Author: Emil Lazarian

INTERVIEW-World needs time to accept global criminal court
By Damian Wroclavsky
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina, April 29 (Reuters) – The International
Criminal Court will need two decades to win over reticent nations that
fear politically-motivated trials, the tribunal’s chief prosecutor
said.
Luis Moreno Ocampo, the Argentine lawyer at the ICC prosecution helm,
said he believes the United States and other skeptics will come around
after seeing the court prosecute war criminals without meddling in
countries’ internal affairs.
“If the judges and the prosecutors do their job well, in 20 years
there is going to be consensus. There is already consensus against
genocide but there is no consensus on how to implement the court,”
Moreno Ocampo told Reuters in an exclusive interview at his Buenos
Aires home.
The ICC, whose statutes are ratified by 98 nations, began functioning
in The Hague, Netherlands a year ago. It is the world’s first
permanent criminal court to prosecute individuals for genocide and
crimes against humanity. Everyone, from heads of state down to
average citizens, can be tried.
Moreno Ocampo, 52, was seen as the perfect candidate for the job after
prosecuting Argentina’s “dirty war” generals in 1985, when wounds from
the 1976-1983 dictatorship were still fresh. As many as 30,000 people
were killed or disappeared during one of South America’s most brutal
regimes.
“The trial of the Junta in Argentina was very important because it was
the first trial since Nuremberg of top-level leaders responsible for a
massive crime,” he said.
“One of the teachings of that process was to start with the leaders to
get the whole picture.”
Moreno Ocampo said he will apply the Argentine model to the cases now
before him at The Hague, including war crimes in Sudan’s Darfur
region.
SAYING “NO” TO THE POWERFUL
The lawyer is no stranger to adversity. While trying Argentina’s
strongmen, he lived across the street from an army intelligence base,
making an easy target for those who wanted to stop him.
Now he resists pressure from powerful nations that want to dominate
the ICC.
“The big countries wanted the Court to only begin cases when there was
a referral from the U.N. Security Council, where they have veto power.
The rest of the countries said ‘no’,” he said.
The United States opposes the court vehemently and has sought
exemptions for all its officials and soldiers worldwide. China has
neither signed nor ratified the court’s statues, Russia has signed but
not ratified. But all but one of the 25 European Union nations are
members of the court and provide most of its financing.
Last month, the Security Council asked the ICC to investigate crimes
in Darfur, where at least 180,000 people have died from fighting,
hunger and disease and more than 2 million have been forced out of
their homes by Arab militia.
“This is the Africa decade,” Moreno Ocampo said, referring to attempts
to bring human rights abusers to justice.
He said the ICC could heal war-torn societies by turning conventional
wisdom on its head. In the past, he said people fought for peace first
and said justice would come later.
“The international court introduces a new concept which is to do
everything at the same time. That’s why humanitarian aid and working
for peace are so important,” he said.
04/29/05 19:07 ET
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

COLLECTION OF REPORTS OF CONFERENCE DEDICATED TO ARMENIAN GENOCIDE IN
OTTOMAN TURKEY TO BE PUBLISHED IN ARMENIA
YEREVAN, APRIL 29. ARMINFO. Collected speeches made during both an
International scientific conference and an scientific forum at
Armenian National Academy of Sciences dedicated to the 90th
anniversary of Armenian Genocide in Ottoman Turkey in 1915 will be
published shortly in one of foreign languages.
As ARMINFO was informed in the governmental press-service, the
appropriate works are already being conducted. Besides, 11 books on
facts of Armenian Genocide are being published at present.
To remind, the scientific conference was held in Yerevan on April
20-21. Armenian President Robert Kocharyan, Prime Minister Andranik
Margaryan, Garegin II Catholicos of All Armenians, Defence and Foreign
Ministers Serzh Sargsyan and Vardan Oskanyan, NKR President Arkady
Ghukasyan, UN and EU representatives, about 50 native and
international scientists-experts (from 20 countries) studying Genocide
issue, including from Turkey, as well as members of Armenian and
international public organizations participated there. -r-
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

THERE IS STRONG POSSIBILITY OF ARMENIAN-AZERI PRESIDENTIAL MEETING IN
WARSAW
STRASBOURG, APRIL 29. ARMINFO. The Polish Government has proposed
Armenian and Azeri presidents Robert Kocharyan and Ilham Aliev to meet
in Warsaw for discussing the current state of the Karabakh peace
process, Polish FM Adam Rotfeld says in a talk with ARMINFO
correspondent.
It is for the presidents to choose the venue but while the Moscow
events are rather ceremonial (the WWII Victory festivities are meant),
the Warsaw summit is a CE-sponsored international meeting for
cooperation and consultation. Both presidents will be in Warsaw at the
time so they are most likely choose this very city for their personal
meeting.
Rotfeld says that Poland is ready to help in the matter. “We do not
want to pressure the sides or raise our role in the process. We just
want to help,” says Rotfeld.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

NOT ADMITTING FACT OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE, TURKEY BECAME HOSTAGE OF
SITUATION, ARMENIAN ANALYST THINKS
YEREVAN, APRIL 28. ARMINFO. A direct dialogue between Armenia and
Turkey is necessary. Chairman of Moscow Armenian club “Miabanutyun”
(Unity) Smbat Karakhanian says in his analytic notice provided to
Izvestia.
As Karakhanian mentions, the talks on further development of building
civilized relations between the countries of the region became often
the year of the 90th anniversary of the first genocide in the history
of humanity, perpetrated by Ottoman Turkey against the Armenian
population. According to him, in our days in many political circles
the people call on to start a direct dialogue between Armenia and
Turkey. “The uncertainty of this issue hinders and has negative
influence on many projects in the region, where the interests of
practically all the leading super powers of the world cross”,
Karakhanian said. But any talk within these frames, and for the
participant countries and for interested countries may be fruitful
only then when Turkey admits the fact of Armenian Genocide. The
dialogue will be more effective when the participation of the
representatives of the peoples (Kurds, Greeks, Russians, Assyrians),
who suffered those years.
Noteworthy, non-admission of this historical fact and numerous
political speculations resulted in that today Armenia got into real
blockade. “The ancient temples, monuments of architecture of
pre-Christian and Christian times are destructed in the historical
territories of the Western and Eastern Armenia. Turkey itself, not
admitting this historical fact, became the hostage of the situation
and it has to conduct aggressive policy against the neighbor country”,
said in the analytical notice.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
29. April 2005
Kaiser Wilhelm II. und die Geschehnisse am Bosporus
Zu Ihrer ausführlichen Berichterstattung über die Greuel an den
Armeniern seitens des Osmanischen Reiches im Jahre 1915 (F.A.Z. vom
23. April) erlaube ich mir anzumerken: In Ihren zahlreichen Artikeln
zum Völkermord in Kleinasien im zweiten Kriegsjahr 1915 suggerieren
Sie, die Armeniergreuel seien eine tragische Folgeerscheinung des
Ersten Weltkrieges.
Der osmanische Sultan Abd ül-Hamid II. (gestorben 1918), ein
Bewunderer Wilhelms II., hatte bereits in den frühen 1890er Jahren
mehrere hunderttausend Armenier ermorden lassen. 1909, im Gefolge der
jungtürkischen Revolution, hoben die blutigen Verfolgungen gegen die
christliche Minderheit von neuem an, als Nonkonformisten des neuen
jungtürkischen Regimes die Armenier der “Unterstützung der
Revolution” bezichtigten und etwa 20000 Armenier in Südostkleinasien
mit Zentrum in Adana niedermetzelten. Die politische Führung um den
deutschen Kaiser Wilhelm II., der sich 1898 in seiner berühmten
Damaskusrede zum “Schutzherrn” der Mohammedaner erklärt hatte, als
auch die deutsche Öffentlichkeit waren explizit über die grausamen
Geschehnisse am Bosporus unterrichtet. Berichteten doch die deutschen
Zeitungen, unter anderen die renommierte Gazette “Frankfurter Zeitung
und Handelsblatt”, in ihren Aufmachern in aller Ausführlichkeit von
den Greueltaten der Hohen Pforte. Obwohl vertragspolitisch kein
Bündnis zwischen dem vom Norden vom Zarenreich bedrohten Osmanischen
Reich und Berlin bestand, versuchte die Reichsleitung seit 1912, den
“sterbenden Mann am Bosporus” näher an den Dreibund zu binden.
Wilhelm II. hat aber wohl wissend die unglaublichen Massaker an den
Armeniern militärischen wie politischen Interessen nachgeordnet.
Im Juli 1915 endlich berichtete die deutsche diplomatische Vertretung
in Istanbul nach Berlin, die Zwangsmaßnahmen gegen die Armenier in
Kleinasien machten deutlich, daß die türkische “Regierung tatsächlich
den Zweck verfolgt, die armenische Rasse im türkischen Reiche zu
vernichten”.
Dr. phil. Michael Peters, Erlangen

Turkish Press
April 30 2005
Press Scan
RESPONSE TO KOCHARIAN IS MODERATE
RADIKAL- Turkey sent positive signal to Armenian President Robert
Kocharian who asked to have, first of all, diplomatic relations with
Turkey. Foreign Ministry announced that Kocharian’s letter was
assessed under a positive point of view. This statement showed that
Turkey wouldn’t say ‘definite no’ to the proposal of Yerevan.

Clarin, Argentina
29/04/2005
UN PEQUEÑO ESTADO TECNICAMENTE INEXISTENTE CON UN INGRESO ANUAL PER
CAPITA DE 310 DOLARES
Viaje a Nagorno Karabaj, una tierra olvidada y siempre en estado de
guerra
En 1993 se declaró independiente. Armenia la protege y Azerbaiján la
reclama. Se lo disputaron en una guerra. Hoy rige una tregua. Pero el
peligro persiste.
Marcelo Cantelmi. STEPANAKERT ENVIADO ESPECIAL
[email protected]
Estamos del otro lado del espejo, donde la irrealidad es no sólo
posible sino a veces, necesaria. Nagorno Karabaj es una no-república,
un no-Estado miniatura de 4.800 kilómetros cuadrados y 140.000
habitantes, que se declaró independiente en 1993, pero que,
técnicamente, no existe. Nadie en el mundo lo reconoce, ni siquiera
su protectora Armenia.
Esta acrobacia fascinante de política ficción tiene una razón que la
hace posible. Sirve, por el momento, para mantener vivo un frágil
cese del fuego con la vecina Azerbaiján, declarado en 1994 pero por
cuyo futuro nadie se anima a hacer apuestas.
La clave de ese cese es un enorme oleoducto que petroleras de EE.UU.
y Gran Bretaña construyen para unir el sur azerí con Georgia y un
puerto turco: demasiada inversión para aceptar que continúe una pelea
no terminada. Nagorno Karabaj está a unos 350 kilómetros de Erevan,
la capital de Armenia. Para llegar aquí hay que viajar unas siete
horas por un dificultoso camino internacional, parte de la legendaria
ruta de la seda que hoy conecta el comercio en camiones entre Irán y
el flamante capitalismo armenio.
En una parte del camino se alza un magro puesto policial que es la
aduana del novísimo Estado. Desde allí, una autovía en perfecto
estado lleva hasta la capital, Stepanakert. Esa ruta es una especie
de práctico monumento elevado al esfuerzo de la diáspora armenia que
en un solo día de setiembre pasado reunió 12 millones de dólares para
abastecer de infraestructura y esfuerzo militar a este país
inverosímil también llamado Montañosa República de Karabaj.
La ciudad, que alberga a unas 40.000 personas, como el resto del país
con un ingreso anual de apenas 310 dólares per cápita, es una
auténtica mezcla de culturas. En 1920, la URSS de Joseph Stalin,
dueña por entonces de toda la región, entregó Nagorno Karabaj a la
musulmana Azerbaiján. Los armenios, católicos pero a su vez
obedientes obligados comunistas, aguardaron hasta 1988, cuando el
bloque soviético comenzó a desplomarse, para retomar su demanda por
este histórico territorio. El forcejeo acabó en una guerra abierta en
1992, deto nada por un plebiscito que llevó a la declaración de
independencia de Nagorno un año después.
Desde el inicio de las hostilidades y hasta el cese del fuego, en
1994, murieron más de 20.000 personas y medio millón sufrió heridas o
fue desplazado, de uno y otro lado. La guerra tuvo características
únicas. Como ambos países en conflicto utilizaban similares uniformes
y hasta peleaban con tanques de igual origen, soviético, el gran
problema era, en medio del tiroteo, cómo distinguirse entre buenos y
malos para no matarse equivocadamente. Los armenios decidieron
pintarse cruces en los uniformes y los blindados. No se trató de una
solución ausente de riesgos, pero ayudó a aclarar el juego.
Hoy en Stepanakert se puede ver parte de la arquitectura soviética
junto a tonos de la antigua presencia azerí y los estilos
medianamente modernos de la reconstrucción de posguerra.
Nagorno Karabaj es por muchas de estas razones la Esparta de este
Cáucaso oriental. La guerra, en absoluto, se ha ido. “Hay mucha
tensión. Tenemos que vigilar las fronteras, porque ellos pueden
atacar, tienen cómo”, dice a Clarín Gresha Hayrapetyan, miembro del
Comité Central de la Federación Revolucionaria Armenia de Nagorno. El
general y veterano de la guerra Vitali Balsanian concuerda. “Hay
peligro. Ellos – Azerbaiján – rompen (el algo el fuego) constantemente
cruzando las fronteras. Y lo hacen y el mundo está en silencio”,
dice.
Camino a la frontera azerí es posible observar las consecuencias
desastrosas de la guerra y confirmar el peligro que sobrevuela el
statu quo de calma.
En lo alto de las montañas se balancean cables inmensos, unidos de
una cima a la otra, con largas tiras de alambre colgando, formando
cortinas invisibles para que allí se enreden los helicópteros azeríes
que se atrevan a ingresar alguna noche en el espacio aéreo de
Karabaj.
El último poblado antes de la frontera binacional se llama Aghtam,
está prácticamente deshabitado y allí la escena es dantesca. Aldeas
enteras destruidas, casas que apenas se sostienen en pie debido a los
bombardeos y la metralla, alguna puerta que resistió milagrosamente
sin paredes alrededor. Mientras avanzamos por un camino en pésimo
estado, lo que hay a un lado y otro está arrasado, salvo alguna base
militar del gobierno de Nagorno Karabaj con soldados armenios dentro.
A siete kilómetros de la frontera con Azerbaiján, Any, la traductora
y guía de Clarín, le pide al chofer que baje la velocidad. Nada ha
sucedido, pero el todo terreno se va deteniendo. Le digo que
continuemos unos kilómetros hasta que el otro lado sea visible. Any
accede, pero está nerviosa. Dos kilómetros más adelante finalmente
dice señalando hacia adelante: “Ok, no more, snipers over there.”
Los snipers, francotiradores, están en las montañas, me muestra. No
los veo; ella los presume. “Quizá nada suceda, pero nunca se sabe.
Aquí siempre hay incidentes, disparan todo el tiempo”, dice y me pide
que no salgamos del automóvil.
La zona es un campo minado, puestas las bombas por uno y otro lado,
pero sin carteles que digan dónde. El camino es seguro, también las
banquinas, pero a los pocos metros, donde se desparraman los
esqueletos de los edificios bombardeados, nadie se atreve a andar
salvo algunas vacas, que posiblemente mueran sin saber en su
atrevimiento qué les pegó.

Armenia’s painful past
From Brian Todd
CNN
Friday, April 29, 2005 Posted: 2106 GMT (0506 HKT)
WASHINGTON (CNN) — We shudder at images from Darfur, Sudan, wince at
memories of Rwanda and look at grainy pictures of the Holocaust and say
“never again.”
Nearly forgotten is a brutal campaign from nearly a century ago, that
historians say may not have been a model for those genocides, but certainly
provided a rationale.
“The fact that a state could in fact carry this out under the eyes of the
international community and get away with it, became in fact a hallmark of
what the 20th century, the tragic 20th century, was really all about,” says
Charles King, author of “The Black Sea: A History.”
Adolf Hitler himself was reported to have made a reference to it in 1939, as
he prepared to invade Poland. He was quoted as saying, “Who, after all,
speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?”
In April, 1915, the Ottoman Empire, which covered the general area of what
is now Turkey, was battling on two fronts in World War I, and was
disintegrating in the process.
Armenians, long part of that empire, were restless for independence — and
were getting encouragement from Russia.
The Ottoman Turks, fearful of a Russian invasion on their eastern front, saw
the Russian-Armenian alliance as a huge threat and targeted the Armenian
population inside their borders.
“They embarked on an extermination plan by deporting the entire population,
close to — a little under 2 million Armenians — in the empire into deserts
and by killing and starvation and disease,” says Harut Sassounian, editor of
“The Armenian Genocide.”
Between 1915 and 1923, Armenian leaders were rounded up in cities and
executed; villagers were uprooted en masse and driven south toward the
deserts of what are now Syria and Iraq. Many were shot or butchered outright
by Turkish forces, but most died in forced marches.
The numbers — to this day — are still in dispute. Armenians say 1.5
million were killed. The Turkish government says not more than 300,000
perished and that Armenians weren’t the only victims.
“These few years both sides suffered [and lost an] incredible number of
people to war, to famine, to harsh climate,” says Turkish Ambassador to the
United States Faruk Logoglu.
Objective historians say the Armenian death toll is likely between 600,000
and 1 million.
The fight is not only over numbers, but also a word.
Neither the Turkish government, nor any U.S. president, except Ronald
Reagan, has ever called this event “genocide.”
Sassounian is the grandson of survivors.
“I describe it as a deep wound in the psyche of every Armenian that is not
healing, is not going away, because it’s like an open wound as long as that
denial is there,” Sassounian says.
The U.S. government says between 60,000 and 146,000 people have died in
Darfur, Sudan, over the past two years, and former Secretary of State Colin
Powell called that a genocide.
Historian King believes what happened to the Armenians was genocide by any
definition, but “labeling it genocide among politicians has very severe
political ramifications, particularly in terms of the U.S. relationship with
Turkey — an important strategic partner in southeast Europe and the wider
Middle East,” says King.
As Armenians mark the 90th anniversary of their darkest days, many say all
they want is acknowledgement.
The Turks say they’re willing to set up a commission to examine the
historical record.
Two countries with a closed border and no formal relations — still haunted
by a distant tragedy.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Turkish Press
April 28 2005
Prof. Dr. Ozdemir: We Want To Discuss Events Of 1915 With Our

ANKARA – Turkish Institute of History (TTK) Armenian Studies Chairman
Prof. Dr. Hikmet Ozdemir said on Thursday that they wanted to discuss
the events of 1915 with their interlocutors.
Speaking at a conference on ”the Past, Today and Future of
Turkish-Armenian Conflict” at the Anadolu Agency (A.A), Ozdemir
said, ”the Relocation Law and ensuing developments are not enough to
explain the conflict between Turks and Armenians. The atmosphere in
which the law was approved, international developments and conditions
of the Ottoman Empire should be well-known to this end. Some
documents revealed that a map prepared by Britain, France and Russia
in 1914 had envisaged separation of the Empire before the World War
I.”
”Britons had made many propaganda together with media and scientists
to gain support of the United States during the World War I. Some
special news reports had been made up to incite the Christian world.
We should clean such propaganda of Britain in order to enlighten the
events of 1915. We want to discuss those events with our
interlocutors. We have already accepted the risk of results of such a
study,” he said.
Ozdemir stressed that it was impossible to understand parliaments of
some countries which accepted resolutions without conducting a
detailed research.
”The Relocation Law was nothing but a measure taken by the Ottoman
Empire to prevent an uprising. As a result of Armenian uprisings,
hundreds of thousands of Armenians and security forces had been
killed. Those Armenians had been militants of Tashnak and Hinchakian
committees. Due to ongoing wars, the Ottoman Empire had to protect
the roads of military supply. The military officials in the eastern
region had requested the government to transfer the armed Armenians
to another place for the security of those routes,” he said.
”According to the first scenario, transfer of Armenians to Caucasus
had been envisaged. However, the Ottoman government had decided to
send them to Syria (which was then Ottoman territory). If they had
been sent to Caucasus, it would have been an exile. The decision had
conformed to the Constitution and the law. If the Ottoman Empire had
targeted to make the population in Anatolia Turk, it would have sent
Armenians to Caucasus. On the other hand, Turks had also suffered
during the World War I. Turks in Caucasus had been exiled from
Caucasus to Anatolia. It had been nothing, but crisis management,”
he said.
Noting that the Ottoman Empire had put into force a series of
instructions to meet requirements of migrants, Ozdemir said,
”however, no one can say that those instructions had been fully
applied under war conditions. During those days, hundreds of
thousands of people died because of epidemics in Anatolia. Turks have
never been cherished revenge against anyone.”
Stressing that Armenians who had been forced to migrate in 1915,
returned later under a decision of the government, Ozdemir said,
”however, they returned as officers in the French Army, and
massacred their neighbors in Adana, Antep and Maras.”
Referring to arguments over Armenian population, Ozdemir said, ”the
notebook which was claimed to have belonged to Talat Pasha does not
tell the truth. According to the notebook claiming that 924 thousand
Armenians had been relocated, Armenians in Aleppo had also been
forced to migrate. In fact, Armenians had been sent to Aleppo. The
Turkish General Staff archives put the number of the relocated
Armenians as nearly 500 thousand. Experts should sit and discuss
everything in detail.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

A1plus
| 18:12:09 | 29-04-2005 | Official |
OSKANYAN MEETS THE FRENCH OFFICIALS
Today RA foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan received Senator Jean-Noel
Guérini, head of the French Buch-du-Ronne region Chief Council, delegates of
the French National Assembly Christophe Maesse and Richard Mallié, as well
as member of the EU Mrs. Marie-Arlette Carlotti.
Minister Oskanyan thanked the French Parliamentarians for constantly
supporting Armenia. In particular, he found important several
educational-health programs of the Buch-du-Ronne region which are
successfully put into practice in the Armenian regions.
Afterwards the sides exchanged ideas about the present developments of South
Caucasus, the possibilities provided by the European new neighbors policy in
this connection, the relations Armenia-Turkey and the Armenian perspectives.
During the visit the French delegation will have meetings with the RA
Ministers of Health and Social affairs and will visit yumri and Echmiadzin.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress