Armenian Genocide

BELGRADE - Turkish president Erdogan has threatened to "leave" Europe to deal with its migrant crisis alone, saying that Germany "blackmailed" Ankara by recognizing the Armenian Genocide. He also called out the Germans over their "history" of mass killings.

The German parliament has passed a resolution calling Turkish crimes against Armenians in 1915 and 1916 genocide.

During the voting, only one MP abstained, and another voted against the resolution, entitled, "Remembrance and commemoration of the genocide of Armenians and other Christian minorities in 1915 and 1916."

Why bother penning an article on the Armenian issue when we have just passed April 24, the anniversary of the mass killings of Ottoman Armenians in 1915, without much fuss this year - something that usually means we can sleep easily on the issue until next year. But in the wake of heated debates over a new constitution, the issue of minority rights and their positions in Turkish society deserve

As the saying goes ‘One man’s hero is another man’s tyrant’. No matter what we believe about the validity or virtues of a political agenda, there is no doubt that some leaders did not hold back in brute force when trying to achieve their goals. Here is a brief list of the most ruthless leaders of all time. You could probably add many more.

Following Germany and the Netherlands, the Turkish government is now trying to gag freedom of expression and the press in Switzerland and Sweden!

Turkish Foreign Ministry has urged the U.S. administration to adopt an objective and constructive approach in evaluating historical realities on the basis of a memory after U.S. President Barack Obama's "Meds Yeghern" remarks on the killings of Armenians in 1915.

U.S. President Barack Obama avoided using the word "genocide" in his remarks to commemorate the killings of Armenians in 1915, describing it as "Meds Yeghern," an Armenian term meaning "great calamity." 

Obama has chosen to opt for this wording in all his commemorative statements on April 24 since he came into office.

'In the Ruins: The 1909 Massacres of Armenians in Adana' by Zabel Yessayan (AIWA, $20, 262 pages)

Armenian and Greek leaders' joint portrayal of the events that took place in Anatolia during World War I as "genocide" has deeply angered Ankara, which labeled their statement as "the product of a pathetic mentality."

Three Bulgarian municipalities will have their access to cross-border EU funding cut as Turkey has banned any partnership with them, private bTV station reported.