ALIYEV IN WASHINGTON: AN IMPORTANT TEST FOR DEMOCRACY
Christopher Walker
A EurasiaNet Commentary
EurasiaNet, NY
April 27 2006
The rubber hits the road for President George W. Bush’s “Freedom
Agenda,” when he meets with President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan at
the White House on April 28. Aliyev sits atop a tightly controlled
system known for its denial of political or economic freedom to those
who aren’t members of the tiny and insular ruling elite.
The agenda for the meeting between the two presidents is likely to
focus on major geopolitical issues now making headlines, including
Iran’s nuclear program, energy security and the global campaign
against terrorism.
While these issues unquestionably deserve high billing, President
Bush should also emphasize Azerbaijan’s lagging performance on
democratic reform. Letting the country’s leadership off the hook for
its resistance to democratization would be a strategic mistake.
Encouraging democratic reforms in Azerbaijan not only would serve
the long-term interests of the West, it would benefit all Azerbaijani
citizens.
Azerbaijan is a Muslim country of roughly 8 million located in the
pivotal trans-Caucasus region. To the east is the Caspian Sea, key to
the region’s energy riches and a pathway to Central Asia. To the north
lies Russia. To the south, Iran. To round out this tough neighborhood,
the former Soviet republics of Georgia and Armenia are to Azerbaijan’s
west. Nagorno-Karabakh, over which Azerbaijan and Armenia remain
embroiled in a territorial dispute, is one of the world’s most bitter
“frozen” conflicts. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].
Azerbaijan’s oil wealth, poised to balloon in the coming years,
adds another wrinkle. Oil and gas accounted for less than 20 percent
of Azerbaijan’s industrial output a decade and a half ago. Today,
it represents more than 60 percent, as well as more than half of
Azerbaijan’s budget revenue – figures that are both rising.
For countries with sound and independent institutions, such resources
can benefit wider society. In a country where more than 40 percent
of the population now lives below the poverty line, well managed oil
proceeds could help lift Azerbaijan to a level of prosperity unique
to the region. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].
In Azerbaijan’s case, however, economic experts worry that the oil
wealth will fuel even more rapacious corruption among the ruling elite,
rather than genuine reform of the country’s closed, Soviet-oriented
institutions. The government is now setting in motion a host of large
scale infrastructure projects underwritten by oil proceeds, projects
that on their face seem sensible enough. However, given the country’s
rampant corruption and weak institutions, there is a great danger
that much of this money will find its way into the corrupt patronage
networks that steer the country’s economic and political activity.
A report issued in December 2005 by the Caspian Development Advisory
Panel, a body established by British Petroleum to study the impact
of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline project, said that “in the longer
term, development of the rule of law, transparency and good governance,
including full participation by the public, will be prerequisites
if Azerbaijan is to manage effectively its substantial oil and gas
wealth and avoid the ‘oil curse’.” Right now, given the state of its
institutions, odds are that Azerbaijan will not escape this oil curse.
Azerbaijan’s parliament is little more than a rubber stamp body. The
judiciary likewise is beholden to the executive. The country’s
television media is tightly controlled by President Aliyev’s family
and senior officials. Given the suffocating grip on the news media,
average Azerbaijanis essentially operate in the dark on public policy
issues. Parliamentary elections last November were rife with abuses,
including intimidation of opposition candidates and serious flaws in
vote counting.
Meanwhile, reformers in Azerbaijan are deflated, first due to the weak
Western response to the marred parliamentary elections in November and
now by the invitation of President Aliyev to the White House, which is
seen as an endorsement of the Azerbaijani leader’s repressive policies.
Azeri reformers are not naìve. They do not expect the United States to
ignore its own national security and energy interests. One Baku-based
reformer who has spent time in the West told me in early April:
“we recognize that the US has other interests in our country.
But we want a consistent message to our regime on the need for
democratic reform and a basic adherence to human rights standards –
which has been missing.”
Reformers see neither political will from their own leaders, nor
sufficiently strong commitment from the United States or European
Union to push the country’s authoritarian management style in a more
open direction. Therefore, the meeting between presidents Bush and
Aliyev is a golden opportunity for the United States to send a message
to Azerbaijan’s leadership – that the US is committed to democracy
there, too.
The important issues on which the West needs the cooperation of
Azerbaijan should not crowd out the development of accountable
institutions, as well as the emergence of greater political and
economic pluralism. A democratic Azerbaijan will still have oil,
and will be a more reliable partner to the West.
Editor’s Note: Christopher Walker is Director of Studies at Freedom
House. He is author of the Azerbaijan report in Freedom House’s
forthcoming survey of governance, “Countries at the Crossroads.” He
recently returned from a working visit to Azerbaijan.
–Boundary_(ID_aZHeP9Ksr7h0ItixL8gYWw )–

REMEMBERING ’91 YEARS OF RESILIENCE AND SURVIVAL’
By Melody Hanatani/ Staff Writer
Woburn Advocate, MA
April 27 2006
It was a solemn day at the State House last Friday when local
officials and the Armenian community came together to commemorate
the 91st anniversary of the Armenian genocide.
Generations of Armenians filled the House of Representatives chamber
from top to bottom for the annual ceremony sponsored by the State
House Genocide Commemoration Committee.
Several candidates for the upcoming statewide election, including
gubernatorial hopeful Deval Patrick, were among those in attendance.
State Rep. Rachel Kaprielian of Watertown opened the event by calling
it a commemoration of “91 years of grief … 91 years of resilience
and survival.”
The Rev. Raphael Andonian of Belmont’s Holy Cross Armenian Catholic
Church gave the invocation and the Rev. Antranig Baljian of
St. Stephen’s Armenian Apostolic Church in Watertown gave a requiem
prayer.
Many speakers called for the Turkish and United States governments
to recognize the atrocities in order to begin healing and to prevent
future genocides.
U.S. Rep Edward Markey demanded that President George W. Bush go on
the record and recognize the killings as genocide.
Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey presented Governor’s Proclamations to four
survivors, three of whom attended the ceremony. The son of Areka
DerKazarian accepted the proclamation on behalf of his mother, who
was unable to attend.
“Our country is richer because of you,” Healey said to the survivors.
Healey was filling in for Gov. Mitt Romney, R-Belmont, who was in
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba on Friday.
This year’s ceremony honored Dr. Taner Akcam, a visiting professor
at the University of Minnesota, who was one of the first Turkish
scholars to recognize the genocide.
For speaking out, Akcam received a 10-year prison sentence in 1976. He
escaped after serving one year, and has lived in exile since then.
For the past 20 years, Akcam has worked on human rights issues, in
particular the Turkish government’s denial of the genocide. He said
truth and recognition would deter further human rights violations
and abuse.
He called for Turkey and Armenia to work together to deal with their
pasts as part of the democratization process.
Dr. Henry Theriault, the keynote speaker, said an apology alone could
simply be “empty rhetoric.”
Theriault, who is the coordinator for the Center for the Study of
Human Rights at Worcester State College, said recognition must come
in the form of land and reparations.
In his closing remarks, state Rep. Peter Koutoujian, D-Waltham, talked
about why the Armenian community continues to commemorate the genocide.
He said the commemoration is not about dwelling on the past, but
understanding that the genocide was the first of many that occurred
over the past 100 years.
“We know the events of the past are important today,” he said.
Clara Mandasian of Watertown has lived in Massachusetts for the past
seven years and has attended the commemoration every year. She’s been
to similar ceremonies around the United States.
For Mandasian, the commemoration is a way for her to honor the victims
of past genocides. Her grandmother survived the Armenian genocide.
“It’s very frustrating,” she said of the Turkish government’s denial
of the genocide. “It’s so painful to have a history, to know what
your family endured, and have the perpetrator deny it.”
It was a first-time ceremony for the younger generation of
Armenians. Araxie Poladian of Belmont brought her grandchildren for
the first time.
She hopes her grandchildren can keep the history alive.
“I hope people will tell other people that this shouldn’t happen to
anyone,” she said.

RALLY LINKS GENOCIDES
By Melody Hanatani/ Staff Writer
Woburn Advocate, MA
April 27 2006
A new coalition of diverse local ethnic groups kicked off an
anti-genocide campaign with a rally at the State House last Friday,
following the annual Armenian genocide anniversary commemoration.
The group, called kNOw Genocide, includes 10 organizations such as
Rwanda Outlook, the Cambodian Mutual Assistance Association, and the
Jewish Community Relations Council.
On his way from the ceremony to the rally, state Sen. Steven Tolman
talked about why the coalition was formed.
“Today is a reaction of a diverse group to the lawsuit about the
denial of the Turks that this [genocide] even happened,” he said,
referring to a lawsuit seeking to introduce materials denying the
genocide into the statewide curriculum.
In listing the genocides that have occurred over the past 100 years,
such as Armenia, Bosnia and Cambodia, U.S. Rep Edward Markey called
on President George W. Bush to recognize the genocides in Armenia
and Darfur.
“Don’t forget Palestine, Markey,” said one protester. “It’s been too
long for them too.”
The protester was later escorted farther down Beacon Street, where
he continued to yell at the speakers.
Attorney General Tom Reilly, a Watertown resident and gubernatorial
hopeful, said the pending case in Boston is not about limiting free
speech. He said the only way to find a more just and peaceful future
is to face the “ugly truth of our past.”
State Rep. Peter Koutoujian, D-Waltham, announced new “landmark”
legislation would be filed this week to force the state to divest from
any country where genocide occurs. He said the legislation would be
the first of its kind in the country, and hopes it will be a model
for other states.
Markey said earlier that the legislation would “ratchet up pressure
on the Bush administration to take a firmer stand in Darfur.”
According to some humanitarian groups, about 400,000 people have died
in the Darfur region of Sudan.
Belmont resident Heather Krafian, a teacher at Muraco Elementary School
in Winchester, is a granddaughter of Armenian genocide survivors. She
spoke about the importance of teaching about the genocide in the
schools.
She spoke out against the denial of the genocide, and said it has
become the modus operandi of the Turkish government. She said there
is no doubt among scholars and experts that the Armenian genocide
occurred.
“The thread of lies Turkey has woven for 91 years is slowly beginning
to unravel,” said Krafian. “The fabric of denial has become torn and
tattered. The truth will not be killed, but will prevail.”

HISTORY THAT DARES NOT SPEAK ITS NAME
GetReligion, DC
April 27 2006
It is one of the most controversial events in the history of the 20th
century and hardly anyone in America knows about it.
If a government managed to kill off nearly 80 percent of the members
of a particular ethnic group within its borders, while also striving
to destroy its history and memory, what would you call it?
Genocide? A hoax?
A massacre? A holocaust, even?
What if the victims represented a branch of Eastern Christianity
that few in the West knew about? What if the nation being accused of
committing genocide were a crucial U.S. friend in the Muslim world
and, now, a nation urgently trying to change its image in order
to enter the European Union? And how would you treat this event
in public schools? Would you allow it to be debated by partisans,
pitting those who descended from the survivors against the various
interest groups who want this issue to go away?
We are talking, of course, about the 1915-18 massacre of Armenians by
the Turkish government. A recent Los Angeles Times story by Elizabeth
Mehren offered readers a glimpse into the controversies surrounding
the genocide by focusing on a lawsuit in Massachusetts – backed by
Turks and others – that says students should hear evidence that the
genocide never happened or that it has been blown out of proportion.
Is this a case where free speech is absolute? Or is it somehow similar
to cases involving – prepare for thunderbolts – Holocaust denial?
How emotional is this? How loaded are these debates? Listen to
these voices:
She was only 3 when her family fled their Turkish homeland 91 years
ago. Alice Shnorhokian and her brother were too small to walk the
long road to safety in the Syrian desert, so their parents strapped
them in boxes on the sides of a donkey that carried the family
possessions. . . . Shnorhokian saw fellow Armenians trying to escape
from every village she passed. There was no food, water or shelter,
she said. Babies and old people were dying along the way. Eventually,
about 1.2 million Armenians would perish.
“In Turkey, in genocide times, we Christian Armenians had three
options,” Shnorhokian said. “We paid a heavy tax, became Muslim
or died.”
Then there is high-school senior Ted Griswold, who filed the lawsuit
backed by Tuskish-Americans.
The plaintiffs contend that Department of Education Commissioner
David P. Driscoll and other state officials violated the 1st Amendment
by removing material from a human rights curriculum that questioned
whether the mass killings nearly a century ago constituted genocide.
“It’s a case of academic freedom,” said Griswold, who lent his name to
the suit to show his support for freedom of speech, and who admitted
he knows little about Armenia or the genocide. “A greater perspective
makes the truth easier to find,” he said, adding: “This is nothing
personal about the Armenians. I realize it is an emotional issue
for them.”
This story is just beginning. You can also say that it will never end
(even as the destruction of Armenian churches and history continues).
The question, for me, is whether other newspapers and networks
care enough about foreign news and, yes, religion news to cover this
debate. Why cover religion story on the other side of the planet, even
when the controversy reaches into American courtrooms and classrooms?
Why cover a story that offends so many different groups of people?
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

413,000 ARMENIANS FORCED TO EMIGRATE
By Sezai Kalayci, Istanbul
Zaman Online, Turkey
April 27 2006
The chair of the Turkish History Council, Professor Yusuf Halacoglu
informed that the number of Armenians forced to relocate in 1915
was 413,000.
While claiming that these figures according to “The Secret Note Book of
Talat Pasha” were exaggerated, Halacoglu noted that the information in
the book published by the General Staff also confirmed his assessment.
“The number of Armenians sent to Syria was 413,000, a figure that I
wrote in my book and that the General Staff confirmed. The figure of
924,000 is not the actual number that was sent, but was probably the
planned number,” said Halacoglu.
The idea of forced emigration of Catholic and Protestant Armenians was
abandoned and in some cities, children and women were not relocated.
Halacoglu noted that the information Murat Bardakci, a columnist for
Hurriyet daily, took from the secret notebook of Talat Pasha, lacked
authenticity and what he wrote about as history, was just a story.
Highlighting that the population of Ankara was 44,000 in 1914,
Halacoglu continues: “According to Mr. Bardakci, the number of
Armenians that emigrated from Ankara was 47,000 and the number who
could not emigrate was 12,000. If you add these together it equals
60,000; therefore, refuting the accuracy of his quoted emigration
figures. I think Mr. Bardakci simply wants to remain popular.”
Baskent University faculty member Professor Servet Mutlu said the
notebook, which was supposedly written by Talat Pasha, might have
been written by somebody else. The accuracy of information could be
ascertained if the notebook describing the emigration was examined
at chronology laboratories.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

JCRC JOINS BATTLE FOR GENOCIDE RECOGNITION
By Ted Siefer – Thursday April 27 2006
Jewish Advocate , MA
April 27 2006
Massachusetts Attorney General Tom ReillyLocal Jewish groups back
teaching the Armenian genocide in public schools
The Jewish Community Relations Council has firmly allied itself with
the Armenian community in its fight against a lawsuit challenging the
way the Armenian genocide is taught in Massachusetts public schools.
Coinciding with the anniversary of the start of the Armenian genocide
in 1915, a rally organized by kNOw Genocide, a coalition of several
cultural and religious groups, including JCRC, was held last week
in front of the State House. Among the speakers at the event were
Lt. Governor Kerry Healy and Attorney General Tom Reilly, both
gubernatorial candidates, and Congressman Ed Markey.
“We have to defend the right of the Department of Education to teach
what happened to the Armenians. This is not about free speech. It’s
about facing truth,” Reilly told the crowd. The attorney general’s
office is defending the Department of Education in the lawsuit brought
by the Assembly of Turkish American Associations.
About 1.5 million Armenians were killed during World War I by Turkish
forces; Turkey has long contended that the deaths were the unintended
consequences of war, not a deliberate campaign against Armenians.
The Turkish association’s lawsuit charges the Department of Education
with violating academic freedom and free speech by removing from its
curriculum guide materials that presented the Turkish point of view
on the genocide.
Lawyer and academic freedom advocate Harvey Silverglate is representing
the Turkish Association. “I believe that in the long run the
Jewish organizations, as well as the Armenian organizations and all
other organizations currently on the ‘censor the contra-genocide
views’ bandwagon, will be sorry that they have contributed to
the institutionalization of ethnic group censorship in matters of
education,” he said.
JCRC Executive Director Nancy Kaufman rejected this argument. “I
think it’s bogus. Does this mean we should let the KKK teach in
schools because they want to share their view of slavery?” she said.
“What if someone had wanted to make room for a Holocaust denier in a
textbook? We in the Jewish community have to be sensitive to genocide,
whether the Rwandan, Jewish or right now in Sudan.”
This point was emphasized by speakers at last week’s rally, which
prompted a contingent of pro-Palestinian activists to shout: “Stop
the Zionist invasion of Sudan.”
The Armenian genocide is widely recognized by scholars. Last year,
the International Association of Genocide Scholars sent a letter to
the Turkish president urging the country to reexamine its version of
the catastrophe.
A bill introduced earlier this month in the House (H.R. 193) and Senate
(S. 164) would include language recognizing the Armenian genocide
as part of a commemoration of the 15th anniversary of the U.S.’s
adoption of the Genocide Convention. The U.S. does not officially
recognize the Armenian genocide.
A documentary titled “The Armenian Genocide,” narrated by Julianna
Margulies, was screened on Capitol Hill shortly before the bills were
introduced. The documentary aired on PBS this month.
There are many significant connections between the Armenian genocide
and the Holocaust, according to Adam Strom. His organization, Facing
History and Ourselves, provides curriculum materials for teaching
about historical atrocities, including the Armenian genocide.
Strom pointed out that Hitler cited the world’s indifference to the
Armenian genocide as he laid the groundwork for the Holocaust.
“Hitler said: ‘Who today still speaks of the massacre of the
Armenians?'” Strom noted.
Jews have long played an important role in calling for recognition of
the atrocity and justice for its victims, Strom said. He pointed to the
role of Rafael Lemkin, who defined the term “genocide” in a treatise
on the subject that would become a cornerstone of human rights law.
“He lobbied for years to find a way to outlaw what happened to the
Armenians. He asked his law professor, ‘Why can’t they put these guys
on trial, why is it not against the law to murder a million people
but it is to kill just one?'” said Strom.
Strom also pointed to the role of Henry Morgenthau, the Jewish U.S.
ambassador to Turkey during World War I who railed against the
anti-Armenian campaign.
Morgenthau is revered in Armenia, according to David Sacks, a Boston
doctor who helped set up a women’s clinic in the newly independent
republic in the 1990s.
Sacks said that in his time spent in Armenia, he found many qualities
of the people familiar. “Their love of family and culture … reminded
me of our people,” he said.
“We need to honor their pain and suffering and we need to remind the
world that there was more than one Holocaust,” Sacks added.
s_issue/news/?content_id=1179

COE: TURKEY, ARMENIA CAN NORMALIZE RELATIONS ONLY AFTER NAGORNO SETTLEMENT
ABHaber, Belgium
April 27 2006
The secretary-general of the Council of Europe (CoE), Terry
Davis, stated yesterday that Turkey and Armenia cannnot normalize
relations without first finding a solution to the dispute over the
Nagorno-Karabakh enclave.
Davis called on all parties of the dispute, especially Armenia and
Azerbaijan, to make the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh issue
a top priority. He said that other disputes are important, but not
as important as the divided enclave, reported the Armenian Mediamax
news agency.
“We are all aware of the real problem, which is the future of
Nagorno-Karabakh,” he said. “Therefore, we should all exert effort to
solve the real issue. There is no need to spend time on other issues.”
Asked whether the CoE will play a more active role in the resolution
process, the secretary-general replied that the Organization for
Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk group is responsible
for facilitating a resolution to the problem, and he expressed hope
that the organization’s co-chairpersons would succeed despite various
difficulties.

ALIYEV: “EVERYBODY KNOWS, ARMENIA COULD NEVER OCCUPY OUR TERRITORIES WITHOUT RUSSIAN ARMY’S ASSISTANCE”
Regnum, Russia
April 27 2006
“We hope, that USA as a superpower and co-Chair of OCSI Minsk Group
will contribute to Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement, and peace
will be finally established in the region,” President of Azerbaijan
Ilham Aliyev stated in Washington. “Karabakh is the main question,
which hinders in Azerbaijan’s development, excepting this, we are
quite okay: the budget is growing, energy programs are expanding,”
Aliyev stressed speaking at the Foreign Affairs Council.
Answering the question, to what extent Armenia, which has won the
war, is ready, in Aliyev’s opinion, to compromise, the Azerbaijani
president stated: “First of all, from my point of view, Armenia
has not won the war. Perhaps, the country achieved some advantages
with considerable assistance of other states. Everybody knows that
Armenia could never occupy our territories without Russian army’s
assistance, which played a vital part. Nevertheless, the war is not
over.” “I think it is time for the Armenian authorities to imagine,
what it will be with the country in five, ten or fifteen years, if
the conflict is not settled. Azerbaijani people’s patience is not
everlasting,” Aliyev stated. According to him, “Azerbaijan’s future
is rather clear; our country will be strong, prosperous, with strong
economy and society. Azerbaijan will become a country, with which it
will be worthy to be a neighbor or not to be at all.”
According to Aliyev, peace is profitable for all the parties. In
exchange for compromises, Armenia will get communication ways, a way
out to Russia, and a very important circumstance – the country will
be able to participate in regional projects and developments. As for
Nagorno Karabakh population, it will obtain a right for peaceful and
legal life, Aliyev stressed. “Our position in the question is very
clear: the conflict should be resolved in context of Azerbaijan’s
territorial integrity. Nagorno Karabakh population will receive right
for high level of autonomy in the framework of Azerbaijani territorial
integrity. They should receive rather clear political guarantees, that
there will be eternal peace in the region,” head of the Azerbaijani
state pointed out.
It should be mentioned, American mediator on Karabakh settlement
Steven Mann, who was present during Aliyev’s speech, stated that “it
is important to reject attempts to solve existing questions quickly
and finally. Reverse approach should be preferred – to move slowly
and to put some complicated questions aside,” Radio Liberty informs.

ANDREW BOSTOM LECTURE APPEARANCE
The American Thinker, AZ
April 27 2006
Tomorrow night, Friday, our contributor Andrew G. Bostom, author of
the Legacy of Jihad, will be delievering a public lecture at Harvard.
Readers are invited to attend.
Andy will be speaking in commemoration of the Armenian Genocide,
with a speech entitled “Jihad in Europe: Past as Prologue?” It will
take place between 5 and 6 PM at the Harvard Semitic Museum, Room
201. The Museum is located at 6 Divinity Avenue.

WE SHOULD FIGHT ARMENIAN TERRORISM ON AZERBAIJAN’S OCCUPIED GROUNDS – MINISTRY OF ECOLOGY
Author: S.Babayeva
TREND Information, Azerbaijan
April 27 2006
It is necessary to combat Armenian ecological terror on Azerbaijan’s
occupied grounds, Trend reports with reference to the release of
Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Azerbaijan issued
April 27.
The release says after Armenians had occupied Zangilan area it turned
into a real dead zone as a result of their ecological terror.
Zangilan area in southwestern Azerbaijan is famous for its outtanding
landscape, currently spoiled by Okhchuchay river that begins in
Armenia and, passing Zangilan and 20 villages flows in Azerbaijan’s
second largest river Araz.
Contaminated industrail waters from Gadjaran and Gafan industrail
plants, as well as all municipal and agricultural wastes ar4e
discahrged in Okhchuchay.
While using this water, the population suffers from various diaseases,
an increse of children mortality, content of heavy metals, such as
copper, zinc, molybdenum, etc. in vegetables and mat was recorded.