Russia, Armenia signed agreement on government loan for ANPP upgrade

ITAR-TASS, Russia
February 6, 2015 Friday 07:57 PM GMT+4

Russia and Armenia signed agreement on government loan for Armenian
Nuclear Power Plant upgrade

MOSCOW February 6.

. Russia and Armenia signed an agreement on financing the extension of
lifetime for the Armenian nuclear power plant, the official website of
the Armenian Government says

The document was signed during the working visit of the prime minister
of Armenia to Russia.

The lifetime extension activities will be funded by a $300 mln Russian
export credit.

Equipment repair, replacement and startup, preparation of operating
documents and staff retraining will be implemented in accordance with
the agreement.

The Armenian nuclear power plant, which is the only such plant in the
region, is situated approximately 30 km southward of the Armenian
capital Yerevan. –0–vnk

Russia allocates 5m-dollar aid to Armenia

Ministry of Foreign Affairs , Russian Federation
Feb 6 2015

Russia allocates 5m-dollar aid to Armenia

Text of report “Press release on the Russian Federation’s development
aid to the Republic of Armenia through the UN Development Programme”
in English by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs website on 6
February

By its directive of January 21, 2015, the Government of the Russian
Federation has allocated over 5m dollars to the UN Development
Programme (UNDP) for the implementation in the Republic of Armenia
between 2015 and 2019 of a project aimed at supporting the
comprehensive development of rural areas and enhancing community
sustainability.

The project envisages a set of measures directed at promoting the
balanced development of Armenia’s Tavush region, increasing
agricultural revenues, reducing poverty, and improving quality of
life. The number of beneficiaries will amount to 62,000.

The Russian funding of as well as expert and technical support for
this project will be the country’s practical contribution to
international efforts to help Armenia achieve the UN Millennium
Development Goals. The project will also further strengthen the
strategic partnership between Russia and Armenia.

February 4, 2015

From: Baghdasarian

Three killed in new Azerbaijan-Armenia clashes

Agence France Presse
February 6, 2015 Friday 3:56 PM GMT

Three killed in new Azerbaijan-Armenia clashes

Yerevan, Feb 6 2015

Three people were killed in renewed clashes between Azerbaijani and
Armenian forces over the disputed Nagorny Karabakh region, officials
from both countries said Friday.

The victims included an Armenian civilian killed in his courtyard by
Azerbaijani shelling on villages along the Karabakh border, Armenian
defence ministry spokesman Artsrun Hovannisian told AFP.

In a separate incident along the Karabakh frontline, a 25-year-old
soldier was killed by Azerbaijani fire, the separatist enclave’s
defence ministry said in a statement.

The third victim was an Azerbaijani soldier killed on Thursday in a
shootout with Armenian forces, the defence ministry in Baku said.

Azerbaijan and Armenia are locked in a decades-long conflict over
Nagorny Karabakh, an ethnic Armenian enclave in Azerbaijan.

Despite years of negotiations, the two sides have not signed a final
peace deal, with Karabakh internationally recognised as part of
Azerbaijan.

Clashes between Azerbaijani and Armenian forces intensified in January
following an unprecedented spiral of violence last year.

Six Armenian soldiers were reported killed last month in similar
incidents on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, and along the Karabakh
frontline.

Ethnic Armenian separatists backed by Yerevan seized control of
Karabakh during a 1990s war that left some 30,000 dead.

Baku, whose military spending exceeds Armenia’s entire state budget,
has threatened to take back the region by force if negotiations fail
to yield results.

Armenia, which is heavily armed by Russia, says it could crush any offensive.

Ilham Aliyev: "My message to Armenia: stop the occupation"

Vestnik Kavkaza, Russia
Feb 7 2015

Ilham Aliyev: “My message to Armenia: stop the occupation”

7 February 2015 – 11:31pm
“Vestnik Kavkaza”

During a round table “Beyond Ukraine – unresolved conflicts in Europe,
held in the framework of the Munich Security Conference, the
representative of Armenia addressed the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham
Aliyev with accusations of firing at the positions of the Armenian
army and increasing tension on the front line and said: “If you want
to resolve the conflict, then my message to you is stop shooting!”
Ilham Aliyev said:

“Armenia has occupied our territory, violated international law,
committed genocide in Khojaly, destroyed our historical and religious
monuments, but it shifts the blame to us. The question is, what are
Armenian soldiers doing in the occupied territories? What have
Armenian soldiers forgotten in Agdam? If he does not want to be
killed, then he shouldn’t go to Agdam. Let him stay in his Yerevan,
Gyumri, in his own country. You have enough space for yourselves in
the country, there are, in fact, not so many people left. So what are
you doing in Agdam, what are you doing in Fizuli?

The year 2014 was generally remarkable in terms of the activity of
intermediaries in the negotiations. President Putin organized a
meeting between President Sargsyan and me in August. Already in
September, Secretary of State [John] Kerry organized a round of
negotiations with the Armenian president and me. Finally, at the end
of October, President Hollande invited us to Paris, where we had, I
would say, an excellent, very constructive meeting. Both parties then
stated that they considered this meeting a great success and will try
to reduce tension on the frontline. What happened then? After less
than ten days, Armenia began military exercises on the occupied
territories, particularly in Agdam, with the participation, according
to the Armenian media, of 47 thousand soldiers. They organized
manoeuvres in occupied territory with the use of military equipment,
aircraft and helicopters. For three days our army remained patient
enough not to respond, but then Armenia with the help of its Mi-24
helicopters attacked Azerbaijan’s position. Our army had to respond
and one of the helicopters was shot down. For Armenia, it was an
occasion to accuse Azerbaijan. With this provocation, it showed
disrespect to the leaders of France, Russia and the United States that
have made so much effort to reduce tensions. Armenia thinks itcan do
anything, and no one will punish it. This is the main reason behind
Armenia’s behavior.

Now they are blaming us, saying, Do not shoot!. So, my message to
Armenia is: end the occupation.” As soon as you stop the occupation,
we will have peace, cooperation and reconciliation. And the reason why
it is not happening is because the Armenian soldier is still in Agdam
and Fisuli.”

From: Baghdasarian

http://vestnikkavkaza.net/interviews/politics/65960.html

Organizers: We’ve proved skeptics wrong on inaugural European Games

Greenfield Daily Reporter, Indiana
Feb 7 2015

Organizers: We’ve proved skeptics wrong on inaugural European Games in Baku

By STEPHEN WILSON AP Sports Writer

LONDON — Organizers of the inaugural European Games believe they have
defied the skeptics who questioned the need for another multi-sports
event in an already-crowded calendar.

Baku is in the final months of preparing to host Europe’s first
Olympic-style continental games from June 12-28 in the Azerbaijani
capital along the Caspian Sea.

“When we got permission to do a feasibility study for these games six
or eight years ago, many laughed and joked and thought this would
never happen,” Patrick Hickey, president of the European Olympic
Committees, said Friday. “Now we’re in the final straight.”

Hickey was the driving force behind the creation of the European
Games, which is patterned after established continental events like
the Asian Games, Pan American Games and All-Africa Games.

With Europe already having top-level continental championships in
athletics, swimming, basketball, soccer and gymnastics, doubters have
wondered whether there is a place for a European Games.

“There was a degree of skepticism about the games at the beginning,
but we have addressed all those points,” said Simon Clegg, a former
British Olympic official who serves as chief operating officer for
Baku’s organizing committee. “There is now a universal enthusiasm for
this event across the more than 50 European NOCs.”

“I am sure there are still some skeptics out there,” Clegg added.
“They will be overcome when they see the scale of this event.”

More than 6,000 athletes from about 50 countries will be competing in
20 sports in 253 medal events. Eleven of the sports will offer
qualifying spots for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

However, the top European athletes in track and field and swimming
won’t be competing in Baku.

“We knew that from the start,” Hickey said in a conference call with
reporters from Baku. “We didn’t have a lot of time on our side. But we
are very happy with that we have. The original idea was to have a
maximum of 10 sports. We’ve jumped to 20 and have refused some
sports.”

Hickey said the next European Games in 2019 will feature top track and
swimming stars. The venue for those games has yet to be determined.
Hickey said the EOC is in discussions with six potential host cities,
with a decision to be announced as early as next week or in May at the
latest.

The officials spoke at the close of the fifth and final coordination
commission meeting in Baku ahead of the games.

“We are confident these games will be a big success and put Azerbaijan
on the map as an organizer of major sports and multi-sports events,”
said Spyros Capralos, chairman of the coordination panel.

Azerbaijan officials believe the games could be a springboard for a
Baku bid for the 2024 Olympics. Baku bid for the 2016 and 2020 Games
but failed to make the short list of finalists. The deadline for
submission of 2024 bids to the IOC is Sept. 15.

Clegg said television agreements had been reached in 33 European
territories, with minimum guaranteed coverage of 5 hours a day. Clegg
said he expects a broadcast deal for the United States to be announced
in the next two weeks.

The games will be held in a country under scrutiny for its record on
human rights and press freedoms.

Azerbaijan recently detained a prominent investigative journalist
whose reporting often featured the business dealings of top
politicians in the country. Many activists and independent journalists
have been jailed since the country’s independence from the Soviet
Union in 1991.

“I have all the assurances from authorities at the highest level that
the principles of the Olympic Charter will be protected throughout the
games,” Hickey said. “We’re very satisfied with the assurances I have
received. I am confident they will follow through on their promise.”

Hickey also said Azerbaijan will welcome athletes from neighboring
Armenia, despite the conflict over the dispute over the sovereignty of
the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

Hickey and IOC President Thomas Bach visited Armenia recently.

“We gave them assurances they would be treated with utmost respect,”
he said. “The authorities here have kept their word on this. I don’t
see any problem.”

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

http://www.greenfieldreporter.com/view/story/bcfa448a413346fa9b4c2492a28c8e90/OLY–European-Games

Jews in Turkey: Unending Discrimination

Gatestone Institute
Feb 7 2015

Jews in Turkey: Unending Discrimination

by Uzay Bulut
February 7, 2015 at 5:00 am

The Jewish homes in Israel are not an obstacle to peace. The only
obstacle to peace is the hatred of Israel’s neighbors.

Many of us in other countries in the Middle East see Israel as the
only light of freedom and democracy in the midst of darkness,
terrorism and hatred in the region.

The concept of real freedom and democracy seems foreign to
anti-Semites. From here, it looks as if many of these self-proclaimed
liberals have a self-congratulatory concept of what is right and wrong
as closed-minded, un-free and un-democratic as that of the most rigid
tyrant.

When people show solidarity with the Muslim Brotherhood or Hamas, or
with those who jail, try or flog people for free speech, it just
further proves Israel’s rightfulness and legitimacy.

You would defend yourself against incoming rockets; why shouldn’t
they? Israel has nothing to apologize for.

It is really hard to please the Jew-haters.

When Jews cannot protect themselves because they do not have a
military, they are “cowards” and are persecuted in Turkey and
worldwide. When they do protect themselves, thanks to their military,
they are “oppressors.”

To anti-Semitic or anti-Israel people, Israel is the problem.

Many of us in other countries in the Middle East, on the contrary, see
Israel as the only light of freedom and democracy in the midst of
darkness, terrorism and hatred in the region.

Just recently, on January 12, Mahmoud Abbas, a Holocaust denier and
terrorism glorifier, met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan
in Ankara.

Before that, on December 29, Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal spoke to the
congress of the ruling AKP and said “Inshallah we will liberate
Palestine and Jerusalem again in the future.”

The crowd in the congress shouted slogans “Mujahid Mashaal,” “Hamas, I
[am ready to] lay down my life for you” and “Down with Israel!”

The problem is: the concept of real freedom and democracy seems
foreign to anti-Semites. From here, it looks as if many of these
self-proclaimed liberals have a self-congratulatory concept of what is
right and wrong as closed-minded, un-free and un-democratic as that of
the most rigid tyrant. When people refer to Israel as “the problem,”
they imply that the existence of Jews is the problem.

When people show solidarity with the Muslim Brotherhood or Hamas, or
with those jail, try or flog people for free speech, it just further
proves Israel’s rightfulness and legitimacy.

When people in this region say, “Down with Israel” it really means: We
do not want democracy; we do not want equality. We want our own state
to be supreme and we want Jews to be stateless and defenseless. We do
not want the wisdom or knowledge of Jews. We just need more darkness,
arrogance and enmity. We are as ignorant as can be and we are happy
this way. And if possible, we want another Holocaust, just as Hamas
calls for it. At the same time, we definitely want peace. And this is
our understanding of peace.

Israel is where the ancestors of the Jews lived, learned and toiled.
Jews need to be there not only to be safe from further massacres but
also to learn in the light of their ancestors — who brought what are
among the first laws of social justice to the word after Hammurabi. It
is right there, all you have to do is read it. Pay the day-laborer by
sunset. Do not cook the lamb in the milk of its mother. Do not steal.
Do not murder. There are books more of them. These are the genuine
messages of freedom.

Jews are Israel’s indigenous people and they have extended their hand
in peace to both Palestinians and others many times — and been
rejected. You would defend yourself against incoming rockets; why
shouldn’t they? Israel has nothing to apologize for.

There is a popular belief that anti-Semitism had not been promoted in
Turkey until the current Islamist Justice and Development Party [AKP]
took power in 2002. However, taking a closer look at the lives of Jews
in modern Turkey makes it clear that this was just a myth. The truth
is that to be a Jew in Turkey seems to mean having been exposed to
more than 90 years of systematic discrimination including pogroms,
forced assimilation, and prohibitions against the use of their native
language.

On November 21, 2014, MEMRI [Middle East Media Research Institute]
published a must-read special dispatch entitled, “Anti-Semitism Hits
New High In Turkey: Threats Against Turkish Jews, Expressions Of
Admiration For Hitler, Calls For Jews To Be Sent To Concentration
Camps; Jews Should Pay A ‘Special Tax’.”

“At the same time that President Erdogan was denying, in his September
22, 2014 speech at the Council of Foreign Relations, that he or his
government were in any way anti-Semitic,” the dispatch read, “members
of his party back home were tweeting praise for Hitler, and shops in
Istanbul were displaying signs reading “No Admittance To Jewish Dogs.”

As MEMRI points out, it is obvious that under the AKP government,
anti-Semitism in Turkey has been hitting new high. But these gruesome
realities are not the product only of the Islamist AKP, nor are they
first in Turkey’s history.

Jews in Turkey were already sent to forced-labor battalions in
1941-1942, required to pay a special tax in 1942-1944, and exposed to
forced assimilation in Turkey. They were systematically subjected to
hate speech in the Turkish press, which also played a role in the 1934
anti-Jewish pogrom in Eastern Thrace. With the enforcement of the
surname law, Jewish children had to change their names and surnames
and adopt Turkish sounding names. Ladino, the language of Turkey’s
Jews, was also banned by the Turkish regime. Since 1923, when the
Turkish Republic was established, Jews have systematically been
discriminated against (as well as all other non-Muslim communities),
and Jews have been deprived of their freedom of movement at least
three times: in 1923, 1925 and 1927.

The Turkish republic had been founded by the so-called “secular”
Republican People’s Party [CHP], now the main opposition party in
Turkey’s parliament.

Although anti-Semitism during the AKP’s rule has been widely reported
by the media, anti-Semitism during and after the establishment period
of the Turkish Republic has been largely overlooked.

In Turkey, anti-Semitism has a long history among state authorities,
opinion shapers, political circles (both right- and left-wing),
Islamist and non-Islamist groups, and particularly in the media. Not a
single Turkish university has a Jewish- or Holocaust-studies
department. The reestablishment of the Jewish state in 1948 just
turned anti-Semitism into anti-Zionism, which seems to be an implicit,
disingenuous kind of anti-Semitism.

>From the time of the founded of the Republic of Turkey in 1923, until
1950, when the first national elections took place, these practices
were carried out by the non-Islamist governments of the Republican
People’s Party [CHP], which established the Turkish state.

It is impossible to mention all the anti-Semitic incidents in Turkey
in one article, but a short chronology of the most important
developments relating to Jews would help one realize what kind of a
life Jews were forced to live in Turkey for decades.

Traditional Anti-Semitism in Turkish Media

The historian Ayse Hur, based on the comprehensive writings of
independent scholar Rifat Bali, recounted some of the anti-Semitic
campaigns of the Turkish press during the first decades of the Turkish
Republic.[1]

In January 1923, the Turkish Voice (Türk Sesi) and Burnt Land (Yanık
Yurt) newspapers, published in the province of Izmir, called on
Turkish traders to struggle against “the immoral and sordid Jewish
threat.” The pieces claimed that the Jews were the breeding ground for
germs in Turkey and especially in Izmir. Then Akbaba, a satirical
magazine, joined the chorus, publishing a series of pieces which
featured titles such as “haven’t you heard that you should not do
business with the Jews,” and “Shall we allow these germs to live with
us?”

In December 1925, after the rumors were spread that at least 300 Jews
sent a telegram to the celebrations of the 435th anniversary of
Columbus’ discovering America, an anti-Semitic campaign was started in
mainstream newspapers. The published pieces referred to Jews as
“ungrateful” and as “leeches who cling on the back of the country,”
and suggested that they be exiled as a solution. Some people provoked
by those writings killed a young Jew and attacked the synagogue in the
town of Kuzguncuk.[2] Whether such a telegram was ever sent remains
unknown.

In January 1937, the fascistic and national-socialistic waves of
Europe arrived in Turkey: A German Information Office was opened in
Istanbul. Türkische Post and Cumhuriyet (The Republic) newspapers
started to repeat Nazi propaganda.

In August 1938, the government issued decree No.# 2/9498, which read:
“The Jews who are exposed to pressures in terms of living conditions
and travelling in the states of which they are nationals are forbidden
to enter and live in Turkey regardless of their current religion.”
Twenty six Jewish employees of the Anatolian News Agency, then the
only official news agency of Turkey, were dismissed. There was a
massive increase in the number of articles and cartoons in newspapers
and magazines that held minorities, especially Jews, responsible for
the problems that Turkey was going through.

On December 28,1939, a powerful earthquake hit the province of
Erzincan in Turkey, killing tens of thousands of people. Upon hearing
that, Jewish communities in Tel Aviv, Haifa, Buenos Aries, New York,
Geneva, Cairo and Alexandria collected money and clothes among
themselves and sent them to Turkey. Instead of appreciating this act,
articles and cartoons ridiculed it and suggested bad intentions.

In 1948, when Jews wanted to go to the newly-founded State of Israel,
Turkey’s state and state-directed media, which had done everything in
their power to make the Jews flee Turkey, now referred to those
wanting to emigrate as “traitors.”

Ancestry Codes of Armenians, Greeks and Jews

Research by the daily newspaper Radikal and interviews with officials
has revealed a century-long saga of discrimination in Turkey.
According to Radikal’s findings, Turkey has been secretly assigning
codes its Armenian, Greek, Jewish, Syriac and other non-Muslim
minorities ever since the establishment of the Turkish Republic. The
Population Directorate of Turkey codes Greeks using the number 1,
Armenians 2 and Jews 3.

“This is obviously a scandal that should shake Turkey to its core, but
the country is so busy with its own agenda,” wrote Orhan Kemal Cengiz,
a human rights lawyer and columnist in his column on Al Monitor.

“Given Turkey’s history, which is full of unfair practices toward
non-Muslims, perhaps the significance of this scandal can best be
understood through comparison. For a moment, imagine that Jews in
Germany today were secretly being identified through coding by the
German government and that this was exposed. It would register as a
political earthquake big enough to shake the German political system
down to its roots. In contrast, the scandal in Turkey remained in the
news only for a few days in a few newspapers.”

Laws that excluded Jews and other non-?Muslims from certain professions

Even in the beginning of 1923 and 1924, foreign companies and banks
were required to employ only Turkish-Muslim citizens and to dismiss
non-Muslims. Greeks, Jews and Armenians were dismissed in groups
without being paid.

On January 24, 1924, “being Turkish” became the requirement for
working as a pharmacist in accordance with a new law relating to
pharmacists.[3]

On April 3, 1924, in accordance with the law of lawyers, 960 lawyers
were evaluated as to whether they had good morals. As a result of the
evaluation, work permits of 460 lawyers were cancelled. Thus, 57% of
Jewish lawyers, and three out of four Greek and Armenian lawyers, lost
their jobs.[4]

In the 4th article of the 1926 law on civil servants, it was stated
that only “Turks” could work at public institutions. The law included
all employees in public institutions, from tramway drivers to harbor
workers. Due to this law, thousands of non-Muslims lost their jobs.

During 1928, new laws about requirements for carrying out certain jobs
were enacted. According to these laws, only “Turkish” citizens could
be doctors, dentists, midwives, nurses and so on.

The “Turkish citizens” in these laws referred only to “ethnic Turks.”
So to carry out these jobs, one had to be not only Muslim but an
“ethnic Turk.”

On April 22, 1926, after a law was enacted that made Turkish the only
language of commercial correspondence, non-Muslims who were working in
administrative bodies and did not have a full command of written
Turkish, were dismissed.

On June 11, 1932, the Turkish parliament enacted law #2007, which
prohibited foreigners from many jobs. The law read[5]:

The jobs and services mentioned below can be carried out by Turkish
citizens alone. It is prohibited for those who are not Turkish
citizens to carry out these jobs and services:

A.) being a peddler; musician; photographer; hairdresser; compositor;
estate agent; dress, hat and shoe manufacturer; stock trader; seller
of products which are under state monopoly; translator; guide; working
in construction, iron and wooden works; working permanently or
temporarily on public vehicles; working in the fields of water,
lighting, central heating, mailing and telecommunication sectors;
loading and commissioning [in ships];working as a driver and turnboy;
doing assistant works in general; being a watchman, janitor or
headwaiter at all kinds of companies, businesses, hotels and firms;
working at hotels, motels, public baths, cafes; being a waiter at
clubs, dance halls, or pubs, dancer or singer at pubs.

b.) Being a veterinarian and chemist.

This “law of occupations” was the most extreme law of the Kemalist
government after the proclamation of the new Republic in 1923.

Employment bans were also big obstacle for refugees exiled from
Germany. They were trying to find jobs that had not been banned, or to
make use of legal loopholes. Some of them — particularly women —
received residence permits for marriages with Turkish men. If Turkish
authorities learned that the marriages were “fake,” women were faced
with the danger of being deported.[6]

“Citizen, Speak Turkish!” Campaign, Prohibitions against Ladino and
Forced Assimilation

On January 13, 1928, the student union at the Law School in the
Ottoman University (today’s Istanbul University) launched a campaign
to prohibit the use in public of all languages other than Turkish.

The campaigners placed posters in many cities across Turkey with the
slogan “Citizen, speak Turkish!” Some other signs proclaimed, “We
cannot call a Turk those who do not speak Turkish” or “Speak Turkish
or leave the country!” Hundreds of people were harassed in public,
given fines or arrested, with full support of the government.[7]

Isil Demirel, a Turkish anthropologist, examined the process by which
Turkish replaced Ladino as the mother tongue of Sephardic Jews in
Turkey.[8] “The Jews were exposed to great pressures during the
attempts of spreading Turkish in 1920s,” Demirel wrote. “Since Turkish
was starting to be used among Jews instead of Ladino, cultural
differences emerged between the old generation, who used Ladino as
their mother tongue, and the young generation who were raised with
Turkish. Ladino, which is a dying language in Turkey today, is used
only by Jews older than 50, and embodies a rooted and long-running
culture.”

Demirel quoted a Sephardic Jew who experienced the “Citizen, Speak
Turkish!” campaign: “When you spoke two words of Spanish (Ladino) back
then, they immediately raised their hands. ‘Heeeeyyy Madame, Monsieur!
Citizen, speak Turkish!,’ they shouted or they had sticks behind them
and shook them at you.”

In another forced-assimilation campaign, in November 1932, every Jew
in the province of Izmir was made to sign an agreement in which they
promised “to embrace the Turkish culture and speak the Turkish
language.” This was followed by the Jews in the provinces of Bursa,
Kiklareli, Edirne, Adana, Diyarbakir and Ankara. Newspapers were
filled with reports of Jewish (and Armenian) girls who were converting
to Islam in groups.

1934 Anti-Jewish Pogroms in Eastern Thrace

The pogroms, in June 21- July 4, 1934, occurred in the provinces of
Tekirdag, Edirne, Kirklareli, and Canakkale in Eastern Thrace, and
were initiated by articles written by Pan-Turkic authors Cevat Rıfat
Atilhan and Nihal Atsız. The pogroms began with a boycott of Jewish
businesses, and were followed by physical attacks on Jewish-owned
buildings, which were first looted, then set on fire. Jews were
beaten, attacked and some Jewish women were reportedly raped.

In terror, more than 15,000 Jews fled the region. Anti-Semitic
pressures on the Jewish communities at schools, markets and state
institutions, even after the pogroms, lingered on. A “confidential”
circular sent by the headquarters of the ruling CHP to its local
branches in Eastern Thrace also revealed that the government had at
least condoned the pogroms.

Turkey during the Holocaust

During the Holocaust, Turkey opened its doors to very few Jewish and
political refugees. The attempts of many famous people or Jewish
organizations to make Turkey accept more Jewish refugees bore no
result. That is the reason Turkey is not in the statistics of
countries to which Jewish refugees fled.[9]

In 1937, Turkey took measures to prevent Jewish immigration. When the
number of Jewish refugees increased rapidly in 1938, Turkey enacted
two laws that prohibited people with no passport or citizenship
documents from entering and settling in Turkey. These laws were not
openly related to Jews. But behind them was the reality that Germany
and other countries had stripped Jews of their citizenship rights. On
29 August 1938, the Turkish government issued a policy letter
preventing “Jews whose rights had been limited in their countries”
from entering Turkey.[10]

Tragedies of Jewish Refugees

The historians Corry Guttstadt and Rifat Bali reported the tragedies
of Jewish refugees who were trying to escape Nazi persecution and
reach Israel, their historic homeland, during the Holocaust.[11]

On August 8, 1939, the ship, Parita, had to dock in the province of
Izmir, due to some problems it had experienced while carrying 800
Jewish refugees from Germany, Poland and Czechoslovakia to the land of
Israel (then, under the British mandate, called Palestine). The Jewish
refugees sat for a week off the coast of Izmir with no coal, water or
food. The ship was denied a berth in the port and the captain was
finally forced, after threats from the Turkish police, to sail on.

Turkish satirical magazines such as Karikatür and Akbaba ridiculed the
Jewish refugees who sought refuge throughout the world in vain. The
caricature on the cover of the Akbaba from August 24, 1939, referred
to the Jewish refugees on the Parita. The caption had one of the Jews
saying: “We are hungry and out of money. For God’s sake, allow us to
disembark for five minutes to get rich.” After the ship had left the
coast of Izmir, the semi-official daily Ulus wrote, “The Jews who have
been roaming around here have finally left.”

On December 6, 1940, a ship named Salvador, traveling to the land of
Israel from Varna, in Bulgaria, arrived in Istanbul with 327 Czech and
Bulgarian Jews aboard it. The Salvador was forced out to sea on
December 12, despite bad weather, only to sink same day during a heavy
storm off the coast of Silivri, on the Sea of Marmara. As a
consequence, 204 people drowned, at least 70 of them children.

On December 15, 1941, the Struma ship, in an effort to save 769
Romanian Jews from the German extermination, had left Constanza harbor
to carry them to the land of Israel, and tried to dock in Istanbul.
Not only was the ship completely overloaded but it was also not
seaworthy because of a defective engine. A banner which read “Save Us”
was fastened to the ship. For 70 days during the winter months of
1941-1942, Turkey did not allow it to dock; those on the ship
struggled against disease and deaths off the coast of Istanbul, near
Sarayburnu. The ship’s anchor finally was cut, and the ship fastened
to a pilot boat, to be drawn away to the Black Sea.

With no motor, fuel, food, water or medicine, the Struma was abandoned
to its fate and was towed into the open sea. On February 24, 1942, it
was torpedoed by a Soviet submarine at 2:00 a.m. Only one person
survived. After the incident, then Prime Minister Refik Saydam said:
“Turkey cannot become the home of those who are not wanted by anyone
else.”

Labor Battalions of Non-Muslims (1941-1942)

On April 22, 1941, 12,000 non-Muslims, including Jewish men between
the ages of 27 and 40, were sent in extreme hot weather as soldiers to
camps with no infrastructure and a shortage of water, which were
infested with mosquitoes, dampness, mud — all of which spread
malaria. Those soldiers, also known as “the Twenty Classes,” were not
given guns. They were forced to wear the clothes of garbagemen and to
work endless hours, and were insulted and ridiculed as “infidel
soldiers.” Even blind and physically disabled persons were
conscripted. They were made to work under terrible conditions at
places such as tunnel constructions in Zonguldak and in the
construction of the Youth Park in Ankara. There was hard labor, such
as rock crushing and road construction in the provinces of Afyon,
Karabuk, Konya, and Kutahya. The “Twenty Classes” were discharged on
June 27,1942.[12]

“Due to the poor conditions during the service there were deaths and
diseases among the conscripts,” reported the Turkologist Ruben H.
Melkonyan.

The prevailing and widespread point of view on the matter was that,
wishing to participate in World War II, Turkey gathered in advance all
unreliable non-Turkish men regarded as a potential “fifth column”,
wrote Melkonyan.

The Law of Wealth Tax (1942-1944)

On November 11, 1942, the government, led by then PM Sukru Saracoglu,
enacted a Wealth Tax law, with the stated aim of overcoming the
economic problems that had emerged during World War II. 87% of tax
payers, however, were non-Muslims.

“The real reason for the Wealth Tax was the elimination of non-Muslims
from the economy, wrote Basak Ince, an Assistant Professor of
political science.[13]

Taxpayers were divided into four separate groups according to their
religious background:

M, for Muslims,
G, for non-Muslims,
E, for foreigners,
D, for converts.

The amount of taxes to be paid by Armenian traders was 232%, by Jewish
traders was 179%, by Greek traders was 156%. Only 4.94% of Turkish
Muslims had to pay the wealth tax. So those who suffered most severely
were non-Muslims such as the Jews, Greeks, Armenians, and Levantines;
it was the Armenians who were most heavily taxed.

The Turkish researcher Ridvan Akar refers to the wealth tax as an
economic genocide against minorities. [14]

The law was also imposed on poor non-Muslims, such as drivers, workers
and even beggars, whereas their Muslim counterparts were not required
to pay anything. Non-Muslims had to pay their taxes within 15 days, in
cash. People unable to pay were sent to forced labor camps in eastern
Anatolia.

“And those unable to pay were packed off to a camp at Askale, near
Erzerum — an area cooler than Moscow in the winter — where they were
put to work breaking stones,” reported the author Sidney Nowill.[15]

The historian Corry Guttstadt, in her book Turkey, the Jews, and the
Holocaust, wrote that “Although the law stipulated that people over 55
years old were exempt from labor service, 75 and 80 year old men and
even sick people were dragged to the train station and deported.”

These taxes ruined the lives and finances of many non-Muslim families;
there were a number of suicides of non-Muslims in Istanbul. “Some
people committed suicide in despair,” Guttstadt wrote.

Of the people who were sent to the labor camps, 21 died there; the
Turkish government confiscated their assets and sold them to Turkish
Muslims at low prices.[16] “The Wealth Tax was withdrawn in March
1944, under the pressure of criticism from Britain and the United
States,” Ince reported.

Murders and Unjust Trials

On August 17, 1927, Elza Niyego, a 22-year-old Jewish woman, was
stabbed to death by Osman Ratip Bey, a married man, age 42, who had
proposed her but was rejected. The dead body of the young woman was
left out for three hours in the street. Elza’s mother was not allowed
to cover her daughter’s dead body, an order that aroused a great
reaction among the Jewish community. Masses who joined the funeral on
18 August shouted, “We want justice!”. After the funeral, attended by
crowd whose number was estimated to range between 10 to 25 thousand,
the Cumhuriyet (Republic) newspaper started an intense anti-Semitic
campaign. The Cumhuriyet and other newspapers featured headlines which
referred to Jews as “the ungrateful” or “the arrogant.”

At the end of the trial, the murderer Osman Ratip Bey was sent to a
mental asylum, but not to prison. Nine Jews and a Russian witness of
the murder, however, were brought to court for “insulting
Turkishness,” and four were imprisoned. And once again, the freedom of
movement of Jews across Anatolia was denied by the government, as of
29 August 1927.

On January 30, 1947, all members of a Jewish family, which consisted
of seven people, were found dead in the Kendirli neighborhood of the
province of Urfa. The Jewish community of Urfa was held responsible
for the murder, and all Jewish men in the city were arrested.
Throughout the trials, the people of Urfa boycotted Jews. The Jews who
were arrested were released after three years but the Jews of Urfa had
to leave the city.

Jews in Turkey Today

Jews in Turkey, even under Kemalist, non-Islamic governments, were
exposed to severe and systematic discrimination for decades. Today,
under an Islamist government, they are feeling unsafe and threatened
again. Many people from Turkey’s Jewish community are leaving the
country or planning to, a prominent businessman from the community
wrote in a December 2014 article for the Istanbul-based Jewish
newspaper, Salom. Mois Gabay, a professional in the tourism industry,
wrote, referring to the murder of Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant
Dink in 2007: “We face threats, attacks and harassment every day. Hope
is fading. Is it necessary for a ‘Hrant among us’ to be shot in order
for the government, the opposition, civil society, our neighbors and
jurists to see this?”

Gabay added that increasing numbers of Turkish Jews are making plans
to move abroad with their families: “Around 37 percent of high school
graduates from the Jewish community in Turkey prefer to go abroad for
higher education … This number doubled this year compared to the
previous years.”

It is not only students who have begun to think about building a life
abroad for their families and children, Gabay wrote, but also young
business people: “Last week, when I was talking to two of my friends
on separate occasions, the conversation turned to our search for
another country to move to. That is to say, my generation is also
thinking more about leaving this country.”

When anti-Semitism turns into anti-Zionism

If there had been a Jewish state while all this persecution had been
taking place, Jews could have gone there in time of need.

Had there been such a state before the Holocaust, European Jews could
have sought refuge. Had they had a military, they could have defended
themselves from the Nazis.

After all this persecution and discrimination against Jews, the
anti-Semitic tradition of Turkey still continues. In 2005, Mein Kampf,
by Adolf Hitler, became a best seller in Turkey after it was published
by 13 publishing houses.

Jewish homes being built in Israel are not an obstacle to peace. The
only obstacle to peace is the hatred from Israel’s neighbors.

Uzay Bulut, born a Muslim, is a Turkish journalist based in Ankara.

________________________________

[1] Hur, Ayse , 8 February 2009, “Isolated (!) Incidents of
Anti-Semitism.” Taraf Newspaper.
Bali, Rifat (1999). Turkish Jews in the Republican Years – An
Adventure of Turkification (1923-1945). Iletisim Publishing House.
Bali, Rifat (2001). The Children of Moses, The Citizens of the
Republic. Iletisim.
Bali, Rifat (2004). The Jews of the State and the “Other” Jew. Iletisim.

[2] Ibid

[3] Hur, Ayse, 22 January 2012, “The ‘minority report’ of the
Republic.” Taraf Newspaper.

[4] Ibid

[5] Yabancılara ÇalıÅ?ma YasaÄ?ı

[6] Ibid

[7] Bali, Rifat (1999). Turkish Jews in the Republican Years – An
Adventure of Turkification (1923-1945). Iletisim Publishing House.
Ince, Basak (2012). Citizenship and Identity in Turkey: From Atatürk’s
Republic to the Present Day. I. B. Tauris.

[8] Demirel, Isil (2011). “Ladino: Turkey is Forgetting a Language.”
Atlas Magazine.

[9] Türkiye’de Sürgün

[10] Ibid

[11] Guttstadt, Corry (2013). Turkey, the Jews, and the Holocaust.
Cambridge University Press. Bali, Rifat (2004). The Jews of the State
and the “Other” Jew. Iletisim.

[12] Bali, Rifat (2008). The Twenty Classes: The Episode of Military
Service of Non-Muslims during the Second World War. Kitabevi
Publishing House.

[13] Ince, Basak (2012). Citizenship and Identity in Turkey: From
Atatürk’s Republic to the Present Day. I. B. Tauris.

[14] “Report: The law that coveted the ‘wealth’ of minorities,” by
Zeynep Ozakat, Milliyet newspaper, 15/12/2009.

[15] Nowill, Sidney E. P. (2011). Constantinople and Istanbul: 72
Years of Life in Turkey. Matador.

[16] Ince, Basak (2012). Citizenship and Identity in Turkey: From
Atatürk’s Republic to the Present Day. I. B. Tauris.

From: A. Papazian

http://www.annefrank.de/mensch/tr/dorothea-brander/schwerpunktthemen/exil-in-der-tuerkei/
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/5175/jews-turkey-discrimination

Anita Darian, a Singer With an Eclectic Range, Dies at 87

New York Times
Feb 6 2015

Anita Darian, a Singer With an Eclectic Range, Dies at 87

By DANIEL E. SLOTNIKFEB. 6, 2015

For the singer Anita Darian, getting to Carnegie Hall not only took
practice, it also took a kazoo.

Ms. Darian’s versatile voice took her there in 1960, where she sang
and played kazoo with the New York Philharmonic under Leonard
Bernstein’s baton. But she reached many more listeners with her
keening, uncredited background singing on the Tokens’ 1961 hit “The
Lion Sleeps Tonight.”

She died on Sunday at 87 in Oceanside, N.Y. Lynda Wells, a longtime
friend and an executor of her estate, said that the cause was
complications after intestinal surgery.

Ms. Darian was a session singer and stage performer when she was asked
by the producers Hugo Peretti and Luigi Creatore and the songwriter
George David Weiss to provide backing vocals for “The Lion Sleeps
Tonight,” which Mr. Weiss had adapted from a South African song.

Her soaring, high-pitched vocal provided a counterpoint to the lead
vocals and the harmonized lower-register “wimowehs,” and the record
spent three weeks atop the Billboard pop chart.

She also sang behind Mickey & Sylvia on their 1957 hit “Love Is
Strange” and recorded with Burt Bacharach, Dinah Washington, Patti
Page and others, usually without credit and often emulating the eerie
sound of a theremin.

Her talents were more frequently acknowledged onstage. She made her
Carnegie Hall debut performing Mark Buzzi’s “Concerto for Kazoo and
Orchestra” as part of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra’s Young
People’s Concerts program. (The concert was broadcast on CBS.)

A City Center regular, Ms. Darian performed Natalie in Strauss’s “Die
Fledermaus” and Pitti-Sing in Gilbert and Sullivan’s “The Mikado”
there in 1959, and played Julie in “Show Boat” in 1961. She also
played Lady Thiang in several different City Center productions of
Rodgers & Hammerstein’s “The King and I.”

“As the King’s head wife, Anita Darian sings ‘Something Wonderful’
with a patience, belief and clarity that are wonderful in their own
right,” the New York Times critic Brooks Atkinson wrote in a review of
a 1960 City Center production that starred Farley Granger and Barbara
Cook.

She was born Anita Margaret Esgandarian in Detroit on April 26, 1927,
to Anna and Garo Esgandarian, Armenian immigrants. She shortened her
name when she went into show business. She graduated from Cooley High
School in Detroit and the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia
and later studied at the Juilliard School.

Ms. Darian lived in East Atlantic Beach on Long Island. Varham
Fantazian, a cousin and co-executor of her estate, said that no
immediate family members survive.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/08/arts/music/anita-darian-a-singer-with-an-eclectic-range-dies-at-87.html?_r=0

Jhumura maker shoots French film, Homeland, in Paris

The Times of India
February 6, 2015 Friday

Jhumura maker shoots French film, Homeland, in Paris

by Zinia Sen

City filmmaker Anindya Chatterjee, whose debut film Jhumura is
awaiting release, recently came back after the shoot of his first
French film, Homeland (La Patrie), in Euville, Commercy. The indie
movie is about a woman’s search for her roots.

The lead cast comprises French actors Jonathan Dumontier, Ani
Hovhanisiyan and Nicolas Pierson.”Jonathan is a cinematographer who
passed out from a film school. Apart from acting in the movie, he was
of huge help during the shoot.The film is about an Armenian (Ani) of
French origin, who visits a village in France in search of her roots.
She is helped by a Frenchman (Jonathan), who she has befriended on the
net. Towards the end of the film, she – who had a different notion
about the man – realizes that he too is of another origin,” says
Anindya.

The filmmakers had to face several odds while putting the project
together. “To make an indie film is not easy. I remember buying a robe
for a wedding sequence for 60 euros, after which I was left with 94
euros. Since a train ticket cost 98 euros, I had difficulty making my
team understand why I was getting late for the shoot. Yes, I was even
snubbed by them!” says Anindya.

The filmmaker is planning to put his experiences together as a
parallel track in the movie. While Nicolas Vert was the film’s DoP ,
the sound department was helmed by Thibault Turcas. “The film has been
shot in live sound, so there will be no dubbing. It is in
post-production, which should be over in a month or two. Some patch
shoot is left, which I’m trying to coordinate with my team over Skype.
I’ll be able to hand over the film to my producers by September, after
which it is likely to get screened at a festival this year,” adds the
director.

