LAST-MINUTE ASSURANCE
The New Anatolian, Turkey
Sept 5 2006
Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said yesterday that Turkish forces will
be sent to Lebanon to keep the peace, stressing that refusal to send
the forces would be a strategic mistake.
Speaking to news channel NTV, Gul urged all concerned sides to look
at the bigger picture in the Turkish troop deployment issue and said,
“Sending forces and attaining peace and stability in the region is in
the interest of Turkey. If there is a contribution made to stability,
we shouldn’t have reservations about sending troops.”
Gul stated that the defeated March 1, 2003 motion before the Iraq
war is very different from the motion for Lebanon which will face
a Parliament vote today. “In the March 1 motion, the deployment of
foreign countries’ forces in Turkey and their launching attacks
on another country were at stake,” Gul said, referring to the
U.S. invasion of Iraq which was then imminent. “However, the motion for
Lebanon paves the way for sending Turkish forces to a mission which
is participated in by the international community. Therefore, in the
name of my party, I don’t see any resistance to approving the motion.”
Stressing that the Turkish forces will be sent to Lebanon as parts of
efforts to find a lasting peace in the region, Gul also assured that
Turkish forces won’t take part in any operation disarming Hezbollah.
“Hezbollah is part of Lebanon and the Lebanese government which
was established to end the occupation,” Gul added. “But then it
turned into an armed movement. Hezbollah said ‘yes’ together with
the Lebanese government to the deployment of UN peacekeepers in
the region. Hezbollah will be disarmed by the Lebanese army and if
something unexpected happens, we’ll withdraw our forces.”
Gul also assured the public that all the groups in Lebanon want the
presence of Turks in the country. “We had talks with Lebanese Prime
Minister Fuad Saniora, and all others including the Shiite and Sunni
groups,” Gul said. “All of them want Turks in the region. Only the
Armenians have different views on the issue.”
‘Number of Turkish forces limited to mission’
Foreign Minister Gul stressed that the number of forces that will
be deployed to Lebanon if Parliament approves the decision will be
limited to the activities they undertake there.
Stating that he doesn’t expect the deployment of more than 1,000
soldiers, Gul said, “The naval mission is much firmer. We have also
things to do concerning the training of the Lebanese army. The duty
area of the Turkish forces will be determined by the UN.”
Govt seeks Annan’s political support for Lebanon mission
Meanwhile, the Turkish government has turned its eyes to this week’s
visit of the United Nations secretary-general to find political
support for its stance towards sending Turkish troops to Lebanon.
UN chief Annan will arrive in Turkey on late Tuesday after Parliament
has gotten the motion for a vote. However, diplomatic sources
told The New Anatolian that no matter the decision of Parliament,
the political support and encouragement that will be voiced by the
highest UN authority for the Turkish government’s stance on deploying
troops to Lebanon will strengthen its hand in the public and against
the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), which strongly
opposes the mission. “Annan during his visit will probably praise
the Turkish government’s contribution to efforts to attain peace in
the Middle East and will thank Turkey in the same way that he gave
political support to other countries during his tour of the region,”
said one source.
During his contacts in Ankara on Wednesday, Annan will meet with
Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan and Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul. In wake of the latest
developments, Sezer’s talks with Annan will also be in the spotlight
since they have opposing stances on Turkey’s sending forces to the
UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon.
Touching on the upcoming visit of Annan to Turkey during his speech,
Foreign Minister Gul stated that Ankara will learn from Annan about
the needs of the Lebanese people and army after the decision of
the Parliament.
Diplomatic sources also told TNA that Annan will discuss a range
of issues including deployment of Turkish forces in Lebanon, Iran’s
nuclear crisis and the Cyprus dispute. According to the sources, the
operational aspects of the mission that could be taken by Turkish
forces in Lebanon will be discussed, but not the details since the
specifics of the issue will be determined by the donor countries.
“Turkish leaders might brief Annan on their preferences about the
activity area and role of the Turkish soldiers planned to be deployed
in Lebanon and will get Annan’s views on the issue,” a source said.
Gul: US steps against PKK terrorism not enough
Foreign Minister Gul stated that although there have been some positive
steps by the U.S. towards eliminating the terrorist Kurdistan Workers’
Party (PKK) threat from northern Iraq, Ankara doesn’t find them
satisfactory.
“There are some positive developments, but they don’t meet our
expectations,” said Gul.
Touching on debates on the Iraqi flag issue, Gul stated that Iraqi
Kurdish region President Massoud Barzani’s move to replace the Iraqi
flag by a Kurdish one is not only unacceptable for Turkey but also
for other groups in Iraq and urged all concerned sides to voice
their concerns.
FM: Turkey to determinedly continue EU process
Brushing off European Union accusations that Ankara Turkish has become
indifferent to its accession process, Gul stressed that the government
will continue its process to join the Union with decisiveness.
“The steps that we will take for EU membership will strengthen our hand
in the Cyprus dispute,” said Gul stressing that Turkey’s bid to join
the Union is not an issue that should be blocked by the Cyprus dispute.
Underlining that he doesn’t expect a crisis in Turkey’s relations with
the Union by the end of the year, Gul also stated that he doesn’t see
criticisms of Turkey’s chief EU negotiator Ali Babacan as justified.

LEBANON’S FATE AT THE HAND OF ISRAEL: THE OBLITERATION OF A COUNTRY
Written by Armen Kouyoumdjian
Newropeans Magazine, France
Sept 5 2006
Once again I have had to redirect my report towards a subject other
than the one I had planned to cover this week-end. Israel’s assault
on the Lebanon cannot leave me silent. May I also declare that more
than ever in this particular case, I shall not tolerate any critical
reaction to what I am about to write, none whatsoever. This is not a
moment for debating in the Agora, and if you (or your mother-in-law
to whom you pass-on these papers) do not like it, do not read them.
PROGRESSIVE TREND
Believe it or not, I used to be quite a fan of Israel during my young
days in Beirut. I do not think it has anything to do with the fact
that we are of the same age (I am 12 days older than Israel and much,
much wiser). It probably relates to my early interest in military
affairs. I even applauded its victories in the 1967 war, though it
fucked up my last summer in Beirut, before I left that city for good
in September of that year. It probably had not much to do with the
several Jewish classmates I had at both school and university there,
many of whom ended up for a short while in Israel before leaving it
in disgust. I myself avidly followed all the great military prowess
with great admiration. I soon realised how wrong I was.
My first inkling that this was not a show to be admired came on
December 27, 1968. I myself was just recovering from the May student
revolution at the Sorbonne where I was studying, when Israeli commandos
flew into Beirut airport and blew up in cold blood the 13-strong
fleet of its once proud Middle East Airlines. Hey, I thought, this
is not war, this is vandalism.
If that did not change my mind, the following four decades have
given plenty more ammunition. The 1978 invasion of the South, the
1982 occupation of half the country with the resulting destruction,
and the Sabra and Chatila massacres. Any lingering doubts that may
have remained within me would have been swept away when Menachem
Beguin stopped Armenian scholars from attending seminars on Genocide
in Israel, after which followed repeated denials of the Armenian
Genocide by various top Israeli officials, finally culminating in an
unholy alliance with Turkey. They even instructed Jewish organisations
worldwide to shamefully collaborate in the negation campaign. Begin’s
real name was actually Wolfovitch (hey, just like that guy at the
White House).
THE TARGET
The country which Israel has now decided to obliterate is not just any
country. It is the cradle of the ancient Phoenician civilisation that
gave the world its first modern alphabet, and pioneered international
commerce. It has been the home of great artists and thinkers. It has
given birth to some of the world’s most brilliant business brains, and
at least half a dozen countries in Latin America have had presidents
from among the ranks of the large Lebanese Diaspora. In my Beirut
school we spoke three languages during break, never discriminated
in any way among the many communities which made up our classes,
in an educational system the quality of which I never saw again in
the three countries where I have subsequently lived. We followed the
latest pop music and films from all around the world.
Half a century ago there were two French-language weeklies dedicated
to movies in Beirut. There is not a single one in Chile.
Above all this was the most hospitable country and people to have ever
roamed the earth. I cannot compare the slap-up banquets that hosts
used to come up with whenever one visited, to the visits my own sons
made to the houses of their Chilean classmates when, during a study
session of several hours their mothers would not even serve them a
glass of water. Though it does not apply to my own family history,
when Armenian survivors of the 1915 Genocide arrived in the Lebanon,
itself in the midst of a famine and other difficulties, the local
authorities built an entire village (Anjar) to house as many as they
could. The Armenians owe the Lebanese, and in fact Arabs in general,
a debt which can never be repaid enough.
This country, whose modern independence is recent, is built on a
fragile equilibrium which cannot easily take traumas. It is not the
solid balance of the cement-less vault of medieval cathedrals, but
the delicate one of a pyramid of Chinese acrobats. Mess around with
one and the whole thing collapses, as happened several times over the
past half century. To expect its authorities and modest armed forces
to do other people’s dirty work in as unrealistic as it is unjust.
If the genesis of the Hezbollah problem is Iran and Syria, supposedly
card-carrying members of the Axis of Evil, how come their territory
is not being attacked, whereas poor Lebanon is obliterated?
THE PERPETRATOR AND HIS ACTS
The answer is: the cowardly bully always targets the weak and
defenceless. To call Israel a Terrorist State would be an undeserved
compliment. Terrorists at least have an ulterior motive, however
warped it may sometimes be. Israel is a Vandal State. Vandals just
destroy for the sheer pleasure of causing harm. Within a few days,
this trading country’s transport and energy infrastructure is in ruins,
and half a million of its population are refugees. Its painful recovery
from a long and also foreign-induced internal conflict has been wiped
out at a stroke.
Its trading and tourist activities are dead. It will probably have
to default on its large public debt, much of which is held by its own
banking system which in turn might become insolvent. Customs revenues
are one of the main sources of treasury income. The cosmopolitan
fabric of its population will once again be ruined by the mass exodus,
which will take years to reverse, if ever. Meanwhile, there is an
immediate humanitarian problem of massive proportions, when medical
help cannot even get to the victims, and the power shortage prevents
even those getting to a hospital from getting proper treatment.
TIRED ARGUMENTS
The main argument presented by Israel to justify its actions is
Self Defence. This does not stand any scrutiny. Both national and
international laws restrict your field of action in this respect. If
you are a private individual and someone throws stones at your house,
you can try to stop them and nobody will blame you for it. However,
you have no legal nor moral right to go to his house, kill his family,
set fire to his possessions, and then go on to do the same with his
neighbours, the whole town where he came from and the whole country
it is situated in. Articles 33 and 147 of the Geneva Convention are
very clear about banning collective punishment and destroying targets
of no military relevance.
It is amazing that a state with a secret service and armed forces
that carry such a high reputation, could not seek out the Hezbollah
culprits who “kidnapped” three of its soldiers (whatever happened
to the concept of prisoners of war, aren’t they part and parcel of
a military conflict?). Instead, not just areas known to be used as
Hezbollah hideouts, not just the country’s entire infrastructure,
but residential areas of both Muslims & Christians, not to mention
United Nation posts and more have been struck.
Now there is a land invasion developing. The refugees who cannot
leave the country are clogging up the capital, causing an immediate
refugee situation which will then turn into deep social tension.
The territory of Lebanon will not only accumulate understandable
additional hatred against Israel, but will become a place of unrest
which cannot be of any comfort to its neighbour. Their old claim to
annex Lebanon up to the Litani river may be fulfilled, but it will
only increase the pressure in the overpopulated remainder of the
country. Physics 101.
Let me get on to a more controversial argument, that of Israel’s
Right to Exist. I think by its behaviour as a Rogue State, it has long
lost this right. Having a right to a country is not divine, even for
God’s chosen people. It is a capricious gift of history. Some have
it, others have it for a while, and others never get it. Nobody
has the right to mess up the whole of humanity every few years,
in order to “guarantee” their own geographical survival. The Kurds
are a nation that never managed to have a country, but they are
not responsible for the 1973 start of the long rise in oil prices,
which were multiplied by 30x in the following 33 years. The Poles
have been in and out of having a country for most of their history,
and though France and Britain went to war for them in 1939, they were
sold down the river as soon as WWII ended. The Kashmiri are fighting
for a country. We Armenians were without one for the best part of a
thousand years. Did we go out and steal anybody else’s country as
a result? Does Hillary Clinton say for us what she said last week
(“We will stand with Israel because Israel is standing for American
values as well as Israeli ones”). Those values appear closer these
days to those of Corporal Schillgruber in the 1930’s.
THE CURSE
If it is anything but a small consolation, everyone I have spoken to in
recent days has been highly critical of Israel. It is understandable
that the US administration has done nothing to prevent or stop this
outrage, but the indifference of the Europeans is harder to fathom. In
any case, the damage is done. A wonderful country has been willfully
destroyed. It might recover, one day. There is a spot just north
of Beirut, a gorge through which flows the Nahr el Kalb (the River
of the Dog). From Antiquity, it became a tradition for conquerors
passing through Lebanon to carve their names on the stony walls of
the river bank. Assyrian kings, Egyptian Pharaohs, Greek and Roman
generals and the more modern armies (such as the nostalgic Régiment
de Marche du Tonkin of the French Army). Tourist guides loved to
show them to visitors and say: “they all came, they all went, but
we are still here”). Maybe, Insh’allah, they will still be there
again. In the meantime, I am putting an old Armenian curse on the
State of Israel and all those who sail in her, adding that if God
elected that as the country of his chosen people, I do not know who
is the schmuck who gave Him the voting bulletin. The Armenian Curse
is very effective but secret, though I can tell you that compared to
its consequences, the Seven Plagues of Egypt appear as harmless as
an old ladies’ bridge afternoon.
The day before Yom Kippur, you have to seek forgiveness from all
the people you have wronged. On the day of Yom Kippur, you have to
seek forgiveness from God. There are things, however, which have
no forgiveness.
Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy
bands, and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the
ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be
devoured. Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it,
saith the Lord GOD.” (Eze 39:4-5)
Armen Kouyoumdjian Country Risk Strategist – Valparaiso(Chile) org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&amp ;id=4522&Itemid=110
–Boundary_(ID_pfD7HUmcb2 Bz570oIfMR4Q)–

MORE THAN 10% OF INVESTMENTS IN ARMENIA FALL ON RUSSIA
SKRIN Market & Corporate News
September 5, 2006 Tuesday 1:18 PM GMT
Foreign investments into real sector of the Armenian economy totaled
$178.5mln in the first half of 2006, having increased by 27.9%,
comparing with analogous index of 2005, Cbonds said. As REGNUM was
informed at the Armenian National Statistic Service, direct investments
totaled about $86.3mln (9.2% increase). In first half of 2006, 33.1%
of direct investments were sent into communication sphere; 14.3% –
into minerals industry; 9.4% – into air transportation sphere.
Major investors into real sector of the Armenian economy are Lebanon
– $49.6mln (increase by 2.1 times), Greece – $37.9mln (decrease by
35%), Argentina – $17.2mln (increase by 3.7 times), Russia – $19.2mln
(increase by 41.9%), the USA – $14.8mln (increase by 59.2%), and
Germany – $12.1mln (increase by 63.1 times).

TURKEY REJECTS EU CALL TO RECOGNIZE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
Agence France Presse — English
September 5, 2006 Tuesday 12:54 PM GMT
Turkey denounced on Tuesday a European Union report saying that Ankara
must recognize the 1915-1917 genocide in Armenia as a condition for
joining the EU.
“We are dismayed by efforts aiming to impose preconditions that are
far from objective on questions that require serious academic inquiry,”
the Turkish foreign ministry said in a communique.
A report adopted by the EU parliament’s foreign affairs committee
Monday night deplored Turkey’s lack of progress in implementing reforms
needed to join the rich 25-nation bloc, and alluded specifically the
Ankara’s refusal to acknowledge the Armenian genocide.
“Certain elements of the report… written with political
considerations are not compatible with the credibility of the European
parliament,” the Turkish foreign ministry said.
Armenians estimate that up to 1.5 million of their forebear perished
in systematic killings orchestrated by the Ottoman Empire between
1915 to 1917.
Ankara rejects all accusations of genocide, estimating the number of
Armenian deaths at 300,000 and arguing they were not a consequence
of deliberate extermination but a combination of war, disease, famine
and ethnic conflict.

EU DEPUTIES REGRET SLOW PACE OF REFORM IN TURKEY
Agence France Presse — English
September 5, 2006 Tuesday 10:15 AM GMT
European Union parliamentarians deplored Turkey’s lack of progress
in implementing reforms needed to join the rich 25-nation bloc.
Before the report on Turkey’s EU membership progress was adopted in a
late night vote Monday by the assembly’s foreign affairs committee,
rapporteur Camiel Eurlings noted that “unfortunately, reforms have
clearly slowed down.”
The Dutch deputy said he hoped that the government in Ankara would
see his report “as a signal and an incentive to reintroduce the
vigorous speed of reform it had shown in the year before accession
negotiations started.”
Mainly-Muslim Turkey officially began EU membership talks in October
but it was warned that the process would take at least a decade and
that its accession would not be automatically guaranteed even once
it was over.
Its membership has long-proved controversial among the EU’s member
states, with some countries like Germany and Austria preferring a
“privileged partnership” with Ankara.
Turkey’s case has also been hampered by a growing “enlargement fatigue”
as the Union expanded from 15 to 25 members in 2004 and with Bulgaria
and Romania likely to join next year. Croatia and Macedonia are also
waiting in the wings.
In the report, adopted by by 53 votes in favour to 6 against with 8
abstentions, the lawmakers noted “persistent shortcomings” in reforms
in areas such as freedom of expression, religious and minority rights,
the role of the military, policing, women’s rights, trade union rights
and cultural rights.
They also urged Turkey “to take concrete steps for the normalisation
of bilateral relations” with Cyprus as soon as possible, and said that
Ankara’s recognition of the Armenian genocide should be a precondition
for membership.

ARMENIA’S MULTI GROUP SELLS GOLD RIGHTS TO S. AFRICAN CO
Interfax News Agency
Russia & CIS Business and Financial Newswire
September 5, 2006 Tuesday 5:33 PM MSK
Armenia’s Multi Group has sold the rights to the Mghart gold field
in Armenia’s Lori district to South Africa’s Magaro, a source at the
Armenian Trade and Economic Development Ministry told Interfax.
The ministry did not say how much the deal was worth.
It said that Multi Group had been developing the site for three years
and had built a small recovery plant next to the open pit.
The State Reserves Committee has said that the ore is graded at
an average of 10 grams per tonne for gold. The field contains an
estimated 250,000 tonnes of ore.
Multi Group is not developing any other metal deposits.
The group includes 35 industrial, trade and service enterprises,
including Ararat Cement, Ararat Winery and Multi Stone. It is one of
Armenia’s biggest corporations and is owned by the businessman and
parliament member Gagik Tsarukian.

BAKU: ARMENIA OF DISTORTING ESSENCE OF KARABAKH SETTLEMENT
Interfax News Agency
Russia & CIS General Newswire
September 5, 2006 Tuesday 2:16 PM MSK
Novruz Mamedov, foreign policy advisor of the Azerbaijani
president, has accused Vardan Oskanian, Armenian foreign minister,
of intentionally distorting the essence of the talks on settling the
Nagorno Karabakh conflict.
He told Interfax that Oskanian’s latest announcement that there is
a concrete document on the negotiating table based on the right to
self- determination of the Armenian population of Nagorno Karabakh
“is untrue and constitutes another provocation of the Armenian side.”
“What document can he be talking about, if the talks are not producing
any results? Evidently this is a specific feature of Armenian leaders
to refer to nonexistent documents and announce false information in
an attempt to mislead the public,” Mamedov said.
“The continuing process of Karabakh settlement does provide for the
self-determination of the population in Nagorno Karabakh, that is both
the Armenian and Azerbaijani communities and only in the framework
of Azerbaijan. However, for some reason Armenian leaders constantly
omit this circumstance,” he said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ANOTHER TRAINLOAD OF EQUIPMENT FROM 62ND BASE LEAVES GEORGIA FOR RUSSIA
Interfax News Agency
Russia & CIS Military Newswire
September 5, 2006 Tuesday 11:27 AM MSK
Another train, the 17th one, carrying arms, ammunition and other
hardware of the 62nd military base deployed in Akhalkalaki, Georgia,
has left for Russia.
“It started today from the Tsalka railroad station. The train is
heading to Russia and carries twelve communication vehicles, as well
ammunition and other equipment,” a representative of the command of
the 62nd base told Interfax-AVN on Tuesday, adding that a total of 19
military echelons with equipment from the 62nd base will go to Russia.
Earlier, Colonel Vladimir Kuparadze, deputy commander of the Russian
military force in the South Caucasus, told Interfax-AVN that 179
pieces of armament and hardware and 217 tonnes of other materiel have
been shipped from Batumi to the base in Gyumri, Armenia, since the
beginning of the year. Another 190 pieces of armaments and hardware
and 738 tonnes of other cargoes have been withdrawn from Akhalkalaki.
“The plan is to withdraw 358 pieces of armaments and military hardware
and over 1,671 tonnes of other equipment from Akhalkalaki to Russia
in 2006,” he said.
Russian military bases should be withdrawn from Georgia during 2008
under a Russian-Georgian agreement.

AZERBAIJAN SLAMS ARMENIA’S NEW STANCE ON NAGORNO-KARABAKH
Interfax News Agency
Russia & CIS Military Newswire
September 5, 2006 Tuesday 10:23 AM MSK
Azerbaijan slammed a statement by Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan
Oskanian on Monday that whether he would hold any more talks with his
Azerbaijani counterpart largely depended on the position Azerbaijan
will take in debating the Nagorno- Karabakh issue at the United
Nations.
Oskanian’s statement has “surprised” Azerbaijan, to say the least,
Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry spokesman Tair Tagizade told Interfax.
“One has the impression that the Armenian minister of foreign affairs
has completely forgotten that Armenia has made a commitment on the
settlement of this conflict with a whole number of international
organizations, including the United Nations, the Organization for
Security and Cooperation in Europe, and the Council of Europe,”
Tagizade said.
“If Oskanian deems it possible to make a statement of this
kind, setting some kind of additional conditions for the further
participation of Armenia in these negotiations, Azerbaijan reserves
a sovereign right to appeal to any international organization seeking
that it should question Armenia’s meeting its commitments,” he said.

LES SOLDATS TURCS DE RETOUR AU LIBAN, ANCIEN TERRITOIRE OTTOMAN
Agence France Presse
5 septembre 2006 mardi 10:10 AM GMT
Le parlement turc devrait donner son feu-vert mardi a l’envoi d’une
force turque au Liban, ancien territoire ottoman que les dernières
troupes turques avaient quitte en 1918.
Pour Ankara, participer a la stabilisation du Liban serait une
manière de renouer avec l’histoire, 88 ans après, et operer un retour
d’influence dans une zone autrefois partie integrante de l’empire
ottoman.
Les Turcs ottomans d’Anatolie commencèrent leur ascension au XIVe
siècle, incluant en octobre 1516 la Syrie et le Liban a leur empire.
Des Etats independants aujourd’hui, ces terres etaient alors deux
provinces ottomanes.
A son apogee, l’empire contrôlait l’Europe balkanique jusqu’aux
portes de Vienne, les rives de la Mer noire, le Maghreb (hors Maroc),
l’Egypte, la peninsule arabe et la Mesopotamie.
L’empire a entame son declin au XIXè siècle, incapable de resister
aux appetits coloniaux des puissances europeennes jouant sur les
aspirations a l’independance des nations de l’Empire.
A cette periode, la France fut le premier pays a faire debarquer en
1860 quelque 6.000 soldats au Liban pour assurer l’ordre, après la
signature d’un protocole avec la Sublime Porte, suite a de graves
incidents ethniques sur le territoire.
La region devint ensuite graduellement autonome et la première guerre
mondiale eut raison de la suprematie ottomane.
La fin de la première guerre mondiale a acheve le depecage de celui
qu’on appelait “l’homme malade” de l’Europe, allie a l’Allemagne
et donc vaincu. La France et la Grande-Bretagne se sont partages
les pays arabes, avec des mandats sur la Syrie, le Liban, l’Irak,
la Palestine et la Transjordanie.
Les soldats turcs ont quitte le Liban et la Syrie a l’automne 1918.
L’envoi d’un contingent militaire turc au Liban ravive egalement
des souvenirs amers en ce qui concerne la question du “genocide”
armenien pour la Turquie.
La communaute armenienne du Liban represente 4% de la population,
en majorite descendante des survivants des massacres perpetres en
1915 par la Turquie ottomane.
La Republique de Turquie, cree en 1923 sur les cendres de l’empire,
nie la thèse d’un genocide.
Deportes vers la Syrie et le Liban, quelque 120.000 Armeniens vivent
aujourd’hui au Liban, selon ses responsables politiques et religieux.
Le parti Tachnak, le plus populaire parmi la communaute armenienne du
Liban, a refuse une participation turque a la force de l’Onu renforcee.
–Boundary_(ID_ihgmjJbdF6BHzlqlVuZEpQ) —