Author: Baghdasarian Karlen

TURKEY MAY CUT U.S. SUPPORT; OVER ARMENIA. CONGRESS MIGHT RECOGNIZE GENOCIDE

The Gazette (Montreal)
October 9, 2007 Tuesday
Final Edition

Turkey may cut logistic support to U.S. troops in Iraq if the
U.S. Congress backs a bill branding as genocide the 1915 massacres
of Armenians by Ottoman Turks, a senior ruling AK Party lawmaker was
quoted as saying yesterday.

Congress’s foreign affairs committee is expected to approve a bill on
the genocide issue tomorrow and speaker Nancy Pelosi of California,
a known supporter of the Armenian cause, could then decide to bring
it to the House floor for a vote.

Turkey, a NATO ally of Washington, strongly denies Armenian claims,
backed by many Western historians and a number of foreign parliaments,
including Canada’s, that up to 1.5 million ethnic Armenians suffered
genocide at Turkish hands during the First World War.

It says many Muslim Turks as well as Christian Armenians died in
inter-ethnic conflict as the Ottoman Empire collapsed.

"Don’t accept this bill. If you do, we will be obliged to do many
things we do not want to do," the top-selling Hurriyet daily quoted
AK Party deputy leader Egemen Bagis as saying.

"The Americans depend on Turkey for a large part of their logistical
support in Iraq. We would be obliged to to cut this support," he said.

Ankara has many times urged foreign countries, including the
United States, not to pass such resolutions, saying historians,
not politicians, should judge historic events.

Last year, Turkey froze military and some commercial co-operation with
France after the National Assembly backed a bill that would make it
a crime to deny the Armenian genocide. The bill never became law.

U.S. forces in both Iraq and Afghanistan get many of their supplies
via the Incirlik military base in southern Turkey.

Bagis declined to say what specific measures Turkey might take but
said: "This bill might please Armenian Americans for a few days
but it would definitely have a long-lasting negative effect on the
relationship between two strategic allies."
From: Baghdasarian

"IT WAS THE MEETING OF OLD FRIENDS"

A1+
[06:52 pm] 09 October, 2007

The first President met the first Prime Minister: "Both political
figures were concerned about the present situation in Armenia,
about the developments in the country and about the challenges that
threaten the independence of the country", said the former Minister
of Foreign Affairs Alexander Arzumanyan to "A1+", since he was present
at yesterday’s meeting.

Levon Ter-Petrosyan and Vazgen Manukyan met after 12 years. The meeting
took place at Samson Ghazaryan’s house, member of the "Karabakh"
Committee. Ashot Manucharyan was also present at the meeting. "It
doesn’t matter what they talked about during the meeting, the most
important fact is that they met, it was the meeting of old friends
in an very friendly atmosphere, – said Alexander Arzumanyan, – the
member of the "Karabakh" Committee Rafayel Ghazaryan contributed to
the meeting to take place but he was absent for being unhealthy".

Alexander Arzumanyan doubted to say when and with whom Ter-Petrosyan
would meet next. "I cannot say anything definite about the next
meeting. We haven’t planned any meeting yet". The Former Minister
of Foreign Affairs accompanied the fist President during his visits
to the regions. According to him, the meetings will continue. As to
when Ter-Ptrosyan will make a public speech again, Arzumanyan said:
"I cannot say.

He mentioned in his speech that he was holding consultations, studying
the situation as to run for presidency or not. Of course, he will
make public speeches, give interviews and conduct press conferences
when he makes a final decision", said Alexander Arzumanyan.
From: Baghdasarian

HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES CONTINUE, SAYS LAWYER

The Irish Times
October 8, 2007 Monday

TURKEY: Although Turkey has changed more than 50 laws relating to
human rights, the bureaucracy of justice continues to resist change,
writes Lara Marlowe.

The bullet holes in the door behind Hosnu Ondul are numbered one to
eight. Ondul’s predecessor as president of the Turkish Human Rights
Association, Akin Birdal, was hit seven times, but he survived the
assassination attempt on May 12th, 1998, and is today a member of
the Turkish parliament.

Though not a Kurd himself, Ondul says Birdal was targeted for
defending the rights of Turkey’s Kurdish minority. "They claimed we
were connected with the (Kurdish separatist group) PKK, that we were
helping a terrorist organisation," says Ondul, a lawyer with 21 years
experience in human rights work.

Could it happen again today? Ondul laughs. "This can happen any time
in Turkey. Yesterday, the chief of staff Gen Yasar Buyukanit threatened
MPs from the [ pro-Kurd] DTP party because they refuse to call the PKK
"terrorists". He said there should be ‘intervention’.

That could mean anything – arrest, murder." The day after I interviewed
Ondul, there was a drive-by shooting attack on DTP headquarters
in Ankara.

In its quest for EU membership, Turkey has changed more than 50 laws
relating to human rights, Ondul admits. "For example, the death penalty
was abolished [ in March 2006] and that is a good thing. The bans on
teaching or broadcasting in other languages have been lifted.

This is positive. There are improvements in laws on the right to
assembly, women’s rights and freedom of expression. But the bureaucracy
of justice in Turkey resists these changes." The ongoing trial of 18
people accused of the murder of the Armenian journalist Hrant Dink last
January is a stunning example of human rights abuses by what is known
as the "deep state," an underground fraternity of ultra-nationalist
police, military and criminal gangs. "Half the evidence disappeared,"
recounts a European diplomat. "They chose a minor to pull the trigger,
so there couldn’t be a public trial.

Police in [ the Black Sea port of ] Trabzon posed for photographs
with the murderer, holding Turkish flags, in front of a portrait of
Ataturk. It’s grotesque."

Though they have been in power for five years and were re-elected this
summer with 47 per cent of the vote, the AK party, whose origins are
Islamist, are either unable or unwilling to take on the "deep state".

Ondul blames secular judges and the military who oppose the AK for
condoning human rights abuses. "They are afraid of having too much
democracy, because they fear it will strengthen the fundamentalists,"
he explains.

For their part, Ondul continues, "the government stopped harmonisation
[ of humans rights legislation] once the negotiations [ for EU
accession] started in 2005. The AK haven’t sufficiently internalised
democratic values. The goal of their reforms was more to start
negotiations than to change the lives of Turkish people.

They’ll resume when the EU pushes them." The government tries to
maintain good relations with the Human Rights Association, he adds;
the military and prosecutors do not.

The EU’s next annual progress report on Turkey is due on November
6th. Ankara has been under pressure to abolish article 301 of the
penal code, which criminalises statements insulting "Turkishness".

Many of Turkey’s leading writers, including the Nobel Prize laureate
Orhan Pamuk, have been prosecuted under article 301. The government’s
promise this week to change article 301 to ban statements "against
the Turkish nation" and to require the justice minister’s approval
for prosecution is not likely to satisfy the EU.

In the first six months of 2007, the Turkish Human Rights Association
reports, there were 455 prosecutions violating freedom of expression
under articles 301, 215, 216, 218 and others. "Prosecutors and judges
behave as if there were no changes in law," says Ondul. "The penal
code has changed from A to Z, but they still open these cases and
charge people. This is the way the Turkish state behaves. This is a
way of keeping people quiet.

"People have been arrested just for using the word ‘Kurdistan’," Ondul
continues. (Last week, Turkey refused to allow a German company calling
itself Kurdistan Airways to use its airspace.) "You can get arrested
for referring to Sayin [ a term of respect] Abdullah Ocalan [ the
imprisoned PKK leader]. There are three red lines you mustn’t cross:
Kurdish rights, the Armenian genocide and the army." The most common
infringement of human rights is freedom to assemble or demonstrate,
says Ondul. "During demonstrations, people are arrested en masse,
then released, because of the slogans they chant or the banners they
carry. They are accused of supporting terrorist organisations. Law
2911 on demonstrations has been changed twice and guarantees freedom
of assembly, but in practice there are still problems."

Ondul is more severe than EU rapporteurs regarding what he calls
"widespread and systematic torture in Turkey".

When the AK Party came to power in 2002, it vowed "zero tolerance
for torture". The worst types of torture – electric shocks, beating
the soles of feet and hanging people from their wrists tied behind
their back – have all but disappeared, Ondul admits. But other forms
of ill-treatment, defined by the European Convention on Human Rights
as torture, continue.

The human rights group Amnesty International condemns what it calls
an "entrenched culture of impunity" for police and security forces
who violate human rights in Turkey. "We have documented hundreds of
cases of torture victims," says Ondul.

"The police who torture are not being punished; they are never taken
off duty; they are never charged." On August 20th, Festus Okey, a
Nigerian immigrant, died in police custody in central Istanbul. The
policeman who killed Okey is still on duty. "They punish people who
criticise the state, but they protect the police because they’re
civil servants," Ondul sighs.

Last week, a young girl was caught trying to steal a bracelet in a
jewellery shop in Istanbul. CCTV footage of her being beaten by the
the jeweller, then police, was shown on Turkish television. The police
took the girl away and beat her again.

"The police defend themselves by saying she was caught stealing," says
Ondul. "They don’t understand that you’re not allowed to beat people,
even if you know they’re guilty. Our fight against torture continues."
From: Baghdasarian

RESOLUTION ON ARMENIA GENOCIDE OPPOSED
By Desmond Butler, Associated Press Writer

Associated Press
Oct 6 2007

WASHINGTON – Turkish and American officials have been pressing
lawmakers to reject a measure next week that would declare the World
War I-era killings of Armenians a genocide.

The dispute involves the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Armenians
during the waning years of the Ottoman Empire.

Armenian supporters of the congressional measure, who seem to have
enough votes to get approval by both the committee and the full
House, have also been mustering a grass-roots campaign among the
large diaspora community in the United States to make sure that a
successful committee vote leads to consideration by the full House.

Similar measures have been debated in Congress for decades. But
well-organized Armenian groups have repeatedly been thwarted by
concerns about damaging relations with Turkey, an important NATO ally
that has made its opposition clear.

"The lobbying has been the most intense that I have ever seen it,"
said the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif.

After France voted last year to make denial of Armenian genocide a
crime, the Turkish government ended military ties.

The Turkish government has been holding back from public threats
while making clear that there will be consequences if the resolution
is passed.

But Armenian groups charge that behind the scenes, Turkey has been
much more clear.

Turkey argues that the House is the wrong institution to arbitrate a
sensitive historical dispute. It has proposed that an international
commission of experts examine Armenian and Turkish archives.

"I have redoubled my efforts," says Sensoy. Turkish lawmakers have
also been manning the phones to congressional offices.

According to one congressional aide, Turkey’s military chief, Gen.

Yasar Buyukanit, has been calling lawmakers to argue that a vote will
boost support for Islamists in Turkey. The aide spoke on condition
of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

The Bush administration has been telling lawmakers that the resolution,
if passed, would harm U.S. security interests.

Gordon Johndroe, a White House spokesman, said Friday that Bush
believes the Armenian episode ranks among the greatest tragedies of
the 20th century, but the determination whether "the events constitute
a genocide should be a matter for historical inquiry, not legislation."

White House staff have also spoken with aides to House Speaker Nancy
Pelosi, D-Calif., in the hope that she will stop the measure from
coming to a vote.

"The administration has reached out to the speaker’s office and made
our position clear," he said. "We’ll see what happens."
From: Baghdasarian

WE SHOULD DEVELOP RELATIONS BETWEEN AZERBAIJAN, TURKEY AND ISRAEL: TURKISH DIPLOMAT

Trend News Agency
Oct 6 2007
Azerbaijan

Israel, Jerusalem / corr Trend R.Mammadov / Trend’s interview with
Namik Tana, the Turkish Ambassador to Israel

Question: You were one of those who supported the establishment of
Diaspora organizations like the Congress of Azerbaijanis in Near
East. What are your views on prospects of this idea?

Answer: Relations with Azerbaijan are of strategic importance for
us like the relations with Israel. We should develop and encourage
relations and cooperation on trilateral basis. Azerbaijanis are our
brothers worldwide, including in Israel. Though several years ago we
did know each other, now we speak and understand each other in the
same language. It indicates to historical heritage of our nations
and we are proud of that. I see real and loyal representatives of the
Turkish lobby in the Congress, who are prepared to protect interests
of Azerbaijan and Turkey in the region. As an ambassador of Turkey to
Israel I am prepared to render all assistance to support prospective
projects of the organization which will promote trilateral cooperation
and partnership between Turkey, Israel and Azerbaijan.

Question: What are your views on the prospects of entrance of
Azerbaijan energy resources to the world markets via Turkey and Israel?

Answer: Currently, Turkey is an important transit place in the world.

Many energy pipelines, running to the West, are passing via Turkey.

The strategic pipeline Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan also runs through my
country’s territory. From this aspect, I want to say that there
is a strategy of multiprofile pipelines with respect to Israel. On
this strategy, the energy resources running from the Black Sea are
delivered to Ashkelon, south Israel, and from Ashkelon to Eylat,
where the pipeline has existed for many years. There is a real and
perspective opportunity in Eylat to supply Azerbaijani energy resources
to the market of Middle East, China and India. Along with this pipeline
strategy, we will witness connection of the Black and Red Sea. This
a huge project, but very relevant, profitable and global. In this
respect, Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, the Israeli Infrastructure Minister,
is expected to visit Turkey at the invitation of the Turkish Energy
Minister. Indeed, the above described ambitious project will be one
of the top issues during the future talks.

Question: How did the decision by several Jewish lobby organizations
based in the United States on recognition of the so-called ‘Armenian
genocide’ affect the strategic partnership between Israel and Turkey?

Answer: To tell the truth, the decision of Anti-defamation League,
known as pro-Israeli lobby group, shocked and distressed us. For many
years we have had very kind and trustful relations with large Jewish
lobby organizations. I think the decision was taken under pressures
of the Armenian lobby in the United States. Obviously, we could
not accept that decision. Every time when we met with our Israeli
friends we stressed that they should influence pro-Israeli lobby
organizations in the United States. From this aspect, the position
of the Israeli political establishment satisfied us adequately. Thus,
Israeli President Shimon Peres commenting on the so called ‘Armenian
genocide’ said that the matter should be researched by historians
and the politicians are to define the horizons of future. Proceeding
from Israel’s such clear position, Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan
offered Armenian authorities to establish a joint commission on
historical researchers to study the issue. From this standpoint,
we appreciate Israeli authorities’ clear and rational approach to
the problem. We merely ask our Israeli friends to make it clear for
their American compatriots that history must not be written on the
basis of momentary political bias. Besides, we also try to inform our
friends in pro-Israeli lobby organizations about our position. We
do that both through our diplomatic representations and efforts of
the Turkish Diaspora in the United States. In this respect we want
Israel to help and support us.

Question: How do You assess the current level of the strategic
co-operation between Turkey and Israel?

Answer: Currently it is fact that serious and comprehensive
strategic co-operation is in existence between Turkey and Israel. This
partnership covers all spheres of our co-operation. The two countries
politically co-operate at a very high capacity and carry out permanent
political-military co-operation. In addition, there are deep human
relations. It is testified by the fact that each year Turkey receives
500.000 Israeli tourists. We are very glad for this fact. There are
good cultural relations between Israel and Turkey.

Presently we are establishing a Turkish Culture Center in the building
which formerly belonged to Ottoman Imperia. The Mayor of Tel-Aviv and
Foreign Ministry of Israel make a significant contribution to us in
this issue. There are high level economic relations between Turkey and
Israel, but I think that the potential between the two countries have
not been fully used. Currently the trade turnover between Turkey and
Israel amounts to $2.5bln and I believe that this figure will increase
up to $5bln over the next five years. Turkey’s Trade Minister visited
Israel at the beginning of 2007, with accompany of more than hundred
Turkish business people.

This visit further assisted in strengthening the business and economic
relations between the two countries and it its turn, it help enhance
and expand strategic partnership.

Question: In connection with the Turkish foreign Minister’s visit
to Near East countries, some media reports wrote about ‘Turkey’s new
Near East peace initiative’…

Answer: Turkey has an only objective to achieve peace, stability and
security in the Near East. We support any peace initiatives. Turkey
regards the resolution of the conflict between Israel and Palestine as
key in the resolution of many near east problems. From this aspect,
we support any diplomatic efforts directed at the resolution of
the problem.Thus, at the end of October it is planned to hold a
peace conference in Anapolis, the US, under the chairmanship of the
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. However, the issues to be
discussed and a list of countries to be invited to the meeting are yet
to be defined. We are prepared to participate and make an important
diplomatic contribution in this meeting. At the same time we are for
the peaceable resolution of many issues which Near East faces. It
is also a problem of North Iraq, where the Kurdish terrorists reign,
problem of Iran and Syria, resolution in Afghanistan.
From: Baghdasarian

PanARMENIAN.Net

Kouchner: France’s recognition of Armenian Genocide shouldn’t hamper
relations with Turkey
06.10.2007 15:59 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The French and Turkish Foreign Ministers agreed that
their countries have more similarities than differences and that
continued dialogue between the two nations has the potential to
improve relations. Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan and his guest,
French Foreign Minister and Minister of European Affairs Bernard
Kouchner, were speaking at a press conference Friday during a visit by
Kouchner to Ankara. Babacan said the French Foreign Minister was
informed that Turkey does not want to be dragged into discussions
about the future of the EU and awaits the fulfillment of European
promises made to it. The two were set to have a second round of talks
in the evening, when, according to Babacan, they would discuss Turkish
and French interests in other countries, especially the Middle East.

Kouchner was also scheduled to visit President Abdullah Gul and Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, where discussions were expected to
focus on issues such as a `committee of wise men’ and `privileged
partnership.’ Babacan informed Kouchner about Turkey’s unwillingness
to even discuss the possibility of a status other than full membership
in the European Union, Zaman reports.

As to the French bill criminalizing the Armenian Genocide denial, the
French Foreign Minister claimed in the press conference that the law
will not cause any difficulty between Turkey and France and that
nothing has been decided upon yet. The committee of wise men France is
supposed to discuss the future strategies and boundaries of the
EU. France also asks that this committee work on the Mediterranean
Union that France wants to see Turkey a part of.

In an interview with the Milliyet newspaper, Kouchner said that France
recently went through a difficult period in its relations with Turkey
and that his visit should be regarded as a symbol of a mutual desire
to give a strong new impetus to relations between the two. Kouchner is
the first high-level French official to visit Ankara since Nicolas
Sarkozy, a staunch opponent of Turkey’s EU accession, was elected
president in May. Sarkozy has repeatedly said Turkey does not belong
in the EU, arguing that it is geographically in Asia.
From: Baghdasarian

JOINT VISITS OF ARMENIAN AND AZERI INTELLECTUALS NOT RULED OUT

ArmRadio – Public Radio, Armenia
Oct 2 2007

Azerbaijani Ambassador to Russian Polad Bulbuloglu considers that the
joint visit of Armenian and Azerbaijani intellectuals to Stepanakert,
Baku and Yerevan pursued no political purpose.

"After a long pause an attempt has been made to create an atmosphere
of dialogue between the Azeri and Armenian communities of Nagorno
Karabakh. I want to mention that the leading political forces of
the world assessed the visit as positive. I think the intellectuals’
meetings with the Presidents of the two countries, Robert Kocharyan
and Ilham Aliyev, gave greater importance to the visit and created
opportunities to enlarge the peaceful dialogue. In this context I do
not rule out the opportunity of continuing the meetings in the same
format," Polad Bulbuloglu declared.

The Ambassador added that the process of peaceful settlement of the
Karabakh conflict proceeds in the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group
based on norms and principles of international law. The ambassador
added that although no essential results have been achieved, the
Azerbaijani side remains committed to the peace talks and continues
taking constructive efforts for the rapid resolution of the issue
in the framework of the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, AzerTag
reports.
From: Baghdasarian

VARTAN OSKANIAN’S LETTER TO HOUSE SPEAKER NANCY PELOSI

ArmRadio – Public Radio, Armenia
Oct 1 2007

Vartan Oskanian, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic
of Armenia, sent a letter to the Speaker of the US House of
Representatives Nancy Pelosi, in response to the letter of eight
former Secretaries of State in opposition to H. Res. 106.

Minister Oskanian’s letter says:

"Dear Speaker Pelosi,

I have refrained from intruding into the process that has brought US
HR 106 to its current stage in the congressional process. I have done
so because I believe that the content and the intent of the resolution
are a matter for US Representatives and their constituents. For us,
there is nothing there that is historically inaccurate, nor that
threatens the interests of any country.

Nevertheless, we have refrained from public expressions.

The recent letter from eight Secretaries of State addressed to you,
Madame Speaker, introduces an important change in the nature of the
discussion. That letter clearly addresses processes that directly
affect the Republic of Armenia, and therefore, I would take this
opportunity to share my concerns and thoughts.

It is with dismay that I read that the letter claims that such
a resolution would hurt Armenia-Turkey relations. It is quite
unfortunate that eight experienced diplomats would buy into Turkish
manipulation. I regret to say that there is no process in place to
promote normalization of relations between Armenia and Turkey.

Expressing concern about damaging a process that doesn’t exist is at
the very least, disingenuous.

Let me go further. Not only is there no process, I can honestly tell
you that we have no hope that Turkey will seriously engage with the
expectation of achieving minimal normal relations as an outcome. My
pessimism is based on the fact that each time we agree to a meeting,
the simple fact of the meeting is used by Turkey to derail other
processes in the US or around the world in other bodies. Yet
the meeting itself does not open any new doors, does not have a
commensurate follow-up, and other than meeting-for-meeting’s sake,
there is no progress. That is frustrating for us, but appears to be
inconsequential for Turkey’s leadership.

This time, too, we agreed to a meeting between myself and the newly
appointed Foreign Minister of Turkey, Ali Babacan, in New York,
cognizant of our responsibility to use every opportunity to improve
relations. Before that meeting has even been held, there are claims
that somehow that still-unheld meeting is part of a process that
might be endangered.

Madame Speaker, Armenia has always been ready for normal
Turkey-Armenia relations. Yet, every initiative that would lead
toward normalization has been rejected by Turkey. Instead, it
continues to place pre-conditions. Turkey makes offers that are
simply invitations for open-ended talk, without serious commitment to
arriving at ordinary relations between neighbors. Even their call for
a historical commission to discuss painful, historic events is not
serious, given their prohibitive penal consequences for open speech
and discussion and the adversarial environment Turkey has created by
maintaining closed borders with Armenia.

To view acknowledgement of the truth as an obstacle to political
relations is cynical. A resolution that addresses matters of human
rights and genocide cannot damage anyone’s bilateral relations –
neither yours with Turkey, nor ours. I would urge you and your
colleagues, as well as the former secretaries of state, to acknowledge
that the same concern for geostrategic interests should move us all
to do everything possible to open these borders, and not to reward
intransigence."
From: Baghdasarian

Christianity Today, IL
Sept 29 2007

Divvying up the Most Sacred Place

Emotions have historically run high as Christians have staked their
claims to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

By Chris Armstrong

Five years ago, chairs, iron bars, and fists flew on the roof of one
of the most revered sites in Christianity, the Church of the Holy
Sepulchre in Jerusalem. When the dust cleared, 7 Ethiopian Orthodox
monks and 4 Egyptian (Coptic) monks had been injured. The fight
started when an Egyptian monk decided to move his chair into the
shade – technically, argued the Ethiopians, encroaching on the latter’s
jurisdiction.

Jurisdiction? Did we miss something?

The argument these monks are making refers to an Ottoman Turkish
edict issued by the Sultan in 1752 and reaffirmed in 1852. Still in
force today, this edict defines exactly which parts of the Church of
the Holy Sepulchre belong to each of six Christian groups: the Latins
(Roman Catholics), Greek Orthodox, Armenian Orthodox, Syrian
Orthodox, Copts, and Ethiopians.

But let’s start with the basics. The "Holy Sepulchre" is the cave in
Jerusalem where Christ is supposed to have been buried and to have
risen from the dead. It was discovered – the tradition goes – by Emperor
Constantine’s mom Helena, who also picked up some pieces of the True
Cross while hanging around the Holy Land. Helena had her son begin
work on the first "Church of the Holy Sepulchre," which was dedicated
around 335. From that point the church has gone through many cycles
of destruction and rebuilding – and since the accession to power of the
Ottoman Turks in 1517, many political machinations among Christians
groups trying to gain control over all or part of the edifice. This
they achieved by gaining firmans (royal decrees) from the Turkish
authorities validating their claims.

Why such squabbling over a building? We get a sense of the emotional
power this sacred place has had for generations of Christians from
some words of the Boniface of Ragusa, a Franciscan who in 1555 was
put in charge of rebuilding the tomb itself to strengthen the
structure and repair damage caused during five centuries of
pilgrimage. As his workers dug down for this major renovation, they
uncovered at last the rock of the tomb. This had not been seen since
1009, when the Khalif of Egypt al-Hakim had ordered the destruction
of an earlier version of the Church. Boniface wrote:

"When, for necessity, we had to remove one of the alabaster slabs
which covered the Sepulchre, placed there by Saint Helen in order to
be able to celebrate the holy sacrifice of Mass, there appeared to us
that ineffable place in which laid for three days the Son of Man .
…The place, which had been soaked with the precious blood and with
the mixture of ointment with which he was anointed for burial and
from where spread to everywhere glowing light as if they were the
luminous rays of the sun, was uncovered by us, venerated with
devotional moans, with spiritual joy and with tears together with
those present (there were in fact not a few Christians, both Western
and Eastern), who full of heavenly devotion, some shed tears, other
profoundly excited, all were astonished and in prey of a sort of
ecstasy."
This moment of ecumenical ecstasy did not last, however, and other
firmans extracted from the Turkish authorities through the 17th
century raised first the Franciscans, then the Orthodox, and finally
the Franciscans again to the status of custodians of the Church of
the Holy Sepulchre. In one such move in 1633, the Eastern Orthodox
Patriarch Theophanius made a bid to wrest control over the Church of
the Holy Sepulchre from the Western church by obtaining a firman
back-dated to the 7th century, which gave the Patriarch’s church
jurisdiction over a number of holy sites connected with the Church.
After this document was exposed as a forgery and withdrawn, it was
open season on the Church. By 1637, various parts of the holy site
had changed hands a half-dozen times, sold each time to the highest
bidder by the obliging sultan Murad IV.

In the 18th century, the friars were able to set aside their
differences with Armenian and Greek Orthodox Christians long enough
to make some further repairs. But on Palm Sunday in 1767, a squabble
broke out between the Greeks and the Franciscans, and the Ottoman
authorities laid down yet another firman, this time splitting the
structure between Western and Eastern Christian groups.

In 1852, in the face of looming conflict between Western, Catholic
powers and Eastern powers championed by the Russian Czar, Nicholas,
Turkey imposed a truce and reaffirmed the division of the Church
established in the 1767 firman, now under the name "Status Quo." As
is usual in history, nobody from 1852 to today has been happy with
the status quo – but nobody has been able to agree on how to change it.
So, right off the bat, the Crimean War (1853-56) erupted over this
very question of rights over the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. And
so, the other day, elderly monks threw furniture and punches over the
crossing of an invisible line on the church’s roof.

The hope of unity seems dim in the face of such strife. But if our
divisions are ever to be healed, it can only be as we seek the
forgiveness made available by the Event memorialized (whether or not
it took place precisely there) in this holy place. As Pope Paul VI
prayed on January 4th, 1964:

"This is the place, where You, O Lord, were accused;

You, the just one, were put to judgment;

You, Son of man, were tormented, crucified and put to death.

You, Son of God, were blasphemed, laughed at and repudiated;

You, the light, were put out;

You, the King, have been exalted on a cross;

You, Life, met with death, and You, dead, rose to life …

We adore You, O Lord Jesus. We came to beat our breasts,

to ask Your forgiveness, to implore your mercy …

because you are our redemption and our hope."
Find more information on the Church of the Holy Sepulchre on the
Sacred Destinations website.

For a fuller version of Boniface’s account of uncovering of the tomb
in 1555, see the Franciscan-sponsored
w1/jhs/TSspturk.html. The same site
contains the page with the prayer of Pope Paul VI:
tml.

About the recent fight on the Church’s roof, see
p;u=/nm/20020729/od_nm/church_dc_1.

ristianitytoday.com/history/newsletter/2002/aug2.h tml
From: Baghdasarian

AZERBAIJANI UNION FOR DEMOCRACY PROPOSES STARTING WAR IN NAGORNY KARABAKH

ArmInfo News Agency, Armenia
Sept 26 2007

ArmInfo. Azerbaijani Union for Democracy proposes starting war in
Nagorny Karabakh calling it an ‘antiterrorist operation’.

Zerkalo newspaper reports that the Union made this initiative at
a forum on Tuesday. It proposes setting A term of the start of the
‘operation’. At the same time it does not think it a war ‘as a country
cannot start military actions in its own territory.’ ‘Anti-terrorist
operations must be aimed at liquidation of Armenian terrorist groupings
disobeying to the government and the laws of Azerbaijan,’ the Union
says. At the same time, the authors of this strange initiative believe
that Azerbaijan must not refuse from peaceful negotiations with Armenia
subject to mutual recognition of territorial integrity. The document
was addressed to the president of Azerbaijan.

The Union for Democracy unites three opposition parties: Classical
People’s Front, National Democracy and Azadlig.
From: Baghdasarian