Month: November 2006

Turkish Police tried to arrest Armenian MP Gegham Manukyan
ArmRadio.am
04.11.2006 13:34
Turkish Police tried yesterday to arrest RA National Assembly Deputy
Gegham Manukyan, when the latter spoke about the Armenian Genocide
during an international forum in Istanbul.
During the Newsxchange conference Turkish Prime Minister Rejeb Tayyib
Erdogan reconfirmed the position of Ankara that there was no Armenian
Genocide.
Member f the Armenian Revolutionary Federation Gegham Manukyan
emphasized the fact that member of the Turkish Parliament Grigor
Zohrap was caught and murdered. He noted also the Istanbul is the city
where on April 24, 1915 the Genocide started with mass detention of
Armenian intellectuals. Gegham Manukyan called on the Turkish society
to start investigating “the dark pages of own history and acknowledge
the fact of the Genocide.” “Recognition will allow the two states
to take the path of peaceful coexistence,” said the Deputy. Gegham
Manukyan raised a poster reading, “Turkey must have the courage to
recognize the Armenian Genocide.”
Following the speech, the Police surrounded Gegham Manukyan, trying
to take him out of the conference hall and arrest. However, the
journalists did not allow this.
Organizers of the forum declared they would join the Armenian
parliamentarian in case he is arrested.

United Armenian Fund donates $4.5 million to all 28 Armenian schools in
Lebanon
ArmRadio.am
04.11.2006 15:40
The United Armenian Fund, through a generous grant from the Lincy
Foundation, is donating a total of $4.5 million to all 28 Armenian
schools throughout Lebanon.
This contribution is prompted by the economic crisis of the
past few years, which was aggravated by the devastating attack on
Lebanon last summer. Thousands of needy Armenian families could no
longer afford the tuition for the Armenian schools their children
attended. Consequently, most of these schools were in no position to
pay the salaries of their teachers and staff.
The UAF funds contributed to these schools are designated for three
specific purposes: $3.2 million to pay full or partial tuition for
5,092 needy Armenian students, which constitutes close to 75% of the
7,029 students enrolled in all 28 schools during the 2006-07 academic
year; $757,000 to cover the salaries owed by most of the schools to
536 teachers and staff for the past academic year; a total of $513,000
for the general operating expenses of these schools.
Harut Sassounian, the President of the United Armenian Fund, is
currently in Lebanon to visit all 28 Armenian schools, meet with their
principals and educational councils, and deliver the earmarked sums
to each school.
“The UAF’s contribution will be allocated to all Armenian schools in
Lebanon, without exception,” Sassounian said.

Armenian, Turkish communities battle in textbook lawsuit
Both groups want their historical accounts heard.
By Michael Doyle
Fresno Bee
Bee Washington Bureau
11/04/06
WASHINGTON – A textbook battle is pitting Americans of Armenian
and Turkish descent against one another in a federal courtroom.
The winner will write history.
And though the fight may seem far away, it’s captivating California’s
politically vocal Armenian-American community.
“Most people who are interested in Armenian politics know about
it,” said Hygo Ohannessian, chairwoman of the Fresno-based Central
California chapter of the Armenian National Committee of America.
Ohannessian and her allies are waiting on U.S. District Judge Mark Wolf
in Boston. For the past year, Wolf has overseen a lawsuit challenging
the way Massachusetts high school study guides handle the horrific
events of 1915-23.
Genocide, Armenians and many historians call it. By some counts, upward
of 1.5 million Armenians died at the hands of the Ottoman Empire. Turks
and Armenians have disputed how to characterize the tragic events.
“If the Turks win this, they are going to challenge textbooks in
other states,” predicted Ohannes Boghossian, chairman of the Armenian
National Committee’s Sacramento chapter.
But in its lawsuit filed last October, the Assembly of Turkish American
Associations claims Massachusetts capitulated to Armenian-American
pressure and “purged” the state’s study guides of any material
challenging Armenian claims.
“This case is not about whether there was or was not an Armenian
genocide,” attorney Harvey Silverglate said in an interview this
week, “but rather, about whether teachers and students are going to
be able to study and discuss the question without undue political
interference.”
Undeniably, Armenian-Americans wield political clout, particularly
in areas such as the San Joaquin Valley, with large ethnic populations.
The leading Republican author of a commemorative Armenian genocide
resolution offered this Congress is Rep. George Radanovich, R-Mariposa.
But Turkey, too, flexes political muscle. While Radanovich’s
current Armenian genocide resolution has 159 House co-sponsors,
similar resolutions have been consistently blocked by presidents of
both parties.
With lifetime tenure and 21 years on the federal bench, Wolf is
shielded from overt pressure. Still, his next decision remains closely
watched, as he considers whether to dismiss the lawsuit filed by
Silverglate on behalf of the Turkish American associations.
In 1999, an initial version of the Massachusetts study guide cited
reference materials that reflected Turkish views challenging the
genocide argument. These were optional references, not required to
be taught.
“These viewpoints contend … that the fate of the Ottoman Armenians
was the result of a number of factors, including the Ottoman
government’s response to an Armenian revolt in alliance with Russia,
a tragically flawed deportation policy and mutual wartime massacres,
which brought great suffering and death to both Ottoman Armenians
and Muslims,” the lawsuit argues.
But after a Massachusetts state senator complained and the
Armenian-American community mobilized, the state’s education
commissioner changed course. The state subsequently deleted study
guide references to Turkish sites, including Georgetown University’s
Institute of Turkish Studies.
“It’s fine for governments to help make history, but not to write
it,” Silverglate said. “The First Amendment is meant to provide a
free marketplace of ideas to determine truth, and history.”
The Armenian National Committee and the Los Angeles-based Armenian
Bar Association have both urged Wolf in an amicus brief to toss out
the case. They argue that Massachusetts acted reasonably in omitting
the Turkish perspective.
“It would be like having the Nazi Party coming in and forcing its
views of the Holocaust,” Ohannessian said Tuesday.
The Armenian-Americans have strong U.S. Supreme Court precedent on
their side, which may fatally undercut Silverglate’s lawsuit. The court
has ruled repeatedly, as the Armenian groups put it, that “the First
Amendment places no restraints” on the messages a government conveys
“Courts,” Massachusetts added in its own legal filing, “have no
authority either to control government speech or to second-guess
curriculum decisions made by the responsible public officials.”
Armenian-Americans cite, as well, the 37 states – including California
– whose legislatures have recognized the Armenian genocide. The study
guide, the groups say, should be appreciated “in the context of this
widespread official acknowledgment” of the tragedy.
In California, Ohannessian noted, textbooks refer to the Armenian
genocide – but she and other Armenian-American activists enhance
this with yearly seminars offered to Fresno and Clovis high school
students seeking extra credit.
The reporter can be reached at [email protected] or (202)
383-0006.
y/11188.html

A double salvo from Klaas Jan Huntelaar helped AFC
Huntelaar adds to Austria’s woes
Thursday, 2 November 2006
Ajax start their UEFA Cup Group F campaign with a 3-0
win against FK Austria Wien.
Uphill task
A goal in each half from Dutch international
Huntelaar, sandwiching a strike from Armenian
substitute Edgar Manucharyan, gave the Amsterdam side
a comfortable victory and inflicted a second heavy
group-stage defeat on Austria. They had lost 4-1 at
home against SV Zulte Waregem on Matchday 1 and
newly-appointed coach Georg Zellhofer now faces an
uphill task in their remaining games.
Aggressive start
Any doubts over whether Ajax would have the stomach
for the competition after being denied a UEFA
Champions League place by FC København in the third
qualifying round were dispelled as they went on the
offensive at the Amsterdam ArenA. Huntelaar and Wesley
Sneijder both shot wide, before each threatened again
with a header and a free-kick respectively.
Manucharyan scores
Huntelaar finally broke the deadlock after 35 minutes,
latching on to Hedwiges Maduro’s flick-on from a
Kenneth Perez set-piece. They continued to dominate
after the break and Austria’s Hungarian goalkeeper
Szabolcs Safar had to punch away a Perez effort before
Manucharyan – on for Maduro – doubled Ajax’s
advantage, converting a Sneijder cross with his right
foot after 65 minutes.
Late flourish
Huntelaar completed the rout three minutes later,
diverting Perez’s free-kick into the net with his
head. Markus Kiesenebner had a rare attempt for
Austria which whistled wide but it remained largely
one-way traffic. Safar did well to deny Huntelaar a
hat-trick after good work from Urby Emanuelson and
Zdenĕk Grygera then hit the bar as Ajax kept
pushing forward.
uefa.com 1998-2006.
–Boundary_(ID_uQT4BdkXnhYczwywDqqMAg) —

Armenia Says Its Gas Price Stays Fixed
BusinessWeek
Nov 4 2006
All Associated Press News
YEREVAN (AP) – Armenia said Saturday that the price it is paying for
Russian gas of US$110 (euro86) will stay fixed until the end of 2008,
an announcement certain to rile neighboring Georgia which has been
told to pay more than double that from next year.
Armenian Finance and Economy Minister Vardan Khachatrian said that
Russia’s Gazprom state monopoly had agreed to freeze the price
until Jan. 1, 2009, in return for Armenia transferring control
of an electricity power generating unit for almost US$250 million
(euro197 million).
Related newsMortgage rates dipInvestors Look to Weigh Economic Data He
also said that Yerevan was in talks with OAO Gazprom over the sale of
ownership rights to the Armenian segment of a planned pipeline bringing
Iranian gas to the country, which is due to open later this year.
Gazprom this week said it plans to charge Tbilisi US$230 (euro180)
per 1,000 cubic meters of gas, compared with the US$110 that it
pays now, ratcheting up economic pressure against Moscow’s small,
pro-Western southern neighbor.
Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Nogaideli said that the sharp price
rise was obviously political because other ex-Soviet nations were
paying far less.
On Saturday, Nogaideli said that Georgia would not agree to pay such
a high rate because it was not commercially justified. “We are not
going to pay an non-market price,” he said.
Energy Minister Nika Gilauri said Friday that talks were taking place
with Azerbaijan, Iran and Turkey to secure alternative supplies of
gas. Analysts in Georgia warned of a repeat of the gas war between
Russia and Ukraine at the start of this year when Gazprom cut off
supplies.
That stoppage, amid fierce negotiations over a higher price
demanded by Gazprom, was seen as punishment for Ukraine’s pro-Western
policies. Ukraine, which finally agreed to pay almost double at US$95
per 1,000 cubic meters, has since managed to limit the increase for
2007 to US$130 after Russian-leaning Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych
took over as head of government in the wake of his party’s success
in March polls.
Neighboring Belarus faces a fourfold rise in gas prices to US$200,
although Gazprom is believed to be willing to compromise if the
country hands over 50 percent of the state pipeline through which
Russian gas transits to western Europe.

Armenian bishop makes first visit to North Andover
By Yadira Betances , Staff Writer
Eagle-Tribune
Eagle Tribune, MA
Nov 4 2006
St. Gregory Armenian Apostolic, 158 Main St. North Andover: Bishop
Anoushavan Tanielian celebrates the divine liturgy tomorrow at 10
a.m. to celebrate the Feast of All Saints and the church’s 36th
anniversary. Anoushavan is vicar general of the Eastern Prelacy of
the Armenian Apostolic Church of America. This is the first time the
bishop will visit St. Gregory since his consecration as bishop in
June. Reception follows.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

BIA, Turkey
Nov 4 2006
Independent Media Forum Starts
The Istanbul “International Independent Media Forum” has been
introduced to participants and observers at a meeting held at Hill
Hotel. Savio, Casagrande, Ferguson, Iskandaryan, Alankus, Kurkcu,
Mater, Sinar, Jaura and many others attend press conference.
BIA News Center
03/11/2006 Ayca ORER
BÝA (Istanbul) – The Istanbul “International Independent Media
Forum”, bringing together activists, specialists, workers, students,
analysts and initiatives striving for an independent and democratic
communication environment from across the world and Turkey, has been
introduced to participants and observers on Friday in a press
conference and meeting held at the city’s Taksim Hill hotel.
Making the opening speech of the 3-day event held under the framework
of the “Establishing a Countrywide Network for Monitoring and
Covering for Media Freedom and Independent Journalism”-BÝA² project,
bianet Project Coordinator Ertugrul Kurkcu said the goal of the forum
was to debate how media workers could guard the interests of the
society while conducting their work.
Kurkcu said the forum taking place at the Bilgi University Dolapdere
Campus between November 4-5 had been organized jointly by the IPS
Communication Foundation and the Inter Press Service.
The central theme of the forum is “Another world is possible” with
participants discussing a variety of media related issues with
special emphasis on alternative media.
Kurkcu told Friday’s introduction meeting that among the forum
discussions, social gender and media would be looking at the
wide-spread discrimination against women in media while a debate on
peace and independent media would hear experiences of news coverage
discouraging conflicts. Developments in Iraq and Beirut are among the
issues to be looked into, alongside the role of the local media in
Turkey which is expected to increase in the coming years, Kurkcu
explained.
The forum will look into many issues concerning the media from
examples of efforts to create an independent, alternative, media to
creating a more open, democratic, transparent and accessible media
through civic journalism. Ways to create global, regional and local
alternative networks is also among the discussion topics.
A total of 90 participants from various countries and Turkey are
attending the event. Organizers have said 58 of the participants are
men, 32 women. 71 come from Turkey while 19 are from other countries.
Participants are made up of 16 academics, 49 journalists from the
Turkish local media, 15 professional journalists, 2 NGO
representatives and 5 students.
World issues to be discussed
Speaking at Friday’s meeting that was held before a scheduled evening
reception that formally launches the forum, a number of participants
addressed current issues facing the media.
Savio: Lack of explicating journalism
Internationally renowned expert in communications issues and IPS
Executive Board Chair Dr. Roberto Savio told the audience that there
were two reasons that influenced the independence of the media. The
first, he explained, was the threat from economic circles while the
second was the gap between the mainstream and local media.
Savio, who founded numerous news and information projects, always
with an emphasis on the developing world: Inter Press Service (IPS)
news agency, the Latin American features service ALASEI and the
Women’s Feature Service, also referred to the world-wide increase in
intern users while newspaper sales figures declined. He stressed that
there was a changing readership.
Savio said that at current reporting was primarily limited to
observing incidents without explicating them, adding that what
journalists needed to ask themselves was “can the journalism we are
doing now last for a long time?”
Sinar: War shouldn’t be reduced to figures
Dov Sinar of the Netanya Academic College said for his part that 20
to 25 yers ago it was believed that alternative media was required
only for totalitarian regimes but that over time democratic regimes
had also started to need an alternative media.
Underlining that the media had to be extremely careful in relaying
events, Sinar said the question of “what happens in war or peace
conditions” should never be forgotten.
Sinar said that in the occupations of Iraq and Gazza, humans were
being reduced to being figures only and that this situation further
emphasized the importance of the alternative media.
Ferguson: Biggest enemy is money
Robert Ferguson of London University told the meetings that after the
collapse of the Soviet Repubic it could be observed that the problem
previously described as being totalitarian regimes was in fact a
problem of money for the media.
“When the big enemy went” he explained, “the economic relations of
the media surfaced.” Furguson said there were still newspapers in
Britain that were distributed for free and noted that it had to be
understood under which conditions these newspapers served.
Alankus: Alternative media debate world-wide
East Mediterranean University lecturer Dr. Sevda Alankus, told the
meeting that next week they would be holding a peace journalism
meeting in North Cyprus were participants from both sides of the
divided island would be discussing peace.
Alankus noted that alternative media was now being debated throughout
the world and described alternative media as a necessity.
Rights Reporting Awards to be Granted
Following the opening ceremony of the forum, “BIA2 Rights Reporting
Awards” dedicated to a journalist from the mainstream media and local
media will be granted alongside an award to communication students.
The awards will go to Yuksekova Haber newspaper reporter Necip Capraz
from the local media; Radikal newspaper reporter Timur Soykan from
the mainstream media and students Aycin Gelir and Eylem Tuna from the
Anadolu Universty Communication Facility.
About the forum
The Forum is to be launched by speeches delivered by Le Monde
Diplomatique newspaper editor-in-chief Ignacio Ramonet’nin and IPS
General Director Mario Lubetkin’in .
The first day, Saturday, sees two panels taking place in the Forum:
“New Global Mainstream Media Environment Limits and Challenges” and
“Independent Media Environment and Prospects for non-Mainstream”.
A panel on the second day, meanwhile, focuses on communication
education: “Education for Communication: Critical or Mainstream?”.
Two important group discussions will take part on the second day of
the forum. “Social Gender and Independent Media” moderated by
journalist and writer Ipek Calislar is to bring together women rights
activist and journalist Angella Castellanos from Colombia, bianet’s
Nadire Mater, Kaos GL’s Ugur Yuksel, Media Monitoring Group’s Dr.
Hulya Ugur Tanriover, Pazartesi magazine’s Beyhan Demir and Ucan
Supurge’s Oya Ozden Saner.
Later, the “Independent Media for Peace” discussion moderated by
Birgun newspaper editor-in-chief Murat Celikkkan is to bring together
Alexander Iskendaryan from the Armenian Caucasus Media Institute,
Acik Radio’s Avi Haligua, bianet’s Erol Onderoglu, Yucel Gokturk,
Merve Erol, Erdir Zat and Siren Idemen from Express, Cyprus Turkish
Union of Press Workers’ Huseyin Yalyali, Georgia Social Researches
Center’s Marina Muskhelishvili, Azerbaijan Zerkalo newspaper’s Murad
Huseynov, Agos’s Nuran Agan, Israel Peace Journalism Center’s Prof.
Dr. Dov Sinar, Rustem Batum, Sevgul Uludag and Cyprus East
Mediterranean University’s Tony Angastiniotis.
Local, independent media and civic journalism in Turkey
One of the important events on November 5 is the “Civic, Local and
Alternative Media in Turkey” forum which will bring together
academics and local journalists.
Moderated by journalist Ragip Duran, the forum will start with Dr.
Sevda Alankus’s question “Do the local media and civic media give
opportunities for a pluralism and independence?”
While Dr. Incilay Cangoz discussed local and independent media in the
context of “civic journalism” Coskun Efendioglu from the Milas Onder
newspaper will raise questions on how the media could be local and
independent.
Manavgat Venus Radio’s Dogan Sonmez will look at the issue
approaching journalists as the “human capitals of independence” while
Diyarbakir Gun TV’s Cemal Dogan will share his experiences on news
reporting and broadcasting in a mother-tongue. Mehmet Can Toprak from
the Mersin Radio Ses and Izmir Demokrat Radio’s Nadiye Gurbuz will
explain “local radio broadcasting in metropolitan cities”.
The goals
The International Independent Media Forum which is open to everyone
has set the following goals:
· Bring together activists, specialists, workers and analysts from
across the globe, who strives for “another media”.
· Share experiences in bringing out independent media and analyze
significant practices.
· Help develop more open, democratic, transparent and accessible
media environments.
· Provide and contribute in cooperation among global, regional and
local alternative media networks.
· Encourage individuals and institutions to support independent media
initiatives
· Increase the quality and quantity of independent media practices in
Turkey (AO/EO/II/YE)
–Boundary_(ID_c3Mj72uWHYQVDs7z9lZZ IA)–

Broken bridges in Turkey’s southeast
By Kirsty Hughes in Van
Aljazeera.net, Qatar
Nov 4 2006
Saturday 04 November 2006, 16:04 Makka Time, 13:04 GMT
On a sparkling autumn day, a few tourists and locals are visiting
the half-restored, 2nd-century Armenian church on Akdamar island in
eastern Turkey’s Lake Van. But there are no Armenians here.
And tourists are a rare breed in this conflict-ridden region too. It
was in this region of Turkey that Armenians say they were massacred
by Turkish forces 90 years ago.
While the best lakeside houses and flats are occupied by military and
police families, the run-down streets of Van are now thronged with
mostly unemployed Kurdish men and boys (women in this conservative
town mostly stay at home). It is a region steeped in poverty.
Van’s population has more than doubled since the early 1990s due
to displaced villagers fleeing the conflict between the Kurdistan
Worker’s Party (PKK) and the Turkish military – and not least due
to the destruction by the military of thousands of Kurdish villages
especially in 1993-94.
For Turkey, the EU and US the PKK is a terrorist organisation.
But local Kurds reject that label. They say few families have been
untouched by the Turkish military’s retribution in the past 22 years
of conflict.
Many have a son, daughter, cousin, uncle or brother either in the
mountains with the PKK, in jail, or dead from the conflict.
Limits on freedoms
Cuneyit Canis, head of the Van Human Rights Association, explains
that neither they, nor other human rights NGO, will use the label:
“Of course, we are against violence wherever it comes from, but we
never say terrorist – if we use the same language as the state or
government, then how do we differ from them?”
Limits on freedom of speech worry Cunis: “If you say Turks and Kurds
don’t have equal rights in society, even if you are talking in a
political party, you could be accused of being a separatist. The DTP
[the Kurdish Democratic Society Party] is a legal political party …
but they often get mixed up [by the police] with the PKK, so it’s
easy to charge DTP members to be PKK.”
Ibrahim Sunkur, the head of the Van branch of the DTP, agrees: “To
be a political party, you need to have meetings, to express ideas,
to have freedom of speech, but we are not completely free as all our
activities are followed by the police and they are going to open a
court case even if we say simple and basic things.”
Sunkur has been president of the local DTP for less than a year –
all previous presidents have been arrested sooner or later. After he
took part in a local TV debate two weeks ago, the military came to the
TV station and demanded copies of the tapes to analyse what he said.
EU impact
Turkey’s membership talks with the EU have had some positive but
limited impact on Kurdish rights in recent years. As one retired
intellectual in Van puts it: “There were very good steps during the
EU process but not enough. If it wasn’t scared of the EU and US,
Turkey would take back all the rights it has given very easily.”
For Ayhan Cabuk, head of the Van Bar Association, these steps
are the merest tokens: “Many people here are living and speaking
Kurdish and under pressure of the EU you give them half an hour a
week broadcasting but not by yourself. That’s nothing. How can that
be an answer to the problem? The limit of half an hour shows their
mentality and their hearts.”
And this month, the military found a way to jam the frequency through
which Kurdish TV is beamed into homes from abroad.
Speak their language
Yet today the central demand of many Kurds is not for the separate
state that the Turks so fear, and not even for a federation (publicly
calling for a federation itself could lead to separatist and so
terrorist charges) but for the use of their mother tongue in education
and in the media.
Even though there are between 15 to 20 million Kurds in Turkey, and
many in the southeast speak Kurdish as their first or only language,
children start primary school understanding only Kurdish, but are
spoken to and taught in Turkish.
One teacher quotes a now-dead Kurdish writer from Diyarbakir who
described this as: “cats barking like dogs”.
Sunkur insists cultural rights are now their main demand: “We aren’t
looking for an independent state, and we’ve taken back a step on the
federal goal – even though big countries like the US, Germany and
Russia have federations and it’s normal and they are thinking of it
in Iraq now.
“But we do not want to damage the unity of the state. We want to
use our language freely and to have education in their mother tongue
for all our children at all levels… We’ve a right to broadcast our
language in radio and TV too.”
Unilateral ceasefire
At the start of October, the PKK declared a unilateral ceasefire
raising hopes in the southeast that a new breakthrough may be possible,
including a general amnesty for PKK fighters.
But General Buyukanit, the new military chief of staff, ignoring more
subtle and positive responses from various politicians, responded
aggressively saying the army would fight till every last PKK fighter
was dead.
Abdulbasit Bildirici, the head of the local branch of an Islamic
human rights NGO Mazlumder, is pessimistic: “There was a group in
government and in the military supporting this ceasefire but then the
‘deep state’ won and shut up the others, and there have been four
or five big military operations in and around the region recently so
they are not responding to the ceasefire.”
Army lorries and police checks can be seen in and around Van.
Bildirici thinks this ceasefire is a “last chance for Turkey” since
if the government doesn’t respond: “It makes ceasefires meaningless
to people’s minds… this feeling is very strong.”
He worries that divisions between Turks and Kurds have become deepened:
“There is a broken bridge between the state and people here.”
A local businessman puts it even more strongly: “You [the Turkish
state] accuse people of not loving you, but you broke all their lives
and stole their windows, took their property, and took everything,
and now they are in an indescribable, inhuman situation and you ask
them to love you and be grateful.”
Solution sought
The ending of the last PKK ceasefire two years ago, accompanied by
renewed violence, and the Iraq conflict, has not made the Turkish
public, government or military more open to a peaceful solution. “Of
course,” says Bildirici “the northern Iraq and Kurdish situation
increased the nationalist movement in Turkey.”
He adds that for Kurds in Turkey, seeing Kurds in northern Iraq run
their own affairs is a boost to self-confidence after the “humiliation”
of being second-class citizens in Turkey. But he insists that “apart
from a few small radical groups, most Kurds in Turkey have no idea
of having an independent state here”.
But though many Kurds here are clear on their two main aims of a
general amnesty and full cultural rights, there is an absence of
a political strategy for persuading their Turkish counterparts to
accept those goals.
Instead, a sense of political as much as geographic isolation and
impasse hangs over Van.
Turkey is now in the run-up to presidential and parliamentary elections
next year – and parties of all colours are turning up their nationalist
rhetoric. Whether the glimmer of hope provided by the new PKK ceasefire
can take the two sides past the elections and into a constructive
new political dynamic remains to be seen.
CE86-9BBA-42EC-87AF-C91ED11F3A7B.htm

Seeing Everything as a Conspiracy
by ETYEN MAHCUPYAN
Zaman, Turkey
Nov 4 2006
11.04.2006 Saturday – ISTANBUL 22:12
The most important pillar of the doctrine produced during the period
of the Turkish Republic’s foundation was certainly the backward-facing
historical discourse which never had much of a connection to the truth.
This approach, which aimed to cut itself from reality and idealize
what we had lived through, tied the Anatolian people to Central Asia,
and history was constructed on a migration map that had no basis.
Meanwhile, the historical continuity of the Ottomans was concealed
as much as possible. Consequently, history became a field where
we could only feel the past and internalize it by establishing an
emotional connection. Due to the vital function of nationalism in
the official ideology, the emotionalism at issue became molded into
national patriotism. The result was a society that neither knew what
history was nor its own history. Even today, what historians pass on
as “history” is mostly a form of a story. Anecdotes based on certain
people’s strength of character and moral stories, which are meant
to be taken as examples, still comprise the essence of perception in
this field.
While the past is turned into a story like this, history’s natural
complexity, contradictions and inconsistencies grow paler; the will
that is drawn by perfectly consistent molded characters appears
before us as a series of events. Thus, on the one hand, with the
inner richness and human weakness of the characters removed, history
is reduced to a struggle between good and evil. On the other hand,
social and political events are understood not as an extension of
a state with multiple determinants, but as the implementation of a
willful plan which had been made beforehand. This unreal world, because
it doesn’t permit real action, frequently makes things difficult for
us. For example, to write that Mustafa Kemal put on a woman’s dress and
left the house through the back door can be perceived as “insulting,”
because we can’t comprehend that the Mustafa Kemal of our imagination
could do such a thing. As a result, putting the real Mustafa Kemal
aside, the official ideology produces an imaginary Mustafa Kemal
based on already established patterns and we call this history.
Likewise, we have difficulty perceiving situations that appear
to be the result of coincidence, variables and multi-actors who
surround social and political events, as if we are uncomfortable
with the complexity accompanying the truth. Consequently, it’s in
our interest to see everything as a conspiracy, and we prefer the
assumption that conspiracy begets reality. We are not aware that this
approach consolidates an authoritative mentality to the degree that
it exaggerates the will of the powerful and distances us from the
consciousness of being a citizen and that we also degrade ourselves
when we perceive groups as impersonal gangs that pledge allegiance
to the state.
While diluting topics that are extremely important factors of Anatolian
history, like the Armenian issue to the treachery of “internal powers”
cooperating with “foreign powers,” within a conspiracy mentality,
we think the artificial dialectic that has been produced is the
truth. Of course, great European powers of that period were determined
to protect the Ottoman minorities and, of course, a group of Armenians
got involved in partisan politics.
However, if we don’t ask why this happened, why these people behaved
this way, what the approach was of those who didn’t behave this way
and what the government was during while this was happening, we can’t
understand this issue within its real historical connection. Then we
will have to produce some dialectic to prove the government right,
we’ll make a whole community traitorous, we’ll say they all rebelled
and committed murder, and, by mixing events from different historical
times, we’ll attempt to produce an imaginary “balance.”
Unfortunately, the only thing that emerges from such approach is a
tale or lullaby, not history.

EU urges Ankara to rethink stance on Hamas
The New Anatolian, Turkey
Nov 4 2006
Describing Hamas as a “terrorist group” in its upcoming progress
report on Turkey, the European Union indirectly criticizes Ankara,
urging it to conform with the common position of the Union.
According to the draft progress report obtained by The New Anatolian
before the text is released by the EU next Wednesday, although
the Union states that “Turkey has broadly continued to align its
foreign and security policy with that of the EU…and has continued
to support the Middle East peace process,” it continues by saying,
“Turkey declared in February 2006 to share the objectives EU Common
Position on the application of specific measures to combat terrorism
and ensure that its national policies would conform to that Common
Position. Hamas is on the list included in this Common Position.”
On other issues about foreign, security and defense policy, while the
Union praises Turkey’s participation in the EU-led police missions
including Bosnia-Herzegovina (EUPM), former Yugoslav Republic of
Macedonia (Proxima) and in Congo (EUROPOL KINSHASA) and UN and NATO
peace missions for the development of European Security and Defense
Policy (ESDP), it criticized Turkey’s resistance to including Greek
Cyprus and Malta in the EU-NATO strategic cooperation based on the
“Berlin Plus” agreement. The reports also notes that Turkey continues,
for political reasons, to block Greek Cyprus’ membership in certain
suppliers’ groups, such as the Wassenaar Arrangement on Export Controls
for Conventional Arms and Dual-Use Goods and Technologies.
Touching on Turkey’s relations with the Middle East, while the
report says that Turkey’s relations with Syria continued to develop
positively, it also praises Ankara’s efforts and concrete initiatives
to promote stability in Iraq by facilitating dialogue between U.S.
authorities and Sunni Arabs. “Turkey argues that there is a direct
link between the recent escalation of violence in the southeast of
Turkey and increased clashes between Turkish Armed Forces and the
PKK and ‘infiltration of PKK members’ from the Iraqi border,” it was
said in the report, saying that a significant number of troops were
deployed along the Iraqi border in order to prevent infiltration by
PKK terrorists from northern Iraq.
The report also praised Turkish efforts to encourage Iran to
comply with the demands of the international community and the
country’s support to EU efforts to obtain long-term guarantees for
the implementation of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and its
Nuclear Safeguards Agreement with the International Atomic Energy
Agency (IAEA) by Iran.
The continued strong support of Turkey for the “Bonn process”
concerning the reconstruction of Afghanistan was also praised in
the report.
Brussels urges Turkey to open its border with Armenia
The Union in the progress report also urges Turkey to open its border
with Armenia, stressing that this would be an important step forward
in the establishment of good neighborly relations between the two
countries and would boost trade relations.
While urging Turkey to open its border with Armenia, the EU cites
the lack of significant developments in relations between Turkey and
Armenia since the official exchange of letters between Turkish Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Armenian President Robert Kocharian
in April 2005.
However the EU notes a closer alignment of Turkey’s official position
with EU positions in relation with the Southern Caucasus and Central
Asia. “Turkey has reiterated its support for the European Neighborhood
Policy. Turkey participates in the regional initiative GUAM (Georgia,
Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova) with observer status.
Turkey followed closely the elections in Azerbaijan. It aligned itself
with the EU Presidency statement on the elections in Azerbaijan on
10 November 2005,” said the report.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress