- Turkish Perception of the Recent US Court Ruling, By Ayse Gunaysu, Asbarez
- Pots Shots, Memories And The Diaspora, Stefanos Evripidou, Cyprus Mail
- Catharsis, Etyen Mahçupyan
- Armenian-American Lawyers And Leaders Should Counter Ruling Of Appeals Court, Harut Sassounian
- Football Zugzwang, Hakob Badalyan
- Hay Dat Or Bandit?…, Handan Yazar
- Funny !.., BYGM, GenocideReality.com
- Fatal Combination: Irrationality and Vicious Circle, Editor, GenocideReality
- Some Very Important (?) Data, Handan Yazar
- More and More Scandals…, Ulku Eryaman
- Example for Reediting of Memory in the Memoir Genre: Fethiye Cetin and “My Grandmother”, Editor, GenocideReality.com
- Armenia Country of Contradictions, The Editor, GenocideReality.com
- We Must End The Turkish Occupation Of Washington, Appo Jabarian
- Yegparian: Health, Absurdity, And Math, Garen Yegparian
- Armenians No Longer Need Recognition, Aram Sassounian, 9th grade, Clark High School
Turkish Perception of the Recent US Court Ruling, By Ayse Gunaysu, Asbarez
Among thousands of news items showering down from international agencies, none of the Turkish dailies or TV channels skipped the news about a U.S. Federal Court of Appeals ruling against Armenian demands for unpaid insurance claims. Many headlines revealed a hardly concealed note of victory, reporting that the U.S. Court had dealt a “big blow” to Armenians. Some of them were a little bit more professional, reflecting only a satisfaction: “Court decision to anger Armenians.” Even the most seemingly “objective” ones used wording that presented the issue as a defeat on the part of the “Armenians” —not a violation of the rights of legitimate beneficiaries, the clients of insurance companies that profited from a government’s extermination of its own citizens. Even the daily Taraf, considered to be waging the most courageous struggle against the “deep state,” used the headline: “Bad news to Armenians from a US court” (Aug. 22, 2009, p.3), a headline that, intentionally or not, reinforces the essentialist conception of Armenians widespread in Turkey and reflects a cold-hearted pseudo-impartiality —“bad news”!—in the face of an infuriating usurpation of one’s rights.
Apart from a handful of people, no one in Turkey, watching the news or reading the headlines (often without reading the full texts), knows that at the turn of the century several thousands of Armenians in the provinces of the old Armenia were issued life-insurance policies, with benefits amounting to more than $20 million in 1915—dollars still unpaid to the legal heirs of the victims who perished under a reign of terror. This is not surprising because this audience is even ignorant of the fact that on the eve of World War I, there were 2,925 Armenian settlements in the old Armenia, with 1,996 schools teaching over 173,000 male and female students, and 2,538 churches and monasteries—all proof of a vibrant Armenian presence in the Ottoman Empire. When I tried to explain this to my 83-year-old mother, who thought the U.S. court had done something good for Turkey, she couldn’t believe her ears. She was quite sincere when she asked: “Western insurance companies? At that time? In Harput, in Merzifon, in Kayseri? Are you sure?” Because she could not even imagine that what is now to us the remote, less-developed cities with rural environs where pre-capitalist patterns still prevail—places more or less isolated from today’s metropolitan centers—were once, before 1915, rich and developed urban centers, with inhabitants much closer to the Western world than their fellow Muslim citizens, in their economic activities, social structure, and way of life. Although a university graduate (something unusual for a woman in Turkey at that time), a person of culture with a real sense of justice in everything she does, my mother was brought up in a system of education based on a history that was rewritten to reconstruct a national identity of pride, and which turned facts upside down. This was the result: an “enlightened” individual who knew nothing about how things were in her own—beloved—country and what had happened just a decade before her birth.
So, how can one expect my mother to know that Talat Pasha, a member of the PUC triumvira and one of the top organizers of the Armenian Genocide, had shocked Henry Morgenthau, the U.S. Ambassador to Istanbul in 1915, with his audacity when he said: “I wish, that you would get the American life insurance companies to send us a complete list of their Armenian policy holders. They are practically all dead now and have left no heirs to collect the money. It of course all escheats to the state. The government is the beneficiary now. Will you do so?”
The Turkish audience, apart from that handful of people, that received the message about the U.S. Court of Appeals ruling against the Armenians’ right to seek justice, didn’t stop to think that this was something about one’s most basic rights.
But the reason is simple: National ideology blocks people’s minds. There is a special meaning attributed to the word “compensation” in Turkey. It is believed that recognition will be followed by demands of compensation, which will naturally lead to demands of territory. So, the reference to “compensation” (to be paid to “Armenians”) in these reports is directly connected in their minds to Armenians’ claim to territory.
This is all about denial. Denial is not an isolated phenomenon, not a policy independent of all other aspects. Denial is a system. An integrated whole. You don’t only deny what really happened; in order to deny what really happened, you have to deny even the existence of the people to whom it happened. In order to deny their existence, you have to wipe out the evidence of their existence from both the physical and intellectual environment. Physical refers to the 2,925 Armenian settlements with 1,996 schools and 2,538 churches and monasteries that are non-existent now. Intellectual corresponds to my mother’s perception of the U.S. Court of Appeal’s ruling as something good for Turkey.
I watched a film on TV tonight, Akira Kurosawa’s “Rhapsody in August,” a film about an old lady, a hibakusha (the Japanese word for the victims of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II) and her four grandchildren. Watching the film, I saw people commemorating their dead ones with great respect, taking care of their monuments with endless love, raising their children in the same spirit, observing Buddhist rituals, praying for their losses. The details showing all these were elegantly and very impressively depicted. Watching a blind hibakusha gently cleaning the marble platform of the monument with great care, I thought of Armenians of my country, who are deprived of this very basic right to publicly honor the memory of their lost ones. This ban is woven into the very structure of Turkish society, because the founders of the new Turkish Republic and their successors built a nation and successfully put into practice an “engineering of the spirit” whereby the people are convinced, made to sincerely believe, that such commemorations are a direct insult to themselves.
The outcome of such engineering, this whole complicated system of denial, is very difficult to dismantle. The Turkish ruling elite will not recognize the genocide, not in the short-term, not in the mid-term. In the long-term, maybe. But how “long” a term this will be is something unknown. The dynamic that would step up the process is the recognition from below, i.e. recognition by the people—a very slow process, but much more promising than an official recognition in the foreseeable future. People in Turkey are one by one going through a very special kind of enlightenment—meeting with facts, learning more about the near history, getting into closer contact with Armenians here and elsewhere (for example, meeting and listening to Prof. Marc Nichanian speaking in the language of philosophy and literature, hearing his words about how meaningless an apology is when what happened to Armenians was “unforgivable,” about the meaning of the “usurpation of mourning” and the “impossibility of representation” of what Armenians experienced. More and more stories are appearing in the dailies and periodicals in Turkey of our grandmothers and grandfathers of Armenian origin who were stripped of their Armenian identities, at least in the public sphere. More and more books are being published about the genocide, enabling the readers to try and imagine what is unimaginable.
This will turn the wheels of a long process of recognition from below, a recognition in the hearts of people that will inevitably interact with the process of official recognition—a must for true justice—no matter how distant it may be for the time being.
Pots Shots, Memories And The Diaspora, Stefanos Evripidou, Cyprus Mail, Aug 26 2009, Cyprus
THE DIASPORA is currently holding the 16th annual conference of overseas Cypriots in Nicosia. Eminent Cypriots from around the world have descended on the homeland to discuss the plight of the island, bringing with them a US senator among others.
The diaspora of any country or ethnic group will always have a huge role to play in a people's development. It can play a positive role, like the Armenian musicians who report on their musical genius through the thousands of concerts performed around the globe. But it can also complicate matters. Some argue that the conflicts in Northern Ireland during the Troubles and the Balkans in the 1990s were fuelled by the logistical and financial support of the respective diaspora of each ethnic group.
Compared to its size, Cyprus has a massive diaspora, spreading across America, UK, Canada, Europe, Africa, Australia and beyond. Like all groups, the Cypriot diaspora is not monolithic. Take London for instance. There are Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots who share memories and friendship in the capital's legendary Green Lanes. And then there are those whose unwavering dedication to the "motherlands" leaves no space for that sort of co-existence.
This year's conference has been given much notice among local players and the media. President Demetris Christofias opened the conference on Monday, and in doing, crossed swords with the Archbishop and House President.
The Cyprus Mail passed by the official home of the five-day conference yesterday, the Hilton, to hover through the halls and corridors and see what's cooking. On arrival, party leaders were addressing a crowd of around one hundred in Ballroom A.
A mere coincidence perhaps, but Marfin Laiki Bank was holding a photographic exhibition in the same hall, titled "Memories of Cyprus". Another subtle hint from Marfin's Andreas Vgenopoulos?
Facing the 100-odd delegates and a fair splattering of journalists was a 15-member platform, seating representatives of overseas Cypriot federations and branches from the USA, UK, Africa, South Africa, Australia, Europe and Canada.
The last speaker for the morning was AKEL's Andros Kyprianou who released a few jabs on those critics "unfairly" accusing the president of selling out. No sooner had the communist leader wrapped up, DISY's Nicos Anastassiades lit up inside the conference hall, pipping others to the spot as "Number One Potential Violator" of this January's draconian smoking laws.
As the delegates, old and young, mostly male, walked out the conference towards lunch, their chatter betrayed accents affected by decades spent away from home in new lands. Some offered a refined version of the Queen's English while others adopted a more casual American slant.
"Hey, how you doin? Did you make it to the thing last night?" "Oh no, I couldn't. My foot hurt."
It was clear that the ties with the older generation of overseas Cypriots have been kept strong. The delegates oozed confidence and familiarity with the local politicians, old and young.
A number of delegates approached one of the organisers to complain that the mood among the local politicians was a little too partisan for their liking, referring specifically to the closing speech. The conference should not be used as a platform to take pot shots at opposing camps, they argued. The organiser dismissed the criticism, responding: "What are we sheep and we can't express an opinion?"
While the multitude of delegates scrambled for lunch, a number of political players stayed behind, gathering around a hub of TV cameras like wasps around a jam pot.
Political elites in most countries are less familiar with queues but the thousands of weddings our local elite are obliged to attend prepare them well for waiting one's turn for a few moments on the box with impeccable politeness and patience.
The journalists quizzed speakers on the intricacies of the Cyprus talks before asking each one to dabble with destiny and comment on APOEL's chances against FC Copenhagen tonight at the GSP Stadium.
Unknown to most, a few walls away, a group of FC Copenhagen players were eating lunch by the swimming pool, biding time till the game. If there was ever a chance to promote Cyprus as a breeding ground of footballing excellence, yesterday lunchtime was it. But the Hilton kitchen staff seemed to have missed the chance, as the players rubbed their stomachs in sunny satisfaction with the day's menu.
Catharsis, Etyen Mahçupyan @Todayszaman
There was this cliché we would hear from state officials in Turkey. Whenever demands for reforms or increased rights or freedoms were raised, we would hear it. They would tell us that Turkey is a sui generis country where the rules applicable everywhere else were not applicable to the country.
For instance, we had republic, democracy and secularism, and we regarded these values as considerably vital, but none of them were like those in Western countries. They would stress that taking Western criteria as a basis in the implementation of these values would cause not only incompatibility but also damage.
Turkey has really become a sui generis country. The resulting country was the nominalist projection of modern democracies. On the surface, everything was as it should have been, but in reality, society and the state bureaucracy were both dominated by an authoritarian mentality. In order to maintain this facade, the official ideology had to be blessed. By saying that Turkey was surrounded by enemies, the West was trying to divide us. There were many traitors inside the country who tried indoctrinating the people with Kemalism as the only cure against these threats. In order to make the scene more convincing, history had to be rewritten. Indeed, even many diplomats were able to realize what really happened to Armenians or what Kurds were going through much later on in their lives.
Today, the country is on the verge of a catharsis. More and more people are beginning to remember and talk. In this process, sincere confessions from bold people will be more effective than the most profound analyses. An article recently published by former Ambassador Temel İskit in his column in the Taraf newspaper, titled “Thoughts of a 72-year-old white Turk,” was a striking example of this frank comprehension. And the floor goes to him: “My generation and my close circle have lived for a long time in a problem-free Turkey. There was no Kurdish issue. There wasn't the Armenian Genocide either. We would scorn the East and attach greater importance to the West. Our greatest fear was from reactionaryism and communism.
“We have been deceived for years. First, we were deceived by education. Then, by the Cold War.
“We first started to get the impression that something was being concealed from us. But we did not know what it was. It took time for us to understand that Turkey is not problem free but rife with many problems. When the world changed and we were now faced with our real problems, we were shocked. None of the old formulas were useful. Kemalism, socialism or nationalism could not solve our problems. Time was running out. Of course, it was not easy to accept that one has been deceived all through one's life.
“Initially, there was no Armenian issue. Then, our Western enemies created this genocide out of the blue. Then, the issue turned out to be the Armenians' backstabbing us and then self-defense in war conditions and then mutual conflict. Now, we are utterly amazed to see the pages of history that have been Photoshopped.
“The reverse happened with respect to reactionaryism. We have realized that the fear of Shariah instilled inside our hearts has no sound justification. We have understood that Islam is not dangerous as they taught, but a common value of our society. After seven years of government by a political party that is said to be ‘pro-Islamic,' we saw that Turkey has not become like Iran. We have observed how the fight against reactionaryism is used as a pretext for restricting liberties.
“What shocked our generation the most was the Kurdish issue. For many years, we never realized that it existed. History consisted of Turkish history. Turkey belonged to Turks. There was no Kurd for us even when we were at the age of 40. There was separatist terror. First, they did not have their own language. Later, we learned that this was not the case. We learned that they existed long before Turks came to Anatolia.
“But many of us could not abandon what they were parroting. They continue to argue that the issue would be settled if the PKK was destroyed. Most importantly, they refused to accept any damage to their unshakable belief that Turkey is owned by Turks.
“My generation is the most conditioned part of society. We even consider ourselves responsible for conditioning the coming generations. The sacrosanct state, ideological secularism, unprivileged class-free masses, indivisible unity and the characteristics and supremacy of Turks have become part of our identity.
“My generation has tried to maintain the problems instead of seeking solutions to them. The solution is now in your hands. We have done wrong to Turkey, but you should not do this.”
These words do not come from an ordinary pen. İskit is a person who was inside the state for many years, speaking and producing policies on behalf of the state. For this reason, I think these sentences are considerably important not only for those foreign observers who have lent support to the authoritarian regimes fearing Islam, although they do not sufficiently know this country, but also for our secular modern friends who are the products of this land but who fail to know or understand this land or this society and who want to call soft fascism a “democratic republic.”
Armenian-American Lawyers And Leaders Should Counter Ruling Of Appeals Court, Harut Sassounian Publisher,
The California Courier
The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals issued an outrageous judicial opinion last week, ruling that the California law that extended the deadline for Armenian-Americans to sue life insurance companies for unpaid claims from the Genocide-era was unconstitutional.
Furthermore, in a split decision, the Court made a sweeping pronouncement claiming that the State of California had infringed on the foreign affairs power reserved by the Constitution exclusively to the federal government, just because the law in question included a reference to the Armenian Genocide. Two of the three federal judges asserted that Section 354.4 of the California Code of Civil Procedure, adopted by the California Legislature in 2000, contravened the federal government’s policy of not acknowledging the Armenian Genocide.
By adopting this law, the State of California intended to provide its residents and others the opportunity to protect their legal rights by allowing them until December 31, 2010 to file lawsuits against foreign and domestic life insurance companies which had not paid claims dating back to the Genocide era.
On the basis of this law, a class action lawsuit was filed against New York Life Insurance Company which was settled in 2005 for $20 million dollars. A second class action lawsuit was filed against Axa, a French life insurance company. It was settled for $17.5 million.
A third class action lawsuit was filed against Victoria Verisherung AG and two affiliated German insurance companies in 2003. Father Vazken Movsesian, Pastor of St. Peter Armenian Church in Glendale, was the lead plaintiff.
The attorneys for the German companies contested the lawsuit and filed a motion to dismiss. Federal Judge Christina Snyder rejected the defendants’ contention by ruling that Section 354.4 did not infringe on the federal government’s foreign affairs powers. The defendants then filed an appeal claiming that the California Law "conflicts with the Executive Branch’s policy prohibiting legislative recognition" of the Armenian Genocide. They pointed out that the Administrations of Presidents Bush and Clinton had opposed all three Armenian Genocide resolutions submitted to the House of Representatives in 2000, 2003 and 2007.
Last week, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals over-ruled Judge Snyder, asserting that the California Law in question "impermissibly infringes" on the jurisdiction of the U.S. government. Two of the three judges of the Appeals Court, David R. Thompson and Dorothy W. Nelson, sided with the German insurance companies. The third judge, Harry Pregerson, sided with the Armenian plaintiffs, contending that the State of California has the right to ensure that its residents are fairly treated by insurance companies. He also asserted that he could not find "any evidence of an express federal policy" forbidding states from using the term "Armenian Genocide."
This Appeals Court ruling has very serious consequences for the Armenian Cause, far beyond the issue of mere life insurance claims.
It was highly unusual that Judge Dorothy Nelson was absent from the bench when attorneys from both sides were presenting their oral arguments to the Court of Appeal. Given her apparent lack of interest in this case, one wonders if she delegated viewing the videotape of the hearing to her law clerks.
Armenian-Americans should call for the impeachment of Judges Thomson and Nelson for legislating from the bench, falsely claiming that Congress and individual states are "prohibited" from adopting resolutions on the Armenian Genocide, and injecting political views into their judicial opinion. It is incredible that judges who live in Southern California -- in the midst of the largest Armenian community in the world -- are so ignorant about the most basic facts of the Armenian Genocide.
There are also serious errors in the opinion issued by the two judges on August 20, 2009. For example, on page 11434, they claim that "there is no citation or evidence in the record of these other thirty-nine state statutes which purportedly reference the ‘Armenian Genocide.’" This statement is patently false. On page 19 of the "Answering Brief" filed on April 30, 2008, the plaintiffs’ attorneys provide the following citation: "To date, thirty-nine states have formally recognized the Armenian Genocide by legislation or proclamation. See, Armenian National Committee of America, ‘Genocide Recognition by U.S. States’ Online at www.anca.org/genocide_resource/states_map.php."
Judges Thompson and Nelson, in their eagerness to prove that California contradicted the Executive Branch’s policy on the Armenian Genocide, selectively refer only to the resolutions that had failed to come to a full House vote. The judges do not mention the material fact that in line with California’s statute 354.4, the U.S. House of Representatives twice adopted resolutions on the Armenian Genocide in 1975 and 1984, and Pres. Reagan issued a Presidential Proclamation in 1981, acknowledging the Armenian Genocide.
These judges are also plainly wrong in claiming that the U.S. Congress and individual States had interfered in the formulation of U.S. foreign policy on the Armenian Genocide. The resolutions adopted by 41 U.S. States and hundreds of proclamations issued by governors, mayors, and county supervisors throughout America are commemorative in nature, simply reaffirming the U.S. record on the Armenian Genocide and urging the President of the United States to do likewise. Furthermore, the U.S. government does NOT have a policy of denying the Armenian Genocide.
Interestingly, the Appeals Court judges disclosed that Turkish officials had made a sinister attempt to interfere in their ruling.
They stated that Nabi Sensoy, the Turkish Ambassador to the United States, sent them a letter expressing his country’s strong opposition to California statute 354.4, and asking the Court to overturn it. The Turkish Ambassador had sent a similar letter earlier to another Federal Judge, trying to interfere in a lawsuit by Armenian plaintiffs against German banks. Although Judges Thomson and Nelson assert that they ignored the Turkish Ambassador’s angry letter, it must have surely reinforced their own view that California was intruding into Washington’s conduct of foreign policy. It is simply appalling that the Turkish government would try to stick its nose in a lawsuit between Armenian-Americans and German insurance companies even though the plaintiffs in this case neither accuse Turkish officials of any wrongdoing nor make any demands from them. Similarly, the attorneys for the German insurance companies have no business objecting to whether California was infringing upon U.S.-Turkish relations.
The Law offices of Geragos & Geragos; Kabatek, Brown, Kellner LLP; and Yeghiayan Law Firm -- the attorneys for the plaintiffs -- must have realized by now that this is no longer simply a life insurance issue dealing with the unpaid claims of their clients. This lawsuit has now mushroomed into a case that calls into question the authority of California and 40 other States to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide. Furthermore, it is highly puzzling why the plaintiffs’ attorneys had not invited California’s Attorney General to file a friend of the court brief to defend his State from accusations that it had adopted a statute that ostensibly violated the U.S. Constitution. Hopefully, this serious oversight would be remedied by requesting that the State Attorney General file such a brief when the plaintiffs’ attorneys seek a rehearing of the case "en banc" by a larger panel of the Court of Appeals. Should all appeals fail, however, Armenians could lobby for the adoption of a new California statute that would allow the filing of lawsuits against foreign insurance companies, without the problematic language.
For several years, this writer has been urging the Armenian American community and its political leadership to stop pursuing the adoption of additional congressional resolutions that simply repeat what was already accomplished in 1975 and 1984, and to re-channel their efforts to more productive legal demands from the government of Turkey through U.S. and European courts. It is now clear that the repeated and failed Armenian attempts to pass previously adopted resolutions may not only be wasting valuable time and resources, but could also be detrimental to the pursuit of Armenian legal claims.
Finally, Pres. Obama and several previous Presidents must bear their share of responsibility for this unwelcome judicial development, given the fact that they pledged to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide as candidates and reneged on their promises, once in office. Pres. Obama should be made aware of the serious legal consequences of his breach of trust and asked to make good on his campaign promise.
Armenians and all those who believe in justice should urge the establishment of a U.S. commission -- similar to the one for Holocaust victims -- to settle all claims of properties and possessions arising from the Armenian Genocide. Even though this would not be an easy task, it would at least be the start of a tangible and meaningful process!
Football Zugzwang, Hakob Badalyan, Lragir
Serge Sargsyan is facing a difficult choice. First he needs to decide on accepting or rejecting Abdullah Gul’s invitation to watch the match Turkey vs. Armenia. If he rejects, he must give an explanation to the international community because rejecting would mean the end of the football diplomacy, that is the process of improvement of the Armenian-Turkish relations. If he accepts, he will have to explain to the Armenians because by accepting the invitation and visiting Turkey Serge Sargsyan actually carries on the failure of Armenia and fosters Turkey.
Internal legitimacy that is public confidence would facilitate Serge Sargsyan’s choice because in that case every choice he made would get public confidence, which frees the president of any country from explanations because legitimacy is the explanation of many decisions. However, it is also clear that the absence of explanation was the cause of the “inexplicable” behavior of the Armenian government after the initiative for the improvement of relations with Turkey.
Now it seems that it is too late for Serge Sargsyan to think that efforts towards legitimacy would give him independence to implement a policy on the Armenian and Turkish relations which would be in the interests of Armenia rather than the Armenian government. Moreover, it appears that Serge Sargsyan does not even wish to think so, otherwise he would have announced that as long as Turkey temporizes and imitates commitment to the solution of international and regional problems and sets preconditions for the Armenian and Turkish relations, the Armenian president has nothing to do in Turkey, and Armenia has nothing to tell the Turkish diplomacy at the same table.
Nevertheless, despite Serge Sargsyan’s indifference and reluctance to get external independence through internal legitimacy, obviously the Republic of Armenia caught in the trap of football diplomacy wants Serge Sargsyan to make the optimal decision. And since the situation is that of a trap, it is in Armenia’s interests to reject Gul’s invitation because caught in the trap of the football diplomacy, Serge Sargsyan cannot have enough flexibility in Turkey, and at night he may be offered to sign a document compared with which the joint Armenian-Turkish statement might appear a victorious pact.
However, it is clear that the Armenian society would understand rejection, whereas the international community is expecting the opposite and may get disappointed with Serge Sargsyan, which is a serious concern for Sargsyan. However, there is a way out from this situation as well. It is possible to reject the invitation without leaving any counterarguments to the international community. Serge Sargsyan need not reject Gul’s invitation. The Armenian national team should refuse to play with the Turkish team, especially that it lost to Moldova at home, imagine what would happen in Turkey. The international community would not object to this option of refusal. What will they tell Serge Sargsyan? After all, Gul invited to watch football. How can they watch a match which does not take place? Hence, the reason for visiting Turkey disappears because the invitation loses its relevance.
Hay Dat Or Bandit?…, Handan Yazar
Kiro Manoyan, who is an official of Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) Dashnaksuthiun, stated that, Turkey associated its relations with Armenia with the settlement of Upper Karabakh dispute process, negotiations between Yerevan and Ankara were frozen, everyone expected Turkey to take a step, and Turkey was waiting for a progress in Upper Karabakh settlement process to take a step.
Manoyan indicated that, Turkey reached a position to dictate Armenia on the Upper Karabakh issue and Co-Chairmen countries of the Minsk Group were putting pressure upon Yerevan for making unilateral concessions to please Turkey; and under these circumstances, negotiations with Turkey should be suspended and that they demanded the resignation of Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandyan, who was responsible for this current situation in foreign policy.
Bursts of anger, accusations, self-inconsistency and aggressiveness…All of these should have a specific definition in psychology.
Wasn’t it this HAY DAT which made an announcement calling the European Union to use Armenian genocide against Turkey!
Wasn’t he the same Manoyan who told that, Turkish-Armenian border had been established by the Sevres Agreement and that the Ottoman Empire had signed this document!!!
It is difficult to deal with the ignorant, amnesiac!
There is no need to talk once more about Sevres, to turn to the European Union… It doesn’t matter how much you talk, if the one you’re talking to is determined not to understand.
The aim is to retrieve historical Armenian territories, to establish Greater Armenia and to gather all the Armenians who are scattered around the world inside Armenia. Every mean is legal in doing so…
According to Petrosyan, who was the first President of Armenia after the independence: “Unless historical hostilities were set aside and relations with Turkey were normalized, it was impossible to be fully independent from Russia, (International Herald Tribune, May 25th 1991) it was necessary to act according to the ‘real political’ situation.” What happened then? Whoops… There goes Petrosyan and here comes Hay Dat, in other words “Armenian cause”.
Now Nalbantyan is being targeted… Although Nalbantyan told that there was no need for preconditions and he talked about optimism and normalization in every opportunity he got, he was inconsistent while he was telling that “they could not ignore the opinion of Diaspora, just as they could not ignore the opinion of Armenian and Turkish public”.
Wasn’t it the same thing which happened in the past, wasn’t it this Dashnak mentality which had turned these two nations, who had been living side by side for centuries without a serious hostility among them, against each other by using conspiracies and provocations?
We should ask once again, “Is Dashnaksuthiun, which was established in Armenia in 1991, just a political party or a power that was involved in many terrorist activities and that, governs Armenia from the backstage and plays the game by its own rules?
The aim is clear, the method is clear and the answer of the question is clear.
Dashnak conspiracy is still continuing today. We should not be fooled…
(handanyazar at gmail.com)
30.07.2009, GenocideReality.com
Funny !.., BYGM, GenocideReality.com
According to the report posted under the abovementioned title in the internet web site dated 23 July 2009 of Asbarez newspaper published in English-Armenian in the USA;
“Armenian Youth Federation initiated protest against Chevron Company which opposes the legal arrangement on genocide.
On 22 July 2009 at the same time with the protests started in front of the company’s headquarters across the USA, a protest campaign of letter addressed to Head of Board of Governors of Chevron Dave O’Reilly including the request that “the company should apologize to the public opinion due to taking advantage of the company’s denial of the genocide.”
Armenian Youth Federation claimed that Chevron Company “is trying to cover the reason why it is opposing the regulation recognizing the Armenian genocide in Congress by making use of the lines of reasoning which Turkish and Azeri governments have referred to so as to legitimize their accomplice while they were denying the crime of genocide which was committed against the humanity.”
“As an important energy supplier in the region we support the existence of numerous energy transportation lines and the diplomatic relations between Turkey and Armenia,” said the Chevron spokesman Justin Higgs. He also stated that “the legal regulation on genocide is not useful for the relations between Turkey and Armenia but it harms them,” he said.
Head of San Francisco branch of Armenian Youth Federation Matt Senekeremian who directed the protest against Chevron in the Gulf Region said that “a diplomatic relation to survive between Turkey and Armenia is possible only if it is built on facts. Carrying out lobbying activities against the regulation on Armenian genocide is, in simple terms, a matter of taking advantage of the denial of genocide and it is a narrow-minded policy which will lead to further instability in the region.”
The House of Representatives member Adam Schiff who led the regulation regarding the Armenian genocide strongly accused Chevron and the other companies which oppose the genocide regulation: “I believe that no American company should carry out lobbying activities regarding the recognition of genocide and should not be involved in the accomplice of another country’s denial of another country.” (*)
For years Armenians have tried to take advantage of a history that is rewritten in a way that would serve their interests and managed to turn a nonexistent genocide and perhaps the most conflicting and the funniest genocide story which does not take history into account at all against into a very profitable “sector” in the fullest sense. Now it is the usual evilness of Armenians to direct an accusation of “taking advantage” against those who think in a way different from them and say some logical things…
Now it is obvious that American Armenian lobbying groups which know well to abuse people through the continuous cheap exploitation of feelings are in panic.
Isn’t the campaign, itself, which those presumptuous ones who do not know history an effort to take advantage? Maybe it is necessary to initiate a strong campaign against this … The campaign of “protest against the impudent adopting barefacedness.
Source: (*) BYGM-24.07.2009, 03.08.2009
GenocideReality.com
Fatal Combination: Irrationality and Vicious Circle, Editor, GenocideReality
Plane crashes are sad just like all fatal accidents. However, they are a little different from the other accidents. They produce an effect similar to that of world wars, global disasters and they draw the attention of the whole world. For there are many citizens from various countries among passengers and mass killings occur.
People all over the world mourn. The rituals for mourning may be different for every culture. However, the sorrow is common.
The administrators of the countries immediately make statements sharing the sorrows of their citizens. The official statements made immediately at that situation of emergency are important. It is possible to catch the world views of the communities and their vulnerabilities, and their points of view of what has happened. Does panic, confusion or any other thing exist in the statements? This is where we can find the signals as to what kind of attitude a country, a society assumes with regard to common sorrows/problems and the reasons why they experience the same problems, the same vicious circles and the same reactions all the time.
An Iranian airliner which took off from Tehran en route to Yerevan crashed on 15 July. The Armenian administration declared the 16 July as the day of mourning due to the accident in which its citizens were killed and established an emergency telephone line. The statements made up to here are almost the same in all the countries for emergency cases.
What is interesting is the following part of the statement: It was stated that “With the purpose of providing assistance to the families of those who were killed in the accident, a commission was established under the chairmanship of the Deputy President, with the instruction by the Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisyan,.” The Chairman of the Armenian Civil Aviation Organization Artem Movsisyan announced that “compensation will be paid to the relatives of all the passengers from all countries on board the plane belonging to the Caspian Airlines which crashed in Iran.” Movsisyan who stated that the Russian made plane involved in the accident was insured said that “a compensation of almost 32-42 thousand dollars would be paid to those who were killed in the accident.” The Armenian government stated that a decision will be made soon with regard to the issue of funeral expenses of the accident victims.
The Armenian administrators, unwittingly, revealed their community’s point of view for “sorrow”. Obviously, to turn the sorrow to financial gains as soon as possible is an issue which will come to one’s mind lastly in other societies. It is yet possible to say that it is received with disgrace or strange.
Diaspora Armenians also experience a similar vicious circle. At first, with the manipulation of the Catholic and Protestant missioners they changed their sects since 1800’s, they betrayed the Gregorian church. Again with the manipulation of the missioners many of them migrated to France, Italy, USA and the UK. They were tempted by the provocation of France, Russia and the UK during the World War I and betrayed the Ottoman Empire. While those countries withdrew at the end of the War, the Armenian gangs escaped with them.
The Armenian diaspora settled in those countries continue to make those countries pay for the cost of “sorrow” which has been going on “for generations.” They continuously make political, financial and material demands. The abovementioned countries must be so much fed up with this endless sorrow and demands that since 1970’s they have thought of making Turkey pay for the cost of this “sorrow” and they have tried to impose this burden on us
Armenians are always “suffering,” always expecting the compensations for their “sorrows”. They do not think of determining the real source of the problem. They do not consider why they left the Ottoman lands, why they were forced to leave?
They do not question why they have to travel on the broken planes of the Iranian airlines with old-fashioned technology why their own country fails to offer a safe and preferable airline service.
Therefore, they experience similar problems, sorrows repeatedly for generations again. And they try to turn its cost to cash and make others pay for its cost.
Editor, GenocideReality
Some Very Important (?) Data, Handan Yazar
The article appeared with the signature of Sarkis Y. Karayan in the Hınchaks’ “Massis Weekly” of 18 and 25 July 2009 published in the USA touched upon the data which were claimed to be published by the Istanbul Union of Armenian Doctors after the World War I.
According to Karayan;
“Between 1914-1915, 64 Armenian doctors were killed, 52 doctors died of epidemics, 15 medical school students, 14 dentists and 73 pharmacists were either killed or died of epidemics”.
Although they were not allowed in the army as combatants in the Ottoman period, the Armenian doctors and health staff employed in various hospitals across the country within the framework of “a strategic planning and covert agenda” were killed while they were working in those hospitals. According to the claim of Korayan the health services throughout the country were inflicted a heavy blow in consequence of “this inhumane and brutal policy of the Turkish Government.” (*)
It must be asked!
Who has set forth these findings? What was “Istanbul Union of Armenian Doctors” based on? Upon which archive document was it founded? It is not known …It is obvious how scientific and objective it is..
It is beneficial to remind the Armenian extremists which carry on their attacks unconsciously by producing various scenarios repeatedly that to talk about history one needs documents:
The Ottoman State allowed Armenians to establish and maintain their own hospitals under their own religious leaders as long as they obeyed the laws.
It is noted that non-Muslims played an active role in the Ottoman State. Non-Muslims were employed as doctors in the service of the state, they also provided health service by setting up hospitals both to non-Muslims and when necessary to the state. The state provided the financial assistance to those institutions. For example, the Grand Vizier Ali Pasha granted 500 gold for the repair of the Armenian Hospital of Yedikule in 1865. (1)
“As the hospital was full of those who were heavily injured arriving from the Iranian front, two doctors provided medical care to the children in a large house used as hospital. Those doctors providing medical care were Dr. Refik and Dr. Maltızyan. The arrival of this old Armenian doctor who enjoyed the admiration and love of Van people in the city upon his hearing about the disaster made everybody happy. Dr. Maltızyan who was not loved by the Catholic and Protestant Armenians in Van as he was an Orthodox had never been interested in the religions and nationalities of his patients and immediately provided aid to those who were in need.
Dr. Maltızyan who won the love of all the people in Van through his interest to the Turkish children who went and came back from Iran was found hanged on 10 April 1915 with the writing on his chest “This is the fate of the one who worked in the service of our enemies.”” (2)
*It is not a matter of the work carried out by a few Dashnak terrorists. Unfortunately, Armenian masses in great numbers participated in the revolts and the formation of the voluntary units. Archives are full of the applications of the Armenians of Turkey to Russian officials for working in the service of the Tzar armies and fighting in the voluntary units against Turkey. The lists of thousands of Armenians ranging from the intellectuals and doctors of Ottoman nationality to university students and ordinary villagers exist in the archives name by name. This movement by the Armenians of Turkey began well ahead of the deportation. Those documents are significant as they indicate that the threat is not limited to the leaders and militants of the separatist organization and they show the reasons of the deportation. (3)
* On the other hand, in his report submitted to the German Chancellor on 30 April 1915 the German Ambassador in Istanbul Wangenheim stated that “explosives, bombs and weapons were discovered in many Armenian houses and churches, they were going to carry out bombings against Bab-I Ali and some official buildings” therefore; “on 27 April 1915 which was the anniversary of the Sultan Mehmet V’s ascending to throne and on the night of 24/25 April and the following evening approximately 500 Armenians who were the members of Dashnak Revolution Organization in Istanbul were arrested and those people including doctors, journalists, clerics, authors and deputies were sent to Anatolia.” (4)
According to the Documents of General Staff, the special order dated 16 September 1917 sent to Aleppo Regional Logistics Support Inspectorate with the signature of the 4th Army General Commander Ahmet Cemal, with regard to the Armenian women who were deported from the East Anatolia and settled in Aleppo and worked in the workshops, states that “The Chief Doctor in the Aleppo Regional Logistics Support Inspectorate is responsible for the health of those immigrants and the procurement of everything required by them to ensure that no illnesses occur among them. They will be provided free medicine that is given by the army to the soldiers. The doctor has a compulsory task of examining those women everyday.”
During the relocation of the Armenians, a doctor was assigned to each group. The order also existed that “milk should be provided to each maternal and pregnant woman.”
In short, the doctors who were stated to be “killed” practiced their profession freely. And yet when it came to betrayal, they did not stop and they were involved in the mass of people who cooperated with Russians and took part in revolt. Sometimes they were killed by their own citizens, just because they acted in honorable way… Anybody who has just a little knowledge of history and who can approach the events in an objective way can understand this. Those who do not want to understand only fabricate claims …
Sources Benefited:
1. Professor Doctor Munir Atalar – Gaziosmanpasa University – Faculty of Science and Letters, Department of History – Kayseri Erciyes University International Social Researches Symposium. (EUSAS-1).
2. Senol Kantarcı – Kırıkkale University – International Relations Department – Turkish-Armenian Dispute – Articles (Turkish Grand National Assembly).
3. Mehmet Perincek – Istanbul University Institute of Atatürk Principles and History of Revolution Research Assistant
4. Associate Dr. Yusuf Sarınay – Circular of 24 April 1915 and a Study on the Arrest of Armenian Committee Members in Istanbul
handanyazar at gmail.com
GenocideReality.com
More and More Scandals…, Ulku Eryaman
While the world is revolving between good and evil, it is beneficial to make a short tour of “political magazine” to be explanatory:
French singer of Armenian origin, Charles Aznavour went to Beirut in the first week of July to participate in the music festival in Lebanon,
He was expected to give a speech before the concert in Beidettine,
There wasn’t anyone to meet him from the side of Tashnaks and he was very offended then he returned and so on,
However in the backstage of this incident, there were the members of Ramgavar party, which is at least as racist as the Tashnaks,
While Aznavour was at the airport he saw that, the extremist groups belonging to Ramgavar and Tashnak parties fought with each other which “started with anti-Turkish rhetoric” and this fight did not end very easily
Aznavour could not stand as a bystander to the incident which his Armenian fellows fought with each other while they were protesting Turkey and he was very afraid that this incident would intensify and he escaped…
Spokesman of Ramgavar, Jan Ogesapian told that:”Who the hell is Aznavour? Let him go away!”
“Moderate” Armenians, who were very enraged and who gave up hope of concert, attempted to attack the Turkish Embassy. 17 people were arrested, some of whom were women, and they were released after their statements were taken…
The Tashnak Party within the Armenian government separated from the coalition due to its discomfort regarding the approach between Turkey and Armenia. The members of Tashnak were continuing to severely criticize President Kocarian and they would also threaten the football players, if they go the national match.
In the same period there was a difference in Turkey in contrast to these events:
Journalist-writer Raffi Hermonn ARAKS, who was elected as a member of the Municipal Council of Adalar (Islands) County / Istanbul in the elections which was held on March 29th, was appointed as the Head Counselor of Mustafa FARSAKOGLU,
The AGOS Newspaper publicized the Blue Book in the first issue of July, which is one of the fundamental works of Armenian racism,
AGOS, Jamanak and Marmara newspapers, which are also published in Armenian, wrote almost anything on “genocide” but they did not talk about a word on the inhuman practices against “Uyghur Turks”, etc…
Although efforts are being made through the racist rhetoric to prevent scientific efforts for peace, Turkey is such a free country; it can create a policy in a subject regarding history.
Maybe from time to time it becomes the most liberal country in the whole world.
As long as it is objective and unagitated!
Ulku Eryaman
soykirkur at yahoo.com
info at soykirimgercegi.com
GenocideReality.com
Example for Reediting of the Memory in Memoir Genre: Fethiye Cetin and “My Grandmother”, Editor, GenocideReality.com
“Memoirs” have recently become a frequent genre in literature. People with tales to tell have tended to write down their memoirs. It is possible to say that the memoirs of these individuals, each one being certainly important and valuable in his/her own world, have reached a certain community of readers in society.
Nevertheless, we believe that we should more carefully analyze the ones who have chosen certain periods of history as backgrounds. The efforts to reshape historical facts without paying attention to being objective according to one’s own criteria can easily be transformed into an ethical problem.
“Particularly in the US and Europe, there is a serious information pollution in the context of forged biographies and documents. In such novels which certain individuals write/have it written by planting themselves or family origins within a historical perspective, these individuals undertake the role of mistreated or important persons. A conscious minority notices that the majority of these memoirs are fictitious and that they do not overlap with the truths. However, the subconscious of the majority that lacks sufficient knowledge and awareness is contaminated by such made-up memoirs.”
We believe that it is not a coincidence that we happen to come across more frequently with such examples that are prepared and published from a certain perspective. Given the context of the said media, it is highly distant from the facts and theses that lack objective viewpoints are dominant.
In this context, Fethiye Cetin’s book, narrating the memoirs of her grandmother who had been adopted by a Turkish family in 1915, is not based on intellectual buildup and constitutes an example that should be criticized since it has been amateurishly written.
In her book, Fethiye Cetin imitates Egoyan by using the portrayal of “tormented innocent people”, unaware of the incidents provoked by Armenian gangs in Eastern Anatolia and the World War I, “defenseless women and children who had no idea why they were forced to migrate.”
While narrating the day when the gendarmerie forces raided their village in 1915, she quotes her grandmother’s (Seher/Heranush) grandmother mentioning “their village had been raided 20 years before, they were forced to migrate and then were able to come back after the granted permission,” however she never mentions the reason of what had happened. The research carried out to clarify this doubt in our minds revealed that 20 years before that time coincided with the 1895 Zeytun (today’s Suleymanli in Kahramanmaras) uprising and the rebellions that had spread to Van in 1896.
“Nobody knows why the men were taken away,” underlines Cetin specifically. However, in a period when armed Armenian gangs and agents were swarming in the region, perpetrating attacks and sabotages, it is weird why nobody could/would not understand the attitude of the gendarmerie. The simplemindedness of the storyteller/narrator is another striking contradiction.
We observe the common pattern that is inherent in almost all books written in the memoir genre and advocating a certain thesis. In other words, this book is another example of the understanding aiming at creating a history based upon “rumors”. Savage scenarios involving “slaughtered men thrown into the river” are narrated through third persons. For some reason, all memoirs are published after the demise of eyewitnesses, eliminating the possibility of objections, amendments of corrections.
Such narratives, put into words after almost 90 years, based upon the statements of eyewitnesses in their old ages, could cause inevitable mistakes and open ends when the listener tries to write them down.
For example, it is stated that the grandmother (Seher/Heranush) had five uncles. In another chapter, it is stated that her father and two uncles were in the US and then the names of her three uncles are given (Bogos, Stepan, Hrant and her father Hovhannes). In other chapters, two uncles – Bogos and Stepan – are said to be in America. Hrant is pictured in the photos taken in America, given at the end of the book, therefore indicating that four brothers were in this country.
Likewise, in a chapter it is stated that the grandmother (Seher/Heranush) had no identity papers and passport to travel to the US. A few pages after, it is said that “her father was not admitted to the military school since it was written convert in his identity papers”. In another chapter, it is stated that “he was recorded as the son of a Muslim family.” Thus, the papers should not have the convert input. It is said that Seher “changed her birth certificate by the help of Kazim Efendi, her daughter’s father in law, also the Local Registrar in Maden. This renders everything previously said surreal.
As seen in all such works, Habab village has been elevated to a “platonic” plane. It is underlined that the family was highly educated, that “Heranush’s grandfather was teaching in colleges educating school children after primary school in Ergani-Maden and Kigi, that his brother Antreas Gadaryan was a more reputed and competent educator. However, given the regional colleges of that time, these statements do not clarify whether the grandfather and great uncle were teaching in the Harput American College or the Armenians living in Habab, like certain other villages in the region, were acting under the instigation and manipulation of the American missionaries.
It is possible to find several similar contradictions in Cetin’s highly emotional book based upon the “poor Armenians” mythos. We believe that a lawyer-writer should not contradict with herself since we know that she is “against the identification of violent images with Armenians, the intensification of discrimination, and the creation of mistreatment and moral violence caused by eerie and horrible narratives.”
Furthermore, when using a historical background, especially when dealing with a critical process that is a cause of discontent between countries, the writer is obliged to be choose a more respectful and cautious line against the readers. While narrating, creating the feeling that something is concealed indicates poor rational fiction. Jumping between dates, incidents and places, trying to make it up by arraying different chapters one after the other is at the least the extenuation of the reader and the subject matter.
Editor, GenocideReality.com
Armenia Country of Contradictions, The Editor, GenocideReality.com
When it comes to the foreign policy issues, both in Armenia and at the Diaspora, it is possible to be exposed to similar unreasonable and inconsistent opinion declarations by the politicians and by the ordinary people. Especially when they declare their opinions regarding Turkey, we wonder whether we are facing a case of genetic personality disintegration.
Recently, in parallel to the steps taken to advance the bilateral relations, such incredibly unreasonable declarations do not end.
It seems that such inconsistency spread even to the Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisyan, due to the extensive pressures exerted by the Dashnak Party, known by its paranoia regarding Turkey. During a session held recently at the Armenian National Parliament, Prime Minister Sarkisyan, as a response to a question from Vahan Hovhannisyan, deputy of the ARF Dashnaktsutyun Party, regarding the relations between Turkey and Armenia, mentioned:
- that the relations between Turkey and Armenia can only be established without any preconditions; that an agreement which would serve as a basis for the establishment of diplomatic relations and opening of the borders, has to be ratified by the Armenian Parliament;
- that Armenia can never forget the “Armenian genocide”; and that the process to make the “genocide” be recognized at the international level would continue.
Being affected from the delirium, Vartan Oskanyan, the former Minister of Foreign Affairs, made a declaration when he received the Turkish journalists at the Civilitas Foundation he established in 2008 and said “we cannot achieve any progress, we cannot go ahead as long as Turkey pushes the Karabakh issue since it is already a precondition. We can achieve a progress in the relations between Turkey and Armenia when we take Karabakh out of the equation”.
With an incredible understanding, the Karabakh issue is considered as a precondition, whereas the pressures exerted to make Turkey accept the Armenian claims regarding genocide (which will of course be followed by requirements for territorial compensations) are not considered as a precondition.
Turkey is expected to take the Karabakh issue out of the equation but on the other hand, Armenia will take out of the equation neither its territorial claims for the eastern part of Turkey nor its genocide claims.
“Immediately open the borders….Do not put forth any preconditions….Accept our preconditions…”
Reconciliation will somehow be reached by Armenia, despite its unilaterally dictated concessions. We wonder “will Armenia have further claims?”. However, equity is sought at international relations and reciprocity is indispensable between the states. Would it be possible to sustain a dialogue with an understanding imposing “do not put forth any conditions but fully accept our conditions?
Such an inconsistency can be seen at an ordinary man. The New York Times published the article “The Armenians living at the Border Area with Turkey are Prudent Regarding the Rapprochement with Turkey” originating from Armenia. In the article it is mentioned: “Vazgen Shmavonyan and the others living at the border area with Turkey are both willing regarding the opening of the borders with Turkey but adopt a prudent attitude regarding the official contacts with Turkey.”
Shmavonyan says: “We want Turkey to accept that there is genocide. In case the border is opened, it would serve the interests of all. However, they should first accept the genocide, and then we can stand on.” The taxi driver Hayk Avetisyan is more pessimistic: “Turkey will immediately come to our country and who knows what will happen. You know our history; Turkey will immediately try to seize half of Armenia.”
On one hand, they pay enormous efforts for the opening of the borders and on the other hand they are expecting us to accept their genocide aspersions. Furthermore, they are talking about Turkey’s seizing half of Armenia as if it is Turkey claiming for territories and going towards the Armenian territories.
Shmavonyan mentions that he worked in Istanbul as a textile trader for ten years and adds “they treated us very well. They know that the Armenians are nice and hard working people.” For an understanding of “since the Armenians are so nice, the Turks treat them well” we can only say: fie upon you! Regarding the ones who cannot think or perceive that kindness and good will cannot work unilaterally, we are at a loss for words!
We understand that the Armenians are always right, more right especially when they are wrong (!).
The Editor, GenocideReality.com
We Must End The Turkish Occupation Of Washington, By Appo Jabarian
Executive Publisher / Managing Editor, USA Armenian Life Magazine, August 14, 2009
The internationalization of the Armenian Cause during the last several years has apparently caused great discomfort in Ankara.
In order to undermine the Cause, Turkey has been intensifying its efforts in the United States by pouring millions of dollars to silence any American public figure or entity that talks truthfully about the Armenian Genocide.
Because Turkey has adopted the "end justifies the means" immoral code of operation, its bloodied hands have been caught red-handed when a series of bribery of elected public officials in the United States began making scandalous headlines.
In an Aug 12 article titled "The congresswoman and the Turkish Lobby sexual blackmail ring," Wayne Madsen of Online Journal reported that The American Turkish Council (ATC) "and its affiliated Turkish government lobbying organizations were cited by former FBI translator Sibel Edmonds in her deposition in an Ohio Election Commission complaint filed by Representative Jean Schmidt (R-OH) against her 2008 opponent, David Krikorian, over statements by Krikorian that Schmidt received financial support from the Turkish lobby in the United States. Edmonds was subpoenaed for a deposition in the case in support of Krikorian's allegations that the Turkish Lobby has wielded tremendous influence over U.S. policymakers like Schmidt in Congress. After raising objections to Edmonds's testimony, pursuant to a state secret gag order imposed by then-Attorney General John Ashcroft, neither the Justice Department nor the FBI moved to block Edmonds's statements at her deposition on August 8 in Washington, DC. (Please use the following link to read the complete article: onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_5007.shtml).
Madsen added that a supporter of Armenian Genocide resolution in U.S. Congress Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) "was sexually blackmailed by a lesbian prostitute who worked for the American Turkish Council (ATC). ... That the tryst location was bugged by a Turkish surveillance team that recorded the encounters. The recordings were later used to blackmail Schakowsky into backing away from supporting Armenian genocide resolution initiatives in the House."
A House member close to Schakowsky, felt that Schakowsky was "set up" by the Turkish Lobby, working in concert with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), to "control her." The member also said that Schakowsky noticeably "backed off" many issues, including the role of private military companies, further reported Madsen..
Madsen also wrote that Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich being aware of Schakowsky's "problems" and as such "resisted pressure from Obama and Emanuel to appoint Schakowsky to Obama's vacant Senate seat. When Blagojevich signaled he was going to appoint someone other than Schakowsky to the seat, the joint Israeli and Turkish lobbies, in addition to Emanuel, arranged for U.S. Attorney for Northern Illinois Patrick Fitzgerald to receive a green light to arrest Blagojevich even before any federal corruption indictments were handed down by a grand jury."
On another note, "Fitzgerald dragged his feet on the investigation of the leak by the Bush White House of the covert identities of CIA officer Valerie Plame Wilson and her Brewster Jennings & Associates cover firm. Fitzgerald, WMR is told, was trying to limit damaging exposure to the nuclear smuggling operation that involved the Turkish and Israeli Lobbies and Turkish MIT and Israeli Mossad intelligence operations. Mrs. Wilson and her team were apparently narrowing in on the Turks and Israelis in nuclear smuggling around the world. The key U.S. government players in outing Brewster Jennings were named by Edmonds in her deposition."
In another interesting development, Congresswoman Schmidt has been found to have taken more money from the Turkish lobby than 65 other recipient Members of the U.S. Congress during the 2008 election, in order to deny the Armenian Genocide.
David Krikorian, a candidate in the Ohio Second Congressional District race (www.krikorian2010.com) opposing Congresswoman Schmidt, recently referred to a frivolous complaint by the highly unpopular incumbent. He said in a recent interview with the Armenian Weekly: "The complaint was filed in April 2009, after I filed to seek office as a Democratic candidate in the 2010 elections. As you know, in 2008, I ran as an Independent candidate, and the statements that Schmidt is claiming as false were made in the 2008 election cycle. It's an interesting situation: You got a false-statement claim from a previous election period. She could have filed a complaint against me at any time but only chose to file a complaint after I announced that I would be seeking the Democratic Party's nomination in 2010. What that tells us, off the bat, is that she is obviously concerned about facing me in a general election. I think she simply looked at the numbers and said, If Krikorian got 18 percent of the votes as an Independent candidate, then he's going to have a very good shot of beating me as a party-backed candidate. That has to be one of the motivating factors behind why she chose to file."
In an August 14 article titled "Turkish Lobby Group 'Declares War' on Sibel Edmonds' Under-Oath Testimony," Brad Friedman of bradblog.com, wrote: "In a rather extraordinary unbylined blog item posted on Wednesday, the Turkish Coalition of America (TCA) has launched what appears to be an all-out assault on FBI whistleblower Sibel Edmonds and her remarkable, long-awaited under-oath deposition taken over the weekend in the Ohio Election Commission (OEC)'s Schmidt v. Krikorian case. Called as a witness for David Krikorian, ... Edmonds (who is Turkish-American) testified to infiltration, bribery, corruption, and blackmail within the U.S. Government, by current and former members of the U.S. House and other high ranking officials, on behalf of Turkish interests."
One shouldn't be surprised to learn of several more unfolding scandalous stories tying Turkey with corruption cases involving many other elected public officials in the United States.
The time for housecleaning is just around the corner. The mid-term elections of Nov. 2010 are only fourteen months away. Voters on both sides of the aisle should move to unseat corrupt individuals like Schmidt, in order to get rid of the contemporary Turkish political yoke and the gag rule in the U.S. We must end the Turkish occupation of Washington.
Yegparian: Health, Absurdity, And Math, Garen Yegparian, Armenian Life, Aug 26, 2009
ArmenianWeekly - There are a lot of terrifying myths being floated by mostly Republican, extremist, bought-and-paid-for-by-insurance-companies types about the healthcare reform being discussed by the U.S. Congress. Actually, with that body being in recess, the whole country is now engaged first-hand through the town hall meetings being organized by its members with their constituents.
You've read, heard, and seen what is going on at these gatherings. The most extreme, or sometimes ill-informed, people, organized by anti-reform lobbying groups, are sent to disrupt these meetings. So, the strategy of the anti-reform forces is obvious-sow fear, confusion, and disruption, resulting in sure failure. This is much like the Turks' denial campaign: just plant a seed of doubt and the dirty deed is as good as done.
You can get all this and more elsewhere. Here, I want to present and play with some numbers on this issue. Here goes. The annual tab for healthcare in the U.S. is $2,500,000,000,000 (that's two and a half trillion dollars). We're told the proposed plan will cost an extra $1 trillion over ten years. That's a tenth of a trillion, or .1, trillion dollars per year. Remember, the Bush tax cuts for the rich, earlier this decade, cost the same trillion, and benefited very, very, very, very, very few people. Currently, the private system in place has about 20 percent overhead (read profit and avoidable paperwork).
The U.S. has 47 million uninsured people. It turns out that only 31 million would benefit from the proposals floating around. Why? The remainder is undocumented aliens whom the plans won't cover according to President Obama. So this means that for only 4 percent more annually (.1 trillion divided by 2.5 trillion), we can cover 10 percent more of the country's population (31 million divided by 307.2 million, the current U.S. population estimate). This seems like a bargain to me. In terms of real dollars, this means a cost to the country overall of $326 per person per year. Or, in other terms, each newly covered person costs $3226.
All these numbers seem pretty cheap to me for what we'd get in return: Far fewer emergency room visits (the most expensive kind of medical care) by people who wait until a condition is severe because they don't have coverage. Better overall public health since communicable diseases would be checked and contagion would be less likely. Even the private sector benefits, since people would be able to have coverage independently of their workplace, reducing costs to employers/companies, many of which have problems competing with overseas firms because the latter's countries do provide publicly funded health care.
The 20 percent overhead is eliminated because publicly run programs have no need for profit, just like Medicare, which senior citizens are largely satisfied with. This public plan would provide competition to the private insurance that would still exist, making the latter more efficient; after all, that's what the moneyed class always harangues us about: "competition breeds efficiency, it's the capitalist way, the market balances these things out." With all this, no plan is perfect, this is planet Earth and its designers are human. But, it's better by far than the current arrangement.
So why would anyone oppose this? Simple. They either stand to lose the boatloads of money they're making at our expense, or they're ill-informed and misled by their chosen sources of "trustworthy" information (Rush Limbaugh and Sarah Palin come to mind), or they're simply extreme ideologues. The vast majority of the population does not fit into any of these categories. The vast, overwhelming majority of the country's people would benefit from health care reform. Remember Nataline Sarkissian (wasn't that the result of a "death panel" provided courtesy of the much ballyhooed private medical insurance industry?) and decide accordingly. Then let your federal representatives know you support the healthcare reform principles espoused by Obama.
Armenians No Longer Need Recognition, Aram Sassounian, (9th grade, Clark High School, Glendale, CA), Armenian Life, Aug 26, 2009
In 1915, the Ottoman Turks committed Genocide against the Armenian people, resulting in 1.5 million deaths. Three fourths of historic Armenian lands were taken over by Turkey.
It has been 94 years since the Armenian Genocide and emotions are still raw. However, Armenians need to move on from their non-stop efforts for the recognition of the Genocide, simply because it has already been recognized. Justice must occur as the Turkish government must return the properties and possessions it stole from the Armenian victims. Reparations must be sought through the courts.
In recent decades, Armenian-Americans have supported presidential candidates on the basis of who they hope would recognize the Genocide. Most Armenians do not know that the Genocide has already been widely recognized.
In his article titled, "Armenians Demand Justice, Not Recognition," Harut Sassounian stated: "The House of Representatives has already adopted an Armenian Genocide resolution twice in 1975 and 1984. President Reagan issued a Presidential Proclamation in 1981 that refers to the Armenian Genocide. More than 20 countries, the European Parliament, a U.N. human rights panel, and many genocide and holocaust scholars have acknowledged the Armenian Genocide."
Armenians need to move on from the issue of recognition to the pursuit of justice and reparations. The long years that Armenians have spent trying to get recognition are over.
During the Genocide, countless items and properties were stolen from Armenians. Armenians who still have the title deeds for lands owned by their ancestors should try to reclaim them in court. Article 530 of International Humanitarian Law states: "Any violation of an obligation under international law gives rise to an obligation to make reparation. The aim of reparation is to eliminate, as much as possible, the consequences of the illegal act and to restore the situation that would have existed if the act had not been committed."
In former Western Armenia, which is now Eastern Turkey, there are thousands of Armenian churches. The Turkish government used some of these ancient churches for target practice.. Most of the churches in Eastern Turkey are severely damaged and falling apart.
"Turkey - which in 1915 committed Genocide against the Armenian nation and has since waged an international campaign of threats and intimidation to deny its crime - is, today, in full view of the world, destroying the surviving cultural and religious heritage of its victims, seeking to erase even their memory from the Armenian homeland of four thousand years," said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian.
The disrespect shown by the Turkish government towards these churches is not acceptable. The Armenian government should demand that this cultural genocide end. The government of Armenia and Armenians around the world should press Turkey not for recognition but for reparations. When the Genocide occurred, the overall financial stability of Armenia collapsed. Peoples' life savings, family heirlooms, and other properties were stolen.
For the past 94 years, the Genocide issue has been a highly emotional issue for every Armenian. Even though Armenians feel passionate about the genocide, it does not mean that they should continue to cry over it. It is time to seek justice and reparations.
Armenians must continue to push for justice. If Turkey had been condemned by the international community for its shameful act, then maybe Nazi Germany would not have committed the Holocaust. Adolf Hitler said in 1939: "After all, who today remembers the extermination of the Armenians?"
