Your Greek Friends Stand Beside You!

[Gavur]

Karlos Papoulias in Yerevan

Added: June 27, 2007
From: NewsFromArmenia

Today the delegation headed by President of Greece Karlos Papoulias who is in Armenia with a state visit, accompanied with Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian visited Tsitsernakaberd Memorial Complex.

They laid a wreath on the memorial of the victims of the Armenian Genocide and flowers -- at the unquenchable fire.

The delegation also visited the Genocide Institute-Museum, where the President made a note in the memory-register of the honorable guests using the word 'genocide.'

He also stressed that Turkey must recognize what has happened, and apologize.

Papoulias' wife also left a note in the memory-register.

The director of the Museum awarded the President of Greece with Gold Medal for visiting them.

And as for the Park of Memory, another fur-tree was planted there.

It is noteworthy that Greece officially recognized the Armenian Genocide in 1995.

The President of Greece also visited Yerevan State University.

Stressing the strength of Armenian-Greek centuries-lasting ties, he mentioned that even during the Hellenist era Greeks in their history spoke about Armenians and many famous Greeks were proud to announce that they have Armenian blood running in their vessels.

Speaking about regional developments, Karlos Papoulias stressed that Caucasus being a crossing between the West and the East, and a bridge for Europe and Asia, in fact, is the indivisible part of Europe long ago, and now it's high time for the fact to get clear political formation.

According to him, in the respect of the European power bearing substances supply the importance of Caucasus will be stressed during the upcoming years, and this is why the European policy over the Caucasian countries and the expanded region must be reviewed.

Later the Scientific Board of Yerevan State University awarded the President of Greece with the title of the Honorable Doctor of the University, and Rector Aram Simonyan gave him a Gold Medal of the University.

Karlos Papoulias
President of Greece

"It is a great honour and responsibility for me to get the title of the Honorable Doctor of the University. I highly evaluate the cooperation between our countries in the sphere of education, and I hope that it will continue. The fact that the Greek language and literature are taught in Armenia, proves the mutual interest of our countries. I believe that the bilateral relations will have coordinated nature in other spheres, too, and the regional cooperation will develop even better. At the same time, I think that the EU must strengthen its presence in South Caucasian region, and it must have essential political and institutional interference."

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8604349777783718836&q=Karlos+Papoulias&total=1&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0

[Panos26]

In fact Karolos Papoulias was deeply mooved by the memorial of the victims of the Armenian Genocide.

He said that Greece will always stand by Armenia.

He said that our destiny in the past was to live together in the Ottoman Empire.Christianity has brought the Greeks and Armenians together.We had a common faith...we shared difficult moments in the past and today every Greek remembers the awful genocide against the Armenians.

Greece will continue to support Armenia in every level....because the Greeks lived the atrocities against the Armenians from very close....

Remember that Greece was the first EU country to recognize the Genocide and one of the first countries internationally...
We the Greeks dont forget what Turkey had done to your people...

[hitite]

The mutual Greek-Armenian ass kissing on a political level is void of any emotion and deep hearted recognition of the genocide. Greece's enemies enemy is Armenia and the back patting spit sharing that has been going on in the post-cold war era is pure power politics. The Greek government does not give a bulls crap about the A.G., it only matters if it hurts Turkey. And this I must say is very understandable, expected and natural. The portrayal of Greek-Armenian comradeship in this thread therefore is what matters. Sharing of greivances on an individual level is important and uniquie but the extention of this into the realm of politics and expressing such "togetherness" through "emotion" is sickening. Karolos Papoulias may have been moved deeply when he saw the memorial as would anybody, even a not so human Turk "could" be moved by it, but when he goes on to say "Greece will always stand by Armenia" I feel that he should have concluded that sentence by saying "... until the eventual demise of the country called Turkey".

[Joseph]

The mutual Greek-Armenian ass kissing on a political level is void of any emotion and deep hearted recognition of the genocide. Greece's enemies enemy is Armenia and the back patting spit sharing that has been going on in the post-cold war era is pure power politics. The Greek government does not give a bulls crap about the A.G., it only matters if it hurts Turkey. And this I must say is very understandable, expected and natural. The portrayal of Greek-Armenian comradeship in this thread therefore is what matters. Sharing of greivances on an individual level is important and uniquie but the extention of this into the realm of politics and expressing such "togetherness" through "emotion" is sickening. Karolos Papoulias may have been moved deeply when he saw the memorial as would anybody, even a not so human Turk "could" be moved by it, but when he goes on to say "Greece will always stand by Armenia" I feel that he should have concluded that sentence by saying "... until the eventual demise of the country called Turkey".

I suppose I can understand your disdain for Greek-Armenian friendship as you are a Turk. On both macro and micro levels Greeks and Armenians do share kinship. We are both eastern Christians, have lived with each other for thousands of years, been oppressed and brutalized by a common enemy for centuries, and in Asia Minor, have mixed lineage from the Byzantine Empire. Our differences are very minor. Even here in the US, amongst the Greek and Armenian diaspora, there is friendship, respect, and common cause. Being from the Boston area originally, I can attest that there are numerous Greek-Armenian marriages, families, organizations, etc. We see each other as cousins and I for one think it is fantastic. The same goes for Assyrians.

If a Greek-Armenian alliance grows because they share a mutual enemy, that is fine. Just as we have suffered by real-politik we should use the same strategy as our enemy. Do I hope Greek- Turkish relations sour? Of course. Do I want Greek-Armenian relations to strengthen? Absolutely. There is certainly more to do to develop Greek-Armenian relations and I think the majority of Armenians hope they grow year by year. We could use their guidance to build the Armenian economy and military. I only wish we shared a common border instead of being surrounded by bullies.

Whether or not a Greek politician cares about the Armenian Genocide (though I think many do care about it and want to see justice) does not matter, only their actions vis-a-vis Greek-Armenian relations.

As per your last line "until the eventual demise of the country called Turkey", well then Greeks and Armenians could then lessen their strategic tie and continue just being friends. The demise of Turkey would be good for both Turkey and Armenia, although that may sound ugly to you, it is how we see it...both Greek and Armenian.

[Steph]

100% agreement there Joseph, the affinity between Greeks and Armenians predates the Genocides of the 20th Century.
What Hittite probably fails to remember is that these two proud, ancient nations were neighbours long before the turkish tribes left the Gobi.

[hitite]

Thanks for the sincere answer Joseph. Disdain would not be the right word since your alliance is totally natural even though it feeds the widely believed conspiracy that the whole world is against Turkey. Armo-Greek relations would probably be strong even without Turkey due to a considerably heavy peripheral islamic existance but it would have been nice to see how the partitioning of certain parts of Turkey, like Trabzon, would turn out to be like. Nevertheless Greek-Turkish relations are at their best since decades.

Steph: Greco-Armenian relations are old but I think you would also accept that they have not always been to the likes of St. Valentine. Dont forget it was the Greeks who first created an Armenian Diaspora and for years, maybe centuries forced them to move especially to the Western parts of the Byzantine empire. If deportation is considered Genocide which it is by many on this forum we could probably shout out loud that ONE OF THE FIRST GENOCIDES COMMITTED AGAINST ARMENIANS WAS BY THE GREEKS... and I am sure this deportation came together with all the horrors attributed to the Turks in the 20th century case. IMO this GREEK GENOCIDE OF ARMENIANS continued until the arrival of the Seljuks for several hundred years. To the Greeks Armenains were heathen since they had their own Church and thus the heathen within the borders of the empire had to be displaced far away from the on and off independant Armenian states which were formed over the centuries. Armenians within Greek borders close to independant Armenia were probably seen as a serious threat to Byzantine border integrity hence the inevitability of their deportation. Greek-Armenian hatred could also explain the initial Turco-Armenian alliance against the Greeks who were probably by then hated by all the indigenous non-Greek population in the late Byzantine era.

[Steph]

The mutual Greek-Armenian ass kissing on a political level is void of any emotion and deep hearted recognition of the genocide.

Hittite, I'm sure you'd agree that most, if not all, "kissing of the ass" at political level is cynical and self-centred to the nth degree. God preserve the humble man from the politicos who care not a flying f**k about the man in the street.

[Steph]

Steph: Greco-Armenian relations are old but I think you would also accept that they have not always been to the likes of St. Valentine.

Hittite, you think correctly of course!

[Gavur]

Thanks for the sincere answer Joseph. Disdain would not be the right word since your alliance is totally natural even though it feeds the widely believed conspiracy that the whole world is against Turkey. Armo-Greek relations would probably be strong even without Turkey due to a considerably heavy peripheral islamic existance but it would have been nice to see how the partitioning of certain parts of Turkey, like Trabzon, would turn out to be like. Nevertheless Greek-Turkish relations are at their best since decades.

Steph: Greco-Armenian relations are old but I think you would also accept that they have not always been to the likes of St. Valentine. Dont forget it was the Greeks who first created an Armenian Diaspora and for years, maybe centuries forced them to move especially to the Western parts of the Byzantine empire. If deportation is considered Genocide which it is by many on this forum we could probably shout out loud that ONE OF THE FIRST GENOCIDES COMMITTED AGAINST ARMENIANS WAS BY THE GREEKS... and I am sure this deportation came together with all the horrors attributed to the Turks in the 20th century case. IMO this GREEK GENOCIDE OF ARMENIANS continued until the arrival of the Seljuks for several hundred years. To the Greeks Armenains were heathen since they had their own Church and thus the heathen within the borders of the empire had to be displaced far away from the on and off independant Armenian states which were formed over the centuries. Armenians within Greek borders close to independant Armenia were probably seen as a serious threat to Byzantine border integrity hence the inevitability of their deportation. Greek-Armenian hatred could also explain the initial Turco-Armenian alliance against the Greeks who were probably by then hated by all the indigenous non-Greek population in the late Byzantine era.

Still there?
Put the blame on anybody but yourselves
I laugh at your ignorance and refer you back to 8 stages of Genocide Hickite!

THE 8 STAGES OF GENOCIDE
1 Classification
2 Symbolization
3 Dehumanization
4 Organization
5 Polarization
6 Preparation
7 Extermination
8 Denial
All of the above was done and still being done in your country,dont you have anything else to say!!!

[hitite]

Still there?
Put the blame on anybody but yourselves
I laugh at your ignorance and refer you back to 8 stages of Genocide Hickite!

THE 8 STAGES OF GENOCIDE
1 Classification
2 Symbolization
3 Dehumanization
4 Organization
5 Polarization
6 Preparation
7 Extermination
8 Denial
All of the above was done and still being done in your country,dont you have anything else to say!!!

Gavur. I was trying to take part in a discussion about Greek-Armenian political relations but obviously you must be listeneing with your butt hole throwing the "8 stages of Denial" crap at me that I've seen hundreds of times. Do you want all the Turkish members of this forum to parrotize an "I accept the Genocide and I am sorry for all that we have done" line; that could get pretty boring and is almost impossible for the time being. Furthermore I have never denied the Genocide niether on this forum and even among my own folk which you could have at least seen me hinting in my ".... the Turkish case.." phrase if not before. In your case you are showing typical smptoms of denial yourself. So do you deny the Greek Genocide of Armenians? Why dont you discuss something related to this topic instead of changing the subject?