Author: admin

Turkiye, Turkey
March 17 2005

ARMENIAN AMBASSADOR: `THE ARMENIAN DIASPORA CREATED THE GENOCIDE
ISSUE’

Armenian Ambassador to the European Union Viguen Tchitechian said on
Tuesday that the genocide issue had been created by Armenians living
abroad in the diaspora. Speaking to the European Parliament’s
Interparliamentary Cooperation Commission meeting in Strasbourg,
Tchitechian said that he did believe a `genocide’ had occurred, but
added that the responsibility for this should not be put on the
shoulders of modern Turkey and the Turkish nation. Stressing that
some 3 million Armenians were living in Armenia, while some 5 million
others were living abroad in the diaspora, Tchitechian stated that
the diaspora had made the matter into a problematic issue. /Turkiye/

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PRESS RELEASE
Eastern Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church of America
138 East 39th Street
New York, NY 10016
Tel: 212-689-7810
Fax: 212-689-7168
e-mail: [email protected]
Website:
Contact: Iris Papazian

CROSSROADS E-NEWSLETTER – March 17, 2005

PRELATE ISSUES EASTER MESSAGE
Archbishop Oshagan Choloyan issued his Easter message this week. His
message entitled, Resurrected Bones, focuses on the words of the prophet
Ezekiel, He said, Can these bones live? I said, O Lord, you know. (Ezekiel
37:3).
The Prelate said, in part:
As a nation we have witnessed Christ’s Resurrection. As a nation we have
miraculously been restored to life through our unshakable faith in Christ.
And when as a nation this year we commemorate the 90th anniversary of the
1915 Genocide, we turn to the Holy Bible, where God’s plan with regard to
the massacred nation is reflected in the resurrection and renewal of life in
God’s mighty intervention.
To read the entire message go to:

PRELACY, DIOCESE AND ORGANIZATIONS UNITE TO COMMEMORATE
90th ANNIVERSARY OF GENOCIDE ON APRIL 24
Led by the Prelacy and Diocese, the major organizations have joined to
form a united commemorative committee to mark the milestone 90th anniversary
of the Armenian Genocide.
Armenian Americans all along the east coast and the midwest are planning
to gather in New York for a mass gathering at Times Square at noon, followed
by ecumenical and requiem services at St. Patricks Cathedral. Buses will be
available from various communities. For up to the minute information please
check the following web site on a regular basis:
For inquiries write to [email protected]
For bus information check with your local parish.

PRELATE ATTENDS CEREMONY AT FORDHAM UNIVERSITY
Archbishop Oshagan attended ceremonies at Fordham University yesterday
evening conferring the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters to Walter Cardinal
Kasper, President, Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity.
The ceremony took place at the Fordham University of Law, at the Lincoln
Center campus.

BEAST ON THE MOON PREPARES FOR NEW YORK PREMIERE
Beast on the Moon, the internationally acclaimed play about two Armenian
genocide survivors is now in rehearsal and preparing for previews and its
official opening. The producer of this off-Broadway presentation is asking
the assistance of the Armenian community to pack the theatre for the first
five weeks which he says will give a jumpstart period to this story of
Armenian survival and the potential to run for many months, being seen by
thousands of people.
Beast on the Moon, which won best play in Paris and Buenos Aires, will
be performed in the Century Center for the Performing Arts, 111 East 15th
Street, New York City. Many parishes and local organizations have purchased
block tickets. Check with your local parish or call telecharge for tickets,
212-239-6200 (mention code BMNAA39).

CAPITOL HILL EVENT WILL COMMEMORATE
90TH ANNIVERSARY OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
U.S. representatives Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), and Joe Knollenberg
(R-MI), co-chairmen of the Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues,
announced a Capitol Hill event in Washington to commemorate the 90th
anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.
The event is being organized under the auspices of the Armenia Caucus
and the Armenian Embassy, with the full cooperation and participation of all
the Armenian American organizations. The event will take place in the Cannon
Caucus Room (Room 345) of the Cannon House Office Building, on Wednesday,
April 20, from 5:30 pm to 8:30 pm.

UCLA INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON THE GENOCIDE
An international conference, After Nine Decades-the Enduring Legacy of
the Armenian Genocide, will take place in Pasadena and on the UCLA campus
beginning Friday, April 1 to Sunday, April 3. The conference is sponsored by
the Armenian Educational Foundation Chair in Modern Armenian History in
cooperation with the UCLA International Institute, Center for Near Eastern
Studies, and Center for European and Eurasian Studies. The conference
organizer is A.E.F. Chair Holder Richard G. Hovannisian. Participants
include scholars from Argentina, Armenia, France, Lebanon, Syria, and from
throughout the United States. The conference program can be seen at

APPLY NOW FOR DATEV SUMMER INSTITUTE
Yes, it is that time of the year again. All of the new information,
including application forms, for the 2005 St. Gregory of Datev Summer
Institute is now on the Prelacy web page. The dates of the summer studies
program are July 3 to 10. Early bird registration deadline is May 15. For
full details go to:

ANEC PARTICIPATES IN COMPETITION
With the invitation of the Ministry of Education and Science of Armenia,
the Armenian National Education Committee (ANEC) has invited schools within
its jurisdiction to participate in a contest dedicated to the 90th
anniversary of the genocide.
The competition is open to students 13 to 26 years of age. For details
contact the ANEC office, 212-689-7810.

PRELATE WILL ATTEND FAREWELL RECEPTION
FOR AMBASSADOR ARMAND KIRAKOSSIAN
Archbishop Oshagan will travel to Washington, DC, tomorrow, Friday,
March 18, where he will attend a farewell reception for Ambassador Arman
Kirakossian, who has served as the ambassador from Armenia to the United
States for the past five years. Ambassador Kirakossian will return to
Yerevan to continue to work at the Foreign Ministry.

VICAR WILL ATTEND RECEPTION IN NEW YORK FOR CARDINAL SFEIR;
PRELATE WILL ATTEND LUNCHEON
Very Rev. Fr. Anoushavan Tanielian, Vicar of the Prelacy, will attend a
reception in honor of His Beatitude Mar Nasrallah Boutros Cardinal Sfeir,
Friday evening, at the Permanent Mission of Lebanon to the United Nations,
hosted by the consul general Mr. Ibrahim Assaf.
On Monday, March 21, Archbishop Oshagan will attend a luncheon in honor
of Cardinal Sfeir given by Cardinal Egan at the Catholic Center.

NALG CONFERENCE ON APRIL 16
The National Association of Ladies Guilds (NALG) and the Ladies Guild of
Soorp Khatch Armenian Apostolic Church will host the 2005 regional religious
conference on Saturday, April 16, 10 am to 3 pm at the church in Bethesda,
Maryland.
The keynote speaker will be Yeretzgin Joanna Baghsarian, from
Providence, Rhode Island. Her presentation, in English and Armenian, will be
about women of integrity taken from the Bible. Mary Derderian, adjunct
instructor at George Washington University and Stratford University, will
conduct a short workshop for special event coordination, implementation and
evaluation.
For information contact Mary Derderian, 703-759-3908, or email
[email protected].

CATHOLICOS ARAM EMPHASIZES IMPORTANCE OF COOPERATION
His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia,
emphasized the need to create harmony and coherence inside the Armenian
communities, in a speech given in St. Asdvadzadzin Church in Nicosia,
Cyprus. His Holiness said:
Diversity is a natural phenomenon in our lives. On many occasions we
have stressed the importance of preserving diversity as enriching factors in
various aspects of our lives. But when diversity is not expressed
harmoniously, it can lead us to polarization. When distinction is not
transformed to cooperation, it can become a source of internal tension.
In the second part of his speech, His Holiness spoke about the true
understanding of life, calling on believers to adopt the true values of life
given to humanity through Jesus Christ.

SEE OF CILICIA PARTICIPATES IN WORLD MISSION CONFERENCE
The Holy See of Cilicia participated in the inter-orthodox preparatory
consultation for the World Mission Conference, organized by the World
Council of Churches (WCC). The preparatory consultation took place in
Athens, March 3 to 9, with 35 representatives from Orthodox and Oriental
Orthodox Churches to prepare for the World Mission Conference which will
take place in May in Athens, where 700 spiritual and secular representatives
from the WCC member churches, as well as the Roman Catholic, Protestant and
Benedictine churches will participate.
V. Rev. Fr. Khoren Doghramdjian, Primate of the Diocese of Greece, and
V. Rev. Fr. Krikor Chiftjian, Communications Officer of the Catholicate of
Cilicia, participated in the preparatory consultation.

ARMENIAN CHURCHES SPORTS ASSOCIATION
CHAMPIONSHIP GAMES
The Armenian Churches Sports Association (ACSA) completed another
successful year. The championship games took place last Sunday, March 13,
with the following results:
Jr. Boys: Holy Martyrs (beat St. Sarkis)
Girls: St. Leon (beat Holy Martyrs)
Sr. Boys: Sts. Vartanantz beat St. Leon
Men: St. Vartan Cathedral (beat St. Sarkis)
The ACSA originally started with senior boys and later added leagues for
junior boys, girls, and men. Churches participating include: Sts. Vartanantz
(Ridgefield, NJ); St. Sarkis (Douglaston, NY); St. Illuminator Cathedral
(New York City); St. Vartan Cathedral (New York City); Holy Martyrs
(Bayside, NY); St. Thomas (Tenafly, NJ); St. Leon (Fairlawn, NJ); St. Mary
(Livingston, NJ); Armenian Presbyterian Church (Paramus, NJ).

PRELATE WILL CELEBRATE PALM SUNDAY IN BOSTON
Archbishop Oshagan will travel to Massachusetts this weekend to St.
Stephen Church in Watertown, where he will officiate Palm Sunday services
and deliver the Sermon this Sunday.

NEXT WEEK IS HOLY WEEK
The last Sunday of Lent is Palm Sunday (Tzaghkazard). The week preceding
the Resurrection (Easter) is marked in the life of Jesus with a series of
events that were ordained or prophesied. These events include the
resurrection of Lazarus and the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem,
which we commemorate on Palm Sunday. Jesus entered Jerusalem on a donkey, as
described centuries earlier by the prophet Zechariah. A large enthusiastic
crowd greeted him with olive and palm branches and with the words, Hosanna!
Blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord. (John 12: 13)
On Palm Sunday the curtain, closed since the beginning of Lent (Boun
Barekendan), is opened, traditionally following Drnbatsek (opening the door)
ceremony in the morning.
During the Andastan service (Blessing of the Four Corners of the World),
the palms are blessed and passed out to the faithful.
A procession of young boys and girls carrying decorated candles is an
old custom on Palm Sunday, which continues to be an impressive sight to see
all of the young children of the parish dressed in their best clothes parade
around the church.
Each day of Holy Week (Avag Shabat) is a holy day. It is gratifying to
see that these commemorations, many of which had been discontinued, are
being revived by many of our parishes.
Monday commemorates the barren fig tree. (Matthew 21:18-20)
Tuesday commemorates the Ten Virgins. (Matthew 25:13)
Wednesday commemorates the Anointment and Betrayal of Christ.
Thursday is Maundy Thursday. Maundy comes from the command of Christ
(mandatum in Latin) that His disciples should love one another (John 13:34).
In the morning the Divine Liturgy is celebrated and Communion given. In the
early evening the Washing of the Feet (Votunlva) ceremony takes place in
remembrance of the events of the Last Supper. In late evening the betrayal
and torment of Christ, Tenebrae (Khavaroom) is commemorated, in a ceremony
that many consider to be the most impressive and emotional service in the
Armenian Church. Twelve small candles and one large candle are placed on the
altar. During the service seven chapters are read from the Gospel, depicting
Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane, the betrayal by Judas, and denial by
Peter. Interspersed with the readings, hymns composed by Nerses Shnorhali
are sung. After each reading a candle from each side is extinguished in the
darkened sanctuary.
Good Friday commemorates the death and burial of Jesus and is the most
solemn and sacred day in the Christian calendar. In the Armenian Church
tradition, during evening Vespers a tomb is prepared and decorated with
flowers and candles. It is also a tradition in the Armenian Church for the
congregation to bring flowers and decorate the tomb throughout the service.

SPRING IS HERE
Sunday, March 20 is the first day of spring. It is a welcome sign of the
coming rebirth of nature after a dormant, but necessary, winter.
And, it is time to begin the planting for the growing season ahead. Our
late father, an extraordinary gardener, used to tell us that we must get the
sugar snap peas planted by St. Patricks Day, which is today, March 17. We
here at Crossroads have been planning our gardens in our minds since
Christmas. Thinking and planning for spring provides warmth for the soul and
hope for the future.
We leave you this week with these words from Inheriting Paradise:
Meditations on Gardening, by Vigen Guroian:
Every experienced Christian gardener knows that there is a spiritual
spring which comes just as surely as nature’s spring. The Lenten spring is
God’s invitation to prayer, fasting, and penance. Like the deep-rooted
thistle weed, some of our worst habits withstand all but the most
persistent, persevering, and strenuous exercise. A quick pull on the root,
however, will not do the trick, not with an aggressive chop of the hoe.
Patience is needed, and the humble willingness to drop down on one’s knees
and work carefully with the hand fork and trowel. The Christian gardener
patiently picks sin from the soul’s soil and cultivates it with care and
attention to the tender new growth of faith.

Visit our website at

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

AUSTRIAN BANK TO FINANCE ARMENIAN METALS COMPANY

Mining News from Eurasia

BISNIS Mining and Metallurgy Update
16 March 2005

From BISNIS Commercial News Update – Armenia
Prepared by George Isayan, BISNIS Representative in Armenia

Austrian bank Raiffeisen will provide USD 1.5 million in credit to the
Armenian copper program (acp) closed joint-stock company, a copper mine
and processing plant. This will be part of a USD 4.5 million credit
program managed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
(ebrd).

********** Forwarded by: ******************************
Ellen S. House, BISNIS Trade Specialist for Mining and Metallurgy
U.S. Department of Commerce
Tel: 202/482-2284, Fax: 202/482-2293

Additional information on this sector in Russia and Eurasia is available
via BISNIS Online at

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Baku Today
March 17 2005

Separatist Leaders Met in Moscow

17/03/2005 12:36

Leaders from three secessionist regions – Abkhazia, South Ossetia and
Nagorno-Karabakh – Sergey Bagapsh, Eduard Kokoev and Arkadi Gukasyan
held talks in Moscow on March 16, news agency Interfax reports on
March 17.

Interfax also reports, that the leaders of three breakaway regions
agreed to hold a meeting of the de facto Presidents of Abkhazia,
South Ossetia, Nagorno-Karabakh and Transdnestria in April in Abkhaz
capital, Sokhumi.

Earlier Sergey Bagapsh, the President of Georgia’s breakaway
Abkhazia, said at a news conference in Moscow that the leaders from
the four breakaway regions plan to hold a summit in an attempt to
coordinate their policies.

This is a partner post from Civil Georgia

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

The Moscow Times
Thursday, March 17, 2005. Issue 3126. Page 5.

Oganesyan Warns of Slowdown

Combined Reports

Itar-Tass

Federal Energy Agency head Sergei Oganesyan

Russia, the world’s second-largest crude exporter, must revive investment in
its oil and gas fields or risk a further slowdown in a five-year oil boom,
the head of the nation’s energy agency said.

The lack of investment in oil fields, part of the “barbarous treatment” of
the country’s resources, must be reversed, Federal Energy Agency head Sergei
Oganesyan said Wednesday.

Output growth will drop by almost half to 5 percent this year and probably
slow further in 2006 and beyond, he said. Drilling fell last year as Russia
demanded $28 billion in back taxes from Yukos.

Russia’s oil boom may be ending as President Vladimir Putin increases
government control over the industry, hurting investment in new wells, rigs
and pipelines. A slowdown in Russian oil production gives greater power to
OPEC as world demand rises. The group pumps about 40 percent of the world’s
oil.

The Paris-based International Energy Agency estimates Russian oil output
will rise 3.8 percent this year, less than half the average during the past
five years and the lowest since $10 oil hurt investment in 1999. Oil output
rose 9 percent in 2004 to 9.2 million barrels per day.

“It’s possible, though it’s too early to tell [whether growth will slow to
3.8 percent this year],” Oganesyan said.

His comments came as the Industry and Energy Ministry said it expected oil
output to rise by 250,000 barrels per day in the second quarter of 2005 to a
new post-Soviet high of 9.58 million bpd.

The forecast was contained in a decree on the nation’s quarterly energy
balance signed by Industry and Energy Minister Viktor Khristenko. The
ministry’s estimate represents only a guideline and has repeatedly been
overly optimistic in the past few quarters.

The ministry said crude exports via the Transneft pipeline network,
including deliveries to ex-Soviet states, would amount to around 5 million
bpd, or in line with the current levels.

Oil output rose to 9.33 million bpd in February after a four-month decline
which many analysts attributed to the state-driven breakup of oil major
Yukos.

Seasonal factors also played a role in the recent dip, but production growth
is also expected to slow this year. Transport bottlenecks are making it
harder to bring oil to export markets.

Clogged pipelines, which are boosting transport costs, have also discouraged
companies from investing in production.

LUKoil forecasts shipping costs of $3 billion this year, up 20 percent from
2004, and TNK-BP’s transportation costs rose 77 percent to $1.5 billion in
2003, according to the most recent figures available.

A tax increase last year means the government takes most of the gains as
crude trades above $50 per barrel.

“With the new tax laws put in place last year, effectively 90 percent of the
cash flow above $25 goes to the government, so we are not actually enjoying
the benefits of these high oil prices,” TNK-BP Chief Executive Robert Dudley
said in January.

(Bloomberg, Reuters)

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
March 17 2005

US concerned over frequent ceasefire breaches

Baku, March 16, AssA-Irada

`Washington is concerned over the frequent ceasefire violations on
the Armenia-Azerbaijan frontline’, the US ambassador in Azerbaijan
Reno Harnish told reporters on Wednesday. He said that the conflict
is not frozen, and attention should be paid and major efforts taken
to settle it.
The frequent ceasefire breaches necessitate new approaches to the
conflict resolution, Harnish said. He emphasized the importance of
preventing them, highly assessing the activity of the OSCE chairman’s
special envoy Anzhei Kaspshik.*

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
March 17 2005

Former minister was informed of criminal group

Baku, March 16, AssA-Irada

The law enforcement bodies had been aware of the criminal group led
by Haji Mammadov for four years, President Ilham Aliyev said in a
meeting with the National Security Ministry representatives on
Wednesday.
The criminal group, involved in kidnappings, murders and other
crimes, has recently been detained by the Ministry.
Aliyev said that in 2001, the Prosecutor General instructed the then
National Security Minister Namig Abbasov to conduct an operation and
investigate the suspicions concerning the criminal group and its
leader. However, no steps were taken in that direction then, the
President said.
`If the National Security Ministry had taken the matter seriously
then, numerous crimes could have been prevented.’
Speaking of the tasks of security agencies, President Aliyev noted
that until recently the Ministry has not carried out much work over
the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Upper Garabagh, which is of
great importance.
`I issued relevant instructions to Eldar Mahmudov when appointing him
to the position. He conducted a research and found out that this area
of the Ministry’s activity is on a low level.’*

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Miami Herald, FL
March 17 2005

Psst, pal, wanna buy some cheap guided missiles?

Any fan of Hollywood B movies expects a hot-tub scene. Our thriller
gets it out of the way early: Page 13 of the rousing 62-page United
States of America versus Armo, Tiko, Soso, Joe, Jabs, Spies, Nikush,
et al.

The FBI’s confidential informant, known only as CI, traveled to a
Brooklyn spa last spring to negotiate with some scoundrels with
nefarious ties to the international arms black market. The meeting
began “first in a sauna, then in a hot tub.”

The movie version, of course, would have added a couple of nearly
naked, beautiful women sloshing about as an arms deal simmered in
roiling water. No mention of skin in the federal complaint released
this week.

Our main villain, Artur Solomonyan, 26, asked as he soaked if CI’s
clients had ”dark skin,” meaning, of course, were they Arab
terrorists.

Solomonyan, an Armenian, and his partner, a 33-year-old South African
known as Spies (as Dave Barry would say, I’m not making this up)
assured the FBI’s own spy that they could supply him with land mines,
rocket- propelled grenade launchers, surface-to-air missiles,
including shoulder-launched Stingers, and a variety of machine guns,
all obtained from leaky armories in Russia, Ukraine, Georgia, Armenia
and Chechnya. Solomonyan also mentioned enriched uranium that “could
be used in the subway system.”

CI intimated that he was the middle man for some very unsavory
clients, “specifically mentioning foreign and domestic terrorists.”

NO SCRUPLES

These were pure Hollywood-style evildoers, unburdened by
soul-searching, guilt, doubts or anguish. No complicated character
studies here. More like the one-dimensional bad guys on Fox TV’s 24.
“Spies responded that he did not care who purchased the
explosives.”

For more than a year, the FBI monitored 15,000 cellphone
conversations among the gang members. CI traveled from New York to
Los Angeles to South Florida, a place seen by the crooks as a
nurturing, low-risk climate for their criminal enterprise. “Spies
said Florida was a good place to do things.”

Two South Florida men were among those arrested Tuesday when the FBI
trap snapped shut on 17 alleged arms dealers. Joseph Colpani, 53, of
Hollywood, and Michael Demare, 50, of north Miami-Dade were captured
in their not-very-flashy neighborhoods after selling two AK-47s and
promising nastier stuff to come. I’m sure the movie version will
relocate the pair to Star Island.

PUPPY LOVE

The gang had their nicknames, a cinematic touch. And cute code names
for weapons. Machine guns and rocket launchers became toys, condos,
SUVs and puppies.

Can guys who love puppies be so bad?

The FBI’s CI purchased eight assault rifles during the course of the
investigation. What’s unclear is whether the other stuff promised was
so much smoke blown by low-rent hoods, who ran credit-card and
Medicare scams on the side.

Did they really have access to missiles powerful enough to take down
an airliner? Or enriched uranium? Or rocket grenade launchers?

The case is reminiscent of the so-called Russian mobsters who ran
Porky’s, a strip bar in Hialeah. In 1995, they tried to sell
undercover cops, posing as drug smugglers, a Russian submarine. It
was never quite clear how much of that was bravado, how much was a
real possibility.

Not that this latest batch of Soviet-bloc criminals weren’t sinister.
Solomonyan was taped saying he had something unsavory in mind for CI,
who he thought was ”playing with him.” Solomonyan said, “He’ll see
what it means to play.”

His threatening words were pure film noir.

He said the CI “won’t forget me for all his life. He’s gonna
remember me for a while. I’m not joking. You’ll see. I’ve got a
couple plans.”

The gang was nabbed before our tough guy could carry out his threat
— a perfect Hollywood ending.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Paradise Post, CA
March 17 2005

Want a unique holiday? Try Turkish delight!

By April Blankfort

Photos by Lowell Blankfort

The enormous 16th century Mosque of Suleyman the Magnificent, with
its multiplicity of domes and four towering minarets, adjoins
Istanbuls exotic great market and overlooks a port on Bosphorus,
where boats take visitors an hour away to the Black Sea.

Looking for a very special holiday this year? Try Turkey. Former Post
co-owner Lowell Blankfort and his wife April, who’ve been to lots of
places, did last year and discovered it was among the most
fascinating, varied and exotic tourist meccas on earth,
There are many Turkeys to choose from, depending upon one’s travel
tastes and budgets. The following article is intended to give you the
flavor of how it was for one couple, the Blankforts, traveling
independently. Read on

Jottings from a Turkish notebook

The Ciragan Palace Hotel is, perhaps, Istanbul’s most sumptuous. A
sultan’s palace in the 19th and early 20th cemturies when Turkey’s
Ottoman Empire ruled much of the world, it sprawls along the banks of
the Bosphorus whose waters lap at its terrace steps. Its rooms are
luxurious and shut out the noise from the busy streets outside. Their
price can be negotiated down from the stratospheric to the possible.
Not so the prices on the menus. This is the trap we found ourselves
caught in on the first night of our three weeks in Turkey.
Unwilling to consider paying the equivalent of $16 for a bowl of
soup, we sought pity from the hotel concierge. Where to eat on a
budget? He condescended to draw a map and, after a short walk, we
found a street crammed with small restaurants. Lured into one by the
view, we had a table on a balcony from which we could watch, from
Europe, the ferries arriving from the Asian shore of the city across
the river.
Lights twinkled onto the dark surface of this ancient waterway and,
in the distance, brilliantly colored wedding fireworks etched the
night sky. The platters of fresh seafood kept coming until we could
eat no more. Even counting the wine, the cost per head was little
more than the Cirgan’s bowl of soup.
In the morning, finding that breakfast was a wallet-blowing $36 per
person, we hit the road again. This time we took the opposite
direction. Twelve minutes of walking took us to an area beneath the
Galata bridge that sweeps from our European side to the Asian.

Narrow streets led to the water’s edge with plenty of open-air cafes.
Sleepy waiters swept the cobbles and set out tables and chairs. It
was too early for Turks, but we were ready for the small cups of
bitter coffee and plates of white cheese, black olives, bread and
tomatoes that constitute a good Turkish breakfast.
This area is called Ortakoy and it is worth seeking out for it sums
up the richness of Turkey’s history and culture. Coexisting
peacefully within its confines are a mosque, synagogue and church.
Surrounding them are newly renovated old houses now turned into
trendy boutiques, art galleries and caf-bars.
Sometimes it is worth staying at an impossibly expensive hotel where
you are driven out to find your own way to food and drink.
Once we discovered a way to survive starvation we could concentrate
on exploring Istanbul. Old etchings of the city had made it familiar
to me from my English childhood. The domes and minarets of the
mosques, the vaulted lanes in the bazaars, the little boats sailing
the Bosphorus are still there.
To me, Istanbul is still one of the most beautiful cities in the
world. To sit on the caf terrace of the Topkapi Palace will convince
even the harshest critic. This was the residence of the sultans until
the 19th century. Spread beneath your view is the Bosphorus with
ferry boats bustling between Europe and Asia. The tiled roofs of old
houses cascade down the hillsides mingling with flowering trees and
untidy gardens.
Nevertheless, you have little time to linger at a table – history is
calling.

Turkey is a wonderful tangled ball of history’s wool. To begin with
it is split by the Bosphorus, the fabled waterway that divides Europe
and Asia. Nine thousand years ago the earliest urban culture
flourished there. Later civilizations from the Hittite to the Greek
and Persian paraded through, leaving plenty to furnish the present
museums and fill the history books.
North of Manchuria, in the emptiest of wastelands, the Chinese took
note of a people called “Tu-kueh,” the Turks. It took 7,000 years of
history before the present inhabitants arrived. Compared with other
Mediterranean nations they are newcomers.
Turks are concerned with identifying themselves. The Armenian we meet
in the bazaar is one of them. Sitting amidst his gleaming stock of
antique brass and copper, he says he is both Turk and Armenian. Close
to a million of his Armenian forebears died in battles with the Turks
early in the last century.
“The Armenians survive by toughness. We give no quarter,” says our
merchant friend. “There is always discrimination against us despite
laws against it. Sure, we can apply to join the army or police. But
when we take the exams and pass, they don’t employ us. Still, we go
on applying. After all, we are Turks too.”

It takes the best part of a long day to tour the Topkapi palace
although some laggards only want to look in on the Treasury with the
famed dagger (from the movie of the same name). You can’t blame them
because an 86 carat diamond is hard to pass by. Still, I find it hard
to be too impressed; the sheer quantity of jeweled vessels, weapons,
gilded cabinetry, as well as their size, makes it hard to take it all
in. An interest in minimalism overtakes me and I slink away to
inspect the rest of this massive palace which really served as both
haven and prison for the sultan and his fabled harem.
In this maze of courtyards and tiled rooms intrigues flourished.
Heirs to the throne were strangled with a silken thread and
concubines died from boredom. Black eunuchs, the uglier the better,
were employed to rule the ladies and keep them chaste from all except
the sultan. In such an effete system it is hard to believe that the
Ottomans lasted as long as they did – more than 400 years..
The mosques are the beauty marks on the face of Istanbul.
One of the loveliest is the Blue Mosque built in 1619 by Sultan
Ahmet. Famed for its magnificent blue Izmik tiles, it is like
standing inside a monumental sapphire.
Ahmet flouted convention and insisted on six minarets, previously
allowed only in the holy city of Mecca. For penance, his abject
architect had to make a trip to Mecca to build a seventh following a
storm of protest from the faithful. Still, the six minarets make it
easy to find your way when you get lost in the muddle of streets and
alleyways of old “Stamboul”.
The great Mosque of Suleyman the Magnificent sits proudly like a
crown on the head of the city. It is the icon with which the city is
most identified. After the feverish decoration of Topkapi, its
simplicity is as refreshing as a cool lemonade on a hot day.
But it is not an original mosque that fascinated me most but a former
church. Turkey is an Islamic republic and all around reminds you of
this until visiting Santa Sofia, built by Emperor Justinian in the
6th century and once the greatest church in Christendom. It remained
so until Islam took it over in the 15th century and turned it into a
mosque.
Turkey has a wonderful way of bringing opposites together: sweet and
tart in food, curves and lines in architecture and diverse religions.
Despite damage over the centuries, it is surprising to find Christian
art surviving in such a public place of Muslim veneration.
There is still an outstanding and massive mosaic of the Virgin
cradling Jesus with Emperor Constantine offering her the city, then
named Constantinople after him.
Thanks to modern Turkey’s founder Kemal Ataturk, who restored the
mosaics in 1933, they survive under what has been described as the
most superb dome in Europe.
Surely, this is what the world now seeks – a place where Muslim and
Christian spiritualities connect. Thanks to Turkish Muslims this
great church still stands and inspires.

The best way to experience the Bosphorus is to do what we do – take a
water bus.
We buy tickets for a three-hour journey and our driver will meet us
to take us back to the city. No industry or developers have yet
spoiled the lovely waterside. Wooded hills, little villages and old
Ottoman houses line the banks.
We buy cold drinks from the boat’s kiosk and sit with other
passengers. Children hang over the railings and wave to people
lunching in the cafs on land. A wandering vendor sells simit. This
golden, sesame crusted ring of bread keeps hunger at bay and is sold
everywhere from morning till night.
The boat points up towards the Black Sea and we pass merchant ships
sailing down from Ukraine. Narrow as it is, the Bosphorus is an
international waterway.
We pass five former Ottoman palaces, including our own hotel, plus
four castles and picturesque villages, only one of which we have time
to visit. Here we found our idea of a castle in Rumeli Hisar. Its
solid stone walls and towers that once guarded these waters from
Turkey’s enemies climb the hillside.
We clamber up and down the chiseled stairs feeling like Harry Potter
characters in yet another adventure. However, there is nothing more
threatening than the flower and trees. The place is empty of tourists
and we have it to ourselves.
***
A good guide is a traveler’s eyes and ears; he or she also becomes
your nanny and guardian. In over 30 years of traveling together,
Lowell and I have had our share of the good, the bad and the ugly.
Our trips are complex. We seldom join groups and we need a lot of
organization on the ground, even though some trips are planned a year
in advance.
Enter Beko, a 38-year-old man with the face of a merry pixie and grin
from here to there. He is an absolute genius who meets us at the
Istanbul airport and mollycoddles us for almost three weeks when he
waves goodbye. Beko was provided us by Ghingis (“Chuck”) Aras, at Flo
USA Turkish tour agency in Heathrow, Fla., who acted as our pre-trip
adviser and arranger.
Beko, whose real name is Berkant Topal, has degrees in archaeology
and economics. He has registered half a dozen archeological sites.
English is his second language but he speaks it better than many
native Americans. He has been the guide for three American presidents
visiting Turkey, both George Bushes and Bill Clinton. (Of these, he
says the first George Bush was the most attentive and knowledgeable).
History and his little son are Beko’s passions. His wife also could
be a passion but, sadly, she could not live with a man who is always
somewhere else. When not enthusing over ancient ruins or political
venues, he is on his cell phone organizing dinner at a special
restaurant or checking that the next hotel has the amenities we want.
When we take off for Diyarbakir without him, he whiles away our four
days’ absence meeting and greeting a U.S. tour group and taking them
to the famous World War I battlefield, Gallipoli. Fresh as a daisy,
the same day he bids them farewell he welcomes us and heads back to
Gallipoli on another three-hour car trip with us.
There is little in which Beko is not knowledgeable and interested.
Africa is our next trip and I wish he could be our eyes and ears
there too.
***
Cappadocia, a fairytale-like region in central Turkey, is a magnet
for tourists. Cappadocia is full of caves. It is a region formed by
three erupting volcanoes 10 million years ago. Over time it has
become a lunar landscape of soft porous stone called tufa. Tufa has
been sculpted by wind and rain into fascinating shapes, many called
“fairy chimneys.” The inhabitants found tufa easy to work with and
cut out caves to live in.
Christians living there made cave churches. When Arab armies came
thundering through in the seventh century, the people went
underground into their caves and survived by rolling stone wheel-like
doors across the entrances. Although many people have left their
caves because of dilapidation, there are still plenty to see and
visit.
Lowell wanted to stay in a cave. One with a bathroom, hot water and
comfortable beds. We found it in a hotel carved into the tufa. The
rooms were high-ceilinged and cozy with plenty of room. There was no
sign of anything sinister. No creepy-crawlies. No bears. Just hot
water, electricity and a good shower.
Although the area looks barren and dry, the mineral-rich soil is
fertile and forms a prime agricultural region with orchard and
vineyards. The latter produce good wines; Turks pay little attention
to Islamic strictures against drinking alcohol.
***
In Cappadocia we experience true Turkish hospitality. Our hosts are
the family of Ghengis Aras, the Florida fount of Turkish wisdom.
Theirs is a charming house set in a garden in the town of Kayseri.
Upstairs they usher us onto a wide balcony that runs along the width
of the building . On this balcony a shaded table awaits. It is laden
with dishes of food and baskets of breads.
There seem to be hundreds of stuffed vine leaves, tiny eggplants
stewed with tomatoes and onions and delicately spiced char-broiled
vegetables. There are flaky pastry pies and a wonderful soup to begin
with. There is something that looks like a gigantic pizza covered
with ground lamb that has to be cooked in a special oven which they
take me to see in the kitchen. The dishes never seem to empty and
they bring fresh plates piled with little cakes made with honey,
walnuts, pistachios and rose water.
Our hostess has prepared all this with help only from her daughter.
She hardly sits through the meal always checking that we and her
family are eating without cease. Afterwards, someone brings a tray of
tiny cups filled with sweet, black coffee. They offer cigarettes of
fragrant Turkish tobacco. Politely, we decline but in smoke-filled
Turkey it isn’t yet politically correct to ignore smoking.
***
Dyarbakir in Turkey’s southeast is like taking a magic carpet into
the past. Cities like Istanbul and Ankara are modern, full of
Western-style buildings and shops so it is easy to feel at home. But
in Dyabakir we are in the old Turkey of myth and fairy tale.
The ancient Tigris river flows by its monumental black city walls,
wending its way toward Iraq and Baghdad. Traditional life flourishes
in its narrow streets. Old men wear old-fashioned baggy pants and
many women wear headscarves and a few are veiled, openly flouting the
secular law against this.
The population is mostly Kurdish. The Kurds chafe at Turkish rule and
are cautious in dealing with foreigners. However, courtesy is always
present. Seeing our camera, one elderly man, a prize photo subject
with his twirling moustache, voluminous pants and elegant shirt,
draws up, shoulders back. After the camera clicks he gravely salutes
the photographer and proudly marches away.
Our window on the third floor of the Class Hotel looks straight onto
the street running past the market. Early each morning I stand by it
to watch. At first the shops are shuttered and the occasional
pedestrian saunters past. One by one shopkeepers arrive and the
shutters clatter up announcing that business is beginning.
Men struggle with barrows top heavy with the largest watermelons I
have ever seen. Small boys with trays of sesame bread rings balanced
on their heads trot by briskly with shrill cries of ” Simit! Simit!”
Shopkeepers sit on small stools outside their doors sipping tea and
motion the simit boys to bring them breakfast.
Later on, elderly couples, the woman lagging behind, arrive with
shopping bags. Young women carry their prune-eyed babies and
disappear into the dark market beyond. People shop each day for fresh
vegetables, fruits and meat. Frozen dinners are not on the menus
tonight or any other night.
Now I know that I am in the Orient I have always loved. This is
Turkey’s Asian face and bears scant resemblance to its European
sliver a thousand miles to the east.
***
It is early evening and we sit with others in what used to be an inn
for travelers. The walls are thick and high and there is very little
light. We are waiting for the Dervishes to perform their ceremony. In
the West we call them “Whirling Dervishes” and from afar their
practice seems mysterious and perhaps a little frightening. This
small group has come from a distant town and we are fortunate to be
here on this night.
Dervishes are the followers of the Persian poet and philosopher Rumi.
They believe that their way is the way to seek and achieve a mystical
union with God.
In the half dark the mostly-male group silently enters dressed in
floor-sweeping black cloaks and tall white hats. All in white, in
their full skirts in the gray light, they look like ghosts.
In the West people think the Dervishes whirl madly, lose control and
end in a kind of seizure. They don’t. As they whirl, their skirts
blow out into large white bells. The men’s heads rest dreamily on
their shoulders, eyes half-closed, a gentle expression on their
faces. There is no frenzy, no loss of control. The music ends. They
return to their line. The black cloaks are slipped on. Softly the
dancers disappear into the dark.
***
Snapshots from my mind’s
camera:

The graves in Gallipoli where the dead lie from both sides, Turkish
and Australian, in that devastating World War I battle. The quiet
beats in our ears like muffled drums. There is only the sad splash of
the sea falling like tears onto the beach below.

Lowell and I tripping on one of Ankara’s notoriously uneven
sidewalks. He falls first and my legs tangle with his. As we are on a
slope, gravity pulls us down into a heap. It’s like a comedy routine.
I have to laugh but not so the passersby. We are picked up, dusted
down, queried as to our well-being. It’s as if we are precious
treasure. Turks care.

The elegant man sitting next to me on the plane from Dyarbakir to
Ankara. His English is minimal but his charm well-versed.
“How old you are?” he asks. “Forty-eight?”
I laugh. “I wish.”
Later, I use my lipstick. When I finish, he taps my arm.
“Ah, now 42!”

Mehmet, the masseur in Ankara’s Gordion Hotel. About 5 feet tall and
3 feet wide, he hands me the towels.
I am a massage junkie and have been pummeled from Bali to Swaziland
No one has ever bettered Mehmet. His hands take no prisoners. I am,
literally, putty in his hands.
When I totter out an hour later, every ache and creak accumulated
from three weeks of sitting in cars and planes has been left behind
on his table …
***
FINAL WORD: I have to admit that I was forever prejudiced against the
Turks. When I began to travel in my 20s I heard of Turkish atrocities
from Egyptians who pointed out how Turks had damaged their
archeological sites. Then horror stories from the Greeks, the
Armenians, the Syrians, the Albanians. Were they liked anywhere?
Then, lured by cheap, colorful vacations, Westerners began to
“discover” Turkey. They regaled me with tales of the friendly Turk.
Still, I was doubtful. How could they be? Weren’t they the “terrible
Turks” who took no prisoners in the Korean War? The thieving Turks of
yesteryears?
Well. I stand corrected. My friends were right. Throughout our three
weeks we encountered nothing but kindness and care.
There was the man hurrying to us when we stopped the car to rest near
a vineyard. We feared he was coming to beg. What a joke! His hands
were full of bunches of grapes to refresh the foreign visitors.
And then there was the wife of a minor official we were interviewing.
She had brought us tea and the usual honey-soaked cakes. Then, as we
stood to leave, she gave me a parcel of tissue paper. Inside was an
exquisitely crocheted shawl of soft gray wool flecked with silver.
She had made it herself for her daughter but wanted me to have it.
“I make for her another,” she laughed. Now, her shawl keeps me as
warm as the friendship of that gesture.
Do I like Turks? Does a duck quack?

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

BBC Monitoring quotes from Turkish press 17 March 05

BBC Monitoring Service
United Kingdom; Mar 17, 2005

The following is a selection of quotes from editorials and
commentaries published in 17 March editions of Turkish newspapers
available to BBC Monitoring

UK

Hurriyet [centre-right, largest circulation] “Why was a ceremony [to
mark the killing of 6 Turkish soldiers by the British troops occupying
Istanbul in 1920] which has not been organized for 47 years been held
again? Why are the words like ‘perfidious Albion’ being used again? To
whom was this message sent? Was it the British ? Or the Americans? Or
the whole of Europe? …Or are we trying to tell the West ‘Look, if
you raise the issue of the Armenian genocide, we will open your
file?'” (Commentary by Ertugrul Ozkok)

Radikal “The UK is leading among the countries supporting Turkey’s EU
membership. In the background of [Foreign Minister Abdullah] Gul’s
visit [to the UK], there lies a report from 22 February 2005, which
was published as a result of the regarding Cyprus that House of
Common’s Foreign Affairs Commission carried out in 2004 and 2005 . In
this report, apart from a couple of points that the Turkish side would
not like, there are important suggestions to the British government
foreseeing the lifting of trade, travel and economic aid embargos on
the Turkish Cypriots. Perhaps, the most important aspect of the report
for us is that there is no suggestion that we should recognize the
Greek Cypriots.” (Commentary by Gunduz Aktan)

Turkey/ EU/ USA

Posta [tabloid] “For a while, this government was doing very well. It
knew what it wanted… and it was acting accordingly. I do not know
what happened but they have begun to resemble their predecessors. For
example, it seems that they still have not made a definite decision
regarding the EU… They have still not made up their mind about their
relations with America. Will they draw closer to Washington or to its
opponents? Is it better to be closer to the Muslim countries or be
closer to the Bush administration on some policies? …Given the
situation, of course, suspicions on the opposite side are growing.”
(Commentary by Mehmet Ali Birand)

Milliyet [centrist] “Suspicions that world developments are not being
interpreted well by [Prime Minister] Erdogan and his administration
are growing. There are many signs that the priorities and things that
can be done afterwards are being mixed up. While relations with the
USA are gradually becoming sour, good signals are not coming from the
EU either. Why is that? …Erdogan’s administration would benefit
greatly from considering the situation and getting back on its feet.”
(Commentary by Hasan Cemal)

“In the meetings I attended in recent months, organized by the NGOs
and university campuses, I have witnessed that anti-Western sentiment
is on therise. Objections have been made even by those who have been
strongly supporting EU membership… Because of the Westerners who are
looking down on us and wagging their fingers, saying ‘Do this and do
not do that’, the Turkish people are moving towards the point of
giving up its 200 hundred years old dream of becoming westernized. The
opposition, whose absence is being felt, is being formed into an
‘anti-West’ axis… And among the political elite, the complaint ‘we
are giving more than we are taking’ is being voiced.” (Commentary by
Can Dundar)

EU

Radikal [centre-left] “Turkey must also learn a lesson from the
message that the EU has given to Croatia. The very simple example is
that if our police continue to beat women demonstrators who do not
throw stones at them or demolish things, the [EU] negotiations may not
start or may be suspended even if they do start. If Turkey weakens the
policy of `zero tolerance against torture’, which the government has
declared, and if the violations of human rights continue to increase,
the negotiations may not start… And more importantly, if the
articles foreseeing prison sentences for journalists in the new
Turkish penal Code which is to come into force in two weeks’ time are
not corrected and journalists are imprisoned, the EU [membership] may
suddenly turn into a distant dream.” (Commentary by Ismet Berkan)

USA

Yeni Safak [liberal, pro-Islamic] “ýAs you see, the USA is determined
not to give you any diplomatic way out. [Regarding the issue of the
Turkish president’s visit to Syria] the USA sends its warning a month
earlier and strictly excludes any diplomatic way out as it gives this
[warning] publicly… It can much more easily be understood that one
of the targets of Washington’s new `imperial policy’ line is
Turkey. Washington does not want Turkey to determine its own policy,
even regional, and follow it.” (Commentary by Fehmi Koru)

“The problem [of the USA] is not Syria. The problem is the plans for
taking Turkey a hostage, controlling and cornering it and using it as
a trigger man… Who can say that Turkey will also not be declared
terrorist, as it is becoming independent in the area of foreign
policy, putting its own interests first, planning for its own future,
moving away from the USA-UK-Israel camp, opening up to Africa, the
Middle East and Asia, and becoming bigger?” (Commentary by Ibrahim
Karagul)

Source: As given

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress