ARA PAPIAN: ARMENIA CEASES TO BE A SUBJECT OF INTERNATIONAL LAW (VIDEO)
16:21 | January 23,2015 | Politics
Armenia gradually ceases to be a subject of international law, says
Ara Papian, the founder and Head of the Modus Vivendi Center.
“Today Armenian-Turkish relations are viewed in the context of
relations between the West and Turkey, Russia and Turkey, the US and
Turkey,” he said.
“THE ARMENIANS WANT AN ACKNOWLEDGMENT THAT THE 1915 MASSACRE WAS A CRIME”
[ Part 2.2: “Attached Text” ]
Armenian genocide
Point of view
Geoffrey Robertson
In 1915 Britain was determined to expose the Armenian genocide,
so why have we since downgraded it to a ‘tragedy’?
Armenians mark the anniversary of the massacre of their people,
in 2014.
Armenians mark the anniversary of the massacre of their people,
in 2014. Photograph: Karen Minasyan/Getty Images
Friday 23 January 2015 14.00 GMT
Just before the invasion of Poland, Adolf Hitler urged his generals
to show no mercy towards its people – there would be no retribution,
because “after all, who now remembers the annihilation of the
Armenians?†As the centenary of the Armenian genocide approaches
– it began on 24 April 1915, with the rounding up and subsequent
“disappearance†of intellectuals and community leaders
in Constantinople – remembrance of the destruction of more than half
of the Armenian people is more important than ever.
Although, as Hitler recognised in 1939 (and it is still the case
today), the crime against humanity committed by the Ottoman Turks
by killing the major part of this ancient Christian race has never
been requited, or, in the case of Turkey, been the subject of apology
or reparation.
The “Young Turks†who ran the Ottoman government did not
use gas ovens, but they did massacre the men, and sent the women,
children and elders on death marches through the desert to places
we only hear of now because they are overrun by Isis. They died en
route in their hundreds of thousands from starvation or attack, and
many survivors died of typhus in concentration camps at the end of
the line. The government ordered these forced deportations in 1915,
and then passed laws to seize their lands and homes and churches on
the pretext that they had been “abandonedâ€.
The destruction of more than 1 million Armenians was declared
a “crime against humanity†by Britain, France and
Russia in 1915, and these allies formally promised punishment
for what a US inquiry at the end of the war described as “a
colossal crime – the wholesale attempt on a raceâ€. But the
Treaty of Sèvres, designed to punish the Young Turks for this
“colossal crime†– now called “genocideâ€
– was never implemented. Modern Turkey reportedly funds a massive
genocide denial campaign, claiming that the death marches were
merely “relocations†required by military necessity and
that the massacres (the Euphrates was so packed with bodies that
it altered its course) were the work of a few “unruly’
officials. In Turkey, today, you can go to jail – and some do –
for affirming that there was a genocide in 1915; this counts as the
crime of “insulting Turkishness†under Section 301 of
its criminal code.
Conversely, in some European countries, it counts as a crime to
deny the Armenian genocide. The parliaments of many democracies
– France, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, Russia, Greece and
Canada, for example, recognise it explicitly, as do 43 states of
the US. The problem is that Turkey – “neuralgic†on
the subject (the word used privately by the British Foreign Office
to describe its attitude) – has threatened reprisals and is too
important geopolitically to provoke by affirming the genocide, lest
it carry out threats to close its airbases to Nato and its borders
to refugees. Thus Barack Obama, who roundly condemned the Armenian
genocide in 2008 and promised to do so when elected president, dares
not utter the “g†word. Instead, he calls it Meds Yeghern
(Armenian for “the great crimeâ€) and asserts that his
opinion has not changed, although you must Google his 2008 campaign
speech to discover his opinion that it was genocide.
As for Britain, the story is even stranger. No nation, in 1915, was
more determined to expose and punish what it termed a “crime
against humanityâ€. The evidence of the atrocities collected
in Arnold Toynbee’s Blue Book, although published by the
government for propaganda purposes, has withstood all attempts
to discredit it. Winston Churchill condemned the “infamous
general massacre and deportation of Armenians … in one
administrative Holocaustâ€, and Britain even attempted to put
some of the perpetrators on trial in Malta, only to find that there
was no international criminal law at the time to punish government
officials for killing their own people. However, in recent years, the
FCO has briefed ministers to call the events a “tragedyâ€
but to deny genocide because “the evidence is not sufficiently
unequivocal†– an oxymoronic term (something is either
unequivocal or it is not).
The FCO certainly knew that this “genocide equivocationâ€
was dodgy: one internal memo obtained under the Freedom of Information
Act admits that “HMG is open to criticism in terms of the ethical
dimension. But given the importance of our relations (political,
strategic and commercial) with Turkey … the current line
is the only feasible option.†Ministers were also advised
to avoid attendance at any commemoration of the Armenian genocide,
and to avoid any mention of it at Holocaust Day memorials.
This position could not hold, especially after the International
Court of Justice declared the Bosnian Serbs guilty of genocide at
Srebrenica, for killing 8,000 men and deporting up to 25,000 women
and children. The claim that the evidence is “not sufficiently
unequivocal†was then abandoned by the FCO (although the Turkish
government website claims that this is still the UK’s position),
and the search began for a formula that could answer the question:
“Will HMG recognise the Armenian genocide?†without
answering the question.
Now, the FCO claims to empathise with the “sufferingâ€
of the Armenian people in the “tragedy†of 1915, and
says it is not for governments to decide a “complex legal
questionâ€. It has thus moved the “line†from
genocide equivocation to genocide avoidance – a move slightly in the
right direction. Last year there was even talk at the FCO of giving
to the Armenian Genocide Museum copies of some files in the National
Archives attesting to the Ottoman atrocities: this was turned down,
ostensibly because the photocopying costs of £431.20 could not be
afforded, but probably because the Turks would go ballistic.
The FCO files recently recorded ministerial approval for “more
active participation†in centenary events, but there has, as
yet, been no lifting of the ban on reference to the Armenian genocide
on Holocaust Memorial Day. The real test of this government’s
willingness to accept historical truth will be whether it sends
a senior minister – or any minister at all – to the genocide
commemoration in Yerevan, the Armenian capital, on 24 April.
Ministers will be present at Gallipoli for the centenary of the
ill-fated British-Anzac Dardanelles landing on 25 April, and it would
be simple for them to fly there from Yerevan, were it not for the
certainty that Turkey would deny them entry.
The Dardanelles landings were in fact the trigger for the commencement
of the genocide, and (together with Russian military activity
on Turkey’s eastern front) were used as an excuse for the
destruction of the Armenians, on the pretext that they might support
the allied invasion. But the evidence of the government’s
genocidal intent is overwhelming, coming as it does from appalled
German and Italian diplomats and neutral Americans, to whom the Young
Turk leaders admitted that they were going to eliminate “the
Armenian problem†by eliminating the Armenians.
There can never be justification for genocide. This was understood
by Raphael Lemkin, the Polish lawyer who coined the word and worked
tirelessly to have the annihilation of the Armenians recognised as
an international crime. In 1948 the UN’s Genocide Convention
achieved Lemkin’s objective. Its definition of the crime
includes the destruction of part of a racial or religious group by,
for example, inflicting on it life-threatening conditions (such as
death marches). Applied to 1915, this produces a verdict of guilt,
beyond reasonable doubt.
It was, of course, a century ago: does it still matter? A century
is just within living memory: last year a 103-year-old woman, once
a small child carried by her mother across burning sands, took tea
with Obama and the world’s most famous Armenian descendant
(Kim Kardashian!). The mental scars and psychological trauma for the
children and grandchildren of survivors throughout the diaspora will
continue until Turkey acknowledges the crime, and offers an apology.
International law may provide some assistance: there are assets
expropriated in 1915 that can still be traced, and many ruined churches
that can be restored and returned. Armenians want restoration of their
historic lands in eastern Turkey, which is asking too much (although
I have suggested that the majestic Mount Ararat, overlooking Yerevan,
might be handed over by Turkey as an act of reconciliation). But
what they want most is what they are plainly entitled to have:
an acknowledgment from Turkey, and for that matter from the UK,
that what happened to their people in 1915 was not a tragedy but a
crime. A crime against humanity – as Britain said in 1915, and should,
in 2015, repeat.
