Author: Taslakhchian Andranik

REPUBLICAN LAWMAKER CHALLENGES RICE’S OPPOSITION TO ARMENIAN GENOCIDE RESOLUTION

armradio.am
25.10.2007 10:25

Congressman Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) today challenged Secretary of
State Condoleezza Rice over the Administration’s efforts to press
legislators to oppose the Armenian Genocide Resolution, reported the
Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).

Speaking during the Secretary’s appearance before the House Foreign
Affairs Committee, Rohrabacher, a senior Republican with a long
track-record championing human rights, explained his support for the
resolution, H.Res.106, noting that, "I think I speak for my colleagues
here, that this vote was a human rights vote and a recognition of a
violation human rights."

The panel, with the support of Rohrabacher and the Committee’s
Chairman, Tom Lantos (D-CA), approved this measure on October 10th
by a vote of 27 to 21.

The Secretary responded to the Congressman’s concerns, noting that:
"I recognize that it was a difficult vote for some who supported the
Administration’s position on this. There was a reason that we felt
very strongly that this resolution should not go forward. This is a
very delicate time with Turkey. It is a time when it is going through
a major transformation internally." She added, "We have extremely
important strategic interests with the Turks," and closed by saying
"I continue to believe that the passage of such a resolution as the
Armenian Genocide Resolution would severely harm our relationships."

"We can’t advance our interests by compromising our values," said ANCA
Executive Director Aram Hamparian. "Agreeing to a Turkish government
gag-rule on the Armenian Genocide only emboldens other nations to
use similar threats to silence America’s voice on a whole range of
human rights issues."

"The real threat here is to our international moral standing. Any
damage to US interests won’t come from passing a piece of human rights
legislation, but rather from caving in to foreign intimidation,
at the cost of our credibility and – in more practical terms – our
ability as a nation to shape international public opinion in support
of our foreign policy priorities."

TURKEY IS THE ONE TO PROMPT THE KURDS TO ESTABLISH THE INDEPENDENT KURDISTAN

PanARMENIAN.Net
23.10.2007 GMT+04:00

The instability of Iraq is a good reason to solve a part of the
"Kurdish problem", but if the events start to develop more abruptly,
the support of the Iraqi Kurds from the part of Syrian and Iranian
Kurds is not excluded.

Turkey, nevertheless, did what it threatened and the war with the Kurds
on the Iraqi territory is becoming more probable. Turkish soldiers have
already settled on the Iraqi borders by the dozens. Once again Ankara
proved that it will do anything to solve the Kurdish issue for good. It
is quite likely that the problem will be solved in a traditional way:
no Kurds, no issue – like was the case with the Armenians.

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Turkish General Staff took no notice of the
announcement of the militants from the Kurdistan Workers Party,
according to which they agree to cease-fire in case the Turkish Army
in its turn refuses to carry any military operations in Northern Iraq,
informs the AFR Agency.

However, the Turkish party doesn’t take any measures yet, moreover,
according to difference sources, the number of the soldiers on the
Iraqi border is about 100.000 people, including heavy artillery and
helicopters. The operator of the Associate Press Television News
noticed a military escort of about 150 people, bringing guns and
containers with ammunition.

The escort moved from southeastern Shirnak to Uludere, which is not
far from the border.

Now the USA doesn’t limit itself to calls to Turkey, it has already
started to warn Iraq against the possible outcomes in case the
Kurdistan Workers Party continues its "terrorist activities regarding
Turkey".

However things are not as simple as they may seem at first
sight. According to The Los Angeles Times, "the Kurdish problem" is
used as Turkish, Syrian, Iranian and Iraqi problem. "The US invasion
of Iraq turned it into the American problem as well. David Petraeus,
General in the United States Army and Commander of Multi-National
Force is against involvement of the American troops in the war against
the militants from Kurdistan Workers Party, who have a rather large
territory in the Middle East under their control. But the USA may
put pressure on the Kurdish leaders, so that they would free their
territories from militants.

In any case Washington must find a solution," said Petraeus.

It is quite evident that the USA wants to force Turkey back from
the loot and the control over transportation of the Middle Eastern
oil. The choice of the oil transportation route has an essential
political significance and extremely beneficial economic outcomes for
the country through whose territory the pipeline is carried. This is
why the country which takes control over this issue will in future
get not only economic benefits but a long-term geopolitical advantage
in the region as well.

It should be mentioned that own oil supplies on the territory of
Turkey, which at present are the object of industrial design, are
concentrated in particular in the south-east of the country, in the
Province of Batman. Besides, in case of the realization of the project
of gas pipeline construction, joining the Azerbaijani birthplace of
Shah Denis with the Turkish city of Erzrum, through which the gas
pipeline joining Turkey with Iran runs, the USA securing its standings
in Eastern Anatolia by the help of the Kurds, could control the energy
vector supplies from the Central Asia to Turkey.

Today there are about 30-40 million Kurdish people in the world,
twice less then the population of Turkey.

However, since 1920 Turkey is trying to wipe out the Kurdish people,
yet with no particular success. The instability of Iraq is a good
reason to solve a part of the "Kurdish problem", but if the events
start to develop more abruptly, the support of the Iraqi Kurds from the
part of Syrian and Iranian Kurds is not excluded. All this is fraught
with a big war in the Middle East and perhaps with the reshaping
of already existing borders. It brings us to see that Turkey is the
one to prompt the Kurds to establish the independent Kurdistan, or
to be more exact to its widening, for something like an independent
Kurdistan already exists in Iraq. Meanwhile, in Ankara in October
1992 the meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Turkey,
Iran and Syria, where the decision about leaving the territorial
integrity unchanged was made, took place. At the same time various
measures of counteraction of autonomisation of the Iraqi Kurdistan
were legalized. The Turkish authorities resorted to such measures,
since this interference is the most dimensional and most frequently
practiced one in Turkey in 90’s of the XX century, and according to
the foreign analysts, has become a long-term factor identifying the
crisis situation in the region.

NO RELATIONSHIP TO ARMENIA

Hayots Ashkharh Daily
Oct 23 2007
Armenia

"At the request of the Iranian side, there were certain changes in the
schedule of the IRI President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s official visit to
Armenia. The changes were probably due to domestic issues. A number
of visits were removed from the schedule, and the President left for
the Islamic Republic of Iran at 12 p.m. I have talked to the Deputy
Minister, and he reported that some changes had occurred; there
were urgent issues and they had to depart," Deputy Foreign Minister
Gegham Gharibjanyan, former RA Ambassador to the Islamic Republic of
Iran said yesterday, commenting upon the IRI President’s returning
to his homeland ahead of the schedule and his not participating in
several events.

According to the schedule of the IRI President’s official visit,
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was to have laid a flower wreath in the
Tsistsernakaberd Memorial complex, visited the Blue Mosque of Yerevan
and made a speech in the National Assembly yesterday.

In response to different comments made by the journalists,
G. Gharibjanyan said that the Iranian party had changed the schedule
and departed, having serious arguments, "which I cannot report to the
journalists." "The reasons have been reported to our Government; they
have no relationship to Armenia," Deputy Foreign Minister mentioned.

Estimating the IRI President’s official visit to Armenia,
G. Gharibjanyan considered it "very successful". "There is a
considerable progress with regard to serious economic projects. We
speak about the oil pipeline, discuss issues regarding the railroad,
and there will be serious investments especially in the field of
energy."

In response to the journalists’ concern about the IRI President’s not
visiting Tststernakaberd, Deputy Foreign Minister reminded them that
during his 2004 official visit to Armenia the former IRI President
Mohamad Khatami had visited Tsitsternakaberd and paid a tribute of
respect to the memory of the Genocide victims.

WHAT THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE RESOLUTION IS REALLY ABOUT
By Yigal Schleifer/JTA

Jerusalem Post
92380634864&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowF ull
Oct 24 2007

Turkey blames US Jews for genocide bill

When a US Congressional committee approved a resolution recognizing
the World War I-era massacre of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire as
genocide, Turkey’s reaction was swift and harsh: Blame the Jews.

In an interview with the liberal Islamic Zaman newspaper on the eve
of the resolution’s approval October 10 by the US House Committee
on Foreign Affairs, Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan said he had
told American Jewish leaders that a genocide bill would strengthen the
public perception in Turkey that "Armenian and Jewish lobbies unite
forces against Turks." Babacan added, "We have told them that we cannot
explain it to the public in Turkey if a road accident happens. We
have told them that we cannot keep the Jewish people out of this."

The Turkish public seems to have absorbed that message.

An on-line survey by Zaman’s English-language edition asking why Turks
believed the bill succeeded showed that 22 percent of respondents
chose "Jews’ having legitimized the genocide claims" – second only to
"Turkey’s negligence."

US Jewish community leaders reject that argument and privately
say Ankara has only itself to blame for its failure to muster the
support necessary to derail the resolution, which is seen in Turkey
as anti-Turkish.

Resentment lingers in Washington over the Turkish Parliament’s failure
to approve a March 2003 motion to allow US troops to use Turkish soil
as a staging ground for an invasion of Iraq.

And an official visit to Ankara in early 2006 by Hamas leader Khaled
Mashaal angered many of Israel’s supporters on Capitol Hill, who have
been among Turkey’s most vocal proponents as part of a strategy of
developing strong ties between Turkey and Israel.

"The Hamas thing was really serious," said an official from a large
Jewish organization. "There is less sympathy for Turkey because of
what some see as an anti-American, anti-Israel, anti-Jewish policy
that is there."

The official added, "I think there’s a sense on the Hill that Turkey
is less of an ally. There is a sense that it’s a different Turkey."

Soner Cagaptay, coordinator of the Turkish research program at the
Washington Institute for Near East Policy, echoed that thinking.

"The lingering effects of 2003 resonate," Cagaptay said. "Some people
are still angry with Turkey."

Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chairman of the Conference of
Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, said the Jews
should not be blamed for the Armenia genocide bill, particularly not
by Turkish officialdom.

"We regret that some officials there are trying to lay the onus of
what’s happened on the Jewish community," Hoenlein told JTA. "They
shouldn’t allow some people to manipulate this initiative in Congress
to the detriment of this relationship, which is beneficial for
both sides."

Hoenlein, who met with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
during last month’s UN General Assembly, said, "There is the same
commitment on the part of the organized community to support Turkey."

Observers in Turkey say the public perception of the Jews’ outsized
role in the resolution’s passage is based on an element of fact mixed
with a greater amount of fiction.

In August, the Jewish-run Anti-Defamation League, facing pressure
from grassroots activists, reversed its long-held policy of not
recognizing the Armenian genocide when ADL National Director Abraham
Foxman declared that what happened to the Armenians was "indeed
tantamount to genocide."

But Foxman maintained the ADL’s position, opposing a congressional
resolution on the matter. Such a resolution would strain US-Turkey
ties and jeopardize ties between Israel and Turkey, Israel’s main
Middle Eastern ally.

Nevertheless, the ADL’s reversal was seen in Turkey as a major blow
to the country’s diplomatic and public-relations campaign against
Armenian efforts to get a genocide resolution passed in Washington.

"Obviously the ADL’s switch was not good news," said Suat Kiniklioglu,
a member of the ruling Justice and Development Party and spokesman
for the Turkish Parliament’s foreign affairs committee.

Mustafa Akyol, an Istanbul-based political commentator who frequently
writes about religious issues, said the strong reaction to the
ADL’s policy switch and the perception that it somehow legitimized
the Armenians’ claims were based on an "inflated sense" of American
Jewish power among the Turkish public.

"There is a belief that [the resolution] couldn’t have happened
without Jewish support," Akyol said.

The House bill passed the committee by a 27-21 vote, with seven of the
committee’s eight Jewish members voting in favor of Resolution 106. The
full House of Representatives has yet to vote on the resolution.

Yet despite the vote, US Jewish groups said they lobbied against the
bill – just as they have done in the past.

"Behind-the-scenes support [from US Jewish groups] has been quite
powerful" in persuading congressmen to oppose the bill, said
Cagaptay. It may yet help prevent the bill from being brought to a
vote in the full House.

Turkish Jewish community leaders declined to be interviewed for this
story, but Turkey’s Jewish leaders published a full-page advertisement
in the Washington Times on the day of the vote voicing their opposition
to the House bill.

"We believe this issue should be decided first and foremost on
the basis of evidence adduced by historians, not on the basis of
judgments by parliamentarians or Congressmen, who naturally (and
understandably) may be influenced by concerns other than historical
facts," the statement said. "There have been insinuations that our
security and well-being in Turkey is linked to the fate of Resolution
106. We are deeply perturbed by any such allegations."

According to Cagaptay, "there is a trilateral relationship, which is
Turkey, Israel and the American Jews. The relationship is about good
ties between Turkey and Israel, and good ties between Turkey and the
American Jewish community, which makes up for the fact that Turkey
has not had, historically, a strong presence on the Hill."

This time, however, it seems Jewish opposition to the bill was not
enough to overcome support by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.),
a longtime supporter of Armenian-American issues, who has vowed to
bring the bill to a full House vote.

LOBBY VS. CAFESJIAN

Lragir
Oct 23 2007
Armenia

The Armenian Genocide Museum and Memorial, Inc. released information
which holds: "Lawyers for the Trustees of the Armenian Genocide Museum
and Memorial and the Armenian Assembly of America have characterized as
"frivolous" Gerard Cafesjian’s latest lawsuit intended to scuttle the
building of a genocide museum in Washington, DC to honor the Armenian
Genocide victims, survivors, and family members. "This lawsuit comes as
a total surprise to us since it has no basis in fact or law" stated
Arnold R. Rosenfeld of Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Preston Gates Ellis
LLP. "It is a desperate attempt by Mr. Cafesjian to block the recent
progress made by the trustees to restart the process of building
a museum of which all Armenian-Americans can be proud." Rosenfeld
added: "All acts to proceed to build the museum were duly authorized
at a meeting which was properly noticed and with a quorum of those
eligible to vote, and were taken in accordance with the bylaws of the
AGM&M. All the votes were perfectly legal and authorized under the
law. In fact, Cafesjian’s designated representative, John J. Waters,
Jr., participated in the meeting and then voluntarily withdrew from
the meeting. All of Cafesjian’s new claims are frivolous and will
be dealt with through the proper motions in federal court where this
case was brought."

The Armenian Genocide Museum and Memorial will be located at 14th
and G Streets in Washington, DC."

WITHOUT FRONTIERS

A1+
[08:32 pm] 22 October, 2007

Armenia-Iran partnership is favourable for the two countries and the
whole region, Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said today.

The relations inspire great prospects. We have achieved agreements
in the spheres of oil, gas, energy and transportation, he said.

A hydro-electric power station will be constructed on the river
Araks. The construction of the gas pipeline will be completed.

President Kocharian underlined that it is vital to "join the
substructures." Independent Armenia cares for the regional security,"
he said.

The RA President also highlighted the agreement on bank control
between the Armenian and Iranian central banks.

We must live side by side in a peaceful atmosphere. In our opinion all
problems can be solved via negotiations. We are against any tension
in the region. All complicated problems are soluble, Iran’s President
said in view of the Karabakh issue.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad thanked Robert Kocharian for warm reception. The
parties laid a stress on bilateral relations.

During a joint conference Ahmadinejad said an Iran-Armenia highway
is due to open October 26 which will promote commodity circulation
between the countries under question.

LES DeMOCRATES DIVISeS AU CONGRèS AMeRICAIN SUR LE GeNOCIDE ARMeNIEN
Corine Lesnes

Le Monde, France
19 octobre 2007 vendredi

ETATS-UNIS SOUS LA PRESSION DE M. BUSH ET D’ANKARA

La tempete provoquee par le projet de resolution du Congrès americain
reconnaissant le genocide armenien devrait retomber. La presidente
de la Chambre des representants, Nancy Pelosi, qui avait promis de
soumettre le texte au vote cette semaine, a dû y renoncer en raison
de defections de ses collègues sous la pression de l’administration
Bush et d’Ankara. Une douzaine de democrates ont retire leur nom de
la liste des 226 soutiens de la resolution, qui avait ete adoptee
le 10 octobre par la commission des affaires etrangères, provoquant
la colère du gouvernement turc et le rappel de son ambassadeur. Avec
214 voix, la majorite n’est plus reunie.

Comme l’a indique le representant John Murtha, adjoint de Mme Pelosi
au groupe democrate, " si le texte etait presente aujourd’hui, il ne
serait pas adopte ". En 2000, une initiative similaire avait echoue
après que le president Bill Clinton eut appele le chef de la majorite
au Congrès.

Les pressions ont ete intenses. Tous les ex-secretaires d’Etat en
vie ont demande a Mme Pelosi de remiser le texte. George Bush lui
a signifie a quel point ce vote etait " contre-productif ". " Le
Congrès a autre chose a faire que de fâcher un allie democratique du
Proche-Orient, surtout quand il fournit un soutien vital a nos soldats
", a-t-il insiste.

Le lobbying turc, surtout, a fonctionne. Pour bloquer ce texte, le
gouvernement turc a depense 3,2 millions de dollars depuis août 2006.

Dans une enquete realisee a partir des comptes rendus d’activites que
les firmes de lobbying sont tenues de communiquer au ministère de la
justice, le New York Times a montre comment la societe de l’ancien
representant republicain Robert Livingston est intervenue auprès
de parlementaires pour les sensibiliser a la position turque. Ces
memes elus ont ete les beneficiaires de contributions financières
pour leur campagne de reelection. Après le changement de majorite en
2006, le gouvernement turc a aussi recrute un lobbyiste democrate,
l’ex-leader de la Chambre Dick Gephardt. L’affaire avait fini par
embarrasser beaucoup de monde.

Les democrates se sont trouves divises entre leurs principes et
le souci de ne rien faire qui puisse nuire aux troupes americaines,
alors que la presse denombrait les electeurs d’origine armenienne dans
leur circonscription… " Tout cela s’est deroule il y a 100 ans, a
declare M. Murtha. Nous avons besoin d’allies si nous voulons gagner
cette guerre – en Irak – et ce n’est pas une region où nous en avons
beaucoup. "

La resolution a divise la communaute juive, certains responsables se
ralliant a la position israelienne, defavorable a tout ce qui irrite
Ankara. L’un des artisans du texte, le president de la commission
des affaires etrangères, Tom Lantos, un emigre hongrois rescape de
l’Holocauste, s’etait toujours oppose a la reconnaissance du genocide
armenien, jugeant que l’allie turc ne doit " pas etre humilie ". Il
a change d’avis en 2005, estimant qu’il fallait manifester a la
Turquie le mecontentement des Etats-Unis pour son refus d’ouvrir son
territoire aux troupes americaines avant l’invasion de l’Irak en 2003,
ainsi que pour ses bonnes relations avec la Syrie, y compris après
l’assassinat du premier ministre libanais Rafik Hariri, en 2005. " La
Turquie a ignore nos interets ", declarait-il. Comment pourrait-elle
" s’attendre a ce que les Etats-Unis la soutienne sur les sujets qui
lui tiennent a coeur ? "

–Boundary_(ID_Z0hOxeetjQFh2dCpP0C1Fw)–

ARMENIA GENOCIDE ROW
Elena Koinova

Sofia Echo
cide-row/id_25604/catid_5
Oct 22 2007
Bulgaria

It is a dispute that at once defies and urgently calls for resolution.

An October 10 decision by the US house of representatives foreign
affairs committee labelling the 1915-18 mass killings of Armenians,
committed by an Ottoman Empire in decay, as "genocide" has put
US-Turkish bilateral relations on a knife edge.

The US and Turkey, staunch Nato allies for decades, have a strong
record of military co-operation, the most notable recent example
being the American-led campaign in Iraq. Turkey has been the main
supply route for the US, the conduit for 70 per cent of US air cargo,
for half the US fuel, food and (among others), the outpost for air
carriers at Incirlik air base.

Recently, however, Iraq has been a bone of contention between
Washington and Ankara. While the US has been trying to narrow its
military activity in Iraq, under multilateral pressure to discard "a
four-year futile effort", it has consistently refused to back Turkey
in its campaign against guerrillas from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party
(PKK). Turkey wanted the US to legitimise its entry into northern Iraq,
where about 3500 PKK troops are said to be in hiding.

Against the background of US refusal to acquiesce in such a campaign,
and the recent outbreaks of PKK violence – in the past month alone,
30 Turkish soldiers and civilians have been killed – the decision by
a congressional committee to take an anti-Turkish stance set Turkey
on the course of reciprocal – if not retaliatory – action.

In a 27-21 vote, the foreign affairs committee approved the "genocide"
draft resolution, which is expected to be approved when it is put to
the house of representatives in November, according to international
media reports.

Even though it has curbed its 84-year secular establishment, an
Islamist-governed Turkey is firm in protecting the Kemalist legacy
in foreign policy making. With regard to the Armenian issue, it is
the Ottoman Empire and not the latter-day republic that is to be held
accountable. What is more, the resolution relates to the killing of
300 000 Armenians and not to 1.5 million, which is the standpoint
of Armenia, alongside more than 20 countries, among them France,
Germany and Russia, that have labelled what happened genocide.

Turkey has been unyielding on the issue to the point of renouncing
military co-operation agreements with France, the first country to
pass a genocide resolution. Turkey has been as recalcitrant as to
afford no trade-off between its EU membership aspirations and its
standpoint on the issue when Germany, when president of the EU, put
forward EU-wide recognition of the Armenian genocide within a wider
pan-European resolution condemning racism and xenophobia.

The October 10 decision, which put the US on the side of Turkey’s
opponents on the issue, sparked an immediate outcry among Turkish
people. It appeared to mean nothing less than Turkey had less to lose
if it ventured unilateral action in Iraq.

In a very first move, Turkey recalled its ambassador to the US for
10 days for "consultations". Though the Turkish foreign ministry
insisted that the recall was not tantamount to withdrawal, the move
spurred speculation about what had changed on Turkey’s strategic board.

Next, Turkish prime minister Recep Tayiip Erdogan requested
parliamentary authorisation for entry to Iraq as a move to obliterate
Kurdish cells. The Turkish parliament twice gave this endorsement in
2003, but no military action ensued.

Now the situation is different. The Turkish army has stationed 600
000 troops on the Turkish-Iraqi border and Turkey is no longer that
keen on getting international endorsement.

Turkey boldly told the US that on passage of the Armenian genocide
resolution, Ankara would cut off US supply routes and withdraw access
to the Incirlik air base and subsistence and maintenance support.

Facing a defiant Turkey, the US – itself with enfeebled support
on Iraq – has used all diplomatic means to bridge what appear to
be diametrically disparate positions. Within the past week, the US
has made multiple attempts to soften the impact of the committee’s
"genocide" resolution.

The first came from US president George Bush, who called on the house
of representatives to refrain from voting on an Armenian genocide
resolution. The second, issued by US secretary of state Condoleezza
Rice in Moscow, urged Turkey to refrain from unilateral action in
northern Iraq.

Furthermore, US assistant secretary of state Dan Fried and US
undersecretary of defence Eric Edelman were redirected from Moscow
to Ankara to conduct emergency talks with Turkey’s leadership. The
US officials were reported to have conveyed apologies for the
congressional committee’s resolution and to have made assurances that
the US president would seek to curb the implications of the decision.

Analysts, however, believe that the situation has reached a point of
no return and a change to the existing status quo is imminent.

In an analysis released October 14 in the Institute for National
Security Studies, Gallia Lindenstrauss said: "Given [Turkey’s
determination] and [that the country is] less likely to heed to
American warnings not to intervene, it is possible that the US will
decide to minimise the negative consequences of Turkish intervention
by providing at least partial co-operation."

She said that there was evidence about secret talks to this effect.

"This suggests that the possibility has already been extensively
discussed by the two sides, notwithstanding American concerns about
stability in the Kurdish-controlled autonomous area in the north of
Iraq and about a hostile reaction on the part of the Kurds, who have
been the most loyal American allies in Iraq," Lindenstrauss wrote.

Given also that the US is in much more need of Turkey as an ally, a
Turkish entry to Iraq – with the tacit condoning of the US, does not
look like an unrealistic scenario. The Turkish military has repeatedly
said that in the face of a clear and present danger, it will not
hesitate to act. All the more, it is about to scoop parliamentary
and governmental support – and with that – public support. Turkey’s
strategic drawing board is changing and it remains to be seen by
how much.

Armenian protesters demand Israel recognize genocide by Turks

Associated Press , THE JERUSALEM POST

Oct. 22, 2007

Jerusalem’s tiny Armenian community held banners and flags at a
protest Monday to demand that Israel recognize the mass killings of
ethnic Armenians in Turkey nearly a century ago as genocide.

About 100 people stood outside the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem,
singing songs in Armenian and holding banners. A group of teenage
girls stood in school uniforms alongside an elderly woman holding a
sign that read, "I am a survivor," in English and Hebrew, and others
waved colorful flags.

Israel has become a player in the US debate. Armenians expect Israel
to sympathize with their demands, because of the Jewish state was
built in the shadow of the Nazi Holocaust of World War II. But Turkey
has threatened to cool its ties with Israel if it doesn’t use its
influence in Washington to quell the campaign. Turkey is one of
Israel’s few Muslim allies.

Source: 625140&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

ARMENIANS READY TO HOST CHURCH LEADER
By Niraj Warikoo

Detroit Free Press, MI
/20071021/NEWS05/710210590/0/NEWS06
Oct 21 2007

At Sunday school last week, the priest wagged his finger at the
children to remind them to attend a special evening service with
their top religious leader.

"We don’t need tricks this Halloween," the Rev. Garabed Kochakian,
pastor of St. John Armenian Church in Southfield, said he told the
kids. "We need treats, and the big treat is that our holy father is
here. We couldn’t ask for anything more. … There’s no excuse not to
attend. This happens once in your life. You can go trick-or-treating
next year."

Kochakian’s message underscored the importance to the local Armenian
community — one of the largest in the United States — of the
coming visit of the Catholicos Karekin II, the supreme patriarch of
7 million Armenian Christians worldwide. He is the 132nd leader in
a tradition that stretches back more than 1,700 years and is deeply
felt by thousands of Armenians in metro Detroit.

At least 14,000 Michiganders claim Armenian roots, according to 2005
U.S. census figures, though community leaders say there are twice
that number and more in metro Detroit alone.

Kochakian and a team of nearly 100 Armenians are putting in long
hours to make sure the patriarch’s visit — the last stop of an
18-city national tour — will be memorable. This is Karekin’s first
U.S. tour. He visited the Detroit area briefly in 2005.

"When he’s flying back, Detroit will be the place he’s thinking about,"
Kochakian said.

The visit, planned for months, comes at a time of close attention to
the history of Armenians, especially the deaths of up to 1.5 million
in the early 20th Century. The U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee
voted Oct. 10 to label the deaths as genocide caused by Turks, which
infuriated the Turkish government.

As it happens, Karekin was scheduled that day to open the U.S. House
session with a prayer. Introduced by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi,
a strong supporter of the genocide resolution, Karekin said:

"Grant rest to the souls of all victims of crimes against humanity
and bestow peace and justice on their descendants. Give pause to
those who trample life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

Later that day, the committee vote set off a fiery reaction from
Turkey. Since then, some backers of the resolution have had second
thoughts and indicated they would not support it in a vote of the
full House.

The White House has lobbied hard against the resolution, arguing
it would jeopardize the United States’ relationship with Turkey,
an ally needed for the Iraq war and other foreign policies.

For many Armenians, Karekin’s visit reinforces their commitment to
historical truth.

"Throughout our history, because of our beliefs as Christians,
Armenians have suffered," said Marty Shoushanian of Farmington Hills.

"That’s what makes this visit even more significant. All this time,
we have not lost our faith … but as a result we have been punished
throughout time."

Even if the resolution fails, the genocide issue has been pushed into
the U.S. public arena.

"The truth has been unleashed," Kochakian said. "The lid is off. I
have never seen the Armenian genocide so talked about than it has
over the past week … and that is good. … No matter what, we will
not stop to speak the truth until it is acknowledged."

Karekin started his tour Oct. 3 in New York and is making his way
across the country, from Boston to Florida to Dallas. Along the way,
his assistants are recording many of his appearances and posting them
online soon after at

In metro Detroit, St. John Church will be the main focus of Karekin’s
Oct. 30-Nov. 1 visit. With 3,000 members, St. John is the largest
parish in the Eastern Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church,
which stretches east from the Rocky Mountains.

The patriarch wants to encourage worshippers to make home and their
families — not just bricks-and-mortar buildings — a focus for
their faith. To that end, priests in metro Detroit have been blessing
Armenian homes according to ancient rituals.

Churches are trying to encourage a new generation of Armenians to
sustain their ancient faith. Kochakian said he wants to make the
faith relevant to people’s lives so "it’s no longer just something
in a storybook."

Every year, St. John helps teenagers travel to Armenia to reconnect
with their traditions. The patriarch’s visit will help those who
can’t make it abroad.

"Not everyone can go to Armenia, but he has brought Armenia here,"
Kochakian said.