man

If you love flowers you should click on the link, if you do not then those photos in the link will make you love flowers: http://pinterest.com/kazmaz/blossom-there-came-a-time-when-the-risk-to-remain-/

I have posted this one because smoking is disaster number one among Armenians and in Armenia: 20 questions about smoking that will make you quit Thursday, June 27, 2013 by: S. D. Wells (NaturalNews) Here are 20 questions that engage smokers and help them consider why they smoke cigarettes, just what they are really smoking, and why they can't quit. These questions are posed to students of the one-hour class "14AndOut," and then those answers are reflected upon and/or corrected by the teacher and inventor of the program, who reveals exactly how to quit in 14 days or fewer, naturally, without medications and without hypnosis. The 20 questions invite any and all smokers to think about the chemical knowledge associated with the addiction, consider the most common and popular behavior rituals to change, and finally to engage nutrition in order to "replace and replenish" a broken down digestive, breathing, and cleansing system, so you have energy and a positive outlook when you quit cigarettes for good. The 20 question "smoking" trivia quiz 1. Can you name five household chemicals in a cigarette? Most students guess three ingredients and then they are stuck; "Tobacco, paper, and um, um, nicotine?" Some typical guesses include pesticide and formaldehyde. One student even guessed fiberglass once. Little do most people know though, commercial cigarettes contain a whole boatload of dangerous products. That's why smokers call them cancer sticks. Cigarettes contain ammonia for super strength nicotine and plastic (cellulose acetate) to make it burn evenly, and glass wool (fiberglass filter), not to mention bleach and herbicide weed killer (GMO RoundUp). These chemicals combine to give smokers a chemical "hangover" which in turn feeds the "nic fit" (nicotine) relief for the anxiety caused by the 4,000 plus chemicals, namely the top five listed above. Here's a clip from the "Stop Smoking King" on YouTube: (). 2. Why are cigarettes white? Most students have no clue as to the answer to this simple question. Trees are brown. Paper comes from trees. Cigarettes are rolled in white, bleached paper. You are smoking bleach. Smokers need detoxification help when they quit, especially to get bleach and pesticide out of their cleansing organs, like their kidneys, their pancreas and their liver. You cannot live without these vital organs. Big Tobacco knows this. Nutrition is the "Yellow Brick Road" to freedom from the commercial cigarette chemical "hangover." () 3. Besides nicotine, what makes cigarettes so addicting? Students often say "the nicotine," but they can't really explain why. Many smokers light up to get rid of their anxiety, but what's causing the anxiety? Some smokers light up to get some "drive," thought boost or a little hit of confidence, but why is their confidence lacking? The majority of smokers just smoke because they are stressed out about life and how to live it, but again, why can't they quit when things get "good?" The addiction isn't to nicotine, it's to relief from the central nervous system overload of heavy toxins that are trapped inside of tar, which is trapped inside both lungs, and the vicious cycle that ensues by smoking another "stogie." 4. How do tobacco leaves contain poison? Smokers can't answer this one. Most tobacco is GMO, genetically modified in a lab, so the bug killer and weed killer is put in the seeds, then grows INSIDE the plant, and so tobacco can also withstand more topical RoundUp and bug/worm killer, making commercial tobacco a pesticide bonfire of carcinogenic poison loaded up in every puff. 5. Why does it take up to 15 years for a cigarette filter to disintegrate? Peel apart a cigarette "butt" or filter and you will find what looks just like fiberglass insulation. That's right, this is glass "wool," not some sponge wrapped up tight. If it were just paper and say, cotton, it would break up and dissolve after a few rainstorms if left outside. These microscopic "glass" shards collect in the lungs and damage soft tissue called epithelial. Also known as ground glass opacity, it shows up on CT scans: (http://tv.naturalnew...E787CEC445DA436) 6. Why do cigarettes burn so hot, so evenly and never go out in heavy wind? One student answered "the nicotine?" Actually, cellulose acetate, used to manufacture photo film, is carefully cross weaved into the papers. That's one reason cigarettes don't go out in the wind, and they burn evenly, never trailing up one side. Consider also why cigarettes burn at 1700 degrees during inhale. Have you seen the movie "Inglorious Bastards?" Photo film is highly flammable. This is an "efficient nicotine delivery device" (ENDD is the acronym - appropriately). This means you're smoking plastic. This is not regulated. 7. What effect do all of the chemicals have on your body? Smoking pesticide, herbicide and insecticide, mixed with ammonia and bleach, is definitely asking for a bad habit you can't quit without help. Most smokers who quit cold turkey go back to smoking within six months due to the long depressing chemical "detox," add in that they don't know anything about nutrition, and the CDC programs don't offer any help in this arena. Organic, more alkaline foods and water are necessary for speedy recovery and "killing the urge" to smoke. Ask nutritionists about mucuna and maca powders! (http://www.secrets-o...a-pruriens.html) 8. Why do the pills, the patch, and nicotine gum fail so many? Nobody knows the answer to this one in the classes. To make a long story short, they are nothing like what a smoker is going through after quitting, or while quitting, and they don't wean you properly. The patch and the gum give you about 5 percent of the dose of nicotine commercial cigarettes provide, so the whole quitting system is flawed from the beginning. The pills can block your hormones and dopamine, leading to feelings of suicide. People don't usually like that. 9. What government agencies regulate the potency of nicotine? Nobody regulates it. That's part of the problem. Even if they did, they can't measure the real POTENCY of the nicotine after ammonia has been added to "free base" the vapor ready "nic fix." Have you ever read how many milligrams of nicotine you're getting? Take a look on the box and the carton, there's no information. 10. Why do cigarette manufacturers use ammonia when making cigarettes? For a faster hit! Ammonia-treated nicotine allows the nicotine fix to reach the heart and the brain within three SECONDS. This is why people like "certain brands" so much. Even e-cigs can keep someone addicted to nicotine, and sometimes MORE of it. The stimulant relieves the smoker of the chemical hangover - the HOOK. This goes highly unregulated. 11. Is your breathing pattern better when smoking? People say yes and no, but the real answer is yes. About 98 percent of smokers breathe a specific pattern when they inhale, hold, and exhale cigarette smoke, altogether different from their typical breathing pattern when not smoking. When people try to quit cigarettes, they quit this "ritual" which was relaxing them, even though the chemicals were pouring in. The breathing ritual is ignored, and this is a physical characteristic of withdrawal, the inability to relax, especially after meals (bad ones at that). 12. Do you have a hand to mouth habit? Absolutely you do. The typical pack has 20 cigarettes and figure 10 to 12 puffs per cigarette. A pack-a-day smoker puts his/her hand to their mouth, up and down, up to 250 times a day. A two-pack-a-day smoker is in a ritual of this up to 500 times a day. This must be replaced with water, raw nuts, superfood snacks and smoothies, organic chocolate, etc. There's plenty of quality supply at the NaturalNews store: (http://store.natural...rfoods_c_4.html) 13. Is smoking a form of meditation? Some answer yes and they're absolutely right. Most smokers either change their environment to smoke, like going outside, or they get away from certain people, or they join certain people to talk about whatever the nicotine rush helps them consider. Once the nicotine is replaced with proper nutrition and pH balance of the body, meditation is easier and can be your "best friend." 14. Why do most smokers enjoy a cigarette after meals? In the 1930s, Camel advertised that cigarettes help with digestion. They even showed doctors recommending their favorite brand, and one ad tells you to have one in between each course during Thanksgiving. The myth has lived and been perpetuated for nearly a century now. It's the breathing pattern that relaxes the smoker. Consider question 11 again here. Here's the unbelievable advertisement! () 15. Is there any such thing as organic tobacco? Of course, but nobody has been educated about the benefits here. Forget about the patch, the pills, the gum, and wean yourself off the strong stuff naturally, without the chemicals. Buy organic tobacco and roll your own. 16. What is the art of breathing? Students usually say "I don't know" to this question. Some suggest yoga or meditation. Here's an easy "trick" that helps thousands quit. Put two fingers together as if you have a cigarette, and inhale, as if you were smoking, and hold for a second or two and then exhale as if you're blowing smoke. Do this every time you would have had a cigarette, and for as many repetitions too. Don't give up the breathing ritual! 17. Why do people often put on weight after they quit? There are many answers to this one. The most popular ones are the lack of the stimulant, depression, anxiety and general negativity, but the answer they don't give is nutrition. Most smokers have virtually given up on nutrition since smoking is obviously so bad for you, so when they quit, they don't change a thing. No wonder. 18. How can you learn to hate cigarettes if you like them now? You hear it all the time from smokers, "I hate these things!" So why don't they quit? It's because they really like the relief it gives them from smoking all that bug killer and weed killer, but they just don't know how to explain it. Smokers often fail to replace and replenish behaviors they like and organic food must come into play. 19. How will you deal with the urge and with stress when you quit? Students have no answer for this one. Nutrition is the key, but no smoking programs really ever mention it, much less FOCUS on it, except for 14AndOut, which recommends considering advice from nutrition experts and naturopathic physicians. Also, watching documentaries is great for momentum and easy guidance. Check out "Food Matters" and "Forks over Knives." (http://premium.natur...Matters__NN.htm) (http://www.youtube.c...ForksOverKnives) 20. What's the main reason the pills don't work, but makes things worse? Medications like Zyban and Chantix have worked for some, but for most it's just horrific nightmares and heightened feelings of anxiety. That's right, the "side effect" of trying to quit with medicine is a heightened paranoia of exactly what has people smoking cigarettes all day in the first place. Needless worry, general depression, nervousness, sleeplessness, loss of libido, this is nothing new to smokers. Plus you now get a heightened risk of heart attacks! Who wants to shock that into mass effect next? Not too many. (http://www.naturalne...rt_attacks.html) (http://www.completemindcare.co.uk) Hey smokers, here's the 21st question you should be asking yourself How do I quit naturally, without medications, and stay smoke free for life? The Health Ranger, Mike Adams, introduces the concept and strategies of the 14AndOut program in a preview on NaturalNews TV and via a recorded Skype interview with the program's creator and teacher. Take a look into behavior modification and nutrition and live smoke free forever. Quitting smoking is personal. It is very emotional, physical and spiritual. You can become enlightened and make your life holistic and positive and move ahead with your goals. This is not just 20 questions about a habit. This is 20 answers for finding your ideal health again and living a long fruitful life. (http://www.14andout.com/)

