Author: Hovhannisian John

SARKOZY IS BAD NEWS FOR ALL OF US
By Mehmet Ali Brand

Turkish Press
May 8 2007

TDN- Sarkozy`s victory in the presidential race is bad news, not only
for Turkey, but also for both France and Europe. Even if he fulfills
only half the promises he made during his campaign, he will further
complicate the balances in Europe and deal a huge blow to Turkey`s
Europe project.

Here is the sentence that sums up Sarkozy`s principle policy:

`Whoever doesn`t love France can leave…`

You may remember that in the second half of the 1990s, the Nationalist
Movement Party (MHP) would similarly tell people opposing the state
policy on the Kurdish issue to `love it or leave.`

Sarkozy plans to modernize the French economy to make it work better.

He aims to get back the leadership Paris has lost. While doing this,
he`s set to follow a more conservative, right-wing policy that strains
principles such as human rights and equality for foreigners, and that
accepts foreigners only to the extent that it can make them `French.`

Sarkozy`s clearest policy is to keep Turkey out of Europe. No other
EU country has been so unambiguous. As he sees it, Turkey is an Asian
country. Furthermore, he argues, as its accession to the European
family would upset balances in the EU, it should be kept outside.

Besides all this, he believes Armenians were subjected to a genocide
and so says he will work to have Turkey punished.

These policies will poison Turkish-French relations in the coming
years. France will be branded an enemy of Turks. This polarization
will benefit both the EU opponents in Turkey and Turkey opponents
in Europe. `See how France will veto us. Let`s drop our bid,` our
EU-skeptics will say and increase their opposition. The two groups
will feed on each other. The attempt to exclude Turkey from Europe
will reach a high with Sarkozy.

Ankara`s job will prove to be harder, but it won`t be impossible.

There are three reasons for this: 1. Sarkozy demonstrated that he
couldn`t halt our negotiation process. So wheels will continue to turn
… 2. Nobody can exclude a Turkey which has met the criteria based
only on the reasoning that it is a Muslim country. 3. No government
in Turkey can sever ties with the EU and halt the negotiations.

In sum…

Our job will be harder, but the EU project will not die, as long as
our government takes the necessary steps and completes the reforms.

Sarkozy can`t decide whether Turkey is European or not. We cannot
give him this power.

GUESTS’ HOUSE BUILT IN MELIKASHEN WITH ASSISTANCE OF ARMENIAN UNION OF
SWITZERLAND

STEPANAKERT, MAY 7, NOYAN TAPAN. A guests’ house was put into
operation in the NKR village of Melikashen, with the assistance of the
Armenian Union of Switzerland. Receiving on May 6 the union delegation
headed by organization Chairman Vahe Gabrache, NKR President Arkadi
Ghukasian welcame the union’s active participation in the programs
aimed to development of rural regions. He mentioned that owing to
implementation of similar ideas, sub-constructions promoting
development of tourism are formed over the whole territory of the
country.

According to the information got from the NKR President’s Press
Service, Zohrab Mnatsakanian, the RA Ambassador to Switzerland
accompanied the guests at the meeting.

EUROPEAN ARMENIAN FEDERATION
For Justice and Democracy
Avenue de la Renaissance 10
B-1000 Bruxelles
Tel: +32 (0)2 732 70 26
Tel/Fax : +32 (0)2 732 70 27

PRESS RELEASE
for immediate release
5 May 2007
Contact: Varténie ECHO
Tel/Fax : +32 (0)2 732 70 27

BULGARIA: GOVERNMENT VIOLATES PARLIAMENTARY RULES TO BLOCK ARMENIAN
GENOCIDE RECOGNITION

— 45 Prominent Scholars Support Opposition Party Motion for
Recognition —

Sophia, Bulgaria — On Wednesday, May 2nd, conservative
Bulgarian opposition parties boycotted the Parliament session when
socialist government leaders manipulated Parliament rules to block a
vote on a resolution recognizing the Armenian genocide. Generally,
the agenda of the Parliament’s first session of the month is set by
the opposition, which planned to bring up the resolution. In
response, Socialist Party representative, Mrs Maya Manolova
(Socialist Party), charged that the resolution had been brought up in
the past and removed it from the agenda.

The opposition denounced the "totalitarian behaviour" which the
majority used to avoid any democratic debate on this issue as on
others.
According to media sources, 45 prominent intellectuals had called on
the government to recognize the Armenian genocide, and also urged
recognition of the "Bulgarian atrocities" perpetrated in 1876 by the
Ottoman Empire. This recognition effort caused a scandal in
Parliament when, on April 24th, Bulgaria’s Turkish nationalist
faction – a party which obtained 13% of the votes during the last
legislative elections – boycotted the session during which a moment
of silence was observed dedicated to the memory of the Genocide’s
victims.

The support of the Turkish nationalist MPs is vital to the
leading government coalition in Sofia.

