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Hasan Cemal’s “1915. Armenian Genocide” is an honest book. German Kultur radio station

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18:28, 14 November, 2012

YEREVAN, November 14, ARMENPRESS: “Brave book”, this is how the book of Turkish writer Hasan Cemal “1915. Ermeni Soykirimi” which means “1915. Armenian Genocide” was considered by German “Culture” radio station. As reports Armenpress on November 13 outstanding German radio station has devoted a whole program to Cemal’s book, his observations on Armenian Genocide and their friendship with Hrant Dink. The program mainly referred to the confession of Hasan Cemal about his grandfather who participated in the massacres of Armenians.

“The issue of Armenian Genocide has been a taboo in Turkish history for a long time, and Hasan Cemal has been raised with this taboo. His own approaches, issues and perceptions Cemal has collected in his book “1915. Armenian Genocide”. The cover of the book reflects Cemal putting white carnations near the flame in Tsitsernakaberd memorial” noted the radio station. The station quoted Cemal as saying “I was feeling to destroy the “wall” of taboo inside me. But I remembered the word of my friend, Hrant Dink when saying “Lets finally come together and respect our pain””.

The author of the book has earlier stated ”We cannot move forward without confronting and taking into consideration the events of the past. We cannot keep an eye on the anguish of the past. Moreover the pain of 1915 is not a story, it is a current day issue’’.

The first chapter of the book runs how Hasan comes to know 1915 events. Then the author dwells on how he became to be called ”parricide” after coming forth with his obtained   information and statements in the course of Hrant Dink’s assassination hearings in 2006. The second chapter of the book tells the author’s way of thinking before reveal of 1915 events and reportedly how it changed in the course of the time. The most interesting part of the book is the third chapter entitled ”Pasha Grandfather or Cemal Pasha family”. This chapter tells about 1915 Armenian Genocide organizer Cemal Pasha and his family. Hasan Cemal has repeatedly stated he recognizes 1915 events Genocide. He visited Tsitsernakeberd and laid a wreath at the Genocide Memorial in 2008.

German “Culture” has concluded its program referring to the 100th anniversary of Armenian Genocide which will be respected by Armenian all over the world.” Whether Turkey will manage to conclude peace with Armenia or not. This process should be supported by such brave and courageous people as Hasan Camal” noted German journalist.

The three-volume work about the testimonies of the survivors of the Armenian Genocide is ready

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10:00, 19 November, 2012

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 19, ARMENPRESS. Toward the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide the National Archive of Armenia continues publishing important and unique documents and introducing them to the public. The book “the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire: the Testimonies of the Survivors. Archival Documents” is already finished. The testimonies of the survivors dated to 1916 are enclosed in the book.

In a conversation with “Armenpress” the head of the National Archive of Armenia Amatuni Virabyan stated that there was a program organized by the Russian Army and held in 1916-1917, which was aimed to the discovery of the events in the Western Armenia in 1915. Amatuni Virabyan stated: “During the liberation of the Armenian territories by the Armenian voluntary units and the Russian Army they have seen that almost no Armenian was left in that territories or a very small number of people remained there. And a row of intellectuals developed a questionnaire to discover the number of the population, income and residents of a row of villages before the aforementioned events: the number of the servicemen, their future fate, the date of the beginning of the massacre and deportation, the identities of the participants of those events, the survivors and the state of a village by 1916.”

As the Head of the National Archive of Armenia stated these are authentic testimonies, as they have been taken only a year after the tragic events, when the memory f the people was fresh and they could recall the names of those criminals. The testimonies spread light on those events and it becomes clear that among the executors there have been Turkish officials, policemen, heads of provinces and states, Hamidian units, the Kurdish mobs, the Circassians.

The head of the National Archive of Armenia Amatuni Virabyan emphasized the legal significance of those documents, as at the time of their record there had not been any conversation about the Armenian Genocide.

Armenian-Americans score major gains in US Elections

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By Harut Sassounian

Publisher, The California Courier

After long months of hectic campaigning, a constant barrage of e-mails and ads, and billions of dollars spent by the candidates and their supporters, the US presidential and congressional elections did not change the American political landscape. The United States will have the same President for another four years and the same majorities in the House and Senate. The House remains in the hands of Republicans, and the Senate in the hands of Democrats.

This means that Pres. Obama’s foreign and domestic policies will remain more or less unchanged and Congress will continue to be deadlocked for two or more years, negatively impacting the prospects of a quick economic recovery. House Republicans will probably not support Pres. Obama’s social and economic agenda, particularly on healthcare and taxes.

Even though there were no great political changes resulting from the Nov. 6 elections, Armenian-Americans scored important gains in congressional and local elections. Armenian voters were not instrumental in the outcome of the presidential race, since Pres. Obama received over three million more votes than his Republican rival. It was therefore politically astute to concentrate the Armenian community’s resources and votes on congressional and local races.

A whopping 90% of the 145 congressional candidates backed by the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) won reelection. In Senatorial races, 12 out of 15 ANCA endorsed candidates were victorious: Dianne Feinstein (California), Chris Murphy (Connecticut), Mazie Hirono (Hawaii), Ben Cardin (Maryland), Debbie Stabenow (Michigan), Amy Klobuchar (Minnesota), Bob Menendez (New Jersey), Martin Heinrich (New Mexico), Sherrod Brown (Ohio), Sheldon Whitehouse (Rhode Island), Bernard Sanders (Vermont), and Tammy Baldwin (Wisconsin).

In House races, 118 of 130 ANCA endorsed candidates were reelected, including Lois Capps (California), Jeff Denham (California), Janice Hahn (California), Ed Royce (California), Adam Schiff (California), Brad Sherman (California), David Valadao (California), Cory Gardner (Colorado), Dina Titus (Nevada), Frank Pallone (New Jersey), Michael Grimm (New York), David Cicilline (Rhode Island), House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (Virginia), and Frank Wolf (Virginia).

The November 6 elections may result in an unexpectedly favorable development in Congress for the Armenian-American community. Cong. Ed Royce, Co-Chair of the Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues, has a good chance of being elected by his colleagues as next Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. A strong supporter of Armenian causes, Cong. Royce would replace outgoing Chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Republican of Florida, a staunchly pro-Turkish House member.

A similar highly favorable development may take place in the Senate when Secretary of State Hillary Clinton retires shortly at the end of Pres. Obama’s first term. Most political analysts believe that Sen. John Kerry, currently Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and a close friend of the Armenian community, may assume a Cabinet position as Secretary of State or Defense, in which case Sen. Menendez, a staunch supporter of Armenian issues, may become next Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The possible simultaneous selection of Cong. Royce and Sen. Menendez as chairs of these two powerful committees would give Armenian-Americans unprecedented access to key foreign policy decision-makers.

More important than the election of friends of the Armenian community was the success of at least 16 Armenian-Americans who were either elected for the first time or reelected to continue serving their constituencies. Armenian-American members of congress, Anna Eshoo and Jackie Speier, both from California, were overwhelmingly reelected. Other Armenian-American winners in state and local races were: Linda Arzoumanian, Superintendent, Pima County School Superintendent, Arizona; Khacho Achadjian (incumbent), State Assembly, California; Adrin Nazarian, State Assembly, California; Tim Kapucian (incumbent), State Senate, Idaho; Mary Lou Marzian (incumbent), State House, Kentucky; Peter Koutoujian (incumbent), Middlesex County Sheriff, Massachusetts; James Miceli, State House, Massachusetts; John Fresolo, State House, Massachusetts; Gary Azarian (incumbent), State House, New Hampshire; Charlene Takesian, State House, New Hampshire; Brad Avakian, State Labor Commissioner, Oregon; Scott Avedisian (incumbent), Mayor of Warwick, Rhode Island; Jared Nunes, State House, Rhode Island; and Katherine Kazarian, State House, Rhode Island.

Congratulations to all those who were either elected for the first time or reelected. It is particularly pleasing to see a record number of Armenian-Americans running for political office, most of whom won their respective races. These victories bode well for the future of Armenian-American political activism. The community should support and encourage these public servants so that in a few years they would seek even higher office, running for Congress or the Presidency!

Bulgarian Nationalists Boycott Turkish Defense Minister Visit

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November 16, 2012, Friday By: novinite.com

Bulgaria‘s far-right, nationalist Ataka party staged a protest rally Friday against the visit of Turkish Defense Minister, Ismet Yilmaz, to Sofia.

The Turkish Minister, however, was met with honors by his Bulgarian counterpart, Anyu Angelov and three companies – from the land force, the air force and the navy. “The relations between Bulgaria and Turkey are an example of good partnership between neighbors and allies in NATO,” said Angelov during his meeting with Yilmaz. The two discussed matters of cooperation in the defense sector.

They also laid wreaths at the Unknown Soldier monument.

Meanwhile, Ataka leaders and followers were seen in the vicinity of the monument, holding signs such as “We cannot be brothers in arms with those who massacred Bulgarians for five centuries,” “Turkey Owes Us USD 10 B for Properties in Thrace,” and “Boyko, Don’t Lead Us to War with Erdogan.”

The rally was attended by Ataka leader, Volen Siderov, and Ataka Members of the Parliament, Pavel Shopov, Desisilav Choukolov, and Ventsislav Lakov.

Siderov complained of the strong police presence, saying it was a disgrace and a violation of the rights of the MPs. He reminded that every time a Turkish official is visiting Bulgaria his party was the only one to voice the truth that Turkey is indebted to Bulgaria.

“We represent the position of hundreds of thousands of Bulgarians who voted for us. There is no difference between the ruling Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria party, GERB, and the ethnic Turkish Movement for Rights and Freedoms, DPS. Both work not for Bulgarian, but for Turkish interests,” the nationalist leader concluded.

Syria, Turkey, Israel and a Greater Middle East Energy War

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Friday, 12. October 2012

Reported By: F. William Engdahl    on Boiling Frogs Blogs.

“The battle for the future control of Syria is at the heart of this enormous geopolitical war and tug of war”
On October 3, 2012 the Turkish military launched repeated mortar shellings inside Syrian territory. The military action, which was used by the Turkish military, conveniently, to establish a ten-kilometer wide no-man’s land “buffer zone” inside Syria, was in response to the alleged killing by Syrian armed forces of several Turkish civilians along the border. There is widespreadspeculation that the one Syrian mortar that killed five Turkish civilians well might have been fired by Turkish-backed opposition forces intent on givingTurkey a pretextto move militarily, in military intelligence jargon, a ‘false flag’ operation.[1]

Turkey’s Muslim Brotherhood-friendly Foreign Minister, the inscrutable Ahmet Davutoglu, is the government’s main architect of Turkey’s self-defeating strategy of toppling its former ally Bashar Al-Assad in Syria.[2]

According to one report since 2006 under the government of Islamist Sunni Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his pro-Brotherhood AKP party, Turkey has become a new center for the Global Muslim Brotherhood.[3] A well-informed Istanbul source relates the report that before the last Turkish elections, Erdogan’s AKP received a “donation” of $10 billion from the Saudi monarchy, the heart of world jihadist Salafism under the strict fundamentalist cloak of Wahabism. [4] Since the 1950’s when the CIA brought leading members in exile of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood to Saudi Arabia there has been a fusion between the Saudi brand of Wahabism and the aggressive jihadist fundamentalism of the Brotherhood.[5]

Read the rest of the Article

Boiling Frogs Blogs

Baku offers Ankara help against Kurds, wants support on Karabakh?

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November 9, 2012 – 21:30 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Azerbaijani MP Faraj Guliyev, who is also the chairman of the country’s National Revival Movement, has said that Azerbaijan should join forces with Turkey to fight against terrorism, Today’s Zaman reported.

“The Azerbaijani military should team up with Turkish troops to fight terrorism,” Guliyev said in a talk with the Turkish state-owned Anatolia news agency.

Commenting on bilateral relations between Turkey and Azerbaijan as well as political and military developments, Guliyev said it is time for Turkish-Azerbaijani ties, or even relations across the Turkic world, to move from the economic and cultural spheres into the areas of politics and the military.

“Azerbaijan and Turkey are already cooperating militarily, as the Turkish Armed Forces support the modernization, organizational structure and military education of the Azerbaijani army under NATO standardization. If that is the case, then why shouldn’t we establish a military union and fight against the terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party [PKK]? Turkish troops have enough power in this struggle, but our involvement would solidify our partnership. If a war breaks out in Nagorno Karabakh, Turkish soldiers might be involved on Azeri side. We can later develop this union into a military bloc,” Guliyev said.

Guliyev also noted that Azerbaijan can come up with a common Eurasia bloc together with Turkey and other Turkic states in the areas of politics, economy and military, adding that the Turkic states should be urged to make solid steps in the military sphere.

According to Guliyev, military cooperation between Turkey and Azerbaijan has advanced since 2007. “However, this collaboration should be transformed, legally and boldly, into a joint military unit encompassing all areas,” he said.

Armenian president urges enhanced cooperation with Iran

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Reported By: PressTV
Armenian President Serzh Sarksyan has stressed the importance of strengthening bilateral cooperation with Iran in various political, economic and cultural fields.

“Armenia is interested in enhanced relations with its neighbor, Iran, and bolstering effective cooperation between the two countries. This will help increase bilateral commercial exchanges,” Sarksyan said in a meeting with Iran’s Energy Minister Majid Namjou on Friday.

He lauded the growing ties between Yerevan and Tehran and expressed confidence that the Iran-Armenia joint state commission would play a leading role in the further expansion of cooperation in all areas.

The Armenian president said the construction of Meghri hydroelectric power plant over the Aras River, which forms the common border between two countries, would begin soon as another instance of constructive bilateral cooperation.

According to an agreement reached by the Iranian energy minister and his Armenian counterpart, Armen Movsisian, in June, the hydroelectric power plant, which will straddle the border river, will have the capacity to produce 130 megawatts (MW) of electricity.

Namjou, for his part, said he would spare no effort to implement agreements already reached by the Iranian and Armenian presidents.

In December 2011, Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his Armenian counterpart signed five documents for cooperation and memoranda of understanding (MoUs).

The agreements included cooperation on the construction and launch of hydroelectric power plants on the Aras river, joint cooperation between the Institute of Standards and Industrial Research of Iran and Armenia’s National Institute of Standards, cooperation in social welfare and affairs as well as bilateral environmental cooperation.

NKR President Press Spokesman does not exclude Artsakh independence recognition by Uruguay

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15:30, 26 October, 2012

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 26, ARMENPRESS. It’s not excluded that the Republic of Uruguay will discuss the issue of recognition of independence of Nagorno Karabakh. Press Spokesman of the President of Nagorno Karabakh Republic Davit Babayan said this in a conversation with “Armenpress” adding that the procedure of recognition of independence of Nagorno Karabakh will pass to a new stage in 2013-2014.

Davit Babayan said: “The recognition of Nagorno Karabakh independence by the largest state of Australia was very important for us. That state has the largest population and we can say that it is the core of modern Australia and a number of important events have been initiated here.” The spokesman considers the recognition of Nagorno Karabakh by the New South Wales as a very important international procedure and he is sure that it will have a continuous character.

Talking about the recognition of Nagorno Karabakh independence other countries and states Babayan emphasized that a similar document was ratified by the State of Rhode Island, USA. The State of Rhode Island called on the Congress of the United States to recognize the independence of Nagorno Karabakh. The Press Spokesman of the President of Nagorno Karabakh Republic said: “This is already the second time, where the Armenian Diaspora played a crucial  role. The next step will be the passing to the next circle reaching the activation of this procedure in the governmental level.”

Wally Sarkeesian short respond to Pulat Tacar convoluted artical in the Turkish news.

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The title of the artical is Armenian Genocide: A Reply to Vahagn Avedian ;; PULAT TACAR & MAXIME GAUIN, it was published in Turkishnews.com,

Here is wally Sarkeesian short comment on the Pulat Tacar convoluted artical.

By reading this convoluted article you will notice that in every treaty the Turkish number one demand was “Amnesty” because they know their crime against humanity and ethnic cleansing of the people of the entire region of the Muslim’s and Christians, the Kurd’s were Muslim so do the Arab were Muslim. The Turk had no mercy. Because Kamal pasha himself with three other criminals Talaat Pasha, Enver Pasha and Cemal Pasha were indicted by the ottoman military tribunal, that’s why he made a secret deal with British and handed over the Mesopotamia (middle east) to British and the entire region of caucus and central Asian the Turkic countries to  the bolshevik Russia and in the case of Russia the Turks put one condition that was the Bolshevik must inhale  Armenia within USSR so that the Armenians will never be able to ask for the Western Armenia, in-fact the Azerbaijan too did not want to join the Bolshevik but the Turk push them in to USSR.

Therefore the Treaty of Lausanne was nothing but “Amnesty” for the Turkish criminals basically the Turk they bribed the British and the bolshevik Russia, to create new treaty called  Treaty of lausanne, because these same player have signed the “ treaty of Sever” too and off-course the British smelled the oil of Mesopotamia (Iraq). That’s why UK is the only country in Europe has not yet recognized Armenian genocide because they know they have skeleton in their closet.

Both the British and the Turks embarked on massive redrawing and renaming the entire region of Anatolia and Mesopotamia. There were no country called Turkey before 1923 the Turks they were invading empire like the British empire, the Turks renamed Anatolia (Turkey) and the British divided Mesopotamia to Iraq and so on, and also in Anatolia the Turks started with massive names change of most Anatolian city’s names to Turkish names like Constantinople to (Istanbul) Smyrna to (Izmir) just name few.

Wally Sarkeesian

 

Inhale

Turkey accused of pursuing campaign of intimidation against media

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Turkey accused of pursuing campaign of intimidation against media

Two independent reports have found evidence of a pattern of harassment against writers and broadcasters

Simon Tisdall
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 24 October 2012 18.23 BST

Ankara is pursuing a systematic campaign of intimidation against the Turkish media, including the prosecution and jailing of writers, and demands for those who challenge government policies or actions to be sacked, two independent investigations have concluded.

Reports issued in recent days by the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and the European commission point to a pattern of harassment of individual writers and broadcasters and official pressure on media company owners.

Sixty-one journalists are in prison in Turkey as a “direct result” of their work or news-gathering activities, said the CPJ. “Approximately 30% of the imprisoned journalists were accused of participating in anti-government plots or being members of outlawed political groups. About 70% of those jailed were Kurdish journalists charged with aiding terrorism by covering the views and activities of the banned Kurdistan Workers’ party [PKK] and the Union of Communities in Kurdistan [KCK].”

It continued: “More than three-quarters of the imprisoned journalists have not been convicted of a crime but are being held [awaiting] resolution of their cases. Articles in the penal code give authorities wide berth to use journalists’ professional work to link them to banned political movements or alleged plots.

“Some of the most frequently used articles criminalise basic news-gathering activities, such as talking to security officials or obtaining documents. Up to 5,000 criminal cases were pending against journalists at the end of 2011, according to Turkish press freedom groups.”

The CPJ also said it had detected increased internet filtering of domestic news sources, including opposition and pro-Kurdish media.

The European commission’s findings, part of the annual “progress report” on Turkey’s EU membership application, also make disturbing reading.

“The increasing incidence of violations of freedom of expression raise serious concerns and freedom of the media continued to be further restricted in practice. The increasing tendency to imprison journalists, media workers and distributors fuelled these concerns.

“High-level government and state officials and the military repeatedly turn publicly against the press and launch court cases. On a number of occasions journalists have been fired [for] articles openly critical of the government.

“All of this, combined with a high concentration of the media in industrial conglomerates with interests going far beyond the free circulation of information and ideas, has a chilling effect and limits freedom of expression in practice, while making self-censorship a common phenomenon in the Turkish media.”

The report said many prosecutions targeted writers, academics and journalists writing and working on the Kurdish issue, but also scholars and researchers. More than 2,800 students are in detention, mostly on terrorism-related charges. Legislation covering such offences was “imprecise and contains definitions which are open to abuse”.

The government has not commented on the CPJ’s findings, but the commission’s progress report provoked sharp criticism, with the minister for EU affairs, Egemen Bagis, rejecting it as a “broken mirror”, adding that it did not accurately reflect the situation in Turkey.

Burhan Kuzu, head of the parliamentary commission charged with writing a new constitution and a member of the ruling Justice and Development party (AKP), told CNN Turk television the report was rubbish.

“This is a report to be thrown in the trash. There is no trash can here, so I’m throwing it on the floor.” Kuzu then threw the report on the floor, saying: “Here, I’m throwing it into the trash.”

Kadri Gürsel, a leading newspaper columnist and chairman of the Turkish national committee of the Vienna-based International Press Institute said the media in Turkey was under constant pressure to toe the official line.

“More than half the print media are directly or indirectly controlled by the government’s cronies and its proxy capitalists. The other half is in a hostage situation,” Gürsel said. Owners and employees of opposition media faced the ever-present threat of being prosecuted or arrested, which led them to curb what they said or wrote.

“This stops them practising independent journalism. To be honest, news is not the main instinct, it is self-censorship. When news comes to the news desk, the first question that occurs, unavoidably, is: ‘Does this matter harm the government interest?'”

Although the prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, had accumulated “unprecedented power” during nearly 10 year in office, there was virtually no public scrutiny of the AKP and no investigations into the lifestyles and business interests of ministers and their relatives.

“Since 2008 [after the party began its second term in office], there has been not one single corruption case reported by the media that could or would hurt government interests,” Gürsel said.

A former national newspaper editor who asked not be identified said Erdogan had made a habit of singling out journalists whose pieces offended him, and demanding their sacking. But government pressure on media companies was usually more subtle, he said.

“You can never prove it, but I’m sure messages are sent [to media owners]. The government very often intervenes. And the media magnates want to secure sympathy or curry favours from the government. But they never leave their fingerprints,” the former editor said.

Far from feeling ashamed, Erdogan and his supporters appear to believe their actions are fully justified. A report this week in the Aksam newspaper quoted Ali Özkaya, a lawyer acting for Erdogan, as saying lawsuits opened on his behalf against people who have “insulted” him in the press have had a salutary effect.

“We have to underline that cases we’ve opened against press have been quite a deterrent; the wording of columnists has noticeably changed especially since 2003 [when Erdogan took office]. Reporters and columnists do not exceed the dose when making criticisms any more. Insulting comments or columns have been reduced to minimum.”