Author: Madatian Greg

EurActiv –
March 12 2010

Armenian genocide vote in Sweden sparks Turkish fury

Published: 12 March 2010

A diplomatic row has erupted after Sweden’s parliament voted yesterday
(11 March) to officially declare the Turkish mass killing of Armenians
in World War I as "genocide".

The vote, passed narrowly by just one vote in the Swedish Riksdag, led
to immediate and furious reaction in Ankara, with Turkey recalling its
ambassador to Stockholm and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan cancelling a planned visit to Sweden.

The condemnation of the 1915 events was mainly driven by Sweden’s
centre-left opposition, which Erdogan accused of exploiting the issue
in order to make political gains ahead of Sweden’s general elections
in September.

However, centre-left parties were not alone in passing the resolution.
They were joined by four MPs from the governing centre-right coalition
and these votes proved decisive in securing the result. MPs who
supported the vote described it as an important symbolic victory for
Swedes of Armenian descent.

The Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU) welcomed the vote,
praising Sweden as a country which "often strives to reconcile
effectiveness and ethics in its relations with the world".

"We applaud it for its principled and constructive stance on the
genocide. The truth will set us all free," said Nicolas Tavitian of
AGBU Europe.

Big mistake, says Bildt

But Sweden’s centre-right foreign minister Carl Bildt, one of the EU’s
global diplomacy heavyweights, said he was "heavily disappointed" with
the Riksdag’s decision.

"It is wrong to politicise history this way," he argued, blaming the
outcome on power games among Sweden’s coalition of leftist parties.
Bildt believes the rising influence of the formerly communist Left
party (Vänsterpartiet) was behind the vote.

The move is likely to prove a significant setback to the previously
excellent diplomatic relations between the two countries. Sweden has
been one of the most vocal supporters of Turkish EU membership in
recent years, though Bildt argued that this remained the case despite
yesterday’s vote.

A December 2008 initiative by Turkish intellectuals apologised to
Armenia for the mass killings (EurActiv 18/12/08). Despite the fact
that the petition stopped short of using the word genocide, it was
immediately condemned by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The controversy flared up again last week when the foreign affairs
committee of the US House of Representatives approved a non-binding
measure condemning the killings as genocide.

Positions
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a statement said
he "deeply regrets" and "strongly condemns" the Swedish Parliament’s
resolution. "Our nation and Government reject this unsubstantiated
resolution replete with immense errors".

"It is obvious that the resolution was adopted with certain political
calculations in view of the upcoming elections to be held in Sweden in
September 2010. This resolution adopted with domestic political
motives does not befit Turkey-Sweden relations and the close
cooperation and friendship between our peoples".

"The task of the Parliaments and politicians is not to pass judgement
on history, but to draw lessons from the past in order to build the
future".

"Those who believe that historical facts and Turkey’s opinion
regarding its own history will be changed by decisions adopted by
foreign Parliaments for political gains are gravely mistaken".

Background
Hundreds of thousands of Christian Armenians died during forced
removals in 1915 by the Ottoman army from what is now Eastern Turkey,
but Turkey denies that the move constituted genocide.

The countries attitude vis-Ã-vis the bloodshed in 1915 is one of the
defining aspects of modern Turkish diplomacy, with any use of the term
`genocide’ either within Turkey or abroad swiftly denounced by Ankara.

Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink was killed in 2007 after openly
saying that the events of 1915 were genocide.

swedish-condemnation-armenian-genocide-sparks-turk ish-fury-news-333762

Ruben Safrastan: Turkey bargaining with the US
13.03.2010 14:39

Lilit Muradyan
`Radiolur’

`It’s obvious that Turkey and the United States are bargaining,’
Director of the Oriental Studies Institute of the Armenian National
Academy of Sciences, Turkologist Ruben Safrsatyan told a press
conference today.

`The statements of Turkish leaders evidence that Turkey is involved in
bargaining with the US, and it’s not ruled out that this bargaining
may end in a failure, thus resulting in the suspension of the
ratification of the protocols at Turkey’s initiative. Under the
circumstances it’s quite logical that Armenia will withdraw from the
ratification process,’ Ruben Safrastyan said.

news.az, Azerbaijan
March 13 2010

‘Approval of Armenian bill was an "inconsiderate and inequitable" decision’
Sat 13 March 2010 | 06:25 GMT Text size:

Recep Tayyip Erdogan "The decision cast shadow over extremely positive
relations between Turkey and Sweden."

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday that
approval of Armenian resolution in the Swedish parliament was an
"inconsiderate and inequitable" decision.

Commenting on the approval of the resolution on Armenian allegations
regarding 1915 incidents in the Swedish parliament, Erdogan said, "an
incident which had occurred 95 years ago and whose reasons, results
and victims have not yet emerged into daylight, has been brought in
front of Turkey just like a threat in many countries. I consider this
as an inconsiderate and inequitable decision."

Erdogan said the decision cast shadow over extremely positive
relations between Turkey and Sweden.

"Parliaments convene, vote and rule on incidents that occurred 95
years ago. This approach lacks logic and commonsense. I am underlining
that such decisions will have a negative impact on our efforts aiming
to normalize relations between Turkey and Armenia. Turkey is a very
big country that will not bow and allow any fait accompli, ill-willed
initiatives and irresponsible stances," Erdogan said.

Erdogan noted that, "we will not give credit to those who fail to
leave history to historians and those who refrain from archival
documents and try to offend Turkey with tricks."

Turkish prime minister said he cancelled a visit to Sweden planned to
take place on March 17, "I would like to reaffirm that Turkey will not
make any concession to its determination against such kind of
ill-willed stances against Turkey."

Swedish Parliament on Thursday approved a resolution on Armenian
allegations regarding 1915 incidents with 131 votes against 130.

The US House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs last
Thursday approved the resolution on Armenian allegations.

Turkey strongly rejects the genocide allegations and regards the
events as civil strife in wartime which claimed lives of many Turks
and Armenians.

Turk Net

FIRST PRESIDENT OF ARMENIA AND OSCE PA PRESIDENT MEET

ArmInfo
2010-03-12 14:53:00

ArmInfo. First President of Armenia, Leader of the Armenian
National Congress, Levon Ter-Petrosyan met with President of the OSCE
Parliamentary Assembly Joao Soares, OSCE PA Special Representative for
Nagorny Karabakh conflict, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee
of the Swedish Parliament, Goran Lennmarker and Assistant Secretary
General of OSCE PA Tina Shone, on Thursday.

The ANC press-service reported that the Karabakh conflict and the
Armenian-Turkish normalization were discussed during the meeting as
well as democracy problems in Armenia, particularly, the problem of
political prisoners and corruption.

TURKISH AMBASSADOR TO SWEDEN RECALLED OVER ARMENIAN GENOCIDE VOTE

Sofia Echo
h-ambassador-to-sweden-recalled-over-armenian-geno cide-vote
March 12 2010
Bulgaria

Turkey has withdrawn its ambassador to Sweden after the Swedish
parliament voted narrowly to describe the killing of Armenians in
World War I as genocide, the BBC said on March 11 2010.

With 131 votes in favour, and 130 against, Swedish MPs adopted a
resolution about Armenians, Assyrians, Syriacs, Chaldeans and Pontic
Greeks suffering "genocide" in 1915 in the Ottoman Empire.

The Turkish government condemned the resolution, saying it was "based
upon major errors and without foundation", the BBC said.

The Swedish government was against the opposition’s resolution but
it passed by one vote after some MPs defied party lines.

It comes days after a US congressional panel passed a similar
resolution. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan cancelled a
visit to Stockholm scheduled for next week and criticised the vote.

"Our people and our government reject this decision based upon major
errors and without foundation," the BBC quoted the statement as saying.

The BBC also quoted Swedish foreign minister Carl Bildt as saying
the vote was a "mistake" but that it did not change the position of
his government, which supports Turkey’s entry into the EU.

PROCESS OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION IRREVERSIBLE

PanARMENIAN.Net
12.03.2010 12:05 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The decision of the Swedish Parliament to recognize
the Armenian Genocide in Ottoman Empire, as well as the Armenian
Genocide resolution 252 adopted by the U.S. House Committee on Foreign
Affairs show that the Armenian Genocide international recognition
has become irreversible process, Edward Sharmazanov, secretary of
the RPA parliamentary group told PanARMENIAN.Net.

According to him, this process cannot prevent the Armenian-Turkish
normalization, but instead will give a new impetus to it.

"International recognition of the Armenian Genocide in Ottoman Empire
will force Turkey to revise own history and help the country to move
forward," Sharmazanov said.

On March 11 the Swedish Parliament adopted the Armenian Genocide
resolution with 131 votes in favor and 130 against, the resolution
acknowledges also genocides of Assyrians and Pontic Greeks in the
Ottoman Empire (modern Turkey).

On March 4 the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs adopted the
Armenian Genocide resolution 252 with 23 votes in favor and 22 against.

ARMENIAN AUTHORITIES OUT OF TOUCH WITH REALITY: VAHAGN KHACHATRYAN

Tert.am
16:35 ~U 11.03.10

At a press conference today, Vahagn Khachatryan, a representative of
the Armenian National Congress (ANC) committee on economic affairs,
referred to a recent statement by the parliamentary Standing Committee
on Social Affairs chair Hakob Hakobyan that the rise in gas tariff
will not affect the household income of marginalized groups in society.

"He [Hakobyan] must have studied or read new economic theories. This
is proof for me that in terms of economy, the authorities are out of
touch with reality. It became clear for me that the authorities were
not ready for such a reaction otherwise they would have brought more
well-founded reasons why the gas price will increase from April 1,"
explained Khachatryan.

He also mentioned that two days ago he had been to Gyumri and had
noticed that the new gas tariff is set to become a serious problem
for them.

"Together with his team of deputies, Hakob Hakobyan must go, enter
the houses, see and understand what is [in fact] happening there,"
said Khachatryan, saying that Hakobyan could also go to his hometown
of Martuni and see what the situation is like there.

In reference to ANC’s initiative to appeal the ruling by the Public
Services Regulatory Commission of the Republic of Armenia to raise
the gas price, Khachatryan said that citizens are actively joining
in not only in Yerevan, but also in Gymri.

EUROVISION: 10 COUNTRIES WITHDRAW, UNABLE TO PAY PARTICIPANT FEES

Tert.am
17:30 ~U 10.03.10

Preparations for the Eurovision 2010 Song Contest are drawing to
an end. Ten countries were excluded from the contest due to their
inability to secure enough funds for the participation fee. Currently,
out of 39 countries, 23 have already selected their participants.

Among those countries participating from the former Soviet Union are
Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova and Ukraine.

Estonia’s participant is to be known on March 12.

This year, 9 countries withdrew their participation. The Czech
Republic explained its withdrawal by its consecutive failures in
the contest. Among those who withdrew are Austria, Andorra, Hungary,
Italy, Lichtenstein, Luxemburg, Monaco, San Marino and Montenegro.

Contestants from the traditional "big four" – France, Great Britain,
Germany and Spain -are expected to perform at the final concert on
May 29. The Norway candidate, the country that won the song contest
last year, will also join them.

While the two semi-final concerts are expected to take place on May
25 and May 27, the participants of these two concerts are yet to
be decided.

ADC EXTENDS SPECIAL OFFER ON FASTCLICK SERVICE

PanARMENIAN.Net
09.03.2010 16:02 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ On the occasion of an International Women’s Day,
Armenian Datacom Company (ADC) announced the prolongation of special
offer on FastClick electrical network internet service.

In case of signing one-year contract till April 7, ADC clients will be
provided with high-speed symmetric internet at extremely affordable
prices, with connection speed to be increased twice every night as
well as on Sundays.

Armenian Datacom Company CJSC (ADC) is an Armenian-Norwegian joint
venture formed in April 2006 to provides data communication and
corporate networking.

The company built a fiber-optics network, covering Yerevan and its
suburbs. ADC telecommunication services were launched on April 27,
2007.

ADC was the first company in Armenia granted a license as a
public network services provider, in accordance with new laws and
regulation procedures. The company has constructed an independent and
redundant, exclusive fiber-optic network, which topology represents
interconnection of ring-type core highways.

FastClick is a practical solution, providing an opportunity to reduce
connection time to the network without bulky cable lines installation
and without performing additional configurations on a computer.

TURKEY RULES OUT RETURN OF AMBASSADOR TO US

Yemen News Agency

M arch 10 2010

ANKARA, March 9 (Saba) — Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
ruled out Tuesday the return of Turkey’s Ambassador to the US before
making sure that a draft law which acknowledged Armenia’s claims
that Ottomans massacred the Armenians would not be approved by the
US Congress, according to Kuwait News Agency (KUNA).

The foreign relations committee at the US Congress approved a bill
last week which recognized the Armenian claims that Ottomans committed
genocides against the Armenians in 1915. The bill forced the Turkish
government to recall its Ambassador in Washington Nameq Tan.

"We will not send our ambassador back unless we get a clear signal
of the situation regarding the draft law of the Armenian claims,"
Anadolu news agency quoted Erdogan, currently Saudi Arabia, as saying.

Erdogan said that US President Barack Obama pledged to confront the
draft law because the Administration realized the harm that would
result from approval of the bill.

The foreign relations committee approved the bill in a 23-22 vote
despite pressure by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to thwart
the bill.

The Turkish opposition, since the adoption of the bill, called for
the closure of Incirlik airbase and scrapping an arms deal from the US.