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Armenians hold anti-Hungary rally over Azeri killer pardon

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BBC Report;

1 September 2012 Last updated at 10:50 ET

Hundreds of Armenians have protested outside Hungary’s consulate in Yerevan in a row over a convicted killer.

The demonstrators burned Hungarian flags and pelted the mission with eggs.

Earlier this week Hungary allowed an Azeri soldier who murdered an Armenian to return to Azerbaijan to serve the remainder of his sentence. But Baku pardoned him and set him free.

Armenia, a long-time enemy of neighbour Azerbaijan, severed diplomatic ties with Hungary in response.

Armenia and Azerbaijan fought a bitter war over the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave in the early 1990s.

Killer Ramil Safarov was flown to Baku and freed, despite Azerbaijan’s assurances that his life sentence would be enforced. 

‘Hacker attack’

On Saturday, hundreds of angry Armenian demonstrators chanted anti-Hungarian slogans during the protest rally in central Yerevan.

“The Hungarians have sold their honour and conscience to the Azerbaijanis like a common prostitute,” protester Armen Mkrtchian told the AFP news agency.

The demonstrators also publicly burned Hungarian flags and distributed flyers that read “Hungary – have you gone mad?”

There were also reports that Armenian hackers attacked the officials website of Azerbaijan’s president and several other internet news resources.

On Friday, Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian said that Hungary had made a “grave mistake” in sending

Safarov back to Azerbaijan.

“With their joint actions, Azerbaijan and Hungary opened the door to the recurrence of such crimes. I cannot put up with this. The republic of Armenia cannot put up with this,” the president said.

The Hungarian authorities said they had returned Safarov to his homeland only after receiving assurances from the Baku government that his sentence would be enforced.

Safarov killed Armenian soldier Gurgen Markarian at a military academy in Budapest in 2004, where both servicemen attended English-language courses organised by Nato.

During his trial in Hungary, Safarov said that the Azeri-Armenian war over Nagorno-Karabakh and insults from the Armenian officer were at the root of his actions.

Azerbaijan and Armenia, both former Soviet republics, fought over the enclave in the early 1990s. The conflict left some 30,000 people dead and displaced hundreds of thousands.

Armenia-backed authorities are currently controlling Nagorno-Karabakh, which lies within Azerbaijan.

Despite a 1994 ceasefire, skirmishes continue on the borders of the disputed territory.

 

Turkish organizations speak out against France’s decision to include Armenian Genocide chapter in French textbooks

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Turkish organizations of France have spoken out against the decision of France to include a chapter on Armenian Genocide in French textbooks in the new school year, Turkish news website Sondakika.com reported.

Describing the decision as unacceptable, Turkish organizations urged French President Francois Hollande’s administration to tackle the issue.

Cavit Kutlu, head of St. Louis France-Turkey friendship group in Switzerland, said, “We as a Turkish community should gather and think about our future plans.”
To recap, the French Ministry of Education has decided to include chapters on Armenian Genocide in history and geography textbooks for French secondary schools

Fatwa on Armenian massacres attracts world attention despite Turkish denials

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By Harut Sassounian,

Publisher, The California Courier

Last week’s column on the 1909 Fatwa issued by Egypt’s top Islamic cleric condemning Turks for massacring Armenians in Adana drew widespread attention. The article was posted on websites in many countries, including Pakistan, India, Israel, France, Russia, Lebanon, Armenia, and the United States.

Although my columns are often translated and reprinted in the Turkish media, last week’s article broke all records. It appeared in summary form in dozens of Turkish newspapers and websites. In addition, prominent syndicated columnist Taha Akyol wrote a lengthy rebuttal published in Hurriyet, CNN-Turk, and other publication. Akyol is a right wing journalist who switched his allegiance from the ultra-nationalist Alpaslan Turkes, leader of the Grey Wolves, to Pres. Abdullah Gul and his ruling Islamist AKP party.

Akyol describes me as “one of the Armenian Diaspora’s fiercest leaders,” and “a Tashnak militant.” To prove to his Turkish readers that I am a “radical” Armenian, Akyol quotes from an earlier column in which I had stated that Armenians could regain Western Armenia someday when unexpected developments take place in that region, creating a power vacuum. Akyol was joined by former Turkish Ambassador Omer Engin Lutem in denouncing my views on Western Armenia. While calling me an “extreme nationalist,” Amb. Lutem depicted me as someone “highly admired and frequently read by Diaspora Armenians. In addition to the value of his writings, he is a person that must be taken seriously because of his influence over the Armenian Diaspora.”

In his article, Akyol uses standard denialist tactics by reducing the number of Armenian victims in Adana and mischaracterizing the killings as a clash between Armenians and Turks. In reality, 30,000 Armenians were killed by Turkish mobs which had been whipped into frenzy by Ismail Hakke, the Mufti of Bahce, a town near Adana. Akyol’s gross misrepresentation of the facts is contradicted by the July 31, 1909 decree of the Council of Ministers of Ottoman Turkey which placed sole responsibility for the massacres on the shoulders of provincial Turkish officials.

In a vain attempt to make his distorted views more credible, Akyol reports that he consulted Prof. Kemal Cicek, Director of the discredited Turkish Historical Society, who “had published a book last month titled, ‘The Adana Incidents of 1909 Revisited.’” In fact, the book was published a year ago, and Cicek is not the author, but editor of a volume consisting of papers presented at a 2009 Ankara conference. In response to Akyol’s question as to whether the Turkish Mufti had issued a Fatwa, Cicek reportedly stated: “I studied the Adana court records. Armenians had made such claims at the time, but no such documents or witnesses were found. There is absolutely no such Fatwa.”

Contrary to Cicek’s claims, there are a number of references confirming that Ismail Hakke, the Turkish Mufti, did issue a Fatwa to legitimize the atrocities. Dr. Ali Osman Ozturk, Professor at Canakkale’s “March 18 University,” wrote the following in the Milli Folklor Journal (2009): “The government hanged the Mufti of Bahce in Dortyol because of the Fatwa he had issued, stating that ‘Armenian blood and property are helal [religiously sanctioned].’” Historian Raymond Kevorkian also mentions the Turkish Fatwa in his monumental book, “The Armenian Genocide, a Complete History,” by referencing two sources: Z. Duckett Ferriman’s “The Young Turks and the Truth about the Holocaust at Adana, in Asia Minor, During April, 1909,” and the Turkish parliamentary commission’s report by Judges Fayk Bey and Haroutioun Mosdichian. Dr. Vahakn Dadrian also refers to several Fatwas issued by Muftis in various Turkish towns, including the Mufti of Bahce, who “surpassed in intensity and scope the atrociousness of the rest of his colleagues.” Dadrian then quotes the German newspaper Berliner Tageblatt which reported the eyewitness account of German engineers: “The Mufti had excited and agitated the fanatical and criminal rabble of Bahce and its environs.”

To his credit, Akyol does not deny the Fatwa issued by the noble Egyptian Grand Sheikh Salim al-Bishri of al-Azhar. Akyol admits the possibility that the Arab Sheikh had issued such a Fatwa. I can assure him that such a Fatwa exists, since I have in my possession a photocopy of the document, excerpts of which were published in translation in my last week’s column. Akyol also acknowledges that the Turkish Mufti of Bahce was in fact hanged for his crimes in Adana!

Over a 100 years later, the Fatwa of Grand Sheikh of al-Azhar remains a most valuable document, particularly in these turbulent times. Copies of this righteous Fatwa along with the compassionate Decree issued in 1917 by the Sharif of Mecca should be disseminated by the Armenian Republic, church leaders, and civic groups to all Muslim states, their Ambassadors, media, and mosques worldwide, particularly in Turkey, Azerbaijan, and the Arab world.

Egemen Bagis responds to France’s decision to include Armenian Genocide chapter in French textbooks

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Turkish Minister for European Affairs and Chief EU negotiatior Egemen Bagis has responded harshly to the decision of France to include a chapter on Armenian Genocide in French textbooks, Turkish website TRThaber.com reported.
Bagis said: “There is nothing in our history which could make us ashamed. We are proud of our history. I wish every state had such a clean history like ours.”
The French Ministry of Education has decided to include chapters on Armenian Genocide in history and geography textbooks for French secondary schools.

To note, even the Turkish parliament does not consider Bagis to be a minister fitting for Turkey. Months ago, Turkey’s Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) MP Lutfu Turkan had told Bagis at the parliament to vacate his seat at once and had given him the finger sweep.

Was Atatürk an Armenian?

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Write:
Orhan Kemal Cengiz is a Turkish lawyer, journalist and human rights activist. He graduated in law from the University of Ankara in 1993. From 1997 to 1998 he worked in London.
o.cengiz@todayszaman.com
The Radikal daily has started quite an interesting discussion about the family origins of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the Turkish Republic. Radikal reported, according to the forthcoming book “From Mustafa to Kemal: Atatürk’s Big Secret” by Fatih Bayhan, that the family origins of Atatürk do not lie in Thessaloniki, as is commonly believed, but instead in the eastern province of Malatya. Bayhan claims that Atatürk’s family immigrated to Thessaloniki from Malatya.
According to this new version of his life, Atatürk’s true father and mother were people who lived in Malatya and Atatürk’s acknowledged mother, Zübeyde Hanım, was actually his aunt. The writer claims that Atatürk was sent to Thessaloniki when his actual father died and was adopted by Zübeyde Hanım when his mother died. The book is said to be based on official governmental records and documents that are set to be made public for the first time.

I do not want to bother you with all these details any more. This allegation of course needs to be proven. However, I would not be surprised if it turns out to be true. Much of history in Turkey is based on so many lies and legends, all of which were created to deny some fundamental facts in our past. Turkish official history “writers” never hesitated to bend history according to the needs of our official ideology and the state’s so-called “higher interests.”

Malatya was one of the provinces which were heavily populated by Armenians in the past. If this new version of Atatürk’s origins is true, the first question to come to mind is why the history writers fabricated the well-known version of his life. Did they write the official version to disassociate Atatürk from Anatolian Armenians? If the new story is true, there must be a reason.

The facts of Turkish history are still surrounded by many taboos, some of which have caused loss of life. You know how the tragic events leading to the assassination of Hrant Dink began. He simply dared to say that Atatürk’s adopted daughter Sabiha Gökçen was indeed an Armenian orphan. And this revelation was followed a lynching campaign and he was killed after that.

Nowadays the walls around the taboos which surround our history seem to be weakening. Ayhan Aktar keeps writing about some taboos in our history. One of the stories he tells is about the Dardanelles wars. According to Aktar, one of the heroes of this war was Cpt. Sarkis Torosyan, a citizen of Armenian descent in the Ottoman Empire. Torosyan’s story is a heartbreaking one. Torosyan was a much-decorated gunner wounded while defending the Dardanelles. He was later transferred to the area where his family had been deported, modern-day Palestine. There he discovered his sister in rags and heard his fiancée was dying of tuberculosis. He learned that his parents had been killed along the way. While he was defending his country to the death, his family and loved ones had been forcefully evicted from their homes.

This story is of course not written in any schoolbooks, nor is it known by many people in Turkey. Some may think this story is just a tiny detail in Turkish history, but I think it’s a very significant and important one. The real story of an Armenian captain who fought a heroic war in the Dardanelles is a huge burden on the Turkish conscience. This is because this one single event has the capacity to bring up all of our painful memories about our long-lost neighbors and about our past.

As I repeatedly said in this column before, people confront their past by opening their hearts to the stories of others, by feeling the pain and anguish they suffered — a process which has already started in Turkey and in which we have a very long way to go.

Armenia marks 22nd anniversary of Declaration of Independence

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August 23, 2012 | 10:00

Thursday, August 23, 2012 marks the 22nd anniversary of Armenia’s Declaration of Independence.

Exactly 22 years ago on this very day, Armenian SSR Supreme Council adopted Armenia’s Declaration of Independence, whereby the country’s independence process was launched.

By way of the Declaration of Independence, Armenian SSR was renamed the Republic of Armenia—or Armenia, in short form. And on the very next day, that is, on August 24, the law on the country’s flag was adopted, whereby the tricolor was recognized as Armenia’s national flag.

At the Supreme Council’s session on August 23, 1990, the text of the Declaration of Independence was read by Aram Manukyan—the current opposition Armenian National Congress Parliamentary Faction Secretary and Armenian National Movement Party Chairman—as namesake of the founder of the First Republic of Armenia.

And one year later, on September 21, 1991, Armenia held its referendum on independence, and, as a result, 94.99 percent of the participants voted in favor of Armenia’s independence.

CALL TO SUPPORT THE ARMENIAN COMMUNITY IN SYRIA

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GLENDALE—All religious denominations, political parties and relief organizations in the Western United States have come together to form a joint committee to assist the Armenian community of Syria. On Thursday, the group issued a call to support the efforts, the text of which is presented below:

During the past weeks, the 17-month conflict in Syria has escalated to dangerous proportions. Caught in the crossfire of this growing conflict are the innocent citizens of Syria, among them the large Armenian community.

The presence of Armenians in Syria dates back many centuries, and throughout that time, the community has had an important role in the Armenian Diaspora reality. Especially after the Armenian Genocide, the growing Armenian community, through its hard work and determination has created beneficial situation for nurturing families and establishing national institutions such as churches and schools, and preserving our heritage and traditions. Today, due to the current conflict, the Armenian community is facing a crisis. The Armenian community organizations in Syria, by adhering to the survivalist spirit of the Armenian people, have already mobilized to effectively and in an organized manner cater to the needs of the community.

In light of this mounting humanitarian crisis, Armenians will not remain indifferent, and will get to work to extend a helping hand and assist the Syrian-Armenian community.

The Armenian American community of Western United States is equally concerned with these developments, which impact the entire Armenian nation. Any harm inflicted upon any member of our dispersed Armenian family equally impacts the rest of the family be they in Armenia or the Diaspora. With increased resolve and conviction we must be ready to support the Syrian-Armenian population, just as we have come to aid of our brethren in Armenia, Artsakh, Lebanon and Iraq, in their time of need.

We call upon the Armenian American community of the Western United States to facilitate the needs of the Syrian Armenian community and to contribute for the preservation of the Armenian community. The Syrian Armenian community has fulfilled its centuries-old mission proudly, and today as it holds on to its home, the community is aware of its exceptional and unique role it has had in the Diaspora, which unequivocally needs to be preserved.

We hereby announce the formation of a Joint Committee in Support of the Syrian Armenian Community.

Archbishop Hovnan Derderian
Archbishop Moushegh Mardirossian
Bishop Mikayel Mouradian
Rev. Joe Matossian
Social Democrat Hunchakian Party
Armenian Revolutionary Federation
Armenian Democratic Liberal Party
Armenian General Benevolent Union
Armenian Relief Society
AMAA

Knesset to Discuss Genocide Bill Tuesday

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JERUSALEM—The chairperson of the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, on Sunday has permitted the discussion of a bill recognizing the Armenian Genocide. The debate is scheduled for Tuesday, reported the Haaretz newspaper.

Knesset chairperson Reuven Rivlin decided to permit the debate for Tuesday after Meretz party leader Zehava Gal-On asked for the issue to be discussed in the Knesset last week but it was delayed due to deliberation on another bill.

Israel’s foreign ministry asked to postpone the discussion until after the Knesset hears a report on Israel’s interception of Turkish ships bound for the Gaza Strip. Gal-On refused and pressed for the Armenian Genocide bill to be placed on the agenda.

Gal-On said she did not want to cause problems with Turkey and she wanted relations with the country to improve. But she said she believed the Foreign Ministry was using the comptroller’s report as an excuse to avoid dealing with the controversial Armenian issue, reported the Jerusalem Post.

In December, the Knesset’s Education Committee hosted an unprecedented discussion of the Armenian Genocide and the need for Israel to officially recognize the matter.

At the time, a representative of the Foreign Ministry relayed the ministry’s opposition to the bill. “This subject, given the current atmosphere, could deteriorate our ties with Turkey. Our relationship with Turkey is very fragile and sensitive right now, and we cannot cross the line – we must approach the subject intelligently. Such a decision could have very serious strategic consequences,” said the representative.

Rivlin also commented during the discussion in December. “The subject doesn’t come up in the Knesset because of events that take place between Israel and Turkey, nor because we are trying to take advantage of the political situation to get even. I first entered the Knesset in ‘88, and a year later we made a suggestion for a day concerning the Armenian tragedy. We were prevented from speaking about it as a ‘holocaust,’ though we most definitely felt that as humans, as Jews, as citizens of Israel that aren’t Jews, we must bring this subject up, and flood the public with the questions that arise, because we are obligated to prevent denial of the tragedy,” said Rivlin.

“We are standing in front of all the peoples of the world, and saying that denial of a holocaust is something that Humanity cannot agree with. We didn’t come to discuss something political, rather moral,” continued Rivlin.

Gal-On said at the time that “this is an exciting moment, in my opinion, that the Education Committee is holding an open discussion, with a great deal of participation. For years, Israel always considered relations with Turkey. That is the central issue in terms of recognition of the murder of the Armenian people, which has yet to take place in Israel’s Knesset.”

“Unfortunately, relations with Turkey are very tense, and I think that it is in our interest not to make them worse. Israel’s government must advance relations regardless of the Armenian issue; it is a historic and moral obligation,” said Gal-On.

Otniel Schneller, also among the upcoming discussion’s sponsors, was the only one who expressed outright opposition to an official recognition by Israel of the Armenian genocide in December. “We cannot disconnect the discussion from the fact that we must rehabilitate our ties with Turkey – it’s an existential necessity,” he said. “We need to fit in the Middle East even if it is difficult,” said Schneller, in December.

Congressman Ryan advocate for US reaffirmation of Armenian Genocide – ANCA

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August 12, 2012 | 01:11

Congressman Ryan brings to the national Republican ticket a long legislative record as an advocate for U.S. reaffirmation of the Armenian Genocide – co-sponsoring legislation to commemorate this crime, and co-signing a number of Congressional letters asking President Bush and Obama to honor their commitments to properly recognize this atrocity as a genocide, said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian commenting for the Armenian News-NEWS.am information on Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) running for vice president.

“Much like the current vice president, Joe Biden, Representative Ryan enters the presidential race with ‘A’ ratings from the ANCA,” noted Hamparian. “We look to the Romney-Ryan ticket to publicly share their views on issues of special concern to Armenian American voters, and also to the Obama-Biden White House to explain their policies on matters of particular interest to our community, so that Armenian American voters can make fully informed choices at the ballot box this November.”

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) is running for vice president, after presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney announced him as his pick on Saturday morning.

Romney nominated a pro-Armenian activist in the USA vice president position

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17:30, 11 August, 2012

Yerevan, August 11, ARMENPRESS: The Republican Mitt Romney fighting for the position of the USA president made a decision to nominate a member of the House of Representatives Paul Ryan from the Virginia state as a vice president. Ryan is famous for his pro-Armenian positions. He was one of the NO 252 resolution supporters of the House of Parliaments in the Armenian Genocide recognition and condemn, he is a member of the Congress committee on the Armenian issues. The Armenian trial committee in the USA marked him A. Senator Biden has also been assessed with such a mark. “A member of the House of Representatives Ryan was highly appreciated from A to F due to the legislative and political positive activity in the Armenian Genocide Recognition. He positively displayed himself also in the human rights the American Armenians are concerned about and other foreign political issues”, ANCA informed in response to the question raised by “Armenpress”.

Romney will officially represent the vice president on August 11 during the visit to Norfolk. Romney’s candidature for the presidential position will be officially nominated in the republican Congress to be held in Florida August 27-30.