Author: Chakrian Hovsep

PRESIDENT OF GEORGIA ADDRESSED TO GEORGIAN NATION

11:58 11/04/2009
Source: Panorama.am

The President of Georgia Michail Saakashvili responded to the
opposition. The President did not say anything about his resignation
but he recommended the opposition to work together to make reforms to
the Electoral legislation. `Yesterday half of the Georgian nation
addressed protest. I heard them and I offer cooperation in developing
democratic institutions, economic challenges and security. I address
to the public and all the parties,’ said Saakashvili.

TURKISH TV ANCHOR DONS BLACKFACE TO ADDRESS OBAMA
By Robert Mackey

New York Times
sh-tv-anchor-dons-blackface-to-address-obama/?hp
A pril 10 2009

When video appeared online this week of a Turkish television anchor
in blackface, reporting on President Barack Obama’s speech to the
Turkish parliament, American bloggers leapt to comment on it —
despite having little or no idea what the anchor was saying or what
he could possibly have been thinking when he applied the makeup.

After posting the video, bloggers from the left and the right of
the American political spectrum — including the Huffington Post,
Town Hall, Scoop This and Think Progress, among others — started
trying to make sense of it.

Readers at Town Hall guessed that the incident was evidence that
the Turkish people were rejecting Mr. Obama’s overtures and mocking
him. Scoop This asserted that the Turkish anchor was actually
denouncing his own country’s failure to denounce "Islamic terrorism,"
and "is trying to show shame for what his country has done, so that is
why his face is painted in black." The Huffington Post quoted a blogger
from Buzz Feed who guessed that the makeup was "a metaphor for the way
the Bush administration ‘darkened’ the face of the Turkish public, and
how the anchor hopes Obama will turn things around." Jonathan Turley at
least got in touch with someone who speaks Turkish before weighing in:

The rough translation from the appearance is "Welcome, Mr. Obama. You
took our hearts with your hospitality. We appreciate your kindness. We
will do whatever America asks of us, as friends. Now, we ask the same
of you."

There may be something lost in translation here. Some have stated
that this is an attempt at humor or a spoof. Others have argued that
it was meant as a sign of respect.

Here at The Lede, we were fortunate enough to be able to turn for help
to Sebnem Arsu, a Turkish journalist who reports for The Times from
Istanbul. Sebnem was kind enough to watch the clip for us and give
us an explanation via e-mail. She says that what we are watching was
broadcast on a channel called "Flash TV," which generally presents
the news in a sensational, tabloid style. Sebnem writes: "They tried
to be funny, but obviously, they have no idea what kind of a message
their ‘joke’ would convey in your part of the world."

As to what motivated the anchor to don blackface to make his comment
on Mr. Obama’s address to Turkey’s Parliament, Sebnem explains that he
was playing off a Turkish proverb that says, roughly, that a person
who asks for a favor darkens his face, but a person who then refuses
to grant that person a favor has an even darker face. The idea seems
to be something like what English-speakers mean when they say that
they are "red-faced" with embarrassment. According to Sebnem:

In the traditional culture here, it has not been an easy act to ask
something from a person, like "would you please do this or that for
me." It was even considered to be shameful to a certain extent, so
"darkening the face" is like hiding behind your real face, or putting
a mask on, to hide your shame.

However, if the person facing this demand, knowing how hard it has been
for the other person to ask for it, refuses to help, then it’s even
more shameful, and can only be concealed by a darker look, or mask.

Sebnem adds that in common usage, the phrase is given a racist turn,
so that a person who refuses to help someone else is said to have a
face that is not just dark, but "Black or Arab."

Sebnem explains that the reason for the blackface, then, is that
the anchor is asking Mr. Obama for a series of favors: "demanding
Mr. Obama’s support for Turkey’s fight against Kurdish rebels,
the country’s bid to join the European Union and its rejection of
Armenian claims that Turkey had committed genocide."

The Turkish-American video blogger Cenk Uygur, host of a Webcast called
"The Young Turks," posted his own analysis and rebuttal of the Flash
TV commentary on YouTube. In his commentary, Mr. Uygur mentions that
it brings to mind another recent instance of cultural insensitivity
that sparked a lot of debate last summer on a Times blog about the
Olympics: the Spanish basketball team’s unfortunate gesture in an
advertisement ahead of the games in Beijing last year. Here is how
Mr. Uygur breaks down the Flash TV clip:

ARMENIANS TO URGE OBAMA TO RECOGNIZE 1915 GENOCIDE

TNN
9 Apr 2009, 0325 hrs IST

KOLKATA: Armenians of the city are going to write to US President
Barack Obama, urging him to recognize the massacre of Armenians in
Turkey on April 24, 1915, as genocide’.

