Author: Kalantarian Kevo

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
Jan 7 2012

Algeria asks Turkey to stop citing French massacre

Algeria’s prime minister wants Turkish authorities to stop referring
to Algerian history under French colonization as part of Turkey’s
quarrel with France over genocide allegations.

Turkey halted political contacts with France last month after French
lawmakers passed a bill that would make it a crime to deny that mass
killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks nearly a century ago
constituted genocide.

Turkey’s prime minister then accused the French of “genocide” during
France’s 132-year colonial rule in Algeria.

Journal of Turkish Weekly
Jan 7 2012

ASALA’s Day in the French National Assembly

Saturday, 7 January 2012

`Inquisitorial, liberticidal and obscurantist’ said Josselin de Rohan,
then Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the French Senate,
on May 4, 2011. The first censorship bill regarding the Armenian issue
was rejected by an overwhelming majority of senators. For purely
electoral reasons, Nicolas Sarkozy oversaw the vote of a similar, new
bill on December 22. The text was presented by Marseille’s Deputy
Valérie Boyer. The text was adopted, against the opinion of most
French editorialists, from the social-democrat Jean Daniel to the
conservative YvanRioufol, who are hostile to the draft, against the
statements of prominent French historians including Pierre Nora, and
also against the hostility of the Minister of Foreign Affairs Alain
Juppé and `discontentment’ of the Minister of Interior Claude Guéant.
As too often, Mr. Sarkozy acted without reflection and did not fear
self-contradiction. And as usual for the Armenian bill, only fifty
deputies attended the vote’not even ten percent of the total.

The Poisoned Gift

Actually, Ms. Boyer’s text is totally counter-productive, even in a
strictly Armenian nationalist perspective. Indeed, it criminalizes the
`denial’ of the `genocides recognized by the [French] law.’ Only one
is `recognized”the so-called `Armenian genocide.’ Georges Vedel, one
of the greatest French jurists of the twentieth century and member of
the Constitutional Council from 1980 to 1989, devoted his last paper
to demonstrate that the `law’ of `recognition’ (2001) has all the
aspects of an unconstitutional bill. The bill further strays from
constitutional principles in that it is purely a statement and devoid
of any legal basis. In addition, the `recognition’ violates the
constitutional principles of non-retroactivity of laws and even more
obviously the principle of separation of powers: in calling an event
`genocide,’ the Parliament acts like a tribunal for events concerning
foreign, deceased people, which is forbidden. Robert Badinter,
President of the Constitutional Council from 1986 to 1995, then
Senator until September 2011, reiterated the point three times (the
last one this December 22, 2011). Other important jurists did the
same.
As a result, if the Boyer bill is fully adopted’which is hardly
probable’the single concrete and direct consequence, for the Armenian
activists, would be the cancellation of both the Boyer bill and the
`recognition’ bill by the Constitutional Council. Indeed, since 2008,
there is an aspect of French law called the Question prioritaire de
constitutionnalité (priority question of constitutionality). If you
are sued in the name of a law, you can ask for the conformity of this
law with the Constitution to be checked. There is not even a shadow of
a doubt that such obviously unconstitutional texts would be censored.
Turkey, or Turkish groups, could also sue France in the European Court
of Human Rights.

Anything to Please the Terrorists’ Fan Club
The Wall Street Journal called the adoption of an Armenian
nationalist-backed resolution in the U.S. Congress, in 1984, `ASALA’s
day.’ This label is also deserved for this vote. One of the staunchest
supporters of the Boyer bill, Patrick Devedjian, was an advocate of
ASALA from 1981 to 1984, and vehemently supported its terrorist acts.
Jean-Marc `Ara’ Toranian, co-chairman of the Coordination Council of
France’s Armenian Associations (CCAF), was the spokesman of ASALA in
France from 1976 to 1983, and the other co-chairman, Mourad Papazian,
wrote several inflammatory articles in the 1980s to support another
Armenian terrorist group, the JCAG/ARA’i.e. the group which
assassinated the Turkish diplomat Yılmaz �olpan in Paris on December
22, 1979. Mr. Toranian and other CCAF leaders call Turkey, if not the
Turkish people, `the hangman.’ The CCAF itself strongly supports the
PKK, at least with words.
The speeches supporting the Boyer bill were a remarkable collection of
absurdities, logical fallacies and half-truths. Many MPs, and the
representative of the government, denied that the bill targets a
country or even a specific `genocide,’ which is denied even by the
text of the bill itself, and by other interventions, making clear that
only the Armenian-Turkish conflict is concerned. They added insult to
injury in believing that any Turk, or any French historian, could
believe such self-refuting justifications.
Michel Diefenbacher, President of the Franco-Turkish Friendship Group,
saved the honor of the Assembly with a good speech, recalling that the
bill is unconstitutional and is not improving, quite the contrary,
Turko-Armenian relations. Deputy Jacques Myard denounced it as a
`crime against thought.’
This dark event took place only for electoral reasons: Mr. Sarkozy
wrongly believes that such a bill will significantly improve the
number of his votes, and most of the opposition does not dare
challenge this bill, fearing the loss of Armenian votes.

What Next?
The Turkish authorities threatened economic reprisals’respecting the
international law’ and warned of bad consequences for the French
culture and language. What else could they do? In 2001, the economic
crisis had prevented the Turkish government from taking really
dissuasive retaliation measures, and as a result it opened the way to
the `recognition’ by other parliaments; in 2006-2007, the promises
that the bill would not be voted on by the Senate limited the
harshness of the Turkish reply. Now, this is the very first time that
such an anti-Turkish, liberticidal and unconstitutional initiative
takes place through the sole decision of the President. Every rational
person must hope to avoid a clash, but studying dissuasive reactions
is a must for Ankara.
There are already some interesting, albeit insufficient, signs of fear
from the French government’s side. Bernard Accoyer, President of the
National Assembly and already an opponent to the bill, said that this
text will probably not be adopted until the legislative elections
(June 2012), at least because the government did not use the urgent
procedure. It is not a secret that several senators are already
preparing a new rejection motion for reasons of unconstitutionality.
This lamentable affair at least had the positive result of showing for
the first time the importance of the Turkish population in France,
including those who have the French citizenship. Between three to five
thousand Turks demonstrated in front of the National Assembly;
thousands of others were prevented from participating in the
demonstration by the police.The recently created Coordination
Committee of Franco-Turkish Associations published an open letter to
the deputies in Le Monde, as a full-page paid advertisement.
It is now the duty of every person concerned for fundamental liberties
in France to contribute to the defeat of several promoters of this
Orwellian bill in June 2012, and to finally inform the rest of the
French politicians. Enough is enough.

*Maxime Gauin is a French historian and a researcher at the
International Strategic Research Organization (USAK-ISRO).

Agence France Presse
January 7, 2012 Saturday 1:56 AM GMT

Turkish hackers target French websites before genocide vote

ISTANBUL, Jan 7 2012

Turkish hackers are threatening to unleash a wave of cyber attacks
against French websites after lawmakers in Paris voted to approve a
law that would ban the denial of the Armenian genocide.

Already, hackers have assailed dozens of French websites, including
that of Valerie Boyer, the French politician who introduced the law
that could punish genocide deniers with jail time.

Some attacks have been blamed on a hacking group known as AyYildiz,
which says it fights for Turkish values.

“AyYildiz has nothing against the French,” he said. “But if this
carries on, there will be far more serious attacks from many groups,”
said Ishak Telli, a spokesman for the group.

The French lower house approved the law pn December 22 and the Senate
is expected to vote on it by the end of January.

If it is enacted, anyone denying that the 1915-1917 massacre of
Armenians by Ottoman Turk forces amounted to genocide could face jail
time.

Telli said hackers could initiate attacks causing millions of euros in damage.

“You can close commercial and banking sites,” Telli said. “You can
take down government websites … The AyYildiz team has that
capability.”

Ankara reacted angrily when the National Assembly passed the bill,
quickly freezing political and military ties with France. Turkey
withdrew its ambassador to Paris, but embassy officials say he will
return Monday to monitor the Senate’s handling of the bill.

