Turkish Forum

Category: Main Issues

  • Armenians destroy Azerbaijani cemetery in Agdam – PHOTOS

    Armenians destroy Azerbaijani cemetery in Agdam – PHOTOS

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    16 November 2009 [15:54] – Today.Az

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    Armenian are destroying Garaji cemetery in Azerbaijan’s occupied Agdam region.

    pic57512 200-year old cemetery is located 6-7 kilometers outside the center of the Agdam region.

    Various media outlets have repeatedly reported that the Armenians destroy Azerbaijani cemeteries in the occupied territories, take away tombstones and iron bars from the cemeteries to use them as building materials.

    Apparently, the cemetery in Agdam suffered the same fate.

    As is seen from the photographs, cemetery is purposefully destroyed. It has suffered extensive damage. The graves of Azerbaijanis are desecrated.

    The cemetery can be completely destroyed and disappear in future.

    After forcing inhabitants of Azerbaijan’s Agdam region to flee, the Armenian occupation forces are now trying to destroy the past of these people.

    Click to enlarge:

    Day.Az

    URL: http://www.today.az/news/politics/57512.html
  • Take Me Back to Constantinople

    Take Me Back to Constantinople

    How Byzantium, not Rome, can help preserve Pax Americana.

    BY EDWARD LUTTWAK | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2009

    AyaSofyaEconomic crisis, mounting national debt, excessive foreign commitments — this is no way to run an empire. America needs serious strategic counseling. And fast. It has never been Rome, and to adopt its strategies no — its ruthless expansion of empire, domination of foreign peoples, and bone-crushing brand of total war — would only hasten America’s decline. Better instead to look to the empire’s eastern incarnation: Byzantium, which outlasted its Roman predecessor by eight centuries. It is the lessons of Byzantine grand strategy that America must rediscover today.

    Fortunately, the Byzantines are far easier to learn from than the Romans, who left virtually no written legacy of their strategy and tactics, just textual fragments and one bookish compilation by Vegetius, who knew little about statecraft or war. The Byzantines, however, wrote it all down — their techniques of persuasion, intelligence gathering, strategic thinking, tactical doctrines, and operational methods. All of this is laid out clearly in a series of surviving Byzantine military manuals and a major guidebook on statecraft.

    I’ve spent the past two decades poring over these texts to compile a study of Byzantine grand strategy. The United States would do well to heed the following seven lessons if it wishes to remain a great power:

    I. Avoid war by every possible means, in all possible circumstances, but always act as if war might start at any time. Train intensively and be ready for battle at all times — but do not be eager to fight. The highest purpose of combat readiness is to reduce the probability of having to fight.

    II. Gather intelligence on the enemy and his mentality, and monitor his actions continuously. Efforts to do so by all possible means might not be very productive, but they are seldom wasted.

    III. Campaign vigorously, both offensively and defensively, but avoid battles, especially large-scale battles, except in very favorable circumstances. Don’t think like the Romans, who viewed persuasion as just an adjunct to force. Instead, employ force in the smallest possible doses to help persuade the persuadable and harm those not yet amenable to persuasion.

    IV. Replace the battle of attrition and occupation of countries with maneuver warfare — lightning strikes and offensive raids to disrupt enemies, followed by rapid withdrawals. The object is not to destroy your enemies, because they can become tomorrow’s allies. A multiplicity of enemies can be less of a threat than just one, so long as they can be persuaded to attack one another.

    V. Strive to end wars successfully by recruiting allies to change the balance of power. Diplomacy is even more important during war than peace. Reject, as the Byzantines did, the foolish aphorism that when the guns speak, diplomats fall silent. The most useful allies are those nearest to the enemy, for they know how best to fight his forces.

