Author: Emil Lazarian

ARMENIAN GENOCIDE RECOGNITION ENTERED NEW STAGE
Yerkir
April 21, 2006
The Armenian Genocide recognition process has entered a new
stage. Almost all of the leading states recognized this fact and even
the U.S. doesn’t deny it, National Assembly’s Armenian Revolutionary
faction leader and historian Levon Mkrtchian said in an interview
with the PanArmenian.net.
In his words, Armenia should take the advantage of the international
community’s positive attitude about the Genocide recognition and
pursue a more precise line towards Turkey. “It’s time to speak
of compensations, since without it the fact of recognition loses
sense. For Armenia the matter concerns not only moral and material
side but appears as a security issue as well,” the ARF leader said.
Levon Mkrtchian underscored that is the neighbor state doesn’t
acknowledge the crime committed against a whole nation the opening
of the Armenian-Turkish border and the Nagorno Karabakh conflict
settlement can be protracted for an uncertain term.
At the same time the faction leader remarked that the Arab world
and Iran support Armenia in struggle for the Armenian Genocide
recognition. “Iran has not declared it at the state level but it sides
with Armenia. Actually, the majority of states arrived at a conclusion
that the Armenian Genocide in Ottoman Empire should be recognized,”
Levon Mkrtchian said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

TEENAGER DETAINED IN FATAL STABBING OF ARMENIAN STUDENT IN MOSCOW SUBWAY
Mike Eckel
AP Worldstream
Apr 24, 2006
Police detained a teenager in connection with the fatal stabbing of
an Armenian student on a Moscow subway platform over the weekend,
a city prosecutor’s official said Monday.
The killing was the latest in a wave of attacks in Russia against
dark-skinned immigrants from the southern Caucasus regions and former
Soviet Central Asia.
Sergei Marchenko, a spokesman for the Moscow prosecutor’s office,
said in televised comments that a 17-year-old boy was detained Monday
and had confessed to the Saturday evening killing.
Russian news agencies said investigators had classified the attack
as murder, but were considering it as a possible hate crime.
The ITAR-Tass news agency said the victim _ a 17-year-old Armenian
native and Moscow university student _ was standing with a group of
acquaintances when seven people got off a train and attacked them,
stabbing him once in the chest. The victim died on the spot.
The incident prompted sharp criticism from the Union of Russian
Armenians, a civic organization in Moscow.
“It’s not important what nationality the killed person is. This
concerns everyone. This is a problem for all of Russia,” union chief
Ara Abramian said on Ekho Moskvy radio. “If we have extremism and
nationalism, we should call these things exactly what they are and
then maybe these incidents won’t be repeated.”
Law enforcement authorities often classify attacks on minorities as
simple “hooliganism” with no racial motivation, fueling the anger of
Kremlin critics who say the government does little to stem hate crimes.
Several attacks on foreigners and ethnic minorities have occurred in
Russia in the past few weeks, and the country has seen a marked rise
in xenophobia and racism in recent years, with rights groups accusing
the government of inaction.
Assailants, often young skinheads or other nationalists, have committed
hundreds of attacks on foreigners from Africa, Asia and Latin America,
dark-skinned immigrants from former Soviet Central Asia and the
Caucasus Mountains region, and Jews. Dozens have died.
Rights activists say hate groups are emboldened by what they believe
is the authorities’ mild approach to prosecuting hate crimes, and
complain that neo-Nazi and other extremist literature and propaganda
is widely available on the streets and on the Internet.
Also Monday, Russian news agencies reported that a 25-year-old Tajik
man was killed and another was wounded after being attacked in Moscow
on Sunday. Prosecutors were investigating the crime as a possible
racial attack, RIA-Novosti reported.
Russian news agencies also reported that police detained three men
Monday in connection with the beating of a Turkish man in a St.
Petersburg subway station over the weekend. RIA-Novosti said the
36-year-old man received head injuries in the Saturday attack.
St. Petersburg has seen an exceptional number of racial attacks in
recent months.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

RATE OF MURDER GROWS THE MOTIVE IS LIFE
Lragir.am
24 April 06
The Attorney General of Armenia told news reporters April 24 that
in the first quarter of 2006 the rate of murder and attempts rose
highly. However, the Attorney General also stated that it is not true
that these have a political motive.
“In fact, in the first quarter the rate of murder and attempts grew,
but I disagree that these have a political context. The investigation
reveals that these have everyday motives, and statistics suggests that
these cases are not centered in a region or a community. It should be
noted that in December 2005 the rate of murder and attempts dropped
considerably,” said Aghvan Hovsepyan.
He says the statistics of murders is not stable. As to the attempt
against Member of Parliament Sasun Mikaelyan, the Office of Attorney
General attends to it. The Attorney General announced that they take
action to reveal the motives, or the real picture of this attempt.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

THE REPUBLICAN PROMPTS GOOD WILL TO ARF
Lragir.am
24 April 06
The Republican Party of Armenia has not been informed officially about
the initiative of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation to ensure a
fair parliamentary election in 2007. “First of all, we have not been
told anything. I want to remind that there had been similar initiatives
before the previous elections. However, besides being based on a paper,
such initiatives should have other approaches, agreements, and most
importantly, good will,” said Deputy Speaker Tigran Torosyan April 24.
Nevertheless, Tigran Torosyan announced that fair elections in 2007
and 2008 depend on the standpoints of the political forces.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ROBERT KOCHARIAN: OTTOMAN TURKEY AND ITS LEGAL SUCCESSOR BEAR FULL RESPONSIBILITY FOR ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
Apr 24 2006
YEREVAN, APRIL 24, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. RA President’s
Press Service provided Noyan Tapan Robert Kocharian’s address on the
occasion of the day of memory of the Armenian Genocide victims. The
address reads: “Dear compatriots, Today is the day of commemoration
of the Armenian Genocide victims. The Ottoman Turkey and its legal
successor bear full responsibility for this crime. The whole future
history of the Armenian people having experienced the Genocide bore the
hard consequences of the committed crime. The pain is stronger as we
also have to struggle for recognition and condemnation of that black
page of our history. The Republic of Armenia as the one expressing
the national interests of Armenians living both in their homeland and
spread all over the world will continue this struggle. We are grateful
to the countries, organizations and individuals who support us. The
consciousness that this is a global issue and the most efficient way
of preventing such crimes becomes deeper year by year. The struggle
of the Armenian people has no implication of revengefulness. We are
looking forward as the best answer to the negationism should be a
firm statehood, Armenia’s prosperity and progress”.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

HRANT MARGARIAN: IF TURKEY HAS DECIDED TO JOIN EUROPEAN UNION, IT SHOULD BE ABLE TO CONFESS ITS FAULTS
Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
Apr 24 2006
YEREVAN, APRIL 24, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. “For the Armenian
people, April 24 is not only a day of commemoration but also a day
of struggle as paying the tribute of our respect to the memory of
the innocent victims, we express our protest against the Turkish
government,” Hrant Margarian, representative of ARF Dashnaktsutiun
Bureau, declared on April 24, at the Tsitsernakaberd memorial complex
of the Armenian Genocide victims. “The stronger Armenia becomes and
the more organized it is the more we will approach the recognition
of the Armenian Genocide by Turkey,” Hrant Margarian said meanwhile
emphasizing that “our goal should not be only the recognition of the
Armenian Genocide by Turkey, but we should protect our rights”. “The
Genocide violated the Armenian people’s right of life, existence,
development and by recognizing the Genocide we will restore these
rights,” ARF Dashnaktsutiun Bureau representative declared. In response
to the question, whether Turkey will be admitted into the European
Union without recognizing the Armenian Genocide, H.Margarian said:
“If Turkey has decided to join the European Union, it should be able to
confess its faults and by doing so to achieve the right to join EU. In
order to make part of EU, Turkey first of all should be europeanized”.

SCHOLAR DETAILS ARMENIAN GENOCIDE HORROR
By Mark Melady Telegram & Gazette Staff
[email protected]
Worcester Telegram , MA
April 24 2006
There were official protests but nothing was done to help.
Simon Payaslian, CHAIR OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE STUDIES AT CLARK UNIVERSITY
WORCESTER- The first genocide of the 20th century wiped out half of
the world’s Armenians and drew a response from the West that would
become the sorry standard for the horrors to come in the death camps
of Europe, the killing fields of Cambodia and throughout Rwanda.
“The major powers responded to the human catastrophe of the Armenians
by trying to ignore it as much as possible,” Simon Payaslian, chair
of Armenian Genocide Studies at Clark University, said on the eve
of today’s 91st anniversary of the Armenian genocide. “There were
official protests but nothing was done to help.”
On April 24, 1915, several hundred Armenian intellectuals, political
leaders and businessmen were rounded up in Constantinople (Istanbul),
arrested and eventually killed. The date marks the beginning of a
genocide that eventually killed 1.5 million Armenians, but Mr.
Payaslian traces the roots of the genocide to Muslim massacres of
Christian Armenians in the 1890s that took as many as 200,000 lives.
“At Friday prayers in the mosque, Muslims were encouraged to attack
Armenians,” Mr. Payaslian said. “After prayers let out, a bugle would
sound from the minarets for the attack to begin, and then a bugle
would sound for the attack to end.”
Soon after the onset of World War I in the fall of 1914, Armenians by
the thousands were ordered out of their homes and force-marched to the
Russian border to help provide for the Turkish military. “They were
told once the war is over you will come back,” Mr. Payaslian said,
“but once forced out of your house, there is no returning.”
For the next two years, hundreds of thousands of Armenians would be
uprooted from their homes and sent into the Syrian desert. It was a
centrally planned and tightly orchestrated ethnic cleansing, Mr.
Payaslian said.
“First, all the Armenian community leaders would be arrested,”
he said. “In the name of military conscription, men from age 16 to
40-45 would be taken away. Then came an announcement that in 15 days
all Armenians would be removed. They could sell whatever they could
sell and take whatever they could carry. With only women, children
and the elderly left, it was very easy for officials to begin the
forced deportations.”
Along the way, the refugees were robbed, beaten and murdered. Some
went insane. Many died of starvation or exhaustion. About 200,000
survived the march, Mr. Payaslian said, and set up refugee camps
near cities such as Beirut, Damascus and Aleppo in Northern Syria,
where Mr. Payaslian’s grandparents landed.
In 1915, the U.S. ambassador to Turkey, Henry Morgenthau Sr., said,
“The great massacres and persecutions of the past seem almost
insignificant when compared to the sufferings of the Armenian race
in 1915.” American consuls in Turkey repeatedly used terms such as
“extinction” and “destruction of the race” in their cables back home,
Mr. Payaslian said, to no avail.
The U.S. government still does not officially recognize the genocide
and Mr. Payaslian doubts it ever will, out of deference to Turkey’s
strategic importance to American interests in the Middle East.
Turkey has steadfastly denied genocide ever took place, blaming
Armenian deaths on the Russians and the war, despite pressure from
European countries that will determine Turkey’s admission to the
European Union.
Mr. Payaslian believes Europe and America could have stopped the
Armenian genocide with military force. “Ultimately, it was not in
the geo-political interests of the U.S. or Europe to do so.” By the
end of World War I, the importance of oil was well established. Mr.
Payaslian said a rear admiral assigned to the region reported back
to Washington that America should not jeopardize its access to Middle
East oil sources for abstract humanitarian principles.
“Especially in the case of the Armenians,” Mr. Payaslian said. “Most
of them were already dead.”

