Author: Baghdasarian Karlen

CONTRE L’ETAT HISTORIEN
par Claude Imbert

Le Point

12 janvier 2012
France

L’Etat francais va-t-il nous imposer une verite “officielle” du
“genocide” armenien ? Oui, dit l’Assemblee nationale. Dans le marasme
actuel, elle trouve urgent d’articuler cette pretention, une des plus
incongrues de son repertoire.

Son vote, pour notre edification, conjugue trois vices. Le premier
violente, avec le delit d’opinion, la liberte de pensee. Le deuxième
demontre que le souci electoraliste contrarie de plus en plus,
au Parlement, celui primordial de l’interet national. Le troisième
s’aventure, et dans le mepris de notre diplomatie, jusqu’a provoquer
une puissance emergente, la Turquie, au detriment de nos interets
economiques et strategiques dans une region ultrasensible du monde. Le
tout fait un brouet indigeste pour toute democratie respectable.

À combattre cette embardee parlementaire je m’emploie d’autant plus
librement que j’ai, a maintes reprises, professe ma sympathie pour
les Armeniens de France et leur integration exemplaire. Je ne doute
pas qu’il y a presque un siècle, en 1915, les Armeniens furent, en
Turquie, victimes d’une extermination massive, laquelle n’est nulle
part serieusement niee, et pas meme en Turquie. Je souhaite bien sûr
qu’Ankara confie a une commission internationale d’historiens le soin
d’y demeler le vrai du faux. J’incline, sans certitude, a penser avec
une majorite d’historiens que ce massacre merite le nom de “genocide”
malgre l’avis de quelques autres dont l’islamologue americain Bernard
Lewis. De meme je puis comprendre que la communaute armenienne aspire
a la reconnaissance publique de ce massacre. Mais rien ne me fera
franchir ce Rubicon democratique : donner au politique le pouvoir
d’imposer sa verite sur des mefaits commis dans le passe. Et de
surcroît par des etrangers en sol etranger.

On m’objecte que la France, et plusieurs pays de l’Union europeenne,
n’hesitent pas a sevir, par des lois dites memorielles, contre la
negation d’exterminations collectives. Mais outre que le concept de ces
lois reste discutable, voyons qu’elles s’appliquent aux seuls crimes
contemporains juges, après procès, par un tribunal international. Ainsi
de la Shoah a Nuremberg, des Balkans, du Cambodge, du Rwanda. Et
en aucun cas de crimes passes dont les auteurs putatifs sont morts
et enterres.

Le projet de loi actuel rompt le barrage sanitaire etabli entre
l’Histoire et la memoire, et parfaitement defini, chez nous, par un
Pierre Nora. Des associations memorielles se trouvent habilitees a
revendiquer, pour leur propre version du passe, le blanc-seing d’Etat.

Deja la mise en cause de la guerre de Vendee fit son apparition a
l’Assemblee en 2008 avant d’en etre sagement ecartee. À quand la
Saint-Barthelemy ? Pensons plutôt a nos recentes guerres coloniales,
celles de “L’art francais de la guerre”, où il reste, je le crains,
beaucoup a dire, hors des labels d’une verite officielle.

L’Etat se fourvoie gravement en prenant le risque d’epouser ces
anachronismes imbeciles de la memoire. Entretenue par l’ignorance,
elle n’incline que trop a juger, sur des critères contemporains, un
passe vecu selon des normes morales et sociales qui feraient hurler
nos vestales du “politiquement correct”. La nation francaise eut a son
service des generations de sabreurs. La traite negrière ne prenait
pas conseil chez SOS Racisme. Et notre chère Revolution inventa la
Terreur, le mot et la chose. Comment lessiver partout la seculaire
ferocite humaine sans sauter nous-memes dans la lessiveuse ?

L’Histoire, au fil du temps, depouille la legende et arrache des
verites peu a peu consensuelles. Le culte memoriel, lui, reveille
des demons assoupis.

Cette loi exhibe un second vice non moins inquietant : l’empire de
l’electoralisme sur l’interet de la Nation. On y voit en pleine lumière
comment le voeu des communautes armeniennes de Lyon, Paris et Marseille
aura suffi pour entraîner l’Assemblee nationale dans cette heresie
democratique. Quelle pitie de mesurer la legèrete de parlementaires,
elus de la Nation, et qui se comportent en elus de leur canton ! Il y
a peril a violenter un principe de notre droit pour complaire a des
aspirations communautaires qui, un jour ou l’autre, pourront etre
ethniques ou religieuses. Puisse le Senat resister a ce poison !

Car deja le mal court. Plaignons Alain Juppe ! Notre diplomatie
navigue au plus près pour conjuguer d’un côte l’ecart de la Turquie
hors de la Communaute europeenne et, de l’autre, le souci raisonnable
de menager la puissance turque dont le môle ne cesse de s’elever dans
un Moyen-Orient fievreux. Or voici que la representation nationale,
par son vote incendiaire, avive contre nous le nationalisme turc et
le rencogne dans sa resistance a reconnaître un episode, en effet
detestable, de son passe !

Fasse le Ciel que dans notre pretention senile a decider, urbi et
orbi, de l’histoire du genre humain nous n’engagions pas notre propre
Histoire dans le desert !

From: Baghdasarian

GENOCIDE ARMENIEN: HOLLANDE RECOIT UN COURRIER

Europe1

13 janv 2012
France

Le chef du premier parti d’opposition turc a ecrit au candidat
socialiste a la presidentielle francaise Francois Hollande pour lui
demander de s’opposer a une proposition de loi penalisant la negation
du genocide armenien, a annonce vendredi le parti turc.

“Si le Parlement francais s’obstine a voter des ‘lois’ antiturques et
inconstitutionnelles, cela ne pourra que porter gravement atteinte,
non seulement a l’image de la France, mais aussi a celle de l’Union
europeenne, qui sera percue comme deloyale et hostile”, declare le
chef du Parti republicain du peuple (CHP, social-democrate), Kemal
Kilicdaroglu, dans cette lettre envoyee jeudi au candidat a l’election
presidentielle francaise prevue au printemps.

From: Baghdasarian

BULGARIAN PARLIAMENT REJECTS RESOLUTION SUPPORTING ARMENIAN ALLEGATIONS PERTAINING TO INCIDENTS OF 1915

Anadolu Agency
Jan 11 2012
Turkey

SOFIA (A.A) -A resolution prepared by the Bulgarian racist and
chauvinist ATAKA party deputies and one that supported Armenian
allegations pertaining to the incidents of 1915 got rejected by the
Bulgarian Parliament again on Wednesday.

Thirty deputies voted against the resolution while 14 voted in favour.

59 deputies abstained.

Speaking at the Bulgarian Parliament’s general assembly meeting, a
deputy of the Rights and Freedoms Movement, Lutfi Mestan, said that
“parliaments should not be involved with historic incidents”.

“This Armenian resolution would hurt Bulgarian-Turkish relations,”
Mestan underlined.

Another deputy of the Rights and Freedoms Movement, Remzi Osman,
said that bringing such a resolution to the floor of the Bulgarian
Parliament was disrespect to historic realities and the parliament
itself.

From: Baghdasarian

PATRIARCHATE APPLIES FOR RETURN OF ‘DARK’ BUILDING

Hurriyet Daily News
Jan 12 2012
Turkey

An Istanbul court imposes an interim injunction on a historical
Armenian building, although the property was not registered on the
1936 declaration. Used as police headquarters in 40’s ,Sansaryan Han
isalso known to be a symbol of torture

The Turkish-Armenian Patriarchate has filed a lawsuit in an
unprecedented move to retrieve a historical Armenian building in
Istanbul, the Sansaryan Han, despite the fact the building had not
been registered on the 1936 declaration.

“Newly passed foundation laws gave us the opportunity to file this
suit. The Patriarchate knew it owned the foundation. All that remained
was to officially declare this,” Simon Ýþ, the lawyer representing
the Patriarchate in court, told the Hurriyet Daily News.

The court ruled to impose an interim injunction on the building located
in Istanbul’s Eminonu district. Among the foundation properties owned
by the shopping center is the Sansaryan School in the northeastern
province of Erzurum, where Turkey’s founder Ataturk had assembled
the Erzurum Congress of 1919.

“We are awaiting the return of the building, and we remain hopeful,”
said Ýþ, although he chose not to comment on whether another initiative
might be undertaken to retrieve the building in Erzurum as well.

The Turkish government enacted a measure effective Aug. 27, 2011,
to return properties seized from minority foundations through a
proclamation that was declared in 1936. Minority groups gave the
government a proclamation in 1936 detailing their realty properties.

Over the years, however, these properties were not registered under the
minority foundations’ names and some were even sold to third parties.

“The Turkish-Armenian Patriarchate filed a suit in 1930 and received
confirmation that the Sansaryan Foundation belonged to them. Later,
however, the foundation unlawfully slid out of the Patriarchate’s
control. It was first used as the Istanbul Police Headquarters and
then the Istanbul Commercial Court until this year,” Ýþ said.

Sansaryan Han was refashioned into the Istanbul Police Headquarters
in 1944 and eventually gained notoriety as a bastion of ill-treatment
by the police, as many people, including a number of prominent poets
and writers, were tortured there.

It took years of painstaking research to attain the documents presented
to court, Ýþ said.

Ýþ said they had conducted research in the Turkish Land Registry
Directorate (TKM) for a long time and translated the documents in
question from Ottoman to contemporary Turkish. The conclusions
emanating from this research confirm the claims raised by the
Patriarchate, he said.

“We presented to [judicial authorities] historical documents, as
well as documents pertaining to the court that ruled in favor of the
Patriarchate in 1930, along with all these other files,” Ýþ said,
adding that the court’s decision to impose an interim injunction over
the building was appropriate.

From: Baghdasarian

ADOPTION OF ARMENIAN RESOLUTION AT FRENCH SENATE TO BE A BIG BLOW TO TURKISH-FRENCH RELATIONS, SAYS TURKISH AMBASSADOR BURCUOGLU

Anadolu Agency
Jan 11 2012
Turkey

PARIS (A.A) -Turkish Ambassador in Paris, Tahsin Burcuoglu, said
Wednesday that the adoption of an Armenian resolution at the French
Senate would be a big blow to Turkish-French relations.

Addressing the Socialist Group at the French Senate, Ambassador
Burcuoglu said that the Armenian resolution was against the freedom
of expression and freedom of thought.

The Socialists at the French Senate invited Ambassador Burcuoglu to
listen to Turkey’s views more closely before the Armenian resolution
gets on the agenda of the Senate on January 23.

Burcuoglu gave detailed information to the French Socialists on the
incidents of 1915.

The lower house of the French parliament adopted in December a
resolution that criminalizes rejection of Armenian allegations
pertaining to the incidents of 1915. Only 70 out of 577
parliamentarians joined the voting of the resolution which was adopted
with majority of votes.

The resolution envisages “one-year prison term and 45,000 Euro fine for
those who deny genocide recognized by French laws.” French Parliament
had recognized so-called Armenian genocide in 1915 on January 29, 2001.

The draft criminalizing the rejection of Armenian allegations had
first been approved in 2006, but it could not become a law as French
President Nicolas Sarkozy prevented its presentation to Senate.

Now, the senate’s approval is necessary to make the resolution a law.

Turkey strongly opposes the issue of the incidents of 1915 being
used as a tool in French politics. Many believe that French President
Sarkozy supports the Armenian resolution in order to garner support
from France’s Armenian population that number around 500,000.

France will hold the first round of this year’s presidential election
on April 22 and the second round run-off on May 6. Sarkozy is running
for a second term.

If the resolution is not adopted at the senate till February 22, 2012
when the parliament and senate will recess for presidential elections,
it will be invalid.

