Sudan Tribune (18 Jan 2006) published Dr. Gerald Caplan’s “From Rwanda to Darfur: Lessons learned?” essay pointing out three lessons from the Rwandan genocide.

Caplan writes that what happens in Sudan has been expected: “Even before the 1994 Rwandan genocide ended, some began wondering when ‘the next Rwanda’ would be. Not ‘if’, but when.”

He points out the tragedy in Darfur being pronounced “genocide” by the U.S., and the ironic no-action that followed the “recognition.”

Photo: human remains in Darfur (from http://www.realitybasednation.com/)

I met Dr. Caplan at the International Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies in August of 2005. He was a vibrant speaker, and being a Jew himself, he harshly criticized the ignorance of many Jews toward other genocides. He particularly cited an incident when a Jewish organization stopped funding a Holocaust research center, after the center had added the word “genocide” to its name, becoming “Holocaust and Genocide Studies Center.”

Sudan was hoped to be “a genocide we can stop.” Apparently, we did not. And now we are “learning lessons” from Sudan. And it is very well said, that the only thing that we have learned from history is that we have not learned anything from history.

Even before the 1994 Rwandan genocide ended, some began wondering when "the next Rwanda" would be. Not "if", but when. Despite Indonesia in 1965, Burundi in 1972 and Cambodia from 1975 to 1978, genocide had receded in the public consciousness. From the late 1960s, it’s true, memory of the Holocaust was in full bloom. But the Holocaust was treated as almost a self-contained phenomenon separate from "ordinary" genocide. The earlier Armenian genocide was mainly the crusade of Armenians, the Hereros’ extermination was unknown beyond a few experts. As for the post-Holocaust massacres of half-a-million Chinese and Communists in Indonesia, the slaughter by the Tutsi army of perhaps 200,000 Hutu in Burundi, including all those with secondary education, and the deaths by beating, starving or torture by the Khmer Rouge of a million and a half Cambodians, none quite seemed to meet the standards set down in the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide (UNCG).

Rwanda was different. Rwanda was a classic UNCG genocide, fulfilling all the conditions, and it reminded the world that a half century after the world first vowed "Never again," genocide had not disappeared. What Primo Levi had said of the Holocaust was now said about Rwanda: It happened, so it will happen again. For some, it happened soon enough. For them, Srebrenica in 1995 seemed "another Rwanda", and indeed, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia eventually decided that the murder of 8000 Muslim Bosnian males by Bosnian Serb militias was indeed genocide. But this has been a controversial issue. Cold-bloodedly murdering 8000 Muslim Bosnians was beyond question an egregious war crime, even a crime against humanity, but, some wondered, how could it belong in the same category as killing 1 ½ million Armenians or six million Jews?

Rwanda, however, left no room for ambiguity…

The entire article is available at http://www.sudantribune.com/article.php3?id_article=13601.

Ten days in Toronto that I will never forget

It is happening again! The annual course organized by the International Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies was announced last week.

This 2-week, fully accredited course features world-renowned genocide scholars and provides a structured forum for analyzing universal questions related to genocide, such as:

What is genocide and why does it take place?

What is the relation between genocide and human rights?

Why does genocide denial occur?

How does geo-politics impact human rights and can even lead to genocide?

Why should you study human rights and the prevention of genocide?

Photo: A piece from the group picture featuring students and world-known genocide scholars such as Roger Smith, Eric Markusen, Taner Akcam. The person on the right is the Canadian major who volunteered to stay in Rwanda against the will of the UN headquarters. August 2005, Toronto, Canada.

It takes place every year in Toronto, Canada. This year it will be during July 31-August 11, 2006. I was lucky to be a participant of last year’s course, so now you can trust me more when I comment on genocide.

What can I say about the course? I learned so much that I returned a totally different person. I met people who had witnessed and smelled the genocides of Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Sudan. I met a Canadian major, who was one of the heads of the UN peacekeeping forces in Rwanda during the genocide. He told us how the UN headquarters gave an order to leave Rwanda, while the Tutsi minority was being slaughtered. Indeed, many of the UN peacekeepers did not leave. They volunteered to stay, and because of them some thousands of Tutsis survived…

Photo: my new friends and I at the Niagara Falls

The program was very powerful. We had world-known professors lecturing on genocide and human rights.

