Author: Emil Lazarian

Turken sehen eine “Kriegserklarung”
artikel_268671.html
Der Vorwurf des Volkermordes an den Armeniern und das franzosische
Genozid-Gesetz versetzen die Turkei in Rage
Auch fast ein Jahrhundert nach den Ereignissen lost der Vorwurf des
Volkermords an den Armeniern in der Turkei noch heftige Reaktionen aus. Denn
die Turken sehen keinen geplanten Genozid, sondern sprechen von Opfern der
Kriegswirren.
Massiver diplomatischer Druck fruchtete so wenig wie die offene Drohung des
turkischen Premiers Erdogan, die Turken wurden nichts, aber Frankreich werde
die Turkei verlieren. Die franzosische Nationalversammlung stellte gestern
die Behauptung unter Strafe, die Massaker an den Armeniern durch die
osmanischen Turken vor 90 Jahren seien kein “Volkermord” gewesen (vgl. Text
unten). Turkische Politiker, unterstutzt von Medien und der Bevolkerung,
sind emport. Kein franzosischer Geschaftsmann, so droht ein Sprecher der
Istanbuler Industriellenkammer, soll kunftig in der Turkei Vertrage
abschliessen konnen. Wahrend turkische Politiker von einer “Kriegserklarung”
Frankreichs gegen ihre Heimat sprechen, ruft der Industriellenverband nach
einem nationalen Aktionsplan, mit dem die Turkei der Welt klar machen soll,
dass sich Frankreich geirrt habe.
Turkische Medien sehen die Entscheidung Frankreichs im Zusammenhang mit
einer wachsenden anti-turkischen Stimmung in Europa. “Die Opposition gegen
die Turkei in der EU beginnt ihr hassliches Gesicht zu zeigen”, schreibt der
Kommentator Cengiz Candar. Erdogan erinnert Frankreich an seine koloniale
Vergangenheit, betont jedoch, er wolle nicht Vergeltung uben. “Wir saubern
Schmutz nicht mit Schmutz.” Selbst Mitglieder der winzigen armenischen
Gemeinde der Turkei (kaum mehr als hunderttausend Menschen) schliessen sich
der Kritik an. Sie furchten nun noch starkeren Druck durch eine
nationalistisch aufgeheizte Stimmung im Land.
Die Entscheidung zeige, “dass jene, die die Meinungsfreiheit in der Turkei
einschranken, und jene, die dies in Frankreich tun, dieselbe Mentalitat
haben”, bemerkt der turkisch-armenische Journalist Hrant Dink. Er war im
Vorjahr wegen “Beleidigung des Turkentums” zu sechs Monaten Gefangnis
verurteilt worden. Die Strafe, die er sich wegen eines Artikels uber die
Massaker an den Armeniern zugezogen hatte, wurde unterdessen suspendiert.
“In der Turkei stehe ich vor Gericht, weil ich gesagt habe, es sei Genozid
gewesen.” Er wolle nun nach Frankreich gehen und dort – entgegen seiner
Uberzeugung – sagen, es sei nicht Genozid gewesen. Denn die Meinungsfreiheit
habe Vorrang. “Die beiden Staaten konnen dann wetteifern, wer mich ins
Gefangnis wirft.”
3000 Jahre alte Gemeinde
Auch fast ein Jahrhundert nach den dramatischen Ereignissen im
zusammenbrechenden Osmanischen Reich lost der Vorwurf des Genozids in der
Turkei immer noch heftige Emotionen aus. Bis heute ist eine objektive
wissenschaftliche Diskussion uber dieses Thema undenkbar. Autoren, die sich
zum Volkermord bekennen oder sich nur vage kritisch mit der offiziellen
turkischen Position auseinander setzen, werden mit Gefangnis bedroht, von
turkischen Nationalisten sogar mit dem Tod. Eine derartige Kampagne musste
auch der Schriftsteller Orhan Pamuk durchstehen. Seine Auszeichnung mit dem
Literatur-Nobelpreis (vgl. Seite 33) ist zweifellos ein zusatzlicher Schlag
fur die radikalen turkischen Nationalisten.
3000 Jahre lang lebte eine bluhende armenische Gemeinde in der Region, die
sich vom Schwarzen Meer und dem Mittelmeer bis zum Kaspischen Meer
erstreckte. Im Gebiet um den Berg Ararat grundeten die Armenier den ersten
christlichen Staat der Welt, der schliesslich Teil des Osmanischen Reiches
wurde. Obschon als christliche Minderheit in diesem riesigen Reich
diskriminiert, erreichten die Armenier einen hohen Bildungstandard.
Beeinflusst von den Idealen der Franzosischen Revolution, drangten sie im
ausgehenden 19. Jahrhundert nach politischen Reformen, nach Demokratie und
Mitbestimmung.
Armenier als interner Feind
Mit dem Zusammenbruch des Osmanischen Reichs wuchs ihre Hoffnung auf einen
unabhangigen Staat. Doch als die Jungturken das Reich zu retten und alle
Turk-Volker bis zum Kaukasus und Zentralasien zu vereinen suchten, standen
ihnen die christlichen Armenier als grosstes Hindernis im Wege. Im Ersten
Weltkrieg schlug sich die Turkei auf die Seite Osterreich-Ungarns und
Deutschlands, wahrend die Armenier mit Russland kollaborierten. So wurden
sie fur die turkischen Nationalisten zu einem internen Feind.
Die Kriegswirren boten die willkommene Moglichkeit, die armenische Frage “zu
losen”. Armenische und viele unabhangige internationale Historiker hegen
keine Zweifel, dass die osmanischen Turken 1915 bis 1917 einen Genozid
geplant und mehr als eine Million Armenier getotet und den Rest vertrieben
haben, so dass heute in ihrer ost-anatolischen Urheimat fast keine Armenier
mehr leben. Fast alle turkischen Historiker geben zu, dass viele Armenier
wahrend dieser Konflikte ums Leben kamen. Doch sie schliessen sich der
offiziellen Position an, dass es sich nicht um einen vom Staat geplanten
Genozid gehandelt habe. Offiziell beharrt Ankara auf dem Standpunkt, dass in
den Kriegswirren rund 300 000 Armenier und ebenso viele Turken ums Leben
gekommen sind.
Die Anerkennung des Genozids wurden turkische Nationalisten nicht nur als
schwere nationale Demutigung werten. Diese Frage ist auch mit tief
verwurzelten Ängsten verknupft. Ankara befurchtet, die Armenier konnten
Kompensationsforderungen oder gar territoriale Anspruche auf ihre
sudostanatolische Heimat stellen. Im turkischen Nationalbewusstsein bleibt
deshalb bis heute der Armenier ein Feind. Und in der Haltung Frankreichs
sieht Ankara eine neue internationale Verschworung gegen die Heimat.
Blochers Mission
Auch die Beziehungen zwischen der Schweiz und der Turkei sind wegen der
Leugnung des Volkermords an den Armeniern angespannt. Die
Anti-Rassismus-Strafnorm stellt die Leugnung des Genozids in der Schweiz
unter Strafe. Aufgrund dieses Gesetzes laufen zwei Strafuntersuchungen gegen
prominente Turken, die den Volkermord an den Armeniern offentlich geleugnet
haben. Justizminister Christoph Blocher nutzte vergangene Woche seinen
Turkei-Besuch, um die Strafnorm zu kritisieren. Blochers Provokation sorgte
in der Heimat fur Emporung. Der Justizminister strebt eine Änderung des
Antirassismusgesetzes an.
Der Bundesrat wird sich bereits an seiner Sitzung von kommender Woche mit
Blochers Vorschlag befassen. Der Antrag durfte jedoch keine Chance haben.
Der Bundesrat hat bereits – in praktisch gleicher Zusammensetzung – mehrere
Anlaufe zur Änderung oder Streichung der Strafnorm abgelehnt. Auch das
Parlament liegt in dieser Frage auf der Linie des Bundesrats. (for)
“Im Namen der Gerechtigkeit”
Wer den Volkermord an den Armeniern von 1915 in Abrede stellt, soll in
Frankreich mit Gefangnis oder Busse bestraft werden. Das umstrittene Gesetz
muss nach dem Ja der Nationalversammlung noch vom Senat genehmigt werden.
