Month: December 2008

The Genie Is out of the Bottle
Turkish Intellectuals to Armenians: We Apologize

By Khatchig Mouradian

ZNet
December, 27 2008

On December 15, around 200 intellectuals in Turkey launched an
Internet petition1 apologizing for the Armenian Genocide. Soon
thereafter, hell broke loose.

Although there is a wide consensus among genocide and Holocaust
scholars that the Armenian Genocide took place, the Turkish state
continues to vehemently deny that a state-sponsored campaign took the
lives of approximately 1.5 million Armenians during World War I. The
Armenians, the official Turkish argument goes, were victims of ethnic
strife, or war and starvation, just like many Muslims living in the
Ottoman Empire. Turkey invests millions of dollars in the United
States to lobby against resolutions recognizing the Armenian Genocide
and to produce denialist literature. Moreover, many Turkish
intellectual who have spoken against the denial have been charged for
"insulting Turkishness" under Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code.

The fact that the text of the apology2 didn’t employ the term
"genocide" but opted for "Great Catastrophe" did not stave off
condemnation. A barrage of criticism and attacks followed almost
immediately. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish
army, many members of the parliament, and practically the entire
Turkish establishment instigated and encouraged a public outcry
against the apology. Threats and insults flew from left and right, and
counter-petitions were launched from Turks demanding the Armenians to
apologize.

Yet despite the wave of condemnation, thousands of ordinary Turks from
all walks of life added their names to the petition. After breaking
the taboo against talking about the Armenian Genocide, Turkish
scholars, writers and journalists had made apologizing for the
Armenian Genocide an issue of public discourse. The petition did not
simply recognize the suffering of the Armenians; rather, it went
beyond and offered an apology, which was crucial for the initiators of
the campaign. "I think two words moved the people: Ozur Dileriz (`We
apologize’)," said the drafter of the petition, Prof. Baskin Oran when
I asked him about the wording of the petition. "These are the very two
words that kept thousands of Turks from signing it. But they were
imperative. I don’t feel responsible for the butchery done by the
Ittihadists [the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), the organizers
of the Genocide] but we had to say these words. There is something
called a `collective conscience,’" he added.

Some criticized the text because it avoided using the term "genocide."
The former head of the Istanbul branch of the Human Rights
Association, lawyer Eren Keskin, said, "I do not accept compromise
when it comes to the use of the term genocide. Even though the word
genocide was not used in the petition, I signed it, because I believe
any change in a country or in a system can take place if there is an
`internal’ demand. I believe that the Republic of Turkey is a
continuation of the Ittihadist tradition – the tradition of the
perpetrators of the Genocide. The majority of the founding members of
the Turkish Republic, including the leaders, were members of the CUP."
An apology is an obligation, Keskin told me. "Just as the Republic of
Turkey took over the financial obligations of the Ottomans under the
Lausanne Treaty, it should take over the obligation to apologize for
the Genocide. I believe it is first and foremost the obligation of the
Republic of Turkey to apologize. The individuals who internalize the
official ideology, who do not question it, who ignore the fact that a
genocide has been committed and who give their approval by remaining
silent also owe an apology to Armenians," she said. "I signed the
statement because I think this is an initiative that will normalize,
in the eyes of the Turkish public, the concept of and the obligation
to apologize to Armenians."

Amberin Zaman, Turkey’s correspondent for The Economist and a
columnist for the Turkish newspaper Taraf, said that regardless of the
criticism about the wording, the petition initiative was a turning
point. "When we look back at this campaign several years from now, I
think there can be no doubt that it will be viewed as a turning point
– not just for Armenian-Turkish reconciliation, but more importantly
in terms of getting modern Turkey to come to terms with one of the
darkest chapters of its recent past," she said. "Whether people agree,
condemn or quibble with the wording of the text, in the end [the
petition] has unleashed an unprecedented debate about the fate of the
Ottoman Armenians. It has also sent a very strong signal that
rapprochement efforts between our mutual governments [Armenia and
Turkey] is far surpassed by the very real desire at a societal level
to heal the wounds and move on," she added. "The genie is now well and
truly out of the bottle."

Poet Ron Margulies considers the petition a first step. "It does
something which should have been done decades ago and tells Armenians
that many Turks share and understand their pain, sorrow and
grief. This apology and expression of empathy is the first step
without which nothing else can follow," he said. "But there is also a
second reason which, for me, is as important as the first, and it has
to do with Turkish politics rather than the Armenian issue in
particular. In recent years, many unmentionables have become
mentionable and are frequently mentioned in Turkey. These include the
existence and rights of the Kurds, the issue of the other minorities,
the role of the armed forces in the political life of the country, the
competence of the armed forces and of the chiefs of staff, the issue
of Islam, the right to wear a headscarf in public offices, etc. Once
out of the bottle, these genies refuse to go back in. And they all
deal serious blows to Kemalism, to nationalism, to the official
ideology of the Turkish state. This petition, and the fact that 8,000
people signed it within the first day-and-a-half, is another such
blow. We must continue raining blows on the edifice of the Kemalist
state," he added.

For these reasons, Margulies notes, the wording of the petition was
not so important to him. "Every text can be improved upon. But that is
not the point. The petition has already had a phenomenal impact –
because of its content and its spirit, not because of the specific
wording," he explained.

When I asked why she signed the petition, author and journalist Ece
Temelkuran spoke about the massacres, but more importantly, about the
dispossession. "Since writing my book [The Deep Mountain], the
conflict, which was already profoundly emotional for most of us after
[Turkish-Armenian journalist] Hrant Dink’s death, became a personal
issue to me. The petition was a way of telling my Armenian friends
that I share their long lasting pain and that I understand. As far as
I observed among the Armenians in the Diaspora and in Armenia, the
deepest and the most vital pain is the homelessness they feel. Besides
the pain of being massacred, Armenians today, all over the world, feel
homeless. With the petition, I just wanted to tell the Armenians that
people still living in Anatolia didn’t forget what happened and that
they still feel the absence of their Armenian brothers and sisters."

1
2 The apology read: "My conscience does not accept the insensitivity
showed to and the denial of the Great Catastrophe that the Ottoman
Armenians were subjected to in 1915. I reject this injustice and for
my share, I empathize with the feelings and pain of my Armenian
brothers and sisters. I apologize to them."

————————————- —————————
From: Z Net – The Spirit Of Resistance Lives
URL: 064

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Converse Bank to overcome difficulties expected in 2009

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 26, NOYAN TAPAN. The forecasts of experts that the
Armenian banks will have difficulties with repayment of credits in the
spring of 2009 are conditioned by the possible impact of the global
economic crisis on Armenia in the first quarter of next year, the CEO
of Converse Bank Ararat Ghukasian said at the December 26 press
conference.

In his words, Converse Bank has enough resources so as not to call its
operation into question in case of any problems related to repayment of
credits.

A. Ghukasian said that so far he sees "no serious precondition for some
deterioration in March". He linked the bank’s development in 2009 to an
increase in the range and volume of its services and an expansion of
the network of its branches. "In my opinion, next year will be a
difficult one but at the same time, it will be possible to expand,
there is much to be done in 2009. We are well disposed," he noted,
explaining that the possible difficulties will be related to the impact
of the global economic crisis on Armenia but these difficulties will be
surmountable.

In response to the question about whether there is an outflow of
deposits at Converse Bank, he replied that the amount of deposits with
the bank has grown, there has also been an increase of money on the
accounts of legal entities, the only change is a decline in the terms
of deposits. According to A. Ghuksian, mortgage crediting has not
decreased at the bank either. He explained the decline in consumer
crediting, in particular, mortgage crediting in the past two-three
months by the expectations related to a fall in real estate and
commodity prices.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Converse Bank plans to increase crediting of small and medium enterprises

YE REVAN, DECEMBER 26, NOYAN TAPAN. 2008 was a successful year for
Converse Bank that has increased the number of its branches in Armenian
marzes (provinces) to 25, that of cash machines – to 41 against 29 in
early 2008, while its pre-tax profit will amount to about 2.5 billion
drams (8.1 mln USD) at the end of 2008, thus exceeding the programmed
index, the CEO of Converse Bank Ararat Ghukasian stated at the December
26 press conference.

