A little more than 100 years after the Ottoman Turks killed about 1.5 million of the empire’s Armenian citizens, Turkey’s president tweeted in Armenian.

On Friday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan surprised Twitter users with a message in the language of Turkey’s small neighbor Armenia, with whom Ankara has had a tense relationship since World War I.

“I was deeply saddened by the death of the Armenian patriarch of Turkey, the honorable Mesrob Mutafyan. I offer my condolences to his family, relatives and our Armenian citizens,” Erdogan tweeted on Friday in Armenian, in a message directed at the estimated 60,000 Armenians living in Turkey today.

Խոր վշտով տեղեկացայ Թուրքիոյ հայոց պատրիարք Յարգելի Մեսրոպ Մութաֆեանի մահը։ Այս կապակցութեամբ կը ցաւակցիմ իր ընտնիքին, հարազատներուն եւ մեր հայ քաղաքացիներուն։

— Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (@RTErdogan) March 8, 2019

The tweet was written following the death of the Armenian Patriarch Mesrob Mutafyan, who died on Friday after having early onset dementia for more than a decade. His death will pave the way for the election of a replacement, something Turkey’s small but influential Armenian population has been requesting for years.

Erdogan’s message was the first in Armenian by a Turkish head of state on a major platform like Twitter. That fact, coupled with recent overtures by the new Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, who suggested that diplomatic relations could potentially be re-established between the two countries, raised questions about whether the frosty relationship was starting to thaw. Erdogan has only once before released a message in Armenian, and never to his 13.5 million Twitter followers.

“It is in my memory the first time that a Turkish head of state has expressed condolences in Armenian and in such a visible and public way. I am not sure if he has done anything similar in other minority languages, I would be surprised if he has, so this is indeed quite interesting,” Artyom Tonoyan, a research associate at University of Minnesota, told Newsweek.

But some experts argued that, far from a move toward reconciliation or inclusivity, Erdogan’s message was a political power play. With a single tweet, Turkey’s president was aiming to influence internal factors in his country, not alter the relationship between Ankara and Yerevan, analysts said.

“Erdogan is both a populist and simultaneously wants extreme control,” Vicken Cheterian, author of the book Open Wounds: Armenians, Turks, and a Century of Genocide, told Newsweek. “In the last years, he tried to please the Armenian community in Turkey,

at the same time trying to control the major Armenian institution in Turkey, the Armenian Patriarchate.” 

“While Patriarch Mesorb was ill, he did not permit elections to select a new head of the church, thus keeping at its head someone who was suitable to Ankara. The tweet comes in this context,” Cheterian continued.

Bedross Der Mattossian, author of the book Shattered Dreams of Revolution: From Liberty to Violence in the Late Ottoman Empire, agreed that the tweet was aimed at influencing the election for a new patriarch. He noted that Turkey’s Armenian community was split between those who supported the government’s role in choosing a new patriarch and those who didn’t.

“On February 21, a group of 72 Armenian writers, journalists and artists released a statement in which they said they desire social harmony, and that harmony would only emerge when a legal election of a patriarch happened in a fair manner,” Der Mattossian, told Newsweek.

“Armenians are an important minority in Turkey. It has to do with the genocide, it has to do with Turkish denial, it has to do with criticism of the Turkish government and the constant active policy of denial that it pursues against the Armenians,” he continued. “So these are politics, not a huge gesture… It’s politics because [Erdogan] wants to be shown as a tolerant leader who cares about his own flock.”

Erdogan has repeatedly said that Turkey could not accept the label of genocide, but he had offered condolences for the events of World War I. “It is Turkey’s conscientious and ethical responsibility to share the historical pain of our Armenian citizens,” Erdogan said in a statement last year. 

Some argued that Erdogan needed Turkey’s Armenian population to bolster his image.

“The votes from the most influential Christian community of the country could be a way to diversify the political image of the ruling regime, both locally and internationally,” Varuzhan Geghamyan, a scholar focusing on Turkey, told Newsweek. “Another symbolic importance lies in Erdogan’s tendency to be compared to Ottoman sultans, who were rulers not only for Muslim, but also Christian and other subjects of the empire.”

“The tweet in Armenian language was innovative, but the appeal in itself was not unprecedented or unique,” Geghamyan added. “The Ottoman-now-Turkish state tradition requires the ruler to extend his condolences or wishes to the heads of religious communities. This happened many times starting from 1461 when Sultan Mehmed II established the Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople. Erdogan is basically keeping up the old tradition, but uses the new technologies.”

Even the tweet itself, which was written in the Western Armenian dialect, provides some clues about Erdogan’s intentions, experts said.

“The word Armenian, the ‘a’ should be in upper case, it’s a very important aspect, when you’re referring to a nation you don’t write it in lower case in Armenian. So there are certain shortcomings,” Der Mattossian told Newsweek, adding that the word “family” also had a letter missing in the tweet. Related Stories

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Turkey and Armenia do not currently have diplomatic relations and the border between the two countries remains closed. Russian soldiers man much of the dividing line separating them.

Armenia wants Ankara to recognize formally that Ottoman Turkey attempted to exterminate the Armenians when 1.5 million of them were killed during World War I. The issue of genocide recognition has embittered Turkey’s relationship with Armenia, and with some of the roughly 28 countries, and the majority of U.S. states, which recognize the Armenian genocide.

Turkey, for its part, maintains that the murders took place during skirmishes and uprisings, and claims that the goal was not to exterminate all Armenians. The country also argues that its smaller neighbor has designs on some of Turkey’s territory.

Senator Scott Wilk, R-Santa Clarita, announced Thursday that the California Armenian Legislative Caucus is set to hold two scholarship contests for the 2019 commemoration of the Armenian Genocide where students could win $1,000.

“This is a great opportunity for California high school students in 9th through 12th grade,” said Wilk. “I hope many students in our area will participate in an essay contest and/or a visual arts contest to increase greater awareness of the Armenian Genocide.”

The winners of the contest are set to win $1,000 for first place, $500 for second place, and $300 for third place, according to officials.  

The California Armenian Legislative Caucus are set to announce the names of the winners to mainstream and Armenian media on Friday April 12, but winners are set to be contacted directly.

Scholarships are scheduled to be awarded during the California Armenian Legislative Caucus’ annual Armenian Advocacy Day in Sacramento on April 22.

The Caucus is set to cover the cost of the trip to Sacramento for those who win the awards, according to officials.

Original artwork is requested from visual arts applicants if they are selected as a finalist for a chance to have it displayed in the California State Capitol.

Students may enter both contests, but submissions must be entered separately, according to officials.

The submission deadline for both contests is Monday, April 8.

Criteria for each contest can be found here.

Azerbaijanis misrepresent Khojalu events ‘through Gencocide-era photos’ at Iranian exhibition

The Iranian media have caught the Azerbaijani Embassy in Tehran read-handed at fabricating the facts behind the so-called Khojalu massacres.

At an exhibition dedicated to the 27th anniversary of the tragic events, the Azerbaijani Embassy in Tehran showcased also a photo featuring an episode from the Armenian Genocide. What caught attention was the fact that the picture portrayed a woman dying in a desert, whereas the media reports truly note that Khojalu, currently a village in Nagorno-Karabakh’s (Artsakh) Askeran region (current name: Ivanyan), is situated in a semi-mountainous zone.

The Iran-based Armenian weekly Arax has reacted to the misinformation campaign, condemning the misrepresentation of facts as a disgraceful act.

The scandal was spotted by the news website Azariha which posted certain photos as blatant evidence of an attempted propaganda of lie.

“The Embassy of the Baku Republic in Tehran [the Iranian site has intentionally chosen the wording in an attempt to avoid using Azerbaijan] held a photo exhibition dedicated to the catastrophe in the village of Khojalu, where an estimated 600 villagers died shortly after President] “Ayaz Mutalibov” acceded to power in the period of the Nagorno-Karabakh war. Ove the recent years, Turkey and Baku have been exaggerating the Khojalu tragedy in an effort to make it look tantamount to the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire,” reads the report.

Mutalibov, who was at the helm of state in Azerbaijan from August 1991 until March 1992, had stated in one of his interviews that the Khojalu residents themselves had confirmed that those events “were masterminded by my opnenents in an effort to stage a coup” in the country.

”That’s to say, certain forces in Azerbaijan were intentionally desecrating the Khojalu residents’ dead bodies lying on the roadway leading to Aghdam  to later use them for political reasons,” he is quoted as saying.

In the article entitled The Lying Shepherd, the Azerbaijani website fully uncovers the fabricated story.

”Why do the Baku authorities lie time and again when it comes to historical facts? Where does this kind of thirst and mania for lie spring from? While the neighboring countries’ patience is wearing thin amid Baku’s lies and historical fabrications, that country’s population gains the reputation of a world-famous nation. The reason is that the country calling itself Azerbaijan was from the very outset founded on ‘lie and theft’. A country whose name is even stolen [allusion to the Iranian province of Azerbaijan] has no other choice but to lie and misrepresent history. As to the Khojalu tragedy, despite the innocent victims,  many quiestions still remain open. The fact remains that Ayaz Mutalibov, the president of Baku at the time, did not absolutely blame the Armneian forces; he blamed his own country’s military and the group of servicemen who were attempting to overthrow the government. Also,  Minister of Defense Rahim Ghaziev confirmed that the military authorities of Baku intentioanlly put the residents of Khojalu under the adversary’s target to later use the fact [as a trumpcard] for overthrowing [Abulfaz] Elchibey [Mutalibov’s successor].”

The Iranian website notes that the bodies of the deceased residents of Khojalu were found not on the territory of that village but rather – in a remote area controlled by Azerbaijani armed troops.    

The website also cites Canadian historian Patrick Wilson Gore’s records saying that the operation, “carried out at late night hours”, made it ”absolutely difficult” for Armenian forces to distinguish armed troops from unarmed civilians to avoid mishaps. In subsequent interviews, Mutalibov himself elaborated on the tragic events to shed light upon the dark corners. Particularly, in comments to the Russian Nezavisimaya Gazeta, the former Azerbaijani leader admitted that the Armenians had left two corridors to allow civilians to escape from the village. He insisted on the Azerbaijani opposition’s responsibility for the tragic outcome. ”The fact remains that the Armenians had left two corridors for escape. So why should they have opened fire at all? Especially in light of the multi-member military forces who could practically help people. Or even they could have made the necessary arrangements with the adversary to organize the safe departure of civilians. That has always been the usual practice,” he said.

YEREVAN—Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, in a televised address to the nation, issued an apology to the victims of the March 1, 2008 post-election protests, during which eight civilians and two police officers were killed by security officials who were ordered to quell opposition revolt against the presidential election results.

The case has gained new impetus since Pashinyan came to power after last spring’s popular protests that overthrew the previous regime. Judicial inquires and investigations have led to the arrest of former president Robert Kocharian who is custody awaiting trial. Investigators have also questions the two other presidents, Serzh Sarkisian and Levon Ter-Petrosian in connection with the incidents but have not filed charges against them.

“Today, on March 1, 2019, I would like to clearly state that there cannot be a return to the morals and relationships of the past. Armenia will not return to the times of corruption, political persecutions, political violence, violations of rights, impunity and obscenity,” Pashinyan said in his televised address.

Turkish Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy explored  the tourist areas of Kars province and made a statement in connection with the ruins of the city of Ani.

According to the Turkish Hurriyet, the Minister visited Sarykamysh, built by the Russian Tsar, Sarykamysh Catherine Palace, Kars Fortress and the ruins of Ani.

In Ani, the Turkish Minister visited the Cathedral and the Manuche Mosque.

The Minister noted that Ani is important for Turkey, stressing that the ruins of the city were included in the UNESCO list as the cradle of civilization.

According to him, soon excavations will begin in Ani, which will last 6 months, in which a large number of archaeologists will be involved.

At the same time, he did not use the words “Armenians” or “Armenia”, despite the fact that all the monuments of Ani, with the exception of one, are Armenian, and Ani was the capital of Armenia in the 10-11 centuries.

The Guardian has published an article headlined ”Monumental loss: Azerbaijan and ‘the worst cultural genocide of the 21st century” about the demolishment of Armenian cross-stones in Azerbaijan. the periodical writes that the the greatest cultural disaster taking place at the moment might be taking place not in Syria, but in Caucasus, meaning the demolishment of Armenian cross-stones in Azerbaijan.  

‘ According to a lengthy report published in the art journal Hyperallergic in February, the Azerbaijani government has, over the past 30 years, been engaging in a systematic erasure of the country’s historic Armenian heritage. This official, albeit covert, destruction of cultural and religious artefacts exceeds Islamic State’s self-promotional dynamiting of Palmyra’, The Guardian writes.

The periodical reminds that on 15 December 2005, the prelate of northern Iran’s Armenian church, Bishop Nshan Topouzian, filmed – from across the river in Iran – the Azerbaijani military methodically laying waste with sledgehammers to all that remained of Djulfa. The soldiers loaded the debris on to truck beds and dumped it into the Araxes.

‘The footage can be found in a 2006 film entitled The New Tears of Araxes posted on YouTube, edited by Maghakyan and scripted by Pickman. It is chilling. Satellite research shows that, in 2003, the uneven, textured landscape was dotted with multiple small structures. By 2009, it is flattened and empty’, writes the periodical, adding that the Azerbaijani government has repeatedly refused international inspectors’ entry to the site.