Author: Baghdasarian Karlen

TANKIAN: FIRST TYPE OF MUSIC I WAS EXPOSED TO WAS ARMENIAN MUSIC

PanARMENIAN.Net
May 11, 2012 – 16:15 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – System of a Down frontman Serj Tankian says 2011
was the busiest year of his life so far, but also the most rewarding.

The firebrand vocalist might be turning 45 this August, but his
work schedule would overwhelm most musicians half his age. Besides
self-producing his stellar Harakiri solo album (out July 10), Tankian
saw his rock musical, Prometheus Bound, which he composed all of the
music for, open at the Oberon Theater at Harvard in Boston to rave
reviews. 2011 also saw him release his second poetry book (Glaring
Through Oblivion), tour with System of a Down, and perform in his
birthplace of Lebanon with the Lebanese National Symphony Orchestra.

When he returned to the U.S., he finished writing four albums: a jazz
record, an electronic record he wrote with his friend Jimmy Urine
of Mindless Self Indulgence, a full classical symphony called Orca,
and the material for Harakiri, Noisecreep reminds.

Tankian told Noisecreep that the eclecticism of his artistic choices is
borne out of artistic necessity: “I just can’t see myself ever sticking
to one kind of music, or art form. It’s exciting to work on different
styles of music because they allow me to express myself in such
different ways. The way I can project a certain kind of vulnerability
– an almost sadness – in a small section of a symphonic piece is
something that I could never do on a rock record. At the same time,
the bombastic nature of rock and metal music allows me to get other
emotions across in a way that classical or opera music could never do.”

Asked what his relationship with metal and hard rock is at this point
in his life, he said: “I actually didn’t grow up on that kind of
music. The first type of music I was exposed to was cultural Armenian
music. My parents were both in this cultural institution where my
mom would dance and my dad would sing. I was also exposed to Arabic
music as a child and French music because we lived in Lebanon and
that used to be an old French colony.”

“When we moved to the States in the ’70s, I started listening to
the Bee Gees and a lot of the disco stuff you heard on the radio at
the time. I also remember playing a lot of soul music too. When the
’80s came around, I really got into the goth and punk scenes. I didn’t
get into heavy metal till the late ’80s, early ’90s. Daron (Malakian,
guitarist of System of a Down) is a lifelong metal fan. He loved KISS,
and bands like that, growing up. I have never considered myself a
metal guy. In the last five years or so, the music I’ve gotten into
the most is probably classical, well, not Beethoven and stuff like
that, but soundtracks. I love getting in my car and driving around
with a film score on. It just amps me up! I start feeling like I’m
actually in the movie,” he said.

Tankian’s third solo album, Harakiri, will be out on July 10 via
Reprise Records/Serjical St

From: Baghdasarian

RELIGIOUS GROUP SAYS IT WANTS TO RECONCILE WITH NEWSPAPER
Tatevik Shaljyan

hetq
17:20, May 10, 2012

At today’s slander trial at the Kentron and Nork-Marash Administrative
Court, pitting the Word of Life religious organization against the
newspaper Iravunk, the plaintiff stated that it was willing to seek
reconciliation through the auspices of the Information Disputes
Council.

Word of Life is suing the paper for an article that appeared last
October showing a collage of photos implicating the organization in a
sex scandal involving a well-known Armenian show business personality
who is said to be a member.

Word of Life is arguing that the article is libelous and defamatory
and that it incites religious hatred. It wants the newspaper to
retract the article and publish an apology on the front page.

The Court welcomed the plaintiff’s offer and said that it must be
presented in writing.

The next trial date is scheduled for May 18.

From: Baghdasarian

Turquie : Bernard Lewis en ligne de mire
Publié le : 11-05-2012

Info Collectif VAN – – Halil Berktay, qui est
l’un des rares intellectuels turcs à oser parler en Turquie du
génocide arménien, révèle dans le journal turc Taraf du 19 avril 2012
que l’universitaire Bernard Lewis, célèbre historien ottomaniste
(condamné en France le 21 juin 1995 pour avoir parlé de la « version
arménienne de l’histoire » au sujet du génocide arménien), aurait été
l’un des soutiens occultes de la dictature militaire turque, aux côtés
de Çevik Bir. Ce général à la retraite a été arrêté à Istanbul le 12
avril dernier dans le cadre de l’enquête sur le coup d’État
postmoderne du 28 février 1997. Le militaire avait été l’un des
principaux artisans de la répression de la société civile en Turquie.
A l’occasion de cette arrestation, Recep Tayyip Erdogan a parlé de «
la collusion entre des officiers conspirateurs et des dirigeants du
monde de la finance, des médias mais aussi des universitaires ». Pour
une fois, nous ne pouvons que souscrire aux propos du Premier ministre
turc mais en élargissant sa critique aux man`uvres du même type mises
en place par l’Etat turc (et donc par lui-même), et qui visent à
imposer au niveau international la négation du génocide arménien…

L’article de l’historien turc Halil Berktay vient à point nommé pour
étayer les propos d’Erdogan. Bernard Lewis, encensé depuis des
décennies par Ankara et les négationnistes du génocide arménien,
semble devenir la tête de Turc de certains de ses collègues qui
n’apprécient pas ses compromissions avec le fascisme turc. De quoi
donner du courage aux universitaires de Turquie qui essayent
timidement de s’opposer à l’historiographie officielle imposée par
l’Etat et relayée avec ostentation par Bernard Lewis. Jusqu’à présent,
ils hésitaient à enfreindre la ligne rouge et à s’opposer à ce
professeur émérite des études sur le Moyen-Orient à l’Université de
Princeton, spécialiste de la Turquie, du monde musulman et des
interactions entre l’Occident et l’Islam, auteur de nombreux ouvrages
de référence sur le sujet.

Dans ce papier, Halil Berktay, Professeur agrégé d’histoire à
l’Université Sabanci à Istanbul, diplômé de l’Université de Birmingham
(Grande-Bretagne), chercheur invité au Center for Middle East Studies
à l’Université Harvard, dénonce vigoureusement ce qu’il appelle le «
lobby israélien ». Précisons qu’il n’est pas considéré comme
antisémite alors que l’antisémitisme est malheureusement très répandu
en Turquie : certains de ses collègues universitaires n’hésitent pas,
eux, à parler de « lobby juif ». Si ses propos peuvent néanmoins avoir
une résonance choquante en France, il est utile malgré tout de les
mettre à disposition ici en s’attachant davantage à ce que l’historien
confirme : à savoir, l’utilisation de personnalités, chaires,
organisations ou institutions nationales basées à l’étranger, sous
couvert de représentation de l’Etat Profond turc, aux fins de relayer
la propagande de la Turquie. Nous l’avons constaté ces derniers mois
en France : les interventions lues et entendues au sujet du génocide
arménien n’avaient que peu de choses à voir avec un véritable travail
scientifique et historique et visaient, très politiquement, à
autoriser la diffusion d’un négationnisme d’Etat sur le territoire de
la République française. Le Collectif VAN vous propose la traduction
de cet article en turc.

A gauche, le Général à la retraite Çevik Bir, arrêté à Istanbul le 12
avril 2012 dans le cadre de l’enquête sur le coup d’État postmoderne
du 28 février 1997.

A droite, Bernard Lewis, célèbre historien ottomaniste, qui a créé
avec lui l’ASMEA (Association de recherches du Moyen Orient et de
l’Afrique).

Copyright photo :

NOTES DE LECTURE

BERNARD LEWIS, ÇEVIK BIR et ASMEA

Halil Berktay

hberktay[at]sabanciuniv.edu

Taraf, 19.04 :2012

Maintenant, je vais vous raconter, au sujet du 28 février, quelque
chose que peu de gens connaissent, sauf dans certains milieux
académiques très restreints.
A l’origine de ce que je vais vous raconter, il y a le fait de savoir
comment le monde scientifique et les institutions académiques peuvent
être sciemment utilisés par les ennemis de la démocratie dans un but
néfaste.

Il s’agit d’une histoire qui relate les multiples aspects de la
collaboration des partisans d’Atatürk, responsables des coups d’Etat
en Turquie, avec Israël et le lobby israélien, au nom de la protection
de la laïcité au Moyen-Orient.

Mais, le point de départ est un problème plus général: ceci pointe
aussi l’utilisation de certaines chaires, organisations ou bien
certaines institutions nationales basées à l’étranger, sous couvert de
représentation de l’Etat Profond et de l’intérêt national.

Ces derniers jours, la relation entre les activistes du 28 février et
le lobby israélien a été abondamment écrite et discutée. Par exemple,
dans une interview publiée le 16 avril 2012 dans le journal Taraf,
Cengiz Çandar raconte à Nese Düzel que Bernard Lewis aurait été
directement informé par l’Etat-Major, sous le sceau du secret, du
concept de “Coup d’Etat Postmoderne” utilisé pour la première fois par
Çevik Bir ; et que c’est Bernard Lewis lui-même qui l’aurait dit à
Cengiz Çandar lors d’une réception.

Bernard Lewis est un historien célèbre. C’est un dur d’Europe
centrale, ayant un point de vue qu’on peut appeler d’orientaliste.
Pour lui, l’islam et l’univers islamique représentent toujours
“l’autre”, voire même “l’ennemi”. Le développement de l’Occident est
normal, le sous-développement de l’islam est anormal et nécessite tout
un terrain de recherches sous le titre de “qu’est-ce qui n’a pas
marché ?” (what went wrong). Les néo-conservateurs américains sont
redevables à des gens comme Bernard Lewis, chez lesquels ils puisent
les multiples clichés racistes et malsains de leur islamophobie à
moitié fasciste (selon laquelle l’islam est plus “fanatique” que les
autres religions).

Bernard Lewis est en même temps un partisan convaincu d’Atatürk. Son
premier livre, et jusqu’à nos jours, le plus célèbre chez nous [Nota
CVAN : en Turquie], c’est “The Emergence of Modern Turkey”. Dans ce
livre, il raconte nos 19ème et 20ème siècles comme l’histoire d’une
population d’Orient, enterrée dans l’obscurité de l’islam qui –
d’abord grce aux Ittihatci [Nota CVAN : les membres du Parti Union et
Progrès – Ittihat ve Terakki – parti responsable du génocide arménien]
et surtout grce aux Kémalistes – a pu retrouver la lumière et
rejoindre l’Occident en rattrapant le retard accumulé au cours des
siècles.

Sur la scène politique, Lewis est un faucon israélien. Pour lui, toute
critique envers Israël équivaut à une hostilité envers le Juif.
Défendre les droits du peuple palestinien est le sommet de
l’antisémitisme. Dans le passé, il a tout fait pour empêcher que “des
gens comme ça” puissent obtenir des chaires permanentes dans les
universités américaines. Il a beaucoup d’étudiants. Une partie de ses
étudiants est très attachée à lui. Certains d’entre eux, sont même –
du point de vue idéologique – plus durs que lui. J’ai même connu des
personnes, laissons Israël de côté, qui considèrent toute critique
envers Lewis comme une hostilité envers le Juif (et Israël).

Avec toutes ces spécificités, Bernard Lewis est devenu un allié solide
de l’Etat-nation turc nationalo-militariste. Face à “l’hostilité
antiturque” des lobbies grecs et arméniens, il a représenté “l’amitié
pro-turque” du lobby israélien. Ceci s’est répercuté jusqu’aux
discussions sur le génocide arménien. L’idéologie fondatrice de l’Etat
d’Israël est assez jalouse du sujet de l’Holocauste de 1942-45, le
considérant comme l’unique génocide de l’histoire.

Ceci est pour eux “une injustice qu’on ne peut pas partager”
(contested victimhood). Tous ces facteurs ont fait de Bernard Lewis un
défenseur “de la thèse turque” contre “les revendications
arméniennes”.

Le 9/11 arrive : l’horrible attaque d’Al Qaïda sur le World Trade
Center. La puissante vague de réaction qu’elle a créée a profité aux
ennemis du monde arabo-musulman. Le lobby israélien a fait souffler
une terreur psychologique et intellectuelle en plusieurs endroits des
Etats-Unis. Tout travail sur l’islam ainsi que des cursus ou bien des
centres de recherches concernant le Moyen-Orient ont été déclarés
acteurs du terrorisme.

Des personnes non qualifiées, n’ayant pu se faire une place dans un
univers scientifique sérieux, ont créé un site web détestable intitulé
” Campus Watch ” rattaché au groupe de pensée Middle East Forum et
elles ont appelé les étudiants et les autres enseignants d’universités
à dénoncer toutes les recherches, les cours, les conférences, les
manifestations et toutes sortes d’activités effectués sur le
Moyen-Orient.

Cette nouvelle furie McCarthyste a mené à télécharger sur ce site “les
dossiers” de huit professeurs considérés par Campus Watch comme
“ennemis” des Etats-Unis. Cependant, cette mise sur une “liste noire”
a généré une telle réaction qu’elle a été supprimée en octobre 2012.

Certains étudiants américano-israéliens majeurs de Bernard Lewis ont
également participé à ce type de mauvaises et sombres affaires qui se
sont déroulées autour du Middle East Forum (et, de manière plus
générale, autour de la préparation de l’attaque contre l’Irak sous la
présidence de George W. Bush).

Pourquoi est-ce que je raconte tout cela ? Les débuts du 21ème siècle,
“la guerre contre le terrorisme” des néo-conservateurs, en plus de
tous les autres dégts, est la période où ont également été
empoisonnés les milieux de la science et de l’enseignement supérieur.
A l’intérieur de ce cadre, les assauts du lobby israélien sont allés
jusqu’aux efforts de destruction des institutions professionnelles les
plus nobles. The Middle East Studies Association (MESA), aux
Etats-Unis, The British Society for Middle East Studies (BRISMES) en
Angleterre, sont deux organisations internationales à l’origine des
travaux concernant le Moyen Orient. Voyez plutôt : Bernard Lewis et
ses amis, sous prétexte que la MESA n’était pas “restée neutre” à
propos du courant islamophobe précédant l’élection d’Obama, ont essayé
de la diviser. Et ils ont voulu créer une soi-disant « alternative ».
Ainsi, l’ASMEA (Association for the Study of the Middle East and
Africa: Association de recherches du Moyen Orient et de l’Afrique) a
été mise en place en 2007 et l’organisation a été créée en 2008 à la
suite d’un congrès.

La question critique : à votre avis, avec qui d’autres, Bernard Lewis
a-t-il créé ASMEA? Serait-ce uniquement avec certains autres
historiens et des politiciens? Si je dis qu’en 2007, sur la liste des
premiers membres figurait Çevik Bir (un militaire à la retraite depuis
8 ans), allez-vous me croire? J’ai obtenu cette information en 2007, à
Harvard. Ne cherchez pas la preuve sur le site web de l’ASMEA
d’aujourd’hui, vous ne la trouverez pas.

Sinon, il y a un endroit où l’information existe encore. Dans la
biographie de Çevik Bir sur Wikipédia (en anglais), la mention “a
former membre of ASMEA” [Nota CVAN : ancien membre de l’ASMEA] existe.
Regardez vite, avant que quelqu’un ne l’enlève.

OKUMA NOTLARI 19.04.2012
Halil Berktay
Bernard Lewis, Çevik Bir ve ASMEA

Traduction du turc : S.C. Relecture A.A. pour le Collectif VAN – 11
mai 2012 – 11:30 –

Nota CVAN :
Wikipedia n’est pas la seule source. La présence du général
turc Çevik Bir parmi les membres fondateurs d’ASMEA était
annoncée en 2007 sur les deux sites ci-dessous. Le premier est un
site de soutien aux militaires américains en Irak et le second une
reprise du premier.

L’article en turc est encore disponible partiellement sur :

et en entier sur le lien ci-dessous.

Retour à la rubrique
Source/Lien : SavasKarsitlari.org

From: Baghdasarian

Zarakolu Receives PEN Freedom Award

asbarez
Saturday, May 12th, 2012

Peter Balakian introduced Turkish publisher Ragip Zarakolu’s children,
Seref and Zerrin Holle, at PEN awards ceremony.

BY DORIS V. CROSS

NEW YORK – At the annual Literary Gala held by PEN on May 1 at the
Museum of Natural History, Istanbul publisher Ragip Zarakolu was the
recipient of the annual Association of American Publishers’ Jeri Laber
International Freedom to Publish Award. Peter Balakian, whose memoir
Black Dog of Fate: An American Son Uncovers His Armenian Past was
published in a Turkish edition by Zarakolu’s Belge Publishing House,
presented the award to his two children, Seref and Zerrin Holle.
Zarakolu, who has been repeatedly jailed for challenging free
expression restrictions in his country, and was recently released
pending trial, was not well enough to make the trip from Istanbul.

In addition to Ragip Zarakolu, Eskinder Nega, one of Ethiopia’s most
courageous journalists, was honored with the Barbara Goldsmith Freedom
to Write Award. Nega is currently in prison and standing trial on
manufactured terrorism charges. He could face the death penalty if
convicted. Nega’s wife, Serkalem Fasil, has been jailed herself for
her journalism, and traveled from Addis Ababa to accept the award on
her husband’s behalf `at a time when freedom of expression and press
freedoms are at the lowest point in Ethiopia.’

This year’s PEN Literary Service Award was conferred on Edward Albee
as `a writer whose critically acclaimed work illuminates the human
condition in original and powerful ways.’

In accepting the Freedom to Publish Award on behalf of Ragip Zarakolu,
his children Seref and Zerrin Holle read a message from their father.
Seref began, `I spoke with Ragip a couple of hours before coming over
here. He wanted to personally apologize for not being able to make it
tonight, and he asked my sister Zerrin and I to share this letter with
you’:

I want to thank the International Freedom to Publish Committee of the
Association of American Publishers for the honor of the Jeri Laber
award.

When I entered the field of publishing in 1977 by establishing Belge
International in Istanbul I did not expect to spend the next 35 years
struggling for freedom of expression. I assumed it would be
accomplished in a matter of years.

Belge began in response to the undeclared civil war of the late 1970’s
that resulted in the 1980 military dictatorship in Turkey. Since that
time Belge has been dedicated to the open discussion of political and
historical taboos. I have always believed that such discussions were
necessary for the democratisation of Turkey.

For years civilian governments have promised this democratisation but
it is never realized. Unfortunately the current government has
continued for nearly a decade to delay the necessary reforms. As long
as the 1982 constitution and its supplemental anti-democratic laws and
decrees exist the freedom to publish remains threatened.

Freedom of expression is not a favor to be granted by sultans,
dictators or prime ministers; it is a universal right. If in a
country the expression of independent thoughts and their publication
becomes a matter of courage, that country is in a grave situation.

While I am fortunate to have been released from Kandira Prison, many
other publishers, editors, writers and journalists, including my son
Deniz, remain in prisons throughout Turkey. I gratefully accept this
award in their honor.

I also want express my gratitude to both the American PEN Center and
the American Association of Publishers for their many years of
support. I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Since founding Belge in 1977 with his late wife, Ayse Nur, Zarakolu
has defied Turkey’s
censorship laws by translating and publishing Turkish editions of
works by Armenian, Greek, Kurdish and other writers, dealing with such
forbidden subjects as the Armenian genocide and the repression of
Turkey’s Kurdish minority. If Zarakolu is convicted of the present
charges against him he faces up to 15 years in prison.

In Balakian’s introductory remarks he recalled first meeting Zarakolu
in 1998, at the Frankfort Book Fair.

Ragip was there to receive a prize from the Frankfort Book Fair on
behalf of his wife, Ayse Hur, who was in prison in Turkey. We became
friends and he would soon be my Turkish publisher, bringing out a
beautiful edition of my memoir Black Dog of Fate, which deals with the
Armenian genocide. Ragip opened up a new world for me – and as my first
Turkish friend he would become a bridge to another side of Turkish
society – a more complex and rich Turkey – that many of us had hoped
somehow to find. For many of us, who wrote on the Armenian genocide in
particular, had been objects of ridicule from the Turkish nationalists
we had encountered.

When you meet Ragip, you immediately encounter his quiet strength,
warmth and gentleness that lets you know that he is at home with
himself and his life. His life’s work is an emanation of who he is. He
is humble about his work, but he is confident about what his work is
and means. He is courageous and he inspires courage.

He and his late wife Ayse – and now their son Deniz who is also in a
Turkish prison at this time for his work as a publisher – have devoted
their lives to bringing intellectual freedom and democracy to Turkey.
And Ragip’s present wife, Katherine Holle, and children Seref and
Zerrin have been sustaining forces to this project in the past decade.

Ragip’s recent arrest is set in a long context of Turkish repression
of intellectuals and free expression. Turkey (along with China and
Syria) has had consistently one of the worst human rights records over
the past decades. And, this year, Reporters Without Borders has noted
that the recent arrests of 99 journalists in Turkey is the worst `wave
of arrests since the military dictatorship.’ Zarakolu was part of that
purge.

Imagine a publisher in Turkey bringing out books year in and year out
on the following subjects: the Greek expulsion from Turkey; the
tragedy of the Turkish left; torture and capital punishment in Turkey;
the status of Turkish prisons; the `Kurdish question’; the Armenian
Genocide; the ethnic cleansing and genocide of the Pontic Greeks and
Assyrians; anti-Semitism; the rights of women in Turkey.

If you think of the hundreds or perhaps thousands of books that come
out each year in the US on parallel or equivalent subjects you realize
that Ragip Zarakolu’s publishing company is this entire sector of
intellectual life for Turkey, and you get a sense of what he means to
his nation.

And yet he has been rewarded by his government with endless trials,
harassment, persecution, and imprisonment. His late wife Ayse was in
prison or on trial more than 30 times. His publishing company was
bombed, destroyed by Turkish nationalists in 1996. At the moment Ragip
is out on bail but he will have to stand trial for being accused of
that endless false pretext called `terrorism’ for supporting and
publishing works on Kurdish rights. And through all of this Ragip has
proceeded with calm, with patience, with perseverance, with grace and
dignity, with great courage, and with a love of what he does. Ragip
has said, `I’m not an activist, I’m just a publisher.’

He is more than a publisher, he is a force for democracy, intellectual
freedom, and the very foundation of human society in Turkey over the
past 40 years – and he is an embodiment of these realties for all
societies, because intellectual freedom is something that can never be
taken for granted.

PEN American Center is the largest of the 144 centers of PEN
International, the world’s oldest human rights organization and the
oldest international literary organization. The Freedom to Write
Program of PEN American Center works to protect the freedom of the
written word wherever it is imperiled. It defends writers and
journalists from all over the world who are imprisoned, threatened,
persecuted, or attacked in the course of carrying out their
profession.

From: Baghdasarian

Agence France Presse
May 12, 2012 Saturday 2:29 AM GMT

Turkey wants to turn page in relations with France

ISTANBUL, May 12 2012

Turkey is hoping that new French president Francois Hollande will open
a fresh page in relations with Ankara and, unlike his predecessor,
back the Muslim-majority country’s EU bid.

“We are hoping that he (Hollande) would open a new page in the very
deep and fruitful historical relations between Turkey and France,”
Turkey’s European Affairs Minister Egemen Bagis told AFP.

Ankara would like to see France “become one of the champions of
Turkish integration in the EU,” as it was under president Jacques
Chirac, he said.

That was not the case under the outgoing French leader Nicolas
Sarkozy, who opposed Turkey becoming a full member of the European
Union.

Tensions between Ankara and Paris also flared this year over a French
law making it a crime to deny the Armenian massacre by Ottoman Turks,
a point of World War I history that Turkey disputes. The law was
eventually overturned by the French Constitutional Court.

“Sarkozy, probably he had different priorities. Sarkozy was a very
smart politician. He saw an opportunity of a vote to the extreme right
and he went after that,” Bagis commented.

It worked in 2007, he added, “but I think it did not work in the
second election.”

Hollande, after winning the run-off vote on May 6, will take over as
president on May 15. The Socialist leader has shown himself to be more
open to Turkey’s EU ambitions.

Bagis spoke of mending fences with Paris in a friendly spirit of
finding solutions.

“We are not in the business of creating animosity, we are in the
business of creating friendship, where diplomacy and politics are part
of finding solutions, not creating problems,” he said.

For his part Hollande has noted that Turkey would not become an EU
member during his five-year term — the road to EU accession is a long
one.

Turkey and the EU began formal accession negotiations in 2005 but
since then Brussels has opened with Ankara only 13 of the 35 policy
chapters that every state must negotiate in order to join the bloc.
Just one chapter has been successfully closed.
Besides opposition from France, along with Austria and Germany, the
talks have stalled over problems relating to the ethnic Greek
government of EU member Cyprus, a Mediterranean island divided between
Greek and Turkish Cypriots. Only Ankara recognises the Turkish Cypriot
statelet in the north.

Turkey has threatened to freeze diplomatic relations with the EU when
Cyprus takes on the rotating EU presidency for six months in July if
there is no reunification deal.

Yet Ankara continues to pursue European integration even now as the
bloc is mired in an economic crisis. Turkey in contrast saw its
economy expand by 8.5 percent last year.

But Bagis says for Turkey the EU is not an economic project but a
major avenue for peace.

“Turkey can turn the grandest peace project of the history of mankind,
which is the EU, from being a continental project to a global
project.”

He sees Turkey as a democratic inspiration in the Arab world and that
Europe could have a greater influence there with Ankara at its side.

ad-ms/boc/pvh

From: Baghdasarian

AlArabiya.net, UAE
May 11, 2012 Friday

Turkey wants to open fresh page in relations with France

Turkey is hoping that new French president Francois Hollande will open
a fresh page in relations with Ankara and, unlike his predecessor,
back the Muslim-majority country’s EU bid.

“We are hoping that he (Hollande) would open a new page in the very
deep and fruitful historical relations between Turkey and France,”
Turkey’s European Affairs Minister Egemen Bagis told AFP.

Ankara would like to see France “become one of the champions of
Turkish integration in the EU,” as it was under president Jacques
Chirac, he said.

That was not the case under the outgoing French leader Nicolas
Sarkozy, who opposed Turkey becoming a full member of the European
Union.

Tensions between Ankara and Paris also flared this year over a French
law making it a crime to deny the Armenian massacre by Ottoman Turks,
a point of World War I history that Turkey disputes. The law was
eventually overturned by the French Constitutional Court.

“Sarkozy, probably he had different priorities. Sarkozy was a very
smart politician. He saw an opportunity of a vote to the extreme right
and he went after that,” Bagis commented.

It worked in 2007, he added, “but I think it did not work in the
second election.”

Hollande, after winning the run-off vote on May 6, will take over as
president on May 15. The Socialist leader has shown himself to be more
open to Turkey’s EU ambitions.

Bagis spoke of mending fences with Paris in a friendly spirit of
finding solutions.

“We are not in the business of creating animosity, we are in the
business of creating friendship, where diplomacy and politics are part
of finding solutions, not creating problems,” he said.

For his part Hollande has noted that Turkey would not become an EU
member during his five-year term — the road to EU accession is a long
one.

Turkey and the EU began formal accession negotiations in 2005 but
since then Brussels has opened with Ankara only 13 of the 35 policy
chapters that every state must negotiate in order to join the bloc.
Just one chapter has been successfully closed.

Besides opposition from France, along with Austria and Germany, the
talks have stalled over problems relating to the ethnic Greek
government of EU member Cyprus, a Mediterranean island divided between
Greek and Turkish Cypriots. Only Ankara recognizes the Turkish Cypriot
statelet in the north.

Turkey has threatened to freeze diplomatic relations with the EU when
Cyprus takes on the rotating EU presidency for six months in July if
there is no reunification deal.

Yet Ankara continues to pursue European integration even now as the
bloc is mired in an economic crisis. Turkey in contrast saw its
economy expand by 8.5 percent last year.

But Bagis says for Turkey the EU is not an economic project but a
major avenue for peace.

“Turkey can turn the grandest peace project of the history of mankind,
which is the EU, from being a continental project to a global
project.”

He sees Turkey as a democratic inspiration in the Arab world and that
Europe could have a greater influence there with Ankara at its side.

From: Baghdasarian

Interfax, Russia
May 11 2012

Karabakh mediators’ Stepanakert visit canceled due to bad weather

YEREVAN. May 11

A meeting between the co-chairmen of the OSCE (Organization for
Security and Co-operation in Europe) Minsk Group, which mediates the
Karabakh conflict, and president of the breakaway republic of
Nagorno-Karabakh, Bako Sahakyan, will not take place, the Karabakh
leader’s spokesman David Babayan told Interfax.

“The mediators were due to arrive to Stepanakert by helicopter on
Friday morning. However, the flight was canceled because of
unfavorable weather conditions including fog, thunderstorms and rain,”
Babayan said.

There will be no meeting with the Karabakh leader during the
co-chairmen’s current visit, he said.

The mediators are currently in Yerevan. On Saturday, they are meeting
with senior Armenian officials, following which they fly out to
Azerbaijan.
kk jv

From: Baghdasarian

Interfax-Religion, Russia
May 12 2012

Caucasian Islamic Department criticizes Iranian clerics’ comments on Azerbaijan

Baku, May 12, Interfax – The Caucasian Islamic Department is concerned
over the latest provocative statements of Iranian clerics as regards
Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan has always been proud of its religious values, the statement said.

The department called impermissible “the slandering of the Azeri
state, the abusing of state symbols and the insulting of the Azeri
president by certain Iranian clerics” and said it was an act of
interference in internal affairs of Azerbaijan.

“The main goal of these provocations against the people of Azerbaijan
and the Azeri statehood is not a demonstration of religious zest,
Islamic solidarity, brotherhood and alleged care for the dignity of
our people. Actually, it is an abuse of Islam, damage to our stability
and incitement to civic confrontation. Such pronouncements and actions
are particularly impermissible after the Azeri chief of state had
declared that no violence against Iran would come from Azerbaijan,”
the department said.

Azerbaijan did not feel Islamic solidarity when Armenian extremists
committed acts of aggression against the Azeri people, it said.

“We regret to witness regular material and moral support of Iran to
the aggressor state – Armenia. We did not hear fatwa of Iranian
clerics on the occupation of Azerbaijan, destruction and vandalizing
of mosques in Shusha, Agdam and hundreds of other holy Islamic places
and the banishment of a million of Azeri Muslims from their homes. We
repeat that the people of Azerbaijan will never give in to
provocations and dirty rumors and will eliminate all obstacles on the
way to state independence. We advise Iranian clerics to stop
groundless insults, allegations and slander, which show disrespect for
Islamic moral, our national and cultural values,” the statement said.

From: Baghdasarian

Edward Nalbandian: Azerbaijan never refused from the temptation to
solve the Karabakh issue through force

armradio.am
12.05.2012 12:04

Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian received the Co-Chairs of
the OSCE Minsk Group, Robert Bradtke, Igor Popov and Jacques Faure and
the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Andrzej
Kasprzyk.

Noting that the visit of the Co-Chairs to Yerevan on the day of the
18th anniversary of conclusion of the ceasefire agreement was
symbolic, Edward Nalbandian said ever since the establishment of
armistice the parties have had several opportunities to settle the
issue, but every time Azerbaijan has made a step backward, thus
creating obstacles for conclusion of agreements.

`Azerbaijan never managed to refuse from the temptation to solve the
issue through force, and continues its bellicose rhetoric, the
provocations at the line of contact, the purchase of armaments instead
of preparing its people for peace. This hampers the settlement process
and endangers the fragile situation in the region,’ Edward Nalbandian
noted.

During the meeting reference was made to the implementation of the
provisions of the joint statement of the Presidents of Armenia,
Azerbaijan and Russia issued in Sochi on January 23, particularly the
creation of mechanisms for investigation of incidents at the line of
contact.

From: Baghdasarian

ARMENIE-DIASPORA
Le Festival pan-arménien « Im Haysatan » présentera de nombreuses
manifestations artistiques

Cet été du 25 juillet au 15 août dans le cadre du Festival
pan-arménien « Im Hayastan » (Mon Arménie), de nombreuses troupes de
danses folkloriques et traditionnelles arméniennes se produiront en
Arménie. Le ministère arménien de la Diaspora a fourni la liste d’une
partie de ces participants. Seront ainsi présentes au Festival « Im
Hayastan » les troupes « Arin » (Liban) « Mirak » de l’association
culturelle Tékéyan d’Alep (Syrie), « Ouno » (Syrie), « Vartan et
Siranouche Kevorkian » (Etats-Unis), « Erébouni » (Canada), « Vatchian
» et « Djavakhk » (toutes deux de Géorgie), « Hayassa » et « Armavir »
(toutes deux de Russie). Des chorales se produiront également du 25
juillet au 15 août. Parmi ces dernières, « Louys » (Russie), « Nerces
Chenorhali » du centre Hayardoun (Géorgie), « Araxe » (le Caire). De
juin à octobre d’autres manifestations culturelles et artistiques
seront produites dans le cadre de « Im Hayastan » avec des artistes ou
groupes venus de Russie, Géorgie, Ukraine, France, Autriche, Allemagne
et Etats-Unis. Le 6 septembre se déroulera le Festival pan-arménien du
duduk avec des maîtres venus d’Argentine, Géorgie, Russie et France.

Krikor Amirzayan

samedi 12 mai 2012,
Krikor Amirzayan ©armenews.com

From: Baghdasarian