Author: Babajanian Karo

RUSSIA’S STANCE ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE NOT TO AFFECT IMPLEMENTATION OF RUSSIAN-TURKISH ENERGY PROJECTS

YEREVAN, April 24. /ARKA/. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s statement
on Armenian Genocide in Ottoman Empire will not affect implementation
of joint energy projects with Russia, Novosti-Armenia quoted Turkish
Energy and Natural Resources Minister Taner Yildiz referring to
RIA Novosti.

Yesterday, in his address to participants of The World without
Genocide event, Putin called April 24, 2015 ‘a mournful date that is
connected with one of the most horrible events in the human history –
the genocide of Armenian people’.

Earlier, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said that he has
discussed possible diplomatic steps by Ankara in connection with the
Russian president’s statement.

He also added that participation of Russian and French presidents
in the events dedicated to the centenary of Armenian Genocide calls
into question these countries’ impartiality in OSCE Minsk Group on
Karabakh conflict settlement.

Dmitry Peskov, the Russian leader’s spokesman, said earlier that
Putin’s visit to Armenia on April 24 for the events dedicated to
the 100th anniversary of Armenian Genocide in Ottoman Empire will
not damage Russian-Turkish relations, particularly construction of
Turkish Stream gas pipeline.

he said.

This year Armenia marks the 100 anniversary of Armenian Genocide
committed in Turkey in 2015. The Armenian Genocide was the first
genocide of the twentieth century.

According to Armenian and many other historians, up to 1.5 million
Armenians were killed starting in 1915 in a systematic campaign by
the government of Turkey.

Turkey has been denying it for decades. The Armenian genocide was
recognized by tens of countries.

The first was Uruguay that did so in 1965. Other nations are Russia,
France, Italy, Germany, Holland, Belgium, Poland, Lithuania, Slovakia,
Sweden, Switzerland, Greece, Cyprus, Lebanon, Canada, Venezuela,
Argentina, 43 U.S. states.

It was recognized also by the Vatican, the European Parliament,
the World Council of Churches and other international organizations.

—-0—–

ADRESSE DE SA SAINTETE KAREKINE II, PATRIARCHE SUPREME ET CATHOLICOS DE TOUS LES ARMENIENS A L’OCCASION DE LA LITURGIE DE SANCTIFICATION DES VICTIMES DU GENOCIDE DES ARMENIENS

ARMENIE
Saint Etchmiadzine le 23 Avril 2015

Chers frères et soeurs,

Sous la protection de l’Ararat biblique, en notre saint siège
d’Etchmiadzine institue par le Christ lui-meme, rassembles en ce
lieu sacre, dans une prière commune nous rendons grâce au Seigneur
Tout-Puissant pour tous ses dons. Nous glorifions le Père celeste
qui a donne a notre nation la force de surmonter les malheurs qui
ont emaille son histoire seculaire, de se relever de l’horreur que
constituait le Genocide des Armeniens et d’accumuler victoires et
realisations dans une vie nouvelle.

Nous benissons le Seigneur qui pare aujourd’hui de la couronne des
saints les temoins du Genocide martyrises au nom de la foi et de la
patrie. Grâce a leur intercession, nous emplirons nos vies de son
intarissable misericorde.

Tout au long des douloureuses annees du Genocide, des millions
d’enfants de notre peuple ont ete deportes de manière planifiee pour
etre massacres, en endurant l’epreuve du feu et du fer, en goûtant au
fruit amer des supplices et de l’affliction. Mais, bien que pris dans
ces terribles tourments, face a la mort, ils demeurèrent fermes dans
l’amour du Christ en temoignant de leur foi inebranlable, encourages
par les paroles de l’apôtre Pierre : > (1ère epître de Pierre, 4, 14).

Temoigner du Christ par le martyr est une constante inseparable de la
vie de notre peuple. D’innombrables temoignages de foi, de vaillance
spirituelle, de saintete, de vertu et de renoncement a soi ont aussi
ete attestes durant la tragique periode du Genocide. Les fils et
filles de la nation armenienne qui etaient persecutes a cause de leur
foi dans le Christ ont accepte en priant la voie du martyr et ceux
qui les persecutaient avec une ferocite sans bornes, se sont entetes
sans reussir a deraciner l’amour du Christ de la vie des Armeniens.

Le sang de l’Armenien verse pour Jesus Christ est devenu l’inebranlable
etendard de la foi et du patriotisme plante dans les sables du
desert. Tandis que le criminel s’endurcissait, l’Armenien disparaissait
sans laisser de trace dans les tempetes de l’histoire.

C’est arme de ce meme devouement au Christ et de l’amour de sa patrie
que notre peuple s’est bâti une nouvelle vie nationale et spirituelle
partout où il se trouvait dans le monde, et qu’il a vecu une veritable
renaissance en Armenie orientale, sous la protection de son Etat
arrache aux ruines et aux cendres.

Notre peuple a retrouve sa voie grâce aux sacrifices, en combattant, en
presentant a la conscience et la justice des hommes sa juste cause, en
faisant memoire dans ses prières des innombrables martyrs du Genocide.

Le martyrologe n’est pas une simple succession d’evenement ou de
preuves. Il est l’expression authentique de la foi qui se revèle a
nous et face a laquelle la persecution et le crime, les jeux de la
politique et les complots sont impuissants.

Le martyr relie la vie terrestre et l’histoire a une realite
celeste plus forte qui transcende le temps et mène vers l’Eternite
conformement a la promesse du Seigneur

CHURCH CANONISES 1.5 MILLION GENOCIDE VICTIMS

Muslim Turkey accepts many Christian Armenians were killed in partisan
fighting during the war, but denies it amounted to genocide

Published: 15 minutes ago Oge Okonkwo

Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II led the canonisation ceremony
at the open-air altar of Armenia’s main cathedral.

(Reuters)

The Armenian Apostolic Church on made saints of up to 1.5 million
Armenians at an open-air ceremony on Thursday to commemorate their
killing by Ottoman Turks a century ago.

Armenia say the massacres during World War One constitute genocide –
a term used this month by Pope Francis. Muslim Turkey accepts many
Christian Armenians were killed in partisan fighting during the war,
but denies it amounted to genocide.

Reports say the canonization ceremony was attended by church leaders
and state officials as they marked the start of the killings in 1915,
and was held in bright sunshine outside the 4th century Echmiadzin
cathedral in Vagharshapat, 20 km (12 miles) from the Armenian capital.

It was the first time in 400 years that the Armenian Apostolic Church
had authorized any canonisations.

When the two-hour ceremony ended at the symbolic time of 19.15, bells
rang out 100 times, an action to be repeated at Armenian churches
around the world.

“The canonisation of the martyrs of the genocide brings life-giving new
breath, grace and blessing to our national and ecclesiastical life,”
Catholicos Karekin II, the supreme head of the Armenian Apostolic
Church, said during the ceremony.

“The blood of the Armenian martyred for Christ has placed the seal of
unshakeable faith and patriotism on the sands of the desert, while
the one who committed genocide assumed that the Armenian was being
lost forever in the gales of history.”

Armenia, a country of 3.2 million people that was once part of the
Soviet Union, wants other countries to recognize the killings as
genocide and the debate has long soured its relations with Turkey.

Reports say in February, Armenia withdrew from parliament landmark
peace accords with Turkey that had only been signed in 2009, setting
back US-backed efforts to bury a century of hostility between the
neighbors.

According to Christian Today, President Serzh Sarksyan said on
Wednesday he was ready to normalize relations with Turkey, stating
that there should be no preconditions in restarting the peace process
and would not insist that the Turks accept they had committed genocide.

While the European Parliament, France and others call the killings
genocide, other countries, including the United States, have refrained
from doing so.

Turkey says there was no organized campaign to wipe out Armenians
and no evidence of any such orders from the Ottoman authorities.

Dozens of delegations, including the presidents of France, Russia,
Serbia and Cyprus, are expected to take part in events on Friday
commemorating the anniversary, starting with a hilltop memorial and
ending with a torch-lit march.

AUTHOR

Oge Okonkwo is an Associate at Pulse. A creative thinker and music
lover, Okonkwo holds a degree in Food Science.

MICHAEL KAMBECK: PRESIDENT GAUCK “IS A MAN OF CONVICTION”

21:06 24/04/2015 >> IN THE WORLD

Panorama.am interviewed Dr Michael Kambeck, a former Secretary
General of the , regarding the recent
developments in Germany surrounding the recognition of Armenian
Genocide, namely – April 23 statement by President Joachim Gauck
who recognised the Armenian Genocide and Bundestag debate of draft
resolution recognising the Genocide on April 24.

Panorama.am: Mr Kambeck, today on April 24 Armenians round the globe
and the international community marks the centennial of the Armenian
Genocide of 1915. Are you following these commemorative events?

Michael Kambeck: Sure. Of course. I have been engaged with Armenian
issues for so many years, and of course I am following these events
with great interest.

Panorama.am: Yesterday German President Joachim Gauck participated
in a nondenominational religious service at Berlin Cathedral and in
his speech described the 1915 mass slaughter of Armenians by Ottoman
Turks as “genocide”. Do you think anything has changed in Germany
after that speech by President Gauck?

Michael Kambeck: I think this was a concerted statement. You could
see that the discussion about the resolution in the Parliament,
and the discussion about what President Gauck would say has been
on German media for the last 10-20 days. And some days ago most
commentators claimed that the government would again say nothing,
would do same thing as in the past, would say it was horrible, but
not name it genocide.

The dynamics first started to change with the Pope, and his speech
where he clearly said it was genocide. And then everybody wondered
what will President Gauck say. And the President gave feedback to the
parliamentarians and the government that he will not be silent. He is
a man of conviction, he is also a Christian. And he said internally
that he would not be silent.

Then the Government changed its stance. Suddenly even the coalition
parliamentarians in the Bundestag said “we now have a formulation
that we all can agree too”, which also contained the word genocide.

Suddenly, the spokesperson of the German Government read out exactly
the same sentence in a news conference that was later used by President
Gauck in his speech yesterday evening.

I think they didn’t want to contradict publicly, and I think this is
good for Armenia, for the whole cause. So, they really changed their
position now.

Panorama.am: And today the Bundestag discussed a resolution on the
Armenian Genocide. Anything changing in German politics regarding
the issue?

Michael Kambeck: Well, for a long time it looked like the Government
was exercising a lot of pressure on the German Parliament –
the Bundestag – not to name this genocide , as they
have done for many-many years. But I must say that the dynamics
of the past couple of days produced exactly the opposite. The
parliamentarians today in the debate wanted to make a change, and
they actually openly critisised the Government for not having named
the genocide , even those parliamentarians from the
Christian-Democratic and Social-Democratic parties – the two parties
that form the Government.

This has been a very open and free debate. It was not along party
lines. Several MPs apologised also for the German involvement with the
perpetrators of the Genocide. One of those with the clearest words in
the German Bundestag was Cem Ozdemir, and he was really very critical
of the denialism in Turkey, but also by the German Government so far.

Parliamentarians said, it was a shame that in the past the German
diplomats were even not allowed to attend any event if the discussions
focused on the genocide. From now on Germany should be on the side
of those who propagates , just like it does with
the Holocaust.

All speakers were on a similar line. There was no contradiction. The
German Bundestag was very strong and critical against its own
Government. I have rarely seen such debates here. And the Government
was very quiet. I think we will see a change in the approach of
Germany to this issue also in practice in the future.

Panorama.am: And the last question, please. Do you think the delay
in adoption of the Armenian Genocide resolution in the Bundestag has
anything to do with the recent phone conversation between Chancellor
Angela Merkel and Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu?

Michael Kambeck: No, definitely, I dont think that way. I think that
now we have three draft resolutions which they will try consolidate
into one. And it seems that the governmental parties have changed
their wordings only very recently. Now all the three drafts name
the word genocide, and they can be turned into one resolution. And
this is what the Foreign Relations Committee will try to do. They
will try to make one cross-party, one-fits-all resolution, that can
be agreed to by all parties in the Bundestag, or at least by a vast
majority. It is not because of Turkish interference. Turkey was quite
ridiculous and hysteric with their actions recently, I dont think
they achieved anything.

CENTENNIAL OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE IS MARKED ACROSS GLOBE

Friday, April 24, 2015

A man places a candle in front of the Brandenburg Gate to build
the year 1915 during a demonstration after an ecumenical service
yesterday remembering the massacre of 1.5 million Armenians at the
Berlin Cathedral Church in Berlin, Germany.

On 100th anniversary, President Gauck condemns massacre as Church
canonizes 1.5 million dead

BERLIN — German President Joachim Gauck yesterday condemned the
massacre of 1.5 million Armenians by Ottoman Turkish forces a century
ago as “genocide”, a term that the Berlin government had long rejected.

Gauck used the word in a speech to mark the 100th anniversary of what
most Western scholars and two dozen governments regard as a genocide
against an Armenian population that flourished in what is now modern
Turkey. Turkey vehemently denies the charge.

Gauck, a former East German pastor with a penchant for defying
convention, also suggested Germany itself might bear some of the
blame because of its actions during WWI.

“In this case, we Germans must still come to terms with the past,
as to whether there is in fact a shared responsibility, possibly
even complicity, in the genocide of the Armenians,” said Gauck,
adding that German armed forces were involved in planning and even
implementing deportations.

His determination to use the controversial word prompted members of
parliament to overcome long-held resistance from Chancellor Angela
Merkel’s government, which until Monday had steadfastly refused to
use the term.

In his speech, Gauck quoted a phrase from a resolution which
lawmakers will debate in parliament today and are expected to
endorse overwhelmingly: “The fate of the Armenians is exemplary for
the history of mass destructions, ethnic cleansings, expulsions and,
yes, the genocides during the 20th century.”

The term “genocide” has special resonance for Germany, which has
worked hard to come to terms with its responsibility for the murder
of six million Jews in the Holocaust.

Analysts say it was previously reluctant to apply the description in
the case of Turkey for fear of upsetting Ankara and the 3.5 million
people in Germany who are Turkish nationals or of Turkish origin.

There are also concerns in Germany that massacres committed in 1904 and
1905 by German troops in what is now Namibia could also be designated
genocide, leading to reparation demands.

The reversal of Germany’s stance is significant because it is Turkey’s
top trading partner in the European Union. France, the European
Parliament, Pope Francis, Canada and Russia are among others who have
used the term, condemned by Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan.

Despite US President Barack Obama’s campaign promise in 2008 to call
the killings genocide, in the upcoming weeks to the centennial he
didn’t make any public statements addressing the topic.

The head of the Armenian Apostolic Church in Argentina says he is
proud, but definitely not surprised, that his friend Pope Francis
recently called the 1915 mass killing of Armenians in Turkey
“genocide.”

Canonization

In related news, the Armenian Apostolic Church yesterday made saints of
the up to 1.5 million Armenians at an open-air ceremony to commemorate
their killing by Ottoman Turks a century ago.

It was the first time in 400 years that the Armenian Apostolic Church
had authorised any canonizations.

“The blood of the Armenian martyred for Christ has placed the seal of
unshakeable faith and patriotism on the sands of the desert, while the
one who committed genocide assumed that the Armenian was being lost
forever in the gales of history,” Catholicos Karekin II, the supreme
head of the Armenian Apostolic Church, said during the ceremony.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, Turkey announced it was recalling its
ambassador to Austria after parties represented in parliament signed
a declaration recognizing the massacre of Armenians a century ago
as genocide.

Turkey denies that the killings, at a time when Ottoman troops were
fighting Russian forces, constituted genocide. It says there was no
organized campaign to wipe out Armenians and no evidence of any such
orders from the Ottoman authorities.

“Questioning these claims is not up to parliaments or politicians, but
rather to historians,” Erdogan told a peace conference in Istanbul,
organized as part of the centenary of the Gallipoli campaign during
WWI, before Gauck’s speech.

Erdogan said: “The Armenian claims on the 1915 events… are all
baseless and groundless.”

— Herald with Reuters, AP

ARMENIA CENTENARY: ‘I REMEMBER AND DEMAND’

By Rayhan Demytrie BBC News, Yerevan

17 minutes ago 24/04/15
>From the section Europe

Media caption Rayhan Demytrie visits the memorial in Yerevan to learn
more about the ‘genocide’

At the Anteb restaurant in Yerevan, run by Syrian Armenians, all
tables are booked, and there is a queue of people waiting outside.