JOINT GATHERING OF THE AZERBAIJAN AND TURKISH YOUTH
AzerTag, Azerbaijan
April 24 2006
On April 24, in the Artaturk Center in Baku took place the meeting
joint assembly of the youth organizations of the Yeni Azerbaijan Party
and the Justice and Development Party of Turkey. Prior the beginning
of action, the delegation of the brotherly country has met the head
of the Center, MP Nizami Jafarov.
Chairman of the Youth Organization of the Justice and Development
Party Hakan Tutunchu, chairman of the Youth Organization of YAP Ramil
Hasanov, chairman of the World Public Association of Young Turkic
Writers Akber Goshali, chairman of Public Association of Graduates of
Turkish Universities Chingiz Bayramov and others spoke of strengthening
of the Turkish-Azerbaijan friendly ties basing on historical, ethnic
and religious roots, around of the genius personality Ataturk and
Heydar Aliyev.
It has been noted, that Armenian chauvinist circles, trying by all
means to prevent development of both countries, growth of their
authority on the world and region, with the purpose of concealment
of the evil deeds accomplished in the beginning of the past century
by dashnaks in East Anatolia and Azerbaijan, have put forward the
claims connected with invented “genocide of Armenians”. Unfortunately,
parliaments of some countries support these conjectures of Armenians.
As a sign of the protest against it, on behalf of participants
of gathering, it was adopted an Appeal and decided to sent it to
international organizations.
** The same day, delegation of the youth organization of Turkey
met with the Deputy Chairman of YAP, Executive Secretary of Party
Ali Ahmadov.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ACTIVITY DEDICATED TO ARMENIAN GENOCIDE VICTIMS IN OTTOMAN EMPIRE IN 1915 HELD IN SWEDEN
ARKA News Agency, Armenia
April 24 2006
YEREVAN, April 24. /ARKA/. An activity dedicated to the Armenian
genocide victims in Ottoman Empire in 1915 was held in Upsala,
Sweden. The coordination center of Armenian unions of Sweden reported
that hundreds of Armenians, Swedes, representatives of political
entities and NGOs kept a moment of silence in the memory of the
Armenian genocide victims.
During the activity the professor of the university of Lund, the
author of the books “From Ararat to Nagorno-Karabakh” and “History
of the Genocide” Claus-Joran Karlsson held a lecture. In his turn,
the MP Ulla Hoffman pointed out the necessity for Sweden and other
European countries to support Armenia.
She denounced the Turkish policy of denying the genocide. “Without
Turkey’s recognizing the genocide and reconsidering her past,
development of real Armenian-Turkish relations and reconciliation
cannot be attained,” she said.
The representative of the green party, the member of Upsala’s town
council and candidate to Riksdag Helena Liedner pointed out that the
Swedish society should know about the Armenian genocide as much as
it knows about the Jews’ holocaust.
This activity was organized on the initiative of the Coordination
center of Armenian Unions of Sweden and the Armenian Cultural Union
of Upsala with the support of church councils, “Hayastan” All-Armenian
Foundation and the country’s NGOs.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

TURKEY: ARMENIANS RECALL ANNIVERSARY OF ‘GENOCIDE’
AKI, Italy
April 24 2006
Istanbul, 24 April (AKI) – Armenians worldwide Monday commemorated the
anniversary of the alleged genocide of more than 1,3 million Armenians
in 1915-1921 with the biggest demonstrations in New York, Brussels
and Paris. Turkey, which is seeking to join the European Union, is
under growing pressure to recognise its role in the slaughter. Ankara
firmly maintains the deaths of Armenians during the collapse of the
Ottoman empire were not part of a genocidal campaign, arguing that
many ethnic Turks were also killed in that period.
The Istanbul chief of Human Rights Association, Eren Keskin on Monday
said that 24 April symbolises the Armenian genocide and the state
should face with this fact.
“Denying the word ‘genocide’ is also denying the huge pain that
Armenians lived. Denying the genocide is a violation of human rights.
Denying the genocide is also preventing the mourning of Armenians”
she said in a press released on Monday.
The official view that the 1915-21 mass killings of Christian Armenians
under Muslim Ottoman rule never took place
Nearly 5,000 people marched after the service in St. Sarkisian
Church in Tehran. Under heavy security, the protestors chanted
‘Accept the genocide.’
In December 2005, French foreign minister Michel Barnier announced
that Turkey would be expected to recognize the event during EU
accession negotiations.
Best-selling Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk was prosecuted last year for
“insulting Turkish identity” by referring to the Armenian genocide in
a Swiss newspaper interview. Charges were dropped in February after
considerable international protest.
Small Armenian groups protested in front of the Turkish Embassy in
both Jerusalem and Tbilisi, Georgia.
Photo: Armenian protestors in Tehran insisting that the genocide of
1915-21 is recognised by Turkey.
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From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress