Author: Kalashian Nyrie

Armenian government named “enemy of press”

Mediamax news agency
3 May 05

Yerevan, 3 May: The National Press Club [NPC] today conferred the
title of enemy of the press to the Armenian government.

NPC members said that throughout last year “the Armenian authorities
continued to carry out a systematic fight against freedom of speech”.

Members of the NPC board also said that “the Armenian government, on
the one hand, declares to the whole world its commitment to democracy,
on the other hand, it hinders the development and establishment of
free press”.

“Since there is undeclared war against the media, the National Press
Club considers it senseless to confer the title of enemy of the press
to an individual,” the NPC members said.

The National Press Club decided to confer the title of friend of the
press to no-one.

[Armenian President Robert Kocharyan was named the enemy of the press
for three years running.]

Genocide 90 Years ago – and Denial
By Garbis Krajian

Addis Tribune
April 29, 2005

o.htm

As a form of introduction, I was born in Ethiopia from Armenian
parents. My family’s history in Ethiopia goes back over 150 years. From
my father’s side, I am fortunate to trace my genealogy back five
generations. From my mother’s side, I am only able to go back as far
as my grandfather. Nonetheless!

I grew up in the Arat Kilo region and still remember many of my
childhood friends. I became fluent in Amharic and loved doing
everything a child would do in our neighborhood. Ethiopia became
my home country and home to almost all Armenians who live in
Ethiopia. Right after the fall of the Emperor I left Ethiopia for
Canada.

After living abroad for thirty years, I have returned to Ethiopia
as an educator. Upon my arrival I learned that the once vibrant and
prosperous Armenian community that numbered around 1,500 has dwindled
to less than one hundred. The remaining twenty families still run
the community school, a club and a church.

On April 24th, like it has been done for the last 90 years, I also
went to my church to pray for the soul of my ancestors.

It is estimated that over ten million Armenians and friends in one
hundred fifty-two countries gathered in churches, community centers,
and national assembly halls to commemorate the 90th anniversary of
the Armenian Genocide. I was one of sixty Armenians who congregated
at St. George Armenian Church to pay tribute to my ancestors who were
victims of the atrocities committed by the Turkish Ottoman Empire
during the First World War. Needless to say, I could not think of
being anywhere else in the world at this particular moment than this
sacred place in Addis which is still situated in the same setting
where I regularly prayed as a child until I was 19 years of age. This
was the same site, where every year, on April 24th, a thousand or so
Armenian-Ethiopians gathered to remember their ancestors, the children,
and the elderly who were slaughtered by the Ottoman Army. In fact,
what makes my conviction so much stronger is that I am the grandchild
of one of the Forty Orphans, the “Arba Lijoch,” who survived the
genocide and escaped to Jerusalem. In Jerusalem, these forty orphans
were given shelter at the Armenian Monastery later to be adopted by
Emperor Haile-Selassie. The Emperor brought them to Ethiopia, where
they made this lovely country their home. These forty young men,
who were a band had impressed the Emperor with their musical skills.
Upon their arrival to Ethiopia, they were commissioned, under the
directorship of Noubar Nalbandian, uncle of Nerses Nalbandian, to
compose the National Anthem of Ethiopia. It remained as the anthem,
“Teferi Marsh” or “Ethiopia Hoy,” until the arrival of the Dergue.

Before I move to the topic of my immediate concern, I pay much
gratitude to all Ethiopians, present and past, for giving the Armenians
a home for the last 100 years.

Now let me take you to the main issue, the Armenian Genocide. The
main intent of the Genocide was the extermination of the Armenian
population from Turkey. This massive atrocity was committed on the
Armenian population living on their ancestral homeland sometime around
the beginning of the last century. In those ten years, 1905-1915,
over 1.5 million Armenians mostly children women and the elderly
were systematically eliminated and expelled into the deserts by the
Ottoman Government.

Summary of the Genocide

Arguably, according to Turkish historians, Armenians and Turks lived
for centuries in relative harmony during the Ottoman Empire. However,
this historic perception portrayed to the world is far from the
truth. In fact, the systematic extermination of Armenians had started
long before the First World War. In the 1890s hundreds of thousands
of Armenians were killed by Sultan Abdul Hamid II.

Around the turn of the last century, the situation began to change for
the worse. Nationalism, a new force in the world, spread its tentacles
from Europe to the Ottoman Empire. As other Christian minorities within
the Ottoman Empire gained their independence, the Armenians became more
isolated as the only Christian minority. Some Armenians began to call
for independence. Turks envisioned a new Pan-Turkic empire spreading
all the way to Turkic speaking Central Asia. Armenians were the only
ethnic group in between these two major pockets of Turkish-speaking
people. A plan was in the works to cleanse the region and settle
the Armenian issue, once and for all. A new force was emerging to
undertake this task.

A coup led by ‘progressive’ Young Turks in 1908 replaced Sultan
Hamid II. Turkish nationalists who called themselves the “Young Turk
Revolutioneries” took control over the government. Among the most
notorious of the new governing junta were Enver, Jemal and Talat
Pasha. These young Turkish leaders masterminded a plan to completely
eradicate the Armenian race as they found them to be a stone in
their shoes that would hinder their plan for a larger Turkic Empire
stretching from Istanbul all the way to Turkmenistan.

Once the decision was made by the Young Turks to exterminate the
Armenians, events unfolded fast. A decision was made to relocate
Armenian villages, towns and cities on the pretence of public
safety. All-able bodied men were drafted to join in the wartime
effort. These men were either immediately killed or were sent to
join the army. The relocation plan commenced with vengeance and
the remaining residents were then escorted by Turkish Gendarmes on
death marches.

The deportation of the Armenians resembled the movement of large
herds of cattle, in search of pasture and water. Unfortunately in
this case, the exodus was planned for extermination. On the journey
to death, the Armenians were raped, starved, dehydrated, murdered,
kidnapped and were deliberately drowned in the Euphrates river. Only
a few fortunate ones such as my grandfather managed to escape. It is
so ironic, learning from my grandfather, that it was a young Turkish
shepherd who saved his life by hiding him in the sheep barn. Both
were 12 years old at the time A few weeks later the parents of the
shepherd discovered the young boy hiding in the barn.

The Turkish family immediately took him to their house, fed him,
gave him clothing and provided him with a comfortable bed. As it was
considered to be a criminal act to harbor an Armenian, the little boy
was given to a trusted merchant who masked him as his son, sat him on
a camel, and took him all the way to Palestine. Like my grandfather,
those that survived and escaped received assistance from those who
have come to be known as “Good Turks.” In fact, many Turks risked
their lives by saving some Armenian victims and it would be a serious
error to treat all the Turkish people as perpetrators of the crime.

Ninety Years Later

Survivors of the Armenian Genocide, children, grand-children and
great-grand children, are scattered in over 150 countries. Few
Armenians ever fail to commemorate the Genocide on April 24th. However,
important this might be for them, it has also received international
prominence as this event marks one of the first genocide of the
last century.

Some well regarded scholars argue that there have been as many as
fifty such genocides committed in the last century. Others say that
only four really meet the criteria set out in the 1948 UN Genocide
Convention, the Extermination of the Herero in Namibia, the Armenians
in the Ottoman Empire, the Jews in Europe and the Tutsis in Rwanda.

Does this categorization of genocide types and forms matter when
still many countries in the world, including the present and all past
Turkish governments since the genocide, have denied the TRUTH? Would
recognition of the genocide, perhaps, appear as an evil notion? NO,
not at all. It would only make Turkey come to terms with its past
and address the dark side of history~@¦. in a human manner as others
have done in civilized nations like Germany.

It is believed that Hitler was encouraged by the atrocities committed
on Armenians by the Ottoman Empire and the indifference shown by
the civilized world. This is what Hitler said before exterminating
six million Jews in Europe: “Who, after all, speaks today of the
annihilation of the Armenians?”

What about the Rwandan Genocide? What about the Congo, the Sudan? What
about Srebrenica? Where will all these atrocities take us if past
genocides are denied? What about the Future? How many more genocides
would be committed? Just think about it seriously! Therefore, I urge
Prime Minister Erdogan of Turkey and his friends to deal with the issue
of the Armenian Genocide once and for all. Many Turkish historians and
the public have urged the Turkish Government to recognize the Armenian
Genocide instead of continuing to deny that it ever happened. Many
countries like France, Italy, Germany, and many others have formally
recognized the Armenian Genocide. Few others like Britain and the
United States are being pressured by their citizens to formally accept
this atrocity as lending support to Turkey in this matter can only
be interpreted as complacency.

By recognizing the Armenian Genocide, Turkey has much to gain and
possibly nothing to lose. First of all, it is the right thing to
do as justice always prevails. Second, in order for reconciliation
happens between these two people, acceptance of guilt, asking for
forgiveness and receiving forgiveness has to take place. Third, the two
neighboring nations will live in peace and prosper together. Fourth,
it will bring Turkey amongst the ranks of civilized nations like
Germany which accepted responsibility of the atrocities of the Nazi
and formally apologized to the victims and the State of Israel. Fifth,
it will give Turkey a better chance of joining the European Union
as some countries like France have made recognizing the genocide
a prerequisite before Turkey joins the EU. Sixth, as an Armenian,
I would like to put all these issues to rest and offer forgiveness
to a Nation whose citizens are still told by their government that
the real perpetrators were the Armenians. Last but not least, allow
me to recall Reverend Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech,
borrow a short paragraph that I love and adopt few changes and make
it relevant to the issue which has preoccupied both Armenians and
Turks for the last century.

It reads as follows:

I have a dream that one day little Armenian boys and girls will be
able to join hands with little Turkish boys and girls as sisters
and brothers without having to bring up the past. I hope one day,
my daughters Sara and Ani will be able to play with the children of
my very good Turkish friend Serdar, without even going there~@¦there
~@¦there, to the past, a very sad past that is inevitable to surface
when an Armenian and Turk meet.

G. Korajian is a Graduate of Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government

He teaches Ethics Courses. His current assignment is in Ethiopia
and Zambia.

He can be reached a:

[email protected]

[email protected]

–Boundary_(ID_+28QwdSFZlHiskwUU3o7+g)–

Firebrand Kevorkian ‘a tough act to follow’

The Nation (Thailand)
May 2, 2005, Monday

In the construction business, Bob Kevorkian towered above many of
his contemporaries in building large-scale projects.

His style was to deliver on time. He was dependable and fast. These
qualities endeared him to the many professional developers whose key
motivation was to get their projects off the ground and completed as
quickly as possible to reap the full rewards of their labour.

A half-finished project is worth very little.

Kevorkian, managing director of K-Tech Construction & Engineering Plc,
passed away last Tuesday from a heart attack. His death will prove
a great loss to the real-estate sector.

British-Sikh tycoon Gulu Lalvani, one of the many developers whom
Kevorkian worked for, was so impressed by the quality and speed of
his work on his Bt6-billion Royal Phuket Marina that he immediately
started to think about expanding his realty business.

“Bob has done a tremendous job,” said Lalvani earlier this year when
he awarding a new contract to Kevorkian. “The marina has been built
ahead of schedule.”

Such praises were commonly heaped on Kevorkian but not as usually
distributed among other players.

What marked Kevorkian’s reputation was his ability to keep his word
and delivered what he promised.

When bidding for a project, he placed himself in the seat of the
developer and understood fully what the repercussions were if a
project was delayed and how much that would cost the investors.

Bangkok’s property boom benefited from Kevorkian’s presence, for he
helped to teach often short-term players about the need to honour
commitments over shady practices such as delaying tactics to extort
more money from companies.

Overall, he understood that if the developer suffered, his suppliers
and building contractors would not be exempt, all facing not getting
paid.

As a man who came from the school of hard knocks, the Cairo-born
British national of Armenian descent held no illusions as to what
happens when his employers go bust.

Litigation over collecting payments from bankrupt firms is not
something practical minds can afford to entertain in the real world
of business.

Nigel Cornick, the chief executive of Raimon Land, said Kevorkian
was ahead of the pack and dependable because he “kept his commitments”.

“He will be a hard act to follow,” said Cornick. Because of Kevorkian’s
strength in organising his firm, K-Tech, which does well over Bt100
million in receipts a year, should carry on without too many hiccups.

Cornick’s ties to Kevorkian spans 10 years. Ironically, Kevorkian
recently completed The Lakes for Cornick, a project that he was first
employed to construct as an office building called Raimon Tower.

With the 1997 financial meltdown, the project was cancelled and only
revived two years ago by Cornick as The Lakes.

True to his word, the building is now up and running. Cornick said
the firebrand that led the firm would be difficult to replace.

Kevorkian, who was also Honorary Consul for Armenia in Bangkok, was
born in 1942 in Egypt, which his parents were forced to flee during
the 1956 Suez crisis.

He worked for top construction companies in England before coming
to Thailand in the late 1980s to head Thai Bauer, a firm he started
from scratch.

Pritpal Singh Gill, who heads big projects at Golden Land Plc,
said Kevorkian was a well-read man with a passion for history and
politics. While he was a charismatic entrepreneur, Kevorkian was also
a devoted family man.

He leaves behind his wife Linda, two sons, two daughters and an
adopted Thai son.

His charity work includes a foundation bearing his name, an HIV/Aids
home in Thailand and another in Armenia.

Gill, whose friendship with Kevorkian dates back 16 years, said they
had first worked at a project on Pattanakarn Road called President
Park.

They became close, as Kevorkian moved on to start up Philip
Holzman before forming K-tech. He was an integral player in the Thai
construction market during the past two decades, which saw Thai real
estate expand furiously before collapsing in the 1997-1998 crash.

Today, the firm is involved with several major projects including the
Northshore condominium project in Pattaya and a number of detached
housing sites for Golden Land such as Golden Lanna and Golden Sathorn.

One of his largest undertaking was the Royal Phuket Marina project
on the eastern coast of Phuket island. The site includes residential
condominiums, luxury villas and a shopping mall.

A church service for Kevorkian was held last Friday. Gill said it was
his wish to be buried in Armenia. It is expected that his eldest son,
Dominic, will fill Kevorkian’s shoes.

Itthi C TanThe Nation

ARMENIAN GENOCIDE COMMEMORATIVE COMMITTEE
259 Penshurst Street
Willoughby NSW 2068
Email: [email protected]
Contact: Dr Tro Kortian 0412197364

90th ANNIVERSARY ARMENIAN GENOCIDE COMMEMORATION – Sydney, Australia

Sydney, AUSTRALIA: On Sunday 24 April 2005 – on the eve of the 90th
Anniversary of the ANZAC landings at Gallipoli – members of Sydney’s
Armenian-Australian Community joined millions of Armenians dispersed
around the world, in a solemn commemoration marking the 90th
Anniversary of the Genocide of the Armenians perpetrated by the
Ottoman Turkish government during World War I.

