Source: USA Armenian Life Magazine, weekly issue #1188, January 1-7, 2010, p. 7

In 2008, the Caucasus Institute foundation published a book in Yerevan entitled “Caucasus Neighborhood: Turkey and The South Caucasus.” The chief editor of the said book is Aleksandr Iskandaryan – the director of the Caucasus Institute. The volume consists of analytical papers that were presented during a conference which took place in Istanbul, Turkey, from August 1 to August 4 of 2008. The conference was organized by the Caucasus Institute.

The book includes an article by Aybars Görgülü, one of the presenters of this conference who has entitled his piece: “Turkey-Armenia relations: An eternal deadlock?” According to the introduction, Görgülü is a member of the Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation in Istanbul. In the said article Görgülü denies the historical factuality of the Armenian Genocide that has been acknowledged and reaffirmed by countless international academic and human rights bodies. In fact, the word genocide was coined by Raphael Lemkin, a lawyer and legal scholar, who from the very inception of the word noted that the Armenian Genocide is a “classic” case study of a pre-planned and systematically implemented attempt at total annihilation of a whole people. In his article, Görgülü explicitly denies the Armenian Genocide and, when referring to it, places the word genocide in quotation marks. The article serves as a lamentation piece for the Turkish author who decries the fact that “Even the EP (European Parliament – G.N.), let alone the parliaments of leading EU member countries such as Germany, France, Belgium, Greece, Italy and Netherlands, adopted the ’genocide’ allegations. (p. 137).”

The article and the book did not go unnoticed, at least to Dr. Armen Ayvazyan and his “ARARAT” Center for Strategic Research, which has been at the forefront of battling Armenian Genocide denial and the Turkish government propaganda machine. The “ARARAT” Center filed a lawsuit against the Caucasus Institute foundation’s director Aleksandr Iskandaryan and, on December 3, 2009, the first court hearing was held. The statement submitted to the Kentron and Norq-Marash districts of Yerevan’s court of first instance particularly noted that the Caucasus Institute has explicitly denied the Armenian Genocide by publishing the article by Aybars Görgülü. The Caucasus Institute was defended by attorney Vahagn Grigoryan, who represented the director of the Caucasus Institute Aleksandr Iskandaryan during the court session, because the latter did not even bother to show up for the hearings.

In its claim the “ARARAT” Center demanded that the court do the following:
1.Compel the Defendant to publicly retract the false information reflected in the Book “Caucasus Neighborhood: Turkey and The South Caucasus” published by the Caucasus Institute foundation in 2008 and disseminate retraction in “Hayastani Hanrapetutyun” and “Azg” daily newspapers, “Golos Armenii” Russian-language newspaper and the main news broadcasts of “H1”, “Shant” and “Armenia” broadcasting companies, which broadcast also on satellite, by determining the order of the public retraction by the court decision.
2.Prohibit any further use of the word genocide in quotation marks and further dissemination of all copies of the same book under disposition of the Defendant.
3.Order payment of symbolic damages of one dram for the moral damage caused.

The second and final hearing took place the next day on December 4, 2009, during which Karine Petrosyan, the presiding judge over the case at the Kentron and Norq-Marash district court, without any explanation dismissed the case with suspension. The crucial suspension of the case, which can have a course-altering impact on the struggle for international reaffirmation of the Armenian Genocide, took place in a court session that lasted a whopping 1 minute and 15 seconds.

In a statement made immediately after the case, the “ARARAT” Center’s attorney Arthur Grigoryan made it clear that they find the suspension completely unacceptable and will appeal the case to higher courts, including the Appeals’ Court, then, if necessary, the Cassation Court and the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

On December 17, 2009, emboldened by the dismissal of the case, Iskandaryan invited Görgülü to Armenia, where in Yerevan’s Hotel Armenia Marriot the genocide denier received a warm welcome and gave a lecture during the “seminar” organized by the Caucasus Institute foundation. The angry protesters picketing outside were dispersed by Armenian police officers who had come to defend the Turkish denier of the Armenian Genocide. Iskandaryan did not permit members of the media to cover the “seminar” citing the need for “anonymity” and the “imperative exchange between the seminar participants.” The cloud of secrecy and lack of transparency, which is an essential component of the democratic process and the public’s right to know, is quite revealing of the modus operandi of the Caucasus Institute foundation and its director Aleksandr Iskandaryan. Astonishingly, among the participants of the discussion with the genocide-deniers was also Hayk Demoyan, the Director of the Yerevan Institute-Museum of Genocide. According to the France-Armenie magazine (Denial of the Armenian Genocide goes Unpunished, Dec. 18, 2009), in his previous writings Iskandaryan has explicitly stated that “Western Armenia is not an Armenian land…” and historically only had “Armenians who just lived there…” One would be very surprised and even call it utter ignorance if it were not for the statement that put it all into its right “perspective”, made only days ago by the Turkish government financed Tesef organization, which stated that it had been “cooperating” with Iskandaryan and his Caucasus Institute foundation for quite some time now.

The above course of events is almost surreal and I believe hardly any Armenian would expect to see this happen of all places in … Armenia. But then again what we have seen unfold in front of our eyes also seems to come directly out of a René Magritte painting. Only days prior to the annual commemoration of the Armenian Genocide hardly anyone knew of the things to come in the form of the “roadmap” which at its very inception raised a furor of countless questions and concerns. Very few Armenians expected that Armenia would actually agree to establish diplomatic relations with Turkey based on several pre-conditions that Turkey had set forth (most notably the recognition of the current artificial “borders” imposed by the Turkish genocidal regime and the agreement to establish a commission which will question the unequivocal historical fact of the Armenian Genocide already reaffirmed by countless international and national bodies).

Dr. Armen Ayvazyan and the “ARARAT” Center have already begun the good fight on behalf of all Armenians, all of the descendants of the survivors of the Armenian Genocide and all those who have fallen victim to man’s inhumanity to man. Today Dr. Ayvazyan is on the frontline when it comes to fighting and holding accountable the likes of Görgülü, who have unbelievably been invited and lauded, of all the places, in the capital of all the Armenians –Yerevan. Come new year and Dr. Ayvazyan will tour the Armenian communities of Greater Los Angeles and inform all of the concerned Armenians about the current standing of the “Turkish-Armenian protocols,” about the (formerly unimaginable) denial of the Armenian Genocide in Armenia. Most importantly, Dr. Ayvazyan will not only update us on these crucial issues concerning the future of the Armenian people and Armenia, but will also present concrete steps of how each and every one of us can help out and do his or her part in order to once and for all put an end to this shameful and dramatic chapter in millennia-old Armenian history.

Gevork Nazaryan

READ ALSO: English Translation of the Full Text of the First Lawsuit Against the Denial of Genocide in Armenia

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