The Burning Tigris: The Armenian Genocide and America’s Response by
Peter Balakian
IHC Review
22 Aug 05
The First World War made it clear the old idea that `war is politics
by another means’ is outdated in the 20th century. In the case of
Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, war meant extermination. Speaking to
his top generals days before invading Poland in September 1939, Adolf
Hitler praised the virtues of power and brutality, referring to how
easy it had been to destroy defenseless people like the
Armenians. `Who today, after all, speaks of the annihilation of the
Armenians?’ he asked. Under the cover of war, Muslim Turks (with
German help) completed the massacre of Christian Armenians begun in
the 1890s. On the eve of WW II, Hitler was readying his own apparatus
of death for annihilating the Jews of Europe, knowing he could do so
with impunity.
This book deals at length with U.S. government involvement (or the
insufficiency thereof, depending on one’s point of view) in supporting
fellow-Christian Armenian victims. It brings to light President
Woodrow Wilson’s proposal to extend United States dominion and
protection over the Armenian Republic. At Wilson’s insistence, Henry
Morgenthau, a wealthy Jewish-American lawyer, financier and supporter
who helped Wilson win the election, was appointed in 1913 American
Consul in Istanbul. Reluctant to accept the post at first, he was
convinced by Rabbi Stephen Wise that a Jew in that position could be
of great help not only to the sizeable Jewish community in Turkey, but
also to the Zionists in Palestine, which was under Turkish rule at the
time.
Deutsche Bank financed and German engineers built the railway systems
in the Ottoman empire, Germany’s most important foreign
project. Better-educated Armenians made up the main work force
operating the railways, which `introduced into modern history railway
transport of civilian populations as part of the plan of race
extermination.’ The Armenian workers were thus initially spared, but
eventually they too were swept up in the all-embracing Armenian
genocide. There is a close parallel between the two genocides, of the
Nazi deportation of Jews, which `began in the trains, the locked box
cars, eighty to a hundred people per car, crossing Europe to the camps
in Poland’ and the Armenians `starving, in terror, defecating on
themselves.’
The German military was in command of Ottoman troops and was involved
in the deportations and massacres. The German ambassador in
Constantinople, Baron von Wagenheim, and his U.S. counterpart, Count
von Bernstorff, declared that what the Turks were doing to the
Armenians was `entirely justified…Their own fault.’ Between 1915 and
1922, close to 1.5 million Armenians lost their lives. Significantly,
the U.S. never declared war on Turkey, in spite of the
Constantinople-Berlin axis. With more than two decades of American
anger against the Turks for their treatment of the Armenians, American
public opinion favored war with the Turks. On the other side of the
fence, a formal declaration of war would mean the seizure of vast
American missionary holdings in Turkey, valued at $123 million, and
perhaps expulsion, ending what little humanitarian relief the
missionaries were able to provide the Armenians.
For a `refresher’ in Muslim brutality, eyewitness reports are quoted
in the book. The British consul in Aleppo Province in 1890, Henry
Burnham, related how the killing of Armenians was motivated by Islamic
fanaticism and a jihad mentality: `…armed with clubs and cleavers,
cut down the Christians, with cries of `Allahu Akbar!’ broke down the
doors of houses with pickaxes and levers, or scaled the walls with
ladders. Then when mid-day came they knelt down and said their
prayers, and then jumped up and resumed their dreadful work, carrying
it far into the night. Whenever they were unable to break down the
door, they fired the houses with petroleum.’
Mosques were used as rallying points for mobs during Friday prayers. A
survivor, Abraham Hartunian, described the desecration of two Armenian
churches: `The mob had plundered the Gregorian church, desecrated it,
murdered all who had sought shelter there and as a sacrifice, beheaded
the sexton on the stone threshold. (At another church) The leader of
the mob cried: `Deny your religion!’ No one answered…The leader gave
the order to massacre. The first attack was on our pastor. The blow of
an axe decapitated him.’
In a letter home that came into the hands of another British consul, a
Turkish soldier writes: `My brother, if you want news from here, we
have killed 1,200 Armenians, all of them as food for the
dogs…Mother, I am safe and sound. Father, we made war on the
Armenian unbelievers. Through God’s grace no harm befell us…May God
bless you.’
In the best of Islamic brutal tradition, women suffered the worst
fate. If they were not killed, they were raped and sold into slavery
or harems. `The game of swords’ was witnessed by Aurora Mardiganian
near Aleppo, where Turkish killing squads `planted their swords in the
ground, blade up, in a row at several yards intervals, the men on
horseback each grabbed a girl. At the signal, given by a shout, they
rode their horses at a controlled gallop, throwing the girl with the
intent of killing her by impaling her on a sword. If the killer missed
and the girl was only injured, she would be scooped up again until she
was impaled on the protruding blade. It was a game, a contest.’ The
Turks then forced the Jews of the city to gather up the bodies and
throw them into the Tigris River.
As Queen Victoria’s Prime Minister William Gladstone wrote: `The very
worst things that men have ever done have been done when they were
performing acts of violence in the name of religion.’ It takes a
diabolically sadistic and evil mind to conjure up schemes whereby
deportees were forced to pay first-class fare for a box car, or where
a condemned man’s family is forced to pay for his execution. While
some German civil employees reacted with revulsion to such `Turkish
Delights’, the fact remains that racial extermination `technology’ was
observed, brought home and put to full use in Hitler’s attempted
extermination of the Jewish people.
The Turks to this day downplay the massacres they (along with the
Germans and Kurds) committed against Armenians. Professor Deborah
Lipstadt of Emory University has written: `Denial of genocide –
whether that of the Turks against the Armenians or the Nazis against
Jews – is not an act of historical reinterpretation . . . it is the
final stage of genocide, because it strives to reshape history in
order to demonize the victims and rehabilitate the perpetrators.’ To
this, Elie Wiesel adds that denying genocide is a `double killing’
because it murders the memory of events.
Radical Islam declared war on the West with the first World Trade
Center attack in 1993. It is the stated aim of the spiritual leaders
of a billion Muslims, from Southeast Asia across two continents to the
Atlantic, to re-conquer Europe (and eventually the rest of the world)
and reestablish a Caliphate ruled by the dictates of the Koran. Recent
events in Eurabia, such as the ritual murder of Dutch filmmaker Theo
van Gogh, for example, afford a preview of what’s in store once Islam
takes over.
President Bush’s Saudi pals continue to export radical Islamist
`education’ world-wide, while Iran – Islamic terror export hub to the
world – thumbs its nose at the West in pursuit of a nuclear weapons
capability, with the declared aim of obliterating the State of
Israel. They do so with the tacit or active collaboration of China and
Russia. A nuclear-armed Pakistan is another source of uncertainty and
instability.
The wrongheaded internment of Japanese-Americans following Pearl
Harbor was an emergency measure justified on grounds of national
security. Surely now is a time of even greater peril for Western
civilizations, when severe restrictive measures should be applied to
extreme-Muslim sources of incitement (mosques and religious schools),
fundraising organizations, and the expulsion of illegal `students’ and
other undesirable elements. If the American-Japanese community was
considered a security risk in 1941, does not the same apply to the
Muslim community in the U.S., which provided the infrastructure
enabling the September 11 attacks to take place?
While Spain’s shameful capitulation handed al-Qaeda a victory, Britain
and other European democracies are finally awakening to the
life-threatening dangers of the radical Islamic cancer eating at them
from within. A malignancy calls for painful surgery, unpleasant
medicine and everlasting vigilance if the patient ` Western
Civilization – is to survive.
————————————————————————
HarperCollins; October 2003; ISBN: 0060198400; 496 pages.
Review written by Giv Cornfield, Ph.D.
Edited by IHC Staff,

ABOUT 33 THOUSAND OUT OF 43,560 BIDS FOR LEGALIZING UNAUTHORIZED
CONSTRUCTIONS GET POSITIVE SOLUTION
YEREVAN, AUGUST 22, NOYAN TAPAN. Chief Advisor to Yerevan Mayor Grigor
Melkumian stated at the August 22 press conference that about 33
thousand out of 43,560 bids submitted to Yerevan Mayor’s Office for
legalizing unauthorized constructions have received a positive
solution. According to him, 94-95% of the bids upheld are those for
legalizing unauthorized garages and booths, with the sums received
already being registered as the state budget revenues of about 3 bln
drams (about 7 mln USD). G. Melkumian said that although the term of
the law’s being in effect has expired, the process of making positive
solutions about the bids, issuing general plans on their basis and
signing agreements will continue. At present, citizens have not
received 3,700 decisions and 2,700 general plans issued.

How should we integrate into the global economy?
By Mher Ohanian
Yerkir/arm
19 Aug 05
The most recent studies show that globalization results in unequal
distribution of global income between the rich and poor countries. In
other words, the rich countries get richer while the poor ones get
even poorer. In this context, the unequal distribution of income
between transition countries becomes more noticeable.
The rapid increase of the development rate of the progressive counties
that have developed due to appropriation of the largest share of the
global income and the drastic improvement of the welfare of those
countries’ populations constitutes the main contradiction of
globalization.
In the past decade, we have witnessed an ideological revolution within
our society whereby the old value system has stopped playing an
important role while the new values have not been consolidated yet. On
the one hand, this situation is a natural response to a systemic
crisis.
On the other hand, the question is what value systems come to
substitute the collapsed socialist or communist ideology and the
institutional framework anchored on it. This remains an open question.
It is obvious that no political ideology can be static and constant
for a nation. Culture is constant. The stability of the cultural
values of a nation determined the latter’s ability to counter external
challenges, including external pressures and threats.
The stability of cultural values also determined the nation’s ability
to modernize and develop. Just like an individual’s instincts
developed in the course of his life ensure his vitality and ability to
adequately respond to the challenges of the external environment, the
interests of the nation become crystallized and preserved throughout
centuries determining the latterâ=80=99s rational-competitive actions
due to the stability of cultural values in the constantly changing
paradigm of time.
The above mentioned arguments allow us to insist that liberal economic
reforms do not necessarily ensure technological and cultural
modernization of a country (a position often voiced on different
occasions) and a drastic improvement of the population’s welfare.
The developing countries have access to a miserable portion of the
global income. They are most of the time assigned the function of
being a source of raw materials and cheap labor, or consumers of
outdated, or sometimes modern but ecologically unsafe technologies, a
function that is strategically unfavorable.
This function is often presented by the developed countries exporting
not very progressive technologies and the international financial
organizations as a `benevolent mission’ of foreign direct
investments. Meanwhile, such ` investments’ are merely a way of
cutting down the production costsand increasing the absolute profit.
One factor is overlooked in this process – to what extent do these
foreign direct investments contribute to the diversification of the
receiving countries ‘ economies and their technological modernization
to ensure their post industrial leap?
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Turkey should consider nuclear power – Chamber of Commerce report
Anatolia news agency, Ankara
20 Aug 05

Excerpt from report by Turkish news agency Anatolia on 20 August;
subheadings as published
According to the “Nuclear Energy Report” of the Ankara Chamber of
Commerce [ATO], Turkey still does not have a nuclear power plant even
though it is rich in nuclear fuel and its dependence on fossil fuels
has reached 70 per cent. [Passage omitted]
According to the report, low reserves of fossil fuels such as oil,
natural gas, and coal as well as advances in nuclear technologies have
propelled the world towards nuclear power plants. [Passage omitted]
According to the ATO report, Turkey is among the countries that are
dependent on foreign sources for their energy. A dependence of as much
as 70 per cent on fossil fuels constitutes a big risk for Turkey
,which has a high population growth rate.
Oil accounts for the largest share of the energy consumed in Turkey
with 38 per cent. It is followed by coal with 27 per cent and natural
gas with 23 per cent. The remaining 12 per cent of Turkey’s energy is
met from renewable resources.
Turkey’s “general energy” consumption totalled 83.8 MTEP [equivalent
million tonnes of petroleum] in 2003. According to “demand projection”
studies conducted jointly by the State Planning Organization, the
Undersecretariat of the Treasury, and the Energy Market Regulatory
Agency with the coordination of the Ministry of Energy, Turkey’s
general energy demand will rise to 126 MTEP in 2010 and 222 MTEP in
2020.
Turkey’s demand for “electrical energy,” which stood at 141.2bn kWh as
of the end of 2003 is expected to rise to 242bn kWh by 2010 and 499bn
kWh by 2020.
According to projections, in addition to existing power plants and
those that are currently under construction, new plants with a total
capacity of approximately 54,080 MW need to be built by 2020. These
projections suggest that Turkey needs to consider nuclear energy
seriously.
According to the report, Turkey has not had any nuclear plants yet but
it is very rich in uranium and thorium which are the raw materials of
nuclear energy. Turkey has accidentally discovered uranium reserves of
around 10,000 tonnes.
According to data provided by the Directorate General of Mineral
Research and Exploration Turkey has visible thorium reserves of
380,000 tonnes. Exploration work could reportedly double this
number. [Passage omitted]
Commenting on the report, ATO President Sinan Aygun noted that many
countries in the world use nuclear energy. He continued: “Turkey does
not have the luxury of turning its back on nuclear energy. If the
necessary measures are taken nuclear power plants eliminate the
environmental problems caused by fossil fuels. Moreover this is a
cheap technology in the long run.” [Passage omitted]

ARTICLE OF “ZAMAN” DOES NOT MENTION FACT OF ANI’S BELONGING TO ARMENIA
ISTANBUL, AUGUST 22, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. The Turkish
newspaper “Zaman” published an article about Ani’s ruins, noting that
the number of tourists to Ani is increasing. According to the
artcicle’s author Murat Kapani, it is conditioned by the fact that
tourists who want to visit Ani no longer need permission of the
military authorities. Recently the General Staff approved a decision
made by the Council of Ministers, according to which the requirement
that tourists to Ani shall have a visa has been canceled. Those
applying for a visa were to go through quite a tiring procedure, for
which reason many were reluctant to visit Ani. Now everyone is allowed
to make a trip across this 7- sq. km area with 10 churches, a palace,
two mosques, a bridge and a land plot which dates back to 5th century
BC. According to the article, about 15 thousand local and foreign
tourists visited Ani ruins last year. This number is expected to reach
30 thousand in 2005. The article wrote about numerous tribes that
popoulated Ani, but did not say a single word that the city had
belonged to Armenia. In the article, mentions can be found about
Moscques of Menucheh and Ebul Muhammeral, Churches of Kechel and St
Astvatsatsin Mayr (Fethie Mosque). The Armenian newspaper “Marmara”
(Istanbul) reminded that the city of Ani was built on the bank of the
River Arpacha (Akhurian) and belonged to the Kamsarakans, from whom it
was transferred to the Bagratids (Bagratuni) at the end of the 8th
century. In 961, the King Ashot III was crowned by Catholicos and the
capital of Aemenia was moved to Ani, with fortresses being bult there
and the city population demobilized. In 989, the King Ambat II built a
second row of fortresses. The Byzantians annexed in 1045 the kingdom
of the Bagratunis, and in 1064 the Seljuk ruler Alpaslan captured Ani.

Karabakh’s budget revenue up in first half of 2005
Mediamax news agency
22 Aug 05
YEREVAN
During the first half of 2005, the Nagornyy Karabakh republic’s (NKR)
state budget revenue totalled 3,470.8m drams [7.5m dollars], exceeding
the planned amount by 25.3 per cent.
Over the same period, budget expenditure totalled 8,467.6m drams
[18.2m dollars], or 77.3 per cent of the planned amount, the NKR
Ministry of Economy and Finance told Mediamax today.
NKR’s state budget revenue was up by 32.1 per cent, or 842.5m drams
[1.8m dollars], compared to the same period last year. Tax revenue
increased by 813.8m drams [1.7m dollars], making up 74.5 per cent of
the budget revenue over the first half of the year.

AGBU Press Office
55 East 59th Street
New York, NY 10022-1112
Phone: 212.319.6383, x137
Fax: 212.319.6507
Email: [email protected]
Website:
Monday, August 22, 2005
On Thursday, August 18, 2005, Léna Balsan, Mayor of the French city of
Valence, met with AGBU President Berge Setrakian in New York at the
AGBU Central Office to discuss matters of mutual interest concerning
Armenians in France, particularly those in the Rhône Valley.
Balsan was involved in the development of the Armenian Heritage Center
(), which opened on July 11, 2005, and is
the first of its kind in France. Located in the heart of Valence, the
center houses extensive information about the history, exile and
integration of the country’s Armenian population into the fabric of
the French nation. Since the 1920s, the town of Valence has been home
to a significant French Armenian community making up 10% of its
population.
Established in 1906, AGBU () is the world’s largest
non-profit Armenian organization. Headquartered in New York City with
an annual budget of $26 million, AGBU preserves and promotes the
Armenian identity and heritage through educational, cultural and
humanitarian programs, annually serving some 400,000 Armenians in 35
countries.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

European official, Azeri media chiefs, rights activists discuss
Karabakh, polls
Lider TV, Baku
22 Aug 05

[Presenter] The president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council
of Europe [PACE] held his first meeting with human rights activists
and mass media chiefs today.
[Correspondent over video of closed doors] The meeting held behind
closed doors focused on the situation in the run-up to the [November
parliamentary] election in the country, the participation of NGOs in
the parliamentary election and the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict.
[Unidentified rights activist] He listened to us. He did not express
his opinion. He only asked us questions and we answered them.
[Rights activist Saida Qocamanli] He familiarized himself with the
situation in the run-up to the election and the problem of political
prisoners. We assess positively the work carried out in this sphere by
a [presumably, PACE] working group which has been established
recently. Moreover, we drew attention to the Nagornyy Karabakh
problem. The PACE president noted that NGOs and the public should
boost their efforts in this sphere as they are not strong enough in
Azerbaijan.
[Correspondent] The PACE president later met representatives of the
local mass media and familiarized himself with the media’s current
situation and its role in the election. Mr Rene van der Linden said he
expected the forthcoming parliamentary election to be free and
fair. He believes that normal conditions will be created for
representatives of the fourth estate to cover the process.
[Editor of Gun newspaper Arif Aliyev] The meeting initially focused on
the media issue. It was not discussed separately, but as an element of
society. They want to know to what extent the media in Azerbaijan is
independent and how much of political influence they have. As far as I
understood, they want to know the media’s reaction in case there are
some changes in the Nagornyy Karabakh problem. The media’s role in the
Nagornyy Karabakh problem was discussed individually. Naturally, the
third issue was the election and expectations in this regard. They
want to know about the media’s current resources, the level of its
preparedness for these issues and its behaviour at that time.

Speaker of the National Assembly of Armenia, H.E. Artur Baghdasaryan, to
Discuss Armenia’s Political Future
at CSIS in Washington, DC on Wednesday, August 31, 2005
BISNIS
August 22, 2005
Events included in this broadcast:
Armenia’s Political Future — Artur Baghdasaryan, Speaker of the
National Assembly of Armenia
Wednesday, August 31, 2005
Washington, DC
Organized by: Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Please join the CSIS Russia and Eurasia Program’s Caucasus Initiative
for a seminar with the Speaker of the National Assembly of Armenia Artur
Baghdasaryan.
The Speaker will discuss regional trends of importance to the South
Caucasus today and the current political situation in Armenia.
In 1999, Artur Baghdasaryan founded the Orinats Yerkir (Country of Law)
centrist-right party, which is now one of the most active political
establishments in Armenia, sharing power with two other major Armenian
parties: the Republican Party and the Dashnaktsutyun. Baghdasaryan has
been proactive in his efforts to make parliament a more efficient and
transparent institution, with greater citizen participation.
The National Assembly plays an increasingly important role in Armenian
politics and Armenia’s foreign policy. Since volatile elections in 2003,
the National Assembly has asserted itself as one of the most viable
forces for democratic change in Armenia.
We hope you will be able to join us for this unique opportunity.
For further information on this event, please visit the BISNIS website at:
Note: This notice is provided solely as a courtesy and does not
constitute a U.S. Department of Commerce endorsement of the event or of
the organizer(s)/sponsor(s). For a complete trade events listing, visit
BISNIS Online at
All information provided by BISNIS regarding trade events is subject to
change without notice by the organizers of those events.
********** Forwarded by: ****************
Katie Kane, BISNIS Trade Program Assistant
U.S. Department of Commerce
Tel: 202/482-3100, Fax: 202/482-2293
NEED TO CERTIFY YOUR PRODUCT IN EURASIA?
Even for seasoned U.S. exporters, Eurasian product certification
procedures may seem intimidating. BISNIS offers general overviews of
certification processes in eight Eurasian countries
() AND a list of U.S.-based
certification companies specializing in these procedures
( ) .
NEED FINANCING FOR A PROPOSED SALE TO EURASIA?
BISNIS FinanceLink helps U.S. companies find financing for export
transactions where a Eurasian buyer has already been identified. For
more information:
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON COMMERCIAL OPPORTUNITIES & DEVELOPMENTS
throughout Eurasia, visit BISNIS at . For other
markets, visit

California Courier Online, August 25, 2005
1 – Commentary
Turks Scare Themselves by Claiming
Armenians Spend Millions on Lobbying
By Harut Sassounian
Publisher, The Califorrnia Courier
2 – Ambassador Edward Djerejian to Keynote
Dec. 7 Haigazian 50th Anniversary Banquet
3- Interfaith Committee Presents
Tribute to Armenia Nov. 5 in NYC
4 – Scottish Capital to Discuss Recognition
Of 1915 Armenian Genocide in October
5 – Scholar’s Name Removed from Ankara
Street Because of ‘Pro-Armenian’ Stance
6 – Triple X Golden Gate Golf Tournament
Raises $16,000 for Armenian Charities
7 – DNC Chairman Howard
Dean Visits Armenia
*************************************************************************
1 – Commentary
Turks Scare Themselves by Claiming
Armenians Spend Millions on Lobbying
By Harut Sassounian
Publisher, The California Courier
Hundreds of Turkish “scholars” are hired by various centers, institutes and
foundations in Turkey to write and publish articles and books on Armenian
issues, in general, and the Armenian Genocide, in particular.
Almost all of these centers, funded directly or indirectly by Turkish
governmental sources, have been set up to produce anti-Armenian propaganda
which is translated into dozens of languages and mailed to libraries,
parliaments, scholars and journalists around the world.
Despite the millions of dollars spent on this propaganda war, the Turkish
government is apparently not satisfied with the results. Foreign Minister
Abdullah Gul announced last month that Ankara was devoting even more
resources to this campaign in order to flood the world with revisionist
materials on the Armenian Genocide.
One of these Turkish propaganda mills, appropriately located in Ankara, is
called the Institute for Armenian Research (Ermeni Arastirmalari
Enstitusu), a division of the Center for Eurasian Strategic Studies. This
so-called Institute has been publishing a periodical since 2001 that is
exclusively dedicated to denigrating Armenians.
Last week, Fatma Sarikaya, a Board member of the Turkish Forum, translated
into English and posted on the Forum’s web site a summarized version of an
article on the Armenian-American lobby, written by Dr. Senol Kantarci, a
researcher at the Institute for Armenian Research. The article was
originally written in Turkish and published in the Institute’s periodical
in 2001, under the title: “The Armenian Lobby: The Creation of the Armenian
Diaspora in America and the Lobby’s Activities.”
While Kantarci’s Turkish article remained unknown and unread, Sarikaya’s
English translation attracted widespread attention after it was posted on
several Turkish and Armenian web sites. Her version had a more sensational
title: “Money spent by the Armenian Lobby in America: In 1994 alone, the
Armenian Assembly of America spent $7,000,000, most of it on lobbying the
Congress.”
Not surprisingly, the article contains many historical and factual errors
that even a high school student, let alone a “researcher” with a Ph.D.,
would not make. Before refuting the ridiculous Turkish claim that
Armenian-Americans spend astronomic sums to lobby Congress, let’s focus on
some of the other assertions made by the author.
Kantarci wrote that Armenian students started arriving in America as early
as 1840. He said that these young men were “raised with hate for the Turks.
Though small in number, this elite group of Armenians was very effective in
creating anti-Turkish sentiments in America.” Kantarci is trying to make
the point that Armenians have been campaigning in America against Turkey
for 165 years. What he does not say is why these young Armenians from
Turkey were so anti-Turkish? What had the Turks done to them and their
families, even before the Genocide, to cause them to have such intense
feelings against Turks?
To justify the advances scored by Armenian political activists in recent
years and excuse the Turkish setbacks, Kantarci wrote: “Hundreds of
Armenian lobby groups were founded in America. The total number is
staggering when considering they all have branches in all corners of the
land. Excluding the
religious groups, the number of Armenian establishments is 1,046. With the
religious groups this number reaches 1,228. The aim of all these
establishments is making anti-Turkish propaganda….”
Kantarci further claimed that, while the Armenian population in America is
estimated between 800,000 and one million, “their representation in
Congress is far beyond proportion.” This is obviously false, as there are
no Armenian-Americans at all in the Senate and only two House members are
partly of Armenian origin.
After misstating the names and activities of many Armenian-American
organizations, Kantarci made his biggest mistake by claiming: “In 1994
alone, the Armenian Assembly of America spent $7,000,000 – most of it on
lobbying the Congress.”
The claim that Armenians spend huge sums to lobby Congress completely
freaked out some Turks. For example, one Turk after reading Kantarci’s
article, wrote on a Turkish web site that even though he loves eating
basturma very much, he would be forced to give it up, because most of the
basturma sold in the U.S. is made by Armenians. He said he feared that a
part of the money he pays to the Armenian shop owner for the basturma would
go towards Armenian lobbying efforts.
Kantarci’s reported lobbying figures are completely false. The Armenian
Assembly and all other Armenian groups collectively do not spend even a
tiny fraction of the $7 million claimed in his article.
According to the publicly available figures for the latest three years of
tax returns of the Armenian Assembly, the organization has spent on
legislative lobbying just $30,000 in 2003; $27,000 in 2002; and $100,000 in
2001. For the year 1994, the Assembly informed this writer that it had
spent a total of $272,000 on governmental, legal and lobbying efforts. One
can safely assume that less than $100,000 of that amount may have been
spent strictly on lobbying the Congress. This is a far cry from the $7
million
claimed by this Turkish “scholar.”
The facts clearly point out that Armenians spend very little on lobbying.
On the contrary, it is the Turkish government that spends millions of
dollars to hire the best American lobbying firms that money can buy. When a
country is trying to cover up a massive crime like genocide, it does need
to spend millions of dollars. Even then, as the Turks found out, it is a
total waste of their money. You cannot hide a genocide, no matter how much
money you spend!
But when you have the truth on your side, as Armenians do, you don’t need
to spend millions on lobbying!
**************************************************************************
2 – Ambassador Edward Djerejian to Keynote
Dec. 7 Haigazian 50th Anniversary Banquet
LOS ANGELES – The Haigazian University Women’s Auxiliary and its Honorary
50th Anniversary Committee announced last week that Ambassador Edward P.
Djerejian will be the keynote speaker at their 50th Anniversary Banquet on
Dec. 7, at the Sheraton Universal Hotel in Universal City..
Ambassador Djerejian served as U.S. Ambassador to the Syrian Arab Republic
during the terms of Presidents Reagan and George Bush. A leading expert on
the complex issues of the Middle East, his career spans the administrations
of eight U.S. Presidents. He is currently the Director of the James A.
Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice University.
Haigazian Auxiliary Chairman Joyce Stein, earlier this year, disclosed the
names of the Honorary Committee, Ambassador Djerejian, Dr. Vartan
Gregorian, Dr. Herant Katchadourian, Ann Swicker Kerr, and Carolyn Mugar.
The event will celebrate 50 years of quality education at Haigazian
University in Beirut, Lebanon.
An opportunity drawing for a rare Hovsep Pushman reproduction will take
place at the banquet.
For information, contact Joyce Abdulian 323-654-8031
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3 – Interfaith Committee Presents
Tribute to Armenia Nov. 5 in NYC
NEW YORK -The Interfaith Committee of Remembrance is making plans for its
15th annual free Concert of Remembrance at the Cathedral of St. John the
Divine in tribute to Armenia with the commemoration of coinciding milestone
anniversaries: the 90th year since the Armenian Genocide and the 60th year
since the end of World War II. The concert/event will be Nov. 5, at 8:00 PM
at the Cathedral, located at 112th Street and Amsterdam Avenue, NYC.
The program’s centerpiece will be the world premiere of The Place of The
Place of Beginnings: Songs of Light and Peace, narrated by actor, writer,
Eric Bogosian. The new work was composed for the occasion by Interfaith’s
resident composer and Armenian community liaison Michelle Ekizian, and is
based on portions of Franz Werfel’s seminal 1933 novel, The Forty Days of
Musa Dagh, which chronicles a true-life incident during the Armenian
Genocide.
This rendition is offset by declamations of ancient Armenian folk and
spiritual melodies performed by contralto Patrice Djerejian and
Lebanese-Armenian born mezzo-soprano Maro Partamian, and ultimately, by two
outreaching ballads with English lyrics placing things in a present-day
perspective. Drawing on the ensemble’s full orchestral and choral forces,
these sections will include rising pop vocalist David Gaschen, currently
appearing in the lead role of Broadway’s Phantom of the Opera, soprano
Karen Lubeck, clarinetist Lawrence Sobol, and a rhythm section under the
direction of jazz guitarist Owen O’Mahony.
The Interfaith Concerts are free to the public. Interfaith’s Honorary
Chairmen include Governor Pataki, Mayor Bloomberg, Archbishop Khajag
Barsamian and Dr. Vartan Vartan Gregorian.
The Executive Committee for Armenia includes from the New York-New Jersey
area Mr. Garo Armen, Mr. Alexander A. Dadourian and Mrs. Hasmig Hovnanian,
and from Los Angeles, Mrs. Sylvia Minassian. The Concert Committee for
Armenia is comprised of a host of accomplished musicians from the classical
music world and arts supporters including Armand Andreassian of Boston, one
of Interfaith’s advance contribution coordinators for the New York and New
England area.
Further information regarding supporting Interfaith’s efforts and to secure
privileged seating and listing in the commemorative program booklet can be
obtained by calling Mr. Andreassian at (617) 527-5474.
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4 – Scottish Capital to Discuss Recognition
Of 1915 Armenian Genocide in October
EDINBURGH, Scotland – the Edinburgh Evening News on Aug. 16 published an
article reporting the efforts of Edinburgh Councillor Donald Anderson to
have the Armenian Genocide recognized by the Edinburgh City Council.
If he is successful, Edinburgh will be the second council in the UK to
recognize the Armenian Genocide. Gwynneth County Council (north Wales) is
already the first one to have done so.
This Scottish development takes place in the background to a recent major
petition from the Turkish Parliament to the British Parliament denying the
Genocide. The petition was sent to London in April 2005. This petition is a
major attack on the 1916 British Parliamentary Blue Book, “The Treatment of
Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, 1915-16.”
The Gomidas Institute, which just republished a critical edition of that
work, is currently working with British academics and parliamentarians to
counter the Turkish offensive.
Great Britain remains a key battleground for Armenian Genocide recognition.
The main supporters of the Genocide thesis are:
The Gomidas Institute (an academic centre dedicated to the study of the
modern Armenian experience); Garod Books, publishing and distributing an
extensive range of books on the Genocide; Wales-Armenia Solidarity (a
single issue lobbying group); The Voice of Nor Serount, a monthly
publication dedicated to Armenian issues; CRAG (the political arms of the
Armenian Community and Church Council of Great Britain); CAIA, a voluntary
organization sometimes lobbying for the recognition of the Armenians
Genocide.
Anderson plans to introduce a motion in October for the council to
recognize the events as “Genocide.”
The proposed motion has been welcomed by Armenians in the Capital.
But the move has raised the ire of the Turkish community in Edinburgh and
Councillor Anderson has also received complaints from the Turkish
ambassador, who has pointed to the fact that history accepts many Turkish
people died at Armenian hands.
In a letter to the ambassador, Cllr Anderson said: “Having researched this
issue, I am in no doubt that the Armenian community suffered a genocide at
the hands of the Ottoman regime.
“There are substantial eyewitness accounts that are well documented and
there is, I believe, wide support for the view that the historical evidence
is robust and compelling for genocide.
“You mention in your letter that atrocities were carried out against Turks
by the Armenian side and undoubtedly this is true. There were atrocities on
all sides of what was an extremely bitter period of f ethnic conflict.
However, this was not genocide and was not state-sponsored.”
He added; “As council leader I have to advise you that I am convinced of
the need to support recognition for what I believe was genocide.
“I would encourage you as ambassador for a great and dynamic country to
reconsider your position.”
For more information, contact: [email protected]
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5 – Scholar’s Name Removed from Ankara
Street Because of ‘Pro-Armenian’ Stance
ANKARA – Members of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and
Republican People’s Party (CHP) from Ankara’s municipal assembly have
changed a city street name, removing the name of a scholar after whom the
street was originally named.
The name change was prompted by “pro-Armenian” statements made by the
deceased scholar, Dr. Abdullah Cevdet. Cevdet had also said it was
necessary to bring “studs” from the West to educate the Turkish nation.
AKP local assembly member Cevket Tandogan proposed the name change after
reading an article written by Milliyet columnist Hasan Pulur.
“Cevdet was also pro-Armenian. He tried to blacken our glorious army during
his speeches,” Tandogan said.
Now the street has been given the name of Professor Yusuf Halacoglu, head
of the Turkish History Association, and a strong supporter of the Turkish
government’s denialist policies regarding the Armenian Genocide.
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6 – Triple X Golden Gate Golf Tournament
Raises $16,000 for Armenian Charities
SAN FRANCISCO – Does it get better than playing golf on the PGA’s choice
Harding Park Golf Course in San Francisco, on a beautiful August day?
Apparently not for the 88 participants in the Golden Gate Charitable
Trust’s first Charity Golf Tournament on Aug. 1,
Under the leadership of Tournament Chair, Ralph Kazanjian, Tournament
Director, Ara Sarkisian, and Committee chairs Vartan Hovsepian, Ara
Kaprielian, George Atashkarian, Sarkis Sarkisian, John Dahlberg, and Arlene
Hovsepian, all the participants and the 100+ attending the awards dinner
enjoyed the well-organized event at the Harding Park facility.
The Golden Gate Charitable Trust is the charitable arm of the Golden Gate
Chapter of the Triple X Fraternity.
The $16,000 raised will benefit the Bay Area Friends of Armenia, Inc.
(BAFA), the Armenian Eye Care Project, NorCal Armenian Senior Services, and
the Krouzian-Zakarian-Vasbouragan Armenian School in San Francisco.
Special thanks go to the Tournament Sponsor, the Zovinar-Davidian Trust –
Mr. and Mrs. Steve Noroian, and the “Hole-in-One” Sponsor, Dee and Brad
Kassabian of Kassabian Motors, of Dublin, Calif.
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7 – DNC Chairman Howard
Dean Visits Armenia
By Emil Danielyan
YEREVAN – Howard Dean, a former U.S. presidential hopeful who now heads the
Democratic National Committee, began a two-day visit Armenia on Aug. 19,
meeting with President Robert Kocharian and other senior officials.
Official Armenian sources said his talks with Kocharian, parliament speaker
Artur Baghdasarian and Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian focused on the
current state of U.S.-Armenian relations, the situation in the South
Caucasus and international efforts to resolve the Nagorno-Karabagh
conflict. Armenia’s strained relations with Turkey, a key U.S. ally, were
also on the agenda, they said.
Kocharian was quoted by his press service as welcoming the “dynamic”
development of U.S.-Armenian ties and commending the US for its “weighty
contribution” to economic reforms implemented in Armenia. Baghdasarian
hailed Washington’s “great mission to strengthen democracy around the
world,”according to the speaker’s office.
Dean, who nearly won the Democratic Party’s nomination in the last U.S.
presidential election, told Baghdasarian and leaders of the Armenian
parliament factions that “development of democracy is the only possibility
of progress in Armenia” and that the U.S. has always been ready to support
the process. A resolution of the Karabagh conflict and a normalization
ofTurkish-Armenian relations are also important for the country’s
development, he said.
Dean was also reported to note the Democratic Party’s “strong ties” with
the influential Armenian-American community, saying that it will continue
to support pro-Armenian resolutions in Congress.
Dean’s first-ever visit to Yerevan was organized by the Armenian
Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun), an influential party that
controls one of the two main Armenian lobbying groups on Capitol Hill: the
Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA). ANCA and other
Dashnaktsutyun structures in the U.S. supported the former Vermont
governor’s presidential bid in the Democratic primaries. They as well as
many other Armenian-American groups later endorsed John Kerry, Bush’s
Democratic challenger.
Dashnaktsutyun representatives said that although they arranged the
high-level meetings, Dean himself had expressed a desire to visit Armenia
as well as Georgia as part of his ongoing tour of Eastern Europe. The
prominent Democrat also met on Friday with U.S. Ambassador to Armenia John
Evans and visited the Genocide Memorial in Yerevan.
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