Author: Badalian Vardan

ARMENIAN GENOCIDE DENIED AND REMEMBERED

Examiner.com

April 25 2012

John M. Curtis
LA City Buzz Examiner

Forced to deal with one of the great crimes of the 20th Century,
Armenian Remembrance Day commemorates the systematic extermination
of 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman Young Turks regime during
and after WWW I [1915-1923]. Calling the event “one of the worst
atrocities of the 20th Century,” President Barack Obama stopped short
of labeling the massacre a “genocide,” something vehemently rejected
by the current Turkish government. Events surrounding the Armenian
genocide have been well documented, beginning April 24, 1915 when
the Young Turk military rounded up some 250 Armenian intellectuals
and community leaders in Constantinople suspected of ties to Russia’s
Marxist Bolshevik revolution, leading them on a death march into the
Syrian desert, depriving them of food and water. Young Turks continued
the Armenian massacre through 1923.

“We honor the memory of the 1.5 million Armenians who were brutally
massacred or marched to their death in the waning days of the Ottoman
Empire,” Barack read from a prepared statement, stopping short of
labeling the event “genocide.” Coined by Polish Jewish legal scholar
Raphael Lemkin [1900-1959] in 1944 following the Nazi extermination
of European Jews, the term genocide designates the “destruction of
a nation or an ethnic group,” something akin to wiping out social,
cultural, political and religious institutions. Lemkin’s first
definition in 1933 to the League of Nations included “a crime of
barbarity,” citing the Ottoman Turks slaughter of Armenians during and
after WW I. Lemkin’s definition surfaced in Count 3 at the Nuremberg
Trials of 24 Nazi war criminals, specifying defendants “conducted
deliberate and systematic genocide-namely, the extermination of racial
and national groups.”

AZERBAIJAN PROTESTS ARMENIA’S NUCLEAR POWER STATION

The Messenger
April 25 2012
Georgia

Azerbaijan has appealed to the Security Council of the UN to force
Armenia to close down its nuclear power station. Azeri representative
to the UN Akshim Mekhdiev supports the idea that the South Caucasus
should become a nuclear energy free zone. He highlighted the possible
problems the Armenian nuclear power plant may cause to environment.

AAA MEMBER: U.S. IS NOT A COUNTRY WHERE WE MAKE EXCUSES

PanARMENIAN.Net
April 24, 2012 – 10:44 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – The Armenian Assembly of America joined with
thousands of fellow Armenians for the 97th anniversary commemoration
of the Armenian Genocide in New York City organized by the Knights
and Daughters of Vartan, reported the Assembly.

Alex Karapetian, an Armenian Assembly Intern Alumnus and ARAMAC State
Chair from Pennsylvania, delivered remarks on behalf of the Armenian
Assembly. “There have been too many atrocities, too many genocides,
and the Armenian-American community has a special responsibility to
rise in defense of others who become targets of persecution,” said
Karapetian. “We must continue to raise our voices until the scourge of
genocide is ended and all those who suffered are awarded their dignity
through recognition for the crimes committed against them. These
crimes against humanity must not go unanswered,” Karapetian continued.

Recognizing the tremendous responsibility of his generation to carry
the community’s message forward, Karapetian stated that “I am here
to tell you that we will. No one can or will deny us that.”

Acknowledging the remarks made by Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY),
Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Representative Carolyn Maloney (D-NY)
along with Armenian Caucus Co-Chair Representative Frank Pallone, Jr.

(D-NJ), Karapetian stated that there is another elected official
he would like to hear from, and that is the President of the United
States. “The United States of America is not a country where we make
excuses or shirk our responsibilities,” Karapetian said. Recounting
the promise to recognize the Armenian Genocide, Karapetian quoted
then Senator Obama wherein he stated “the Armenian Genocide is not
an allegation, a personal opinion, or a point of view, but rather a
widely documented fact supported by an overwhelming body of historical
evidence. These facts are undeniable.”

“Mr. President, we are watching. The whole world is watching,”
Karapetian concluded.

ARMENIAN-AMERICANS HOLD PROTEST AT WHITE HOUSE

PanARMENIAN.Net
April 24, 2012 – 10:33 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Armenian-Americans from across the Greater Washington
area rallied in front of the White House just days before President
Obama’s annual April 24 remarks, urging him to honor his pledge to
properly characterize the murder of 1.5 million Armenians by the
Ottoman Turkish Government as Genocide.

According to Asbarez, the protest was organized by the Armenian
Youth Federation “Ani” Chapter, in coordination with a coalition of
Armenian American groups comprising the Armenian Genocide Commemorative
Committee of Greater Washington.

“President Obama’s record on genocide – whether it has been his
failure to recognize the Armenian Genocide or to put an end to
Sudanese President Omer al Bashir’s attacks on the Nuba people
and South Kordofan – falls far short of the ‘unstinting resolve’ he
pledged as Senator and presidential candidate to stand up to genocide,”
said AYF Ani Chapter President Tevin Polatian.

“President Obama has instead resorted to empty rhetoric and worse,
in the case of the Armenian Genocide, pressured Armenia to support
the Turkey-Armenia Protocols – the latest in the arsenal of Turkey’s
tactics to avoid dealing with this dark page in its past.” Polatian
continued to note, however, that “It’s not too late. President Obama,
on April 24th, has the opportunity to set the record straight – honor
the bravery and principles of U.S. diplomats like Henry Morgenthau
and John Evans – and describe the murder of 1.5 million Armenians
for what it was – Genocide.”

Among the White House protesters was Visalia, California Mayor Amy
Shuklian, who marched in memory of her grandmother, Aroosiag, who was
a survivor of the Armenian Genocide. Shuklian was clear and succinct
in her message to President Obama that day: “Recognize the Genocide
for what it was, Mr. President – a Genocide.”

Armenian Genocide Commemorative Committee of Greater Washington member
Jake Bournazian offered a passionate message to President Obama,
urging him to honor the founding principles of the United States and
become a great president by recognizing the Armenian Genocide.

Bournazian detailed the cultural genocide being committed by the
Turkish Government today, citing the ongoing destruction of centuries
old Armenian Churches, and the need for Turkey to not only recognize
the Armenian Genocide but make reparations to the Armenian people.

At the end of the two-hour demonstration, protesters were drenched
from the torrential rain, but undeterred in their calls upon President
Obama to end Turkey’s gag rule on U.S. affirmation of this crime with
a clear and unambiguous statement on April 24.

ARFD MEMBER: WE SAY NO TO TURKEY THROUGH TORCHLIGHT PROCESSION

PanARMENIAN.Net
April 23, 2012 – 20:44 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Annual April 23 torchlight procession is a covenant,
expressing confidence for regaining rights in future, with liberation
of Western Armenia among them, head of Armenian Cause Office, ARFD
representative said.

“Through this torchlight procession we say NO to Turkey,” Kiro
Manoyan said.

Dashnaktsutyun Bureau member Levon Lazarian, in turn, said, “We pass
the baton to our future generations until we have a united Armenia.”

“There can be no recognition without compensation; restoration of
justice implies building of statehood in Armenians’ united homeland.”

AZERBAIJANI MP CALLED ON COUNCIL OF EUROPE TO LAUNCH MECHANISMS OF INFLUENCE ON ARMENIA

Trend
April 23 2012
Azerbaijan

Azerbaijani MP called on the Council of Europe to launch the mechanisms
of influence on Armenia to restore the rights of Azerbaijani refugees
and IDPs.

This opinion was expressed on the first working day of the spring
session of PACE by the member of Azerbaijani delegation in the
organization Ganira Pashayeva to the chairman of the Committee of
Ministers, Minister of Great Britain for European Affairs David
Lidington.

MP Ganira Pashayeva asked a question related to the occupation of
Shusha and Lachin by Armenians 20 years ago.

Pashayeva noted in her question that in a few days will be the
20th anniversary of the Armenian occupation of Azerbaijani towns of
Shusha and Lachin. “For 20 years, Armenians do not allow thousands of
Azerbaijanis to return to their native lands. Why does not the Council
of Europe launch the mechanisms of pressure and influence on official
Yerevan to make Armenians leave Azerbaijan’s occupied lands and let
thousands of Azerbaijani refugees and IDPs return to their homes?”,
she asked.

Lidington answered that the quicker the ways for the resolution of
the conflict will be found the quicker the difficulties of IDPs and
refugees will end.

According to Lidington, refugees and internally displaced persons have
the right to return to their homes. The Council of Europe doesn’t
have the same authority as the OSCE Minsk Group with regard to the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Lidington believes that officials of the both countries should withdraw
from the harsh statements and improve their efforts to find ways to
resolve the conflict within the Minsk Group.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian
armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan since 1992,
including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and 7 surrounding districts.

Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The
co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group – Russia, France, and the U.S. –
are currently holding the peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council’s four
resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the
surrounding regions.

TURKISH MINISTER: ARMENIA OUGHT TO LIBERATE AZERBAIJANI LANDS RATHER THAN REFUSING TO PARTICIPATE AT EUROVISION-2012

Trend
April 23 2012
Azerbaijan

Armenia’s refusal from participation at the Eurovision Song Contest,
to be held in Baku, is not an “invention”, but instead Armenia ought
to stop occupation of the Azerbaijani lands, Turkish Minister for EU
Affairs Egemen Bagis, Son Dakika agency reported.

“If Armenia wants to go down in history, it must withdraw from the
occupied Azerbaijani territories. This will be the right step by
Yerevan,” Bagis said.

He also stressed that Turkey does not intend to watch in silence
Armenia’s unfairness and cruelty that the Azerbaijani people endured.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian
armed forces have occupied 20 per cent of

Azerbaijan since 1992, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and
seven surrounding districts.

Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The
co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group – Russia, France, and the U.S. –
are currently holding the peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council’s four
resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the
surrounding regions.

TURKISH PRESIDENT PLANNED TO RETURN SOME LANDS TO ARMENIANS IN VAN
Armen Hareyan

HULIQ.com

April 23 2012

In 1984 former Turkish president Turgut Ozal wanted to know the
economic and political price Turkey would have to pay if Turkey
accepted and recognized the Armenian Genocide and had planned to
return some lands to Armenians in Van.

With the approach of April 24, the day when 10 million Armenians and
more than 20 government around the world commemorate the Armenian
Genocide, one of the most prominent topics in Turkish media is how to
solve the Armenian Issue. The country still denies that the killing
and deportations of 1.5 million Armenians between 1915 and 1921 was an
act of Genocide. Yet, based on the archives and available documents
it’s becoming even more difficult and costly to continue to deny the
charge. One of the top stories today in Turkish media is that one of
the former presidents of the Turkish Republic Turgut Ozal considered
a real attempt to solve the Armenian genocide to stop the mounting
political and economic cost.

Today’s Zaman reports among other Turkish newspapers that behind closed
doors, president Ozal defended the idea of holding negotiations with
Armenians to settle a dispute that has had great potential to deal
a serious blow to Turkish interests in international politics.

Ozal’s close friends and former aids spoke to the newspaper about the
politics of the day. In 1980s Armenia was still part of the Soviet
Union and Ozal defended the idea of holding negotiations with the
powerful Armenian diaspora.

His close friends and advisers say, (in the same place) that if Ozal
were alive today, the problem of the Armenian Genocide might have
already been solved.

Turgut Ozal’s 2 Plans

Ozal did not only speak, but being a far-sighted politician he made a
move. In 1984 he ordered his government advisers to work on possible
scenarios to identify the the political and economic cost that his
country would have to pay if Turkey recognized the Armenian Genocide
and accepted the term genocide for killing 1.5 million Armenians
during the World War I.

According to the second scenario Ozal’s circle sought to gauge the
political cost of a Turkish acceptance of genocide within 20 to 30
years if Turkey is forced to accept it one day. He wanted to solve the
issue between the Armenian and Turkish nations before it got too late.

According to Vehbi Dincerler, 71, a former education minister and a
state minister in Ozal’s Cabinet, Ozal aimed at making “few concessions
after reaching a deal with the Armenians.”

President Ozal wanted to make the solution as part of the Van project.

“Suleyman Roman, who worked on several projects with Ozal in the 1980s,
said the former president had planned to return some lands to Armenians
in Van.” What “returning some lands to Armenains” means is not clear.

Ozal could not make concrete progress in the project because of strong
opposition. The main opposition came from the military establishment.

The military, according to Hasan Celal Guzel, who served in Ozal’s
government, thought Ozal is making too many concessions to the
Armenians and Kurds. Turgut Ozal was of partial Kurdish descent,
according to The Washing Institute on Near East Policy.

“They [the military] saw Ozal as someone who makes too many
concessions. They stood against his policies. However, Ozal came up
with the idea that Turkey could reconcile and make peace with the
Armenians, who had earned the title ‘millet-i sadıka’ [loyal nation]
during the Ottoman era. He wanted to open the door for a return of
Armenians to Turkey. No one has made a move since. Had he not died,
he might have solved this issue,” Guzel told Today’s Zaman.

MOLDOVAN OPPOSITION MP SAYS PREMIER BEHIND CONTROVERSIAL ARMS DEAL WITH ARMENIA

ProTV, Chisinau
April 18 2012
Moldova

[translated from Moldovan]

[Presenter] The Moldovan prime minister [Vlad Filat] personally
oversaw the sale of weapons to Armenia – the statement has been made
by opposition Communist MP Alexandr Petcov, who says that the ultimate
goal of the deal was to sell the remaining six MiG jet fighters for
spare parts. [Moldova sold 21 MiG-29 jet fighters to the USA in 1997.]

The press service of the government has declined to comment on these
accusations.

[Petcov, speaking at a news conference] The whole deal was not only
known but also supervised by a person named Vladimir Filat. That was
a deal with missiles. It was part of another deal whose ultimate goal
was the MiG-29 deal.

[Correspondent] Meanwhile, the parliamentary commission comprised of
lawmakers from all the parliamentary factions has established that
the weapons were sold to Armenia without the government’s consent
and without a tender.

[Anatol Gorila, captioned as chairman of the investigations commission,
speaking at the same news conference] The governmental commission for
the sale of the army’s assets authorized the signing of contracts to
supply weapons to the Latvian company Latspeceksports without holding
a tender and without the government’s decision.

[Defence Minister Valeriu Marinuta, speaking to a ProTV correspondent]
I view this deal as legal. The Prosecutor-General’s Office now has
to express its position.

[Correspondent] The commission concluded that several other officials
are also responsible for the illegal sale of the weapons. These
are [Economics Minister] Valeriu Lazar, who, as chairman of the
governmental commission, allowed the contract to be signed, Deputy
Foreign Minister Andrei Popov, who damaged Moldova’s image abroad,
and the acting director of the Information and Security Service,
who did not provide information in due time.

The officials have not yet commented on the accusations.

The sale of around 50 tonnes of weapons took place in September 2011,
when a cargo plane landed at Marculesti [military] airport to take
these obsolete weapons. The weapons were sold by the Defence Ministry
to a Latvian company. However, the plane belonged to Armenia, with
which the Latvian company signed a contract. At the end of the day,
the parliamentary commission concluded that all the weapons were sold
to Armenia.

Its conclusions have been submitted to the Prosecutor-General’s Office,
which now has to establish whether the deal was legal.

LIBRARY MARKS 500TH ANNIVERSARY OF ARMENIAN PRINTING WITH EXHIBITION, PUBLICATION

US Fed News
April 18, 2012 Wednesday 1:19 PM EST

WASHINGTON, April 18 — The Library of Congress issued the following
news release:

In 1512, Hakob Meghapart (Jacob the Sinner) opened an Armenian press in
Venice, Italy, and published an Armenian religious book, “Urbatagirk”
(the Book of Fridays). The era of Armenian printing had begun.

To mark the quincentenary of this event and UNESCO’s designation of
Yerevan-the capital of the Republic of Armenia-as its Book Capital
of the World, 2012, the Library of Congress will open an exhibition,
“To Know Wisdom and Instruction: The Armenian Literary Tradition at the
Library of Congress” on April 19, in the South Gallery of the Thomas
Jefferson Building. The exhibition, which will remain on view from
8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Saturday, through Sept. 26,
may also be viewed online at

Drawing from the Armenian collections of the Library of Congress,
the exhibition will display the varieties of the Armenian literary
tradition from the era of manuscripts through the early periods of
print and on to contemporary publishing.

Manuscripts in the exhibition will range from 14th- and 15th-century
gospel books hand-copied by monks to 19th-century works on palmistry
(Constantinople, 1894), fire-fighting (Venice, 1832), cotton production
(Paris, 1859) and the first modern Armenian novel, “Armenia’s Wounds,”
by K. Abovyan (1848). The first complete Armenian language printed
Bible from Amsterdam in 1666 will be on display, along with a richly
illuminated missal copied in 1722 for the use of the celebrant of
the Armenian liturgy and a rare 19th-century musical manuscript by
Pietro Bianchini, who was the first to transcribe the Armenian liturgy
using European musical notation. A 20th-century Soviet edition of
the Armenian national epic, “David of Sasun” (1962) will also be
on display.

The 16th Annual Vardanants Day Lecture will be delivered by Kevork
Bardakjian, the Marie Manoogian Chair of Armenian Language and
Literature at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, at noon on
Thursday, April 19 in the Northeast Pavilion of the Thomas Jefferson
Building. The lecture, titled “Scribes, Compositors and the Mind in the
Making: the Armenian Script and the Creation of an Armenian Literary
Identity,” is sponsored by the Near East Section of the African and
Middle Eastern Division. Bardakjian will be joined by Levon Avdoyan,
the Library’s Armenian and Georgian area specialist in the Near East
Section of the African and Middle Eastern Division, who will discuss
“The Continuity and Change of an Armenian Identity in the Digital
Age.” Avdoyan is curator of the new Armenian exhibition. The event
is free and open to the public. Tickets are not required, but seating
is limited.

In conjunction with the exhibition, the Library of Congress has
published an exhibition catalog titled “To Know Wisdom and Instruction:
A Visual Survey of the Armenian Literary Tradition from the Library
of Congress,” compiled by Avdoyan. This 100-page softcover book with
75 images is available for $25 in bookstores nationwide and through
the Library of Congress Shop, , (888) 682-3557.

The exhibition and catalog have been made possible through generous
grants from the Dolores Zohrab Liebmann Fund, the Dadian Fund of
the Library of Congress, Roger Strauch and Julie Kulhanjian Strauch,
the Vartkess and Rita Balian Family Foundation and the Sami and Annie
Totah Family Foundation.

The Library’s African and Middle Eastern Division
() is the center for the study of 78
countries and regions from Southern Africa to the Maghreb and from
the Middle East and the Caucasus to Central Asia. The division’s Near
East Section is a major repository for Armenian language materials
on a wide variety of subjects in varied formats.

Founded in 1800, the Library of Congress is the nation’s oldest
federal cultural institution. The Library seeks to spark imagination
and creativity and to further human understanding and wisdom by
providing access to knowledge through its magnificent collections,
programs and exhibitions. Many of the Library’s rich resources can
be accessed through it website at