Author: Babajanian Karo

ISRAEL LAWMAKERS TO DEBATE RECOGNIZING ARMENIA GENOCIDE

NowLebanon

Dec 26 2011

In Israeli parliamentary committee is to hold a debate on Monday
on recognizing genocide in Armenia, a move likely to further strain
already tense relations with Turkey.

The education committee is to convene at 10 a.m. (0800 GMT) to discuss
a proposal to mark April 24, the day when Turkish mass killings of
Armenians started in 1915, as a memorial day for “the massacre of
the Armenian people.”

A similar proposal was rejected by parliament in 2007, when ties
between Israel and Turkey were warm.

But relations plunged into deep crisis last year when Israeli forces
killed nine Turks in a raid on a Turkish ferry, part of an activist
flotilla seeking to breach Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza.

“We’ve been working on this for many years,” Georgette Avakian of
the Armenian National Committee in Jerusalem told Israeli public radio.

“Hope the time has come.”

In October, Turkey expelled the Israeli ambassador and axed military
ties and defense trade. Last week, Israel cancelled completion of a
2008 contract to sell Turkey aerial surveillance equipment.

A parliamentary supporter of an Israeli memorial day for Armenian
genocide – Zahava Gal-On of the left-wing Meretz party – said the
changed diplomatic climate might mean that the measure gains support
this time.

“For many years, Israel’s government has refused to recognize the
genocide for cynical, strategic and economic reasons, connected to
its ties with Turkey,” she told the Haaretz daily.

“Now, given the state of relations between the countries, I can’t rule
out the possibility that the Foreign Ministry is exploiting affairs.”

Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their kinsmen died in orchestrated
killings during the final years of the Ottoman Empire.

But the Turkish government strongly denies this, saying 300,000
Armenians and as many Turks were killed in civil conflict when the
Christian Armenians, backed by Russia, rose up against the Ottoman
Empire.

France’s lower house voted last week to criminalize the denial
of genocide in Armenia, prompting Turkey to suspend political and
military cooperation.

‘Azerbaijan’s sovereignty must and will be guaranteed above all occupied lands’

News.Az
Mon 26 December 2011

“Azerbaijan’s sovereignty should be fully restored. This is required
by international law and the Azerbaijani people requires this.

“The territorial integrity of Azerbaijan must be restored, all
immigrants must return to their native lands – to Nagorno-Karabakh,
as well as Shusha”, – Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said it at the
opening ceremony of the new residential village, built in Takhtakorpu
in Agjabadi region for 552 displaced families from the Lachin region,
APA reports.

“Azerbaijan’s sovereignty should be fully restored. This is required
by international law and the Azerbaijani people requires this. We now
are making diplomatic efforts to get back there. If you see that these
efforts fail, then at any time we need military means to recover our
lands. International law recognizes this right for us. Just as long
as we try to do it by negotiation and, simultaneously, to increase
their power. Over the years we have become much stronger. We have
created a powerful military capability”, – he said.

According to the president in the coming years, the difference
between Armenia and Azerbaijan will continue to grow. “This
difference shows itself in everything – the economy, the political
weight of our countries, international support capabilities, as
well as demographics. The future is in large part, of course, will
determine the scientific and technological progress and development,
and demography. The population of Azerbaijan is growing the population
of Armenia is reduced. The population of Azerbaijan is 9.3 million
people, Armenia – 1.8 this requires. According to official statistics
– the statistics are always based on fraud – in the first half
of the country left 60 000. During the year, it will be more than
100 thousand. After five to ten years there will be less than one
million people. We must work, we work, we are dealing with our job,
get stronger, gain more partners”, – the President said.

According to him, at present the number of partners of Azerbaijan
in the world is growing. “There are less that 200 country in the
world and 155 of them supported Azerbaijan and this support will
gradually grow even more. Because in the next two years all the
countries who voted for us in the Security Council, will see that
they were not mistaken. Because we will protect their interests,
and safeguard justice, will defend the law”, – Azerbaijani President
Ilham Aliyev said.

Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey
Dec 24 2011

Family dragged into bill debate

ISTANBUL / ANKARA

ErdoÄ?an lashes out at Sarkozy saying the latter’s his father witnessed
the incidents in Algeria, and accusing the French government of being
`spineless’ due to the low turnout for the bill. Sarkozy’s father
denies ever being to Algeria

French President Nicolas Sarkozy ought `to learn historical facts from
his own ancestors’ when interfering in the debates about the supposed
genocides of others, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip ErdoÄ?an said
Dec. 23 in Istanbul.

`Sarkozy should ask about France’s genocide in Algeria in 1945 to his
father, Paul Sarkozy, who was a legionnaire in the French army in that
time; I have no doubt that his father has some stories to tell to his
son,’ ErdoÄ?an said during the opening of a conference. ErdoÄ?an also
said a forefather of Sarkozy was a refugee who was able to migrate
from Spain to Thessaloniki in 1526 as the Ottoman Empire opened its
borders to save Jews from the Inquisition. `If Sarkozy looks to his
own family history, he will find nothing but the help of Turks.
Benedict Mallah, Sarkozy’s grandfather, was saved by Turks and he went
to France in 1904 when Turkey lost Thessaloniki to the Greeks,’
ErdoÄ?an said.

Never been to Algeria: Sarkozy’s father
Nicolas Sarkozy’s father Pal Sarkozy replied that he had never been to
Algeria. `I have not passed beyond Marseille. And I stayed at the
legion for four months,’ he told France’s BFMTV channel. `Just buy my
book, `So much life,’ by Pal Sarkozy. All the documents are there —
[the matter] is totally ridiculous.’ France’s lower house of
Parliament passed a bill Dec. 22 criminalizing denials of the 1915
events as genocide, touching off profound Turkish anger. ErdoÄ?an said
the French government had no courage to vote against the bill as the
motion passed with only 55 votes even though the chamber has 557
members. `Sarkozy is trying to win the elections in France with racism
against Turks and Muslims. My words are not against French society but
that government is racist. They are spineless, they have no courage,’
ErdoÄ?an said.

France’s stance similar to that of dictatorships: FM
The prime minister also read a letter from Süleyman the Magnificent to
French King François I, dismissing the monarch’s requests for help.
ErdoÄ?an said he gave the letter as a gift to Sarkozy when he came to
Istanbul, prompting applause from his audience.

After the bill passed, Turkey announced the cancelation of all
bilateral military and economic cooperation and the suspension of all
bilateral political consultations with France. In Ankara Foreign
Minister Ahmet DavutoÄ?lu compared France’s stance to that of `the
dictatorships’ of the Middle East. `Yesterday’s bill took Europe back
to the Middle Ages. Just as the Gadhafi regime, the bin Ali regime and
the al-Assad regime dictated their peoples what to think and what not
to think, French Parliament and leaders behind it dictated Europeans
what not to debate,’ DavutoÄ?lu told a gathering of Turkish ambassadors
Dec. 23. French Parliament stepped over all the values Europe had
championed and it risked the future of European democracy in return
for political gain, he said. The minister called on French
intellectuals to protect their values. `If Europeans do not look after
their own values, we will do it,’ he said. Ankara would raise its
voice against the bill `all around the world,’ DavutoÄ?lu said.

The Turkish president expressed hope Dec. 23 the resolution process in
France would not continue, Anatolia news agency reported. President
Abdullah Gül said he hoped France would not proceed with the
legislative process. `Nobody can express his or her sincere views
after this resolution is adopted in France, which has been publicly
known as a country where pluralism and everything was discussed
freely,’ Gül told reporters in Istanbul. Gül also said the voting in
France was an insult to Turkish people. France was one of the three
members of the Minsk Group set up to find a solution to the
Azerbaijani-Armenian dispute and to end instability in the Caucasus.
`France should immediately withdraw from mediation in case the
resolution is enacted,’ Gül said. `The current French president has
prejudices against Turkey.’ Meanwhile, speaking in France, the main
opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal KılıçdaroÄ?lu
said Dec. 23 they would give full support to the measures taken by the
government against France.

December/24/2011

Islamic Republic News Agency
Dec 23 2011

Iran president welcomed by Armenian counterpart

Yerevan, 23 December: President Mahmud Ahmadinezhad in Yerevan on
Friday [23 December] was officially welcomed by his Armenian President
Serzh Sargsyan at the presidential palace.

President Ahmadinezhad arrived in Yerevan on Friday morning for an
official visit to Armenia. He was welcomed by Armenian Foreign
Minister Edvard Nalbandyan at the Yerevan airport.

President Ahmadinezhad’s visit to Armenia takes place upon an
invitation by Armenian President Sargsyan and in line with expansion
of bilateral ties between two countries.

Supply of oil products to Armenia and construction of railways are
among main topics of discussion during President Ahmadinezhad’s
one-day visit to Yerevan.

