HOB

"Ethnic Cleansing in Progress: War in Nagorno Karabakh" by Caroline Cox and John Eibner

True. We can't expect more from a cynical baboon.

this guy must be sick

English version Please distribute to your mailing lists, forums, blogs. Also comment, favorite, rate the video on YouTube!

Andrei ARESHEV The Political Culture of the People of Nagorno-Karabakh: On the Road to International Recognition The July 19 presidential elections in Nagorno Karabakh met with quite a wide international response. It should be mentioned that the holding of referendums and elections at different levels have long become part of the political culture of the small state of Karabakh. 2 nation-wide referendums were held here in the past 16 years (December 10, 1991 – on the issue of proclaiming independence, held in the hardest conditions of the war with Azerbaijan, and on December 10,2006 – on the adoption of the Constitution) as well as 4 election cycles of the presidential and parliamentary elections and the elections to local bodies of authority. The latest elections were unusual in their turn-up. People began to queue up long before the polling stations were opened. Each station had complete polling lists presented well in advance; transparent ballot boxes were used. There were no special polling stations for servicemen who now voted according to the additional polling lists at regular polling stations. Nothing suggestive of any falsification or discrepancies between the results of the voting and the genuine expression of the people’s will was registered. Observers from Russia (including State Duma delegates and the Auditing Chamber officials as well as a number of people from other states and NGOs were unanimous in their assessment of the good preparation of the elections and their unconditional correspondence to democratic standards. Nevertheless, statements made by people from a number of international organisations were of a somewhat different character. Representatives of the EU Parliamentary Assembly and some other bodies emphasised the lack of the international recognition of the status of the Nagorno Karabakh republic, stressing that the events during and after the election could allegedly negatively affect the negotiation process over the problem of Nagorno Karabakh.. However, formulation of the terms of recognition of an individual state in many respects has a conditional character. As for the negotiations process, the main obstacle to its progress is the irreconcilable stance taken by the official Baku. It appears that officials in the Azerbaijani capital are not too eager to see the settlement of the conflict, probably in belief that nothing should be sacrificed at present if everything can be gained at once later. Unfortunately, the recent visit of Armenian and Azeri cultural workers to Stepanakert, Shusha,Yerevan and Baku was not an exception to the rule. The trip ended in a long speech delivered by Ilham Aliev on the theme of Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity (even though it was strange how the Azeri president failed to speak on the restoration of the Soviet Union, of which the Azerbaijanian Soviet Republic and the Nagorno Karabakh Autonomous region in its administrative jurisdiction once was). No matter what, all this did not significantly affect the organisation and the course of voting. Neither it could affect those. An entire new generation has grown up in the Nagorno Karabakh, and it does not occur to it them that a return to the past is ever possible. The plaques carrying the portraits of their deceased relations and neighbours can be found in every city or village; they are a tangible reminder of what the “cultural autonomy” within the borders of the Azerbaihanian Soviet Socialist Republic meant for them. The traces of war are still seen not only in Shusha (whose restoration only began a short while ago) but also in remote settlements in the Mardakert and Gadrut districts, where there still are houses with the walls peppered by bullets and submachine guns fire. So it is not accidental that the programmes of the candidates for the presidency at the polls of July 19,2007 chiefly focused on the socio-economic issues. The residents of Nagorno Karabakh are primarily concerned over the solution of the unemployment problem and creation of new jobs, building new enterprises and attraction of investments, increasing pensions and wages. The programmes of the presidential candidates were oriented precisely on this. For example, the social programme of the winner of the elections Bako Saakian suggests increasing pensions in the coming three years two and a half times and ensure the growth of the average wages in the coming five years by 200 per cent. A serious attention will also be given to the development of the agricultural sector, and raising the degree of authority of local bodies of power, among other things. * * * Traces of a certain intrigue were seen through the entire election campaign in Nagorno Karabakh. The pre-election struggle meant many things. At the same time, there exists in the republic the concord on key issues it faces, so the emergence of an alternative “government” of say, the like of the one in South Ossetia, that would declare its consent to be dependent on Baku, is out of the question. The foreign policies positions shared by the two principal co-runners for presidency (including former head of the republic’s National Security Service Bako Saakian and Deputy Foreign Minister Masis Mailian) had no significant differences. Outside observers might view this as an inalienable attribute of the “fortress state” or the “garrison state” as some liberal columnists like to refer to Nagorno Karabakh. But the issues of security are of supreme importance to the local residents as their future