ARMENIA THIS WEEK
Monday, December 6, 2004
In this issue:
Armenia concerns with EU decision on Turkey
Efforts to release pilots held in Eq. Guinea continue
Most funding for Karabakh highway secured
Statement of Slovak MP on Armenian Genocide
ARMENIA URGES EU TO DISCUSS TURKEY’S DISCRIMINATORY POLICIES
Armenia wants the European Union (EU) to consider Turkey’s Armenia
policies as it mulls Turkey’s bid for membership at the December 17
summit. In a letter sent to the EU leaders last week, Armenia’s
President Robert Kocharian urged the EU to discuss Turkey’s ongoing land
blockade of Armenia. The EU summit is expected to give conditional
approval to negotiations on Turkey’s membership application. Earlier EU
calls for lifting of the blockade were followed by bilateral
Armenian-Turkish talks, but no practical results.
Turkey refuses to establish diplomatic relations with Armenia and has
kept the mutual border closed for over a decade. As the main
precondition for relations, Turkey wants Armenia to end the
international campaign for the affirmation of the Armenia Genocide, led
primarily by the descendants of survivors of the crime now living in the
Diaspora. The new Turkish Penal Code makes the Genocide’s affirmation
within Turkey punishable by up to 15 years in prison. Turkey has also
pressured foreign governments not to discuss the issue. A European
Parliament committee has already called for a repeal of the Penal Code
clause and Turkish protests last week did not stop the Parliament of
Slovakia from joining a growing numbers of countries worldwide from
condemning the Armenian Genocide.
For its part, Armenia is ready to establish normal relations without any
preconditions. Armenian officials have generally backed Turkey’s EU bid
in a hope that the process would contribute to changes in Turkey’s
policies. And in fact, Turkish officials have until this year hinted
that they are considering normalization, but bilateral talks have so far
been fruitless. Last October, Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian publicly
expressed concern that by not putting stronger emphasis on the issue,
the EU was sacrificing its principles for the sake of perceived
political expediency.
As part of an apparent effort to draw closer to the EU states such as
France and Germany, Turkey has stepped up its criticism of the United
States’ policies. The Turkish parliamentary human rights committee
accused the United States of conducting a ‘genocide’ in Iraq. Turkish
Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul justified the remarks as reflecting
“freedom of speech” in Turkey (where it is now illegal to publicly refer
to the Armenian Genocide or call for Turkish forces’ withdrawal from
Cyprus). In a public response to an apparent back-channel warning from
the U.S., Gul considered a possible U.S. congressional statement on the
Armenian Genocide to be “blackmail.”
A prominent Yerevan commentator Aleksandr Iskandarian suggested last
week that Turkey’s joining the EU “as is” may become an “insurmountable
obstacle” for Armenia’s own effort to integrate with Europe. Turkey has
already lobbied against Armenia in organizations such as the World Trade
Organization, Council of Europe and the Western European Union, where it
is already a member. (Sources: Armenia This Week 10-18; Turkish Daily
News 11-12, 28; Noyan Tapan 11-22, 30; Reuters 11-26; Arminfo 11-30,
12-3; WEU PA 11-30; Zaman 11-30; European Armenian Federation 12-2;
Associated Press 12-3)
ARMENIA TO FIGHT ON FOR PILOTS IMPRISONED IN EQUATORIAL GUINEA
Armenia’s Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian promised last week to
continue to do everything possible for the release of Armenian pilots
currently imprisoned in Equatorial Guinea. In a trial characterized by
Amnesty International as “grossly unfair,” the crew of Armenia’s private
Tiga Air company was last month sentenced to between 14 and 24 years in
prison on charges of involvement in an attempted coup. Ambassador Sergei
Manaserian, who has made repeated trips to the African country, said
this week that Armenia will continue to seek the pilots’ release through
appeal, negotiations or extradition. Both Armenian officials and Amnesty
International, which monitored the trial, insist that EquatoGuinean
authorities failed to provide credible evidence to support the
accusations.
The local authorities claim that Armenian pilots contracted by a German
company to fly in cargo to the oil-rich country were abetting an
international conspiracy to topple the local ruler. According to the
governments of South Africa, Zimbabwe and Equatorial Guinea, the
conspiracy involved dozens of South African and Angolan mercenaries and
was allegedly financed by Mark Thatcher, son of the former British Prime
Minister. Key co-conspirators have repeatedly denied that Armenian
pilots have been part of the plot and the pilots themselves maintain
they are innocent. Manaserian confirmed that the pilots are held in
difficult conditions, subject to torture and lacking in adequate food or
medical care. (Sources: Arm. This Week 8-30; RFE/RL Arm. Report 12-1;
Noyan Tapan 12-2; Arminfo 12-6)
MOST FUNDING SECURED FOR KEY KARABAKH HIGHWAY
Some $11 million has been pledged for a key throughway in Nagorno
Karabakh in the latest fundraising campaign completed by the Hayastan
All-Armenian Fund last week. The amount, which is almost twice as much
as was collected in a similar effort last year, includes over $1 million
in donations from within Armenia, with most of the money due to come
from Armenian-American contributors. Half of the 105-mile $25 million
highway, which is designed to connect the northern and southern tips of
Nagorno Karabakh, has already been finished. The Fund’s executive
director Naira Melkumian anticipates the highway’s completion within two
years. (Sources: Armenia This Week 11-22; Arminfo 12-3; RFE/RL Armenia
Report 12-3)
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November 30, 2004
Statement by a Member of Slovak Parliament Frantisek Miklosko
[AAA Note: English translation provided by Noyan Tapan news agency
12/3/2004.
Miklosko was the first Parliament Speaker of independent Slovakia and
past presidential candidate.]
“On the Christmas of 1990, immediately after the first free elections of
that year, the Slovakian National Assembly adopted its first historical
statement, a request for apology addressed to all the Jewish compatriots
for their deportation in 1939-1945 and the tragic aftermath.
In February 1991, the Slovakian National Assembly adopted another
statement addressed to the Carpathian Germans who had lived in the
territory of our country for centuries. It was again a request for
apology for their collective deportation. Meanwhile, the Slovakian
Parliament verified the principle of collective sin.
Thus, we were eager to start a new era in 1989. A retrospective glance
with acknowledgement of one’s own sins may be a reliable glance at the
future. I tell you this, because today I am going to speak of a key
issue, the Genocide that the Ottoman Empire committed against the
Armenian people in 1915.
True, as introduction to the aforementioned statements we, as the
representatives of Slovakia, commented on our own problems, but it is
also true that in the global unification of continents and the world, as
well as in conditions of freedom and democracy, there exist no internal
problems of a country, especially when the matter concerns a crime
against the humanity and it is also true that the Turkish state, of
which we speak today, has refused to recognize the Armenian Genocide so
far.
What has occurred in reality?
Two million Armenians lived in the Ottoman Empire during the World War
I. The decision to commit a Genocide against Armenians was made by the
Ottoman authorities in 1915. Over a million people were deported and
expelled to the Der Zor desert of Syria in 1915. Thousands were cruelly
massacred in places. Many died of hunger in the way, others died of
exhaustion and epidemics in concentration camps. Mass deportation and
massacre were carried out by Turkish nationalists in 1920-1923. Those
nationalists were representing a new political union against Young Turks
who had adopted a similar ethnic and ideological orientation. Thousands
of Armenians fled to Russia where they lived as refugees. The so-called
regiment of Young Turks intruded into the Caucasus in 1918 where about
1.8 million Armenians lived under the Russian ruling. The Ottoman units
crossed Azerbaijan to get to Southern Armenia and continue massacres. It
is well known that over 1.5 million Armenians were killed in 1915-1918.
The historic Armenia and minor Asia had been relieved of Armenians by
1923. The Armenian community was abolished from that part of the world.
What’s the situation today?
Turkey has not recognized the 1915 Armenian Genocide so far. As soon as
Armenia was declared an independent state, Turkey closed the border with
Armenia. Armenia has neither a short way to Europe nor any economic or
diplomatic relations with Turkey. The Turkish Parliament has adopted a
law condemning any public statement about the Armenian Genocide or the
division of Cyprus. The Armenian community now living in Turkey is
usually exposed to political pressure as a national minority.
When entering Poland Hitler stated: “Who speaks of the Armenians today?”
In what way are his words being carried out today and how does the world
feel for this tragedy? Statements, declarations and laws on the Armenian
Genocide have been adopted by the governments and parliaments of the
following countries so far. Canada adopted it in 2004, Argentina in
2004, Uruguay in 1965, 2004, Switzerland in 2003, European Parliament in
1987, 2000, 2002, Italy in 2000, Vatican in 2000, UN in 1985, France in
2000, Lebanon in 1997, 2000, Sweden in 2000, Belgium in 1998, Greece in
2003, Russia in 1995, Cyprus in 1982, the United States in 1916, 1920,
1984, 1996.
Theodore Roosevelt once stated “…The Armenian massacres have been the
most serious war crime, thus the inability to oppose to the Ottoman
Empire means to forgive those actions. A weak or non radical treatment
of the Turkish horror means wasting empty promises and ordinary nonsense
providing guarantees of peaceful future…”
Unfortunately, the decades that followed came to prove his rightness.
Let us express our sympathy to this small nation with ancient history
and culture, the people who have struggled for survival throughout their
existence.
Joining the aforementioned countries I suggest that the Slovakian
National Assembly adopt a Statement on the 1915 Armenian Genocide.”