Month: October 2006

Agence France Presse — English
October 13, 2006 Friday

First Turkish protest against French ‘genocide’ bill comes in sports

Turkey’s Taekwondo Federation said Friday it would shun an
international tournament in Paris in protest at a French vote to make
it a crime to deny that there was an Armenian genocide in Turkey.

"The French move is nothing but slander against the Turkish people,"
federation chairman Metin Sahin told the Anatolia news agency.

"We have decided not to take part in the international Paris
tournament even though we have received persistent invitations as
both the men’s and women’s European champions," he added.

Turkey was infuriated when the French National Assembly on Thursday
adopted the bill which stipulates a prison sentence of up to one year
and a fine of up to 45,000 euros (57,000 dollars) against those who
deny the Armenian genocide.

The bill still needs the approval of the Senate and the president to
take effect.

Agence France Presse — English
October 13, 2006 Friday

Students rally in Armenia to support France’s genocide bill

Around 1,000 students rallied in the Armenian capital Friday to thank
the French parliament for backing a bill that would make it a crime
to deny that Turks committed genocide against the Armenians in the
early 20th century.

"Thank You France!" and "Hail French Justice!" read two of the
placards held up by the students from a nationalist youth group, who
waved flags of Armenia and France as they marched through central
Yerevan.

Participants at the rally laid flowers by the French embassy
building.

"With this march we want to express our gratitude to the French
parliament and the French people," said Aik Asatryan, head of the
Dashnaktsutyun group that organised the march.

"We want to say thank you. Despite threats from Turkey, they were not
afraid and took the right decision," Asatryan said.

Participants at the rally presented France’s ambassador to Yerevan,
Henry Cuny, with a letter that read: "With this step France has once
again shown its support for defending human rights and freedom of
speech."

The French parliament on Thursday approved on first reading a bill
that would make it a crime to deny that the 1915-1917 massacres of
Armenians by the Ottoman Turks constituted genocide.

The bill still needs the approval of the Senate and the president to
take effect.

Turkey, which strongly rejects the use of the term genocide in the
sensitive Armenian issue, slammed the vote, saying France had dealt
"a heavy blow" to longstanding bilateral relations.

Agence France Presse — English
October 13, 2006 Friday

Turkish army reports shooting incident at Armenian border

Armenian soldiers fired two shots into Turkish territory at the
sealed border between the two troubled neighbors earlier this week,
the Turkish general staff said Friday.

"Soldiers from Armenian border units committed a violation by firing
two shots into Turkish territory," said a brief statement on the
army’s web site.

It said the incident occurred Wednesday, a day before the lower
chamber of the French parliament voted a bill that would make it a
crime to deny that Ottoman Turks commited genocide against Aremenians
during World War I, a move that infuriated Ankara and won applause in
Yerevan.

"The foreign ministry has been informed about the incident in order
to undertake what is required," the statement said.

There were no casualties or damage in the incident, it added, without
giving other details.

Turkey has declined to establish diplomatic ties with Armenia over
its campaign for international recognition of the 1915-17 massacres
as genocide.

In 1993, it closed its border with the small Caucasian nation, a move
which was also a gesture of solidarity with close ally Azerbaijan,
which fought a war with Armenia over the disputed enclave of
Nagorny-Karabakh.

National Public Radio (NPR)
SHOW: Morning Edition 11:00 AM EST
October 13, 2006 Friday

Not All Turks Admire New Nobel Literature Winner [U]

STEVE INSKEEP, host:

The winner of the Nobel Peace Prize has been announced in Oslo,
Norway.

Mr. OLE DANBOLT MJØS (Chairman, Norwegian Nobel Committee): The
Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the Nobel Peace Prize
for 2006 to Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank.

INSKEEP: That’s Ole Danbolt Mjøs, the chairman of the Norwegian Nobel
Committee.

Now, the Nobel winner, Muhammad Yunus, is known as the developer of
what’s called microcredit; that’s the extension of small loans to
entrepreneurs too poor to qualify for traditional bank loans. Yunus
and his bank have been a major force in fighting poverty in his
native Bangaledesh, and his ideas have been copied in countries
around the world.

Now, today’s announcement comes after yesterday’s announcement of the
winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, and for the first time it
went to a Turkish writer. He’s Orhan Pamuk. He won for his novels
that deal with Turkey’s complex identity.

Yet many Turks seem puzzled if not outright suspicious of this honor.
NPR’s Ivan Watson explains.

IVAN WATSON: In an interview yesterday on NPR, Orhan Pamuk dedicated
his Nobel Prize to the city of his birth.

Mr. ORHAN PAMUK (Author): Istanbul is my city, my kingdom. My stories
are about Istanbul. And I accept this honor, this prize, as a
celebration of my culture, my language, and my town, Istanbul, the
town I come from, the town whose stories I’ve been telling for the
last 30 years.

WATSON: But many residents of Pamuk’s literary kingdom were not happy
with his award.

(Soundbite of street traffic)

WATSON: Jalulu(ph) is Istanbul’s traditional literary quarter.
Publishing houses and bookstores line its winding streets. Many of
them sell Pamuk’s books, but that doesn’t mean people here like the
writer. Book vendor Emra Inaj(ph) describes Pamuk with an English
four-letter word.

Mr. EMRA INAJ (Book Vendor): No, no, no, no. Orhan Pamuk, no. No,
(bleep) Orhan Pamuk.

WATSON: At one of these bookshops yesterday, a writer walked in and
trumpeted the news of Pamuk’s victory.

Unidentified Man #1 (Writer): (foreign language spoken)

WATSON: Gentlemen, he yelled, Orhan Pamuk won the Nobel.

Unidentified Man #2 (Bookseller): (foreign language spoken)

WATSON: Did he win, a bookseller answered sarcastically, or did the
Armenians win?

The store erupted in laughter.

Mr. NERUR ORLU(ph) (Writer): (foreign language spoken)

WATSON: He didn’t earn the prize for his literary achievements, said
a writer here named Nerur Orlu. They gave it to him because of his
political views.

Many here see Orhan Pamuk as a man who won success in the West by
criticizing the country of his birth.

Professor YLTER TURAN (Istanbul Bilgi University): The reason why he
turns out to be such a divisive figure is for the critical remarks he
has rendered about Turkish society, in a sort of heavy-handed way
that is sometimes associated with foreigners looking at Turkey.

WATSON: Ylter Turan is a political science professor at Istanbul
Bilgi University. He says many deeply patriotic Turks have not
forgiven Pamuk for his statement that, quote, "Thirty thousand Kurds
and one million Armenians were killed in these lands, and nobody but
me dares to talk about it."

Turks reject accusations that their ancestors committed genocide
against the Armenians during World War I.

Prof. TURAN: It is deeply offensive because – I mean, Turks don’t
deny that there were significant events – massacres – in which the
Armenians suffered. But what they don’t understand is the lack of
appreciation that it was within the context of a national struggle in
which many Turks were also killed by Armenians cooperating either
with the Russians or later with the French.

WATSON: Pamuk’s publishers say they hope Turks will now see the
author as a source of national pride. That was reflected on the front
pages of Turkish newspapers today, which printed photos of Pamuk’s
smiling face alongside captions like Our Pride and Nobel to a Turk.
But alongside these photos were stories about the French
parliamentary vote to make denial of the Armenian genocide a crime,
coupled with the headlines Shame and Genocide of Thought. The timing
has some Turks muttering about a dark conspiracy against their
country.

In a Jalulu bookshop, an editor named Orgun Orlu(ph) said it was like
getting shot from two directions at once.

Mr. ORGUN ORLU (Editor): You know, at the same time, same day. You
know, shot by both.

WATSON: The Turkish government has condemned the French parliament.
But it extended congratulations to Pamuk for winning the world’s
highest literary prize.

Ivan Watson, NPR News, Istanbul.

National Public Radio (NPR)
SHOW: All Things Considered 8:00 PM EST
October 12, 2006 Thursday

Once Resented, Pamuk Takes Solace in Nobel

MICHELE NORRIS, host:

>From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I’m Michele Norris.

ROBERT SIEGEL, host:

And I’m Robert Siegel.

The winner of the Nobel Prize for literature was announced today. It
went to Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk. Pamuk’s most recent novel is
called Snow. His previous novels include The White Castle and The
Black Book. He is a writer who took Turkish fiction out of the
village and into the city, specifically into his city, Istanbul.

NORRIS: Last year, a Turkish prosecutor charged Pamuk with the crime
of insulting Turkishness. That was for remarks he made about the
Armenian genocide. The charges were later dropped. Some Turkish
reaction today mixed pride in the recognition of a Turkish writer
with some lingering resentment of those remarks.

When we reached the new Nobel Laureate this morning in New York City,
Orhan Pamuk was in no mood to talk about politics.

SIEGEL: Mr. Pamuk, thank you for joining us and congratulations on
your Nobel Prize.

Mr. ORHAN PAMUK (Winner, Nobel Prize in Literature): Thank you very
much.

SIEGEL: You know, when you were on this program back in 1995 talking
about your novel, The Black Book, you talked about coming from one of
those countries, your phrase was on the periphery of the Western
world where the art of the novel was developed, and being one of
those writers who is grabbing that art from the center to the
periphery and then producing something new to show the world. Is it
still a fair characterization of what you’ve been doing?

Mr. PAMUK: Yeah, probably. But then, now perhaps Turkey’s getting
away from the periphery and joining towards Europe, of course in a
troubled way. But I think Turkey’s not at the periphery any more,
moving towards the center of the world, going towards the European
Union and West. That was Turkey’s history for the last 200 years
anyway.

SIEGEL: You’ve described yourself as really the first novelist to
write about modern, urban Istanbul, a city that you watched grow in
your own lifetime.

Mr. PAMUK: Yeah, Istanbul is my city, my kingdom. My stories are
about Istanbul. And I accept this honor, this prize, as a celebration
of my culture, my language and my town. Istanbul. The town I come
from. The town whose stories I’ve been telling for the last 30 years.

SIEGEL: Now, I want you to talk about something that is said in
Istanbul and elsewhere in Turkey today. There are those who still are
upset with your remarks about the Armenians and also about the Kurds.

Mr. PAMUK: Yeah, but this is not a day for politics for me. This is a
day for celebrating. This is a day for peace, happiness for me.

SIEGEL: But the question that’s been raised is is the Nobel Prize for
literature in some cases tinged with politics? You don’t see it that
way.

Mr. PAMUK: I don’t know. That’s not the point today for me, really.

SIEGEL: You related a story back in The Black Book some years ago
that I always loved. It was about the man who made perfect mannequins
of Turks in Ottoman Turkey. You recall the story?

Mr. PAMUK: Yes. That story was in Black Book, which is one of my
early books perhaps, which I painstakingly found my style and my
subject matter, whether that story or others is the painful
combination of things that are coming from tradition, the Western
world, and things that come from West Europe.

My whole book, my whole life, is a testimony to the fact that East
and West actually combine, come together gracefully and produce
something new. That is what I have been trying to do all my life,
trying to prove.

SIEGEL: While you have been writing with that intent, others have
been theorizing about clashes of civilizations.

Mr. PAMUK: I don’t believe in clashes of civilizations. I think that
was a fanciful idea which, unfortunately, is sometimes coming to be
true. But no, I think that East and West meet. I think that my whole
work is a testimony to the fact that we should find ways of looking,
combining East and West without any clash, but with harmony, with
grace, and produce something new for humanity.

SIEGEL: Do you think that that award of the Nobel Prize to you, a
Turkish novelist, might assist not only you, but other Turkish
writers?

Mr. PAMUK: Of course.

SIEGEL: In gaining the respect in Turkey that you’re allowed to,
example, voice unpopular opinions and shouldn’t be thrown into court
for it.

Mr. PAMUK: First, I look at this. That it will encourage all the
aspiring young authors, all the young people who want to write in
remote corners of the world where readership is rather small. But of
course, I believe in that.

SIEGEL: What are you working on now?

Mr. PAMUK: I’ve been working on a love novel for the last four years.
The title is Museum of Innocence, but I may not find some time to
finish it these days, but I’m very optimistic. This prize will never
change my working habits. I will work ten hours a day, as I have been
doing the last 32 years.

SIEGEL: Ten hours a day.

Mr. PAMUK: Not much, you know? A day is 24 hours.

SIEGEL: Mr. Pamuk, thank you very much for talking with us.

Mr. PAMUK: I thank you.

SIEGEL: Turkish author Orhan Pamuk, winner of this year’s Nobel Prize
for literature. He spoke to us from New York City. In that interview
I mentioned the story that he related years ago in a book about a
great mannequin maker in Istanbul, a character who ran afoul first of
religion and then of fashion. Elsewhere in the program, you can hear
a reading of that passage.

Critics’ Forum
Music
Elements of a Universal Alphabet
By Sam Ekizian

The musical forms known as folk-fusion and folk revival have often
served as the vehicles of creative expression for performers seeking
to adapt, translate, and modernize traditional musical styles. The
new folk-fusion scene draws inspiration from widespread and
multicultural sources, a process that often entails the
popularization of previously non-mainstream music, the adaptation of
folk styles to pop and rock structures, and the introduction of new
instruments.

Within the Armenian music community, performers such as Arto
Tuncboyaciyan, Gor Mkhitarian, and Armen Chakmakian have already led
critically acclaimed forays into the folk-fusion scene. With the
recent debut of its full-length album, "Yev O Phe," Element has
navigated into this emerging but still somewhat forbidden genre.
The band includes Ara Dabandjian (keyboard, guitar, accordion), Saro
Koujakian (vocals and guitar), Gars Sherbetdjian (vocals), Shant
Mahserejian (violin), and Jeremy Millado (bass). Dabandjian is
also the band’s arranger as well as creative and musical director.

Element performs traditional Armenian folk songs as well as more
contemporary compositions laced with its own sensibilities, some of
them distinctly non-Armenian. The band’s members are aligned in
their determination to elevate their cultural heritage through
music, while paying homage to South American and Mediterranean
traditions – the band’s stylings are variously embossed with the
sounds of Flamenco, Tango, Rembetika, as well as more contemporary
influences.

This commingling of cultures has been the source of much debate.
After all, it tests the bounds of Armenian cultural identity and
seems to present a considerable obstacle to the adaptation of
traditional Armenian music. Therefore, precisely because fusion
presents fertile ground for artistic exploration, it may find itself
bound by a number of powerful cultural constraints, including
anxieties about assimilation. As a result, the growing influence of
fusion may be viewed by some as the dilution of an otherwise pure
sound and a deep-seated cultural memory.

But that view conveniently ignores the fact that much of Armenian
music has developed precisely as a result of its interaction with
outside elements and its rich fusion of disparate influences. After
all, Gomidas Vartabed himself, an ordained monk and
ethnomusicologist, spent the early 1900s initiating a renaissance of
traditional Armenian folk music by visiting far-flung provinces and
villages to take record of the varied traditions of native songs and
dances found there.

Gomidas’s quest clearly suggests that Armenian music is an
undeniably fecund source of musical expression and adaptation. The
characteristic palette of this expression, both musically and
lyrically, manifests itself in rural songs of yearning, spiritual
songs of remembrance, and other traditional expressions of longing,
lament, and rebirth. The recent popularity of folk-fusion and folk
revival reminds us that these musical styles, like traditional
Armenian music itself, succeed when they manage to remain true to
the intrinsic features and inherent values of the various musical
influences they bring together.

"Yev O Phe" delivers Element’s unique expression of folk-fusion by
seamlessly incorporating deft instrumentation, lush vocal harmonies,
and rich multi-ethnic musical styles. And nowhere in the album does
the band impose embellishments otherwise foreign to its core musical
material. The songs are not weighted down by deliberate rock
inflections or plodding digital treatments. The album also manages
to retain the purity of the folk elements and various instruments it
brings together. And throughout, the sound somehow remains
undeniably Armenian.

"Yev O Phe" is elevated by Dabandjian’s hypnotic arrangements and
his superb command of several different instruments, as well as
Koujakian’s deeply soulful vocals. In fact, the most alluring
tracks on the album are those featuring this combination’s
performances. Dabandjian’s talents are on full display on the
album’s fifth track, "Yar Ko Parag Boyin Mernem," which manages to
make a powerful emotional impact while retaining an understated
delicacy. Koujakian’s masculine yet smooth vocals take center stage
on "Mardigi Yerke" and "Anoush Hayrenik," without overpowering the
songs. All in all, "Yev O Phe" represents a powerful fusion of
fervent rhythms and infectious melodies, rippled through with multi-
layered and multi-ethnic influences.

It is worth mentioning that Element is an accomplished live act.
There is an immediacy and improvisational aspect to the band’s live
performances that lend themselves well to its particular adaptation
and re-imagination of the fusion genre. During a recent show at the
Ford Amphitheatre, Element’s soulful performance enveloped the
audience and drew it inescapably into the music being performed on
stage. This captivating quality of Element’s music is due in no
small part to the band’s repertoire, at once intimately familiar and
distinctly different, allowing listeners to celebrate their own
cultural heritage while embracing a more universal perspective.

Element has already acquired a diverse and loyal fan base. But it is
too early to declare whether the band has brought Armenian folk
music back into our collective consciousness or successfully bridged
geographic, linguistic, and multi-cultural divides. What is
undeniable, however, is that Element has cast aside deep-seated
cultural constraints and adopted a more progressive musical register.

In the current era of globalization, music has become the
indispensable mode of communication and integration, a modern and
universal vernacular. Fusion provides opportunities to use varying
elements of this vernacular to stretch creative boundaries and to
spread indigenous music to wider audiences, a crucial stage in the
evolution of the world music scene and of Armenian music itself.
Element’s rendering of folk music is nothing more than an extension
of this evolution, the adoption of a genuinely universal alphabet.

All Rights Reserved: Critics Forum, 2006

Sam Ekizian has been involved with the Armenian cultural and music
scene for over two decades and has helped introduce artists to West
Coast audiences.

You can reach him or any of the other contributors to Critics’ Forum
at [email protected]. This and all other articles published
in this series are available online at To
sign up for a weekly electronic version of new articles, go to
Critics’ Forum is a group created to
discuss issues relating to Armenian art and culture in the Diaspora.

PanARMENIAN.Net

Natural and Climate Conditions, Not Arson Caused Fire
in NKR
14.10.2006 13:19 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ October 13 Secretary of the Council
of National Security at the President of Armenia,
Defense Minister Serge Sargsyan met with head of the
OSCE Office in Yerevan, Ambassador Vladimir Pryakhin.
Responsible for Economy and Environment of the OSCE
Office Janette Clotzer was also present at the
meeting. As Spokesperson of the Armenian MOD, colonel
Seyran Shahsuvaryan told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter,
Pryakhin presented the outcomes of the investigation
held with mediation of the OSCE. According to it fires
in some NKR territories were due to natural and
climate conditions, not arson. Thus, Azeri party
accusations on arson are groundless. International
environment organizations believe an anti-fire system
should be created in these zones. Besides, Pryakhin
presented the process of work within the second phase
of the program on elimination of rocket propellant of
melange type. As a result the melange is processed
into an environmentally clean fertilizer. At the end
of the meeting Serge Sargsyan awarded V. Pryakhin and
Janette Clotzer Marshal Baghramyan medals due to
effective organization of works to eliminate melange,
as well as on the 15th anniversary of Armenia’s independence.

PanARMENIAN.Net

Mammadyarov Not Going to Be «Too Optimistic» in Karabakh Issue
14.10.2006 14:23 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Azeri FM Elmar Mammadyarov expects that during a
meeting with Armenian FM Vartan Oskanian the parties will have an
opportunity to find common points in most complicated matters of
settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. «Within that context
the meeting in Moscow was useful. Though, when proceeding to details,
unexpectedly one finds out that there are many problems. I am not
going to be too optimistic, at the same time I want to assess the
situation realistically. New elements appeared, as well as a new field
for work over these,» Mammadyarov remarked.

Answering the question «why these «common points» were absent
before,» the Azeri FM said, «A poignant search for opportunities
is underway. It is necessary to find a fragile balance to make
positions closer. Given polar, opposite viewpoints, it is very hard
and laborious to reduce these to a common opinion, taking into account
how sensitive is the NK issue both for us and Armenia. Within this
context of course our task is to work for making positions closer. It
is hard to say whether we will succeed or not. I do not want and,
maybe, I cannot look far forward. However, in principle it is
undoubted that we have that desire. Now everything is so subtle that
I would not speak of a break,» Azeri FM said.

PanARMENIAN.Net

Armenian MFA Concerned over Nuclear Tests in North
Korea
14.10.2006 14:31 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Armenian MFA has issued a
statement over the nuclear tests in North Korea. The
statement specifically says, «Abiding by the
principles of the Republic of Armenia on
non-proliferation, the MFA is expressing concern over
nuclear tests in North Korea, as it threatens the
security of this region, as well as undermines
international efforts on non-proliferation. The
Armenian MFA hopes that the North Korean authorities
will come to terms with the international community
and the problem will be solved via talks, thus
prevention further arms race.»

PanARMENIAN.Net

France: Vandals Profaned Armenian Genocide Monument
14.10.2006 15:02 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Two days after the vote of the
French Parliament adopting the text of the bill
penalizing the Armenian Genocide, the memorial set up
in the town of Chaville, close to Versailles, was
deteriorated in the night from the 13 to October 14.
In fact, two plates engraved in bronze, dedicated to
the victims of the Armenian Genocide were torn off
from the base, forming a case in the background of the
work of art. The police undertook an investigation
immediately, independent French journalists Jean
Ackian told PanARMENIAN.Net. The monument itself
consists of a tangle of the letters of the Armenian
alphabet, which form a cross in the center.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress