Month: November 2009

Turks’ eastern turn

Financial Times, UK
Nov 25 2009

There will be plenty to discuss at Thursday’s meeting in Istanbul of
European Union foreign ministers with their Turkish counterpart: not
just Turkey’s stalled accession talks but the ostensible turn
eastwards of Ankara’s foreign policy.

There are those who perceive a contradiction in EU candidate and Nato
member Turkey’s facing east and west at the same time. The
neo-Islamist government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan is not among them –
and it may have a point.

To begin with, Turkey has a clear interest in fostering stability in
its near east and south-east. So, for that matter, does the EU.

To be clear, the expansion of Turkish influence, including with Syria
and Iran, is not just about stability. Turkey is reasserting itself as
a regional power, and trying to demonstrate it has alternatives to the
EU, where France, Germany and Austria seem intent on slamming the door
in its face.

If this demonstration highlights the strategic value of having Turkey
inside the union, the contrasting feebleness of the EU’s efforts in
the region – Europe’s turbulent backyard – and the creative use of
`soft power’ in action, then it could be salutary and worthwhile.

Turkey has not just mended fences with Syria, it has flattened them:
abolishing visa restrictions. In 1996 Ankara was suspected of planting
bombs in Damascus, for harbouring Kurdish separatists. It has also
embraced post-war Iraq, which it had threatened to invade, also over
the perceived threat from the Kurds. It has started to address the
rift with Armenia, over the mass-murders of Armenians in the dying
years of the Ottoman empire, and started devising the first real
policy of reconciliation with its own Kurdish minority.

It has also fallen out with Israel over Gaza, and cosied up to Iran,
where Mr Erdogan said the west is treating the Islamic Republic’s
nuclear programme `unfairly’.

Yet, the turn east – seen by some as neo-Ottoman – is driven by
interests more than ideology. Trade with the Middle East is fast
expanding to take up the slack of the EU downturn, while Turkey wants
to become a hub for energy from the Caspian and Egypt.

Overall, the EU should be positive about this. Turkey is the most
successful country in the region, with a big foot in Europe. The
ability of its secular republic to accommodate (so far) a governing
party with Islamist roots, and simultaneously carry out a
constitutional revolution, mesmerises the most dynamic sectors of Arab
society. That is surely an asset for Europe, and for the broader
Middle East.

Poste d GMT 11-29-2009 18:46:43

Turkish Military Planned Attacks on Christians

Senior Turkish military officers had made extensive plans to terrorize
non-Muslims in Turkey. In the large Ergenekon1 scandal recently a
well-planned terrorist operation was revealed. The operation which is
called "Kafes Operasyonu Eylem Plani", in English meaning "the
execution of the cage – operation" was to eliminate the remaining
small group of Christians living in Turkey today.

The plan was revealed when police arrested Levent Bektas, a major in
the Turkish army. The evidence seized reveals more than 27 officers
and senior military officers involved in the conspiracy against
Christians.

In order to identify key persons among the Christians and then kill
them, this terrorist network has broken into a Greek church
congregation compound and stolen computers. The purpose of this was to
access the congregation’s member lists.

"When our office was emptied of computers and files, church members
were very concerned. Since the murder of the monk Santoro, the
journalist Hrant Dink and the brutal murder of three publishing
workers in Malatya, Christians are living in constant fear," said
lawyer Kezban Hatemi, representing the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate in
Istanbul.

On November 28, 2007, the Syriac Orthodox monk Daniel Savci in
Turabdin was kidnapped in southeastern Turkey. The monk resides in the
St. Gabriel monastery, which Turkish authorities are trying to
confiscate. A few days later the monk was found beaten. Shortly after,
the police arrested some village guards, a state-sanctioned militia
subordinate to the Turkish army, for the kidnapping. Many people with
insight into the situation interpret the kidnapping as a direct threat
to the remaining Assyrians in Turabdin.

Christians were attacked across the country. To implement the
strategic attacks, the country"s Christian population was mapped out
and 939 key persons from different parts of the country were
identified as potential targets.

The fully detailed operation consists of four phases: preparation,
spreading propaganda, shape opinion and execute.

The newspaper Taraf, which has been able to access the information,
has published several articles about this. On its website
it is described in detail how the plan to attack the
Christians was to be implemented.

Below are some points that constitute the plan"s main lines.

* Christians are mapped
* Famous and wealthy Christian businessmen kidnapped
* Systematic fires and looting of Christian businesses
* The Armenian newspaper AGOS be subjected to several explosions
* Murder patrols executing attacks against selected individuals
* Christian cemeteries subjected to explosions
* Churches and institutions belonging to Christians subjected to explosions
* Put the blame on imaginary militant organizations

>From the late 1980s to the 2000s, thousands of people have been
killed, among them there were also many Christians. The perpetrators
of the killings have never been found. But officially they have been
systematically identified as an organization named "Hizbullah".

A military arsenal provides the network with weapons. The police have,
after following the tracks, at a house search in Poyrazköy outside
Istanbul found a weapon cache to be used in the attacks. Among the
weapons were several items, from C4 explosives to Uzi firearms and
other sophisticated weapons.

According to the newspaper Taraf, major Eren Günay has been arrested
for having provided the attackers with arms and ammunition. According
to the newspaper there are indications that the plan is sanctioned by
the highest Turkish military leadership.

For a long time, Christians houses, property and businesses in the
Christian areas of the cities of Istanbul and Izmir have been labeled,
in order to identify them. MP Sebah Tuncel notified the Turkish
government with a written question last summer. The question addressed
the Ministry of Interior and was about what the government intends to
do against the labeling of Christian properties and about Christians
being identified. Even today, the government has not replied to this
question yet.

As long as the attacks were aimed at Christians and other minority
groups, the Turkish government acted indifferently. Not until the
ruling government party AKP themselves felt threatened they began to
act. In recent years the relationship between the government and the
military has been strained and on several occasions the military has
made attempts to make a coup d"état, without succeeding fully.

By Dikran Ego

1 Ergenekon is a terrorist network that consists of many different
elements, from high military officers to teachers and journalists,
there are many professional groups represented in the network. This
network is also called the "deep state" in Turkey.

© 2009, Assyrian International News Agency. All Rights Reserved. Terms of Use.

THE STATEMENT OF NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF NAGORNO-KARABAKH REPUBLIC

Azat Artsakh Newspaper NKR
Published on November 27, 2009

The last developments noticing in the process of Karabakh settlement
testify about obvious manifestations of not construction position of
Azerbaijan. By using various preaching means, azeri authorities
cherish illusions about their displeasure from continuous discussions
by international mediation, whereas in real policy this country delays
the time unhiddenly with a view to change the region’s army political
balance in its favour by means of unleashing new war against Artsakh
in future. In this situation Artsakh’s Parliament defines the public
statements of high-ranking officials of Azerbaijan as a position of
hopeless negotiating side, which is fraught with perspective of losing
Karabakhian side’s confidence against peace regulation. The
authorities of Nagorno-Karabakh Republic have warned many times
international organizations about warlike foreign policy of azeri
authorities, which contradicts fully the assumed obligations of this
country entering into international organizations. All this is
accompanied by consistent preaching about tension noticing as if in
the contact line of NKR and Azeri armed forces, which speaks about
intentions of official Baku of bringing down the negotiating process
and breaking the regional stability. NKR National Assembly draws the
attention of OSCE MG Co-chairs, negotiator countries’ parliaments,
parliamentary congresses of OSCE and Europe’s Council,
interparliamentary congress of CIC on danger of the above-mentioned
tendencies. For substituting the essence of Karabakh conflict and
negotiations by Azerbaijan, the steps cast doubt on the effenciency of
all the efforts made for the purpose of establishing peace and safety
by international community in the region of South Caucasus.
Proceeding from the above-mentioned, National Assembly of
Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, taking account of people’s will of Artsakh,
preserves for itself the right of acting by adequate initiatives.
National Assembly suggests the NKR Ministry of Foreign Affairs to
inform about such Statement at the coming session of OCSE Secretaries
Council in Athens. November 25,2009, t.Stepanakert

SERGE SARGSYAN ABOUT TURKEY AND NKR

Lragir.am
28/11/09

Today, addressing the congress of the Republican Party, Serge Sargsyan
dwelt on the Armenian and Turkish relations as well as on the Karabakh
issue. He said that if Turkey protracts the ratification of the
protocols, Armenia will immediately take up measures in accordance
with the international rights. He agreed with the opinion that Turkey
has a particular diplomacy. And we do not have experience of
communicating with Turkey. I assure you we learn very quickly, said
Serge Sargsyan.

Dwelling on the Karabakh issue, Serge Sargsyan said no violation will
be allowed towards Karabakh and in such a case they will get the
roughest response. As to the settlement, all the questions are to be
settled in one package, said Serge Sargsyan.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

TIME TO CHANGE AND TO BE CHNAGED

Lragir.am
28/11/09

The Republican leader Serge Sargsyan addressed the RP congress taking
currently place at the Yerevan Sport and Concert complex. Dwelling on
the economic situation, Serge Sargsyan thanked the major business and
the system-creating organizations which cooperated with the government
to ease the impact of the crisis.

Touching upon the home political situation, Serge Sargsyan assessed
the post-electoral developments as unacceptable and dangerous though
according to him, fortunately, we did not pass the line of separation.
There is still much to do in this connection which needs flexibility
to establish an atmosphere of dialogue and tolerance.

According to Serge Sargsyan, if the institutes of civil society were
more developed, if the political forces were more tolerant and if the
law enforcement bodies were more professional what happened would be
avoided.

Dwelling on the Republican Party, he noted that the RP is being
crystallized, its structures increase in number as well as the number
of people engaged in professional work of the party grows. Serge
Sargsyan said ?Our yes is yes, our no is no?. There are no questions
which interest only us but everything should be viewed in the global
context.

According to Serge Sargsyan, the time to speak freely and to
necessarily change came. The changes within the RP should be viewed in
a wide context. The more the democracy within the party is, the sooner
the society will copy it as a model. RP is not a party of one person,
RP is not Serge Sargsyan?s party, Serge Sargsyan is just an RP member,
said Serge Sargsyan, adding ?If you want to change something start
from you?.

According to him, the RP has the problem on eliminating the
contradictions between words and acts which exist inside the party to
become a model of a New Armenia. If the party represses the opposition
inside it, coming to power it will repress the opposition too. This is
not the RP way of action. The antonym of not making a mistake is not
non-doing anything, it is its synonym. People will not forgive this
mistake, they will not forgive idleness.

The person who leads the power must be wise. We need a stable
political system for progress and its idea is the freedom of mind.
With limited format but without limited content, said Serge Sargsyan.

President Serzh Sargsyan says no encroachment on NKR to be allowed

Panorama.am
13:29 28/11/2009

During his address at the ARP 12th Congress today the Armenian
President Serzh Sargsyan referred to the Armenian-Turkish
normalization and Nagorno-Karabakh settlement and once again
reconfirmed that the Armenian-Turkish normalization assumes no
preconditions.

President said that the Armenian-Turkish normalization doesn’t mean
suspension of the international recognition of the Armenian Genocide,
but just vice versa, the normalization will contribute to the earliest
recognition.

In his address Serzh Sargsyan highlighted that in the normalization
process we should be very resolute.

President said NKR is for the peaceful regulation of Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict and the Armenian party will allow no encroachment on
Karabakh, and in case of the latter, harsh measures will follow.

`Both with Turkey and Azerbaijan Armenia’s national and state
interests will be a priority and above all,’ President said.

Serzh Sargsyan also referred to Armenia’s inner-political,
social-economic and other issues.

Armenian PM receives National Defense Minister of Poland

Panorama.am
14:35 28/11/2009

Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan received today the delegation
chaired by National Defense Minister of Poland, Bogdan Klich,
government’s press office reported.

The Armenian Prime Minister voiced hope that `the visit of the Polish
delegation will serve as an additional impetus for the reinforcement
of relations between the two countries, especially in the field of
military cooperation.’

Tigran Sargsyan also expressed gratitude for the adoption of the bill
on recognition of the Armenian Genocide by the Polish Sejm.

Touching upon the current developments in the region, the Prime
Minister presented the process Nagorno-Karabakh settlement and the
Armenian-Turkish normalization.

Mr. Klich noted that Poland backs the peaceful settlement of issues in
the South Caucasus. `We highly appreciate the signing of the
protocols,’ he said. The interlocutors referred to the Cooperation for
Peace Program implemented within the framework of NATO. He noted that
as a country presiding over the European Union, Poland is interested
in the implementation of the Eastern Partnership Program.

At the end of the meeting Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan asked to
convey his greetings to his Polish counterpart and voiced hope that
the latter’s forthcoming visit to Armenia would contribute to the
reinforcement and intensification of economic ties.

Protocols Not to Be Discussed in Turkish Parliament Commission Without
Azeri Approval

By Asbarez Staff
Nov 25th, 2009

ANKARA (APA) – Agreements to normalize relations and open borders
between Armenia and Turkey will not be discussed in the Turkish
Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Commission without Azerbaijan’s approval,
said a deputy from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), the
Azeri Press Agency reported on Wednesday.

`The protocols signed with Armenia will not be discussed in the
parliament’s foreign affairs commission, if anything does not satisfy
Azerbaijan,’ Metin Yilmaz told APA’s Turkey bureau.

`Our President and Prime Minister regularly contact Azerbaijani
President Ilham Aliyev. If Ilham Aliyev says that the problems are
being solved and it is high time for us to take some steps, we will
include these protocols into the agenda of the commission,’ he said,
adding that the issue has already been discussed by Foreign Minister
Ahmet Davutoglu and the commission’s chairman.

`Our parliamentarians held discussions in Azerbaijan under the
leadership of the chairman of our commission. We will not take any
steps concerning the protocols unless we reach the stage of solution
satisfying Azerbaijan,’ he said.

`Our main aim is the liberation of Azerbaijani territories from
occupation as soon as possible,’ Yilmaz said, noting that for Turkey,
the main precondition on Armenia is the resolution of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in Azerbaijan’s favor. `The main stipulation
for us will be Armenia’s releasing the occupied Azerbaijani
territories.’

Arda Mandikian obituary
Powerful Greek soprano who was a specialist in French song

John Amis
guardian.co.uk,
Wednesday 25 November 2009 18.33 GMT

Arda Mandikian, left, as the ghost, with Jennifer Vyvyan as the
governess, in the English Opera Group’s production of Benjamin
Britten’s The Turn of the Screw, 1954 Photograph: Denis De
Marney/Hulton Archive

The Greek soprano Arda Mandikian, who has died aged 85, was a powerful
presence on stage or concert platform, appearing to be much taller
than she really was. Her face was not only beautiful but
awe-inspiring, like an ancient statue, with a noble nose that seemed
to start in the depths of her forehead. Of Armenian Greek stock, she
was born in what was historically Smyrna, now Izmir, on Turkey’s
Aegean coast.

Arda studied at the Athens Conservatory with Elvira de Hidalgo and
Alexandra Trianti. Two English friends, James Matthews and Alan
Collingridge, brought her to London in 1948. The following year she
sang at Morley college, Lambeth, and later recorded, for HMV, half a
dozen Delphic hymns that had been discovered in 1893. They dated back
to the first century, were etched in stone and miraculously contained
vocal notation. The hymns brought her into contact with the composer
Egon Wellesz, who taught at Oxford University and was an expert in
Byzantine music.

Also at Oxford, Jack Westrup, a professor of music, heard her and
engaged her to sing Dido in Berlioz’s epic opera The Trojans, which
was staged for the first time in its entirety by the Oxford University
opera club, directed by Westrup in 1950.

The following year she took the title role in a comic opera by Wellesz
called Incognita, and in 1952 returned to The Trojans for a recording
under the baton of Hermann Scherchen, released three years later. She
sounds every inch the tragic Carthaginian queen, and her singing in
Dido’s death scene has surely never been eclipsed, even by Janet
Baker. She then sang the Sorceress in a 1953 recording of Purcell’s
Dido and Aeneas – a Gramophone review finding her "sufficiently
spiteful" – with Kirsten Flagstad as Dido.

Arda’s first three roles at the Royal Opera House came in successive
months: as one of the nieces in Britten’s Peter Grimes in November
1953; as Musetta in Puccini’s La Bohème that December; and in the
title role of Rimsky-Korsakov’s Le Coq d’Or in January 1954. She also
sang Handel at Sadler’s Wells, and Britten composed the part of the
ghost Miss Jessel for her in his The Turn of the Screw (1954, with a
recording the following year). With his understanding of voices, he
wrote a part that sounds like Arda, whoever sings it.

She specialised in French song. I recall in particular an outstanding
account of Berlioz’s Les Nuits d’Été at the Wigmore Hall, London.
Although her voice was at its best in slow music, she managed to shine
in the quicksilver brilliance of Britten’s Les Illuminations.

She was an outspoken critic of the Greek junta of 1967-74, and for
that reason her career was hampered. Offers from abroad were turned
down since she feared that if she left Greece, she might not be
allowed to return, and would not then be able to look after her ailing
mother and her stepfather.

After the generals had gone, Arda went regularly to London until a
recent deterioration in her health. From 1974 for eight years she
acted as assistant director of the new opera centre in Athens, working
with her great friend Christos Lambrakis.

A good friend, she was warm and sympathetic – a dab hand at cooking a
moussaka. She was extremely sensitive, which made sitting with her in
an audience hazardous. A death on stage would induce loud sobs, a
cinematic shoot-out would cause her to keel over as if she herself had
been shot, and after a performance of Schubert’s Winterreise by
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau she took to her bed almost paralysed with
melancholy for two whole days. There were strong relationships in her
life, but no marriages.

– Arda Mandikian, soprano, born 1 September 1924; died 8 November 2009

Arda Mandikian
Arda Mandikian, the Greek soprano, who died on November 8 aged 85, was
a great favourite of Benjamin Britten and created the role of Miss
Jessel, the ghostly former governess in Turn of the Screw; but her
international singing career came to a premature end in the 1960s
after she spoke out publicly against the military junta which ruled
Greece at that time.

Daily Telegraph/UK
Published: 6:17PM GMT 23 Nov 2009

Arda Mandikian (left) as the ghost of Miss Jessel in Britten’s ‘Turn
of the Screw’ Striking-looking with classical Greek features and jet
black hair, Arda Mandikian had a voice which was notable for its
emotional intensity. She appeared regularly at the Aldeburgh Festival
during the 1950s, and created the part of Miss Jessel in September
1954 at La Fenice in Venice, repeating the role in the British
première the following month and taking part in the subsequent
recording in January 1955. Britten later explained that he had written
the part with her vocal and acting abilities in mind.

She first appeared at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, in Britten’s
Peter Grimes in December 1953, and Britten was inspired to write the
music for Apollo in Aschenbach’s dream sequence of Death in Venice
after hearing her sing the First Delphic Hymn, an early Greek melody,
at the 1954 Aldeburgh Festival.

In the early 1960s Arda Mandikian returned to Greece to look after her
elderly mother. Subsequently she spoke out against the Greek colonels
and refused to sing in public in protest at their repression. As a
result she was kept under surveillance and dared not accept
invitations to sing abroad for fear she would be refused permission to
return to her homeland.

Arda Mandikian was born in Smyrna (now Turkish Izmir) on September 1
1924, the daughter of survivors of the 1915 massacre of Armenians. The
family fled to Athens, and she studied at the Athens Conservatory with
the soprano Elvira de Hildalgo (who also taught Maria Callas) and the
mezzo Alexandra Trianti. She made her debut aged 15 singing the duet
Mira, O Norma from Bellini’s Norma with Callas.

In 1948 her interest in the folk music of Ancient Greece brought her
to England to meet Egon Wellesz, a leading scholar of Byzantine and
early Greek music. A recital at Morley College led to invitations to
perform in Oxford, at the Wigmore Hall and on the Third Programme. In
1950 she made her opera debut at Oxford as Dido in the second part of
Berlioz’s Les Troyens.

The following year she appeared at the Mermaid Theatre as the First
Witch in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, later taking the part of the
Sorceress, which she recorded twice, the second time in Benjamin
Britten’s version. She made her debut at the Paris Opera as Eurydice
in 1953 and at Covent Garden the same year as one of the nieces in
Peter Grimes. She returned to the Garden to sing Musetta in La Bohème
and in 1954 the title role in Rimsky-Korsakov’s Le Coq d’Or. She sang
regularly at the Proms and widely in Europe.

After the fall of the Greek junta, Arda Mandikian became a prominent
and respected figure in Greek cultural life, serving as joint director
of Greek National Opera (1974-80).

Arda Mandikian was unmarried.