Author: Kajoyan Gevork

GENOCIDE SURVIVORS EXEMPLIFY HUMAN RESILIENCE

Western Queens Gazette

March 28 2012
NY

This past weekend, the oldest residents of the New York Armenian Home
in Flushing shared their memories as victims of the first organized
genocide of the 20th century. The survivors recounted their memories of
watching relatives being murdered before their then young eyes, forced
marches through the Syrian desert, starvation and torture. They also
recounted instances of how some of their Muslim neighbors sheltered
the young victims and helped them get to safety in Lebanon, Syria
and eventually the United States.

The genocidal acts that began in 1915 and continued until 1923 did
not constitute the first or only occasion Armenian Christians were
subject to persecution in a non-Christian nation. It was, however,
the first time that a government made systematic, organized attempts
to wipe out an entire indigenous population as a matter of policy. That
government succeeded beyond the wildest dreams of those who planned and
carried out the massacres. Prior to 1915, despite sporadic persecutions
going back centuries, two million Armenians lived and worshiped in
2,000 churches in Turkish-controlled Armenia. After the genocide,
70,000 Armenians and 50 churches remained.

The lessons of the first organized, systematic genocidal act of the
20th century did not go unnoticed by succeeding generations. “Who after
all speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?” Adolf Hitler
was quoted as asking in August 1939 as he prepared to undertake
the systematic annihilation of six million Jews and another six
million gypsies, homosexuals and other groups he deemed “racially
undesirable”. The Holocaust was followed by the killing fields of
Cambodia, “ethnic cleansing” in Bosnia, Serbia and other Balkan
states and the conflict between Rwandan minority Tutsi, who had
controlled power for centuries, and the majority Hutu that broke
out in 1994. The 21st century got off to a flying start as far as
genocides were concerned, with conflicts in the region of Darfur
in Sudan and Sri Lanka, an island nation off the southern coast
of India. We know we have hit just the high spots; at this moment
around the world, members of one ethnic group, nationality or tribe
are trying assiduously to wipe another off the face of the earth.

We like to think that we as human beings are capable of improvement.

Our species points with pride to our having developed from the
humanoid fossils of Olduvai Gorge in Africa to the specimens we are
today. Like a certain brand of paint, we humans cover the earth and,
we like to think, have, in a good many instances, left it better than
we found it. Sadly, though, sometimes there are those who decide that
“improving” a particular corner of the world means eradicating other
human beings.

The venerable residents at the New York Armenian Home who have retold
their stories in anticipation of the commemoration of the 1915-1923
genocide deserve the world’s attention and respect. They and the other
survivors of the monstrous crimes against humanity that pervaded the
last century and the beginning years of this one in which we find
ourselves make us realize once again that even as man is capable of
indescribable evil, so too can mankind achieve immeasurable good. We
are beings endowed with free will; it seems to us that in spite of the
evil which sometimes threatens to overwhelm us, more often than not we
choose the higher path, however strewn with obstacles it may be. Hope
springs eternal, and like spring, we welcome it as rejuvenation of our
weary hearts in which altruism and nobility still remain unconquered.

ARMENIAN DEFENSE MINISTER VISITS U.S. AMID GROWING TIES
by Joshua Kucera

EurasiaNet.org
March 27 2012
NY

Armenia’s defense minister Seyran Ohanian has wrapped up a three-day
visit to the U.S., as military relations between the U.S. and Armenia
quietly strengthen. Ohanian’s visit was his first to the U.S. since
he became defense minister in 2008, according to Armenian Reporter,
which reported that he met with his counterpart Leon Panetta and CIA
director David Petraeus, among other officials.

Last month, the two countries agreed to carry out their first-ever
joint military exercises in April. And Wikileaked U.S. diplomatic
cables show that Ohanian is someone the U.S. likes working with,
Armenian Reporter notes:

Although this was Ohanyan’s first visit to U.S. since his appointment
as defense minister in 2008, Ohanyan is known to have a good rapport
with Americans, meeting Petraeus and other senior U.S. officials during
visits with Armenian peacekeeping units in Iraq and Afghanistan and
to NATO headquarters in Brussels.

“The better we get to know Minister Ohanian, the more we like him as a
partner in political-military efforts,” U.S. Charge in Armenia Joseph
Pennington wrote in a 2009 cable made available by Wikileaks. “He
seems a straightforward interlocutor, who is respected in the Armenian
government and within the Defense Ministry. His credibility as a
soldier is very high, given his long experience commanding NKSDF
[Nagorno Karabakh Self Defense Forces] troops.”

“We are pleased to find General Ohanian interested and committed on
Armenia’s NATO-related defense reform efforts and Euro-Atlantic ties,”
Pennington wrote.

Of course, Russia is still going to be Armenia’s main big power
patron — Armenia is going to the site of this year’s Collective
Security Treaty Organization exercises. And for the U.S. Armenia
will remain the lowest priority in the south Caucasus, behind Georgia
and Azerbaijan. But Armenia appears to be moving in a somewhat more
multivectoral direction. Emil Danielyan wrote in Jamestown last month:

Armenia plans to hold first-ever joint military exercises with
the United States just months after agreeing to a more ambitious
cooperation framework with NATO. Highlighting its “complementary”
foreign and security policy, Yerevan at the same time seems intent on
deepening its already close military ties with Russia through a new
defense treaty to be negotiated soon. Remarkably, there have been no
indications yet that Moscow is annoyed by this increasingly delicate
balancing act.

Makes you curious what sort of conversations Yerevan is having with
Moscow about all this….

ECOLOGISTS STUDY KURA, ARAKS RIVERS

Vestnik Kavkaza
March 28 2012
Russia

The Azerbaijani Department for National Monitoring of the Ministry
for Ecology and Natural Resources have monitored Rivers Kura and
Araks in mid-March, 1news.az reports.

The department said that the water level dropped by 8 cubic meters per
second to 129 cubic meters per second, compared with the first decade
of March. It also registered pollution caused by Armenia and Georgia.

The oxygen regime of Rivers Kura and Araks varies from 5.71 to
6.14 mg/l.

ANC BURBANK’S GALA TO BENEFIT EXPANDED COMMUNITY ROLE IN PUBLIC SERVICE

asbarez
Friday, March 23rd, 2012

ANCA’s Elizabeth Chouldjian will be the keynote speaker at the event

ANCA’s Elizabeth Chouldjian to discuss Washington DC Efforts to
Educate Legislators; Increase Armenian American Civic Participation

BURBANK-The Armenian National Committee of Burbank has taken community
calls for broader Armenian American participation in the public policy
sector to heart, placing this year’s May 4 Banquet spotlight on the
ANCA Endowment Fund’s civic education and youth empowerment programs.

The gala event will take place at the Arbat Banquet Hall, located
at 711 South San Fernando Boulevard Burbank, CA 91502. Opportunities
to purchase special pre-sale reduced Banquet tickets will be coming
to end on April 6th, after which tickets for the annual dinner and
dance will return to their regular prices.

ANCA Communications Director Elizabeth Chouldjian will be joining with
the Burbank community on that evening to discuss the successes of the
ANCA Capital Gateway Program and the Leo Sarkisian Summer Internship
program in expanding Armenian American youth participation in the
American civic and public policy arena. In support of these and other
efforts to educate elected officials and media about Armenian American
concerns, the ANC Burbank designated the ANCA Endowment Fund as the
beneficiary of this year’s banquet proceeds.

“For over 25 years – through our annual Leo Sarkisian Summer Internship
Program in Washington, DC and now the Capital Gateway Program –
the ANCA has trained a generation of Armenian grassroots advocates,
opening doors to countless new opportunities for recent graduates in
DC’s public policy world,” said Chouldjian. “I look forward to sharing
our successes, and together with the Burbank community, exploring
innovative ways we can expand Armenian American civic participation.”

Chouldjian, a graduate of UCLA with a Bachelors in Materials
Engineering, is a 16-year veteran of the ANCA Washington office. She
will be joining Burbank’s own Congressman Adam Schiff (D-CA), who
will be the guest of honor at this year’s ANC Burbank Annual Banquet.

As a member of the House Appropriations Committee, Rep. Schiff has been
a consistent supporter of high levels of U.S. assistance to Armenia and
Karabakh, and most recently, in a meeting with Republic of Georgia
President Mikheil Saakashvili, advocated for targeted economic
assistance for Georgia’s Armenian populated Samtskhe-Javakheti
(Javakhk) region. Rep. Schiff offered hard-hitting questioning
of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at a House Appropriations
Subcommittee on State-Foreign Operations hearing, during which
he urged her to clarify the Obama Administration’s position on
the Armenian Genocide. A Congressional letter to the Secretary of
State, spearheaded by Rep. Schiff and Rep. Robert Dold (R-Il), urging
Secretary Clinton to stop misrepresenting the Armenian Genocide as a
“historical debate,” was signed by over 60 Members of Congress.

Following the dinner program, Burbank’s local singing sensation
Koko Hayitian will be entertaining guests with his Armenian and
international music repertoire. Hayitian has turned down engagements
in the East Coast and Canada to lend his support to the ANC Burbank’s
efforts.

For more information about the banquet and to secure reservations,
please contact Silva Kechichian at [email protected] or visit the ANCA
Burbank Facebook page – facebook.com/ancaburbank

TURKISH HYPOCRISY
by Benny Morris

Mar 28, 2012 10:30 AM EDT

A fortnight ago, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s prime minister,
accused Israel of committing “genocide” against the Palestinians.

Speaking before members of his AK Party, the Islamist party that
has ruled Turkey since 2002, Erdogan said that the “children of
the Holocaust”-the Israelis-had for a century been “systematically”
carrying out a campaign of genocide against the Palestinian people.

Erdogan’s comment was triggered by the week-long Israeli-Palestinian
flareup around the Gaza Strip, which had been set off by months
of low-level rocketing by Palestinian terrorists of Israeli border
villages and, more immediately, by the March 9th assassination by
Israeli aircraft of Zuhir al-Qaisi, the head of the Popular Resistance
Committees, one of the armed factions in the strip. (The Israelis
said he was targeted because he was busy organizing a terrorist raid
into Israel-a “ticking bomb,” as it were.)

Iran’s First Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi (R) stands along
side Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan during a welcoming
ceremony in Tehran on March 28, 2012, Atta Kenare / AFP / Getty Images

During that bout of violence, the Resistance Committees and its
sister organization, the Islamic Jihad (though apparently without
the participation of the Hamas, the dominant Palestinian armed group
in the territory), had fired more than 200 rockets into Israel,
aimed at the cities of Beersheba, Ashdod and Ashkelon as well as at
nearby rural communities. Several Israelis were injured but there
were no fatalities.

The low level of Israeli casualties was due to compliance with
government instructions to sit out the violence in bomb shelters-which
included the closure of schools in much of southern Israel for days
on end-and to the effective functioning of the recently-perfected
Iron Dome anti-missile missile system, that shot down most of the
incoming rockets bound for city centers.

In the Israeli counterstrikes during the week, mostly by manned
aircraft and drones, 26 Palestinians died-twenty-two of them
terrorists and militants, mostly members of rocketeering squads,
killed either before or after launching their projectiles. Four of
the Palestinian dead were civilians. The ratio of militant to civilian
dead is remarkable, given that the terrorists produce and store their
missiles in built-up areas and often launch them from sites next to
civilian houses; it indicates that the Israeli military took great
pains to avoid hitting civilians. During the week-long exchange,
the Gaza Strip’s schools functioned normally; unlike Erdogan (and
some of its own spokesmen), the Gaza population knows exactly who
the IDF targets and puts its faith in the air force’s accuracy.

This bout of violence, of course, is but the latest in the countless
eruptions that have dotted the Zionist-Palestinian conflict over the
past hundred or so years.. It is not a “genocide” by any stretch of
the imagination or language. Arabs have been killing Jews and Jews
have been killing Arabs for decades-and while it is true that Jews,
given their superior skills, have killed Arabs in greater numbers
than Arabs have killed Jews, it is not for want of Arab trying.

Indeed, if genocidal intentions have been present anywhere in
the conflict, it is on the Arab side-or as Abdul Rahman Azzam,
the secretary general of the Arab League told the British minister
in Amman, Alec Kirkbride, on the eve of the pan-Arab invasion of
Israel/Palestine of 15 May 1948, the Arabs’ aim was to drive the Jews
“into the sea.”

Erdogan’s description of Israeli behavior toward the Palestinians as
“genocidal” is mendacious and inflammatory. And it is mind-boggling
in its chutzpah and hypocrisy, given the fact that Erdogan heads
a state that has actually perpetrated several bouts of genocide in
the not-too-distant past, against the Armenians and, to a degree,
against the Asia Minor Greeks between 1894 and 1923.

Turks may dispute the authenticity of this or that document found in
foreign archives (their own archives have been thoroughly purged of
any trace of the successive stages of the Armenian genocide)-such as
the handwritten notes by Ahmet Esat, the director of the Second Branch
of the Security Office of the Turkish Ministry of Interior, relating
to a meeting of the heads of the Committee of Union and Progress,
the group that ruled Istanbul, in January 1915 that set in train
the massacres (“Apply measures to exterminate all males under 50,
priests and teachers, leave girls and children to be Islamized…

Kill off in an appropriate manner all Armenians in the army…”)

But there is no disputing the testimony of the many thousands of
Armenian and Greek survivors of the murderous “deportations” or of
the American missionaries, and the reports by German and British and
American consuls and businessmen (and the occasional Turkish “traitor”)
who recorded what happened in real time during the horrific massacres,
which resulted in between 1.5 to 2 million dead Armenians and Greeks.

Turkish officialdom may publicly dispute this historical reality
and, in an effort at browbeating, may threaten and even cut off
relations or contacts with this or that country-as it recently did
with France when the French parliament introduced legislation to
prohibit Armenian-genocide denial. But the Turks know. And their
acute sensitivity regarding the genocide charge is probably a good
indication of their knowledge about what their forefathers did a few
decades ago. Charging others with genocide may simply be a defense and
denial mechanism. In Erdogan’s case, traditional Islamic antipathy
towards “the Jews”-“a base” people and “murderers of prophets,”
as the Koran puts it in one of its suras-may also play a role.

Up-front honesty may be shooting for the stars. But surely we are
entitled to a measure of humility and contrition from the Erdogans
of this world-or at least their silence.

WE APPRECIATE UAE’S BALANCED FOREIGN POLICY – ARMENIAN PARLIAMENT SPEAKER

news.am
March 29, 2012 | 17:05

YEREVAN. – Armenia’s National Assembly (NA) delegation led by NA
Speaker Samvel Nikoyan, which was in Almaty to attend the anniversary
session of the Interparliamentary Assembly Council of the Commonwealth
of Independent States (CIS), on Wednesday headed to the United Arab
Emirates (UAE) on a working visit.

And on Thursday, the delegation had a working meeting with UAE Federal
National Council Speaker, Mohammed Ahmed Al Murr.

The UAE Federal National Council Speaker expressed a hope that this
visit by the Armenian delegation will contribute to the development
of bilateral interparliamentary ties, NA Press Service informed
Armenian News-NEWS.am.

In his turn, Nikoyan noted that Armenia places a huge importance
to developing relations with the Arab states of the Persian Gulf,
and appreciates UAE’s balanced foreign policy.

Armenia’s NA Speaker also underscored the activities of the
interparliamentary friendship groups.

The interlocutors placed a special emphasis on stimulating cooperation
in the domains of trade, economy, and tourism.

Also, Samvel Nikoyan presented Armenia’s regional projects, and
expressed a hope that the UAE would take part in their implementation.

Furthermore, Armenia’s parliament speaker informed about the current
level of Armenian-Turkish relations and the Armenian party’s position
with respect to peaceful settlement of the Karabakh conflict, and
reflected on other regional matters.

NK ACTING FM RECEIVES ANDRZEJ KASPRZYK

Panorama.am
29/03/2012

On March 29, Acting Foreign Minister of the Republic of
Nagorno-Karabakh Vassily Atajanian received Personal Representative
of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk, NKR MFA
press service reported.

Issues of mutual interest, as well as the results of the OSCE Mission’s
monitoring of the NKR and Azerbaijani armed forces’ contact-line were
discussed at the meeting.

ARF BUREAU, CENTRAL COMMITTEES MEET IN CHICAGO

Armenian Weekly
March 29, 2012

Representatives of the ARF Bureau and the Central Committees of the
Eastern and Western U.S. met in Chicago on March 18 to discuss issues
concerning Armenian Americans, the situation in the Middle East, and
the upcoming parliamentary elections in Armenia. Mgrditch Mgrditchian
from Lebanon and Hagop Der Khatchadourian from Canada represented
the Bureau.

(L-R) Hagop Der Khatchadourian, Greg Bedian, and Mgrditch Mgrditchian A
day earlier, a reception took place with the presence of the delegates
and members of Chicago’s Armenian American community. Around 150
attended the event, among them spiritual leaders, members of the
Armenian Relief Society (ARS), and students.

“Krisdapor” Gomideh representative Greg Bedian gave opening remarks,
welcoming the guests. ARF Eastern Region Central Committee Chair
Antranig Kasbarian moderated the event. Der Khatchadourian then spoke
about the challenges facing Armenia on the eve of the parliamentary
elections, including its economic conditions, security concerns,
and emigration issues. He spoke about the ARF’s support of the 100
percent party-list proportional representation system, adding that
those European countries that started by having plurality vote
in single-member constituencies, later switched to proportional
representation system. He also noted that the elections were a chance
for regime change.

Mgrditchian then spoke about Hai Tahd and the situation in the
Middle East. Regarding the former, he noted how in recent years, the
demand for recognition had turned into a demand for reparations. In
that context, he said the Catholicosate of Cilicia had recently
organized a conference titled, “From Recognition to Reparations,”
with the participation of both Armenian and non-Armenian legal
experts, political analysts, academics, genocide scholars, and the
representatives of various organizations. Mgrditchian also spoke about
the Syrian Armenian community and the recent parliamentary elections,
saying that one would be wrong to characterize the community as an
entity that does not exercise political will, only serving the role
of an appendage to the authorities. He also reminded the audience
of the Lebanese Armenian community’s position of positive neutrality
during the Lebanese Civil War.

OMBUDSMAN: 4G WIRELESS INTERNET INTRODUCED IN ARMENIA

PanARMENIAN.Net
March 29, 2012 – 14:06 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Despite the fact that new rates were set by Armenia’s
Public Services Regulatory Commission in 2011, the lists of tariffs
for 2007 haven’t been compared with that of 2008.

According to the assessment of commission’s activity in 2011 published
by RA Ombudsman’s Office, in certain cases, the service company
did not provide equal facilities for the population in the field of
wireless telephony.

The public has not been properly informed about settlement of disputes
on electric power fluctuations. Lack of alternative laboratories
(basically inspection of gas and electricity meters) caused public
distrust of metering devices test results. Twenty-four-hour water
supply remains an acute issue.

Provision of free “short” telephone numbers to 19 state institutions
and organizations (ESM, HRDO and etc.) is among the Commission’s key
achievements. It also reconsidered tariffs for drinking water and
took a decision to reduce them by AMD 8.

YEREVAN POULTRY FARM SELLS IMPORTED CHICKEN UNDER LOCAL BRAND? – NEWSPAPER

news.am
March 29, 2012 | 08:42

YEREVAN. – Armenian capital Yerevan’s “Arax” Poultry Farm is importing
frozen chicken from abroad, but it is selling it under local brand
name, Zhoghovurd daily writes, referring to the information it
received.

“We applied to the [Armenian] State Commission for the Protection of
Economic Competition (ASCPEC), to verify this information, where such
alarm was already raised. [And] It became apparent that the ASCPEC
is currently conducting inspections in the poultry market.

In its turn, the State Food Safety Service informed that there is no
technical capability in Armenia to check and differentiate between
the imported frozen chicken and the local frozen chicken. That is,
imported chicken could be sold under local production brand.

We also applied to “Arax’s” owner Khachik Khachatryan-Khachik
of Valencia-for clarifications, who yelled in anger: ‘We are not
unoccupied to answer to your questions and solve your problems!’,
and then he hung up the phone,” Zhoghovurd writes.