The 90th Anniversary Armenian Genocide Commemoration in Sydney was
organised by the Armenian Genocide Commemorative Committee of
Australia, under the auspices of the Armenian Council of Australia,
and under the primateship of His Eminence Archbishop Aghan Baliozian,
Primate of the Diocese of Australia and New Zealand.

A crowd in excess of 1100 packed the Willoughby Town Hall in Sydney
for the Commemoration. Also in attendance were several federal, state
and local politicians, other public figures, representatives of
various ethnic communities and five genocide survivors with their
family members. All being present both to honour the memory of the 1.5
million Armenian men, women and children who fell victim to the
Genocide that commenced on 24 April 1915, as well as to reaffirm their
vigilance against such crimes against humanity and any attempts to
deny, obfuscate or demean the historical truth surrounding such crimes

International Guest Speaker for the evening was Mrs Hilda Tchoboian,
President of the Armenian European Federation for Justice and
Democracy (EAFJD) ` the influential Brussels-based advocacy body of
the Armenian-European Community.

In her moving key-note address to the audience, delivered in both
English and Armenian, Mrs Tchoboian paid homage not only to the
victims of the Genocide but also `to the men, women and children who
were destined to be dehumanised by the criminal designs of the Turkish
government, but who survived ` your parents, our parents ` and who
succeeded in achieving a miracle of humanity: that of building, after
so much horror and suffering, a society of responsible men and women
who knew to preserve and transfer to future generations love, moral
fibre and human values.’

Commenting on the current state of affairs, Mrs Tchoboian observed `
¦ Ninety years later, modern Turkey is in a panic realising that
the International Community will not forget this Crime which it has
tried so hard to eliminate from the memory of the human race.’

She went on to note `With the denial of Genocide, Turkey is itself
complicit in the guilt of the organisers of the Genocide. It has a
moral responsibility, for which the International Community must hold
Turkey accountable’ as well as a political responsibility `¦since
the Turkish nation-state was constructed on the cadavers of the
Armenian people; Turkey built itself with confiscated assets and the
nationalised inheritance of the murdered Armenians, which were
integrated into the Turkish national treasury.’

In her concluding comments, Mrs Tchoboian added: `Today’s Turkey is
responsible for the Genocide of the Armenians. Today’s Turkey must
recognise the crime and must bear the full legal consequences
emanating from such recognition. There can be no compromise on this
fundamental obligation.’

During the Commemoration, statements and messages of support was
conveyed to the audience by several federal and state politicians.
These included: The Hon Joe Hockey MP, Minister for Human Services,
representing the Prime Minister of Australia, The Hon John Howard; Mr
Tony Burke MP. Representing The Hon. Kim Beazley, Leader of the
Federal Opposition; The Hon John Watkins MP, Minister for Transport,
representing the Premier of New South Wales, The Hon Bob Carr, and The
Hon John Brogden MP, Leader of Opposition in New South Wales. A
video-taped message from the Premier of New South Wales, the Hon. Bob
Carr marking the occasion of the 90th Anniversary of the Genocide was
also broadcast to the Commemoration.

The Commemoration concluded with a closing address and prayer by His
Eminence Archbishop Aghan Baliozian.

* * * * *

90th ANNIVERSARY ARMENIAN GENOCIDE COMMEMORATION:
Statements and Messages of Support

Sydney, AUSTRALIA: At the 90th Anniversary Armenian Genocide
Commemoration in Sydney held on Sunday 24 April 2005, several federal
and state politicians conveyed statements and messages of support to
the audience.

Below is the text of some of these messages of support:

Message from the Premier of New South Wales, The Hon. Bob Carr MP

MESSAGE FROM PREMIER BOB CARR 90TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

The twentieth century was the century of genocide.

And the slaughter of the Armenians was its horrific beginning. Because
the world chose to forget and in many places still chooses to
forget. It taught a chilling lesson:

– that you can get away with genocide;

– an attempt to obliterate a whole people off the face of the earth
may not be stopped by any earthly power.

Hitler himself is witness to this startling proposition.

`Who after all remembers the annihilation of the Armenians?’ he said,
and calmly proceeded to murder six million Jews.

Pol Pot followed. And Bosnia. And Rwanda. And now, even after all
these lessons, Darfur.

But the Armenian genocide is the original, horrible attempted
extermination of a whole people under the guise of war, in a gruesome
coincidence with the Anzac landings happening a few hundred kilometres
away.

To those who would deny the Armenian genocide, it is worth remembering
Australian prisoners-of-war are among the witnesses.

One soldier wrote about how he saw:

`a hundred human wolves plunge in among about ten times as many
defenceless human beings, tearing them to pieces with bayonets. The
Armenians were unable to run away. They were tied together four by
four and utterly exhausted. The assassins simply nailed them to the
ground.’

In such ways were 1.5 million men, women and children put to death,
killed simply for being Armenian, and ninety years later their voices
still call down the decades for justice and for remembrance.

As the late Pope John Paul II said at the memorial in Yerevan:

Listen, oh Lord, to the lament that rises from this place, to the cry
of innocent blood that pleads like the blood of Abel, like Rachel
weeping for her children because they are no more.

We have heard their cries. We will remember them always.

********

The Hon. Kim Beazley MP, Leader of the Federal Opposition

MESSAGE FOR THE 90TH ARMENIAN GENOCIDE COMMEMORATION

On behalf of the Federal Australian Labor Party I would like to extend
my very best wishes to the Armenian Community of Sydney and to
acknowledge with respect all members of the Armenian community
attending today’s ceremony commemorating the untimely deaths of so
many of their country men, women and children during World War 1.

The 20th Century was witness to the Armenian Genocide, which will be
remembered in history as one of the most horrific events the world has
seen, and today is dedicated to the memory of the Armenian people who
suffered so terribly during those dark days and years. As Armenians
all over the world gather together to honour the memory of the
innocent lives that were lost, this commemoration ceremony reminds us
all that we all share a duty to protect the religious, racial and
political rights of all humanity.

Armenia is a small but an ancient civilization with a rich culture and
heritage. Australia has welcomed Armenian settlers since the days of
the gold rush in the 1850s. Today the 30,000 strong Australian
Armenian community includes people born in 43 countries who make an
important contribution to our culture and diversity and who are an
integral part of our splendid cohesive and proud multicultural
society. The annual commemoration of the Armenian Genocide in World
War I is an opportunity for all Australians to reflect on the values
of peace and coexistence and the need be ever vigilant against the
abuse of human and civil rights..

Today’s ceremony symbolises the great courage and spirit of the
Armenian people and I know it will be a fitting commemoration for
those who died in the genocide

*******

The Hon John Brogden MP, Leader of Opposition in New South Wales

`A farmer God created man,

The soil to dress and till; Cursed be the hand whose wicked art

Has taught him blood to spill!’

As many of you will recognise, those are the ringing words of the
great Armenian poet Catholicos Khrimian `Hayrig’:

This month of April is overloaded with melancholic anniversaries:

· tonight we mark the 90th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide

· the sun will shortly rise on the pilgrims assembled on the beaches
and the killing fields of Gallipoli also ninety years on from the day
that sacred place entered the Australian soul

· sixty years ago this month the death camps of Nazi Germany were
liberated

· thirty years ago the monstrous Khmer Rouge swept across Cambodia and
sent its own people to their terrible killing fields.

