Author: Khondkarian Raffi

WHAT IS A "GEORGIA"?
Lisa Karpova

The People’s Voice
/voices.php/2008/09/02/p28276
Sept 2 2008
TN

In a court of law, once you are caught lying, you are through. The
judge is no longer listening to you, for you have ruined your
credibility in his eyes and you will never regain his trust again. Case
closed, you lose.

And so it is with the western corporate media, caught lying once
again by trying to pass off film footage of the destroyed Ossetian
capital Tskhinvali and claim it was Gori, in Georgia, and a result of
Russian bombing. Their history of lying is all too familiar to most:
weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, Iraq was behind 9-11, Sadaam’s
people were throwing babies out of incubators. Now the latest, they
are trying to paint Russia as an aggressor, as a country violating
international law, knowing full well that both are bald faced lies.

A universal truth is that lies are the beginning of murder. All wars,
all genocides, all acts of evil begin with lies.

The western concept of the "international community" is not their
paltry 15% of world population, that is just how many people reside
in the so-called west. The true international community is the 85%
that never get a chance to be listened to or acknowledged. Even among
their numbers are people who have risen above the norm to seek out
the truth, so when Bush, Rice and company speak of an "international
community" they are just talking nonsense.

The night-time bombardment of Tskhinvali by Georgian troops resulted
in the deaths of hundreds of civilians. Among the dead were the Russian
peacekeepers, who gave their lives in fulfilling their duty to protect
women, children and the elderly. Official Tskhinvali reported that the
number of deceased due to the August events totals 1692, according
to South Ossetia’s prosecutor Teimuraz Khugava. Georgian attackers
acted like barbarians, rather than descendants of one of the first
Christian nations. For example, Georgians targeted churches because
they knew civilians would be hiding in there. One priest said 60%
of his flock was killed.

The Georgian leadership, in violation of the UN Charter and their
obligations under international agreements, their agreements in
regards to the Soviet constitution and contrary to the voice of reason,
unleashed an armed conflict victimizing innocent civilians. Tbilisi
hoped for a blitzkrieg that would have presented the international
community with an accomplished fact, the elimination of a whole people.

To Russians and most of the international community, the Georgian
attack of August 8 looks like the very same "ethnic cleansing" which
the US and European powers asserted to be crimes against humanity
on the territory of the former Yugoslavia. This was an older lie
of epic proportions still being vomited by corporate western media,
contrary to all the evidence.

Another lie they attempt to perpetrate on world opinion is a veil of
democracy which doesn’t exist with leaders who do nothing but tell
lies, threaten, bully, use double standards, think they can police the
world and boss other countries, behave recklessly with diplomacy and
international law, make noises of war, insult the Russian President,
and basically ignore world opinion, instead pretending that they
speak for everyone.

One essential truth is that Georgia is a non-country. According
to western corporate media, we’re supposed to feel sorry for this
poor, poor "country" that was "invaded" by bad, bad Russia for no
reason at all. There are readily identifiable regions from Soviet
times– Abkhazia, Adjaria, and South Ossetia– areas peopled by
non-"Georgians." Also add to that the Mtzkhetians (or Meskhetan Turks),
the Armenians in Georgian-occupied Javakhk (yet another identifiable
region) and the Azeri Turks in the Eastern part of the "country." It
should be clear that this amalgamation within a Georgian "state"
was never meant to be. "Georgia" was always weak and needed to be
protected. Thus far, the Soviet Union has been the only force to be
able to keep peace between the various warring factions in the area.

The Georgian army charged into Ossetia under cover of the Olympic games
in Beijing. An unknown fact is just a few weeks before the invasion,
Georgian authorities had been instigating trouble among the Armenians
of Javkhk with mass arrests, seizures and beatings. Apparently they
were planning something and knew that Armenians have always been allies
and friends with Russia so they needed to be out of the way. Calls
for help went unheard and unheeded.

Also, when Saakashvili first ascended to the presidency of the
"country," one of his first steps was to banish the leader of Adjaria
and try to assert control over the region. He has stated repeatedly
his goal of "restoring" the "breakaway regions" of Abkhazia and
South Ossetia to Georgian subjugation. Unknown in the corporate media
indoctrinated west is that Saakashvili has been jailing the opposition
and squashing all vestiges of dissent. Some democracy!

Since the breakup of the Soviet Union, Georgians have been making life
difficult for Armenians living in Georgia in many ways: language and
history instruction, employment issues which require the knowledge
of Georgian when the majority of the native population does not
speak Georgian. Armenian churches have been and are at risk of being
confiscated by the Georgian Orthodox Church.

South Ossetian President Eduard Kokoity revealed that Georgia used
mercenaries from several countries during its aggression against
his nation. "There were many mercenaries from Ukraine and the Baltic
states. We have found dead bodies of African Americans too," Interfax
quoted Kokoity as saying. The ‘territorial dispute’ matter was just
an excuse. South Ossetia and Abkhazia have not desired to be a part
of Georgia since the USSR disbanded in 1991.

"The territorial integrity and borders of Georgia must be respected,
just as those of Russia or any other country," according to President
Bush. "Russia’s action only exacerbates tensions and complicates
diplomatic negotiations. In accordance with United Nations Security
Council Resolutions that remain in force, Abkhazia and South Ossetia
are within the internationally recognized borders of Georgia, and
they must remain so."

However, on Kosovo, hypocrite duplicitous moron Bush said the
following: "Independence for Kosovo is an opportunity to move beyond
past conflicts and towards stability and peace. History will prove this
to be a correct move, to bring peace to the Balkans," he said. "The
United States supports this move because we believe it will bring
peace. And now it’s up to all of us to work together to help the
Kosovars realize that peace." This was in total disregard for UN
Resolution 1244 which the United States signed and remains in force
specifically recognizing Serbian/Yugoslavian sovereignty over Kosovo.

Scum like Bush, Cheney, Gates and especially Rice should be looking
in the mirror instead of pointing their fingers. They appeared
to be having a collective nervous breakdown over the situation in
Georgia. One wonders if parrot Condoleeza Rice is ‘stupid.’ She did
seem to have a rather one track mind saying: "Russian forces must
leave Georgia now," bawk, bawk, bawk. Apparently, her handlers forgot
to program her for much more than that. She is nothing more than a
neocon parrot who has been trained to ‘bawk’ and pee on cue.

This stunt by Georgia is going to hurt them big time economically
(little things like tourism, foreign investment, putting in a
McDonald’s franchise, little things like that). It will all add up and
it will hurt. More than likely, people traveling to the 2014 Olympics
will not book a room in Georgia, except maybe the US and Israeli
teams. There will be war crimes charges brought against Georgia and
its accomplices – which include Ukraine, Israel and the USA. In any
case, people who start wars don’t get to decide how and when they end.

Reuters, UK
Aug 31 2008

Moldova rebel region recognises S.Ossetia, Abkhazia

31 Aug 2008 12:06:53 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Dmitry Chubashenko

TIRASPOL, Moldova, Aug 31 (Reuters) – Moldova’s breakaway region of
Transdniestria followed Russia’s lead on Sunday by recognising
Georgia’s breakaway Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent states.

But the move is unlikely to ease Russia’s diplomatic isolation:
Transdniestria itself is not recognised internationally and no state
has so far joined Russia in recognising the two Georgian regions.

Relations between Moscow and the West sunk to a new low last week
after President Dmitry Medvedev recognised the breakaway regions, just
weeks after a brief conflict with Georgia over its breakaway South
Ossetia region.

Moldova, located between Ukraine and EU-member Romania, fought a brief
war in Transdniestria in the early 1990s after the region declared
independence. The fighting ceased after Russia intervened and an
uneasy peace still holds.

"We have recognised each other," Transdniestria’s self-styled
president Igor Smirnov told an annual news conference that precedes
the Transdniestrian Independence Day on Sept. 2. "I once again
congratulate our brothers in Abkhazia and South Ossetia."

Transdniestria is one of several "frozen conflicts" resulting from the
breakup of the Soviet Union. These also include Georgia’s two regions
and Nagorno-Karabakh, which sparked a war between Azerbaijan and
Armenia in the 1990s.

Nagorno-Karabakh has also recognised South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
Russian allies Belarus and Venezuela have expressed support for
Russia’s recognition but have stopped short of granting recognition
themselves. (Writing by Sabina Zawadzki; editing by Tony Austin)

Gulf News, United Arab Emirates
Aug 31 2008

Russia seeks to avoid EU wrath ahead of bloc’s summit today

Agencies
Published: August 31, 2008, 23:30

Moscow: Russia on Sunday sought to ease tensions with the West ahead
of an EU emergency summit on the Georgia conflict as Britain pushed
for a "root and branch" review of the bloc’s relations with Moscow.

President Dmitry Medvedev spoke by phone with Italian Prime Minister
Silvio Berlusconi, who has taken a more lenient stance than other
European countries on Russia’s actions in Georgia.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown argued that Russia’s military
surge into Georgia and recognition of Georgian rebel regions left EU
leaders with little choice but to change course with Moscow.

"In the light of Russian actions, the EU should review – root and
branch – our relationship with Russia," he wrote in a commentary
published in London’s Observer newspaper.

The prime minister said he had warned Medvedev in a telephone call on
Saturday "to expect a determined European response" to the situation
in Georgia at the Brussels summit today.

The Kremlin press service said Medvedev had "discussed the situation
in South Ossetia and Abkhazia" with Berlusconi, who is a close
personal friend of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

The leaders also touched on "post-crisis developments", the press
service said, without elaborating.

Turkey has proposed forming a regional cooperation group to stabilise
the Caucasus region in the aftermath of the war between Russia and
Georgia. Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan says the proposed group
would include Turkey and four nearby Caucasia nations: Russia,
Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia.

Kremlin announces that South Ossetia will join ‘one united Russian state’

The Times
August 30, 2008

Tony Halpin in Moscow

The Kremlin moved swiftly to tighten its grip on Georgia’s breakaway
regions yesterday as South Ossetia announced that it would soon become
part of Russia, which will open military bases in the province under an
agreement to be signed on Tuesday.

Tarzan Kokoity, the province’s Deputy Speaker of parliament, announced
that South Ossetia would be absorbed into Russia soon so that its
people could live in `one united Russian state’ with their ethnic kin
in North Ossetia.

The declaration came only three days after Russia defied international
criticism and recognised South Ossetia and Georgia’s other separatist
region of Abkhazia as independent states. Eduard Kokoity, South
Ossetia’s leader, agreed that it would form part of Russia within
`several years’ during talks with Dmitri Medvedev, the Russian
President, in Moscow.

The disclosure will expose Russia to accusations that it is annexing
land regarded internationally as part of Georgia. Until now, the
Kremlin has insisted that its troops intervened solely to protect South
Ossetia and Abkhazia from Georgian `aggression’.

Interfax news quoted an unidentified Russian official as saying that
Moscow also planned to establish two bases in Abkhazia. Sergei Shamba,
Abkhazia’s Foreign
Minister, said that an agreement on military
co-operation would be signed within a month.

The Russian Foreign Ministry confirmed that agreements on `peace,
co-operation and mutual assistance with Abkhazia and South Ossetia’
were being prepared on the orders of President Medvedev. Abkhazia said
that it would ask Russia to represent its interests abroad.

Georgia announced that it was recalling all diplomatic staff from its
embassy in Moscow in protest at the continued Russian occupation of its
land in defiance of a ceasefire agreement brokered by President Sarkozy
of France. The parliament in Tbilisi declared Abkhazia and South
Ossetia to be under Russian occupation.

Gigi Tsereteli, the Vice-Speaker, dismissed the threat of South Ossetia
becoming part of Russia, saying: `The world has already become
different and Russia will not long be able to occupy sovereign Georgian
territory.

`The regimes of Abkhazia and South Ossetia should think about the fact
that if they become part of Russia, they will be assimilated, and in
this way they will disappear.’

Lado Gurgenidze, the Prime Minister of Georgia, scrapped agreements
that had permitted Russian peacekeepers to operate in the two regions
after wars in the early 1990s. He called for their replacement by
international troops.

Vyacheslav Kovalenko, Moscow’s Ambassador to Georgia, described
Tbilisi’s decision to sever relations as `a st
ep towards further
escalation of tensions with Russia and the desire to drive the
situation into an even worse deadlock’.

Russia attacked the G7 after the United States, Britain, France,
Germany, Italy, Canada and Japan condemned its `excessive use of
military force in Georgia’. In a joint statement, they had called on
Russia to `implement in full’ the French ceasefire agreement.

The Foreign Ministry said that the G7 was `justifying Georgian acts of
aggression’ and insisted that Moscow had met its obligations under the
six-point agreement.

Having been rebuffed on Thursday by China and four Central Asian
states, Russia will seek support next week from the Collective Security
Treaty Organisation (CSTO) for its recognition of Abkhazia and South
Ossetia. The CSTO comprises Russia and the former Soviet republics of
Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

The signing of the military agreement with South Ossetia will take
place the day after an emergency summit of European Union leaders to
discuss the crisis. The French presidency of the EU said that sanctions
against Russia were not being considered, contradicting an earlier
statement by Bernard Kouchner, the Foreign Minister.

Russia told the EU that any sanctions would be damaging to both sides.
Andrei Nesterenko, a Foreign Ministry official, said: `We hope that
common sense will prevail over emotions and
that EU leaders will find
the strength to reject a one-sided assessment of the conflict . . .
Neither party needs the confrontation towards which some countries are
being energetically pushed by the EU.’

Russia also lashed out at Nato, saying that it had `no moral right’ to
pass judgment on the recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. The
Foreign Ministry said: `Further sliding to confrontation with Russia
and attempts to put pressure on us are unacceptable, as they can entail
irreversible consequences in the military-political climate and in
stability on the continent.’

The US confirmed that the flagship of its Sixth Fleet, the USS Mount
Whitney, would deliver aid to Georgia next week. Two other warships are
moored off Georgia’s Black Sea port of Batumi, and Russia has ordered
its fleet to take `precautionary measures’.

Mr Medvedev has accused the US of shipping weapons to Georgia along
with aid, a claim dismissed as `ridiculous’ by the White House.

IT WOULD BE BETTER FOR AZERBAIJAN TO RECOGNIZE FIRST NKR INDEPENDENCE
By K.G., Stepanakert

AZG Armenian Daily
27/08/2008

Karabakh conflict

At the request of "Azg" daily correspondent, Chairman of NKR National
Assembly Foreign Relations Commission Vahram Atanesian commented
on the Russian Lower and Upper Chambers’ decisions on recognition
of independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. "In my opinion, the
decisions taken by the Russian Parliament’s Upper and Lower Chambers
will not be followed by any legal act; and the Russian President
and Government will probably wait for the answer of the EU summit on
September 1.

However, independent of everything, the last developments in the world
confirm that the European Security and Cooperation Pact is undergoing
a transformation. It took place in Balkans then in South Ossetia.

It would be better if Azerbaijan taking into account the
above-mentioned recognized first the independence of Nagorno
Karabakh. That would give it an opportunity to be engaged directly
in the discussion of the controversial issues.

I think that today Azerbaijan has an exceptional opportunity to have
its special place in the civilized world, and it would be better if
the authorities of that country do not miss the opportunity", he said.

A STORY ENTITLED "D.C. MAKES A STATEMENT ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE" WAS POSTED IN AN AMERICAN QUARTERLY

Noyan Tapan
Aug 25, 2008

WASHINGTON, AUGUST 25, ARMENIANS TODAY. The Armenian Genocide
Museum of America would like to call our attention to a story
entitled "D.C. Makes a Statement on Armenian Genocide" posted on
Congressional Quarterly. The Museum notes that theQuarterly is a
non-partisan authoritative source of information. Below we present
the above-mentioned story.

"Late last year, lawmakers balked under pressure from the Turkish
government, which warned against the United States officially declaring
a century-old massacre of Armenians as genocide. Apparently, the
District of Columbia Board of Zoning Adjustment doesn’t scare that
easily.

The city agency has given its stamp of approval to convert the former
Federal-American National Bank into the Armenian Genocide Museum of
America, according to public records.

"Visitors to the museum will come to understand the Armenian Genocide
as the prototype for modern crimes against humanity, including the
Holocaust, Cambodia, Rwanda and Darfur," a Web site for the museum
says.

The debate over whether to declare the deaths of 1.5 million
Armenians in the former Ottoman Empire nearly a century ago heated
up in Congress when Bush administration officials warned that such
a move would threaten U.S. relations with Turkey. The resolution
(H Res 106) was approved in the House Foreign Affairs Committee,
but was never sent to the floor."

AZERBAIJAN: BETWEEN THE KREMLIN AND THE WHITE HOUSE OR HOW CAN WE LIVE IN A TWO-POLAR WORLD?

Day.Az
Aug 19 2008
Azerbaijan

The world has changed after 8 August 2008

No matter what some Russian political analysts say, it has again
become two-polar. The Kremlin, with its military aggression against
Georgia, has made the entire world understand that the process of
transformation of the USSR into a new state having the same big claims
for supremacy in the world has finished. From now on, the entire world
should proceed from the fact that Russia is a real counterbalance to
the USA in its struggle for supremacy in the world. It is especially
important for such small countries as Azerbaijan to understand it
because the fight between the USA and Russia for influence in the
South Caucasus is now entering into a new heated phase of development.

Washington’s bloodless victory

Let us start from what we state: only one country the USA has won
in Russia’s military aggression against Georgia. Judge yourselves:
the USA did not take part in the military operations in the area of
the Russian-Georgian conflict. Consequently, there could not be any
casualties on its side. In return, both Georgian and Russian armies
sustained losses with injuries and deaths. I am not mentioning the
fact that thousands of Georgians and Ossetians have become refugees
as a result of this transient war.

Now let us speak about the diplomatic consequences of this war. For
the time being Georgia has only obtained a chance to look like a
small country which needs protection from Russian aggression in the
eyes of the world community. Plus, it obtained a chance to make its
admission to NATO much more realistic.

But has this country managed to return South Ossetia and Abkhazia
under its jurisdiction? No. Has it managed to protect its towns,
as well as its population, in safety? No. Is there a risk that the
people of Georgia will find these casualties excessive? Of course,
especially if the USA does not take real action to restore Georgia’s
territorial integrity, that is, Tbilisi’s control over South Ossetia
and Abkhazia. Such action will not take place. The USA does not have
such plans. They [in the USA] are more accustomed to moving towards
their targets at the expense of others’ blood. In this particular case
those targets have already been achieved. Now Russia has real chances
to confront international condemnations of its action, becoming an
outlaw country. It is highly likely that the process of condemning
Russia will go on. Now Mr Rogozin, who tries to put a brave face on
a sorry business, admits that the relations between NATO and Russia
will change. Now the anti-missile defence system is being installed
in Poland.

Who has lost from it? Of course, Russia. Who has won? Of course, the
USA. The White House has managed to put Russia into a very unpleasant
situation without a single shoot made and a single soldier lost. Can
we say that the White House was not ready for the fact that Washington
was not ready for Russia’s using military force against Georgia? No,
of course. It is ridiculous to say that the super power, which managed
to enact the break-up of the USSR, did not have information about such
an issue of near future. It was clear to everyone that the Kremlin was
deprived of control over a big political and economic bloc following
the end of the cold war and the military alliance NATO started to
move towards its borders. It seemed that Russia would try to regain
its sharply fallen status at the very first opportunity.

The USA understood very well that [Georgian President] Mikheil
Saakashvili’s attempt to resolve the problem with separatists in South
Ossetia in a military way may lead to military aggression from Russia,
which supports separatists in all the areas of the former USSR. This
is not only because the Kremlin has never concealed its rejection of
Saakashvili’s Georgia and the Kremlin had a formal excuse under the
cover of protection of "Russian citizens" to get involved in this
conflict, but also because the US electronic intelligence eavesdrops
on the entire modern system of satellite communication. Almost all the
private and state information communicated by phone, fax or via e-mail
is intercepted. In particular, the tasks of the US Agency for National
Security, a gigantic centre watching the entire world, employing about
100,000 people and having a budget of 16 billion dollars, also include
eavesdropping on phone conversations, faxes, e-mails and satellite
signals that have the least of interest for the USA. It is at least
inappropriate to say under these circumstances that Washington was
not ready for Russia’s military aggression against Georgia.

In these conditions a hypothesis is emerging that Georgia has simply
been set up by the USA in its geopolitical war with Russia.

Another big question for me personally is that who has committed the
biggest crime: Russia, which openly and impudently demonstrates its
aggressive face of a super power or the USA, which acted delicately and
stealthily to achieve its targets through the blood of small Georgia?

What are we for the USA and Russia?

I am convinced that we have witnessed only the first stage of
confrontation between Russia, which has finally become strong, and
the USA, for influence in the South Caucasus region. It logically
comes from this fact that the confrontation between the co-chairs of
the OSCE Minsk Group will be strongly aggravated. Azerbaijan needs
to take it into account and try to make sure that either Russia or
the USA is out as the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group. This is
because the differences between Washington and Moscow in the views
on the future of the South Caucasus, as well as on the settlement
of the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan,
may lead to very unpleasant consequences for us.

Despite the big differences in the views on the future of the entire
South Caucasus region between Moscow and Washington, we can not but
admit that the attitude of both Russia and the USA to Azerbaijan is
purely that of a consumer. For example, a private idea prevails in
Russia that Azerbaijan is only a province of Russia, which broke
off due to the weakness of the Russian state, while the USA views
Azerbaijan as another oil filling station, which needs to be under
its control in order not to move towards Russia.

It seems that the fight for our oil may be strongly aggravated and
assume the most unexpected proportions. This fight is not just for our
oil. It should be noted that the USA does not control only one of the
five countries which have the biggest oil reserves in the world Iran. A
couple of years ago such countries were only two, but they have already
"liberated" Iraq. It leads to an idea that Washington will definitely
try to bring Tehran under its control. It is natural that under the
new conditions of a two-polar world, when Russia has demonstrated to
the entire world its status of a reviving super state, Washington’s
"Iran plans" may encounter tough rejection by the Kremlin. Naturally,
Azerbaijani will feel all the "beauty" of this confrontation.

What shall Azerbaijan do under these circumstances? It should try to
benefit from the confrontation of super powers in our region. But we
need to understand that both the USA and Russia are the countries
which do not care about international law and accept only one law
that of force. So, we should become the strongest state in the
South Caucasus in all the meanings of this word economically,
democratically, diplomatically and intellectually. We need to
secure solid and written guarantees of support from one of the two
currently existing superpowers, on the issue of their military and
political assistance in the restoration of Azerbaijan’s territorial
integrity. As the developments in Georgia show, we must not believe
simple promises of assistance as much as the statements of Moscow
and Washington that they want to see Azerbaijan as an independent
and developed nation. For them we are just a small country rich
in oil, which has an unresolved territorial conflict. For them we
are just another stage of confrontation for supremacy in the region
and in the world. If this is the case, we will proceed from our own
pragmatic interests, understanding that we will not be able to avoid
confrontation between the two superpowers in a new two-polar world.

ABOUT 417 TONNES OF FLOUR DELIVERED FROM IRAN TO ARMENIA

arminfo
2008-08-25 16:38:00

ArmInfo. About 417 tonnes of flour have been delivered from Iran
to Armenia, executive director of "Apaven" transport company Gagik
Agajanyan told ArmInfo correspondent.

‘The flour was delivered by 20 lorries of our company from the customs
point in Agarak where it was overloaded from the Iranian lorries
to ours>, – he said and added that Apaven has been implementing
this cargo transportation according to the arrangements made with
Armenian government.

Panorama.am

13:40 23/08/2008

THE 18-th ANNIVERSARY OF DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE TODAY

Today President Serzh Sargsyan has addressed a congratulatory message
to Armenian people in the view of 18-th anniversary of Declaration of
Independence.

The message says:

`Honorable compatriots, on 23 august, 1990, the Supreme Council of
Armenia adopted the historical declaration, paving the way for our
independence and restoration of national state.

This was the expression of willpower of Armenians who were determined
to struggle for their human and national dignity in Armenia, Artsakh
and elsewhere. The Declaration of Independence is the first legal
document which returned us to the international family of states.

Congratulations on this symbolic anniversary, which really makes us
attach importance to our past and become united for the future
achievements of our country.’

Source: Panorama.am

Armenian Assembly of America
1140 19th Street, NW, Suite 600
Washington, DC 20036
Phone: 202-393-3434
Fax: 202-638-4904
Email: [email protected]
Web:

PRESS RELEASE

August 23, 2008
Contact: Michael A Zachariades
Email: [email protected]
Phone: (202) 393-3434

OBAMA TAPS SENATE FOREIGN RELATIONS CHAIRMAN BIDEN AS HIS
VICE-PRESIDENTIAL RUNNING MATE

Biden Has a Long and Consistent Record of Support on Armenian-American
Issues

Washington, DC – With the selection of the Chairman of the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Joseph Biden, Jr. (D-DE), as his
Vice-Presidential running-mate, Presumptive Democratic Presidential
Nominee Senator Barack Obama has chosen a person with a long record of
support on Armenian-American issues, reported the Armenian Assembly of
America (Assembly).

Senator Joe Biden, now in his sixth term, has championed the cause of
freedom and human rights throughout his career. In 1987, Senator Biden
wrote to Assembly Board of Trustees Chairman Hirair Hovnanian with
respect to his support for S.J.Res. 43, declaring April 24th as the
National Day of Remembrance for the Victims of the Armenian
Genocide. In the letter, Senator Biden agreed with Chairman
Hovnanian’s view "that we must not allow a revisionist rewriting of
the history of the terrible atrocities committed against the Armenian
people."

In 1989, as Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Biden supported
S.J.Res. 212, which also affirmed the Armenian Genocide. During the
Committee hearing, Biden was sharply critical of revisionist scholars
supporting Turkey’s denial of the Armenian Genocide. Biden also told
the Armenian community that "it is particularly regrettable that the
Turkish government has chosen to make an issue of this resolution and
make an unprecedented lobbying campaign against it in
Congress. Nonetheless, we cannot cave into the pressure of an
important ally and rewrite history by denying the occurrence of the
genocide."

"Chairman Biden has consistently demonstrated his leadership on
foreign policy issues, including as it pertains to acknowledging the
historical truth of the Armenian Genocide, as well as U.S. policy and
funding in the South Caucasus," said Assembly Executive Director Bryan
Ardouny.

Speaking about the right to self-determination during the early stages
of the Soviet Union’s disintegration, in 1990, Senator Biden said that
"We [United States] must place the right of self-determination at its
center. Nagorno Karabakh only reminds us of the need, and the
responsibility, of the United States to let it be known to the whole
world that we condemn the suppression of free speech and expression
everywhere, condemn the use of force to silence those who seek
freedom, and recognize the right of all peoples to decide for
themselves the form of government under which they choose to live."

Senator Biden also voted in support of Senator John Kerry’s (D-MA)
"Conditions on Assistance to Azerbaijan" amendment to the Freedom
Support Act in 1992, which became known as Section 907. Following the
devastating earthquake in Armenia in 1988, as well as Azerbaijan’s
ongoing assault against Armenians, in 1993, Biden joined in signing a
letter to then Secretary of State Warren Christopher calling for a
"stronger U.S. response to the crisis in the Republic of Armenia," as
"the people of Armenia are experiencing winter without fuel or
adequate supplies of food as a result of the continued economic
blockade imposed by neighboring Azerbaijan and the sabotage of a
natural gas pipeline through Georgia."

Throughout the 1990s, Biden defended Section 907 of the Freedom
Support Act, which was adopted in response to Azerbaijan’s hostile
actions and blockade against Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh. In a
critical vote in 1999, when opponents, including oil companies tried
to repeal Section 907 to curry favor with Azerbaijan, Senator Biden
stood by his principles and voted to maintain this important provision
of law.

In the 110th Congress, Chairman Biden continues to play a critical
leadership role, from his introduction of legislation honoring the
legacy of slain journalist Hrant Dink and calling upon Turkey to
repeal Article 301 of its penal code, which punishes discussion of the
Armenian Genocide, to his cosponsorship of S.Res. 106, which affirms
the Armenian Genocide, as well as taking the Administration to task
for its flawed policy with respect to the ability of Ambassadors to
acknowledge the Armenian Genocide.

The Assembly recently praised the efforts of Senator Biden along with
his Senate Foreign Relations Committee colleagues for ensuring that
U.S. reaffirmation of the Armenian Genocide remained at the forefront
during the nomination of Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch to serve as the
next U.S. Ambassador to Armenia.

Senator Obama is also on record with respect to Armenian issues having
stated "I have stood with the Armenian American community in calling
for Turkey’s acknowledgement of the Armenian Genocide." Obama has also
stated that he strongly supports passage of the Armenian Genocide
Resolution (H.Res.106 and S.Res.106).

Established in 1972, the Armenian Assembly of America is the largest
Washington-based nationwide organization promoting public
understanding and awareness of Armenian issues. The Assembly is a
501(c)(3) tax-exempt membership organization.

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NR#2008-062

Photo Caption: Assembly Executive Director Bryan Ardouny and Chairman
Joseph Biden at Senate Foreign Relations Committee business meeting on
June 24, 2008.