Author: Kanayan Tamar

Armenian Genocide Victims Paid Tribute in Twin Falls, Idaho; Fight for
Acknowledgment Continues

TWIN FALLS . One by one people walked across Twin Falls City Park with red
roses and yellow tulips in their hands.

They placed the flowers in front of a plaque on the ground that pays tribute
to the 1.5 million Armenians who were killed during the Armenian Genocide of
1915-1923. Then the group of 30 formed a circle to pray for peace.

This year marks the 99th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide that occurred
in present-day Turkey. It is a genocide that the Turkish government has long
denied ever occurred.

On Wednesday, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan called the events
“our shared pain” and acknowledged that the deportation of Armenians had
“inhumane consequences.”

It is the first time a Turkish official has acknowledged the genocide, but
for Liyah Babayan, 29, an organizer of Thursday’s commemoration, Erdogan’s
words have no meaning.

“It’s kind of mocking. If he meant it, then why is it a national crime to
speak about the Armenian genocide in Turkey?” Babayan said.

On Thursday, President Obama commemorated the massacre of 1.5 million
Armenians in 1915, but he once again avoided using the word “genocide,”
failing to keep a campaign pledge he made in 2008, reported the Washington
Times.

There are 42 U.S. states that recognize the Armenian Genocide by legislation
or proclamation according to the Armenian National Committee of America.

“How can you prevent something in the future if you don’t acknowledge
mistakes of the past?” Babayan said. “We live in a world were the government
needs to be held accountable.”

Babayan’s family fled Baku, Azerbaijan when she was 10 and were brought to
Twin Falls with help from the College of Southern Idaho’s Refugee Program.
>From 1988 through 1990, the Armenian population in Soviet Azerbaijan were
beaten, tortured, murdered and expelled from the city. Babayan is now 29 and
has two children.

She still remembers the tanks and seeing people fighting. It’s something she
doesn’t want her children to experience and said education is the key to
making sure it doesn’t happen again.

“The mob broke into our house and raped and murdered my aunt and threw her
off the eighth floor. My uncle was stabbed and my grandmother was beaten.
This was my childhood,” Babayan said. “This memorial is also important to a
lot of us who lost family members in 1988-89 and never had a chance to bury
them. They have a headstone to go visit,”

The plaque that memorializes the Armenian genocide has been in Twin Falls
City Park since 2009. In 2004, Idaho became the 33rd U.S. state to recognize
the Armenian Genocide after former Governor Dirk Kempthorne, proclaimed
April 24 Idaho Day of Remembrance of the Armenian Genocide of 1915-1923.

Svetlana Petrosyan, who also fled Baku, has lived in Twin Falls for 10
years. She attended the memorial with her family.

“We’ve been coming every year to remember the tragedy that happened. We want
people in Twin Falls, the U.S., and the world to know that the Armenian
genocide did happen,” said Svetlana as her son Artem Petrosyan interpreted.

Catherine Talkington of Twin Falls said it was important for her to attend
because all people, not only Armenians and those of Armenian descent, should
know about the history of the Armenian genocide.

“It gives you a sense of how bad things can be for people. We have a
responsibility to stand up for other people in the world,” Talkington

twin-falls-fight-for/article_0748e203-99a9-5da2-9eef-d8d753cc3692.html

THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE: NOT FOR JUST ONCE A YEAR

Editorial, Zoryan Institute On the Occasion of the 99th Anniversary
of the Armenian Genocide Toronto, 21 April 2014

“In this month of April, the world commemorates the genocide not
only of the Armenian, but also the Jewish and Rwandan peoples. We
naturally focus on these issues at this time, but the work on the
Armenian Genocide is not for just once a year.”

Many Armenians express their interest and concern in the genocide
once a year, around April 24. They feel the need to participate in
commemorative events because some feel obligated because of guilt,
some do it once a year because they don’t want to visit the trauma the
rest of the year, and some dread the past altogether and stay away
from it throughout the year, but for the sake of keeping the memory
alive they feel compelled to attend these commemorative events. There
are those who don’t commemorate even once a year because they are so
divorced from the history. But there is so much more to be done. The
Armenian Genocide is a subject vital to Armenians that must be thought
about and acted upon every day. Here are some critical reasons.

1. It is a mass crime that demands recognition and restorative justice
for the international criminal justice system to have any credibility
for punishment, deterrence, or prevention.

2. To bring a measure of comfort and closure to the victims and their
descendants, who must endure tremendous psychological pain, not only
for the loss of life, land, and property, but also for the threat to
the sustainability of Armenian culture and civilization.

3. To search for truth and understanding of the Genocide, what
happened, how it happened, and its ongoing impact. This is still
aggressively denied by the Government of Turkey and its supporters,
who treat the Armenians as unworthy of consideration as human beings
and perpetuates the effects of the Genocide, as Prof. Roger W. Smith
has written so eloquently.

4. The Genocide is the main obstacle to normal relations between
Armenia and Turkey today. Turkey has unilaterally closed their mutual
border and imposed an economic blockade on Armenia. Ostensibly this is
over the Karabagh issue. But, clearly the Genocide is a major aspect
of it, as Turkey continues to insist on a historical commission to
review the subject. Thus, the 1915 Genocide is national security for
Armenia’s existence today.

5. Turkey’s denial of the Armenian Genocide is an assault not only on
Armenians, but also on truth, on world history, and thus on humanity,
itself.

The deniers are at work every day. Prof. Vahakn Dadrian has described
there being an “industry of denial.” They are supported by the Turkish
government in various ways with all the political and economic leverage
that a powerful state has at its disposal. They organize conferences,
give public lectures, publish books and articles using the forms of
scholarship, with appropriate academic language and footnotes, but what
they produce is not scholarship; it is anti-Armenian propaganda.Real
scholarship follows the evidence–all the evidence–to arrive
at conclusions. Real scholarship takes account of the arguments
of other scholars and builds on them with new evidence or serious
arguments. It does not hide, ignore, or dismiss information or ideas
that do not fit a preconceived model. Recently, they have also been
active in the courts, seeking legal validation in various ways for
their denialist position.

Therefore, it is necessary for us to deal with this issue more than
once a year. We must be active in working energetically every day in
promoting education and awareness of the Armenian Genocide at every
level and to combat its pervasive, well funded denial, racism and
hostility towards Armenians.

There is at least one organization that has been doing just that
successfully for the past thirty-two years, the Zoryan Institute.

Zoryan has excelled at bringing the key Armenian issues to prominent
international settings and publishing groundbreaking books on critical
subjects, using original research based on archival materials. It
collected original archival documentation, including some 3,000 hours
of oral history testimony of Armenian Genocide survivors on video,
providing raw data for future researchers, as well as a link to the
eyewitness experience of the survivors for future generations. It was
behind such significant international public events as the Permanent
Peoples Tribunal in Paris in 1984, the first judicial hearing of the
Armenian Genocide. Its verdict found that genocide had been committed
against the Armenian people and that the modern republic of Turkey
inherited the legal responsibilities for dealing with the consequences.

Among the more than forty books and two journals fundamental to the
field that Zoryan has produced, let me mention just a few example. A
Shameful Act is the first account by a Turkish historian which
documents that the mass killings of Armenians during WWI was a
deliberate, centralized program of state-sponsored extermination.

Judgment at Istanbul (in Turkish and English) provides the scholarly
documentation and analysis of the Ottoman Military Tribunals
prosecuting the perpetrators of the Armenian Genocide.The Armenian
Genocide: Evidence from the German Foreign Office Archives, 1915-1916
(in German, Turkish and English), pioneering work fourteen years in the
making, which led the German Parliament to pass a unanimous resolution
acknowledging Germany’s role in the Genocide. It also prompted one
of Turkey’s leading journalists to write, “…if you read the book
and look at the documents, if you are a person who is introduced to
the subject through this book, then there is no way that you would
not believe in the genocide and justify the Armenians.” He called it
“an extremely important and expensive study.”

Zoryan has also been engaged in court cases, participating as an
academic amicus curiae, along with other distinguished organizations,
to help defend Massachusetts from having to include denial literature
in its high school curriculum on the Armenian Genocide. It was involved
as an amicus curiae in helping to defend California’s law on extending
the deadline for payment of life insurance policies for victims of
the Genocide. And as recently as a month ago, Zoryan was instrumental
in organizing a coalition of major Armenian organizations in Europe
and North America in a successful endeavor to persuade Switzerland
to appeal the European Court of Human Rights’ ruling absolving Dogu
Perincek of Armenian Genocide denial.

This work needs professionals, trained academics and experts involving
huge financial resources for identifying, collecting, analyzing,
transliterating, translating, editing and publishing, authoritative,
universally recognized original archival documents on the history
of the events surrounding 1915. This material must be distributed
worldwide, especially in Turkey.

No one expects the average person to devote him or herself to such
specialized and labor intensive work. But, the denial and as a result,
the racism and the threat of security to the Armenians must be resisted
by everyone. The only way this can be done is through a professional,
successful, highly acclaimed research center such as Zoryan Institute
and with the generous financial support of every Armenian.

In this month of April, the world commemorates the genocide not
only of the Armenian, but also the Jewish and Rwandan peoples. We
naturally focus on these issues at this time, but the work on the
Armenian Genocide is not for just once a year.

George Shirinian, Executive Director, Zoryan Institute
[email protected]

ARMENIAN GENOCIDE MEMORIAL OPENS IN ALMELO

April 25, 2014 | 12:51

A memorial complex dedicated to the Armenian Genocide victims opened
in Almelo, the Netherlands.

The complex was built in the territory belonging to the Armenian
Apostolic Church. The khachkars made from tufa and were brought
from Armenia.

Around 5,000 Armenians from the Netherlands and other European
countries participated in the opening ceremony. Members of the
Dutch parliament, representatives of local authorities and Armenia’s
Ambassador to the Netherlands Dzyunik Aghadjanyan were present.

News from Armenia – NEWS.am

FRENCH PRESIDENT SAYS NOT ENOUGH PROGRESS IN TURKEY POLICY ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

April 25, 2014 | 12:51

President of France Francois Hollande said he would participate in
the events dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide
in Yerevan next year.

Speaking at commemoration event on Thursday, Hollande stated readiness
to continue working for international recognition of the Armenian
Genocide during which 1.5 million people were killed, Le Nouvel
Observateur reported.

“The only name of this tragedy is genocide. There is no other term,”
Hollande said addressing thousands gathered in the center of Paris.

Asked to comment on the statement of Turkish PM Erdogan, Hollande
noted progress in Turkish policy, but said it was not enough.

Earlier Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan has made his first message
in connection with Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day.

“The 24th of April carries a particular significance for our Armenian
citizens and for all Armenians around the world, and provides
a valuable opportunity to share opinions freely on a historical
matter,” said the Turkish prime minister. He offered condolences to
the Armenians, but described the events as “shared pain”.

ANC UK RESPONDS TO ERDOGAN’S MESSAGE TO THE ARMENIANS

25th April 2014

Prime Minister of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s message to the
Armenian people on the eve of the 99th anniversary of the Armenian
Genocide is nothing more than Turkey’s renewed denial tactics under
international pressure to accept her past and reconcile with it –
especially with the centenary of the Armenian Genocide approaching.

Though unprecedented the message, it is nothing more than a try to
obstruct the international recognition and condemnation of Turkey
for what it did to the Armenians, beginning April 24, 1915. By once
again stating “the establishment of a joint historical commission in
order to study the events of 1915 in a scholarly manner” Erdogan is
omitting what independent scholars and academics have classified the
“events” as Genocide.

By putting the extermination of the Armenians in the overall context
of the losses of the Ottoman Empire – equating the losses of victim
and murderer – and conveying his condolences to the grandchildren of
those perished, Erdogan rather than offering them peace, is insulting
their memory. The massacres of the Armenian people in their historical
lands were centrally planned and executed meticulously, even after
the fall of the Ottoman Empire. If the Prime Minister of Turkey wants
to convey his condolences, he firstly needs to acknowledge that there
was an Armenian Genocide committed by Turkey.

“There can be no real reconciliation and peace between the two nations,
between Turks and Armenians, unless Turkey accepts her genocidal past,
condemns it, and pays the necessary reparations to the Armenian people,
financial and territorial. All the rest is just talk and a continuation
of Turkey’s denial of the Armenian Genocide”, said European Armenian
Federation for Justice and Democracy President, Kaspar Karampetian,
and concluded “as long as a country does not see its past, recognize
its crime and bears its responsibility, it is always probable that
will repeat it in one way or another. Thus, the recognition of the
Genocide by Turkey and the bearing of the consequent reparations is
a matter of security for Armenia and the Armenians in general”.

ANC UK HYETIMES | Suite 535 | 56 Gloucester Road | London | SW7 4UB |
United Kingdom

ARAM I ON ERDOGAN STATEMENT: WE EXPECT RECOGNITION, NOT CONDOLENCES

April 24, 2014 – 18:18 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – The Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia Aram I
commented on the message of condolences issued by the Turkish Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the eve of the 99th anniversary of
the Armenian Genocide.

“Distortion of historic events cannot change undeniable truth, with
the 1915 massacres not the “incidents of the First World War” but
Genocide against Armenian people perpetrated by the Ottoman Turkish
leaders. So it’s not condolences that the people of Armenia expect
from Turkey, but a recognition and compensation,” the Catholicos said
in his Facebook post.

On April 23, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s office
has extended condolences to grandchildren of the Armenian Genocide
survivors.

“The 24th of April carries a particular significance for our Armenian
citizens and for all Armenians around the world, and provides a
valuable opportunity to share opinions freely on a historical matter.

It is indisputable that the last years of the Ottoman Empire were
a difficult period, full of suffering for Turkish, Kurdish, Arab,
Armenian and millions of other Ottoman citizens, regardless of their
religion or ethnic origin.

Certainly, neither constructing hierarchies of pain nor comparing and
contrasting suffering carries any meaning for those who experienced
this pain themselves. As a Turkish proverb goes, “fire burns the
place where it falls”.

It is a duty of humanity to acknowledge that Armenians remember the
suffering experienced in that period, just like every other citizen
of the Ottoman Empire.

In Turkey, expressing different opinions and thoughts freely on the
events of 1915 is the requirement of a pluralistic perspective as well
as of a culture of democracy and modernity. Some may perceive this
climate of freedom in Turkey as an opportunity to express accusatory,
offensive and even provocative assertions and allegations.

Even so, if this will enable us to better understand historical issues
with their legal aspects and to transform resentment to friendship
again, it is natural to approach different discourses with empathy
and tolerance and expect a similar attitude from all sides.

The Republic of Turkey will continue to approach every idea with
dignity in line with the universal values of law. Nevertheless, using
the events of 1915 as an excuse for hostility against Turkey and
turning this issue into a matter of political conflict is inadmissible.

The incidents of the First World War are our shared pain. To evaluate
this painful period of history through a perspective of just memory
is a humane and scholarly responsibility.

Millions of people of all religions and ethnicities lost their lives
in the First World War. Having experienced events which had inhumane
consequences – such as relocation – during the First World War,
should not prevent Turks and Armenians from establishing compassion
and mutually humane attitudes among towards one another.

In today’s world, deriving enmity from history and creating new
antagonisms are neither acceptable nor useful for building a common
future.

The spirit of the age necessitates dialogue despite differences,
understanding by heeding others, evaluating means for compromise,
denouncing hatred, and praising respect and tolerance.

With this understanding, we, as the Turkish Republic, have called for
the establishment of a joint historical commission in order to study
the events of 1915 in a scholarly manner. This call remains valid.

Scholarly research to be carried out by Turkish, Armenian and
international historians would play a significant role in shedding
light on the events of 1915 and an accurate understanding of history.

It is with this understanding that we have opened our archives to
all researchers. Today, hundreds of thousands of documents in our
archives are at the service of historians. Looking to the future with
confidence, Turkey has always supported scholarly and comprehensive
studies for an accurate understanding of history.

It is our hope and belief that the peoples of an ancient and unique
geography, who share similar customs and manners will be able to talk
to each other about the past with maturity and to remember together
their losses in a decent manner. And it is with this hope and belief
that we wish that the Armenians who lost their lives in the context
of the early twentieth century rest in peace, and we convey our
condolences to their grandchildren.

Regardless of their ethnic or religious origins, we pay tribute, with
compassion and respect, to all Ottoman citizens who lost their lives
in the same period and under similar conditions,” the address said.

ERDOGAN’S STATEMENT NOT ADDRESSED TO ARMENIANS

18:41 25.04.2014

Artak Barseghyan
Public Radio of Armenia

Although the Turkish Prime Minister’s unexpected statement on the
eve of the Armenian Genocide was unprecedented from the political
point of view, it is a continuation of Ankara’s policy of denial,
political scientist Hrant Melik-Shahnazaryan told reporters today.

According to him, every sentence of Erdogan’s statement has a clear
direction and clandestine ideas, which will be applied in the coming
year ahead of the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.

The fact that Erdogan’s statement was issued in different languages,
including Eastern and Western Armenian, shows that it was addressed
to the international community, not Armenians, the political scientist
said.

Nevertheless, Hrant Melik-Shahnazaryan did not describe the Turkish
Prime Minister’s message as sensational.

According to him, Ankara simply feels the necessity of taking the
future developments in the direction favorable to them, as the 100th
anniversary of the Armenian Genocide is a serious political tool,
which the Turkish authorities are trying to neutralize.

SERZH SARGSYAN: ARMENIA COMMITTED TO THE CAUSE OF RECOGNITION AND CONDEMNATION OF ALL GENOCIDES

19:10 24.04.2014

Armenia, Armenian Genocide, Serzh Sargsyan

President Serzh Sargsyan who is the Czech Republic on a working
visit, today took part in a high-level meeting held on the occasion
of the 5th anniversary of the Eastern Partnership. At the meeting,
the President made a statement.

Statement by the President of the Republic of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan
at the High-level Meeting on the 5th Anniversary of the Eastern
Partnership

Distinguished President Zeman, Dear Colleagues, Ladies and Gentlemen,

At the outset I would like to express my gratitude to President
Zeman and the Czech authorities for organizing this high-level
meeting on the occasion of the 5th anniversary of the Eastern
Partnership. It was exactly here, in Prague, that our joint journey
called Eastern Partnership was launched five years ago, which expanded
and complemented our cooperation agenda based on shared Pan-European
system of values with the European Union.

Dear friends,

Today I embarked on the road to Prague from the Armenian Genocide
Memorial, where I paid tribute to the memory of the innocent victims
of the Armenian Genocide. On April 24, 1915 in Constantinople hundreds
of Armenian intellectuals – writers, artists, doctors, public figures
– were detained and slaughtered in accordance with a premeditated
criminal plan devised and meticulously implemented by the Ottoman
state structures, and thus had been launched what was designated in
the human history as the first genocide of the 20th century.

Today I would like to enunciate a word of gratitude to those states,
organizations and individuals, who extended their hand to support
us at the times of our national tragedy, recognized and condemned
the Armenian Genocide. Time constraint does not act as a statutory
limitation for the crime of genocide, and with the Armenian Genocide
Centenary ahead I would like to reiterate the importance of the
international community’s recognition and condemnation of that
unprecedented crime.

We are committed to the cause of recognition and condemnation of all
genocides around the world, and we have always been actively working
in the international arena for the strengthening of the genocide
prevention cooperation and legal instruments. In the framework
of the United Nations Armenia has initiated and tabled a number of
resolutions aimed at strengthening legal foundations for the struggle
against the recurrence of the crime of genocide.

Turkey that strives for an EU membership continues to avoid its own
past, circumvent responsibility, and for decades on has been falsifying
history by pursuing policy of denial. Moreover, it spares no effort
in order to force by all means upon other nations its denialism.

Today, thousands of Turkish citizens, whose numbers grow from year
to year in spite of persecution and prosecution, repudiate Turkey’s
policy of denial and stand by truth. Collating with one’s own history
and understanding its consequences are important prerequisites for
reconciliation. We believe that encouraging people to people contacts
is another important prerequisite for reconciliation. Unfortunately,
it is almost impossible since there are artificial impediments,
and the border is closed.

The lack of normalization of the Armenian-Turkish relations and last
closed border of Europe continue to be a vulnerable element of the
Pan-European security. It is paradoxical but nevertheless matter of
fact that the EU membership aspiring Turkey sealed off its border
with a neighboring country, while the borders within European Union
have long become history and free movement is a basic principle.

Dear Colleagues,

When we refer to Pan-European values we first and foremost mean
democracy, protection of human rights and the rule of law. And these
are values that are fundamental to our state-building exercise, and
serve as major guiding vision for further development of our country.

The process of reforms carried out under the Eastern Partnership
tutelage in the preceding five years has significantly consolidated
Armenia’s democratic development. Tangible progress has been registered
in the fight against corruption, free and fair elections, ensuring
free economic competition, improvement of transparent functioning
of the state structures, safeguarding independence of judiciary and
development of civil society. By the same token we are fully aware
that we still have a lot to do in order to establish a real democracy
of the European kind.

I consider encouragement of people to people contacts to be pivotal
achievement in the framework of the Eastern Partnership. In this
regard I would like to specify the progress registered in the area
of entry visas, which is being proved by forming new legal framework
for the facilitation of the citizens’ contacts and exchanges. The
visa facilitation and readmission agreements are already in force.

Mr. Chairman,

The Ukrainian crisis has demonstrated that lack of understanding of
the root causes of the current situation can call further proceeding
of the Eastern Partnership into question. Armenia joined the Eastern
Partnership with a deep conviction that it is not directed against
any third country. We remain of that same conviction. This initiative
has got all prerequisites to become not a separating wall but a bridge
that connects. It is necessary to find solutions by means of a dialogue
that take into account interests of all regional beneficiaries.

TURKEY’S ERDOGAN OFFERS CONDOLENCES FOR 1915 ARMENIA KILLINGS

SwissInfo, switzerland
April 23 2014

April 23, 2014 – 16:32

By Jonny Hogg

ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan offered what
the government said were unprecedented condolences on Wednesday to the
grandchildren of Armenians killed in World War One by Ottoman soldiers.

In a statement issued on the eve of the 99th anniversary of the deeply
contested deaths, Erdogan unexpectedly described the events of 1915 as
“inhumane”, using more conciliatory language than has often been the
case for Turkish leaders.

Turkish government officials said it was the first time a Turkish
prime minister had offered such explicit condolences and described
the statement as a historic step, but Erdogan’s words were dismissed
as “cold-hearted and cynical” by an influential U.S.-based Armenian
advocacy group.

The exact nature and scale of what happened during fighting that
started in 1915 is highly contentious and continues to sour relations
between Turkey and Armenia, a former Soviet republic.

Turkey accepts that many Armenians died in clashes, but denies that up
to 1.5 million were killed and that this constituted an act of genocide
– a term used by many Western historians and foreign parliaments.

Earlier in April, for example, a U.S. Senate committee resolution
branded the massacre of Armenians as genocide.

Erdogan’s statement – unusually released in nine different languages
including Armenian – repeated previous calls for dialogue between
the two countries, and the setting up of a historical commission to
probe events surrounding the killings.

“It is with this hope and belief that we wish that the Armenians who
lost their lives in the context of the early 20th century rest in
peace, and we convey our condolences to their grandchildren,” he said.

“Having experienced events which had inhumane consequences – such as
relocation – during the First World War, should not prevent Turks and
Armenians from establishing compassion and mutually humane attitudes
among towards one another.”

ON THE DEFENSIVE

Although striking a conciliatory tone, Erdogan re-iterated a long-held
Turkish position that the deaths of millions of people during the
violence of the period should be remembered “without discriminating
as to religion or ethnicity”.

Turkey is a Muslim state, while Armenia is Christian.

“Using the events of 1915 as an excuse for hostility against Turkey
and turning this issue into a matter of political conflict is
inadmissible,” he added.

Armenia has up to now declined the offer for a joint historical
commission, as it regards the alleged genocide as an established
historical fact and believes Turkey would use such a commission to
press its own version of events.

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

The executive director of the Armenian National Committee of America
said that Turkey was increasingly isolated over its version of what
happened in 1915.

“Ankara is repackaging its genocide denials,” Aram Hamparian said
in response to Erdogan’s remarks. “The fact remains that, as this
cold-hearted and cynical ploy so plainly demonstrates, Turkey is,
today, escalating its denial of truth and obstruction of justice for
the Armenian Genocide.”

No one from the Armenian government was immediately available to
comment. Armenian President Serzh Sarksyan is due to address the
nation on Thursday morning during an annual “genocide” day speech.

Last December, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu made Turkey’s
first high-level visit to Armenia in nearly five years, raising the
prospect of a revival in peace efforts between the historical rivals
which stalled in 2010.

Turkey cut ties and shut its border with Armenia in 1993 in support
of Turkic-speaking Azerbaijan, which was then fighting a losing battle
against Armenian separatists in Karabakh. The frontier remains closed.

(Additional reporting by Hasmik Lazarian in Yerevan, Editing by
Crispian Balmer/Jeremy Gaunt)

NO IFS OR BUTS, I ENJOYED THE PM’S ARMENIAN STATEMENT

Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey
April 24 2014

My opinion of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoðan’s Armenian statement,
issued one day before April 24, is open and precise. It is as
significant as the speech late President Turgut Ozal delivered when
he apologized to the Algerian people for Turkey’s misguided attitude
during Algeria’s war of independence.

Whoever wrote the speech, I sincerely congratulate them. They have
formulated it extremely well, the most advanced words a Turkish prime
minister can say for today.

Turkey should now adopt a self-confident stance in the Armenian
issue and I see this speech as the first step of that process. Could
it have been possible to say more advanced things? I, as a citizen,
as a columnist, can say more advanced words, but the line where the
prime minister has to stand for today has been drawn correctly.

No doubt, this speech will not mean much for the radicals, but as a
person who has experienced and witnessed all these incidents, I am
saying that this is a very important step.

Well done!

Yes, now let us take a look inside…

We are expecting the same initiative to be launched domestically too…

I have read the prime minister’s Armenian initiative speech and
highlighted the lines. This speech unavoidably prompted this question
in me: “A prime minister who can launch this initiative in a topic
like the Armenian incident, can’t he also take a step to eliminate
the polarization in Turkey?”

It was the first time he has mentioned pluralism: “In Turkey,
expressing different opinions and thoughts freely on the events of
1915 is the requirement of a pluralistic perspective, as well as of
a culture of democracy and modernity.”

It was the first time the resentments have been mentioned: “If this
will enable us to better understand historical issues with their
legal aspects and transform resentment to friendship again, it is
natural to approach different discourses with empathy and tolerance
and expect a similar attitude from all sides.”

It was the first time he has mentioned deriving enmity: “In today’s
world, deriving enmity from history and creating new antagonisms is
neither acceptable nor useful for building a common future.”

“The spirit of the age” was mentioned for the first time: “The spirit
of the age necessitates dialogue despite differences, understanding
by heeding others, evaluating means for compromise, denouncing hatred,
and praising respect and tolerance.”

I totally agree and can put my signature under it.

And I am saying: “We also want it; we want the same…”

Turn also to those who have not voted for you and repeat the same
sentences with the same sincerity.

You will receive its reciprocation…

The spirit of the age dictates this to all of us…