Author: Emil Lazarian

RUSSIAN MILITARY WITHDRAW 737 UNITS OF TECHNOLOGY FROM GEORGIAN BASES
by Eka Mekhuzla
ITAR-TASS News Agency
September 21, 2006 Thursday
Russian military have withdrawn 737 units of technology and more
than 2,600 tons of materiel and supplies from the bases in Batumi and
Akhalkalaki the Russian Armed Forces are abandoning under a bilateral
agreement with Georgia, the country’s Defense Ministry said in an
official report Thursday.
Of that number, the Russians have shipped 358 units of technology and
over 1,600 tons of materiel to Russia, while the rest was delivered
to the base in Gumri, Armenia.
The list of vehicles and weaponry pulled out of Georgia includes 45
tanks, 27 BRDM amphibious scout vehicles, 20 armored cars, 40 infantry
combat vehicles, 52 artillery guns, and more than 500 cars and trucks.
A total of 25 trains were needed to take all that weaponry and
equipment out of Georgia — six in Batumi and the other nineteen
in Akhalkalaki.
The military formed 28 caravans of trucks to take the weapons and
materiel to Gumri, the Defense Ministry said.
The Akhalkalaki base is fully free of heavy-duty vehicles and equipment
now, the report said.
The servicemen, personnel and several remaining cars will be withdrawn
from there next year, the ministry indicated.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

VILLE DE MONTREAL : MONSIEUR MARCEL TREMBLAY SOULIGNE LE 15E ANNIVERSAIRE DE L’INDEPENDANCE DE LA REPUBLIQUE D’ARMENIE
Canadian Corporate Newswire
21 septembre 2006 jeudi 11:45 AM EST
MONTREAL, QUEBEC–(CCNMatthews – 21 sept. 2006) – Monsieur Marcel
Tremblay, membre du comite executif de la Ville de Montreal,
responsable des relations interculturelles, invite les representants
des medias a la reception celebrant le 15e anniversaire de
l’independance de la republique d’Armenie.
Cette reception s’inscrit dans l’evenement ‘Place a la lumière…place
a la vie’ organise par le Diocèse canadien de la Sainte-Eglise
apostolique armenienne, et au cours duquel la communaute armenienne
rendra hommage a l’accueil du Canada en tant que pays adoptif en
offrant un don a l’Hôpital de Montreal pour Enfants et a l’Hôpital
Sainte-Justine.
Date : Le jeudi 21 septembre 2006
Heure : 18h00
Lieu : Hôtel de Ville de Montreal au 275, rue Notre-Dame Est
POUR PLUS D’INFORMATIONS, COMMUNIQUER AVEC: Source : Ville de Montreal
ou Renseignements : Cabinet du maire et du comite executif Darren
Becker (514) 872-6412 ou Direction des communications et des relations
avec les citoyens Sophie Bensaïd (514) 872-8055.
–Boundary_(ID_lDx5cFr35CyBCY3YFQLjpw)- –
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PACE MONITORING COMMITTEE RAPPORTEURS TO ARRIVE IN ARMENIA ON SEPTEMBER 25
Noyan Tapan News Agency, Armenia
Sept 22 2006
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 22, NOYAN TAPAN. PACE Monitoring Committee
Rapporteurs Mikko Elo, Georges Colombier and Secretary Despina
Chatzivassiliou will be in Armenia on a visit on September 25-29. NT
was informed about this from RA NA Public Relations Department.
On September 25, members of PACE Monitoring Committee will have
meetings with ambassadors of CE member countries represented in Armenia
and representatives of NGOs. The delegation members will be received
by Yerevan Mayor Yervand Zakharian, Territorial Government Minister
Hovik Abrahamian, Constitutional Court Chairman Gagik Haroutiunian,
Ombudsman Armen Haroutiunian. The same day the delegation members will
visit the Tsitsernakaberd memorial complex and will lay a wreath to
the memory of the Genocide victims.
Meetings with RA Minister of Justice Davit Haroutiunian, RA Defence
Minister Serge Sargsian, RA Prosecutor General Aghvan Hovsepian, RA
Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian, Chief of RA Police Hayk Haroutiunian,
CEC Chairman Garegin Azarian and commission members, members of RA
National Commission of Radio and Television and Board of Television
and Radio are scheduled on September 27.
On September 28, the Rapporteurs of PACE Monitoring Committee will have
meetings at RA National Assembly. They will meet with RA NA Speaker
Tigran Torosian, members of NA delegation in PACE, chairmen of NA
Standing Committees on State and Legal Issues, National Security and
Internal Affairs, Foreign Relations, heads of NA opposition factions,
coalition, non-opposition factions and groups.
The same day the committee members will be received by RA President
Robert Kocharian and RA Prime Minister Andranik Margarian.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIAN DELEGATION TAKES PART IN IAEA 50th JUBILEE CONFERENCE
Noyan Tapan News Agency, Armenia
Sept 22 2006
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 22, NOYAN TAPAN. Opening of 50th jubilee conference
of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) took place on September
18 in Vienna. Austrian President Heinz Fischer made a greeting speech
at the opening ceremony.
The Armenian delegation was led by Deputy Foreign Minister Arman
Kirakosian. The agency’s future programs aimed at safe use of nuclear
energy and non-proliferation of nuclear weapons were discussed at
the conference.
In his speech the head of the Armenian delegation said that Armenia is
loyal to its initiatives and is for exclusively peaceful use of nuclear
energy. The Armenian government seriously discusses the prospect of
retaining its membership to the international nuclear community and
parallelly with closing the Metsamor Nuclear Power Plant studies the
possibility of building a new nuclear power plant.
It was also mentioned that Armenia actively cooperates with U.S. and
a number of countries in the sphere of nuclear energy.
As Noyan Tapan was informed from RA Foreign Ministry Press and
Information Department, Arman Kirakosian in his speech expressed
gratitude to the agency and all countries with which Armenia has been
cooperating efficiently since relaunching the Metsamor Nuclear Power
Plant in 1995.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIA’S INDEPENDENCE AS INTELLECTUALS SEE IT
Nvard Davtyan
Public Radio of Armenia
Sept 21 2006
Prose writer Aghasi Arshakyan does not imagine a greater happiness
for the Armenian nation than independence. “We have a powerful Army
to defend this independence, what we lack is internal independence
and morality,” the writer says.
“In all times all peoples had only one desire – independence. But
independence does not come as manna from heaven, and 15 years ago we
learned how it can be achieved,” writer and publisher Zori Balayan
says. In his opinion, the independence was achieved by our Army,
which was formed in the war, an Army without which the maintenance of
independence would be a sole myth. We much to do and many problems
to solve, which is hard to imagine without the Army. I congratulate
all Armenians in Motherland and Diaspora, who have jointly built
this independence.”
For Perch Zeytuntsian independence is an absolute value, it is the
greatest happiness of a whole nation, the only guarantee of our future.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

VICTIMS OF THE 1967 DETROIT RIOT
Frank Tridico
SooNews, Canada
Sept 24 2006
The Detroit Riot began after multiple arrests at a nightclub. After
the arrests, a small group of men began to vandalize adjacent
establishments. From this point, looting and fires spread through the
Northwest side of Detroit, then crossed over to the East Side. Within
48 hours, the National Guard was mobilized. On the fourth day of the
riot, the 82nd airborne had to be called in to quell the masses. As
police and military troops sought to regain control of the city,
violence escalated. Forty-three people died as a result of the
violence.
The Stories of the Victims
Below is a word by word account from a historical website detailing
the numerous victims who died in the Detroit Riot of 1967. It is
quoted directly (without editing) from the site. For brevity, I’ve
included one of the circumstances involving one of the persons who
died. Readers can read the rest of the accounts by clicking VICTIMS
Krikor Messerlian Victim One
“Armenian born, Krikor Messerlian had heard of auto plant jobs in
America, from native villagers sending back word to his country
from America. On July 10, 1920, the British High Commissioner in
Constantinople, signed documents that would allow then, twenty-year-old
Messerlian to travel to America.
Messerlian, was known by fellow factory employees as, George. He
was a small man, standing about 5 feet tall and weighing around 100
pounds. He disliked the factory work so much, that he quit working
there to become a shoe repair man. He lived a quiet bachelor life,
and spent long hours reading Armenian and Greek books at the library.
His first repair shop was located on Brush Street, in Detroit, and
Messerlian, had originally had no problems with his patrons. During
the 1940’s as the area became more run down and violent, Messerlian
was involved in a confrontation with an armed African-American youth,
who came into his shop, demanding money.
Messerlian tried to get to his .45 he kept behind the counter, but the
gunman interferred. He struck Messerlian in the head with his gunbutt,
and left him lying on the floor of the shop.
It was at this time, his relatives persuaded him to leave Brush Street,
and he took up shop on Linwood Avenue, only a few blocks from Twelfth
Street. At the time, this was a middle-class neighborhood, and many
times, Messerlian would leave his store, with his front door open.
But as the area around Linwood began to change, he was one of the
few merchants who intended to stay in the area. He had faced violence
before, and stated to his nephew, that he wasn’t afraid of anyone.
On Saturday, July 22, 1967, Messerlain remembered that his niece was
to be married the very next day. He had only $20 left of his Social
Security check and went to the dry cleaning shop next door to borrow
an additional $25.
By the next morning, trouble was already brewing in the area, on
Twelfth Street. The lady who had overseen the dry cleaners next
door to Messerlain, called to check on the store. He reported that
everything was fine. She called again at 10:00 a.m., 12:00 p.m.,
and 2:00 p.m. Things were still quiet. Half of an hour later, a
gang of African-American youths came down Linwood and stopped at the
dry cleaners.
Messerlian, who hadn’t learned to back down from a hostile situation,
appeared with his 20-inch saber in hand. He was told to get out of
the way, but refused. The youths, broke windows, and began looting
the shop.
Messerlian began to swing his saber, and caught a boy across the
shoulder. The stunned youth, walked away from the shop, bleeding
perfusely.
>From across the street, people living in their homes, were watching
the distrubance from their porches. Then, suddenly, the shoeman
was lying on the sidewalk, and standing above him was a young man,
clubbing him with what they thought was a table leg. They yelled for
the boy to stop before he killed the old shoeman.
Some of the boy’s friends tore the club from his hands, and the group
ran down the street. Messerlian laid motionless on the sidewalk.
At the hospital, it was reported that he suffered from fractures of
the right leg, jaw, left arm, and skull. He had numerous abrasions and
damage to his abdomen and neck. He died 5 days later, on July 27, 1967.
(On August 14th police arrested a twenty-year-old man who had come
to Detroit from Alabama, only six weeks before.)
Throughout the afternoon of July 23rd, the Governor, George Romney
and Mayor Cavanagh watched in fear as the disturbabces continued.
At 4:20 p.m., the National Guard was called to Detroit. In less
than one hour news came, that the police were unable to contain the
looting and burning on Twelfth Street, the looting taking place on
Grand River, or crowds and looting that had been reported as “out of
control” at Joy Road and Grand River.
Homeowners were forced to take up their own hunting rifles and guns
to stand guard as gangs of youths attempted to break into their homes.
They banded together to protect the firefighters, trying to control
the situation, however fires spread from stores to homes, and rows
of well-maintained homes on Pingree Street were destroyed.
The National Guardsmen began arriving about 7:00 p.m. and by 12:00
midnight, 4,000 of them covered the streets. Looting had spread along
every West Side main street. Stores were torched, as police rushed
from one looting scene to another.”
The Second Part of Jeanne Massey’s Interview
Jeanne Massey was pregnant when she was witness to one of the largest
riots in American history. She recalls going through visions of horror
as chaos ensued around her. In an exclusive interview, she gave a first
hand account of what it was like on the ground in the 5 days of rioting
that left 43 people dead, 1,189 injured and led to over 7,000 arrests.
The following is the second part of my full interview with Jeanne
Massey, who was 18 years old and pregnant at the time of the riots.
She gives a full account of what she witnessed.
How Detroit Changed After the Riot
I asked Jeanne Massey how the events of the civil unrest altered the
short and long-term identity of Detroit, Michigan.
“The most prominent change in Detroit was coined in a new term ‘white
flight’. The major supermarkets deserted Detroit, the neighborhood
Mom and Pop candy stores left, and dividing line was drawn at Eight
Mile Road. We bought out home on Mansfield Street in 1970. The day
we moved in the white family next door put a for sale by owner sign
up in the front yard.”
Vivid Recollection
I asked Massey to identify the one one instance that is embedded in
her memory that she experienced during the riot.
“The one image I will forever have embedded in my mind, is army tanks
with the National Guard turning east on Joy Road coming from Grand
River. Hundreds of people began running to take cover in our homes. I
remember praying and holding my fingers entwined under my stomach
for support as I as fast as I could since I was eight months pregnant.”
The Road to Equality
Massey was asked how the Detroit Riot of 1967 coincided (if at all)
with the Civil Rights Movement that shaped the course of American
history.
“The Detroit Riot of 1967 may have been an outcry of frustration at
the slow progress of the Civil Rights Movement. When we look back and
remember that Rosa Parks, the so-called mother of the Civil Rights
movement was arrest in 1955 for refusing to give up her seat on a
bus and still 8 years later, the same struggles existed. The period
from the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, the murders of
Martin Luther King, Bobby Kennedy and Macolm X marked a dark period in
our history. There seemed to be no charismatic leader able to unite
the masses to move forward with human rights. The riot was perhaps
a facet of the movement.”
A Unique Identity
I asked Jeanne Massey if Detroit of that era was different than
other American cities. I also asked if Detroit is different today
than other American cities.
“Detroit is different from other American cities, in that the auto
industry provided an economic windfall to many middle class blacks
that were still limited as to the areas in which they were permitted to
live and go to school. Today, however, the economic base is beginning
to diversify and we are like more Midwestern cities.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

DUKAKIS TAKES UP HER BEST – AND MOST IMPORTANT – CAMPAIGN
Toledo Blade, OH
Sept 24 2006
You haven’t heard from Kitty Dukakis for a long time. Not that she’s
disappeared. The wife of the 1988 Democratic presidential nominee has
been toiling quietly, doing good works, helping to resettle refugees
and to rekindle the American conscience. But Mrs. Dukakis is being
quiet no longer, and she has something to tell us all.
Not that she suffers from depression. A lot of people knew that, were
aware of it for decades, and Mrs. Dukakis herself long has admitted
to resorting to pills, and to alcohol, even to nail polish remover
and hair spray, to soften her hurt and to get through the day, and
then to get through the night. For even during the day, even during
the good days, there were parts of her life that were a nightmare.
The thing she has to tell us is that she’s found some comfort – not in
amphetamines (which she took for two decades, hiding her desperation
even from her husband), nor from rubbing alcohol, nor even from more
conventional spirits – and has found her voice. She’s aiming to take
the stigma away from depression, and from its treatments.
The comfort comes from electroconvulsive therapy, a once-dreaded
procedure that involves applying a very brief burst of electric
stimulus to the brain. This therapy has been around for more than
six decades, and so has the concern about short- and medium-term
memory loss – so much so that the National Mental Health Association
characterizes ECT, as it is often called, as “the most controversial
psychiatric treatment.”
But today, because of modern anesthesia techniques, ECT is far more
conventional and effective. “This is a procedure that can change
peoples’ lives,” says Paul J. Friday, a clinical psychologist at the
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.
It wasn’t always that way, of course. Early movies showed grim,
unruly psychiatric patients in holding cells enduring a treatment
that was just short of torture.
“Where we are right now is very scientifically driven, much more
appropriate,” says Dr. Friday, “and I have several patients who
without it would probably have committed suicide.”
Mrs. Dukakis now feels better, so very much better, and she’s become
something of a campaigner for the benefits of ECT and a warrior
against stubborn stereotypes about depression. For Mrs. Dukakis,
who joined her husband Michael on four gubernatorial campaigns and
one presidential campaign, this is the last, best campaign.
And maybe the most important. This campaign includes television
appearances, a book (written with Larry Tye and carrying the title
Shock), and an evangelical zeal. And, Kitty being Kitty – a harmless
phrase today but one that once meant waves of trepidation for her
family and for aides in the Massachusetts State House and on the
campaign plane – there are anecdotes galore.
Here’s one she likes: “The other day I was having my nails done. A
woman came up to me whom I had seen in town many, many times. She heard
I had a book coming out. When she left, another woman sidled up to me,
whispering, saying that her son had depression and was reluctant to
tell anybody. That kind of summarizes what goes on.
There is such a stigma. My effort is to destigmatize it. I remember
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. We have to get away from that.”
Mrs. Dukakis first became aware of depression in 1982, when her
husband was trying to retake the governor’s office he had lost in
a humiliating primary defeat to the late Edward J. King in 1978 –
an event Mrs. Dukakis so regularly referred to as “a public death”
that the phrase has become inextricably linked to the episode.
She stopped taking diet pills in the middle of that campaign, still
regarded as one of the most bruising in the state’s history, and fell
into depression.
“I went through cycles,” she says. “Anti-depressants didn’t work,
or worked for a very short period of time, and toward the end of the
cycles I would start to drink, I was so desperate. There was a deep,
dark hole.”
She lived in that dark hole for years, though not, remarkably, during
the 1988 presidential campaign, when Gov. Dukakis emerged from the
Democratic field, received his party’s nomination at a triumphant
convention in Atlanta, and approached the general election with a
big lead over Vice President George H.W. Bush .
“The excitement of the campaign and the learning of the campaign
were enough of a stimulus to hold me off,” she says. “Then there
was a letdown. But my depression was not based on some reality in
my life, like losing the campaign. I was exhausted, of course, and
disappointed, but I would have been depressed anyway. It would have
come every eight or nine months because it always did.”
Katharine Dickson Dukakis, who is approaching her 70th birthday, was
one of the founders of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, has
been active in refugee affairs, and has been deeply involved in efforts
with Armenian Americans to cast light on the horrors of genocide.
But her legacy may be the forthrightness with which she has attacked
depression and shared her experiences.
“I noticed that when I started telling people they would look at me
and be horribly uncomfortable,” she says. “But I tell people I have
– had – a mental-health problem that was very serious, that my life
wasn’t worth living, just wasn’t, it was so horrible. I don’t want
to talk about this in whispers. It is painful enough to go through
depression and then to be embarrassed or reluctant to ever say anything
to anybody when you are feeling better.”
Re-read that paragraph and I guarantee one phrase will stick out,
the one about having a life that wasn’t worth living. Mrs. Dukakis has
disproved that, and, Republican or Democrat, we’re the beneficiaries.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

RIGHT TO SELF-DETERMINATION SHOULD NOT BE DECIDED BASED ONLY ON POLITICAL EXPEDIENCY – OSKANYAN
Regnum, Russia –
Sept 24 2006
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia Vardan Oskanyan attended
Sep 22-23 the 10th Bertelsman Forum in Berlin. He participated in
discussions on the Balkans and the Black Sea at which presidents
of Bulgaria, Romania, and Azerbaijan were also present, as well as
the prime minister of Montenegro. The Armenian FM confirmed during
a discussion that successful EU policy of the new neighborhood,
effective approach to conflict resolution and integrity of the Black
Sea region are a “regional litmus test” for Europe.
Oskanyan warned that one cannot deprive peoples of the right to
self-determination based only on political expediency. “If the world
was guided by the fear of creating new precedents, a half of the world
countries would have never come to exist. At the same time, we need
clear criteria, of which the main principle would be to define if
the country has the moral authority to exist,” Vardan Oskanyan stated.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Prime Minister of France Dominique de
Villepin, President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso, and
Prime Minister of Belgium Guy Verhofstadt addressed the guests at the
Forum’s opening. The forum was attended by more than 100 politicians,
including German former Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher and ex
US State Secretary Henry Kissinger. The forum was designed to discuss
“Europe’s strategic responses.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

EVERYONE’S A WINNER, BUT PIANIST HAMASYAN TAKES TOP MONK PRIZE
Matt Schudel, Washington Post Staff Writer
The Washington Post
September 19, 2006 Tuesday
Final Edition
For a music that usually flies beneath the radar of public notice,
jazz has had some rare visibility in Washington this past week,
and even a touch of glamour.
