Author: Harut Sassounian

Azerbaijan May be Expelled from Council Of Europe for Violating Court Ruling

All members of the European Council had agreed to comply with judgments of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). However, Azerbaijan has violated that commitment ever since 2014, according to the unanimous ruling of ECHR’s Grand Chamber of 17 judges, including the judge representing Azerbaijan, on May 29, 2019.

The case involves Azerbaijan’s imprisonment of political activist Ilgar Mammadov who was charged with criminal offenses and placed “in pre-trial detention in 2013 without there being any reasonable suspicion that he had committed an offense. [The European] Court considered the circumstances indicated the actual purpose of those measures was to silence or punish Mammadov for criticizing the Government [of Azerbaijan],” according to a press release by ECHR.

ECHR “found in particular that the Government [of Azerbaijan] had taken only limited steps to implement the judgment, which had not amounted to Azerbaijan acting in ‘good faith’ or in a manner which was in accordance with the ‘conclusions and spirit’ of its ruling in Mammadov’s case. It concluded that Azerbaijan had failed to fulfill its obligation under the Convention to abide by the judgment,” according to ECHR’s press release.

On December 5, 2017, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, which is responsible for supervising the enforcement of the ECHR’s judgments, referred Azerbaijan’s violation back to European Court to determine whether that country had failed to abide by its 2014 judgment by not releasing Mammadov unconditionally.

After ECHR’s Grand Chamber ruled on May 29, 2019 that Azerbaijan had indeed violated its 2014 judgment, ECHR referred the case back to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe for consideration of further measures to be taken.

The Committee of Ministers stressed that there were fundamental flaws in the criminal proceedings against Mammadov and “called many times for Azerbaijan to release Mammadov as an essential step towards redressing the violations the [European] Court had found. However, he remained in detention for almost four years after the ECHR’s judgment had become final on 13 October 2014, until his conditional release on 13 August 2018, following the initiation of the infringement proceedings. In March 2019 [Azerbaijan’s] Supreme Court, after reducing his sentence, found he had served his time in full and set aside the probation order and other conditions on his release,” according to ECHR’s Grand Chamber.

Here is the background of Mammadov’s case as described by ECHR’s press release: He was born in 1970 and lives in Baku. He is a political blogger and activist who had also announced his intention to run as president of Azerbaijan in 2013. He was placed in pre-trial detention in February 2013 after writing on his blog about disturbances in Ismayilli. Mammadov said, among other things, that people there had been reacting to the “corruption and insolence” of public officials. He was subsequently charged with organizing or actively participating in actions causing a breach of public order, and later he was accused of stirring mass disorder and resistance to or violence against public officials, posing a threat to their life or health.

Mammadov applied to ECHR on February 25, 2013, alleging that he had been arrested and detained without a “reasonable suspicion” of a criminal offence; that his right to be presumed innocent had been breached; and that he had been prosecuted for his political views and the threat he had presented to the regime as a potential presidential candidate. In March 2014, Azerbaijan’s court convicted and sentenced him to seven years in prison.

In the Grand Chamber’s judgment of May 22, 2014 (the first Mammadov judgment) ECHR found violations of his right to liberty and security, right to judicial review of detention, presumption of innocence, and limitation on use of restrictions on rights. The ECHR also ordered the government of Azerbaijan to pay him 20,000 euros in compensation.

The Committee of Ministers first examined the case in December 2014. It took numerous decisions and interim resolutions, highlighting the State’s obligation under the Convention to adopt individual measures to put an end to any violations that had been established and to erase their consequences so as to put Mammadov in the position he would have been in if his rights had not been violated.

In October 2017, the Committee put Azerbaijan on formal notice that, in its view, it had failed to fulfill its obligation under the Convention, the first step in an infringement procedure. The Committee of Ministers in December 2017 also referred a question to ECHR on Azerbaijan’s fulfillment of its obligation.

Mammadov was freed on probation in August 2018. In March 2019, Azerbaijan’s Supreme Court reduced his sentence, found he had served his time in full and set aside the conditions on his release. In November 2017, ECHR found that Mammadov’s trial on the same criminal charges as those criticized in its 2014 judgment had also violated his rights (the second Mammadov judgment).

If Azerbaijan continues not to comply with ECHR’s judgments, it may eventually be expelled from the Council of Europe.

June 6, 2019
Unbelievable but True: Trump Nominated for Nobel Peace Prize!

http://www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com

While Pres. Trump is visiting Japan this week, it is the appropriate time to comment about his nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize by Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The nomination was announced by none other than Pres. Trump himself who boasted that Abe had given him “the most beautiful copy of a five-page letter that he sent to the people who give out a thing called the Nobel Prize.”

Japan’s Asahi newspaper reported that Pres. Trump had asked Shinzo Abe to nominate him. Abe refused to confirm the nomination, citing a Nobel Committee policy of not disclosing nominees for 50 years after prizes are awarded. When Abe was asked in Parliament if the report was accurate, he responded: “I am not saying it is not true.”

Two Norwegian lawmakers had already nominated Pres. Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize in June 2018. Interestingly, in February 2018, the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced that two Nobel Peace Prize nominations for Pres. Trump were forgeries. In addition, 18 Republican Members of Congress sent a joint letter to the Nobel Committee last year nominating Pres. Trump for the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize.

Japanese Prime Minister’s nomination of Pres. Trump created a major political stir with domestic opposition leaders protesting Shinzo Abe’s move. Junya Ogawa, a lawmaker representing the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, criticized Pres. Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris climate accord and the nuclear agreement with Iran, his decision to suspend the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, and his relocation of the American Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. These actions, Ogawa said, should make it “not possible to nominate him for the Nobel Peace Prize, and it’s shameful for Japan.”

The reason the Japanese Prime Minister nominated Pres. Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize is that the leader of Japan had figured out that flattery is the best way to be on Pres. Trump’s good side. Apparently, playing countless rounds of golf together was not sufficient. Japan has three requests from Pres. Trump:

1) To seek Pres. Trump’s help in arranging for the Japanese Prime Minister to meet with the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to discuss “unconditional” denuclearization. This is an important request for Japan as recent North Korean missiles have either fallen in or near Japanese territorial waters or have overflown the Japanese territory panicking the population.

2) To dissuade Pres. Trump from his repeated threats to impose U.S. tariffs on Japanese imports, mostly cars, which would impact Japan’s economy and undermine Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s re-election.

3) To get Pres. Trump’s assistance in negotiating the return of Japanese citizens who were abducted by North Korea between 1977 and 1982.

Nevertheless, Shinzo Abe’s nomination of Trump “was unexpected, given Trump’s aggressive ‘America first’ foreign policy and disdain for multilateral international cooperation. After U.S. talks with North Korea collapsed… a Nobel nod seemed wholly unwarranted,” according to the Washington Post.

While the Prime Minister of Japan may have good reasons for nominating Pres. Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize, the Nobel Committee has better reasons to reject the request in order not to dishonor its prestigious award by presenting it to such a charlatan, liar and cheater, both financially and morally. He has insulted other races and religions, abused minorities and immigrants, and refused to comply with U.S. laws and international treaties.

Just in case some may think that my antagonism to Pres. Trump’s nomination stems from partisanship, I need to remind readers that when Pres. Barack Obama received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009 for “extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between people,” I wrote an editorial expressing my opposition to his award. The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Pres. Obama within the first year of his presidency, way too soon to judge his accomplishments. Pres. Trump had criticized Pres. Obama for receiving the Nobel Peace Prize and some say that he wants the same award that Obama received out of jealousy. Pres. Trump was quoted saying: “They gave it to Obama. He didn’t even know what he got it for. He was there for about 15 seconds, and he got the Nobel Prize.” In addition to Obama, three other U.S. Presidents were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize: Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, and Jimmy Carter.

In Pres. Trump’s case, he has already served over two years as President, and it is clear that he does not deserve any kind of an award, let alone the Nobel Peace Prize. In fact, he does not even deserve to be President of the United States. With each passing day, the actions and statements of the self-declared “extremely stable genius” further antagonize more people both in the United States and around the world. As Lord Acton had wisely written: “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely!”

Not surprisingly, Pres. Trump continued his controversial behavior by sending a series of tweets during his first morning in Japan. In one of his tweets, Pres. Trump committed three errors or improprieties:

1) He agreed with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un that the leading Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden is “a low IQ individual,” violating the long-held principle of not speaking about domestic divisions while overseas;

2) He misspelled Biden’s name as “Bidan”;

3) He contradicted the statements of his own National Security Adviser John Bolton and Japan’s Prime Minister that North Korea’s recent missile launches are a violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions.

Finally, Pres. Trump admitted that he will probably never get the Nobel Peace Prize. For once, I agree with him!

May 28, 2019
US Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee’s Acknowledgment of the Armenian Genocide

In recent years and months, Arab countries have been liberating themselves from the nefarious political influence of the Turkish government and are beginning to take an honest position on the Armenian Genocide.

The Arab governments, despite their long-standing sympathy and support for survivors of the Armenian Genocide who sought shelter in various Middle Eastern countries, had been reluctant to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide due to their shared Islamic faith with Turkey.

The first Arab state to break the yoke of the Turkish blockade to acknowledge this genocidal crime was Lebanon. On April 3, 1997, the Lebanese Chamber of Deputies (Parliament) adopted a resolution recognizing the Armenian Genocide. A second resolution was adopted by the Lebanese Parliament on May 11, 2000, stating that it “recognizes and condemns the genocide perpetrated against the Armenian people and expresses its complete solidarity with demands of its citizens.”

Since then, Syria’s President and various Parliament members have spoken about the Armenian Genocide several times, but have yet to adopt an official Parliamentary resolution recognizing it as genocide.

There have been similar moves in Egypt where a lawsuit was filed against Turkey on the Armenian Genocide. However, no formal resolution has been adopted by the Egyptian Parliament.

In March, the Interim Libyan government that is attempting to overthrow Libya’s central regime issued a statement recognizing the Armenian Genocide. This came as a complete surprise since there is no Armenian community in Libya.

Another Arab country is rumored to be considering the acknowledgement of the Armenian Genocide, but I prefer not to name it in order not to alert the Turkish government and prevent it from lobbying against it.

More recently, an unexpected acknowledgement was made on April 25, 2019 when The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) issued its first official statement recognizing the Armenian Genocide.

According to its website, “ADC is a civil rights organization committed to defending the rights of people of Arab descent and promoting their rich cultural heritage. ADC was founded by former U.S. Senator James Abourezk in 1980. Today, ADC is the largest Arab American grassroots organization in the U.S. ADC supports the human and civil rights of all people and opposes racism and bigotry in any form.”

Here is the full text of ADC’s sympathetic statement: “Over 100 years ago, the Ottoman Empire systematically massacred 1.5 million Armenians and forcibly displaced the Armenian people from their historic lands. Today, we remember the Armenian Genocide and commemorate all of those who lost their lives and homes. The ADC stands in solidarity with the Armenian people. Following the systematic massacre that took place between 1915-1918, many Armenian survivors fled to nearby Arab lands to seek refuge to later build new homes. Over the centuries, Armenians established thriving communities in Arab countries, particularly in the Fertile Crescent. The Armenian community has been an intrinsic part of Arab society, existing in Palestine for centuries, as well as in Lebanon and Syria. As we mark our moral stain on our global society, the ADC stands shoulder-to-shoulder with our Armenian brothers and sisters. Our communities know too well the price of systematic dispossession and oppression, and together we will continue to defend those facing injustice and persecution.”

I am sure Armenians worldwide thank ADC for its compassionate stand. In response to an email I sent to ADC, Abed Ayoub, ADC’s legal and policy Director, wrote that this is the first time that ADC has issued an official statement on the Armenian Genocide.

In response to my question as to what prompted ADC to issue such a statement this year, Mr. Ayoub stated: “Over the course of the past couple years we have had the privilege of working with young Armenian-Americans on issues that impact us all, and as a result of this relationship we began exploring the idea of issuing a statement as a show of solidarity. Additionally, many of our members have connections and roots to the community. Finally, with the rise of hate and bigotry across the world we felt now is an important time to issue a statement.”

When I asked if ADC is planning to issue a similar statement on next April 24, Mr. Ayoub responded affirmatively.

I also asked Mr. Ayoub if ADC had received any criticism for its statement from the Turkish government, and Turkish or Islamic groups in the United States, he stated that ADC had received no such criticism. However, “our membership was overwhelmingly supportive of the statement.”

Finally, when I asked what ADC thought about Pres. Trump’s refusal to use the term Armenian Genocide, Mr. Ayoub answered: “Most of what President Trump does is troubling, however, his refusal to use the term Armenian Genocide is in line with prior Administrations. Failure to use the term is a failure to recognize the pain and suffering inflicted on millions of innocent lives.”

Naturally, I welcome ADC’s statement on the Armenian Genocide and Mr. Ayoub’s answers to my questions. I suggest that Armenian organizations send ADC’s statement to Embassies of all Arab countries in Washington, D.C., asking them to urge their governments to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide.

May 22, 2019
US Lists Azerbaijan and Turkey Among Most Egregious Violators of Religious Freedom

The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) issued on April 29, 2019, its Annual Report listing the “world’s most egregious violators of religious freedom,” among which, not surprisingly, are Azerbaijan and Turkey. Both states are categorized as “Countries of Particular Concern.”

USCIRF, as an independent, bi-partisan commission, advises the President, Congress and the Secretary of State on international religious freedom issues. In its Annual Report, USCIRF describes threats to religious freedom around the world and recommends to the State Department countries for designation as “countries of particular concern” for engaging in or tolerating “systematic, ongoing, egregious violations.”

Contrary to Azerbaijan’s leaders’ repeated false claims of “tolerance” in their country and propaganda by various foreign Rabbis and Protestant leaders, the USCIRF Report asserted that the “government continued to control religious activities through the 2009 Law on Freedom of Religion and related amendments of the administrative and criminal codes, which require religious communities to register with the government and criminalize all unregistered religious activity. In a positive development, four non-Muslim religious communities received registration from the government. However, throughout the year, local police forces continued to harass, raid, detain, and fine religious communities that did not comply with registration requirements and various restrictions on the production, possession, and dissemination of religious literature, although one community did report a lessening in police harassment. During the year, Protestants, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and some Muslim groups were targeted, with some members of the Muslim community being forced to endure an additional layer of scrutiny by authorities who suspect and seek to limit Iranian-government influence or subversive activity in the country.”

The Annual Report also stated that “Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) contended that approximately 68 prisoners of conscience — many of whom are members of the Muslim Unity Movement (MUM) — remained imprisoned in Azerbaijan on religious grounds. Throughout 2018, claims of “systemic and endemic” torture persisted, particularly against members of the MUM.”

Azerbaijan’s dictatorial regime controls the activities of religious groups by requiring them to register. USCIRF reported that those “denied registration or refuse to register on theological grounds are considered ‘illegal’ and may face police raids, detainment, arrests, or fines.” Several Christian groups active in Azerbaijan, such as Baptists and Jehovah’s Witnesses “continue to be unable to register.” In some cases, the government delays the process of registration for years due to “technical flaws” in their applications. “For example, Jehovah’s Witnesses have sought registration in the city of Ganja since 2010 and have yet to receive a response on their most recently submitted application from May 2016. Baptists in the village of Aliabad outside of Zaqatala have similarly sought registration since 1994 and been denied. They have reportedly been informed that they cannot even meet to celebrate Christmas together!”

The USCIRF reported: “In 2014, the European Court of Human Rights noted that the law gives officials ‘unlimited discretionary power’ to define and prosecute ‘illegal’ religious activity.”

Furthermore, “in 2018, Azerbaijan underwent its Universal Periodic Review at the United Nations. Several countries expressed concerns about religious freedom conditions in Azerbaijan — such as mandatory registration requirements; restrictions on nontraditional religious communities and the ability, generally, of religious groups to practice in private and in public; and individuals imprisoned and tortured for their beliefs. In addition, civil society organizations submitted similar information and recommendations about religious freedom concerns in Azerbaijan,” according to the USCIRF Report.

Surprisingly, even the possession of the Holy Qur’an could be illegal in Azerbaijan. “In February 2018, MUM [Muslim Unity Movement] leader and Shi’a Muslim theologian Taleh Bagirov (also known by the surname Bagirzade) received an additional five-month sentence for allegedly possessing micro-discs containing the text and audio recordings of the Qur’an,” as USCIRF reported.

Another major religious violation is the closure of places of worship. “In 2018, mosques that the government purportedly had closed for repairs remained shut down years after their closure and with no official timeline for the completion of the renovations or the mosques’ reopening. Critics of the closures believe it is part of a government effort to target Muslims who are considered ‘radical.’ The Ashur Mosque, also known as the Lezgi Mosque, located in the Old City of Baku, was closed in July 2016 despite protests from the local Muslim community, which expressed concern that the repairs were an excuse and part of an attempt by the government to disperse the community. At the end of the reporting period, the mosque remained closed. During the year, numerous other “nontraditional” home mosques throughout Baku and other regions, including one that was apparently connected to the Naqshbandi Sufi community, continued to face raids and closure…. In April 2018, the new building of the Haji Javad Mosque in the Yasamal District of Baku was completed. The original mosque had been destroyed amid protests in July 2017,” the USCIRF reported.

The Report also covered raids on homes and centers where religious services were being held without the group being registered by the government. The Report cites the harassment of the members of the East Pentecostal Church and Jehovah’s Witnesses. In addition, several members of Jehovah’s Witnesses were prosecuted for their objection to serve in the military, despite a provision in the Azerbaijan’s constitution that allows alternate service for conscientious objectors.

Finally, the Aliyev government has confiscated all religious materials that had not received approval prior to being produced or imported into Azerbaijan. “The sale and distribution of religious literature can only be carried out at preapproved stores or sites,” according to the USCIRF.

Next week, we will cover the violations of religious freedoms in Turkey.

May 7, 2019
Harut Sassounian: Trump: A Coward on the Armenian Genocide Like Obama, Bush Jr., Clinton, and Bush Sr.

Pres. Donald Trump issued last week his third April 24 statement “on Armenian Remembrance Day.” And for three years in a row he did not muster the courage to use the correct term — genocide — to describe the annihilation of 1.5 million innocent Armenian men, women, and children by the Ottoman Turkish government!

Pres. Trump basically repeated the same words that he used in the past two years, with very minor changes. Again he used the Armenian term “Meds Yeghern” (Great Crime) to avoid calling the mass killings a genocide! Meds Yeghern is simply a description that Armenians used before the word genocide was coined by Raphael Lemkin in the 1940’s, whereas genocide is a term of international law and has legal consequences. Besides, if Pres. Trump insists on using an Armenian word, he should have said “Tseghasbanoutyoun” (genocide)!

Many Armenians had been hoping ever since his election that Pres. Trump would rely on his unpredictable impulses to describe the Armenian mass killings as genocide, ignoring the counsel of his advisors and the position of his predecessors. Unfortunately, Pres. Trump knows very little about Armenian-Americans and can care less about their interests. The only time Pres. Trump will pay attention to the genocide issue is when Armenian-Americans gain more political clout.

It should not take much courage for Pres. Trump to use the term Armenian Genocide since Pres. Ronald Reagan already used it in his Presidential Proclamation on April 22, 1981. In fact, Armenian-Americans do not need Pres. Trump to say anything on April 24, if he cannot call it genocide. The Armenian Genocide has been already recognized by the United States several times. In addition to Pres. Reagan’s statement, the US House of Representatives adopted two resolutions in 1975 and 1984 acknowledging the Armenian Genocide, and the US government sent an official document to the International Court of Justice (World Court) in 1951 recognizing the Armenian mass killings as a case of genocide.

Nevertheless, Pres. Trump’s inadequate statement has a couple of secondary benefits to the Armenian Cause:

1) It irritates the hell out of Turkish leaders who seem to be ashamed and outraged that the President of the United States is reminding the world of “one of the worst mass atrocities of the 20th century,” and asserting that “beginning in 1915, one and a half million Armenians were deported, massacred, or marched to their deaths in the final years of the Ottoman Empire.” Both Turkish President Erdogan and Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu reacted with indignation and denial to Pres. Trump’s April 24 statement.

2) The statements of Pres. Trump and his predecessors cause each year a major political reaction around the world, generating mass publicity in the international media which is further fueled by the Turkish leaders’ denials.

On April 24, 2019, Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan issued an important statement on the 104th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. Surprisingly, his statement did not mention Turkey or the Ottoman Empire as the perpetrator of the Armenian Genocide! This must have been an unfortunate oversight on the part of the Prime Minister and his aides. I do not think it was done intentionally, particularly since the statement does include a strong reference to Armenians losing their homeland in addition to the human losses. In the past, Armenia’s leaders have refrained from raising the issue of Armenian territorial demands from Turkey.

Meanwhile, Pres. Erdogan issued a particularly disgraceful statement on April 24, speaking at a Symposium in Ankara: “The relocation of the Armenian gangs and their supporters, who massacred the Muslim people, including women and children, in eastern Anatolia, was the most reasonable action that could be taken in such a period.”

Erdogan is shamefully accusing the Armenian victims of committing a mass crime against the victimizing Turks. This is an outrageous lie which is the equivalent of accusing Jews of killing Germans during the Holocaust! Erdogan must be suffering from a serious mental illness!

In a surprising development, Prime Minister Pashinyan responded forcefully to Erdogan’s pathetic lies. Pashinyan described Erdogan’s statement as “hateful” and called on the international community to respond: “On the day when Armenians around the world mourned the innocent victims of the Ottoman Genocide, Turkey, this country’s president Recep Tayyip Erdogan reiterated a statement denying the greatest crime of the 20th century, calling it only, ‘the deportation of Armenians.’ To call the extermination of the entire Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire, as well as the massive forced deportation of Armenians (death caravans) ‘Armenian bandits and their accomplices,’ and the massacre of 1.5 million indigenous people, ‘the most logical behavior’ is not only a new level of denial of the Armenian Genocide, but also an excuse for the destruction of an entire nation. Such a statement on April 24, on the day of the anniversary of the Genocide, is a deep insult to the Armenian people and all of humanity, and an expression of extreme hatred personally by Erdogan. The world should not be silent.”

We are heartened that Prime Minister Pashinyan raised the issue of the Armenian territorial demand from Turkey, a demand that the Armenian government should pursue officially at the International Court of Justice!

April 30, 2019
By Denying the Armenian Genocide, Turkish Leaders Publicize it Even More

More than a century after the mass crime of Genocide against Armenians, Assyrians and Greeks, most Turks still feel self-conscious as April 24 approaches and whenever someone refers to their Crime Against Humanity!

Many Turkish officials and journalists feel compelled to defend their country’s tarnished reputation by trying to cover up the Genocide committed by their ancestors. By doing so, they automatically associate themselves with the guilt of their forefathers and in turn become guilty themselves for denying one of the most heinous crimes in the history of mankind.

Why would Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, on April 15, 2019, falsely claim that Turkey “has not committed any genocide” in its history? How many leaders of other countries have made such a statement? Cavusoglu knows well that the Ottoman Turks did commit Genocide as he is desperately trying to conceal their crimes. Cavusoglu and his fellow denialists do not seem to realize that the more they proclaim their innocence, the more they affiliate themselves with the Genocide and become accessories to that barbaric crime!

Each time Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan or his underlings talk about the Genocide, even in a dismissive manner, they are actually publicizing worldwide the facts of the Genocide and informing everyone that Turks are accused of committing Genocide!

Interestingly, Cavusoglu warned that “the Turkish government will not stay silent against some countries trying to lecture Turkey on history.” This is exactly what Armenians want him to do. The more he talks about the Genocide, the more he exposes the Turkish crime to the world! Cavusoglu and other Turkish denialists find themselves in the ironic situation of “damned if you do, and damned if you don’t.” In other words, if they remain silent against the accusations of Genocide, they would be acknowledging it, and if they deny it, they would be spreading the news about their historic crime. There is no positive outcome for them. They are caught in the horns of a serious dilemma!

In early April, at a NATO meeting in Antalya, Turkey, Cavusoglu criticized French President Emmanuel Macron for declaring April 24 as a National Day in France for the commemoration of the Armenian Genocide. By lashing out at Pres. Macron, the Turkish Foreign Minister made the situation even worse for his own country. In protest, a French Parliamentarian walked out of the NATO meeting, which was covered by the worldwide media, further publicizing the Armenian Genocide.

This incident caused some hateful Turks to threaten the life of the French Parliamentarian, which further disseminated the true facts of the Armenian Genocide.

Another example of Turkish self-consciousness is the article by commentator Ozan Ceyhun in the Daily Sabah newspaper. He correctly wrote that “April 24 is used as a day for ‘getting even,’ by those who do not wish to see Turkey as an EU member due to various reasons, those who do not wish to see it become stronger in the region, or countries like the U.S. that want to see Turkey as a dependent state.” My response is that no one wants to see a brutal and unrepentant country as a member of international military and economic alliances. Turkish leaders are the ones forcing themselves out of such alliances by behaving in an uncivilized and undemocratic manner. They have no one else to blame but themselves!

Ceyhun wonders why no one cares about the opinions of “Armenians living in Turkey.” The answer is very simple. Armenians in Turkey, having survived the Genocide and many other repressions since then, know all too well that if they dared to say anything negative about Turkey’s oppressive regime, they will be locked up, if not killed!

The Turkish commentator then shamelessly mentions Armenian journalist Hrant Dink who was assassinated by a Turk for expressing himself on Turkish-Armenian relations. Ceyhun selectively quotes from Dink as stating that outsiders should not meddle in the “events” that happened in the past and that this issue should be resolved between Armenians and Turks. Dink had made many statements which were often contradictory depending on whether he made them while he was inside or outside Turkey.

It suits Turkish denialists to quote statements that third parties should not meddle in the Armenian-Turkish issue. If it were not for the Armenian Diaspora lobbying the international community for decades, the Armenian Genocide would have been forgotten long ago. Furthermore, Ceyhun prefers that outsiders listen to the views of Turkish Armenians who are suppressed and are unable to express their honest opinions on the Armenian Genocide. As immediate descendants of the Genocide, they know exactly what happened to their ancestors, but they cannot talk about it openly, fearing for their lives.

Just as irritating are the Azerbaijani denials of the Armenian Genocide. Fortunately, it is easier to deal with the Azeris as they are not as powerful as Turkey and Armenians have already shown their power by recovering their historic territory of Artsakh from Azerbaijan. If Azeris do not behave and continue to insult Armenians by their denials of the Armenian Genocide, Armenia’s leaders may halt the negotiations with Azerbaijan and incorporate Artsakh in the Republic of Armenia!

April 23, 2019