Recognition of the Armenian Genocide

[hellfire]

BELGIAN SENATE


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1997-1998 Session
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Resolution 1-736/3 Concerning the 1915 Genocide of Armenians living in Turkey

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Whereas there are numerous studies dedicated to the situation of the Armenian population in Turkey at the beginning of the 20th century;

Whereas the UN convention on the prevention and punishment of genocide, provides a definition of the concept of genocide;

Whereas the judicial verdicts have applied this term to describe the state of Armenians living in Turkey in 1915, more specifically, the verdict of the 'tribunal de grande instance' in Paris on 21 June 1995;

Whereas the resolution by the European Parliament on 18 June 1987 concerning a "political solution to the Armenian Question," recognized that the Armenians living in Turkey in 1915 were the victims of a genocide perpetrated by the Ottoman government of the time;

Whereas there cannot be the slightest doubt over the historical evidence regarding the organized and systematic murder of the Armenians;

Whereas the recognition of mistakes and crimes of the past is a precondition for reconciliation between peoples and that there cannot be peace without justice, either in Armenia or elsewhere;

Whereas only through the recognition of crimes committed by previous regimes is it possible to distance oneself from their aims and strive politically for reconciliation;

Whereas the differences between the Turkish and Armenian nations continue to drag on and even today lead to the loss of human lives, to the eviction of ethnic groups and to numerous violations of human rights in that region;

Whereas the Turkish and Armenian peoples have no choice but to co-exist peacefully in the long term;

Whereas there exist friendly ties and cooperation between, on the one hand, Turkey, Belgium, and the European Union and, on the other hand, Armenia, Belgium and the European Union;

Whereas the 1987 resolution by the European Parliament has not led the Turkish government to recognize the historic reality of the 1915 genocide;

Be it resolved that the Senate request the Turkish government to recognize the historical reality of the genocide committed in 1915 by the last government of the Ottoman Empire;

Be it further resolved that the Senate request the parliaments of the member-states of the European Union to contribute to the reconciliation between the Turkish and Armenian peoples;

Be it further resolved that the Senate request the European Union and its member-states to lend their support to initiatives in all domains aimed at promoting a dialogue between the Armenian and Turkish peoples;

Be it further resolved that the Senate ask the government of Belgium to transmit this resolution to the prime minister of the Turkish government, to the chairman of the European parliament, to the chairman of the European Commission, to the chairmen of the parliaments of the member-states of the European Union, as well as to the chairman of the parliament of the Republic of Armenia.

[hellfire]

Originally posted by Tar_Tar_Kon_Troll
nice to see this subject get some air time... was recently in a discussion over on sweden.com with a turk who was denying the armenian holocaust and deemed it as a 'deportaion', can you believe that?

Thank you for the appreciation.
I haven't checked sweden.com yet,but if I have time I will have a look.

[hellfire]

Kurdish Parliament In Exile Recognizes Genocide
BRUSSELS-The Kurdish Parliament in Exile, passed a resolution recognizing and marking the Armenian Genocide Thursday. Below is the entire text of that resolution, which is being reprinted in its entirety and without any editorial posturing. To The Public Opinion

In Kurdistan, together with the Kurdish people, live Assyrian-Syrians as well as Armenians.

Invasion, occupation and division of Kurdistan, has not only affected the Kurds but also the Assyrian-Syrians as well as the Armenian peoples. Imposed colonialist policies have set these people against the Kurdish people and against each other, have created clashes and forced deportations and exiles. In our country, by setting the peoples against each other, the bloodiest imposed period of colonialist policies is 1915 and the few years following that.

On April 24, 1915, the decision of mass genocide and annihilation of the Assyrian-Syrian and the Armenian peoples was taken by the Ottoman Empire.

The blueprints of and the logistics for this genocide being prepared ahead of time, they employed Hamidiye Alaylari from Kurdish tribes (Similar to the present day Village Guards system who kill our people) to commit history�fs, until then unknown, Genocide. In this Genocide, millions of Armenians and Assyrian-Syrians were killed, and millions others were deported from their homes and land and scattered to the four corners of the world.

The Turkish State which practices policies of setting peoples and people of diverse opinions against each other, still pursues the same repulsive policies at the end of the 20th century. Similar to setting-up Alevis and Sunnis against each other, they set-up the Kurdish people against each other through their creation, the Village Guards, which consist of Kurdish Jahshs. Separately, through their diverse assaults to annihilate the Kurdish people, they are registering new pages in the annals of genocides.

The Turkish State regime, from history to our days, has worked against the peoples, as if a guilty party, and with her committed genocides has changed the demographics of Anatolia causing the demise of many cultures-civilizations. The same policies are being applied in Kurdistan today. I call upon the world public opinion to become aware of this Turkish State policies and vehemently oppose it.

Today is the 82nd anniversary of the genocide committed against the Assyrian-Syrian and Armenian peoples. Sharing the agony caused by this process, I find the Ottoman State and their collaborators the Hamidiye Alaylari, formed by some Kurdish tribes, responsible for this crime before history and I condemn them with abhorrence. Zubeyir Aydar Chairman of the Executive Committee

[hellfire]

PKK Chairman's letter to Kocharian

Abdullah Ocalan
President
Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK)

10 April 1998

The President-elect of Armenia
Robert Kocharian

Dear Mr President

I am writing to congratulate you on your election as President of Armenia and to wish you every success in forming your new government. I want particularly to wish you well in implementing democratic reforms and a political solution of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.

I also welcome and endorse the passage of a resolution in the Belgian Senate calling on the Turkish government in Ankara to recognise the reality of the Armenian holocaust perpetrated by the last Ottoman regime in 1915-19.

This resolution of 26 March, I believe, can not be treated as a transient episode but is of paramount significance in the protracted campaign to end the political amnesia about 1915, deliberately contrived by Turkish and foreign governments in the past in order to perpetrate the carve-up of Asis Minor and the Mid-East by the imperial powers at the Lausanne Conference of 1923.

The massacres during the First World War which shocked the civilised world then became a precedent for an even more appalling and destructive demonstration of genocide of the Jewish people by the German Nazis in the Second World War. Let us recall Hitler�fs response to a critic of the "final solution" of the Jewish problem: "Who complained about the Armenians?"

Now, when the spectre of ethnic cleansing is once again stalking the Balkans the courageous stand of the Belgian Senate, we feel, must concentrate the minds of Turks, Armenians, Greeks and Kurds alike the necessity for a wide- ranging discussion and fresh analysis of the causes of the 1915 events as a precondition for a genuine reconcilliation of ethnic groups and nations and the settling of territorial disputes through negotiation. Such a process, we are firmly convinced, will help Turkish-Armenian and Greek relations.

Our movement will continue to support all efforts to set in train a genuine dialogue between all contending parties with the self-evident proviso that the Kurdish claim to self- determination and freedom will not be predujiced - as it was in Lausanne.

We urge the new governments of Armenia and Turkey to seize the historic opportunity.

We look forward to future co-operation with your government and the Armenian people and wish you all the success needed to move the peace process forward.

In the name of peace, freedom and reconcilliation, we remain

Yours respectfully,

Abdullah Ocalan

[Niquie]

.........thanks for these articles. Especially the one about the Armenians. It HAPPENED! And no amount of shoving it under the rug will make it go away. We Americans are responsible for our share of horrendous deeds against against the native Americans and the Blacks and we have to own up to that, as well. And we do.

To argue that it didn't happen just salts the wound.

Anyway, I like your name! Hope to see you around. And DO come to sweden.com for a visit. You can argue and harrangue to your heart's content.

[hellfire]

Originally posted by Niquie
.........thanks for these articles. Especially the one about the Armenians. It HAPPENED! And no amount of shoving it under the rug will make it go away. We Americans are responsible for our share of horrendous deeds against against the native Americans and the Blacks and we have to own up to that, as well. And we do.

To argue that it didn't happen just salts the wound.

Anyway, I like your name! Hope to see you around. And DO come to sweden.com for a visit. You can argue and harrangue to your heart's content.

Nice to meet you Niquie,and thanks for the invitation

[CengizHan]

No it didnt happen.Not a genocide.There is no proof to show it was genocide.Every massacre isnt a genocide.What Hitler did to jews was one.Where is the order that states all armenians must be destroyed?Why was Turkey tried after ww1 in Malta and was let go??Why did all armenians in Izmir and Istanbul remain untouched??Why did we deport armenians at all,if the goal was extermination??

These questions have never been asnwered by the genocde accepters.I will say again, not ever murder is genocide.If it was Russia would be guilt of genocide agains all kinds of Turkic people.India and pakistan had a war in which a million civilians died,families were murdered in cold blood.But was it genoide, no.

As for the "responsilbe" american (perhaps greek), i would like to remind you US never admitted for a "genocide: against natives.

The goal of armenians is simple to understand.Divide Turkey,and get back lands.I will tell you this will never happen,never EVER so stop pursuing this dream by means of lying and propoganda.

[Niquie]

The systematic, planned annihilation of a racial, political or cultural group.

What the U.S. did to the native population could be described as attempted genocide.

I am an American and I call it that.

[CengizHan]

Does your country call it genocide??I dont think so.Just terrible events.

[Niquie]

And it also tries to re-write history.

The fact is, I am an American, and I call it attempted genocide.

That should suffice.

[imported_grafix]

Niquie in the sense that you are talking about-yes it could be labelled as genocide. But in the technical sense (ie: planned extermination through well thought out orders from higher up) there's no evidence of genocide. and that is the dilemma. But as i said call it what you may-it's definitely a tragedy. However events have taken an abrupt turn in the last decade or two-please read my post in response to your question to me to understand what I'm talking about...

[Niquie]

I was responding to the statement about MY country's treatment of the natives and how WE don't call THAT genocide.

That Grafix, WAS attempted genocide.

[imported_grafix]

IT'S a double edged sword.
Armenians despise turks currently-there is alot of animosity-you could even tell when you read he posts of hellfire.
However the backlash is total negativity. And Turks as a result are in total denial of any wrongdoing...

in anycase the diasporan armenians give turkey a bad name every opportunity they get. (amnd I don't blame them or their pent up anger inside)
however; The same armenians (much like what the Israelis are doing to the palestinians) have massacred and ethnically cleansed karabagh of Azarbaijani Turks in the last couple of decades.

What I mean to say is...
It's currently much more than simple history-it's about politics currently..and that is what poses the biggest obstacle for any reconcilliation between armenians and turks

[CengizHan]

But your country didnt have a deliberate policy of killing natives.They were shuffled,many died,actually during the early years(colonies not US yet) 13 million died in just a couple of years, but was it deliberate?

On the armenian issue it wasnt.Nobody has ever answered the questions that i presented above.Its called ethnic disputes, and it happens everywhere, in Russia,Turkey,Azerbaijan(the armenians are the killers in this case),china.....all over the world.As you said it must be planned to be a genocide, as defined by the UN.The armenian issue isnt.The reason they call it is obvious.They have their own goals.

May i ask you,what is your origin??

[imported_grafix]

are you asking me cengizhan?