Author: Karapetian Hovik

THE VISIT OF THE LIFETIME: RACINE ARMENIANS WELCOME THEIR SPIRITUAL LEADER
By Pete Wicklund

Journal Times, WI
ocal_news/doc471ec79691d82538748347.txt
Oct 24 2007

CALEDONIA – Faith came home in a grand way for the Racine area’s
Armenian faithful Tuesday night.

Nearly 400 people turned out at St. Mesrob Armenian Apostolic Church,
4605 Erie St., to welcome the spiritual leader of the world’s Armenian
Apostolic Christians – His Holiness Karekin II. Karekin is spending
October making his second visit to the United States, but his first
to Racine’s St. Mesrob.

It was the first time in 47 years that a Catholicos, as the Armenian
pontiff is called, has visited Racine.

In a service that lasted approximately an hour, Karekin, 56, called
on his followers to reaffirm their love for God, their church, the
United States and their ancestral home of Armenia.

"The value for the spiritual head is his people," Karekin said. "My
heart is with you."

As the Catholicos entered the sanctuary of St. Mesrob, a rush of the
faithful pushed toward the aisles seeking Karekin’s blessings.

Apologizing for what he called his limited English, Karekin was
actually able to articulate well his message of love and faith. He
even managed a little humor in doing so.

But he also made references to the hardships that the Armenian people
have experienced over the centuries, and said those hard times only
solidified faith.

"For love of God, we have been martyrs," Karekin said. "The
resurrection has accompanied the whole history of our nation."

The Catholicos also made reference to efforts to bring peace and
understanding throughout the world and the progress leaders of the
various Christian sects have made in bridging differences, especially
during the last half-century.

As testimony, Karekin was accompanied to St. Mesrob not just by the
world, national and local leaders of the Armenian Apostolic Church
– including Archbishop Khajag Barsamian, the primate of the Eastern
Diocese of the Armenian Church – but also by regional spiritual leaders
of many Christian stripes. Those included Archbishop Timothy Dolan
and Auxiliary Bishop Richard Sklba of the Milwaukee Archdiocese of the
Roman Catholic Church; the Rev. Steven Miller, bishop of the Episcopal
Diocese of Milwaukee; and Bishop Paul Stumme-Diers, prelate of the
Greater Milwaukee Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America.

"I’m happy we have this occasion to pray together, because prayer is
the strength of our (Christian) faith," Karekin said. "With prayer
we unite in God."

The visit left those who attended Tuesday’s service feeling renewed
in faith and hope.

For Margaret Wigman of Racine, the visit sparked thoughts of returning
to the faith she took leave of to follow her husband’s Catholicism
after their marriage.

"I’m thinking of coming home," said Wigman. "It (Karekin’s visit)
was such a beautiful thing. It’s something we’ll carry forever."

The visit to St. Mesrob marked the second time Avak Grigorian of
Racine has seen Karekin. Grigorian was blessed by the Catholicos when
he traveled to Armenia on a Habitat for Humanity mission.

"It was beautiful to see him again," Grigorian said. "Since it might
be only once every 47 years, you have to enjoy him while he’s here
and really, really take his blessings to heart. He touched a lot
of people."

Anna Kocharian drove two hours from Madison for the visit.

"I’m originally from Armenia, so it was very moving for me to have
the Catholicos and the archbishop visit the church," Kocharian said.

"He’s always there for the people."

A moving moment in the service came when the Rev. Yeprem Kelegian,
St. Mesrob’s pastor, received Karekin’s blessing and gifts of a gold
cross and religious painting. A humbled Kelegian received a standing
ovation from his congregants.

NO RISE IN GRANULATED SUGAR PRICES ENVISAGED WITHIN A YEAR

Noyan Tapan
Oct 23, 2007

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 23, NOYAN TAPAN. No rise in granulated sugar prices
is envisaged within a year, while the country’s stock of granulated
sugar currently will suffice for 6 months, the chairman of the
RA State Commission on Protection of Economic Competition Ashot
Shahnazarian stated on October 23. At the same time, he said that an
artificial agiotage situation has been created in Armenia’ granulated
sugar market in recent days: for example, 10 days’ stock was sold
yesterday. According to the commission chairman, if the situation is
not rectified within the next two days and the problem of artificial
deficit is not solved, the commission will use respective penalties
envisaged by law.

A. Shahnazarian said that granulated sugar is now sold at 220 drams
(0.6 USD) in shops of the company importing it, whereas in other shops
prices make 230-240 drams. According to the commission’s information,
this situation has been mainly created by shop employees, and no
violations have been committed by the importer. 8-9 companies import
granulated sugar into Armenia, with Salex Group supplying 84% of
granulated sugar to the market.

In the words of A. Shahnazarian, the maximum annual demand for
granulated sugar is 60 thousand tons in Armenia. In the past 5 years,
prices of 1 kg of granulated sugar fluctuated from 190 to 350 drams
in the country.

CHAIRMAN OF CEC TO VISIT REGIONS OF GEORGIA WITHIN FRAMEWORK OF DOOR-TO-DOOR PROGRAM

Prime News Agency
Oct 23 2007
Georgia

Tbilisi. October 23 (Prime-News) – Levan Tarkhnishvili, Chairman of
Central Election Commission, and Giorgi Areshidze, the CEC member
will visit Akhaltsikhe, Akhalkalaki and Ninotsminda on October 26,
in the framework of the Door-to-Door Program.

Prime-News was told at the CEC that the Door-to-Door campaign is being
conducted throughout Georgia and aims at checking and improving the
Unified Voters’ List.

During the visit, the CEC chairman will meet DEC members, local people,
including densely populated Armenian population and will observe the
Door to Door process first hand.

Similar events are planned: October 29 – Gori, Tamarasheni; October
31 – Marneuli, Gardabani; November 1-2 – Adjara, Samegrelo.

KOSNTANTIN ZATULIN: ARMENIAN RESOLUTION IS A TEST FOR U.S. DEMOCRACY

PanARMENIAN.Net
22.10.2007 14:50 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Armenian Genocide resolution is a proper test
for American democracy. It will uncover priorities of the United
States – good relations with Turkey or historical truth, Russian
State Duma member, Konstantin Zatulin told a news conference in
Yerevan October 21.

Adoption of the resolution in the full House will be dragged out
unless Turkey breaks into northern Iraq, according to him.

"If Turkey risks relations with the U.S., the latter can pass the
resolution in response," he noted.

Reminding that several Representatives have recalled their signatures,
Zatulin said the Congress will not recognize the Armenian Genocide.

"Various trends are clashing in Turkey but the principle "we don’t
confess and don’t recognize" is dominating. All this generates a
serious political crisis," Mr Zatulin said.

Zatulin described Turkey’s threats to intrude into Iraq as "realistic
bluff proceeding from cynical but competent policy," IA Regnum reports.

ARE OUR ELECTEDS GOING CRAZY?
John Baer

Philadelphia Daily News, PA
_baer/20071022_John_Baer___Are_our_electeds_going_ crazy_.html
Oct 22 2007

IS IT ME? Or are our Legislature and Congress especially maddening
these days?

In Harrisburg, they debate meaningless resolutions. In Washington,
they chase Rush Limbaugh and worry about mass murders in Turkey a
hundred years ago.

I mean are you kidding me?

This after ’06 voters called for a new Congress and a new Legislature
to end the war in Iraq and start reforms in the state?

It’s beyond comprehension.

It drives down public trust, drives away public interest and cements
the practice of insider partisanship, serving no one but inside
partisans.

It’s a race to the bottom.

The new Democratic Congress – according to CBS, NPR, Fox, Gallup and AP
polls – this month pulled approval ratings lower than President Bush’s.

Quite a feat.

In Harrisburg, where action on energy, health care, open records, a
smoking ban, campaign finance, ethics and more stalls, the Democratic
House fills a day arguing over a resolution.

Not a bill, but a resolution, something with all the clout of a
cabbage: Congress should override Bush’s veto of children’s health
insurance.

It’s more than laughable – what’s Pennsylvania do if Congress doesn’t
listen, stop seeking or taking federal funds? – it’s an abdication
of duty.

Feisty Republican Rep. Kate Harper, of Montgomery County, at one point
stands and asks if there’s anything on the House agenda having to do
with Pennsylvania.

Apparently not.

Debate drags on. The resolution passes. And the next day (what a
shock!) Congress ignores the Legislature and upholds the veto.

Oh, and this bold House move comes the day after the same body voted
against looking at constitutional changes to improve the Legislature
and a measure to reduce its bloated size.

The only hint of hope came as curmudgeonly Rep. Bud George,
D-Clearfield County, got so PO’d during debate he yelled, "I resign."

For a second I thought, oh good, maybe it’s a trend. But no one
followed. And he later took it back. And in Washington?

Democrats who control the Senate use their definition of leadership
to boldly attack right-wing radio bore Rush Limbaugh.

In an act of extraneous nonsense, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid
and 40 fellow Democrats, including Pennsylvania’s own Bob Casey Jr.,
sent a letter to Clear Channel Communications seeking a Limbaugh
reprimand for his on-air "phony soldier" comment.

HE’S A TALK-RADIO ENTERTAINER! Maybe it’s me, but I don’t recall
Democratic campaign promises to put an end to Rush. I do recall
something about ending the war. But I guess when you can’t pass
policy in a chamber that you control, you need to pretend you’re
doing something. I wonder if these sensitive senators are going after
California House Democrat Pete Stark for saying the GOP sends troops
to Iraq to "get their heads blown off for the president’s amusement."

And Nancy Pelosi? Puh-leez.

Save yourself, girl. Stop pressing that Armenian genocide thing.

You’re making Bush look good. When he points out that Congress won’t
act on a budget, education or housing and notes you’re spending time
"sorting out the historical record of the Ottoman Empire," he sounds
wise and you look wifty. (Can you appreciate what it takes to make
Bush sound wise?)

My question is this: Do any of these electeds really believe folks
who need health care or a mortgage or a job are served by or have
interest in empty resolutions, Rush Limbaugh or Armenian history?

Why hold elections if we get the same nonsense and nonresults no
matter whom we vote for? And it seems the distance between the public
and public servants only grows.

Or is it just me? *

TURKEY’S LOBBYING AGAINST ARMENIAN RESOLUTION LIKELY TO PROVE SUCCESSFUL

The Frontrunner
October 22, 2007 Monday

U.S. News and World Report (10/29, Tolson, 2.03M) reports, "Call it a
tragic episode, a massacre, even a crime against humanity. But don’t
— at least officially — call the death and forced displacement
of up to 1.5 million Armenians at the end of the Ottoman Empire a
genocide. That is what the government of Turkey has long insisted,
though seldom more strenuously than in the wake of the most recent
attempt in the U.S. Congress to pass a nonbinding resolution that
would do just that. … At the moment, however, it looks as though
Turkey and an impressive array of supporters — from the White House
to K Street and beyond — will prevail in blocking the attempt.

Twenty earlier backers of the bill have already defected in response
to a tsunami of pressure that includes millions of lobbying dollars,
eight former secretaries of state, three former secretaries of defense,
Gen. David Petraeus, the patriarch of the Armenian church in Turkey,
and even The Daily Show."

U.S. News and World Report (10/29, Knight, 2.03M) notes that Turkey
has paid former Rep. Robert Livingston, former chairman of the House
Appropriations Committee, "more than $12 million to be the main
lobbying force against the resolution. Turkey has also paid the law
firm DLA Piper $100,000 per month for Richard Gephardt, the former
House majority leader, to help arrange high-level meetings for Turkish
diplomats and to lobby against the measure."

Bush’s Shift On Genocide Appellation Noted.

In a piece for Time (10/29, 4.03M) Samantha Power writes, "Having
recognized the genocide while campaigning for the White House,
President George W. Bush nevertheless followed in the footsteps of his
Oval Office predecessors, bemoaning the euphemistic ‘tragic suffering’
of Armenians and wheeling out men and women of diplomatic and military
rank to argue that the resolution would harm the indispensable
U.S.-Turkish relationship. … Bush hasn’t dared dispute the facts. An
Administration that has shown little regard for the truth is openly
urging Congress to join it in avoiding honesty."

Zuckerman Accuses Democrats Of Acting Irresponsibly.

U.S. News and World Report’s Mortimer Zuckerman (10/29) writes,
"There is a lot at stake. Support for America by the Turkish public
is down to only 11 percent, and right-wing nationalism and radical
Islam within Turkey are reviving, inflamed by xenophobic comments
from Europe’s leaders unwilling to admit Turkey to the European Union."

Armenia Resolution Called "First Truly Dumb" Move By Democratic
Majority.

Stuart Rothenberg writes in Roll Call (10/22), "If there is anything
that points out the difference between most Republicans and most
Democrats, it is Congress’ effort to pass a resolution that labels
Turkey’s slaughter of Armenians almost a century ago as ‘genocide.’
… If you cut through all of the politicking and even put aside the
specifics of the current controversy, you see that fundamentally, the
issue is this: For Republicans, politics is never having to say you’re
sorry. For Democrats, politics primarily is about an endless number
of apologies and condolences, and a feeling of unquenchable guilt,
though it tends to be institutional, not personal." Rothenberg adds,
"The problem for the Democrats is that the controversy over Congress’
steps to assert that Turkey was guilty of a policy of genocide isn’t
a laughing matter — at least it isn’t to the Turks.

Instead, it is the first truly dumb thing that Democrats may have
done since the party won both chambers of Congress last year."

Rice Intervenes After PKK Attack Kills At Least 12 Turkish Troops.

Network news last night reported the latest PKK attack, casting it as
a serious threat to US efforts to keep Turkey from sending troops into
the Iraqi Kurdish region. ABC World News (10/21, story 3, 2:25, Muir,
8.78M) reported that the US was "urging restraint, as Turkey now eyes
possible retaliation." The CBS Evening News (10/21, story 6, 2:30,
Mitchell, 7.66M) reported, "Turkey’s prime minister said late today
that at the request of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Turkey
will not strike back for at least a few days." CBS (Palmer) added that
the Turks "want America to help, either by supporting some sort of
[Turkish] special forces," but "preferably to lean on the Kurds very
hard." NBC Nightly News (12/6, story 7, 2:15, Aspell, 9.87M) reported,
"The Turkish government is now under intense pressure to send its
troops across the border." NBC Nightly News (12/6, story 8, 1:30,
Holt, 9.87M) reported in an analysis, "The concern at the highest
levels of the US government that a military response from Turkey
could complicate American efforts in Iraq." NBC (Mitchell) stated,
"I’m told that Secretary of State Rice, possibly the President himself,
will be calling their Turkish counterparts to urge them to continue
to show a measured response and they’re going to be promising that
they will try to get Iraq’s Kurdish leaders to do a better job of
controlling those rebels."

The New York Times (10/22, Tavernise, 1.18M) also notes "Turkey’s
prime minister said he delayed a decision, after…Rice personally
intervened." The ambush "was seen as a direct provocation" by the
PKK. According to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who spoke on
Turkish national television, Rice said, "Allow us a few days." Iraqi
officials denounced "the Kurdish ambush" but "rejected Turkish demands
that militant leaders be captured and handed over to Turkey."

The Washington Post (10/22, A1, Paley, 723K) reports on its front page
that the attack ratcheted "up pressure on the Turkish government to
launch a military offensive into Iraq. … Abdul Rahman al-Chaderchi,
a PKK spokesman, said the Kurdish fighters attacked because Turkish
troops were conducting war games late Saturday near the border."

AFP (10/22, Bozarslan) reports, "Turkey said Sunday it was ready
to pay any price to win victory over Kurdish separatists" after the
attack. Erdogan said "he had urged US action to stamp out PKK bases
during a telephone conversation with…Rice, who appealed for more
time." The Financial Times (10/22, Boland) notes Erdogan "said any
military response to the attacks would be taken ‘within the framework’
of the parliamentary authorisation." USA Today /AP (10/22, 11A)
and Los Angeles Times (10/22, Borg, Rasheed, 881K) run similar reports.

The Washington Times /AP (10/22, Burns) reports that Defense Secretary
Gates "said Sunday it appears Turkey’s military is not on the verge
of invading northern Iraq in pursuit" of the PKK rebels.

Gates "told his Turkish counterpart that a major incursion into
northern Iraq would hurt the Bush administration’s efforts to stave
off a positive vote" on the House Armenian genocide resolution.

Press Release
Haigazian University
From: Mira Yardemian
Public Relations Director
Mexique Street, Kantari, Beirut
P.O.Box. 11-1748
Riad El Solh 1107 2090
Tel: 01-353010/1/2
01-349230/1

Haigazian University: The Marie Hazarian Educational Fund

Haigazian University thankfully announces the establishing of the Marie
Hazarian Educational Fund, in memory of Marie Hazarian, one of Lebanon’s
prominent humanitarian figures, who passed away on Thursday, September
20, 2007, in Glendale, California.

Hazarian, who has received national and international acclaim, including
pontifical blessings and presidential proclamations, spend over six
decades of her life, voluntarily helping Lebanon’s Armenian and
non-Armenian needy citizens. Her work spanned innumerable orphans,
handicaps, crime victims and prisoners.

Donations may be sent in the name of Haigazian University, and
designated to the Marie Hazarian Fund to:
Mr. Louis Kurkjian
P.O.Box 5289
Fullerton, CA 92838-0289

UN GENOCIDE CONVENTION NEEDS REWORKING: INACTION IN DARFUR LATEST EXAMPLE OF ITS DEFICIENCIES
by Jonathan Manthorpe, Vancouver Sun

Edmonton Journal (Alberta)
October 20, 2007 Saturday

Since it was created by Polish-born lawyer Raphael Lemkin in 1944,
genocide has been a word used sparingly because of its power to
describe the most barbarous of crimes against humanity.

It is a word that carries enormous and ominous weight because Lemkin
sought to invoke in one phrase all the horror of the industrialized
slaughter in the Nazi death camps and the psychopathic, twisted
mentality that created them.

So it is no wonder that since Lemkin fashioned it out of the Greek word
"genos," meaning race, and the Latin word "cide" for killing, genocide
has been used to describe only the most extreme acts of barbarity.

That is why, for example, the international community has been hesitant
to apply the term genocide to what is happening in the Darfur region
of Sudan.

There is a belief — wrong as it turns out — that presenting evidence
of a genocide automatically launches international intervention under
a United Nations convention. This troubles the many countries that
remain opposed to interference in the internal affairs of member
states and shrink from using the word genocide.

Since the outbreak of violence in this northwestern region of Sudan
early in 2003, about 200,000 people have died and two million have
become refugees as ethnic Arab militias, armed and directed by the
Khartoum government, have attacked black African villages, burning
the huts and slaughtering the inhabitants.

It was only late in 2004 and after much lobbying that U.S. secretary
of state Colin Powell used the word genocide to describe what was
happening in Darfur.

There was a collective gasp among the multitude of agencies,
organizations and protagonists involved in Darfur.

The feeling was that once the magic word had been uttered, the door to
international intervention would inevitably swing open. UN peacemakers
and peacekeepers would have to be dispatched as soon as practical to
end the suffering of the six million people of Darfur.

EXPEDIENCY RULES

Well, it hasn’t happened like that at all. Genocide remains subservient
to political expediency.

After much political haggling, a woefully ill-equipped force of 7,000
troops from African Union member-states has been deployed, but it is
useless and has become a target for both government and rebel forces.

A more potent UN force is to be deployed in a few months and Libya
is hosting peace negotiations next week.

But it has become evident the rebel groups, of which there are
a dozen, are just as venal and uncaring of the plight of the six
million Darfurians as is the government.

The Darfur experience, especially so soon after the abject failure of
the international community to prevent genocide in Rwanda in 1994,
raises again questions about genocide, what it means, and what the
international response should be when it occurs.

As a young law professor in Warsaw in the 1930s, Lemkin was deeply
troubled by historic incidents of the mass murder of peoples. He was
influenced by the slaughter of Armenians during the collapse of the
Ottoman Empire at the end of the First World War, the mass killing
of Christian Assyrians by Iraqis in 1933 and many similar atrocities
that occurred in history.

When Nazi Germany invaded Poland in 1939, Lemkin, a Jew, became a
partisan and, after being wounded, escaped to neutral Sweden. From
there he went to the U.S. where in 1944 he wrote the book Axis Rule
in Occupied Europe in which the word genocide was first used.

The 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime
of Genocide was one of the first treaties of the newly formed United
Nations, though it took two years of quarrelling before a committee
could define the word. Genocide means, according to the UN, any act
"committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a nation,
ethnical, racial or religious group, as such."

That allows for a confusingly broad band of interpretations and the
convention is just as uninstructive on other aspects, especially the
duty of nations to intervene to halt a genocide in progress.

Lawyers and academics have for years complained the convention is
deficient. With yet another failure to protect innocent people in
front of us, it is perhaps time to rework this convention.

Jonathan Manthorpe is a columnist on international affairs at the
Vancouver Sun

Investor’s Business Daily
October 17, 2007 Wednesday
NATIONAL EDITION

Pelosi’s Premium

Politics: Congress’ foolish move to declare the massacre of Armenians
by the Ottoman Empire a genocide will have an impact far beyond
politics. It affects you — both in your pocketbook and in your secur
No question, Armenians have a right to seek recognition of their
people’s suffering. The Ottoman Turks slaughtered an estimated 1.5
million Armenians in one of the largest ethnic cleansing operations
ever, lasting roughly from 1915 to 1923. It sure seems like genocide
to us — or at least something very much akin to that odious
practice.

But congressional Democrats weren’t interested in justice when they
voted on this resolution. They had political mischief in mind.

Those who pushed the resolution saw a chance to pander to an
aggrieved but well-heeled group — Armenian-Americans — while
damaging U.S. ties with Turkey, a key ally in the war on terror.

For Democrats, what could be better? Shore up their Armenian-American
support at home, while making it harder for President Bush to win in
Iraq — a war Democrats have come to loathe, even though they voted
for it. Win-win, as political strategists like to say.

Yet what they actually did was stab U.S. troops in Iraq in the back,
forcing the military to scramble to find new ways to supply our
soldiers in case the Turks, as threatened, close our base at
Incirlik. (More than two-thirds of our Iraq supplies go through that
base.)

Not content to merely to make our soldiers’ lives more difficult and
risky, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her allies have helped create a
sharp spike in crude oil prices.

After Turkey’s government warned on Oct. 7 that the declaration on
Armenian genocide might damage U.S.-Turkey ties, the price of oil
jumped from $79.03 a barrel to $87.61 Tuesday, a gain of 11%, or
nearly $9 a barrel, in a little over a week.

The Democrats’ move, blamed by oil traders for the upsurge in crude,
has increased our monthly national oil bill by roughly $3.53 billion
at current import rates. That’s about $42 billion a year. Call it the
Stupidity Tax.

Hit hardest will be the poor. A fuel tax is regressive, meaning it
falls heaviest on those at the bottom. We’re surprised we’ve not seen
this levy dissected in detail by the mainstream media. But they’ve
gone strangely quiet.

Who knows if oil will continue to rise following the Democrats’
attempt to hijack foreign policy? It could trigger a recession — one
the Democrats and the left-leaning media would blame on Bush.

So as you pull up to the gas pump and watch the digits rise ever
higher, please avoid cursing OPEC’s potentates or China or Hugo
Chavez or whatever. This time, you’ve paid the Pelosi Premium.

Worse than oil prices, though, are the Pelosi Democrats’ intentional
damage to our Iraq War effort. Her party doesn’t have the courage to
end the war by defunding it, which it could do. Instead, it’s
creating chaos in the Middle East, where Turkey has threatened to
send forces into Iraq to pursue Kurdish guerrillas.

On Tuesday, the head of Turkey’s parliament warned Pelosi that "it
might take decades to heal negative effects of the bill if it
passes." Pelosi knows that neither the current government nor any
citizens of modern Turkey committed the atrocities against the
Armenians. She also knows the horrible timing of the genocide
resolution means big trouble for the U.S. Yet she doesn’t care.

Well, we do; so should you. Successful democracy depends on goodwill
from both sides of the debate. That’s now in short supply, at least
for one party. ity.

The Forward
October 19, 2007

Turkish Jews Decry Armenian Genocide Bill

In its bare-knuckled lobbying to defeat a congressional resolution
recognizing the Armenian genocide, Turkey has gained a valuable ally:
its own Jews.

Last week an advertisement from the Jewish community of Turkey was
published in the conservative Washington Times and was quickly passed
around the capital by Turkey’s lobbyists. The ad warned that the
overwhelming majority of Turks view Congress’s intervention as
inappropriate, unjust, and gratuitously anti-Turkish.

The Turkish Jewish community’s ad appeared just before an October 10
vote in which the House’s Committee on Foreign Affairs adopted
Resolution 106, which characterizes the Ottoman massacre of Armenians
during World War I as genocide. The Democratic leadership is planning
to submit the bill to a full House vote by mid-November, and a
similar resolution has been introduced in the Senate with 32
co-sponsors.

We cannot help but note that the world recognizes the Holocaust
because of the overwhelming evidence, not because of the declarations
of parliaments, read the ad. However, we have a more immediate
concern, which is the viability of U.S.-Turkish bilateral relations.

The ad, as well as previous statements from the Turkish Jewish
community and a trip by its leaders to Washington this past spring,
is part of a strategy by Ankara to stress that the Armenian issue is
one that galvanizes Turkish society as a whole, and not just the
government. The patriarch of the Armenian Church of Turkey recently
came to the United States to convey a similar message, and several
civil society organizations have supported the government’s view.

Turkish Jewish officials, however, have insisted that the initiative
to weigh in on the issue has been theirs. Their leaders could not be
reached for further comment.

During the annual American Israel Public Affairs Committee policy
conference in March, a delegation led by community leader Silvyo
Ovadya came to Washington to warn American Jewish groups that passage
of a congressional resolution would alter Turkey’s pro-Western
stance. The organized community also issued several statements in
recent months as the Armenian issue gained traction on Capitol Hill.

Last week’s ad took a direct stab at the Anti-Defamation League,
whose national director Abraham Foxman said in August that the
massacre of Armenians was tantamount to genocide and then
subsequently stated that a congressional resolution would be a
counterproductive diversion that may put at risk the Turkish Jewish
community and the important multilateral relationship between Turkey,
Israel and the United States. In the ad, the Jewish community
stressed that it is deeply perturbed by the claim that their safety
and well-being in Turkey could be put at risk by the resolution.

The ad was not the community’s first pointed criticism of an American
Jewish group on the Armenian issue. In a private letter this summer,
reported here for the first time, to American Jewish Committee
executive director David Harris, Turkish Jewish leaders criticized
him for writing in a blog posting that not recognizing the Armenian
genocide could open the door to more Holocaust denial.

Earlier this year, Rep. Adam Schiff, a California Democrat and the
resolution’s main sponsor, criticized the AJCommittee, B’nai B’rith
International, the ADL and the Jewish Institute for National Security
Affairs for transmitting to House leaders another letter from the
Turkish Jewish community expressing concern over his congressional
bill. In a written complaint to Jewish groups, Schiff described the
action of the American Jewish organizations as tantamount to an
implicit and inappropriate endorsement of the position of the
letter’s authors.

Schiff could not be reached for further comment.

The Bush administration has expressed its firm opposition to the
non-binding resolution. Turkey’s lobbyists were also able to get all
living former secretaries of state, as well as a number of defense
secretaries, to send out letters stressing the need to preserve
diplomatic and military ties with Turkey. And critics have denounced
Schiff and fellow California Democrat Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the speaker
of the House, for what they describe as catering to parochial
Armenian- American voters at the expense of a crucial ally.

In the wake of last week’s foreign affairs committee vote, Turkey
recalled its ambassador to the United States to Ankara for
consultations.

Turkey contends, not for the first time, that foreign parliaments
have no business weighing in on such an issue. When France
criminalized the denial of the Armenian genocide last year, Ankara
retaliated by cutting back military contracts with Paris. While no
clear threat has been issued to Washington, Turkey hosts a key
American military air base that is a major conduit for supplying
American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Ankara could also make good on its recent vows to enter northern Iraq
in order to stop Kurdish rebel attacks against its troops. On
Wednesday, the Turkish parliament gave the government a one-year
authorization to conduct military operations inside Iraq against the
guerillas, who have killed some 30 soldiers in recent weeks.