MSNBC is doing a survey on whether the Armenian Genocide should be recognized. The majority of votes are ‘NO’. It just takes one second. Please vote.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21253084
Please ask everyone you know to vote too.
Democratic Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton (center) with ANC Western Region Board Member Aida Dimejian and longtime Democratic activist Michael Mahdesian
WASHINGTON, DC – Democratic Presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton, in a forceful statement shared today with the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA), called for Congressional passage of the Armenian Genocide Resolution and pledged that, as President, she will recognize the Armenian Genocide.
"Armenian Americans from across the United States welcome Hillary Clinton's strong support for the adoption of the Armenian Genocide Resolution, and her pledge to recognize the Armenian Genocide as President of the United States," said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian. "Hillary Clinton's statement, which reflects her consistent track record of support in public office, speaks powerfully to our community's deeply held concerns regarding the recognition of the Armenian Genocide, the expansion of the U.S.-Armenia relationship, and a fair and democratic resolution of the Nagorno Karabagh conflict."
As a Senator, Hillary Clinton has, since 2002, has cosponsored successive Armenian Genocide resolutions. She joined Senate colleagues in cosigning letters to President Bush in 2005 and 2006 urging him to recognize the Armenian Genocide.
In recent weeks, the ANCA has invited each of the candidates to share their views on Armenian Americans issues, and to comment on both the growing relationship between the U.S. and Armenian governments and the enduring bonds between the American and Armenian peoples. Questionnaires sent to the candidates have invited them to respond to a set of 19 questions, including those addressing: affirmation of the Armenian Genocide, U.S.-Armenia economic, political, and military relations, self-determination for Nagorno Karabagh, the Turkish and Azerbaijani blockades, and the genocide in Darfur. Presidential hopeful Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) issued a statement earlier this week.
Armenian Americans, in key primary states and throughout the country, represent a motivated and highly networked constituency of more than one and a half million citizens. The ANCA mobilizes Armenian American voters through a network of over 50 chapters and a diverse array of affiliates, civic advocates, and supporters nationwide. ANCA mailings reach over a quarter of a million homes, and, with the addition of email outreach, action alerts reach well over 500,000 households. The ANCA website, which features election coverage from an Armenian American point of view, attracts over 100,000 unique visits a month. The ANCA also has broad reach to Armenian American voters via a sophisticated media operation of newspapers, regional cable shows, satellite TV, blogs, and internet news sites.
To learn more about the Hillary Clinton campaign, contact:
Hillary Clinton for President
4420 North Fairfax Drive
Arlington, VA 22203
Tel: 703-469-2008
Website: http://www.hillaryclinton.com/
As always, the ANCA welcomes feedback on its service to the Armenian American community. Please forward your thoughts and suggestions about the 2008 Presidential election by email to anca@anca.org.
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Statement of Senator Hillary Clinton on the U.S.-Armenia Relationship
Alone among the Presidential candidates, I have been a longstanding supporter of the Armenian Genocide Resolution. I have been a co-sponsor of the Resolution since 2002, and I support adoption of this legislation by both Houses of Congress. I believe the horrible events perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire against Armenians constitute a clear case of genocide. I have twice written to President Bush calling on him to refer to the Armenian Genocide in his annual commemorative statement and, as President, I will recognize the Armenian Genocide. Our common morality and our nation’s credibility as a voice for human rights challenge us to ensure that the Armenian Genocide be recognized and remembered by the Congress and the President of the United States.
If the mass atrocities of the 20th Century have taught us anything it is that we must honestly look the facts of history in the face in order to learn their lessons, and ensure they will not happen again. It is not just about the past, but about our future. We must close the gap between words and deeds to prevent mass atrocities. That is why I am a supporter of the Responsibility to Protect. As President, I will work to build and enhance U.S. and international capacity to act early and effectively to prevent mass atrocities. The Bush administration’s words of condemnation have not been backed with leadership to stop the genocide in Darfur. I support a no-fly-zone over Darfur. I have championed strong international action to ensure that the government of Sudan can no longer act with impunity, or interfere with the international peacekeeping force, which is essential for the protection of the people of Darfur.
I value my friendship with our nation’s vibrant Armenian-American community. This is in keeping with my dedication to the causes of the Armenian-American community over many years. I was privileged as First Lady to speak at the first-ever White House gathering in 1994 for leaders from Armenia and the Armenian-American community to celebrate the historic occasion of Armenia’s reborn independence. I said at the time that America will stand with you as you realize what the great Armenian poet, Puzant Granian, called the Armenian’s dream “to be left in peace in his mountains, to build, to dream, to create.”
I will, as President, work to expand and improve U.S.-Armenia relations in addressing the common issues facing our two nations: increasing trade, fostering closer economic ties, fighting terrorism, strengthening democratic institutions, pursuing our military partnership and deepening cooperation with NATO, and cooperating on regional concerns, among them a fair and democratic resolution of the Nagorno-Karabagh conflict. As President, I will expand U.S. assistance programs to Armenia and to the people of Nagorno-Karabagh.
I look forward, as President, to continuing to work with the Armenian-American community on the many domestic and international challenges we face together, and to build on the strong foundations of shared values that have long brought together the American and Armenian peoples.
By Vincent Boland in Ankara, Demetri Sevastopulo in London
and Daniel Dombey in Washington
Financial Times, UK Oct 11 2007
Turkey reacted angrily on Thursday to a US congressional vote that labelled the mass killings of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire as genocide, amid warnings that the issue could mark a turning point in relations between Washington and Ankara and place in jeopardy US troops in Iraq.
The non-binding resolution was adopted by the House of Representatives foreign affairs committee in a 27-21 vote on Wednesday. It is set to go to the full House in coming weeks despite intense oppositionf rom Turkey and the White House, which fears the measure will further damage an already strained relationship with Ankara and put US troops in Iraq in greater danger.
"It is not possible to accept such an accusation of a crime which was never committed by the Turkish nation," the Turkish government said.
"It is blatantly obvious that the House committee on foreign affairs does not have a task or function to rewrite history by distorting a matter which specifically concerns the common history of Turks and Armenians.
"Turkey accepts that hundreds of thousands of Ottoman Armenians were killed from 1915 to 1917, as the empire collapsed and before the republic of Turkey was created. But it rejects the idea of genocide and insists that the victims died because of war, hunger and displacement.
Several countries have endorsed the genocide verdict but for the US to be on the brink of doing so - as seems likely if the House votes on it - is especially dismaying to many Turks.
Some see it as a symbol of a growing disengagement between two military allies who enjoyed a long and largely pragmatic relationship until theUS invasion of Iraq. "When we look back in 20 years we might see this as a milestone in the way Turkey and the US have drifted apart," said Suat Kiniklioglu, an MP for the ruling Justice and Development party.
Others say Turkey has backed itself irrevocably into a corner on the Armenian issue by refusing to engage with its critics and by silencing domestic debate. Cengiz Aktar, an academic and commentator in Istanbul, said: "Turkey has made this a question of honour but it has no other policy. We were more flexible on this issue 20 years ago than we are today.
"The House resolution comes at a delicate time in US-Turkish relations. The Turkish parliament is expected next week to approve a military operation into northern Iraq in pursuit of Kurdish PKK separatist rebels based there who have staged bloody attacks inside Turkey in recent weeks. Such a move is fiercely opposed by the US, which fears that Iraq's most stable region could be engulfed in anew conflict.
Such an authorisation may not be acted on immediately but the Turkish authorities appear determined to rout the PKK in the face of a wave of public outrage over recent killings of civilians and soldiers.
"The prime minister feels that our policy of restraint [on the PKK] has to end," Mr Kiniklioglu said.
But threats of retaliation against the US if the House adopted the resolution, made by some Turkish politicians, may be premature.
Several diplomats pointed out that the US administration and much of its foreign policy establishment took Ankara's side in opposing the resolution, a fact that could influence any official Turkish response.
Robert Gates, US defence secretary, said there could be "enormous present-day implications" for US operations in Iraq if Turkey took retaliatory action. Nicholas Burns, under secretary of state, said the administration would contact the Turkish government to convey its "deep disappointment" at adoption of the resolution and to offer "a message of support and the hope that we can continue to work together with them".
Turkish FM: "We must learn lessons from the Holocaust"
EJP Updated: 12/Oct/2007 13:10
JERUSALEM (EJP)---When he signed the guest book of the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem during his visit earlier this week,Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan wrote: "This museum reminds us all the heart-breaking memories of the Holocaust. We must learn lessons from the Holocaust; the way the evil took hold, the insidious appeal of its ideology, co-option of many apparently respectable people.
If we understand the danger of fight against evil doctrines, to scapegoat, despise and dehumanize any religion and people, our children will certainly live in a better world. Genocide, ethnic cleansing, racism, anti-Semitism, Islam-phobia, Christian-phobia, xenophobia, all historical yet contemporary evils that the international community shares a solemn responsibility to combat.
On behalf of the Turkish people and the Turkish Government, I want to express our reverence for the victims of the immeasurable evil. Blessed be their memory."
Hayots Ashkharh Daily, Armenia
Oct 12 2007
Yesterday President ROBERT KOCHARYAN re-confirmed official Yerevan's attitude towards achieving the international recognition of the Armenian Genocide and welcomed the decision of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives.
'We believe that the recognition of Genocide will receive a final formulation in the United States. The great number of communications we have with different countries' officials prove one thing: there is no doubt about what happened in 1915,' R. Kocharyan said.
As to the situation that some countries do not recognize the fact of the Armenian Genocide, R. Kocharyan accounted for it by the intention of not deteriorating their relations with Turkey.
`Turkeyhas adopted a denial attitude with regard to this issue, but it doesn't mean that the country can impose such denial policy on other countries as well,' R. Kocharyan said.
As regards the deterioration of the Armenian-Turkish relations as a result of the adoption of Resolution H106, R. Kocharyan reminded that it is impossible to deteriorate something that doesn't exist.`There must be a certain level of relations to allow for the deterioration of something; today there are simply no relations between Armenia and Turkey,' he underscored.
Click on this link for the excellent BBC Radio interview with Lord Dafydd and Stephen Thomas preceding the unveiling and blessing of the khatchkar that was inspired by and organised by Wales-Armenia Solidarity on Saturday 3rd November 2007:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/player/nol/newsid_7070000/newsid_7076600/7076618.stm?bw=bb&mp=rm&news=1
However, look at the "unbiased" way the day is presented on the BBC website!
Protest as memorial is unveiled
Over 150 people protested before the unveiling
Members of the Turkish community protested at the unveiling of a plaque to a genocide they say never happened.
The Armenian genocide of 1915 at the time of the Ottoman Empire has been a source of deep division between Turkish and Armenian communities worldwide.
Armenians say 1.5m were killed, through systematic massacres or starvation, a claim denied by the Turkish community.
Saturday's unveiling at the Temple of Peace in Cardiff events saw feelings running high on both sides.
Welsh assembly Presiding Officer Lord Dafydd Elis-Thomas was at the unveiling of the plaque which has been paid for by donations from the Wales Armenia Society.
'Slandered'
Members of the Turkish community insist that erecting the memorial amounted to racism.
Protestor Levent Hassan said: "It's a question of our ancestors being accused of genocide."
"If such a genocide took place, then let's prove it and let all concerned commemorate those horrible events," he added.
"But if there isn't - why should we allow our ancestors to be slandered in such a way."
The monument stands in the gardens of the Temple of Peace on what is said to be the UK's first piece of public land donated for an Armenian memorial.
Ahead of the ceremony, Welsh assembly Presiding Officer Dafydd Elis-Thomas said Wales's relationship with Armenia "went back centuries".
He receive a marble cross, or khatchkar, on behalf of Wales at the unveiling ceremony.
Welsh interest
Lord Elis-Thomas joined members of the Armenian and Christian communities on Saturday.
"The fact that the funds for this fine memorial have been raised entirely by the Armenians who live in Wales and that it will occupy a special place here in the Temple of Peace, reflects the vibrant Welsh interest in the history of Armenia," he said.
The Welsh Centre for International Affairs, which is located at the Temple of Peace, is a forum which seeks to promote human rights and international understanding.
Steven Thomas, its director, sad: "We've held events at the Temple of Peace over the past seven years to note the Armenian genocide, including parts of ceremonies we've held for National Holocaust Remembrance Day in January each year. "
However, he said there had been a "much bigger response" to the monument because the commemoration to the Armenians would literally be set in stone.
Turkey's multi-million dollar lobbyists are working overtime to pressure Speaker Pelosi and our Congressional supporters to remove the Armenian Genocide Resolution from Foreign Affairs Committee consideration on October 10th at 1:30pm.
Here is the latest:
Your Representative needs to hear from you immediately. Time is running out!
Simply visit: http://capwiz.com/anca/utr/1/JLZUHRCWBI/LAXOHRDGEO/1453392026%20Type. Type in your ZIP code, and click Go! You will be directed to a website with specific contact information for your Representative along with an appropriate phone script.
Please call now and forward this message to as many friends and family as possible. Once you make your call, please submit your feedback to the ANCA by filling in the simple form following the phone script or just email us at anca@anca.org with any feedback you receive. If you have questions, please call us at (202) 775-1918.
PanARMENIAN.Net
02.10.2007 13:11 GMT+04:00
The House Foreign Affairs Committee is set to mark up the Armenian Genocide Resolution (H.Res.106) on Wednesday, October 10, reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).
Committee discussion and adoption of the resolution will set the stage for subsequent full House consideration of the key human rights measure.
Introduced on January 30th by Rep. Adam Schiff along with Representative George Radanovich (R-CA), Congressional Armenian Caucus Co-Chairs Frank Pallone (D-NJ) and Joe Knollenberg (R-MI), Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA), Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA) and Rep. Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI), the Armenian Genocide resolution calls upon the President to ensure that the foreign policy of the United States reflects appropriate understanding and sensitivity concerning issues related to human rights, ethnic cleansing, and genocide documented in the United States record relating to the Armenian Genocide. The resolution is cosponsored by 226 Members of Congress from 39 states.
A similar resolution in the Senate (S.Res.106), introduced by Assistant Majority Leader Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) currently has 31 cosponsors, including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton (D-NY).
PanARMENIAN.Net
02.10.2007 14:13 GMT+04:00
European Parliament deputies proposed 236 amendments aimed at improving the draft resolution on the EU - Turkey Relations. The European Armenian Federation (EAFJD) reported that the draft text of this document, prepared by Mrs. Oomen-Ruijten (Christian Democrats,Netherlands), came under criticism - including within her own political party, the EPP - because of its laconic wording that evaded most of the key issues: the sociocultural rights of Kurds, the occupation of Cyprus, the EU's absorption capacity and the enduring racist forces in the upper echelons of the Turkish government.
Numerous amendments, proposed by MEPs from various political parties, aim to address Armenian issues, which were fully censored in the draft text. Hence, Turkey's will to exclude Armenia from regional projects and its direct blockade of Armenia are denounced by several amendments including those from Conservatives (EPP), Liberals (Lib/Dem), Souverainists (UEN) and Socialists (PSE). These amendments as well as those by the Leftists (GUE) reiterate the requirement that Ankara recognize the Armenian Genocide and put an end to its official policy of denial.
"Compromise" amendments - which themselves exclude the Armenian elements of the Turkish record - have been proposed by the rapporteur Mrs. Oomen-Ruijten and are currently under negotiation. However, several MEPs have made it clear that they will maintain their amendments explicitly asking Turkey to recognize the Armenian Genocide and to lift the blockade of Armenia.
"We are very pleased for Europe that there are still some MEPs who continue to remind - year after year - of the political and moral requirements regarding Turkey's candidacy," stated Hilda Tchoboian, the chairperson of the European Armenian Federation.
The European Armenian Federation urges the European deputies to vote for the amendments that clearly call on Turkey to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide, to end its official policy of denial, to withdraw its blockade of Armenia and to end its policy of bypassing Armenia in regional projects.
The resolution will be voted on in the Foreign Affairs committee this Wednesday, the 3rd of October.
NTV MSNBC, Turkey
Sept 27 2007
NEW YORK - Turkey's Prime Minister has used a meeting with representatives of the US Jewish community to reject allegations that the Ottoman Empire committed an act of genocide against its Armenian citizens in 1915.
Meeting with representatives of groups including the Conference of Presidents, the Appeal of Conscience, the Foundation, the Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish Congress, and Bnai Brith International in New York late Wednesday Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan described the genocide claims as baseless. The allegations were not supported by any scientific or historical grounding.
"The Prime Minister also recalled Turkey's call to Armenia to establish a joint commission to study historical facts, and stated that Turkey expected the Jewish community to confirm its support against the "baseless allegations," a statement issued after the meeting said.
Following the meeting, Abraham Foxman, the National Director of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), said that at times there could be disagreement between friends, referring to the League having accepted the events of 1915 as being tantamount to genocide. However, Foxman said that the issue should not be the subject of a resolution of the US Congress.
"We believe that a matter between Turkey and Armenia related to history should be tackled between the two parties, not in the US Congress or the parliament of any other country," he said. "This is not a political matter and those in the Congress are not historians."
"I believe that we should focus on the future, not the past. If the Jewish community, the United States and the Congress are willing to assist they should bring together Turkey and Armenia for the grandchildren of the two parties."
SEPTEMBER 27, 2007
SPEAKER: STATE DEPARTMENT DEPUTY SPOKESMAN TOM H. CASEY
[parts omitted]
QUESTION: Fearing an imminent vote on the Armenian genocide resolution H.R. 106, Turkish multimillion dollar lobbyists here in Washington D.C., have solicited the assistance of former secretaries of state, namely James Baker, Warren Christopher, Lawrence Eagleburger, Alexander Haig, Henry Kissinger, Colin Powell and George Shultz, asking Speaker Nancy Pelosi, to "prevent the resolution from reaching the House,". Any comment? And clarify your position.
CASEY: The U.S. position on the events of the beginning of the last century is unchanged. You can look at our annual statements on that. And I would refer you to that language; it's very specifically crafted, and I don't have it in my head right now, so I wouldn't want to mislead anybody.
In terms of what former secretaries of state may or may not have done by way of action on this issue, I'd, frankly refer you to them. They are private citizens. [!!!] And I assume if they made representation to Speaker Pelosi on this, they did so because they believed it was the right thing to do.
QUESTION: And your position?
CASEY: U.S. position on this issue has not changed. Again, I'd refer you back to our previous statements on it.
OK. Thanks, guys.
ArmRadio - Public Radio, Armenia
Sept 27 2007
Fearing an imminent vote on the Armenian Genocide Resolution (H.Res.106), Turkey's multi-million dollar lobbyists have solicited the assistance of eight former US Secretaries of State in seeking to derail this human rights legislation, reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA.).
"Facing a growing bipartisan Congressional majority demanding passage of the Armenian Genocide Resolution, Turkey's lobbyists - out of desperation and a never ending desire to squeeze more billing dollars out of Ankara - have turned to the very architects of our government's failed policy of appeasing Turkey," said Aram Hamparian, Executive Director of the ANCA. "Sadly, successive US administrations have found themselves lacking the moral courage to end the cycle of genocide - from Cambodia, to Rwanda and, today in Darfur - precisely because of their legacy of caving in to, rather than confronting genocidal regimes."
"We are, as Americans, especially troubled that, in warning Congress not to make a simple anti-genocide statement for fear of upsetting Turkey, these officials would outsource our nation's moral conscience>to a foreign government," added Hamparian.>>In their September 25th jointly-signed letter, former Secretaries of State Madeleine Albright, James Baker III, Warren Christopher, Laurence Eagleburger, Alexander Haig, Jr., Henry Kissinger, Colin Powell, and George Schultz, urged Speaker Pelosi to "prevent the resolution from reaching the House Floor," thereby denying House Members an opportunity to vote their conscience on the Armenian Genocide. The former State Department officials expressed concern that passage of the resolution "could endanger our national security interests in the region, including our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, and damage efforts to promote reconciliation between Armenia and Turkey.
Congressional Quarterly Sept 27 2007
Report by Emil Danielyan
Armenia condemned on Friday eight former U.S. secretaries of state for jointly speaking out against the passage of a congressional resolution that refers to the 1915-1918 mass killings of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey as a genocide.
In a joint letter on Tuesday, the former officials urged the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, to keep the resolution from reaching the House floor, saying its adoption would jeopardize America's national security and further strain Turkish - Armenian relations. While recognizing the "horrible tragedy" suffered by Ottoman Armenians, the signatories -- among them Colin Powell, Madeleine Albright and Henry Kissinger -- emphasized Turkey's "geo-strategic importance" for the United >States.
"Passage of the resolution would harm our foreign policy objectives to promote reconciliation between Turkey and Armenia," they said. "It would also strain our relations with Turkey, and would endanger our national security interests in the region, including the safety of our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan."
"It is quite unfortunate that eight experienced diplomats would buy into Turkish manipulation," Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian responded in an extraordinary statement.
Oskanian specifically denied the former state secretaries' claim that there are now "some hopeful signs" of a Turkish - Armenian >rapprochement. "I regret to say that there is no process in place to promote normalization of relations between Armenia and Turkey. Expressing concern about damaging a process that doesn't exist is disingenuous," he said, adding that Ankara is sticking to its preconditions for establishing diplomatic relations with Yerevan.
One of those preconditions has been an end to the decades-long Armenian campaign for international recognition of the genocide. Ankara also makes the normalization of Turkish - Armenian relations conditional on a resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict that would satisfy Azerbaijan. Successive Turkish governments have refused to drop these preconditions despite pressure from the current and previous U.S. administrations.
Oskanian said he has written to Pelosi to "express our deep concerns and to dismiss as unfounded any implication that a resolution that addresses matters of human rights and genocide could damage anyone's bilateral relations."
The ex-secretaries' letter was also condemned by Armenian - American lobby groups that were behind the genocide resolution's introduction in the U.S. Congress early this year. "We are, as Americans, especially troubled that, in warning Congress not to make a simple anti-genocide statement for fear of upsetting Turkey, these officials would outsource our nation's moral conscience to a foreign government," Aram Hamparian, executive director of the Armenian National Committee of America, said in a statement.
The draft resolution calls on President George W. Bush to "ensure that the foreign policy of the United States reflects appropriate understanding" of the Armenian genocide and to "accurately characterize the systematic and deliberate annihilation of 1,500,000 Armenians as genocide." It has already been co-sponsored by most members of the House of >Representatives. Pelosi, who has backed similar bills in the past, is expected to put it to the vote this fall.
The Bush administration strongly opposes the bill's passage with arguments similar to the ones made by the eight former secretaries of state.
In his annual messages to the Armenian - American community, Bush has described the 1915 slaughter of more than one million Armenians as one of the greatest tragedies of the 20th century but stopped short of calling it a genocide. He has at the same time cited a 2002 international study which concluded that the massacres meet the internationally accepted definition of genocide.
TEXT OF FORMER SECRETARIES OF STATE LETTER TO SPEAKER PELOSI:
September 25, 2007
The Honorable Nancy Pelosi
Speaker of the House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515-0508
Dear Madam Speaker:
We are writing to express concern that H. Res. 106 could soon be put to a vote. Passage of the resolution would harm our foreign policy objectives to promote reconciliation between Turkey and Armenia. It would also strain our relations with Turkey, and would endanger our national security interests in the region, including the safety of our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
We do not minimize or deny the enormous significance of the horrible tragedy suffered by ethnic Armenian from 1915 to 1923. During our tenures as Secretaries of the State, we each supported Presidential statements recognizing the mass killings and forced exile of Armenians. It has been longstanding U.S. policy to encourage reconciliation between Turkey and Armenia and to urge the government of Turkey to acknowledge the tragedy. We understand the Administration continues to urge the Turkish government to reexamine its history and to encourage both Turkey and Armenia to work towards reconciliation, including normalizing relations and opening the border. There are some hopeful signs already that both parties are engaging each other. We believe that a public statement by the U.S. Congress at this juncture is likely to undermine what has been painstakingly achieved to date.
We must also recognize the important contributions Turkey is making to U.S. national security, including security and stability in the Middle East and Europe. The United States continues to rely on Turkey for its geo-strategic importance. Turkey is an indispensable partner to our efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, helping U.S military with access to Turkish airspace, military bases, and the border crossing with Iraq, Turkey is a linchpin in the transshipment of vital cargo and fuel resources to U.S. troops, coalition partners and Iraqi civilians. Turkish troops serve shoulder-to-shoulder with distinction with U.S. and other NATO allies in the Balkans. Turkey is also a transit hub for non-OPEC oil and gas and remains key to our effort s to help the Euro-Atlantic community bolster its energy security by providing alternative supply sources and routes around Russia and Iran.
It is our view that passage of this resolution could quickly extend beyond symbolic significance. The popularly elected Turkish Grand National Assembly might react strongly to a House resolution, as it did to a French National Assembly resolution a year ago. The result could endanger our national security interests in the region, including our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, and damage efforts to promote reconciliation between Armenia and Turkey. We strongly urge you to prevent the resolution from reaching the house floor.
Sincerely,
Madeleine K. Albright
James A. Baker III
Warren Christopher
Lawrence S. Eagleburger
Alexander M. Haig, Jr
Henry A. Kissinger
Colin L. Powell
George P. Shultz
If you are a British citizen or UK resident, please add your name to this online petition requesting the Prime Minister to recognise the Genocide. The closing date for signatories is 16th November 2007.
There are already nearly 1000 names and every extra one counts!
British Reports on Ethnic Cleansing in Anatolia, 1919-1922: The Armenian -Greek Section, compiled By Vartkes Yeghiayan, May 2007. Published by CAR, 296 Pages, $20, ISBN #978-0-9777153-2-9
Available from http://www.centerar.org , eBay, or by calling (818) 281-9992
British Reports on Ethnic Cleansing in Anatolia, 1919-1922: The Armenian-Greek Section, is a provocative new book that clearly and vividly demonstrates that from 1919 to 1922, the Turkish Nationalists under Mustafa Kemal perpetrated an organized scheme of wholesale ethnic cleansing upon the indigenous Armenians of Asia Minor and Cilicia, and the Greeks of Pontus.
This important book, compiled by Attorney Vartkes Yeghiayan, chronicles how the Turkish forces, after invoking a "War of Independence," massacred innocent civilians and looted and appropriated Armenian and Greek cathedrals, monasteries, churches, institutions, fields, orchards, stores and factories, while the victorious Allies looked away.
WW I "ended" when the defeated Ottoman Empire signed the Mudros Armistice, which dictated categorically that the Ottomans had to renounce their empire, with the exception of Anatolia, and the Allies would have the right to occupy the Six Armenian Provinces in Asia Minor (Anatolia) in case of disturbances.
Ten days after the signing, the victorious British took charge of Constantinople and formed the Armenian-Greek Section to deal with all urgent and outstanding issues related to the Armenians and Greeks in Turkey. The victorious British also persuaded the Sultan to dissolve the Ottoman Parliament. In a Proclamation on 6 December 1918, Sultan Mohammed VI announced, "My sorrow is profound at the mistreatment of my Armenian subjects by certain political committees acting under my government."
The remnants of the Young Turk Regime, however, especially those who had gotten rich by the wholesale looting of Armenian and Greek assets, rejected such acts of contrition and sabotaged all efforts that would reverse their ill-begotten fortunes.
British Reports on Ethnic Cleansing in Anatolia, 1919-1922: Minutes of the Armenian Greek Section, is the verbatim record of 87 reports the British High Commission compiled for the use of the British Foreign Office. These reports are yet another "smoking gun" that confirm that the genocide of the Armenian people did not end with the end of the Great War. Kemalist forces systematically evaded the Armistice terms, and instead, implemented a scorched earth policy of a massive ethnic cleansing. The reports collected in this book cumulatively confirm without the shadow of any doubt, that the genocidal policy started by the Young Turks was brought to its merciless and bloody climax by the Nationalists.
The first official meeting between the A.G.S. and the American, Greek, and Armenian representatives took place on 5th March 1919, with the participation of Dr. Tavitian, and Mr. Tchakirian, representing the Armenian Patriarchate, and Dr. Theotokas representing the Greek Patriarchate.Here is a sample of the war crimes committed by Turks that are recorded in the minutes of the A.G.S.:
Dr. Tavitian stated that he had received news from Boghazlian, Yozgat and Caesarea to the affect that repatriated Armenians were now being accused of having murdered Turks and so were obliged to leave again."
At Yozgat a secret anti-Christian movement had been started, and as a result of a telegraphic order received from Mustafa Kemal Pasha, many volunteers had been enrolled.
Dr. Tavitian reported that the same state existed everywhere, at Everek (Caesarea) boycottage of Christians was being carried on, and the Mufti was preaching in the Mosque ordering his people not to sell to Christian. From Sivas and Samsoun many reports of outrages, cruelty and brigandage had been received, thus confirming the reports of Relief Officer in those districts.
Information from Sivas showed that a number of the more notorious malefactors of the time of the massacres were re-appearing; for instance, Rassim Bey, an ex-Deputy, has offered himself for election.
The Kemalists have requisitioned the Armenian Cathedral and are using it as a prison. (They have also taken over) the Armenian Church of St.Saviour; the Convent of St. Nishan; the Armenian College; the Archbishop's residence; the Armenian Protestant Church; the Greek Church; the Jesuit School and the School and Residence of the Sisters. The Authorities have also requisitioned about 2500 kilos of brass Church ornaments.
Turkish propagandists have recently intensified their efforts to distort these truths so clearly stated in these damning reports. One of the false narratives the Turks have been pushing is the lie that after the war ended, thousands of Armenians were allowed to return and reclaim their homes and properties. The reports gathered in this book prove otherwise. British Colonel Graves, who ran the Greek-Armenian Section, asserts in these reports that the locality from which these disturbances were reported was precisely that in which returned Armenians had managed to a certain extent to resettle; one would say that since November the Turks were trying to rid themselves of these few Armenians too.
In another report we read: The Kemalists blocked the Armenian quarter on the pretext that the Armenians had helped the Circassians, pillaged their houses and murdered the men. They then collected all the women, young girls and children in the Armenian church to which they set fire and burnt them alive. They finally reduced the Armenian quarter to ruins.
And finally: This report described at length and in detail the terrible sufferings which the Armenian population had undergone through the systematic endavours of the Kemalists to completely annihilate the Armenian race by requisitioning their houses, schools, churches; their land (40%), cattle, merchandise and provisions for the needs of the Kemalist Army. Crushing taxes were being imposed upon these unfortunate people. Young Armenian Orphans were being recruited into the Turkish Labour Battalions and turned on to road mending.
British Reports on Ethnic Cleansing in Anatolia, 1919-1922: Minutes of the Armenian Greek Section forms a continuum with the "Blue Book" by Viscount Bryce that chronicled the massacres and ethnic cleansing of Armenians in 1915.
When it became clear to the British that they couldn't neutralize Ataturk, they shut down the A.G.S., abandoned Constantinople, abandoned the Armenians and Greeks still stuck under the yoke of triumphant Turks, declared victory, and return to England - after having secured rights to Mosul oil.
Soon after, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk became the President of the Republic and ever since, successive Turkish governments have denied that, their "War of Independence" was nothing else but the ethnic cleansing of Greeks and Armenians from their millennia-old natural habitats.
This important book sets the record straight.
The book is part of the Genocide Remembrance series published by CAR, the Center for Armenian Remembrance.
Books may be ordered by mail, phone or online. Books also available at your local Armenian Bookseller.
Center for Armenian Remembrance (CAR)
PO BOX 250322
Glendale, CA 91205-0322
Tel: 818-281-9992 Web: http://www.centerar.org
The retail price is $20 (US) and $24 in Canada, plus $5 for s&h for up to 2 books.
Note: you can submit your view on this article by clicking on http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/law/article1680192.ece .
PLEASE DO SO ON 23RD APRIL 2007, THE EVE OF THE COMMEMORATION OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE.
[See sample submission that follows the article]
From The Times April 20, 2007.
EU makes it against law to condone genocide - David Charter in Luxembourg
Condoning or "grossly trivialising" genocide will become a crime punishable by up to three years in prison across Europe, although justice ministers failed to agree a specific ban on denying the Holocaust yesterday.
Germany used its presidency of the EU to push through the first Europe-wide race-hate laws, regarded by Berlin as an historic obligation in the 50th anniversary year of the union created to preserve peace and prosperity after the Second World War.
Under pressure from nations worried about freedom of speech, led by Britain, Germany scaled back ambitions to replicate its strict laws of Holocaust denial and dropped plans to outlaw the display of Nazi symbols at an EU level.
All 27 EU nations will be obliged to criminalise "publicly condoning, denying or grossly trivialising crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes" but the test for prosecution was set deliberately high to secure agreement in Luxembourg. Cases will succeed only where "the conduct is carried out in a manner likely to incite violence or hatred".
The definition of genocide will be that set at the Nuremberg trials and by the International Criminal Court, meaning that it will include Nazi crimes and those in Rwanda and Yugoslavia but not the Armenian genocide - a definition disputed by Turkey.
Poland, Slovenia and the Baltic states lobbied hard for - but failed to win - the inclusion of a crime of denying, condoning or trivialising atrocities committed in the name of Joseph Stalin in the new law.
They did, however, secure a pledge that the European Commission would prepare a Green Paper on 20th-century genocidal crimes and carry out a review within two years on whether denying these should come under the scope of the race-hate law.
This led to accusations that the EU was trying to rewrite history. Graham Watson, MEP, leader of the Liberal group in the European Parliament, said: "The EU has no business legislating on history. We should leave that to historians and individual member states."
Attempts to harmonise EU laws on hate crimes are both illiberal and nonsensical. [This] risks opening the floodgates on a plethora of historical controversies . . . whose inclusion could pose a grave threat to freedom of speech."
Franco Frattini, the European Justice Commissioner, said: "We have proposed public hearings and I propose to involve all stakeholders, including historians. The final result should be to improve public awareness, especially for younger people and students. We do not want to rewrite history. History is history." The EU-wide crime of inciting violence or hatred against a person's race, colour, religion, descent or national or ethnic origin agreed yesterday will result in conviction only where there is "intentional conduct". Officials said there would be no change in British law, where there are already penalties of up to seven years for inciting racial hatred under the Religious and Racial Hatred Act of 2006, which was used as a model for the final EU text.
Britain also pushed successfully to ensure that religious attacks would be covered only if they were of a racist or xenophobic nature, so that criticism of Islam or other faiths would not automatically fall under the new measures.
Example of submission (but give your own thoughts)
The EU should be thoroughly ashamed at arriving at very selective genocide denial legislation that will not deter those who may develop such tendencies in the future. Nor is it only historic as some would want to believe. The denial of the Armenian Genocide by successive Turkish governments is at the root of the only closed border in Europe at present, that between Turkey and the Armenia. Only two weeks ago Turkey stopped a UN exhibition organised by the London based Aegis Trust on the Rwandan Genocide because of words that touched its sensibilities. When will the dummkopfs in EU institutions realise that only a total unequivocal ban on all genocides at any time, with recognition by the perpetrators, lead to a safer more stable world? Or are we all prepared to stomach the terrible events we know are happening in Darfur to continue on?
If you do a Google search for http://www.theforgotten.org, which is a site purportedly giving information on the Genocide, you get the following result:
www.hackdeface.com
Includes the chronology, excerpts of an ABC news program, pictures taken by the German army officer Armin Wegner, and testimonies of survivors.www.theforgotten.org/ - 13k
Notice the apparently unrelated Web address at the head of the entry. If you want to visit the site (click on this address if you do: http://www.theforgotten.org/) , you will see that, at least at present, it isn't quite what it claims to be! You should be aware before you do though that some believe that phishers follow hackers - be warned...
It is good to see that freedom of expression and informed debate are alive and well on the Web...
:-)
