Category: News

ITAR-TASS News Agency
TASS
April 24, 2004 Saturday 5:32 AM Eastern Time
Armenia marks sad anniversary of 1915 genocide-Kocharyan
By Tigran Liloyan
YEREVAN
Armenian President Robert Kocharyan said on Saturday that Armenia was
ready to build normal relations with all the countries of the region,
including Turkey, on the occasion of the day of memory of the victims
of the genocide of the Armenian population in the Ottoman Empire on
April 24, 1915.
“Like in all the previous years on April 24 we are confirming our
will to raise above the feelings of rancour and revenge. Our efforts
are aimed at achieving durable peace, stability and cooperation in
the region and we are ready to play an active and constructive role
in this process,” Kocharyan said.
The Armenian leader recalled that a people with great cultural
heritage and material values which the Armenian civilization had
accumulated over thousands of years was subject to physical
extermination in the Ottoman empire under a state program and with
the use of state structures 89 years ago.
“Today when we are bowing our heads in memory of millions of innocent
victims, we publicly reaffirm our determination to seek comprehensive
and unanimous recognition and condemnation of this crime against
humanity on the part of the world community,” Kocharyan went on to
say.
He is convinced that “unpunished crimes can cause new atrocities.”
“The task of the world community is to exert every effort to prevent
a repeat of such phenomena in future,” the Armenian president
stressed.
The president and all Armenian statesmen laid a wreath at the
memorial to 1.5 million victims of the 1915 genocide on Saturday
morning. They observed a minute of silence in their memory. The
monument was erected in Yerevan’s park “Tsitsernakaberd” in 1967.

Agence France Presse
April 24, 2004 Saturday 7:10 AM Eastern Time
Armenian leader to visit France on Sunday
YEREVAN
Armenian President Robert Kocharian heads to France on Sunday for a
visit during which he will meet with his French counterpart Jacques
Chirac, his press service said.
“The presidents of Armenia and France will discuss bilateral and
regional cooperation during their meeting,” presidential spokesman
Asmik Petrosyan told AFP.
France, along with Russia and the United States, is a co-chair of the
Minsk Group, a 13-nation grouping within the Organization for
Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) that has been seeking to
mediate between Armenia and Azerbaijan in their dispute over the
Nagorno-Karabakh enclave.
Armenia and neighboring Azerbaijan went to war in the early 1990s
when Nagorno-Karabakh, mainly populated by Armenians, seceded from
Azerbaijan at the time of the Soviet Union’s collapse, and the two
Soviet Caucasian republics became independent.
More than 30,000 people were killed and a million were left homeless
before a ceasefire was agreed in 1994, with Armenia in de facto
control over the mountainous territory inside Azerbaijan.
The two former Soviet republics in the Caucasus remain in an
undeclared state of war over the enclave.
Kocharian is due to leave Paris on Tuesday and head to Warsaw.

The Gazette (Montreal, Quebec)
April 24, 2004 Saturday Final Edition
Not our place to pronounce
Tragedy is a cheater word, usually deployed to evade a charge of
guilt while recognizing the deplorable character of an event or
situation. What happened to the Armenians in 1915 was a tragedy and
more. Few independent historians disagree with this. The body count
runs as high as 1.5 million.
But must the Parliament of Canada pronounce on the subject, as they
did Wednesday? Do the votes of MPs who know nothing of the history of
Asia Minor really matter?
There is a place for parliamentary resolutions on current affairs
abroad and even on historical affairs at home. It was natural for
Japanese Canadians to seek moral and monetary redress for their
incarceration during the Second World War. Louis Riel remains a
perennial object of newspaper copy parliamentary attention. He was,
after all, a Canadian.
On the subject of the Armenian genocide, however, we believe our
lawmakers have the right, and perhaps the obligation, to remain
silent. As hideous as this episode was, it was not unique in the
annals of human conflict. If Parliament speaks on this issue, why
should it remain silent on others?
It is obvious that Armenian Canadians care deeply about their past.
Turks are no less passionate. This is an excellent reason for
Parliament to keep its distance from this and all such debates.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Agence France Presse
April 24, 2004 Saturday
Armenia marks genocide remembrance day
YEREVAN
Armenians laid flowers on a hill in their capital Yerevan on Saturday
to mark the World War I genocide in which they say up to 1.5 million
of their forebears were massacred by the Ottoman Empire.
Thousands of people, some representing the large Armenian diaspora
outside this nation of three million, climbed to the memorial to the
genocide victims on top of Yerevan’s Tsitsernakaberd hill throughout
the day.
Radio and television played somber music and played documentaries of
the genocide.
Seventy-year-old Pogos, whose father survived the attacks, planned to
climb to the memorial in the evening with his grandsons.
“My father… told us thousands of times how in the morning armed
Turks came into the village and began to burn houses, kill men, women
and children and, not allowing people to take food or water, began to
herd them toward the desert,” he said.
Pogos’s father spent the rest of his life searching in vain for his
mother, whom he lost during the forced resettlements.
“He was saved by some Kurds who bought him for a few gold coins and
sent him off to Syria,” Pogos said.
Some 20,000 survivors of the genocide remain worldwide, 900 of them
in Armenia, Lavrenti Barsegyan, director of a genocide museum in
Yerevan.
“Each year there are less and less eye witnesses… and less and less
people can tell of the evil deeds of the Turks,” he said.
The massacres of Armenians during World War I is one of the most
painful episodes in Turkish history.
Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their kinsmen were massacred in
orchestrated killings between 1915 and 1917.
Turkey categorically rejects claims of genocide and says that some
300,000 Armenians and thousands of Turks were killed in civil strife
during World War I when the Armenians rose up against their Ottoman
rulers.

Agence France Presse
April 24, 2004 Saturday
Armenians commemorate 1915 genocide
by MARIAM KHARUTUNIAN
YEREVAN
Armenians commemorated Saturday the 1915 genocide in which up to 1.5
million of their countrymen are reported to have died, with the
country’s president calling on the world to recognise and condemn the
extent of the slaughter.
“As we bow before the memory of the innocent victims, we confirm our
determination to obtain a general recognition and a condemnation by
the international community of this crime against humanity,”
President Robert Kocharian said in a message to the nation.
“Unpunished crimes can give birth to new tragedies and the aim of the
world community is to do everything to rule out the repetition of
such happenings.”
Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their kinsmen were massacred in
orchestrated killings and during deportations by the Ottoman empire
between 1915 and 1917.
Turkey categorically rejects claims of genocide and says that between
250,000 and 500,000 Armenians and thousands of Turks were killed in
civil strife during World War I when the Armenians rose up against
their Ottoman rulers.
The United Nations, the European Parliament, Belgium, France, Greece
and Russia have recognised the Armenian genocide. Canadian lawmakers
voted a few days ago to recognise the massacre, calling it a “crime
against humanity”.
“Armenia wants to put itself above feelings of bitterness and
vengeance and is ready to establish normal relations with all the
states in the region, inluding Turkey,” Kocharian, who heads to
France on Sunday to meet with French counterpart Jacques Chirac,
said.
“The presidents… will discuss bilateral and regional cooperation
during their meeting,” presidential spokesman Asmik Petrosyan said.
France, along with Russia and the United States, is a co-chair of the
Minsk Group, a 13-nation grouping within the Organization for
Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) that has been seeking to
mediate between Armenia and Azerbaijan in their dispute over the
Nagorno-Karabakh enclave.
Thousands of people, some representing the large Armenian diaspora
outside this nation of three million, climbed to the memorial to the
genocide victims on top of Yerevan’s Tsitsernakaberd hill throughout
the day.
Radio and television played somber music and played documentaries of
the genocide.
Seventy-year-old Pogos, whose father survived the attacks, planned to
climb to the memorial in the evening with his grandsons.
“My father… told us thousands of times how in the morning armed
Turks came into the village and began to burn houses, kill men, women
and children and, not allowing people to take food or water, began to
herd them toward the desert,” he said.
Pogos’s father spent the rest of his life searching in vain for his
mother, whom he lost during the forced resettlements.
Some 20,000 survivors of the genocide remain worldwide, 900 of them
in Armenia, Lavrenti Barsegyan, director of a genocide museum in
Yerevan, said.
“Each year there are fewer and fewer eye-witnesses… and fewer and
fewer people can tell of the evil deeds of the Turks,” he said.
Armenians held demonstrations in the Iranian capital Tehran, where
2,000 people held a rally outside a church after being forbidden to
approach the Turkish embassy, and in Greece where hundreds paraded in
Athens and Salonica.

Agence France Presse
April 24, 2004 Saturday
US citizen arrested in Armenia over opposition protests
YEREVAN
Armenian prosecutors arrested a US citizen for taking part in
opposition rallies calling for a violent overthrowal of the existing
order, the prosecutor general’s press service said Friday.
Arthur Vardanyan, a former Armenian national who obtained US
citizenship in 2002, was also suspected of illegally crossing the
Armenian border using his Armenian passport, officials said.
According to prosecutors, Vardanyan was actively involved in
Armenia’s various political activities, particularly during last
year’s electoral period, and then took part in a massive wave of
protests demanding the resignation of President Robert Kocharyan.
The Armenian opposition says that Kocharyan rigged a run-off
presidential vote in March 2003 to secure a second term in office and
is demanding that he either organize a national referendum of
confidence in his rule or step down.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Associated Press Worldstream
April 24, 2004 Saturday 10:06 AM Eastern Time
Armenians mark anniversary of mass killings in Ottoman Empire
YEREVAN, Armenia
Hundreds of thousands of Armenians, many of them emigrants returning
from abroad, converged Saturday on a hilltop memorial in the
country’s capital to commemorate the 89th anniversary of mass
killings of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire.
The annual gathering at the vast Genocide Victims Memorial
overlooking Yerevan is a significant day in the country’s emotional
life, drawing huge crowds to lay flowers.
Armenia accuses Turkey of the genocide of up to 1.5 million Armenians
between 1915 and 1919, when Armenia was under the Ottoman Empire.
Turkey rejects the claim and says Armenians were killed in civil
unrest during the collapse of the empire.
Although the deaths began before April 24, memorial services or held
on this date because it is the anniversary of the day in 1915 when
Turkish authorities executed a large group of Armenian intellectuals
and political leaders, accusing them of helping the invading Russian
army during World War I.
Armenia has pushed for the United States and other nations to declare
the killings a genocide. Many countries, including Russia and France,
have officially recognized the event as genocide, along with some
U.S. states.
Canada’s parliament this week backed a resolution recognizing the
deaths to be genocide, a move that was praised Saturday by Armenian
parliament speaker Artur Bagdasarian. “Only through the condemnation
of this kind of crime can its occurrence be avoided,” he said in a
statement.

Whitehouse.gov (press release)
April 24 2004
For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
April 24, 2004
On this day, we pause in remembrance of one of the most horrible
tragedies of the 20th century, the annihilation of as many as 1.5
million Armenians through forced exile and murder at the end of the
Ottoman Empire. This terrible event remains a source of pain for
people in Armenia and Turkey and for all those who believe in
freedom, tolerance, and the dignity of every human life. I join with
my fellow Americans and the Armenian community in the United States
and around the world in mourning this loss of life.
The United States is proud of the strong ties we share with Armenia.
>From the end of World War I and again since the reemergence of an
independent Armenian state in 1991, our country has sought a
partnership with Armenia that promotes democracy, security
cooperation, and free markets. Today, our Nation remains committed to
a peace settlement in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and is grateful
for Armenia’s continuing cooperation in the war on terror. By
advancing understanding and goodwill, free nations can help build a
brighter future for the world. Our country seeks to help Armenia
expand its strategic relations with the United States and our
European allies.
Generations of Armenian Americans have also strengthened our
communities and enriched our Nation’s character. By preserving their
heritage, faith, and traditions, Armenian Americans enhance the
diversity that makes America great.
I commend individuals in Armenia and Turkey who have worked to
support peace and reconciliation, including through the
Turkish-Armenian Reconciliation Commission, and call on Armenia and
Turkey to restore their economic, political, and cultural ties. I
also send warm wishes and expressions of solidarity to the Armenian
people on this solemn day of remembrance.
GEORGE W. BUSH

A duty to the truth
U.S. should officially commemorate the Armenian Genocide.
April 24, 2004
Today we once again commemorate the Armenian Genocide, a brutal event
that resulted in an estimated 1.5 million Armenians being killed at
the hands of the Ottoman Turkish empire and its successor regime
between 1915 and 1923.
Commemoration events have been going on all week in this community
with so many Armenian-Americans. At 10 a.m. today, a ceremony at City
Hall will feature the raising of the Armenian flag next to the flags
of the United States and California.
Rep. George Radanovich, who has been pushing to get the Armenian
genocide officially recognized by the U.S. government, will speak at
the event. His voice has been strong in support of this important
cause.
Unfortunately, the Bush administration, like administrations before
it, has stepped lightly around the issue. Our leaders, especially
those in the State Department, are afraid of offending the Turkish
government by designating the savage events of early last century as a
genocide.
Turkey, a key U.S. ally, vigorously denies that the genocide
occurred. It did, of course, and it’s time for the Turks to
acknowledge it. Radanovich has authored House Resolution 193, which
calls for official recognition of the Armenian genocide. That
resolution should be passed because it’s the right thing to do.
Turkish embarrassment at the bloody past is understandable, but that
doesn’t change the facts, and the Turkish government shouldn’t be
allowed to dictate whether the United States formally acknowledges the
genocide. The Turks’ revisionism has grown tiresome, and our
government’s willingness to be complicit in this ruse is at odds with
this nation’s founding principles.
On this day, we commemorate the Armenian genocide. It’s time that the
U.S. government officially adds its voice to this cause for justice.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Armenian community commemorates genocide
ANP (Dutch news agency)
April 24, 2004
ASSEN (ANP) – On Saturday, hundreds of people participated in the annual
commemoration of the Armenian genocide. The commemoration took place at the
memorial in cemetery de Boskamp in Assen. Various speakers called on the
Dutch and Turkish governments to recognize the Armenian genocide.
M. Hakhverdian of the Armenian Federation called acknowledgement of the
genocide by Turkey “a basic condition for accession of the country to the
EU”. Stand-up satirist Freek de Jonge, one of the guest speakers at the
commemoration, said he was ashamed of the Dutch government’s position
regarding the genocide. As opposed to countries like Sweden, Switzerland,
Belgium and since this week also Canada, the Dutch government has hitherto
not proceeded to recognize the genocide. “What else can I say but: we feel
ashamed”, according to Freek de Jonge.
The Armenian genocide has faded from the memories of many according to De
Jonge. “The word genocide does not sound as familiar as holocaust. It still
does not have a museum.” He thus called upon the Netherlands to proceed
towards the recognition of the Armenian Genocide. “Where remains this guide
country that appears to have lost its way?”
The commemoration in Assen closed a week of actions by the Armenian
community in the Netherlands. Last Wednesday, the Federation of Armenian
Organizations in the Netherlands offered a petition to the Dutch Parliament.
The Netherlands was again called upon to recognize the Armenian genocide.
The “forgotten genocide” cost the lives of hundreds of thousands of
Armenians.