Author: nina hovnanian

Armenians and Jews: Natural Allies, Kindred Spirits
By Christopher Atamian
01/30/2015

Armenians and Jews share many things in common: they are both ancient
Near Eastern people with a long and storied history. They have often
faced persecution, which culminated in the Armenian Genocide of 1915
and the Holocaust of the Jews in WWII. Adolf Hitler in fact modeled
the Holocaust on the Ottoman extermination of the Western Armenians.
The similarities between Armenians and Jews, and Armenians and
Israelis, go deeper in fact: both people are known for their prowess
in the arts and commerce and value education to an almost
preternatural extent. There is an Armenian quarter in Jerusalem that
dates back to at least the 4th century A.D. Armenia, broadly defined,
has known at last three historic migrations of Jews and was most
recently considered a haven for Soviet Jews, a land where
anti-Semitism was–and remains–virtually nonexistent. In fact when
you visit Armenia you will meet Armenians with names like Israel
Aharonian and Movses Kaplanian–the kinship has been lost over many
centuries of co-existence, but looking at names and even physiological
similarities, it is not hard to imagine how close these two people
have been historically.

Recent attempts by Azeri lobbies and right-wing writers in Israel to
portray Armenia as an anti-semitic country are abhorrent in the
extreme. Commentators such as Arye Gut–who is a member of the Board
of the Israeli-Azerbaijani International Organization–have recently
taken it upon themselves to deform the truth, openly lie and make up
incidents which simply don’t exist in order to try to drive a wedge
between Armenia and Israel. Considering the denialist nature of the
Azeri government which will not even acknowledge the Armenian Genocide
and falsely accuses Armenia of starting the war in Nagorno-Karabagh,
none of this should be surprising. It won’t work. Go to almost any
Armenian household in the Armenian Diaspora or the Republic of Armenia
and Jews are looked up to and even revered. Armenians are even known
in certain quarters as the “Jews of the Caucasus.” In contrast, at the
recent Gezi Park demonstrations in Istanbul, Turkey–a close ally and
ethnic “cousin” of Azerbaijan–a policeman shooting at the
demonstrators was overheard shouting “You are not Turks, you are
Armenians and Jews.”

In a recent open letter to world Jewry, the Head of the Jewish
Community in Armenia Rima Varzhapetyan Feller stated the following,
worth repeating in some detail: “…targeted efforts have been exerted
recently to cast a shadow on Armenian-Jewish relations…those
attempts cannot but fail. The history of the two ancient peoples –
Armenians and Jews – is full of similarities and mutual contacts, and
even with the utmost effort in the world, one can not derail those
relations….Can the restoration of the Jewish medieval cemetery in
one of the provinces of Armenia at the expense of funds allocated by
the Government, be considered as an expression of anti-Semitic
policy?…Armenians always treated Jews and the State of Israel with
admiration… one cannot even imagine holding anti-Semitic and
anti-Israel demonstrations in Armenia [such as those] which took place
in different towns of Azerbaijan a couple of years ago.” ”

Like Israel, Armenia finds itself surrounded by mostly hostile
states–in particular Turkey and Azerbaijan. Israel is in a difficult
position. It has been blackmailed by the Republic of Turkey into not
recognizing the Armenian Genocide, while oil rich Azerbaijan buys arms
by the bucket load from the tiny and imperiled Jewish state. But
Israel has recently learned during the Mavi Marmara incident that
Turkey and President Erdogan–and Azerbaijan by extension–are
fair-weather friends at best. And while it is true that Turkey let in
thousand of Jews fleeing the Inquisition into the Ottoman Empire, they
did so in large part because these wealthy immigrants helped them
finance their war against the powerful Republic of Venice and other
European states. Since then, Jews in Turkey and Azerbaijan have
regularly been persecuted. In 1915, as the Ottoman Empire’s 3
million-strong Christian population was slowly extinguished, many Jews
saw the handwriting on the wall and emigrated. More recently as many
as 50,000 Jews were slaughtered and/or expelled from the Rumeli Region
alone. Hundreds of the Republic’s wealthiest Jewish members were sent
to labor battalions along with Armenians during the wealth taxes
imposed on minorities in the 1950’s.

In a recent piece in Ha’aretz cleverly titled “Baku to the future:
Azerbaijan, not Armenia, is Israel’s true ally,” Maxime Gauin and
Alexander Murinson repeat the same old canards about Karekin
Njhdeh–an Armenian revolutionary who fought the Ottoman Turks in
1915–and write about a supposed “Nazi” Armenian battalion in WWII.
Both writers are part of the extreme right-wing in Israel: for good
measure, the authors use a picture of the Presidents of Armenia and
Iran together at an official welcoming ceremony, implying that a
friend of Israel’s enemy must be an enemy of Israel as well, an absurd
proposition in international relations. Armenians have a long history
of living in the Persian Empire and Iran is one of the only trade
partners Armenia has in the region as both Turkey and Azerbaijan have
blockaded the country–something that Israelis are all too familiar
with given long-standing Arab boycotts of their own country.

Unlike many countries in the region that have denied the Holocaust, on
January 27th the President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan reiterated his
commitment to commemorating the event and recalled the similar
destinies of Armenian and Jew: “The genocide committed against the
Jews during the World War II was one of the most tragic pages in the
human history. January 27th symbolizes the liberation of the Auschwitz
concentration camp…This year Armenian people are commemorating the
Centennial of the Armenian Genocide, and we more than anyone empathize
with the pain of the Jewish people.” You can’t get much clearer than
that.

Finally, I would like to recall that the Ottoman Turks led by Cemal
Pasha along with their Azeri allies planned to wipe out the entire
Lebanese and Jewish populations in Palestine after doing away with the
Armenians. If that, combined with the recent anti-semitic bile that
President Erdogan and Aliyev have both spouted is not enough to
convince Israel of who their true ally is, then nothing will. In fact,
most Armenians are not worried–everyone knows that Israel and
Armenia, and Armenians and Jews, are kindred spirits and friends. To
believe otherwise is simply to turn the world upside down.

The Times of Israël
29 janv 2015

Génocide arménien : Hollande appelle la Turquie à poursuivre «
l’effort de vérité »

« Il est temps de briser les tabous et que les deux nations, Arménie
et Turquie, inventent un nouveau départ, » a estimé le président
français

Le président français François Hollande a appelé mercredi soir la
Turquie à poursuivre son « effort de vérité » à propos du génocide
arménien commis il y a un siècle, estimant qu’ »il est temps de briser
les tabous ».

« L’effort de vérité doit se poursuivre et je suis convaincu que cette
année du centenaire verra de nouveaux gestes, de nouvelles étapes sur
le chemin de la reconnaissance », a-t-il déclaré au cours du dîner
annuel du Conseil de coordination des organisations arméniennes de
France, Ã Paris.

Rappelant que les autorités turques avaient voulu il y a un an «
s’associer à la commémoration et aux souffrances vécues par le peuple
arménien », le chef de l’Etat français a cependant estimé qu’il ne
s’agissait que « d’un premier mouvement » qui « ne peut s’arrêter lÃ
».

François Hollande a rappelé qu’il avait déjà « salué ce signe » un an
plus tôt lors d’un déplacement à Erevan, mais qu’il avait alors «
souligné qu’il ne pouvait pas être suffisant ».

« Il est temps de briser les tabous et que les deux nations, Arménie
et Turquie, inventent un nouveau départ », a-t-il exhorté.

Il y a un an, le président turc, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, alors Premier
ministre, avait fait un geste inattendu, présentant les condoléances
de son pays « aux petits-enfants des Arméniens tués en 1915³. Mais
l’Arménie avait rejeté ces condoléances, réclamant reconnaissance du
génocide et « repentir ».

La Turquie a toujours refusé d’admettre toute élimination planifiée,
évoquant la mort d’environ 500.000 Arméniens alors qu’Erevan évalue le
nombre des victimes à 1,5 million.

Pour François Hollande aussi, la loi sur la reconnaissance du génocide
arménien votée le 29 janvier 2001 par le Parlement français « n’est
pas une accusation à l’égard des vivants, c’est un devoir à l’égard
des morts et un apaisement à l’égard des descendants » qui rend la
négation du génocide « insupportable car elle est une insulte ».

« La liberté d’expression que nous voulons à tout prix préserver,
n’est pas et ne sera jamais (l’occasion d’) une falsification » et «
ne permettra jamais une apologie » d’un « crime contre l’humanité »,
a-t-il encore souligné.

François Hollande a confirmé qu’il se rendrait de nouveau à Erevan le
24 avril 2015 pour la commémoration du centenaire du génocide
arménien.

Il a par ailleurs assuré que la France poursuivrait, sans se «
résigner », ses efforts en faveur du réglement du conflit qui
empoisonne depuis 20 ans les relations entre l’Arménie et
l’Azerbaïdjan autour de la région du Nagorny-Karabakh.

Cette enclave en territoire azerbaïdjanais est passée sous l’autorité
de séparatistes arméniens soutenus par Erevan dans les années 1990
après une guerre qui a fait près de 30 000 morts, Bakou souhaitant
toujours en reprendre le contrôle.

Jack Hadjinian Elected Chairman of Alameda Corridor-East Construction
Authority Board

Tuesday, January 27th, 2015

Members of the Alameda Corridor-East Construction Authority Board,
from left, Industry Mayor Tim Spohn, El Monte Councilwoman Norma
Macias, San Gabriel Councilwoman and ACE Board Vice Chair Juli
Costanzo, Montebello Mayor and ACE Board Chair Jack Hadjinian, Los
Angeles County Supervisor Michael Antonovich, Pomona Mayor Elliott
Rothman and Alhambra Councilwoman Barbara Messina.

EL MONTE, Calif.–Montebello Mayor Jack Hadjinian was unanimously
elected Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Alameda
Corridor-East Construction Authority (ACE) at a regular Board meeting
Monday. The seven-member Board oversees the nearly $1.7 billion ACE
program of constructing underpasses, bridges and other safety
improvements at congested and hazardous rail-roadway crossings in
eastern Los Angeles County.

“I appreciate the confidence of my colleagues and I look forward to
leading our efforts as more ACE projects move into construction and
ultimately open to traffic,” said Hadjinian, 37, the first
Armenian-American to serve as mayor of the City of Montebello. “The
ACE rail-roadway grade separations are a transportation priority for
our region and yield important benefits to our communities by
eliminating crossing collisions, silencing train horn noise and
significantly reducing vehicle delays and emissions at crossings.”

First elected to the Montebello City Council in 2011, Hadjinian was
appointed to the ACE Board in 2012.

Unanimously elected to serve as Vice Chair was San Gabriel City
Councilwoman Juli Costanzo, a 12-year member of the San Gabriel City
Council who was appointed to the ACE Board in 2008. “I look forward to
continuing to work closely with ACE as its largest single project, the
San Gabriel Trench, is constructed in the City of San Gabriel,”
Costanzo said.

Elected officials from the cities of El Monte, Industry, Montebello,
San Gabriel, Pomona, the County of Los Angeles and the San Gabriel
Valley Council of Governments serve on the seven-member ACE Board.

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
Jan 29 2015

Armenian genocide denial case comes before ECtHR

ORHAN KEMAL CENGÄ°Z
January 29, 2015, Thursday

Last week I was talking to a law professor from the US. To give him a
glimpse into the level of nationalism found in Turkey, I said, `Just
look at how all these Turkish people with different worldviews around
this table unite when I say something.’ Then I proceeded to say,
`Turkey still denies the Armenian genocide.’ Just as I had predicted,
the professor witnessed quite a heated debate over my words.

Most people in Turkey united behind DoÄ?u Perinçek in his case before
the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) on Tuesday. It’s a long
story, but for those of you who do not know the Perinçek v.
Switzerland case, it can be summarized as follows: During a conference
in Switzerland, Perinçek said that the `Armenian genocide is an
international lie.’ He was given a prison sentence and fine under
Swiss laws punishing the denial of genocide. According to these laws,
to my understanding, denying any genocide constitutes hate speech or
racism.

Perinçek brought this case to the ECtHR, and the ECtHR found that he
breached Article 10 of the European Convention of Human Rights
regulating freedom of expression. This past Thursday an appeal hearing
on the case was held in Strasbourg.

I am personally a little ambivalent about punishing the denial of any
genocide unless the words concerned clearly constitute hate speech
targeting a certain vulnerable group. When it comes to freedom of
expression, the stakes are too high, and therefore limitations to it
should really be exceptional.

However, when I look at the comments and reactions to the case in
Turkey, I see that people see this case as the ECtHR’s refusal to
define the events of 1915 as genocide. People in Turkey should focus
on another case: the Taner Akçam v. Turkey case, in which the ECtHR
criticized and condemned Turkey for limiting the debate on Armenian
genocide with prosecution and the threat of prosecution under the
infamous Article 301 that prohibits `denigrating Turkishness.’

If people genuinely defend Perinçek’s freedom of expression concerning
the Armenian genocide, they should then defend people in Turkey who
claim that what happened in 1915 was genocide.

When it comes to freedom of expression, as I said above, there is a
clear and undisputable exception to it that should be banned and
punished: hate speech and threats. Just remember how `The Cut,’ a film
shot by Fatih Akın whose central theme is the events of 1915, was
received in Turkey. Even before it was shown in cinemas, Akın and
Agos, the Armenian-Turkish weekly that interviewed him about the film,
were openly threatened by several ultranationalist organizations. In
some of these threats posted on Twitter they even dared to say, `We
are watching you with our white berets.’ This was a reference to the
fact that Hrant Dink’s murderer was wearing a white beret when he shot
Dink from behind. I have not heard about anyone being arrested for
these threats. When Akın’s film hit theaters, only viewers above the
age of 18 were allowed to watch it.

You see, if we really wish to discuss `freedom of expression’ and the
Armenian genocide debate, there is still a long way to go in Turkey.
And focusing on the Perinçek case, in which the ECtHR rejected using a
prison sentence to punish genocide denial, would not bring anyone in
Turkey closer to furthering freedom of expression or enriching
democracy in this country.

TIME Magazine
Jan 29 2015

Watch Amal Clooney Eloquently Argue Her Case in Armenian Genocide Hearing

by Noah Rayman

Clooney is representing Armenia before Europe’s top human rights court

Amal Clooney laid her case before the European Court of Human Rights
on Wednesday against a Turkish politician who denied the 1915 Armenian
genocide.

The international human rights lawyer is representing Armenia in a
case against Dogu Perincek, the chairman of the Turkish Workers’
Party, who was convicted in Switzerland in 2005 for calling the
Armenian genocide an “international lie.”

The Strasbourg-based ECHR later agreed with Perincek that the
conviction violated his freedom of expression, and now Switzerland is
appealing, with Armenia’s backing as a third party.

“The most important error” made in the earlier ECHR ruling, Clooney
said, “is that it cast doubt on the reality of the Armenian genocide
that the people suffered 100 years ago.” In her remarks, Clooney noted
Turkey’s “disgraceful” record on freedom of expression.

An estimated 1.5 million Armenians were killed by Ottoman Turks in
what historians widely consider to be the first genocide of the 20th
century, but Turkey has contested the numbers and refused to call it a
genocide.

The case could also have wider implications for Europe, where several
countries have laws prohibiting public denial of past genocides such
as the Holocaust.

Clooney, now arguably the most famous human rights lawyer in the world
after marrying actor George Clooney in September, previously
represented Greece in its long-running bid to have a collection of
classical Greek sculptures returned from the British Museum. She also
defended one of three al-Jazeera journalists detained in Egypt.

View the speech at

The Times (London), UK
Jan 28 2015

Honeymoon is over as Mrs Clooney makes genocide denial appeal in Strasbourg

by Frances Gibb, Legal Editor

Amal Clooney will make her first court appearance today since her
highly publicised wedding when she appeals on behalf of Armenia in a
case over denial of the country’s genocide 100 years ago.

The UK-based barrister is bringing an appeal in the European Court of
Human Rights in Strasbourg that seeks to “put the record straight”
after Dogu Perincek, the Turkish opposition Labour Party leader, was
cleared of genocide denial charges.

Perincek, who will attend today’s hearing before the court’s grand
chamber, was found guilty by a Swiss court in 2007 after he made a
speech calling the Armenian genocide of 100 years ago “an
international lie” during an event in Lausanne, Switzerland.

However in 2013, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Swiss
legislation criminalising the denial of genocide violated the right to
freedom of expression.

The court granted leave to appeal to its grand chamber, however, and
today Amal Clooney, with Geoffrey Robertson, QC, the head of Doughty
Street, her London chambers, will argue that the original ruling by
the Strasbourg court was wrong.

Mrs Clooney will tell the Strasbourg judges: “The most important error
in the court’s judgment is that it has cast doubt on the fact that
there was a genocide against the Armenian people 100 years ago.

“The court did not explain why it was overruling the Swiss courts,
which heard and examined evidence on the matter,” she will say.
“Instead the lower court reached its conclusions without using any of
the fact-gathering tools available to it.”

The court, she will argue, did not request documentary evidence,
examine witnesses, call experts nor conduct on-site investigations.”

She will ask the court for the opportunity to submit “overwhelming”
evidence that systemic atrocities occurred that would now be
characterised as genocide.

Mrs Clooney, who is also advising the Greek government on the return
of the Elgin marbles, will tell the court that contemporaneous
photographs show death marches and concentration camps where
“thousands of Armenians perished”.

Images depict beheadings, burnt bodies, railway carriages packed with
Armenians heading east into the desert and the Euphrates river filled
with blood, she will say. There are also scores of witness accounts
from journalists and a “mass” of diplomatic cables sent from
ambassadors back to their capitals and now in state archives.

In a joint statement issued on May 1915, France, Great Britain and
Russian denounced the “crimes of Turkey against humanity and
civilisation”. Only Turkey has denied the genocide, she will argue.

The Strasbourg court’s ruling last year contained errors that caused
Perincek and his supporters to celebrate it as a vindication of their
anti-Armenian views, she will argue – adding that some parts of the
judgment “harm the court’s credibility and dishonour the memory of
those who perished in the Ottoman empire a century ago”.

“We hope that the Grand Chamber will set the record straight.”

Mr Robertson, who is leading the appeal, will say that Article 10,
that guarantees freedom of expression, is the European Convention’s
way of saying “Je suis Charlie” – in that it permits the exchange of
information, criticism and satire, however offensive.

The European ruling last year promotes the idea that the “Holocaust is
the only ‘real genocide’, with others forever relegated to the realms
of theory and debate.

“What matters to Armenians, to Jews, to Bosnians or to Rwandan Tutsis
is not the manner of their deaths, or whether an international court
has convicted the perpetrators, but the fact that they were targeted
as unfit to live because they were Jews or Armenians or Tutsis.”

Siasat Daily (India)
January 28, 2015 Wednesday

Hollande asks Turkey to ‘break taboos’ on Armenia WWI killings

Paris

Paris, Jan. 28 — French President Francois has called on Turkey to
take new steps towards the “truth” behind the mass killings of
Armenians a century ago, saying “it is time to break the taboos”.

“The effort towards the truth must continue and I am convinced that
this centenary year will see new gestures, new steps on the road to
recognition,” Hollande said yesterday at a dinner with Armenian groups
in Paris.

Armenia says an estimated 1.5 million people were killed by Ottoman
forces during World War I in what it calls a genocide.

But modern Turkey has always rejected the term “genocide”, putting the
toll at 500,000 and blaming their deaths on war and starvation.

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan this month said he would
“actively” challenge a campaign to pressure Turkey to recognise the
massacres as genocide, though a year ago he offered an unprecedented
expression of condolences for the 1915-1916 killings.

Recalling Erdogan’s stance last year, Hollande told members of
France’s Armenian community, the biggest in the European Union, that
Ankara’s position “cannot stop there”.

“It is time to break the taboos and for the two nations, Armenia and
Turkey, to create a new beginning,” he said.

Al-Akhbar English, Lebanon
January 28, 2015 Wednesday

Turkish Human Rights Record Comes Under Fire from UN

by Chloe Benoist

Turkey faced harsh criticism Tuesday at a United Nations review of its
rights record, with diplomats condemning intimidation of journalists
and brutal police crackdowns on demonstrators.

“We are concerned about growing restrictions on freedom of expression,
including censorship of new media and the Internet, and provisions of
Turkish law that unduly limit peaceful assembly,” US representative
Keith Harper told the UN Human Rights Council.

His comments came during the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of
Turkey’s rights record — something all 193 UN countries must undergo
every four years.

But Turkey hit back, insisting it had made great strides in human
rights and that freedom of expression and assembly were
“indispensable” parts of the country’s democratic order.

“The protection and promotion of human rights is one of our priority
political objectives,” Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc told
the council.

While acknowledging there were some journalists in Turkish prisons, he
insisted their detention was “not related to their journalistic
activities.”

Arinc added that there were currently 31 journalists in jail,
contradicting Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu’s recent claim
that there were only seven.

The Egyptian delegation at the UPR was especially harsh in its
criticism, with representative Amr Ramadan lamenting a “severe
deterioration in the human rights situation in Turkey,” and slamming
Ankara for deadly crackdowns on demonstrations and jailing
journalists.

“We would have wished to have seen such criticism coming from parties
who adhere to the same universal values as we do,” Arinc fired back at
Egypt, which itself has jailed numerous journalists and seen many
protesters killed in clashes with security forces.

However, Egypt’s criticism was echoed by a large number of the 122
diplomats to take the floor Tuesday.

Harper, the US representative, pointed to “government interference in
the judiciary and law enforcement sectors,” including efforts to
reorganize the courts, warning that this “undermines the rule of law.”

British representative Karen Pierce expressed concern over
“restrictions on the freedoms of assembly and expression, and the
separation of powers,” urging Ankara to “ensure judicial reforms are
implemented in line with international standards.”

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government has sacked thousands of
police and scores of judges, and pushed through legislation tightening
state control over the Internet and the judiciary, raising questions
at home and abroad about the state of democracy in Turkey.

On January 20, Turkish police carried out raids targeting at least 20
people suspected of being involved in illegal wiretapping, a move
local media said was aimed at supporters of Erdogan’s ally-turned-foe,
US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen.

Erdogan, who consolidated his power further in moving from the prime
minister’s office to the presidency in August, said on Friday he would
pursue Gulen’s supporters into their “lairs.”

In December, Turkish police raided media outlets close to Gulen and
detained at least 23 people nationwide.

Erdogan has described Gulen’s supporters in the past as “terrorists”
and “traitors.”

Alluding to an international conspiracy, Erdogan said the “parallel
structure” — the term Erdogan uses to refer to Gulen’s supporters in
the judiciary, police and other institutions — was targeting Turkey’s
stability, independence and economy.

Erdogan has also pushed through legislation increasing government
control of the judiciary, most recently a law restructuring two top
courts.

The raids on Zaman newspaper and Samanyolu television marked an
escalation of Erdogan’s battle with Gulen, with whom he has been in
open conflict since a corruption investigation targeting Erdogan’s
inner circle emerged in 2013.

“The free press cannot be silenced,” a crowd chanted at the offices of
Zaman as its editor Ekrem Dumanli made a speech defiantly challenging
police to detain him, while elsewhere in Istanbul the chairman of
Samanyolu TV was being detained.

Turkey frequently orders blackouts of media coverage of controversial issues.

On Monday, A Turkish court ordered Sunday to block access to a number
of Facebook pages that share materials deemed insulting to Prophet
Mohammad.

The Turkish government threatened to block access to all social media
interfaces, including Facebook, if the latter fails to shutdown pages
allegedly insulting the Prophet.

On January 14, Turkish daily Today’s Zaman reported that social media
sites Twitter and Facebook, along with many other websites, have been
blocked in the country after anonymous accounts published new evidence
in an ongoing case accusing Turkey of illegal arms shipments to
Islamist rebels in Syria.

The Syrian delegation, meanwhile, urged the Turkish government to
abide to counter-terrorism laws and reinforce its control over its
borders with Syria to “prevent the movement of terrorist groups.”

“We recommend that Turkey show genuine and full commitment to
international treatments and resolutions combating terrorism,
especially Security Council resolutions,” the Syrian delegation said.

The Syrian government has consistently accused Turkey, a NATO member
and one of Washington’s key allies in the region, of playing a major
role in fueling the armed crisis in Syria by opening its borders and
allowing free access to foreign jihadists into Syria.

Others criticized Turkey on Tuesday for discriminating against minorities.

Armenia’s representative Vahram Kazhoyan said Ankara should return
“the confiscated properties of Armenians and other religious
minorities, such as places of worship, including monasteries, church
properties and religious and cultural sites.”

He also called for Turkey to “fully implement the international
obligations emanating from the UN Convention on the Prevention and
Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.”

Armenians say the Ottoman state conducted genocide against them during
World War I repressions that left an estimated 1.5 million people
dead. But modern Turkey has always vehemently resisted terming the
mass killings as genocide.

A recent survey showed that only 9.1 percent of Turks believe Ankara
should apologize for the deaths during Ottoman rule in 1915 and
describe them as genocide.

Another 9.1 percent were in favor of an apology without admitting to genocide.

Turkey rejects calls to recognize the killings as genocide, claiming
up to 500,000 Armenians died in fighting and of starvation after
Armenians sided with invading Russian troops. It alleges a comparable
number of Turks were also killed.

Opposition party slams Erdogan’s government

Leader of Turkey’s main opposition party claimed Tuesday that the
ruling AK Party government has covered up corruption allegations
against four former ministers.

“A file that revealed all the corruption cases has been covered up by
the AK Party, which is now an abettor,” Kemal Kilicdaroglu, chairman
of the Republican People’s Party (CHP), told a meeting of his party’s
parliamentary group Tuesday.

In May 2014, a 14-member inquiry committee began its investigation
into corruption allegations against former economy minister Zafer
Caglayan, former interior minister Muammar Guler, former urbanization
minister Erdogan Bayraktar and former EU affairs minister Egemen
Bagis.

The committee later voted not to send the four ministers to trial
before the Supreme Council, also known as the Constitutional Court,
over corruption allegations with nine members voted against a trial
while five voted in favor.

Last week, the Turkish parliament, in order to give the final decision
over the trial of the ministers, held a secret parliamentary vote,
which rejected calls for legal proceedings against all four former
ministers at Turkey’s top court.

The CHP leader asked the public to grant his party a four-year period
of power. “You will see how Turkey can be governed, how the rights of
the people will be ensured, and how the bribe takers are brought to
account,” he said.

Turkey will be go to the polls for parliamentary elections in June
2015 to elect 550 new members of the Turkish parliament.

(AFP, Anadolu, Al-Akhbar)

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
Jan 29 2015

Hollande urges Turkey to step up efforts to acknowledge 1915 killings

January 29, 2015, Thursday/ 11:45:28/ TODAY’S ZAMAN / ISTANBUL

French President François Hollande has reiterated France’s calls for
Turkey to take new steps to break what he calls `taboos’ while
acknowledging the Armenian victims who died in Ottoman lands at the
end of World War I in 1915, on the upcoming 100th anniversary of the
incident.

`The effort towards the truth must continue and I am convinced that
this centenary year will see new gestures, new steps on the road to
recognition,’ Hollande said at a dinner with Armenian groups in Paris.

In his speech at the meeting, held this year on the same day of the
hearing of the DoÄ?u Perinçek vs Switzerland case at the European Court
of Human Rights (ECtHR), Hollande has called on Turkey to `break down
the taboos,’ urging the country to make new efforts towards the
recognition of the realities of `the Armenian genocide.’

`The efforts to find the realities have to continue,’ Hollande said,
adding that it is time for both Armenia and Turkey to make a new
start. Recalling President Recep Tayyip ErdoÄ?an’s condolences last
year to Armenians on the 99th anniversary of the mass killings of
Armenians under the Ottoman Empire Hollande said the Turkish
president’s attempt at remembering the Armenian victims of 1915 was
worth praising, adding that these steps, however, need to be
continued.

Last year then-Prime Minister ErdoÄ?an extended condolences to the
grandchildren of Armenians one day before April 24, which is an
important date for Armenians. 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.

Each year on April 24, Armenians all over the world commemorate the
mass killings of Armenians and often use the anniversary as an
opportunity to lobby Western countries to label the killings 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 I in
collaboration with the Russian army, which was then attempting to
invade the eastern Anatolian region.

This year the issue is to be even more complicated as both ErdoÄ?an and
Armenian President Serzh Sarksyan have invited each other to their
countries to remember the victims of the World War I killings. ErdoÄ?an
has invited more than 100 leaders around the world, including
President Sarksyan, for the centennial commemorations of the Gallipoli
Campaign of World War I, to be held on the same day as the Armenians’
centennial commemoration of what they call the `Armenian genocide.’
Sarksyan, in his letter in reply to ErdoÄ?an, said Turkey should first
accept Armenia’s invitation and attend the ceremonies to commemorate
the Armenian `genocide’ in Yerevan.

President Hollande has also said he will be in Yerevan on April 24 to
join in the commemoration ceremonies of the 1915 killings.

Turan Information Agency, Azerbaijan
January 28, 2015 Wednesday

Freedom House Recognizes Azerbaijan “Not Free Country” Again

The international human rights organization Freedom House published
the annual report Freedom 2015 on the state of human rights in the
world.

The report assesses the situation in 195 countries around the world
and notes that in 2014 the human rights situation deteriorated
substantially over the world.

Syria isn recognized as the most non-free country in the world, and
Russian occupation of the territory of Ukraine is recognized the
biggest blow to democracy.

Azerbaijan, along with Venezuela is set among the countries where the
number of political prisoners increased. At the same time, Azerbaijan
is called “not free” for already several years.

This is due to the fact that the Azerbaijan government has intensified
repression against government critics, human rights activists and
journalists, the report says.

Georgia and Armenia are included in the category of “partly free countries.”

Official Baku earlier denied reports from Freedom House, calling them
biased and based on false information. -16D-