According to him, the amount of deposits with the bank made nearly 23
bln drams as of November 30 – against 16 bln drams in early 2008. As of
the indicated date, the bank’s credit investments grew by 36% from
early 2008 and made 42 bln drams, with the crediting of small and
medium enterprises growing by 17% to 5.4 bln drams, consumer crediting
growing by 22% to 7.4 bln drams, mortgage crediting – by more than 80%
to 4.5 bln drams, and agricultural crediting growing by 130% to over a
billion drams. The credit repayment index is high. Converse Bank has a
long-term goal of increasing the crediting of SMEs not only with EBRD’s
10 million dollars but also with its own funds. The bank has raised
interest rates of its credits by 1-1.5%, but their repayment period has
also been increased up to 4 years.

Responding to NT correspondent’s question, he did not exclude the
possibility of crediting Armenian high-tech enterprises by Converse
Bank based on evaluation of their nonmaterial assets, in particular,
intellectual property. In his opinion, the problem is in the
availability of assets-evaluating organizations.

Presenting the results of the first placement of Converse Bank’s
nominal, medium-term, coupon bonds of 300 million drams, the Deputy CEO
Tigran Davtian said that the placement of these bonds with a 3-year
redemption period and a 10.64% annual yield was done in 10 days instead
of the envisaged period of 30 days. Bonds were acquired by 29 natural
and juridical persons. It is envisaged placing the remaining bonds of
1.2 billion drams in 2009.

Russia to continue supplying gas to Armenia

YEREVA N, DECEMBER 26, NOYAN TAPAN. Armenia has no problem with
receiving gas from Russia, and the gas supply from Russia to Armenia
will continue, the director-gerenal and chairman of the Board of
ArmRusgazprom CJSC Karen Karapetian stated on December 26.

To recap, the gas pipeline from Russia to Armenia passes through the
territory of Georgia, and the gas supply of Armenia will continue,
despite the fact that, according to K. Karapetian, Russia now does not
supply gas to Georgia.

Commission on Coordination of Armenia’s Cooperation with EU holds
regular sitting

YEREVA N, DECEMBER 27, NOYAN TAPAN. The regular sitting of the
Commission on Coordination of Armenia’s Cooperation with the European
Union on December 26 was conducted by the commission chairman, prime
minister of the RA Tigran Sargsyan. The commission took notice of the
presented information about the implementation of Armenia-EU Action
Plan under the European Neighborhood Policy and the proposals and
measures for 2009, the programs implemented under the European
Neighborhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI), and the process of
reforms in the vocational and specialized secondary education, as well
as legal sectors.

The ministries and departments were instructed to submit the list of
measures to be taken by them for ensuring the implementation of
Armenia-EU Action Plan under the European Neighorhood Policy and their
financial assessment by January 15, 2009. They also received
instructions to submit the cooperation-related priority measures to be
taken by the ministries and departments within the framework of the
programs under ENPI by February 1, 2009. These priorities will be
presented at the next sitting of the commission on January 17, 2009.

Prime Minister of Armenia condoles with his Ukrainian counterpart

armradio.am
27.12.2008 12:26

The Prime Minister of Armenia, Tigran Sargsyan, extended condolences to
Ukraine’s Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko on the tragic events in
Evpatoria. The message states:

`On behalf of the Government of Armenia and myself I extend condolences
on the numerous human losses as a result of the blast in a multistory
building.

At this tragic moment for the people of Ukraine I extend my sincere
condolences and mourn with you.’

President Sargsyan awards honorary titles and medals

armradio.am
27.12.2008 13:57

President Serzh Sargsyan today signed a decree on awarding Anania
Shirakatsi Medals to Deputy Minister of Labot and Social Affairs Artem
Asatryan, member of the Public Services Regulatory Commission Samvel
Arabajyan, Deputy Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Iosif Isayan
and Deputy Minister of Finance Suren Karayan for productive activity on
the field of state governance.

According to another prsesidetial decree, absolute world champion
Vakhtang Darchinyan has been awarded a Movses Khorenatsi Medal for
brilliant victories in boxing.

Weightlifting coach Vahan Bichakhchyan and the Dean of the Department
of Sport Health of the State Physical Culture Institute of Armenia
Anahit Harutyuntan were granted the title of the Honoured Master of
Sports.

Will PACE apply sanctions?
27.12.2008 14:11

Lena Badeyan
"Radiolur"

Only one question has been discussed in Armenia after the sitting of
the Monitoring Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council
of Europe: will Armenia be punished or not? Former head of the Armenian
delegation to PACE Tigran Torosyan and current member of the delegation
consider that this approach is incorrect. In their opinion, the one who
has a problem should think about the ways to solve those issues.
Besides, in the current situation it’s not correct to condemn the
members of the delegation for bad work.

Serious events are expected in Armenia in January, former head of the
Armenian delegation Tigran Torosyan considers. He notes that the limit
of precautions has been exhausted. `You may remember that at the
beginning the Parliamentary Assembly said: we will apply sanctions if
you fail to take certain steps before the January session. Later they
extended the time. In the current draft resolution there are no
conditions. It simply states that if the problems are not solved before
the January session, the Armenian delegation will be deprived of voting
right.’

No one should be blamed for the current situation, Raffi Hovhannisyan
notes. We simply need to take steps to solve the existing problems.

Raffi Hovhannisyan, who boycotts the plenary sittings of the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, continues=2
0
participating in the activity of all PACE Committees. He participated
in the last sitting of the Monitoring Committee. This time the Armenian
delegation faced great difficulties with reaching certain concessions
with Europeans, Raffi Hovhannisyan recalls.

`Their main target will be the issue of releasing the prisoners. This
is the trigger and it is in the hands of the authorities,’ Raffi
Hovhannisyan said.

Broken promises and an unfolding tragedy

Armenians may find that by April, Time?s ‘Person of the Year’, Obama,
will change his mind on the usage of the word ‘genocide’

Independent.ie WebSearch By robert fisk
Saturday December 27 2008

If reporting is, as I suspect, a record of mankind’s folly, then the
end of 2008 is proving my point. Let’s kick off with the man who is not
going to change the Middle East — Barack Obama — who last week, with
predictably, became ‘Time’s’ "person of the year". But buried in a long
and immensely tedious interview inside the magazine, Obama devotes just
one sentence to the Arab-Israeli conflict: "And seeing if we can build
on some of the progress, at least in conversation, that’s been made
around the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will be a priority."

"Building on progress?" What progress? On the verge of another civil
war between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority, with Benjamin
Netanyahu a contender for Israeli prime minister, with Israel’s
monstrous wall and its Jewish colonies still taking more Arab land, and
Palestinians still firing rockets at Sderot, and Obama thinks there’s
"progress" to build on?

I suspect this nonsensical language comes from the mental mists of his
future Secretary of State. "At least in conversation" is pure Hillary
Clinton — its meaning totally eludes me — and the giveaway phrase
about progress being made "around" the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is
even weirder. Of course, if Obama had talked about an end to Jewish
settlement building on Arab land, relations with Hamas as well as the
Palestinian Authority, justice for both sides in the conflict, along
with security for Palestinians as well as Israelis, then he might
actually effect a little change.

An interesting test of Obama’s gumption is going to come scarcely three
months after his inauguration when he will have a little promise to
honour. Yup, it’s that dratted April 24 commemoration of the Armenian
genocide when Armenians remember the 1.5 million of their murdered
countrymen on the anniversary of the day in 1915 when the first
Armenian professors, artists and others were taken off for execution.

Bill Clinton promised Armenians he’d call it a "genocide" if they
helped to elect him. George Bush did the same. So did Obama. The first
two broke their word and resorted to "tragedy" rather than "genocide"
once they’d got the votes, because they were frightened of all those
bellowing Turkish generals, not to mention — in Bush’s case — the US
military supply routes through Turkey, the "roads and so ," as Robert
Gates called them, in one of history’s more gripping ironies — these
being the same "roads and so on" upon which the Armenians were sent on
their death marches in 1915.

So I bet you that Obama is going to find that "genocide" is "tragedy"
by April 24.

I browsed through Turkish Airlines’ in-flight magazine while cruising
into Istanbul earlier this month and found an article on the historical
Turkish region of Harput.

"Asia’s natural garden", "a popular holiday resort", the article calls
Harput. And you have to shake your head to remember that Harput was the
centre of the Christian Armenian genocide, the city from which Leslie
Davis, the brave American consul in Harput, sent back his eyewitness
dispatches of the thousands of butchered Armenians. But I guess that
all would spoil the "natural garden" effect. It’s a bit like inviting
tourists to the Polish town of Oswiecim — without mentioning that its
German name is Auschwitz.

But these days, we can all rewrite history. Take Nicolas Sarkozy, who
not only toadies up to Bashar al-Assad of Syria but is now buttering up
awful Algerian head of state Abdelaziz Bouteflika who’s just been
"modifying" the Algerian constitution to give himself a third term in
office. There was no parliamentary debate, just a show of hands — 500
out of 529 — and what was Sarko’s response? "Better Bouteflika than
the Taliban!" Not least when former Algerian army officers revealed
undercover soldiers as well as the Algerian Islamists (Sarko’s
"Taliban") were involved in the brutal village massacres of the 1990s.

Talking of "undercover", I was amazed to learn of the training system
adopted by the Met lads who put Jean Charles de Menezes to death on the
Tube. According to former police commander Brian Paddick, the Met’s
secret rules for "dealing" with suicide bombers were drawn up "with the
help of Israeli experts". What? Who were these so-called "experts"
advising British policemen how to shoot civilians on the streets of
London? The same men who assassinate wanted Palestinians in the West
Bank and Gaza?

Not that our brave peace envoy, Lord Blair, would have much to say
about it. He’s the man, remember, whose only proposed trip to Gaza was
called off when yet more "Israeli experts" advised him that his life
might be in danger. Anyway, he’d still rather be president of Europe,
something Sarko wants to award him. That, I suppose, is why Blair wrote
such a fawning article in the same issue of ‘Time’ which made Obama
"person" of the year. "There are times when Nicolas Sarkozy resembles a
force of nature," Blair grovels. will Blair now tell us he’s going to
be involved in those "conversations" with Obama to "build on some of
the progress" in the Middle East?

The day Fox News calledIn 2003,
UTN1 became poster boys for the so-called liberation of Iraq: a
home-grown boy band who loved Westlife, wore Converse and sang in
English. So what happened next?

Stuart Jeffries
The Guardian,
Saturday 27 December 2008

One day shortly after the invasion of Iraq in 2003, Hassan Ali answered
the door to his family home in Baghdad. Some strange men were standing
on the doorstep. "I’d never seen anything like these huge armed men in
flak jackets. They were scary. My father was worried they were going to
kill us." The men turned out to be bodyguards for a Fox News crew, come
to interview Ali and the other four members of his band UTN1.

Fox News weren’t the first or last western journalists to visit. During
2003, wave after wave of advancing media troops from Britain and the US
fell on UTN1, each one withdrawing in triumph with the same putatively
sweet story. In the middle of the unremitting bleakness of war, here
was comforting, upbeat news about five cute guys who, inspired by
Boyzone and Westlife, had firmed their abs, modulated their harmonies
and followed a career path comprehensible to us in the west: they had
formed a boy band.

It was an irresistible story. UTN1 wore singlets – like Take That! They
pouted broodingly for the cameras – like Ronan Keating! They sang in
English and wore Converse! They crooned about peace, rather than
detonating themselves at army checkpoints!

Better yet, somehow these plucky guys had managed to imbibe western
popular culture (meaning the Spice Girls, Boys to Men and, just
possibly, Blue). They were a multicultural melange of Muslims and
Christians, Sunnis and Shias – thus pointing the way to the fine
democratic future that Bush and Blair said Iraq would enjoy as soon as
the west had won. In a marvellous piece of cultural imperialism, the
west wrote up these five men – Shant Garabedian (30), Akhlad Raof (28),
Artin Haroutiounian (31), Hassan Ali (26) and Nadeem Hamid (26) – as
Iraq’s only boy band, and a symbol of the country’s bright post-war
future.

The story suggested Iraqis wanted to be like us; and, more, that our
invasion was to liberate people like us from people – devils, really –
who weren’t.

