Author: Nahapetian Boris

‘NO PLACE FOR HATE’ NO LONGER
By James Vaznis, Globe Staff

Boston Globe, MA
Oct 21 2007

Town cuts ADL ties over genocide

No longer do signs welcome travelers to Westwood as a "No Place for
Hate" community. Those signs, located at four town lines, were taken
down last week.

Selectmen decided Monday night to suspend participation in the
antidiscrimination program because they don’t believe its sponsor, the
Anti-Defamation League, has gone far enough in recognizing the Armenian
genocide of nearly a century ago – an issue that remains a sensitive
matter today, especially for area residents of Armenian heritage.

Westwood joins Arlington, Belmont, Lexington, Newton, and Watertown
in suspending or cutting ties with the ADL, believing its refusal
to directly acknowledge the historical genocide runs counter to the
ADL’s mission of fighting against hatred and fostering an atmosphere
of mutual respect. About 60 cities and towns across the state,
including many south of Boston, belong to the ADL’s local No Place
for Hate program.

"I think the community wished it didn’t have to come to this," said
Town Administrator Michael Jaillet. "We wish our sponsor had taken
a different position and stood up for the truth."

The ADL acknowledged in August that the Ottoman Empire’s massacres of
Armenians from 1915 to 1923 was "tantamount to genocide." But Westwood
and other critics want the ADL to use sharper language – dropping the
"tantamount to" – and push for congressional passage of a resolution
directly acknowledging the genocide.

Westwood, where some Armenian residents pushed for dropping the ADL
affiliation, will continue promoting cultural harmony, town leaders
say. But the No Place for Hate Committee will now go by a new name,
the Human Rights Committee.

"The town of Westwood has concluded that our ability to carry out the
founding principals of the No Place for Hate program is seriously
compromised by the ADL’s position on the Armenian genocide and the
House and Senate resolution," said Nancy Hyde, chairwoman of the
Board of Selectmen, reading from a letter the town sent to the ADL
last week about their vote.

Al Gordon, a spokesman for the New England region of the ADL, said
the town will find it difficult going it alone in its campaign for
tolerance.

"We think in the long run Westwood will not profit from its decision
to sever ties," Gordon said. "The ADL has internationally recognized
expertise in dealing with hate incidents and promoting cultural
awareness."

Since adopting the No Place for Hate program two years ago, the
committee has done such things as passing out literature on tolerance,
organizing panel discussions, and participating in local cultural
events. The ADL helped the group locate speakers and a choir of
Ugandan orphans for a Martin Luther King Day program this year.

Tom Viti, the town’s library director who cochairs the Human
Rights Committee, acknowledged it would be difficult to replace the
connections the ADL has.

"The ADL has been really involved in high-pressure volatile situations
in responding to hate crimes," he said. "The committee is going to
have to do a bit more work."

But he said the town’s new Human Rights Committee will probably
seek out guidance from other similar groups, and hopes to offer an
increased number of programs and events each year.

The ADL first came under fire this summer in Watertown. At that time,
the ADL did not acknowledge the Armenian genocide, outraging the large
Armenian population in that town. Watertown’s decision to cut ties
prompted other communities to follow and for the ADL’s New England
office to break from the national group’s position of not calling
the massacres a genocide.

Ultimately, the ADL’s national director, Abraham H. Foxman,
in a carefully worded statement, acknowledged the massacres was
"tantamount to genocide." The group, however, did not offer to support
a resolution in Congress that would officially call the massacres
a genocide. Support for that legislation, which had been building
momentum, appeared to be eroding last week as the Bush administration
worried it might offend the Turkish government, an ally of US military
troops in Iraq.

Westwood officials say they would restore the town’s affiliation with
the ADL if the group adopts sharper language and backs a Congressional
resolution acknowledging the genocide.

"We are looking for an unequivical statement," Viti said. "A word
like tantamount starts to qualify things."

Los Angeles Times, CA
Oct 20 2007

‘There are no Christians to the east of us’

Armenian Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan talks geopolitics
October 19, 2007

Serzh Sargsyan, the prime minister of Armenia (and a former defense
minister and interior minister before that), came by the editorial
board Oct. 19 to discuss the Armenian genocide resolution,
democratization in Armenia, and military tensions in the Caucasus
region. Sargsyan spoke through a (very good) translator, which means
that the transcription will inevitably sound a bit second-languagey
at times. Some highlights:

(On his visit to the United States.)

Jim Newton: So what brings you to Los Angeles?

Serzh Sargsyan: You are probably aware of the destiny of our people.
We are spread all over the world. One-third of our people live in
Armenia; two-thirds live abroad. And within the system of Armenian
diaspora the role of Armenian-Americans is very important. And in
California and Los Angeles most part of the Armenian-American
community lives. […] I have been to the United States many times,
but I was in a different status: I used to be the defense minister of
Armenia, and it was not mandatory for the defense minister to meet
all the Armenian communities. But the prime minister is obliged to,
so this is my obligation that I’m conducting.

Newton: How long are you here for?

Sargsyan: I leave tomorrow. But it’s a sufficient time to meet my
compatriots. You know Armenians are indeed one country with its
diasporans, one country without. Without our diaspora we are just [a]
three million-strong nation that is situated somewhere in Caucasus
region. And about which most people in the world may even not be
aware of. But with our diaspora, we’re a totally different country.

Matt Welch: Do you feel some sense of responsibility for the diaspora
in other countries?

Sargsyan: Of course. Of course, but we have some kind of national
specifics. I don’t know if it’s good or bad, but it is that way.
Wherever our compatriots live in the world, first of all they think
of themselves of belonging to that very country, and then only to
belong to the Armenian nation.

At some period when I was not really very informed about this, there
was some curious situations happening. For example we have a
compatriot, an Armenian-American who lives in New Jersey, […] and
we’ve been talking to him. And he was saying like, "Our president
said this and that" and so on. And I was saying, "No, our president
didn’t say this, he couldn’t say this!" And after having a long
argument it turned out that he meant the United States president and
not the Armenian president. And I meant the Armenian president!

Welch: Uh, can you characterize your discussions in Washington with
Vice President Cheney and Defense Secretary Gates?

Sargsyan: Well we have discussed with Secretary Gates about
Armenian-American relationship in the security area, in the area of
military cooperation. In recent times our military cooperation has
deepened a lot. And the United States assists us in reforming our
armed forces. They assist us to increase our capabilities in
peacekeeping. Of course we have serious problems in our region; we
have unresolved issues, there is a probability of re-launching of
military activities in our region, because there are some unresolved
conflicts, but at the same time we are doing our best to increase our
capabilities in peacekeeping.

Welch: Uh, just to interrupt, probability or "possibility"?

Sargsyan: Both. (Laughs.)

Welch: Fair enough. Go on.

Sargsyan: But in order to be able to take part in international
peacekeeping activities our armed forces need to be compatible with
the internatinal armed forces, need to be collaborative with them,
and need not to be less prepared. We’re taking part of [the] Kosovo
mission with a small contingent, and another small contingent is
participating in Iraq as well. And it’s obvious that the defense
secretary of the United States was curious to discuss this.

As regards meeting with the vice president, it’s obvious that the
range of issues was broader, because our cooperation with the United
States is not limited to military or security issues. The United
States has an invaluable role in developing democracy in our country.
They have an important role in solving the social problems that exist
in Armenia. Apart from the annual government assistance that is
rendered from the United States to Armenia, we also have a very
important area that’s called the Millenium Challenge Account. And as
you may know, the United States is never assisting any country with
closed eyes. United States assists those countries that make their
own effort to be better, that make everything possible to improve
themselves. We have also spoken about regional issues with the vice
president. I’ve told him about our problems, our issues in the
region, and I asked him, I requested assistance from him. It’s been
my first meeting with the vice president, and if I may say so, I’m
very glad for this meeting.

Welch: Did you discuss the Armenian genocide recognition resolution?

Sargsyan: No.

Welch: Can you characterize how important — if at all — such
resolutions are from the standpoint of, uh, the foreign relations of
Armenia?

Sargsyan: You know, it’s extremely important. But first of all I
wouldn’t say that it’s important from the point of view of the
Armenian foreign policy — it’s extremely important from the Armenian
perspective as a nation, as a people.

We can divide this issue into two parts conditionally. The first part
is merely the historical justice. And the second perspective is
today’s security initiatives, from the point of view of today’s
security.

You know we cannot be calm and relaxed having a neighbor that has
committed a genocide and is now rejecting it. They not only refuse to
recognize the genocide, but they commit a blockade of [the] Armenian
border now. And we are having a neighbor that refuses to establish
normal civilized relationships.

We understand that we have not selected the place that we live now in
the world. And we are aware that we have lived in that area for
centuries, for thousands of years, and we are to live there for
thousands of years ahead. But our neighbors should understand this as
well. You know, homeland — fatherland, motherland — is not a place,
is not an apartment that you can sell and go somewhere else. It would
be very good if everyone understood this. And if we have problems it
would be good to resolve these problems by communicating with each
other, by negotiating, by discussing.

Tim Cavanaugh: How large a role does religion play in this, given
that both of the countries we’re talking about are predominantly
Muslim countries and Armenia is predominantly a Christian country?

Sargsyan: We have long avoided talking about this factor and taking
it into account. And not only in respect of our relationship with
Turkey but also with neighboring Azerbaijan. But irrespective of our
wish, this factor exists, and the factor is very big. The factor is
as big; as we can expand it over milleniums and thousands of years,
this was probably the only reason of our conflict. There are no
Christians to the east of us. And if I can use this word, we are at
the edge of Christianity. But the edge has the amortization problems.
And over thousands of years we were wearing out. (Ambassador Tatoul
Markarian whispers into the prime minister’s ear.)

Sargsyan: The ambassador reminds me to tell that we have excellent
relationship with many Muslim countries. (Room erupts in laughter.)

Jon Healey: Ahhh, "some of my best friends" …

Sargsyan: I think we are dealing with informed people here, people
who are professionals.

Newton: That’s why you’re an ambassador!

Sargsyan: In respect of the Karabakh issue, we have a problem, and
probably we are one of those rare people in the world that’s a small
Christian minority [that] is subject to a large Muslim majority, in
the case of Karabakh. And here as well this factor has a very
important role. And once again I want to say that yes, this factor
exists.

Newton: May I ask, will it in your view damage the relations between
the United States and Armenia if the Congress does not approve the
resolution?

Sargsyan: No, never. Never. And I have to say that in passing this
resolution, the lion’s portion of the role belongs to the Armenian
community in the United States, not the Republic of Armenia.

Lisa Richardson: Excuse me — will it exacerbate relations between
Armenia and Turkey?

Sargsyan: If it’s passed? I don’t think that it should exacerbate,
because there is no other level. I don’t think Turks will invade
Armenia. We have no relationship; the border is closed. And I mean,
frankly speaking, even if Turks do something wrong to Armenia, I
don’t think it’s going to be fair, anyway.

What can Armenia do? We cannot influence U.S. politics. U.S. politics
can be influenced by citizens of the United States, including the
Armenian citizens. Unfortunately Turks think this way once in a
while, and they say that the Republic of Armenia needs to influence
the Armenian community in the United States. God will judge how fair
they are, saying this. I think they are not fair.

You know, France has passed a similar resolution, and I don’t think
something awful has taken place. I think after all, being it in one
year, 10 year or 20 years, this problem cannot [last]. And the sooner
the better, for us and for the Turks.

Newton: Why does this issue matter more to Armenian-Americans than to
Armenians?

Sargsyan: I wouldn’t say it is more important for the Amernian
Americans than for the Armenian Armenians — I think for all the
Armenians in the world this issue is very important. But for one part
of our people this problem was more important because it concerned
themselves immediately.

If we don’t take into account the Armenians that came to the United
States recently, the rest of the Armenians fled to the United States
after the genocide. The genocide took place in the western Armenia,
which is now in Turkey. And in many circumstances, someone’s
grandmother was killed, someone’s grandfather was killed, someone’s
uncle was killed. And the world is for the humans, everyone can live
anywhere. It’s good if someone chooses where to live voluntarily.
Because of the genocide these people were deprived of living in their
own homeland. And apparently because this issue concerns themselves
directly, they are more sensitive about this issue.

(On the problems with Armenian democracy.)

Welch: The, uh, 2003 elections in Armenia were criticized by the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, by the U.S.
State Department I believe, by non-governmental organizaitons. Um,
and the crackdown after the elections were also criticized. My
question is, do you agree with those assessments, one; and two, what
are you doing to prepare the upcoming elections to be free and fair?

Sargsyan: […] I’m surprised with your question. Why do you go back
to the year 2003? Some five years have passed since then. And after
that there were elections held in Armenia, that [the] international
communitity evaluated very highly. And these elections were
considered to meet international standards. And this is the ground
base for us. And we think that there can be no worse elections in
Armenia in the future.

Welch: Partly because I just read today that Hasnik Navasardian — if
that name means; if I mangled the pronunciation — she warned against
your consolidation of power, and she expressed doubts that the
elections will be held in a free and fair way.

Sargsyan: I don’t know what to say. I think that’s an evidence of
existing democracy in Armenia that some Hasnik Navasardian is free to
say anything. (Laughs) Do you know of any country that has no people
that are not satisfied with the country? It’s a battle, it’s a
struggle, it’s a competition, the elections. And everyone understands
that this struggle has two parts — there are winners and losers. And
there will be people that will not be satisfied always. And the
problem is to make the number of these people lower.

And I think we’ve reached this goal at the time of 2007 parliamentary
elections; and the most important factor was that our people believed
in these elections. Not by 100%, but the majority believed it. And
it’s good that the opinion of the international organizations
corresponded to the opinion of our people. […] Again, others can
express their opinios. And these kind of opinions have importance for
us in terms of keeping ourselves fit. Will it be good if all the
newspapers and all the journalists write that Armenia is a brilliant
country? […]

Welch: We asked our readers to submit questions to you, so I’d like
to ask you one. This comes from Garen Megerditchian. Sorry for
mispronouncing it. It involves the case of a judge named Pargev
Ohanian, and he says the story of Pargev Ohanian is "symptomatic of
the prevalance of corruption in modern-day Armenia." He says, "your
government has so far not been effective enough in rooting out
corrupt practices among government officials. How can you explain
this failure to clean house?"

And I should say that most of the questions were, "Welcome to the
United States, Mr. Prime Minster."

Sargsyan: You know these kind of questions are always helping us, in
many terms, first of all in terms of explaining the policies of the
government. First of all, please inform […] Mr. Garen Megerditchian
through your newspaper that our government exists for three, four
months now and it’s impossible to eliminate corruption within that
period of time. If it was possible it would have been done before
myself. The government works for only three or four months now.

The second problem is that the system of justice in Armenia is indeed
independent already, and neither the government nor the head of the
government will influence it now. We have our own problems in the
fight against corruption, and I have never refused that there exists
this problem.

What have we done? We have already made some changes in our systems.
For example in our tax system, in our customs. […] And the aim of
this policy is to fight against corruption in various directions —
to improve the legislation, transparency of activities, less
dependence of all the processes upon state officials, increase of
salary of the state officials, and so on.

