Parliament Archives

Anniversary of Dink’s Assassination to Be Marked at EU Parliament

December 30, 2014 By administrator

STRASBOURG—On Jan. 21, the 8th anniversary of the assassination of Turkish Armenian journalist and editor-in-chief of the bilingual Agos newspaper, Hrant Dink, will be commemorated at the European Parliament. report asbarez

Hrant Dink was assassinated on January 19, 2007, in broad daylight on a busy street in front of his newspaper’s office in Istanbul.

His assassination was the culmination of a decade-long campaign of harassment by the country’s authorities, by the military and by extremist groups. But it triggered an unprecedented surge of solidarity and pro-democracy activism in Turkey after more than 100,000 people attended his funeral.

Today, Dink has become an icon of the movement for civil liberties in Turkey and in Europe. His memory serves as a beacon for intellectuals, activists and the wider public to challenge prejudice and intolerant nationalism. Hrant Dink was an Armenian, in a country where Armenians have long lived in fear. He was a journalist, in a country that jails more journalists than any other country in the world. And as an advocate of peace, he was reviled by nationalists.

After his death, Dink’s family and friends established a foundation that has since continued and broadened his work in Turkey for civil liberties, for the rights of minorities and for peaceful relations with neighbors, particularly Armenia.

2015 will mark the 10th anniversary of the start of Turkey’s accession negotiations with the European Union and the centenary of the start of the Armenian Genocide. The commemoration on January 21 will provide an opportunity to invoke Hrant Dink’s intellectual and political legacy and to take stock of the situation of the movement for civil rights and tolerance in Turkey that his assassination spurred.

Turkish Parliament will hide the truth should it block the Genocide resolution

December 3, 2014 By administrator

By Harut Sassounian
Publisher, The California Courier
TheCaliforniaCourier.com

Last week, a Turkish Parliamentarian submitted a proposal to the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, seeking condemnation of the Armenian Genocide, a series of atrocities, and other acts of state terrorism.

In this document, Sebahat Tuncel, member of pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), requests that Pres. Erdogan acknowledge and apologize in Parliament for the Armenian Genocide, massacres of Dersim, Marash, Sivas, and Chorum, mass hangings after the Sept. 12, 1980 military coup, and other Crimes Against Humanity resulting from state terror.

The proposed resolution also demands that the Turkish President visit one of the sites of the mass killings, repeat his apology in public, and declare April 24 to be an official Day of Mourning. Within a year, the Parliament is to form a Truth Commission and make public all documents in state archives regarding these crimes. Moreover, moral and material restitution should be provided to descendants of the victims.

It is expected that the Turkish Parliament would reject consideration of this proposal. Most probably, Tuncel’s real intent is to raise the issue of the Armenian Genocide and other mass killings in Parliament, regardless of the outcome. The mere submission of such a resolution would create a national uproar inside the Parliament, the media, and Turkish denialist circles. Tuncel must be aware that she is running the risk of having her parliamentary immunity lifted and being prosecuted for bringing up banned subjects under Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code.

While welcoming Tuncel’s daring and bold proposal, Armenians, Turks, Kurds, and others should not forget that this would not be the first time the Turkish government has taken up the deportation and massacre of Armenians. On November 4, 1918, immediately after the collapse of the Young Turk regime and before the founding of the Republic of Turkey by Kemal Ataturk in 1923, the Ottoman Parliament considered a motion on the crimes committed by the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP): “A population of one million people guilty of nothing except belonging to the Armenian nation were massacred and exterminated, including even women and children.” The then Minister of Interior Fethi Bey responded by telling the Parliament: “It is the intention of the government to cure every single injustice done up until now, as far as the means allow, to make possible the return to their homes of those sent into exile, and to compensate for their material loss as far as possible.”

A Parliamentary Investigative Committee proceeded to collect relevant documents describing actions of those responsible for the Armenian mass killings and turned them over to the Turkish Military Tribunal. CUP’s leading figures were found guilty of massacring Armenians and hanged or given lengthy prison sentences. The Military Tribunal requested that Germany extradite to Turkey the masterminds of the massacres who had fled the country. After German refusal, they were tried in absentia and sentenced to death.

To reinforce her proposal with historical and legal precedents, Tuncel may want to submit to the Turkish Parliament a copy of the 1918 parliamentary motion and discussion on the Armenian Genocide, which was referred to at the time as “Armenian deportations and massacres.” She should also submit a copy of the guilty verdicts issued by Turkish Military Tribunals. Finally, Tuncel should remind the Parliament of the historic admission Kemal Ataturk made in an interview published in the Los Angeles Examiner on August 1, 1926: “These leftovers from the former Young Turk Party who should have been made to account for the lives of millions of our Christian subjects who were ruthlessly driven en masse from their homes and massacred.” Would any Turkish Parliamentarian dare to call the Father of Modern Turkey a liar?

Should the Turkish Parliament block Tuncel’s resolution and prevent its consideration, it would expose the Erdogan government’s fear of facing the truth and concealing the guilt of its predecessors! Regardless of the end result, this proposal is an unexpected positive development on the eve of the Armenian Genocide Centennial and provides some consolation to descendants of the victims of more recent Turkish atrocities.

The introduction of Tuncel’s proposal to the Turkish Parliament coincided with the unanimous recognition of the Armenian Genocide by Bolivia’s Senate and Parliament. Significantly, this acknowledgment was achieved on its own merits, without any Armenian lobbying efforts, which negates the standard Turkish claim that countries recognizing the Armenian Genocide do so under pressure from local Armenian communities. Hardly any Armenians live in Bolivia!

Canada: Multiple shots inside parliament, manhunt in area (Video)

October 22, 2014 By administrator

OTTAWA – A manhunt is on for armed assailants after several rounds of gunfire tore through Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Canada and other city locations. Local police stations and military bases nationwide are on lockdown as police attempt to locate the culprits.
Three separate incidents began with the shooting of a soldier at a war memorial. The assailants apparently wreaked havoc at other city locations – including the main government building. Police confirmed one on Parliament Hill, one at the war memorial, and one near a local shopping mall. “So I’m locked down in Center Block on Parliament Hill after at least one shooter burst in and opened fire,” local reporter Josh Wingrove stated. “I heard dozens of gunshots and the smell of gunpowder is heavy in the hallways right now.” Wingrove also reported seeing a motionless body inside the parliament building,

which he could not confirm to be either dead or alive. Some 30 shots were fired inside the building, an eyewitness told Reuters. The gunman was subsequently chased by police into the center block of the building. Prime Minister Stephen Harper managed to exit the building safely. Canadian Armed Forces bases across the country are in lockdown and all Ottawa Police stations are currently closed to the public as gunmen remain at large.

There are reports that more than one assailant is active in the area. “There are multiple assailants,” police reportedly told local columnist John Invision, adding “move back, they’re targeting first responders.” Ottawa Police Constable Marc Soucy told Reuters that they “are actively looking for suspects right now, so we don’t know if it is suspect one or suspects plural”. One shooter has been confirmed dead, according to senior CBC news reporter Aaron Saltzman.

Ottowa police have confirmed that two or three gunmen were involved in the incident. Associated Press Television News journalist Jorge Barrera reported that police are in possession of a photograph of the gunman, who reportedly has dark skin and long black hair. Barrera also tweeted that police have the suspect’s cellphone. There are reports that more than one assailant is active in the area. “There are multiple assailants,” police reportedly told local columnist John Invision, adding “move back, they’re targeting first responders.”