Author: Dabaghian Diana

APA, Azerbaijan
March 6 2010

Elnur Aslanov: Azerbaijan is in solidarity with Turkey, we call on the
Congress to give up illusory claims of Armenians

[ 06 Mar 2010 17:06 ]

Baku. Lachin Sultanova ` APA. `The passage of the so-called Armenian
genocide resolution by the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs is
the demonstration of double standards,’ said Elnur Aslanov, chief of
the political analysis and informational provision department of
Azerbaijan’s Presidential Administration, APA reports.

Elnur Aslanov said first of all, one-vote margin after the recount was
confusing.
`Secondly, by raising the issues not basing on historical facts, the
US that speaks about democracy and human rights demonstrates biased
position. The discussion of the events that happened 95 years ago does
not serve peace and stability in the South Caucasus. The lawmakers,
who strive to reveal the truth, should know that on February 26, 1992,
the Armenian side committed Khojaly genocide that may be compared with
the most terrible manslaughters. If the congressmen need truth, then
why the Committee on Foreign Affairs does not raise the Khojaly issue
or demand the punishment of the perpetrators. Why doesn’t the U.S.
Congress speak about the genocide of Azerbaijanis by Armenians in
Baku, Guba, Lankaran, Salyan and Shamakhy in March 1918? Why does the
Congress believe the words of the side that declared Hamazasp,
Adronik, Nzhde and Dro, who stained their hands with the blood of
thousands of innocent people? Why has the Committee on Foreign Affairs
been ignoring for 22 years the violation of the rights of one million
people by Armenia? Do some congressmen serve the interests of the U.S.
society or personal interests? All this casts shadow on the sincerity
of the statements on the stability in the South Caucasus. ‘

Similar steps are blow to the ideals of democracy of America. How can
the country that strives to export democratic values and ideas defend
blindly the interests of a group of Armenian Diaspora organizations
and their lobbyists in the Congress? Such steps contradict the desire
of the US to establish peace and stability in various parts of the
world.

Head of the Committee on Foreign Affairs Howard Berman says that he
has been in the Congress for 27 years. Why does he raise the genocide
issue, but ignores Turkey’s proposal to study jointly the historical
facts? Why do the Armenian Diaspora and Armenian leadership brought up
for centuries in the spirit of hatred for Turkey and Azerbaijan
refuses rational and constructive view on historical realities?
Genocide card is a pretext for those who want to exert pressure on
Turkey. The passage of the so-called Armenian genocide resolution in
the House Committee on Foreign Affairs is a historical mistake. The
Turkish people know that in 1915 the super powers made the Armenians
betray the country the lived in. And now they want to use `Armenian
card’ for the sake of their ambitions. But it will fail. The world has
changed. Those who want to trigger instability in the South Caucasus
will lose. Hopefully sense will triumph in the U.S. Congress.

It is clear for us for what the Armenian leadership strives by
protracting the solution to Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict. Azerbaijan
and Turkey are not only geostrategic partners, they are states united
by history, language and religion. Azerbaijan is in solidarity with
Turkey, we call on the Congress to give up illusory claims of
Armenians.
Economic situation is deteriorating in Armenia, political situation
contradicts the norms of democracy, journalists, parliamentarians and
other public figures are in prison. Under the present circumstances,
the U.S. Congress together with the Armenian lobby should discuss the
reasons of this situation and give an objective assessment to it. The
Armenian Diaspora should realize that it does not take into account
Armenia’s future problems by directing funds for making decisions on
the past and groundless issues. Idle resolutions will not be able to
raise the economy collapsed during the crisis, will not create
conditions for regional cooperation, to the contrary will make the
situation in Armenia much worse. One can not feed the people with
resolutions.

Third, I would like to remind Armenian Foreign Minister Edward
Nalbandian, who appeals to the human rights and prevention of crimes
against humanity, that Armenians committed genocide against
Azerbaijani civilians in 1905, 1918, 1992. With the support of
Armenian leadership Armenian extremists killed tens of Turkish and
Azerbaijani political and public figures. Therefore, the Armenian
official should first of all have a look at the history of his country
before speaking about human rights and crimes against humanity,’ he
said.

Aysor, Armenia
March 6 2010

Kusturica promised to support `Golden Apricot’ film festival

Today President Serzh Sargsyan received the Serbian famous film
director, musician Emir Kusturica. The famous film director is in
Armenia for the first time. Yesterday took place the concert of the
band of Kusturica called `The No Smoking Orchestra’.

