Author: Zargarian Hambik

Office of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
Lisa Kalustian, Chief Deputy Director
300 South Spring Street, Suite 16701
Los Angeles, CA 90013
(213) 897-0322
FAX (213)897-0319
[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>

GOVERNOR SCHWARZENEGGER ANNOUNCES APPOINTMENTS

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today announced the following appointments:

Matthew Bogoshian, 46, of Salinas, has been appointed deputy secretary for
law enforcement and general counsel for the California Environmental
Protection Agency (Cal/EPA). Since 1995, he has served as a deputy district
attorney for the Monterey County District Attorney’s Office. From 1992 to
1994, Bogoshian was an associate with the law firm Briggs & Alexander. He
previously served as an officer in the U.S. Navy JAG Corps from 1989 to 1992
and was a teacher at Crawford High School in San Diego from 1984 to 1985.
Bogoshian is a founding member and former chair of the California
Environmental Prosecution Protection Fund. He currently serves as leader of
the Tri-County Environmental Task Force, encompassing Monterey, Santa Cruz
and San Benito counties, which he also founded. Bogoshian is also a member
of the California District Attorneys Association’s Training, Budget and
Planning Committees. This position does not require Senate confirmation and
the compensation is $122,424. Bogoshian is a Democrat.

###

Hayots Ashkharh, Armenia
Aug 25 2007

SPARTAK SEYRANYAN: WHAT’S THE PURPOSE OF THEIR NOMINATION?

Alternative is first of all rivalry

Whether the political developments sketched on the native
political arena prior to the autumn round of the pre-election
maneuvers serve as grounds to assume that the upcoming Presidential
elections may `get off the rails’? SPARTAK SEYRANYAN, member of the
ARFD Supreme Body, gives answers to our questions.

`The political forces are preparing for the heated autumn, and
this is a natural and regular process. It is, however, necessary to
state that there is one factor which has become the peculiarity of
the political processes in Armenia during the recent years, and, by
the way, in a negative sense. I mean the existing bustle, which
though formally visible and perceivable, is devoid of sense in terms
of contents.
There are assiduous discussions over the issue whether the
Opposition will run for election on a united front or on separate
fronts and how many candidates the pro-Government wing will propose
for Presidency… Different scenarios for the re-arrangement of the
political forces and pre-election alliances are being discussed …
In my deepest conviction, these are fruitless and ineffective
conversations because there is something extremely important that is
being ignored: society and the overwhelming majority of the political
forces expressing public opinion does not have the answer to the
following question: why are they or their preferred candidate
participating in the Presidential elections? What’s the purpose of
their nomination?
Today, if we gather the representatives of the Armenian political
elite, put weights in front of them and say, `Come up and try to
uplift it’, I am sure many of them will refuse to do so. And they
have absolutely no complexes; it is beyond their powers, that’s why
they do not uplift it. And the following question comes up: what made
them decide that ruling the country is much easier than uplifting
weights? Why don’t the same people hire a shoemaker for driving their
service-car, and they call a driver instead? Why do they think that
anyone can be trusted to take the helm of state regardless his
experience, ideas and programs?
Perhaps, it is time to revise this approach and, before making a
statement about specific candidates, united to-be-Presidents and
formats, speak about the programs and sketch the objectives.’
`Is it possible in this context that the pro-Government camp, on
behalf of the Dashnaktsutyun, and not the Opposition, may propose to
the public the real alternative we have heard of a thousand times
before but never seen, as they say?’
`I wouldn’t like to engage myself in fortune-telling now. There is
one thing I would like to say: all the analyses, predictions about
the possible scenarios of the Presidential elections, (I apologize to
the authors of those analyses) are made on the most profane,
apolitical level: if …, what if…, what if the things go this or
that way … It is not allowed to be guided by the `if-then’ principle
in politics. When people sit together and have some discussions by
reading the tea-leaves, I just don’t consider it serious.
On the other hand, I am more than sure that if the political
forces representing the Government or the pro-Government camp run for
Presidency with 5 vs. 2 or 3 candidates, those people will rank as
top 5 candidates. And there is an objective explanation to this. The
thing is not that those political forces have had some achievements
during the past 5 years. The thing is that the pro-Opposition
factions which have so far tried to act as an alternative to the
authority in power, have convincingly shown during the recent years
that they cannot be an alternative to the ruling authorities in terms
of either their programs and ideas or their tactics.
Alternative is first of all rivalry, and it is in such rivalry
that by introducing your programs to your colleagues, you have the
opportunity of both correcting yourself and influencing the
approaches in certain matters. I believe this is a natural and
regular process in any society.
In conditions of the Armenian reality, such political approaches
are perceived painfully and, certainly, against the black-and-white
background. Because, the goal is forgotten in this case too. And when
there is no goal, the principle of appropriateness comes to replace
it. These are not merely words. If the goal is not visible,
everything else changes into appropriateness; if they find it
appropriate to act in this particular manner today, they act like
this, if there is something else they will find appropriate tomorrow,
they’ll do everything in a different way.
That’s to say, there is no ideological struggle, there is no
rivalry in terms of programs, and people do many things purely based
upon the principle of appropriateness.’
`The chief intrigue of the pre-autumn political discussions are
the rumors about the `return’ of ex-President Levon Ter-Petrosyan,
and some people try to present this factor as the pivot of the
upcoming political developments. Isn’t the goal more than transparent
in this case, i.e. to proceed with what remained unaccomplished in
1998 and return the country to the Armenian pan-National
Movement-based sources?’
`The intrigue exists, but the element of content is missing in
this case too. What is the `essence’ of the intrigue? Whether or not
Mr. Ter Petrosyan will advance his candidacy and whether or not he
will run for election or be nominated? That is, the content aspect is
disregarded again.
I don’t think the matter is that the ex-President, like any other
RA citizen, has, naturally, the right to be nominated. Neither do I
think that there are political circles and individual activists in
Armenia that dream about Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s return, and they may
even propose his candidacy. But the chief intrigue does not consist
in that; it is on a different plane in terms of contents: whether the
ex-President is coming as a political figure who resigned from power
in his time and still pursues the tasks he set in 1998 or he is
coming as a new political figure with new programs, approaches
corrected principles etc.?
If the answer is the first variant, this is not a return but an
attempt of revenge. If it is the second, let him come and stand the
test with his ideas and programs. In this respect, I repeat, I don’t
see any intrigue. On the contrary, I see an opportunity for society
to estimate and try to evaluate the following: what did the country’s
national development strategic policy changed in 1998 and re-approved
in 2003 give the people and the state? What did the policy
implemented before that bring? What conditions did it create for our
country and our people and where was it leading them to? With regard
to the `specific candidate’, I am sure Levon Ter-Petrosyan is a much
more serious man than those who speak about his return.’
`In some circles of society there is a false opinion that the
present-day Government does not differ from the former in any
aspect.’
`It wouldn’t be right to say that the present-day Government or
the policy conducted at present have nothing to do with the policy
implemented under the rule of the former Government. Moreover, it
would be wrong to say that it repeats its predecessor or forms its
organic continuation. If the criterion consists in the approaches
towards the country’s development, then the answer is in the
positive: the policy conducted at present cannot stand in diametric
opposition with the preceding one. And it would be very strange if it
were, because, after all, there are regularities by which the world
develops, and it is necessary to keep the on-going character of the
developments at this point.’
And here, the issue is on a different plane again, i.e. the
national development strategy is different. Currently we have several
fundamental strategic tasks, e.g. the Artsakh issue, the
international recognition of the Armenian Genocide, the
Armenia-Diaspora relations, the consolidation of pan-Armenian
potentials, the full use of the nation’s potentials. In so far as
these issues are concerned, there are vast differences between the
former and the present-day authorities in terms of not only ideas,
but also specific activities. As to the economic policy, both the
former and the present-day authorities are guided by the principles
of free market and liberal economy.
But there is an essential difference at this point too – the
social issues were pushed against the background under the rule of
the former authorities. With regard to the present-day authorities,
especially the most recent 2 Governments formed after the 2003
elections, their programs have a distinct social trend, and the
social component is becoming emphasized more and more.’
`According to the data of the Armenian pan-National Movement
analysts, Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s possible activeness in the power
hierarchy has given rise to an unprecedented panic and bustle. What
will you say in this regards?’
`For the past 10 years, we have been hearing constantly that the
Government is in a panic and even in agony. We hear specified dates
and hours for power shift, but, as we see, the power remains
unchanged. All those rumors remind of discussions characteristic to
soap-operas.
I see the contrary: no political process, either inside the
pro-Government or the pro-Opposition camp or the issue whether or nor
to nominate a candidate cannot give rise to a panic inside the
Government. Moreover, I am under the impression that the Opposition
is in a panic because those people are unable to achieve a common
agreement and decide whether it is better to unite or not to unite,
which activist is a more proper united candidate etc.

LILIT POGHOSYAN

ReliefWeb (press release), Switzerland
Aug 24 2007

Genocide in slow motion: How Darfur’s refugees are dying a protracted death

Source: American Jewish World Service (AJWS)

(excerpt)

Background

A delegation of US advocates participated in a mission to eastern
Chad to launch a global advocacy campaign to address the Darfur
crisis, and to interview refugees from Sudan and internally displaced
Chadians. The group also surveyed conditions in the camps – at the
Oure Cassoni refugee camp in Bahai, the Djabal refugee camp in Goz
Beida, and the Gouroukoum camp for internally displaced Chadians in
Goz Beida. After Chad, the group traveled to Kigali to discuss the
healing and reunification process with survivors of the 1994 Rwandan
genocide. The group traveled in eastern Chad from August 7 to 11,
2007 and in Rwanda from August 12 to 15, 2007.

The delegation in Chad consisted of: Mia Farrow, UNICEF Goodwill
Ambassador; Ruth Messinger, President of American Jewish World
Service; Ira Newble, an NBA player on the Cleveland Cavaliers; and
Jill Savitt, Director of Dream for Darfur. In Rwanda, the delegation
was joined by Omer Ismail, a Sudanese refugee, and Clare-Hope
Ashitey, an actor who appeared in Beyond the Gates, a film about the
Rwandan genocide, and the film Children of Men.

The advocacy campaign launched by the group is called Olympic Dream
for Darfur. The campaign is designed to press the Chinese government
for urgent action to end the Darfur crisis, using the 2008 Games as
leverage. China is the 2008 Olympic host and has proven to be
susceptible to pressure about Darfur because of this role. China is a
focal point because Beijing has unrivaled influence with Khartoum –
China is a close business partner and fierce diplomatic supporter of
the Sudanese regime and as such is complicit in the Darfur genocide.
The advocacy campaign involved the lighting of an Olympic-style torch
at events in both Chad and Rwanda as a way to call on China to press
President Bashir of Sudan to accept the implementation of an
international peacekeeping force for Darfur and to engage in a
goodfaith peace process. The campaign is also building a global
anti-genocide movement by uniting communities of genocide survivors
from different countries. The campaign travels next to Armenia,
Bosnia, Germany and Cambodia to involve the survivors of these
genocides in calling for an end to the crisis in Darfur.

The following report outlines the delegation’s observations from Chad
and Rwanda.

Refugees Are Experiencing Slow-Motion Genocide

The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of
Genocide clearly states that in addition to mass killings and
`deliberate bodily or mental harm with the intent to destroy a
national, ethnic or racial or religious group,’ the crime of genocide
also includes `deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of
life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or
in part.’ The case for genocide at the hands of the leaders in
Khartoum and their Janjaweed militias is clear. The United States
called the Darfur crisis a genocide three years ago. More than
200,000 Sudanese from Darfur have been killed – and the violence is
ongoing.

In addition to the direct killings, the population of the Darfur
region is now suffering genocide by attrition in refugee camps. By
refusing to allow international peacekeepers into Darfur and by
refusing to abide by its numerous ceasefire commitments, the regime
in Sudan prevents refugees from returning to their homes or to where
their villages stood. This keeps refugees in camps, where the
conditions amount to a slow-motion genocide of the survivors who
managed to flee deadly attacks.

The refugees with whom we spoke face sickness, disease and
malnutrition, as well as unsanitary conditions, trauma, emotional
instability and the inability to forge any semblance of a normal or
productive life. They are prevented from earning a living, receiving
an education, or living in a decent shelter. They are even at risk
collecting firewood for daily cooking, with constant fear of attack.

Trend News Agency, Azerbaijan
Aug 24 2007

Azerbaijani Organization Accuse Yerevan Representative of
International Committee of Red Cross in Cooperation with Armenians

Azerbaijan, Baku / Trend corr. K.Zarbaliyeva / Azerbaijani Public
Association for Support to Prisoners of War (POWs) and Captives
`Hasrat Yolu’ has accused the Yerevan officials of representatives of
the International Committee of the Red Cross in cooperation with
Armenians, Esmira Orujova, the chairman of the Association, said. She
was commenting the Armenian media reports on Azerbaijani captive
Samir Mammadov.

The Armenian sources have reported that Mammadov gave an interview to
the official of Yerevan representative of the Institution for War and
Peace Reporting (IWPR). In this interview published in AZG Mammadov
stated his refusal to return to Azerbaijan and wish to live in
Armenia. Mammadov appealed to the President of Armenia and explained
that expatriation to Azerbaijan he will be charged of parricide and
arrested for 15 or 20 years. Mammadov said that he was orphan and
refused to receive letters sent by his parents contending that he was
brought up in children’s home.

Orujova blamed the employees of the Yerevan office of ICRC in
cooperation with Armenians. `Azerbaijanis, who returned from Armenian
captive, say that ICRC employees propose them to live in Armenia or
to go to the third country at the first meeting. Then the captives
were informed that once they return to their motherland they will be
arrested,’ Orujova said.

Some 1,391 Azerbaijani citizens have been released from captivity so
far. Criminal proceedings have been instituted against 26 of them.

Touching upon orphanage of Mammadov, Orujova said that letters
written by prisoner, as well as letters sent to him by relatives were
written in special lists of ICRC. `The Committee is well-informed
about Samir’s family as the Yerevan representation of ICRC gives
letters to Samir,’ Orujova said.

Samir’s parents deny the interview given by Samir Mammadov, who was
taken prisoner by the Armenian Military Forces in December 2006.
Samir’s uncle, Vidadi Mammadov, regarded it as the next provocation
by Armenia.

Armenia was keen on preventing Mammadov’s returning back to
Azerbaijan, Mamadov said. `The documents collected at the school and
place of residence of Samir have been submitted to the Central office
of ICRC based in Geneva,’ V.Mammadov added.

Recently, Elmira Suleymanova, the Azerbaijani ombudswoman, had
appealed to the President of ICRC, Jacob Kellenberg, and submitted
the documents which deny the rumors concerning Mammadov’s being
orphan.

Gulnaz Mammadova, the spokesman for the Azerbaijani representation of
ICRC, noted that the organization cannot comment on the existing
situation. `ICRC holds monitoring regarding condition in prisons,
psychological state of prisoners, as well as renders assistance the
prisoners in holding correspondence with their relatives. ICRC is not
dealing with returning prisoners to their motherland or to the third
country,’ Mammadova said.

Samir Mammadov is a soldier of Military Unit N in Gazakh region of
Azerbaijan. Mammadov was called on military service by the Military
Commissariat of Barda region in 24 December 2006. Mammadov was taken
prison by the Armenian Military Forces in 15km of the military unit,
in Kazakh-Ijevan frontier line.

LEADER OF PEOPLE’S PARTY WRITES POLITICAL SONGS

Lragir.am
24-08-2007 12:59:50

The leader of the People’s Party Tigran Karapetyan stated August 24
at the Pastark Club as the presidential election is coming up, he is
as active as the other politicians are passive. He does not take the
meetings at the Metsalitsa cafe seriously. He says the politicians are
all preparing for the election but nobody wants to spend their money,
everyone wants to spend others’ money. He spends his money and spends
for the sake of people.

The leader of the People’s Party also said he cannot tell now if
there is anyone in the opposition who will be a real opponent to
Serge Sargsyan.

Tigran Karapetyan also criticized Samvel Babayan and Albert Bazeyan’s
joining to the Ramkavar Party of Armenia. He says these forces
have different political stances and have no common ideas. Tigran
Karapetyan referred to this union as "outside force" but did not
specify. As to him, he will only ally with those forces which share
his political approaches.

Tigran Karapetyan says soon he will hold a concert and will tell
stories from his life which might bring new shades to his image. The
leader of the People’s Party also stated to sing five new songs he
authored. These songs are about love but Tigran Karapetyan writes
political songs as well.

He recited two lines: "You always do the contrary, and you disgrace
yourself in the world." The reporters asked how he manages his
political activities and creates as well, Tigran Karapetyan said
there is creative urge in everyone, and everyone discovers it sooner
or later. He said he discovered rather late.

ARMENIAN FOREIGN MINISTER CONGRATULATED THE AMERICAN CO-CHAIR OF THE OSCE MINSK GROUP ON HIS MARRIAGE

arminfo
2007-08-23 12:07:00

Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan congratulated the American
co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group Matthew Bryza on his marriage. He
married today, 23 August with the Turk Zeyno Baran, the acting
press-secretary of the Armenian Foreign Ministry Vladimir Karapetyan
told ArmInfo.

To note, Zeyno Baran is director of the EurAsian policy of the American
research Hudson Institute in Washington. Because of marriage Bryza
will not take part in the meeting of Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar
Mammadyarov with the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group that will take
place in Brussels, on 3-4 September. As APA agency reports, 300 guests
are invited to take part in the wedding party not far from Istanbul.

ARMENIAN LOCALISATIONS OF WONDOWS VISTA AND MICROSOFT OFFICE 2007 TO BE AVAILABLE TO USERS IN LATE 2007

Noyan Tapan
Aug 23, 2007

YEREVAN, AUGUST 23, NOYAN TAPAN. The Armenian localisations of
Microsoft’s Windows Vista operational system and Microsoft Office 2007
package will be available to users in late 2007, the president of Bi
Line company (Armenia) Hayk Khanjyan told NT correspondent. Under
the agreement reached with Microsoft, Bi Line has carried out work
on Microsoft software’s Armenian localisation for two years.

According to him, the development of Windows Vista’s Armenian
localisation has almost been completed, while localisation of Microsoft
Office 2007 package has been done by 60-70%.

H. Khanjyan said that the localisation of Microsoft’s Windows XP
operational system was completed in February of this year, and
users of the licensed Windows XP system (English) may download the
Armenian localisation from the Internet, as well as get the Armenian
localization on a disc from the local representatives. The Armenian
localisations of Windows Vista and Microsoft Office 2007 will also
be available to users in this way.

RA COMMISSION ON PROTECTION OF ECONOMIC COMPETITION FINED SEVERAL ARMENIAN COMPANIES FOR ILLEGAL USE OF RUSSIAN AND UKRAINIAN VODKA BRANDS

arminfo
2007-08-22 12:40:00

RA Commission on protection of economic competition has fined the
‘Salex Group’ Armenian Company to 500,000 drams (about $1,5 thsd)
for illegal production and sale of the Ukrainian and Russian vodka.

The Commission found out that the Company uses the ‘Khloptsy’
and ‘Khortitsa’ Ukrainian vodka brands illegally. The reason for
investigation of the vodka market has become the letter of complaint of
Ambassador of Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to Armenia
Alexander Bozhko and the ‘Image holding’ Company, to which these brands
belong. The Commission has also cleared up that the ‘Salex Group’
uses the ell-known Russian brands Moskovskaya, Staraya Stolisa and
‘Gzhilka’ illegally. Another Armenian Company ‘Erebuni Alco’ was
fined to the sum of 500,000 drams for illegal production and sale of
the ‘Ukrainian Vodka’ vodka. The Armenian Company ‘Favourite Alco’,
which produces and sales ‘Kremlyovka’ vodka, was also fined to the
similar amount. According to the Commission decision, the whole illegal
production was withdrawn from circulation during a month. However,
the Commission’s experts say that the Armenian producers of vodka
keep on using the well- known Russian and Ukrainian brands illegally
since 2004. To note, in case of the second violation of the law,
the fine’s amount doubles. However, in case of the third violation,
the Commission has no administrative authorities.

For longtime ADL leader, a rare reversal of course

By Michael Levenson, Globe Staff | August 22, 2007

He has stood up to Mel Gibson, Jimmy Carter, Louis Farrakhan, and the
president of Iran. But Abraham H. Foxman, the director of the
Anti-Defamation League, backed down yesterday after a standoff with
Armenian-Americans in Watertown drew the attention of some of the nation’s
most prominent Jewish leaders.

Foxman, a Holocaust survivor, reversed course and acknowledged that the
slaughter of 1.5 million Armenians by Ottoman Turks was genocide. The change
stunned those who have followed Foxman’s 42-year career at the ADL, where he
has rarely bowed to critics.

Jewish leaders said Foxman, who has made it his life’s mission to fight
anti-Semitism and injustice, had little choice but to acknowledge the
Armenian genocide. Elie Wiesel, the famous Jewish author, had already
endorsed the position, and this week counseled Foxman to follow his lead.

"This issue resonated so deeply with the Jewish community that he simply
could not resist the pressures from below," said Harvard Law School
Professor Alan M. Dershowitz, a self-described Foxman fan. "He had to listen
to the people, and the people spoke in a loud and clear voice. The people
said: ‘Truth first. Politics second.’ "

Last week, Foxman fired Andrew H. Tarsy, the ADL’s New England director,
after Tarsy defied the national group’s policy and agreed to call the
Armenian massacre genocide. Foxman said he worried that using the term
genocide could alienate Turkey, a rare Muslim ally of Israel. In a letter,
Foxman wrote, "No organization can or should tolerate such an act of open
defiance."

The firing only fueled a perception of Foxman as unbending.

"He has ruled essentially by fiat," said David A. Lehrer, former head of the
ADL’s Los Angeles office, whom Foxman fired in 2001.

Lehrer said the conflict arose after he criticized the ADL for focusing more
on persecution of Jews and less on their strength as a community.

"A new generation of Jews isn’t afraid America might turn to an Inquisition
because of a Mel Gibson film, a silly joke on TV, or an anti-Israel comment
by a college professor," Lehrer wrote in the Los Angeles Jewish Journal in
2006.

A Catholic nanny raised Foxman as a Catholic, to conceal his identity in
Nazi-occupied Lithuania. In 1965, Foxman became a staff member of the ADL,
which was founded in 1913 to fight anti-Semitism. He became national
director in 1987. He gained a reputation as a forceful voice against
anti-Semitism, though not everyone agreed with his targets.

In 2003, after a private screening, he expressed concern that Gibson’s film,
"The Passion of the Christ," could fuel anti-Semitism by reinforcing the
notion of collective Jewish guilt in the death of Jesus.

For years, he has denounced what he says have been anti-Semitic comments by
Farrakhan, the Nation of Islam leader. He has excoriated President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad of Iran for his anti-Israeli rhetoric. And he has criticized
Carter for what he said were biases in his book, "Palestine: Peace Not
Apartheid."

"Abe has never suffered for a lack of ego strength," said Newton businessman
Steve Grossman, a former regional ADL board member. "He’s somebody who’s
always held strong positions and defended them fiercely."

His style has also molded the ADL. Foxman’s approach was to use the kind of
discipline more often seen in the military than in a nonprofit organization,
said Jonathan Sarna, a professor of Jewish history at Brandeis University.
But Foxman could not maintain his hold on the ADL’s position as pressure
mounted.

"He was blindsided and did not realize how the Armenian community,
influenced in many ways by the Jewish community, has seen the Armenian
genocide as a symbolic issue akin to what the Holocaust has been for the
Jews," Sarna said.

The controversy started last week when the Watertown Town Council pulled out
of an ADL program called No Place for Hate to protest the group’s refusal to
call the massacre genocide.

After Foxman fired Tarsy, an outcry followed from the Jewish Community
Relations Council of Greater Boston and Foxman allies, such as Alan D.
Solomont, a Boston philanthropist who urged Foxman to reconsider.

"It takes a real leader to recognize that and not hold a position that’s
both outmoded and morally unacceptable," Grossman said.

"I’ve got to thank Abe for having that kind of humility, for being able to
say, ‘I was wrong.’ "

Michael Levenson can be reached at [email protected].
(c) Copyright < right> 2007 The
New York Times Company

Source: icles/2007/08/22/for_longtime_adl_leader_a_rare_re versal_of_course/

Abe Foxman: the Armenian massacre was ‘tantamount to genocide’
X-Sender: Asbed Bedrossian <[email protected]>
X-Listprocessor-Version: 8.1 — ListProcessor(tm) by CREN

By Israel Insider staff
August 22, 2007

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) released a statement on Tuesday
saying that the Turkish massacre of Armenians between 1915 and 1918 was
"tantamount to genocide," not just an atrocity, the *Jerusalem
Post*< atellite?cid=1187502438160&pagename=JPost%2FJP Article%2FShowFull>reported.
The organization reformed its original position at the risk of
damaging Turkish-Israeli relations, which Turkish sources said was a
possibility.

Oddly enough, the ADL fired its New England regional director just days
before for calling the organization’s original stance "morally indefensible"
for refusing to use the word genocide.

Foxman responded to the director’s condemnation saying he had consulted with
"my friend and mentor" Elie Wiesel and other respected historians, "who
acknowledge this consensus. I hope that Turkey will understand that it is
Turkey’s friends who urge that nation to confront its past and work to
reconcile with Armenians over this dark chapter in history."

The statement read: "We have never negated, but have always described the
painful events of 1915-1918 perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire against the
Armenians as massacres and atrocities. On reflection, we have come to share
the view of Henry Morgenthau, Sr. [the US ambassador to the Ottoman Empire
during World War I], that the consequences of those actions were indeed
tantamount to genocide. If the word genocide had existed then, they would
have called it genocide."

The ADL’s policy until now was to refrain from offending Turkey in order to
”protect the interests of the Jewish community in Turkey, work for Israel’s
safety and security, and combat extremism,” as Abe Foxman, the ADL’s
director, and Glen Lewy, who is national chairman of the ADL, stated.

There is speculation that the ADL caved under pressure from the American
Jewish community to change its official view.

In an effort to reassure Turkey, Foxman stressed that the ADL does not
advocate a congressional resolution on the matter. Foxman also insisted that
the Jewish lobby would not shift its favor from Turkey to Armenia.

Turkish authorities have said frankly that one of the reasons for Turkey’s
close ties with Israel is the Jewish lobby in Washington and the help
various Jewish organizations have provided Ankara in defeating potentially
detrimental legislation over the years.

Source: 909.htm