Azerbaijan: Diaspora Organization Tries To Counter Armenian-American

AZERBAIJAN: DIASPORA ORGANIZATION TRIES TO COUNTER ARMENIAN-AMERICAN INFLUENCE IN WASHINGTON
Jessica Powley Hayden

Eurasianet

May 8, 2009

A new front has opened in the Azerbaijan-Armenia conflict and it
is centered in Washington, DC. Frustrated by the effectiveness
of Armenian-American advocacy groups to shape debates in the
United States, Baku is now looking to its diaspora for a little
public-relations support.

Last year, a group of Azeri-Americans founded the US-Azeri
Network (USAN), which advertises itself as a grassroots advocacy
organization. The new, Washington, DC-based group hopes to connect
Azeri-American voters to promote a pro-Azerbaijan agenda in the
United States.

That agenda is a point-by-point refutation of policies sought by
the Armenian-American advocacy groups: increased aid to Azerbaijan;
decreased aid to Armenia; the elimination of humanitarian aid to
the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh; the immediate withdrawal of
Armenian forces from Karabakh; and recognition of massacres perpetrated
against Azerbaijanis by ethnic Armenians in 1918, marked in Azerbaijan
as the "Day of the Azerbaijani Genocide."

USAN casts itself in the role of the underdog. "[Azeri-Americans]
see that political activism can go a long way… [W]e can achieve a
lot and ‘compete’ with the big boys like the Armenian diaspora and
its lobby," commented USAN Executive Director Adil Baguirov.

It will be an uphill challenge. If garnering aid from the United
States were a competition, Armenia would clearly be winning. From
1992 to 2007, Armenia received almost $2 billion worth of assistance
from the United States ($1,745,930), while Azerbaijan came away with
about a billion less: $743,400,000.

In addition to lobbying for limits on aid to Azerbaijan, Armenia has
invested substantial resources into lobbying US legislators and the
president to recognize as genocide the Ottoman Turks’ slaughter of
an estimated 1.5 million ethnic Armenians in 1915.

Armenian advocacy and lobby groups also have a long history of
promoting Armenian policies among American lawmakers. Armenian
political action committees (PACs) contributed nearly $200,000 to
various races across the US in the 2008 election cycle, according to
Federal Election Commission documents.

Rough estimates put the size of the Armenian-American population at
nearly 1 million.

Azeri-Americans are less organized, young, far fewer in estimated
number (some 400,000, according to USAN), and have not had as much
success in getting their agenda before US policymakers.

In meetings on Capitol Hill last summer, Azerbaijani parliamentarians
were told: "Look, Armenians are my constituents and I am accountable
to them," recounted Petro Morgos who runs the parliamentary program at
DAI (Development Alternatives, Inc.), an international civil-society
development organization, and attended the meetings.

USAN believes that American politicians are not getting the whole
story. In addressing the American public, USAN’s Baguirov states that
his organization covers what it terms "crimes against humanity and
genocidal acts perpetrated by Armenians against Azerbaijani, Turkish,
Kurdish, Jewish, and other civilians in the Caucasus and East Anatolia
since the 19th century, culminating more recently with the Khojaly
Massacre in 1992."

Hundreds of Azerbaijani civilians were killed – according to Baku,
by Armenian forces – trying to escape from the village of Khojaly
in Karabakh during the war between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the
territory. The Armenian government blames Azerbaijani forces for
their deaths.

Azerbaijan’s emphasis on informing foreigners about alleged acts of
Armenian aggression can also be seen in Baku. In April, Fazil Mustafa,
a member of the Milli Majlis, proposed creating a genocide museum
in Baku, emphasizing its value in educating foreign guests. A museum
already exists in Yerevan that chronicles the events of 1915.

The recent push to energize Azeri-Americans to promote Azerbaijan’s
interests appears to be the result of frustration within Azerbaijan
itself. In 2006, President Ilham Aliyev accused Armenian-American
groups in the United States for distorting Azerbaijani history. Aliyev,
at the time, suggested that Azerbaijan would cultivate its own
diaspora.

Since Aliyev’s speech, an Azerbaijani consulate has been opened in
Los Angeles. Consul General Elin Suleymanov explained that Los Angeles
was chosen in part because of the large Armenian Diaspora located in
California. "We wanted Azerbaijan’s voice to be heard on the West
Coast and for public opinion not to be shaped by the Armenian side
alone," he told EurasiaNet.

Another diaspora-based organization, the Azerbaijan-American
Council, was opened in California in 2006 with the "primary purpose
of facilitating active integration of Azerbaijani-Americans into
U.S. public life and strengthening Azerbaijani-American identity."

Suleymanov, however, cautions that focusing too heavily on "narrow
ethnicity-based ideology" is counterproductive to achieving peace in
the region. "Unfortunately, some in the Armenian community still focus
on the past and see our region in simplified, confrontational terms,"
he said.

"I think focusing on the future, not that past – without, of course,
either forgetting or ignoring the latter – is the best way forward
for our part of the world," Suleymanov said.

USAN’s public relations campaign to bring attention to the past,
though, is beginning to pay dividends. Several members of the US House
of Representatives have made official remarks in the Congressional
Record commemorating the Khojaly massacre. Nevada Governor Jim
Gibbons released a proclamation recognizing March 31 as "Azerbaijani
Remembrance Day."

The Nevada proclamation sparked a firestorm in the Armenian-American
community, which objected to the proclamation’s definition of
Azerbaijan as including Nagorno-Karabakh. "The Armenian-American
community throughout the state of Nevada is shocked that Governor
Gibbons was so easily misled and manipulated by foreign interest
groups representing the governments of Azerbaijan and Turkey and
their high-priced lobbyists," stated Razmik Ablo, spokesman for the
Armenian National Committee.

The "high-priced lobbyist" tag is one that is commonly used against
USAN. But Baguirov claims his organization has a "very modest operating
budget which is fully raised from our grassroots." He declined to
give an exact figure. Combined with its sister organization, the US
Turkic Network, USAN claims it has 15,000 members.

While Baguirov is optimistic that USAN’s influence over American
policy will increase with time, it concedes that, as a numbers game,
diaspora Armenians will continue to exert greater influence in American
politics. "Obviously, we are the David in this story, but we are very
content with what we were able to achieve in such a short time-span,"
Baguirov said.

Editor’s Note: Jessica Powley Hayden is a freelance reporter based
in Baku.

http://www.eurasianet.org

Can Europe Do Away With Nationalism?

CAN EUROPE DO AWAY WITH NATIONALISM?
By Emanuele Ottolenghi

American Enterprise Institute

May 6 2009

A united Europe should encourage the use of local nationalisms as an
instrument of integration and social cohesion.

A united Europe is not far from becoming reality. A European identity
that transcends the national identities of Europe’s member states,
however, is still a distant dream. But Europe’s rapidly changing
demographics cannot wait for this dream to come true. Identity is
a crucial component of social cohesion, and the rapid influx of
immigrants, mainly from the Muslim world, demands a choice: Should
immigrants be encouraged to integrate into the national cultures and
identities of the EU member states? Or should Europe instead pursue
a multicultural model, in which patriotism is discouraged in favor
of a society divided by different identities, values, and historical
narratives, but united by abstract rights and duties under EU treatises
and regulations? Is a third way available, a common European identity
for all Europeans, old-timers and newcomers alike, that can transcend
narrower communal loyalties to find a new common home? And if a
third way were possible, what kind of European identity would it
yield anyway, given the post-national utopian vision on which Europe
is built?

Europeans need a mobilizing myth now more than ever if they want
to successfully confront the double challenge of transforming an
ever-expanding union into a coherent polity while successfully
integrating an unprecedented wave of immigration, mainly from
the Muslim world. A common European myth is still lacking. Local
nationalisms are such readily available vehicles of identity. A united
Europe should encourage their use as an instrument of integration
and social cohesion.

The Question of European Identity

While the institutional framework of a united Europe inexorably
marches on, the fabric of a shared supranational European identity
lags behind. Yet, the realization that this identity is badly needed
should be obvious if one looks deeper into the founding principles
of the European ethos. The preamble to the EU Constitution proclaims
that, "While remaining proud of their own national identities and
history, the peoples of Europe are determined to transcend their
former divisions and, united ever more closely, to forge a common
destiny."[1] There is no common destiny, however, unless there is
a sense of cohesion. A common identity promotes it, but a united
Europe, for the time being, rests only on vague notions of rights
and prosperity at home and peaceful internationalism abroad.

Post-1945 Europe views itself morally bound to create a peaceful
and prosperous society that will forever ban war: first from the
continent, then from the world. To achieve this goal, Europe wants
to do away with nationalism. Europe considers nationalism the main
cause of its troubled past: it bloodied the continent until the
defeat of Nazism gave way–no doubt under the benign protection of
the American umbrella–to a post-nationalist European Union where
war is forever banned and peaceful trade and diplomacy have become
the sole instruments of power relations in the world. If nationalism
caused Europe’s twentieth-century tragedies, rejection of nationalism
engendered Europe’s post-1945 age of unity and prosperity: hence
the exhortation to transcend nationalism in the name of a common
European vision, which the preamble aptly characterizes as "united
in diversity."

This view is reinforced by "influential intellectual trends in the
advanced world that deny the legitimacy of nationalism altogether as an
atavistic concept. Their adherents regard nationalism as an obstacle
to human rights, international harmony and economic rationality."[2]
Replacing communism after its abject failure, this new internationalist
doctrine quickly dismisses nationalism as a genuine and authentic
force and portrays it as a concocted identity. In this view, elites
selectively (and consciously) tap into an often imagined past to forge
a group identity based on a powerful mobilizing myth. Opponents of
nationalism see nations as Benedict Anderson’s "imagined communities,"
not modern elaborations of pre-existing identities; either way, for its
critics, nationalism is not only an intellectually flawed construct,
but also a dangerous force:[3] whether one imagines it or not, it
is the wrong kind of imagination. The push for a united Europe is
animated by this view: self-styled Europhiles support abandoning old
allegiances in favor of an identity built exclusively on a doctrine
of rights, the abating of frontiers, and the triumph of a common
market. Nationalism, in their view, invariably begets brownshirts.

If Europe actively discourages nationalism and the identities that gave
rise to it, can it offer an alternative? Pan-European nationalism, even
if based on a narrative that transcends the small confines of local
identities, would still be a variant of nationalism and unquestionably
an artifact of powerful elites. Besides, a pan-European national
identity hardly exists, and it still awaits the laborious input of
those intellectuals clamoring for one to arise. Can the peoples of
Europe transcend their local identities and forge a common destiny
based only on abstract values? As the editor of the British magazine
Prospects, David Goodhart, put it, "Modern liberal societies cannot
be based on a simple assertion of group identity–the very idea of
the rule of law, of equal legal treatment for everyone regardless of
religion, wealth, gender or ethnicity, conflicts with it."[4] Yet,
at a very basic level, humans need to identify. As Goodhart notes,
abstract notions of common humanity and universal values clash everyday
with the choices public institutions must make–on welfare distribution
and public funding of education, on health care and foreign aid. In
making these choices, priorities are often based on identity. It
follows that more narrowly based national identities still matter
in Europe. They are more compelling to people than a European set
of symbols and institutions that only a few recognize as truly their
own. But the purveyors of the post-national ethos on which a united
Europe is being built are doing everything in their power to chastise
patriotism and national identity within the member states:

The "European Idea" rests somewhat more openly upon hostility to
European nations and their national identities. Its justifying claim
is that the European Union has overcome the shameful legacy of the
European nations that were responsible for two world wars and threaten
the peace of the Balkans today.[5]

Opposition to local national identities as both flawed and dangerous
is not necessarily going to offer a compelling alternative, even
after the amazing lure of European citizenship and the benefits it
offers are taken into account:

Citizenship is not an ethnic, blood-and-soil concept, but a more
abstract idea–implying equal legal, political and social rights (and
duties) for people inhabiting a given national space. But citizenship
is not just an abstract idea about rights and duties; for most of us
it is something we do not choose but are born into–it arises out of
a shared history, shared experiences and, often, shared suffering.[6]

Yet, Europe seeks to replace local identities with an abstract
"European idea," actively advocating the disposal of a powerful vehicle
for integration and social cohesion at a time when the arrival of large
numbers of immigrants from foreign shores and alien cultures demands
a vigorous policy of integration. Abstract notion though it may be,
the question of European identity is not an abstract exercise in lofty
utopian philosophy. For a polity to function, one needs its people to
be united by the bonds of citizenship before they are divided by the
conflicting loyalties of partisan politics. But citizenship cannot be
made of abstract laws alone. It is built on shared values as much as
shared memories. To command loyalty, Europe needs to be more than a
geographical extension of territory that bestows rights to those who
happen to inhabit it and castigates those holding onto allegiances
considered both historically obsolete and socially pernicious,
especially since those allegiances may hold the key to Europe’s
successful integration of its growing immigrant communities.

Europe’s effort to replace local national identities with a European
idea devoid of nationalism is thus a serious mistake. Ideally,
Europe’s political project would need a nationalism of its own that
was potent enough to give its citizens a sense of shared history as
much as of shared destiny. That in itself would be an arduous task:
"Pre-existing loyalties are an obstacle to any new political identity
that is striving to assert itself."[7] Some of the crucial elements of
a national identity are sorely lacking–there is no common language,
there is no common history, there are few powerful unifying myths to
which Europe can turn to as a way to inspire its masses, and aside
from the promises of material wealth that Europe grants its citizens,
there is no sense of a common destiny uniting the peoples of Europe. If
anything, there is apathy in the face of unification–only 42 percent
of Spaniards participated in the referendum on the EU Constitution–and
fear at the prospects of further enlargement, as emotional responses
to Turkey’s possible accession to Europe indicate. The only glue
that seems to cement Europe and mobilize people is anti-Americanism
and the fantasy of a European superpower bent on taming America,[8]
hardly a promising foundation for "European-ness." What remains is
the very nationalism Europe’s post-national utopia wants to dispose
of. If its more virulent strains are kept at bay, nationalism might
still offer the key to integration.

Dilemmas of Identity and Integration

Europe is not promoting a new, broader European nationalism. It is
discouraging all forms of nationalism. And even if a new European
identity were high on the agenda of its leaders, identities, no
matter how artificially construed they are, are still a product of
long histories, not laboratory experiments, elaborate international
treatises, and Brussels seminars.

Thus, in its devotion to an abstract notion of European identity that
is devoid of any nationalist or patriotic tinge, Europe is creating
an impossible dilemma that is liable to tear the very fabric of the
European project.

The weakening of national identities–and the lack of a meaningful
and more inclusive replacement–means that new immigrants have no
compelling identity to embrace. The success of their integration
relies exclusively on societies’ ability to show inclusiveness
based on abstract notions of common humanity, something that,
given Europe’s historical record of minorities’ treatment and recent
record of interethnic relations, does not offer a solid foundation. As
national identities are pushed to the margins, their ability to command
loyalty will wane and lose their appeal to immigrants who have little
inclination to feel "British" or "French" or "Belgian" when old-timers
themselves and the society around them discourages such identification
in the first place. But lacking a strong pan-European alternative
identity that immigrants can embrace, newcomers are likely to turn
to their ethnic and religious backgrounds as their primary identities.

This problem is particularly acute because while Europe is slowly
developing into a politically unified continent, with a shared
currency, a coordinated foreign policy, joint institutions, open
borders, and a free movement of workers and goods–all means
to transcend local identities and forge a sense of a new common
destiny–Europe is also absorbing an unprecedented wave of immigrants
from the Arab and Muslim worlds. Both trends present formidable
challenges: Can Europe convince Latvians and Portuguese, Poles and
Greeks alike to see themselves first and foremost as Europeans and
identify with the political institutions and values of a united
Europe? Can this identity appeal enough to Muslim immigrants to
overcome their strong ethnic, religious, and cultural backgrounds
and to help them integrate within the fabric of Europe? And are the
Europeans ready to fully welcome an alien culture in their midst?

Critics of nationalism are quick to dismiss it as an exclusive
ideology. In an age of globalization and universal human rights,
doctrines of exclusion have a hard time selling. No doubt, to command
loyalty from newcomers, societies need to be inclusive. No doubt,
nationalism may manifest intolerant strains and, if too narrowly
defined, can engender exclusion. But inclusion cannot be achieved
at the price of renouncing collective identity: not only would that
be a humiliating act of cultural self-negation, but it would also
be counterproductive. Newcomers would be left without a tool to
encourage their integration into their host societies. Old-timers,
feeling threatened in their core allegiances, would react by resorting
to stronger versions of their nationalism, something that is already
happening across Europe with the rise of anti-immigration parties
and the swelling of xenophobic incidents.

Renouncing nationalism would deprive societies of a vital component
of social cohesion, namely a common narrative both old-timers and
newcomers can relate to and identify with. No doubt, in an age of
increased diversity within societies, Europe needs to encourage the
expansion of its boundaries of inclusion while at the same time
recognizing that its commitment to liberal universal values need
not be so broad as to become meaningless. Ultimately though, people
still need to identify and feel they belong. Identity matters, and the
future of Europe will largely depend on which identity will ultimately
command the allegiance and loyalty of Europe’s citizens. This is
a task that member states and their national identities are better
equipped to perform.

Therein emerges Europe’s central challenge of the day: Europe’s
institutions and leaders make opposition to nationalism central
to European integration. This opposition may generate two opposite
but equally dangerous types of reaction. Muslim immigrants have no
incentive to develop an allegiance to their home countries in Europe
because Europe discourages that behavior and the general social
tendency is to denigrate nationalism and patriotism as forms of
reactionary and dangerous ideologies. They might turn to Islam instead
as a result. Old-timers who prize their ethnic and national allegiances
may react to the pressures of Europe’s post-national utopia by seeing a
causal correlation between immigration and loss of national identity,
with the consequent anti-immigrant backlash. The push for a Europe
devoid of nationalism might ironically beget a Europe where unbridled
nationalism and radical Islam will ultimately clash.

Denigrating national identity leaves another question unsolved. Lacking
a real, rather than artificial, imaginary European "common destiny,"
can people coexist in societies that offer no cohesive identity? The
answer is no. Faced with unprecedented immigration from the Muslim
world, Europe is not offering its newcomers a European equivalent of
the American dream with its powerful mix of liberal rules and national
narratives that form the American way to patriotism.

Islam’s history should also offer a cautionary tale. The historical
track record of Islam is not one of inclination to assimilate. European
Muslim communities live for the first time as minorities in a
society that encourages them to take residence and citizenship while
granting them the freedom to remain culturally alien to the host
country. Meanwhile, integration has largely failed, as Euro-Muslims are
underrepresented among the cultural, economic, and political elites,
and over-represented among prison inmates and the unemployed across
Europe. One of the central and most urgent challenges for Europe will
be to promote their integration. In a continent of close to 500 million
citizens and twenty-five countries, there are today approximately 15
million Muslims. In twenty years, with European demographic trends
showing little growth, the size of Europe’s Muslim minority will
rise significantly–in both absolute and relative terms. A return
to strong national identities within member states is the immediate
answer. Nationalism can be conjugated with liberal values; Europe can
live with both universal rights and local identities; and its citizens
can feel loyalty and commitment to, and appreciation of, both their
local national identity and a broader sense of "being Europeans."

Integrating Islam?

Related to the success of the above vision is the answer to a pressing
question in Europe today: what identity will Euro-Muslims ultimately
embrace? Varied geographic origins still account for marked differences
among them, but as time passes their ties with their lands of origin
could fade. Both Islam and more ominously its radical variant are
competing for the primary loyalty of Euro-Muslims. That prize must be
won over by their host-societies instead. In the absence of successful
absorption policies, the alternative to a weak and unappealing
European identity will increasingly be Islam. The mosque will offer
a meeting point for immigrant communities to mingle and share the two
elements they have in common–the immigrant experience and Islam–in
their efforts, and often in their failure, to fully integrate into
Europe. If radicals gain control of mosques, their primary goal will
be to heighten grievances and channel them to violent action.

Islam has always been a key component to Muslims, both within and
outside the Arab world. But as Steven Simon argues, while religious
allegiance competed with other loyalties in the past, "Muslims are
now increasingly inclined to stress their religious identity over
other affiliations, whether citizenship, tribe or class."[9] Simon
also suggests that "this globalisation of Muslim identity is helping
to fuel a revival of a shared interest in which North Africans are
more likely to identify with the struggles of Muslims in Central
Asia and European Muslims with conflicts in the Middle East."[10]
This should worry Europeans. In the post-9/11 and 3/11 era, a key
component of this global Muslim identity–which travels fast through
Internet and satellite TV, making Muslims in Marseille and Brixton,
Jakarta and Jedda, Cairo and Mazara del Vallo all members of a virtual
global community–is a sense of grievance toward the West and a feeling
that Western nations and Western values are at war against Islam.[11]

Identification with Muslim causes abroad goes hand in hand with a
sense of grievance for Muslim issues at home. Since 9/11, a string
of high-profile incidents in Europe heightened public awareness to
the risk that radical Islam poses to the fabric of Europe. For many,
the murder of Theo Van Gogh in the Netherlands in November 2004 became
a symbol of the simmering "clash of civilizations" that is about to
play out in Europe’s restless suburbia. Others have interpreted the
clash over the headscarf in France as a sign that Islam can hardly
be assimilated into French mainstream. And while other episodes
have earned less attention, the list is long. Nevertheless, such
high-profile incidents obscure a harder truth. At a socioeconomic
level, Muslims have failed to integrate, and Europe has fallen short
of absorbing them into the mainstream:

In less than a decade, there has been a radical shift in France’s
prison population, a shift that officials and experts say poses
a monumental challenge. Despite making up only 10 percent of the
population, Muslims account for most of the country’s inmates
and a growing percentage of the prison populations in many other
European countries, an indication of their place at the bottom of
the Continent’s hierarchy.[12]

Recent reports agree that this phenomenon poses three troublesome
challenges. A disproportionate Muslim component among criminals is a
reflection of a failure to integrate (and be integrated); the growing
Muslim prison population is targeted by radical Islam as a recruiting
ground for potential terror operatives;[13] and the growing resentment
of imprisoned Muslims over lack of proper services to the Muslim
prison population spills over to Muslims outside prison, as lack of
concern for Muslim inmates and their religious needs is seen as a
reflection of a broader social neglect of Muslims.[14] An explosive
cocktail emerges: "The growing Muslim prison population is evidence
of an Islamic underclass that is developing across Europe and, at
its margins, is increasingly sympathetic to the coalescing ideologies
of political Islam," a French scholar of Islam recently told the New
York Times.[15] This difficulty is compounded by the lack, so far, of
a locally bred version of Islam that is at ease with European values
and culture: "France has 1,200 imams, or preachers, of which more than
one third don’t speak French and about 75 percent are foreigners who
remain ignorant of French culture."[16] Efforts are underway across
Europe to address this issue, but the underlying problem remains:
a growing sense of alienation that is the product of both a sense of
socio-economic inequality and a lack of an appealing identity.

That Euro-Muslims and mainstream European values may be at loggerheads
is further demonstrated by the recent refusal by several mainstream
Muslim associations across Europe to participate in Holocaust Memorial
Day commemorations on January 27, 2005.

Holocaust remembrance is a central theme to a new European identity
slowly taking shape in the continent. It affirms a commitment to
memory, a rejection of violence, and a dedication to pluralism
and respect for minorities. It could reasonably become part of the
shared European legacy on which "European-ness" may develop over
time. Since 2001, January 27 has been an official day of remembrance,
where government officialdom and civil society join to pay tribute
to the dead and pledge never again to foster the culture that made
Auschwitz possible on European soil.

This year though, representatives for the Muslim Council of Britain
(MCB), the Union of French Islamic Organizations of France (UOIF),
the Union of Italian Muslims (UMI), and the Union of Islamic
Communities and Organizations of Italy (UCOII) refused to attend
official commemorations.[17] The UOIF leader, Lhaj Thami Breze,
and the head of the MCB, Iqbal Sacranie, expressly chose not to
attend commemorations, arguing that Holocaust Memorial Day was not
inclusive and therefore not worthy of their presence. Objecting to
the uniqueness of the Jewish genocide, Sacranie supported instead a
"Genocide Memorial Day," where all victims of genocides, past and
present, would be commemorated,[18] and where "peace with justice"
was to be promoted for those continuing to suffer in the world,
especially "in Palestine":

In order to help ensure that such crimes against humanity do not recur
and repeat themselves we believe that the Memorial Day can better be
observed by making it inclusive to cover the ongoing mass killings
and human rights abuses around the world, notably, in the occupied
Palestinian Territories, Chechnya and Kashmir and also recent mass
killings and genocide on Bosnia, Kosova and Rwanda. Genocide is the
most abhorrent and outrageous crime and we are not going to prevent
it by selectively remembering only some of its victims.[19]

This argument was disingenuous: as alleged victims of genocide,
Sacranie mentioned only Palestinians, Chechnyans, and Kashmiris, the
three emotional issues feeding into a strong sense of pan-Islamic
grievance within Europe and across the Islamic world. As genocides
past and present, he quoted Bosnia, Kosovo, and Rwanda. His agenda
thus was clear both in its sins of omission and of commission.

Omission of Armenia and Sudan from the list of genocides past
and present aimed to shroud in silence those two tragedies where
the murderers were (and still are) Muslim armies and Muslim
governments. Mention of Palestine as a place where genocide is
allegedly taking place is a trivialization of the Holocaust that
also borders on denial. Inclusion of Bosnia and Kosovo–where ethnic
cleansing on a large scale took place–Kashmir–where interethnic
conflict is happening–and Chechnya–where vast human rights abuses
and massacres still do not amount to genocide–is meant to blur all
differences and make all suffering become genocide.

Blurring differences and omitting tragedies is meant to cloak
Muslims in a mantle of victimization and to force Europe to accept
such distortions for the sake of accommodation. But those who pursue
this line are sorely mistaken. Refusal to recognize the Holocaust
as central to Europe’s painful past and to its new identity will
only broaden the already worrisome gap between Europe and its Muslim
minorities and their alienation from the mainstream.

Fortunately, not all of Europe’s Muslim leaders agreed with the MCB. In
fact, many condemned, criticized, or contradicted their decision. Dalil
Boubakeur, the head of the French Council for Muslim Faith (CFCM)
attended a commemoration ceremony in Paris. Mario Scialoja, Italy’s
representative for the World Muslim League expressed strongly worded
criticism at the MCB’s stance, and many Imams in Italy rejected
the positions taken by the UCOII and the UMI and joined in the
commemorations.

Finally, Albania, a European secular Muslim nation, was the first
Muslim country to pass legislation making January 27 an official
day of remembrance of the Holocaust. Official ceremonies in Tirana
were well attended, and Albania’s prime minister flew to Auschwitz
to attend the sixtieth anniversary official commemorations.

National Identity as a Tool of Integration

Turning Europe’s national identities into instruments of social
cohesion is not a lost cause. Neither is Islam in Europe. But both can
become so if Muslims are left to be an easy prey to radical Islam. Deep
divisions and the cultural alienation of Muslim minorities, if left
unchecked, may threaten the very fabric of Europe. This trend must
be countenanced–the future of Europe is at stake. For integration
to succeed, promoting moderate Islam is not enough; narrowing
socioeconomic inequalities is also not enough. Both are necessary
steps Europe and European Muslim leaders–secular and religious
alike–must undertake in close cooperation. But as an overarching
and transnational Muslim identity grows, no countervailing force
is yet on the horizon. Currently, Europe discourages integrationist
policies, offering only a stark alternative between assimilationism
and multiculturalism. There are grave consequences to this state of
affairs: "Large numbers of [young Muslims] believe they are Muslims
first and European citizens only as a matter of administrative
necessity rather than cultural allegiance."[20] If Islam, and not
Europe, commands the allegiance of young Euro-Muslims, how will this
serve the fabric of Europe?

Herein emerges the challenge of identity in Europe today. While
Europe actively discourages nationalism and patriotism, it does not
offer a strong pan-European identity and a successful and functioning
model for harmonious integration. It is imperative for Europe to turn
Euro-Muslims into fully integrated Europeans, living in harmony with
other groups within European societies and fully sharing a common
identity. In order for Europe to succeed, European institutions and
governments must realize that if the European project cannot offer a
compelling common identity–shared values for all citizens of Europe
old and new–a set of compelling alternatives must be provided
instead. Failure to provide a European identity that creates the
conditions for a common citizenship based on shared values would
create a vacuum for narrower identities to reassert themselves.

Hence, Europe must realize that nationalism is not necessarily a
force of evil. Identities matter, as they form the indispensable
glue that cements societies. Unless European elites can confidently
say that a new ready-made pan-European identity is in the making–an
artificial blend of symbols, narratives, and memories that will somehow
appeal to almost 500 million citizens of twenty-five countries–they
should be careful about the consequences of abandoning nationalism
and ponder instead the need to both strengthen national identities
and encourage Muslim immigrants to identify with their newly adopted
countries. National identity is not only a dividing force: it can
be a powerful tool of integration. And nowhere is integration needed
more than in Europe today, as the continent is set to see its Muslim
minority more than double in the course of the next two decades.

Emanuele Ottolenghi is the Leone Ginzburg Research Fellow in Israeli
Law, Politics, and Society at St. Antony’s College, Oxford. He
contributed this essay during a sabbatical term spent at AEI in the
winter of 2005.

Notes

1. European Union, Treaty Establishing a Constitution for Europe,
preamble, 10.

2. John O’Sullivan, "In Defense of Nationalism," The National Interest,
no. 78 (Winter 2004-2005): 33-40.

3. Ibid.

4. David Goodhart, "Discomfort with Strangers," Guardian (London),
February 24, 2004.

5. Ibid.

6. Ibid.

7. O’Sullivan, "In Defense of Nationalism."

8. Juergen Habermas & Jacques Derrida, "El 15 febrero o lo que une
a los europeos," El País, June 4, 2003.

9. Steven Simon, "Unavoidable Clash of Islam and the West?" Newsweek
Polska, January 23, 2005.

10. Ibid.

11. Ibid.

12. Craig S. Smith, "Growing Muslim Prison Population Poses Huge
Risks; France’s Struggle with Radical Islam," New York Times, December
9, 2004.

13. Renwick McLean, "Terrorists Recruiting in Prisons; Common Criminals
in Spain Transformed into Islamic Militants," International Herald
Tribune, November 1, 2004.

14. Ibid.

15. Ibid.

16. Claude Salhani, "Europe’s Tolerance under Stress," United Press
International, December 9, 2004.

17. Muslim Council of Britain, "Muslim Council of Britain and
the Holocaust Memorial Day," January 23, 2005; available through

18. Iqbal Sacranie, letter to the editor, Guardian, January
27, 2005. Sacranie writes: "The view held by the MCB since the
inception of Holocaust Memorial Day in 2001 is that the subtext of
the Memorial Day–‘Never Again’–is diluted by the exclusive nature
of the event. The memorial day would in our opinion be better served
by covering the ongoing mass killings and human rights abuses in our
world, and thus make the cry ‘Never Again’ real for all people who
suffer, even now."

19. Muslim Council of Britain, "Muslim Council of Britain Statement
on Holocaust Memorial Day," January 24, 2005; available through

20. Simon, "Unavoidable Clash."

http://www.aei.org/outlook/22572
www.mcb.org.uk.
www.mcb.org.uk.

Armenian Credit Organizations’ Total Capital Grows 13.5% To Amd 20.2

ARMENIAN CREDIT ORGANIZATIONS’ TOTAL CAPITAL GROWS 13.5% TO AMD 20.2 BILLION

ARKA
May 7, 2009

YEREVAN, May 7. /ARKA/. Total capital of Armenia’s credit organizations
has grown 13.5% over the first quarter of 2009 reaching AMD 20.2
billion by late March, Central Bank of Armenia says in its quarterly
review of credit organizations’ activities.

Credit organizations’ authorized capital reached AMD 15.2 billion by
late March after growing 9.8% over the first quarter of this year.

Non-residents’ participation in Armenian credit organizations amounted
to AMD 10.2 billion by late March. This amount is 10.3% greater than
that recorded by the end of the fourth quarter of 2008.

Broad reserve in credit organizations’ aggregate capital totaled AMD
329.6 million in the first quarter.

Undistributed profit accumulated in the account of capital credit
organizations’ capital grew from AMD 3 billion at the end of the
fourth quarter of 2008 to AMD 3.2 billion by the end of the first
quarter of this year.

Armenia has 25 credit organizations and 48 branches. ($1 = AMD 372.56).

A Hollywood Film Will Begin Shooting In Armenia

A HOLLYWOOD FILM WILL BEGIN SHOOTING IN ARMENIA

PanARMENIAN.Net
04.05.2009 15:43 GMT+04:00

On a script of Braden King and Dani Valent , directed by Braden King,
author of Dutch Harbor (1998), "Here" is a feature length drama /
road trip film which will begin shooting in May 2009 in Armenia
(where the story takes place).

The project has already received significant international
recognition and will be the first film of this caliber to be produced
in Armenia. It tells the story of a love that develops in Armenia
between an American engineer and a young Armenian repatriated.

Filmmaker Braden King visited Armenia several times before working
out its project. It literally fell in love with the Hai"k’s country
and plans to film contrasts which offers the Armenian landscape. The
shoots will start towards the end of May to finish over September 2009,
French journalist Jean Eckian told PanARMENIAN.Net.

Armenia opposition leader supports mending Turkey ties

Agence France Presse
May 1, 2009 Friday 1:21 PM GMT

Armenia opposition leader supports mending Turkey ties

YEREVAN, May 1 2009

Armenia’s former president, opposition leader Levon Ter-Petrosian told
a crowd of supporters Friday that his party would back efforts to mend
the country’s fraught ties with Turkey.

Ter-Petrosian told about 3,500 supporters at a rally in central
Yerevan that his Armenian National Congress "is in favour of the
soonest settlement of Armenian-Turkish relations and is ready to
support all positive steps."

Armenia and Turkey last month announced a "road map" deal for talks
that could lead to the normalising of ties and the opening of their
border.

Ankara has refused to establish diplomatic links with Armenia over its
efforts to have World War I-era massacres of Armenians by Ottoman
Turks recognised as genocide — a label Turkey strongly rejects.

The efforts at reconciliation are facing opposition from nationalists
on both sides and an Armenian nationalist party quit the country’s
ruling coalition last month over the deal.

Ter-Petrosian remains highly influential in Armenia, where he was
president from its 1991 independence from the Soviet Union until 1998.

He came second to President Serzh Sarkisian in a presidential election
last year, which opposition supporters allege was rigged.

Ten people were killed in clashes between riot police and
Ter-Petrosian’s supporters after the vote.

Ter-Petrosian has announced he will run in a May 31 vote to choose a
new mayor of Yerevan.

ARFD Chairmen Of Two RA NA Standing Committees To Continue Holding T

ARFD CHAIRMEN OF TWO RA NA STANDING COMMITTEES TO CONTINUE HOLDING THEIR OFFICES

Noyan Tapan
Apr 30, 2009

YEREVAN, APRIL 30, NOYAN TAPAN. The ARFD Armenian Supreme Body at its
April 29 meeting discussing political coalition’s proposal voiced by
NA Speaker Hovik Abrahamian the same day at the parliament decided to
accept it. Thus, ARFD members Artur Aghabekian and Armen Rustamian will
continue holding the posts of Chairmen of the Standing Committee of
Defence, National Security and Internal Affairs and Standing Committee
on Foreign Relations, respectively. Faction head, ARFD Bureau member
Vahan Hovhannisian stated at the April 30 NA sitting.

"The ideas being the basis of coalition’s proposal are close to us,
and we ourselves in the coalition and outside it for many years have
struggled for expansion of opposition’s rights in our country and thus
formation of a civilized field for a dispute," he said. H. Hovhannisian
also stated that in their turn, they are also "ready to introduce a new
culture to Armenia’s political sphere, to political relations and being
an opposition are for and will struggle for the opposition to have more
counterbalance and reserve mechanisms working with the authorities.

It should be mentioned that due to ARFD’s decision on coming out of
the political coalition, the above mentioned committees’ ARFD chairmen,
as well as NA Vice-Speaker Hrayr Karapetian introduced applications of
resignation on April 27. According to the NA Regulations, applications
on resignation are considered accepted if they are not withdrawn by
written applications within three days.

Aharon Adibekyan’s Regular Discovery

AHARON ADIBEKYAN’S REGULAR DISCOVERY
SIRANUSH PAPYAN

LRAGIR.AM
14:01:52 – 29/04/2009

Today, the Head of "Sociometer" Center Aharon Adibekyan presented
the report of the second monitoring sociologic examination concerning
the Yerevan Mayor election. The poll was carried out on April 18-19,
and 2323 adult residents took part in it. First, Aharon Adibekyan
noted that the poll was conducted by the order of 2 sides:

one is the Republican Party, but he did not mention the other one,
because the client did not want to be revealed. In result of the
poll, it was found out that 30 percent of the surveyed people are not
going to participate in the election, only some part of the resting
70 percent is aware that elections are to be held in the nearest
future. "Both the organizers of the electoral campaign and the mass
media should inform the public who are going to run in the election
and who are the first three numbers on the tickets", stated Aharon
Adibekyan, noting that only 25 percent of the population knew that
Levon Ter-Petrosyan is heading the oppositional ticket. From 2323
citizens only 1650 took part in the poll, the rest rejected it.

Aharon Adibekyan noted that tangible events took place in Yerevan:
road construction, city cleaning, lightening, greening, etc, and they
found out the evaluation of the public through the survey. The 2/3
of the population thinks that there are positive changes in the city,
and 1/3 thinks the opposite.

The answer of the people who said "I will not tell you" caused some
difficulty for the pollsters but, according to Aharon Adibekyan
"they know whom they will vote for but they don’t tell us. I can say
by the example of the previous election that these people are going
to vote for the opposition", stated Adibekyan. In other words, the 23
percent of Yerevan residents will vote for Levon Ter-Petrosyan. And,
there are people who have not decided yet, of course they are few but
they except some financial encouragement beginning from asphalt work,
bribes etc.

According to Aharon Adibekyan, in answer to the question "who is
worth assuming the Mayor office" people answered: Gagik Beglaryan 26,
5 percent, Levon Ter-Petrosyan 7, 6 percent, and Harutyun Kushkyan 5,
7 percent. And, to the question "who will become Mayor" the citizens
answered Gagik Beglaryan 42, 1, Levon Ter-Petrosyan 3,5 and Kushkyan
1, 1.

Obama Statement Has Turks Fuming

OBAMA STATEMENT HAS TURKS FUMING
Thomas Seibert

The National
8/FOREIGN/704279916/-1/NEWS
April 28 2009
UAE

"The dream is over" was how one Turkish newspaper put it yesterday.

Just three weeks after hosting the US president, Barack Obama, in a
visit that many saw as the confirmation of a strong and strategic
partnership between Ankara and Washington, Turkey’s political
leaders and media are up in arms after a statement by the president
commemorating the massacres committed against Armenians in the dying
days of the Ottoman Empire in 1915.

"Turkey is not a country that can be first pampered and then deceived,"
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a speech last weekend,
in reference to the praise showered on Turkey by Mr Obama during
his visit.

When Mr Obama issued his first statement on the Armenian question as
president last week, he avoided the term "genocide" that is strongly
rejected by Turkey. But even without using the word and choosing the
Armenian term meds yeghern – great catastrophe – instead, the president
made sure everyone understood that he is convinced that a genocide took
place in 1915, as he had said during his election campaign last year.

"I have consistently stated my own view of what occurred in 1915 and my
view of that history has not changed," the president said. "My interest
remains the achievement of a full, frank and just acknowledgement of
the facts."

Mr Erdogan called the president’s statement "unacceptable" and repeated
Turkey’s position that the question of what happened in 1915 should
be left to historians.

Armenia and many international scholars say that up to 1.5 million
Armenians became victims of a genocide ordered by the Ottoman
government against the Christian minority, but Turkey rejects that
label and says that Armenians died in the course of a relocation
campaign under wartime conditions.

Turkey’s president, Abdullah Gul, criticised Mr Obama for failing
to mention that many Ottoman Muslims also lost their lives at the
time. The parliamentary speaker, Koksal Toptan, said Mr Obama’s
statement would have a "serious negative effect" on efforts to
normalise relations between Turkey and Armenia.

A cautious rapprochement between the two countries started last year
when Mr Gul became the first Turkish head of state to visit Yerevan.

Shortly before Mr Obama’s statement last week, Turkey and Armenia
said they had agreed on a road map for the normalisation of their
ties. The two neighbours have no diplomatic relations and the border
between the two countries has been closed for more than a decade.

Mr Obama said he supported efforts by Turkey and Armenia to "forge
a relationship that is peaceful, productive and prosperous".

Few observers in Turkey had expected Mr Obama to use the term genocide
after he had praised the reconciliation efforts during his visit to
Turkey earlier this month.

"There has been courageous and important dialogue among Armenians and
Turks and within Turkey itself," the president said in his statement.

But even though the president did not use the "g-word", as some Turkish
newspapers call the term genocide, the way he described the Ottomans’
actions against the Armenians was so damning for Turkey that the one
word that was missing did not really matter in the end, observers said.

"Obama did not say ‘genocide’, but it was as if he had said
it," the columnist Semih Idiz wrote in yesterday’s Milliyet
newspaper. Washington may be of the opinion that Mr Obama had
"technically" followed Turkey’s wish to avoid the term, but Ankara’s
reaction was still strong, Idiz wrote.

One reason why Turkey does not want the US to officially use the term
genocide for events that took place several years before today’s
Turkish republic was founded in 1923 is the fear that such a move
will trigger an avalanche of political consequences.

"This year Obama only went so far, next year he will say ‘genocide,’
and then all other countries will recognise it, and they will say
‘recognition by Turkey is a precondition for EU entry,’" wrote another
columnist, Ruha Mengi in the Vatan newspaper. "Then territorial and
compensation demands will come."

Mr Erdogan is already under pressure from ally Azerbaijan, a long-time
foe of Armenia, and from his opposition at home who have warned
against opening the Turkish-Armenian border without a solution of the
conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the disputed region of
Nagorny-Karabakh, an Armenian enclave in Azerbaijan.

But the anger expressed by Turkey’s leaders and media about Mr Obama’s
statement does not mean that Ankara will put talks with Armenia on
hold. Turkey’s foreign minister, Ali Babacan, acknowledged last week
that it would be difficult to reach the goal of full normalisation
in Turkish-Armenian relations.

"It is not easy, it is very complicated, but we go forward step by
step like in a game of chess."

Murat Yetkin, a columnist of the Radikal newspaper, wrote that
Mr Obama’s statement had avoided a full-scale collapse of the
process. "The ship continues to float, it has been saved from hitting
the ground."

Turkey may also draw consolation from the fact that the much-criticised
statement of Mr Obama did not fully live up to Armenian expectations
either.

"Obama’s statement made nobody happy," Yetkin wrote. "Sometimes
the common denominator of politics is not everybody’s happiness,
but everybody’s unhappiness."

http://www.thenational.ae/article/2009042

Obama: Armenian Killings ‘Great Atrocities’

AZG Armenian Daily #075, 25/04/2009

Armenian Genocide

OBAMA: ARMENIAN KILLINGS ‘GREAT ATROCITIES’

President avoids use of word ‘genocide’ in recalling 1.5 million
deaths

President Barack Obama on Friday refrained from branding the massacre
of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians in Turkey a "genocide," breaking
a campaign promise while contending his views about the 20th century
slaughter had not changed.

Marking the grim anniversary of the start of the killings, the
president referred to them as "one of the great atrocities of the 20th
century."

"I have consistently stated my own view of what occurred in 1915, and
my view of that history has not changed," Obama said. "My interest
remains the achievement of a full, frank and just acknowledgment of
the facts."

"The best way to advance that goal right now," Obama said, "is for the
Armenian and Turkish people to address the facts of the past as a part
of their efforts to move forward."

For Obama, referring to the killings as genocide could have upended
recent pledges of a closer partnership with Turkey, a vital ally in a
critical region. Steering around the word, however, put him at odds
with his own pledges to recognize the slaughter as genocide.

Obama said the Armenians who were massacred in the final days of the
Ottoman Empire "must live on in our memories." He said unresolved
history can be a heavy weight. "Reckoning with the past holds out the
powerful promise of reconciliation," he said.

"I strongly support efforts by the Turkish and Armenian people to work
through this painful history in a way that is honest, open, and
constructive," he said.

Just on Wednesday, Turkey and Armenia said they were nearing a
historic reconciliation after years of tension. The Obama
administration is trying to be careful not to disturb that agreement.

Genocide scholars widely view the event as the first genocide of the
20th century. Turkey denies that the deaths constituted genocide,
contending the toll has been inflated and that the casualties were
victims of civil war and unrest.

Diplomatic efforts underway

The announcement of progress between Turkey and Armenia appeared timed
to set the stage for Friday’s White House statement. During a trip to
Turkey this month, Obama emphasized U.S. support for the
reconciliation efforts and avoided the term genocide in a speech to
the Turkish parliament. He said in response to an inquiry, however,
that he had not changed his views on the question.

Vice President Joe Biden on Thursday spoke by phone with Armenian
President Serge Sarkisian, and a statement from Biden’s office said
the vice president told him he welcomed Wednesday’s announcement.

"The vice president applauded President Sarkisian’s leadership, and
underscored the administration’s firm support for both Armenia and
Turkey in this process," the statement said.

Turkey and Armenia have no diplomatic ties, and their border has been
closed since 1993 because of a Turkish protest of Armenia’s occupation
of land claimed by Azerbaijan.

In September, Turkish President Abdullah Gul became the first Turkish
leader to visit Armenia, where he and Sarkisian watched their
countries’ football teams play a World Cup qualifying match. The
Armenian government appears to be interested in further
talks. Armenian-American groups and supporters in Congress are focused
on passing a resolution that describes the killings as genocide and
argue that it should not undermine diplomatic efforts.

Gul said Friday in Ankara that he expected Obama to deliver a
statement that would reinforce the reconciliation talks.

"I believe that (Obama’s statement) should be one that is supportive
of our good intentioned efforts," Gul told reporters, according to
Associated Press.