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This is extremely important. Dear friends, please help us collect information and photographic evidence of the cultural genocide perpetrated against Armenians in Ottoman Empire. Please send us any available information/photographs of Armenian writers, musicians and intellectuals slain in 1915; the Armenian churches/monasteries distroyed by Ottomans in the years of the genocide and the following decades. Its very important for our project. Please reply ASAP. Thank you much in advance. [ November 07, 2001: Message edited by: MosJan ]

Dear friends, please help us collect information and photographic evidence of the cultural genocide perpetrated against Armenians in Ottoman Empire. Please send us any available information/photographs of Armenian writers, musicians and intellectuals slain in 1915; the Armenian churches/monasteries distroyed by Ottomans in the years of the genocide and the following decades. Its very important for our project. Please reply ASAP. Thank you much in advance.

Dear Ali, Thank you for your response, it is indeed surprising to see this kind of attitude, but I think that with time, more and more people in Turkey will think like yourself. To work in that direction we need to educate the turkish people and the world about Armenian Genocide and our Poster Campaign is exactly to serve that purpose. It is in fact more than that, since the posters are being designed by artists of different nationality, it is a way for Armenians and others to express through art their feelings about the silence and denial of politicians and governments throughout the world, and the tragedy of Armenians. There are going to be Posters in turkish, arabic, german, spanish and english, perhaps also russian and french and they will be hanging on the walls of many European and Eastern Capitals in April next year. I want to thank you for the corage you display by speaking out on this painful for us subject. With regards, Rouben Malayan http://15levels.com/1915

Please notify the artists you know about the Campaign. We need to get as many participants as possible. Time is very short, please make an effort to spread the word around. Any school of art, or freelance designers are welcome... Rouben

Dear friends, We would like to invite you to participate in the important for the Armenian Cause project which has began not too long ago by me and few other webdevelopers from Europe and United States. Our main objective is to implement an International Poster Campaign for the Recognition of the Armenian Genocide. Please take your time and review our work athttp://15levels.com/1915/ The website offers a description, main objectives and the implementation plan of the Campaign, as well as broad collection of information related to the subject. There are some posters put on display already. The website will be finalized and put on it's own domain within a week or two. United Kingdom along with USA, Austria, Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland, Spain, Turkey and Israel is on the list of the countries which Campaign will be targeting. If you are interested in designing a poster for the Campaign, we would warmly welcome you to do so. If you need any additional information please don't hesitate to contact us at 1915@15levels.com With best regards, Rouben Malayan PS. Many thanks to Garik for helping to implement this project!

Its done. The site is shut down. Thank you all for helping. Please do NOT send any more emails, as mission is acomplished. Shanorhakalutiun bolorin, harganknerov,

...there is also a law which makes denial of genocide a crime. If such law is passed in Netherlands turks will have nothing to do but to shut the hell up.

Residentie.net closes down turkish propoganda website. To our inquieries they replied with a letter siting they were not aware of Armenian Quiestion therefore could not pass judgment on it, however they chose to respect their user-agreement and removed the abuser. Sad they knew nothing about Armenian Genocide, but we must pay respect to the loyal citizens of The Hague, Netherlands for honouring their commitment. Thank you all who helped, please be alert, this case shows that we can always show enough evidence to proove that history cannot be re-written. There is something else. "Ararat" of Atom Egoyan is in full production. That means the movie will be out hopefully in April next year. I think this is the time to realize what a wonderful opportunity this gives us to promote Armenian Cause, the movie is already bought by all major film distributors and will be played all over the world. It will bring a lot of attention to Armenian Genocide, we can already count on turkish fury so it's going to be a tough fight. We know that truth is on our side, so is the evidence. Therefore, We must intensify our efforts to bring the recognition of Armenian Genocide to be discussed in Europe in particular. In France the battle is won, but there is still Netherlands with fierce turkish nationalists ('grey wolves', I preffer to use Jay-k'definition of 'grey puppies', bark...bark) so there is a lot of discussion, Assen Monument and so on. My quiestion is: can we come up with some sort of co-ordinated effort to raise the issue this time in 2002? I would think of international campain of perhaps very well designed material such as posters and fliers, one image can speak many words, lets remember that. In any case, if we can do something, now is the time to think about it. I think if we come up with sufficient program we can allocate funds for such project perhaps from diaspora funds. --- Here is the reply from the Dutch provider based in The Hague (Den Haag), Netherlands. Geachte heer Malayan, Wij hebben de technische dienst opdracht gegeven de betreffende homepage te blokkeren. Wij betreuren het dat de inhoud beledigend voor u is. Aangezien de redactie echter geen kennis over de Armeense kwestie heeft, kan zij hierover ook geen oordeel vellen. Met vriendelijke groet, Redactie Residentie.net http://home.residentie.net/~armeensekwestie

Yes, it will do good. They have service agreement which prohibids posting offencive content, I well argumented my request to the letter I wrote to them. As for "ignoring" the denial, I think you are very wrong, one should never "ignore" evil, cuz evil will reproduce regardless of your involvement, unless you fight it. If you affraid to wake evil up, you have to wake up yourself, cuz evil never went to sleep... This particular turkish propoganda site is only hosted on dutch server, its a private website of some probably very small and hairy turk. We can shut it down and we will.

Well, yes, I agree with you and don't at the same time. I think you are too naive to think that Mister President (to be) was not well informed that he has to go out and lie to Armenians, perfectly knowing he cannot deliver none of his promises. So he is a lier, he knows it, we know it and everyone who payes attention how the same trick is played over and over again knows it. Some people exploit that further more, making deals, paying money for "lobbying", while another school built in Armenia on that money would be much more of a help. And with that kinda money one can build not one but maybe 20 schools. Yes, we all know that governmental structures in Armenia are very corrupted, but one can find ways to bypass their greedy pocket and help Armenia (n) directly. It's been done before. I don't mean to disillusion you, Martin, but you are defending someone who doesnt deserve your patriotism. Bush yet has to proove he is a good president and can make balanced policy (which is not the case so far in my opinion). Lying to its voters doesnt help his reputation.

Martin jan, Everyone is entitled to his own opinion and thats perfectly fine. The whole politics are corrupted in basics, I would not mention words such as "integrity" or "credibility" when it comes to politicians. However I do beleive that European structures are somehow more democratic (and when I say that I reffer to those countries which do not have imperial ambitions or gave them up, not UK) US is different ball game. Billions are runned to make presidential compains, people are being lied to, promised things and so on (let us shove Bush' credibility you know where, he lied to armenians also, but he is certainly not better than any other american president when it comes to armenians)... I would not call myself an expert in politics, but I firmly beleive that the fish stinks from the head. The smell is bad. You say Europeans are annoyed by US foreign policy. Yes they are. Here people do not like to take the role of the policeman of the world, which US is playing for past decades. They don't like when uncle Sam puts a veto on the decisions which are important for the whole planet: enviroment, chemical warfare, etc. I dont care for any "wins" or "looses" in political world, I only think that people like me and you are paying (and going to pay) the price. Patriotism is a good thing, but vonz vor menk hayernenk asum: urishi achki mej posha tesnum isk ira achki mej geran chi nkatum. I hope you know what you mean As for trusting or not trusting CNN or BBC, let us note that one cannot compare these too. CNN makes me "laugh", BBC gives me food for thought (in relative sense), however both represent it's governments therefore are never objective. OK enough of politics, it makes me depressed. Let us care for our little country full of worries, our own house needs lots of cleaning before we can criticise anyone else. Cheers PS> Site is on hold, I am too busy with work but some people volunteered to help So it will be alright I suppose.

Hey MJ, Actually, I have lost all interest in America's politics since that above mentioned cowboy came to office, every time I see him speaking on TV I can't help think how dumb that man is. He doesnt make any sense. Leave alone his IQ, look at the changes that he brought to US' foreign policy. One after another, US looses all it's credibility, its kicked out of Human Rights commitee in UN (I wonder how did they let them there in the first place, as US is probably one of the biggest violators of human rights and we all know it), it's refusing to sign the ban on chemical warfare (threatning US security??!!, how so? People wanna ban war, but US says no!) and list can go on and on. Something is happening, most definitely. BBC the other day firmly stated, this is a NEW era in US foreign policy, I wonder who's making it, and at what price it is going to cost to the rest of the world. Regards,

I am only curious. That moron which took over the White House seem to do a lot of damage to the frigile situation around the world, he is just as dumb as the cow he is trying to milk. Poor America, my sympaties.

to Hotheads, please wait until we try to shut it down legally (after few letters to the provider we can hope they will listen to common sense). DO NOT TRY TO HACK THIS SITE BEFORE WE GET A REPLY from the provider. I will keep you posted. Thanks.

Write a letter to infodesk@residentie.net ( http://home.residentie.net/ ) to protest turkish propoganda site at http://home.residentie.net/~armeensekwestie/ I sent a letter to them, would like to ask all of you, people, take a minute and add few cents. If they will refuse to shut it down, we'll look for the ways to hack it and bring it down (it doesnt deserve anything else). The site takes the whole event, discribes armenians as murderes and turks as innocent victims of armenian terrorism. If we dont take action this site will keep teaching lies. Here is the letter I wrote: to infodesk@residentie.net Dear Sir, I would like to ask you to take action against shameless propoganda insited by one of the sites on your domain, http://home.residentie.net/~armeensekwestie/ which denies Armenian Genocide and spreads falsified information about the events in Asia Minor during years of WWI. Your service agreement prohibits users from posting offensive content and there is hardly anything more offensive to us, Armenians, than such spit on the memory of 1,500,000 innocent victims of Armenian Genocide commited by Ottoman Turks on the turn of the centrury. I am attaching an article published in serious dutch magazine, by a dutch correspondent in Turkey, which clearly states the facts. I hope you find these arguments convinicing enough to shut this site down and prevent future attempts to re-write history. With kind regards, Rouben Malayan Amsterdam, Netherlands reference to article posted: http://www.armenianforums.com/site/article.php3?id=297

Let us all be greatful for the just stance Dutch journalist (and dutch press in its majority) takes on this painful subject for us. ----- De Elsevier (Dutch weekly magazine) Friday July 27 2001 Whole mountains of skulls The only Armenian ambition is recognition of the genocide by the Turks in 1915. Turkey is not worried. One and a half million Armenians were killed in the last century by the Turks. In a civil war, says Turkey. In a genocide that later inspired Hitler, say Armenians. The worldwide Armenian diaspora is zealous for recognition of the genocide. "I do this for the family that I lost." by Jacqueline de Gier in Van (Turkey) The museum of Van, in Eastern Turkey, has a permanent exhibition of skulls and bones. The wall-high showcases are all filled to the brim. This department is called the genocide section. But it is not a confession of guilt for the murder on the Armenian people, wherein one and a half million people died. According to the official text these skulls and bones belong to Turks and Kurds who were killed bloodthirstily by Armenians, with Russian help. The toffee-colored skulls do not indicate whether they were Kurds, Turks or Armenians. Most skulls have cracks and dents. It seems as if these people were cudgeled to death like seals. No lack of skulls. The Armenian genocide in 1915, the first holocaust of the twentieth century, was such a success -as well as its denial by the Turks- that Adolf Hitler used it as inspiration for the systematic extermination of undesirable peoples. Hitler said in 1939:"After all, who still remembers the annihilation of the Armenians?" His contemporary Winston Churchill:"History will vainly search for the word 'Armenian'." In 1915 the Armenian nation was ordered by the Turks to leave Turkish Armenia. The men were often shot outside their villages. Women and children were deported and forced to long marches through Mesopotamia, into the desert. In Anatolia some eight-hundred-thousand men, women and children died. Whoever survived the death-marches, was locked up in camps in Ottoman Syria. The American consul Leslie Davis witnessed these deportations. In some places the mountains of corpses were so high that he had to chase his horse through them. Davis wrote:"Day 52-9. Naked, without food or beverage. Women bowed down with shame. Hundreds die in heat. Obliged to pay for water. Many throw themselves down ravines. Arab villagers give clothes." World War One was the "absolute solution" of the "Armenian problem", but the Armenians had already received their first warning under the cruel rule of sultan Abdul Hamid II. He formed the Kurdish-Hamidian regiment, that became synonymous to terror. Between 1895 and 1920 the Armenian nation lost one and a half million people. One third of all Armenians died an atrocious death. Another half million people became refugees, whose descendants now live in the worldwide Armenian diaspora. The revolution of the Young Turks (1908) ended the reign of the sultan. There was hope that there would be an end to oppression, but the Young Turk regime drifted toward dictatorship. It became a brutal instrument of Turkish nationalism and pan-Turkism. It involved unification of the superior Turkish race from the Balkans to Mongolia under one ruler, who would revive the days of Attila the Hun, Genghis Khan and Tamerlane the Lame. Few Turks worry about recognizing the genocide. According to the Turks a vicious civil war was raging around the beginning of World War One, the type in which many people always die. Ankara spends capitals on pr-offices in the United States, where a powerful Armenian lobby is also seated, to demonstrate that Armenians are fantasts. Recently a harsh anti-Armenian book by the Turkish author Kamuran Gürün appeared, which Turkish embassies are spreading in high numbers. And yet, a reconciliation commission was formed recently by people from both countries that is meant to improve relations between Armenians and Turks. ROCK-CONCERTS The skull plays a big part in Armenian symbolism. The Bulgarian-Armenian author Sevda Sevan, whose family was driven out of Turkish Rodosto, does not write a novel without "her" skull on the table. Skulls are popular at Armenian rock-concerts in Los Angeles, Sydney, Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires and Beirut, where many Armenians live. In Istanbul, where there is still a small but prosperous Armenian community and where the Armenian patriarch is still seated, the skull has also been signaled. A small skull worn by brave young Armenians is coupled with the cross around the neck. The Armenians are a successful people. There's only about eight million left, of which the majority lives in the former-Soviet republic Armenia and Russia. The most prosperous Armenian community, of more than a million people, lives in the United States, where they belong to the highest educated Americans. The most prominent Armenian was George Deukmeijian, govenor of California in the 80s. France has, with its four-hundred-thousand people, the largest Armenian community in Europe. All over the Middle-East, like in Jerusalem and Damascus, there are Armenian communities. Aleppo, the second city of Syria, is predominantly Armenian. Throughout the centuries the Armenians were to be found on the crossroads of business and silk routes: Shanghai, Bombay, Singapore. A small but determined group is quartered in Nagorno-Karabach, the Armenian enclave in Azerbaijan, that is being supported by America and Turkey because of the "Turkish" ethnicity of the Azeris, but it is mostly for the oil. The Turks and many of their friends in the West -Turkey is, after Israel, the greatest recipient of American military aid- have always denied the genocide. The lobby against the "Armenian lie" is tough. But the Armenians are not quiet either. For years now they have been trying to pass a law in the American Congress to recognize April 24 as the International Day of Crimes against Humanity. The Zoryan Institute in Massachusetts does research and provides evidence. And in Washington, DC, there will be, almost next to the Jewish Holocaust Museum, the Armenian Holocaust Museum. In the meantime, the genocide has been recognized by the permanent UN-nations' tribunal consisted of eminent international lawyers in Geneva. France recognized the genocide in the days of François Mitterand. The French-Armenian singer/songwriter Charles Aznavour sees himself as the international ambassador for the Armenian cause. The recognition of the genocide, he says, is also important for the Turks themselves. "For every Turkish murderer there were many more Turks trying to help the Armenians. I do not feel any hatred towards the Turks." Armenia is what travel-novelist Robert Kaplan calls the "typical nation of the Middle-East." Conquered, territorially "scarred", but that one way or the other has existed for 2600 years. The country is mentioned in Persian inscriptions, just like historian Herodotus, and the writers Xenophon and Strabo. The Armenians trace their roots back to Haik, the son of Torgom, the great-grandson of Japeth, and he was a son of Noah. His ark most probably landed on Ararat, the holy Armenian mountain. The quaint, with its eternal snow-caps to be seen from Yerevan, the current capital of the republic of Armenia. Ararat is now in Turkey. An Armenian poet wrote:"We have seen the other side of the moon, when will we see the other side of Ararat?" The city Van lies at Van Golu, a big lake. The absence of Armenians in this region where they have always lived, is stressed by the presence of hundreds of ruins of churches and monuments. Van is the heart of historic Great-Armenia. The Armenians call Armenia Hayastan. In the first century before Christ, Tigran the Great, stretched Hayastan from the Caspian Sea in the east to what is now Central Turkey. It occupied large parts of the Caucasus, a piece of Iran and all of Syria. In the year 301 Armenians became the first nation to adopt christianity, before even Constantine converted and Constantinople, present Istanbul, took over the role of Rome. It is therefore the oldest christian nation in the world, that is celebrating the 1700th anniversay of her church this year. EVIL SPIRIT Throughout the centuries Armenia fell under Turks, Persians and later Russian czars, until a fraction of it was annexed under the bolsheviks as the soviet republic. Old-Armenia also overlaps a part of the dreamed Kurdistan. Many Kurds settled in Armenian houses and lands after the deportations. Fleeing Armenian girls were kidnapped by Kurds and forced into marriage. In Kurdish folk tales the Armenian djin -evil spirit- regularly pops up. Western sympathizers of the Kurds would rather ignore the Armenian issue. He who supports one nation, must let go of the other. Van is now a "Kurdish" city and the central base for the Kurdish Worker's Party PKK. The Armenians disappeared from Van -killed, fled- but the memory of 1915 is there. Despite the official denial not a single attempt has been made to hide the massacre. From the Rock of Van, a dramatic rock that rises hundred meters out of the water, you have the best view of the old, Armenian city. From this rock Turks and their Kurdish accomplices harassed the Armenians. In the silver morning mist the city looks like a charcoal sketch with parts erased. There are still a few hotheads in the diaspora who still dream of the Great-Armenia from ancient days, but of Armenian aspirations for Turkish -or Iranian- land there is no talk. There is a homeland in the Caucasus with its own Caucasian problems. There is the Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra led by British-Armenian conductor Loris Tcheknavorian. The landscape is prey to heavy earthquakes and a severe climate; the country is kept alive by the wealthy diaspora. And the new Armenian metropolis is not the capital Yerevan, but for the last half century has been Beirut, the capital of Lebanon. The Armenian community in Lebanon has freed itself from its refugee-miseries and is now prosperous and influential. PHILANTHROPISTS The power of the Armenians is attributed to their strong church and culture of self-help. They have their own Armenian Red Cross and a network of relief organizations, such as the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in Lissabon and London. (Gulbenkian was an oil-baron who a century ago made his fortune, like Nelson Rockefeller, in Baku.) Philanthropists like Alex Manoogian, an American industrial, finance a number of relief-projects, while international scholarships have to ensure that no Armenian talent and potential is lost. "As an Armenian you grow up with a load of obligations. The richer you are, the more obligations you have," says Kaspar Manoogian (33) from Boston. "Don't behave like the sultan," my grandfather always said. Your money, your knowledge, everything you have, should be dedicated to your people. Because a day will come when we too might need your help." The only big Armenian ambition in the year 2001 is recognition of the genocide. The evidence is overwhelming. Recent research in Turkish sources, published by Yale Journal of International Law, again testifies to the deliberate nature of the genocide. The Armenians themselves were also responsible for a number of publicity blunders, such as publishing falsified sources. However like prominent historian Erik J. Zürcher, professor of modern Ottoman and Turkish history at the University of Amsterdam, explains in his book Turkey, A Modern History, it is the sources of Turkey's allies during World War One that deliver the evidence. As far as he's concerned, it is fact that the Young Turks were occupied with a premeditated extermination. To an Austrian ambassador Talaat *****, one of the three Young Turk leaders of the revolution in 1908, even bragged that there were "no more Armenians" left. The ambassador writes:"It seems like the plan to exterminate the Armenian race, has succeeded." The official version of Ankara meets, outside of pure "turcophile" circles, little response. Wherefrom then the heavy denial? The crimes were committed before the present republic was established in 1923. No Turkish general needs to fear that he will be treated like Augusto Pinochet. No Turkish politician will be deported in handcuffs to a tribunal. Ankara says that recognition of the genocide is "dangerous" for the stability in the region. The government is partly right. Recognition would mean that confiscated land would have to be returned, compensation paid and Kurds would have to be removed from Armenian houses. It opens the door, fear many Turkish intellectuals, to even more ethnic and nationalistic fighting. But above all, the myth of cultural homogeneity would be turned upside-down. There are at least 35 ethnic minorities in Turkey. But the present ideology of the "secular" republic is based on that myth of ethnic homogeneity. The state undermines its denial. A Draconian constitution must protect that ideology, that myth ‹even human rights' violations are justified for this goal. The same constitution also justifies actions -burning villages, death-sentence for teenagers, torture- against the Kurds now. Any reference to "Turkish Armenia" is, like so much else in Turkey, forbidden. The Turkish publisher of the opponent of the Winkler Prins Encyclopedia was threatened with emprisonment for mentioning the Armenian Kingdom in Cilicia between 1080 and 1375. Turkish historians like to claim that the deportations were necessary, because the "whole Armenian population" was a dangerous "fifth-columnist" of Russia, Turkey's arch-enemy, which was threatening to invade the east. The Ottoman Empire fell and the Russians had promised the Armenians their own state. Like Charles Aznavour says:"The tendency is: there was no genocide, but it was needed." PHOTO 1: Armenian deaths in Turkey at the beginning of last century PHOTO 2: American-Armenians know their roots. Last month a group visited the ruins of Ani, once the center of Armenian culture, in Turkey PHOTO 3: In the first century before Christ Great-Armenia was called Hayastan PHOTO 4: Angry Armenian protestors burning a Turkish flag in Athens------------------------------------

Well, Paul, perhaps you should have said Dutch government instead of general "dutch", cuz most dutch are very supportive of our cause, its the government that hesitates. Lets not confuse these two. You may argue that government suppose to represent its people will, then maybe it makes sense, cuz Holland is packed with turks (not too friendly ones)...

Just released an article in Dutch Krant tegen racisme (Magazine against racism) My own photographs of the monument and the ceremony in Assen in 24th of April this year can be found at http://photography.15levels.com/html/armen...orts.assen.html De Fabel van de illegaal (The Fable of the illegal) Krant tegen racisme (Magazine against racism) n° 46/47 http://www.defabel.nl Summer 2001 Grey Wolves in action against Armenian monument by Gerrit de Wit On April 24 a monument was unveiled in Assen commemorating the genocide of 800,000 to 1.5 million Armenians by the Turkish army in 1915 and 1916. The initiative for the monument was launched in the summer of 1999 by Armenian Assener Nicolai Romachuk. Large groups in the Turkish community, among which Leiden established organization Turkish Forum Netherlands, revolted in full force. At the beginning of the twentieth century the Ottoman regime feared that Armenians and Kurds would conquer the eastern provinces of the Turkish empire. Therefore turkification of the whole territory was chosen. Masses of Armenian property was taken into custody and 2 million Armenian christians were deported to concentration camps along the Euphrates in the Syrian desert. The majority died during these transportations. The genocide on the Armenians was bureaucratically organized and special military troops were dispatched. Many of the survivors fled after the massacres. Of the 4 million Armenians who presently live in the diaspora, approximately 5000 live in the Netherlands. Turkey has expunged the events of 1915-1916 from history books. The Turkish authorities deny any responsibility for the systematic murder of the Armenians. They prefer to talk about human-friendly transfers or of war casualties. Additionally Turkey constantly brings the amount of victims into discussion. There is however sufficient evidence that the genocide was indeed of this magnitude. Memorial Stone Romachuk belongs to the 200 Armenians living in Assen. End 1999, he planned to erect the memorial stone. Assen municipality however, was not waiting for this. After a number of months they agreed to a small memorial stone in cemetary De Boskamp. The municipality demanded the word "genocide" not to be mentioned on the monument, whereafter Romachuk concealed the formerly planned text even more:"In commemoration of our Armenian ancestors in the period 1910-1920". Nothing referred to the genocide directly. But after the monument was brought to light within the Turkish community in Holland, a storm of protests broke loose beginning of March 2000. The Turkish embassy in The Hague, The Turkish consulate in Deventer and the Turkish Participation Organ (IOT - Inspraak Orgaan Turken) agitated against the arrival of the monument. The Turkish Cultural Center Assen (TCVA - Turkse Culturele Vereniging Assen) mobilized its supporters and brought the case to the local authority's judge. However, the objection against Assen municipality's consent was rejected by the court: the term was expired. The protests even made it to the front pages of daily papers in Turkey. Mailbombs Under pressure of the large-scale protests, Assen municipality passed new laws for the erecting of monuments for "ethnic minorities". As a result, the decision for the placing of the Armenian memorial stone around May 1 was opened once more for inspection for a period of 4 weeks, so that people could anyway file complaints against the place, shape and text of the monument. In the meantime Romachuk, after threats, had already moved and out of need taken a secret telephone number. After the inspection term 1,907 complaints were filed: 913 for the monument, 994 against. In November 2000, Assen municipality (College van B&W) was to decide over the complaints. Meanwhile, in August 2000, nationalist Turks at home and abroad sent so-called mailbombs to newspapers, members of Chamber and Assen municipality. Because of that the municipality was obliged to change its e-mail address. The organiser of the mailbomb offensive was Selamet Gundogan of the TCVA. On August 18, according to Turkish media no less than 380,000 protest signatures were offered to the present municipal secretary of Assen. The signatures were collected worldwide. M. Ton, head of the information division however stated that only some 5000 signatures had been presented. Revisionist On November 24, Assen municipality decided not to honor the complaints of the TCVA. The 8 Turkish federations, that according to Gundogan work closely with the national Turkish Committee, immediately chose to start a procedure against the Council of State. This procedure is still ongoing. The Turkish Forum Netherlands, under chairman of Leidener Gokhan Genc, was also furious and stated that the College van B&W had made a "political statement" and with it had diametrically opposed itself to the Turkish community. Genc had already made himself known as the classic Turkish revisionist who denies the genocide on Armenians in press releases and letters to Assen municipality. In a press release on October 17 he stated that it was impossible for the Turks to have been involved in the murder of ethnic communities, because next to the Jews "many other ethnic groups have been capable of living on Turkish grounds without problems". Armenians and Kurds have quite a different opinion on that. Moreover it is not surprising that Genc posts press releases on his website signed by extreme-right Grey Wolves belonging to the Turkish Federation Netherlands. On December 21, the Turkish Federation applied for a Turkish memorial monument, on account of "the atrocities of the Armenians" that would have lead to exactly "517,955 Turkish deaths". Assen municipality is still investigating the request. On April 24 2001, the Armenian monument was finally unveiled. Some 700 Armenians at home and abroad attended the ceremony. Various speakers called for the Dutch and Turkish governments to recognize the genocide. Worldwide This matter also plays a role in the US. The congress is being pressurized into adopting a resolution in which the genocide is recognized. Of the American government, however, with oil-barons like Bush and Cheney at the top, it is expected that they choose for good relations with Turkey and Azerbaijan, seen the important oil-pipeline of Baku in Azerbaijan to Ceyhan in Turkey. On January 18 2001, a law was passed in the French parliament that stated:"France openly recognizes the Armenian genocide of 1915". As such France joined the European Parliament and Greece, Italy, Russia and Belgium, who all had different -often opportunistic- reasons to recognize the genocide. The Armenian community in Turkey was not entirely satisfied with the passing of the French law. It would merely be a tactical choice, because France's divided Turkish community either way would not have the power to react. Many Armenians in France, however, greeted the law with an approval. The Turkish government reacted furiously, pulled back her embassador from Paris and rejected trade agreements with 2 French construction companies. Hundreds of Turks protested in front of French embassies and consulates in Turkey. The newspaper Milliyet published the French president's e-mail address and called on to "bury him with a flood of protest messages". The Turkish employer's organizations announced to not buy French goods anymore. A heavy lobby delegation of Turkish businessmen sent for Chirac was to no avail, as well as the various phonecalls of the Turkish prime minister Ecevit. Muscles The Dutch government prefers not to burn its fingers on this issue. NATO-partner and EU-candidate-member Turkey cannot be offended, says the ministry of Foreign Affairs:"Herewith we should weigh the cons of offending a befriended nation against the possible pros. And we will have a con if we pass a judgement on genocide." The Turkish government shows again and again that it cannot refute the accusations and historical facts. The unreconcilable and intolerant attitudes in parts of the Turkish community in Holland are unacceptable. The present authorities in Turkey are scared to death of having to compensate Armenian victims and in the future having to compensate Kurds for instance. Furthermore recognition of the genocide clashes with the nationalistic feelings of many Turks, that are a result of the indoctrination of Ataturk's teaching. Source: "Turks deny massacre on Armenians", Jeroen Bosch. In: Alert 2, 2000 and in: Alert1, 2001.

Apres Movses jan! Anpaiman zuiz tur henz vor mi ban unenak online.. ete ognutian kam xorurdi karik ka- always welcome.

to Garo: yes, you right. but to work for 800x600 is to crop the creative spirit. I like to keep mine alive and kicking. to Moso: Zavt tanem, muzat piti noriz gtnes, te che xelk durs chi ga... asa petka xorurdov ognel kam mi ban? Heto, vonzes Mos jan?

Garo jan, I am a webdesigner with high-standarts so to speak. I work in high-resolution and try to incorage people to improve their surfing enviroment, beleive me its well worth it. As for 800x600 it is nothing when you see world (www) in 1600x1200.

Hi guys, Here is more or less formal introduction to first two parts of re-designed 15levels.com I be delighted if you take a look. Rouben Malayan photography.15levels.com Selected photography exibit."Ubi vita, Ibi poesis" - "Where is life, there is poetry". Subjects include Arts & Sculpture, Portraits, Nudes & Women, Abstract & Concepts, Armenia & Reports, City, Life & Architecture and Organic life. Design.15levels.com "Omnia mutantur, nihil interit" - "Nothing disappears, only changes". Portfolio of webdesign, logotypes, flash, interface design and 3D art. Includes selected articles from Richard Hollis "Graphic Design. A concise history" and links to the best of interactive web and graphic design. Second part of newly restructured http://15levels.com

to Naira: yes, I know, I am talking to him but not on this forum. to Movses: zavt tanem, I am trying to define the purpose of the site and its usability. Ete xelkov ban durs ga, kasem anpaiman. Amen depkum, shat merci Mos jan, jishtn asats es shat husahatvetsi, miain du ev mek hogi (chem asi ov) patasxanezin im xndrankin. Apsos vor mek angam evs es hamozvetsi vor hayer@ aveli lav amboxj or@ irar glux tanen blablabla ov kanste mi concret mi ban anen. Yalla, expair, im karzikov es ailevs aistex ognutiun chem pntri, kani vor huis chka, arden es u du email ov contact i mej klinenk. Lav exir Movses jan. Rouben

Dear compatriots, I'm planning to design and put online a website for Armenian community in Netherlands. The original plan was to do it with help of Ararat Club in Amsterdam, I went there looking to awake interest in such project, but found nothing but indifference. I was truly disappointed to see that Ararat has become nothing but a place for some people to defend their interests and satisfy their ego, while nothing is being done to improve the communication butween people, promote culural events, etc. If we compare the activities of Armenian community in France to the one in Netherlands, we'll see that virtually nothing is being done here for almost 30 years. So I made a decision to go ahead with the website without their help or co-operation, hopefully there will be some people who can help with fundings on later stage. The site is very much needed, we need to appeal mostly to the young people, to awake the interest in their language and culture. Me and my friends are also planning to establish an Armenian Youth Club, is there a better way to attract people than a beautiful website with a lot of information and ideas? I would be very pleased if people will respone to my appeal and help with realization of this project. We need a webhost (in Europe preferrably), with a good hosting plan (no limit to storage and reliability 24 hours a day) and I also ask those who would like to publish previously unavailable online material, please contribute to the site. The purpose of the website is very broad, it will cover many aspects of being diaspora armenian, give young armenians (most of them don't even speak armenian, nor know enough about their own culture and heritage) tools to communicate, learn and eventually work together to help their country. We must take action and quick, time is not on our side. 2 years ago I wanted to build an interactive website which would teach armenian language online, in 2 dialects, but never could accomplish such task alone. My requests for assistance found virtually no respone. I would be delighted to include this important subject on the tasklist of this project. If you are interested in helping (with any means, sponsoring, contributing material, etc) please write to me at ararat@15levels.com">ararat@15levels.com I promise to give full credit to those who will help us lift this project. The domain of the site will be (I am negotiating with the russian newspaper

Jan, thank you, you are too kind. I wish I could do more to bring the day of Big Victory closer. I hope we will see it in our lifetime...