Category: Armenian Question

“The great Turk is governing in peace twenty nations from different religions. Turks have taught to Christians how to be moderate in peace and gentle in victory.”Voltaire’s Philosophical Dictionary

Reconciliation and Recriminations

by Barbara Frye
28 April 2009

As their government makes overtures to an old foe, many Armenians still wait for an apology.

YEREVAN | Standing in a threadbare tweed blazer on a sunny day in late April, Zohrab Shahbazyan brushed a tear from his cheek as he watched goose-stepping soldiers carry a large wreath across a plaza. Their destination was Yerevan’s hilltop memorial to 1.5 million Armenians killed or driven from their homes in Turkey nearly 100 years ago.

Shahbazyan, 75, had come here on 24 April, the day in 1915 that the Ottoman government arrested more than 200 Armenian intellectuals. Most were killed in the beginning of a campaign to drive Armenians out of eastern Turkey during World War I. Many who survived the massacres were marched into the deserts of Mesopotamia and Syria without food or water.

Like most Armenians in the homeland and throughout the country’s vast diaspora, Shahbazyan said he lost ancestors – 31 of 48 – in what his government and nearly two dozen others have termed a genocide. And like much of Yerevan, he had walked slowly up the hill today holding a single flower, which he would place on a ring around a flame at the center of the memorial.

President Serzh Sargsyan (left) and other dignitaries attend a commemoration ceremony on 24 April in Yerevan. Photo by Barbara Frye.

“Genocide is not just killing people. They exterminated the whole nation,” he said. “One and a half million Armenians were not buried on their land.”

In its rituals – prayers by golden-robed leaders of the Armenian Apostolic Church, a visit from the president, an endless procession of flower-bearing pilgrims – the day was like nearly every 24 April since the memorial opened in 1967.

But it was also different. This year it took place days after the governments of Turkey and Armenia had announced plans to open the border between the two countries, which has been closed since 1993. It was the latest in a series of remarkable events over the past two years that have included an invitation from Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan to Turkish President Abdullah Gul to attend a soccer match between the two countries in Yerevan and a public apology from a group of Turkish intellectuals to the people of Armenia.

But Shahbazyan was ready to forgive only on condition that Turkey give up the territory that many Armenians (and Armenia’s now-superseded 1990 declaration of independence) refer to as “western Armenia.”

Michael Gulyar had also come to pay his respects. At 19, he is more than 50 years Shahbazyan’s junior. His grandfather escaped the pogroms in Turkey, and of his family, he said, “They don’t want to find terms with the Turks.”

But he has a different view. “Turkey has changed,” he said. “Many Turkish have a European mentality.”

And while he condemns the killings and expulsions, he said he understands how complicated the idea of apologizing can be for Turkey. “Now it is difficult because when Turkey recognizes the genocide, they must give back land.” The question of reparations lingers, despite many officials’ efforts to discourage such expectations. The Armenian Revolutionary Federation, a political party that just left the governing coalition over the deal with Turkey, still calls for land and property in Turkey to be returned to the descendants of its Armenian owners.

Outside Armenia, many analysts and diplomats have welcomed the Turkish-Armenian thaw, but inside the country, it’s clear that some are more ready than others.

“We’re coming to the stage when we must speak more openly to the public about their neighbors,” Edward Nalbandian, the Armenian foreign minister, said. “If you live somewhere and all your neighbors will not be [your] friends, how could you live?”

Armenia is largely isolated in its southern Caucasus neighborhood. In addition to the closed border with Turkey, movement and trade between it and its eastern neighbor, Azerbaijan, are frozen due to the conflict between the two countries over Nagorno-Karabakh, an enclave within Azerbaijan that is occupied by ethnic Armenians. The two sides fought a war over the land in the early 1990s and a sporadically broken cease fire is in place.

Turkey closed its border with Armenia in 1993, in solidarity with its ally Azerbaijan after an advance by Armenian troops into Azerbaijani territory.

For years, Armenian officials have insisted that the border closures have not hampered progress, and there is some evidence for that. For more than a decade before the financial crisis hit last year, the country’s economy grew annually by double digits and its poverty rate dropped. But, although Nalbandian said the diplomatic overtures began in May 2008, the August war between Georgia and Russia crimped Armenia’s trade flows and lent some urgency to a rapprochement with its western neighbor.

Public opinion on the issue is difficult to gauge comprehensively. Some Armenian analysts caution against relying on opinion polls, but they note that Rule of Law, the political party most strongly against reconciliation, took just 7 percent of the votes in the most recent parliamentary elections.

But those numbers don’t tell the whole story. The Armenian Revolutionary Federation took 13 percent of the vote. “Fifteen years of blockade have not produced the intended result,” said Kiro Manoyan, an ARF official, saying that there have been neither deaths from starvation nor economic disaster and that Armenia does not urgently need trade with Turkey. “It hasn’t been the end of us. We have managed to survive.”

Manoyan said his party favors an open border, but without preconditions. Turkey has long demanded the withdrawal of Armenian forces from Azerbaijani territories ringing Nagorno-Karabakh, which Armenia deems a security zone for the enclave. Because Turkey has sent recent signals that it would not lift this condition, and because the governments have not released details of their agreement, Manoyan said he can only assume that the Armenian government is acceding to Istanbul’s demands.

