspirations toward democracy and its manifestations
toward reform, Turkey still refuses to admit that internal repression
and external emancipation are contradictory dual facets of the same
coin. They create tensions and lead to conflict. Much like the poster
at the German Historical Museum in Berlin, Armenians cannot simply
expunge their collective memories and national sacrifices for the
sake of political expediency. Turkey would be wrong to insist upon EU
membership without coming clean on this chapter, much as the EU would
also be complicit in applying double-standards by obfuscating the
truth and editing history if it goes along with this strategy for the
mere sake of creating an expedient south-eastern EU-drawn insular
zone. Indeed, it is almost axiomatic that nowhere in the world can
human rights be stifled forever since history has a way of unmasking
the truth eventually. For instance, an international conference In
History and Beyond History – Armenians and Turks: a thousand years of
relations organised by The Institute for Venice & Europe of the
Giorgio Cini Foundation took place in Venice from 28-30 October 2004.
Eminent scholars from different countries focused on the placement of
the Armenian case within the frame of the genocides of the 20th
century, the sense of guilt associated with this genocide and how
best to explain this genocide to the Turkish public opinion after
years of denial and amnesia.

Some commentators have recently opined that Turkey’s adhesion to the
EU would constitute a message of hope, peace, prosperity and
democracy. I welcome hope, peace, prosperity and democracy, and I
hail those lofty ideals anywhere in our broken and polarised world.
Nor, for that matter, am I impermeable toward Turkish membership of
our European Union.

However, I simply cannot accept such membership that is spun at the
expense of another people or their history. To make the point
clearer, let me refer to the Foreign Affairs Committee of the
European Parliament that examined last week a brief seven-page
provisional report (to be voted on in Brussels on 22 November 2004)
entitled Turkey’s progress toward accession. Presented by the Dutch
MEP Camiel Eurlings, the report calls upon the Governments of Turkey
and Armenia to start a process of reconciliation [] in order to
overcome the tragic experience of the past. It also requests the
Turkish government to reopen the borders with Armenia as soon as
possible. Currently under review are 483 amendments to the Eurlings
Report that were tabled by five different groups at the European
Parliament. They include demands for the explicit recognition of the
Armenian Genocide in accordance with the European Parliament
resolution of 18 June 1987 (Doc. A2-33/87) that called upon Turkey to
recognise the Armenian Genocide as a pre-condition to its European
candidacy.

In one of his first articles entitled Vous êtes formidables that
addressed French colonialism in Algeria, the philosopher and
existentialist Jean-Paul Sartre wrote in 1956 that crimes committed
in our name imply by necessity our personal responsibility since it
will have also been in our power to stop them. As far as the Armenian
Genocide of 1915 is concerned, Ottoman Turkey was capable of stopping
those massacres. It did not do so, and thereby bears responsibility
for them. I therefore hope that Turkey will no longer shirk away from
this onus when it is knocking at the EU doors and when Armenians
across the world are preparing to commemorate in 2005 the 90th
anniversary of their sorrowful tragedy.

Dr Harry Hagopian, Ecumenical, Legal & Political Consultant
Armenian Apostolic Church – London

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From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Armenian leader recalls envoy to India

Mediamax news agency
26 Nov 04

Yerevan, 26 November: Armenian President Robert Kocharyan has signed
a decree dismissing Armen Bayburdyan from the post of Armenia’s
ambassador to India, the press service of the Armenian president has
told Mediamax.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

HRANT MARGARIAN: “WE NEED ORGANIZATION FOR THE STRENGTHENING OF OUR MIGHT”

BEIRUT, November 25 (Noyan Tapan). The congress of the attendant
organizations and unions of the ARF Dashnaktsutiun Party (Hamazgayin,
the Armenian General Physical Training Society, the Union of
Armenian Relief) was opened at the “La Ruayal” hotel on November
18. Representatives of these organizations from the countries of the
five continents participated in the congress. The forum organized by
the ARF Bureau lasted two days.

Touching upon the problems of the Armenian Diaspora in the whole
world, representative of the ARF Bureau Hrant Margarian said:
“Today the purpose of our organization is to make the Independent
Republic of Armenia and the Armenian people an influential force in
the region and even in the world. The force, which is able to provide
existence and security of Armenia and the Armenian people. The force,
which is able to guarantee the prosperity of Armenia and the Armenian
people. We should use all our national potential for the realization
of this purpose. And our organization should contribute to it.”

Speaking about the work carried out in connection with the problems of
Hay Dat and Western Armenia “consigned to oblivion”, H. Margarian said:
“Isn’t it high time to fasten our eyes to Yerkir – Western Armenia,
as the Armenian youth did in the late 19th century.”

“The existence of our independent statehood is the realization of our
centuries-old dream. We are the ideological movement responsible for
today and tomorrow of the Armenian statehood. We should constantly
care of Independent Armenia in our agenda,” said the representative
of the ARF Bureau.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Armenian legislators skip NATO seminar in Azerbaijan out of security fears

Associated Press Worldstream
November 25, 2004 Thursday

YEREVAN, Armenia — Armenian legislators said Thursday they would
not attend a NATO-organized seminar in neighboring Azerbaijan out of
fears for their safety.

The two ex-Soviet republics fought over the ethnic Armenian
Nagorno-Karabakh enclave in Azerbaijan in 1988-1994. Azerbaijan
does not recognize the territory’s de facto independence, won with
Armenia’s backing.

The conflict froze official relations and left the two peoples with
a strong sense of enmity.

NATO’s Parliamentary Assembly seminar in the Azerbaijani capital Baku
opened Thursday. Armenian deputies had decided not to attend because
their letter to the heads of the Azerbaijani parliament and NATO
Parliamentary Assembly with a request to guarantee security of the
Armenian deputies had been left unanswered, said Mger Shakhgeldian,
head of the Armenian parliament’s commission for defense matters.

Members of the radical Azerbaijani Organization for the Liberation
of Karabakh reportedly staged an anti-Armenian protest in Baku ahead
of the seminar.

In September, NATO canceled joint exercises with the involvement of
the two countries’ militaries because of Azerbaijan’s opposition to
Armenia’s participation.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIAN REFUGEES WILL BE ABLE TO DEMAND PAYMENT OF DAMAGES FROM AZERBAIJAN

PanArmenian News
Nov 25 2004

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Yesterday the NKR National Assembly introduced
changes in the Law on Refugees. In compliance with these, Armenian
refugees, who live in the territory of Nagorno Karabakh, are granted
a status, which lets them fully exercise the rights and services,
provided for by the international practice. Besides, the law new
language allows the refugees to demand payment of damages from the
country, whose territory they were impelled to leave – Azerbaijan in
this case.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress