Month: November 2009

RA Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan received newly appointed Ambassador
Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of India to the
Republic of Armenia Kumar Malhothra

Fr iday, 27 November 2009

Congratulating the Ambassador on the start-up of his diplomatic
mission in our country, the Prime Minister expressed hope that Mr.
Malhotra’s activity will help strengthen the relations of friendship
between our two countries. The head of the Armenian government said in
particular: `We appreciate the current high level of political
exchanges. At the same time, we would like to draw upon the existing
untapped economic potential.’

The Ambassador in turn conveyed warm greetings on behalf of the people
and the Prime Minister of India. He took the opportunity to impart his
appreciation of the Armenian community’s valuable contribution to
multicultural and multilingual public life in India. The parties
touched upon the launch of an ITT excellence center in Armenia and
spoke about agricultural and scientific cooperation. The Ambassador
outlined the new strategy of assistance to friendly countries. Also,
views have been shared on the ways taken in the face of the global
crisis.

In conclusion, the head of the Armenian government expressed hope that
the Armenian-Indian intergovernmental commission will meet in the near
future.

The Official Visit of the Minister of National Devence of Poland to Armenia

p;p=0&id=1071&y09&m=11&d=28
27.11. 09

On the 27th of November, 2009 by the invitation of the RA Minister of
Defence Seyran Ohanyan the delegation headed by the Minister of
National Defence of the Republic of Poland Bogdan Klikhi arrived in
Armenia for a two-day official visit. An official meeting-ceremony
took place at the RA Ministry of Defence after which the Ministers of
the two countries had a separate conversation. Then there was a
meeting which included the members of the delegations.

During the meeting they discussed matters of mutual interest
concerning the activation of the Armenian-Polish defence cooperation
in the frames of NATO PfP program, as well as matters concerning the
regional security. The two parties also touched upon the mission
fulfilled by the Armenian peacekeepers in the multinational division
under Polish command in Iraq in 2005-2008; they highly estimated the
role of the Armenian peacekeepers. The abovementioned visit in the
frames of Armenian-Polish defence cooperation was the first official
visit of the Minister of National Defence of Poland to the Republic of
Armenia.

On the 28th of November, 2009 the delegation headed by the Minister of
National Defence of Poland Bogdan Klikhi met with the RA Prime
Minister Tigran Sargsyan. They also visited `Tsitsernakaberd’ – the
memorial of the victims of Armenian Genocide – commemorating the
victims of the Genocide.

RA MoD Department of Information and Public Affairs

news.am, Armenia
Nov 28 2009

All our citizens are equal: Bagis

13:15 / 11/28/2009Minister for EU Affairs and Chief Negotiator Egemen
Bagis replied to one of the Turkish papers, commenting on hiring
Armenian for a key public post. Turkish Hurriyet quotes Bagis as
saying, `We will implement the project with the efforts of young, old,
rich and poor, Armenians, Jewish and Muslims. A 340-member delegation
should be formed, which is already approved by Turkish parliament. We
have conducted admission exams and 118 citizens already took a written
test. While recruiting people, we do not pay attention to their
ethnic, religious or political views. All our citizens are equal.’

As NEWS.am reported previously, Turkey finally decided to hire Turkish
citizen of Armenian origin Leo Suren Alepli for a key public post. For
the first time a decision was made to employ Armenian as an expert in
EU General Secretariat under State Minister of EU Affairs and Chief
Negotiator Egemen Bagis. Out of 115 contenders, Suren should get
through the appropriate exams. Final decision depends on National
Security Service of Turkey (MIT). After passing all stages, Suren will
hold the post in delegation of negotiations for EU membership.

Aysor, Armenia
Nov 28 2009

A. Geghamyan: the congress time `is fatal’

At this moment in the Sport-Complex of K. Demirchyan goes on the 12th
Congress of the RPA.

On the Congress made a speech also the head of the `National Unity’
party Artashes Geghamyan and called the time selected for the Congress
fatal as he believes Armenia is in a fatal period due to its unique
policy.

`Armenia has never been in the center of attention of the entire
society as before that if it has been mentioned it has been remembered
for its dramatic events that took place at the beginning of the
previous century.

As the Aysor.am reporter informs, A. Geghamyan has told that his party
on the last presidential elections stood with Serzh Sargsyan
consciously.

`We should think not about what should be expected from the RPA but
what we can give to the Armenian Republic’, – mentioned A. Geghamyan.

A. Geghamyan also wished that the RA First President Levon
Ter-Petrosyan and the second President Robert Kocharyan were
alsopresent on that congress.

`We would appear as a unique force in front of the whole world’, –
summed up the `NU’ party leader.

news.am, Armenia
Nov 28 2009

Hripsime Khurshudyan won bronze

13:35 / 11/28/2009November 28, 2009 Armenian weightlifter Hripsime
Khurshudyan won bronze lifting 267 kg in clean and jerk combination
(120+147) in World Weightlifting Championship in Goyang, South Korea.
Kazakh Svetlana Podobedova became the champion, setting a new world
record.

Armenian national team ranks third in the standings (3 gold, 4 silver
and 4 bronze medals). Chinese team is the first, whereas
Kazakhstan-the second.

Aysor, Armenia
Nov 28 2009

Vladimir Putin hails the 12th Congress of Republican Party

For about 2000 delegates have gathered today at the Yerevan Sport and
Concert Hall to participate in the 12th Congress of Republican Party
of Armenia. The Congress opened traditionally by Archbishop Navasard
Kchoyan’s prayer.

Congress’s agenda and schedule have been approved, 11 people were
elected as members of the Returning Board, and 5 more as secretaries.
The Congress will focus on some changes in rules, and will vote for
executive body and chairman as well as will vote for Control
Commission members.

The Republican Party’s chairman, Serge Sargsyan, spoke to Congress and
welcomed representatives of the United Russia Party and
representatives of the European Democrat Party.

Member of the Political Council of the United Russia Party, Artur
Chilingarov, welcomed the participants on behalf of party’s leader
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, and praised Armenian-Russian
close friendship in years. Artur Chilingarov said close cooperation
between the two countries is very important especially those in
economy and social sphere.

news.am, Armenia
Nov 28 2009

RA Embassy clarifies information about Armenian citizens

13:45 / 11/28/2009RA Embassy in Russia is currently clarifying whether
there were Armenian citizens among victims and injured in Nevsky
express derailed train, RA Embassy press secretary Gevorg Minasyan
informed NEWS.am Nov. 28. `The lists of victims and hospitalized are
presently clarified, we will have precise information shortly,’ said
Minasyan.

The train was carrying 682 people, of which 661 passengers and 21 crew
members. There were passengers with Armenian surnames ‘ Dertsakyan,
Babayan, Myasnikov, Tomasov and Georgian ‘ Gognadze, Bochorashvili,
Khubutia. It is unclear yet whether the mentioned passengers were
injured, their citizenship is being clarified. Italian Sbalzarini and
Hindu Rajesh were among the passengers as well.

November 27, 2009 at 9:30 p.m. Moscow time a train derailment killed
30 passengers and wounded 90 others in Novgorod Region, Russia. Four
cars of Nevsky express train travelling from Moscow to St. Petersburg
derailed near the village of Uglovka. The health state of half of the
injured is esteemed as grave. 18 are still unaccounted for.

Aysor, Armenia
Nov 28 2009

The 12th Congress of the Republican Party of Armenia launched

Today, in Yerevan, in the Sport-Complex K. Demirchyan launched the
12th Congress of the Republican Party of Armenia, which involved about
2000 delegates.

At the usual congress of RPA were invited representatives of Armenian
and foreign parties. Particularly, from Russia were invited the
representatives of United Russia, and their European – representatives
of the European Democratic Party. In the number of the invited were
"Prosperous Armenia", "Rule of Law", ARF Faction "," National Unity
"," Armenakan-Hunchakian "and others.

As a few days ago the deputy chairman of the Republican Party, the
head of the parliamentary faction of the Republican Party Galust
Sahakian informed, there will be stated assessments on the congress,
political analysis, issues of social and political fields, for common
approaches on issues such as the settlement of Nagorno Karabakh
conflict, recognition of the genocide and the normalization of
Armenian-Turkish relations will be presented in particular.

There are also foreseen procedural changes, which, after their
adoption by vote, will better summarize the future activates of the
Party. During the congress is expected also the election of the new
leadership of the party.

In particular, completion of the permanent executive body of the
Republican Party by two new members is envisaged. The candidacy of the
Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan and the mayor of Yerevan Gagik
Beglaryan will be presented to the participants for inclusion in the
executive body. Decision on their membership in the executive body of
the Republican Party will be taken by secret ballot and in the case of
receiving the suggestion the executive body of the Republican Party
will have 14 members instead of 12.

ABHaber – EU-Turkey News Network
Nov 28 2009

European Parliament resolution on Turkey’s progress report 2009

EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT 2009 – 2014
26.11.2009 B7-0000/2009

Motion for a Resolution to wind up the debate on statements by the
Council and Commission pursuant to Rule 110(2) of the Rules of
Procedure on Turkey’s progress report 2009

Ria Oomen-Ruijten on behalf of the Committee on Foreign Affairs
B7-0000/2009

The European Parliament,

– having regard to the Commission’s Turkey 2009 Progress Report
(SEC(2009)1334),

– having regard to its previous resolutions of 27 September 2006 on
Turkey’s progress towards accession1, of 24 October 2007 on EU-Turkey
relations2, of 21 May 2008 on Turkey’s 2007 progress report3, and of
12 March 2009 on Turkey’s 2008 progress report4,

– having regard to the Negotiating Framework for Turkey of 3 October 2005,

– having regard to Council Decision 2008/157/EC of 18 February 2008 on
the principles, priorities and conditions contained in the Accession
Partnership with the Republic of Turkey5 ("the Accession
Partnership"), as well as to the previous Council decisions on the
Accession Partnership of 2001, 2003 and 2006,

– having regard to Rule 110(2) of its Rules of Procedure,

A. whereas accession negotiations with Turkey were opened on 3 October
2005 after approval by the Council of the Negotiating Framework, and
whereas the opening of those negotiations was the starting-point for a
long-lasting and open-ended process,

B. whereas Turkey has committed itself to reforms, good neighbourly
relations and progressive alignment with the EU, and whereas these
efforts should be viewed as an opportunity for Turkey itself to
modernise,

C. whereas full compliance with all the Copenhagen criteria and EU
integration capacity, in accordance with the conclusions of December
2006 European Council meeting, remain the basis for accession to the
EU, which is a community based on shared values,

D. whereas the Commission concluded that limited concrete progress was
made on political reforms in 2009,

E. whereas Turkey has still not, for the fourth consecutive year,
implemented the provisions stemming from the EC-Turkey Association
Agreement and the Additional Protocol thereto,

F. whereas in its Turkey 2009 Progress Report, the Commission has
taken up and elaborated on issues highlighted by Parliament in its
last resolution on Turkey’s progress,

1. Welcomes the broad public debate on a range of traditionally
sensitive issues such as the role of the judiciary, the rights of
citizens of Kurdish origin, the rights of the Alevi community, the
role of the military and Turkey’s relations with its neighbours;
commends the Turkish Government for its constructive approach and its
role in initiating that debate;

2. Reiterates its concern about ongoing polarisation within Turkish
society and between political parties, and urges the Government as
well as all parliamentary parties to work together to unite the whole
of society;

3. Notes that progress in terms of concrete reforms has remained
limited in 2009, and encourages the Government to translate its
political initiatives into concrete changes of legislation and their
subsequent implementation;

4. Deplores the fact that, where legislation relevant to the
Copenhagen political criteria is in place, its implementation
continues to be insufficient, particularly in the area of women’s
rights, non-discrimination, zero tolerance of torture and the fight
against corruption;

5. Calls on Turkey to redouble its efforts to fully meet the
Copenhagen criteria and to bring Turkish society together, uniting it
on the basis of equality for every human being irrespective of ethnic
origin, belief, disability, age or sex;

Fulfilling the Copenhagen political criteria

Democracy and the rule of law

6. Draws attention once again to the crucial importance of a
substantive reform of the constitution which would place the
protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms at the core of the
Turkish State and society; encourages the Turkish Government to resume
work on that reform and calls for the cooperation of all political
parties and the involvement of civil society and all minorities;

7. Is concerned about the closure case pending against the Democratic
Society Party (DTP) before the Constitutional Court, draws attention
to the opinion presented by the Venice Commission of the Council of
Europe in March 2009, which concluded that Turkish legislation
governing the closure of political parties is not compatible with the
European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), and urges the Government
to come up with necessary reform proposals, respecting European
standards;

8. Is of the view that a comprehensive and swift reform of the
judiciary is vital for the success of the modernisation process in
Turkey; welcomes the Government’s approval of the judiciary reform
strategy and notes with satisfaction the broad consultative process on
which it was built; encourages the Government to implement the
strategy without delay, with particular attention to systematic
measures strengthening the impartiality and professionalism of the
judiciary, as well as its compliance with the standards of the ECHR;
also encourages the Government to re-structure the High Council of
Judges and Prosecutors so as to ensure its representativeness,
objectiveness, impartiality and transparency;

9. Takes note of progress made on legislation limiting the
jurisdiction of military courts and regrets the lodging of an appeal
before the Constitutional Court seeking annulment of that legislation;
is concerned by the continuing involvement of the military in Turkish
politics and foreign policy, and reiterates that in a democratic
society the military must be fully subject to civilian oversight;
calls in particular on the Turkish Grand National Assembly to enhance
its oversight of the military budget and expenditure and to engage in
the development of security and defence policies;

10. Is concerned about the alleged magnitude of the Ergenekon criminal
network; urges the Government and the judiciary to ensure that all
proceedings are fully in line with the due process of law and that the
rights of all defendants are respected; shares the assessment of the
Commission that Turkey has to approach this case as an opportunity to
strengthen confidence in the proper functioning of its democratic
institutions and the rule of law;

11. Regrets that no progress has been made on establishing the
Ombudsman´s office; urges the Government to introduce, and all
parliamentary parties to support, the necessary legislation so as to
create this human rights institution for the benefit of all Turkish
citizens;

Human rights and respect for, and protection of, minorities

12. Welcomes the initiatives taken by the Turkish Government to bring
Turkish citizens together and enable every citizen, irrespective of
origin or religion, to enjoy equal rights and play an active role in
Turkish society; is aware that this is an historic debate, but
strongly urges the Government to translate its political initiative
into concrete reforms and calls on all political parties and all
players involved to support this process while striving to overcome
mutual sensitivities; welcomes in this context the plan presented by
the Government to the Turkish Grand National Assembly on 13 November
2009 and encourages it to implement it, so as to ensure that the
freedoms of all citizens, regardless of their origin, are guaranteed;

13. Welcomes the adoption of legislation removing all restrictions on
broadcasting in the Kurdish language by private and public channels at
the local and national levels as well as of legislation on the use of
the Kurdish language in prisons; urges the Government to take further
measures ensuring real opportunities to learn Kurdish within the
public and private schooling system, allowing for Kurdish to be used
in political life and in access to public services; calls on the
Government to make sure that anti-terror laws are not misused to
restrict fundamental freedoms, and to abolish the system of village
guards in the south-east of Turkey;

14. Urges the Turkish Grand National Assembly to ensure that
parliamentary immunity covering the expression of political opinions
is guaranteed to all members of parliament, without any
discrimination;

15. Condemns the continuing violence perpetrated by the PKK and other
terrorist groups on Turkish soil, and urges the PKK to respond to the
political initiative of the Turkish Government by laying down its arms
and putting an end to violence;

16. Welcomes the dialogue entered into by the Turkish Government with
non-Muslim religious communities and the Alevis; underlines, however,
that positive steps and gestures cannot mask the lack of real reform
of the legal framework, which must enable these religious communities
to function without undue constraints, in line with the ECHR and the
case-law of the European Court of Human Rights;

17. Welcomes the implementation of the Law on Foundations; regrets,
however, that the religious communities continue to face property
problems not addressed by that law, concerning properties seized and
sold to third parties or properties of foundations merged before the
new legislation was adopted; urges the Turkish Government to address
this issue without delay;

18. Reiterates its concern about the obstacles faced by the Ecumenical
Patriarchate concerning its legal status, the training of its clergy,
and elections of the Ecumenical Patriarch; repeats its call for the
immediate re-opening of the Greek Orthodox Halki seminary and for
measures to permit the public use of the ecclesiastical title of the
Ecumenical Patriarch;

19. Regrets that uncertainty persists concerning the recognition of
Cem houses as Alevi places of worship and concerning compulsory
religious education in schools; asks the Turkish Government
systematically to remedy this situation;

20. Is concerned by the difficulties encountered by Syriacs in
relation to their property ownership; in particular, points with
concern to the court cases concerning expropriation in relation to the
Mor Gabriel Syriac Orthodox monastery;

21. Deplores the fact that the Turkish Government continues to
maintain reservations, derived from international law, regarding the
rights of minorities, that it has not yet signed relevant Council of
Europe conventions and that it has not yet entered into dialogue with
the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities; urges the
Government to bring its policy fully into line with international
standards and the ECHR, and calls on all parliamentary parties to
support this move; in addition, urges the Government actively to
foster a climate of full respect towards minorities, and to ensure
that cases of hostility and violence are brought before the courts;

22. Is concerned that the Turkish legal framework still fails to
provide sufficient guarantees with regard to freedom of expression and
that certain laws continue to be misused so as to restrict that
freedom; calls on the Turkish Government to come up with a reform of
the legal framework in order to ensure its compatibility with the ECHR
and the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights; is of the view
that Article 301 of the Penal Code should be repealed;

23. Is concerned about continued restrictions on press freedom,
particularly following the imposition of an unprecedented fine on a
media group, as well as regarding frequent website bans; stresses that
the cultivation of press freedom is an important sign of political
culture in a pluralistic society; recommends that in this context, and
in light of the unhealthy links between media and business interests,
a new media law be adopted;

24. Calls on the Turkish Government to intensify its efforts with
regard to implementation of the policy of zero tolerance of torture,
and, in order to underscore the credibility of those efforts, to
authorise the publication of the report of the Council of Europe’s
Committee for the Prevention of Torture; once again urges the Turkish
Grand National Assembly to ratify the Optional Protocol on the UN
Convention against Torture; also urges the Government to strive for
reduction of impunity for human rights violations, in particular among
law enforcement officials;

25. Encourages the Government to increase its efforts to translate
gender equality, as guaranteed by law, into practice; in particular,
considers that a strategy for women’s employment should be prepared,
reducing the engagement of women in the grey economy; invites the
Government to avail itself of the potential of civil society
organisations, especially when it comes to raising awareness of
women’s rights, the prevention of violence and so-called "honour
killings"; points out that the Government and the judiciary need to
ensure that all cases of violence and discrimination against women are
duly brought before the courts and punished;

26. Is concerned about lack of guarantees against discrimination on
the basis of sexual orientation, and calls upon the Turkish Government
to intensify its public awareness efforts concerning individual human
rights and anti-discrimination, to ensure that discriminating
provisions are removed from legislation and that hatred and violence
based on homophobia is duly punished;

27. Regrets the lack of progress concerning trade union rights and
calls once again on the Turkish Grand National Assembly to adopt a new
law on trade unions that is in line with the International Labour
Organization standards; asks the Government to engage in the
strengthening of tripartite social dialogue mechanisms;

Ability to take on the obligations of membership

28. Deplores the fact that, for the fourth consecutive year, the
Additional Protocol to the EC-Turkey Association Agreement has not
been implemented by Turkey; calls on the Turkish Government to
implement it fully without delay, in a non-discriminatory way, and
recalls that failure to do so may further seriously affect the process
of negotiations;

Commitment to good neighbourly relations

29. Calls on the Turkish Government actively to support the ongoing
negotiations, and to contribute in concrete terms to the comprehensive
settlement of the Cyprus issue, based on a bi-zonal, bi-communal
federation, in line with the relevant UN Security Council resolutions
and the principles on which the EU is founded; calls on Turkey to
facilitate a suitable climate for negotiations by withdrawing its
forces;

30. Calls on the Turkish Government to cease hindering civilian
vessels prospecting for oil on behalf of the Republic of Cyprus in the
eastern Mediterranean;

31. Urges Turkey to ensure that the rights of all displaced persons in
Cyprus are respected, including those of religious minorities, and
they are allowed freely to exercise their religious rights; stresses
that, in the case of the Catholic Maronite community, freedoms should
also be accorded to all four Maronite villages;

32. Commends the diplomatic efforts made to normalise relations with
Armenia, and urges the Turkish Government to open the border with
Armenia; calls on the Turkish Grand National Assembly and the
Parliament of Armenia to ratify the relevant protocols without delay
and without setting any preconditions;

33. Takes note of the limited progress achieved in improving
Turkish-Greek bilateral relations; calls on the Turkish Grand National
Assembly to withdraw its casus belli threat, and expects the Turkish
Government to end the continued violations of Greek airspace;

34. Welcomes the continued improvement of relations with Iraq and with
the Kurdish regional government; stresses once again its appeal to the
Turkish Government to ensure that any anti-terrorist operation that is
conducted fully respects Iraq´s territorial integrity, human rights
and international law, and that civilian casualties are avoided;

Deepening EU-Turkey cooperation

35. Notes the start of negotiations on Turkey´s accession to the
Energy Community; welcomes Turkey’s signing of the Intergovernmental
Agreement on the Nabucco gas pipeline, the implementation of which
remains one of the EU’s highest energy security priorities, and calls
for opening of the energy chapter in the accession negotiations; notes
at the same time the cooperation between Turkey, Russia and some EU
Member States on the South Stream project;

36. Points to Turkey´s importance as a transit and destination country
for irregular migration; takes note of the resumption of negotiations
on a EU-Turkey readmission agreement, and urges Turkey fully to
implement, in the meantime, the existing bilateral readmission
agreements with the Member States; calls on the Turkish Government to
strengthen its migration management cooperation with the EU, including
with Frontex;

37. Notes Turkey´s increasingly active foreign policy and appreciates
its efforts to contribute to solutions in various crisis regions;
calls on the Turkish Government to intensify its foreign policy
coordination with the EU, in particular as regards Iran;

38. Appreciates Turkey´s continuous contribution to European Security
and Defence Policy and NATO operations; regrets, however, that the
NATO-EU strategic cooperation extending beyond the `Berlin plus’
arrangements continues to be blocked by Turkey’s objections, which has
negative consequences for the protection of the EU personnel deployed,
and urges Turkey to set aside those objections as soon as possible;

39. Once again calls on the Turkish Government to sign and submit for
ratification the Statute of the International Criminal Court, thus
further increasing Turkey’s contribution to, and engagement in, the
global multilateral system;

40. Calls on the EU´s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and
Security Policy to analyse synergies between the EU´s and Turkey´s
foreign policies and to make more intensive use of them in order to
contribute to security and stability in the world;

41. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council,
the Commission, the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, the
President of the European Court of Human Rights, the governments and
parliaments of the Member States and the Government and Parliament of
the Republic of Turkey.

840

Al-Ahram Weekly, Egypt
Nov 28 2009

Through the looking glass

Iran and the Arab world were the focus of last week’s Paris Photo, a
photography show confirming international interest in Middle Eastern
art, writes David Tresilian in Paris

Hot on the heels of a well-attended dossier exhibition on 165 years of
Iranian photography at the musée du quai Branly, the Middle Eastern
and photographic theme continued at this year’s Paris Photo
photography show at which Iran and the Arab World were guests of
honour. Both events included significant historical components, as
well as accounts of contemporary trends. Together they provided an
intriguing glimpse both of the history of Middle Eastern photography
and of its place on the contemporary international art scene.

Held each year since 1997, Paris Photo is a major international show
that this year was housed in the prestige environment of the Carrousel
du Louvre and attracted around 100 galleries from 23 countries. Every
year there is a guest of honour, with the chosen country’s
photographic traditions placed on show in relation to its contemporary
production. Last year’s guest was Japan, and this year French curator
Catherine David, a specialist in Middle Eastern art and photography,
provided a focus on Iran and the Arab World.

Immediately upon entering this year’s show, once past a café area
apparently used for professional networking, visitors encountered an
exhibition of historical photographs taken from the archives of the
Arab Image Foundation (AIF), a Beirut-based NGO, with an adjacent
space being used to house a "statement" section that consisted of
eight photography galleries from Iran and the Arab world representing
some 15 emerging photographers.

In her curatorial essay in the show’s catalogue, David provided an
account of the beginnings of photography in the Arab world. Starting
in the 1840s, European photographers began to visit biblical and
historical sites in Palestine, Syria and Egypt, producing images of
panoramic landscapes, historical monuments and "native types,"
particularly veiled women or local merchants and craftsmen, all of
which became material for innumerable photograph albums and postcards.
>From the 1860s onwards, European and Armenian photographers began to
establish permanent studios in Arab cities, the most famous of which
were probably orientalist photographers Félix Bonfils in Beirut and
Lehnert and Landrock in Tunis.

It was only later, David writes, that Middle Eastern populations
became both the authors and the subjects of photographs, and only
later, too, that the studio photograph, a characteristic Middle
Eastern genre, began to enjoy a vogue among the region’s middle and
upper classes. However, once photography had firmly established itself
in Iran and the Arab World, dated here to the early decades of the
last century, it began to play an important role not only for domestic
purposes, innumerable families recording significant rites of passage
through a visit to the photographic salon, but also for recording
national events and in the illustrated and celebrity press.

Photography became an art form in its own right, with Cairo studio
photographers, such as the Armenians Van Leo or Armand, specialising
in glamourising the actors, actresses, singers and dancers of the
golden age of Egyptian cinema and producing carefully posed images of
the country’s beau monde. Elsewhere, photographers such as Hashem
El-Madani in Lebanon and Latif El-Ani in Iraq specialised in recording
the populations and streetscapes of rapidly changing Arab cities like
Sidon and Baghdad.

Such images, David writes, serve as evidence of the cosmopolitan
character of the Arab world’s major cities in the earlier part of the
last century, as well as of the cross-over between photography,
popular imagery, the cinema and advertising, with some Cairo
photographers at least being influenced by experimental trends in the
arts, such as surrealism.

It is this heritage of Arab photography that today is under threat as
a result of poor conservation and a lack of proper archives, and in
order to illustrate the wealth of material available David had
selected 50 images from the 300,000 or so now contained in the AIF
archives for the show’s central exhibition. Set up in 1997 and relying
on funding from American foundations, the AIF’s mission is to
research, collect and preserve the photographic heritage of the Arab
world, persuading individuals, studios and organisations to part with
prized, if sometimes poorly conserved, materials in order that these
may be properly archived and preserved.

According to collections manager Tamara Sawaya, speaking in an
interview with the Weekly, the AIF is one of the only such
organisations in the Arab world, and it has taken a lead not only in
researching and trying to preserve the photographic production of the
region, but also in drawing attention to the sometimes poor condition
of Arab public collections, for example those held by the region’s
newspapers.

Making such images available to a wider public is another of the AIF’s
aims, and in addition to a programme of exhibitions that has taken
selections of images on tour in Europe and the United States, it is
making its entire collection available on- line in digitized form,
also allowing users to purchase high- resolution versions for
professional purposes.

Catherine David’s selection of images from the AIF collection for
Paris Photo included images by familiar Cairo studios such as Van Leo,
Alban and Armand, including a 1940 portrait of the francophone
Egyptian writer Albert Cossery, apparently taken months before he left
Egypt, and at least one of Van Leo’s own extensive series of
self-portraits. There was a series of photographs taken by Egyptian
film director Shadi Abdel-Salam, director of Al-Mumiaa (1969), while
working on the 1959 film Hikayat hubb, and a selection of studio and
other photographs from the Baghdad of the 1960s.

Eight Iranian and Arab galleries were presenting contemporary work at
Paris Photo, though it was disappointing to see no Egyptian
representation. Among the eight galleries, two were from Tehran, two
from Tunis and two from Dubai, with galleries from Marrakech and
Beirut also being represented. Each had been invited to present the
work of emerging photographers, with Iranian photography making a
strong showing not only in the selections presented by the Assar and
Silk Road galleries from Tehran, but also in the work by Reza Aramesh
presented by the B21 Gallery from Dubai.

Aramesh photographs re-stagings of politically motivated atrocities
with actors in the comfortable surroundings of English country houses,
and some of his images had been used as publicity materials for Paris
Photo. (The main image was a 1970s studio shot of a gun-toting girl by
Van Leo.) Still on the political violence-related theme, the Beirut
and Hamburg- based Sfeir-Semler gallery was displaying a series of
snapshot-type images of guerilla fighters by Akram Zaatari in the
statement section, many of them apparently taken in prison. A "liberty
of appearing" series of more gentle Cairo street scenes by Yasser
Alwan came as a form of relief.

In addition to the Iranian and Arab galleries exhibiting in the
statement section of the show, other European and North American
galleries had also dug into their archives of Middle Eastern
photographs, with the well-known Magnum agency (Paris) presenting the
news photography of Iranian photographer Abbas, for example, and
Bernheimer (Munich) showing vintage prints shot in Iran in 1949. Still
other galleries were presenting contemporary photographers working in
the Arab world, such as Moroccan Laila Essaydi, represented by Edwynn
Houk (New York), and Egyptian wunderkind Youssef Nabil, represented by
Michael Stevenson (Cape Town).

The Serge Plantureux gallery (Paris) had dug up what was advertised as
"the first photograph ever taken in the Orient," a view of the outside
of Mohammed Ali Pasha’s harem in Alexandria taken on 7 November 1839
by French photographer Frédéric Goupil-Fesquet.

Press material produced around the show, not least that in the various
glossy art magazines with stands, focused on twin issues of
representation and market behaviour. Ever since the late
Palestinian-American intellectual Edward Said drew attention to it in
his 1978 book Orientalism, the distorted representation of the Orient
in the western world has been the stock-in-trade of academic industry,
and in her role as curator of the Iranian and Arab focus at this
year’s Paris Photo Catherine David gamely fielded questions about the
selection of the material and the "orientalism," or otherwise, of the
pieces on show.

However, Paris Photo is primarily a commercial show, and that being so
market conditions and the positioning of Iranian and Arab photographic
materials on the international art market was perhaps of more pressing
interest. As is well known, Arab art has undergone something of a boom
on international markets in recent years, in a trend fed by the
expansion of public art institutions and museums, particularly in the
Gulf, the development of a significant number of private collectors,
and growing international appetite for the Middle Eastern label.

It is now not uncommon for contemporary Arab artists to command prices
running into the hundreds of thousands of dollars, though according to
the art magazine artpress, the record for a contemporary artist from
the region is currently held by the Iranian Fahrad Moshiri for his
piece Eshgh, "a calligraphy of the word ‘love’ done in Svarowski
crystal," which made over a million dollars at auction last year in
Dubai.

Such conditions have not left photography untouched, and though it
seems unlikely that Arab and Iranian photography will command the
prices paid for Arab and Iranian art, what Paris Photo deputy director
Guillaume Piens described as the show’s "exploratory side" was
intended to suggest that there was a "milieu being born at the present
time" that had an interest in collecting Middle Eastern photography.
While there are few public or private collectors of such material at
present, Piens said, sales at auction in London and Paris have
suggested that this situation may be changing. The fact that most of
the Middle Eastern photography galleries invited to the Paris show had
been founded within the last ten years or so confirms this impression.

According to the Moroccan art magazine diptyk, while prices for Middle
Eastern photography have been falling, possibly as a result of the
world financial crisis, there is nevertheless a healthy market in
historical photography. The Baudoin Lebon gallery (Paris) was selling
views of Egypt taken by the 19th- century French photographer Gustave
Le Gray for between 10,000 and 150,000 euros at this year’s Paris
Photo, and anyone interested could expect to pay between 15,000 and
100,000 euros for one of Horst’s 1940s photographs of Iran.
Price-wise, the star among contemporary Iranian photographers is
Shirin Neshat, based in the United States and represented by Paris
gallery Jérôme de Noirmont, whose work Women of Allah can fetch
between 50,000 and 120,000 euros.

Looking at some of the contemporary material on show at this year’s
Paris Photo, one could be forgiven for wondering whether the lessons
of Orientalism had been taken on board by at least some of the
photographers. There seemed to be a lot of photographs of subjects
that might be described as "native types," together with a slew of
works dealing with women (veiled and unveiled) and political violence.
Naturally, contemporary photographers are vastly more theoretically
self- conscious, but it was possible to come away with the nagging
feeling that there was a line between some of these images, taken by
regional photographers but sold on the international market, and
earlier 19th and 20th-century European orientalist photographs.
Perhaps each new generation has to negotiate issues of representation
afresh.

Emerging from the slightly giddy atmosphere of Paris Photo, where talk
of money and "the next big thing" — contemporary Pakistani art,
according to artpress — was never very far away, it came as a relief
to enter the otherworldly atmosphere of the musée du quai Branly for
the museum’s survey exhibition of historical and contemporary Iranian
photography, curated by Anahita Ghabaian-Ettehadieh of the Tehran Silk
Road gallery in cooperation with Iranian photographers Bahman Jalali
and Hasan Sarbakhshian.

While photography was introduced into Iran at the same time as into
the Arab world, the vector was rather different. Whereas European
photographers swiftly established themselves in the Arab countries,
producing a now-familiar series of orientalising images, in Iran it
seems to have been more difficult for European photographers to find a
niche, and a main impetus behind the development of photography in the
country came from the personal interest of the Qajar monarch Nasser
El-Din Shah. It also seems to have been more difficult for European
visitors to visit Iran, and there was no equivalent of the package
tours of historical sites that were available from the late 19th
century onwards for sites in Egypt and the Levant, presumably
inhibiting the development of a postcard market.

The earliest images from the musée du quai Branly exhibition therefore
date from the collection made by Nasser el-Din Shah, now located in
the Golestan Palace in Tehran and in the main closed to visitors.
Nasser el-Din seems to have photographed at least in part for his own
amusement, and the quai Branly show includes some odd images,
apparently showing the shah in fancy-dress. Easier to understand are
the photographs taken by the Armenian photographer Antoine Sevruguin,
who worked in Iran until his death in 1933 and ran a successful studio
in Tehran.

Selections from Sevruguin’s surviving photographs can be found on the
Internet (many were destroyed during the 1905 revolution), and they
show cityscapes, monuments and studio portraits of individuals and
families. According to the exhibition notes — there is,
unfortunately, no catalogue — Sevruguin’s studio business took off
from the 1920s onwards, when the fall of the Qajars and the spreading
bureaucracy of the Pahlavi regime meant that individuals were
increasingly likely to require ID photographs. Portrait photographs
were also adopted, as in the Arab world, as family mementos and used
to adorn the walls of living rooms, shops and offices.

While this first section of the exhibition contains fascinating
materials, it seems to have been constrained by the few materials
available, and one wonders whether the Iranian Cultural Heritage
Organisation, which has overall responsibility for the Golestan Palace
and archives, might be persuaded to sponsor a more comprehensive
exhibition of 19th and early 20th-century Iranian photography outside
Iran. In the meantime, the strengths of the current exhibition lie in
its later sections dedicated to Iranian photojournalism and
contemporary art photography.

Curator Bahman Jalali made his name as a news photographer during the
1979 Iranian revolution, when photojournalism began to flood out of
the country, and in subsequent years he and fellow news photographer
and documentary filmmaker Kaveh Golestan were among the few
photographers to document the early years of the Islamic Republic and
the 1981-88 Iran-Iraq war. However, such documentary work in fact
began earlier in the 1960s, and the present exhibition includes both
images of the drama in the streets of Tehran during the revolutionary
period of 1978-79, as well as of earlier and later scenes photographed
in the 1960s and 1980s.

The last section of the exhibition is given over to contemporary
Iranian photography, which exhibits an eclectic range of styles in
order to express life in today’s Iran and to say something about
contemporary Iranian identity, particularly in its relation to the
country’s past. Sadegh Tirafkan, for example, superimposes motifs
taken from Persian miniature painting over images of modern Iranian
tourists visiting historical sites in an attempt at historical
layering, while Rana Javadi juxtaposes brightly coloured contemporary
textiles with black-and-white images taken from the archives of long-
defunct studio photographers. Shadi Ghadirian produces images of
domestic items — clothes on racks, cigarettes in boxes — with,
smuggled in among them, memories of recent conflicts, such as a
uniform hung among clothes or a bullet lying between cigarettes.

Elsewhere, Payman Hoshmanzadeh referenced ideas of youth and gender
segregation in his Paradoxical Life (2006), while Mohsen Yazdipour
reminded viewers of the wars and memories of wars that have marked
life under the Islamic Republic in his My First Name Soldier (2006),
rows of ID-style portraits of young men in military uniform, each with
his name written on an adjacent card. Individual reluctance in the
face of the nationalist choreography of the regime was indicated in
Mehran Mohajer’s Tired and Lazy (2008), a glimpse out of a window at a
row of flags, while Mehraneh Atashi represented herself in a series of
self-portraits showing her enlarged face against various Tehran street
scenes.

Visiting Iran a few years ago on a whistle-stop tour from Rasht and
Tabriz in the north to Tehran and then on to Isfahan, Shiraz and
Persepolis, magnificently atmospheric as the sun rose over the
surrounding plains, one was struck by how apparently little these
marvelous cities and landscapes have imprinted themselves on
extra-Iranian imaginations, possibly owing to the fact that the
photographic record is sparse when compared to that available for
other countries.

Perhaps the present international vogue for Iranian and Arab
photography will also increase international understanding of these
countries.

Paris Photo, 19-22 November 2009, Carrousel du Louvre, Paris

165 ans de photographie iranienne, Musée du quai Branly, Paris, until
29 November

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