"The position of the government is not acceptable, neither
morally or politically, since the people of Bulgaria favour
recognition of the Genocide," said a spokesperson for the Armenian
community of Bulgaria, adding that "We expect that the government
will move forward and recognize the Genocide."

Bulgaria, which itself suffered massacres perpetrated by the
Turkish government, was a direct witness of the Armenian genocide and
provided safe-haven to thousands of survivors in the 1920s.

"We condemn the shameful position of the government in Sofia
for sacrificing the moral consensus in Bulgaria for its alliance of
circumstance with the Turkish extremist party," said European
Armenian Federation Executive Director Laurent Leylekian.

"Bulgaria’s example clearly demonstrates that wherever Turkey
advances democracy retreats. In light of this example, who can
reasonably expect that our liberties and security will be guaranteed
when Ankara joins the EU?" added Leylekian.

The Federation calls upon the European Parliament and upon the
parliaments of the eleven member states which have already recognized
the Armenian genocide to urge the Bulgarian Parliament to live up to
European standards and recognize the Armenian Genocide.

ROBERT KOCHARYAN: THE INTEREST IN CHESS HAS GROWN IN ARMENIA

ArmRadio.am
04.05.2007 17:00

President Robert Kocharyan received the President of the World Chess
Federation (FIDE) Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, World Chess Champion Vladimir
Kramnik and World Cup holder Levon Aronyan. The meeting featured
also the President of the Chess Federation of Armenia, Prime Minister
Serge Sargsyan.

Welcoming the conduct of a tournament of the two strongest
representatives of the contemporary chess world in our country, the
President wished them success and said he would like such tournaments
to become traditional.

In Robert Kocharyan’s words, the recent brilliant successes of our
sportsmen, the successive victories have become inspiring examples
for many and the interest in chess has grown.

AVET ADONTS: THE INTERNATIONAL ASSESSMENT OF THE ELECTIONS SHOULD BE FIRST OF ALL IMPARTIAL

ArmRadio.am
04.05.2007 18:10

Prosperous Armenia Party stands for the package resolution of the
Nagorno Karabakh conflict, the Extraordinary Envoy and Plenipotentiary
Minister Avet Adonts, occupying the 15th line in the election list
of the party, stated.

"The Prosperous Armenia Party is consistent with the package resolution
of the Karabakh settlement. This is conditioned first of all by the
fact that in the course of the recent years there is a zero level of
confidence between Armenia and Azerbaijan," Avet Adonts stated in an
interview to Interfax.

According to him, in conditions of absence of mutual trust between
the sides, it is impossible to talk about a step-by-step settlement
of the conflict.

Turning to the parliamentary elections, Avet Adonts said he believes
that the international assessment of the upcoming parliamentary
elections "should first of all be impartial."

"The possible shortcomings should not be exaggerated and good elections
should not be presented as very good ones, what we could see in the
post-soviet territory in the course of the latest 2-3 years", Avet
Adonts stated in an interview to Interfax.

He noted that the good assessment of the elections will become a
good stimulus for the further development and European integration
of Armenia.

Avet Adonts stated to Interfax that "today the level of
Armenian-Russian relations is very high both in the spheres of
political cooperation and the trade-economic, military-technical
spheres, as well as in the sphere of humanitarian cooperation."

"However, taking into account the obvious polarization in the relations
of Russia with the West, the regional situation, in particular,
the tenseness in the Russian-Georgian relations, we believe that the
lion’s share of our efforts in the Armenian-Russian relations should
be directed not to spoil those relations, but to preserve all the
positive tendencies," Avet Adonts stressed.

"We are not going choose between Russia and the USA. If our foreign
policy vector of relations with the USA is marked weaker than the
Armenia-Russia vector, it is necessary to fill in the given vector,
to make up for the missed, but we believe that it is not right
to unambiguously state that the development of the relations with
Russia is more priority for our foreign policy than the development
of relations with the USA or the EU", Avet Adonts stated.

OBSERVING DEMOCRACY IN ACTION
Tess Hughes

The Mayo News
Thursday, 03 May 2007

ARMENIA is a landlocked country in the Caucasus, between the Black and
the Caspian Seas. It has four neighbours: Iran, Turkey, Azerbaijan
and Georgia. It has a good relationship with Georgia and Iran but
this is not so with Turkey and Azerbaijan. In both cases there is
ongoing hostility dating back centuries.

The modern Republic of Armenia is only a minor part of ancient Armenian
lands, and comprises territories annexed to the Russian empire in
the nineteenth century and later incorporated into the Soviet Union
as the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic.

There are formerly Armenian lands – and surviving Armenian communities
– in Southern Georgia and northern Iran, but the major part of ancient
Armenia lies in Northern Turkey. It is there that much of the worldwide
Armenian diaspora has its family roots.

Armenia has a large and powerful diaspora. Almost all the development
in the country in the past ten years is attributable to it.

Mount Ararat, national symbol of Armenia and the mountain on which
Noah’s Ark from the Biblical story, The Flood, is said to have rested,
looms on a clear day over Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, and is
now in Turkish territory. This is a very sore point with the Armenians.

