Author: Varosian Antranik

TURKISH DIPLOMAT: US MAY RECOGNIZE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE IN OCTOBER
by Armen Hareyan

HULIQ.com
April 27 2010
SC

A diplomat, working for the Turkey’s Foreign Office tells Hurriyet
that Armenian Americans have a good chance to have the Armenian
Genocide resolution passed in the United States Congress and Senate
this October.

Hurriyet, one of the leading daily newspapers in Turkey, that also
publishes in English, does not reveal the name of the diplomat.

However, Umit Enginsoy does write that according to one Turkish
diplomat, who spoke over the weekend, Armenian-Americans and their
supporters in Congress "think they next have a chance in October,
a few weeks before the hotly contested elections for the House of
Representatives and the Senate."

While the identity of the diplomat is not revealed what is sad does
make sense and worthy of analysis. Especially when you put next to what
President Barack Obama said in his April 24th message commemorating
the Armenian Genocide.

Midterm elections are coming up in November of 2010. As many Armenian
Americans are not satisfied with President Barack Obama’s annual April
24 message for avoiding to use the term genocide, many Republican
candidates may want to explore this opportunity to get the votes of
the powerful U.S. Armenian diaspora. The positions of the Democrats
are faltering. This situation may create a very competitive environment
where each vote counts.

Democrats will see a big challenge coming from the Republicans.

Democrats will want to control the House and the Senate. The
republicans will want to regain their former positions in both
legislative branches of power.

In this competitive environment many current elected officials and
candidates may support the passage of the Armenian Genocide and the
U.S. recognition. This makes even more sense if you consider how much
Obama said in his message on April 24.

No Genocide, but 1.5 Million Massacred

Historians and political observers in Turkey had been so much focused
on if Obama would use the term genocide or no that they missed what
the president really said and how much more he said compared to last
year. Both this year and last year the U.S. president said his views
are known and he has not changed them. His previously known view on
the issue is that he has publicly called the events of 1915 as the
Armenian Genocide committed by Turks in the beginning of the 20th
century. Both last year and this year he used the Armenian term "Mets
Yeghern," which in Armenian context refers to the Armenian Genocide
and means a great calamity.

However, there is a little more that the president Obama said this
year that over the beginning neither the observers in Armenia, nor
in Turkey paid attention. The president said "in that dark moment
of history, 1.5 million Armenians were massacred or marched to their
death in the final days of the Ottoman Empire."

Indeed, this is the first time that the U.S. president refers to the
killings with a concert number of 1.5 million victims, which Armenia
says is the correct number of those who were massacred. Turkey denies
the genocide claim and says only 300,000 Armenians were killed. As
if that is a small number. As Hurriyet puts it in the above mentioned
story "his remarks and the concrete number he used for Armenian losses
in 1915 were sufficient to show what he believes happened then."

Another point the president mentioned was thanking those people in
Turkey who have endangered their lives to save fellow Armenians. This
is an important dimension of the entire picture and after Turkey
recognizes the Armenian Genocide this precise aspect that many Turks
saved Armenian lives may serve as a base for a historic reconciliation
between the Turkish and Armenian people.

All of these developments point to Obama’s slowly preparing Turkey
and Armenia for reconciliation and preparing a ground for calling the
events of 1915 as the Armenian Genocide. When will it be depends on
Turkey. But one should not discount how much the Armenian vote may
be need for both the Democrats and the Republicans in this midterm
elections of 2010.

MINISTER NALBANDIAN MEETS THE RUSSIAN CO-CHAIR OF THE OSCE MINSK GROUP

armradio.am
27.04.2010 14:35

On April 27 the Foreign Minister of Armenia, Edward Nalbandian,
received the newly appointed US Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group
Igor Popov.

Greeting the guest, Minister Nalbandian congratulated him on his
appointment as Minsk Group Co-Chair and voiced hope that Popov would
make an important contribution to the process of settlement of the
Karabakh issue.

Igor Popov expressed gratitude for the good wishes and assured that
he would do his best to contribute to the resolution of the conflict.

During the conversation the parties discussed the latest developments
in the process of the Karabakh conflict settlement. Igor Popov
presented the impressions from his meeting sin Baku.

TENS OF THOUSANDS OF ARMENIANS MARCH IN BEIRUT TO MARK GENOCIDE
Sebastien Malo

The Daily Star
on_id=1&categ_id=1&article_id=114202
April 26 2010
Lebanon

Organizers appalled by absence of Government representatives

BEIRUT: Tens of thousands of Lebanese of Armenian decent rallied
Saturday to commemorate the massacres of their relatives at the hands
of Ottoman Turks almost a century ago, while organizers and political
leaders expressed their worries at Turkey’s growing influence in the
region and in Lebanon.

