Month: March 2007

ARMENIAN DELEGATION IN TURKEY TO ATTEND CEREMONY TO MARK RESTORATION OF ARMENIAN CHURCH

International Herald Tribune
The Associated Press
March 29 2007

ANKARA, Turkey: The spiritual leader of Turkey’s Armenian Orthodox
community on Thursday called on Turkey to open up a newly restored
ancient Armenian church for worship at least once a year, saying the
move would help reconciliation between Turks and Armenians.

Patriarch Mesrob II was speaking at a ceremony marking the restoration
of the Akdamar church, perched on a rocky island in Lake Van, a
vast body of water in eastern Turkey. Turkish authorities restored
the church as a gesture to its neighbor and its own ethnic Armenian
minority, but opened it up as a museum – not a place of worship.

Mesrob expressed gratitude for the restoration of the sandstone
church but added: "Our request from our government is for a religious
and cultural service to be held at the church every year and for a
festival to be organized."

"If our government approves, it will contribute to peace between
two communities who have not been able to come together for years,"
Mesrob said.

Akdamar’s restoration – at a cost of US$1.5 million ([email protected] million)
– has been showcased as a step by Turkey to help overcome historical
animosity between Turkey and Armenia, who are locked in a bitter
dispute over mass killings of Armenians in Turkey around the time of
World War I.

Turkey has no diplomatic ties with Armenia but still invited Armenian
officials to the ceremony. Armenia’s Deputy Culture Minister Gagik
Gyurjyan, accompanied by a 20-member delegation, including officials,
historians and other experts, traveled to Turkey for the ceremony.

One of the finest surviving monuments of Armenian culture 1,000 years
ago, the church had deteriorated over the past century, neglected in
the years following the mass killings of Armenians at the hands of
Ottoman Turks. Rainwater seeped through the collapsed, conical dome.

Its basalt floors were dug up by treasure-hunters, its facade riddled
with bullet holes.

On Thursday, police detained five trade-union representatives who
staged a demonstration on a jetty on Lake Van to protest the church’s
restoration. The protesters carried Turkish flags, pictures of Mustafa
Kemal Ataturk, modern Turkey’s founder, and a banner that read:
"The Turkish people are noble. They would never commit genocide,"
the government-run Anatolia news agency reported.

Akdamar, called the Church of Surp Khach, or Holy Cross, was
inaugurated in A.D. 921. Written records say the church was near a
harbor and a palace on the island on Lake Van, but only the church
survived.

Armenia has welcomed the restoration, but said a better move toward
improved ties would be the opening up of the border with Armenia and
the establishment of diplomatic relations.

Turkey closed its border with Armenia in 1993 during a war between
Armenia and Azerbaijan, a Muslim ally of Ankara. Landlocked Armenia’s
economy suffered as a result.

Turkey is lobbying hard against a proposed U.S. congressional
resolution that would recognize the killings of Armenians in the last
century as genocide.

Some of Turkey’s 65,000 Armenian Orthodox Christians complain of
harassment in Turkey, which has an overwhelmingly Muslim population.

Hrant Dink, an ethnic Armenian journalist murdered in Istanbul in
January, was apparently targeted by nationalists for his commentaries
on minority rights and free expression.

__

Associated Press writer Selcan Hacaoglu contributed to this report

SAN DIMAS OKS ALCOHOL SALES FOR DOWNTOWN STORE
By Alison Hewitt, Staff Writer

Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, CA
March 29 2007

SAN DIMAS – In an emotionally charged meeting marked by charges of
discrimination and references to the Armenian genocide, the City
Council gave approval to a gourmet liquor store to sell alcohol
downtown.

The discussion quickly turned angry as the Armenian applicant and
would-be owner charged residents with discrimination and the city
with imposing excessive requirements on him.

Some of the 50 residents accused him of threatening existing business
owners and trying to open a shop that would diminish downtown’s
reputation.

"I’m just a businessman," applicant Sid Maksoudian told the council,
and launched into a history of the Ottoman Empire, during which the
Armenian genocide occurred in 1915-17. "I feel like I’m back in the
Ottoman Empire."

Although Maksoudian’s proposed business received unanimous approval
from the Planning Commission, it came before the council after City
Council member Denis Bertone appealed the commission’s decision.

After more than three hours of testimony, the council voted 3-2 to deny
Bertone’s appeal. The majority asked city staff to draft a modified
version of the Planning Commission’s permit requirements, reducing
the conditions imposed on Maksoudian, for approval at the next meeting.

"Justice was done," Maksoudian said, while mutters of disappointment
could be heard throughout the council chambers.

The proposed store would sell high-end wine, top-shelf liquor and
micro-brewed beers, as well as caviar, gourmet cheeses, cigars and
other pre-packaged items, Maksoudian said.

Residents and business owners labeled it just another liquor store,
and vilified Maksoudian.

They accused him of shuttering downtown’s San Dimas Wine Shop and
Tasting Room and threatening to shut down other businesses that
did not support his application. Maksoudian denied the accusations,
saying established San Dimas business interests were targeting him
to drive him out.

Heidi Daniels, owner of the wine tasting room, said Maksoudian had made
a systematic effort to tear down her business. He admitted to reviewing
her permits to see if she was operating legally, but denied informing
the county Health Department that she lacked a health permit. The
Health Department closed down the tasting room last week, Daniels said.

"I acknowledge that it was the legal right of the applicant to report
our oversight to the Health Department," Daniels said.

"Unfortunately, he did not stop there."

She accused him of demanding the Chamber of Commerce revoke her
nomination to the board of directors, which Maksoudian confirmed. She
also said he told other business owners that he was going to shut
her down, which Maksoudian denied.

Julie Salazar, resident and board member on the nonprofit Festival
of Arts, said business residents had come to her and complained, too.

She acknowledged asking Bertone to file the appeal that called for
Tuesday’s hearing.

"He (Maksoudian) went down the street, merchant by merchant,
and through veiled threats he told them, `You’re either for me or
against me, and if you’re against me, things have a way of happening,’
" Salazar said.

He cited the wine tasting room as an example of his power.

Councilmen Bertone and John Ebiner opposed granting the liquor permit
to Maksoudian’s market, citing a large number of existing businesses
with liquor licenses in the area.

Councilmen Jeff Templeman and Emmett Badar said they believed they
needed to give Maksoudian a chance before condemning him as so many
residents had.

Mayor Curtis Morris argued that Maksoudian had every legal right to
open according to the city’s own laws, and that the city must grant
the permit.

"I would prefer something other than a liquor store at that location,
but I don’t think we have that discretion," Morris said.

CAMPAIGN TO PROCLAIM R. KOCHARYAN AS "NATION’S ENEMY" IS UNDER WAY

Democratic Azerbaijan
Ïðaâî Âûaîða, Azerbaijan
March 29 2007

"Young Leaders" youth organization is continuing campaign started to
proclaim President of Armenia, Robert Kocharyan, as "nation’s enemy"
at international level.

Structure having taken one more step in this direction applied to
the leaders of diaspora organizations of Azerbaijan in Japan, Canada
and Austria.

Accordingly to chairman of organization, Farid Shakhbazli, appeal
addressed to leaders of diaspora organizations contains facts known
by every Azerbaijani. It also contains request to inform society,
governmental structures of respective countries about campaign.

At the next stage organization is planning to apply to our embassies
and diaspora organizations functioning in other countries to make
European tour during summer with this purpose.

–Boundary_(ID_/tG5uMbc/eUbl2CSUTuryA)–

MYSTERY TOXIC APPEARS IN ARMENIAN FOOD CHAIN
By Arpine Galstian

Environment News Service
March 29 2007

YEREVAN, Armenia, March 28, 2007 (ENS) – Armenian doctors and
scientists are sounding the alarm after discovering traces of toxic
substances in patients, including the mothers of young children. Yet
despite the potential health implications for the Armenian public,
no one can identify the sources of the problem with any certainty.

In tests, doctors have found evidence of chlorides which could lead
to serious medical problems.

One strong suggestion is that the chemicals have found their way into
the food chain from pesticides used in farming.

"Chlorine compounds are present not just in the soil and in water, they
are also detected in a human biology – in sweat, saliva and mother’s
milk," said Albert Hairepetian, director of Armenia’s Institute of
Environmental Hygiene and Prophylactic Toxicology. "This is just
unacceptable."

Organochlorines such as the notorious pesticide DDT were used in
Armenia until they were banned across the Soviet Union in 1972.

The poisoning could have come from a residue of DDT still left in the
ground, but some experts suspect the banned chemical is still being
used illegally by farmers.

A worker with an obsolete pesticide eradication program funded by
the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs finds bags of DDT on an
Armenian farm. (Photo courtesy Milieukontakt) "We carried out research
to find out whether the presence of these toxic substances in humans
was due to the use of DDT in Soviet times," said Lilik Simonian, an
expert with the organization Armenian Women for Health and a Healthy
Environment. "We established that there are fresh traces of DDT as
well as old ones."

Hairepetian and his colleagues studied milk samples from 40 mothers
in maternity wards in Yerevan and the town of Ashtarak, and concluded
that the toxic substances are being passed on to newborn babies.

This information was not shared with those tested. "It’s pointless to
subject people to unnecessary stress, because at the moment there’s
nothing we can change," said Hairepetian.

Simonian’s group came to similar conclusions when it carried out a
parallel study in 2004 in 10 villages in the Ararat region south west
of Yerevan.

Farms in the Ararat valley, which supply markets in the capital
Yerevan, are seen as the main source of these toxic pesticides.

At one Yerevan food market, 37 year old Nora said she heard on the
television recently that food grown in the Ararat valley may be
unhealthy. "Now I ask where vegetables come from before I buy them,"
she said.

But market trader Gayane said her sales have not suffered from the
alarming media reports.

"Sometimes the customers ask where the vegetables come from, but
later on it all gets forgotten," said Gayane, adding that as she is
not buying her produce direct from the farmers she doesn’t know what
it contains.

Of 15 shoppers interviewed at the market, only one of them knew about
the toxic issue.

"We breathe such poisonous air that a little bit more poison or a
little less won’t make a lot of difference," said 55 year old Vardges.

A grocery store in the Armenian capital Yerevan. (Photo courtesy
Geir Engene) Experts say that the toxic substances involved will be
discharged from the body naturally, but that they do some damage to
the nervous and immune systems along the way.

"There is practically nothing doctors can do about this," said Nune
Bakunts of the Anti-Epidemiological Institute for Hygiene, run by
Armenia’s Health Ministry. "It’s the job of those who own the land.

"We have to ban the use of toxic chemicals containing chlorine. They
have been labelled as ‘persistent’ as they are present in the
environment for a long time, and now they have entered the human
organism."

The Ministry of Agriculture insists that banned pesticides – however
cheap and effective they may be – are not on sale in Armenia.

"These [included] the acaricide group which have a sulphur or nitrogen
base," said Garnik Petrosian, head of the ministry’s plant cultivation
department. "You see we do not use trichlorfon, methyl parathion,
DNOC or DDT, which are considered dangerous."

Petrosian said that pesticides are sold only after they had been
approved by a special licensing commission.

His words were echoed by Environment Minister Vardan Aivazian, who
said, "We carry out checks, we question the customs authorities and we
consistently get the same answer – these substances are not imported
into the country."

However, Elizabet Danielian of the World Health Organization’s Yerevan
office suggested that regulation of imports is lax. "Research done by
various nongovernmental organizations shows that there is no record
of all the toxic chemicals imported into the country and that we
don’t know what substances they actually contain," she said.

The environment minister believes the toxic traces may come from
Soviet-era accumulations of pesticides in the soil, but he said it
was also possible that villagers still have stores of old chemicals
left over and may be using them.

Experts from Armenian Women for Health and a Healthy Environment say
they have evidence that this is the case. They say chicken farmers
are using DDT, so toxic substances make their way from the soil into
the eggs.

As an alternative to agriculture as the source of the problem, Aivazian
pointed the finger at two industrial plants as possible suspects –
the Nairit chloroprene rubber factory and the gold extraction plant
in the town of Ararat, which uses cyanide as part of the process. He
also suggested a further possible cause – a toxic waste dump in the
village of Nurabashen outside Yerevan.

The Nairit plant was closed in late Soviet times but has since
reopened. The head of its environmental department said that the
factory is running at low capacity and there is no evidence it is
causing any damage.

{Published in cooperation with the Institute for War and Peace
Reporting, IWPR. Arpine Galstian is the pseudonym of an Armenian
journalist. IWPR’s Armenia editor Seda Muradian contributed to this
report.}

INTERVENTIONS WITHOUT END? AMERICA MUST NOW CHOOSE
By Patrick J. Buchanan

Post Chronicle
March 29 2007

"Whatever happens in Iraq, retreat from the world is not an option,"
wrote Financial Times columnist Philip Stephens last weekend.

Why not? Because a world map highlighting those regions where the
West’s vital resources are located would exactly overlap a map
highlighting those regions where state power is crumbling, disease
and poverty are pandemic and violence rules.

"The implication of this is obvious," says Stephens.

"We can proudly declare ourselves isolationists, resolve to eschew
‘imperialist adventures,’ decry liberal interventionists such
as Britain’s Tony Blair, and damn the neoconservatives around
U.S. President George W. Bush. But, one way or another, the West
cannot avoid getting involved. On this, moral impulse and hard-headed
interests are as one."

We are fated to intervene forever. "The reality of interdependence
of a world shrunk by globalization cannot be wished away."

Put me down as not so sure. For if America is defeated in Iraq,
as we were in Southeast Asia, who will ever again intervene in the
Middle East?

As Stephens writes, Europe’s "eternal role" seems to be that of the
"concerned bystander" to disasters anywhere. And, revisiting the
20th century, the United States did not declare war on the Kaiser’s
ally Turkey in 1917, despite the Armenian massacres. Nor did we did
confront Stalin over genocide in the Ukraine. FDR recognized Stalin’s
regime as it perpetrated that holocaust. Nor did we intervene to halt
Mao’s slaughter and starvation of millions of Chinese.

America looked on during Pol Pot’s genocide. Clinton stood aside
in Rwanda. No one is calling for the 82nd Airborne to be dropped
into Darfur.

No matter, says Stephens, the West cannot abide the emerging new
world disorder. But, again, that begs the question: Who is going
to intervene?

If Iraq and Afghanistan, despite the U.S. investment in blood and
treasure, end in defeats, who does Stephens think is going to send
troops to rescue imperiled "liberal democratic values"?

In his second inaugural, President Bush declared that America’s
national goal is now to "support the growth of democratic movements
and institutions in every nation and culture, with the ultimate goal
of ending tyranny on earth."

Are Americans still willing to support that utopian mission with
blood and billions of dollars?

In a Gallup poll this year that posed the question, "Should the United
States try to change a dictatorship to a democracy when it can, or
should the United States stay out of other countries’ affairs?" —
by near five to one Americans said, "Stay out." Fifteen percent said
"yes" to the Bush commitment. Sixty-nine percent said to stay out of
the internal affairs of other countries.

y/article_21271768.shtml

REFUTATION OF THE ARMENIAN RESOLUTION ARTICLE BY ARTICLE-3
By Prof. Dr. Kemal CÝcek*

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
March 29 2007

(Article 8) The United States National Archives and Record
Administration possesses extensive and thorough documentation on the
Armenian Genocide, especially in its holdings under Record Group 59
of the United States Department of State, files 867.00 and 867.40,
which are open and widely available to the public and interested
institutions.

The documents in the American archives have been classified under
various categories. The collection that is mostly used by the Armenians
as basis for their claims is from the Records of the Department of
State, especially the section classified as "Internal Affairs of Turkey
1910-1929." Most of these documents were collected with the help of
the two Armenian secretaries of Ambassador Henry Morgenthau. Reports
from the Armenian political propaganda offices were also included in
the mentioned reports. When one studies these documents carefully, and
ignores the lines of hearsay cited in the reports, he/she can gather
a wealth of information about the implementation of the relocation
process. For example, we learn from the reports of J. Jackson, the
consul of Aleppo, that the number of Armenians who reached the city
of Aleppo was up to 500,000, that these people were settled in the
houses and camps in and around the city. The consul also gives lists
of arrivals by sex, religion and sect.

(Article 9) Henry Morgenthau, US Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire
from 1913 to 1916, organized and led protests with officials from
many countries, among them the allies of the Ottoman Empire, against
the Armenian Genocide he said occurred.

The use of Morgenthau’s book to support genocide claims is not a
scholarly approach. Heath Lowry, a professor of history at Princeton,
has documented without a shadow of a doubt that the Armenian
secretaries of the ambassador changed the contents of the reports
that came from towns and cities in Anatolia. As a matter of fact,
there are in the archives the original documents of the reports of
the missionaries and a scholarly approach requires the use of this
material. An important detail about Ambassador Morgenthau is that
he had never been to Anatolia and was pro-Armenian throughout his
career. Adm. Bristol, who was his successor, accused him of taking
sides and exaggerating the reports about the massacres. Historians
specialized in American politics share the opinion that Morgenthau
wrote his book in support of the Armenian National Delegation at Paris
in 1919, which had been waging a campaign to persuade the Allies to
carve out independent Armenian state in the eastern part of Anatolia.

(Article 10) Ambassador Morgenthau explicitly described to the United
States Department of State the policy of the government of the Ottoman
Empire as ‘a campaign of race extermination,’ and was instructed on
July 16, 1915, by United States Secretary of State Robert Lansing
that the `Department approves your procedure . . . to stop Armenian
persecution.’

Such statements in Morgenthau’s report show how much he had been
influenced by his interpreter, Arshag Schmavonian, and his secretary,
Hagop Andonian. We must remind the reader that when the ambassador
made these remarks, the relocation of Armenians had not started yet
or had been implemented in a few strategic towns. It should be kept
in mind that the transportation began in many eastern cities after the
1st of July. To name but few, the transportation of Armenians began in
Harput on July 4 and in Yozgat on July 18. So, when Morgenthau wrote
his report in July, it was very early to call the events "a campaign
of race extermination." This report is an indication of the prejudice
of the consul. The quotation in the resolution must be considered in
line with the wordings of the reports of the consular since at it is
impossible for the US Department of State to have knowledge of the
events that took place in the Near East at such an early date.

(Article 11) Senate Concurrent Resolution 12 of Feb. 9, 1916,
resolved that ‘the President of the United States be respectfully
asked to designate a day on which the citizens of this country may
give expression to their sympathy by contributing funds now being
raised for the relief of the Armenians,’ who at the time were enduring
`starvation, disease, and untold suffering.’

In fact, Robert Lansing in his report dated Nov. 21, 1916 to President
Wilson claimed that the Armenian deportation was due to the betrayal
of the Armenians. The resolution in question aimed at initiating a
relief campaign to increase America’s support to the refugees in the
Armenian camps. Thus, it is obvious that resolution of Robert Lansing
did not have a purpose like the resolution worded.

It should be underlined that Muslim villagers were also suffering from
the same conditions. Justin McCarthy in his book ("Death and Exile")
puts the losses of Muslims above 2 million, most of which were caused
by epidemics and starvation. Prof. Hikmet Ozdemir, in his book "March
with Epidemics 1914-1918," stated the victims to the epidemics among
military personal was exactly 401,859.

(Article 12) President Woodrow Wilson concurred and also encouraged
the formation of the organization known as Near East Relief, chartered
by an Act of Congress, which contributed some $116 million from 1915
to 1930 to aid Armenian Genocide survivors, including 132,000 orphans
who became foster children of the American people.

First, the first formation of this organization was in 1916 under the
American Committee for Armenian and Syrian Relief. The US Ambassador
Morgenthau had an important role in the foundation of the committee,
also the most active members of this committee were missionaries and
consul generals in particular.

For example the coordinator at Aleppo was Consul General
J.J. Jackson. In 1919 all relief organizations in the Near East came
under the umbrella of a new organization called Near East Relief. One
of the most important details that were not mentioned in the resolution
is that these relief organizations helped the Armenians with the help,
support and permission of the Ottoman government.

In the beginning of the war the Ottoman Empire rejected aid from
foreign organizations to the Armenians on the grounds that it may have
"encouraged resistance against relocation orders" and that all needs
of refuges were to be met by the state. However when the economic
condition of the state worsened all relief organizations were given
permission to work and full access to the camps. The presence of
relief organizations at camps is self-evident of the fact that the
empire had no intention to implement of race extermination to the
Armenians as often claimed by the Armenian historians.

TO BE CONTINUED

*Head of Black Sea Technical University, Faculty of Arts & Sciences;
Turkish Historical Association, Armenian Desk

–Boundary_(ID_K+8+WmubhAok/xiEF7SO6w)–

GUL: OUR STRATEGIC COOPERATION IS JEOPARDIZED

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
March 29 2007

Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul has said "a single interest
group" has jeopardized the US-Turkish relationship, in an article in
a US newspaper.

"Our strategic partnership spans a wide range of global challenges,
from helping secure Iraq and Afghanistan to preventing the
proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, promoting energy
security and fighting terrorism in our region and beyond," wrote
Gul on Wednesday in an opinion piece in The Washington Times called
"Politicizing the Armenian tragedy."

"Yet, such strategic cooperation is jeopardized by a single interest
group that solely pursues its own political agenda over national
interests. Once again, Armenian lobbying organizations are determined
to politicize the past — and impose their view of history — without
any regard to the overriding and lasting interests of the United
States or Armenia."

Indicating that Turkey has no difficulties in facing its past, he said
all Turkish archives, including the military archives of the period,
are open to the entire international academic community.

However, important Armenian archives are not.

In the article Gul also referred to the slain Turkish-Armenian
journalist Hrant Dink’s wishes: "As Mr. Dink himself said in a
published interview shortly before his tragic death, ‘What I want
from the Armenian diaspora is not to make any demands about accepting
the genocide, neither from Turkey, from the parliament nor any other
governments’."

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

GATES: ARMENIAN ‘GENOCIDE’ RESOLUTION, PKK DAMAGE TIES

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
March 29 2007

Turkish-American relations are strong, but more work is needed to keep
them that way and more has to be done to fight the terrorist Kurdistan
Workers’ Party (PKK), and to prevent passage of the Armenian genocide
resolution pending at the US Congress the US defense secretary said
in Washington, D.C.

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates

"We recognize that every Turkish citizen killed by the PKK is a
setback for success in Iraq and a setback in our relationship with
Turkey," said US Defense Secretary Robert Gates, adding: "The United
States has appointed one of our most distinguished military officers,
Gen. Joseph Ralston — a former NATO commander — as special envoy
for countering the PKK. But we know more needs to be done."

Speaking at the annual conference on US-Turkish relations organized
by various business associations and led by the American-Turkish
Council to promote commercial and cultural relations between the
two countries, Gates indicated that Turkey and the US have a strong
strategic relationship despite some "turbulence."

"It is no secret that the strategic relationship between the United
States and Turkey has undergone some turbulence in recent years.

Even so, our military, economic, political, and personal ties remain
strong. Turkey is, for example, one of the major allied partners on the
Joint Strike Fighter, and 16 US Navy ships called on Turkish ports last
year." In his first public speech after becoming defense secretary,
it was not by accident that he spoke at a Turkish-American event,
Gates said, adding that Turkey and the United States should avoid
damaging attitudes, such as the Armenian genocide resolution pending
at the US Congress and the worsening anti-American stance in Turkey.

The US defense secretary, together with US Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice, had sent a letter to senior members of the US
Congress indicating the damage that Turkish-US ties could suffer if
the pending resolution on Armenian claims of genocide at the hands
of the Ottoman Turks is passed.

The resolution was presented to the US House of Representatives
earlier this year, though the timing of the vote has yet to be
decided. Turkey has warned that passage of the resolution would harm
strategic relations with the United States and undermine cooperation
in key regions across the world; in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere.

‘Both sides should see sensitivities’

Both the US and Turkey should be sensitive toward the issues that
carry importance for them, said retired Gen. James Jones, who was the
NATO supreme allied commander of the United States European Command
from 2003 to 2006.

After receiving the "distinguished defense award" at the ATC meeting
in Washington, Jones praised Turkey’s contribution to NATO forces in
Afghanistan, Kosovo and the Black Sea.

Babacan expects developments

Returning from the ATC meetings in Washington, Turkish Economy Minister
Ali Babacan said in Ýstanbul that he reiterated the Turkish stance
on the Armenian genocide allegations to the US business circles with
which he had contact.

"We told American business circles that if they can do anything about
communicating how Turkey sees the issue to the US Congress and the
administration, those efforts would benefit our bilateral relations."

–Boundary_(ID_36/IXHzyAbXOvr7i6 Qja/w)–

TURKEY CONSIDERS PLACING CROSS ON AKHTAMAR CHURCH

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
March 29 2007

Foreign Ministry spokesman Levent Bilman yesterday confirmed earlier
news reports that the Culture and Tourism Ministry has solicited the
views of the Foreign Ministry on the appropriateness of installing
a cross on the steeple of Akhtamar Church,

An Armenian delegation led by Deputy Acting Minister of Culture Gagik
Gyurjian, visited Akhtamar yesterday.

which will be reopened today as a museum in a ceremony with the
attendance of a delegation from Armenia as well as representatives
of the Armenian diaspora from around the world.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Levent Bilman yesterday confirmed earlier
news reports that the Culture and Tourism Ministry has solicited the
views of the Foreign Ministry on the appropriateness of installing
a cross on the steeple of Akhtamar Church, which will be reopened
today as a museum in a ceremony with the attendance of a delegation
from Armenia as well as representatives of the Armenian diaspora from
around the world.

Earlier this month, Patriarch Mesrob II, the spiritual leader of the
Armenian Orthodox community in Turkey, sent a written request to the
Culture and Tourism Ministry asking that a cross, prepared by the
Armenian Patriarchate itself, be placed on the steeple of Akhtamar
Church. The sentiments in the letter from Patriarch Mesrob were echoed
in a similar letter sent by a group of Armenian intellectuals and
artists to the ministry.

The Culture and Tourism Ministry asked for the Foreign Ministry’s input
on the issue a few days ago, Bilman said in response to a question
at a weekly press briefing. Nevertheless, he noted that the request
was not particularly related to today’s ceremony. "Our ministry is
still studying the issue before offering our viewpoint.

As you know, the restoration of historical buildings is a long-term
process," Bilman said. "By its very nature, the issue will be evaluated
in detail and then the Culture and Tourism Ministry will be notified
of our opinion."

Akhtamar Church has undergone a restoration that was undertaken at
the behest of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoðan and Culture and
Tourism Minister Atilla Koc. While the Culture and Tourism Ministry
intends for the 1,100-year-old church on Lake Van’s Akhtamar Island
to be opened to the public as a "museum," the Armenian community is
pressing for the church to be available for religious services. On
the subject of the placement of the metal cross atop the church,
Patriarch Mesrob referenced past photographs of the historic church as
the reason why the ministry should allow the cross to be placed there.

Earlier this week, the head of the Armenian Orthodox Church,
Karekin II, refused to attend the reopening ceremony because the
church will operate as a museum, not as a church. Also yesterday,
both Mesrob and a delegation from Armenia — with whom Turkey has
no diplomatic relations — traveled to the eastern Anatolian city of
Van for today’s ceremony. The Armenian delegation was led by Deputy
Acting Minister of Culture Gagik Gyurjian. Meanwhile, Bilman also said
that representatives of the Armenian diaspora from Australia, France,
Germany, Lebanon, Slovakia and the United States would participate
in the ceremony.

–Boundary_(ID_H6Y60Pb9bydB225fdQ0z5Q)- –

PARLIAMENTS CAN’T JUDGE HISTORY, SAYS ANKARA

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
March 29 2007

Ankara reiterated yesterday that parliaments are not appropriate places
for making assertions regarding historical facts, such as whether the
killings of Anatolian Armenians during World War I was genocide or not.

While in Washington the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations
was preparing to vote on a resolution condemning the murder of
Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink — calling on Turkey to abolish
a penal code article widely considered to be a barrier standing in
the way of freedom of expression, and asking Turkey to establish
diplomatic, political and economic relations with neighboring Armenia
— Foreign Ministry spokesman Levent Bilman yesterday responded to
questions on the same issue at a weekly press conference.

The committee had delayed a planned vote on the non-binding resolution
three weeks ago, when the ranking member of the committee Richard
Lugar objected to it and wanted the "Armenian genocide" expression to
be taken out of the resolution. The delay had led to disappointment
in the Armenian diaspora while pleasing Ankara.

It is not clear yet whether or not the "Armenian genocide" expression
has been taken out, Bilman said, adding: "We don’t wish for parliaments
to make such decisions. We believe that if there is an issue related
to history, this should be directly researched by historians and a
judgment should be made by historians, not by parliamentarians."

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress