CSTO HEAD MET WITH ARMENIAN FM
news.am
Nov 29 2010
Armenia
On November 29, Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian received
CSTO Secretary General Nikolay Bordyuzha. The sides discussed
preparations for the OSCE summit in Astana to be held on December 1-2.
On the same day, the CSTO head also held a meeting with Arthur
Baghdasaryan, Secretary of the National Security Council and Defense
Minister Seyran Ohanyan, RA foreign office press service informed
NEWS.am.
From: A. Papazian
ARMENIA’S FIRST PRESIDENT MEETS WITH EU SPECIAL REP
news.am
Nov 29 2010
Armenia
Armenia’s first President Levon Ter-Petrosyan held a meeting Nov. 29
with EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus Peter Semneby.
The press service of the Armenian National Congress (ANC) informed
NEWS.am that the sides discussed the political situation in Armenia,
release of political prisoners and issues of democracy.
The sides also discussed Armenian-Turkish relations, Nagorno-Karabakh
peace process and prospects of Armenia-Turkey relations.
Head of the EU delegation to Armenia Raul de Luzenberger, ANC Board
members David Shahnazaryan and Avetis Avagyan.
From: A. Papazian
PRESIDENT SERZH SARGSYAN MET WITH THE REPRESENTATIVES OF THE RPA WOMEN’S COUNCIL
Office of the President of Armenia
president.am
Nov 29 2010
Today, in the framework of the seminar organized by the Women’s
Council of the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) on the occasion of the
Party’s 20th anniversary, President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan met in
Tsakhkadzor with the representatives of the RPA Women’s Council. As
the leader of the Party, President Sargsyan congratulated fellow
party members and stressed the importance of women’s role and active
participation in political life. Serzh Sargsyan expressed readiness
to discuss with the ladies all their ideas and initiatives, encourage
and support their implementation.
“We are a conservative party and in our system of values family and
children are certainly are among the most significant components;
however neither I, nor the leadership of the Party would ever
suggest that active life of the female-members of the RPA or active
life of the Armenian women in general should be limited to building
a strong, good family, bringing up children, and creation of warm
family atmosphere. No, definitely not. We have always maintained the
necessity of women’s active involvement. It would be an unjustified
luxury for us to attempt to curb women’s potential. I have said on
many occasions and will repeat that we have always been endorsing the
female members of the Party but still have much to do. Undoubtedly,
women’s participation on the mid-level is pretty impressive. But all
women, including members of the Republican Party and the entire state
structure must be confident that their good performance, good work
result in professional advancement. This is very important. And we
already see in our ranks very active individuals, including women,”
the President of Armenia said.
Serzh Sargsyan invited the ladies to hold an open and candid discussion
and answered the questions raised by the representatives of the RPA
Women’s Council pertaining to the different areas of the country’s
internal life, as well as to Armenia’s foreign policy.
On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the RPA and for active
partisan work, Serzh Sargsyan handed RPA diplomas to a group of ladies.
From: A. Papazian
NEW EUROPE NEWSPAPER REPORTS ON ‘ISSUES AND CONCERNS OF RELIGIOUS MINORITIES IN TURKEY’
New York
11/29/2010
NY
Order of St. Andrew, Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate
The New Europe newspaper published an article by Dr. Otmar Oehring,
Director of the Human Rights Office Pontifical Mission Society in
Germany, on ‘Issues and concerns of religious minorities in Turkey’.
Dr. Oehring was a panelist and speaker at the Order of Saint Andrew’s
International Archon Religious Freedom Conference which was held at
the European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium, November 16-17, 2010.
The Conference theme was focused on “Religious Freedom: Turkey’s
Bridge to the European Union.”
New Europe – the European weekly, published since 1993, is a unique
product carrying news and analyses from 49 countries with a particular
emphasis on the EU institutions and EU-World relations.
Its print edition is distributed to 66,000 readers in Europe and
beyond. In addition New Europe’s website has approximately 150,000
visitors per month.
New Europe is an ongoing project; apart from the International Edition,
New Europe has launched the first of a string of Regional Editions
with the Bulgarian Edition and has recently launched its European
Careers Portal.
Furthermore, New Europe has served as a quality partner with main
European conferences, media, think tanks and academia in the field
of EU Affairs.
——————————————————————————–
Issues and concerns of religious minorities in Turkey by Dr. Otmar
Oehring 11/15/2010
Read this article on New Europe’s website
When we speak of religious minorities, we are referring to religious
groups that distinguish themselves from the majority when it comes
to the foundations of their religious belief and whose membership is
smaller than that of the largest corresponding population group.
However, when one speaks of ‘azýnlýk’, the Turkish word for minority,
within Turkey itself, the term refers solely to the non-Muslim
minorities as defined by the Treaty of Lausanne as interpreted by the
Republic of Turkey, which is to say it refers to Armenians, Greeks,
Jews and, based on the Bulgarian-Turkish Treaty of Friendship of 18
October 1925, the Bulgarians as well. In de facto terms, the non-Muslim
minorities are no more closely defined than ‘minorites non-musulmanes’,
‘non-Moslem minorities’ or ‘Musluman olmayan azýnlýklar’ in the French,
English and Turkish versions of the Treaty.
Hence the Republic of Turkey’s restrictive application of the relevant
regulations in the Treaty of Lausanne represents a clear breach of
the wording of the Treaty. This policy discriminates not only against
numerous non-Muslim minorities that existed in Turkey at the time
the Treaty of Lausanne was concluded – e.g. Syrian Orthodox or Roman
Catholic Christians – but against all minorities affiliated with Islam,
particularly Turkey’s largest religious minority, the Alevi.
The discussion on the situation of religious minorities in Turkey,
which has only begun in the recent past, i.e. since the Treaty of
Lausanne – with these minorities including the Jehovah’s Witnesses,
various evangelical free churches and the Baha’i – makes it clear that
while the exclusive reference to the Treaty of Lausanne may well be
significant from the point of view of the Armenians, Greeks and Jews,
who are regarded as non-Muslim minorities as defined by the Treaty
of Lausanne, it is evident that references to this treaty are in no
way appropriate when it comes to resolving fundamental issues facing
all religious communities in Turkey in regard to the realisation of
individual and collective religious freedom.
Such a solution can only occur on the basis of the relevant binding
international conventions, to which Turkey is a party, specifically
the European Convention on Human Rights, which Turkey signed on 4
November 1950 – some sixty years ago – and ratified on 18 May 1954.
The political discussion among interested circles in the European
Union remains strongly focused on this treaty when it comes to the
problems of those non-Muslim minorities in Turkey that the Republic
of Turkey regards as minorities as defined by the Treaty of Lausanne.
This fact has contributed to a situation where relevant legislative
developments in Turkey in recent years – those pertaining to
foundation law, for example – are regarded as being highly positive,
both in themselves and within the relevant context, and they have been
treated in such a way as if these legislative measures had already
brought about basic positive changes regarding the legal status of
the corresponding Christian churches and/or Jewish communities.
In fact, nothing whatsoever has changed in regard to the fundamental
problems affecting the legal situation of the non-Muslim Turkish
minorities in question as a result of the changes in the relevant
foundation law regulations as they impact the community foundations.
The Greek Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarchate, the Armenian Patriarchate
as well as the Grand Rabbinate, like all other non-Muslim minorities
to whom certain community foundations have been allotted, still have
no legal personality and are thus legally non-existent. As a result,
there are still no legal relations between the community foundations
in question and the Christian churches and/or Jewish communities.
The fundamental problem facing both the previously named churches
and the Jewish communities, as all other Christian churches as well –
whether they already existed in Turkey before 1923 or only established
themselves here in the recent past – is the lack of legal recognition,
of a legal personality.
However, in this context it must be emphasised that this problem is
also shared by Islam in Turkey. It is true that a quasi state-sponsored
Sunni Islam is supervised, organised and promoted by an office
that is under the authority of the prime minister. In practice,
however, the officially banned but still existing Islamic orders,
the new Islamic movements, and also the vast minority of the Alevi,
who are also affiliated with Islam, have been left just as much up
in the air as the non-Muslim minorities.
However, one should not ignore the fact that, due to fundamental
changes in the laws governing associations and foundation law
in accordance with efforts to harmonise these laws with European
Commission guidelines, religious communities now have the possibility
of establishing themselves as associations or foundations. Individual
evangelical free churches have taken advantage of this possibility,
as have individual Alevi associations, although it remains unclear
whether these are religious or cultural bodies.
Nevertheless, the underlying problems can only be fundamentally
solved if Turkey continues to develop its understanding of what
it means to be a secular state in accordance with Article 9 of the
European Convention on Human Rights. For this to happen, it is first
necessary to revise the constitution in accordance with Article 9
of the European Convention on Human Rights and to pass the necessary
subordinate legal regulations that regulate the legal existence and
the basis of the activities of religious communities.
Turkey must give up seeking Turkish solutions for Turkish problems. A
Turkey that conceives of itself as a European Turkey must seek
European solutions for Turkish problems. There is no doubt that this
will remain difficult. Within this context, it is not only a matter
of harmonising legal regulations with the relevant regulations of the
European Convention on Human Rights. Instead, what is at stake is a
new way of thinking that makes it possible for people to experience
the individual and collective unfolding of their religious needs
independent of their religious affiliation.
From: A. Papazian
NEW EUROPE NEWSPAPER REPORTS ON ‘EU MEMBERSHIP AND RELIGIOUS FREEDOMS IN TURKEY’
New York
11/29/2010
NY
Order of St. Andrew, Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate
The New Europe newspaper published an article by Amanda Paul, an
analyst for the European Policy Centre in Brussels, on ‘EU membership
and religious freedoms in Turkey’.
New Europe – the European weekly, published since 1993, is a unique
product carrying news and analyses from 49 countries with a particular
emphasis on the EU institutions and EU-World relations.
Its print edition is distributed to 66,000 readers in Europe and
beyond. In addition New Europe’s website has approximately 150,000
visitors per month.
New Europe is an ongoing project; apart from the International Edition,
New Europe has launched the first of a string of Regional Editions
with the Bulgarian Edition and has recently launched its European
Careers Portal.
Furthermore, New Europe has served as a quality partner with main
European conferences, media, think tanks and academia in the field
of EU Affairs.
——————————————————————————–
EU membership and religious freedoms in Turkey by Amanda Paul
11/15/2010
Read this article on New Europe’s website
Freedom of religion is considered to be a fundamental human right. It
is also something that the EU places great importance on and therefore
those countries that are looking to join the Club need to meet EU
standards on this.
The EU should recognise that while much remains to be done in Turkey,
the country is taking the necessary steps to tackle past deficits.
Clearly, Turkey is not the country is was ten years ago; it recognizes
the need to change and its process with the EU is acting as a vehicle
to nudge the process along. Therefore the EU needs to keep pressure
on Turkey.
Turkey has been negotiating membership with the EU since October 2005.
Freedom of religion has been quite a problematic area with Turkey
having something of a patchy record – principally the result of the
rather restrictive and oppressive policy carried out for decades
following the birth of the Republic in 1923. Indeed under the Ottoman
Empire (particularly during late 19th century), freedom of religion
was far less restrictive for many of the Empire’s minorities than
under the Kemalist regime that followed. For decades demands for
greater religious freedoms fell on deaf ears. Only as Turkey began
negotiations with the EU did change start to occur.
The anchoring of Turkey to the EU has facilitated changes in the
country with Ankara coming under pressure to improve the situation and
urgently boost religious tolerance and expand rights, particularly for
non-Muslims (Syriac, Catholic, Greek, Jewish and Armenian communities
in particular) but for others too including the Alevi’s (a Muslim
sect numbering some 20 million).
Each year the situation is assessed by the European Commission. The
Commission’s 2009 Progress Report contained quite a lot of criticism
including continuing difficulties in relation to places of worship
– non Muslim communities frequently reported discrimination with
applications for allocation of places of worship with Protestant
churches and Jehovah’s witnesses prayer halls often facing court cases;
the Alevi’s places of worship (Cem houses) also had pending court
cases even though many municipalities had recognized Cem houses as
places of worship; personal documents such as ID cards, still included
information on religion, leaving potential for harassment; judicial
proceedings continued against conscientious objectors on religious
grounds; the continued closure of the Greek Orthodox seminary
on Heybeliada; non-Muslim communities – as organized structures
of religious groups – still facing problems due to lack of legal
personality; restrictions on the training of clergy; the Ecumenical
Patriarch was not free to use the ecclesiastical title ‘Ecumenical’
on all occasions.
Furthermore many members of minority religious groups claimed that
their worship activities were monitored and recorded by security
forces, the Armenian Patriarchate’s proposal to open a university
department for the Armenian language and clergy continues to be
pending and the Syriacs can provide only informal training, outside
any officially established schools. Turkey also fails to recognize
and protect the Syriac people as a minority, which is indigenous to
south-east Turkey, in conformity with the Lausanne Treaty including
developing their education and carrying out religious services in
their Aramaic native language. The list could go on.
It would be naïve to believe that change would happen overnight and
the process of granting further religious freedoms has been slow
with many of the above issues remaining unresolved. Nevertheless
progress is being made although the ruling Justice and Development
party (AKP) faces stiff opposition from many circles including from
the nationalist opposition which believe it is against “Turkishness
and the Turkish-Muslim nature of Turkey”.
They believe that by opening up in this way, particularly to
non-Muslim minorities, it will quickly snowball into demands for
Turkish territory. These day non-Muslim minorities represent only 1%
of the population so this could hardly constitute a major threat.
2010 has seen some groundbreaking developments. Firstly the historic
service at the Sumela Monastery in the Black Sea province of Trabzon.
Three-thousand Orthodox Christians gathered for the mass. Although
allowed only one day in the year, the service was the first in Turkey’s
republican history.
A second big moment took place at Lake Van when the first Armenian
Orthodox ceremony in nearly a century was held. The church, which has
been closed for services since the 1915 Armenian genocide becoming
a symbol of Turkey’s troubled past with Armenia. And after years
of opposition the government has recently agreed to return a Greek
orphanage to the Orthodox Patriarch. It took courage to take these
steps which should be viewed as part of the progress of the opening
up of the country.
Efforts are also underway to improve relations with the Alevi’s and
AKP initiatives, such holding meetings to discuss the Alevi problem
and Prime Minister Erdogan attending an Alevi Iftar dinner – the first
ever Turkish Prime Minister to so – should be viewed very positively.
However there is still some way to go with many Alevis believing their
demands are not being met. In October there was a sit-in organized by
the Alevi community protesting against the “constitutional mandated
religious culture and moral knowledge classes” which they view as a
state sponsored assimilation process.
Turkey is slowly shredding its old skin and breaking the taboos of the
past. The fact that people can debate the issues openly is already
a huge step forward. Turkey needs to ensure that everybody has all
of their religious freedoms and is able to exercise their religions
properly. There should be no need to fear different cultures and
religions, rather they should be seen as enriching and therefore be
embraced. What is important is that these steps are followed by more
and that the EU plays a strong role in continuing to support and push
Turkey on this issue.
From: A. Papazian
NINE SECRET AGENTS CONVICTED IN ARMENIA
news.am
Nov 29 2010
Armenia
Nine secret agents that collaborated with special services of
Azerbaijan and Turkey have been sentenced to long-term imprisonment
over the last few years.
Specifically, Murad Bojoyan, Andrey Mizayev, Ivetta and Edgar Filkov,
Alexander Gaparyan and Gevorg Hayrapetyan were convicted for high
treason. The Russian citizen Rustam Vadiakhmetov, and the Iranian
citizen were convicted for espionage.
From: A. Papazian
TURKISH ARMENIAN COMMUNITY FACING UNCERTAINTY WITH RESIGNATIONS
Hurriyet Daily News
Nov 29 2010
Turkey
The administration of the Armenian Patriarchate of Turkey has been
thrown into uncertainty following a decision by the institution’s
financial board to resign en masse due to differences of opinion with
the acting patriarch.
“It has never been like this in the whole history of the patriarchate,”
Melkon Karaköse, a key figure in the community and most important
person on the financial board, told the Hurriyet Daily News & Economic
Review last week. “We [Turkish Armenians] are at the risk of losing our
integrity and unity as a society and we are passing through extremely
dark times.”
The board chose to resign following problems with Archbishop Aram
AteÅ~_yan, who was made acting patriarch by the Interior Ministry after
the Armenian community failed to select a new patriarch after current
Patriarch Mesrop II was diagnosed with frontal dementia two years ago,
leaving him unable to fulfill his duties. Under the Armenian Aposolic
Church’s cannon law, a new patriarch cannot be selected until the
previous one has died.
Although the financial board was previously necessary to facilitate
the community’s commercial matters, the power now solely rests in
the acting patriarch’s hands.
“The financial board fell into bad terms with Archbishop AteÅ~_yan and
decided to resign. I told them that if they quit, I would quit as well
because it was impossible for me to take such great responsibility
on my shoulders,” Karaköse said.
“AteÅ~_yan is an honest man, but he needs to take measures today in
order to prevent being taken to account tomorrow, or else he will
suffer greatly,” Karaköse said, adding that the community should
have been allowed to elect a new patriarch, rather than trying to
cope with the substitute system.
The resignation of the financial board, which has helped handle
the Armenian community’s commercial matters for the past 550 years,
has left the community in a difficult position as financial dealings
have required the signature of one cleric and one layperson to become
valid as part of a tradition dating back to Ottoman times.
“When I did not sign a document, all the financial conducts of the
patriarchate used to come to a hiatus,” said Karaköse, who has been
the layperson responsible for signing off on the documents for many
years. “I sued to sign all the documents on behalf of the community,
and the reason why a civil signature is required together with that
of the clergy is to overcome possible acts of bribery.”
Karaköse has served in the patriarchate’s top positions for the past
30 years and has been considered the right-hand man of the last three
patriarchs, including Mesrop II.
From: A. Papazian
ARMENIAN WRESTLERS WON 5 MEDALS IN FRANCE
news.am
Nov 29 2010
Armenia
Armenian Greco-Roman wrestling national team made a perfect performance
at Henry Deland 36th memorial in Nice, France. Armenian wrestlers
Hovhannes Varderejyan (66 kg) and Arthur Alexanyan (96 kg) won gold
medals. Varsham Boranyan (74 kg), Artak Harutyunyan (60 kg) took the
second place, whereas Arman Papyan won bronze.
Two Armenian wrestlers representing France at the memorial Edik
Nikoghosyan and Arthur Simonyan won silver and bronze medals
respectively.
From: A. Papazian
CHIEF OF STAFF TO ARMENIAN PRESIDENT RECEIVES HEAD OF RF PRESIDENT’S ADMINISTRATION
news.am
Nov 29 2010
Armenia
On November 29, Chief of Staff to Armenian President Karen Karapetyan
received Head of RF President’s Administration Sergey Naryshkin.
The sides made a point of a high level of Armenia-Russia relations
and attached significance to the documents signed during RF President
Dmitry Medvedev’s state visit to Armenia in August, aimed at improving
bilateral ties and expanding cooperation in different fields, RA
Presidential press service informed NEWS.am.
The officials also discussed cooperation issues between Presidential
staffs of the two states.
From: A. Papazian
OSCE KEEN FOR KARABAKH SETTLEMENT
news.az
Nov 29 2010
Azerbaijan
The Minsk Group mediators have briefed the OSCE chairman-in-office
on their latest meetings with the Azerbaijani and Armenian leadership.
The briefing came two days before the OSCE summit opens in the Kazakh
capital, Astana, on Wednesday 1 December.
Minsk Group co-chairs Igor Popov of Russia, Robert Bradtke of the USA
and Bernard Fassier of France discussed the prospects for resolution
of the Karabakh conflict with Kazakh Foreign Minister Kanat Saudabayev.
“We talked about the meetings that the co-chairs held recently in
Baku and Yerevan, about the work to prepare the basic principles
[for a peaceful resolution of the Karabakh conflict],” Popov told
reporters on Monday in Astana after the meeting with Saudabayev.
“We expressed the hope that the OSCE summit would become an important
arena for the continuation of dialogue between the Armenian and
Azerbaijani sides,” the diplomat said.
Kanat Saudabayev said that Kazakhstan and the OSCE hoped that the
Astana summit would promote a peaceful resolution of the conflict.
The Kazakh minister spoke to Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar
Mammadyarov by phone today after a similar conversation with Armenian
Minister Edward Nalbandian, Kazakh Foreign Ministry spokesman Ilyas
Omarov said.
Meanwhile, the president of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, Petros
Efthymiou, told journalists in Astana that he too hoped for progress
on Karabakh at the summit.
“The OSCE is one of the foundations for the resolution of protracted
conflicts. This will be one of the most important topics at the OSCE
Astana summit. I hope that the summit will make progress on this,”
the Greek MP said.
The flurry of diplomacy by the Minsk Group co-chairs has stoked
speculation that some kind of deal might be reached if and when the
presidents meet in Astana.
From: A. Papazian