Author: Emil Lazarian

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.
.php?cat=Politics&loid=8.0.290459974&par=0
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

WHO IS AT THE TURN OF INTERESTS? US, RUSSIA AND NEW REALITY ON THE BORDER WITH IRAN
Regnum, Russia
April 24 2006
An unprecedented stir is up over Nagorno Karabakh. It seems that the
Armenian-Azeri presidential meeting in Rambouillet, on February 10-11,
has broken the very logic and the very format of the peace talks,
the OSCE Minsk Group has been mediating for as many as 15 years so far.
The remarkable meeting of Robert Kocharyan and Ilham Aliyev in France,
when the sides – as the Armenian President said – failed to agree
on “one key issue,” was followed by a meeting of the mediators in
Washington on March 9 – a rendezvous that gave the process quite an
sudden turn. For some unknown reasons, the OSCE MG co-chairs began
acting autonomously, and the Russian co-chair Yuri Merzlyakov –
the most passively of all. US Assistant Secretary of State for
Europe and Eurasia Daniel Fried visits the region on March 13-16 and
March 20 the co-chairs meet in Istanbul without Merzlyakov. Then,
the Armenian and Azeri FMs are invited to Washington, and Fried’s
deputy Matthew Bryza visits Yerevan and Baku. In the meantime, the
Armenian FM goes to Moscow, while the US and French co-chairs come
to Yerevan and Baku. Then comes the climax: the visit of the Iranian
DM to Baku, the consultation of the regional (Turkey, Azerbaijan,
Georgia) ambassadors of Russia and the Russian Deputy FM in Yerevan
(Moscow makes a kind of diplomatic gesture by holding such a meeting in
Yerevan), and the preparations for Ilham Aliyev’s visit to Washington.
This chronology will help us to see what may happen in the Karabakh
peace process in connection with the growing activity of the US and
the prospects of the key regional factor – the Iranian nuclear problem.
Much has been said and written about Washington’s plans and
specific efforts to involve Iran’s neighbor Azerbaijan in its future
anti-Iranian coalition and to use that country’s territory as a base
for its relevant actions. The US has been and is making these efforts
with persistence it would better apply for better purposes. For the
first time, US sources said that the final agreement on the matter
was reached during the “noiseless” visit of US Secretary of Defense
Donald Rumsfeld to Baku on April 12, 2005. They obviously hurried with
the news as Baku was stalwartly resisting. Baku’s motives are clear
and come from its full insight into Washington’s plan to put Tehran
down. With all mercantile interests put aside, the Bush administration
just wants Baku to be an accomplice in its in-depth destabilization
of the whole Black Sea-Caspian Sea region. Whatever its outcome,
this operation will be hardly pleasant for the South Caucasus –
and hardly short – considering the US’ endless campaign in Iraq.
But this is obviously the least concern for Washington, who is already
so keen on its Great Game that it no longer sees states and nations
around. Even more, since recently – more precisely, after the scandals
over the tortures in Abu Ghraib, CIA jails in some “democratized”
countries and phone tapping in the US – the Bush administration began
acting bluntly. They are no longer bothering with the fading-out
democracy flag – now their stakes are on the power of arms and bucks.
The interweaving aspects of the Karabakh and Iranian problems give
experts a certain foreboding: the almost simultaneous escalation of
diplomatic activity over the problems, the magic-like up-and-downs
in Azeri-Iranian relations, Tehran’s changeability towards Yerevan
and Baku, the unambiguous statements of the Iranian DM in Baku (he
expressed hope in Baku on April 20 that in Washington Azeri President
Ilham Aliyev will explain to the Americans that they should think
over their attitude towards Iran and said that Iran is ready to
help Azerbaijan to settle the Karabakh conflict) – all this looks
like somebody is trying to mix these two problems and to serve this
fire-damp mixture on one plate to the Azeri leadership.
If so, we should also think about what trumps the US may have promised
to Azerbaijan in exchange for its “anti-Iranian loyalty.” In fact,
there might be several promises: not to interfere in the internal
political affairs of that country, to help to return the territories
controlled by the Armenians and, later, to solve the Karabakh problem
itself – and also, probably, to become the security guarantor and
the stable buyer of the Azeri oil and to do everything possible for
the international markets not to notice the catastrophic shortage
of that oil. i.e. to do its best to involve Kazakhstan in the oil-
and gas-transit projects of Azerbaijan and Turkey. Quite a lot, as
we see. We can’t be sure, but the US may offer another attraction
for Azerbaijan’s national consciousness – the factor of Southern
Azerbaijan and the possibility of territorial enlargement at the
expense of Iran. This may seem a utopia, at the first glance, but
who could imagine some ten years ago that there would be a de facto
Kurdish state in the north of Iraq? But how to act in case of failure
– how to solve the ensuing conflict with Iran? Here Azerbaijan has
little choice.
Let’s note that though bigger than Armenia’s, Azerbaijan’s military,
diplomatic and human resources are still not enough for it to solve
the Karabakh problem independently from the general geo-politics.
Today, it’s, in fact, all the same for the Azeri authorities how the
problem will be solved. What they actually care for is the internal
political stability, and the Karabakh problem is the key threat to it.
Meanwhile, it was the father of the present Azeri president, Haydar
Aliyev, who first said that “Karabakh is lost for us.” On July 22,
2002, while receiving the founders of the Baku Press-Club in his
palace, Aliyev made a number of avowals. The full text of Aliyev’s
interview was published by Zerkalo daily on July 23, 2002. In
particular, Aliyev said that as the first secretary of the Central
Committee of the Communist Party of the USSR “he did much to help
Nagorno Karabakh to develop, but, at the same time, he tried to change
the local demography.” “Nagorno Karabakh asked for an institute. I
decided to open one, but on condition that it would have three sectors
– Azeri, Russian and Armenia. We opened the institute and began sending
Azeris from nearby districts there rather than to Baku. We also opened
a big shoe factory. Stepanakert had no sufficient labor force, so we
began sending there Azeris from places around the region. By doing this
I tried to increase the number of Azeris and to reduce the number of
Armenians,” Aliyev said. He also noted that “when I left Azerbaijan,
the situation there got worse – Armenia’s influence grew bigger, and
our authorities did nothing and missed the moment.” “When in Feb 1991
I was elected deputy from Naxcivan and came to Baku and said in the
parliament that Nagorno Karabakh was already lost,” Haydar Aliyev said.
Returning to our topic, let’s try to describe the consequences the
war in Iran may have for Armenia.
The armed crisis in Iran, the preventive strikes on or the military
invasion of the US and the “accomplice-countries” in that country and
the possible consequences this may have for Armenia are a question that
can knock out any Armenian politician. They in Armenia have no answer
to this question – they just well realize how serious this threat
is. The possibility of a US-Azeri or any other conspiracy over the
Karabakh-Iranian problem as a whole is an even bigger trap for the
Armenians. We can hardly imagine them to rule out this possibility
at all. The region is too small, and there is just one step from
Iran (and, most importantly, from its regions where the ethnic Azeri
majority is several times bigger than the whole population of Armenia)
to Karabakh.
Yes, it’s not calm in Armenia, and not only because of the
daily shuttle visits of US politicians and diplomats. In fact,
any destabilization will reveal the real balance of forces in the
region and will blow up the whole foreign political doctrine of
Armenia. The country will have to instantly choose which camp to
join. The situation is going beyond short-term predictability, which
means the end of the epoch of complimentarity – a wait-and-see policy,
a policy of balance between the interests of macro-players.
Yerevan seems to have already taken the first steps in this
direction… not without Moscow. In the chronology we give in the
preamble shows that after the usual OSCE MG format broke up and the
Russian co-chair went into the shadow, it was only the Armenian FM
that visited Moscow. But this was overshadowed by an unprecedented
meeting of the Russian ambassadors to Georgia, Azerbaijan and
Turkey and Russian Deputy FM Grigory Karasin in Yerevan. Even in
calmer times such a meeting would look intriguing. The N1 topic
before and after the military exercises in Nagorno Karabakh was
the Armenian-Russian military cooperation. Apr 19 the chief of the
general staff of Armenia’s armed forces Mikayel Haroutyunyan said that
“Armenia and Russia should conduct joint exercises more frequently and
should involve the Karabakh armed forces therein.” In the meantime,
Armenian Defense Serzh Sargsyan said in an interview to Krasnaya
Zvezda newspaper that Armenia would welcome the training of Russian
military students in highland conditions.
Such statements during military exercises in Nagorno Karabakh can’t
but have a serious implication. The region is facing hard times, and
for Armenia things are even harder. The fact is that it’s Azerbaijan
and not Armenia the US is talking with – including about the Karabakh
problem. Even more, the US has already made it clear that it is
concerned over the growing presence of Russia in the South Caucasus.
On April 14, the chairman of the subcommittee on foreign operations
Jim Kolbe said that the US is actually concerned for Russia’s
growing presence in the South Caucasus. And where is Russia present
most of all? Certainly, Kolbe’s hint was at Armenia. But the US’
concern is in no way for Russia’s economic growth in Armenia, and
it’s quite remarkable that the statement was made in Baku. Earlier
the UK special representative Bryan Fall clearly said that there
are states and organizations who would not object to replacing the
Russian military bases in Armenia.
Is a local war in Karabakh possible? It is – as war is still regarded
as one of the possible ways to resolve the dragging conflict. But
who will it benefit? The benefits are many, but they depend on what
the beneficiaries want. Let’s consider some of the possible scenarios:
The US involves Azerbaijan in a local war with Armenia and deploys
its military bases in the Azeri territory to protect its oil-gas
interests and, at the same time, pressures on Iran from the north.
This scenario fits well into the US’ strategic plan of Iran’s
military-political encirclement.
The US persuades Azerbaijan and Armenia into starting a new local
war and actively puts it down to Armenia’s disadvantage, thereby
showing Yerevan the inutility of the Russian presence. This scenario
will allow the Americans to force the Russians further out of the
South Caucasus. Objectively, if Azerbaijan attacks Armenia, Russia
will have to help its strategic partner and CSTO ally. But given
Armenia’s communication blockade and Russia narrow operation scope
(due mostly to the US’ efforts in Georgia), the Russian help may prove
ineffective. This may urge Armenia to change its national security
course towards the Atlantic system.
The mediators in the Karabakh peace process (the US, Russia and France)
and the parties to the conflict agree to start a local war for giving
back to Azerbaijan the territories occupied by the Armenian side,
and, as Armenian FM Vardan Oskanyan put it, “for legalizing the
self-determination of Nagorno Karabakh” – with no internal political
shocks in Armenia and Azerbaijan. Thereby the mediators keep their
promise to resolve the conflict in 2006.
Azerbaijan goes into battle voluntarily, with no coercion, to see
itself and to show to its people the final of the conflict. This is
the least probable scenario – for this adventure will bring Azerbaijan
to nothing but a new long bloodshed with Armenia and new instability
in the region.
The US and Russia are beginning to re-share the region again – Russia
gives OK to the US’ strikes on Iran, the US uses the region as a base,
but agrees not to torpedo Russia’s policy and economic interests in the
South Caucasus. This is also quite possible, especially as Iran has,
in fact, rejected all Russia’s initiatives to solve the nuclear problem
and may in the future become Moscow’s real rival in the region, an
alternative energy policy-maker and a potential nuclear bomb-owner. On
the other hand, Russia needs the US’ non-interference in its relations
with the post-Soviet republics, especially with Ukraine and Georgia.
Conclusion
In fact, there may be a few more scenarios. In any of them a new war
in Karabakh will lead to a new reality in the whole region.
Obviously, the US and Europe have quite different positions on Karabakh
– the US is openly trying to use this factor in its own plans and
projects and to slow down the flow of solutions by the European
mediators. Washington needs the Karabakh conflict at this crucial
historical point. In fact, it wants to use the Karabakh factor in its
plans against Iran by implicating Baku in something that may end in a
catastrophe for the whole region. Experts perfectly see that the US’
key priority is Iran and all the other factors and countries will be
made subservient to it.
Speaking of Russia, we should keep in mind that in the present
historical period its regional policy is based on two platforms –
Iran and Armenia. Russia still is dominant over the balance of forces
in the conflict zone and, knowing this, one can hardly imagine how
the US will come to terms with Azerbaijan. Possibly, in cooperation
with Russia. However, the key question here is in what cooperation?
The MG co-chairs are visiting the region separately, their states
are at variance on Iran and, obviously, on Armenia, too. Can a new
war reconcile them? Or, perhaps, they can still agree by harmonizing
their positions on Armenia? There is, at least, one fact that gives
us such hope – Azerbaijan is getting involved in the anti-Iranian
processes separately from its strategic ally Turkey. Today Ankara is
very busy with the Kurdish problem, which is being actively kindled
by the selfsame US. While Baku is weighing the “pros” and “cons,”
the Turkish army is planning a big campaign in the south-east of its
own country. The headquarters of the Turkish land troops are being
moved closer to the borders with Iraq, Iran and Syria for organizing
the large-scale decisive blow on the Kurdish armed units.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

DENYING GENOCIDE
Daily Free Press , MA
April 24 2006
Before Adolf Hitler invaded Poland, he posed a famous question to
his generals: “Who today remembers the Armenians?”
Only a couple of decades after it occurred, the world had largely
forgotten about the Armenian genocide, a campaign of mass slaughter
carried out by the Turkish government. Hitler believed that the world
would similarly forget about the Jews he intended to exterminate.
Fortunately, the world has not forgotten about the Armenians
entirely. Here in Massachusetts, organizations are joining the state
legislature in marking today’s anniversary of the beginning of the
campaign against the Armenians in 1915.
But efforts to commemorate the atrocities of the past are hampered by
those who insist that they never happened. In this case, apologists
contend that more than a million Armenian deaths were not the result
of genocide, but rather additional casualties of World War I.
There’s pressure on our society to lend credence to these groups who
would deny reality. One high-profile lawsuit against the Massachusetts
Department of Education argues that teachers should be required to
include both sides of this debate in their curricula as a matter of
academic freedom.
In fact, there is no debate. All credible evidence from the academic
community indicates that the Armenian genocide did occur. But when a
few people try to stand up and deny that evidence, we act as if there
is a significant disagreement. A large part of the blame must fall
with the media, which believes it has a responsibility to present both
sides of the issue fairly. In most cases, this is the journalist’s
job. But when one side has such an obvious claim to the truth, the
media has a responsibility to call a spade a spade.
Sadly, this problem is not confined to genocide. Almost every
legitimate scientist acknowledges that global warming is a current
and growing threat, and that it’s the result of greenhouse gases
produced by human activity. But when some individuals — namely,
pseudo-experts funded by corporate interests — claim that the causes
of “climate change” are up for debate, we feel obligated to present
this alternate viewpoint. Similarly, proponents of Intelligent Design
suggest that ID deserves to be taught alongside evolution in science
classes as an “alternate theory.” ID may be valid as a philosophical
or religious belief, but there is absolutely no reason to treat it
as a legitimate alternative to accepted science.
Allowing a tiny minority of people to distort the facts creates the
semblance of debate. As a society, we must not give this minority any
more attention than it deserves. There comes a time when the need
for balance becomes less important than the need for truth. In the
case of the Armenian genocide, that time is now.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

FRENSO: NEVER TO FORGET: AN ARMENIAN HERO IS HONORED, AND THE 1915 GENOCIDE IS COMMEMORATED.
By Vanessa Colon / The Fresno Bee
Fresno Bee, CA
April 24 2006
Dozens of Armenian-Americans gathered Sunday to remember their one
true hero: Soghomon Tehlirian.
Many Valley residents, wearing black, gray or dark blue, stopped by the
Masis Ararat Cemetery, where solemn music played, to honor Tehlirian
and commemorate the 91st anniversary of the Armenian genocide.
Tehlirian became a hero for many Armenians on March 15, 1921, when
he assassinated Talaat Pasha, a Turkish official who played a role
in carrying out the genocide between 1915 and 1923.
During that time period, 1.5million Armenians were slaughtered under
the Ottoman Empire. The modern-day republic of Turkey spun out of
the empire.
The Turkish government doesn’t refer to the massive killings as a
genocide. Turkish officials repeatedly have said that thousands of
Turks as well as Armenians died during World WarI.
“Nearly 91 years ago today our parents and grandparents were
slaughtered. … It was not a civil war,” said Ara Kassabian, board
member of the Armenian Cultural Foundation.
Today, Martyrs Day, is a secular holiday that recalls the start of
the killings of Armenians who were arrested and taken from their
homes in Constantinople before dawn on April 24, 1915.
Many families of Armenian heritage will reflect on their past and
take part in activities remembering their ancestors.
Black and white photos of Armenian families, for instance, were
displayed Sunday around Tehlirian’s monument. The memorial features
a golden eagle gripping a snake with its claws.
A few people sat under a blue tent as they watched a group of Boy and
Girl Scouts carry the American and Armenian flags at the beginning
of the ceremony.
Armen S. Martin, an attorney in Los Angeles, said having Turkey and
the United States recognize the genocide remains a struggle.
A patch signifying the Armenian genocide is worn by Nayiri Moumdjian,
18, of Fresno, a member of the Armenian scouting group Fresno
Homenetmen Sassoon Chapter, Troop 12.
Craig Kohlruss / The Fresno Bee Martin said U.S. Ambassador to Armenia
John Evans got into trouble after using the term genocide and believes
Evans could lose his position because of his remarks.
“As Americans we are outraged by this. As Armenians, we are insulted
by this,” Martin said.
Before the ceremony, a priest conducted a service accompanied with
smoky incense and a chorus.
Some of the visitors walked on the grassy grounds reading the stone
slates a few feet away from the monument. Many of them came to the
ceremony to pay their respects to their ancestors who didn’t escape.
“We don’t want our kids to forget,” said 48-year-old Ana Shahinian,
whose grandparents survived the genocide.
Dirouhi Kupelian said her uncles were beheaded during the massive
killings: “Just my father survived. He was 6 or 7 years old.”
Twenty-three-year-old Raffi Birindjian said the youth will keep the
tragic event alive and never forget: “We owe it to their memory
to do whatever we can in our power to bring recognition of the
Armenian genocide. There’s a lot of people out there who don’t know
it occurred.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress