Turkish minister says European parliament report affirms EU accession
process
Istanbul, 13 March: Turkish State Minister and Chief Negotiator for EU
talks Egemen Bagis said Friday [13 March] the adoption of a report on
Turkey by 528 European Parliament (EP) deputies is an affirmation of
Turkey's accession process.
Speaking to reporters at Istanbul's Ataturk International Airport
after a trip to the Czech Republic, Bagis said that the EP report is
overall a balanced one.
Compared to the previous years, the EP report is more constructive and
makes a call to strengthen Turkey's efforts for full membership to the
EU, Bagis said.
"The absence of Armenian allegations on the incidents of 1915 in the
report and a clear referral to PKK [Kurdistan Workers' Party] as a
terrorist organization within the report are very important. The EP
report is the joint report of 27 EU countries representing eight
different political parties and it is a balanced one," Bagis said.
In reference to a question on the upcoming visit of US President
Barack Obama to Turkey, Bagis said that this visit is an indication of
where Turkey has come globally.
"Turkey is not merely a member of the UN Security Council. It is a
country that continues negotiations with the EU and runs the
Secretariat General of the Organization of Islamic Conference. The
fact that Turkey has become a country that is consulted with in global
matters should be a matter of pride for all of us," Bagis said.
Hurriyet, Turkey
March 13 2009
'Keep your genocide recognition pledge'
WASHINGTON - With nearly three weeks to go before U.S. President
Barack Obama's planned visit to Turkey, leaders of pro-Armenian
lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives have urged him to keep
his campaign promise to recognize the 1915 incidents as "genocide."
Obama is expected to arrive in Turkey in early April at the end of a
European tour, during which he will attend international meetings in
London, Strasbourg and Prague.
During last year's election campaign, Obama had pledged to recognize
the 1915 incidents as "genocide". But Turkey warns that any formal
U.S. recognition will damage U.S.-Turkish ties in a major and lasting
way.
Several analysts say Obama's visit to Turkey would weaken the chances
of U.S. "genocide" recognition in the short term.
Letter to Obama
In an effort to push the matter onto the president's agenda, four key
pro-Armenian lawmakers sent a letter to Obama, reminding him of his
pledge and calling on him to keep this promise.
Democratic congressmen Adam Schiff and Frank Pallone and Republican
congressmen George Radanovich and Mark Kirk signed the letter,
according to the Armenian Assembly of America (AAA), a leading
U.S.-Armenian group.The four members of congress thanked Obama for
last year's promise, likening the Armenian deaths to the Holocaust.
"Whether it is today's Sudanese government (which is accused of
genocide against the people of Darfur in Sudan) or yesterday's Ottoman
empire, the perpetrators of genocide, as well as the victims, must
know that the United States will not shrink from confronting the
truth," the four lawmakers said.
"President Obama's upcoming trip to Turkey presents a unique
opportunity to address the consequences of genocide and its denial,"
said Bryan Ardouny, the AAA's executive director, also thanking the
four lawmakers for their initiative.
Nothing can question fact of Armenian genocide
12.03.2009 14:07
Yerevan (Yerkir) - Armenian Foreign Minister Edvard Nalbandyan lectured
at the French Diplomacy Academy on March 10 with a speech entitled
"South Caucasus: The Reality and Future."
Politicians, diplomats, experts and journalists attended the lecture.
Speaking on the Artsakh conflict, Nalbandyan said that while the wounds
of the war launched by Azerbaijan have not healed yet Baku is provoking
a new war.
Nalbandyan spoke about the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement and
paid attention to the belligerent and non-constructive policy of
Azerbaijan. The Armenian FM said Azerbaijan has been circulating
documents at the UN which not only negatively affect the negotiation
process but also aim to justify possible use of force.
Nalbandyan also talked about normalization of Armenian-Turkish
relations in his speech. According to him the solution process of the
problems between Armenia and Turkey could not question the fact of the
Armenian Genocide. "If Armenia and Turkey have a political will and
sincere intentions to normalize the relations, no factor could prevent
it," he said.
Armenian FM said the "crucial" meeting of Presidents Serzh Sargsyan and
Abdullah Gul in Yerevan gave a new momentum to the negotiations and is
in the interests of the two states and peoples. According to the
minister, the negotiations are aimed not only at normalization of the
Armenian-Turkish relations but also assumed a serious contribution to
assure regional security and stability.
Elie Wiesel Praises Balakian's Armenian Genocide Book
Never before in English, ARMENIAN GOLGOTHA is the most comprehensive
and dramatic eyewitness account of the twentieth century's first
genocide conducted in Eastern parts of the Ottoman Empire, which is
today's Turkey. It sheds light on the Armenian Genocide as no other
book has done.
On April 24, 1915, Balakian, an Armenian Apostolic priest, was
arrested along with some 250 other intellectuals and leaders of
Constantinople'sArmenian community. During the next four years, he
bears witness to the countless deportation caravans of Armenians,
tortured, raped, or slaughtered and subsequently mutilated on their
way to death in the Syrian deserts; through the testimony of many
survivors, foreign witnesses, and Turkish officials involved in the
extermination; and also to some brave, righteous Turks and their
German allies who resisted secret extermination orders. Miraculously,
Balakian manages to escape, and his flight--through forest and over
mountain,in disguise as a railroad worker and then as a German
soldier--is a suspenseful, harrowing odyssey that makes possible his
singular testimony.
Advance praise for ARMENIAN GOLGOTHA speaks to the memoir's great
historical importance as well as to Balakian's gripping eyewitness
narrative-
`Read this heartbreaking book. Armenian Golgotha describes the
suffering, agony, and massacre of innumerable Armenian families almost
a centuryago; its memory must remain a lesson for more than one
generation.' 0A-Elie Wiesel
`Grigoris Balakian's Armenian Golgotha is a powerful, moving account
of the Armenian Genocide, a story that needs to be known, and is told
here with a sweep of experience and wealth of detail that is as
disturbing as it is irrefutable.'
-Sir Martin Gilbert -
`In this extraordinary account, Grigoris Balakian makes astute
psychological observations about himself and his fellow prisoners, and
equally astute interpretations of the behavior of Turkish perpetrators
and German collaborators in the Armenian Genocide. His writing is
clear and compelling, asrendered in sensitive translation. He has a
keen sense of history, and his extensive travels enable him to record
a tragic European panorama. This bookwill become a classic, both for
its depiction of a much denied genocide andits humane and brilliant
witness to what human beings can endure and overcome.'
-Robert Jay Lifton, author of The Nazi Doctors: Medical Killing and
the Psychology of Genocide
`The translation and publication of Armenian Golgotha in English
is long overdue. It constitutes a thundering proof that those who deny
the Armenian Genocide are engaged in a massive deception.'
-Deborah E. Lipstadt, author of Denying the Holocaust: The Growing
Assault on Truth and Memory
`The first English translation of a seminal personal account of
thefirst modern genocide... Balakian survived to write this memoir,
which combines extensive research, an account of his own experiences
and testimony from eyewitnesse s, both victims and perpetrators. Poet,
memoirist and Armenian holocaust historian Peter Balakian, Grigoris's
great-nephew, collaborated with professional translator Sevag to
render the blistering Armenian text into modern English.'
-Kirkus Reviews
The recovery of ARMENIAN GOLGOTHA is also an extraordinary
story. Since it had been published in 1922 it had remained available
only in Armenian, and it wasn't until 1991 that Peter Balakian first
learned of his uncle's memoir through a chain of circumstances he
describes in his prize-winning memoir Black Dog of Fate (just reissued
in a 10th anniversary edition). After a ten-year translation and
editing project, now Peter Balakian with Aris Sevag has brought this
story into an elegant edition in English.
Full of shrewd insights into the political, historical, and cultural
context of the Armenian Genocide--the template for the subsequent
genocides that cast a shadow across the twentieth century and
beyond--ARMENIAN GOLGOTHA is destined to become a classic of survivor
literature.
ARMENIAN GOLGOTHA is available for pre-order online.
Send to us by MediaonArmenia@aol.com
TO BE PUBLISHED BY ALFRED A. KNOPF APRIL 4
Fresno Bee, CA
March 12 2009
Armenian population numbers are a chilling reminder of genocide
Thursday, Mar. 12, 2009 E-Mail
A chilling bit of new evidence has emerged in the controversy over the
Armenian genocide, and it comes from an unlikely source: the records
of the man who was in charge of the deportation of tens of thousands
of Armenians during World War I, when the genocide began.
A book published in Turkey in January quotes records left by Mehmed
Talat, the Ottoman Empire's interior minister during that period. By
the numbers, the population of Armenians in the empire fell
dramatically in 1915-1916, from just under 1.3 million to a little
more than 280,000. Almost 1 million people simply disappeared from the
records.
The modern-day Turkish government, as always, has little to say about
the figures beyond its standard line about there being a war on, and
the Armenians were treacherously supporting Russia, the Ottomans'
ancient enemy.
As always, that story doesn't wash. The armed opposition of a tiny
handful of Armenians doesn't explain the Ottomans' perceived need to
deport, starve and kill some 1.5 million people, many thousands of
them old men, women and children.
This revelation will add new fuel to the campaign for official
American recognition of the genocide. April 24, the traditional day
marking the beginning of the genocide, is coming up, and with it a
renewed effort to put the American government on record acknowledging
those awful events.
To that end, a group of congressmen who've lobbied hard for genocide
recognition has sent a letter to President Barack Obama, calling on
him to fulfill his earlier support, as a senator and presidential
candidate, for American recognition of the genocide. The group is led
by Rep. George Radanovich -- a co-author of the Armenian Genocide
Resolution -- and includes Reps. Adam Schiff, D-Pasadena, Mark Kirk,
R-Ill., and Frank Pallone, D-N.J.
There will be considerable pressure brought to bear on Obama to
continue the denial of the Armenian genocide that has characterized
presidents of both parties for decades. The argument has been that the
U.S. relationship with Turkey would be threatened by recognizing the
historical fact of the genocide, given the Turks' intransigence on the
subject.
It's time for that to end.
A Genocide, a Turkish apology and an Armenian thank you
By Dr Armen Gakavian
Published in Garoon Monthly, Sydney, March 2009
In December 2008, a group of Turkish intellectuals published the following
apology:
"My conscience does not accept the insensitivity shown to and the
denial of the Great Catastrophe [Medz Yeghern] that the Ottoman Armenians
were subjected to in 1915. I reject this injustice and for my share, I
empathize with the feelings and pain of my Armenian brothers and sisters. I
apologize to them."
This brave and moving statement was posted at
http://www.ozurdiliyoruz.com,
and the accompanying petition has now been signed by over 30,000 Turks
around the world. Some Armenians have criticized this apology as inadequate
because it does not mention the word "Genocide". Others see it as a way for
Turkey to wriggle its way out of a full state apology and compensation. I
understand the concerns but am more interested in the opportunities. This
Turkish apology is an important step in the right direction, and has put yet
another dent in the Turkish "wall of silence". And I personally know of many
Turks who have signed the petition because they cannot stand by and let
injustice continue.
In response to this Turkish apology I, the grandchild of survivors of the
Armenian Genocide, wanted to acknowledge the hand that was being extended by
Turks of good conscience, and reply with gratitude. I also wanted to take
the opportunity to remind the reader of the need for a Turkish state
acknowledgment. I therefore prepared a draft response for discussion among
my Armenian friends and colleagues, with the hope that it might turn into an
Armenian petition.
A Turkish newspaper, Radikal Daily, found out about this initiative and I
agreed to an online interview. In my interview, I warmly welcomed the
Turkish initiative. I also emphasised that the apology is only the
beginning, and that there needs to be a Turkish state apology, followed by
corrective action. I wrote:
"The sincerity of a Turkish state apology will be measured by what
steps are then taken to reverse, as much as possible, the consequences of
the crime committed."
My interview was published in full on 1st February 2009. Unfortunately, the
editor's introduction and accompanying column gave the impression that my
draft reply to the Turkish apology was the work of an organized group of
Armenians, and that an Armenian "counter-apology" was soon to be released.
Both claims were incorrect, the result of a misunderstanding. Other Turkish
and Armenian newspapers then reported me as saying that the Armenians should
apologise to the Turks; however I never stated such a thing.
What I did state in the interview was my personal view that all terrorist
acts and other killings (apart from acts of self-defense) committed were
morally unjustifiable and therefore regrettable, and that this principle
also applies to Armenians. My view on this is in line with universal
Christian teaching and modern international law.
However, I also made it clear that any Armenian acts of violence "cannot
compare to the attempted annihilation of an entire nation", adding that:
"If I were the Turkish state, I would see an apology as an excellent
way of restoring the dignity lost through decades of denial."
Emails I have received from a number of Turks who read my interview indicate
that my overall message - welcoming the Turkish apology and calling for
Turkish state acknowledgement - was not lost on those whose "conscience does
not accept the insensitivity shown to and the denial of the Great
Catastrophe that the Ottoman Armenians were subjected to in 1915."
There are a growing number of Turks who want to deal with their nation's
dark past - a past that has engulfed both the Armenian and Turkish nations
in its tragic fury. These Turks form a small, young, fragile but rapidly
growing movement. We need to reach out to these Turks, and walk together
with them on the path of truth. But we cannot do so from behind the wall of
self-protection, defensiveness, prejudice and hatred.
Since the murder of Hrant Dink, I have had the privilege of meeting several
Turkish students and graduates in Sydney. I consider some of them my good
friends. We have spent many hours discussing the Genocide and other terrible
events of the past, the ongoing denial of those events by the Turkish
government, and how we can create a just and peaceful future. And, in May
2008, I had the privilege of speaking to a classroom of over 30 Turkish
university students and academics in Istanbul about Armenian-Turkish
relations and the Armenian Genocide.
We are at a crucial moment in the history of Armenian-Turkish relations.
More than ever, it is important for the two nations to engage with each
other at both the political and grassroots level. We must continue the twin
struggle for recognition and reconciliation. We cannot have one without the
other. Everyone - governments, political parties, community groups,
religious groups and individuals - must get involved.
"My conscience refuses" . to stand by and watch, when so many Turks are
asking the hard questions and making brave choices. They are risking their
lives and deserve our support.
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