In 1991, when the Soviet Union was falling apart, Armenia held a
referendum on independence. Ninety-four per cent of the population
voted for independence. Independence was declared. It was accompanied
by tragedy and conflict with its neighbours. Thus began the modern
Republic of Armenia.

When people here speak of ‘the war’ they are referring to the war
of 1992-1994 which erupted after they declared independence. It is
often mentioned in conversation and signs of the devastation caused
during that time are everywhere to be seen. A constitution was adopted
in 1995.

There is an added complication, which is that there is a region
within Armenia, Nagorno-Karabakh which wants independent status as
a republic in its own right. This area is not taking part in these
elections. In Nagorno-Karabakh about 50 per cent of the people are of
Armenian origin and want to be part of Armenia. The other 50 per cent
are Azerbaijani in origin and want to be part of Azerbaijan. At present
it is an independent state. This is the major conflict with Azerbaijan.

It adds spice to this dispute, the fact that the President of Armenia,
Robert Kocharyan is from the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

The major issue with Turkey is because they have annexed parts of
traditionally held Armenian lands. Because of this the border into
Turkey is now closed.

The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, OSCE, is the
organisation for which I work. It is a transatlantic intergovernmental
organisation with 55 participating states that spans the broader
European region (including the South Caucasus and Central Asia and
includes Canada and the United States and of course Armenia).

The main job of OSCE is in the areas of conflict prevention, crisis
management and post-conflict rehabilitation. This includes having
an election observation programme to ensure fairness and full
participation in all elections.

We are in Armenia at the invitation of the ruling Armenian
government. It is part of their way of preparing for eventual entry
into the European Union.

Most, if not all, the countries of Eastern Europe want to join with
Western Europe and to enjoy what they perceive as the better lifestyle
of the western countries.

Indeed there is a vast difference between lives here in Armenia and
anywhere in the West. Poverty, depression, neglect of the natural
environment and buildings, and so on, is appallingly obvious
everywhere.

There is a population of around three million here, with around one
million living in Yerevan, the capital. The population is falling
since the war due to emigration.

The General Election is scheduled to take place on May 12 next. This
election consists of two parallel contests, one for 90 seats to
be filled by a proportional representation system on the basis of
national party/bloc lists and the other for 41 constituency seats
which will be filled by a majoritarian system.

The ruling government is a coalition of the Armenian Republican Party
(by far the largest party) and the Armenian Revolutionary Federation.

There are 28 parties/blocs contesting this election, but in general,
personalities of individual politicians dominate the political
landscape in Armenia more than party platforms.

Campaigning is under way officially since April 8, but everyone is
talking about it and preparing for it.

Two days after I arrived here the Prime Minister died unexpectedly.

No one can yet predict how this will affect the elections but it is
causing a lot of discussion both in the media and amongst the people.

He seems to have been quite well liked throughout the country. He was
replaced by the Minister for Defence. In the region I am working in,
Syunik, this does not appear to be a popular decision.

OSCE have 14 teams of two people in place, working as long-term
election observers. These consist of 22 international observers and
six Armenians. We have been posted all over the country. I have been
posted to the most southern region, close to the Iranian border and
Nagorno-Karabakh. I am with a German man who is a highly experienced
election observer in the Balkans. Each team has been set up with an
interpreter and a driver from the region to which they are posted.

In the week before the election 300 short-term observers will be
brought in from the OSCE countries. I expect there will be three or
four Irish among them. I am already looking forward to seeing them.

These elections will also be observed by trained non-government agency
personnel already working in the country and by local agencies with
an interest in human rights issues and democracy.

Our job is to locate all the polling stations in our area, to call on
all the local officials to make them aware that there is an election
observation mission in the area, to prepare for the arrival of the
short-term observers, and to report back to the head office of OSCE in
Yerevan on what we have observed in relation to adherence to electoral
rules, and any incidents related to the election that we see, and to
monitor media coverage of the election in our area.

In our area this is not easy. The roads are in very poor condition.

Many of the polling stations are up in the mountains. We will most
likely need a four-wheel drive vehicle to access them, if we can
find one.

Almost once a week we also have to return to Yerevan to make interim
reports. It is an arduous seven-hour journey on a bad road.

Finding accommodation in these outlying villages will be challenging.

There is no tourist industry of any kind here. There are no tourists.

The only other foreign people to visit these parts are associated with
the mining industry. They build houses for their staff. There is a
copper-zinc-silver mine close to Kapan, the town I am in. There is
also a huge molybdenum/copper mine on the other side of town. Both
mines are owned by foreigners. All the executive and administrative
employees are also foreigners. Local men work in the mines. It is
the only employment in the region.

The food is good. The people are very hospitable and interested in
meeting someone from Ireland. They are quick to take out an atlas
and locate Ireland. Internet access is surprisingly good. Everyone,
it seems, has mobile phones.

The ruling party, which is by far the strongest party, the Republican
Party, are very strong and confident of their success in the
election. They dominate the media and everything else.

The opposition parties – and there are more than 20 of them – all talk
about the corruption and bribery they see in government. A number of
government deputies resigned or changed party allegiance during the
last government in protest at the corruption they witnessed. Opposition
parties claim that the media and the legal system serve only the
ruling government and because of this they feel despair at bringing
about change. They tell us that on the day of election everything will
appear to be above board. They all use the terms ‘fair and transparent
elections’. But the opposition parties all assure us that it will be
very difficult for us observers to see the abuses that are happening
behind closed doors. We have been told that even when they know
for sure that falsifications have happened at the polling stations,
they have been unable to prove it in court.

There have been some shootings and explosions in opposition party
offices, though fortunately not my area.

‘MARRIAGE OF FIGARO’ CAST REJOICES IN OPERA’S TIMELESS STORY, CHARACTERS
By: Pam Kragen – Staff Writer

North County Times, CA
May 2 2007

Mozart’s opera "The Marriage of Figaro" turns 221 this year, and while
its harpsichord underpinnings and jus primae noctis story line may set
it firmly in a time and place, its characters and music are timeless.

"Five hundred years from now, it will still be performed, because
it is so human," said Isabel Bayrakdarian, the Canadian/Armenian
soprano who stars as Figaro’s bride, Susanna, in San Diego Opera’s
production opening Saturday. "We will still have the same passions,
the same jealousies, the same hormonal feelings. Susanna is a woman
of yesterday, today and tomorrow."

"The Marriage of Figaro," which closes San Diego Opera’s 2007 season,
was based on a 2-year-old play by Beaumarchais that was so sharply
critical of religion and politicians that the French king Louis XVI
banned it from the stage. To get around the Viennese censors in 1786,
Mozart hired an Italian librettist, Lorenzo da Ponte, and played down
the political and religious satire, focusing instead on the story’s
romantic intrigues.

"The Marriage of Figaro" was a sequel to Beaumarchais’ hugely popular
"The Barber of Seville." The story picks up years later, long
after Count Almaviva has married Rosina (with the help of the wily
barber, Figaro) and now it’s Figaro’s turn to wed. But the Almaviva
marriage has grown stale and the bored Count tries to seduce Figaro’s
bride-to-be, Susanna, under the ancient custom of droit du seigneur,
which allowed a lord to deflower a servant’s bride before her wedding
night. To get back at the Count, Figaro, Susanna and the heartbroken
Countess conspire to trap Almaviva at his own game.

At a roundtable lecture last week at the San Diego Civic Theatre,
the "Figaro" cast agreed that their characters may live in the 18th
century but they’re modern thinkers.

"She’s so normal and real," Bayrakdarian says of Susanna. "I don’t
have to think about the period when I play her."

American bass-baritone Richard Bernstein, who plays Figaro, said
he sees himself in the character. "I find things about him that I
can identify with. For example, he’s very jealous, which is natural
because it’s his wedding day, he thinks his bride has cheated on him.

It’s a natural reaction and I try to make his emotions as human
as possible."

Portraying an adolescent boy isn’t as natural for New Zealand
mezzo-soprano Sarah Castle, who plays the Countess’ lovesick page
Cherubino, but Castle says the character is easy to play because
he is honest. "Cherubino is at the turning point in his life,
he’s post-puberty, he’s flirtatious, and he’s naturally interested
in women."

And Polish baritone Mariusz Kwiecien, who plays the philandering Count,
jokingly strips all pretension from the role. "I play myself in every
situation. The Count is just Mariusz with different clothes and more
polite manners."

Italian maestro Edoardo Muller, who conducts the San Diego production,
said many opera purists consider "The Marriage of Figaro" the best
opera ever written.

"If you’re just looking at the opera’s words, it’s a masterpiece.

Just the music? A masterpiece. If you want the best comedy or romantic
music, it’s there. Want a story for children? It’s there.

You want music for erudite scholars, it’s the best ever written,"
Muller said. "It seems deceptively simple, but it’s very difficult
to perform."

Fortunately, San Diego Opera’s cast is stocked with Mozart
specialists. Kwiecien and Bernstein have performed the roles of the
Count and Figaro, respectively, more than 100 times, and Bayrakdarian
has recorded an album of Mozart duets with the Canadian Opera Company.

All of the singers describe Mozart’s music as great training for
the voice.

"He’s the balsam for the voice," said American soprano Pamela
Armstrong, who plays the Countess. "You must be pure in voice and
understanding of the music because it’s so easy to hear every fault
in the voice when you sing Mozart. The writing is sublime, but it is
so very exposed."

Kwiecien said he started his career in Poland singing Verdi (well-known
as treacherous territory for young voices), but it was when he first
played Mozart’s Figaro at age 21 that he learned how to use his voice
properly. "Mozart has given me the most pleasure and success of my
career. It’s the only way to sing other music."

But Bayrakdarian said there’s no need to approach Mozart’s music with
reverence. Embracing the notes makes the music sound better.

"Mozart loved singers. He wanted them to sound good," she said. "He
had a childlike innocence, and to sing his music right you have to
rejoice in it. It’s elegant music, yet lusty."

Muller sums it up simply by saying that Mozart was both a genius and
a specialist.

"When he wrote for the piano, he wrote it to fit the hands of the
pianist, and when he wrote for singers, he wrote it in a way that
allowed the singers to perform it at their best. He loved life and
he wanted singers to love what they were singing."

"The Marriage of Figaro"

When: 7 p.m. Saturday, Tuesday and May 16; 8 p.m. May 11; 2 p.m. May 13

Where: San Diego Opera at the San Diego Civic Theatre, Third Avenue
at B Street, San Diego

Info: (619) 533-7000

Web:

The Jewish Journal
2007-05-04
The Armenian Genocide debate pits moral values against realpolitik
Time to take sides?
By Tom Tugend, Contributing Editor
w.php?id=17609

Rabbis Harold Schulweis, left, and Edward Feinstein flank Armenian
Archbishop Hovnan Derderian at Valley Beth Shalom. Photo by Jeremy Oberstein
The Turkish ambassador to the United States, Nabi Sensoy, dropped in at The
Jewish Journal a couple of weeks ago for an hourlong conversation with its
editors. Last Friday evening, Archbishop Hovnan Derderian of the Armenian
Church of North America stood on the bimah of Valley Beth Shalom, hugged its
rabbi and called the occasion a turning point in Armenian-Jewish relations.

All the attention is flattering, but its underlying cause confronts the
Jewish community with choices that — perhaps oversimplified — pits its
moral values and sympathies against the realpolitik of American and Israeli
policymakers.

At the root of the split is a wound that has been festering since 1915, when
Muslim Turkey and its Ottoman Empire were fighting Russia, France and
Britain during World War I. Charging that the Christian Armenian minority in
eastern Turkey was collaborating with the invading Russians, Turkey
deported, starved and brutalized much of its Armenian population.

According to the Armenians, backed by predominant historical analysis,
between 1915 and 1923, Turkey killed 1.5 million Armenian civilians in a
planned genocide. Turkey maintains that some 300,000 Armenians died, but
that an equal number of Turks perished, and that both sides were victims of
chaotic wartime conditions, disease and famine, not a predetermined
extermination.

Turks refer to the wartime slaughter by the Arabic word mukapele, which
Sensoy translated during a phone interview as "mutual massacre."

Year after year, Armenian Americans have commemorated the beginning of the
slaughter by demanding that modern Turkey formally acknowledge the
persecutions and deaths of their ancestors as the Armenian Genocide. Just as
consistently, the Ankara government has refused.

This year, the inflammation of the old wound has intensified, marked by the
introduction of a congressional resolution that the U.S. government
officially recognize the killing of Armenians as a genocide. Both on Capitol
Hill and on the grass-roots level, the strongest outside voices supporting
the Armenian cause are those of Jews, Los Angeles Jews at that, and the
reasons seem obvious.

"How can we, the people decimated by the Holocaust, stand on the sidelines?"
asked Rabbi Harold Schulweis. "Perhaps if the world had stood up against the
first genocide of the 20th century against the Armenians, the Holocaust
might have been prevented.

"It is obscene for us, of all people, to quibble about definitions," said
Schulweis, spiritual leader of Valley Beth Shalom in Encino and long in the
forefront of social and interfaith initiatives.

In 2004, Schulweis channeled his demand for action against world genocides
by founding Jewish World Watch, focusing first on the ongoing massacres in
Darfur. This year, the nonprofit was organized well enough to expand its
reach, sponsoring a joint commemoration of "the 92nd anniversary of the
Armenian Genocide" at Shulweis’ temple.

At a dinner preceding the Friday evening Shabbat service, Los Angeles Mayor
Antonio Villaraigosa, Derderian and Janice Kamenir-Reznik, president of
Jewish World Watch, struck a common theme. Jews and Armenians, two ancient
peoples who have preserved their faiths and cultures through long diasporas,
must be as one in remembering both their genocides and preventing such
catastrophes in the future.

At the overflow dinner for 500, the majority Armenians, Rabbi Edward M.
Feinstein of the host synagogue noted other striking similarities between
the two ethnic groups.

"We both like to talk, loudly, we both like to eat and we both have
reverence for our churches and synagogues, even if we don’t attend
services," he said.

Derderian, a youthful-looking prelate at 49 and a striking figure in a black
robe and hood, pointed to some demographic similarities, as well. There are
some 450,000 Armenians in Los Angeles, compared to 550,000 Jews, he said,
and as primate of his church’s Western Diocese, encompassing 14 states, he
leads a flock of 800,000.

During the Shabbat service attended by some 1,100 Jewish and Armenian
worshippers, Schulweis summarized his position, saying, "Of genocides, we
cannot say, ‘Mine is mine and yours is yours,’ because both are ours."

The combined choirs of Valley Beth Shalom and St. Peter Armenian Church
movingly concluded the evening with the singing of the Armenian and Israeli
national anthems, both expressing the longing for lost homelands, followed
by "America the Beautiful."

The Jewish and Armenian communities will come together again on May 15, when
Jewish World Watch, now supported by 54 synagogues, will honor two Armenian
scholars and activists at Adat Ari El synagogue. The honorees of the I
Witness Award will be filmmaker Michael Hagopian and UCLA professor Richard
G. Hovannisian.

Jewish support for the Armenian grievances has not been unanimous. Rep. Adam
B. Schiff (D-Burbank), who represents a large Armenian constituency and has
introduced House Resolution 106 calling for U.S. recognition of the 1915
genocide, has sent letters to four Jewish organizations criticizing their
positions.

The Jewish legislator admonished the American Jewish Committee (AJ
Committee), B’nai B’rith International, the Anti-Defamation League and
Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA), which had jointly
transmitted to House leaders a letter from the organized Jewish Community of
Turkey.

In the letter, addressed to the AJCommittee, the Turkish Jewish leaders
expressed their concern that the Schiff resolution "has the clear
possibility of potentially endangering the interests of the United States"
by straining Turkey’s relations with Washington and Israel.

JINSA supported the letter’s view, while the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
quoted ADL National Director Abraham Foxman as stating that "I don’t think
congressional action will reconcile the issue. The resolution takes a
position, it comes to a judgment."

Foxman added that "the Turks and Armenians need to revisit their past. The
Jewish community shouldn’t be the arbiter of that history nor should the
U.S. Congress."

In his written response, Schiff took the action of the American Jewish
organizations as "tantamount to an implicit and inappropriate endorsement of
the position of the letter’s authors."

He added, "I cannot see how major Jewish American organizations can in good
conscience and in any way support efforts to deny the undeniable."

In a phone interview, Schiff reaffirmed his criticism of the Jewish
organizations and surmised that their opposition was influenced by Israel,
worried about harming its good relationship with Turkey.

"It would be a terrible mistake if the Israeli government became involved in
this matter," he said.

Schiff noted that his resolution, now under consideration by the House
Foreign Affairs Committee chaired by Rep. Tom Lantos (D-San Mateo), is
co-sponsored by 21 out of 30 Jewish representatives and by eight out of 13
Jewish senators in a companion resolution. He acknowledged that he is under
considerable pressure by the Bush administration and by former fellow
legislators now working for the Turkish lobby, which Schiff described as
"one of the most powerful" in Washington.

The Turkish Embassy in Washington, D.C., has also joined directly in the
struggle for the hearts and minds of the American people in general and
American Jews in particular. It has cultivated close relationships with
Jewish leaders and has retained a well-connected Jewish lobbyist to work
with the Jewish media.

The embassy recently placed full-page ads in The New York Times and Los
Angeles Times outlining a proposal to Armenia to appoint a joint commission
of historians, with full access to national archives, "to study the events
of 1915 and share the findings with the international public." In a phone
call from his embassy, Sensoy confirmed Turkey’s 2005 offer to Armenia for
establishing a joint commission and urged that the United States and other
countries participate in the investigation.

Citing the Turkish version of the 1915 events, Sensoy said that during the
Russian-Turkish battles of World War I, a large number of Armenians
supported the enemy, "and we had to relocate the Armenians in eastern Turkey
to Syria and Lebanon." The result, he said, was "a kind of civil war," in
which each side lost hundreds of thousands of lives.

"We are not saying we have all the truth, but we cannot accept guilt for the
worst of crimes without knowing what the truth is," Sensoy said.

Asked why Turkey could not put the whole problem behind it by issuing an
apology for deeds committed by a different regime at a different time,
Sensoy replied, "The Ottoman past is part of our glorious history, and we
cannot disassociate ourselves from the past."

On his special outreach to American Jews, Sensoy commented that "Jews are in
the best position to understand the problem. We also have the best relations
with Israel."

Drawing a parallel between Auschwitz and the disasters of 1915 "would be a
disservice" to the memory of the Holocaust, said Sensoy. "After all, no Jews
took up arms against the Germans and killed thousands of them."

Caught somewhat uneasily in the middle is the small, unorganized Turkish
Jewish community of 100-200 residents of Los Angeles.

Dr. Moshe Arditi, vice chair of the pediatrics department at Cedars-Sinai
Medical Center, said he is pleased by "the recent movement toward an opening
up in Turkey." He pointed to a massive rally by both Turks and Armenians in
Istanbul to protest the murder of a local Armenian journalist.

Arditi endorsed a "historical fact-finding study" of the 1915 events that
"could lead to dialogue between the parties."

But the joint commission proposal finds no resonance among critics of
Turkey. Derderian, who described himself as "a grandson of survivors,"
rejected any dialogue before Turkish recognition of the Armenian Genocide.

Schiff commented that "there is no question among historians that what
happened was genocide. It’s like asking the Sudanese government to judge
what’s happening in Darfur."

Schulweis drew a different analogy, saying, "The proposal is similar to
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad calling a conference to examine the
truth of the Holocaust."

IN REMEMBRANCE OF A MILLION WHO PERISHED
By Waveney Ann Moore

St. Petersburg Times (Florida)
April 24, 2007 Tuesday

Survivors’ lives and writings recounted the horror endured by those
caught in the Armenian Genocide.

The women chatted around the dining table, each a witness to her
family’s suffering, a genocide mostly unknown around the world and
vigorously denied by the nation blamed for it.

Mary Enkababian, 86, illustrated her late husband’s story with
sepia-toned photographs and an autobiography he had written. The late
Antranik A. Enkababian was one of only three people in a large family
group photograph to have survived the World War I massacre that is
referred to as the first genocide of the 20th century.

On Sunday — in anticipation of today’s international observance of
Martyr’s Day – Armenians from around the Tampa Bay area gathered in
Pinellas Park to remember those who perished. The memorial service
at St. Hagop Armenian Church honored the 1-million to 1.5-million
men, women and children who died between 1915 and 1923. At the time,
Armenians, a Christian minority in a Muslim community, lived in what
is now eastern Turkey and in the southeastern part of the country,
now occupied principally by Kurds.

In 1915, say historians, the Central Committee of the Young Turk Party
of the Ottoman Empire deported thousands of Armenians, sending them
to starvation and death in the Syrian desert. Many were attacked and
killed and young women were raped and forced into harems or to marry
their abductors.

Sima Palakian and Martha Samuelian said their mother was one of the
many young women forced into marriage. The two Pinellas County women
didn’t find out the details of their mother’s experience until after
her death. She had been forced to marry a Kurdish man and had two
children with him. When she escaped, she was forced to leave the two
children behind.

"She was very sad all the time," recalled Samuelian, 79, a Palm
Harbor resident who only learned what had happened when she visited
an elderly uncle in France.

Her sister too was stunned. "It was unbelievable. It was like how did
Mom ever leave her children and come to America? She must have been a
very brave lady to do this. She wanted her freedom," said Palakian, 78.

In his autobiography, Enkababian’s husband told of his family’s
deportation from their home in north central Turkey in June 1915. His
father was killed, and during the difficult journey, his mother
decided to drown herself and her children in the Euphrates River.

Enkababian’s husband, only 6 at the time, told his mother he didn’t
want to die. "Before dawn, " he wrote, "my mother took my brother and
my sister to the river. As I watched, the heartless waves of water
swept away my 2 -1/2-year-old sister, Araksy." He said his 4-year-old
brother and mother were saved by a Kurd who wanted money to rescue
them. When the family could produce none, his uncle was badly beaten.

Sitting with her friends Thursday in her On Top of the World apartment
in Clearwater, Mary Haydostian said only her mother and her mother’s
younger brother survived the genocide. At the time, said Haydostian,
75, her mother’s father was working for Ford in Michigan to save
money to bring his family to America. "Unfortunately, his wife and
six of his children, his brothers and his cousins died," she said.

During the deportation, Haydostian said her mother had to make
the most difficult decision of her life. With no food and water
and struggling to go on, she was advised to leave her baby girl in
front of an Armenian church in a strange village. The hope was that
someone would take pity on the little girl and care for her. Other
heartbroken mothers did the same. Unlike many survivors, Haydostian’s
mother would later talk about the horrors she experienced.

"She talked about it all the time. She said many of her friends could
not talk about it. She got solace talking about it," Haydostian said.

Like some other Armenian women, her mother would later marry an
Armenian already living in America. Haydostian said her mother
remarried in Cuba and arrived in America through Key West.

Stories such as these notwithstanding, the Armenian Genocide is a
controversial topic. The Turkish government’s position is that it
never happened and its laws forbid discussion of the topic, said
Rouben Adalian, director of the Armenian National Institute in
Washington, D.C.

The U.S. government recognizes that the atrocities occurred, but
current and previous administrations have stopped short of using
the term genocide, because of Turkey’s strategic importance, Adalian
said. In a report commissioned by the Turkish Armenian Reconciliation
Commission, the International Center for Transitional Justice also
labels the World War I occurrences genocide.

Starting in June, the Florida Holocaust Museum will host an exhibition
about the Armenian Genocide. "We really feel that it is important
to talk about other acts of hatred and other genocides, basically
for public awareness and obviously, as we say, over and over again,
to prevent it from happening again," said Erin Blankenship, curator
of exhibitions and collections at the museum.

Few survivors of the genocide remain to tell their story. Palakian
hopes future generations will continue to observe what is referred
to as Martyrs’ Day on Tuesday. "In my family, I know it will go on
with my granddaughter and grandson. I’m hoping and praying that other
grandchildren remember."

IF YOU GO

Exhibit

Bread Paintings by Apo Torosyan, a mixed media exhibit, runs June 2
through Sept. 16 at the Florida Holocaust Museum, 55 Fifth St. S, St.

Petersburg. Call (727) 820-0100 or visit

GRAPHIC: PHOTO, Ted McLaren – Times: Clearwater resident Mary
Haydostian, 75, said only her mother and her mother’s younger brother
survived the genocide. PHOTO, Ted McLaren – Times: Martha Samuelian,
Palakian’s sister, said their mom was "very sad all the time."

Samuelian didn’t learn about her mom’s past until after she died.

PHOTO, Ted McLaren – Times: Sima Palakian, 87, said her mother
was one of the many young women forced into marriage during the
Armenian Genocide during World War I. PHOTO: Photo courtesy of Mary
Haydostian: Only three members in this 1914 Enkababian family photo
escaped death during the World War I genocide, which continues to be
denied or minimized by many nations. Many who did live through it
only reluctantly recounted their experience. PHOTO, Ted McLaren –
Times: Mary Enkababian, 86, left, used family photos to illustrate
the autobiography written by her late husband, Antranik Enkababian,
one of the survivors.

NO ARMENIAN GENOCIDE RESOLUTION FROM THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: LESSONS FOR THE FUTURE
Barin Kayaoglu

Journal of Turkish Weekly, Turkey
May 1 2007

Until last week, Turkish policy-makers were quite concerned that the
U.S. House of Representatives might pass a resolution recognizing
the events of 1915 as a genocide against the Armenian people. Foreign
Minister Abdullah Gul and Chief of General Staff Gen. Yaþar Buyukanýt
had spent time in Washington in February talking to American officials,
explaining the dangers of such a resolution.

April 24 (the symbolic anniversary that the Armenians claim was when
their "genocide" began in 1915) has come and gone and it seems that
the resolution has been conveniently swept under the rug.

That is very auspicious. Turkish politics is quite volatile right now
because of the presidential elections. On the one hand, there is much
cause to be hopeful that it is civil society and not the military that
is framing the debate. (Friday night’s press statement by the Turkish
General Staff has thrown things off course but Turkey has the capacity
to sustain the turmoil.) People are voicing contrasting opinions in
different forums, most conspicuously in mass demonstrations. Perhaps
for the first time, the demos (people) are pushing for their kratos
(rule) in Turkey.

The genocide bill could have changed that. The feeling of being
"surrounded" worsens Turkish people’s approach to regional and
international events. Discussions of the Armenian question are still
hostage to that feeling. As the Washington-based PEW Center’s surveys
indicate, an overwhelming majority of Turkish people – justifiably
or not – perceive the United States as the greatest danger for world
peace at the moment. It is astonishing to note that Turkey, a formal
U.S. ally, records highest anti-U.S. sentiment in the Middle East.

One reason is that Turks believe that the United States is deliberately
provoking PKK-instigated terrorism from Northern Iraq.

Thus, had the resolution passed, American legislators could have
caused catastrophic damage to Turkish-American relations.

Substantively, a resolution would not have meant much. Turkey would
have still been an important regional power while the United States
would have continued its course as a global superpower. It would have
been cataclysmic, however, for ordinary Turks to become completely
incensed at the United States and to force their leaders to take a
tougher stance against Washington. Turkish decision-makers would have
followed suit.

In an ideal world, Turkey and Armenia should have solved their problems
long ago. However, the events of 1915 relate to the very genesis of
the two nations’ self-perception. Both sides are unwilling to accept
that their ancestors did more than they admitted. Guilt was mutual,
although the degree of responsibility can be disputed.

But a self-righteous bill from Capitol Hill would have added fuel to
fire and derailed the respectable (albeit small) Turkish and Armenian
efforts to come to an understanding. For the first time since World
War I, Turkish and Armenian scholars are listening to the arguments of
the "other" side and they are doing it in a civilized manner. Some are
even accepting the viewpoints of the "other" side. For the first time,
there is a possibility that Friedrich Hegel’s "thesis + antithesis =
synthesis" assertion can apply to Turks and Armenians.

It is worth noting that the House resolution was probably shelved
in order not to aggravate the situation in Turkey. However, Turkish
people should bear in mind that such resolutions and declarations
do not mean much. It takes historians a lot of research, writing,
editing, and re-editing to reach conclusion on historical events. For
poorly-informed politicians to skip that process and pretend that
they know more about history than historians do is unfair.

Just as it is unfair for politicians to disrespect historians, it is
equally imprudent for statesmen and the public to react in an immature
way to decisions that are a result of a poor understanding of history.

Next year, both the United States and Turkey may face the same
predicament over the issue of whether the tragedies of 1915 were a
genocide or not. Opinion and decision-makers should focus on cajoling
public and political opinion that there is no need for botched
responses. Overall, the best course to take would be to leave the
affair to Turks and Armenians.

1 May 2007

Barýn Kayaoðlu is a Ph.D. student in history at the University of
Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia and a regular contributor to
the Journal of Turkish Weekly.

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