Category: Main Issues

RALLY ON 95TH ANNIVERSARY OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE TO BE HELD IN HAGUE

2010-03-31

YEREVAN, MARCH 31, ARMENPRESS: On April 20, “April 24” committee of
the Federation of Dutch-Armenian Organizations and the Armenian Cause
Office of Holland will conduct a rally on the occasion of the 95th
anniversary of Armenian Genocide in Het Plein Square of Hague.

An official from “April 24” committee told Armenpress that the
Dutch-Armenian organizations, joining their efforts, will reconfirm
the call to Turkey to recognize the Armenian Genocide and to the
government of the Netherlands to bring to life the decision adopted
unanimously by the Dutch parliament in 2004.

The Dutch-Armenians will unanimously condemn the cynic rejection of
the Armenian Genocide by Turkey after 95 years; even speaking of it
is considered a crime in Turkey.

“Though the Armenian Genocide has found a wide recognition, the
international community has not managed to indubitably tell Turkey
that the behavior of denial and humiliation is not acceptable.

This position of the international community created a solid ground
for the genocide of 1915 in front of the open eyes of the world. For
that very reason it is of great importance that we come forward
united on the occasion of the 95th anniversary of the genocide. We
call everybody to participate in the upcoming joint demonstration
in Hague, international town of law,” the statement of “April 24”
committee and Armenian Cause of Holland runs.

The goal of the rally is also to demand that a monument perpetuating
the memory of the victims of the Armenian Genocide is put up in Hague,
in order the humanity no more displays an ignorant attitude toward
similar disastrous events.

April 4, 2010
The Zionist lobby at the heart of British politics

Cash for influence is not just “grubby”, Lord Mandelson, it’s odious

Business secretary Peter Mandelson’s belief that the cash for influence scandal is ‘rather grubby’ was a striking understatement. The affair is, in every respect, odious. To safeguard our politics from its poisonous impact it is important to follow the trail right across Whitehall to all the countries visited by our Members of Parliament. It is not enough to single out visits to Gibraltar, the Maldives and Cyprus after previous investigations and reports have clearly drawn attention to the operations of the Zionist lobby at the heart of British politics. At least two of the names in the current scandal have an Israeli connection.

Stephen Byers is chair of the policy council of the Labour Friends of Israel and Andrew Dismore, now alleged to have broken parliamentary rules 90 times, is one of three vice-chairs of Labour Friends of Israel. According to his website, the Labour MP for Hendon “defended Israel’s position on the Goldstone report, in the debate in Parliament on 12th January”. Israel, you may recall, accused the UN appointed Judge Richard Goldstone and his team of bias after their report accused the Jewish state of committing war crimes and possibly crimes against humanity. That didn’t deter Israeli apologist Mr. Dismore, who said that he is “confident that Israel will get to the bottom of the [war crimes allegations] story.” He thinks that the alleged war criminal Tzipi Livni is a“legitimate politician” who wishes to discuss “the peace process”. Perhaps that’s why Livni said she was proud that the Israel Defence Forces had “gone wild” in Gaza last year.

Byers is a former Labour cabinet minister and is not the only one to make pretentious boasts about the influence he can wield. While attending the 10th Herzilya conference in Israel earlier this year, Tory peer Baroness Pauline Neville-Jones told the Jerusalem Post, “We will actively block the dissemination of extremist written material and speech. We will take down the Web sites that promote it. We will deny organizations that promote extremism political funding. We will monitor the charities. We will ensure that the Charity Commission which regulates the charities does not allow money to be transmitted through channels which ends up funding extremism violence and terrorism abroad.” Was she angling for more support from the Israel lobby in Britain, or merely letting her Israeli friends know that their investment in the British arm of the“hasbara” machine will have been well-spent if the Conservatives win the general election?

Getting to the bottom of yet another “cash for questions” affair is certainly important but in the given context it is also necessary to investigate the cavalier manner in which the parliamentary system, government machinery and judiciary have all been exploited to intimidate and silence pro-Palestine individuals, charities and organizations.

Try as they may, the Zionist lobby will find it extremely difficult to dismiss any link to those who stand accused in the latest scandal, especially as it comes so soon after Peter Oborne’s Channel 4 programme on “the pro-Israeli lobby in Britain”. The many questions raised in that documentary must inevitably resurface in light of these new revelations and the people involved.

It is pointless to pretend that this current episode is inconsequential. Many will recall that in April 1995 the former Conservative minister, Jonathan Aitken, promised to use the “sword of truth” to dispel reports made in the Guardian over his dealings with Saudi arms traders. Four years later, in 1999, he was jailed for perjury after it was revealed that he had lied repeatedly about the matter.

The Brown government has a penchant for private inquiries into matters of grave national concern. They only conceded to a public inquiry into the war on Iraq after Sir John Chilcot insisted that it should be conducted in public.

Whether a full, impartial and public inquiry into this latest scandal will be held before the general election is doubtful, but one thing can be said with certainty in the meantime: the culture of sleaze is as endemic today in the parliamentary system as it was before New Labour came to power in 1997. The full effect of this culture is unknown and the jury is still out. But if the truth is to be uncovered, the trail to Israel may be as good a place to begin as Gibraltar, the Maldives and Cyprus.

, 23 March 2010

April 4, 2010
Soyak: Armenian Diaspora Ready for Cooperation with Turkey

SATURDAY, 03 APRIL 2010 10:38

Giving an interview to TurkishNY, Co-chairman of the Turkish-Armenian Business Development Council Kaan Soyak said that contribution that bilateral trade between Turkey and Armenia can make should not be ignored in the process of normalization of relations.

Stressing that there is political will towards normalization of relations both in Armenia and Turkey, Soyak said, “The most important factors for normalization of relations between two countries are considered as genocide resolutions and Nagorno-Karabakh problem. We want the economical dimension of the ties to come to the surface in shaping the relations between two countries.”

Pointing out that the volume of trade between two countries is about $200 mln despite closed borders, Soyak implied that Armenian diaspora is ready to cooperate with Turkey and said, “It is important that a big part of Armenian diaspora supports opening of borders. In that case, businessmen of Anatolia will be able to cooperate with Armenian diaspora in Russia, Middle Asia, Arabian countries, Europe, North and South America and even Far East without having any communication problem.” Stressing that volume of trade between Turkey and Armenia might reach to $1 bln with opening of state border, Soyak said, “It would be inevitable for the region to turn into a trade center with the opening of borders. Commercial relations will be the factor that provides reconciliation between two communities.”

Underscoring that Turkey should not ignore influence of Russia over Armenia and Azerbaijan in its efforts towards resettlement of Nagorno-Karabakh problem, Soyak said, “In my opinion, resettlement of Nagorno-Karabakh problem may be achieved in two years. Russia may solve the problem in some extent to relieve Turkish community on Nagorno-Karabakh problem, which would make normalization of relations between Turkey and Armenia possible. On the other hand, even if such formula can be implented, the comprehensive solution to the problem will be dependent to the other developments in Caucasus, especially to the resolution of S. Ossetia and Abkhazia issues. Such a temporary solution for Nagorno-Karabakh is towards the interests of Russia as investments of Russia in Armenia cannot be operated because of closed borders.”

The full text of the interview of Co-chairman of the Turkish-Armenian Business Development Council Kaan Soyak can be found in Turkishny.com in Turkish language.

April 4, 2010
Conference on so-called Genocide to Be Held in Ankara on April 24

ANKARA, Turkey—On April 24-25, a symposium on the Armenian Genocide, titled “1915 within its pre and post-historical periods: Denial and Confrontation,” will be held in Ankara. Organized by the Ankara Freedom to Thought Initiative (AFTI), the symposium will not only address the history, but explore issues like the confiscation of Armenian property and reparations.

Confirmed participants include Ragip Zarakolu (publisher), Recep Marasli (author of The Armenian National Democratic Movement and 1915 Genocide), Sait Cetinoglu (activist and writer), Dr. David Gaunt (genocide scholar, author of Massacres, Resistance, Protectors: Muslim-Christian Relations in Eastern Anatolia During World War I), Dr. Henry Theriault (professor of Philosophy, Worcester State University), and Khatchig Mouradian (Doctoral student in Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Clark University; editor, the Armenian Weekly).

Dedicated to the memory of Hrant Dink, the symposium will comprise of four sessions: a) the Armenian Genocide from a historical perspective, b) official ideological denial from the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) to Kemalism, c) Turkification of the Economy and the issue of the confiscated Armenian Property, and d) what needs to be done and how?

Asbarez will provide in depth coverage of the conference.

=========== NOTE FROM TURKISH FORUM =========================

It is unbelievable that ARF makes provocation until Ankara. Armenian Weekly is the newspaper of ARF in eastern part of USA; they published calls to murder against archibishop Levon Tourian in 1933, during the months preceding his assassination by 7 Dashnaks, in his proper church; Armenian Weekly published Naziesque articles from 1933 to 1943; Armenian Weekly supported passionately Armenian terrorism of 1970’s and 1980’s, with a openly racist perspective (against the “Turkish Mongol” race), calling even “a success” the assassination of Ahmet Benler, the 27-years-old son of Turkish ambassador in The Heague.

They are killing Hrant Dink a second time. He was rather stupid and ignorant, but he had fair ideas.

Will be somebody to this conference to say the truth to this Dashnak and to the rascal who will be with him on the tribune?

===================================================

If this is design to open discussion about validity of Armenian claims,I understand. Otherwise Symposium ought include the following:

e) Armenian aggression to Azerbaijan

f) Confiscated of non Armenian properties in Armenia

g) Role and participation of Armenian people in PKK activities

Armagan

April 2, 2010
ARMENIAN GENOCIDE RESOLUTION NULL AND VOID

THIS CITY HAS RESCINDED THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE RECOGNITION

DECLARING THE RESOLUTION NULL AND VOID

Bu kent tanıdığı ‘soykırımı’ iptal etti

FOTOĞRAFLARLA İZYUM

İŞTE “ERMENİ SOYKIRIMI’NI KABUL EDEN ÜLKELER

According to the news article below that appeared on April 2, 2010, in the largest daily in Turkiye, Hurriyet, this Ukranian city of Izyum, population 60,000 and about 80 miles from the capitol of Harkov province, Ukraine, has rescinded on March 26, 2010 the genocide resolution that it passed in December 2009, thus no longer recognizing the Armenian claims at face value.    Citing a report by the Crimean News Agency, the article heralds the first decision of its kind anywhere, which may indeed, be a turning point, a beginning of the end, for the diaspora Armenian propaganda efforts.

Rehim Hümbetov, president of the Crimean-Azerbaijani Association, they worked hard to get the Armenian propaganda annulled, by suing the resolution on grounds that it violated Ukranian law, that it should be reviewed and rescinded, and won after intensive efforts.

Rehim Hümbetov stated that the time has come to wage an international effort to overturn all such resolutions misrepresenting Armenian propaganda as settled history.

***

All of the above, viewed as a whole, points to a much bigger picture than the Armenian lobbyists would care to see, that the world may finally be sick and tired of those screaming, slobbering, crying, and begging Armenians, shrouded in a cape of bogus victimhood, while pounding your kitchen table with their shoes:

“Help me!   Pity me! Protect me! Give me!   Me!   Me! Me! …”

The world may finally be saying to the “hye”nas , still feeding on Turkish corpses of WWI after a hundred years,

“Hye! Shut up and get a life! ”

Ergun Kirlikovali

***

BU KENT TANIDIĞI ‘SOYKIRIMI’ IPTAL ETTI

A.A. / hurriyet.com.tr   ,   2 Nisan 2010

Ukrayna’nın Harkov bölgesindeki bir yerel belediye meclisi, 1915 olaylarına ilişkin Ermeni iddialarıyla ilgili daha önce kabul ettiği kararını iptal etti.

Kırım Haber Ajansı’nın haberine göre, İzyum Şehir Belediye Meclisi, Aralık 2009’da kabul ettiği Ermeni iddialarıyla ilgili kararı, 26 Mart’ta yapılan toplantıda iptal etti.

Haberde, Ukrayna’da alınan bu iptal kararının, dünyada 1915 olaylarıyla ilgili ilk iptal örneği olduğu belirtildi.

Karara ilişkin açıklama yapan ve iptal kararının alınması için çok çalıştıklarını belirten Kırım Azerbaycanlılar Derneği Başkanı Rehim Hümbetov, “Artık Ermeni iddialarına ilişkin kabul edilen kararların iptali için uluslararası düzeyde mücadele etme vaktinin geldiğini” söyledi.

Hümbetov, belediye meclisinin daha önce aldığı kararın, Ukrayna kanunlarına aykırı olduğunu belirterek, incelenmesi ve iptali için İzyum savcılığına da başvurduklarını ve yoğun çabalar sonucunda kararın iptal edilmesini sağladıklarını belirtti.

Yaklaşık 60 bin nüfuslu şehir, Harkov’un merkezinden 120 kilometre uzaklıkta bulunuyor.

April 2, 2010
Is time running out for a reunification deal in Cyprus?

Is time running out for a deal in Cyprus?

Later this month elections in the Turkish-occupied north of Cyprus could see President Mehmet Ali Talat being ousted in favour of a hardliner, Dervis Eroglu.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when Turkey invaded following a coup by Greek Cypriot extremists, bent on union with Greece.

Mr Talat was elected in 2005, having promised to deliver a reunification deal with the Greek Cypriots but, despite being locked in talks with his opposite number, Demetris Christofias, for the past 18 months he has been unable to announce a deal.

Both Greece and Turkey say they want the issue resolved and the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon visited Cyprus in February and urged both sides to show “courage”.

In 2004 a previous deal, the so-called Annan Plan, was approved by Turkish Cypriots in a referendum but rejected by Greek Cypriots.

Do you live in Cyprus or were you born there? Do you think the two communities will ever be able to live together? What do you blame for the failure to reach a deal? What do you think the main sticking points are? You can tell us your experiences using the form below. If you are happy to be contacted by the BBC, please include your phone number.

, 2 April 2010

April 2, 2010