Armenian president, CIS official discuss implementing agreements
Public Television of Armenia, Yerevan, in Armenian
27 Sep 05
Armenian President Robert Kocharyan met the chairman of the CIS
Executive Committee, Vladimir Rushaylo, today.
The sides discussed the process of implementing agreements reached
during the CIS summit in Kazan recently. Kocharyan and Rushaylo
exchanged views on organizational problems concerning the activity of
the CIS Executive Committee.
[Video showed the meeting]
EU MPs add provisos to Turkey bid
BBC
Wednesday, 28 September 2005, 13:03 GMT 14:03 UK
The European Union parliament has backed plans to start talks on Turkish
accession, but insisted on a number of provisos before it is allowed entry.
MPs insisted Ankara recognise the killings of thousands of Armenians in 1915
as genocide. Turkey denies that the killings were systematic.
MPs also postponed a vote on ratifying Turkey’s customs arrangements because
of its refusal to recognise Cyprus.
Neither decision affects entry talks which are due to start on 3 October.
The negotiations, once started, are expected to take about 10 years.
The European Commission said the postponement of the vote was an “own goal”
by the parliament.
The Armenian killings have long been a taboo subject in Turkey. Armenians,
supported by 15 countries, including France, Switzerland, Russia and
Argentina, accuses the then Ottoman rulers of carrying out a “genocide”.
Turkey disputes the charge, saying that a few hundred thousand died and that
the deaths occurred in a civil war in which many Turks were also killed.
But Turkey’s Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan did condemn a Turkish court’s
decision to order the cancellation of a conference about the killings which
was due to have been held last week.
Vetoes await
Further talks about Turkey’s accession are set for Thursday to try to
resolve a deadlock over the question of the negotiating framework for
Turkish membership.
Turkey has been clear that it will not accept the option of privileged
partnership, which Austria is pushing to be inserted into the negotiating
framework; only full membership will do.
The BBC’s Jonny Dymond says that even if they get the framework they want,
the membership process will be a long and painful one.
This is partly because so much needs to be done by Turkey to adapt itself to
EU rules. It needs to absorb the 80,000 page long EU rule book into its
domestic law.
One member state has already boasted about the number of potential vetoes it
has during the negotiations process. There is also the question of Turkey’s
continuing human rights reform process.
Expectations
The European Commission has promised to monitor closely how Turkey proceeds.
If it is deemed to be slipping backwards in theory or practice, then the
commission will not hesitate to make its misgivings public.
To add to all the difficulties, there is the question of public expectations
in Turkey.
Our correspondent says many Turks see the membership process as a genuine
negotiation, a process of give and take. But by and large, Turkey has simply
to do what it is told if it wants to join the club – which for many is a
sharp change in culture, he adds.
TURKEY’S CHRISTIAN MINORITY DECRIES PREJUDICE
By Selcuk Gokoluk
Reuters
09/26/05 12:52 ET
ANTAKYA, Turkey, Sept 26 (Reuters) – At a conference aimed at
showcasing religious tolerance in this EU candidate nation, leaders
of Turkey’s tiny Christian community said on Monday they face constant
prejudice from the Muslim majority.
Turkey is more than 99 percent Muslim and its Christians are mainly
descendants of Greeks and Armenians who stayed after the fall of the
multi-ethnic, multi-confessional Ottoman Empire in the 1920s.
Ankara is under pressure from the European Union to bolster the
freedoms of its non-Muslim citizens as it prepares for the historic
launch of EU membership talks next week.
Patriarch Bartholomew, the Istanbul-based titular head of the world’s
300 million Orthodox Christians, said his church still suffered
from petty restrictions rooted in the distrust and hostility of the
Turkish authorities.
“We have difficulty understanding the mentality which sees our rituals
as a show of force and our visits (around Turkey) as missionary
activity,” the Patriarch told delegates attending the “Meeting of
Civilisations” conference.
Turkish nationalists have long viewed the patriarchate as a tool
of ancient foe Greece, even though Bartholomew himself is a Turkish
citizen. He addressed the conference in Turkish.
“We are upset by the efforts of those who try to make politics out
of the patriarchate and our community … Our patriarchate is only a
religious institution and is interested only in its religious duties,”
Bartholomew said.
He complained he had not been allowed to perform religious rituals in
the past two years at the church of Saint Nicholas — the prototype
for Santa Claus — in the Mediterranean town of Demre on his feast-day
on December 6.
The church is a museum, but in the previous 20 years Bartholomew said
he had been able to conduct rituals there.
SUSPICIONS
The spiritual leader of Turkey’s small Armenian community, Patriarch
Mesrob II, echoed Bartholomew’s criticisms.
“Unfortunately our being different from the majority is not always
seen as an asset,” he said, adding his church too had to combat
wrongful ideas and prejudices against it.
Both Bartholomew and Mesrob appealed for greater understanding and
empathy from their Turkish fellow-citizens.
Officially, Turkey is strictly secular but Islam is closely tied
up with the national identity — the flag bears the Islamic star
and crescent moon, for example — and many feel non-Muslims are not
real Turks.
In a sign of how sensitive religion can be, one Turkish lawmaker has
condemned the Antakya conference as an attempt to distract attention
from the “exploitations and massacres conducted by the United States
and Israel in our region”.
“Our Muslim nation’s patience and awareness is being tested by these
meetings, dialogues, conferences and parks of religion,” Mehmet Silay,
who represents the Antakya region, said in a statement issued before
the conference began.
Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, whose ruling Justice and Development
Party (AKP) has Islamist roots, told the 700 delegates the world’s
Muslims had also faced increased prejudice and discrimination since
the 9/11 attacks on the United States.
“Islamphobia is a crime against humanity, just like anti-Semitism,”
said Erdogan, a practising Muslim.
Located near the Syrian border, the town of Antakya — known as
Antioch in ancient times — was chosen as the venue for the week-long
conference because of its rich religious heritage.
The area contains Turkey’s oldest mosque and is also the place where
Jesus’s followers were first called Christians. Antakya is still home
to small Christian and Jewish communities.
PETITIONERS RUSH TO RESTORE L.A. COUNTY CROSS BEFORE DEADLINE
Christian Post, CA
Sept 26 2005
LOS ANGELES – The committee spearheading the initiative to restore
the cross on the L.A. County Seal must submit over 170,000 petition
signatures to the County’s Register Recorder Office by 5:00 p.m.
today to qualify the measure for the June 2006 ballot.
“Every signature counts. It doesn’t matter if it’s last minute,”
David Hernandez, chairman of the Committee to Support the Los Angeles
County Seal Ordinance, told the Christian Post Sunday night.
According to the group’s website on Monday morning, the absolute
deadline to submit petition signatures to the group’s headquarters in
Sylmar in North San Fernando Valley will be Monday afternoon at two
o’clock. Representatives of the Committee plan to make a 15-minute
stop at the L.A. County Republican Party Headquarters in Commerce
before heading to the County’s Register Recorder Office in Norwalk.
“We don’t want to take any chances, considering traffic,” Hernandez
continued. “We had hoped to be done two weeks ago but things didn’t
work out that way.”
Numbers on the Committee’s website on Sunday report that 122,414
signatures have been collected – leaving 47,586 remaining to meet
the petition signature quota.
Although the pressure of meeting the impending deadline has been
growing, local churches and registered L.A. County voters have risen
to the call.
Churches from all over L.A. County used Sunday masses and services
as opportunities to collect last-minute signatures from congregants.
Among them were Crenshaw Christian Center in Los Angeles and St.
Monica’s in Santa Monica. According to Hernandez, Catholic churches
and groups such as the Knights of Columbus have been really engaged
in the effort.
Specific numbers are yet to be finalized from the churches’ petitions
but Hernandez estimated around 5,000 signatures were tallied up at a
petition drop-off site at his home and around 2,500 – 3,000 more were
gathered during a petition signing event at an Armenian Independence
Day celebration at Verdugo Park in Glendale on Sunday.
Hernandez said Armenians could empathize with the attack on the L.A.
