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History-genocide-Armenia-Turkey-Germany-EU The recognition of the Armenian Genocide in the world (AFP)

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history recognition of genocideAn increasing number of parliaments, mainly in Europe, like the Bundestag on Thursday passed laws or resolutions explicitly recognizing the Armenian Genocide, unlike other countries failing to pronounce the word that puts Turkey in fury.

According to the Armenian National Institute, 26 other parliaments have recognized the genocide: Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy, Lebanon, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Paraguay , Poland, Russia, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland, United States, Uruguay, Vatican, Venezuela. But these votes may take forms and have many different legal litters.

– Recognition and denial –

France was in January 2001, the first major country to recognize the Armenian genocide. The denial of the genocide is not however penalized, the Constitutional Council censored in February 2012 a law in this sense, judging contrary to freedom of expression.

In contrast to France, some countries criminalize denial of Armenian genocide like Switzerland where a revisionist was sentenced in federal court in 2007, and Cyprus by a law adopted in April 2015.

Cypriot law establishes April 24, when the first massacres in 1915, as a National Day of Remembrance in this country, where members of the Armenian minority are mostly descendants of the survivors of the “genocide”.

– Other European parliaments –

Among parliaments that have recently adopted a resolution recognizing the genocide include the Luxembourg Parliament in May 2015, and Belgium, in July of the same year. The resolution adopted by the Belgian Parliament, however, not explicitly recognizes the genocide character of the massacres and deportations of Armenians.

The European Parliament recognized the genocide in 1987.

The genocidal massacres and deportations occurred between 1915 and 1917 was recognized by the parliaments of several countries such as Russia (1994), Greece (1996), Italy (2000), the Netherlands (2004) Sweden (2010).

April 24, 2015, in full commemoration by Armenia of the 100th anniversary of the genocide, Pope Francis speaks of “first genocide of the twentieth century” about the massacre of Armenians in the most solemn part of the St. Peter’s Basilica. A first in the Vatican.

More symbolically, the Austrian MEPs observed in April 2015, a minute of silence in memory of the Armenian genocide, a first in this country formerly allied with the Ottoman Empire and that term has never been officially endorsed.

– US Hesitation –

April 20, 1965, Uruguay was the first country to recognize the Armenian Genocide. Other Latin American countries have followed such as Venezuela, Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Paraguay and Brazil.

The Canadian House of Commons has recognized the Armenian genocide in 2004.

In the US, Congress recognized the genocide with the adoption of resolutions by the House in 1975 and 1984. When he was campaigning for the White House in 2008, Barack Obama pledged to recognize the genocide, a term however, he never employed as president.

AFP

Monday, June 6, 2016,
Stéphane © armenews.com

Bundestag’s decision must be respected, Berlin tells Ankara

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blood testResolution on the Armenian Genocide was a political initiative that emerged from the midst of the Bundestag, spokesman for Angela Merkel said on Monday in response to criticism by Turkish President Erdogan.

Steffen Seibert recalled that Bundestag is a democratically elected and independent body, AFP reported.

“The Bundestag reached a sovereign decision. That must be respected,” Seibert said, adding that this was the message Merkel had given to the Turkish president.

Earlier Erdogan said the German MPs of Turkish origin who supported the resolution also backed terrorism of the Kurdish Workers’ Party. He demanded “blood tests” to see “what kind of Turks they are”.

In  response, Seibert said  although Berlin considers PKK a terrorist group, “to associate individual members of parliament with terrorism is utterly incomprehensible to us”.

What’s in it for Armenia?: Germany gains the upper hand over Turkey with Bundestag resolution

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g-Angela-Merkel-Serzh-Sargsyan-696x464By Naira Hayrumyan,

Despite the diplomatic row between Germany and Turkey caused by the Bundestag’s adoption of a resolution formally recognizing the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire and the German responsibility for this crime, Berlin and Ankara are likely to remain allies, the difference being that Germany will strengthen its positions in its future negotiations with Turkey over migrants and other issues of the European agenda.

Armenia, meanwhile, is trying to evaluate the significance of the Bundestag resolution in terms of Armenian interests. Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan thanked the Germany leadership for what he described as a historical step. The German resolution was also welcomed by Armenia’s foreign minister. However, as experts note, Armenia does not put any legal claims to Turkey and does not demand any material or territorial compensations. Therefore, some note that the adoption of such resolutions cannot have legal and political consequences for Armenia, which officially has not denounced the 1921 Russo-Turkish Treaty, under which Moscow and Ankara have defined the current borders of Armenia.

In this regard, many analysts in Armenia and in the West believe that the adoption of the resolution by the Bundestag more concerns relations between Turkey and Germany than Armenia proper. Germany, which is one of the European leaders, has complicated relations with Turkey. Europe accuses Turkey of conniving at the flow of migrants from the Middle East. Europe has signed an agreement with Turkey on the regulation of the migrant crisis, but immediately after its conclusion, the person who signed it, then Prime Minister of Turkey Ahmet Davutoglu, was dismissed. The issue of the Turkish-European agreement was called into doubt and may be revised, and by adopting the resolution on the Armenian Genocide, Germany has strengthened its positions in the future dialogue.

Western analysts also note that Turkish-EU relations may finally come to a standstill if the Kurds manage to achieve success in Syria and Iraq and declare about the establishment of Kurdistan. In this case, the treaties concluded after the First World War and the collapse of the Ottoman Empire can be revised, too. And then the Armenian issue may reemerge.

Armenian experts also believe that after the adoption of the resolution, Germany, as the current OSCE Chairman-in-Office, may try to take over the Karabakh settlement. Some even claim that Karabakh may be “compensation” for the recognition of the Armenian Genocide. However, in the meantime, Germany states that it remains committed to the format of the OSCE Minsk Group on the Karabakh settlement in which the co-chair roles are assigned to the United States, Russia and France.

It is noteworthy that immediately after the adoption of the resolution by the Bundestag, there have reemerged calls on the outgoing U.S. President Barack Obama to honor his election pledge and officially recognize the Armenian Genocide. Analysts do not rule out that whenever the United States, like Germany, considers it appropriate to put pressure on Turkey, it may also adopt such a resolution.

Germany and the Armenian genocide Name and shame, “century-old Turkish atrocity”

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economist on genocide

The past is present

Deciding what to call a century-old Turkish atrocity

| BERLIN

(economist) TURKEY considers the Ottoman Empire’s mass murder of well over a million Armenians and other Christians in 1915-17 a tragedy. But “genocide”? Armenia and many historians say it was. Turkey insists it was not—and berates any country, from France to the Vatican, that uses the word. Nonetheless, more than 20 countries have officially recognised the killings as genocide. On June 2nd it was Germany’s turn, when its Bundestag passed a resolution calling the killings “genocide” no fewer than four times.

That vote could not have come at a worse time for Angela Merkel, the German chancellor. She is the main architect of a deal reached in March between Turkey and the European Union, under which Turkey promised to take back refugees who cross to the Greek islands; in return, the EU will pay Turkey €6 billion ($6.7 billion) in aid, allow Turks to enter without visas and revive talks to accept Turkey as a member state one day. Mrs Merkel, more than any other EU leader, needed this deal: she wants an orderly and “European” solution to the refugee crisis, rather than brute border closings by individual member states.

But Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s president, clearly interpreted Mrs Merkel’s efforts as weakness. Since the deal he has pressed ahead in his quest to become an autocrat, rejecting European criticisms with threats to scupper the refugee deal and let hundreds of thousands of refugees make their way to Greece again. This has exposed Mrs Merkel to criticism in Germany that she has sold out to a dictator. Even members of her own coalition accuse her of kow-towing. Voters share the misgivings. In a poll in April, 68% opposed Turkish membership of the EU, and 79% said that Turkey “cannot be trusted”.

Some see the souring of the relationship as retribution for Mrs Merkel’s past diplomatic mistakes. She “showed zero point zero interest in Turkey until she rediscovered it in the refugee crisis”, says Cem Özdemir, a son of Turkish immigrants and co-leader of the Green Party who is also the driving force behind the genocide resolution. In 2007 Mrs Merkel, along with other European leaders, in effect slammed the door shut for Turkey’s ambitions to join the EU. At that time Mr Erdogan, then prime minister, was still claiming to modernise Turkey and bring it into line with EU norms on civil liberties. Stung by Mrs Merkel’s rejection, Mr Erdogan turned against the West and decided to become a neo-Ottoman sultan instead, thinks Joschka Fischer, a former foreign minister.

That psychology explains much of the recent German-Turkish antics. Mr Erdogan went ballistic in May after a German comedian ridiculed him (see article). An orchestra in Dresden has been performing a series of concerts called “Aghet”, Armenian for “catastrophe” (referring to the genocide). The European Commission gave the project €200,000; after Turkish protests, the commission removed advertisements for “Aghet” from its website. Many Germans are enraged that Turkey tries to muzzle free speech abroad.

Turkey will respond to the Bundestag’s resolution with its usual sound and fury. In late May, three groups in parliament, including Mr Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development (AK) party, condemned the draft as a “distortion of historical facts”. Turkey withdrew its ambassadors to Austria, Luxembourg, and the Vatican last year after similar pronouncements about the 1915 killings. Mr Erdogan has warned of a deterioration in ties with Berlin, albeit without mentioning the refugee deal.

Mr Özdemir originally meant to put the genocide resolution to a vote on April 24, 2015, the centenary of its start. Anxious to avoid provoking Turkey, Mrs Merkel kept delaying, he says, even though the new timing looks even worse. This spring Mr Özdemir pushed ahead again. The resolution is necessary to acknowledge Germany’s complicity in the genocide as the Ottoman Empire’s main ally at the time, he says. As for Turkey, he thinks, if it had dealt honestly with its past and its minorities, it might already be an EU member.

Turkey announces curfew in rural areas near southeastern Diyarbakir

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curfew diyarbakirTurkey has declared a round-the-clock curfew in rural areas near the southeastern city of Diyarbakir ahead of a planned military operation against Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) .

The curfew was announced at 10:30 am (0730 GMT) in 10 areas of Lice in Diyarbakir Province, where PKK militants, including senior operatives are believed to be active, a statement by the provincial governor’s office said Saturday.

The curfew came a day after Turkish security forces called an end to operations targeting PKK militants in the town of Nusaybin near the Syrian border and in Sirnak near the border with Iraq.

More than 1,000 people, mostly PKK militants, have been killed in three months of clashes in those areas, according to security sources.

Ankara has been engaged in a large-scale campaign against the PKK in its southern border region in the past few months. The Turkish military has been conducting offensives against the positions of the militant group in northern Iraq as well.

Turkey’s operations began in the wake of a deadly July 2015 bombing in the southern town of Suruc.

More than 30 people died in the attack, which the Turkish government blamed on the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group.

After the bombing, the PKK, which accuses the Ankara government of supporting Daesh, engaged in a series of attacks against Turkish police and security forces, prompting the Turkish military operations.

A shaky ceasefire between Ankara and the PKK that had stood since 2013 was declared null and void by the militants following the Turkish strikes against the group.

The PKK has been fighting for an autonomous Kurdish region in southeastern Turkey since 1984. The conflict has left more than 40,000 people dead.

Message to Turkey?: Russia, U.S. warn ‘external players’ against interfering in Karabakh

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lavrov-kerryU.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned “external players” against interfering in the Nagorno-Karabakh issue as they discussed the latest developments in the conflict zone in a phone conversation on Monday.
The top diplomats reiterated their governments’ appeal for an immediate cessation of hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said Lavrov and Kerry voiced “serious concern at the escalation of the confrontation” and agreed that “Russia, the United States and France, as co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, will step up their efforts to foster a resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.”

“Sergey Lavrov and John Kerry condemned attempts by certain ‘external players’ to whip up the standoff around Karabakh,” it added without elaborating.

Lavrov also spoke about forces “keen to seriously complicate the settlement process” as he gave a press conference in Moscow earlier that day. He did not give names, but many analysts in Armenia and outside interpret it as a message primarily addressed to Turkey, with which Russia has been on loggerheads since last year over the situation in Syria.

Azerbaijan and its ally Turkey have repeatedly criticized the United States, Russian and French mediators for purportedly siding with Armenia in their activities as go-betweens in the Karabakh conflict settlement.

Meanwhile, loss of life continued in the conflict zone late on Monday as the sides issued conflicting reports about the situation on the ground.
In particular, Nagorno-Karabakh’s Defense Ministry denied that Azerbaijan captured the strategically important village of Mataghis in the northeast of Karabakh.

The OSCE Minsk Group is meeting in Vienna, Austria, on April 5 to discuss the latest developments in Nagorno-Karabakh.

It also emerged on Monday that the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan will attend a meeting of Commonwealth of Independent States (former Soviet countries) foreign ministers that is scheduled to be held in Moscow, Russia, on April 8. It is not yet clear whether the top diplomats plan a separate meeting to discuss the latest upsurge in violence in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone.

Analyst: 4-5 million Zazas in Turkey are very important for Armenia

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YEREVAN. – The existence of four to five million Zaza people in Turkey, and with whom Armenians have very friendly relations, is very important for Armenia.

Ambassador Ara Papyan, Modus Vivendi Center Director and political scientist, told the aforesaid to reporters, within the framework of Saturday’s second international conference—in Armenia’s capital city of Yerevan—on Zaza Studies.

In his words, the Zaza people live in Central Anatolia, their population is four to five million, and they are primarily Alevi, in terms of religion.

“Classical Oriental Studies considers Alevism to be a part Shia Islam, but they [i.e. the Zazas] don’t consider themselves adherents of Islam; the Sunni [Muslims] likewise don’t consider them Muslims,” stressed Papyan. “This is very important for Armenia; first of all, from the viewpoint of security. We [i.e. Armenians] don’t have good relations specifically with Turkey, where the majority of the Zaza people live; and it’s important for us is that there are a 4-5-million [strong] people in Turkey with whom we have friendly relations.”

He added that the Zazas are very well disposed towards Armenians, and that they had saved many Armenians in the years of the genocide.

Ara Papyan added that Armenia is a leading country in Zaza Studies, a branch of Iranian Studies.

Bomb blast hits Turkish military vehicle in Diyarbakir injuring eight soldiers.

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bomb blastA bomb explosion hit a Turkish military vehicle in Diyarbakir Friday, injuring eight soldiers.

Diyarbakir Provincial Governor’s Office said in a statement that members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) had planted the bomb on the road linking Diyarbakir to the city of Silvan, and set it off as the soldiers’ car passed by.

“Eight soldiers in the armored vehicle have been wounded. The wounded soldiers have been taken to hospital after they were given first aid treatment,” the statement said.

The PKK recently attacked a military vehicle in Nusaybin. A dozen police officers were injured. The militants detonated a roadside bomb as the military vehicle was traveling along a road in the area.

A shaky ceasefire between the PKK and the Turkish government collapsed in July 2015, and attacks on Turkish security forces have soared ever since.

Ankara has been engaged in a large-scale campaign against the PKK in its southern border region in the past few months. The Turkish military has also been conducting offensives against PKK positions in northern Iraq and Syria.

The operations began in the wake of a deadly July 2015 bombing in the southern Turkish town of Suruc. More than 30 people died in the attack, which the Turkish government blamed on the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group.

After the bombing, the PKK militants, who accuse Ankara of supporting Daesh, engaged in a series of supposed reprisal attacks against Turkish police and security forces, prompting the Turkish military operations.

Turkey MFA says astonishing things about Armenians

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Turkish MFAThe Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of Turkey issued a ridiculous statement following the German Bundestag’s passing of the resolution that recognizes Armenian Genocide.

“Turkey tries to honour the memory of the Ottoman Armenians, shares their sufferings, preserves Armenian cultural heritage and takes significant steps for paving the way for reconciliation between the two neighbouring nations. In this respect, there is nothing that Turkey will learn from the Parliament of the Federal Republic of Germany,” the Turkish MFA statement specifically reads.

It is unknown whom the Turkish MFA wants to deceive with such statement, since even those in Turkey do not believe in such words.

And after the Turkish PM’s remarks that something commonplace, which can happen in any country, occurred with the Armenians in 1915, the Turkish MFA should have remained silent.

The Bundestag, the lower house of the German parliament, on Thursday formally recognized the Armenian Genocide, with the aforesaid resolution and with only one vote against and one abstention. The resolution also notes that the Bundestag regrets that the German government at the time did nothing to stop this crime against humanity, and therefore the Bundestag also acknowledges the respective historical accountability of Germany.

Russia Points to Rise in Trucks Heading From Turkish Border to Syria

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increase turkish TrucksThe flow of trucks from the Turkish-Syrian border heading towards the provinces of Aleppo and Idlib in Syria has increased in the past 72 hours, the Russian center for Syrian reconciliation at the Hmeimim airbase said in a daily bulletin posted by the Russian Defense Ministry.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – “In the past 72 hours, the flow of trucks from the Turkish-Syrian border to the A’zaz settlement in the Aleppo province, as well as to… the Dar-Taaza settlement in Idlib province, where, according to locals’ statements, militants have been arriving in the last few days, has significantly increased,” the Thursday statement says.

According to the reconciliation center, the locals have been reporting an “intense movement” of militants in regions north of the city of Aleppo.

Syria has been mired in civil war since 2011, with government forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad fighting numerous opposition factions and extremist groups.

Both Moscow and Damascus have accused Turkey of sponsoring terrorism inside of Syria. In December 2015, Russia presented evidence of Islamic State (IS, also known as Daesh) smuggling oil across the Turkish border.

Overall, the cessation of hostilities regime in Syria has been violated three times in the past 24 hours, according to the Russian military. The violations were registered in Syria’s Damascus province.