Like Manoyan, Stepan Safaryan, a member of parliament from the opposition Heritage Party, said, “The point is not whether we open the border. The point is how and at what price.”WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS

With deep-seated enmities, the passage of time and the emergence of a new generation typically helps to heal wounds. But in Yerevan, not all the signs point in one direction.

Adjacent to the genocide memorial sits a museum, opened in 1995. On commemoration day, parents led their children, some as young as 3 or 4, past old photos, enlarged to about 6 square meters, of Turkish soldiers posing proudly behind the decapitated heads of Armenian religious leaders, of an Armenian woman and her two young children who had starved to death and whose emaciated bodies had been left to bake in the desert sun, of white-coated Armenian doctors hanging from a gallows.

Suren Manukyan, the museum’s deputy director, said, “We understand that it is very difficult for Turks to accept that their grandfathers were murderers. This museum is part of Turkish history, too. The recognition of the Armenian genocide is not just a problem for Armenian society. It’s a problem for Turkish society, too.”

Manukyan said he sees a change in Turkey. “The first step is a discussion. I think in Turkey now we have this discussion.”

The 2007 murder of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink in Istanbul by a Turkish nationalist provoked an outcry in Turkey, with tens of thousands of Turks attending his funeral. In December a group of Turkish intellectuals posted an online apology for the events of 1915-1917 in the form of a petition. It has been signed by nearly 30,000 people around the world.

“Who could envision, just one year ago, two years ago, that 30,000 Turks could sign a petition to ask for [forgiveness] from the Armenian people?” Foreign Minister Nalbandian said.

Whether they will get it is an open question. Takoulte Moutoufian, 42, was among those parents bringing their children to the museum that day. Asked what she and her husband were teaching their two sons, ages 14 and 9, about Turks, she said, “That they are our enemy.”

Barbara Frye is an editor with TOL.

May 1, 2009
ARMENIAN GENOCIDE? COMMEMORATED IN TURKEY
From: Mihran Kalaydjian <[email protected]>
———————————-

ARMENIAN GENOCIDE COMMEMORATED IN TURKEY

By Ayse Gunaysu • on April 27, 2009 •

ISTANBUL, Turkey (A.W.)-On April 24, the Istanbul branch of the Human Rights Organization of Turkey organized an event commemorating the Armenian Genocide in Istanbul. The commemoration was held in what was formerly the “tobacco warehouse,” now renovated and being used for exhibitions, events, and meetings.

The event opened with Armenian and Assyrian songs performed by the group “Kardes Turkuler” (Songs of Brotherhood).

Keskin and Zarakolu address the audience. A photograph of Taniel Varoujan is seen in the background.

Lawyer Eren Keskin greeted the audience, numbering around 150, and said: “Today is the 24th of April, the 94th anniversary of the arrests in Istanbul which started the Armenian Genocide in 1915.” She added, “The official history [in Turkey] denies the genocide, but we know what happened and we believe it’s important to tell people the truth. So, today we will commemorate the most brilliant intellectuals of the Ottoman Armenians: the poets, writers, physicians, lawyers, and members of parliament, who were taken away on the 24th of April, 1915 and murdered.”

The Bosphorus Performance Arts Group presented the life stories and poems of three great Armenian poets who perished during the genocide-Roupen Sevag, Siamanto, and Taniel Varoujan-as well as the life and work of writer, lawyer, and parliamentary member Krikor Zohrab, who was also killed during the genocide. The presentation was accompanied by photographs projected onto a screen and Armenian folk music played in the background.

Publisher Ragip Zarakolu talked about Teotig, the Armenian writer who was arrested together with the others but escaped miraculously, and his famous book Hushartzan Abril Dasnimegi, which will be published in Turkish soon by the Belge publishing house. An exhibition of pages from this book was held in conjunction with the event, with lit candles under each page. A brief Turkish translation of each page was also provided.

In turn, Eren Keskin talked about Gomidas, while songs performed by Gomidas himself (recorded in 1912 in Paris) were played in the background and his photographs projected on the screen. At the end, Eren Keskin said, “Let’s leave the last word to Gomidas Vartabed.” And Gomidas’ song “Karun a” was heard while images of the deportation of Armenians were projected on the screen.

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Comments

By Tanguy on April 27th, 2009 at 8:29 am

Congratulations to people having the courage to face truth despite the position of their state. Question to all readers : how do you know if what you are educated to is true or false ? US were taught about terrible communists while USSR was educated to hate capitalists … how could an american or russian know if this education was based on true facts ? How could it all now vanish (nobody in the States or USSR would bring such positions now …) … To all Turkish people against the idea that their ancestors may have done this, knowing from their education they are right, how can you take position without really going to see genocide museums and all the facts that made it so that so many neutral countries recognized this, knowing the ones that did not recognize did not because Turkey is a priviledged partner … Please – before reacting negatively to this – try to accept that what you know in Turkey about this genocide is only from your education, and that all could have been done to make you think the way the state wants … like USSR and US at the time …
Give back Armenians their dignity by recognizing the past … no solution can be found if problem is not identified .., don’t let them stare at Ararat, historical site of Armenia, and Ani, their former capital, behind your border … give them back this little territory, like Germans once did …

By Beemer on April 27th, 2009 at 12:55 pm

I am very touched by these commemoration in Turkey. A lot of Armenians died, but the truth will never die.

By Liz on April 27th, 2009 at 3:26 pm

I am an Armenian,born in Yerevan raised in the US. I must say that I have complete respect for every Turkish person that does their own research on the Armenian Genocide, and forms his own judgment on what really happened and not what their government told them what happened.And I must say, alot of Turks know the truth,but their pride will not allow them to accept the truth. Pride and dignity is accepting the truth and making mends, not denying it and giving the world the image that Turks are liers. I really wouldn’t feel proud being called a lier. The facts are out there do your own research, learn the truth. I did my own research even after my grandma told me that her dad died in the hands of Turks. I wanted to research both sides before I formed a judgment. And now I am convinced by my own research that there was an Armenian Genocide. Its really ok to say sorry, but to deny the truth is like condoning what your ancestors did.

By Aslan Bey on April 27th, 2009 at 8:14 pm

Ayse Gunaysu is an pro Armenian and sympathiser in the cause. Anything she writes should not be treated as trustworthy. The article is highly unlikely to be true…
I have a friend who grew up in Istanbul living in Yesilkoy, which is predominantly Armenian. He is a Turk. He went to school with Armenian kids, attended university with them, and some of these Armenian students went on to perform their military service. One is a dentist and even displays the Turkish flag and a foto of himself in his reception are of his dentist. They still catch up. One of his friends now resides in the US, and every couple of years, returns to Istanbul to visit. They meet and my friend collects the rent (in cash) from his tennant and gives it to him each visit (in cash)…
This is the trust they have in one another…
I am one person who spent the a considerable time in Turkey, and studied high school and Lise in Izmir, Turkey. I had friends of all sorts. Kurdish, Jewish etc. I travelled alot in Turkey over the years and prettymuch went everywhere.
Turks do not preach hatred of Armenians, (Can you say the same for yourselves?)I myself did not find out about the so called “Genocide” until 2002 when I came across some silly website. To be honest, I beleived it at first, then knowing my own countrymen, our history etc I started to do some research. Without being biassed I have learned what I have learned and am quite comfortable about it. It was a tragedy, yes, it was a dark terrible time in Anatolia… Armenians wanted their own lands and were tricked by Russians.. I can understand this and why you did what you did…
Why wont you open your archives for the historians to research? The Turkish government for decades have been inviting historians and scholars to investigate the archives of all those countries involved, Russia, Armenia, France, US and England. Recep Tayip Erdogan just in his comments on the Obama speach yesterday said “I have written a letter to the prime minister of Armenia in 2005 asking him to open his archives so a joint investigation can occur. The results should to to the international courts…. And Turkey is willing to accept its history, just show us unconditional, categorical, decisive truth in recorded (undocted) documents. Remember you are talking about rewriting history and the history of peoples who have been around as long as history itself.
By the way, Prime Minister Erdogan is yet to receive a reply. What is it Armenia is hiding???
Read the below// (Because you all speak and write Turkish fluently)
You can review this link :

“MEKTUBUMA CEVAP ALAMADIM”

– Ancak gösterdiğimiz bu hassasiyetin iyi algılanmadığını da zaman zaman görüyoruz. 1915 olaylarıyla ilgli önceki gün yapılan açıklamaları gerçeği yansıtmayan bir tarih yorumu olarak görüyorum. Açıklama metninin olayların bir bölümünün kaleme alındığını görüyorum. Tarihe ve tarih bilimcilerine bırakılması gereken böyle bir uzmanlık konusunun sürekli olarak kullanılması, her yıl lobilerin istismar meselesi haline getirilmesi, ülkeler arasındaki ilişkilerin normalleşmesini engelliyor.

– Türkiye olarak tarihçiler tarafından incelenmesi için her zaman samimi bir gayret içerisinde olduk. 2005′te bizzat yazdığım mektupla bu mektubun da cevabını almış değilim. İyi niyetli önerilerimiz karşılık bulmadık.

By Bernard Nazarian on April 27th, 2009 at 10:28 pm

Thank you my dear Ragip. I have received your e-mails about this historic event organised by you and the Istanbul Shubasi of Insan Haklari. As before, once again I salute your (and Istanbul Human Rights Branch members’ and activists’ – Ayse Gunaysu and Ereen Keskin amongst others) courage, deepest decency, integrity, humanity and principled friendship.
I was moved to read your email announcements about this event but really touched and moved to tears reading this account (above) and imagining the poetry of Siamanto, Varoujan… and the music of Vartapet Komitas being performed in Turkish on such a day in such a venue (where it all started!) by such people… .
It makes me sick that our authorities in Yerevan are presenting their negotiations with the Nazis in Ankara in the context of De Gaul-Adenauer negotiations in post-war Europe, therefore dignifying the deeply undemocratic and aggressive regime in Ankara with respect which it clearly does not possess or deserve and perpetrating the fallacy/deceptive self fantasy (deliberately cultivated once again by Europe and the US) that the two parties (aggressive Genocide perpetrator/denier Turkey and weak little Genocide victim Armenia) are equals!!!
Long Live the Struggle for true democracy in Turkey
Down with the militarist/aggressive Nazi regime in Ankara
Best,
Bernard

By OCDevin on April 28th, 2009 at 4:52 pm

If you are truly interested in finding out exactly what happened you need to do a little unbiased research about it yourself. Armenia as a nation is a troubled one. They have been used and manipulated throughout the history by western nations and Russia. Most Armenians have a little in common and this makes it very difficult to unite and accomplish peace within their borders. They do NOT agree on any of the important issues that can better their future, but the only issue that unites the majority is their hatred towards TURKS and the Armenian leaders and the politicians know that and they use that extensively to their own personal benefits. Growing up in Turkey the most will tell you that they have no issues or hatred towards Armenia or Armenians, most are not even aware of the way Armenians feel about them. This will eventually change and more and more people will eventually find out about it if Armenians continue with their attitude towards Turkey and Turkish people. By doing that you are NOT accomplishing anything, but hurting yourselves and your country. Why involve International Community, spend all that money all over the world instead of feeding your people. How do you thing you are going to benefit, if this so called genocide gets recognized internationally. Everybody in the area put their past behind and investing in their futures including Azerbaijan, but because of this hatred Armenia is being left behind in a land lock position, being manipulated and used by Russia again. Armenians WAKE UP! Russia is not your friend or solution to your problems. Stop being used and manipulated by Russia for their National interest.
Because of Armenian attitude towards Turks, find out what they have done to people Azerbaijan recently, many mass graves of men, women and kids to prove that. Now explain, why would a nation who believes that they have been subject to a genocide would subject the others to a genocide like this. The fact remains that Armenia have betrayed, back stabbed and deceived Turks after 600 years of great relationship by joining Russian Forces and attacking Turks. They have burned the villages down and killed the Turks and the Muslims in the area without discriminating men, women and kids which nobody talks about. This 600 years with Turks were Armenia’s golden years in history if you take your time and study their history you will see that. Do you really think that after all these years Turks woke up one morning and said lets kill all the Armenians today, does this really make sense???

Here is the truth on so called Armenian Genocide!!!

http://www.ermenisorunu.gen.tr/english/intro/index.html

By arpi haroutunian on April 29th, 2009 at 10:22 am

Don’t you have anything better to do than spread your manure at an Armenian site?

By arpi haroutunian on April 29th, 2009 at 10:23 am

By the way, my comment was intended for OCDevin.

By Bernard Nazarian on April 29th, 2009 at 11:26 am

Can our Turkish fiends Aslan Bey and OCDevin please take their heads out of the deep sand that they are buried in and answer this one question: If all the propaganda that you are repeating parrot style is true then WHERE ARE THE 2.5 MILLION ARMENIANS WHO HAD LIVED ON THEIR “ARMANI AYALATI” FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS NOW? And even if you actually believe your government propaganda and, as you say, the Armenians did revolt and side with the Russians, etc. etc. why were the entire population (2.5 million or as your government propaganda says 600,000!) deported/destroyed/killed?
as for Erdoghan’s letter to Armenia’s President in 2005 it was answered same week. the Armenian government has used many international diplomatic opportunities to repeat that answer publicly but since the Turkish government does not like the answer it was given it lies about not having received a relpy; see here
and here
– 37k
and here
– 37k

By OCDevin on April 29th, 2009 at 2:22 pm

Mr. haroutunian, I understand you don’t like to hear opinion of others, I feel for you and your loss, least you could do is show me the same sympathy. A human life and a mind is a terrible think to waste, regardless of race, religion, Turk or Armenian. It must not happen, in any place or time, but why is it difficult for you to accept both Turks and Armenians slained at the collapse of the Empire.
Mr. Nazarian, I am sure you do truly believe the information about 2.5 Million Armenians being in the area, but I assure you it is an impossibility for that area to have a population of that size at the time. If there were 2.5 million Armenians in the area constituting lets say 20% of the population you are saying the area had 10 million people. Does it make sense for such a remote area having that kind of population.
The borders are opening, and the both sides have agreed to study the events and the truth is about the come out, we all have waited long time and I have no problem waiting a little longer. You will see, both the Armenians and the Turks will overcome this challenge regardless of the results within our time and we will have to learn how to live together, our ancestors managed it for over a thousand year why can’t we. Many Turks died at the same time, the Ottoman Empire collapsed into pretty much nothing, those responsible were charged and arrested, I don’t understand what else Armenians could ask for. Again like your family you don’t get to choose your neighbors. Most Turks have forgiving you for the betrayal during that time, also forgiven you for the killings of Turkish officials, their wives and children in 38 cities and 21 Countries why can’t you.

By Ankene Boyrazian on April 29th, 2009 at 7:21 pm

To OC Devin and all Turks – you believe what you believe to be true about the Armenina Genocide because your government has educated you so. They have re-written historical facts, re-written history books, destroyed whatever archives they could get their hands on in order to cover this sad and dark history of the Ottoman Turks. They made sure there was not one single piece of evidence in the entire country to show otherwise. Sit back and think – everything you know about the Armenian Genocide is what you have read and studied in your country, what your government told you to be “true” is this not so? Even your parents were so taught. How would you know anything otherwise if you do not do the research yourself! Armenians did not sit down one day and make all of this up. How absurd. This is a government conspiracy against all of it’s Turkish citizens. These killings and murders perpetrated by the Ottoman Turks and their Kurdish “friends” at the time, against the entire Armenian population of Historical Eastern Anatolia in every Vilayet were documented by non-Armenian missionaries and ambassadors living and witnessing the fisrt Genocide of the Twentieth Century – right then and there.

It’s done! Now, not you, but your government needs to fess up.

I am curious, do any of your history books document the order from Constantinople from Talaat Pasha directing all Vilayets in how they were to execute this order and how they were to “exterminate” the Armeninas? This original document exists.

By Bernard Nazarian on April 29th, 2009 at 8:53 pm

Having read Mr/Mrs OCDevin’s last extremely patronising and ostrich style posting where he completely fails to answer my simple questions and instead goes on aggressive and automatic Turkish official history or parrot/ostrich mode, with his head buried deep in the sand, (i.e the Armenians were “good people” for 500 years of Ottoman Empire but when they suddenly decided to be “bad people…traitors…gaurs..” and sided with the Russians… etc. etc., instead of continuing to be like obedient sheep, we Turks had to ‘deport’ them to the desert, etc. etc. the usual kindergartenor official ‘history’ that most Turks are taught in their Kemalist schools which no one else in the world agrees or accepts) I have to agree with Mr Harutunian’s posting and say that it is pointless to try and reason with these guys in the same way that it would have been pointless to have tried to educate and enlighten any Germans away from racist nationalst thinking and resoning without the complete destruction of the Nazi state by the Allies and complete de-Nazification of German state, education and society at large. This task is simply too great to be accomplished through this sort of web-reasoning by individuals. Mr OCDevin and millions of others who ‘think’ and ‘reason’ like him are proof that Turkish society as a whole is sick to the point that it is incapable of reforming itself with civilised, democratic-liberal values. These values must be imposed on it from outside, just like it was in the case of Germany and Japan – note what happens to people like Hrant Dink and Orhan Pamuk and thousands of other enlightened people who do not accept the official version of history in Turkey: they get persecuted and prosecuted under article 301 and if that doesn’t work they get murdered or forced into exile abroad. And yet a society that is not allowed to freely debate its history and has laws to punish any of its own citizens – including through torture, murder and exile, etc. – who are intelligent enough not to believe the official-kindergarten version of Turkish history but want to find out the truth for themselves through independent research and study, has the cheeck to lecture others and invite Armenia to research into the Genocide!
In this sense it is highly unfair that the Armenians and the Armenian Republic (and to some extent the Assyrians, Greeks/Cypriots) should be shouldering this fight almost single-handedly – a task which is simply above their capacity or capability as they have already been at the receiving end of Ottoman-Turkish subjugation and oppression, and brutal Turkish racist nationalism for so often so long. Europe and the US who have created this nightmarish monster, both through deliberate policy due to self interest as well as sometimes neglect and naivity, have a duty to sort the problem out before it commits firther upheavals/crimes/genocide against Kurds, Armenians, Greeks, etc. Just as importantly, Turkey must be democratised/liberalised/civilised before it can be Europeanised (can be let into Europe/civilised international community) otherwise there is every danger that Europe will be barbarised/Turkified as the latest examples in Davos and the Danish Mohammed cartoons/Rasmussen-Nato shambles clearly demonstrate.
May 1, 2009

US Congresswoman: “1915 events are not genocide”

Washington – APA. Member of US House of Representative from Ohio Jean Schmidt will make an official complaint against the Armenian, who libeled her for non-recognition of false “Armenian genocide”. Schmidt decided to complain to the Ohio election committee against her former rival in November 4 2008 elections David Grigorian, APA reports quoting Milliyet newspaper. Grigorian accused Schmidt in receiving of blood money from Turks to deny the “genocide”. Schmidt said it was not correct to call the 1915 events as genocide. “I never voted for the “Armenian genocide” resolutions at the Congress. I always consider that it is not a problem of the Congress. I support the idea of establishing the independent international commission of the experts to resolve this issue once for all”.

Schmidt reminded that US influential scientists also confirmed that it wouldn’t be correct to use “genocide” word for the tragic events of 1915. Famous historian Bernard Lewis and Norman Itzkowitz of Princeton University, Stanford Shaw of the University of California, Justin McCarthy from Louisville University, Guenter Lewy and Brian Williams from the University of Massachusetts, David Fromkin, Boston University, Avigdor Levy, Brandeis University, Michael Gunter of Tennessee Tech University, Pierre Oberling, Hunter College, Roderick Davidson, George Washington University, Michael Radu, Foreign Policy Research Institute and military historian Edward J. Erickson are among them.

Schmidt said supporters of her election campaign had no relations with the government of Turkey and she had the documents confirming that. She said Grigorian violated election laws deliberately and she demanded the election committee to take penal sanctions against him.

000000000000000CEMAATDEN ZIYARET 0000000000000000

VISIT TO CONGRESSWOMAN JEAN SCHMIDT / April 1st, 2009

On April 1st, 2009 the Rumi Forum visited Congresswoman Jean Schmidt (OH) .

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April 30, 2009

Armenia’s Roadmap to Disaster

By David Boyajian

Just days before April 24, the annual commemoration of the
Armenian genocide, Armenia and Turkey agreed on a so-called “roadmap” that from all indications is a betrayal of the Armenian people, both in the homeland and around the world. The roadmap – approved by Armenia’s president – calls for the establishment of diplomatic relations and the opening of the border between the two countries, which Turkey closed 16 years ago. But the roadmap reportedly goes much further.

A joint Turkish-Armenian historical commission would decide whether there really was, as Turkey maintains, no Armenian genocide. And Armenia would formally accept Turkey’s continued occupation of Western Armenia.

The Burden of Illegitimacy An Armenian president that has not, however, been fairly and democratically elected lacks the requisite legitimacy to negotiate roadmaps, treaties, or anything else with Turkey. Such a leader is often compelled to do what certain major Western and regional countries ask of him lest they continue to point to his illegitimacy and abuse of his citizens’ civil rights. Those countries can also threaten to stop providing Armenia economic support, much of which people close to the Armenian administration have siphoned off and become dependent upon. Neither can an illegitimate Armenian leader tell such countries that the Armenian people will not permit him to make major concessions to Turkey. After all, those countries know very well that a leader whose authority is derived through the misuse of power, rather than through the ballot box, can make concessions without the consent of the Armenian people.

The Historical Commission Farce Armenia’s president has given in – though we don’t know the precise details – to Turkey’s demand for a historical commission on 1915, as if even he questions the veracity of the genocide. As a result, the world now erroneously believes that the Armenian people are putting the genocide up for debate. No serious person would ever have fallen for the idea of establishing a joint historical commission - first proposed four years ago by Turkey. (See the author’s “The Genocide Study Trap” on Armeniapedia.org.) This year, however, Armenia’s president did. Are he and his advisors unaware, for example, that the International Association of Genocide Scholars (Genocidewatch.org) sent a letter to the Turkish prime minister explaining that “the scholarly and intellectual record” and “hundreds of independent scholars” had long ago proven the factuality of the genocide? U-Turn on “No Preconditions” Armenia has long stated that it would agree to a normalization of relations with Turkey only if there were no “preconditions.” Yet the president has now made a U-turn by agreeing to Turkey’s precondition of a historical commission. The historical commission gave the new U.S. president yet another excuse to not use the word “genocide” in his April 24 statement. Even worse, Armenia’s president recklessly undermined the decades long, and largely successful, efforts of Armenian Americans and the Diaspora for genocide acknowledgment.

It appears that the Armenian president may also agree to another Turkish precondition: formal recognition of Turkey’s borders, thereby possibly throwing away Armenian legal and historical rights and the chances of, for example, regaining much needed direct access to the Black Sea in the future.

One wonders whether Armenia will also be selling off Artsakh (Karabagh) at bargain basement prices. The Armenian president has also allowed the American president, his Secretary of State, and the international media to depict a mere border opening as “reconciliation,” as if somehow Turkey and Armenia had been “reconciled” before Turkey closed the border in 1993, and as if reopening the border would return the countries to that wonderful state of “reconciliation.” The Armenian government has done nothing to correct this absurd misperception. Taking Responsibility Armenian political parties that have long had the Diaspora’s support must also take responsibility for the Armenian president’s errors. The parties were warned many years ago that Armenia, buffeted by powerful outside forces, was headed down the road of losing its legal and historical rights. They were also repeatedly warned, even before Armenian independence, that allowing the Armenian national cause to be erroneously perceived as simply a matter of achieving genocide acknowledgment, rather than as also gaining reparations and territory, was inviting disaster. Now we see that disaster coming true via the “roadmap.” The discord that the president has sown, and the injustices that the roadmap would perpetuate, must not be allowed to continue. A strong and united response by the people of Armenia and the Diaspora is needed now to steer Armenia and its president away from the final destination of the roadmap: capitulation and yet another Armenian genocide.

### The author is an Armenian American freelance writer. Several of his articles are archived at Armeniapedia.org.

April 30, 2009
Turkey and Its Neo-Con U.S. Accomplices Conspire To Force Armenia Into Capitulation

By Appo Jabarian
Executive Publisher / Managing Editor USA Armenian Life Magazine

Friday, May 1, 2009
The April 24 presidential statement by Pres. Obama caused a major controversy in the American media. Even though he used the words “Meds Yeghern” twice in his presidential statement, a very large segment of the Armenian American community felt betrayed for his failure to fulfill his campaign promise of using the proper word, genocide. According to a scorecard of more than 500 campaign pledges collated on the Pulitzer Prize-winning website, PolitiFact.com, Obama has kept 27 promises and broken six. Topping the list of presidential campaign promises that are broken by Pres. Obama is “US recognition of the Ottoman Empire’s genocide during World War I against Armenians.” Obama avoided the word during his stay in Turkey and in a message on Armenian Remembrance Day. Obama was criticized for following the Anti-Defamation League line on the Armenian Genocide. Ciaran Dubhuidhe of cleveland.indymedia.org wrote on Apr. 24, 2009: “One day after vowing to battle Holocaust Denial, Pres. Obama publicly denied the Armenian Holocaust . In an exhibit of hypocrisy matched only by the ‘Anti-Defamation’ League’s Abraham Foxman’s denial of the Armenian Holocaust, Pres. Obama has dishonored anniversary of the start of the genocide by releasing a statement describing the Armenian Holocaust as an ‘atrocity.’” Harry Koundakjian reported on April 25: “Ambassador John Marshall Evans spoke at our commemoration last night. … Having read the actual text of Pres. Obama’s statement, Evans indicated that although it was a compromise statement, it was still more hopeful than previous U.S. presidents have made. To him it was clear that this statement was made by a committee, and not the heartfelt words of Obama. Using a term that only Armenians know (“Medz Yeghern”), and twice at that, seemed a bit out of place, even condescending, when the purpose of the proclamation is to let those who don’t know about the history become informed. He feels that Rahm Emanuel — AIPAC’s (America Israel Political Action Committee’s) ‘Man in the White House’ — probably had a strong hand in altering the language of the statement to eliminate the word genocide.” Several members of the community questioned as to why Mr. Obama did not properly use the word genocide. It was the so-called Armenian-Turkish “rapproachement.” The Wall Street Journal featured an article on April 25 titled “In Armenian Enclave, Turkish Deal Arouses Suspicion — Ethnic Leaders in Glendale, Calif., See Detente Announcement as a Ploy on Day Commemorating” the 1915 genocide.” The Wall Street’s NICHOLAS CASEY reported: “Andrew Kzirian, executive director of the Armenian National Committee’s Western region sees the latest development not so much as a detente between the countries, but as another public-relations effort by the Turks to deflect attention” from the genocide. Casey continued: “At the Armenian cafe Urartu off Broadway, Appo Jabarian, managing editor of USA Armenian Life, scans his email inbox for news of what he dubs the recent ‘secret agreement.’ … For Mr. Jabarian ‘Turkey is always trying to shortchange the Armenians.’” In a strong rebuke of the the so-called “Roadmap,” Aram I the Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia stated on Saturday, April 25: “Roadmaps and reopening of borders cannot and will not compromise the Armenian people’s demand for the recognition of the 1915 Armenian Genocide, and the claim for restorative justice.” His Holiness continued: “Turkey wanted to eliminate us as a country and people. We are grateful to all those countries that recognized the Armenian Genocide of 1915. However, we want to tell them that recognition is not enough, we want justice. We are not asking for mercy from the world; we are demanding justice. This is our right. The Armenian nation is a victim of injustice; its human rights are violated. We cannot remain silent in view of this prevailing injustice. Our collective memory will not heal unless justice is victorious. Neither roadmaps, nor reciprocal visits will restore justice.” In an open letter, Harut Sassounian, Publisher of The California Courier, criticized Pres. Obama: “You must have also known that Turkey would not open its border with Armenia in the foreseeable future, unless the Karabagh conflict was resolved to Azerbaijan’s satisfaction. Using various carrots and sticks, with the connivance of Russia, which pursues its own economic and political interests in Turkey and Azerbaijan, U.S. officials succeeded in pressuring Armenia into agreeing to issue a joint declaration with Turkey and Switzerland as mediator on the eve of April 24. This declaration was a convenient cover for you to duck the genocide issue in order to appease Turkey.” Mr. Sassounian stated: “Mr. President, by compelling Armenia to sign such a declaration, you have managed to pit the Armenian Diaspora, as well as the people in Armenia against the government in Yerevan. As a direct result of that action, the ARF, one of Armenia’s influential political parties, quit the ruling coalition this week. The ARF did not wish to associate itself with a government, still reeling from last year’s contentious presidential elections, which is negotiating an agreement with Turkey that could compromise the country’s national interests and historic rights. The ARF also vehemently opposes Armenia’s announced intention to participate in a bilateral historical commission that Turkey would use to question the facts of the Armenian Genocide.” Sassounian foresaw: “Mr. President, in the coming days, as your administration invites Armenia’s leaders to Washington in order to squeeze more concessions from them, please realize that they can only be pressured so much before they lose their authority. As was the case with Armenia’s first president, crossing the red lines on the Genocide and Karabagh issues could well jeopardize the tenuous hold on power of the remaining ruling coalition, regardless of how many promises are made and carrots extended to them by Washington.” Turkey’s continuous threats to Armenia’s existence as a viable state and its persistent ploys to strip Armenia of its historic rights for territorial claims from Turkey; to put the veracity of the Armenian genocide to debate through the so-called joint historic commission; to stop pursuing the international recognition of the Armenian Genocide; to return the liberated Armenian territories of Artsakh make the Armenian people in Armenia and the Diaspora further distrust Turkey. By helping Turkey carry out its conniving machinations against Armenia, the United States and Russia have re-fueled the Armenian political will to resort to: 1) An international campaign to divest from Turkey; and 2) Counterbalancing and even neutralizing the U.S.-based Neo-cons’ efforts to shove Turkey’s EU membership at all cost down the throat of Europeans.

April 30, 2009
Hopes Dashed as Obama Avoids Calling Mass Killings of Armenians ‘Genocide’

By Rebecca Spence

Published April 29, 2009, issue of May 08, 2009.

Los Angeles – This year, on Armenian Remembrance Day – when the mass killing of more than 1 million Armenians by the Ottoman Empire is commemorated – Armenian-American activists had high hopes that a president who ran on a message of change would indeed change the pattern of previous administrations. That is, they hoped President Obama would use the term “genocide” to describe the human tragedy that occurred nearly a century ago.

But on April 24, their hopes were dashed. When Obama – who, during the campaign season and as a senator in the United States, pledged to describe the events of 1915 as a “genocide” – released his statement in acknowledgement of the tragedy, the term was nowhere to be found.

Equally ambivalent are many Jewish organizations. While some groups see this as a human rights issue related to the Holocaust, others have stayed silent or even actively opposed the “genocide” designation.

At issue is how to describe the killing of roughly 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman Turks during World War I. Turkey staunchly denies that the massacres and deportations that began in 1915 constitute a “genocide,” while Armenians have long lobbied to gain international recognition of the events as exactly that. The debate has presented a challenge for successive American governments, given Turkey’s position as a key ally to the United States in the Middle East, and past American presidents have been reluctant to anger the predominantly Muslim nation.

Southern California is home to some 500,000 ethnic Armenians and constitutes the largest Armenian population outside of Armenia. On April 24, about 10,000 Armenian-Americans protested outside the Turkish Consulate in Los Angeles, following an annual commemorative march through the “Little Armenia” section of Hollywood.

During the presidential campaign, Obama made it clear that he would take up the thorny issue. His Web site stated, “As a senator, I strongly support passage of the Armenian Genocide Resolution (H.Res.106 and S.Res.106), and as President I will recognize the Armenian Genocide.”

But Obama’s April 24 statement instead used the Armenian term “Meds Yeghem,” which translates roughly to “the great calamity.” A spokesman for Obama did not respond to an e-mail seeking comment.

Every year, in the U.S. Congress, a resolution to use the controversial term is introduced in the spring and then beaten back. A handful of powerful Jewish advocacy groups, including the Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish Committee, and the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs, has declined to support the resolutions in past years, and some Jewish groups have even worked against them.

Still, a host of other Jewish groups, including American Jewish World Service; the Progressive Jewish Alliance, a California-based activist group, and Jewish World Watch, which mobilizes synagogues around human rights issues, have supported efforts to recognize the mass killings of Armenians as a genocide.

While some in the Jewish community argue that the memory of the Holocaust compels Jews to recognize other genocides, others argue that maintaining the strategic alliance between Israel and Turkey, as well as the American-Turkish relationship, trumps other concerns.

Turkey was the first Muslim country to recognize Israel’s existence, and it has long been a key Muslim ally in an otherwise hostile region. But in the wake of Turkey’s criticism of Israel’s recent military operation in Gaza, relations between the two countries have soured. Nonetheless, some American Jewish groups that have not supported the genocide resolutions in the past are sticking to their positions. AJC spokesman Kenneth Bandler said that his group’s position has not changed. “Our position was, and remains, that the best way to address this issue is between Turkey and Armenia,” he said.

In 2007, the ADL became embroiled in a controversy that played out in the local Boston media after its New England regional director was fired for breaking ranks with the national office and saying that the ADL should recognize the events of 1915 as a genocide. The regional director, Andrew Tarsy, was ultimately rehired, and then he resigned of his own volition. That same year, the ADL released a statement clarifying its position and stating that it had, in fact, referred to the massacres of Armenians as genocide.

Still, the ADL does not support a congressional resolution to that effect. In an e-mail, an ADL spokesman wrote, “… our position is that a Congressional resolution on such matters is a counterproductive diversion and will not foster reconciliation between Turks and Armenians, who should work out the issue between themselves.”

At the same time that Israeli-Turkish relations have been strained, relations between Turkey and Armenia actually have seen improvement over the past year. The two countries have been negotiating to open the Turkish-Armenian border, and just days before the April 24 commemoration they announced a “road map” to restoring relations, which was negotiated with the help of U.S. officials.

Charles King, a professor of international affairs and government at Georgetown University, said that Obama’s backtracking on the use of the term “genocide” could be seen as more of an adjustment to new political realities on the ground. As Turkey and Armenia make real strides toward normalizing relations, King said, Obama would be hard-pressed to isolate the Turks by using the controversial term at such a delicate moment.

“The Obama administration doesn’t want to push farther on this at this point, for fear of destroying the very important progress that’s been made on Armenian-Turkish relations,” King said. “Inevitably, once a politician gets into office, they realize that issues are far more complicated than they were on the campaign trail, but secondly, things really have changed.”

That’s no consolation for some Armenian-American activists. Allen Yekikan, a 24-year-old spokesman for the Armenian Youth Federation, said that he had campaigned for Obama, even canvassing for him in the Armenian-American community. “When he released his statement,” Yekikan said, “my heart broke.”
Comments

K. Fermanian Thu. Apr 30, 2009

It is a shame that some people are still on the fence on the Armenian Genocide issue. Perhaps this excerpt from Aaron Aaronsohn’s report titled PRO ARMENIA might concentrate some minds. Aaronsohn was a scientist and spy master from Zikron Yaakov and Athlit, who founded the NILI spy group and paved the way for General Allenby to throw out Ottoman forces out of the Middle East in 1918. He wrote: “Morally and economically the Armenian race in Turkey is totally ruined – the few private fortunes which by clean or unclean ways have been spared destruction make no difference. From one of the most thrifty and most industrious elements of the Turkish Empire, if not the most thrifty and most industrious – mind it is a Jew who gives this certificate – the Armenian race is now a race of starving down trodden beggars, the purity of its family life destroyed, its manhood killed, its children, boys and girls enslaved in the Turkish private homes for vice and dabauchery, that is what the Armenian race has become in Turkey.” I call this Genocide. The rest is just noise to me. K. Fermanian

tony Thu. Apr 30, 2009

have u ever been to turkey u dickhaed

April 30, 2009

Category: Armenian Question

Reconciliation and Recriminations

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