County Seal because they experienced religious persecution firsthand
during 1915 when 1.5 million Armenians died in genocide at the hands
of Ottoman Turkish forces. An article published in The Middle East
Quarterly reported that several hundred thousand Christians died by
starvation or were murdered during the deportation of the Armenians
from Anatolia to the Syrian Desert and elsewhere in 1915-16.
“Most Americans don’t understand religious persecution. We don’t
have the historical reference like the Armenian community or the
Jewish community have. When we think about persecution, it’s not in
the same context,” he said. “Here you have a culture where you had
what religious persecution could lead to and did lead to.”
Hernandez said he had hoped the Armenian community could help educate
Americans on the dangers of religious persecution. Because people
are unaware of the issue, efforts to garner enough signatures in last
two petitions drives were unsuccessful, he added.
The L.A. County Board of Directors voted to replace the 1957 version
of the Seal after the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) threatened
suit unless the cross was removed from the Seal, alleging the cross
was a government endorsement of religion.
Supporters of cross including County Supervisors Mike Antonovich and
Don Knabeargue, who voted against its removal, argue that the cross
is a cultural and historical symbol.
Hernandez said he has seen people work their hearts out but noted
that regardless of the outcome, “We have no regrets.”
More information on the petition drive can be found at the
Committee to Support the Los Angeles County Seal Ordinance website,
Pan Armenian News
OSKANIAN AND SCOTT DISCUSSED PROSPECTS OF ARMENIA-CALIFORNIA RELATIONS
22.09.2005 08:38
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Today Armenian FM Vartan Oskanian met with California
Senator Jack Scott, reported the Armenian MFA Press Service. In the course
of the meeting the parties discussed prospects of development of
Armenia-California relations, noting the importance of visits of
politicians, as well as contacts between businessmen and ordinary citizens.
The Armenian FM appreciated Senator’s personal contribution to the opening
of the Trade Center in California, as well as recognition of the Armenian
Genocide by the State. In his turn J. Scott assured he will continue active
participation in the solving of the Armenian issue. The Senator is sure that
the opening of the Trade Center will bridge Armenian and American nations.
He remarked that besides Armenia the Center will comprise neighboring
states.
ARMENIANS TO HOLD AN EP CONFERENCE ON TURKEY
ARMINFO News Agency
September 22, 2005
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 22. ARMINFO. The European Armenian Federation with
the support of the Christian Democrats is organizing a “Conference
on Turkey” in the European Parliament (EP) on September 22.
Several important figures including former French Foreign Minister
Michel Barnier are expected to participate in the conference titled
“December 2004-October 2005: Has Turkey Changed?” Under the auspices of
the EP Vice-President Ingo Friedrich, the conference aims to evaluate
the reform process in Turkey and if the country is ready or not for
European Union membership negotiations, which will start in 10 days
time. However, the fact that the conference is being organized by
the European Armenian Federation, well known with its views against
Turkey, increases the possibility that the meeting could turn into
an anti-Turkey platform.
Apart from Barnier, EP Socialist Group Chair Martin Schulz, EP French
member Jacques Toubon, also known for his views against Turkey,
Armenian Parliament Foreign Relations Committee Chair Armen Rustamyan,
EP Turkey Rapporteur Camiel Eurlings and Pierre Mirel from the European
Commission Directorate-General for EU Enlargement are expected to
take part in the conference.
TEACHING KIDS ABOUT ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
Belmont Citizen-Herald, MA
Sept 22 2005
The National Association for Armenian Studies and Research, the
Armenian Assembly of America and Facing History and Ourselves will
present a panel discussion, “Armenian Genocide Education: Reaching
Into the School Curriculum,” on Friday, Sept. 30 at 7:30 p.m. in the
Belmont High School Auditorium.
Over the past several decades a remarkable amount of work has been done
to document and analyze the Armenian Genocide committed by the Ottoman
Turks in 1915-23. Yet the level of knowledge of the genocide outside
the Armenian community remains disappointingly low; and moreover,
the lessons of the Armenian Genocide and other 20th century genocides
have not halted the practice of mass killings for political purposes,
as recent events in Darfur attest.
Facing History and Ourselves of Brookline has been a leader in
producing Holocaust and genocide curricula since its founding in the
late 1970s. It has now published a textbook on the Armenian Genocide,
“Crimes Against Humanity and Civilization: The Genocide of the
Armenians,” supervised by Adam Strom with significant input from
leading scholars such as Richard Hovannisian.
The existence of this text, as well as the huge body of scholarship
on the subject, raises key questions: How to get the text and the
teaching of the Armenian Genocide into public schools in Massachusetts
and beyond? What is the most effective way to teach the Armenian
Genocide to non-Armenians? Can the lessons of the Armenian Genocide
have a far-reaching effect in the prevention of future genocides?
These and many other questions will be addressed by a panel discussion
which will be moderated by Marc A. Mamigonian of NAASR.
Panelists include: Professor Richard G. Hovannisian, Armenian Education
Foundation Professor of Modern Armenian History at UCLA; Margot Stern
Strom, executive director of Facing History and Ourselves; Adam Strom,
director of Research and Development, Facing History and Ourselves;
and Dr. Henry Theriault, associate professor of philosophy at Worcester
State College.
Admission is free (donations accepted). Parking is available at
Belmont High School and in adjacent areas on Concord Avenue.
There will be a reception following the program at the NAASR Center,
395 Concord Ave., Belmont.
For more information, visit or call 617-489-1610.
US Congress committee passes 2 resolutions on ‘genocide’ of Armenians
Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
Sept 19 2005
Baku, September 16, AssA-Irada
The US Congress committee on international relations has passed two
resolutions on the so-called “genocide” of Armenians after approving
relevant draft laws.
In the resolutions, Turkey and the Bush administration are urged to
recognize the “genocide”, according to the US Assembly of Armenians.
The first resolution was approved by 35 Congressmen, with 11 voting
against it, while the second one was approved by 40 Congress members.
The Greek community in the United States backed the two resolutions.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyib Erdogan stated in a meeting with
his Israeli counterpart Ariel Sharon in New York that Turkey needs
support from the Jewish Lobby in connection with the mentioned issue.*
TPB CHAIRMAN SENDS LETTER TO MEMBERS OF US HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Turkish Press
Sept 16 2005
ANKARA – Turkish Parliamentarians Union (TPB) Chairman Hasan Korkmazcan
sent a letter to members of U.S. House of Representatives, calling
them to act with commonsense and without prejudice regarding the
draft resolution on the so-called Armenian genocide, it was reported
on Friday.
The letter stressed that the provocation carried out by fanatic
organizations within the framework of biased, racist and unreal
allegations, would affect negatively friendly relations of Turkey
with its neighbors.
Korkmazcan indicated that reflecting historical incidents through a
biased point of view which is far from being scientific, and turning
them into campaigns targeting Turkey`s social values, was unfortunate.
Korkmazcan said, “it is an absolute necessity to remember (today)
terrorist groups of Armenian origin, claiming lives of many civilians
and leaving its mark on 70`s and 80`s.”
Committee on International Relations of the U.S. House of
Representatives Thursday passed two resolutions acknowledging the
so-called Armenian genocide, although the U.S. Department of State
sent the committee a letter opposing this move.
‘APPROVAL OF ARMENIAN BILL WILL HARM OUR INTERESTS’
By Anadolu News Agency
Zaman, Turkey
Sept 16 2005
zaman.com
US State Department Assistant Secretary for legislation affairs, Matt
Reynolds, wrote a letter to Henry Hyde, US House of Representatives
International Relations Committee head, indicating that the US
administration is against the approval of Armenian bills seeking for
recognition of the so-called Armenian genocide.
The House discussed two Armenian bills earlier today.
Despite the letter of objection prepared by the US administration
and sent to Hyde, the bill has been approved by the House.
Reynolds’s letter to Hyde said US President George W. Bush acknowledged
in his April 24 statement the “tragic events that happened in Eastern
Anatolia when the Ottoman Empire was about to end,” which Armenians
are inclined to see as the 90th anniversary of the so-called genocide.
The letter also indicated the committee apparently determined to
discuss these bills, but the US administration would resist the
approval of these two bills.
If these bills are put on the agenda of the House General Assembly
for discussion, that will harm Turkish and American relations and
stop Ankara and Yerevan relations from improvement.