* Geoffrey Robertson’s An Inconvenient Genocide: Who Now
Remembers the Armenians? is published by Random House.
ARMENIA’S ECONOMY MINISTER FAILS TO CLARIFY STANCE ON EBRD FORECAST
15:04 * 22.01.15
Armenia’s Minister of Economy Karen Chshmarityan has not clarified
his stance on a forecast by the European Bank for Reconstruction and
Development (EBRD).
“We are not dealing with macroeconomic forecasts,” he said.
The EBRD forecasts 0% economic growth in Armenia for this year.
The ministry is now dealing with problems of industrial enterprises,
exports and influence on international markets.
“We have to employ all the instruments for our companies to increase
their output this year,” Mr Chshmarityan said.
In response to a remark that all the ratings show fewer loans to
Armenia, the minister said:
“Different organizations have different methods of assessment. But
our studies show that work with real sector and their aid show a
different picture.”
RUSSIAN MEDIA: ARMENIA WANTS 450 CHURCHES IN GEORGIA
The Messenger, Georgia
Jan 21 2015
By Tea Mariamidze
Tuesday, January 20
According to the Russian source Vetotnikavkaza.net, Armenia has
applied to UNESCO to recognize hundreds of churches located in Georgia
as Armenian.
The agency wrote that Paud Akhundov, a representative of the
Azerbaijani President’s Administration, said “caprices” of the
Armenian side were a result of many-centuries “falsification” by
Armenian historians.
Meanwhile, the move was assessed in Tbilisi too. Georgian officials
believed UNESCO was the body to give recommendations on how to preserve
a historical building, but it was not able to decide whom the building
belonged to.
Georgia’s Minister of Culture Mikheil Giorgadze stated that even
Georgia’s ministry of culture could not decide the fate of the
religious monuments.
“It’s not a Culture Ministry’s competence to decide religious
belonging. We see all of these churches as historical monuments and
we take care of them regardless to which religion they belong to,”
Giorgadze said.
Nikoloz Antidze, head of Georgia’s National Agency for Cultural
Heritage Preservation said that he had some information concerning
the issue.
“We have some information about the issue, but UNESCO is not a court
that is eligible to solve cultural ownership issues. Large-scale
research needs to be conducted,” Antidze said.
ARMENIA STILL SEEKING TIES WITH EU DESPITE JOINING EURASIAN UNION
Deutsche Presse-Agentur, Germany
January 20, 2015 Tuesday 4:12 PM EST
Brussels
DPA POLITICS Armenia diplomacy EU Armenia still seeking ties with EU
despite joining Eurasian union Brussels Armenia is seeking closer ties
with the European Union, its foreign minister said Tuesday, despite
the country’s membership in the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union.
“We are going to enhance and to develop, to deepen our comprehensive
cooperation and partnership with the EU, taking into due consideration
our commitments in other international integration processes,” Eduard
Nalbandyan said during a visit to Brussels.
At the same time, he declared that “we have very strong allied
strategic relations with Russia and we will continue to strengthen
and enhance our friendly relations with Russia.”
Relations between Moscow and the EU have soured over the crisis in
Ukraine, reaching their lowest point since the end of the Cold War.
Armenia had originally been expected to initial a deal with the EU
on closer political and trade ties in November 2013, after more than
three years of negotiations. But its president then announced that
Armenia would join the Russian union.
The move put the EU in an difficult situation, as officials believe
that a country cannot both join the Eurasian union and enter a free
trade agreement with the bloc.
The EU’s top official for neighbourhood relations said Tuesday that
the agreement negotiated with Armenia will have to be “adjusted,”
but also expressed hope that “the substance of its political part”
can be kept.
“We need still final clarification of some areas,” EU Commissioner
Johannes Hahn said. “I hope we can finalize these remaining elements
in February in order to conclude this joint reflection.”
