Author: nina hovnanian

IGOR MURADYAN TURNS BACK MEDAL AWARDED BY KARABAKH PARLIAMENT

At a press conference today, political scientist Igor Muradyan turned
back the Mesrop Mashtots Medal awarded to him by the parliament of
Nagorno Karabakh in 2003.

“They may give that medal to someone else,” he said.

According to Muradyan, his decision has nothing to do with the Berdzor
events. “I returned the medal because I have never established any
relations with these authorities of Nagorno Karabakh. There are
many people who also failed to do it, but they live in a world of
hopes and illusions. I’ve never lived in a world of illusions,”
Igor Muradyan said.

Pre-Parliament organization earlier said that a procession of its
cars was attacked while en route from Armenia to Karabakh during a
rally under the slogan “100th anniversary without the regime”. Several
people were hospitalized, and cars were damaged.

The police of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic explained that policemen
did explanatory work, urging the organization to give up that
initiative as it caused social tension.

“The participants resorted to illegal actions provoking the situation.

The police took measures prescribed by law. Unfortunately, there were
injured persons, but their lives are out of danger,” the police said.

UKRAINE’S AMBASSADOR SAYS ECONOMIC RELATIONS WITH ARMENIA ARE ‘SUCCESSFUL

YEREVAN, February 2. / ARKA /. Ukraine’s ambassador to Armenia,
Ivan Kukhta, has praised today his country’s economic relations with
Armenia describing them as ‘successful.’

Speaking to reporters he said the countries did not have high-level
political contacts last year focusing instead of enhancing their
economic relations, however, the bilateral trade fell last year to
$223 million.

He said Ukraine respects Armenia’s decision to join the Russia-led
Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) and despite the fact that Ukraine
signed an Association Agreement with the European Union, the economic
relations between the two countries continue to develop.

“I met last year with many government officials and businessmen in both
countries and can state that both Ukraine and Armenia are interested
in the development of bilateral economic relations because it benefits
all,” said the ambassador.

According to Kuhkta, despite some problems in bilateral political
relations, caused by Armenia’s vote against a UN resolution on
Ukraine’s territorial integrity, cultural and humanitarian ties were
not affected.

On March 27 Armenia voted against a UN resolution reaffirming Ukraine’s
territorial integrity and calling the referendum in Crimea that led
to its annexation by Moscow illegal. The resolution was approved by
a vote of 100 to 11, with 58 nations abstaining. Among the countries
that also voted against the resolution were Belarus, Venezuela, Sudan,
Syria, North Korea, Zimbabwe and Bolivia.

Ukraine’s government protested by withdrawing its ambassador to
Armenia. The ambassador was sent back to Yerevan after Armenia
recognized the presidential election in Ukraine.

“The president of Armenia was one of the first to recognize the
presidential election in Ukraine congratulating the new president on
his victory,’ said Kuhkta. -0-

Aleppo’s Armenian-populated district shelled; Armenian man dies

11:07 31/01/2015 >> SOCIETY

Armenian-populated Azizieh neighborhood of Aleppo was shelled Friday evening.

According to the Facebook page of Kantsasar Weekly, Aleppo-Armenian
Kevork Halladjian and his two daughters were injured in the shelling.
They were hospitalized. Kevork Halladjian died in hospital. His
daughters are said to be in a stable condition.

A fire broke out as a result of the blast and a huge material damage
was caused.

NEW EXHIBIT ‘THE FIRST DEPORTATION: THE GERMAN RAILROAD, THE AMERICAN
HOSPITAL, AND THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE’ RELEASED BY ANI, AGMA & ASSEMBLY

Armenian National Institute
1334 G Street, NW, Suite 200, Washington, DC 20005

ARMENIAN NATIONAL INSTITUTE
PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: January 30, 2015
Contact: Press Office
Email: [email protected]
Phone: (202) 383-9009

A Digital Exhibit Based on United States National Archives Photographs

Teaching Staff of the Apostolic Institute in Konya

Washington, DC – A third digital exhibit on the Armenian Genocide
consisting of 128 images on 24 panels entitled “The First Deportation:
The German Railroad, the American Hospital, and the Armenian Genocide”
was released today by the Armenian National Institute (ANI), Armenian
Genocide Museum of America (AGMA) and Armenian Assembly of
America(Assembly). Available on the ANI, AGMA, and Assembly websites,
the exhibit focuses on two localities, Zeytun, an Armenian city in the
Taurus Mountains, and Konya, a Turkish city in the central Anatolian
plain, both linked by the Armenian Genocide.

The remote and self-sustaining city of Zeytun was the first Armenian
community in Ottoman Turkey deported en masse in April 1915. To
deprive the Zeytun Armenians of any capacity to defy the deportation
edicts, the Young Turk government divided its population sending one
part east toward the Syrian Desert and another part west to the barren
flats of the Konya Plain.

By this fate, the Zeytun deportees were routed down from their
mountain homes through the nearby city of Marash and the Cilician
Plain and back up through the high passes of the Cilician Gates of the
Taurus Range, the only accessible road from Cilicia to Anatolia. This
route also placed them along the Berlin-Bagdad rail line then under
construction through those very same passes.

By intersecting that rail line, Zeytun Armenians soon found themselves
among the rest of the Armenian population of western Anatolia being
deported east by train to the main terminus at Konya and substations
beyond, where they were offloaded from cattle cars to walk down the
mountain passes, while work crews led by German and Swiss engineers
were cutting open new roads and tunnels to complete the construction
of the rail system.

There also happened to be an American hospital in Konya manned by
three outstanding figures who soon found themselves in the midst of
hundreds of thousands of Armenian deportees and as such became
witnesses to the unfolding of the Armenian Genocide. The station at
Konya was supposed to serve only as a transit camp, but with all of
the Armenians of western and central Anatolia routed through the city,
the open spaces beyond the station transformed into a vast
concentration camp. Because Konya was never intended to exist as a
destination camp and was evacuated within a short time, it has been
forgotten as a major site in the trail of deportation and the central
object of what transpired there overlooked. It was evident to all
observers in the city how rapidly the Ottoman Turkish government
reduced an industrious and prosperous people to misery. In Konya it
was already visible that all it took was a matter of days, not even
weeks.

The testimony provided by Dr. Wilfred Post and Dr. William Dodd, and
the efforts of Miss Emma Cushman, all three American medical
missionaries, provide compelling information about the rapidly
deteriorating conditions along the rail line and the start of the
process of extinguishing Armenian life across the region. Their
information is paralleled by the protests of German civilians in the
same area who sharply criticized the Ottoman authorities and raised
questions with their own government about the morality of German
wartime policies.

More compelling still were the photographs taken by Dr. Wilfred Post
and the German railroad engineers that documented the wartime reality
on this particular swath of Ottoman territory. While as wartime allies
of the Turks, Germans enjoyed a certain amount of liberty in their
actions, Dr. Post took a serious risk in defying the ban on
photographing the Armenians.

Retrieved from the United States National Archives, the entire set of
photographs taken by Dr. Wilfred Post are being issued for the first
time in this exhibit. They constitute the central evidence around
which the entire exhibit is constructed.

Dr. Post captioned the photographs, and succeeded in delivering them
to the American Embassy in Constantinople, the Ottoman capital, from
where they were sent by diplomatic pouch to Washington, DC. They might
have been the very first images of the Armenian Genocide to arrive
into the hands of U.S. officials. In this regard, the historic value
of Dr. Post’s photographs are matched only by those taken by U.S.
consul Leslie Davis who documented the Armenian Genocide in the region
of Harput/Kharpert.
Ottoman Minister of War Enver at Rail Station in Taurus Mountains
Because of the numbers of Armenians being deported and the pace at
which the western Anatolian cities were emptied of their Armenian
inhabitants, the Konya train station became a choke point in the
deportation process. Vast concentration camps of homeless Armenian
families soon formed along the tracks. The brutality of the process,
the complete lack of sanitation, and the absence of sources of food
very rapidly created an explosive situation threatening the spread of
epidemics. Thousands of Armenians never made it beyond the stations of
the Konya line and conditions in the refugee camps were so foul and
violent that a train conductor is quoted by Dr. Dodd describing the
Bozanti station as “hell on earth.”

Consisting of 121 images, 7 maps, and containing a rich variety of
eyewitness testimony, the exhibit reconstructs Armenian life in
Zeytun, reproduces the two rare photographs showing the arrest of the
Zeytun men, outlines the deportation route to the degree that
contemporary photographs allow, depicts the city of Konya, showing the
contrast between the rugged mountains in which Zeytun Armenians were
accustomed to living and the flat, arid, and sparsely populated plain
of Konya.

The exhibit includes previously unpublished photographs of Zeytun,
reproduces newly released images from German sources, and, in addition
to the United States National Archives material, presents images from
the Australian War Memorial; University of Newcastle upon Tyne,
England, Gertrude Bell Archives; University of Michigan, Ann Arbor,
Kelsey Museum; Mennonite Church USA Archives; the Armenian Missionary
Association of America and the Haigazian University Archives of
Beirut, Lebanon; Library of Congress; Republic of Armenia National
Archives; as well as online resources and private individuals.

ANI especially recognizes the historian Aram Arkun whose close study
of documentary sources addressed the complex situation surrounding the
denouement in Zeytun and who served as project consultant for the
exhibit. ANI also thanks Gunter Hartnagel, a professional
photographer, who provided valuable guidance on German historical
images, and whose researches in historical geography helped understand
the terrain that was covered by the Zeytun deportees and appreciate
the hardships endured by those who trudged through the mountains of
Cilicia at the point of a bayonet.

The location of Konya on the train line also helped to document the
post-war situation in the city. Accompanying a U.S. aid mission and
relief workers, the American photographer George Robert Swain recorded
the efforts of Miss Cushman to create a safe haven for surviving
Armenian orphans. In so doing Swain added another layer of
documentation about the fate of the Armenian population and helped
create, in sum with Dr. Post’s pictures, one of the more comprehensive
photographic records of a single location so directly impacted by the
Armenian Genocide.

The final demise of the Armenians of Konya was sealed with the fate of
Dr. Armenag Haigazian who, as a highly-regarded educator, embodied the
Armenian Protestant community’s hope of recovery. He had survived the
war years and the violence of the Young Turk regime, but his
restoration of the Apostolic Institute made him the target of the
Turkish Nationalist movement, which saw to the shuttering of the
school and the second exile and persecution of Dr. Haigazian. World
War I may have ended and the Young Turk government overthrown, but the
Armenian Genocide in Turkey continued, making the death of Dr.
Haigazian a most poignant tragedy, especially as he famously held a
doctorate from Yale University.

This third digital exhibit continues and builds upon the themes
developed in the exhibits released earlier, including the role and
fate of Armenian clergy, churches and schools, the role of American
missionaries and relief workers, and the role of Germans in Ottoman
Turkey, while distinguishing between the attitudes of civilian,
military, and diplomatic representatives.

The exhibit highlights the unsolvable dilemma faced by the Armenian
Catholicos of Cilicia Sahag II Khabayan, who, unaware of the broader
scheme about to be implemented by the Young Turk regime, advised the
Zeytun population to cooperate with the authorities in the hope of
avoiding a repetition of the Cilician massacres that spread terror
across the region a mere six years earlier. The acts and observations
of other clergymen, including Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople
Zaven Der Yeghiayan, his successor Archbishop Mesrob Naroyan,
Archbishop Stepannos Hovagimian of Ismit, Grigoris Balakian, and
Reverend William Peet, are also explained as part of the testimony on
this specific aspect of the Armenian Genocide.

The exhibit also highlights the role of an exceptional Ottoman
official, who, as governor of Aleppo and of Konya, opposed the
measures of the Young Turk radicals. Jelal Bey was the highest
ranking administrator in the Ottoman Empire who disapproved of the
policies of the triumvirate ruling from Constantinople. A number of
lower ranking officials who disagreed with the regime were killed by
Young Turk party henchmen. Opposing the Young Turk regime required
courage, and Jelal placed his life in jeopardy. He may have been
spared only because of his stature and lifelong service to the state.
American Hospital in Konya
The exhibit also reveals the involvement of a German diplomat, who as
an embassy councilor in Constantinople played a role in maintaining
German-Turkish relations, and as such became among the recipients of
the flow of information being reported about the implementation of the
Armenian Genocide. A lesser official at the time, Konstantin von
Neurath rose through the ranks eventually to serve as Minister of
Foreign Affairs in Nazi Germany and as governor of occupied
Czechoslovakia, where Reinhard Heydrich, one of the architects of the
Holocaust, served as his deputy.

The exhibit concludes with testimony from Dr. Charles Mahjoubian, a
native of Konya who resettled in Philadelphia and entered the
profession of dentistry. As a survivor, he committed himself to
testifying to the events he witnessed in his hometown. He pointed
with pride to his birthplace as one of the earliest centers of
Christianity, dating to St. Paul preaching in Iconium (ancient name of
Konya), and as a center of Turkish Islam where religious piety
restrained the hand of the local population, in sharp relief to the
political fanaticism of the Young Turk regime and the brutality of its
associates. According to Mahjoubian, by a strict reading of the
banishment legislation, Jelal Bey succeeded for a brief while in
delaying the deportation of Catholic and Protestant Armenians.

“The First Deportation: the German Railway, the American Hospital, and
the Armenian Genocide” strengthens and clarifies the photographic
documentation of the Armenian Genocide in a manner consistent and
supportive of third party records, eyewitness accounts and survivor
testimony. It expands the scope of the evidence and attests to the
horrors that unfolded in 1915.

“It did not escape contemporaries that there were immediate lessons to
be drawn from the example of Zeytun,” observed Van Z. Krikorian, ANI
chairman. “Other communities grasped the methods by which the Young
Turk regime pressurized local politics and aggravated relations among
religious and ethnic groups in order to create conditions to justify
the wholesale depopulation of Armenian towns and cities. Reverend
Ephraim Jernazian drew a direct connection between the failure of the
Zeytun Armenians to stand their ground and the heroic defense of their
neighborhood by Urfa Armenians. Hopeless as their actions might have
been at the time, the Armenians of Urfa made the point that they would
not be submitting to tyranny willingly, nor give up their lives easily
to help fulfill the violent designs of the Young Turks.”

“The clarity of that lesson from the past resonates today with the
necessary defense of Nagorno Karabakh where Armenians yet again a
century later face another enemy whose objective remains their
expulsion from their homeland. The commitment of the Armenians of
Artsakh to avoid the fate of the Western Armenian population was
inspired by the tragedies of the Armenian Genocide and the pledge of
survivors to avoid a repeat of such a calamity,” concluded Krikorian.
“I want to thank Rouben Adalian for uncovering these valuable records
on the Armenian Genocide, and Joe Piatt and Aline Maksoudian for
working with Dr. Adalian in creating this impressive exhibit,”
Krikorian added.

“Relief workers, educators, missionaries, orphanage administrators,
and other volunteers from the United States played a massive role in
relieving the plight of the survivors,” stated ANI Director, Dr.
Rouben Adalian. “Many of the longtime American residents of Turkey
also witnessed and reported the deportations and massacres of 1915.
Because of the remoteness of Konya from the other major centers of the
Armenian Genocide, Dr. Wilfred Post, Dr. William Dodd, and Miss Emma
Cushman may not have been extended the recognition they deserve. The
compelling evidence of this exhibit now ranks them among the heroic
Americans who helped save lives during the Armenian Genocide.”

As with the exhibits previously released jointly by ANI, AGMA, and the
Assembly, titledWitness to the Armenian Genocide: Photographs by the
Perpetrators’ German and Austro-Hungarian Allies, and The First Refuge
and the Last Defense: The Armenian Church, Etchmiadzin, and The
Armenian Genocide, “The First Deportation: The German Railroad, the
American Hospital, and the Armenian Genocide,” is also being issued in
digital format for worldwide distribution free of charge on the
occasion of the centennial of the Armenian Genocide.

Founded in 1997, the Armenian National Institute (ANI) is a 501(c)(3)
educational charity based in Washington, DC, and is dedicated to the
study, research, and affirmation of the Armenian Genocide.

###

NR#: 2015-03

Photo Caption 1: Teaching Staff of the Apostolic Institute in Konya.

Photo Caption 2: Ottoman Minister of War Enver at rail station in
Taurus Mountains.

Photo Caption 3: American Hospital in Konya.

FORTUNES
L’Arménien Samvel Garabédian, propriétaire du groupe >
dispose d’après Forbès du 2ème plus important revenu immobilier de
Russie avec plus d’un milliard de dollars

L’Arménien Samvel Garabédian, le propriétaire du groupe >
occupe selon le mensuel Forbes la 2ème place des . La 3ème place est occupée par la famille d’Ingvar Hambard
propriétaire du groupe >.

Krikor Amirzayan

samedi 31 janvier 2015,
Krikor Amirzayan (c)armenews.com

Russian migration law and its consequences on Armenians (video)

12:14 | January 31,2015 | Politics

Citizens of the Republic of Armenia have to take a five-stage exam to
obtain Russian citizenship. The exam includes four written and one
oral test.

“On the whole, the exam is not difficult. One’s basic knowledge of the
language, even the knowledge one acquired at school, is enough to pass
the exam,” says Zhanna Harutyunyan, who intends to leave for Russia
with her family.

The family is going to Russia in the hope of finding better conditions there.
“Both my husband and I shall work there and we shall be able to do
something for our children. Living conditions are worsening day by day
in Armenia, forcing us to seek employment opportunities outside the
country,” says Zhanna Harutyunyan, who is a teacher.

Artak Kolyan, who is a construction engineer by profession, says he
worked in Sochi before coming to Armenia and thinks that it is easier
to work and keep a family outside Armenia.
Russian Migration Legislation underwent changes earlier this year. The
law envisages a facilitated procedure of obtaining Russian citizenship
by Russian-speaking residents from EEU member states. Anyway,
demographer Ruben Yeganyan says there are still numerous unclear
issues that need to be specified.

“In fact, I do not have any expectation that the situation of migrants
will improve substantially in Russia. Still, there are problems
connected with registration, work permit or licence,” he said.

About 50.000 Armenians have been forbidden to enter the Russian
Federation for 3 -5 years, another 150000 Armenians have been
‘blacklisted.’
Who is to protect the rights of these citizens?

“We cannot appeal the refusal of the Russian Federal Migration Service
in our courts,” says lawyer Tamara Yayloyan.

Details are available in the video.

Wall Street Journal, NY
Jan 31 2015

A Tribute to a Lowly Beetle, Plus Bringing Myths to Life

Works by Diana Thater, Charles Garabedian and Radical Art From the ‘Red Decade’

By
Peter Plagens
Jan. 30, 2015 4:19 p.m. ET

Diana Thater : Science, Fiction

David Zwirner
533 W. 19th St., (212) 727-2070
Through Feb. 21

Diana Thater (b. 1962) is arguably the best video-installation artist
in Los Angeles; she will enjoy a retrospective at the Los Angeles
County Museum of Art later this year. Ms. Thater knows her technical
onions, has a superb theatrical sense of what the exhibiting space has
to offer, and is willing to push the limits of her media.

