Deutsche Presse-Agentur, Germany Tuesday 2:31 PM EST Rights group: Istanbul police break up memorial for Armenian killings Istanbul DPA POLITICS Turkey history Armenia Rights group: Istanbul police break up memorial for Armenian killings Istanbul Police in Istanbul broke up a memorial on Tuesday commemorating the deaths of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians in the Ottoman Empire during World War I, a leading human rights group said. Police objected to the terms "genocide" and "massacre," which were employed by speakers at the event, according to the Turkish Human Rights Association (IHD). Armenians regard the killings as genocide and have demanded recognition from Turkey, which denies the term, saying there were many deaths on all sides during the brutal war. April 24, the day deportations of Armenian intellectuals began in Istanbul in 1915, is marked as a memorial day. In recent years, rallies and marches have been held in Istanbul. "Police did not allow the memorial to take place and briefly detained three of our members for holding placards that included banned words," an IHD spokesperson told dpa. The Istanbul police department was not immediately available to comment. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan released a written statement saying Turkey continues to "share the pain" and "remember the Ottoman Armenians who lost their lives during the fierce and harsh conditions of the First World War." A number of nations around the world, including Germany, France and the Netherlands, have recognized the killings of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire as "genocide."
Category: 2018
Armenia’s political crisis explained: What comes next?
dpa international (Englischer Dienst), Germany Tuesday 2:18 PM GMT Armenia's political crisis explained: What comes next? by Peter Spinella in Moscow Moscow (dpa) - Representatives of the country's leadership and political opposition are expected to meet for negotiations, including the prospect of snap elections, after the prime minister resigned in less than a week. Armenia's prime minister, Serzh Sargsyan, tendered his resignation this week after a series of protests against his rule. Q: Why did he resign? A: Sargsyan, 63, was president of the former Soviet republic for a decade until he reached his term limit this year. He was out of power for a week and a half before parliament appointed him prime minister this month. As Sargsyan promoted his candidacy and then became prime minister, Armenia's capital, Yerevan, was jolted by several days of protests. "Sargsyan was not an oppressive leader," said Simon Saradzhyan, an international affairs expert at Harvard's Belfer Center. "When he realized that one of the likely alternatives to his resignation is bloodshed, he stepped down," Saradzhyan told dpa. Q: What does the political opposition demand? A: Opposition politicians, led by parliament member Nikol Pashinyan, had called for Sargsyan to be ousted and snap elections to be held. Representatives of the country's leadership and opposition are expected to meet on Wednesday for negotiations. The government is likely to offer partial concessions in an effort to divide the protest movement, said Mikael Zolyan, a political analyst at the Regional Studies Center think tank in Yerevan. "The opposition will keep up the pressure," Zolyan told dpa. "I suspect continued protests." Q: How had the prime minister's powers been increased? A: Armenia held a national referendum two-and-a-half years ago to strengthen the authority of the prime minister, directly appointed by parliament. The political system was thus to be changed from semi-presidential to a parliamentary republic. The referendum, firmly backed by the dominant Republican Party of Armenia, passed amid allegations of vote tampering. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which independently monitored the vote, had cited in its report "widespread irregularities, interference and intimidation in the voting and counting process throughout the country." Q: What's next? A: Whether the political opposition will be appeased largely depends on who the next prime minister will be. Currently, the previous prime minister, Karen Karapetyan, has resumed the post for the interim. "The Republican Party controls the majority of seats in parliament, so while there's a significant change, it is not revolutionary," said international affairs expert Saradzhyan. "I hope whoever ends up running the country realizes that there's deep discontent among the public with socio-economic ills, corruption, etc," he said.
“Yerevan-Maidan” Protests: What Happened in Armenia Was a Defeat for Democracy
Centre for Global Research, Canada
Tuesday
When 9 legislators out of 105 lead an increasingly violent movement to topple an elected government via what ultimately ended up becoming a low-intensity “military coup”, it’s usually a worrying sign that dictatorship and not democracy is right around the corner.
The Armenian Color Revolution was a success, and hyper-nationalist politician and small-time oligarch Nikol Pashinyan was able to pressure former President and now former Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan to resign from his position despite the latter’s insistence just yesterday morning that “the political force, which garnered 7-8% in the election, has no right to talk on behalf of the people” and “blackmail the state”. The end to his government came swiftly after his newfound EU allies betrayed him by demanding that the police release Pashinyan and the other arrested provocateurs (which might have included two suspected bombers), which Sargsyan promptly complied with earlier today. This coincided with hundreds of troops rushing out of their barracks and joining the “protesters”, prompting the patriotic representatives of the military to vow harsh legal punishment against all of the deserters.
Unfortunately for the constitutional order of the state, the now-former Prime Minister followed in his Ukrainian counterpart Yanukovich’s footsteps and refused to use force to resolve this Hybrid War crisis, choosing to resign instead of carry out the legal duty that was entrusted to him by his countrymen in restoring order to the streets. At this point, it’s unknown whether the conspiring troops were let out of their bases by some of their commanding officers who may have sympathized with the Californian diaspora–backed Color Revolution or if they disobeyed their superiors en mass and stormed out into the streets after overpowering the guards (some of whom may have also joined in), but whatever the case may be, this incident demonstrates a serious fracture within the armed forces that will surely continue to be exploited.
The combination of potentially “rebellious” military men in the streets coupled with a minority of hyper-nationalist Color Revolution politicians who have demagogically taken control of thousands of young minds in blackmailing the state to back down before their regime change demands implies that Armenia won’t see what is superficially regarded as “Western Democracy” anytime in the near future but could worryingly see the sort of dysfunctional dictatorship that has since formed in fellow “revolutionary” Ukraine, whose “EuroMaidan” events in Kiev nearly half a decade ago closely mirror what just happened in Yerevan. As for the international implications of this successful coup, the author wrote an analysis from last week about how “The Yerevan Protests Might End Armenia’s Unconvincing ‘Balancing’ Act”, and it’s recommended that the reader at least skim through it and some of its cited articles if they’re unfamiliar with this forecast.
The gist of it is that Armenia will more than likely pivot even faster to the West like it’s already been in the process of doing now that the shadowy Gulen-like California diaspora is on the verge of seizing total control of the state by proxy and have intimidated the population into accepting the “replacement” of their Russian-friendly “oligarchs” with American ones instead. Russia stands to lose from what just happened because the Pravy Sektor-esque hyper-nationalists might conveniently attempt to redirect society’s piqued anger towards their country’s historical partner now that it’s associated with the disgraced Sargsyan after President Putin ironically congratulated him last week for “[his] appointment to this responsible post (which) reaffirms [his] high political authority and broad support for the reforms aimed at solving the socioeconomic challenges facing Armenia.”
No matter how “convincingly” the globally powerful Armenian diaspora (and especially those headquartered in California) attempt to “spin” America’s latest Color Revolution success as a “victory for democracy and the people”, it shouldn’t be forgotten that Sargsyan caved in the face of EU pressure just like Yanukovich did and allowed his government to be toppled by a political force that he himself hypocritically said approximately 24 hours before his fall was only representative of 7-8% of the population and “had no right to talk on behalf of the people” or “blackmail the state”. It can only be speculated what happened in the intervening day to get him to so quickly change his mind, though it might have had something to do with the low-intensity “military coup” that began to unfold by what may have been “rebellious” troops.
Either way, democracy didn’t win in Armenia today – dictatorship did – and the future of the country hasn’t looked bleaker in recent memory, though just like in the immediate aftermath of “EuroMaidan”, the majority of people there haven’t realized it yet and some of them never will.
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This article was originally published on Eurasia Future.
Andrew Korybko is an American Moscow-based political analyst specializing in the relationship between the US strategy in Afro-Eurasia, China’s One Belt One Road global vision of New Silk Road connectivity, and Hybrid Warfare. He is a frequent contributor to Global Research.
Washington: 103rd anniversary of the Armenian Genocide (Senate – April 23, 2018)
Impact News Service Tuesday Washington: 103RD ANNIVERSARY OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE (Senate - April 23, 2018) Washington: The Library of Congress, The Government of USA has issued the following house proceeding: Mr. REED. Mr. President, this week we solemnly observe the 103rd anniversary of the Armenian genocide. Over a century ago, one of the greatest tragedies of the 20th century began when the Young Turk leaders of the Ottoman Empire executed more than 200 prominent Armenians. What followed was an 8-year systematic campaign of oppression and massacre. By 1923, an estimated 1.5 million Armenians were killed, and over a half a million survivors were exiled. These atrocities affected the lives of every Armenian living in Asia Minor and, indeed, across the globe. The U.S Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire during this dark time, Henry Morgenthau, Sr., unsuccessfully pleaded with President Wilson to take action and later remembered the events of the genocide, saying, ``I am confident that the whole history of the human race contains no such horrible episode as this. The great massacres and persecutions of the past seem almost insignificant when compared to the sufferings of the Armenian race in 1915.'' Clearly, the suffering of the Armenian people must never be forgotten. The survivors of the Armenian genocide, however, persevered due to their unbreakable spirit and steadfast resolve and went on to greatly contribute to the lands in which they found new homes and communities, including the United States. That is why we not only commemorate this grave tragedy each year, but we also take this moment to celebrate the traditions, the contributions, as well as the bright future of the Armenian people. Indeed, my home State of Rhode Island continues to be enriched by our strong and vibrant Armenian-American community. This genocide has been denied for far too long. To honor the memory of this tragedy, I have joined with several of my colleagues on resolutions over the years to encourage the U.S to officially recognize the Armenian genocide. As we remember the past, we remain committed to forging a brighter future. We must continue to guard against hatred and oppression so that we can prevent such crimes against humanity. As ranking member on the Senate Armed Services Committee, I remain committed to supporting assistance to Armenia to strengthen security, promote economic growth, and foster democratic reforms and development. We must find a way to come together to recognize the truth of what happened and to provide unwavering support and assistance to those facing persecution today.
Political enemies in Armenia come together to mark massacre by Ottoman Turks
The Independent (United Kingdom) Tuesday 4:59 PM GMT Political enemies in Armenia come together to mark massacre by Ottoman Turks Day after prime minister pushed out of office, government and opposition mark 103rd anniversary by Yuras Karmanau Armenia's government and the country's opposition are putting their differences aside Tuesday to mark the massacre of 1.5 million Armenians a century ago by Ottoman Turks. A day after the opposition succeeded in pushing the prime minister out of office, Armenians across the country are commemorating the massacre that began 103 years ago and which Armenians and many historians consider to be genocide. Turkey, successor of the Ottoman Empire, vehemently denies the claim and insists that the massacre was part of hostilities around World War I. Armenia's acting prime minister and other officials laid flowers at a hilltop memorial complex in Yerevan, the capital of the Caucasus Mountains country, early Tuesday along with thousands of residents. Leaders of the opposition and some 10,000 supporters marched to the memorial later. Protesters carried the Armenian tricolor and chanted the name of the protest leader Nikol Pashinian who was leading the procession. Read more Celebrations in Armenia as prime minister quits after days of protests Opposition supporters were celebrating the resignation of Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan on Monday after days of anti-government protests. "We need a change of government," said 43-year-old businessman Gregor Adamyan. "We're tired of pressure and corruption of one clan." The protests, which lasted 10 days, mostly focused on people's frustration with the current authorities. The coalition of the three parties leading the protest currently holds just 7 per cent of the parliamentary seats and has not taken any stand on relations with Russia, Armenia's key ally and economic donor. Ties with Russia did not appear to be at the forefront of most protesters, and many of those marching in Yerevan spoke favourably of Russia. Ruben Ter-Martirosyan, a 37-year-old unemployed man, wants to see a more balanced relationship between the two former Soviet nations: "Armenia needs to be a bridge between Russia and Europe, not a vassal of the Kremlin." Earlier Tuesday, a deputy Russian foreign minister earlier met with the Armenian ambassador in Moscow. The ministry said Moscow is following developments in Armenia closely and wishes the country a smooth and peaceful political transition. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a statement on Tuesday offered condolences "to the children and grandchildren of Ottoman Armenians who lost their lives during World War I." But in an apparent stab at Armenian authorities, he took the chance to criticise "those who resort to create hatred, grudge and hostility by distorting our common history." Russia has recognised the massacre as genocide. US President Donald Trump last year described it as "one of the worst mass atrocities of the 20th century," but stopped short of calling it genocide.
Protests Bring Down The Leader Of Armenia
The New York Times Tuesday Protests Bring Down The Leader Of Armenia By NEIL MacFARQUHAR and RICHARD PÉREZ-PEÑA; Neil MacFarquhar reported from Moscow and Richard Pérez-Peña from London. Ivan Nechepurenko contributed reporting from Moscow.. MOSCOW -- Ten days of demonstrations that escalated throughout Armenia forced the resignation Monday of the man who has led the country for the past decade, creating the latest crisis in a post-Soviet state trying to overcome a legacy of weak democratic rule. The unexpected resignation prompted scenes of jubilation in the capital, Yerevan, and other cities. Tens of thousands of people flocked to the central Republic Square in Yerevan, where all afternoon and into the night they danced, cheered and waved the Armenian flag, a striped tricolor of red, blue and orange. Serzh Sargsyan, president since 2008, reached his legal two-term limit earlier this month. A constitutional referendum in 2015 had transferred most presidential powers to the role of prime minister, however, and the Parliament, dominated by his right-wing Republican Party, swiftly voted him into the post with no other candidate given a chance. ''I was wrong,'' Mr. Sargsyan said in a brief resignation statement carried by the official news agency. ''The street movement is against my tenure. I am fulfilling your demand.'' The level of protest caught many by surprise. ''The way that they proceeded was so arrogant that it triggered a rather intense reaction that nobody expected,'' said Richard Giragosian, the director of the Regional Studies Center, a Yerevan think tank. Thousands of incensed Armenians, most of them young, swarmed through Republic Square starting on April 13. The protests gradually spread to other major cities in the tiny southern Caucasus nation, including Gyumri and Vanadzor. The pressure on Mr. Sargsyan, 63, to resign ratcheted up markedly on Monday after soldiers from one company of the country's prestigious peacekeeping force, which had served abroad in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kosovo, joined the march in Yerevan in their uniforms. ''All the momentum was with the street,'' said Thomas de Waal, an expert on the Caucasus region at Carnegie Europe in Brussels. Tuesday is Armenia's Genocide Memorial Day, when many of the country's more than 2.6 million people turn out onto the streets. It was expected to quickly turn into a vast anti-Sargsyan demonstration that would have been unthinkable to suppress by force, said Aleksandr M. Iskandaryan, the director of the Caucasus Institute in Yerevan. Mr. Sargsyan had promised last year not to try to extend his tenure in office by becoming prime minister when his presidential term ended. Karen Karapetyan, who had just left the post of prime minister to make way for Mr. Sargsyan, stepped in as acting prime minister. The rapid events threw the country into disarray. The new Constitution invests considerable power in the Parliament, and some expected snap elections to be called. The demonstrations were fueled by a new generation of Armenians disenchanted with the small elite of politicians and their oligarch allies who have long controlled the government and much of the economy, analysts said. The protesters dismissed the standard argument that Armenia needed unvarying leadership to negotiate an end to the conflict with neighboring Azerbaijan and to deal with the tense relations with Turkey on the other side. ''There is a new generation that wants change,'' Mr. de Waal said. ''The problem is that they do not really have a leader.'' Nikol Pashinyan, the opposition member of Parliament who led the protests, lacks a party and a large constituency. Mr. Sargsyan agreed to meet with Mr. Pashinyan on Sunday but stormed out of the meeting within minutes, claiming he was being blackmailed. Then Mr. Pashinyan and two of his opposition allies were detained overnight, after scores of demonstrators were also detained. The three opposition leaders figures were released on Monday. Mr. de Waal compared the protesters to the professional, urban elite who turned out to protest President Vladimir V. Putin's re-election in 2012 after he served as prime minister for one term to avoid term limits. Some Armenians even referred to their leader's maneuver as ''pulling a Putin,'' Mr. Giragosian of the Regional Studies Center said. Unlike Armenian leaders, however, Mr. Putin cracked down hard, sending in the riot police and making an example of some protesters with lengthy jail sentences. Any sign of government change through protests, like that in Ukraine, makes the Kremlin jittery, so the protests in Armenia garnered scant attention on Russian state television until Mr. Sargsyan resigned. Maria Zakharova, the Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman, praised the transition for being peaceful, saying, ''Armenia, Russia is always with you! Armenia, a Soviet state until declaring independence in 1991, remains a close partner of Russia in a volatile region, with a Russian military base at Gyumri. It has been locked for two decades in a low-grade war with Azerbaijan, another former Soviet republic, over control of a disputed enclave called Nagorno-Karabakh. Some Armenians accuse Russia of fueling a new outbreak of the fighting in 2016 by selling arms to both sides. Azerbaijan has long exploited unrest in Armenia to try to make gains in the conflict, which may be one reason Mr. Sargsyan acted swiftly, analysts said. Beyond that, the start of his presidency in 2008 was marred by street protests in which 10 people were killed and 100 injured -- so he was determined to keep the peace this time, they said. Apart from political and territorial tensions, the country also has suffered from a rocky economy in recent years. Armenia depends heavily on remittances from its diaspora, which grows by some 50,000 people annually, said Andrei G. Areshev, a researcher on the Caucasus at the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow. Armenians working in construction and other manual jobs in Russia were hit hard by the devaluation in the ruble in 2015, but they sent home $1.07 billion last year, according to records from the Central Bank. As prime minister, Mr. Karapetyan had helped the economy grow by fostering a technology sector, among other steps. Given that most key government officials, including the acting prime minister, are Sargsyan allies, it is unclear that his resignation will bring any immediate change, or what he protesters might do next. ''The government hoped the tide would die down, but the opposite happened,'' Mr. Iskandaryan said in Yerevan. URL:
Turkey succumbing to collective insanity
Washington Post
Tuesday
Damascus: Armenian Ambassador: Turkish acts in Syria are extension of what they committed against Armenians
Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA)
Tuesday
Armenian Ambassador: Turkish acts in Syria are extension of what they committed against Armenians
Damascus, SANA – Armenian Ambassador to Syria Arshak Poladian said that history repeats itself, and what Turkish politicians are perpetrating against the Syrian people nowadays is an extension of what they have done to the Armenian people in the past.
On April 24, the Armenians commemorate the anniversary of the genocide in which one and a half million Armenians were killed at the hands of the Ottoman Empire between 1915 and 1923, in one of the most repulsive massacres in human history.
Speaking to SANA, the Ambassador said that although 103 years have passed since the Armenian genocide, the Armenian people are still struggling to regain their rights and their stolen territory, adding that the issue of the Armenians is presented in international forums and the Armenian people insist on recognition and condemnation of the genocide.
Poladian pointed out that the Armenian tragedy was a crime of annihilating an entire nation and erasing its heritage and civilization, as it was the result of a tendency to establish a Turkish empire from Anatolia to the easternmost part of Asia.
The historical area of Armenia is more than 300,000 square kilometers, which is ten times the size of the current Republic of Armenia.
Manar al-Freih / Hazem Sabbagh
Damascus: Poladian: Turkish acts in Syria are extension of what they committed against Armenians
Syrian News Center, Syria
Tuesday
Poladian: Turkish acts in Syria are extension of what they committed against Armenians
On April 24, the Armenians commemorate the anniversary of the genocide in which 1 & a half million Armenians were killed at the hands of the Ottoman Empire between 1915 & 1923 in one of the most repulsive massacres in human history. Armenian Ambassador to Syria Dr. Arshag Poladian said that history repeats itself & what Turkish politicians are perpetrating against the Syrian people nowadays is an extension of what they have done to the Armenian people in the past. The Ambassador said that although 103 years have passed since the Armenian genocide, the Armenian people are still struggling to regain their rights & their stolen territory, adding that the issue of the Armenians is presented in international forums & the Armenian people insist on recognition & condemnation of the genocide. Poladian pointed out that the Armenian tragedy was a crime of annihilating an entire nation & erasing its heritage & civilization as it was the result of a tendency to establish a Turkish empire from Anatolia to the easternmost part of Asia. The historical area of Armenia is more than 300000 square kilometers which is 10 times the size of the current Republic of Armenia.
Rep. Hoyer Issues Statement on Anniversary of Armenian Genocide
Targeted News Service Tuesday 9:20 AM EST Rep. Hoyer Issues Statement on Anniversary of Armenian Genocide WASHINGTON House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Maryland, issued the following statement on the 103rd anniversary of the Armenian genocide: "As we mark the 103rd anniversary of the beginning of the Armenian Genocide, we remember the 1.5 million people killed and the millions of other lives uprooted. America has a responsibility to be a moral leader in the world by promoting tolerance, human rights, and justice - just as we have a responsibility to partner with the international community to prevent and deter ethnic violence wherever it occurs. Today, the most fitting remembrance of the Armenian Genocide, the first genocide of the twentieth century, is to recommit ourselves to the work of stopping ethnic violence in the twenty-first century - in Myanmar, in Darfur, and elsewhere. "I join with the Armenian-American community, many members of which are descendants of the Genocide's survivors, in marking this somber anniversary. No one can deny history, nor can we shun the obligations that history bequeaths us: to remember, to educate, and to be agents of peace and refuge when confronted with the evils of hatred and injustice."