Latvia, which currently holds the rotating presidency of the 28-country
EU, would then like to see negotiations on a new agreement with
Armenia launched at an Eastern Partnership summit it will host in May.
“That could probably be also a good example [of] how, being a part of
one union, you can still successfully cooperate also with the other
union,” Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics said.
“The EU is not competing with somebody over Armenia or over any other
eastern partner,” he added.
The EU’s Eastern Partnership project includes six former Soviet states
– Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine.
The latter three have signed political and trade agreements with
Brussels.
Belarus is another member of the Eurasian union, along with
Kazakhstan. Kyrgyzstan is also expected to join.
GUMRI : RASSEMBLEMENT DEVANT LE MONUMENT DU REVEREND PÈRE KOMITAS A PARIS
COMMUNIQUE PAR RENAISSANCE ARMENIENNE
Rassemblement devant le monument du Reverend Père Komitas en hommage
aux armeniens de Gumri.
Le dimanche 18 janvier, l’eglise armenienne de Paris a celebre
une messe de requiem pour les 6 membres de la famille Avetisyan,
sauvagement assassines, parait-il, par un soldat russe. A l’appel
du mouvement Renaissance Armenienne de Paris, une grande partie des
fidèles presents a l’eglise et les sympathisants du mouvement se sont
rassembles devant la statue de Komitas.
Après avoir depose leurs cierges, les presents ont entonne la prière > sous la direction de la chorale de l’eglise.
Puis, devant une centaine de personnes, le porte parole du mouvement
Renaissance Armenienne de Paris, Schanth Vosgueritchian a pris la
parole pour >.
Il a en outre exhorte le pouvoir en Armenie
ANGELA MERKEL: “THE NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT, AS WELL AS OTHER CONFLICTS IN THE REGION, SHALL BE RESOLVED PEACEFULLY”
Vestnik Kavkaza, Russia
Jan 21 2015
21 January 2015 – 8:53pm
Angela Merkel: “The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, as well as other
conflicts in the region, shall be resolved peacefully” Orhan Sattar,
director of the European Bureau of Vestnik Kavkaza At this moment a
meeting in Berlin between German Chancellor Angela Merkel and President
Ilham Aliyev is taking place. The parties discussed bilateral relations
issues, energy policy and the situations in Ukraine and the Caucasus.
In her speech, the Chancellor said: “I am glad that the President
of Azerbaijan is today in Berlin. The last time we met here was five
years ago. For us, Azerbaijan is a partner with a growing importance.
Azerbaijan’s economy shows very dynamic growth, and there are two
reasons why this country is important for us. Firstly, because of its
oil and gas reserves. Secondly, Azerbaijan may become our partner in
the diversification of our own economy with the help of German and
other European companies.”
According to Merkel, “the German government actively supports the
project of the Southern Gas Corridor, and this is what we discussed
today. We also discussed bilateral topics important to both of us;
in particular, the human rights situation in Azerbaijan played a
role here.”
“We also had a discussion about the geopolitical situation of
Azerbaijan. We have discussed the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the
resolution of which Germany would like to contribute to. Perhaps the
European Union could have acted here with its own initiative, and I
think Azerbaijan will discuss this with the European Commission. We
also discussed the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, as well as
the binding of Azerbaijan to the EU’s Eastern Partnership program. As
far as I understand, Azerbaijan calls for good cooperation with the
EU, while not having the goal of membership in the European Union. I
would like to emphasize once again that this very approach was the
starting point of the Eastern Partnership program. This year, under
the Lithuanian presidency of the EU,the next summit of the Eastern
Partnership will take place, the Chancellor said.
Orhan Sattar, director of the European Bureau of Vestnik Kavkaza
At this moment a meeting in Berlin between German Chancellor Angela
Merkel and President Ilham Aliyev is taking place. The parties
discussed bilateral relations issues, energy policy and the situations
in Ukraine and the Caucasus.
In her speech, the Chancellor said: “I am glad that the President
of Azerbaijan is today in Berlin. The last time we met here was five
years ago. For us, Azerbaijan is a partner with a growing importance.
Azerbaijan’s economy shows very dynamic growth, and there are two
reasons why this country is important for us. Firstly, because of its
oil and gas reserves. Secondly, Azerbaijan may become our partner in
the diversification of our own economy with the help of German and
other European companies.”
According to Merkel, “the German government actively supports the
project of the Southern Gas Corridor, and this is what we discussed
today. We also discussed bilateral topics important to both of us;
in particular, the human rights situation in Azerbaijan played a
role here.”
“We also had a discussion about the geopolitical situation of
Azerbaijan. We have discussed the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the
resolution of which Germany would like to contribute to. Perhaps the
European Union could have acted here with its own initiative, and I
think Azerbaijan will discuss this with the European Commission. We
also discussed the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, as well as
the binding of Azerbaijan to the EU’s Eastern Partnership program. As
far as I understand, Azerbaijan calls for good cooperation with the
EU, while not having the goal of membership in the European Union. I
would like to emphasize once again that this very approach was the
starting point of the Eastern Partnership program. This year, under
the Lithuanian presidency of the EU,the next summit of the Eastern
Partnership will take place, the Chancellor said.
PEPSI AND COCA-COLA BOTTLERS COMPANIES IN ARMENIA ALLOWED TO CONTINUE IMPORTS OF WHITE SUGAR AT PREFERENTIAL CUSTOMS RATES
YEREVAN, January 22. / ARKA /. Pepsi and Coca-Cola Bottlers companies
in Armenia have been allowed by the government today to continue
imports of white sugar from other than Eurasian Economic Union (EEU)
member countries at preferential customs rates for their own needs
for the next three years.
The news was announced by economy minister Karen Chshmarityan during
a Cabinet session.
According to Chshmarityan, under the treaty on accession to the
Eurasian Economic Union, Armenia will continue levying lower import
customs duties on a long list of products for several years, including
white sugar.
The minister explained that both companies are allowed to import no
more than 4,000 metric tons of white sugar and will be paying a 10
percent customs duties over the next three years.
The government has also approved today a decision on imports of raw
sugar at zero customs duties for sugar production. Chshmarityan said
under the EEU accession agreement, Armenia is allowed to import raw
cane sugar at zero customs duties from 2015 to 2025 for processing
in the territory of Armenia.-0-
AS HEPATITIS C DETECTED AT KAJARAN MEDIAL CENTER, ALL HOSPITALS IN ARMENIA WILL UNDERGO STRICT CONTROL
by Karina Manukyan
Thursday, January 22, 11:53
Health Ministry of Armenia has convened, Wednesday, after cases of
Hepatitis C were detected at the Kajaran Medical Center lately.
According to the ministry, Minister Armen Muradyan charged Artavazd
Vatyan, the head of the National Center for Control and Prevention
of Diseases, to organize inspections and examinations at all the
hospitals in the country within 20 days. Similar inspections will
be conducted also at dental clinics, policlinics and laboratories
throughout the country.
It is noteworthy that Hepatitis C was detected among 8 patients
after they underwent surgery at the Karajaran Medical Center. The
Investigation Committee has initiated a criminal case on the fact. The
surgeries have been closed.
Tehran’s Armenian diocese slams Charlie Hebdo’s insulting cartoon
Political Desk
On Line: 20 January 2015 18:00
In Print: Wednesday 21 January 2015
TEHRAN – The Armenian Diocese of Tehran has condemned French weekly
Charlie Hebdo for publishing an insulting cartoon of Islam’s holy
Prophet Mohammad (PBUH).
Speaking at a cultural ceremony in Iran’s capital on Monday, Sahak
Khosravian, the representative of the Archbishop of Armenian church in
Tehran, lashed out at the French satirical magazine for its
sacrilegious move, according to the Tasnim news agency.
“The Armenian Diocese of Tehran, for its part, condemns such a move.
We condemn insults to any dear prophet as a shameful action, and hope
that such moves would not occur anywhere in the world,” Khosravian
said.
Last Wednesday’s edition of Charlie Hebdo, which sold millions of
copies, shows a cartoon of Prophet Mohammad holding a “Je suis
Charlie” (I am Charlie) sign, a slogan widely used following the
January 7 attack on the magazine.
MT/MD