While I anticipated that Turkish denialists would be unhappy with my last column, “Armenians Demand Justice, Not Recognition,” I did not expect that among my vocal critics would be “liberal” Turkish scholars and their Armenian cohorts.

Within minutes of my column’s posting on “armworkshop” -- a website based at University of Michigan that advocates reconciliation (but without any consequences) between Armenians and Turks -- a plethora of reactions started pouring in.

The National Herald, a Greek-American weekly, published a lengthy interview with this writer last week on the issue of genocide recognition. This column was prompted by the ideas expressed in that interview.

The Armenian Cause is not about genocide recognition, but the pursuit of justice which entails that the Armenian victims receive reparations.

Remembering the Genocide is also about keeping the hope and dream alive for succeeding generations of Armenians -- that some day, they will regain their historic lands.

Several Turkish newspapers reported on Feb. 26 that Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul was shocked when he saw an Armenian Genocide DVD in the TIME magazine issue on his plane.

Gul and members of his delegation were returning to Turkey on February 11, after spending several days in Washington, D.C., lobbying against the pending Congressional Resolution on the Armenian Genocide. On their Lufthansa Airline flight, they discovered that the TIME magazine issue handed to them included a DVD as well as a full-page announcement on the Armenian Genocide. Gul was reportedly very upset that Armenians were carrying out propaganda activities even on his plane. He said he would conduct an investigation.

During his tour of the United States in February 2005, U.S. Ambassador to Armenia John Evans met with various Armenian-American groups on both coasts. In response to repeated questions as to why U.S. officials did not use the term Armenian Genocide, Amb. Evans stunned his audiences by openly acknowledging the Armenian Genocide.

Even though his candid remarks eventually led to his dismissal or "early retirement" from the Foreign Service, no one seemed to have, until now, an audio or video record of what Amb. Evans actually said during those visits. After a lengthy search, we located an elderly gentleman who is the only person with such a recording. He had recorded on his home video camera the remarks on the Armenian Genocide made by Amb. Evans during a public gathering at the Holy Trinity Armenian Apostolic Church Social Hall in Fresno, on February 18, 2005.

It took a little more than a year and a half, but it was well worth the wait. After lengthy, sometimes complex, but mostly amicable discussions, the European edition of TIME magazine, in its Feb. 12, 2007 issue, published a full-page text on the Armenian Genocide and distributed a complimentary DVD, in English and French, which contains a compelling 52-minute documentary on the Armenian Genocide by French director Laurence Jourdan. The DVD also includes a 46-minute interview with Dr. Yves Ternon, a leading expert on the Armenian Genocide.

BEIRUT - The Lebanese Armenian community recently had the honor and privilege of welcoming Harut Sassounian, the President of the United Armenian Fund and the Vice Chairman of The Lincy Foundation. The well-known activist of Armenian issues and the Publisher of the California Courier were on a unique mission to bring financial aid of $4,500,000 to 28 Armenian schools to help them at this time of great economic crisis.

The bill adopted by the French Parliament last week with a vote of 106
in favor and 19 against, making it a crime to deny the Armenian
Genocide, has more to do with a political tug of war between the
denialist Turkish government and French Armenian activists, than with
freedom of expression.

The score in France is now: Armenians 4, Turkey 0. The three goals
were scored when President Chirac in 2001 signed into law a bill
recognizing the Armenian Genocide, after it was approved by the
Parliament and the Senate.

The dilemma of writing one column a week is that sometimes there are so many developments on Armenian issues that one would need to write several columns in the same week to comment on all of them. This being one such week, I will make brief comments on 13 different topics:

-- The French Press Agency (AFP) reported that Turkish State Television (TRT) started airing on Oct. 9 its "first documentary on surviving members of the exiled Ottoman dynasty. The 10-part series, called ‘The Exile of the Ottoman House,’ is the fruit of three years of research. Several members of the dynasty met recently in Istanbul for the interviews that form the bulk of the documentary."

In case of any future lawsuits to recover looted Armenian assets from the Genocide era, this documentary would be very useful in locating the heirs of those who organized the Genocide.

In the past eleven years, 163 members of the House of Representatives have joined the bipartisan "Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues." The Caucus addresses the concerns of the Armenian American community and helps improve relations between the United States and Armenia.

With a new concerted effort by Armenian Americans, the Armenian Caucus could easily surpass 218, which would constitute a majority of the 435 House members. The Congressional elections on November 7 provide the perfect opportunity to reach this goal, thus providing the Armenian American community with a powerful political base in Washington, D.C.

It is common knowledge that Azerbaijan, following Turkeys footsteps, tries to use the political clout of Israel and American-Jewish organizations in Washington, D.C. to counter Armenian interests. Israel obliges the Azeri demands out of an interest in importing oil and gas from Azerbaijan and exporting various products, possibly including weapons. Israel also needs access to Azerbaijan in order to collect intelligence on neighboring Iran.

At the request of the French government, the Speaker of the French Parliament, Jean-Louis Debre, resorted to crass manipulation and shameful delay tactics last Thursday, to postpone the vote on a bill that would have banned the denial of the Armenian Genocide. The Speaker blocked the measure for now, realizing that the overwhelming majority of Parliament members were ready to vote for it.

The Turkish government had sought to defeat the bill outright by exerting extraordinary political and economic pressure on France including threats, blackmail and boycott of French products. The Turkish Foreign Ministry, therefore, expressed its disappointment at the postponement of this bill, as it could be reconsidered by the French Parliament next November.

As Armenians are commemorating the anniversary of the Armenian Genocide this week, they should keep in mind that 91 years after the fact, a distinguished U.S. diplomat has become its latest victim!

John Evans, the U.S. Ambassador to Armenia, fortunately has not lost his life, but has sacrificed his diplomatic career for speaking out on the Armenian Genocide. He is being recalled by the State Department for publicly acknowledging the facts of the Genocide during his tour of the United States last year.

The anticipated self-promotional puff-piece by Gunduz Aktan, a former Turkish Ambassador and member of the infamous Turkish Armenian Reconciliation Commission (TARC), was finally published in the April 8 issue of the Turkish Daily News.

Aktan and Omer Lutem, another former Turkish ambassador and a notorious denialist, toured the U.S. during the second half of March, to spread coast to coast their perverted version of history regarding the Armenian Genocide.

The Ombudsman for PBS, Michael Getler, revealed in a commentary last week that unnamed "top PBS officials" were involved in editing and revising the content of Andrew Goldberg’s documentary on the Armenian Genocide that most PBS stations plan to air on April 17.

Getler quoted these PBS officials as saying: "We worked with the producer [Goldberg] through his final editing to ensure that the program met our standards. We, through Oregon Public Broadcasting, vetted its content with a historian and journalist unconnected with the show." These officials were also quoted as saying that they "were in contact with him [Goldberg] requesting script revisions" as he "was finishing" the documentary.

Ever since last year, when John Evans, the U.S. Ambassador to Armenia, during a tour of the Armenian American community, broke rank with his superiors and publicly acknowledged the Armenian Genocide, there have been persistent stories circulating about his possible recall.

Last year, during a public gathering at the University of California at Berkeley, Amb. Evans courageously said: "I will today call it the Armenian Genocide…. I informed myself in depth about it. I think we, the US government, owe you, our fellow citizens, a more frank and honest way of discussing this problem. Today, as someone who has studied it … there’s no doubt in my mind [as to] what happened…. I think it is unbecoming of us, as Americans, to play word games here. I believe in calling things by their name." Referring to the Armenian Genocide as "the first genocide of the 20th century," he said: "I pledge to you, we are going to do a better job at addressing this issue." Amb. Evans also disclosed that he had consulted with a legal advisor at the State Department who had confirmed that the events of 1915 were "genocide by definition."

Up until now, I had refrained from blaming any one individual at PBS for the unwise decision to air a debate with deniers of the Armenian Genocide, immediately after the broadcast of Andrew Goldberg's documentary, The Armenian Genocide, on April 17.

Regrettably, I must now single out Jacoba Atlas, the Senior Vice President of PBS programming, not only for being responsible for this misguided decision, but also for insulting Armenians worldwide by stating that the Armenian Genocide "is not entirely analogous" to the Jewish Holocaust.

The controversy over the planned airing by PBS of an offensive panel discussion on the Armenian Genocide has become a major national and international issue. Here are the key developments of the past few days:

-- The Washington Post published on Feb. 16, a lengthy article titled: "PBS Panel on Armenian Genocide Stirs Protest." The article reported that more than 6,000 people (as of Feb. 16) had signed an online petition demanding the cancellation of the panel discussion, "making it one of the largest organized protests of a PBS program." Subsequently, the Los Angeles Times and several other newspapers reprinted the Washington Post article.

Several positive developments have taken place since my last week’s column calling for the boycott of those PBS stations that would air a debate on the Armenian Genocide immediately after the broadcast of Andrew Goldberg’s documentary, The Armenian Genocide, on April 17.

First, a couple of individuals under the name "Armenian Tidorts" initiated a petition, http://www.PetitionOnline.com/pbspanel/petition.html, asking everyone who is against "the debating of the Armenian Genocide with Genocide deniers and giving deniers equal air time," to sign it. In just a few days, more than 3,500 individuals of various nationalities from 55 countries (as of Monday night) have signed this petition which is being sent to Jacoba Atlas, the Senior Vice President of PBS Programming, urging her "not to approve the airing of the panel discussion" after the documentary. The petition is still on-going with more signatures pouring in every hour from around the world!

PBS is planning to air immediately after the April 17 broadcast of Andrew Goldberg’s "The Armenian Genocide" documentary, a 25-minute long panel discussion that includes two genocide deniers, Asbarez reported last week.

Goldberg told this writer that he did not agree with the PBS decision to hold a panel discussion on the Armenian Genocide. "I don't believe such a panel is necessary. I had absolutely nothing to do with it," he said.

The French Insurance Company AXA agreed last October to pay $17.5 million to descendants of life insurance policyholders who had perished during the Armenian Genocide.

For 90 years, Turks and Armenians have been at loggerheads over the Armenian Genocide. The Turkish establishment has tried everything in its power to deny and distort the facts of this crime against humanity. Armenians, on the other hand, have used every possible means to ensure that the world does not forget the mass murder of their ancestors.

Turkish American Prof. Fatma Muge Gocek received abusive and possibly libelous e-mails from Turks last week after criticizing the denialist policies of the Turkish government on the Armenian Genocide in an interview conducted by Aris Babikian which was published in Horizon Weekly, a Canadian-Armenian newspaper, and posted on several internet sites.

We are so absorbed in the fast pace of day to day events that we often
overlook the fact that many of today’s issues have their roots in important
developments that predate our short-term memories.

For example, as we speak about the Armenian Genocide of 1915, not everyone
realizes that “genocide” is a word that was not coined until 1943 by Raphael
Lemkin, a Polish-Jewish jurist. Turkish propagandists know this well. They
point out that what happened to the Armenians could be a massacre or a
tragedy, but not genocide, simply because the term genocide did not exist
back in 1915. This argument is as ridiculous as saying that Cain could not
have murdered Abel because the word murder was not yet invented at that
time!

In a couple of recent articles, the Los Angeles Times referred to the
Armenian Genocide as the “alleged slaying of Armenians” (Sept. 1, 2005)
resulting in “hundreds of thousands of Armenians killed during the era of
the Ottoman Empire,” (Sept. 8, 2005). In response to complaints from
readers, the L.A. Times acknowledged its error in using the word “alleged”
and published a correction on Sept. 11.

The editors of TIME recently apologized for placing a Turkish denialist DVD
in the June 6, 2005 issue of the European edition of the magazine.

In their apology, the TIME’s editors stated that they erred in accepting the
Turkish DVD as a paid insert. They said that due to their failure to review
the DVD, they were not aware that it contained a “documentary” denying the
facts of the Armenian Genocide. They also said that the DVD presented a
distorted view of history and did not meet its standards for fairness and
accuracy.

Turkish establishment’s displeasure with the three independent Turkish
scholars who spoke at UCLA on November 6, expressing their disagreement with
the Turkish government’s denialist views on the Armenian Genocide, keeps
escalating.

Before the conference, professors Taner Akcam, Fatma Muge Gocek and Elif
Shafak received insulting and threatening e-mails from individual Turks.
Then the Turkish Students’ Association at UCLA offered to fly a denialist
“scholar” all the way from Turkey to counter the three Turkish speakers, a
suggestion that was declined.

While a few Turkish scholars on rare occasions have individually
participated in Armenian conferences, never before has an all-Turkish panel
addressed an Armenian audience on issues related to the Armenian Genocide.
Such a unique conference took place at UCLA last Sunday.

The first indication that there were special sensitivities at this academic
gathering was a sign at the UCLA campus directing the guests to the building
where the conference was being held. It said: “Armenian Studies Conference.”
A curious passerby, noticing that the second word, “Studies,” was
handwritten on a piece of paper and taped over the sign, tore off the paper
revealing that the sign originally read: “Armenian Genocide Conference.”

For the first time, a conference related to the Armenian Genocide and held
outside Turkey will feature three Turkish scholars who challenge the Turkish
government's denialist position on this issue.

The forum titled, “Three Turkish Voices on the Ottoman Armenians,” will be
held at UCLA on Nov. 6, from 2 to 5:30 p.m. It is organized by Prof. Richard
Hovannisian, Armenian Educational Foundation Chair in Modern Armenian
History at UCLA, with the cooperation of the G.E. von Grunebaum Center for
Near Eastern Studies.

There have been so many developments on Turkish-Armenian issues in recent
days that the avalanche of news reports has overwhelmed the e-mail boxes of
Armenian newspapers. The fast pace of unfolding events has also made the
task of political commentators more difficult.

Here are some quick comments on a few recent developments:

TIME magazine came a step closer this week to properly address a major
dispute with Armenians worldwide over its distribution of a Turkish DVD
denying the Armenian Genocide.

Turkey finally embarked on a journey that it had been anxiously awaiting for
more than 40 years. The long and arduous negotiations for Turkey’s
membership in the European Union officially started last week and are
expected to last 10 or more years.

The French Insurance Company Axa agreed to pay $17 million to descendants of
life insurance policyholders who perished during the Armenian Genocide.

This announcement was made by Mark Geragos, a prominent Los Angeles
attorney, during the Oct. 2 banquet of the USC Institute of Armenian Studies
honoring Federal Judge Dickran Tevrizian.

For 90 years, Turkish officials have denied the reality of the Armenian
Genocide. During the past weekend, for the first time in Turkish history, a
conference was held in Istanbul during which Turkish scholars challenged the
revisionist position of their own government on the Armenian Genocide. This
was not an easy accomplishment. It came about after the organizers struggled
to overcome a series of almost insurmountable legal obstacles and physical
attacks.

The truth easily triumphed over some of the world’s most powerful political
forces in a David vs. Goliath battle that took place in the chambers

The Los Angeles Times published a lengthy article on Sept. 1 on the
indictment by a Turkish court of Orhan Pamuk, Turkey’s most famous writer,
for telling the Swiss newspaper Tagesanzeiger in an interview published on
February 6: “30,000 Kurds and 1 million Armenians were killed in these lands
and nobody but me dares to talk about it.”

Six weeks ago, the Switzerland-Armenia Association (SAA) sent a letter of protest to TIME magazine expressing its "shock and disappointment" that TIME included in its European Edition (June 6, 2005 issue), as a paid ad, a Turkish DVD that denied the Armenian Genocide.

Several important developments have taken place since Vanity Fair magazine
reported that a Turkish diplomat had talked about arranging for $500,000 in
small, un-itemized contributions of less than $200 each to House Speaker
Dennis Hastert in order to block a congressional resolution on the Armenian
Genocide in Fall 2000.

Hundreds of Turkish “scholars” are hired by various centers, institutes and
foundations in Turkey to write and publish articles and books on Armenian
issues, in general, and the Armenian Genocide, in particular.

Almost all of these centers, funded directly or indirectly by Turkish
governmental sources, have been set up to produce anti-Armenian propaganda
which is translated into dozens of languages and mailed to libraries,
parliaments, scholars and journalists around the world.

While Turkish leaders are desperately trying to convince the world that
their country is civilized enough to join the European Union, they are
actually proving the exact opposite with every passing day.

The June 6, 2005 issue of the European edition of TIME magazine included a DVD as a paid ad. The DVD had a 70-minute segment that completely denied and distorted the facts of the Armenian Genocide. In the same issue, along with the DVD, TIME ran a four-page ad, placed by the Ankara Chamber of Commerce, promoting tourism in Turkey.

In recent years, tensions have been steadily mounting between Switzerland
and Turkey following the adoption of resolutions recognizing the Armenian
Genocide by various Swiss cities, cantons (states) and the Federal
Parliament. Visits by government ministers and parliamentary groups have
been postponed or cancelled and economic/political relations have been
adversely affected.

Three months ago, Pres. Kocharian made a rare appearance in front of
students at Yerevan State University. After his official remarks dealing
with the state of affairs in Armenia, the President responded at length to
more than 20 questions from the students.

There has been a raging debate for some time now among Armenians on whether
Turkey’s membership in the European Union would be in Armenia’s interest.

Some Armenians believe that after joining the EU, Turkey would be a more
civilized and democratic nation that would recognize the Armenian Genocide,
lift the blockade of Armenia and establish friendlier relations with its
neighbors.

Armenians in the United States and Europe should launch a coordinated
campaign to ensure that Time magazine would never again allow itself to be
used as a tool for the dissemination of Turkish lies on the Armenian
Genocide.

The Ankara Chamber of Commerce had paid around $1 million to place four
full-page ads and a DVD in the June 6 issue of the European edition of Time
magazine which has a circulation of around 500,000 copies.

Last week, there were three important countries that had not yet recognized
the Armenian Genocide: Germany, the United States and Great Britain.

Following last Thursday’s action by the German Bundestag (parliament), there
are now only two major countries left that are still in denial: the United
States and Great Britain.

Last week, in this column, I disclosed the news that the American Foreign
Service Association had just reversed itself, taking the unprecedented step
of withdrawing the “Constructive Dissent” award from John Evans, the U.S.
Ambassador to Armenia.

The American Foreign Service Association took the very unusual step this
week of rescinding the prestigious “Constructive Dissent” award that it had
decided to bestow upon U.S. Ambassador to Armenia John Evans, during a
special ceremony that was to be held at the Benjamin Franklin Diplomatic
Reception Room of the State Department on June 17.

For several months now, I have been writing about the Turkish officials’
unintended efforts in publicizing the Armenian Genocide issue worldwide.
Last week, Turkey’s Minister of Justice Cemil Cicek provided the best
evidence for my contention.

Two years ago, when Recep Tayyip Erdogan became the Prime Minister of
Turkey, he brought a fresh perspective to the country’s many long-standing
domestic and foreign problems, including the Armenian Genocide. Rather than
parroting the worn-out denials uttered by his predecessors, he approached
the demands for the recognition of the genocide issue with caution. He did
not dismiss them off-hand and did not claim that the genocide was “a
baseless allegation.”

An increasing number of Turks have been acknowledging recently the facts of
the Armenian Genocide and openly expressing their sympathy toward the
survivors of the horrible crime committed by their ancestors.

However, no one should jump to the conclusion that the Turkish government is
getting close to recognizing the Genocide. The Turkish leaders are becoming
more, not less, recalcitrant in their refusal to face the facts of their
bloody history. Not only are they denying that their ancestors committed
genocide, but, incredibly, they are blaming the Armenians for killing
millions of Turks! Furthermore, Prime Minister Erdogan is shamelessly
calling on those countries that have already acknowledged the Armenian
Genocide to apologize to Turkey! The Turkish parliament has even adopted new
laws that criminalize the acknowledgment of the Armenian Genocide.

Facing a large and powerful historic enemy on their western border,
Armenians have to muster all of their resources to defend the political
interests of their nascent homeland. In this battle of David vs. Goliath,
Armenia’s relatively inexperienced leaders are pitted against highly
sophisticated Turkish diplomats who are aided and abetted by the neo-cons in
Washington, the Israeli lobby, and highly skilled American consultants.

Armenians in just about every country organized conferences, marches, photo exhibits, lectures, and church services last week to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. Hundreds of newspapers and magazines around the world, in dozens of languages covered these activities.

I did not support George Bush’s re-election last year knowing full well that
the neo-cons (neo-conservatives) occupying some of the top echelons of the
Bush administration would never allow him to utter the words “Armenian
Genocide.”

At the time of writing this column, the Armenian Tsunami, much anticipated by the Turks in advance of the 90th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, is still a few days away.

The Turks correctly anticipated the Tsunami, but miscalculated two things. First, the Turks themselves contributed greatly to this Tsunami, by unintentionally publicizing the Armenian Genocide through their "pre-emptive" activities. Second, the Turks did not realize that it was going to be an international Tsunami, rather than one limited to Armenians. We have seen reports of various events that have already taken place in advance of April 24, and announcements of other activities being planned later this week around the globe. These events are too numerous to mention here.

Turkish leaders are literally going out of their minds; desperately
searching for any and all possible ways to counter the commemorations of the
90th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.

Of course, it would have been much simpler and more honest for them to
simply face up to their own history and to tell the truth. Unfortunately,
that seems to be asking too much!

There was a time when it was not easy to find a subject to comment on each week. Back then, with the shortage of Armenian news, one wondered what to write about. That’s not the case any more. There is so much happening these days that editors don’t know how to fit all the news in the pages of their newspapers and commentators are at a loss as to which issue to focus on. The sheer volume of news items has been so overwhelming that it feels like there have been more developments pertaining to Armenians during the weeks leading to the 90th anniversary of the Genocide than in all the years since 1915.

Several months ago, when Armenians started planning commemorative activities
for the 90th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, little did they know that
the biggest boost for their efforts would come from the Turks themselves!

Even though the Turks are supposed to be on their best behavior in order to
convince the Europeans that they are civilized enough to join the European
Union, they are still extremely intolerant of anyone who dares to bring up
the taboo subject of the Armenian Genocide.

The Turkish State is sinking into more turmoil with every passing day.
Several members of Prime Minister Recep Erdogan’s ruling Justice and
Development Party have resigned from their parliamentary seats in recent
weeks. The Party has been accused of corruption and receiving funds from
suspicious sources overseas. The press, feeling somewhat shielded by the
European Union, is more brazenly exposing the scandals associated with the
government and is using harsher tones in criticizing the Prime Minister’s
shortcomings.

Last month, in a column criticizing the willingness of the American Jewish
Committee to serve the interests of Turkey, I emphasized that there were
countless other Jewish organizations and individuals who sided with the
Armenians.

The U.S. Ambassador to Armenia issued “a clarification” on Monday regarding
the statements he had made on the Armenian Genocide and Karabagh during his
meetings two weeks ago with the Armenian American community.

The Wall Street Journal unleashed last week a devastating "shock and awe" attack against Turkey. The commentary titled, "The Sick Man of Europe – Again," caused shock waves in Turkey as well as the United States. This opinion column was not written by someone who had an axe to grind against Turkey, but by Robert L. Pollock, "a senior editorial page writer at the Journal." In fact, in a subsequent interview with Voice of America, the writer described himself as a friend of Turkey.

At a great personal risk, one of the most prominent Turkish commentators, Mehmet Ali Birand, openly admitted last week that Turkey has been defeated in its campaign to deny the facts of the Armenian Genocide.

In a commentary titled "We’ve already missed the train," published in the Feb. 5th issue of the Turkish Daily News, Birand quoted Yusuf Halacoglu, the Chairman of the Turkish Historical Foundation, as saying that the Turkish government’s efforts on "the publication of documents, books and movies" to deny the Armenian Genocide have not had the intended result. Halacoglu described such Turkish efforts as "propaganda." Birand conceded that the Genocide is gaining international acceptance.

David Phillips, the moderator of the Turkish-Armenian Reconciliation Commission, is about to publish a book that discloses the true motives of those who initiated and supported TARC.

For several years now, the Israeli government and a few American-Jewish groups have supported Turkey on various issues, some of which run counter to Armenian interests.

The Armenian government fired the first shot this week to begin the yearlong commemorative activities planned for the 90th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.

Who would have thought that 90 years after the Armenian Genocide, the Turks would still be haunted by the mass murders committed by their ancestors?

Over the years, as various Armenian Church leaders in Turkey, under pressure from Turkish officials, made disparaging remarks about the Diaspora’s efforts for the recognition for the Armenian Genocide, I never hesitated to criticize them. Therefore, it is only fair that these Church leaders are to be commended whenever they bravely speak out on the Armenian Genocide, jeopardizing their own position and personal safety.