Author: Chilingarian Babken

ANALYSIS: TURKEY’S ARMENIAN MASSACRE OF 1915
By Amberin Zaman

The Daily Telegraph, United Kingdom
Oct 12 2007

In May 1915 the ruling junta of nationalist Ottoman officers known
as the Young Turks ordered the mass deportation of the collapsing
Empire’s two million strong Armenian minority in reprisal for their
alleged collusion with invading Russian armies.

In village after village, town after town, Armenian civilians were
rounded up and marched at rifle point towards the Syrian Desert. Tens
of thousands were slaughtered en route; others robbed, raped and
tortured by Kurdish brigands who would swoop down on the Armenians’
caravans from their mountain hideouts.

"When the Turkish authorities gave the orders for these deportations,
they were merely giving the death warrant to a whole race," wrote
Henry Morgenthau, the then American ambassador, in his memoirs.

A growing number of Western historians concur that the horrors
inflicted on the Ottoman Armenians fits the United Nations’ definition
of genocide, which is described as carrying out acts "intended to
destroy in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious
group".

Descendants of survivors of 1915, largely form the Armenian Diaspora,
is pushing for recognition of the genocide the world over. Many are
demanding compensation and restitution of lost land, even of Mount
Ararat in Eastern Turkey.

Others agree that these claims are far-fetched – not least because
Eastern Turkey is inhabited by Kurds with their own separatist
aspirations.

Armenian moderates say acknowledgement of the massacres together with
an official apology from Turkey would go a long way towards healing
the wounds of the past. But reconciliation seems far off.

The idea of being placed in the same category as the Nazis is
intolerable for most Turks, who believe the genocide issue is yet
another red herring devised by Western governments to weaken and
divide their country.

Although Turkey acknowledges that several hundred thousand Armenians
did perish, they insist this was a result of malnutrition, disease
and the wartime chaos engulfing the empire during its final days.

Indeed, Turkish schoolchildren are taught that Turks were killed
in greater numbers by the Armenians than the Armenians were killed
themselves. Those who challenge this official line, such as the Nobel
prize laureate Orhan Pamuk, face prosecution under laws that make
"insulting Turkishness" a punishable offence.

Yet, a growing number of Turks are beginning to question the past,
stepping forward with "confessions" to having Armenian forebears,
many of them orphans rescued by Turkish families.

PRESIDENT KOCHARIAN URGES EUROPEAN BUSINESSMEN TO INVEST IN ARMENIA

ARMENPRESS
Oct 11 2007

BRUSSELS, OCTOBER 11, ARMENPRESS: President Robert Kocharian singled
out the speedy growth of Armenia’s banking sector when addressing an
Armenian-Belgian business forum during a visit to Brussels yesterday.

He said the banking sector has been the most dynamically growing
Armenian economy sector over the last 3-4 years.

He said five foreign banks have opened branches in Armenia in 2007
and the banking sector is expected to grow 70 percent towards the
end of the year.

President Kocharian also spoke about insurance businesses saying
there is a legislation that complies fully with European norms. He
said the government is negotiating with several big foreign insurances
companies to bring them to Armenia.

"We hope that a German and a French insurance company will arrive in
Armenia this year," he said.

Kocharian also highlighted friendly business environment of the country
saying during his presidency no foreign company suffered a loss.

President Kocharian met yesterday by the European Commission president
Barosso and other top EU officials.

An exhibition called Armenia’s 12 Capitals opened yesterday at the
European Commission premises in Brussels.

The exhibition was opened by Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian, and
EU Commissioner for External Relations Benita Ferrero-Waldner. The
ceremony was attended by President Robert Kocharian.

The exhibition will be on display by October 30.

BUY IT & TRY IT: ZORBEEZ

US/Pacific
Oct 7, 2007 10:58 pm

(CBS13) Vartan Garboushian has been in the carpet business for 30
years, and many of those at his south Sacramento location. So what’s
the secret to his success?

"We do best to bend-over backwards for our customers," said Vartan.

What’s Vartan’s advice for spills on the carpet?

"Usually a clean white rag. You can use to blot it out," said Vartan.

We give him the new ultra-absorbent Zorbeez cloth. The product
claims it uses something called Advanced X27 Fiber Technology and
will absorb more than 20 ounces of liquid. So, we spill about that
much cranberry juice on the carpet and then blot it, and blot it,
and blot it. A couple minutes later the cloth fills with liquid.

But, there was still cranberry juice in the carpet. So he blots some
more for a few more minutes. It doesn’t appear there’s vacuum action
that pulls it out. We decide to use a regular cloth just to see how
much it’ll absorb, and it’s not much.

"There’s nothing on it, but if you try with this one, it’s still
absorbing quite a bit," said Vartan.

We make a few more messes and seem to have the same results. We head
outside, to see just how much we soaked up, and it’s quite a bit! It
may not be quick, but does it soak up more than other cloths?

"Based on what I see here, it worked," said Vartan.

Online it was $14.95 plus shipping and handling. The pads require
special care. They are machine washable, but shouldn’t be uses fabric
softener.

BUSH WARNS CONGRESS NOT TO RECOGNISE ARMENIAN ‘GENOCIDE’

The Guardian
Oct 10 2007
UK

A US Congress bill on the 1915 Armenian ‘genocide’ has angered Turks.

President George Bush today urged members of Congress to reject a
congressional resolution recognising the killings of Armenians in 1915
as "genocide", warning that it would damage US relations with Turkey.

The resolution would do "great harm" to relations, the president told
reporters at the White House. He said: "This resolution is not the
right response to these historic mass killings."

His comments followed a similar joint appeal from the US secretary
of state, Condoleezza Rice, and the defence secretary, Robert Gates.

The intense White House lobbying campaign came just hours before the
House of Representatives foreign affairs committee met to vote on
the resolution.

Turkish politicians have warned that passage of the bill to a full
vote in the House could severely damage diplomatic ties.

Ms Rice said the legislation could provoke Turkey, a key Nato ally
in the Middle East, to withdraw its cooperation with the US on Iraq.

"The passage of this resolution at this time would be very problematic
for everything we are trying to do in the Middle East," she said.

Mr Gates said 70% of US air cargo destined for Iraq goes through
Turkey, as does about one-third of the fuel used by the US military
in Iraq.

"Access to airfields and to the roads and so on in Turkey would very
much be put at risk if this resolution passes and Turkey reacts as
strongly as we believe they will," he said.

The Turkish president, Abdullah Gul, yesterday warned of "serious
troubles in the two countries’ relations" if the measure is approved.

The threats come as the Turkish government seeks parliamentary approval
for a cross-border military operation to pursue separatist Kurdish
rebels in northern Iraq. The move, which is opposed by the US, could
open a new front in the most stable part of Iraq.

Turkish MPs in Washington yesterday put their case to members of the
House of Representatives’ foreign affairs committee.

"I have been trying to warn the lawmakers not to make a historic
mistake," said Egemen Bagis, a Turkish MP and close foreign policy
adviser to the prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Many in the US fear for the crucial supply routes through Turkey to
Iraq and Afghanistan, and the closure of Incirlik, a strategic air
base in Turkey used by the US air force.

A measure of the potential fallout from the vote came in a warning
to American citizens in Ankara issued by the US embassy there.

The statement said: "If, despite the administration’s concerted efforts
against this resolution, it passes committee and makes its way to the
floor of the House for debate and a possible vote, there could be a
reaction in the form of demonstrations and other manifestations of
anti-Americanism throughout Turkey."

The genocide label is a sensitive issue in Turkey, which has long
claimed that mass killings, plus famine and disease, were part of
the civil upheavals accompanying the collapse of the Ottoman empire.

Armenians and most western historians believe the events of 1915
were state-sponsored genocide. Estimates of the death toll range up
to 1.5 million people.

Ankara cut military ties with Paris last year when France voted to
make it a crime to deny the killings as genocide.

The US bill appears to have a thin majority on the foreign affairs
committee. But some supporters fear that Turkish pressure could narrow
the margin further. Most Republicans are expected to vote against.

Yesterday Bryan Ardouny, the executive director of the Armenian
Assembly of America, sought to shore up support in letters to the
committee’s chairman, the Democratic representative, Tom Lantos,
of California, and the committee’s leading Republican member, Ileana
Ros-Lehtinen, of Florida.

"We have a unique opportunity in this Congress, while there are still
survivors of the Armenian genocide living among us, to irrevocably
and unequivocally reaffirm this fact of history," he wrote.

But Mr Bagis said the resolution would make it hard for Ankara to
continue close cooperation with the US and resist calls from the
Turkish public to pursue Kurdish rebels over the border.

"If the Armenian genocide resolution passes, then I think that the
possibility of a cross-border operation is very high," said Ihsan Dagi,
a professor of international relations at the Middle East Technical
University in Ankara.

October 10, 2007

Turkey Authorizes Troops to Enter Iraq to Fight Rebels

By SEBNEM ARSU and SABRINA TAVERNISE

ISTANBUL, Oct. 9 – Turkey took a step toward a military operation in
Iraq on Tuesday, as its top political and military leaders issued a
statement authorizing troops to cross the Iraq border to eliminate
separatist Kurdish rebel camps in the northern region.

Turkey moved toward military action in the face of strong opposition
by the United States, which is anxious to maintain peace in the
region, one of the rare areas of stability in conflict-torn Iraq. But
more than two dozen Turkish soldiers have been killed in recent days,
and the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan seemed far
more determined than before to act decisively.

A government official without authorization to speak publicly on the
issue who asked not to be identified by name, said preparations were
under way to seek parliamentary approval for a cross-border military
operation, a request that would be the first formal step toward an
offensive.

The Associated Press reported that the request would be submitted to
Parliament as early as Wednesday.

Government offices and institutions have been ordered "to take all
economic and political measures, including cross-border operations
when necessary, in order to end the existence of the terror
organization in a neighboring country," said the statement, which was
released by Mr. Erdogan’s office, after he met with political and
military leaders in Ankara.

A Turkish military offensive into northern Iraq, while unlikely, would
have far-reaching consequences for the United States. Turkey is a NATO
member and has the region’s most powerful army. Turkey’s support of
the United States in the Iraq war is crucial. The United States’
Incirlik Air Base in southern Turkey supplies the military in central
Iraq.

Sean McCormack, a State Department spokesman, said the United States
had encouraged Turkish officials to work together with the Iraqi
government.

"In our view, it is not going to lead to a long-term, durable solution
to have significant incursions from Turkey into Iraq," he said at a
news briefing in Washington.

But Iraq’s government has little authority in the region, which is
controlled exclusively by Kurds, and an accord reached by Iraq’s
interior minister and senior Turkish officials last month did not
include permission for military operations, a formulation that
frustrated Turkey.

Relations between the United States and Turkey are delicate on another
front. A bill on the Armenian genocide – the killing of more than a
million Armenians by Turkey at the end of World War I – is due before
the House Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday. Turks have been
working to prevent its consideration, with Mr. Erdogan making phone
calls Tuesday, according to a Turkish member of Parliament in
Washington to work against the bill.

Its passage "would be insulting to Turkey," said Egeman Bagis, the
Parliament member. "It would mean losing Turkey’s support in the
region."

He did not say precisely what that might mean. Turkey ended military
cooperation with France last year after France voted to make denial of
the Armenian genocide a crime.

"It could make it very difficult for Turkey to continue supporting"
the United States in Iraq, Mr. Bagis said.

Turkey’s foreign minister, Ali Babacan, made a similar appeal to
Israeli authorities on a visit over the weekend, asking them to press
Congress to drop the matter. Turkey has close relations with Israel,
and Turkish officials have bristled at a recent statement by the
Anti-Defamation League declaring that the killing of Armenians was
"tantamount to genocide."

Some analysts said that given the complex relationships among Turkey,
Iraq and the United States, Turkey would continue to consider military
action a last resort.

Edip Baser, a retired general who was special coordinator in a United
States-Turkey effort against the Kurdish Workers’ Party in 2006, said
it was likely that political and military leaders would wait for the
appropriate time to act.

The government official who asked not to be identified by name said:
"Our government will soon start technical consultation with the
military to see what they need in order to end this violence that make
our hearts bleed. First, there needs to be necessary preparations and
assessments. We can say that they have already started." Senior
cabinet members, state officials and high-ranking military officials
met Tuesday after President Abdullah Gul, Mr. Erdogan and Gen. Yasar
Buyukanit, the leader of the Turkish Army, vowed to strengthen efforts
against the Kurdish Workers’ Party, the Kurdish rebel group.

Sebnem Arsu reported from Istanbul and Sabrina Tavernise from Baghdad.

Source: urkey.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

BABACAN: TURKISH DIPLOMACY SEEKS FOR WAYS OF DIALOGUE WITH ARMENIA

PanARMENIAN.Net
09.10.2007 16:32 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ "Obstacles to the development of the Turkish-Armenian
relations are posed by problems in the history of our peoples on
one hand, and by the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia and
territorial claims on the other hand," Turkish Foreign Minister Ali
Babacan said.

"In this situation, Turkish diplomacy seeks to find ways of dialogue
with Armenia," he said.

"Recently participating at the General Assembly in New York, I met
with the Foreign Minister of Armenia, Vartan Oskanian and I told him
that we are neighbors and we need to exist in the way of dialogue
and cooperation. We have historical problems, but we should try to
regulate our problems in a peaceful and civilized manner and should
face the future," he said, Trend news agency reports.

US HOUSE COMMITTEE TO DEBATE ARMENIAN RESOLUTION NEXT WEDNESDAY

Turkish Press
Press Reveiw
TURKIYE
Oct 8 2007

The US House of Representative’s Foreign Affairs Committee is expected
to debate a resolution on the Armenian allegations of genocide next
Wednesday. In addition, the committee has also decided to vote on a
separate resolution condemning the terrorist group PKK.

In related news, a group of deputies from Parliament’s ruling and
opposition parties will travel to the US next week in a bid to head
off the Armenian resolution’s passage. President Abdullah Gul and
Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan are also planning to make phone calls
to President George W. Bush to seek his support in blocking the
resolution, and head off possible damage to Turkish-US relations.

PARLIAMENT SPEAKER SENDS LETTER TO US’ PELOSI WARNING AGAINST PASSAGE OF ARMENIAN RESOLUTION

Turkish press
Press Review
AKSAM
Oct 8 2007

Parliament Speaker Koksal Toptan yesterday sent a letter to Nancy
Pelosi, speaker of the US House of Representatives, on a resolution
now pending which would lend support to the Armenian "genocide"
allegations. "Passage of an Armenian resolution in regard to the
incidents of 1915 by the United States House of Representatives would
serve the interests of neither the Turkish nor the American people,"
wrote Toptan. "Furthermore, the resolution would hurt Turkish-US
relations and have a negative impact on the normalization of relations
between Turkey and Armenia." The resolution is scheduled for a vote
before a key House committee on Wednesday.

FRESH ARMENIAN-AZERI SUMMIT STILL IN QUESTION
By Emil Danielyan

Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Oct 5 2007

Armenian and Azerbaijani officials have made ambiguous statements
on the possibility of yet another meeting between their presidents
which international mediators view as the last chance to resolve the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in the coming months.

Azerbaijani media quoted Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov on Friday
as not ruling out such an encounter on the sidelines of the upcoming
weekend summit of former Soviet republics in Dushanbe, Tajikistan.

Mammadyarov said at the same that Presidents Ilham Aliev and Robert
Kocharian have no plans yet to hold one-on-one talks there.

Aliev’s chief foreign policy aide, Novruz Mammadov, was reported
to say on Thursday that the latest round of peace talks mediated by
the American, French and Russian co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group
"did not create the need" for a fresh Armenian-Azerbaijani summit.

For his part, Kocharian’s press secretary, Victor Soghomonian, said
the Armenian leader’s itinerary in Dushanbe does not contain a meeting
with Aliev. Still, Soghomonian too did not exclude the possibility
of such talks.

It was not clear if the Minsk Group co-chairs, who usually attend
the opening sessions of Aliev-Kocharian talks, plan to travel to the
Tajik capital. Earlier this week, they met separately with Oskanian
and Mammadyarov in New York. No agreements were announced as a result.

The consultations came two weeks after the mediators’ most recent visit
to the conflict zone. They expressed hope during the trip that Aliev
and Kocharian will again try to iron out their remaining differences
on a framework peace agreement put forward by the Minsk Group. The
two men failed to do that when they last met in the Russian city
of Saint Petersburg in June, all but dashing hopes for a near-term
solution to the Karabakh conflict.

The chief U.S. Karabakh negotiator, Matthew Bryza, warned in Yerevan
that Aliev’s and Kocharian’s refusal to meet again this year would
raise questions about their commitment to mutual compromise. "If
they don’t say yes, then you’ll wonder, ‘What are they thinking in
the back of their mind? What are their plans? Are they really fully
committed to reaching an agreement?’" he said.

Addressing the UN General Assembly in New York on Wednesday,
Oskanian claimed that the conflicting parties are "inching towards
resolution." He praised the Minsk Group’s existing peace proposals for
upholding "the right of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh to determine
their own future."

Mammadyarov, for his part, urged the international community to
respect his country’s territorial integrity and said he is confident
that it will not allow the impending international recognition
of Kosovo’s secession from Serbia to set a precedent for conflict
resolution. "Armenia can say whatever it wants on the issue," he said.

"We have no intention to use Kosovo as a precedent for our conflict,
since that would contradict our own position that all conflicts are
different," countered Oskanian. "But at the same time, we won’t
understand or accept the reverse logic – that if Kosovo is given
independence, no other people can achieve self-determination. No one
should tell us that there is a quota on liberty and security."

NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT REMAINS MOST SERIOUS CHALLENGE TO SECURITY OF REGION: AZERBAIJANI MINISTER

TREND Info, Azerbaijan
Oct 4 2007

Azerbaijan, Baku / corr Trend K.Ramazaova / The Armenian-Azerbaijani
conflict remains the most serious challenge to the security of the
region, Elmar Mammadyarov, the Azerbaijani Foreign Minister, stated
in during his speech during the 62nd UN general Assembly.

The negotiations on the conflict resolution carried out in the
framework of the OSCE Minsk Group have not yielded results so far.

As a result of the conflict almost 20% of Azerbaijani territory is
still under the Armenian occupation. Azerbaijan hosts more than one
million refugees and IDPs, who were ethically cleansed and brutally
expelled from their homes in Armenia and in the occupied territories
of Azerbaijan.

Mammadyarov said that Armenia does not implement the resolution of the
UN Security Council, destroys all in the occupied territory, which
is associated with the heritage of Azerbaijan and carried out their
illegal activities. "UN should not allow it," the minister stressed.

He stressed that the resolution of he Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict
should be based on the international law and four UN Security Council
resolutions, which envisages the restoration of sovereignty and
territorial integrity of Azerbaijan.

"From this high podium I would like to address the Armenian nation to
realize how dangerous is their policy of breaching peace and security
in the region as well as being counterproductive and disastrous
implications to the long-term perspectives of the development of
Armenia. I am confident that Azerbaijan will restore its sovereignty
and territorial integrity. This is only a question of time,"
Mammadyarov said.

The Azerbaijani minister also spoke about the country’s efforts in
provision of full transparency and accountability in the extractive
industry and his country’s contribution in ensuring global energy
security. He spoke about economic reforms in Azerbaijan, poverty
reduction, increase of welfare of the nation and stressed that
it turned to reality not only through the oil and gas revenues,
but also the Government’s policy and its loyalty to protect the
investor’s rights.

The conflict between the two countries of the South Caucasus began in
1988 as a result of territorial claims by Armenia against Azerbaijan.

Since 1992, Armenian Armed Forces have occupied 20% of Azerbaijani
land including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and its seven neighboring
districts. In 1994, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire
agreement at which time the active hostilities ended. The Co-Chairs
of the OSCE Minsk Group ( Russia, France, and the US) are currently
holding peaceful negotiations.