Author: Boshkezenian Garik

Agence France Presse
1 octobre 2004 vendredi 5:02 PM GMT

Référendum sur la Turquie: le PS “prend acte”

PARIS
1er oct 2004

Le PS a pris “acte” vendredi de la proposition de Jacques Chirac de
réviser la Constitution française pour garantir une consultation des
Français par référendum sur l’entrée de la Turquie dans l’Union
européenne et sur les élargissements ultérieurs.

Le PS rappelle que “cette entrée de la Turquie n’est qu’une hypothèse
et qu’elle ne sera possible que dans une dizaine d’années, une fois
qu’elle aura réglé un certain nombre de conditions, notamment sur la
démocratie et la reconnaissance du génocide arménien”, selon un
communiqué de son porte-parole Julien Dray.

Jacques Chirac ayant précisé que “dans son esprit”, ce référendum ne
concernerait pas la Roumanie, la Bulgarie et la Croatie, dont les
négociations d’adhésion “sont pratiquement achevées”, M. Dray
souligne qu’il “ne peut y avoir de référendum concernant strictement
l’entrée de la Turquie dans l’Union européenne”.

“L’Europe étant amenée à évoluer, la question doit porter sur tout
nouvel élargissement et la Turquie ne peut être un cas particulier”.

PRESS RELEASE
Analysis Research & Planning for Armenia (ARPA)
18106 Miranda Street
Tarzana, CA 91356
Contact: Hagop Panossian
Tel: (818) 586-9660
E-mail: [email protected]
Web:

ARPA Institute presents the lecture/Seminar “The Universe Observed
with the Hubble Telescope” on Thursday, October 21, 2004 at 7:30 PM in
the Merdinian School Auditorium. The presenter is Dr. Yervant
Terzian.
The address is 13330 Riverside Dr., Sherman Oaks, CA 91403.
Directios: On the 101 FY Exit on Woodman, Go North and Turn Right on
Riverside Dr.

Abstract:
The evolution of the universe, from its beginning some 13.7 billion
years ago to the present time will be presented in a breath-taking
manner. Astronomical images taken with the Hubble Space Telescope will
be utilized and explained. The phenomenal works of the astronomers at
the Byurakan Astrophysical Observatory in Armenia will also be related
and highlighted.

Presenter:
Yervant Terzian, is “The David C. Duncan Professor in the Physical
Sciences”, in the Department of Astronomy and Space Sciences at
Cornell University. He was Department Chairman from 1979-1999. His
fields of expertise are the physics of the Interstellar Medium,
Galaxies, and Radio Astronomy. He is a Research Professor with the
National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center and member of the
International Astronomical Union, the International Union of Radio
Science, the American Astronomical Society, and the Hellenic
Astronomical Society, among other memberships. He has been a
Scientific Editor of The Astrophysical Journal (1989-1999). In 1984,
he received the Clark Distinguished Award for Excellence in Teaching.
In 1996, he was appointed Director of NASA’s New York Space Grant
Program to enhance science education. He has been awarded Honorary
Doctor of Science degrees from the University of Indiana (1989), the
Yerevan State University in Armenia (1994), the University of
Thessaloniki in Greece (1997), and from Union College (1999). In
1990, he was elected Foreign Member of the Armenian Academy of
Sciences. In 2001 he was elected a Fellow of the American Association
for the Advancement of Science. In 2002 he was elected Chairman of
the US Consortium of Universities and Institutes to construct the
Square Kilometer Array giant radio telescope. He is the author or
co-author of more than 200 scientific publications and the editor of
six books, including “Carl Sagan’s Universe”.

For Information Please call Dr. Hagop Panossian at (818)586-9660 or
e-mail at [email protected]

RESETTLEMENT FOR WELFARE OF KARABAKH

Azat Artsakh – Nagorno Karabakh Republic (NKR)
01 Oct 04

The process of resettlement in Nagorni Karabakh began after the
liberation of Shoushi. In the years 1994-2004 about 23 thousand people
settled in Artsakh, 150 settlements were restored, 120 of them having
been razed to the ground. The Agency for Migration, Refugees and
Resettlement under the NKR government, which formerly operated within
the Ministry of Social Security, started its activity since January 1
of 2003. We talked to the head of the agency Serge Amirkhanian on the
work done by the organization in the current year. ` Mr. Amirkhanian,
what work is done in the sphere of resettlement this year? ` First I
want to tell you that in the months January – August of 2004 we
admitted623 resettlers (120 families). In fact, this number surpassed
the number of resettlers in Karabakh during 12 months of the previous
year. We are guided by the program confirmed by the NKR government for
2001-2010 according to which wemust try to increase the number of
resettlers up to 68 thousand, including in all the regions of NKR, and
especially the northeast area. On the basis of the number of settlers
arrived since the first year of resettlement up today we may hope that
in the framework of the ten-year program the number of resettlers will
grow up to 68 thousand. – It is not easy to implement a program on
state means only. The program will cost 110 million dollars. Whereas,
annually 440 million drams is provided from the state budget. If rely
upon the budget only, the ten-year program will last perhaps for
110-120 years. That is to say, the strategic value of the program will
be lost. We often state that in the social-economic sphere of Karabakh
a population of 300 thousand will act asa trump card. We must get the
international community to recognize that the half million Armenian
population resettled from Azerbaijan in fact exists. It is also a fact
that the return of the refugees to Azerbaijan is absurd and
illogical. `Besides the NKR state bodies you also work with the
organizations of the Diaspora. Who are your sponsors? – In the past
two years we tried to involve in the humanitarian programs schools,
surgeries, water pipelines, electrification.In 2003 5-6 schools, 1-2
water pipelines were constructed in the framework of these
programs. This year two schools were built in Maragha and Nor
Getashen, 1 pipeline and 1 surgery in Hovtashen. We work with 7-8
organizations of the Diaspora (among them public, political
organizations, national governments, diocese), and we try to find new
sponsors. Also, on charity means provided by Karapet Harutiunian and
the foundation `Toufenkian’ the villages Knaravan and Arajamough were
restored. We have contracts for the implementation of which we need
the approval of the corresponding ministry, the regional
administrations must provide land, permit for building is needed,
seismic security must be considered. In the 13th year of building our
statehood we must do everything within the law. – Mr. Amirkhanian,
both the local and Armenian mass media write about the non-prospective
policy of resettlement implemented in Shoushi. What is your opinion? –
The April 15, 2003 decision of the government maintainedthe list of
the villages to be included in the program of resettlement. It mainly
involves the border areas, and Shoushi is not, being one of the
central towns of Artsakh. That is to say, the inhabitants of the town
do not enjoy privileges maintained for them (house, privileged loan,
etc.). Recently Shoushi has also been involved among the resettled
areas and the resettlers are granted privileges as well. Our agency
turned to the government with the suggestion of restoring and settling
the block houses of Shoushi. The problem of Shoushi remains. It is
necessary to solve unemployment, develop small and medium-size
enterprises, grant privileged loans there. In 2001 the government of
NKR adopted the ten-year development program for Shoushi and the
region of Shoushi, which includes the problems of resettlement and
employment. The foundation `Shoushi’ was established: donations are
made for the town, whereas the program has a cultural-archaeological
direction. If the foundation was called architectural-archaeological,
this would be something else, but it turns out that the foundation has
expectations on the part of the all Armenians of the world in
reference to restoration and resettlement of Shoushi. The work they do
does not correspond to their statements. I think public organizations
should also come out of the shade, maintain transparency of the work
done and to be done. Besides, the government adopted a decision
according to which any humanitarian aid should pass through the
Ministry of Finance and the aim and order of expenditure shouldbe
published. The foundation `Shoushi’ also must keep to this
principle. – One of the functions of the agency is the problem of the
refugees. What steps are undertaken to solve the problems of refugees?
– After the establishment of the agency we presented the NKR law `On
refugees’ which was passed by the NKR National Assembly. At the
upcoming meetings we will set forth the question of solving the
problem of housing of the refugees who moved from Azerbaijan in
1988-1992. We are also working on the projects of maintaining
privileges. By the way, the privileges maintained for the resettlers
must be for the refugees as well. Otherwise it will be an unfair
step: in 1988-1992 the refugees moved to Karabakh, fought and died for
its independence, whereas now they live in hired flats in hard social
conditions. In fact, since the Artsakh movement the refugees were
always the losing side, whereas we do not think about them. In the
upcoming two years we must try to solve their social and housing
problems. Presently the refugees are mostly from Armenia, the towns
Hrazdan, Yerevan, Stepanavan, Charentsavan, Abovian, Armavir, Masis
and Gegharkunik, Russia, Turkmenia and Uzbekistan. In Stepanakert we
have a department which deals with internal migration, involving
people from the capital and densely populated areas who do not have
houses and would like to settle down in villages, and start farming.
There are people, mainly specialists who went to live in villages. We
help them, provide them with houses and grant privileges to them.

NVARD OHANJANIAN.
01-10-2004

China, Armenia to promote comprehensive cooperation

Viet Nam News Agency, Vietnam
Sept 28 2004

Beijing, Sept. 28 (VNA) – China and Armenia will continue with exchange
of high-level delegations to strengthen bilateral cooperation, says
a Sino-Armenian joint communique issued in Beijing on Monday.

The joint communique, signed by Chinese President Hu Jintao and
his Armenian counterpart, Robert Sedrakovich Kocharyan, who ended
his five-day state visit to China on Monday, says the two countries
will increase exchange of delegations between their parliaments and
encourage cooperation between their businesses.

The Armenian president said China’s market economy status will be
conducive to enhancing trade relations between the two countries.

He also reaffirmed that the People’s Republic of China Government is
the sole legitimate government representing the entire Chinese people.

Meanwhile, President Hu confirmed China’s support to the efforts of
the international community to address the Nagorno-Karabakh issue
peacefully, saying he hoped that the conflict will be settled in a
just and reasonable way in line with relevant international rules
and practices.

The two presidents witnessed the signing of three China-Armenia
cooperation agreements, including an agreement on technical and
economic cooperation.–

The Messenger, Georgia (messenger.com.ge)
Sept 27 2004

‘True Stories’ bring together Georgians and Abkhaz
By Keti Sikharulidze

HE Donald MacLaren, Jonathan Cohen,
Natia Mamistvalovi and Lena Cook

A presentation of audio diaries prepared by Georgian and Abkhaz
journalists was held on September 24. The diaries feature the lives
of ordinary people, and are intended to give an opportunity to those
whose voices are rarely heard to express their views.

In December 2003, Conciliation Resources launched a new audio diaries
project entitled “True Stories” in conjunction with several Georgian
and Abkhaz radio stations. It is supported financially by the UK
Government’s Global Conflict Prevention Pool and the Swedish
International Development Co-operation Agency.

Audio diaries are a new genre, created in the UK in the 1990s – one
that differs from other types of radio programs in that ordinary
people themselves record them, without any intervention from
journalists.

When the diary has been recorded, the most poignant and moving
extracts (around of three-four minutes duration) are selected.

The authors of the diaries are ordinary people- teenagers and old age
pensioners, victims of domestic violence and representatives of
different minority groups – whose voices are rarely heard on the
radio and who are often marginalized in their own society and who
suffer from stereotyping and intolerance.

Over the last year and a half the Georgian and Abkhaz journalists
have collected over 400 diaries. Many of these have been exchanged
and a joint CD has recently been issued featuring the best of them.

In June this year the project moved onto a different level covering
the whole of the South Caucuses. Today audio diaries are being
recorded in Azerbaijan and Armenia as well as in Nagorno Karabakh.
The best audio diaries recorded in the regions are translated into
four languages and broadcast by 20 radio stations throughout the
South Caucasus.

Conciliation Resources say that when this project began, the Abkhaz
journalists did not want to work together with Georgian journalists.
They said they would do this project, but alone and without anybody’s
help. But later they got interested in what the Georgian journalists
were doing and so started the exchange of diaries.

Later, journalists from the two sides met in Moscow for training:
Conciliation Resources say they soon developed good relations. Then
came a joint award from a radio festival in Rostov. After time, the
organization says, their attitudes have changed.

The UK Ambassador to Georgia Donald MacLaren of MacLaren opened the
presentation and thanked the host Heinrich Boll Foundation for
playing a major role in touching the lives of people affected by the
conflict.

“Many people have wrestled with the Abkhaz question and many people
are trying to do so today. The limelight usually falls on the
politicians, the grand people who think that they have the answers.
The importance of what Heinrich Boll Stiftung and Conciliation
Resources is trying to do, is to focus not so much on grand people
but on ordinary people,” MacLaren said.

“Of course, politicians have to take a lead and come up with proposed
solutions. But the whole issue of Abkhazia is essentially an issue of
ordinary people. And there can be no reasonable and stable outcome
without the input of the people themselves – those who live in
Abkhazia, those who used to live in Abkhazia, and those who consider
Abkhazia as their home,” stated the ambassador.

He also added that the audio diaries project was an excellent example
of “giving those people who were often marginalized, often with a
sense of division and isolation from each other a voice.”

“The project of course focuses on Georgia-Abkhazia but it is
important also to recognize that the emphasis of this is not confined
just to that area but has a wider outlook and impact on the region as
a whole, of the South Caucasus,” the ambassador concluded.

Conciliation Resources’ Caucasus regional manager Jonathan Cohen
stated that the radio diary project is part of a wider engagement
looking at different aspects of how to move foreword in the
Georgian-Abkhaz conflict.

Cohen said that they have been working almost seven years with NGOs
and politicians, from both sides of the conflict “to look at what
resources there are to find a resolution. The diaries project has
been one of the most creative ways of trying to change the discourse
surrounding the conflict.”

“One of the most disturbing things that has happened in the last ten
years is that the people in the Caucasus have been forced to look
inside their society and not look at the society that are around them
as well. As a result of this they have lost contact with each other,”
stated Cohen, adding that the aim of the project was to reconnect
these societies.

Today more then 20-radio stations broadcast these diaries throughout
the South Caucasus. Only South Ossetia is not part of the project,
but the organizers hope that they will soon join the project as well.

A1 Plus | 18:59:43 | 24-09-2004 | Politics |

HIGH TIME TO SPECULATE HOW TO SAVE ARMENIA

Participants of the discussion held Friday by the National Citizen’s
Initiative compared current situation in Armenia with that of short period
of Armenia’s independence from 1918 to 1920. Political analyst Artsrun
Pepanyan said the then situation was even worse than one can imagine.

He said quoting one of the then governors “we had neither state mentality
nor state world vision”.

Lawyer Hrayr Tovmassyan joined him in criticizing the first republic by
saying election fraud and scandals of that time overdid today’s ones.

In his words, Dashnak party activists were forcing people to go to polling
stations by threatening them with guns.

These facts were remembered at the discussion to show on what legacy our
present republic is built. Thirteen years have already passed since
declaration of independence in 1991, but so far a majority of Declaration
provisions is not put into reality.

In Pepanyan’s opinion, very few intellectuals remain in Armenia today.

After his speech the event participants came to sad realization that Armenia
is badly in need of being saved. Time has come to speculate over the matter
to save the republic, they said.

CanadianChristianity.com, Canada
Sept 23 2004

Comment: Sudan genocide challenges Canadian indifference

By Mel Middleton
ChristianWeek

GENOCIDE is raging in the nation of Sudan. It is now unquestionably
the greatest humanitarian crisis in the world today.

Unfortunately, our political leadership is not acknowledging it. The
reason for this is clear. Use of the term ‘genocide,’ under
international law, carries with it an obligation for countries to act
— and action to save African lives carries too few political
benefits.

Following the Nazi holocaust, a shocked international community
cried, “Never again!” Never again would a dictator like Hitler be
permitted to exterminate an ethnic group like the Jews. Never again
would the world stand idly by while hundreds of thousands of people
stood waiting to be slaughtered. Never again would such an evil be
allowed to take root and flourish.

But it has. The list of post-Nazi genocides — including Biafra,
Cambodia, Rwanda, Congo and Sudan — continues to grow. The
international community, including Canada, has yet to demonstrate
that it is serious about stopping genocide.

We recently observed the 10th anniversary of the Rwandan holocaust,
where the world community stood idly by while extremists hacked to
death more than 800,000 people in front of the world’s media. This
genocide was both predictable and preventable, yet the international
community did nothing.

But no politician, no bureaucrat, no western official has paid any
political price for this decision — one which has wrought such
unimaginable suffering on the entire region. U.S. president Bill
Clinton, who led the way in ‘doing nothing,’ was re-elected. UN
bureaucrat Kofi Annan, who gave the orders to ‘do nothing,’ was
promoted to the top UN position of Secretary General.

Recently, the Canadian House of Commons voted to declare the Turkish
slaughter of Armenians to be “genocide.” Yet Canada’s Liberal cabinet
refused to support the motion. Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham
urged parliamentarians not to recognize this genocide, fearing that
it might adversely affect trade with Turkey. Canada’s justice
minister, Irwin Cotler, who only a few days before had issued strong
pronouncements about the need to never stand idly by in the face of
genocide, did not even bother to show up for the vote.

With political leadership like this, it is not surprising that
genocide is mushrooming in Darfur, Sudan. As New York Times columnist
Nicholas D. Kristof wrote in an April 14 editorial: “In the last l00
years, the United States has reacted to one genocide after another —
Armenians, Jews, Cambodians, Bosnians — by making excuses at the
time, and then saying, too late, ‘Oh, if only we had known!’

“Well, this time we know what is happening in Darfur: 110,000
refugees have escaped into Chad and testify to the atrocities. How
many more parents will be forced to choose whether their children are
shot or burned to death before we get serious?”

On July 9, 2004, Sudan researcher Eric Reeves pleaded with the world
to take action, concluding that if genocide is allowed to take its
ugly course in Sudan, “It will not be because we did not know what
was happening or what needed to be done. It will be because we
ourselves, acquiescing in the face of political obstacles, judged
these African lives not worth saving. It is difficult to imagine an
uglier truth for history to record, but history will have no choice.”

For Canadians, the moral implications of genocide in Sudan are even
more disturbing. It was Canadian oil money and Canadian moral cover
which helped to solidify Khartoum’s brutal stranglehold on power in
Sudan. It was this blood oil, backed by Canada’s banks and the Canada
Pension Plan, which provided Sudan’s military junta with the
resources to purchase the helicopter gunships and other weaponry of
genocide. Sudan’s holocaust is the direct result of failed Canadian
foreign policy.

The real lesson of the tragedy in Sudan is that genocide will
continue to occur until politicians pay a price for allowing it to
occur. As long as turning a blind eye to genocide is the political
path of least resistance, the cry of “never again” will have no
meaning.

For God’s people, who are commanded to “let justice roll down like a
river,” indifference is not a moral option.

Mel Middleton is executive director of Freedom Quest International.

PanArmenian News
Sept 23 2004

WB TO PROVIDE OVER $200 MILLION TO ARMENIA IN 2004-2007

23.09.2004 17:25

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Within the next four years the World Bank’s policy
in Armenia will be directed to the realization of programs in social,
public health and educational fields, head of the WB Yerevan Office
Roger Robinson stated. In his words, the WB activities in Armenia for
2004-2007 may be assessed $200-220 million. The WB representative
also noted that the WB Factor Monitoring Administration highly
estimated both the work of the Yerevan Office and the efficiency of
the programs, which are being carried out in Armenia. To note, since
1992 the World Bank has rendered to Armenia credits totaling in
$820.8 million.

Sept 23 2004

Speaker of Armenian Parliament and Special Envoy of OSCE Chairman
discuss issues of settlement of Karabakh problem

Presentation of a Media Law Manual held in Yerevan

*********************************************************************

SPEAKER OF ARMENIAN PARLIAMENT AND SPECIAL ENVOY OF OSCE CHAIRMAN
DISCUSS ISSUES OF SETTLEMENT OF KARABAKH PROBLEM

YEREVAN, September 23. /ARKA/. Speaker of the Armenian Parliament
Arthur Baghdasaryan and Special Envoy of current OSCE Chairman Filipp
Dimitrov discussed the issues related to the settlement of Nagorno
Karabakh conflict. As Armenian Parliament Public and Press Relations
Department told ARKA, during the meeting Dimitrov mentioned that OSCE
considers this issue truly complex and difficult to solve, at the
same time he expressed a hope that the sides will be able reach
success in the negotiations. In his turn, Speaker stressed that
Armenia always favored the peaceful settlement of the conflict thru
political negotiations. He considers the public opinions in the
conflict party states important, mentioning the necessity of contacts
between representatives of various social strata around this issue.
As it is mentioned in the press release, the sides stressing the
importance of regular meetings between Armenian and Azerbaijani
Presidents, also mentioned the necessity of development of
inter-parliamentary contacts. T.M. -0–

*********************************************************************

PRESENTATION OF A MEDIA LAW MANUAL HELD IN YEREVAN

YEREVAN, September 23. /ARKA/. Presentation of a Media Law Manual was
held today in Yerevan. The Media Law Manual was developed and
published within the framework Armenian representative Office of
American Bar Association Central European and Eurasian Law Institute
(ABA/CEELI), OSCE and Media Law Institute (MLI). According to Karen
Kendrick, ABA/CEELI Country Director for Armenia, the project that
was initiated a year ago, consists of three stages. Two first stages,
as she mentioned, included developing and publication of the manual.
The third stage, in her words, will include 8 week training courses
attended by 15 media lawyers protecting journalists and mass media.
After this, the lawyers attended the courses will teach their
colleagues and finally there will be held a big group of specialists
that will be able protecting rights and freedoms of mass media and
journalists as per international standards. In parallel to this, as
Kendrick said there will be held education courses for 15
journalists, after which the joint education courses for journalists
and lawyers will start. In her words, the manual will be distributed
to journalists, lawyers as well as juridical faculties of
universities and offices providing free of charge legal support.
In his turn Head of OSCE Yerevan Office Vladimir Pryakhin said that
the program implemented is targeted at establishing of a strong
democratic society and stimulation of a freedom of expression and
press in Armenia. He added that his office considers freedom of
information and the processes stimulating it of great significance.
`It can be stated without exaggeration that freedom of information is
guarantor of the society freedom’, Pryakhin mentioned. In his words,
OSCE Yerevan Office supports the Armenian authorities and the civil
society in Armenia in stimulation of freedom of information in the
country. Also, as he said, his organization provides expertly support
to eth Armenian Parliament in processes of developing laws aimed at
stimulation of the dialogue among mass media and the authorities and
the society. He added that OSCE Yerevan Office to apply all efforts
for securing professional protection of journalists and freedom of
expression.
The Medial Law Manual consists of eight chapters that, among other
topics legal regulation of mass media; freedom of expression and the
right to privacy and its legal guarantees, journalistic ethics. The
Manual contains sections on Armenian and international media law
theories and regulations. It also includes exercises on each topic,
giving readers the opportunity to practice applying and interpreting
the theories and regulations first-hand.
ABA/CEELI is a public service project of eth American Bar Association
that advances the rule of law by supporting the law reforms process
in Central and Eastern Europe and new democracies of the former USSR.
In the frames of the program these states are provided with the US
and European expertly and technical assistance. CEELI is functioning
in Armenia since 1996. T.M. -0–

Freed anti-Armenian protester hails court for “principled” stance

ANS TV, Baku
22 Sep 04

An Azerbaijani protester, imprisoned for breaking into the hotel in
Baku which hosted the 21 June NATO meeting over the presence of
Armenian officers, has been set free after three months in prison,
Azerbaijani independent TV station ANS has said.

In an interview with the “Point of View” programme on 22 September
hours after his release from the courtroom along with five other
members of the Karabakh Liberation Organization group, its chairman
Akif Nagi thanked the people for “a single and principled stance on
the issue”. He told the programme that his fellow KLO members were
expecting to be released because of the mounting public pressure.

Asked whether he thought the initial court ruling to sentence them to
up to five years in jail and later replaced with suspended sentences,
was fair, Nagi said the trial had clearly shown that there was no
weighty argument in the hands of the prosecution. “Let’s speak
logically: they have started a criminal case against us. But such
protest actions had repeatedly been held before. Roads have been
blocked, representatives of different groups have entered the
buildings of various government agencies. We ourselves have done that
many times. We have entered state and nongovernmental buildings in
protest. The day before, on 20 June, we entered the Hyatt Regency
hotel because we thought that the Armenians were staying there. In
other words, this had happened before. And when it happened, either
the demands were met in part or in full, or an administrative
punishment was handed down. But there was no criminal offence to
institute criminal proceedings against us,” he said.

In reply to a question whether he was aware of the fact that one of
the protesters was carrying a knife, Akif Nagi said he had no prior
knowledge of that and added that he could not blame the person either
because their “voices weren’t heard”. “But why isn’t anyone listening
to these people’s demands? Why do they resort to terrorist acts?
Because they cannot reach out to certain people. We have been holding
protest actions outside the offices of international organizations
demanding that they recognize Armenia as aggressor-state and reject
the policy of double standards. We hold an action once, twice, three
times, ten times, but no-one listens to us and no-one even bothers to
read what we write after such demonstrations. And then we have to hurl
stones at their windows so that they could at last react to the noise
of their smashed windows. Again, these are forms of protest and have
nothing to do with terror, but demands have to be heard.”

When asked about living conditions in prison, Akif Nagi said prison
life certainly had its drawbacks but added that his group was treated
“with great respect”. He said that despite sharing a cell with people
convicted for different criminal offences, he found that everyone was
very supportive of the organization in general and of its position on
the anti-Armenian protests in particular. Akif Nagi went on to say
that many prisoners even expressed the wish to join the KLO.

Akif Nagi also welcomed NATO decision to cancel the Cooperative Best
Effort-2004 military exercises in Baku and noted that Azerbaijan had
achieved its goal by barring Armenians from Baku. He said the
Azerbaijani authorities had given a due response to the remarks by
senior Armenian officials who suggested earlier that the officers
would attend the Baku drills at all cost.

Wednesday, 22 September 2004 21:20
EXCALIBURONLINE V2.00

;task=view&id =959&Itemid=81

Memory, truth and the Armenian genocide
Written by Raffi Sarkissian – Contributor

On April 21, 2004, just three days before the official commemoration
date of the Armenian Genocide, the Canadian Parliament decided with a
vote of 153 to 68 to condemn the Armenian Genocide. Bill M-380 explains
that “this house recognizes the Armenian Genocide and condemns it as an
act against humanity.”

Eighty-nine years ago the Canadian press, like newspapers around the
world, published horrifying accounts from Anatolia of state-sponsored
genocide.

A 1915 headline from the St. Catharines Standard read: “Killed more
Armenians in 3 days than did Abdul Hamid in 30 years, Enver Pasha
proudly boasts that he has outdone the ‘Red Sultan’ – several once
prosperous villages now devoid of any sign of life.” A report from the
Ottawa Evening Journal that same year reads: “Turks drag 10,000 Armenian
Christians to Tigris, shoot all, and throw bodies into river.”

>From 1915 to 1917, the Turkish regime in the Ottoman Empire carried out
a systematic, premeditated and centrally-planned genocide against the
Armenian people, having set out to exterminate the Armenians from their
three-thousand year old ancestral homeland. Armenians were seen as an
obstacle to the creation of a homogenous Turkish Empire.
Relying on archival evidence from France, Britain, Russia and the United
States, world-renowned historians and scholars concluded that a
centrally planned genocide was indeed carried out by Turkey.

In March 2000, for example, 125 Holocaust scholars recognized the
genocide. In the same year, 150 distinguished scholars and writers
honoured the 50th Anniversary of the UN Genocide Convention by
commemorating the Armenian genocide and condemning the Turkish
government’s denial of this crime against humanity.

But eighty-nine years after the Armenian Genocide, the Turkish Republic
not only denies the genocide, but also gives financial support to
professors, politicians, and other influential people to deny the
genocide and to prevent any country from recognizing it formally.

In 2003, the Turkish government even hired former US Congressmen to
lobby on its behalf. Former Reps. Bob Livingston (R-LA) and Gerald
Solomon (R-NY), who were each paid $700,000, as well as former Rep.
Stephen Solarz (D-NY), who was paid $400,000, have aggressively lobbied
Republican and Democratic Congressmen to prevent US recognition of the
Armenian Genocide. For details, see teachgenocide.com.

Similar efforts were made in the Canadian Parliament, with Turkey
attempting to persuade Members of Parliament to vote against the bill.
Representatives of Turkey threatened that relations between Turkey and
Canada would be harmed. Specific emphasis was put on a possible threat
to Bombardier’s $1-billion deal to build public transit in Turkey.

This form of political and economic blackmail was also threatened
against France in 1998 and Switzerland in 2003. In both instances, the
threats proved to be bluffs.

However, such pressure tactics are still being applied, and now largely
focus on the United States. The US is quite attached to the air bases
and military outposts it is allowed to maintain on Turkish soil, and
these threats therefore carry some weight.

Some people have questioned why Canadians should care about something
that occurred 89 years ago, so far away. But it cannot be stressed
enough that we need to raise awareness about past acts of genocide if we
are to stop these atrocities from occurring in the future.

The Canadian Parliament’s decision, which followed the recognition of
the Armenian Genocide by the Canadian Senate (2002) and the provinces of
Ontario (1980) and Quebec (2004), is thus another step towards justice
and truth.

More steps along these lines should certainly be encouraged.