Armenian Genocide News

MEVLUT CAVUSOGLU: IT IS MY DECISION TO NOT VISIT TSITSERNAKABERD
PanARMENIAN.Net
May 13, 2010 - 18:54 AMT 13:54 GMT

"The PACE Bureau agenda does not contain a provision obligating each
President of PACE to follow host country's protocol," Parliamentary
Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) President Mevlut Cavusoglu
told a press conference in Yerevan.

Commenting on reminder that PACE presidents used to visit the Armenian
Genocide Memorial, he said: "As far as I know, the two previous
Presidents of PACE have not visited the Memorial in Tsitsernakaberd.

However, despite all this, it is my own decision. I respect your
opinion and you should respect mine."

TO THOSE WHO AVOID VISITING THE GENOCIDE MEMORIAL
A1Plus.am
13/05/10

The Heritage Party and its parliamentary fraction consider the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) president Mevlut
CavuÅ~_oglu's decision to not visit the Armenian Genocide Memorial,
at Tsitsernakaberd in Yerevan, to be a behavior that is unbecoming of
the head of this prestigious European organization. And during their
meeting with Mr. CavuÅ~_oglu today, Heritage's MPs will inform him
about this, in person.

We deem impermissible the fact that PACE's current president is
acting against the spirit of the 1987, 2000, 2002 and 2005 decisions
by the European Parliament-the directly elected legislative body
of the European Union, which has formally recognized the Armenian
genocide-and is being guided by a whim that is solely characteristic of
a nationalist. This conduct is also a challenge against the universal
norms, the benchmarks of European values, and the aspirations of
Turkey which pretends to enter into the European family.

With such demeanor, Mr. CavuÅ~_oglu explicitly confesses that
he does not consider himself as the head of an influential
institution-comprising a multinational European family-that pursues
the implementation of democratic processes and the protection of
human rights, but, rather, as a Turkish official who, presently having
assumed the duties of the PACE president, seems to want to make use
of this institution's leverage for the benefit of Turkey's nowadays
leaders and Azerbaijan.

In the view of Heritage, Mevlut CavuÅ~_oglu, who, because of the
fixation to deny the tragedy of the Armenian people-who have been
subjected to a genocide and have lost their homeland-and disguising
his current official stay in Armenia as that of a working visit
and refusing to stop at Tsitsernakaberd, is one of those Turkish
politicians whose statements and political conduct demonstrate that he
is a modern-day follower of the Kemalist-Bolshevik conspiracy "deal"
of the past.

It is apparent, therefore, as to the objectives Mr. CavuÅ~_oglu
is pursuing through his unconcealed steps being taken toward the
new makeup of the PACE subcommittee on the Mountainous Karabagh
Republic affairs. With this statement, Heritage yet again affirms
for this Turkish political figure, and his supporters and probable
"instructors," that the real issue at hand is the de jure international
recognition of the Mountainous Karabagh Republic, which is already
established de facto. And the outstanding matter is the return of
the territories which, defined by Artsakh's constitution and under
international law, belong to Artsakh and which are under Azerbaijani
occupation to this day. And PACE's leadership can, and is obligated
to, mediate with the aim of peacefully resolving these questions.

The Heritage Party once more calls Armenia's authorities to officially
recognize the established independence of the Mountainous Karabagh
Republic. And no Turkish official, nor any other foreigner who
refuse visiting Tsitsernakaberd, can erase, or send into oblivion,
the reality of the Armenian Genocide and the Great Dispossession of
Homeland, and the just cause and the truthful vision of all Armenians.

The Heritage Party and Parliamentary Fraction

BOYCOTT: DASHNAKS REFUSE TO MEET PACE'S TURKISH HEAD

AFTER HE REFUSES TO VISIT GENOCIDE MEMORIAL
Gayane Abrahamyan
ArmeniaNow reporter
News | 12.05.10 | 12:31

Mevlut Cavusoglu, the Turkish president of the Parliamentary Assembly
of the Council of Europe (PACE), was starting his visit to Armenia on
Wednesday amid a boycott from the Armenian Revolutionary Federation
(Dashnaktsutyun), which has refused to have a meeting with the
visiting European official, citing the latter's refusal to honor the
1915 Armenian Genocide victims at a Yerevan memorial.

According to unofficial reports, originally Cavusoglu was expected
to arrive in Yerevan on an official visit, which supposes that senior
guests and visiting high-ranking officials shall visit Tsitsernakaberd,
a hilltop complex in Yerevan built in memory of more than 1.5
million Armenians massacred in Ottoman Turkey at the beginning of
last century. However, the official refused to pay a visit to the
memorial, which prompted the authorities to change the status into
a working visit, during which a Tsitsernakaberd visit is not required.

"This breach of the official procedure clearly shows that Cavusoglu is
visiting Armenia not so much as PACE head as a Turkish politician,"
ARF parliamentary faction head Vahan Hovhannisyan told ArmeniaNow,
adding that in such conditions the party does not find it expedient
to meet Cavusoglu.

(Such meetings between the visiting PACE head and political parties
of the host country are also part of the procedure).

Hovhannisyan stressed that any foreign official who is on an official
visit to Armenia, regardless of whether his or her country has
recognized the Armenian Genocide or not, visits Tsitsernakaberd.

"This is disrespect and we should show an adequate attitude towards
the Turkish politician," said Hovhannisyan, calling on other political
forces to follow suit.

Meanwhile, the head of the other opposition faction in parliament
thinks boycott is a belated measure.

Said Heritage's Stepan Safaryan: "The ARF should have thought about
these risks when it refused to join our faction's move to prevent
Cavusoglu from becoming [PACE] president still when we were warning
that a Turkish head of PACE would be a serious threat."

Cavusoglu was elected PACE president in January this year.

Still in November 2009, member of the Armenian delegation to PACE
Zaruhi Postanjyan, representing Heritage, submitted a draft resolution
to PACE according to which representatives of countries that are at
the stage of monitoring or post-monitoring cannot assume the post of
PACE presidency (Turkey is at the stage of post-monitoring). Despite
the fact that about a dozen Council of Europe member countries joined
the initiative, the other members of the Armenian delegation, including
ARF, refused to second it.

Turkish President of European Council Should be Barred from Armenia
By Harut Sassounian
Publisher, The California Courier

Mevlut Cavusoglu, the Turkish President of PACE (Parliamentary Assembly
of the Council of Europe), offended his hosts by refusing to lay a
wreath at the Armenian Genocide Monument during his visit to Yerevan last
week.

When the Armenian media questioned him about his refusal, Cavusoglu
lied by saying that his predecessors had not done so either. Armenian
journalists corrected him by pointing out that his predecessors had in
fact visited the Genocide Monument.After getting caught, he changed
his tune and confessed that it was his personal decision not to visit
the Monument and asked that Armenians respect this wishes.

Why should Armenians respect a genocide denier and a liar? Although a
founder of the ruling Justice and Development Party and member of the
Turkish Parliament, Cavusoglu was not visiting Armenia as a Turkish
official, but as President of PACE. It is regrettable that earlier this
year Armenia's delegates to PACE were not successful in blocking his
election to the Presidency of this influential European institution.
The real issue is not Cavusoglu's ethnic background. No one should be
disqualified from any post due to his or her ethnicity. The objections
are based on his long-standing opposition to Armenian issues, including
denials of the Armenian Genocide and support for Azerbaijan in the
Artsakh conflict.

Upon learning that Cavusoglu would not visit the Genocide Memorial

-- a standard protocol for all high-ranking dignitaries visiting Yerevan--
the Armenian government decided to downgrade the status of his visit
from"official" to that of a "working" one. Needless to say,this was
just a slap on the wrist, given the gravity of his offense.Regrettably,

Armenian officials did not issue a single word of criticism or

condemnation. They should have taken a harsher measure
against Cavusoglu and cancelled his trip to Yerevan.By not enforcing
the country's long established protocol, Armenian officials are simply
encouraging future visiting dignitaries not to respect the memory
of Armenian Genocide victims.

A bad precedent was already set in September 2008, when Pres. Gul was
invited to Yerevan. I wrote a column then urging Armenian authorities
to ask the Turkish President to lay a wreath at the Genocide
Monument. Unfortunately, no such request was made of Pres. Gul, and he
was more than happy to sidestep the issue!

I must commend the Armenian Revolutionary Federation for refusing to
meet with Cavusoglu during his Yerevan visit, because of his disrespect
for Armenian Genocide victims. His visit was also condemned by the
local Student Union of the Hnchag Party.

Unfortunately, officials of an opposition party met Cavusoglu in
Yerevan to pursue their own agenda, asking him -- a Turk -- to condemn
the Armenian government's human rights record. Meanwhile,
pro-government parties met Cavusoglu to familiarize him with Armenia's
position on major regional issues, as if he would be willing to change
his views on the Armenian Genocide, Artsakh and Armenian-Turkish
relations.

Regardless of his own and his government's denialist position on the
Armenian Genocide, Cavusoglu should not be excused for not having
visited the Genocide Monument.Even Ambassadors of countries that do
not formally acknowledge the Armenian Genocide take part in the solemn
procession on April 24 and lay a wreath at the Genocide Monument.
By refusing to follow protocol, Cavusoglu not only insulted the
Armenian nation, but also violated the long-standing recognition of the
Armenian Genocide by the European Parliament.

In the end, by his words and deeds, the Turkish diplomat managed to
embarrass himself and undermine his own credibility as a political
figure unworthy of representing a prominent European institution and
its values.

To avoid similar scandals in the future, Armenian officials must
contact foreign dignitaries in advance of their planned visits and
impress upon them the importance of respecting Armenia's established
protocol on laying a wreath at the Genocide Monument. Should
they refuse, their visit should be promptly canceled. Can anyone
imagine a foreign dignitary visiting Jerusalem and refusing to lay a
wreath at the Yad Vashem memorial for Holocaust victims?He or she
would not be allowed to set foot in Israel again. The
Armenian government should take a similar stand vis-Ã -vis the Armenian
Genocide Memorial!

At the end of his first visit to Armenia, Cavusoglu announced that he
would be back in Yerevan in October. I hope Armenian officials do not
let him into the country, unless he is prepared to respect
Armenia's established protocols for all foreign dignitaries.
If Armenian officials do not insist on applying their own rules and
regulations, foreign dignitaries would' have no reason to comply!