By Anna Ghazaryan

Who is your hero in politics? Is there any political figure you would like to ask for advice?

I would not mention a hero but I admire politicians who had the courage to reject the inevitability of the events, to change the course of history, sometimes making decisions against public opinion. I mean Robert Schuman who extended a hand to Germany in 1950 and only five years after a war, which destroyed the continent, the foundation of Europe was laid. I am speaking about Charles de Gaulle, an architect of the Franco-German truce with Konrad Adenauer. Both of them (one was 87 years old and the other – 73) refused to continue the process when the past was destroying the future, and relied on a mission of the Franco-German Youth Office. I am referring to Anwar Sadat, who established peace with Israel. I admire the men and women who have dedicated their lives to the struggle for freedom and democracy, such as Nelson Mandela, or sacrificed their lives, Jean Moulin, Misak Manushian, Munich students Hans and Sophie Scholl.

Do you think a diplomat must set a certain goal coming to a new country?

For Ambassador it is important to set goals. The objectives must materialize through an action plan and get approval of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The goals are aimed at improving, expanding and enriching the relationship between his and other state, contributing, if necessary, to promotion of the principles of the UN and international organizations. The diplomacy is set to create a better, fairer, more friendly and secure world. In case of Armenia it is implemented with the help of the Eastern Partnership project. However, relations between France and Armenia are marked by significant meaning deeply rooted in long history.

What do you think is the most difficult thing about being a diplomat?

Diplomacy is a profession dealing with all the areas and has many sides. This explains the interest and at the same time difficulty of the profession. Ambassador must be able to respond to challenges quickly understanding the problems of a country he is working in. You must always clearly make difference between important and unimportant, focus on priorities. Besides, he must properly understand the culture of the country. It will make his contacts easy and provide an opportunity to be confident that his steps are perceived in a right way.

What are you missing being out of France?

In fact, the situation is different depending on the country. However, to feel good in your new country, you need at least two things: eagerness to love it and interest to understand it. Armenia is so hospitable and attractive due to its history, culture and dynamics, that I personally do not miss France.

What was your first impression about Armenia?

First of all I was surprised to see some similarities: a southern country, importance given to a family, and the most important – Armenians’ positive attitude to overcoming the challenges. It can be labeled as faith in the future contrary to difficulties. The Armenian people love life because they know its cost.

What would you do if you were not a diplomat?

Being a diplomat, I am quite satisfied with my personal and professional life. If I were not a diplomat, I would prefer university professor career, or I would be a journalist or a lawyer.

11 December 2012 / REUTERS

Iraqi Kurdistan’s president vowed to protect Kurdish interests during a visit to the city of Kirkuk on Monday, in a show of defiance of Iraq’s central government over disputed territory and oil.

Harut Sassounian
Publisher, The California Courier

If it were possible to clone prominent Turkish commentator Orhan Kemal Cengiz and make multiple copies of his kind heart and righteous conscience, the Turkish government would then be able to come to grips with Armenian demands from Turkey in a humane and just manner.

Cengiz visited Germany recently with a group of Turkish journalists and human rights activists at the invitation of the European Academy of Berlin with the financial support of the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Turkish visitors participated in a conference titled, “Difficult Heritage of the Past,” on how today’s Germans face crimes committed by Nazis.

After returning to Turkey, Cengiz wrote two poignant articles published in Today’s Zaman: “Can Germany be a model for Turkey in confrontation with past atrocities?” and “Turkey and Germany’s past atrocities.”

Cengiz confesses that before his visit, he thought that “Germans were forced to look at their troubled past by external powers who had them on their knees after World War II.” He wonders whether Germany could serve as a model for other countries in facing their past voluntarily. To his surprise, the Turkish columnist discovered that even though Germans had begun confronting their past after a devastating defeat, they were determined to create a new country “based on an endless process of remembering, commemorating and confronting the past.”

The righteous Turkish writer was “extremely impressed and touched” seeing a brick wall in a Berlin kindergarten. Every year teachers would ask students to identify themselves with Jews who once lived in the neighborhood before being killed by the Nazis. The students would then write the Jewish names on bricks and put them on top of each other forming a wall. It became clear to him that “remembering has become a part of daily life in Germany.”

Cengiz hopes that someday Turkish “children would do a similar thing. I imagined children in İstanbul building a wall by writing on bricks the names of Armenian intellectuals who were taken from their homes on April 24, 1915 and never came back again.” He is convinced that “confronting the past is a clear state policy here in Germany. Museums, exhibitions and the school curriculum all show how the state apparatus invested in this endeavor. So little by little I started to realize that Turkey can significantly benefit from the German experience on this difficult terrain of confrontation with the past.”

In his second article, Cengiz boldly describes the 19th and 20th centuries as “centuries of genocide,” which included the Armenian Genocide. He explains that contrary to the mass crimes committed by other nations, the ones perpetrated by Germans and Turks were against “neighbors with whom they had lived side-by-side for centuries. I think this alone is the most distinctive element of the German and Turkish example. … When you kill your neighbors, it creates a black hole, a gap in your national identity.”

In seeking to emulate the German experience, Cengiz hopes that he would see memorials erected in Turkey about “Armenian massacres, pogroms targeting Jews and Greeks, massacres targetingAlevis and others. When Turkey starts to remember and commemorate past atrocities, the Topography of Terror Museum, which is built on a former Nazi headquarters, the Jewish Museum of Berlin and others might be good examples to follow…. Turkey has a lot to learn from Germany in coming to terms with past atrocities.”

While Turkey’s acknowledgment of the Armenian Genocide is long overdue, the actual process of reconciliation could begin by removing the names of the Turkish masterminds of the Armenian Genocide from schools, streets and public squares throughout Turkey. The Turkish government should also dismantle the shameful mausoleum of Talaat in Istanbul and replace it with a monument dedicated to the Armenian Genocide. It should also pay billions of dollars in compensation to descendants of Armenian victims, similar to German payments to Jews. Most importantly, Turkey should return to Armenians the occupied territories of Western Armenia!

Germany too, as Turkey’s close ally in World War I, has an obligation to Armenians — theacknowledgment of its role in the Armenian Genocide. It should apologize and make amends to the Armenian people. Only then would Germans fully deserve the praise heaped upon them by OrhanCengiz for honestly facing their past.

While Turkey’s genocidal precedent served as model for Nazi Germany in committing the Holocaust, it is now Germany’s turn to become a role model to Turkey for reconciling with its genocidal past.

Harut Sassounian
Publisher, The California Courier

The ArmTech 2012 congress got underway in San Jose, California, and a delegation led by Armenia’s PM Tigran Sargsyan likewise attended the official opening of the event.

“The ArmTech congress plays an important role in Armenia’s economy. It enables to discuss and outline the prospects for the development of our Information Technology [IT],” Sargsyan noted in his opening remarks. He stressed that the IT sector is at the focus of the Government of Armenia, and that an approximately 25-percent annual IT growth is recorded in the country in recent times.

“We have certain competitive advantages in the region. First and foremost, that is the high level of education of the population. In the Soviet years, the IT itself was one of Armenia’s economic specialties,” Sargsyan said.

With respect to the ongoing development in this sector, Armenia’s Premier underscored the role of the large Armenian community in California. He stressed that the Armenian diaspora has a tremendous potential in establishing contacts with the world’s largest IT companies and leading centers and properly representing Armenia.

Tigran Sargsyan informed that over 350 IT organizations currently operate in Armenia, 107 of them represent foreign companies, including 50 organizations that function with American capital. The total turnover of Armenia’s IT sector is $205 million, whose $120 million are exports. Also, 6,760 people are currently employed in the country’s IT sector, but this number continues to grow.

“There are numerous education-related matters in the Government’s action plan, and today we are obligated to make a significant contribution to the education of future generations,” Armenia’s PM stated.

In conclusion, Tigran Sargsyan expressed a conviction that the ArmTech 2012 congress will contribute to the development of Armenia’s IT sector.