    VI. Subversion is the cheapest path to victory. So cheap, in fact, as compared with the costs and risks of battle, that it must always be attempted, even with the most seemingly irreconcilable enemies. Remember: Even religious fanatics can be bribed, as the Byzantines were some of the first to discover, because zealots can be quite creative in inventing religious justifications for betraying their own cause (“since the ultimate victory of Islam is inevitable anyway …”).

    VII. When diplomacy and subversion are not enough and fighting is unavoidable, use methods and tactics that exploit enemy weaknesses, avoid consuming combat forces, and patiently whittle down the enemy’s strength. This might require much time. But there is no urgency because as soon as one enemy is no more, another will surely take his place. All is constantly changing as rulers and nations rise and fall. Only the empire is eternal — if, that is, it does not exhaust itself.

    Edward Luttwak is a senior associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and author of The Grand Strategy of the Byzantine Empire.

    Source: www.foreignpolicy.com, NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2009

  • AAA welcomes John MacCain’s support

    AAA welcomes John MacCain’s support

    of Armenia’s approach to normalize relations with Turkey
    13.11.2009 10:51 GMT+04:00

    /PanARMENIAN.Net/ In a letter sent today, the Armenian Assembly of America (Assembly) thanked Senator John McCain for affirming the historical truth regarding the Armenian Genocide and for his support of a new chapter in Armenia-Turkey relations.

    During Senator McCain’s interview with Voice of America’s Georgian service, Senator McCain acknowledged the Armenian Genocide and also expressed his support for the Armenia-Turkish rapprochement.

    “We strongly believe that U.S. affirmation of the Armenian Genocide should not be held hostage to the normalization process and as such welcome Senator McCain’s remarks,” stated Assembly Executive Director Bryan Ardouny. “The Assembly has also consistently expressed its support for normalization of relations between Armenia and Turkey without preconditions,” added Ardouny.

    In the Assembly’s letter to Senator McCain, Ardouny highlighted the need to redouble America’s efforts to reaffirm the Armenian Genocide in the face of continued campaign to deny its very occurrence and quoted Archbishop Desmond Tutu who has stated: “It is sadly true what a cynic has said, that we learn from history that we do not learn from history. And yet it is possible that if the world had been conscious of the genocide that was committed by the Ottoman Turks against the Armenians, the first genocide of the twentieth century, then perhaps humanity might have been more alert to the warning signs that were being given before Hitler’s madness was unleashed on an unbelieving world.”

    The Assembly letter also urged McCain to cosponsor S. Res. 316, the Armenian Genocide Resolution introduced by Senators Robert Menendez and John Ensign.

  • McCain Recognizes Genocide

    McCain Recognizes Genocide

    By Asbarez Staff on Nov 10th, 2009

    TBILISI (VOA)—Republican US Senator John McCain, in a recent interview with the Georgian service of Voice of America said he believed “ample documentation” exists proving that “Genocide had been committed against the Armenian people.”

    “I believe that a genocide was committed against Armenians, and I think there is ample documentation of that,” McCain was quoted as saying. “The Turkish and Armenian people and states cannot forget the past. Especially Armenians cannot.”

    “Because of that,” McCain said, he understood and agreed with Armenia’s efforts to normalize relations with Turkey on a step-by-step basis. “I support that view,” he said.

    “We are witnessing significant progress in the relations between Turkey and Armenia,” McCain added. For the first time, parties are making steps towards the same direction.”

    McCain dodged the issue during his presidential campaign in 2008, failing to properly characterize the crime as Genocide. The Arizona Senator is running for re-election in the 2010 Senate race.

    During the US Presidential Campaign, Senator McCain formally asked for the support of Armenian American voters in an open letter. The Arizona Senator praised the Armenian American contribution to American society, and Armenia’s contribution to Coalition operations in Iraq and NATO peacekeeping in Kosovo, but failed to outline his stands on core Armenian American issues.

    At the time, McCain remained silent on Nagorno Karabagh, the Turkish and Azerbaijani blockades, U.S. aid to Armenia, and the broader issue of U.S.-Armenia relations. He did, as he has done over the years, echo the Bush Administration’s practice of employing euphemistic language such as “terrible tragedy” to avoid mentioning the Armenian Genocide by its proper name.

    Senator McCain has, throughout his tenure in the Congress, largely opposed or was passively indifferent to a broad array of Armenian American issues. In October 2007, Senator McCain publicly opposed Congressional recognition of the Armenian Genocide. In 1999, he voted against restricting U.S. aid to Azerbaijan over its blockades and other offensive uses of force against Armenia and Nagorno Karabagh. He voted against Senator Bob Dole’s Armenian Genocide Resolution in 1990.


  • European Azerbaijanis Congress and Azerbaijani-Turkish Diaspora Organizations Coordination Council to hold joint meeting

    European Azerbaijanis Congress and Azerbaijani-Turkish Diaspora Organizations Coordination Council to hold joint meeting

    Baku – APA. European Azerbaijanis Congress and Azerbaijani-Turkish Diaspora Organizations Coordination Council will hold joint meeting on November 21-22, 2009 in Frankfurt, Germany, press service of the State Committee for Diaspora Activities told APA. The committee put forward this initiative because of addresses of the European Azerbaijanis Congress and Turkish communities of European countries. Series of important events in the region in 2009, particularly signing of Turkish-Armenian protocols about establishment of diplomatic relations and development of bilateral relations caused serious concern and protest of the Azerbaijani and Turkish Diasporas, said the addresses. The Diaspora organizations said the opening of Turkish-Armenian borders without solution of Nagorno Karabakh problem was unacceptable and they supported the position of Azerbaijan Republic.
    Government officials and parliamentarians of Azerbaijan and members of the European Azerbaijanis Congress and Azerbaijani-Turkish Diaspora Organizations Coordination Council will attend the two-day meeting supported by the State Committee for Diaspora Activities, which considers it necessary to widely express the position of Azerbaijani and Turkish Diasporas on the regional processes.
    European Azerbaijani Information Center will be presented at the meeting. The project of this center was proposed by Benelux Azerbaijanis Congress.

    dakBaku – APA. European Azerbaijanis Congress and Azerbaijani-Turkish Diaspora Organizations Coordination Council will hold joint meeting on November 21-22, 2009 in Frankfurt, Germany, press service of the State Committee for Diaspora Activities told APA. The committee put forward this initiative because of addresses of the European Azerbaijanis Congress and Turkish communities of European countries. Series of important events in the region in 2009, particularly signing of Turkish-Armenian protocols about establishment of diplomatic relations and development of bilateral relations caused serious concern and protest of the Azerbaijani and Turkish Diasporas, said the addresses. The Diaspora organizations said the opening of Turkish-Armenian borders without solution of Nagorno Karabakh problem was unacceptable and they supported the position of Azerbaijan Republic.

    Government officials and parliamentarians of Azerbaijan and members of the European Azerbaijanis Congress and Azerbaijani-Turkish Diaspora Organizations Coordination Council will attend the two-day meeting supported by the State Committee for Diaspora Activities, which considers it necessary to widely express the position of Azerbaijani and Turkish Diasporas on the regional processes.

    European Azerbaijani Information Center will be presented at the meeting. The project of this center was proposed by Benelux Azerbaijanis Congress.

    Source: en.apa.az, 09 Nov 2009

  • A Call to Mobilize the Diaspora,

    A Call to Mobilize the Diaspora,

    Delivered at ANC Banquet

    SASSUN-2

    Publisher, The California Courier

    At its annual banquet on November 8, the Armenian National Committee (Western U.S.), honored California Attorney General Jerry Brown, former governor and current gubernatorial candidate, with the Freedom Award; California State Senator Mark Wyland, and California State Assembly Assistant Majority Leader and candidate for L.A. City Council Paul Krekorian as Legislators of the Year; and Harut Sassounian, Publisher of the California Courier, with the Legacy Award. California State Assemblyman Anthony Protantino was master of ceremonies. More than 700 guests attended the event held at the Pasadena Convention Center.

    The honorees received special commendations from members of Congress, State Senators and the L.A. City Council. Cong. Brad Sherman presented Harut Sassounian with a flag flown over the U.S. Capitol. Among the many congratulatory letters received by ANC was a message from Mr. Kirk Kerkorian: “I have known Harut for many years, and I am proud of the good work he has done for Armenia and on behalf of the Armenian community worldwide. I congratulate the ANC for honoring him.”

    In introducing this columnist, ANC Board Member Pattyl Aposhian-Kasparian stated:

    “What is it about Harut Sassounian that draws such a large number of admirers from all walks of life to follow the stroke of his pen? The word activist or visionary hardly explains it. Tireless leader and devoted teacher to generations of Armenian-Americans start to scratch the surface. The attraction to Harut lies in his passion with a direct magnetic draw to his courage, exuberance and resolve.

    “Harut is a highly respected name in many circles. He has helped define the political fabric of our time, championed free speech and fought on local, national and international grounds for justice. His persistence has received national media attention and has gently pushed open the gates of reform.

    “His first major activism proved successful at the U.N. in the 1970’s. From that day forward, Harut has served as a timeless moral voice — an author, publisher, speaker, community activist and leader.

    “Through his columns, Harut is one of the first to diagnose a problem and write a prescription. Countless examples come to mind: The campaign against the L.A. Times and its Managing Editor Douglas Frantz; lobbying against Time magazine for inserting a Turkish denialist DVD; blocking the nomination of Amb. Hoagland after the dismissal of Amb. Evans; initiating a letter writing campaign to counter the denial of the Armenian Genocide by the British Ambassador to Armenia; and opposing plans by PBS stations to air a panel discussion with denialists of the Armenian Genocide. And the list goes on to cover more than 30 years of activism.”

    In accepting the award, I made the following remarks:

    “Our collective efforts on behalf of the Armenian Cause stem from the tragic fact that a terrible injustice was committed against our people more than 90 years ago.

    “The Genocide and the loss of our homeland went unnoticed by the international community for many decades, until our people, led by our political organizations, rose from the ashes of decimation and defeat, and struggled to regain their rights. As a result, the Armenian Genocide is universally recognized, and is no longer a forgotten episode.

    “Nevertheless, today’s Turkish Government, the successor of the regime that committed the Genocide, continues to deny this massive crime, benefiting to this day from our looted assets and properties.

    “This injustice cannot and must not go on! We need to do everything in our power to restore justice! We demand the return of the stolen properties and occupied territories to their proper owners — the Armenian nation!

    “To accomplish this monumental task, we need the participation of every Armenian, as well as the support of all those who side with truth and justice.

    “As we have seen in recent months, Armenia’s leaders are under tremendous international pressure to make major concessions to both Turkey and Azerbaijan. Armenia is too small and too weak to be able to withstand such powerful pressures all by itself! Diaspora-Armenians on the other hand, are under no such constraints.

    “It is incumbent on all of us to lend a helping hand to reduce the pressures on Armenia. Armenians in all countries, particularly those in the United States, Russia and Europe, should lobby their respective governments to counter their unjust and one-sided support for Turkey and Azerbaijan.

    “We should make this effort, regardless of whether our help is requested or even appreciated by the Armenian government.

    “Of course, our lobbying efforts would be much more effective, if carried out in a cooperative and coordinated manner both within the Diaspora and between the Diaspora and Armenia.

    “We should also not hold back any political, economic or humanitarian assistance from our people in the homeland, because of disagreements with Armenia’s leadership.

    “Regimes and leaders come and go, but the nation is eternal!

    “Let us remain vigilant, engaged and united in our purpose. Let us carry on the torch of our Cause, until justice is restored to our long-suffering nation.”