But you can always accuse any government that the very government is
not fighting corruption effectively enough. This can be done
especially easier by people that are not professional in the field.
The professionals have a different opinion, and the international
organizations that are dealing with this issue have a different
assessment of the area. We have added some indicators, improved our
indicators already this year. And the most important indicator is
that of the tax collection that international organizations take into
account very much. We used to have not very good indicators in tax
collection, but I hope to have fairly good ones by the end of this
year. It’s probably a bit difficult for you to understand this, but
the state structure in Armenia is a bit different.

Cavanaugh: You, uh, came of age and were educated and entered into
leadership positions in the Soviet period. How equipped are you, and
what are you doing to modernize the economy of Armenia? And stapled
question to that is: How important is the diaspora to the Armenian
economy?

Sargsyan: First of all I need to repeat that Armenia is one country
with its diaspora and another one without its diaspora. And I’m
convinced that having such a resource, the diaspora, we are not
really effectively using this resource. Before leaving for the United
States, a couple of days before, I had a meeting with the leadership
of the Russian-Armenian community, with the world congress of
Armenians. And I brought an example there: International experts
assess the Armenian capital, the combined Armenian capital of the
world to be equal to $100 billion. When I told about this to a group
of Armenian businessmen in Moscow, they smiled, these Armenian
businessmen in Moscow smiled after hearing this figure, and said this
much money they had themselves. (Laughter). I told about this to
[…] a prominent businessman in the United States and the United
Kingdom, and he said it’s not true, it should be at least $300
billion.

Let it be not $300, not $200, let it be $100, OK? If we could attract
at least 1% of these resources every year to Armenia, then within a
short period of time there will remain no social problems in Armenia.
That is, again we are using a very small portion of our resources,
and this is very important.

And for using these resources it doesn’t really matter when you were
born, in Soviet times or after that. And believe me, it doesn’t
really matter if you have graduated from Sorbonne, from Harvard, or
from Yerevan State University. We have people in our government who
are responsible for the development, they have serious education,
they know the modern ways of doing business, they know the modern
economy, and it’s important that the prime minister is able to
consolidate all these efforts.

Hayots Ashkharh Daily, Armenia
Oct 19 2007

THE PRIME MINISTER’S US MEETINGS

In the framework of his US visit Armenian Prime Minister Serge
Sargsyan met the US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, yesterday in
Pentagon.
During the conversation Serge Sargsyan touched upon American
military assistance to South-Caucasian countries. He particularly
proposed to preserve the proportionality of the assistance shown to
Azerbaijan and Armenia. Head of Pentagon, in his turn highly
appreciated Armenia’s participation in the reconstruction of Iraq.
In the central office of the Corporation `Millennium Challenges’
the Prime Minister met the head of the Corporation John Danilovich.
The session of the Corporation’s governing council, will take place
in November, where the yearly executive of the participant countries
will be discussed.
Yesterday, late in the evening the meeting of the Prime Minister
with the US Vice-President Richard Chaney took place in the White
House.

Mediamax, Armenia
Oct 18 2007

Armenian politician warns against concentration of power in ruling
party’s hands

Yerevan, 18 October: The former regime cannot be an alternative to
the current one in the 2008 presidential election, National
Democratic Party [NDP] leader Shavarsh Kocharyan said in Yerevan
today.

Kocharyan said the opposition needs to nominate as its single
candidate a politician who is not in power.

Kocharyan warned against the concentration of all branches of power
in the hands of the Republican Party of Armenia if its leader, Prime
Minister Serzh Sargsyan, is elected president.

He said the country needs a serious growth which can only happen if
there is a balanced political arena.

Such changes are impossible under the former regime either, in
particular, under the first president of the country [Levon
Ter-Petrosyan]. "The presidential election in Armenia cannot result
in regime change in the county because the parliamentary elections
play a key role in this issue," Kocharyan said.

The NDP will not nominate a candidate of its own but will contribute
to the process of the opposition’s unification, he added.

Houston Chronicle, TX
Oct 18-24 2007

Pelosi and the Turkey problem

By CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle

There are three relevant questions concerning the Armenian genocide.

(a) Did it happen?

(b) Should the U.S. House of Representatives be expressing itself on
this now?

(c) Was House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s determination to bring this to a
vote, knowing that it risked provoking Turkey into withdrawing
crucial assistance to American soldiers in Iraq, a conscious
(columnist Thomas Sowell) or unconscious (blogger Mickey Kaus)
attempt to sabotage the U.S. war effort?

The answers are:

(a) Yes, unequivocally.

(b) No, unequivocally.

(c) God only knows.

That between 1 million and 1.5 million Armenians were brutally and
systematically massacred starting in 1915 in a deliberate genocidal
campaign is a matter of simple historical record. If you really want
to deepen and broaden awareness of that historical record, you should
support the establishment of the Armenian Genocide Museum and
Memorial in Washington, D.C. But to pass a declarative resolution in
the House of Representatives in the middle of a war in which we are
inordinately dependent on Turkey is the height of irresponsibility.

The atrocities happened 90 years ago. Not a single living Turk under
the age of 102 is in any way culpable. Even Mesrob Mutafyan,
patriarch of the Armenian community in Turkey, has stated that his
community is opposed to the resolution, correctly calling it the
result of domestic American politics.

Turkey is already massing troops near the Iraq border, threatening a
campaign against Kurdish rebels that could destabilize the one stable
front in Iraq. The same House of Representatives that has been
complaining loudly about the lack of armored vehicles for our troops
is blithely jeopardizing relations with the country through which 95
percent of the new heavily armored vehicles are now transiting on the
way to saving American lives in Iraq.

And for what? To feel morally clean?

How does this work? Pelosi says: "Genocide still exists, and we saw
it in Rwanda; we see it now in Darfur." Precisely. And what exactly
is she doing about Darfur? Nothing. Pronouncing yourself on a
genocide committed 90 years ago by an empire that no longer exists is
Pelosi’s demonstration of seriousness about existing, ongoing
genocide?

Indeed, the Democratic Party she’s leading in the House has been
trying for months to force a precipitous withdrawal from Iraq that
could very well lead to genocidal civil war. This prospect has
apparently not deterred her in the least.

"Friends don’t let friends commit crimes against humanity," explained
Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., a member of the House Foreign Affairs
Committee that passed the Armenian genocide resolution. This must
rank among the most stupid statements ever uttered by a member of
Congress, admittedly a very high bar.

Does Smith know anything about the history of the Armenian genocide?
Of the role played by Henry Morgenthau? As U.S. ambassador to the
Ottoman Empire, Morgenthau tried desperately to intervene on behalf
of the Armenians. It was his consular officials deep within Turkey
who (together with missionaries) brought out news of the genocide.
And it was Morgenthau who helped tell the world about it in his
writings. Near East Relief, the U.S. charity strongly backed by
President Wilson and the Congress, raised and distributed an
astonishing $117 million in food, clothing and other vital assistance
that, wrote historian Howard Sachar, "quite literally kept an entire
nation alive."

So much for the U.S. letting friends commit crimes against humanity.
And at the time, the Ottomans were not friends. They were an enemy
power in World War I, allied with Germany. Now the Turks are indeed
friends, giving us indispensable logistical help in our war against
today’s premier perpetrators of crimes against humanity – al-Qaida in
Iraq and Afghanistan. Friends don’t gratuitously antagonize friends
who are helping fight the world’s foremost war criminals.

So why has Pelosi been so committed to bringing this resolution to
the floor? (At least until a revolt within her party and the prospect
of defeat caused her to waver.) Because she is deeply unserious about
foreign policy. This little stunt gets added to the ledger: first,
her visit to Syria, which did nothing but give legitimacy to Bashar
al-Assad, who continues to be engaged in the systematic murder of
pro-Western Lebanese members of parliament; then, her letter to Costa
Rica’s ambassador, just nine days before a national referendum,
aiding and abetting opponents of a very important free-trade
agreement with the United States.

Is the Armenian resolution her way of unconsciously sabotaging the
U.S. war effort, after she had failed to stop it by more direct
means? I leave that question to psychiatry.

Instead, I fall back on Krauthammer’s razor (with apologies to
Occam): In explaining any puzzling Washington phenomenon, always
choose stupidity over conspiracy, incompetence over cunning. Anything
else gives them too much credit.

Krauthammer is a Pulitzer Prize-winning syndicated columnist based in
Washington, D.C. ([email protected] )

tlook/5226331.html

PRESSURE BUILDS FOR ADL TO YIELD ON GENOCIDE ISSUE
By Keith O’Brien, Globe Staff

Boston Globe, MA
Oct 18 2007

Even as support crumbles in Congress for a resolution recognizing the
World War I-era Armenian genocide, several Massachusetts towns are
still calling on the Anti-Defamation League to clarify its position
on the matter and support the resolution.

This week alone, Lexington and Westwood have suspended their
involvement in a popular ADL antibigotry program, joining four other
communities – Watertown, Newton, Belmont, and Arlington – in protesting
the ADL’s refusal to support the quest for genocide recognition.

Given the fading support for such a resolution in Congress,
Abraham H. Foxman, the ADL’s national director, said he believes
his organization was being wrongly punished by these Massachusetts
communities.

"I don’t think it’s fair," Foxman told the Globe yesterday.

Still, local Armenian-Americans and the town officials who have voted
to pull out of the ADL’s No Place For Hate program said they will
continue to pressure the ADL to specifically acknowledge the mass
killings as genocide no matter what Congress does. .

"The issue was not a political issue; the issue was a human rights
issue," said Marianne Ferguson, explaining why Newton’s Human Rights
Commission, which she chairs, voted to pull out of the ADL antibigotry
program last month. "And to deny a history, and deny that it happened,
to say, ‘Not so’ – you can’t do that and say you’re a human rights
organization."

>From 1915 to 1923, Ottoman Turks slaughtered as many as 1.5 million
Armenians in what is now modern-day Turkey. Armenians, historians,
and nations including France and Canada have recognized the killings as
genocide. But the Turkish government has refused to accept the genocide
label and bristled recently over the possibility that Congress might
adopt the genocide resolution.

The uproar, which began last week when a House panel voted in favor of
the resolution, pushed several members of Congress to withdraw their
support. By yesterday, the number of cosponsors had fallen from 227
to 214 – not enough votes to pass – and Speaker Nancy Pelosi backed
off her pledge to bring the resolution to a vote of the entire House.

At issue for the Bush administration, Congress, and the ADL is Middle
East stability. Turkey is not only a rare Muslim ally of the United
States, but also of Israel. Approving the resolution might upset
the balance of the Middle East, some congressmen believe, and that
notion is shared by Foxman at ADL, an organization founded in 1913
to fight anti-Semitism.

"I think the good people of Congress have seen the light," Foxman
said yesterday. "Maybe the good people in the Massachusetts towns
who penalized us will also see the light."

For now, that seems unlikely. Under pressure in August, Foxman reversed
decades of ADL policy and called the Armenian tragedy "tantamount to
genocide" in a carefully worded written statement. But that did not
go far enough for local Armenian-Americans and many town officials.

"To me that’s like saying slavery was tantamount to slavery, but not
exactly," said Ferguson.

Consequently, many still opposed to the ADL’s position are making two
demands. They want the ADL to make a clear statement acknowledging
the genocide. And they want Foxman’s human rights organization to
stand with Armenian-Americans in calling on the US government to
officially recognize the genocide.

"They’re still hiding and will not say they’re supporting the
resolution," said Watertown Town Councilor Marilyn Petitto Devaney.

"We’re going to stand firm on it."

The ADL will have a chance to answer its critics in two weeks when
a national panel of members meets in New York to discuss potential
policy changes, including the organization’s stance on the Armenian
genocide issue.

At that time, Lori Gans, a member of the ADL’s New England executive
committee, said her first priority will be persuading the 300-member
panel to craft a statement acknowledging the genocide unequivocally.

In the meantime, Gans said, "The question is, how will this affect
us and our ability to do our work?" she said. "I don’t know. Only
time will tell."

GENOCIDE RESOLUTION HARMFUL

Altoona Mirror, PA
Oct 18 2007

Congress should be looking to solve problems, not cause them.

But that’s exactly what some Democratic leaders are trying to do
with a proposed resolution labeling the killing of up to 1.5 million
Armenians by Ottoman Turks, nearly a century ago, as genocide.

The resolution is a rebuke for Turkey, a key U.S. ally and a primary
supply route for U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Turkey denies the
killings were genocide and say they were the result of civil unrest.

The killing of the Armenians was a horrible event, but it happened in
1915. Why bring it up now – except to cause problems? It’s not like
this is an ongoing situation, in which action can make a difference
or save lives.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is pushing the resolution, despite the
requests of President Bush, and some of her normal allies, including
U.S. Rep. John Murtha, D-12th District. Murtha told The Associated
Press he believes the resolution could harm U.S. relations with Turkey
and our strategic interests in the region.

The resolution also could put our troops in Iraq in added danger if
it results in the interruption of normal supply routes. That could
mean delays of needed equipment, including vehicles designed to better
withstand IED attacks.

It’s difficult to see how the genocide resolution accomplishes anything
other than sabotaging our war effort in Iraq and Afghanistan. That’s
a high price to pay for a resolution that might not even warrant a
footnote in history books a century from now.

The United States has many pressing issues – the future of Social
Security, food contamination, safety of imports, loss of manufacturing,
the economy and more – that will affect the lives of Americans today
and in our future.

Congress should be focusing on them, not trying to insult an ally
about something that happened in World War I.

If congressional leaders cannot come up with better things to devote
time to than the 1915 genocide resolution, the wrong people are
in office.

.detail/id/500941.html

ARMENIA PROPOSAL’S FATE UNCLEAR: PELOSIBY SUSAN CORNWELL

ABC News
Oct 17 2007

Share WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Prospects for a U.S. House of
Representatives resolution calling the 1915 massacre of Armenians
genocide looked dim on Wednesday as backers wavered on seeking a vote
and opponents predicted it would not pass.

Enthusiasm has eroded sharply since the resolution was approved by a
House committee last week. Both Republicans and Democrats are worried
about its impact on critical Iraq war ally Turkey, which provides
major logistic support to U.S. troops.

Turkey has warned it would damage relations with the United States.

President George W. Bush condemned the measure again on Wednesday
and chided Congress for "sorting out the historical record of the
Ottoman Empire" instead of attending to more pressing responsibilities.

"Whether it will come up or not, what the action will be, remains
to be seen," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, told
reporters on Wednesday. She had vowed it would get a vote of the full
chamber sometime this year.

Pelosi said she had always supported the nonbinding, largely symbolic
resolution, but she would be working with other advocates to see what
they wanted to do now.

"If it came to the floor today, it would not pass," Rep. John Murtha,
a Pennsylvania Democrat and Pelosi confidant who opposes the measure,
told reporters separately. He has urged Pelosi for months not to
bring it up for a vote.

Armenian-Americans have been pushing for passage of similar proposals
for years, and this resolution was proposed by a California Democrat
with many Armenian-Americans in his district, Rep. Adam Schiff.

But Turkey calls it insulting and rejects the Armenian position,
backed by many Western historians, that up to 1.5 million Armenians
suffered genocide at the hands of Ottoman Turks during World War One.

After the Foreign Affairs Committee approved the resolution, Turkey
recalled its ambassador for consultations, and hinted it might halt
logistic support to U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan if the bill
passed the House.

The United States is highly dependent on Turkey’s Incirlik air base.

About 70 percent of the U.S. military air cargo into Iraq transits
that base, according to the Defense Department.

"Congress has more important work to do than antagonizing a democratic
ally in the Muslim world, especially one that’s providing vital
support for our military every day," Bush said at a White House
news conference.

Ronald Reagan, a Californian, was the only U.S. president to publicly
call the killings genocide. Others avoided the term out of concern
for Turkey’s sensitivities — although Pelosi read a statement she
said Bush made as a presidential candidate, calling the massacres
"a genocidal campaign."

Last week the resolution enjoyed the co-sponsorship of more than half
the House, but lawmakers from both parties have been backing away in
recent days. Murtha said more than two dozen lawmakers came to his
office to discuss it this week.

While Murtha opposes the Iraq war, he said the United States needed
allies like Turkey.

"We don’t have the number of allies we used to have," he said at a
news conference with other Democrats asking Pelosi to drop plans for
the vote. "We’ve lost so much credibility worldwide … The coalition
of the willing, there’s nobody left."

Republican Whip Roy Blunt of Missouri said opponents in his party
were working with Democrats to ensure that if there were a vote,
it would fail.

At the State Department, where U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice and others have lobbied hard against the resolution, officials
welcomed growing opposition in Congress.

"They (lawmakers) have understood the potential for real problems and
consequences of our bilateral relationship with Turkey," said State
Department spokesman Tom Casey. He said Turkey’s government had so
far responded in a "very measured, appropriate way" to the resolution.

(Additional reporting by Sue Pleming, Richard Cowan and Andy Sullivan)

AFTER GENOCIDE DISPUTE, FRANCE SMOOTHES RELATIONS WITH TURKEY
By Katrin Bennhold

International Herald Tribune, France
Oct 17 2007

PARIS: If the U.S. Congress has doubts about Turkey’s threats to punish
any country that calls the mass murder of Armenians at the hands of
the Ottoman Empire genocide, they need look no further than France.

Ankara circulated unofficial guidelines discouraging business with
French companies after Parliament here passed a first Armenia bill
in 2001; exports plunged by nearly 40 percent. When a second bill
– which would make it illegal to deny that the Armenians suffered
genocide – was drawn up last year, the Turkish government cut off
military relations with Paris, scrapping automatic overflight rights
and port access.

Now relations are slowly warming up again – and not because President
Nicolas Sarkozy, an outspoken opponent of Turkish membership in the
European Union, has softened his stance, but because his administration
has quietly made it clear that it will keep the second Armenia bill
from going to the second and final vote in the Senate.

"The issue is very sensitive and has the power to affect relations
with Turkey," warned Egemen Bagis, foreign policy adviser of Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The new French administration has appeared eager to mend relations
with Ankara. Within weeks of being inaugurated in May, Sarkozy sent
his top diplomatic adviser, Jean-David Levitte, to Turkey and in
September he met Erdogan on the margins of the UN General Assembly.

This month, it was Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner’s turn to travel
to Ankara where he and his counterpart started preparing a formal
summit of the two leaders.

There is a paradox here: Sarkozy’s predecessor Jacques Chirac
unequivocally favored Turkish membership in the EU. But it was under
Chirac that relations turned icy, following the first Armenia bill
in 2001 and the lower house vote approving the second in 2006.

The furor over the vote last week by a Congressional committee to
designate the Armenian killings as genocide has underscored the
extent to which the Armenia issue trumps any other in Turkey – even
EU membership, which Turkey has sought for decades.

Officially it is up to French lawmakers to decide the fate of the
second Armenia bill. It was approved by a majority in the National
Assembly, and now only needs signing off by the Senate. But the
president sets the voting agenda of the Senate and can stall the
legislation by simply not scheduling it, officials say.

In return, the Turkish government is considering reinstating France’s
permanent overflight rights and reinforcing business ties with France,
Bagis said.

But the shift in France’s Turkey policy goes further. Not unlike
Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, who shifted her language once in
power, Sarkozy has backed away from blunt campaign demands to suspend
Turkey’s EU membership negotiation.

He has signaled that France would allow some 30 of the 35 negotiation
chapters to go ahead. He is even seeking a politically feasible way
of removing a clause from the constitution that demands a referendum
for every future enlargement of the EU – a clause that was added under
Chirac in a bid to reassure voters opposed to Turkey’s accession and
that has irked Ankara.

French officials say it is not in spite of his opposition to EU
membership, but because of it, that Sarkozy has been able to go on a
diplomatic charm offensive. As one French diplomat put it: "It takes
a president who is opposed to EU membership to create closer ties
with Turkey."

French public opinion remains overwhelmingly hostile to the idea of
Turkey joining the EU, fearing that a large, overwhelmingly Muslim
country would not be compatible with European values, overstretch
the bloc’s finances and send waves of poor migrants westward.

But Turkish goodwill matters for at least three of Sarkozy’s declared
strategic priorities: beefing up Europe’s defense capacity alongside
NATO, of which Turkey has been a member since 1952; building a
Mediterranean Union; and helping French industry win new business,
especially in the energy sector.

Turkey has the second-biggest army in NATO and is a regular contributor
to EU peacekeeping operations. Some 250 Turkish soldiers are in
Bosnia as part of an EU force and Paris has asked Ankara to join an
operation that will go to Chad. A Muslim country that is an ally
of Israel, Turkey is also crucial to uniting the countries around
the Mediterranean.

"There are a lot of reasons why Turkey remains a country of great
importance to France," said one ambassador from an EU country. "The
Turks are militarily competent and make a real contribution to
European missions."

At the same time, companies like nuclear power giant Areva and Gaz
de France are eager to win contracts in Turkey, which is not only
a bridgehead to the energy-rich regions of the Middle East and the
Caucasus but is also preparing to launch its own nuclear power sector,
an investment opportunity estimated by some at $10 billion.

Herve Novelli, the minister of trade, is taking at least a dozen
business leaders to Turkey in February.

Against that backdrop, Sarkozy and Erdogan appear to have struck
what the conservative daily Le Figaro last week called "a gentlemen’s
agreement": They have set aside a question that may only arise when
both leaders have left power.

"The membership question is 10 or 15 years away. Why let that get in
the way?" said Bagis. "Today there is a mutual will to mend relations."

The potential for misunderstanding remains. On the Turkish side,
many are hopeful that Sarkozy has actually softened his position on
the question of membership.

"I sense that Sarkozy wants to slowly turn from his anti-membership
stance to a more objective stance. But he can’t do it overnight,"
a senior Turkish diplomat said.

In Paris, meanwhile, Sarkozy and his administration insist that their
insistence on a close association with the EU for Turkey, rather than
outright membership, will win the day.

"In 10 years’ time the question will not even be asked anymore,"
predicted Henri Guaino, Sarkozy’s personal envoy on Mediterranean
affairs and long-time speechwriter. "Turkey is too big. It’s impossible
to absorb."

Whoever prevails, there are many on both sides who concur that Turkey
benefits from aligning its political and legal system with that of
European countries.

"The road to accession – democracy and human rights – is much more
important than accession itself," said Can Paker, a member of Turkey’s
biggest employers’ group. "Who knows what will happen in fifteen
years? Turkey may not even want to join Europe anymore."

International Institute for Genocide
and Human Rights Studies
(A Division of the Zoryan Institute)
PRESS RELEASE
CONTACT: Torrey Swan
DATE: October 17, 2007
Tel: 416-250-9807

Relationship between the Armenian and Jewish Genocides
to be Presented at World’s Largest Holocaust Education Week Program

Toronto, Canada— As part of the United Jewish Association’s
Holocaust Education Week in Toronto, November 1-11, the largest such
program in the world, the Zoryan Institute, through one of it sister
Divisions, has been invited to jointly organize a thought provoking
public lecture, "Nazi Germany, the Armenians and the Jews." The lecture
will be presented by Prof. Eric D. Weitz, Distinguished McKnight
University Professor of History and Arsham and Charlotte Ohanessian
Chair in the College of Liberal Arts, University of Minnesota.

Prof. Weitz, in his exploration of many points of interconnection
between the Armenian Genocide and the Jewish Holocaust, discusses: the
influence of the Armenian Genocide on Raphael Lemkin in his having
genocide declared a crime in international law; the Nazi reaction to
Franz Werfel’s novel, The Forty Days of Musa Dagh; the novel’s impact on
the Yishuv and on Jewish resistance during World War II; how the lack of
punishment for the perpetrators of the Armenian Genocide gave confidence
to Hitler to declare in August 1939, when justifying to his generals his
plan to kill, oppress, and brutalize the Poles, "Who, after all, speaks
today of the annihilation of the Armenians," and believe that he could
get away with exterminating Jews and committing other crimes against
humanity. Prof. Weitz, will conclude his sobering lesson of the impact
of history with an examination of German officials involved in Ottoman
Turkey who went on to become Nazi leaders and supporters.

Prof. Weitz will be speaking at 7:30pm both at the Temple Har Zion, 7360
Bayview Ave W, on Tuesday November 6 and at the Armenian Youth Centre,
50 Hallcrown Place, on Wednesday November 7.

The mission of the Holocaust Education Week is to provide "truth in
education and dignity in remembrance," said Lorraine Sandler, Chair, UJA
Federation Holocaust Centre of Toronto. This year over 25,000 people
will participate in one or more of the 150 programs offered throughout
the city.

"We are very pleased to be part of Holocaust Education Week where Prof.
Weitz is discussing the many direct connections between the two
genocides. First, because we believe that education and
awareness-raising activities are essential for preventing the gross
violation of human rights and genocide. Second, because sharing
scholarship on, and testimonies from, many tragedies powerfully
illustrate the universal nature of the problem, the necessity of it
being the concern of us all, and, in particular, with the Armenian
Genocide and the Holocaust, how impunity for genocide emboldens future
perpetrators," commented George Shirinian, Executive Director of Zoryan
Institute.

This program is organized by the International Institute for Genocide
and Human Rights Studies (A Division of the Zoryan Institute), with the
participation of the Armenian Community Centre of Toronto, the Armenian
General Benevolent Union of Toronto, and the Canadian Jewish Congress
Ontario Region.

For more information visit or contact the
Zoryan Institute (416-250-9807 or [email protected]).