From: Baghdasarian

NEW HRANT DINK CASE POSSIBLE

BIAnet.org
Jan 12 2012
Turkey

Five years after the murder of Turkish Armenian journalist Dink, Judge
Eryılmaz announced his intention to bring the trial to an end soon.

Yet, considering new findings revealed by the plaintiff lawyers from
the TÄ°B records, a new case might be opened.

IÅ~_ıl CÄ°NMEN [email protected] Istanbul – BÄ°A News Center12
January 2012, Thursday At the end of the fifth year of the Hrant Dink
trial, President Judge RuÅ~_tem Eryılmaz announced “We want to give
a decision now”. The upcoming hearing on 17 January might be the last
one; the trial about the murder of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant
Dink on 19 January 2007 might be decided.

However, information on telephone records and other data requested
from the Telecommunication Communication Presidency (TÄ°B) since 2008
were sent court recently. In a report prepared upon the request of
the prosecutor, the police stated that “after an investigation of
the TÄ°B records, no contact between the defendants was detected”.

On the other hand, the joint lawyers of the Dink family submitted
a four-page petition to court at the Tuesday hearing (10 January)
containing information extracted as the result of their own
investigation of the data. The petition included attachments with
record information.

The petition contains information about five people identified in the
records at the scene of incident who had contact with the defendants.

Additionally, it points to 14 people who were not at the scene of
crime but were called from there by the defendants and suspects.

A new trial might be opened This information submitted by the plaintiff
lawyers might be the biggest proof for the assumption that the Dink
murder was committed in an organized manner.

Joint attorney Fethiye Cetin told bianet, “New information requires
new research and a new investigation. The court decided to proceed
accordingly with the file of the prosecutor’s office. There was a
meeting with prosecutor Muammer AktaÅ~_ who is running the Hrant Dink
investigation. He took measures to launch an investigation”.

This means that even if the current trial was concluded on 17 January,
there is the high probability that a new case would be opened.

Lawyer Cetin explained, “All findings will be investigated if a number
of new findings emerge. At this stage, the mission of the police is
very important. If findings emerge, a new trial can be opened. Even
if the Dink trial was pending at the Court of Appeals, the trials
could be merged”.

The petition read, “It was determined that some conversations were
made via certain phone numbers on the day and time of the offence
and at the scene of incident. These phone numbers were used very
frequently and have a direct connection to defendants Mustafa Ozturk
and Salih Hacisalihoglu”.

The plaintiff lawyers claimed at court that this information had
to be secured since it was potential evidence required for the
investigation. “We request measures to obtain records for the duration
of five months before and after the incident regarding all numbers
on the list and phone records from the scene of incident used on 18
and 19 January”, they said at the last hearing.

14 people with connections to the defendants The petition submitted
to court related to the request to take according measures included
the following information:

* The records sent by TÄ°B include 6,235 telephone conversations
and 9,300 phone numbers. It is not correct that none of the related
persons had any connections to the defendants tried before this court.

It was determined that some phone numbers included in these records
had a direct connection to the defendants.

* Some numbers are directly connected to our defendants Mustafa Ozturk
and Salih Hacısalihoglu and were used for many phone talks. It was
also determined that certain phone talks were made with these numbers
on the day of incident around the time of the offence at the scene
of crime.

* It was revealed that five people (or their phone numbers) who
were in the area on the day of crime have a direct connection to
the defendants and that they talked to them several times on various
dates prior to the day of crime.

* Five people who had connections with the defendants and were at
the scene of crime could easily be identified during the study of the
received records. Besides, 14 people were determined who were not in
the area but were called from there and again had connections to the
defendants and suspects.

* Moreover, the list in Attachment 1a includes individuals who were
in direct touch with the defendants. Attachment 1b gives a list
of names of people who were in contact with these individuals and
present at the scene of incident. Therefore, the data on the names
and phone numbers of Attachment 1b should be preserved since it is
deemed necessary for the investigation of the HTS records.

‘We found what the police was not able to see” The most important
request of the petition is the preservation of data because the numbers
and records might be evidence. Yet, there is the risk that TÄ°B will
erase the data due to a limitation of time. In an interim decision
given by court on 26.12.2011 this request was met with a decision
to maintain the data. Hence, there was no need for a new decision,
it was said.

But this is not correct. The new request for the preservation of
data was made for a broader court injunction that would provide the
inclusion of new information into the case. The Dink lawyers now
question: “If we were able to discover the connection to these 14
people in such a short time, why could the police not see it with
their much advanced technical means?”

Was this a mistake? The lawyers do not think so: “As a matter of
fact, it was very difficult and took very long for us to receive the
records. The Istanbul Police announced that they could not extract
any data from the records. Taking both facts into account, it has to
be noticed that the Istanbul Police Directorate insisted on their
position regarding the obstruction to reveal a misguidance of the
judiciary, the concealment of evidence and the substantial truth”,
the plaintiff lawyers criticized.

The developments in the Dink trial in the upcoming days might be a
new beginning instead of the end. (IC)

From: Baghdasarian

ANNIVERSARY OF LATE CINEMATIC GENIUS SERGEY PARAJANOV
By Salome Modebadze

The Messenger

Jan 12 2012
Georgia

Sergey Parajanov, the late film director with a unique way of
representing life and special understanding of cinematography, would
have become 88 years old on January 9, 2012. His 88th anniversary was
especially celebrated in Tbilisi with a film about his life made by
Iranian Director Rahim Mortezavand. Having become interested in the
phenomenon of Parajanov the Iranian director found it easy to work
in the landscape of Tbilisi – the city where Parajanov’s career had
started. Tbilisi, with its special relationships among people and
traditional values thus became the place where Mortezavand’s film was
premiered, at Rustaveli Cinema, for people who knew and appreciated
Parajanov and his art.

Yuri Mechitov, a photographer who spent many years working with the
Georgian-born ethnic Armenian “genius”, spoke of Parajanov as “a person
in love with people.” Having assisted the Iranian director in making
the film about Parajanov, Mechitov expressed his gratitude to the
public who came to attend the premier of the film called In the Name
of the Pomegranates, according to one of Parajanov’s well-known films.

“We live in a century where the number of geniuses is decreasing –
gifted people all over the world are being oppressed,” Mechitov
told The Messenger worrying that entertainment has become the only
motivation for modern directors while Parajanov thought more about the
spiritual development of people by showing them the overall beauty of
life. Unfortunately Parajanov was constantly oppressed in the soviet
era – with 15 unproduced screenplays and projects he was imprisoned for
his free style of cinematography three times. Having been acknowledged
as “the last genius of the 20th century” Parajanov explored the human
soul even whilst in prison and also painted and sculptured a lot.

The “person of the world, breaking down borders” always encouraged
talented young people to follow their dreams in life. He has lived on
in the memories of people who knew him well and remains the subject
of interest for those who have recently heard about him through his
films and material written about him. Talking of the great tradition
of celebrating Parjanov’s birthday since his death in 1990, Mechitov
hoped that the masterpieces of art made by Parajanov being kept at
the Yerevan Museum (in Armenia) would someday be introduced to the
Georgian public.

From: Baghdasarian

NEW MUSIC – WITH A CHOCTAW STRAIN

The Keene Sentinel

Jan 12 2012
NH

By Frank Behrens Contributing Writer SentinelSource.com | 0 comments

New music – with a Choctaw strain

I have been introduced to an interesting composer named George Quincy.

He was born in Oklahoma and is proud of his Choctaw heritage. Having
received two degrees from, and having taught at, The Juilliard School,
he garnered wide experience in the performance arts. Not least of
all his talents is composing; and he has sent me two CDs of his
non-vocal works.

I am reminded of the composer Alan Hovhaness, who discovered the music
of Armenia, burned all his earlier pieces, and then integrated Armenian
harmonies into his works. Quincy is fascinated with his Choctaw
traditions, but is equally comfortable with other musical influences.

For example, there is on the Troy label a CD titled “Choctaw Nights:
Chamber Music of George Quincy,” as played by the New York Five. It
contains three pieces, the first of which is “Choctaw Nights,” in
five movements: “Fanfare for a Choctaw Soul,” “Trio for a Comet,”
“Snowy Io,” “Europa” and “Jupiter.” It compares favorably with Holst’s
“The Planets,” but its idiom is entirely different. Quincy writes
that he has always combined the myths of Greece and those of his tribe.

“Voices from Ground Zero” is atmospheric in an entirely different way.

The three movements here are “Canon for September Eleven,” “Calling
Through the Night” and “Mirrors of Being.” It is quite chilling.

“Shakespeare Nocturnes” are very moody, but I find no distinctions
between the Scottish thane, the Danish Prince and the Italian lovers
in the three sections: “The Scottish Play,” “Hamlet” and “Romeo and
Juliet.” I do enjoy them, however, as pure non-referential music.

A Cottage Records CD, “The Journey of the Red Feather,” also featuring
the New York Five, is more characteristic of what I like in Quincy’s
works. He says he sees feathers as “a beautiful and perfect expression
of the creative life force.”

Specifically, the three pieces on this disc are about “life and
experience.”

Each of the sections is in three parts. “The First Morning” is a
quintet about “coming into being.” “The Great Spirit and the Child”
is a trio (flute, viola, piano) and describes a red feather watching
the child gain experience and individuality. The last section,
“The Journey of the Red Feather,” is a quintet that celebrates the
variety of nature.

From: Baghdasarian

TURKEY THREATENS FRANCE WITH NEW SANCTIONS IN RESPONSE TO ARMENIAN GENOCIDE LAW – TURKISH MINISTER IN VILNIUS

Baltic News Service
January 11, 2012 Wednesday 3:05 PM EET

VILNIUS, Jan 11, BNS – Turkey plans to impose additional sanctions
against France, if the country adopts a bill criminalizing denial
of the Armenian genocide during World War I, Turkey’s Minister of
European Union Affairs Egemen Bagis said in Vilnius on Wednesday.

“In the case that this illogical bill becomes a law, then there will
be further sanctions,” the minister said in an interview for BNS.

Asked to elaborate on measures under consideration by Turkey, the
minister said: “I would rather not. I would leave it to imagination
of the French decision-makers.”

Last month, France’s National Assembly passed the bill making it
illegal to publicly deny that mass killing of Armenians in the Ottoman
Empire in 1915 amounted to genocide. Deniers face up to one year in
prison and a fine of EUR 45,000.

The Senate is scheduled to vote on the bill later this month.

The Armenians claim that around 4.5 million Armenians were killed by
the Ottoman Empire in 1915-1923. Turkey denies the fact of genocide
saying that Armenians were war casualties.

Turkey has also accused French President Nicolas Sarkozy of trying
by means of this law to lure voters of Armenian origin ahead of the
upcoming presidential elections.

“Our understanding is that this issue will somehow be on the agenda
until the French presidential elections, after which we will have to
reevaluate the situation,” Bagis told BNS.

The Lithuanian parliament has also recognized the Armenian massacre as
genocide. In a resolution in 2005, the Seimas condemned “the Armenian
genocide by the Turkish Ottoman Empire in 1915” and called on Turkey
“to recognize this historic fact.”

From: Baghdasarian

BULGARIAN MPS REJECT DRAFT DECISION FOR RECOGNITION OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

Focus News

Jan 11 2012
Bulgaria

Sofia. Bulgarian parliament rejected the draft decision for recognition
of the Armenian genocide in the Ottoman Empire (1915-1922) proposed
by the Ataka party, FOCUS News Agency reporter informs.

The discussion on the draft decision was attended by representatives
of the parliamentary groups of the Ataka, the Movement for Rights
and Freedoms (MRF), and the Blue Coalition.

From: Baghdasarian