Author: Nalbandian Eduard

Armenian National Committee of Australia
The Peak Public Affairs Committee of the Armenian-Australian Community
259 Penshurst Street, Willoughby NSW 2068 ~ PO Box 768, Willoughby NSW 2068
Tel: (02) 9419 8264 ~ Fax: (02) 9411 8898
Email: [email protected] ~ Website:

16 October, 2007

PRESS RELEASE

{CONTACT: Haig Kayserian (Communications Officer) ~ 0403 317 903 ~
[email protected]}

THOUSANDS GATHER FOR ARMENIAN GENOCIDE RECOGNITION

SYDNEY: Eastwood Park in the Australian Federal seat of Bennelong was the
scene for ‘Armenian Family Day’; a rally to raise awareness and gather
support for Armenian Genocide recognition. The Armenian National Committee
of Australia (ANC Australia) initiative saw more than 2000 members of the
Armenian-Australian community unite to call upon the Government of Australia
to formally and unanimously recognise and condemn the Armenian Genocide.

The Armenian-Australian community was joined by long time supporters; Senior
Cabinet Minister Joe Hockey, Ms Gladys Berejiklian MP, City of Ryde Mayor
Ivan Petch, Deputy Mayor Sarkis Yedelian and Dr Panayiotis Diamadis, who
each reaffirmed their commitment to advocate awareness of genocide as a
measure to prevent the repetition of such crimes against humanity.

Mayor Petch made an especially powerful statement; declaring: "If the United
States Congress Foreign Relations Committee can recognise it, if the NSW
State Parliament can recognise it, if Ryde Council can recognise it, then
the Australian Federal Parliament should also recognise it."

ANC Australia President Mr. Varant Meguerditchian said: "The event
demonstrated the Armenian-Australian community’s united will in having
Australia join the growing list of nations that have officially come to
recognise the 1915 massacres of the 1.5 million Armenians as genocide."

With an estimated 4000 Armenians residing in the Federal seat of Bennelong
and more throughout the country, Mr. Meguerditchian noted:
"Armenian-Australians would take into consideration the statements made by
politicians and candidates regarding recognition of the Armenian Genocide
when voting at the upcoming federal election."

In his address to the community, Minister Hockey announced – on behalf of
Prime Minister John Howard – that the Federal Government of Australia had
approved an ANC Australia application, and will grant $1.432million to
assist the funding of the Armenian Relief Society’s Mother and Child Health
Care Centre project in Gyumri, Armenia.

Upon announcement of the funding approval, Mr. Meguerditchian said: "The
Australian Government’s commitment to provide humanitarian aid to the people
of Armenia pays tribute to the generosity of the Australian people and
almost a century on, echoes Australian efforts to assist Armenian refugees
in the years immediately following the Armenian Genocide."

[End]

During the last days of the Ottoman Empire, the Government implemented a
policy of Genocide upon its Christian Armenian population. As a result, up
to 1.5million Armenian men, women and children lost their lives between 1915
and 1922. Adding weight to the importance of recognising the Armenian
Genocide is the research conducted by the Australian Institute for Holocaust
and Genocide Studies that discovered records of Australia’s humanitarian
assistance to Armenians following the genocide and testimonies by ANZAC
soldiers to atrocities against the Armenians as they occurred. In 1997 the
Parliament of New South Wales became the first legislative body to recognise
and condemn the Genocide of the Armenians.

GENOCIDE REMEMBERED

Anniston Star , AL
rials-1015-editorial-7j14v5619.htm
Oct 15 2007

One of the worst crimes in human history happened in Turkey when,
beginning in 1915, some 1.5 million Armenians were killed and hundreds
of thousands were driven out of the country.

It was genocide. History is clear on that point. Most people, however,
have never heard of it and Turkey is fine with that.

While acknowledging that many Armenians were killed, the modern
Turkish state insists it was simply a result of war, that there was
no systematic attempt to liquidate an entire people.

It is an example of denial in the worst way and it has been going on
for the greater part of a century.

And that must change.

Last week, a committee in the U.S. House of Representatives took up
a resolution to condemn the killings of Armenians during World War
I as an act of genocide.

Right away, all hell broke lose. Turkey immediately threatened to
withdraw its support of the war in Iraq if the measure passed on the
House floor and sent in their legion of hired lobbyist and lawyers
in an attempt to derail the whole thing.

The president came forward too, along with some key Democrats,
warning members of both parties not to pass the resolution, that
it would harm America’s relationship with a NATO nation. That is a
valued relationship.

Is it really worth it, they are essentially asking, to jeopardize
a strategic partnership over something that happened 90-something
years ago?

Airing the truth is worth it. If Turkey plans to join the European
Union, it is. If Turkey wants to mature enough to lead on the global
stage, it is.

Public TV, Armenia
Oct 13 2007

Armenian premier, Nagornyy Karabakh officials discussing economic problems

[Presenter] Armenian Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan has spent several
hours of his working day in Nagornyy Karabakh. Sargsyan went to
Stepanakert together with members of the Armenian cabinet and the
chairman of the Central Bank.

Members of the Armenian government delegation and the newly-elected
Nagornyy Karabakh president, as well as members of the Nagornyy
Karabakh cabinet discussed mainly economic issues. The government of
the Nagornyy Karabakh will soon submit its action programme to the
parliament for approval.

Sargsyan specified how the Armenian government can help Artsakh
[Karabakh] to eliminate obstacles standing in the way of economic
development.

[Correspondent reporting from Stepanakert] The Armenian government
delegation led by Prime Minister Sargsyan arrived in Stepanakert
today. The Armenian delegation was met at a high level in Nagornyy
Karabakh. The president of the Nagornyy Karabakh republic [NKR], Bako
Sahakyan, the speaker of the parliament, Ashot Ghulyan, and the prime
minister, Ara Harutyunyan, met the guests at the airport. After that,
the officials headed for the NKR president’s residency.

At first, Sargsyan and Sahakyan held a one-to-one meeting which
lasted about two hours. After that, an expanded meeting was held with
the NKR prime minister and finance ministers of the two republics in
attendance. Today there is a serious problem in stimulating the
development of the NKR economy and discussions are aimed at
elaborating how the Armenian government can help the NKR government
eliminate obstacles to development.

[Sargsyan] We see that Karabakh has potential for developing its
economy and we also see ways of developing this potential.

[Correspondent] The Armenian and NKR ministers of energy,
agriculture, trade and economic development also discussed the
economic development of Karabakh. During the discussions with the
chairman of the Central Bank of Armenia, the future steps of the
credit policy were defined.

[Sahakyan] Armenia has always expressed its readiness to help
Karabakh develop its economy and ensure state building in the
country.

[Passage omitted: details]

[Sargsyan] We have already solved all problems related to the 2007
and 2008 budget. But I am saying again that all wealth should be
created here. We can only play the role of a supporter.

[Correspondent] The Armenian prime minister and the NKR president
decided to hold such meetings twice a year and discuss the results of
the agreements that were reached.

PanARMENIAN.Net

Baku "strongly advises" U.S. House of Representatives
not to pass H.Res.106
13.10.2007 14:08 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry issued a statement
over the U.S. House’s influential panel decision to approve the
Armenian Genocide resolution.

`The Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan condemns this decision as
erroneous and warns that the resolution will have a negative impact on
regional and global processes.

Azerbaijan stands solidary with Turkey’s call to study the archives of
the World War I-era before taking action.

The Azerbaijani MFA urged the House of Representatives "to refrain
from passing H.Res.106 and demonstrate impartiality of the
U.S. Congress and its independence from pressure of ethnic lobbies,’
the statement reads, Day.az reports.

The Guardian, UK
Oct 13 2007

Coming to terms with history

The Armenian genocide, not the Holocaust, was origin of the term.
Turkey must acknowledge this if it is to create a more positive
identity.

Michael Herron

About Webfeeds October 13, 2007 2:00 PM | Printable version
Simon Tisdall’s article Righteousness before realism on Comment is
free describes the congressional resolution recognising the genocide
of the Armenians by the Turks during the first world war "as a matter
of putting the world to rights, according to America’s lights".

This gives the incomplete picture that it is singly American moral
imperialism that wishes to dredge up this issue from the distant past
so that it can bask in the glow of self-righteousness. It is not only
the Americans who are interested in this issue. The French parliament
also passed a resolution last year, which made denial of the Armenian
genocide a crime as it is for Holocaust denial.

The Holocaust is a significant marker by which to judge the moral and
pragmatic consequences of this recent congressional resolution. No
reasonable person questions the fact that the Holocaust should be
held up as the worst example of man’s inhumanity to man. This moral
example outweighs all practical political concerns. Should the
Armenian genocide be held to a lower moral standard than the
Holocaust? The Holocaust was worse because it was more all
encompassing and done on an industrial scale but one could argue they
were both genocides.

The reason for this assumption is due to the author of the word
"genocide", the Polish Jewish lawyer Raphael Lemkin. Lemkin coined
the term in response to Winston Churchill’s statement about the
crimes of the Nazis as a "crime without a name". Even though Lemkin
used the term to describe the Holocaust he had been working since the
1920s on a legal definition of similar acts of brutality. The
original acts of brutality that started Lemkin on his search for a
definition were committed by the Turks against the Armenians during
the first world war. For Lemkin the original genocide was the
Armenian genocide not the Holocaust. In order to be consistent if one
describes the Holocaust as genocide one also has to describe the mass
murder of the Armenians as one as well.

The prism of the Holocaust influences Turkish responses to
accusations of genocide. Turkish officials find it beyond the pale
for the Turks to be compared to the Nazis. The fact that the
Holocaust was so well documented and the Armenian genocide less so,
allows the Ankara government to argue: "it is blatantly obvious that
Congress does not have a task or function to rewrite history." This
chimes with Turkish official arguments that it should be left up to
historians to determine what happened in the past not politicians.
This would be very well if Turkish authorities did not use article
301 of the Turkish penal code to muzzle Turkish writers who describe
the killing of Armenians as genocide.

The problem for the Turkish government is that Taner Akcam, a Turkish
historian living and working outside Turkey, has published a number
of works on the Armenian genocide. He has researched what consists of
Turkish government records of the time and has come to the conclusion
that it was a case of genocide.

One reason Akcam gives for the sensitivity of the Turkish government
to this accusation of genocide is not only the natural reluctance to
be tarred with the same brush as the Nazis but that the heroic
generation that founded the Turkish Republic from the ashes of the
Ottoman Empire included Young Turks who were involved in the
deportation and killing of Armenians during the first world war. As
protectors of the secular principles of the Turkish Republic
established by this heroic generation, the Turkish army is especially
hostile to this charge of genocide.

This accusation tarnishes the reputation of the heroic generation as
"good soldiers", an identity that Turkish males are supposed to
assume and thereby maintain the importance of the army within the
Turkish state. Accusations of genocide might hinder the reproduction
of this national identity, but as in the case of West Germany after
the second world war, acknowledgement of genocide can help create a
more positive identity. Genocide should not be ignored nor airbrushed
from history to satisfy short-term political interests. We owe it to
the victims to remember and to future generations to remind.

ael_herron/2007/10/coming_to_terms_with_history.ht ml

PRIME MINISTER WELCOMES NEW EGYPTIAN AMBASSADOR

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 12, ARMENPRESS: Prime Minister
Serzh Sarkisian welcomed today the new Ambassador of
Egypt to Armenia, Wahid Al-Din Ismail Galal.
The government press office quoted the prime
minister as saying that he is confident that the new
ambassador will take up the active dialogue that has
been between the two countries in recent years aimed
at further boosting of ties.
The ambassador for his part referred to
centuries-old Armenian-Egyptian relations highlighting
the importance of the Armenian community of Egypt in
enhancing the dialogue between the two countries.
He praised Armenians of Egypt for playing an active
role in the political, economic and cultural life of
the country. He then highly appreciated
Armenian-Egyptian cooperation within international
organizations and expressed gratitude for Armenia’s
support of Egypt on key issues.
The Armenian prime minister, in turn, stressed the
importance of Egypt’s balanced stance on the Karabakh
conflict settlement.
The two men also spoke about economic cooperation,
stating that the current level does not correspond to
the level of political relations. They also emphasized
the role of the Armenian-Egyptian Intergovernmental
Cooperation Commission, the next sitting of which will
be held December 2007.
At the end of the meeting Serzh Sarkisian wished
success to the Ambassador, saying that the Armenian
Government is ready to consider all suggestions of the
Egyptian side regarding expansion of bilateral
cooperation.

THE BRAVE CABBIE OF BAGHDAD
By Christian Berthelsen and Said Rifai, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers

Los Angeles Times
Oct 11 2007

Photo: The daughters, left, second from left and second from right,
of Marani Oranis, who was killed along with another Iraqi Christian
woman in Baghdad by foreign security guards, mourn during the funeral
Wednesday.

Widow Marani Oranis drove the perilous streets to support her
daughters, until she was gunned down by guards.

BAGHDAD — Still mourning the death of her husband, Marani Oranis
navigated the treacherous streets in her makeshift taxicab,
chauffeuring students and workers past bombed-out buildings and
armed checkpoints in her 1990 Oldsmobile to earn enough to support
her daughters.

It was a path that brought Oranis, a former scientist for Iraq’s
Agriculture Ministry, into the cross hairs of a Western security
convoy Tuesday afternoon along a main road in Baghdad’s Karada
district. The guards opened fire, apparently perceiving her and a
passenger as a threat, and sealing her fate as another casualty amid
the heated international debate over the use of private armed guards
in a war zone.

Graphic Oranis and her passenger, Geneva Jalal, 30, were shot and
killed by guards from Unity Resources Group, an Australian-run firm
based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Unity Resources was hired to
protect U.S. contractors aiding Iraq’s reconstruction.

Witnesses said Oranis’ car failed to heed warning signals to yield to
the convoy, which first fired a warning shot into her radiator. When
the car continued to advance, two guards fired.

On Wednesday, about 100 of Oranis’ family members and friends gathered
at an Armenian community hall to mourn her death and vent their anger
over the perceived impunity with which foreign security contractors
threaten, and sometimes kill, Iraqi citizens. The incident occurred
less than a month after guards with private security firm Blackwater
USA killed as many as 17 civilians in Nisoor Square, an incident that
triggered outrage by the Iraqi government and demands for $8 million
in compensation for the families of each person killed.

"We want to know why this happened," said her brother, Albert
Manook, 55. "Didn’t they see they were only women? Couldn’t they
distinguish?" He broke down in tears.

Mourners sat on plush couches in the gathering hall as waiters
distributed Arabian coffee, water and cigarettes. A preacher gave
a sermon, then asked the congregants to stand and pray. They began
chanting as smoke from incense rose, giving the hall an ethereal air.

Oranis, who was 48, was born in Basra, the youngest of six brothers
and three sisters. She earned a degree in horticulture and agronomy.

She gave up her job at the Agriculture Ministry to raise a family
with her husband, Azad, an architectural engineer. Together they had
three daughters, Nora, Karon and Alice.

Her family members say her life was overwhelmingly characterized
by sympathy and caring for others, including attending to both her
mother and father in their final years.

Manook said she cooked and cleaned for him when she visited him in
Basra a month ago, while attending a relative’s funeral.

Two years ago, Oranis’ husband died after heart bypass surgery. He
did not work for the government and had no pension, leaving Oranis
with little.

With Iraq ravaged by war and her degree and agricultural expertise
years out of date, she took up chauffeuring students and workers to
their schools and jobs, to make enough to care for her daughters.

Nora, 20, and Karon, 18, were both in university — Nora studying
architecture, and Karon pursuing biological studies. Alice is 13.

Oranis was dressed in black when she was shot, garb that her niece
said showed she was still mourning her husband.

"She was forced to traverse the roads of Baghdad on a daily basis in
order to provide for her daughters," said the niece, Lida Sarkis, 40.

"This turn of fate is something that every single one of us Iraqis
expects on a daily basis," Sarkis said.

"We are all targets for elimination, leaving for work and school in
the mornings and not knowing whether we will make it back home safely."

After the sermon, family members struggled with the shock of losing
Oranis so suddenly and violently.

"I would just want to know the person who shot her, to know what
went in his mind," said her brother, Paul Manook, 57, who spoke by
telephone from London, where he is an electrical engineer. "Has he
ever thought of family, or anything human?"

"Once the investigation is over, I would like to see them punished
accordingly with the Torah and the other monotheistic scriptures
which specifically state, ‘An eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth,’
" Albert Manook said.

Family members knew little of Jalal and assumed she was one of Oranis’
clients.

Father Vazken Movsesian of St. Peter Armenian Church in Glendale,
who is the executive director of a ministry that works with Armenian
refugees, said the deaths would resonate with Southern California
Armenians, some of whom emigrated from Iraq.

"We have a large Armenian community from Iraq, and a lot of these
people are now displaced because of the war. It’s going to rekindle
a lot of the hurt that they’ve been feeling over the last few years,"
he said.

Lethal hazards fill Baghdad’s chaotic streets. Every unattended vehicle
arouses suspicion as a potential car bomb. Every speeding vehicle
strikes pangs of fear of a suicide attack. Every moment stuck in
traffic or at a checkpoint means being exposed to a potential assault.

BUSH IN BID TO PLACATE TURKEY AFTER FAILING TO STOP ARMENIAN GENOCIDE VOTE

Cape Times (subscription), South Africa
Oct 12 2007

WASHINGTON: The Bush administration will try to soothe Turkish anger
after a House panel’s approval of a measure describing as genocide the
deaths of hundreds of thousands of Armenians early in the last century.

The House of Representatives’ Foreign Affairs Committee defied warnings
by President George Bush to send the measure to the full House for a
vote. The administration will now try to pressure Democratic leaders
not to schedule a vote, though it is expected to pass. Hours before the
vote, Bush and senior officials made last-minute appeals to lawmakers
to reject the measure.

In London for a visit yesterday, Defence Secretary Robert Gates
reiterated his opposition to the resolution, saying it could harm
US-Turkish relations at a time when US forces in Iraq are relying
heavily on Turkish permission to use their airspace for US air cargo
flights.

EDITOR, PUBLISHER OF AGOS NEWSPAPER SENTENCED FOR "INSULTING TURKISHNESS"

NTV MSNBC, Turkey
Oct 11 2007

Arat Dink is the son of Hrant Dink, the former editor of Agos who
was murdered in January outside the paper’s office.

Guncelleme: 15:26 TSÝ 11 Ekim 2007 Perþembe

ISTANBUL – Arat Dink, editor-in-chief of the weekly Turkish-Armenian
language newspaper Agos, and Serkis Seropyan, the paper’s publisher,
have each been sentenced to one year in prison on charges of insulting
Turkishness" by an Istanbul court Thursday.

However, the Basic Criminal Court of the Sisli district of Istanbul
decided to suspend the prison terms as neither Dink and Seropyan had
previous criminal records.

Both were found guilty under article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code,
which covers the crime of insulting Turkey, Turkish identity, the
state or the people.

The European Union and human rights groups have been pushing Turkey
to remove the article from the statute books, saying that it restricts
freedom of speech.

–Boundary_(ID_sVM/tWqfEyqYvYvRQqkecQ)–

"U.S. SUPPORTS AZERBAIJAN’S MILITARIZATION"

A1+
[07:59 pm] 10 October, 2007

"A weak enemy is not necessarily a good enemy," said Richard
Giragosian, a U.S.-based political scientist, during a Yerevan
discussion on October 10.

According to Richard Giragosian, the military equilibrium between
the three regional countries is changing but not in favor of Armenia.

Azerbaijan is boosting military expenditure which may considerably
change the balance in the upcoming years.

In this sense the military advantage of Armenia in the region
is temporary. The political scientist says as long as Safar
Abiyev is Azerbaijan’s Defense Minister, we can be sure that the
appropriations for the army are dissipated and the army remains weak
and disorganized. On the other hand, however, big appropriations may
in the future give advantage to Azerbaijan.

One of the supporters of Azerbaijan’s militarization is the USA,
he says. The procedure is underway in Georgia as well.

Richard Giragosian thinks Armenia should take measures in this
context. The first should be sustainable dynamic of military
reforms. In this respect, Richard Giragosian points to military
intelligence as an important factor, adding that the death of the
head of military intelligence Basentsi Azoyan was a great loss for
the Armenian armed force and now somebody is sought to replace him.

According to the political scientist, the next strand of military
reforms should refer to technology.

Richard Giragosian thinks Armenia can place the army at a new
technological level thanks to its IT potential.

Besides, Richard Giragosian thinks diplomatic, political cooperation
with international organizations is also important to support the
Armenian army.

"The Armenian army has a defensive function, and it can serve a
guarantee for stability in the region," he says.

Apart from all, the U.S.-based Armenian political scientist thinks it
is highly important for Armenia not to rely on external guarantees
of security, Russia or NATO, to be a self-sufficient country and
rely on its own potential. Therefore, the political scientist says,
it is necessary to acknowledge that the biggest threat to security
is inside, i.e. corruption, which hinders the development of the
country’s economy.

Richard Giragosian highlighted the formation of mobile military special
groups. Armenia is surrounded by unfriendly countries therefore
it should be able to react accordingly. The political scientist is
surprised at Armenia’s indifference towards aviation.