Author: Emil Lazarian

FIRST GROUP OF ADVENTURE TOURISTS TO VISIT ARMENIA IN SEPTEMBER 2007

YEREVAN, JANUARY 19, NOYAN TAPAN. A visit of the first group of
adventure tourists to Armenia is envisaged in September 2007. NT
correspondent was informed about it from Armine Israelian, coordinator
of tourism clusters of the USAID Competitive Armenian Private Sector
(CAPS) Program.

She said that adventure tourism expert Roger William came to Armenia
last summer within the framework of the Adventure Tourism Tour Product
Development Program. Tour packages developed as a result of his
studies have already been approved by 6 US tourism companies.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ALEXANDER ISKANDARIAN: HRANT DINK WAS ASSASSINED BECAUSE HE WAS AN
ARMENIAN

YEREVAN, JANUARY 20, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. Hrant Dink was
assassined because he was an Armenian. Alexander Iskandarian, Director
of Caucasian Media Institute, expressed this opinion at the Urbat Club
on January 20. In his words, the image of Hrant Dink was the
embodiment of Armenian-Turkish relations from the viewpoint of not so
much relations between Armenia and Turkey as relations of Turks and
Armenians. And his assassination is symbolic in this sense.

According to Iskandarian, Dink was a very courageous man capable of
swimming against the flow both in Armenian and Turkish environment. He
had his own convictions and was ready to protect them, and even his
death showed what kind of reality is now in Turkey. Iskanadarian
noted that Dink knew that he would be killed sooner or later and he
repeatedly said this in private talks.

In Iskandarian’s words, when he became acquainted with Dink in the mid
1990s in Istanbul, the latter had no passport and the opportunity to
go from Turkey to some other country. Dink told him that he had never
been abroad, but when the interlocutor asked him if he had been to
Armenia, Dink got angry: he considered Malatia, Van, Erzrum, Kars (NT:
these are Western Armenian cities currently in the territory of
Turkey) as Armenia. A. Iskandarian said that Hrant Dink considered
Turkey as his country, an Armenian land where his ancestors lived and
where the crime against his nation was committed. "He struggled not
against Turkey but for making this country a better place,"
A. Iskandarian stated.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

MURDER OF HRANT DINK TO INCANDESCE DOMESTIC POLITICAL SITUATION IN TURKEY:
HEAD OF TURKISH DEPARTMENT OF ARMENIAN NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

Yerevan, January 20. ArmInfo. The Jan 19 murder of Armenian journalist
Hrant Dink in Istanbul will incandesce the domestic political
situation in Turkey, Candidate of History Rouben Safrastyan, the head
of the Turkish Department of the Oriental Studies Institute of the
Armenian National Academy of Sciences, said at the Yerevan,

According to him, elections will be held in Turkey in May 2007, and at
the moment, contending for the presidential post are present Turkish
president Ahmed Cezer, a representative of the so-called Kemalist or
pro-European direction, on the one hand, and advocates of the
pro-Islamic direction of the country led by Prime Minister Recep
Erdogan, on the other hand. However, one shouldn’t forget that at the
same time, there is also a group of high ranking officials who prefer
to remain in the shadow and solve important state problems by means of
extremist groupings like the terrorist organization. Probably, these
people ordered and performed the murder of Hrant Dink to show that the
true Turkey is not the central blocks of houses in Istanbul but the
rest of Turkey’s territory with the pro-Islamic population,
R.Safrastyan considers. He also noted that this crime will put off the
illusive prospect of unblocking the Armenian-Turkish border. Hrant
Dink really believed that one could change Turkey from within, but his
death showed once again how far Turkey is from democracy and freedom
of speech, the expert noted.

Political Scientist Alexander Iskandaryan, the director of the
Institute of the Caucasian Mass Media, also said that one should
distinguish Istanbul from the rest of Turkey. The population of the
central blocks of Istanbul striving for Europe organized a protest
rally in connection with the murder of Hrant Dink, but 20 km far from
Istanbul you find yourself in a quite different Turkey, whose
population really doesn’t understand the reason of the protest rally
on some Armenian’s death, A.Iskandaryan noted. As regards the
Armenian-Turkish relations after the Jan 19 murder, nothing special
will happen.

A.Iskandaryan considers that those who were against improving
Armenian-Turkish relations will not take a different view, and those
who came out for normalizing the relations, will consider that nothing
special has happened as murders are committed in many countries of the
world.

At the same time, both participants of the press-conference agreed
that one needn’t look for some third countries behind the murder of
Hrant Dink, as it is the consequence of the present domestic political
situation in Turkey.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Canadian Armenians condole with Hrant Dink’s family

ArmRadio.am
20.01.2007 12:30

Hrant Dink, our compatriot and well-known editor and publisher of the
Turkish-Armenian newspaper "Agos", was brutally shot dead in Istanbul.

The Congress of Canadian Armenians condemns this act of terrorism by
Turkish extremists, and joins Armenians around the world in offering
our sincere condolences to Mr. Dink’s family. He fought fervidly for
democracy, human rights and freedom of speech in Turkey.

In a communique issued earlier today to the 10 largest English and
French language newspapers across the country, Taro Alepian, Chairman
of the Congress of Canadian Armenians, said:

"Mr. Dink was a responsible voice in Turkey. He had called on the
Turkish government to recognize that genocide was perpetrated on
Armenians by a predecessor regime in 1915, so that modern Turks can
then disassociate themselves from the sins of their ancestors and
finally bury this unfortunate event in the pages of history where it
rightly belongs. The tragedy of his assassination is strongly
condemned. This unfortunate event should now be transformed into an
opportunity for reconciliation between the people of Turkey and
Armenians around the world. The extremists who killed him should not
have the final say."

The member organizations of the Congress of Canadian Armenians include
(in alphabetical order): AGBU Alex Manoogian School, AGBU Montreal
Chapter, Armenian Democratic Liberal Party, Holy Cross Church of
Laval, St. Gregory the Illuminator Church of Montreal, S.D. Hunchakian
Party, Society of Armenians from Istanbul, Tekeyan Cultural
Association. The statement in this e-mail is also endorsed by AGBU of
Toronto and Holy Trinity Church of Toronto.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PanARMENIAN.Net

Memorial Event To Take Place In Yerevan Today
20.01.2007 17:21 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Tonight at 19:30 PM there will be a candlelight
vigil to mark the death of Hrant Dink, the gathering will be held at
Charles Aznavur Square across from Moscow cinema, told member of
initiative group, AIPRG (Armenian International Police Research Group)
expert Richard Giragosian the PanARMENIAN.Net correspondent. `Please
come with candles and bring your friends,’ said R. Giragosian.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PanARMENIAN.Net

CoE Secretary General Condemned Hrant Dink’s Assassination
20.01.2007 16:11 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ CoE Secretary General Terry Davis condemned Hrant
Dink’s assassination. `I am profoundly shocked and saddened by the
murder of journalist and writer Hrant Dink. I join Prime Minister
Erdoghan in condemnation of this heinous crime and commend his pledge
to bring the perpetrators to justice,’ said Terry Davis. In his words,
Hrant Dink had the courage to write about a painful period in the
history of both Turkey and the whole region. `His works were always
written in a sincere spirit of reconciliation. It is important that
citizens in every country have the right to discuss freely their
national history. I offer my deepest sympathy to the family, friends
and colleagues of Hrant Dink,’ Terry Davis underlines, the CoE Press
Office reports.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PanARMENIAN.Net

Turkish Government Members to be Present At Hrant Dink’s Funeral
20.01.2007 16:26 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Turkish Government Members will be present at the
funeral of Hrant Dink, stated Turkish Prime Minister Rejep Tayyep
Erdoghan. He expressed his condolences to the family and friends of
the journalist and promised to find the murderers. `We must
investigate all aspects of this crime,’ Erdoghan stressed.

Editor-in-Chief of bilingual Armenian-Turkish `Agos’ weekly Hrant Dink
was shot dead near his editorial office in the center of Istanbul
yesterday. Turkish police has arrested 8 suspects for Dink’s
assassination. Armenia, U.S.A., Germany, Council of Europe, OSCE and
Armenian Diaspora worldwide have condemned Hrant Dink’s assassination.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PanARMENIAN.Net

Fixed Cameras the Possible Murderer of Hrant Dink?
20.01.2007 16:36 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ A video grab released by Turkish police on January
20, 2007, shows a suspect who is wanted for killing of bilingual
`Agos’ weekly editor Hrant Dink, Reuters reports. The police has
already detained 8 suspects over this case.

Hrant Dink, editor-in-chief of bilingual Armenian-Turkish `Agos’
weekly, was shot dead near his office in Istanbul yesterday. Armenia,
U.S.A., Germany, European Union, Council of Europe, OSCE and Armenian
Diaspora worldwide have condemned this crime.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Hindustan Times, India
January 19, 2007 Friday 12:47 PM EST

Stallone may bring 1915’s Armenian genocide on silver screen

Washington, Jan 19 — Hollywood’s tough guy Sylvester Stallone is set
to helm a film based on the controversial book ‘The Forty Days of
Musa Dagh’, which describes the alleged Turkish massacre of the
Armenian community in 1915.

Authored by Franz Werfel, the publication of this book had raised a
huge controversy in Turkey, which never accepted it wholly to be a
historical fact.

Stallone’s plans to make a film adaptation of the book has also
raised a controversy, and the ‘Association On Struggle Against
Armenian Genocide Acknowledgement’ is urging him not to go ahead with
his decision.

"The book is full of lies, since the author got his information from
nationalist and radical Armenians. We have already sent necessary
documents about the mentioned days to the producer of the film. Our
allies will urge the producer not to produce the film," Contactmusic
quoted Chairman Savas Egilmez fumes as saying.

Stallone says that the flick will be "an epic about the complete
destruction of a civilisation. (But) talk about a political hot
potato. The Turks have been killing that subject for 85 years."

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

The Times Higher Education Supplement
January 19, 2007

Defiant French scholar to turn Turk

by Vera Rich

French historian and writer Jean Michel Thibaux has applied for
Turkish citizenship in protest at the French law making it illegal to
deny the "genocide" of the Armenians by the Turks in 1915-17.

Armenians claim that up to a million people perished during their
forced "relocation" to the desert. Mr Thibaux, however, asserts that
his extensive research into Ottoman, French and Russian archives
proves there was no genocide.

The Turks have always claimed that the deportations were a necessary
security measure and, save for a brief period in about 1920, have
consistently rejected the Armenians’ claims.

But while Turkish historians reject the terms "genocide" and
"holocaust", some admit that large numbers of Armenians perished
during the operation.

The Turkish Interior Ministry has given preliminary approval to Mr
Thibaux’s application. If it is accepted by the Council of Ministers,
Mr Thibaux will take the name Atakan Turk.

He has been offered a lectureship at Akdeniz University. According to
vice-rector Mehmet Aktenin, Mr Thibaux was not asking for a salary.
But the university will arrange housing for him on campus.

Professor Aktenin said he would begin teaching there as soon as his
citizenship process was complete.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress