Armenian News...Collective of six editorials

Today's Zaman
Gallipoli commemorations cancelled due to lack of international 

interest
February 21 , 2015

LAMİYA ADİLGIZI / ISTANBUL 
Centennial commemorations of the Gallipoli Campaign of World War I 

initiated by the Turkish government and to be celebrated on April 24 

of this year -- the same date as the centennial commemorations of 

what is called the “Armenian genocide” -- have been cancelled due 

to the unwillingness of international leaders to visit Ankara and 

overshadow the genocide ceremonies in Yerevan.

“The Gallipoli celebrations have been cancelled. All preparations have 

been suspended as the number of RSVPs to the invitation is not positive. 

Only five countries have accepted the invitation and they will not be 

represented by high-level officials,” an official from the government, 

who asked to remain anonymous, said in a talk with Sunday 's Zaman.

The suspension of the Gallipoli commemorations, which were being 

organized by the Turkish Ministry of Youth and Sport, is part of 

longstanding war of words between the Turkish and Armenian leaders 

following an exchange of invitations by both sides urging each other to 

accept the request and honor their victims of the World War I in their 

respective countries. However, neither side appears to be compromising.

The tense ties between Armenians and Turks became particularly 

strained after Ankara decided to commemorate the Gallipoli Campaign 

on the same date as the 100th anniversary of the 1915 events that led 

to the killing of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire during WWI. The 

Turkish government sent invitations to more than 100 leaders around 

the world, including Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan, to attend the 

event. The campaign was one of the most famous battles of WWI when 

Ottoman troops resisted the invading Allied forces who sought to control 

the Gallipoli peninsula on the Dardanelles strait.

"We fought together as one of a kind. That's why we invited 

Sarksyan," a government official was quoted by local media as 

saying, referring to the participation of Armenian minorities 

alongside Turks in the Ottoman army. 

Yerevan rejected the invitation and in an open letter to President 

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Sarksyan said the invitation itself showed 

Turkey's continuing policy of denying the Armenian genocide and 

emphasized that Turkey needs to recognize the 1915 killings as a 

genocide. 

A couple of months earlier Sarksyan had first invited Erdoğan

 -- after he was elected president in August of last year -- to join 

Armenians in commemorating the victims of the Armenian “genocide” 

in Yerevan on April 24 . The invitation was presented by Armenian 

Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandyan during the first official visit of 

an Armenian minister to Ankara.

Armenians claim that 1.5 million Armenians were systematically killed 

in the final years of the Ottoman Empire in a way that constitutes 

genocide, a claim categorically denied by Turkey. Ankara says the 

death toll is inflated and denies that the events of 1915 amounted to 

genocide, arguing instead that both Turks and Armenians were killed 

when Armenians revolted against the Ottoman Empire during WWI 

in collaboration with the Russian army, which was then invading 

Eastern Anatolia. Every year on April 24 , Armenians around the 

world commemorate the Armenian victims who died at the end of 

WWI.

The latest debacle in the already heated relations between Turkey 

and Armenia was Sarksyan's withdrawal of the Zurich protocols from 

the Armenian Parliament. "The Turkish government has no political 

will, distorts the spirit of the protocols and continues its policy of 

setting preconditions," Sarksyan said in a statement issued on 

Monday , adding that Turkey's "policy of denial and rewriting of history" 

on the eve of the 100th anniversary of the 1915 killings is being 

revived in Ankara.

The Zurich protocols, intended to normalize ties between Turkey 

and Armenia, were signed in Zurich on Oct. 10, 2009 with the aim of 

establishing diplomatic relations and opening the two countries' land 

border, which was closed in solidarity with Azerbaijan after Armenia

-backed armed forces seized Azerbaijani territories as part of the 

Nagorno-Karabakh war. The normalization process had been 

deadlocked ever since as neither Parliament approved the deal. Both 

Ankara and Yerevan have accused each other of setting new conditions 

on the deal agreed to in Zurich years ago. Turkey has many times 

stated that any development, such as reconciliation or opening the

border between the two estranged nations, could not be expected 

until Armenia settles the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict with Azerbaijan, 

Turkey's ally in the region.

Instead, Ankara extended its commitment to the peace protocols. 

Calling Armenia's decision “inconsistent and insincere,” Turkish 

Foreign Ministry spokesman Tanju Bilgiç said on Tuesday that 

Armenia wanted further reasons to criticize Turkey ahead of the 

100th anniversary of the 1915 events. 

“The real test will be in April,” said Richard Giragosian, the director 

of  the Yerevan-based Regional Studies Center (RSC), adding that 

although the current developments seem to taint relations, they do 

not necessarily  signal the death of the normalization process although 

the process itself has reached its lowest point. 

Relating the tense political atmosphere on the Armenian-Turkish 

normalization to the domestic issues in both countries -- the upcoming 

June general election for which Erdoğan is trying to secure votes and 

Sarksyan using the protocols to deal with his own domestic political 

troubles -- Giragosian says the test will depend more on what 

Turkish leaders say and do on April 24 . 

Last April Erdoğan extended his condolences to Armenians over what 

happened in 1915, although the act did not meet the expectations of 

Yerevan or the Armenian diaspora.

In Ankara, Güner Özkan, an expert on the Caucasus at the International 

Strategic Research Organization (USAK), is not positive about any new 

developments in the Turkish-Armenian ties at least until the upcoming 

general election in Turkey on June 7.

Calling Sarksyan's latest step a "unilaterial decision," Özkan doesn't 

seem convinced as to the continuation of the precedent established 

by Erdoğan a year ago: "I don't expect any sudden move [from Turkish l

eaders including Erdoğan] especially under the increasing pressure 

on Ankara on the eve of the approaching 100th anniversary of the 

so-called genocide and the upcoming election."


asbarez.com
Ankara Forced to Cancel Gallipoli Event due to Lack of International 

Interest 

21 February 2015
ANKARA—Turkish President’s scheme to mark the Battle of Gallipoli 

on April 24 has failed, forcing Ankara to cancel the planned event, with 

Sunday’s Zaman reporting that the cancellation was due to the low 

number of heads of states to attend the ceremonies.

The newspaper quoted a government official, who wished to remain 

anonymous, as saying, “The Gallipoli celebrations have been canceled. 

All preparations have been suspended as the number of RSVPs to the 

invitation is not positive. Only five countries have accepted the invitation 

and they will not be represented by high-level officials.”

“The spectacle of Turkey’s failure to stage this April 24th 

Gallipoli farce speaks to the success of our longterm strategy of 

internationally isolating Ankara’s policy of genocide denial,” 

said Armenian National Committee of America Executive Director 

Aram Hamparian. 

Leading up to the Gallipoli event, Erdogan had sent official invitations 

to more than 100 world leaders, including Armenian President Serge 

Sarkisian, to partake in the ceremonies. The date designated for these 

commemoration events—April 24—created uproar among Armenians 

worldwide, while Turkish human rights groups urged world leaders to 

boycott the Gallipoli events.

On Jan. 16, Sarkisian responded to Erdogan’s invitation to Turkey on 

April 24, in a strongly worded letter. “Turkey continues its conventional 

denial policy and is perfecting its instrumentation for distorting history. 

This time, Turkey is marking the 100th anniversary of the Battle of 

Gallipoli on April 24, even though the battle began on March 18, 1915 

and lasted until late January 1916, while the Allies’ operation started 

on April 25,” he wrote, adding, “What is the purpose [of this] if not 

to distract the world’s attention from the 100th anniversary of the 

Armenian Genocide?” 

STANCE ON 1915 INCIDENTS TO INFORM TURKEY'S MISSILE 

SYSTEM DECISION
Daily Sabah, Turkey
Feb 18 2015
SENA ALKAN

A proposal evaluation process regarding Turkey's long-awaited,
billion-dollar long-range air and missile defense system has been
finalized, according to National Defense Minister İsmet Yılmaz.

Reportedly, Turkey will wait until April 24, which is the anniversary
of the 1915 incidents to select a winner for the missile defense
system. Rumors in political circles in Ankara said that no decision
will be made over the missile defense system winner before April
24 since Turkey wants to see France and the U.S.'s position on the
1915 incidents.

An agreement may be made with China if U.S. and French administrations
take a "pro-Armenian" stance.

The 1915 incidents happened during World War I when a portion of the
Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire took a stand with Russians
and revolted. The uprising came about after a decision by the empire
to forcibly relocate Armenians to eastern Anatolia. The Armenian
diaspora and the state of Armenia have both described the incidents as
"genocide" and have asked for compensation.

Responding to deputies' questions on the missile defense system,
the national defense minister said that the system will be integrated
with the national systems to be used in Turkey's own defense instead
of integrating with NATO.

He also announced that the proposal evaluation process regarding the
project is finalized.


GRANDAD KILLED IN A 'GENOCIDE' MASSACRE
The Sun (England)
February 16 , 2015 Monday
Ireland Edition
by MICHAEL McHUGH 

AN Irish man who believes his grandfather was killed and buried in an
Armenian mass grave has called on the British and Irish governments
to recognise the deaths as genocide.

Paul Manook said his grandfather was lined up alongside other men in
a village in eastern Turkey by Ottoman Turkish soldiers a century ago.

He was never seen again.

Turkey has apologised for the killings but denies Armenian claims
that up to 1.5 million people died in an act of genocide during the
First World War when troops targeted the Christian minority.

Mr Manook, 64, from Millisle in Co Down, said: "I have a strong
feeling they must have killed them and buried them in mass graves."

The dispute between the two sides centres on the definition of
genocide.