In a patronizing op-ed piece published on Friday in The Guardian, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu comments on Turkey-Armenia relations, and after expressing support for the April 23 “condolence to Armenians” statement by 
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the foreign minister says: “Turks and Armenians – we must follow Erdoğan’s lead and bury our common pain.”
“In offering condolences for the 1915 Armenian massacre, Erdoğan has presented the chance for reconciliation. Let’s take it,” adds Davutoglu.
The “common pain” rhetoric is a notion being advanced by official Ankara ahead of the centennial of the Armenian Genocide in a feeble attempt to defray attention from the true crime of the Genocide.
This repackaged denial does not serve the interests of the Turkish government, which attempting to distance itself from the Genocide. But, instead of facing its Ottoman past, the government of Turkey is sounding more denialist and insincere.
Davutoglu, also advances a notion he articulated some years past that any ethnic group that used to live in the Anatolian region—including Armenians—constitute a larger Turkish Diaspora. It seems Turkey’s top diplomat needs to become better versed about the definition of Diaspora.
Below is the text of Davutoglu’s opinion piece from The Guradian.
Turks and Armenians – we must follow Erdoğan’s lead and bury our common pain
BY AHMET DAVUTOGLU
From The Guardian
History is replete with squandered opportunities. The challenge for those in power is to assess in real time the risks of missing these moments. I had a sense back in 2009 when I was traveling to Zurich to sign an agreement with the government of Armenia that we were heading towards such a critical juncture.
The agreement would normalize Turkey-Armenia relations and have a significant and positive impact on the whole of the Caucasus. Some unexpected difficulties threatened to derail the whole process at the last moment, and had I been able to share my thoughts at the time I would have underscored the same principles set out last week by Prime Minister Erdoğan in his historic message on the events of 1915, concerning the relocation of the Ottoman Armenians. With this in mind, I believe we now have the opportunity to recapture the engagement and conciliation that eluded us in 2009.
Relations between Turks and Armenians date back centuries. As the Ottoman Empire expanded, Turks and Armenians interacted in a multitude of ways. Armenians were among the best integrated communities in terms of enriching the social, cultural, economic and political life of the empire, and added untold value to the empire’s development throughout cycles of war and peace.
The influence of Ottoman Armenians in intellectual and artistic circles cannot be overstated. Works of many Ottoman musicians might not have survived had not the Armenian musician Hamparsum Limoncuyan introduced a style of solfége musical teaching. Tatyos Efendi, Bimençe, and Gomitas are all well-known classical Armenian music composers who also made outstanding contributions. Edgar Manas, another Armenian, was one of the composers of the Turkish national anthem.
Ottoman architecture of the 19th century was marked by works commissioned by the Ottoman sultans to Armenian architects, most notably builders of the Balyan family. Well known landmarks of Istanbul, such as the imperial palaces of Dolmabahçe and Beylerbeyi, are attributed to the Balyans, as are several significant mosques along the Bosphorus. One of my predecessors, Gabriel Noradunkyan, served as foreign minister of the Ottoman Empire from 1912-13 and was a prominent Armenian figure in international affairs.
The power of the Ottoman empire declined continuously in the 19th century. The loss of the Balkan provinces was a striking defeat which resulted in mass atrocities, expulsion and the deportation of Ottoman Muslims. A series of ethnic cleansings in the Balkans pushed millions eastward, transforming the demographic structure of Anatolia and leading to the destabilization and deterioration of communal relations there as well. Approximately 5 million Ottoman citizens were driven away from their ancestral homes in the Balkans, the Caucasus and Anatolia. While much of western history tells of the suffering of the dispossessed and dead Ottoman Christians, the colossal sufferings of Ottoman Muslims remains largely unknown outside of Turkey.
It is an undeniable fact that the Armenians suffered greatly in the same period. The consequences of the relocation of the large part of the Armenian community are unacceptable and inhuman.
What is also true is that the dispute over why and how the Armenian tragedy happened, sadly, continues to distress Turks and Armenians today. Communal and national memories of a pain, suffering, deprivation and monumental loss of life continue to keep the Armenian and Turkish peoples apart. Competing and seemingly irreconcilable narratives on the 1915 events prevent the healing of this trauma. What we share is a “common pain” inherited from our grandparents.
National memories are important. However, could Turkish and Armenian narratives not come closer together, could a “just memory” not emerge? Believing this can happen, Turkey proposed a joint commission composed of Turkish and Armenian historians to study the events of 1915. The findings of the commission, if established, would bring about a better understanding of this tragic period and hopefully help to normalize our relationship.
Offering condolences to the descendants of Ottoman Armenians with compassion and respect is a duty of humanity. An almost century-long confrontation has proved that we cannot solve the problem unless we start listening to and understanding each other. We must also learn to respect, without comparing sufferings and without categorizing them.
Addressing my ambassadors few years ago, I called for a change to Turkey’s “concept of diaspora”. I told them that all diasporas with roots in Anatolia – including the Armenian diaspora – are our diaspora too, and should be treated as such with open arms. Though many of our diplomats still mourned their friends and colleagues taken by terrorists from Asala (the Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia), I am proud to say that they welcomed these instructions with enthusiasm and without any wish for revenge. They knew that we would better cherish the memories of the dead if we could bury hatred altogether.
Everybody can become partners in this, and for our own part we see clearly that unless justice is done for others it will not be done for us.
I appeal to everyone to seize this moment, and to join us to reconstruct a better future for Turkish-Armenian relations. The statement by Prime Minister Erdoğan is an unprecedented and courageous step taken in this direction. I believe now is the time to invest in this relationship. But we can only succeed if this endeavor is embraced by a wider constituency intent on reconciliation. Turkey stands ready.
Pasadena Genocide Memorial Ground Consecrated
PASADENA, Calif.—More than 700 people attended a ground blessing ceremony at the site for the Pasadena Armenian Genocide Memorial on Sunday, April 27, during a public ceremony at Memorial Park.
The presentation of colors was conducted by Homenetmen Azadamard Chapter. Retired U.S. District Court Judge Dickran M. Tevrizian served as Master of Ceremonies and consecration of the ground was performed by Hovnan Derderian, Archbishop of the Western Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church, and Archbishop Moushegh Mardirossian of the Western Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church.
There were musical performances by choirs from the Sahag Mesrob Armenian Christian School in Altadena and the Armenian General Benevolent Union High School in Pasadena.
Student speakers included Alex Berberian, a senior at Pasadena High School, and Daniel Mouradian, a freshman at AGBU High School.
Tagoui Arzoumanian recited the poem “Menk and the Dance” and Eric Chilingazyan, a young child, recited the poem “My Armenia.”
Federal, state and local elected officials as well as dignitaries from community organizations, churches and schools participated in the event as well.
The Pasadena Armenian Genocide Memorial, approved by the Pasadena City Council in September 2013, will be completed and dedicated at the north side of Memorial Park in April 2015 to mark the 100th anniversary of the killing of 1.5 million Armenians over a three-year period beginning in 1915. It will commemorate the Armenian Genocide and condemn all crimes against humanity
For more information about the Pasadena Armenian Genocide Memorial visit www.PASAGMC.org or PASAGMC on Facebook.
Suffolk Law School students protest choice of Genocide denier as speaker
May 2, 2014 – 14:54 AMT
Suffolk Law School’s administration invited Abraham Foxman, the long-time director of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) to be the commencement speaker, igniting 
resentment of the School’s student body.
“Few would expect a survivor of the Holocaust to be the face of genocide denial. Abraham Foxman, the long-time director of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), an organization dedicated to eradicating anti-Semitism and bigotry and protecting civil rights, seems a figure beyond reproach. Yet Foxman has invited controversy to Suffolk University for his unwillingness to recognize the 1915 Armenian Genocide — an event which saw an estimated 1.5 million Armenians massacred by the Turks — and his campaign to defeat Congressional acknowledgement of said genocide. Criticism of Foxman has centered on this disconnect, that a man who lived through the attempted extermination of an entire race now denies that truth of another. Many at Suffolk are unwilling to participate in that hypocrisy,” Asbarez reported.
Shortly after Foxman was announced as their 2014 speaker, Suffolk Law students rejected the decision. Amy Willis, President of the university’s National Lawyers Guild chapter, told the Boston Globe that “Suffolk claims to embody diversity and be a place for all people, but this clearly is a speaker who does not embody those values.”
This stance was reflected in a petition to remove Foxman as the keynote speaker, as well as to deny him the honorary juris doctorate he is slated to receive. The petition states that Foxman’s presence “not only insults students and their families, but also insults the very foundation of Suffolk Law as a safe place of diversity and acceptance.” As arguments for his removal, the petition enumerates Foxman’s refusal to explicitly label the Armenian Genocide as a genocide as well as his support for racial profiling of Muslim-Americans in the interest of “national security.”
“Because Turkey was the first nation in the Middle East to establish diplomatic relations with Israel and remains an instrumental ally of the West, the United States is unwilling to rock that political boat. Even when a resolution was proposed by the 110th Congress to recognize the Armenian Genocide, then President George W. Bush publicly opposed the measure. He was not the first, and current President Barack Obama’s silence on the issue suggests he will not be the last.
And this has been Abraham Foxman’s dilemma. His public opposition to Armenian recognition has been out of loyalty to Israel. “Our focus is Israel,” he has said. “If helping Turkey helps Israel, then that’s what we’re in the business of doing.” Unfortunately for Suffolk Law School, and all those who expect the ADL to uphold its own morality, Abraham Foxman represents a willful blindness – to look the other way on a hundred-year-old crime – for the sake of political expediency.
It is the opinion of Suffolk University President James McCarthy that Foxman, despite students’ protests, “is well deserving of recognition.” Moreover, it is the University’s hope that Foxman’s “life of public service will inspire our graduates as they embark on their professional careers.”
This does beg the question of what recognition the Syrian desert’s uncounted dead deserve, or what their lives may have inspired, but the answers are unlikely to be found in Foxman’s commencement speech,” Asbarez said.
Congressman Engel: Turkey must acknowledge crimes of its forefathers
May 2, 2014 – 13:42 AMT
Upon his return from Armenia which marked the 99th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, U.S. Congressman Eliot Engel wrote a letter to The Riverdale Press.
The letter said, “I just returned from Armenia as part of a bipartisan congressional delegation and had the opportunity to mark the 99th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide in Yerevan. This horrific chapter in the bloodiest century in history, which began in 1915, resulted in the slaughter of 1.5 million innocent Armenians.
These murders were a terrible tragedy for the Armenian people. They still bear the scars today, and the barbarity inflicted on the Armenians also led to a century of genocide and ethnic-cleansing.
When Hitler sneered, “Who after all speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?,” we see the link between indifference to the Armenians and the murder of six million Jews. This same mindset has influenced too many thuggish leaders over the past century —leaders convinced that they can kill and brutalize their peoples with impunity.
“We owe it to history and to humanity to remember the victims of the Armenian Genocide – for their sake, and for the sake of all of us.”
Turkey needs to, at a minimum, apologize to Armenians and acknowledge the crimes of its forefathers. By offering his condolences for those who died, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has taken a welcome step forward — but his words fall far short of an official apology.
Turkey owes that to itself, too, for Turkish society will be stronger for having acknowledged the truth.
I want to express to the Armenian people my great sorrow and deepest condolences. And I say to them, as we say regarding the Holocaust, “Never again”,” the Congressmen stressed in his letter.
99 years of waiting: The word “G” too problematic for some world powers
Gayane Mkrtchyan, ArmeniaNow
On the eve of the 99th anniversary of the Armenian genocide policy analysts and specialist in Turkish studies have asserted that the world has long accepted the fact of the 
Armenian genocide, although some countries still refuse to recognize, because the agenda of the world – rationality of international politics – requires.
During the years of the First World War more than two million Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire. Around one and half million Armenians were killed between 1915-1923, the others were forcibly converted to Islam or found refuge in other countries. Despite the ongoing process of recognition of the Armenian genocide, Turkey continues to struggle against it.
The analyst Abraham Gasparyan says that “real politics” dominates politics today and then feelings and propaganda are long gone, and if you are on the side of “real politics” you attain success.
“Today, Turkey is an attractive state is a large market in terms of investment and military weapons, compared to what, with our resources, we can not convince the International Society of anything just for the sake of human justice. But we have the greatest advantage against Turkey – organized and stable communities in the diaspora with some political agenda. These communities replace oil; we have a powerful Armenian field abroad “Gasparian told ArmeniaNow. “It’s just 10 million of us in the fight against 90 million in the world, and we have survived for 3000 years in this region, we will continue to survive thanks to the flexibility factor and our minds against their oil “.
The Turkologist Artak Shakaryan noted that Armenia should be considered more of a brain center and the sphere of information technology is the winner of the future of Armenia ticket.
While next year is the centenary of genocide, experts state that “our struggle has a history of 50 years.”
Gasparyan said that the first Armenian Republic, formed just after the genocide, was occupied only with the protection of borders and refugee problems for two and a half years. Later, with the fact of becoming a part of the Soviet Union turned into an obstacle, even to talk about the Armenian Genocide.
“The Diaspora was formed in the aftermath of genocide could not cope with this problem in the first 50 years. She had to go through the steps of adaptation, integration and stabilization area and then only hear his voice. The 50th anniversary marked the beginning of gatherings to the international recognition of the genocide, “he said.
April 24, 1965, when the Armenian Genocide was commemorated in many countries, a large demonstration was held in Soviet Armenia too. To meet public demand the Council of Ministers of 16 May 1965 RSS decided to build a memorial to the victims of genocide and the monument was completed in 1967 on Tsitsernakaberd overlooking Yerevan.
Shakaryan told ArmeniaNow that this new pressure around the Armenian question was introduced on the political agenda in the international arena by the actions of ASALA -. Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia Act of 1975 to 1997 lot later, the Republic of Armenia was presented as an independent nation-state.
In 2011 the Armenian diaspora and Armenia have joined forces for a common goal in the circles of the Commission marks century of genocide.
Shakaryan noted that the centenary is an opportunity to reassess the past, and on April 24 – a day for the rebirth and from which it acquires energy.
“We put too much emphasis on the recognition when we have to talk about compensation. How come she will – land or physically? Who will decide what type of compensation is fair or unfair, how it will be distributed? These are issues we have not even thought of and the greatest fears of the Turks are hidden there “Shakaryan said.
Turkey specialist at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia, Levon Hovsepian said that since 2000, the issue of the Armenian genocide in Turkey is considered a matter of national security because they understand well as the recognition and condemnation of the crime shall be punished respectively, and the punishment is the issue of compensation.
“The Commission is already preparing legal arrangements whose work is shared by foreign and Armenian specialists in international law, the compensation that can be awarded to Armenia by international courts and how problems related to genocide – property assets – will be resolved, “said Hovsepian.
Abraham Gasparyan says that because of Armenian lobbying, we need to achieve the inclusion of materials related to the genocide in the programs of foreign educational institutions, as was the case in the U.S. state of California.
“The second step is a work of public relations – an abundant literature on this subject in Turkish, better use of platforms social networks, organization of mobile entertainment in the most famous galleries in the world, working with the Turkish company . Armenia should become the arena for progressive Turkish intelligentsia “Gasparian said.
Hovsepian, meanwhile, says that Turkey has moved to a “soft denial” because the international community does not understand his strict refusal.
In December 2008, about 200 Turkish intellectuals have organized an online event “Armenians, forgive us” and only within 10 days 30,000 people have joined. Two years later, before April 24, 70 Turkish intellectuals share a message with the title “This pain is our pain, this pain is everyone” calling their countrymen to gather in Taksim Square on the night of 24 April. This year, a platform dedicated to arméniein genocide in Turkey will organize various events on April 24.
On April 10 the Foreign Affairs Committee of the U.S. Senate agreed to the resolution Res 410 on the Armenian Genocide asking the Senate to join them and ensuring that the foreign policy of the United States reflects the position of the Senate. The resolution also stated that genocide is still unpunished. Earlier in his telephone conversation with Secretary of State John Kerry Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu in Ankara expressed dissatisfaction on the passage of the bill on the events of 1915 in the discussion of the Senate and also the acceptance by the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Senate resolution. According to Davutoglu, the Turkish government will take action against organizations that “disturb” Turkey. He also expressed the hope that the resolution will be blocked in the Senate and the House of Representatives.
Hovsepian, given geopolitical developments and Turkish-US relations says “I do not think that today the United States will worsen their relations with Turkey, and with it the loss of an ally like Turkey and it is a process with the ultimate result that the interests and concerns of a rational country are at stake. ”
And is it vital is the word “genocide” is delivered by U.S. President Barack Obama on April 24?
Shakaryan said: “Our nation, since the time Avarayr like moral victories. Obama saying the word genocide is simply a moral victory for us with it, we will show the world that the leader of the most powerful country in the world expresses this word as a political position. Among U.S. presidents Ronald Ragan had spoken before, but it did not change anything. ”
The first country to recognize the Armenian Genocide was Uruguay in 1965, since then more than 20 countries have followed suit.
Gayane Mkrtchyan by
ArmeniaNow
Erdoğan’s condolences from Turkish point
MUSTAFA AYDIN
muaydin@gmail.com
The prime minister of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, released a surprising statement on April 23 about the deaths surrounding the mass deportation of Armenians during World War I. The responses so far range from warm welcomes to outright rejections of the message. It clearly achieved its intended purpose: It received attention. Discussion has focused on whether it constitutes a serious shift in Turkish policy or an attempt at hedging towards the expected reactions in 2015.
There could be no doubt about the short term intention of the government, as the carefully constructed message was translated into nine languages and circulated into international press on the eve of yet another “genocide resolution” at the U.S. Congress. It has been a routine for Turkish diplomacy for years to stop draft resolutions at the U.S. Congress and prevent the U.S. president from using the G-word in his remembrance of the 1915 events. The same has happened exactly this year: A group of Congressmen presented a draft resolution to the Senate on April 3. The administration did not like it and the President used his now routine wording, “Meds Yeghern,” meaning great calamity, in referring to what happened to Anatolian Armenians in the last years of the Ottoman Empire. Both Armenians and Turks were not happy, but content, about his choice of words. “Nothing new,” one might say.
Moreover, the long-term expectations from and the consequences of the statement are still vague. Thus one might easily question the sincerity of the change in Erdoğan’s discourse, especially when the memory of the failure of the latest attempt at Turkish-Armenian reconciliation and Erdoğan’s role in it are still fresh.
Yet, I believe Prime Minister Erdoğan’s latest statement should be taken more seriously. Especially when taken into consideration together with an analysis that includes where Turkey is coming from and how much has changed both in Turkish society and its official policy line. Besides the public remembrance of the “shared pains” in Turkey in recent years, as well as other initiatives to show more compassion toward Armenian suffering, the Turkish government’s previous attempts at secret, but direct talks with Armenian diplomats, the restoration of several ancient Armenian churches in Anatolia and finally, football diplomacy, leading to the preparation of two protocols to normalize the relationship between Armenia and Turkey are important indications.
What is more, whatever his intentions were, it should be acknowledged that Prime Minister Erdoğan became the first Turkish leader to offer “condolences to the grandchildren of the Armenians who lost their lives a century ago.” It is an important step, especially when read together with Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu’s description of the 1915 events as a “mistake” during his visit to Armenia. Thus, recognizing the value of the statement, the U.S. has welcomed it and encouraged further efforts from the Turkish side.
Obviously, the latest gesture needs to be supported by concrete policies, such as building diplomatic ties and opening the borders. Otherwise it could remain an empty shell and would cause further disappointment among Armenians. Yet, whether Erdoğan, and thus Turkey, has an ulterior motive in expressing condolences is immaterial. The statement can easily be perceived as a tactical move to forestall the 2015 reactions. But, even if we assume that this is true, it is not that important; since in international relations, there are very few countries without ulterior motives. What is more important is the result. That is what everybody, including the Armenians, should focus on.
If we can all do that, and look into the last years of the Ottoman Empire from the perspective of “shared pains,” instead of a zero-sum-game approach, then it means that we are already on the right track.
May/01/2014
Orange County, CA. Tribute: In memory of the 99th Armenian genocide
Armenian Youth Message to the Turkish Government,
Our April 24th Oath
“We renew our commitment to fight for justice every day until we achieve recognition of the Armenian Genocide , reparations,and the return of Historic Armenia so that one day we 
can all relocate to our ancestral homelands in Kars, Ardahan, Trabizon, Erzinga, Erzeroum( Garin), Van, Bitlis, (Baghesh)’ Mush, Sassoun, Dikranagerd, Kharpert, Sepasdia, Ourfa, Marash, Aintab, Cilicia, Nakhichevan, Javakhk, Artsakh…..”
Armenian Genocide Commemorated in Argentinean National Congress
BUENOS AIRES (Agencia Prensa Armenia)—A public recognition was held on Tuesday, April 29, in the Argentinean National Congress to National Law 26.199, a law that establishes every April 24 as “Action Day for Tolerance and Respect between People” in commemoration of the Armenian Genocide.
The event, organized by the Armenian National Committee of South America (CNA), was attended by Deputy Cristina Ziebart, Deputy Carlos Raimundi, Senator Ruben Giustiniani, and Deputy Secretary for Educational Equity and Quality of the Education Ministry, Gabriel Brener, along with Director of the National Institute Against Discrimination, Xenophobia and Racism Pedro Mouratian, renowned Turkish publisher and human rights activist Ragip Zarakolu, and Armenian Ambassador to Argentina Vahagn Melikian.
Dr. Hugo Kuyumdjian, representing the CNA, opened the event saying that Law 26.199 “is the result of successive parliamentary statements and resolutions at national and provincial level, along with the public recognition in 1987 of President Raul Alfonsin.”
However, he warned that “all these advances that we assume that are consolidated, encounter daily obstructions from the Turkish lobby, and more recently the presence of the Azerbaijani lobby, two countries that are operating together … to keep alive the idea of ethnic cleansing towards the Armenians, considering not only the struggle for recognition of the Armenian Genocide, but the existence of Armenia an obstacle to their interests; something that translates into everyday attempts to influence academics, educational, political and media spheres, presenting a false version of history.”
Kuyumdjian then referred to the statement by the Prime Minister of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the day before the commemoration of the 99th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, explaining that “although some media reports described it as historic, the Turkish government has always denied that the massacres occurred and often blamed the Armenians themselves to be responsible for their own genocide.”
“The proposal to establish a joint committee composed of Turkish and Armenian historians to study what happened, is an idea used for years by Turkey to deny genocide, attempting to present two opposing views on the subject, something that we know from Argentina as the ‘theory of the two demons’, where there are two opposing sides and not a victim and a victimizer,” added Kuyumdjian, referring to the last military dictatorship of Argentina.
Deputy of Nuevo Encuentro Party Carlos Raimundi said that in international relations you “must look out for different interests,” but that “there are some key points that cannot be subjected to pressure or any kind of consideration.” Referring to Law 26.199, he highlighted the example and the plurality of the parties that approved it and said: “when a historical event that affected the human condition is at stake, there is no possible negotiation,” in relation to Turkish pressures.
Senator for the Province of Santa Fe Ruben Giustiniani recalled and repudiated the 1915-1923 events, mentioning that “each genocide anniversary should be an occasion to think about how much progress has been made and what still remains to memory and justice.”
“The memory of the people and their historical consciousness are the roots for a future of peace,” he added.
Deputy Secretary Gabriel Brener stressed the importance of education as “construction of otherness” and that “we live in times marked by the figure of the other as a threat, and that is also the prelude to the negation of the other.” Similarly, he noted that the processes of silence and denial are another form of violence.
Finally, Deputy of Frente para la Victoria Party Cristina Ziebart spoke about the “commitment to remember what happened in the past,” to “learn from the experiences and not repeat past mistakes.”
“This is not only to commemorate the genocide, we must also make a commitment to continuously review the indicators of all forms of intolerance,” she said.
Turkey: The little son of Djemal Pasha, Djemal Hassan in the list of “100 heroes Press” Reporters Without Borders
He apologized to Armenians before the Armenian Genocide Memorial in Yerevan
Hassan Djemal, columnist Turkish site T24 and grand-son of Djemal Pasha, one of the executors of the Armenian Genocide, included in the 2014 list of “100 heroes Press” established by the Association of Reporters Without Borders (RSF ). According to them, when Hassan Djemal was editor and columnist for the Turkish newspaper Milliyet, he was the target of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. In addition in 2012 the book Hassan Djemal on the Armenian genocide was one of the bestsellers in Turkey. Recall that Hassan Djemal went in 2008 in Armenia, the Armenian Genocide memorial in Yerevan and apologized to Armenians for the genocide committed by Turkey in 1915. He dedicated his book “1915 Armenian Genocide” on memory of Hrant Dink.
Krikor Amirzayan
Armenians Should Thank Erdogan for… NOT Recognizing the Genocide
BY HARUT SASSOUNIAN
Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan’s statement on the ‘events of 1915’ released in nine languages last week was a major propaganda coup for Turkey, generating worldwide publicity. The announcement was so cleverly crafted that it fooled many 
in the international community — and regrettably, some Armenians — into believing that he came close to recognizing the Armenian Genocide or at least took ‘an historic’ step in the right direction.
In reality, Erdogan’s statement was nothing more than rephrased denial or old wine in a new bottle. Carefully avoiding the term ‘Armenian Genocide,” he conveniently borrowed Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu’s deceptive terminology of ‘shared pain’ and ‘just memory,’ words that sound conciliatory, but actually equate the murderers with the victims. The Turkish Prime Minister’s reference to millions of Turks and others who also died during World War I is an insult to the memory of the 1.5 million victims of the Armenian Genocide. Millions of Germans also perished in World War II, but no one in their right mind and good conscience would equate their deaths with the extermination of six million Jews!
Erdogan’s call for a “joint historical commission to study the events of 1915” is another worn out and shrewd delay tactic. If Turkish officials are sincere in wanting to learn the facts of the Armenian Genocide, all they have to do is review the extensive documentation available in their own archives as well as studies conducted by countless historians and genocide scholars around the world. Why did the Turkish government wait for almost 100 years to show an interest in researching this topic? Why are some of the most sensitive Ottoman archives still kept under lock and key, not to mention those that were shredded long ago?
I have written many times for several years that:
1. Despite Turkish denials, the Armenian Genocide is a recognized fact by the international community and there is no need to wait for Pres. Obama, Prime Minister Erdogan or anyone else to acknowledge it.
2. Genocide recognition cannot right the wrongs committed by uprooting and decimating the Armenian people. A more appropriate objective would be to seek justice through legal channels, demanding restitution, both financial and territorial.
3. The Turkish offer for ‘reconciliation’ is nothing but a sinister ploy to bury the past with a meaningless acknowledgment and apology. True reconciliation is achieved by undoing the enormous damage inflicted on the Armenian nation.
It is imperative that Armenians remain vigilant and not be deceived by fake Turkish offers of reconciliation. Between now and April 24, 2015, the Turkish government will probably announce many more publicity stunts to win over the sympathy of the international community and minimize the damage to Turkey’s already tarnished reputation by accusations of genocide.
One such Turkish plan is Davutoglu’s cynical statement that the Armenian Diaspora is also Turkey’s Diaspora! There have been media reports that the Turkish government is preparing to grant citizenship to the descendants of former Ottoman subjects, including Armenians. Surprisingly, some naïve Armenians are fooled into thinking that this is a positive step! Just imagine settling in one of the towns of Turkish-occupied Western Armenia or Cilicia as a citizen of Turkey, and having your sons drafted into the Turkish military to ‘defend the Turkish nation’ and take part in the invasion of Kessab or Aleppo or even Armenia! How about being jailed, under article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code, because you made the mistake of speaking about the Armenian Genocide to one of your Turkish neighbors!
Erdogan’s real intent in issuing his April 23, 2014 statement is to undermine the worldwide Armenian efforts to seek justice as they prepare for the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide.
The fact that the State Department and some European officials reacted positively to Erdogan’s statement is an indication that this was a coordinated attempt to provide cover for the Obama administration and European countries not to deal with the Armenian demands on the genocide issue, using the excuse that Turkey’s leaders are in the process of reconciling with Armenians.
Armenians should resist the pressures by third parties to abandon the pursuit of their historic claims. The views of the US government or the EU on Armenian demands from Turkey should be irrelevant. Armenians should be the masters of their own fate and not allow other nations to dictate what is acceptable or unacceptable to them in the pursuit of their national interest.
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