Author: Chakrian Hovsep

TURKEY AND SWEDEN IN GENOCIDE ROW

BBC NEWS
urope/8563483.stm
2010/03/11 22:26:20 GMT

Turkey has withdrawn its ambassador to Sweden after the parliament
voted narrowly to describe as genocide the killing of Armenians in
World War I.

The Turkish government condemned the resolution, saying it was "based
upon major errors and without foundation".

The Swedish government opposed the opposition resolution but it passed
by one vote after some MPs voted against party lines.

It comes days after a US congressional panel passed a similar
resolution.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan cancelled a visit to
Stockholm scheduled next week and issued a statement criticising
the vote.

"Our people and our government reject this decision based upon major
errors and without foundation," said the statement.

MASS KILLINGS OF ARMENIANS

Hundreds of thousands of ethnic Armenians killed by Ottoman Turks
in 1915-6 Many historians and the Armenian people believe the
killings amount to genocide Turks and some historians deny they were
orchestrated More than 20 countries regard the massacres as genocide

Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said the vote was a "mistake"
but that it did not change the position of his government, which
supports Turkey’s entry into the EU.

The Swedish vote comes less than a week after the US House of
Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee approved a similar resolution
– by 23 votes to 22 – despite strong Turkish lobbying not to.

That vote also sparked anger from Turkey and the recall of its
ambassador to Washington.

Historic argument

Moves between Turkey and Armenia to normalise relations have faltered
recently.

Hundreds of thousands of Armenians died in 1915, when they were
deported en masse from eastern Anatolia by the Ottoman Empire. They
were killed by troops or died from starvation and disease.

Armenia says up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed, but Turkey says
the figure is no more than one-third that and that many Turks died
as well.

Turkey accepts that atrocities were committed but argues they were
part of the war and that there was no systematic attempt to destroy
the Christian Armenian people.

Armenia wants Turkey to recognise the killings as an act of genocide,
but successive Turkish governments have refused to do so.

Armenians have campaigned for the killings to be recognised
internationally as genocide – and more than 20 countries have done so.

Armenian National Committee of America
1711 N Street, NW Washington, DC 20036
Tel. (202) 775-1918
Fax. (202) 775-5648
Email. [email protected]
Internet

PRESS RELEASE

March 11, 2010
Contact: Elizabeth S. Chouldjian
Tel: (202) 775-1918

ANCA WELCOMES SWEDISH PARLIAMENT’S ADOPTION OF RESOLUTION RECOGNIZING
ARMENIAN, ASSYRIAN/SYRIAC/CHALDEAN AND PONTIC GREEK GENOCIDES

WASHINGTON, DC – Over strident opposition from the Turkish
Government, the Swedish Parliament, today, adopted a resolution
recognizing the murder and annihilation of the Armenian,
Assyrian/Syriac/Chaldean and Pontic Greek populations by the
Ottoman Turkish Government as "genocide," reported the Armenian
National Committee of America (ANCA.)

"Twice in just one week, we have seen legislative bodies – the
House Foreign Affairs Committee in the United States and the full
Parliament in Sweden – take a strong stand against Turkey’s threats
against an honest affirmation of the Armenian Genocide," said ANCA
Executive Director Aram Hamparian. "We congratulate the Swedish
Parliamentarians – particularly those who defied party politics and
foreign intimidation – to send a clear message that genocide must
be condemned whenever and wherever it occurs."

The Swedish Parliament adopted the resolution, Motion 2008/09:U332,
by a vote of 131 to 130, overcoming an earlier Foreign Affairs
Committee decision voting down the measure. In addition to
recognizing the Armenian, Assyrian/Syriac/Chaldean and Pontic Greek
genocides, the motion also calls on Swedish authorities to work
with the United Nations, European Union and Turkey to secure
international affirmation of this crime against humanity.

The decision comes just one week after the U.S. House Foreign
Affairs Committee voted to adopt the Armenian Genocide Resolution
(H.Res.252), by a vote of 23-22 – despite last minute opposition
from the Obama Administration and over intense lobbying by the
Turkish Government. A similar measure has been introduced in the
U.S. Senate, S.Res.316.

The ANCA is continuing its "End Turkey’s Gag Rule" campaign, urging
elected officials in the U.S. and around the world to reject
Turkey’s attempts to silence international affirmation of the
Armenian Genocide. For more information, visit

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RESIDENT ALIEN ACCUSED OF ILLEGAL ENTRY ON RAFT

Buffalo News
resident-alien-accused-of-illegal.html
March 11 2010
NY

An Armenian citizen is accused of illegally crossing the chilly Niagara
River on a rubber raft to enter the United States at Lewiston earlier
this week.

U. S. Border Patrol officers, assisted by Lewiston police, arrested
Samvel Iskandaryan after he crossed the river Tuesday afternoon.

Iskandaryan, who is in his 20s, is not an illegal alien. He has legal
status as a resident alien in the United States and has been living
in Massachusetts, Assistant U. S. Attorney Gretchen L. Wylegala said.

He faces a misdemeanor charge of entering the United States without
inspection.

ARMENIAN PRESIDENT TO VISIT ROMANIA THIS YEAR

Tert.am
13:05 ~U 10.03.10

Romanian President Traian Basescu, meeting with RA Ambassador to
Romania Yeghishe Sargsyan, placing importance on Armenia-Romania
relations, expressed his gratitude for the actions aimed at developing
bilateral ties and broadening cooperation.

Both parties agreed that RA President Serzh Sargsyan’s official visit
to Romania this year will greatly support the future development of
Armenian-Romanian cooperation.

MIKAEL VARDANYAN APPOINTED AS PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF ARMENIA IN BSEC

PanARMENIAN.Net
10.03.2010 13:22 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Tuesday, March 9, following his appointment
as permanent representative of Armenia in BSEC, Mikael Vardanyan
presented RA Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian’s letter to BSEC
Secretary General Leonidas Chrysanthopoulos.

During the meeting, Vardanyan emphasized his readiness to contribute to
protection of Armenia’s interests in different spheres of collaboration
and promote Armenia’s participation in social and economic projects.

Leonidas Chrysanthopoulos, in turn, highly accessed Armenia’s
activities within BSEC framework, especially noting its constructive
approach aimed at development of economic collaboration and BSEC
effectiveness increase.

The parties focused on collaboration issues, further activities as
well as BSEC-EU interaction.

Later the same day, Mikael Vardanyan met with Archbishop Aram Ateshian,
RA Foreign Ministry press service reported.

THE PPA LEADER: THERE CAN HARDLY BE A QUICK SOLUTION OF NKR ISSUE

Aysor
March 10 2010
Armenia

The NKR should also negotiate about the issues concerning the NKR
conflict settlement, Stepan Demirchyan said on the press conference.

"It’s a mistake that the NKR is left out of the negotiating processes",
– he mentioned.

According to the speaker the developments taking place around the
problem settlement are worrying, though the quick solution of the
conflict is also not possible.

"There can hardly be a quick solution to the problem", – S. Demirchyan
said and mentioned that it’s very important for the Armenian side to
see the NKR around the negotiation table, though it will be rather
difficult under the growing pressures and challenges.

PRESIDENT SARGSYAN EXTENDS CONDOLENCES TO HIS TURKISH COUNTERPART

armradio.am
09.03.2010 15:48

President of the Republic of Armenia, Serzh Sargsyan sent a telegram of
condolence to the Present of Turkey, Abdullah Gul, on the devastating
earthquake that took place in Turkey.

On behalf of the Armenian people and himself, President Sargsyan
extended sincere condolences to the President of Turkey and the
relatives of the victims.

TURKISH MP CALLS TO ADMIT ARMENIAN GENOCIDE AND APOLOGIZE TO ARMENIA

news.am
Armenia
March 8 2010

Turkey should recognize Armenian Genocide and apologize to Armenia,
said Turkish MP from Bitlis, Kurdish Peace and Democracy party member
Mehmed Nezir Karabas commenting on Armenian Genocide resolution
adoption by U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs.

According to Haber27, Karabas stated that Turkey has never discussed
and admit what happened in the beginning of last century. He maintained
that we should be ashamed of having U.S. and Europe parliaments
discuss this issue before April 24, instead of Turkey.

March 4, U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs approved H.Res.252
on Armenian Genocide.

Turkey warns US after Armenian ‘genocide’ recognised

The Irish Times
March 6, 2010 Saturday

DANIEL NASAW in Washington

TURKEY S PRIME minister warned of serious damage to US-Turkish
relations yesterday after a US congressional committee approved a
resolution describing the massacre of more than one million Armenians
by the Ottoman empire during the first World war as genocide.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his country had been accused of a crime it
did not commit, adding that the resolution would hamper efforts by
Turkey and Armenia to end a century of hostility.

Turkey last night recalled its ambassador to the US after the US House
of Representatives foreign affairs committee approved by 23 votes to
22 the non-binding measure despite objections from the Obama
administration, which had warned that such a move would harm relations
with Turkey a Nato ally with about 1,700 troops in Afghanistan and
could imperil fragile reconciliation talks between Turkey and Armenia.

The Turkish president, Abdullah Gul, called the resolution an
injustice to history and to the science of history .

Armenia applauded the passage of the measure, which its foreign
minister, Edward Nalbandian, described as an important step towards
the prevention of crimes against humanity .

He added: This is further proof of the devotion of the American people
to universal human values and is an important step towards the
prevention of crimes against humanity.

It remained unclear whether the resolution would come to a vote in the
full house. A similar 2007 resolution died after intense lobbying by
the Bush administration, amid fears it would damage relations between
Turkey and the US.

Historians say that 1.5 million Armenians were killed by the Ottoman
empire between 1915 and 1923, during forced resettlement.

The overwhelming historical evidence demonstrates that what took place
in 1915 was genocide, writes Henri Barkey, a Turkey scholar at the
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington DC, who
nevertheless opposes the house resolution as a needless political
manoeuvre.

The killings are considered one of the first instances of genocide in
the 20th century. Turkey insists its historical records indicate no
genocide took place, but points to a lack of common historical
understanding of the events.

After centuries of foreign domination, Armenia won independence from
the Soviet Union in 1991.

Under Swiss auspices, Turkey and Armenia have been negotiating a
normalisation of bilateral relations and an opening of the border,
outcomes which are strongly favoured by the US.

The house resolution is the product of intensive lobbying by
Armenian-Americans. Last year the Armenian national committee of
America spent $50,000 lobbying Congress on the resolution, which urged
Barack Obama to characterise the events as genocide in an annual
message commemorating the massacres.

During the presidential campaign, he referred to the killings as
genocide, but did not use the term last year in a statement
recognising Armenian remembrance day, which commemorates the
massacres.

Ramiz Fataliev’s interview to radio "Azadlig" (Liberty)

KHOJALY: The chronicle of unseen forgery and falsification
l

The interview in full in the Azerbaijani language is here.

And we will bring only an extract concerning the events we are
interested in where he unambiguously announces that the Azerbaijani
authorities were informed about the due assault and consciously
refused to evacuate the population.

Ramiz-mualim, everybody knows these shots very well. And if at that
time nobody doubted your and other photographs’ heroism, after those
events, various opinions were voiced about you as a director of the
commission on investigation of Khojaly events. They began to speak not
about heroism but in some cases even about treachery.

Those were times when everybody was fighting for the power. Everybody
knew among whom the struggle was taking place. Some strived for the
change of power, others wanted to gain power. Some wanted the
commission to take the accusation off the committers of the Khojali
tragedy, others were eager to throw mud at them in order those first
could gain power.

If you remember, on the 14th of May, 1992, I said in the Milli Majlis
that `we haven’t sum up yet, that’s why we cannot say anything. But
now, too, it could be said that the Khojali events took place because
of indifference, the improper placing of the personnel and because of
political short-sightedness. It could be said that for some political
reasons and for the maintenance of the power, they didn’t give Khojaly
up’ Everybody heard that Mutalibov was innocent. Everybody heard, but
in fact it was not true.

Ramiz Fataliev
_____________________
Was born in June, 1946, in Baku. In 1972 finished the course of higher
directors and script-writers. Was the head of the film studio
Azerbaijanfilm after Djafar Djabarli.

That the video-chronicles on 20 January, 1990, when the Soviet forces
committed crimes in Baku are kept in TV archives is his and his
colleagues’ merits. There exist almost 50 films the director and the
script-writer of which he was himself.

4 Day remained before the events in Khojaly. On the 22nd of February,
in the president’s, prime-minister’s, KGB minister’s and others’
presence, the meeting of the National Security Council was held.
Nobody knows so far where the mistake was made, and who made it. At
the meeting a resolution was made not to evacuate the people from
KHOJALY. It was considered that if we evacuate the population, we will
invite Armenians to occupy the settlement. That is, we ourselves
incited Armenians to attack. Even the members of the Security Council
didn’t believe that Armenians could have committed actions of the
kind, similar to genocide. They thought that if the population left
the settlement we ourselves would give Khojaly up.

This political short-sightedness and ignorance of the situation
brought to the words I pronounced from the tribune. There exists a
shorthand record, and it can be verified. The people heard what they
wanted to hear.

When I say people, I mean the Majlis. Because everybody was present
there. Some people were prepared for it, the others were not. My voice
was deafened by them. So, if everything repeats itself today, I will
struggle for it again. And I hope this time there will be some people
who will be willing to hear me.