AZG Armenian Daily #071, 21/04/2005

Armenian Genocide

SPEECH BY PRESIDENT ROBERT KOCHARYAN AT THE OPENING OF ‘ULTIMATE CRIME,
ULTIMATE CHALLENGE’ CONFERENCE

Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen:

We pay tribute to the memory of vanished victims as we commemorate the 90th
anniversary of the tragic events. We do it with doubled pain, since we are
still bound to continue the struggle for the international recognition of
the committed crime.

The First World War aimed at global re-distribution of the world and the big
ideological controversy of the 20th century that followed became the major
obstacles to recognition of the legitimate rights of the Armenian people. We
became victims of the First World War even though we were not the initiators
of that war. And our right for memory was sacrificed to the Cold War even
though we were not its masterminds.

When the planned policy of extermination of the Armenian nation was executed
the term “genocide” did not exist. Nor was it defined. There were no
international structures that could serve as a floor for discussions to give
a united response to that crime of genocide.

Obviously the world is changing. It took time for the world to treat
genocides as crimes against humanity with all the relevant consequences. It
took time to prevent the practice of sacrificing fundamental humanitarian
values to the geopolitical interests of great powers and to include the
moral considerations into foreign policy making of the civilized world. The
avenue of that change was tragic for many peoples. For the Armenian people
the price of that change equals one and a half million of human lives. Today
also the Armenian question is kept hostage to some geopolitical interests.

Modern technologies allow watching live the military operations unfolding in
different parts of the world, the term “genocide” is well defined, and
numerous regional and universal international organizations are put in
place. Countries are more determined in responding to a threat or attempt to
commit genocide in any part of the world. However, all this did not protect
the humanity from new genocides. Yugoslavia, Rwanda, East Timor, Sumgait –
in all these places once again innocent people were slaughtered. This comes
to prove that there is a need to amplify the efforts aimed at effective
suppression of the genocidal attempts.

That is exactly why the recognition and condemnation of genocides is so
crucial. Recognition bears in it a huge potential for adequate response.
Prevention of that crime is particularly important.

Condemnation of genocides committed in the past is also very important. It
first of all comes to prove that the crime has no expiration clause, and
those guilty will be brought to justice in any case. It is important in
terms of containment of future genocidal intentions.

It is through recognition and condemnation that states educate their
citizens. The lesson is: the state machinery shall not become a tool in
implementation of that terrible crime. We have the duty of establishing
atmosphere that would exclude any extremist divisions based on the
nationality, .ethnos, and religion or along any other dividing lines, any
propaganda of hatred by one group against another.

Another important component is the future fate of a people that has survived
genocide. The Armenian people, due to genocide, were displaced, became a
refugee people and were scattered across the globe. International
recognition of the Armenian Genocide and necessity of restoration of
historic injustice were sacrificed to the grand politics. Most of the
criminals who planned and implemented the genocide escaped the punishment.
Moreover, the remains of Taleat pasha who was assassinated in Berlin, were
returned to Turkey and buried with honors in Istanbul. It was a sad evidence
of carrying on the baton in relay race of impunity. The humanity pays a
tremendously high price for forgetting such crimes.

Using this opportunity I would like to thank all those countries, which at
different levels have addressed the issue of the Armenian Genocide and have
recognized it, as well as all those individuals and organizations that have
contributed towards that recognition. The role of Diaspora in that regard is
absolutely inestimable. By such recognition states also say “no” to all
possible future genocides. The number of victims of the Armenian genocide
could be incomparably higher and the fate of survivors much more severe if
not for a number of outstanding individuals, including Morgenthau, Bruce,
Nansen, Verfel, Brusov, Wegner, Lepsius, and many others who stood by our
people in those terrible days.

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen:

The Republic of Armenia, as an independent state, has put its position
straightforward: recognition of the Armenian Genocide is also important for
prevention of future possible genocides. Recognition is important for
Armenian-Turkish relations, since ii could give answers to many questions
that exist between our two peoples, it would allow to look ahead.

We remember the past with pain, but without hatred. For us it is difficult
to comprehend the response of the Turkish side, which is represented not
only by the denial of the past, but also by the blockade of nowadays
Armenia. We have came across a paradox that still needs to be apprehended.
The perpetrator, not the victim is furious with the past.

