Author: Tamamian Anna

Reports on Armenian Genocide to be presented to Augsburg town community

April 24, 2010 – 15:21 AMT 10:21 GMT
PanARMENIAN.Net –

Freie Universität lecturer Zhirayr Kocharian said that Augsburg
(Germany) will host an event dedicated to the Armenian Genocide on
April 24.

Dr. Kocharyan told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter that the town community
of Augsburg invited research scientist at Freie Universität Berlin,
scholar of Genocide Tessa Hoffman as guest speaker on the Armenian
Genocide and Turkey’s policy of denial.

24World news
April 24 2010

Turks in Istanbul Join Armenian Genocide Memorials

Posted by Ria Viente on April 24, 2010 //

In commemoration of 95th anniversary of the start of the Armenian
Genocide, Istanbul’s human rights activists have joined other
worldwide in remembering the 1915-17 massacre of Armenians by Ottoman
Turks.

The Armenian Genocide which is also known as Armenian Holocaust, the
Armenian Massacres or the Great Crime, has been denied for 95 years by
Turkey.

Armenian Genocide started in April 24th, 1915. For a long time Turkey
prohibited the Armenian Genocide commemoration.

Demonstrators carried black and white photos of some of the deportees,
most of whom failed to return. The police monitored the event with the
participation of former Turkish diplomats waving the Turkish flag.

Ekho Moskvy radio, Russia
April 22 2010

Talks between Armenia, Turkey unlikely to resume soon

[Presenter] Armenia is halting the process of settling relations with
Turkey. There is no talk yet of withdrawing from the process, Armenian
President Serzh Sargsyan has announced. He promised to return to the
subject of settlement when Yerevan sees that Ankara is expressing the
same readiness for the normalization of relations.

Negotiations between Armenia and Turkey have virtually returned to
their starting point and are unlikely to resume in the near future,
editor-in-chief of the Russia in Global Politics magazine Fedor
Lukyanov believes. In his opinion, the process of restoring contact
between Yerevan and Ankara rests on the problem of relations between
Turkey and Azerbaijan.

[Lukyanov] Azerbaijan suspected that Turkey simply wants to betray its
strategic ally and the Turks realized that further progress is indeed
fraught with a radical deterioration in relations with Azerbaijan,
which Turkey cannot afford either for cultural and historical or for
economic and energy reasons. Therefore everything is at a standstill.
The [Nagornyy] Karabakh settlement process is not moving forward and
until some progress on Karabakh takes place, there is no expecting
that Turkey will fulfil its obligations on protocols and unblocks the
border with Armenia.

[translated from Russian]

DIPLOMATIC CAPITULATION OF ARMENIA

news.az
April 23 2010
Azerbaijan

Serzh Sargsyan US President Abraham Lincoln once said: "You may
deceive all people part of time, and part of people all time, but
not all people all time".

Centuries have passed and Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan has
proven that Lincoln’s words were true. The Armenian president has
appealed to people saying Armenia has decided not to withdraw from
the process of normalization of the Armenian-Turkish relations but
to suspend the ratification of protocols. It is not ruled out that
the text of Sargsyan’s message to the Armenian people was changed at
the last moment and the initial variant spoke not of the suspension
but of the complete withdrawal of this country from the process of
normalizing ties with Turkey. But at the last moment it was decided
to soften possible implications of Armenia’s diplomatic capitulation
and state the suspension of protocol ratification. This is just a good
mine is a losing game, a kind of a fig leaf used by Serzh Azatovich
to hide his shame.

But nature has not created a fig leaf of the same height with the
Armenian president. The fiasco is too obvious. He stated since the
start of normalization of the Turkish-Armenian relations that this
process is separated from the process of the Karabakh conflict
settlement. And no persuasions, including the statements of the
Turkish leadership about the links between these two processes
and impossibility to normalize Turkish-Armenian relations without
liberation of Azerbaijani lands did not have any influence on Sargsyan
and his surroundings. They continued deceiving everyone all the time.

In the result, Sargsyan was deceived in his expectations of limitless
loyalty of patrons to Armenia, overestimating his own capacities in
sowing discord between Azerbaijan and Turkey and underestimating
Azerbaijan’s geopolitical importance and the abilities of our
diplomacy.

In addition, as a result of "football diplomacy" with participation
of Serzh Sargsyan, Turkey has turned into the fourth co-chair of the
OSCE Minsk Group while the issue of the Karabakh conflict has become
even more discussed. Meanwhile, Armenia has not reached the main goal
which it pursued in conducting "football diplomacy"-the opening of
overland Turkish-Armenian border. And the most cynical thing that
Sargsyan could do in this situation was to appeal to the nation,
that is to those whom he has deceived for some time, planning to
continue this process eternally. I can say that Armenia has again
demonstrated its unreliability as an opponent in the negotiation
process. Official Yerevan has already rejected the updated Madrid
principles proposed by Minsk Group and accepted by Azerbaijan, it
is also against inclusion of Turkey into the Minsk Group, as well as
Iran’s mediation in this process.

And now Armenia is suspending the ratification of the Turkish-Armenian
protocols. All these events exposes unpreparedness of official Yerevan
to comply with the undertaken commitments and hold policy aimed at
establishing peace and good neighbor relations in our region like
they prove the extreme dependence of Armenia on the instructions of
its patrons which may change or remain constant. Russian FM Sergey
Lavrov returned Armenian Minister Edward Nalbandian to the hall of
signing the Turkish-Armenian protocols through an only note. And now
Serzh Sargsyan has declared the decision to suspend the ratification of
protocols after the visit to Moscow and the meeting with the Russian
president. In other words, to explain the suspension of the process
only with the national interests of Armenia is the next lie which
will be exposed anyway, since Abraham Lincoln was right…

U.S.-TURKEY RELATIONS ARE ON THE LINE
Mark Meirowitz

The Hill
key-relations-are-on-the-line
April 23 2010
DC

On April 24, 2010, Armenian Remembrance Day, President Obama will
issue a statement on the events in 1915 concerning Armenians in the
Ottoman Empire. This statement is being awaited with great interest
because the presidential statement on Armenia is seen as a crucial
litmus test to determine where the United States government stands
on this issue, and on America’s relations with Turkey.

On March 4, 2010, the House Committee on Foreign Affairs passed
a non-binding resolution (by the slimmest of margins, 23-22),
urging President Obama to characterize the events in Armenia in
1915 as "genocide" when he issues his statement on April 24, 2010
(Armenian Remembrance Day). The passage of this ill-advised resolution
precipitated a major crisis in U.S.-Turkish relations, including the
recall by Turkey of its ambassador to the United States. So far, the
resolution has not progressed to the full House. The Administration has
apparently been weighing in to prevent the bill from moving forward.

Under the Turkey/Armenia protocols, which provide a process
for the normalization of relations between Turkey and Armenia,
a historical sub-commission will be established "to implement a
dialogue… including an impartial scientific examination of the
historical records and archives to define existing problems and
formulate recommendations" – in other words, to allow an objective
examination of the history of the 1915 events in Armenia. The
historical commission is the proper platform for this discussion
and analysis.

The House Committee on Foreign Affairs, instead of leaving the
analysis of the events in Armenia to the historical commission under
the Protocols, decided to preempt and co-opt this process and become
the decider and arbiter of historical events. Further, the Committee,
which is mandated to consider foreign affairs issues and consequences,
completely abdicated its responsibility, and ignored the significant
foreign affairs impact of the passage of the resolution on Turkey,
a major friend and ally of the United States. Turkey’s Prime Minister
Erdogan, at the recent nuclear summit in Washington, D.C., was right
on target when he said that "history cannot be written in a parliament
or judged by a parliament."

In 2009, on April 24th, in his annual message, Obama used an Armenian
word "Meds Yeghern" to describe the 1915 events, a term which to
Armenians means "genocide" but may also be interpreted to mean a great
tragedy. This approach didn’t really please anyone, but at least the
"genocide" term was not utilized.

This year, for the April 24, 2010, statement, the President needs to
say as little as possible, and certainly not use the term "genocide"
or any term even remotely similar, or this will provoke a very
negative reaction from Turkey. The President’s statement should
support peace between Turkey and Armenia, the ratification of the
Turkey-Armenia protocols by the Turkish and Armenian Parliaments and
especially emphasize the vital importance of the establishment of the
historical sub-commission envisaged by the protocols. The President
should not feel compelled to provide any sort of characterization of
the Armenian events. Like the Foreign Affairs Committee, the President
is not the official arbiter of history, especially when the history
is so contentious and hotly contested.

If the President, on April 24, 2010, uses the term "Genocide" to
describe the events in 1915 in Armenia, this would have a disastrous
effect on Turkish-U.S. relations and could even shut down these
relations for an indefinite period and lead to other serious and
severe repercussions, including the scrapping of the vitally important
Turkey/Armenia Protocols (which also are related to the solution of the
complicated issue of Nagorno-Karabakh). Even if the President does not
explicitly use the term "Genocide" in his statement, the rest of his
statement will be very important. The President knows that Turkey,
a member of NATO, is a major ally and friend of the U.S. and a key
country in a volatile region which includes Iran.

This is a time for Presidential leadership and decisive action.

Avoiding the "genocide" label in the statement will salvage the
relationship between the US and Turkey, allow Turkey and Armenia to
normalize their relations, and put the US-Turkey relationship back
on track, so that the US and Turkey can deal with the many pressing
matters facing them (and the region in which Turkey is located),
especially the possible nuclearization of Iran.

Mark Meirowitz is a business lawyer who also holds a doctorate in
Political Science and has taught Politics, History and Law at colleges
in the NYC Metropolitan area.

"NANE" ENSEMBLE TO PARTICIPATE IN "MOSCOW WELCOMES FRIENDS" SEVENTH INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL

ARMENPRESS
APRIL 22, 2010
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, APRIL 22, ARMENPRESS: "Nane" dance ensemble has initiated
the action of "You are not Alone", within the frameworks of which it
gives charitable concerts per month. Art Director of the ensemble
Narine Topolyan said today at a meeting with journalist that the
income received from the concerts will be directed to furnishing
of the wards of the Children’s Department of the National Center
of Oncology. Five wards of the hospital have already been furnished
thanks to the action, and they intend to continue the works.

According to her, ill children stay in hospital for a month and it
is very important that they have a good time. For that purpose the
parents of the children dancing in the ensemble buy stationeries,
toys and donate to the playing halls of the hospital, "It is of
importance to visit those children, to play with them. Only several
visits, kind words, and you become friends," N. Topalyan said.

She attached great importance to participation of her pupils in
suchlike actions in the sense that thanks to regular concerts they get
adapted to the stage and become more skilled in beautifully presenting
the dance art.

The ensemble participates in numerous festivals; currently it
has received an invitation of "Moscow Welcomes Friends" seventh
international festival. One thousand and 500 people will partake in
the event from different countries of the world. "Nane" dance ensemble
will be presented at the festival with 12 members of the age of 8-10.

NEW BOOK ABOUT KEMALISM, TODAY’S TURKEY AND MINORITIES

Azg Daily
April 22 2010
Armenia

R. Galustanian from Berlin presents an extract from Perry Anderson’s
(Professor of History and Sociology at UCLA) "After Ataturk. Turqs,
their State and Europe" book, where, according to Galustanian, the
British Marxist reveals the mystery of Turkish super -chauvinism.

What is Kemalism for Anderson? A cultural revolution without a social,
therefore a vertical (Monohierarcic) matter. But above all, profoundly
dishonest structure: The Turkish secularism was true even in the
moments of feverish heat never secular. The state-controlled schools
and mosques. Religion became a state matter, and remained in spite
of suppression of constitutive part of the nation. The AKP is thus
an heir of Kemalism, and not their adversary. It is postkemalistic
not antikemalistic. The Turkish secularism was not really secular,
and – one might add – the Turkish Islamism is not really Islamic, at
least not like the arabic. Nationalist as far as it will go, however,
are both Kemalists and Islamists.

Non-Muslim minorities have in the history over and over again
experienced the Islamic Turkish super-nationalism. Not only the
Armenians during the First World War, but also in 1955 the Greek
inhabitants of Istanbul. The genocide issue is especially important
for Anderson in his settlement with the Kemalist ideology. For him
there is no doubt that these were in the mass killing of Armenians an
extermination, to the systematic, state-organized murder of a people.

He even sees many similarities with the Holocaust and is upset about
the fact that so many hold to the uniqueness of the Jewish genocide.

The good reason for his anger is that the latter is subject of a
monumental, reverent, quasi-religious culture of memory and the former
is only "a whisper in the corner, which brooks no diplomat of the EU".

The bad reasons for this imbalance is that the Western allies Israel
and Turkey demanded such an interpretation of history.

ARMENIAN GENOCIDE MEMORIAL EVENTS TO BE HELD IN WESTERN UKRAINE

PanARMENIAN.Net
April 23, 2010 – 11:30 AMT 06:30 GMT

Armenian communities of Western Ukraine will hold memorial events
dated to the 95th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. A service
will be offered in the Armenian church in Chernovtsy, then community
members will visit an orphanage to give presents to the children.

An exhibition will open in Cherkassy on April 23. A mourning procession
is scheduled for April 24, Analitika.at.ua reported.

TURKEY SHOULD FINALLY ACKNOWLEDGE THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE OF 1915-23
Lillie Merigian

The Desert Sun
April 21 2010

International politics certainly have strange bedfellows. Some are
fickle, some devious, some expectant and some demanding. Which U.S.
"bedfellow" is all of above? Let’s talk Turkey! Oh, yes, that country.

Turkey, the country that is a longstanding NATO ally of the U.S.,
a Muslim nation that claims to be a "modern, democratic, secular"
republic and a friend of the United States — a friend? A friend
indeed or a friend in need?

For the past 95 years Turkey has refused to acknowledge the horrific
acts of its Ottoman government during 1915-23 genocide when the Young
Turk movement organized the large-scale massacre and deportations of
1.5 million Armenians from their historic homeland resulting in the
annihilation of more than half of the 2 million population.

Turkey’s present prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is in the
forefront denying such a thing ever happened. In fact, there is a
law in Turkey against saying or writing anything that is an insult to
"Turkishness." Modern, democratic?

Turkey receives $500 million in U.S. foreign aid, military and
economic, but spends megamillion bucks for powerful public relations
firms to improve its "modern, democratic, secular" image. And yet,
it dares intimidate our elected representatives with retaliatory
measures if passage of resolutions of the Armenian Genocide succeed in
Congress. It has gone so far as to threaten closure of the U.S. air
base in northern Turkey, deny access for the U.S. troops to pull
out of Iraq, and to break off relations with the U.S. and possibly
"get in bed" with Iran, its Muslim brother.

Congressional resolutions are passed every day. Recognition is given
to Be Kind to Animals Day, Pancake Week, Plant a Tree Month, and so
on. But remember the victims of the first genocide of the 20th century?

What did the Turkish government do when the House Foreign Affairs
Committee passed House Resolution 252, the Armenian Genocide
Resolution, by a narrow 23-22 margin? It immediately recalled its
ambassador from Washington for "consultations."

And what did our U.S. democratic, fighter for human rights, government
do? It immediately launched a campaign to undermine the adoption of
the resolution and began using the full force of the administration
to attempt to block members of Congress from doing exactly that which
President Obama promised during his campaign — namely, "properly
commemorating this crime against humanity." The United States of
America is allowing a foreign country to blackmail its "bedfellow"
into denying its horrific past.

Polish jurist Raphael Lemkin coined the word genocide in 1944 when
he cited the 1915-1923 annihilation of the Armenians and the Jewish
Holocaust as seminal examples of genocide. Our country needs to stand
tall and reaffirm its dedication to human rights and denounce the
Turkish government’s denial of the abundantly documented murder of
its Armenian Christian minority by its Ottoman predecessors.

According to an article in the California Courier written by Stephen
Zane, professor of politics at the University of San Francisco and
author of "Tinderbox: U.S. Middle East Policy and Roots of Terrorism,"
"The Obama administration’s position on the Armenian genocide isn’t
simply whether or not to commemorate a tragedy that took place 95
years ago, it’s about whether we see our nation as appeasing our
strategic allies or upholding our longstanding principles."

Genocide is a crime that has no statutory limitations. The moral,
psychological and political impact does not diminish with the passage
of time. Armenians worldwide commemorate the loss of their forebears
every April 24 and demand recognition and reparations for their
descendants who will never forget.

ALI HASANOV: "WE THINK THAT AZERBAIJAN’S REACTIONS HAD SOME INFLUENCE ON THE US POLICY PLANNING CENTERS"

APA
April 21 2010
Azerbaijan

Baku. Kamala Guliyeva – APA. "We regard the reaction of the U.S. State
Department on the discontent of Azerbaijan as normal and believe they
will be objective in Nagorno Karabakh conflict till the end.

We hope and think that public reactions in Azerbaijan also had
some influence on the US policy planning centers", Chief of the
Socio-Political Department of Azerbaijan’s Presidential Administration
Ali Hasanov told journalists while commenting on US State Department’s
attitude towards dissatisfactions of Azerbaijan, APA reports.

Chief of Department said that Azerbaijan did not want to spoil
relations with the U.S.: "We do not want to spoil the partnership
with the United States. Unfortunately, sometimes circumstances force
it. We hope that the United States, as before, will maintain their
healthy and partnership position in relation to Azerbaijan, and in
accordance with this, we will fulfill our commitments concerning the
interests of this country".

Speaking about Azerbaijan’s protest against the fact that the U.S.

demonstrated biased position in relation to the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict and protect the interests of Armenia and as well as the
coldness recently observed in the relations between the two states, US
State Department Spokesman Mark Toner Mark Toner said that his country
supported the position of none of the sides in the settlement process
of the conflict, and that there was no coldness in the US-Azerbaijan
relations.