Author: Maghakian Mike

Remember the others
The Armenians apparently also suffered genocide. It would be especially
appropriate for representatives of the Jewish people to express their
pain and empathy, despite Israel’s close relationship with Turkey, which
is accused of the crime.
Maariv International (Israel)
2004-04-20
Op-eds
By Yaakov Ahimeir ([email protected])
This Saturday, another nation will mark its own genocide. Some of them
live here, in Jerusalem and the Galilee. The Armenians will mourn the
destruction of one or one and half million members of their people at
the hands of the Ottomans, during World War I. To be fair, there are
some historians who claim that there was no genocide. They claim that
many Armenians died while being exiled to remote sections of the Ottoman
Empire, as the Turkish Ambassador once told me dismissively, `It was a
matter of very bad weather, a natural result of the war’.
Anyone who reads The Forty Days of Musa Dagh by Franz Werfel or the many
articles that were written during and shortly after the events, would
find it hard not to believe that a genocide did in fact take place. Even
without concentration camps, there was genocide. A telegram sent by the
American ambassador in Istanbul at the time, Henry Morgenthau, Sr.
confirms this.
Although the Armenian genocide cannot be compared to the Jewish
Holocaust, the question remains: Can we as Jews find within ourselves a
modicum of understanding and empathy for what the Armenians often call
`our holocaust’? The Armenians also quote Hitler. In the 1930s, when
justifying his murderous ideology against the Jews, when he said, `Who,
after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians’?
The issue of empathy for the murdered Armenians is an exceptionally
sensitive issue for the Israeli government. We do not want to anger the
Turks. In order to please them, we buy water from them, renovate their
tanks and hold joint naval and air training exercises. Indeed,
maintaining a strategic relationship with a Moslem government is no
small accomplishment in its own right. Internationally, no fewer than 15
parliaments have recognized that the Armenian genocide did indeed
happen. When France recognized it, Turkey cancelled a large government
transaction because Turkey, as the heir to the Ottoman Empire, does not
accept responsibility for the genocide. Israel is not France. Chirac can
be angry with the Turks, but Mr. Sharon cannot express empathy for the
genocide of a small nation, whose sufferings often resemble our own.
The question is, if not the government, who can express empathy for
genocide? Perhaps the Ministry of Education could increase the awareness
of genocide by augmenting the world history curriculum with special
lessons and seminars, which need not negate the uniqueness of the
Holocaust or belittle the Rwandan genocide ten years ago. Perhaps some
students with a wreath could join the march through the Armenian Quarter
of Jerusalem on Saturday, April 24. Maybe next year, on the 90th
anniversary of the genocide, a special Jewish delegation could travel to
Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, to the ceremony that will be held in
the Memorial Hall dedicated to the victims, as if to say, `Never again.
As Jews, we understand and empathize with your suffering’. It seems to
me that these are not unreasonable demands to make of a people whose
memories are as long as the exile.
;articleID=6234

Los Angeles Daily News, CA
April 20 2004
Local Armenians lobby in D.C.
By Lisa Friedman
Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON — San Fernando Valley-area Armenian-Americans met Monday
in Washington, D.C., to urge increased foreign assistance for their
homeland, better trade relations and an official U.S. recognition,
once and for all, of the Armenian genocide.
Meeting as part of the Armenian National Assembly’s two-day
conference, members were buoyed by a State Department official who
announced the Bush administration’s support of permanent normal trade
relations with Armenia.
At the same time, members acknowledged that with Turkey on the front
lines of the war on terror, they have little expectation of seeing
the term “Armenian genocide” in official U.S. statements anytime
soon.
“I’m sure President Bush will issue a statement on the anniversary
about ‘those dark days’ or ‘those massacres,”‘ said Osheen Keshishian
of Van Nuys, who publishes the Armenian Observer, an English-language
weekly based in Hollywood.
But Keshishian, who also teaches at Glendale Community College, said
despite political realities, the issue remains a burning one for
Armenians in the United States. “The point is, justice has to
prevail. Truth has to prevail.”
Armenian-Americans say 1.5 million Armenians were killed in a
genocide perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire between 1915 and 1923.
Turkish officials say far fewer people died amid a multi-party
conflict.
Tuluy Tanc, the minister-consular at the Turkish embassy in
Washington, D.C., called the term genocide “unfair and untrue.”
“We do not think or believe a genocide occurred in Turkey,” Tanc
said. “Events in Turkey were, during the course of a world war,
tremendously unhappy. Events took place affecting Armenians, Muslims,
Turks and all components of the Ottoman Empire.”
About 350 people attended the two-day conference also sponsored by
the Armenian General Benevolent Union and the Diocese of the Armenian
Church of America. Several of the attendees traveled from Southern
California, which is home to about 400,000 Armenian-Americans, the
largest community in the nation.