`It’s a pleasure to host you in the Armenian land. Your visit is a
significant event for our country. Our nations have many common
historical features and your art and music are too close to our
people’, – President told to the musician.

Emir Kusturica passed his impressions to the Armenian President.

`Armenia is a very beautiful country. Our countries have many common
features because of the tragic history, and I am happy for this
visit’,- he has noticed.

Targeted News Service
March 4, 2010 Thursday 12:08 AM EST

House Foreign Affairs Committee Howard L. Berman (D-CA), Chairman

WASHINGTON

The House Foreign Affairs Committee issued the following news release:

Chairman Berman’s opening remarks at markup of the Armenian Genocide
resolution, H. Res. 252

Turkey is a vital and, in most respects, a loyal ally of the United
States in a volatile region. We have also been a loyal ally to Turkey,
and should continue to be so. Be that as it may, nothing justifies
Turkey’s turning a blind eye to the reality of the Armenian Genocide.
It is regrettable, for example, that Turkey’s Nobel-Prize-winning
novelist, Orhan Pamuk, was essentially hounded out of his native
country for speaking out on this subject. Now I don’t pretend to be a
professional historian. I haven’t scoured the archives in Istanbul
looking for original documents.

But the vast majority of experts – the vast majority – academics,
authorities in international law, and others who have looked at this
issue for years, agree that the tragic massacres of the Armenians
constitute genocide.

In a letter to members of congress two years ago, the International
Association of Genocide Scholars stated the following, and I quote:

"The historical record on the Armenian Genocide is unambiguous and
documented by overwhelming evidence. It is proven by foreign office
records of the United States, France, Great Britain, Russia, and
perhaps most importantly, of Turkey’s World War I allies, Germany and
Austria-Hungary, as well as by the records of the Ottoman
Courts-Martial of 1918-1920, and by decades of scholarship."

"As crimes of genocide continue to plague the world, Turkey’s policy
of denying the Armenian Genocide gives license to those who perpetrate
genocide everywhere."

The Genocide Scholars urged the House to pass a resolution
acknowledging the Armenian Genocide because, they said, it would
constitute – and I quote again — "recognition of a historical turning
point in the twentieth century, the event that inaugurated the era of
modern genocide. In spite of its importance, the Armenian Genocide has
gone unrecognized until recently, and warrants a symbolic act of moral
commemoration."

Professor Yehuda Bauer, a highly respected scholar at the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem, has written that the Armenian Genocide is, in
his words, "the closest parallel to the Holocaust."

In a 1985 report, a subcommission of the UN Commission on Human Rights
found that the massacres of the Armenians qualified as genocide.

And Raphael Lemkin, the Polish lawyer who coined the word "genocide"
and drafted the international genocide convention, told an interviewer
that, quote "I became interested in genocide because it happened to
the Armenians."

Nearly two dozen other countries – including France, Canada, Russia,
Switzerland and Chile – have formally recognized the Armenian
Genocide. So has the European Parliament.

As the world leader in promoting human rights, the United States has a
moral responsibility to join them.

The Turks say passing this resolution could have terrible consequences
for our bilateral relationship, and indeed perhaps there will be some
consequences. But I believe that Turkey values its relations with the
United States at least as much as we value our relations with Turkey.

And I believe the Turks, however deep their dismay today,
fundamentally agree that the U.S.-Turkish alliance is simply too
important to get sidetracked by a non-binding resolution passed by the
House of Representatives.

At some point, every nation must come to terms with its own history.
And that is all we ask of Turkey.

Germany has accepted responsibility for the Holocaust. South Africa
set up a Truth Commission to look at Apartheid. And here at home, we
continue to grapple with the legacies of slavery and our horrendous
treatment of Native Americans.

It is now time for Turkey to accept the reality of the Armenian Genocide.

This will most likely be a difficult and painful process for the
Turkish people, but at the end of the day, it will strengthen Turkish
democracy and put the U.S.-Turkey relationship on a better footing.

I urge my colleagues to support this important resolution.

Contact: Lynne Weil, 202/225-5021

Aysor, Armenia
March 5 2010

Sparapet Vazgen Sarkisian’s birthday: he would have turned 51

On March 5 Vazgen Sarkisian, late Armenia’s Defense Minister and Prime
Minister, would have turned 51 years old, had he not been gunned down
11 years ago on October 27, 1999.

Vazgen Sarkisian, who devoted much of his life to the Armenian fight
with Azerbaijan for liberation of Nagorno-Karabakh, was crowned by
Armenian nation as Sparapet ` the title that over ages was awarded to
very few persons.

Vazgen Sarkisian was very influential in creating the Armenian army
after the Soviet Union’s collapse; he greatly contributed to
liberation of Nagorno-Karabakh, helped found the Karabakh Committee,
commanded ground troops (1990`92), and held senior posts in the
defense ministry and government of Armenia.

Vazgen Sarkisian was born in 1959 in the village of Ararat. He was a
qualified sports trainer and taught physical education until 1983,
when he started his political career.

In 1985 he became a member of Armenian Writers’ Union, and worked as a
chief of the department of journalism of Garun magazine (The Spring).

In 1990-92s, Sparapet was the commander of the Erkrapa group
volunteers, gaining a reputation as a military leader. It was this
reputation that helped him to rise to the office of Defense Minister
of Armenia in 1991 and country’s Prime Minister in 1999.

Nearly five months later he was shot dead during an armed attack on
Armenian Parliament on October 27, 1999.

Sparapet Vazgen Sarkisian was posthumously awarded as Armenia’s National Hero.

By this day, marking Vazgen Sarkisian’s birthday and in dedication to
his memory in people’s hearts, `The Sparapet’ (Warlord) book by
Colonel Martin Bagdasarian is to be published.

NRC International, Netherlands
March 5 2010

Turkish-American relations strained by mention of genocide

Published: 5 March 2010 17:09 | Changed: 5 March 2010 17:18

A US House of Representatives committee resolution containing a much
maligned word has set off a row between Washington and Ankara. By Bram
Vermeulen in Istanbul

It is not like it is the first time the United States has let its
loyal Nato ally in the Muslim world down. But that is how indignant
the Turkish response to the decision by the American House of
Representatives’ foreign affairs committee was.

On Thursday, the committee passed a resolution condemning the mass
killings of Armenians in 1915 as `genocide’. Immediately, the Turkish
ambassador in Washington was ordered to return. Prime minister Recep
Tayyip Erdogan condemned the resolution in the harshest terms: `We are
being accused of a crime we did not commit’. And analysts were quick
to point out Turkish-American relations could suffer at a time the
Americans need Turkey’s help the most, in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Iran.

Live broadcast

For hours on end, Turkish TV offered a live broadcast of the House
committee as it counted votes. It was reported with the same vigour as
an important football match would, only here history was at stake. For
a long time, the vote seemed to be turning out `in our favour’, as
Turkish TV hosts, viewers calling in, and parliamentarians put it. But
finally, the resolution [link] stating `the Armenian Genocide was
conceived and carried out by the Ottoman Empire from 1915 to 1923,’
passed with a narrow 23 to 22 majority. Pressure from the Obama
administration to reject the resolution proved in vain.

The foreign affairs committee has passed similar resolutions on to the
House seven times before. The last time was in 2007, when it was
shelved under pressure from the Bush administration.

`Have we forgotten people have been at this game since 1975?’ the
former Turkish foreign affairs minister Ilter Türkmen wondered out
loud as he was following the voting on Turkish TV on Thursday night.
`Apparently the Armenian lobby feels it is necessary to refresh our
memory repeatedly.’

But the Armenians could yet become the resolution’s biggest victims,
Turkish minister of foreign affairs Ahmet Davutoglu warned on Friday.
In October, Davutoglu signed a protocol promising to establish
diplomatic ties, open the border dividing the two nations, and instate
an historical commission composed of experts from both countries to
study the events of 1915. `It not fair to blame Turkey for the fact
these protocols haven’t been ratified yet,’ Davutoglu said. Resistance
has been coming from the Armenian side as well, including the
Armenian-American lobby that was so successful in pushing for the
House resolution in recent weeks.

In the past, the pro-Israel lobby US opposed similar resolutions, but
it has been loath to come to Turkey’s defence since its criticism of
Israel attack on the Gaza strip last winter. Turkish minister of
foreign affairs said, adding that foreign pressure could only serve to
damage the peace process between his country and its Christian
neighbour.

Turkey against the world

On the Turkish streets, far removed from international diplomacy, one
message was heard loud and clear: the world is against us, and it has
been since the Ottoman Empire fell. `An old friend will never become
an enemy, an old enemy never a friend,’ shoemaker Ismet Cahmak mumbled
on Friday morning. `This vote proves the Christian community is
unified in its struggle against us Muslims.’

Genocide denial strikes at the heart and soul of the Turkish Republic,
as it was formed at the beginning of the last century. The Turks do
not deny that Armenians were killed en masse in 1915, even if their
official estimates (300,000) are far lower than most historians’ (1 to
1.5 million). The Turks argue that the Armenians were fighting with
the Russians when the Ottoman Empire was torn apart by the West on one
side and Russia on the other, in this particularly bloody episode of
the First World War.

`The truth is, the Armenians revolted against us,’ said former
minister Türkmen. `This is a matter of pride and an affront to the
true nature of history. It is also an attack on the integrity of our
borders. In a recent ruling, an Armenian court upheld the country’s
claim to West-Armenia [eastern Turkey],’ he added.

Admitting to genocide would be paramount to denying the Turkish
Republic’s right to exist. The modern republic was founded on the
smouldering remains of the Ottoman Empire. According to historian
Taner Akcam, the Turkish national identity is defined by the
humiliation of the empire’s downfall. This has endowed Turks with a
strong sense that it is them against the world, he said.

In his book From Empire to Republic, Akcam described how Turkish
writers and journalists in the 1920s dedicated themselves to writing
exclusively positive stories about their compatriots, responding to
the inferiority complex the loss of an empire had caused. Listening to
Turkish reporters’ `us against them’ narrative broadcast from
Washington DC on Thursday night, one might think little had changed.

On Friday, Istanbul’s Armenian neighbourhoods also proved wary of the
American resolution. `The people who took this decision didn’t do so
because they care for Armenians and their fate,’ refrigerator
repairman Anton Sasmaz said. `It is all about their own interests. The
world will come to see Turkey in an even more negative light. Our
membership of the European Union will be further away than ever. What
good does that do us?’

52.ece/Turkish-American_relations_strained_by_ment ion_of_genocide

Euronews Video on Passage of Genocide Resolution
2010/03/05 | 12:36

world
Anahit Shirinyan

(euronew s) Thursday’s genocide vote in the US congress has produced
strong reactions from both Armenia and Turkey. Unsurprisingly, the
Armenians are happy at the outcome, while Turkey has recalled its US
ambassador.

Kenneth Khachikan, Chairman of the Armenian National Committee, said:
`Clearly the members of the committee were under incredible pressure
from the Turkish government, and even as late as last night,
apparently from the administration, to not do this. So we applaud the
bipartisan endorsement of what occurred, and we look forward to moving
this on the House floor.’

Russia Today
March 5 2010

Turkey furious as US declares Ottoman-era killings of Armenians `genocide’

Published 05 March, 2010, 17:40
Edited 05 March, 2010, 22:58

The US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee has approved
a resolution that recognizes the World War I-era deaths of Armenians
in Ottoman-era Turkey as an act of `genocide’.

After hours of discussion, the House of Foreign Affairs Committee
barely passed the resolution with a 23-22 vote that labels the murder
of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians during World War I as genocide.

Immediately after the vote, Ankara recalled its ambassador from
Washington, condemning the US Committee’s decision.

"We condemn this bill that blames the Turkish nation for a crime it
did not commit. Our Washington ambassador was invited to Ankara
tonight for consultations," Turkey’s Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan
said in a statement.

Erdogan went on to warn that `Turkey will not be responsible for the
negative results that this event may lead to,’ saying that
Washington’s decision will `harm Turkey-U.S. ties’ and could derail
talks aimed at opening the border between Turkey and Armenia.

`Unfortunately, by this decision, the US has demonstrated its attitude
towards the Turkic nations. I think that everybody, who considers
himself a Turk, should react adequately and condemn the US Committee’s
decision,’ said Azerbaijani deputy Ganira Pashaeva. She added that
`should take all necessary steps to stop the US Congress from adopting
this resolution.’

Like the Turkish and Azerbaijan response, Armenia’s reaction didn’t
come as a surprise. The Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandyan
has praised the adoption of the resolution, saying that they `highly
appreciate the decision’ of the congressional panel. `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," said Nalbandyan.

However, the Committee’s decision is only another step in recognizing
the genocide.

The 23-22 vote now sends the measure to the full House of
Representatives, where the prospects for passage are uncertain. In
2007 a similar notion was adopted by the Foreign Affairs Committee;
however, it never made to the next level. After intense pressure by
the Bush administration, who feared passage of the resolution would
harm their war effort in the Middle East, the resolution was not
brought to the House floor.

Despite US President Barack Obama’s vows during the 2008 presidential
campaign to recognize the killings of Armenians as genocide, the White
House had urged against the vote, fearing that it could anger
Washington’s NATO ally, Turkey. However, last year at the annual White
House statement on the day marking the Armenian remembrance, Obama
also failed to call the killings a `genocide’.

A Turkish official showing bread to Armenians dying of starvation.
(AGBU’s photostream )
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had urged the House committee
not to vote, saying that it would damage reconciliation efforts
between Turkey and Armenia. `We do not believe that the full Congress
will or should act upon that resolution, and we have made that clear
to all the parties involved,’ Clinton advised lawmakers.
It’s estimated that up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed by the
Ottoman Turks during World War I. Many historians call this the `first
genocide of the 20th century.’

A number of countries ` including Germany, Russia, Italy, France,
Canada, Greece and most of the US states, as well as the Vatican, the
European Parliament and the World Council of Churches have denounced
the killings as genocide.

Turkey however, says the death toll has been inflated and those killed
were the victims of civil war and unrest, denying that genocide had
taken place. Ankara insists, in order for Armenia to have diplomatic
and economic relations with Turkey, it should drop its claim for
international recognition of genocide.

Olga Masalkova, RT

n-armenia-genocide.html?fullstory

CBS 47
March 5 2010

Local Armenians React to Genocide Vote

Reported by: Alexandra Limon

Local Armenians are reacting after a congressional committee voted to
use the word genocide. The word is important to Armenians who want the
mass killings of World War I labeled as genocide.

The term genocide means; the deliberate and systematic destruction, in
whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group,
which is why it is so politically controversial and could jeopardize
U.S. relations with Turkey.

CBS47 spoke with local Armenians who support the resolution and are
criticizing the White House for its opposition.

Local Armenians whose family members were directly affected by the
mass killings, say this is a small victory but they say recognition of
the killings as genocide would help give them closure.

Modern day Armenians say the killing of more than one and a half
million Armenians during WW1 by Ottoman Turks was the first modern day
genocide.

More than 20 nations, including 11 NATO allies, recognize the killings
as genocide but the United States does not¦ at least not yet.

In a controversial move, the house foreign affairs committee passed a
resolution, recognizing the mass killings as genocide, by a vote of 23
to 22, despite opposition from the White House. Congresswoman Ileana
Ros-Lehtinen said, `and we need to ensure that our decisions and our
actions concerning the resolution before us do not have unintended
consequences.’

Turkey calls the killings, `casualties of the war’ and says the
country is not guilty of genocide.

Following the vote, Turkey recalled their U.S. Ambassador from the
United States, saying negotiations for an open border with Armenia may
be in jeopardy. U.S. military bases that are key in supporting the war
in the Middle East could also be threatened.

The resolution was only passed by a House Panel and it’s still unclear
if it will even make it to the House Floor, where it would be much
more difficult for it to pass. Similar resolutions were rejected in
2000, 2005, and 2007.

Armenians-React-to-Genocide-Vote/BG6VKp_amUKHJYYbs _4SRw.cspx

Both President Obama and I Oppose Armenian Genocide Resolution: Clinton

14:10 – 05.03.10

At a news conference in Costa Rica on Thursday, U.S. Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton, asked to elaborate on her reversed position on
the Armenian Genocide bill House Resolution 252, said that the
situation had changed, and the US believes that the Armenia-Turkey
Protocols are the appropriate way to deal with issues between Armenia
and Turkey.

`Well, I think circumstances have changed in very significant ways.
When President Obama took office and I became Secretary of State, we
determined that the process undertaken by the Swiss in bringing the
Turkey – Turkish and Armenian governments together was a very worthy
one that we intended to support, and we have done so.

`I was personally in Zurich at the time that the protocols for the
normalization of relationship between the two countries were signed.
We think that is the appropriate way to manage the problems that have
stood in the way of normalization between the two countries,’ said
Clinton in an interview available on the US Secretary of State
official website.

She and Obama, who both supported proposed Armenia Genocide
resolutions as presidential candidates, had changed their minds
because they believed the drive to normalize relations between Turkey
and Armenia was bearing fruit.

`Within the protocols, there was an agreed-upon approach to
establishing a historical commission to look at events in the past. I
do not think it is for any other country to determine how two
countries resolve matters between them, to the extent that actions
that the United States might take could disrupt this process.

`Therefore, both President Obama and I have made clear, both last year
and again this year, that we do not believe any action by the Congress
is appropriate, and we oppose it.

`Now, the committee that you referred to has voted out such a
resolution, I think three times in the past. They’re likely to vote it
out again. But we do not believe that the full Congress will or should
act upon that resolution, and we have made that clear to all the
parties involved,’ said Clinton.

Tert.am

urkey.html?ref=global-home

Turkey Says Genocide Vote Will Impair U.S. Ties

By SEBNEM ARSU and BRIAN KNOWLTON

Published: March 5, 2010

ISTANBUL – Turkey’s foreign minster said Friday that a vote by the House
Foreign Affairs Committee condemning as genocide the mass killing of
Armenians early in the last century by the Ottoman army would damage ties
with the Obama administration and set back reconciliation efforts between
Turkey and Armenia.

< rld/europe/05armenia.html?ref=europe>
House Panel Says Armenian Deaths Were Genocide (March 5, 2010)

"Each interference by a third party will make this normalization
impossible," Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said in a televised press
conference. "If an adviser had whispered ‘no’ instead of ‘yes’ in the ear of
a member of the House of Representatives, the vote would have come out
differently. Can history be treated in such an unserious manner?"

Thursday’s vote on the nonbinding resolution, a perennial point of friction
addressing a dark, century-old chapter of Turkish history, was 23 to 22.

A similar resolution passed by a slightly wider margin in 2007, but the Bush
administration, fearful of losing Turkish cooperation over Iraq, lobbied
forcefully to keep it from reaching the House floor. Whether this resolution
will reach a floor vote remains unclear. The Obama administration had urged
the committee to forgo a vote altogether.

Turkey reacted sharply, recalling its ambassador to Washington, Namik
Tan, in a display of annoyance. Turkey is a critical United States
ally in NATO, but the question of Armenian genocide taps deep veins of
national pride.

Mr. Davutoglu criticized the Obama administration for failing to explain the
strength of cooperation between Turkey and the United States, and said that
in absence of more effective efforts from Washington, "the picture ahead
will not be a positive one."

Last October, Turkey and Armenia began the first diplomatic attempt to
normalize relations with a series of agreements, but Mr. Davutoglu said that
votes like Thursday’s were a blow to their efforts to build a peaceful
region for future generations.

Turkey’s newspapers headlined the news of the vote – and Turkey’s diplomatic
response – on their front pages.

"We called the ambassador back," proclaimed Hurriyet, Turkey’s largest
circulation newspaper. "A vote crisis with the United States," Milliyet,
another daily, said. "A vote like a comedy," read a headline in Sabah
newspaper.

Some Turkish analysts said Ankara might put up diplomatic obstacles for
Washington’s broader regional policies.

"On one side of the scale, there is the Congress under the influence of
ethnic lobby groups and on the other, there are the greater United States
interests in Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran and Caucasus," said Sedat Ergin, a
foreign policy analyst of the Hurriyet newspaper. "It is up to the American
administration to come up with the best choice between the two."

Historians say that as many as 1.5 million Armenians died amid the
chaos and unrest surrounding World War I and the disintegration of the
Ottoman Empire. Turkey denies, however, that this was a planned
genocide, and mounted a vigorous lobbying campaign against the
resolution.

The Armenian issue has long been a taboo in Turkey and only recently has
there been some cautious, public debate partly as a result of reforms on
free speech prompted by Turkey’s desire to join the European Union.

While writers and intellectuals, including the Nobel laureate Orhan
Pamuk, have faced criminal charges for airing the debate, the number
of such cases has been dwindling over the years. Mr. Pamuk faced
criminal charges of "insulting Turkishness" after a 2005 magazine
interview in which he condemned the genocide and the killing of Kurds
by Turkey in the 1980s. The charges were dropped, but many
nationalists have not forgiven Mr. Pamuk.

Last October, Turkey and Armenia agreed to establish an impartial
international historical commission to study the available archives of the
period. In 2008, Turkey’s president paid the first visit by a Turkish leader
to Armenia in the two nations’ history.

Sebnem Arsu reported from Istanbul, and Brian Knowlton from Washington.