Author: Kajoyan Gevork

LET TURKEY AND ARMENIA WORK OUT THEIR DIFFERENCES

The Washington Note
March 18, 2009 Wednesday 7:54 PM EST

Armenian President Serzh Sargsian and Turkish Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdogan at Davos.

The Los Angeles Times reported yesterday that the administration
is reconsidering President Obama’s campaign promise to declare that
the Armenians were victims of a genocide during the collapse of the
Ottoman Empire nearly one hundred years ago.

Also yesterday, the House of Representatives introducedH. Res 252,
which declares the killings genocide.

To understand these recent announcements, it is important to understand
the underlying politics.

To paraphrase Brent Scowcroft, the issue of whether to declare the
killings genocide is not a foreign policy issue, but a domestic
political issue. Similar to our policies toward Israel and Cuba,
a well-mobilized and well-funded minority – in this case led by the
Armenian National Committee of America and the Armenian Assembly of
America – wields disproportionate influence.

President Obama’s decision to "postpone" his genocide declaration
should not come as a surprise. Former Presidents George W. Bush and
Clinton each also refrained from using the word as president after
pledging to do so as candidates.

The reason for this is simple.

A genocide declaration would be deeply harmful to our relationship with
Turkey, a relationship that has already suffered in recent years –
due primarily to disagreements about the Iraq war, but also because
of Turkey’s increasingly independent foreign policy and prominent
regional role under the moderately Islamist Justice and Development
Party (AKP) that assumed power in 2002.

Washington needs Turkish cooperation on a wide range of issues –
Iraq, Afghanistan, energy security, and Iran to name a few – and is
in no position to alienate the Turks.

Those who doubt the likely severity of the Turkish response should
note the uproar that the "I apologize" campaign – an initiative by
Turkish intellectuals and journalists to apologize for the "Great
Massacre" of Armenians – has caused.

Furthermore, this year there is another, perhaps even more compelling
reason to leave history to the historians.

Turkey and Armenia are closer to normalizing relations than at
any point since Turkey closed the border in 1993. But a genocide
declaration by Washington would likley undo more than a year of
diplomatic progress.

As part of the ongoing dialogue between Ankara and Yerevan, Turkish
officials have offered to compose a joint commission of historians to
determine whether a genocide occurred or not – and Armenian president
Serzh Sargsian has left the door open to this possibility.

If Turkey and Armenia can let the historians decide, then so too
should the United States.

As Sameer Lalwani has written on this blog, we have skeletons in our
own past – including what might be considered the genocide of Native
Americans and more than 75 years of racial slavery.

Supporters of the resolution tend to make arguments like Scott Paul’s
(from October 2007) – "that setting an example by doing the right thing
might build some goodwill and encourage others to behave similarly,
which would advance our interests in the long run."

While I agree that setting examples that lead to genuine norm creation
and that raise the global moral bar are important, it would make more
sense for us to confront our own historical memory than to meddle in
the historical memories of others.

We also need to abide by the Geneva Conventions, outlaw torture,
and honor civil liberties. Those are the kinds of examples that we
need to set.

MIRRORS: BIG FUN IN LITTLE BAVARIA: ALPINE VILLAGE WITHOUT TEARS
By Siran Babayan

LA Weekly, CA
Oct 6 2005

In a culturally crowded city like L.A., where Little Armenia cohabits
with Thai Town in East Hollywood, and the Byzantine-Latino Quarter is
just a stone’s throw from Koreatown in Pico-Union, the existence of a
neighborhood-within-a-neighborhood is hardly unusual. Except, perhaps,
when that home away from home is made to look like a 365-day-a-year,
Bavarian-themed ski lodge right off the 110 freeway.

In 1968, German transplants Hans and Teri Rotter brought back a bit
of old Deutschland into sunny Torrance (home of the German American
League!) when they built Alpine Village (833 W. Torrance Blvd.,
Torrance, 310-327-4384), making it not only another expatriate
enclave but one of L.A.’s kookiest virtual tourist destinations
for locals. This “Little City From the Alps,” as with most Little
Anywheres, is an idyllic version of the mother country, like winter
in a snow globe or spring carved out of a cuckoo clock that’s all
kitsch and fantasy. More than 20 shops sell such tchotchkes as
lederhosen, brindles and glazed steins, while the Alpine Market
offers all foods European and beyond, from frozen Polish pierogi
to Moroccan sardines. And, if getting hitched in a Vegas drive-thru
doesn’t feel quaint and cozy enough for you, there’s a chapel located
on-site. Now that we’re in the midst of Oktoberfest (the Mutter of
all SoCal celebrations), the beer garden becomes the sight and sound
of oompah-pah brass bands, bratwurst platters and the village’s own
brewed hofbrau that flows like the Rhine. You’d have to be hammered
to do that inexplicably popular “chicken dance,” in which drunken
revelers in floppy soccer-fan hats flap their arms to polka songs.

But while Alpine Village is that yearly autumn trip for most people,
there’s also a dance floor full of retirees at the Alpine Village
Inn for whom this place is the senior Studio 54. Serving classier
Mitteleuropean fare like schnitzel, veal and goulash, the two-level
restaurant – look for the giant bust of Beethoven – has three bars and
will no doubt be the place to shout “G*****oal!” at the big-screen TV
come next year’s World Cup. And, to be sure, there’s simply nothing
more entertaining than watching elderly couples cha-cha, foxtrot and
waltz to whatever song sounds like the Muzak version of “Guantanamera,”
“Lady of Spain” or “Volare.” Just study the way the couples pivot
and turn and dip like they’re on a bad ballroom-dancing TV special,
only minus the costumes and nuclear-orange tans. Or the way the fan
lady fans herself as if she were a Spanish señora, gliding along the
dance floor while stray kids fleeing the 75th-birthday tables get
caught under her feet. Get out of the way!

Not in front of the fan lady!

–Boundary_(ID_4LZq54xjb0eH0CAwwh3EtA)–

ELINA DANIELIAN BEATS MARTHA FIERO IN 9TH ROUND OF GRAND PRIX

Noyan Tapan
March 18, 2009

YEREVAN, MARCH 18, NOYAN TAPAN. In the 9th round of the Women Chess
Grand Prix in Istanbul, Elina Danielian of Armenia beat Ecuadorian
chess player Martha Fiero. E. Danielian with 6.5 points is in 4th
position and will play against world vice champion Hou Yifan of China
in the 10th round.

ALI BABACAN: US MAY NEED TURKEY TO WITHDRAW TROOPS FROM IRAQ

PanARMENIAN.Net
17.03.2009 01:27 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan said on Monday
that the United States earlier told Turkey that it might need Turkey
in general sense while withdrawing troops from Iraq, the Hurriyet
Daily News reports. Babacan said the United States has not yet made
plans about the number of soldiers and the route it would withdraw
the troops, adding that it would inform Turkey about its plans and
Turkey would make assessments about it.

"Iraqi people supports withdrawal of the U.S. soldiers and they want
this to take place soon," Babacan said and noted that Iraq had given
a signal to Turkey to assist this. He said Turkey would of course
consider its own conditions on the matter.

Commenting on scheduled visit of U.S. President Barack Obama to Turkey
next month, Babacan said this was a result of the positive impact of
Turkey’s influence both in the region and in the world.

About the agenda of the meeting with Obama, Babacan said
Afghanistan-Pakistan, developments in the Middle East, Iran, the
Caucasus, Balkans, Cyprus, Armenia, as well as Iraq would be discussed
during the talks.

In March 2003, Turkish parliament rejected to allow U.S. troops to
invade Iraq from Turkish territory.

ANC: POLITICAL PRISONERS HAVING SERIOUS HEALTH PROBLEMS ARE IN FACT TORTURED BY NOT RECEIVING PROPER MEDICAL AID

Noyan Tapan

M arch 16, 2009

YEREVAN, MARCH 16, NOYAN TAPAN. The Armenian National Congress (ANC)
spread a statement, according to which "political prisoners having
health problems, but not receiving proper medical aid by regime’s
order thus are subjected to tortures, a peculiar form of reprisal is
used to them." According to the statement authors, irrespective of
the reasons, it is considered a torture by Article 3 of the European
Convention of Human Rights.

"We demand immediately stopping the tortures of political prisoners,
ensuring necessary and high-quality medical aid. The whole
responsibility for their current hard health condition and for its
further worsening lays on the regime and personally on Serzh Sargsyan,"
the ANC statement read.

The statement mentioned that political prisoner Grigor Voskerchian’s
health condition abruptly worsened in the imprisonment place. He had
an infarct 3 years ago. "There is an apprehension that the infarct is
likely to recur under these conditions. The imprisonment place lacks
possibilities for providing proper medical aid to him," stating this,
ANC demands providing a high-quality specialized medical aid at a
hospital to Grigor Voskerchian.

According to the statement authors, political prisoner Shant
Haroutiunian also continues to be tortured the same way. "The health
condition of other political prisoners has also worsened in essence,
whose complaints were never paid any attention to."

PanARMENIAN.Net

Hovhannes Goharyan signed a contract with Byelorussian Bate
13.03.2009 18:27 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian Team forward, Lokomotive reserve Hovhannes
Goharyan signed a contract with Belarusian Bate, Bate press service
reported.

Bate management decided to sign in the forward upon his arrival from
Turkey, where the Byelorussian team had participated in a
training. Moldavian forward Ihor Baugaev and his Argentinean colleague
Herman Pietrobon, did not pass probation set up by Bate.

Goharyan has already played as Bate team member against Spartak and
1st Division Team Chita, in during the training in Turkey.

WPS Agency, Russia
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
March 11, 2009 Wednesday

"PAPER TIGERS" OF NATO AND CSTO

by Alexander Khramchikhin

COLLECTIVE RAPID RESPONSE FORCES MAY BE USED ONLY FOR SUPPRESSION OF
INTERNAL RIOT AGAINST A REGIME IN ONE OF THE CSTO MEMBER STATES?; So
far, all operational components of the armed forces of NATO and
European Union resemble "paper tigers." Now Russia decided to offer a
"decent response" creating a similar "tiger" in the framework of the
CSTO.

So far, all operational components of the armed forces of NATO and
European Union resemble "paper tigers" very much. Now Russia decided
to offer a "decent response" creating a similar "tiger" in the
framework of the CSTO.

Countries that are members of the Collective Security Treaty
Organization (CSTO) now have very different views at goals and tasks
of the organization. Russia sees it as one of the rudiments of the
USSR that the Kremlin values for purely psychological reasons. Moscow
may also view territories of its allies as a kind of antechamber in
three most important strategic directions. In turn, the allies of
Russia view Russia as a country that will fight for them (instead of
them, to be more precise) not only in case of external aggression but
also in case of internal conflicts (nobody cares if Russia itself
needs this).

NATO countries represent the only possible potential enemy for Belarus
(both from political and from geographic standpoint). Armenia has
potential enemy in the form of Turkey (Armenia can cope with
Azerbaijan without assistance of CSTO yet). Of course, Turkey is a
NATO member but in this case Yerevan justly views it as an entity
separate from the alliance. Armenia does not wish only to fight but
even to somehow quarrel with any other member states of this alliance.

It is possible to say the same about Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and
Tajikistan, only instead of Turkey they have China, Islamic terrorists
and, frankly speaking, Uzbekistan.

The Black and the Caspian seas divide the territories of CSTO member
states into three isolated strategic directions: European (Russia and
Belarus), Caucasian (Russia and Armenia) and Central Asian (Russia,
Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan). It is easy to notice
that there is only one country besides Russia in two of the three
directions. Hence, is it possible to imagine soldiers from Central
Asian countries defending Belarus from NATO or Armenia from Turkey?

In any case, Armenia and Belarus will not defend each other mutually
too. These countries will not send their soldiers to Central Asia for
sure. Lukashenko regularly informs citizens of his country that
Belarusian boys do not fight outside of the country. Will he send
these boys to save Armenians from Turks and Central Asian countries
from Talibs and moreover from China?

Thus, bilateral agreements on mutual defense with Belarus and Armenia
are more than enough for Russia for provision of defense in the
European and Caucasian directions. In this case the CSTO is not
necessary and is even burdensome because it creates a ground for
conflicts among its member states. Only in the Central Asian direction
it really makes sense to establish a collective military
organization. Even in this case, Russia needs to determine its own
interests. After all, it is high time to quit the practice established
in the CIS when Russia has only duties and the rest have only rights,
when Russia always pays for everything and it does not even occur to
the rest that they need to pay at least for something some time too.

CSTO member states obviously expect to receive Russian military
hardware at internal Russian prices. Along with this, their
contribution to the collective rapid response forces being formed (to
be more accurate, declared) will be, to put this mild, not very big.

Judging by the potential, the collective rapid response forces can be
used only for suppression of internal riots against a regime in one of
the CSTO member states. Hence, Russia will act as a regional gendarme
at its own expense. The might of the collective rapid response forces
will simply be insufficient for anything bigger. From this standpoint
the collective rapid response forces of the CSTO are really comparable
to those of NATO, although according to the formal potential they are
much inferior to such forces of NATO (six corps formations in the
ground forces alone).

The real value of the CSTO was already demonstrated during the war in
South Ossetia. Our allies did not come to help Russia and did not even
recognize independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. The Kremlin
simply wastes money to atone its psychological complexes of Soviet
origin. It is good if the price is confined to money alone and it will
not be necessary to pay with lives of our servicemen for some of the
"allies" that will never do anything for Russia.

Source: Nezavisimoe Voennoe Obozrenie, No. 8, March 06-12, 2009, p. 1

Translated by InterContact

PanARMENIAN.Net

Armenian Golgotha by Grigoris Balakian published in English
12.03.2009 15:26 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The English version of one of the most dramatic
books on Armenian Genocide, Armenian Golgotha by Grigoris Balakian has
been published in the USA. Owing to Peter Balakian and Aris Sevag’s
translation, beginning from March 31 English readers of the U.S. will
be able to obtain a book on the witness’s reminiscences, one of the
victim’s of the 20th century genocide.

The book depicts four years from a priest’s life. He is one of 250
Armenian intelligentsia representatives of Constantinople, who was
arrested April 24, 1915 and exiled to the deserts of Syria along with
hundred thousands Armenians.

It was the beginning of the Ottoman Turkish government’s systematic
attempt to eliminate the Armenian people from Turkey; it was a
campaign that continued through World War I and the fall of the
Ottoman Empire, by which time more than a million Armenians had been
annihilated and expunged from their historic homeland. For Grigoris
Balakian, himself condemned, it was also the beginning of a four-year
ordeal during which he would bear witness to a seemingly endless
caravan of blood.

Balakian sees his countrymen sent in carts, on donkeys, or on foot to
face certain death in the desert of northern Syria. Many would not
even survive the journey, suffering starvation, disease, mutilation,
and rape, among other tortures, before being slaughtered en route. In
these pages, he brings to life the words and deeds of survivors,
foreign witnesses, and Turkish officials involved in the massacre
process, and also of those few brave, righteous Turks, who, with some
of their German allies working for the Baghdad Railway, resisted
orders calling for the death of the Armenians. Miraculously, Balakian
manages to escape, and his flight-through forest and over mountains,
in disguise as a railroad worker and then as a German soldier-is a
suspenseful, harrowing odyssey that makes possible his singular
testimony.

Born in 1876, Griforis Balakian was one of the leading intellectuals
Armenian of his generation. Educated in Germany and the Ottoman
Empire, he was ordained as a celibate priest in 1901 and served the
Armenian Apostolic church as an emissary to Europe, Russia in
particular. He wrote a number of books, some of which were confiscated
by the Turkish Government in 1915 and subsequently destroyed by the
Turkish Government. Having survived the genocide, he later became
bishop of the Armenian Apostolic Church in southern France. He died in
Marseilles in 1934.

Peter Balakian is the author of The Burning Tigris: The Armenian
Genocide and America’s Response, winner of the 2005 Raphael Lemkin
Prize, a New York Times best seller, and a New York Times Notable
Book; and of Black Dog of Fate, winner of the PEN/Martha Albrand Award
for the Art of Memoir, also a New York Times Notable Book. Grigoris
Balakian was his great-uncle.

Armenian FM: Azerbaijan tries to justify possible use of force through
distribution of some documents in UN

2009-03-12 10:54:00

ArmInfo. Baku carries out a policy of induction of a new war, though
the wounds of the war it earlier launched have not yet closed, Foreign
Minister of Armenia Edward Nalbandyan said yesterday in his speech in
the Academy of International Diplomacy of France on a topic ‘South
Caucasus: Realities and Prospects’.

As the press service of the Armenian Foreign Ministry reports, E.
Nalbandyan touched on Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement and paid
attention to the militaristic and non- constructive policy of
Azerbaijan. He said Baku carries out a policy of induction of a new
war, though the wounds of the war it earlier launched have not yet
closed. The Armenian FM also said the Azerbaijani party has
distributed some documents in the UN which not only negatively affect
the negotiation process but also try to justify possible use of force.

An Armenian school joins global network of best schools

2009-03-12 14:38:00

ArmInfo. Sardarapat secondary school and Georgian Institute after
Goethe will sign a cooperation agreement on March 17 in Armenia.

German Embassy in Armenia told ArmInfo Ambassador of Germany to Armenia
Andrea Viktorin and representatives of the Armenian Ministry of
Education and Science will be present at the ceremony. As part of the
German Foreign Ministry initiative ‘Schools – Partners of Future’, a
global program is implemented to assist the best schools in the world.
The program aims to set up a global network of 1000 schools where
pupils will get access to high quality education. Teaching of foreign
languages (German in the given case) will be in the focus of attention.
The program is implemented with the support of Goethe Institute.