16 01 2008 - Tigran Abrhamian from Keghart Website

Dear Friend,
www.keghart.com
Dear Friend, Over the past two decades several countries have recognized the massacres of the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire during the years 1915-1923 as an act of Genocide. The International Association of Genocide Scholars and the vast majority of historians interested in the subject have characterized the events as Genocide. The United Nations sub-commission on prevention of discrimination and protection of minorities has declared it a Genocide. Similarly the International Center for Transitional Justice, the World Council of Churches, the European Parliament have weighed in and they too have concurred with the aforementioned. Undoubtedly these have caused Turkish authorities enormous concern. They have consistently resorted to misinformation calling the events as inter-communal mass killings, or a tragic event that occurred due to "relocation", etc. Having failed in their efforts to "persuade" the international community, the Turkish authorities have resorted to threats and high stake lobbying that became so porously evident during the past few months in USA. Simultaneously since 2005 they have trumpeted the call for a "joint commission" of historians to "impartially" study the events as if above mentioned scholars and international bodies were partial. It's comically ironic that while calling for a "joint commission" people who dare to speak about the massacres in terms other than defined by the authorities are either prosecuted under article 301 of the Penal Code or turned away from studying the relevant archives that purportedly are open to the public for research.

T.A.