"A relationship that rests on a requirement of a denial of an historical event, is not a sound basis for a relationship"

A U.S. Senate panel condemned on Wednesday the murder earlier this year of a prominent Turkish-Armenian editor, Hrant Dink, who had urged Turks to acknowledge the mass killings of Armenians on Turkish soil in 1915. The largely symbolic resolution approved by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee reopened the question of whether Congress should weigh in on the debate over whether the killings were genocide -- a sensitive issue in Turkey, a key NATO ally. Armenia says some 1.5 million Armenians suffered genocide at Ottoman Turkish hands, but Turkey denies a systematic genocide of Armenians took place, saying large numbers of Christian Armenians and Muslim Turks died in inter-ethnic fighting during World War One. The Senate resolution that passed the committee on a voice vote does not explicitly refer to the killings as genocide, but observes that Dink, before his death, was subjected to legal action in Turkey for doing so. It condemns Dink's murder and urges the people of Turkey to "honor his legacy of tolerance." Dink was murdered by a Turkish nationalist gunman outside his Istanbul office in January; his funeral drew 100,000 mourners. Turkish diplomats do not look favorably on the Senate proposal, which can now go to the floor for a vote. "We don't see the benefit of such a resolution," said Tuluy Tanc, the minister-counselor at the Turkish Embassy in Washington. But the author of the Senate resolution, Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Joseph Biden, a Delaware Democrat, said he was not deterred by Turkish sensitivities. "A relationship that rests on a requirement of a denial of an historical event, is not a sound basis for a relationship," Biden told Reuters.

One Hundred Members of the UK Parliament Recognise the Armenian Genocide

A milestone on the road to recognition of the Armenian Genocide in the UK was passed today, when Ed Davey MP became the 100th Member of Parliament to sign a Motion recognising the Armenian Genocide. Early Day Motion 357 was put by Bob Spink MP in December 2006. There are over a thousand motions in the House of Commons at this time but this is the only motion opposed to government policy which has accumulated 100 names. Also, of the motions on international issues, only motions on Burma, Zimbabwe and Darfur have gained more signatures. This shows that the Genocide is not forgotten, and we look forward to a possible vote on the issue in the late autumn in response to the activity of our supporting parliamentarians. Of the signatories, nearly two-thirds of eligible Welsh MPs have signed showing the usual strength of feeling in Wales on the issue. The majority of Liberal Democrat MPs have also signed including their Foreign Affairs and Defence Spokesmen. Our heartfelt thanks to Welsh MPs and the Liberal Democrats who put truth ahead of short-term political correctness.

24 April - Armenian Genocide Commemoration Day

Programme of events Armenia Solidarity Armenian Genocide Trust Nor Serount Publications British Armenian All-Party Parliamentary Group You are invited to the following events on the 24th April. Please wear a white poppy in memory of over one million victims of the twentieh century's first genocide. Commemoration of the Armenian Genocide at the Monument to the Innocents outside Westminster Abbey 12.00 noon till 12.15 p.m. Prayers and laying of a wreath and short address Darfuri representatives present Presentation of oral and written evidence for the Armenian Genocide in the Grand Committee Room, The House of Commons at 4.00 p. m. till 5.30 p.m. 1. Hayr Mer (the Lord's Prayer) 2. Presentation of evidence of the Genocide to the government and to MPs, chaired by Lord Avebury, and including members of the International Network of Genocide Scholars 3. Appeal to all MPs to support Early Day Motion 357 on the Genocide 4. Formation of a Delegation to meet the Rt. Hon. Geoff Hoon, MP This meeting is sponsored by John Bercow MP

Armenian Genocide resolution introduced in U.S. Senate

Senators Dick Durbin and John Ensign introduced the Armenian Genocide Resolution in the U.S. Senate. ANCA reports more than 20 senators joined in efforts supporting the Resolution, which calls upon the United States to recognize the Armenian Genocide. The measure is similar to the House Armenian Genocide resolution (H.Res.106), introduced by Adam Schiff January 29. More than 180 congressmen support the Resolution. “We must honor those who died in the Armenian Genocide by recognizing their suffering and by dedicating ourselves to preventing human suffering and tragedy in the future,” Assistant Majority Leader Dick Durbin noted. In his part Sen. John Ensign added that “the murder and torture of the Armenian people was undeniably genocide, and we must recognize this terrible reality. We are a nation that embraces freedom and justice, and we have a responsibility to uphold these values in order to not repeat the mistakes of the past. This important resolution officially recognizes history and the truth of the crime of genocide perpetuated against the Armenians.” “We appreciate the leadership of Richard Durbin and John Ensign and value the strong support of their Senate colleagues for the introduction of this anti-genocide legislation,” Executive Director of the ANCA Aram Hamparian said. The resolution calls upon the President “to ensure that the foreign policy of the United States reflects appropriate understanding and sensitivity concerning issues to the Armenian Genocide.

Robert Fisk: The truth should be proclaimed loudly

Stand by for a quotation to take your breath away. It’s from a letter from my Istanbul publishers, who are chickening out of publishing the Turkish-language edition of my book The Great War for Civilisation. The reason, of course, is a chapter entitled "The First Holocaust", which records the genocide of one and a half million Armenians by the Ottoman Turks in 1915, a crime against humanity that even Lord Blair of Kut al-Amara tried to hide by initially refusing to invite Armenian survivors to his Holocaust Day in London. It is, I hasten to add, only one chapter in my book about the Middle East, but the fears of my Turkish friends were being expressed even before the Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink was so cruelly murdered outside his Istanbul office in January. And when you read the following, from their message to my London publishers HarperCollins, remember it is written by the citizen of a country that seriously wishes to enter the European Community. Since I do not speak Turkish, I am in no position to criticise the occasional lapses in Mr Osman’s otherwise excellent English. "We would like to denote that the political situation in Turkey concerning several issues such as Armenian and Kurdish Problems, Cyprus issue, European Union etc do not improve, conversely getting worser and worser due to the escalating nationalist upheaval that has reached its apex with the Nobel Prize of Orhan Pamuk and the political disagreements with the EU. Most probably, this political atmosphere will be effective until the coming presidency elections of April 2007... Therefore we would like to undertake the publication quietly, which means there will be no press campaign for Mr Fisk’s book. Thus, our request from [for] Mr Fisk is to show his support to us if any trial [is] ... held against his book. We hope that Mr Fisk and HarperCollins can understand our reservations." Well indeedydoody, I can. Here is a publisher in a country negotiating for EU membership for whom Armenian history, the Kurds, Cyprus (unmentioned in my book) - even Turkey’s bid to join the EU, for heaven’s sake - is reason enough to try to sneak my book out in silence. When in the history of bookselling, I ask myself, has any publisher tried to avoid publicity for his book ? Well, I can give you an example. When Taner Akcam’s magnificent A Shameful Act : The Armenian Genocide and the Question of Turkish Responsibility was first published in Turkish - it uses Ottoman Turkish state documents and contemporary Turkish statements to prove that the genocide was a terrifying historical fact - the Turkish historian experienced an almost identical reaction. His work was published "quietly" in Turkey - and without a single book review.

Bush Presses Congress To Block Armenian Genocide Bill

A senior U.S. State Department issued a forceful appeal Thursday for Congress to reject a proposed resolution defining as genocide the mass killings of Armenians in the closing days of the Ottoman Empire. Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Fried said Turkish officials have informed the United States that approval of the resolution could lead to shutdown of the U.S. base at Incirlik or a restriction on U.S. overflight rights granted by Turkey. Fried said the United States also has been informed that the Turkish Parliament would respond with "extreme emotion" if the Armenian resolution were approved. He added that such a step would undercut voices in Turkey calling for a "truthful exploration of these events in pursuit of Turkey's reconciliation with its own past and with Armenia." Fried testified before a hearing of a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on Europe. He highlighted what he said were growing calls in Turkey for changes to Article 301 of the Turkish Constitution, which criminalizes "insulting Turkishness." The resolution, Fried said, runs counter to the views of the 60,000-70,000 Turkish-Armenian community which, he added, has been warning that the measure would "raise popular emotions so dramatically as to threaten their personal security." He also said the U.S. fear is that "passage of any such resolution would close minds and harden hearts."

"Stop ignoring and rejecting the catastrophe of another people"

Israel's parliament on Wednesday rejected a motion recognizing the Turkish mass killings of Armenians dating back to 1915 as a genocide. "Stop ignoring and rejecting the catastrophe of another people," Haim Oron MP, who submitted the motion, told the Knesset before the vote. "We refuse to accept the turning of a blind eye to the Armenian genocide," the opposition left-wing Meretz party MP said. "We owe this vote not only to the Armenian people, we owe it to ourselves, especially in a period where we are struggling to prolong the memory of the Nazi Holocaust of six million Jews during World War II."

BBC News drops apostrophes around Genocide

BBC News has finally stopped using 'Genocide' instead of Genocide when referring to the Armenian Genocide of 1915, when more than a million Armenians were massacred by the government of the Ottoman empire in the first genocide of the 20th century. The decision seems to follow a Swiss court's decision that a Turkish nationalist politician was guilty of racism by denying the historical fact of the Genocide. Additionally, following a complaint by the Armenian Genocide Trust of Great Britain, the following sentence is included in the news article which was missing from previous BBC reporting on the issue: "More than a dozen countries, various international bodies and many Western historians agree that it was genocide." Previously used wording suggested that it is only Armenians who consider the Great Calamity of 1915 a Genocide. We welcome BBC's increasingly accurate and objective reporting on this matter and hope this will continue with coverage on April 24th, the annual commemoration day of the Armenian Genocide.

Washington Post: Ignore Congressional Resolutions

"After all, historians outside of Turkey are pretty much unanimous in agreeing that atrocities against Armenians worthy of the term genocide did occur. Though Congress may look silly with its "findings," the continuing inability of the Turkish political class to come to terms with history, and temper its nationalism, may be the country's single most serious political problem. Prominent Turkish intellectuals, including a Nobel Prize winner, have been prosecuted in recent years under laws criminalizing "insults" to Turkey -- such as accurate accounts of the genocide. In January a prominent ethnic Armenian journalist was murdered by an ultranationalist teenager."

Swiss Court Convicts Turkish Politician for Denying Armenian Genocide

LAUSANNE, Switzerland, March 9 — A prominent Turkish politician was convicted Friday of breaching Swiss antiracism laws by saying that the early 20th-century killing of Armenians could not be described as genocide. The Turkish Foreign Ministry reacted swiftly to the decision, saying in a statement that it was saddened by the Swiss court’s ruling to punish the politician, Dogu Perincek, leader of the Turkish Workers’ Party, and to ignore “his freedom of expression.” Mr. Perincek was ordered to pay a fine of $2,450; an additional penalty of $7,360 was suspended.

Shot Fired At Ceremony For Slain Turkish-Armenian Journalist

An unidentified gunman fired a shot in the air outside an Armenian church in Istanbul Sunday shortly after a ceremony for the slain Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, a church official said. The gunman and another person fled on foot from the courtyard of the church in Kumkapi district where a ceremony had been held for Dink, the official told journalists on condition of anonymity. "We chased them down the street but were unable to catch them," he said. The ceremony at the church in the European side of Istanbul was to mark the 40th day since Dink, the 52-year-old ethnic Armenian editor of the bilingual Agos weekly, was shot dead outside his office. It was led by Patriarch Mesrob II, the spiritual leader of Turkey's 80,000 Armenians, and attended by Dink's family and leading intellectuals.