PanARMENIAN.Net
Genocide Bill: Turkish NGOs Sent Letter to French President
24.11.2006 17:38 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ 90 Turkish NGOs addressed a letter
to French President Jacques Chirac to protest the bill
penalizing the Armenian Genocide denial. The letter
signed on behalf of the so-called "Association of
Victims of Massacre by Armenian gangs in eastern city
of Van during the World War I" calls not to ratify the
bill, reports Hurriyet Turkish newspaper.
PanARMENIAN.Net
Armenia and Cyprus Strengthen Political Cooperation
24.11.2006 18:08 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Today Armenian President Robert
Kocharian met with Cypriot House of Representatives
President Demetris Christofias, reported the RA
leader’s press office. Robert Kocharian gave a high
estimate to the attitude of the Cypriot authorities to
the Armenian community. `The Armenian community is
represented in the Cypriot parliament, Armenian
schools function in the republic. These facts impart
warmness to the relations between the two states,’ the
President said. Besides, the interlocutors stressed
the necessity of strengthening political cooperation
and legislative partnership that will lead to
expansion of economic, travel and cultural ties.
PanARMENIAN.Net
3 Turks Elected to Dutch Parliament
24.11.2006 18:29 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Christian Democratic Party
maintained positions of the strongest faction of the
Dutch parliament. Prime minister Jan Peter
Balkenende’s party won the most seats in Dutch
elections, but results today showed a sharply divided
nation with no alliance winning a clear mandate to
govern. Dutch support was split between a government
coalition that has been tough on immigration and
pro-business, and socialists – led by the Labor Party
– promoting a softer approach. It was clear no
combination of left or right-wing parties will easily
muster a majority in parliament.
As PanARMENIAN.Net reporter came to know from a source
in Netherlands, 3 Turks Nebahat Albayrak, Coskun Coruz
and Sadet Karabulut were elected to the parliament. In
the words of the coordinator of the Armenian
community, Karabulut is of Kurdish nationality.
Three Turkish candidates were expelled from the party
lists for their refusal to recognize the Armenian
Genocide. The Turkish community of Netherlands
proposed 12 candidates and was even going to boycott
the election. As for Nebahat Albayrak, she once said
that recognizes the Armenian Genocide but then
renounced her statement.
AZG Armenian Daily #226, 25/11/2006
Visit
UPPER LARS PASS TO OPEN SOON AFTER REPAIR
The speakers of the Armenian and Russian Parliaments,
Tigran Torosian and Boris Gryzlov, gave positive
evaluation to the current level of bilateral
cooperation. In the course of the meeting of the two
states’ Parliament speakers, held in Moscow the day
before, Gryzlov emphasized that the progressive growth
of bilateral turnover of goods was fixed between our
countries. In particular, if the goods turnover
between Armenia and Russia during 2005 had grown by
60%, in the course of 8 months of 2006 this indicator
made 80%. Nevertheless, according to T. Torosian,
Russia takes only the fifth place by the Armenian
production export volumes, yielding to Belgium, the
Netherlands and other states. "Since our relations
with Russia are special, the trade relations must be
higher than with other states", Torossian said, having
expressed anxiety for the cases of extreme display of
extremism in Russia, which caused the recent murder
cases of Armenians. Gryzlov assured that this problem
arouses the concern of the Russian authorities as
well. He informed that a meeting of the leaders of
political parties with RF President, Vladimir Putin,
will be held on December 6, during which the issue of
counteraction to extremism and the extremist ideology
will be considered. The interlocutors also pointed out
high level of cooperation between the states in
international organizations, such as PACE, CIS IPA and
CSTO PA, in particular.
AZG Armenian Daily #226, 25/11/2006
Diaspora
ARMENIA VOTES AGAINST RESOLUTION ON HUMAN RIGHTS IN IRAN
The Republic of Armenia has voted against the US,
Canada and the EU resolution that condemns the
violations of human rights in Iran. Vladimir
Karapetian, Spokesman of RA Foreign Ministry, said
that on Tuesday, Armenia voted for Iran’s proposal not
to discuss the issue. It’s worth mentioning that
besides Armenia 47 other countries voted against the
resolution, as well. Thus, there were 70 for, 48
against and 55 abstained as a result of the voting.
AZG Armenian Daily #226, 25/11/2006
Editorial
ARMENIANS ARE THEIR WORST ENEMIES!
Is this headline offensive?
It certainly is. It hurts reading it; it hurts even
more to write it. But it reveals the unpleasant truth.
Most of the times Armenians are bright and successful
individually, but not so collectively. They are
charitable and kind when they meet destitute fellow
Armenians, but try to see if they help each other
professionally.
A true story may illustrate these statements better.
Years ago, the American Armenian International College
honored the celebrated movie director Rouben Mamoulian
by bestowing an honorary doctorate degree upon him. As
the speaker left the podium, after lavishing all kinds
of praise on the honoree, another Armenian, who had
spent a lifetime in Hollywood’s movie industry,
approached him and said: "Why do you honor this man?
He has not helped a single Armenian in the movie
industry."
Another case in point is the Armenian screenplay
writer Steve Zaillian who upon receiving the Oscar for
his "Schindler’s list" screenplay, failed to mention
the Armenian Genocide, in front of billions of
viewers.
Not helping a fellow Armenian may be dismissed as
selfishness, but what to make of an Armenian in a
position of power who denigrates other Armenians or
undermines any Armenian cause, in the name of a higher
noble cause? Unfortunately, there is an abundance of
such cases.
In 2003, Dr. Raymond Damadian, the inventor of MRI,
was bypassed by the Nobel Prize committee, which
awarded the prize to Paul C. Lauterbur and Peter
Mansfield, who had mainly improved the invention. When
Damadian reacted angrily, a New York Times editorial
ridiculed him, while a media debate was raging. One
person, among the Armenians who was the best qualified
as a scientist to defend a fellow Armenian, Dr. Leon
A. Saryan, wrote an article saying why he did not
deserve the Nobel Prize.
The trend continues even today. When the French
Parliament passed a resolution to adopt a law
punishing Genocide deniers, we saw a number of
Armenians opposing or ridiculing it, in the name of
freedom of speech. The opposition to that resolution
may water it down, or even defeat it at the Senate or
presidential level, given the media outcry that
followed its adoption. Unfortunately major news media
in Europe and the US opposed the move and they enjoyed
the benefit of supporting a sacrosanct principle –
that of freedom of expression. That effectively
disguised their main intent of facilitating Turkey’s
accession to the European Union.
No one has yet protested the Loi Gaysot, which the
same French Parliament has adopted to punish the
Holocaust deniers, because Jews have a very strong
antidote or weapon: they label such individuals as
anti-Semites.
It was predictable that many Armenian leaders in
Turkey would oppose it, to save their own skin. Since
already the reverse law (Penal Code 301) exists, in
Turkey and has been used extensively to prosecute
writers like Orhan Pamuk, Elif Shafak, Ragip Zarakolu
and Hrant Dink.
But it is difficult to comprehend the position of some
Armenian writers and scholars in the West who decide
to become more Catholic than the pope in their zeal to
defend freedom of speech. Rather than using that
position of power to defend an Armenian cause, they
join the Turkish chorus, crying wolf in the name of
freedom of speech. The Turks are the worst violators
of human rights and freedom of speech but they seem to
have found a goldmine in the otherwise-unassailable
principle of the freedom of expression and they
believe that the louder they shout about that
principle, the more successful they will become in
denying the Armenian Genocide.
Of course, for academic purposes, it sounds very
healthy to find Armenian dissenters who defend that
principle. However, we have yet to hear one Jew object
to the Loi Gaysot in principle.
One such dissenter seems to be journalist and UCLA’s
Bruin Standard Editor Garin K. Hovannisian, who,
having accessed the forum of the Christian Science
Monitor, signed an article on November 7 titled "The
folly of Genocide deniers." Hovannisian has used his
superb talent to castigate the French, to ridicule the
Armenian supporters of the bill and in the final
analysis, to provide ammunition to the Turks.
He begins his argument with the following statement:
"The bill reminds us that France’s socialist party and
many European elites believe truth is decreed, not
discovered." The writer is not very happy either that
"The news drove Armenian communities into raptures."
Then, he tries to lambaste Hilda Tchoboian, president
of the European Armenian Federation who has welcomed
this "historic step," noting that "The hydra of denial
is a tumor on freedom of expression" and then he
defines that statement as proof "that you can mix
metaphor and talk nonsense in the span of five nouns."
Then he pontificates: "Genocide denial might be a
tumor on the truth, memory or even human dignity, but
it’s not even a pimple on the freedom of expression."
He continues in the same condescending tone: "That
lesson, sadly, is lost on some French parliamentarians
and the Armenians Diaspora, whose notion of politics
ends where Genocide begins." Indeed, Armenians must be
grateful to count amongst them pundits like Mr.
Hovannissian whose bright ideas contribute to the
sophistication of our political maturity, which
otherwise would have been painfully primitive.
The writer uses even catchier phrases to press his
point: "It is easier to shut up the deniers than to
make them stop believing." "Censorship has long been
the tool of people who are threatened by the facts,
who can’t win a debate on equal terms. Censors have
sought to gain through power what they lack in
arguments."
The powerful have always used noble principles to
commit the most atrocious crime; like Turkey today, by
exhorting the principle of freedom of speech in France
– while cynically denying the same principle at home –
is only fighting the recognition of the Genocide.
Additionally, Turkey has been using its state machine
and powerful resources to fight that recognition. The
French law is only a mild reaction to the Turkish
campaign. In the same fashion, our own president tries
to convince us that "democracy is on the march" in
Iraq over the bodies of 655,000 casualties and 2500 US
servicemen. Who can argue that "democracy" is not
worth that kind of carnage? After all it is a noble
idea. Had the Turks recognized the Genocide, there
would be no need to pass a law to punish the deniers.
Therefore, we have to go to the root cause of this
debate, if we really prize the principle of the
freedom of speech.
Armenians have paid the price for noble ideas and
principles as the cost of their survival. Even in our
earliest history, Ara the Handsome was killed and
Assyria’s Semiramis over ran Armenia, because we
upheld family values over survival. By the same token,
Vartan Mamigonian sacrificed his life to uphold the
Christian faith. In more recent times, when in 1918
Armenian volunteers regained Cilicia, we were asked by
the Allies to lay down our arms and we followed their
instructions, but Cilicia was overrun by Kemalists
hordes who challenged the same request.
Also General Antranik was on the verge of conquering
Karabagh, when the British government stopped him,
promising a positive outcome for that enclave at the
Versailles Treaty. He abided by the request and
Karabagh’s fate is still in limbo to this date. Even
today Karabagh Armenians are being named "aggressors"
because they liberated their homeland and they
determined their own destiny. Had they waited for
brownie points from the international community for
"good behavior," 150,000 Karabagh Armenians would be
laying dead next to the Armenian victims of the
Sumgait.
Without being cynical, all noble principles are made
to fit the feet of the powerful like boots to trample
the rights and existence of weaker nations.
The Turks must have rejoiced in finding allies
indirectly contributing to their case as many
Monitor’s editors have rejoiced.
When the blood of 1.5 million martyrs is on the scale,
freedom of speech becomes academic. Let others fight
for that principle when our priority is the survival
of our people.
By Edmond Y. Azadian
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
AZG Armenian Daily #226, 25/11/2006
New record
SHOSTAKOVICH’S 1ST AND 2ND CONCERTS FOR VIOLIN PLAYED
BY SERGEY KHACHATRIAN
At 8.00 pm on Sunday, November 26, the Radio Symphony
Berlin (RSB) headed by Artistic Director Marek
Janowski will perform in Berlin. The concert is
dedicated to leading German composer Aribert Reimann’s
70th and Dmitri Shostakovich’s 100th anniversary.
Reimann’s "Cloudless Christian Holiday" requiem
performed by world famous Hungarian cellist Miklos
Perenyi and baritone Detlef Roth will open the
concert.
The 1st violin concert of Shostakovich will be played
by winner of the Queen Elizabeth’s international award
of 2005, Sergey Khachatrian. The great composer wrote
this work in 1948 and dedicated it to violinist David
Oistrakh who first performed it in 1955 after Stalin’s
death.
In late October a new recording of Shostakovich’s
First and Second violin concerts played by the
National Orchestra of France and soloist Sergey
Khachatrian and conducted by Kurt Masur was released.
In early December the Armenian young musician living
in Frankfurt-upon-Mein will play the First and Second
violin concerts in Brussels together with the local
national symphonic orchestra.
On November 29, 30 and December 1 Sergey Khachatrian
will perform in Munich with the city’s symphonic
orchestra and will play Sibelius’s Concerto. At the
conductor’s stand will be famous James Conlon.
As to Sergey’s sister, pianist Lusine Khachatrian will
play the works of Mozart, Schubert, List, Debussy and
Schumann at the international theatre in Frankfurt on
December 17.
By Anahit Hovsepian in Germany
AZG Armenian Daily #226, 25/11/2006
Exhibition
NEW PHOTO EXHIBITION OPENS AT CENTER FOR NEW EXPERIMENTAL ART
`Face to Face with Armenia’ photo exhibition launches
in the Center for New Experimental Art.
The initiators of the photo exhibition state that it
is a response to the French photo exhibition held at
the same center within the framework of the Year of
France in Armenia held in October-November, 2006. 18
Armenian photographers are going to participate in the
exhibition. The pieces included in the exhibition are
mainly portraits and self-portraits.
Eduard Palasanian, curator of the photo exhibition,
stated that the authors of the photos touched upon and
depicted the themes of not only personal and
autobiographic but of social character. "Some of the
pieces have solely and openly social character, while
the others are absolutely abstract. There are photos
that have quite personal content full of personal
symbols and allegories. The others use mirrors and
various kinds of photo techniques creating the
atmosphere of deceptive illusions and visions,"
Palasanian said.
Sargis Virabian, photographer who participated in 12
photo exhibitions, has represented a series of street
photos that reflect the life and social problems of
our city.
The exhibitions will be on till December 30.
By Gohar Gevorgian
AZG Armenian Daily #226, 25/11/2006
Neighbors
AZERBAIJANIS POSE AS ARMENIANS IN HOLLAND
In search of an asylum in Holland some Azerbaijanis
make fake documents to pose as Armenians who fled from
Baku, day.az reports. Another group of Azeris passes
off as political immigrants. Nazim Ibrahimov, head of
the State Commission for Azerbaijanis Residing Abroad,
appeals to all these people to return to motherland
"where conditions are better than in the refugee camps
of Holland."
AZG Armenian Daily #226, 25/11/2006
Home
HAYPOST TO COOPERATE WITH HAYPOSTBANK
In accordance with yesterday’s Government decision,
the cooperation agreement signed between "Haypost"
CJSC and "Haypostbank" OJSC was approved. The official
web site of RA Government informed about this. There
were no other details on the agreement in the release.
It’s worth mentioning that this was the first official
information about existence of "Haypostbank."