Author: Dabaghian Diana

CHALDEAN PATRIARCH SEEKS TIES TO MUSLIMS
By Kim Gamel

Associated Press
Tuesday October 30, 2007 9:01 PM

BAGHDAD (AP) – The Chaldean patriarch of Baghdad, recently named
Iraq’s first cardinal, said Tuesday that rising violence has made
life worse for Iraqi Christians since the U.S.-led invasion, but he
is optimistic that "peace will prevail."

Emmanuel III Delly, who will go to the Vatican next month to collect
his cardinal’s red hat, must balance the dangers facing his small
Catholic community with a mission to reach out to Muslims.

The 80-year-old head of the ancient Chaldean Church in Iraq said the
hopes of freedom in the aftermath of Saddam Hussein’s ouster in 2003
have given way to widespread fear.

"We had hoped that the situation would be better. In fact it is
worse," he told The Associated Press during an interview at his
guarded compound in western Baghdad.

"Car bombs, roadside bombs, killings, assassinations. All of these
things were not happening in the past. There was stability and
security."

But Delly, who was one of 23 new cardinals named by Pope Benedict XVI
on Oct. 17, blamed the violence on extremists and said it is his job
to reach out to Muslims and followers of other faiths to promote unity.

"I pray every day to God to enlighten the minds of the officials and
guide them to the road of peace and reconciliation," he said.

Often fiddling with the large silver cross on a chain around his neck,
the Chaldean spiritual leader said he visits leaders from Islam’s
Shiite and Sunni sects during their holy days and they do the same
on Christian holidays. He said he received "hundreds of calls from
Sunnis and Shiites" congratulating him on his promotion to cardinal.

"We all want peace," he said, sitting in an ornate reception room
in a building off a courtyard lined with flower bushes and a statue
of the Virgin Mary in the center. "We should accomplish this with
actions and not only with words."

Delly has been outspoken in the past about the need to protect
Christians, who comprise less than 3 percent of Iraq’s 26 million
population.

In May, he issued a joint statement with Patriarch Mar Dinka IV of the
Catholic Assyrian Church of the East saying Christians in a number of
Iraqi regions faced "blackmail, kidnapping and displacement" at the
hands of Sunni Arab insurgents led by al-Qaida in Iraq. They complained
the government "has kept silent and not taken a firm stance."

But Delly had only a message of unity Tuesday, saying that Iraqis
of all sects have suffered from the chaos and that he is optimistic
security is improving.

"We have been living with our Muslim brothers for 14 generations and
we have common interests with each other," he said. "The danger is
hitting everybody without exception. We pray to God that peace will
prevail and every one of us should work for peace."

The toned down remarks came three days after Delly received a promise
from Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to protect and support Iraq’s
Christian community, which is particularly vulnerable since it has
little political or military clout to defend itself.

Delly, who speaks Arabic, French, Italian, Latin, English and Aramaic,
said the Shiite Muslim prime minister called his promotion to cardinal
"an honor for all Iraqis" and promised to send a government delegation
to Rome for his Nov. 24 ordination.

"He told me he is doing his best to make Iraqis feel comfortable and
live in peace in Iraq. I told him it is our duty to work for peace,"
Delly said.

"We are working for the sake of all Iraqis."

The country’s Christian population was estimated at more than 800,000
before the war – the majority of them Chaldean-Assyrians and Armenians,
with small numbers of Roman Catholics.

They were generally left alone under Saddam’s regime, and many,
including former foreign minister and deputy prime minister Tariq
Aziz, reached the highest levels of power. But after Saddam’s ouster,
Christians became perceived as supporters of the U.S., the Minority
Rights Group says.

Christians were increasingly targeted by the Sunni-led insurgency,
causing tens of thousands to flee, isolating many of those who remained
in barricaded neighborhoods and forcing them to hide their religious
affiliation when venturing out. Up to 50 percent may have left Iraq,
says the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, which
advises the U.S. government.

Attacks on Christians peaked with a coordinated bombing campaign in
the summer of 2004 aimed at Baghdad churches and again last September
after the pope made comments perceived to be anti-Islam.

The German-born pontiff later said that his words about Islam were
misunderstood and that he was sorry Muslims were offended, and he
has recently been calling for dialogue between Christianity and Islam.

Delly, who was born in Tel Kaif, north of the northern city of Mosul,
said Benedict asked him to reach out to Iraq’s Muslims.

"He wants the good of everybody, and he asked me to open dialogues
with our Muslim brothers here. This is his message to the Muslims and
the whole world," Delly said. "We should do our best to make them
understand and to make them feel that we love them and they love
us. This is the real dialogue."

IT IS 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF DAILY ZHAMANAK

Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today

ISTANBUL, OCTOBER 29, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. It is the 100th
anniversary of the publication of the Armenian Daily Zhamanak (Time)
of Turkey on October 28.

The Daily Zhamanak was founded on October 28, 1908 in Constantinople
by Misak and Sargis Gochunian brother. At present, Ara Gochunian is
the editor of the Daily. The All-Armenian Mass Media Association and
the Noyan Tapan News Agency warmly congratulate the personnel of the
Daily Zhamanak (Times) on the occasion of the hundredth anniversary
of the newspaper, wishing it further success and unfailing publication.

The Armenian Library and Museum of America
65 Main Street, Watertown, MA 02742

PRESS RELEASE
Contact: Christie Hardiman
Public Relations & Outreach Coordinator
Phone #: (617) 926-2562 ext. 4
E-mail: [email protected]
Website:

October 29, 2007

NEWS RELEASE –ALMA OFFERS ANSWERS TO WHO ARE THE ARMENIANS?

The Armenian Library and Museum of America (ALMA) is pleased
to present its long-awaited and highly anticipated exhibit "Who are the
Armenians?" which opened on October 1 in conjunction with the visit of
His Holiness, Catholicos Karekin II, to ALMA. This exhibit consists of
extensive photographs and terse text, further illustrated by companion
exhibits of artifacts from ALMA’s collections. In developing "Who are
the Armenians?" ALMA’s major goal was to create an exhibition that would
acquaint people of any ethnic and racial background, not just Armenians,
with the amazing story of the Armenian people. Their story is a saga of
survival despite trials and tribulations that is simultaneously
juxtaposed with their ability to refine cultural achievements under the
most difficult and tenuous of circumstances. Over two years in the
planning, this exhibit, embodies a concise synopsis of the high and low
points of millenniums of Armenian history and culture. It is
illustrated by photos, enhanced by imaginative but authentically
Armenian borders and accentuated by several pertinent quotations of
leading experts and ancient authors.

We, at ALMA, are unaware of any exhibit, past or present,
which with comprehensiveness and brevity, addresses such sweeping
questions as when and how the Armenians originate as a people, and gives
examples of Armenian hospitality and entrepreneurship in the 5th century
BC. Likewise, we cannot find any exhibit that addresses the erudition
of Armenian scholars during the first century, its conversion as the
first nation to adopt Christianity, the invention of its alphabet and
its consequences and the fight for freedom of religion and for monogamy
in the 5th century. This extensive exhibit also covers the major
Armenian involvement in the Byzantine Empire, the Kingdom of Cilician
Armenia and its interaction with the Crusades, conquest by the Turks,
the literary reawakening of the 18th and 19th centuries, the tragedy of
the Genocide, Armenia’s first Republic that allowed women to vote before
women could vote in the United States, the Sovietization of the Republic
and finally, independence again in 1991. There are separate panels, of
equal or greater importance, recounting and illustrating the astounding
cultural achievements of the Armenian people in church architecture,
miniatures, khatchkars, and relief carvings in stone.

"Who are the Armenians?" originated after the late Ann
Nahigian, one of ALMA’s earliest benefactors and a previous Board
Member, gave a generous grant to initiate this concept conceived by Haig
Der Manuelian. Der Manuelian saw through the completion of the exhibit
along with a committee of volunteers consisting of the late Charles
Kenosian, ALMA Trustees Elisabeth Kenosian and Arakel Almasian, and Berj
Chekijian, a member of the staff.

His Holiness Catholicos Karekin II received an exclusive
tour of the exhibit during His visit to ALMA on October 7. Der
Manuelian, Director Mariam Stepanyan and Curators Gary and Susan
Lind-Sinanian guided Him and His entourage through the exhibit,
answering questions and describing the importance of certain artifacts,
such as the Urartian warrior’s belt of the 8th century B.C. and the 18th
century engraved copper tray. His Holiness graciously perused the
exhibit, taking additional time to closely examine the exhibit’s
religious artifacts and texts. His careful eye and fluency in the
Armenian language enabled Him to find an error regarding the date of the
inscribed memorial Kutahya ceramic tile, which has since been corrected.
After privately relishing through the rest of the exhibit, others in
attendance had the opportunity to browse the exhibit.

During invasions, wars, oppression, and tragedies over the
centuries, not only their survival but somehow their concurrent
development and refinement of church architecture, miniatures,
khatchkars and relief carvings is absolutely miraculous. Visit the
exhibit to learn the story of the Armenian people and discover their
remarkable culture.

The Museum’s hours are Thursday 6 pm to 9 pm, Friday and
Sunday 1 pm to 5 pm and Saturday 10 am to 2 pm.

Armenian Library & Museum of America (ALMA)

Founded in 1971, ALMA’s mission is to present and preserve the culture,
history, art and contributions of the Armenian people to Americans and
Armenians alike. Since its inception, ALMA’s collection has grown to
over 26,000 books and 20,000 artifacts, making it perhaps the largest
and most diverse holding of Armenian cultural artifacts outside of
Armenia. As a repository for heirlooms, the collection now represents a
major resource not only for Armenian studies research, but as well as
for preservation and illustration of the Armenian heritage. ALMA is the
largest ethnic museum in New England and the only independent Armenian
Museum in the Diaspora funded solely through contributions of individual
supporters.

Museum and Gallery Hours: Friday and Sunday 1-5 PM, Saturday 10AM-2PM
and Thursday evenings 6-9 PM. Museum Admission: FREE/ALMA members and
for children under 12; $5/ for non-members. For directions and more
information please visit our website , or call
617.926.ALMA (2562).

ANKARA’S COMMENCING ACTIVE MILITARY OPERATIONS IN IRAQ MAY PROVOKE ENTIRE REGION – HEAD OF FEDERATION COUNCIL’S COMMITTEE

TREND News Agency, Azerbaijan
Oct 24 2007

Azerbaijan, Baku / Òrend corr A. Gasimova / Ankara’s commencing
active military operations in Iraq against Kurdish militants may
provoke a regional conflict and propel the involvement of neighbouring
countries. "If Ankara turns to active military operations in Iraq,
that may provoke an inter-state conflict that covers the entire region
and will affect not only Turkey and Iraq, but also neighbouring Syria
and Iran," Mikhail Margelov, the Chairman of the Russian Federation
Council’s Committee on International Affairs, said.

Official Ankara states that at least 3,000 militants of the Kurdish
Worker Party (PPK) are hiding in the hilly area of northern Iraq and
they regularly commit acts of terror in Turkey. On 17 October, Turkish
Parliament approved the inquiry of the Turkish Government headed by
Prime Minister Receb Tayyip Erdogan about holding an intervention
within Iraq, in order to carry out a trans-border military operation
against Kurdish separatists in the north of Iraq.

Ankara’s intensions to solve the problem through military operations
and de-facto intervention of a sovereign country can be only condemned,
Margelov reported from Moscow by phone on 24 October.

"Moreover, as we can see from the war between Lebanon and Israel, such
measures grant only a temporary respite," the political scientists
said. He believes that there is only one way out of the situation
– establishment of a centralized power in Iraq. "A considerable
improvement of the situation at the Iraqi-Turkish border can be
achieved only when a strong centralized power appears in Iraq,
which will be able to put the country under its control. But
unfortunately, neither official Baghdad nor the United States can
give such guarantees."

According to Margelov, Turkey should take another position – to
assist in every way to the new Iraqi authorities to become firmly
established and to begin restoration of its destroyed infrastructure,
security and control systems, instead of further destabilizing the
situation in the country.

At the beginning of August 2007, Turkey and Iraq agreed to jointly
combat Kurdish militants. Ankara repeatedly threatened the Kurds in the
north of Iraq, which is used by the PPK as bridge-head for attacking
targets in the Turkish territory. Several times Ankara sent troops
to the Kurdish regions in northern Iraq.

Turkey’s preparations for a military campaign against Kurds alarmed
international society, raising fears of the threat of a new regional
conflict when the situation in the Middle East is already strained.

The EU and the United States have already called on Turkey to refrain
from violence and to solve the issue through cooperation with Iraqi
authorities. Meanwhile, the dialogue between Washington and Ankara
on the issue is becoming complicated, as the US Congress is still
considering the resolution that recognizes the mass slaughter of
Armenians by Ottoman Turks at the beginning of the 20th century as
Armenian genocide.

–Boundary_(ID_x33PvSESze4IFSNhN0M7Bw)- –

INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY’S FAILURE TO PROPERLY REACT TO GENOCIDE ENTAILED GRAVE CONSEQUENCES

PanARMENIAN.Net
23.10.2007 17:53 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Currently in Yerevan, Lieutenant General Dimitrios
Grapsas, the Chief of the Hellenic Army General Staff (HAGS), joined
thousands of Armenians condemning the Armenian Genocide.

"I am hopeful that such a tragedy will never repeat.

International community’s failure to properly react to Genocide
entailed grave consequences," Lieut. Gen.

Grapsas said after attending the Museum-Institute of Armenian Genocide.

He gave a high estimation to activities of Armenian peacekeepers
within Greek battalion in Kosovo, Novosti Armenia reports.

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE BLACK SEA SYNERGY STARTS IN ODESA

The National Radio Company of Ukraine
22-10-2007 18:51

Leading international experts and politicians from Ukraine, Poland,
Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Belgium, Romania, Denmark, Armenia
and Georgia are discussing topical problems of the development of
the Black Sea region and cooperation of the region’s countries.

The participants in the conference will focus on energy, transport,
environment, combating organized crime and support of democratic
transformations. As Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Andriy Veselovsky
noted, the Black Sea synergy has two purposes: to improve cooperation
among the countries of the region and to strengthen cooperation with
the European Union. Andriy Veselovsky stressed on the need to air an EU
membership perspective of Ukraine on the part of the EU, as is known,
the neighborhood policy doesn’t provide for the membership.

ROARING AHEAD: HOW HAS ARMENIA MANAGED TO SLASH ITS POVERTY RATE AND BECOME A MODEL FOR OTHER DEVELOPING NATIONS?
by S. Adam Cardais

Transitions Online, Czech Republic
Oct 23 2007

To appreciate just how far Armenia has come in the last 15 years,
it helps to imagine yourself living through an Armenian winter in
the early 1990s.

It’s the middle of January, it’s five degrees below zero, and you
and your family have only two hours of electricity a day – such was
the abysmal state of the energy sector in a country crippled by the
dissolution of the Soviet Union, a traumatic earthquake in 1988,
and war with neighboring Azerbaijan.

But Armenia has been "radically transformed," in the words of one
World Bank official, since its independence from the former Soviet
Union. Today, the average Armenian has electricity around the clock.

An influx of cash and a series of reforms have taken Armenia from
economic basket case, with GDP plummeting 50 percent between 1990
and 1993, to "Caucasian tiger," to quote a World Bank report issued
earlier this year. It has become a model transition economy that
should continue prospering with a second wave of reforms.

GDP has increased more than 10 percent a year for a decade largely
thanks to robust investment in a booming construction industry by the
Armenian diaspora in Europe and the United States. Sharp growth in the
services sector, including the financial sphere, and retail trade are
also contributors, according to the European Bank for Reconstruction
and Development.

"Given the fact that it doesn’t have natural resources, its growth is
quite impressive," says Heike Harmgart, country economist for Armenia
at the EBRD.

And the most laudable aspect of that growth, World Bank economist
Aristomene Varoudakis says, is "that macroeconomic stability has
been preserved. Inflation has remained low," between 3 percent and
4 percent. Last year was an exception to this trend, with inflation
climbing to 5.6 percent, but the International Monetary Fund forecasts
a fall to 4 percent in 2007.

REFORMS REAP REWARDS

This fiscal discipline is an indication the government has backed
up the bountiful diaspora remittances, which are more good fortune
than anything else, with sound policy. Indeed, remittances alone
don’t make Armenia a model transition economy. A series of early,
sustained governmental reforms enabled the country to capitalize on
the cash inflow.

For instance, the government eliminated wage controls and privatized
the majority of land and small businesses in the mid 1990s to encourage
investment in construction and other sectors. The central bank has
also been a key reformer, streamlining its operations and improving
supervision over the banking industry to spur a dynamic financial
services sector in a short period.

More recently, a new credit bureau to bolster small business lending
and a modernized bankruptcy law have further improved the investment
climate, two reasons Armenia ranks 39th out of 178 economies in the
World Bank’s "Doing Business 2008" report.

On all of these reforms, Armenia has been wise to cooperate closely
with international institutions such as The World Bank and the IMF.

"The Armenian government has been listening to institutions very well,
which is positive," Harmgart says. "The government has always been
open minded."

It would be hard to overstate the benefit this economic revolution
has brought the population. According to the World Bank report, the
poverty rate has fallen from more than 55 percent in the early 1990s
to 30 percent. Extreme poverty had dropped to 5 percent two years ago.

GENTRIFYING NEIGHBORHOOD

The good news for the region is that Armenia’s prosperity isn’t
unique. Georgia’s economy is growing at just under 10 percent and is
one of the leading reformers in the world, at No. 18 on the "Doing
Business 2008" report. Azerbaijan posted a whopping 34.5 percent GDP
growth in 2006 thanks to its thriving oil industry.

As in these countries, though, there’s still a lot of progress to
be made in Armenia. Tax evasion remains rampant. It’s extremely
costly for an individual or business to file taxes, and tax revenues
are only 15 percent of GDP, one of the lowest rates in the region,
resulting in less money for strengthening the economy or fighting
poverty through spending on education or health care.

The government is trying to increase tax compliance by introducing
a system that allows payers to submit their returns by post or
electronically, publishing a list of the country’s largest contributors
in a sort of ego-driven motivator, and opening specialized collections
units, but more progress is needed.

Corruption, though becoming less pronounced, is also a major concern,
as is Armenia’s over-reliance on the construction industry. Though
analysts predict Armenia will sustain double-digit growth in the short
and medium term, it has to begin diversifying its economy by making
trade more dynamic and attracting new knowledge-based investments,
such as IT companies.

Reforms in corporate transparency, competition, and education will be
central to realizing this goal, but "these are more complex reforms
than the first round," Varoudakis points out.

Armenia has without a doubt taken great strides, but nothing highlights
progress like starting from nothing. If the country wants to remain a
"Caucasian tiger," it had better prioritize these difficult reforms
now.

These will take a lot longer than turning on the power.

S. Adam Cardais, a former business editor at The Prague Post, is a
freelance journalist based in Berlin.

National Observer – Australia and World Affairs
December 22, 2007

Europe’s Turkish Conundrum.

by Poprzeczny, Joseph
Pg. 51(6) No. 73 ISSN: 1442-5548

Is the 71-million-strong, nominally secular, Turkish state suited to
become a fully-fledged member of the European Union (EU)? That is a
question which increasing numbers of European politicians and voters
are asking themselves and will continue to ask over coming years,
with many already concluding in the negative.

And this despite Turkey having been a NATO member since 1952, ongoing
commercial ties with the EU and its predecessor, the European Common
Market (ECM), plus a sizeable Turkish minority living within the EU’s
borders, especially Germany’s, since the 1960s. Not widely knownis
that Turkey was the first country outside the ECM’s six foundation
members to seek membership in 1960. When it realized this would
nothappen, it gained associate status in 1963, following Israel.

It is perhaps also worth recalling that when Turkey was at the centre
of the powerful Ottoman Empire, its formidable armies besieged Vienna
twice–in 1529 and 1683–first under Sultan Suleiman I (the
magnificent) and then under Grand Vizier Merzifonlu Kara Mustafa
Pasha. The intention, in 1683 at least, was to establish an Islamic
fiefdom that stretched across central Europe–the lands of
present-day Austriaand Bavaria.

If the Hussars of Poland’s King Jan III Sobieski (1629-1696) hadn’t
arrived in the nick of time to help rout the Ottomans outside
Vienna’s walls, Europe would now be Islamised in part or in whole
from theAtlantic to the Polish-Russian border, and resemble, on a
larger scale, multi-ethnic present-day Bosnia-Herzegovina, with
Muslims in the majority. Instead, Austria’s Habsburgs, through the
military genius of French-born Prince Eugene of Savoy (1663-1736),
who fought with Sobieski outside besieged Vienna, steadily rolled
back the 200year Ottoman advance into the heart of Europe, southwards
towards Belgrade.

Thereafter, Austria’s Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa (1717-1780)and
her son Joseph II (1714-1790) fostered costly ongoing colonisation
programmes to re-Europeanise or re-Christianise Hungarian and
northern Balkan lands which were largely depopulated and Islamised,
as Spain had been until the late fifteenth century. It was only in
the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries that Turkey was finally
forced out of all of Greece, the spiritual home of Western art,
literature and philosophy, and out of neighbouring lands which it had
held for centuries.

The EU’s final decision on Turkey, whether for full membership or a
special status, which may involve referendums in all member
states,therefore promises to be a truly historic one since it could
be viewed as an accommodation of two earlier Turkish attempts to
enter Europe, even if under markedly different terms and
circumstances. Althoughthere is nothing happening in Turkey today to
suggest the likelihoodof anything resembling the 1529 and 1683
attempted entries into Europe, there are nevertheless a range of
disturbing features that make Europeans uneasy.

TENSIONS IN MODERN TURKEY

In highlighting some of these it must be stressed that Turkey
conducted a national election on 25 July that received widespread
acclamation from unbiased observers. Even so, it would be myopic to
ignore several other proclivities within modern Turkish society,
especially its political landscape. The first is that the majority
party that forms Turkey’s new government is the Islamic-rooted
Justice and Development Party (AKP), which strengthened its hold on
the parliament. The AKP–a 17-group coalition–is headed by
Istanbul’s former mayor, long-time Islamist Recep Tayyib Erdogan,
whose family is descended from Georgian immigrants. (Interestingly,
the iconic Kemal Ataturk, who stamped secularism upon Turkey in the
1920s and earlier had commanded a division against the ANZACS at
Gallipoli, was born in Greece.)

Erdogan set about remoulding the AKP into a broadly-based,
centre-right entity that is ostensibly seeking EU membership. He has
argued that Turkey’s established secularist parties had failed to
manage theeconomy effectively, especially during the crises of the
late 1990s and early 2000s. In July, the AKP boosted its vote from 34
to 47 per cent with a voter turnout of 81 per cent, up from 79 per
cent in 2003. Most attribute this success as due to Erdogan’s
competent economic management record, which followed precepts laid
down by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The next-largest party, the People’s Republic Party (CHP), which
seeks to preserve a secular or European-style Turkey, won 112 seats,
or just over 20 per cent. After that, with 70-seats, came the
ultra-nationalist National Action Party (MHP), which strongly opposes
Turkey’s entry into the EU. According to Middle East expert Amir
Tahiri:

"Instead, it preaches a milder version of the classical
pan-Turkism–the idea that Turkic nations should unite under Ankara’s
leadership and create a new ‘superpower’. The pan-Turkists believe
that Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and
Chinese Turkestan (Xinjiang) should join Turkey to create the ‘broad
Turkic space’ that would also include Finland and Hungary, two
European nationsthat they regard as of Turkish origin. The ‘broad
Turkic space’ could also be extended to northern Iraq, where a few
hundred thousand Turkmen live, and northwest Iran that is home to
some 15 million Azeri speakers. In a sense, the surprise return of
the pan-Turkists is a reaction to fears that the AKP is harboring
pan-Islamist ambitions."

The MHP’s nationalism is therefore based on a quasi-historical
fantasy that claims common Turkish ancestry for a disunited but
raciallyhomogeneous set of peoples living in a diverse number of
countries, two of which are EU members. One of the party’s
ideological tracts reads:

"Turks, do not have any friend or ally other than other Turks. Turks!
Turn to your roots. Our words are to those that have Turkish ancestry
and are Turks…. Those that have torn down this nation [referring to
the Ottoman Empire] are Greek, Armenian and Jew traitors, and
Kurdish, Bosnian and Albanians…. How can you, as a Turk, tolerate
these dirty minorities? Remove, from within, the Armenians and Kurds
and all Turkish enemies."

As well as such revanchistes, Turkey’s new parliament now has 27
Kurdish politicians who won as independents, signalling that Ankara
also faces a continued Kurdish nationalism on top of a racially-based
Turkic nationalism. Also worth noting is the fact that all this
occurred in the context of an expanding economy, the only one in the
Islamic world that is generating jobs–so much so that Turks have
virtuallyceased seeking employment in Europe and oil-rich Middle
Eastern states.

SECULARISM AND ISLAMISM

Although the 2007 election was the first in Turkish political history
in which an incumbent prime minister and his party were re-elected,
standing over Erdogan is the military, the ultimate protector of the
1920s transforming revolution that Ataturk led in order to infuse
secularism into a hardly willing Islamic nation–though even the
officer class presumably harbours quite a few members who silently
favourErdogan.

Just as one swallow does not make a spring, one democratic election
has not transformed Turkey into an ongoing democracy. Any bid to
further Islamise Turkey must inevitably confront both the
pan-Turkists on the right, militant atheists on the far left,
secularists across the middle, and the military overseeing all.
Moreover, if Erdogan misjudges his Kurdish problem, he’ll find
himself confronting not just 27Kurdish parliamentarians (who on
entering parliament swore their oath in Kurdish, causing much upset
amongst the Turkic majority), but also the long-time rebellious and
battle-hardened separatist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which is
not averse to terrorist tactics. Thus,below the surface of
institutions such as a parliament, beyond the control of the
governing majority, outside the democratic framework ofparliamentary
elections, and underneath the expanding economy, an array of
turbulent and contradictory currents flow.

Could, or more pertinently, should, Europe be expected to accommodate
all or even some of these?

SUSPICIONS ABOUT AKP’S INTENTIONS

Overriding these uniquely Turkish problems is the full gamut of the
Islamisation question, in other words, the stances being taken by the
AKP on one side and the CHP, plus the military, on the other. The
crucial point, which Erdogan’s AKP coalitionists no doubt realise,
isthat, even though they attracted 47 per cent of the vote, the
majority–53 per cent–of Turks voted otherwise, including for some
ardent anti-Islamic political entities. And amongst the leadership of
those representing that other Turkey–the 53 per cent–great
suspicion about the AKP prevails.

The AKP is seen as a party that has embarked on a transformationist
path, and many of those in its 17 groups are perceived by its enemies
as wishing slowly to remove the secularist or Kemalist facets
thathave been adopted over the past 80 years. Put bluntly, the AKP is
seen, rightly or wrongly, as a purposive party that is secretly
seekingto restore the Caliphate so as to transform Turkey into a
second, but rival Sunni, not Shiite, Iran. If the frequently voiced
suspicions (admittedly self-serving) of those who head up the 53 per
cent of Turks opposed to Erdogan are correct, then Turkey’s destiny
will certainly fall well short of the kind of state that would
qualify for EU membership.

The AKP is suspected by its enemies of having embarked on what
hasbeen described as a "slow or silent purge" of Turkish
institutions, with Islamists taking control of all the "commanding
heights". The fact that July’s election was sparked by the AKP
attempt to elevate itsforeign minister, Abdullah Gul, to the
presidency is significant. MrGul’s nomination not only triggered a
political crisis but also a warning from the military that it could
intervene. Secularists rejectedGul’s bid to gain the presidency
because of his career in the pro-Islamist Welfare Party and the fact
that his wife, like Erdogan’s wife,wears the headscarf–an extremely
divisive symbol in Turkey.

But that is just the tip of what secularists believe is a far larger
Islamic iceberg that is threatening the nation. The AKP’s
supposed"transformationism" is seen as being embedded in covert or
highly conspiratorial politics. Taheri put it as follows:

"There is plenty of evidence that the party is engaged in a
silentpurge of its political opponents, and placing its cadres in
control of the machinery of state and the state-controlled public
sector of the economy. Over the past four years, many judges of
secularist persuasion have been pushed into retirement, or demoted,
and replaced by AKP sympathizers. A slow purge has also hit the
nation’s educational apparatus, with an unknown number of those "not
Islamic enough" replaced by individuals close to the party. A similar
change of personnel has been taking place within the armed forces
that have always acted as guarantors of the secular republic. As far
as appointments to key posts in the public sector of the economy are
concerned, the AKP has gone beyond the limits of normal grace and
favour or even straight nepotistic politics."

The AKP’s bosses have been acting like the nomenclatura of the
Chinese Communist Party that has promoted a "privatised" economy by
frequently favouring relatives and friends to man the new class of
capitalists. Such crony-capitalism, which helps enrich the party in
campaigning and propaganda, alongside family members and ideological
pals, is common to both. "The joke in Ankara is that while the IMF
sets the policies that produce prosperity in Turkey, it is the AKP
that distributes the fruits," Taheri says.

TURKEY’S FUTURE

Turkey has, after nearly half a century of close association with
Europe and Western institutions, such as the IMF, NATO, and the
WorldBank, been greatly helped to elevate itself towards what Ataturk
andhis heirs, particularly those within the military, sought. It is
up to the AKP to continue along that path if it is really seeking
modernity, and all that that means.

However, if the "transformationism" its enemies perceive is
reallythere strongly beneath all the disclaimers, if the party has
really set out to construct something that has more in common with,
say, Tehran, than Europe, then unanimity will inevitably emerge
across European electorates in the view that the Erdogan-created
Turkey has no place in the EU. Time will tell.

Meanwhile the question remains: does Erdogan and do those heading the
AKP’s 17-segment coalition aspire to something resembling what
Ataturk’s heirs and over half the electorate desire, or do they
secretly wish to associate themselves far more with the ideological
aspirations, though of course not the same military aims and methods,
that marked the reigns of Suleiman I and Mustafa Pasha?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

JOSEPH POPRZECZNY is a Perth-based freelance journalist and
historical researcher. He is author of Odilo Globocnik, Hitler’s Man
in theEast (2004).

ARMENPRESS

ARMENIAN GIRLS WIN U.N. STAMP PICTURE CONTEST

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 19, ARMENPRESS: A picture by an
Armenian girl will be depicted on UN postal stamps.
Mariam Marukian, a 13 year-old girl from Armenia, won
a UN competition called `We Can Eradicate Poverty’.
The competition was handled in Armenia by the UN
Information Department and the Armenian UN
Association.
The UN contest was held in some 60 countries and
12,000 children sent their pictures, including 475
pictures from Armenia.
Ten of Armenian children’s pictures were included
among best 100 works. Second and third prizes were
also won by Armenian children, Anahit Martirosian and
Lusine Nersisian and Ellada Khachatrian, while six
others were awarded encouraging prizes. Among the
winners are also children form China, Indonesia and
Zimbabwe.
Mariam Marukian flew to New York with the
assistance of the Armenian Church for the award
ceremony at the UN headquarters.

BUSH ADMINISTRATION HOPEFUL OF NO VOTE ON ARMENIA GENOCIDE BILL

EUX.TV, Netherlands
Oct 19 2007

Washington (dpa) – US President George W Bush’s administration has
become more hopeful that a congressional resolution condemning the
deaths of more than 1 million Armenians as genocide will not come to
a vote.

The measure, passed by the House Foreign Affairs Committee last week
despite strong opposition from the Bush administration, has angered
Turkey, a close NATO ally who has warned full passage could badly
damage US-Turkey relations.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi backed the measure and intended to bring
it to a full House vote, but said Wednesday it "remains to be seen" if
a vote will actually take place following a steady erosion of support.

US State Department deputy spokesman Tom Casey said Pelosi’s remarks
"gives us some reason for hope that perhaps this legislation might not,
in fact, come to the floor."

"We’re going to continue to encourage members to vote against
this resolution when and if it does, in fact, come up for a vote,"
Casey said.

Bush, while acknowledging the tragedy of the deaths of up to 1.5
million Armenians from 1915 to 1923, has warned Congress against
passing the resolution because it could jeopardize the use of Turkey
as a transit for military equipment and supplies into Iraq.

Turkey ordered its ambassador to Washington, Nabi Sensoy, to return
home after the committee vote last week and warned of further steps.

The resolution came as the Bush administration has sought to persuade
Turkey against sending its military into northern Iraq to attack
Kurdish separatists, who have launched attacks in recent weeks on
Turkish soil. Washington fears an incursion could destabilize one
of Iraq’s most secure regions. The Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK)
is regarded by the US as a terrorist organization.

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