1643) Terror at the Globalization Stage

The Main Terrorist Threats to the Security of States

In the terms of globalization the international terrorism should be regarded not only as the threat to the individual states, but a challenge to all mankind. That has predetermined a number of radically new features of terrorism at the globalization stage. . .

First, Terrorism has changed its purposive orientation. Today terrorist organizations more frequently aim their efforts not just to the destabilization of situation or resolution of some short-term tasks, but to the achievement of large-scale goals like – seizure and redistribution of power, annexation of independent states’ territories with expulsion of local residents. Azerbaijan, who due to the Armenian aggression lost 20% of territory and acquired approximately a million of refugees and internally displaced persons can serve as an example of such practice. Tens of terror acts, committed in the rear areas of the country hundreds kilometres away from the opposition front line and taken 2000 civilian lives, have been carried out for the achievement of concrete political aim – alienation of Azerbaijan territory by means of aggressive separatism. One way or another these threats exist in other newly independent countries – Georgia, Russia, Moldova etc. The distinguishing feature of the terrorism in those countries is that it serves either to direct aggression of states, or to aggressive separatism carried out under the ethnic coverage. We can ascertain that today terrorism is tightly bound with separatism. It’s quite enough to analyse the terror acts committed within the past 40 years all over the world to convince oneself that the overwhelming majority of those crimes was committed by persons and groups devoted to separatism. For instance, Basque terrorists, extremist wing of Irish Republican Army, “Tigers of Liberation of Tamil Lama” and others.

Second, Practice demonstrates that terrorist and extremist organizations of different manifestations cooperate each other well. Political, religious extremism, aggressive separatism, anti-globalizm, left and rightwing radicalism etc. – they all are links of the same terrorist chain completing each other at different sites of terror activity. Coping with one link or one component would not constitute valid resolution of problem of terrorism in whole. For instance, that won’t be complete and final resolution of the problem if world community would direct its efforts only to the fighting international terrorism carried out under the religious cover. This struggle should not be divided into the “primary” and “secondary” directions, terrorism must be coped along all of the front line.

Third, Terrorist organizations cooperate with groups from other spheres of organized crime. Separatist regimes in the newly independent states and Nagorno Karabakh as well use the territories under their control for the purposes of illicit drugs, arms and people trafficking, money laundries and other illegal activity and direct the gained assets for the financing of terrorism. The US Department of State’s known report for 2001 clearly reflects the facts of use of the occupied Azerbaijan territories for the purposes of drugs transportation from Asia to Europe through Russia.

Fourth, Nowadays due to the globalization process and distribution of latest scientific and technologic achievements for common use the premises of industrial infrastructure in transit regions with high number of population, transport communications and life-maintenance systems are becoming more vulnerable. The sorrowful experience of Azerbaijan, where major part of attacks were aimed at the transport infrastructure serves another prove for the possibility of such scenario. Just imagine, how vulnerable are the Southern Caucasus countries, where realization of huge international projects on restoration of historical “Silk Way”, strengthening of Europe-Caucasus-Asia transport corridor, construction of new oil and gas pipelines has already started. If we look at the map of the Southern Caucasus then we’ll get convinced that the separatist regimes in Nagorno Karabakh, Southern Osetia and Abkhaziya are the very source of military, terrorist and subversive threats to the regional economic cooperation, even with Armenia, we so passionately called to by some so called “specialists”. In this regard, the position of Azerbaijan Republic should be stressed again: our country cannot participate in the regional projects, providing cooperation with Armenia, regardless their attractive appearance, until the occupied Azeri lands are not liberated, military support to the separatist regime in Nagorno Karabakh is not ceased, all issues related with the observance of territorial integrity of the country and return of refugees to the places of permanent residence are not settled.

Fifth, The large-scale and many-headed terror activity is possible only under the terms of purposive support of some state’s official bodies. The modern terrorist organizations are powerful and strictly hierarchic structures with logistics corresponding to their scale and not confined to the national boundaries. They have established operative, intelligence, counter-intelligence and military backup units. Such kind of activity cannot exist without state support. Regarding the terrorist attacks committed in Azerbaijan we have numerous legal evidences proving that they have been arranged by the state agencies of Armenia. Let’s dwell particularly upon some of them.

Thanks to the cooperation between the Ministry of National Security of Azerbaijan Republic and Federal Service of Security of Russia a terrorist group of Armenian separatists operated within the Russian territory and headed by colonel Djan Oganesyan, chief of division of the Head department of national security of Armenia, his deputy major Ashot Galoyan and major Boris Simonyan, senior inspector of the Counter-terrorism department of the Federal counter-intelligence service of Russia. The “TIRR” Association headed by V. Petrosyan located in Moscow was financing that group, which had exploded several trains in Russian and Azerbaijan territory. All of the mentioned persons have been sentenced to different terms of imprisonment by the courts of Russian Federation and Azerbaijan Republic.

The fact of commitment of the explosion of the train in March 19th 1994 at one of the Baku underground railway stations (14 dead, 42 wounded) by members of “Sadval” terrorist separatist organization, operating in Dagestan Republic of Russian Federation, and its arrangement by special services of Republic of Armenia also has been proved through relevant court procedures. Number of witness testimonies and material evidences directly testify that guerrillas of that organization have passed the training on military-subversive activity at the camps of Armenian special services located in Lusoker settlement of Nairi district and Arzni district of Armenia, as well as at the specially created camps at the Magerramkend district of Dagestan Republic. Armenian special services have funded and provided that attack with all necessary explosive materials and technical devices. Azerbaijan special services have revealed 43 organizers and performers of that act, 30 of them were sentenced by the Supreme Court of Azerbaijan Republic, the quest of the rest part of culprits hiding abroad is going on.

The extraordinary character of this crime is confined in the fact that the special services of one neighbouring to Azerbaijan country (Armenia) occupying its territories and sponsoring the separatist regime in the Western part of Azerbaijan (Nagorno Karabakh) have arranged the training for terrorists of the separatist organization seeking some Northern regions of Azerbaijan within the territory of his other neighbour (Russia).

Unfortunately that fact is accompanied by another one. By the end of the year 2000 a group of persons trying to inflame separatist movement in the northern part of Azerbaijan among the Avar people became more active. Several armed raids on the State Traffic Police post, Regional Police station and military regiment, explosion of the monument to Sheik Shamil in Zagatala-Balakan region have increased the tension since June of 2001. The investigation of those crimes has revealed the fact of contacts between the leader of that group Hadji Magomedov and his lately arrested assistant Shaban Bushdiyev with representatives of Armenian special services. In 1997 both gentlemen visited Yerevan and Khankendi in Nagorno Karabakh where they have discussed the issue of establishment of “Avar state” in Azerbaijan and supplement of 1000 units of automatic firearms and 1 million US dollars for that purpose. Later on they continued their meetings in Makhachkala where they have reached an agreement on supplement of 1000 units of automatic firearms and 300 thousands US dollars. Besides that H. Magomedov in December of 2001 visited Yerevan in order to get support to the idea and activity on establishment of “Djar-Balakan state” by Avar separatists. The main purpose of that visit was to get money and various types of arms, including thermal missiles, to be used in operations planned for spring-summer period like seizure of local authorities buildings, taking of chief officials as hostages whose release would be conditioned by liberation of prisoners.

This is the convincing evidence that the interrelations of separatists of different ethnic manifestations is one of the important elements of the international terrorism.

Finally, the Sixth feature of the terrorism at the globalization stage. These are the problems known as “Harbouring of terrorism” and “Apologising of terrorism”. The states realising this policy create all necessary terms for the terrorists for recreation and rest and provide them with the political shelter after their committing attacks in other countries, encourage dirty information campaigns oriented to the apologising of terrorism. But the attempts to make national heroes or fighters for just cause out of the terrorists are more dangerous because they contribute to the bringing up of young generation in the spirit of terrorist fighting traditions. There is a fair ground for the inclusion of Republic of Armenia into the number of such countries, because Armenia carries out the state policy of rehabilitation for the activists of the international Armenian terrorist groups, who in 70-80’s committed explosions at the “Orly” airport, Moscow underground, murder of Turkish diplomats in Switzerland and Greece, seizure of Turkish Embassy in Paris and other crimes. For instance, the famous international terrorist Monte Melkonyan, who had carried out terror attacks in France, after his liberation in 1990 had found a shelter in Armenia and later gone to Nagorno Karabakh where he had headed terrorist organizations responsible for massacres and expulsion of Azeri people. Armenian state officials, including president, have attended at his funerals in Yerevan in 1993 and later on he had been posthumously proclaimed a national hero of Armenia. Other well known terrorists Grant Markaryan and Vazgen Sislyan, one of the organizers of the seizure of Turkish Embassy in Paris in 1981, for their active engagement in the terrorist attacks against Azerbaijan were conferred with the titles of Karabakh war heroes.

The above mentioned features of the terrorism at the globalization stage predetermine the necessity of deepening international cooperation of special services of all countries of the world, which, in our opinion, should be based upon the following basic principles:

First, Strict counteraction to any attempts to give antiterrorist struggle some confessional or ethnic colours. Terrorism has neither religion, nor nation.

Second, Abandonment of “double standards” policies with regard to terrorism, extremism and separatism. Neither state can effectively combat these on its territory and ignore (or, sometimes, support) them in any other state.

Third, Acceptance of the “everywhere and always” principle envisaging that every state would assume an obligation to prevent criminal activity, search, detect and punish and/or extradite criminals regardless of time and location.

Fourth, Adoption of coordinated sanctions against the states one way or another supporting terrorist, extremist and separatist activities on the territory of other states.

Following these principles the Ministry of National Security of Azerbaijan Republic consistently works on the activation of cooperation with some states’ special services in sphere of combating terrorism and separatism. For example, the close cooperation with the Russian special services resulted in arrest and institution of legal proceedings against Azer Aslanov, who was commissioned by Armenian special services to explode a train moving along the Baku underground railroad in June 3rd 1994 (14 dead, 54 wounded).

Comprehension of the above features of terrorism at the globalization stage is stipulating active participation of Azerbaijan special services in the allied global counter-terrorist operation by means of information exchange, as well as the reveal and extradition of members of the international terrorist infrastructure. Since 11 September attacks the MNS of Azerbaijan has arrested and extradited to foreign partners 31 foreign citizens involved in international terrorist activity.

Azerbaijan special services will increase their efforts in the struggle against the international terrorism, because Azerbaijan knows very well where the unbridled, unpunished and unexposed by the international community terrorist activity may lead to. And not only activity of religious extremists, but separatists in first name.

The international community has taken a number of serious legislative defence measures against terrorism and separatism on the level of national legislatures and in the framework of internal law relations as well. All those documents regard terrorism and separatism like phenomena of the same kind. This approach has been reflected in the number of juridical documents of UN, like “Declaration on the measures on suppression of international terrorism”, International conventions “For the suppression of terrorist bombings” and “For the suppression of the financing of terrorism”. The heads of the CIS countries (excluding Armenia) have several times expressed their attitude towards this problem and signed subsequently in April 15th 1994 in Moscow and in February 10th 1995 in Almaty “Declaration on the observance of sovereignty, territorial integrity and inviolability of borders of the CIS member-states” and “Memorandum on the support of peace and stability in the CIS”.

It’s remarkable that those documents clearly and unambiguously state the correlation between terrorism and threats to the territorial integrity. Practically it constitutes the international juridical confirmation of the interdependence between terrorist and separatist activity.

Unfortunately, international community doesn’t use these international acts while assessing the policy of state terrorism carried out by the Republic of Armenia against the Azerbaijan Republic. And that leads to the absence of the substantial effect from conclusion of multilateral interdepartmental agreements between the CIS countries special services on suppression of terrorism. So, vitally necessary for our activity “Protocol on the cooperation and interaction of the CIS countries security and special service agencies in suppression of terrorist, separatist and other extremist activity, carried out under the ethnic, religious and political cover” adopted in September 2000 at the Kiyev session of the CIS member-states Security and Special Service Agencies Chiefs’ Council, in fact doesn’t function. Counter-terrorism Centre of CIS, established with a hope that it will warrant its name, submits us estimations of terrorist threats produced by the separatists in the North Caucasus simultaneously ignoring the clear interrelations between terrorism and separatist regimes in the countries of South Caucasus.

The globalizing world is crushing the rigid stereotypes. Formerly one could think that the security of one state could be provided at the expense of reduce of the security of another one, but today the opposite situation is inevitable. The security, sovereignty and territorial integrity of one state can’t be warranted, unless the other countries, in first name neighbouring ones, have the same guarantees. We are all in charge for each other in this vulnerable world. But, of course, only civilized countries may agree to this thesis, not aggressors. In this case the international community has to make the countries neglecting modern realities to follow the rules of civilized conduct.

The understanding and strict observance of those realities constitute the fundament of Azerbaijan’s position. Namely, there are serious terrorist threats to the security, sovereignty and territorial integrity of states and dynamical development of humankind as well. The most part of sources, methods of realization, forms and particularities of those threats is known. They can be prevented by strict observance of the basic norms and principles of the international law within the framework, it should be stressed again, of the available international juridical mechanisms of combat of terrorism, separatism and other extremist activity carried out under the religious, ethnic and political cover. Attempts to cite the unavailability of such mechanisms, or necessary legislative base, or artificial politicization of the problem should be regarded as unacceptable endeavours to apologize own unwillingness to participate in the international cooperation against terrorism.

It doesn’t exclude, but moreover makes necessary to activate the process of improvement of the existing mechanisms of international cooperation and establishment of new ones. First of all, it deals with formation of universal institutional and legal bases for the suppression of terrorism, adoption of unanimously acknowledged juridical definitions of “terrorism”, “aggressive separatism”, “religious extremism” and others as components of the transnational criminal activity. Azerbaijan is ready for cooperation in all of these trends.

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1642) The Enemy Of My Enemy Is My Friend

(Basar Cem, The Terror Dossier and Greece,
International Affairs Agency (INAF), Istanbul, 1993, p.59-65). .

The Greek nation does not like the Armenians at all; it even hates them. It is also known how the Greek people, watching the flamboyant Armenian ceremonies against Turkey organised by the support of the Greek politicians in Athens, has blasphemed Armenians. In a KYP report published in Stohos daily about the Armenians, it was stated that "the Armenians are a community, which has always been dangerous for Hellenism."

Despite that hostile attitude of the Greek people, all the governments coming to power in Greece since 1974 have embraced not only the terrorist organisation ASALA, but also all the Armenian associations and organisations, in order to make use of them in their propaganda, with the philosophy of "the enemy of my enemy is my friend." They have even established some fabricated Armenian associations.

Greece continues to be one of the centres of Armenian terrorism targeting Turkey for more than 15 years. The Greek ministers, politicians, and generals participate in the ceremonies against Turkey organised by some Armenians frequently. In those celebrations, Armenian and Greek flags wave side by side, accompanied with the music of the Athens city band. The Greek press, on the other side, publishes columns of articles for not it believed in, or symphatised to the Armenian issue, but for only to make its hostile feelings towards Turkey known. Armenian advertisements and slogans written to the walls in the streets of Athens are frequently seen.

The erection of a monument in Athens symbolising the so-called massacre of Armenians by Turks on April 15, 1979, the naming of a square near the Piraeus port as the Armenian National Resistance Warriors in February 1986, and the change of the name of the Voltaire Square in the Singrou Boulevard in Athens as the Armenian Square with a ceremony in which the Governor and Mayor of Athens were also present on September 14, 1986, were not the reverberations of the Greek admiration of the Armenians, but the simple products of a policy only staged in order to annoy Turkey.

Many top level Greeks and Southern Cypriots participated in the meeting organised by the Political Science Department of the University of Athens, the subject of which was the International Solidarity with the Armenian people, on April 20, 1986. In that meeting, the declarations of the ASALA, and the celebration messages of the Japanese Red Army, known with its bloody terrorist actions, and some Palestinian terrorist organisations were read and applauded.

After the outbreak of civil war in Lebanon in 1975, and especially after the southern Lebanon operation of Israel in June 1982, some groups the majority of which were fanatical and activist Armenians have settled in the Southern Cyprus and Greece. Greece welcomed the Lebanese Armenians, and did not create any problem to them for their settlement in that country.

Nobody would argue that every Armenian is antagonist to Turkey. Sober Armenians, who were not cultivating hostility towards Turkey, had gone not to Greece, but to France and America. The fact that the real objective of the Armenians immigrating to Greece from Lebanon was manipulating that country as a base against Turkey was in time brought to light.

The Armenian activities aiming at dismembering Turkey in Greece developed within the body of the Armenian People's Movement, which had legalised the ASALA. The representatives of international terrorist organisations participated in the programmed meetings organised under the auspices of the Greek National Intelligence Organisation (KYP), in those meetings, the message of the ASALA were read. The flourishing written propaganda activities in Greece endeavouring to justify those terrorist activities are also noteworthy.

There are many publications in various languages of the Armenian Peoples Movement, which operates in the building in Meletiou Vasiliou Street No.26 in the Neos Cosmos district of Athens. Among those are Van (a province in Turkey), Moush (Mus, another province of Turkey) in English, Garin in Turkish, Avril in Persian, Hayfedai in Greek and Lutte Populaire in Armenian, all of which are periodicals.

The Greek National Intelligence in the beginning of 1980s tried to gather the ASALA and the separatist Kurds, via the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), in order to make them unite their fights against Turkey. The Kurds had rejected cooperation with the Armenians in a meeting held toward the end of 1979 in Beirut. This time the Communist Party of Greece invited both sides to Athens, by creating a pretext for that invitation. Secret negotiations were held. In the end, the Kurds supporting Barzani did not accept cooperation with ASALA. The Protagoras, a facade organisation used by the KYP, gathered the Kurds and the Armenians in Athens in May 1980. Kendal Nizam (Nevan), participating in that meeting as the representative of Kurds supporting Barzani, had met with me, since I was the Athens correspondent of Hurriyet, a Turkish newspaper, in the Athens airport half an hour before he went to Paris, despite all the prevention efforts of Greeks. Kendal Nizam (Nevan), a professor in the Paris University, had said in his answer to my questions that:

"We the Kurdistan Democratic Party, do not think any cooperation with the Armenians. Nothing can be achieved by assassinating diplomats and killing people. We cannot let them make us their partners in their murders. We received the information that some people, under the name Kurd, have established connection with the Armenians. They are not Kurds, but the pawns of some dark powers. Greece, too, attempted to manipulate us, but we rejected it."

After that, Greeks tried this time via Syria. The PKK, under the patronage of Syria, was ready for such a cooperation for a long time. The first steps of cooperation between the ASALA and the PKK were thus taken in 1979-1980. Greece, in order to orient the Armenian terrorism targeting Turkey along its interests, not only violated all the international agreements related to terrorism but disregarded the basic ethical rules by protecting terrorists.

We see one of the examples of the tolerant approach of the governments coming to power in Greece after 1975 to the Armenian terrorism in the considerable reduction which was made in the punishment of the ASALA terrorist Vadeh Khodaverdjian. Khodaverdjian, who had bombed the Athens bureau of the Kuwait Airlines in 1982, was sentenced to 14 years and one month. However the Supreme Court of Appeal in Athens reduced his punishment to 3 years and 4 months on September 29, 1987, and he was released.

The Greek Public Prosecutor, instead of interrogating the Armenian terrorist, who endangered the security of the citizens of Greece, presented Vadeh Khodaverdjian to the court as a warrior struggling for his ideals and overtly defended the terrorist. One of the results of the Greek governments protection of terrorism targeting Turks was the assassination of Galip Ozmen, the Attache of the Turkish Embassy in Athens, and his daughter by the Armenian terrorists in 1980. The Turkish Foreign Ministry had learned that a Turkish diplomat in Athens would be assassinated, and asked the Greek Foreign Ministry to keep the Turkish diplomats under protection. However, the Greek Foreign Ministry did not take it seriously or did not want to take it seriously. Two months later Galip Ozmen and his daughter were killed.

In my interview with the Director of the Greek General Diractorate of Press and Information two months after the incident, he had said to me that, "We have received the information that assassination would be committed, but I do not understand why the warning was not taken seriously..."

In a declaration prepared by the ASALA, which was being distributed in Athens a month before the assassination, it was being said that:

"We will continue our actions against the Turkish diplomats in every country until Turkey accepts its crime in the Armenian genocide and declares this to the world."

That declaration appeared in the Greek press with the headlines "The Armenians will shoot the Turks in Athens". The KYP had given the information on the assassinated Turkish diplomats to the Armenian terrorist organisation ASALA. On the other hand in Ankara, the Greek agents under the cover of diplomat, and the agents of some countries cooperating with the Greeks, were transferring the information they collected related to the Turkish diplomats to the ASALA. Those persons were known by the Turkish Intelligence units and their activities were watched over very closely. However, their diplomatic immunity and the fact that the murders were committed in another country prevented any measure.

The most important feature of the Panorama Review published in Italy is the news related to terrorism. Those news were never denied, in contrast, in most cases, they were affirmed. The headline of the Panorama Review on March 24, 1980, was as follows: "These bombings smell Greek connection". The bombing in the news was related to the explosions in the Turkish Embassy, and the Turkish Airlines bureau in Rome in which 2 persons died and 15 people were injured.

According to the Panorama review, three months before the bloody attack to the Turkish mission in Rome, in mid-December 1979, the leaders of the military and propaganda wings of the ASALA, and George Habbash (Yorgos Havvas), who was a Greek Orthodox Lebanese, and his Marxist-Leninist Palestinian terrorist organisation which was under the control of the Syrian intelligence, and most importantly, the agents of the KYP, had secretly met in a hotel in the Bavarian mountains in Munich.

However, the German Anti-terror Secret Service (BKA), which recorded the speeches in that meeting, brought what was talked in that meeting to light. The German Intelligence Organisation had notified that meeting one and a half month before the outbreak of actions to the Italian Intelligence Organisation, but since the place and date of the anticipated actions were not definitely known, the necessary precautions could not be taken beforehand.

The article of Panorama Review, headed "These bombings smell Greek connection" concludes in this way:

"The terrorist actions targeting Turks had been planned three months before by a leader of the ASALA in Munich. It is an important provocation to Ankara that George Habbash and the representatives of the KYP participated in that meeting with close affinity with the Armenians."

During the first week of April 1975, 26 deputies of the New Democratic Party of Karamanlis brought a draft resolution to the Parliament. In that resolution, it was claimed that the struggle of the Armenians to recover the territories usurped by Turks should be assisted and supported. Thus the Greek politicians exposed their relations with the Armenian terrorists, whom they manipulated against Turks. After the Green Light of Constantine Karamanlis to this end, The Greek politicians, diplomats, journalists, and the KYP gave a new impetus to their attacks against Turkey under the Armenian cover.

Danis Tunaligil, the Turkish Ambassador in Vienna, was assassinated in the Embassy building on September 23, 1975, five months after the Armenians in Athens had cried out war slogans against Turkey in May 1975 with the agitation of the Greek government.

The Austrian police and the INTERPOL issued a detention bulletin for three people possessing Greek passports. Witnesses had informed the police that they had seen those Greeks around the Turkish Embassy. Meanwhile, the INTERPOL notified the situation to the Greeks, and demanded their immediate capture, and dispatch of their photographs to the Austrian Police.

The Greek government did not like those developments. It did keep a blind eye to the demand of the INTERPOL, sending the passports of the accused Greeks to the Austrian, Hungarian, Czechoslavakian and Yugoslavian Embassies in Athens, and claiming that these three Greeks did not have any connection with the murder in Vienna. However, photocopying the passports was not allowed.

The date of the assassination was 23 September 1975. That day approximately 10 thousand Greeks entered and left Czechoslovakia via Vienna with cars and buses to watch Greek football team's match there. In summary, there were thousands of Greeks in Vienna at the day of the assassination of the Turkish Ambassador. The entry and exit visas in their passports were regular, what was irregular was the photographs in some of them.

Athens not only did not send the information and photographs to Vienna, but the Greek Foreign Ministry with a diplomatic note requested the cancellation of the decision of detention of three Greek citizens, and its declaration in Austrian radio and television. The note even demanded the Austrian government should apologise from the Greek government.

Meanwhile, the foreign journalists in Athens had started to look for the three accused Greeks. Despite all the efforts, the only information obtained was that those accused Greeks were being hidden by General Kalamakis, the Director of the Greek National Security Organisation (EA). When some journalists showed a sensitivity to the issue, Panaiotis Lambrias, the Press Secretary of Karamanlis, telephoned one by one those journalists and threatened them not to investigate the issue, otherwise they would be deported.

The news below, taken from The Armenian Reporter, a weekly published by the Armenians in New York, is an important source for understanding the Greek-Armenian relations targeting Turkey. According to the news, The International Solidarity Meeting in Athens was realised under the leadership of the Armenian People`s Movement. The largest part of the meeting was devoted to the reading of the messages supporting the Armenian territorial claims on Turkey and the Armenian struggle.

The support of PASOK was announced by Mihalis Haralambidis, who was a member of the Central Committee of PASOK and also the Greek member of the Permanent People`s Court. Ara Sarkisian stated the objectives of the Armenian People`s Movement. George Habbash and Bassam Abu Salim (PFLP) attracted the attention with their speeches. Abu Salim emphasised the full support of its organisation to the Armenian cause, and stated that the Palestinian camps were always open to all Armenians desiring to attend to armed training. Abu Salim, in one of his answers, made it clear that his organisation had trained the Armenian ASALA terrorists and continue to do so. Abu Salim said: "The bulk of the youth joining the Armenian People's Movement is of Greek origin. There are also people coming from the Middle Eastern countries".

Thus the news regarding the training of the Armenian, Greek and Southern Cypriot terrorists in the camps of the PFLP, led by Greek Orthodox Arab Yorgos Havvas, in Syria, was confirmed with the statement of Abu Salim. The manipulation of Armenians by Greeks against Turkey is evaluated in an interesting article published in Ellinikon Avrion in this way:

"ACCORDING TO ONE OF THE AXIOMS OF POLITICAL SOCIOLOGY, THE ENEMY OF MY ENEMY IS MY FRIEND. TURKS ARE OUR ENEMY; ARMENIANS ARE THE ENEMY OF TURKS. SINCE WE HAVE A COMMON SIDE WITH THE ARMENIANS, IT IS OUR DUTY TO HELP THE ENEMY OF OUR ENEMY".

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1641) An American Writer's View On Us Aid To Armenia

These are difficult times for the small farmer in the United States. If many small farmers are to survive, Congress must enact a farm bill and do it soon. One reason why there is no American farm legislation is because Congress is spending so much time taking care of places like Armenia throughout the world. In a press release, the Armenian American lobby in the United States brags about how they have obtained 1.5 billion dollars in foreign aid over the past ten years.. . This is the same Armenia who, during this same ten years, made a sneak and surprise attack on its neighbor Azerbaijan, murdering countless tens of thousands of Muslims and forcing more than one million of them from their homes.

For the United States government to continue the trend of giving annual financial help to these murdering Armenians to the tune of billions of dollars is to approve of and condone the massacre and deportation of more than a million Muslims. It is no wonder that most in the Muslim world hate Americans! The United States government has no business supporting the ethnic cleansing of any people by any people! These are the same Armenians who served Hitler and the Nazis so well from the early 1930s to 1944. The Armenians were very good at rounding up Jews and taking them to the extermination camps!

Armenia "claims" to be the first "Christian" state of earth. It is this "Christian" connection and their spending of mega bucks to lobby the U.S. Congress, that has allowed the Armenians such success in obtaining American taxpayer money! Truth of the matter is, Armenians provide money and a handful of votes to American politicians to insure their success. This is fundamentally wrong and totally un-American. Elected officials should do the right thing and not cater to special interests, such s Armenian lobby, to give away taxpayer's hard earned dollars!

Consider a recent meeting in Armenia with American officials: A few months ago, a major news program reported that terrorists were using banks in Armenia. Rather than check out the facts, the Armenians flooded the network and Congress with complaints. Today, Armenia promised "If they find" any terrorist money, they will freeze it. Of course, they aren't going to find any! Armenians are world famous for not being tellers of truth!

These good "Christian" Armenians also promise to tighten customs at their border to stop the transit of weapons of mass destruction through their tiny, land-locked state. Question: Since they know weapons of mass destruction are flowing through their tiny, land-locked state, isn't it also logical that there is terrorist funds in their banks? Why don't the Armenians allow the United States to make an independent audit, since the Armenians are so eager to take our charity of $1.5 billion dollars? Why hasn't the United States Congress established safeguards about how our money is spent in Armenia? It is insane to turn over $1.5 billion to a corrupt Armenian government and "trust" them to do the right thing!

These Armenians have invited the Russian Army to build military bases in their small state during the same time Americans gave them $1.5 billion dollars. Armenians have also invited Russian soldiers to be stationed at these bases. These poor Armenians say they are just maintaining the balance of military of power in the region. There are less than 3 million Armenians living in Armenia, so why do they need to maintain a balance of military power of billions of dollars worth? Why does Armenia need MIG Russian fighter jets to maintain the balance of power and use US tax payer's money to maintain it? Why does Armenia need surface to air missiles to maintain a balance of power? Consider for a moment that the Russians gave Armenians, according to U.S. Congress reports, more than 1billion dollars in 1992 to help them invade their Muslim neighbor. Just why is the United States joining up with Russia to help Armenia ethnically cleanse their neighbor? Just what kind of foreign policy is this!

Consider this fact also: Today, the Armenians want an oil pipeline built between Iran (no friend to the US) and Armenia. Of course the Armenians want to use United States taxpayer money to pay for it. Question: Just what is in the United States' best interest here when rogue states like Armenia and Iran build a pipeline? American taxpayers have no business paying for such a thing!

The Armenians also want to ship what they call "semi-processed tobacco" from Armenia to America. This is crazy! Just what do we need their tobacco here in our country for? The American tobacco industry already has been killing enough US citizens with this horrible product without Congress, helping the Armenians bring in more just so they can make a buck. How will it look to American taxpayer if the U.S. Congress pays billions of dollars in "no strings attached" aid to Armenia and reward Armenia's aggression and ethnic cleansing, only to facilitate sale of Armenian tobacco to USA to kill more Americans?

Another sad fact is the corruption of the Armenian government. This is nothing more than a way of life that they have enjoyed since 1918, when they attempted to establish their dictator terrorist state. It is past time for the American government to audit where taxpayer money is spent!

The Armenians claimed that out of the $110 million they fleeced America out of last year, a whole 15% was spent for "humanitarian programs." The average income in Armenia is $25 per month and they spent a grand total of $16.5 million dollars to help such people. The remaining $93.5 million was spent on what they called "development programs" and "private sector programs." In plain language, the Armenians spent the $93.5 million helping their corrupt friends, while the people received all but nothing! Why can't the United States government audit spending of our tax money in Armenia to insure that these billions of dollars are spent properly and not wasted on graft and corruption?

Armenia is no friend of the United States as evidenced by their dealing with the Russians and Iranians! The Armenians have been in bed with the Russians for 200 years when the Russians started giving them, piece by piece, what the Armenians call their "ancient homeland". The Russians stole it from the Muslims. Since the Armenians love the Russians so much, let's let the Russians keep them up!

In the Armenian press release, they brag about how it is that Congressman Frank Pallon (D, NJ) and Congressman Joe Knollenberg (R, MI), co-chairs of the 109 member Congressional Caucus, say there is "significant US interest in investing in Armenia." This question begs to be asked and even more importantly answered:

Why are 109 members of the United States Congress falling all over themselves to give taxpayer money to this gaggle of Armenian bandits, while at the same time they refuse to help the American farmer stay in business?

Who gets the priority treatment here? Isn't it reasonable to prohibit foreign governments from lobbying and mooching Congress out of billions of dollars? Of course the Armenian press release didn't list a single "investment opportunity!"

Consider this: Armenian-Americans perhaps spent less than 1.5 million dollars per year on average, to get some of these congress people elected to the U.S. Congress, which totals $ 15 million in 10 years (1991-2001). In the same ten years, these congress people paid back "their debt" to the Armenian-Americans by sending $ 1.5 billion (with a"b"!) to that terrorist state called Armenia. Each dollar invested into the election campaigns of Pallon and Knollenberg came back as $100 in U.S. aid to Armenia ! Not bad for a country whose number one export is terrorism and number one import is American handouts, don't you think?

Armenians don't have a single thing to provide for the United States! On the other hand, it is in America's best interest to establish good friendships within the Muslim world. It is past time for the Congress to cut loose deadbeat Armenians and build for America's future. This is the true maintaining of the balance of power in the region. Giving $1.5 billion dollars to Armenia sends the wrong message to the Muslim world. Congressmen Pallon and Knollenberg may get a few dollars in campaign funds and a few votes from Armenian Americans (less than 1 million in the US). However, they are selling out the United States, just as surely as the small farmer is going out of business because these Congressmen refuse to help them!

Congressmen Pallon and Konellenberg, does the saying "charity begins at home" ring any bell?

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THE AMERICAN CONGRESS SELL OUT!
AMERICAN FARMERS GET NO FARM BILL BUT ARMENIA GETS 1.5 BILLION DOLLARS!
by Samuel A. Weems
http://www.karabakh-doc.azerall.info/ru/

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Read Full Post !

1640) MediaScanner 28 Apr 2007

1. Ankara Slams Canadian PM For 'Genocide' Expression
2. Not To Discriminate In The Fight Against Discrimination BERIL DEDEOGLU
3. A Collection Of Armenian Stamps In The Ottoman Empire Elif Özmenek NEW YORK
4. First Armenian With Access To Ottoman Archives
5. Turkey Criticizes Canada's Reference To Alleged Genocide
6. Truth Of Mass Grave Eludes Swedish Professor ONUR BURÇAK BELLI ISTANBUL
7. US State Department Report Reaffirms Armenia's Occupying Azerbaijani Territories Azeri Press Agency
8. British Embassy Retaliates To Armenian Newspaper Report YEREVAN, ARMENPRESS
9. Armenian Genocide: Canadian Premier Does Not Cave In Turkey's Blackmail PanARMENIAN.Net
10. French Masonic Organization Presses Turkish Peers To Recognize Armenian Genocide Yerevan, April 25, Armenpress
11. ARF Bureau Meets With Us Democratic Party Leader YEREVAN (YERKIR)
12. Turkish Armenians' Patriarch Condemns Assault On Turkish Embassy In Russia AZG Armenian Daily
13. If U.S.-Turkey Relations Worsen, Recognition Of Armenian Genocide Will Be Just A Pretext PanARMENIAN.Net
14. AAA: U.S. President's Address Is Part Of Shameless Genocide Denial Campaign PanARMENIAN.Net
15. The EU And Isolating Armenia View by Fatma Yilmaz Journal of Turkish Weekly,
16. An Armenian Genocide by Kinga Kali Budapest Sun, Hungary
17. George Bush Did Not Call 1915 Events As Genocide Azeri Press Agency,
18. US Four Congressmen Decline Their Signatures To Support 'Armenian Genocide' Today, Azerbaijan
19. Bulgaria's Turkish Party Won't Recognize Genocide In Armenia Sofia News Agency, Bulgaria
20. Moore Won't Explain Armenian Genocide 'Flip-Flop' Lawrence Journal World
21. Turkey 'Warned' Canada, US Against Using Term 'Genocide' Assyrian International News Agency

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Ankara Slams Canadian Pm For 'Genocide' Expression
The Turkish capital expressed regret over a recent statement by Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper -- in which he referred to the World War I era killings of Anatolian Armenians as "genocide" -- describing Harper's remark as "unacceptable, unjust and incompatible" with Turkey's and Canada's relations "as friends and allies."

The Foreign Ministry in a written statement released late on Thursday reiterated Turkey's firm stance, sticking to its earlier call to Yerevan for the establishment of a joint commission of Turkish and Armenian historians and experts to study Armenian allegations of genocide, noting that such commission would be open to all concerned and competent historians regardless of their nationality. "We regret Prime Minister Harper's statement, which will contribute neither to the promotion of Turkish-Canadian relations, nor to a possible rapprochement between Turkey and Armenia. We believe that Mr. Harper continues to be misled, and suggest that he encourages competent Canadian historians into studying the events of 1915 on a proper basis," the ministry said.

In a statement released for April 24, which Armenians claim marks the anniversary of the beginning of a systematic genocide campaign at the hands of the late Ottoman Empire, Harper was quoted as saying by Armenian media: "Today we recall the horrible losses of 1915 in the Ottoman Empire, particularly the terrible tragedy of the Armenian nation. Last year I reminded all Canadians that both Houses of Parliament have adopted resolutions recognizing the first genocide of the 20th century."

28.04.2007
Today's Zaman Ankara

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Not To Discriminate In The Fight Against Discrimination
BERIL DEDEOGLU b.dedeoglu@todayszaman.com
It’s enough sometimes to look at one’s own society to see that discrimination and intolerance can lead directly to xenophobia and racism, and as a result express themselves more and more violently.
Unfortunately the concepts of tolerance and respect are not developing in an equally synchronized manner throughout the world. Muslim tombs in Europe are vandalized, while murders are committed in Malatya, and people from different religious denominations kill each other with bombs in Baghdad while ethnic groups in Rwanda massacre one another. Consequently societies are no longer capable of criticizing each other, because nobody’s hands are clean.

EU member states have been meeting over the last seven years to fight against this situation. One of the results of this effort is the treaty that was negotiated by the EU justice ministers. This document aims to fight against racism and xenophobia, and condemns discrimination, racism, crimes against humanity and those policies which nourish these tendencies. As the definitions proposed by the 27 member states are divergent, a full agreement on the concepts was difficult to reach. It is not easy to completely purify this kind of issue from national egoisms. But it is still notable to see that 27 different countries have agreed on concepts they commonly qualify as threats. That being said, the presented document has some gaps.

In all of the EU countries, as they are all democratic states of law as per the Copenhagen criteria, there are legal regulations about these subjects. It’s not easy to understand why it might be thought that since these issues, which couldn’t be eradicated by existing laws, would disappear with a new treaty, a new legal document. According to the latter, racism, xenophobia and crimes against humanity are not punished simply for being expressed, but from the moment they become violent acts. This presupposes that when we are talking about violence we understand this in the same way. Moreover we know that many neo-nationalist and anti-immigrant political parties in Europe have a legal existence within the political life of these countries, and even accede to power, despite their xenophobic and intolerant rhetoric. We can also see the results of inciting the “us” feeling, which transforms the “other” into an enemy. But when these feelings don’t become actions, the laws prefer to remain silent in front of them to respect freedom of speech.

Concepts like discrimination, xenophobia and racism are slightly different from one another and they are products of a specific mentality. That is why it would be wiser to resolve this problem by “understandings” rather than “treaties.” The effort of taking revenge for historic discriminations through this document is another problem. We should congratulate Europe for its courage in discussing this, and keeping up its efforts for recompense for historic persecution within the time period of the formation of the European Community. When we start to talk about genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Europe, how we will know where to stop? Societies will become more democratic when they start to question their past. But what if this process becomes a fight between societies, in an effort to prove that some of them are guiltier than others? This will lead to discrimination through law. This process will certainly include discussing the Armenian issue and could affect negatively Turkey by blocking its democratization through an internal dialogue.

This issue necessitates a serious change in the thoughts and every penalizing attitude encourages discrimination in peoples’ minds. Do we need examples? If there were any reference to the concept of genocide, Turkey should sign this document and thereby become a country that promises to fight against xenophobia and racism in Europe.

28.04.2007

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A Collection Of Armenian Stamps In The Ottoman Empire
April 28, 2007
Elif Özmenek
NEW YORK - Turkish Daily News
If there is anyone who thinks that Turkish-Armenian reconciliation is impossible they should get to see Mihran Adman's stamp collection. Adman, an Armenian who was born and raised in Istanbul, now resides in New York and brings two communities together every time he exhibits his amazing collection of Armenian postal history in the Ottoman Empire.

Quite different from the history books when one looks at this incredible collection one realizes that the past of the two communities is inseparable and closely knitted. The stamps in his collection are not only an important part of Armenian history but also Ottoman/Turkish history. “A lot of nations' postal history starts with the Ottoman Empire,” Adman says in explaining the intricate connection.

His collection goes back to 1840, the first year official seals were used as a part of the Ottoman postal service. However Adman also owns every single stamp that was printed in the republic's history. With his remarkable collection one almost travels in time.

Adman started collecting stamps when he was 15. “I bought my first collection of stamps for $1,000. That was an incredibly high amount in 1960. This almost led to a family tragedy,” Adman smiles. As a fifteen year old visiting his aunt in Paris he realized a book of Anatolian stamps and asked his aunt to help him out to buy the collection but of course she said no. Then Adman managed to entice his grandmother as the only grandchild in the family. His father went ballistic when he heard that Mihran paid that much for this one collection. That was the starting point of his life long journey.

I would have never thought a stamp collection could tell so many different stories. “If you do not know history well you won't be able to collect stamps, or let's say you won't be able to form a collection,” Adman says. “For example stamps have deckle edges. In my collection two of the same stamps have different edges. One has twelve punched deckle edges the other one has five. The reason for that was during the war the hole-puncher broke and they used sewing machines instead to punch holes for the stamps in Istanbul.”

The first stamp was published in Istanbul in 1860. “Greece for example published its first stamp in France because they did not have the technical capacity. The Ottoman Empire published its first stamp in Istanbul,” said Adman.

Armenians played a crucial role in establishing such a strong postal service in the empire. Krikor Agaton, the director of general of the Ottoman postal administration in the 1850s, convinced the Europeans to use the Ottoman postal service instead of their own. This way the empire could both control what was being sent and collect postal taxes. However, after Agaton's sudden death the Europeans withdrew from the agreement and never gave up their postal services until the foundation of the republic. Adman says he feels upset that today Armenians' role in such a strong postal service are not remembered at all. “On some of the envelops I collected over the years from the Ottoman years the addresses were only written in Armenian and they reached their destinations just fine because most of the postal service workers knew Armenian.” However, Adman does not want his stamp collection to be a part of a long lasting political debate. The Armenian diaspora asked Adman to give his stamps to be exhibited in the Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C. He, without hesitating, refused. In May Adman will be exhibiting his collection in the Turkish Cultural Center in New York. He also says one day he wishes to exhibit it in native Istanbul as well.

Adman, who loves Istanbul very much, had to leave his hometown in 1980 because of the increasing attacks on minorities. However, he never lost touch. Adman is very well known and respected among the Turkish community in Long Island as well.

“On this boat ticket,” he says, showing one interesting piece from his collection, “There are four languages, Ottoman, Greek, Armenian and French on four different corners. That is how multicultural the empire was,” Adman says with a hope that one day Turkey can embrace its multicultural past full heartedly.

On April 24 of this year, like the last 92 years, many think that Turkish-Armenian reconciliation is impossible: To those who think this way I recommend that they find Adman and look at his amazing stamp collection.

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First Armenian With Access To Ottoman Archives
April 28, 2007
Prof. Dr. Pars Tuglaci, born Parsegh Touglajian, is one of the rare historians to have the chance of examining the archives of the Ottoman Empire

Whether to open the Ottoman archives or not has created discussions through different periods. One rare academic to get the chance has been historian and linguist Prof. Dr. Pars Tuglaci, born Parsegh Touglajian, who has a special permit to examine the archives, granted by Fahri Korutürk when he was president of the Turkish Republic in the 1970s. While preparing the most comprehensive Turkish dictionary of the new Turkish Republic, “Ocean Encyclopedic Turkish Dictionary,” Tuglaci was invited to the presidential palace at Cankaya by President Fahri Korutürk in 1974. Korutürk asked him how they could help him with his work, and Tuglaci said “For a nation's history to be written without mistakes or omittance, the state archive of the country of which that nation is member must to be scanned through. For this, I want the permission from you to scan through the Ottoman State Archive.”

Pars Tuglaci mentions that the studies he did in the Ottoman archives have an inestimable importance for him. Tuglaci also compared the information he obtained from the archives with the archives of other countries to publish the 25 volume Great Turkish Encyclopedia, which covers the history and culture of Turkey before and after 1071.

Pars Tuglaci is “Honorary Professor” of the Paris International Relations Institute, has a “life time honorary professorship” with the American International Bibliography Institute, and is a lifetime member of Cambridge International Biography Association. He also has many titles and memberships worldwide, including “Buenos Aires Diplomacy Academy Member” and “USA Biography Institute Research Association Management Assignee.”

Tuglaci began his dictionary and encyclopedia work right after he graduated from Michigan University English Literature Department in 1960. Known as ‘Master of Dictionary,' Tuglaci's first work in this area is the ‘English-Turkish Idioms Dictionary.' Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's close friend and one of the eminent names of the Turkish Literature, Halide Edip Adivar, sent a ‘Certificate of Appreciation' to Tuglaci for the dictionary published in 1960.

History can't be without documents; the historian has to be candid:

Tuglaci said, “History can't be without source or documents. Equity should be the mission of the historian. In my works, I tell about what happened, I attach its document next to it; there is no interpretation in history.”

Having done research in many countries including Egypt, Syria, Lebanon and the former Soviet Union, Tuglaci is fluent in Armenian, Turkish, English and French.

The Ottoman Empire has great significance in world history, Pars Tuglaci said, with all ethnic components within its boundaries coming together to form the conscience of being Ottoman. In his historical research, he looks at the concept of being Ottoman as a whole, he said.

So far, thirty five of Tuglaci's works have been published. Besides the more eminent ones such as the Ottoman Empire History, English, French and Turkish dictionaries, there are works including “Woman in Turkey - Women of Istanbul in Ottoman Times," "The Ottoman Palace Women," "The Role of the Balyan Family in the Ottoman Architecture,” "Armenian Churches Of Istanbul," "Western Armenians Throughout History," "Istanbul Islands Throughout History” and "Çiragan Palace." Except for "Western Armenians,” all the books have been published in English and Turkish. The comprehensive encyclopedia on the history of Western Armenians will be translated into English shortly.

World Peace is just a Utopia:

Among the works of Tuglaci, who said he has many works ready to be published, is the comprehensive work he prepared on Ismet Inönü, and “Three Chronological Period Histories of Istanbul.” The chronological historical ordering of five volumes, starting from the East Roman Empire Period, covers Byzantine and Ottoman history. Tuglaci, having attended the “International Science, Culture and Art Congress” representing Turkey for seventeen years, will represent Turkey with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the conference to be held in the first week of July in the United States, which will be attended by scholars from around the world.

Pars Tuglaci summarized his opinions on language and history as follows: “Language is the object forming the relationships between people; history is the reason of a nation to exist. The one who doesn't know about his own history cannot like his nation.”

Touching upon recent political and social developments, Tuglaci thinks peace in the world is just a utopia now.

hr>

Turkey Criticizes Canada's Reference To Alleged Genocide
April 28, 2007
ANKARA – Turkish Daily News

Ankara strongly criticized Canada on Thursday for referring to the killings of Armenians at the hands of the Ottoman Empire as genocide, saying that it was “unacceptable, unfair and incompatible with friendly ties.”

Despite the Turkish government's warning, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper recognized the killings of Armenians during World War I years as genocide in a declaration he issued on April 24, a day of commemoration for the alleged genocide.

“We consider such a reference in the statement by the Canadian prime minister to be unacceptable, unfair and incompatible with our friendly ties,” stated a written statement released by the Turkish Foreign Ministry late on Thursday.

The ministry warned that Harper's declaration would neither contribute to friendly ties between Turkey and Canada, nor to normalization of ties between the two neighboring countries, Turkey and Armenia.

“We believe that Mr. Harper continues to be misled and suggest instead that he encourage competent Canadian historians to study the events of 1915 on a proper basis,” it added. The ministry reiterated the Turkish proposal of setting up a joint committee of historians to study genocide allegations.

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Truth Of Mass Grave Eludes Swedish Professor
April 27, 2007
ONUR BURÇAK BELLI
ISTANBUL - Turkish Daily News

An investigation to clarify conflicting claims about the origins of a mass grave found near the city of Mardin last year in Turkey's southeast ended in disappointment this week as historians traded accusations and a Swedish expert denounced the excavation as an “expensive picnic.”

The grave first came to light last October when villagers in the district of Nusaybin reported that they had found a mass grave near the village of Kuru. Turkish historians insisted that the grave dated back to Roman times while some Westerners claimed it could be a mass burial site of Armenians, killed around 1915 in a series of massacres that remain the subject of red hot controversy today.

After the weekly news magazine Nokta published photos of the site and international news agencies picked up the story, Sweden's Soderton University demanded an investigation.

Refusing collaboration:

Professor David Gaunt of Soderton, accompanied by Yusuf Halaçoglu, the President of the Turkish Association of Historians (TTK), arrived at the burial site together last Tuesday, April 24. The date is a symbolic day for Armenians who commemorate “genocide” on that day, a characterization disputed by most Turkish and many international scholars.

On examining the grave, Gaunt refused to collaborate with the Turkish historians. It had been tampered with since it was first uncovered, making it impossible to conclusively establish its origins or the circumstances of the human remains.

“I have some photos of the grave, dating back to October, when it was first found,” Gaunt told the Turkish Daily News yesterday. “But the place I saw was totally different from the photos."If proving that the grave is not evidence of Armenian claims, it should have had serious protection, he said. However, it is “full of mud.”“My impression is that this grave is one in which no scientific research can be carried out. The grave has undergone numerous changes so it is unrecognizable," he said.

Soil sample conflict:

The Turkish Association's Halaçoglu, however, said in response that no bones were removed from the place and that the change was due to natural factors such as rain. Gaunt in turn rejected that explanation, saying if indeed scientific standards of protection were used “then it could not have been affected by rain or anything else."The aim of this visit was to make a preliminary survey to establish whether the site is suitable for interdisciplinary investigations in the future by forensic medical experts, archaeologists, physical anthropologists and historians. If such a decision was taken, forensic experts would be engaged to assist the Turkish Historical Society and the Institute for Historical Justice and Reconciliation in their work.Noting that Roman pantheons have their own entrance, which was closed in the grave, Halaçoglu emphasized that the grave represents a typical Roman burial site.

It could not be a site, in his view, of alleged Armenian victims at the hands of the Ottoman Empire. He also chastised Gaunt for flippancy, saying if he is sincere about investigating genocide claims, he should have taken soil samples that could prove the history of the bones. He also recalled that Turkey has made an official proposal to Armenia to set up a joint commission of historians to study such disputed events and all sides should conduct their work impartially.Such impartiality is now impossible, an angry Gaunt argued: “They gave me a shovel to dig and get some soil and some little bones, which were impossible to work on and reach any scientific conclusion. It is an archeological site. The process should continue slowly and gently,” he said “That was when I realized it was impossible to reach any scientific conclusion. Why should I get soil samples? What happened to those bones that are the real source for forensic research?"It could well be a Roman grave, he said, but the point was to examine the remains of 38 bodies there and that is now difficult if not impossible."Our intention was to understand how they got there, but I have heard that they were removed. I cannot accept the claim that mud filled the grave naturally," Gaunt explained.

Understanding the exact date:

David Gaunt also said it is scientifically impossible to understand the exact date from the bones. "It is not possible to say the exact date with scientific and chemical examinations. One can only merge the scientific outcomes with the stories of the local people. Then maybe one may have an answer close to reality.”

Sait Yildiz, a Syriac local of Mardin, said Halaçoglu accused him of manipulating reality and misinforming the media. Yildiz was at the site with Gaunt and Halaçoglu the first time they went into the grave. "I was carrying the photographs taken at that time," Yildiz said. "A villager came to me, looked at the photos and confirmed that the grave looked like this the first time he discovered it," he added, explaining that villager was the one who first found the grave and reported it to the authorities.

The Swedish professor expressed his disillusionment, describing what happened as “childish.”

“This is the most expensive picnic I have ever attended," concluded the professor.

Emre Çaliskan contributed to this story.

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US State Department Report Reaffirms Armenia's Occupying Azerbaijani Territories
Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
April 26 2007
The US State Department has again made changes to the initial 2006 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, APA reports quoting US State Department's website.

The State Department restored the first variant of the country report on Azerbaijan that states "Armenia continued to occupy the Azerbaijani territory of Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding Azerbaijani territories". This variant had been changed by the influence of Armenian lobby.

APA's US bureau reports the yesterday's changes to the initial report for the third time specifies the side [Armenia] which has occupied the territories of Azerbaijan.

The previous changes to the State Department report caused serious discontent of Azerbaijani side which as a result postponed its high-level visit to Washington for the bilateral security talks, scheduled for April 23-24.

Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry warned that the issue "may become a serious impediment to further security-related cooperation between our countries".

The changes "distort the essence of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict" and their introduction "puts in doubt the U.S. position of the 'honest broker' in the resolution of the conflict," the statement said US Embassy public affairs officer Jonathan Henick confirmed that the State Department country report on human rights practices has been changed for the third time.

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British Embassy Retaliates To Armenian Newspaper Report
YEREVAN, APRIL 26, ARMENPRESS: The British Embassy in Yerevan has retaliated today to a report in the local Russian-language 'Golos Armenii' newspaper, which claimed it disclosed the purported details of a 'confidential' meeting of a former parliament chairman Arthur Baghdasarian, head of the opposition Orinats Yerkir party, with a British diplomat (it emerged today that it was deputy ambassador Richard Hyde) that focused on Armenia's upcoming parliamentary elections.

The newspaper published what it said were excerpts from a secretly recorded conversation of Baghdasarian with Richard Hyde in Yerevan during a dinner in a Yerevan restaurant last February. 'Golos Armenii' said the conversation was recorded on a compact disk sent to it by unknown individuals In one of these excerpts ex-parliament speaker was quoted as urging the European Union to criticize the Armenian authorities' handling of the May 12 vote.

Baghdasarian retaliated in a written statement saying the report was part of a "well-engineered smear campaign" launched against his party by the Armenian authorities.

A statement released today by the British Embassy in Yerevan said the British Embassy 'is dismayed that a clandestine recording has been made, and recently released in part to the press, of a conversation between an official of this Embassy and the leader of an opposition party."

"We do not propose to comment in detail on the gross misrepresentation of a conversation, details of which appear to have been obtained through dishonest and deplorable means."

The Embassy statement said that 'along with the OSCE, European Union, Council of Europe, the diplomatic community and others, the Embassy is interested in seeing elections on 12 May that conform to international standards. In this context the Embassy maintains a wide range of contacts and dialogues with institutions and individuals across the political spectrum in Armenia, in order to be informed of all shades of political opinion. This enables us to form as complete and objective a view as possible of the political process, and is in line with the normal and accepted practice of any embassy anywhere in the world."

"As a member state of the EU, we wholeheartedly support the commitment shared by the EU and Armenia in the European Neighborhood Policy Action Plan to work together to strengthen democratic institutions, and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, and we welcome Armenia's democratic achievements so far.

In that context, our objective will remain to do what we can to support and promote effectiveness in the performance of democratic institutions and processes in the country. It is not, never has been and cannot be, our business to support the political platform of any specific political party."

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Armenian Genocide: Canadian Premier Does Not Cave In Turkey's Blackmail
PanARMENIAN.Net
26.04.2007
"We are well aware of the pressure and the threats by Turkey in the Armenian Genocide issue," Executive Director of the Armenian National Committee of Canada (ANCC) Aris Babikian stated to the PanARMENIAN.Net journalist. "Fortunately Prime Minister of Canada does not cave in Turkey's blackmail. He stood firm to his principled stand vis-a-vis the Armenian Genocide issue," Babikian underlined. In his annual address in connection with the 92nd anniversary of the Armenian Genocide Harper reminded the both chambers of the Canadian Parliament have adopted a resolution that recognizes the first genocide of the 20th century.

Canadian Prime Minister Harper was warned through diplomatic channels last week that "repeating these claims annually will not help in normalizing Turkey-Armenia relations and will harm Turkish-Canadian bilateral relations as well." "We hope that the Canadian PM will not repeat this year what he did last year," a high-level Turkish Foreign Ministry official said, the Turkish Daily News reports.

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French Masonic Organization Presses Turkish Peers To Recognize Armenian Genocide
Yerevan, April 25, Armenpress: Claude Gedan, who led an official delegation of representatives of top " Grand Orient de France (French-Masonic organization ) that has arrived in Yerevan for the first time to share personally the pain of Armenians scattered all-over the world and address their sympathy to the memory of 1.500.000 victims of the 1915 Genocide, said the Grand Orient de France not only recognizes the Armenian genocide, but will also fight for its international acknowledgment, with a focus on pressing Turkey to acknowledge that crime.

He said the organization's head met last February in Turkey with Turkish organization's top members demanding that they also recognize the Armenian genocide, saying otherwise the French organization would break all ties with them.

"We accept that some Masons were involved in plotting the Armenian genocide, but none was from the Grand Orient of France. We condemn what they did and we find that a Mason that chooses the path of violence and nationalism is no longer a Mason. A glaring example of that was Taleat Pasha," he said.

The Grand Orient de France is one of the biggest French Masonic organizations with 50,000 members.

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ARF Bureau Meets With Us Democratic Party Leader
25.04.2007
YEREVAN (YERKIR) - Howard Dean, the National Democratic Commmittee chairman, recevied a delegation of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation Buereau at the Democratic headquarters in Washington on April 24, ARF press service reported.

The ARF Bureau delegation comprised ARF Bureau members Vahan Hovhannisian, Karo Armenian and Vigen Hovsepian.

During the meeting that lasted over an hour, issues related to cooperation between the Democratic party and the ARF were discussed. The Artsakh conflict settlement, the Armenian-Turkish relations and the Armenian Genocide as well as the parliamenatary election in Armenia were also discussed.

The parties agreed to continue inter-party relations and implement a number of joint projects.
www.yerkir.am

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Turkish Armenians' Patriarch Condemns Assault On Turkish Embassy In Russia
AZG Armenian Daily
26/04/2007

On April 25 "Lraber", the official newspaper of the Armenian Patriarchy of Constantinople, reported that Patriarch Mesrob II Mutafian condemned the assault on the Turkish Embassy in Moscow, Russia. "I have said that the Armenian and the Turkish people must have respect for each other's national and religious symbols, so as to prevent those symbols of becoming the target of radical protest actions and to contribute the process of establishment of friendship between those nations," "Lraber" reports his words. He said such actions as tearing apart the flag of Turkey and the portrait of Ataturk, which are the national symbols of the Republic of Turkey, cannot be of any use and can only serve to the escalation of enmity between Armenia and Turkey.

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If U.S.-Turkey Relations Worsen, Recognition Of Armenian Genocide Will Be Just A Pretext
PanARMENIAN.Net 25.04.2007

The resolution that would recognize the Armenian Genocide should be passed, congressman Adam Schiff stated on the House Floor in connection with the 92nd anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. As Schiff's Press Secretary Sean Oblack told PanARMENIAN.Net, congressman's statement reads as follows, "Tomorrow marks the 92nd Anniversary of the start of the Armenian Genocide. In January, I introduced a resolution in the House that would recognize the Armenian Genocide. It should be passed. Ghazaros Kademian is one reason why.

Ghazaros Kademian was just 6 years old when his family was forced into exile by Ottoman Turks bent on annihilating the Armenian people. His father was murdered by Turk gendarmes and the rest of the family was forced to flee on foot to Kirkuk, where his mother died from cold and hunger. He was separated from his siblings and orphaned.

Mr. Kademian's story is terrible, but not remarkable. Over a million and a half Armenians were murdered in the first genocide of the last century as the Ottoman Empire used the cloak of war to wipe out a people it considered alien and disloyal. This mammoth crime was well known at the time; newspapers of the day were filled with stories about the murder of Armenians. "Appeal to Turkey to Stop Massacres" headlined the New York Times on April 28, 1915, just as the killing began. By October 7 of that year, the Times reported that 800,000 Armenians had been slain in cold blood in Asia Minor. In mid-December of 1915, the Times spoke of a million Armenians killed or in exile. Thousands of pages of evidence documenting the atrocities rest in our own National Archives.

Prominent citizens of the day, including America's Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, Henry Morgenthau, and Britain's Lord Bryce reported on the massacres in great detail. Morgenthau was appalled at what he would later call the sadistic orgies of rape, torture, and murder. "When the Turkish authorities gave the orders for these deportations, they were merely giving the death warrant to a whole race; they understood this well, and ... made no particular attempt to conceal the fact."

Even those who have most ardently advocated sweeping the murder of a million and a half people under the rug of history have conceded that the vast majority of historians accept the Armenian Genocide as historical fact. And how could they not - for it was the Government of Turkey that, in early 1919, held a number of well-publicized trials of some of the Young Turk leaders and executed Keimal Bey, the governor of Diarbekir, specifically for his role as one of the Ottoman Empire's most savage persecutors of the Armenian people. The trials, by the way, were as widely covered in the American press as was the genocide itself.

So if the facts are not in dispute, why are so many nations complicit in modern Turkey's strenuous efforts to deny the genocide ever took place?

First, opponents argue that recognizing the unpleasant fact of mass murder risks alienating our important alliance with Turkey. There is no question that Turkey is bitterly opposed to recognition and is threatening our military and commercial relationship, including access to the Incirlik air base. But Turkey has made similar threats to other nations in the past only to retreat from them, and the European Union's insistence that Ankara recognize the crimes of its Ottoman forebears before Turkey is admitted to the EU has not dimmed Turkish enthusiasm for joining the EU.

If Turkish relations with the U.S. do suffer, it is far more likely that the genocide recognition will be a pretext; the Bush Administration has done such a poor job managing our relations with Turkey over the last six years, that we have already seen the limits of the U.S. Turkish alliance tested and found lacking. During the run-up to the war in Iraq, Turkey denied us permission to bring in ground forces from its soil, allowing the Saddam Fedeyeen to melt away and form the basis of a now persistent insurgency.

Oddly enough, critics of recognition decry it as pandering to the victims, but are only too happy to pander to the sensibilities of an inconstant ally, and one that has shown no qualms about accusing the U.S. of genocide in Iraq.

Second, opponents take issue with the timing of the resolution and argue that Turkey is making progress with recognizing the dark chapters of its history. This claim lost all credibility when Orhan Pamuk, Turkey's Nobel Prize winning author was brought up on charges for "insulting Turkishness" for alluding to the genocide, and Turkish Armenian publisher Hrant Dink was gunned down outside his office in Istanbul earlier this year. Yet some opponents go even further, such as a former Ambassador to Turkey who argued that the time may never be right for America to comment "on another's history or morality." Such a ludicrous policy would condemn Congress to silence on a host of human rights abuses around the world. After more than ninety years and with only a few survivors left, if the time is not right now to recognize the Armenian Genocide, when will it be?

But the most pernicious argument against recognition is the claim that speaking the truth would harm relations with Turkey "for no good reason."

How can we claim the moral authority to decry the genocide in Darfur, as we must, if we are unwilling to deplore other genocides when it would inconvenience an ally? Elie Wiesel has described the denial of genocide as the final stage of genocide--a double killing. If you don't think he's right, talk to Ghazaros Kademian."

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AAA: U.S. President's Address Is Part Of Shameless Genocide Denial Campaign
PanARMENIAN.Net 25.04.2007
In his annual April 24th statement commemorating the Armenian Genocide, President Bush characterized the events that began on this date in 1915 as "one of the greatest tragedies of the 20th century" and honored the memory of the 1.5 million "victims of mass killings and forced exile" but failed to properly acknowledge the incontestable fact of the Armenian Genocide, the statement of the Armenian Assembly of America (AAA) says. "President Bush's statement fails to take into account the shameless campaign of denial and distortion," Assembly Board of Trustees Chairman Hirair Hovnanian stated. "In memory of our parents, and grandparents who perished during that time, we will make sure that the Armenian Genocide is universally affirmed. Despite the attempts of the deniers of the Genocide, the truth will prevail," he underlined.

The statement also ignores the political assassination of Hrant Dink, who was prosecuted under Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code for "insulting Turkishness" by speaking the truth. Hrant Dink was murdered in broad daylight and became the latest victim of the Armenian Genocide and the consequence of its denial.

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The EU And Isolating Armenia
View by Fatma Yilmaz
Journal of Turkish Weekly, Turkey April 25 2007

Through which way the European Union (EU) and Armenian relations has recently proceeded is the European Neighborhood Policy (ENP). If requires to remind, the ENP signifies a newly-established approach of the EU which differs from the existing foreign relations of the Union. Instead, including the neighboring countries on the Eastern and Southern encompassing borders of new expanding the EU, the policy goes beyond the present relations with the intention of sharing the benefits of the EU enlargement with the interested neighbors by means of increase in security, stability and interests. In this sense, the ENP sets objectives based on commitments to shared values and effective implementation of political, economic and institutional reforms. The implementation of the ENP is to be supported with financial and technical assistance. For the benefited side, the prospect of this policy seems to create incentives for the promotion of comprehensive economic and political reforms.

However, the ENP is not just completely new approach of the EU in terms of financial and technical assistance so as to encourage the reforms in the neighboring countries. And Armenia is therefore the country which the EU has made contribution to its economic and democratic transformation in terms of the Caucasus policy for a long time. Since the beginning of 1990s, the EU has been trying to shape the transformation going on within the Caucasus republics through technical and financial aids. Programs such as TACIS, FEOGA, ECHO forms the main tools of this policy. TACIS, among them, is the well-known one due to its big budget. Under TACIS, the EU gave start to two different programs following the EU's strategic interests on the religion. These are TRACECA (Transport Corridor Europe Caucasus Asia) and INOGATE (Interstate Oil and Gas Transport to Europe) programs. Including 13 countries, TRCECA is considered a project of Europe-Caucasus-Asia corridor aiming at regenerating the ancient Silk Road. The aim of the mentioned corridor, which forms the shortest, the fastest and the cheapest road route, was actually to break up Russian monopoly. Whereas on one hand the project is to reinforce both political and economic independence of the Caucasus republics, on the other hand it would enable the EU to access the Far East without being dependent to Russia. Therefore, it is possible for the project to be seemed as an infrastructure program which could possibly have contributed to the Armenian development in theory. But what about the practice?

Having contributed the reconstruction of Armenia, then, what is the problem with the EU policies towards Armenia? In fact, firstly what is the problem? Isolation, needless to say... One of the clear examples of this isolation is the TRACECA project. Although Armenia is mentioned within the project on the paper, it could not benefit from the project in practice. This is mainly because of the Azeri abstention to the project for Armenia. This therefore made Armenia to remain outside the EU project. Naturally, the long-lasting Nagorno-Karabakh issue lies behind the Azeri obstacle. In this sense, Azerbaijan seems to be so decisive not to allow Armenia to participate in this EU project. The EU has no way to deter Azerbaijan to take back its objection since it needs the project whether with or without Armenia for the benefit of its interests. It seems so that Armenia causes its isolation with its own policies. How the EU has contributed indirectly to Armenia's isolation is that the EU does not make any pressure on Armenia in terms of a possible solution of the Nagorno-Karabakh issue to be reached a solution. Similarly, the EU does not also put pressure on Armenia about the so-called Armenian genocide issue lasting for long years between Turkey and Armenia as it does about the Cyprus issue towards Turkey. In result, the inertness of the EU on the Armenian politics in the region makes this country believe their policies right to be pursued. Then, such situation encourages Armenia to insist on the present policies which actually damage the Armenian both economic and political power in the region. As long as Armenia believes it could stand just with its own power in the region, it on the contrary contributes its own isolation gradually whereas the countries around it have steadily shown considerable increase in economic terms.

Moreover, although Armenia was the most convenient route for the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, Yerevan unfortunately remained outside of the project. Armenia was not only excluded from the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline project but also there are many projects on the way in which Armenia can not be included. For instance, Azerbaijan-Georgia-Turkey natural gas pipeline which is about to be completed is one of them. Additionally, although there is an already-established railway via Armenia, Kars-Tbilisi-Baku railway line will bypass Armenia once more. New projects are also on the way, and it seems that Armenia will be outside in these coming regional co-operation projects.

What is more, the US, thanks to the strong Armenian diaspora lobbies in the Congress, has given generous aids to Armenia, yet the foreign aid creates not strong Armenian economy, but artificial growth and more dependency on foreign sources. Meanwhile, we should note that the US has been one of the most enthusiastic supporters in the regional cooperation projects which isolated Armenia.

If also estimated the Armenian domestic issues, as Armenia's power relatively decreases, the extremists in the country gain the power reversely and it is possible to claim that Armenia has gradually lost its independence. Therefore, there is an Armenia in the region which is gradually isolated itself without having realized the failure of its own policies towards the neighboring countries. And there is also an EU let Armenians to feel sufficient to carry out all problems themselves unnecessarily. In this circumstance, Armenia should be aware of its potential with its so small population and territory and of its small-scale economy. It therefore needs to be active in the region in collaboration with other actors in the region to survive.

Needless to say that it takes great support of the Armenians in diaspora but to be an effective actor in the region necessitates its own power.

In such manner, it actually requires to appreciate the policies of the EU with the motivation of economic and technical aim to its neighboring countries including Armenia. There is no doubt that the EU has made key contributions to the transformation of Armenia. As mentioned above, the EU aid money is mostly channeled through the TACIS. Since 1994 Armenia has enjoyed consecutive economic growth, with a considerable high economic growth rate in 2002-2003 (13.2% and 13.9%), which was preserved in 2004 (10.1%). However, this is partly dependent on considerable flows of international aid and remittances from the Diaspora.

Furthermore, the European Union alone, during the period 1991-2002, has provided Armenia with national grants that amount to 318.36 million Euros and loans totaling 86 million Euros. In addition, EU Member States' total contributions during the same period were 282 million Euro, bringing total EU assistance to Armenia to approximately 686,3 million Euro.[1] Nevertheless, this would not prevent Armenia to play an aggressive role in its external relations which force it to be isolated. As it does in the US case, the EU aids mostly through the TACIS program made Armenian growth to be artificial. The foreign aids to Armenia could not make structural contribution; in contrast, it makes Armenian economy to be dependent on foreign investments.

In such an environment, what the EU might to do against the gradual isolation could be to encourage Armenia to pursue more moderate and collaborationist role in terms of the solution of its problems with neighbors. The EU might use its conditional aids as a trigger to persuade Armenia to agree with the parties of the problems as it does for the benefit of economic and political reforms in the country.

Otherwise, Armenia would be obliged to withdraw its own shell with the risk of isolation gradually.

By Fatma YILMAZ I.S.R.O. (U.S.A.K.) Center for the European Union Studies

[1] European Union Chamber of Commerce in Armenia, retrieved from: http://www.eucca.am/?page=content&parent=EU%20Armenia%20Relationship&link=EU%20Armenia%20Relationship, 22 March 2007.

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An Armenian Genocide by Kinga Kali
Budapest Sun, Hungary April 25 2007
The Armenian Genocide of 1915-17 is commemorated around the world on April 24, wherever Armenians are living - and that includes Budapest, where cultural events have accompanied a solemn remembrance of one of the worst massacres of the last century.

After more than 90 years, the Mets Yeghern (The Great Calamity, in Armenian) that killed 1.5 million Armenians in Turkey (as well as many Greeks and Assyrians), it is still a matter of much controversy, officially denied or not recognized by many countries, despite eye-witness accounts, documentary and photographic evidence, the testimony of thousands of survivors and decades of historical research.

Silence often shrouds the issue in Hungary as well and, despite, or perhaps because of, Hungary's 150 years of Ottoman occupation, Hungary still doesn't officially recognize the Armenian genocide.

The Turkish state denies that its Ottoman predecessor committed genocide, and protests vehemently against countries and individuals who insist otherwise.

Armenians may shiver, in fact, that an alley in Budapest's beautiful Castle District is named after Kemal Ataturk, founder of the modern Turkish state - and if that state is the successor of the Ottoman Empire, then isn't Turkey responsible of the crimes committed by the Young Turk Party, of which Ataturk was once a member?

Ataturk himself was, in fact, scathing about his people's behavior towards the Armenians. At a military tribunal in January 1919, he said, "Our compatriots committed inhuman crimes, they resorted to every kind of despotism, they organized deportations and massacre, they burnt babies alive sprinkled with petrol, they raped women and girls. They brought such insupportable conditions to people, that no other people had seen before in history."

Failing to punish

But, as President of Turkey, Ataturk, failed to punish the perpetrators of those crimes, and the barbarous events of 1915-17 fell into a deep, silent and secure whirlpool of oblivion.

Due to this terrifying ethnic cleansing, the Armenian Diaspora is now much bigger than the population of Armenia itself, and Hungary is home to a significant Armenian community.

Armenians first arrived in Hungary in the 13th century, when legend says 300 Armenian families fled Ani, one of Armenia's ancient capitals, the so-called city of the Thousand Towers, to escape the Tatars.

After wandering in Crimea, Poland, and Moldova, in 1672 they arrived in Transylvania, where they were settled by Duke Mihaly Apafi and functioned independently as traders.

They established four towns and initially used their own tongue, before learning the language of the surrounding people: Hungarian, Romanian and German. In the late 18th century, Armenian traders migrated to the Hungarian Plain, and the descendants of these traders are the foundations of the Armenian community in Hungary.

Over time, they assimilated the culture of the Hungarians they lived alongside and, nowadays, Hungarian-Armenians don't speak the language of their ancestors, although they are well aware of their Armenian origins. "We are Hungarians during the week, and Armenians on the weekends, in church," they often say.

The second "layer" of the Armenian community constitutes descendants of those who arrived after the events of 1915 in Turkey. There is often tension with the earlier arrivals, because the "newcomers" refuse to accept those who use Hungarian as their mother-tongue as real Armenians.

Paradoxically, this year's Week of Armenian Culture was organized by the Hungarian-Armenian group, mainly the Transylvanian Armenian Roots Cultural Association and the Metropolitan Armenian Self-Government, which was not directly affected by the events in Turkey.

Paying homage

They paid homage to the Armenian martyrs of the Mets Yeghern by putting flowers at the Armenian Khachkar (a stone cross made by Armenian monks) near the Danube, close to Petôfi ter, and, from April 19-25, several cultural events commemorated the genocide.

These include an exhibition of archive photos, entitled The First Genocide of the Twentieth Century, in Árkad Galeria (Pest, District VIII, Rakoczi út 30.), at the opening of which a book Nikolaj Hovhanniszjan: The Armenian Genocide, was presented.

On April 22 at Bela Bartok's Memorial House, there was a concert introducing music from the Armenian Miniatures for Piano album, released during the week. The CD includes a selection of music by Aram Hachaturian, Komitas and Bartok.

These events surely deserve the support of all those who would give a belated reply to Hitler, architect of the Holocaust, who allegedly asked his Nazi aides on August 22, 1939, "Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?"

The First Genocide of the Twentieth Century - Archive Photographs Until April 27. Árkad Galeria Pest, District VIII. Rakoczi út 30.

www.budapestsun.com

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George Bush Did Not Call 1915 Events As Genocide
Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan April 25 2007

On the eve of so called "Armenian genocide" U.S. President George Bush in his annual April 24 speech did not call 1915- 1923 historical events as genocide.

The US president called events of that time tragedy again, not using the word "genocide".

"We commend the individuals in Armenia and Turkey who are working to normalize the relationship between their two counties. A sincere and open examination of the historic events of the late-Ottoman period is an essential part of this process. The United States supports and encourages those in both countries who are working to build a shared understanding of history as a basis for a more hopeful future," President Bush said.

U.S. President also touching on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict said : "The United States remains committed to working with Armenia and Azerbaijan to promote a peaceful settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict."

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US Four Congressmen Decline Their Signatures To Support 'Armenian Genocide'
Today, Azerbaijan April 25 2007

Despite stronger efforts by Armenian lobby in US for approval of Armenian genocide resolution in the Congress, some congressmen declined their signatures for supporting the resolution.

Four Congress members-Republicans Denis Moor, Phil English, Adam Purtnam and Democrat David Scot officially declined to support the genocide resolution.

David Scot told the local press that he was unaware of the essence of the events of 1915 in Turkey while signing the resolution, APA reports.

"I was unaware of the history and the real essence of those events. I only signed it at Democrat Adam Shif's request and I joined the campaign for recognizing genocide. I have officially denied my signature after understanding the real essence of the events," the congressman said.

www.today.az

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Bulgaria's Turkish Party Won't Recognize Genocide In Armenia
Sofia News Agency, Bulgaria April 25 2007

Bulgaria's ethnic Turkish party Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) sparked controversy in Parliament, when they refused to accept the term "genocide" when it comes to the slaughtering of over a million Armenians in 1915.

MP Rupen Kirkoryan, who is on the ticket of Simeon II National Movement (SIINM), suggested that the memory of the killed Armenian citizens be honoured with a minute of silence.

When the Parliament fell silent, all MRF representatives demonstratively left the room. Their act enraged the opposition and Boyko Vatev from the Bulgarian National Union said that it was about time the Bulgarian Parliament adopted a declaration reproaching the genocide. He added that the genocide over the Bulgarian citizens during the April and Ilinden Uprising should also be recognized.

Vatev believes that the adoption of such a declaration and Turkey's possible decision to reread the events of the 19th and 20th century would introduce a European climate in the bilateral relationships between Bulgaria and Turkey. It would also help Turkey advance in its EU accession plans.

The leader of nationalists Ataka (Attack) urged the parliament to officially recognize the events in Armenia as Genocide just as 9 European countries have already done. "This genocide has to be accepted by the Bulgarian Parliament, but I doubt that the majority would do so," Siderov said. "There is a party in the ruling majority that protects the interests of Turkey and this party is MRF," he added. "The representatives of this party are not here and did not honour the memory of a million and a half Armenians."

MRF deputy-head Lyutvi Mestan tried to move the subject with a suggestion for a declaration showing "compassion with the tragedy of all nations and groups of people that had been victims of violence."

Mestan said that Bulgaria's Parliament had no right to assume the powers of an institution that "gives away historical evaluations of events that haven't received consensus and categorical evaluation from historians." He added that Turkey and Armenia are now in a dialogue to find out the historical truth of the events. His words and his tone drove all representatives of the opposition out of the plenary hall.

www.novinite.com

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Moore Won't Explain Armenian Genocide 'Flip-Flop'
Lawrence Journal World, KS April 26 2007

Here are today's headlines from the Kansas congressional delegation:

Rep. Dennis Moore (D)

(Politico.com) Pols sidestep debate over Armenian genocide: Beginning in 1915, more than 1.5 million Armenians died when the Ottoman government forced the relocation of the population. President Bush has a reason not to call it genocide: That would anger the Turkish government, an ally and a Muslim democracy which has threatened to revoke permission for the U.S. to use an important air base over the issue, among other repercussions. Resolutions recognizing and condemning the genocide have been introduced in both the House and the Senate, and the administration is vigorously opposing them. And Turkey's lobbying prowess has already forced four co-sponsors to back off the bill. Rep. Dennis Moore (D-Kan.) also supported the resolution before he withdrew as a co-sponsor. His office said he had "no official comment" on the flip-flop.

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Turkey 'Warned' Canada, US Against Using Term 'Genocide'
Assyrian International News Agency
www.PanARMENIAN.Net April 26 2007

Turkey warned Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper last week not to issue an April 24 declaration where the incidents of 1915 are defined as genocide. The Canadian Parliament recognized the Armenian Genocide and Harper became one of the few heads of state to use the word "genocide" in his written statement during 2006.

Wary of these genocide claims spreading to other countries including the United States, Turkey is trying hard to block efforts by the Armenian Diaspora in almost every country in the world.

Canadian Prime Minister Harper was warned through diplomatic channels last week that "repeating these claims annually will not help in normalizing Turkey-Armenia relations and will harm Turkish-Canadian bilateral relations as well." "We hope that the Canadian PM will not repeat this year what he did last year," a high-level Foreign Ministry official said, the Turkish Daily News reports.

Ankara made the same diplomatic attempt with the United States before April 24 where President George W. Bush also issues a declaration.

Turkish officials said Ankara is not expecting Bush to use the word genocide. U.S. presidents prefer to define the incidents in 1915 as a massacre.

Canadian Prime Minister Steven Harper made a statement in connection with the 92nd anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. "Today we recall the horrible losses of 1915 in the Ottoman Empire, particularly the terrible tragedy of the Armenian nation. Last year I reminded, the both chambers of Canadian Parliament adopted a resolution that recognizes the first genocide of the 20th century. This day makes us remember why we should do everything possible to guarantee rule of human rights and democratic freedoms in our times. Today Canadians with Armenian and Turkish descent live side by side and share values of tolerance. We hope Armenia and Turkey will guide themselves with those values in order to develop their relations. Together with you we recall the past and share your hopes for building the future based on peace and mutual respect," said Steven Harper in his statement.

George W. Bush failed to define the events of 1915 as genocide in his annual April 24 statement.

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