Author: Badalian Vardan

TURKEY: IS ORTHODOX DENOMINATION CONNECTED TO COUP CASE?

February 7, 2013 – 4:01pm,
by Alexander Christie-Miller Turkey EurasiaNet’s Weekly Digest

The priest’s voice echoed off the crumbling plasterwork of the
sanctuary, as only two worshippers took part in a recent Sunday
service in Istanbul’s Meryem Ana Church. The low turnout is typical
these days. The Turkish Orthodox Church is possibly the country’s
smallest Christian denomination, and certainly its most controversial.

Turkish prosecutors allege the church, which traces its roots to
the upheaval surrounding the founding of the Turkish republic,
is connected to an ultra-nationalist movement, known as Ergenekon,
which reportedly plotted to overthrow the government of Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Church spokesperson Sevgi Erenerol, sister of the current patriarch,
has been imprisoned since 2008 on charges that include establishing
and directing an armed terrorist organization as part of the supposed
Ergenekon conspiracy. A host of ultra-nationalist groups established
in 2004 and 2005 had “the same” founders, and “they were all gathering
at the Turkish Orthodox Patriarchate,” claimed Orhan Kemal Cengiz,
a human rights lawyer.

Meanwhile, Vural Ergul, a lawyer for Erenerol, calls the government’s
case “fake and imaginary.” Ergul acknowledged the church’s links
to prominent ultra-nationalists, including Ergenekon co-defendant
Veli Kucuk, who has been linked to the 2007 murder of three Christian
missionaries in the eastern town of Malatya, but maintained that both
his client and the Turkish Orthodox Church are victims of government
persecution.

“Members of the church are scared and anxious,” Ergul said. “It is
impossible not to see … [Prime Minister Erdogan’s] intolerance
against the church.”

Beyond the possible Ergenekon connection, Cengiz, the rights lawyer who
has worked extensively with Turkey’s non-Muslim minorities, contends
that Turkish Orthodox Church members have routinely harassed members
of other Christian denominations in Turkey. “It [the Turkish Orthodox
Church] has a central role that has not been addressed adequately by
the prosecutors,” Cengiz said.

How and why did a tiny Christian church gain a reputation for being
antagonistic toward fellow Christians? The answer lies in its origins.

The Turkish Orthodox Church’s founder, Pavlos Karahisarithis was
a Turkish-speaking, Greek Orthodox priest, who, in 1922, at the
end of the Greco-Turkish War, broke with the pro-Greece Ecumenical
Patriarchate of Constantinople, the supreme Orthodox patriarchate,
and allied himself with victorious Turkish nationalists led by Mustafa
Kemal Ataturk.

Ataturk took a personal interest in the Turkish Orthodox Church, and
expressed his support. Karahisarithis, meanwhile, took the title Papa
(“Pope” in Turkish) Eftim, and later changed his last name to the
Turkish family name of Erenerol. “Ataturk may have had a pronounced
secular view of the world, but he was going against a great trend
in history in which religion marked you out as part of a particular
group,” commented Anthony O’Mahony, director of the Centre for Eastern
Christianity at the University of London’s Heythrop College.

But once Turkey’s 1924 population exchange with Greece took place,
Eftim’s potential followers dwindled. The Turkish Orthodox Church’s
“raison d’être disappeared” with the 1.2 million Christians who left
Anatolia as part of the exchange, said O’Mahony. “History has left
it behind.”

Other Orthodox patriarchates never recognized the church. Ataturk,
however, did not forget it. Papa Eftim and his family were exempt
from the population exchange and moved to Istanbul, where they were
given the Meryem Ana Church, which the government expropriated from
the Ecumenical Patriarchate. “It [the Turkish church] was conceived
as a replacement for the Ecumenical Patriarch and the real Orthodox
Church, and as a kind of proxy completely at the service of the
state,” elaborated Cengiz Aktar, a political scientist at Istanbul’s
BahceÅ~_ehir University.

Over the ensuing decades, Eftim chastised Turkey’s other Christian
minorities, twice occupying the Ecumenical Patriarchate building
in Istanbul, and taking over two churches in the Turkish Orthodox
Church’s neighborhood during the 1955 and 1956 anti-Greek riots.

(Today, the Ecumenical Patriarchate is contesting those property
seizures).

Together with his sons, Turgut and Selcuk, who, in turn, succeeded
him as patriarch, Eftim continually railed against Christian groups,
claiming that they were agents of foreign powers.

His grandson, the current patriarch Papa Eftim IV, has largely
shunned publicity. Until her arrest, however, his granddaughter,
Sevgi, continued to rally feelings against other Christian groups.

At a 2006 security conference hosted by the military, she described
missionaries as “a pawn in political chess” whose “only goal is to
invade this land.” She was also involved in harassment of the late
Turkish-Armenian newspaper editor Hrant Dink, throwing coins and
pencils at his lawyers during a court appearance. Dink was shot dead
in a 2007 killing linked to Turkey’s ultra-nationalist movement.

“Sevgi Erenerol was one of the most prominent people waging a war
against non-Muslims in Turkey,” commented Cengiz, who claimed that the
number of attacks and threats against non-Muslims has decreased since
Erenerol’s arrest and those of other prominent Ergenekon suspects.

“Although they themselves are supposed to be a minority, they hated
other minorities, particularly Armenians,” added Aktar.

Prosecutors are expected to rest their case against Erenerol this
month. Ceremonies at the Meryem Ana Church continue uninterrupted,
although its future has never been more uncertain. “The number
of members … is declining with each passing day,” said Ergul,
the lawyer.

Meanwhile for the Erenerol family, which makes up the bulk of the
church’s congregation, the charges in no way diminish their belief in
the justness of their cause. “As long as we have belief in God,” said
Sevgi Erenerol’s 84-year-old mother Claudia, one of the two worshippers
at the recent service, “our problems will seem insignificant.”

Editor’s note: Alexander Christie-Miller is a freelance reporter
based in Istanbul.

RAFFI HOVANNISIAN PROMISES ARMENIAN PEOPLE TO RETURN THEM ARMENIA OCCUPIED BY CURRENT REGIME

ARMINFO
Wednesday, February 6, 19:49

During the Feb 6 meeting with voters, Leader of Heritage Party,
presidential candidate Raffi Hovannisian promised the Armenian people
to return them Armenia occupied by the current regime.

He pointed out that if elected, he will develop the small and medium
businesses and will destroy corruption and the system of monopoly. He
also promised 10% annual economic growth, as well as 50% growth in
salaries and pensions and creation of 1500 new workplaces. “My first
goal will be to eliminate poverty. 600 thsd citizens will raise their
social status and will be no longer poor”, he said.

As regards the foreign political goals, Hovannisian pointed out
that though he was born in the USA, he is not going to conduct an
anti-Russian policy. He thinks that the peak of the Armenian-Russian
relations is yet to come and he will do his best to reach that peak.

He is also going to establish close cooperation with Europe, the USA,
Russia, China and all superpowers.

The candidate is also planning to open the Armenian-Turkish
border. He said that he is against the Armenian-Turkish protocols,
but he advocates reconciliation without preconditions. He said that
he recognizes the NKR’s independence and will do his best to gain
international recognition of the NKR. Hovannisian added that due his
efforts most states will have to recognize the Armenian Genocide by
its centenary.

ARMENIA PAID $340 000 FOR TWO TOILETS

08:16 PM | TODAY | SOCIAL

When you look at the photos of the article, it will hardly occur to
you that it is a toilet.

By a government decision, two toilets worth of 124 million drams
(about $ 340 000) were brought to Armenia in 2012. One of them was
placed near TaTever ropeway in Syunik region, the other in the area
of St. Grigor Lusavorich Church in Yerevan.

Deputy Minister of Economy, Ara Petrosyan, today confirmed the
information during a meeting with reporters. He says the toilets are
equipped with modern facilities to maintain cleanliness. The official
also underlined that the new acquisition is of great importance for
boosting tourism in Armenia.

The cost of the toilet is 200 drams.

ARMENIAN JUSTICE MINISTRY TAKING STEPS ON SAFAROV’S CASE

NEWS.AM
February 06, 2013 | 17:32

YEREVAN. – Armenian Ministry of Justice has taken steps in all
directions on international appealing of Safarov’s pardon. Minister
of Justice Hrayr Tovmasyan said in the parliament on Wednesday.

His remark came in response to the question of MP from the ruling
Republican Party of Armenia Hayk Babukhanyan what steps the Armenian
Government is taking on international appeal of Azerbaijani killer
Ramil Safarov’s pardon.

According to Tovmasyan, as it is not considered appropriate to spread
or distribute the details of the steps, he can only say that experts
are involved.

Safarov, a lieutenant in the Azerbaijani military, was extradited
on August 31 from Hungary, where he was serving a life sentence-and
with no expression of either regret or remorse-for the premeditated
axe murder of Armenian lieutenant Gurgen Margaryan, in his sleep,
during a NATO Partnership for Peace program in Budapest back in
2004. As expected, Ramil Safarov’s return to Baku was welcomed, as
was his act of murder, by the officials of president Ilham Aliyev’s
government and much of Azerbaijani society, and the Azerbaijani
president immediately granted him a pardon and he was declared a
national hero. On the same day Armenia’s President Serzh Sargsyan
announced that Armenia is suspending its diplomatic ties with Hungary.

EDWARD NALBANDIAN CONSIDERED COMMENTS OF POLISH AMBASSADOR TO ARMENIA TO BE INCORRECT

19:48, 6 February, 2013

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 6, ARMENPRESS: Armenian Minister of Foreign Affairs
Edward Nalbandian has commented on observations of Polish Ambassador
to Armenia ZdzisÅ~Baw Rachinski concerning internal political situation
of Armenia during February 6 answer-question in National Assembly.

“Deputy Foreign Minister Shavarsh Kocharyan has also responded to
the comments of Polish Ambassador and has for sure expressed opinion
of Foreign Minister and Ministry. I think such commentaries are not
correct from any Ambassador. Ambassador of each country should know
diplomatic rules,” Armenpress reports this was noted by Minister,
adding that he also used to be an ambassador and thus knows about
the existence of diplomatic ethics.

Minister opposed to the question on this, noting “Is it acceptable to
say that Armenian officials have no sense of statehood?” Nalbandian
doesn’t think that any diplomat, especially ambassador, should use such
assumptions or statements. “He allowed himself not only statements
but also such formulations which are not correct for a diplomat,”
Nalbandian noted.

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia Shavarsh
Kocharyan answered on the question of “Armenpress” regarding the
statements of the Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of
Poland to the Republic of Armenia Zdzislaw Raczynski concerning the
internal political life of Armenia publicized in an interview to a
local newspaper.

Question: In an interview to a local newspaper Ambassador of Poland
to Armenia Zdzislaw Raczynski stated that the age-old dream of the
Armenian people of having a secure and safe Armenia is a collapsing
myth and he also had made not so appropriate deductions regarding
the electoral process. How would You comment on that?

Answer: Each diplomat and an ambassador in particular should never
cross the limits of diplomatic ethics while making statements regarding
the inside and foreign policy and processes in the country of his
accreditation, as it can cast shadow on that very ambassador, as on
a man, who is responsible for the mission of development of amicable
relations between the two countries.

FACEBOOK USERS UNDER REGIME OF AZERBAIJAN: IMPOSED “LIKE’S” FOR ILHAM ALIYEV

19:03 06/02/2013 ” SOCIETY

Employees of the Ministry of Economic Development of Azerbaijan
are forced to put “Like” to the official website of the President of
Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev in the social network of Facebook, said senior
official of the ministry in the interview with the newspaper “Azadlyg”.

Everyone who has put “Like” to webpage of Ilham Aliyev is obliged
to report to the Department of the Ministry of Internal Control. The
latter, in the general list, puts a tick next to the name of the one
who has “liked”. As a proof the ministry official opens his personal
Facebook page and demonstrates the “like” to the employees of the
internal control.

According to the source, a similar situation exists in other
governmental institutions as well: “We were told that this is an
instruction “from above.” The aim is clear, everything is designed for
the electoral frauds. That is, as soon as the results of the vote will
be falsified, a campaign of “Likes” will start and they will show the
international organizations that the president has electoral support
even in the Facebook,” the source stated.

The newspaper reminds that this is not the first case that the
government interference in the vote in the Internet. Recently, in
the Facebook was held a vote on presidential candidates’ popularity
in the upcoming elections to be held in fall. In the result of the
vote the supporters of the candidate of the Popular Front Party of
Azerbaijan Ali Kerimli found out that on weekends people almost do
not vote for Ilham Aliyev, but on the workdays, the amount of votes
increase dramatically. After some time it turned out that the leaders
of the budget organizations force their employees to vote for the
current president, Ilham Aliyev.

Source: Panorama.am

SCR ASSESSES TRAIN SAFETY AS PRIORITY -REBETS

YEREVAN, February 6. /ARKA/. Train safety is the key objective of the
South Caucasian Railway company, CEO Viktor Rebets said Tuesday at
“Road safety – focus on quality” meeting.

“This is not a slogan of our activities but the most important
requirement,” – the company quoted Rebets.

The meeting participants also discussed the traffic safety, steps
taken to improve safety, the qualifications and training of the staff,
maintenance of the railway infrastructure, information provided on
the use of the latest infrastructure diagnostic tools.

Moreover, the participants of the round-table elaborated the use of new
technologies for repairing the rolling stock, the track diagnostics
and commission checks, the interaction of departments in case of
accidents on the railways.

The meeting was attended by the representatives of various departments,
directorates and divisions of SCR, the Ministry of Transport and
Communications, Ministry of Emergency Situations of Armenia, Georgian
Railway, as well as domestic and Russian companies supplying technology
and equipment to SCR.

Traffic safety is fundamental to operating railway passenger and
freight traffic. All organizational and technical measures in rail
transport must comply with the safe and uninterrupted traffic of
trains. Traffic safety is provided by the content of the permanent
health of all railway facilities, road, rolling stock, equipment and
machinery, communication equipment, centralization and blocking.

“The recent trend in Armenia of increasing the intensity, speed
and volumes of trains supposes strict requirements for quality and
reliability of traffic safety and skilled personnel activities,”
the company said.

South Caucasus Railways, a 100-percent subsidiary of Russian Railways,
runs Armenian Railway.

Armenian Railways was handed over to the South Caucasus Railways on
February 13, 2008 for 30-year concession management with a right to
prolong the management term for other 10 years. -0-

GTI: 68% OF ARMENIAN BUSINESSES FIND IT DIFFICULT TO RECRUIT SKILLED WORKERS BECAUSE OF SHORTAGE OF TECHNICAL SKILLS

YEREVAN, February 6. /aòëa/. Grant Thornton International, one of the
flagship audit and consulting companies, says in its International
Business Report that 68% of Armenian businesses find it difficult to
recruit skilled workers because of shortage of technical skills.

A lack of work experience (86%) and increased migration out of Armenia
(60%) also cited as the primary problem for recruiting qualified
people.

The reported shortage of technical skills is as much an issue in
developed as emerging economies. It is cited by 61% of the BRIC
businesses and 65% of their peers in the G7.

Almost four in ten (39%) businesses around the world are struggling
to recruit the right people, with a lack of technical skills cited
as the primary problem (64%).

The concern is that a lack of talent will dampen business productivity,
ultimately threatening future growth and profitability.

The impact of these workforce issues on business growth prospects is
evident: the IBR reveals that more than one in four businesses (28%)
expects their 2013 expansion plans to suffer as a result of skills
shortages, rising to more than one in three in the BRIC economies
(36%).

Paul Raleigh, Global leader of growth at Grant Thornton International,
said: “With unemployment running so high in many mature economies,
it is somewhat ironic that business leaders are concerned by a lack
of skills. In the short-term they will need to plug these skills gaps
with people from outside the organisation as best they can. But in the
longer-term they need to invest in their internal training programmes
to mould the people that will help them deliver on strategy, innovate
and ultimately grow.”

He added that a business is nothing without its people. “A great
team with an average plan will be far more successful than an average
team with a great plan. The best people increase productivity, save
an organisation time and money and ultimately grow the business. So
in the long-term, business leaders need to be confident that their
own training programmes will be able to deliver talent sustainably.”

Paul Raleigh said that some evidence of improved dialogue between
educational institutions, governments and business leaders is
seen today, “but this research should give fresh impetus to their
discussions”.

“There is clearly a disconnect when, on the one hand, business leaders
are crying out for more skilled labour, and on the other, swathes of
unemployed people are crying out for a job,” he said. “The situation
amounts to a huge waste of human capital, which is good for neither
businesses nor the unemployed. Ultimately economic growth suffers:
businesses are constrained from expanding and people without work don’t
have sufficient income to create demand for products and services –
it’s a vicious cycle. Efforts to boost skills should be high on the
public policy agenda.” -0-

HACKERS TARGET RAFFI HOVANNISSIAN’S WEBSITE

February 6, 2013 – 17:08 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Armenian presidential candidate, Heritage party
leader Raffi Hovannissian’s official website raffi4president.am has
been attacked for the second time, the party’s spokesman said.

As Hovsep Khurshudyan told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter, the site was
targeted by an Armenia-based hacker. “The provider the hacker used
has been specified. Details will be divulged later,” he said.

It’s noteworthy that the website was first targeted when newly
launched, with Azerbaijani hackers suspected in the attack.

RUSSIAN TV STAR WEARING BIJOU BY ARMENIAN DESIGNER

FEBRUARY 6, 14:53

Famous Russian fashion expert and TV host Evelina Khromchenko is
wearing bijou made by Armenian designer Inga Kazumyan.

For one of her TV shows Evelina wore a black skirt and pink top with
Inga Kazumyan’s handmade bijou.

“I do like how Evelina combines her clothes with my bijou,” Kazumyan
told NEWS.am STYLE.

The Inga Kazumyan collection is fully created by the designer, whose
aim is to create a modern bijou, which will suit not only the everyday
cloths but also the evening dresses by giving them a unique image.

NEWS.am STYLE