General Buyukanit To Armenia: Open Your Archives
Anatolian Times, Turkey
June 19 2005
Turkish Land Forces Commander Gen. Yasar Buyukanit remarked that
Armenia should open its archives. Turkey has made a call to Armenia
to make its archives available for study. “Turkey is in the wrestling
arena waiting for the Armenian wrestler. Turkey is ready for the
fight but the (Armenian) wrestler is afraid to come to the arena,”
told General Buyukanit.
RESULTS OF CARELESSNESS
A1plus
19:13:15 | 17-06-2005 | Regions |
Because of financial problems this year in Gyumri no reconstruction
work has been done. By now in Gyumri 32 buildings in danger of
falling down have been reconstructed with the help of the Linse
Fund. In the city there are 37 more buildings which need to be
reconstructed. Artashes Sargsyan, head of the Shirak region urban
development administration, has told the TV Company “Tsayg” that
especially 6 buildings need urgent reconstruction.
These buildings are included into the state program of the buildings
subject to reconstruction every year but the Government does not allot
money for their reconstruction. And time does not wait for anyone,
and from time to time a building collapses.
According to Mr. Sargsyan, the situation in Gyumri has been created
not so much because of the earthquake but because of the state
carelessness and non-realization of reconstructions works in the
post-earthquake period.
Turkey denounces polls in Nagorno Karabakh
Agence France Presse — English
June 17, 2005 Friday 3:39 PM GMT
ANKARA June 17 — Turkey said Friday that upcoming parliamentary
polls in Nagorno Karabakh, a breakaway enclave claimed both by its
close ally Azerbaijan and its arch-foe Armenia, were illegitimate
and contrary to international peace efforts in the region.
“Turkey believes that such unilateral initiatives… will not help
efforts for a peaceful settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh problem
and considers those elections as illegitimate,” foreign ministry
spokesman Namik Tan said in a statement.
Nagorny Karabakh, inhabited mostly by ethnic Armenians and effectively
controlled by Armenia, declared independence from Azerbaijan in 1991,
sparking a conflict that, according to differing estimates, claimed
between 25,000 and 30,000 lives and displaced up to a million people.
The elections are being held in the face of opposition from Azerbaijan,
which still claims sovereignty over the territory, but was beaten
back by Armenian forces in the 1988-1994 war.
Armenia is the only country to recognize Nagorno Karabakh as an
independent state.
Turkey is one of Azerbaijan’s staunchest allies, with which it also
has close ethnic bonds.
It has refused to establish formal diplomatic ties with Armenia out
of solidarity with Azerbaijan in the Nagorno Karabakh conflict but
also because of Armenia’s camaipgn to have the World War I massacres
of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire internationally recognized
as genocide.
SwissInfo
June 16 2005
German parlt condemns 1915 killings of Armenians
16.06.2005 – 17:15
By Nick Antonovics
BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany’s parliament condemned on Thursday the
mass killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks 90 years ago, sparking an
angry protest from Ankara.
Voting shortly after the government and opposition clashed over
whether Turkey should join the European Union, all main parties in
the Bundestag joined in deploring what many historians say amounted
to genocide.
The resolution stopped short of calling the killings genocide, a term
Turkey rejects, but it will test relations between Ankara and Berlin,
a staunch supporter of Turkish EU aspirations.
“This resolution is regrettable and we strongly condemn it,” said the
Turkish Foreign Ministry in a statement.
It described the resolution as one-sided and “provocative” and said
it would hurt Turks’ feelings. It said German lawmakers had been
motivated by domestic politics and had ignored repeated warnings of
the harm the resolution would do to bilateral ties.
Turkey denies the claims that 1.5 million Armenians were killed in a
systematic genocide between 1915 and 1923 as the multi-ethnic Ottoman
Empire collapsed.
It accepts hundreds of thousands of Armenians were killed but says
even more Turks died in a partisan conflict in which many Armenians
backed invading Russian troops.
TURKEY SAYS “HUGE INJUSTICE”
Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul told German reporters this week
that the resolution amounted to “a huge injustice toward Turkey and
Turks living in Germany,” the German newspaper Rheinische Post
reported on Thursday.
Teaching in German schools about the “destruction” of Armenians as
proposed by the resolution would create hostility against Turks among
German youth, the Turkish foreign ministry statement said.
Around 2 million Turks live in Germany. A Berlin police spokesman
said a demonstration was planned in front of the Armenian embassy in
Berlin on Saturday.
The resolution urged Turkey to set up an independent committee of
Turkish, Armenian and international historians to document what
happened and to hold a conference in Istanbul — postponed last month
— to examine the issue.
The Turkish foreign ministry said Turkey had opened its archives to
historians and proposed establishment of a joint commission between
Turkey and Armenia to investigate Turkish-Armenian relations during
the Ottoman Empire.
The resolution also condemned the German government of the time for
failing to try to stop the killings despite having “information about
the organized expulsion and extermination of Armenians.”
Germany was an ally of the Ottoman Empire during World War One, when
the massacres took place.
“The German parliament is well aware from its own experience how hard
it is for all peoples to deal with the dark side of their past,” the
resolution said in a reference to Germany’s own Nazi regime and its
murder of millions of Jews.
(Additional reporting by Gareth Jones in Ankara)
WILL USA RECOGNIZE THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE?
A1plus
| 14:35:34 | 15-06-2005 | Politics |
Washington, DC – Congressmen George Radanovich (R-CA), Adam Schiff
(D-CA), Joe Knollenberg (R-MI) and Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) today
introduced an Armenian Genocide resolution that would reaffirm the
U.S. record on this crime against humanity. Fifty additional Members
of Congress have signed on as original co-sponsors to this bipartisan
effort to have the United States reaffirm the Armenian Genocide.
The legislation calls upon the President to “ensure that the foreign
policy of the United States reflects appropriate understanding” of the
“Armenian Genocide” and to “accurately characterize the systematic
and deliberate annihilation of 1,500,000 Armenians as genocide”
in the President’s annual message.
“On the 90th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide it is high time
to recognize the deliberate murder of a million and a half Armenians
during the first genocide of the 20th century. Passing a resolution
commemorating the genocide will be an important first step in the
long process of healing that needs to take place,” said Schiff.
There is a growing trend internationally to acknowledge the Armenian
Genocide. Just since 2000, Argentina, Belgium, Canada, France, Italy,
Lebanon, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia and Sweden have passed
legislation affirming the massacres and expulsion of the Armenian
people as genocide.
Additionally, the European Parliament resolved that Turkey must come
to terms with its genocidal legacy as part of its European Union
accession process. Turkey has responded with bombast internationally
and repression at home.
“The government of Turkey does its country and people great damage by
threatening nations that acknowledge the truth,” said Pallone. The
European Union will not embrace a nation that criminalizes free
speech and prosecutes its citizens for challenging official Turkey’s
unconscionable denial of the Armenian Genocide. At a minimum, enacting
this resolution will effectively end the ongoing campaign of denial.”
ZURICH AND ANKARA DISCUSS ARMENIAN ISSUE THAT HAS UPSET BILATERAL RELATIONS
Pan Armenian News
14.06.2005 07:34
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Turkish MPs met with Chairman of the Permanent
Council of Foreign Political Commission of Switzerland (APK) Peter
Briner in Bern, reported Blick online. In the course of the meeting the
Armenian issue, which lead to differences in Swiss-Turkish relations,
was discussed. The parties also discussed the criminal proceedings
against Turkish historian Yusuf Halacoglu. Professor of philology
Yusuf Halacoglu denied the fact of the Armenian Genocide in his report
in Winterthur Swiss city on 2 May, 2004. The Winterthur Office of
Public Prosecutor started investigation of the Halacoglu case on
suspicion of racism. The case is now investigated in Zurich. After
that a number of Turkish senior officials refused from meetings with
Swiss officials. Specifically, Turkish Minister of Trade Kursat
Tuzmen refused to meet with Minister of Economy Joseph Deiss in
Switzerland. As of the Armenian Genocide, tension appeared between
Switzerland and Turkey before due to the recognition of the Armenian
Genocide of 1915 by Switzerland. Today the Turkish delegation is
scheduled to meet with the Foreign Minister and Federal Councilor.
Karabakh polls “illegal” – Azeri Foreign Ministry
Turan news agency
14 Jun 05
Baku, 14 June: The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry today issued a
statement over Karabakh separatists’ plans to conduct the so-called
“parliamentary elections” in the occupied Nagornyy Karabakh region
on 19 June.
“The holding of ‘elections’ in the conditions of territorial occupation
and ethnic cleansing runs counter to the norms and principles of
international law and the Azerbaijani constitution, and, therefore,
has no legal effect,” the document says.
Such actions by the Armenian side do not conform to the spirit of
the negotiating process which has recently produced hope for positive
changes, the Foreign Ministry said in the statement.
Lasting peace cannot be achieved without normal life, peaceful
coexistence and cooperation between the Azerbaijani and Armenian
communities of the Nagornyy Karabakh region of Azerbaijan.
In this connection, the Azerbaijani side supports the international
community’s calls for establishing direct contact between the
communities and taking measures to boost confidence, overcome
hostility, achieve stability and mutual understanding.
“Such a dialogue between the communities will facilitate rapprochement
between the Karabakh Armenians and the Azerbaijani population of the
region which will return to their homes, lay the necessary foundation
for engaging all categories of the regional population in a peaceful
and democratic process which, among other things, will envisage
the formation of legitimate regional authorities of all levels,”
the Foreign Ministry said in the statement.
Czech News Agency (CTK)
June 11, 2005
Czech state attorney travels to Armenia to question witnesses
PRAGUE (CTK)
The state attorney in charge of the case of a 24-member organised
criminal group which has been charged with tax evasion involving
millions of crowns, and a police officer, have recently traveled to
Armenia to question witnesses.
“We have obtained important evidence there which can be used in a
court,” state attorney Vlastimil Rampula from the serious economic
crime office told CTK.
Police have charged 23 men and one woman of having deprived the Czech
state of 75 million crowns in unpaid taxes. Their criminal activities
were connected with imports and exports of goods. Most of the 24
defendants face between five and 12 years in prison. Apart from 18
Czechs and one German woman, two Armenians, one person without
citizenship, two Czechs of Armenian nationality and one Russian
national are being prosecuted.
The state attorney asked Armenian authorities to question five
Armenian witnesses, alleged importers of goods from the Czech
Republic, as part of international legal assistance.
“We wanted to attend the questioning also to be able to ask
additional questions and thus prevent the questioning from being
repeated,” Rampula said.
The Armenian authorities showed a very accommodating stance and even
allowed the defence lawyers of the accused to be present at the
questioning, contrary to their legal practice.
In Armenia, the defence lawyer has no right to be present at the
police interrogation, Rampula said, adding that he had also asked
Lithuania for legal assistance and intended to travel there as well.
According to the police, the criminal group organised fictitious
transactions with goods worth hundreds of thousands of crowns in the
past few years, depriving the Czech state of millions of crowns.
By busting the group, police prevented further transactions from
being implemented which would result in an additional 19-
million-crown tax evasion.
Rampula has frozen the property of four of the accused and said that
he expectd the court to expropriate property of all the defendants
given the damage they caused to the state.
BAKU: EGYPT TO FURTHER SUPPORT AZERBAIJAN IN ISSUE OF NAGORNY KARABAKH
YEREVAN, JUNE 10. ARMINFO. Egypt recognizes the territorial integrity
of Azerbaijan and will further support Azerbaijan’s efforts in
settlement of Karabakh conflict. Officials of Egypt made such
statement at a meeting with Deputy Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan
Khalaf Khalafov, who was in Cairo on a working visit June 5-8, the
525th newspaper reports.
According to the source, the Azerbaijani diplomat met with Egyptian
foreign minister, the presidential advisor for foreign policy,
Secretary General of the League of Arab States and the minister for
foreign cooperation, as well as the co-chairwoman of the
Azerbaijani-Egyptian Inter-governmental Commission for Economic and
Scientific-and Technical Cooperation. The sides discussed development
of cooperation of Azerbaijan and the League of Arab States as well as
exchanged opinions on the strategic projects in the regions of Middle
East and the South Caucasus.
ITAR-TASS News Agency
TASS
June 11, 2005 Saturday 9:40 AM Eastern Time
Moscow-based tycoon advocates for liberation of Armenian pilots
By Tigran Liloyan
YEREVAN
The liberation of Armenian pilots in Equatorial Guinea proves of
effective and fruitful cooperation between Armenia and the Armenian
community abroad, said Ara Abramyan, chairman of the World Armenian
Congress.
Abramyan, who played a key role in the liberation of Armenian pilots,
said on Saturday, “This is an example of effective and fruitful
cooperation between Armenia and the Armenian community abroad.”
Earlier in the day, the pilots returned home.
The entrepreneur noted that Armenia and the Foreign Ministry worked
hard. He recalled that Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanyan “visited
Equatorial Guinea. Officials of the Foreign Ministry had been
visiting the country seven times.”
Chief pilot Ashot Karapetyan said the crew felt the support provided
by the Armenian leadership. He thanked the people, the president, the
government, the Foreign Ministry and His Holiness Catholicos Garegin
II for their care and participation in the liberation of pilots.
He said the crew turned to be an instrument in the hands of different
forces in Equatorial Guinea and outside it. “There is no evidence
that we’re guilty,” the pilot said.
The six Armenians, chief pilot Ashot Karapetyan, first officer Samvel
Darbinyan, navigator Samvel Machkalyan, mechanics Razmik Khachatryan
and Suren Muradyan, and engineer Ashot Simonyan, are the aircrew of
an Armenian transport plane that was hired by a German airfreight
company over a year ago to ship cargo to the oil-rich nation. They
were arrested in March 2004 and sentenced to between 14 and 24 years’
imprisonment on November 26 along with a group of South African
nationals on charges of involvement in a reported plot to topple
President Teodoro Obiang Nguema.
The pilots, backed by the Armenian government and their German
employer, pleaded not guilty to the charges. Amnesty International
condemned their trial as “grossly unfair.”