Starting in 1915, during World War I, many thousands of Armenians died
in Ottoman Turkey. Armenia says 1.5 million were killed in a genocide
where many perished after being forced to march into the desert
without adequate supplies.

Turkey says around 500,000 died in fighting after Armenians sided with
Russian invaders.

France recognised the killings as a genocide in 2001, but the new bill
would punish anyone who denies this with a year in jail and a fine of
45,000 euros ($60,000).

Modern Turkey is still very sensitive about the issue, and has accused
France of attacking freedom of expression and free historical enquiry.

Akincilar, another Turkish hacking group, was blamed on attacking
Boyer’s site and that of French-Armenian politician Patrick Devedjian.

Such lawmakers would do better to “study Ottoman history,” the group
said in a video sent to AFP.

“Our goal is to expose the arrogance shown by France when it
legislates in its own parliament about the affairs of other
countries,” the group said.

Web hacking is illegal in Turkey and hackers run the risk of prison.

But for those that do it, hijacking a website attacking Turkish
beliefs and morals is not a crime, and no nationalist hacker has been
targeted by authorities, said Ozgur Uckan, new media expert at the
Istanbul Bilgi University.

“This type of hacking isn’t really punished,” Uckan said. “But if they
attack Turkish government sites, the police will do everything in
their power … It’s a kind of double standard.”

Vancouver Sun, BC
Jan 7 2012

Algerian PM Ouyahia to Turkey: stop making political capital of France
massacre of Algerians

ALGIERS – Algerian Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia urged Turkey Saturday
to stop trying to make political capital out of France’s killing of
thousands of Algerians during the colonial period.

He made the call as Turkey continued to assail Paris ahead of a French
Senate vote on a bill that would make it a crime for anyone to deny
that the killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks 1915-17 amounted to
genocide.

Turkey has accused France of hypocrisy for its own hand in killings
committed in its former colony, Algeria, in 1945 and during the north
African nation’s struggle for independence between 1954 and 1962.

“An estimated 15 per cent of the Algerian population was massacred by
the French from 1945 onwards,” Erdogan has said. “This is a genocide.”

Ouyahia said every country has the right to defend its interests, but
“nobody has the right to make the blood of Algerians their business.”

French forces cracked down on a protest in the east Algerian city of
Setif on May 8, 1945, to call for an end to French colonial rule,
leaving 45,000 people dead, according to Algerian historians.

Western researchers put the death toll at between 8,000 and 18,000.

Ouyahia noted that Turkey had been a member of NATO during the war in
Algeria and as such had provided material support to France.

“We say to our (Turkish) friends: Stop making capital out of Algeria’s
colonisation,” Ouyahia said at a press conference.

The French lower house approved the genocide bill December 22 and the
Senate is expected to vote on it by the end of January.

If it is enacted, anyone denying that the 1915-1917 massacre of
Armenians by Ottoman Turk forces amounted to genocide, could face jail
time.

news.az, Azerbaijan
Jan 6 2012

UN Security Council seat to open ‘new chapter’ for Baku’s diplomacy
Fri 06 January 2012 10:53 GMT | 12:53 Local Time

Azerbaijan has started its two-year term as a non-permanent member of
the UN Security Council.

“The start of work as a member of the UN Security Council officially
enables Azerbaijan to make its voice heard on a global scale. Now
Azerbaijan will have its say in global political, economic, cultural
and other projects,” Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry spokesman Elman
Abdullayev has said.

Abdullayev said that Azerbaijan had proved its commitment to the
peacekeeping mission in Iraq, Kosovo and Afghanistan and had gained
diplomatic experience.

He said that membership of the UN Security Council would open a new
chapter in Azerbaijani diplomacy and enable the country to use its
experience on a global scale.

“Of course, Azerbaijan will also make achievements in its own
interests within these processes. Several projects are envisaged
during our membership. We will chair the Council twice according to
alphabetical order during the two-year membership which officially
began on 1 January 2012.

“This means that we will play a leading role in bringing certain
issues forward at the Security Council. These will naturally include
conflicts in our region and especially the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.”

News.Az

news.am, Armenia
Jan 6 2012

Armenian MP may have property but may not run business

January 06, 2012 | 16:41

YEREVAN. – An MP may have a property, but should not run a business,
head of ARF Dashnaktsutyun parliament group Vahan Hovhannisyan told
Armenian News-NEWS.am correspondent.

`When a list was available including more than 70 MP-businessmen,
anything which was possible to write was written. ARFD MP Arthur
Aghabekyan was claimed to have Aqua Park, which he built in one of the
villages of Nagorno-Karabakh, and he was called an MP-businessman,’
Hovhannisyan said.

To note, off parliamentary opposition Armenian National Congress
comprised the list.

According to Hovhannisyan, the MP should not be devoid of the right to
have a property.

`It is unreasonable to think that MPs live in the street or have never
run a business. However, they must register every property,’ the MP
said.

The MP said that he and another ARFD MP Hrayr Karapetyan offered to
legalize mechanisms of legislative lobbying the interests of
businessmen and give them adequate transparency. However, the bill is
yet not passed.

Panorama, Armenia
Jan 6 2012

Doctors saved the life of two years old Adam: it is possible to
overcome leukemia

The Chemotherapy Clinic of “Muratsan” University Hospital gave life to
one more child, 2-year-old Adam Hakhverdyan successfully completed an
intensive course of treatment of ALL (acute lymphoblastic leukemia).

“It was a miracle” – told the parents of Adam through tears which
today are tears of joy and happiness. Diagnosis of Leukemia sounded
like a sentence for death. The child’s condition was extremely grave,
and the age was unfavorable (1.5years), and the hospital did not want
to accept the child for that reason – there was no hope for a cure.

Hematologists of “Muratsan” clinic headed by Associate Professor C. A.
Danielyan claimed responsibility for the child’s life. They took a
chance and once again defeated the horrible disease.
Adam was not the only child in this department. Doctors saved the life
of a 2 years old child Alan Tovmasyan – the first Armenian baby (8
months) who received chemotherapy, and in the caring hands of a
hematologist S. Iskanyana successfully passed an intensive course of
treatment of ALL.
And though Adam is still on the way of recovery, and his doctors are
in no hurry to celebrate a complete victory over the disease, we want
to believe that recovery of the child will be complete and final.

Panorama, Armenia
Jan 6 2012

Bill criminalizing denial of the Armenian Genocide to be discussed in
Senate on January 24

The bill criminalizing the Armenian Genocide denial that the French
National Assembly passed on December 22, in 2011 will be discussed in
French Senate on January 24, Jean Ekian from Paris told panorama.am.

Minister for Relationships with Parliament Patrick Ollier announced on
January 4 that the bill will be presented to Senate in mid January,
but the date was not appointed yet.

The bill criminalizing Armenian Genocide denial authored by Valerie
Boyer (Union for Popular Movement) stipulates one year in prison and a
fine in the amount of 45,000 Euros for anyone who denies the fact of
the Armenian Genocide.

Ynetnews, Israel
Jan 6 2012

Turkish ambassador to return to Paris

Envoy returns after he was recalled last month, following draft French
law proposing to illegalize denial of Armenian genocide

Turkey’s ambassador is returning to Paris after he was recalled for
consultations in response to a draft French law that would make it
illegal to deny that the 1915 mass killing of Armenians by Ottoman
Turks amounted to genocide.

“He’s coming back this weekend and will be in the embassy on Monday,”
a Turkish embassy official in Paris told Reuters.

Related stories:

Turkey accuses Sarkozy of breaking promise on genocide bill
Turkish PM apologizes over 1930s killings of Kurds
‘Knesset must recognize Armenian genocide’

France’s Senate upper house will examine the bill on Jan. 24.

It was overwhelmingly approved last month in the lower house,
prompting Ankara to cancel all political, economic and military
meetings with Paris and summon its ambassador home for consultations –
one step short of a complete recall.

Representatives of Turkish and Armenian groups, and the Turkish and
Armenian ambassadors, are invited to a Senate hearing next week on the
legislation, which its backers want in place before parliament is
suspended at the end of February ahead of an April presidential
election.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has described the bill as
“politics based on racism, discrimination and xenophobia”.

The French government has stressed that the bill, which mandates a
maximum 45,000-euro fine and a year in jail for offenders, came at the
initiative of a conservative lawmaker and not from President Nicolas
Sarkozy.

France is Turkey’s No. 5 export market and the sixth-biggest source of
its imports, with bilateral trade worth $14 billion in the first 10
months of 2011.

,7340,L-4172194,00.html

L’Express , France
5 janv 2012

France-Turquie: nouveaux démêlés en perspective liés au génocide arménien
publié le 05/01/2012 à 14:42, mis à jour à 18:13

PARIS – La France s’expose à de nouvelles mesures de rétorsion de la
Turquie, après la décision du gouvernement d’inscrire à l’ordre du
jour du Sénat une proposition de loi punissant la négation du génocide
arménien, déjà adoptée par l’Assemblée nationale.

Après un vote favorable des députés, le 22 décembre, si le Sénat
adopte à son tour ce texte fin janvier, Ankara pourrait décider
d’abaisser le niveau de sa représentation diplomatique en France,
jusqu’ici assurée par un ambassadeur, selon une source diplomatique
turque à Paris.

Rappelé “pour consultations” en Turquie immédiatement après le vote de
décembre, l’ambassadeur Tahsin Burcuoglu sera de retour lundi à Paris,
mais seulement “pour suivre le processus au Sénat”, “tenter de
l’empêcher”, a dit l’ambassade.

La proposition de loi, présentée par une députée du parti présidentiel
UMP, a toutefois de fortes chances d’être définitivement votée, car
elle est également soutenue par la gauche, majoritaire au Sénat.

Le retour de l’ambassadeur ne signifie en rien la fin des mesures de
représailles prises en décembre, préviennent les diplomates turcs.

“Ces mesures en ce qui concerne la coopération bilatérale, et même
multilatérale dans certains domaines, sont valables et resteront
valables jusqu’à ce qu’on se débarrasse de ce problème-là”, a souligné
à l’AFP le porte-parole de l’ambassade Engin Solakoglu.

“Il y a eu déjà des visites annulées, des coopérations techniques et
administratives annulées, comme la réunion du Comité mixte économique
avec la visite du ministre turc de l’Economie à Paris le 24 janvier”,
a-t-il précisé.

“Notre Premier ministre a parlé d’une deuxième étape et donc ça va
dépendre de ce qui va se passer au Sénat” français, a-t-il ajouté.

Face à cette escalade probable, le ministère français des Affaires
étrangères, interrogé jeudi, a tenté à nouveau de calmer le jeu.

“La France souhaite une relation apaisée avec la Turquie”, a déclaré
jeudi Romain Nadal, porte-parole adjoint, soulignant son rôle de
“partenaire stratégique” dans plusieurs dossiers régionaux.

Partisan d’un rapprochement avec la Turquie, le chef de la diplomatie
française Alain Juppé a pris ses distances avec le vote de la
proposition de loi poussée par le président Nicolas Sarkozy. A
l’approche de l’élection présidentielle du printemps, celui-ci a été
accusé de vouloir s’attirer la sympathie des quelque 500.000 Français
d’origine arménienne.

Pour ne pas envenimer la situation, Paris a ainsi évité de commenter
l’attaque, la semaine dernière, de l’armée turque près de la frontière
avec l’Irak, qui s’est soldée par la mort de 35 villageois kurdes, une
erreur, a reconnu Ankara.

Les relations commerciales entre les secteurs privés des deux pays ne
seront pas affectées, comme l’a rappelé l’ambassade de Turquie, mais
la France craint de se voir écarter de gros marchés, comme la
construction de centrales nucléaires.

“Les préférences de l’Etat en ce qui concerne les appels d’offre
publics changeraient sûrement”, si le texte sur la négation des
génocides était adopté, souligne M. Solakoglu, faisant allusion
notamment à des négociations en cours pour associer Gaz de France au
projet de gazoduc européen Nabucco.

La Turquie ne reconnaît pas l’existence du génocide arménien de 1915
et le chiffre de 1,5 million de morts. Elle admet seulement que
jusqu’à 500.000 Arméniens sont morts du fait des combats et pendant
leur déportation forcée vers la Syrie ou le Liban, alors provinces
ottomanes.