Photo: Dancing Armenian kochari in the University of Toronto dorms

The best thing about the program were the friends I made. I never expected to have “good time” in Toronto while taking the course. But the kids were so great (I say kids, but all of them were at least a few years older than me), and we had so much fun after the classes. We hung out every single night; we went to the Niagara Falls, all kinds of crazy places. I learned a Swahili (African) song (Dugu Zangu Nifahamisheni), while our friend from Tanzania learned “Taleat pashan pakhav Berlin,” and we had Rwandan, American, Canadian and Armenian guys dancing Armenian kochari together.

Indeed, we had sad times too. Six family members of one of our Rwandan friends were murdered during the Genocide in 1994. During one of the conversations, he told us how he found the burial-site of his sister’s body. It was very shocking…

Photo: Having breakfast at a University of Toronto cafeteria before the class starts

Anyhow, I highly recommend this course! This was an awesome experience, and I will never forget those ten days that I spent in Canada. Another good thing is that they provide many scholarships for students, so it is worth to try.

Photo: I hope my friends don't mind me posting it here. There was no romance or something like that involved, just a friendly kiss (I got one too!) at the graduation party. The reason I post it here is for admitting that I ruined this wonderful photo with my …finger.

The official website of the program is www.genocidestudies.org. The press release on this year’s program is available at http://i-newswire.com/pr54251.html.

He finally did it! "Holdwater" got published in a non-Turkish website, called Global Politician.

The topic is the same: denial of the Armenian genocide. For those who don't know, "Holdwater" is the Turkish master of the www.tallarmeniantale.com hatesite, which besides denying the Armenian genocide states that Ashkenazi Jews and Native Americans are Turks and that the European Renaissance was due to the Turkish conquer of Constantinople, and many other hilarious "facts." Oh yes, “Holdwater” will be offended if I don’t mention his endeavor in showing Turks as saviors of Jews during the Holocaust….

Photo: a Californian poster protesting the Turkish government's denial of the Armenian genocide, 24 April 2005 (from www.genocideevents.com)

This guy is very enthusiastic. He will spend days to write letters and articles. In his letter addressed to Time Magazine, “Holdwater” wrote: “I have not seen this DVD, but… I believe the DVD’s presentation of the events was mostly accurate.” This is how the Turkish denial of the Armenian genocide goes. They have not seen anything, but they have to believe that their lies are mostly accurate.

"I have not seen this DVD, but… I believe the DVD’s presentation of the events was mostly accurate." – Holdwater

(from www.tallarmeniantale.com)[/i]

Coming to the article published in Global Politician (where almost everybody can publish an article, based on some “criteria” that I will discuss later), there is no need to quote the common denialist “arguments” (there was no intent, numbers were less, etc.). But a newest fabrication appears in “Holdwater’s” new masterpiece. “Armenia demonstrated this favored tactic in 1992, massacring Azeri civilians and scaring what many say is close to a million from Artsakh,” writes “Holdwater.” Unfortunately, the prize for “the fabricator of the year” does not go to “Holdwater,” due to the fact that the Azerbaijani media already won the prize by fabricating information about “the destruction of a Muslim holy site in Armenia.”

And a last note about the Global Politician. Though the name of this website is pretty “cool,” it is easy to publish stuff there. “To become a writer, you must:
· Be a published author or journalist; or
· Have an advanced degree (Master's, Ph.D. or J.D.) in a related field.
· Be a recognized expert who has been interviewed in the media or otherwise recognized for his expertise.”
Whether “Holdwater” is in the first two categories or not (he insists he is a businessman), Global Politician should know. I am positive, nevertheless, that “Holdwater” meets the criteria in the third definition. He is, indeed, “a recognized expert” in genocide denial.

"Holdwater's" masterpiece is at http://globalpolitician.com/articledes.asp…47&cid=4&sid=35.

Unce upon a time I mentioned Emir Kir, the Turkish-born Brussels secretary for public monuments. This fellow was confirmed as "genocide denier" by the Belgian court for participating in a nationalist Turkish rally to destroy the Armenian Genocide monument of Brussels.

Photo: Emir Kir, the only licensed politician in genocide denial in Belgium.

Kir is again in the news. Now he wants to change the Belgian law that prohibits slaughtering animals at home. "During Eid-al-Adha [Muslim holiday], an estimated 20,000 sheep are slaughtered in Brussels, of which less than 10% in official establishments. Secretary Kir told the Brussels Parliament that the religious beliefs of the Muslims have to be taken into account," writes Paul Belien in the Brussels Journal (16 Jan 2006).

Belien notes, "The Muslim influence on Belgian politics has tangible consequences." Mentioning that some government members were not happy with the court's decision to call Kir genocide denier, Belien continues: "Clearly, courting the Muslim vote has led the Belgian government to doubt the Armenian genocide. How long will it take before Belgian parties start questioning the Shoah in order to attract Muslim votes?"

The article can be read at http://www.brusselsjournal.com/node/671.

The University of Minnesota Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies is circulating an article about "the continuing discourse about the structure of holocaust and genocide denial." Written by Julie Stahl, "Iran to Host Holocaust Deniers Conference" is available at CNSNEWS.com.

Photo: Genocide denier Ahmadinejad

Iran to Host Holocaust Deniers Conference
By Julie Stahl
CNSNews.com Jerusalem Bureau Chief
January 12, 2006

Jerusalem (CNSNews.com) – Iran reportedly plans to host a conference of Holocaust deniers in the coming weeks, much to the concern of some Israelis.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad sparked international anger when he said late last year that the Holocaust was a myth and suggested that if Europe were so upset about it, Europe should provide land for a Jewish State. Ahmadinejad's comments came just weeks after he said that Israel should be "wiped off the map."

The entire article is available at CNSNEWS.com.

Pan-Armenian Commission for the Protection of Armenian Monuments issued the following press release on 17 January 2006. I recieved it from Research on Armenian Architecture.

ANNOUNCEMENT

The present-day territory of Nakhichevan’s Autonomous Republic, Republic of Azerbaijan, comprises part of Sharur District, Ayrarat Province; Goghtn and Nakhichevan Districts, Vaspurakan Province, as well as Yernjak, Jahuk and Shahaponk, Districts, Syunik Province, Metz Hayk: in 1828 and 1840 they formed part of the Armianskaya Oblast (Armenian Province) established by Russia, being included in Yerevan Marz (Province) after that administrative unit ceased existing, between 1849 and May 1918.

In late 1919 the present-day territory of Nakhichevan’s Autonomous Republic formed part of the first Republic of Armenia.

Despite the fact that the invasions of 1918 and 1920 Azerbaijan waged against Armenia with Turkey’s complicity marked certain reduction in the number of Nakhichevan Armenians, they still constituted a considerable part of the local population between the 1920s and 1960s.

At the period between the Sovietization of the Republic of Armenia on 2 December 1920 and the conclusion of Kars Treaty on 13 October 1921, Nakhichevan Marz de jure formed part of Soviet Armenia as well. That fact is enshrined in a special declaration the authorities of Soviet Azerbaijan (the local Revolutionary Committee) made on 30 November 1920: it proclaimed both Artsakh and Nakhichevan inseparable parts of Soviet Armenia.

Violating the Armenians,’ particularly Nakhichevan Armenians’ elementary rights, in the absence of the representatives of the Republic of Armenia, on 16 March 1921 Russia and Turkey signed an illegal and invalid treaty, allegedly putting Nakhichevan Marz under the guardianship of Soviet Azerbaijan, but actually annexing it to that country as a self-governing territory.

In Kars on 13 October 1921, Turkey and the republics of Transcaucasia signed an agreement which ratified the partition of the Republic of Armenia and the annexation of Nakhichevan Marz under the pressure of Bolshevik Russia.

Following a self-willed decision made by the Soviet authorities, on 9 February 1924 the Soviet Republic of Azerbaijan declared Nakhichevan as an autonomous republic within its borders, completely ignoring at least the formal consent of the signatories to the aforementioned treaty, i.e. Georgia, Turkey, Armenia. By that invalid decision, the Soviet Union and Azerbaijan violated the unlawful clauses of the treaties concluded on 16 March and 13 October 1921, according to which Nakhichevan was not annexed to Azerbaijan as its constituent, but was merely put under its “guardianship.”

Beginning with 1921, Azerbaijan consistently implemented a policy of humiliating Nakhichevan Armenians’ national dignity and infringing upon their rights with the purpose of finally driving them away from their historical homeland: it eventually reached its goal, for between 1921 and 1989, the area was stripped of its ethnic Armenian population.

The cultural heritage the Armenians created both in Nakhichevan and other parts of their historical motherland throughout many millennia is of pan-human value and significance: it is more than 200 years since it became an object of investigation for foreign researchers as well. At present when the international community seeks prudent ways of settling Artsakh conflict, their endeavours are thwarted by Azerbaijan, which has annihilated an entire cultural legacy through its regular army units.

According to some foreign scholars' calculations, in the 17th century Jugha Cemetery retained 10,000 cross-stones dating back to the period between the 9th and 17th centuries. Later more than 7,000 khachkars fell prey to the annihilation of cultural monuments launched by Russia between 1905 and 1906 and continued by the Soviet leadership from the 1920s till the ‘70s.

Before 1998 Jugha comprised an estimated 3,000 cross-stones and several chapels, which were demolished by the Azeri troops in 1998, 2002 and 2005. In 2005 a Scottish researcher travelled in Nakhichevan, where he found out that the Armenian monuments located in the other settlements of the area (Shorot, Agulis, Kerna, Shahaponk, Aprakunis, etc.) had been subjected to the same fate of annihilation.

The Republic of Armenia should assist the appropriate international bodies, including the international institutions of the Islamic countries, in taking drastic measures against Azerbaijan, that has been destroying the Armenian monuments in Jugha, Nakhichevan, etc. for many decades now. The Armenian Government will certainly reach the desirable results if it includes the problem IN the priorities of the foreign policy of the Republic of armenia.

Under the current circumstances, only at state level is it possible to expose Azerbaijan’s criminal acts before the international community, making that country bear responsibility for the annihilation of the Armenian monuments and stop it altogether.

The protection of Nakhichevan’s monuments will also contribute to the fair settlement of Artsakh conflict, showing that peaceful negotiations cannot yield concession to a state demolishing a nation’s cultural heritage.

The Pan-Armenian Commission for the Protection of Armenian Monuments urges the Government of the Republic of Armenia:

1. To launch legal proceedings against Azerbaijan in the International Court of Justice for annihilating Nakhichevan’s mediaeval Armenian churches, tombstones and cross-stones; to force that country to deliver up the fragments of the khackars broken in Jugha and other places to the Republic of Armenia;

2. To take the necessary steps making Azerbaijan to repay for the demolished monuments and their restoration, and permit the arrival of international troops in Nakhichevan for the protection of the local monuments;

3. To take measures so that the proper international bodies will set up research groups of specialists from Armenia and other countries for the purpose of registering and measuring the Armenian monuments throughout Nakhichevan;

4. To include the international expose and denunciation of Azerbaijan in the priorities of the foreign policy of the Republic of Armenia and implement it through the Armenian embassies and other appropriate bodies;

5. The religious, cultural, socio-political and other organizations functioning in the Armenian Diaspora should focus their activity on the protection of the Armenian monuments situated outside the borders of the present-day Republic of Armenia, particularly, Nakhichevan. They should also take the necessary steps making Azerbaijan’s criminal government bear responsibility for what it has perpetrated in international bodies of justice.

17 January 2006

Pan-Armenian Commission for the Protection of Armenian Monuments

In a previous entry I mentioned of Dick Osseman, a pen friend of mine (as he calls ourselves) from the Netherlands who regularly visits Turkey. Dick's photographs can be viewed at http://www.pbase.com/dosseman, where he has posted thousands of photos. Some of the photos, which he took for me in Urfa in September of 2005, are available at http://www.pbase.com/dosseman/churches (Urfa churches turned into mosques).


Photo: Dick Osseman in western Armenia with Mount Ararat in the background

He has also taken photos of Armenian churches in Diyarbakir (http://www.pbase.com/dosseman/september2005), Trabizon, etc. Dick is not going to Turkey to take the photos of the Armenian churches, though. He does not seem to be in love with Armenians and their culture, but I am grateful to him for his help.

In the intro of the photos of Urfa churches, Dick writes:

I had received several messages from an Armenian (now living in America) who informed me about the history of his people and of his family in several places that I showed on my site. We became pen friends and I promised him that I would try and find a particular mosque, that formerly was a church, in Şanlıurfa. I did so during a September 2005 stay. In the neighbourhood nearby I found another, and in my mind more spectacular, former church. I here show these two buildings rather extensively, because they are fine specimens and people will want to see them.

However, I urge viewers not to start a kind of discussion that I have seen flare up on several occasions. Trust me, I have read the books, I know the stories. But I “just” want to show pictures to people who may never be able to visit these places to start with. So hold you horses and just look, right? The pictures are dedicated to “Simon the Armenian” without whom I would never taken all that trouble.

As for texts that I usually add to the pictures: I will travel to Turkey in two days, and I have a very busy day ahead of me. So that will have to wait until later. As will some other texts that I promised.

Thank you, Dick.

I came across to a very interesting and self-proclaimed liberal blog, called Dean's World. The Texas-born liberal has posts on many interesting issues.

At Armenian Genocide: As Real As It Gets, he writes of Gwynne Dyer's article on the Armenian genocide (mostly based on the genocide denier Lewy's recent revisionist paper). Dean says that he has "read more about the Armenian genocide than most people." But being a liberal, he still wanted to see what others think (excluding those on Turkish government's payroll). So he "decided to ask one of the world's most respected authorities on the subject of mass murder by government, political scientist Rudy Rummel, what he thought."

Mr. Rummel sent him two responses. He wrote, "Also note that there is not one genocide scholar who doubts this was genocide. And few are Armenians by ethnicity or nationality."

Mr. Rummel also noted, "The planning and execution of the genocide is well documented by Turkish high level documents, by court trials that were held after the war in Turkey, and in Germany (of the Armenian assassin of one of the Young Turks), and by foreign diplomats in Turkey at the time, including the American ambassador, whose book on his experience well establishes the intentionality of the genocide."

Dean also has an entry on Orhan Pamuk's trial at http://www.deanesmay.com/posts/1134736445.shtml.

Louise Kiffer-Sarian, who has translated and still translates many poems and news articles into French, sent me a letter recommending the French readers of Blogian to read "Le Golgotha de l'Armenie mineure: le destin de mon pere" by Jean Varoujan Gureghian. Ed. L'Harmattan (The Golgotha of Minor Armenia: My father's destiny). She also promised to translate the moving chapter on the resistance of Urfa into English.

Urfa was home to tens of thousands of Armenians before the Genocide. During the attrocities, the Armenian population of Urfa organized self-defense in 1915. After the heroic defense was defeated by the Turkish troops and the Armenians were either deported, burnt or murdered, F (I don't recall his full name, but it started with an "F") pasha, the head of the Turkish attack against the Armenians of Urfa, said, "What would we do if we had other urfas."

Since we talked about Urfa, I want to mention that a friend of mine (who calls us pen friends), Dick Osseman from the Netherlands, took over 100 photos in Urfa (which is now called Şanlıurfa in Turkey) in September of 2005. Knowing that my ancestors were members of the huge Maghak oghlonts family (Maghakians, Malakians) of Urfa, Mr. Osseman took many photos of my ancestral district in Urfa, and photos of the former Armenian churches.

When I was going through the photos of Urfa taken by Mr. Osseman, I came across to a shot that reminded me of one of the photos in "Ambassador Morgenthau's Story," published in 1918. After I compared the photos, I realized that Mr. Osseman had shot the same site that was in Morgenthau's book: the interior of one of the main Armenian churches of Urfa (now known as Yeni Firfirli Cami/Mosque).

Below is the comparison of the two photos: one taken before 1918, one in 2005.

p.s. If this is indeed the cathedral where 3000 Armenians were burnt alive in 1915, then it was here where my ancestor Gevork Maghakian was shot to death. But there is another Armenian cathedral in Urfa (bigger than this one), so I am not sure whether the murder took place in what is now Yeni Firfirli (pictured above) or what is now Selahaddin-i Eyyubi, the largest Armenian cathedral in Urfa converted to a mosque.

First, national hero; then, national avenger; then, mentally ill… Neither worked… Now, national victim… Azerbaijan is finding ways to justify the murder of Margaryan.


The Azerbaijani government has found a new way of "helping out" its arrested official Ramil Safarov in Hungary: "Days of Azerbaijani Culture will be held in Hungary in the near future," according to Baku Today.

Photo: Margaryan's body after the murder

On 19 February 2004, 26-years-old Gurgen Margaryan of Armenia was hacked to death while asleep by Ramil Safarov, a Lieutenant of the Azerbaijani Army. Both were participants of an English language training course within the framework of the NATO-sponsored “Partnership for Peace” program held in Budapest, Hungary. The cause of the murder was Margaryan being from Armenia, the Christian country that won a war against Muslim Azerbaijan in the 1990s.

After Safarov committed the unbelievable murder, he was praised as a national hero in his country. The international community strongly protested the murder of the Armenian officer, while the Azerbaijani government tried to find ways to justify his action. At the beginning of his trial, Safarov claimed that during the war his fiancé was killed by Armenian forces, that is why he "avenged" the Armenian officer. But when Safarov was reminded that during the war he had not even entered his teens, things got worse for him. All the Azerbaijani attempts of victimizing Safarov during the trial worked against him, even to the point that the Hungarian judge BROKE the Hungarian law requiring 4th medical examination (alluding, that two of the doctors had been bought off by the Azerbaijanis). According to the Hungarian law, only 3 doctors can express their opinions about the mental condition of the defendant (the 3rd one, if needed, compares the two examinations and tries to find the true one).

Photo: The axe, used by Ramil Safarov, to murder Margaryan. When asked the reason of buying the axe (before the murder), Safarov had said it was a souvenir for his father.

After none of the Azerbaijani tricks worked, these guys came with a great idea! Now, as Baku Today reports on 13 January 2006,
"Days of Azerbaijani Culture will be held in Hungary in the near future… Preparations have started for the event, to be held by the State Committee on Work with Azerbaijanis Living Abroad jointly with the Azeri embassy in this country, the Committee told AssA-Irada. The activities target providing unbiased information about Azerbaijan to the Hungarian community and promote the ancient and abundant culture" (as a "reminder," this "ancient country" was established in 1918 in a region where the word "Azerbaijan" had not ever existed).

The "unbiased information" will include "a scientific conference focusing on Azeri history, culture, as well as the atrocities perpetrated by Armenians against the nation will be held. This will be followed by an exhibition of photos, art works and films featuring… terror committed against the Azerbaijani people."

It is too stupid not to understand what is the deal here. But for people who have no experience with Azerbaijani tricks, I will "explain." This belly dance is the last shot of Azerbaijan to defend and victimize the murderer Ramil Safarov…. Steve, an American traveler to Azerbaijan, wrote at his blog www.bakusteve.com that "Armenians are winning the PR war." I first disagreed with him. But if Steve is right, it is because Armenians are not as creative as the Azerbaijanis in fabricating hallucinations. That is why what Armenians say are more accessible to human ear…

Photo: Safarov (right) looking over at Margaryan's murdered body during the trial.

And a last thing. The Azerbaijani newspaper also reports, "the State Committee plans to organize a visit by a group of Hungarian media representatives to Azerbaijan." Of course, Azerbaijan is going to pay for the "travel expenses" for the journalists…

More on the murder: the silence of the Armenian authorities over Margaryan's murder.
Read my commentary published in the first issue of the periodical Shrjadardz in April of 2004. To read the commentary, download the first issue from Shrjadardz at
http://hayastan.com/shrjadardz/04april.pdf (PDF file).

Photo: Gurgen Margaryan