Turkish Press
April 26 2005
Press Scan
HISTORICAL PHOTOGRAPH
MILLIYET- Alparslan Turkes, former leader of Nationalist Movement
Party (MHP) who passed away in 1997, and Armenian President Petrosian
met at a hotel in (French capital of) Paris 12 years ago. When
Petrosian started his words in Turkish, atmosphere was eased.
Azerbaijan News Service
April 26 2005
ARMENIAN FORCES SHELL AT AZERBAIJANI POSITIONS
2005-04-26 14:38
Armed forces of Armenia in occupied Ashagi Abdurrahmanli village of
Fizuli region fired on April 26th at Azerbaijani positions in the
same region periodically from midnight till 3.50 AM, Armenian forces
in occupied Bashgarvand village of Aghdam region fired from machine
and sub-machine guns at Azerbaijani positions in Chiragli village of
the same region. Besides on April 25th Armenian forces in Javahirli
village of Aghdam region fired at Azerbaijani positions in Ahmadagali
village of the same region as well as shelled at positions of the
national army in Qazakhli, Tat and Girmizisagallar village of
Goranboy region. Press service of Defense Ministry spread the
information.There is no report of human loss.
La Prensa, Panamá,
lunes 25 de abril de 2005
GENOCIDIO. EL DOMINGO SE CUMPLIERON 90 AÑOS.
Armenia recuerda al 1.5 millón de personas asesinadas por los turcos
El 24 abril de 1915 empezó en el Imperio Otomano la expulsión masiva
y el traslado forzado de los armenios.
EREVAN, Armenia/ Servicios internacionales
Centenares de miles de personas recordaron ayer, domingo, en el
Estado caucásico de Armenia, el genocidio de 1.5 millón de armenios
hace 90 años en el Imperio Otomano.
En la capital, Erevan, los asistentes depositaron flores ante el
monumento de Zizernakaberd, que rinde homenaje a las víctimas del
genocidio. Se espera la presencia de hasta 1.5 millón de invitados
procedentes de Armenia y el extranjero.
Hace 90 años, el 24 abril de 1915, empezó en el Imperio Otomano la
expulsión masiva y el traslado forzado de los armenios, cuyo
objetivo, según muchos historiadores, era su aniquilación. Turquía,
por su parte, niega hasta hoy el genocidio.
Tampoco una nueva carta del primer ministro turco, Recep Tayyip
Erdogan, recibida antes del aniversario, deja entrever un cambio en
esta postura, afirmó en declaraciones a la televisión rusa el
presidente armenio, Robert Kocharian.
Una serie de estados, entre los que figuran Canadá, Francia, Italia,
Suecia y Rusia, reconoce de forma oficial el genocidio armenio.
“El reconocimiento y la condena no son una cuestión de Armenia sino
de toda la política internacional”, aseguró el presidente Robert
Kocharian.
“Esta es una de las tragedias más horribles que la Humanidad ha
conocido”, declaró el filósofo Alexander Manasian. “La celebración de
hoy es una muestra de que esto no debe ocurrir nunca más”, subrayó.
Muchos miembros de la diáspora armenia en el mundo también se dieron
cita en Erevan para la conmemoración junto a los cerca de 3.8
millones de habitantes de la ciudad en el minuto de silencio guardado
a las 7:00 de la tarde.
“Durante muchos años he estado viajando a Armenia en un día tal como
hoy. Debo honrar la memoria de mis antecesores que fueron torturados
y asesinados”, comentó Rubina Kirakosian, una armenia residente en
California.
Turquía reconoce la tragedia ocurrida a cientos de miles de armenios
muertos en la “guerra civil” entre 1915 y 1917, aunque niega que se
haya tratado de un plan de exterminio diseñado por el gobierno,
extremo que ha complicado los esfuerzos del país euroasiático para
sumarse a la Unión Europea.
LOS PUNTOS PRINCIPALES
MASACRE: En 1915 comenzó en el decadente Imperio Otomano las masacres
y deportaciones de la población armenia, que en tres años causó un
millón y medio de víctimas.
LA FECHA: El `genocidio’ se conmemora el 24 de abril, aniversario del
arresto de casi un millar de intelectuales y líderes de la comunidad
armenia, sospechosos de tener sentimientos hostiles hacia el gobierno
de Constantinopla.
Deutsche Presse-Agentur
April 24, 2005, Sunday
16:55:16 Central European Time
NEWS FEATURE: Armenians in Lebanon mark anniversary of killings
Anjar, Lebanon
Armenians living in eastern Lebanon commemorated the 90th anniversary
of the Armenian massacre Sunday, while welcoming a happier event, the
expected pullout of the last remaining Syrian intelligence units in
the country.
The eastern town of Anjar, where some 2,600 Armenians live, has
served as the Syrian Intelligence Unit’s Lebanese headquarters since
the first Syrian soldiers arrived in 1976.
Famous for its Moslem Ummayed historic ruins and its scenery, people
began to stay away from Anjar due to the Syrians’ presence.
Today, despite the anniversary of the massacre of up to 1.5 million
ethnic Armenians in the Ottoman Empire in 1915, the people of Anjar
appear hopeful and happy.
News travels fast across Lebanon and the Armenians in Anjar have
heard that the Syrians are due to complete their withdrawal from
Lebanon “by the end of the day”.
Lebanese military sources confirmed to Deutsche Presse Agentur, dpa
that most of the intelligence units have already left the
headquarters in Anjar, with only the head of the Syrian intelligence
units general Rustom Ghazali and around ten soldiers remaining, but
“they will be leaving Lebanon for good after the official ceremony on
April 26”, the sources said.
Lebanese pro-Syrian loyalists and officials as well as military
figures will bid an official farewell to the last remaining Syrian
soldiers.
Syria has pledged to the United Nations to withdraw all its troops
from Lebanon by April 30. Following the assassination of former prime
minister Rafik Hariri on February 14, Lebanon’s anti-Syrian
opposition and the international community intensified pressure on
Syria to withdraw.
The opposition has blamed the Lebanese pro-Syrian regime and their
backers in Damascus for Hariri’s murder.
Anjar which was famous for its restaurants near the waterfalls and it
fresh spring trout is already wiping out any reminder of the Syrian
presence.
“We want Anjar to be famous again for its historical ruins and good
Armenian-Lebanese cuisine…we do not want our town to be a town of
ghosts where people stayed away from because of the Syrian
presence…we want tourists and investors to come here,” Sebouh
Sekayan, Anjar’s Armenian mayor, told dpa.
The area near the waterfalls where most of the town’s restaurants are
located was busy Sunday, not with customers, but with construction
workers refurbishing in the hope of attracting large numbers of
tourists and Lebanese back to the town.
“We have been hired by the owner of Casino of Anjar to start working
on the outside gardens of the casino to prepare it for a hopeful
touristic season,” a worker at the site told dpa.
In this all-Armenian village in eastern Lebanon, residents who live
amid apple orchards, vineyards and Islamic ruins, were still cautious
about speaking to journalists.
“We are still afraid, few (Syrians) are still here and they will be
leaving for good in few days, today we are commemorating a massacre
which took the lives of our ancestors, we do not want any harm to
happen to our children,” an elderly Armenian lady said.
Holding white roses and white candles the old woman walked towards
the nearby church to remember those who died in the massacre.
The Armenians in Anjar are among the largest Armenian community in
Lebanon. They are the descendents of the survivors of the 1915-1917
massacre and are now leading a global campaign to declare the mass
killing a genocide.
>From 250,00 at the end of Lebanon’s 1975-1990 civil war, during which
thousands emigrated, only 120,000 Armenians now remain in Lebanon,
according to religious figures in the community.
Most of Lebanon’s Armenians hail from the region of Cilicia, today in
Turkey, and not in the present-day state of Armenia.
Armenians in Lebanon have gained the respect of all Lebanese, because
they proved to be hard workers, good businessmen, jewellers,
musicians, artists and good craftsmen.
They also gained respect because they stayed neutral during the
1975-1990 civil war in Lebanon.
The community is today represented by a government minister, six MPs
and three main political parties. dpa wh sr
Le Figaro, France
23 avril 2005
Grégoire Ghazarian, l’un des derniers survivants;
Quatre-vingt-dix ans après les faits, un rescapé réfugié à Paris
raconte
par Laure Marchand
«Une voiture tirée par des boeufs s’est arrêtée devant la porte de la
maison. On nous a dit de nous préparer. J’avais neuf ans. «Grégoire
Ghazarian en a désormais 99. «Mais je n’ai rien oublié. Il faut tout
dire», lance-t-il en s’agrippant à sa canne blanche. C’est l’un des
derniers survivants du génocide arménien de 1915. Ses parents, ses
deux soeurs et son frère, ses oncles et grands-parents… Il a vu
mourir toute sa famille, jusqu’à son père dévoré par des chiens.
Aujourd’hui, Grégoire Ghazarian, dit Garbis, ne sort plus guère de
son appartement parisien. Les exemplaires du quotidien arménien
Haratch s’empilent sur sa commode car il ne peut plus les lire. Bien
calé dans son grand fauteuil, le vieillard remplit une fois de plus
son devoir de rescapé : raconter. Après lui, seules des archives
craquelées et des photos floues témoigneront des massacres ordonnés
par le gouvernement Jeunes-Turcs de l’Empire ottoman. Près d’un
million d’Ar méniens (entre 800 000 et 1 200 000) ont péri lors du
premier génocide du XX e siècle. «N’hésitez pas, posez-moi toutes les
questions que vous voulez», insiste-t-il. C’était le mois d’août
1915. La Première Guerre mondiale avait transformé l’Empire ottoman
en poudrière. Les Arméniens d’Ana tolie orientale avaient déjà été
déportés. Mais, à Tchalgara, village peuplé uniquement d’Arméniens
dans le villayet région de Bursa (à l’ouest de l’actuelle Turquie),
Garbis menait encore une vie insouciante.
Ses parents possédaient de vastes terres, les récoltes débordaient
des greniers, la culture du ver à soie prospérait. «Je jouais dans la
cour avec un copain lorsqu’ils (les policiers locaux) sont arrivés,
se souvient-il clairement. Nous avons juste eu le temps d’emporter du
pain et il a fallu partir.» En route, les réserves de galettes sans
levain s’épuisèrent rapidement. Au bout de quelques jours, le
décompte macabre commença : «Mon grand frère Ohan est mort le
premier.» Sa famille eut le temps de faire sa toilette, pas de
l’enterrer. Il fallut également abandonner la tante infirme sur le
bas-côté de la route. Trop lourde à porter. Les gendarmes qui
encadraient les déportés fusillaient les traînards. «Puis, ma mère
m’a serré contre elle, je ne l’ai plus jamais revue», raconte-t-il en
tremblant. Avec sa soeur Lucie, elles furent sans doute tuées
sur-le-champ ou enfermées dans un harem. «Mais je n’avais encore rien
vu des atrocités à venir», prévient Garbis à la fin de son
énumération. Pour le prix d’un billet de deuxième classe, les
Arméniens furent entassés dans des wagons à moutons à deux étages.
C’était sans doute à Afyon, une ville située sur l’axe ferroviaire
Istanbul-Bagdad. Destination finale de la déportation : les déserts
de Mésopotamie et de Syrie, mille cinq cents kilomètres à l’est. «A
ce moment-là, nous ignorions où on nous emmenait, mais nous savions
que c’était vers la mort. Beaucoup mouraient étouffés et leurs
cadavres étaient jetés au bord de la voie. Papa ne m’a jamais lché
la main.» Les larmes roulent sur ses joues plissées par le siècle.
Quatre-vingt-dix ans après, Garbis est toujours ce petit garçon
arménien accroché à son père. Dans son salon, il progresse à ttons,
la vue fatiguée. Mais dans sa mémoire, la mort apparaît toujours
aussi nettement. «Des cadavres, il y en avait partout, on marchait
dessus, revoit-il. Le matin, la moitié ne se relevait pas.» A la
descente du train, ils ont en effet franchi les sommets du Taurus (à
proximité de l’actuelle frontière avec la Syrie) à pied. Des colonnes
de milliers de déportés ont cheminé dans les montagnes. On fusillait
les plus faibles, on éventrait les femmes enceintes, on décapitait…
Le typhus et le choléra faisaient le reste. Avec une pièce d’or, son
père put acheter en route de l’eau pour les deux enfants qui lui
restaient. Garbis but le premier. Il ne laissa qu’une goutte à sa
soeur. Il s’en veut encore. Son instinct de survie lui permit
également de réchapper à l’épreuve la plus terrible : le désert de
Deir Zor, dans le nord de la Syrie, le long de l’Euphrate. Les
Ottomans l’avaient transformé en cimetière à ciel ouvert, en camp
sans barbelés. Le désert à perte de vue était plus dissuasif que des
miradors. L’administration ottomane y entassait les Arméniens dans le
sable et sous le soleil. Seuls les plus fortunés purent acheter du
pain aux tribus des environs. Pour les Arméniens, Deir Zor est le
symbole du génocide. A partir de l’été 1916, le gouvernement
Jeunes-Turcs ordonna l’extermination de tous les Arméniens rassemblés
dans la région. 192 750 y furent massacrés à l’arme blanche. Garbis,
lui, y échappa. Il avait été envoyé plus à l’est, à Mossoul, aux
travaux forcés dans les fermes des paysans turkmènes. La culpabilité
du survivant ne l’a jamais quitté. «Une nuit, j’ai secoué ma soeur,
j’ai senti qu’elle était froide. J’ai pris sa couverture et me suis
rendormi, bien au chaud.» Lorsque son père comprit qu’il allait
mourir à son tour, il réclama un plat de lentilles. «En rentrant le
soir, j’ai vu qu’il ne bougeait plus, tient-il à raconter. J’ai pris
l’assiette, j’ai tout mangé.» Le corps de son père fut transporté à
l’extérieur du village et recouvert d’un peu de terre. Des hoquets de
sanglots dans la voix, Garbis saisit sa jambe en mimant des crocs :
«Les chiens l’ont mangé.» Depuis, il déteste les chiens. Enfin,
l’armée britannique s’installa dans la région en 1918. Garbis était
orphelin. Les Anglais le placèrent dans le camp de réfugiés numéro 34
réservé aux enfants arméniens. Puis l’adolescent vécut de petits
boulots, monta un pressing à Téhéran, commença à militer au Dachnak,
le parti nationaliste révolutionnaire arménien qu’il ne quittera
plus. En 1929, il partit avec sa jeune épouse, arménienne d’origine
russe, pour la France. «Une vie heureuse commençait.» Mais une vie de
rescapé hantée par le passé. Sa fille aînée, Lucie, raconte la
réaction de son père lorsque sa femme est morte : «Nous avons acheté
une concession au cimetière de Montparnasse. Papa s’est mis à
sangloter d’émotion : «Enfin, la famille a un lieu pour ses morts.»
Par la pensée, Garbis peut aussi y ensevelir ceux qui ont disparu
dans l’ anabad (1) de Deir Zor. (1) Désert en arménien.
Pan Armenian News
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE BY TURKEY MATTER OF TIME
24.04.2005 07:28
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Without acknowledgement of the Armenian Genocide Turkey
will not join the EU, Armenian Minister of Justice David Harutyunian stated
after visiting Tsitsernakaberd memorial to victims of the Armenian Genocide.
In his words, « Turkey will soon arrive at the idea that it is necessary to
acknowledge the Genocide and apologize for the crime on its own. It is a
matter of time. Today, tomorrow, in a year or five years, but I do not think
it will be later,» Harutyunian said.
Il Tiempo, Italia
Sabato 23 aprile 2005
Armeni, il primo genocidio del ‘900
Stamattina, un giorno prima della ricorrenza del 90° anniversario del
genocidio di oltre mezzo milione di armeni da parte dei turchi, il
coordinamento nazionale di Gioventù Europea manifesterà
simbolicamente in Largo Kemal Atathurk, vicino al laghetto dell’Eur,
a Roma, in segno di solidarietà con le comunità armene e i martiri
del genocidio. Alla manifestazione prenderanno parte alcuni membri
della Comunità Armena Romana. Sarà chiesto al sindaco di Roma, Walter
Veltroni, di cancellare dalla toponomastica della città Largo
Athaturk, con un sit-in vicino al laghetto dell’Eur. «È indegno che
nella capitale della cristianità e delle civiltà, possa trovare
memoria un assassino che ha commesso crimini contro l’umanità. Ne
prenda coscienza l’UE che vuol far entrare la Turchia in Europa» ha
detto il responsabile nazionale Federico Rocca.
ANSA English Media Service
April 23, 2005
ARMENIAN MASSACRE: ANKARA REFUSES TO SPEAK OF GENOCIDE
ANKARA
By Lucio Leante
(ANSA) – ANKARA, April 22 – Was the deportation and
massacre in 1915 of hundreds of thousands of Armenians by the
last Ottoman governments a premeditated attempt at genocide?
This is the question asked every year with the coming of April
24, the official beginning of the deportation and massacres, to
which Turkey has always responded “no” resisting to the
insistent requests by Armenia.
Turkey admits the deaths of between 300,000 and 500,000
Armenians due to privation, diseases and attacks by Kurds,
According to Armenia the victims were 1.3 million people.
An objective answer to this question is expected from historians
or international tribunals since it seems impossible that the
two countries’ governments can agree as they do not have normal
diplomatic ties and the borders between them are closed.
Yet, despite the numerous studies of the issue historians are
deeply divided also because a documental proof for genocide has
never been found.
It is known for certain that the groups of deported Armenians
were often attacked by gangs of Kurds from East Anatolia related
to the Ottoman government. It is unknown to what extent the
attacks were premeditated and what the effect was of ancient
feud resulting from religious differences between Muslim Kurds
and Christian Armenians.
Turkish historians and politicians say that the orders for
deportation in April 1915 were result from the hostility of the
Armenians towards the Ottoman government and that Armenian gangs
had started attacks against the Turkish population since 1910.
Last week they published documents showing that between 1910 and
1922 at least 523,000 Turkish people were killed by these gangs.
The Turks recalled that many Armenian leaders had formed an
alliance at the time with the Sublime Porte’s biggest enemy,
tsarist Russia, which thanks to them managed to occupy a part of
the Ottoman territory.
According to Ankara, the deportation was then a necessity in
order to protect the Armenian population from probable
repressions on the part of the Turkish population in the area.
If historians are unable to give a clear answer international
tribunals should be able to do that on the basis of the Genocide
Convention.
However, the convention was signed in 1951 and can not be
applied backdate.
In any case international jurists completely exclude the
possibility for Armenia to claim land or compensations in case
Turkey formally recognises genocide.
Ankara has said many times that it would not trade recognition
of the genocide for Armenia’s giving up territorial and
compensation claims.
However, Ankara has to take into consideration the fact that 15
parliaments throughout the world, including the European
parliament, have already recognised the genocide.
Turkey knows that not only the European parliament but also the
European Commission and the European Council although not
relating it to the beginning of Turkey’s EU accession
negotiations might remind of the condition of normalising the
relations between Turkey and Armenia on the insistence of France
where some 250,000 Armenians live.
If Yerevan conditions the normalisation of the relations on the
recognition of the genocide the EU might press Turkey to admit
to it.
However, it seems that Ankara has neither possibility nor
willingness to do it in the near future. (ANSA)
Armenia’s president renews call for Turkey to admit to ‘genocide’
Agence France Presse — English
April 20, 2005 Wednesday 8:57 AM GMT
YEREVAN April 20 — Armenia’s President Robert Kocharian on Wednesday
renewed calls for Turkey to face up to its past and admit that it
committed genocide against Armenians as the republic prepares to mark
the 90th anniversary of the massacres.
“It is hard for us to understand the position of the Turkish side which
is expressed not only by a denial of the past but with a continuing
blockade of Armenia,” Kocharian said in an address to a conference
on genocide prevention.
Armenian will mark on Sunday mass killings by Ottoman Turks,
a slaughter that is among the most painful episodes of Armenia’s
ages-old history and that continues to impede modern relations between
Armenia and Turkey.
Ankara recognized Armenia’s independence when it broke away from the
Soviet Union in 1991 but has refused to establish diplomatic relations
with Yerevan because of Armenian efforts to secure international
condemnation of the World War I-era massacres as genocide.
In 1993, Turkey shut its border with Armenia in a show of solidarity
with its close ally Azerbaijan, which was at war with Armenia over
the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave, dealing a heavy economic blow to the
impoverished nation.
Armenia has planned a series of events, including conferences,
exhibits, film screenings and a massive march, with which it hopes to
draw international attention to its cause and put pressure on Turkey.
“Recognizing the genocide is important to prevent genocide in the
future … it would be the answer to many of the problems that exist
between our two peoples and a possibility to look into the future,”
Kocharian said.
Kocharian opened with a conciliatory remark saying, “we remember the
past with pain but without hate.”
Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their kinsmen perished in
orchestrated killings between 1915 and 1917 as the Ottoman Empire,
the predecessor of modern Turkey, was falling apart.
Ankara counters that 300,000 Armenians and thousands of Turks were
killed in “civil strife” during World War I when the Armenians rose
against their Ottoman rulers and sided with invading Russian troops.
Ratzinger asserts Vatican stand against Turkey EU membership
Catholic News
18 August 2004
Reflecting the Vatican view that Europe must fight to retain its
Christian identity, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger has said that bringing
Turkey into the European Union would put European culture at risk.
“Europe is a cultural and not a geographical continent,” he said.
“Turkey always represented another continent throughout history,
in permanent contrast with Europe,” so to equate the two continents
“would be a mistake,” he told the magazine of the French newspaper
Le Figaro in an interview published last week.
Turkey has been a candidate for European Union membership since 1999,
but EU officials delayed negotiations to discuss its accession until
more progress has been made in economic, political and human rights
reforms. Whether Turkey, a mostly Muslim nation, can join accession
talks is set to be decided by the 25-state European Union later
this year.
Cardinal Ratzinger, who presides over the Congregation for the Doctrine
of the Faith, said Europe is united by its “culture which gives it a
common identity. The roots which formed … this continent are those
of Christianity.”
SOURCE — Vatican official: Adding Turkey to European Union would
hurt culture (Catholic News Service 16/8/04)
LINKS: – Ratzinger says Turkey has no place in EU (Online Catholics
18/8/04)
– Cardinal Ratzinger: Identifier la Turquie à l’Europe serait une
erreu (Le Figaro 13/8/04)
– Cardinal: No place for Turkey in EU (AlJazeera.net 11/8/04)
– Catholics Criticize Cardinal’s Turkey Comments (Zaman Online 14/8/04)
– Vatican meddling in the EU (International Herald Tribune 16/8/04)
– Vatican tries to exclude Turkey for EU’s Christian Identity
(Turks.us 16/8/04)
– Turkey’s EU membership argument (BBC 9/10/02)
European Union | Enlargement | Turkey
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