Author: Emma Jilavian

The German Bundestag’s historic vote earlier today officially recognizing the Armenian Genocide shines a global spotlight on U.S. President Barack Obama’s continued complicity in Turkey’s denial of this still unpunished crime, reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).

“The Bundestag’s recognition of the Armenian Genocide—made all the more powerful by its honest reckoning with Germany’s own role in this still unpunished crime—further isolates Turkey, while shining a global spotlight on the Obama Administration as the leading international enabler of Ankara’s campaign of genocide denial,” said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian. “There is still time for President Obama to follow Germany’s lead, reject Turkey’s gag-rule, and speak honestly about the Armenian Genocide.”

Prior to his election, President Obama was clear and unequivocal in promising to properly characterize Ottoman Turkey’s murder of more than 1.5 million Armenian men, women and children between 1915 and 1923 as genocide. In a Jan. 19, 2008, statement he wrote: “The facts are undeniable. An official policy that calls on diplomats to distort the historical facts is an untenable policy. As a senator, I strongly support passage of the Armenian Genocide Resolution (H.Res.106 and S.Res.106), and as President I will recognize the Armenian Genocide.”

President Obama has broken that pledge in annual Armenian Remembrance Day statements issued on or near April 24th, the international day of commemoration of this crime.

The U.S. first recognized the Armenian Genocide in 1951 through a filing which was included in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) Report titled: “Reservations to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.” The specific reference to the Armenian Genocide appears on page 25 of the ICJ Report: “The Genocide Convention resulted from the inhuman and barbarous practices which prevailed in certain countries prior to and during World War II, when entire religious, racial and national minority groups were threatened with and subjected to deliberate extermination. The practice of genocide has occurred throughout human history. The Roman persecution of the Christians, the Turkish massacres of Armenians, the extermination of millions of Jews and Poles by the Nazis are outstanding examples of the crime of genocide.”

President Ronald Reagan reaffirmed the Armenian Genocide in 1981. The U.S. House of Representatives adopted legislation on the Armenian Genocide in 1975, 1984 and 1996.  This year, West Virginia became the 44th U.S. state to recognize the Armenian Genocide.

Under Congressional mandate, the U.S., between 1915 and 1930, embarked on an unprecedented humanitarian campaign providing the equivalent of over $2 billion in today’s dollars to help save Armenian Genocide survivors.

New satellite imagery appears to reveal extensive damage to a strategically significant airbase in central Syria used by Russian forces after an attack by so-called Islamic State (IS), the BBC reports.

Four helicopters and 20 lorries were destroyed in a series of fires inside the T4 base last week, the images from intelligence company suggest.

The cause of the fires is unconfirmed.

Russia has not officially commented on the incident.

 

The Foreign Ministry of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic issued the following statement today:

On May 17, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry voiced another farfetched accusation of the alleged use of prohibited ammunition, including shells with white phosphorus, during the military operations on April 2-5, 2016.

Continuing its usual campaign of disinformation of the international community, Azerbaijan does not disdain resorting to fraud and outright manipulation. To add weight to its propaganda, the Azerbaijani side tries to involve foreign diplomats and military attaches accredited in Azerbaijan.

Falsification and distortion of the reality have long become regular, constituting an integral part of Azerbaijan’s foreign policy. Back in 1992, the Azerbaijani side made similar accusations of the alleged use of chemical weapons, which were then denied by the UN special fact-finding mission. Based on the findings and conclusions of the UN experts set forth in the UN Security Council document S/24344 dated July 24, 1992, the UN Secretary-General noted that “no evidence of the use of chemical weapons had been presented to the team”.

In subsequent years, the Azerbaijani side has been making similar absurd and unconfirmed accusations of the use of nuclear weapons against Azerbaijan in 1993 and disposal of nuclear wastes in the NKR (PACE document N 9444 dated May 7, 2002), transformation of Armenia and the NKR to a depot of bacteriological weapons (PACE document N9336 dated January 31, 2002), cultivation and production of drugs, etc. In doing so, the Azerbaijani side referred to nonexistent scientific journals, reports, organizations, and laboratories.

Resurrecting its old allegations, Azerbaijan does not only try to justify its policy of use of force and denial of full and strict compliance with the ceasefire agreements of 1994 and 1995, on which the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairing countries insist, but also aims to distract the attention from the real war crimes committed by the Azerbaijani army against the military servicemen and civilian population of the NKR.

In this regard, we call on the international community to treat the unfounded statements of the Azerbaijani side with utmost criticism.

For its part, the NKR is ready to host a special monitoring mission for an on-site study of all the facts and investigation of the circumstances of the aggression unleashed by Azerbaijan on April 2-5, 2016, as well as the violations of the norms of international humanitarian law committed during that period.

 

 

 

The Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan will meet in Vienna, but the meeting will produce no results, Head of the Modus Vivendi Center Ara Papyan told reporters today.

Political scientist Hrant Melik-Shahnazaryan also believes that speaking about resumption of the negotiation process is senseless.

“We see that at this moment the parties are moving in completely different directions both on the military and political fields, which actually is leading to a new collision,” the analyst said.

“Unfortunately, the resumption of war is the most likely scenario today, because, having failed in its April attack against Karabakh, Azerbaijan was actually deprived of several important political platforms it was using in the negotiations. Today Azerbaijan has more serious reasons to start war than it had on April 1, because it has lost important factors it was using against Armenians,” he said.

According to Ara Papyan, Azerbaijan is not solving a Karabakh issue now. Rather, he said, it’s trying to destroy Armenia. He believes that there is only one way for depriving Azerbaijan of the opportunity to wage war – to move forward and reach Yevlakh.

“Azerbaijan must not be able to export oil and gas. In this case it will not have money, if it has no money, it won’t be able to fight. This is the only way out, all others are temporary solutions,” Papyan said.

“Give Karabakh to Azerbaijan, it will claim Zangezur the next day,” he added.

According to Ara Papyan, today it’s necessary to work with the indigenous peoples in Azerbaijan. “They are aware of what Azerbaijan represents and the Azerbaijani authorities are contributing to this by their discriminative policy against the indigenous peoples.”

During the Holocaust, Aznavour’s home gave shelter to Jews and Armenians who fled from the Nazis. The International Raoul Waldenburg Foundation paid  a visit to Mr. Charles Aznavour to learn the details.

Aznavour’s parents hid Jews people in their apartment during the Holocaust. “My sister and I were sleeping on the floor,” Aznavour said.

The Raoul Wallenberg Foundation established about twenty years ago focuses on rescue of people, on people who risk their lives to save others.

Up to now Charles Aznavour has said very little about an especially humane and heroic chapter in his and his family’s life: Their decision to shelter and save Jews, Armenian deserters and underground activists in their home during the German occupation of France during the war, and their involvement in anti-Nazi activity.

Now Aznavour has decided to tell the whole story, in Hebrew, in a self-published book, “Matzilim (Tzadikim) Ve’Lohamim” (“Righteous Saviors and Fighters”), by genocide researcher Prof. Yair Auron.

The latter spoke at length with Aznavour and his sister, Aida Aznavour-Garvarentz, who told him about their lives under the German occupation and what led their family, especially their father, to take part in rescue missions despite the many risks. The book, which will also be translated into French and Armenian, recounts a specific case, but offers a moral lesson on human behavior under conditions of widespread terror, and political and ideological violence. Above all, it is the moving story of survivors of one genocide who, at great personal risk, felt compelled to help victims of another.

US President Barack Obama is to visit Hiroshima this month – the first serving president to travel to the Japanese city, which was hit by a US nuclear attack in 1945, the BBC reports.

The visit will be part of an Asian trip that will also take in Vietnam.

The Hiroshima bombing on 6 August 1945 killed 140,000 people. Along with a second bombing on Nagasaki – it is credited with ending World War Two.

Jimmy Carter has visited Hiroshima, but after the end of his presidency.

Iranian Armenians gathered at a cathedral in Tehran on Sunday to commemorate victims of the killings of ethnic Armenians by Ottoman Turks over a century ago, reports.

Turkey’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Friday that U.S. President Barack Obama’s comment on the 1915 incidents represented a “one-sided interpretation of history,” Anadolu Agency reports.

President Obama described the 1915 ikilling of Armenians within the Ottoman Empire as “Meds Yeghern”, an Armenian term meaning “great calamity” in a

In a written statement ,Turkey’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Obama’s statement was a new example of a one-sided history telling of the “pain suffered during the World War I”.

“Turkey has shown the will to build a joint future with peace based on the shared living experience for centuries between Turkish and Armenian nations. It is sad that friend and ally countries encourage the circle that [aim] to deepen the conflict instead of answering [Turkey’s] call. It is obvious that the efforts to politicize the pain suffered in history do not do any good to anyone so far.”

“While this is the situation, the circles that aim to profit from the positions that third-party countries would take on the different dates of the year not only harm the hope for friendship and peace but they also disrespect the pain suffered during those days.”

“We invite the U.S. government to evaluate the historical facts based on a fair memory while taking into consideration the pain of all sides and adopt an objective, reasonable and constructive approach.”

The first hearing of the two Dink cases that are joined will be held tomorrow. At the hearing that will be held between April 19 and 21, 34 suspects, 8 of them being arrested, will stand trial together for the first time, reports.

Hrant Dink case will be tried in 14^th High Penal Court. The main case, which was joined with the indictment against the public officials who are claimed to be responsible for the assassination, will last for 3 days.

The court reached the conclusion that the cases should be tried together, because of the relation between the two cases and the nature of the alleged crime.

There are 26 suspects in the indictment which claims that some public officials are responsible for the murder. Suspects Ali Fuat Yılmazer, Ramazan Akyürek, Ercan Demir, Muhittin Zenit and Özkan Mumcu are jailed pending trial.

In the main case, Ogün Samast, Yasin Hayal and Ersin Yolcu are arrested.

Suspect Ahmet İskender, who has a warrant that is issued against him, is still a fugitive.

One of the suspects in Agos’ former editor-in-chief Hrant Dink’s murder case, Engin Dinç, the current chief of Security General Directorate Intelligence Branch, won’t be present at the hearing on April 19. Dinç’s excuse for his absence is the escalated terrorist attacks in Turkey. In the petition that was presented to the court by Dinç’s lawyers, it is stated that the struggle against terrorism is currently intense and thus, for Dinç, it would be hard to be present at the hearing.

Hundreds gathered in front of the Armenian Foreign Ministry today as the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs were holding a meeting with Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian.

The protesters rallied against the inaction of the international community, and particularly institutions and states involved in the mediating efforts for their “criminal silence” or inadequate reaction to the military actions unleashed by Azerbaijan against the Nagorno Karabakh Republic.

The protesters demanded recognition of Artsakh, its involvement in the negotiations as a full-fledged party.

Although the protest coincides with the visit of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs to Yerevan, the event was targeted at Russia, the United States, France, Israel, CSTO, EEU, PACE, Council of Europe, OSCE institutions and other countries.