ARMENIAN STUDENT KILLED IN MOSCOW RACE ATTACK
Nick Paton Walsh Moscow
The Guardian – United Kingdom
Apr 24, 2006
An ethnic Armenian teenager was stabbed to death in a metro station
in central Moscow on Saturday night – the latest attack in a growing
wave of racist violence in Russia. At least six immigrants have been
killed so far this month, and many more have been wounded. Media
reports said that a man in black clothing with a shaven head had
stabbed the victim several times at Pushkin Square station, not far
from the Kremlin, before fleeing. Vagan Abramyants, 17, a student,
died on the spot. A friend who was with him at the time was badly
wounded in the attack.

THE ARMENOCIDE
Armen Manvelyan
24.04.2006 11:35
“Radiolur”
Armenocide – this was how the known Arab historian Musa Pren
characterized the tragedy that occurred 90 years ago in the Osman
Empire. By creating the word “genocide” through uniting the Latin-Greek
“race” and “murder” words, Famous Polish attorney Rafael Lemken wanted
to show the whole horror that threatens peoples subject to mass
assassinations, while Pren’s “Armenocide” concretizes and gives an
ethnic characteristic of the matter. At the start of the 20th century
the tragedy that happened in Western Armenia, on the territory of Osman
Empire, changed the fate of a whole nation, and penetrating into the
memory of peoples, it turned into a desire to live and to strive.
The tragedy left a fatal spot, making a whole people suffer a
complex. Such complexes, however, are not cured through short memory
or through the loss of the latter. These are cured to spite the
organizers of the Genocide, due to life, development and victory. To
exclude repetition of similar tragedies it is important to understand
the historic and political motivations of it.
Historic and Political Reasons of the Armenocide
If we speak about the history of the Armenian nation, we can divide
it into two parts – before and after the Genocide. This watershed,
which we call genocide, assassination, Armenian massacres and at
last Armenocide, needs serious study and analysis, particularly from
the point of view of developing security of the second independent
Republic of Armenia.
Turning to the Armenian Genocide – the Armenocide – we should note
that it became possible because of a number of historic events:
it occurred under the conditions of collapse of the Osman Empire,
the World War Two and the strengthening of the idea of creating the
state of Turan. We can state that these events, however, came to
complete the policy the Osman Empire was executing against Armenians
since the day of its creation. Generally, turning to the history of
creation and existence of the Osman Empire, we should mention that it
was some kind of totalitarian Empire. Preceding that or in that period
similar empires were being created not only owing to military power,
but also due to economic and cultural expansion.
Before, the metropolises forming the Empire were superior over the
peoples under their domination in regard to the level of economic,
military and cultural development, which allowed them to actively
influence these people and keep them under their domination. Different
from this, from the above-mentioned economic, military and cultural
factors only the military one was vital in Turkey. That is to say that
being on a lower level of development, the people forming the Empire –
the Turks – could control other peoples of the Empire only with the
military force. Thus, there was no ideological, political, ethnic or
cultural unity within the Empire. It was solely the power of arms that
provided the opportunity to retain the Empire for centuries. Being
on a lower level of economic, cultural and political development than
other peoples of the Empire, Turks could only grab.
This found its expression also in the fact that the nomadic tribe that
penetrated into Small Asia from Central Asia aimed at evading also
these territories to make these a permanent place of their inhabitance.
There were only two ways to do this, either by assimilating the local
nations or by annihilating them. The first one seemed to be a rather
complex problem, since, as it was mentioned, the nations living here –
the Armenians, Greeks, Arabs and Syrians were ahead of dominant Turks
in regard to the level of their development. While the second way was
rather simple and dear to them, considering also that the latter had
great experience of it, since they were keeping the Empire only with
the military force and cruelty. However, if in the period of power
and flourishing of the Osman Empire the idea of having a homeland
was not primary, then in the 19th century it turned essential for
the founders of the collapsing Empire – the Turks. We can say that
this was also one of the peculiarities of this Empire. Other Empires –
the Roman, the Russian or the British – had their original motherland,
a historic land, where they could continue to live after the collapse
of the Empire. The homeland of Turks was Central Asia and Siberia,
where they were not going to return.
Therefore, an own motherland – the metropolis – had to be
created. Small Asia could become such motherland for Turks, since it
had strategic importance both due to its geographical position and
in respect to the possibility of establishing a new Empire in the
future. However, the Armenians, Greeks and Assyrians had been living
here for centuries. And because Armenians occupied the heart of this
territory, they became the primary targets of attack.
We should note that to prevent the collapse of the Osman Empire, in
the 19th century Turks tried to suggest different ideologies, which,
according to them, could unite the peoples of the Empire. The idea of
New Osmanism that emerged in the second half of the 19th century aimed
at uniting the nations of the Empire notwithstanding their religious
or ethnic belongingness. According to ideologists of New Osmanism,
this national ideology could be attractive for other nations of the
Empire and would create the opportunity to prevent the separatist
dispositions of the peoples under Turkish domination. However, from
the very beginning the artificialness and bareness of this ideology
was apparent. Therefore, it could not become the force that would
unite the peoples of the Osman Empire. The idea of Islamism or Pan
Islamism suggested by Abdul Hamid Second did not justify itself,
either. The aim of this ideology was to unite Turks with the Muslim
peoples comprising majority in the Empire, particularly Arabs – the
founders of Islam. However, for Arabs Turkish Sultans could not become
founders of a new Caliphate, therefore the unification on the ground
of Islam did not succeed, either. Different from their predecessors,
these aimed at creating a new Empire, the heart of which had to be the
Small Asia. Different from the collapsing Empire, it had to stretch
to Caucasus, to Central Asia and Siberia, i.e. those territories
where Turkic nations lived. In fact, being deeply nationalistic, this
ideology targeted at returning to own roots and uniting all Turkic
nations. Armenians were standing across this route; they stood between
the Turkic tribes of Small Asia and Caucasus. The latter intended
to lead an active policy of “Turkisation,” and it is not in vain
that after gaining power, the Young Turks, preaching the ideology of
Pan Turkism, prohibited all national unions – the Armenian, Greek,
Arabic ones, etc.
Thus, judging from the above we can conclude that all attempts to
preserve the Osman Empire had failed, so had the policies of Osmanism
and Islamism.
There was no time for implementing the policy of
“Turkisation.” Therefore, Turks had put an aim to create a purely
Turkic state, annihilating all non-Turkic peoples. The largest
Christian nation of the Empire – the Armenians – was hindering the
accomplishment of these programs. Thus, in this period it was already
clear that the destiny of Armenians was predetermined.
The Armenocide and the Islam
We should mention that Armenian and foreign historians have written
much about the Islamic factor in the Armenian Genocide. The opinions
here are unequivocal – although the Turks tried to use the religious
factor to organize the massacre of Armenians, it was not a success. The
people comprising majority in the Osman Empire – the Arabs – did not
back the idea, therefore, it became impossible to escalate large-scale
interreligious clashes. Nevertheless, despite these facts, the idea
dominates among the Armenian society that the Armenian Genocide
occurred just on the religious ground, and that being surrounded with
Muslims, Armenians are doomed. From time to time this idea, having
nothing to do with reality, is being articulated by interior and
exterior political circles to show the fact of lack of alternative
in foreign policy. However, in reality the holy war – the Jihad –
declared by the last Sultan Sehmed Fifth against Christians was
targeted at justifying the brutalities and mass assassination of
Armenians, as well as the involvement of all Muslims in this.
However, the Arab theologians and religious leaders, who enjoyed
great respect in the Muslim world, did not back the idea of Jihad. The
Governor of Hijaz and the Sheriff of Mecca Hussein ibn Ali al-Hashemi,
who was considered the greatest authority in the Muslim word, did
not only refuse to support the Sultan’s decision, but also urged all
Orthodox Muslims to help Armenians and defend them. Many Arab leaders
and the Arab people were assisting the Armenians in the desert of
Der Zor. Arab divisions of the Turkish army were refusing to fight
against Armenians.
The attempts of Turks to use the Arabs to suppress the self-defense
struggle of Armenians failed. Arab Governors of a number of Turkish
provinces were just refusing to execute the orders from Constantinople
to displace and massacre Armenians. However, Turks could not keep from
noting all this, and many Arabs suffered for protecting Armenians. It
is important to mention here that Sultan Mehmed Fifth declared the
holy war against the Christian population of the Empire only after
getting the “blessing” of allied Christian Germany.
Generally, it should be said that at the time when Muslim Arabs
were sacrificing their lives to help Armenians, the Christian Europe
was either supporting Turkey or was pretending not to see the mass
assassinations in Western Armenia.
Generally, turning to the position of European powers, we should
note that on one hand they were using the Armenian Issue to interfere
with the interior affairs of the Empire, thus causing the discontent
of Turkey, on the other hand many times the activeness of Europeans
was preventing or suspending the massacre of Armenians in this or
that Province. Nevertheless, to say that during the war the European
countries were unable to influence the policy of Young Turks would be
incorrect, either. Rather, the factor of political appropriateness
played its decisive role here, i.e. the fact of the massacre of
Armenians would later enable the European powers to present accusations
on Turkey to seize additional concessions from the latter.
Historic lessons of the Armenocide
To exclude reoccurrence of the Armenian Genocide and provide for the
security of the nation it is necessary to seriously investigate the
historic and political reasons of the events.
The study of the policy of the most dreadful crime against humanity
– the genocide – is of great importance not only for contemporary
generations but also for current politicians and for all those who
determine or somehow influence the directions of Armenia’s interior
and foreign policies. It is essential to understand the most crucial
– the fact that contemporary Turkey has been formed in the result of
the Armenian Genocide, the Armenocide. If not the Armenian Genocide,
there would be no Turkey, either. This is the truth, which the former
and current authorities in Ankara understand pretty well, and it
is this fact that explains the denunciation that they demonstrate
towards the fact of Genocide recognition. It can be asserted even
that contemporary Turkey avoids recognition of the Genocide not as
much because of the fear of material or territorial demands, rather
it is concerned with the moral side of the question. Kemal Turkey was
built on the basis of a fault value system, where people carrying the
burden of executing the Genocide were considered divine. In reality the
heroes and famous political figures of this nation resembled a butcher,
whose hands are foul with the blood of millions of innocent people.
Such findings can become the moral blow and loss of faith for the
contemporary Turkish generation, which is not even aware of the events
in the Osman Empire at the start of the 20th century, which can in
its turn lead to the collapse of the country. It is a historic truth
that the flattening of own power and moral characteristics can be
destructive for any state and nation.
It needs to be mentioned that regardless of our will the fact is that
the historic memory of the Armenocide will always endure in the fate of
the Armenian nation, shaping and directing its policy not only toward
neighboring Turkey, but also towards those countries which somehow
contributed to the execution of the Armenian Genocide. At the same
time this memory provides the opportunity to exclude reoccurrence
of the Armenocide in the future and to build the national security
system proceeding from the principle of excluding similar tragedies.

TODAY IS THE 91ST ANNIVERSARY OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
ArmRadio.am
24.04.2006 11:15
Over again thousands of Armenians will attend today Tsitsernakaberd. 91
years have passed from the day, when the Osmans covered the year 1915
of Armenian history with blood. It was a page of our history that
was encrypted in our memory as a tragedy and became a shame and sin
on the conscience of the Turkish people. Today April 24 is not only
the day of commemoration of the 1.5 million of innocent Armenians. It
is the voice of their successors, of our nation to tell the whole
world, particularly those who still suffer hatred towards Armenians
that it is impossible to kill the creating and constructing Armenian
nation. The pain has never broken us. Moreover, after this strong blow
we turned more decisive to prove the nations that have taken the route
of democracy, that we have a place in the 21st century and we still
have much to do, we still have to convince the civilized community
that non-punishment will bring about a new genocide. But before that
we have homage to pay. Let’s once again go to Tsitsernakaberd.

PRESIDENT KOCHARYAN’S ADDRESS ON THE OCCASION OF THE DAY OF COMMEMORATION OF THE GENOCIDE VICTIMS
ArmRadio.am
24.04.2006 13:48
RA president Robert Kocharyan issued an address on the occasion
of the day of commemoration of the Armenian Genocide victims. The
address particularly says, “Dear compatriots, today we pay homage to
the victims of the Armenian Genocide. Osman Turkey and its successor
bear full responsibility for this crime.
The whole further history of the Armenian people, which suffered
the Genocide, carried the heavy results of this tragedy. The pain
is even stronger, since we have to struggle for the recognition
and condemnation of this black page of the history. The Republic of
Armenian, as the homeland of Armenians and as the expresser of the
interests of Diaspora Armenians will continue this struggle. We are
grateful to those countries, organizations and individuals that assist
us. The comprehension that this is the problem of the whole mankind
and the most effective way of preventing similar crimes increases
year by year.
The struggle of Armenians has no pretext of revenge. We look forward,
since our best response to denial should be the strong statehood,
the progress and prosperity of Armenia.”

THE ARMENIAN COMMUNITY INITIATES A RALLY IN FRONT OF THE TURKISH EMBASSY IN WASHINGTON
ArmRadio.am
24.04.2006 14:05
The Armenian community has initiated a rally in front of the Turkish
Embassy in Washington. Among the participants of the action are members
of the famous “System of a Down” rock group, “Grammy” Prize holder
Serge Tangyan and John Dolmayan, who will call on the Chairman of the
House of Representatives Danis Hastert and other Congressmen to stop
supporting Turkish policy of denying the Armenian Genocide, which
makes the US a companion in the crime carried out by Osman Turkey.
In response to this, Turks and Azeris of the United States promised
to arrange an act of protest. According to the Turkish “Hurriet,”
this year also US President George Bush will avoid using the word
“genocide” in his annual April 24 address.
April 25 musicians of the “System of a Down” will hold meetings with
mass media representatives in Washington. April 26 members of the
group will meet US Congressmen.

THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE MARCH TO TSITSERNAKABERD
ArmRadio.am
24.04.2006 16:00
The way toward the memorial to the Armenian Genocide – Tsitsernakaberd
– was crowded since early morning. The heavy rain in the morning
did not prevent the flow of thousands of people. Representatives of
non-governmental and political organizations, Diaspora Armenians, state
officials, representatives of ethnic minorities living in Armenia,
people in response for foreign Embassies accredited in Armenia come
to pay homage to the Genocide victims.
At 11 p.m. RA president Robert Kocharyan visited the Genocide
memorial. The President was accompanied by Prime Minister Andranik
Margaryan, President of the Constitutional Court Gagik Harutyunyan,
a number of members of the Armenian government and Deputies.
“The achievements in regard to the international recognition of the
Armenian Genocide are apparent,” Vice-Speaker of the National Assembly
Tigran Torosyan told the journalists.
The Vice-Speaker is confident that the most essential is that in
the course of the years more and more countries and peoples come to
understand that the crime was directed against whole humanity.
“It is Turkey’s problem whether it will recognize the Genocide or not,
a matter of dignity of Turkey and the Turkish people.
An interesting action was arranged today by the “American-Armenians –
Armenia” organization: they suggested to tie ribbons on the threads
along the way to Tsitsernakaberd as a sign of protest against those
countries, which have not recognized the historic truth and have not
condemned the first Genocide carried out by Turks.
UU Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Armenia John
Evans refused to answer the journalists’ questions. After laying
flowers to the Genocide memorial he left saying a single sentence,
“God bless you.”
The endless stream of people to Tsitsernakaberd evidences that it is
not just a memorial of sorrow. The procession dedicated to the 91st
anniversary of the Genocide is not just a march of grief. It is a
decisive nationwide demand to restore the justice. Thus, our march
is immortal, since the impulse is fair, the aim is just and the steps
are justified.

MARCH WITH LANTERNS DEDICATED TO THE 91ST ANNIVERSARY OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
ArmRadio.am
24.04.2006 16:35
On the occasion of the 91st anniversary of the Armenian Genocide,
a march with lanterns was organized on April 23 at the initiative of
the Youth Wing of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation and “nikol
Aghbalyan” Students Union.
2500 – 3000 young people, including 300 – 400 Diaspora Armenians
participated in the march that started 8 a.m. yesterday.
The flags of the countries that recognized the Armenian Genocide
were raised in the Square. The participants burnt the red flag of
the Turkish Republic.
Representative of the Armenian Supreme Body of the ARF, Head of the
Standing Committee on External Relations Armen Rustamyan noted in
his speech that the Amenian Genocide is not only an Armenian issue,
it has acquired a universal nature.
“Everyone realizes that if the world does not condemn the genocide,
it cannot be fair,” he noted.
The participants of the rally marched from The “Liberty” Square to
Tsitsernakaberd.

EVENTS TO MARK THE 91ST ANNIVERSARY OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE STARTED IN FRANCE LASE EVENING
ArmRadio.am
24.04.2006 15:00
Events to mark the 91st anniversary of the Armenian Genocide started in
France lase evening. Head of the European Armenian Federation Hilfda
Tchoboyan told “Radiolur” that the official ceremony of opening the
memorial to the victims of the Genocide will be held in a few hours,
which a few days was profaned by Turks. Currently the official ceremony
of opening another memorial dedicated to the Armenian Genocide is
being held in Marseilles.

APRIL 23-29 PROCLAIMED A WEEK OF COMMEMORATION OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE IN CALIFORNIA
ArmRadio.am
24.04.2006 15:30
The Governor of California Arnold Shwarzenegger has proclaimed April
23-29 a week of commemoration of the Armenian Genocide victims.
The decree signed by the Governor says in particular that April 24,
1915 marks the start start of the Armenian Genocide – the crime
against humanity in the result of which 1.5 million Armenians were
massacred till 1923. The document notes also that the “500 thousand
Armenians that escaped the annihilation policy were displaced from
their homeland and settled in other countries.
“These people found shelter in a new homeland, including in California,
which is the State which now has the largest Armenian community in
the US. Today, when we mark the 91st anniversary of the Genocide, we
should understand the lessons of the history to fight all expressions
of hatred. I join the Armenian community calling for recognition
of the Armenian Genocide and thus call on the Americans and other
peoples of the world to do the same,” Shwarzenegger’ s decree says.

EU REP SAYS AZERBAIJAN HAS “SPECIAL SIGNIFICANCE” FOR EUROPEAN ENERGY POLICY
MPA news agency
24 Apr 06
Baku, 24 April: Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov has
received a delegation of the EU troika led by Austrian Secretary of
State for Foreign Affairs Hans Winkler, MPA has learnt from the press
centre of the Foreign Ministry.
The EU attaches special importance to developing ties with the South
Caucasus countries and it is interested in further development of
relations with Azerbaijan in energy and other spheres, Winkler said.
Mammadyarov said that EU assistance to the resolution of the
Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Nagornyy Karabakh on the basis of
the principles of international law is important and that the conflict
has a negative influence on the development of the region.
He said that the documents adopted by the international community on
the conflict must reflect the real situation. Emphasizing that it is
crucial to comply with norms of international law, sovereignty and
territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, Mammadyarov said that otherwise
the negotiations will face difficulties.
At a briefing on the results of the meeting with the Azerbaijani
leadership, Winkler said that the EU views Azerbaijan as a potential
partner in supplying energy resources to Europe. The EU would like
to conduct an energy policy of its own and as it searches for ways to
diversify the sources and routes of the supplies of energy resources,
Azerbaijan assumes special significance.
The EU representative said that the recent controversy between Russia
and Ukraine over gas “was an alarm call for Europe” which is interested
in stable supplies of energy resources. “In this connection, it is
obvious that oil-producing and transit countries, like Azerbaijan,
start playing a special role for Europe,” he said.
The individual action plan of partnership between Azerbaijan and the
EU within the framework of the European Neighbourhood Policy is about
to be completed and its implementation will start soon. As part of
this cooperation, Azerbaijan will receive 20m euros annually from
the EU to support political, economic and social reforms, he said.