Author: Tigranian Ani

301ST SECTION OF TURKISH CRIMINAL CODE IS NOT A GROUND TO WITCH-HUNT, TURKISH POLITICIAN THINKS

Arminfo.
2010-03-23 13:52:00

Arminfo. The 301st section of the Turkish Criminal Code is not a ground
to witch-hunt the people, which recognize the fact of the Armenian
genocide in 1915, chairman of the Turkish Liberal and Democratic Party,
Cem Toker, told journalists in Yerevan.

‘The 301-st section is applied only regarding the people which condemn
or criticize the authorities’, – he said.

To note, 6745 cases were initiated in Turkey according to the 301-st
section over the last 5 years and 754 people were punished. Dozens
of Turkish writers were blamed for the public statements about
the Armenian genocide in the Ottoman Turkey in 1915. Actually, the
section is used by the authorities to make a dead-set at journalists,
scientists and any other citizens of Turkey, the viewpoint of which
does not meet the official one.

DEPUTY FOREIGN MINISTER OF ARMENIA REMINDS TURKISH PRIME MINISTER OF MILLIONS OF TURKISH MIGRANTS

ArmInfo
2010-03-22 14:27:00

ArmInfo. Deputy Foreign Minister of Armenia Arman Kirakosyan reminds
the prime minister of Turkey of the millions of Turkish migrants.

"When speaking about the Armenians having allegedly left for Turkey
because of a tight situation, Mr. Erdogan forgets about availability
of millions of Turkish migrants who left for different countries of
the world to earn a daily bread", -Kirakosyan said when commenting
on the recent statement by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

To recall, Erdogan threatened to deport Armenians from Turkey to
allegedly draw the attention of the world community to the fact of
stay of illegal migrants from Armenia in the territory of Turkey.

"Unfortunately, on the eve of the 95th anniversary of the Armenian
Genocide in Ottoman Empire, the authorities of modern Turkey are
still guided not by the European system of values but that of
the Ottoman Empire when speaking about deportation of Armenians",
A. Kirakosyan said.

TURKISH PRESIDENT MAKES A STAND FOR ERDOGAN

PanARMENIAN.Net
22.03.2010 19:51 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Relations with Washington have become strained
in recent weeks following a US congressional committee vote that
described the killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks during the first
World War as Genocide. Ankara recalled its ambassador in protest.

Abdullah Gul questions the motives of those who voted in favour of
the resolution: "More than anything else this is being disrespectful
to history. This decision was not taken by historians but rather by
a group of people who have been under the influence of a group of
lobbyists and decided on the matter with these motivations."

"What we are saying is ..let the historians come together and decide,
with all the historical documents . . . Let them judge this and we
will accept that judgment." The controversy continued last week after
prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke to the BBC, threatening to
deport Armenian migrants.

Gul insists Erdogan’s comments were "wrongly interpreted" by the
media. "He did not want to say that we will be expelling those people
but he wanted to underline the fact that we do not have any hostility
or grudge. He tried to draw attention to the fact that, even though
there are so many illegal workers in Turkey, if there had been a
policy of expelling them we would have done it many years ago,"
The Irish Times cited Abdullah Gul as saying.

AMD 13.7 BILLION SENT TO STATE BUDGET BY 344 LARGE TAXPAYERS IN ARMENIA IN JAN 2010

ARKA
March 22, 2010

YEREVAN, March 22. /ARKA/. Some 344 large taxpayers in Armenia
transferred AMD 13.7 billion to the state budget in January 2010,
Armenian State Revenue Committee said in its monthly analysis of
large taxpayers’ indicators placed on the committee’s official website.

The committee says this amount is greater than that of the same month
of the previous year.

Ten organizations – K-Telecom, Armenia Telephone Company, Alex Grig,
Armenian Nuclear Power Plant, Transgaz, Armenian Kapr Program,
TSK Svyazstroykom, Armenia-International Airports, Zangezur Copper
and Molybdenum Combine, Armenian Electric Networks and ACBA-Credit
Agricole Bank – sent by AMD 3.9 billion greater amount in Jan 2010
than they transferred in Jan 2009.

The committee says tax agencies carried out 26 inspections in January.

As a result, additional AMD 71.7 million was exacted. ($1 = AMD
402.68).

Armenian Public Garden To Be Laid In Kyiv

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
22.03.2010 11:22 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The National Congress of Armenians of Ukraine
has drawn up the list of events dated to the 95th anniversary of
the Armenian Genocide. The Congress decided to screen a film about
the Genocide and organize a concert with participation of well-known
Ukrainian performers. Besides, an Armenian public garden will be laid
and a Genocide memorial inaugurated in Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine,
analitika.at.ua reported.

The Armenian Genocide (1915-23) was the deliberate and systematic
destruction of the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire during
and just after World War I. It was characterized by massacres, and
deportations involving forced marches under conditions designed to
lead to the death of the deportees, with the total number of deaths
reaching 1.5 million.

The majority of Armenian Diaspora communities were formed by the
Genocide survivors.

Armenian president: Award of honourable degree of YSU doctor to
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is special approach to delicate problem

2010-03-20 13:18:00

ArmInfo. Award of an honourable degree of YSU doctor to President of
Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is a special approach to a delicate problem,
President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan said in response to ArmInfo’s
question.

"I would call this decision of Yerevan State University a special
approach to a delicate problem, and this approach is widespread today
in democratic countries. You know, we cannot make our neighbours and
heads of other states to think what we think about the Armenian
Genocide. One should not personify the fact of degree award: it is
just a desire to express gratitude to the people of a country
represented by one or another politician and, you know, the Iranians
are our close neighbours and very important for us", S. Sargsyan said.

Propaganda of hate on the stage

2010-03-20 13:08:00

ArmInfo. There is performance in the repertoire of the Tbilisi State
Academic Theater named Mardzhanishvili "Kakutsa Cholokashvili" staged
by artistic director Levan Tsuladze, which has caused astonishment
among representatives of ethnic minorities.

In the play there are sayings foaming interethnic hatred, insulting
Russian, Armenian and Ossetian peoples. The following maxima are put
into the mouth of the character performing Head of the Tsarist secret
police: "We consciously settle Ossetians and Armenians in the inner
Georgia and deport Georgian Muslims to weaken the country, dividing it
in half." "We will destroy the Georgians, women and children, as Shah
Abbas, Tamerlane and other invaders did".

Characters with Armenian names and surnames (for example, Kirakozov)
are shown as the traitors and provocateurs, responsible for killings
of Ilya Chavchavadze, national poet and publicist and Shio Chitadze,
Georgian teacher, publicist and public activist as well as bloodshed
of Georgian princes during sovietization. First, it is a violation of
historical truth (known, for example, that Ilia Chavchavadze was
killed by Berbichashvili on orders of the Georgian Social-Democrats).
Secondly, it is impossible to divide the people of Georgia on the
"good" representatives of the titular nation and "bad" representatives
of national minorities.

Unlike Mardzhanishvili Theater Performance of similar topic "George
Mazniashvili", reflecting the same epoch, which awakens in the
audience a sense of patriotism and pride for their homeland, play
"Kakutsa Cholokashvili" contains statements offensive to minority
representatives.

The Gazette (Montreal)
March 18, 2010 Thursday
Final Edition

Turkey threatens to expel 100,000 Armenians; ‘They are not my
citizens’; PM Warning comes as Sweden and U.S. brand Ottoman-era
killings as genocide

IBON VILLELABEITIA, Reuters
ANKARA

Turkey’s prime minister has threatened to expel thousands of illegal
Armenian immigrants after U.S. and Swedish lawmakers passed votes
branding First World War-era killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks as
genocide.

Muslim Turkey, a NATO member and candidate to join the European Union,
recalled its ambassadors to Washington and Stockholm this month after
the non-binding votes and warned that they could hurt a fragile effort
to reconcile with Christian Armenia after a century of hostility.

Asked about the votes in an interview with the BBC Turkish service
that was broadcast late Tuesday, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan said: "There are currently 170,000 Armenians living in our
country. Only 70,000 of them are Turkish citizens, but we are
tolerating the remaining 100,000.

"If necessary, I may have to tell these 100,000 to go back to their
country because they are not my citizens. I don’t have to keep them in
my country."

Commentators have said the U.S. vote could affect Washington’s use of
the Incirlik Air base in southeast Turkey, which provides vital
logistical support for U.S. troops going to and from Iraq.

Erdogan’s comments met with a stern reaction from Armenia.

"This kind of political statement does not help improve relations
between the two states," Prime Minister Tigran Sarksyan said.

"I agree with the assessment that when the Turkish prime minister
allows himself to make such statements, the events of 1915 immediately
return to our memory," he added.

Thousands of illegal Armenian immigrants, mostly women from the
impoverished countryside, work as cleaning ladies and in other
low-skill jobs in Istanbul, where many settled after an earthquake in
their homeland in 1988.

The exact number of Armenian immigrants in Turkey is unknown. But
Turkish-Armenian groups say Turkish politicians inflate the numbers of
illegal workers and threaten expulsions whenever tensions escalate
between Ankara and Yerevan.

Erdogan said Armenian immigrants had been allowed to work in Turkey as
a "display of our peaceful approach, but we have to get something in
return."

The Swedish Wire
March 20 2010

Turkey steps back from Armenian expulsion

ISTANBUL (AFP) – Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said
Saturday he had no immediate plans to expel illegal Armenian workers
after his threat to do so sparked a barrage of criticism at home and
abroad.

Erdogan however urged Western countries to stop branding the massacres
of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire as "genocide," slamming such
moves as attempts to "tarnish" Turkey’s honour and "meddle" in its
ties with Armenia.

The Turkish media and rights groups accused Erdogan of treating
illegal Armenians as a pawn in Ankara’s protests after his threat
earlier this week to deport thousands of impoverished Armenians
working illegally in Turkey.

But Erdogan said his remarks were aimed "at drawing the world’s
attention to our tolerant approach towards those people" and did not
mean that "we will take such a step immediately."

"What I am saying is that those who pass these baseless (genocide)
resolutions… should see the humanitarian perspective from which we
look at the problem… They should not meddle in our ties with our
neighbours," Erdogan told a gathering of Turkish artists.

"We are not speaking about citizens or immigrants or refugees. Still,
we have shown good will. We have displayed tolerance towards some
needy people… and we will continue to do so," he said.

But "we cannot stay silent when some people take actions to tarnish
the honour of Turkey and the Turkish people, while we are displaying
all kind of good will and tolerance," he added.

Erdogan blamed the "genocide" resolutions on the influential Armenian
diaspora in the West and "those who use them."

Earlier this month, the US House Foreign Affairs Committee approved a
non-binding resolution branding the World War I massacres a genocide,
and Sweden’s parliament followed suit last week, infuriating Ankara.

In an interview with the BBC Turkish service Tuesday, Erdogan
threatened to expel illegal Armenian workers if foreign parliaments
continued to pass such resolutions, prompting a condemnation from
Yerevan and harsh domestic criticism that his remarks damaged already
troubled peace efforts with Armenia.

Erdogan put the number of illegal Armenians in Turkey at 100,000.

Researchers however say that the Turkish authorities tend to inflate
the figures to put pressure on Armenia, estimating the number between
10,000 to 20,000.

Following Swiss-brokered talks to end decades of enmity, Turkey and
Armenia signed a deal in October to establish diplomatic ties and open
their border. But the process has already hit snags, with both sides
accusing the other of lacking commitment to the deal.

Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their kin were killed in systematic
massacres during World War I as the Ottoman Empire fell apart.

Turkey counters that between 300,000 and 500,000 Armenians and at
least as many Turks perished in civil strife when Armenians rose up
against their Ottoman rulers and sided with invading Russian forces.

Several other countries, notably France, have also recognised the
killings as genocide.

eps-back-from-armenian-expulsion

HERITAGE PARTY PREPARES RESPONSE TO TURKISH PREMIER

news.am
March 19 2010
Armenia

The Heritage Party (Armenia) is preparing its response to Turkish
Premier Recep Erdogan. The party’s statement will be sent out to all
the members of the CE Parliamentary Assembly.

"We must ask the PACE members whether an official of a CE member-state
can resort to threats and blackmail. We should not forget that
Istanbul, that is Constantinople, is the homeland of Armenians, Greeks,
Assyrians and, of course, Turks," Zaruhi Bostanjyan, a Heritage Party
member, stated at a news briefing.

Yeghine Bisharyan, Head of the Country of Law faction, is surprised
at the fact that a state seeking full membership of the European
family threatens to deport Armenians. Statements like that only
impede the Armenian-Turkish normalization process and cause damage
to Turkey’s international reputation. "Erdogan’s statements show we
should implement a more cautious policy so as not to cause any harm
to the Armenians abroad," Bisharyan said.

Hrair Karapetyan, Chairman of the Committee on Defense, National
Security and Internal Affairs, RA Parliament, said that Erdogan’s
statement proves Turkey has not changed its style. "Authorities change,
the style remains the same," he said. Karapetyan stressed that Turkey
poses a threat to Armenians now as well.

"It was statements like that that provoked the Armenian Genocide
in Ottoman Turkey early in the 20th century. The recognition of the
Armenian Genocide has become even more topical amid this, and we must
exert greater efforts," Karapetyan said. He stated that the Armenian
Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) (ARFD) will take an active
part in the commemoration of the 95th and 100th anniversary of the
Armenian Genocide.

The Turkish Premier threatened recently that the illegal Armenian
immigrants, 100,000 people, will be deported from Turkey.