From: A. Papazian

BAKU: MoD: the answer for the shelling the village of Alibeyli will

Turan Information Agency, Azerbaijan
February 6, 2015 Friday

Ministry of Defense: the answer for the shelling the village of
Alibeyli will be relentless

Baku/06.02.15/Turan: The response of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces for shelling

the village of Alibeyli by Armenians will be ruthless, reads the
statement the Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan in connection with
yesterday’s firing the village of Alibeyli in Tovuz. According to the
War Department, the enemy intensively shelled for several hours the
village from different types of weapons. As a result, the civilian
population, houses and other buildings were damaged. So, one of the
houses burned out, causing extensive damage to property of citizens.
One local resident was wounded.

Armenian armed forces, shelling civilians, want to provoke the
Azerbaijani side on the appropriate steps.

Responsibility for the shelling of civilians lies with the Armenian
side, and the Azerbaijani army will take measures to destroy military
targets of the enemy, reads the sattement.-06D-

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

BAKU: Khadija Ismayil’s Letter from Jail: Unless We Keep Fighting…

Azeri Report
Feb 7 2015

Khadija Ismayil’s Letter from Jail: Unless We Keep Fighting…

Khadija Ismayil:

BAKU. February 7, 2015: Khadija Ismayil, Azerbajani journalist
imprisoned for her journalist investigations into the Azerbaijani
president Ilham Ailyev’s family business has written a letter from
jail. The letter has been published by the local Azerbaijani newspaper
“Azadlig” on February 3. Below is the English translation of the
letter:

My dears! I am good. No worries. I do not know how to express my
gratitude to you for the support you provided to me and my family.

Now the important thing is to continue the struggle. I am not aware of
how my colleagues at the radio (the Azerbaijani office of the Radio
Liberty which has also been shut down by the Azerbaijani government –
ed.) build and do their work. However, I am confident that wherever
they are they will work honestly to keep the Azerbaijai people
informed.

It is important to continue the activity both inside and outside of
the country. Another possibility is to surrender the country to the
robbers and then shake head from afar. But we will not be able to
silence our conscience for handing the country to lies and servileness
without a fight, unless we keep fighting until we draw our last
breath. But there are also thousands of nameless heroes in this
country who fight and either win or lose in their small daily
struggle. They need an example of heroes who fought under the same
conditions, in the same place. And as long as there are examples, the
right cause will win.

“Azadlig” newspaper deserves a big gratitude for the exemplary service
it provides in the fight of the good against the evil. Thank you,
friends!

There must also be some pessimist friends who probably say “everything
is over, nothing will get right”. There were times, when I was also a
pessimist. However, I always had the principles to guide me through
this: “The success story is not about changing the governments, but
about the examples you set”.

We all – you, we and all of us write the success story. Since we’ are
not broken, we did not lose.

I hope you will forgive my long silence. After previous letter I had
written I was placed in a solitary confinement. But again, I continued
writing. After all these, there was a search in my cell and they took
all the written papers they could find with my handwriting, including
the list of the things I wanted to be sent to me from home. They also
seized sseveral letters which I intended to send out via the post
service of the Penitentiary Office. The seized items have not been
returned to me yet. Most probably, I have many readers at the
Penitentiary service, and not all of them have finished reading my
papers.

I receive the local newspapers with delay and rarely, too. I asked to
bring me my subscribed newspapers, I suggested subscribing them to the
newspapers I read, too, but it did not work. Well, I read them when I
can. My family members are still not allowed to see me. So, I have
little information from outside. But again, there are books I read and
translate, one of them for you, it is called the “Children of the
Cacaranda tree” by Delijani, which is about the fight of two
generations who face tragedies in their fight against the regime in
Iran.

We can openly see the fight among the supporters of West and Russia
within the government in Azerbaijani TV channels. To be fair, ANS TV
fights its lonely fight against the fifth column of Russia within the
Azerbaijani government.

ANS cautiously tries to respond to those Russian supporters who have
manufactured the absurd assertion that “On January 20 (of 1990-ed.)
the US made the Russian army to invade (Baku-ed.)” In order to do
that, ANS tries to stretch some of the sentences taken frmo the speech
of the Azerbaijani president and then interpret it in a way suggesting
that Russia was an agressor in that situation. Under the current
circumstances of censorship, this can even be regarded as a brave
step. However, I do not believe in the effectiveness of this approach.

Just because, it is an apprent fact that Ilham Aliyev never dared to
openly accuse Russia for its direct participation in Khojaly massacre,
that he never expressed his concern for the Russian role in the events
of January 20, occupation of the territories, Russian supplies of
weaponry to Armenia and he never dared to challenge Russia in any
other issue .

There are more superficial reasons why official Baku is so obedient to
Moscow apart “from the balanced policy approach”. President Ilham
Aliyev’s both two daughters have married Russian citizens. Virgin
Island companies (Khadija Ismayil’s journalist investigations showed
that the corrupt funds of the president Aliyev’s family was
transferred to the bank accounts in Virgin islands – ed.) have also
been established via the law firm in Moscow. At the time of the
collapse of the Russian economy, they continue investing the money
they have earned in Azerbaijan in Russian banks where they are
shareholders. The links tying the incumbent regime to Russia have
nothing to do with our national interest. Prior to the presidential
elections in Azerbaijan, Putin visited Baku with the military vessel
and he was here to support Ilham Aliyev in person, not the Azerbaijani
people.

Protests against Russia in Armenia, cooling in relations was extremely
instructive incident. Armenia seems to drop lifeboats into the water
from the sunken Russian ship. Instead, Azerbaijan sends applause to
Russia and curse to West.

The rescue of drowned is up to those who are drowning. The important
thing is not to allow the country to sink together with those who are
being drowned. -0-

Khadija, Kurdakhani, February 2015
(Azeri Report)

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

http://azerireport.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4511&Itemid=48