Armenian News
The Washington Times Online Edition
HOVANNISIAN: To everything a season
Turkey, Israel and the moment of truth
By Raffi K. Hovannisian
7:00 p.m., Thursday, June 10, 2010
YEREVAN, Armenia
Today's Turkey is the denialist bearer of the Ottoman execution of the
great genocide and national dispossession of the Armenian people
nearly a century ago. Israel, the carrier-state of the Shoah, which
followed a generation later, has long been unconscionably complicit in
the realpolitik relegation of the Armenian loss of life and homeland
to the footnotes of inconvenient, expendable crimes against humanity.
Historically so different, the Turkish perpetrator and the Jewish
victim, they have in the modern period surmounted their asymmetries to
forge a strategic compact, where might trumps right and the national
interest, however narrow, stands uber alles. They have grown alike.
The demeanor of state, however, has thankfully been balanced by
citizens of conscience both in Turkey and the Jewish world who, in the
face of self-important narratives on the Turkish nation's infallible
greatness or the Holocaust's uniqueness, have come to grasp the
imperative to face history, take responsibility, and draw the lesson
of genocide's universality. These righteous Muslims and Jews have not
yet been able to carry the day.
Instead, it is those such as Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan and Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu of the neo-Ottoman
variety whose duplicitous bluster is driving their jaded vision of
reasserted regional hegemony and imperial relevance. Only this time,
these deniers of genocide are pitching concepts of freedom, human
rights and international law to attain the depths of their purpose.
Israel's blockade of Gaza is wrong and requires resolution. Palestine,
like mountainous Karabagh, has earned its right of sovereign
statehood.
But the essence and rhetoric of the provocation, carefully crafted in
Ankara, to precipitate an Israeli action upon the flotilla, betrays
the true intent of Turkey's leaders: (1) to pursue the deception of
their own clout and aggrandizement at the expense of regional
peace-making; (2) to mask their effective abuse as pawns of the very
people to whom they seek to break through in the name of Islamic
solidarity; and (3) to gloss over comfortably their own unlawful
blockade of Armenia since 1993.
They represent a state that wiped clean an entire civilization in
committing genocide against the Armenians - as well as the Assyrians,
Pontic Greeks and later, the Kurds - and has not found the political
courage or moral fortitude to accept, atone and make just restitution
for it. They represent a state that, far from seeking redemption and
true conciliation, has brought its embargoes and other crimes of war
to the remnant Armenian republic that miraculously survived the
genocide. They represent a state that was formed on the forcible
exclusion of the Armenians from their ancestral patrimony and which
today outlaws any mention of genocide and condemns to a deep-state
death those such as Hrant Dink, who seek peace and closure through
veritas.
And now, as these "moderate Islamists"-turned-tyrants turn to
jockeying with Israel for their own designs and the tallying of petty
points, the question has been raised.
In Jewish circles and beyond, the collective conscience is being
refreshed and appears gradually to be climbing out of an Orwellian
memory hole. People are beginning to confess their recollection of
Turkey's genocidal record. In terms of paradigms and shifts, this is
welcome news: In every evil, there is a good, as the Armenian proverb
goes.
But for this seminal case to close the circle in full reconciliation
with history, its reason must be whole, its realization cathartic.
The Armenian genocide in the century past and the security of the
survivor state with its capital here must never, ever be allowed to
become a political football for selective use by two erstwhile allies
to sort out their relations and the contents of their closets.
The people of Turkey would do well to rein in, and then reverse, their
double-talking thrill-seekers, whose contemporary policies are the
direct inheritance of Mehmed Talaat, Ismail Enver and Ahmed Jemal, the
Young Turk triumvirate that masterminded the genocide and the ultimate
occupation of the Armenian Plateau. But that's really up to them.
As for the United States, Europe and even Israel, this sordid affair
might just be their penultimate chance to recognize a nation-killing
by its name, to bring the perpetrating state to justice, and finally
to guarantee the entitlements to restitution and reparation of the
victims and their living progeny.
Not as a favor, nor an instrument of self-serving leverage. But as a
matter of truth and equity - simple, overdue, unrequited - and nothing
more.
Raffi K. Hovannisian was Armenia's first minister of foreign affairs
and currently represents the Heritage Party in parliament.
HOVANNISIAN: To everything a season
Turkey, Israel and the moment of truth
By Raffi K. Hovannisian
7:00 p.m., Thursday, June 10, 2010
YEREVAN, Armenia
Today's Turkey is the denialist bearer of the Ottoman execution of the
great genocide and national dispossession of the Armenian people
nearly a century ago. Israel, the carrier-state of the Shoah, which
followed a generation later, has long been unconscionably complicit in
the realpolitik relegation of the Armenian loss of life and homeland
to the footnotes of inconvenient, expendable crimes against humanity.
Historically so different, the Turkish perpetrator and the Jewish
victim, they have in the modern period surmounted their asymmetries to
forge a strategic compact, where might trumps right and the national
interest, however narrow, stands uber alles. They have grown alike.
The demeanor of state, however, has thankfully been balanced by
citizens of conscience both in Turkey and the Jewish world who, in the
face of self-important narratives on the Turkish nation's infallible
greatness or the Holocaust's uniqueness, have come to grasp the
imperative to face history, take responsibility, and draw the lesson
of genocide's universality. These righteous Muslims and Jews have not
yet been able to carry the day.
Instead, it is those such as Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan and Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu of the neo-Ottoman
variety whose duplicitous bluster is driving their jaded vision of
reasserted regional hegemony and imperial relevance. Only this time,
these deniers of genocide are pitching concepts of freedom, human
rights and international law to attain the depths of their purpose.
Israel's blockade of Gaza is wrong and requires resolution. Palestine,
like mountainous Karabagh, has earned its right of sovereign
statehood.
But the essence and rhetoric of the provocation, carefully crafted in
Ankara, to precipitate an Israeli action upon the flotilla, betrays
the true intent of Turkey's leaders: (1) to pursue the deception of
their own clout and aggrandizement at the expense of regional
peace-making; (2) to mask their effective abuse as pawns of the very
people to whom they seek to break through in the name of Islamic
solidarity; and (3) to gloss over comfortably their own unlawful
blockade of Armenia since 1993.
They represent a state that wiped clean an entire civilization in
committing genocide against the Armenians - as well as the Assyrians,
Pontic Greeks and later, the Kurds - and has not found the political
courage or moral fortitude to accept, atone and make just restitution
for it. They represent a state that, far from seeking redemption and
true conciliation, has brought its embargoes and other crimes of war
to the remnant Armenian republic that miraculously survived the
genocide. They represent a state that was formed on the forcible
exclusion of the Armenians from their ancestral patrimony and which
today outlaws any mention of genocide and condemns to a deep-state
death those such as Hrant Dink, who seek peace and closure through
veritas.
And now, as these "moderate Islamists"-turned-tyrants turn to
jockeying with Israel for their own designs and the tallying of petty
points, the question has been raised.
In Jewish circles and beyond, the collective conscience is being
refreshed and appears gradually to be climbing out of an Orwellian
memory hole. People are beginning to confess their recollection of
Turkey's genocidal record. In terms of paradigms and shifts, this is
welcome news: In every evil, there is a good, as the Armenian proverb
goes.
But for this seminal case to close the circle in full reconciliation
with history, its reason must be whole, its realization cathartic.
The Armenian genocide in the century past and the security of the
survivor state with its capital here must never, ever be allowed to
become a political football for selective use by two erstwhile allies
to sort out their relations and the contents of their closets.
The people of Turkey would do well to rein in, and then reverse, their
double-talking thrill-seekers, whose contemporary policies are the
direct inheritance of Mehmed Talaat, Ismail Enver and Ahmed Jemal, the
Young Turk triumvirate that masterminded the genocide and the ultimate
occupation of the Armenian Plateau. But that's really up to them.
As for the United States, Europe and even Israel, this sordid affair
might just be their penultimate chance to recognize a nation-killing
by its name, to bring the perpetrating state to justice, and finally
to guarantee the entitlements to restitution and reparation of the
victims and their living progeny.
Not as a favor, nor an instrument of self-serving leverage. But as a
matter of truth and equity - simple, overdue, unrequited - and nothing
more.
Raffi K. Hovannisian was Armenia's first minister of foreign affairs
and currently represents the Heritage Party in parliament.
Hurriyet, Turkey
June 10 2010
Azerbaijan threatens to pull out of Armenia peace talks
Thursday, June 10, 2010
BAKU - Agence France-Presse
Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev has warned that Baku could
withdraw from foreign-backed peace talks with Armenia over the
disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, the state-run Azertaj news agency
reported.
"Armenia in recent months has acted in a way aimed at breaking down
the negotiating process. Azerbaijan must seriously consider the
prospects of its participation in negotiations... We are considering
different options," Aliyev was quoted as saying Wednesday in an
interview with Azerbaijani journalists during a trip this week to
Istanbul.
"If Armenia continues pursuing its aggressive policy and if it
continues the (peace) process only for the sake of appearances, then
Azerbaijan will make serious changes in its attitude," Aliyev said.
Nagorno-Karabakh is an enclave in Azerbaijan that has been occupied by
Armenian forces since the end of a six-year conflict that left about
30,000 people dead and displaced 1 million prior to a 1994 truce. The
territory's unilateral independence is not recognized by the
international community.
International mediation efforts brokered by the so-called Minsk group
` made up of France, Russia and the United States ` have failed to
produce a settlement to the conflict.
The mediators have been pushing since 2007 for the two sides to agree
to the so-called Madrid principles ` a deal that would see Armenian
forces withdraw from areas surrounding Karabakh, would deploy
international peacekeepers to the region, would grant refugees the
right to return and would lead to an eventual vote on the region's
status.
Children's park in Turkey to be named after Hrant Dink
June 11, 2010 - 16:56 AMT 11:56 GMT
PanARMENIAN.Net -
Children's park in Kinali Island, located at a short distance from
Istanbul, will be named after Agos Armenian-Turkish newspaper editor
Hrant Dink killed in January 2007.
The decision was made unanimously by Kinali Island administration,
Taraf Turkish website reported.
June 11, 2010 - 16:56 AMT 11:56 GMT
PanARMENIAN.Net -
Children's park in Kinali Island, located at a short distance from
Istanbul, will be named after Agos Armenian-Turkish newspaper editor
Hrant Dink killed in January 2007.
The decision was made unanimously by Kinali Island administration,
Taraf Turkish website reported.
Anadolu Agency, Turkey
June 10 2010
Turkish Historical Society launches project on Armenian issue
Sakarya, 10 June 2010: Turkish Historical Society is working on a
project on Armenian problem in which nearly 300 academicians from
different countries will participate.
The project on "Turkey-Armenia relations in history and Armenian
problem" will cluster more than 500 research papers and articles.
The project is expected to be made up of 20 volumes. The project team
aims to create the most comprehensive resource on Armenian problem.
Professor Enis Sahin from Armenian Studies of Turkish Historical
Society, head of the project team, said Thursday that the project had
been announced in 2009. He said scholars from several countries such
as Azerbaijan, Italy, France, United States, Brazil, Argentina, Chile,
Georgia and Armenia would be involved in the project.
"When we first started this project, we thought it would be comprised
of 5,000-6,000 pages," Sahin said.
"Now it seems to be a set of books of nearly 20 volumes each with 600
or 700 pages. It will become an encyclopedia," he added.
The set will include extensive information starting from early ages of
Armenian history, and it will also feature several other periods of
Armenian history, such as the Byzantine, Seljuk and Ottoman periods,
as well as Armenian migration, Armenian diaspora and lobbying.
Enis Sahin said the encyclopedia would be published in 2011 in
response to Armenian preparation for 2015, the 100th anniversary of
the incidents of 1915.
June 10 2010
Turkish Historical Society launches project on Armenian issue
Sakarya, 10 June 2010: Turkish Historical Society is working on a
project on Armenian problem in which nearly 300 academicians from
different countries will participate.
The project on "Turkey-Armenia relations in history and Armenian
problem" will cluster more than 500 research papers and articles.
The project is expected to be made up of 20 volumes. The project team
aims to create the most comprehensive resource on Armenian problem.
Professor Enis Sahin from Armenian Studies of Turkish Historical
Society, head of the project team, said Thursday that the project had
been announced in 2009. He said scholars from several countries such
as Azerbaijan, Italy, France, United States, Brazil, Argentina, Chile,
Georgia and Armenia would be involved in the project.
"When we first started this project, we thought it would be comprised
of 5,000-6,000 pages," Sahin said.
"Now it seems to be a set of books of nearly 20 volumes each with 600
or 700 pages. It will become an encyclopedia," he added.
The set will include extensive information starting from early ages of
Armenian history, and it will also feature several other periods of
Armenian history, such as the Byzantine, Seljuk and Ottoman periods,
as well as Armenian migration, Armenian diaspora and lobbying.
Enis Sahin said the encyclopedia would be published in 2011 in
response to Armenian preparation for 2015, the 100th anniversary of
the incidents of 1915.
2010-06-10 16:09:00
ArmInfo. Nearly 15% of historical monuments in Armenia need immediate
restoration, Samvel Mosoyan, Deputy Head of the Agency for Protection
of Historical and Art Monuments, told media on Thursday.
He said there are 24300 historical monuments officially registered in
Armenia. This year the state budget of Armenia allocated 213 million
drams for restoration of 10 monuments. Part of the monuments is
churches located in the regions. For his part, Mkrtich Minasyan, Head
of the Union of Architects of Armenia, said the amount the government
allocates for restoration is insufficient. The problems in the sphere
will remain until the government pays more attention to their
resolution, he said. M. Minasyan said that restoration of the
monuments on the funds of sponsors is the best way out of the
situation.
President Serzh Sargsyan received Baroness Caroline Cox
armradio.am
11.06.2010 11:14
President Serzh Sargsyan received the former Vice-Speaker of the House
of Lords, Baroness Caroline Cox, President's Press Office reported.
Serzh Sargsyan said that regular visits of Baroness Cox and her
associates to Armenia and Artsakh and efficient cooperation with the
Armenian side are outstanding. `I would like to once again thank you
and your friends for the years-long persistent activities,' said the
President of Armenia.
Baroness Cox told President Sargsyan about her impressions from the
70th visit to Artsakh. She said that just like during previous
meetings on this visit too she observed positive changes in Yerevan as
well as in Stepanakert.
The parties spoke also about the Karabakh peace process and the latest
developments in the Armenia-Turkey normalization process. Caroline Cox
said that the international community clearly values Armenia's
position to resolve all the issues with the neighboring states through
dialogue and cooperation. However, according to Baroness Cox,
Armenia's reserved position with regard to the active and fallacious
propaganda of Azerbaijan allows the latter to deceive the
international community.
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