INTERNAL POLITICAL CRISIS IN ARMENIA PROVOKED BY SUPER POWERS
YEREVAN, APRIL 15. ARMINFO. The leader of the Armenian Aryan party Armen
Avetissyan says that Armenia’s President Robert Kocharyan will have to
answer before the international court for its tough actions against
the Apr 13 opposition rally. Avetissyan is convinced that a video
recording of the incident filed by the US embassy cameras is already
on Kocharyan’s table and he has already been told to answer for what
he did. But even if he makes certain concessions they will be of
territorial rather than economic or moral nature. “The blood of
Armenians was shed according to the scenario of super powers. They
seek to pressure the president into retreating in the Karabakh issue.”

ARMENIA AND ARMENIAN ARMY GUARANTOR OF SECURITY KARABAKH PEOPLE
YEREVAN, APRIL 15. ARMINFO. Armenia and in particular our army is a
guarantor of Nagornyy Karabakh people’s security, nobody has and must
not have illusions in this, Armenia’s DM Serzh Sargsyan says in an
interview to Golos Armenii asked if Armenia’s Defence Ministry is
going to re-consider its military doctrine and in case of resumption
of combat actions to transfer the NKR army to direct subordination of
the Armenian armed forces. We have a military doctrine. It is a part
of the whole security system. May be we need one general document, the
composing part of which will be our military doctrine. But as a rule
such tactical problems are not touched on in the military doctrines.
A doctrine changes – does not change, there is a doctrine – there is
no doctrine. Armenia is a security guarantor of Nagornyy Karabakh.

Armenia’s opposition protests to demand president’s resignation
BY CHRISTIAN LOWE
AFP YEREVAN, April 16
An estimated 6,000 protesters gathered in Armenia’s capital on Friday
to call for the resignation of President Robert Kocharian, defying a
government ban on opposition protests in the poverty-stricken former
Soviet republic.
The protest was a show of strength by Kocharian’s opponents, after
police used water cannon and stun grenades to break up the last mass
demonstration earlier this week.
Opposition parties in Armenia, a nation of three million people in the
Caucasus mountains, have been staging a wave of protests, drawing
comparisons with last year’s “rose revolution” which ousted the
leadership in neighbouring Georgia.
There is widespread discontent in Armenia over low living standards
and flawed elections, but analysts say Kocharian is too strong, and
the opposition too weak, for the Georgian scenario to be repeated
there.
The atmposphere in Armenia’s capital, Yerevan, was tense on Friday,
with many people fearing a repeat of the clashes with police earlier
this week which left dozens of people injured.
There was only a handful of police in evidence at the protest, in a
park at the end of Mashtots Avenue, Yerevan’s main thoroughfare.
But outside the nearby government compound, which houses the
parliament building and Kocharian’s office, there were busloads of
interior ministry troops, military ambulances and trucks carrying
rolls of razor wire.
The compound was the scene of this week’s clashes with police and
Kocharian has warned the area is strictly off limits to protesters.
Protesters at Friday’s rain-soaked rally chanted “Kocharian out!” and
waved placards claiming the 50-year-old Armenian president was at the
head of a military junta.
“There is no place for Robert Kocharian any more in Armenia’s
political life,” said opposition party leader Artashes
Geghamian. “What sort of leader is he if he can only talk to his own
people from behind police barricades?”
The wave of protests has been fuelled in part by opposition claims
that Kocharian rigged a presidential election last year to secure a
second term in office.
“I came here to defend my rights and to help remove this illegitimate
leader,” said Ayk Mkhrtchian, a 23-year-old unemployed man. He had
come to the protest with a European Union flag, because, he said:
“Europe stands for humam rights and so they are on our side.”
The protests’ leaders said they would not be calling on their
supporters to march on the government compound this time but they
promised another mass demonstration for next Wednesday.
Kocharian has called the opposition protests “extremist” and vowed to
take firm action. But he has been chided by the US State Department,
which has said the police’s strong-arm tactics are “not conducive to
dialogue”.
Armenia’s economy is almost crippled by an economic blockade imposed
by two of its neighbours, Turkey and Azerbaijan, because of historical
disagreements.
Although Kocharian has won plaudits for some economic improvements
during his time in office, critics say he has trampled on democratic
freedoms and surrounded himself by corrupt cronies while ordinary
people struggle in poverty.
Kocharian’s supporters meanwhile, say the opposition is recklessly
trying to provoke a confrontation to revive its flagging popularity.
“Of course there are problems and people are not living as well as we
would like,” Tigran Torosian, the pro-government deputy speaker of
Armenia’s parliament, told AFP. “But… holding protests is not going
to improve peoples’ lives.”
Armenia, the world’s first state to adopt Christianity, has a history
of political violence. The speaker of parliament and prime minister
were killed in 1999 when gunmen burst into the parliament chamber.
Western governments are anxious to see stability in the region. The
Caucasus is becoming a strategic crossroads for oil exports from the
landlocked Caspian Sea to western markets.

Armenian minister criticizes Azerbaijan’s stance on Turkish border opening

Arminfo
9 Apr 04
YEREVAN
“The Azerbaijani side looks at the issue of opening the
Armenian-Turkish border not from the point of view of prospects, but
exclusively from the point of view of the internal political
situation,” Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan has told an
Arminfo correspondent commenting on statements by Azerbaijani
politicians on the inadmissibility of opening the border.
“We are confident that the opening of the Armenian-Turkish border will
help develop regional cooperation and settle the Nagornyy Karabakh
conflict. I think that Azerbaijan approaches the issue incorrectly,”
Oskanyan said.

ARMENIA IS AT CROSSROADS: OPPOSITION MP
YEREVAN, APRIL 10. ARMINFO. Armenia is at the crossroads today – either to
return to the middle age or to go ahead to the European values, says
opposition MP Shavarsh Kocharyan. The incumbent Armenian authorities
are trespassing all moral norms up to presenting the prey as the
predator like they did with opposition MP Viktor Dallakyan or
opposition member Aramais Barsegyan. If this continues Armenia will
soon be expelled from the Council of Europe. The country is in an
economic stalemate. It is ruled by shadow and clan economy. The
Karabakh problem has been transformed into a territorial dispute,
which is not acceptable for Armenia. Pres. Kocharyan has “driven a
hedge” between Armenians of Armenia and Karabakh.
The way out of the situation is Kocharyan’s resignation and the change
of the whole system of state administration, the conduct of new, free
and fair elections. The people will no longer allow fraud. Kocharyan
has a chance to either go voluntarily or give his consent to the
opposition-proposed confidence referendum. Otherwise, the popular
indignation will be growing, the military agencies will stop obeying
to criminal orders and Kocharyan will be forced to resign.
Commenting on Kocharyan’s TV interview where he said called
treacherous critical articles in the foreign press Shavarsh Kocharyan
said that having joined the CE Armenia should comply with the European
values and has no right to hide its dirty linen. Unfortunately,
Kocharyan does not understand this and lies when saying that he does
not want to set one part of his people against the other. “He has long
sent against us his electorate – the police, the prosecutor’s office,
the egg-throwers and other skin-head criminals.”

Armenian deputy speaker says opposition plans coup
Golos Armenii, Yerevan
8 Apr 04

The Armenian opposition is planning a coup rather than a revolution,
the deputy chairman of the National Assembly, Vaan Ovanesyan, has said
in a phone-in. Opposition calls could affect unstable minds of their
supporters, which might result in confrontation with the police and
street riots, Ovanesyan said. Even if the president resigns, the weak
opposition will not be able to hold fair and transparent elections,
and “hostile and dull masses” will decide Armenian people’s fate, the
deputy speaker said. The following is the text of Lana Mshetsyan and
Tigran Mirzoyan report by Armenian newspaper Golos Armenii on 8 April
headlined “The opposition is preparing not for a revolution but a
mutiny”; subheadings inserted editorially:
Opposition plans coup
[Armen Manvelyan, teacher] Are you not frightened of provocations from
both sides during the demonstration of the Justice bloc and the
National Unity Party [on 9 April]?
[Vaan Ovanesyan] I am more worried than frightened. Calls to go to the
end and not to be frightened of “red liquid” [blood] and other
provocative calls have always been voiced from the opposition
side. Such calls might have an effect on unstable minds of some
opposition supporters, and naturally their behaviour might lead to the
counteraction of the law-enforcement agencies. But today it is
difficult to say if the opposition will go too far.
[Marina Samvelyan, sociologist] Do you agree that today’s opposition
is financially supported by external forces? If yes, what are those
forces?
[Ovanesyan] I do not rule out such a case. Certainly, I would not call
this direct bribery or recruiting. It is no secret that in the modern
world, in the developing countries the activity of different
international sources always involves financing of public and often
political organizations. In spite of the fact that this is forbidden
by the law, an unstable border between a grant and direct financing of
anti-government activities allows sponsors to break the law. The
situation in Georgia is a graphic example.
[Ara Israelyan, pensioner] Does it not seem to you paradoxical that
the Armenian Revolutionary Federation – Dashnaktsutyun [ARFD] is
categorically against a revolution being prepared by the opposition?
[Ovanesyan] The opposition is preparing not for a revolution but a
mutiny, a coup. A revolution is a long process in all spheres of
society, including the mentality of people. What opposition is
planning is street riots which might shake the foundation of our
statehood, no more.
Let us suppose that the president of Armenia will tender his
resignation. Where is that force which will be able to ensure fair
and transparent elections within 40 days? Neither part of the power
pyramid nor weak opposition, which has not chosen its leader, can
regulate those processes. Hostile and dull masses, supplied with
money, will find themselves at the helm of our fate.
[Suren Magakyan, student] Do you think that the law-enforcement
agencies, police in particular, are able to take relevant measures to
prevent provocation which is quite possible during mass rallies?
[Ovanesyan] They can and must do that.
Strengthening factor for coalition
[Evgenia Akopyan, biologist] Do you agree with [head of the Republican
Party faction] Galust Saakyan that attacks by the radicals on the
authorities have become a strengthening factor in relations among the
coalition parties? Do you think that today this is the only factor?
[Ovanesyan] No, I do not think so. I think that concerns about the
future of the country called forth the setting up and strengthening of
the coalition. After the parliamentary elections, in which violations
were registered, it was clear that some movement was needed to
consolidate society. We tried to embody the idea of that movement in
the coalition. It is developing in several directions: anti-corruption
fight, strengthening of the economic potential of the country and
settlement of social problems. It is natural that these parties
[members of the coalition government] have different approaches to all
these problems, which leads to arguments and sometimes to
conflicts. In this sense I can agree with Galust Saakyan, simply
aggressive behaviour of some part of the opposition is dangerous for
stability.
[Passage omitted: question about discussions of water supply document
in parliament]
Charges of treason dropped
[Rafael Ayrapetyan, pensioner] You were convicted of “betrayal of
motherland” at one time. I wonder if the Supreme Court has acquitted
you. If yes, were those who issued the libellous verdict punished? If
you were not acquitted, on what grounds were you nominated to be
elected to the parliament and to the post of deputy chairman of the
National Assembly?
[Ovanesyan] To be honest, I am fed up with this question. I am often
asked it. I am repeating once again that I was not convicted of
“betrayal of motherland”. The preliminary conviction really had such
an accusation, but later it was dropped, and we were convicted of
making calls for an armed revolt. The verdict became invalid as the
authorities were replaced in Armenia. The case was dropped, for this
reason today we are not considered as convicted. By the way, even if
we were considered convicted, we have the right to be nominated as
candidates for parliament elections. I would like to add that
[Chairman of the Armenian National Assembly’s standing commission for
foreign relation] Armen Rustamyan and I were several times suggested
that the case be revised and consigned to the scrapheap of the
judicial annals. But we did not agree, because we are proud of what we
were fighting for.
[Passage omitted: question about returning of deposits]
[Oganes Ovsepyan, artist] Do you think that the Armenian Pan-National
Movement is behind many acts of provocation against our state,
including a revolution foreseen in April?
[Ovanesyan] Yes, I do.
Armenia lacks national idea
[Larisa Yagubyan, philologist] Why did the ARFD not take actions to
ensure the unity of ideology?
[Ovanesyan] The “unity of ideology” is somewhat an obscure idea to
me. The ARFD is a decentralized organization with a unified
ideology. I think it is nonsense to gain ideological unity with any
other parties. In all probability, you mean ideological unity in
society, which is impossible in a healthy and free society. But we are
not North Korea. As for a national idea, it should exist. In this
sense Armenia lags behind.
Our ideological disputes within society are not around the ways of
reaching the national ideal, but around the ideal itself. This is
really dangerous, as in stable societies all the layers, all the
political movements, parties and ideologies have a general national
model of development, that is an ideal. There are concepts of national
security and national development almost in all the countries of the
world. These concepts are in embryo in Armenia and have not been
completely defined. For this reason, we can have absolutely different
viewpoints even concerning the Budapest murder [of an Armenian officer
by an Azerbaijani serviceman].
Some people strongly condemn it and say that defects of Azerbaijani
society have given rise to Armenophobia, others condemn those who
condemn [the murder] and say that the feelings of the Azerbaijani
nation must not be insulted. It turns out that one can take an axe,
but one must not insult the feelings of a neighbouring nation.

Embattled Azeri imam hopes authorities to show common sense
Ekspress, Baku
4 Apr 04
The imam of an embattled mosque in the Azerbaijani capital, Baku, has
said that his comments as a rights activist on the October
post-election riots might have been the reason for his arrest. Ilqar
Ibrahimoglu was taken into custody in the aftermath of the riots and
was given a conditional sentence and released on 2 April. Ibrahimoglu
said that the authorities’ attempts to turn the Cuma mosque into a
museum were “misunderstanding” and hoped that “common sense and logic
will eventually prevail”. The following is the text of Roya Rafiyeva
report by Azerbaijani newspaper Ekspress on 5 April headlined “Why was
I arrested?” and subheaded “Ilqar Ibrahimoglu still does not know the
reasons”; subheadings inserted editorially:
One of those arrested in the aftermath of the 15-16 October
[post-election] clashes, Ilqar Ibrahimoglu, received a suspended
sentence and was released from custody on 2 April. In addition to
being the imam of the Cuma mosque, he is also the secretary-general of
the Azerbaijani branch of IRLA [International Religious Liberty
Association] and the coordinator of DEVAMM [centre for the protection
of freedom of conscience and religion]. Saying that “I am the only
international expert in the Caucasus to deal with religious freedom”,
Ilqar Ibrahimoglu gave one of his first interviews after being
released to Ekspress.
[Correspondent] You claim that the accusations levelled against you
were unfounded. You are also saying that these accusations have not
been proven.
[Ibrahimoglu] It would be good to address this question to those who
arrested me illegally and kept me in custody for four months without
any reasons whatsoever. I can tell you quite frankly that I did not
expect to be released yesterday [2 April]. I was prepared to go back
to prison after the trial. It is still unclear to me who was
interested in my arrest and why. I knew there would be a hue and cry
both inside and outside Azerbaijan over my arrest.
[Correspondent] Do you have evidence of what you did on the day of the
clashes?
[Ibrahimoglu] My role in the events was only that as a human rights
campaigner I monitored the situation for seven to eight minutes before
clashes began on Azadliq Square. I met many journalists there and even
went up to the rostrum. But let me repeat that I had left the square
before the events started and continued the monitoring from the
courtyard of a nearby building together with other human rights
champions, including a representative of the OSCE.
Black PR
[Correspondent] Was any pressure put on you while you were under
arrest?
[Ibrahimoglu] On 17 October, I first appealed to local and
international human rights advocates after I saw the first signs of
pressure. I went to the Baku office of the Council of Europe at their
invitation and tried to clarify the issue. I was the guest of the
Norwegian embassy for four days until the issue was cleared up. During
those days a representative of the Interior Ministry told me that
allegedly I was not on the wanted list, that there was some
misunderstanding and that no measures would be taken against me
because I had nothing to do with the events.
On the 22nd, I attended an OSCE Human Rights monitoring conference as
a member of an Azerbaijani delegation, which also included
representatives of the Foreign Ministry, the ombudsman’s office, and a
number of human rights and NGO activists. We officially crossed the
[presumably Georgian] border and there were no problems again. But as
soon as I left Azerbaijan, an extensive “black PR” campaign was
unfolded against me. I was following it through the Internet. The most
frustrating thing of all was that while we were raising the issue of
desecration of a mosque in Susa [Shusha] at the conference, which was
also attended by Armenians, such issues were being brought up against
us in Baku. The Armenians now want to give this mosque to the French
and as an advocate of religious rights I stated there that this was a
violation of international norms and European conventions. As a matter
of fact, a representative of the Foreign Ministry officially thanked
me for defending Azerbaijan’s national interests.
The conference continued till 28 October. Then I observed Georgian
elections until 3 November. And on 3 November, as I had planned, I
returned to Azerbaijan. And no measures were taken against me again.
Arrest
[Correspondent] But how were you arrested?
[Ibrahimoglu] One TV channel officially announced on 20 November that
Ilqar Ibrahimoglu was in Georgia and that he was wanted by
Interpol. Then I understood that the issue was taking a new
turn. Since there were some blind spots, I talked to lawyer Elton
Quliyev about my defence. Finally, on 28 November I was invited to the
Prosecutor-General’s Office as a witness. On 1 December, I went there
with Elton Quliyev. They asked me different questions about the
October events and about my work as a human rights campaigner. I
thought that it was being done in the interests of the investigation,
therefore, I answered all the questions to the best of my
knowledge. They even allowed me to go to the mosque for the afternoon
prayer.
But at 1800 they asked me whether I had an identity card of a human
rights advocate. I said I was the head of two human rights
organizations and that there was sufficient information about me on
their web sites. Several hours afterwards they told me that I was
being detained on suspicion, and from that moment I refused to give
any more evidence. This is how the four months passed. I was kept at
the “death section” of the Bayil prison in room No 120. It was not
possible to carry out any religious rituals there.
Prison
[Correspondent] Were you held there alone?
[Ibrahimoglu] No, there were four of us. Sometimes they were replaced
by others. They were all post-election prisoners. In the old days
death row inmates used to be kept in this section of the prison.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the prisoners. The
press was of vital importance to us there. That was our only source of
information. Naturally, we were also receiving Ekspress newspaper.
[Correspondent] When you came out of the dock you said you would fight
for rehabilitation. But so far none of the October prisoners has been
rehabilitated.
[Ibrahimoglu] According to my information, there are appeals
already. We are now part of Europe and there are new legal
opportunities for that. For this reason, I can be rehabilitated using
local and international institutions. I monitored the situation on
Azadliq Square as a human rights campaigner. I am not supposed to
prove that I am not a camel. There is a presumption of innocence.
Attacks on Cuma mosque misunderstanding
[Correspondent] Why do you think you were arrested?
[Ibrahimoglu] I think my comments as a rights activist may have been
the reason for my arrest. But I am saying quite candidly that not
everything is clear to me.
[Correspondent] After your arrest the Cuma mosque came under attacks.
[Ibrahimoglu] I still cannot understand who needed that and why. Since
2003, there have been quite a few attacks on the organizations of
which I am a member and the Cuma mosque is the latest of them.
The community is registered and its registration has not been
repealed. In 2001 we submitted documents to the Justice Ministry for
renewing our registration. There are no problems with the community as
it has always functioned in accordance with Azerbaijani laws and
international norms. I also think it is absurd to turn the mosque into
a museum. I think there was some misunderstanding and I hope common
sense and logic will eventually prevail.

BILL ON ORDER OF HOLDING GATHERINGS, MEETINGS, PROCESSIONS AND
DEMONSTRATIONS PRESENTED FOR PUBLIC JUDGEMENT
01.04.2004 18:56
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Taking into account the interest of the Armenian public to
the law on the order of holding gatherings, meetings, processions and
demonstrations, the Ministry of Justice of Armenia is present the bill text
in the library section of our site
As reported by Press
Secretary of the Ministry of Justice Ara Saghatelian, citizens interested in
the matter can submit their suggestions and opinions to [email protected].