Misrepresenting the issues in Nagorno-Karabakh

Ambassador Gabrielyan's response to Alexandros Petersen's misleading and biased article in the Guardian.

Armenian Council's response to Alexandros Petersen's article in the Guardian

Dear Sir,

We were very disappointed to see Alexandros Petersen's misinformed and ill-judged article on Nagorno-Karabakh being published in the Guardian on 7th of June.

Despite his affiliations Mr Petersen shows surprising lack of understanding of that part of the world or what is even more worrying, shows unacceptable lack of impartiality for a scholar. The article gives rise to a number of questions, particularly whether Mr Petersen has ever been to Karabakh and what sources he has consulted before penning his article?

Mr Petersen's article is an example of scholars getting involved in political propaganda and misinformation; is it a coincidence that Mr Petersen was recently a guest of honour at the Azeri Embasy in London for a launch of a propaganda book paid for by the Azeri foreign ministry? His close involvement with the government of Azerbaijan raises serious doubts about his impartiality while writing on this subject.

Despite not being formally recognised, the government of Karabakh is going to great lengths to follow international norms in an effort to demonstrate the country's values and aspirations despite no shortage of bellicose rhetoric and threats from the Azerbaijan. Such one-sided and misinformed articles are not going to contribute to the climate of understanding and peaceful resolution of the Karabakh conflict.

We join the Rt Hon Baroness Cox and other individuals much better informed about the current state of affairs in Karabakh in stating that Mr Petersen's article has little to do with reality and perhaps more to do with a biased viewpoint.

Yours faithfully,

Edgar Danielyan FRSA FBCS

The Armenian Council
London WC1N 3XX

Baroness Cox responds to misinformed article by A. Petersen

The Editor
Guardian Newspaper

Your article on 'the Black Hole' of Nagorno Karabakh by Alexandros Petersen (June 7) contains so many false allegations and untruths that it would be laughable if the implications were not so serious.

I was in Nagorno Karabakh last week and I can personally testify to the ridiculous nature of the claims that 'Karabakh is a black hole that attracts arms, drug and human trafficking, money laundering and organised crime. Chances are that heroin on London's streets, illegal weapons in the Paris banlieue, and the underage prostitutes in Berlin either came through a conflict zone such as Karabakh , or were trafficked by a network that uses the area to facilitate its operations.'

These allegations are outrageous. The Armenians in Karabakh had to defend their land against well-documented attempted ethnic cleansing by Azerbaijan in a bitter war from 1991-1994, During that war, Islamist terrorists fought on the side of Azerbaijan against the Armenians of Karabakh, who are now rebuilding their shattered lives and land with laudable commitment to democratic principles (their elections have been declared free and fair by independent respected international observers).

My charitable organisation supports a Rehabilitation Centre for people with disabilities which has become recognised by many professional visitors as a Centre of Excellence, disseminating innovative good practice throughout the South Caucasus. Over the years, I have encouraged as many as a thousand people to visit this historic land; we have travelled widely throughout the small region and every visitor has been inspired by the graciousness, openness and warm hospitality of the people. All would join me in signing this letter of rebuttal of the outrageously absurd and misleading allegations in your article.

Yours faithfully,

The Baroness Cox
House of Lords

State of Denial: Turkey Spends Millions to Cover Up Armenian Genocide

"A lie isn't the other side of any story. It's just a lie. When it comes to the historical reality of the Armenian genocide, there is no 'Armenian' or 'Turkish' side of the question, any more than there is a 'Jewish' or 'German' side of the historical reality of the Holocaust," writes Torben Jorgensen, of the Danish Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies. "There is a scientific side and an unscientific side — acknowledgement or denial."

Turkey, Armenia and the Defence of Free Expression

Scars in Turkish-Armenian history remain far from healed. Visiting the ICA to discuss the situation in Turkey, and the place of Armenians, will be four figures closely involved with defending the threatened position of free expression there: Fethiye Çetin, author of My Grandmother (Verso 2008), which describes Çetin’s discovery of her Muslim grandmother’s true Armenian Christian identity, translator and writer Maureen Freely, Armenian writer and filmmaker Nouritza Matossian, and Ragip Zarakolu, one of Turkey’s best-known dissident publishers and winner of the 2008 IPA Freedom to Publish Prize. The event will be chaired by Lisa Appignanesi, President of English PEN.

Thursday 19th June, 7pm
Institute of Contemporary Arts
The Mall, London SW1Y 5AH

£10 / £9 Concessions / £8 ICA Members
TO BOOK TICKETS VISIT www.ica.org.uk OR CALL 020 7930 3647

Armenia Marks Genocide Anniversary

Hundreds of thousands of people silently marched to the hilltop genocide memorial in Yerevan on Thursday to pay their respects to more than one million Armenians massacred in Ottoman Turkey from 1915-1918.

An incessant stream of people of different ages walked up to the Tsitsernakabert hill overlooking the city and laid flowers around its eternal fire throughout the day. It marked the 93rd anniversary of the arrests of hundreds of Armenian intellectuals in Constantinople that were followed by the mass killings and deportations of Armenians from eastern regions of the crumbling Ottoman Empire.

Many historians consider the massacres the first genocide of the 20th century. Modern-day Turkey insists, however, that they did not constitute genocide, saying that Armenians died in smaller number and not as a result of a premeditated government policy.

As always, the annual remembrance of genocide victims began at Tsitsernakabert with a prayer service led by the head of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Catholicos Garegin II. The ceremony was broadcast live by national television and attended by President Serzh Sarkisian and other top state officials.

In a written statement, Sarkisian called the mass killings and deportations of Ottoman Armenians a “crime against humanity” that must be recognized and condemned by the entire world. He said Armenia’s government will campaign for that alongside the worldwide Armenian Diaspora.

“There is hardly a family [in Armenia] that was not affected by those tragic events,” Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisian told reporters after laying a wreathe at the memorial. “That tragedy directly or indirectly knocked on the doors of every Armenian family. We must learn lessons from history.”

“May God give us the wisdom to learn those lessons and prevent a repeat of such tragedies in the future,” he said.

Defense Minister Seyran Ohanian also spoke of the need to draw such lessons. “Everything must be done to ensure that our country and our people are protected,” he said. “That requires planned steps and hard work.”

“We are duly remembering genocide victims,” said Eduard Sedrakian, rector of the National Academy of Fine Arts. “I hope we will work, build and create things with the same diligence. As they say, the only way to fight against death is to live.”

The April 24 commemoration was also used by opposition leader Levon Ter-Petrosian and his allies for rallying more than 10,000 supporters in downtown Yerevan despite heavy police presence in and around Liberty Square, the scene of massive opposition demonstrations staged in the wake of the recent presidential election. Ignoring police orders to keep to the sidewalks and chanting anti-government slogans, crowd marched to the Tsitsernakabert hill where it was joined by Ter-Petrosian. Although the latter headed to his nearby house after laying flowers at the genocide memorial, most of the opposition supporters did not disperse and walked back to the city center.

Late Ottoman genocides: the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire and Young Turkish population and extermination policies

By Dominik J. Schaller, Jürgen Zimmerer

From 1899 to 1922, the Swiss deacon Jakob Künzler (1871-1949) headed a missionary hospital in Ourfa, an old city in South-Eastern Anatolia. During his time in the Eastern Provinces of the Ottoman Empire, Künzler became an important eyewitness to the Young Turks' project of large-scale ethnic cleansing and genocide. In October 1915, Künzler had to witness the destruction of the Armenian community in Ourfa when the desperate Armenian resistance against the deportation orders was bloodily suppressed by the Ottoman army. Even before this event, the Swiss deacon was well aware of the Young Turks' policy of extermination. Since Ourfa was a significant regional crossroad, many convoys of Armenian deportees on their way to the Syrian desert passed the city. Künzler tried to relieve as much as possible the distress and pain of the Armenian deportees, who were in a deplorable condition. Furthermore, he made sure their fate was not forgotten. In his book In the Land of Blood and Tears, published in 1921 in Germany, Künzler described vividly his horrible experiences in Ourfa during World War I.

As a missionary, Jakob Künzler was very much indebted emotionally to his Armenian coreligionists and felt open sympathy for them. Nevertheless, he understood that the fate of the Armenians was only part and parcel of a wider strategy of population policy by the Young Turkish government. In his above-mentioned report, Künzler stated: "The Young Turks did not only include Armenians and Kurds but also Arabs in their plan of extermination."3 This is a remarkable statement in two respects. First of all, Künzler talks about a policy of extermination and not only about resettlement, as some groups wanted to make the world believe then and now. Second, he did not turn a blind eye to the fate of Muslims like the Arabs and Kurds, but identified them as fellow victims of Christian groups such as the Armenians. In particular, the deportation of Kurds from Erzerum and Bitlis in the winter of 1916 made quite an impression on him, as the following report about these deportations and their consequences shows:

No European newspaper has reported that the same Young Turks, who wanted to exterminate the Armenians, drove the Kurds who had been living in Upper Armenia from their house and home. Like the Armenians, the Kurds were accused of being unconfident elements that would join sides with the Russians. The deportation of the Kurds from the regions of Djabachdjur, Palu, Musch and from the Vilajets of Erzerum and Bitlis was carried out in the winter of 1916. About 300,000 Kurds had to wander southwards. First they were placed in Upper Mesopotamia, especially in the region of Ourfa, but also westward from Aintab and Marasch. Then in the summer of 1917, the transport of the Kurds to the Konya Plateau began. The most horrible thing was that the deportations were carried out in the middle of the winter. When the deportees reached a Turkish village in the evening, the inhabitants were afraid and closed the doors of their homes. Thus, the poor Kurds had to stay outside in the rain and snow. The next morning, the villagers had to dig mass graves for those frozen to death. The suffering of the surviving Kurds who finally reached Mesopotamia was far from being over. The winter of 1917/18 brought new hardship. Despite a good harvest, almost all of the deported Kurds fell victim to a terrible famine.

"State of Israel has Jewish obligation to recognize Armenian Genocide"

The Knesset has recently regained its honor by retracting its old stance and deciding that the recognition of the Armenian genocide must be discussed by parliament. About a year ago, the Knesset plenum rejected a proposal to discuss the same forgotten genocide, which took place during World War I and during which nearly a third of the Armenian people were murdered by the Turks.

...

The Jewish nation has produced the national-Zionist movement, which has no match in terms of moral leadership in recent centuries. How can we, of all nations, forget the catastrophes that have befallen, and that still befall, other nations?

The State of Israel is an eternal memorial for "Thou shalt not forget." The terrible holocaust that has been inflicted on us has etched onto our identity - alongside the national tragedy - the sympathy, sensitivity and cry against the disasters of other people, even when this involves national embarrassment or a certain diplomatic price.

With regards to the Armenian holocaust – the discussion in the Knesset on the question of recognizing it as genocide conveys sympathy and solidarity with the ethnic tragedy, more than an accusation. The Knesset does not wish to condemn modern Turkey, but to act as Jews who are subjected to the judgment of history. We cannot, in the name of political or diplomatic wisdom, suppress such fundamental human values, which touch on the roots of our tragic existence.

Bernard-Henri Levy on the denial of the Armenian Genocide

The Armenian genocide - why Britain is at fault

Interview by Chris Green

Thursday, 21 February 2008

Donald Bloxham is professor of modern history at the University of Edinburgh. He argues that the extermination of approximately one million Armenian Christians by Ottoman-Turkish authorities during the First World War was genocide, and that Britain is guilty of hypocrisy in its attitude towards the events.

The Kurdish and Armenian Genocides: From Censorship and Denial to Recognition

Turkey’s repression of the Kurds has been widely documented - and is acknowledged as a major obstacle to Turkey’s accession to the European Union. But what lies behind such repression? Fernandes confronts the issue head on, forcing the reader to probe a question that many in Turkey and elsewhere would rather avoid: does the systematic repression of the Kurds amount to genocide? Open discussion of this issue is critical if a long-term resolution of the Kurdish issue is to be achieved – Nicholas Hildyard, Policy Analyst.

The book is an exceptionally important read for anyone with a broad interest in human rights and social justice. It has a scholarly account of the historical background to the present awful situation of Turkish Armenians and Turkish Kurds. In particular, the book provides a powerful comparative analysis of the policies of the US, Israel and Turkey in terms of their rationale for labelling human atrocities as genocide – Dr. Julia Kathleen Davidson, Research Fellow, Faculty of Education, University of Glasgow and Membership Secretary of Scotland Against Criminalising communities (SACC).

In this important book, Desmond Fernandes exposes the details of the sordid and largely hidden role of Israel and the US Israel Lobby in preventing Congress from recognizing the Turkish genocide of the Armenians – Jeff Blankfort, Former Editor, Middle East Labor Bulletin.

Among its Cold War victories the United States certainly succeeded in its ambition to make the world safe for nationalism. As identity politics is reprocessed as a function of global capital, and rehabilitated as its natural ally, Desmond Fernandes documents the fractured consequences of the ready-made social fantasy - Variant: Cross Currents in Culture.

Desmond Fernandes writes for those who spoke the truth and were murdered, those who spoke 200 days ago and are still imprisoned, and for those who live in terror and in silence, or who meet in nameless buildings, so that the words ‘GENOCIDE’, ethnic cleansing, or the Turkish military word ‘TEMIZLEME’, may be heard as a siren call for the muted victims of the Turkish state - Diamanda Galás, Composer and Performer of Songs of Exile, Vena Cava, Schrei X, Plague Mass and Defixiones, Will And Testament.

Fernandes’ painstaking investigation sheds much needed light on the collusion between the Turkish State and the Israel lobby in preventing recognition of one of the darkest episodes of the past century, the genocide of Ottoman Turkey’s ethnic Armenians - Muhammad Idrees Ahmad, Spinwatch.

[This is] a judiciously assembled vast, syntactic mosaic ‘illustrating’ the total state terror inflicted upon two ancient peoples ... Desmond Fernandes has laboriously integrated a vast amount of historical events, scholarly data, secret documents, live witnesses, relevant literature and even poetry ... [He] has hit the target: mainly encapsulating the enormity of censorship, denial and recognition of that ultimate crime of man’s inhumanity to man - Genocide - Khatchatur I. Pilikian [from the Epilogue].

Desmond Fernandes is a policy analyst and former Senior Lecturer in Human Geography and Genocide Studies at De Montfort University, England. He has published widely in a number of journals and is co-author of Genozid an den Kurden in der Türkei? - Verfolgung, Krieg und Zerstörung der ethnischen Identität (2001, Medico International, Frankfurt). Forthcoming titles by the author include The Kurdish Genocide in Turkey and US, UK, German, Israeli and NATO ‘Inspired’ Psychological Warfare Operations against the ‘Kurdish Threat’ in Turkey and Northern Iraq, due to shortly be released by Apec Press, Stockholm.

Change of name and expansion of activities

With effect from 14 February 2008, the Armenian Genocide Trust of Great Britain has been renamed the Armenian Council to better reflect broader scope of our current and future activities. More information on the Armenian Council and its activities will be available in due course from the Council's web site at www.armeniancouncil.org.