The boisterous crowd of Armenians who gathered at the yearly
demonstration reaffirmed the claim that 1.5 million Armenians where
killed in a genocide by Ottoman Turks between 1915 and 1923.

Sixty-thousand Armenians ignored the political divisions that
frequently pit them against one another and marched together according
to organizers.

The protesters waved banners calling for the recognition of the
genocide and flags of Armenia and Lebanon as they walked on the coastal
highway – partially closed for the occasion – under the curious eyes
of drivers caught in the opposite lane’s congested traffic. Several
troops of scouts, clad with their multicolor uniforms, could be seen
chanting slogans and drumming as they strolled alongside families
and dignitaries. They paraded for nearly two hours after a morning
Mass at the Armenian Catholicostate in Antelias and headed to the
Bourj Hammoud Municipal Stadium where they listened to speeches by
Armenian political and social leaders.

"This march is very important because 10 decades after the Ottomans
committed the first genocide, authorities are still denying it took
place," said 64-year-old Mardig, a teacher and businessman of Armenian
descent whose parents settled in Sidon in 1920.

For the Armenians whose relatives have been compelled to live in
exile, universal recognition of the genocide has become a crucial
quest. "Everybody knows the reality, but because of economic reasons,
great powers are denying it happened," said Mardig, his son at his
side. Since the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in 1922 and the
subsequent creation of modern day Turkey, authorities in Ankara
have persistently denied the contentious accusations of genocide
and claimed that both Turks and Armenians were killed as a result of
their empire’s chaotic breakdown.

So far, only 20 countries – including Lebanon – have assigned the
stigmatizing label of genocide to the massacres, often as a result
of the large number of Armenian descendents among their population.

Ankara has generally responded with hostility when countries have
passed resolutions recognizing the genocide. Last month, such a
declaration by the US House of Representatives’ Foreign Affairs
Committee saw Turkey reconsider its ties with Washington.

Several organizers and political leaders said that with Lebanon’s
Parliament having already passed a resolution recognizing the genocide
in 2000, they hoped the government would now curtail its growing
economic ties with Turkey, and that it would show less contempt toward
its Armenian population.

With Turkey’s growing importance in the region, Armenians accuse the
Lebanese government of increasingly taking decisions that please their
Turkish counterparts, but are unpopular among the Armenian community.

In 2008, for instance, the Lebanese government stripped Martyrs Day –
a tribute to the killing of Lebanese intellectuals by the Ottomans –
from the list of public holidays celebrated in the country, a move
many Armenians have yet to stomach.

During a speech in Bourj Hammoud Municipal Stadium, Armenian Tashnag
Party MP Hagop Pakradounian warned his Armenian audience against the
growing influence of Turkey in the Middle East and in Lebanon. "We
demand not to fall to Turkey’s ambitions in the region. Turkey
is trying to take a role of mediator, but that is only a cover to
… take control of the Middle East. We won’t let Turkey go too far,
especially in Lebanon," he said.

Organizers said they were particularly appalled by the absence of
representatives of the heads of the government’s executive branch,
which they said they perceived as a snub. "I’m very upset," said Krikor
Khasholian, a member of the manifestation’s organizing committee. "We
sent them an invitation and expected they would [reply]."

"The Lebanese are keener to establish relations with Turkey than
to respect their Lebanese citizens," added Maral Joulouyan, another
organizer.

Several protesters at the rally said this year’s march was particularly
significant given the current peace talks between Armenia and
Turkey. The talks are hugely unpopular among the Armenian Diaspora,
which objects ways in which border issues are being discussed,
and given Ankara’s refusal to recognize the genocide as part of the
process. "The talks have been a slap in the face of the whole Armenian
Diaspora," said Rafi, an engineer at the march.

The event was organized by the Central Committee of the Commemoration
of the Armenian Genocide in Lebanon, which comprises all Armenian
political parties, organizations and associations.

‘ARMENIAN POLICY FAILS’

news.az
April 26 2010
Azerbaijan

Shukru Elekdag The oppositional party of Turkey the Republican People’s
Party-has proposed to hold wide discussions in parliament regarding
relations with Armenia.

Speaking at the session, deputy from the party and former ambassador
Shukru Elakdag said the Armenian policy held by the government
has failed.

He noted that there is no possibility regarding the ratification of
protocols in the Turkish government.

‘The protocols must be removed from the agenda and thrown into the
garbage bin’.

SPEECH BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE CYPRUS PARLIAMENT MARIOS GAROYIAN AT THE POLITICAL GATHERING IN NICOSIA-CYPRUS AT THE 95TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE COMMEMORATION OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
Alexander-Michael Hadjilyra

mp;page_id=120&path=120
Saturday 24 April 2010

Nicosia – This annual event of remembrance for the great and atrocious
crime of the Armenian Genocide and, at the same time, honouring our
ancestors who were victims of your greatest savagery of the Young Turks
in the 20th century is an act of duty and struggle as well. Because
we must keep the memory alive and not let our debt to our ancestors
unsettled nor let their sacrifice and martyrdom go unjustified.

It is with great joy and sensation that this year too I address the
event for the anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. Together with
you, I pay tribute to the victims of Turkish savagery. And all of us
together we ask, we demand that the international community recognises
this crime against humanity and condemns the criminal straight out
and without mincing its words.

We note with satisfaction that our issue is mobilised in many
countries. Some actions in some countries are unsatisfactory for us,
but we want to hope that the Armenian Genocide will be globally
recognised. Only then will humanity prove it has high rates of
moral and morality and does not tolerate and forgive barbaric crimes
against humanity.

On the occasion of this event, I salute with honour and respect all
Armenians of Cyprus, as well as all Armenians of the Diaspora.

At the same time, I send a message of support and solidarity to
the Republic of Armenia, which during this period Ankara, with evil
machinations and supposed friendly approaches, attempts to use in
order to present a facade of a peaceful and just state.

Unfortunately for Turkey, her responsibilities for the great crime
against the Armenians remain grave and leaden, and her guilt can not be
washed off with evil, supposedly friendly approaches towards Armenia.

At this point, I really feel the need to say one more thing: they tell
us, some from the international community, to be realistic; let us be.

They tell us not to let history guide our acts, our actions to the
future. They ask us to be flexible. Some ask us not to pay so much
attention to principles and values, but to see ahead to the prospect
and realities, quote and quote.

In fact, over the last period, Turkey, ex cathedra, is also giving
lessons of how should states behave, how should international
organisations behave, how should people behave, people that for years,
for decades, for centuries have gone through hell, both by the Young
Turks and modern Turks.

We are also told to forget, we are told to keep quiet, we are told
that oblivion can sometimes be a healer of any wounds. So we say one
thing: Turkey is the last one entitled to demand, Turkey is the last
one entitled to give lessons, Turkey is the last one entitled to speak
of peace, to speak about good neighbouring relations, to speak about
International Law, human rights and universal principles and values.

Look, at what happened to Armenia in October… What for? So that she
will have the facade, the alibi in December, to receive praises from
the international community in view of its own assessment. She says,
she supposedly signed the two protocols with Armenia. What is the
outcome? Which are the practical steps? Which are her actions towards
this direction? Whom did she convince? Whom does she convince? Only
the forgetful ones, only those who want to fool themselves.

Turkey will not make any steps. If she really wanted to make steps,
she ought to do the simplest one: to recognise her guilt, to recognise
the genocide of 1 ½ million Armenians, to recognise the things she
did in Cyprus in 1974, to recognise what she did to the Pontians,
to recognise what she did to the Kurds, to recognise what she did
in Syria, where she occupies Syrian territories, to recognise the
obvious and administer justice to a people.

How did we all find ourselves in the Diaspora? By accident? How did
these find themselves in France, in the United States, in Lebanon,
in Syria, in Cyprus, in Greece? By accident? It was the result of
Genocide, which some forget. And they try to convince us to forget
it too.

Well, we will not forget, neither the Genocide, nor the invasion,
nor the occupation in Cyprus. We have an obligation and a duty for
our dead, for our history, to give our best so that at last justice
is done in this place, in this community, in this international system.

This is our obligation.

And I finish by saying, and this is not an exaggeration or nationalism,
that as long as there is Armenian soul on this planet, justice will
come. As long as there is Greek soul on this plant, it will struggle
to restore justice for Armenians, and as long as there is a single
Armenian in this international community, the people of Cyprus must
know that the rights will be claimed.

This is the solidarity of the people of Cyprus to the Armenian people.

And this is the solidarity of the Armenian people to the people of
Cyprus. Only this way will solidarity be guaranteed. Only this way
will law be restored.

With these few words, I say one more thing. Lawlessness will not pass.

Impunity should not pass. Justice will prevail. The power of the
strong one will not pass. Justice will pass. And the Armenian people
and the Cypriot people have the right with them. Be well.

The Power of Memory: the Armenian Genocide
By GABE PRESSMAN

Updated 9:16 AM EDT, Sat, Apr 24, 2010

It began on April 24, 1915, and went on until 1923 — the systematic
slaughter of about 1,500,000 Armenians by the Ottoman Turks. It’s
called: the Armenian Genocide.

Throughout the world this week, Armenians are lighting candles in
their churches. Here, in New York City, many candles are being lighted
at St. Vartan’s Cathedral on Second Avenue, the largest Armenian
Church in America.

It’s a sad anniversary for the thousands of Armenians in the New York
area, and for Armenians everywhere. They are linked by history to that
horrible day in April, 1915 when the extermination began. For nearly
every Armenian family that was their Kristillnacht. Though they did
not witness the massacres, every family mourns grandfathers and
grandmothers, aunts and uncles, the victims who died then.

It began on that fateful day in April 95 years ago when the Ottoman
Turks rounded up 300 Armenian leaders in Constantinople [now known as
Istanbul]. These writers, philosophers and professionals were
executed. And 5,000 of the poorest Armenians were butchered in the
streets.

Then the brutal executions spread to the whole Armenian community in
Anatolia [present day Turkey]. Deportations and killings were carried
out. There were death marches through the desert and a mass killing of
people condemned by representatives of the British, French, Russian,
German and Austrian governments stationed in Turkey.

Through the years, Turkish governments have denied that any genocide
took place.

It seems almost pathetic that the Armenians scattered around the world
want just one thing: for the world and Turkey itself to recognize that
a genocide did take place. These descendants of the victims don’t want
reparations. They just want to close the book on a horrible event and
have the world acknowledge that it took place.

I spoke to Archbishop Khajag Barsamian, primate of the Armenian Church
of North America. He said: "It’s a sad moment for the entire
world. Our goal is to move forward, to get closure and bring peace and
understanding to both peoples, the Turks and the Armenians."

The archbishop’s own personal history goes back to the dark days. He
lost his grandfather and his grandfather’s brothers in the blood
bath. "My father," he said, "had no father."

Barack Obama, when he was a senator, used the word genocide as he
expressed empathy for the Armenians.

But, as President, he has toned down his words. When Obama met
recently with his Turkish counterpart, Abdullah Gul, in Ankara, Obama
ducked the genocide question and said he had not changed his views but
wanted the Armenian and Turkish people to move forward "and deal with
a difficult and tragic history."

The needs of international diplomacy have clearly affected Obama’s
views. But the Congress of the United States has not pulled its
punches. The House Foreign Affairs Committee voted to condemn the
genocide — despite the efforts by Turkish officials and the White
House to keep the resolution bottled up.

An Armenian church official, Chris Zakian, told me: "We take it for
granted that we live in a constitutional country. In 1915, in Ottoman
Turkey, whole communities were uprooted and annihilated. It was an act
of savagery as state policy, creating a shock wave that we still feel
a century later."

On the other hand, Zakian declares, not all the Turks or followers of
what was then called the Young Turk political party took part in the
genocide. "There were Turkish people who helped to shelter Armenians
and made it possible for many of us to survive."

Zakian added: "We have to be grateful to God and remember."

Back in 1939, Adolph Hitler, to justify his attack on Poland, said, to
ward off any criticism: "Who, after all, speaks today of the
annihilation of the Armenians?"

Well, we’re still speaking of it, long after the leader of Nazi
Germany killed himself in his bunker in Berlin. We remember it.

Memory is a powerful force. As Elie Wiesel said in his Nobel Prize
lecture "it is memory that will save humanity. For me, hope without
memory is like memory without hope."

Our Armenian neighbors and friends can cherish their survival — and
hope for a better world for their children and children’s children.

First Published: Apr 23, 2010 4:20 PM EDT

eitb.com
April 24 2010

First Turks to commemorate Armenian genocide

Staff – 04/24/2010 | Istanbul |

Human rights activists, Turkish writers and artists have publicly
remembered the Armenian genocide for the first time. This is a
breakthrough in the eternal conflict between the two countries.

Zoom inThe Department of the Istanbul Human Rights Association (IHD)
has organized a memorial for the raid on 220 members of the Armenian
intellectual elite on April 24th, 1915, the beginning of the massacres
that lasted more than two years.

They gathered at the Haydarpasa station in Istanbul, the place where
the first deportations took place. Accompanied by police and media the
protesters showed photographs of prisoners under the slogan "Never
Again".

At 18:00 ‘o clock a second demonstration is planned in the heart of
the European part of Istanbul.

Also in the Armenian capital Yerevan, thousands of people came on the
streets to remember the massacre. According to Armenia more than 1.5
million people died during the genocide, Turkey states half a million.

Officially Ankara still denies there was a genocide. They say the last
years of the Ottoman Empire caused a lot of chaos in the
Caucasus-region, and that they’re not the only ones to blame.

st-turks-commemorate-armenian-genocide/

The Next Reporter
April 24 2010

Armenians continue to force Turkey to admit guilt in 1915 genocide

By Reid Jones on April 24, 2010

April 24, 1915 is officially the date of so-called Armenian Genocide,
also known as the Armenian Holocaust and the Armenian Massacres.
Today, thousands of people commemorate the infamous incident with
marches around the world.

Last Friday in the Armenian capital of Yerevan, thousands participated
in a torch procession organized by the Armenian Revolutionary
Federation.

They carried signs that said things like: `We demand compensation from
Turkey!’ and `The recognition time is now!’

The Turkish government still denies involvement in the genocide.

-continue-force-turkey-admit-guilt-1915-genocide/0 86240/

Agence France Presse
April 24, 2010 Saturday 1:44 PM GMT

Armenians in Lebanon mark mass killings

Beirut, April 24 2010

Tens of thousands of Lebanese-Armenians took to the streets of Beirut
on Saturday in a peaceful demonstration to mark the 95th anniversary
of the mass killings of Armenians under the Ottoman empire.

"Our demands today are the same as they have been for the past 95
years: international and Turkish acknowledgment of the genocide,"
Lebanese-Armenian State Minister Jean Ogassapian told AFP. "We demand
our rights."

Amid tight security, demonstrators including MPs of Armenian origin
blocked a main highway leading into Beirut, waving Armenian flags and
carrying banners that read: "1,500,000 Armenians massacred, but we
survived. We’ll tell you the history of Turkey’s atrocities."

Other banners read: "Run, Turkey, run, but you can’t hide," and
"Impunity nurtures culture devoid of ethics."

Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their kin were systematically
killed between 1915 and 1917 as the Ottoman Empire, the predecessor of
modern Turkey, was falling apart.

The events are marked every year on April 24, the date in 1915 when
Ottoman authorities rounded up and arrested more than 200 Armenian
intellectuals and community leaders in Constantinople.

Turkey fiercely rejects the genocide label, arguing instead that
between 300,000 and 500,000 Armenians and at least as many Turks died
in civil strife when Armenians took up arms in eastern Anatolia and
sided with invading Russian troops.

The dispute has poisoned relations between the two neighbours for
decades, and reconciliation efforts launched last year remain frozen.

Hundreds of thousands of Armenian Christians are believed to have fled
to Lebanon after the mass killings.

Lebanon today hosts the Arab world’s largest Armenian community,
estimated at around 140,000 people.

LITTLE ARMENIA FAMILY NEARLY WIPED OUT BY MOM’S STALKER, COPS SAY
Carlin DeGuerin Miller

CBS News
65-504083.html
April 23 2010

LOS ANGELES (CBS/AP) The 13-year-old sole survivor from an Armenian
immigrant family gunned down in two incidents may be one step closer
to seeing justice done for her family. In December 2008, the girl
returned home to find her father and 8-year-old sister shot dead.

Eighteen months later, she found her mother shot dead in her car.

The break in the case came Monday when detectives received new
information that led them to investigate Alberd Tersargyan, an Armenian
immigrant who was reportedly a friend of the family.

Los Angeles police announced that they have arrested the man they
believe may be responsible for both the 2009 murder of Karine Hakobyan,
and the 2008 deaths of her husband, Khachik Safaryan and their daughter
Lusine Safaryan. Police say Tersargyan, of Los Angeles, may have been
obsessed with Hakobyan, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Police initially arrested Tersargyan for weapons violations after
finding several handguns and rifles, none of which were believed to
be registered. Capt. Kevin McClure said ballistics tests linked a
small-caliber handgun to the March 26 slaying of Hakobyan, who was
shot to death in a carport at her apartment complex.

Investigators believe Tersargyan may be responsible for the 2008
deaths because the family knew him as a friend, McClure said. "He
had the ability to go to the house."

Tersargyan’s arraignment was continued until May 6 and the public
defender’s office did not immediately know which of its attorneys
had been assigned to Tersargyan’s case.