ARMENIAN GENOCIDE DENIER RECEIVES WARM WELCOME IN YEREVAN
Gevork Nazaryan

USA Armenian Life
January 1-7, 2010

In 2008, the Caucasus Institute foundation published a book in Yerevan
entitled "Caucasus Neighborhood: Turkey and The South Caucasus." The
chief editor of the said book is Aleksandr Iskandaryan – the director
of the Caucasus Institute. The volume consists of analytical papers
that were presented during a conference which took place in Istanbul,
Turkey, from August 1 to August 4 of 2008. The conference was organized
by the Caucasus Institute.

The book includes an article by Aybars Gorgulu, one of the presenters
of this conference who has entitled his piece: "Turkey-Armenia
relations: An eternal deadlock?" According to the introduction, Gorgulu
is a member of the Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation in
Istanbul. In the said article Gorgulu denies the historical factuality
of the Armenian Genocide that has been acknowledged and reaffirmed by
countless international academic and human rights bodies. In fact,
the word genocide was coined by Raphael Lemkin, a lawyer and legal
scholar, who from the very inception of the word noted that the
Armenian Genocide is a "classic" case study of a pre-planned and
systematically implemented attempt at total annihilation of a whole
people. In his article, Gorgulu explicitly denies the Armenian Genocide
and, when referring to it, places the word genocide in quotation
marks. The article serves as a lamentation piece for the Turkish
author who decries the fact that "Even the EP (European Parliament –
G.N.), let alone the parliaments of leading EU member countries such
as Germany, France, Belgium, Greece, Italy and Netherlands, adopted
the ‘genocide’ allegations. (p. 137)."

The article and the book did not go unnoticed, at least to Dr. Armen
Ayvazyan and his "ARARAT" Center for Strategic Research, which has
been at the forefront of battling Armenian Genocide denial and the
Turkish government propaganda machine. The "ARARAT" Center filed a
lawsuit against the Caucasus Institute foundation’s director Aleksandr
Iskandaryan and, on December 3, 2009, the first court hearing was
held. The statement submitted to the Kentron and Norq-Marash districts
of Yerevan’s court of first instance particularly noted that the
Caucasus Institute has explicitly denied the Armenian Genocide by
publishing the article by Aybars Gorgulu. The Caucasus Institute was
defended by attorney Vahagn Grigoryan, who represented the director of
the Caucasus Institute Aleksandr Iskandaryan during the court session,
because the latter did not even bother to show up for the hearings.

In its claim the "ARARAT" Center demanded that the court do the
following:

Compel the Defendant to publicly retract the false information
reflected in the Book "Caucasus Neighborhood: Turkey and The South
Caucasus" published by the Caucasus Institute foundation in 2008 and
disseminate retraction in "Hayastani Hanrapetutyun" and "Azg" daily
newspapers, "Golos Armenii" Russian-language newspaper and the main
news broadcasts of "H1", "Shant" and "Armenia" broadcasting companies,
which broadcast also on satellite, by determining the order of the
public retraction by the court decision.

Prohibit any further use of the word genocide in quotation marks and
further dissemination of all copies of the same book under disposition
of the Defendant.

Order payment of symbolic damages of one dram for the moral damage
caused.

The second and final hearing took place the next day on December 4,
2009, during which Karine Petrosyan, the presiding judge over the case
at the Kentron and Norq-Marash district court, without any explanation
dismissed the case with suspension. The crucial suspension of the
case, which can have a course-altering impact on the struggle for
international reaffirmation of the Armenian Genocide, took place in
a court session that lasted a whopping 1 minute and 15 seconds.

In a statement made immediately after the case, the "ARARAT" Center’s
attorney Arthur Grigoryan made it clear that they find the suspension
completely unacceptable and will appeal the case to higher courts,
including the Appeals’ Court, then, if necessary, the Cassation Court
and the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

On December 17, 2009, emboldened by the dismissal of the case,
Iskandaryan invited Gorgulu to Armenia, where in Yerevan’s Hotel
Armenia Marriot the genocide denier received a warm welcome and gave
a lecture during the "seminar" organized by the Caucasus Institute
foundation. The angry protesters picketing outside were dispersed by
Armenian police officers who had come to defend the Turkish denier
of the Armenian Genocide. Iskandaryan did not permit members of the
media to cover the "seminar" citing the need for "anonymity" and the
"imperative exchange between the seminar participants." The cloud of
secrecy and lack of transparency, which is an essential component
of the democratic process and the public’s right to know, is quite
revealing of the modus operandi of the Caucasus Institute foundation
and its director Aleksandr Iskandaryan. Astonishingly, among the
participants of the discussion with the genocide-deniers was also
Hayk Demoyan, the Director of the Yerevan Institute-Museum of Genocide.

According to the France-Armenie magazine (Denial of the Armenian
Genocide goes Unpunished, Dec. 18, 2009), in his previous writings
Iskandaryan has explicitly stated that "Western Armenia is not an
Armenian land…" and historically only had "Armenians who just lived
there…" One would be very surprised and even call it utter ignorance
if it were not for the statement that put it all into its right
"perspective", made only days ago by the Turkish government financed
Tesef organization, which stated that it had been "cooperating" with
Iskandaryan and his Caucasus Institute foundation for quite some
time now.

The above course of events is almost surreal and I believe hardly any
Armenian would expect to see this happen of all places in … Armenia.

But then again what we have seen unfold in front of our eyes also
seems to come directly out of a Rene Magritte painting. Only days
prior to the annual commemoration of the Armenian Genocide hardly
anyone knew of the things to come in the form of the "roadmap"
which at its very inception raised a furor of countless questions
and concerns. Very few Armenians expected that Armenia would actually
agree to establish diplomatic relations with Turkey based on several
pre-conditions that Turkey had set forth (most notably the recognition
of the current artificial "borders" imposed by the Turkish genocidal
regime and the agreement to establish a commission which will question
the unequivocal historical fact of the Armenian Genocide already
reaffirmed by countless international and national bodies).

Dr. Armen Ayvazyan and the "ARARAT" Center have already begun the
good fight on behalf of all Armenians, all of the descendants of the
survivors of the Armenian Genocide and all those who have fallen victim
to man’s inhumanity to man. Today Dr. Ayvazyan is on the frontline when
it comes to fighting and holding accountable the likes of Gorgulu, who
have unbelievably been invited and lauded, of all the places, in the
capital of all the Armenians -Yerevan. Come new year and Dr. Ayvazyan
will tour the Armenian communities of Greater Los Angeles and inform
all of the concerned Armenians about the current standing of the
"Turkish-Armenian protocols," about the (formerly unimaginable) denial
of the Armenian Genocide in Armenia. Most importantly, Dr. Ayvazyan
will not only update us on these crucial issues concerning the future
of the Armenian people and Armenia, but will also present concrete
steps of how each and every one of us can help out and do his or her
part in order to once and for all put an end to this shameful and
dramatic chapter in millennia-old Armenian history.