Author: Kalantarian Kevo

Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)
December 23, 2011 Friday

France regrets Turkish envoy recall, other sanctions over Armenia issue

PARIS, Dec 23 (KUNA) – The French government said Friday that it regretted
the decision by Turkey to recall its ambassador to Paris and the other
measures taken to protest the French Parliamentary bill voted Thursday
penalizing any questioning of the Armenian “genocide” which Turkey is blamed
for.

The Foreign Ministry said in a statement that “France regrets these
decisions” by Turkey which also include the suspension of all bilateral
visits, the cancelling of joint military exercises and a ban on port visits by
French navy ships.

Senior government officials here, led by Foreign Minister Alain Juppe, have
called for “restraint” and urged Turkey not to “overreact” to the vote this
week.

“For France, Turkey is a strategic ally and partner,” Foreign Ministry
spokesman Bernard Valero said here.

He noted that the two nations were in a variety of organisations together,
notably NATO, the Organisation for Security Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the
G20 and Mediterranean cooperation bodies.

He noted that France and Turkey were working closely together in
Afghanistan and on the Syrian issue.

“It is important in the current context that we keep open lines of dialogue
and cooperation,” Valero said.

Diplomats here indicated that France had no plans to recall its ambassador
to Ankara, who is currently in Paris and has a planned date to return to the
Turkish capital.

Trade and investment links could also be damaged by the current dispute.
France invested about USD 11 billion in Turkey in 2011 and has 1,000 companies
in that country, where 100,000 people are employed, the sources said.
There was also about USD 15 billion in trade between France and Turkey this
year and France is Turkey’s second largest client market.

The sources further indicated that there are about 350,000 Turks living in
France, 2,000 of these students, while there are 5,500 French nationals living
in Turkey, most in the area of Istanbul.

In retaliation for the French vote on genocide, Turkey on Friday accused
France of genocide during its colonial period in Algeria. (Pick up previous)
jk.ajs

KUNA 231653 Dec 11NNNN

DAILY MAIL (London), UK
December 23, 2011 Friday

ARMENIAN HORROR WAS A BLUEPRINT FOR HITLER

BY PAUL HARRIS

THEY call it the forgotten holocaust, a mass slaughter conducted under
cover of war.

For nearly a century now it has been shrouded in secrecy and mystery;
coloured with denial and contention.

But the killing of hundreds of thousands of Armenians by Ottoman Turks
between 1915 and 1916 is still held to be one of the worst atrocities
committed by one race against another ` and a historical blueprint
for Hitler’s massacre of the Jews.

In towns and villages across the Ottoman Empire, Turkish gendarmes
began rounding up Christian families and deporting them en masse.

The men were seized in the dead of night, and either killed, tortured
or imprisoned. Women and children were raped, beaten and abused. Many
would perish on the `death marches’ that forced them to walk
towards desert concentration camps. Those who didn’t may have wished
they had.

Accounts of atrocities said to have been carried out by the Turks told
how mothers were forced to watch their babies being smashed to their
deaths against rocks¦ how their daughters were raped in front of
them¦ and how guards beheaded their menfolk and played football with
their heads.

Some of the torture to which prisoners were subjected was so
unbearable they doused themselves in paraffin from prison lamps and
set themselves alight.

At one stage a caravan of more than 40,000 women was seen under escort
through the desert, some so starved they were described by one witness
as `mere skeletons enveloped in rags¦ their leathery skin burned
by the sun, cold and wind’.

According to the Armenians, it was a systematic slaughter designed to
eliminate the Armenian people whom the Turks regarded as `vermin’.
It is recorded as the first `ethnic cleansing’ of the 20th
century. Most historians accept that up to 1.5million Armenians may
have died.

`Forgotten’ therefore, is a curious term to apply to what is
widely described as an act of genocide. But in the 96 years that
followed, Turkey has consistently and resolutely refused to
acknowledge that genocide took place. It accepts that there were
atrocities but insists there was no systematic attempt to wipe out
Christian Armenians.

Now the poisonous legacy of 1915 has surfaced again. And even after so
many years, the bitterness has far from subsided.

At the turn of the 20th century, there were two million Armenians in
the Ottoman Empire. Some 200,000 had already died in pogroms. The
Ottoman Empire wanted to build a huge Muslim empire ` but the
Armenians’ Christian civilisation stood in its way.

When the First World War broke out Armenia was divided between the
Russian and Ottoman empires, which were on opposite sides of the
conflict.

Armenians on the Russian side formed volunteer battalions to help the
Russians fight the Turks and persuaded separatist-minded Turkish
Armenians to join them.

The Ottoman government responded by ordering the `deportation’ of
the entire Turkish Armenian population to Syria and Palestine. It
formed `Special Organisation’ units to implement mass killings.

Winston Churchill described the massacres as `an administrative
holocaust’ and `a crime planned and executed for political
purposes’. Years later, Hitler’s bid to exterminate the Jews would
bear startling similarities to the Armenian massacre, right down to
the number of people that could most efficiently be crammed into a
cattle truck.

The `deportation’ began on the night of April 24, 1915. The date
is seared in blood into the Armenian calendar, marked annually by
Armenians around the world.

It is unlikely ever to be erased, whatever becomes of the French
`genocide bill’.

Mass slaughter: Many Armenians were killed, others died on forced marches

Belfast Telegraph
December 23, 2011 Friday
First Edition

Genocide row: Turks pull envoy from Paris

TURKEY has retaliated against France after MPs there passed a bill to
make it a crime to deny the mass killings of Armenians in 1915 by
Ottoman Turks amounted to genocide.

Ankara ordered its ambassador home and halted official contacts,
including some military co-operation.

Turkey, a Nato member, is a strategic ally of France and valued
trading partner, and the moves diminish ties at a particularly crucial
time. Paris and Ankara are both deeply involved in international
issues from the uprising in Syria to Afghanistan.

Turkey vehemently rejects the term “genocide” for the First World War
era-mass killings of Armenians, saying the issue should be left to
historians. French MPs denounced what they called Turkey’s propaganda
effort in a bid to sway them.

But last weekend the Turkish Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan,
said: “Those who do want to see genocide should turn around and look
at their own dirty and bloody history.”

ARMENIA, IRAN TO DEEPEN COOPERATION

United Press International
Dec 23 2011

YEREVAN, Armenia, Dec. 23 (UPI) — An Iranian delegation led by
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is making an official visit to the
Armenian capital Yerevan to increase bilateral ties.

Ahmadinejad is making the visit upon the formal invitation of Armenian
President Serzh Sargsyan.

Ahmadinejad and Sargsyan had their first round of discussions Friday
concerning bilateral, regional and international issues, Iran’s
Islamic Republic News Agency reported.

Iranian and Armenian officials signed five memorandum of understanding
covering a variety of fields of cooperation, including the construction
of hydroelectric turbines for the Aras dam, cooperation between
the Institute for Standards and Industrial Research of Iran and the
Armenian National Institute for Standards as well as cooperation in
the fields of social welfare, employment and environment protection.

Other major topics of discussion include Iranian oil exports to Armenia
and the construction of railways, which builds upon a July 2007 MOU
starting feasibility studies on the possibility of constructing an
Armenian-Iranian railway.

FRANCE: ARMENIAN VOTE, TURKS URGED TO BOYCOTT FRENCH GOODS

ANSAmed

Dec 23 2011
Italy

(ANSAmed) – ANKARA, DECEMBER 23 – Under the banner “Minister incites
Turks to boycott French goods”, Turkish daily Hurriyet reports that
Turkey’s EU minister said people would react to France’s Armenian
genocide denial bill. “We saw in the past for the case of Italy, those
who emptied wine onto (the streets) and burned coats and ties were
this country’s people. There is no need for suggestion, this nation’s
people decide on their own,” EU Minister Egemen Bagis told reporters
yesterday. Bagis said Turks would react by not consuming French goods
in response to the controversial bill. It was announced last night
that Ankara is recalling its ambassador and freezing political visits
as well as joint military projects, including exercises. Ankara will
also cancel permission for French military planes to land and warships
to dock in Turkey as a result of the bill.

Meanwhile, Turkish Science, Industry and Technology Minister Nihat
Ergun said Turkey would probably not assume an embargo policy against
France nor violate international agreements.

However, France should take into consideration the uneasiness that
would emerge in Turkish society, Ergun said. Bulent Eczacibasi,
president of the board of directors of Eczacibasi Holding, said any
boycott against the French firms in Turkey would harm the Turkish
economy. “It would not be wise to punish those companies working in
Turkey; by doing that we will hurt ourselves. We should be calm and
our steps should be outcome-oriented. We should avoid taking steps
with anger that could be detrimental to ourselves,” he said. In
a last warning to France over the Armenian genocide denial bill,
Parliament Speaker Cemil Cicek said bilateral ties were under threat of
“irreparable damage” and urged French lawmakers to use “common sense”.

The planned bill has united Turkey’s ruling and opposition parties
in Parliament, which in a joint declaration denounced it as a “grave,
unacceptable and historic mistake”.

TURKEY URGED TO EXERCISE RESTRAINT

The Voice of Russia
Dec 23 2011

Speaking in Prague Friday after attending the state funeral of the
first post-Communist Czech President Vaclav Havel, French President
Nicolas Sarkozy said Turkey is a great and proud country which can
be expected to respect foreign opinion and exercise restraint in
reacting to it.

Turkey had recalled its Ambassador from France after the Lower House
of the French Parliament passed a bill to make it a criminal offence
to deny that the mass killing of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire
almost 100 years ago amounted to genocide. Turkish Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan had also accused Mr Sarkozy of whipping up hatred
towards the Turks and other Muslims.

Historians say the 1915 slaughter of Turkey’s ethnic Armenians claimed
1.5 million lives.

TURKEY MAY IMPOSE SANCTIONS ON FRANCE

Ahlul Bayt News Agency ABNA

Dec 23 2011
Iran

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has warned that Ankara
may announce sanctions against Paris over a French legislation that
criminalizes the denial of the “Armenian genocide by Turkish forces.”

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) – In a statement broadcast by state media
late Wednesday, the Turkish premier said, “Tomorrow probably I will
announce what we will do at the first stage and we will announce what
kind of sanctions we will have at the second and third stages.”

Ethnic Armenian residents in France allege that up to “1.5 million”
of their ancestors were killed during World War I “by the forces of
Turkey’s former Ottoman Empire.”

Ankara, however, has vehemently denied the allegation.

In 2001, France officially recognized the killing of Armenians as
“genocide”.

On Thursday, the French parliament is expected to approve an
extraordinary bill that would sentence “anyone in France who publicly
denies the 1915 genocide to a year in prison and a fine of 45,000 euros
(USD 58,000)”.

Erdogan emphasized in his statement that the move, pushed by French
President Nicolas Sarkozy’s ruling party, would “harm Franco-Turkish
relations.”

The 400,000-strong Armenian population in France is expected to play a
major role in the French president’s re-election battle in April 2012.

Last week, the Turkish premier strongly criticized France over the
bill, saying, “Those who want to see genocide should turn around and
look at their own dirty, bloody history.”

NEW APARTMENTS PROVIDED TO 91 FAMILIES OF KILLED FREEDOM FIGHTERS IN STEPANAKERT

ARMENPRESS
DECEMBER 23, 201
YEREVAN

Ceremony of lottery of delivering apartments to 91 families of killed
freedom fighters during the Artsakh war was held Friday in Stapankert
Chamber of Culture and Youth. The new apartments will be handed to
the families of killed freedom fighters from “Artsakh” newly-built
district of Stepanankert.

NKR Minister of Social Insurance Narine Astsatryan told Armenpress’
correspondent that the goal of the lottery is transparent organization
of the process. According to Ms. Astsatryan, with this step the state
program on providing apartments to families of killed servicemen in
wraps up Stepanakert. “In the lists there are still citizens, whose
apartment solution issue is still prolonged, as there is a need of
additional study,” Astsatryan said, noting that the above-mentioned
issue must surely get solution.

As a result of the lottery, 91 families of killed freedom fighters
received apartments from “Artsakh” newly-built district.

RA PRESIDENT SERZH SARGSYAN ADDRESSES LETTER TO FRENCH PRESIDENT NICOLAS SARKOZY

ARMENPRESS
DECEMBER 23, 201
YEREVAN

On December 23, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan addressed a letter
to French President Nicolas Sarkozy on the occasion of adoption of
the Bill Criminalizing the Armenian Genocide by the National Assembly
of France.

President Sargsyan expressed his gratitude to President Nicolas
Sarkzoy, stressing that one more time France proved its devotion to
all-human merits, press service of RA President told Armenpress.

“Honorable Mr. President, only after 2, 5 months from your historical
visit to the Republic of Armenia and from your resolute speech
delivered at the Yerevan Genocide Memorial and French Square, passing
of the Bill Criminalizing the Armenian Genocide by the National
Assembly of France is the best proof of your personal commitment,
your faithfulness to Armenian-French firm friendship, your devotion
to elimination of divisive lines in our region and to reconciliation
of peoples ,” RA President’s letter says.

YEREVAN MAY BECOME EUROPEAN CITY OF HIGHER EDUCATION

ARMENPRESS
DECEMBER 23, 201
YEREVAN

Armenia has presented an application for hosting ministerial summit
of the Bologna process in Armenia in 2015, Education and Science
Minister Armen Ashotyan told a news conference today. Ashotyan said
the coming one will be conducted in 2012 in Bucharest. “During the
next voting Yerevan may become the European town of higher education
for 2012-2015,” the minister expressed hope.

Ashotyan said Armenology center reopened in Bucharest with the
assistance of the Ministry. Armenology center also opened in Tehran
State University.