The lives of men and women, of people and nations, are linked in one
great almost impenetrable web ` the web of our common humanity. Ninety
years ago two great tragedies occurred on Turkish soil: the events
known to all history as the Armenian Genocide and the landings on
Gallipoli.

The one event, an assault upon the very existence of an ancient
nation; the other the coming of age of a new one.The Twentieth Century
itself could well be described as the Century of Genocides:

· first the Armenians at the hands of the Ottomans

· then the Jews and gypsies at the hands of the Nazis

· next the Cambodians at the hands of their own mad despots

· followed by the Serbs and Muslims at the hands of their once
neighbours

· more recently the Tutsis of Rwanda at the hands of another ethnic
tribe

· and even today the people of Dhafur in the Sudan at the hands of
their racial and religious overlords.

To our everlasting shame we have all too often remained silent, even
in the light of the clearest evidence of genocide.

The continuing denial of the Armenian Genocide has provided a license
for other Genocidist states to continue to perpetrate these crimes
against humanity.

It is indeed correct that the sins of silence created their own evil.

Winston Churchill lamented after peace was made between Turkey and the
great powers that:

`history will search in vain for the word Armenia’.

Churchill was wrong.

Mount Ararat still stands.

The people of Armenia have withstood the Turks, war, earthquakes and
strife.

They are a living embodiment of these words of scripture – “From this
faith none can shake us, neither angels, nor men, neither sword, fire
or water, nor any bitter torturers.”

The people of Armenia endure.

In remembering the suffering and the slaughter of the Armenian people,
we must keep foremost in our minds ` now and forever the simple
promise ` `never again!’.

Genocides, wherever they occur ` in time or in place ` share two
prerequisites:

· they are fuelled by hate, prejudice and ignorance, and

· their aim is nothing less than an extermination of a people, their
language and their culture.

They arise in the black pits of a warped human psyche and they seek to
consign their victims to a black pit of contemporary and historic
oblivion.

Genocides are defeated both by force of arms in the hands of the
righteous and by the light which shines from the recognition of our
common humanity.

You ` the inheritors and guardians of the culture, the history, the
language, the faith and the memory of the Armenian people and the
Armenian nation have a responsibility, as grave as any cast upon
people today:

· to remember ` to serve the honoured memory of your ancestral people
and your nation, to guard its very essence and transmit it to future
generations.

Alongside this grave responsibility I know that those with Armenian
ancestry in the four corners of the globe make an enormous
contribution in the nations that have become their new homes.

The facts of the Armenian Genocide are too clear, too unambiguous, too
well attested and too recent to be ignored or denied.

There can only be forgiveness and reconciliation if there is
recognition and regret

In the same spirit that the German Chancellor has acknowledged the
truth of the Holocaust and made a national apology, so there remains
an imperative that the perpetrators of the Armenian Genocide
recognise, regret and repent.

Mikayel Nalbandian in his epic poem `Liberty’ warns that for those of
us who are committed to freedom, justice, peace and truth

`The path is thorny all the way

And many trials wait for thee¦’

Together, here, tonight, and in common with all members of the
Armenian diaspora wherever they gather to mark today and to remember,
we know that we can travel that thorny path and overcome those many
trials.

As we move closer to a century of denial we must maintain our resolve
that those who committed the heinous crimes against the Armenian
people during those dark, dark days in April 1915 and ensuing months
are made to accept responsibility for their heinous crimes.

I would like to leave you with the words of the famous Pullitzer prize
winning American author William Saroyan which I think captures the
essence of the Armenian spirit and makes it easy to understand why we
must honour the memory of the victims of the Armenian Genocide:

Saroyan wrote:

`I should like to see any power of the world destroy this race, this
small tribe of unimportant people whose wars have all been fought and
lost, whose structures have crumbled, literature is unread, music is
unheard and prayers are no more answered. Go ahead, destroy Armenia.
See it if you can do it. Send them to the desert without bread or
water. Burn their homes and churches. Then see if they will not
laugh, sing and pray again. For when two of them meet anywhere in the
world, see if they will not create a new Armenia.

The New Anatolian
April 30 2005

Turkey’s main opposition party,CHP deputy protests Poland’s
‘genocide’ decision
The New Anatolian / Ankara

Halil Unlutepe, Afyonkarahisar deputy of the Republican People’s
Party (CHP), yesterday resigned from the Turkish-Polish
Interparliamentary Friendship Group as a protest against the Polish
Parliament’s recent decision to recognize the so-called Armenian
genocide.
Unlutepe issued a written statement on the Polish Parliament’s
decision last week labelling events which occurred between Turks and
Armenians in World War I as the `Armenian genocide.’ Continued the
statement: “The Polish Parliament declined our suggestion to wait for
the investigation of Turkish state archives and to wait for an
official conclusion. Instead, it hastily accepted allegations based
on on groundless and distorted documents.”

“Although we have frankly expressed our goodwill to Poland, and the
intention of clarifying the events around the so-called genocide, the
acceptance of such a cruel decision can’t be reconciled with the aim
of the friendship group,” Unlutepe stressed.

The Polish Parliament’s decision has clouded efforts to strengthen
friendly ties between the Turkish and Polish parliaments, Unlutepe
concluded.

PRESS RELEASE
Western Prelacy of the Armenian Apost. Church of America
H.G. Bishop Moushegh Mardirossian
Prelate, Western United States
4401 Russell Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90027
Tel: (323) 663-8273
Fax: (323) 663-0438
E-mail: [email protected]

On the occasion of the election of the new Pope, His Eminence
Archbishop Moushegh Mardirossian sent the following congratultion
letter to the Apostolic Nuncio in Washington, His Eminence Archbishop
Gabriel Montalvo and the Prelates of the Roman Catholic Church in Los
Angeles, San Francisco, Riverside County and Denver:

Your Eminence,

On behalf of the Clergy, Religious and Executive Councils and entire
faithful of the Western Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church of
America, we greet Your Eminence and congratulate You on the blessed
and joyous occasion of the election of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who
has become Pope Benedict XVI, the worthy successor of the late Pope
John Paul II.

We also congratulate the faithful of the Roman Catholic Church on this
historic event, praying to Almighty God to lead the mission of His
Holiness as a faithful laborer to serve in the vineyard of our Lord.

On this occasion, we humbly ask Your Eminence to convey our best
wishes and prayers to His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI. We are confident
that the newly elected Holy Father will further strengthen the
ecumenical relations between the Roman Catholic Church and the
Armenian Apostolic Church, as well as strive for the advancement of
the collaboration between all Christian Churches and other religions
that began during the pontificate of the late Pope.

Yours in Christ,
Prayerfully,
Archbishop Moushegh Mardirossian, Prelate
Western United States of America

Al-Jazeerah.info, GA
April 27 2005

Turkish Premier in Israel to Repair Damaged Relations

By K Gajendra Singh

Al-Jazeerah, April 25, 2005

In 1996, strategic dialogue between Israel and Turkey took their
relations almost to the level of allies with Ankara signing numerous
defence deals with Israeli arms industry and the two countries
carrying out joint military exercises. But the illegal US invasion of
Iraq in 2003 changed the regional strategic balance , with Israel
even interfering last year in Iraqi Kurdistan adjoining Turkey’s
own turbulent Kurdish region.

