The Peak Public Affairs Committee of the Armenian-Australian Community
SYDNEY: Australia’s Federal Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, the Honourable Mr. Joe Hockey reaffirmed his commitment to advocate for recognition of the Armenian Genocide by the Federal Government of Australia, during a meeting with the Armenian National Committee of Australia last week.

Mr. Hockey declared: “My support for Armenian Genocide recognition is unwavering.” ANC Australia President, Mr. Varant Meguerditchian welcomed the Minister’s reaffirmation and leadership on this important issue, stating: “Affirmation of the Armenian Genocide is a fundamental step toward ensuring that similar crimes are not repeated.”

As the Federal Member for North Sydney, Mr. Hockey has been a longstanding supporter of the Armenian community and Armenian Genocide recognition. His recent comments follow a 2005 visit to the Republic of Armenia where he laid a wreath at the ‘Tzitzernagapert’ Genocide Memorial Monument in memory of the victims of the Armenian Genocide.

Considered to be the first genocide of the twentieth century by historians and academics, the systematic slaughter of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians between 1915 and 1923 by the Ottoman Government has been recognised by prominent legislative bodies; among these are the governments of Germany, Canada, France, Russia, Argentina, the Netherlands and Belgium. In 1997, the Parliament of NSW became the first legislative body in Australia to recognise and condemn the genocide of the Armenians.

http://anc.org.au/news/Minister%20Joe%20Hockey%20Reaffirms%20Support%20of%20Genocide%20Recognition

Turkey honors lost soldiers on 95th anniversary of Battle of Gallipoli

Thursday, March 18, 2010
ISTANBUL - Daily News with wires


Turkish and foreign officials marked the 95th anniversary of the victory at Çanakkale during World War I around the country Thursday.

From April 25, 1915, to Jan. 9, 1916, a joint British and French operation was mounted to capture the Ottoman capital of Istanbul and secure a sea route to Russia. The attempt failed, with heavy casualties on both sides.

The events, which are considered the Ottoman Empire’s biggest achievement during World War I, are known in the West as the “Gallipoli Campaign” or the “Battle of Gallipoli.”
The ceremony in Çanakkale, in northwestern Turkey, commemorated the soldiers killed during battle, who are buried in war graves in Gallipoli. It included a moment of silence and the singing of the national anthem.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan attended the ceremonies with Cabinet ministers. Chief of General Staff Gen. İlker Başbuğ also traveled to Çanakkale although it was not part of his official program. He was accompanied by commanders of the Turkish Army, Navy and Air Forces.

95 yilda dunya mahkemeleri bizi mahkum edemedi,simdi de safligimizdan yararlanipkendimizi mahkum etmemizi saglamaya calismiyorlar mi?
Bir cok yandas medya ve sozde Turk aydinin surekli yaptigi bir kandirmaca bu yazida da yok mu?
3T den( Tani-Tazminat-Toprak) vazgecegini sananlar ancak ya cok saftir ya dakuvvetli isbilikcilerdir diye dusunuyorum.
Asagidaki adrese goruslerinizi yazabilirsiniz...

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article7050541.ece
From The Times March 5, 2010 Pragmatism, politics and the festering wound of Armenian 'genocide'Tony Halpin: analysis

The political battle in the United States over recognition of the Armenian genocide boils down to a simple calculation: is the cost in spoilt relations with Turkey outweighed by respect for the memory of 1.5 million victims?

President Obama promised during his election campaign to recognise the massacres of 1915-23 as genocide at the annual commemoration on April 24, saying: “I believe that the Armenian Genocide is not an allegation, a personal opinion, or a point of view, but rather a widely documented fact supported by an overwhelming body of historical evidence . . . As President, I will recognise the Armenian Genocide.”

He ducked out last year, arguing that he was supporting the historic “football diplomacy” that led Armenia and Turkey to sign protocols establishing diplomatic relations. Those protocols, which include a planned commission on historical issues, are now bogged down by objections in Turkey, adding to fears in Ankara that Mr Obama will keep his pledge this time. US presidents routinely mark April 24 with statements acknowledging the massacres while bowing to Turkish demands not to label them “genocide”.

George W. Bush called them “historic mass killings”, President Clinton settled on “deportations and massacres”, while Mr Obama used the Armenian term “Meds Yeghern” or “Great Catastrophe”.
Ankara has warned that US recognition would seriously damage relations. It argues that the slaughter that took place as the Ottoman Empire crumbled during the First World War was not genocide but part of a civil conflict that killed between 300,000 and 500,000 Armenians and a similar number of Turks. As Nato’s only Muslim member, with an important US air base at Incirlik and involvement in key American defence projects such as the troubled F35 fighter jet, Turkey has numerous cards to play.

But while it continually threatens Nato allies with repercussions, relations with Russia, which has always recognised the Armenian genocide, have never been warmer. Pragmatism in cosying up to its principal gas supplier apparently trumps the tub-thumping employed in the US.

The British Government has been similarly spineless on the Armenian question, despite ample contemporary evidence, as a recent study, by Geoffrey Robertson, of Foreign and Commonwealth Office evasiveness showed. It refuses even to allow the Armenian genocide to be mentioned on National Holocaust Memorial Day for fear of upsetting Turkey.

The irony is that modern Turkey is not being blamed for the past. Armenia has recognised its current borders and has repeatedly stated that it has no claims on land in eastern Turkey that once formed western Armenia.

Reparations will be an issue for the reconciliation process. But for the dwindling number of survivors and millions of descendants in Armenia’s global diaspora, Turkish recognition of their suffering and an apology would be the most valuable reparation of all.

US votes on Armenian genocide !

RECENT ARTICLES AFTER THE 23-22 VOTE


Disrespectful Propaganda By ANCA
Saturday, 06 March 2010 15:14

Getting more unabashed with the adoption of so called Armenian genocide resolution in the Foreign Affairs Committee of U.S. House of Representatives, Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) has published a picture, in which Turkish flag is wrapped on the mouth of the statue of liberty.
Publishing an announcement titled "End Turkey's Gag Rule", one of the major lobbying organizations of Armenian diaspora, ANCA wrote that a foreign country has placed gag-rule on the nation's recognition of so called Armenian genocide. The announcement reads, "Using threats and intimidation to block legislation that simply calls upon us all to apply the lessons of this atrocity to help prevent future crimes against humanity."

Going further with baseless claims, ANCA claimed that Turkey outlaws discussion of Armenian allegations, forgetting that Turkey calls Armenia to open archives and establish a joint committee of historians to make researches on 1915 incidents but this initiative cannot be realized because Armenia drags feet. As it claims that Turkey wants to export its "restrictions" to the United States, ANCA should be reminded that a group of intellectuals in Turkey went further than discussing the issue and apologized to Armenians in their behalf. On the other hand, we are sure that Armenian diaspora in United States would love to see a resolution (like the one that France adopted due to the Armenian diaspora's gag-rule in the country) that penalizes denial of Armenian allegations related to 1915 incidents, if they could.

Stating that Turkey puts pressure on the U.S. lawmakers and restricts the free speech of US, ANCA published a picture that Turkish flag is wrapped on the mouth of the statue of liberty. Turkishny.com calls ANCA to be respectful to the Turkish flag and to immediately remove the picture in which our national symbol is used as a propaganda material.


…………….


WALL STREET JOURNAL

REVIEW & OUTLOOK
MARCH 5, 2010
But Who Needs Allies?
"Congress poisons U.S.-Turkey relations."

The diplomats at the House Foreign Affairs Committee yesterday
adopted a view on the urgent matter of world events that
transpired 95 years ago. By a 23-22 margin, the committee
declared that the mass deportations and serial massacres of
Armenians by Ottoman forces during World War I ought to be
called a genocide. The vote has sparked a full-blown diplomatic
spat with Turkey—with Ankara recalling its ambassador to
Washington—but that's really no big deal, says Foreign Affairs
Chairman Howard Berman (D., Calif.).

So much for the new era of U.S. appreciation for the
sensitivities and cultural nuances of America's allies. Instead,
Mr. Berman -- who is often sensible -- airily suggested that the Turks
should not allow their relations with the U.S. "to get
sidetracked by a nonbinding resolution passed by the House of
Representatives." At least the Bush Administration was prepared
to antagonize allies only on issues that really mattered.

It was left to the losing side in the House vote to point out,
as Indiana Republican Mike Pence did, that now is probably not
the best time to antagonize Ankara. Turkey is one of the few
NATO allies that has substantially increased its troop presence
in Afghanistan, and has responsibility for security in Kabul.
Turkey also has an important influence over events in Iraq,
which this weekend holds national elections that will affect the
pace and ease of American withdrawal.

The House vote's most baleful effects may be on Turkey's
relations with Armenia itself. In October, the two countries
signed a historic agreement to normalize relations and open
their common border. The treaty, now before the parliaments of
both countries, contains provisions to establish "an impartial
scientific examination of the historical records and archives."
How is it that what's good enough for the Armenian government
fails to pass muster with the U.S. Congress?

If the Members were really concerned about Turkey's human-rights
record, they might concern themselves instead with what the
Turkish government is doing in the present, which Turkish
analyst Soner Cagaptay describes in a nearby op-ed. As for
judgments upon the distant past, we'll look for truth in the
findings of historians and not grandstanding Congressional
resolutions.
Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page A20

………………


EURASIA INSIGHT TURKEY: ANKARA MULLS RESPONSE AFTER US CONGRESSIONAL VOTE ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
Yigal Schleifer 3/05/10

Turkey watchers in Washington must have been feeling a sense of déjà vu after the March 4 passage by a congressional committee of a resolution recognizing the mass killing of Armenians during World War I as genocide.

The same House Foreign Affairs Committee adopted a similar resolution in 2007, leading Turkey to recall its ambassador to Washington and warn of a serious rupture in relations with the United States. A last-minute intervention by the Bush administration kept the resolution from coming up for a vote in the full House of Representatives. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

Post-vote developments this time around are playing out in much the same way as in 2007. Ankara has again recalled its ambassador and has said its ties with Washington could be severely damaged, if the resolution continues on its way to a full vote.
[For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

"[For] a whole year Washington and Ankara are getting along very well, but come March storm clouds start forming," political analyst Mehmet Ali Birand wrote in his March 5 column in the English-language Hurriyet Daily News. "We are watching the same movie over and over again. The only difference is that with each passing year the intensity increases."

This year, the saga supposedly had a different plotline. The historic reconciliation framework that Turkey and Armenia signed last October was widely thought to take the legs out from under any effort to tar Turkey with the genocide label. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

But analysts say a stalled reconciliation process, along with Turkey’s deep emotional reaction to the genocide issue, have, once again, created a potentially damaging situation for Turkish-US relations. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

"We would not have been here, if the protocols had gone forward," says Hugh Pope, Turkey analyst with the International Crisis Group, a Brussels-based policy and advocacy group. "Turkey’s insisting on the conditionality, which was not part of the protocols, has led us to where we are today." Pope was referring to a government demand that Turkish ratification of the reconciliation accords was contingent on movement on the status of Nagorno-Karabakh, a region of Azerbaijan occupied by Armenian forces.

The signing of the accords was initially hailed in Turkey as an important breakthrough. But Ankara seemed to put the brakes on the process after the protocols whipped up strong domestic opposition, as well as criticism from Azerbaijan, a traditional Turkish ally that is also a key component in Ankara’s energy policy. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].
"Obviously there was an attempt by the Turkish authorities to try something else [other] than what they were doing for the last 95 years, and it failed," says Cengiz Aktar, director of the European Studies Department at Istanbul’s Bahcesehir University.

Now faced with another genocide resolution in Washington, Turkey appears to have returned to the same strategy that it relied on in previous years, one informed by a mix of deep emotional responses and political concerns. "It’s emotional because Turks are very much enraged to be portrayed as grandsons of people who committed genocide, especially when it happened during a time when tumultuous things were happing all over," says Sinan Ulgen, Chairman of the Center for Economics and Foreign Policy Studies (EDAM), an Istanbul think tank.

"The second aspect [of the Turkish reaction] is the political and legal question; namely if such a bill is adopted in congress, that might lead to a situation where Turkey might find itself as a defendant in a number of legal cases in the United States, which is something Turkey doesn’t want to find itself in," Ulgen added.

One of the important questions now is how far is Ankara willing to take things if the resolution goes to the House for a full vote -- something that Speaker Nancy Pelosi has yet to decide on.
Brad Sherman, a Democrat from California, called Turkey a "paper tiger" and noted that, although France passed a resolution recognizing the genocide in 2001, trade between those two countries has since flourished.

Bahcesehir’s Aktar says he also believes Turkey’s threats are a "bluff." But Ulgen predicted that "all bets are off" if Congress actually adopts the resolution, noting that the genocide issue is "an area where identity and emotion are in a sense superseding pure interests."
"Turkey will certainly feel impelled to take retaliatory action against the United States," Ulgen said. He went on to suggest that retaliation could "take the form of non-cooperation in terms of Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, and possibly leading to restrictions on the use of strategic assets, like the Incirlik air base - areas where there is important cooperation."

Another important question is just what happens to the stalled Turkey-Armenia reconciliation process?

"We are determined to press ahead with normalization of relations with Armenia," Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on March 5 during a news conference in Ankara.
But analysts believe the fragile protocols may become a victim of political maneuvering in Washington over the genocide issue. "[Passing the resolution is] a bad idea. Even if it’s done with best intentions by the congressmen, what it will do is hand the process back to the nationalists on both the Turkish and Armenian sides," says the ICG’s Pope.

Added Aktar: "Yesterday’s vote is the last nail in the coffin of these protocols, at least for the time being. I can’t imagine a Turkish government ratifying the protocols right now, even if the Armenian government unilaterally ratifies them."

Posted March 5, 2010 © Eurasianet
http://www.eurasianet.org

………………..


US vote on Armenian genocide angers Turkey
VALENTINA POP
05.03.2010 @ 10:45 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – Ankara on Thursday (4 march) recalled its ambassador from Washington in protest over a resolution passed by US lawmakers recognising the Armenian genocide in 1915.

The foreign affairs committee in the US Congress narrowly passed a non-binding resolution condemning as "genocide" the First World War killings of 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman empire.

Turkey strongly rejects the term genocide to describe the mass killings of Armenians back in 1915



Ankara reacted immediately by withdrawing its ambassador from Washington. Turkey rejects the genocide label and argues that 300,000 to 500,000 Armenians and at least as many Turks died when Christian Armenians took up arms against their Ottoman rulers and sided with invading Russian troops.

"We condemn this draft resolution, accusing the Turkish nation with a crime that it has not committed," a statement from the Turkish government read.

The government also warned that the move may jeopardise a timid revival of Turkish-Armenian relations, which was strongly supported and mediated by the US and praised by the EU in its last monitoring report.

The agreement signed last year is still pending the approval of the parliaments in Ankara and Erevan.

"Turkey plays a key role in regional security and the promotion of dialogue between civilisations. Significant diplomatic efforts to normalise relations with Armenia were made, resulting in the signature of protocols for the normalisation of relations in October 2009. It is important that these protocols are swiftly ratified by both countries," the commission report reads.

The rapprochement was one of the few positive developments noted by Brussels in the last year. Turkey is moving toward EU requirements for membership slowly, after having started negotiations in 2005. Relations with its neighbours are "key" to its progress said the EU commission.

EU mediation efforts have also been deployed in a frozen conflict involving ethnic Armenians in Turkey's neighbouring country and strong ally, Azerbaijan. The enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh is still controlled by Armenia, after a brief war in the early 1990s, which was backed by Russia. Both Armenia and Azerbaijan are part of the EU's so-called Eastern Partnership aimed at boosting ties with post-Soviet countries.

U-turn on Armenian genocide

The US resolution, which was approved with 23 to 22 votes, calls on President Barack Obama to recognise the "genocide" in his presidential statement marking the Armenian remembrance day on 24 April.

The Obama administration had warned the congress against adopting such a resolution, which may upset its relations with Turkey, a key Nato ally of strategic importance for the US in the Middle East, Iraq and Afghanistan.

Such approach marks something of a u-turn from Mr Obama's pledges during the campaign trail leading to his election in 2008, when he repeatedly said that "America deserves a leader who speaks truthfully about the Armenian genocide."

Last year, during a common press conference with his Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gul, Mr Obama carefully avoided the term "genocide" and only referred to a "difficult and tragic history," saying that it was up to historians to decide the terminology.

French parallel

A similar resolution was passed by EU member France, which is very sceptical of Turkey's membership bid to the bloc, as well as Canada.

Meanwhile, a French insurance company, Axa, is said to have paid compensation to thousands descendants of Armenians massacred in World War I based on life insurance policies taken at the time.
Hilda Tchoboian, the head of an Armenian association in the French city of Lyon, told AFP that Axa had agreed to pay nearly 1,000 Armenian, French and American families, and had started sending cheques of about €8,000 each.

Axa is the second insurance company to pay compensation to descendants of massacred Armenians. US company New York Life agreed in 2005 to pay €8.8 million euros to victims' heirs.


………………….


Leylekian: Armenian Genocide Denial: The Turkish Vietnam
By Laurent Leylekian


Once again, Turkish diplomacy is facing a dead-end. Once again, they thought they could succeed by throwing the Armenian Genocide into oblivion with the notorious protocols process. But their own inconsistency and lack of sincerity prevented them from blocking—through the final ratification of these protocols—the course of genocide recognition and the issue of what Turkish-occupied Western Armenian territories.

Thus, once again, platoons of Turkish diplomats will have to go to Washington, D.C., Stockholm, Switzerland, or elsewhere to try to prevent new resolutions, new momentum, new TV broadcasts, or any kind of new genocide-related initiative somewhere in the world.
Turkey is sending its massive PR artillery with the same lack of discernment with which the U.S. used its B52s in Vietnam. Through huge napalm-like injections of money, through nauseous orange agent-like corporate lobbying, through special operations and despicable briberies, they have generally succeeded in temporarily putting out the fire. But as soon as a blaze is supposed to be cooled down, another one appears somewhere else.

Italic text is (of course) the lyrics of “The End”
–
The Doors.

This is the end
Beautiful friend
This is the end
My only friend, the end
Of our elaborate plans, the end
Of everything that stands, the end
No safety or surprise, the end
I’ll never look into your eyes…again

And the brave Turkish diplomats are more and more in despair on the diplomatic front. Year after year, young inexperienced envoys are sent by Turkey to the front—a front of disenchantment Turkey has created for itself—to fight for a cause they don’t share nor care about. They sometimes win certain rearguard battles with the help of their superior diplomatic and political equipment. But it is becoming harder and harder for them to win the hearts and minds of the people they intend to free from “genocide allegations.”

Can you picture what will be
So limitless and free
Desperately in need…of some…stranger’s hand
In a…desperate land
Lost in a Roman…wilderness of pain
And all the children are insane
All the children are insane
Waiting for the summer rain, yeah
And increasingly, they can see the contempt in their interlocutors’ eyes. And more and more often, Papa Erdogan has to be sent here or there, as a Bell “Huey” helicopter, to save doomed squadrons of private Mehmets from ambush. And actually, Huey Erdogan often succeeds but it doesn’t change the fact that those Turkish commandos who are supposed to bear the denial gospel are less convinced than the ones they are supposed to convince.


And they bitterly realize that without any money, without uniform, without counting on blackmail, but with sincere commitment and with the incomparable weight of Truth and Morality—like a rice bowl they are fed daily—the Hay-Minh from Armenia and the Hay-Congs from the Armenian Diaspora are far more credible. That their special operations trying to split the Western Hay-Congs from the Eastern Hay-Minh is totally failing.
There’s danger on the edge of town
Ride the King’s highway, baby
Weird scenes inside the gold mine
Ride the highway west, baby
Ride the snake, ride the snake
To the lake, the ancient lake, baby
The snake is long, seven miles
Ride the snake…he’s old, and his skin is cold

And some young Turkish citizens who were supposed to be “good patriots” are now wondering why they have to support hatred ideologies. Why they have to affirm with such suspicious insistence that they are “truly Turks” and hate Armenians. Why they have to use the word “Agri” instead of “Ararat.”

Why some of their old grand-aunts sometimes seem so sad and prudishly look away when Armenians are mentioned.

And why they start feeling some sympathy for Hrant Dink, for Armenians, for Assyrians, for Alevis.
The west is the best
The west is the best
Get here, and we’ll do the rest
The blue bus is callin’ us
The blue bus is callin’ us
Driver, where you taken’ us

And polls are now showing that more and more Turkish citizens are fed up with this insane denial policy and would like their country to be normal, to be democratic, to be open, to be hate-less, to be Susurluk and Kizil Elma and Ergenekon and Bozkurt-less, while their political leaders keep on burning millions of dollars. But now, even some of these leaders are wretchedly looking for unlikely B-plans. Today, after so many years of useless denial, they can’t confess that their state ideology is based on heinous lies.

The killer awoke before dawn, he put his boots on
He took a face from the ancient gallery
And he walked on down the hall
He went into the room where his sister lived, and…then he
Paid a visit to his brother, and then he
He walked on down the hall, and
And he came to a door…and he looked inside
Father, yes son, I want to kill you
Mother…I want to…f*** you
C’mon baby, take a chance with us
C’mon baby, take a chance with us
C’mon baby, take a chance with us
And meet me at the back of the blue bus
Doin’ a blue rock
On a blue bus
Doin’ a blue rock
C’mon, yeah
And the mask of respectability is now falling apart. Turkey’s leaders still try to appear as honest brokers in the Caucasus, in the Middle East, with Iran. But with their own rogue reputation, with their country’s poor record, and with their inability to put an end to the cycle of violence and impunity, they are simply failing. They cannot even appear as honest brokers for their own Turkish society, a society that is increasingly shaken by riots, violence, and rumors of plots, of conspiracies, of “balyoz” plans.
Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill
This is the end
Beautiful friend
This is the end
My only friend, the end
And the time is probably not so far away when, after countless Hué, Khe Sanh, and Tet offensives, ultimately Turkish “Hueys” will have to evacuate their left-behind credibility from the rooftops of ideological embassies—surrounded by Hay-Congs, Hay-Minhs, and allied genocide recognitions, motions, calls, demonstrations, and sittings—to carriers overcrowded with genocide deniers, retired ambassadors, crooks and crooked lobbyists, losers, and wheeler-dealers.
It hurts to set you free
But you’ll never follow me
The end of laughter and soft lies
The end of nights we tried to die
This is the end

And the time is probably not so far either, when Turkey will collapse as did other people’s prison houses, under the unbearable weight of its own contradictions between what it ought to be and what it is, under the intolerable curse of hate against anyone and everyone, against others and itself, under the insupportable actuality of a genocide and of its denial. And this will be the end.
Laurent Leylekian is the editor of the biweekly France-Arménie(www.france-armenie.net). From 2001 to December 2009, he was the executivedirector of the European Armenian Federation for Justice and Democracy(www.eafjd.eu). He is married, with two children. The author thanks Jirair Momjian for copyediting the article.


MAXIME’S COMMENT:

Laurent Leylekian is a mad, sick, ill person; I believe that he is worse than Harout Sassounian himself. I will sue him for defamation and interference in a court case, because he wrote in January of this year that my complaint is “the spearhead of denialist offensive in France”. If can find one Turkish association with one brain in France, he will be sued also for racist defamation and provocation to racial hate. He wrote an article so vitriolic about Turks, in October 2009, that by comparison, Jean-Marie Le Pen seems to be the president of Amnesty International for France. He asserted that the whole Turkish nation of today is “as guilty as Cain” (sic).

…………….



JEWISH-ARMENIAN COALITION LAUNCHES ARMENIAN GENOCIDE RECOGNITION EFFORT

By Laura Boghosian and Howard Jaffe, Guest Commentary
Watertown TAB & Press

March 4 2010
MA
WATERTOWN — In 2007, Massachusetts residents learned that the
Anti-Defamation League was denying the Armenian Genocide and lobbying
for the Turkish government to prevent Congressional recognition of
this crime against humanity. Fourteen communities, led by Watertown,
as well as the Massachusetts Municipal Association, subsequently
withdrew from the ADL’s No Place for Hate program in protest.

Many in the Jewish community were shocked that the ADL and other
national Jewish organizations would actively work to deny another
people’s genocide. Members of Lexington’s Temple Isaiah and Boston’s
Temple Israel decided to act, and with Boston-area Armenians, formed
the Coalition to Recognize the Armenian Genocide.

19 January, 2010 kl 22:53 "Gazeteciler yalan yazdı, benim söylediklerimi değil, söylemediklerimi yazdılar".

“Gazeteciler yalan yazdı, benim söylediklerimi değil, söylemediklerimi yazdılar”. Midyat’ta yaşayan Süryani Kuyumcu Gebro Tokgöz, Cihan Haber Ajansı tarafından kendisi ile yapılan görüşmede, söylemediklerinin yazıldığını ve haberin çarpıtıldığını iddia etti. Gebro Tokgöz, Cihan Haber Ajansı Muhabirleri’nin kendisi ile yaptıkları görüşmede, Midyat ve çevresinde öldürülen Süryanilerin Ergenekon veya başka bir grup tarafından öldürüldüğünü söylemediğini kaydetti.

Tokgöz, yaptığı yazılı açıklamada şöyle konuştu: “Benim söylediğim; 1980–2000 yılları arasında bölgede birçok Süryani vatandaşın faali meçhul cinayete kurban edildiğiydi ve bunların arasında Doktor Edward Tanrıverdi ve Akçakaya Mahallesi Muhtarı Yakup Mete de bulunmaktaydı.

Kaynak: http://midyathabur.com/haber_detay.asp?haberID=6079
http://www.assyrianews.com/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1&limit=19&limitstart=114

MPs to be asked to acknowledge WWI genocide
20 Jan, 2010 10:53 AM
SMITHFIELD MP Ninos Khoshaba will move that the genocide of Assyrian people during World War I is recognised by the NSW Government.
He will table the motion next month when Parliament reconvenes.
Mr Khoshaba, who is of Assyrian background, told the Champion last month that he would work towards gaining official recognition of the genocide for the Assyrian community.
''I was approached by the Assyrian Universal Alliance and other members of the Assyrian community requesting assistance in gaining official recognition in NSW of the Assyrian genocide,'' he said.
''I have raised a notice of motion in Parliament in order to recognise the Assyrian genocide which I hope to debate early in the new year.''
His motion includes condemnation of the genocide of the Assyrian people and all other acts of genocide, recognising the importance of remembering such events in order to ensure such crimes against humanity are not repeated and calling on the Commonwealth Government to ''officially condemn the genocide of the Assyrian people and any attempt to deny such crimes against humanity''.

Here are the letters of locals: (Thanks to the Honest Australians!!!)

How pathetic , this man should not be worrying about what happened years ago to the assyrian people , he should be worrying and looking into what is going on with the assyrian youth today !!!!!!!!!! Maybe this man needs to go down to stocklands or the t way and concentrate on the violence and vicious attacks that happen there . I challenge you , to sit there at night or even through the day and see if you feel safe Ninos . So please dont go worrying about what you cant change and start worrying about what you can change , that is what your job is about isnt it
Posted by with held, 21/01/2010 2:42:35 PM

Too much attention is given to the Assyrian Community over the history and past of their genocide. We have already acknowledge this appropriately, what more do they want!!. Allow these individuals to rest in peace rather than cause any more conflict within other races and so on. This is dissappointing to know, that we Australians have more serious issues which should be looked at and yet Mr Ninos obviously is concentrating on the wrong matters. Surely Ninos you can find other matters to investigate rather than giving your time to only your race. We have already acknowledged this matter, so get on with a new year full of hope and support to where it really needs it, in our community. Stop neglecting what really matters in our place. You can't save the world.......
Posted by ghonskyblue, 23/01/2010 1:41:35 PM

Human history is full of stone throwing, this has not taken us forward but backwards. Every tragedy has two sides and i am sure that the "ottomans" lost many women and children in this war...not just "armenians" Let us try to celebrate life instead of dwelling in the past...
Posted by mippy, 24/01/2010 10:39:32 AM

The only reason we are hearing so much about the assyrian genocide is because there is such a large assyrian community in fairfield. Hence, why we are hearing it, the majority on the council board from fairfield are Assyrian, or from an Assyrian background. This is just another public stunt to try and win votes. Enough said, this is just another political stunt. When will Fairfield council step up and start looking after the WHOLE community?
Posted by Politicians = crooks, 26/01/2010 10:25:40 PM

Dear Sir/Madam,

Attached contains a letter opposing the Australian-Assyrian claims.

As the Australia-Gallipoli Friendship Society, we wrote a letter with full of historical facts with resources.
More details are in the book called "Johnny Turks- Memoirs of Gallipoli- Honorable Enemy" which includes all the documents that written by the honest Australians, in 1915. These memoirs tell us Turks and Australian as well as others ( Armenians, Greeks, Assyrians) were all victims and fellow sufferers of the WWI.The responsible parties and the OIL are the one has pay the price of the WWI, not Turkey.

Attached letter includes;
1- Reasons of opposing the claims,
2- Details and facts that how the Assyrians revolted against Turks by global powers ( such as Britain, France, Russia) which the details taken from the book written by an Australian Prof. Dr. Jeremy Salt, 3-Other historical facts...

After reading the letter carefully, could you please reply this letter accordingly?

Kind regards,
Your electorate,
J.Gul Arslan Founder of the Australia-Gallipoli Friendship Society Inc.2002 'Peace and Harmony in Australia, Peace and Harmony in the Universe'
www.ausgallipoli.net

Sir Maurice Hankey: “Control of these resources becomes a first-class war aim”

Do we really need to inflame historical bases passions over false accusations?

What’s happened to the Australian multiculturalism?

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am writing this letter in regards to the so-called Assyrian genocide allegations towards Turkey, which will be discussed in your parliament on the 23rd of February 2010. I am a proud Turkish-Australian who has established a society called Australia-Gallipoli Friendship Society in 2002 which aimed to promote and improve friendship in between Australians and Turks.
Indenting, our relationship is a model to the rest of the world that only two country that respect each other even after the horrific war.
When we heard the NSW parliament is going to discuss and judge Turkey for a negative way whereas most of the Australians soldiers found Turks; a “Honourable Enemy” 2006, David McLachlan – president of RSL Victoria[1] ,
I have being telling the Turkish people in Turkey how the Australian parliamentarians re going to judge Turkey, on the 23 February 2010. Everyone who I told this bad news, Turks were all extremely angry and shocked by it since how the Turks embrace the Australians in Gallipoli every year.

I would like start with the following passage; “You will hear extraordinary horrible stories practiced by Turks. Well, don’t believe a word of them. They are grossly exaggerated if not wholly false. You will be surprised at the gentlemanly way the Turks has fought us.” [2] I have included more historical facts below in the letter. Reminding, when so-called genocide allegations asked the ex-Liberal Foreign Minister Mr. Downer on the 11 February 2007, he said that; “ ... in Australia we have a significant Turkish community, an ethnic Turkish community. We have an Armenian community that would not be anything like as big as the Turkish community. The debate is about events that occurred a long time ago, and I don’t think we are going to offer a running commentary on the events. Whatever we may think about history, we deal with the present and future, but we can’t change the past, not even the Australian government can change the past. If we could there would be a lot of changes we would make.”
What is the role of the Australian government, to be an historian?

Taking you back, millions of Turkish people also killed during the WWI (1911-1919), including the Gallipoli War? Why no one remembers that?
British propaganda revolting the Ottoman ethics (see the Fact[3] end of this letter)

As we all know that, Australia fought for almost nothing but for British Empire and lost many lives and its oil resources found by an Australian businessman. Ultimately, Australia gained nothing out of First World War Gallipoli War -1915 except its identity. Similar fate shared with Ottomans, Armenians, Greeks and Assyrians; they were all fellow sufferers.

Let me ask further;
Who remembers Iraqi people in Australian parliament now?
Who remembers Bosnian people in Australian parliament now?
Not many!, I wonder why not many?
Could it be a Muslim versus Christian issue? Isn’t that so backward? Please lets stop being unnecessarily discriminative!

The Australian Government have nothing to do with such issues. The only real thing that Australia and Turkey have in common is the Gallipoli campaign. Obviously everybody knows why Australia & Turkey fought against each other at Gallipoli; The Turks fought to save their own homeland and the Australians had to fight on behalf of the British Empire. If we need to judge the history in that case we have to accept some realities.What was the real reason of the WWI?
Would the answer be Oil?
Since Britain lacked oil in the home islands, British strategists wanted still more reserves to assure the future needs of their empire.
In eight months and half; 500.000 man killed because of oil !!! (How many know that an Australian businessman D’archy William Knox who found the oil in the Middle East in about 1907, after drilling down for about 7 years. The Australian businessman Knox who lost his wealth which taken by the British and an Armenian businessman; Calouste Gulbenkian - making him one of the world’s richest men). Despite of the Ottoman Empire (Turks) used to own half of the world’s ( Middle East) oil fields in the above mention fields and Turks gained almost nothing after the WWI but British and its allies gained the most of the oil fields. 95 years later, obviously, Australia supporting the false Armenians and Assyrians claims against Turkey WWI hasn’t ended yet in the mind of the Australian Politian’s. We believe that the Australian Government jeopardises multiculturalism but nothing much. If the Australian parliament continues to listen to small groups that keep on claiming this so called "Genocide" was caused by Turkey, then it’s un-Australian for the Australian Government to act like this.

FYI, the Bureau of Statistics says that 1 in 4 people living in Australia are either migrants or have a migrant parent. Australians have a distinct identity and most of us wish to maintain it. Foundations of modern Australia were built on migrants leaving their conflicts back in their homelands, and not perpetuating them here.
That is why Australian society is a success. This motion is going to be a bad move by the NSW parliament.


