Author: Kajoyan Gevork

TURKEY’S MAIN OPPOSITION PARTY BLAMES RULING AKP FOR ‘GENOCIDE DEFEAT’

Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey
April 15 2015

Serkan DemirtaÃ…~_ – ANKARA

The reason for the growing international tendency to recognize the
mass killings of Armenians at the hands of the Ottoman Empire in
1915 as genocide is the Sunni Islamist policy pursued by the ruling
Justice and Development Party (AKP), a senior main opposition party
leader has claimed.

“This has turned into a Turkey-bashing campaign. And this is because
of the AKP and its policies drifting Turkey towards being a Sunni
Islamist country,” Republican People’s Party (CHP) Deputy Head Murat
Ozcelik told the Hurriyet Daily News on April 14.

Armenia says up to 1.5 million Ottoman Armenians were killed in a
genocide starting in 1915. Turkey denies that the deaths amounted
to genocide, saying the death toll of Armenians killed during mass
deportations has been inflated and that those killed in 1915 and 1916
were victims of general unrest during World War I.

Recalling that Pope Francis described the 1915 incidents as “genocide”
and that the European Parliament will likely vote in favor of
recognizing the genocide, calling on EU member countries to do the
same, Ozcelik criticized the government for underestimating the impact
of the 100th anniversary of 1915.

“In the past, Turkey had certain arguments against genocide claims that
worked until now. But it was well-known that there would be dynamism
[in efforts to let it be recognized as genocide] in the centennial
of the incident. Turkey should have carried out its work based on
this fact,” Ozcelik said.

By using the word genocide, the Pope issued an indirect call on
Christian countries to recognize the Armenian genocide, said Ozcelik,
who is also retired ambassador.

“It’s a very important development. The European Parliament will also
call on EU countries to do so [recognize the events as genocide].

Another question is whether the United States will now also use the
same word,” he said.

The reason why Western countries are no longer hesitant to recognize
the Armenian genocide at the expense of angering Turkey and putting
their interests in danger is the fact that the government is speedily
drifting east and becoming an Islamist country, Ozcelik claimed.

“EU countries and the West in general have recently realized how
radical Islam can be threatening. They also observe that Turkey,
once a secular and democratic country aligned with the West and often
introduced as a model country is parting ways,” he added.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ambition to become a super-president
and his “efforts to turn Turkey into an Islamist country” through the
upcoming elections were also being watched by the West, Ozcelik said.

Criticism of the Pope

Although very critical of the government for the “defeat against
Armenian claims,” Ozcelik also slammed Pope Francis for his words.

“Seven million Jews were slaughtered during the Holocaust in an
unprecedented systematic way with the aim of demolishing an entire
race. Therefore it’s very wrong to compare this by describing
[the 1915 incidents] as the first genocide of the 20th century. A
primary pleasure of the Christians is to shift responsibility over
its genocide crime by highlighting another suffering. They cannot
evade responsibility this way,” he said.

Every historical incident should be assessed within its own context,
Ozcelik said.

“These things are not comparable. The deportation of Armenians had
a historical background. What Turks did cannot be put in the same
equation with what Stalin or the Nazis did,” he said.

April/14/2015

TURKEY: THE TRUTH HURTS

The Jawa Report, Island state of Niue
April 13 2015

Sandcrawler PSA: Anyone who tells the truth about what the Turks did
to the Armenians is a hateful bigoted Islamophobe.

Turkey has recalled its envoy to the Vatican after Pope Francis
described the mass killing of Armenians under Ottoman rule in WW1 as
“genocide”.

Turkey has reacted with anger to the comment made by the Pope at a
service in Rome earlier on Sunday.

Armenia and many historians say up to 1.5 million Armenian Christians
were killed by Ottoman forces in 1915.

But Turkey has always disputed that figure and said the deaths were
part of a civil conflict triggered by WW1.

The row has continued to sour relations between Armenia and Turkey.

Because the Muslim genocide of 1.5 million Armenians was 100% approved
by Allah you racist bastards!

The only thing worse is pretending the Turks aren’t in the bag for ISIS
and letting them remain in NATO. I mean you wouldn’t have appointed
Nikita Kruschev Easter Bunny would you?

DENMARK POLITICIANS ADVISE TURK COLLEAGUES NOT TO MEDDLE IN COUNTRY’S AFFAIRS

11:45, 16.04.2015
Region:World News, Armenia, Turkey
Theme: Politics

Ankara, angered by the idea of placing a monument in Copenhagen and
in memory of the victims of the Armenian Genocide, has sent a letter
of protest to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of Denmark.

The Turkish MFA believes that this monument, which will be placed
for ten days, offends the Turks living in Denmark.

Danish politicians, on the other hand, advised their Turkish
colleagues not to interfere in Denmark’s affairs, reported the BBC
Russian Service.

To note, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had harshly criticized
Pope Francis for describing the massacre of Armenians in the Ottoman
Empire as the first genocide of the 20th century.

Armenia News – NEWS.am

EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT ARMENIAN GENOCIDE VOTE SHINES SPOTLIGHT ON PRESIDENT OBAMA – ANCA

11:58 16/04/2015 >> SOCIETY

The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) welcomed the European
Parliament’s adoption of an Armenian Genocide Centennial Resolution,
emphasizing how this official action shines a bright spotlight on
President Obama’s much-anticipated April 24th statement regarding
this crime.

“The European Parliament’s strong stand for a truthful and just
resolution of the Armenian Genocide underscores the stark nature of
the choice before President Obama,” stated ANCA Executive Director
Aram Hamparian. “This April 24th, President Obama can take his moral
cues from Pope Francis or Recep Erdogan. He can stand up for truth,
along with the European Parliament, our top NATO allies, 43 U.S.

states, a growing pro-justice Turkish civil society movement, and the
moral conscience of the world community. Or he can opt – on the solemn
Centennial of this crime – to continue enforcing a foreign government’s
gag-rule on honest American discourse on the Armenian Genocide.”

“As Americans, we should never outsource our nation’s human rights
policy or allow any foreign country – friend of foe – to compromise
our nation’s stand against genocide,” he added.

Prior to his election to the oval office, President Obama was clear
and unequivocal in promising to properly characterize Ottoman Turkey’s
murder of over 1.5 million Armenian men, women and children between
1915 and 1923 as genocide. In a January 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.”

ECOCORRIDORS – NEW PROTECTED AREAS IN ARMENIA

18:43 April 14, 2015

EcoLur

WWF Armenia launches a new project on creation of eco-corridors that
will connect the specially protected areas. The first corridor will
run from Arevik National Park to Khosrov reserve. It will include the
land areas of 46 communities with a total area of 150,850 ha. The main
sections of the corridor is “Khosrov Forest” Reserve, then through
communities located along the Arpa River, then the corridor runs
through Gnishik gorge, Zangezour mountain range to the south, it heads
to Zangezour reserve and then through Zangezour biospheric complex –
Shikahogh reserve, Khoustoup reserve, Bogakar and Arevik National Park.

The corridor shall ensure the preservation off most vulnerable species,
particularly the Caucasian leopard, Armenian moufflon, Caucasian bear
and others.

Among the risks threatening these species poaching shall be outlined
together with drastic development of infrastructures, which destroy
animal and plant habitats, mining industry, overexploitation of
bioresources, climate change, uncontrollable tourism and cattle
pasture.

The establishment of such an econetwork will require new legislative
initiatives and new approaches in the management. The project is
estimated to be continued till 2020.

EUROPEAN LAWMAKERS CALL FOR BALANCED RESOLUTION AHEAD OF ‘GENOCIDE’ VOTE

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
April 15 2015

Members of the European Parliament take part in a voting session in
Strasbourg. (Photo: Reuters)

April 15, 2015, Wednesday/ 09:38:04/ TODAYSZAMAN.COM / ISTANBUL

Lawmakers from the Friends of Turkey group have called on the European
Parliament (EP) to adopt a “balanced resolution,” as the MEPs brace
to vote on a resolution to commemorate the centennial of the so-called
Armenian genocide.

The group’s co-chairs, Artis Pabriks and Ä°smail Ertug, said
in a statement on Tuesday that MEPs should adopt a language of
reconciliation and focus their efforts on issues that would create
bridges between the two societies by encouraging freedom of speech,
rule of law and free discussion.

The co-chairs acknowledged in the statement that the massacres,
deportations and other atrocities committed against Armenians are
“incontestably a terrible human tragedy that must not be forgotten.”

They continued by saying however, that the impact of external pressure
for the recognition of an Armenian genocide in Turkey has not helped
so far to bring about reconciliation between Turks and Armenians. “On
the contrary,” according to the Friends of Turkey group, external
interventions have fueled reactionary nationalism and hindered dialogue
between Turks and Armenians.

On Sunday, Pope Francis described the mass killings of Armenians under
Ottoman rule at the end of World War I as “the first genocide of the
20th century” during a mass, prompting a furious reaction from Ankara.

Turkey summoned the Vatican’s ambassador to the Turkish Foreign
Ministry to scold him for the remarks and recalled its own ambassador
from the Vatican for “consultation” — a euphemism for a diplomatic
protest.

Turkey accepts that many Armenians died during the World War I years
but says the death toll offered by the Armenians, up to 1.5 million
people, is inflated, and denies that the deaths resulted from an act
of genocide. Ankara says Turks were also killed when Armenians took
up arms in pursuit of an independent state in collaboration with the
Russian forces that were invading eastern Anatolia at the time.

Armenia, on the other hand, accuses the Ottoman authorities at the
time of systematically massacring large numbers of Armenians, then
deporting many more, including women, children and the elderly and
infirm in terrible conditions on so-called death marches.

The Friends of Turkey group said Turkey has started a more open
and free debate on the Armenian issue in recent years and that
the European lawmakers should encourage the Turkish government to
continue its process of reconciliation, allowing for a frank and
open discussion of past events. They noted that the European Union
accession negotiations have undoubtedly contributed to more honest
and open discussions of historical events in Turkey.

“In this regard, the accession process remains the most effective tool
in influencing Turkey’s democratization course,” the statement said.

ARMENIAN ‘GENOCIDE’ REMARKS BY POPE FRANCIS SPARK ROW WITH TURKEY

National Public Radio NPR
April 13, 2015 Monday
SHOW: Morning Edition 11:00 AM EST

ANCHORS: Sylvia Poggioli

GUESTS: Francis, Ahmet Davutoglu

RENEE MONTAGNE: And yesterday, Pope Francis sparked a diplomatic
dispute with Turkey. The Pope used the word genocide to describe the
deaths of some one-and-a-half million Armenians a century ago by the
Ottoman Empire in the early days of World War I. The Pope used the
highly charged term during a mass attended by Armenian leaders.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

FRANCIS: (Through interpreter) In the past century, our human family
has lived through three massive and unprecedented tragedies. The first,
which is widely considered the first genocide of the 20th century,
struck your own Armenian people, the first Christian nation.

RENEE MONTAGNE: Turkey, which emerged from the ashes of the Ottoman
Empire, has long rejected the term genocide as applied to Armenians,
and it quickly recalled its ambassador to the Vatican. NPR’s Sylvia
Poggioli joins us on the line from Rome for more. Good morning.

SYLVIA POGGIOLI: Good morning.

RENEE MONTAGNE: Now, when he made this statement, it was in a solemn
ceremony in St. Peter’s Basilica to mark the 100th anniversary of
that slaughter. When Pope Francis visited Turkey just last November,
he did not speak of the Armenians, but he does seem to feel very
strongly about this.

SYLVIA POGGIOLI: Well, he sees the Armenian genocide as a harbinger of
today’s persecution of Christians in the Middle East. It’s one of his
biggest concerns. He’s denounced what he calls the complicit silence
of the world community in the face of the modern-day slaughter of
Christians and other minorities. Yesterday, he described the Armenian
massacre as senseless slaughter followed by Nazism and Stalinism and
other mass killings. He cited Cambodia, Rwanda, Burundi and Bosnia.

It’s necessary and indeed a duty, he said, to honor the memory of the
Armenian victims for whenever memory fades. It means that evil allows
wounds to fester. He added that today, too, we are experiencing a
sort of genocide created by general and collective indifference. He
spoke of Christians publicly and ruthlessly put to death, decapitated,
crucified, burned alive or forced to leave their homeland.

RENEE MONTAGNE: And Turkey reacted very strongly to the pope’s words.

Here is the Turkish prime minister accusing the pope of inciting
hatred.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

AHMET DAVUTOGLU: (Through interpreter) We expect religious leaders
to call for peace and to stay away from Islamophobic and anti-Islamic
attitudes that prevail in Europe.

SYLVIA POGGIOLI: And the foreign ministry said the pope’s remarks
are controversial in every aspect based on prejudice, which distorts
history and reduces the pain suffered in Anatolia to members of just
one religion. Turkey accepts that many Christian Armenians died in
clashes with soldiers when they were part of the Ottoman Empire,
but claims the numbers are inflated and rejects the genocide label.

Several European countries officially recognize the massacres as
genocide. The United States does not.

RENEE MONTAGNE: And, Sylvia, has Pope Francis undermined the Catholic
Church dialogue with Islam – something that he did promote in his
trip to Turkey?

SYLVIA POGGIOLI: It’s too soon to say, but he knows what’s at stake
and that his words would antagonize the Turkish government. Francis
is known for taking political risks. For example, he helped pave
the way to the U.S.-Cuba detente and intervened in 2013 to prevent
Western military strikes against the Assad regime in Syria. This is a
pope who’s not afraid of provocation on issues he considers of utmost
importance. And at the end of yesterday’s ceremony, he made an appeal
to heads of state in international organizations to recognize the
truth of what happened a hundred years ago without seeding, he said,
to ambiguity or compromise. And he urged reconciliation between Turkey
and Armenia.

RENEE MONTAGNE: Sylvia, thanks very much.

SYLVIA POGGIOLI: Thank you, Renee.

RENEE MONTAGNE: That’s NPR’s Sylvia Poggioli speaking to us from Rome.

NEW CLEANING STATIONS COULDN’T IMPROVE DRINKING WATER QUALITY IN DILIJAN

14:07 April 15, 2015

EcoLur

It turns out that the implemented project on the construction of
cleaning stations in Dilijan has no relation with the quality of the
water used by the town residents and guests. Again and again they
are beating an alarm signal that they have muddy water flowing from
their taps, which is a seasonal phenomenon. Point 10 of the report
of the State Committee on Water Industry for 2014 says that cleaning
stations were constructed in Jermuk and Dilijan towns in the frames
of “Water Projects for Small Communities in Armenia” funded by the
European Investment Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction
and Development.

We would like to draw the attention of development banks to the
need of monitoring of projects they fund and examinations whether
the situation with water has really improved in the communities,
where the projects have been implemented.

TURKEY ANGERED BY POPE’S GENOCIDE REMARKS

The Irish News
April 13, 2015 Monday

Turkey has summoned the Vatican’s Ankara envoy to express its unease
after Pope Francis called the killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks
100 years ago genocide.

Earlier the Pope called the slaughter of Armenians around the time
of the First World War “the first genocide of the 20th century”
and urged the international community to recognise it.

Turkey has long refused to call the event a genocide and has insisted
that the toll has been inflated and that those killed were victims
of civil war and unrest.

The Pope, who has close ties to the Armenian community from his days
in Argentina, defended his pronouncement by saying it was his duty
to honour the memory of the innocent men, women and children who were
“senselessly” murdered by Ottoman Turks 100 years ago this month.

“Concealing or denying evil is like allowing a wound to keep bleeding
without bandaging it,” he said at the start of a Mass in the Armenian
Catholic rite in St Peter’s Basilica honouring the centenary.

In a subsequent message directed to all Armenians, Francis called on
all heads of state and international organisations to recognise the
truth of what transpired and oppose such crimes “without ceding to
ambiguity or compromise”.

Historians estimate that up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed by
Ottoman Turks around the time of the First World War, an event widely
viewed by scholars as the first genocide of the 20th century.

Turkey, however, has insisted that the toll has been inflated, and
that those killed were victims of civil war and unrest, not genocide.

It has fiercely lobbied to prevent countries, including the Holy See,
from officially recognising the Armenian massacre as genocide.

Turkey’s embassy to the Holy See cancelled a planned news conference
today, presumably after learning that the Pope would utter the word
“genocide” over its objections.

However, the head of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Aram I, thanked
Francis for his clear condemnation and recall that “genocide” is a
crime against humanity that requires reparation.

“International law spells out clearly that condemnation, recognition
and reparation of a genocide are closely interconnected,” Aram said
in English at the end of the Mass to applause from the pews.

Speaking as if he were at a political rally, Aram said the Armenian
cause is a cause of justice and that justice is a gift of God.

“Therefore, the violation of justice is a sin against God,” he said.

THE POPE, KIM KARDASHIAN, ESCAPED NAZIS — THE PR AND POLITICS OF GENOCIDE RECOGNITION

Ha’aretz, Israel
April 15 2015

The reality star’s visit to Jerusalem is leading the way in spreading
awareness of Ottoman Turkey’s killing of Armenians during World War I.

By Anshel Pfeffe

You can’t buy PR like this — in one short weekend, Armenia
attracted more global attention than in all the years since it gained
independence from the crumbling Soviet Union in 1991. Kim Kardashian,
who is more famous for being famous than anyone, was also revealed
to her millions of fans as the most famous Armenian in the world.

Together with her musician husband Kanye West and their daughter North,
they arrived in Yerevan on a personal pilgrimage to the land of her
fathers. The timing wasn’t coincidental, of course.

Kardashian’s entourage was taken on an emotional tour of the memorial
and museum commemorating the one and a half million victims of the
Armenian genocide, less than two weeks before the official 100th
anniversary of the disaster. The photograph of Kardashian laying
flowers at the eternal flame tweeted to her 31 million followers did
more for the recognition of the genocide than decades of lobbying. But
that wasn’t all that Sunday brought for the Armenians.

At mass in the Vatican, Pope Francis, standing by the heads of the
Armenian Orthodox Church and President Serzh Sargsyan (Prime Minister
Hovik Abrahamyan met with the Kardashian-Wests back home in Yerevan),
said the Armenian tragedy had been “the first genocide of the 20th
Century.”

Francis is of course a celebrity in his own right (though he has only
5.9 million Twitter followers). But he is also a head of state and the
Vicar of Christ; his statement at this particular Sunday mass was the
subject of intensive diplomatic pressure from the Turkish government,
but to no avail. Turkey’s long-held policy of denying that its army
carried out a planned genocide of the Armenians during World War I,
and of cajoling other nations not to recognize it either, was rent
asunder in a few hours by a man of God and a woman whose initial
claim to fame was an Internet sex tape.

Since Turkey has already recently blocked YouTube and Twitter,
there is little it can do to Kardashian, but the pope is another
matter. The ambassador to the Vatican was immediately recalled and
Francis was accused of “prejudice.” Vatican officials told the media
the pope had nothing against today’s Turkey; his statement was meant
to echo the fact that in today’s Middle East as well, Christians are
being persecuted.

The Turkish government, however, preferred to move the narrative
to other continents. On Monday, Ankara’s minister for EU affairs,
Volkan Bozkir, went a step further, accusing Francis of being
“brainwashed” like his fellow Argentines by the Armenian diaspora,
which in Argentina apparently “controls the media and business.” And
if that’s not bad enough, said Bozkir, Argentina is also “a country
that welcomed the leading executors of the Jewish Holocaust, Nazi
torturers, with open arms.”

Worse than Hitler

The minister at least got this historical detail correct. Argentina
under President Juan Peron was the destination of many Nazis on the
run after World War II (many were helped by well-placed priests in
the Vatican). But connecting Francis to sins he had no knowledge of
or involvement in as a boy in Buenos Aires is a nasty slur.

And the current Turkish administration has not flinched from using
this sort of imagery. Last July, at the height of the Gaza conflict,
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the Israelis “curse Hitler morning
and night. However, now their barbarism has surpassed even Hitler’s.”

Erdogan and other Turkish politicians routinely allude to Jews
controlling the global media and financial system in exactly the same
way Bozkir spoke about the Armenian community in Argentina.

This of course isn’t the first time the Holocaust has been dragged
into the Armenian-genocide controversy. For decades the Armenians
have tried to receive recognition of the genocide from Israel and
Jewish communities. The symbolism of the Jews recognizing the Armenian
national tragedy is of course inescapable. In the past some Armenian
emigres even called it the Armenian Holocaust, but whether because that
didn’t catch on or out of a desire not to offend Jewish sensibilities,
they stuck with “genocide.”

Israel, however, has resolutely refused the small but growing group of
countries that have officially recognized the Armenian genocide. For
years this was out of consideration for the national pride of strategic
ally Turkey. Powerful Jewish groups in the United States, particularly
the Anti-Defamation League, lobbied in Congress against the passage
of American recognition.

But in recent years, as ties with Erdogan’s government have steadily
deteriorated and with Turkey’s standing as a NATO member and reliable
ally of the West plummeting, Israel’s policy remains unchanged, even as
other countries have formally recognized the genocide. Jerusalem has a
new friend in Baku; Azerbaijan is the supplier of most of Israel’s oil,
a buyer of Israeli weapons and an ally in the anti-Iranian coalition.

The battle for victimhood

But why is Azerbaijan, Armenia’s oil-and-natural-gas-rich neighbor,
so invested in the dispute over commemorating an atrocity that took
place three quarters of a century before it even gained independence?

The Azeris see themselves as the Turks’ brother nation, but more than
they’re concerned with maintaining Turkey’s historical image, they’re
anxious to prevent anything from boosting Armenia’s international
standing. Azerbaijan, in an on-off conflict with Armenia over the
Nagorno-Karabach enclave since the early 1990s, is eager to prevent the
Armenians from attaining any status of victimhood. In their national
narrative, it was the Karabach Azeris who were murdered and ethnically
cleansed by cruel Armenians.

The Aliyev family that rules Azerbaijan as its private fiefdom has
invested hundreds of millions in trying to brand the country as a
Westernized regional power while lobbying foreign governments and
the international media to view it favorably. One aim of Azerbaijan’s
PR campaign is to smear Armenia; in recent months the lobbyists have
vigorously tried to portray the Armenians as chronic Jew-haters. They
have tried to place op-ed pieces to his effect in newspapers,
especially in Israeli and Jewish media.

Azerbaijan’s mouthpieces are not motivated by concerns for the welfare
of the Jews, though there may be some truth to the allegations. Last
year the ADL published a survey on 100 countries, according to which
no less than 58 percent of Armenians harbored anti-Semitic beliefs.

Whether that figure is accurate however, the tiny Jewish community
in Yerevan, apart from a few isolated acts of vandalism, has never
suffered any serious incidents.

Armenia has also tried to improve its ties with Israel, including the
inviting of ministers. Next week at the marking of the genocide’s
centenary, a delegation of Knesset members will be on hand. The
Foreign Ministry has made it clear this doesn’t count as official
recognition, but perhaps that doesn’t matter as much now that Armenia
has Kim Kardashian and Pope Francis.

It’s ironic that is the current Israeli position, as Jews were once
so instrumental in recording the Armenian genocide. It was the U.S.

ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, Henry Morgenthau, who in 1915,
disgusted by the reports he was receiving from his consuls, first
brought the killings to the world’s attention. It was the lawyer
and Holocaust refugee Raphael Lemkin who actually coined the term
“genocide,” applying it first to the Armenian tragedy. But Israel’s
immediate geopolitical needs trump the recognition of history.

It was probably no coincidence that from Yerevan, the Kardashian
cavalcade flew to Israel. And while Kim and Kanye landed at Ben-Gurion
Airport, encountered mobs of Israeli fans and dined with Jerusalem
Mayor Nir Barkat, the visit focused on churches in the Old City across
the Green Line. Mindful of political and diplomatic considerations,
not once was the word “Israel” tweeted, just “Jerusalem.” A subtle
reminder perhaps that everyone has recognition issues.