Ankara withdrew its ambassador and barred El Al flights to Istanbul
and asked for an explanation. It publicly denounced Israel’s policy
of `state terrorism’ in Gaza led by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan. Bilateral relations plummeted . Satisfied, Ankara then took
steps to smoothen its relationship with Tel Aviv .After official
visits to iron out differences during the last 6 months, Erdogan
himself would now visit Israel for two days from 1 May. He had
publicly refused an Israeli invite last year .The visit would provide
an opportunity to repair the damaged bilateral relationship. Erdogan
would also visit Palestine to maintain the balance and Turkey’s
self new role as a peace maker in the region.

Fearful of uncertain consequences from Iraq , which could go hay wire
, its own problems for entry into the Europe Union , open ended
position of north Cyprus , which it occupies and the international
outcry about the alleged Armenian genocide at the end of the Ottoman
Empire 90 years ago, Turkey also needs to normalise relations with
Israel .Ankara being its only friend in the region , Tel Aviv had
kept its cool last year. Close relationship between the two countries
in security and defence sectors has survived many vicissitudes over
decades.

Erdogan would be accompanied by Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul and
Trade and Industry Minister Ali Coskun. Gonul would hold talks with
Israeli military officials on the development of joint defense
projects, such as the co-production of Arrow II and Popeye II
missiles. Officials from both sides are scheduled to work out new
counter-terrorism intelligence systems. Nearly a hundred businessmen
would accompany Erdogan to Israel.

Turkey’s relations with Israel involve billions of dollars in joint
projects and strategic cooperation. Israel is currently upgrading 170
Turkish M-60 tanks, 54 F-4 fighter planes, and 48 F-5s under a
multi-billion dollar agreement, which also includes exchange of
visits by defence personnel and joint military exercises .

Abdullah Gul, Turkeys`s suave and soft spoken Foreign Minister
visited Israel at the beginning of January to prepare for Erdogan’s
visit . After his flare ups against Israel, which duly warned Israel
, Erdogan had sent a delegation of three close advisers to Tel Aviv
in September as a good will gesture.

But , at the same time, Turkey relations with its Nato ally USA
,Israel’s umblically linked strategic partner , remain wobbly
.Despite USA’s public disapproval , Turkish President Ahmet Necdet
Sezer recently visited Damascus . It was after the Turkish insistence
on the Damascus visit that Erdogan’s visit was broken in the
Israeli media in the first week of April, to soothe Israel, which has
also not been happy with the visit.

The official announcement was made in Ankara on 18 April after
Erdogan had telephoned Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to
exchange ideas about the visit . Sharon reportedly told Erdogan, ”I
see many areas to strengthen our relations and cooperation. We
believe you and Turkey will play an important role in the region, and
will have important contribution to peace and stability in the Middle
East. Thus, we attach importance to Turkey’s taking part in
developments in the Middle East.” In return, Prime Minister Erdogan
said, ”I will be pleased if my country contributes to peace
process.”

Apart from Prime Minister Sharon, Erdogan is expected to meet with
Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, President Moshe Katsav.

Turkey signed an agreement with Israel on 19 April to buy spy planes
(drones) costing $183 million. It will include three unmanned aerial
vehicle systems and 10 aircrafts, surveillance equipment and ground
control stations, with the Turkish companies providing sub-systems
and services worth 30 % of the cost

Annual trade between the two countries now amounts to over US$1.4
billion, excluding the defense sector. More than 300,000 Israeli
tourists (8% of the population) visit Turkey annually for vacations
to escape tensions at home as they find Turkey quite safe. There are
other important economic deals in the energy sector .Last year, the
two sides signed an agreement for Turkey to sell to Israel more than
50 million cubic meters of water annually for the next 20 years.

A few days before the visit , the Turkish Union of Chambers and
Commodities Exchanges (TOBB) will host Israeli as well as a
Palestinian businessmen delegations in Ankara. The Israeli delegation
would be headed by Israeli Union of Manufacturers chief Shraga Brosh,
while Ahmet Azzghayar, the head of the Federation of Agriculture,
Commerce and Industry Chambers, will lead the Palestinian delegation.
`As political efforts are continuing to seek a solution to the
region’s problems, business circles must also get closer to each
other,’ said TOBB Chairman Rifat Hisarciklioglu.

Deterioration in Turkish-Israeli relations

When asked by Israel’s Haaretz newspaper in a May 2004 interview ,
shortly after Israel’s assassination of Hamas’ spiritual leader Ahmed
Yassin, if he would define Israel’s actions against the Palestinians
as state terrorism. “How else can you interpret it?” Erdogan had
replied.

In his May 25 meeting with Israeli Infrastructure Minister Yousef
Paritzky, Erdogan asked the Israeli minister: “What is the difference
between terrorists who kill Israeli civilians and Israel, which also
kills civilians?” Erdogan had refused to meet with Israeli Deputy
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who was in Ankara in mid-July to mend
Israel’s deteriorating relations with Turkey. This was the first
high-level contact after Erdogan repeatedly characterized Israel’s
policy in Gaza as “state terrorism”.

But it was an article in New Yorker magazine by veteran US journalist
Seymour Hersh about Israel providing training to peshmarga militias
in northern Iraq and running covert operations in neighboring
countries that revealed the brewing differences between Turkey and
Israel. Soon Kurds in Syria created problems for Damascus. The media
reports of interference were denied by both Israel and the Kurdish
leadership in north Iraq. But Turkey was far from convinced. Israel’s
case was not helped by other reports that it was infiltrating agents
into Iran’s clandestine nuclear-weapons program for information for
possible preemptive strikes by the Israeli air force, believing that
Tehran was about a year away from a breakthrough in that program.

Beirut’s Daily Star wrote on July 17, “It appears that Foreign
Minister Abdullah Gul, one of Erdogan’s closest confidants, was
behind the leak on Israeli interference in Kurdistan, to demonstrate
Ankara’s deepening anxiety that Kurdish aspirations of independence
will be fueled by Israeli interference. Indeed, the US debacle in
Iraq is driving neighbors Turkey, Syria and Iran into each other’s
arms as all fear chaos in Iraq in the coming months.” Israel would
like to have a weak Iraq and even an independent north Iraq.

It added: “Erdogan’s government has embarked upon a high-profile
diplomatic effort to bolster relations with the Arab and Muslim
world, which were blighted by Israel’s 1996 military agreements with
Turkey. Ankara has settled its disputes with Syria and is seeking to
normalize its often fraught relations with Iran.”

Strained relations between Turkey and Israel caused serious concern
in the United States , which wee conveyed by President George W Bush
to Erdogan in Ankara prior to the June North Atlantic Treaty
Organization summit in Istanbul. But then US relations with Ankara
have been on a roller coaster with public airing of differences. The
differences came about after the illegal US invasion of Iraq , a
Muslim country generally friendly to Turkey ,which was opposed by a
massive majority of Turkish population. When Erdogan publicly
criticized Sharon’s policies , members of his Justice and
Development party (AKP),which has Islamic roots , were even harsher,
lambasting US policies in Iraq as well. AKP must cater to its own
constituency at home.

The Turkish-Israeli relationship reached a low point when Erdogan
publicly turned down an invitation to visit Israel. Ankara
temporarily withdrew its ambassador and consul general from Israel.
Relations took a turn for the worse when the Israeli airline El Al
had to suspend for two weeks six weekly flights to Turkey from June
24 in a row over security at Istanbul airport.

Turkey’s Kurdish problems;

Turkey has serious problems with its own Kurds, who form 20% of the
population. The Kurdish rebellion since 1984 against the Turkish
state, led by Abdullah Ocalan of the Marxist Kurdistan Workers Party
(PKK), has cost more than 37,000 lives, including 5,000 soldiers. The
economy of the Kurdish region in south east was shattered. The cost
of countering the insurgency at its height amounted to between $6
billion and $8 billion a year. Whenever there has been chaos and
instability in north Iraq, as during the Iraq-Iran War in the 1980s
or after the 1991 Gulf War, PKK activity has perked up in Turkey.

The rebellion died down after the arrest and trial of Ocalan in 1999,
when a ceasefire was declared by the PKK and a Turkish court commuted
to life imprisonment the death sentence passed on Ocalan. The Turkish
Parliament also granted rights for the use of the Kurdish language
and took other steps ,thus removing some of the root causes of the
Kurdish rebellion. But the PKK shifted most of its 4,000 cadres to
northern Iraq where they stay put . The United States has not
disarmed them despite promises to Turkey . US wants to reward Iraqi
Kurds, who have remained loyal and peaceful. Iraqi Kurds have been
ambivalent toward the PKK, often helping them . They remain a card to
be used in the region.

US Turkish Relationship ;

Turkish Foreign Ministry Deputy Undersecretary Ali Tuygan went to
Washington to discuss US Turkish relations to discuss bilateral and
other matters including President Sezer’s visit to Damascus . In
his speech at Washington’s Near East Institute, Tuygan expressed
Turkey’s hopes for better relations. It is hoped that Washington
would finalise a date for Erdogan’s visit soon .Turkey believes that
to improve Turkish-U.S. relations and counter increasing
anti-American sentiment in Turkey a summit in Washington is necessary
.Turkey is a major power in the region. Ankara remains worried about
US plans to have Iraqi Kurds as new “strategic partner” in the
region.

Turkey has been quite helpful on Afghanistan , where the current ISAF
Commander is Gen. Ethem Karadagli ,a Turk . Hikmet Cetin , a former
Turkish Foreign Minister and Speaker, is NATO `s Senior Civilian
Representative .Erdogan made a second visit to Kabul a few days ago
.He expressed satisfaction at the Turkish military’s success in the
face of difficult conditions and investments by Turkish businessmen
in Afghanistan. He added that the country still needed significant
international help for its reconstruction.

Problem of Armenian Genocide;

The alleged killing of between three quarters to one and half million
Armenians in eastern Turkey at the time of the firstworld war between
1915 and 1920 by Turks has become a major international embarrassment
and even a problem for Ankara. It has adversely affected its
relations with many countries and used by some as a lever against
Turkey.

Many Turks feel that `If Turkey accepts the Armenian allegations,
Diaspora Armenians will benefit from this, but Republic of Armenia
will pay for it.’ First they expect legal compensation with some
Diaspora organizations expecting billions of dollars. They also
expect right of resettlement in Eastern Turkey. But more than that it
keeps the Diaspora united in its hate of Turkey and revenge .The
author knew many Turkish diplomats who were assassinated by secret
Armenian organizations over decades .

Turks and Turkish historians maintain that more than 500,000 Muslims
were also killed around 1915 by the Armenian armed groups , who had
joined with the invading Russian forces during the first world war.
While accepting it as a tragedy, for which Turkish politicians have
said that they were sorry, they add that many Ottoman officers were
sentenced for their mistakes during the 1915 Resettlement ; some of
them were even executed. They feel that the number of Armenians
killed is intentionally exaggerated by the Armenian Diaspora. Many
died due to the diseases and famine. Many were attacked by the armed
bandits. The Ottoman Government could be criticized for its
Resettlement decision but not accused of genocide.

One example of the affect is that the Turkish Government’s gave a
year’s extension on the use of Incirlik Airbase by allied forces
under a United Nations resolution on the eve of April 24, the
so-called `Armenian genocide day.’ The Armenian lobby in USA
recently stepped up pressure on President Bush on a proposed
congressional resolution urging him to use the term `genocide’ in
his remarks on that day. But Ankara believes that despite the
Armenian lobby Congress would not pass a resolution recognizing the
alleged genocide. Gul said that the US Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice had told him said that the US stood with Ankara on the alleged
genocide question.

This agreement grants the US a number of restricted rights for using
the airbase. Ankara has thus side stepped US demand for use of
greater facilities at the base. Gul said that this decision was not a
new development, but just `regulating’ the matter. He added that
the military would work with US officials on technical aspects of the
issue.

The discussions in the Parliament for long pending US request for
greater use of the base could have aroused anti-US statements. The
Parliament had rejected on 1 March, 2003 a government motion to allow
USA use of Turkish territory in south east to open a second front
against Iraq .Since then there has been a roller coaster decline in
bilateral relations.

Despite Turkish efforts the Polish Parliament has recognized the
alleged Armenian genocide .Gul expressed his disappointment but added
that Polish Foreign Minister Rotfield had informed him that the
decision was a result of the political stance of some deputies and
that the Parliament was caught unprepared. He assured Gul that the
Polish government `didn’t share the same view concerning the
genocide and that that it always supported Ankara.’

The Russian state Duma (Parliament ) passed a resolution on 22 April
denouncing the 1915 genocide following a unanimous vote just ahead of
the start of the 90th anniversary of the massacres in Turkey and
western Armenia on 24 April , when the alleged massacres began.
`The deputies of the State Duma fully denounce the act genocide and
believe that the entire international community should commemorate
the 90th anniversary,’ the Interfax news agency quoted from the
resolution.

The deputies described it one the most `tragic’ and `cruel’
events of the 20th century. Russia was among the first to recognize
the genocide and remains among a handful of countries that do so .

In 2001 , Parliament in France ,which has an Armenian community of
nearly four hundred thousand , officially recognized the killings as
genocide .It strained ties between Paris and Ankara. Last year,
President Jacque Chirac asked Turkey to recognize the mass killings
otherwise French would keep Turkey out of EU in a referendum. On 22
April the French and Armenian Presidents laid a wreath at a Paris
monument commemorating the genocide.

Erdogan has offered to establish a joint commission consisting of
historians from Turkey and Armenia to look into the question of the
genocide. Armenian President Robert Kocharian welcomed Erdogan’s
offer but added that `if Turkey wants to discuss the issue,
Armenia prefers that it be done at the highest level and in the
largest scope possible.’ Landlocked Armenia wants to have normal
trade and other relations with Turkey but Ankara is not keen because
of its close relations with Azerbaijan. Armenia occupies Azeri
enclave Nagorno Karabakh and some of its territory .

The United States does not recognize the genocide, although the
Congress has pressed for recognition several times. USA and many
other countries, such as Israel, are reluctant to do so because it
would strain relations with Turkey, which is a NATO member and
influential player in the region.

Conclusion

Erdogan’s Justice and Development party (AKP) emerged from the ashes
of four Islamic parties, banned earlier by the secular establishment
led by the armed forces, but it now feels more secure. The AKP
unexpectedly won 2/3 seats in the November 2002 Parliamentary
elections but with only 34% of votes cast. It has consolidated its
hold further based on clean government compared with bribe ridden
asymmetrical coalition governments earlier.

Taking advantage of the European Union requirement to harmonize
Turkey’s system to Copenhagen criteria, the AKP has successfully
sidelined the military, which had exercised power through its
domination of the top policy making body, the National Security
Council (NSC ), now reduced to an advisory role. The reduction of
Military role saw clear erosion in the strategic relationship between
Turkey and Israel. Turkish negotiations to enter EU have overall
strengthened Erdogan and his party

Turkey’s geographical location gives it many advantages but also
brings in many problems .It has succeeded in reaching an accord with
EU to begin final talks in October , but the problem of north Cyprus
under Turkish military control remains , with Cyprus (Greek) having
been admitted to EU last year . The latter is now creating obstacles
for Turkey’s entry into EU .Last year in an April referendum it
rejected a US sponsored solution , which the Turkish side accepted .

Turkey is trying to seek the support of Israel, Russia and the U.S.
to bring north Cyprus out of the limbo like situation in which it
remains isolated .Erdogan had obtained some support from Russian
President Vladimir Putin during the Ankara visit and his own visit
to Moscow later. In his scheduled visit to Moscow on May 10, Erdogan
would solicit further support from Russia even though Putin considers
Cyprus an “internal matter of the EU.”

Many times when Turkey expressed desire to buy arms from Europe , it
was denied because of its Kurdish problem or human rights violations
.So Ankara depends on US arms for its major military needs. With
twists and turns and US unpredictability, Turkey wants to continue
its close defence cooperation with Israel , which can often overlook
US pressure.

After 1996, when a strategic dialogue between Israel and Turkey began
and relations reached almost to the level of allies , Ankara signed
numerous deals with the Israeli arms industry . Turkey also looks at
Israel as its partner in this part of the world and, therefore, where
security and economic interests are concerned, the cooperation would
continue.

Yes, the Iraq war and the chaos in and around Iraq have brought about
a rapprochement between Turkey and Iran and Turkey and Syria, in
spite of US opposition. Turkey also pursues a strategy of
strengthening its ties with countries in the east.

But the developments in Iraq would be determined by the growing
insurgency now blossoming into full-fledged resistance against US
occupation .The incipient civil war between Shiites and Sunnis ,
with new President of Iraq Jalal Talbani offering to use Kurdish
peshmargas against mainly Sunni resistance bodes ill for Iraq .Its
breakup would have unforeseen consequences, even beyond the region.

Pepe Escobar wrote on 21 April in Asia Times ; ‘The White
House/Pentagon/Green Zone axis wants “shock therapy”, deregulation,
wide-ranging privatization, control of Iraqi natural resources, Iraq
reduced to a deregulated capitalist colony with all or most
government properties and services controlled by American
multinationals and all assets held by the foreign lending
institutions that own the majority shares of the Iraqi National Bank.
People who disagree may hit the streets and scream. So much for Iraqi
“democracy”. Long live the shadow Iraqi government.’

The quisling Iraqi government will keep on pushing for full
privatization of the Iraqi oil industry , the reason why US invaded
Iraq. Washington also wants 14 military bases to control the region
and its resources .Some fear that SCIRI of Prime Minster designate
Jaafri might have agreed with Washington to give full control of oil
industry to USA in exchange for political power in Iraq. In any case
Bremer laws , which have already done so need ¾ votes in the
Parliament to be undone .The Shiite masses voted for US with drawl
from Iraq ,but its leaders are now soft pedaling on that electoral
promise. But there is Moqtda As- Sadr on the sidelines calling for
exit of US troops. The situation does not look pretty.

But with a stock of nuclear bombs, Egypt shackled and thus
neutralized, Israel a major player in the region would like to have
Turkey on its side. Chaos suits it . Despite universal and legal
opinion against its `Berlin wall – which is taking in more of
the Palestinian territory , it is going ahead with the project .
During his recent visit to Washington , Sharon coolly ignored George
W.Bush’s advice against expanding the settlements on Palestinian
land , which have never really ceased .Sharon will make a great show
of evacuating the Gaza strip , which in any case is proving costly
to hold on to. Then it would hang on to as much of West Bank
territory as possible .

(K Gajendra Singh, served as Indian Ambassador to Turkey and
Azerbaijan in1992 -96. Prior to that, he served as ambassador to
Jordan (during the1990 – 91Gulf war), Romania and Senegal. He is
currently chairman of the Foundation for Indo-Turkic Studies. The
views expressed here are his own.- [email protected])

Ethnic leader lambastes Armenian authorities for failure to issue
visas to Kurds

Arminfo
26 Apr 05

YEREVAN

“At the time when the Belgium-based Kurdish satellite channel Media TV
broadcast for three days programmes devoted to the Armenian genocide,
including unique pictures which even the Armenian side does not have,
the Armenian authorities denied visas to members of the Kurdish
intelligentsia in Europe, thus foiling an Armenian-Kurdish scientific
conference on genocide in Ottoman Turkey,” the chairman of the
Kurdistan committee in Armenia, Charkaz Mstoyan, told an Arminfo
correspondent today.

Mstoyan stressed that the Armenian authorities’ refused to grant visas
to the Kurds, while they accepted Turks. “At the moment, while we are
speaking, blood is being shed in the vicinity of the Armenian-Turkish
border, the Turkish army is carrying out large-scale military
operations against Kurdish militiamen,” he noted, adding that “20m
Turkish Kurds, who are shedding their blood, deserve a better
attitude”.

He stressed that this was not the first time the Armenian authorities
refused to receive foreign Kurds. He said that this policy of the
Armenian authorities would backlash since “any action leads to
counter-action and causes the Kurdish community to stay alert”.

An associated professor of Yerevan State University’s department of
Armenian literature, Charkaz Mstoyan, considers that “the Kurds
residing on the area stretching from Kars to the Persian Gulf must be
a priority in the Armenian foreign policy”, especially as the Kurds
now have their own state – de facto independent Iraqi Kurdistan.

Common ground
A group of historians wants to reconsider the 1915 Armenian genocide – and
prove that Turkish and Armenian scholars really can get along

By Meline Toumani
The Boston Globe
April 24, 2005

FIVE YEARS AGO, Ronald Grigor Suny, a professor of political science at the
University of Chicago, sat in a tiny room on campus and waited nervously for
a group of colleagues to arrive. ”What have we done?” he asked his wife.
”What if these people choke each other to death?”

The conflict that Suny feared was no arcane ivory tower dispute. It was the
first meeting of the Workshop for Armenian-Turkish Scholarship, and most of
the participants were of Armenian or Turkish descent. In other words, in
addition to being historians, sociologists, and political scientists, they
were members of ethnic groups that – particularly in the diaspora – view one
another as sworn enemies.
Animosity between the groups stems from events in 1915 in Ottoman Turkey
that Armenians – along with most prominent historians worldwide – call the
”Armenian genocide,” and that many Turks call the ”so-called genocide”
or the ”Armenian allegations,” if they don’t use the phrase employed by
Turkey’s foreign minister, Abdullah Gul, at a press conference last month:
”unacceptable claims by the [Armenian] diaspora to continue its
existence.” The Turkish government promulgates a view that the number of
Armenians who died is much lower than Armenians claim – around 500,000
instead of 1.5 million – and that their deaths were the consequence of their
collusion with Russian forces in World War I, not preplanned extermination.
A revision to the Turkish penal code proposed last year would impose a
prison sentence of up to 10 years for use of the term ”genocide” to
describe the events of 1915.
For decades, Armenian groups, particularly those in the diaspora, have
lobbied governments, news organizations, and academic institutions to
officially label the events of 1915 as genocide, observing April 24 as the
date the massacres began. (The Boston area is home to one of the largest
communities of Armenian-Americans whose families were dispersed from Turkey
following the genocide.) And while Turkey is a long way from such
recognition, public discussion of the issue has reached unprecedented levels
there in recent months, following recommendations from many European Union
leaders that Turkey take steps to resolve the issue before becoming an EU
member.
When the Workshop for Armenian-Turkish Scholarship held its fourth meeting
last weekend in Salzburg, Austria, Turkish journalists were invited for the
first time. Workshop members would like to see their work influence
Armenian-Turkish relations, but they are adamant that scholarship and
politics are separate enterprises. They also know from personal experience
just how psychologically difficult it is for either side to take a neutral
look at either history or current developments.
. .
For Suny, an Armenian-American, the idea of working with Turkish scholars
was inspired by a visit to Istanbul’s Koç University in 1998. Suny lectured
about the genocide, and although several people walked out during his talk,
others received him with curiosity and respect.

But following his visit, the New Jersey-based newspaper Armenian Reporter
published a series of articles that accused Suny of being an agent of the
Turkish state and questioned the intentions of Turkish and Armenian scholars
who chose to work together. Suny replied with a blistering letter to the
editor. ”What a colossal intellectual and political mistake it would be,”
he wrote, ”for Armenians to slam the door in the face of those Turks who
want to open a dialogue, who are prepared to take risks and suffer the
consequences from their own government by proposing a fresh discussion of
the events of 1915.”

One of those Turks was Fatma Muge Gocek, a sociologist at the University of
Michigan who co-founded the workshop with Suny in 2000. When Gocek came to
the United States from Turkey in 1981, she quickly learned that to be a Turk
among Armenian-Americans was to stand accused of crimes committed almost a
century ago.
In 1998, at a Michigan conference marking the 75th anniversary of the
Turkish Republic, an audience filled with Armenians drilled her and other
speakers with questions about genocide denial. An elderly Armenian woman
stood up and said, with great emotion, that her parents died in the
massacres. Gocek was deeply moved. ”I don’t have to be Armenian to feel
terrible for you,” she recalls saying. ”I can see that you’re a person in
pain, and I’m in pain with you.”
Her reply left the woman speechless. ”I had never realized, until that
moment, the trauma that is created by a lack of acknowledgment,” Gocek
says.
Taner Akcam, another Turkish-born scholar in the workshop, is more
accustomed to speaking out against mainstream Turkish views. Now an
associate professor at the University of Minnesota, Akcam was imprisoned in
Ankara in 1976 for publishing an article stating that there were Kurds
living in Turkey. (The legal term was ”mountain Turks,” and even today the
government does not recognize Kurds as an official minority, though they
constitute 20 percent of the population.) Instead of serving his 10-year
sentence, AkÁam dug his way out of jail – literally – and escaped to
Germany. There, he became a researcher at the Hamburg Institute for Social
Research, working alongside German scholars who were studying the Holocaust.
Akcam is often credited with being the first Turkish historian to label the
events of 1915 as ”genocide,” but even he admits this did not come easily.
”It was a certain psychological process to use the word genocide,”’ he
says. ”That’s why I can understand my Turkish scholar friends who are ready
to talk about it openly, but never use that word.”
Suny welcomed colleagues to that first workshop at the University of Chicago
by calling it ”a small, humble, and historic meeting” inspired by
”tolerance of difference on the basis of equality and respect, rather than
exclusivist and insular nationalism.” The meeting was not without tension.
Many Armenian scholars refused to attend, and some insisted (unsuccessfully)
that participants sign a document stating that they recognized the genocide.

In the end, some used ”the G-word,” others didn’t. But the goal, Suny
says, was no longer to decide whether it did or it didn’t happen. ”We say,
It happened,”’ he explains. ”Now we have to find out: Why did it happen?
How did it happen?”’ADVERTISEMENT

Simply asking these questions challenges not just Turkish orthodoxies but
the mainstream Armenian attitude, which has been defined for many years by
the quest for acknowledgment – for ”the G-word” – above all. Suny says
this is not enough. ”If you don’t seek an explanation of why it occurred,
it becomes a kind of racism,” he says. ”Then the explanation implied is
that Turks are a pathological group of people who simply do these things.”
Suny, whose great-grandparents died in the 1915 massacres in Yozgat and
Diyarbakir, says he himself didn’t use the term genocide until he’d done
enough research on the subject. And he has questioned the view, held by many
Armenian scholars, that the genocide was planned well in advance, arguing
instead that even the deliberate massacre of a specific ethnic group could
have been an emergency strategy, not a long-term plot. The point does not
sit well with those who fear it bolsters Turkey’s claim that the massacres
were not genocide at all, but consequences of war.
. .
In Turkey, meanwhile, discussion of this once-taboo subject continues to
develop. Last week, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, backed by
opposition leader Deniz Baykal, called for an international investigation
into the events of 1915. (Armenian president Robert Kocharian rejected the
proposal, pointing out that many such efforts have already been completed.)
And last Sunday the Turkish state archives released a list of more than
523,000 Turks allegedly killed by Armenians in Turkey between 1910 and
1922 – a move that added to suspicion that Erdogan’s initiative was a bid to
appease EU pressure, not a sincere reconsideration.
Yet some who would like to see Turkey officially recognize the genocide
believe that it should not be tied to EU membership. If genocide recognition
is imposed from the top down – just as genocide denial was – it may please
Armenians in the short term, but it could be counterproductive by creating
more hostility among Turks. Better, they say, to allow open discussion and
study of the genocide to percolate from the bottom up.
Perhaps members of the Workshop for Armenian-Turkish Scholarship will get a
warmer reception from their own communities. In a near-comic example of
mistrust, both sides have accused Gocek of being an Armenian posing as a
Turk. Never one to rest easy on assumptions, Gocek reconstructed generations
of family history to confirm that her ancestors were, in fact, ”Sunni
Muslims to the core.”
But what, after all, does ethnic identity mean for someone who spends so
much energy resisting the lure of nationalism?
A lot, it turns out. ”I love my country!” declares Akcam, quoting the
climactic line from a poem that Nazim Hikmet, Turkey’s most famous
dissident, wrote in an Istanbul prison in 1939.
Suny, too, is unequivocal. ”No one can take being Armenian away from me,”
he says. ”My grandmother always told me that I am Armenian and we are the
most wonderful people in the world.”
Meline Toumani is a writer living in Brooklyn.

Armenpress

CZECH SENATOR TO PREPARE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE BILL

PRAGUE, APRIL 26, ARMENPRESS: Czech news agencies reported that Senator
Jaromir Stetina announced during a church service that he was prepared to
draft a motion for parliament demanding recognition of the Armenian
genocide.
“I am ashamed that the Czech Republic has not passed such a resolution
until now. I ask the Armenian community to offer me its support,’ he said.
Stetina explained that his intention became stronger after the parliament
of neighboring Poland passed a resolution recognizing and condemning the
Armenian genocide.
“Modern Turkey, the successor of the Ottoman empire, that wants to join
the EU, must review its past,’ he said.