Author: Antonian Lara

NKR PRESIDENT AND RA DEFENSE MINISTER DISCUSSED MILITARY COOPERATION

PanARMENIAN.Net
30.04.2007 15:06 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Nagorno Karabakh President Arkady Ghukasian
congratulated Mikael Harutyunyan on the appointment Armenian Defense
Minister and wished him every success in the office. NKR Defense
Minister Seyran Ohanyan was also present at the meeting, the NKR
President’s press service reported. The interlocutors discussed
cooperation between the Armed Forces of Armenia and Karabakh and
maintenance of ceasefire at the contact line.

The NKR President and RA Defense Minister also referred to the
preparation work for festivities dedicated to the Victory Day, Day
of Shushi Liberation and Day of NKR Defense Army celebrated May 9.

COMMENTARIES: CANCELLED GENOCIDE EVENT AT THE U.N.

Greek News, Greece
April 30 2007

The April 13 editorial on the canceled Genocide exhibit at the United
Nations rightfully criticizes the United Nations for succumbing to
Turkish pressure. We would like to point out however, that in addition
to the Armenians, there was likewise a conspiracy of Genocide directed
toward the Greek and Assyrian populations by the authorities of the
crumbling Ottoman Empire. As early as 1914, Greeks living on the
coasts of Asia Minor were summarily deported into the interior, and
eventually Greeks along with Assyrians fell victim to forced death
marches, massacres, and starvation.

The horrific atrocities of the Ottoman Empire were acknowledged as
can be seen by the initial efforts to free the Christian populations
from Turkish rule. Plans were conceived for the establishment of an
independent Armenian Republic, while Greece was officially invited by
the Great Powers to take possession of Smyrna and Eastern Thrace. In
addition, Constantinople was occupied by the Great Powers, thus putting
an end to Turkish rule. The later tragedies which led to the burning
of the free Greek City of Smyrna and the massacre of its Greek and
Armenian populations by Turkish nationalists led by Mustafa Kemal,
and the subsequent slaughter of Greeks and Armenians throughout
Anatolia bear witness to the illegal status of the Turkish Kemalists,
and the program for Genocide intended to eliminate once and for all
the native Christian populations whose democratic demands emanating
from the simple desire to merely exist conflicted with Turkish demands
to maintain territory inhabited by non-Muslim populations.

The subsequent abomination referred to as "Exchange of populations" by
the representatives of the Great Powers led to the forcible uprooting
and destruction of 1,000,000 Greeks from lands that their ancestors
had resided in for 3,000 years. Indeed, Genocide is the proper label
for the policies that were adopted toward Greeks and Assyrians, as
well as Armenians. The cowardly capitulation to the Turkish Kemalists
by the Great Powers stands as an example of appeasement and cruelty
by the West that condemned entire peoples to unspeakable terror
and suffering. The legacy of this appalling example of indifference
to the suffering of innocents remain with America and Europe to the
present day. Turkish ultranationalists maintain a firm hold on Turkey,
and neighboring states unable to defend themselves such as Syria and
Cyprus have fallen prey to the expansionist legacy that Mustafa Kemal
left behind in Turkey, and that now appears to threaten the democratic
ambitions of the Kurds in Nothern Iraq who are being targeted by the
Turkish paramilitary State.

Theodore G. Karakostas [email protected] Member of HEC Executive
Council

THE IMPORTANCE OF THE MIDDLE EAST FOR TURKEY
View by Osman Bahadir Dincer

Journal of Turkish Weekly, Turkey
April 30 2007

When we hear the phrase "Middle East"; we are immediately reminded
of "problems". In this regard, Palestinian Issue is the first one
we remember among the others. For many people "Middle East" means
Palestinian Issue.

This problem is one of the most important motivations that strengthens
the religious radicalism and escalate the violence in the region and
in the whole Muslim World, as well. This problem lies on the bases
of many problems emerging in the Middle East. Actually, even last war
in Lebanon and the tensions between Iran and the U.S. and Israel are
partially results of Palestinian Israeli conflict.

This conflict has a priority to be solved. We can not imagine stability
in the region without solving this key problem.

Palestinian Issue has become an issue exploited by many diverse
circles in the sake of their own interests. For instance, not only
the Arab leaders misusing the deadlock of the issue in their internal
politics but also some terrorist groups justifying their activities
due to this problem obviously have been exploiting the conflict.

Counter to the general understanding, this issue is not a problem
of just Arabs and Israelis. Middle Eastern problems, particularly
the Palestinian Issue, are very critical for Turkey as well. Then,
why the Palestinian Issue (regarding to the Middle East) is really
important for Turkey?

If we remember the days that we were discussing sending our troops
to Lebanon in the UN Peace Force, it can be easily grasped that
the debates were beyond just sending troops. In those days the real
debate was how the relations between Turkey and Middle East should
be shaped in terms of foreign policy. There were many opinions. On
the one hand some argued that ‘we should avoid the crisis in the
region’, on the other hand some argued that ‘we must appear in the
region as a power’. Each group was supporting its ideas with logical
justifications. However, in this essay, I will not focus on these
discussions. Generally, I will try to clarify the current importance
of Palestinian Issue rather than its historical meaning for Turkey
(I accept that Palestinian Issue is the basis for all the other
problems in the region).

The complexities of Middle East, its dividedness, its segregated,
marginalized and isolated societies have been affecting Turkey
profoundly not only in terms of security but also in terms of internal
politics, economics and foreign politics.

The sense of mistrust toward Western World, religious radicalism
and the fundamentalist movements have found bases of spreading
and being strengthened in Turkey by referring to and exploiting
Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Hence, the settlement of this problem
is closely related to the domestic security and the foreign relations
of Turkey.

Palestinian Issue destroys the regional stability and even drives the
neighboring states into concrete struggles. Unfortunately, this means
perpetual instability or possibility of threat of war around Turkey.

Palestinian Issue provides terrorist organizations a great flexibility
of maneuver. For instance, PKK and some other organizations have
taken advantage of the deficiencies of power caused by Palestinian
Issue and utilized the terrorist networks provided by Palestinian
Issue. Moreover, Palestinian Issue has been functioning as if it is an
ideological school for the terrorist organizations. It can be easily
said that there is no any terrorist organization which has never
trained in this ideological school. Many domestic/external terrorist
organizations carrying out attacks against Turkey either emerged in
this region or ideologically were fed by this problem. In this sense,
PKK, DHKP-C or some Armenian organizations are typical examples.

Palestinian Issue terrorizes not only the Palestine and Israel but
also the whole region. It prevents the regional cooperation and foreign
investments. For instance, the Middle East is one of the worst regions
in the world drawing attention in terms of foreign investment (except
oil). Regarding to the regional co-operations and integrations, the
Middle East is at the bottom level among the other regions. In this
regard, we can not deny the role of Palestinian Issue.

Palestinian Issue averts the normalization process in the Arab World
including the southern neighbors of Turkey. Reactional and emotional
bearings make the possibility of strategic, political and economical
co-operations with these countries impossible. As a result of this,
Turkey’s southern border is always faced with a threat.

The permanency of Palestinian Issue raises the emotions of loneness and
‘damnification’ in Turkish society. The simply arm-based policies of
Israel and U.S, their attempts to expose some policies, violation of
international law and not being aware of justice lessen the trust to
the international relations and laws in the Turkish public opinion.

Palestinian Issue plays an accelerative role in every political,
ethnical, religious and armed events taking place in the region
and the Islamic World. For instance, Palestinian Issue is the most
referenced issue in Al Qaeda’s operations. Al Qaeda is one of the best
(!) exploiters of this issue by the way.

Palestinian Issue has an important role even in the Iraqi case. If
the problems in Iraq and Palestine can not be solved, the region
between Iraq and Palestine -Jordan- also can be "Palestinized". It
means that a chaotic atmosphere in the whole region – a wide area
from Mediterranean to Persian Gulf- is not a remote possibility.

In short, counter to the general expectation, Palestinian Issue has
many impacts on Turkey. Turkey’s foreign policies, domestic political
balances, security and economy are directly affected. Historically,
it is obviously known that this issue is deeply related to Turkey. In
addition to that, as it can be understood by the explanations mentioned
above, Turkey is bound to improve its relations with the region. Turkey
should be involved in the politics of region profoundly.

All the issues in the region -Iraq, Lebanon or Palestine and Israel-
have deep impacts on Turkey. Turkey has neglected its possible roles
in the region for several years. It is the fact that there were many
mutual mistakes in the past. Yet, now the important thing is trying to
improve the relations embarked to get better recently. In this regard,
policy makers should be aware of the importance of being involved in
the region and should be more creative and eager in policy making.

"MARSHAL BAGHRAMYAN" MEDALS TO VETERANS OF THE GREAT PATRIOTIC WAR

ArmRadio.am
01.05.2007 14:22

On the occasion of the Victory and Peace Day, on May 2 RA Defense
Minister Mikhael Harutyunyan will award "Marshal Baghramyan" medals
to the veterans of the Great Patriotic War, Press Secretary of RA
Ministry of Defense, Colonel Seyran Shahsuvaryan informs.

BUSH DOESN’T MENTION THE WORD "GENOCIDE"

Ïðaâî Âûaîða, Azerbaijan
Democratic Azerbaijan
May 1 2007

April 24, US President, George Bush, extended his "deepest condolence"
to Armenian nation in connection with 92nd anniversary of the events
of 1915 in Ottoman Empire. At the same time he promised to promote
democratic and economic reforms in this Republic.

As observers note, US President never mentioned the word "genocide".

Head of American administration declared that USA adheres to
cooperation with Azerbaijan and Armenia in an effort to peacefully
regulate Nagorni Garabagh conflict.

Early this year group of American lawmakers presented resolution
to the Congress, urging US administration to recognize the fact of
genocide of Armenians in 1915 during the time of Ottoman Empire.

Though resolution has no compulsory force, its adoption fraught with
aggravation of relations with Turkey, old strategic partners of US.

Attempts to introduce this legislative initiative in the Congress
have been made several times, even during Clinton’s administration,
however, they failed to succeed.

is.pl?s=001&p=0055&n=002467&g=

–Boun dary_(ID_BvFTbT7UGoDpPyE0qg5wZQ)–

Islam, Christianity enjoy perfect mutual respect in Iran: Armenian bishop

Mehr News Agency, Iran
April 28 2007

TEHRAN, April 28 (MNA) – In an interview with Mehr News Agency here
on Saturday, the Armenian bishop in Tehran pointed out the deep ties
between various denominations of Christianity in Iran as well as
supports of the Tehran government.

Bishop Sebuh Sarkisian added that this is an indication of a perfect
mutual respect between two great religions of the country, Islam
and Christianity.

During the interview, Sarkisian noted that followers of many Christian
denominations such as Armenian, Protestant, Assyrian, Russian Orthodox
and Catholics churches live in Iran.

Armenia Solidarity
British Armenian All Party Parliamentary Group
Nor Serount Publications
Tel 07876561398 or 07718982732

e-mails : [email protected], [email protected]
norserount@btconnec t.com [email protected]

Statement from the Muslim Public Affairs Committee

to:

Armenia Solidarity

British-Armenian All-Party Parliamentary Group

Nor Serount Publications

I apologise for the delay in responding to you, however before MPACUK
(Muslim Public Affairs Committee) committed to making a statement on the
Armenian Holocaust, I needed to ensure that I had done some research. To
date, the terms that can be argued or wordsmithed are genocide, crime
against humanity, ethnic cleansing and Holocaust – MPACUK will not be drawn
into a debate about semantics. What happened to the Armenians was all of the
above.

I am sorry that I missed the Memorial Day. In fact I would like to clarify
that statement and say ‘our’ memorial day as the horrific genocide that was
inflicted on the Armenian is a crime against humanity, and as brothers in
humanity, MPACUK extend the hand of condolence for your peoples’ suffering.
You deserve the recognition and the support of everyone including the
Turkish people who have to accept that a crime was committed in their name
against a vulnerable minority whose only sin was to be born Armenian in
(what is now) Turkey.

Quite correctly you have noticed that the British Government have hedged and
fudged their condemnation of the first Holocaust, and prevaricated due to
?insufficient evidence’ as a smoke screen not to offend Turkey as a powerful
member of NATO. However it is not in Turkey’s interest to deny its past, and
neither is it in the interest of justice to put the onus of proof on the
victims. Historians are prone to be political animals, however History has a
compelling force of making the truth known, warts and all.

Without ruining the tone of the email, MPACUK does not accept that this was
a Muslim crime, or a crime done in the name of Islam. It was done by evil,
sadistic human beings who unfortunately transcend religion, race, sexuality
and even humanity.

I hope this email is clear and unambiguous and reflects MPACUK’s position on
the tragic fate of so many Armenians.

Regards

THE TROUBLE WITH LIBERAL INTELLECTUALS
Gunduz Aktan, Radikal

Turkish Daily News , Turkey
April 25 2007

What Others Say

"Participants of April 14 meeting are fascists and racists. They
invent fears; they dare to protect the Republic but it is neither
in danger nor under threat. When fears reach the level of paranoia,
some slaughter Christians in Malatya to save the country," etc.

According to such analyses of the individuals who name themselves
as "liberal intellectuals," to defend the Republic and its founding
principles is fascism. In fact, they would call the Chief of General
Staff and the President fascists, but they have cold feet. They
indirectly accuse others who share the same view for fascism.

At the same time, these liberals express proudly that they are not
nationalists, for old-fashioned nationalism creates enemies both
inside and out as it causes society to turn inward. Therefore,
basic characteristics of nationalism such as national identity,
national interest and national honor mean nothing to them. Namely,
entities at stake are worthless for them and that lies under their
being daredevils.

They have no fears if secularism and singularity principles of the
Republic would be damaged. These principles, they think, prevent
integration of religious groups with the system and solution of the
"Kurdish issue" in democracy. These people are in favor of political
organizations of religious and ethnic communities and some sort of
a Kurdish-Turkish federation, in line with multi-cultural liberal
democracy.

Their dream of a Second Republic:

Isn’t this the reason behind their stance for "The Second Republic"?

They think that if Turkey wouldn’t have its foreign dynamics based on
EU, it would fail to stand alone with the presence of internal dynamics
only, let alone its development. For this reason, they even do not
understand why it is feared to accept "all" EU demands. They think
EU does not have racist prejudices, double standards and excessive
demands towards Turkey.

These liberals are not frightened by the formation of a Kurdish
state in north of Iraq. For them, Turkey should not intervene in
northern Iraq in accordance with the U.S. demands. Instead, Turkey
should establish high-level dialogue with Kurdish administrators and
recognize the reality of Kurdistan, issue an amnesty for the Kurdish
Workers’ Party (PKK) terrorists and introduce some regional rights
to southeastern part of the country similar to that of northern Iraq.

For them, Cyprus has no strategic value at all. "We" are the guilty
part for the deadlock on the Island anyways. They are not scared
that unilateral approval of the Annan Plan would cause us to lose
the ground. Their encouragement stems from that they do not know
loses as gains in foreign politics occur as a result of incremental
developments in a long period.

They also defend that we should not be afraid to accept unjust Armenian
allegations and that to face up with our history will promote our
democracy.

By not taking into consideration how Far East countries such as Korea
and China rule globalization for their interests, these people side
with opening our economy to all external influences with "no fears"
for the sake of integration with the world economy. The outcome does
not affect their lives anyway.

Their alliance with the AKP:

Unfortunately, everything that they are not scared of is the source
of rightful and legitimate fears in the rest of the society. However,
the real reason affecting the society negatively is not that what
liberals are not frightened, but are frightened.

These liberals are so much in the trajectory of Justice and Development
Party (AKP) that they are even afraid of real democracy where deputies
are elected by the people not the leader and the deputies who are
not under immunities and whom their finances are audited.

However, what they really fear is a Turkey rising on its own, leaning
on the power of the nation only, showing the will to solve problems
on its own and going after an ideal of contemporary independence. In
short, at the center of their fears lies the probability of Turkey
and Turks having a strong national identity.

They quickly accept the differences of others. They are even against
Turkishness being a supra-identity beyond ethnicity. They are trying
to spoof constitutional citizenship as identity.

Those who do not own any national identity think the others are
"fascists". Then, there is possibility that the others might think
of them as "traitors".

TURKEY AND THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE: CONTEMPORARY REFLECTIONS
by By Dr. Harry Hagopian

April 24 2007

Today, on 24th April, Armenians will commemorate the 92nd anniversary
of the Armenian Genocide. They will remember their forbears – well
over one million Armenian men, women and children – who were killed
in various odious ways by Ottoman Turkey under cover of WWI.

The serious academic world is well beyond ‘researching’ the Armenian
Genocide. Many international associations and individual experts
specialising in the history let alone psychology of genocide have
established time and again the unarguable veracity of this event.

However, the modern-day Turkish establishment and its cohorts continue
relentlessly to deny this genocide with rehearsed and glib arguments
that are truly farcical were they not also shameful. Simply put,
Armenians were almost wiped off the Ottoman map during the period 1915
till 1923 in a dual policy that blended a Turkish Ottoman desire for
dominion over a pan-Turkic region with vengefulness for its bitter
defeat in WWI. One need only read Donald Bloxham’s thoughtful The
Great Game of Genocide: Imperialism, Nationalism and the Destruction
of Ottoman Armenians or Taner Akcam’s trenchant A Shameful Act:
The Armenian Genocide and the Question of Turkish Responsibility
that uses Ottoman Turkish state documents and contemporary Turkish
statements to corroborate that the genocide against Armenians was
a gripping historical reality. The city of Trabzon for example,
where Hrant Dink’s killer purportedly originated from, is simply one
example amongst countless others of "killing members of a group" or
"deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to
bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part" (according
to Art II [a] & [c] of the Genocide Convention 1948) where Turkish
authorities in 1915 herded thousands of Armenians on boats, set them
off into the Black Sea and later drowned them with sheer impunity.

Given this sobering reality, I believe that Turkish contemporary
refusal to admit the guilt of its predecessor regime of the crime of
genocide is due in part to a psychological phenomenon of individual and
collective defensiveness against the perception of being accused by its
enemies (Armenians) and by its non-friends (supporters of the Armenian
efforts for recognition). As was written in an editorial I read only
last week, if Turkey were to be candid about its past rather than hide
behind threats, intimidation and obfuscations, it would recall that the
Sultan tried to distance himself in 1916 from the actions of the CUP,
the ‘state within the state’, and reassured the British Government
that the perpetrators of those egregious crimes would be punished –
as was the case with the four trials whose proceedings were included
in the government gazette.

Today, this phase of denial intensifies once more despite the
encouraging initial steps adopted by Turkey when negotiations for its
possible accession to the EU started formally in 2005. Now, however,
instead of moving forward, Turkey shows perceptible signs of regression
as it passes laws such as Articles 301 or 312 of the Turkish Penal
Code that have prosecuted Turks and non-Turks alike, those living
in the country or abroad, either for "defaming Turkishness" or for
"insulting Ataturk". Those who have suffered the brunt of such
laws include the likes of Orhan Pamuk, Perihan Magden, Murat Belge,
Ismet Berkan, Hasan Cemal, Elif Safak, Semih Sokmen, Ibrahim Kaboglu,
Baskin Oran, Halil Altindere, Murat Pabuc, Eren Keskin, Ragip Zarakolu,
Ahmet Onal, Fatih Tas, Rahmi Yildirim, Erol Ozkoray, Osman Tiftikci
and Sirri Ozturk, Osman Pamukoðlu, EU Commissioner Joost Lagendjik,
HH Karekin II, Michael Dickinson, Ipek Calislar, Abdullah Dilipak
and Mehmet Sevki Eygi, Yalcýn Ergundoðan and Ibrahim Cesmecioglu,
Attila Yayla, Belma Akcura, Cuneyt Arcayurek, Tuncay Ozkan, Taner
Akcam, Attila Tuygan and Mehmet Ali Varýþ. In fact, merely defining
the Armenian deportations in 1915 as "genocide" is interpreted as
"defaming Turkishness". One such instance occurred when Erhan Akay was
convicted to five months of prison for his article in Cagri entitled
Time to Confront the Armenian Question After 90 Years.

But it is even more disgraceful in the institutional politics of denial
pursued by Turkey when international organisations that are meant to
uphold International law and speak out against genocide kow-tow to the
political pressures of denial. I cite here how the UN, under its new
leadership, bowed recently to Turkey’s demands and blocked a scheduled
opening of an exhibition at UN headquarters commemorating the 13th
anniversary of the Rwandan genocide solely because it had mentioned
the mass murder of the Armenians. Ankara was offended by a sentence
that explained how genocide came to be recognised as a crime under
international law: "Following World War I during which one million
Armenians were murdered in Turkey, Polish lawyer Raphael Lemkin urged
the League of Nations to recognize crimes of barbarity as international
crimes." The British-based organisers of this exhibition were willing
to omit the words "in Turkey", but this was clearly not enough for the
UN aficionados, and the exhibit has been put on hold. Nearer to our
own European shores, I also cite the [heretofore successful] Turkish
pressures exercised over Germany, as current President of the Council
of the European Union, to remove the case of the Armenian Genocide
as an illustrative example (the other two are the Jewish Holocaust
and Rwandan Genocide) for a pan-European law that is currently being
drafted to outlaw genocide denial in all twenty-five EU countries.

When will Turkey decide to follow a post-nationalist attitude
to history? When will it realise that every time it strives to
curtail any discussion of the Armenian Genocide, it only draws wider
attention to the subject and links today’s Turkey with the crimes
of its predecessor regime? When will certain elements within Turkish
society realise that their campaign of vilification, libel, lies and
smut on different Internet websites against prominent Turkish and
foreign scholars or journalists the likes of Taner Akcam, Robert Fisk
or Mike Joseph is not only scurrilous but depicts Turks in the least
favourable light? Should Turkey not underline – rather than undermine –
its Eurocentric credentials as it seeks to join the EU fold?

Indeed, it should revise the Turkish Criminal Code and stop applying
its Anti-Terror Law (TMY). It should also stop confiscating books,
suspending or trying writers, journalists, publishers, intellectuals,
translators and human rights activists, muzzling the press and
discriminating against its different minorities instead of protecting
them.

Once those rudimental changes are implemented and begin to take
root, when Turkish judicial chauvinism expires, and when the Turkish
establishment listens to some of its own academics and comes clean on
the genocide by recognising it, Armenians would then express their
responsibility by showing a necessary measure of soul-searching and
dealing politically with their ninety-two-year-old emotional pain.

Who knows, such a devolution might well lead toward neighbourliness
let alone prosperity and ultimately forgiven friendships between
Armenians and Turks – as was the case largely before the heinous
pogroms of the late 1800’s and the subsequent genocide.

–Boundary_(ID_KNVRuOqzCz8mu9pSpql5cw)- –

A RALLY TO TAKE PLACE NEAR TURKISH EMBASSY IN TBILISI WITH DEMANDS TO RECOGNIZE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

Yerkir
23.04.2007 17:29

YEREVAN (YERKIR) – In connection with the 92nd anniversary of the
Armenian Genocide today in the evening the Armenian Cooperation Center
of Georgia (ACCG) organizes a peaceful protest with torches entitled
"Flames of remembrance and struggle". The protest will be held at
the Turkish Embassy in Tbilisi, Georgia.

On April 24, 2007, at 11.00 a.m., the Diocese of Armenian Apostolic
Church in Georgia will hold ecumenical memorial service in honor
of the victims of the Armenian Genocide in Ottoman Empire in 1915 –
1923. On April 24, 2007, at 2.00 p.m., by the initiative of ACCG a
peaceful demonstration at the Turkish Embassy in Tbilisi will demand
recognition of Armenian Genocide.

On April 24, 2007, at 4.00 p.m., in Tbilisi State Armenian Drama
Theater after Petros Adamyan, a mourning evening dedicated to
the memory of the victims of Armenian Genocide will be organized
by the administration of the theater and the Union of Armenians of
Georgia. During this event ACCG will hold an exhibition of documentary
photos on Armenian Genocide.

Also, an exhibition of children paintings entitled "We remember and
we fight for peace" with participation of all Armenian and some
Russian schools of Tbilisi will be displayed. Representatives of
other communities and public organizations of Tbilisi are scheduled
to participate in the events.