British-Armenian Relations

Armenian Institute

British-Armenian Relations

Meet Her Majesty's Ambassador to Armenia

Wednesday, 4 June 2008, 7.30 pm

Armenian House, 25 Cheniston Gardens, London W8 6TG

His Excellency Charles Lonsdale has been HM Ambassador to Armenia since January 2008. He joined the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1987 and has served in Vienna (1988-9), Budapest (1990-93) and Moscow (1998-2003), as well as a variety of positions in London.

Members of the Armenian community are invited for a conversation with HM Ambassador on issues that are relevant to the development of dynamic relations between Britain and Armenia.

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The Armenian Institute is a London-based registered charity dedicated to making Armenian culture and history a living experience, through innovative programmes, educational resources, workshops, exhibits and performances. Its work is supported by friends, patrons and voluntary donations. For more information about the Armenian Institute or to find out about supporting the important work of the Institute, please visit our website at www.armenianinstitute.org.uk, contact us at info@armenianinstitute.org. or call 020 7978 9104.

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Dressing up propaganda as diplomacy

OLIVE BRANCH TO ARMENIA
Turkish Press
May 22 2008
Turkey

Ankara, which offered to establish dialogue with the newly elected
Armenian administration, is waiting for Yerevan`s reply.

Turkey has extended its hand to Armenia in an effort to put an end
to a dispute of 234 years between the two countries.

President Abdullah Gul, Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Foreign
Minister Ali Babacan congratulated Serzh Sargsyan upon his election
as the president of Armenia and offered to "improve the relations"
between the countries.

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[there seems to be a recurring problem in Turkey with the delivery of

notes from Armenia. This has been responded to as has the proposal

to have a joint historical commission. Or is it spun politics?]
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Extract from

BARACK OBAMA AND TURKISH FOREIGN POLICY
By Emre Uslu & öNder Aytac*
Today's Zaman
May 22 2008
Turkey

"Obama's position on the Armenian genocide issue seems to be
a problematic one for Turkey. However, if Turkey were able to
demonstrate its openness to solving this issue through dialogue
-- i.e., establishing a commission for independent historians to
investigate the issue objectively by examining international archives,
including Ottoman, Russian, British and Dashnak archives in Boston --
Obama would put pressure on the Armenian side to accept Turkey's offer
as the first step of establishing dialogue between the two sides. Thus,
what Turkey should do is to choose a way to demonstrate its openness to
dialogue if the Armenian side accepts Turkey's offer to establish the
commission of historians. On this matter, Professor Yusuf Halacoglu's
recent statement of suggesting $20 million of financial help to open
the Dashnak archive in Boston would be clear evidence of the Turkish
authorities' openness to dialogue on this subject.

* Emre Uslu is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Utah Middle
East Center. Onder Aytac is an associate professor at Gazi University
department of communications and works with the Security Studies
Institute in Ankara.
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[why exclude the US and German archives? It's all posturing]
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TURKEY URGES OPENING OF ARMENIAN ARCHIVE
United Press International UPI
May 21 2008

Turkey has offered $20 million to open an Armenian archive in the
United States, claiming documents there will support its version of
the 1915 massacre.

Yusuf Halacoglu, head of the state-funded Turkish Historical Society,
told Hurriyet the archive in Boston includes important documents on
the events of 1915.

Halacoglu said he had been told the archives cannot be opened because
they need proper cataloging.

"This would directly open a debate over the genocide claims," he
said. "Armenians are aware of this and therefore they are doing their
best not to sit at the table."

Armenians and most non-Turkish scholars of the period say 1.5 million
Armenians were killed by the Ottoman Empire in 1915 and generally label
the deaths genocide -- a term the Turkish government disputes. The
official Turkish version is that about 300,000 Armenians and 300,000
Turks were killed in an Armenian bid for independence.

About 50,000 Armenians remain in Turkey.
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[Yusuf Halacoglu is an empoyee of the Turkish government]
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TURKISH AMBASSADOR CALLS ON ARMENIANS: WE SHOULD

NOT RAISE OUR CHILDREN WITH ANIMOSITY
Turkish Press
May 21 2008

WASHINGTON D.C. - The Turkish Ambassador in Washington D.C. has called
on Armenians not to raise children with animosity.

Speaking at a meeting hosted by the Potomac Institute for Policy
Studies on "the Future of Turkey-U.S. Strategic Partnership", Nabi
Sensoy said, "the draft resolution submitted to the U.S. Congress on
the incidents of 1915 brought Turkey-U.S. relations to 'brink of a
disaster'. We are pleased with leaving those days behind as a result
of resolute attitude of U.S. administration and congressmen."

Sensoy reminded that Prime Minister Erdogan had called on Armenians
to form a joint committee of historians to unveil the truth.

"Turkey has opened its archives long ago. Armenians should do the
same thing. We expect politicians in the United States and in other
countries to let historians to deal with past events," he said.

"We should not raise our children with animosity. I grew up together
with many Turkish citizens of Armenian descent. It was one of
our Armenian neighbors who cried and mourned most when I lost my
father. Enmity does not lead us to anywhere," he said.

Denying accusations that Turkey imposed economic embargo on Armenia,
Sensoy said that Turkey was the fifth biggest economic partner of
Armenia and number of weekly flights between Turkey and Armenia
reached four. [!!!!!!}

"Everyone in Turkey condemned killing of journalist Hrant
Dink. Tens of thousands of people took to the streets to protest his
assassination. It is not correct to claim that the Armenian issue was
not discussed in Turkey. On the contrary, any opposition to state's
views regarding the incidents of 1915 was banned in Armenia with an
amendment to the penal code in October 2006." he said. [!!!!!!}

Sensoy also criticized that the Armenian diaspora thwarted Armenian
Patriarch Mesrob Mutafyan's speech during his visit to Washington D.C.

Referring to the other developments in the region, Sensoy said, "Like
the international community, Turkey does not want to see Iran armed
with nuclear weapons. However, we think that Iran should not be fully
isolated by the international community. Instead, we should improve our
relations with them and try to persuade them to change their policies."
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The Economist - A Caucasian cheese circle

Turkey and the Caucasus

A Caucasian cheese circle

May 22nd 2008 | GYUMRI AND KARS
From The Economist print edition

The secret diplomacy of cheesemaking

ON AN icy February morning a clutch of Turks and Armenians huddled in a hotel in Kars, with Turkish intelligence officials looking on. On May 14th their secret, a giant round of cheese, was unveiled in Gyumri, over the sealed border in Armenia. Under the label of “Caucasian cheese”, the yellow slab symbolises reconciliation between Turkey and Armenia, and across the Caucasus.

The idea of a regional “peace” cheese (Georgia and Azerbaijan are involved too) met suspicion when mooted a year ago, says Alin Ozinian of the Turkish Armenian Business Development Council. “We didn't know how the authorities would react,” said Zeki Aydin, a Turkish cheese producer, who made the ten-hour trip from Kars to Gyumri via Georgia. “We want our borders to be reopened, good neighbourly ties, so we took a chance,” said Ilhan Koculu, a fellow cheesemaker.

Vefa Ferejova, an Azeri campaigning to bury the hatchet with Armenia, was also there, saying “We are told to hate Armenians: I will not.” Armenia and Azerbaijan are at loggerheads over Nagorno-Karabakh, a patch of land that Armenia wrested from Azerbaijan in the early 1990s. This prompted Turkey to seal its border (but not air links) with Armenia in 1993. American-brokered peace talks have failed, and Azerbaijan now threatens to resort to force.

Yet there are hopeful signs that Turkey and Armenia may make up. Turkey's president, Abdullah Gul, was among the first to congratulate Serzh Sarkisian, who became Armenia's president in a tainted election in February. Unofficial talks to establish diplomatic ties could resume at any time. Indeed, there is a whiff of desperation in the air. Turkey's ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party is under threat of closure by the constitutional court for allegedly wanting to bring in sharia law. AK's overtures to Armenia may be aimed at garnering some Western support.

Mr Sarkisian's government is heading for trouble when gas prices double this winter. An end to Turkey's blockade could temper popular unrest. But hawks in Turkey and Armenia can still count on Azerbaijan. Allegations that Armenia is sheltering Kurdish rebels have stirred anger in Turkey. Where did they come from? “The Azeri press,” snorts Mr Aydin. Even the best cheese cannot change everybody's attitudes overnight.

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News from Karabagh

AZERBAIJAN REFUSES TO HOLD TALKS WITH ARMENIAN COMMUNITY OF NAGORNO-KARABAKH
Trend News Agency
May 19 2008
Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan, Baku, 19 May / corr. TrendNews S. Agayeva/ Azerbaijan has
refused to hold talks with the Armenian community of Nagorno-Karabakh.

"Nagorno-Karabakh should independently take part in the talks on
peaceful settlement of the conflict with Azerbaijan," Bako Saakyan,
the president of the so-called Nagorno-Karabakh Republic said to
Vedomosti. "There is a key party in the conflict - an independent
Nagorno-Karabakh Republic- with the same priorities as in the case
of other foreign states," Saakyan said.

"From the very beginning, the talks on settlement of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict were held with Armenia as an aggressor
country, but not with those who are inhabited in Nagorno-Karabakh to
serve as a screen," Khazar Ibrahim, spokesman for the Foreign Ministry
of Azerbaijan said to TrendNews on 19 May.

The conflict between the two countries of the South Caucasus began
in 1988 due to Armenian territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Since
1992, Armenian Armed Forces have occupied 20% of Azerbaijan including
the Nagorno-Karabakh region and its seven surrounding districts. In
1994, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement at which
time the active hostilities ended. The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk
Group ( Russia, France, and the US) are currently holding peaceful
negotiations.

According to Ibrahim, head of the Armenian community of
Nagorno-Karabakh made some mistakes in his statements. "There is not
any "Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NGR)" concept; there is only Armenian
community of Nagorno-Karabakh. At the moment, no talks can be held
with the representatives of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic," he said.

According to spokesman of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, "NGR" is
not functioning within the Azerbaijani law, this territory and other
surrounding lands are under the Armenian occupation who directly takes
part in all the illegal moves against Azerbaijan. These illegal moves
by Armenia led to the fact that some people in Nagorno-Karabakh call
themselves official representatives of some judicial institution,
Ibrahim said.

Talks with the Armenian community can be held only in case Armenia
liberates Azerbaijani territory, Azerbaijani community returns to its
lands and all conditions are provided for the peaceful co-existence
of both communities in Nagorno-Karabakh, the official representative
of the Azerbaijan Foreign Ministry said.

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KARABAKH'S ENERGY CRUNCH
By Lusine Musaelian
Institute for War and Peace Reporting
May 22 2008
UK

Government unveils long-term energy plans, but public is angered by
rising gas prices.

Raisa Gabrielian, who lives in Stepanakert, the capital of Nagorny
Karabakh, tries not to think about next winter. Her monthly salary
of 65,000 drams, or 210 dollars, is the only income for her family
of four. Now that the price of gas is going up, she says, the money
will only cover basic household expenses.

>From June 4, the price of gas in Nagorny Karabakh will rise from
59 to 84 US cents per cubic metre. Although the government of the
unrecognised republic is planning to diversify its energy sources to
make the region less reliant on gas imported from Armenia, the steep
price hike will hurt the population in the short term. For ordinary
consumers, gas will now cost nearly three times as much as in Armenia.

Artsakhgaz, the region's gas supplier, announced the price rise on
May 1, but failed to inform the Nagorny Karabakh government commission
that regulates public utilities.

The director of Artsakhgaz, Maksim Mirzoyan, told IWPR that the
price increase was a result of the ending of government subsidies -
a process that parallels what the authorities in Armenia have done -
rather than because of the international price of gas.

After Artsakhgaz's announcement, taxi-drivers in the local capital
Stepanakert, who run their cars on compressed natural gas, raised
fares from 100 to 120 drams per kilometre, with the minimum cost of
a ride going from 500 to 600 drams.

Vache Adamian, who chairs the public utilities commission, said the
far rises were "patently illegal" as taxi drivers had not in fact
been hit by any price rise.

He added, "Taxi services are not yet under our control and we can't
intervene."

Stepanakert resident Vardges Babayan said there was little people
could do about the taxi fares.

"I know I'm paying this money for no good reason, but there's nothing I
can do," said Babayan. "Who can you complain to that you're being made
a fool of? They'll just say that they are a private [taxi] business
and that if you don't want to pay the money, don't get in the car."

Above a set volume, bulk consumers of gas will continue paying the
old price, but domestic users, taxi drivers and the like do not use
enough to qualify for the reduction.

Artyusha Karapetian owns a shop selling household goods in
Stepanakert, and predicts that his customers will become less keen
on gas appliances.

"Gas stoves used to be a very popular product," said Karapetian. "But
after the price rises, people will probably stop heating their
apartments with gas."

Gas is the commonest fuel used for heating in Nagorny Karabakh,
which has been isolated from the outside world and can only be
reached Armenia since the end of the war in 1994. Around 70 per
cent of the population use gas, with the rest who tend to live in
the more remote villages mainly heating their homes with firewood,
which is widely available.

To make Nagorny Karabakh more self-sufficient, prime minister Ara
Harutiunian has announced plans to compensate citizens and to exploit
other sources of energy.

"The government will try to ease the burden on gas consumers with some
kind of compensation," he said. "In the future, gas will no longer
be the main energy source for Karabakhis. Over the next few years,
we will become a country that produces its own energy, allowing us to
sell electricity to our citizens at a reduced price and also perhaps
to neighbouring countries, thereby circumventing the rise in gas
prices on the international market."

On May 13, Harutiunian announced that the Mataghis reservoir, located
in the north of Nagorny Karabakh and currently in a very poor state
of repair, had been handed over to the Artsakhges company, which will
construct a series of five small hydroelectric power stations over
the next two to three years. The intention is the power stations will
provide for all of Nagorny Karabakh's energy needs.

In the meantime, other products are also becoming more expensive.

Prime Minister Harutiunian said this was good news for Karabakh
farmers. "We are an agricultural country but we often hear complaints
from farmers that they cannot sell their crops at a reasonable price
and aren't earning a profit," he said. "Because of the price rises,
our farmers are now pleased with the results of their work."

Seventy-year-old pensioner Karo Gevorgian is furious.

"How can I be happy? What are they doing with people?" he asked. "They
put up the pension by a tiny amount and everything else has become
many times more expensive. How can I live like this? They are driving
people to their graves."

Lusine Musaelian is a correspondent for Demo newspaper in Nagorny
Karabakh and a member of IWPR's Cross Caucasus Journalism Network
project.

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now have a laugh!!
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FAILED TO INCLUDE AZERBAIJANI CITIZENS, ARMENIANS BY

NATIONALITY, IN LIST OF VOTERS: CHAIRMAN OF CENTRAL

ELECTION COMMISSION
Trend News Agency
20.05.08 15:31

Azerbaijan, Baku, 20 May /corr. Trend News E.Babayev / It was a big
failure as the names of Azerbaijani citizens, Armenians by nationality,
were not included in the voters list. "Unfortunately the international
organizations could not make an effective contribution to get the
names of Azerbaijani citizens, Armenian by nationality, included in
the list of voters," the Chairman of the Central Election Commission
(CEC), Mazahir Panahov, briefed the media on 20 May.

Some 125 district election commissions have devised and submitted the
list of voters to the Commission. The CEC will complete and confirm
the voters at the end of May.

The number of citizens having voting right exceeds 4.6mln in
Azerbaijan. More than 4,000 voters of Khankendi district election
commission No 122 were added in the list of voters. The citizens of
occupied Azerbaijan lands, including Nagorno-Karabakh, will not be
able to realize their voting rights.

According to Panahov, no results were obtained from numerous appeals
to the international organizations to assist in adding Azerbaijani
citizens, Armenian by nationality, in the list of voters.

The Presidential elections in Azerbaijan will take place on 15 October.

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Economic News from Armenia

IMF APPROVES FINAL US$5.4MLN DISBURSEMENT TO ARMENIA

UNDER PRGF ARRANGEMENT
ARKA
May 20, 2008

YEREVAN, May 20. /ARKA/. The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) today completed the sixth and final review of Armenia's economic performance under the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF) arrangement. The completion of the review enables
the release of an amount equivalent to SDR 3.32 million (about US$5.4 million), bringing total disbursements to the full amount of SDR 23 million (about US$37.3 million) under the arrangement.

Following the Executive Board's discussion, Mr. Murilo Portugal, Deputy Managing Director and Acting Chair, said that Armenia's adherence to prudent macroeconomic policies and the progress made in structural reforms have contributed significantly to its strong perfor- mance under its third PRGF arrangement. A marked reduction in poverty has been achieved in a high-growth and low inflation macroeconomic environment. "Strong remittance and foreign direct
investment inflows have dampened the impact of rapidly rising imports on the balance of payments. The medium-term outlook remains positive in view of favorable investment prospects," he said.

The IMF official pointed out that continued sound fiscal and monetary policies remain key to maintaining macroeconomic stability and external competitiveness, against the background of large-scale foreign exchange inflows and upside inflationary risks. A tighter-than-budgeted fiscal
stance is warranted for 2008 as this would deliver welcome support to monetary policy in keeping inflation expectations well anchored.

The existing monetary policy framework, based on a flexible exchange rate, remains the best option for Armenia., Portugal said. "The authorities' timely monetary policy actions over the past year have demonstrated the authorities' commitment to price stability and helped contain inflationary expectations despite strong headwinds from higher world food and energy prices," he said.

Portugal stressed that strengthening the capacity for fiscal policy analysis will be important for improving the effectiveness of fiscal policy and helping maintain fiscal discipline. Increasing revenue collections in a transparent and nondiscretionary manner will also be crucial, in view of the need to improve the country's infrastructure, reduce poverty, and improve the business environment.

The authorities intend to press ahead with their structural reform agenda to remove remaining bottlenecks to broad-based growth and to safeguard competitiveness.

"Future reform efforts will appropriately focus on deepening productivity-enhancing structural reforms, notably by reducing the cost of doing business, boosting domestic competition, diversifying the economy, and discouraging participation in the shadow economy," Portugal said.

He pointed out that the IMF welcomes Armenia's interest in continuing its close cooperation with the Fund after the current PRGF arrangement expires in May 2008. Over the last 18 years, the IMF has allocated $360mln to Armenia, with 80% of the loans carrying an annual interest rate of 0.5 percent and being repayable over 10 years with a 5½ year grace period on principal payments.

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Minister Sees Continued Robust Growth
By Anna Saghabalian

The Armenian economy will continue to grow strongly this year despite recent political turmoil, Minister of Economy Nerses Yeritsian said on Wednesday.

According to official statistics, Armenia's Gross Domestic Product increased by 13.7 percent in 2007, its sixth consecutive year of double-digit expansion. The growth rate slowed to 8.9 percent in the first quarter of this year amid the country's worst political crisis in nearly a decade resulting from the disputed presidential election of February 19. But that did not prevent the Armenian government from registering a further sizable increase in its tax revenues.

Yeritsian downplayed the negative impact of the crisis on short-term growth prospects, predicting a full-year GDP growth of at least 8 percent for 2008. `Our investment projects will allow us to maintain the high growth rate in the coming years,' he said.

`The investors with whom we are talking have not changed their plans much,' Yeritsian told a news conference. `Of course, they are asking some questions and we must make additional efforts to assure them that the situation hasn't changed, that the [government's economic] policy is continuing and that we are going to implement new programs.'

Yeritsian cautioned, however, that growth will inevitably slow down in the longer term due to objective factors. `That will be natural because rich countries grow more slowly than more low-income ones,' he explained.

While admitting the uneven distribution of its benefits, the government maintains that recent years' growth has considerably boosted living standards in Armenia. Government figures show that the proportion of Armenians living below the official poverty line has fallen from over 50percent to below 30 percent between 2001 and 2006.

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MINISTRY OF ECONOMY TAKES STEPS ON CREATION OF VENTURE FUND
Noyan Tapan
May 21, 2008

YEREVAN, MAY 21, NOYAN TAPAN. The RA ministry of economy has developed a draft document, in which, based on experience of Poland and Hungary, the idea of creating a venture fund with mixed capital is put forward. The draft has not yet been discussed by the sector's
companies and the Armenian government, the RA minister of economy Nerses Yeritsian said when presenting, at the invitation of the Club of Economic Journalists, the economic provisions of the 2008-2012 program of the Armenian government.

He reminded about the provision of the draft concept of development of Armenia's IT sector, according to which a venture fund with capital of up to 700 mln dollars shall operate in the IT sector of Armenia 10 years after the concept's adoption.

In accordance with international experience, the state's share makes up to 20% of the venture funds in various sectors, while the remaining share is private. The ministry's research showed that the Armenian venture fund should have capital of at least 30 mln dollars in order
to have skilful management and ensure the profit of venture financing.

N. Yeritsian said that a conference on development of Armenia's IT sector will be held in Silicon Valley in October 2008. The issue ofan Armenian venture fund will also be considered at the event. "The subject of investors' interest may be the realization of the whole concept of IT sector's development through business participation rather than of the idea of a venture fund. At the moment there is some optimism regarding this issue," he said.

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Armenian Diplomacy News

TURKEY OFFERS "DIALOGUE" TO ARMENIA
By Emil Danielyan
Eurasia Daily Monitor, DC
May 20 2008

Turkey has offered to enter into a "dialogue" with neighboring Armenia that would aim at improving the historically strained relations between the two nations. The diplomatic overtures have prompted a positive response from Armenian leaders, raising fresh hopes for the elimination of a major source of geopolitical tension in the South Caucasus. Ankara, however, has given no official indication so far that it is ready to drop its preconditions for normalizing bilateral ties.

Turkish President Abdullah Gul was one of the first foreign leaders to congratulate Serzh Sarkisian on his highly controversial victory in Armenia's February 21 presidential election. "I hope your new duty will provide the necessary atmosphere for normalizing ties between the Turkish and Armenian peoples who have proved for centuries that they can live side by side in peace and harmony," Gul wrote to the new Armenian leader (AP, February 21). Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan and Foreign Minister Ali Babacan sent similar congratulatory letters to their newly appointed Armenian counterparts in late April, both of them stressing the need for a "dialogue."

According to the Armenian government's press service, Erdogan also spoke of unspecified "certain steps" that could be taken to normalize Turkish-Armenian relations. "Admittedly we have problems, some of whichdate back 100 years," Babacan told reporters in Ankara on April 21, "but the only way of overcoming these problems is through dialogue. Our doors are open to dialogue in this new period" (AP, April 21).

"I would like to reaffirm the Armenian government's commitment to constructive dialogue and the establishment of normal relations without preconditions," Armenia's Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisian said in a written reply to Erdogan. Armenian Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandian
told RFE/RL's Armenian service on May 1 that he had responded to Babacan's letter in a similarly "positive way." "We should not work the way we did in the past, because we failed to solve our problems and to normalize relations. We should work with a new style," he said without elaborating. Nalbandian found the very fact of a rare exchange of letters between Armenian and Turkish leaders encouraging and expressed the hope that it would be followed by "positive steps."

Turkey closed its land border with Armenia in 1993, at the height of the Armenian-Azerbaijani war over Nagorno-Karabakh, out of solidarity with Azerbaijan, with which it has a close ethnic and
cultural affinity. Successive Turkish governments have since made the reopening of that border and the establishment of diplomatic relations with Yerevan conditional on a resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict acceptable to Azerbaijan. They have also demanded a halt to the decades-long Armenian campaign for international recognition of the 1915-1918 mass killings and deportations of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire as genocide. Ankara has reacted particularly furiously (most recently in the fall of 2007) to persistent efforts by Armenian lobbying groups in the United States to push such a resolution through Congress.

Armenia's leaders, for their part, have rejected any linkage between the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute and Turkish-Armenian ties. They have also agitated for genocide recognition, while stressing that they do not regard it as a precondition for improving relations with Turkey. President Sarkisian reaffirmed this policy in a writtenstatement issued ahead of the April 24 annual remembrance of more than one million Ottoman Armenians killed in what many historians consider the first genocide of the 20th century. He made it clear that Yerevan would continue to support the genocide recognition effort spearheaded by the worldwide Armenian diaspora "with multiplied vigor."

Whether the proposed dialogue is a sign of a softening of the Turkish policy on Armenia or a public relations stunt is not yet clear. The offer seems in stark contrast to the Turkish government's reported refusal to allow an organization of Turkish and Armenian businessmen lobbying for cross-border commerce between the two countries to open
an office in Istanbul. In a May 9 statement, the Turkish-Armenian Business Development Council (TABDC) said that it had been ordered by the Turkish Interior Ministry to "cease its activities in Turkey." The TABDC said the ban was "sending mixed signals regarding the Turkish government's intentions." "The rejection letter by the Ministry of Interior in Ankara is all the more surprising as this same government had sought help from the TABDC a few years ago to establish contact with Armenians in Armenia and the Diaspora," the group's Turkish co-chairman, Kaan Soyak, complained.

Ankara has stuck to its preconditions despite years of pressure from Washington, which believes that the normalization of Turkish-Armenian relations would give a huge boost to regional stability. "I think that there are a lot of people in the upper reaches of the Turkish government who recognize that an open border would change the strategic map here in a very positive way," US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Europe and Eurasia Matthew Bryza said in October 2007
(RFE/RL, October 24, 2007).

According to David Phillips, an American scholar who chaired a US-sponsored "reconciliation commission" of prominent Turks and Armenians, Ankara came within an inch of opening that border in the summer of 2003. In a book published in 2005, Phillips said the Turks backed off after the U.S. pressure "all but disappeared" with the onset of the war in Iraq. With no such pressure visible at the moment and prospects for a Nagorno-Karabakh settlement remaining uncertain, a Turkish-Armenian rapprochement may still be a long way off.

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EUROPEAN ARMENIAN FEDERATION

for Justice and Democracy

THe European Parliament fails to draw up an objective report on Turkey

The Oomen-Ruijten report flouted the Accession Partnership criteria

and the requirements of the Neighbourhood Policy

Strasbourg, May 21^st 2008 – The European Parliament gathered in plenary

session voted today the report prepared by Mrs Oomen-Ruijten (Conservative,

Netherlands) on the Turkey’s 2007 progress report and its 28 tabled amendments.

From a general point of view, the resolution focuses its critics on Turkey’s delays

to fulfill its reforms commitments, especially those regarding the State of Law,

democracy, legislative reforms and the minorities’ rights. The resolution claims

that “additional delays” in the implementation of these reforms “will seriously affect

the rhythm of the negotiations”.

Regarding the various aspects of Turkey’s denial policy, the MEPs failed to

produce an objective report which gives a fair decision on European Parliament’s

positions already established on the Armenian genocide, and this in spite of the

strong positions expressed by a great number of MEPs during the debates.

They have also adopted an amendment tabled by the MEPs supporting Turkey’s

interests (Cem Özdemir, Joost Lagendijk – Greens) which aims at minimizing the

blockade on Armenia exerted by Turkey for 15 years.

“The Oomen-Ruijten report failed to show the reality of Turkey; it proved once

again that regarding the Armenian genocide the European position is well established

on denial, as is the candidate country’s. It waters down even the Parliament’s

position regarding the blockade on Armenia by being in flagrant contradiction with

the Accession criteria and the requirements of the Neighbourhood policy:

the Oomen-Ruijten report cannot contribute to a real dialogue between the

Union and Turkey”, declared Hilda Tchoboian, the chairperson of the European

Armenian Federation for Justice and Democracy.

Referring to the article 301, in spite of the unanimous requirements for abolition

made by the Turkish and European civil societies, the report is satisfied with

indicating “that is of the view that the abrogation of the 301 article would be

the best solution”, and considering the cosmetic reform of this article as “a first step”.

The European Armenian Federation reminds that the slight reform of the 301 article

deceived the European public opinion, and offended the Turkish defenders

of Human Rights, the first victims of this iniquitous law which remains unchanged

after so many years of governmental promises.

“The compromising of the Oomen-Ruijten report with a law that penalizes a right

so fundamental that is the freedom of expression for Europe will not help the

Turkish democratic forces to upgrade their society”, commented Hilda Tchoboian.

“What the European societies demand from the European Parliament, is to

express in its reports more transparent positions, the truth on the situation of

Human Rights and democracy in Turkey: it is regrettable that the report diffuses

a screen of smoke in order to hide from the public opinion the seriousness

of Turkey’s breaches in these fields, yet necessary for the examination of the

integration of this country in the European Union”, concluded Hilda Tchoboian.

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KARABAKH FOLLOWS IN KOSOVO'S STEPS
by Ivan Preobrazhensky, Aleksei Bausin
DEFENSE and SECURITY
May 21, 2008 Wednesday
Russia

Bringing in 500,000 Armenians, Karabakh authorities intend to get
international recognition

WILL NAGORNO-KARABAKH ARRANGE ITS OWN TALKS WITH AZERBAIJAN?; Official
Stepanakert maintains that it itself should negotiate peace settlement
with Azerbaijan.

Nagorno-Karabakh President Bako Saakjan is convinced that
Nagorno-Karabakh should participate in the pace settlement talks with
Azerbaijan. "Independent Nagorno-Karabakh Republic is the principal
warring side. It has the priorities analogous to those of another
countries," Saakjan said. All negotiations have been conducted by
Armenia these last 14 years. Nagorno-Karabakh only participated in
the truce signing in 1994.

Gegam Bagdasarjan, the only oppositionist deputy on the Karabakh
parliament, suspects that the Nagorno-Karabakh authorities might
have been upset by rumors that Armenia was ready to give part of the
Karabakh territories to Azerbaijan to settle the matter.

Not even Armenia has established diplomatic relations with
Stepanakert. Azerbaijani settlements in Karabakh are in ruins,
Armenian thrive with help from diasporas abroad.

The army comprises approximately one sixth of the population. Economic
revival is undeniable. "Stability will culminate in a doctrine of
maximum density of the population," Karabakh Prime Minister Araik
Arutyunjan said. According to official estimates, the population of
Nagorno-Karabakh stands at under 150,000 men, density of population
amounting to one tenth of the Armenian. The government is out to
stabilize the population at 500,000. Population inflow is double
the outflow. The birth rate is about 14 births per 1,000 people. A
denser population may help with the problem of recognition "as it
did in Kosovo" (to quote Arutyunjan).

Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandjan believes that status of
Nagorno-Karabakh should be determined at a referendum. "Moscow stands
for a compromise reached with help from foreign intermediaries,"
Leonid Slutsky of the International Committee of the Duma said.

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AZERBAIJAN REFUSES TO HOLD TALKS WITH ARMENIAN

COMMUNITY OF NAGORNO-KARABAKH
Trend News Agency
May 19 2008
Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan, Baku, 19 May / corr. TrendNews S. Agayeva/ Azerbaijan has
refused to hold talks with the Armenian community of Nagorno-Karabakh.

"Nagorno-Karabakh should independently take part in the talks on
peaceful settlement of the conflict with Azerbaijan," Bako Saakyan,
the president of the so-called Nagorno-Karabakh Republic said to
Vedomosti. "There is a key party in the conflict - an independent
Nagorno-Karabakh Republic- with the same priorities as in the case
of other foreign states," Saakyan said.

"From the very beginning, the talks on settlement of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict were held with Armenia as an aggressor
country, but not with those who are inhabited in Nagorno-Karabakh to
serve as a screen," Khazar Ibrahim, spokesman for the Foreign Ministry
of Azerbaijan said to TrendNews on 19 May.

The conflict between the two countries of the South Caucasus began
in 1988 due to Armenian territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Since
1992, Armenian Armed Forces have occupied 20% of Azerbaijan including
the Nagorno-Karabakh region and its seven surrounding districts. In
1994, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement at which
time the active hostilities ended. The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk
Group ( Russia, France, and the US) are currently holding peaceful
negotiations.

According to Ibrahim, head of the Armenian community of
Nagorno-Karabakh made some mistakes in his statements. "There is not
any "Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NGR)" concept; there is only Armenian
community of Nagorno-Karabakh. At the moment, no talks can be held
with the representatives of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic," he said.

According to spokesman of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, "NGR" is
not functioning within the Azerbaijani law, this territory and other
surrounding lands are under the Armenian occupation who directly takes
part in all the illegal moves against Azerbaijan. These illegal moves
by Armenia led to the fact that some people in Nagorno-Karabakh call
themselves official representatives of some judicial institution,
Ibrahim said.

Talks with the Armenian community can be held only in case Armenia
liberates Azerbaijani territory, Azerbaijani community returns to its
lands and all conditions are provided for the peaceful co-existence
of both communities in Nagorno-Karabakh, the official representative
of the Azerbaijan Foreign Ministry said.
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The Dalai Lama

FATHER FRANK’S RANTS

Rant Number 304 22 May 2008

Three Cheers for the Dalai Lama

Tenzin Gyatso, the Dalai Lama, is now in London. This spiritual leader of Tibetans is one my heroes. A tough monk, he laughs and jokes a lot. Not bad for a bloke who is the fourteenth incarnation of a bodhisattva called Avalokitesvara. The ghastly Chinese dictatorship hates him and that can only augment my huge admiration for him. God willing, Tibet one day will be free, while the communist party will end up in the gutter where it belongs. I used to contribute my bit towards that goal by writing for the Falun Gong’s paper, The Epoch Times but the editor inexplicably dropped me. Too much a turbulent priest for them, I suppose. Washington must have complained…

Great souls like the Dalai Lama spread enlightenment whenever they speak and act. For me, a ray of that came via a remarkable statement he made years ago: ‘I am now 60 and so I must begin to prepare myself for death.’

Preparing oneself for death. A fulgurating thought. How does one do that? And what exactly is it that what one prepares oneself for?

Buddhists do of course believe in reincarnation. To some, a comforting credence. One perhaps a little difficult to hold together with their doctrine that the self is an illusion. If that is so, what is it that gets reincarnated? But forget such quibbles. Karma will sort it all out – presumably. Not for the priest to query the Buddha’s high teachings.

‘I must prepare myself for death.’ Europeans, whose ancestors were at least Christians, have a rich tradition of preparing for eternity. Memento mori, remember that you will die, monks would warn each other. Armand-Jean de Rance’, a young French aristocrat, was frivolous and worldly despite being ordained. After the painful death of a woman he loved, he underwent a dramatic conversion and retired to a monastery. Soon, he founded a religious community of extraordinary austerity, called La Trappe. Perpetual silence, manual work, frequent fasting, total abstinence from meat, fish and eggs, rising at 2 AM for prayers, common dormitory of straw mattresses laid on plank beds…no wonder Rance’ called his religious rule ‘a training for death’. One of the men who placed themselves under his spiritual guidance was a king. James II, England’s last Catholic monarch. Exiled in Paris, old and disappointed after a life of adventures, pleasures, wars and mistresses, James no doubt felt it was the right time to prepare himself for death. (Prince Charles is more humdrum but… should he take a leaf out of King James’ book? It would benefit the future supreme governor of the Church of England, surely.)

La Trappe aroused the fury of neo-pagans like Friedrich Nietzsche. He raged against such out-and-out self-denial and mortification of the flesh. Hatred of life, he termed it. But of course Nietzsche disbelieved in the Beyond. For him there was no judge waiting in the afterlife, only extinction. In fact, a trappist monk is no masochist. He would not subject himself to such a tough rule if he did not believe in a Final Judgment. In a pressing need to be undergo cleansing, penance and preparation for that awful, Great Day. Wherever he is now, if his soul has not disintegrated, Nietzsche would see the point of that.

The judge, yes, the judge. ‘There is no one who can judge us and therefore we must judge ourselves’ says Rosmer to Rebecca in Ibsen’s saturnine play, Rosmersholm. I saw it at the Almeida Theatre last night. A long and wordy drama, filled with twists, like a thriller. The last one is tragic: Rosmer and Rebecca do indeed pass capital judgment on themselves by committing suicide together. Both him and Rebecca bear responsibility for the death of his first wife. Rosmer, a former priest, had first lost his faith in God and then in his humanitarian mission. There is nothing more for them to hope or fear for – they conclude. But disbelieving in the supreme Judge does not necessarily negate his existence. A savage might not believe in the mysterious, invisible power called electricity – let him touch a live wire and he will quickly learn to reverence that unseen force. Similarly, Rebecca and Rosmer are self-deluded. Suicide, far from being their own self-imposed punishment, only aggravates their guilt. They have not escaped the final reckoning – only made it more terrible.

‘I must prepare myself for death.’ Although advancing age makes that imperative particularly pregnant, it applies at all times in life’s journey. Cotidie morimur, Seneca wrote. We die a little bit every day. My death is today one day closer than it was yesterday. Time gets forever shorter. It is thus a growingly urgent task.

‘I must prepare myself for death.’ Pray, reflect on the sheer grandeur of that self-command. Addressed to our degraded Western humanity, largely devoted to consumerism and the lowest forms of hedonism, the fierce truth of that remark is searing. It is like a sharp blade sinking into our inner being. It takes a monk to say something like that. A worthy spiritual athlete, like the Dalai Lama. Only hope his demise isn’t quite round the corner. God knows how we need guys like him around.

It indeed most foolish to be unprepared for death. Jesus tells a short and sharp parable (St Luke 12:16-21) about a man whose property yielded rich crops. That pleased him but also made him anxious. ‘My barns aren’t big enough for all this plenty. Shall I build bigger barns to store my wealth?’ he asked himself. So he did and grew smug. ‘I have plenty of cash and goods for the rest of my days. I am going to enjoy myself. I shall pig it out, get as drunk as a skunk and have a ripping good time.’ But God told him: ‘Fool! Tonight your soul will be required of you? Your riches then, whose will they be?’

Rosmer, the sad hero of Rosmerhsolm often proclaims that his life mission is to make people think for themselves. Now, there is a thought Jesus invites us to really think. Our goodies, our loves, our cares, in the end, whose will they be?

Revd Frank Julian Gelli

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FATHER FRANK’S RANTS

FATHER FRANK’S RANTS

Rant Number 304 22 May 2008

Three Cheers for the Dalai Lama

Tenzin Gyatso, the Dalai Lama, is now in London. This spiritual leader of Tibetans is one my heroes. A tough monk, he laughs and jokes a lot. Not bad for a bloke who is the fourteenth incarnation of a bodhisattva called Avalokitesvara. The ghastly Chinese dictatorship hates him and that can only augment my huge admiration for him. God willing, Tibet one day will be free, while the communist party will end up in the gutter where it belongs. I used to contribute my bit towards that goal by writing for the Falun Gong’s paper, The Epoch Times but the editor inexplicably dropped me. Too much a turbulent priest for them, I suppose. Washington must have complained…

Great souls like the Dalai Lama spread enlightenment whenever they speak and act. For me, a ray of that came via a remarkable statement he made years ago: ‘I am now 60 and so I must begin to prepare myself for death.’

Preparing oneself for death. A fulgurating thought. How does one do that? And what exactly is it that what one prepares oneself for?

Buddhists do of course believe in reincarnation. To some, a comforting credence. One perhaps a little difficult to hold together with their doctrine that the self is an illusion. If that is so, what is it that gets reincarnated? But forget such quibbles. Karma will sort it all out – presumably. Not for the priest to query the Buddha’s high teachings.

‘I must prepare myself for death.’ Europeans, whose ancestors were at least Christians, have a rich tradition of preparing for eternity. Memento mori, remember that you will die, monks would warn each other. Armand-Jean de Rance’, a young French aristocrat, was frivolous and worldly despite being ordained. After the painful death of a woman he loved, he underwent a dramatic conversion and retired to a monastery. Soon, he founded a religious community of extraordinary austerity, called La Trappe. Perpetual silence, manual work, frequent fasting, total abstinence from meat, fish and eggs, rising at 2 AM for prayers, common dormitory of straw mattresses laid on plank beds…no wonder Rance’ called his religious rule ‘a training for death’. One of the men who placed themselves under his spiritual guidance was a king. James II, England’s last Catholic monarch. Exiled in Paris, old and disappointed after a life of adventures, pleasures, wars and mistresses, James no doubt felt it was the right time to prepare himself for death. (Prince Charles is more humdrum but… should he take a leaf out of King James’ book? It would benefit the future supreme governor of the Church of England, surely.)

La Trappe aroused the fury of neo-pagans like Friedrich Nietzsche. He raged against such out-and-out self-denial and mortification of the flesh. Hatred of life, he termed it. But of course Nietzsche disbelieved in the Beyond. For him there was no judge waiting in the afterlife, only extinction. In fact, a trappist monk is no masochist. He would not subject himself to such a tough rule if he did not believe in a Final Judgment. In a pressing need to be undergo cleansing, penance and preparation for that awful, Great Day. Wherever he is now, if his soul has not disintegrated, Nietzsche would see the point of that.

The judge, yes, the judge. ‘There is no one who can judge us and therefore we must judge ourselves’ says Rosmer to Rebecca in Ibsen’s saturnine play, Rosmersholm. I saw it at the Almeida Theatre last night. A long and wordy drama, filled with twists, like a thriller. The last one is tragic: Rosmer and Rebecca do indeed pass capital judgment on themselves by committing suicide together. Both him and Rebecca bear responsibility for the death of his first wife. Rosmer, a former priest, had first lost his faith in God and then in his humanitarian mission. There is nothing more for them to hope or fear for – they conclude. But disbelieving in the supreme Judge does not necessarily negate his existence. A savage might not believe in the mysterious, invisible power called electricity – let him touch a live wire and he will quickly learn to reverence that unseen force. Similarly, Rebecca and Rosmer are self-deluded. Suicide, far from being their own self-imposed punishment, only aggravates their guilt. They have not escaped the final reckoning – only made it more terrible.

‘I must prepare myself for death.’ Although advancing age makes that imperative particularly pregnant, it applies at all times in life’s journey. Cotidie morimur, Seneca wrote. We die a little bit every day. My death is today one day closer than it was yesterday. Time gets forever shorter. It is thus a growingly urgent task.

‘I must prepare myself for death.’ Pray, reflect on the sheer grandeur of that self-command. Addressed to our degraded Western humanity, largely devoted to consumerism and the lowest forms of hedonism, the fierce truth of that remark is searing. It is like a sharp blade sinking into our inner being. It takes a monk to say something like that. A worthy spiritual athlete, like the Dalai Lama. Only hope his demise isn’t quite round the corner. God knows how we need guys like him around.

It indeed most foolish to be unprepared for death. Jesus tells a short and sharp parable (St Luke 12:16-21) about a man whose property yielded rich crops. That pleased him but also made him anxious. ‘My barns aren’t big enough for all this plenty. Shall I build bigger barns to store my wealth?’ he asked himself. So he did and grew smug. ‘I have plenty of cash and goods for the rest of my days. I am going to enjoy myself. I shall pig it out, get as drunk as a skunk and have a ripping good time.’ But God told him: ‘Fool! Tonight your soul will be required of you? Your riches then, whose will they be?’

Rosmer, the sad hero of Rosmerhsolm often proclaims that his life mission is to make people think for themselves. Now, there is a thought Jesus invites us to really think. Our goodies, our loves, our cares, in the end, whose will they be?

Revd Frank Julian Gelli

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Articles about Turkey's Attitudes contrary to International Values

Today's Zaman, Turkey
May 17 2008
Ankara to recall ambassador from Argentina after `genocide' rulings

The Turkish capital plans to call its ambassador from Buenos Aires
back home for "political consultations," in reaction to Buenos Aires'
insistent indifference to Ankara's marked uneasiness over a cascade of
laws, official decisions and statements in support of the Armenian
"genocide."

"The bilateral relationship with Argentina is likely to encounter much
activity soon," Turkish diplomatic sources told Today's Zaman on
Friday, noting that Turkey's Ambassador to Argentina Hayri Hayret
Yalav was expected to be recalled to Ankara for "political
consultations in the near future" in order to review bilateral
relations with this country.

Yalav, who was appointed to his current post with a government decree
in December 2006, previously returned to Ankara in early 2007 after
presenting his credentials to then-Argentinean President Néstor
Kirchner -- again for "political consultations." Officials at the
Argentinean Embassy in Ankara, approached by Today's Zaman on Friday,
said that Argentinean Ambassador to Turkey Brugo Marco was currently
in Buenos Aires. Counselor Luis Susmann did not want to make a
statement on the issue in absence of the ambassador, officials also
said.

Developments generating friction in bilateral relations between
Argentina and Turkey actually date back to autumn 2006. In November of
that year the lower house of Argentina's parliament adopted a
resolution recognizing killings of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire
during World War I as "genocide." The resolution, which was adopted by
an overwhelming majority in the assembly, declared April 24 an
official "day of mutual tolerance and respect" among peoples around
the world. Armenians mark April 24 as the beginning of a "systematic
genocide campaign" against Ottoman Armenians.

In January 2007, in a move that brought applause from the Armenian
diaspora, former President Kirchner approved the draft law proclaiming
April 24 "the day of tolerance and respect."

Turkey categorically rejects the genocide claims and says Turks and
Armenians were killed in internal strife when Armenians revolted
against Ottoman rule in eastern Anatolia in hopes of carving out an
independent state in collaboration with the invading Russian military.

In April of this year, Argentina's Senate approved a declaration with
reference to the law, which entered into force in January 2007
following the president's approval. In the same month, the Turkish
Foreign Ministry announced that State Minister Mehmet Aydın had
cancelled a planned visit to Argentina in protest of the country's
stance.

Turkish officials regard the fact that Argentina is home to the
third-largest Armenian diaspora -- following the United States and
France -- as a strong factor in the current political crisis on the
bilateral political agenda, although this element has no relation to
the substance of relations with the country.

Observers say the point to which bilateral relations between Argentina
and Turkey have come is particularly sad at a time when Ankara has
shown significant will to improve relations with the Latin America and
Caribbean countries.

In line with its multidimensional foreign policy, Turkey pursued a
more active policy towards these countries in the beginning of the
1990s. An "Action Plan for Latin America and the Caribbean" was put
into effect as of 1998 and has been reviewed constantly since then. In
2006 Turkey took another significant step, declaring 2006 Year of
Latin America and the Caribbean, giving a further boost to the action
plan.

Yet the same observers say that under current circumstances the
Turkish capital has been pushed into the point of taking certain
measures to show clearly its displeasure at Argentina's attitude.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hürriyet, Turkey
May 17 2008

Today's Zaman, Turkey
May 17 2008

TÃ`SÄ°AD criticizes `genocide' resolution in US Congress

A leading and influential Turkish business group has harshly
criticized a resolution pending in the US Congress seeking official
recognition of "a systematic genocide campaign" against Anatolian
Armenians in the last years of the Ottoman Empire.

The Turkish Industrialists and Businessmen's Association
(TÃ`SÄ°AD) earlier this week released a report on the issue
drawn up by researcher David Saltzman and titled "H. RES. 106: Legal
and Factual Deficiencies." The report, analyzing the factual and legal
deficiencies of US H. Res. 106, was shared with the public in
Washington on the occasion of a seminar held on the 10th anniversary
of TÃ`SÄ°AD opening its office there. The Armenian diaspora
continues to deal with the disappointment over the fact that the
resolution, which calls the 1915 killings of Armenians by Ottoman
Turks genocide, has not yet been adopted by the US Congress even
though it was passed by a US congressional committee in October 2007.

"We are not historians or jurists. We are simply concerned about
seeking the truth on the Armenian issue. Equally we are interested in
fighting a libel that has been accepted as historical truth by too
many for far too long," TÃ`SÄ°AD said in a written statement,
while announcing the report's release.

"Most organizations of the Armenian diaspora, academics as well as
some political operatives insist on calling the tragic events of that
period 'genocide.' Their further insistence on engaging in a serious
debate over the historical record only after admission by Turkey that
genocide had been committed makes it impossible to have an open
discussion," TÃ`SÄ°AD also said.

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Anatolia News Agency, Turkey
May 16 2008
Turkish association releases report on US bill on Armenia

Istanbul, 16 May: An influential employers' association in Turkey has
released a report on an Armenian bill regarding the incidents of 1915,
which was adopted last year by the Committee on Foreign Relations of
the US House of Representatives but was turned down by the general
assembly.

The report, drawn up by researcher and specialist in law David
Saltzman for the Turkish Industrialists' & Businessmen's Association
(TUSIAD), was presented on Thursday [15 May] at a Washington
conference on Turkish-US relations.

The report, "US House of Representatives Resolution 106: Legal and
Factual Deficiencies," said that there had never been a legal opinion
that can justify the 1915 incidents as "genocide", and those who
contended the allegations had never brought them before an
international court.

"The global public opinion is focused on this one-sided view. And the
rejection to acknowledge facts and the failure to consider the
historical background of the incidents help this view attain a
continuity," the report said.

Turkey has long been facing a systematic campaign of defamation
carried out by Armenian lobby groups. The Armenian diaspora has lately
increased its organized activities throughout the world for the
acknowledgment of their unfounded allegations in regard to the
incidents of 1915 as "genocide" by national and local parliaments.

In 2005, Turkey has officially proposed to the Armenian government the
establishment of a joint commission of historians and other experts
from both sides to study the incidents. Armenia has yet to respond
positively to this initiative. Turkey's proposal is still on the
table.

Gul says concerns of EU over Turkey are baseless

Concerns that the EU cake would be lessened after Turkey's membership
were baseless, "on the contrary, the cake will get bigger," Turkish
President Abdullah Gul said on Saturday, Anatolian Agency reported.

"We are aware that there are some concerns about Turkey in EU
countries. Turkey has to carry out works convince European public
opinion. We have lots to do. We will not come before finishing our
homework," Gul is quoted as saying in an interview with daily Kronen
published in Vienna.

Referring to decision made in 2005 to launch negotiations between
Turkey and the EU, Gul said Austria also approved this
decision. "There is no need for the Austrians to feel concern over
Turkey's EU membership as a referendum would be held in the end," he
added.

Gul said views that reform process slowed down were "partially right",
indicating that, "Turkey had two elections last year. The government
was engaged with the elections. However a new period started in
2008. As the president, I am closely following the reform process."

When Kronen newspaper journalist Kurt Seinitz said Turkish Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan described assimilation a crime against
humanity and this led to discussions in Austria, Gul said, "such kind
of expressions can be interpreted differently in different
languages. The communities should integrate in the best way with the
societies they have been living in and should share, strengthen and
defend their common values."

Gul responding to a question about Armenian claims said, these claims
were not a "taboo" in Turkey, adding that, "we are sorry over what had
occurred in the past. However, this is not a genocide which the Jews
had to experience in Europe. The incidents erupted after revolt of
Armenians with the affect of some foreign forces. But one thing is
important, all the churches were open even during the incidents and
the Armenians, who were in important posts in the Ottoman
administration, continued to work." [!!!]

Armenia, with the backing of the diaspora, claims up to 1.5 million of
their kin were slaughtered in orchestrated killings in 1915. However
300,000 Armenians along with at least as many Turks died in civil
strife that emerged when the Armenians took up arms for independence
in eastern Anatolia.

Referring to Turkey's call to all related parties to open their
archives, Gul said, "Turkey assumed a pioneering role here and
accepted to open its secret military archives."

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Hürriyet, Turkey
May 17 2008
Armenia asks US to press Turkey to normalize relations


Armenian lobby in the United States presented a new bill to House of
Representatives envisaging Washington to put pressure on Ankara to
lift the embargo which it claimed Turkey imposes on Armenia, the
state-run Anatolian Agency reported Saturday.

Adam Schiff, an MP of U.S. Democrat Party, prepared the bill. Schiff
is known as leading Armenian initiatives in the House of
Representatives.

The bill envisages U.S. to launch initiatives for the removal of the
alleged embargo and U.S. Secretary of State to prepare a report for
the Congress about the incidents.

The same text should be submitted to the senate and the bill should be
adopted both in the House of Representatives and in the Senate and
should be signed by U.S. President in order to be enacted.

Armenian lobby in the United States had submitted a similar bill two
years ago but the bill has not been presented to the agenda of the
House of Representatives.

Turkey and Armenia have no diplomatic links after Ankara severed ties
in protest against Armenian control and violence in the
Nagorno-Karabakh region, which Armenia invaded in a war with
Azerbaijan in the early 1990s. The border between Turkey and Armenia
has been closed.

Armenia's genocide claims are another problem in two countries'
relations. Armenia, with the backing of the diaspora, claims up to 1.5
million of their kin were slaughtered in orchestrated killings in
1915. However 300,000 Armenians along with at least as many Turks died
in civil strife that emerged when the Armenians took up arms for
independence in eastern Anatolia.

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The Toronto Star
May 17, 2008 Saturday
Board removes book on genocide
by Brett Popplewell, Toronto Star


The Toronto District School Board has removed a recent book about
human atrocities from the curriculum of a new high school course after
a committee was asked to look into public concerns over the book's
treatment of the Armenian genocide.

Barbara Coloroso's Extraordinary Evil: A Brief History of Genocide had
been selected as a resource for a new Grade 11 history course about
genocide and crimes against humanity, but the book and the course came
under review after they were challenged by members of the Canadian
Turkish community.

While the board's review committee decided to remove Coloroso's book
from the curriculum, deeming it "far from a scrupulous text," the
Armenian genocide will still be taught in the course.

Coloroso, the bestselling author of parenting books, draws
similarities between behaviour exhibited in childhood bullying and
that exhibited in a genocide.

In addition to dealing with the mass murder of more than a million
Armenians, the book also examines the Holocaust that killed six
million Jews during World War II and the Rwanda genocide of almost a
million Tutsis in 1994.

The course's inclusion of the Armenian genocide has been controversial
since its initial announcement and was met by a petition with more
than 1,200 signatures opposed to the book and the course.

"To pick Armenia as a genocide when it is so controversial -
especially when there are atrocities by other countries that could
have been chosen - is just wrong," Lale Eskicioglu, executive director
of the Council of Turkish Canadians, said prior to delivering the
petition.

Officially, the Turkish government views the slaughter of the
Armenians as wartime casualties of World War I, with both sides guilty
of some provocation.

Board representatives declined to comment on the matter last night
because members of the community can still appeal the decision.

With files from Louise Brown

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