For this quietly polished show, Ms. Thater, long fascinated by animal
behavior, pays tribute to the lowly dung beetle, an insect that lives
on other beings’ excrement and–here’s the “Believe It or Not!”
moment–navigates at night by the Milky Way. (This ability comes from
its eyes sensing polarized light around celestial bodies.)

The centerpiece of the exhibition, “Science, Fiction” (2014), is a
large white box–seemingly levitating over a yellow glow–whose hidden
gear projects a close-up video of the beetles onto an overhead screen.
In a kind of prologue room, two videos on grids of flat screens,
“Sidereus Nuncius” and “The Starry Messenger” (both 2014), display
what looks to be a spherical sci-fi spacecraft moving silently through
the cosmos. (It is actually the star projector at the Griffith Park
Observatory.) The whole show is lighted in a nighttime blue less like
the dung beetle’s domain than a very exclusive nightclub serving
extremely expensive frosted vodka.

That icy hipness is a problem. There is something missing in
it–namely, an artistic connection between the natural wonder of the
dung beetle and Ms. Thater’s impressive technique. The range of scale,
from an insect to outer space, is daunting, but the show gives us no
particular poetic take on it. What we have here is a gorgeous but
vague entry in a science fair.

The Left Front: Radical Art in the ‘Red Decade,’ 1929–1940

Grey Art Gallery
100 Washington Square East, (212) 998-6780
Through April 4

Just as architecture, with the passage of enough time, becomes part of
our natural surroundings, so do political passions become history. And
when the artistic artifacts of those passions become art history, it
raises the question of whether seeing them as art objects–concisely
imagined, brilliantly composed, beautifully drawn–does an injustice to
their origin.

This exhibition of a hundred or so works of American art by more than
three dozen artists, from the decade between the stock market crash of
1929 and the beginnings of World War II, may not answer that question,
but it gives us a trove of material–drawings, prints, posters and a
few paintings–on which to decide the matter. The mostly
black-and-white art, by the likes of Reginald Marsh, Raphael Soyer,
Mabel Dwight and the underappreciated Louis Lozowick, was created in
the teeth of the Great Depression, when class struggles that make the
“us-versus-the-one-percent” look polite by comparison, union
organizing, and the threat of fascism galvanized and united artists in
a concentrated way that none of our current social issues seem to do
today. Some stunning film clips of huge May Day parades of the time,
right in the Grey Gallery’s neighborhood, reinforce that conclusion.

Then came the Soviet Union’s nonaggression pact with the Nazis, which
disillusioned the left, and shortly after, America’s entry into the
war. They ended the protests, but not the struggles. “The Left Front”
is a rich reminder of that whole story.

Charles Garabedian : Mythical Realities

Betty Cuningham
15 Rivington St., (212) 242-2772
Through Feb. 21

For the past 25 years, Charles Garabedian (b. 1923)–a beloved, slyly
avuncular figure in the Los Angeles art world–has kept figurative
painting honest. He’s done this by drawing badly very well (which
keeps his paintings from being academically show-offy), and by putting
on paint so adroitly that its expressionist whole disguises an
expertise in the particular brushstroke. His color looks
optimistically innocent, but it glows with subtle design.

These large, ebullient acrylic-on-paper paintings derive from
mythologies–Classical Greek, biblical and others–and probably (this is
a guess) from Mr. Garabedian’s Armenian heritage. (His parents fled
the Armenian genocide early in the 20th century, and he and his
siblings lived for a time in an orphanage.)

Mr. Garabedian, an Air Force veteran of World War II, didn’t begin
painting seriously until he was in his 30s. Since then, he’s absorbed
everything from Giotto to Picasso to the painterly ease of his
southern California compatriot, Richard Diebenkorn. Mr. Garabedian has
had, of course, plenty of time to make his own vision based on all
these sources–and, on the evidence of almost every one of his
exhibitions since the 1970s, he has succeeded.

–Mr. Plagens is an artist and writer in New York.

Vestnik Kavkaza, Russia
Jan 31 2015

Matthew Bryza: People in the US expressing their opinion about the
situation in Azerbaijan are hardly familiar with the situation in
Azerbaijan.

31 January 2015 – 12:58am

U.S. diplomat Matthew Bryza is considered an expert on the Caucasus.
He coordinated the US programs aimed at facilitating economic reforms
in the post-Soviet states of Central Asia and the Caucasus, as well as
the creation of new oil and gas pipelines. His responsibilities also
included issues of energy diplomacy in the Caspian region in the late
1990s. He worked on the problem of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
settlement in the mid-2000s and served as the U.S. Co-Chair of the
OSCE’s Minsk Group. Matthew Bryza was U.S. Ambassador to Azerbaijan in
2011-2012. He left diplomatic service after the Senate’s failure to
confirm his appointment to the post. Currently, Bryza is the director
of the International Centre for Defence and Security of Estonia.
However, he retains an interest in the Caucasus.

Relations between Russia on the one side and US and european countries
on the other are very tense nowadays. Do you agree with the opinion
that it is gainless for countries to conflict with each other?

I think that it is certainly gainless, and generally, no one wants it.
I think that the price of the conflict is a lot higher for Russia than
for the West, much higher, in terms of economy and so on. I agree that
the conflict is gainless for the sides.

What should be done for everyone to stop suffering losses from ruined relations?

Doubtlessly, Russia should stop the war with Ukraine and tell the
truth instead of fantastic stories that there are no Russian forces in
Ukraine at all, that the U.S. is waging the war, that America was
sponsoring Europe, regarding sanctions in Russia. Russia needs to make
a decision that that’s it, and it is clear that everything will be
normal.

Are there forces interested in confrontation between the U.S. and
Russia? What is their gain?

Frankly, I do not see such forces. Maybe there are criminal groups,
bad people who gain from conflicts in general, some evil beings, of
course there are. But what concerns countries, I do not know a country
that wants it. I think that we are at an impasse, Russia is there. I
know for 100% that no one in Europe, no one in America, when it comes
to girls and children, wants it. I do not see a force craving for such
conflict at all.Which country is the leader of the South Caucasus?I
think there is no leader there at all. There are three separate
countries. The most active one of them is Azerbaijan, of course, in
terms of the economy, in terms of the population, in terms of
strategic construction. But each country is different, I do not see a
leader there so far. Yes, Russia plays a big role, but on the other
side, concerning Azerbaijan, it is an independent state. And for the
first time in the history of Azerbaijan, Azerbaijan decides its fate
to a certain extent. Yes, there is the influence of Russia and other
countries, but Azerbaijan can decide its fate for the first time.

What does the U.S. do to strengthen and develop its relations with the Caucasus?

Not enough. In my opinion, nothing so far. I think that a U.S.
strategy is much needed. An American strategy is needed and the first
step is to determine the strategic interests of the U.S. in the South
Caucasus. I think that America is real in the South Caucasus.

How real are the evaluations by the U.S. political establishment of
the domestic and foreign policy of Azerbaijan?

In my opinion, sadly, people in general expressing their opinion about
the situation in Azerbaijan are hardly familiar with the situation in
Azerbaijan. All they do is waste words. Without experience, they do
not know what is going on in Azerbaijan, how complicated the situation
is, how tangled the situation is. And they simply decide that
Azerbaijan should be some country somewhere that has enormous problems
with corruption, human rights, democracy. There are so many of them,
they are so big that there is no point in helping the strategic ally
solve problems together, as a team. If my colleagues there, in
America, knew the situation here… Yes, they did take a look, yes,
there are real problems, there were serious mistakes. But they would
have understood too that the situation is not that simple. And
concerning order in Saudi Arabia, President Obama said two days ago,
yes, there are problems, solutions, and our strategic interests should
be protected. And if together with Saudi Arabia, then why not do it
with Azerbaijan, I would say.

In your opinion, how can political contacts between the USA and
Azerbaijan be improved if they are so tense?

In my opinion, tolerance is needed, much needed, because sooner or
later the American leaders, they will recognize relations with
Azerbaijan themselves, that there are strategic interests, big
interests, and they need protecting. But so far, it is not permissible
in Washington. I think that a few months later, strategic thinkers
would pay proper attention to Azerbaijan, then the situation would
improve, as I see it. But it is very hard to predict how it should be.

óould Azerbaijan take part in normalizing the diplomatic dialogue
between Russia and the U.S.?

First of all, I would like to emphasize that such a strategy in
Azerbaijan is wise, so that Azerbaijan would have a balanced policy,
but eventually the president of Azerbaijan and all influential
politicians understand that the independence of Azerbaijan depends on
the one who has such firm relations with the West in this aspect, this
is very important. But concerning the role of Azerbaijan as a mediator
between Russia and the U.S., I think that it is impossible, because if
there is no decision from President Obama or President Putin, there
will be no relations. For example, Secretary of State Kerry needed to
visit Moscow, I have recently seen an article about it. But President
Obama made a decision, not yet, the visit needs to be postponed. Ok
then, a mediator is needed, because President Obama decided that it
was time to restore relations. Frankly speaking, it depends on what
Russia would do in Ukraine and that is all.

The topic of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Is the U.S. interested in
settling the conflict? Should the U.S. act more actively?

I would say yes, very much yes. Yes, the U.S. has some interest in
settling the conflict, but that is not enough. If the U.S. wants a
breakthrough in the conflict, a new process, the president and the
secretary of state themselves should make a political umbrella,
political support for the presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia, so
that when the presidents are ready to take tough decisions on the
conflict, so that the U.S. president would back them up and tell all
Azerbaijanis, Armenians, that our presidents, they have taken the most
important decisions, maybe they are a little inconvenient for you, but
they are necessary. Or the U.S. president should meet with the
presidents, with Aliyev and with Sargsyan, from time to time. The way
President Medvedev did it when he was the president. But he, President
Obama, needs to demonstrate publicly that the conflict is important to
the U.S. Anyway, President Obama has very many such conflicts. In my
opinion, it means that the most important and the most fruitful thing
would be if one of the sides, maybe Azerbaijan and Armenia, would take
a step that would demonstrate that they, the presidents, are seriously
ready for a compromise. Then it would draw the attention of the
American president. But without such attention, I am afraid, the
stalemate would remain. There is also Congress, which is also inactive
in the settlement process.

What should be done for the U.S. to be interested in settling the conflict?

First of all, the Azerbaijani Diaspora and the Turkish one could play
a bigger role in forming opinion in the U.S. That would be nice.
Secondly, in the end, it would be insufficient. What is needed is what
I have just said: so that a side, so that Azerbaijan or Armenia, or
both, would take some concrete step. And say that we, as presidents,
are ready for direct negotiations between each other. Then it would be
a positive fuss, I can say, which would draw the attention of the
bigwigs in America.

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
Jan 30 2015

Erdoðan accuses Armenian diaspora of exploiting 1915 events

President Recep Tayyip Erdoðan. (Photo: DHA)

January 30, 2015, Friday/ 17:41:14/ TODAY’S ZAMAN / ANKARA

President Recep Tayyip Erdoðan has criticized the Armenian diaspora
for exploiting the mass killings of Armenians in 1915 and said Turkey
will not acknowledge the 1915 events as “genocide” just because others
push Turkey to recognize them as such.

In an interview with the state-run Turkish Radio and Television
Corporation (TRT), Erdoðan said on Thursday that the Armenian diaspora
is pushing for the acknowledgement of the 1915 events at the end of
the World War l to be recognized as “genocide” in other countries and
is trying to create pressure for Turkey, but this issue needs to be
handled by the historians.

He said Turkey has opened its archives and is ready to do what is
necessary. “We don’t have to acknowledge the so-called Armenian
genocide by the order of others. What we say is, if you are sincere
about this discussion, leave this issue to the historians and let them
work on it,” said Erdoðan.

Yerevan commemorates the incident of the mass killings of Armenians
every April 24 and often uses the anniversary as an opportunity to
lobby Western countries to brand the killings a genocide. Ankara
denies claims that the events of 1915 amounted to genocide, arguing
that both Turks and Armenians were killed when Armenians revolted
against the Ottoman Empire during World War l in collaboration with
the Russian army, which was at the time invading Eastern Anatolia.

President Erdoðan said the Armenian diaspora is trying to exploit the
issue and drag Turkey into a fight.

In a historic first for the Turkish Republic last year, Erdoðan, who
was prime minister at the time, extended Turkey’s condolences to the
grandchildren of Armenians who had lost their lives 1915. The
statement, which did not include the word “genocide,” was welcomed by
the West and Armenians living in Turkey, but fell short of satisfying
Yerevan.

When speaking to TRT, Erdoðan also said after the evaluation of the
1915 events by the historians, if Turkey needs to pay a price, Turkey
is ready to take the necessary steps.

Erdoðan also said Armenians have a strong lobby around the world and
it is a fact that Turkey’s exerting efforts against them is somewhat
weak on this issue.

President Erdoðan continued by saying that Turkey is ready to sit down
and talk about these issues but the Armenian side is the one avoiding
doing that.

When asked about the latest “Freedom in the World 2015” report of
US-based watchdog Freedom House and its heavy criticism of Turkey with
regards to increasing interference in the media and judiciary, Erdoðan
claimed that no one really takes Freedom House seriously.

The Freedom House report, which was released on Wednesday, said
Erdoðan has a “shadow Cabinet” in his presidential palace and he is
governing the country via this cabinet.

Erdoðan refuted this claim and said: “Freedom House doesn’t have any
dignity. Zero dignity. They think they are so valuable. There may be
others behind organizations like Freedom House. We need to know these
facts.” He also said no one actually him any question about a so
called “shadow cabinet” in the palace, saying that their sources are
not good.

In other remarks, Erdoðan once again criticized Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu attending a march in Paris after the attack against
French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo earlier this month. Leaders
around the world, including Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoðlu, marched
arm-in-arm for the victims of the Paris attack in a show of
solidarity. Erdoðan had said he did not understand how Netanyahu dared
to attended the march, considering Israel’s increasingly aggressive
behavior, especially with regards to the violation of holy sites in
Jerusalem.

Speaking on TRT, Erdoðan said Netanyahu’s acts against Palestinians
are “state terror.” Erdoðan also claimed that Israelis like to shed
blood and find peace in “sucking blood.”

President Erdoðan also talked about Greece’s left-wing party Syriza’s
election victory last Sunday, and said he expects the good
relationship between Turkey and Greece to continue under the new Greek
administration.

“I wish him [head of Syriza, Alexis Tsipras] all the best and I
believe together we’ll bring Turkish-Greek relations to a much better,
ideal point,” said Erdoðan.

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
Jan 31 2015

Human rights defense before UN

PELÄ°N CENGÄ°Z
January 31, 2015, Saturday

Last week, a Universal Periodic Review (UPR) session was held in
Geneva by the United Nations (UN) member states to assess Turkey’s
human rights record.

The UPR is a process for countries to discuss their human rights
issues and to provide feedback to them so that they might improve.
There are a lot of concerns about human rights in Turkey.

The UPR sessions, the first of which was held in May 2010 by the UN
Human Rights Council, take place in every four years. I was among the
journalists, civil rights groups’ representatives and activists from
Ä°stanbul watching the latest UPR concerning Turkey on Jan. 27,
broadcast live on the Internet. A total of 193 UN member states raised
questions and offered suggestions aimed at advancing human rights in
Turkey, which, in return, responded to the comments. Turkish Deputy
Prime Minister charged with human rights issues Bülent Arınç was
present at the session to respond to the questions and suggestions.

The suggestions were largely regarding freedom of speech, freedom of
belief, censorship, government pressure on the media and the Internet,
police use of excessive force, crackdowns on demonstrations and
marches, discrimination based on gender and sexual orientation,
gender-based violence and violations of the rights of women and
children. Arınç’s responses were in general not considered by the
attendees to be satisfactory and were criticized by civil rights
groups’ representatives. Indeed, Arınç’s explanations were no
different from the statements he usually gives to pro-government media
outlets.

In response to a written question posed by the US and Britain
regarding the practices against Jewish people in Turkey, Arınç said
`There has never been animosity against the Jewish people in Turkey.
On the contrary, Turkey has always hosted them. Anti-Semitic discourse
is condemned by top level officials.’ However, his response was not
found to be realistic.

With respect to criticism about restrictions on free speech, Arınç
said `There is an absolute pluralism in Turkey in terms of media.’ And
he pursued the official argument, adding, `They were not jailed for
professional activities,’ while commenting on imprisoned journalists.

Having employed hate speech in the past when he said that the Peoples’
Democratic Party (HDP) had garnered 9 percent of the vote in the
presidential election because they received the support of LGBT
people, Arınç, while in Geneva, asserted that not having specified
legal regulations regarding LGBT people does not mean that their
rights are being violated.

The only country whose question received a different reply from Arınç
was Armenia, whose suggestions have long been rejected by Turkey. When
the Armenian delegate demanded that Turkey lift the ongoing blockade
against his country, recognize the Armenian genocide and tackle the
murder case of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, Arınç said that
the `blockade’ was only a baseless claim, because there are direct
flights between the two countries. With regard to the slain
journalist, Arınç only said, `Our prime minister’s message on the
recent anniversary of Hrant Dink’s death highlighted how much Turkey
values the issue.’ What Arınç ignored was the fact that what is needed
is not a message to be delivered but for a fair investigation to be
carried out of the Dink murder case.

During the UPR session, the harshest criticism of Turkey came from the
European Union (EU) countries. Ireland, Norway and Sweden were the
leaders warning Turkey on free speech, while 11 countries also
presented advice concerning discrimination based on sexual orientation
and sexual identity.

Arınç left unanswered the suggestions coming from Germany, Croatia and
Slovenia regarding Turkey’s recognition of conscientious objection.
Another highlight of the UPR session was that the Azerbaijani delegate
praised Turkey’s `works on human rights’ so much that he exceeded his
time limit.

Greece demanded that Turkey re-open the Halki Seminary on the Turkish
island of Halki. However, Arınç only stated that the government is
fully determined to tackle the issue. Syria emphasized that Turkey
should tighten its border security against terrorism and stop
supporting terrorist groups. When Japan, Montenegro and Sri Lanka drew
attention to child labor, Arınç claimed that children in Turkey work
in simple jobs, and he did not even make a statement regarding the
issue of child brides, which was voiced by many countries in the
session.

There were also inconsistent comments in the session. Egypt, the top
jailer of journalists after Turkey, criticized Turkey on Internet
censorship and free speech; Serbia, which is the most anti-LGBT
country in Europe, suggested that Turkey practice gender equality and
Pakistan warned Turkey about violence against women.

This embarrassing picture before the UN, where Arınç failed to answer
many questions, has made the front page of very few Turkish daily
newspapers.