Author: Emil Lazarian

39th PARLIAMENT, 1st SESSION
EDITED HANSARD – NUMBER 008
CONTENTS
Monday, April 24, 2006
STATEMENTS BY MEMBERS
[Statements by Members]
*   *   *
Armenia
Mr. Gary Goodyear (Cambridge, CPC): Mr. Speaker, on this day we commemorate
a dark chapter in history. The genocide of 1915 took the lives of an
estimated 1.5 million Armenians.
    Canada’s legislature, from a Senate resolution passed on June 13, 2002
to the adoption of a motion in this House on April 21, 2004, has finalized a
complete acknowledgement recognizing the Armenian genocide.
    Canada greatly values the contributions that Armenians make to our
national life. On this solemn day of remembrance, together, our nations look
with hope and determination toward a future of peace and prosperity for all
and freedom from ignorance.
    I commend the Prime Minister for his courage and leadership in doing the
right thing yet again and I join the Armenian communities in and around
Cambridge, across this great nation and all corners of the globe, in the
observance of this, the 91st anniversary of the Armenian genocide.
*   *   *
The Armenian people
    Ms. Raymonde Folco (Laval – Les Îles, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, on April 7, the
House addressed the subject of the Rwandan genocide of 1994.
[English]
    Today, we commemorate the 91st anniversary of the Armenian genocide
which the House condemned as a crime against humanity in April 2004. On
April 25, tomorrow, we will remember the 6 million Jews deliberately
murdered by Nazis during the second world war.
[Translation]
    Without hesitation, we have labeled these massacres as genocides
because, for racial, ethnic, religious or political reasons, certain
countries have sought to annihilate these populations in violation of their
right to life.
    Canadians have lost family members in these genocides.
[English]
    It is our responsibility to commemorate the memory of these victims as
we reflect on the senselessness of these sadistic atrocities. Canada must
serve as an example to the world that all peoples, regardless of their
colour, ethnicity or religion can live with dignity and respect.
    Finally, I would like to welcome to Ottawa Canadians of Armenian origin
from my riding of Laval – Les Îles.
*   *   *
[Translation]
The Armenian people
    Ms. Nicole Demers (Laval, BQ): Mr. Speaker,
    [Member spoke in Armenian as follows:]
    Parts rashnon serpazan hayr sirelli hay kebektsiner.
    [Translation]
    Today, April 24, we commemorate the 1915 Armenian genocide that claimed
1.5 million victims. The first genocide of the 20th century wiped out more
than half of the Armenian population.
    Two years ago, the House passed the Bloc Québécois’ Motion M-380
recognizing the genocide.
    The Conservative government must do its utmost to ensure that
recognizing these barbaric acts means more than just passing a motion. We
should adopt an act of formal acknowledgement out of respect for families
who lost relatives under horrible conditions and to show that we will never
again accept genocide.
    There are 18,860 Quebeckers of Armenian origin, 5,880 of whom live in
Laval. I am speaking on their behalf today to express the hope that nobody
will ever have to experience such a tragedy again.
    [Member spoke in Armenian as follows:]
    Guetse high jogovourthe.
*   *   *
ORAL QUESTIONS
[Oral Questions]
Foreign Affairs
    Hon. Jim Karygiannis (Scarborough – Agincourt, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, on
April 21, 2004, I was deeply gratified as the Parliament of Canada voted to
recognize the Armenian genocide. Today there continues to be human rights
violations against the Kurds and the Cypriots in that part of the world.
    When will the Prime Minister have the strength of his convictions and
have his foreign minister officially recognize the Armenian and Pontian
genocides committed by the Ottoman Empire?
    Hon. Peter MacKay (Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of the
Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, CPC): Mr. Speaker, the member opposite
will note that the Prime Minister did acknowledge the terrible suffering and
loss of life that occurred over 92 years ago with the Armenian people. In
fact, he noted in his question as well that there were not only one but two
motions passed in the Parliament of Canada in recent years and this
government, as we did in opposition, supported those motions then as we do
today.
*   *   *
[English
Armenia
    The Speaker: Following discussions among representatives of all parties
in the House, I understand there is an agreement to commemorate the Armenian
genocide.
[Translation]
    I call on the hon. members to rise to observe a moment of silence.
    [A moment of silence observed]
*   *   *
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

From: Hagop Katcherian
Subject: ANC Sweden: Two Swedish MPs Honor the Victims of The Genocide
PRESS RELEASE
ANC Scandinavia
Hagop Khatcherian
Tel: +46707461495
[email protected]
Two Swedish MPs Honor the Victims of the Armenian Genocide.
The Armenian community in Sweden On the occasion of 91st anniversary of the
Armenian Genocide held several commemoration meetings in different cities in
Sweden. IN Uppsala, on the 24th of April a meeting carried by several
Armenian organizations including , Raffi Cultural Association, Armenian
Relief Society, Homenetmen-Sweden and the Armenian Church , was attended by
several Swedish guest including MP from the Swedish Riksdag. Mr Michael
Oscarson, MP Christian Democrat also participated in the commemoration of
the genocide and held a speech where he said that Ninety-one years ago the
Armenian people experienced terrible suffering and loss of life.
Unfortunately people are not aware of it. We need to work together such that
this very important humanitarian tragedy is captured by the public. Together
with my colleagues I will raise the question of Armenian genocide in the
Riksdag. I will address the Foreign Minister and demand an explanation on
what the Swedish government is doing concerning the denial by Turkey. My
party and I supported those resolutions, and continue to recognize them
today. Last year I was on an official visit to Turkey and every time I met
my colleagues in the Turkish Parliament I took up the Armenian Genocide, but
I was shocked to be met by a wall of silence, and I was even more shocked
when one of them in the end replied, ³we , the Turks are the victims, we
were the ones who were submitted to genocide. In his turn the Swedish MP Mr
Rezene Tesfazion, on behalf of his party the Social Democrats, made a
statement and said that we must never forget the lessons of history I join
with you today in remembering the past I encourage you to continue honoring
your forefathers. H e concluded, this is our duty as human beings .Together
with my colleague Miss TONE Tingsgaard I will try to arise the issue in the
Riksdag. In his statement Mr. Tesfazion honoured not only the memories of
the victims of the Armenian Genocide but extended his sincere greetings to
all of those marking this tragic anniversary . In 2000 the Swedish Riksdag
adopted a motion acknowledging the Armenian genocide .The motion was adopted
on the March 29, 2000 which reads: “An official statement and recognition of
the Genocide of the Armenians is important and necessary. In 1985 the UN and
the European Parliament established the fact that the Ottoman Empire had
committed genocide against the Armenian people in the beginning of the 20th
century. The Standing Committee [on Foreign Affairs] is of the opinion that
the greater openness Turkey demonstrates, the stronger Turkey’s democratic
identity will be. It is therefore important that unbiased independent and
international research on the genocide committed against the Armenian people
be carried out. It is of great importance that an increasing openness and
historical understanding of the events of 1915 and thereafter be developed.
An improvement in this respect would also be of importance for the stability
and the development in the whole Caucasus region.” (Unofficial translation)
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

TURKISH ORGANIZATIONS IN NEW YORK DEMAND AN END TO ACCUSATIONS AGAINST TURKISH PEOPLE OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
Yerevan, April 24. ArmInfo. Federation of Turkish Organizations
of the USA as well as “Young Turks” organization rallied in New
York yesterday against the action organized by the local Armenian
community on the occasion of the 91st anniversary of Armenian Genocide
in Ottoman Turkey.
Hurriyet reports about 500 Turks and Azerbaijanis as participating in
the rally. They were demanding an end to the accusations of Armenian
Genocide and carrying flags of Turkey and Azerbaijan.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

CATHOLICOS OF ALL ARMENIANS VISITS ARMENIAN GENOCIDE MEMORIAL
Yerevan, April 24. ArmInfo. Catholicos of All Armenians Garegin II
visited the Armenian Genocide Memorial Titsernakaberd today, reports
the press service of the Holy See of Echmiadzin.
Together with Armenian President Robert Kocharyan His Holiness laid
flowers to the Memorial and gave a liturgy in the memory of the
Genocide victims.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

RUSSIAN TEEN DETAINED FOR RACE MURDER
TVNZ, New Zealand
April 24, 2006
Police have arrested a schoolboy for the murder of a young Armenian in
what was widely seen as a racist killing, prosecutors said on Monday.
Witnesses to the Saturday murder said Vagan Abramyants, a 17-year-old,
was part of a group on its way to an Easter service when young men
with black jackets, boots and shaved heads jumped off a metro train
and attacked them.
The attackers, described by Russian media as skinheads, fled the scene,
leaving Abramyants dead with a knife wound to the chest.
“A young man who was born in 1989 has been detained, and has
already confessed,” a spokesman for the prosecutors told Russian
news agencies. Interfax said the arrested teenager was studying at
a Moscow school.
Racist assaults have become common in Russia, where young men are
increasingly prone to neo-fascist beliefs despite the country being
proud of its role defeating Nazi Germany.
African and Asian students are frequently targeted, along with
darker-skinned immigrants from Russia’s former colonies in the South
Caucasus and Central Asia.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

U.S. MUST DEMAND TURKEY ADMIT ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
Vahe Tazian
Detroit News, MI
April 24, 2006
A rmenians worldwide today will commemorate the 91st anniversary of
the Armenian genocide. This year’s remembrance of the massacre of
more than 1 million Armenians by the Young Turk government of the
Ottoman Empire carries particular significance.
With Turkey’s desire for European Union membership looming,
international pressure has never been stronger on Turkey to address
its own history. And Ankara’s political elites have never been so
steadfast in furthering the myths used to explain the crime.
There is no better opportunity than now to hold Turkey accountable
for the crimes of its culture’s past. In December 2005, the ghost of
the 1915 Armenian genocide appeared on the European Union scene when
French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier announced that Turkey would
be expected to recognize the event during EU accession negotiations.
“This is an issue that we will raise during the negotiation process,”
he said. “We will have about 10 years to do so and the Turks will
have about 10 years to ponder their answer.”
Perhaps Turkey already has its answer: Blame the victim and employ
tactics to confuse and divert attention from the truth.
Turkey has accused Armenians of rebelling during the war, helping
the Russians and killing Turks. But no credible evidence supports
this contention, and historians, academics and survivors agree what
happened to the Armenians in 1915 amounts to genocide.
Recently, Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer said the accusations
of genocide are baseless and “upset and hurt the feelings of the
Turkish nation,” adding, “It is wrong for our European friends to
press Turkey on this issue.”
Efforts to silence those who speak of the atrocity indicate Turkey’s
denial campaign. The 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.
“One million Armenians and 30,000 Kurds were killed in these lands
and nobody but me dares talk about it,” Pamuk said.
The charges against Pamuk — for a crime punishable by up to three
years in prison — were dropped in February after considerable
international protest.
Any event relating to the genocide — film, conference, memorial,
publication — is fought by Turkish embassies, including, in some
instances, by mobilizing Turkish immigrant communities.
Such determined efforts by the Turkish government are partly the
reason why the Armenian genocide is barely known and has not been
formally recognized by so many countries, including the United States.
For too long, the United States has caved to politics, failing to
pressure Turkey for fear of upsetting an ally. Yet, its National
Archives are filled with thousands of pages documenting the
premeditated extermination of Armenians.
Thirty-six states, including California, New York and Michigan,
have formally recognized the genocide and more than 170 members of
Congress are co-sponsors of the Armenian Genocide Resolution.
Continuing to ignore the occurrence of this human tragedy is
acquiescing in Turkey’s denial. U.S. lawmakers and the international
community should join members of the European Union, demanding Turkey
finally recognize the murder of the Armenians as genocide.
The silence that has greeted calls for Armenian Genocide remembrance
must be replaced with a global outcry, as was echoed by Henry
Morgenthau, U.S. ambassador to Turkey during the genocide.
“My failure to stop the destruction of the Armenians made Turkey for
me a place of horror,” he said, “and I found intolerable my further
daily association with men who … were still reeking with the blood
of nearly a million human beings.”
Vahe Tazian is a lawyer who resides in Beverly Hills. Fax letters to
(313) 222-6417 and send e-mail to [email protected].
photo: The Armenian community in France and elsewhere held masses,
marches and memorials last year to mark the 90th anniversary of the
Armenian genocide in Turkey during the Ottoman Empire.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

CONSULTATIONS WITH AZERI, ARMENIAN FMS IN MOSCOW WERE SUBSTANTIAL – US AMB AT OSCE MG
Author: E.Huseynov
TREND Information, Azerbaijan
April 24, 2006
The consultations held with the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign
ministers in Moscow were very substantial, Russian Ambassador Yuriy
Merzlyakov, the OSCE Minsk Group told Trend. He was commenting on a
meeting held last week between the Foreign Ministers of Armenian and
Azerbaijan, Vardan Oskanian and Elmar Mammadyarov within the framework
of the CIS Council of Foreign Ministers.
“We mulled the details of further discussions (under the negotiation
process – Trend). So, the next round of talks will start shortly,”
Merzlyakov announced, hinting at the next round of talks on the level
of the Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers.
According to Merzlyakov, the meeting is to be held in May, while the
term and place of talks are still to be defined. Upon the completion of
the meeting of the ministers the diplomats will mull the opportunities
for organization of a dialogue of the Presidents.
Merzlyakov noted that in the beginning of May the OSCE Minsk Group
co-chairs will set up consultations in Moscow, and after tour the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict region.

ARMENIAN ARMED FORCES VIOLATE CEASE-FIRE IN GAZAKH FRONT
Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
April 24, 2006
Armenian side keeps on breaking the cease-fire. Azerbaijan’s Defense
Ministry informed APA that the companies of the Armenian armed forces
from their positions in 0.8 km south of Mazam village of Azerbaijan’s
region of Gazakh fired on the opposite positions of the Azerbaijani
armed forces from 20.25 till 20.30 on 23 April.
The enemy forces from their positions in Vozkevan and Shavarshavan
villages of Noyemberyan region, Armenia, again fired on the opposite
positions of Azerbaijani forces and Gushchu Ayrim village from 22.30
till 22.45. Armenian forces from their positions located in the
north-east of Aznakar mountain, Noyemberyan, fired on the positions
of the Azerbaijani forces in Gushchu Ayrim, Gazakh, with submachine
and machine guns from 23.35 till 23.45.
The enemy was silenced by response fire. No casualties were
reported.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIAN GENOCIDE DEBATE CONTINUES
By: Matthew Watkins
Texas A&M The Battalion, TX
April 24, 2006
Adan Peña, Robert Saucedo, Wade Barker – THE BATTALION. Susan Gordone
discusses photos of her relatives who experienced the Armenian genocide
that started in 1915.
Very few would doubt that Armenian-American Susan Gordone’s family
has suffered. However, what to call the cause of their suffering is
a ninety year-old debate.
In 1913, Gordone’s grandmother, Rose, was asked by her pregnant
mother to help deliver her younger sister. At the time, her whole
family lived in Turkey.
“Rose was eight years old. The baby, with its afterbirth, slipped
through her hands and died. Three days later, her mother died,” said
Gordone, who lives in College Station and is a former worker for the
Texas A&M theater arts and English departments. “A week later when
her father returned, he told the remaining members of the family that
they must leave immediately, pack into a wagon or be killed.”
Seven years after the death of her mother and sister, Rose traveled
to America to escape the danger in her home country.
“But in those seven years, she, along with my Uncle John and Aunt
Tervanda, would persevere in the death caravans, watching other family
members die along the way before arriving in Ellis Island in 1920,”
Gordone said.
On Monday, Gordone, along with the Armenian community, will observe
the 91st anniversary of the Armenian genocide, which some estimates
indicate took the lives of as many as 1.5 million Armenians. However,
others, including the Turkish Government, contend that the Armenian
genocide never happened.
The events of the Armenian genocide occurred when the Young Turks, who
had power over Turkey at the time, relocated or deported the country’s
Armenian population during World War I. Most of the Armenians were
relocated on foot causing many to die of exhaustion or starvation. Most
Armenians and many scholars contend that the deaths were genocide.
The Turkish government acknowledges the deaths of hundreds of thousands
of Armenians between 1915 and 1917, but says the deaths were the
result of a civil war and starvation that affected all members of
the Turkish population.
The debate about the events has become so heated that it has sometimes
prevented Armenians and Turks from becoming friends at A&M, said Yaman
Evrenoglu, a Turkish graduate student in electrical engineering. He
said he remembers at least five times when a personal friendship
between an Armenian and Turk was halted when the pair’s nationality
was revealed.
The most recent shake up in the controversy was an hour-long
documentary, “The Armenian Genocide,” which aired on PBS and told
the story of the genocide. The film featured many scholars, some
of whom were Turkish, telling the story of death marches in which
Armenians were pushed off cliffs, drowned, starved and exhausted. A
25-minute panel discussion about the Turkish involvement in these
deaths followed the documentary.
“(The documentary) provides a blatantly one-sided perspective of a
tragic and unresolved period of world history,” Turkish ambassador
to the United States Nabi ?ensoy said in a statement after the
documentary’s airing. “Its premise is rejected not only by my
government, but also by many eminent scholars who have studied the
period in question.”
Armenians and the myriad of scholars who contend that the genocide
is a historical fact said the panel legitimized a view that hatefully
refused to acknowledge the genocide.
“Turkish denials of the genocide are part of a state-sponsored policy
of propaganda that serves only the interests of Turkey. The historical
truth of the Armenian genocide has been established beyond reasonable
doubt by abundant documentary and eye-witness evidence from thousands
of sources,” Vako Nicolian said in an online petition he authored
and sent the vice president of programming at PBS.
As of Sunday, the petition has gathered 22,195 signees.
Gordone said she had no problem with the airing of the panel
discussion, which featured two scholars on each side of the issue,
because it simply revealed the lack of depth to the Turkish
government’s claims.
“If we are going to pretend that a stateless Christian minority
population, unarmed, is somehow in a capacity to kill people in an
aggressive way that is tantamount to war, or civil war, we’re living
in the realm of the absurd,” said Peter Balakian, a professor at
Colgate University in the debate.
Evrenosoglu said he was more upset about the debate than the
documentary.
“The documentary was much more moderate compared to ones that I
have witnessed,” he said. “It was too biased for us of course, but
at least they presented the Turkish government and the Turkish point
of view. The debate was a complete disaster because the theme of the
debate was not about discussion of the Armenian genocide but why the
Turkish government is rejecting it.”
7/news/2006/04/24/News/Armenian.Genocide.Debate.Co ntinues-1867136.shtml?norewrite200604241732&so urcedomain=
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From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

FAREWELL AMID CRY FOR JUSTICE
Calcutta Telegraph, India
April 24, 2006
A crowd looks on as the hearse with Prashant’s body heads for the
crematorium. A Telegraph picture Siliguri, April 23: The body of
Prashant Anchali, a medical student, arrived here today, three days
after his mysterious death in Armenia.
Two senior students – including one from Siliguri – of Yerevan State
University accompanied the body on its last journey. The body had
been embalmed and dressed in a spotless black suit.
Prashant died on April 20 after a fall from the sixth floor of a
building at the university. Indian embassy officials in Armenia had
said the third-year student had committed suicide.
Prashant’s family is, however, not ready to accept this. They suspect
he was murdered.
A crowd had gathered at the Anchali home soon after the coffin arrived
at 12.15 pm. An hour or so later, it was taken for cremation.
“When everything was over, the truth finally sank in and I realised
with a heavy heart that my younger brother was no more,” said a
grieving Pankaj, Prashant’s elder brother, in the evening. Family
members said a post-mortem had been conducted in Armenia. But the
report is yet to come.
The Anchalis have already written to the President, the Prime Minister
and the Lok Sabha Speaker to help them find out what exactly had
happened in Armenia.
Pankaj said the family has decided to request the university through
the embassy to investigate into the matter. “We have also planned to
go to the human rights commission for justice,” he said.
Puja Goyel, one of the two students and a resident of Siliguri, who
had accompanied the body, told The Telegraph that though she was in
class when the incident occurred, she firmly believed that Prashant
had not committed suicide. “He wasn’t that kind of person. I spoke
to him the previous evening and he was quite normal. Most probably,
it was an accident. However, the Armenian police have started an
investigation and the truth would hopefully come to light soon.”
According to Puja, except for the dean of the university, Anna
Sargsayn, all others including the non-Indian students, were very
cooperative. “The students lodged a complaint against the dean and
she has been suspended,” the fourth-year student said.
Abhishek of Patna, the other student who had accompanied the body
from Armenia, said: “Prashant was a nice and kind-hearted fellow and
also a brilliant chap. He was quite popular among the students and
also liked by the teachers. The vice-president of Armenia was present
during his farewell from the university,” he added.
Abhishek too was not ready to accept that Prashant had committed
suicide.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress