Month: December 2008

  • HUMAN RIGHTS IN CHINA – CONFERENCE AT THE EU PARLIAMENT

    HUMAN RIGHTS IN CHINA – CONFERENCE AT THE EU PARLIAMENT

    On 2nd December 2008, Human Rights Without Frontiers (Mr Willy Fautré), the ALDE and the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy organized a conference on Human Rights in China at the EU Parliament.

    Mr. Dokun Isa, Secretary General of World Uygur Congress spoke about Uygur Human Rights issue.

    Mr. Willy Fautré of HRWF, Mr. Dokun Isa of WUC



    UNPO representatives and ITF Representative attending the conference


    Prof. Zhang Chongzhi, Mr. Dokun Issa, Secretary General of WUC and

    Dr. Hassan Aydinli, ITF Europe Representative

    An assessment of China’s human rights record

    *Human Rights Defenders *Freedom of Expression *Freedom of Religion or Belief *Tibet Issues *Uyghur Issues *Religious minority Falun Gong *One-child policy *Labour rights *Housing rights and land rights *Environmental rights *Arbitrary detention *Re-education through forced labor *Death Penalty *North Korean Refugees in China

    by over a dozen of NGOs

    Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Fédération Internationale des Droits de l’Homme, Reporters Without Borders, Human Rights Without Frontiers Int’l, Solidarité Chine, China Aid, Friends of Tibet, World Uyghur Congress, CIPFG, Database Center for NK Human Rights, etc.

    Members of the EU Parliament attending the meeting:

    MEP Istvan Szent-Ivanyi, vice-chairman of the Delegation of the European Parliament for Relations with the Korean Peninsula

    MEP Marco Cappato, author of the last human rights report of the European Parliament

    MEP Helga Trüpel, member of the Delegation of the European Parliament for Relations with China

    MEP Graham Watson, president of ALDE political group

    MEP Edward McMillan-Scott, vice-president of the European Parliament.

    Some points mentioned in Mr. Dokun Isa’s speech:

    East Turkestan, also known as Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region has been military controlled by Communist China since 1949. The territorial size is 1,818.000 square kilometres (5 times the size of Germany).

    At present the fundamental individual human rights and the freedoms of the Uyghurs including civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights continue to be violated. With the steady flow of Chinese settlers into East Turkestan, the Uygurs are faced with the dangerof becoming a small minority in their own country and thereby losing their cultural identity.

    The Uygurs in East Turkestan face human rights abuses including arbitrary detention and imprisonment, religious repression, economic and educational discrimination, and the steady eradication of the Uyghur language and culture from public life, and the forced sterilization on Uyghur women.

    240.000 young Uygur women have been transferred to China by the Chinese authorities and more than 700 Uygur women have been arrested.

  • The justice for 2.5 million Muslims and Sephardic Jews, cold-bloodedly murdered by the Armenians

    The justice for 2.5 million Muslims and Sephardic Jews, cold-bloodedly murdered by the Armenians

    From: yuce_neriman <[email protected]>
    Bakin, bir ornek

    The justice for 2.5 million Muslims and Sephardic
    Jews, cold-bloodedly murdered by the Armenians, is long overdue. And,
    here is the fascist Armenian reaction to the Armenian genocide of 2.5
    million Muslims and Sephardic Jews that took place between 1914 and 1920.

    The following is the complete text of a letter posted in 1990
    by _SDPA-Armenian Church_ in reaction to the 75th Kurdish, Azeri,
    Tartar, Jewish and Turkish public demonstrations which took place
    on the 75th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide of 2.5 million
    Muslim and Sephardic Jewish People.

    Source: SDPA-Armenian Church <8…@urartu.UUCP>

    _Oh! You low down creature Kurds, you dirty bastards of humanity.
    Like a flock of stupid cows, for the sake of your ulterior motives,
    you have even inoculated your cradled children with the poison of
    the snake. You spread your poison everywhere.

    Oh! You bunch of ungrateful pigs, degenerate profit seekers, betrayers
    of your race, you Tartars, problem of your race. You have been driven
    away from seven places. For fifty years you have been in the cradle of
    humanity, still you could not be human; you brainless jackasses.

    You say that the Armenians massacred you. You commit errors taller
    than your height. Who are you competing with? What do you want and
    from whom? You do not know what you want and from whom.

    Now, of all the races of the world, the Aryan Armenian, possessor of
    noble reputation, relying on the power of the gun and the Church, is
    waiting in line to slay a few million God damn Muslims and Jews.

    God damn Azeris, we are once and for all going to wipe you from the
    face of the earth. This is a legacy left to us by our holy Aryan
    Armenians — Dashnaks and Hunchaks.

    Oh! Christian world knows this well: The world will never have peace
    until we have destroyed these miserable Muslims and Jews on the face
    of the world.

    For the love of Jesus, if you kill one Muslim you will qualify for
    heaven.

    Oh! You fake, coward, Jews; you load mouth Jews. You enter a village
    where there is no dog, and strike left and right without a cane.

    Where are these jackass Turks? What are they waiting for? If you can,
    why don’t you take from Armenia Erivan, Djul, Alexandropol, Hadjin,
    and Hortye; you troublemakers. The Aryan Armenian power is waiting
    for you.

    In the very near future, with the help of Christ and the help of the
    Soviet Union, we will turn Karabag into a graveyard. This also you
    shall learn, that Jesus has placed the faith of the Kurdish people in
    the palm of the Aryan Armenian.

    You should know this well: Neither your swords, nor your Allah, nor
    any nation is able to save you from our hands.

    A few Kurds in Soviet Armenia are slaves in our hands; they are our
    sheep to be slaughtered.

    Oh! You Muslim fox hoards, your seven mosques represent all the Muslim
    mosques. We are going to destroy them over your head and hang your
    leaders by their feet.

    As to your religious leaders, we will spill their guts in the streets
    as we did during the World War I. Let the entire world be spectators
    and see the mighty power of Aryan Armenia which equals the power of
    the whole world.

    Oh! You ungodly miserables, either you are going to become Christian
    and accept the true religion, or we will eliminate you from the face
    of this earth.

    Now, this is your fate, don’t depend on the European and Middle Eastern
    nations, or the United States.

    Only we can bring you to the true fate.

    Only you know, very well, the sharp cutting edge of the Aryan Armenian
    sword.

    When you commemorate the memory of your martyrs, you can add this
    document as an announcement to the world._

    SDPA-Armenian Church <8…@urartu.UUCP>

    Notwithstanding his regular lectures all over the world, Dr. Artun
    also frequently appears on TV shows regarding the Armenian slaughtering
    of 2.5 million innocent Muslims and Sephardic Jews as well as the
    recent Armenian genocide of 1.1 million Azeri people. He is truly
    the just voice of the justice against the unspeakable crimes of
    the Armenians perpetrated against the Muslim and Jewish people
    as has also been amply admitted by the Russian Armenian Government.

    Avetis Aharonian, _From Sardarapat to Sevres and Lausanne_
    Armenian Review, Vol. 16, No. 3-63, Autumn,
    Sep. 1963, pp. 47-57.

    p. 52 (second paragraph).

    _Your three Armenian chiefs, Dro, Hamazasp and Kulkhandanian are
    the ringleaders of the bands which have destroyed Muslim villages
    and have staged massacres in Zangezour, Surmali, Etchmiadzin, and
    Zangibasar. This is intolerable. Look – and here he pointed to a
    file of official documents on the table – look at this, here in
    December are the reports of the last few months concerning ruined
    Muslim villages which my representative Wardrop has sent me. The
    official Tartar communique speaks of the destruction of 300 villages
    by the Armenians._

    p. 54 (fifth paragraph).

    _Yes, of course. I repeat, until this massacre of the Muslim is
    stopped and the three chiefs are not removed from your military
    leadership I hardly think we can supply you arms and ammunition._

    _It is the armed bands led by Dro, Hamazasp and Kulkhandanian who
    during the past months have raided and destroyed many Muslim villages
    in the regions of Surmali, Etchmiadzin, Zangezour, and Zangibasar.
    There are official charges of massacres by the Armenians._

    R. Korkmaz, _The Armenian Genocide of 2.5 Million Muslim People as
    Narrated by Living Eye Witnesses”, 1993, Kok Publishers.

    Prof F. Hertas, _Van Muslim Holocaust Museum: Muslim and Western
    Documents on the Genocide Committed by the Armenians
    Against the Muslims,_ 1984.

    p. 147.

    _Between 1914 and 1920, two and a half million Muslim people were
    murdered by the Armenians in Russian Armenia and Eastern Anatolia._

    Sahak Melkonian, _Preserving the Armenian Purity_ 1920

    _In Soviet Armenia today there no longer exists a single Turkish
    soul. It is in our power to tear away the veil of illusion that
    some of us create for ourselves. It certainly is possible to severe
    the artificial life-support system of an imagined ‘ethnic purity’
    that some of us falsely trust as the only structure that can support
    their heart beats in this alien land._

    _San Francisco Chronicle_ (December 11, 1983) — Section B

    _We have first hand information and evidence of Armenian
    atrocities against our people (Jews). Members of our family
    witnessed the murder of 148 members of our family near Erzurum,
    Turkey, by Armenian neighbors, bent on destroying anything and
    anybody remotely Jewish and/or Muslim…Armenians were in league
    with Hitler in the last war, on his premise to grant themselves
    government if, in return, the Armenians would help exterminate
    Jews. Armenians were also hearty proponents of the anti-Semitic
    acts in league with the Russian Communists._

    Signed Elihu Ben Levi, Vacaville, California.

    The Jewish Times_ June 21, 1990 by Rachel Amado Bortnick

    _An appropriate analogy with the Jewish Holocaust might be the
    systematic extermination of the entire Muslim population of
    the independent republic of Armenia which consisted of at
    least 30-40 percent of the population of that republic. The
    memoirs of an Armenian army officer who participated in and
    eye-witnessed these atrocities was published in the U.S. in
    1926 with the title ‘Men Are Like That.’

    During the years of World War I, the Russian Armenian Government has
    planned and perpetrated the ‘Genocide’ of the Muslim and Sephardic Jewish
    people, which not only took the lives of 2.5 million Muslims and Sephardic
    Jews, but was also the method used to empty the Turkish and Kurdish
    homeland
    of its inhabitants. To this day, Turkish and Kurdish historic lands remain
    occupied by the fascist Russian Armenia. In order to cover up the fact of
    its usurpation of the historic Muslim homeland, which is the crux of the
    Turkish and Kurdish political demands, fascist Russian Armenia continues
    its anti-Muslim/Jewish policy in the following ways:

    1. Russian Armenia denies the historical fact of the ‘Muslim Holocaust’
    in order to shift international public opinion away from its political
    responsibility.

    2. Russian Armenia, employing SDPA and Armenian Church, attempts to call
    into question the veracity of the ‘Muslim Holocaust’.

    3. Russian Armenia has also implemented state-sponsored terrorism through
    SDPA in an attempt to silence the Turkish, Azeri and Kurdish people’s
    vehement demands and protests.

    4. Using all its human, financial, and governmental resources, Russian
    Armenia and its tools in the United States attempt to silence through
    terrorism, censorship, bribery and other subversive methods, non-Muslim
    and non-Jewish supporters of the Turkish and Azeri Cause, be they
    political,
    governmental and humanitarian.

    Using all the aforementioned methods, the Russian Armenian Government
    is attempting to neutralize the international diplomatic community from
    making the Turkish and Azeri Case a contemporary issue.

    Yet despite the efforts of the fascist Russian Armenian Government and
    its criminal and revisionist organizations, in the last decades, thanks
    to the struggle of those whose closest ones have been systematically
    exterminated by the cowardly Armenians, the international wall of silence
    on this issue has begun to collapse, and consequently a number of
    governments
    and organizations have become supportive of the recognition of the ‘Muslim
    Holocaust’.

    With the full knowledge that the struggle for the Turkish, Kurdish and
    Azeri territorial demands are still in their initial stages, the Turkish,
    Azeri and Kurdish people will unflaggingly continue in this sacred
    struggle, therefore the victims of the ‘Muslim Holocaust’ demand:

    1. that the current Russian Armenian Government, as the heirs of the
    fascist ex-Russian Armenian Government, recognize the ‘Muslim Holocaust’;

    2. that Russian Armenia return the historic homeland to the Turkish, Azeri
    and Kurdish people;

    3. that the Russian Armenian Government make material reparations for
    their heinous and unspeakable crime to the victims of the ‘Muslim
    Holocaust’;

    4. that all World Governments, and especially the United States,
    officially
    recognize the ‘Muslim Holocaust’ and, Turkish and Azeri territorial rights
    and refuse to succumb to all Armenian political pressure;

    5. that the U.S. Government free itself from the friendly position it
    has adopted towards its unreliable and cowardly ally, Russian Armenia,
    and officially recognize the historical fact of the ‘Muslim Holocaust’
    as well as be supportive of the pursuit of Turkish and Azeri territorial
    demands;

    6. that the ex-Soviet Republics officially recognize the historical fact
    of the ‘Muslim Holocaust’ and include the cold-blooded extermination of
    2.5 million Muslim and Sephardic Jewish people in their history books.

    The awareness of the Turkish, Azeri, Kurdish and Sephardic Jewish people
    of the necessity of solidarity in the efforts to pursue the Muslim and
    Jewish Cause is seen by the victims of the first genocide of the 20th
    century, perpetrated by the Armenians, as a positive step. Furthermore,
    a new generation has risen — equipped with a deep sense of commitment,
    politically mature and conscious, who determinedly pursue the Muslim
    and Jewish Cause, through all necessary means, ranging from the political
    and diplomatic to the armed struggle. Therefore, the victims of the
    ‘Muslim
    Holocaust’ call upon all Sephardic Jews and Muslims in the United States
    and Canada to participate vigorously in the political, cultural and
    religious
    activities of the 80th Anniversary of the Armenian genocide of 2.5 million
    Muslim and Sephardic Jewish people.

    ——-

    On behalf of 2.5 million Muslims and Sephardic Jews exterminated by the
    Armenians in ex-Russian Armenia and Eastern Anatolia between 1914 and
    1920, I wish to thank you for articulating the first genocide of this
    century in such a productive manner even though I found the tone of UTA’s
    letter rather strong.

    Leonard Ramsden Hartill, _Men Are Like That_ The Bobbs-Merrill
    Company, Indianapolis (1926).
    _Memoirs of an Armenian officer who participated in the Armenian
    genocide of 2.5 million Muslim people_

    p. 202 (first and second paragraphs)

    _We closed the roads and mountain passes that might serve as
    ways of escape for the Tartars and then proceeded in the work
    of extermination. Our troops surrounded village after village.
    Little resistance was offered. Our artillery knocked the huts
    into heaps of stone and dust and when the villages became untenable
    and inhabitants fled from them into fields, bullets and bayonets
    completed the work. Some of the Tartars escaped of course. They
    found refuge in the mountains or succeeded in crossing the border
    into Turkey. The rest were killed. And so it is that the whole
    length of the borderland of Russian Armenia from Nakhitchevan to
    Akhalkalaki from the hot plains of Ararat to the cold mountain
    plateau of the North were dotted with mute mournful ruins of
    Tartar villages. They are quiet now, those villages, except for
    howling of wolves and jackals that visit them to paw over the
    scattered bones of the dead._

    A. Lalayan, _Revolutsionniy Vostok (Revolutionary East)_
    No: 2-3, Moscow, 1936.
    -One of the architects of the Armenian genocide
    of 2.5 million Muslim people_

    _I killed Muslims by every means possible. Yet it is
    sometimes a pity to waste bullets for this. The best
    way is to gather all of these dogs and throw them into
    wells and then fill the wells with big and heavy stones,
    as I did. I gathered all of the women, men and children,
    threw big stones down on top of them. They must never live
    on this earth._

    _The New York Times_ November 7, 1914

    _Massacre of Muslims by Armenians Reported in Van_

    Stanford J. Shaw, _On Armenian Massacres of Muslims in 1914_
    (London, Cambridge University Press 1977). pp. 315-316.

    _In April 1915 Armenians from Russian Armenia organized a revolt in
    the city of Van, whose 33,789 Armenians comprised 42.3 percent of
    the population. Leaving Erivan on April 28, 1915, Armenian volunteers
    reached Van on May 14 and organized and carried out a general slaughter
    of the local Muslim population during the next two days._

    _U.S. Ambassador Bristol on the Armenian Genocide of 2.5 million Muslims_

    “U.S. Library of Congress” _Bristol Papers_ – General
    Correspondence Container #34.

