Author: Tigranian Ani

TURKS IN WALES PROTEST ‘GENOCIDE’ MEMORIAL

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
Oct 10 2007

Turks living in the United Kingdom took action upon learning that
a memorial for the memory of the victims of the so-called Armenian
"genocide" at the hands of the Ottoman Empire would be erected in front
of the Temple of Peace in Cardiff, the capital of Wales, on Nov. 3.

In a letter to the archbishop of Wales and the Welsh Center of
International Peace, the British-Turkish Associations Federation
mentioned that the Armenian allegations of genocide were baseless and
that they, as Turkish citizens, were very sad that a memorial was to
be erected confirming the Armenian defamations.

The federation noted that the Armenian allegations of genocide had
not been verified by historians and that there is not consensus in
the international community about terming the incidents during the
collapse of the Ottoman Empire "genocide."

The federation’s letter acknowledged that some measures were taken
during the chaotic environment of 1915 to cut the support of Armenian
groups to enemy countries and that Armenians were dispatched to certain
regions under the framework of these measures. "Recognition of these
baseless allegations as ‘genocide’ will contradict the policy of the
Welsh Center of International Peace, which deemed peace a mission
for itself. Hence, we propose that you work together and search for
facts instead of admitting these allegations," the letter said. In the
letter it was also stressed that the Armenian allegations of genocide
were not even supported by world-famous historians such as Bernard
Lewis, Norman Stone, Justin McCarty, Stanford Shaw, David Fromkin,
Michael Gunter, Kamuran Gurun and Giller Veinstein.

ARFD ANTICIPATES CIVILIZED CAMPAIGN
Naira Khachatryan

Hayots Ashkharh Daily
Oct 9 2007
Armenia

ALVARD PETROSYAN, member of the ARFD Bureau was the guest-speaker of
"Urbat" club yesterday. The questions addressed to her were mainly
devoted to the internal political developments and the possible course
of the upcoming pre-election campaign

A. Petrosyan is the proponent of a civilized campaign. She also
shares the viewpoint that politics should not be confused with
politeness. Yesterday she offered to view Dasnaktsutyun’s meeting
with Levon Ter-Petrosyan from that angle.

Some people have confused Dashnaktsutyun’s hospitable reception of
L. Ter-Petrosyan with politics. We have our problems; L. Ter-Peteosyan
and his team have their own problems. But he came to us, and as a
hospitable host, we couldn’t but give him a polite reception. You
either receive someone hospitably or you do not receive him at all. I
am happy that the members of our party did receive him, because there
is nothing more important than your country’s future.

A. Petrosyan showed a deserved honor to the Republicans for ensuring
relevant conditions for a civilized campaign. "Since now the ruling
authority is in major part represented by the Republicans, I believe
that it is the Republican Party’s important achievement that it
managed to form a democratic atmosphere in which the ex-President of
the Republic and Dashnaktsutyun can meet and talk about a civilized
campaign, as two seemingly extreme ideological opponents".

With regard to Dashnaktsutyun’s running for election as an alternative,
the speaker finds that the political arena, like nature, cannot
consist of purely white and black figures. Considering the current
political demarcations strictly conventional, she said, "Who has
drawn any border-line between the black left-wing authority and the
white right-wing power? There also exists another segment.

The existence of ARFD’s political intellect as well as its great
life experience prompt new ways, new manifestations and a new
political culture. "I appreciated Pariyr Sevak very highly not only
for his poetry, (perhaps, there were poets I could love more, but my
generation perceived him in a different manner), but also for shaking
the atmosphere. Because when you shake the atmosphere, there is no
swamp, and it is no longer stuffy."

The fact that "Rule of Law" party quit the coalition and assumed a
pro-Opposition attitude has nothing to do with the political path
chosen by the Armenian Revolutionary Federation. Considering the
parallels unacceptable in this respect, the ARFD member said that,
"’Rule of Law’ had no history; I don’t absolutely humiliate them by
saying that, but it’s a very young party. The relations between Levon
Ter-Petrosyan and Dashnaktsutyun were a very serious classical story
in our newly-independent country. I cannot compare it with ‘Rule of
Law’, because I see no relationship there. The reaction, as you saw,
was different, and the public response was different as well."

In the near future ARFD is going to hold a new political campaign
that admits of neither of black PR nor lame accusations. According
to the member of the ARFD faction, their running for election will
impart a new spirit to the electoral process. "We will run for
election seriously. Perhaps, they think we are strengthening our
positions and so on and so forth. But I believe our participation
in these presidential elections is very important for ‘goldplating’
the civilized elections of this country, no matter who will be elected.

If Serge Sargsyan is to be elected, his election is much more serious
and ‘goldplated’ (sorry for using these words to make my speech
more expressive) when it is fixed and recorded that he has a very
serious political rival in the person of the candidate belonging
to Dashnaktsutyun.

We are all the time speaking about legitimacy, transparent and
fair elections, but to achieve that end, it is necessary to have
partners from both sides. I don’t think there is currently a more
serious partner than ARFD. And if Serge Sargsyan is elected tomorrow,
our participation will only make him stronger. If we are elected,
we will become stronger."

THE WORKING STYLE OF THE NEW ARMENIAN DELEGATION TO PACE HAS CHANGED

ArmInfo Agency, Armenia
Oct 8 2007

ArmInfo. The working style of the new Armenian delegation to PACE has
changed, namely, the delegation’s strategy has changed, the Head of
the Armenian Delegation to PACE, Chairman of the Standing Committee on
State-Legal Issues of the Armenian National Assembly Davit Harutyunyan
said at RA Na, Monday.

Asked if the Armenian delegation intends to change its policy,
taking into consideration the conduct of the Azerbaijani delegation,
D. Harutyunyan said "The Armenian delegation has never been passive.

When you answer this or that question involuntarily, you may get the
worst of it. We find other kinds of answers, which, I think, are more
effective. The Armenian delegation is working out new methods for
confronting Azerbaijan’s propaganda machine". However, D. Harutyunyan
didn’t want to specify what steps, namely, the delegation is going
to take.

To note, the Armenian delegation to PACE includes the Chairman of
the Standing Committee on European Integration, member of "Prosperous
Armenia" faction Avet Adonts, the Chairman of the Standing committee
on Foreign Relations, member of ARF "Dashnaktsutyun" faction Armen
Rustamyan, the Leader of "Heritage" faction Raffi Hovannisian,
member of "Orinats Yerkir" faction Mher Shageldyan, as well as the
representative of the Republican faction Grigor Margaryan and the
representative of "Prosperous Armenia" faction Vahe Hovhannisian.

ADVANCED REFORMS FOR EU COULD CONVINCE PUBLIC OPINION

Turkish Daily News
Oct 8 2007

Turkey should continue its reform process and demonstrate that the
reforms will exist not only on paper but also in practice, if it is
to convince the European public opinion about its accession to the
European Union, prominent European politicians said Saturday.

A group of European and Turkish politicians, bureaucrats, academics
and journalists met in Istanbul over the weekend for the Bosporus
Conference organized by the British Council, the Center for European
Reform (CER) and the Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation
(TESEV). EU-Turkish relations were debated in a closed panel discussion
titled "The EU and Turkey: Drifting Apart?"

"Turkey should continue the reform process and demonstrate that it
wants to be part of a modern European secular democratic society
with a dynamic economy," Carl Bildt, foreign minister of Sweden said,
in an interview with the Turkish Daily News. A Senior European Union
official attending the same conference voiced a similar message telling
a Turkish television channel that Turkey must move ahead with laws
ensuring freedoms of religion and expression. Prosecuting writers
for criticising Turkish identity is unacceptable, EU Enlargement
Commissioner Olli Rehn told Turkish news Tv chanel NTVMSNBC, according
to Reuters.

Turkey has said it remains fully committed to joining the EU, but key
reforms such as an amendment or withdrawal of article 301, which can
be used to prosecute writers for "insulting Turkishness," are not
likely to be passed before an EU progress report in November. "It
is a human and moral issue. It is not acceptable that writers like
Orhan Pamuk and Elif Þafak are prosecuted based on this article,"
Reuters quoted Rehn saying in his interview with the tv channel.

Before the case against him was dropped, Pamuk was tried in Turkey last
year for telling a Swiss newspaper that 1 million Armenians had died
in Turkey during World War One and 30,000 Kurds had perished in recent
decades. Charges against novelist Þafak were also dropped last year.

Recent efforts by Turkey’s ruling party to change the country’s
constitution also should not delay reforms in expanding freedoms of
expression and religion, Rehn added. "The changes [to the Constitution]
can be a method for expanding fundamental rights and freedoms. But
the preparations should not delay the realisation of freedoms of
expression or religion," he said. Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoðan has
said previously that the new constitution will strengthen individual
rights and freedoms, but Turkish officials say article 301 will not be
revised nor overwritten in the new document. Lack of attention to laws
regarding freedom of speech by the ruling Justice and Development Party
(AKP) have led to criticism that the party is being selective in its
reform process. Turkey should prove that the progress is not on paper
but in real life as well, said French parliamentarian Elisabeth Guigou,
vice president of the Committee of Foreign Affairs.

People in Europe are confusing Turkey with Arab countries, and having
the courage to say that Turkey is not the same with Arab countries is
needed and it is the EU’s responsibility to convince public opinion,
Guigou said in an interview with the TDN.

Reforms in the judicial system, the police force and the social
structure are critically important, Guigou said and added: "The weight
of images is much more than words," referring to the role of media
in shaping public opinion.

Public opinion in countries like France, Germany, the Netherlands
and Austria is against Turkey’s EU accession. French President
Nicolas Sarkozy openly opposes Turkey’s membership while German
Chancellor Angela Merkel favors a privileged partnership instead of
full membership.

France and Germany are not the only countries skeptical about Turkey’s
EU accession, said Bildt, but added that he is fairly optimistic that
with further reforms in Turkey, and further evolvement of the EU,
it would be possible, in time, to overcome those obstacles created
by the skeptics.

No threat of Islamisation

Bildt does not see a threat of Islamisation in Turkey, and neither
do the EU ambassadors to Ankara whom he met during the conference.

"The Justice and Development Party (AKP) government has been very
active in pursuing the reform agenda. It would be fair to expect them
to accelerate the reform process," after an expected slow down due
to elections, he said.

EU would be an unmanageable place

Turkey’s membership to EU would trigger the accession of other
countries like the Ukraine, Russia and Moldavia, which would make the
EU unmanageable and a place without cohesion, said Frits Bolkestein,
the president of Telders foundation, a think-tank connected with
the Dutch Liberal Party. Bolkestein is known for opposing Turkey’s
accession to the EU. Turkey is already a member of the customs union
he said, and has a well performing economy, so what is attractive
about Turkey in the EU, he said. The majority of the European public
opinion is against Turkey’s accession, Bolkestein said, but it is not
much to do with the image of Turkey. The huge population of Turkey
is a critical fact too, he added.

The Turkish minority in the Netherlands and Germany would attract
quite a few Turks to settle there after the accession, Bolkestein said,
and that would not be a good thing.

–Boundary_(ID_piCjdtuBdFxbTleD5PVWxA)–

THE DISCUSSIONS IN UN TURN INTO A SHOW
Vardan Grigoryan

Hayots Ashkharh Daily
Oct 8 2007
Armenia

The recent speeches of Armenian and Azerbaijani Foreign Ministers
delivered in the 62nd Session of the UN General Assembly displayed
that the automatic inclusion of Karabakh issue in the list of the
"delayed conflicts" in GUAM territory and the discussion of the issue
from the UN tribune is not only turning into a waste of time but also
jeopardizes the prospect of the negotiations.

Of course the results of V. Oskanyan – E. Mamediarov "propaganda
skirmish" will be evident later, because the issue of shifting the
discussion of "delayed conflicts" to the UN General Assembly touches
not only upon the benefits of Armenia and Azerbaijan but also other
GUAM countries that have not only supporters but also opponents.

But according to Vardan Oskanyan’s well-aimed characteristics, the
variety of the contents of similar "basket" gives futile direction
to the negotiation process.

Here they have mixed not only the problems linked with the present
situation of Trans-Dniester, Abkhazia, South Ossia, and Nagorno
Karabakh, but also the interests of the super powers that have problems
with those and other "small empires" of former Soviet Union.

Thus they create a big hullabaloo and a wide opportunity to hamper
the solution of all those issues.

A question arises here, who benefits from this? Everyone knows that
the resolutions adopted by the UN General Assembly are not obligatory
and to move the process of the regulation of the before mentioned
conflicts, during the previous years the international community
has adopted certain formats and the negotiations on the regulation
of Karabakh issue are conducted under the auspices of OSCE Minsk
Group. The answer is evident; it is beneficial to those who are
interested in delaying the negotiation process, those who are not
ready for mutual concessions.

In other case there would have been no need to use GUAM format and
mix Karabakh issue with other post-soviet conflicts. With this
trick Azerbaijan is trying to set up a so-called "double ally"
against Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh. The first "layer" of this
ally is reserved for GUAM and the second one (a wider structure)
can seemingly be established by the western countries that support
the first one, in GUAM – Russia confrontation.

They are well conscious in Azerbaijan that there is no disagreement
between Russia, the USA, and France regarding the choice of a
model for the regulation of Karabakh conflict. The three of them
have unanimously elaborated a document, which is based on mutual
concessions and respecting the free will of NKR people. To avoid the
implementation of the document Azerbaijan is intentionally delaying
the negotiations and shifts Karabakh issue into GUAM, mixing it for
instance with South-Ossian and Abkhasian conflicts, in the solution of
which the whole West tends to support Georgian territorial integrity.

It is not accidental that V. Oskanyan’s recent speech in the UN
General Assembly was based on the emphases of the peculiarities of
each of the existing conflict. This time he observed the presently
discussed "Kosovo precedent" from the same point of view, thus giving
an "unpleasant surprise" to his Azerbaijani colleague. But V.

Oskanyan believes, the denial of the universality of "Kosovo
precedent" doesn’t mean that except Kosovoars no other people can
get independence.

The most interesting thing here is that, unlike his Armenian colleague,
Azerbaijani Foreign Minister had built his speech based only on
the denial of the universality of "Kosovo precedent", repeating the
international community’s evaluations expressed many times. Moreover,
he even included Russia in the list of those denying the universality
of "Kosovo precedent" and regarding Armenia he said, "Armenia can
say anything, in this respect. This state has occupied the territory
of its neighbor country. The same thing we can say about Kosovo
conflict. International community will never allow Kosovo issue to
become a precedent."

It turns out that baselessly entitling Armenia the intention to
use "Kosovo precedent" Azerbaijani Foreign Minister appeared in
a ridiculous situation, because in his speech V. Oskanyan didn’t
express similar idea. Another more ridiculous fact is that the same
accusation directed to Armenia about occupying the territories of
the neighbor country, E. Mamediarov addressed to Kosovo. It turns out
that Nagorno Karabakh is occupied not by Armenia but the Republic of
Nagorno Karabakh itself.

Thus, as shown by all this, together with other GUAM countries,
the discussions initiated by Azerbaijan in the UN General Assembly,
are turned into a propaganda show and are aimed at speculating and
unceasingly sharpening the contradictions in the post-soviet territory,
between Russia, the USA and the European Union, thus investigating the
results of the negotiations of the previous years in the framework of
OSCE Minsk Group, hold by the practical mediation of those countries.

ORINATS YERKIR TO NOMINATE PARTY CHAIRMAN FOR PRESIDENTIAL BALLOT

ARMENPRESS
Oct 03 2007

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 3, ARMENPRESS: Artashes Avoyan, a parliament member
from the opposition Orinats Yerkir, said today his party would like
all opposition groups to rally around a single candidate to challenge
the pro-government contender in next year’s presidential election,
but added that the existence of several opposition candidates does
not upset his party.

He reconfirmed that Orinats Yerkir chairman, a former parliament
speaker Arthur Baghdasarian will join the presidential race. Avoyan
said the decision was made at last week meeting of the Orinats Yerkir
leadership. He said Orinats Yerkir will have a congress in mid November
to formally nominated Baghdasarian as a presidential candidate.

Avoyan avoided saying what his party would do in case there is a second
round of the election, but he admitted that the Orinats Yerkir and
the Armenian National Movement of ex-president Levon Ter-Petrosian
contacted and may have more contacts in future.

According to official results of Armenia’s May 12 parliamentary
elections, the Orinats Yerkir won eight seats in the 131-member
National Assembly, more than any other opposition group.

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Pontifical Visit Media Advisory

His Holiness Karekin II

Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians

Pontifical Visit of the

Diocese of the Armenian Church of America (Eastern)

630 Second Avenue New York, New York 10016

Archbishop Khajag Barsamian, Primate

Pontifical Visit

Media Relations Office

Michael O’Hurley-Pitts, Ph.D.

Director

Telephone: 212.686.0710 ext. 154

[email protected]

Facsimile: 212.689.1934

Cellular: 212.533.0335

Sylvie Keshishian

Public Relations Director

Telephone: 212.686.0710 ext. 160

[email protected]

Facsimil e: 212.689.1934

EASTERN DIOCESE TO BROADCAST VIDEO CONTENT VIA WEBSITE

3 October 2007

New York – Archbishop Khajag Barsamian, Primate of the Diocese of the
Armenian Church of America (Eastern) is pleased to announce that the Diocese
has received a generous gift from the United Armenian Charities. The grant
was given specifically to make possible web casting throughout the
Pontifical Visit of His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and
Catholicos of All Armenians, to the Diocese of the Armenian Church of
America (Eastern).

Web casting, a system by which videos are shown on computer screens over the
internet, making them essentially "televisions" on which recorded programs
can be seen, is an increasingly important tool through which to keep in
touch with events as they happen. Over the past few years, web casting has
moved beyond entertainment and has emerged as a powerful and effective tool
by which churches, corporations and other organizations provide programming
worldwide where television and/or satellite broadcasting costs would
otherwise be prohibitive.

Beginning on Friday afternoon, October 5th, regular video programming can be
seen daily on the official Pontifical Visit web site:
<; .
Armenian-Americans in the Diocese, across the United States and throughout
the world, as well as the ecumenical and interfaith friends of the Armenian
Church, can take part in the Pontifical Visit of His Holiness Karekin II,
Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians by following liturgies,
programs and activities as His Holiness travels throughout the Diocese of
the Armenian Church of America (Eastern). His Holiness Karekin II will be
visiting 18 different cities in 14 states throughout the Eastern United
States between October 4th and November 3rd, 2007.

The use of state-of-the-art technology to reach the masses is nothing new to
the Catholicoi of the Armenian Church. His Holiness Catholicos Mgrditch
Khrimian, of blessed memory, used an early version of Thomas Edison’s wax
cylinder gramophones 100 years ago to record a message of peace, love and
greetings to his flock. Today, His Holiness Karekin II and the Mother See
of Holy Etchmiadzin employ a church-administered television studio to reach
Armenian Christians throughout the world.

His Eminence Archbishop Khajag Barsamian, Primate of the Diocese of the
Armenian Church of America (Eastern), noting the importance of this new
medium said, "Taking part in a Pontifical Divine Liturgy, Hrashapar service,
or being personally blessed by His Holiness is a great experience and an
honor. For those in mission parishes across the Americas or the world, who
don’t have the ability to take part in person, participating in the
Pontifical Visit by watching on the internet can help renew one’s sense of
belonging in the larger community and the Church."

One can take part in the liturgies and activities of His Holiness Karekin II
in the U.S. from all over the world, via a dial-up or high-speed/DSL
service. Additionally, video content will stay on the server so that people
can view it on-demand.

His Eminence Khajag Barsamian went on to explain, "Every day people will be
able to watch new videos of the Pontifical Visit – up to 1,000 persons at
any moment can watch without the video slowing down. Technology and
knowledge are gifts of God. Using them to bring people closer to the Church
is fitting."

Please log on to our website
<http://www.pontificalv isit.org/> to keep up to date with His Holiness’
Pontifical Visit.

PRESIDENT OF THE EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS TO VISIT ARMENIA

ArmRadio – Public Radio, Armenia
Oct 1 2007

Mr. Jean-Paul Costa, the President of the European Court of Human
Rights, will visit Armenia October 4-7, Press Secretary of RA Court
of Cassation Alina Yengoyan told Armenpress.

In Armenia Mr. Costa will participate in the 12th annual international
conference on the "International experience of cooperation between
the Constitutional Court and the Ombudsman in the field of human
rights protection" to be held in Yerevan October 4-6.

All the materials of the scientific forum will be published in the
"Constitutional Justice in the New Millennium" international almanac

The former President of the European Court of Human Rights visited
Armenia twice.

In the second half of October Bostjan Zupancic, President of the
Section 3 of the Court will arrive in Armenia. Section 3 is where
Armenian Judge Alvina Gyulumyan is included, and where the cases from
Armenia are considered.

The Observer, UK
Sept 30 2007

World Bank puts Armenian fraud case on hold

Britain wants action on reports that a water project is mired in
corruption. Heather Stewart reports

Sunday September 30, 2007
The Observer

Britain is urging the World Bank to investigate allegations of
corruption and embezzlement in a $35m (£17m) water project in
Armenia, which the Washington-based body says are only of ‘medium
priority’. Bruce Tasker, a British whistleblower, says he has
presented the bank with evidence of large-scale fraud in a project to
improve the water supply in the Armenian capital Yerevan, but it has
so far refused to carry out a full-blown investigation.

With its conciliatory new boss Robert Zoellick at the helm, the World
Bank is keen to make a fresh start after the humiliating departure of
Paul Wolfowitz earlier this year. Wolfowitz stormed into the bank
promising to crack down on corruption, but ended up being embroiled
in an ethics scandal of his own concerning lavish pay rises for his
girlfriend, Shaha Riza.
Persuading the world’s richest countries that their taxpayers’ money
is being well spent is a critical part of Zoellick’s job, but the
Armenian case is just one of a backlog of allegations waiting to be
examined by the Bank’s Institutional Integrity Department – or INT,
as it is known.

INT wrote to Washington-based pressure group the Government
Accountability Project (Gap), which is backing Tasker’s claims,
saying the case was ‘rank ordered "medium" priority, and as such
remains in a queue pending the availability of investigative
resources’.

The British Ambassador in Armenia has written to the World Bank,
urging it to carry out a full investigation.

‘We’ve run into a wall,’ said Gap’s director, Bea Edwards. ‘We have
extensive documentation. It involves high-level government officers,
a lot of money and basic services. What else do they want? They’ve
been completely unhelpful.’

She says the Armenian case is important, because it could point to
potential problems in the way other World Bank projects are run,
particularly in the former Soviet Union.

Tasker is a British engineer appointed by an Armenian parliamentary
commission investigating the Yerevan scheme. He claims that as soon
as he began to examine the details of the project, it became clear
that it was riddled with corruption, ‘from start to finish, from top
to bottom. The fact is it was not an isolated case of a few thousand
dollars here or there, it was tens of millions of dollars.’

The original purpose of the project was to repair Yerevan’s
pipelines, and improve the water supply to households, but he says
that by the time the work got under way it had shifted to installing
water meters instead.

Tasker claims contractors were able to pocket up to $10 profit on the
sale of each meter by charging customers for installation. His
commission was told that the average number of water meters per
customer was 1.5.

The bank’s failure to pursue the allegations underlines the critical
findings of a panel chaired by former Federal Reserve chairman Paul
Volcker, which revealed serious weaknesses in the way the way INT
investigates allegations of wrongdoing. INT is run by a Wolfowitz
appointee, Suzanne Folsom. Volcker’s team found that the unit had
achieved ‘some notable successes’, but warned of ‘serious operational
issues and severe strains in relations’ with other parts of the bank,
and said its work had sometimes contributed to ‘counterproductive
relations’ with both donor and recipient countries.

Wolfowitz’s critics had accused him of cracking down hard on alleged
corruption in countries where the US has a political axe to grind,
but turning a blind eye to problems in more friendly regions of the
world.

Jeff Powell, of pressure group the Bretton Woods project, said it was
still too often left to politicians to decide which allegations to
pursue. ‘This case is indicative of the fact that senior management
and the board of the World Bank have not taken seriously the issue of
corruption,’ he said.

A World Bank spokesman said he would not comment on a specific case.

AZG Armenian Daily #177, 29/09/2007

Genocide Recognition

ANCA WARNS AGAINST "OUTSOURCING" OF AMERICA’S MORAL CONSCIENCE TO
TURKEY

Fearing an imminent vote on the Armenian Genocide Resolution
(H.Res.106), Turkey’s multi-million dollar lobbyists have solicited
the assistance of eight former U.S. Secretaries of State in seeking to
derail this human rights legislation, reported the Armenian National
Committee of America (ANCA.)"Facing a growing bipartisan Congressional
majority demanding passage of the Armenian Genocide Resolution,
Turkey’s lobbyists – out of desperation and a never ending desire to
squeeze more billing dollars out of Ankara – have turned to the very
architects of our government’s failed policy of appeasing Turkey,"
said Aram Hamparian, Executive Director of the ANCA. "Sadly,
successive U.S. administrations have found themselves lacking the
moral courage to end the cycle of genocide – from Cambodia, to Rwanda
and, today in Darfur – precisely because of their legacy of caving in
to, rather than confronting genocidal regimes."

"We are, as Americans, especially troubled that, in warning Congress
not to make a simple anti-genocide statement for fear of upsetting
Turkey, these officials would outsource our nation’s moral conscience
to a foreign government," added Hamparian.

In their September 25th jointly-signed letter, former Secretaries of
State Madeleine Albright, James Baker III, Warren Christopher,
Laurence Eagleburger, Alexander Haig, Jr., Henry Kissinger, Colin
Powell, and George Schultz, urged Speaker Pelosi to, "prevent the
resolution from reaching the House Floor," thereby denying House
Members an opportunity to vote their conscience on the Armenian
Genocide. The former State Department officials expressed concern that
passage of the resolution "could endanger our national security
interests in the region, including our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan,
and damage efforts to promote reconciliation between Armenia and
Turkey."