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Were Erdogan and Obama False-Flag Military coup to fool Putin and invade Syria?

September 1, 2016 By administrator

syria mapBy Prof Michel Chossudovsky,

Global Research, August 29, 2016

In mid-July, President Erdogan pointed his finger at the CIA, accusing US intelligence of having supported a failed coup directed against his government. Turkish officials pointed to a deterioration of US-Turkey relations following Washington’s refusal to extradite Fethullah Gülen, the alleged architect of the failed coup.

Erdogan’s Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag was categorical:

“If the US does not deliver (Gulen), they will sacrifice relations with Turkey for the sake of a terrorist” 

Public opinion was led to believe that relations with the US had not only deteriorated, but that Erdogan had vowed to restore “an axis of friendship” with Moscow, including “cooperation in the defence sector”. This was a hoax.

Turkey’s Invasion of Syria

The implementation of the Turkish invasion required routine consultations with the US and NATO, coordination of military logistics, intelligence, communications systems, coordination of ground and air operations, etc. To be effectively carried out these military endeavors required a cohesive and “friendly” US-Turkey relationship.

We are not dealing with a piecemeal military initiative. Turkey’s Operation Euphrates Shield could not have taken place without the active support of the Pentagon, which ultimately calls the shots in the war on Syria.

The likely scenario is that from mid July to mid-August US, NATO and Turkish officials were actively involved in planning the next stage of the war on Syria: an (illegal) invasion led by Turkish ground-forces, backed by the US and NATO.

The Failed Coup Sets the Stage for a Ground Invasion

1. Massive purges within the armed forces and government were implemented in the immediate wake of the July coup. They had been planned well in advance.  ”Arrested immediately were 2,839 army personnel with 2,745 Judges and Prosecutors ordered detained… In under a week 60,000 people had been fired or detained and 2,300 institutions closed” … “   (See Felicity Arbuthnot, Global Research, August 2, 2016)

2.The coup was intended to fail. Erdogan had advanced knowledge of the coup and so did Washington. There was no conspiracy directed by the CIA against Erdogan. Quite the opposite, the failed coup was in all likelihood engineered by the CIA in liaison with Erdogan. It was intended to consolidate and reinforce the Erdogan regime as well as rally the Turkish people behind their president and his military agenda “in the name of democracy”.

3. The purges within the Armed Forces were intended to get rid of members of the military hierarchy who were opposed to an invasion of Syria. Did the CIA assist Erdogan in establishing the lists of military officers, judges and senior government officials to be arrested or fired? The Turkish media was also targeted, many of which were closed down.

4. Erdogan used the July 15 coup to accuse Washington of supporting the Gulen movement while seeking a fake rapprochement with Moscow. He flew to St Petersburg on August 9, for a behind closed doors meeting with President Putin. In all likelihood, the scenario of a rift between Ankara and Washington coupled with the “my friend Putin” narrative had been approved by the Obama administration. It was part of a carefully designed intelligence ploy coupled with media disinformation. President Erdogan, vowed according to Western media reports: “to restore an ‘axis of friendship’ between Ankara and Moscow amid a growing rift between Turkey and the West.”

5. While “mending the fence” with Russia, Turkey’s military and intelligence apparatus was involved in planning the invasion of Northern Syria in liaison with Washington and NATO headquarters in Brussels. The underlying objective is to ultimately confront and weaken Syria’s military allies: Russia, Iran and Hezbollah.

In St Petersburg in the immediate wake of the July 15 failed coup, Erdogan thanked his “dear friend” Vladimir Putin.

“The fact Mr Putin called me the next day after the coup attempt was a very strong psychological factor,” he said at a joint press conference.  “The axis of friendship between Moscow and Ankara will be restored,” he said. Telegraph, August 7, 2016

Did Putin know that the failed coup, covertly supported by the CIA, was meant to fail? One suspects that Russian intelligence was aware of the ploy and was also informed regarding Turkey’s invasion plans:

“Your visit today, despite a very difficult situation regarding domestic politics, indicates that we all want to restart dialogue and restore relations between Russia and Turkey,” Mr Putin said as the pair met in the city’s Constantine Palace.

… Mr Putin on Tuesday said Russia would “step by step” lift sanctions, … Mr Erdogan in turn promised to back major Russian energy projects in Turkey, including the construction of the country’s first nuclear power station and a gas pipeline to Europe.

He also said the two countries would step up “cooperation in the defence sector,” but did not elaborate.

The Putin-Erdogan Saint Petersburg meeting was interpreted by the media as a rapprochement with Moscow in response to the alleged involvement of the CIA in the failed coup.

According to the Washington Post, an improvised about-turn in US-NATO-Turkey relations had occurred despite Erdogan’s “friendly” encounter with Putin:

NATO went out of its way Wednesday to insist that Turkey — whose president this week visited Moscow and promised a new level of cooperation with the man he repeatedly called his “dear friend,” Russian President Vladi­mir Putin — remains a “valued ally” whose alliance membership “is not in question.”

In a statement posted on its website, NATO said it was responding to “speculative press reports regarding NATO’s stance regarding the failed coup in Turkey and Turkey’s NATO membership.”

A nonsensical report. In actuality, the Pentagon, NATO, the Turkish High Command and Israel are in permanent liaison. Israel is a de facto member of NATO, it has a comprehensive bilateral military and intelligence relationship with Turkey.

With the invasion of  the border area of Northern Syria and the influx of Turkish tanks and armoured vehicles,  the Turkey-Russia relationship is in crisis. And that is the ultimate objective of US foreign policy.

Russian forces are acting on behalf of their Syrian ally.

How will the Kremlin and Russia’s High Command respond to what constitutes a US-Turkey-NATO ground invasion of Syria?

How will they confront Turkish and allied forces? One assumes that Russia will avoid direct military confrontation.

After the US, Turkey is NATO’s heavy weight.

Sofar the Turkish op is limited to a small border territory. Nonetheless it constitutes and important landmark in the evolution of the Syria war: invasion of a sovereign country in derogation of international law. Washington’s endgame remains “regime change” in Damascus.

Is the military initiative a preamble for a larger military undertaking on the part of Turkey supported by US-NATO? In many regards, Turkey is acting as a US proxy:

Turkey’s incursion was backed by US air-cover, drones, and embedded special forces per the WSJ. These were there largely to prevent Russia and Syria from even thinking about taking action against the invading forces.

Turkey is moving into Syria not just with its own military, but with thousands of “rebel opposition groups” including US-backed FSA brigades allied with AlQaeda/Nusra/Sham and the child head-chopping al-Zinki who are reported to form the vanguard. Syrian territory is outright being turned over to them by the Turkish military, simply exchanging control from one group of terrorist jihadis (ISIS) to others who are more media acceptable and more direct proxies of the Erdogan regime, the U.S., Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

That said, ISIS has not resisted the Turkish advance at all – simply “melting away” (or exchanging one set of uniforms for another?). (Moon  of Alabama

Do the SAA Syrian forces have the military capabilities of confronting Turkish ground forces without Russian and Iranian support? How will Tehran react to  the influx of Turkish forces? Will it come to the rescue of its Syrian ally?

An “incident” could be used as a pretext to justify a broader NATO-led war. Article 5 of the Washington Treaty (NATO’s founding document) states under the doctrine of “collective security” that an attack against one member state of the Atlantic Alliance (e.g. Turkey) is an attack against all members states of the Atlantic Alliance.

Dangerous crossroads. With the incursion of Turkish ground forces, military confrontation with Syria’s allies, namely Iran and Russia, is a distinct possibility which could lead to a  process of escalation beyond Syria’s borders.

The Erdogan-Jo Biden Meeting 

From Washington’s perspective, this ground invasion sets the stage for a possible annexation of part of Northern Syria by Turkey. It also opens the door for the deployment of US-NATO ground force operations directed against central and southern Syria.

Erdogan met up with Vice President Biden on August 23, following the influx of Turkish tanks into Northern Syria. The invasion is carefully coordinated with the US which provided extensive air force protection. There is no rift between Ankara and Washington, quite the opposite:

It [is] difficult to believe that Turkey truly suspected the US of an attempted decapitation of the nation’s senior leadership in a violent, abortive coup just last month, only to be conducting joint operations with the US inside Syria with US military forces still based within Turkish territory.

What is much more likely is that the coup was staged to feign a US-Turkish fallout, draw in Russia and allow Turkey to make sweeping purges of any elements within the Turkish armed forces that might oppose a cross-border foray into Syria, a foray that is now unfolding.  (See The New Atlas, Global Research, August 24, 2016)

Media reports convey the illusion that the Biden-Erdogan meetings were called to discuss the extradition of the alleged architect of the failed coup Gulen. This was a smokescreen. Jo Biden who had also met Erdogan back in January, gave the green-light on behalf of Washington for a joint US-Turkey-NATO military incursion into Syria.

The Kurdish Question

The invasion is not directed against Daesh (ISIS) which is protected by Ankara, it is geared towards fighting SAA forces as well as Kurdish YPG forces, which are “officially” supported by the US. The US supported ISIS-Daesh and Al Qaeda affiliated rebels are working hand in glove with the Turkish invaders.

The invasion is also part of a longstanding project by Turkey of creating a “safe-haven” within Northern Syria (see map above) which can be used to extend US-NATO-Turkey military operations Southwards into Syria’s heartland.

Washington has warned its Kurdish allies not to confront Turkish forces:

Biden said the Kurds, who Turkey claims intend to establish a separate state along a border corridor in conjunction with Turkey’s own Kurdish population, “cannot, will not, and under no circumstances will get American support if they do not keep” what he said was a commitment to return to the east.

Washington will no doubt eventually clash with Ankara with regard to Turkey’s project of territorial expansion in Northern Syria. Washington’s longstanding objective is to create a Kurdish State in Northern Syria, within the framework of a territorial breakup of both Syria and Iraq. (see US National War Academy map below). In a bitter irony, this “New Middle East” project also consists in annexing part of Turkey to the proposed Kurdish State. In other words, Turkey’s  New Ottoman objective of territorial expansion  encroaches upon Washington’s design to fragment Iraq, Syria, Iran  as well as Turkey. In other words, America’s ultimate imperial design is to weaken Turkey as a regional power.

The Pentagon has defined a military roadmap: “The road to Tehran goes through Damascus.” The invasion of Northern Syria creates conditions for a broader war.

Moreover, on the US agenda is a longstanding objective, namely  to wage war on Iran. In this regard, US military strategy largely consists in creating conditions  for America’s staunchest allies (Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Israel) to confront Iran, and act indirectly on behalf of US interests. i.e. “do the job for us”.

Source: http://www.globalresearch.ca/us-nato-turkey-invasion-of-northern-syria-cia-failed-turkey-coup-lays-groundwork-for-broader-middle-east-war/5542921

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: coup, Erdogan, Obama, Syria, Turkey

Breaking News: President Obama urged Republicans to withdraw their backing for Donald Trump, calling him “unfit to serve as president”

August 2, 2016 By administrator

obama-trumpTuesday, August 2, 2016 11:56 AM EDT
In his strongest denouncement of Donald J. Trump so far, President Obama on Tuesday said the Republican criticisms of Mr. Trump “ring hollow” if the party’s leaders continue to support his bid for the presidency this fall, particularly in light of Republican criticisms of Mr. Trump for his attacks on the Muslim parents of an American soldier, Humayun Khan, who died in Iraq.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/03/us/politics/president-obama-donald-trump.html?emc=edit_na_20160802&nlid=49769097&ref=headline&_r=0

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Election, Obama, Trump

Erdogan Launches Offensive Against Trump, praise Barack Obama says who “is on the side of Muslims”,

June 26, 2016 By administrator

erdogan 1Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for the immediate removal of the ‘Trump’ name from the Trump Towers Istanbul.

The Turkish leader made this announcement during an evening event hosted by the Industry and Business Association, according to Yeni Safak newspaper.

Erdogan “[Trump] has no tolerance for Muslims living in the US. And on top of that they used a brand in [Istanbul] with his name. The ones who put that brand on their building should immediately remove it,” Erdogan said, the Turkish Sun reports.

Trump Towers Istanbul was opened in 2012 by Turkish tycoon Aydın Doğan who paid Trump in order to use the brand name.

It should be noted that the then-Prime Minister Erdogan was one of the dignitaries attending the towers’ opening ceremony, 

During his speech, the Turkish president also accused the European Union of Islamophobia

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Erdogan, Islam, Obama, Trump

Germany recognizes Armenian Genocide, renewing calls for U.S. to do the same — and for Obama to fulfill his promise

June 2, 2016 By administrator

Genocide denier(salon.com) US Armenian group blasted Obama admin. as “leading international enabler of [Turkey’s] campaign of genocide denial”
By BEN NORTON,

Germany’s parliament, the Bundestag, made history on Thursday by voting in a landslide to officially recognize the Armenian Genocide.

The historic decision renewed calls for the U.S., which has long remained silent on the issue, to do the same. On the eve of entering the White House more than seven years ago, Obama promised to recognize the genocide, yet has failed to do so.

In response to Germany’s recognition, an Armenian American advocacy group blasted the Obama administration for its silence, dubbing it the “leading international enabler of [Turkey’s] campaign of genocide denial.”

April 2015 marked the 100th anniversary of the beginning of the Armenian Genocide, a campaign of systematic killing and ethnic cleansing of the Armenian minority population of the Ottoman Empire, in modern-day Turkey.

Historians estimate between 1 million and 1.5 million Armenians were killed in the genocide, out of a previous population of just 1.7 million to 2.3 million. Some scholars say the number of Armenians who survived the genocide may have been as low as 100,000.

There is essentially no disagreement among experts that there was a genocide of Armenians Genocide and that it was premeditated and intentional.

The term “genocide” itself was in fact coined by Holocaust survivor and lawyer Raphael Lemkin to refer to not just the crimes of the Nazis, but also those of the Turks in World War I.

Today, however, the Turkish government continues to deny that the atrocities that took place constitute a genocide. It downplays the severity of the crimes and claims they were an unfortunate product of World War I.

Within hours of the Bundestag’s historic vote on Thursday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan withdrew his country’s ambassador in Germany back to Ankara.

Turkey’s ruling right-wing AKP party subsequently issued a joint statement condemning the vote, calling it a “decision which is against history,” and insisting it “will no doubt have an impact on German-Turkish relations and will damage bridges of friendship between the two countries.”

Germany was an ally of the Ottoman Empire in World War I, while the U.S. was an enemy. Yet, more than a century later, the U.S. government continues to let politics trump history. It continues to refuse to recognize the Armenian Genocide, in order to avoid alienating its close ally Turkey, which is a NATO member.

The Armenian National Committee of America condemned the Obama administration in a statement on Thursday for its continued unwillingness to take action.

Germany’s historical decision “shines a global spotlight on U.S. President Obama’s continued complicity in Turkey’s denial of this still unpunished crime,” the group said.

The Armenian National Committee of America noted that the Bundestag’s vote is “made all the more powerful by its honest reckoning with Germany’s own role in this still unpunished crime,” adding that it “further isolates Turkey, while shining a global spotlight on the Obama Administration as the leading international enabler of Ankara’s campaign of genocide denial.”

Filed Under: Articles, Genocide Tagged With: deniers, Erdogan, Genocide, Obama

Erdogan and Obama turn two christian country back into cold war

May 23, 2016 By administrator

how we destroy christian Russia?

how we destroy christian Russia?

Russia is alarmed at NATO’s continuing expansion in Eastern Europe and the Baltics, the Kremlin’s spokesman has said, adding that Moscow will act to safeguard its interests and security but will do this in a “predictable and systematic way.”

NATO-Russia relations are “quickly rolling back” to that of the Cold War era because of outdated NATO rhetoric, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

The Cold War rhetoric is embedded so deep within the alliance that “we were mistaken in thinking it was a thing of the past,” he added.

“NATO is a product of the time of confrontation. It is an instrument created for confrontation. What contribution it can make to ensuring European stability and security is disputable,” Peskov told journalists on Monday.

“We are still alarmed over the expansion of NATO presence and the bloc’s ongoing enlargement towards our borders. This is a source of concern for Moscow and is the reason for a series of predictable, systematic and consecutive steps which Moscow is taking to safeguard its security interests under the current circumstances,” Peskov said.

The statement from the Kremlin spokesman comes after the head of NATO said that the alliance is ready to repel aggression against one of its members in Eastern Europe.

“The signal of having a multinational presence sends a very clear signal… that an attack on one ally would be an attack on the whole alliance,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters on May 21.

“I strongly believe that those in Moscow understand that in the long run they will gain more from cooperating with NATO and the European Union and the West than confronting us,” Stoltenberg said, adding that the alliance’s approach to Russia strikes “a balance between military strength, determination, deterrence and political dialogue.”

“We have tripled the size of the NATO Response Force and we have created a new High Readiness Force and now we are moving forward with increased forward presence in the eastern part of the alliance,” he said.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Cold War, Erdogan, Obama

Ruben Vardanyan: What Obama says about my people is not that important to me

April 25, 2016 By administrator

default200YEREVAN. – The issue on the Armenian Genocide is the problem of the Turkish nation: They will have problems as long as they keep denying it, founder of IDeA foundation, benefactor and entrepreneur Ruben Vardanyan, who is also the co-founder of the 100 LIVES initiative, said at the press-conference Sunday.

Touching on the issue that the U.S. President Barack Obama promised but never uttered the word “genocide”, he said: “It’s not that important for me what Obama says about my nation. We say that we are strong, we are alive but we will never forget. We know that the annihilation of the families of my grandmother and grandfather was a genocide. I don’t care who says what”.

Vardanyan also stressed that this is not the issue of the U.S. and it has no double standards on the international platform. “The situation for the Turks is very tough, since the denial of the Armenian Genocide deprives them of the opportunity to move forward,” he added.

Filed Under: Articles, Genocide Tagged With: Obama, Ruben Vardanyan

New York Time: Despite Campaign Vow, Obama Declines to Call Massacre of Armenians ‘Genocide’

April 24, 2016 By administrator

Erdogan-obama-silenced(nytimes.com) WASHINGTON — President Obama declined on Friday to refer to the 1915 massacre of Armenians as genocide, breaking a campaign promise as his presidency nears its end.

Mr. Obama, in a statement to mark Armenian Remembrance Day on April 24, called the massacre the first mass atrocity of the 20th century and a tragedy that must not be repeated. Yet he stopped short of using the word genocide, a term he applied to the killings before he became president in 2009.

“I have consistently stated my own view of what occurred in 1915, and my view has not changed,” Mr. Obama said.

Armenian-American leaders have urged Mr. Obama each year to keep a pledge he made as a presidential candidate in 2008, when he said the United States government had a responsibility to recognize the attacks as genocide and vowed to do so if elected. Mr. Obama’s failure to fulfill that pledge in his final annual statement on the massacre infuriated advocates and lawmakers who accused the president of outsourcing America’s moral voice to Turkey, which staunchly opposes the genocide label.

“It’s a Turkish government veto over U.S. policy on the Armenian genocide,” Aram Hamparian, head of the Armenian National Committee of America, said in an interview. Referring to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, Mr. Hamparian said “it’s like Erdogan imposing a gag rule very publicly and an American president enforcing that gag rule.”

Historians estimate that as many as 1.5 million Armenians were killed by Ottoman Turks in an episode widely viewed by scholars as genocide. Turkey, a United States partner and NATO ally, denies that the killings constituted genocide and says the death toll has been inflated.

How #Turkish Dictator SILENCED most powerfull country in the world #USA to deny #ArmenianGenocide #Obama the coward pic.twitter.com/ggNbnbvNN3

— Wally Sarkeesian (@gagrulenet) April 24, 2016

Though Obama administration officials have debated using the genocide label in the past, this year’s deliberations come as Mr. Obama seeks Turkey’s assistance in fighting the Islamic State — especially along Turkey’s border with Syria. The United States and its European partners are also counting on Mr. Erdogan to help stem the influx of migrants to Europe.

If Mr. Obama felt pressure not to offend Turkey, he was not alone among world leaders. Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany has faced intense criticism for allowing the possible prosecution of a television satirist for reciting an intentionally offensive poem about Mr. Erdogan.

Mr. Hamparian said officials from the White House’s National Security Council and the Atrocities Prevention Board that Mr. Obama established told him on Thursday that labeling the killings as genocide would introduce uncertainty in the region during a time when Turkey is playing an important role in a number of matters. He said it was hypocritical for Mr. Obama to call every year for “a full, frank, and just acknowledgment of the facts” while refusing to acknowledge them himself. “It’s like, ‘You should do this, but I won’t,’ ” Mr. Hamparian said.

Mr. Obama’s calls for transparency about the massacre played a prominent role in his presidential campaign, held up by him as an example of the type of sorely needed straight talk about foreign affairs and historical events. Samantha Power, one of his campaign surrogates and now his United Nations ambassador, issued a roughly five-minute video imploring Armenian-Americans to vote for Mr. Obama precisely because he would follow through on his promise.

Representative Adam Schiff of California, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said he was “gravely disappointed” that Mr. Obama would leave office with the campaign pledge unfulfilled. Mr. Schiff has introduced legislation calling on the president to urge Turkey to fully acknowledge the genocide.

“Remaining silent in an effort to curry favor with Turkey is as morally indefensible as it will be ineffectual,” Mr. Schiff said.

The White House issued Mr. Obama’s annual statement on the massacre while the president was in London but declined to comment on the matter.

Filed Under: Genocide, News Tagged With: Armenians Genocide, call, declines, Massacre, Obama

ABC NEWS: OBAMA EVADES CALLING ARMENIAN MASSACRE A GENOCIDE FOR 8TH YEAR

April 22, 2016 By administrator

Edogan-Nato-Islamic

GLENDALE, Calif. (KABC) —

President Barack Obama declined to call the 1915 massacre of Armenians a genocide for the eighth consecutive year, outraging many in the Armenian community in Southern California as they prepare for Armenian Remembrance Day.

Obama issued a statement about Armenian Remembrance Day, acknowledging in part, “one and a half million Armenian people were deported, massacred, and marched to their deaths in the final days of the Ottoman empire.”

The statement was 403 words long, but was missing one key word: Genocide.

“We’re very disappointed, unfortunately not surprised,” said Nora Hovsepian with the Armenian National Committee of America.

The Armenian National Committee of America has fought for years to get the United States to label Turkey’s mass killings of Armenians in 1915 as a genocide.

Turkey claims there was never a state-organized genocide and that the number of Armenian victims has been inflated.

The U.S. has never applied the label of genocide mainly because Turkey is considered an ally in the war against terror and allows the U.S. to maintain military bases there.

But Hovsepian said that relationship is no longer vital.

“Turkey is acting like anything but an ally. It supports and facilitates ISIS, which is exactly who we are fighting against,” Hovsepian said.

The Los Angeles City Council got involved after Councilman Paul Krekorian introduced a motion on Friday directing all city offices to cancel subscriptions to the Wall Street Journal and other publications that ran a full-page advertisement denying the massacre was a genocide.

“If there’s no recognition of the genocide as a genocide, it simply opens the door to future atrocities, future crimes against humanity,” Krekorian said.

So why does the U.S. avoid using the term genocide? Many say it’s a legal term that would most certainly spark a long and costly series of problems for Turkey.

“Once you name someone a genocide perpetrator, then you have to go to the next step and that would be accountability, responsibility, reparations, etc.,” Hovsepian said.

In the meantime, Armenians will do what they have done for decades: hit the streets on April 24 and put pressure on the White House with mass demonstrations.

Filed Under: Articles, Genocide Tagged With: a survivor of the Armenian Genocide in The World, Armenian, Genocide, Obama, Turkey

Obama will break Armenian genocide promise (again)

April 22, 2016 By administrator

Obama-ErdoganFor the eighth and final time, President Obama this year will break his unambiguous 2008 campaign promise to declare that the mass killings of Armenians at the hands of Ottoman Turks in 1915 and 1916 amounted to “genocide,” a leading Armenian-American activist told Yahoo News on Thursday.

According to the U.S. Holocaust Museum, at least 664,000 and perhaps as many as 1.2 million Armenians “died in massacres, in individual killings, or as a consequence of systematic ill-treatment, exposure, starvation and disease.”

But officially designating the Ottoman Turks’ actions as “genocide” would have deeply angered Turkey, a NATO ally and a pivotal player in the coalition Obama has assembled to wage war on the Islamic State in neighboring Syria. Turkish governments have sharply disputed the figures of Armenian dead and categorically rejected the “genocide” label.

Aram Hamparian, executive director of the Armenian National Committee of America, told Yahoo News shortly after a briefing from Obama aides at the White House that the president would once again stop short of using the term “genocide” in his annual statement about the tragedy.

“We took from today’s meeting at the White House that the president will end his tenure in office as he began it, caving in to Turkish pressure and betraying his own promise to properly recognize the Armenian genocide,” Hamparian said by telephone.

Hamparian told Yahoo that Obama’s annual statement, usually issued on April 24, was not finished yet but that the officials were very clear that it would not deviate from past years in which he has shunned the term “genocide.” White House officials declined to comment.

Hamparian said this year’s decision carried a special sting because the Obama administration recently applied the “genocide” label to atrocities carried out by the Islamic State, also known as ISIS.

“There’s absolutely no excuse” to withhold the same designation in the Armenian case, he said.

As a senator, Obama supported but did not co-sponsor a 2007 resolution calling for the use of the term “genocide” when discussing the Armenian tragedy. (Hillary Clinton, then a senator, co-sponsored the measure. As secretary of state, however, she did not use the term. Aides to her presidential campaign did not return emails seeking her current position.)

And when he was running for the presidency in 2008, Obama could hardly have been clearer.

“My firmly held conviction [is] that the Armenian genocide is not an allegation, a personal opinion or a point of view, but rather a widely documented fact supported by an overwhelming body of historical evidence,” he said in a statement. “As president I will recognize the Armenian genocide.”

Once in office, however, Obama’s grip on that conviction apparently loosened, and he joined other presidents like George W. Bush in saying one thing during the campaign and another from the Oval Office.

In 2015, the 100th anniversary of the tragic events, Obama’s statement referred to “Meds Yeghern,” Armenian for “the great calamity.” He also included a reference to Raphael Lemkin, the Polish-Jewish lawyer who coined the term “genocide” during World War II.

Pope Francis referred to the same events as “the first genocide of the 20th century.” In 1981, then president Ronald Reagan referred to “the genocide of the Armenians.”

Forty-three U.S. states have recognized the Armenian genocide. Twenty-four countries and the European Parliament have done so as well.

Filed Under: Genocide, News Tagged With: armenian genocide, Break, Obama, promise, recognize

Reckless Retreat: Obama Not to Recognize Genocide in Final Term

April 21, 2016 By administrator

obama-erdogani-dinletti-iddiasi-h1451544206-2a8835

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan taps President Obama’s face

ANCA’s Hamparian: “This, sadly, is President Obama’s legacy – silence on the Armenian Genocide, complicity in Turkey’s denials, and encouragement of Azerbaijani aggression.”

WASHINGTON – White House National Security Council officials informed the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) Thursday afternoon that President Obama will refrain from properly commemorating the Armenian Genocide, as he had promised to do as a candidate, in his eighth and final “Armenian Remembrance Day” statement, set to be released in the next few days.

“It seems President Obama will end his tenure as he began it, caving in to pressure from Turkey and betraying his commitment to speak honestly about the Armenian Genocide,” said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian, who met with the officials along with Government Affairs Director Kate Nahapetian.

“President Obama’s unwillingness to reject Turkey’s gag-rule on the Armenian Genocide or otherwise confront the growing regional wave of anti-Armenian aggression – particularly at a time when both Ankara and Baku are placing targets on the backs of Armenians in Artsakh, Armenia, Turkey, the Middle East, and across our Diaspora – represents something far worse than simply a betrayal of his own promise. His reckless retreat from America’s anti-genocide commitments – under pressure from Turkey and Azerbaijan – in the face of their open incitement, outright aggression, and other classic genocide red flags – emboldens Erdogan and Aliyev to escalate their hostility, raising the very real risk of large-scale anti-Armenian atrocities. This, sadly, is President Obama’s legacy – silence on the Armenian Genocide, complicity in Turkey’s denials, and encouragement of Azerbaijani aggression,” continued Hamparian.

Prior to his election to the oval office, President Obama was clear and unequivocal in promising to properly characterize Ottoman Turkey’s murder of over 1.5 million Armenian men, women and children between 1915 and 1923 as genocide. In a January 19, 2008, statement he wrote: “The facts are undeniable. An official policy that calls on diplomats to distort the historical facts is an untenable policy. As a senator, I strongly support passage of the Armenian Genocide Resolution (H.Res.106 and S.Res.106), and as President I will recognize the Armenian Genocide.”

President Obama has broken that pledge in annual Armenian Remembrance Day statements issued on or near April 24th, the international day of commemoration of this crime.

The U.S. first recognized the Armenian Genocide in 1951 through a filing which was included in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) Report titled: “Reservations to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.” The specific reference to the Armenian Genocide appears on page 25 of the ICJ Report: “The Genocide Convention resulted from the inhuman and barbarous practices which prevailed in certain countries prior to and during World War II, when entire religious, racial and national minority groups were threatened with and subjected to deliberate extermination. The practice of genocide has occurred throughout human history. The Roman persecution of the Christians, the Turkish massacres of Armenians, the extermination of millions of Jews and Poles by the Nazis are outstanding examples of the crime of genocide.”

President Ronald Reagan reaffirmed the Armenian Genocide in 1981. The U.S. House of Representatives adopted legislation on the Armenian Genocide in 1975, 1984 and 1996.

Filed Under: Genocide, News Tagged With: armenian genocide, not, Obama, reckless retreat, recognizing

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GagruleLive with Harut Sassounian

Can activist run a Government?

Wally Sarkeesian Interview Onnik Dinkjian and son

https://youtu.be/BiI8_TJzHEM

Khachic Moradian

https://youtu.be/-NkIYpCAIII
https://youtu.be/9_Xi7FA3tGQ
https://youtu.be/Arg8gAhcIb0
https://youtu.be/zzh-WpjGltY





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