A Story - Turkey recognizes the Genocide‏

TURKEY RECOGNIZES THE GENOCIDE
By AVEDIS KEVORKIAN

In order to be accepted into the European Union, Turkey finally realized that it had no choice

but to stop denying the historical fact of the Armenian Genocide. In its statement, it said: "Yes,

in 1915, the Ottoman Empire did commit the state-conceived, state-planned, and state-executed

genocide of its Armenians. Therefore, although the Republic of Turkey had nothing to do with it,

we will transfer a part of eastern Turkey to the Republic of Armenia."

The world was astounded.

Washington was caught flat-footed, but scraped together a statement in which it praised Turkey.

London issued a statement praising Turkey.

The State of Israel went further and said that it was about time that Turkey admitted the actions

of the Ottomans had made the template for future genocides.

The Armenians were elated beyond description when they learned how much of Turkey was

involved. Of course, many of the Turks living in the land to be transferred, decided to leave, but

about twenty-three million Turks stayed on, saying that as far as they were concerned it was their

home.

The transfer took place, and suddenly Armenia was more than three times as large and had a

population almost six times as great. About two-million Armenians from the Diaspora came, l

ooked around, and about half decided that they didn't want to live in such a backward area, but

about a million stayed on.

The Turkish flag came down; Mustapha Kemal's photos were removed; the schools began

teaching Armenian, and the resident Turks were given Armenian citizenship.

Armenians from the Republic came across the now-disappeared border to "look at Ararat from

the other side." Some stayed.

The government's crooks and thieves and thugs also came and, as expected, gobbled up the best

land and properties. They made plans to divide the profits from the Baku­Ceyhan oil pipeline.

About three years later, it was time to vote for the Armenian National Assembly. The (Armenian)

Armenians put up their hundreds of candidates affiliated with the usual score of parties. The Turkish

(Armenians) formed one party and put up one slate of candidates. Even the crooked (Armenian)

Armenian government could not alter the results which showed a huge number of Turkish (Armenian)

--about five times as many as Armenian (Armenian) --members of the Assembly, and the Assembly

elected a Turkish (Armenian) Speaker, and Turkish (Armenian) office holders were appointed.

The Republic of Armenia had a Turkish (Armenian)-run Assembly.

The following year, came the election of a president. The (Armenian) Armenians put up their usual

dozen candidates from about a score of political parties, and the Turkish (Armenians) put up a single

candidate. After the election, even the (Armenian) Armenians had to admit that the country had

elected a Turkish (Armenian) president.

He was inaugurated, and installed a cabinet full of Turkish (Armenian) ministers.

Thus, the Republic of Armenia had a Turkish (Armenian) President, a (Turkish) Armenian Prime

Minister, and a Turkish (Armenian) Assembly.

Shortly after, a Turkish (Armenian) member of the Assembly introduced a bill dissolving the Republic

of Armenia in order to have it absorbed into the Republic of Turkey. It was quickly seconded, and the

vote was about five to one in favor. The Turkish (Armenian) president signed the measure into law.

Ankara announced that the Armenians had finally come home. And Turkey's long-time objective had

been realized; there was no Armenia any longer.

Washington was caught flat-footed but issued a statement that the Armenians had done a wise thing.

London issued a statement that the Armenians had done a wise thing.

The State of Israel said that the Armenians had turned the last page of the last chapter of their history

and were back in the Turkish family.

The crooks and thieves and thugs who used to run Armenia were now listed as among the richest Turks.

At midnight of the following December 31, the Armenian Tri-color was brought down for the last time, and

the Crescent and Star raised over the Assembly building. The Republic of Armenia was no more. Photos

of Mustapha Kemal went up all over the former Armenia.

The Republic of Turkey had just expanded eastward to its "brother" Azerbaijan. Mount Ararat was back

in Turkey.

The singing and dancing, which had begun days before, became almost universal. The singing and dancing

went into the early days of January. The longer it lasted the louder it became.

Then, suddenly, it stopped. All was quiet.

As my eyes got used to the darkness, I realized that I was staring at the ceiling of my bedroom. I looked

around. I was in my bedroom.

