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08/05/2005
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WEBSITE AT <;HTTP:// 1) EU Warns Turkey on Religious Freedom 2) Ankara Postpones Deiss Visit to Turkey 3) Armenia Rejects Azeri Charge of Anti-government Plot 4) US Congressman Submits Resolution Urging Turkey to Recognize Cyprus 5) Critics~R Forum 6) A Successful Connection 7) A RECYCLED RANT FROM AN ANGRY ARMENIAN BOURGEOIS 1) EU Warns Turkey on Religious Freedom BRUSSELS (Reuters)--The European Commission said on Thursday it had written to Turkey complaining about legislation on religious foundations that did not meet EU standards for the rights of non-Muslim communities. But the European Union's executive stressed that the mid-June complaint, which it said Turkey had promised to address in October, did not threaten a planned October 3 start for entry talks. "Today, Turkey is far from fulfilling all the criteria to be a member of the European Union. Freedom of religion is the highest priority for us and it would be an essential point in the negotiations," Commission spokesman Amadeu Altafaj Tardio told a news briefing. Turkey is working on a new law meant to ease property restrictions on its non-Muslim minorities, including Orthodox Christians, though EU diplomats have said the current draft does not go far enough. Istanbul-based Patriarch Bartholomew, ecumenical head of the Orthodox Church, has long complained that his church suffers from numerous petty bureaucratic regulations that prevent it from freely using property it owns. His calls for the reopening of the church's Halki seminary on an island near Istanbul have not brought results, and he is worried there will be no home-grown clergy left to minister to the declining Greek Orthodox faithful in a few years' time. The EU spokesman said Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn had contacted chief Turkish negotiator Ali Babacan on Wednesday. Ankara had already revised the draft bill once, but had not made sufficient changes in the Commission's view. "The Turkish authorities are well aware of the importance of this issue, which will be addressed once Turkish parliament resumes its activities in October," the spokesman said. He did not detail the objections, but a partial text of the letter seen by Reuters spoke of "serious problems in relation to the management of the religious communities' foundations, their property rights and the legal personality of communities." In a Reuters interview last year, the Orthodox Patriarch said: "We have the freedom to perform all our religious services but we have no right to administer our ecclesiastical foundations--churches, monasteries, cemeteries, schools etc." The German daily Handelsblatt was first to report the recent Commission letter amid growing pressure on Turkey to recognize Cyprus before the start of the EU talks, something Ankara refuses to do. 2) Ankara Postpones Deiss Visit to Turkey (Swissinfo)--The Turkish authorities have postponed a visit to Turkey next month by Swiss Economics Minister Joseph Deiss. They have cited agenda problems of his Turkish counterpart, although it is widely considered in Switzerland that the real cause for the postponement is the Armenian genocide issue. It is the second time that Ankara has made such a delaying move. In September 2003, Turkish authorities cancelled a visit by the Swiss foreign minister, Micheline Calmy-Rey. She eventually visited the country in March. The Swiss authorities confirmed reports in Friday's edition of the Zurich newspaper Tages Anzeiger and Geneva's Le Temps that Switzerland's ambassador to Turkey had received an official note canceling Deiss's trip. It said that the Turkish economics minister, Kursad Tuzmen, was unavailable on the dates that had been scheduled. As a result, the planned trip could not take place in September. The Turkish embassy in Bern, however, said the visit had only been postponed and denied any link to a criminal investigation into a Turkish party leader in Switzerland. "Mr. Deiss's visit is to be worked out through mutual contacts on both sides in the period ahead," said Sibel Gal, press secretary at the Turkish embassy. The snub is the latest episode in tensions between Ankara and Bern, provoked indirectly by the commemoration two weeks ago of the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne, which defined the borders of modern Turkey. Ankara has criticized Swiss authorities for opening an investigation into Dogu Perincek, head of the Turkish Workers' Party, who denied the Armenian genocide at a news conference in canton Zurich. Under Swiss law, any act of denying, belittling or justifying genocide is a violation of the country's anti-racism laws. Perincek, who appeared before the public prosecutor of Winterhur, is also the subject of investigation for the same reason in canton Vaud. A similar investigation in Winterthur has been opened in the case of Turkish historian Yusuf Halacoglu. The Turkish government, which has strongly condemned the Swiss action, considers