    _While the Dashnaks [x-Russian Armenian Government] were in
    power they did everything in the world to keep the pot boiling
    by attacking Kurds, Turks and Tartars; by committing outrages
    against the Moslems; by massacring the Moslems; and robbing and
    destroying their homes. During the last two years the Armenians
    in Russian Caucasus have shown no ability to govern themselves
    and especially no ability to govern or handle other races under
    their power._

    _Bristol Papers_, General Correspondence: Container #32: Bristol
    to Bradley Letter of September 14, 1920.

    _I have it from absolute first-hand information that the
    Armenians in the Caucasus attacked Tartar (Muslim) villages
    that are utterly defenseless and bombarded these villages
    with artillery and they murder the inhabitants, pillage the
    village and often burn the village._

    On this occasion, we once again reiterate the unquestioned
    justice of the restitution of Turkish, Azeri, Sephardic Jewish
    and Kurdish rights and:

    — We demand that the puppet Russian Armenian Government admit
    its responsibility for the _Muslim Holocaust_, render reparations
    to the Muslim people, and return the land to its rightful
    owners. The recognition of the Genocide has become an issue
    which cannot be delayed further, and it is imperative that
    artificial obstacles created for political manipulations be
    removed.

    — We believe the time has come to demand from the the United
    States that it formally recognizes the _Muslim Holocaust_,
    adopts the principles of our demands and refuses to accede
    to Armenian pressures to the contrary.

    — As taxpayers of the United States, we express our vehement
    protest to the present U.S. Government policy of continued
    coddling, protection and unqualified assistance towards fascist
    Russian Armenia.

    — On the eve of 80th Anniversary Commemoration, the Turkish,
    Azeri and Kurdish communities are using every measure possible
    to render APRIL 23 as a day of official recognition in the
    countries in which they live. We are certain that the Turks,
    Azeris and Kurds in Turkiye and in the Diaspora would be greatly
    satisfied if APRIL 23 is officially designated a _Muslim Holocaust
    Day_ in ex-Soviet Muslim Republics.

    — During the 80th Anniversary, we come once again reiterate the unity
    of the Muslim and Sephardic Jewish People, the timelessness of the
    Turkish, Azeri and Kurdish Demands and the desire to pursue the
    struggle for that restitution — a struggle that unites all Muslims
    and Sephardic Jews.

    — Today, we appeal to all Turkish, Azeri, Jewish and Kurdish people
    in the United States and Canada to participate en masse in the
    Commemorative Events, be they cultural, political or religious.

    Crime of systematic cleansing by mass killing and extermination of
    Muslim population in Soviet Republic of Armenia, Karabag, Bosnia and
    Herzegovina is an ‘Islamic Holocaust’ comparable to extermination of
    2.5 million Muslims by Armenian Government during WWI and of over 6
    million European Jews during WWII.] (Tovfik Kasimov – September 25, ’92)

  • Nationalists react to SO-CALLED intellectuals’ courageous apology

    Nationalists react to SO-CALLED intellectuals’ courageous apology

    Turkey’s nationalists have been incensed about a group of Turkish intellectuals who recently apologized publicly for the “great disaster Ottoman Armenians suffered in 1915” in a country where even discussing Armenian claims of genocide at the hands of the Ottoman Empire can be cause for arrest.

    The reaction to a petition initiated by a group of intellectuals, led by popular professors Baskın Oran and Ahmet İnsel and journalists Ali Bayramoğlu and Cengiz Aktar, personally apologizing for the forced deportation of Armenians from their homes in the Turkish heartland in 1915, has shown yet again how courageous one must be to publicly announce his or her unorthodox opinions in Turkey, particularly if those opinions contradict the official ideology.

    In a phone interview with Today’s Zaman, Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) deputy for Erzurum Zeki Ertugay accused the signatories of being in “a state of hysteria.” He stressed that it was not Armenians who suffered at the hand of Ottoman Turks, but Turks who were assaulted by Armenians. “Erzurum suffered most from that cruelty.

    Every house has memories of people butchered by Armenians. I regard apologizing to the Armenians as an insult to the Turkish nation. People who call themselves intellectuals have not even been enlightened about their own history. A stain of shame like genocide has never taken place in the history of the Turkish nation. If there is somebody who needs to apologize, it is the Armenians and the Western states that provoked the Armenians against the Turks by promising them a state of their own.”

    Behiç Çelik, a MHP deputy from Mersin, was equally enraged. “It is impossible to refer to these people as intellectuals. The so-called intellectuals trying to apologize to Armenians do not know the past. They don’t know history. There has never been any genocide in the history of the Turkish nation. Apologizing even for the deportation is not acceptable, because deportations have been carried out by many nations, not just Turkey. The US relocated Native Americans, Russia deported the Kazaks and the Crimean Tatars. Their intellectuals never apologized to anybody.”

    Ultranationalist media outlets and pundits were also furious. The Yeni Çağ (New Age) daily referred to the petition as a “campaign to smear Turkey.” Yusuf Halaçoğlu, a well-known ultranationalist who formerly headed the Turkish Historical Society (TTK), said the real target here was connected to Turkey’s new foreign policy initiative, started in early September with President Abdullah Gül and Foreign Minister Ali Babacan visiting Yerevan for a soccer match between the national teams of Turkey and Armenia. “The aim here is to foment public opinion to be able to take that earlier initiative to the next level,” Halaçoğlu said.

    He said only 22,000 people died before 1915, the year of the forced deportation. “Will they apologize for those, too? Or will the Armenians announce with whom they cooperated when the Ottoman Empire was fighting world powers? Are they going to publicly announce how many Armenians were part of the French and Russian armies at the time? Armenians, as people who cooperated with the enemy in their own countries, have lost this war. This is the state of affairs as it stands today,” he said.

    Historian Cemalettin Taşkıran was quoted in nationalist newspapers as saying, “This is the biggest betrayal that could be shown to our forefathers.” Taşkıran said the campaign was set up to hurt the unity of the Turkish nation and to prepare the way for Turkey’s eventual recognition of Armenian claims of genocide.

    The intellectuals’ group is calling on other people to sign the petition posted online, which reads as follows: “I cannot conscientiously accept the indifference to the great disaster that Ottoman Armenians suffered in 1915, and its denial. I reject this injustice and, acting of my own will, I share the feelings and pains of my Armenian brothers and sisters, and I apologize to them.”

    The organizers of the campaign have underlined that first they will collect signatures from intellectuals and they will then open a secure Web site to collect signatures.

    The Armenian population that was in Turkey before the establishment of Turkish Republic was forced to emigrate in 1915, and, according to some, the conditions of this expulsion are the basis of Armenian claims of genocide.

    06.12.2008
    News
    E.BARIŞ ALTINTAŞ, ERCAN YAVUZ

  • Turks Create False Impressions To Block Obama’s Promises

    Turks Create False Impressions To Block Obama’s Promises

    ERMENI FANATIKDEN BIR MAKALE 


    Publisher, The California Courier
    Senior Contributor, USA Armenian Life Magazine
    Turkish officials are in a mad rush. Informed by Washington insiders that President-elect Barack Obama intends to carry out his promises to Armenians, the Turkish government is anxious to conclude an agreement with Armenia in order to block the incoming administration and/or Congress from taking a stand on the Armenian Genocide.

    For years, Ankara repeatedly rejected Yerevan’s offers to normalize relations without preconditions. Hoping that Armenia would buckle under intense economic pressure, Turks placed strict demands for lifting the blockade and establishing diplomatic relations. Armenia had to refrain from efforts for genocide recognition, accept Turkey’s territorial integrity, and relinquish Artsakh (Karabagh) to Azerbaijan.

    A few months ago, the two sides appeared to have reached an arrangement whereby Pres. Serzh Sargsyan would agree to Turkey’s request to form a joint study group on the Armenian Genocide, as part of a larger inter-governmental commission that would deal with a host of bilateral issues, on condition that Turkey would first establish diplomatic relations and opens its border with Armenia.

    Soon after, Pres. Abdullah Gul made an unprecedented trip to Yerevan at the Armenian President’s invitation to watch a soccer match between the national teams of the two countries. Both leaders received high praise and encouragement from the international community for their “football diplomacy.”
    Relations between the two countries seemed to be on the mend, until Turkey’s leaders, misjudging Pres. Sargsyan’s eagerness to have the Turkish border opened, demanded additional and unacceptable concessions from Armenia. They asked that Armenians initially withdraw from a small area on the periphery of Artsakh and announce the formation of the study group on the genocide prior to the convening of the wider inter-governmental commission.

    In making these demands, the Turkish leaders were trying to accomplish two contradictory objectives. On the one hand, they were pressuring Armenia into making as many concessions as possible. On the other hand, they desperately want to reach a quick agreement with Yerevan before Pres. Obama enters the White House next month.

    When Armenia rejected Turks’ excessive demands, Turkish authorities decided to switch tactics and attempt a more effective approach: Create the impression in Washington that Armenians and Turks are making good progress in resolving their differences, even though in reality they are not!

    To implement this new policy, Ankara persisted in placing a positive spin on all official contacts with Armenia. For example, Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian’s trip to Istanbul on November 24, to chair the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) conference, was repeatedly mischaracterized by the Turkish side as a visit to discuss with Foreign Minister Ali Babajan the improvement of relations with Armenia.

    Also, Turkish officials and media have beenrepeating ad nauseam that Armenia’s President would be visiting Turkey shortly, thus giving the false impression that the two sides are about to resolve their differences. In reality, Pres. Sargsyan is not expected to go to Istanbul until October 2009, when the Armenian and Turkish national soccer teams meet again.

    Yet another falsehood spread by the Turkish media, for the sole purpose of manipulating American and international public opinion, is that Armenia has accepted to participate in a joint study group on the Armenian Genocide, even after Pres. Sargsyan’s announcement that such a commission was “absolutely unnecessary.” Armenia’s President expressed his concern that such a study would actually “mislead” the international community.

    In another diversionary tactic, Turkish authorities announced last week that they are considering the accreditation to Armenia of their current Ambassador to Georgia, who would continue to be stationed in Tbilisi. This is a clever attempt to claim that Turkey has taken a major step in establishing diplomatic relations with Armenia! Meanwhile, Turkish Airlines announced last week that it is planning to start charter flights to Armenia — another attempt at creating a false impression of the ostensibly improving Armenian-Turkish relations.

    In support of their government’s propaganda, Turkish newspapers have been publishing interviews with Armenians and Turks who are engaged in a variety of joint cultural and business activities and predicting that Armenia would have a thriving economy once the border with Turkey is opened. The Turkish press does not interview, however, Armenians who demand justice for the crimes committed by the Ottoman Turkish government during the Genocide.

    It is regrettable that certain Armenian individuals, driven by their narrow self-interest, have made statements to the Turkish media that help reinforce the false impression that Armenians and Turks are getting along perfectly well, and outsiders like the United States should not take any initiatives that would ruin this budding friendship!

    The fact of the matter is that Armenians worldwide will continue to view Turkey with deep misgivings as long as the Turkish government pursues its morally bankrupt policy of making demands rather than amends.

  • Gul Hosts Karzai and Zardari for a Trilateral Summit in Istanbul

    Gul Hosts Karzai and Zardari for a Trilateral Summit in Istanbul

    Gul Hosts Karzai and Zardari for a Trilateral Summit in Istanbul

    Publication: Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 5 Issue: 232
    December 5, 2008 02:19 PM Age: 3 hrs
    Category: Eurasia Daily Monitor, Turkey, Foreign Policy
    By: Saban Kardas

    Turkey is hosting another major international gathering, marking its growing profile in regional and international diplomacy. Turkish President Abdullah Gul has brought together Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari in a trilateral meeting being held in Istanbul on December 5 (www.cnnturk.com, December 5).

    This is the second such trilateral summit that Turkey has arranged. The presidents of Turkey, Afghanistan, and Pakistan met for the first time on April 29 and 30, 2007, in Ankara. At that time the Pakistani and Afghan leaders issued the so-called Ankara Declaration, which underlined their intention to take concrete steps toward regional development and the fight against terrorism. Following the meeting, the parties agreed to form a joint working group to follow up on the conclusions of the summit and maintain the trilateral process (Stratejik Analiz, June 2007; www.asam.org.tr).

    Gul extended his invitation for a new meeting to his counterparts during the UN General Assembly in September 2008, and they accepted. After deliberations over the scheduling, the three heads of state finally decided to meet in Istanbul. The main items on the summit agenda are cooperation in security and the economy. The joint working group composed of senior-level officials met the day before to discuss the specific areas set in the first trilateral meeting. Given Turkey’s experience, the parties are expected to reach an agreement to train Afghan and Pakistani officers in Turkey’s anti-drug trafficking and anti-terrorism educational centers. The joint declaration prepared by the working group will be approved by the leaders and made public. Moreover, representatives of the business sector met within the framework of the Istanbul Forum founded by the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB) with it’s the equivalent bodies from Afghanistan and Pakistan (www.cankaya.gov.tr, December 3; www.cnnturk.com, December 5).

    The inclusion of the private sector and economic issues as a separate group reflects Turkey’s recent foreign policy philosophy that a comprehensive solution to political problems can be built on the foundations of strong economic cooperation.

    Some Turkish observers nonetheless criticize the fact that the real purpose of such a “trilateral” mechanism has never been clear, and the details of such talks have not been made public (ANKA, December 4). Several bilateral contacts undertaken as part of the wider event are significant. On the sidelines of the summit Karzai and Zardari are holding bilateral talks with each other, and each is meeting separately with Gul.

    By initiating this trilateral process, Turkey is seeking to increase trust between the two neighbors through high-level contacts, as well as build an infrastructure for cooperation (www.trt.net.tr, December 5). Turkey’s main asset is its positive bilateral relations with both neighbors and its relatively neutral position toward their bilateral problems. Turkey has traditionally considered Pakistan a sister nation and maintained close ties with Islamabad, despite the occasional changes in each country’s domestic politics. Turkey has had a similar relationship with Afghanistan. It has played an active role in international efforts to rebuild Afghanistan and has supported the central government since the U.S. invasion. Turkey has been part of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) since its inception.

    Moreover, as a Muslim country integrated into Western security architecture, Turkey is in a unique position to facilitate cooperation between these countries and the Western powers. Turkey’s new role from January 2009 as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council is likely to also augment its leverage in this area.

    Turkey’s bilateral meetings with Pakistan and Afghanistan further highlight its attempts to become involved in the current sensitive issues of South Asian diplomacy. Prime Minister Erdogan visited New Delhi in November (EDM, November 25). Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa was in Turkey on December 2 as Gul’s official guest, and several bilateral agreements were signed during his stay (www.cankaya.gov.tr, December 3).

    Turkey’s activism in the region is particularly welcome to Pakistan. Pakistani sources praised the contribution of past Turkish efforts in “removing misunderstandings and enabling the two countries [Pakistan and Afghanistan] to focus on collaborative measures for bringing stability to the region.” Pakistani foreign office officials also expect the trilateral meeting to contribute to progress and prosperity in the region (Associated Press of Pakistan, December 4; www.thearynews.com, December 4).

    Islamabad is also taking advantage of Turkish mediation in other countries. The United States and Afghanistan have criticized Islamabad for failing to fight the Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants in Pakistan’s tribal areas. When U.S. missile strikes and American incursions into Pakistani territory raised tension in the region, Pakistan approached Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to use his county’s influence among NATO members and the United States to stop these military operations (www.dunyabulteni.net, November 3).

    After the deadly terror attacks in Mumbai severed relations between India and Pakistan, Erdogan and Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan engaged in extensive telephone diplomacy with Pakistani and Indian officials, contributing to worldwide efforts to ease tension between the two nuclear nations. At his Pakistani counterpart’s request, Erdogan spoke with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, calling on them to prevent tension between India and Pakistan from escalating. An additional asset here was Turkey’s good relations with India (Zaman, December 1).

    Turkey’s role in initiating this trilateral dialogue highlights its new role as a peace-broker in regional disputes. Turkey has successfully asserted itself as a mediator in the talks between Syria and Israel and between the Palestinians and Israel. It has proposed a Caucasus Stability and Cooperation Platform and has offered its services to mediate in the Iranian nuclear issue. This new activism has earned Turkey applause. U.S. President George W. Bush recently called Gul to congratulate him for his country’s efforts in fostering cooperation between the presidents of Afghanistan and Pakistan, as well as Turkey’s constructive role in Iraq (Anadolu Ajansi, December 4).

    https://jamestown.org/program/gul-hosts-karzai-and-zardari-for-a-trilateral-summit-in-istanbul/