Let’s stop encouraging these groups to lobby against certain countries when they don't even have the true facts because it will create disharmony amongst all of us.
Australia should stop listening to groups who are lobbying against Turkey without the real facts. Reminding, Turkey welcomes thousands of Australians to Gallipoli every year because of Turkey was a country that killed people for no reason, we wouldn't be greeting Australians (who tried to take our country) with open arms by fostering this already significant relationship between Australia and Turkey. With this kind of actions such as recognition of so-called Armenian genocide or Assyrian Genocide etc…will make Australia nothing to gain but will lose the friendship and respect of Turkish people all over the world- about 200 million)

Whatever problems the Armenian's or Assyrian's have with Turkey, these problems should be solved by these countries themselves, what benefit does Australia get out of recognizing this so called "Assyrian Genocide" this time?Can history be judged by parliamentarians? Only historians can state the true facts! We must teach our next generations to love all cultures and respect them, so lets set an model to the rest of the world not, not join them!
We rely to the NSW parliament will to stop and not let to grow such foreign seeds in our Australian land.Let us focus and celebrate the things that unite us, rather than what divides us!Kind regards from Turkey,

J.Gul Arslan Founder of the Australia-Gallipoli Friendship Society Inc.2002 Author of the book named: ‘Johnny Turks – Honourable enemy of Australians –Memoirs of Gallipoli’ )www.ausgallipoli.net Blogs: http://proudturks.blogspot.com/http://johnnyturks-mediawatch.blogspot.com/http://johnnyturksinkorea.blogspot.com/http://faq-armeniandilemma.blogspot.com/

DETAILS:
[1] Mr. Mclachlan declared to the national media that he officially accepted the Victoria Turkish Community to march on Anzac days along side Australians on 12 th of April 2006 , “ Turks had been the enemy, Major-General McLachlan said. "But they were a very Honourable Enemy."http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/anzac-march-open-to-johnny-turk/2006/04/11/1144521340623.html

[2] Jim Haynes (Cobbers — Stories of Gallipoli 1915 p. 178).

[3] ( Powerful Secretary of the British War Cabinet, wrote to Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour during the war’s final stage, to argue that oil had become absolutely vital to Britain and that oil resources in Mesopotamia would be crucial in the future. Sir Maurice Hankey: “Control of these resources becomes a first-class war aim”
THE FACTS:
FACT 1:After the Australian history professor Jeremy Salt discovered a book called; ‘ The Great Game of Genocide’ ( written by Donald Bloxham) which contains faked photographs and documents. After complains, this book had to drop out from book store shelves.
FACT2:A book named; "The Genocide of Truth" opens to the world on internet at "www.armenians-1915.blogspot.com" Presented some 2000 verbatim excerpts from anti-Turkish writers & documents. There was no BENEFIT - TIME - PLACE - NUMBERS - CORPSES or even neutral eye witnesses. These are "money milking" fabrications selling hatred and victimization.
http://www.turkishny.com/hot-news/50/22738-suryani-soykrm-oyunu-bozuluyor.html

From the book : ‘Sacred Trust/ Small Wars in Iraq’Jeremy Salt
FACT3:The problems involved in resettling the Assyrians were vastly complicated by Britain’s creation of separate ethno-religious military units. Arabs and Kurds recruited for this purpose had to put up with public abuse and ostracism. They were assaulted with “ all sort of propaganda.

FACT4: The precise shares in the company were as follows: British Petroleum 23.75%, Royal Dutch Shell 23.75%, Compagnie Française des Petroles 23.75%, US consortium 23.75%, Calouste Gulbenkian 5%.
DETAILS:The Nestorian and Jacobite Assyrians were a small minority living among the Kurdish population of the Hakkari region. The Nestorain Assyrians belonged to the Holy Apolotolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East and the Jacobite Assyrians to the Syrian Orthodox Church) The Ottoman government had asked the Assyrians ( as well as Armenians) to remain neutral in the war, but in May 1915, with the Russians advancing into north-eastern Anatolia, Nestorians tribal and church leaders committed their people to war on the Russian side. The first blow was the treacherous murder on March 16,1918, of the patriarch Benyamin d’Mar Shimun by Ismail Aga, the Kurdish tribal leader known as Simko ( the “little man” ). In revenge attacks, hundreds of Kurdish villagers were killed and Simko –the “ Kurdish Zapara” – was forced to take flight. Salahi R. Sonyel, The Assyrians of Turkey: Victims of Major Power Policy ( Ankara: Turkish Historical Society,2001), 122
In 1918 British emissaries to Urmia encourage the Assyrians to stand firm against to the Turks assuring then that they would receive the protection due to a “small and a oppressed” people but apparently without holding out the specific promise of an independent state ( a claim contested by the Assyrians) Ibid, 98-108They also promised arms. The Assyrians had weapons left behind by the Russians but needed more. Towards the end of July more than a thousand men set out from Urmia to take delivery of arms and ammunition, only to find when they reached the rendezvous point that the British had left. In the mean time, Ottomans forces had closed in on Urmia,. A huge refugee column headed south. According to Arnold Wilson: “ Several thousand, mostly women and children, perished from exhaustion and disease on their way to Mesopotamia, a distance of some 500 miles, though every efforts was made by the military authorities at Hamadan and Kirmansiah to provide food and shelter.” Wilson, Loyalties,36. By the mean time the column reached Hamadan, 20.000 of the 50.000 Assyrians who left Urmia were thought to have died. In August the refugees were taken by lorry to a camp at Benhuba, north cost of Baghdad. Many were already to ill to survive., Between September 1918 and September 1919, 5089 Assyrians or Armenians or Armenians ( out of a camp population of about 50,000) died from typhus ot other diseases. Ozdemir, Salgi Hastaliklardan Olumler,355.]
Assyrian hope and British contemplation of an Assyrian buffer state that could be established across Ottoman, Persian and Iraqi borders came to nothing. Some Assyrians returned to Hakkari 1924 but were driven back across the border after an attempt was made to assassinate the Turkish governor of the province.. Seeing that the Assyrians could not return to their Turkish homeland, Britain sought to bring their homeland to them by asking the League of Nations to attach Hakkari to Iraqi, on the understanding that homes for the Assyrians would be found somewhere in the Mosul region. Assyrians hopes of being given a “separate and homogeneous existence” had now been dealt a lethal blow. In the view of British officials it would be impossible to find territory for their settlements as a “compact and organised community” in Iraq. Memorandum on the Assyrian Question”, August 25, 1934, RI: 604

Proposals were put forward to resettle the Assyrians in Albania, Brazil, Argentinean, Mexico, British, Guiana and Australia, whose government was prepared to relax its “white Australia” immigration policy because the Assyrians were Christians and not much different from the Italians in the colour of their skin. Sonyel, Assyrians of Turkey,174-75.
None of these schemes came to anything either the one thing the Assyrians did want they could never get, and that was the autonomy they thought they had been promised to entice them into the war.

The problems involved in resettling the Assyrians were vastly complicated by Britain’s creation of separate ethno-religious military units. Arabs and Kurds recruited for this purpose had to put up with public abuse and ostracism. They were assaulted with “ all sort of propaganda. For instance, they were openly called infidels in the bazaars and streets, tea and coffee would not be served to them in the coffee shops, in several cafes stone water pots from which thy had drunk were broken. Their female relatives would crowd around the barracks calling on their sons etc. by name to come and protect them. Those from the tribes realized that to stay with the Levies meant definitely cutting off relations with their tribes.”

Eventually the Arabs and Kurdish levies were integrated into the regular army, but the Assyrian levies several thousand strong , were retained as a separate unit and sent into action alongside regular British forces against Arab and Kurdish “rebels” Administration Report on Arabs and Kurdish Levies for Year 1920-1921” IAR,6.89.They were hard to discipline when their blood was up, but their bravery and their Christianity made them ideal candidates to fight under British command. The photograph show smartly dressed soldiers in Australian bush hats, obviously proud of their new status as embassy and airfield guards and fighting men in the field, but their use against their putative fellow countryman gave rise to fierce resentment. The Kurds, in particularly, sufferers heavy losses as the result of operations involving Assyrian ground forces and the RAF, The policy if moving Kurdish villagers in the Mosul region on make way for Assyrian settles (regarded as form of punishment for the murder of British officers by Kurdish) only depended the antagonism between the two groups. Wilson, Loyalties, 39-40In August 1923, the presence of armed Assyrians in the town of Mosul provoked a confrontation with the local people. On May 4. 1924 an alterations between the levies and Muslims shopkeepers in Kirkuk ended in a massacre of Muslim. The Assyrians opened up with their machine guns. According to a British account : “ In spite of the efforts of their British officers and native non-commissioned officers to restrain them, the Assyrians ran amok through the towns, firing at all Moslems of whom a number were killed, and looting shops and houses. Report on the Administration of Iraq for the Period April, 1923-December,1924, “IAR, 7:548.It was later estimated that the Assyrians had killed more than three hundred people Report on the Administration of Iraq for the Period April, 1923-December,1924, “IAR, 7:548.Only the arrival of British troops and armored cars prevented a wave of revenge bloodletting directed against Christians. Eight Assyrians were eventually found guilty of murder; the court was satisfied that they had opened fire on the townspeople with their Lewis guns, “ but as it could not be proved that they had actually killed anyone, the sentence of death was commuted to imprisonment for life” Report on the Administration of Iraq for the Period April, 1923-December,1924, “IAR, 7:548.The massacre in Kirkuk and Muslim resentment ( Kurdish as well as Sunni and Shii Arabs at the use of the Assyrians as an instrument of imperial control built up to the tragedy the Assyrians suffered in 1933 after a collision between their fighting men and Iraqi force led by a commander of Kurdish origin – Bakr Sidqi.
Confrontation and MassacreThe pressure for a separate Assyrian homeland had been maintained by the patriarch Mar Shimun, born in 1908 and invested as patriarch in 1920 in accordance with the tradition of succession from uncle to nephew. In 1931 and again in 1932 he had petitioned the League of Nations to give his people the compact home they wanted. The Assyrians were desperate for their status to be resolved before the mandate ended. It was a struggle against all odds. The Assyrians had powerful Christian supporters in Britain (up to the archbishop of Canterbury) , but the Iraqi government had no intervention of granting autonomy to any ethno-religious minority. The British government was sympathetic to the cause of gallant of wartime ally and had to take into account public opinion an the domestic front but believed that Assyrian lenders were simply refusing to face “unpalatable facts”. “Memorandum on the Assyrian Question”, 604.Iraq was finally admitted to the League fo Nations on October3,1932. but without any special provision being made for the Assyrians. On December 5, Mar Shimun addressed by the Permanent Mandates Commission, but ten days later the League of Nations council accepted to the commission’s recommendation that the Assyrians should not be given administrative autonomy. The root of the problem was declared to be land, not identity, and the solution the settlement of landless Assyrians “as far as possible in homogeneous units, it being understood” – here the language was strikingly reminiscent of the Balfour Declaration – “ that the right of existing population should not be prejudiced” Ibid, 605.Mat Shimun continued to insist on the recognition of the Assyrians as a “ compact national group” and refused to accept the British insistence that his role now must spiritual and not tempral. On his return to Baghdad the patriarch complained to the king and the minister of the interior, who was prevented from having him arrested only by the intervention of the British for the time being meanwhile, in his absence from Mosul, the movement of bands of armed Assyrians was fast reaching the point of open confrontation with the Iraqi authorities.On Kuly 22,1933, new reached the capital that a band of about 1,200 armed Assyrians had crossed the Tigris River in the vicinity of the villages of Feish Khabur and Deir Abun, both of them close to the borders with Turkey ans Syria. A number of the Assyrians camping on the Syrian side