that the investigations are contrary to international law and has demanded they be stopped. Diplomatic spat In a diplomatic spat, the ambassador of Switzerland in Turkey was last week summoned to explain Switzerland's position, while Turkey's envoy in Bern visited the Swiss foreign ministry a day later. The Swiss economics ministry has expressed regret at Ankara's decision, hoping that the visit could take place at a later date. The trip was a working visit with a delegation of Swiss business leaders. Such trips take place about once every four years with countries that represent an important market for Switzerland. The ministry commented that if the real reason for the postponement were due to the investigations, it would regret that because Switzerland practiced "the separation of powers which is an essential value of its democracy". It said the House of Representatives was the only federal institution that has officially recognized genocide against the Armenians. 3) Armenia Rejects Azeri Charge of Anti-government Plot YEREVAN (AFP)--Armenia rejected Friday accusations from Azerbaijan that its secret police were involved in an alleged plot to overthrow the government in Baku. Azeri prosecutors said Thursday that a youth opposition leader had been arrested for planning to overthrow the government in a plot allegedly hatched by a prominent US non-governmental organization, Armenia's secret police and local opposition groups. "It is funny and bears no relation to reality," said Lieutenant-General Gorik Akopyan, director of Armenia's national security service. He said the charge looked like an effort by security officials in Baku to solve domestic political problems "with long-forgotten methods used in the Soviet Union in the 1920s and 1930s." The arrest of Ruslan Bashirli came after a member of the Yeni Fikir youth movement that he leads informed authorities that Bashirli had received 2,000 dollars (1,600 euros) in a secret meeting with Armenian agents. The arrest was denounced by opposition leaders as an attempt by Azeri authorities to smear their groups. An Azeri youth movement denounced the arrest of its leader as a government smear campaign ahead of elections. "The authorities are trying to link the youth movement to Armenian operatives in order to crush it," said Fikret Farmazogly, the deputy leader of Yeni Fikir. "This is slander." The arrest came amid increasing government pressure on opposition political parties ahead of parliamentary elections in November. "This is an attempt by the authorities to discredit the youth movement," said Ali Kerimli, who leads the National Front party. "They are trying to prevent the youth from fighting for democratic freedoms." Azerbaijan recently relaxed a crackdown on the opposition after heavy Western pressure, allowing anti-government groups to openly demonstrate this summer for the first time since 2003. The new arrest raises concerns that the oil-rich state will clamp down on opposition activity again ahead of parliamentary elections scheduled for November. 4) US Congressman Submits Resolution Urging Turkey to Recognize Cyprus Nicosia (CNA)--New Jersey Democratic Congressman Robert Menendez has submitted a resolution to the US Congress calling on Turkey to fully recognize all European Union members, including Cyprus. The resolution, supported by ten members of Congress both from the Democratic and the Republican Party, calls for the removal of Turkish occupation forces from the northern third of Cyprus in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 353 and says that Turkey should recognize the fundamental rights of all Cypriots with respect to the right to own property, the right of free movement, the right of free settlement and the right of return for refugees. The resolution expresses the view that the Republic of Turkey should continue to demonstrate that it was meeting the criteria set forth in the Copenhagen European Council for accession to the EU and should do so prior to the start of accession negotiations. It calls on Turkey to continue to adhere to all criteria for accession to the EU and to extend its customs union to all EU members and to fully recognize all EU members, including Cyprus. Furthermore, it calls on Turkey to respect EU laws and demonstrate that it was willing to abide by such laws and urged Ankara, in accordance with the UN Security Council Resolution 353, to abandon all insistence of the right to intervene in or invade Cyprus. It urges Turkey to work and cooperate with the UN and Cyprus toward the discovery of the fate of every missing person and to pledge to uphold and safeguard human rights without compromise. The resolution encourages Turkey to continue the advancement of processes and programs to modernize and democratize its own society. The resolution was referred to the Committee on International Relations, which will decide if it will forward it to the plenary for final adoption. 5) Critics' Forum Visual Arts Good Art, Bad Art: Where Is the Armenian Avant-Garde? By Adriana Tchalian Question: What do a pickled shark, a cow's head, and a golden statue of Michael Jackson have in common? Answer: They are all sensationalist examples of the avant-garde. Take the famous pickled tiger shark in a tank of formaldehyde by contemporary British artist, Damien Hirst. Entitled "The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living" (1991), the piece is an attempt to bring the viewer face to face with the concept of death by allowing him to get up close and personal with a dead shark. Another of Hirst's works, "Rotting Cow Head and Flies in a Pool of Blood" (1990), said to be worth upwards of a million dollars, has become a classic in contemporary art parlors. Jeff Koons, a former Wall Street commodities broker turned artist, is also known for garnering millions for his shocking renditions. One of his more infamous contributions to Postmodernism is a porcelain statue of Michael Jackson and Bubbles, his beloved pet monkey, from his 1988 Banality series. Koons depicts both ape and the artist in the same flashy attire and gives them both the same skin tone, as a wry commentary on celebrity life. But for many Armenian visual artists, Postmodernism constitutes nothing more than bad art. It seems that for them, Postmodern art offers little more than pickled sharks and statues of troubled celebrities. Perhaps for this reason, many Armenian visual artists, particularly in the Diaspora, choose to work under the rubric of Modernism, in the vein of, say, Arshile Gorky. So the question begs to be asked: Where is the Armenian avant-garde? Why is it that most Armenian visual artists have yet to venture beyond Modernism, a movement that began in the late nineteenth century? In attempting to answer this question, we should look briefly at how Postmodernism challenges certain fundamental assumptions in Modernism. Postmodernism was born in the counter-culture of the 1960s, as part of larger challenges to traditional authority, such as the civil rights movement, the women's movement, and the gay rights movements. It is possible to push the beginnings of Postmodernism even further back, to the work of Marcel Duchamp. Duchamp, a French-American artist, began as early as 1910 to confront Modernist values by challenging earlier assumptions about the value and validity of art. His famous "Fountain" (1917) and "Bottle Rack" (1914), both found objects, shift the emphasis away form the work of art itself to the concept it conveys and question the very possibility of creating art. The "Fountain," interestingly, is nothing more than a urinal, which brings us full circle to the work of Damien Hirst and Jeff Koons. This is perhaps why Koons actually hires people to produce works of art in his name, preferring to be the "idea man" behind them. But why should Armenians care about Postmodernism? Is it not enough that Armenian art and culture is undergoing a rebirth of sortswith countless art exhibits, theater productions, and poetry readings? According to Caroline Lais-Tufenkian, Armenian diasporan artists possess a "hybrid" identity--an amalgam of cultures, customs, and practices. I would add that understanding and managing this so-called "hybrid" identity is in itself a Postmodern phenomenon. Therefore, Armenian artists do not have to look hard to find Postmodernism, because they are already living it. There is a catch, however. The Armenian artist, and particularly the male Armenian artist, will now have to directly confront the difficult issues at the heart of Postmodernismcivil rights, feminism, gay-lesbian rights. These topics have to be addressed in the arts if Armenians are to contribute in the greater dialogue taking place around them. Otherwise, the arts will become no more than another ghetto in the midst of a changing world. And where are the Armenian diasporan artists? If they do not step forward, then the next great rebirth in Armenian art will be ushered in by (mostly female) Armenian college studentsthe only ones who, at the moment, seem interested in creating postmodern art. These include Nina Katchadourian, Tina Bastajian, Seta Injeyan, Joanne Julian, Ani Kupelian, Seta Manoukian, Eileen Shahbazian, among others. Of course, embracing Postmodernism does not mean embracing profane or absurdist art, though some artists may choose to express themselves in that way. It is more important to be inspired by the ideas behind Postmodern art, as the movement itself tries to instill in its audiences. We as Armenians have so much to offer the world by way of avant-garde art. We would do well to answer the call of our own identity. Adriana Tchalian holds a Masters in Art History and has managed several art galleries in Los Angeles. You can reach her or any of the other contributors to Critics' Forum at criticsforum@sbcglobal.net. 6) A Successful Connection By Alidz Oshagan "It's a great way to meet people, whether it's friends or something else." Garo Bargamian is talking about ArmenianDatingService.com (ADS), an online dating service through which Armenians, or anyone interested in getting to know Armenians, can post a profile describing him or herself and be able to access anyone else's profile. If the profile seems interesting, the user can send a message to the other person's profile. Users can then send messages to each other and a friendship or, as Bargamian put it, "something else," can form. All this, but at no cost to the user. For him, the "something else" formed with Larissa Balakdjian, whom he met through ADS. Bargamian says he was attracted to Balakdjian because she had written that "being Armenian is an honor and staying Armenian is a responsibility" as a part of her profile. Before long, the two were sending messages to one another and talking online. The relationship advanced when the pair began visiting each other--internationally. Larissa is originally from Sao Paolo, Brazil, while Bargamian has lived in North Providence, RI, his entire life. Bargamian and Balakdjian were married in a civil service on February 27, 2004, and held their church ceremony on June 27, 2004. They are now happily married and live in North Providence, RI. The profiles that are on ADS can show a lot about a user. At the top of the profile there is a space for pictures, which can be of the user or whatever the user desires to include. In the middle, a general information section describes the user's height, hair color, and level of education, among others. Near the bottom of the profile exists a section for habits, indicating whether or not the user smokes or drinks. A favorites section is near the bottom, which lists the user's favorite books, movies, and foods. At the very bottom is a comment box, with which the user can describe oneself in 200 words or less. When someone reads an interesting ADS profile, he or she can send either a comment or a message to the other person. If a person is having trouble surfing the site or is a first-time user uncomfortable about using the dating site, he or she can go to the "advice" page. On this page, different tips are included, such as not to give out your telephone number in an early message and to relax on the first date. People use dating sites for different reasons. In Bargamian's case, he said he logged on to ADS because it allowed him to meet many different people from around the country and the world. Bargamian, 36, said that it was difficult to meet people at Armenian events, where the sea of teenagers and young adults can make it difficult for older adults to get to know each other and interact. Using the ADS made it easier to meet people, he said. But, unlike meeting someone at church or at events, talking to someone through an online dating service site poses the risk of embarrassment--what might other people think? Not so for Bargamian. "It's a little embarrassing telling people because online dating isn't very wide-spread," said Bargamian. "But I knew in my heart I wanted to meet an Armenian and, for me, this was the best way to do that." Sometimes, after sending messages by computer, Bargamian would meet with people around the country in person, only to find out that they were not compatible. Other times, he would be interested in someone who lived across the country, but they were not willing to make the journey to see him. "With the Internet, you have to be an optimist, or else it won't work," he said. Bargamian did not lose hope. "I took the opportunity and forgot about distance for Larissa," he said. With an estimated one million Armenians living in the United States, and more than seven million in the diaspora, the sheer size of the communities is fueling much of the rapid response to online dating service sites. "These services allow people restrained by religious or familial responsibilities to find more people with their backgrounds," said Judith Meskill, editorial director of Weblogs Inc., the largest online publisher of weblogs, or blogs, which are online journals. Julie Albright, a lecturer in the Department of Sociology at the University of Southern California (USC), said the sites also help those facing the same issues as larger society--including busy schedules and few places to gather--to meet in an easy and relatively inexpensive way. "It opens a wide pool of availables to you while dating. You can walk to the local Armenian cafe and meet one person, but online you can meet 30. It increases your odds for a love match," said Albright, who researched attraction online and is studying attraction and deception on the Internet. "What's beautiful about the Internet for these ethnic communities is it enables people to sort through a lot of people and focus in on those types of qualities they desire," she said. That's the philosophy of Said Amin, CEO and founder of World Singles, the leading online dating company for ethnic communities that runs IranianPersonals.com, HyeSingles.com, and ArabLounge.com. Since its founding four years ago, the company has expanded to include 14 niche sites. And membership is growing. IranianPersonals now has more than 120,000 members, nearly a quarter of them from the Los Angeles area; HyeSingles has 16,000 members, nearly two-thirds of them from the Los Angeles area. "Birds of a feather flock together. As the database grows, it will draw more people," said the 32-year-old Amin. One 24-year-old Armenian woman who used HyeSingles.com said that the site appealed to her because she was able to discern more specific traits about a potential match. She said the site's open-ended questions like "When raising a family, how important is it that your kids learn how to speak Armenian?" gave her a glimpse into her potential partner's character and outlook on life. HyeSingles.com, unlike ADS, incorporates a paid membership. Those using the site's free service can build a profile and send pre-fabricated messages called "flirts," but only paid members can send original messages, see who has viewed their profile, and send video, voice and text messages. Unpaid members are able to send one reply to each message they receive, and can use the chatting services if they are contacted by a paid member. The initial price of a 30-day membership is $29.95, and 24.95 per month thereafter; a 90-day membership is $59.95, and 14.95 per month thereafter. The site touts the 360-day membership as the "best value," for an initial cost of $119.95, and 7.95 thereafter. Using ADS or HyeSingles.com may not be for everyone, but Bargamian insists it's worth a try. "I encourage any Armenian who is single to use ADS. It's worth trying the system. I'm living proof, here I am, married to Larissa, it's not like it can't happen," he says. "Whoever invented that Web site is a godsend for all Armenians. I have a lot of gratitude towards them, whoever they may be." Apparently, the couple should direct their thank you letters to Arthur Chaparyan and Ara Mahdessian of BlueMediaSolutions.com, who wrote the program for the original version of ADS, according to information on the Web site. Most of the revisions were completed by Chaparyan who, the website says, left ADS in March 2004. Naush Boghossian contributed to this report. 7) A RECYCLED RANT FROM AN ANGRY ARMENIAN BOURGEOIS BY SKEPTIK SINIKIAN Note: This column was supposed to appear last week but was delayed for reasons that were out of the Skepster's control. Next week, I'll be addressing this Atomic Bomb of a story that appeared in Vanity Fair this month. If you haven't read about it yet, do so right now. Put my column down, go get the September Vanity Fair and read it. I won't be mad at you. And like a clingy emotionally depraved ex-girlfriend or boyfriend, I'll still be here when you get back. We'll talk about Vanity Fair next week children. Now on to the show! I don't know if there's a Heaven or a Hell. But I do know that if Hell is any hotter than LA has been all week, then that's enough of a reason for me to lead a better life and renounce my sinful ways. We've had record heat, hurricanes up the wazoo, and apparently the glaciers in the far north are melting away faster Paris Hilton's 15 minutes of fame and no one seems to care or worry. Global warming? What's that? In fact, during the course of writing this paragraph, I witnessed no less than nine Sports Utility Vehicles drive by the coffee shop, at least three of them driven by Armenian fake-blonde trophy wives on their way, no doubt, to the Galleria. Last month, Americans spent 4 billion dollars more on gas than they normally do. FOUR BILLION!! This all goes to show you that the more things change, the more they stay the same. Our economy is suffering but you'd never believe me because the White House and its spin doctors keep telling the public that everything is "OK." The price of gas keeps rising in spite of the fact that we have successfully invaded/liberated and occupied the most oil rich nation in the world (hint hint for the slow readers, it rhymes with Chirac). Yet folks are still driving around in SUVs, spending money on unnecessary material possessions and seeking new ways to impress their friends, neighbors, relatives and coworkers. God forbid they don't sport the latest fashion or trend, and then what will other people think? (If you missed my article from a few weeks back on the "What will other people think" mentality of Armenians, then I suggest you go back and read it in the Asbarez archives). We have become a generation of obese, gluttonous, wasteful wastes of space. Why are our lives driven by what we watch on TV while eating mass quantities of processed junk food. In contrast, I look at my grandmother who is the last person in the world who would litter or waste food, or take an elevator instead of the stairs and wonder where the subsequent generations of Armenian Americans lost their way? My grandparents are the most frugal people you'll ever meet. They're also the most unintentionally environmentally conscious folks I know. They aren't cheap or stingy but they know how to survive on just the basics, as well as know the appropriate time or occasion to splurge. When I was younger, I always found it embarrassing when my grandmother would bring over a jar of her famous homemade eggplant dip (ikrah) stored in an old Jiffy peanut butter jar. I feel guilty when I remember my disappointment at opening the colorful jars of mass produced crap food only to find a mysterious odd colored paste wafting with the smells of spices and ingredients from a land forgotten that reminded me of grandma's house. As I've grown older and my tastes are more refined, I can't wait until the next delivery of Armenian delicacies to be delivered. Will it be roasted red peppers or ikrah or will it be something sweet like pumpkin preserves? Now my disappointment is greater when I hastily open the jar of Jiffy peanut paste in the fridge only to find that it is actually peanut paste. Yuck! I don't know if it's age as much as it's maturity that has changed my perceptions. Today, I find even her recycling habits very endearing and admirable. If either of my grandparents ever saw me throw even a scrap of paper or a sunflower seed shell on the ground outdoors, they would give me a long lecture about the merits of being civilized and not "vayreni" (wild like an animal). On the same note, if they ever saw me waste food, it would be followed by a similar lecture about how I shouldn't waste food and be grateful for what I do have. Theirs was a different generation. A generation whose parents had witnessed unspeakable horrors during the Genocide, World War II, Stalinism, the Great Depression, and they had learned a few things along the way. Last week, I went over to my grandma's and slumped into the couch as I bit into a fresh summer peach from the bowl on the coffee table. As the juices dribbled down my chin, she looked at me with a motherly admiration and asked me about my day. I automatically went into my rehearsed rant as I told her that the weather was unbearable and how tired I was from work. Grandma sighed and nodded her head in agreement. She then went on to tell me about how when she was younger, the family had lost everything to the Turks after the Genocide, she went to work in the fields picking everything from eggplants to tomatoes in scorching heat. She smiled as she told me about the days when they would search the field workers on their way home to make sure nobody was stealing a tomato or two to take to their hungry families. She spoke of waiting in line for hours for bread that had the consistency of mud. She told the story not to make me feel like a lazy bum in comparison to her but in order to empathize with my "fatigue." As she continued to describe the blisters and scars her hands and arms would receive for hours on hours of work in a scorching hot field, I began to realize that here was a woman who represented a generation like which we will never see again in our lifetime. Today's parents teach their children that if someone is cheating to get ahead, you better cheat also just to keep up. I've heard it with my own ears and seen it with my own eyes. They teach their children that it's ok to throw trash out of the window of their SUV while speeding down Glenoaks Blvd. (I saw that last one with my own eyes as well). They don't teach their children an ounce of respect towards adults and they spoil their children with ridiculous amounts of jewelry, plastic surgery, SUV, or whatever car of luxury. Then we sit back and wonder why the next generation is so spoiled and so uneducated. Our organizations wonder how they will survive when their average membership is comprised of silver and white haired dadigs and babigs. On any given Sunday, drive to church and look at who is filling the pews and then drive down the street to the Glendale Galleria and count how many young Armenians are just walking around aimlessly and spending their parents' hard-earned money. The bottom line is that our youth is delusional, lost, misguided, spoiled and if we rely on them to keep alive the essence of our culture and heritage, then we're all pretty much up the creek without a paddle. Maybe it's all this unbearable heat that's getting to me. Maybe my readers are right and I'm just at total jerk with no compassion left in my heart or the ability to understand today's modern Armenian. Maybe I'm just hungry and need some more ikrah. I'm going to see if there's any left in the Cool Whip container in the refrigerator and after I'm done eating, I'll stick my head in the freezer to cool off. Skeptik Sinikian is the founding president of the Anti-Modern Armenian Society (a.k.a. AMAN Society) which meets once a week at Maple Park in Glendale, California to play backgammon, sort various plastic grocery bags into color coded piles, and wash out jars of jam and peanut butter for reuse. You can join by emailing him at SkeptikSinikian@aol.com or visit his ridiculously outdated blog at All subscription inquiries and changes must be made through the proper carrier and not Asbarez Online. ASBAREZ ONLINE does not transmit address changes and subscription requests. (c) 2005 ASBAREZ ONLINE. All Rights Reserved. ASBAREZ provides this news service to ARMENIAN NEWS NETWORK members for academic research or personal use only and may not be reproduced in or through mass media outlets.