Author: Boshkezenian Garik

TURKISH BUSINESS GROUP LOBBIES AGAINST FRENCH GENOCIDE DENIAL BILL

NTV MSNBC, Turkey
Oct 11 2006

Representatives of the TOBB held talks with French business leaders
Monday to discuss the dangers to trade implied in the legislation.

PARIS – A senior Turkish business leader has warned that if the
French parliament passes legislation making the denial of the alleged
massacre of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire a crime that relations
between France and Turkey will be badly harmed.

Rifat Hisarciklioglu, the Chairman of the Union of Chambers and
Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB), said that the vote in the French
parliament on October 12 on the legislation had grave consequences
for ties between Turkey and France.

In Paris at the head of a TOBB delegation to lobby against the bill,
which envisages fines of 45,000 euros for anyone denying the alleged
genocide, Hisarciklioglu said he had told French business leaders
that the issue should be dealt with using common sense and logic,
not emotions.

"I am having difficulty in understanding why a country like France,
which is a pioneer in democracy, secularism and freedom of expression,
has brought up a resolution on making denial of the so-called Armenian
genocide a crime," Hisarciklioglu said Tuesday night following a
dinner with representatives of the Movement of French Enterprises
(MEDEF) and the French chambers of commerce.

PRESS RELEASE
Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, Information Services
Address:  Vagharshapat, Republic of Armenia
Contact:  Rev. Fr. Ktrij Devejian
Tel:  (374 10) 517 163
Fax:  (374 10) 517 301
E-Mail:  [email protected]
Website: 
October 10, 2006

Three New "Vardapets" in Holy Etchmiadzin

On September 15, three young priests successfully defended their doctoral
theses in the Gevorkian Theological Seminary of the Mother See of Holy
Etchmiadzin.  The examination committee was comprised of His Eminence
Archbishop Nerses Bozabalian, Chairman; His Eminence Archbishop Navasard
Kjoyan, Vicar of the Araratian Pontifical Diocese; and His Grace Bishop
Arshak Khatchatrian, Chancellor of the Mother See. 

Rev. Fr. Barsegh Pilavchian defended his thesis entitled "The Spiritual and
Cultural Life of the Hungarian-Armenian Community".  Rev. Fr. Daniel
Tumanian defended his thesis entitled "The Third Chapter of the Book of
Genesis in Various Commentaries and Armenian Apocryphal Literature".  Rev.
Fr. Vasken Nanian defended his thesis entitled "The Presentation of the Lord
to the Temple (Candlemas) and its Introduction into the Ritual Structure and
Calendar of the Armenian Church".  All three priests are members of the
Brotherhood of Holy Etchmiadzin.

The following day, on September 16, during the celebration of Divine
Liturgy, His Eminence Archbishop Navasard Kjoyan elevated the three monks
and bestowed them with the rank of "Vardapet" (archimandrite).  According to
tradition, the service was offered in the Church of St. Mesrop Mashtots in
Oshakan.

FRANCE SACRIFICING FREE THOUGHT FOR ARMENIAN VOTES
TDN editorial by Yusuf KANLI

Turkish Daily News
Oct 9 2006

The French must see that they will not only lose Turkey, but at
the same time they will as well be sacrificing free thought just
to appease and get votes of a small Armenian minority in the coming
presidential elections

Neither with nationalistic slogans and declaring the issue a taboo
nor with imposing economic and cultural sanctions against countries
helping out Armenians to rewrite history with political statements
and parliamentary resolutions can we overcome the mounting pressure
demanding this country to acknowledge the 1915-1917 killings of the
Armenian population of this land as a "genocide.

"We can say that the French, Dutch, Danish or other European nations
lending support to the Armenian "genocide" claims are nothing but
an effort to find a way of forgetting their own "contributions" to
the suffering of not only the Armenians but other ethnic communities
of the dissolving Ottoman Empire, as well as how they collaborated
with Nazi Germany to butcher the Jews, Gypsies and other "unwanted"
peoples, or how they mercilessly staged an act of genocide in Algeria
and elsewhere as they were forced out of their colonies and in a
way to "cleanse the blood on their own hands" by demonstrating how
sensitive they are now on the issue of what might have happened to
the Armenians in the first quarter of last century.

We may as well try to provide an explanation that Russians were
attacking our territory, Armenians were collaborating with the enemy,
their forced resettlement had become an absolute necessity for national
defense, there was a civil war and perhaps more Turks (and Kurds) than
Armenians perished because of the prevailing conditions of the time, as
well as from epidemics and such. Still, we cannot say nothing happened
to the Ottoman Armenian population and all the claims are just fiction.

I was talking with a survivor of the 1915-17 events in Yerevan in
2001. He was a man in his early 90s. That is he was a young boy at
the time all those troubles were being staged on our land. "We fought
a war with the Turks. We lost it, they won it. We killed and got
killed. Today, we either decide to bury this in history and continue
the fight that we lost on the battle field, or look to creating a
common future together," he had said stressing that he hoped to "see"
one day before he dies his home city Erzurum once again.

His advice, though very precious for me, unfortunately cannot become
reality until the Armenian claims are resolved through a detailed
research into the issue by historians and both the Armenians and Turks
acknowledge their share in the massive suffering that was lived by our
peoples during those years. The suggestion of Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdoðan, thus, for the creation of a committee of scientists
from Turkey, Armenia and other states, which will work under the
auspices of the U.N., has to be considered very seriously.

The Turkish prime minister has as well declared that Turkey would
accept and abide with whatever the outcome of that commission’s work
would be.

Though "genocide" terminology only became part of international
law in 1952 and it cannot be applied retrospectively, the Erdoðan
was clear in his declaration that Turkey would accept whatever the
conclusion of the commission of historians would be. While this
must have been taken by Armenia as a historic opportunity to bring
clarification to what indeed happened in the first quarter of the
last century and bring an end to this hostility, which indeed has
been more harmful to landlocked Armenia than Turkey, unfortunately
the Yerevan administration has turned this golden opportunity down
with the back of its hand. Why? Because of the support they receive
to their unsubstantiated claims from politicians in France, Holland
and elsewhere who have been trying to win votes of the local Armenian
minorities buy paying lip service to their emotional allegations.

Legislating laws describing the 1915-17 events as "genocide" are
nothing but trying to rewrite history with political considerations.

It’s nothing new, Adolf Hitler’s Germany and Stalin’s Soviet Union had
attempted to do the same thing as well. Rewriting history to serve
their political aims did not help either. It will not serve anyone
today either. However, what is more dangerous and indeed threatening is
the restrictions wanted to be imposed on freedom of expression with the
pretext of acting in solidarity with the Armenians. Criminalization of
"genocide denial" risking five years in prison and a hefty fine, or
forcing candidates to withdraw their candidacy or succumb to the claims
cannot and should not be considered as signs of a promising future
for Europe that we believe is founded on free thought and reason.

The impact of the cancellation of lucrative gigantic Turkish contracts
will perhaps hurt French and Dutch companies. But, will France arrest
Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, or thousands of Turks who
might pour into France after the Thursday vote to declare publicly
their opposition to criminalization of genocide denial?

The French must see that they will not lose only Turkey, but at
the same time they will as well be sacrificing free thought just
to appease and get votes of a small Armenian minority in the coming
presidential elections.

–Boundary_(ID_+iIOvTm0Smy8zOQ5pMSUBg) —

GEORGIA THREATENS RUSSIA WITH EUROPEAN COURT

A1+
[06:43 pm] 09 October, 2006

Georgia can turn to the European Court of Human Rights about national
discrimination against Georgians in Russia. "We are indignant at
the facts of ethnic filtrations which are incompatible with the
21st century and remind us about the terrible incidents in the 20th
century. That’s why the Georgian Government discusses the possibility
of turning to the European Court of Human Rights", announced Georgian
President Michael Sahakashvili.

As for the fact that the Georgians are taken to Georgia from Russia by
the planes of the Emergency Administration, Sahakashvili mentioned that
if Russia does not have normal planes, "Georgia will support them".

Provinciale Zeeuwse Courant. Netherland
October 6, 2006

Binnenhof in greep genocide Armeniers

door Wierd Duk

De boze geesten van de Kaukasus zijn de Nederlandse politiek
binnengeslopen. In het debat rond het standpunt van Turks-Nederlandse
politici over de Armeense genocide gedurende de Eerste Wereldoorlog
botsen twee werkelijkheden op elkaar.

Wie door de Kaukasus reist, leert snel de historische gevoeligheden
kennen die in deze regio worden gecultiveerd. Net als op de Balkan is
de geschiedenis hier niet weggestopt in musea, maar leeft ze verder
in verhalen en herinneringen, die van generatie op generatie worden
overgeleverd. Met de feiten neemt men het niet zo nauw. Legenden en
mythen hebben in deze folklore dezelfde waarde – en soms meer
betekenis – als concrete historische gebeurtenissen. In deze context
wantrouwen hele bevolkingsgroepen elkaar: Russen en Tsjetsjenen,
Georgiers en Osseten en ook Armeniers en Azeri’s, welke laatsten door
de Armeniers gemakshalve ‘Turken’ worden genoemd. Voor de Armeniers
geldt ‘de Turk’ (die zijn woongebied niet alleen in het huidige
Turkije heeft, maar in grote delen van de Kaukasus en Centraal-Azie)
als de aartsvijand. De Turkse volkerenmoord op de Armeense minderheid
is voor de inwoners van het straatarme, christelijke Armenie een
reeel bestaand trauma. Zelfs de oorlog met buurland Azerbeidzjan
wordt beschouwd als een strijd tegen ‘de Turken’ omdat de Azeri’s
taalkundig en cultureel nauw aan de Turken verwant zijn. De Turken
steunden de Azeri’s, onder meer door een economische blokkade tegen
Armenie in te stellen. In de jaren ’90 leidde het Armeense isolement
tot schrijnende toestanden. Naast armoede en een gebrek aan voedsel
en medicijnen leden de Armeniers onder een ernstige

energiecrisis. Woningen werden verwarmd met kaphout en na enige tijd
waren de bomen uit het straatbeeld van de hoofdstad Jerevan
verdwenen. Vele bejaarden, kinderen en zieken overleefden deze
ellendige situatie niet. Het Armeens-Turkse conflict af te doen als
louter historisch is dus onjuist. Getuige de economische blokkade is
de vete hoogst actueel. En ze houdt nu ook de Nederlandse politiek in
haar greep. Het debat over de Armeense genocide dreigt te leiden tot
een boycot van de Kamerverkiezingen door oorspronkelijk Turkse
kiezers. Zij zijn kwaad omdat drie aspirant-Kamerleden van Turkse
afkomst van de kieslijsten van CDA en PvdA werden geschrapt omdat
deze kandidaten de volkerenmoord op de Armeniers niet bewezen achten.

Eigen mening

Dit druist in tegen het officiele standpunt van alle partijen in het
parlement. Volgens de Turkse critici hebben de kandidaten ‘recht op
hun eigen mening’. In hun beleving, waarin mythevorming en nationale
trots concrete historische gebeurtenissen kleuren, is deze eis
waarschijnlijk legitiem. Het rationele Westen echter is gewend om te
oordelen op basis van feiten. Van Turks-Nederlandse politici te eisen
dat zij volmondig erkennen dat een geplande volkerenmoord werd
uitgevoerd, is voor een aantal van hen een brug te ver gebleken. Dat
andere politici van Turkse afkomst, onder wie Nebahat Albayrak, de
nummer 2 van de PvdA, niet bezwijken onder de druk uit eigen kring
laat zien hoezeer zij in de westerse samenleving zijn geintegreerd.
Toch wordt Albayrak, die niks anders beweert dan haar partijleider
Wouter Bos, verweten moedwillig ‘te schipperen’. GPD

Armenian National Committee of New Jersey
461 Bergen Blvd
Ridgefield, NJ 07657
(201) 945-0011

PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 6, 2006
Contact: Ani Tchaghlasian
[email protected]

ARMENIAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE OF NEW JERSEY
ENDORSES BOB MENENDEZ FOR U.S. SENATE

— Calls on Garden State Armenians to
Vote for Menendez on November 7th

RIDGEFIELD, NJ – The Armenian National Committee of New Jersey (ANC-NJ),
the grassroots voice of over 50,000 Garden State Armenian families, has
endorsed the candidacy of Senator Bob Menendez.

"Bob Menendez, a true champion for Armenian Americans in New Jersey
and across the country, is our clear choice for U.S. Senate," said
ANC-NJ Chairwoman Ani Tchaghlasian. "We value Bob Menendez’s
principled leadership on Armenian issues – most notably his firm
stand against the Hoagland nomination – and will encourage all
Armenians – Democrats, Republicans and independents – to go to the
polls in support of his candidacy on November 7th."

Last month, in a powerful show of moral courage and solidarity with
New Jersey’s Armenian American voters, Senator Menendez placed a
"hold" on the nomination of Richard Hoagland as U.S. Ambassador to
Armenia over the Administration’s deeply flawed policy of denying
the Armenian Genocide. His stand was welcomed statewide as a
reflection of the Senator’s uncompromising commitment to core
values and his strength in fighting for his beliefs.

During his tenure in the U.S. House, before joining the Senate
earlier this year, Bob Menendez served on both the House
International Relations Committee and the Congressional Caucus on
Armenian Issues. While in both the Senate and the House, he
consistently received "A" ratings from the ANCA for his effective
leadership on the full range of Armenian American issues.

#####

Turkey Pressures France Over Armenia Genocide Bill

Reuters, UK
Oct 6 2006

Turkey told France on Friday a draft bill that would punish anyone
denying Armenian genocide during World War One would seriously damage
bilateral economic and political ties.

The French parliament is due to debate the bill, proposed by the
Socialist opposition, on October 12.

"Approval of the law will have very negative effects on economic
ties," Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Namik Tan told a weekly
news briefing. "There have been important investments between Turkey
and France through history. With this decision these investments,
built up over years, will be ruined in one (parliamentary) session.
France will, in a manner of speaking, lose Turkey."

Though the conservative majority in France’s parliament opposes the
bill, Turkey fears many opponents will not vote against it for fear of
upsetting France’s 400,000-strong Armenian diaspora ahead of elections
next year.

Tan said Turkey, too, faces presidential and parliamentary elections
in 2007. "The people of Turkey will perceive this development as a
hostile attitude on the part of France," he said. "This draft will
deliver a heavy blow to bilateral relations and to the momentum
previously achieved."

Turkey’s president, Ahmet Necdet Sezer, sent a letter this week to
French President Jacques Chirac on the issue and Prime Minister Tayyip
Erdogan will discuss the problem on Saturday with French businessmen
in Istanbul, Tan said. A delegation of Turkish lawmakers also warned
of harm to French trade during a visit to Paris earlier this week.

France, which has already passed a law recognizing the 1915 massacre
as genocide, had 4.55 billion euros ($5.9 billion) of exports to
Turkey last year, French Trade Ministry data show.

Turkey is stinging from comments by Chirac last weekend in the Armenian
capital Yerevan that Ankara must recognize the Armenian massacres as
genocide before joining the European Union. Turkey began EU entry talks
last year, though is not expected to join for many years. Recognition
of the Armenian genocide is not a condition of its EU membership,
though some other EU politicians apart from Chirac want to make it one.

Ankara says it is ironic that France is preparing to punish those who
express a particular view of history at a time when Turkey is under
heavy EU pressure to change some of its own laws which are viewed as
restricting freedom of expression.

Last week, Ankara reacted angrily to news that two Dutch political
parties had dropped three election candidates, all of Turkish origin,
for denying the Armenian genocide. The Netherlands, like the European
Parliament and some other countries, has urged Turkey to recognize
the genocide claims.

ERDOGAN: "TURKEY IS DETERMINED FOR FULL EU MEMBERSHIP"

Turkish Press
Oct 5 2006

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday said that Turkey
was determined to become a European Union member and to fulfill
the bloc’s requirements. Erdogan received visiting EU Commissioner
for Enlargement Olli Rehn. Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul and chief
EU negotiator Ali Babacan also attended the meeting, where Cyprus
and the EU were discussed. Erdogan conveyed his uneasiness over the
so-called Armenian genocide claims being brought up by the EU.

Rebutting Rehn’s claim that Turkey had slowed down the reform process,
Erdogan summarized his government’s work on the EU over the last
four years. Rehn’s meeting at Parliament was tense. Meeting with
Parliament’s EU Harmonization Commission head Yasar Yakis, Rehn spoke
harshly about Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK).

CONFERENCE ARMENIE, JEUDI 5OCTOBRE AU HAVRE
par Cheval Genevieve

Paris-Normandie
2 octobre 2006 lundi

Cap sur l’Armenie des forts, vallees et canyons

Lors du voyage en Armenie, propose par Marie-Dominique Masso, le
spectateur est convie a une aventure etonnante a travers les forts
profondes, les vallees encaissees, les canyons vertigineux, les sommets
dechiquetes, le lac Sevan, la douceur des cônes volcaniques, sous
l’ombre protectrice du mont Ararat qui pourtant se trouve aujourd’hui
en Turquie.

Sur ce territoire, jalonne de katchkars, ces pierres croix
brodees, surgissent des forteresses accrochees aux pitons rocheux,
des monastères tailles dans la roche qui defient les hommes et
s’offrent a Dieu. Ici, la vie et la mort s’entremlent lors de rituels
ancestraux. Malgre son histoire douloureuse, ce peuple de grande
culture possède une langue, un alphabet, une religion uniques et sa
principale richesse reside dans sa matière grise.

Nous partagerons le quotidien de ces Armeniens qui se sont racontes
avec pudeur et sincerite. Nous degusterons des lavatch et porterons
tant de toasts au Grand Charles et a l’amitie avec la France que vous
n’oublierez pas la legendaire generosite.

Marie-Dominique a voulu comprendre la douleur karabagh et s’est rendue
dans cette enclave chretienne en terre musulmane. Les larmes de la
guerre entachent encore les paysages et les âmes, mais le Karabagh
fait preuve d’un dynamisme surprenant.

La diaspora n’est pas etrangère aux changements qui s’opèrent en
Armenie, surtout dans les villes. Gumri, efface peu a peu les traces
du terrible seisme. Erevan, la ville rose toute de tuf vtue est un
grand chantier.

En un an et demi, la realisatrice a vu les buildings pour hommes
d’affaires presses, les cafes pour jeunesse branchee, se multiplier.

l A 14h15 et 18h30 au theâtre de l’Hôtel- de-Ville. Tarif: de 8 a 4 Û
(abonnements: 35 et 28 Û). Tel.02.35.46.26.60.

–Boundary_(ID_FjyAJpHulmINoG F7qyRF8Q)–

"LET THE STUBBORN GROUPS WORK AND NOT MAKE REQUIREMENTS"

A1+
[08:47 pm] 02 October, 2006

Today the Parliament did not put the RA draft law on "Amendments to
the Regulations of the National Commission on Television and Radio" to
vote. Tigran Torosyan called on the ""stubborn groups" not to complain
and to demand to take back the draft but to make clear-cut suggestions.

As for whom Tigran Torosyan meant by saying "stubborn groups" – "All
those who demand to take the draft back instead of making suggestions
about them".

Let us remind you that the amended Constitution demands to amend
the law. According to the previous law, the members of the National
Committee on Television and Radio were appointed by the President.

According to the new Constitution and the new Law, they must be
appointed by the President and the NA.

Nevertheless, according to some provisions of the Constitution, the
members of the Committee stay there till the end of their office,
that is, even if the Law in amended, the new one will come into
force only in 2011. Today, the oppositional deputies mainly offered
to organize public hearings before putting the draft to vote.

"I have an impression that the draft was written by Grigor
Amalyan. Besides, I think that the Minister of Justice is more
professional and would not make mistakes which are present in the
draft", Stepan Zaqaryan from "Justice" told "A1+".

Co-author of the present Law on Television and Radio Shavarsh
Kocharyan found several grave mistakes in the draft and called on
all the deputies to vote it down.

Nevertheless, NA Speaker Tigran Torosyan said that the best time to
improve the draft is the time period between the first and second
hearings. But as far as the NA Speaker is to leave Armenia tomorrow
morning, it’s hard to say whether the draft will ever be voted.