Iraqi culture thus apparently consisted of citadels of western-facing
music and art in an otherwise toxic wasteland. Iraq had one boy band.
It also had just one heavy metal band, we learned, called Acrassicauda,
who had a similar tale of battling Saddam’s censorship to hear the
inspirational tones of Metallica and Napalm Death. If only western
journalists had dug deeper, they might have found Eminem’s spiritual
brother in Mosul, Iraq’s answer to Tracey Emin in Basra and an
underground network of Harry Potter nuts extending from Kurdistan to
the Gulf.

Only one problem with UTN1’s story as it appeared in the west. It
wasn’t true. "We weren’t a boy band," says Hassan, who is UTN1’s
guitarist and singer. "That was just a handle for the western media."

"We formed just before the millennium," recalls keyboardist
Haroutiounian. "We wanted to do something unique in the Arab-speaking
world: writing and performing our own songs in English." Their
ambitions were written into the band’s name: UTN1 stands for Unknown to
No One. "We were very influenced by Boyzone and Westlife. I was
fascinated by the Spice Girls."

Why, for the love of Mel C, why? " We liked the harmonies of singing
together in these groups. Each singer had a different line," says
Garabedian. "In Arabic music there is no such harmonising group
singing; it’s usually just one vocalist. We really wanted to do what
they did, but with our twist. Yes, we were inspired by western pop
music, but that was never all we were."

How did UTN1 feel about being made into poster boys for the liberation
of Iraq? "The media interest was an opportunity for us at the precise
moment when there were no other opportunities for us as musicians and
the future for musicians in Baghdad looked – as it has indeed proved to
be – very bleak," says Hamid. "We didn’t see ourselves as poster boys:
we saw ourselves as musicians struggling to carry on our careers in
very difficult circumstances."

But the band had previous in pursuing dubious-seeming opportunities.
They once wrote a song celebrating Saddam Hussein’s birthday; it was
commissioned by a radio station run by his son Uday. It’s not entirely
clear to me whether they were exploiting or exploited. "Let me explain
how that happened," says Artin Haroutiounian with a grin. "We wanted to
be the next U2, and we thought it was possible if we sang in English."
So the band wrote a love song that they wanted broadcast on the Voice
of Youth, an English-language radio station in Baghdad.

VoY agreed to play the song, but on one condition: UTN1 would have to
write another commemorating the birthday of Saddam.

"We wrote the song in three days!" says Raof. All five chuckle over
this memory as if it were just one of those crazy things one has to do
in showbiz, like Take That wearing nipple-gaping tops to titillate
pre-pubescent girls in the early 1990s. Didn’t you have qualms? "We
wanted our record played," says Haroutiounian, staring me down. Their
song included the following lines: "All bells let them ring/ As we all
will sing/ Long live dear Saddam." "They told us we had to use the word
‘Saddam’. Otherwise we probably wouldn’t," Haroutiounian says. VoY
played it incessantly, but only spun their love song once.

UTN1 went on to make an album of songs in English, funded by Alan’s
Melody, the only shop selling imported CDs in the Iraqi capital. Ali
says: "In Saddam’s Iraq there was no satellite TV, no internet, not
much access to the outside world, so [the shop’s] influence was vital."

They sent copies of their CD to record companies in London, says
Haroutiounian. "It is a capital of the musical world and we wanted to
go there." But it wasn’t to be. It was now late 2003 and the dictator
whose birthday UTN1 had been obliged to celebrate in song had been
swept from power and their homeland was being razed. "None of us had
passports and getting new ones in wartime was impossible. It would have
taken a year and a half."

As a result, the boys contemplated giving up music. Handily, while
working for an import-export company, Garabedian met an American
businessman called Larry Underwood whose Laudes Corporation was
operating in post-Saddam Iraq. After hearing the CD, Underwood, who saw
commercial possibilities of Iraq’s first ever international pop group,
decided to invest in them and so arranged for his new charges to go to
Jordan. Once in Amman, the members of UTN1 successfully applied for a
UK visa at the British embassy. As a result, they spent seven months in
London in 2005 and 2006, learning to dance, sing and finesse the
buffing of their six packs in the manner deemed requisite by UK style
gurus. "It is a great city and we want to go back there sometime," says
Haroutiounian. "Yes," agrees Raof, "we never did go on the London Eye."

Seemingly UTN1, funded by an American and groomed by Brits, was being
moulded to became even more western than before. Ali, who not only
plays guitar, but also oud on some UTN1 tracks, denies this: "Yes, we
perfected that kind of boy-band style, but our Iraqi identity is
clearly in the music." The band also uses the joza, a violin-like
instrument which Hassan describes as having "its own special scale of
sadness". You can hear it on their first single called While We Can. In
the song’s video (available on YouTube), children carry wooden guns
which they symbolically drop at the end. "It is about stopping war,"
says Haroutiounian. "That is what we believe in."

Once their UK visas ran out, UTN1 settled in Beirut. Why the Lebanese
capital? "It is impossible to make music in Baghdad. We are musicians,
so we are in Beirut," says Hamid. "If we were freedom fighters, we
would be in Baghdad."

Only one problem: they moved to Beirut in 2006, shortly before the
Israeli-Lebanon war broke out. "War seems to follow us," says
Haroutiounian. UTN1 withdrew to Amman, returning to Beirut only after
hostilities ceased.

They remain exiles in Lebanon. Do you want to go home? "We go back to
Baghdad occasionally," says Hamid, "and we would like to play a concert
there, but it is not clear whether that would be too risky. As for
living there – yes, perhaps, sometime, though who knows when?"

What do your families make of your chosen careers? "When we started
some of them thought it was crazy for us to try to make our livelihoods
in music. It just didn’t happen. But now we’re successful, we hear less
of this," says Ali. All five prefer not to discuss their families who
still live in Baghdad.

"One day," says Raof, "we hope to return to Baghdad. We want to set up
a music school there, or a music store, or do something for our
homeland. Iraq has too little music these days. We have been away for
too long and we have so much to give back."

We’re sitting in the new offices of UTN1’s management company in
central Beirut. From the fourth floor window one can see not just the
Mediterranean, but also gridlock reportedly caused by a Hezbollah
rally. Outside a muezzin is vying with the jackhammers and construction
cranes as he summons the faithful to prayer at the Al-Omari Mosque.
Beirut’s city centre is being rebuilt. Only in Shanghai have I been
more overwhelmed by the omnipresent sound of construction. This, I say,
to UTN1, is what Baghdad will sound like in a happier time. All five
giggle obligingly but none comments.

Instead, they tell me about their latest career move. Last year they
decided to start singing in Arabic, recording a single called Jamila,
which means beautiful. "It was number one across the Middle East," says
Haroutiounian proudly. Why was it a success? "Because we sang Arabic
but with western-style harmonies. There is nothing like it in the
world. It blew people’s minds." It did too: if you consult UTN1’s
MySpace page, you’ll find encomia from around the world.

Hassan Ali tells me they have already recorded an album of six English
and six Arabic songs and their management is waiting for the right time
to release it. "Our hope is to heal the wounds between east and west,
to spread a message of reconciliation."

Are you a political band? All five shake their heads. "We always wanted
to show that something good can come out of Iraq," says Haroutiounian.
"We are three Muslims and two Christians. We show how things are
changing in Iraq." I notice that on the band’s MySpace page, Nadeem
cites Robert Fisk’s The Great War for Civilisation: the Conquest of the
Middle East as one of his favourite books. "I will remove that
reference. I am not sure that I trust his politics, having now finished
the book."

Are you happy the British are leaving? "We’re glad that the withdrawal
shows that Iraqi police and soldiers can now look after their own
country," says Hamid.

What would you be doing if you weren’t successful in music? "I have a
qualification in agriculture so I would be a farmer," says Garabedian.
"I have a degree in chemistry, so I would be working for a
corporation," says Ali. "I would be a porn star," says Haroutiounian
who, I think, isn’t taking my question seriously. "I would be his
assistant," says Raof. "I studied biology," says Hamid, "but I don’t
see myself in a lab coat."

It’s all smiles until Hamid adds: "Actually your question is
impossible. None of us can imagine what we would have done. It’s hard
enough to know what you’ll be doing in two weeks’ time if you’re an
Iraqi. It’s too dangerous to imagine the future. Hassan couldn’t have
been an industrial chemist because for him to step outside his house in
Baghdad would have been suicide. Shant couldn’t farm – it would have
been too dangerous. And Art is Armenian so he would have been abducted
by some sect. Normal dreams weren’t available to us."