Author: Ekmekjian Janet

 

 

 

The Armenian National Archive will publish archive documents related to the Armenian Genocide and World War II this year, Director of the National Archive Amatuni Virabyan told a press conference today.

He said the copies of original Ottoman documents and their translations will also be made public. Most of the documents refer to the properties of the Armenian Church.

Virabyan said the Archive has undertaken the digitalization of the documents. The digital copies will also be kept at the National Archive.

Amatuni Virabyn said thanks to cooperation with national archives of other countries they acquire the copies of all Armenia-related documents.

Relative peace was maintained at the line of contact between the armed forces of Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan during the holidays, the NKR Ministry of Defense reports.

The rival fired about 4,500 shots from weapons of different caliber in the direction of the Armenian positions between January 1 and 7.

The front divisions of the NKR Defense Army keep full control of the situation and confidently fulfill their military tasks all along the line of contact.

Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian had a meeting with the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs Igor Popov, James Warlick and Pierre Andrieu and the Personal representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk on the sidelines of the OSCE Ministerial meeting in Belgrade.

The parties continued the discussions on the perspectives of furthering the process of peaceful settlement of the Karabakh conflict.

Reference was made to the issue of organization of a meeting between the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Edward Nalbandian reiterated the Armenia’s commitment to continue to work with the Minsk Group Co-chairs to reach an exceptionally peaceful resolution of the Karabakh conflict.

Photo:  Sputnik

The South Ossetian Parliament will consider the issue of recognition of the Armenian Genocide, Speaker Anatoly Bibilov told .

“We regret that South Ossetia has not recognized the Armenian Genocide until now. The issue is on the parliament agenda now, and will be put on a discussion. It’s necessary to give a proper assessment to the crime committed in the Ottoman Empire and condemn the policy of denial of genocide,” he said.

The Speaker noted that “while world powers are guided by opportunistic interests on the matter, we do not question the historic truth.” “That’s why, guided by the principle of historical justice and preservation of historical memory, it’s necessary to acknowledge the fact of atrocities in the Ottoman Empire and the mass killing of Armenians,” Bibilov said.

According to the Speaker, although the issue of recognition of the Armenian Genocide is not new in South Ossetia, it has acquired a new meaning after the recent developments.

“Taking into consideration the latest downing of the Russian jet and assessing it as an act of aggression against our main strategic partner, the only adequate response to Turkey will be the recognition of the Armenian Genocide, along with a set of other steps. This step goes in line with the strategic path of development we have chosen,” the Speaker stressed.

He added that South Ossetia is not afraid of damaging ties with Turkey, as there are no relations as such. The same is true about Azerbaijan.

A resolution on the Armenian Genocide has been adopted by a large majority at the 23rd European Green Party Council in Lyon. The text acknowledges that the Ottoman Empire perpetrated Genocide against the Armenian people. It also calls on Turkey to recognize the Armenian Genocide and work towards reconciliation with the Armenia and its people.

With this initiative the European Green Party calls upon all countries which have not yet done so to publicly recognize the Armenian Genocide. It underlines that doing so will positively impact the normalisation of the relations between Turkey and Armenia and help prevent further crimes against humanity.

The European Green Party is a pan-European political party which federates over 45 Green parties across Europe, present also in Eastern Partner countries. In the European Parliament their members sit in the Greens – European Free Alliance parliamentary group totalizing 50 seats.

The European Green Party mourns the destruction of the Armenian cultural heritage and calls upon the Turkish government to respect the Armenian cultural legacy and take strong measures to protect it. The resolution asks the Turkish government to re-evaluate historical and cultural narratives and open its archives to historians, researchers and academics in an effort to come to terms with the past. The logical continuation of this would be to immediately abolish Article 301 of the Turkish penal code, which censors political and public debate on the genocide.

The text emphasizes that everybody has the right to have their history recognized and their culture respected. By acknowledging the Armenian Genocide the European Green Party wants to pay due respect to its victims as a step towards reconciliation and historical reparation.

MEP Michèle Rivasi, who is vice-chair of the Greens/EFA Group in the European Parliament and member of the European Friends of Armenia Advisory Council, comments:

‘As the tragic events in Paris reminds us: the world is in trouble, more than ever. For many years hate speech has not been sufficiently condemned, and helped extremists in spreading their propaganda and raising the level of violence. We cannot continue like this, we have to reverse this vicious spiral with an even more opened democracy and also the duty to recognize the errors and crimes that led to the current situation.

The European Green Party resolution on the centenary of the Armenian genocide aims at reminding every country that they have a part to play for a more peaceful world.

This is one of the reasons why Turkey has to stop now its state policy of denial. Because denial is the fuel that feeds the engine of hate and prevents us from reaching peace. Turkey will only find advantages in finally recognising the Armenian Genocide and step into History. There will be no peace without recognition of the Armenian genocide.’

As 2015 marks the centenary of the Armenian Genocide many other European countries, Pan-European institutions and political parties have acknowledged or reaffirmed their recognition of the Armenian Genocide and have urged Turkey to so as well.

‘I am very pleased to see a growing number of European Political families recognizing the Armenian Genocide’ says Eduardo Lorenzo Ochoa, director of European Friends of Armenia. ‘The European Green Party resolution is especially important because not only pays tribute to the victims of the first Genocide of the 20th century, but also explains clearly the importance of doing so if we want to secure a common future and prevent further crimes against humanity’.

The guitar The System Of A Down played during the tour has been auctioned off for $27,000.

“Amazing News!! The one of a kind custom Wake Up The Souls guitar I played on the tour, signed by all band members got auctioned off for $27,000 in support of the non-profit Orran children’s charity,” Tankian said in a Facebook post.

Tankian played the guitar in Los Angeles, Yerevan, Moscow and all through the historic Wake Up The Souls tour aimed at raising awareness about the Armenian Genocide.

Asbarez – The President of Israel Reuven Rivlin said that his previously voiced position that the events of 1915 were Genocide of the Armenians remains unchanged.

Rivlin told the participants of an international conference, entitled Genocide: History and Memory – Marking 100 years of the Armenian Genocide, whom he met in his residence on the last day of the conference on Wednesday.

The meeting was not open to the press but Panorama.am interviewed the conference participants who attended the meeting. They all said that the President reiterated his previous position and that he is a supporter of the Armenian cause; however for some reason he has to refrain from making an official statement about it.

The fact that the President invited the participants of the conference that was on the Armenian Genocide, itself speaks about his support for this cause and this fact was highly praised by everyone – the organizers, the president of the Open University of Israel and the participants.

One of the participants of the conference, Dr. Israel Charny, said that Rivilin, indeed, did refer to the events of 1915 as Genocide adding that the Israeli leader had other political considerations. Charny said he did not agree with that position but found it positive that Rivlin has continued his support for Genocide recognition.

Israel officially continues not to recognize the Armenian Genocide and remains in the camp of the deniers for one political reason or the other. Many of the Jewish participants called this stance a “shame”. It can only be hoped that this conference, being the first of its kind on this topic was a step forward.

Today, the Armenian Assembly of America (Assembly) called on the Department of Justice to investigate potentially illegal activities of U.S. groups with ties to foreign entities in Turkey and Azerbaijan.

The Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) and the House Committee on Ethics concluded that 9 members of Congress and more than two dozen staff members accepted a trip that was improperly paid for by foreign corporations in Azerbaijan and Turkey. In addition to attending a convention in Azerbaijan, several Members of Congress and their staff also traveled to Turkey free of cost. The OCE’s review found that the congressional travel to Azerbaijan and Turkey was “not funded exclusively by the entities disclosed on travel forms submitted to the Committee on Ethics.”

A investigation discovered that Gülen groups, Turkish organizations who follow the leadership of Fethullah Gülen, “secretly funded as many as 200 trips to Turkey for members of Congress and staff since 2008, repeatedly violating House rules and possibly federal law.” Over the course of its review, the OCE obtained evidence that a Turkish organization, named the Bosphorus Atlantic Cultural Association of Friendship and Cooperation (BAKIAD), funded and coordinated the congressional travel within Turkey dating back several years.  Four of the Gülen groups sponsoring the 2013 conference in Azerbaijan also “used BAKIAD to arrange and finance all in-country expenses for congressional travel in Turkey,” OCE found. “Importantly, however, BAKIAD’s role does not appear to have been disclosed to the Committee on Ethics in 2013 or in other years.” Congressional disclosures show the Gülen-backed trips totaled more than $800,000 in free travel for lawmakers and staff. Both the Turkish and Azerbaijani Congressional Caucuses have significantly increased their membership over the last several years.

According to the USA TODAY, “A dozen different Gülen groups have sponsored congressional travel since 2008 and have filed forms with the House certifying that they were paying for the trips. The House Ethics Committee approved all the trips in advance based on the forms the Gülen groups submitted. But a USA TODAY investigation found many of those disclosures were apparently false. Some of the Gülenist groups claimed to be certified nonprofits, but they do not appear in state or IRS databases of approved charities. Groups that did register with the IRS filed tax forms indicating that they did not pay for congressional travel. And five of the groups admitted to congressional investigators earlier this year that a Gülenist group in Turkey was secretly covering the costs of travel inside Turkey for lawmakers and staff.”

The OCE investigators received documentation that the lawmakers accepted donations by two Texas-based nonprofit corporations, the Turquoise Council of Americans and Eurasians (TCAE) and the Assembly of the Friends of Azerbaijan (AFAZ). They found that TCAE and AFAZ concealed the true source of the funding for travel and other expenses for the U.S. officials. Instead, much of the cost of travel and funding for the convention was paid for by undisclosed entities including the Republic of Azerbaijan through its national oil company, the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR). Evidence revealed that SOCAR founded AFAZ in the month prior to the Convention, transferring $750,000 to an AFAZ bank account.

“The revelations by the USA TODAY investigation, in addition to the Office of Congressional Ethics investigation, are remarkable,” the Assembly said in its . “We respectfully request a full and thorough investigation by the Department of Justice into these groups and the full application of the law. The reported activities constitute plainly illegal behavior and strikes at the core of our Constitutional government through blatant foreign influence peddling.”

The Azerbaijani government’s crackdown on independent and critical voices has a particularly damaging effect ahead of the country’s 1 November parliamentary elections, the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s democracy and human rights Chairperson, Isabel Santos (MP, Portugal), said today.

“Citizen election-observer Anar Mammadli cannot monitor the vote from inside a jail cell. Journalist Khadija Ismayilova cannot report on the campaign from behind bars. Intigam Aliyev, Rasul Jafarov, Leyla Yunus — the list of human rights defenders and government-critics who have been made political prisoners in Azerbaijan goes on and on. On the eve of parliamentary elections, when independent voices are crucial for having an informed debate about the country’s direction, Azerbaijani citizens will especially suffer from the silence their government has imposed,” Santos said.

The Chairperson also expressed concern regarding recent reports that opposition leader Ilgar Mammadov has been abused in prison. He was sentenced in March 2014 to 7 years in jail on charges widely considered to be politically motivated.

“I urge Azerbaijan’s leaders to engage with their citizens and with the international community in an open and honest dialogue aimed at bringing human rights and rule of law back to the country,” Santos said.

She reiterated her openness to constructive engagement with Azerbaijan’s authorities on these and other democracy-related issues.

The Chairperson further expressed hope that the Azerbaijani government will choose to abide by its OSCE election-monitoring commitments and allow the Organization to conduct full, unrestricted observation missions to future elections in the country.

The leadership of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly cancelled a planned observation mission to the upcoming parliamentary elections after its traditional observation partner, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE/ODIHR), was forced to cancel its mission due to restrictions imposed on its work by Azerbaijan’s authorities.

President Serzh Sargsyan, who is visiting the United States of America to take part in the 70th session of the UN General Assembly, had a meeting with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on September 29. The president congratulated the secretary-general upon the 70th jubilee of the organization, stressing that when Armenia joined the UN 23 years ago, it has felt supported by the organization from the very first day.

Serzh Sargsyan expressed his satisfaction with the successful end of the final summit of the program “Transforming our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” a few days ago, in which the UN secretary-general has played his role. Armenia’s president expressed the hope that the new comprehensive program will help raise the quality of living conditions for all people on the planet.

At the meeting, the parties touched upon the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process. The president informed Ban Ki-moon about the current stage of the conflict, the present problems and especially about the tensions at the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and the contact line with Nagorno-Karabakh caused by the resent ceasefire violations of Azerbaijan, which he had also touched upon at the 70th session of the UN General Assembly. The UN secretary-general expressed his concern over the current tensions, stressing the need for a settlement mediated by the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs.

The interlocutors exchanged views on present-day international issues, and on worrisome events occurring in the world – new conflicts, increasing terrorism and extremism, the growing tensions in the Near and Middle East. Ban Ki-moon welcomed and thanked our country for the steps to provide refugees from northern Iraq and Syria with safe haven in Armenia. The UN secretary-general attached importance to the forum on global challenges of peacekeeping to be held in Yerevan in the near future.