Author: Andres-Papazian

Bethlehem’S Church Of The Punch-Up
Giles Fraser

guardian.co.uk
Thursday 29 December 2011 16.00 GMT

The latest brawl between Armenian and Orthodox monks in Bethlehem is
a product of Christianity’s romance with buildings

A Greek Orthodox priest wears a face mask as he cleans the Church of
the Nativity in Bethlehem as part of the preparations for the Orthodox
faith’s Christmas celebrations. Photograph: Abed Al Hashlamoun/EPA

It’s become something of a Christmas tradition: the annual
ecclesiastical punch-up at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.

This year the Palestinian riot police had to be called in after it
all kicked off again, with a hundred or so Armenian and Greek Orthodox
monks bashing seven bells out of each other with brooms. Apparently one
monk was provocatively brushing somewhere that was supposed to be the
responsibility of someone else. In this feverishly contested space, if
you clean it then you are maintaining it, and if you maintain it then
you are making a claim to owning it: that is the logic, such as it is.

Which is why the three church traditions that share the administration
of the Church of the Nativity still can’t agree on who pays for urgent
repairs to the church roof, despite the fact that water is now coming
through and damaging the building. All sides want to pay, and refuse
to let the others put their hands in their pockets. To pay would be
to own.

Of course, it’s been worse. In 1853, a similar jurisdictional squabble
saw several Orthodox monks murdered and provided the Russian tsar with
the excuse he needed to start the Crimean war. That time the row was
between the Catholics and the Orthodox about who had the key to the
main door and the hanging of a star over the manger.

In part, this nonsense originates in a longstanding romance between
Christianity and architecture – a romance that began with the building
of the Bethlehem church and its sister establishment, the Church of
the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, under the direction of the newly
converted Emperor Constantine in the late 320s. Since then the church
has been responsible for some of the world’s finest architecture. Who
would have guessed the followers of an itinerant preacher, for whom
there was no room inside the building to be born in, would became
the managers of such a spectacular collection of buildings?

For some, church buildings ought to be treated as little more than
rain shelters. From this perspective, a church is first of all the
people. And the buildings – however beautiful and impressive – are a
distraction, transforming the clergy into caretakers and turning in on
itself the outward-looking mission of the church. This is how the monks
of Bethlehem end up being so petty and narrow-minded. Church buildings
have become a fetish, admired by secular aesthetes and those who want
an impressive stage set in which to celebrate life’s big events, but
a drain on the resources and moral imagination of the church. What
we need is another dose of healthy iconoclasm to remind us that the
message of the gospel is not to be confused with bricks and mortar.

In my more puritan moments I have some sympathy with this line. You
cannot spend much time at St Paul’s without noticing how much the needs
of the building can come to dominate, and how the worship of many
visitors is really that of Sir Christopher Wren. But the Christian
romance with buildings is still worth defending, not least because
the story of Christmas is that God comes alive in material reality.

Christianity is not some esoteric philosophy. It is rooted in
time and place. It begins on the streets before it points to the
stars. And church buildings are an expression of the rootedness of
the incarnation. Where it all goes wrong is when those who are so
caught up in the running of church buildings forget about the purpose
for which the place was built, and come to believe that the stones
matter in and of themselves. When that happens Christianity becomes
petty and narrow, all about who cleans a few metres of floor, rather
than a means of imagining human life from the context of all eternity.

From: A. Papazian

L’ARMENIE VA DEVENIR AUTO-SUFFISANTE EN CEREALES D’ICI 2014
Stephane

armenews.com
jeudi 29 decembre 2011

Le gouvernement armenien espère que d’ici 2014 le pays atteindra
l’autosuffisance en cereales et n’aura plus a importer des grains a
declare le ministre de l’Agriculture Sergo Karapetian.

L’annee dernière, le gouvernement a octroye 1,5 millions de dollars
pour l’importation de semences de ble d’elite afin de reduire la
forte dependance du pays face aux importations de ble.

Les autorites ont declare a cette epoque que les agriculteurs armeniens
devraient etre en mesure de satisfaire plus de la moitie de la demande,
des 2013 et que la production nationale de ble devrait augmenter a
350 000 tonnes.

“L’annee dernière, nous avons recu 183 000 tonnes de cereales, la
recolte de cette annee sera d’environ 215 000 tonnes ” a-t-il dit.

Il a dit 85% des cultures de cereales de cette annee ont deja ete
recoltes.

Sergo Karapetian a egalement souligne que le prix des cereales sur
les marches mondiaux a chute de 15 a 20%, mais la baisse ne s’est pas
ressentie en Armenie, car les stocks precedemment importes a des prix
plus eleves ne sont pas encore terminee.

L’Armenie consomme annuellement jusqu’a 650 000 tonnes de cereales
vivrières et s’appuie sur l’importation de près de deux tiers de sa
consommation de cereales.

Le ministre a indique egalement que la production de legumes a
augmente et que d’ici la fin de l’annee, environ 750 000 tonnes
devraient etre recueillies.

La recolte d’abricot, selon le ministre, s’est elevee a 46 000 tonnes,
dont 7260 tonnes ont ete exportees.

From: A. Papazian

L’OPPOSITION DEMANDE LA TENUE D’ELECTIONS DEMOCRATIQUES POUR 2012
Laetitia

armenews.com
jeudi 29 decembre 2011

Les partis de l’opposition ont exhorte le gouvernement a tenir les
prochaines elections legislatives sur une seule liste, une mesure
qui permettrait selon eux d’eviter le trucage des votes.

La Federation revolutionnaire armenienne(Dachnaktsoutioun) et le parti
Zharangutyun (Heritage) souhaitent abolir des elections tenues dans
les circonscriptions a siège unique.

Mais le parti republicain du president Serge Sarkissian d’Armenie
(HHK), qui a une solide majorite dans le parlement actuel, a rejete
cette idee.

Les leaders de l’opposition affirment que les electeurs elisant les
parlementaires dans leurs circonscriptions sont plus vulnerables a
l’intimidation du gouvernement.

C’est la raison pour laquelle les candidats de l’opposition gagnent
rarement les mandats uniques des districts. La grande majorite de ces
sièges est actuellement detenue par des particuliers fortunes ou qui
sont en etroite relation avec le gouvernement.

La FRA et le Zharangutyun ont declare que les autorites armeniennes
demontreront le serieux de leurs engagements afin d’assurer la bonne
conduite des elections de mai 2012, s’ils acceptent la demande faite
par l’ensemble des partis de l’opposition.

Armen Rustamian, un leader du Dachnaktsoutioun, a averti mercredi 28
decembre 2011 que ” le système a mandat unique donne aux autorites
un avantage injuste “, a-t-il declare lors d’une conference.

Le HAK, qui entretient des relations difficiles avec les deux partis de
l’opposition, a salue leur initiative. ” C’est une etape importante
et necessaire pour assurer la legitimite et la transparence des
elections. Le Congrès est pret a cooperer sur cette question avec
toutes les forces politiques “, a-t-il declare dans un communique.

Edouard Sharmazanov, un vice-president du parlement et le porte-parole
du HHK au pouvoir, a rejete les arguments de l’opposition. S’exprimant
au service de RFE / RL, il a soutenu que la plupart des partis
armeniens ont peu de membres et peu de structures en dehors de la
capitale.

Naira Zohrabian, un representant du parti Armenie Prospère (BHK), un
partenaire de la coalition, a declare que le BHK soutient la demande
de l’opposition dans le principe mais estime que le passage a une
liste unique doit etre progressif.

Le HHK a rejete ce mois-ci les demandes de garantie de l’opposition
contre les methodes frauduleuses. Le gouvernement s’est engage a
organiser des elections democratiques.

From: A. Papazian

IN TURKEY’S LAST ARMENIAN VILLAGE, A PLACE TO GET AWAY FROM IT ALL
By Matthew Brunwasser

December 28, 2011

Sunday afternoon, after services at the St. Astvatzatzin Armenian
Apostolic Church. (Photo: Matthew Brunwasser) For the Geo Quiz we are
looking for a province in southern Turkey about the size of Delaware.

The province used to be part of Syria once, but was ceded to Turkey
in 1939.

It is an ethically diverse province and even includes a village with
a 100 percent ethnic Armenian population.

The capital of the province is the city of Antakya.

Hatay is the answer to the Geo Quiz.

Hatay is home to the only village in Turkey that is populated solely by
ethnic Armenians considering that most ethnic Armenians, in what was
then the Ottoman empire, fled or were killed or ethnically cleansed
in 1915.

Reporter Matthew Brunwasser paid the village a visit.

Bitterness over the 1915 Armenian massacres and ethnic cleansing in
Turkey by then Ottoman forces is still unresolved. But Turkey’s last
remaining village inhabited solely by ethnic Armenians is a seriously
peaceful place. Vafikli Koyu today attracts visitors with its pretty
views, excellent climate and tasty organic produce.

It’s a balmy Sunday in Vakifli Koyu, a sleepy village on a lush
mountaintop overlooking the Mediterranean. The air smells like orange
blossoms and the townsfolk, all 135 of them, never seem to hurry.

It feels like it could be any Sunday from over the centuries, as
services start at the St. Astvatzatzin Armenian Apostolic Church. But
today there is big news. The village has a new resident priest for
the first time in 11 years. And today is his first service.

Father Avedis Tabashyan was born and raised nearby. He is 31 and
excited about his new job.

“I think more worshipers will come to church because there will be
regular services,” says Tabashyan. “The spiritual life of the people
will improve because they have a priest now with whom they can share
their problems.”

The village looks and feels more prosperous than its neighbors –
largely due to the money sent by family members working abroad. There
is also innovation here. The village was one of the first in Turkey
to start growing organic oranges in 2004. Tabashyan says most of the
young people have left and the remaining villagers have realistic
expectations.

“Agriculture doesn’t bring us much money so the population will
continue to shrink,” he says. But even if there are only 50 people
left in the village, there will still be Armenians here. And whenever
there is a holiday those who have left will always remember the
village and many will come back.

A historical Ottoman-era building, crumbling and neglected. (Photo:
Matthew Brunwasser) The village has a special history. In 1915,
locals say, Armenians from the area held off Ottoman Turkish forces
for 53 days. They signalled a passing French warship by hanging a
banner on the mountaintop and were rescued. When the province became
part of Turkey in 1939, only the residents of Vakifli Koyu decided
to return. Today, villager Stepanos Chaparyan says they’ve mixed in
nicely with their Muslim Turkish neighbors.

“There’s a little difference, but our traditions are very similar,”
Chaparyan says. “We go to each others villages for weddings and
religious festivals and there’s no problems at all.”

The village is tranquil. The runoff from village farms flows down steep
stone steps, carved into the mountainside along the village’s streets.

It’s also a small village. Taking a short walk, I run into Chaparyan
again, sitting on a bench and playing a wooden folk flute.

The song he’s playing is emblematic of the painful relations between
Turks and Armenians, sari gelin or “blond bride” in Turkish.

“Sari gelin, sari” says Chaparyan. “It’s a song both Turks and
Armenians share. The real meaning in Armenian is ‘mountain bride.'”

A documentary film using the name of the song, produced by Turks,
promotes the Turkish nationalist perspective that Armenians were in
fact the aggressors in the bloody events of 1915. But the people of
Vakifli Koyu can’t be bothered. They’re more concerned about business.

Gohar Kartun is selling jars of locally grown and prepared food
products to the crowds of Sunday tourists who like to shop here.

1187 Gohar Kartun selling locally-produced preserved fruit and
vegetables, oils, sauces and juices on behalf of the Vakifli Koyu’s
women’s collective. (Photo: Matthew Brunwasser) Kartun says that
visitors come with a wide range of expectations. She says many Turks
have never met an Armenian before and their curiosity can make her
feel like she’s in a zoo.

“Sometimes, sometimes,” Kartun says. “It depends on the questions they
are asking. Not everyone looks through the same window. Some of them
say, ‘we are so happy to see Armenians in our Turkey.’ They want to
come and see what kind of creatures we are.”

Kartun says that tourism is one economic bright spot for Vakifli Koyu.

The main attraction in the Hatay region is the nearby ancient city of
Antakya, Antioch in the bible. The province also has one of Turkey’s
most multi-cultural populations, including Turks, Arabs, Christians
of various denominations, Alevi and Sunni Muslims.

“Hatay is a rainbow and we are one of the colors. And I’m trying to
show it to the world, ” Kartun says.

As Turkey matures politically and moves away from the ethnic
nationalism of its founders, minorities like Armenians hope that Turks
learn to appreciate diversity. Locals want people to think of Vakifli
Koyu as nothing more than a place for a relaxing weekend stroll.

From: A. Papazian

AZERI OFFICIAL: TURKISH HYDROPOWER STATION WON’T CHANGE COURSE OF KUR RIVER

PanARMENIAN.Net
December 28, 2011 – 21:51 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Ankara and Tbilisi reached agreement on construction
of a new hydropower station in the territory of Georgia, with part
of the energy produced to be given to Turkey.

“The reports that the course of the Kur River will be diverted due to
the construction of hydropower station in Turkey are false. Turkey
will only use 285 million m3 out of 1 billion m3 of water for power
engineering,” chief of the sector for environmental policy of the
Ecology and Natural Resources Ministry Mutallim Abdulhasanov said.

Abdulhasanov said the step will not influence the work of the
Mingachevir hydropower station. As he noted, according to the
hydrological data of many years, the volume of the water that flows
in Azerbaijan is 2.17 billion m3, while the figure reaches 1 billion
m3 on Turkey-Georgia border.

“285 million m3 water taken from the Kur River, will not impact the
water resources and ecosystem of our country. Anyway, this is the
sovereign right of Turkey. A state has the right to use 50 percent of
the water resources formed in its territory. International conventions
also confirm this right,” APA quoted him as saying.

From: A. Papazian

A FRENCH PROPOSAL TO OUTLAW GENOCIDE-DENIAL INFURIATES TURKEY

Dec 31st 2011

Watch your words

No closer to resting in peace

FEW Turks had heard of Valerie Boyer, a deputy for Nicolas Sarkozy’s
ruling UMP party in France. That was until she sponsored a bill
that would make it a crime in France to deny that the mass killings
of Ottoman Armenians in 1915 constituted genocide. On December 21st
France’s lower chamber approved the bill, which would make denying any
officially recognised genocide punishable by a one-year prison sentence
and a fine of ~@45,000 ($59,000). Within hours Turkish hackers had
defaced Ms Boyer’s website. The deputy says she has been inundated
with death and rape threats. (Separately, the Israeli Knesset has
begun discussing whether to recognise the 1915 killings as genocide.)

“This is politics based on racism, discrimination and xenophobia,”
thundered Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s prime minister, before
announcing a set of sanctions. These included recalling the ambassador
in Paris, banning French military aircraft and warships from landing
and docking in Turkey, freezing political and economic consultations
and deciding on a case-by-case basis whether to let French military
aircraft use Turkish airspace.

Mr Erdogan has threatened to take further action should the French
Senate approve the bill. Turkish officials have ruled out trade
sanctions because they would violate Turkey’s customs union with
the European Union, but have suggested that “consumers might take
matters into their own hands.” A popular Bosphorus fish restaurant
soon declared it was no longer calling itself “Le Pecheur”.

France is Turkey’s fifth biggest trading partner. Two-way trade
is worth around $14 billion and France is lobbying to build a
multi-billion nuclear plant on Turkey’s Black Sea coast. French
manufacturers account for a fifth of Turkey’s lucrative car market.

The chill in relations has been prompted largely by Mr Sarkozy’s
fierce opposition to Turkish membership of the EU. Expanding the
club to take in a large, poor and Muslim country would dilute French
influence. Moreover, Mr Sarkozy is facing a difficult re-election
battle in the spring and may be seeking to exploit the genocide to
court ethnic-Armenian votes. Not everyone in France is convinced by
the merits of the bill. Alain Juppe, Mr Sarkozy’s foreign minister,
describes it as “unhelpful and counterproductive”.

But Turkey is hardly in a position to preach about free speech. Its own
laws, in a mirror image of the French proposal, prohibit descriptions
of the 1915 killings as genocide. More than 100 journalists are in
jail, many of them on flimsy charges of backing terrorism.

As for Mr Sarkozy’s manoeuvres, many Armenians would say they
are no more cynical than Turkey’s decision in 2009 to sign a set
of protocols establishing formal ties and reopening borders with
Armenia just as the United States Congress was gearing up to pass
a genocide-recognition bill. In the event Barack Obama convinced
American lawmakers to desist. Turkey promptly shelved the protocols,
reverting to its old line that they could be enacted only if Armenia
withdrew from territories it occupies in Azerbaijan.

Yet civil-society initiatives between Turkey and Armenia are
flourishing. Debate about the fate of the Ottoman Armenians in Turkey
is louder and more vocal than ever. But the passage of the French bill
has rekindled nationalist anger, and with it fears of reprisal among
Turkey’s tiny ethnic Armenian community. One of the loudest critics
of the French law, which first came before parliament in 2006, was
Hrant Dink, an Armenian newspaper owner who was murdered in Istanbul
by an ultranationalist youth in 2007. Mr Dink had said that he was
willing to be jailed in France for denying that the events of 1915
counted as genocide, just as he was willing to be jailed in Turkey
for saying the opposite. Healing the wounds of history was best left
to Turks and Armenians, he said, not to vote-mongering politicians.

From: A. Papazian

ARMENIAN MINISTER OF ECONOMY CALLS 2011 SUCCESSFUL

Vestnik Kavkaza
Dec 27 2011
Russia

Armenian Minister of Economy Tigran Davtyan said that the year 2011
was a success. Economic activity is expected to reach 5.5%, he said
in Yerevan on Tuesday, PanARMENIAN reports.

The minister noted that all spheres, excluding construction, had seen
improvements. Industry grew by 13-14%, production reached 2.34 billion
drams, there are expectations to reach $2.6 billion. Services grew
by 10%. Export increased by 34.6% in 11 months of 2011, exceeding
imports. Investments increased by 23.4%.

Inflation will be determined in early 2012, bit its growth rate
dropped by the end of 2011, Minister Davtyan said.

From: A. Papazian

LA TURQUIE EXAMINE LES FACONS DE RANIMER LE DIALOGUE AVEC L’ARMENIE
Stephane

armenews.com
mardi 27 decembre 2011

L’Armenie et l’Azerbaïdjan ont informe le Groupe de Minsk de l’OSCE
qu’ils etaient prets ” a se rencontrer de nouveau dans un proche avenir
pour avoir un dialogue direct ” a indique le quotidien turc Hurriyet.

Selon le journal ” Ankara essaye de faire de cela une occasion pour
ameliorer ses relations avec l’Armenie “.

Le ministre turc des Affaires Etrangères Ahmet Davutoglu aurait
rencontre son homologue suisse Micheline Calmy-Rey lui demandant de
nouveau de servir d’intermediaire entre Ankara et Erevan au projet
des protocoles normalisant leurs liens en marge de la reunion de
l’OSCE a Vilnius en Lithuanie.

Davutoglu aurait souhaite savoir si la Suisse voudrait jouer le meme
rôle de nouveau si l’Armenie et l’Azerbaïdjan prenaient des mesures
progressives dans la resolution du conflit du Haut Karabagh. Des
sources ont dit que le Suisse a tenu compte de l’appel de Davutoglu
et l’evaluera sur la base des evenements concernant la question du
Nagorno-Karabakh.

Selon Hurriyet ” La Turquie est sous la pression serieuse des
Etats-Unis pour prendre des mesures pour normaliser ses liens avec
l’Armenie car la diaspora forte armenienne aux Etats-Unis continue
a recommander vivement a Washington de reconnaître les incidents de
1915 comme un genocide. Le vice-president Joe Biden a dit qu’une
forte coalition anti-turque a ete formee aux Etats-Unis, avec les
diasporas grecque et israelienne rejoignants l’armenienne. Il y a
des inquietudes qu’une nouvelles tentative pour la reconnaissance du
genocide au Senat serait approuvee par les elus americains une annee
d’election presidentielle “.

From: A. Papazian

LOI/GENOCIDE : LA DEPUTEE VALERIE BOYER PORTE PLAINTE APRES DES MENACES
Stephane

armenews.com
mardi 27 decembre 2011

La deputee UMP des Bouches-du-Rhône Valerie Boyer, auteure de la
proposition de loi reprimant la negation des genocides dont celui
des Armeniens, a porte plainte lundi a Marseille après avoir recu
des menaces et le piratage de son site internet par des militants
pro-Turquie.

“Je viens deposer plainte parce que depuis que nous avons vote mercredi
sous les huees de manifestants etrangers a l’Assemblee nationale,
j’ai ete victime sur mes reseaux sociaux d’insultes et d’injures,
de menaces de viol, de menaces de mort, et le jour de Noël, mon site
internet a ete pirate a plusieurs reprises”, a explique Mme Boyer a son
arrivee au commissariat attenant a la prefecture de police de la ville.

“Je ne peux pas rester comme ca. Ces attaques-la sont lamentables. Je
depose plainte et j’espère qu’on en restera la. J’aurais prefere
traiter les choses avec indifference et mepris”, a-t-elle dit.

L’Assemblee nationale a adopte jeudi dernier la proposition de loi
penalisant la contestation de tout genocide, dont celui des Armeniens
en 1915, provoquant la colère de la Turquie, le gel de sa cooperation
militaire avec la France et le rappel de son ambassadeur a Paris.

“La haine et la betise ne s’expliquent pas. Nous avons vote un texte
sur les droits de l’Homme et la dignite humaine, et la facon dont,
aujourd’hui, je suis traitee est assez significative de tout l’interet
qu’il y avait a legiferer sur cette question (…) Ce que je subis
depuis quelques jours, cela fait plusieurs annees que des concitoyens
francais d’origine armenienne ou pas, des descendants de la diaspora
ou de rescapes de la diaspora armenienne, le vivent aussi”, a conclu
la deputee.

Des elus de gauche et de droite ont pour la plupart condamne
lundi les menaces proferees a l’encontre Mme Boyer, Jean-Francois
Cope (UMP) denoncant des menaces “intolerables”, Bruno Le Roux,
un des porte-parole de Francois Hollande, les qualifiant, lui,
d'”inacceptables”.

From: A. Papazian

SWITZERLAND TO RENEW TURKISH-ARMENIAN MEDIATION

Vestnik Kavkaza
Dec 27 2011
Russia

Swiss President Micheline Calmy-Rey proposed a renewal of mediation
in Armenian-Turkish rapprochement, News.am reports.

The president met Turkish ambassadors at the annual conference and
reminded that, unlike France, Switzerland has no special law on
genocide. Calmy-Rey confirmed Swiss policy on the Armenian tragedy,
Rafael Sabori, an official from the Federal Department of Foreign
Affairs, said. The Federal Council believes that historians are the
ones to clarify the issue.

The Swiss president noted that the Swiss National Council declined
related requests last week. There were demands to recognize the
genocide, including acts against Assyrians, Chaldeans, Syrians,
Armenians, Greeks in 1915.

Switzerland demanded the UN and Turkey to do the same. The National
Council recognized the Armenian Genocide of 1915, despite the Federal
Council’s opinion.

Calmy-Rey met Turkish President Abdullah Gul, Foreign Minister Ahmed
Davutoglu. They exchanged views on two protocols signed in Zurich on
normalization of Turkish and Armenian relations in 2009.

From: A. Papazian