Author: Andres-Papazian

ARMENIE-AZERBAÏDJAN
Les Azéris tirent toujours en direction de la population civile des
villages arméniens dans la région frontalière de Tavouche

Les unités azéries stationnées à la frontière entre l’Arménie et
l’Azerbaïdjan continuent de maintenir quelques villages frontaliers
arméniens sous le feu. Ce sont des villages arméniens de la région de
Tavouche qui sont ainsi la cible des soldats azéris qui tirent ainsi
sur la population civile en direction de l’Arménie. Mais selon
Ardzroun Hovhannissian, le porte-parole du ministère arménien de la
Défense a toutefois minimisé la situation en affirmant « fort
heureusement il n’y a pas eu de victimes et les dégts matériels sont
faibles. Cette situation est proche de la normale avec quelques
violations régulières du cessez-le-feu par les forces azéries ». Selon
d’autres sources, Varoujan Baghamian, le maire du village de Zoratan
dans la même région de Tavouche a indiqué que les tirs azéris ont
obligé les agriculteurs à laisser le travail des champs de culture
pour se réfugier en lieu plus sur.

Krikor Amirzayan

dimanche 20 avril 2014,
Krikor Amirzayan ©armenews.com

From: A. Papazian

Turkish Press
April 19 2014

Dink murder case trial resumes in new court

Friday, April 18, 2014

AA: ISTANBUL – An Istanbul court on Friday resumed the trial for the
murder of Hrant Dink, prominent Turkish-Armenian journalist, after the
first court hearing the case was abolished.

The trial of 18 suspects continues in Istanbul 5th Heavy Penal Court
after a law enacted in March repealed ‘special-authority’ courts,
which typically hear terrorism cases.

No defendants were present at the hearing on Friday, which saw
attendance by the lawyers of the Dink family and of two accused,
brothers Osman Hayal and Yasin Hayal. The case was adjourned until
July 17, 2014.

Hrant Dink was murdered in January 2007 by then seventeen-year-old Ogun Samast.

Dink was the editor-in-chief of the still-running weekly Agos and was
considered among the most prominent Armenian voices in Turkey.

Samast, who was sentenced to 23 years in prison in 2011, said in his
defense that he killed Dink for insulting “Turkishness.”

Yasin Hayal was sentenced to aggravated life sentence in January 2012
for inciting Samast to murder.

He had been acquitted of charges related to leading a terrorist
organization but the ruling was overturned.

He was also given a three-month jail term for threatening Orhan Pamuk,
renowned Turkish author and Nobel prize laureate.

From: A. Papazian

The Macomb Daily
April 18 2014

For April is the month of Genocide

Spring is a time of regeneration. It’s an opportunity that nature has
selected to be reborn in all its splendor.

It’s also a time to reflect. It gives us all a chance to evaluate the
past and make plans for the future.

At least that’s the usual understanding of spring. However, there’s
something else about spring and particular in April, that makes one
not only reflect but realize that our world is an entity
incomprehensible.

For April is the month of Genocide. I’ve noticed that the Armenian
Genocide, which commemorates its 99th anniversary this year, occurred
in April.

Along with the Cambodian Genocide of 1974 and the Rwandan Genocide of
2014, April was the beginning of these shameful episodes of man. It
has become an odd coincidence.

April isn’t supposed to be an annual remembrance of collective
genocides. We’re supposed to be getting ready for gardening, lawn care
and the usual preparation for the season that we all look forward to.

However, here we are again, remembering the genocides of the past. The
Armenian, Cambodian and Rwandan are man’s contribution to remember
spring.

When does it end? When do we learn? Collectively we haven’t learned
anything. Indeed genocide is likely again and is happening again this
April.

Kessab, a historic Armenian city in Syria, is now being prepared for a
genocide. Indigeneous for 1,000 years they have been literally chased
out of their homes recently.

Homes, schools, businesses and everything known to the inhabitants of
Kessab have been taken over. Within several days they evacuated this
area which they called home for a millenium.

Reports have come back that the residents of Kessab will call their
home phone numbers and an unfamiliar voice answers. The responder
sarcastically thanks them for the nice house they left, the
refrigerator full of food and the furniture which they now are sitting
on.

Adding insult to injury, they added in the conversation that the
furnishings brought a good price. Besides pillaging the home they sold
the contents.

Yes, it’s April. Again the perpetrators of genocide and its
accompanying acts of destruction are active.

April is ideally a time of rebirth. It’s to be a time of beginning.

Yet, for Armenians of 99 years ago, Cambodians of 40 years ago and
Rwandans of 20 years ago, April was the end for many.

April today for the Armenians of Kessab is an unknown. It’s hoped that
it will result not in an end but in a beginning.

When will we ever learn? When does it end?

To quote a line from a song of long ago, “The Answer My Friend is
Blowing in the Wind”. May April no longer be the month of genocide for
humanity can no longer afford it.

Lessons learned? It doesn’t seem to be the case.

So while you plan where you’ll be planting flowers, what shrubs you’ll
be adding and the myriad of other thoughts spring brings, reflect
about Kessab in spring.

They’ll not be thinking about gardening or anything remotely close to
that. They’re thinking about survival!

We can’t wrap our minds about being driven from a home that my
ancestors were in for scores of generations. For us it’s beyond
belief.

However, for Armenians and indeed others it’s “standard’ procedure.
Genocide is part of an accepted “norm” in certain areas of the world.

“What can we do”? you ask. Kessab, Cambodia and Rwanda are so far away?

For now, just reflect and remember. If you want to help, there are
Armenian organizations in the area that can will direct you to proper
aid groups. They can be found on line, in the phone books and general
information outlets like your local libraries.

It would be remiss not to reminded that we’re all part of humanity.
Holocaust, genocide and ethnic cleansing all emanate from the same
source.

Man’s inhumanity to man is still part of “man’s inhumanity to man”.
When will it end?

The response isn’t “blowing in the wind”. It lies within each of us.

What’s our collective reply? What’s our individual response?

Happy Spring. By the way, remember those in Kessab.

Robert Kachadourian

From: A. Papazian

Legal Monitor Worldwide
April 18, 2014 Friday

‘Sanctions will force Armenia to respect international law’

President Ilham Aliyev in his recent speech urged the international
community to impose sanctions against Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh
separatists? How would you comment on that?

I am in agreement on this issue with President of Azerbaijan Ilham
Aliyev. The UN Security Council adopted four resolutions demanding the
liberation of the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, which have not
yet been fulfilled by Armenia.

If a state does not comply with UN Security Council resolutions, as a
rule, sanctions are applied in relation to it.
The fact is that at the time the “ball” was thrown from the UN
Security Council to the OSCE, which solves nothing and therefore
cannot do anything.
The “ball” must be returned to the UN, and then economic, political
and military sanctions should be consistently applied against Armenia.
I would like to note that economic sanctions alone cannot give any
serious results, because the economy of Armenia is at zero level and
is completely subordinated to the third state.
If sanctions are applied, how seriously can they affect Armenia?
What a state Armenia is to resist the sanctions of the international
community? In the case of such a scenario, it will be forced to comply
with international law, which are ignored for decades, or will be
destroyed as a state.
Why double standards are still applied in the settlement of the
Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict?
Because the world is unfair, and the talk about the democratic West is
nonsense. Winston Churchill once clearly stated: “There is no
permanent enemies and permanent allies, only permanent interests.”
U.S., Russia and the whole world live among their own interests and
from time to time they are also guided by double standards for their
support.
The West didn’t properly calculate the events in Ukraine and Crimea,
and now it speaks of justice and democracy. Democracy is a stick in
the hands of the strong, to strike in the event that someone does not
like it.
You often talk about military scenario in resolving the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict…
Nobody forbids Azerbaijan to military action. But, in my opinion, we
must first go to the formation of a professional army.
Army must be professional, it must have 25-30-year-old men, and not
18- 19-year-old boys. Professional soldiers must be ready to kill for
the sake of defending the Homeland.
To return Nagorno-Karabakh, we only need 60,000th professional army,
that is, four corps.
The 51st article of the UN Charter states that a country that was
attacked and the lands of which were seized has the right to liberate
its territories up to the conduct of military action.

Armenia’s economy is in poor condition and with each year the
situation worsens. Why doesn’t the leadership of this country realize
that the continuation of the occupation policy will not bring anything
good for them?
Look who leads Armenia, basically the Karabakh mafia, those people who
have become politicians and came to power due to Karabakh.
They will never be able to say: “Guys, we were wrong, if we want to
live well, we must return the lands of Azerbaijan.” In this case, they
will generally be swept away.
While the Karabakh mafia is in power in Armenia, they will return
nothing peacefully.
Former President Levon Ter-Petrosian realized that the road goes to
nowhere and wanted to go to a peace agreement with Azerbaijan, but he
was overthrown by the Karabakh Armenians.
How do you think, how long will the Armenian diaspora influence key
decisions in the life of the country?
Armenian diaspora no longer allocates any cosmic money to Armenia. The
diaspora is tired of feeding the Karabakh mafia clan.
Look how much singer Charles Aznavour did for Armenia and the Armenian
elite now hates him. However, their feelings are mutual.
These marathons held in different countries of the world give less and
less effect both to Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh separatists.
Armenians all over the world are tired of feeding the parasites and
criminals from Karabakh.
Among Armenians there are people who realize that such Armenia has no
future and that the Karabakh adventure must be stopped , but nobody
listens to them and call them enemies.

From: A. Papazian

Armenia and Cambodia (part 1): through the lens of Lawrence of Arabia

April 19, 2014 | 09:10

Armenian News-NEWS. amcontinues Arianne & Armenia project within the
framework of which Arianne Caoili tells about numerous trips across
Armenia and shares her impressions and experience of living in
Armenia.

Armenia and Cambodia (part 1): through the lens of Lawrence of Arabia

“Us Khmers are very lazy – that’s the problem” was the most common
maxim expressed in my recent trip to Cambodia. When inquiring with
taxi drivers, restaurant owners, locals, and university professors
about Cambodia’s recent past and current economic climate, somehow the
answer always came down to the sentiment that ‘Cambodians just don’t
like to work’. For foreigners who have just landed in Yerevan, a
similar complaint is often heard or expressed (and not just within
expat circles). In fact, I can’t go to any gathering where the
sentiment that `Armenia is a country where 3 million kings wake up’
has not come up in some form or another, either in jest or
thinly-veiled contempt.

In 1919, during the Paris Peace Conference, Thomas Edward Lawrence
(better known as Lawrence of Arabia), speculated in one very strange
but candid interview on a theory of small, ancient nations, saying
that

“Armenians won’t work…that is the trouble, really, with all these
old races that have been civilized, learned the game and, having once
dominated the world and worked it, have lost control, gone back, as
you say; or, as I say, carried on. They have gone forward logically,
psychologically, physiologically. They do not care for hard labor. The
ex-civilized nations’ they are not lazy. They are too intelligent to
work for others.”

His point was that some people are far too evolved for hard labor –
they would rather sit back and collect, seeing no value in `work for
wages’. Lawrence might be right on the money with the Greeks, who,
being one of the cradles of civilization, are a little averse to hard
work; one might say that government spending has nourished a sense of
entitlement which Ms. Merkel is paying for.

Photo from Arianne Caoili Personal Archives

The Khmers, the predecessors of modern day Cambodia, were a dominant
force in South East Asia, covering much of Indochina. The Khmer kings
were addicted to wonder-building: their zeal for construction explains
the scattering of temples, monuments, and extensive architectural
marvels seen today in Cambodia and neighboring countries. Angkor – its
historical capital- was the largest city in the world, covering an
area comparable to modern day Los Angeles. Smidgens of human
settlements in Cambodia date back several thousand years, and the
archeological excavations at Areni 1 trace similar historical
fingerprints of the Old World.

These two civilizations certainly do have something to be proud of.
Cambodian locals boast about the rich cultural heritage of the Khmers
and how their descendants have left their footprints and cultural
fragments throughout the Indochinese block. Armenians (especially the
Diaspora) left distinct artistic, religious and cultural stamps. Take
the Crimea, for example ` cluttered with marks of over 600 years of
Armenian settlement (they left in 1778), and the Armenians of
Transylvania who were strong figures in trade and commerce. By the
middle of the 19th century, the Armenians dominated the cities of
Tiflis and Baku (the first successful oil well was built in 1871 by an
Armenian, Mirzoev; and as for Tiflis, Armenians towered over economic
and political life and remained the largest ethnic group there until
the 1917 revolution. Armenians essentially provided the capital for
critical infrastructure and the administrative aspects of government,
including the printing press, all to be inherited by the Georgians).

At least, the Khmers have the remains of their temples at Angkor.
Armenian churches and towns were destroyed; I have seen with my own
eyes the crude altering of official maps and schoolbooks to deny that
there had ever been an Armenia in the first place; and a large
majority of other Armenian-originating creations lay in the lap of
others. But unlike Cambodia, Armenia has kept its human capital (the
Khmer Rouge wiped out the entire Cambodian intellectual class,
persecuting those who didn’t have a wrinkle on their hands).

Although, excessive emigration is doing a good job of purging Armenia
of its future brain and economic base. And unfortunately, benefits
from the Armenian Diaspora in Russia and the US have diminishing
returns. Remittances are considered a form of rent because they are
earned overseas and then sent back to the home country. Beblawi and
Luciani distinguish between a rentier state and rentier economy: the
former is a typical Arab petrol state, in which the government is the
main recipient of external rents. Armenia is the latter ` as the
massive volume of remittances from relatives overseas go directly to
households. The problem is that remittances fuel a rentier mentality
that embodies a break in the work-reward causation (in other words,
motivation is killed at its source and replaced by a preoccupation
with achieving the externally-generated rent rather than focusing on
domestic production. Over time this cements a dependent relationship
on the externally-generated income, and a festering desire to be
expectant more so than productive).

Lawrence put it this way: `The Armenians¦would not work them
themselves, not even for themselves. They would not even do the work
of organizing the work or development. They would let them out as
concessions to others to manage. They want to live on the coast, in
cities, on rent, interest, dividends and the profits of trading in the
shares and the actual money earned by capital and labor.’

Photo from Arianne Caoili Personal Archives

The issue of `laziness’ itself is rather contentious in Armenia:
nobody likes to talk about it openly, but when they do, it’s a
kitchen-table discussion where the default position is to blame
leadership or anyone else other than themselves. A foreign
director-level friend of mine working in the construction sector
appears to be infuriated by all lines of service, from the
construction workers to the top dogs: they simply do not like being
told what to do; or, they will happily nod their heads in agreement
and do the very opposite. Most work-ethics center on how to do one’s
job well; whereas in Armenia the prevalent mentality appears to be
focused on how one might do the master’s job better.

Perhaps there is something to be said though on the vigor with which
Armenians work and flourish overseas. For the purposes of economic
sustainability however, it might be high time for a shift in
mentality: to focus on engagement from within rather than expectations
on handouts from outside. But Armenians are intrinsically gypsy, in
the sense that they seem more at ease thriving in another land rather
than improving the conditions of their current environment.

It might be fitting to end with a musing of one wise Greek ` Seneca,
if I recall correctly ` who humbly suggested that no man loves his
city because it is great, but because it is his. Otherwise, it would
be like loving your wife only up until the point that she loses her
looks.

Arianne Caoili
(Part 2 to be continued next week).

From: A. Papazian

`Dem em ‘ movement: Four political parties will not convey special
session of parliament

April 19, 2014 | 13:20

YEREVAN. ` Representatives of `I am against’ (Dem em) civil initiative
will work with four parliamentary parties to introduce amendments to
Armenia’s new law on pensions, activists said during a press
conference on Saturday.

`We will not cooperate, but work on amending the law,’ Arsen Manukyan said.

Four parliamentary forces ` Prosperous Armenia, ARF Dashnaktsutyun,
Armenian National Congress and Heritage ` said they would convene a
special session of the parliament to debate pension law.

However, taking to Armenian News-NEWS.am, member of `I am against’
movement Gevorg Gorgisyan said there is no need to hold a special
session.

`There is a week left. I do not think a special session will be held
as on April 28 PM Hovik Abrahamyan will submit a bill on pensions to
the parliament,’ Gorgisyan said.

On April 2, the Constitutional Court (CC) of Armenia declared
unconstitutional a whole series of articles in the new Law on Funded
Pensions. Despite this ruling, however, the state-run financial
institutions still oblige the employers to make mandatory funded
pension cuts from the salaries of their employees. The respective
reasoning is that the CC gave the parliament and the government until
September 30 to amend the aforesaid law’s provisions that were deemed
unconstitutional.

News from Armenia – NEWS.am

From: A. Papazian

Development of IT sector discussed in Karabakh

April 19, 2014 | 15:00

STEPANAKERT. ` President of Nagorno-Karabakh Republic on Saturday
received director of Enterprise Incubator Foundation Bagrat
Yengibaryan and president of Technology and Science Dynamics Inc.
Vahan Shakaryan.

Issues related to development of information technologies in Artsakh
and implementation of a number of projects were discussed during the
meeting. Both noted prospects of IT sector and great potential for the
development.

On the same day Bako Sahakyan received philanthropist Michael
Haroutyunyan. Issues related to the implementation of different
projects in Artsakh were discussed during the meeting.

The President highlighted the role of philanthropists in the
development of Artsakh, underlining its significance from economic and
political viewpoints.

News from Armenia – NEWS.am

From: A. Papazian

Hundreds sign AGBU Europe petition in recognition of the Armenian Genocide

10:08 19.04.2014

Partnership with DurDe, European Grassroots Antiracist Movement and
Turkish Human Rights Association Draws International Support in
Advance of Commemorative Events

A petition initiated by AGBU Europe, DurDe, the European Grassroots
Antiracist Movement (EGAM), and Ä°nsan Hakları DerneÄ?i (iHD), calling
for recognition of the Armenian Genocide, is drawing hundreds of
signatures as this month’s commemorative events approach.

The public appeal points to almost a century of denial of the genocide
by the Turkish government, which has allowed for the continued
marginalization and discrimination of Armenian and other minority
groups across the country. At the same time, the petition encourages
civil society organizations’in Turkey, Europe and around the world’to
join together and demonstrate that such state policies do not reflect
shifting public opinions.

It reads: `Our shared initiative is one for recognition, solidarity,
justice, and democracy. It is an initiative for solidarity between all
those who fight for the acceptance of history. The divide is not
between the Turkish and Armenian people but between those who struggle
for the recognition of the Armenian Genocide and those who promote
denial. Quite simply, it is not a question of origins but of
perspectives for the future.’

To date, numerous public figures have signed the document,
representing Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece,
Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Rwanda, Serbia, and the UK.

The growing list of names includes: Charles Aznavour, the
French-Armenian artist; Tahar Ben Jelloun, the award-winning novelist;
Dario Fo, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature; Caroline
Fourest, the acclaimed feminist and journalist; and French
intellectuals André Glucksmann and Bernard-Henri Lévy. Members of the
European Parliament, Helsinki Committees and student groups have also
showed their support.

Many of the signatories will join together in Istanbul and other
Turkish cities on April 24, 2014, for commemorative events organized
by DurDe, EGAM and iHD in partnership with AGBU Europe. It will mark
the second year AGBU has joined forces with local human rights groups
for this cause, forming an unprecedented international delegation.
Thousands attended the activities in 2013, and the groups look forward
to an even higher turnout this year.

AGBU Europe Director Nicolas Tavitian remarked, `We are pleased to
collaborate once again with the human rights groups who face, and
overcome, challenges on the ground in Turkey every day. Their
grassroots approach is making a critical difference in the lives of
countless people and we are confident that together we will continue
to raise awareness, and affect positive social change, with our
`Remember 24 April 1915′ campaign.’

To sign the petition, visit

From: A. Papazian

FRANCE
Je donne sur Ulule, je m’engage pour la Veillée !

Pour l’édition 2014 de la veillée du 23 avril, les associations de la
jeunesse arménienne ont innové en appelant à participer à cet
événement par le biais du site Ulule.

En lançant l’opération « Je donne sur Ulule, je m’engage pour la
Veillée ! », les 9 associations organisatrices de la veillée proposent
aux internautes de devenir acteurs de la veillée.

Qu’est-ce qu’Ulule ? Ulule est un site sur lequel différents porteurs
de projets appellent les internautes à y contribuer. Un film Ã
réaliser, un album à enregistrer, un objet à inventer : grce à Ulule,
toutes ces initiatives peuvent prendre forme. 1er site de financement
participatif européen, les organisateurs de la veillée du 23 avril ont
porté leur projet sur Ulule.

Comment participer à cette opération ? En allant sur le lien
ci-dessous, le projet de la veillée y est présenté. Chaque
contributeur voit donc concrètement la finalité de son don. Plus ou
moins grand, chaque don a droit à sa contrepartie.

Avec l’opération « Je donne sur Ulule, je m’engage pour la Veillée »,
c’est une nouvelle action qui est proposée à tous, sans aucune
barrière, sans aucune frontière, pour un but commun : soutenir la
jeunesse arménienne de France qui se bat pour la défense de la mémoire
du génocide des Arméniens.

La jeunesse arménienne compte sur vous.

Merci pour votre soutien. Merci pour votre engagement.

samedi 19 avril 2014,
Stéphane ©armenews.com

From: A. Papazian

`G-word’ not expected in Obama’s speech to avoid crisis with Turkey
By Sinem Cengiz
April 20, 2014, Sunday
Ankara

During his annual Armenian Remembrance Day speech on April 24, US
President Barack Obama is not likely to use the term `genocide’ to
characterize the loss of Armenians in the final days of the Ottoman
Empire, say analysts, who believe Washington will avoid the issue so
as not to harm ties with Turkey at a time when the two NATO allies are
not having the smoothest of relations.

`This year is not likely to be any different. In short, while
expressing sympathy and decrying the killings, President Obama will
not use the term `genocide’ in order not to inflame US-Turkish
relations,’ Stephen Larrabee, who holds the distinguished chair in
European Security at the RAND Corporation, told Sunday’s Zaman.

Although Larrabee believes the US government has its differences with
Ankara over a number of aspects of Turkish policy, in particular the
increasing authoritarian tendencies exhibited by Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdogan lately, Obama wants to maintain good ties with Turkey.

`To use the word `genocide’ in his annual statement would
unnecessarily inflame these relations at a time when both sides need
to work harder to improve them,’ he added.

Turkey in past years has repeatedly urged the US president not to use
the word genocide on April 24 during his speech, asking him to not
only refer to Armenian pains but also those of the Ottoman Turks
during World War I, and to mention Turkey’s proposal of establishing a
joint commission of historians and experts from both Turkey and
Armenia to study evidence for the events of 1915 in the archives of
Turkey, Armenia and other relevant countries around the world.

The US has not officially recognized Armenians’ claim that there was a
genocide in Eastern Turkey between 1915 and 1923. Before Obama’s
presidency, US leaders blocked attempts to pass resolutions
recognizing the World War I-era killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks
as genocide.

Meanwhile, as the 100th anniversary of the 1915 tragedy approaches,
mutual preparations and tensions are gaining momentum in Turkey and
Armenia. Both the Turkish government and the Armenian diaspora groups
are revealing their strategies for 2015.

The issue has long been a source of tension between Turkey and several
Western countries, especially the United States and France, both home
to large ethnic Armenian diaspora.

Recently, the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee passed a
resolution commemorating the `Armenian genocide,’ clearing the way for
the resolution to be voted on by the Senate as a whole.

Over the resolution, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said it
would not have any negative effects on Ankara-Washington ties at this
stage, but stressed that Turkey will not remain silent if the
resolution is adopted by the Senate.

Turkey also urged Congress not to carry the resolution further on the
legislative agenda, warning that such a move could “harm bilateral
relations” between the two countries.

Regarding the resolution, Sedat Laciner, rector of Canakkale 18 Mart
University, said despite all the pressure in the US, Congress is
unlikely to pass such a resolution at this time.

`Obama will avoid using the term genocide, at least this year.
Turkey-US relations are currently not at their best and I don’t think
Obama would like to strain it further with the Armenian issue,’
Laciner told Sunday’s Zaman.

Meanwhile, Speaker of the US House of Representatives John Boehner
paid a surprise visit to Ankara last week to hold high-level meetings
with Turkish officials. His visit came at a time when two resolutions
on the `Armenian genocide’ are on the agenda of the US House of
Representatives and the US Senate. Boehner said Congress is unlikely
to get involved in the issue, stressing that Turkey has no reason to
worry since it is not up to the US Congress to rewrite history.

Larrabee says the resolution has a `ritualistic character,’ adding it
should not be turned into a litmus test of US-Turkish solidarity and
friendship.

`Thus Turkish politicians can relax; Armenians will be disappointed
once again. However, this issue has taken on a symbolic importance in
Turkey way out of proportion to its real significance in US-Turkish
relations,’ said Larrabee, adding: `Turkish politicians would be well
advised to stop placing such importance to the presidential statement
made on April 24. Turks should see it for what it is: a statement made
primarily for domestic consumption.’

Davutoglu also said, `Turkey-US relations should not be hampered by
the activities of any lobby.’

However, Larrabee believes the Armenian lobby will undoubtedly use the
upcoming 100th anniversary of the 1915 killings as an opportunity to
harshly condemn Turkey and put it on the bank of the accused.

`Instead of engaging in a heated exchange of polemics over the 1915
incident, both sides should actively seek to improve the resumption of
dialogue broken off several years ago aimed at improving bilateral
relations,’ said Larrabee.

Agreeing with Larrabee, Beril Dedeoglu from Galatasaray University
said the best way to get rid of the Armenian pressure is for Turkey to
be able to say `what happened in the past happened’ and should avoid
efforts to prevent Armenian resolutions from coming out from the
parliaments of foreign countries.

`Conducting politics over the Armenian issue is really disturbing. Let
whatever resolution they wish be accepted in any place of the world.
If Turkey gives up on struggling over the issue, Armenians’ hands will
become weaker,’ Dedeoglu told Sunday’s Zaman.

Dedeoglu also believes that under these circumstances, the US will not
risk harming ties with Turkey and that the resolution may be discussed
in Congress and in the Senate for domestic consumption but will not be
adopted.

From: A. Papazian