“Im Namen der Gerechtigkeit, der Ehre und des politischen Mutes” forderte
gestern der sozialistische Antragsteller Rene Rouquet seine
Parlamentskollegen auf, fur das Gesetz zu stimmen, das die Leugnung des
Armenier-Volkermords zu einem Delikt erklart. Fur Rouquet ist die
Strafandrohung nur logisch. Am 29. Januar 2001 hatte namlich das
franzosische Parlament einstimmig den Genozidcharakter der Massaker an der
armenischen Bevolkerung von 1915 bis 1917 anerkannt, denen laut (fast)
einhelliger Schatzung der Historiker mehr als eine Million Menschen zum
Opfer fielen.
Die Notwendigkeit, jeden strafrechtlich zu verfolgen, der diesen Volkermord
in Abrede stellt oder verharmlost, blieb indes umstritten. Im Mai hatte die
Nationalversammlung den Antrag der Opposition bereits debattiert, aus
Zeitgrunden wurde das Votum verschoben. Weniger offen ausgesprochen wurden
damals und auch jetzt eher opportunistische Rucksichten auf politische und
wirtschaftliche Interessen in der Turkei. Dieses Mal stimmte nach einer
kurzen Diskussion eine Mehrheit der anwesenden Abgeordneten (mit 106 Stimmen
gegen 19) dem Gesetzesantrag zu.
Gesetz noch nicht in Kraft
Die Regierungspartei UMP hatte beschlossen, an der Abstimmung nicht
teilzunehmen; trotzdem sprachen sich mehrere ihrer Volksvertreter fur das
Gesetz aus, unter ihnen auch der fruhere Minister und UMP-Abgeordnete
Patrick Devedjian, der selber armenischer Abstammung ist. Er versuchte, die
Tragweite des Parlamentsentscheids etwas abzuschwachen: Historiker und
Forscher sollten seiner Meinung nach von der Strafandrohung ausgenommen
werden. Sein Vorschlag wurde aber zuruckgewiesen. Auf der Zuhorertribune
begrussten Vertreter der armenischen Gemeinschaft, die in Frankreich rund
500 000 Menschen zahlt, das Abstimmungsergebnis erleichtert mit Applaus.
Damit ist diese Gesetzesvorlage aber noch nicht in Kraft. Nun liegt es an
der Regierung, die Debatte zum gegebenen Zeitpunkt auf die Tagesordnung des
Senats, der zweiten Parlamentskammer, zu setzen. Und nichts deutet darauf
hin, dass sie es dabei besonders eilig hat. Ohne die turkischen Einwande und
Drohungen zu erwahnen, hatte bei der gestrigen Debatte Europaministerin
Catherine Colonna die Skepsis der Regierung zum Ausdruck gebracht: “Es ist
Aufgabe der Historiker und nicht des Gesetzgebers, die Geschichte zu
schreiben.” Die Linke warf der Regierung vor, sie beuge sich den Pressionen
aus Ankara. Die Turkei droht Frankreich mit wirtschaftlichen
Vergeltungsmassnahmen. Laut turkischen Zeitungen konnten sich die Einbussen
fur die franzosischen Unternehmen auf 20 Milliarden Dollar belaufen, wenn
sie systematisch bei Vertragen ausgeschlossen wurden.
Kritisch hatten sich die meisten franzosischen Zeitungen zum Thema
geaussert. “Le Figaro” halt die Debatte fur zwecklos und riskant: “Die
(Leugnung) ist in Frankreich nicht so verbreitet, dass es unbedingt ein
Gesetz dafur braucht. Da gabe es andere Angelegenheiten, die mit grosserer
Dringlichkeit dem weisen Schluss unserer Abgeordneten zu unterbreiten waren.
Die politische Ausschlachtung der Schrecken, welche das armenische Volk
erlitten hat, kann nur kontraproduktiv sein. (…) Frankreich ist gross,
wenn es als Botschafter des Friedens und der Zivilisation auftritt, aber
lacherlich, wenn es sich als Staatsanwalt aufspielt.”
“Unnotige Polemik”
Als “unnotige Polemik” hatte Staatsprasident Jacques Chirac die
Kriminalisierung der Volkermordleugnung bezeichnet. Noch Ende September
hatte er bei seinem Besuch in Armenien die offizielle Anerkennung des
Armenier-Genozids durch den turkischen Staat zu einer Voraussetzung fur
einen eventuellen EU-Beitritt der Turkei erklart.
Fur Genozid braucht es Absicht
Den Tatbestand des Volkermords (Genozid) gibt es im Volkerrecht seit
Dezember 1948, als die Vereinten Nationen die “Konvention uber die Verhutung
und Bestrafung des Volkermords” verabschiedeten. Die Konvention, die 1951 in
Kraft trat, entstand in erster Linie als Reaktion auf den Holocaust unter
den Nazis im Zweiten Weltkrieg. Sie beschreibt Volkermord als Handlungen,
die in der expliziten Absicht begangen werden, eine nationale, ethnische,
rassische oder religiose Gruppe ganz oder teilweise zu zerstoren.
An diesem Punkt setzt die Kritik der Turkei an. Sie sieht die Massaker an
den Armeniern und die Todesmarsche nicht als bewusst rassistisch motivierte
Gewalt, sondern als Folge kriegerischer Ereignisse. Die meisten
internationalen Historiker und Juristen argumentieren indes, dies sei
unerheblich; die Armenier seien getotet worden, weil sie eben dieser
Volksgruppe angehorten. Ob Rassenwahn wie bei den Nazis oder andere Motive
die Graueltaten ausgelost hatten, spiele letztlich keine Rolle. (lkr)
Der Bund, Birgit Cerha, Beirut [13.10.06]
–Boundary_(ID_xyUwXjk142Qx56ogPJwd8Q) —
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Armenian Youth Federation – Western Region
104 North Belmont Street, Suite 206
Glendale, California 91206
Phone: 818.507.1933
[email protected]
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ++++
PRESS RELEASE +++ PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release: Wednesday, October 18, 2006
Contact: Caspar Jivalagian
Tel: (818) 507-1933
ARMENIAN YOUTH FEDERATION CHALLENGES TURKISH VICE CONSUL GENERAL
Los Angeles, California- Members of the Armenian Youth Federation
(AYF) attended a coffee discussion last Sunday hosted by the Young
Associates of the Los Angeles World Affairs Council, which featured
a discussion by Vice Consul of Turkey in Los Angeles, Anil Bora Inan.
The Young Associates, a group that offers speakers and social events
for young professionals, provided a forum for Vice Consul Inan to
address the topic of Turkey’s candidacy to the European Union. Inan
spoke to a group of 30 young professionals, 14 of which were Armenian
youth. He first briefed the crowd about Turkey’s history and then
discussed a number of issues related to the European Union, often
mentioning the Armenian Diaspora and the Armenian Genocide issue as
an obstacle to Turkey’s advancement into the EU.
During a question and answer session following Inan’s briefing, members
of the AYF bombarded Inan with questions regarding Turkey’s record
of human rights, treatment of minorities, and denial of the Armenian
Genocide. When asked about the Armenian Genocide, Inan repeatedly
denied that what happened to the Armenians was genocide, insisting
that it was only massacres and deportations as a result of war. One
of the main topics covered during the question-answer session was
the recent bill passed by the French National Assembly criminalizing
the denial of the Armenian Genocide. The Vice Consul expressed his
opposition to the proposed law, calling it “French wrongdoings”
and assured attendees that the law would never go beyond the lower
chamber of the French legislature. The Vice Consul also denied that
Kurds are deprived of their civil rights in Turkey.
At the end of the evening, AYF members presented Inan with the book
Ambassador Morgenthau’s story, written by Henry Morgenthau, the former
American Ambassador to Turkey from 1913-1916. The book is a primary
American document on the Armenian Genocide which contains reoccurring
accounts of ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity.
Upon his arrival in Los Angeles in 2004, one of Vice Consul Inan’s
main responsibilities became the observation of the Armenian American
community in California. On many occasions throughout the evening,
Inan stressed that he closely monitors Armenian organizations and
individuals in California, especially for anti-Turkish activity. In
doing so, he emphasized the strength and power of the California
Armenian American community and its ability to advance the Armenian
cause.
Prior to arriving in Los Angeles, Inan served at the Turkish Embassy
in Syria, where he was responsible for the bi-lateral political,
military, security and cultural relations between Turkey and Syria.
Inan has also served as Assistant to the Deputy Secretary of the
Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 2002-2004.
#####
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PAMUK’S NOBEL IS A FAMILY AFFAIR
Guardian Unlimited
Friday October 20, 2006
The anger and delight which greeted Orhan Pamuk’s Nobel prize in
Turkey are no surprise, says Elif Shafak. Turkey has always expected
novelists to provide more than words
When news that Orhan Pamuk had won the Nobel prize for literature
reached Turkey, the literary world and wider society were split
in two. Pride and condemnation went side by side. After all Pamuk
has never fitted into the role which Turkish society demands of its
novelists. Dedicating all his life to literature, he has always been
more absorbed in his own fictional world than the “real” world outside.
Ever since the end of the 19th century Turkish society has been in a
hurry. Abdullah Cevdet, one of the most radical thinkers of the late
Ottoman Empire, asked despairingly “how long has it taken the western
world to reach the level of civilisation that they now enjoy? Four
hundred years perhaps? Can we wait that long?” His conclusion was
that in order to catch up with western civilisation the flow of time
had to be speeded up. This was the task that fell upon the Turkish
intelligentsia – to quicken the flow of history, to expedite the
process of westernisation – placing writers at the forefront of
efforts to mould Turkish society.
With the establishment of a modern, secular Turkey, literature took
on an even greater role. The new elite, depicting the new regime as
a fundamental transformation from eastern civilisation to western
civilisation, aimed to make culture the cement of the modern
Turkish nation-state. For them modernisation and secularisation
meant a complete detachment from the past, a mistrust of anything,
of everything associated with the Ottoman heritage. The Turkish state
elite was ready to speed up the flow of history from above.
So the novel – a literary genre which was new, modern and, unlike the
old tradition of poetry, utterly western – gained a unique position.
No wonder then that a novelist is always more than a novelist in
Turkey. He is, first and foremost, a public figure. Novelists are the
“babas”, the fathers of their readers. They are loved and hated, looked
up to and looked down upon. This is a society which is writer-oriented,
not writing-oriented.
Orhan Pamuk has been working against this background for years. He
writes with great passion and determination, all the while endorsing,
publicising and internationalising the Turkish novel. As conspicuous
as his books have been, he himself has always remained almost
unreachable. If he has been any kind of “baba” to his readers he has
only been a detached father more inspired by his own imagination
than by his nation. Perhaps it is this that triggers some sons,
some segments of Turkish society, to attack him.
As a Turkish woman writer, I too have often felt out of tune with the
baba tradition. While the son-society keeps discussing the implications
of this award, I am filled with delight, pride and optimism. Pamuk’s
Nobel is not only a great honour for him and for the richness of
Turkish literature, but also a sign of the great contribution Turkey
can make to world culture if and when it reaches out beyond national
borders and nationalist debates.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

DEPUTY SAYS ROBERT KOCHARYAN NOT INTERESTED IN ELECTION FRAUD
Panorama.am
17:13 18/10/06
Viktor Dallakyan, member of parliament, said the upcoming elections are
a good chance of power change by peaceful means. However, he believes
the acting power authorities will try to reproduce themselves in the
face of Republican Party and Serzh Sargsyan.
Dallakyan told a press conference today that if the elections were
free and fair, the authorities in power would gain 3-4 seat in the
parliament. The deputy forecasted the scenario for the peaceful power
change saying there will be a majority with a vote of people, a prime
minister who will represent that majority and a president who will
leave in couple of months.
Dallakyan thinks Robert Kocharyan is not interested in election fraud
in 2007 elections. He said Kocharyan’s term is close to end and he
“will try to leave crowned with laurels as a reformer and a guarantor
of free and fair elections.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

OSKANIAN VOWS TURKEY WILL RECOGNIZE ‘GENOCIDE’
The New Anatolian
Oct 17 2006
Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian stated on Monday that the
international community will succeed in making Turkey recognize an
Armenian “genocide” by working in cooperation.
Speaking to Armenian state TV, Oskanian said, “The passage of the bill
by the French Parliament gave Turkey a stronger and louder signal. That
country can’t continue to maintain that it is innocent from now on.”
Stressing that the decision doesn’t aim at creating obstacles for
Turkey’s bid to join the European Union, Oskanian said, “I hope
the French Parliament’s decision and Orhan Pamuk’s Nobel prize will
push Turkey in the right direction. Turkey has to understand that
Armenia will never humiliate itself. We will succeed in our efforts
for recognition of the Armenian ‘genocide’ by Turkey.”
Touching on Pamuk’s Nobel prize, the Armenian foreign minister said,
“We greatly appreciate his success; he’s on the right track.”
Last year Pamuk publicly said “one million Armenians” were killed
in Turkey, but never used the word “genocide.” He has also come out
against the French bill criminalizing “genocide” denial.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

‘ARMENIAN BILL IS VIOLATION OF FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION’
The New Anatolian
Oct 18 2006
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)
yesterday expressed concern about the French Parliament’s passage of
a bill to criminalize questioning of the Armenian genocide claims.
In a letter sent to the president of the French Senate, Christian
Poncelet, OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Miklos Haraszti
asked the Senators to reject the bill when it reaches the upper
chamber.
“I acknowledge the humanitarian intentions of those members of
the assembly who support this proposal. However, the adoption of
the amendment raises serious concerns with regard to international
standards of freedom of _expression,” wrote Haraszti.
“It is in the name of these same standards that I continue to call upon
Turkey to remove Article 301 of the Penal Code, ‘Insulting Turkish
identity’, which prosecutors in Turkey repeatedly use in the context
of the Armenian genocide debate.”
France recognized the genocide claims in a 2001 law. The proposed
bill would introduce punishment for denial of up to one year in prison
and a fine of 45,000 euros.
“Both the fact of criminalization of statements, and the severity
of the sanctions would infringe upon editorial freedom in France,”
added Haraszti.
“The adoption of the amendment by France, a nation with a longstanding
tradition of freedom of _expression, could set a dangerous precedent
for other nations of the OSCE.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

DYER: A GENOCIDE BY ANY OTHER NAME WOULD STILL STINK
VUE Weekly, Canada
Oct 19 2006
Words matter. The Holocaust of the European Jews during the Second
World War was a genocide. The mass deportation of Chechens from their
Caucasian homeland during the same war was a crime but not a genocide,
even though half of them died, because Moscow’s aim was to keep them
from collaborating with German troops who were nearing Chechnya, not
to exterminate them. Which brings us to the far more controversial
case of the Armenians and the Turks.
On Oct 12, the French parliament passed a law declaring that anyone
who denies that the mass murder of Armenians in eastern Turkey in
1915-17 was a genocide will face a year in prison. But the French
foreign ministry called the law “unnecessary and untimely,” and
President Jacques Chirac telephoned Turkish Prime Minister Recep
Tayyib Erdogan to apologize.
Why would the conservative majority in the French parliament
deliberately set out to annoy the Turks, knowing that the law would
eventually be vetoed by the president? Because they hope to provoke a
nationalist backlash in Turkey that would further damage that country’s
already difficult relationship with the European Union.
French public opinion is already in a xenophobic mood over the last
expansion of the EU, with folk-tales of “Polish plumbers” working for
peanuts and stealing the jobs of honest French workers causing outrage,
especially among right-wing voters who never much liked foreigners
anyway. The prospect of 80 million Turks-Muslim Turks-joining the
European Union, even if it is at least 10 years away, is enough to
make their blood boil.
So a big row with Turkey should attract lots of votes to the right’s
presidential candidate in next May’s election, who is likely to be
none other than current prime minister Nicolas Sarkozy-who announced
last month that Turkey should never be allowed to join the EU: “We
have to say who is European and who isn’t. It’s no longer possible to
leave this question open.” The new law is not really about Armenians
or Turks. It’s about the French election.
Meanwhile, in Turkey, anti-EU nationalists have their own game
underway. While Turkey was busy amending its penal code to make it
conform to EU standards over the past few years, hard-line lawyers and
bureaucrats smuggled in a new law, Article 301, which provides severe
penalties for “insulting Turkishness.” In practice, that mainly means
trying to ban public discussion of the Armenian massacres, and some 70
prosecutions have already been brought by the ultra-right-wing Union of
Lawyers against Turkish authors, journalists and other public figures.
For several generations the Turkish government flatly denied any guilt
for the Armenian massacres, insisting that they didn’t happen-and,
if they did, it was the Armenians’ own fault for rebelling against
the Turkish state in wartime. Latterly, a new generation of Turkish
intellectuals has been saying that a million or more Armenians did
die in the mass deportations from eastern Anatolia, and that Turkey
needs to admit its guilt and apologize-though most still refuse to
call it a genocide, as that would put it in the same category as the
Jewish Holocaust.
Israel, too, refuses to use the term “genocide” for the Armenian
massacres, on the grounds that there was some provocation (Armenian
revolutionaries conspired with both Britain and Russia in 1914-15
to launch local uprisings in support of their planned invasions
of Turkey), and that the Turkish state’s actions, though brutal,
illegal and immoral, were not premeditated. Most Armenians, of course,
desperately want the label “genocide” to be applied to their ancestors’
suffering, since they feel that any other term demotes it to a lower
rank of tragedy. But there is room for dialogue and even reconciliation
here, if people can get past the issue of nomenclature.
The prosecutions for “insulting Turkishness”-even against Turkey’s
greatest living novelist, Nobel Prize winner Orhan Pamuk-are not just
an attempt to stifle this dialogue among Turks, or between Turks and
Armenians. The ultra-nationalists also want to derail the negotiations
for EU membership by painting Turkey as an authoritarian and intolerant
state that does not belong in Europe. They are, in effect, Sarkozy’s
objective allies.
But Prime Minister Erdogan will probably repeal Article 301 once
next year’s elections are past. France’s law, which requires people
to discuss the Armenian massacres in precisely the terms that 301
bans, will probably be vetoed by Chirac. And Turkey’s best-known
Armenian journalist, Hrant Dink, who has already been prosecuted
several times under 301, has just announced that he will go to France
“to protest against this madness and violate the (new) law … And
I will commit the crime to be prosecuted there, so that these two
irrational mentalities can race to put me into jail.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

HISTORY A PART OF IMAGINATION
Laura Aylesworth
Royal Purple News, WI
Oct 19 2006
UW-Madison professor and historical writer is the most recent author
to visit campus
Mitchell
“If you’re not a writer and you spend hours and hours in a room
filled with imaginary people – people might think you are a little
weird.” This is an serious statement given by UW-Whitewater’s most
recent visiting author, Judith Claire Mitchell.
Mitchell, author of the historical novel “The Last Day of the War,”
associate creative writing professor and director of the MFA Program
at UW-Madison, came to campus on Tuesday, Oct. 10. She first visited
professor Alison Townsend’s current writing scene class to share her
insight on the writing life to eager students.
The novel took her six years to write and publish. It is based upon
her friend’s great-aunt’s letters describing her work as a Young
Mens Clubs of America volunteer in France in 1919, where she met an
Armenian who had lost his family. The story is of a Jewish girl from
St. Louis and an Armenian- American soldier at the end of World War I.
Mitchell had some Armenian friends and was inspired through them
to write a story about the Armenian massacres as well as the YMCA’s
efforts at that time. While researching the book, she noticed there
were no books on the Armenian genocide. After she realized this, she
felt it was important to write a story about this particular moment
in history.
At the Works in Progress Cafe, Mitchell unleashed what could be the
first chapter of a novel she is working on, with the tentative title
“On This Day in History.” The novel features three narrators who
were all real people in history, only they are now speaking from the
dead. Mitchell admits that it’s easier to “tell the story from the
dead” because you can pretty much make up anything.
The next guest author, Amaud Johnson, is the assistant creative
writing professor at UW-Madison and author of the book “Red Summer”.
Johnson will speak at 12:30 p.m. Tuesday in 214 Heide Hall. Johnson
is also scheduled to speak at the Works in Progress Cafe at 4:30 p.m.
at Bassett House located at 708 W. Main St. Jesse Lee Kercheval is
the final guest lecturer and will speak Nov. 14.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PRESIDENT: COOPERATION WITH WORLD BANK HAS PRODUCED SIGNIFICANT RESULTS FOR ARMENIAN ECONOMY’S DEVELOPMENT
Regnum, Russia
Oct 19 2006
On October 18, Armenian President Robert Kocharyan met with World
Bank Yerevan office head Roger Robinson, who finished his official
mission in Armenia.
As a REGNUM correspondent was informed at the Armenian presidential
press office, Robert Kocharyan stressed that cooperation of the last
years with the WB produced significant results in the process of
Armenian economy’s development. Especially, the president stressed
that programs aimed at reforming structure of state governing,
infrastructural development, poverty reduction calling them important
factor for guaranteeing the country’s progress.
In his turn, Roger Robinson stressed with satisfaction the changes
in Armenia, to which the WB had contributed, too.
Robert Kocharyan wished Roger Robinson good luck in his further work,
stressing with assurance that it would be as efficient as it was
in Armenia.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

SPIELBERG CALLS HOME FOR POIGNANT PREMIERE
>From Tony Halpin in Kiev
The Times, UK
Oct 19 2006
HIS films have brought home the horror of the Holocaust to millions.
Yesterday Steven Spielberg came home to Ukraine to launch a film
about survivors of the Holocaust in his ancestral homeland.
The Hollywood director’s grandparents all came to the United States
from Ukraine, but Spielberg had not visited the country before last
night’s premiere of the documentary Spell Your Name, by the Ukrainian
director Sergei Bukovsky.
Spielberg told The Times that he feared that the “epidemic” of racism
would lead the world into a new era to match the mass slaughters of
the 20th century.
“Hatred comes from fear and we have experienced a century of fear and
I fear that we are going into another century of heightened fear,”
he said.
“Until we get to the bottom of what makes people so afraid of
the differences in others, and what we look like, we are going to
experience an even greater century of fear.”
Spielberg’s arrival in Ukraine came a month after commemorations
marking the 65th anniversary of the Babi Yar massacre in Kiev, when
the Nazis murdered 33,771 Jews in two days. He said he had visited
Babi Yar earlier in the day and placed stones at the memorials to
those killed – a traditional Jewish act of remembrance. It and other
massacres had happened, he said, because people had allowed them to.
Tolerance was born of education through films such as Spell Your Name.
“It happened in the 20th century with the Armenians, it happened in
Rwanda, it happened in Sarajevo,” he said. “What is inconceivable
to me is that as I look around at what technology has given us to
shrink the world and make us better neighbours and friends, we often
are not better neighbours and friends.”
The 90-minute documentary records testimonies of Jews who survived the
Nazi occupation of Ukraine. The $1 million project was funded by Victor
Pinchuk, a billionaire Ukrainian industrialist whose grand-father
left Kiev with his family shortly before the Nazis invaded.
“My parents told me that they knew friends and neighbours who found
themselves at Babi Yar,” Mr Pinchuk said.
He had been inspired by Spielberg’s film Schindler’s List to approach
the director with the idea for the documentary.
Spielberg, 59, whose Shoah Foundation co-produced the film, said he
was happy that it had given him an opportunity to visit Ukraine.
“I grew up in a home where my grandparents spoke Russian and Yiddish.
I kind of felt that I had a piece of Ukraine in my own home, especially
around dinner time,” he said.
A CELLULOID LIFE
Steven Spielberg, born December 18, 1946, has won three Oscars and
is the most commercially successful film director
Wrote and directed his first large-scale movie at 16 while attending
Arcadia High School in Phoenix, Arizona
Applied unsuccessfully three times to the University of Southern
California’s School of Cinematic Arts
Attended California State University, Long Beach, majoring in English,
but dropped out in 1969 to take a television directing contract at
Universal Studios
Finished his degree by correspondence in 2002, 35 years after starting
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress