FIRST TRAIN OF RUSSIAN WEAPONS FROM GEORGIA HEADS FOR RUSSIA
ITAR-TASS, Russia
May 15 2006
BAKU, May 15 (Itar-Tass) — The first trainload of Russian hardware
and weapons from Russia’s military base in Akhalkalaki, Georgia,
that arrived in Azerbaijan on Monday evening is heading for the
Russian border.
The Azerbaijani railway administration told Itar-Tass that the Russian
train will get the “green light” along the way, in keeping with the
agreements between the two countries.
“The train will go straight through and reach the Azerbaijani-Russian
border on May 16, approximately at 2 p.m. Moscow time (1000 GMT). It
will proceed to Russia after formalities have been completed,” First
Deputy Transport Minister Musa Panakhov told Itar-Tass.
In his words, “The train will be handed over to the Russian side as
scheduled at 4.30 p.m. Moscow time (1230 GMT).”
The train left the station of Tsalka, Georgia, earlier on Monday. It
is carrying seven T-72 tanks, eight reconnaissance vehicles, four
infantry combat vehicles, four communication vans and 340 boxes with
rockets for Grad launchers.
All hardware and munitions are “in good condition,” Deputy
Commander-in-Chief of the Russian ground troops, Valery Yevnevich,
who controls the pullout process, told Itar-Tass.
“Hardware and munitions have been delivered by truck convoys by
mountain roads from Akhalakalaki, where there is no railway, to
Tsalka,” he said.
“We’ll strictly comply with the instructions of the Russian president
and the Defence Ministry. All hardware and munitions will be delivered
to the Russian bases and storage facilities on time,” Yevnevich said.
Under the agreements between Russia and Georgia, the withdrawal of
the Russian base from Akhalkalaki should be completed in 2007.
This year, 19 trainloads are expected to bring all hardware back to
Russia. The departures of other trains are scheduled for May 23, 25,
and 30.
Part of the hardware and munitions will be redeployed to the Russian
base of Gyumri, Armenia. The first truck convoy will leave for Gyumri
on May 18.
When all personnel, munitions and material supplies have been pulled
out of Akhalkalaki by late 2007, the base will be closed.

THE DARFUR TRAGEDY : THE ISLAMIC WORLD NEEDS TO SPEAK OUT LOUDLY
Pakistan Link, Abubakr G. Shaikh
New California Media, CA
May 15 2006
The blood-thirsty and the much feared Sudanese militia, known as
Janjawed, has been trained by the Sudanese army with the explicit
purpose of ridding Darfur villages of black Muslims. They race their
camels and machinegun- mounted trucks through the villages, shooting
indiscriminately at the helpless and unarmed villagers. These barbarous
butchers are aided helicopter gunships to maximize the terror and
mayhem so that none could dare to return. Men, women and children
are virtually mowed down without mercy. When the mayhem is complete,
the victims’ bodies are dismembered, sprayed with oil and burnt
alongside their huts. The livestock and young women are spared to
be taken away as the war booty. The women are routinely kidnapped,
raped and enslaved as serfs and domestic servants. They tend the
farms and cattle of the brown skinned Arabs and satisfy their lust
and give birth to the Arab progeny to replace the black population.
Slavery is an ugly blot on the Islamic faith. Despite the immense
compassion shown by the holy Prophet, peace be upon him, for the
oppressed, poor and children, it is an irony that slavery is still part
of the Sharia. The glorious Qur’an says: “O mankind We have created you
from a single male and a female and made you into nations and tribes
that you may know one another. Verily the most honorable in you in the
sight of Allah is that who has At-Taqwa (pious and righteous person)
who fear Allah much and love Allah much.”(49.13).
Color, creed or caste, does not distinguish a person from the other
in Islam and given that all people are born equal how could slavery
be justified?
The Darfurians have a valid claim on their sacred lands from where
they are being consistently and systematically uprooted. They are the
original natives, not the Arabs whose forefathers came to the region
with a noble cause: delivering the message of peace and not to rule or
drive the Darfurians away from their homelands .They were received
well by their hosts and they in turn served them well. However,
their descendents have followed a path of savagery, prejudice and
hate, breaking every rule of civility, all principles of humanity,
and the basic tenets of Islam.
The merciless genocide has gone on unchecked for the past two years
and while the actual death toll is difficult to estimate, close to
200,000 innocent people have been butchered in this worst scenario
of ethnic cleansing according to some sources – the biggest carnage
after Rwanda and Bosnia. More than two millions have been rendered
homeless. Milovesic must have been wondering in his grave what did
he do to deserve the Hague trial! The United Nations’ duplicity and
double standards are also evident from the fact that it actively got
involved in East Timur and Sudan’s other conflict based on religion
with its southern region whereas in this conflict based on color
prejudice there are no signs of urgency on the part of the world
body. The world remains cool and impassive because of global oil
interests tainted with the blood of the innocent Darfurians.
In their quest to complete the annihilation of black Muslins,
Sudan’s army supported by its notorious militia, continues to chase
and attack refugee camps inside the neighboring country Chad. Sudan
is also accused by the president of Chad to be actively involved
in its nefarious activities to destabilize his regime by providing
aid to rebels to instigate a revolt in Chad. The aim is to install
a proxy government, which in collaboration with Sudan, will wipe out
the entire black Muslim population of Darfur. The only crime of these
unfortunate and helpless people is the color of their skin and their
Islamic faith, Islam, whose basic tenets call for eradication of all
kind of prejudices.
How much longer can they endure and keep their faith in Islam?
Perhaps they must already be thinking of other options for their
survival while the Islamic world remains unmoved. Its silence and
indifference is staggering. The catastrophe is of a colossal nature,
but it has not moved the hearts of 1.2 billion Muslims of the world
who only recently reacted violently to the much less critical issue
of the cartoon controversy. The entire Muslim community from one
end of the globe to the other, erupted in furor, over-reacting to
the controversy in a manner that seemed to suggest that Islam was in
eminent danger. The irrational behavior led to many deaths of innocent
citizens, loss of property and revenue, and contra-productive results
in the form of severe criticism on the conduct of Muslims by the
international press. However, not a single protest march took place
on the massacre and carnage of 200,000 Muslims at the hand of fellow
Muslims in Darfur.
One wonders about the priorities of the Ummah. The Qur’an is very
specific on resolving disputes and making reconciliation between two
Islamic factions. Allah has ordained: “And if two parties or groups
among the believers fall into fighting ,then make peace between them
both and if one of them rebels against the other then fight you against
the one that which rebels till it complies with the command of Allah
then if it complies then make reconciliation between them justly and
be equitable”(49: 9,10) Every big fire starts with a small spark, each
movement is the brainchild of an individual and eventually transforms
into a revolution, every hurricane develops from the buildup of winds
and waves.
Nicholas Kristof, a New York Times columnist and champion of the
oppressed people around the world, has tirelessly raised awareness
on the Darfur genocide in the past two years. The spark now seems
to have developed into a sizeable flame. Here in the United States,
with the steady involvement of the common people, religious leaders,
organizations, human rights activists, college and universities
students – the flame is getting larger every day. In contrast tothe
Muslim world’s apathy, the Jewish, Evangelical, Armenian and human
rights organizations are in the forefront of building alliances,
pressure and lobbying groups to get the administration involved in
ending the genocide in Darfur. I had counted more than 60 nationwide
Jewish organizations’ names which sponsored a full-page protest in the
Columbus Dispatch, the leading newspaper of Ohio on the insensitivity
of the Bush administration to the Darfur genocide. I am sure similar
protest ads must have appeared in all major newspapers nationwide. The
Jews’ sensitivity reflects their having suffered the worst genocide
in human history. This movement is gathering momentum and now has
reached colleges and universities, churches and synagogues. These
groups also arranged a million march to Capital Hill. No name of
any Muslim organization appeared in the protest march nor any public
statements appeared on the subject in any newspaper.
Some hopes have started to build as there are indications that
president Bush might take an initiative to involve UN troops in
Darfur yet nothing concrete has emerged so far. Meanwhile, Sudan
has successfully persuaded South Africa to stay for six more months
in Darfur and delay in handing over charge to the UN. What sinister
motive is behind this move is not clear yet.
One regrets the snail-pace response of the UN and the confounding
apathy of the Muslim world to the unfolding tragedy.

GREECE: IN COMMEMORATION OF THE PONTIAN GENOCIDE
Greek News, New York
May 15 2006
New York.- May 19 has been recognized by the Greek parliament as the
day of remembrance of the Pontian Greek Genocide by the Turks. There
are various estimates of the toll. Records kept mainly by priests show
a minimum 350,000 Pontian Greeks exterminated through systematic
slaughter by Turkish troops and Kurdish para-militaries. Other
estimates, including those of foreign missionaries, spoke of 500,000
deaths, most through deportation and forced marches into the Anatolian
desert interior. Thriving Greek cities like Pafra, Samsous, Kerasous,
and Trapezous, at the heart of Pontian Hellenism on the coast of
the Black Sea, endured recurring massacres and deportations that
eventually destroyed their Greek population.
The opening bell of the genocide came with the order in 1914 for
all Pontian men between the ages of 18 and 50 to report for military
duty. Those who “refused” or “failed” to appear, the order provided,
were to be summarily shot. The immediate result of this firman
(decree) was the murder of thousands of the more prominent Pontians,
whose name appeared on lists of “undesirables” already prepared by
the Young Turk regime.
Added thousands ended up in the notorious Labor Battalions (amele
taburu). In a precursor of what was to become a favorite practice in
Hitler’s extermination camps, Pontian men were driven from their homes
into the wilderness to perform hard labor and expire from exhaustion,
thirst, and disease. German advisors of the Turkish regime (what a
surprise!) suggested that Pontian populations be forced into internal
exile. This “advise” led directly to the emptying of hundreds of
Pontian villages and the forced march of women, children, and old
people to nowhere. The details of this systematic slaughter of the
Pontians by the Turks were dutifully recorded by both German and
Austrian diplomats.
The Pontians, unlike Greeks elsewhere in Asia Minor, did try to
organize armed resistance against their butchers. Pontian guerrilla
bands had appeared in the mountains of Santa as early as 1916. Brave
leaders, like Capitan Stylianos Kosmidis, even hoisted the flag of
independent Pontus in the hope of help from Greece and Russia (which
never arrived). But the struggle was unequal. The Turkish army,
assisted by the blood-thirsty Tsets, cuthroats of mostly Kurdish
extraction, attacked and destroyed undefended Pontian villages
in revenge.
On May 19, 1919, chief butcher Kemal himself disembarked at Samsous
to begin organizing the final phase of the Pontian genocide. Assisted
by his German advisers, and surrounded by his own band of killers —
monsters like Topal Osman, Refet Bey, Ismet Inonu, and Talaat Pasha —
the founder of “modern” Turkey applied himself to the destruction of
the Pontian Greeks. With the Greek army engaged in Anatolia, a new
wave of deportations, mass killings, and “preventative” executions
destroyed the remnants of Pontian Hellenism. The plan worked with
deadly precision. In the Amasia province alone, with a pre-war
population of some 180,000, records show a final tally of 134,000
people liquidated.
The memory of the Pontian Genocide is dedicated to all those in Europe
and the U.S. who shamelessly advocate admitting Turkey into the EU and
describe it as a “democracy.” They are all blind as they are shameless.
AUSTRIAN AND GERMAN ARCHIVES REVEAL THE CRIME
24 July 1909 German Ambassador in Athens Wangenheim to Chancellor
Bulow quoting Turkish Prime Minister Sefker Pasha: “The Turks have
decided upon a war of extermination against their Christian subjects.”
26 July 1909 Sefker Pasha visited Patriarch Ioakeim III and tells him:
“we will cut off your heads, we will make you disappear. It is either
you or us who will survive.”
14 May 1914 Official document from Talaat Bey Minister of the Interior
to Prefect of Smyrna: The Greeks, who are Ottoman subjects, and
form the majority of inhabitants in your district, take advantage
of the circumstances in order to provoke a revolutionary current,
favourable to the intervention of the Great Powers. Consequently, it
is urgently necessary that the Greeks occupying the coast-line of Asia
Minor be compelled to evacuate their villages and install themselves
in the vilayets of Erzerum and Chaldea. If they should refuse to be
transported to the appointed places, kindly give instructions to our
Moslem brothers, so that they shall induce the Greeks, through excesses
of all sorts, to leave their native places of their own accord. Do
not forget to obtain, in such cases, from the emigrants certificates
stating that they leave their homes on their own initiative, so that we
shall not have political complications ensuing from their displacement.
31 July 1915 German priest J. Lepsius: “The anti-Greek and
anti-Armenian persecutions are two phases of one programme – the
extermination of the Christian element from Turkey.
16 July 1916 German Consul Kuchhoff from Amisos to Berlin: “The entire
Greek population of Sinope and the coastal region of the county of
Kastanome has been exiled. Exile and extermination in Turkish are the
same, for whoever is not murdered, will die from hunger or illness.”
30 November 1916 Austrian consul at Amisos Kwiatkowski to Austria
Foreign Minister Baron Burian: “on 26 November Rafet Bey told me:
“we must finish off the Greeks as we did with the Armenians . . . on
28 November. Rafet Bey told me: “today I sent squads to the interior
to kill every Greek on sight.” I fear for the elimination of the
entire Greek population and a repeat of what occurred last year”
(meaning the Armenian genocide).
13 December 1916 German Ambassador Kuhlman to Chancellor Hollweg in
Berlin: “Consuls Bergfeld in Samsun and Schede in Kerasun report of
displacement of local population and murders. Prisoners are not kept.
Villages reduced to ashes. Greek refugee families consisting mostly
of women and children being marched from the coasts to Sebasteia. The
need is great.”
19 December 1916 Austrian Ambassador to Turkey Pallavicini to Vienna
lists the villages in the region of Amisos that were being burnt to
the ground and their inhabitants raped, murdered or dispersed.
20 January 1917 Austrian Ambassador Pallavicini: “the situation for
the displaced is desperate. Death awaits them all. I spoke to the
Grand Vizier and told him that it would be sad if the persecution of
the Greek element took the same scope and dimension as the Armenia
persecution. The Grand Vizier promised that he would influence Talaat
Bey and Emver Pasha.”
31 January 1917 Austrian Chancellor Hollweg’s report: “. . . the
indications are that the Turks plan to eliminate the Greek element
as enemies of the state, as they did earlier with the Armenians. The
strategy implemented by the Turks is of displacing people to the
interior without taking measures for their survival by exposing them
to death, hunger and illness. The abandoned homes are then looted
and burnt or destroyed. Whatever was done to the Armenians is being
repeated with the Greeks.
Thus, by government decree 1,500,000 Armenians and 300,000 Pontian
Greeks were annihilated through exile, starvation, cold, illness,
slaughter, murder, gallows, axe, and fire. Those who survived fled
never to return. The Pontians now lie scattered all over the world
as a result of the genocide and their unique history, language
(the dialect is a valuable link between ancient and modern Greek),
and culture are endangered and face extinction.
A double crime was committed – genocide and the uprooting of a people
from their ancestral homelands of three millenia. The Christian nations
were not only witnesses to this horrible and monstrous crime, which
remains unpunished, but for reasons of political expediency and self
interest have, by their silence, pardoned the criminal. The Ottoman
and Kemalist Turks were responsible for the genocide of the Pontian
people, the most heinous of all crimes according to international
law. The international community must recognise this crime.
?name=News&file=article&sid=4925

RAGIP ZARAKOLU, A MAN OF VISION
By Sofia Kontogeorge Kostos
Greek News, New York
May 15 2006
Ragip Zarakolu, the Turkish publisher and writer wrote, “We have
to learn from history and avoid denying the past tragedies, which
should cause shame in us. Otherwise, history is bound to repeat
itself.” He believes that the fight for freedom of expression can only
be accomplished from within Turkish borders and not from the outside.
For thirty years, Ragip Zarakolu owner of the Belge Publishing House
has been translating and printing into Turkish, books that break
the barriers of silence instilled by the Turkish Government-the
perpetrators of the Genocides of the Greeks, Armenians and Assyrians
of Turkey.
In spite of perpetual harassments Zarakolu perseveres in his struggle,
for freedom of expression. With unwavering conviction he says, “….Not
for the Armenians or any others – but for citizens of Turkey.” He adds,
“We must face these realities to become a real democratic country. We
are giving a struggle for this, to give light to the dark pages of
our history.”
Over the years:
1. His presses and his publications offices were fire bombed and
demolished.
2. He and his late wife were collectively imprisoned for 5 years.
3. Their books were confiscated and banned.
4. He is repeatedly fined and tried.
5. On June 21st, 2006, he faces his eighth trial-with one exception,
he must appear in court with a historian whose name remains undisclosed
at this time.
If Ragip Zarakolu is found guilty, he faces 13.5 years imprisonment
for printing and distributing the Turkish translation of the following
two books:
1: Prof. Dr. Dora Sakayan’s book is a compilation of her Grandfather’s
meticulous journals of the heart pounding accounts of the destruction
of Smyrna and his ensuing escape starting from August 28th 1922
and ending in Salonika on June 1st 1923. Dora Sakayan’s book, “An
Armenian Doctor in Turkey: Garabed Hatcherian: My Smyrna Ordeal in
1922,” is both informative and compelling. It has been translated
into nine languages that include Greek and Turkish.
2: In George Jerjian’s “The Truth Will Set Us Free,” he brilliantly
and convincingly offers ideas on how Turkey can break out of its
straightjacket of denials in order to create a better future. He
includes a surprising and heartwarming introduction by former Sen.
Bob Dole.
In addition to the 39 books regarding the Genocides of the Greeks,
Mr. Zarakolu has published books on the Genocides of the Armenians,
Kurds, and of the Massacre of the Jews in Russia. Indeed Ragip Zarakolu
is man of vision and a giant amongst us.
me=News&file=article&sid=4915

THE PONTIAN GENOCIDE 1916-1923
Greek News, New York
May 15 2006
May 19 has been recognized by the Greek parliament as the day of
remembrance of the Pontian Greek Genocide by the Turks. There are
various estimates of the toll. Records kept mainly by priests show
a minimum 350,000 Pontian Greeks exterminated through systematic
slaughter by Turkish troops and Kurdish para-militaries. Other
estimates, including those of foreign missionaries, spoke of 500,000
deaths, most through deportation and forced marches into the Anatolian
desert interior. Thriving Greek cities like Pafra, Samsous, Kerasous,
and Trapezous, at the heart of Pontian Hellenism on the coast of
the Black Sea, endured recurring massacres and deportations that
eventually destroyed their Greek population.
The opening bell of the genocide came with the order in 1914 for
all Pontian men between the ages of 18 and 50 to report for military
duty. Those who “refused” or “failed” to appear, the order provided,
were to be summarily shot. The immediate result of this firman
(decree) was the murder of thousands of the more prominent Pontians,
whose name appeared on lists of “undesirables” already prepared by
the Young Turk regime.
Added thousands ended up in the notorious Labor Battalions (amele
taburu). In a precursor of what was to become a favorite practice in
Hitler’s extermination camps, Pontian men were driven from their homes
into the wilderness to perform hard labor and expire from exhaustion,
thirst, and disease. German advisors of the Turkish regime (what a
surprise!) suggested that Pontian populations be forced into internal
exile. This “advise” led directly to the emptying of hundreds of
Pontian villages and the forced march of women, children, and old
people to nowhere. The details of this systematic slaughter of the
Pontians by the Turks were dutifully recorded by both German and
Austrian diplomats.
The Pontians, unlike Greeks elsewhere in Asia Minor, did try to
organize armed resistance against their butchers. Pontian guerrilla
bands had appeared in the mountains of Santa as early as 1916. Brave
leaders, like Capitan Stylianos Kosmidis, even hoisted the flag of
independent Pontus in the hope of help from Greece and Russia (which
never arrived). But the struggle was unequal. The Turkish army,
assisted by the blood-thirsty Tsets, cuthroats of mostly Kurdish
extraction, attacked and destroyed undefended Pontian villages
in revenge.
On May 19, 1919, chief butcher Kemal himself disembarked at Samsous
to begin organizing the final phase of the Pontian genocide. Assisted
by his German advisers, and surrounded by his own band of killers —
monsters like Topal Osman, Refet Bey, Ismet Inonu, and Talaat Pasha —
the founder of “modern” Turkey applied himself to the destruction of
the Pontian Greeks. With the Greek army engaged in Anatolia, a new
wave of deportations, mass killings, and “preventative” executions
destroyed the remnants of Pontian Hellenism. The plan worked with
deadly precision. In the Amasia province alone, with a pre-war
population of some 180,000, records show a final tally of 134,000
people liquidated.
The memory of the Pontian Genocide is dedicated to all those in Europe
and the U.S. who shamelessly advocate admitting Turkey into the EU and
describe it as a “democracy.” They are all blind as they are shameless.
AUSTRIAN AND GERMAN ARCHIVES REVEAL THE CRIME
24 July 1909 German Ambassador in Athens Wangenheim to Chancellor
Bulow quoting Turkish Prime Minister Sefker Pasha: “The Turks have
decided upon a war of extermination against their Christian subjects.”
26 July 1909 Sefker Pasha visited Patriarch Ioakeim III and tells him:
“we will cut off your heads, we will make you disappear. It is either
you or us who will survive.”
14 May 1914 Official document from Talaat Bey Minister of the Interior
to Prefect of Smyrna: The Greeks, who are Ottoman subjects, and
form the majority of inhabitants in your district, take advantage
of the circumstances in order to provoke a revolutionary current,
favourable to the intervention of the Great Powers. Consequently, it
is urgently necessary that the Greeks occupying the coast-line of Asia
Minor be compelled to evacuate their villages and install themselves
in the vilayets of Erzerum and Chaldea. If they should refuse to be
transported to the appointed places, kindly give instructions to our
Moslem brothers, so that they shall induce the Greeks, through excesses
of all sorts, to leave their native places of their own accord. Do
not forget to obtain, in such cases, from the emigrants certificates
stating that they leave their homes on their own initiative, so that we
shall not have political complications ensuing from their displacement.
31 July 1915 German priest J. Lepsius: “The anti-Greek and
anti-Armenian persecutions are two phases of one programme – the
extermination of the Christian element from Turkey.
16 July 1916 German Consul Kuchhoff from Amisos to Berlin: “The entire
Greek population of Sinope and the coastal region of the county of
Kastanome has been exiled. Exile and extermination in Turkish are the
same, for whoever is not murdered, will die from hunger or illness.”
30 November 1916 Austrian consul at Amisos Kwiatkowski to Austria
Foreign Minister Baron Burian: “on 26 November Rafet Bey told me:
“we must finish off the Greeks as we did with the Armenians . . . on
28 November. Rafet Bey told me: “today I sent squads to the interior
to kill every Greek on sight.” I fear for the elimination of the
entire Greek population and a repeat of what occurred last year”
(meaning the Armenian genocide).
13 December 1916 German Ambassador Kuhlman to Chancellor Hollweg in
Berlin: “Consuls Bergfeld in Samsun and Schede in Kerasun report of
displacement of local population and murders. Prisoners are not kept.
Villages reduced to ashes. Greek refugee families consisting mostly
of women and children being marched from the coasts to Sebasteia. The
need is great.”
19 December 1916 Austrian Ambassador to Turkey Pallavicini to Vienna
lists the villages in the region of Amisos that were being burnt to
the ground and their inhabitants raped, murdered or dispersed.
20 January 1917 Austrian Ambassador Pallavicini: “the situation for
the displaced is desperate. Death awaits them all. I spoke to the
Grand Vizier and told him that it would be sad if the persecution of
the Greek element took the same scope and dimension as the Armenia
persecution. The Grand Vizier promised that he would influence Talaat
Bey and Emver Pasha.”
31 January 1917 Austrian Chancellor Hollweg’s report: “. . . the
indications are that the Turks plan to eliminate the Greek element
as enemies of the state, as they did earlier with the Armenians. The
strategy implemented by the Turks is of displacing people to the
interior without taking measures for their survival by exposing them
to death, hunger and illness. The abandoned homes are then looted
and burnt or destroyed. Whatever was done to the Armenians is being
repeated with the Greeks.
Thus, by government decree 1,500,000 Armenians and 300,000 Pontian
Greeks were annihilated through exile, starvation, cold, illness,
slaughter, murder, gallows, axe, and fire. Those who survived fled
never to return. The Pontians now lie scattered all over the world
as a result of the genocide and their unique history, language
(the dialect is a valuable link between ancient and modern Greek),
and culture are endangered and face extinction.
A double crime was committed – genocide and the uprooting of a people
from their ancestral homelands of three millenia. The Christian nations
were not only witnesses to this horrible and monstrous crime, which
remains unpunished, but for reasons of political expediency and self
interest have, by their silence, pardoned the criminal. The Ottoman
and Kemalist Turks were responsible for the genocide of the Pontian
people, the most heinous of all crimes according to international
law. The international community must recognise this crime.

RUSSIA PLEDGES MORE EFFORTS TO LIFT ARMENIAN ‘BLACK BOXES’
Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
May 15 2006
Russian authorities plan to use a robotic device to try to recover
the flight data recorders from an Armenian passenger jet that crashed
in the Black Sea earlier this month, killing all 113 people on board,
the ITAR-Tass news agency reported Sunday.
The device, which includes a video monitor and a hydraulic apparatus
that will be used to try to lift the recorders from a depth of nearly
500 meters (1,640 feet), was being loaded onto a ship in the port of
Novorossiisk, ITAR-Tass said.
It cited the head of the state commission investigating the May 3
crash, Transport Minister Igor Levitin, as saying an operation to
recover the “black boxes” would begin Tuesday.
Authorities hope the recorders will help them pinpoint the cause of
the crash. The Armavia Airbus A-320 plunged into the sea in heavy
rain and poor visibility as it approached the airport in Adler,
near the Black Sea resort city of Sochi.
The PT-1000 device has been used by geologists to lift natural objects
weighing up to 40 kilograms (88 pounds) from the sea floor, the report
said. It has not been used to lift man-made objects.
(ITAR-Tass-Photolur photo: fragments of the crashed plane recovered
from the Black Sea.)

REPORT: RICHEST ANGELENO IS WORTH MORE THAN $9 BILLION
NBC4.TV, CA
May 15 2006
LOS ANGELES — The richest man in Los Angeles is self-made investor
Kirk Kerkorian, according to the Los Angeles Business Journal’s annual
list of the 50 wealthiest Angelenos, which hits newsstands Monday.
Kerkorian is worth an estimated $9.3 billion, according to the
publication.
Born in 1917 in Fresno to Armenian immigrants, Kerkorian, who never
attended college, made billions in investments in Las Vegas casinos,
airlines, and MGM studios — which he later sold.
Last year’s richest Angeleno, media mogul Sumner Redstone, saw his
estimated wealth dip from $8.3 billion to $7.4 billion, and his ranking
drop to second on this year’s list. The media mogul led the split of
CBS and Viacom, but both companies’ stock later dropped.
Barbara Davis and her family, heirs to the Marvin Davis oil fortune,
ranked third with $6 billion, the Business Journal reported.
In fourth place was Eli Broad with an estimated net worth of $5.6
billion. Broad has invested heavily in revitalizing Los Angeles,
from revamping the Disney Concert Hall to proposing a $1.8 billion
makeover of Bunker Hill nearby.
Although rising real estate prices may be hurting California
homebuyers, they benefitted John Shea, a residential and commercial
developer and financier whose fortune rose 25 percent to $3 billion.
Shea’s real estate gains earned him the 12th spot.
Drooping revenues at the box office have sunk the fortunes of some
of those in Hollywood.
DreamWorks Animation SKG head Jeffrey Katzenberg’s wealth saw a 9
percent decrease, putting him in 45th place with $859 million. Steven
Spielberg, at No. 14, managed to stave off major losse3. His wealth
climbed 8 percent, to $2.8 billion, largely because the movie director
branched into video games.
The only actor to make the list was Mel Gibson, who came in at No.
47, with an estimated worth of $850 million.
Everyone on this year’s list was worth at least $760 million, which
is how much the Business Journal estimated investor Robert Peterson
was worth. That’s nearly $140 million more than it took to be No. 50
last year when former Walt Disney Co. CEO Michael Eisner brought up
the rear.

AUSTRALIAN MP’S SPEECH ON GENOCIDE EXPOSES ETHNIC RIFTS
By Mathew Murphy and Paul Austin
The Age, Australia
May 15 2006
Canberra — A senior state Labor MP has caused uproar in Melbourne’s
Turkish and Jewish communities and embarrassed Premier Steve Bracks
by accusing Turkey of committing a “holocaust” comparable to Adolf
Hitler’s.
Jenny Mikakos, the parliamentary secretary for justice, has been
accused of “hate speech” after telling Parliament: “Unlike Germany,
which has taken responsibility for the Jewish holocaust, Turkey has
never apologised to its victims.”
Ms Mikakos, who is of Greek heritage, told the upper house: “On
May 19 the Pontian community in Victoria and around the world will
commemorate the 87th anniversary of the Pontian genocide that occurred
in present-day Turkey.
“Between 1916 and 1923, over 353,000 Pontic Greeks living in Asia
Minor and in Pontus, which is near the Black Sea, died as a result
of the 20th century’s first but less-known genocide. Over a million
Pontic Greeks were forced into exile. In the preceding years, 1.5
million Armenians and 750,000 Assyrians in various parts of Turkey
also perished.”
As two Labor MPs from Turkish backgrounds, John Eren and Adem Somyurek,
called on her to sit down, Ms Mikakos, the member for the northern
suburban electorate of Jika Jika, continued: “The Turkish Government
must begin the reconciliation process by acknowledging these crimes
against humanity. The suffering of the victims of the Pontian genocide
cannot and will not be forgotten.”
Labor MP Michael Leighton has written to Mr Bracks urging him to ask
Ms Mikakos to “cool it”.
“I find the various references to the Holocaust deeply offensive,”
Mr Leighton writes. “As the son of a Holocaust survivor, that is why
I have no relatives on my father’s side.”
Alison Crosweller, a spokeswoman for Mr Bracks, last night confirmed
the Premier had spoken to Ms Mikakos but would not disclose whether
he had asked her to apologise or stop making such comments. “It is a
matter for her. She is expressing her views of something that happened
87 years ago,” Ms Crosweller said.
The Age believes Mr Bracks is concerned that the speech may stir up
race-based tension in the lead-up to the November state election.
The secretary of the ALP’s Coolaroo branch, Kazim Ates, has written
to Mr Bracks accusing Ms Mikakos of “a cynical exploitation of the
anti-Muslim sentiment that currently prevails in the Western world
due to the threat of terrorism”.
In his letter, obtained by The Age, Mr Ates writes: “Ms Mikakos’
speech racially vilifies the Turkish community and incites inter-ethnic
hatred between the various ethnic communities that reside cohesively
and peacefully as Victorians in our culturally diverse state. The
Bracks Labor Government and the ALP have been promoting racial and
religious harmony.”
Mr Ates demands that “Ms Mikakos should unreservedly apologise to
the Turkish community for this act of vilification. Failing that,
she should be removed as parliamentary secretary immediately.”
Ms Mikakos, who said last night her speech spoke for itself, told
Parliament: “The Pontic people lived in Asia Minor and in Pontus
from ancient times. When the Turkish nationalists took power after
the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, a deliberate policy of creating
‘Turkey for the Turks’ was adopted, essentially to rid Turkey of its
Pontian, Armenian and Assyrian Christians.
“The process began with Christian businesses being boycotted,
leading to bankruptcies and property being confiscated. Eventually,
intellectuals and community leaders were rounded up and executed;
women were raped and enslaved. Most victims died from exhaustion
or dehydration on forced marches or work in the so-called labour
battalions.”
The president of the Council of Turkish Associations of Victoria,
Erkal Eken, has written to Mr Bracks urging him to dissociate the
ALP from the “inter-ethnic hate speech”.
“All the Turkish community sees that she has to apologise,” Mr Eken
told The Age last night.
In an email to Labor MPs about what she describes as the “hysterical”
response to her speech, Ms Mikakos writes: “Some Australians are
mature enough to consider an apology to the Aborigines for the crimes
of the past is an appropriate way of fostering reconciliation … That
is all I was asking for.”
She called on the Turkish Government to acknowledge that the events
took place.
“Adolf Hitler is on record as justifying the Jewish Holocaust on the
basis that no one cared about the Armenian genocide in the 1940s,”
she writes.

LOST PAGE IN HISTORY, FINALLY DISCOVERED
By Rebecca John
Assyria Times, CA
May 15 2006
Tragedy, loss and prejudice are only a few words we can use to describe
what the Assyrian and Armenian Christians suffered at the hands of the
Turkish Government. Only now, ninety-one years after these murders,
violations and acts of inhumanity took place, has this dark period
in history come to light.
The Genocide of the Assyrian people has been given the cutting name
‘SEYFO’, which translates to mean ‘sword’. This name was given to
represent the brutalities the Assyrians suffered as a result of
refusing to accept the policies of the ruling government which
was seeking to ‘Turkify’ the Christian people of the land. The
self-proclaimed aim of the Empire was to create a Pan-Turkish state,
or perhaps more importantly, a state where the only religion was
Islam. To achieve this ideal, the Turkish Government created laws
with the sole intention to make life for the Christians as difficult
as possible. By law, Christians could not take part in any political
issues, Assyrians could not speak their inherited language and taxes
for the non-Muslims were more than ten times higher than those who
were Turks and Muslims. Those too scared to stay in the villages they
were born in, fled to safety by foot to neighboring countries (most
of which died on their journey from exhaustion and hunger). Assyrians
refusing to leave their homes and deny their faith became targets
for the Turkish Government, which led to the most horrific event
in Assyrian history: The Slaughter of thousands upon thousands of
Assyrians and the forced deportations of many more.
Assyrians and Armenians have taken it upon themselves to educate
people of this Genocide which is often referred to as the ‘the lost
page in history’. Firodil Institute has been spreading the word of
SEYFO with the help of Government MP’s and by organizing ‘Genocide’
events. The most recent and successful event took place on 10th May
2006 at SOAS University (School of Oriental and African Studies)
and proved to be a powerful learning experience for those who attended.
Mr. Lamassu of Firodil Institute, who is an Assyrian himself, spoke
of the disturbing effect that the Genocide aftermath had on him:
“I grew up listening to stories of an uncle who had to watch his
six-month-old child be thrown into a burning clay oven. Juxtapose
the tragic tales I grew up with, with what normal children of normal
environments grow up to; and you will realize why the crimes of 1915
must be recognized as genocide … I am an Assyrian, I am the genocide
and the genocide is me: to deny it you are killing me twice!”
Guest speakers at this event included academic researcher, Sabri
Atman and winner of the ‘Golden Palm’ award, Swedish-Assyrian
Journalist Nuri Kino. Not only did both speakers shed some light
on the Assyrian and Armenian Genocide historically, but they also
spoke of these prejudices still living on in Turkey today. Mr. Kino
explained how Assyrian Christians are still referred to as ‘pigs’,
and how the slaughtering of Assyrians are discussed with a sense
of achievement. Turkey’s attitude towards the Christian People has
raised a question mark over whether Turkey should be allowed to join
the European Union (EU). This proposal has sparked a fear of history
repeating itself for the Assyrian and Armenian people, as many fled
their homeland to escape the Genocide Turkey subjected them to. Nuri
Kino gave his opinions on this matter:
“Turkey claims, yes, Armenians, Assyrians have been killed in ‘war’.
I have evidence it was a plot, a plan to rid Turkey of Christians,
non-Muslims…Turkey must face up to the Genocide towards the Assyrians
and apologize.”
Mr. Kino himself lost various members of his family during the
Genocide with his grandmother being the sole survivor from a tribe
consisting of over three hundred people. His documentary ‘Assyriska
a National Team without a Nation’ was the winner of the prestigious
‘Golden palm’ award (awarded for the first time for a non-American
and a non-fictional film). It was however, Kino’s first documentary
‘A Cry Unheard’ that set him on the road to success, as he followed
the Genocide road, interviewing survivors and performing extensive
research. This experience he claims was both stressful and upsetting
which even took a toll on his health.
Ninety-one years later, news of this haunting Genocide is finally
being spoken of, not with fear, but with sheer will and determination
to force the Turkish Government to admit and apologize for what
happened to the Christians in their country. After almost a century
of lost lives, tragedy and grief, the Assyrians feel they deserve
recognition and an apology, not for the sake of a “lost” nation,
but for the justice of a nation that was stolen.
For more information on upcoming events or on any issues raised
contact Rebecca at [email protected] or Firodil Institute
at [email protected].
e/modules/news/article.php?storyid=3205

PARISHIONERS SUPPORT ACCUSED PRIEST
WFSB, CT
May 15 2006
NEW BRITAIN — Parishioners in New Britain are standing behind their
priest even though he has been accused of molesting a 12-year-old girl.
The members of St. Stephen’s Armenian Church say they believe their
priest of 12 years, Grigoris Keshishian, was wrongly accused.
“I think the people who are giving the wrong accusation should be
punished themselves,” said parishioner Marinisa Sahakyam.
Keshishian led a prayer service on Sunday morning to a packed room
of parishioners. His supporters say the child who has accused him of
abuse was playing on a table during a church event when she slipped
and fell. They say Keshishian then attempted to catch her and that is
when the little girl says the touching happened. It is an accusation
no one at Sunday’s service seemed to believe.
“My daughter is 8 years old,” said Sahakyam. “Last year as a priest
he took her to Armenia and that was a 30-hour trip and I trusted him
to take my daughter with him.”
“I call him if I need a babysitter or if I’m not home I would call
him,” said another parishioner Sophia Hovhannisyan.
Ani Hovhannisyan, 15, also went to Armenia with Keshishian and knows
the victim.
“I was friends with her, but obviously not right now,” said Ani.
Keshishian thanked his supporters today from the pulpit and
parishioners admitted he looked distraught. They believe he will be
proven innocent, but fear by then it will be too late.