Trade stood at 270m dollars in 2010 between the two countries. The
figure rose up to 300m dollars in 2011. Over the past 20 years, energy
sector has played an important role in Iran-Armenia trade relations.
Relations between Armenia and the Islamic Republic of Iran remain
extremely cordial and both Armenia and Iran are strategic partners in
the region. Armenia and Iran enjoy cultural and historical ties that
go back thousands of years.

Interfax, Russia
Dec 23 2011

Heads of Armenia, Iran favor peace in region

YEREVAN. Dec 23

The presidents of Armenia and Iran Serzh Sargsian and Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad find the restoration of peace and stability in the South
Caucasus vital.

At the press service of the Armenian president Interfax was told that
the joint statement adopted at the end of the official visit of the
Iranian president to Armenia also says that the Nagorno Karabakh
conflict should be resolved peacefully and on the basis of fundamental
international norms and principles.

“The presidents also stressed the importance of the nonproliferation
of weapons of mass destruction and expressed their loyalty to the
nuclear nonproliferation treaty. They also spoke of the right of all
countries, including Armenia and Iran, to use nuclear energy for
peaceful purposes. The two leaders stressed the importance of settling
the Iranian nuclear problem by diplomatic peaceful ways on the basis
of talks,” the joint statement says.

The two presidents also expressed readiness for cooperation in
combating international terrorism and organized crime.

Ml

Ottawa Citizen, Canada
December 23, 2011 Friday
Final Edition

Turkey; Ties cut with France over genocide law

Turkey reacted with fury Thursday to a vote by French lawmakers to
outlaw denial of the 1915 Armenian genocide, immediately cutting
military ties and warning of “irreparable damage” to relations. “This
is politics based on racism, discrimination and xenophobia,” thundered
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. “From now on we are revising our
relations with France. There was no genocide committed in our history.
We do not accept this.”

ITAR-TASS, Russia
December 23, 2011 Friday 07:04 PM GMT+4

Presidents laud high level of Armenia-Iran relations

YEREVAN December 23

Presidents Serzh Sargsyan and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad are satisfied with a
high level of Armenia-Iran relations based on the centuries-old
history of their peoples, says a joint communique signed in Yerevan on
Friday.

The presidents reaffirmed their wish for further development of
amicable and mutually beneficial relations.

Ahmadinejad came to Armenia on Friday on an official visit.

The presidents stressed the importance of the intergovernmental
economic cooperation commission and bilateral accords for further
growth of bilateral trade, infrastructural projects, economic, energy,
transport, communication and industrial cooperation and investments.

They welcomed the broadening energy cooperation and the construction
of the third power line.

The presidents described as important the strategic program of the
construction of the second hydropower plant on the transboundary river
Aras, a railroad line between Armenia and Iran and an oil pipeline
from Iran to Armenia. National ministries were ordered to start the
implementation of the aforesaid projects within the next six months.

The presidents called for creating a favorable environment for
economic and investment activity of Armenian and Iranian businessmen.

ITAR-TASS, Russia
December 23, 2011 Friday 06:29 PM GMT+4

Russian border guards in Armenia accomplish their annual mission in 2011

YEREVAN December 23

Russian border guards in Armenia accomplished their main mission of
the reliable border protection this year, head of the Russian Border
Department in Armenia Lt. Gen. Viktor Vlasov said in Yerevan on
Friday.

He said the border guards prevented trespassing and contraband.

“The Border Department gave protection to the Armenian state borders
with Iran and Turkey and protected the interests and security of
Armenia and Russia in 2011,” he said. “The work was done in compliance
with the Russian-Armenian treaty on the status of Russian border
forces in the Armenian territory.”

“A lot has been done jointly with the Armenian authorities to upgrade
the border protection,” the general said. “Higher efficiency of border
control cut the number of border trespassing attempts.”

Border guards seized over 230 trespassers in 2011, exposed incorrect
border crossing documents of 5,150 persons, seized 142 pieces of cold
steal, 23 firearm rounds, more than one million rubles worth of
contraband and over one kilogram of poisonous substances, and
uncovered five organized criminal groups with the total of 22 members
from Turkey, Iran, Georgia and Armenia.

Border guards exposed new routes of illegal migrants from Iran,
Armenia and Georgia headed for Western Europe and CIS states across
Armenia and Russia, Vlasov said.

The Irish Times
December 23, 2011 Friday

Turkish anger rises as France takes first step to criminalise denial
of Armenian genocide

PARIS France took the first step yesterday to criminalising the denial
of genocide, including the 1915 mass killing of Armenians by Ottoman
Turks, prompting Ankara to recall its ambassador for consultations.

Tension has risen over the draft law put forward by members of
President Nicolas Sarkozy s ruling party, with Turkish prime minister
Tayyip Erdogan warning there would be grave political and economic
consequences if the Bill passed. Mr Erdogan said the draft law was
politics based on racism, discrimination, xenophobia .

This is using Turkophobia and Islamophobia to gain votes, and it
raises concerns regarding these issues not only in France but all
Europe, he told a news conference, adding that Turkey could not remain
silent in the face of this .

Turkish officials said its ambassador in Paris had been recalled for
consultations after members of France s National Assembly the lower
house of parliament voted overwhelmingly in favour of the Bill. It
will now be debated next year in the Senate.

A French diplomatic source said Paris regretted the move and
considered fellow Nato member Turkey an important partner.

I don t understand why France wants to censor my freedom of
expression, Yildiz Hamza, president of the Montargis association that
represents 700 Turkish families in France, said outside the National
Assembly.

Earlier, about 3,000 French nationals of Turkish origin demonstrated
peacefully outside the parliament ahead of the vote, which came 32
years to the day since a Turkish diplomat was assassinated by Armenian
militants in central Paris.

The authorities in Yerevan welcomed the vote, Armenia s foreign
minister Edward Nalbandian saying: By adopting this Bill reconfirmed
that crimes against humanity do not have a period of prescription and
their denial must be absolutely condemned .

France passed a law recognising the killing of Armenians as genocide
in 2001. The French lower house first passed a Bill criminalising the
denial of an Armenian genocide in 2006, but it was rejected by the
Senate in May this year.

The latest draft law was made more general to outlaw the denial of any
genocide, partly in the hope of appeasing the Turks.

It could still face a long passage into law, though its backers want
to see it completed before parliament is suspended at the end of
February ahead of elections in the second quarter.

National Assembly speaker Bernard Accoyer said on Wednesday he doubted
the Bill would pass by the end of the current parliament, as the
government had not made the Bill priority legislation.

Armenia, backed by many historians and parliaments, says about 1.5
million Christian Armenians were killed in what is now eastern Turkey
during the first World War in a deliberate policy of genocide ordered
by the Ottoman government.

Successive Turkish governments and the vast majority of Turks feel the
charge of genocide is an insult to their nation. Ankara argues that
there was heavy loss of life on both sides during fighting in the
area.

The French government has stressed it did not initiate the Bill, which
mandates a EUR 45,000 fine and a year in jail for offenders, and says
Turkey cannot impose unilateral trade sanctions.

Faced with Sarkozy s open hostility to Turkey s stagnant bid to join
the European Union, and buoyed by a fast-growing economy, Ankara has
little to lose by picking a political fight with Paris.

With Turkey taking an increasingly influential role in the Arab world
and Middle East, especially Syria, Iran and Libya, France could
experience some diplomatic discomfort, and French firms could lose out
on lucrative Turkish contracts.

France is Turkey s fifth-biggest export market and the sixth biggest
source of its imports.

President Medvedev said that Nagorno Karabakh conflict can be settled quickly

© RIA Novosti. Vladimir Rodionov
21:19 24/12/2011
MOSCOW, December 24
(RIA Novosti)

President Dmitry Medvedev has said the conflict over the Nagorno
Karabakh region between Azerbaijan and Armenia can be settled any day
if the two conflicting Caucasus states agree to compromise.

`I think this is perhaps the only conflict in the post-Soviet area
that could be settled today,’ Medvedev said in an interview to the
Azerbaijan Television and Radio Broadcasting Company, released
Saturday.

`Everything depends on the parties’ goodwill and on their ability and
willingness to listen to each other,’ he added.

Inter-ethnic conflict between the two Caucasus states erupted in the
late 1980’s and resulted in the secession of the Nagorno Karabakh
region from Azerbaijan, which led to the displacement of hundreds of
thousands of Armenians and Azeris. Russia has been mediating peace
talks for nearly two decades.

`I have made mediation efforts over the last few years that have
resulted in eight trilateral meetings, bringing the leaders of
Azerbaijan and Armenia together,’ Medvedev said. `The two sides have
been able to set out their views and arguments in a frank and honest
fashion and this is all part of the mediator’s job.’