Author: Topchian Jane

Turkish denial expert Halacoglu seeks Armenian Genocide `probe’

Reuters
January 12, 2005

By Gareth Jones ([email protected])

ANKARA, Jan 12 (Reuters) – As Armenians prepare to mark the 90th
anniversary of the alleged “genocide” of their people by Ottoman Turkish
forces, a leading Turkish historian has called for a multi-national inquiry
into what really happened.

Armenia says 1.5 million of its people died between 1915 and 1923 on
Ottoman territory in a systematic genocide and says the decision to
carry it
out was taken by the political party then in power in Istanbul, popularly
known as the Young Turks.

Turkey denies genocide, saying the Armenians were victims of a partisan
war during World War One which also claimed many Muslim Turkish lives.
Turkey accuses Armenians of carrying out massacres while siding with
invading Russian troops.

“I think we historians, Turkish, American, French, British and Armenian,
must come together and form a commission to investigate this issue
objectively,” Yusuf Halacoglu, head of the Turkish Historical Society, told
Reuters on Wednesday.

Halacoglu, who endorses the mainstream Turkish view of the events and
rejects the genocide claims, said setting scholars to work together was all
the more important for his country because the “genocide” issue threatened
to complicate Turkey’s entry talks with the European Union.

The European Parliament and France, home to Europe’s largest Armenian
community, have both urged Turkey to recognise the killings of Armenians
between 1915 and 1923 as genocide. Armenians this year mark the 90th
anniversary of the events on April 24 and Turkey is to start EU entry talks
on Oct. 3, 2005.

Halacoglu said the commission would ideally work under the auspices of
the United Nations or another international body to help ensure
impartiality
and to encourage all states concerned to open up their archives to the
panel.

He was due to discuss his research on the period on Wednesday with
Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul and said he hoped for official Turkish
backing
for a commission.

TURKEY “PASSIVE”

Halacoglu said Turkey had been too “passive” in the past, allowing
Armenian nationalists, especially in the well-organised diaspora in North
America and Europe, to dominate the debate.

As a result, parliaments in many countries from Canada to Switzerland had
approved resolutions recognising the “genocide” as fact, despite a lack of
documented evidence, he said.

Halacoglu said he and other Turkish historians had conducted detailed
work on the period in question over the last three years through access to
national archives in Britain, France, the United States, Russia and
Austria.

“We wanted to establish what really happened and the conclusion we
reached is that there had been no genocide. The Armenians suffered terrible
losses but equally some 500,000 to 600,000 Muslims (Turks, Kurds, Arabs)
were killed,” he said.

He put the number of Armenians who perished during that period at around
300,000 and said the main cause of death was disease, also a major killer
among the armies of the period.

As evidence that the Ottoman authorities were not bent on the destruction
of an entire people, as Nazi Germany was against the Jews, Halacoglu cited
the fact that Armenians in Istanbul and western Turkey were largely
untouched by the violence.

He also quoted documents showing that Ottoman authorities allowed some
Armenians to remain in those cities and towns affected by population
transfers and that many others were allowed to return after World War One
ended.

(Editing by Charles Dick; Reuters Messaging:
[email protected]; Ankara newsroom, +90 312 292 7012)

Hurriyet, Turkey
Jan 12 2005

ERDOGAN, PUTIN CELEBRATE BOOMING ECONOMIC TIES

Visiting Prime Minister Recep Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir
Putin yesterday celebrated booming trade relations between their two
countries during talks in Moscow focusing on new energy and military
agreements. “I agree with the forecast that bilateral trade volume
could reach $15 billion in 2005 and $25 billion in 2007,” Putin told
a press conference with Erdogan. “Our most optimistic forecasts about
economic cooperation have come true.’ Accompanied by a delegation of
600 businessmen, Erdogan was paying a return visit to Moscow after
Putin late last year became the first Russian leader to visit Turkey
in 32 years. Putin said that Russia would back efforts by UN
Secretary-General Kofi Annan to find a solution to the Cyprus
problem. Stating that he would press the international community to
speed up its efforts to lift the international blockade on the
Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), the Russian leader said,
“We do not think that the political isolation of Northern Cypriots is
fair.’ He said he had spoken to Annan yesterday morning about plans
for developing economic cooperation with the TRNC and lifting the
blockade. The Russian president also stressed that his country was
ready to help Turkey overcome its problems with Armenia, and lends
its full support to Turkey’s European Union membership bid. For his
part, Erdogan also said that they would discuss the expansion of
military-technological cooperation as Putin also confirmed that the
two countries had previous plans on the issue. He is expected to
attend a meeting of Russian and Turkish businessmen today and
inaugurate a Turkish Trade Center in central Moscow. Erdogan also
announced that he would pay a visit to Moscow on May 9 to mark the
anniversary of Russia’s fight against fascism in World War II, and
also the beginning of modern Turkish-Russian relations. /Hurriyet/

Zaman, Turkey
Jan 12 2005

Azerbaijan, Armenia FMs Meet for Karabag
By Cihan News Agency

Azerbaijan Foreign Affairs Minister Elmar Memediarov and Armenia
Foreign Affairs Minister Vardan Oskanian met in Prague to discuss the
disputed territory of Karabag; the meeting, however, did not produce
any tangible results.

The Azerbaijani Minister said that the discussion was very tough and
although they have worked very hard for a solution: “The Armenian
side is insisting on the independence of Karabag and a start to
negotiations with Khan city. Memediarov emphasized that this is
unacceptable, adding: “No one can alter Azerbaijan’s unity. We want
Azerbaijan lands to be saved and the immigrants that migrated from
Karabag to return.”

Armenian deputy minister oversees aid to tsunami victims

Public Television of Armenia, Yerevan
10 Jan 05

[Presenter] Some Armenians were also affected by tsunami in South East
Asia. Matevos Gevorgyan and his son, born in the village of Voskepar
in Armenia’s Tavush District, and now living in Russia’s Irkutsk
Region, were injured during a holiday in Thailand.

The US citizen and our countryman, Armine Gevorgyan, went missing. No
other Armenians were affected by the earthquake. Armenia is among the
countries which are rendering aid to the victims of the South East
Asia disaster. The aid is varied and multifaceted. Some Armenian
organizations are offering rehabilitation treatment [to tsunami
victims] in Yerevan.

[Armen Bayburdyan, former ambassador to India, captioned] There is a
small place, Kaolack, more than 80 per cent of this area was covered
by the big waves of tsunami, and all locals and tourists died
there. Armine Gevorkyan was among them.

[Correspondent] Armen Bayburdyan is sure that Armine Gevorkyan was the
only Armenian to fell victim to the tsunami. The former Armenian
ambassador to India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Nepal said that we have
no community in Indonesia, but the 50-strong Armenian community in
Thailand was not affected. Armenia pledged 15m dram [about 30,000
dollars] in aid to the tsunami victims which consists of blankets and
mobile generators. It also gave antibiotics and anaesthetics amounting
to 10m drams [about 20,000]. This aid is to be shipped to Sri Lanka.

[Armen Bayburdyan] The Armenian church in Calcutta decided to allocate
210,000 dollars via the Armenian embassy to the Indian government.

The honorary consul of Armenia in Thailand, Norayr Ter-Gevorkyan,
pledged to construct houses for 250 families in Phuket and sent 1,000
workers from his construction company for that.

[Correspondent] The Armenian community in Australia is also organizing
humanitarian aid and programmes.

Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Armen Bayburdyan [formerly ambassador
to India] oversees the humanitarian programmes and aid given by the
Armenians all over the world to the tsunami victims.

Hermine Bagdasaryan, Arman Garibyan, “Aylur”.

ITAR-TASS News Agency
TASS
January 9, 2005 Sunday

Armenia content with Georgia-Russia direct railway ferry opening

By Tengiz Pachkoria

TBILISI

Armenian Transportation Minister Andranik Markaryan is satisfied with
the decision of Georgia and Russia to open a direct railway ferry
connection. He said so in the Georgian capital Tbilisi on Sunday
evening.

The Armenian minister pointed out that the ferry between the ports of
Poti (Georgia) and Kavkaz (Russia) is “a shorter way for carrying
cargoes by trains than the Poti-Ilyichevsk ferry crossing.”

Markaryan believes it is “important” that the Poti-Kavkaz railway
ferry can be used not only by Georgia and Russia, but also by other
Southern Caucasus countries.

On Monday Markaryan and members of a delegation of the Azerbaijani
transportation ministry arriving in Tbilisi will hold talks with
Russian Transportation Minister Igor Levitin, who is also in Tbilisi,
and Georgian officials.

The sides will discuss issues of cooperation between railways of
Caucasian countries.

According to available information, the sides will discuss the issue
concerning the terms of the establishment of a consortium of railway
companies of four countries: Russia, Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan.

TURKEY

EU/national security

The National Security Council issued a statement welcoming the fact that the
EU had given Turkey an accession talks start date but warning that Turkey must
be ready to deal with any problems arising during negotiations. The statement
said: “It was emphasized how important it was for certain negative points in
the [EU] summit decision to be eliminated so that the accession talks process,
which aims for full membership, can be conducted on sustainable grounds not
containing any conditions or discriminating against Turkey.” Among the issues
which the council envisaged might be problematic were security problems
connected with Cyprus and the Aegean, the alleged Armenian genocide problem and the
issue of minorities.

(Hurriyet web site, Istanbul, in Turkish 31 Dec 04)

ARMENIA TREE PROJECT
65 Main Street
Watertown, MA 02472 USA
(617) 926-TREE (8733)

PRESS RELEASE
December 31, 2004

ATP SALUTES 2004 NOBEL PEACE PRIZE RECIPIENT WANGARI MAATHAI

— Grassroots leader inspired planting of 30 million trees in 30 years by
women in Kenya

WATERTOWN, MA–For the first time, the Nobel Peace Prize has been linked
with environmental issues, broadening the definition of peace and sending a
message to the world that peace must grow out of the soil of democracy and
environmental health. In response, Armenia Tree Project (ATP) has offered
its congratulations to Wangari Maathai, the winner of the 2004 Nobel Peace
Prize.

Maathai is currently Kenya’s Assistant Minister for Environment and Natural
Resources. As founder of the Green Belt Movement, she inspired the planting
of 30 million trees in 30 years by women in Kenya, winning the support of
the United Nations, governments of several European countries, and hundreds
of individuals around the world.

Accepting the Nobel Peace Prize earlier this month in Oslo, Maathai
acknowledged the work of `countless individuals and groups across the globe’
who `work quietly and often without recognition to protect the environment,
promote democracy, defend human rights, and ensure equality between women
and men.’

`By so doing, they plant seeds of peace,’ she said. `To all who feel
represented by this prize I say use it to advance your mission and meet the
high expectations the world will place on us. In this year’s prize, the
Norwegian Nobel Committee has placed the critical issue of environment and
its linkage to democracy and peace before the world.’

Maathai closed her Nobel lecture with a warning: `Activities that devastate
the environment and societies continue unabated. Today we are faced with a
challenge that calls for a shift in our thinking, so that humanity stops
threatening its life-support system. We are called to assist the Earth to
heal her wounds and in the process heal our own – indeed, to embrace the whole
creation in all its diversity, beauty, and wonder. This will happen if we
see the need to revive our sense of belonging to a larger family of life.’

`Like Wangari Maathai, we at ATP acknowledge the work of countless Armenians
across the globe who are fighting to protect our life-support system – in all
its diversity, beauty, and wonder. As we begin our second decade of
commitment to the land, people, and environment of Armenia, our cause is
more pressing than ever,’ stated ATP Executive Director Jeff Masarjian.

`Celebrate Wangari’s victory by helping us expand our work in Armenia
through vital environmental education, critical mountainous reforestation,
sustainable socio-economic development, and collaborative community tree
planting,’ added Masarjian.

ATP was founded in 1994 with the vision of securing Armenia’s future by
protecting its environment and advancing Armenia’s socio-economic
development by mobilizing resources to fund reforestation and community tree
planting. ATP uses trees to improve the standard of living of Armenians,
promoting self-sufficiency and aiding those with fewest resources first. In
its first 10 years, ATP has planted and rejuvenated 573,000 trees at more
than 500 sites in 11 regions of Armenia.

For additional information or to support ATP, visit the Web site
, write to 65 Main Street, Watertown, MA 02472, or call
(617) 926-TREE.

PHOTO CAPTION (ATP Nursery in Vanadzor.jpg): ATP’s new tree nursery in
Vanadzor is a central component of the organization’s goal of planting one
million trees per year in Armenia beginning in 2006

Azeri Foreign Ministry pleased with results of 2004

Turan news agency
30 Dec 04

Baku, 30 December: Meetings between the heads of states and foreign
ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia intensified in 2004. They laid the
foundations of continuing the negotiations and of possible progress in
the Karabakh settlement in 2005, the Azerbaijani Ministry of Foreign
Affairs has said in a press release.

Yet the document noted that the talks were exacerbated by the “very
serious” problem of Armenians settling in the occupied territories in
defiance of international legal norms. In this connection and at
Azerbaijan’s initiative, the agenda of the 59th session of the UN
General Assembly included Point 163 on the “Situation in the occupied
territories of Azerbaijan”.

As a result of this and Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov’s meetings
with his Armenian counterpart and the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmen in
Berlin, Sofia and Brussels, an agreement was reached to continue the
talks in 2005. Moreover, a decision was made to dispatch a factfinding
OSCE mission to the occupied territories in January-February to verify
evidence on illegal settlement.

The press release described as noteworthy the discussion by the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe [PACE] of a report on
the Karabakh settlement prepared by Terry Davis and David Atkinson.

In 2004, Azerbaijan took more steps towards integration into the
European and Euro-Atlantic bodies. President Ilham Aliyev presented an
individual plan of cooperation with NATO in Brussels in May 2004. In
addition, Azerbaijan was included in the European Union’s European
Neighbourhood Policy in 2004.

Azerbaijan continued active cooperation with the Organization of the
Islamic Conference, the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization
and GUUAM [Georgia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan and Moldova] in
2004.

In 2004, Azerbaijan opened embassies in Hungary, Greece, India,
Canada, Kuwait, Poland and Switzerland and general consulates in Iran
(Tabriz), Russia (St Petersburg) and Turkey (Kars).

La Opinion
29 Dic. 2004

Israel Vazquez, un centenario de oro puro;
El mexicano noquea a Artyom Simonyan y retiene la faja supergallo FIB

Ramiro Gonzalez; Enviado Especial

EL CAJON, California.– Israel Vazquez no defraudo a nadie y cerro
con broche de oro su actuacion al noquear anoche al retador armenio
Artyom Simonyan a los .59 segundos del quinto asalto y conservar el
cetro supergallo de la Federacion Internacional de Boxeo (FIB), en el
casino Sycuam.

Vazquez (37-3, 28 nocauts) dejo en claro que no por nada se convirtio
en el monarca numero 100 de Mexico, y que el titulo que capturo
pasado el 25 de marzo al noquear al venezolano Jose Luis Valbuena lo
gano a la buena.

“Quiero dejar en claro que el cetro lo capture en buena lid y no de
pura suerte, y en el 2005 quiero unificar o defender ante los
llamados grandes”, dijo de entrada Vazquez.

La pelea inicio a muy buen ritmo, Vazquez buscando el pleito por
dentro y Simonyan estableciendo la distancia donde mas le convenia.

La derecha rapida del retador (14-0-1, siete nocauts) entro varias
veces sobre el monarca, que ni se inmuto y a la vez descargo otra de
la misma manufactura que provoco un hemotoma abajo del ojo izquierdo
del armenio.

Ambos peleadores venian precedidos de victorias y, aunque tuvieron
cierta inactividad, pronto se encontraron los estilos y por ende la
pelea subio de intensidad conforme corrian los asaltos.

En el tercero, una derecha entro de lleno a la mandibula y lastimo al
retador, que en visible mal estado fue rematado por un gancho que lo
envio a la lona.

Simonyan se levanto y tras recibir una andanada de golpes sobrevivio
ese giro tambien con un corte en la boca.

En el cuarto asalto sucedio lo increible. Vazquez salio por el nocaut
al ver muy lastimado a su oponente, y de buenas a primeras el referi
James Jen Kim detuvo el combate a los 2:20 porque el guante izquierdo
-de color negro- tenia un corte y fueron cambiados por otros de color
rojo.

El cambio fue solo en el campeon, mientras que Simonyan mantuvo los
de color negro. El cambio duro por lo menos 10 minutos.

Termina el suplicio

Para el quinto asalto, Vazquez salio a completar su obra, y tras
derribar a Simonyan con una derecha en plena mandibula, el armenio se
levanto nada mas para recibir castigo innecesario, lo que provoco que
el referi detuviera el combate a los .59 segundos de ese explosivo
asalto.

“Senti que iba a noquear a Simonyan en el cuarto giro, pero por el
problema de guante le di un respiro extra. Es un pugil con mucha
experiencia”, subrayo Vazquez, quien descansara tras trabajar en las
fiestas decembrinas.

“”No me senti muy bien, y creo que mi pegada no me funciono. Me senti
confundido y sin energia”.

Finalmente, en otros resultados de anoche, Francisco Maldonado supero
por decision a Mauricio Bojorquez a cuatro giros en welter, Eddie
Mapula detuvo a Hector Rivera al final de tercer asalto a cuatro en
superligero.

Deutsche Presse-Agentur
December 27, 2004, Monday
02:05:07 Central European Time

Villa of Norway’s Nazi leader to open as Holocaust museum

By Thomas Borchert, dpa

Oslo

The former mansion of Norwegian Nazi politician and occupation leader
Vidkun Quisling is due to be opened as a centre for Holocaust studies
in January. Following extensive building works, 25 historians and
other scientists are waiting to move into the huge villa which once
boasted 3,000 square metres of living space high above the Oslo
Fjord. The residence, in which Quisling – infamous for his
deferential collaboration with the Nazis between 1941 and 1945 –
mocked the lifestyle of his idolized Fuehrer, is scheduled to be
opened in September 2006 with a permanent exhibition about the
Holocaust. A series of other genocides will also be featured in the
exhibition, among them the 1905 killing of the Herero in South West
Africa, as well as the genocides in Armenia (1915), Cambodia (1975)
Rwanda (1994), and the Balkans (1995). “I am afraid that we might
have to include Darfur in Sudan, too,” says the centre’s director
Odd-Bjorn Fure. The 62-year old historian from Bergen plans to “bring
the Holocaust back into the entirety of history” with the exhibition.
He also refers to the fate of 15 million civilian forced labourers,
and that of the Sinti and Roma, homosexuals and Jehovah’s Witnesses
under the Nazi regime. Including these groups and other genocides
into the perspective of the exhibition is morally correct and the
only way to point out the specific features of the Holocaust,
according to the historian, whose previous academic postings include
Zurich and Berlin. Fure’s position is supported by Oslo’s Jewish
community, which represents half of the board of the “Centre for the
Study of the Holocaust and the Position of Minority Belief Groups in
Norway”. In total, 735 Norwegian Jews were killed in the German
Holocaust, while only 50 survived. It was a former detainee of the
Sachsenhausen concentration camp, retired General Bjorn Egge, who
first suggested to turn Quisling’s former villa into a centre to
commemorate the Holocaust. The building, which resembles the massive
structures of Nazi architecture outside and inside, is beautifully
located on the Bygdoy Peninsula on the Western side of the Oslo
Fjord. Other popular tourist destinations on the peninsula are the
Kon- Tiki Museum of explorer Thor Heyerdahl, the Fram Museum, which
commemorates the achievements of Polar explorers such as Fridtjof
Nansen and Roald Amundsen, as well as Viking and maritime museums.
Neo-Nazis searching for traces of Quisling, however, will not find
much in the centre, even though the oak-furnished study of the former
Minister President of Norway’s Nazi occupation government has been
preserved, as well as the so-called jewellery room of Quisling’s wife
Maria. Visitors of the exhibition will only have access to his
furnished underground bunker which has been preserved the way it was
at the end of the Nazi regime in Norway, when Quisling was arrested
at the villa on May 9, 1945. The man, who had formed Norway’s fascist
Nasjonal Samling party in May 1933 and whose name eventually became a
synonym for traitor, was tried and executed by a firing squad on
October 24, 1945. Far from allowing history to be taken over by
sentiment, the new centre’s director emphasizes: “Here, we do not
want to appeal to feelings above all, as is the case at the Holocaust
Museum in Washington.” “We place much greater emphasis on rational
understanding and the question how similar events can be prevented in
the future,” he adds. dpa tb emc sc