Month: April 2010

TURKEY WILL NOT BE LOST TO THE WEST

Qantara.de
March 31 2010
Germany

The shift in Turkey’s foreign policy orientation towards the Middle
East has raised fears that the country could turn away from the West.

In his essay, Huseyin Bagci, professor of international politics at
the Technical University of Ankara, explains that despite appearances,
the USA and the EU remain Turkey’s most important partners

Even under Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s ultimate goal is to accede to
the European Union. Huseyin Bagci is of the opinion that the reforms
introduced to date have changed Turkey and that, for this reason,
the EU remains an important modernization factor for Turkey

| Turkey’s foreign policy has undergone so many "initiatives and
openings" in recent times that even the Turks themselves have
difficulty understanding where their country’s foreign policy is
actually heading. The steps taken by Prime Minister Erdogan are
surprising many observers. Only one thing is certain: Turkey has much
more self-confidence than ever before and already sees itself as a
regional and global player.

Foreign Minister Ahmed Davutoglu’s new foreign policy formula, which
could be summed up as "no problems with the neighbours", is starting
to bear fruit; at the same time, it is also raising fears that Turkey
could turn away from the West. Turkey is already a "political Mecca"
for the Islamic world and, at the same time, an indispensable partner
for the West.

Rooted as it is in the West in political, economic, technological and
cultural terms, Turkey has enjoyed more room to assert its influence
abroad since the end of the Cold War. No Turkish prime minister
before him has enjoyed such conducive foreign policy conditions as
Tayyip Erdogan.

Ultimate goal: accession

In terms of the EU’s geostrategic interests, Turkey remains
indispensable, even though both France and Germany are unwilling to
acknowledge this fact. The Turkish policy of both these countries is
neither creative nor result-oriented. Nevertheless, Turkey will not
walk away from the accession negotiation table.

Ankara should continue to push on with its reform process in order to
meet European standards. On the other hand, the EU must also fulfil
its obligations to Turkey. The relations between the European Union
and Ankara must be improved both in terms of their quality and their
quantity.

Accession to the EU remains the unswerving ultimate goal of Turkish
politics. From the Turkish point of view, it is no longer a question –
and has not been for a long time – of whether the country will become
a member of the EU; for Turkey, membership is practically a matter
of course.

The reforms introduced over the past 20 years have changed Turkey,
and the EU remains a very important modernization factor. At the same
time, the USA will remain Turkey’s most important partner in foreign
and security policy. Ankara’s new Kurdish policy and its opening up
towards Armenia can only succeed if Washington continues to operate
as a peacekeeper.

Other countries are also showing interest in Turkey. Ankara is also
an important partner for Russia in the field of energy and in terms
of its regional policy towards the Black Sea and the Caucasus. Russia
is Turkey’s most important trade partner; after Germany it is also
the second-biggest buyer of Russian natural gas.

| Bild:

By opening up to Syria, Iran and Iraq, Turkey has established itself
as a new regional player in the Middle East | Moscow support’s
Turkey’s decision to open up to Armenia. When the foreign ministers
of Armenia and Turkey signed a rapprochement agreement last October,
the Russian foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, was present. Public
opinion about Russia in Turkey has never been as positive as it is
at present. Nevertheless, Moscow is not a political alternative;
it is primarily an economic partner.

Turkey’s decision to improve relations with Syria, Iran, Iraq and
the entire Islamic world puts the country at the political centre of
the Middle East. Prime Minister Erdogan is the most popular political
figure among the Arab masses, but not necessarily among Arab regimes.

Tayyip Erdogan also acts as Israel’s most high-profile critic. The
Turkish-Israeli crisis was intentionally started by Erdogan, and he
is enjoying it. Moreover, Ankara does not intend to end its close
relationship with Iran just because the West does not approve of it.

Erdogan is pragmatic, and Iran is a good economic partner. At the same
time, Turkey would like to play the role of honest broker between
Iran and the USA. This is why Iran is using Turkey to break out of
its own political isolation. For Iran, Turkey is a springboard. Even
in Turkey, this has generated much severe criticism.

Regional power in the Middle East

Iraq and the Kurds in northern Iraq constitute a common problem for
the USA (as the protector of Baghdad) and Turkey. Iraq’s Kurds are
benefitting from the new Turkish policy to avoid, where possible,
all problems with neighbouring countries.

| Bild:

A new Kurdish policy: Ahmet Davutoglu became the first Turkish foreign
minister to visit the autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq when
he travelled there in October 2009 and met the Kurdish leader Massoud
Barzani | The visit of Turkish foreign minister, Ahmed Davutoglu, to
the Kurds in northern Iraq was an expression of this new policy. In
the long term, Turkey is Iraq’s best partner in the region. Turkey’s
recently concluded agreements with Syria, Iraq and Iran are mostly
economic in orientation and are a demonstration of Turkey’s "soft
power".

The reorientation of its Kurdish policy has both domestic and foreign
policy consequences for Turkey. It could mean the end of the PKK as
a terrorist organization; in any case, the Kurds are becoming more
self-confident.

Nevertheless, an independent Kurdish state is unlikely. That being
said, Turkey’s neighbours realise that the time for confrontation
has passed and the time for co-operation has arrived. In this regard,
Turkey can indeed be considered the peacemaker of the region.

In doing so, Ankara’s political pragmatism makes use of Islam and
the common cultural history of the Ottoman Empire. The debate about
"Neo-Ottomanism" also points in this direction. The intellectuals
and politicians of the Ottoman Empire believed in the mission of
modernizing both the Islamic world and the Middle East. This is the
political heritage of the current government in Ankara.

In this regard, Turkey will not be lost to the West. On the contrary,
Turkey is promoting common values in the Middle East. Turkey considers
itself to be the ambassador of democracy in the region and remains
firmly rooted in the West, even under Tayyip Erdogan.

Huseyin Bagci

© Neue Zurcher Zeitung / Qantara.de 2010

Translated from the German by Aingeal Flanagan
.php/_c-476/_nr-1311/i.html

SUBLIME ART TRANSCENDS LIFE OF TORTURED GENIUS ARSHILE GORKY IN MOVING
By Kirstie Brewer

Culture 24
March 31 2010
UK

Exhibition: Arshile Gorky: A Retrospective, Tate Modern, London,
until May 2

Gorky’s work is haunted by his tragic childhood – a painful past he
draws from and yet tries to stifle and obscure. Perhaps this is why
he remains something of an enigma – his name doesn’t bear the same
weight as his contemporaries Pollock, Rothko or de Kooning, and yet
he is heralded as the father of abstract expressionism.

Born Vosdanig Adoian in Armenia, probably in 1904, Gorky survived
the atrocities of Turkey’s Armenian genocide and fled with his mother
and three sisters into Russian-controlled territory.

His mother soon starved to death and the 15-year-old boy and his
sister, Vartoosh, were left alone to begin the arduous journey to
join their father in the United States.

The Artist and His Mother (1926-36). Oil on canvas. Whitney Museum
of American Art, New York. Gift of Julien Levy for Maro and Natasha
Gorky in memory of their father. © the estate of Arshile Gorky Given
such an incalculably traumatic past, the work on display is testament
to Gorky’s inspirational resilience.

He reinvented himself as Arshile Gorky, in tribute to the Russian
proletarian writer Maxim Gorky, and even allowed people to believe
they were related. The name, however contrived, brought the promise
of a new kind of revolutionary, international art.

A self-made artist with little formal training, he learnt through
diligently studying the modern artists he passionately admired. At
first glance, one could be forgiven for mistaking Gorky’s earliest
works for those of Cezanne, Matisse or Picasso.

The exhibition reveals that Gorky’s road to success was a slow and
uneasy one. The series of works made on cheap paper document his
struggle to survive through the Depression. But they also mark an
inventive turning point in his work.

Garden in Sochi (circa 1943). Oil on canvas What is satisfying
about the exhibition is the way it spans Gorky’s 25-year career,
charting the artist’s journey from learned apprentice to a bold
Abstract Expressionist who lit the way for an entire generation of
American artists. It provides an eye-opening opportunity to consider
his evolving body of work as a whole.

Walking through the 12 rooms, his growing self-confidence and
shift in attitude materialise in front of you. Meticulous studies
and re-workings are displayed alongside final paintings, charting
the artist’s struggle for perfection and the emergence of his own
personality.

Gorky found resolve through art; he battled through his trauma by
channelling it into something powerful and poetic. Nowhere is this
more apparent than in his heart- rending painting, The Artist and
His Mother.

The young Gorky stands earnestly next to his beautiful, spectral
mother, both of them unaware of the imminent tragedy. The painting
serves as a haunting memorial to the Armenian genocide and in a
cathartic way, brings his mother back from annihilation.

nting+%2526+drawing/art77446

CRITICISM MOUNTS ON MERKEL OVER ‘PRIVILEGED’ OFFER

Hurriyet
March 31 2010
Turkey

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, left, and Turkish Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan. DHA photo

Criticism mounted on the German chancellor Wednesday after returning
home from Turkey where she offered no solid step on delicate issues,
including debates over Turkey’s European Union membership bid and
Turkish-language education in Germany.

The junior partner in German coalition government, the Free Democratic
Party, or FDP, has criticized Chancellor Angela Merkel for her
incapacity to push "open-ended" EU negotiations for Turkey within
her own party.

The fundamental rejection of Turkey’s full membership bid by the
majority of the Christian Democratic Party, or CDU, and the Christian
Social Union, or CSU, stood in stark contrast to the coalition treaty,
which states "open-ended" negotiations with Turkey, Michael Link,
parliamentary speaker for European affairs and FDP lawmaker, told
the German Suddeutsche Zeitung.

His remarks came as a German parliamentarian from Merkel’s CDU
countered the chancellor by supporting Turkey’s full European Union
membership. Expressing the belief that it would be better to have
Turkey in the bloc, Ruprecht Polenz, the foreign affairs committee
chair of the CDU, added that Turkey should first fully comply with
EU criteria.

Link, from the pro-business FDP, said they would hope that the
chancellor would be able to carry through the coalition treaty in
her own party.

"Those who criticize accession negotiations with Turkey are overlooking
that Turkey has gained enormous strategic importance. And they are
missing out on the fact that we already have a privileged partnership
with Turkey," he said.

During her visit to Turkey, Merkel said she now understood that
"privileged partnership" had a bad connotation in Turkey and confirmed
Germany would be a partner, but the adjective would still have to
be defined.

Schroeder hails Turkey

Meanwhile, former German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder on Tuesday
praised Turkey for courageous reforms and called for Germany to
get rid of the privileged partnership debate in an interview with a
German daily.

"The steps that are being taken have historical character as
they pertain to basic democratization, Kurdish politics and the
normalization process with Armenia. Germany and the EU are better off
supporting Turkey, because it is obvious that pro-European factions
in Turkey face big obstacles," Schroeder told the daily Bild.

He warned of nationalistic politics in Turkey, which would isolate
the country and endanger European security. "Turkey ranks among the
top 20 economies of the world, and is by far stronger in that aspect
than EU-members such as Sweden, Poland or Belgium," he said.

In regard to the education debate sparked by Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdogan’s demand for Turkish language schools in Germany,
Schroeder said, "Children who speak perfect German as well as perfect
Turkish are an asset for Germany because Turkey is an important
political, cultural and economic partner."

Schroeder also supported Erdogan’s suggestion of encouraging the
integration of Turkish migrants in Germany by fostering bilingual
schools and increasing the number of teachers of Turkish background
who have graduated form German universities.

German-Turkish schools could help overcome deficits in integration
and make Germany more international, Schroeder said.

"But of course all children, including those with a migration
background, should be fully proficient in German," he said.

TURKISH LAWYER DEMANDS RECOGNITION OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

news.am
March 31 2010
Armenia

Turkish lawyer Bendal Celil Ezman appealed to the Turkish court,
demanding the recognition of the Armenian Genocide, condemnation of
Talat Pasha and renaming of streets with the latter’s name.

Haberturk reports, that the lawyer participated in a
signature-gathering "Forgive us, Armenians" campaign. He insisted that
in 1915 Armenians fell victims to the planned pogroms. The lawyer
pointed out that he was denied to be given the documents on the
trials held in 1918 and 1922, when those responsible for displacing
Armenians in April and May 1915 were found guilty. "Turkey should face
its history. It is the first time Turkey hears such a case," he said.

TURKISH LAWYER ASKS ANKARA COURT TO RECOGNIZE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

HULIQ
March 31 2010
SC

A top notch lawyer in Turkey has urged the the court in Ankara and
the government of Turkey to recognize the Armenian Genocide and remove
all the statues of the former interior minister Talat Pasha from the
country as one of the organizers of the Armenian Genocide.

This may be one of the very rare cases when the Armenian genocide
discussion moves from parliaments to legal field in courts. In a very
rare case, the Armenian genocide discussion moves from parliament
to a legal field in court. Most importantly, the case originated in
Turkey’s capital, Ankara.

According one of the top Turkish newspapers Haberturk, a famous
Turkish lawyer Bendal Jalil Ezman petitioned the Turkish government
and the court to recognize the Armenian Genocide whcih happened in
1915-1921 and remove all the statues of Talat Pasha from the country
as well as rename all the street names that are named after him.

According to the Ezman, after examining the events of those years he
came to the conclusion that Talaat Pasha actually committed a crime
and is the author of the Armenian Genocide.

Thus, with this connection, Ezman asks the court in Turkey to qualify
those horrific events of killing 1.5 million Armenians as genocide. He
said Armenian citizens of the Ottoman Empire were systematically
slaughtered and Turkey should face its past.

"Turkey must face its past. Such a case is opened for the first time in
Turkey," said attorney Ezman. Asked if he fears any negative reaction
he said "if it comes, predestination is something in my head."

More members of the Turkish society have come forward in the recent
years acknowledging the Armenian Genocide. As the society aspires for
European Union membership and the government proceeds more democratic
reforms and opening discussions about the past are being made possible
and more people learn about the past dark pages of the Ottoman period
when 1.5 million Armenians were slaughtered and deported from their
living place and thus deprived from their fatherland in Eastern
Anatolia as part of a systematic ethnic cleansing program carried be
the government of Young Turks. More than 20 parliaments in the world
have called those events genocide.

It’s unknown when the court will consider Ezman’s lawsuit.

Submitted by Armen Hareyan on Wed, 2010-03-31 13:58

-asks-ankara-court-recognize-armenian-genocide

‘SUMGAIT. FEBRUARY OF 1988’ PART II NEAR COMPLETION

Aysor
March 31 2010
Armenia

Works on shooting the documentary "Sumgait. February of 1988" —
Part II of the "Ordinary Genocide" series — are nearing completion,
project’s director Mrs. Marina Grigorian told journalists. She said
that the film crew found out numerous video and photos, casting light
on unknown details of those massacres and crimes committed against
Armenian population of Azerbaijan’s city of Sumgait in February 27-29
of 1988.

"We’ve found out shootings by Prosecutor General’s Office of the USSR,
court’s cases and investigation documents, consisting of photos of
bodies of killed people. These pics make it clear that the real number
of victims was more, than it had been reported," she said.

"And the most important thing is that we found out documents, referring
to facts that the Sumgait Massacres were planned, scheduled, organized,
committed and controlled by Azerbaijani authorities with Heydar Aliyev
on head," Marina Grigorian added.

Documentary’s premiere is scheduled to be screened by the state
television of Armenia in the first decade of April, by the 18th
anniversary of tragic massacre in Maraga village of Nagorno Karabakh.

"Ordinary Genocide" Part I was screened in January – morning days for
victims of massacres and mass killings against Armenians of Azerbaijan.

"Ordinary Genocide" series is a project supported by the Center for
Public Relations and Communications of Armenia’s State Administration.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

AZERBAIJAN DEPORTS TURKISH CITIZENS

news.am
March 31 2010
Armenia

A Baku court made a decision on the deportation of Turkish citizens —
Mehmet Soylemez, his brother Faysal Soylemez and their relative Deniz
Dashdemir from the country.

The investigation found that people lived in the Narimanov district
in Baku. The brothers were detained on January 26. As a result of
a search, law-enforcers found the national currencies of Armenia,
Syria, Iraq, U.S. and Turkey, political literature, phone cards,
documents and maps.

The Turkish citizens were pleaded guilty of setting up an organized
gang and kidnapping and were on the list of wanted since 2004.

"TERRITORIES CAN BE CONCEDED FOR THE KARABAKH SELF-DETERMINATION"

Aysor
March 31 2010
Armenia

ANM leader Ararat Zurabyan told the journalists today that he
attaches great importance to the expression of the NKR disposition and
thinks that it should become a subject of discussion before the NKR
recognition and all the for and against should express their points
of views.

"We are in 2010 already we think that the Armenian authorities today
try to break the issue," Zurabyan told.

The RA former Foreign Minister Alexander Arzumanyan their party speaks
on behalf of the NKR interests. Any decision that the NKR people will
make is acceptable for them.

In the same time he added that in order to get the NKR
self-determination they can withdraw from some of the territories of
the security are. It would be the most comfortable and acceptable way.

ALEXANDER ARZUMANYAN: RAPID DEVELOPMENTS EXPECTED

news.am
March 31 2010
Armenia

The next one or two months will see rapid developments in the
Nagorno-Karabakh peace process, the former Armenian minister of
foreign affairs, member of the Armenian National Congress (ANC)
Alexander Arzumanyan told reporters on March 31, commenting on the
present state in the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process.

"The authorities are, as the saying is, playing the ass, waiting
for ass to choose between two bundles of hay," he said. They assumed
responsibility, they are giving promises and are ready to do anything
to retain their posts, Arzumanyan said. Now it is time for keeping
the promises, and no one is going to allow them to go back on their
promises," he said. Authorities will be unmasked – they are trying to
deceive the entire international community – or the Armenian society
will realize what is going on," he said.

According to Arzumanyan, none of the principles on the table meets
the interest of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh. "Any solution the
Nagorno-Karabakh people will consent to is acceptable to us," he said.

NO BREAKTHROUGH EXPECTED IN WASHINGTON: ARZUMANYAN

news.am
March 31 2010
Armenia

The Armenian society’s expectations about a possible Sargsyan-Erdogan
meeting in Washington are a bit exaggerated, the former Foreign
Minister of Armenia Alexander Arzumanyan told journalists on March
31, commenting on the rumors that the destiny of the Armenia-Turkey
process lies in Washington.

"I do not expect any change in Turkey’s stance. Turkey clearly declared
at the highest level that it is ready to ratify the Protocols provided
the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process registers a breakthrough,"
Arzumanyan said. "I do not expect any breakthrough in the next
fortnight," he said.

According to him, nothing but an empty and vague diplomatic statement
may be made in Washington.

As to an impact the U.S. President’s pressure might have on the
Armenia-Turkey reconciliation, Arzumanyan replied: "Today Turkey is
a major partner in the region for the Obama administration and to be
in good relations with Turkey is in U.S. interests. U.S. will in no
way jeopardize them."