Students of city’s Armenian College have collected photographs and
historical data about the genocide after a year-long research. The data
they have gathered has been collated in the form of a film, which too
will be presented for President Obama’s consideration. Senior members
of the city’s Armenian community, like Peter Hyrapiet, Suzanne Reuben
and Gulnaar Gilhooly have worked alongside the students to help them
with data collection and film-making.

Outside Armenia, the US has the largest concentration of
Armenians. While the country has offered refuge to the community in its
hour of crisis, it has never accepted the mass killings of Armenians
on that fateful day as genocide. There are about a 100 countries that
have pledged acceptance of the term in the United Nations.

"About a fortnight ago, even Australia accepted the massacre as
genocide. We just hope that the US also follows suit. Recent comments
by President Obama have encouraged the community across the world. We
hope that this year on April 24, he actually declares his country’s
acceptance of the darkest episode in the history of the community
as genocide," said head of the Armenian Church in India, Oshagan
Gulgulian, who has also spent a sizable part of his clerical life in
the US.

While every year, a part of the community in some part of the world
takes upon itself to take up the cause of the genocide forward,
this year it is the turn of Armenians based in India. The 200-strong
community in the city has tied up with the German consulate for a
public programme. "Since the largest concentration of Armenians
in this country is in Kolkata, we have taken the initiative
here. We want the people of Kolkata, who have always been very
receptive to our community, to share our pain. On that fateful day,
250 of our intellectuals were murdered by the Ottoman empire in
Constantinople. Throughout that year, there were more than a million
murders. The genocide can be compared to the Jewish holocaust,"
Gulgulian said.

The Armenian community wants that Turkey must cease to be the only
major country in the world to deny the Armenian Genocide. Turkey must
allow American aid to present-day Armenia to pass through unhindered
and that it must cease to train Azerbaijani soldiers for the purpose
of attacking Armenia. These issues will also be raised in the charter.

OPPOSITION PARTIES DISSATISFIED WITH OBAMA VISIT

Todays Zaman
April 8 2009
Turkey

US President Barack Obama delivered a speech in the Turkish Parliament
and then held brief talks with the opposition party leaders on Monday.

Opposition party leaders were not pleased with the messages that
US President Barack Obama delivered during their tête-a-tête
meetings in the Turkish Parliament on Monday because they fell short
of their expectations. Obama held brief talks with the opposition
party leaders — main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP)
Chairman Deniz Baykal, opposition Nationalist Movement Party (MHP)
Chairman Devlet Bahceli and pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP)
Chairman Ahmet Turk — in Parliament on Monday. Party leaders seized
the opportunity to convey different messages to the US president,
but the meetings did not produce the expected results.

DTP leader Turk was probably the most disappointed by Obama’s remarks,
which advised the party that violence or armed struggle would not
solve the Kurdish problem. Turk told Obama about the unsolved murders
in the southeastern parts of Turkey.

He also handed Obama a file that included the views of and proposals
by DTP officials for the solution of the Kurdish issue. Obama, in
response, stressed that the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK)
is a terrorist organization and that violence would not be a means
to solve problems.

Akın Birdal, a DTP deputy, said his party agreed that problems
would not be solved with violence. "We expressed our fear that the
inability to solve the Kurdish problem would bring with it more serious
problems. We have once more made the point that we are for solutions
that use democratic and civilian means," he stated. The DTP currently
faces a closure case in the Constitutional Court on charges of being
"a focal point for terrorism."

The MHP, on the other hand, is concerned that Obama’s visit to Turkey
may further deepen disappointment in Azerbaijan, which was already
uneasy about the invitation of Armenian Foreign Minister Edward
Nalbandian to the second Forum of the UN Alliance of Civilizations
(UNAOC) in Ä°stanbul.

Azerbaijani President Ä°lham Aliyev refused to attend the event,
sending low-profile Azerbaijani officials to represent his country
in protest of the Armenian presence at the meeting.

With growing signs of a thaw in the relations between Turkey and
Armenia after a century of hostility, the chances of Ankara opening
the border it closed in 1993 have significantly improved. Turkey’s
closure of the 268-kilometer-long border had been in solidarity
with Azerbaijan, which was fighting Armenian-backed separatists over
the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region — a festering conflict that
remains unresolved. Azerbaijan, however, is cold to the prospect of
the border being reopened.

MHP Ankara deputy Deniz BölukbaÅ~_ı called Obama’s speech in
Parliament a "disappointment," saying, "Obama’s views of the Armenian
genocide have not changed and his desire for the Halki Seminary to
be reopened and his strong relations with the Kurdish administration
in Iraq are worrisome."

The staunchly secular CHP is uneasy about Obama’s positive sentiments
for Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan but is pleased to have seized
the opportunity to engage in talks with the US president.

CHP leader Baykal mentioned his party’s sensitivity to such issues as
secularism, freedom of the press and freedom of the judiciary. Obama,
in response, asked Baykal why he doesn’t travel to the US. "My friends
often fly to the US, but the last time I traveled to the US was in
1987," Baykal said.

CHP Deputy Chairman Onur Oymen said Obama’s messages during his speech
in Parliament were not beyond expectations. "It’s important that he
dwelled on democracy, secularism and close cooperation between Turkey
and the US. … His remarks, however, on the cooperation between the
two countries in Afghanistan brings up the problem that the US has
high hopes for Turkey," Oymen noted.

He also said the CHP was pleased to see that Obama is likely to pursue
a different policy from that of the Bush administration.

Democratic Left Party (DSP) Ä°stanbul deputy Ahmet Tan stressed that
Obama brought a new series of responsibilities to Turkey during his
visit. "Obama imposed new responsibilities on the government and won
back the hearts of opposition parties. In an approach different from
the Bush administration, Obama is trying to implement its policies
in the Middle East with the support of Turkey," he added.

NOT THE FIRST TIME

A1+
06:53 pm | April 09, 2009

Society

Armenian presses made a condemning statement today:

"On the night of April 8, 2009, "A1+" journalist David Jalalyan
underwent beatings by the police while he was on the job. David
Jalalyan received first aid and was transferred to the hospital by
an ambulance. Doctors said that his life is not in danger, but that
he must stay under their supervision for a while.

This is not the first time that law-enforcement officers illegally
keep journalists from doing their job without being sure that they
will not be punished.

We the presses condemn the disproportionate actions taken by the police
towards journalists fulfilling their duty as professionals and demand
the administration of the RA Police to assign an investigation and
bring those responsible to justice" as stated in the statement signed
by the Committee on Defense of Freedom of Speech, the Yerevan Press
Club, mass media outlets such as "Internews" NGO, the Pluralistic
Media Institute-Armenia, and the Journalists’ "Asbarez" Club.

ONLINE SIGNATURE CAMPAIGN AGAINST OPENING OF TURKEY-ARMENIA BORDER LAUNCHED

State Telegraph Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan
April 8, 2009 Wednesday

The online signature gathering campaign against opening of
Turkey-Armenia border has started.

The results of the campaign launched at
will be presented to
the Turkish officials.

TORSARKISSIAN SAYS PRIORITY TO BE GIVEN TO MOST POPULAR CANDIDATE IN HIS SECT

NowLebanon
April 8 2009
Lebanon

Future Movement MP Serge Torsarkissian said in an interview with
al-Balad daily on Wednesday that he was open to all solutions that
furthered the interest and strengthened the unity of the March 14
alliance. "Priority should be given to the person who represents
his sect the most, rather than the candidate exported for electoral
needs. These are general rules," he said.

Torsarkissian said that his candidacy was approved by the Armenian
Catholic Patriarchy, adding that he had priority to run in the
elections for the Armenian Catholic parliamentary seat in the Beirut
I district, "because I am a well-known face in Rmeil, Saifi and
Achrafieh, [and I am also known for] my ideas and experience with
the residents."

The MP also said he had strong relations with Lebanese Forces
supporters. "Perhaps this strong relation made me and those whom
I represent surprised," he said referring to the LF nomination of
Richard Kouyoumjian in his district. Torsarkissian refused to comment
on the communications between LF and the Future Movement over his
parliamentary seat.

PRESS RELEASE
From: Mira Yardemian
Public Relations Director
Haigazian University
Mexique Street, Kantari, Beirut
P.O.Box. 11-1748
Riad El Solh 1107 2090
Tel: 01-353010/1/2
01-349230/1

Micheline Aharonian Marcom on "Imagining the Armenian Genocide" and
"Diaspora Thinking"

Beirut, April 8, 2009- On March 30 and 31, 2009, Micheline Aharonian
Marcom, a Creative Writing professor at Mills College, California,
delivered two public lectures entitled "Imagining the Armenian
Genocide", and "Diaspora Thinking", in the Haigazian University
Auditorium.

Marcom, who was an American J. William Fulbright specialist at Haigazian
University for two weeks, with the kind services and cooperation of the
Embassy of the USA in Beirut, was introduced on the first day to the
audience by Mrs. Mira Yardemian, the Public Relations Director.

Yardemian talked briefly about Marcom’s childhood, as a young girl
growing up in San Francisco, hearing Arabic, French and Armenian;
languages that were both fascinating and frustrating at the same time.

Marcom began her first presentation "Imagining the Armenian Genocide",
by explaining how from her study of languages and literature, she found
a key to her family’ s story, and her own, which gave fruition to a
trilogy of books about the Armenian Genocide and its aftermath in the
twentieth century.

Marcom read 3 passages from her book "Three Apples Fell from Heaven",
the first of the trilogy, which was a New York Times Notable Book and
Runner-Up for the PEN/Hemingway Award for First Fiction. The selections
introduced many characters, women, elderly, and children, portraying
their sufferings and tortures during the Armenian Genocide. All
descriptions were inspired by the stories of Marcom’s grandmother,
herself a survivor of the 1915 genocide.

The second day, Marcom was introduced by Dr. Arda Elkmekji, Dean of the
Faculty of Arts and Sciences, who appreciated the hard work of the
author in writing her memoirs, as a source of inspiration.

Marcom discussed "Diaspora Thinking", by reading passages from her
second book of the trilogy, the "Daydreaming Boy", which won the PEN/USA
Award for Fiction.

Marcom introduced the main character, Vahe, a young orphan in the "Birds
Nest" Orphanage, in Jbeil, Lebanon. Marcom presents Vahe, and his
constant search for identity, describing his experiences, lifestyle,
emotions and sufferings.

RA PRIME MINISTER TIGRAN SARGSYAN RECEIVED A MISSION FROM THE WORLD BANK’S DEVELOPMENT POLICY LENDING PROGRAM DESIGN DIVISION, HEADED BY SENIOR ECONOMIST FOR ARMENIA ROBERT TALIERZO.

PUBLIC RADIO OF ARMENIA

Tuesd ay, 7 April 2009

Robert Talierzo thanked the Armenian Prime Minister and the Government
for cooperation by noting that the mission has conducted fruitful
discussions with the local ministries and agencies concerned.

Mr. Talierzo informed Tigran Sargsyan on the status of the 3-year
country support lending program development activities currently
underway at the World Bank. He noted that the mission has already
discussed this year’s lending program with corresponding Armenian
agencies. The 2010-2011 programs were said to have been left for
discussion during a next mission scheduled for the last decade of
this month.

The Prime Minister was further briefed on the mission’s recommendations
regarding such action as may need taking in anticipation of
the first lending program which was said to have an anti-crisis
bias. Mr. Talierzo stressed the need for earmarking additional funds
to the social sector first of all. The mission head appreciated the
steps so far taken by the Government, including the set of legislative
initiatives providing for increased small and medium-size enterprise
support, improved business environment etc. Prime Minister Tigran
Sargsyan concurred with Mr. Talierzo.

The pa rties have agreed in that the package of proposed action will
be finalized once the Government of Armenia, the World Bank and the
IMF come to an agreement on Armenia’s macroeconomic forecasts. Prime
Minister Tigran Sargsyan accepted the proposal on establishing a task
force to formulate more accurate macroeconomic forecasts and develop
a number of scenarios.

Robert Talierzo said the Bank is prepared to support Armenia and
as soon as the preliminaries for this year’s program are finalized,
the mutually agreed document will be submitted to the World Bank’s
Board of Directors for consideration.

TURKISH FOREIGN MINISTER OFFICIAL NOTES PROGRESS IN TALKS WITH ARMENIA

Anadolu Agency
April 5 2009
Turkey

Ankara 5 April: A spokesperson for the Turkish Ministry of Foreign
Affairs said on Sunday that the process for the normalization of
relations between Turkey and Armenia was progressing.

Speaking to A.A, Burak Ozugergin, spokesperson for the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, said that Turkey was satisfied with such progress
and its continuation.

"We wish and hope that this will help bring peace and stability in
our region and contribute to the settlement of the Azerbaijan-Armenia
conflict," Ozugergin said.