depends on their selection of this or that version of their solution. The most acute problem is that of the so-called “occupied” territories (to use the terms employed by the Azeri side). Stepanakert views the situation unlike people in Brussels and Strasburg. The districts that in the early 1990s were under the control of Azeri armed units are at astone’s throw from the windows of even not the highest buildings in the Nagorno Karabakh capital. Not only Shusha, from which Stepanakert was shelled in deadly attacks. They include the present-day suburb of the capital of Nagorno Karabakh, Kirkijan, and settlements Djamillu, Djangasan and Hodjalu where intensive construction was going on during the period of the government of the Organisational Committee for the republic of Nagorno Karabakh headed by V.Polyanichko, that was later turned into a major military base (presently the settlement of Ivanian). Other districts that are now known as “the safety belt” (along with their entrance infrastructure) also have strategic significance. Not only the Goris-Lachin-Stepanakert main road, but also the Mardakert-Kelbadjar road that was heavily used in the early 1990s to boost the Azeri military units in the Kelbadjar district that borders on Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh.(where there are now refugees from the Shaumian district of the Nagorno Karabakh republic that was captured in the summer of 1992). Other asphalt roads (as was typical of the Soviet times) interconnected Armenian settlements almost exclusively via the adjacent Azeri districts. That means that the return to the political, and consequently, the military control over the territories within the administrative borders of the former Republic of Nagorno Karabakh by Azerbaijan, or in the adjacent territories without some sort of firm guarantees would inevitably mean the return to the situation of 1991-1992, when the residents of Nagorno Karabakh found themselves in a virtually all-round siege and faced the prospects of total expulsion or even a physical destruction. The best guarantee to prevent the tragic events of the past in the conditions of the present-day erosion of international law from returning is to have modern armed forces. The Nagorno Karabakh Army of Defence has a firm control of the line of contact with Azernaijan. * * * The elections held in Nagorno Karabakh will provide a significant impetus for the continuation of the negotiations process that is now in the state of half-consciousness. But to render the negotiations constructive would only become possible after Stepanakert begins to participate. There are signs of another stage of restoration of the activities of the co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group. Braiza visited Yerevan on July 30th, 2007. The plans of the tireless American include a visit to Moscow on August 2, for a regular round of consultations with the c-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk group (Russia, France and the United States). A visit to Azerbaijan is slated as a follow-up to that. But by and large Braiza does not believe that any shifts in the process of the Karabbakh settlement could be expected in the near future. True, it is hard to expect any progress, given the continued attempts to solve the Karabakh problem without taking into account the ideas its residents have on that score. Russia’s stance on the non-recognised states on the post-Soviet space is also very important.. Observers have long registered the absence of the response of the Russian Foreign Ministry concerning the elections in Karabakh. This can be assessed as a move in a right direction. Nevertheless, Russia’s ties with Nagorno Kaarabakh need to be intensified regardless of the present-day objective and subjective limitations. The objective factors (clearly understood by Stepanakert) include, primarily, the absence of a common frontier, whereas the subjective ones include Moscow’s wariness over causing new complications in its relations with Azerbaijan. Political problems continue to make the life of ordinary people seriously harder. Telephone and mail connections between Moscow and Karabakh have been hard to establish for many years. There is no aviation links despite the availability of an airport, so transportation costs are outrageous. This situation can hardly be called normal, as there are quite comfortable conditions for doing business, and a high degree of social safety. Despite being almost totally sealed by the siege, the republic builds modern new enterprises, cattle breeding farms and agricultural processing companies along with state-of-the-art hotels and recreation zones; natural gas pipelines are connecting remote settlements and villages with the centre. Still Nagorno Karabakh remains chiefly an untapped area. Its significant resources (the power sector in particular) are enormous in terms of the regional scope, while its transport and tourist infrastructures are in need of serious investments. Hesitation of politicians should not be in the way of developing the Russian-Karabakh cooperation in the cultural and humanitarian areas, as well as at the level of parliaments and NGOs. The problem of establishing in Stepanakert of the Russian cultural centre, new schools and classes for the speakers of Russian, etc, has not been settled yet. It should be recalled that people born in Nagorno Karabakh whose total number is about 1 million (with only 14% now living in Nagorno Karabakh) are in their preponderance people of both Armenian and Russian cultures. Many have long been living in Russia; they could significantly contribute to the strengthening of Russia’s political, economic and cultural positions in both Karabakh and Armenia, and in the whole of the Caucasian region. Source (Click for more photos)

Against the Ethnozid in Nakhichevan On Friday, 20th of January, 2006, 13.00 - 15.00 AGA (Working Group Recognition - Against Genocide) initiates a picket-action "Against the Ethnozid in Nakhichevan" in front of the Republic of Azerbaijan embassy in Berlin. Address: Kommandantenstr. 80, 10117 Berlin-Mitte, near U-Bahnhof Spittelmarkt. Please pass on to your friends in Berlin.

Исторические фальсификации с политической подоплекой Авторы: Михаил МЕЛЬТЮХОВ, кандидат исторических наук, Алла ТЕР-САРКИСЯНЦ, доктор исторических наук, Георгий ТРАПЕЗНИКОВ, доктор исторических наук, профессор, академик МАИ ООН Москва, 1999, ISBN 5-7820-0060-0 Сокращеный вариант данного материала был опубликован 22 июля 1998 года в приложении “Содружество” (N 7) к “Независимой газете”. Текст брошюры сопровожден приложениями – таблицами динамики численности населения АОНК/НКАО, АзССР, АрмССР и Нахичеванской АССР. Также содержится обзор истории Нагорного Карабаха, текст письма руководства НКР Генеральному Секретарю ООН (17.08.1997) с приложением данных о беженцах, перемещенных лицах и занятых в ходе боевых действий территориях в Нагорном Карабахе и Азербайджане. Приводится полный список использованной литературы. Предоставлено Сумгаит.инфо представительством НКР в Москве. Содержание: 1. Введение. Исторический обзор. Фальсификация истории Закавказья 2. Динамика численности населения АОНК/НКАО в 1923-1989 гг. 3. Динамика численности и национального состава населения Азербайджанской ССР, Нахичеванской АССР, Нагорно-Карабахской АО и Армянской ССР в 1959-1979 гг. 4. Письмо Генеральному Секретарю ООН, Кофи Аннану, от и.о. президента НКР Леонарда Петросяна 17 августа 1997 года, с приложением "Данных о беженцах, перемещенных лицах и занятых в ходе боевых действий территориях в Нагорном Карабахе и Азербайджане" 5. Список использованной литературы

Now it's published by PanArmenian.net and Regnum.ru.

I just received information from Baroness Caroline Cox and Mr. John Marks saying that issue of Khachkars desecration in Nakhichevan was put down the following Question for Written Answer in the House of Lords (UK) on December 20. The Baroness Cox—To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will make representations to UNESCO concerning the destruction and desecration by Azerbaijan of ancient Armenian churches and artefacts. (HL3178)

December 22, 2005 The Honorable Hafiz M. *****yev Ambassador Embassy of Azerbaijan 2741 34th Street, NW Washington, DC 20008 Dear Ambassador *****yev, As Co-Chairs of the Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues, we are writing to express our grave concern and indignation regarding the reported destruction of the historically and architecturally significant Armenian monuments in the medieval cemetery of Julfa, Nakhichevan of the Azerbaijan Republic. The eyewitness reports and documents brought to our attention indicate that on December 15, 2005 some 100 Azerbaijani soldiers, armed with heavy equipment, broke into the Old Jugha (Julfa) Cemetery, and engaged in barbaric destruction of its centuries-old Armenian khachkars (headstones). The old Cemetery of Julfa is known to specialists to have housed as many as 10,000 of these intricately carved khachkar headstones, up to 2,000 of which were still intact after an earlier outbreak of vandalism on the same site in 2002. Eyewitness accounts of the ongoing demolition indicate at the organized nature of the operation, qualifying it as cleansing. Azerbaijan, as a member of the international community, has national responsibilities within the United Nations, the OSCE, the Council of Europe and other relevant international frameworks to preserve the cultural and historical heritage in its custody. Persistent vandalism in Azerbaijan against monuments representing our common cultural heritage advises us and the international community concerned on your Government’s deliberate ignorance of its responsibilities in that regard. Such practice runs against the basic norms of civilized conduct of nations, and undermines the US and international efforts toward achieving greater stability and security in the region. We therefore urge your Government to halt the ongoing vandalism in Julfa’s Old Cemetery immediately. We further urge the preparation and presentation of a documented report on the damage caused to the architectural ensemble as a result of the latest violence, to lead to measures in remedy of the situation. We also call upon your Government to cooperate with the international and expert community toward developing a program of action that would enhance the protection and preservation of this endangered treasure of world cultural heritage, and prevent the occurrence of any further violence. We look forward to reviewing progress in this regard on a periodic basis. Sincerely, Joe Knollenberg Frank Pallone, Jr. ### NR# 2005-123

Da parz e, indz parzapes tvac konkret inchvor mi andzi masin e khosqe gnum.

MosJan, vor shan tsnundi masin e khosqe gnum?

Video made from Iranian side http://clips1.vimeo.com/video_files/2005/1...vimeo.37011.wmv

VIENNA - ''Allegations of Armenian genocide are part of a new operation of the United States and the other western states against Turkey,'' affirmed Turkish researcher Sefa Yurukel on Thursday. ''Under the UN convention, what Israel is currently doing in Palestine is a genocide. What the United States is doing in Iraq is a genocide. France committed genocide during the war in Algeria. Also, France and Belgium committed genocide in Rwanda and Burundi. But no one can accuse those countries of genocide since they are permanent members of the UN Security Council,'' he said. http://www.turkishpress.com/news.asp?id=90047

2005-12-15 BUDAPEST MURDER CASE: HEARINGS RESUMED, THEN POSTPONED AGAIN Hayk Demoyan—the official representative of the Ministry of Defense of Armenia at the trial of Ramil Safarov—reports from Budapest. The fifth hearings on the case of the murder of Gurgen Margaryan—Armenian officer hacked to death almost two years ago by his Azerbaijani classmate Ramil Safarov during the NATO-sponsored English language courses—were resumed today in Budapest, Hungary. The results of the third psychiatric examination of the defendant which was set to clear the contradictions between the first examination and the second one were scheduled to be announced today. However the third examination was carried out so unprofessionally that the judge Andrash Vashkuti expressed his indignation and threatened to impose sanctions against the expert. According to the results of the latest examination, the defendant was in “a condition close to the state of irresponsibility”. The judge discarded the results of the third examination and scheduled another one. Also, as per request by the prosecution two more witnesses are to be summoned for the next hearings: an employee of the military school where the murder was committed, and another student of the language courses. The defense again pledged to conduct an interrogation of the Azerbaijani witness (the second Azerbaijani officer who had participated in the courses) in Baku claiming that he was incapable of visiting Budapest. But this pledge was also refused by the judge. The preliminary eye witness account of the Azerbaijani eye witness that he provided immediately after the murder was read instead. The hearings are scheduled to be resumed on March 7th, 2006. - - - - - http://budapest.sumgait.info/news/index.htm

Those two articles in Russian are about Shahumyan and Getashen massacres in 1991. They’ll be translated to English and published on sumgait.info too.

update on Sumgait.info (in Russian section). "Напротив больницы колонну остановили и молниеносно окружили омоновцы, одетые в пятнистую форму. Я почувствовал себя пленным. Перед порогом дома валялись окровавленные трупы. У некоторых из них отрезаны уши, лица исполосованы до неузнаваемости. Почти у всех - рваная ножевая дыра в горле. Здание, изрешеченное пулями, пропахло смертью. В коридорах на полу и кроватях сидели и лежали люди, будто загипнотизированные. У одних прострелены руки, у других - ноги. У одного из мертвых снят скальп, а живые, затравленные, смотрели в пустоту. Говорила только крохотная девочка. Она сидела у изрубленного на куски женского трупа и что-то бормотала, бормотала. Увидев военный, девочка застыла в немом крике." "Свидетельствую - в Геташене была бойня".Репортаж спецкора "Московских новостей" Вламириа Емельяненко о бойне, учиненной Советской Армией и азербайджанским ОМОНон непосредсвенно с места событий в Геташене. "Московские Новости". 12 мая 1991г., N 19 "Шаумяновский район - война по просьбам трудящихся?" Репортаж спецкора "Московских новостей" Михаила Шевелева о событиях, имевших место в феврале 1991-го года в Шаумяновском районе Азербайджанской ССР. "Московские Новости". 3 февраля 1991г., N 5

http://www.ararat5137.org/Gallery/images/DSC01181.JPG

Some of those Khachkars have engravings with Armenian characters of family names. Yet another blatent fact that those are not "Anchor Stones". Some of those Cross Stones have paint over the Armenian engravings, a sign of vandalism and an attempt to destroy the cemetery and any Armenian evidence. A little boy points to a place and starts saying "chemic, chemic". I do not understand him, so I follow him to the place were he is indicating. I come across some open graves. Human skulls and bones, are visible. The boy shouts "Ermeni" (Turkish for Armenian) ... My thoughts and feelings start getting blurry, and feelings of rage and anger emerge. They could well belong to one of my forefathers. Never the less I stay calm. In contrast, the local villagers get aggressive when we mention to them that we are Armenians. Please let the people that are buried under this land (their own homeland) rest in peace. The church of Akdamar is currently being renovated under UNESCO's directive to preserve sites of World Cultural Heritage. With big disappointment I notice that the church is almost destroyed. Looking closer at the walls of the church I notice countless bullet holes all around. It is evident that people were using the decorations of the walls as targets in a shooting range. We take a quick peak inside, behind the protective barriers that have been erected due to the construction work. The chief Architect there gets angry and aggressive when he saw as taking photos of the inside. I manage to take only one photo. Regrettably, the inside does not resemble a church. It is burned, and the walls are black. There is a sign outside the church which provides some historical information. Upon reading the sign, I was not surprised to realise that the information is totally misleading. Destruction of the church and distortion of truth by the Turks. Will they never learn to speak the truth? Will they never respect culture? Is this how they aspire to enter my "home", the European Union?

Armenian Electronic Library is back online with even more free content. But why was it offline on the first place? First our web site became the target of a DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attack along with number of other Armenian web sites, and then we were busy looking for a better protected web hosting provider while also struggling with number of technical and organizational issues. So what's new? Report on the American Red Cross relief expedition of 1896 to Asia Minor, which was headed by Clara Barton—the legendary founder of the American Red Cross Society is added to the Armenian Genocide section. Also added Vardananq— the notorious novel by Derenik Demirchyan in the Russian section of the library. And the last but not least: after 2 years of delays the text of Call of the Plowmen by Khachik Dashtents is now complete in the Armenian section of the library. Currently we are working on: 1. Adding several new works in the Literary Cafe too, so visit it in a couple of weeks for more content; 2. "Treatment of Armenians in Ottoman Empire" by James Bryce; 3. "The History of Armenian Theater" (in Russian, 2 volumes) by George Goyan. Also we are planning to update texts of informational pages (About us, F.A.Q., etc.)

RAMIL SAFAROV: ANAR ALIYEV DID NOT SPEND THE LAST NIGHT IN THE ROOM WITH ME By Ruzan Poghosian AZG Armenian Daily #183 12/10/2005 Trial in Budapest Nazeli Vardanian, lawyer of murdered Gurgen Margarian, and Hayk Demoyan, historian of the Armenian armed forces, told about the September 15 court session at the Budapest court yesterday. The lawyer said that the Armenian side's plea to view the case as a genocidal act and not as a homicide met the Azeri lawyer's objection. The court remained silent. "We tried to make one more plea though we had no hope that anyone can be charged with such a crime in present-day Europe", Vardanian said. The court disclosed that the Latvian serviceman will not take part in the sessions any more; his whereabouts are unknown. The court proceeded from his previous affidavit that basically coincided with that of Hayk Manucharian. The latter was exposed to psychological pressure during the session, in particular, he was asked several times if Safarov "was insane at that moment". "I think it's clear to the court that there is no contradiction in Hayk Manucharian's words, there is no doubt also as to his and Safarov's sanity", the lawyer said. Hayk Demoyan added that Safarov was so deeply moved that his speech at the session turned into a curious thing. To reject that the crime was planned he said: "Anar Aliyev did not spend the last night in the room with me" but the judge retorted saying: "To plan murder with him you did not need necessarily sleep with him". The defendant refused to answer any question as soon as asked about buying an axe for the murder. Anar Aliyev did not take part in this session either. The Azeris promised to the angry judge to bring him to the next session. The Armenian side made a plea to recognize him as an accomplice that was also turned down. The forensic experts stated at the end of the session that Safarov was completely healthy and committed the crime in his right mind. The second expert pointed out to Safarov's stories and dreams considering him partially guilty. Inconsistencies in the two conclusions of the experts made the judge plea for the third one. "The first expert simply bore down the second one. The second expert claimed that Ramil Safarov used Xenex, a medicine against nervous shock, during army service in Turkey. The first expert rebuffed that lie at once claiming that there was no such medicine at that time. Though the second expert tried hard to find ways of justifying Safarov, his diffidence was obvious", Demoyan said. Nazeli Vardanian is sure that the court could easily accept the first expert's conclusion and reach a verdict but it chose a third medical examination that would compare the previous ones. "If there is no pressure from the Azeri side, I think that inconsistencies will show up and we'll hear the last medical conclusion in December".

Armenian Conference At Istanbul University In March 2006 Published: 9/26/2005 ISTANBUL - An ''Armenian Conference'' will take place at the Istanbul University in March 2006, said university sources today. In a press release, the IU Rector's office said that Istanbul University will hold a conference on the Armenian problem by wide international participation and on basis of international criteria. ''The participants, including lawyers, scholars and politicians, of countries who have adopted resolutions accepting and remembering the so-called Armenian genocide will be invited. The Istanbul University will study the matter based on its historical mission and with an objective look. The Armenian problem will not only be handled from an historical perspective but also from a legal, political and sociological perspectives. ''The participants will handle the topic from various angles possible scientifically,'' said the IU press release. http://www.turkishpress.com/news.asp?id=72104

Latest developments 27-Sep-2005: HEARINGS RESUMED IN BUDAPEST It has been 19 months since the death of Lt. Gurgen Margarian. An Armenian citizen participating in English-language courses run within the framework of NATO-sponsored Partnership for Peace program in Budapest, Hungary, he was hacked to death with an axe by a fellow Azerbaijani classmate Ramil Safarov. Since then the representatives of Azerbaijan have been doing everything possible to showcase the murderer as someone suffering post-traumatic syndrome because of his childhood experiences during the war in Nagorno Artsax 1991-1994. (As it was later discovered Ramil Safarov’s family had left their native village long before there was any fighting there). On September 27th, 8:30 AM the hearings were resumed on the trial of Ramil Safarov in the Capital court of Budapest under the chairing of Hungarian judge Andras Vaskuti. The trial began with reading the text of interrogation of the eyewitness Saulus Paulus of Lithuania. He was the roommate of Hayk Makuchyan—the second Armenian officer on whose life Ramil Safarov unsuccessfully attempted. Next, Mr. Makuchyan himself testified. He answered the questions of the judge and of the defense attorneys. Also, for the first time Mr. Makuchyan had a chance to direct his questions to the defendant in person; however the latter refused to answer any of the questions addressed to him by the Armenian officer. Then two Hungarian psychiatrists who had conducted two consecutive psychiatric examinations of the defendant presented their conclusions. The first one, who examined the Safarov only four days after the murder, convincingly opposed to any claim of her opponent that Safarov had been suffering from post-traumatic syndrome when he killed his victim. The latter claim is part of the strategy that the defense has undertaken in efforts to reduce the punishment of the defendant. For the third time Anar Rauf Aliyev, another Azerbaijani officer who had been participating the NATO-sponsored program along with Safarov, was not present at the trial. Instead a letter by the Azerbaijani Ambassador to Hungary Hasan Hasanov was presented to the court claiming that the eyewitness had difficulty communicating due to a speech disorder. The judge expressed his discontent and required an official document confirming Aliyev’s health problems to be presented instead. Finally, the court decided to arrange the third psychiatric examination of the defendant, which should bring its preference toward the outcome of either the first or the second examinations. The trial is scheduled to be resumed on December 15th, 2005. http://budapest.sumgait.info/news/index.htm

In Istanbul, a Crack In the Wall of Denial We're Trying to Debate the Armenian Issue By Elif Shafak Sunday, September 25, 2005; B03 ISTANBUL I am the daughter of a Turkish diplomat -- a rather unusual character in the male-dominated foreign service in that she was a single mother. Her first appointment was to Spain, and we moved to Madrid in the early 1980s. In those days, the Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia, known as ASALA, was staging attacks on Turkish citizens -- and diplomats in particular -- in Rome, London, Zurich, Brussels, Milan and Madrid; our cultural attaché in Paris was assassinated in 1979 while walking on the Champs-Elysees. So throughout my childhood, the word "Armenian" meant only one thing to me: a terrorist who wanted to kill my mother. Faced with hatred, I hated back. But that was as far as my feelings went. It took me years to ask the simple question: Why did the Armenians hate us? My ignorance was not unusual. For me in those days, and for most Turkish citizens even today, my country's history began in 1923, with the founding of the modern Turkish state. The roots of the Armenians' rage -- in the massacres, atrocities and deportations that decimated Turkey's Armenian population in the last years of Ottoman rule, particularly 1915 -- were simply not part of our common historical memory. But for me today, and for a growing number of my fellow Turks, that has changed. That is why I am in Istanbul this weekend. I came to Bosphorus University to attend the first-ever public conference in this country on what happened to the Ottoman Armenians in and after 1915. As I write, we are fighting last-minute legal maneuvers by hard-line opponents of open discussion to shut the conference down. I don't know how it will turn out -- but the fact that we are here, openly making the attempt, with at least verbal support from the prime minister and many mainstream journalists, highlights how far some in my country have come. Until my early twenties, like many Turks living abroad, I was less interested in history than in what we described as "improving Turkey's image in the eyes of Westerners." As I began reading extensively on political and social history, I was drawn to the stories of minorities, of the marginalized and the silenced: women who resisted traditional gender roles, unorthodox Sufis persecuted for their beliefs, homosexuals in the Ottoman Empire. Gradually, I started reading about the Ottoman Armenians -- not because I was particularly interested in the literature but because I was young and rebellious, and the official ideology of Turkey told me not to. Yet it was not until I came to the United States in 2002 and started getting involved in an Armenian-Turkish intellectuals' network that I seriously felt the need to face the charges that, beginning in 1915, Turks killed as many as 1.5 million Armenians and drove hundreds of thousands more from their homes. I focused on the literature of genocide, particularly the testimony of survivors; I watched filmed interviews at the Zoryan Institute's Armenian archives in Toronto; I talked to Armenian grandmothers, participated in workshops for reconciliation and collected stories from Armenian friends who were generous enough to entrust me with their family memories and secrets. With each step, I realized not only that atrocities had been committed in that terrible time but that their effect had been made far worse by the systematic denial that followed. I came to recognize a people's grief and to believe in the need to mourn our past together. I also got to know other Turks who were making a similar intellectual journey. Obviously there is still a powerful segment of Turkish society that completely rejects the charge that Armenians were purposely exterminated. Some even go so far as to claim that it was Armenians who killed Turks, and so there is nothing to apologize for. These nationalist hardliners include many of our government officials, bureaucrats, diplomats and newspaper columnists. They dominate Turkey's public image -- but theirs is only one position held by Turkish citizens, and it is not even the most common one. The prevailing attitude of ordinary people toward the "Armenian question" is not one of conscious denial; rather it is collective ignorance. These Turks feel little need to question the past as long as it does not affect their daily lives. There is a third attitude, prevalent among Turkish youth: Whatever happened, it was a long time ago, and we should concentrate on the future rather than the past. "Why am I being held responsible for a crime my grandfather committed -- that is, if he ever did it?" they ask. They want to become friends with Armenians and push for open trade and better relations with neighboring Armenia . . . . as long as everybody forgets this inconvenient claim of genocide. Finally, there is a fourth attitude: The past is not a bygone era that we can discard but a legacy that needs to be recognized, explored and openly discussed before Turkey can move forward. It is plain to me that, though it often goes unnoticed in Western media, there is a thriving movement in Turkish civil society toward this kind of reconciliation. The 50 historians, journalists, political scientists and activists who have gathered here in the last few days for the planned conference on Ottoman Armenians share a common belief in the need to face the atrocities of the past, no matter how distressing or dangerous, in order to create a better future for Turkey. But it hasn't been easy, and the battle is far from over. Over the past four years, Turks have made several attempts to address the "Armenian question." The conference planned for this weekend differed from earlier meetings in key respects: It was to be held in Istanbul itself, rather than abroad; it would be organized by three established Turkish universities rather than by progressive Armenian and Turkish expatriates; it would be conducted completely in Turkish. Originally scheduled for May 23, it was postponed after Cemil Cicek, Turkey's minister of justice, made an angry speech before parliament, accusing organizers of "stabbing their nation in the back." But over the ensuing four months, the ruling Justice and Development Party made it clear that Cicek's remarks reflected his views, and his alone. The minister of foreign affairs, Abdullah Gul, announced that he had no problem with the expression of critical opinion and even said he would be willing to participate in the conference. (As it happens, he has been in New York in recent days, at the United Nations.) Meanwhile, the Armenian question has been prominently featured in Turkish media. Hurriyet, the nation's most popular newspaper, ran a series of pro and con interviews on this formerly taboo subject, called "The Armenian Dossier." The upcoming trial of acclaimed author Orhan Pamuk, charged with "denigrating" Turkish identity for talking about the killing of Kurds and Armenians, has been fervently debated. Various columnists have directly apologized to the Armenians for the sufferings caused to their people by the Turks. And stories have been reported of orphaned Armenian girls who saved their lives by changing their names, converting to Islam and marrying Turks -- and whose grandchildren are unaware today of their own mixed heritage. All this activity has triggered a nationalist backlash. That should be expected -- but organizers of the Conference on Ottoman Armenians were nevertheless surprised last week by a crafty, last-minute maneuver: a court order to postpone the conference pending the investigation of hardliners' charges that it was unfairly biased against Turkey. The cynicism of this order was clear when we learned that the three-judge panel actually made its decision on Monday; it was not made public until late Thursday, only hours before the conference was to begin. Organizers said they would try to regroup by moving the site from Bosphorus University, a public institution, to one of the two private universities that are co-sponsors. We were encouraged by the immediate public reaction: Not only did some normally mainstream media voices denounce the court order, but Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in televised interviews, repeatedly criticized it as "unacceptable." "You may not like the expression of an opinion," he said, "but you can't stop it like this." Foreign Minister Gul, in New York, lamented what effect this would have on Turkey's quest to join the European Union: "There's no one better at hurting themselves than us," he said. Whatever happens with the conference, I believe one thing remains true: Through the collective efforts of academics, journalists, writers and media correspondents, 1915 is being opened to discussion in my homeland as never before. The process is not an easy one and will disturb many vested interests. I know how hard it is -- most children from diplomatic families, confronting negative images of Turkey abroad, develop a sort of defensive nationalism, and it's especially true among those of us who lived through the years of Armenian terrorism. But I also know that the journey from denial to recognition is one that can be made. Author's e-mail: elifshafak@yahoo.com Elif Shafak is a novelist and a professor of Near Eastern Studies at the University of Arizona. She commutes between Tucson and Istanbul. © 2005 The Washington Post Company

05.05.2005 YEREVAN (YERKIR) - Armenian National Assembly adopted in the first reading on Thursday an amendment to the law on holidays, Armenpress reported. The amendment stipulates that February 28th shall be marked as the day of the remembrance of Armenians massacred by the Azerbaijani Soviet Republic and protection of the rights of deported Armenians. Also, amendments were made to the law regulating taxes for tobacco products, and the law on environmental emission. http://www.yerkir.am/eng/index.php?sub=new...r=2005&id=15929