Author: Zakarian Garnik

NEW OSCE PA CHAIRMAN READY TO CONTRIBUTE TO NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT SETTLEMENT

Armradio.am
04.07.2008 17:02

The newly elected Chairman of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly is
prepared to make all possible efforts to settle the ‘frozen’ Nagorno
Karabakh conflict.

"We will be trying to resolve this problem with common efforts. I
should say that it is also in my disposal as a newly elected Chairman
of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly. I will be trying to do all the
best and use all resources that we have to search ways of resolving
the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict," Chairman of the OSCE Parliamentary
Assembly, Joao Soares said in Astana, Trend News reported.

According to him, the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly should play a
decisive role in this process. "I highly appreciate the words of OSCE
Chairman, Alexander Stubb, who said that the OSCE should not only
manage conflicts, but also resolve the problems and conflicts. And I
fully support this," Soares said during the 17th session of the OSCE
Parliamentary Assembly in Astana.

"I want to note that I can not work a miracle, but we will be trying
to do our utmost" he assured.

AZERBAIJANI DIPLOMACY HOLDS NO VICTORY
Lilit Poghosyan

Hayots Ashkhar Daily
Published on July 01, 2008
Armenia

Thus, in the frameworks of their regional visit, the Co-Chairs of the
Minsk Group yesterday visited Stepanakert and had a meeting with the
NKR authorities.

Was this a "pro-forma" visit or do the Co-Chairs still hope that
it will be possible to push the Azerbaijani authorities towards the
implementation of the "Madrid" proposals prior to the presidential
elections?

VAHRAM ATANESYAN

Head of the NA Committee on Foreign Relations

"In general, I don’t think that any visit of the Co-Chairs may be
considered as a regular one, because if such visits were of regular,
usual and ordinary nature, the Co-Chairs would prefer not to visit the
region at all. That’s to say, each visit does really mean something.

As shown by the overall results of the visits, the international
community, on behalf of the Co-Chairs of the Minsk Group, is interested
in the settlement of the conflict. As to what extent the parties
perceive that attitude is a different matter. But the Co-Chairs are
trying to find a mutually acceptable solution which cannot give way
to any divergence of opinions.

As regards the most recent visit of the Co-Chairs, it should be
estimated the G-8 Foreign Ministers’ joint statement in the context
of the confirmations concerning the settlement of the Karabakh
conflict. My impression is that they are an additional proof showing
that the mediators do not approve the conflict settlement prospect
supported and urged forward by Azerbaijan."

"Do you mean Azerbaijan’s ambitions for "solving" the problem through
military operations?"

"The matter is first of all addressed to the efforts of bringing the
settlement process beyond the frameworks of the OSCE Minsk Group and
transferring it to other international tribunals, particularly, the UN
Security Council and Assembly. And the enthusiasm of the Azerbaijani
diplomacy seems to be giving way after the adoption of the well-known
UN Resolution.

In particular, I believe that the agreement reached between the two
Presidents with regard to continuing the talks based on the Madrid
principles testifies to the fact that Azerbaijan’s attacking policy
in the panorama of the undesirable pre-electoral and post-electoral
developments of Armenia is beginning to retreat.

In the meantime, Azerbaijan is certainly trying to reiterate
its willingness of solving the problem through military
operations. Although the word does not suit the language of diplomacy,
I don’t find a better characterization at the moment. If it is
announced on the level of the President that the first stage of the
war is over, and Azerbaijan is always ready to solve the problem
through military operations, this can be estimated as an undisguised
pressure against the international community and the mediators.

Interpreting Azerbaijan’s attitude, we can state the following: if
the mediators insist on settling the conflict based upon the Madrid
principles, i.e. there’s no respect for the territorial integrity
of Azerbaijan, resuming the military operations remains the only
way for the latter to solve the problem. Because, to the best of
our knowledge, those principles envisage the definition of the NKR
status through a referendum. Azerbaijan naturally admits the fact
with a great sorrow, perceiving it as a mechanism of legalizing the
secession of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic.

Judging by all, the last visit of the Co-Chairs was aimed at mitigating
the anxiety of the Azerbaijani side. As to what extent they succeeded
in their efforts will be shown by the further development of the
negotiation process.

"To what extent is your optimism about the retreat of Azerbaijan’s
attacking policy justified, taking into consideration the fact that
the Azerbaijani delegation gained the successive advantage over us by
‘thrusting in’ the anti-Armenian formulation passed by the UN into
the PACE Resolution?"

"In general, I would advise or rather, ask the Armenian delegation not
to overload itself and avoid initiating debates with the Azerbaijani
party.

I believe it would be more proper to simply state that if Azerbaijan
has problems with Nagorno Karabakh, this is none of Armenia’s business,
and Azerbaijan had better display its willingness by initiating
a direct dialogue with Karabakh with the purpose of settling its
problems.

That’s to say, the Armenian party doesn’t have initiate a debate
with the Azeris on most different topics such as ecological issues,
human rights etc.

Nevertheless, I think that restoring territorial integrity is the
general political attitude of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council
of Europe, and it applies not only to Azerbaijan but also to Georgia
and Moldova. This may be considered as one of the manifestations of
the East-West conflicts.

The Azerbaijani diplomacy has held no victory at this point because
the conversation is about the principle of territorial integrity
in general.

What does territorial integrity mean, and which are the internationally
recognized borders of Azerbaijan? These are the questions that should
be discussed on the legal plane. The thing is that Azerbaijan is now
making claims for a territory which has never formed part of its
statehood. In my opinion, the declarative statements on restoring
territorial integrity should be viewed in this context."

"There is a widespread opinion that the West, on behalf of the Council
of Europe, demonstrated a mild attitude towards us by not applying
any sanctions with the purpose of imposing concessions with regard
to the Karabakh issue. Is it possible to have a serious approach to
this viewpoint?"

"I think these are merely tricks used with the purpose of gaining
some dividends in the internal political campaign. I am sincerely
sorry that an issue like the Karabakh conflict becomes a subject of
political speculations.

As regards the allegations that the Council of Europe had a mild
attitude to Armenia, they probably mean the authorities of Armenia. And
a mild or non-mild attitude towards the authorities may be displayed
by the public, society and the electorate responsible for forming
those authorities. If the present-day authorities have been formed by
the major part of the electorate, it is necessary to respect their
decision and initiate the step-by-step implementation of all the
activities aimed at strengthening construction work on the state level,
fostering the country’s economy and increasing its military power.

That’s to say, it is necessary to make goal-oriented steps to solve
the problems we are facing. And if it is impossible to solve global
problems, we must be able to at least resist the challenges faced by
the whole region and especially Armenia.

STRATEGY MUSTN’T CHANGE

Thus, in the framework of their regional visit Minsk Group co-Chairmen
visited Stepanakert and met with NKR authorities.

Is it a regular meeting or the mediators really hope to avert the
process of "blockading" the Madrid process by Azerbaijan.

Political Analyst Davit Babayan

"The visit of the co-Chairmen is of both political and protocol nature.

Protocol – because the co-Chairmen regularly visit the region and every
time, besides meeting with Armenian and Azerbaijani leadership they
visit Artsakh. Thus in essence they prove that NKR is a conflicting
party, though at the moment it doesn’t partake in the negotiation
process. In this regard this visit can be considered a regular visit.

On the other hand, the recent developments make this visit very
important from the political point of view.

Let’s start from the fact that Kosovo declared its independence
recently and many countries did recognize this independence, which
gives a new energy to the settlement of the conflict. On March 4 as
we know the Azerbaijanis violated the cease-fire. After this negative
event the co-Chairmen should have visited the region and discussed
it with NKR President, the authorities and the government. It’s
worth mentioning that the government has changed in the countries
of the region, both Armenia and Karabakh have new Presidents, new
Presidential elections are in store for Azerbaijan in autumn, and in
this regard the regular visit of the co-Chairmen to the region a bit
differs from the previous ones.

NKR President and the government have reconfirmed Artsakh’s stance
regarding the peaceful settlement of the conflict and that Azerbaijan’s
bellicose announcements hinder the process of the negotiations."

"How do you estimate the fact that Azerbaijan managed to repeat its
famous resolution in PACE, regarding the "liberation of the occupied
territories by Azerbaijan?"

"Thus Azerbaijan is doing its best to hide it’s anti-democratic
policy towards the national minorities. We all know that during the
recent weeks and even months the idea of the national sovereignty
is bursting among the lezgies, talishis and avars. They have already
appealed to Daghistan, Russia and the whole world anticipating that
the international community will somehow respond to the violation of
the minorities’ rights.

It is natural that Azerbaijanis intend to gain dividends, trying to
decline the attention of the international community and bring it
to Armenia’s internal political problems. It is evident and we must
always take it into account."

"The leaders of the "pan-national" movement don’t even hide that their
goal is to convince PACE use political sanctions against Armenia."

"The recent developments testify to the fact that the rivalry has
become sharper between the two geopolitical poles. And if at present
any European or western structure or state uses political sanctions
against Armenia it will definitely change the ratio of the forces in
the region.

At the moment it is not beneficial for anyone especially the West
to use political sanctions against Armenia, that can have impact on
Armenia’s foreign policy. That is why I don’t think it can happen.

Of course it is beneficial for certain internal and foreign
powers. Firstly for Azerbaijan, which can gain dividends in case of
Armenia’s "pro-Russian" stance, representing itself as the champion
of the western values."

"Has Armenia’s policy regarding Karabakh changed after the "coup
d’état", or everything is the same?"

"In general the strategy of the settlement of Karabakh conflict should
be the same for Armenian people. There can be some changes in terms
of the tactics, but the main approach must be the same, which is –
Karabakh can’t be part of Azerbaijan.

The second principle, which is not less important, is the guarantee of
Artsakh’s security. In this regard, in my view nothing has changed and
it cannot change because the majority of the people doesn’t question
these two principles. In this case the change of government cannot
have any influence on the policy regarding Karabakh."

–Boundary_(ID_dGf8/WVXrjimnCX/kX qjqg)–

POLICE BEHAVED LIKE OBSERVER DURING INCIDENT IN NORTHERN AVENUE, EYE-WITNESSES ASSERT

NOYAN TAPAN

Ju ly 3

Levon Ter-Petrosian’s general headquarters gave its estimation to
the incident of July 2 evening, according to which, that "barbarity
is the acting style of the current criminal regime, the goal of which
is to intimidate thousands of citizens, who rose to struggle against
that regime, to frighten them to take part in the July 4 republican
rally, for which that regime did not have an aversion to use the
hired riff-raff."

According to the report received from the headquarters, nearly 20 men
invaded into Northern Avenue, acting in an insulting and instigating
way, attacked the citizens being there and taking part in the daily
"political walks." A brawl started, in which several citizens were
beaten.

"During the whole attack of these hired criminals the policemen being
near the scene behaved like observers not undertaking any adequate
steps, moreover, they sponsored them and according to the observers,
undertook measures against those trying to video all that."

NO CHEER AS BEER BOWS OUT

Newham Recorder
02 July 2008
UK

NEWHAM 15-year-old Jake Beer’s bid for glory at the European Cadet
Championships in Plodvid, Bulgaria last week ended at the quarter-final
stage of the championships.

In the 50kg division, the Newham ABC prospect clashed with
high-standard Ukraine rival Ruslan Struk.

In a keenly-fought contest the Newham boxer (pictured) found the
target with some accurate punches at long range.

However, the strong Ukrainian fired back with his own scoring shots
and at the final bell was given a 16-7 points victory by the ringside
judges.

The Newham BC entry made an impressive debut on the international
scene when he clearly outscored Latvian rival Romtse Maxim in his
opening bout at the event, which has attracted outstanding youngsters
from all over the continent.

Newham clubmate George Veness was eliminated from the championships
by talented Armenian competitor Narek Abgary.

The Armenian finished with an 18-9 points’ verdict on the official
scorecards.

ARMENIA, AZERBAIJAN HAVE GOOD CHANCE TO RESOLVE NAGORNO-KARABAKH ISSUE – OSCE PA PRESIDENT

Interfax News Agency
June 29 2008
Russia

Yerevan and Baku have a good chance to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh
issue, OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President Goran Lennmarker said.

"We have been aspiring to find a solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict for a number of years. There is an intermediate solution;
it will have a positive influence on Azeri-Armenian relations,"
Lennmarker said at the 17th annual OSCE PA session in Astana on Sunday.

"I would like to say that a gold opportunity to resolve this conflict
has emerged. It is time to find a solution," he said.

NAGORNO-KARABAKH’S AZERBAIJANI COMMUNITY CALLS ON OSCE MINSK GROUP’S CO-CHAIRMEN TO IMPACT ARMENIA

Trend News Agency
juNE 20, 2008
Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan, Baku, 27 June /Trend News corr I. Alizade/ The head
of the Azerbaijani community of Nagorno-Karabakh Nizami Bahmanov
calls on OSCE Minsk Group’s co-chairmen to impact Armenia to settle
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. "Co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group must
direct Armenia to fulfil the requirements of the Resolution on the
situation in the occupied territory of Azerbaijan which was passed
at the UN General Assembly," Bahmanov said to Trend News on 27 June.

On 14 March, 2008, UN General Assembly passed an Azerbaijan-presented
Resolution on the situation in the occupied territory of
Azerbaijan. The document urges for immediate, full and unconditional
withdrawal of Armenia’s forces from all occupied territories of
Azerbaijan.

On 26 June, Minsk Group co-chairmen’s visit to the region
began. On 27 June, they met with Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar
Mammadyarov. They will visit Armenia and onwards Nagorno-Karabakh.

The conflict between the two countries of the South Caucasus began in
1988 due to Armenian territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan
lost the Nagorno-Karabakh, except of Shusha and Khojali, in December
1991. In 1992-93, Armenian Armed Forces occupied Shusha, Khojali and
Nagorno-Karabakh’s seven surrounding regions. In 1994, Azerbaijan
and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement at which time the active
hostilities ended. The sides are still holding peaceful but fruitless
negotiations.

OSCE Minsk Group, co-chairmen of which are USA, Russia and France,
is mediating in peace settlement of the conflict.

Bahmanov said the limit to extent time by Minsk Group has expired. He
said Azerbaijani Community of Nagorno-Karabakh opposes Minks Group
co-chairmen’s visit to Nagorno-Karabakh. "Armenian community
of Nagorno-Karabakh has no lever to impact the negotiation
process. Therefore, Minks Group co-chairs’ visit to the occupied
territory of Azerbaijan has no importance. These visits show that
Russia is still sticking to its former position and they are of
manipulation character," said Bahmanov.

SARDAR JALALOGHLU: "AZADLYG BLOC MADE AN UNEXPECTED DECISION ABOUT BOYCOTT WITHOUT CONSULTING WITH ANYONE"

Today.Az
27 June 2008

Day.Az interview with chairman of the Democratic Party of Azerbaijan
Sardar Jalaloghlu.

– How does the party’s preparation for presidential election proceed?

– Amendments, introduced to the Electoral Code, have created an
atmosphere of uncertainly, initiating discussions inside the party
about the expediency to take part in the presidential racings. Some
party activists insist on rejecting to participate in the elections
and in this connection they demand the session of the party.

Until today the elections in Azerbaijan have been formal, including
meetings with voters, election agitation, speeches on television,
participation of voters and others. At the same time, the results of
elections remained changeless, thus real results of voting differed
from formal ones.

Today, after amendments are introduced, the formal side of presidential
elections will be absent. We have decided to take part in the elections
before the amendments were adopted. The situation has recently
cghanged. As is known, PACE has adopted a resolution "On functioning
of democratic institutions in Azerbaijan", which fixes serious concerns
with worsened situation in the sphere of human rights in Azerbaijan.

– Under which conditions would you want to participate in the
presidential racings?

– Under conditions when participation in the elections would have
a sense.

It is clear that it will be impossible to win the presidential
elections in Azerbaijan in such conditions. Nevertheless, it is
necessary at least to change the policy of the authorities. The
party decided to take part in the elections considering it,
but the amendments to the law have deprived us of this chance as
well. Therefore, there is an atmosphere of uncertainty within the
party as to the participation in the elections.

– Does it mean you also intend to boycott the elections?

– In this case the issue is not the boycott. I treat the issue of
boycott seriously, unlike others. Boycott is even more serious than the
participation in the elections. At least we can reject participating
in the elections.

– Does it mean that the democratic party decided to support Azadlyg?

– To support Azadlyg is not a crime. The bloc made an unexpected
decision about boycott without consulting with anyone or putting it
for public discussion. Before initiating boycott, they should have
conducted public discussions. The decision to boycott elections
should have been passed through democratic procedures. As far as I
know, the leaders of Azadlyg bloc decided to boycott the elections
without a session, by sitting in their homes and calling each other
by cell phones. We hope the country’s president will not sign these
amendments to the law. We are still waiting. There are two motives
of participation in the presidential elections. First is to come to
power and second to fight for democratic processes in the country
and sometimes the second is more important that the first.

