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"FIRE AND SWORD IN THE CAUCASUS" by Luigi Villari http://armenianhouse.org/villari/caucasus/...-and-sword.html CONTENTS The cover and pages 1-4 (the half-title, frontispiece, title page, copyright notice) Prefatory note Table of contents (as in the book) List of illustrations “Chronological table of recent events in the Caucasus” Chapter I The Caucasus, its peoples, and its history Chapter II Eastward ho! Chapter III Batum Chapter IV Kutais and the Georgian movement Chapter V The Gurian “republic” Chapter VI Tiflis Chapter VII Persons and politics in the Caucasian capital Chapter VIII Armenians, Tartars, and the Russian government Chapter IX Baku and the Armeno-Tartar feud Chapter X Bloodshed and fire in the oil city Chapter XI The land of Ararat Chapter XII The heart of Armenia Chapter XIII Russia's new route to Persia Chapter XIV Nakhitchevan and the May massacres Chapter XV Alexandropol and Ani Chapter XVI Over the frosty Caucasus Chapter XVII Recent events in the Caucasus INDEX Source: Villari, Luigi. Fire and Sword in the Caucasus by Luigi Villari author of “Russia under the Great Shadow”, “Giovanni Segantini,” etc. London, T. F. Unwin, 1906

МИД Израиля: "Ничто, в том числе и трагедию армян, нельзя сравнивать с еврейским геноцидом" 8-9 октября с кратким однодневным рабочим визитом Ереван посетила Чрезвычайный и Полномочный Посол Израиля в Армении и в Грузии г-жа Ривка Коэн (резиденция в Тбилиси). В контексте сложившихся между РА и Израилем весьма деликатных отношений, каждый приезд главы израильской дипломатической миссии в Армению привлекает особое внимание средств массовой информации. Между тем, по мнению аналитиков, именно вследствие этого обстоятельства визиты г-жи Коэн заранее не афишируются и, как правило, протекают в режиме повышенной секретности. Так или иначе, но и на этот раз Ривка Коэн осталась верна установившейся полтора года назад традиции – не контактировать с прессой. Будучи в Ереване г-жа посол не имела аудиенции у главы внешнеполитического ведомства Армении Вардана Осканяна. Как сообщили ИА REGNUM в пресс-службе МИД РА, Ривку Коэн принял замминистра ИД РА Рубен Шугарян. Подробности беседы не разглашаются. Пресс-служба МИД РА ограничилась информацией о ее экономической, в частности, сельскохозяйственной составляющей. Было сообщено также, что в ходе встречи армянская сторона выразила озабоченность в связи с последними событиями на Ближнем Востоке. Как позднее заявил REGNUM пресс-секретарь МИД РА Гамлет Гаспарян, визит израильского посла в Армению был согласован за десять дней до прибытия. Между тем, сам факт столь неожиданного посещения израильским послом Армении, политологи объясняют как раз резкой эскалацией региональной напряженности и озвученной министром иностранных дел РА Варданом Оскаяном позицией официального Еревана по этому вопросу. Шестого октября глава МИД РА, комментируя факт зафиксированных накануне израильских авиаударов по сирийской территории заявил: "Что касается конкретных действий Израиля против Сирии, то надо сказать, что применение военной акции в отношении суверенного государства не приемлемо. Это действие подлежит осуждению". Вместе с тем, политологи не обходят своим вниманием и, так называемые, "февральские дни армяно-израильской напряженности". Восьмого февраля 2002 года, на одной из пресс-конференций в Тбилиси Ривка Коэн заявила: "Холокост" - явление беспрецедентное и ничто, в том числе и трагедию армян, нельзя сравнивать с еврейским геноцидом". Уже 15 февраля главное внешнеполитическое ведомство РА направило в адрес МИД Израиля ноту протеста, в которой говорилось: "Армения считает неприемлемой любую попытку отрицания или умаления факта Геноцида армян, с какой бы мотивировкой это бы не делалось. Более того, Армения никогда не имела цели проводить параллели между Геноцидом армян и еврейским Холокостом, считая, что любое преступление против человечности беспрецедентно по своим политическим, правовым, историческим и моральным последствиям". 16 февраля МИД Израиля отреагировало на ноту протеста следующим заявлением: "Израиль признает трагедию армян, однако эти события не могут быть сравнены с геноцидом, что не уменьшает величину трагедии. Как евреи и как израильтяне, мы особенно опечалены трагедией, которая произошла в 1915-1916 г.г. Мы знаем, что было большое количество жертв со стороны армян. Эта проблема требует обширного исследования с привлечением широкой общественности". При этом в заявлении подчеркивались и сложившиеся теплые отношения между Израилем и Турцией. Редактор американского издания "Калифорния курьер" Арут Сасунян сегодня уже утверждает: "Отрицание израильским послом Геноцида армян совершено в русле позиции ее правительства. В 2001 году аналогичное заявление сделал министр иностранных дел Израиля Шимон Перес. Его заявление было раскритиковано не только со стороны многочисленных армянских организаций, но и некоторых израильских ученых. Правда, это не возымело эффекта. Ясно одно: лидеры Израиля готовы пожертвовать исторической правдой ради своих стратегических связей с Турцией". Единственная в Армении встреча г-жи Коэн с журналистами имела место в феврале 2002 года. После этого она несколько раз, как правило "инкогнито", посещала Ереван - в том числе в марте текущего года, однако с прессой в контакт не вступала. Нынешний приезд израильского посла в РА, помимо всего прочего, ознаменовался и достижением предварительной договоренности на предмет проведения эксклюзивной встречи с корреспондентами ИА REGNUM. Впрочем, 9 октября Ривка Коэн вынуждена была через ассистента все же отказаться от беседы, посетовав на повышенное давление. 16:35 10.10.2003 www.regnum.ru

BY LASHING OUT AT SWITZERLAND, TURKS HELP PUBLICIZE GENOCIDE The regional parliament of the canton (province) of Vaud in Switzerland adopted a resolution on September 23, in recognition of the Armenian Genocide. Given the restrained text of this resolution (it mentioned neither the Turks nor the Republic of Turkey) and the negligible influence the canton's decisions have on world politics, very few people would have even heard of this resolution, had the Turks just kept their mouth shut. The Turkish Foreign Ministry, by over-reacting and lashing back at the government of Switzerland, helped publicize worldwide the decision of this tiny Swiss canton on the Armenian Genocide! Ankara announced that it was retaliating by canceling the trip to Turkey of the Swiss Foreign Minister, Micheline Calmy-Rey. By taking such an excessive step, the Turks managed to offend not only the people of Switzerland, but also the government of that country which had sided with Turkey to block previous attempts of the Swiss Parliament to recognize the Armenian Genocide. The Swiss Ambassador to Ankara, Kurt Wyss, said Switzerland called Turkey's decision "exaggerated and disproportionate." Canceling the Foreign Minister's visit was a personal "affront" to the Foreign Minister and to Switzerland, the Ambassador said. Mrs. Calmy-Rey described the Turkish action as "a disappointment" and said that the move would make relations between the two countries "complicated." Swiss parliamentarian Hans-Rudolf Merz was certain that the Turks made a mistake by canceling Mrs. Calmy-Rey's visit. Merz said that it was in Turkey's interest to maintain friendly relations with western nations if it wanted to join the European Union. As an additional indication of the strained relations between the two countries, the Swiss Senate's foreign affairs committee announced last week that the visit of six of its members to Turkey next month was being canceled. The committee said that the time was not right for dialogue with Ankara. Who would have thought back in 1915 that almost 90 years later relations between Turkey and Switzerland would be disrupted because of the Armenian Genocide? This is an important victory for Armenians. If the Turks would take similar harsh measures against other countries in retaliation for their recognition of the Armenian Genocide, consequently isolating their pariah state from the community of civilized nations, Armenians would be satisfied that today's Turks are paying a price for the denial of the crimes committed by their forefathers. The souring of relations between the two countries was not the only benefit Armenians gained from this episode. The cancellation of the Swiss Foreign Minister's visit was covered by dozens of Swiss, Turkish, Greek, and Armenian newspapers as well as wire services worldwide, all of them describing, some in great detail, the cold-blooded murder of over one million Armenians and its denial by Turkey. Therefore, Turkey unwittingly helped publicize the facts of the Armenian Genocide to a world audience! Furthermore, given Ankara's insulting reaction, more Swiss legislators, both at the cantonal and federal levels, who were heretofore reluctant to offend the Turks, are more likely to support a resolution recognizing the Armenian Genocide in the future. The worldwide publicity generated by the coverage of this incident will also prompt other countries to recognize the Armenian Genocide. The Turks may have thought that raising "a big stink" on this occasion would help serve as a warning to other countries not to recognize the Armenian Genocide. Ankara has issued similar empty threats in the past. Following the French Senate's recognition of the Armenian Genocide, for example, Turkey recalled its Ambassador, threatened to cancel the purchase of French arms, and issued several anti-French statements. Within a few weeks, however, it sent its Ambassador back to Paris and sought France's support for its EU bid. The Turks quickly realized that they need France much more than France needs them! Therefore, no one should be surprised if the Turks turn around and invite the Swiss Foreign Minister and the Senate committee members to visit Ankara in a few weeks. Seeing these Turkish bluffs, other countries will be encouraged, rather than discouraged, to pass resolutions recognizing the Armenian Genocide, knowing full well that Turkey's bark is far worse than its bite! Protest Pres. Bush's Fund-Raiser in Fresno A fundraising luncheon is planned on October 15 in Fresno for the re-election of Pres. Bush. The invitation states that to be listed in the program as "Lunch Sponsor," one needs to raise $20,000. To qualify as a "Lunch Committee" member, one needs to raise $10,000. Individual tickets are $2,000 for "Gold Level" seating and $1,000 for "Silver Level" seating. No Armenian-American who cares about his or her heritage and honors the memory of the 1.5 million martyrs should contemplate contributing a single dollar for the re-election of Pres. Bush who made a false promise to the Armenian community four years ago to recognize the Armenian Genocide. He has not only ignored his promise, his administration has gone to great lengths to undermine and defeat all resolutions on the Armenian Genocide both at the state and federal levels! Rather than contributing funds, Armenian-Americans should turn out in large numbers in front of the Fresno Convention Center on October 15, to protest Pres. Bush's presence in Fresno and to remind him of his broken promise. Since Pres. Bush fooled the Armenian community into supporting him the first time around four years ago by making a promise which he did not keep, Armenian Americans who contribute to his re-election either do not care about the Armenian Genocide or do not care about being lied to! Readers are urged to call the person in charge of this luncheon, Michael Sowers, at 916-443-7444, and tell him why they would not be attending the President's fund-raiser. At 11 a.m., on October 15, Armenian protesters should gather in front of the Fresno Convention Center to let the President know that they do not appreciate being lied to! As the popular saying goes: "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me!" By Harut Sassounian, Publisher, The California Courier

An Armenian Lady Named Ani Teneyan Attacked in the Kindergarten Belonging to Nese Erberk An infamous person entered two days ago the kindergarten founded by the notorious top model Nese Erberk and robbed an Armenian lady named Ani Teneyan living abroad, by stabbing her. Ani Teneyan stayed in the kindergarten as a guest. The thief wounded her on her left hand and her throat, and snatched her handbag. Policemen transported Tekeyan to hospital. Nese Erberk who immediately rushed to the location where the incident took place declared that Teneyan is their friend from abroad , who stayed in the kindergarten because there was no place at home. Nor Marmara, 24 September 2003, Istanbul

"THE DARK WORLD OF THE ARMENIANS" (Below is the article published in September 22 issue of The Jerusalem Report, a popular Israeli weekly, written by Rabbi Matthew Berkowitz.) Bearing vigilant and constant witness and fighting Holocaust denial are part of the Jewish responsibility to history. Yet today, we are accomplices in the denial of an earlier genocidal chapter - the Armenian Genocide. Between 1915 and 1916, some 1 million Armenians were systematically massacred by Ottoman Turkey; between 200,000 and 500,000 more would be exterminated between 1917 and 1922 by the revolutionary Young Turks. Dehumanization, death marches, and massacres targeted this Christian population. Vivid testimony was recorded by an American Jew - HenryMorgenthau, who was U.S. ambassador to Turkey: "When the Turkish authorities gave the orders for these deportations they were merely giving the death warrant to a whole race; they understood this well and in their conversations with me, they made no particular attempt to conceal the fact." Morgenthau writes of a death march to Aleppo. Of some 18,000 who set out, 150 women and children arrived. "All the rest," he writes, "were dead." Deborah Lipstadt argues that "denial of genocide is the final stage of genocide; it is what Elie Wiesel has called 'a double killing.'" Yet the government of Turkey has been waging a campaign of denial involving threats, political bullying, coercion, and an unabashed assault on truth. The campaign has been effective. Successive administrations of the United States have succumbed to pressure preventing the passage of legislation referring explicitly to the Armenian Genocide and calling on Turkey to take responsibility for this blemish on humanity. Tragically, the organized Jewish community continues to remain silent, and even to appease the Turkish government. The Turkish Daily News has reported with evident satisfaction that "the American Jewish Committee, member of the influential Jewish lobby in the U.S., has sent a letter to the Senate calling on the senators to exclude references to the alleged genocide out of the [2004] budget bill." The reference is to the State Department Authorization Bill, to which a rider referring explicitly to the Armenian Genocide has been attached by some 33 senators, reaffirming support of the Genocide Convention. They will seek a vote in September. Adolf Hitler relied on the silence of history to wage a genocidal campaign. On August 22, 1939, only days after the Nazi conquest of Poland, he asked, "Who after all speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?" Today, we are commanded by history just as we are by words of Torah, v'dibarta bam - that you shall speak of them - not only of the destruction that befell us, but the annihilation that befell them. Fortunately, some have refused to be silent. On June 9, 2000, 126 Holocaust scholars published a petition in The New York Times affirming "the incontestable fact of the Armenian Genocide" and urging "Western democracies to officially recognize it." In March this year, Dr Yair Auron, an Israeli scholar of genocide, wrote in a newspaper article, "Israel has systematically avoided the Armenian issue." The Israeli and larger Jewish response " desecrates the memory of the Holocaust and its significance," Auron comments, and concludes poignantly: "As an Israeli Jew, I can only ask the forgiveness of every member of the Armenian people and assure them that there are people in Israel who will not give up until their state changes its immoral and anti-historical attitude toward the genocide suffered by another people." Some 15 Jewish organizations, including the American Jewish World Service, the JCRCs of Greater Boston and Palm Beach, the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, and the Union of Orthodox Rabbis have also breached the wall of silence. The rest of us must also begin to commemorate the Armenian Genocide and give whole-hearted support toward the passage of the Genocide Resolution. In 1992, on a tour of the Armenian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem, I noticed shards of glass jutting out of the upper walls on either side of us. Our guide reminded us that Palestine had been under the rule of the Ottoman Turks and the Armenians lived in constant fear here too. The glass was to prevent the Turks from scaling the walls. "Notice too the size of the windows," continued the guide, "almost miniature, to prevent outsiders from breaking in. Imagine how dark their world must have been. "Those words have become a part of my Jewish soul. Let us imagine how dark the world must still be for the Armenians when people refuse to acknowledge their past. To remain silent or indifferent is to display, in Abraham Joshua Heschel's moving words, a tragic lack of "moral grandeur." Worse yet, to remain silent is to admit that genocide can and will happen again. By Rabbi Matthew Berkowitz, The Jerusalem Report, 9/22/2003 (Rabbi Matthew Berkowitz is senior rabbinic fellow for the Jewish Theological Seminary's KOLLOT: Voices of Learning Program) AZG.AM

Azerbaijanis protest against US Congressmen and demand explanations form CIA 03.09.2003 12:59 Member of so-called Organization for Liberation Artsax (OLK), are planning to stage a demonstration on Wednesday at the US Embassy in Baku. Baku-based newspaper Zerkalo reports that the reason for the protest is the "frequent visits of US Congressmen to Artsax," that, according to the OLK, should be first approved by the Azerbaijan authorities. Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Vilayat Guliev, commenting on these visits on October 27, said they should do their best that "nobody is allowed to visit Artsax without a permission from official Baku." The organizer of the protest demonstration, Akif Nagi told the Zerkalo that in their August 20th letter to the US Embassy had demanded an explanation for a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) document that regards Artsax as a part of Armenia. Nagi has said they have not yet received any answer so far. The protesters will be holding "Shame on American Congressmen," "Stop double standards" and other posters. The demonstration, by the way, has been authorized by the city authorities. www.yerkir.am

Прочтите это ------------------------- ИГРА В БЛОТ 12 ЛЕТ СПУСТЯ Когда мы встречали тебя в аэропорту, хотелось сказать: "Здравствуй, ты снова дома". Но в этом было бы что-то фальшивое, ведь ты приехал туристом, на две недели. А потому пришлось срочно искать другие слова. Хороших слов много. Помнишь, как поздней осенью 1991-го мы кушали хаш и играли в блот перед твоим отъездом? Сегодня мы тоже играем в блот. Как ни в чем не бывало. А ведь минуло 12 лет. Ровно столько лет прошло после твоего отъезда и ровно столько лет нашей молодой республике. Много это или мало? Мало, если сравнивать с опытом независимого существования других государств. Много, если учесть, что первая армянская республика просуществовала всего два года. Для нашей республики это были 12 лет постоянной борьбы. Борьбы за независимость, борьбы за территорию, борьбы за безопасность. Борьбы за существование, борьбы за право быть на карте мира. Мы сумели выжить в этой борьбе, победить и создать свое государство. Наша молодая республика закалялась в суровых буднях поражений и побед. И заплатила за свое существование очень дорогую цену. Вероятно, самым большим поражением нашей республики была массовая эмиграция, которая началась в начале 90-х. Ты был в числе первых. Так уж сложилась твоя судьба, и таким был твой нелегкий выбор. В эти трудные годы было неблагодарным делом давать советы. Каждый шел своим путем, и никто не мог никого осуждать. Главным был не выбор, главное было - оставаться честным перед самим собой, перед своим выбором. И отвечать за свой выбор. Странная судьба у нашего поколения. Мы вступали в жизнь на волне карабахского движения. Потом был распад СССР. Смена ценностей, можно сказать - смена эпох. Сегодня рядом с нами нет многих наших бывших товарищей и однокурсников. Нет Вардана Бахшяна (помнишь, как он часами мог рассказывать анекдоты во время полевых занятий на военной кафедре?) - он погиб в Карабахе еще в первые годы войны; нет Тиграна Нагдаляна (помнишь сидячие забастовки на ступеньках у Оперы?) - его убили в Ереване. "Нет" - очень емкое слово. "Нет" - может быть очень по-разному. Наири Унаняна тоже нет... Сегодня, как ни в чем не бывало, мы снова играем в блот. Правда, без хаша. Август - не сезон. Зато есть вечный шашлык. Или барбекю, как говорят в твоей Америке. Играем в блот и вспоминаем юность. Помнишь, как я срезался на экзамене на проводника, хотя ты добросовестно сдал вместо меня анализы? 12 лет - большой срок, но мы не теряли друг друга из виду и периодически обменивались новостями. Эти годы были очень нелегкими и для тебя. Сначала изнурительная 12-часовая работа в статусе нелегала. Потом долгая погоня за пресловутой "зеленой картой". Потом долгая возня с американскими адвокатами и еще более долгая погоня за американским гражданством. Сегодня ты уже крепко стоишь на ногах. Сегодня ты уже хозяин дела, и мы рады за твои успехи в чужой стране. За 12 лет дети уже успели подрасти. У тебя чудесные, прекрасные дети. В Америке они уже живут дольше, чем в Армении, ходят в американскую школу, но свободно говорят и на английском, и на армянском. Когда мы спросили твоего сына, где ему нравится больше - он сказал: "В Армении". Не думаю, что дети могут лгать в таких вопросах. И не думаю, что он говорит это только потому, что клубника здесь не имеет привкуса пластмассы. У тебя действительно прекрасные дети. Ты можешь гордиться ими, потому что даже мы гордимся, что у нашего друга такие чудные дети. Давно известно, что уезжать легче, чем провожать и возвращаться. Для того, чтобы уехавшие вернулись, страна должна крепко стоять на ногах. Очень крепко. Пока об этом рано говорить, и все-таки это уже не та страна, которую ты покидал. Сегодня нашу страну по-прежнему покидают, но есть и первые ласточки - многие из уехавших в начале 90-х начинают возвращаться назад. В ближайшие два-три года станет окончательно ясно - удалось ли переломить процесс эмиграции раз и навсегда. Но для этого надо еще очень многое сделать. Сегодня еще нельзя говорить о том, что ты вернулся домой. И трудно сказать, будем ли мы когда-нибудь вообще говорить об этом. Сегодня ты приехал в изменившийся, но по-прежнему свой Ереван, чтобы осмотреться. Ты всего лишь думаешь о том, стоит ли рискнуть и открыть свой бизнес в Армении. Ты видишь, что, да, в Армении нет апельсиновых рощ, но условия для бизнеса уже есть, и Ереван вовсе не так страшен, как об этом любят говорить в Америке те наши соотечественники, кто уехал совсем недавно. Ты думаешь, почему бы и не рискнуть, но ведь, с другой стороны, у тебя уже давно налаженная жизнь в другой стране. Не лучше ли просто приезжать в Армению туристом, чем взваливать на себя лишние хлопоты? Но человеческая психология - странная вещь. Психология армянина - тем более. И если уж тебя посетила мысль о своем бизнесе в Армении, то, поверь, она будет преследовать тебя до тех пор, пока не станет реальностью. И вот тогда мы сможем тебе сказать: "Здравствуй, ты снова дома". И в этих словах не будет фальши. Рубен МАРГАРЯН http://www.golos.am/2000/september_2003/02...september2.html

FRENCH TEACHER FACES PROBLEMS IN TEACHING ARMENIAN GENOCIDE PARIS, SEPTEMBER 1, ARMENPRESS: A teacher of a Paris-based school complained recently that she faces tremendous difficulties when telling about the Armenian genocide, committed by the government of Turkey in 1915. She said that several students of Turkish descent hinder her class. The teacher complained during a discussion of the latest issue of Shoa History Magazine, run by the Modern Jewish Documentary Center that was completely dedicated to Armenian genocide. The discussion of a 600-page work was attended by Jews and Armenian experts. The magazine's chief editor George Bensusan told in an interview with Paris-based Armenian language weekly Haraj that both the Holocaust and the Armenian genocide were crimes against humanity. He said the struggle for international recognition of the genocide must go on with the same speed. Helen Strabelias, one of the contributors to the magazine, was quoted as saying that history textbooks of first and third grade of French schoolchildren will contain more information on the Armenian genocide. France's parliament passed the bill on publicly recognizing the killing of Armenians by Turks in 1915 as genocide in 2001. Turkey warned France against passing the bill, saying trade and diplomatic relations would suffer. There are about 300,000 people of Armenian origin in France, most of whom are descendants of survivors of the 1915 killings in which Armenians say 1.5 million of their compatriots were massacred by Turks. www.armenpress.am

FAAE TO HAVE CONFERENCE IN GENEVA Toros Askerian, secretary of the Forum of Armenian Associations in Europe (FAAE) had a series of meetings and visits in Yerevan ahead of the FAAE’s conference, scheduled for September 12 in Geneva. On August 22 he was received by Karekin II, Catholicos of All Armenians. Receiving the blessing of His Holiness Askerian requested his help in bringing together the European Armenian communities. He was also received by Reverend Rene Levonian, the head of Armenian Evangelical Church. The same day he also met with George Hakobian, chairman of Hnchakian (social-democratic) party. Organizations from Karabagh, Armenia and Javakheti, a region in Georgia with predominantly Armenian population, will send their representatives to the conference. www.azg.am

CHILDREN FROM KARABAGH TO HAVE PART OF HOLIDAYS IN GREECE Twenty children from Nagorno Karabagh, whose fathers died in the war, will spend two weeks, from September 5 to 20 in Greece. The mayoral office in Stepanakert, the capital of Karabagh, said that the children of perished soldiers have been having part of their summer vacation in Greece since 1996, with the exception of 2001. www.azg.am

Sorry about this article which is in Russian. It's taken from Russian newspaper and gives some information about the topic. ------------ Терроризм, наркотрафик и захоронения ядерных отходов в Закавказье: версии и действительность 14 июля 2003 года в офисе Генерального секретаря и Председателя Совета Безопасности ООН было распространено письмо, подписанное министром иностранных дел Азербайджана Вилаятом Гулиевым. Глава МИД Азербайджана в очередной раз обратил внимание ООН на положение дел в Нагорном Карабахе и прилегающих территориях: "...По некоторым сведениям здесь (имеется в виду НКР) производится захоронение радиоактивных отходов, чем наносится непоправимый ущерб окружающей среде. ...Ведется целенаправленное вандалистское уничтожение азербайджанских исторических и культурных памятников, любые свидетельства азербайджанского наследия... ...Территории стали местом, где сосредоточились террористические и организованные преступные группировки и где процветают незаконный оборот наркотиков, торговля оружием и людьми... ...Последнее обстоятельство способствует тому, что Армения все более открыто идет на вооруженные провокации в зоне конфликта. За последние недели резко участились случаи нарушения армянской стороной режима прекращения огня. ...Возникла реальная угроза возобновления широкомасштабных вооруженных действий..." Это основные обвинения в адрес Армении и НКР, которые выдвигаются азербайджанской стороной не только в вышеназванном послании, но при каждом удобном случае и на всех уровнях. Через несколько дней армянская сторона выступила с ответным посланием, в котором в частности отмечается, что письмо Гулиева носит провокационный и безответственный характер. Суть письма постпреда Армении при ООН сводится к тому, что фактически "ничего нового в своей безответственной политике, направленной на использование всех ресурсов с целью очернения Армении и всего армянства, Азербайджан не придумал". Факт нарушения режима перемирия списывается в армянском письме на Азербайджан и объясняется стремлением действующих властей этой страны повысить накануне президентских выборов свой авторитет и обеспечить вотум доверия избирателя. В документе армянская сторона выражает готовность принять любые инспекции из любых заинтересованных международных структур и согласиться с результатами проведенных инспекций на предмет уничтожения культурных памятников и т. д. В целом послание армянской стороны является антиподом азербайджанского аналога. То, что официальный Ереван и Баку соревнуются в полемике уже много лет и на всех уровнях, - не ново. Вряд ли незаинтересованному наблюдателю удастся сформировать представление об истинной картине дел в НКР, основываясь лишь на данных источниках. Постараемся внести ясность в армяно-азербайджанскую полемику, обратившись к реальным фактам, опыту международных экспертов, данным инспекций, проведенным авторитетными международными и журналистскими организациями. Терроризм Наличие баз террористических организаций в Азербайджане в свое время подтвердил руководитель рабочей группы по терроризму и нетрадиционным боевым действиям при палате представителей Конгресса США Йозеф Бодански. 10 сентября 2001 года, за день до трагических событий в Нью-Йорке и Вашингтоне, Исследовательская служба Конгресса США обнародовала документ о деятельности Усамы Бен Ладена и его организации Аль-Каеда на территории Азербайджана. Согласно документу, после прихода к власти в 1993 году, Гейдар Алиев начал привлекать афганских моджахедов в войне против Нагорного Карабаха (Московские новости. 13.9.2000). Азербайджан, характеризуя карабахский конфликт как межконфессиональный, привлекал к участию в нем внешние источники финансовых средств и физической силы. Еще в начале 1990-х годов исламистские группировки Азербайджана предложили помощь Саддаму Хусейну во время войны в Персидском заливе. Член "Аль-Каеды" Джамаль Ахмед эль Фадл был арестован ФБР за участие во взрывах американских посольств в 1998 году. Фадл заявил, что его организация начала свою деятельность в Азербайджане еще в 1989 году (Эхо (Баку). 1.9.2001). После прекращения огня в Нагорном Карабахе в мае 1994 года большинство моджахедов покинули Азербайджан и воевали на Северном Кавказе и на Балканах. Однако созданные ими ячейки и "благотворительные организации" продолжили свою активную деятельность на территории, подконтрольной азербайджанским властям. Ибрагим Эйдарус, арестованный в Европе за участие во взрывах американских посольств, возглавлял азербайджанское отделение "Аль-Каеды" в 1995-1997 гг. В 1997 году радикальные исламские группировки обещали поддержать президента Алиева в его борьбе против армян в обмен на безопасное пристанище в Азербайджане (Эхо. 1.9.2001; Strategic Policy. Х.1999). В августе 1998 года азербайджанское отделение организации "Исламский Джихад", которая впоследствии слилась с "Аль-Каедой", по некоторым данным, координировало организацию взрывов американских посольств в Кении и Танзании. В этот период ФБР зарегистрировало более 60 звонков со спутникового телефона Усамы Бен Ладена в Баку. (Зеркало (Баку). 22.7.2000; Washington Post. 3.5.2001; Эхо. 28.8.2001). После обнародования вышеназванных фактов давление администрации США на власти Азербайджана с требованием пресечь деятельность террористичеких организаций на ее территории усилилось. Однако Азербайджан отказался выдать США обвинявшихся в терроризме лиц Баку и выслал их в другие мусульманские страны (Пакистан, Саудовская Аравия, Афганистан и др.). Один из высланных террористов - Ахмад Салам Мабрук, который в свое время возглавлял азербайджанский филиал "Аль-Каеды", был задержан при попытке приобрести химическое и биологическое оружие в Азербайджане (Agency France Press. 18.3.1999; London’s Sunday Times. 18.7.1999; Зеркало. 22.7.2000; Эхо. 29.8.2001). По заявлению главы миссии Верховного Комиссара ООН по делам беженцев в Азербайджане Дидье Лайе, большинство беженцев в Азербайджан - выходцы из Афганистана. В мечетях Баку, где задают тон исламские радикалы, до сих пор организовываются террористические ячейки. В них участвуют также сотрудники администрации президента Алиева (Strategic Policy. Х.1999; ИА "Туран" (Баку). 21.11.2000; Эхо. 2.5.2001). В сентябре 2001 года источники в Министерстве Национальной безопасности Азербайджана признали, что на территории республики действуют террористические организации (Эхо. 1.9.2001). В январе 2003 года власти Азербайджана запретили деятельность Международного Благотворительного Фонда (МБФ) за помощь террористическим организациям. На этот шаг руководство Азербайджана пошло только после того, как за несколько дней до этого в США был закрыт головной офис МБФ (ABC News. 15.1.2003). Радиоактивные отходы Основной склад радиоактивных отходов в Азербайджане расположен в 30 км от Баку на территории индустриального комплекса "Изотоп", построенного в 1950-ых годах. На территории этого предприятия содержится 510 резервуаров с радиоактивными отходами. Уровень радиации в радиусе нескольких десятков километров составляет более 1000 рентген в час (Зеркало. 25.3.2000). Турецкая полиция задержала в Стамбуле гражданина Азербайджана Рамиза Шахгелдиева, который пытался продать 750 граммов урана за $60 тыс. Как заявили в Центре изучения атомной энергетики Турции, изъятый уран обладал качествами пригодными для создания оружия массового уничтожения. Задержанный гражданин Азербайджана признался, что приобрел уран в Баку с целью последующей продажи (RFE/RL Daily Report. 21.10.1994; Reuters. 20.10.1994). Газета "Азадлыг" (Баку) 26 марта 2002 года опубликовала сообщение о том, что в Нахичевани действует предприятие по обогащению урана для одного из мусульманских стран Ближнего Востока. Согласно газете, горные породы вблизи нахичеванских городов Джульфа и Бабак таят вещества, пригодные для производства обогащенного урана. Глава Европейского департамента МАГАТЭ Махмуд Самиеи и координатор программ Европейского департамента той же организации Йозеф Златански заявили в октябре 2002 года, что ни одного факта, подтверждающего наличие захоронения ядерных отходов в Нагорном Карабахе и прилегающих районах, не существует. Из интервью бывш. руководителя посреднической миссии России, спецпредставителя президента РФ по урегулированию карабахского конфликта посла Владимира Казимирова ИА REGNUM: "Вы не раз бывали в НКР. Бакинские СМИ утверждают, что в НКР процветает нарокоторговля и трафикинг людей, что там закапываются ядерные отходы. Видели ли Вы сами что-то подобное в НКР? Ни с чем подобным мне сталкиваться не приходилось, хотя в середине 1990-х годов посещал регион конфликта, в том числе Карабах, без малого 50 раз. Суть дела в том, что из-за тупика в переговорах сейчас "весь пар уходит не в движение, а в гудок" - не в реальный поиск решения проблем, а в пропаганду". Наркотрафик Отрывки из материала, подготовленного заведующим отдела общественной жизни азербайджанской газеты "Зеркало" Намиком Ибрагимовым специально для Institute For War and Peace Reporting (London): "…Азербайджан стал одним из основных центров транзита афганского героина, переправляемого наркодельцами для реализации в России и Западной Европе, и с каждым годом проблема эта усугубляется. Не далее как несколько дней назад была задержана группа контрабандистов при попытке провезти через границу около 30 кг опия. По заявлению начальника Северо-Кавказского регионального управления ФПС России генерал-лейтенанта Валерия Путова, так называемая "уличная стоимость" изъятого груза оценивается в сумму до 600 тысяч долларов. Прибывший на открытие на российско-азербайджанской границе нового крупнейшего автомобильного пропускного комплекса "Яраг-Казмаляр" Путов сообщил журналистам, что изъятый пограничниками опий афганского происхождения попал в Азербайджан через Иран. Груз направлялся в Германию. Правоохранительные органы Германии проинформированы об этом и уже разрабатывают методы ликвидации, как выясняется, хорошо налаженного маршрута. Однако, как сказал IWPR пожелавший остаться неизвестным сотрудник Управления по борьбе с наркоманией и наркобизнесом МВД, контрабандисты часто и успешно пользуются пробелами в законодательстве, позволяющими им транспортировать крупные партии наркотиков в большегрузных автомобилях. По его словам, за сутки азербайджано-иранскую границу пересекает в среднем до 300 грузовиков с опечатанными кузовами. Согласно международной конвенции по грузоперевозкам, к которой присоединился Азербайджан, вскрывать для досмотра кузовы автомобилей запрещено. Обыск можно произвести, только обладая точной информацией о наличии в автомобиле незадекларированного, следовательно, незаконного груза. Нет никаких сомнений в том, что изъятые наркотики - всего лишь видимая часть айсберга, и несравненно большие объемы проходят через Азербайджан незамеченными. Противостоять натиску наркоторговцев пограничникам чрезвычайно сложно. Практически прозрачные государственные границы Азербайджана с Ираном и Россией, облегченный визовый режим, слабое техническое оснащение контрольно-пропускных пунктов, мощные местные наркоструктуры - это далеко не полный перечень сопутствующих фактов. По словам бывшего сотрудника Управления по борьбе с наркобизнесом Алима Мадатова, который сегодня возглавляет неправительственное объединение адвокатов "Общество и пра

For Immediate Release ~ August 12, 2003 Contact: Elizabeth S. Chouldjian ~ Tel: (202) 775-1918 DECLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS REVEAL LONG-STANDING CIA RECOGNITION THAT NAGORNO KARABAGH IS PART OF ARMENIA -- Confidential Agency Studies Acknowledge Nagorno Karabagh as "Armenia's Cultural and Religious Center" WASHINGTON, DC—An analysis of recently declassified Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) documents reveals a pattern over the past twenty-five years of official - although confidential—acknowledgement of the fact that Nagorno Karabagh is a historic part of Armenia, reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA). The declassified documents - some from as back as the 1970s, confirm that successive U.S. Administrations have known that: 1) Nagorno Karabagh is historically Armenian; 2) Nagorno Karabagh has always maintained a legitimate claim to be reunited with Armenia; 3) Azerbaijani hostility toward Armenians in the late 1980s and early 1990s was not based on an Azerbaijani claim to Nagorno Karabagh, but, rather, was the outlet for growing domestic Azerbaijani frustrations over political, economic and demographic shifts that increased the gap in living standards between Azerbaijan and Armenia. Key excerpts of these reports are provided below: * A 1990 CIA chronology of Nagorno Karabagh, prepared in August of 1990, included the following entry: "1921-23: New Soviet Government makes Nagorno Artsax - historically an Armenian area—an autonomous region within the Soviet Republic of Azerbaijan." http://www.foia.cia.gov/docs/DOC_000049869...498698_0009.gif * A CIA 1988 study on the Caucasus confirms the historical record of Nagorno Karabagh's status as "Armenia's cultural and religious center." The study specifically noted that, "Artsax through the centuries remained semiautonomous under the rule of Armenian princes even when the rest of Armenia was under Persian and Turkish tutelage." http://www.foia.cia.gov/docs/DOC_000049960...499607_0004.gif http://www.foia.cia.gov/docs/DOC_000049960...499607_0009.gif * The same 1988 study, reports that, "Azeri animosity toward the Armenians has been intensified by political, economic, and demographic trends that have adversely affected the political status of Azeris and increased the gap in living standards between Azerbaijan and Armenia. In particular, the rapid expansion of Azerbaijan's young adult population has put enormous strains on the republic's capacity to provide adequate jobs, housing, and education. Azeri frustration has found an outlet in attacks on Armenians." http://www.foia.cia.gov/docs/DOC_000049960...499607_0004.gif * A 1978 CIA report on Soviet minorities issues, notes that, "the inhabitants of another turbulent area in the Caucasus, the Nagorno-Artsax Autonomous Oblast, are able to make a better argument that their oblast should be transferred from one republic to another. The Artsax Oblast is part of Azerbaydzhan, yet over 80 percent of its population is Armenian and it lies close to the border of the Armenian Republic. In 1975, according to the Azerbaydzhan Republic newspaper, virtually the entire leadership of the Artsax Oblast was ousted for supporting a movement to detach the oblast from Azerbaydzhan and join it to Armenia." http://www.foia.cia.gov/docs/DOC_000051837...518375_0001.gif To access images of these and other public CIA documents, visit: http://www.foia.cia.gov/search_options.asp ##### http://www.anca.org/anca/pressrel.asp?prid...ressregion=anca

A Reassessment of the German Role in the Armenian Genocide Dr Donald Bloxham There is an underdeveloped and polarized historiographical debate about the exact extent and nature of German involvement. Ulrich Trumpener, Frank Weber and Wolfdieter Bihl have bequeathed a fairly straightforward impression of Realpolitik, where opposition to the murders from within German officialdom was simply outweighed by the interests of the wartime alliance.[1] A case study by Hilmar Kaiser of the fate of the Armenian workers on the so-called Baghdad railway has shown that genuine disagreements over the treatment of the Armenians did occur, both within German ranks and between Germans and Turks, and that these did have ramifications, at least in the short term, for the life-chances of some of the workers.[2] More recently, Kaiser has trenchantly re-affirmed what has perhaps long been apparent from the available documentary sources, namely that there was no uniform German official position on the genocide.[3] Conversely, Vahakn Dadrian has stressed active German complicity in the massacres, and, like Christoph Dinkel and Artem Ohandjanian, has even invoked German ‘stimulation’ of killings and expulsions, with particular reference to the role of German military representatives in Turkey.[4] Wolfgang Gust has concurred with these overridingly negative assessments.[5] The final four scholars suggest that instances of German military and civilian officials objecting to the massacres were insignificant in the face of the general thrust of German policy which, they imply, somehow stood to gain from the murder of the Armenians. Based upon German and Austrian documentation, this paper seeks to help redress the historiographical balance by adding force to the argument of general German opposition to the genocide at the foreign policy level, while showing the restrictions on ameliorative action imposed under the tight restraints of the Turkish-German alliance. It also reassesses the evidence recently adduced to show that no general indictment may be made of the German military representation in Turkey, suggesting instead that any involvement in the genocide can be traced to only a few individuals rather than any from of group complicity. The analysis is not an apology for German behaviour, but it does show that the more serious accusations that have been laid are often simply unfounded. More generally and importantly, it problematises the simplistic contexts in which assessments of the German role have hitherto been made. It draws attention to the complexities in the development and nature of German understandings of the escalating persecution and murder process, and sets the variety of German responses against the backgrounds of ethnic conflict in and around the Ottoman empire, and of the general war situation. With hindsight, the executions, incarcerations and deportations of February, March and April 1915 appear to be the beginnings of the larger process. (Though it seems to this author that we need to assess the development of Turkish policy less in terms of specific established policies prior to spring 1915, and more in terms of broad phases of policy radicalisation, stimulated internally and externally, which did not fully crystallise into intentions for total, empire-wide murder until the early summer of 1915.[6]) In reaction Hans von Wangenheim in the German Constantinople Embassy did just what the British Foreign Office did:[7] he waited until there was no doubt at all as to what was happening, anticipating a certain level of brutality by the CUP-led regime but not the true extent of what was to come. For Wangenheim, ignorant of cause and effect concerning Armenian reactions to Turkish policy at the time, and observing events as they unfolded, Turkish actions in the spring months could be explained, even justified, as a violent ‘pacification’ policy, with reference to what he saw as instances of Armenian treachery in the earlier Turkish Caucasus offensive and particularly in Van. Indeed, it is probably the case, as the Austro-Hungarian ambassador Pallavicini intimated, that the April 24-6 arrests for instance did spring from a (highly paranoid and chauvinist) form of Turkish security policy in the light of the Anglo-French landings on the Dardanelles and against the backdrop of the Van uprising.[8] With the expansion of the deportations from mid-June, and the proliferation of reports of massacres and deprivations, the German interpretation of and reaction to Turkish policy changed qualitatively. Nevertheless, at no point was it suddenly apparent that ‘genocide’ was taking place - even had that frame of reference actually existed at the time - so it was never a straightforward question of Germany having to choose between fulfilment of its war aims and partnership with a regime that had just passed beyond the moral pale. The horror developed incrementally in the eyes of the German authorities, and small mitigations, even if illusory, were always to be found by those seeking them, in Turkish deceptions and false assurances. Not the weakest palliative was the ongoing belief that the Armenians and their ‘external allies’ had helped induce their own fate. In these important senses, most of the literature on ‘Germany and the Armenian genocide’, like the first wave of literature on Allied reactions to the Nazi Holocaust, is anachronistic, with justifiable outrage at the crime in its totality obscuring comprehension of the contemporaneous unfolding of events. Anti-Armenian language is frequently cited as evidence of the antipathy of German diplomats and particularly soldiers. While there are clear cases of anti-Armenian sentiment, sometimes vehement, on behalf of military and civil officials ‘on the ground’ in the Ottoman territories, this by no means indicates unanimity about the most extreme policy imaginable: genocide. Such attitudes certainly served to rationalize a policy of non-intervention, and indicate feelings of cultural superiority that placed a lower value on human life in the near east, but that is again qualitatively a different level of responsibility to outright ‘complicity’ or ‘stimulation’. Besides, ‘European’ arrogance and superiority complexes were just as easily directed at Kurds and Turks as at Armenians, by both Germans and others, but there is no suggestion that this stereotyping provided a German impetus to murdering either of those groups. Conversely, we must also accept that many representatives of the central powers believed that the Armenians were a subversive ethnic element, extrapolating this collective libel from limited instances of Armenian revolutionary activity before and during the war. This was partially based on the restricted knowledge among German officers of the real conditions in Turkish Armenia, and partially on Turkish propaganda. One useful way of contextualising German military attitudes is to examine the (largely unsuccessful) German policies of sponsoring nationalist uprisings within the Entente empires, be it of different Muslim populations against British rule, or of the non-(Great) Russian peoples against Russian rule. It helps to explain many of the indifferent reactions to the treatment of the Armenians if we think of the central powers as having accepted the idea of a series of nationalist conflicts not always fought by regular armies. The Armenians, like Serbs in the Austro-Hungarian worldview, were credited with the sort of collective partisan activity that German personnel were trying to inculcate in others. According to that logic, ‘military necessity’ could stretch to measures against swathes of the Armenian civilian population, up to and including - in a few proven cases - approving the Turkish deportation of whole communities. To the extent that a small number of German officers who served in the Caucasian/Anatolian campaigns were implicated in approving Armenian deportations, a definition of ‘military necessity’ should be taken at face value as their motivation, rather than co-operation in a scheme of genocide per se, from which those officers tried to distance themselves literally, if not in moral terms successfully. The paranoia of the notion was certainly intensified by the propagandising of the Turks, and it may well be that in circular fashion, an ‘insurrection hysteria’[9] fed back into and further intensified Turkish hysteria at a fateful time for the Armenians. Whatever the precise impetus moving a few officer to direct or indirect acquiescence in the deportations, it remains clear that distinctions must be drawn between the course of developments in the genocide itself and German - and Entente and neutral - perceptions of these events, between the implementation of a policy of destruction by the Turkish government and the actions of a third party. One inference to be drawn from the most negative assessments of the German role is a perpetuation of the wartime notions of the Entente and of the US Ambassador to Turkey Henry Morgenthau, namely that German imperialism could easily accommodate genocide as part of a grander geo-political strategy of gaining controlling influence in the former Ottoman empire and removing potential competition (hence the perpetuation of unfounded allegations against the geopolitical theorists Paul Rohrbach and Max von Oppenheim). However this is to misrepresent German imperialism of the time. It may even be to view it from a post-Nazi perspective of utter contempt for non-German life. European imperialism rested primarily on the dictates of power by economic expansion and prestige. For Germany, the former interest was not served by the huge disruption of the Turkish infrastructure that the permanent removal of the Armenians signified. Establishing pre-eminent influence in Turkey was an important aim - though the Young Turks had entirely contrary ideas - but not the inheritance of a crippled economy. The latter interest was damaged by Germany’s purported role in the genocide of a Christian people, as protests to the Turks and a multitude of diplomatic memoranda and official and unofficial objections within Germany observed. (The wholesale murder of black non-Christians in south-west Africa by the German military in the previous decade was another matter.) The issue of preserving prestige was compounded by the need to assuage neutral, particularly American, opinion, so the resultant German propaganda campaign is not indicative of guilt; rather, the German Foreign Office and the censor were playing the same game that the Entente were playing. The rhetoric of Armenian treachery spouted by the German propagandists, however, fed directly into every pre-existing stereotype of the Armenians and helped to pave the way for post-war denial, and perhaps also for the pig-headed refusal of some of the aforementioned German officers to accept that orchestrated massacres of Armenians had occurred. Germany is not to be absolved of responsibility. On one hand, Liman von Sanders showed with his intervention in the deportation measures in Smyrna that forceful intercession was possible, and theoretically, therefore, that more intercession was possible. Further, from early days Germany had been happy to fuel the explosive ethnic situation on its own account with its involvement in stimulating nationalist movements in Entente territories and its support of the Jihad. Given the recent history of the region, it was always likely that such policies would open-up the near-eastern conflict to civilian populations. As such those policies are illustrative of a more general absence of humanitarian consideration which, if balking at genocide, probably anticipated collective reprisals against the civilian populations, particularly the Christian minorities of the Ottoman empire and particularly the Armenians. Charges of moral cowardice, callousness, chauvinism, bureaucratic and military tunnel vision, and above all, blind pursuit of national interest, may justifiably be levelled at many of the Germans with an involvement in Turkish relations. The peculiarity of the accusations of German influence on the genocidal scheme is, however, twofold. First, they show no sign of being able to break down the rather rudimentary wartime propaganda of the Entente nations and of Turkey itself, with all its stereotyping of Prussian militarism and misperceptions of the level of German control of Turkish policy. Secondly, they contradict the research which many of the same accusers have conducted upon the genesis of the genocide in Turkish-Armenian relations. It is rather strange to chart the rise of the radical element of the CUP - with all of its clandestine scheming and ruthlessness and plans for ethnic-national homogenisation - against the long background of discrimination and periodic murder of the Armenians under various regimes, and then suddenly to introduce an alien element into the picture to explain the creation of a policy which had supposedly already been arrived at. Such arguments are not only inconsistent, they detract from the direct responsibility of the Ittihadists as progenitors of the genocide. Germany would have to wait for Hitler in order to develop the blueprint. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [1] Ulrich Trumpener, Germany and the Ottoman Empire 1914-1918 (Princeton, NJ: Princeton U.P., 1968), 200-270; Frank Weber, Eagles on the Crescent: Germany, Austria and the Diplomacy of the Turkish Alliance (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1970), 144-59; Wolfdieter Bihl, Die Kaukasus-Politik der Mittelmächte: Teil I: Ihre Basis in der Orient-Politik und ihre Aktionen 1914-1917 (Vienna: Hermann Böhlaus Nachf., 1975), 166-72. [2] Hilmar Kaiser, ‘The Baghdad Railway 1915-1916: A Case Study in German Resistance and Complicity’, in Richard Hovannisian (ed.), Remembrance and Denial: The Case of the Armenian Genocide (Detroit, Mich.: Wayne State U.P., 1999) 67-112. [3] Eberhard Count Wolfskeel von Reichenberg, Zeitoun, Mousa Dagh, Ourfa: Letters on the Armenian Genocide, ed. Hilmar Kaiser, (Princeton, NJ: Gomidas Institute, 2001). [4] Vahakn Dadrian, The History of the Armenian Genocide: Ethnic Conflict from the Balkans to Anatolia to the Caucasus (Providence, RI: 1995), 248-300; id., German Responsibility in the Armenian Genocide: A Review of the Historical Evidence of German Complicity (Watertown, Mass: Blue Crane, 1996); Artem Ohandjanian, Armenian: der verschwiegene Völkermord (Vienna: Böhlau, 1989), 202-21; specifically on the complicity of the German military, Christoph Dinkel, ‘German Officers and the Armenian Genocide’, Armenian Review, vol. 44, no. 1 (1991), 77-133. See also Gabriele Yonan, Ein vergessener Holocaust: Die Vernichtung der christlichen Assyrer in der Türkei (Göttingen and Vienna: Gesellschaft für bedrohte Völker, 1989), 95-112, 263-5. For a somewhat more balanced early view, see Heinrich Vierbücher, Was die kaiserliche Regierung den deutschen Untertanen verschwiegen hat. Armenien 1915. Die Abschlachtung eines Kulturvolkes durch die Türken (Hamburg: Fachelreiter Verlag, 1930). [5] Wolfgang Gust, Der Völkermord an den Armeniern. Die Tragödie des ältesten Christenvolkes der Welt (Munich: Hanser, 1993). [6] This is the subject of forthcoming paper by the author which is near to completion. [7] Nassibian, Britain and the Armenian Question, 70-3, shows how full recognition of the magnitude of events only crystallised over the period up to early September. [8] Haus- Hof- und Staatsarchiv, Vienna, Politisches Archiv, I (Allgemeines), Karton 943, Pera 27 April 1915. [9] An expression coined in Dinkel, ‘German Officers’. © 2001 September 2001 -------------------- http://www.hist.net/kieser/aghet/Essays/Es...sayBloxham.html

Barov!

An Armenian Journey By Rudy Brueggemann T he taxi driver and Hozan, my Kurdish "fixer," sat in the front seat. I was in the back. They conversed quickly in Turkish. On a hot October day, we drove through the hillside slums of Caglayan, a suburb on the European side of Turkey's largest city, Istanbul. "Why do you want to find a Muslim cemetery in Caglayan," said the cab driver to my colleague. "Gold," said my fixer as a joke. "We want to dig up gold." The elderly cabbie laughed. We cruised by the six-story apartments and businesses that filled the congested urban area. To our right, by a highway, sat a park with several memorials visible from the road. "Talaat ***** memorial," said the driver pointing out the window. "Talaat who?" responded Hozan, playing dumb. "Please, just let us off near the Jewish cemetery at the Sisli Metro stop." We quickly backtracked without talking. Hozan was not sure why I wanted to find this cemetery for one of the three principal architects of the 20th century's first genocide. "What do you want to do?" he asked me. "Why do you want to find the grave of this ***er, Talaat *****? Do you know who he was?" I knew exactly who "this ***er" was - a man whose crimes equaled those of Hitler and Stalin. But I did not answer Hozan's questions. The memorial marked the first of more than two dozen places I photographed in Turkey, to document historic evidence of the attempted extermination of the Armenian people in the early 1900s. My pictures hopefully would tell a little-known story of enormous human evil. At another level, I hoped they would provide additional evidence against what my Armenian journalist friend called the "big lie," or Turkey's denial that Armenians were victims of a government-run, systematic mass murder. Before this trip, I drafted post-dated letters that my friends were to send to my congressman to raise a fuss if, by chance, I was arrested. I also had spoken with an American filmmaker who had documented Armenian issues about this possibility. He said my risk was minimal if I was smart. He was right. --------------- Click here for full text

Drawn to Stay: Young Diaspora finding a home in "the homeland" By Lala Demirdjian and Sossi Essajanian ArmeniaNow interns "There is some sort of magnet here. I believe it is the 3,000 year old history that continues to draw us to Armenia. No matter what reason brought you here, you end up discovering your roots." This history watches you as you walk down the streets to your job, your internship, or to your next tour. For 27 year old Sam Samuelian from Lebanon, moving to Armenia was a natural choice. He didn't give a second thought to leaving everything at home, and suddenly moving here. Sam is one of the many young Armenians from the Diaspora who choose to come to Armenia to either start a business, do their internship or even establish their own families in an Armenian environment. They come to re-claim ethnic roots, or maybe to find out if today's Armenia is the one they've heard about over family dinners and in Diaspora clubs. Each has personal reasons, unified in a constant theme: "It is a country getting its own identity, and so are the people. They are trying to build a country for themselves and as an Armenian I feel inspired to contribute and help in this process". "There is no logical reason why I left everything and came here. It just made sense to me," Sam says. For Sam, there was nothing connecting him to Lebanon. "I didn't want to start a business in Lebanon and I couldn't find my place there. In Armenia, everything is attractive and you give your maximum effort because you like the country. Only in Armenia, you can find your inner energy and therefore, you can work from your heart". Sam sees business opportunities in Armenia for anyone that is willing to search for it here. After extensive research, he selected the service industry because he believes that it is easy to be competitive in it for those coming from abroad. "The primary industries are secured by the locals, leaving the service sector open for development and success," he says. Sam came to Armenia two and a half years ago and is opening a diner. And while it provides Sam a reason for being in Armenia, he also finds satisfaction in creating jobs for the locals. He works and speaks with confidence because he believes that "the best decisions are the ones that I have made by listening to my heart and I have never gone wrong doing so. For me, coming to Armenia has been one of those decisions." At work is where you get your personal experiences. Whether working as an entrepreneur or as an intern in Armenia, you have the opportunity to interact with the people on a deeper level. "They see us working for them and they feel good that you are Diaspora helping people. As opposed to the tourists, we leave our names behind as those who helped and added something", says Karine Palandjian, an 18 year old intern from Rhode Island, USA who works in a local orphanage. As an intern working at an institution for the poor, 19 year old Angela Deese from Virginia, USA, believes that her internship gives her the opportunity to help preserve her homeland. "No matter what you do in the Diaspora, it is important to let the locals know that Armenians around the world care about them. For me, making one child happy is sending them this message." Ani Jerikian, a 19-year old intern at Armenian International Magazine believes that she would not have had the opportunity for personal growth if she had only come as a tourist. "Last year as a tourist, I wanted to move here. This year being here as an intern, I don't think I want to do that because of the different life style I have experienced. However, living in Armenia has given me more confidence and a chance to develop my independence". What motivates her to work to better Armenia either from abroad or from here is the inspiration she gets from watching the development and progress of her homeland. Like Ani on her first visit to Armenia, Krikor Yeremian, a 19 year old from Pennsylvania, USA, has similar feelings while touring the country. "I like to go to visit the churches, the monuments and the sights. But, I would want to live here some day. Visiting the country makes you want to do more to help it." As compared to those living and working here, the tourist coming to Armenia for discovery and relaxation sees another kind of lifestyle reflected. Shant Aghajanian, a 19 year old tourist from Pennsylvania, USA, finds life in Armenia exciting. "You experience a different environment than abroad. There are lots of things to do during the day such as visiting museums, churches, monuments, and enjoying the Kebab. I see the night life as livelier than at home, and feel safe walking down the streets at any time of day". For Shant and Krikor, the most interesting characteristic of the Armenian people is their hospitality, friendliness and generosity. They find it interesting that people invite you to their homes and present you all they have, taxi drivers offer you Armenian food and tour guides join you during lunch while interacting with you. Maida Kaderian a 32 year old graphic designer from Massachusetts, USA, says that there are many things for her to take back home after her tour here. "First of all, I am inspired to be more active for our Cause. I believe that this inspiration came from the discovery of my connection to the land, my experience with the people and the process of sharing stories with them". Before her touring experience in Armenia, Maida had an abstract idea about her homeland through the stories that she had been told about it. Now they have become real for her because of her first hand experience. This has inspired her to continue her relationship with Armenia from home, even through her work. Similarly, for Hakop Panossian, a 30 year old architect from Cyprus, coming to Armenia was something that he always wanted to do in order to form his own impression about the country. "When you are living in the Diaspora, people try to show you their impressions of Armenia, but I wanted to create my own opinion. That is my reason for being here." Besides forming his own view of his homeland, Hakop's ties to Armenia are in the form of helping friends with their business venture. This duel role provides him the unique opportunity to interrelate ideas about tourism and life in Armenia. Experiencing the struggle to remain Armenian in the Diaspora as well as the attachment to one's roots seems to underlie the motivations for all of these travelers to Armenia. These stimuli are so strong that they give some the strength to permanently move here. "The main reason that I am here is that I have always wanted to have a family. I didn't want to think of raising children in the Diaspora and have them experience the same struggles that I did until now" says Stepan Panossian, a 27 year old businessman from Cyprus. The reasons for coming are varied. At heart, however is a common theme: the magnet of one's ancestry is too strong to resist. www.armenianow.com --------------------------- Barov!

MONUMENT TO SOGHOMON TEYLERIAN TO BE ERECTED IN YEREVAN YEREVAN, AUGUST 6, ARMENPRESS: A monument to Soghomon Teylerian, created by famous Armenian sculptor Levon Tokmajian, will be erected in a Yerevan Achapniak community in a month, Yerevan authorities said today. Soghomon Teyleryan, an eyewitness of the massacres of thousands of Armenians by the government of Young Turks in the last years of the Ottoman Empire, was found not guilty by a Berlin court in 1921 after killing Taliat *****, one of the organizers of the 1915 genocide, on a Berlin street.

TERRORISTS TRAINED IN AZERBAIJAN ARRESTED IN MOROCCO 05.08.2003 /PanARMENIAN.Net/ Terrorists trained in Azerbaijan were arrested in Morocco. As reported by "Arminfo" agency referring to "Associated Press," they are suspected of being concerned with "Salafiya Jihadia" Islamic extremist organization. According to the source, two out of those arrested are accused of organizing an act of terrorism in Casablanca. They are also suspected of close contacts with "Al-Qaeda." In the words of one of them – Anthony Perry Yensen, 37-year-old British citizen, who had accepted Islam, he was in Azerbaijan, Georgia, Afghanistan and Pakistan to improve his preparedness.

Domino jan, I'll ask Karen Vrtanesyan who's the author of ArmenianHouse Library, to get in touch with you.

Sireli hayrenakicner, Ktsankanai nerkayacnel Soghomon Tehliriani datavarutyan pastatkhtere, voronk nerkayacvel en Armin Wegneri koghmic. -------------------------------- ARMIN WEGNER 1886-1978 German poet and anti-fascist writer. In April, 1915 as a member of German Sanitary Corpse he was sent to Ottoman Turkey, where he witnessed the genocide of Armenians in Turkey. He took photographs of the tragic events some of which he later managed to send to Germany and the United States. -------------------------------- ->>THE LINK TO FULL TEXT<<-- --------------------------------- Source: "The case of Soghomon Tehlirian" by A.R.F. Varantian Gomideh. Translated from German by Vartkes Yeghiyan Scanned by: Raffi Kojian ( Cilicia.com ) OCR: Raffi Kojian ( Cilicia.com ) Proofreading: Karen Vrtanesyan Special thanks to Mr. Arman Galstyan for historical consultations This text is provided by Mr. Raffi Kojian for ArmenianHouse.org Electronic Library only. If you have any questions regarding this text you can find his contacts at his web site www.cilicia.com

YOUNG ARMENIANS FROM CANADA WANT TO COME BACK TO ARMENIA The national club of students teams has been cooperating with scout groups of the Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU) for 4 years already. Young Diaspora Armenians come to Armenia not as tourists, but to help improve facilities in homeland which require urgent attention. A group of young Armenians from Montreal has been hosted since July 14 by the Yerevan Children’s Rehabilitation Center, helping it to plant trees, trim playgrounds and repair rooms. Lori Kuchikian, the head of the group, says it is the first scout group from Montreal to have come to Armenia. Other groups are expected to arrive too. Members of the first group who will stay here until July 30 say they feel like at home. They have adapted to local climate quickly and some of them even intend to come here for permanent residence later. They say they are not afraid of difficulties. “To live in Yerevan is much more interesting than in Montreal, where you cannot go out after ten pm and where there are no such tasty fruits, especially apricots. © AZG http://www.azg.am/IMAGE/200313902.jpg

A small remark. Number of Armenians who left the country during the last 10 years are coming back. Definitely this process will take some time but at least it starts moving. For instance I have two friends who left to US and France – now they are back and their families as well. Well the truth is that in comparison with the situation say 10 years ago presently there are much more flexibility and opportunities to launch for instance a private business or to find a job. Still, the situation is not enough that good if you compare with situation on the West but at least something is moving. I would say there’s a hope and trust in the future. Alternatively Armenian people who still reside in Western countries should make the efforts in order to bring a business to Armenian which means to increase an employment rate. But this one is completely different topic.

Imagining an Armenia of Yesterday By Francine Prose New York Times Service One shudders to think what "Gilgamesh" might have become in the hands of a less original writer than Joan London. The scope of this Australian author's first novel is such that it might have tempted a lesser talent to produce one of those bloated doorstops that move publishers to use adjectives like "panoramic" and inspire readers to persevere through the boring parts by guessing how many evenings the television mini-series will require. To get a sense of what "Gilgamesh" is like, imagine one of those Outback bodice-rippers put on a strict diet, pared down to essentials, purged of the excess water weight of set pieces involving eroticized sheep-shearing and adorable kangaroos, and transformed into something streamlined, strong and remarkably lovely. "Gilgamesh," which was a finalist for several prizes in Australia, takes us from the end of World War I to the 1950s, from London to Australia to Armenia and Syria and back to Australia again. Along the way, we meet an impressively huge and skillfully drawn cast of characters, including a secret agent, an alcoholic hotelier, an interfering midwife, an elderly poet, a cult of grasping born-again Christians, a pedophilic sailor, a brilliant and horribly crippled concert singer, a lecherous doctor and a half-mad farm wife. And all of this is neatly compressed -- without seeming rushed -- into a spare volume of just over 250 pages. The novel begins at the end of World War I in a British convalescent hospital, "a gloomy country house requisitioned for the duration, where the soldiers, patched-up, jumpy, bitter, tottered and prowled like ancient temperamental guests." Frank Clark, an Australian soldier, has recovered from a leg wound but suffers from a case of insomnia that may not augur well for the future. At the hospital, he meets a woman named Ada, who -- like many fictional and cinematic angels of mercy -- has volunteered to entertain unfortunate blokes like Frank and has discovered herself to be insufficiently angelic. Ada feels little enthusiasm for her ministrations. "She was supposed to chat and join in singsongs and pour tea.... [but] she lacked the sense of charity that lit the faces of the other young women." Any sentient reader could have warned Frank about Ada, but her obvious instability convinces him that she's the girl he wants. They marry, live briefly with Ada's Russian sister-in-law (who is a subplot in herself), then move to the Australian outback to manage a small farm. And the ensuing disaster is worse than anyone could have predicted. By now, we're happily prepared to spend more time with Frank and Ada, but the couple, like most parents, turn out to be merely minor players in the drama of their children's lives. Frank dies, and Ada retreats into a helpless sweet-natured lunacy, with occasional lucid spells. Their older daughter, Frances, already shows signs of the humorless fanaticism that will dominate her adult self -- until she finds her true calling, running a farm with another woman. Edith, the younger daughter, emerges as the book's heroine. Intelligent, observant, resourceful and gifted with a rich inner life, she is compelling enough to hold her own in this paradoxically stripped-down, densely populated epic. One morning, walking barefoot to work, Edith encounters two mysterious strangers who, she is amazed to learn, are headed for her home. The two men -- Edith's cousin, Leopold, and his handsome Armenian friend, Aram -- having finished with their work at an archaeological dig in Iraq, are determined to see a bit more of the world. Along the way, they've dropped in on the "antipodean branch" of Leopold's family. From the minute they arrive, Edith's life is irrevocably changed. Lying awake at night, "her eyes wide open, she felt she could rattle the cutlery in the drawer, make the water jump from the jug, like a witch in a fairy tale. She could almost think it was this force that caused the men to sigh and groan and turn in their sleep." All of this happens before we're 40 pages into the novel. Yet, in a way that seems highly unusual for a book that's so fast paced and thickly plotted, the narrative frequently proceeds by indirection, which may be partly why "Gilgamesh" strikes us as so unpredictable, unhurried and fully fleshed out. We learn that Edith and Aram have become lovers only when Leopold overhears them returning home together, late at night. After the two men depart, we intuit that Edith is pregnant with Aram's child when she experiences a sudden craving for tobacco. Scorned and rejected by the community around her, Edith grows increasingly desperate and isolated. After her son, Jim, is born, she decides that despite the gathering threat of another world war she will travel to Armenia to find Aram. And so, like the hero of the Gilgamesh saga, the ancient Middle Eastern epic that has a totemic significance for both Leopold and Aram, Edith descends into hell after losing a loved one. Among the book's considerable achievements is the way that Edith's extraordinary plan -- and the extreme measures she undertakes to realize it -- are made both credible and convincing. The first part of her journey involves a voyage from Australia to London on a nightmarish freighter that recalls the pirate ship in Richard Hughes' "High Wind in Jamaica" (1929). Indeed, though nothing here seems stale or familiar, there are frequent echoes of other writers. London's rendering of her character's innermost thoughts evokes Katherine Mansfield, while her uncompromising but sympathetic view of human nature and adult sexuality brings to mind Alice Munro. Edith's trip on the Orient Express feels like something out of Graham Greene -- if Greene had added to his repertory the precisely observed details of what it's like to travel with a very small child. As she prepares to leave home, Edith entertains a seductive fantasy about her lover's homeland: "Armenia had become a landscape superimposed over the hills. ... The spire of the Anglican church on the outskirts of Torville was very Armenian, because as you saw it from the bus it seemed to promise something ancient and spiritual. ... The delicate morning light was Armenian." But her fairy-tale Armenia must be rebuilt on the model of a grim Soviet Union. Grateful for the refuge she and baby Jim find among an unlikely circle of neighbors and protectors, Edith comes to a full stop in the cold, windy city of Yerevan, where she waits out the war and watches for some sign that Aram is nearby. The plot offers still more surprises and reverses, until at last Edith returns home. By now, Jim has grown into a young man with a point of view that is sufficiently strong and interesting to assume a large part of the burden of storytelling as the novel nears its conclusion. "Gilgamesh" is by no means perfect. Several of the characters veer perilously toward cliche. Three-quarters of the way through the book, loose ends are tied up and mysteries solved within a couple of pages I had to reread several times and still wasn't sure I understood. Yet it hardly seemed to matter, because one of the most unusual things about this intricately plotted novel is that you don't read it for the plot, exactly. Instead -- or, perhaps, in addition -- you keep pausing to note London's telling insights, the skill with which she shows us how the complexities of the world are focused and transformed by the prism of an individual consciousness. And then there are her descriptions of everything from an opulent train compartment ("Embroidered cloths looped across the walls and a parrot pretended to be asleep in a hanging cage") to Jim's harrowing birth: "From a long way off she saw something skinned and soapy held up like a rabbit, getting spanked for being her child." Reading "Gilgamesh" is like watching a magician who can do many things rapidly, expertly and all at once. It's impossible not to admire the novel's proficiency and its author's promise. Francine Prose's most recent books are "After" (2003) and "Sicilian Odyssey" (2003). "Gilgamesh: A Novel." By Joan London. Grove Press. 272 pages. $23. www.themoscowtimes.com http://www.themoscowtimes.com/photos/large/2003_06/2003_06_20/book_2.jpg