The Croydonian

The Artsakh update

Monday, March 17, 2008

Azerbaijan has persuaded the UN to pass a resolution "reaffirm[ing] Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity, expressing support for that country’s internationally recognized borders and demanding the immediate withdrawal of all Armenian forces from all occupied territories there".

Given recent events in Serbia / Kosovo, it is intriguing to note that some countries are quite happy to dismember Serbia in pursuit of self-determination for Albanians but will not extend the same principle to the Armenians of Artsakh. So, here are the states which have recognised Kosova but have also signed the Azeri motion:

Afghanistan
Bangladesh
Kuwait
Malaysia
Morocco
Pakistan
Saudi Arabia
Senegal
Turkey

Meanwhile, all credit to the unlikely list of refuseniks: Angola, Armenia, France, India, Russian Federation, United States, Vanuatu. Our man in NY abstained.

Labels: Armenia, Artsakh

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Something to make the arts lobby sick with jealousy

Wednesday, March 05, 2008

How many times have Turner Prize winners and the like declared that they want to shock the public? A fair few times, I would think, and it would also seem to be the ambition of just about every graduate of RADA, the Slade etc etc . No one ever seems to have 'adding to the gaiety of the nation' on their wish list, but less of that later.

Anyway, if this headline - 'Street theatre scares children, shocks nation' - don't fetch 'em, I don't know Arkansaw, or rather Erzurum.

In a late bid for beacon council status, the Mayor of Aşkale, Erzurum province ordered municipal workers to 'dress up as Armenians acting out hanging an imam and murdering a family before being killed themselves by high school students playing the Turkish militia'. The 'educational' playlet was to commemorate the 90th anniversary of what the Mayor considers the liberation of the area, and "They repeat the event every year, he said, so children will always remember what happened. 'Keeping these sentiments alive will give us an honorable future'".

In fairness to the Turks, the main national newspapers are appalled and outraged. Which is a start, although acknowledging the Armenian genocide, or even asking questions as to why there are no Armenians in Erzerum province these days would be better still.

Labels: Armenia, Turkey

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Hillary Clinton in 'right - for once' shocker

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

It did come as a bit of surprise, however Clinton - along with Barrack Obama and Nancy Pelosi - has backed "House Resolution 106, officially the Affirmation of the United States Record on the Armenian Genocide".

Objections by the Bush administration are based on the likely hissy fit by Ankara, but given how remarkably unhelpful Turkey has been of late, I am not sure why Bush should be bothered, given that what's right is right.

Herewith a video put together by an Armenian-American lobbying group that took the fight to Bob Livingston, a former congressman now pocketing Ankara's Lira: