Armenian Genocide: Turkey Cracks Down

by Uzay Bulut • May 6, 2018 at 5:00 am

The Christian genocide in Ottoman Turkey lasted for 10 years -- from 1913 to 1923 -- and targeted Armenian, Greek, Assyrian and other Christians. It resulted in the annihilation of around three million people. Sadly, Turkish aggression against the remaining Armenians continues.
According to Turkish myth, it was actually the "treacherous" Armenians who persecuted Turks; and the Turks were acting in self-defense to rid themselves of murderous Armenians. A widespread Turkish claim is, "They deserved it."
The lies and state propaganda, which hold the victims responsible for their own annihilation, are what enable the ongoing Turkish persecution of the country's remaining Armenians, including the conversion of their churches into mosques and the digging up of Armenian graves and churches by treasure-hunters who search for gold.

Armenian civilians, escorted by Ottoman soldiers, marched through Harput to a prison in nearby Mezireh (present-day Elazig), April 1915. (Image source: American Red Cross/Wikimedia Commons)

The annual Armenian Genocide commemorative event that the Istanbul branch of Turkey's Human Rights Association (IHD) and the European Grassroots Antiracist Movement (EGAM) planned to hold on April 24 -- which they have been holding every year since 2005 -- was blocked by police, who seized the placards and banners about the genocide and carried out criminal record checks on participants. Three human rights activists were detained and then released.

In an exclusive interview with Gatestone, Ayşe Günaysu, an activist with the IHD's Commission Against Racism and Discrimination, said that "on their way to police station, the detainees were made to listen to racist songs containing hostile words concerning Armenians."

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Iran, Macromel and the Purloined Letter

by Amir Taheri • May 6, 2018 at 4:00 am

There is of course nothing illegal about enriching uranium or producing nuclear weapons or even using them. The only thing is that you cannot be a signatory of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT), as Iran has been from the start, and violate it at the same time.
That the Europeans don't care much about the substance of the issue is indicated by Macron and Merkel insisting that "signatures" be honored. The fact, however, is that no one signed the "deal" which lacks a legal status.
The Obama "deal" is bad for Iran, bad for Europe and bad for the Middle East. At the same time it keeps the clock ticking towards the "threshold" moment when the mullahs, if their regime survives, decide to go full shebang for "the ultimate weapon."

French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel chat in Berlin on May 15, 2017. (Photo by Michele Tantussi/Getty Images)

Seeking to persuade the US President Donald Trump to drop his demand for improving the "nuke deal" with Iran, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have insisted on one shibboleth: No better deal is possible!

(In political circles of Paris and Berlin the Macron-Merkel tandem is now known as Macromel!)

However, the Franco-German claim, subtly backed by the British and echoed by President Hassan Rouhani in Tehran, suffers from at least one logical defect: We won't know whether or not an improvement is possible unless we give it a try.

Tried for two years, the "deal", concocted out by former President Barack Obama, has proven unworkable.

Iran has been unable, not to say unwilling, to fulfill its part of the bargain on key issues.

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