– Did Azadlyg bloc suggest you to boycott elections? Because, when
I was waiting for you to receive me I saw one of the bloc leaders-
Ali Aliyev, leaving your office…

– Talks between political organizations start when their positions
coincide.

Yesterday I also met with a leader of another bloc. Talks are held
on different issues with various political associations. However,
we pass the final decision. Today a number of our colleagues blame
us for intention to take part in the elections. But the point that
the stronger the international image of Azerbaijan is affected the
stronger is the threat posed to the national interests of the country.

Being a politician, I can reject participating in the elections
for meeting my own interests and show the world community the
anti-democracy of the ruling powers. In the result, world states start
to press Azerbaijan for concessions and put forward more demands in
Nagorno Karabakh issue. And which position should I take, being a
person, who pursues the national interests of the country? Of course,
I would try not to affect the international image of Azerbaijan.

ARMENIAN PRESIDENT PROLONGES NAZARYAN CHAIRMANSHIP IN PUBLIC SERVICES REGULATORY COMMISISON

ARKA
June 27

On Friday, Armenian President Serge Sargsyan reappointed Robert
Nazaryan as chairman of Public Services Regulatory Commission for
another five-year term, presidential press office reports.

The decree takes force on June 1.

Robert Nazaryan took up the commission chairmanship on July 1,
2003. Before that, he was the mayor of Yerevan.

The commission is in charge of utilities regulation.

TANER AKCAM’S RESPONSE TO YUSUF HALACOGLU ARTICLE –

TARAF,
Sunday,
June 15, 2008

TIME TO EXPOSE LIES

It is time to put an end to the primitive and deceitful policy of
the Turkish Historical Society, based on lies and propaganda for
internal public opinion and a cause for embarrassment for Turkey and
Turkish historians

First, I would like to thank Ayse Hur for providing a summary of
the Ottoman Archives research covered in my book titled The Armenian
Problem Is Solved – Armenian Related Policies During Wartime According
To Ottoman Archives (Iletisim Publishers, January 2008). Ayse Hur
also included sections from my book criticizing Halacoglu, in an
article titled "Akcam Asks Questions, Halacoglu Remains Silent."

Before I respond to Halacoglu’s article, I would like to provide some
context in order not to be drowned in minute details back and forth.

THE FALSIFICATION ABOUT 1397

Those claiming that there was no genocidal intent or mass destruction
in the 1915 Armenian Deportations often use the argument that all
civil servants who maltreated the Armenians, attacked the convoys
or murdered the deportees were arrested and prosecuted. Accordingly,
some government officials who exploited the situation were investigated
and sent to courts, a total of 1397 people were tried, a majority of
them were convicted and given various sentences, including capital
punishment.

I have demonstrated in my book that based on the Ottoman Archives,
this argument is not correct. There are no documents in the Ottoman
Archives related to prosecution and punishment of government officials
accused of Armenians’ murders. The Ittihat Terakki party in power
had no such policy; on the contrary, I have documented that if any
government officials were by chance accused of any such crimes, the
government took steps to have them discharged immediately. I have also
documented on several occasions how the Ittihat Terakki government
eliminated a few of their own officials who could potentially cause
future allegations related to the Armenian case.

ATTENTION AND CARE ABOUT PROPERTY NOT HUMAN BEINGS

One of the facts that is clearly evident in the Ottoman Archives
is that the Ittihat Terakki government, which had shown no care
toward the Armenians as human beings, did show extra care and
attention toward the possessions and properties left behind by the
Armenians. The government took extraordinary precautions to ensure
that all these possessions were converted to state ownership. The
special commissions or trials set up to investigate the wrongdoings
related to the Armenians were all about the government officials who
attempted to personally plunder, steal or take over ownership of the
Armenians’ properties. There has been absolutely no investigation
or trial by the Ittihat Terakki government about those who committed
crimes against the Armenians or who organized the massacres.

I had explained in my book how Yusuf Halacoglu leads the campaign
of lies in this subject, by giving an example from his book titled
The Armenian Deportations and Truths (1914-1918) (Turkish Historical
Society, Ankara, 2001). I had accused him of revising the Ottoman
Archives and by deliberately providing misinformation. Halacoglu in
his responding article merely repeats and confirms that I am right.

In his book, in the chapter titled "Attacks on the Armenian Convoys
and Preventive Measures Taken by the Government," Halacoglu writes
that "special investigative commissions were formed in order to
prosecute the officials accused of neglect of duty or illegal
activities." He further claims that "government officials who were
accused of wrongdoings and maltreating the Armenians were prosecuted,"
and that "they were taken to the Military Tribunals for severe
punishment." Halacoglu bases these words on the following Archival
Document No. 12 (Internal Ciphers Directory 54-A/236; 55-A/146:
55-A/157: 58-A/141; 58-A/278; 61/165; 57/105; 57/116; 57/143; 57/416;
59/196; 59/235) .

In fact, Yusuf Halacoglu is lying, as none of these archival
documents relate to Military Tribunals and punishment of officials
for maltreatment of Armenians. As I have shown in my book, one by
one for each document, these are all related to personal enrichment
crimes of officials plundering, stealing or converting ownership of
the properties and possessions left behind by the Armenians.

In these documents, Talat Pasha directs officials to comment (59/196),
to investigate (55-A/156), to fire from duty the accused persons
(57/143). Two other documents are related to seeking authority to
take the personal enrichment cases to the Military Tribunal (57/146,
61/165).

Halacoglu not only dared to present these documents as "trial and
punishment of government officials at Military Tribunals charged
with maltreating the Armenians," but he also used documents "praising
government officials for successful deportation activities" for the
same purpose. For example, the document no. 58-A/141, dated November
28, 1915, is a telegram from Talat Pasha to Cemal Pasha, reminding
Cemal that he has no right to fire a local governor for maltreatment,
praising the fired official and instructing Cemal to reinstate him.

I have asked in my book and pose the same question again: Isn’t it
shameful, isn’t it criminal in the name of scientific research to use
these documents as evidence that "government officials maltreating the
Armenians were prosecuted and punished, including capital punishment?"

NEW DOCUMENT NO. 13 OUT OF A HAT

What could be expected from Yusuf Halacoglu as a response to my
allegations?

Shouldn’t he use my documents, one by one, to prove or disprove
that I have told the truth? Instead, in his article he responds by
referring to another book of his and writes: "Akcam’s questions are
answered with the necessary documents." In his book titled Armenian
Allegations from Deportation to Genocide, in the Section titled
"Guilty Deportation Officials" (Pages 91-96), the same information,
same documents exist as in his 2001 book that I criticized. There
are also 12 new documents unrelated to my criticism.

That is, there is absolutely no change.

My criticism was that none of the new 12 documents shed light on the
punishment of government officials charged with the maltreatment of
Armenians. Halacoglu does not and cannot say "These documents show
that there is information about punishment of government officials for
maltreating the Armenians." Instead, he produces a new Document No. 13.

But funnily enough, this new document further reinforces my criticism.

As can be seen, this new document, dated March 12, 1916, relates to
sixteen trials of the Syria Military Tribunal. Of the sixteen trials,
fourteen are related to the personal plunder and stealing of properties
and possessions left behind by the Armenians. The last two are about
Circassian Ahmet (Halacoglu erroneously writes Recep, son of Ahmet,
whereas the correct names are Ahmet, son of Recep). Nine cases were
discharged outright and the accused released. Five cases resulted in
guilty verdicts but punishments were deferred (Please see Appendix
for the translation). The aforementioned Circassian Ahmet was a
member of the Teskilat-i Mahsusa (Special Organization), executed on
September 17, 1915. Talat Pasha had sent a telegram to Cemal Pasha,
authorizing the execution, saying that: "His death is immediately
required, otherwise, he can cause us harm in the future."

The execution of a few undesirable Teskilat-i Mahsusa members is
further covered in my book (pages 247-252).

THERE ARE NO NEW FACTS

I will repeat my questions, again and again: Are there any trials
and prosecutions against anyone for maltreating the Armenians, FOR
HARMING THE ARMENIANS AS HUMAN BEINGS? The answer is NO. Are there
any officials arrested by chance for other crimes, but released by
the Central government?

YES. The Ittihat Terakki government has never organized any trials
related to the massacres but if any accused officials were to be
arrested, it did everything possible to have them released. Are
there any trials and prosecutions of government officials for
personal plunder of the property and possessions left behind by the
Armenians? YES. Have these been successful? NO. This is evident from
any and all documents. Property and possessions plundered personally
have remained in the ownership of these persons. We do not need any
documents for these. Anatolia is still full of these stories.

My second criticism of Halacoglu’s book, Armenian Deportations and
Truths, relates to another deceitful thesis. Halacoglu states that
"The Abandoned Properties Commissions paid funds from the proceeds
of the sold properties to the deportees. The resettled refugees used
these payments to start new businesses and quickly adapted to their new
environment." Halacoglu uses three documents to support this argument
(DH. SFR. 57/348; 57/349; 57/350).

As can be seen, there is a great thesis and three documents. The thesis
is that the Armenians were paid monies in lieu of their properties
left behind.

This is completely untrue, and Halacoglu is deliberately lying. It is
in vain to find any documents in the Ottoman Archives related to funds
paid to the Armenians; such documents do not exist and therefore,
the supporters of this thesis can lie indiscriminately. When
Halacoglu referred to three archival documents about "monies paid
to the Armenians and about Armenians using these monies to set up
businesses in their new settlements," he perhaps thought that no one
would investigate these three documents. These three documents are all
from Eskishehir, and they refer to monies to be sent to the Governor
of Aleppo, not to be given to the Armenians, but to cover the expenses
of the local government during the Armenian deportation activities.

WHY ARE THOUSANDS OF ARCHIVAL DOCUMENTS MISSING?

It is impossible to have only three puny documents to support the
argument of considerable transfer of funds to the Armenians. There
should have been hundreds of thousands of documents about the Armenians
deported to Syria and Iraq. These documents simply do not exist. There
is a simple argument to refute this deceitful thesis. If we consider
the official government declaration dated March 11, 1919, it states
that 101,747 Armenians did return to their homes after the war. Did
any government official ask these Armenians: "Brother, we paid you
for your sold possessions when you resettled elsewhere, now, you have
to pay back…"

THE LIE ABOUT AID

When one reads Halacoglu’s response, it becomes apparent that his
argument changes from financial payment to the resettled Armenians to
financial aid to Armenians during the deportations. He refers to some
documents about government fund transfers to cover the deportation
expenses. While doing this, he brazenly falsifies the archival
documents. As an example, he refers to a report by Dr. W. M. Post,
a doctor at the American Hospital in Konya.

The doctor states that "Armenians are paid 1 kurus (piastre)
per adult and 20 para per child." It is obvious that Halacoglu
has not researched this subject, as he states that he got this
information from his colleague Kemal Cicek. Kemal Cicek is an expert
in document falsification. He has published the said falsified
document of Dr. Post in his book titled, Armenians’ Forced Emigration
1915-1917. Readers interested in the original complete reports can
refer to Ara Sarafyan (ed.), United States Official Record on the
Armenian Genocide 1915-1917, Princeton, London: Gomidas Institute,
2004, pages 245-257. Dr. Post explains the Konya deportation camp
where "there are absolutely no sanitary conditions, average 30 to 40
people die daily, rape, murder, bribe and kidnapping is rampant." Kemal
Cicek’s version does not refer to these facts. The payment of 1 kurus
per adult and 20 para per child is a limited arrangement for a few
days. But Halacoglu applies this with a magical trick to all the
Armenian convoys, throughout the entire duration of the deportations.

There is no limit to the document falsification and revisionism
in Halacoglu’s world. In his response, he writes that "foreign aid
organizations received permission to help the Armenians with Talat
Pasha’s signature." I refer the reader to my book, pages 306-320,
which explains how the Ottoman government refused any help to the
Armenians from the foreign aid organizations. In fact, Ottoman archival
documents clearly show that not only was the foreign aid refused,
but any foreigners trying to aid the Armenians were threatened,
arrested and imprisoned.

FEDERAL COUNCILOR OF SWITZERLAND TO VISIT ARMENIA

armradio.am
25.06.2008 13:42

On June 26 the delegation headed by Federal Councilor of the Swiss
Confederation, Head of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, Mrs.

Micheline Calmy-Rey will arrive in Yerevan on a two-day working visit.

In the framework of the visit Mrs. Micheline Calmy-Rey is scheduled
to meet with RA President Serzh Sargsyan and Foreign Minister Edward
Nalbandian.