They do serve good food here but the reason the place is packed is
because there are many visitors in town.

They are diaspora Armenians from different parts of the world who have
come to mark the centenary of what they call Meds Yeghern or the Great
Catastrophe – the mass killings of ethnic Armenians in Ottoman Turkey.

Most of them are descendants of the survivors of the 1915 killings.

Krikor Krikorian with his wife in Yerevan. People of Armenian descent
have travelled from all over the world

Krikor Krikorian, in his 70s, is from the UK and is dining with his
English wife.

“The Armenians are like Irish, there are seven million of them living
outside the country and just over two and a half million here,”
he says.

“My grandmother was from western Armenia, eastern Turkey. She had it
extremely badly, she lost all her family, they were slaughtered.

“Two of her children were dying and she threw them over the bridge
into the Euphrates river. They could have never walked to Syria –
they could not have survived.”

Krikor’s grandmother did survive but on her deathbed she was still
remembering Armenia.

“‘If you ever make any money, don’t forget Armenia,’ these were her
words to me.” Armenian families in need.

“You can’t find an Armenian family which did not suffer as a result of
the events of 1915,” says the Yerevan-based journalist Mark Grigorian.

“I am doing a TV programme now in Yerevan, I could not have imagined
how many stories came out about the families that moved, that were
trying to escape from genocide.

“It is still a huge trauma, we are talking about third, fourth
generations of those who survived and even they are burning from this
trauma deep inside.”

Armenians young and old are attending the ceremonies

‘I demand’

The purple forget-me-not is the symbol of the centenary. It can be
seen everywhere in Yerevan: from shop windows and windscreen stickers,
to lapel pins that many are proudly wearing.

There is also a centenary slogan which reads: “I remember and demand”.

But what is it that the Armenians are demanding? I asked some of the
people in Yerevan’s Mashtotz Avenue.

“We demand fairness from the world community, that’s it,” says Sergey
Martirossyan.

The purple forget-me-not is the symbol of the centenary
commemorations’I remember and demand’ is written on these banners,
in Russian, Armenian and English

“But for me personally it won’t make any difference, what we actually
need in Armenia is for the government to take serious steps towards
economic growth.”

Fourteen-year old Natalia is wearing a black T-shirt with giant 1915
digits in red and a slogan in Armenian.

“The slogan says that our wounds are still bleeding,” she says.

On Friday, tens of thousands pay their respects at the memorial in
Yerevan. A few days ahead of the commemoration ceremonies, there was
already a sea of flowers, and people kept coming with more.

They are young and old, diaspora Armenians and locals – all united
in their collective memory of injustice. And time has not healed
their wounds.

TEN THOUSAND PEOPLE IN MOSCOW REMEMBER ARMENIAN GENOCIDE VICTIMS

YEREVAN, April 24. / ARKA /. Over 10,000 people in Moscow, mainly
ethnic Armenians living in the Russian capital and its suburbs, took
part Friday in ceremonies commemorating the centenary of the Armenian
genocide in the Ottoman Empire, according to Interfax.

A liturgy was served in the main cathedral of the Armenian Apostolic
Church on Olympic Avenue in Moscow in memory of 1.5 million Armenians
killed in the hands of the Ottoman Turkey. The liturgy was served
by the head of the Russian Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church,
Bishop Ezras.

A marble memory stele was inaugurated near the cathedral. Deputy
Russian foreign minister Grigory Karasin spoke at the ceremony on
behalf of the Russian government reading the messages from Russian
President Vladimir Putin and the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia
Kirill.

On the same day an exhibition of documents and various photographs
related to the Armenian genocide a century ago opened in the cultural
center of the temple.–0–

TURKEY, ARMENIA COULD MOURN TOGETHER, SAYS FM CAVUSOGLU

Daily Sabah, Turkey
April 22 2015

ALI UNAL@ali_unal
WASHINGTON, DC
PublishedApril 22, 2015

FM Mevlut CavuÃ…~_oglu (L) meets Daily Sabah’s Ankara representative
Ali Unal in Washington D.C.

FM CavuÃ…~_oglu, who is currently visiting the U.S., said Turkey
wants to commemorate those who lost their lives in violence during
the waning years of the Ottoman Empire together with Armenia

Foreign Minister Mevlut CavuÃ…~_oglu, who is currently visiting the
U.S., said Turkey wants to commemorate those who lost their lives
in violence during the waning years of the Ottoman Empire together
with Armenia. In an exclusive interview with Daily Sabah, CavuÃ…~_oglu
claimed Armenian lobbies’ constant efforts to coerce and threaten all
to push the issue of the 1915 incidents onto the agenda every year,
had created fatigue in Washington, adding that it was no surprise that
the number of U.S. representatives who signed a petition supporting
Armenian genocide claims was decreasing.

He said he perceived no untoward stance concerning Turkey during his
talks with U.S. officials. “Pope Francis and the European Parliament’s
bizarre decisions created some waves, but there seems to be nothing
else,” he said.

CavuÃ…~_oglu also underlined the importance of the statement released
by the U.S. Council of Muslim Organizations, the largest umbrella
group of mainstream Muslim-American organizations, which argued
that characterizing the events of 1915 as genocide without proper
investigation by independent historians will damage the efforts aimed
at achieving reconciliation between Turks and Armenians. The group also
said that it shared the pain suffered by Armenians during this period,
but warned that all those who lost their lives during the upheavals
should be commemorated without focus on ethnicity or religion.

A statement released by Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu attracted
significant attention, CavuÃ…~_oglu said, adding, “Our president [Recep
Tayyip Erdogan] had released a similar statement last year. Our
prime minister released a statement on the anniversary of Hrant
Dink’s death. When people realize that Turkey doesn’t reject the pain
Armenians suffered, they are surprised,” and pointed out that this year
will be the first time Ottoman Armenians who died will be remembered
with a religious ceremony. “What we truly want is to commemorate
together with Armenia. Shared pain should unite, not divide. However,
Armenia is trying to take the easy way out and force through political
decisions. This won’t resolve the issue. Our prime minister’s statement
on the eve of general elections took courage and showed that Turkish
society has a similar stance.”CavuÃ…~_oglu admitted that his Washington
program was hectic, meeting with the leaders of American-Muslim groups,
members of the local Syrian community and visiting the Global Policy
Institute founded by Istanbul’s BahceÃ…~_ehir University. He also met
with representatives of the local Turkish community, which he praised
as united as never before.

He also paid a visit to the mosque and cultural center, whose
construction began in 2013 and will be opened by a ceremony with
Erdogan.

His meeting with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry lasted two hours,
an hour longer than planned. The meeting was encouraging, CavuÃ…~_oglu
said, explaining that they had an opportunity to discuss developments
in Syria in detail, including who controlled which region and what
can be done to help the Free Syrian Army (FSA).

CavuÃ…~_oglu criticized the organized campaign to portray Turkey as
unwilling in the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham
(ISIS). “Those who believe these claims say that ties between the U.S.

and Turkey are fraying. We have done our part against ISIS. We told
everyone that any fight against ISIS should include land operations.

We told the countries who criticized our determination, proving that
Turkey has done much more than those countries that failed to keep
their militants from going overseas. Secretary Kerry and President
Barack Obama are well aware of the true state of bilateral ties. The
phone conversation between our president and Obama was very positive.

We may differ in technical details, but our position remains the same.”

CavuÃ…~_oglu explained the tactical differences between Turkey and the
U.S. in ways to tackle ISIS were narrowing, and his meetings with U.S.

officials were very encouraging. “Turkey and the U.S. will sign an
agreement on sharing information on foreign fighters. Our U.S. Embassy
is currently negotiating the deal,” he said.

Efforts to help the FSA continued, with KırÅ~_ehir being the current
center of training and equipping FSA members, he said. “The Ä°ncirlik
Base is used by drones for intelligence gathering. That’s nothing new.

But for military operations launched from Ä°ncirlik, we need to know
what part of a comprehensive plan these operations will be. Without
an agreement on this matter, opening the base is not on our agenda.”

The U.S. and other countries providing armed help to groups fighting
ISIS need to be aware of the danger of the weapons they give falling
into the hands of terrorists, CavuÃ…~_oglu warned. “We are constantly
telling them of the danger. We saw what happened in Mosul. Once
ISIS took it over, the group was able to seize heavy weapons. We are
telling our American counterparts about the danger posed by handing
weapons to the PKK or PYD [Democratic Union Party]. They are aware.”

On the issue of Cyprus peace talks, CavuÃ…~_oglu said he believed there
was a chance peace talks could resume between the two sides once the
presidential elections in Turkish Cyprus come to an end.

He said the circumstances were suitable for discussions to restart.

When asked about one of the most sensitive issues, the extradition
of Fethullah Gulen, the U.S.-based leader of the Gulen Movement who
is accused of a range of crimes, including spying, infiltrating key
state institutions and efforts to topple the government, CavuÃ…~_oglu
was succinct: “No comment.”

Several reports by U.S. media outlets recently warned of a regional
nuclear arms race if Iran ever developed nuclear weapons, with Turkey
mentioned among countries that could develop such armaments. “We have
repeatedly said that Turkey has no desire to develop nuclear weapons
and is against any country in the region having them as well. Turkey
has not and will never acquire nuclear weapons.”

During his visit to the U.S., no official asked him about the coming
June 7 parliamentary elections, CavuÃ…~_oglu said, but added: “However,
I believe the U.S. has ordered such a public survey to see how things
stand in Turkish politics. My opinion is that they didn’t ask me
because they have a good idea about the elections’ outcome.”

AL-MONITOR: WHY IS ISRAEL STILL SILENT ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE?

21:02, 23 Apr 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan

By Arad Nir
Al-Monitor

For years, close ties between Israel and Turkey were understood to be
the reason Jerusalem has avoided the repeated requests of Armenians
for the international community to recognize the genocide their
community suffered at the hands of the Ottoman Turks during World
War I. Not only has Israel refused to recognize that the massacre was
premeditated and planned by the Ottoman government in Istanbul, it has
also exerted its influence in Washington to prevent the United States
from recognizing the genocide. This alone was a good enough reason
for the various Turkish governments to maintain close ties with Israel.

Ankara believed that Israel had almost mystical powers of influence
over the White House and Capitol Hill.

Diplomatic relations between Israel and Turkey have been foundering
for over half a decade. During most of that time, there has been no
Turkish ambassador to Israel, while the Israeli ambassador to Turkey
was expelled from Ankara in disgrace. Pro-Israel lobbyists no longer
meet with the Turkish ambassador in Washington, and the Israel Defense
Forces have found apt and even successful alternatives to cooperation
with the Turkish military, at least as far as Israel is concerned.

This year, Armenians are marking the centennial of the genocide. Given
the deterioration of its relationship with Turkey, this occasion
would seem to provide Israel with a golden opportunity to respond to
the moral claim that it recognize the Armenian genocide, just as Pope
Francis recently did, followed by the European Parliament. In fact,
dozens of prominent Israeli artists and academics recently signed a
petition calling on the Israeli government and Knesset to recognize
the Armenian genocide.

Nevertheless, officially, Israel continues to squirm. The Foreign
Ministry recommends showing greater empathy to the Armenian issue,
and this will be the first year that Israel will send an official
delegation to participate in the memorial ceremony to take place in
Yerevan. It will, however, be a low-ranking delegation, made up of
Knesset members. Foreign Ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon presented
Israel’s official position to Al-Monitor, saying: “Israel’s position
has not changed. We are sensitive and attentive to the terrible tragedy
of the Armenian people during the First World War, and express our
empathy and solidarity. Most of the international community’s efforts
must be focused on preventing humanitarian tragedies in the future.”

A few senior Israeli officials dealing with the issue spoke to
Al-Monitor about it on condition of anonymity. They emphasized that
this doesn’t just involve susceptibility toward Turkish sensitivities,
but also sensitivity that Israel wants to show toward Azerbaijan, which
is a neighbor of both Turkey and Armenia. Since the Soviet Union’s
collapse, the borders in the Caucasus region have been redefined. One
consequence is a continuing state of war between Azerbaijan and
Armenia. One of the pillars of Azerbaijan’s new national narrative
is the “Khojaly massacre,” which refers to a battle in the village of
Khojaly, located in the disputed Armenian enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh,
on Feb. 26, 1992. According to the Azeri narrative, Armenian forces
killed 600 Azeri civilians there, including 169 women and children.

In this instance, the Armenians deny responsibility for the massacre
of civilians, just as they do for a long list of atrocities that
the Azeris have blamed on them since WWI. Given this relationship,
it’s no wonder that the Azeris describe Armenian claims of genocide
as fabricated. Last week’s decision by the European Parliament to
use the term “Armenian genocide” was described by a spokesman for
the Azeri Foreign Ministry as “an attempt to falsify the history
[and] its interpretation for political purposes” stemming from the
parliament’s succumbing to Armenian pressure.

Gallia Lindenstrauss of Israel’s Institute for National Security
Studies says that Azerbaijan is the Muslim country with which Israel
currently has the closest ties. Trade between Israel and Azerbaijan is
estimated at over $5 billion. Israel imports some 40% of its oil from
there, and exports mainly weapons and sophisticated defense systems
to it. In 2012, when talk of an Israel strike against Iran was at its
peak, Foreign Policy quoted a senior US official as saying (apparently
with considerable hyperbole), “The Israelis have bought an airfield …

and the airfield is called Azerbaijan.”

About six months ago, Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon paid his first
public visit to Azerbaijan. Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman has
visited Baku, the capital, on several occasions. While there, both
of them heard from their hosts that Azerbaijan, like the Israeli
government, considers Iran’s nuclear capacity to be an existential
threat.

Azerbaijan’s border with Iran stretches for 611 kilometers (380 miles),
making it longer even than Turkey’s border with Iran, which is 499
kilometers (310 miles) long. Meanwhile, Armenia’s border with Iran
stretches for just 35 kilometers (22 miles). If the length of their
borders can be used to determine the importance of relations with
those countries, then Armenia is the least important of all of them.

And in general, it is considered an ally of the country that Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu compares to Hitler’s Germany.

Coming back to the official position presented by the Israeli Foreign
Ministry spokesman, it would seem that the call to the international
community “to prevent humanitarian tragedies in the future” might
not refer only to the incidents of mass murder committed daily by
the Islamic State against anyone who is not one of them — Yazidis,
Christians or Alawites. It is mainly directed against Iran’s “explicit
intent of obliterating the Jewish state,” as Netanyahu reiterated
April 16 at Yad Vashem during a memorial service for the victims
of the Holocaust. Herein lies the real reason for Israel’s policy
concerning whether it will recognize the Armenia genocide. The reason
isn’t Turkey; it’s Iran.

Arad Nir Is the head of the foreign news desk and international
commentator for Channel 2 News, the largest news provider in Israel.

Arad has covered international politics and diplomacy, ethnic
conflicts around the world and interviewed various world leaders,
decision-makers and opinion leaders. He teaches TV journalism at the
IDC Herzliya and Netanya Academic College.

BULGARIAN MP: BULGARIA HAS REFUSED TO DISCUSS THE DRAFT RESOLUTION ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE UNDER ANKARA’S PRESSURE

by Tatevik Shahunyan

Friday, April 24, 00:02

The head of the Bulgarian Parliament has banned the discussion of the
draft resolution on the Armenian Genocide. The discussion was to have
taken place on April 24.

In his speech at the Public and Political Global Forum Against the
Crime of Genocide in Yerevan on April 23, Volen Siderov, a Bulgarian
MP, said that the debates on the document were to take place on April
24, but the Parliament has decided to cancel the debates.

The MP claimed that the Bulgarian Parliament’s decision was influenced
by the Turkish Embassy’s pressure. “However, I qualify it as a
heavy-handed intervention in the internal affairs of Bulgaria,”
he said. Siderov added that history cannot be edited or changed,
it should be acknowledged to avoid recurrence of dark pages.

To note, Bulgaria itself suffered from the Ottoman oppression. During
the Balkan war, numerous prominent Armenians led by Andranik Ozanyan
fought on Bulgaria’s side against Turkey.