Armenian Genocide Bill 2007

[Armenak]

Is everything a war to them?

[irlandahay]

Is everything a war to them?

 

touché armenak...touché

[irlandahay]

and what kind of bullsh*t is this?!

 

"Turkey became an EU candidate country in 1999 and, in line with EU requirements, went on to introduce substantial human rights and economic reforms. The death penalty was abolished, tougher measures were brought in against torture and the penal code was overhauled.

 

There were also significant reforms in the areas of women's rights and Kurdish culture, language, education and broadcasting."

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/country_...les/1022222.stm

 

when has turkey EVER done such things?

[irlandahay]

and what kind of bullsh*t is this?!

 

"Turkey became an EU candidate country in 1999 and, in line with EU requirements, went on to introduce substantial human rights and economic reforms. The death penalty was abolished, tougher measures were brought in against torture and the penal code was overhauled.

 

There were also significant reforms in the areas of women's rights and Kurdish culture, language, education and broadcasting."

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/country_...les/1022222.stm

 

when has turkey EVER done such things?

 

I stopped trusting united kweerdom news ages ago...

[Stormig]

when has turkey EVER done such things?

Has - albeit only on paper and only in token form.

[Zartonk]

Is everything a war to them? huh.gif

 

Seems so....

[Aratta-Kingdom]

Until Turkey recognizes Armenian Genocide Armenia’s security under threat

 

13.03.2007

 

YEREVAN (YERKIR) - 218 votes are necessary for the adoption of the Armenian Genocide resolution by the U.S. Congress, which hopefully we can reach., Executive Director of the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) Aram Hamparian told a press conference in Yerevan. He said, the U.S. legislature has such a system that neither the State Department, and moreover nor the Turkish Foreign Minister can influence on it.

 

“I would advise not to believe in what is written in Turkish press. More often Turkish media gives misinformation in order to show the public that it actively works for preventing the possible adoption of the Armenian Genocide resolution by the U.S. Congress,” Hamparian stressed. He also said that until Turkey recognizes the Armenian Genocide, Armenia’s security will be under threat. “As to Turkey’s opinion that the United States needs Ankara’s assistance, it is a temporary phenomena. May happen that the U.S. will be able to find strategic allies in the region without Turkey.

 

Alongside I would like to underline that President George Bush does not have a clear stance on the issue of the Armenian Genocide. He says neither “yes” nor “no”. If such a policy existed the American Armenian community wouldn’t protest against Richard Hoagland’s nomination as U.S. Ambassador to Armenia. Really, Armenia needs a U.S. ambassador, but the future ambassador must not be pro-Turkish in any cases,” the ANCA Executive Director told.

[MosJan]

ARMENIAN LOBBY REPRESENTATIVE SAYS 180 SUPPORT BILL CONDEMNING ARMENIAN GENOCIDE IN U.S. CONGRESS

 

*

 

The representatives of the Armenian lobby believe they will achieve a bill condemning the Armenian genocide in U.S. Congress, Aram Hambaryan, representative of the Armenian Cause Office of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnakcutiun), said. He said the number of supporters of the bill totals 180. The majority is 218 and we are sure we will get that number of supporters, he said. Hambaryan said the bill condemning the Armenian genocide enjoyed the majority of the Congress but the main obstacle was the speaker of the parliament who did not put it on vote, making use his authority. This time the speaker is a friend of ours of 20 years, Hambaryan said.

[MosJan]

Turkey hasn’t decide on "punishment" for U.S. for passing Genocide resolution yet

14.03.2007 17:12 GMT+04:00 Print version Send to mail In Russian In Armenian

 

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Turkey hasn’t decide on "punishment" for the U.S. for passing the Armenian Genocide resolution yet, said Mehmet Dulger, a member of the Turkish National Assembly and Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, reports Reuters. As possible moves he marked out limitation of Incirlik air base use by the United States.

 

In his opinion, the adoption of the resolution will arouse anti-American spirit in Turkey and will heighten the rating of radical nationalists. “The adoption of the resolution will be hostile step and will deliver a greater blow to relations with Washington than refusal to use our territory for intrusion of U.S. troops into Iran,” Dulger said, reports RFE/RL.

 

 

who are you playing ?? um achqin es poshi pchum

 

to iy t@xxmar anasun - menq el gitenq du el gites te inch eq t@vel USA or iys amen@ chpatahi iys angam yev@es inch es poshi p@chum

[MosJan]

Rice warned U.S. House on Armenian Genocide bill

14.03.2007 20:03 GMT+04:00 Print version Send to mail In Russian In Armenian

 

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Rice and Gates write joint letter to U.S. House warning on the Armenian bill U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates have written a joint letter to the U.S. House of Representatives warning of possible serious consequences to the passage of the Armenian Genocide bill, reports Hurriyet.

 

According to reports, the letter, which carries the signatures of both Gates and Rice, was sent to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Minority Leader John Boehner, and Tom Lantos, the head of the House Foreign Relations Committee.

 

Rice and Gates warn in their letter that Turkish-American relations could be deeply harmed by the passage of the bill, and that U.S. interests will also be damaged. The Armenian bill was presented to the House at the end of January, and it is still not known exactly when it will stand for debate and possible approval.

 

mi pakas ChorKotani anasun el es A

[Aratta-Kingdom]

mi pakas ChorKotani anasun el es A

 

bill maher made a joke about rice saying 'if president bush walks naked in the white house, rice is gonna say "nice tie" ' . who can blame her? tekuz chorkotani that's who she is.

[Aratta-Kingdom]

Armenian Genocide resolution introduced in U.S. Senate

 

 

15.03.2007

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Senators Dick Durbin and John Ensign introduced the Armenian Genocide Resolution in the U.S. Senate. ANCA (Armenian National Committee of America) reports more than 20 senators joined in efforts supporting the Resolution, which calls upon the United States to recognize the Armenian Genocide. The measure is similar to the House Armenian Genocide resolution (H.Res.106), introduced by Adam Schiff January 29. More than 180 congressmen support the Resolution. “We must honor those who died in the Armenian Genocide by recognizing their suffering and by dedicating ourselves to preventing human suffering and tragedy in the future,” Assistant Majority Leader Dick Durbin noted. In his part Sen. John Ensign added that “the murder and torture of the Armenian people was undeniably genocide, and we must recognize this terrible reality. We are a nation that embraces freedom and justice, and we have a responsibility to uphold these values in order to not repeat the mistakes of the past. This important resolution officially recognizes history and the truth of the crime of genocide perpetuated against the Armenians.”

 

“We appreciate the leadership of Richard Durbin and John Ensign and value the strong support of their Senate colleagues for the introduction of this anti-genocide legislation,” Executive Director of the ANCA Aram Hamparian said.

 

The resolution calls upon the President “to ensure that the foreign policy of the United States reflects appropriate understanding and sensitivity concerning issues to the Armenian Genocide.

 

[Aratta-Kingdom]

Turkey promises continuation of Armenia’s blockade

 

14.03.2007 17:45

 

YEREVAN (YERKIR) - If the U.S. Congress recognized massacre of Armenians in Ottoman Empire in 1915 as genocide, it will damage the U.S.-Turkey relations and ensure continuation of Armenia’s blockade, said Mehmet Dulger, a member of the Turkish National Assembly and Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, reports Reuters.

 

“The economy of the region is awakening while Armenia is staying aside,” the deputy said adding that an oil pipeline, gas pipeline and abuilding railroad bypass Armenia.

 

Despite the efforts of the Turkish side targeted against the adoption of the Armenian Genocide resolution Dulger is pessimistic about the issue. He thinks that resolution will be passed thanks to the support of Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House of Representatives

[Aratta-Kingdom]

 

JOHN EVANS CALLS FOR PASSAGE OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE RESOLUTION

 

ArmRadio.am

15.03.2007 11:41

 

Ambassador John Evans, the most recent US Ambassador to Armenia, called

upon the US Congress to pass the Armenian Genocide resolution. Evans

addressed a capacity crowd of over 400 guests gathered in San

Francisco for the Bay Area Armenian National Committee's annual Hai

Tahd Evening banquet.

 

In his speech at the ANC banquet, Ambassador Evans discussed the book

he will be writing about the Genocide issue and explained how he came

to embrace the importance of the issue of addressing US policy on

the Armenian Genocide, stating "I do believe that in the long run,

my stance in support of recognition, will be vindicated, if not this

Spring, then at least by this Congress."

 

He continued later to state "The Armenian Genocide should be recognized

as such by this Congress." Evans also highlighted the importance

of genocide recognition efforts by the community. "...those of you

who've devoted hours of your days, years of your lives, fighting for

recognition for what happened to your forebears. I stand here tonight

in admiration of all of you. I salute you tonight, and I also thank

you for your efforts on my behalf, when it seemed to you as if I was

being done an injustice."

 

Elizabeth Chouldjian, ANCA Communications Director introduced

Ambassador John Evans. In her opening remarks she described the

ANCA's key role in defending Ambassador Evans' courage to speak openly

about the Armenian Genocide. " Our message to the State Department is

clear - come clean on the firing of Ambassador Evans, withdraw the

Hoagland nomination, and end the shameless pandering to the Turkish

Government," stated Chouldjian. "And if the State Department doesn't

have the guts to stand by one of its own, to honor the man who tried

to bring dignity and morality to American foreign policy, then the

ANC and Armenian American community will."

 

[Error 404]

from Today's Zaman

16.03.2007

 

http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar...amp;link=105610

 

'İncirlik may be closed if Armenian resolution passes'

A senior US State Department official warned Congress yesterday against passing a resolution supporting Armenian claims of genocide, saying the move could result in Turkey closing the İncirlik air base that is used by the US military.

 

 

Daniel Fried, the assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs, told a hearing of a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on Europe that Turkish officials have informed the US that approval of the resolution could lead to a shutdown of the base or a restriction on US overflight privileges granted by Turkey. He also said the US has been informed that Ankara would respond with "extreme emotion" if the Armenian resolution were approved.

 

He added that such a step would undercut voices in Turkey calling for a "truthful exploration of these events in pursuit of Turkey's reconciliation with its own past and with Armenia."

 

In what appears to be one of the strongest appeals to the Congress from the administration against passage of the resolution, Fried also said it runs counter to the views of the 60,000 to 70,000-strong Turkish-Armenian community, which has been warning that the measure would "raise popular emotions so dramatically as to threaten their personal security." He added the US fear was that "passage of any such resolution would close minds and harden hearts."

 

Last week, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates sent identical letters to the speaker of the House of Representatives and two other senior House members. They contended in the letters that the security of the US was at risk from proposed legislation in the House of Representatives that would declare up to 1.5 million Armenians victims of genocide on Turkish soil almost a century ago.

 

In the letters, dated March 7, Rice and Gates also said the resolution could inflict significant damage on US efforts to reconcile the long-standing dispute between Ankara and Yerevan, The Associated Press reported on Wednesday. The appeals went to Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and representatives John Boehner, leader of the House's Republican minority, and Tom Lantos, the Democrat who chairs the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.

 

A Democratic aide said Pelosi, who controls the House agenda, has no immediate plan to bring the proposal before the House.

 

New resolution before Senate

 

In the Senate, however, Republican John Ensign and Democrat Richard Durbin presented a draft resolution that, similar to the one in the House, calls for official recognition of the alleged Armenian genocide.

 

The draft had been signed by 21 senators when it was presented to the Senate on Wednesday.

 

"The Armenian genocide was the 20th century's first genocide, a vicious, organized crime against humanity that included murder, deportation, torture and slave labor. US clarity on this historical fact is of utmost importance and long past due," Durbin was quoted as saying by the Armenian media on Thursday.

 

Democratic 2008 presidential candidates Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and Joseph Biden, who are known for their support of the Armenian diaspora in the US, didn't sign the draft resolution, though the Democratic Party's 2004 presidential candidate John Kerry, along with Edward Kennedy and Joe Lieberman, did.

 

The US administration assures Ankara that it is opposed to the resolution, although it has limited means to convince Congress not to vote for it.

 

Turkey categorically denies charges that Armenians were subject to genocide during World War I and says there were deaths on both sides after Armenians took up arms and revolted against the Ottoman Empire.

 

Egemen Bağış of the Justice and Development Party (AK Party), who is in Washington with a group of Turkish deputies to convey Turkish feelings toward possible passage of the resolution in the US Congress, said that two members of the Congress -- Democrat Dennis Moore and Republican Phil English -- have already withdrawn their support from the resolution.

 

Bağış also said that he was more optimistic than on his last visit to the US capital eight weeks ago that the resolution would not be approved by the House of Representatives. "Americans are aware of the gravity of the situation. They don't want to lose an ally like Turkey," he said.

 

Well now they are blackmailing us armenians. The secutiry of 60 000 - 70 000 armenians in Turkey may be at risk if the AG resolution passes. What is this? A hint for another genocide?

Isn't this showing the world the real face of turkey?

Edited March 16, 2007 by Error 404

[Aratta-Kingdom]

PRESS RELEASE

 

March 15, 2007

 

U.S.-Armenia Public Affairs Committee (USAPAC)

 

 

 

USAPAC Urges Congress to Reassess Relations with Turkey

 

 

Washington DC - USAPAC urged members of Congress to `fundamentally

question Turkey's actions and ultimately its value to the West' in a

letter sent to members of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on

Europe and shared with members of the Congressional Caucus on Armenian

Issues.

 

In a letter addressed to Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Robert Wexler

(D-FL), USAPAC Executive Director Ross Vartian stressed that

`U.S. interests would be better served by dealing with Turkey as it is

rather than as it is assumed to be.' On March 15, Congressman Wexler

called a Subcommittee hearing on `U.S.-Turkish Relations: Challenges

Ahead' with participation of Administration officials.

 

 

The full text of the letter appears below.

 

 

The U.S.-Armenia Public Affairs Committee is a 501©(4) tax-exempt

and not-for-profit organization established to advance

Armenian-American interests.

 

 

 

March 14, 2007

 

The Honorable Robert Wexler

Chairman

Europe Subcommittee on Foreign Affairs

257 Ford House Office Building

Washington, DC 20515

 

 

Mr. Chairman:

 

Thank you for calling for a hearing on `U.S.-Turkish Relations and the

Challenges Ahead' before your Subcommittee. The U.S.-Armenia Public

Affairs Committee agrees that it is important to carefully reassess

U.S. policy goals with respect to Turkey.

 

Turkey is frequently touted by some in the U.S. public policy making

community as a potential regional leader and ally of the United

States. Consequently, Turkey's relations with all contiguous and

non-contiguous states in the region must be part of any thorough

review of the present U.S.-Turkey relationship. Turkey's priority

concerns with U.S. actions and potential actions should also be part

of this important review. Recent Turkish government statements

include the following criticisms of the United States: condemnation of

congressional consideration of resolutions reaffirming the U.S. record

on the Armenian Genocide; allegations of U.S. failure to deal with

the Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK); allegations of U.S. support for

Kurdish control of Kirkuk; and, condemnation of any consideration by

the U.S. of plans that would result in a largely self-governing

Kurdistan.

 

In each case, the Turkish government has threatened to take actions

against U.S. interests in the event that the above concerns are not

addressed to Turkey's satisfaction. For the past four weeks,

successive waves of senior Turkish officials have come to Washington

setting forth possible consequences if the U.S. does not continue to

succumb to Turkey's wishes. Should Congress uphold the incontestable

fact of the Armenian Genocide, Turkey threatens diplomatic, economic

and military reprisals. Should the U.S. fail to control events in

Iraqi Kurdistan according to Turkey's demands, then Turkey warns that

it will do what is necessary to deal with the issue. In both

instances, Turkey fails to take into account the damage that would be

done not only to its own interests, but to the U.S.-Turkey

relationship as well.

 

A review of U.S.-Turkey relations should take into account what the

U.S. has asked Turkey to do in recent years. All too frequently,

Turkey has rejected American proposals, thwarting U.S. policy

objectives in the region. This includes blocking a northern front for

the Iraq war; rejecting U.S. requests to normalize relations with the

Republic of Armenia; refusing to support the isolation of Hamas;

failing to treat its Christian, Jewish and Kurdish minorities

according to its international obligations and in keeping with its

European Union (EU) aspirations; and, not repealing its laws that

preclude free speech.

 

It is the oft-declared policy of the U.S. that it is in our

increasingly vital national interest for the states and independent

republics of the South Caucasus to be at peace with one another and to

continue their development as integrated, market-oriented, democratic

nations. The Caucasus region is envisioned as a future east-west and

north-south bridge connecting Europe, Russia, the Middle East, and

Central Asia. Relevant Turkish policies and trends today thwart these

objectives.

 

Despite recurring calls from the U.S. and the EU, Turkey keeps its

border with Armenia closed in violation of U.S. and international law.

Turkey repeatedly and summarily rejects Armenia's offers of normalized

relations without preconditions. Turkey obstinately refuses to come

to terms with its genocidal legacy. Furthermore, Turkey joins with

Azerbaijan in excluding Armenia from all significant regional

commercial and infrastructure projects and provides substantial and

growing military assistance and training to Azerbaijan as that nation

proceeds with a projected multi-billion dollar and multi-year arms

build up against Armenia.

 

The EU, the European Parliament and select member states have

consistently and repeatedly urged Turkey to normalize relations with

Armenia and to deal with its Ottoman past as part of its EU

integration process. Turkey has virtually ignored six years of Bush

Administration appeals to normalize relations with its neighbor

Armenia.

 

Nevertheless, despite Turkey's intransigence, despite Turkey's

genocidal history, despite Turkey's continued discrimination against

its citizens of Armenian descent, and despite Turkey's aggressive

stance towards the Republic of Armenia, Armenia continues to offer

open borders and full relations without preconditions. Armenia

continues to support Turkey's accession to the EU provided that Turkey

complies with all ascension criteria. And Armenia continues to offer

confidence building measures in transition to full and normal

relations.

 

The Bush Administration has regularly stated that Turkey is a staunch

ally of the United States, and that Turkey is a democratic, secular

and EU ready nation - a bridge between the West and moderate Islam.

While this declaration may describe a distant and perhaps attainable

goal, it is not an accurate or contemporaneous description of Turkey.

 

At the launch of the war in Iraq, Turkey refused a stunned United

States aid for an essential northern front, and closed access to

military bases constructed and maintained with generous U.S. support.

These hostile actions were taken notwithstanding the cooperation of

some Members of Congress and Senior Bush Administration officials to

block consideration of the Armenian Genocide resolution in 2004 and

2006. These hostile actions were taken despite the fact that the Bush

Administration quashed the exposure of illegal Turkish interference in

America's elective and legislative processes. And, these hostile

actions were taken despite the fact that the Bush Administration fired

and silenced FBI whistleblower Sibel Edmonds and others that warned or

knew of Turkey's illegal activities.

 

Turkey has relentlessly pressured the U.S. and Iraqi governments to

take action against the PKK, and to prevent Kurdish control of Kirkuk,

thereby forestalling any prospect of a self-governing Kurdistan. In

warning the U.S., Turkey included a not so veiled military threat that

Turkey would not sit idly by and watch Kirkuk ceded to the Kurds. In

response, the United States strongly cautioned Turkey against any

unilateral military action, noting that such intervention could

destabilize northern Iraq, the most secure part of that country.

Turkey has not taken the military option off the table.

 

Turkey's actions and statements are contributing to growing anti-U.S.

and anti-Israel public opinion in Turkey and the surrounding region.

Turkish officials continue to accuse the U.S. and Israel of current

acts of genocide in Iraq and Palestine. And Turkey continues to

assign blame to Jews, Christians and ethnic minorities for its

internal and external problems. The 2006 human rights practices

report, which was released earlier this month by the State Department,

indicated that a variety of newspapers and television shows in Turkey

continued to feature anti-Christian and anti-Jewish messages, and that

anti-Semitic literature is reportedly common in bookstores.

 

In a press conference last month following a meeting in Ankara with

visiting Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Prime Minister Erdogan

urged Israel as well as the Quartet - the United States, the European

Union, the United Nations and Russia - to give the new Palestinian

government a chance. Erdogan said that, `I have stressed that the new

Palestinian government is a hope=85 It is not possible to solve this

with Mahmoud Abbas alone and there is a need for a strong government

that stands on its own feet. The formation of a consensus government

could positively affect the process.'

 

Recently, Hamas agreed to join a national unity government with Abbas'

more moderate Fatah movement. Israel and the Quartet have reserved

judgment, insisting that any Palestinian government must first

recognize Israel, renounce violence and accept previous peace deals.

Additionally, the United States, Israel and European Union ban contact

with Hamas, which they label a terror group. Turkey was harshly

criticized by its Western allies when Ankara hosted a Hamas delegation

in February 2006.

 

As a result of recent events, the United States has never been as

unpopular in Turkey as it is today. Surveys indicate that only about

one in 10 people have any sympathy or respect for our country.

Gallup, for example, has just released the results of its second

in-depth survey of Muslims in mainly Islamic countries, like Turkey.

The first survey was conducted in 2001 and 2002, and the second,

follow-up survey in 2005 and 2006. What the data shows is not

reassuring to Americans. The percentage of Turks holding `unfavorable

views' of the United States has risen - from 33 to 62 percent in

Turkey. By comparison, in the same period the figure in Iran fell

from 63 to 52 percent.

 

Coincidently there has been a sharp decline in support in Turkish

public opinion for the country's European Union membership. Surveys

indicate that only about a third of the population is still positive

toward the prospect of joining the EU.

 

Increasing Turkish animosity towards the U.S., Armenia and others has

fostered a dangerous environment for U.S. citizens and for minorities

living in Turkey.

 

The Turkish government has been unable, even unwilling, to protect its

Armenian minority, who along with other minorities in Turkey, are

regularly victims of ultranationalist, xenophobic and anti-western

sentiments and measures. The latest casualty of Turkish intolerance

and persecution was Hrant Dink, the courageous Turkish-Armenian

publisher, who was assassinated for speaking the truth about the

Armenian Genocide. The Turkish government failed miserably in its

responsibility to guard Hrant Dink from the countless death threats he

received for invoking the Armenian Genocide. In fact they did the

opposite, continually prosecuting him under Article 301 of the Turkish

Penal Code for his courageous commentary. In the last several weeks,

public calls for the murder of Archbishop Mesrob II, the Patriarch of

Constantinople of the Armenian Apostolic Church, the spiritual leader

of Turkey's Armenian community, have become more frequent.

 

Sadly, this bigotry is even extended to Turkish citizens who speak out

for Armenians and other minorities. The price is high. They are

prosecuted for disputing Turkish laws that deny them their inalienable

right to free speech. Tragically, free speech advocates are still

similarly ostracized and intimidated. Among those targeted are Nobel

Laureate Orhan Pamuk, internationally renowned novelist Elif Shafak

and historian Taner Akçam. Progressive, reformist, pro-western, Turks

are under siege, and the U.S. has not done enough to support this

vital segment of Turkish society.

 

What is even more damaging to Turkey and its prospects for further

reform and possible EU ascension has been its government's

incompetence in confronting the `deep state,' comprised of assorted

ultranationalists who adamantly oppose a pluralistic, democratic,

EU-integrated nation. Prime Minister Erdogan has acknowledged that

his government had not done enough to crack down on the deep state.

 

Returning to the matter of the Armenian Genocide, Erdogan has

constantly and inaccurately stated that Turkey is ready for a

`political settling of accounts with history,' provided that the

Republic of Armenia responds and accepts his invitation to establish a

historians commission to study the events of 1915.

 

That accounting has already been done. A March 7, 2000, public

declaration by 126 Holocaust Scholars affirmed the Armenian Genocide

and urged Western democracies to officially recognize it. On June 12,

2006, many of these same scholars sent a letter to Prime Minister

Erdogan criticizing his government for the ongoing efforts to avoid

the truth and the attempt to re-write history through the

establishment of needless historical commission. On October 1, 2006,

the International Association of Genocide Scholars again appealed to

those who would deny the Armenian Genocide to fully acknowledge the

truth. Copies of all three documents are attached.

 

Mr. Erdogan's suggested historical commission has been exposed for

what it is - another attempt by Turkey to bury the truth.

 

Again, despite Turkey's disingenuous invitation to leave allegedly

unsettled history to the historians, Armenia has responded with a more

realistic proposal. Armenia's President Kocharian has proposed that

an inter-governmental commission be created to discuss all important

bi-lateral issues, and reiterated the Armenian government's suggestion

`to establish diplomatic relations, open the borders and commence a

dialogue between the two countries and peoples.' A copy of President

Kocharian's letter is attached. Regrettably, Turkey has declined to

respond.

 

It is incumbent upon the U.S. public policy community to fundamentally

question Turkey's actions and ultimately - its value to the West in

view of trends within Turkey and in consideration of Turkey's actions

as outlined above. Your upcoming hearing represents an important

opportunity to reaffirm U.S.-Turkish ties that are based upon enduring

shared values and mutual interest - and to critically review the

deterioration of this relationship from an American perspective.

U.S. interests would be better served by dealing with Turkey as it is

rather than as it is assumed to be.

 

Sincerely,

Ross Vartian

Executive Director

U.S.-Armenia Public Affairs Committee

 

Cc: Members, Europe Subcommittee on Foreign Affairs

 

Enclosures:

 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF GENOCIDE SCHOLARS

 

EXECUTIVE BOARD:

 

President

Israel W. Charny

Institute on Holocaust & Genocide

POB 10311

91102 Jerusalem, Israel

encygeno@mail.com

 

First Vice-President

Gregory Stanton

Genocide Watch

POB 809

Washington, DC 20044, USA

IAGSVP@aol.com

 

Second Vice-President

Linda Melvern

London, England, UK

linda@melvern.co.uk

 

Secretary-Treasurer

Steven Leonard Jacobs

University of Alabama

Dept. of Religious Studies

212 Manly Hall, Box 870264

Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0264, USA

sjacobs@bama.ua.edu

Tel: 205-348-0473

Fax: 205-348-6621

 

ADVISORY COUNCIL:

 

Joyce Apsel, USA

jaa5@nyu.edu

 

Peter Balakian, USA

Pbalakian@mail.colgate.edu

 

Jerry Fowler, USA

jfowler@ushmm.org

 

Alex Hinton, USA

ahinton@andromeda.rutgers.edu

 

William Schabas, Ireland

william.schabas@nuigalway.ie

 

Eric Weitz, USA

weitz004@umn.edu

 

Immediate Past President

Robert Melson, USA

melson@polsci.purdue.edu

 

EX-OFFICIO MEMBERS OF COUNCIL:

 

Legal Consultant

Michael J. Bazyler, USA

bazyler@aol.com

 

Liaison Holocaust & Genocide

Programs, & Website Manager

Stephen Feinstein, USA

feins001@umn.edu

 

European Liaison

Eric Markusen, Denmark & USA

eka@diis.dk

 

Editor, Newsletter & Bulletin Board

Marc I. Sherman, Israel

marc_sherman@mail.com

 

 

An Open Letter Concerning Historians Who Deny the Armenian Genocide:

 

October 1, 2006

 

 

As the major organization that studies genocide, we write this

letter to address the issue of professional scholars who support the

Turkish government's position that what happened to the Armenians in

1915 was not planned by the Ottoman government and did not constitute

genocide.

 

Scholars who deny the facts of genocide in the face of the

overwhelming scholarly evidence are not engaging in historical debate,

but have another agenda. In the case of the Armenian Genocide, the

agenda is to absolve Turkey of responsibility for the planned

extermination of the Armenians - an agenda consistent with every

Turkish ruling party since the time of the Genocide in 1915.

 

Scholars who dispute that what happened to the Armenians in the

Ottoman Empire in 1915 constitutes genocide blatantly ignore the

overwhelming historical and scholarly evidence. Most recently, this is

the case with the works of Mr. Justin McCarthy and Mr. Guenter Lewy,

whose books engage in severely selective scholarship that grossly

distorts history. As noted genocide scholar Deborah Lipstadt has

written: `Denial of genocide whether that of the Turks against the

Armenians, or the Nazis against the Jews is not an act of historical

reinterpretation . . . . The deniers aim at convincing innocent third

parties that there is an other side of the story . . . when there is

no other side.'

 

As scholars Roger Smith, Eric Markusen, and Robert Jay Lifton

noted in their article `Professional Ethics and the Denial of the

Armenian Genocide' (Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Spring '95),

scholars who engage in denying genocide are motivated by various

factors, including careerism. A Reuters report (3/24/05), `Turkey

enlists US scholar to fight genocide claims,' underscores the degree

to which Mr. McCarthy works with the Turkish government in its effort

to undermine the truth about the Armenian Genocide.

 

We believe it is important to note that in serving the Turkish

government, Mr. McCarthy and others like him bolster a government with

a long-standing history of abusing minorities, intellectuals, and the

principle of free expression. In the 1990s, according to Human Rights

Watch and PEN International, Turkey had jailed or detained more

writers than any other country in the world. Today Turkey has put on

trial some of its most distinguished writers like Orhan Pamuk for

mentioning the Armenian Genocide and hundreds of other writers are

facing jail sentences for expressing their intellectual ideas. For

scholars to support a state with a record of this kind raises profound

questions about their professional ethics.

 

Whatever the agendas or tactics are of the few non-Turkish

historians who support the Turkish government's version of history,

their claims are the same: 1) all the documents that scholars have

used for decades to write about the Armenian Genocide are forgeries or

otherwise unreliable; 2) the Young Turk regime did not intend to

destroy the Armenian population - the massive deaths were a result of

war, not genocide; 3) these were hard times for the Ottoman Empire and

many Turkish people, especially soldiers, died, as did Armenian

civilians, from famine, disease, wartime chaos, not from systematic

slaughter; 4) the Armenians are to blame for their fate because they

were a Fifth Column allied with Turkey's enemy, the Russians, who were

fighting against the Ottoman Empire in World War I, somehow even

justifying the massacre of Armenian women and children.

 

We believe it is important to underscore the scholarly record on

the Armenian Genocide.

 

The documentation on the Armenian Genocide is abundant and

overwhelming. The Armenian Genocide was the most well-known human

rights issue of its time and was reported regularly in newspapers

across the United States and Europe. The Armenian Genocide is

abundantly documented by thousands of official records of the United

States and nations around the world including Turkey's wartime allies

Germany, Austria, and Hungary; by Ottoman court-martial records; by

eyewitness accounts of missionaries and diplomats; by the testimony of

survivors; and by decades of historical scholarship.

 

There are over four thousand U. S. State Department reports in the

National Archives, written by neutral American diplomats, confirming

what U.S. Ambassador Henry Morgenthau called `a campaign of race

extermination.'

Additional evidence is in the British Parliamentary Blue Book, `The

Treatment of the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire 1915-16,' compiled by

Lord Bryce and Arnold Toynbee; in Austrian and German foreign office

records (Turkey's wartime allies), now available as books; and in the

Ottoman Parliamentary Gazette which recorded the confessions of

government and military officials during the Constantinople war-crimes

tribunal held after World War I. Mr. Lewy claims the Gazette records

are invalid, even though their authenticity has been validated by

meticulous scholarship. Add to this overwhelming body of official

evidence, thousands of pages of eyewitness accounts from relief

workers, missionaries, and survivors, and it is indisputable that the

Armenian Genocide is a proven history.

 

On April 24, 1915, under cover of World War I, the Young Turk

government of the Ottoman Empire began a systematic, well-planned and

organized genocide of its Armenian citizens - an unarmed Christian

minority population. More than a million Armenians were exterminated

through direct killing, starvation, torture, and forced death

marches. The rest of the Armenian population fled into permanent

exile. Thus an ancient civilization was expunged from its homeland.

 

The Armenian Genocide is corroborated by the international scholarly,

legal, and human rights community:

 

1) Polish jurist Raphael Lemkin, when he coined the term

genocide in 1944, cited the Turkish extermination of the Armenians and

the Nazi extermination of the Jews as defining examples of what he

meant by genocide.

 

2) The killings of the Armenians is genocide as defined by

the 1948 United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of

the Crime of Genocide.

 

3) In 1997 the International Association of Genocide

Scholars, an organization of the world's foremost experts on genocide,

unanimously passed a formal resolution affirming the fact of the

Armenian Genocide.

 

4) 126 leading scholars of the Holocaust including Elie Wiesel and

Yehuda Bauer placed a statement in the New York Times in June 2000

declaring the `incontestable fact of the Armenian Genocide' and urging

western democracies to acknowledge it.

 

5) The Institute on the Holocaust and Genocide (Jerusalem), and the

Institute for the Study of Genocide (NYC), have affirmed the

historical fact of the Armenian Genocide.

 

6) Every book on comparative genocide in the English language contains

a segment on the Armenian Genocide. Leading texts in the international

law of genocide such as William A. Schabas's Genocide in International

Law (Cambridge University Press, 2000) cite the Armenian Genocide as a

precursor to the Holocaust and as a precedent for the law on crimes

against humanity.

 

Roger Smith, Eric Markusen, and Robert Jay Lifton wrote in

`Professional Ethics and the Denial of the Armenian Genocide'

(Holocaust and Genocide Studies): `Where scholars deny genocide in the

face of decisive evidence . . . they contribute to false

consciousness that can have the most dire reverberations. Their

message, in effect, is . . . mass murder requires no confrontation,

but should be ignored, glossed over. In this way scholars lend their

considerable authority to the acceptance of this ultimate crime.'

 

 

Sincerely,

 

Professor Israel Charny

President

International Association of Genocide Scholars

 

Professor Robert Melson

Past President

International Association of Genocide Scholars

 

Gregory Stanton

Vice-President

International Association of Genocide Scholars

 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF GENOCIDE SCHOLARS

 

EXECUTIVE BOARD:

 

President

Israel W. Charny

Institute on Holocaust & Genocide

POB 10311

91102 Jerusalem, Israel

encygeno@mail.com

 

First Vice-President

Gregory Stanton

Genocide Watch

POB 809

Washington, DC 20044, USA

IAGSVP@aol.com

 

Second Vice-President

Linda Melvern

London, England, UK

linda@melvern.co.uk

 

Secretary-Treasurer

Steven Leonard Jacobs

University of Alabama

Dept. of Religious Studies

212 Manly Hall, Box 870264

Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0264, USA

sjacobs@bama.ua.edu

Tel: 205-348-0473

Fax: 205-348-6621

 

ADVISORY COUNCIL:

 

Joyce Apsel, USA

jaa5@nyu.edu

 

Peter Balakian, USA

Pbalakian@mail.colgate.edu

 

Jerry Fowler, USA

jfowler@ushmm.org

 

Alex Hinton, USA

ahinton@andromeda.rutgers.edu

 

William Schabas, Ireland

william.schabas@nuigalway.ie

 

Eric Weitz, USA

weitz004@umn.edu

 

Immediate Past President

 

Robert Melson, USA

melson@polsci.purdue.edu

 

EX-OFFICIO MEMBERS OF COUNCIL:

 

Legal Consultant

Michael J. Bazyler, USA

bazyler@aol.com

 

Liaison Holocaust & Genocide

 

Programs, & Website Manager

Stephen Feinstein, USA

feins001@umn.edu

 

European Liaison

Eric Markusen, Denmark & USA

eka@diis.dk

 

Editor, Newsletter & Bulletin Board

Marc I. Sherman, Israel

marc_sherman@mail.com

 

 

12 June 2006

 

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan

TC Easbakanlik

Bakanlikir

Ankara, Turkey

FAX: 90 312 417 0476

 

Dear Prime Minister Erdogan:

 

We are sending again the letter we wrote to you on June

13, 2005 because we are dismayed that your government is still asking

the Armenian government to establish a so-called objective commission

to study the fate of the Armenian people in 1915. We are concerned

that your request is a political ploy designed to deny the facts of

the Armenian Genocide when, outside of your government, there is no

doubt about the facts. Our previous letter follows:

 

We are writing you this open letter in response to your

call for an `impartial study by historians' concerning the fate of the

Armenian people in the Ottoman Empire during World War I.

 

We represent the major body of scholars who study genocide

in North America and Europe. We are concerned that in calling for an

impartial study of the Armenian Genocide you may not be fully aware of

the extent of the scholarly and intellectual record on the Armenian

Genocide and how this event conforms to the definition of the United

Nations Genocide Convention. We want to underscore that it is not

just Armenians who are affirming the Armenian Genocide but it is the

overwhelming conclusion of scholars who study genocide: hundreds of

independent scholars, who have no affiliations with governments, and

whose work spans many countries and nationalities and the course of

decades. The scholarly evidence reveals the following:

 

On April 24, 1915, under cover of World War I, the Young

Turk government of the Ottoman Empire began a systematic genocide of

its Armenian citizens - an unarmed Christian minority population. More

than a million Armenians were exterminated through direct killing,

starvation, torture, and forced death marches. The rest of the

Armenian population fled into permanent exile. Thus an ancient

civilization was expunged from its homeland of 2,500 years.

 

The Armenian Genocide was the most well-known human rights

issue of its time and was reported regularly in newspapers across the

United States and Europe. The Armenian Genocide is abundantly

documented by thousands of official records of the United States and

nations around the world including Turkey's wartime allies Germany,

Austria and Hungary, by Ottoman court-martial records, by eyewitness

accounts of missionaries and diplomats, by the testimony of survivors,

and by decades of historical scholarship.

 

The Armenian Genocide is corroborated by the international

scholarly, legal, and human rights community:

 

1) Polish jurist Raphael Lemkin, when he coined the term

genocide in 1944, cited the Turkish extermination of the Armenians and

the Nazi extermination of the Jews as defining examples of what he

meant by genocide.

 

2) The killings of the Armenians is genocide as defined by

the 1948 United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of

the Crime of Genocide.

 

3) In 1997 the International Association of Genocide Scholars,

an organization of the world's foremost experts on genocide,

unanimously passed a formal resolution affirming the Armenian

Genocide.

 

4) 126 leading scholars of the Holocaust including Elie

Wiesel and Yehuda Bauer placed a statement in the New York Times in

June 2000 declaring the `incontestable fact of the Armenian Genocide'

and urging western democracies to acknowledge it.

 

5) The Institute on the Holocaust and Genocide

(Jerusalem), and the Institute for the Study of Genocide (NYC) have

affirmed the historical fact of the Armenian Genocide.

 

6) Leading texts in the international law of genocide such

as William A. Schabas's Genocide in International Law (Cambridge

University Press, 2000) cite the Armenian Genocide as a precursor to

the Holocaust and as a precedent for the law on crimes against

humanity.

 

 

We note that there may be differing interpretations of

genocide - how and why the Armenian Genocide happened, but to deny its

factual and moral reality as genocide is not to engage in scholarship

but in propaganda and efforts to absolve the perpetrator, blame the

victims, and erase the ethical meaning of this history.

 

We would also note that scholars who advise your

government and who are affiliated in other ways with your

state-controlled institutions are not impartial. Such so-called

`scholars' work to serve the agenda of historical and moral

obfuscation when they advise you and the Turkish Parliament on how to

deny the Armenian Genocide.

 

 

We believe that it is clearly in the interest of the Turkish people

and their future as proud and equal participants in international,

democratic discourse to acknowledge the responsibility of a previous

government for the genocide of the Armenian people, just as the German

government and people have done in the case of the Holocaust.

 

 

Approved unanimously at the sixth biennial meeting of

 

THE INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF GENOCIDE SCHOLARS (IAGS)

 

June 7, 2005, Boca Raton, Florida

 

 

Israel Charny

 

Contacts: Israel Charny, IAGS President; Executive Director, Institute

on the Holocaust and Genocide, Jerusalem, Editor-in-Chief,

Encyclopedia of Genocide, 011-972-2-672-0424; encygeno@mail.com

 

 

Gregory H. Stanton

 

Gregory H. Stanton, IAGS Vice President; President, Genocide Watch,

James Farmer Professor of Human Rights, University of Mary Washington;

703-448-0222; IAGSVP@aol.com

 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

March 7, 2000

 

126 HOLOCAUST SCHOLARS AFFIRM THE INCONTESTABLE FACT OF THE ARMENIAN

GENOCIDE AND URGE WESTERN DEMOCRACIES TO OFFICIALLY RECOGNIZE IT

 

At the Thirtieth Anniversary of the Scholars' Conference on the

Holocaust and the Churches Convening at St. Joseph University,

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, March 3-7, 2000, one hundred twenty-six

Holocaust Scholars, holders of Academic Chairs and Directors of

Holocaust Research and Studies Centers, participants of the

Conference, signed a statement affirming that the World War I Armenian

Genocide is an incontestable historical fact and accordingly urge the

governments of Western democracies to likewise recognize it as

such. The petitioners, among whom is Nobel Laureate for Peace Elie

Wiesel, who was the keynote speaker at the conference, also asked the

Western Democracies to urge the Government and Parliament of Turkey to

finally come to terms with a dark chapter of Ottoman-Turkish history

and to recognize the Armenian Genocide. This would provide an

invaluable impetus to the process of the democratization of Turkey.

 

 

Below is a partial list of the signatories:

 

 

Prof. Yehuda Bauer

Distinguished Professor

Hebrew University

Director, The International Institute of Holocaust Research

Yad Vashem, Jerusalem

 

Prof. Israel Charny, Director

Institute of the Holocaust and Genocide, Jerusalem

Professor at the Hebrew University,

Editor-in-Chief of The Encyclopedia of Genocide

 

Prof. Ward Churchill

Ethnic Studies

The University of Colorado, Boulder

 

Prof. Stephen Feinstein, Director

Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies

University of Minnesota

 

Prof. Saul Friedman, Director

Holocaust and Jewish Studies

Youngston State University, Ohio

 

Prof. Edward Gaffney

Valparaiso University Law School

 

Prof. Zev Garber

Los Angeles Valley College

 

Prof. Dorota Glowacka

University of King's Collage

Halifax, Nova Scotia

 

Dr. Irving Greenberg, President

Jewish Life Network

 

Prof. Herbert Hirsch

Virginia Commonwealth University

 

Prof. Irving L. Horowitz

Hannah Arendt Distinguished Professor

Rutgers University, NJ

 

Rabbi Dr. Steve Jacobs

Temple Sinai Shalom

Huntsville, Alabama

Associate Editor of The Encyclopedia of Genocide

 

Prof. Steven Katz

Distinguish Professor

Director, Center for Judaic Studies

Boston University

Prof. Richard Libowitz

Temple University

 

Dr. Marcia Littell

Stockton College

Exec. Director, Scholars' Conference

On the Holocaust and the Churches

 

Franklin Littell

Emeritus Professor

Temple University

 

Prof. Hubert G. Locke

Washington University

Co-founder of the Annual Scholar's Conference

On the Holocaust and the Churches

 

Dr. Elizabeth Maxwell

Executive Director of the International Scholarly

Conference on the Holocaust, London, England

 

Prof. Erik Markusen

Southwest State University, MN

 

Prof. Saul Mendlowitz

Dag Hammerskjold Distinguished Professor

of International Law

Rutgers University

 

Prof. Jack Needle, Director

Center for Holocaust Studies

Brookdale Community College

Lincroft, NJ

 

Dr. Philip Rosen, Director

Holocaust Education Center of the Delaware Valley

 

Prof. Alan S, Rosenbaum

Dept. of Philosophy

Cleveland State University

 

William L. Shulman, President

Association of Holocaust Organizations City University of New York

 

Prof. Samuel Totten

The University of Arkansas

Assoc. Editor of The Encyclopedia of Genocide

 

Prof. Elie Wiesel

Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities

Boston University

Founding Chairman of the United States

Holocaust Memorial Council

Nobel Laureate for Peace

 

I hereby declare that the originals of these one hundred and twenty-six

signatories are on file in my office. All affiliations supplied are for

identification purposes only.

 

Dr. Stephen Feinstein, Director,

Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies

University of Minnesota

 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

April 25, 2005

 

H.E. Recep Tayyip Erdogan

Prime Minister

Republic of Turkey

Ankara

 

Dear Prime Minister,

 

I'm in receipt of your letter. Indeed, as two neighbors, we both must

work to find ways to live together in harmony. That is why, from the

first day, we have extended our hand to you to establish relations,

open the border, and thus start a dialogue between the two countries

and two peoples.

 

There are neighboring countries, particularly on the European

continent, who have had a difficult past, about which they

differ. However, that has not stopped them from having open borders,

normal relations, diplomatic ties, representatives in each other's

capitals, even as they continue to discuss that which divides them.

 

Your suggestion to address the past cannot be effective if it deflects

from addressing the present and the future. In order to engage in a

useful dialog, we need to create the appropriate and conducive

political environment. It is the responsibility of governments to

develop bilateral relations and we do not have the right to delegate

that responsibility to historians. That is why we have proposed and

propose again that, without pre-conditions, we establish normal

relations between our two countries.

 

In that context, an intergovernmental commission can meet to discuss

any and all outstanding issues between our two nations, with the aim

of resolving them and coming to an understanding.

 

Sincerely,

 

Robert Kocharian

 

[Aratta-Kingdom]

DRAFT RESOLUTION ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE SUBMITTED TO US SENATE

 

Regnum, Russia

March 15 2007

 

A draft resolution on the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire of

1915 has been introduced to the US Senate. The move was initiated by

Dem. Richard Durbin and Rep. John Ensign.

 

The draft is similar to draft Resolution 106 introduced late January

to the US House of Representatives by Congressmen Adam Schiff, George

Radanovich, Frank Pallone, Joe Knollenberg, Brad Sherman and Thaddeus

McCotter. The document has already received support of 180 congressmen.

 

"Armenian Genocide was the Twentieth Century's first genocide,

a vicious, organized crime against humanity that included murder,

deportation, torture, and slave labor. U.S. clarity on this historical

fact is of utmost importance and long past due," Richard Durbin said

adding that today, when another genocide continues in Darfur, Sudan, it

is important to recognize the Armenian Genocide, Radio Liberty informs.

 

[Aratta-Kingdom]

REPRESENTATIVE BILBRAY DECIDES TO COSPONSOR ARMENIAN GENOCIDE RESOLUTION

 

ArmRadio.am

15.03.2007 14:32

 

The San Diego ANC met with the Congressional District Office of

Congressman Brian Bilbray on March 12, 2007. Preceding this meeting,

the San Diego ANC engaged the community by preparing letters

to Rep. Bilbray voicing concerns regarding the Armenian Genocide

Resolution. Next, members of the Armenian American community of the

Greater San Diego area traveled to Rep. Bilbray's district office to

discuss the Armenian Genocide Resolution and other issues of concern

to local constituents.

 

Within one day of the meeting, the Congressman communicated his

support for the Armenian Genocide Resolution. "This meeting with

Congressman Bilbray's office allowed us to present a united front

of support for H. Res. 106 - we need to make sure that the Armenian

Genocide is properly recognized by Congress, " stated ANC activist

Edik Ismaelyan. "During the meeting, each attendee expressed an

individual perspective on the Armenian Genocide Resolution and the

Congressman's office greatly appreciated our visit. We look forward

to working with Congressman Bilbray here in his district," added ANC

activist Rob Deranian.

 

46 of the 53 Congressmen from California have signed on as cosponsors

to H. Res. 106.

 

[Aratta-Kingdom]

Armenian Genocide resolution blocked in U.S. Congress by military-industrial establishments, Zatulin says

 

16.03.2007

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ “The passage of the Armenian Genocide resolution by the U.S. Congress is as a matter of fact blocked by the military-industrial establishment lobbying Turkey’s interests. Not all are ready to back such a document in Europe either, though most of European states recognize the Armenian Genocide,” Director of the Institute of SIC Studies Nikolay Zatulin writes in an article titled “Bill on Genocide won’t let memory fade.”

 

Fearing of possible consequences, modern Turkey tries to deny the national coloring of this crime and its responsibility for the tragedy of the Armenian people, according to him. “Besides moral condemnation, stain on the history of the Turkish people included in the number of outcasts of world civilization, Turkey may also face demands for material compensations, territorial claims and claims for cultural values, which are in deplorable state on the Turkish territory. Europe demonstrates a cool attitude about Turkey’s arguments. This is the evidence of Europeans’ unwinking memory and unwillingness not see Turkey within the European family with its system of values,” says the article published by RIA Novosti.

 

[Aratta-Kingdom]

PanARMENIAN.Net

 

Ankara fears that Turkey will stop existing as a State

as soon as it recognizes the Genocide

 

Turkey has unleashed a fierce war against the Genocide

recognition in all directions, starting with State

Department and ending with congressmen.

21.03.2007 GMT+04:00

 

Presently Turkey is going through the hardest times in its modern

history. Even in its worst nightmare Turkey wouldn't think that the

Resolution about the Armenian Genocide would be proposed to the US

Congress, and moreover, that there would be a possibility for this

Resolution to pass. The struggle against the recognition of the

Armenian Genocide is more fierce than ever and denying the Armenian

Genocide has become Turkey's first prerequisite.

 

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Ankara is taking all measures against Genocide

recognition. In the given situation the Jewish lobby, which enjoys

rather heavy weight in the USA, also has its significant role in the

matter. Besides political and military-strategic factors there are

also financial factors, which sometimes work even more efficiently in

the USA than the others. For instance, because of the probable

adoption of the Resolution N 106 the military-industrial complex of

the USA, which by the way is the initiator of the Iraqi War, will lose

about $15 billion. This is the sum the USA hopes to sell Turkey the

armament for, to be used in `re-equipment of the army and struggle

against the Kurdish radicals in the north of Iraq.' Nobody knows how

much the closing of `Incirlik' will cost, but this is already the

political aspect of the issue.

 

The Turks themselves do not regret any money which can somehow support

the denial of the Armenian Genocide. According to some sources Turkey

spends $1 billion per year on anti-Genocide propaganda. Only $10

million per year is spent on the USA and Canada. It's obvious that

this is the money spent officially, one may only guess the sum of the

money spent unofficially, and the matter is not in bribery only, which

is considered a penal act in the USA. Everything is much easier;

Turkey buys armament, although it might be bought from other countries

too, for instance Russia, or France, though after the law on the

denial of the Armenian Genocide was adopted there, it will be rather

difficult for Turkey itself to get armament in France.

 

 

During the latest meeting of the diplomatic officials, accredited in

different countries, Turkey's Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdullah

Gyul warned the Ambassadors that in case the Resolution is passed in

the USA or in other countries, the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs

will consider that the Ambassadors weren't able to accomplish their

mission. In the ceremony to the memory of the death of the Turkish

diplomats abroad, Gyul once again announced that they had become

`victims of the Armenian terrorists.' However, the case with `the

Armenian terrorism' doesn't work out any more. The whole world already

knows that the assassinations of the Turkish diplomats pursued one

main aim only, which was achieved - the world learned about the 1st

Genocide of the XX century.

 

Turkey is not alone in the denial of the recognition of the Armenian

Genocide and enjoys strong support from Azerbaijan, which realizes

very well that it doesn't and in the nearest future will not have any

other alley than Turkey.

 

How far will Turkey go in this matter and whether or not Turkey will

be able to prove that there was no Armenian Genocide, is just a matter

of time and money. This is at least what Ankara thinks. In fact

everything is much more complicated. Modern Turkish Republic itself is

the offspring of the Genocide just like the Armenian Diaspora

is. According to ARF `Dashnaktsutiun', Ankara is well aware of the

fact that if the Armenian, as well as the Greek and Assyrian Genocides

are recognized, Turkey will stop existing as a State. Perhaps this is

the reason of Ankara's sudden unwillingness to change the 301st

Article in the Turkish Criminal Code, which is the only method to keep

the Turkish scientists and intellectuals like Taner Akçam and Orhan

Pamuk under control.

 

[MosJan]

Turkey carries out threats to Washington?

28.03.2007 16:25 GMT+04:00 Print version Send to mail In Russian In Armenian

 

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Turkey refused to allow the U.S. aircraft to exercise night training flights over its territory from the Incirlik air base. “Turkey rates the request of the U.S. command as not corresponding to the agreements signed with the United States,” reports CNN-Turk with a reference to its own sources. Besides, such requests go beyond the agreement on joint defense.

 

Incirlik was formed in 1954 nearby the city of Adana after conclusion of an agreement on joint defense between Ankara and Washington. According to the agreement signed in 1980, the primary unit stationed here is the 39th Air Base Wing.

 

It was earlier reported that in case the U.S. Congress passes the resolution calling for the recognition of the Armenian Genocide, Turkey may impose limitation on the U.S. use of the air base.

 

[MosJan]

Pentagon head “hints” at inadmissibility of Armenian Genocide bill

28.03.2007 15:27 GMT+04:00 Print version Send to mail In Russian In Armenian

 

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Turkey and U.S. damage bilateral relations by mutual claims. Such actions should be stopped, U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said at an American-Turkish conference. Although Mr Gates avoided examples, he did drop hints on the Armenian Genocide resolution introduced in the Congress, reports RFE/RL.

 

“Our states should resist challenges like symbolic congressional resolutions and anti-American statements made during political debates in Turkey,” Gates said. The Secretary of Defense also voiced concern about the situation at the Turkey-Northern Iran border

[MosJan]

U.S. SOLDIERS IN IRAQ TOLD TO LOBBY AGAINST GENOCIDE RESOLUTION

 

*

 

WASHINGTON (A.W.)-Emboldened by the support of the Bush Administration, Turkey's campaign against the recognition of the Armenian Genocide continues to expand and has even reached Iraq.

 

As pressure by the Turkish government, U.S. State Department and Department of Defense mounts against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Congress, U.S.soldiers in Iraq are now being recruited to advance the policy of genocide denial.

 

In the past weeks, some U.S. soldiers in Iraq have been told to call their Congressmen and demand that they cease sponsoring the Armenian Genocide resolution, citing the problems they might face in Iraq as a consequence if the resolution is passed.

 

Congressman Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.) addressed this issue during an interview I conducted with him in his Washington office on March 23. Elaborating on the pressures applied by Turkey and the Bush Administration, Pallone said, "Every time Congressmen go to Ankara or Istanbul, they are lectured for hours about how the genocide didn't occur, and they receive threats about how the soldiers in Iraq are not going to be safe [if the Genocide resolution is passed]," Pallone said. "They are doing the same thing here. They go around to the members [of Congress] and lobby them. In some cases, they have even had soldiers in Iraq call members of Congress and say 'I'm afraid the Turks are going to punish us in some way if you pass the Genocide resolution' ...and the administration goes along with it and does the same things," he added.

 

Using U.S. soldiers risking their lives abroad to advance the interests of a foreign country, while insulting the memory of Armenian-American Genocide survivors and their descendents is, well .

 

Let me know when you find a word for it.

* By Khatchig Mouradian, AWOL (Armenian Weekly On-Line), Volume 73, Number 11-12, March 17-24, 2007

 

[Error 404]

TURKEY BARS RED CROSS

 

New York Times

 

April 29, 1915

 

Will Not Permit America to Aid Armenian Sufferers

 

The Turkish government has informed the State Department at Washington that the Red Cross will not be permitted to send surgeons and nurses to the aid of the Armenian people of the Turkish empire. Not only are American Red Cross surgeons, nurses, and agents barred from Turkey, but also all other foreigners, foreigners in this instance undoubtedly meaning the nationals of neutral countries.

 

The State Department informed Ernest T. Bicknell and Miss Mabel Boardman of the executive staff of the American Red Cross of Turkey's decision, and Miss Boardman communicated the information to Dr. M. Simbad Gabriel of 410 West Twenty-third Street, this city, the President of the Armenian General Progressive Association in this country...

 

I have got this article from another website. I am not sure of authenticity of the article. I wouldn't doubt it anyway. It is probably possible to verify it with NYT because this is another good evidence.

 

[MosJan]

IMPOSSIBLE TO CONVINCE US CONGRESS THAT ARMENIAN ALLEGATIONS OF GENOCIDE ARE GROUNDLESS

 

*

 

On February 22 "Azg" reported that Ankara had an intention to send 3 Meclis delegations to Washington in order to start lobbying activity against the Resolution on the Armenian Genocide. The first two delegations paid their visits on February 25-March 4 and March 11-18. The visit of the second delegation is appointed on April 14-21. very little was reported in the Turkish press about the mission of the two delegations. On April 2 "Turkiye" newspaper published an article about the third delegation's mission, based upon the information received from the Armenian Studies Institute, Ankara.

 

Seemingly the most important of the three Turkish parliamentary delegations is the last one, which is to be lead by the head of Foreign Relations Commission Dulger. The delegation is to take with it a large number of materials on the Armenian issue - the video recording of the Akhtamar's Surb Khach church inauguration ceremony, audio CDs with the works of Greek, Armenian and Jewish composers, general Mayevsky's notes and the following books: "The Armenian Folder" by Kyamuran Gurun, "The Armenian Question in 1000 Documents" by Mehmed Perincek and "The Armenian Question" by Bilal Simsir.

 

"Turkiye" says that the materials are to be presented to the Congressmen with the words "If we hated the Armenians so much we wouldn't spend 3 millions of our taxpayers' money top restore Akdamar church. The Turkish Music Fund issued one audio CD with works of Jewish and another of Greek composers, and two CDs with the works of the Armenian ones. Our music has much in common. So, it was impossible to commit genocide against the Armenians".

 

What will all this avail in persuading the US Congressmen that the Armenian Genocide is a fiction, none can say yet. Nevertheless Ilter Turkmen, former Foreign Minister of Turkey, whose diplomatic skills were highly estimated in the West, is obviously rather pessimistic on this point.

 

Turkmen in an article published on April 2 in "Huriet" says, "Now its impossible to be sure that the Representatives' Chamber will adopt the Armenian Resolution before April 24. Nonetheless, in case the Resolution is voted on a plenary session of the Chamber, surely it shall gain the majority of votes. Although the White House and the office of the Secretary of State are doing the best to fail the Resolution, even in case the voting is postponed due to pressure of President Bush's board, it will be considered again next year. The annual speech of the US President on April 24 is also not to be neglected. Although the word 'genocide' is never used in the speech, extremely exaggerated statements are made, which are not acceptable for us."

 

Taner Akcam, professor of the Minnesota University, indirectly affirmed Ilter Turkmen's words. Inan inerview to "Zaman" newspaper, published on March 31, he said "I'm not strongly interested in eth Resolution itself. I wish the Congress pass it. This torture must end. Turkey has been doubting for long years, whether it shall be adopted or no. The same has doubted Armenia. Let it pass and let us get rid of it. The resolution will give considerable moral advantage to the Armenians. They will be very excited that one more state has accepted the Genocide. There is no one in the Congress to say that Turkey's actions weren't genocide. They are just unwilling to disappoint Turkey. The matter is not about 1915, but about Incirlik. In case the Resolution is adopted, Turkey shall close the Incirlik military base for the United States. "

 

Akcam also commented on Prime Minister Erdogan's recent initiatives on the Armenian issue. "I hope the Government will be more intended in this question. As for now it is not intended enough. Turkey's problems with Armenia will be settled only after getting rid of such politicians as Yusuf Halacoglu, Gunduz Aktan, Sukru Elektag, who at present determine the governmental policy."

* By H. Chaqrian