It had been a dream.

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The Economist: Turkey and Russia - Old Rivals, New Partners‏

(read to the end)

Turkey and Russia
Old rivals, new partners
Aug 13th 2009 | ANKARA
From The Economist print edition

An alliance of convenience that arouses some suspicion in the West
AFP

Friends or foes?

THROUGH the long Ottoman era, Turks and Russians fought many bloody wars. In modern

times Turkey guarded NATO’s southern flank against Soviet mischief. “The Russians are

treacherous” is a popular Turkish adage. But one would hardly have guessed it as the two

countries’ prime ministers, Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, splashily signed a

raft of agreements in a ceremony in Ankara on August 6th.

“Treacherous” was in fact the word some applied to the deal with Russia’s Gazprom to use

Turkish territorial waters in the Black Sea for a gas pipeline to Europe. The planned South

Stream pipeline will bypass Ukraine, through which 80% of Russia’s gas exports to Europe

now flow. Russia has repeatedly turned off the taps in disputes with Ukraine, leaving millions

of Europeans in the cold. To reduce dependence on Russia, the European Union has long

promoted a pipeline to the Caspian, Nabucco, which Turkey also signed up for in July. So

whose side is it on?

The answer is simple: Turkey’s. Sitting at the crossroads of the energy-rich Middle East and

the former Soviet Union, Turkey has unique leverage as a transit hub for gas. And it is

unabashedly using the energy card to promote its membership of the EU. This requires

co-operation with Russia. In exchange for backing South Stream, Turkey won Russian

support for an oil pipeline from the Black Sea port of Samsun to the Ceyhan terminal on the

Mediterranean. It is also said to have cajoled Russia into lowering the price for a nuclear-power

station. Nabucco and South Stream are not rivals, they are complementary, insists Turkey’s

foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoglu.

The same might be said of Turkey and Russia themselves. With the end of the cold war

their interests sometimes coincide. Both backed the war in Afghanistan but were viscerally

opposed to America’s invasion of Iraq. Turkey’s image as America’s poodle was erased in

March 2003 when its parliament refused to let American troops cross Turkish soil to open a

second front against Saddam Hussein.

A bigger test of Turkey’s stance came in the Russia-Georgia war of August 2008. Turkey

carefully implemented the Montreux Convention, which governs traffic through the Bosporus, so

only a handful of American warships could enter the Black Sea. Neither Turkey nor Russia wants

the Americans meddling in their back pond.

What do the Americans think? Ian Lesser, an analyst at the German Marshall Fund in Washington,

argues that for now they are not fussed. “The [Obama] administration is far more sensitive to

what Turkey does with Iran.” Turkey’s overtures to Russia are seen in the context of a new

foreign policy that involves engaging with all its neighbours. Europe can hardly cast stones either,

as it remains divided over Russia. Italy’s prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, was present in Ankara

because ENI, an Italian energy company, is involved in the South Stream deal.

Russia is Turkey’s biggest single trading partner and provides 68% of its gas. Turkish construction

firms are active all over Russia. Millions of Russian tourists flock to Turkish resorts every year.

Antalya, on the Mediterranean, is home to some 15,000 Russians, many of them women married

to Turkish men. They have their own Russian-language newspaper and now want an

Orthodox church. “Russian women educated Turkish men in love,” says Ali Ozgenturk, who made

“Balalayka”, a film about Russian prostitutes in Turkey.

Mr Putin and Mr Erdogan get on well. Both are macho, sporty and prone to authoritarian instincts.

Turkey is also one of the few countries with which today’s Russia feels comfortable, a pole

in its preferred multipolar system, in which big countries pursue independent policies.

Turkey even appears to have colluded with the Russian patriarch, Kirill, to limit the powers

of the Greek Orthodox patriarch in Istanbul, Bartholomew I, usually seen as first among

equals in the Orthodox hierarchy.

Yet mutual suspicions linger. Russia is unhappy with Turkey’s indulgence of Chechens. (Tahir

Buyukkorukcu, a Muslim preacher, speaks of the “Russian pig” when talking of Chechnya in his

television show on the private Kon channel.) Russia has shut schools run by the Muslim fraternity

of a Turkish imam, Fethullah Gulen.

For Turkey, Russia’s refusal to label Kurdish rebels of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) as

“terrorists” is a sore point. It is also wary of Russia’s show of wanting to help Armenia and

Azerbaijan make peace over Nagorno-Karabakh. Turkish officials say Russia wants to repair the

damage to its image caused by its battering of Georgia. More likely, it wants to stop Turkey

making peace with Armenia. Many believe that Russian scheming emboldened Azerbaijan

to press Turkey into ditching plans to re-establish ties and reopen its border with Armenia.

This is now patrolled by Russian soldiers, just as in the cold war.
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Google Gets it Right‏

From:	ANCA (ancaupdate@anca.org)
Sent:	Thu 8/13/09 12:12 AM

August 12, 2009 Turkish group seeks to reverse Google's stand against Genocide denial Take Action NOW! Watch Peter Balakian on Charlie Rose TONIGHT Poet and author Peter Balakian will be on the PBS Charlie Rose Show this evening, 8/12 discussing "Armenian Golgotha." Check your local TV listing for the air time. ** Over 80 House Members Slam Turkey's Reversal on Proposed "Roadmap" ** Colorado Marks Genocide Awareness Day ** In the News: FBI Insider Links Turkish Lobby To Bribery And Blackmail. Read / Watch the Video Turkish Coalition Launches Online Misinformation Campaign to Reinstate Google Ads | Take action | WASHINGTON, DC - The Turkish Coalition of America (TCA) today launched an online campaign to pressure internet giant Google into complicity in its denial of the Armenian Genocide, reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA). The move comes in response to Google's recent decision to stand by its "Don't be Evil" motto by stopping advertisements, placed by the TCA, which drove internet traffic to websites denying the Armenian Genocide. The TCA's earlier Google Ads were triggered with search entries including "Armenia", "Armenian", "Armenian Genocide" and led to the Turkish Coalition of America website which includes revisionist materials denying the centrally planned and systematically carried out campaign of extermination of 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman Turkish Government from 1915-1923. The group also advocates against passage of Congressional legislation, H.Res.252, recognizing the Armenian Genocide. "The Turkish Coalition of America's efforts to strong-arm Google to join their Armenian Genocide denial campaign is as misguided as their broader efforts to cover-up this crime against humanity," said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian. "We commend Google for reviewing its ad policy and respecting its "Don't be Evil" motto by turning down ads advocating hate and lies." Read more. . . Read Fox News Coverage. . . Over 80 House Members Slam Turkey's Reversal on Proposed "Roadmap" Congressional Letter Urging "Administration to separate the issues of normalization and genocide recognition" Comes as Turkish Leaders Reiterate Preconditions on Dialogue WASHINGTON, DC -- Over 80 House Members expressed concern about Turkey's backtracking on a so-called "roadmap" to advance Armenia-Turkey dialogue, urging President Obama to separate Armenian Genocide recognition from normalization of ties between the two countries, reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA.) "We commend the leadership of Representatives Pallone, Kirk, Schiff, Radanovich and their 78 colleagues in calling attention to Turkey's efforts to inject the resolution of the Karabagh conflict as a precondition to lifting its illegal blockade of Armenia," said ANCA Chairman Ken Hachikian. "U.S. affirmation of the Armenian Genocide should not be held hostage to a sham 'roadmap' designed to prolong U.S. complicity in the denial of that crime against humanity." In a July 29th letter to President Obama, initiated by Congressional Armenian Caucus Co-Chairs Frank Pallone (D-NJ) and Mark Kirk (R-IL) as well as Armenian Genocide resolution lead sponsors Adam Schiff (D-CA) and George Radanovich (R-CA), Members of Congress questioned Turkey's commitment to talks normalizing relations with Armenia, as stated in a "roadmap" agreement signed just two days prior to April 24th, the international day of commemoration of the Armenian Genocide. Turkey has since added preconditions to continued discussions, which have led most observers of the process to conclude the effort to be stalled indefinitely. Read more. . . Colorado Marks "Genocide Awareness Day" ANCA Welcomes Proclamation by CO Governor Bill Ritter; Salutes Efforts of Colorado Coalition for Genocide Awareness and Action | Watch Video | WASHINGTON, DC -- Colorado Governor Bill Ritter Jr. joined with the Colorado Coalition for Genocide Awareness and Action (CCGAA), today, at a press conference proclaiming August 5th as "Genocide Awareness Day" in the state, reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA). "We're here today to raise awareness that Genocide is a real thing where real people are affected in traumatic ways and because as part of the fraternity of man or in solidarity with our fellow human beings around the globe, we say we can't tolerate it, that it should not be part of our world in the twenty first century," said Gov. Ritter. "The first recognized genocide of the twentieth century took place in Armenia, with the slaughter of more than a million Armenians, and we have seen it again and again since. It is imperative that we recognize what has happened, so we can ensure it will not happen again." The genocide awareness event was organized by the Colorado Coalition for Genocide Awareness and Action, a group founded by local activist Roz Duman and committed to bringing together anti-genocide groups to educate Colorado residents about the ravages of this crime against humanity - from the Armenian Genocide to Darfur. Commenting on the ongoing efforts to secure U.S. reaffirmation of the Armenian Genocide, Duman explained "The CCGAA has, from its inception, worked within Colorado to affirm the Armenian Genocide and to promote public awareness of the facts of that event. Historians have repeatedly documented a Turkish government orchestrated genocide perpetrated against its Armenian citizens. Three quarters of the entire population of Armenians perished in waves of killing from 1895 to 1923 in their historic homeland. The consequence to the world was the decimation of a rich and ancient Christian culture." Read More. . . Search the web with www.goodsearch.com and money from Yahoo advertisers will go to the ANCA without you spending a dime. A penny per search! Use www.goodshop.com for online purchases from hundreds of popular sites and a percentage comes back to the ANCA. When you GoodSearch & GoodShop - Choose the ANCA !

Afghanistan and the new great game‏

From:	Dikran Abrahamian (dikran.a@rogers.com)
Sent:	Thu 8/13/09 5:18 AM
To:	Dikran Abrahamian (dikran.a@rogers.com)
	1 attachment map.jpg (26.4 KB)

Recently Armenia decided to send a contingent to Afghanistan. Are we getting a piece of the pie? Very doubtful. Who are we serving after all?
The expanded version is downloadable.

Dikran Abrahamian

Afghanistan and the new great game

John Foster, The Toronto Star, 12 Aug 2009

John Foster is an energy economist and author of "A Pipeline Through A Troubled Land – Afghanistan, Canada, and the New Great Energy Game." It is avaialble online at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives

Why is Afghanistan so important?

A glance at a map and a little knowledge of the region suggest that the real reasons for Western military involvement may be largely hidden.....Read more >>

Panagtsoutiounner (Ays Ankam) Mer Baymannerov‏

From:	RAG Mamoul (ragmamoul1@gmail.com)
Sent:	Thu 8/13/09 8:38 AM
To:	Armenian Newspapers (ArmenianNewspapers@gmail.com)
	2 attachments Panagtsou...jpg (89.4 KB), Panagtsou...jpg (96.6 KB)

ARTICLE BY HAGOP MARDIROSSIAN

LOS ANGELES, U. S. A.

ՅՕԴՈՒԱԾ ՅԱԿՈԲ ՄԱՐՏԻՐՈՍԵԱՆ-ԷՆ

ԼՈՍ ԱՆՃԵԼԸՍ, Մ. ՆԱՀԱՆԳՆԵՐ
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Halebi Noruendir Shurchanayin Varchoutyoun-ue‏

Halebi Noruendir Shurchanayin Varchoutyoun-ue‏

From:	RAG Mamoul (ragmamoul1@gmail.com)
Sent:	Tue 8/11/09 8:37 AM
To:	Armenian Newspapers (ArmenianNewspapers@gmail.com)
	2 attachments Halebi No...jpg (60.7 KB), Halebi No...jpg (28.0 KB)

FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT IN

ALEPPO, SYRIA

ՀԱԼԷՊԻ (ՍՈՒՐԻԱ)
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