Month: February 2015

SILENCE BEFORE THE STORM IN TURKISH-US RELATIONS?

Hurriyet Daily news, Turkey
Feb 17 2015

Whenever you ask diplomatic sources about U.S.-Turkey relations, the
kind of answer you get is usually about the “absence of any problems.”

Relations between Turkey and the United States seem to work well at
the bureaucratic level on matters of daily needs between diplomats,
intelligence officers and soldiers. The fact that the Commander of
the Turkish Land Forces General Hulusi Akar received a Legion of
Merit medal from the U.S. Department of Defense is an indication of
close cooperation in action.

However, it is difficult to say the same at the political level
nowadays. For example, cooperation at the bureaucratic level did
not help Turkey’s European Union Affairs Minister Volkan Bozkır,
a former diplomat himself, get political appointments suitable for
his position when he was in Washington DC earlier this month.

The last telephone call made public between Turkish President
Tayyip Erdogan and U.S. President Barack Obama was on Oct. 18
(Oct. 19 in Turkish time), 2014. That conversation was mostly about
the predominantly Kurdish-populated Syrian border town of Kobane,
which was at the time under attack by the Islamic State of Iraq and
the Levant (ISIL). Obama was telling Erdogan about the U.S. air drop
that was due to start the next morning in support of the Kurdish
fighters resisting against the ISIL advance.

With the help of that air drop and with Turkey’s opening of its
territory for the passage of fighters from Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional
Government (KRG) to Kobane, the ISIL attack was beaten back.

But since that call there have been a number of rows between the
Erdogan and Obama administrations, usually triggered by a remark from
Erdogan himself, and usually on matters related to Western hypocrisy
about Bashar al-Assad’s rule in Syria, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi’s rule in
Egypt, Israel, or Islamophobia. The most recent example was Erdogan’s
slamming of Obama for not reacting to the recent killing of three
Muslim students in North Carolina. “If you don’t, you won’t have
the right to criticize ISIL,” he said. Obama condemned the killings
the next day, but in the meantime the State Department had issued a
strongly worded statement against Erdogan’s words.

When you scratch the surface a little, you find “long-term stress”
infecting Turkish-U.S. relations. By that expression, what is meant
is a close cooperation between the two that started with Turkey’s
entrance to NATO in 1952.

The reason for this stress is not only about Syria, Egypt, Israel,
and the fight against terrorism exercised by certain radical Islamist
groups – but rather Russia. Nobody talks on-the-record about it,
but Turkey’s stance regarding its northern neighbor on the Ukraine
crisis seems to be a source of problems.

Relations between the Erdogan and Obama administrations are also
heading to another test on the Armenian issue in April. There is
almost no lobby left in Washington DC to work on Turkey’s behalf on
the issue – not even an Arab lobby, let alone a Jewish one.

As you can read in Burak Bekdil’s piece in the Hurriyet Daily News
today, the Turkish government has postponed its decision on a strategic
anti-missile system until after April 24, a critical date for Armenian
lobbying moves in the U.S. Congress.

And still no high level political link can be observed between Turkey
and the U.S. Is this a silence before a storm in relations? Or is it
worse, a silence before an even deeper silence?

February/17/2015

From: A. Papazian

ARMENIA’S WITHDRAWAL FROM PROTOCOLS WILL NOT HALT PEACE ATTEMPTS BY TURKEY

Daily Sabah, Turkey
Feb 17 2015

AYÃ…~^E Ã…~^AHIN

Turkey has said that it is determined to pursue peace efforts with
Armenia despite the latter’s endeavors to keep relations strained,
a day after Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said he has withdrawn
the landmark peace accords with Turkey from parliament.

“Turkey will remain committed to the normalization process it pursues
as the main purpose of the protocols,” Foreign Ministry spokesman
Tanju Bilgic said, branding the step by Armenia “unfortunate” and
“wrong.” Bilgic also added that the step was an apparent sign of
Armenia’s inconsistent attitude over the protocols.

The two countries’ then foreign ministers, Ahmet Davutoglu and Eduard
Nalbandyan, signed protocols to establish diplomatic ties between
their respective countries in 2009 in Switzerland. Mediated by the
U.S., the protocol had presupposed the opening of the border between
Turkey and Armenia but failed to be ratified.

Now, Armenia is citing the “preconditions” Turkey put in place, which
it says are against the purpose of the protocols, and has decided to
withdraw the protocols with Turkey from Parliament – a move deemed
by media outlets as a refusal to restore relations with Turkey.

The Turkish government has been exerting intense efforts to fix its
ties with Armenia, which have long been bitter due to conflicts between
the two countries. The leading conflict that has been threatening
any settlement between the duo is the inability to reach an agreement
over the 1915 incidents. Armenia demands they should be referred to
as genocide while Turkey maintains its stance of calling the events
deportation, during which it admits there were huge losses on part
of the Armenians.

However, Turkey reiterates its call to Armenia to reach a settlement
on the genocide claims by going deeper into the matter and searching
through historical sources, stipulating their impartiality.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said over the last week that Armenia
has so far failed to reciprocate the peace offers delivered by Turkey,
but that Turkey will continue its efforts to reconcile regardless.

Meanwhile, experts say Armenia’s recent decision to withdraw their
protocols with Turkey from Parliament, in the wake of the centennial
of the 1915 incidents, should not discourage Turkey from resuming
its efforts to thaw the sour relations with its neighbor, adding
that the move has had no additional adverse effects on the already
deteriorated relations.

Armenian journalist Markar Esayan, condoning Erdogan’s remarks, said
such an approach should be retained no matter how harsh Armenia reacts
to the settlement offers. He stressed that Armenia is in a deadlock
and unable to act independently since it is in need of its diaspora’s
support, and noted that improvements in the matter will advance slowly.

“A devoted patience, positive messages and cultural relations should
be continued no matter what to reach a resolution regarding the
problems with the two countries,” Esayan said. “Harsh rhetoric [in
exchange for Armenia’s lack of action in the name of restoring ties]
will only pave a path for those to exploit the centennial and result
in all the efforts thus far paid to go down the drain,” he also added.

In an unprecedented move, then Prime Minister Erdogan extended
condolences to the grandchildren of the Armenians who lost their
lives in the 1915 events, which marked the beginning of efforts to
ease tensions over the incident.

Also within the past week, Erdogan has conveyed another message
highlighting that Turkey is ready to take a constructive and objective
approach to resolving the tensions between Armenia and Turkey due to
the 1915 incidents despite the objection of the Armenian diaspora.

In mid-January, the Turkish president sent invitation letters to
more than 100 leaders, including Sargsyan, to participate in the
commemoration of the Battle of Gallipoli on April 24.

Other than Armenia’s demand for Turkey to officially accept the
Armenian claims of “genocide,” the cause of tensions between the two
countries appears to be Turkey’s closing its borders with Armenia in
reaction to the war in Nagarno-Karabakh and in support of its close
ally Azerbaijan in 1993.

The ties between Turkey and Azerbaijan are dependent not only on
brotherhood but also economic benefits on the part of both countries,
and this forces Turkey to side with Azerbaijan on the Nagarno-Karabakh
matter.

“Turkey cannot risk losing Azerbaijan, and is under the pressure of
the country,” Esayan explained, which he says is the basis of the
political crisis between Turkey and Armenia.

From: Baghdasarian

ARMENIA WITHDRAWS PEACE PROTOCOLS WITH TURKEY FROM PARLIAMENT

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
Feb 17 2015

Armenian President Serzh Sarksyan has recalled from the Armenian
parliament protocols on the normalization of ties and establishment
of diplomatic relations with Turkey.

In a statement issued on Monday, Sarksyan said he had asked
parliamentary Speaker Galust Sahakian to return the protocol to him.

The Armenian president explained the reasoning behind his withdrawal
of the protocols, saying that “the Turkish government has no political
will, distorts the spirit and letter of the protocols and continues
its policy of setting preconditions.” Sarksyan also said that on the
eve of commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the mass killings
of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey during World War I, “the policy of
denial and rewriting history” is getting a renewed impulse in Ankara.

The protocols to normalize ties between Turkey and Armenia were signed
in Zurich on Oct. 10, 2009 with the aim of establishing diplomatic
relations and opening the two countries’ land border. The process
had been deadlocked by nationalists on both sides and Ankara and
Yerevan have accused each other of trying to rewrite the texts and
setting new conditions. Neither parliament has approved the deal,
which would bring huge economic gains for poor, landlocked Armenia,
burnish Turkey’s credentials as an EU candidate and boost its clout
in the strategic South Caucasus.

“We were ready for a fully-fledged settlement in our relations with
Turkey by ratifying these protocols, but we were also ready for
failure,” Sarksyan said in a letter that had been sent to parliament,
his press service said. “We have nothing to hide and it should be
clear for the international community whose fault it was that the
last closed European border was not open,” he said.

Ankara denies claims that the events of 1915 amount to genocide,
arguing that both Turks and Armenians were killed when Armenians
revolted against the Ottoman Empire during World War I in collaboration
with the Russian army, which was then invading Eastern Anatolia. Every
year on April 24, Armenians around the world commemorate the Armenian
victims who died at the end of World War I in Ottoman Turkey. Armenians
are preparing for the centennial commemoration events this year
in April.

Erdogan last month invited Sargsyan to the 100th anniversary
celebration of the Gallipoli Campaign of World War I to commemorate the
Armenian and Turkish soldiers who fought and died together side-by-side
during the war. In response to Erdogan’s invitation to the event, which
is to be held on April 24 this year, Sarksyan has said that before
organizing such a commemorative event, Turkey should remember its far
more important obligation toward the whole of humanity to recognize
and condemn the Armenian “genocide” at the end of World War I.

“Turkey continues its traditional policy of denialism. Year by year,
improving its tools of history distortion, this time Turkey marks
the anniversary of the Battle of Gallipoli [Canakkale] on April 24
for the first time, while it began on March 18, 1915, and lasted
till late January 1916. Furthermore, the Allies’ land campaign —
Gallipoli land battle — took place on April 25, 1915,” said Sarksyan
in his open letter to Erdogan.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ANKARA ‘COMMITTED TO SPIRIT OF ARMENIAN DEAL

Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey
Feb 17 2015

ANKARA

Turkish Foreign ministry spokesperson Tanju Bilgic.

Ankara will remain committed to protocols signed between Turkey and
Armenia aiming to normalize bilateral relations, Turkish Foreign
Ministry spokesperson Tanju Bilgic has said, after Yerevan recently
decided to withdraw the 2008 protocols from the Armenian Parliament.

Bilgic told reporters yesterday that Yerevan has decided to withdraw
the Protocol on Establishing of Diplomatic Relations and the Protocol
on Developing Relations in order “to create a reason to accuse Turkey”
ahead of the 100th anniversary of the massacres of Ottoman Armenians,
which Armenia recognizes as genocide.

“Turkey disagrees with the attitude taken by the Armenian side,”
he said, describing Yerevan’s step as “wrong and unfortunate.”

The move displays Armenia’s “incoherent and insincere” stance,
Bilgic stated, adding that “Turkey will remain loyal to regional
normalization process which is the fundemental goal of the protocols.”

On Feb. 16, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan announced that he has
asked the country’s parliamentary speaker to withdraw his signature
from a groundbreaking 2009 agreement with Turkey meant to restore
ties between the two nations.

Sargsyan said in a statement that Armenia would not ratify the
agreement because of the “preconditions” that Turkey is putting in
place before it ratifies its side of the deal.

The agreement aims to restore diplomatic ties between the countries
as well as reopen the common border, which has been closed since 1993.

February/17/2015

ARMENIA WITHDRAWS PROTOCOLS WITH TURKEY FROM PARLIAMENT

World Bulletin, Turkey
Feb 17 2015

The protocols, aimed at normalizing relations between the two
countries, were signed in 2009, as a result of a landmark process
facilitated by Switzerland.

World Bulletin / News Desk

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan announced Monday his decision to
withdraw from parliament the Armenian-Turkish protocols that aimed
to normalize relations between the two countries.

According to the Armenian news agency, Armenpress, the Armenian
president’s office said that Sargsyan had sent a letter to the
chairman of the National Assembly, Galust Sargsyan, informing him of
his decision to withdraw the “Protocol on Establishment of Diplomatic
Relations ” and “Protocol on Development of Relations” between Turkey
and Armenia.

The two protocols were signed on Oct. 10, 2009, as a result of a
landmark negotiation process facilitated by Switzerland, which remain
suspended in Armenian parliament since 2010.

Turkey and Armenia, two neighboring countries, have no diplomatic
relations.

Turkish Foreign Ministry has repeatedly said that Turkey wishes to
normalize bilateral relations with Armenia, and within this perspective
it started “to unilaterally implement certain confidence-building
measures.”

The Turkish Foreign Ministry has said that the Armenian government
sent the protocols to its Constitutional Court for approval.

“Consequently, the court found the protocols to be commensurate with
the Armenian constitution with its reasoned statement, which contained
contradictory elements to the letter and the spirit of the protocols,”
the Turkish ministry says.

On April 22, 2010, the Armenian president suspended the ratification
process of the protocols.

Armenian-Turkey ties

During the First World War, the Ottoman Empire approved a deportation
law for Armenians amid their uprising with the help of the invading
Russian army. As a result, an unknown number of people died in
civil strife.

Armenian diaspora and state of Armenia term the incidents as “genocide”
and ask for compensation, whereas Ankara maintains that while Armenians
died during deportation, many Turks also died because of the attacks
by Armenian gangs all around Anatolia.

The high-tension rhetoric between Armenia and Turkey reached new high
this year when Turkish president’s invitation for Armenian president
to visit Turkey was refused.

In mid January, the Turkish president sent invitation letters to
more than 100 leaders, including Sargsyan to participate in the
commemoration of the Battle of Canakkale on April 24.

From: A. Papazian

ARMENIA WITHDRAWS PEACE ACCORDS WITH TURKEY FROM PARLIAMENT

BGN News, Turkey
Feb 17 2015

Armenian President Serzh Sarksyan decided to withdraw from the
country’s Parliament protocols aimed at establishing diplomatic ties
with Turkey.

Addressing Armenian Speaker of Parliament Galust Sahakyan, Sarksyan
said he was recalling Armenia-Turkey protocols from the Parliament.

Regretting the Turkish authorities’ turning a deaf ear to Armenia’s
call; Sarksyan said “I have decided to recall from the National
Assembly of Armenia the protocols.”

In 2009, the Turkish and Armenian foreign ministers had signed
the agreement in the Swiss city of Zurich. The agreement aimed at
restoring diplomatic ties between the countries. In addition the
agreement aimed at re-open the common border between Armenia and
Turkey, which has been closed since 1993.

CHP DEPUTY: AK PARTY SPENT MILLIONS TO SEEM FRIENDLY WITH ISRAEL

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
Feb 16 2015

February 16, 2015, Monday/ 17:55:07/ TODAY’S ZAMAN / ANKARA

Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) Ä°stanbul deputy Aykut
Erdogdu has claimed that the ruling Justice and Development Party
(AK Party) spent $65.4 million up until 2013 on efforts to portray
itself as a pro-Israeli administration while pretending to its voter
base that it is one of Israel’s staunchest critics.

Erdogdu, who is the head of the CHP’s corruption investigation unit,
shared a number of documents with the press on Monday, claiming that
they reveal the importance that the AK Party’s places on its relations
with Israel.

To prove his claims, Erdogdu said the documents show that the AK
Party paid $65.4 million to lobby groups in the US to promote its
relations with the Israeli government. However, Erdogdu did not
explain how paying lobby groups in the US helped Turkey to maintain
good relations with Israel. In common with a large number of countries,
Turkey works with a variety of groups in Washington to lobby for its
interests in the US capital. The groups that Turkey has worked with
over the past years have mostly worked against the strong Armenian
lobby groups in the US which have been working on the passage of a
resolution which would recognize the 1915 mass killings of Armenians
as a genocide perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire. Turkey says the 1915
events cannot be considered genocide because Turks also died due to
the chaotic conditions in Turkey during the break-up of the Ottoman
Empire in World War I.

AK Party government officials have increasingly employed anti-Israeli
and anti-Semitic rhetoric to gain votes from the party’s conservative
base before the parliamentary elections scheduled to take place on
June 7 this year.

“We [the CHP] have determined that the AK Party paid $65.4 million
to lobby firms in the US to tell the world that they’re friends
of Israel. We have documents to prove it,” Erdogdu said in a press
conference in Ä°stanbul.

The deputy claimed that the AK Party paid 19 lobby firms in the US,
including DiNovo Strategies, FleishmanHillard, Neusner Communications,
Livingston Group, Gephardt Group and DPA Piper in order to appear as a
friend of Israel. He said that the AK Party government is exploiting
the sensitivities of Turkish people to the Palestine-Israel conflict
in order to solidify its support among its conservative voter base.

“On the one hand they portray themselves to the Turkish people as
being in a constant fight with the Israel while on the other hand
they worked hard to make the Jewish lobby in the US believe that the
AK Party is a pro-Israeli administration and paid millions of dollars
to that end. This is completely hypocritical,” said Erdogdu.

The unofficial Jewish caucus in Congress has traditionally supported
Turkey’s position on the Armenian issue in the past, but this support
seems to be on the wane in recent years in parallel with AK Party
government officials’ increasingly anti-Semitic rhetoric.

From: A. Papazian

TURKEY MOVES TO IMPROVE MINORITY RIGHTS

Anadolu Agency, Turkey
Feb 17 2015

Return of over 1,000 pieces of property to non-Muslim minorities
described as ‘biggest restitution in history.’

ISTANBUL

The Turkish government has returned more than 1,000 proprieties
which once belonged to nonMuslim minorities in what it describes
“the biggest restitution in (Turkish) history.”

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu met with around 40 non-Muslim religious
minority leaders in Ankara on Wednesday. During the meeting Davutoglu
said that times whenminorities experienced discrimination were to be
left behind.

“I am sure you have seen that a new approach has been built in Turkey
in the last 12 years,” he added.

The number of Turkey’s non-Muslim minorities – such as Christians
and Jews – fell after republican-era “Turkification” policies.

The 1923 population exchange between Turkey and Greece, the 1942
“wealth tax” which hit non-Muslim communities and the 1955 attacks
– also known as the ‘Events of 6-7 September’ – saw many minority
citizens leave the country.

In 2008, under new legislation passed by the ruling AK Party, reforms
allowed minority groups to buy and renovate their properties, such
as religious buildings.

When then-prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced a
“democratization package” back in 2013, the new regulations paved the
way for one Syriac Orthodox monastery in the southeastern province
of Mardin, to have 244,000 square meters of land returned.

Turkey’s prime ministry described the return to Mor Gabriel Monastery
as “the biggest land to be returned.”

In June 2014, President Erdogan said the AK Party government had
returned confiscated assets worth $2 billion to Turkey’s ethnic and
religious minorities.

After Wednesday’s meeting Turkish-Armenian journalist Markar Esayan
spoke to media, saying: “There is an unprecedented mentality change
in Turkey towards non-Muslims.” Esayan said that Davutoglu’s messages
were inclusive rather than marginalizing as previous governments.

He added that the change in the last decade was of critical importance:
“There is a considerable overlap inminorities’ quality of life,
corporate problems, individual rights and freedoms.”

Solving problems for Turkey’s non-Muslim citizens is one of the most
important parts of the country’s democratization process and for this
reason Erdogan and Davutoglu held 12 meetings with community leaders
between 2009 and 2014, said the prime ministry.

There are 165 community foundations in Turkey: 76 Greek community;
53 Armenian; 19 Jewish; 10 Syriac; three Chaldean; two Bulgarian;
and one Georgian and Maronite each.

Earlier this year Davutoglu announced that a new church for Turkey’s
around 20,000 Assyrian Christian community will be constructed –
the first to be erected in Turkey for decades – in Istanbul.

At the same meeting Davutoglu said: “The principle of equal
citizenship, which has been concretized with the return of foundation
assets recently, will be our basic motto from now on.”

Speaking on Wednesday, Davutoglu said that there had been dark chapters
in Turkish history, adding: “We should not refrain from facing this
history, these experiences.”

” It is not possible to forget September 6-7 events’ sorrow,” he said
referring to attacks which mainly targeted Istanbul’s Greek minority
in 1955.

Davutoglu said that after the suffering in the 19th century and the
first quarter of the 20th century, the world had been impoverished.

He said that Balkan cities lost their Muslim and Turkish inhabitants
while Anatolian cities lost their Greeks, Armenians and Jews.

“It is time to re-coalescence,” Davutoglu said.

According to the prime ministry, there is now an ongoing reconstruction
process. Eleven Catholic and Orthodox churches as well as synagogues
have already been reconstructed across Turkey.

One Armenian Church on the northwestern Aegean coast and another
Orthodox church in Istanbul as well as one synagogue in the eastern
province of Edirne are under construction.

There are several religious buildings awaiting construction: one
synagogue in south-central province of Kilis as well as one Orthodox
church and two Armenian churches in the southern province of Hatay.

Located in Turkey’s Black Sea province of Trabzon, the historic Sumela
Monastery and, in Van, the Armenian Cathedral of The Holy Cross were
opened for religious ceremonies by Turkey after the new legislation.

In 2010 prime ministry published a communique “for the protection of
people belonging to different faith groups.”

Turkey’s ministry of education also prepared Armenian textbooks and
distributed them to Armenian schools for free during the 2010-2011
school year.

The country’s Press Advertisement Agency has been also supporting
six minority newspapers since 2011, said the prime ministry.

The Turkish premier said that a common culture should be formed
in which people share all the pain and joy instead of remembering
“painful sorrows.”

He also said: “It is in our hands to build a beautiful future all
together.”

ARMENIAN HAND ENGRAVER CREATES FASCINATING JEWELRY

Daily Sabah, Turkey
Feb 17 2015

DAMLA KAYAYERLI

Berc Melikyan is one of the most renowned goldsmiths and hand engravers
who continues to keep the art of “kalemkarlık” (hand engraving)
alive in Turkey. “So far, no one has been able to make jewelry like
I do. Nobody can do it!” he said. For years, Melikyan has exhibited
great patience and focus to meticulously craft jewels from precious
metals by engraving them with an iron pencil, which is thinner than
a strand of hair, in his small workshop. He has left his mark on
engraved diamonds, and famous goldsmiths still run after him.

The popularity of his hand-made diamonds has spread to faraway lands,
but his name was ironically unknown until he, in his own words,
“fought” to become well-known. Melikyan, 55, has been working as a hand
engraver with his iron pencil for the last 40 years, and his talent
has enabled him to create his own engraving style. At the age of 14,
Melikyan began working as an apprentice at the famous Cuhacı Inn in
Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar.

Initially, he learned the craft of “sadekarlık” (lapidary). As a
child, his dreams were filled with patterns and the appearance of
horses, lions and eagles. Those who noticed his talent used to say he
should become a hand engraver. However, the art of hand engraving is a
rather effortful task. At that time, there were hardly any craftsmen
that were willing to accept apprentices, but later, he began to work
with master craftsman Mardiros Halyacyan. Melikyan’s eyes filled with
tears and became emotional when he started talking about his past.

“You have to carefully watch your master for three or four years. You
should not touch his pencils, though; it is disrespectful. I always
had great respect for him,” he said. Similar to Halyacyan, he started
running his own small workshop with a little light at the Cuhacı Inn.

“I was shocked at first. When you imagine the world of jewelry, it
looks so glamorous. However, there is a big contrast between jewelry
workshops and the glitter of diamonds,” Melikyan said, adding that the
more jewels give brightness to the world, the darker the places they
are made in. “There is great contrast in our profession,” Melikyan
said. During his apprentice years, Melikyan was merely watching
his master without speaking, learned what kind of iron pencils are
necessary and developed himself with patience and great effort.

After his return from obligatory military service, he wanted to
run his own workshop but was unable to open it due to financial
constraints. Fortunately, his uncle helped him and Melikyan began
working as an assistant at his uncle’s jewelry shop in Nuriosmaniye.

He used to engrave jewels for his friends and family, and his
popularity increased with time. “Hand engraving requires patience,
determination and physical effort,” he said. Eventually, Melikyan
opened his own workshop in 1987. “I created my own engraving style,”
added the senior craftsman, who has designed diamonds for world leaders
and famous individuals all around the world. Moreover, jewelry firms
have displayed his works at international fairs, and while he has
yet to travel abroad, the world has fallen into his lap. Melikyan
believes he has not received what he deserves, but has never lost
his ambition. “I make thousands of stokes with an iron pencil while
designing a ring and other jewels.

The art of hand engraving I use to create my works date back 1,000
years,” he said. Melikyan loses himself while working and does not
understand how time flies by. “It has been a narrow and long journey.

Hand engraving is my life,” he said.

The accomplished artist is on the list of the World’s Gold Council
among the jewelers who should be visited in Istanbul. Halic University
also submitted an application to UNESCO to add his name to the list
of “Living Human Treasures.” Melikyan now continues his job at his
small and humble workshop on the third floor of the Cuhacı Inn in
Nuriosmaniye. He tirelessly turns priceless stones into a work of art.

His 18-year-old son Alen is learning his father’s trade as well,
much to his father’s delight. To celebrate his 40th year in the
trade, Melikyan created a masterpiece collection. “With my 45-piece
collection, I want to show Istanbul, Turkey and the world a perspective
from the eyes of a craftsman for future generations.

Istanbul is a living museum and I gain inspiration whenever I go. My
jewels inherit the city’s culture. When we look back, we say ‘what
amazing things they did,’ and I want the future generations to
understand today’s culture through my eyes,” he concluded.

ARMENIAN ARTIST TO HAVE TURKISH PAVILLION AT VENICE BIENNALE

Daily Sabah, Turkey
Feb 17 2015

ZEYNEP ESRA KOCA

Turkish-born Armenian conceptual artist Sarkis Zabunyan’s work will
be showcased at the 56th edition of the International Venice Biennial
under the title ‘Respiro,’ which means ‘breath’ in Italian

Curated by Defne Ayas and coordinated by the Istanbul Foundation for
Culture and Arts (Ä°KSV), the installation of Sarkis, titled “Respiro”,
will be displayed at the Turkish Pavilion from May 9 to Nov. 22. The
Turkish Pavilion will be at the Sale d’Armi building in biennial’s
main venue Arsenale. The outline of the Turkish Pavilion of the 56th
International Venice Biennial was announced during a press conference
at the Salon Ä°KSV on Feb. 10 with the participation of artist Sarkis
and curator Defne Ayas. “We will go back to the beginning of time,
the first rainbow in other words, the first time when the light broke.

Instead of being fixed to certain moments in history, we will make
a claim to today and ancient history at the same time. We will
continue to transform as opposed to being stable, we will convert,
breathe and make people feel,” Sarkis said about the project during
the press conference.

Through his project, titled “Respiro,” which means “breath” in Italian,
the artist will arrange for the Turkish Pavilion to be set up as
a theater stage. Sarkis will put objects and visuals together with
thoughts and codes and continue to examine the idea of eternal dialogue
and the transformation that creates the essence of his artworks. The
installation will be composed of mirrors, stained glass boards and neon
lights that will be authentically produced for the venue alongside
a composition by Jacopo Baboni-Schilingi, which is influenced by the
seven colors of the rainbow, will complete the atmosphere.

Curator Ayas said that Sarkis is one of the rare artists who can
present their stance on art and the universe. “Considering the
uncertainties of the present day, Sarkis’ masterpiece is a fresh
suggestion to evaluate the history of humanity. ‘Respiro’ will give
a new momentum to art’s potential and offer a new space for us. The
architectural editing, signals that are encoded to stained glasses
and hidden frames will probably bother us at first however, we will
have a chance to recover with the light. Sarkis’ rich accumulations,
art’s power of transformation, its timelessness, are what give us
hope,” Ayas depicted the artist’s installation.

The announcement, which heralded that the installation of Sarkis,
who has been living in Paris since the 1960s, will represent Turkey
at the 56th International Venice Biennial, caused a stir in art
circles. It is important that an important artist like Sarkis will open
the permanent Turkish Pavilion in the biennial. On the other hand,
there is a political side about the artist’s installation. While the
disputes are heated over the 100th anniversary of 1915 incidents,
it is important for Turkey to host an Armenian-origin artist at its
national pavilion. Moreover, Sarkis will also participate in the
group exhibition at the Armenian Pavilion. During his interview with
Hurriyet, a Turkey-based daily newspaper, the artist said he had been
waiting for an invitation to the Turkish Pavilion for the last nine
years and since the invitation came in 2015, it has left a question
mark for many. “This is a first in history,” said Sarkis during
his interview. “There is no other artist who has experienced such
a situation. That is why I referred to Tarkovski during the press
conference. I saw how history got out of hand when brother killed
brother and how he tried to get everything right during his lifetime.

We have been stuck and locked for a century; we need to get loose
and breathe. This lock should open through the language of art. This
idea exploded in my mind. I felt that we need to work on this idea
to improve it.”

Sarkis also offered an insight into the effects of exile in 1915 on
his family, “Both my parents lived during those days. They experienced
the exile,” he said. According to Sarkis, his father stopped talking
after the exile. “He passed away without even uttering his mother’s
name.” Although the artist’s mother talked, his father lived all
through those times in silence. He lived as though he had no tongue.”

On the other hand, Sarkis believes that there is progress regarding the
Armenian issue. “The books that are being published and the existence
of Hrant Dink, the Armenian-origin journalist, who was assassinated,
are very important. Personally, I learnt so much from him,” the
artist said. He said he does not consider himself from the diaspora
because of his devotion to his mother. “My mother lived and died as
an Anatolian woman,” he noted, adding he still protects her house. He
went on, “Dink said ‘Diaspora is a huge village in Anatolia.’ This
is a beautiful image. This gives us hope. It does not mean that there
will not be other attacks against us. We should be prepared for these
kinds of things. We have never talked about these things among us
but I think there might be fanatical people.”

About Sarkis

Graduating from Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University, Sarkis introduced
his first exhibition in 1960 at the Istanbul Art Gallery.Although he
performed different forms of art throughout his career, he became an
installation icon at the end of the 1960s. The artist’s works have been
displayed at many exhibition venues, museums and biennials including
Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, Guggenheim Museum in New York,
Musee d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Kunst-und-Austellungshalle
in Bonn, Germany, Louvre Museum in Paris, Bode Museum in Germany’s
capital city Berlin) and Kunsthalle Dusseldorf.