Sour taste of Sudanese visit

Thursday, January 24, 2008
ANKARA – Turkish Daily News

If Turkey were repentant on the Armenian genocide it would have recognized the Darfur genocide instead of courting the Sudan's perpetrator of the genocide.

Sudanese President Omar Hasan al-Bashir's visit to Turkey has shocked international relations experts who openly condemn Ankara's top level contacts with a leader held responsible for humanitarian atrocities in his own country.

“One would think Turkey's leaders would be a little more careful before laying down the red carpet for the likes of President Omar al Bashir of Sudan,” said former United States ambassador to Ankara, Morton Abromowitz. The international community considers Bashir as an illegitimate dictator presiding over a pariah state guilty of crimes against humanity, he said.

“He is a seemingly strange bedfellow for Turkey's AKP [Justice and Development Party] trying to prove to many domestic and Western observers of its balanced, well-calibrated foreign policy, and its attachment to international norms,” Abromowitz said.

Last year, defying Turkish state policy of avoiding contacts with Bashir, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan visited Sudanese capital Khartoum and said that “Muslims would commit such murders.”

Bashir is considered to have given a free hand to the Janjaweed, the Arab militia that commits mass killings and systematic violence against Darfur's population to quell the rebellion launched in 2003 by the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A), representing non-Muslim tribal Africans, and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), a movement of African Muslims to claim equal rights.

A peace deal was signed in 2006 between the government and rebel factions in the Darfur region, only to incite divisions between dissident groups and exacerbate violence. In June 2006, three rebel groups including the JEM and part of the SLM/A joined forces to form the National Redemption Front (NRF), which opposes the May 2006 peace agreement. At least 200,000 people have lost their life and 2.5 million people have been driven from their homes as aresult of violence in the region.

Government policy alienates experts

The AKP's attempts to form contacts with the al -Bashir government had been blocked by intense resistance from Foreign Ministry officials who asked President Abdullah Gül, at the time foreign minister, to ignore the Sudanese leader's requests to visit Turkey.

But they failed to stop Erdoğan from visiting Darfur in March 2006 to participate in a meeting of the Arab League, where he said that no assimilation or genocide was committed in Darfur.

International relations expert Soli Özel dubbed the visit as “foreign policy fantasies of the government” and lamented the decision to welcome Bashir in Ankara.

“The government claims to be able to speak about everything with everyone. This is nonsense and is a shame to Turkey,” said Özel.

Abromowitz pointed to Turkey's endeavor to persuade the international community that there was no Armenian ''genocide'' in 1915 and noted that Bashir's visit will reduce the persuasiveness of Turkey's thesis.

Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.

Survivors of Armenian genocide urge Chinese pressures on Sudan

28 Sept. 2007
Sudan Tribune, Sudan

September 25 — At a genocide commemoration ceremony at the Armenian Genocide Memorial, religious leaders passed a symbolic Olympic Torch to call for an end to the genocide in Darfur. From left: Samuel Kobia, General Secretary, World Council of Churches; His Holiness Karekin II, Catholicos of All Armenians; the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, Sept 25, 2007.Less than one year before Beijing Olympic Games begin, the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, His Holiness Karekin II, Catholicos of All Armenians, and prominent human rights activists pointedly connected the government of China to the first genocide of the 21st century in a torch lighting ceremony at a site commemorating the first genocide of the 20th century.

Archbishop Williams stated, “Today, we honored victims and survivors of genocides of the past century, linking them together through our passing of a torch signifying the hope that we share for an end to the violence in Darfur. I join these survivors in standing up to say that although the international community has stood by silently again and again while the blood of innocent human beings is shed, we must now make the phrase ‘never again’ a reality.”

“Following many years of indifference, the Chinese government is now asserting that it has been a leader for peace in Darfur. But even in the best of scenarios, there will not be an adequate peacekeeping force on the ground for many months,” said Jill Savitt, Director of Dream for Darfur. “We must continue pressing China so that the next Olympic Games, an international symbol of peace and brotherhood, are not hosted by a nation that is complicit in the ultimate international crime.”

The Archbishop of Canterbury, along with Darfur advocates and Armenian genocide survivors, lit the torch at the eternal flame at the Armenian Genocide Memorial in Yerevan. The torch was then passed around the eternal flame in a somber ceremony honoring survivors of genocide and remembering the lives lost both in Darfur, and in previous genocides of the 20th century.

“This flame honors those who have been lost and those who suffer; this flame celebrates the courage of those who have survived; this flame represents the hope we all share for an end to the violence and a safe return home,” said Omer Ismail, a Sudanese survivor from Darfur, as he passed the torch.

"Armenians worldwide understand the realities and pain of genocide, even today, 92 years after the Armenian Genocide. Today’s event demonstrates our solidarity with the people of Darfur, and with all those who have been subjected to genocide," said Arpi Vartanian, Armenian Assembly of America Country Director for Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh.

The Dream for Darfur symbolic Olympic Torch Relay began on the border of strife-ridden Darfur and Chad in August, where Mia Farrow and other Darfur advocates lit the torch. The Relay then traveled to Kigali, Rwanda, where survivors of the Rwandan genocide passed the torch from the site where thousands of Tutsis were killed after UN forces withdrew.

After Armenia, the Torch Relay will continue to other countries associated with genocide and mass slaughter – Bosnia, Germany, and Cambodia, ending in Hong Kong to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Rape of Nanking, China’s own experience with the murder of innocents.

Dream for Darfur, a year-long campaign undertaken with the support of a worldwide network of Darfur advocates, is both asking and demanding that China, in its role as Olympic host and close partner of Sudan, use its unique influence with Khartoum to end the suffering in Darfur—before the Games begin in August, 2008. The campaign motto is “China, Please: Bring the Olympic Dream to Darfur.”

In solidarity with the international torch relay, a relay will be held in 25 states in the United States between September and December to build public pressure on China in regard to its dual roles as Olympic host and sponsor of a genocidal regime. More info can be found at: www.savedarfur.org/torchrelay. National relays are also slated for Canada, Italy, Sierra Leone, the United Kingdom, France, Brazil, and South Africa.

In seeking to enlist China’s intensive involvement in resolving the Darfur crisis, the Dream for Darfur campaign is contacting the IOC, national Olympic committees, and corporate sponsors of the ’08 Olympics.

“We welcomed China’s recent UN vote to allow a peacekeeping force into Sudan, but China now must press Sudan to ensure that the words on paper translate into action,” said Savitt. “We will continue our campaign until China uses its influence with Khartoum and we see adequate and verifiable security on the ground in Darfur.”

On the net: www.dreamfordarfur.org

(Dream for Darfur/ST)

Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.

Torch Relay campaign against genocides reached Armenia

24.09.2007
PanARMENIAN.Net

The Armenian Assembly of America (AAA) is organizing a special commemorative event to take place at the Tsitsernakapert Genocide Memorial on Tuesday, September 25 at 10.30 AM in Yerevan.

In collaboration with "Olympic Dream for Darfur" the AAA will organize an Olympic-style torch relay, as Armenia is the third stop on an international symbolic Olympic Torch Relay campaign that calls for an end to the genocide currently unfolding in Darfur. Special guests in attendance will consist of survivors of the Armenian Genocide, Rwandan Genocide and Darfur Genocide as well as His Holiness Garegin II, Catholicos of All Armenians, and The Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams.

The torchlight procession that started in Eastern Chad today will march through the states which suffered from genocide in different times. In a couple of months the action participants will cross Rwanda and Cambodia and reach Armenia. Afterwards they will head for Sarajevo.

The purpose of the procession is to attract attention of the international community to the problem of genocide, specifically to the situation in Darfur. The action was initiated by UNICEF goodwill ambassador, actress Mia Farrow, who is dealing with the Darfur problem.

“We constantly speak of prevention of genocides. However, they are repeated again and again. The activities of the Sudanese government in Darfur can be described as the first genocide of the 21st century. It should be stopped,” Ms. Farrow said.

The procession started August 8. On this very day the Summer Olympic Games will kick off in Beijing next year. China, as Sudan’s major economic partner, was chosen as one of the targets of the action.

“The Sudanese government empowered Chinese oil companies to use nature resources of the country while 80% of the income is spent on military operations in Darfur. Cooperating with China, we support the perpetrators of the genocide in Darfur,” Ms. Farrow noted.

! Reproduction in full or in part is prohibited without reference to «PanARMENIAN.Net».

Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.

ACA Asks President Bush to Recognize the Armenian Genocide

Thursday, May 31, 2007
Council of America

President Bush on Darfur:
“My Administration Has Called These Actions by Their Rightful Name: Genocide"

LOS ANGELES -- In a statement issued to the White House, the Armenian Council of America expressed its satisfaction towards the President’s actions regarding the Darfur Genocide, but asked the President to have the same moral concerns towards the reaffirmation of the Armenian Genocide.

While the ACA statement praised President Bush for doing the right thing Tuesday by increasing sanctions against the military government in the Sudan, which has to take responsibility for the Genocide of hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians in Darfur, and displacing millions more, the ACA continued to ask the President and his Administration to stop advocating against the reaffirmation of the Armenian Genocide Resolution on the Capital Hill.

"It is the moral responsibility of the leader of the free world to hinder acts of Genocides throughout the world. We commend the President’s actions towards the Darfur Genocide and ask him to have the moral strength to act with the same manor towards the Armenian Genocide," read the ACA statement.

House Resolution 106 and Senate Resolution 106 call upon the President to ensure that the foreign policy of the United States reflects appropriate understanding and sensitivity concerning issues related to human rights, ethnic cleansing, and genocide documented in the United States record relating to the Armenian Genocide.

Currently the support for H.R. 106 and S.R. 106 has reached 195 members of within the U.S. House, and 30 members within the U.S. Senate.

Canadians want action on Darfur, poll finds

May 19, 2007
The Ottawa Citizen
By Mike Blanchfield

More than half surveyed say Canada should contribute troops to peacekeeping force

Two-thirds of Canadians want the government to take the lead on the international stage to end the four years of carnage in Darfur, says a new poll.

A slim majority -- 52 per cent -- also want Canada to contribute troops to a United Nations peacekeeping force to stop the "genocide," says the Pollara survey for the Toronto-based Mosaic Institute, provided exclusively to the Citizen.

The new poll will likely give ammunition to critics of the Harper Conservatives who accuse the government of single-mindedly focusing its foreign policy on the military mission in Afghanistan. The Conservative government has said with the 2,500 troops in Afghanistan, it is stretched too thin to make a military contribution to an international force for Darfur.

The United Nations wants to deploy 20,000 peacekeepers to Darfur, but has been stonewalled by the Sudanese government in Khartoum.

The poll arrived along with a new report yesterday from former Canadian Supreme Court justice Louise Arbour that blamed Sudanese government security forces for taking part in the killings of 100 people, including civilians, earlier this year.
Ms. Arbour, the UN's high commissioner for human rights, said in her report that Sudan's border intelligence guards participated in eight raids on a series of villages in the country's western region of Darfur between Jan. 6 and March 31. The border guards, armed with machineguns and rocket-propelled grenades, backed tribesmen who attacked a rival tribe, the report said.

"The government did not take effective action to prevent the attacks, control members of its security forces and use of its equipment ... or intervene to protect civilians," Ms. Arbour's report concluded.

The report is the latest to blame Sudan's government for backing Arab militias in their four-year campaign of terror and violence, More than 200,000 people have been killed and an estimated 2.5 million people -- mainly black farmers -- displaced from their homes in Darfur, a region the size of France.

The Pollara poll, which surveyed 1,642 people across the country, found that 66 per cent of respondents agree that Canada should play a lead role in stopping the "genocide" in Darfur, with 27 per cent saying they strongly agree. Quebec and the Prairies led the country at 69 per cent, with B.C. at 67, Ontario at 65 and Alberta at 63.

The push to intervene was highest among people aged 18-34, with 79 per cent of men and 71 per cent of women calling on Canada to play a lead role.

"Canadians expect their government to show leadership in creating a more secure world. Africa in general, and Darfur in particular, occupy a prominent position in the humanitarian thinking of Canadians," said Vahan Kololian, chairman of the Mosaic Institute, an organization devoted to diversity, international peace and development.
As far as what specifically should be done, 52 per cent of Canadians polled favoured contributing troops to a United Nations-sanctioned peacekeeping force, while 34 per cent said Canada should condemn "what is happening in Sudan and Darfur."

Conservative silence on Darfur continues

Mon 23 Apr 2007

“If we do not act with conviction around Darfur, then soon we will reconvene to establish another day of commemoration for the suffering of yet another innocent people.”

NDP Challenges Harper to Support New UN Initiative

OTTAWA –Stephen Harper remains silent on the suffering of civilians in Darfur, a week after the government of Sudan announced its consent to a UN heavy support package of up to 3,000 troops for the troubled region.

At a press conference today, three NDP MPs - Foreign Affairs Critic Alexa McDonough, Defence Critic Dawn Black, and the vice-chair for the all-party commission for the prevention of genocide, Paul Dewar – challenged the government to use the occasion of the Armenian genocide commemoration to announce its strategy to support a renewed peace-support mission in Darfur.

“Darfur’s is a story that sounds far too similar to the experience of Armenians, of the European Jews, of many Native Americans, of the Rwandan Tutsi,” said the MPs in their press conference. “If we do not act with conviction around Darfur, then soon we will reconvene to establish another day of commemoration for the suffering of yet another innocent people.”

Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.

Never give up fighting genocide in Darfur

March 10, 2007
The Coloradoan
By Lilit Hovakimyan

My heart is paining for those who had lived their whole lives in peace and who wanted to die in peace, for those who were so young and had so many plans for the future, for those who would have so much to tell and who'd just learned to say "Mother." Is it fair?

No, it is not just. I know what it means. Genocide. Even hearing this word, I tremble. This word fills the heart of a 16-year-old girl with hatred. A question that doesn't leave my mind alone is, "Why? For what?" The answer is simple: "Why not?"

I am talking from a name of a whole nation. From the name of parents who saw their children burning in the fire, from the name of husbands who saw their wives being raped and from the names of children getting killed when they were still under their mothers' hearts.

I am crying while putting down what I feel on this sheet of paper. Yes, I am crying because I knowa 16-year-old girl and her thoughts or feelings cannot stop it. But I know one thing for sure. We cannot change the past, but the future is in our hands. We learn from the past and bring it to the future. If we all fight and never give up, there will come a day of triumph.

I would do everything to make that day tomorrow. I could even give my life, but. ...

My mind, my body and my soul can understand a genocide that took place in 1915 at some points. But people, open your eyes there are hundreds of people being killed every day. There are people that fall asleep without any hopes that they will wake up next morning. I am talking about Darfur, a region in Sudan where all these inhumane things take place. More than 16.000 [more likely close to 200,000] Africans were killed in the last two years. In front of our eyes. Don't people see or understand that common people are very important?

What can we do to stop it?

I know that a 16-year-old girl has so much to see and to learn, but I still think that sometimes we need to get used to the idea that we cannot have everything. We just cannot.

I am asking you in the name of all the children that were killed in Darfur. People, please, stop for just a second and think about all this. Think about the people that could be your parents, sisters, brothers, husbands. ...

Smile at the world and the world will smile back. Never give up.

Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.