The basis of America’s program of encirclement of Russia and China began with the Truman Doctrine in 1947 and has been active since then by the Western powers. We see Gordon Duff, a Marine Vietnam veteran, a combat infantryman, and Senior Editor at Veterans Today, writes recently: "It is now clear that the “Arab Spring” revolutions, purported to be an “instantaneous uprising” of “freedom loving” Muslims, a “grass roots” movement based on social media, whistle-blowing and democratic reform has taken on a sinister side. Revolution for freedom in Middle East was derailed and reactionary totalitarianism again reared its head. What has been set in motion is a plan, one tied to re-establishment of feudal rule, one likely to be built on the ashes of sectarian wars, ethnic cleansing and brutal suppression of human aspirations. Freedom was the last thing these revolutions would bring; this was clearly as “softening up” in preparation for what many now see a reestablishment of the Ottoman Empire" [or something similar to that, the point being is the come-back of the Muslim Caliphate rule, call that rule by whatever name: The Shriner's Empire is another fitting name]. As long as this new Muslim Feudal Empire is pro-Western and contributes to West's plans of encirclement of Russia and China. Alas! The whole plan will backfire on the west as the Muslim Empire, when strong on its own feet, will be pro-Russia & China and contra the West, at the end of its as if the West has dug its own grave. The polarities will be shifted, this shifting is the rules of the physic and occurs in few hundred or thousands years normally. The East's turn will come to manage and govern the world while the West goes into hibernation. This may happen in our 21th century.

Under the headline "Russia withdraws its remaining personnel from Syria" we see The Guardian of London reporting on June 26: "Russia has evacuated the last of its personnel from Syria, including from its Mediterranean naval base in Tartus, in a move that appears to underline Moscow's mounting concerns about the escalating crisis. Russian media reported on Wednesday that they had confirmed the evacuation with officials in the country's military and foreign ministry. News that Russian forces had pulled out of Syria came in an interview with Mikhail Bogdanov, the deputy foreign minister, in an interview with the newspaper al-Hayat last week. "Today, the Russian defence ministry does not have a single person in Syria," he said. He described Tartus as a "technical facility for maintaining ships sailing in the Mediterranean." The Vedomosti newspaper quoted an unnamed defence ministry official as saying: "We have neither servicemen nor civilians in Syria any more. Or Russian military instructors [advisers] assigned to units of the Syrian regular army, for that matter." But Vedomosti said the decision to remove defence ministry personnel did not include technical experts employed by the Syrian government to train its army to use Russian-issued weapons. Russia Today, the Kremlin's English-language propaganda channel, said: "The withdrawal was prompted not only by the increased risks caused by the ongoing military conflict, but also by the fact that in the current conditions any incident involving Russian servicemen would likely have some unfavourable reaction from the international community." Russia has been evacuating its citizens from Syria for weeks. Bogdanov said that about 30,000 Russians live throughout the country, some in rebel-held areas. The Interfax news agency reported that 128 Russians and citizens of other former Soviet republics left Syria on Wednesday on planes that had delivered what was described as humanitarian supplies the previous day. The pullout from Tartus is unlikely to interfere with the delivery of Russian air defence and anti-ship missiles to Syria. Bogdanov defended the shipments of arms as legal and arranged under an existing contract. Asked when the deliveries would begin, he replied that that was a decision for the "supreme command"." ....and Cyprus is opening its doors to Russian military???

"In an address to parliament in the capital Ankara on Tuesday [June 25, 2013], Erdogan said that certain foreign powers, international monetary institutions and media outlets are responsible for the anti-government protests that have swept his country since May 31, adding that the unrest was planned to prevent Turkey's rise." What he meant by rise I am not sure --did he wanted to say a rise toward a new Ottoman Empire? "He stated that foreign media outlets, particularly BBC, were lead provocateurs...[Then] Erdogan stated that the same conspiracy was also hatched against Brazil, saying Turkey and Brazil both had paid off their debts to the International Monetary Fund." http://www.presstv.i...turkey-erdogan/ It is noticeable that Iraq, Libya, Syria (and Iran) for example, do not, or did not, have private central banks like the rest of most of the world but the central banks was or is part of their government. In case of Syria, Brandon Turbeville writes: "By 1966, the Syrian government completed its nationalization of the bank by merging all of the existing commercial banks into one entity which came to be known as the Commercial Bank of Syria. The government then created subsidiary banks of the Commercial Bank of Syria for the purposes of economic development such as the Agricultural Cooperative Bank, Industrial Bank, the Real Estate Bank, and the Popular Credit Bank. Not surprisingly, international bankers have been vocal enough among their own circles regarding their disdain for Syria’s government-owned central bank." http://www.activistp...ion-begins.html We see Syria refusing to give the control of its monetary matters to private “international” institutions, to international central banks despite of of being through economic crisis; but Syria's crisis was not because of its government-owned central bank. Syria is among countries with the lowest tax in the world. Those Armenians fleeing Syria to Armenia for example and opening businesses in Armenia were not so happy about business taxes and prices in Yerevan. We see Joel Hatzagordzian, of Hatzagordzian family that came to Yerevan from Aleppo this October, saying in an article written by Julia Hakobyan: "Everything was three to five times cheaper in Syria, and people would earn five to ten times more than the average wage is in Armenia. we are not sure if we can make the same business here. Everyone is complaining about taxes. In Syria, the tax inspection and business relations are simple --once a year you visit the inspection and pay taxes. Here, people pay each month [as business taxes] the amount we paid once a year [in Syria]". Brandon Turbeville writes in his article: "The fact remains that the Syrian banking system, Central and Commercial, belong to the government and (theoretically) the people of Syria. These institutions are independent of the Rothschild international banking cartel.... Syria is not the only country to find itself in the cross-hairs of destabilization and direct military confrontation with Western powers where the presence of a government-owned central bank may stand as a significant deciding factor for....." . I don't know if Turkey under Ordogan has come to be among those nations after it paid her debts as Ordogan claimed in the Turkish parliament on June 25; but why Ordogan wanted to eliminate Gezi park in Istanbul, a park where Istambulians gathered always for demonstrations and protests? By eliminating that park by building in its place a shopping mall, a replica of the Ottoman military barks and a mosque the Istamboulians had nowhere to go to protest and demonstrate hence their outrage against Ordogan who is now shouting IMF and BBC are conspiring against him and against Turkey. Brandon Turbeville is an author out of Florence, South Carolina. He has a Bachelor's Degree from Francis Marion University and is the author of various books and 200 articles.

From news article by Novosti, it is clear that the Rus Defense minister is referring ONLY to Tartus. To take that and generalize it as "evacuation of ALL Russian military from the whole Syria" is of course MISINFORMATION or wrong conclusion or mistake. Thanks for clarification from Hovhaness.

correction: "after he passes away a big war will loom..." ------------------------------------------ Russian Navy Pulls Personnel Out of Syria Base – Deputy FM http://en.rian.ru/wo...-Deputy-FM.html MOSCOW, June 27 (RIA Novosti) – Russia currently has no military personnel at its resupply facility in the Syrian port of Tartus, a senior diplomat said, though an expert affiliated with the Ministry of Defense downplayed it as a possible temporary measure. “Currently, there is no one in Syria from the Russian Defense Ministry,” Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov told the Al-Hayat international pan-Arabic newspaper. “We never, at any time, had a real military base in Tartus… That center has no military or strategic significance. It never did and it doesn't now,” Bogdanov added, speaking in an interview that was first published last Friday in Arabic. The naval maintenance center in Tartus, established in Soviet times, remains Russia’s last military foothold outside the former Soviet Union. The facility, used for the maintenance and resupply of Russian warships in the Mediterranean, had a staff of “several dozen,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in February. The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement Thursday that the center has been serviced exclusively by civilian staff “for a long time,” but stressed it had no plans to abandon the facility. An unnamed military official was cited by Vedomosti business daily Wednesday as saying that the Russian leadership was worried about the safety of the facility’s personnel, given the ongoing civil war in Syria. More than 90,000 people have been killed in the country since fighting broke out between government forces and rebels in March 2011, according to the latest UN figures. Any incident involving Russian servicemen in Syria could also have unwanted political repercussions, the source said. Moscow has been providing diplomatic backing to embattled Syrian President Bashar Assad against pressure from Western powers and Gulf kingdoms. The Russian Navy currently has a flotilla of 16 warships and auxiliary ships in the Mediterranean, but no Russian ships have called at Tartus in recent months, according to Russia’s General Staff. The facility in Tartus only sees use on rare occasions when Russian warships call there, said Igor Korotchenko, editor-in-chief of the National Defense monthly Russian-language magazine and head of the Defense Ministry’s public council. “[The pullout of military personnel] probably means that there are simply no current plans to use the base in Tartus,” he told RIA Novosti on Thursday. “They’ll likely redeploy when it’s needed. It’s just a technicality,” Korotchenko said. (The story was updated with Ministry of Defense comment.)

Russia has completed the evacuation of all its military and diplomatic personnel from Syria, including the Russian naval base at Tartus, on Thursday June 27. This in fear that the rebels in Syria will stage car bomb attacks against them and force Russia to be embroiled more in the civil war conflict of Syria. The 16-ship naval Russian task force remains in the eastern Mediterranean in support of Syria. According to recent news "in London, Prime Minister David Cameron called the government’s National Security Council into session in Downing Street on Syria. Opposition leader Ed Milliband was invited to attend the meeting, a custom observed only when issues of the highest security importance are discussed." "The US and Russia are poised for more military intervention in the conflict up until a point just short of a military clash on Syrian soil. US intelligence analysts have judged Putin ready to go all the way on Syria against the US - no holds barred." However, Russia, after its disaster in Afghanistan and failure to accomplish its goals in Georgia in 2008, have kept and will keep away from direct military involvement in conflicts outside Russian territories when it comes to confronting the West like now is happening in Syria "Iran, Hizballah of Lebanon and Iraq will likewise ratchet up their battlefield presence" as the conflict in Syria grows after the Geneva-2 Conference for a political solution for the Syrian crisis has been canceled. "A violent encounter is building up between Middle East Shiites flocking to Syria to save the Assad regime alongside Russia, and the US-backed Sunni-dominated rebel forces." Iran, Turkey, Israel, Jordan and Lebanon may be dragged in the Syrian conflict at any moment. Turkey may abstain for fear of damaging its recent cozy relationship with Russia but being a member of NATO it has obligation to help NATO when that entity attacks Syria after no-fly zone is declared over Syria and troops are send from Jordan to occupy Damascus. The sign is the sick Mandela in south Africa, after he pass away a big will loom in Middle East. There will be a charismatic leader emerging in Middle East who will succeed in bring peace there and be declared the peace-maker, for only in temporary basis, and the war will resume again engulfing the world in a larger war all over as result of which the glory of USA will fade away and the Chinese yellow race will be all over the world.. .

This Talaat did not have any concerns for the well-beings of Turks, being an apostate Jew of Donmne sect he hated the Armenians Did Talaat Kill the Ottoman Crown Prince For Opposing the Armenian Genocide? BY HARUT SASSOUNIAN June 25, 2013 http://www.hyebiz.com/did-talaat-kill-the-ottoman-crown-prince-for-opposing-the-armenian-genocide-2013-06-25.html It is not often that I cover murder mysteries, but I am making an exception given the unusual circumstances of an Ottoman Crown Prince’s death in 1916 and its possible link to Talaat and the Armenian Genocide. The first clue was an article I came across in the April 3, 1921 issue of The Pittsburgh Press, titled: “Patiently Tracked to His Hiding Place and Killed: How the Bloodthirsty Turkish Grand Vizier, Talaat *****, Who Planned the Murders of a Million Armenians Met His Fate.” This news report was occasioned by Soghomon Tehlirian’s assassination of Talaat on March 15, 1921, in Berlin. One paragraph, in particular, buried in the middle of the lengthy article, contained a shocking revelation: “Perhaps the strangest fact of all in connection with Talaat’s career is that he paved his way to this supreme office by murdering the heir to the throne, Crown Prince Youssouf Eddine, a nephew of the reigning Sultan. The young prince had protested strongly against Talaat’s announced policy of exterminating the Armenians. Talaat, seeing a prospect of serious opposition, shot the prince like a dog.” To ascertain the veracity of this surprising news item, I conducted a lengthy internet search and consulted publications in English, French, Turkish, Spanish, and Armenian, based on the different spellings of the Prince’s name: Youssouf Eddine, Yusuf Izzeddin, Yusuf Izzettin, etc. While most of these sources agree that the Crown Prince died under suspicious circumstances, they present three distinct narratives on how he met his untimely death. There is even an entire Turkish book on this mystery, titled: ‘Shehzade Yusuf Izzedin olduruldu mu, intihar mi etti?’ [Crown Prince Yusuf Izzedin was killed or committed suicide?]. The first account is the one mentioned by The Pittsburgh Press claiming that the Crown Prince was killed by Talaat for opposing the extermination of the Armenian people. The second explanation for the premature death of the Crown Prince is that he committed suicide by slashing his wrists. The Young Turk government issued the following official announcement on Feb. 3, 1916: “In consequence of the malady from which he suffered so long, His Highness the Heir to the throne committed suicide at half-past seven this morning in the bedroom of the harem pavilion of the summer-house at Zindjirly, by opening the veins of his left arm.” {Muslims NEVER will cut the LEFT hand but the right one] This formal statement was met with widespread skepticism, giving rise to a third explanation for the Crown Prince’s demise. French Minister of State Yves Guyot, in the preface to his book’s English edition, ‘The Causes and Consequences of the War,’ published in 1916, wrote that those who had read the official communiqué were convinced that the Young Turks “made the heir to the throne ‘commit suicide.’ Information from many quarters confirms that suspicion.” Guyot and other chroniclers asserted that War Minister Enver ***** had Izzeddin killed for opposing the Ottoman alliance with Germany during World War I. “After the bombardment of Odessa by the Turkish fleet he [izzeddin] indicated his disapproval in no uncertain manner. From that moment he was doomed,” wrote the French Minister. Guyot also described in detail a secret meeting in 1915 attended by Talaat, Enver and other Young Turk leaders, during which Enver advocated the elimination of the Crown Prince, who was “assassinated on the day before he was to start for Europe,” according to Guyot. Bishop Grigoris Balakian, a prominent survivor of the Armenian Genocide, affirms in his memoirs, ‘Armenian Golgotha,’ that the Crown Prince was “killed by Enver and Talaat’s criminal clique…. Enver himself killed Yusuf Izzedin at the imperial farm of Balmomji.” Having witnessed the dead bodies of thousands of Turkish soldiers at the Battle of the Dardanelles, the Crown Prince protested to Enver that “the Dardanelles is the grave of the Turkish Army.” He was murdered after threatening Enver with a pistol. Those who think that the assassination of a Crown Prince is too far-fetched to be credible should realize that such palace intrigues were a common practice during the long history of the Ottoman Empire. All too often, Sultans would orchestrate the murder of scheming heirs, and rival siblings would kill each other to pave the way for their own accession to the throne. In fact, 15 of the 36 reigning Sultans either abdicated (3), were overthrown (7) or were murdered (5).

Yerp amen ankam batsvum e ora Mtkov mtnum em Darbasi dzora Kartses lsum em moras orora Yerp sosapum e tsanot bardin. by Hamo Sahyan (anybody knows the rest quatrains of this poem?) Every time when the day comes [Every morning that I awake from sleep], In my thought I enter the gorge of Darbas; [Where] it’s as if I hear my mother’s lullaby, When I hear the rustle of the familiar fields. Translated by "man" Darbas is is a village and rural community (municipality) in the Syunik Province of Armenia, near Sisian in the south, just below Sisian. http://joelgillin.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/67294_444522139258_504829258_5004477_6037148_n.jpg View from the Caves located between Coris and Sisian http://joelgillin.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/1322491792_4.jpg View of village of Lor near Darbaz

http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/turkey-and-eu-reach-compromise-on-accession-talks-a-907723.html 25 June, 2013 Turkey threaten Merkel of 3.5 million Turk votes against her in Germany this September. And of 3.5 million Turk protesters inside Germany against Her. Merkel cowardly backs Off At first glance, it sounds like a typical European compromise. European Union ministers agreed on Tuesday to resume accession negotiations with Turkey, though they opted to delay the talks until October. And Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu welcomed the decision, telling reporters that "a hurdle standing in the way of relations between the EU and Turkey has been overcome." In reality, however, the decision reached on Tuesday represents only a temporary resolution to a growing conflict between Ankara and Berlin that has threatened to significantly damage Turkey's relations with both the European Union and Germany. The reopening of accession talks between Brussels and Ankara had originally been scheduled for this Wednesday. But ongoing protests against Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul, in combination with his government's forceful attempts to put a halt to the demonstrations, have raised eyebrows in European capitals. Furthermore, comments by Turkish Minister for European Affairs Egemen Bagis, in which he was sharply critical of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, did little to increase willingness in Berlin to rush back into accession negotiations. Earlier this week, after Merkel had said that she found police reaction to the demonstrations in Istanbul "too harsh," Bagis replied by saying: "If Ms. Merkel takes a closer look, she will see that those who mess about with Turkey do not find an auspicious end." [in other words: mess with Turkey and you are gone]. He also urged Merkel to consider not only the thousands of German companies that do business in Turkey but also the "3.5 million blood brothers" who live and vote in Germany. "Strong Reaction" Bagis allegedly also told European politicians that Turks in Germany could launch mass demonstrations against Merkel and that he couldn't guarantee stability in Germany were that to happen. Merkel reportedly was furious and interpreted Bagis' comments as a direct threat. Ankara had also said that there would be a "strong reaction" were talks cancelled altogether. On Monday, however, German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle stepped in with a possible compromise, suggesting that European ministers send a political signal that continued accession negotiations are desirable, but that they should be delayed until October when a report on Turkey's progress toward EU membership is due for presentation. It is that compromise proposal that was accepted in Brussels on Tuesday. At issue was the opening of chapter 22 of the aquis communautaire, the list of requirements that candidate countries must meet to be admitted into the European Union. Berlin has suggested that talks over chapters 23 and 24, which focus on issues such as the judiciary, freedoms and fundamental rights, be opened this autumn as well. In addition to averting open conflict with Ankara, Tuesday's agreement is helpful for Merkel in that it pushes the accession talks until after German elections in September. Her party and many conservative voters in Germany are opposed to Turkish accession to the EU. cgh -- with wire reports

Or-Dogan and his party strike back After calling the protesters "white sheep" and calling his supporters "black sheep" [when the Turks came from Central Asia invading Middle East & Armenia they were mainly divided into 2 large tribes: the White Turks & Black Turks. The "Whites" were weak and were eliminated by the "Blacks"] so in Or-dogan's words, the protesters will meet the same fate of the historical White-Turks. Plus Or-dogan and his party have unleashed enormous criticism against Germany and European Union whom they accused being behind the protesters, organizing and instigating them. And according to recent news by Reuters the Eu was on the verge of scrapping a new round of membership talks with Turkey, evaporating for the time being Ankara's slim hopes of joining EU bloc. Moreover, according to Reuters, Germany has joined France --up until 25 June-- in blocking efforts to revive Turkey's EU membership bid, because of Turkey's handling of anti-government protests. The protests started peacefully and the Turkish police had the obligation to PROTECT the peaceful protesters from pro-Ordogan powers and not attack them like savage wolves, without warning and in vicious brutish inhuman ways. So at last Germany in particular and Europe (if not the world) has come to know one more time that when it comes to the Turks they are not dealing with human beings but with savage beasts from Central Asia. Those savage wolves can put on sheep's skin & wool upon them, like a way of camouflaging themselves, in order to deceive the West but ultimately they will reveal their true inhuman beastly nature. What is next for Turkey? They most likely will turn toward an alliances inside Middle East, despite sectarian and race differences, in order to establish a Middle East power bloc to attack by it Europe that has insulted Turkey during the recent protests, and a West that brought their Ottoman Empire to en end. Eu and Germany, trembling in fear and terror from the Turks, have agreed on Tuesday June 25 to continue accession talks with Turkey, but only after a progress report due in this coming October. This compromise deal helped to defuse the recent acrimonious dispute between Ankara and Berlin. 2 points for Turkey, 0 for Germany. 2 points for Ordogan, 0 for devil Merkel.

WASHINGTON, June 24 (RIA Novosti) – An Idaho company is aiming for new business with pork-laced bullets they claim will not only kill Islamic terrorists, but also keep them from entering heaven by exposing them to pork, which their religion forbids. “We took the paint and added some pork product, which is a conglomeration of bone, blood and meal,” said Brendon Hill, spokesman for Jihawg Ammo, which developed and launched the pink bullets and a small line of apparel two months ago.... “The main thing was to make sure there’s enough pork in the paint to say it was ‘haram,’ which is unclean, and so their belief is that becoming unclean during jihad will prevent them from entering heaven,” he said in an interview with RIA Novosti. http://en.rian.ru/world/20130625/181854864/US-Firm-Targets-Terrorists-With-Pork-Laced-Ammo.html

This is report from the South Team: On our way out of town [of Sisian], we stopped by to view the Sisian Stonehenge, “Zorats Karrer.” http://walkacrossarmenia.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/dscf3633.jpg?w=600&h=288 During our 25K hike to Sarnakunk (“Cold Spring”), we ran into some light sun showers and had to stop a few times wherever shelter appeared. Our slow hike that day came to an eventual end in a gas station in Sarnakunk, where we feasted on some peroshkis (potato-filled fried dough), which at that point had never tasted so good. Our respite was followed by severe thunderstorms, which drove us quickly into a nearby abandoned building on top of a hill where we pitched our tents for the night. The night was long, loud, wet and windy but we managed to make it through with a good sense of humor and a few well-deserved rounds of Bananagrams. We arrived at our next teaching site in Vayk to a throng of 51 children who were eager to meet us. This was one of our highest turn-outs so far, most of whom were older students. The community center staff was extremely helpful and assisted with gathering the children for our lessons. Afterwards, we went for a delicious meal at a local restaurant before continuing on to Malishka to reunite with our teammate, Carolyn. Upon arriving in Malishka, our gracious host Carolyn provided us a wonderful meal and comfortable places to sleep. We spent most of the following day swimming in a nearby river with some village kids who knew the best spots to swim. http://walkacrossarmenia.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/dscn5031.jpg?w=600&h=440 We had a high turn-out in Malishka as well: 51 children showed up ready to learn, play, and build plastic-bottle gardens." After Malishka the final destination Yeghegnadzor is only few steps away and by now they should be celebrating, hopefully with the North Team, their cultural backpack adventure and getting certificates of achievement by the mayor of Yeghegnadzor. Next June another 12 brave-hearts will try to do the same hiking. Walkers of the Day: "The best feeling at the end of a long and tiring walk on sun-beaten day is to have a swarm of children welcome you to their village. They are filled with curiosity and questions of where we’ve come from. They giggle in delight to hear Americans speaking their native tongue, and they listen eagerly to our lessons, only interrupting occasionally to ask if we will join them later for a swim in the river or a walk to the village church. The children’s energy is invigorating and infectious, even for a group of hungry and tired Peace Corps volunteers who have walked a long way. As much as our team jokes about “what B2B is all about” (using the same knife to treat blisters and slice bread, cuddling in a tent under a leaky roof of an abandoned building), for me, it’s the children we meet all along the way. They truly are what B2B is all about." Meewa Mull "After walking more than 190km on mostly rural pothole strewn roadways and meeting so many wonderful Armenians along the way, I rediscovered my love for this country. The unwavering hospitality of Armenians toward total strangers still amazes me. The countless offers for rides, cups of coffee and invitations to homes are all simply a small part of the overwhelmingly generous hearts of the people here. We walked and walked… and walked some more, and through it all this odd collection of individuals became a team that helped, supported and encouraged each other to the end. Whether it was the exhaustively steep climb out of Meghri, the taming of wild children after a 6-hour grueling hike or helping deal with the plague of perpetual blisters we worked as a team, as friends. The vistas were gorgeous and green, the days were long and hot but I couldn’t have asked for better people to share this incredible adventure with." Kevin Gurtowski "Trail mix. Sheep parades. Three people in two-person tents. Sunburns. Blisters. Early mornings. Switchbacks. Rice balls. Excited children. Inside jokes. Bananagrams. Delirious laughter. Disney sing-alongs. Welcoming communities. Gorts Na Gorts [a kind of local Armenian game for children]. Ridiculous tan lines. Snickers Bars. Becoming a “family.” These are my memories from B2B and, as Kevin Gurtowski, who just used hand sanitizer for the first time yesterday, says, “Memories are all that you’ll take with you.” Branwen Gallagher More photos & info are posted in their blog: http://walkacrossarm....wordpress.com/

http://www.sistemaarmenia.com/ There is a nice video in their web-site. "We’re pleased to announce that FAR is supporting a new civic education initiative spearheaded by Sistema Armenia, a music education program founded by Boston-based pianist Anna Mikaelian Meschian and inspired by the famed model. The program is currently in active development phase and will open its doors in September 2013. Through innovative programming, Sistema Armenia will connect youth and musicians within Armenia to each other, as well as to musicians throughout the world. Students and teaching artists will participate in regular workshops, online mentorship opportunities, and peer-to-peer teaching, allowing them to receive and share valuable expertise. El Sistema originated in Venezuela 38 years ago. It is an after-school music education model, where ensemble music-making is the vehicle for creating stronger communities and more self-aware citizens. Nearly a million children have gone through the program, of whom the most famous is conductor Gustavo Dudamel, currently the Music Director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra and Musical America’s Musician of the Year 2013. Together with the top El Sistema Ensemble – the Simon Bolivar Orchestra of Venezuela, they have won the highest accolades from audiences around the globe. In a society where community involvement still appears to be perceived as a “backyard” concept, Sistema Armenia promises to provide fresh means of imbuing community values while equipping youth with 21st century skills and nurturing a strong cultural identity." FAR

First made your mind if you want to learn Western or Eastern (spoken in Armenia) Armenian language. Then start with You-Tube there is lot of Armenian videos posted there, put appropriate words in the search tap of YouTube as pertaining to language. Follow Armenian children's programs as the language there is easy & simple. Second, there are some teaching courses of Armenian by some languages companies, just google for search. Best Wishes!

With a modern military force exceeding the 500,000, Turkey did not put its army at the service of the West despite the fact that US enlarged the Turkish army by Billions dollars in help for decades during the cold war with the Soviet Union and after that. When US armies needed a passage to invasion of Iraq by the way of Turkey, Turks said NO, NOT POSSIBLE, and they prevailed. Now, US can't afford another war in the Middle East, in Syria, and so they told Erdogan to do it for them. In Spring of 2012 the clashes at the borders of Turkey & Syria increased but it did not lead to open war between those two countries. Ordogan has aspirations for re-establishing the Ottoman Empire and the West has promised him he can become the new Caliph of the Middle East if he just obeyed the West as their tool. They made Erdogan believe that all he has to do to become a powerful Caliph is to invade Syria as proxy for the West. When it seemed that the war will erupt at any moment, Putin paid a visit to Turkey in December 2012 under the guise of trade talks but in reality to give a personal face to face warning to Erdogen: To keep Turkey's hands off Syria and not even think about invading Syria. Ordogan obliged, he backed-off and declared a "cease-fire" with Syria. In March 2013 Israel apologized to Turkey and they restored their broken relationship in hope that this will encourage the Turks to go on the offensive against on Syria. On May 11, 2013, in the Turkish border town of Reyhanli, near the Syrian border, a sudden explosion killed 50 Turks. Now it was time, that killing surly would have galvanized the Turks to declare war on Syria and start their open invasion. But Erdogen would not take the bait, and the Turkish people in place of venting their anger on Syria, have opted for neutrality and with no-problems with neighbors. June 2013 uprisings and protests in almost most cities and towns of Turkey against Ordogan, but Ordogan surprisely has prevailed against them. Now the West has a change of tactic. Never depend on those unreliable stubborn Turks. The West's invasion on Syria will come from the south, from Jordan. Turkey's role would be humanitarian only during the coming war, for passage of humanitarian help and helping the refugees.

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The North Team has been traveling from Dillijan to Sevan and they give us some good photos. the most beautiful was of Lake Sevan: http://walkacrossarmenia.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/p1050169.jpg?w=1260&h=944 “You know you’re in Armenia when…” … you are offered a shot of vodka with purchase of an ear of corn on the side of the road. … you pass countless fishmongers along Lake Sevan who stand up and signal whether they are selling fish or crawfish based on the number of fingers they hold up. This week we have selected the woodsmen we met alongside the road near Semyonovka as our MVPs. It was our first night camping, and we were all excited to build a campfire and make some s’mores with the marshmallows we had been carrying with us for the past 10 days. We saw a truck slowly approaching and decided to ask the riders where we could get some wood for a campfire. As the truck came up to our campsite, we realized that it was full of wood! The driver said that there were no places to buy wood in the village, but with that classic Armenian hospitality, they gave us a few pieces for free and welcomed us to their country. As they rode off, they waved goodbye with sweet smiles on their faces. We ended up having a great fire to keep us warm, some amazing s’mores, and really REALLY happy campers! http://walkacrossarmenia.wordpress.com/2013/06/20/days-9-10-and-11-north-team/

The South Team goes thru the roughest part of their trail and greatest welcome. http://walkacrossarm...-end-of-week-1/ "At the school in Syunik village outside of Kapan, the Southern B2B team was greeted by a welcome ceremony. 35 Students, several staff members, and a girl dressed like an Armenian princess welcomed us with ritual and song. The little Armenian princess came forward as we approached and offered us a circular loaf of pretzel bread with dipping salt in the middle. Tradition required us each to break off a small piece of this bread and dip it into the salt to commemorate our arrival. The children then sang a song and danced for us later as well. Needless to say, this was the greatest welcome we have received so far." "The journey to Tatev was a long but gorgeous one. Deciduous North-American-like forests led us through 24 kilometers to the legendary, hillside monastery in Tatev, where the group was extremely happy to find a restaurant and some space to get off our feet." http://walkacrossarmenia.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/monastery.jpg?w=974 "The Monastery of Tatev has played a significant role in history as the center of economical, political, spiritual and cultural activity in the southern region of Armenia since the 4th century. Considering the cultural significance of this national monument, it washard to believe that some Armenians told us to camp in the grass right beside the monastery. Nevertheless, we parked there and slept [inside our tents] beneath the stars, overlooking the majestic monument and its gorge" http://walkacrossarmenia.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/img_1255.jpg?w=806&h=370 "In the morning we taught in Tatev village and ended our lessons with a slightly chaotic but entertaining game of ultimate Frisbee [bringing JOY to children]. After teaching we took the Tatev cable car (the longest non-stop double track cable car in the world) through the gorge on the way to Shinuhayr village. Inside the cable car, we were all reminded of and reinvigorated by the beauty of Armenia"

AVENTURA Travel says "If you want to visit Armenia, we will make sure to make it the most enjoyable visit at a reasonable price", moreover their website gives a lot of info so you may be able to organize a visit of your own if you wish: http://travelarmenia.org/ "We are a young, dynamic and sociable group of people who know well the history, geography and culture of our country and believe that with our efforts we will be able to offer a good alternative to all the travelers who are going to visit Armenia" AVENTURA Travel Agency Address: 60 Mamikonyants str. Yerevan, Armenia Phone: +374 10 29 88 89 Why is it worth visiting Armenia? 1. Armenian civilization is one of the most ancient civilizations of the world, survived to our days, which history is rooted in the IV millennium BC. 2. Stonehenge is not unique. Karahunj (or Zorats Karer) observatory in Armenia is 3500 years old, it is more ancient than Stonehenge. 3. After the worldwide flood, Noah's Ark stopped on the Armenian land, on Mount Ararat. The majestic view of Mount Ararat (the symbol of the country, currently located in the territory of Turkey) is open from any part of Yerevan and Ararat Valley. 4. Armenia is the first country in the world which officially adopted Christianity in 301, 24 years earlier than Rome. The first Christian church of the world (301-303) is located in Armenia. 5. Being a mighty power already in the V century AD, but losing sovereignty in the V century AD and over the centuries surviving a lot of foreign invasions, even the first genocide of the XX century, Armenian people managed to survive it all and to preserve their identity, language and faith, and in 1991 became an independent state. 6. It is a country of legends and Bible stories, open-air museum with ancient monuments, more than 1500 medieval monasteries and churches with unique architecture, of which 9 are included in the list of World Heritage by UNESCO. 7. This country has many natural monuments, impressive landscapes with high mountains, rocks, sleeping volcanoes, deep canyons, turbulent rivers, high plateaus, where only on a small piece of land all geographical areas ranging from deserts to eternal snows are shown. 8. Noah planted the first vine on the Armenian land and the first vine was brought to Europe from Armenia. Apricot was also brought from Europe to Armenia, that’s why its scientific name is prunus armeniaca, despite the fact that it is of Chinese origin. Perhaps those who brought the fruit, liked their sweetness, because fruits of Armenia have, indeed, the sweetest solar flavour. 9. Armenia is one of a small number of countries with 98% of people of ethnic Armenian origin. People in Armenia are very gracious and hospitable.

made a mistake again: "she did know I was from spur" should be "she did NOT know I was from spurk" She did not realize I was from spurk as they treat those from spurk nicely in Armenia, so be sure to tell them you are from spurk when traveling in Armenia.

The hike of the North Team goes on: "On Day 7 we started off teaching at Margahovit’s Cultural Center where we met a big groups of enthusiastic, ready-to-learn children with great English language skills. Later we had the pleasure of watching two 9-year-old boys present a full conversation to us in English with each other, and we were in awe at how comfortable they were in their foreign language....They have great kids and employees at the cultural center, some warm welcoming families that have hosted Americans, recycling bins all throughout the village, and gorgeous views of mountains all around." http://w0.fast-meteo.com/locationmaps/Margahovit.10.gif Village of Margahovit (the red dot in the middle of map) is located between Vanadzor and Dilijan, next after comes the village of Russians. "Being on this trip has given me the opportunity to see Armenia on a whole different level and has made me realize that I HAVE TO BACKPACK MORE OFTEN! As a kid I never enjoyed camping or hiking and never really understood the beauty of nature, but now I can’t wait to go back home to my family and friends and explore all kinds of new places with them (and slightly show-off what I’ve learned on this trip as well, hehe)!" Andrea Lu “You know you’re in Armenia when…" -a nice man sees you on the side of the road, turns around, and hands you a dozen apricots while saying “Welcome to Armenia. Here are some Armenian apricots.” We were all so overwhelmed with joy we couldn’t stop laughing and smiling even after he left! It looks now is apricot season in Armenia! There are some good photos of nature posted from this section of the trip in the same blog, clicks on a photo make it go larger: http://walkacrossarmenia.wordpress.com/2013/06/18/days-6-7-and-8-north-team/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- P.S. It looks Armenia is changing for the better with each passing year: recycling bins in Margahovit? Who would believe it! First time I went to Vanadzor the Marshrutni left me near the state Soviet era bus station; I needed to urinate so I found the urinary at the station, it was smelling so bad I had to turn my head toward the door to get some fresh air or else I would have fainted from the bad smell. Getting out I was confronted by a woman with angry face (she did know I was from spurk or else she would have smiled) asking me for 5 pennies as a fee for using the Uniroyal. Instead I gave her some Armenian literature I had with me to educate her. I would gladly had given the poor women a $5 note if she just was good-mannered but her behavior repelled me. I hope by now everything have changed and they have a clean and nice smelling uniroyal in Vanadzor.

This subject requires further studies specially why ancient Armenians stopped using their 22 letters alphabet in old times and how it was lost. Certainly foreign influences had their affects, specially foreign alphabets. Then 22 letters would not have been enough to put all Armenian sounds into alphabetic symbols; the matter was either to abandon it or update it. Is is then possible that it was abandoned? Being open-minded gives one the way to grow while being close-minded puts you in hen's coop with all the chicken droppings.

DBQ Turkey’s Motives for the Armenian Genocide 6th Grade curriculum By: Joseph Hladis Methods of Social Studies Document-Based Question Directions: Included in this packet is documents #1-7. Review and analyze each document. This will test your ability to work with historical documents. Historical Background: Armenian Christians are native to the Armenian Highlands (Caucasus and Anatolia region) since the beginning of time. Since the fall of Byzantine Empire the kingdom of Armenian and its people have been engulfed by Islamic control. During World War I, the Armenians and other minorities lived under the Ottoman Empire and were citizens of the empire. Because of their differences, the Turks mistreated the Armenians and used them as scapegoats during the war. By their inhumane treatment by the Turks, the Ottoman Turkish government gave an order to annihilate all Armenians and other minorities living in the Empire. Task Part A – Short Answer Response: Study each document carefully then answer your question or questions. These answers will help you write your essay. Part B – Essay: You will choose 3 of your top favorite documents. Use information from the documents that you chose, your answers, and your knowledge of the topic to plan and write a well-organized essay. Thesis Statement: What are reasons why the Ottoman Turks killed millions of Armenians during World War I? -By using this thesis statement, you will analyze each document and complete an essay on why the Turks killed and mistreated the Armenians that were living in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. ------------------------------------------- Document #1 During World War I, the German Vice Consular to the Ottoman Empire, Count Max Erwin von Scheubner-Richter, summarizes the Armenian Genocide in a report to his superiors: To: The German Chancellor and Kaiser Wilhelm II From: Count von Scheubner-Richter, Vice Consular RE: Situation in Ottoman Turkey I have conducted a series of conversations with competent and influential Turkish people, and these are my impressions: A large segment of the Young Turk party maintains the viewpoint that the Ottoman Empire should be based only on the principle of Islam and Pan-Turkism. The non-Muslim and non-Turkish inhabitants should either be forcibly Islamized (converted to Islam) and follow Turkish customs, or otherwise they ought to be destroyed. These gentlemen in Turkey believe that the time is now for the realization of this plan. The first item on this agenda concerns the liquidation of the Armenians. Ittihad (a Turkish leader) will dangle before the eyes of the Allies the idea of an alleged revolution prepared by the Armenian leaders. Moreover, local incidents of social unrest and acts of Armenian self-defense will deliberately be provoked and inflated and will be used as pretexts to effect the deportations. Once en route however, the convoys will be attacked and exterminated by Kurdish and Turkish brigades, who will be hired for that purpose by Ittihad. What belief system influenced the Turks and Kurds to carry on mass killings of the Armenians? How did the Turks erase non-Muslims and non-Turkish identities? What kind of propaganda did the Turks use on the Armenians? ------------------------------------------ Document #2 http://www.armeniansworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/htmlimage.gif [official Turkish position now: The hundreds of thousands of Armenians died not from a deliberate attempt at mass killing, but from general unrest, civil war, and famine! ...in the process of our confiscation of their property and mass deportation] 1-What is turkey’s excuse of why the Armenians died? 2-How is Pan-Turkism and Turkishness similar? 3-What effect would this cartoon have on shaping public opinions about Turkey and the Armenian genocide? ----------------------------------------------------------------- Document #3 (http://www.history.c...menian-genocide) The Roots of Genocide: The Ottoman Empire The Armenian people have made their home in the Caucasus region of Eurasia for some 3,000 years. For some of that time, the kingdom of Armenia was an independent entity–at the beginning of the 4th century AD, for instance, it became the first nation in the world to make Christianity its official religion–but for the most part, control of the region shifted from one empire to another. During the 15th century, Armenia was absorbed into the mighty Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman rulers, like most of their subjects, were Muslim. They permitted religious minorities like the Armenians to maintain some autonomy, but they also subjected Armenians, who they viewed as “infidels,” to unequal and unjust treatment. Christians had to pay higher taxes than Muslims, for example, and they had very few political and legal rights. In spite of these obstacles, the Armenian community thrived under Ottoman rule. They tended to be better educated and wealthier than their Turkish neighbors, who in turn tended to resent their success. This resentment was compounded by suspicions that the Christian Armenians would be more loyal to Christian governments (that of the Russians, for example, who shared an unstable border with Turkey) than they were to the Ottoman caliphate. These suspicions grew more acute as the Ottoman Empire crumbled. At the end of the 19th century, the despotic Turkish Sultan Abdul Hamid II–obsessed with loyalty above all, and infuriated by the nascent Armenian campaign to win basic civil rights–declared that he would solve the “Armenian question” once and for all. “I will soon settle those Armenians,” he told a reporter in 1890. “I will give them a box on the ear which will make them…relinquish their revolutionary ambitions.” Genocide Begins On April 24, 1915, the Armenian genocide began. That day, the Turkish government arrested and executed several hundred Armenian intellectuals. After that, ordinary Armenians were turned out of their homes and sent on death marches through the Mesopotamian desert without food or water. Frequently, the marchers were stripped naked and forced to walk under the scorching sun until they dropped dead. People who stopped to rest were shot. At the same time, the Young Turks created a “Special Organization,” which in turn organized “killing squads” or “butcher battalions” to carry out, as one officer put it, “the liquidation of the Christian elements.” These killing squads were often made up of murderers and other ex-convicts. They drowned people in rivers, threw them off cliffs, crucified them and burned them alive. In short order, the Turkish countryside was littered with Armenian corpses. Records show that during this “Turkification”campaign government squads also kidnapped children, converted them to Islam and gave them to Turkish families. In some places, they raped women and forced them to join Turkish “harems” or serve as slaves. Muslim families moved into the homes of deported Armenians and seized their property. 1-What were Turkey’s motives for genocide? 2-Why did Christians have to pay a higher tax? 3-What do you believe was the strongest motive for the battalions to carry out the massacre?---------------- ------------------------------------------------------- Document #4 http://gallivantinggrandma.com/?p=644 Battle of Sarikamish was the site of a battle between the Russian and Ottoman Empires during the First World War. It took place from December 22, 1914 and January 15, 1915. The outcome was a Russian victory. Both sides had approximately 100,000 soldiers each. The war zone was almost 900 miles wide from the Black Sea to Lake Van. The forces were concentrated at each side of the border at the fortresses of Kars (Russian) and Erzurum (Ottoman). The Ottoman troops were ill prepared for the brutal winter conditions and suffered major casualties. The elevation of the area ranges from 5000 to 6000 feet above sea level and winters are snowy and very cold. The Russian Tsar visited the battle front on December 30th, telling the head of the Armenian Church that “a most brilliant future awaits the Armenians.” With these words, the fate of hundreds of thousands of Armenians was endangered, as the Ottoman Empire perceived its large Armenian minority as a source of treachery and disloyalty and did nothing to discourage (and perhaps, encouraged) anti-Armenian feeling among its populace. The relationship between the Armenians and the Ottoman Empire had already started to deteriorate after numerous massacres in eastern Anatolia during the 1890s. The Ottoman government claimed that it had a legitimate defense against a projected Armenian uprising in favor of a Russia and Western Allied invasion of the Ottoman heartlands. On his return to Constantinople, Enver ***** blamed his failure to win the Battle of Sarikamis on the actions of the region’s local Armenians, initiating the repressive measures against the Ottoman Empire’s Armenian population. This was an early stage of the Armenian Genocide. Who did Enver blame for their lost in the battle of Sarikamish? If the Russian Tsar never visited the Armenian Church would that have stop genocide from happening? The Christians living in the Ottoman Empire were citizens. Do you think this is a poor excuse to carry out genocide? --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Document #5 http://www.newyorker...inks-voice.html Hrant Dink’s Voice Last week, tens of thousands of people marched from Istanbul’s Taksim Square to the offices of the Armenian weekly Agos to commemorate the death of its founding editor, Hrant Dink, and to protest a long-awaited verdict against Dink’s murderers, which had been delivered a few days earlier. At the doors of those offices, five years ago, on January 19, 2007, a teen-ager posing as an Ankara University student angling for an interview shot Dink at close range as he was returning to work. Dink, a Turkish citizen of Armenian heritage, was outspoken about Armenian issues; he was prosecuted three times for violating Article 301 of the Turkish penal code, which makes it a crime to insult Turkishness, the Turkish nation, or Turkish institutions. Dink spent his career challenging the intolerance behind such statutes, becoming a champion of minority rights in a country where such causes are punishable. The murder instantly became a symbol of the racism and ultranationalism grinding at the core of Turkish society, a war against freedom of expression, and the complacency of Turkey’s intellectuals. Images from the crime—of Dink’s shabby black shoes pigeon-toed beneath the coroner’s white tarp; of the leaderless but determined Agos staff; of teen-aged killer Ogun Samast seeming to celebrate with his arresting officers beneath a Turkish flag; of Samast’s white cap and his alleged cries when fleeing the scene of “I shot the infidel!”—were etched into the national consciousness. Later, another potent symbol was added, that of a small, circular placard saying, “We are all Hrant. We are all Armenian.” In the aftermath of Dink’s assassination, an organized, angry, and determined protest movement was born in Turkey. Slogans professing brotherhood with Dink were code for larger frustrations. It became virtually impossible to talk about minority issues or human-rights abuses or freedom of the press in Turkey without mentioning the Hrant Dink assassination. Last week’s verdict, by which nineteen men were acquitted of conspiring to kill Dink, and one received a life sentence for instigating the crime (Samast was sentenced earlier to twenty-two years), angered many because it ignored the possibility of a wider conspiracy. “The case will not end like this!” was a common chant. How is Hrant Dink’s assassination similar to the Armenian genocide in 1915? What policies are still in place since the Armenian Genocide? Does acting out in violence about the genocide help Turkey’s denial? --------------------------------------------------------- Document #6 https://www.youtube....h?v=ej0sCaEsVmE What did Maria say that the Gendarmes wanted? What did the authorities do to stop the massacres and looting? Based on this unit about the Armenian genocide and watching this eye witness account, why is it important to let the world know about what happen to the Armenians? Why is it important to respect people from different backgrounds? ------------------------------------------------------- Document #7 Henry Morgenthau,U. S. Ambassador to Turkey, 1914-1916. One day Talaat made what was perhaps the most astonishing request I had ever heard. The New York Life Insurance Company and the Equitable Life of New York for years had done considerable business among the Armenians. The extent to which this people insured their lives was merely another indication of their thrifty habits. ‘I wish,’ Talaat now said, ‘that you would get the American life insurance companies to send us a complete list of their Armenian policy holders. They are practically all dead now and have left no heirs to collect the money. It of course all escheats to the State. The government is the beneficiary now. Will you do so?’ This was almost too much, and I lost my temper. ‘You will get no such list from me,’ I said, and I got up and left him. What did Talaat want from Henry Morgenthau? From reading this quote, what main reason for the genocide? How would you feel if you witness a whole nation massacred and asked this request? Part B – Essay: Use the information from the documents that you chose. Based off the thesis question, please construct your response. Also, use your answers and your knowledge of the topic to plan and write a well-organized essay of 150 words or more.