We are confident that international recognition of the Genocide will help
Turkey to come to terms with its own past and to overcome the complex which
is inherited from generation to generation and which creates additional
complexities in the relations of our neighboring nations.

I once again welcome all of you and wish you effective work. Thank you.

AZG Armenian Daily #071, 21/04/2005

Armenian Genocide

PODIUM LEFT TO POLITICIANS AS JOURNALISTS HAVE SPOKEN OUT

Bundestag to Discuss Armenian Genocide Today

The Bundestag website informs that the announcement of Christian
Democratic Union/Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU) will be read
during the 172d session of Bundestag on April 21. During 45 minutes
granted for the Genocide issue all parties will have to express
their opinion. Answering Der Tagesspiegel’s questions representatives
of CSU said that only CDU/CSU’s initiative will be presented at the
Bundestag and the discussions will show whether it is possible to work
out a common project of all parties. CDU/CSU eschewed using the word
“genocide” in its project and labeled the events with word “Massaker”
— massacre.

Analysts in Germany think that official Berlin will hardly offend its
former ally and today’s partner on the eve of Chancellor Schroder’s
May visit to Turkey especially considering the fact that 2.5 million
Turks of overall 4 Turks in Europe live in Germany.

Our survey of German Armenians’ expectations from Bundestag discussions
showed that most of them expect recognition. But the greatest part of
our compatriots is suspicious that German politicians will display
impartiality in making assessment of the historic events. One of
German-born Armenians says that the Bundestag will cook a thick soup,
then will pour water and we will see only vapor.

Dr. Mihran Dabagh, head of the Institute of Diaspora and Genocide at
the Ruhr University of Bochum, commented: “The announcement has 2 key
features: the term ‘genocide’ is omitted, secondly, the Diaspora as
an institution that bears the memory of the Genocide is not included
in it. This is very important and it demonstrates Germany’s and
Europe’s strategy of wiping the history of Western Armenians from
mankind’s memory. This is in fact the continuation of the executioner’s
program. Armenia being a state institution and overloaded with its
own problems is more vulnerable and likelier to compromise. A nation
wounded by the Genocide is now forced if not to deny the Genocide
then accept another definition of it”. Mr. Dabagh mentions the widely
used statement that relations between two countries should normalize.
“They love the word ‘normal’ too much in Armenia. It is impossible
to have normal relations with a nation that has the Genocide as
legacy, those relations must be private and there must be present
responsibility for the Genocide. Relations with a genocided nation
cannot be normal but only private. Private means guaranteeing absolute
security for the Republic of Armenia, never let threats go off and
secure Armenia’s development. The issue of the genocide should not
be viewed as a burden. It is what ‘differentiates’ our history and
draws attention to it. The Western Armenians need to be resolute
to prevent Armenia from sacrificing their historic peculiarity
to normalization but instead make Armenia stand on guard of the
history together with Diaspora”, he says. Dr. Mihran Dabagh reminded
relations of Germany and Israel, which are not normal but private.
“Armenian reality is not limited to the Armenian state but there
is the Diaspora which is the result of the Genocide and is one of
the central concerns. Both Turkey and EU strive to isolate Diaspora
from the argument. The greatest concern is that the RA authorities
are showing readiness to compromise, making agreements with Turkey,
completely overlooking Diaspora’s claims. One of Turkey’s objections
to the Genocide recognition is linked with the claims of the Armenian
side that are usually ascribed to the Diaspora. It is impossible to
reduce the Genocide issue to the formula ‘give up everything and I
will recognize it’. The issue of reparations and territory return will
find its course after the acknowledgement. RA authorities may be less
resolute than the Diaspora but resolution is the only way out from
this situation. The Genocide can never be a means of bargain. This
is what we owe our victims and even more our survivors worldwide”.

The head of Genocide and Diaspora Institute recalled the
Turkish-Armenian Reconciliation Commission and quoted a Turkish
journalist’s words, “It is a policy of gaining time in order to
wipe the memory of Armenian presence out of the society as it is
still present in stories of families. To create a Turkish society
cleared off memories about Armenians. There can be no talk about the
non-existence. There can be no dialogue with a memory free society
nor even about reconciliation. The Commission is to bring a political
solution and not to study. The issue of the Armenian Genocide is
not an issue for the historians; historiography has conducted its
research and named the events Genocide. A descent study may be done
only when it is recognized, when a scientist is free, has no burden
of getting the Genocide recognized”, Dr. Dabagh says.

Coming to our main question as to his expectations from official
Berlin, he said that “Germany has created a political culture of
post-holocaust memory which demands a clear position on negation of
genocides. In case of the Armenian Genocide, it is unacceptable that
Germany will not call it a genocide especially considering the latter’s
complicity. I hope that Bundestag’s statement will go beyond being
simply an attempt but will recognize Germany’s responsibility as well”.

By Anahit Hovsepian

AZG Armenian Daily #071, 21/04/2005

Armenian Genocide

THIS BLACK PAGE OF TURKEY SHOULD BE DEFINITELY CONDEMNED

Interview with Giacomo Gorini, Italian Consul to Trabizon in 1915

This interview was published in the August 27-28 issues of 1915 of
the Italian Messaggero and highlights the inner situation of the
Ottoman Empire. By the end of the interview, Giacomo Gorini also
touches upon the violence committed against the Armenians. This extract
was republished in the October 15 issue of 1915 of the Turin based
“Armenia” monthly.

– In the end I would like you to say whether the publications about
the violence against the Armenians in the Ottoman Turkey are true?

– In different vilayets (regions) the Armenians are being tortured
in various ways. They are prosecuted and suspected everywhere. They
are undergoing real massacres that are even worse than the genocide.
Unfortunately, the five most important and Armenian-populated vilayets
(7 vilayets) are under the legacy of my consulate. I mean Trabizon,
Erzroum, Van, Bitlis and Svaz. In my territories, since June 24,
they began exiling all the Armenians and deport them to the farther
parts of the country. Only few of them managed to reach Mesopotamia,
while the majority of them were killed with incredible cruelty.

The official instructions were given from very Constantinople,
by the central authorities and Union and Progress Party. The local
authorities, even the Muslims, try to resist, to soften the measures,
to set free or hide the Armenians, but everything was in vain. The
instructions given by the central authorities were strictly confirmed
and everybody should have obeyed and followed them.

Our consulate tried to save the children and the women, at least. But
the local bodies of Union and Progress Party broke many promises given,
as the orders came from Constantinople. Real genocide and massacre
of the innocent residents was carried out. That was an unprecedented
case, a black page, an open prosecution of the sacred rules of the
humanity, of Christianity and national identity. Even the Armenian
Catholics that used to be respected and could evade prosecutions and
massacres, were prosecuted in the extremely brutal ways by the order
of the central powers.

When I was to depart only a hundred of Armenians were left from
over 14.000 Gregorian, Catholic and Protestant Armenians that never
committed illegal actions or deserved the warnings of the police. Since
June 24, the day that notorious order was published till July 23,
the day of my departure from Trabizon I could neither sleep nor eat,
was deeply depressed. It was a real torture to be present at the
massacre of unarmed and innocent people.

The groups of Armenians were passing under the windows of the
consulate, urging for help, but neither me nor other employees could
do anything for them. 15.000 soldiers, thousands of policemen and
gangs of volunteers, as well as special groups of Union and Progress
Party members kept the city under siege. Tears, sufferings, curses,
many murders, mad people, people dying of fear, fires, shootings,
brutal prosecutions, hundreds of new corpses in the streets each day,
women that were turned to Muslims by force, children kidnapped from
Christian families and schools and given to the Muslim families. Many
people were placed into boats and doused into the Black Sea or the
Dere Mendere River. These are my last and unforgettable memories of
Trabizon that torture my soul.

Let me finish my interview by this and state that this black page of
Turkey’s history should be strictly condemned. If they knew everything
I know, everything I saw with my eyes and heard with my ears, all the
Christian states that occupied neutral positions should unite against
Turkey and condemn its brutal and feral authorities, its barbaric
Union and Progress party, and call their allies for responsibility,
as they stand and help to hide the terrible crime that has no equal
neither in the Ancient nor in the New History.

Disgrace, Terror and Humiliation.

By Aramayis Baloyan in Rome

PRELIMINARY INVESTIGATION HINDERS ZARAKOLOU PARTICIPATE IN YEREVAN CONFERENCE
By Hakob Chakrian

AZG Armenian Daily #071, 21/04/2005

Armenian Genocide

Many prominent scholars, public and political figures from various
countries of the world and Diaspora have been invited to “Ultimate
Crime, Ultimate Challenge. Genocide and Human Rights” conference that
launched in Yerevan on April 20. The representatives of Turkey are
invited, as well.

Professor Basken Oran, from the Faculty of Political Science of the
Ankara University, and Professor Murad Belgen, from the Literature
Faculty of the Istanbul University, participated in the conference,
while Racep Zarakolou, well-known publisher and public figure,
was absent.

It turned out that he didn’t manage to arrive in Yerevan because he
initiated the translated publication of another work by an Armenian
author about the Armenian Genocide In Istanbul. The Public Prosecutor’s
Office began a preliminary investigation for the publication and
questioned Zarakolou, depriving him of the opportunity to participate
in the Yerevan conference dedicated to the 90th Anniversary of the
Armenian Genocide.

The Unrequited Past
By Raffi Hovannisian

Moscow Times, Russia
April 21 2005

The Armenian genocide and its final act turn 90 this week. The lack of
recognition, redemption, and closure of this defining watershed for
Armenians and Turks alike has been driven by power politics and the
hedging of history, aggressive revisionism and a strategic incapacity
of the perpetrators, the victims and the generations that followed
them to call it like it is and move beyond.

The lessons, risks and dangers flowing from the genocide and its
contemporary continuation are all the more poignant because the
Armenian case was not only the physical murder of most of the people
making up the nation, but also the violent interruption of their way
of life and the forcible expropriation of the homeland they had lived
in for thousands of years. This pivotal distinction constitutes a
primary source — different from that of the Holocaust — for the
denialist demeanor of the Ottoman Empire’s successor regime, the
quest for justice and personal integrity of the battered and scattered
Armenian survivors, and the vicissitudes of international diplomacy.

The legal, ethical, educational, material and territorial components
of this landmark catastrophe have proved too complex a challenge for
any party or power to meet.

It is the truly unique underpinning of the Armenian experience that
accounts in large measure for why a historical, world-documented
nation-killing remains in limbo to this day and continues to serve
as an instrument for polemics, politics and a variety of “national
interests.”

Absence of a meeting of modern Turkish and Armenian hearts and minds
means a history that is off limits but ever present, a frontier that
is undelimited but closed, and a relationship — or lack thereof —
that is hostage to the heritage of homeland genocide. It is this very
relationship, between Turkey and Armenia and their constituencies,
that is the key to creating a brave new region where the interests of
all players converge to form a single page of security and development.

And it is this relationship, if honestly and efficiently forged,
that would become the foundation for the strengthening of respective
sovereignties, for cooperation in matters of education, culture and
historical preservation, for an enduring peace in Nagorny Karabakh,
Nakhichevan and the broader neighborhood, for open roads, skies
and seas, and for the guaranteed choice of a rightful return of all
refugees and their progeny to their places of origin. As it stands,
however, an unrequited past still doubles as an unsettled present,
leaving unchecked and unpredictable the many future impediments to
peace, stability and reconciliation.

How long can this commingling of tenses go on? How can all concerned
frame a process for a resolution of substance?

Can the heirs to the Turkish perpetration translate self-interest
into seeking atonement, and can the descendants of the great Armenian
dispossession agree to move on? Will we, or our children, ever see
the light, let alone reflect back from the heights, of a post-genocide
world?

Turkey’s and Armenia’s initially separate paths to European integration
might provide them one, perhaps penultimate opportunity, against
their own odds, to assume history, draw the line, and embrace a
promising epoch as sound, if unlikely, partners in regional and
global affairs. New benchmarks and new leaders and a new discourse
are in order.

Raffi Hovannisian, formerly Armenia’s foreign minister, is founding
director of the Armenian Center for National and International Studies
in Yerevan. He contributed this comment to The Moscow Times.

«EURO-2008» WITH A NEW FORMAT

A1plus

| 17:59:49 | 20-04-2005 | Sports |

During the following UEFA Congress the Executive Committee has decided
upon the new order of organizong the Euro-2008 according to which in
the preliminary phase the teams will be divided into 7 groups the
first two places of which will automatically pass on to the final
pahse. The organisers – Austria and Sqitzerland will joint this 14
teams. The preliminary phase in which Armenia will also participate
will start in 2006 Fall.

Beofre this decision only the winner of the group had the right to
pass on to the final phase, and the teams taking the second place
met in the play-off.

–Boundary_(ID_rHm6wZar2qgU5xKyWUPWhQ)–

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Eurasianet Organization
April 20 2005

TENSION SEEPS BACK INTO US-RUSSIAN RELATIONS
Ariel Cohen 4/20/05
A EurasiaNet commentary

The Bush administration’s desire to promote the globalization of
democratic values is fueling tension in the United States’ relationship
with Russia, a country that has experienced a dramatic erosion of
its geopolitical influence over the past 18 months.

Following a meeting in Moscow on April 20, US Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice and Russian President Vladimir Putin both expressed
satisfaction about the current state of bilateral relations. Despite
their positive assessments, strains in the US-Russian relationship
are readily evident.

Prior to meeting Putin, Rice voiced criticism of Russia’s
democratization record, specifically citing the fact that the Russian
government maintains a stranglehold on television outlets in the
country. “There should be more independent media so that people can
debate and make decisions about the future of Russia, democratic
Russia, together,” Rice said during an interview broadcast by Ekho
Moskvy radio. The secretary of state also suggested that Russia’s
executive branch under Putin had accumulated excessive power at the
expense of Russia’s other branches of government.

While critical of the Russian government, Rice emphasized that
Washington and Moscow remained strategic partners, adding that the
United States sought to build a “constructive, friendly relationship”
with Moscow. The apparent US desire not to fully alienate Russia is
rooted in geopolitical pragmatism. An antagonistic Moscow could greatly
complicate a number of important international issues, including the
global threat posed by radical Islam and nuclear non-proliferation.

Rice insisted insist during the Ekho Moskvy interview that the United
States does not seek to replace Russia as the key power in the Caucasus
and Central Asia – two areas that have traditionally sat well within
Russia’s sphere of influence. However, recent actions indicate that
Russian officials are extremely wary of American intentions.

One indicator of Russia’s concern is reflected in Moscow’s changing
stance toward the Organization for Security and Cooperation
in Europe. OSCE election monitors were highly visible in recent
elections in Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan, [For background see the
Eurasia Insight archive]. and the group’s reports on election flaws
played a background role in fueling revolutions in all three states.
[For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. Russia now wants
the OSCE to focus more on security, and it has adopted a cantankerous
stance on several budgetary issues.

While US and Russian officials strive to preserve the veneer of a
cooperative spirit, experts on both sides are far blunter in their
criticisms, and more willing to use confrontational rhetoric. Debates
during conferences on regional issues are now sometimes flavored with
a touch of Cold-War era hostility. Such debates occurred in February
in the Georgian capital Tbilisi during a conference called The South
Caucasus in the 21st Century: Challenges and Opportunities.

During the three-day meeting, sponsored by the Georgian Foundation
for Strategic and International Studies, Stephen Sestanovich, a former
top US diplomat during the Clinton administration who is currently a
senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, courted controversy
when he suggested that the concept of the Caucasus lying within the
“post-Soviet space” was outdated. Instead, he advocated that the
Caucasus ought to be identified simply as part of Europe, a change
that could help to subtly weaken Russia’s traditional high-profile
role in the region.

S. Frederick Starr, the chairman of the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute
at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies,
appeared to criticize Russia’s stance on the region’s so-called “frozen
conflicts,” involving Georgia’s separatist territories of Abkhazia
and South Ossetia, along with Nagorno-Karabakh. [For background see
the Eurasia Insight archive].”Conflict resolution failed not only
due to intransigence of the sides and insincere policies of regional
powers, but also because the efforts of good and tenacious people in
international organizations to settle the conflicts have failed,” Starr
said. He went on to suggest that if Russia does not respect territorial
integrity of South Caucasus states – Georgia, in particular — then
the West should “open up” issues relating to the Northern Caucasus
for discussion, including self-determination for Chechens.

Vyacheslav Nikonov, a pro-Putin political scientist and the president
of the Politika Foundation in Moscow, staunchly defended the Russian
record in the Caucasus, adding that Russia intended to remain an
influential player in the Caucasus. Russia “is on the rise and its
power will increase, whether you like it or not,” he said. The fact
that millions of ethnic Armenians, Azeris and Georgians live in Russia
grants Moscow a right to take an active interest in South Caucasus
affairs, Nikonov maintained.

Yevgeny Kozhokin, the director of the Russian Institute of Strategic
Studies, suggested that the United States and Russia should pursue
“big issues,” such as the growing geopolitical influence of China
and international terrorism, and Washington could leave “small fry”
regional issues, such as the future political status of South Ossetia,
for Moscow and Tbilisi to resolve exclusively.

Vladimir Socor, a senior fellow at the Washington, DC,-based Jamestown
Foundation, said relying on Russia to work out its differences with
Georgia on South Ossetia and Abkhazia would be a mistake. Socor
assailed Russia for its failure to fulfill security commitments
made during the OSCE’s Istanbul summit in 1999. He said political
settlements to the two conflicts would remain elusive unless new
peace-keeping and negotiating frameworks were established. “Existing
frameworks for negotiations are relics of another era before the
expansion of the EU and NATO,” Socor said “The UN mission in Abkhazia
helps put an undeserved international gloss on the Russian framework
designed to perpetuate secession and the occupation of Abkhazia.”

Editor’s Note: Ariel Cohen, Ph.D., is Senior Research Fellow in
Russian and Eurasian Studies and International Energy Security at the
Heritage Foundation, and Editor and co-author of Eurasia in Balance:
US and the Regional Power Shift (Ashgate, 2005, forthcoming).

AMERICA ENTERING THE ARMENIAN LIBRARIES

A1plus

| 17:56:05 | 20-04-2005 | Social |

The UA Embassy to Armenia cooperates with different libraries to open
American corners. Today the first corner was opened in Yerevan in
the library after Avetiq Isahakyan. One of the rooms of the second
floor was devoted to the USA, Here there are educating books and
books about art, and also official publications.

The US Ambassador John Evans took part in the opening of the first
~SAmerican corner~T. Hasmik Karapetyan, head of the library, noted
gladly that the event testifies to the fact that the argument with
the Yerevan municipality about the decision of moving the library
from the building has been solved.

The next American corner will be opened in Gyumri, and afterwards
they will open in all over Armenia. In these rooms the readers can
find rich literature in English and especially about America. There
is also material for the students.

The American centers also have other attractive points; computers
connected to the internet, different CDs the usage of which is free
of charge.

WEIGHT-LIFTER ARSEN TAMRAZYAN TOOK THE 4TH PLACE

A1plus
| 17:07:01 | 20-04-2005 | Sports |

In Sofia the weight-lifting European Championship has started. The
Armenian sportsmen also take part in it. Arsen Tamrazyan from the
56kg group showed the result of 250kg and took the 4th place.

Ara Khachatryan from the 77kg group, Arsen Meliqyan and Tigran
Martirosyan from the 85kg group, Jora Sargsyan from the 94kg group,
Arthur Babayan from the 105kg group, as well as Ashot Danielyan from
the super-heavy weight group have not yet been involved into the
struggle for medals. All our sportsmen with their previous results
are considered pretenders to medals, especially Ashot Danielyan who
has become Champion of Europe twice.

ISRAELI KNESSET MEMBER TO PAY TRIBUTE TO ARMENIAN GENOCIDE VICTIMS

Pan Armenian News
20.04.2005 05:41

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Today representative of the Israeli Knesset,
former Government member Yossi Sarid will visit the Memorial to
Victims of the Armenian Genocide, reported the State Commission for
organizing the events marking the 90-th anniversary of the Armenian
Genocide. Yossi Sarid is the first Israeli supreme official, who has
publicly acknowledged the Armenian Genocide and demanded inclusion
of record on it in Israeli curricula. It should be noted that Yossi
Sarid has arrived in Yerevan to take part in Ultimate Crime, Ultimate
Challenges: Human Rights and Genocide international conference that
opened in Yerevan today.