Congressional Resolution On Armenian Genocide Introduced

Ignoring expected opposition from President George W. Bush, Democratic and Republican lawmakers have introduced a resolution urging the U.S. government to recognize as genocide the deaths of 1.5 million Armenians at the end of World War I. The resolution probably will anger Turkey as well as the president. Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff, a co-sponsor, acknowledged that the resolution might harm U.S.-Turkish relations in the short term. Nevertheless, he said, "I'm optimistic that the relationship will go on. We will move beyond this." Schiff and other lead sponsors who introduced the resolution in the House of Representatives say they have commitments from more than 150 other members who wanted to add their names as co-sponsors after the legislation's introduction. That would be a strong show of support in the 435-member body. The sponsors, who held a new conference Tuesday attended by two Armenian survivors of the episode, say that the move to Democratic control in Congress increases chances that the bill will reach the House floor for a vote. Similar resolutions have been introduced in the past but were kept from a vote by congressional leaders. "We feel very strongly that this year is the year we're going to get this passed," said another co-sponsor, Democratic Rep. Frank Pallone Jr., whose state, New Jersey, has a large Armenian-American community. The bill, which recalls the deaths of the 1.5 million Armenians almost a century ago, is likely to touch raw nerves in Turkey.

European Parliament Observes Minute's Silence For Dink

The European Parliament observed a minute's silence on Wednesday in memory of slain journalist Hrant Dink, a leading member of Turkey's tiny Armenian minority. "I would like, in the name of the European Parliament to express our indignation," said the assembly's president Hans-Gert Poettering during a plenary session in Brussels. The fact that thousands attended Dink's burial "gives us hope that this sad event will be a catalyst for the Turkish authorities to go forward with fresh reforms to guarantee freedoms," he added.

"A real genocide will begin now"

A Turkish-Armenian newspaper whose prominent editor Hrant Dink was gunned down last week was placed under police protection on Thursday after reporting death threats from a shadowy ultranationalist group. Employees of the bilingual “Agos” weekly said they received a letter late Wednesday that described Dink as an “enemy dog” and warned that anyone calling World War One-era massacres of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey a genocide will meet his fate. “If you fail to exercise caution, many of your other dogs will also die,” read the letter signed by the obscure Turkish Revenge Brigade (TIT). “We have enough explosives to send the ‘Agos’ building skywards.” “If you claim to have endured a genocide in 1915, then you don’t know what a genocide is. A real genocide will begin now,” it said.

BBC fails yet again to mention the Armenian Genocide

In an article on the Holocaust Memorial Day the BBC states that "The victims of other atrocities of the 20th Century, including in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Kosovo, are also being honoured." No reference whatsoever is made to over a million Armenians massacred by the Ottoman Empire at the beginning of the 20th century. Hitler is yet to be proved wrong - "Who remembers the Armenians?"

"People will stay silent. We have great experience of this. In the coming years we will be buried in silence"

By Thomas Grove, Reuters Istanbul's Armenian community has suffered shock and anger over the murder of a leading Turkish-Armenian journalist, causing some to fear nationalism is rising and more attacks could follow. An unemployed teenager has confessed to Friday's shooting of Hrant Dink in an attack that has raised questions about Turkey's tolerance for minorities and freedom of expression. Thousands of Armenians, Turks and others lit candles and laid carnations and pictures of Dink outside his newspaper office in central Istanbul where he was shot. "We thought that all of this was behind us, but there are still people who want to kill us because we are Armenian and because we want to talk about what happened in 1915," said Ardas Cavusan, 56, an Armenian lathe operator. Many Armenians believe Dink was targeted because he wanted Turkey to acknowledge the mass killings of Armenians here during World War One as genocide. Turkish nationalists see the genocide claims as an insult to national honour. Turkey's 60,000-strong Armenian community, possibly fearing reprisals, has largely avoided sensitive historical issues although the Armenian Diaspora has campaigned globally for recognition of the genocide. The murder of Dink, 52, who had tried to promote reconciliation between Muslim Turks and Christian Armenians, has triggered anger as well as sorrow. "The government has to do something about this. Since the Ottoman Empire, Armenians have been killed, and it's still happening today. Hrant was just the latest victim," said Mahil Calis, 33, a textile worker. "Now the Turkish government has to recognise the genocide as a matter of conscience." Textile worker Calis, who sends his daughter to a state-run Armenian school, was also worried. "Of course there's a reason to be afraid. I have a daughter who goes to school, and you never know what can happen. It's not easy to live under this kind of pressure. There are repercussions if we say what we want," he said. Armenian sculptor Hagop Pacaci, 42, said he led out little hope that Dink's murder would bring inter-ethnic reconciliation. "People will stay silent. We have great experience of this. In the coming years we will be buried in silence," he said.

Hrant Dink Assassinated in Istanbul

A prominent Turkish-Armenian editor, convicted in 2005 of "insulting Turkish identity", has been shot dead outside his newspaper's office in Istanbul. Crowds of Hrant Dink's colleagues and supporters gathered at the scene, chanting their outrage at his murder.

First Cash Paid In Armenia From Ottoman Insurance Settlement

Citizens of Armenia whose ancestors were massacred by the Turks have begun receiving cash payouts as part of a landmark settlement with a U.S. firm that had issued insurance policies to thousands of Armenian subjects of the Ottoman Empire. The $20 million deal with New York Life Insurance Co., which was announced three years ago, settled a class action lawsuit that was filed by Armenian-American descendants of Ottoman Armenian policy holders killed in the 1915 genocide. The company had sold more than 2,300 such policies that were never paid to their surviving relatives. The settlement set aside at least $11 million for descendants in Armenia and its worldwide Diaspora, $3 million for four Armenian-American charities and $2 million for administrative costs. Nearly two thousand Armenian nationals have since failed claims with a special “settlement fund” set up by New York Life and the plaintiffs’ lawyers. Some 1,240 of them have been deemed eligible for compensation totaling $3.67 million.

U.S. Congress To Mull New Armenian Genocide Bill

Buoyed by the Democratic takeover of the U.S. Congress, pro-Armenian members of the House of Representatives will re-introduce this month a draft resolution recognizing the World War I-era killings of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey as genocide. Their Armenian-American backers are confident that the new House leadership will not seek to block the bill which is certain to anger Turkey and prompt strong objections from the administration of President George W. Bush. Its language is expected to be virtually identical with that of two resolutions that were overwhelmingly approved by the House International Relations Committee in September 2005. Their passage by the full House was subsequently thwarted by the White House and leaders of the then Republican majority in Congress. One of those resolutions was co-sponsored by 140 lawmakers and called on Bush to “accurately characterize the systematic and deliberate annihilation of 1,500,000 Armenians as genocide.”