GENOCIDE DENIAL CAUSES DUTCH ELECTION UPSET
by Andy Clark
Radio Netherlands, Netherlands
Sept 27 2006
It might seem a little strange but the Armenian genocide of 1915 has
become an issue in the run up to the Dutch elections. The two leading
parties in the opinion polls have kicked out prospective MPs because
they deny that the genocide took place. The candidates, one from the
opposition Labour Party and two from the biggest coalition party –
the Christian Democrat CDA – are Dutch/Turkish politicians.
It made the headlines after questions were raised by the Armenian
community in the Netherlands when the names of the candidates were
made public on the party lists for the November elections, and a
heated discussion soon followed.
Official policy The candidates in question had clearly stated in the
past that, in their view, the genocide of Armenians in Turkey in 1915
had not taken place. This view is contrary to the official policy of
the Dutch government and of the parties themselves.
Tineke Huizinga is from the Christian Union – a small party in the
parliament which introduced an initiative in 2004 saying that the
government has to push for recognition of the genocide in Turkey as
part of the negotiations for Turkey’s desired accession to the EU.
That initiative was unanimously accepted. Ms Huzinga explains the
official Dutch position:
“More than one and a half million people were murdered during the
time of World War I by Turkey and this was a genocide and you can
absolutely compare this with the Holocaust.”
Never took place It was a clash with this position that brought the CDA
candidates Ayhan Tonca, Osman Elamci and Labour Party candidate Erdinc
Sacan into problems with their parties. Ayhan Tonca has constantly
denied the genocide occurred:
“The genocide that people talk about never took place.”
Although he doesn’t deny that hundreds of thousands of people died,
he argues that there needs to be further investigation to see if the
killings were consciously carried out by the Turkish government at that
time. Deliberate and conscious persecution would constitute genocide.
Newspaper interview His explanation was not in line with the
recognition of genocide called for by his party, and events that
followed the initial uproar made things even harder for the CDA to
accept. Under pressure following the discussion in the Dutch media,
the two CDA candidates signed a declaration saying they had changed
their minds and would now recognise the genocide. But then followed
an interview with a Turkish newspaper in which they repeated their
original denials – and this left the CDA with little choice but to
remove them from the list of candidates.
The Labour Party decided to scrap its candidate from the list after he
refused to stand by the official party policy recognising the genocide.
Naive Experts accuse the parties of being somewhat naive in not
carrying out more thorough checks before putting the candidates up
for election. Professor of Turkish studies at Leiden University Erik
Jan Zurcher says the parties were so anxious to have ethnic minority
candidates on their lists that they didn’t carry out the checks.
In Turkey itself it is official policy to deny the genocide and those
saying it did take place are liable to prosecution. Just this week
Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink made it known that he is being
prosecuted for the second time for saying that the genocide took place.

ARMENIA WALKS OUT OF CIS ECONOMIC COURT
Armenpress
Sept 27 2006
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 27, ARMENPRESS: Justice minister David Harutunian
told the parliament today that president Robert Kocharian has suggested
that Armenia walk out of the CIS Economic Court.
Harutunian explained that Armenia joined the CIS Economic Court in
1993 and throughout its 13 year membership it neither acted as a
plaintiff nor as a defendant.
“Over these 13 years we had a representative in the CIS Economic Court,
but after analyzing its performance we have arrived at a conclusion
that the Court has failed to perform what it was supposed to do and
actually it plays no role in settling economic disputes among CIS
members,” he said. A parliament committee on foreign relations has
backed the proposal.

SOCIAL-PSYCHOLOGICAL CENTER OPENS IN DALARIK COMMUNITY, ARMAVIR PROVINCE
Armenpress
Sept 27 2006
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 27, ARMENPRESS: By the co-financing of the Children
of Armenia Fund (COAF) and UNICEF a social-psychological center is
functioning in the Dalarik community of the Armenian province of
Armavir. The services of the center are also available for the people
of Argina, Lernagog, Myasnikian, Shenik and Karakert communities
which are included in the COAF’s program of “Model Villages”.
The center will help children with special needs and their families
to integrate into society.
During the opening ceremony of the center a representative of the
UNICEF Sheldon Yett said that the cooperation of teachers, parents,
doctors and community is very important for carrying out an effective
work.
Naira Avetisian, the head of the children’s rights protection programs
at the UNICEF Armenian Office, said that the most important thing is
the increase of the awareness of the public about children’s rights.
The Executive Director of COAF Arpi Balian said that the cooperation
with different organizations is very important for the implementation
of the COAF’s all-embracing program directed towards the development
of Armenian rural areas.

EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE – JOINT STATEMENT OF THE EUROPEAN CIVIL SOCIETY
European Armenian Federation
for Justice & Democracy
Signed by 261 associations throughout Europe
Dear Members of Parliament,
We, European citizens, follow up with a sustained attention the
Union enlargement process and especially the developments relating
to Turkey’s controversial candidature.
We took note of the report on “Turkey’s progress towards accession”
voted on Monday September 4 by the Committee on Foreign Affairs. We
particularly noticed with delight that the European Parliament
“reiterates its call on Turkey to acknowledge the Armenian genocide,
as called for un the previous European Parliament resolutions of 15
December 2004 and 28 September 2005” and “considers such acknowledgment
to be a precondition for European Union accession”.
We were also informed about threatening pressures exerted on you
by Turkey and the disinformation campaign in order to remove this
mention. As citizens of the Union, we are absolutely indignant that
a foreign power with radically anti-European values can thus alter
the sovereign appreciation formulated by our European representation
on this issue.
This is why we take the liberty of reminding you the following facts:
1. The call for the Armenian genocide acknowledgment as a precondition
by the European Parliament does not constitute at all an additional
requirement towards Turkey. This requirement was clearly formulated
in almost the same wording, less than a year ago, in the resolution on
“opening the negotiations with Turkey”:
“The European Parliament calls on Turkey to recognise the Armenian
genocide; considers this recognition to be a prerequisite for accession
to the European Union” (P6_TA(2005)0350, 28/09/2005);
This formulation is in the political line of those written in the
preceding resolutions of 18 June 1987 and 15 December 2004. To water
down or to remove it would constitute an obvious sign given to Turkey
that the European Parliament is on the point of denying its principles,
2. The fact that such a condition was not formally imposed to
other Candidate States does not constitute an argument proving its
non-admissibility. The application of other States even would not be
taken into consideration. The acknowledgement of its crimes by the
State who perpetrated it is an accession criteria,
3. The calls reiterated by the European Parliament concerning this
issue allowed the beginning of timid debates in Turkey. Weakening
these demands would constitute an objective support to nationalists
who want to eliminate in Turkey some dissident voices on this matter
and to keep Turkey away from our European standards,
4. Turkey, who claims to wish to debate on this question, still has
not answered to the Armenian president proposal which consists in
establishing an intergovernmental commission in order to examine how
to solve all the problems between the two countries and to create
diplomatic relations. On the other hand, Turkey continues to deploy
its denialist strategy in terms of historians committees and opening of
archives in order to extract the genocide question from the political
context of its candidature for the Union,
5. The denial policy of Turkey is not only a permanent offence to our
European values, it is also the mark of an ultranationalist and racial
ideology which constitutes a concrete threat towards our societies
and our children.
Communities throughout Europe which are watching with anxiety the
negotiating process with Turkey will be terribly disappointed seeing
the EP retreat from the very laudable position established by its
Foreign Affairs Committee on such a fundamental principle. We urge
you to come forward with a proud vote upholding the Parliament’s
commitment in this matter.”
Consequently, we urge you to maintain in plenary session the clear
and adequate formulation of the paragraph 49 adopted by the Foreign
Affairs Committee.
1.Mechitaristen Kongregation, AUSTRIA
2. Armenische Studentenvereinigung (ASV) und Ostereich-Armenisches
Sportkomitee (OASK) Ararat, AUSTRIA
3. Armenischer Allgemeiner Sport- und Pfadfinder Verein Wien (H.M.E.M)
, AUSTRIA
4. Verein fur die Betreuung von Migranten und Asylanten (HUYS-SPES)
, AUSTRIA
5. Europaische Armenische Foderation fur Justiz und Demokratie in
Osterreich, AUSTRIA
6. Armenisch-Apostolische Kirchengemeinde Osterreichs St. Hripsime
(Kirchengemeinde), AUSTRIA
7. Comite des Armeniens de Belgique, BELGIUM
8. FRA Tashnagtsoutioun, BELGIUM
9. Armenian youth cultural centre, BELGIUM
10. ASSOCIATION DES ARMENIENS DEMOCRATES DE BELGIQUE, BELGIUM
11. Assemblee des Representants Armeniens de Belgique, BELGIUM
12. CCAF Centre-France, FRANCE
13. AACG Grenoble
14. ACA Vienne
15. ACA Lyon
16. ACS Villefranche
17. ADL
18. AMASC
19. ANA Grenoble
20. APECLE
21. Association Culturelle de Kharpert
22. Badanis Decines
23. C 24 Valence
24. CBAF Decines
25. CBAF Grenoble
26. CBAF Lyon-Villeuranne
27. CBAF St Maurice de Beynost
28. CBAF Vienne
29. Comite de Defense de la Cause Armenienne
30. CEDIA
31. Eglise catholique armenienne de Lyon
32. Eglise evangelique armenienne de Decines
33. Eglise evangelique armenienne de Lyon
34. FRA Decines
35. FRA Grenoble
36. FRA Lyon -Villeurbanne
37. FRA Vienne
38. France Karabagh
39. France Armenie
40. MCA Charvieu
41. MCA Chasse-sur-Rhône
42. MCA Decines, MCA Grenoble
43. MCA Vienne
44. MCA Villeurbanne
45. Nor Seround Decines
46. Nor Seround Lyon
47. Radio Armenie
48. Terre et Culture
49. UCFAF
50. Union Des Associations Armeniennes de St-Etienne et St-Chamond
51. UGAB Lyon
52. UGAB Vienne
53. UNEAA Lyon et environs
54. UNEA Pont de Cheruy
55. UMAF
56. CCAF Ile-de France, FRANCE
57. A.A. Ecole TEBROTZASSERE
58. AAAG (Ecole St Mesrop)
59. AAAS
60. ACEERF (Eglise Evangelique)
61. ADL Ramgavar
62. AFAJA
63. AFAV
64. Aide pour l’Armenie
65. ANACRA
66. ARMENIE Villages
67. ASK (Soutien Kharabagh)
68. ASPA
69. Ass Sainte Croix (Eglise Catholique)
70. Association Armenie/Kharabagh
71. AYP FM
72. CBAF
73. CDCA
74. CHENE
75. Collectif VAN
76. COPEA
77. Eglise Apostolique
78. FRA Dachnaktsoutioun
79. FRA Nor Seround
80. G2 IA
81. HAMASKAINE
82. HOMENETMEN
83. JAF
84. MAFP
85. Maison de la Culture de Paris
86. NAZARPEK
87. Nouvelles d’Armenie Magazine
88. SD Hentchakian
89. SFA
90. UCAM (Armeniens de Montreuil)
91. UCFAF
92. UCIA
93. UGAB
94. UMAF
95. CCAF Sud France, FRANCE (25 associations signatrices)
96. Zentralrat der Armenier in Deutschland e.V., GERMANY
97. Armenische Gemeinde zu Berlin e.V. , GERMANY
98. Armenischer Kulturverein Hamburg e.V. , GERMANY
99. Armenische Kirche – Munchen, GERMANY
100. Armenische Landsmannschaft zu Bayern e.V. , GERMANY
101. Armenisches Hilfswerk in Deutschland e.V. , GERMANY
102. Armenisch-Akademischer Verein 1860 e.V. , GERMANY
103. Norserunt-Deutschland, GERMANY
104. German-Armenian Studentsclub Haik, GERMANY
105. Institut fur Armenische Fragen e.V. , GERMANY
106. Armenian National Committee of Greece, GREECE
107. Armenian Prelacy and National Committee of Orthodox in Greece,
GREECE
108. Greek Armenian Forum, GREECE
109. Greek Armenian Friendship League, GREECE
110. Armenia Blue Cross of Greece, GREECE
111. Armenia Youth Federation, GREECE
112. Hamaskaïne Cultural Association, GREECE
113. Homenetmen, GREECE
114. Athletic Scout Organisation, GREECE
115. Armenian Charity Cross of Macedonia and Greece, GREECE
116. Azad Or : Armenian Daily Newspapers, GREECE
117. Djenazian Armenian High School, GREECE
118. Hagopian School, GREECE
119. Zavarian Armenian School, GREECE
120. Italian Civil Society Associations and Personalities, ITALY
121. AZAT
122. Redazione di “La Voce Armena”
123. Communita Armenia
124. Consiglio per la comunita armena di roma
125. Redaction de
126. Redaction de “Akhtamar On Line”
127. Ettore Musco
128. Massimiliano De Sire
129. Gassia Manoukian
130. Tizzi Corrado
131. Mechitarian, Iganzia Maria Lucia
132. Patrizia Manduchi
133. Michelguglielmo Torri
134. Tosatti Marco
135. Aldo Baldini
136. Gloria Ruth Calfayan
137. Norberto Poggio
138. Gloria Calfayan [
139. Norberto Poggio
140. don Riccardo Pane
141. Tiziano Villa
142. rech
143. Flavia Randi
144. Deir Ghazarian
145. H.RIAN
146. flora khaciatrian
147. Rodolfo Caroselli
148. Anais Dilsizian
149. Raffi Kassapian
150. Hovsep Kassapian
151. Clara Kurkdjian
152. Angele Berberian
153. Yervant Berberian
154. Levon Balian
155. May Balian
156. Magda Balian
157. Nubar Kassapian
158. Araxi Kassapian
159. Anias Kassapian
160. Haig Kassapian
161. Yacoub Artine Hayatian
162. Barbara Faes
163. Vahan Shahbazians
164. Marilde Andreano
165. Daniela Chiappetti
166. Rodolfo Caroselli
167. Andrea Cramarossa
168. Canetta Nemo
169. Armen Gurekian
170. Tiziano Villa
171. Storia Libera
172. Pietro Salvatori
173. Dott. Matteo Compareti
174. Massimiliano De Sire
175. Michelguglielmo Torri
176. Avedis Naroyan
177. Enrico Potukian
178. GALEANDRO Angela
179. Marco Rossi
180. Anahid Zerunian
181. Wartanusch Zerunian
182. Paola Della Rosa
183. Sarkis Zerunian
184. Corrado Miceli
185. Marzia Chini
186. Simonetta Pandolfi
187. Luciano Desocio
188. Bruno, Marta
189.
190. Il Presidente Gen. Ennio Reggiani
191. Cristina Gervasi
192. Mary Avakian
193. Manuela Avakian
194. Francesco Castelli
195. Noemi Antranikian
196. Lia Avakian
197. Linda Avakian
198. Umberto Codeleoncini
199. Zekiyan Boghos
200. Nevart Cricorian
201. Ara Zarian
202. Andrea Malavolti
203. Maria Giovanna Stasolla
204. Tchakmichian Karina
205. morelli derberiaviano
206. Guido Grosso
207. Antranik Balian
208. Elisa Giunchi
209. Saro Lerner
210. Khodaveerdi Saro
211. Khodaveerdi Boranian Siranusch
212. Khodaveerdi Savadians Marò
213. Khodaveerdi Gayane
214. Boranian Gedik Alis
215. Beatrice Paccani
216. Paola Barbara Conti
217. Faticato Camillo
218. Mirco Medici
219. Giovannamr Rizzi
220. Lucia Menichelli
221. Gaetano Tursi
222. Emanuele Aliprandi
223. Aldo Ferrari
224. Roberta Aluffi
225. Edoardo De Giovanni
226. Beatrice Paccani
227. Federica Mancinelli
228. Arnaldo Peretta
229. Mildonian Paola
230. Francesca Giovannoni
231. Heratch Abdalian
232. Abdalian Armine
233. Nederlandse Armeense comite voor Rechtvaardigheid en
Democratie(Haytad), NETHERLANDS
234. Armenian Cultural -Sport Union Almelo (Homentmen), NETHERLANDS
235. ANI Cultureel huis, NETHERLANDS
236. ARF Dashnaksoutyoun – Holland, NETHERLANDS
–Boundary_(ID_x2M81gwvUfaKnsRrl+/gRg )–

ARMENIAN CHESS PLAYER HAD A GOOD START
A1+
[12:22 pm] 27 September, 2006
An international chess tournament has started in Britain. Member of
the Armenian national team Grand Master Vladimir Hakobyan participates
in it too. After the forth round Hakobyan occupies in the 5th place
with three points.
Hakobyan has the highest rank among the 87 participants of the
tournament. At present the list is topped by Matheus Bartel from
Poland.
In the fifth round the Armenian Grand Master will play with Eugeny
Postni.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

EU ADOPTS CRITICAL REPORT ON ANKARA
People’s Daily Online, China
Sept 28 2006
The European Parliament warned Turkey yesterday it must speed up
far-reaching reforms if it wants to join the European Union.
EU lawmakers adopted a highly critical, non-binding report which
accused Ankara of failing to live up to promises it made to win the
green light from EU leaders to start talks last October on joining
the bloc.
“The European Parliament … regrets the slowing down of the reform
process,” the report said.
It said Turkey had shown “insufficient progress” on freedom of
expression, religious and minority rights, women’s rights and the
rule of law since the start of accession talks.
It demanded Turkey fulfil its obligation to open its ports and airports
to EU member Cyprus under a customs agreement. Ankara has refused to
do so unless the EU fulfils a pledge to end the economic isolation
of Turkish Cypriot northern Cyprus.
But parliament voted to delete a clause which would have sought
to make recognition by Ankara of the mass killing of Armenians in
Ottoman Turkey as “genocide” a precondition for EU membership. The
clause had particularly angered Turkey.
However, parliament said it “reiterates its call on Turkey to
acknowledge the Armenian genocide, as called for in previous European
parliament resolutions.”
Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan told an economic conference in
Istanbul that his government was “determined to work with the EU with
a constructive understanding” but would not accept any discrimination
or new criteria for membership.

EU ASSEMBLY ADOPTS CRITICAL REPORT ON TURKEY
By Darren Ennis
REUTERS, UK
Sept 27 2006
STRASBOURG, France, Sept 27 (Reuters) – The European Parliament warned
Turkey on Wednesday that it must speed up far-reaching reforms if it
wants to join the European Union.
EU lawmakers adopted a highly critical, non-binding report which
accused Ankara of failing to live up to promises it made to start
talks last October on joining the bloc.
“The European Parliament … regrets the slowing down of the reform
process,” the report said.
It noted Turkey had shown “insufficient progress” in the areas of
freedom of expression, religious and minority rights, women’s rights
and the rule of law since the start accession talks 11 months ago.
It demanded Turkey fulfil its obligation to open its ports and airports
to EU member Cyprus under an extended customs agreement.
Ankara has refused to do so unless the EU fulfils a pledge to end
the economic isolation of Turkish Cypriot northern Cyprus.
But parliament voted to delete a clause which would have sought
to make recognition by Ankara of the mass killing of Armenians in
Ottoman Turkey as “genocide” a precondition for EU membership. The
clause had particularly angered Turkey.
However, parliament said it “reiterates its call on Turkey to
acknowledge the Armenian genocide, as called for in previous European
parliament resolutions”.
European Commissioner Louis Michel, speaking on behalf of the EU
executive, warned lawmakers on Tuesday that making this a precondition
for membership would be “moving the goalposts”.
“FIRM BUT FAIR”
Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan told an economic conference in
Istanbul that his government was “determined to work with the EU with
a constructive understanding” but would not accept any discrimination
or new criteria for membership.
“You cannot change the rules during the match. The rules of play are
clear. The game has begun,” Erdogan said.
The report by Dutch lawmaker Camiel Eurlings did not call for a halt
or suspension of talks with Turkey. Eurlings told parliament it was
“fair but tough” and urged Turkey to see it as as “a motivation to
speed up reforms”.
Any country wishing to become a member of the 25-member bloc, set to
become 27 when Romania and Bulgaria join on Jan. 1, must receive the
approval of the EU’s directly elected assembly.
Parliament has never sought to veto any past accession, but it has
played a role in pressuring EU hopefuls to speed up reforms in previous
enlargement rounds.
The 80 amendments put forward by different political groups highlighted
deep divisions within the assembly over Turkey’s possible membership.
Many members of the centre-right European People’s Party, the largest
group, are unconvinced about Turkey’s bid to join. The governing
parties of Germany and France, which dominate the group, favour
“privileged partnership” with Turkey rather than full membership.
Some experts fear a possible breakdown in accession talks with the
strategic, Muslim candidate country if it fails to solve the dispute
over Cyprus amid mutual public disenchantment.
The European Commission is due to deliver its next regular progress
report on Turkey on Nov. 8 and has promised to take parliament’s
views into account.
EU Enlargement Commissioner Ollie Rehn will visit Ankara next week
to meet Turkish leaders.

EU CHAMBER CENSURES TURKEY ON RIGHTS
United Press International
Sept 27 2006
STRASBOURG, France, Sept. 27 (UPI) — The European Parliament,
meeting in France, approved a report Wednesday criticizing Turkey
for not doing enough to meet European Union membership criteria.
The chamber voted 429-71 in favor of the report, with 125 delegates
abstaining.
The report criticizes Turkey’s human rights shortcomings, but does
not call on Turkey to officially recognize as genocide the forced mass
evacuation and related deaths of Armenians by Ottoman Turks from 1915
to 1917.
Armenians have pushed for such recognition, claiming more than 1.5
million died in what some call the Armenian Holocaust.
Turkey vehemently denies the deaths were genocide.
The report calls on Turkey to increase reforms around freedom of
expression, religious rights, women’s rights, labor unions, minority
rights, cultural rights and judicial independence, the EU Observer
reports.
The report also expresses hope Pope Benedict XVI’s upcoming visit
to Turkey will “contribute to strengthening inter-religious and
intercultural dialogue between the Christian and Muslim world.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

CONDITION OF GENOCIDE HAS BEEN REMOVED
Sabah, Turkey
Sept 27 2006
European parliament has confirmed controversial Turkey report. It
has removed the pre-condition of Armenian genocide; the request of
‘privileged partnership’ and ‘Pontus and Syrian genocides’ was not
present.
EU commission had caused reactions in Ankara due to the amendments
and additional requirements in the reports. In the report, starting
a good neighborhood and diplomatic relation with Greece and a call
for opening the border gate were included. There were references to
“Pontus and Syrian genocides”. It has removed the pre-condition
of Armenian genocide; the request of ‘privileged partnership’ and
‘Pontus and Syrian genocides’ was not present.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

CHILD PORNOGRAPHY AND ARMENIAN ISSUE IN THE NETHERLANDS POLITICS
Sedat Laciner
Journal of Turkish Weekly, Turkey
Sept 27 2006
It is really strange. The Armenian issue has become an issue in the
run up to the Dutch elections. The two leading Dutch parties in the
opinion polls have kicked out prospective Turkish MPs because they
do not accept the Armenian claims are true. The candidates, one from
the opposition Labor Party and two from the biggest coalition party –
the Christian Democrat CDA – are Dutch/Turkish politicians who have
worked for integration of the Turkish and Muslims in the country.
There are strong Armenian communities and lobbies in many countries
including Armenia. Armenians are actually a nation of diaspora. The
diaspora population of the Armenians is higher than the population
of motherland. The diaspora Armenians are very keen on to make all
world governments to recognize the so-called Armenian genocide. The
Armenians believe in that the 1915 Events Under the Ottoman Rule was
a genocide although even the term of ‘genocide’ was unknown at that
time. Turkey has never accepted the Armenian claims and accused the
Armenians of massacring more than 520.000 Muslim Ottoman citizens,
namely Turkish and Kurdish people. Turkey’s so-called ‘deny’ made the
nationalist Armenians crazy and they started a revenge campaign. The
Armenian fanatics murdered many former Ottoman ministers after the
First World War and made great pressure on the parliaments where
they live in against the Turkish interests. In 1970s, the Armenian
reaction against Turkey transformed into Armenian terrorism. ASALA
and other Armenian terrorist organizations assassinated more than 40
Turkish diplomats and civilians. The Armenian terrorists made armed
operations in many countries, including France, Greece, United States,
United Kingdom, Austria, Spain, Iran, Switzerland etc. Many people
were also wounded. The bombs were put in the Turkish bank branches,
airway offices and embassies. The Armenian terrorist organizations
were backed by the Communist intelligence services and Palestinian
terrorist organizations. They were trained in Lebanon and Syria. The
most dramatic fact for Turkey was that the military alliances in
NATO, notably France and Greece, ignored the Armenian terrorists. The
terrorists even found safe haven in Greece and Greek Cyprus.
When the terrorist attacks hit Western targets and killed some
Western citizens, the United States and Western European states
put great pressure on the Armenian groups and the Armenian terrorist
organization strangely vanished. Some of the Turkish academicians argue
that the Armenian groups handed their arms and terrorism facilities
to the Kurdish separatist terrorist organization PKK. The PKK and
ASALA made agreements in London and Beirut. The end of the terrorist
attacks was actually a fresh start for the parliament lobbying for
the Armenian communities. The Armenian Church and Armenian extremist
groups aimed to persuade at least 100 foreign parliaments to recognize
the Armenian historical claims as truth. The Armenian activists never
applied a court for their cause although they claimed that more than
1,5 million Armenians were massacred by the Ottomans. Strangely the
Armenian figure has changed a lot:
Some Armenian books claimed about 750.000 Armenians were killed,
while some others were speaking about 1,5 million. Even some
Armenian activists in Wales argued more than 2,5 million Armenians
were slaughtered by the Turks. According to the Ottoman archives the
total Armenian population was less than 1,5 million.
Armenians started campaigns and lobbied to issue Armenian bills against
Turkey in almost all countries in the world. They focused on the North
American and Western European parliaments. The Armenians hoped that
if the West recognize the Armenian claims, they would force Turkey
recognize the Armenian cause. But they were simply wrong. Turkey has
never been persuaded in any issue like this. How Armenians harmed
Turkish interests abroad, Turkey became more hostile towards the
Armenians. The Armenian attacks abroad made the Turkish people crazy.
Netherlands was not an exception. The Armenian lobbying has always been
strong in this country. Armenian community concentrated in Amsterdam
during the 17th and 18th centuries, and the Armenian Dutch citizens
became very influential despite their relatively small population. The
exact number of Armenians in the country now is unknown, but it is
unofficially estimated that about 4,000 to 6,000 Armenians live in
the Netherlands. However the Armenian influence on Dutch politics is
still strong, particularly on the Turkish issues.
One of the reasons for this is the Armenian global solidarity. The
Armenian lobbying parties in Western Europe unite in each cases and
make lobbies. For example, about 300.000 Armenians live in France
and they have MPs, businessmen, authors etc. in France and all these
strong people join in any lobbying activities in EU countries. Thus
the Armenian cause become strong in the countries where the Armenian
population is really small, like United Kingdom, Netherlands and
Belgium. Second reason is the strong anti-Turkish circles in these
countries. Many in the Netherlands believe that the Turkish people
are not European and Turkey’s EU membership must be prevented. The
EU summits however confirmed that Turkey’s EU membership cannot be
stopped in terms of economic and political criteria. Turkish economy is
better than Bulgaria’s, Romania’s, even some of the EU members right
now. Under these circumstances, the Armenian issue with the Cyprus
issue provide perfect tools to keep the Turks outside. Third, there are
traditional anti-Turkey groups in the Western European countries like
the Greeks, Greek Cypriots, racist and religionist European groups,
Marxist Turks and PKK supporters. All are natural partners for the
Armenian lobbying groups against Turkey. None of these groups lose
any opportunity in damaging Turkish interests in Europe. Thus an
anti-Turkish coalition emerged, and when the Armenians attempted
to push the Dutch or any other parliament to accept the Armenian
claims as truth, all the mentioned anti-Turkey groups unite behind
the Armenians. It was the case when the Dutch Parliament accepted the
Armenian 1915 allegations. The Dutch Parliament adopted a resolution
recognizing the 1915 events as genocide in 2004. According to the
accepted resolution the Dutch government had to push for recognition
of the so-called genocide as part of the negotiations for Turkey’s
desired accession to the EU.
Tineke Huizinga from the Christian explains the official Dutch
position:
“More than one and a half million people were murdered during the
time of World War I by Turkey and this was a genocide and you can
absolutely compare this with the Holocaust.”
It is really strange and non-based because there was no country
named Turkey in 1915. Turkey was established in 1923. The country
at that time on Anatolian territory was the Ottoman Empire. Dutch
politicians compare the 1915 Events with the Holocaust but Israel
reject any comparison between Holocaust and 1915 Events. The following
quotation from a Nobel Prize winning Israeli statesman, Shimon Peres,
closes the discussion:
“We reject attempts to create a similarity between the Holocaust and
the Armenian allegations. Nothing similar to the Holocaust occurred.
It is a tragedy what the Armenians went through but not a genocide…
Israel should not determine a historical or philosophical position
on the Armenian issue. If we have to determine a position, it should
be done with great care not to distort the historical realities.”
(Peres: Armenian Allegations are Meaningless’, Turkish Daily News, 10
April 2001; Haig Boyadjian, ‘Peres Claims Armenians Did Not Experience
Genocide’, Asbarez, 10 April 2001).
Turkey has rejected all accusations and blamed the Dutch politicians
of undermining Turkish-Armenian reconciliation. Turkish Prime
Minister Tayyip Erdogan call the Armenian side to establish a joint
commission to discuss the historical disputes instead of foreign
involvements. However the Armenians rejected all good will offers
and continued to their anti-Turkish efforts in the Western parliaments.
Strangely Armenia does not recognize Turkey’s eastern borders despite
the written agreements, like Kars Agreement. Second, Armenia has
occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan and about 1 million Azeris have
been refugees since the occupation. The genocide-like massacres
in Hocali town (Azerbaijan) was pictured and documented well by
the Western media. However none of the European or North American
Parliaments mentioned all these issues but discussed the disputes
happened almost a century ago. I personally do not believe that the
Western parliaments love the Armenians and give great importance to
history. If so, they should first recognize the Algerian genocide
committed by France after the Second World War. Genocides committed
by the Belgium, Germans or Russians should have been on the list. If
these parliaments give so importance to the massacres and genocides,
they should have mention the war crimes and massacres committed by
the Armenians during the Ottoman time, after the First World War
and Karabakh War. All of us know that all these things are dirty
politics. The Armenian issue is being abused, and the Armenians are
happy with abused by the Western politicians.
DUTCH POLITICAL PARTIES AND RACIST DISCRIMINATION
Armenians saw the Ducth elections as another opportunity to raise
their arguments and to harm the Turkish interests in this country in
2006. It made the headlines after questions were raised by the Armenian
community in the Netherlands when the names of the candidates were
made public on the party lists for the November elections, and a
heated discussion soon followed.
The Turkish-Dutch candidates in question had clearly stated in the
past that, in their view, the 1915 events were not genocide but
communal calashes. They said the so-called genocide not taken place.
This view is contrary to the official policy of some of the Dutch
political parties.
It was a clash with this position that brought the CDA candidates
Ayhan Tonca, Osman Elamci and Labour Party candidate Erdinc Sacan
into problems with their parties. Ayhan Tonca has constantly denied
the genocide occurred: “The genocide that people talk about never
took place” he said.
Although Mr. Tonca doesn’t deny that hundreds of thousands of people
died, he argues that there needs to be further investigation to see if
the killings were consciously carried out by the Ottoman government at
that time. Many Turkish people and even the current Turkish Government
think in this way. Turkey accepts that thousands of people were killed
and died during the 1915 Relocation. Turkey says that it was difficult
times, and the war circumstances with poor economic conditions caused
epidemics and famines in Anatolia.
According to the Turkish historians many Armenians died due to the
famine, bad weather conditions, epidemics and lack of health etc.
facilities. Turks also accept that many more Armenians were killed by
the armed gangs, mostly Kurdish. The previous Armenian attacks against
the Kurdish tribes caused revenge attacks and some Kurdish gangs also
attacked the Armenian immigrants hoping to get their valuables. What
is obvious that the Ottoman soldiers could not protect the Armenian
civilians and thousands of Armenians were killed or died due to the
‘natural reasons’.
Turkish candidates explanation was not in line with the CDA’s and
Labour Party’s official policy, and events that followed the initial
uproar made things even harder for the CDA to accept. As a matter
of fact that these Turkish candidates do not accept some other
CDA policies, like Turkey’s full EU membership. The Armenian and
anti-Turkey lobbies’ pressure left the CDA with little choice but
to remove them from the list of candidates. The Dutch Labour Party
decided to scrap its candidate from the list after the Turkish-Dutch
candidate refused to stand by the so-called official party policy
recognizing the Armenian claims. According to the candidates removed
from the list, this was unacceptable, because the political parties
are known as the symbol of different ideas and freedom of speech. If
a politician cannot think in different ways in political parties,
where does he/she can do so?
The Netherlands has been known for its liberal laws and political
system. Dutch even allow paedophile group. A Dutch court turned down
a request to ban a political party (the Brotherly Love, Freedom and
Diversity Party, PNVD) with a paedophile agenda. Dutch PNVD seeks
to lower the age of sexual consent from 16 to 12 and legalize child
pornography and sex with animals. “Freedom of expression…including
the freedom to set up a political party can be seen as the basis
for a democratic society,” Judge Hofhuis told the journalist after
the verdict.
As a result, you can defend child pornography and sex with animals
in the Netherlands but you cannot have different opinion on Armenian
issue.
If you are Turkish you have to obey what the imposed on you. Shut up,
and accept it!
You have no choice but recognition of what you did not commit.
Thanks God, the Netherlands is a liberal and democratic country.