In honor of the 20th anniversary of the Thelonious Monk Institute
of Jazz, festivities began Thursday with a White House celebration
of America’s indigenous musical art that included an East Room
performance taped for PBS. It even had President Bush bobbing his
head to spirited versions of “Kansas City” and “It Don’t Mean a Thing
(If It Ain’t Got That Swing).”
On Saturday, 12 pianists faced off in the semifinals of the annual
Monk competition at the National Museum of American History’s Baird
Auditorium. And Sunday night at a sold-out Eisenhower Theater at the
Kennedy Center, three finalists competed for $35,000 in scholarships
and the exposure that goes with winning what has become, without
question, the most prestigious jazz competition in the world.
The annual contest, which rotates from one instrument to another each
year, has launched the careers of such young jazz stars as Joshua
Redman, Jane Monheit, Jacky Terrasson, Lisa Henry and Gretchen Parlato,
all of whom performed before and after last night’s competition.
There was other star power on hand as well, from presenters Quincy
Jones, Phylicia Rashad and Billy Dee Williams. But amid the celebratory
back-patting, there was a larger lesson to be learned than just
having a jazzy good time. The Monk Institute has a genuinely global
educational mission, which was embodied in this year’s 12 piano
semifinalists — who hailed from different countries.
The annual composition prize went to a Hungarian, Kalman Olah.
“The philosophy of jazz represents tolerance, teamwork and inclusion,”
said Thelonious Monk Jr., who helped found the Washington-based
institute in 1986 and is its board chairman. “That’s what America is
about. The music reflects that.”
For Monk, the institute is a way of “taking care of my father’s
legacy.”
His father, of course, was one of the guiding spirits of modern jazz,
a fiercely original composer and pianist who didn’t have megawatt
jazz competitions or college jazz programs to advance his career.
Instead, he came of age when jazz knowledge was passed from hand to
hand and, sometimes, from father to son.
“That music was part of my DNA,” said Thelonious Jr., 56, in a
pre-competition interview. After playing drums with his father in
the 1970s, the younger Monk had a career in R&B and rock music before
putting down his sticks in the mid-1980s.
Somewhat to his surprise, after founding the institute, he began to
reconnect with his jazz past, became absorbed in his father’s music
and formed a sizzling sextet that is one of the premier hard-bop
groups in jazz today.
He also settled into a role as the loquacious frontman for the Monk
Institute.
“I realized I could talk about this music,” he said, “because my
father had taken me everywhere and because he was like the oracle of
Delphi. I said, man, that’s a little gift. And gift is only a gift
if you use it.”
In 20 years, the Monk Institute has grown into a $5 million entity
that, against all odds, has put jazz into elementary and high school
curricula across the country. It sponsors a two-year fellowship
program for young musicians at the University of Southern California.
And, with his powers of persuasion, the younger Monk has helped bring
such distinguished musicians as Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter and Wayne
Shorter — all of whom performed at the White House and at Sunday
night’s post-competition Kennedy Center jam — to schools from Miami
to Alaska, and overseas from Egypt to Vietnam.
“We’ve been very instrumental in changing the paradigm in jazz
education,” Monk says. “The Monk Institute is about re-creating that
interface between the older musician and the younger musician.”
Which brings us back to Sunday night’s slickly produced finale,
underwritten by General Motors and Northrop Grumman. With Hancock,
Andrew Hill, Danilo Perez, Renee Rosnes, Billy Taylor and Randy Weston
judging the piano competition, the three young finalists added their
voices to a century-old jazz tradition.
The clear audience favorite was a Dutch-born Californian, Gerald
Clayton, who deftly combined the second movement of Beethoven’s
“Pathetique” Sonata with John Lewis’s “Django.”
But the judges were more impressed with Armenian-born Tigran Hamasyan,
who offered rhythmically dynamic readings of Ray Noble’s “Cherokee”
and Miles Davis’s “Solar” to take the top prize of $20,000. Clayton
won second place, and American Aaron Parks came in third.
Whether any of these pianists develops into a star remains to be
seen. But after 20 years of career-making competitions, the Monk
Institute can rightfully lay claim to being biggest buzzmaker in the
jazz world.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

TURKEY ILLUSTRATES DEEP CULTURAL DIVIDE
by Rebeca Chapa
San Antonio Express-News
September 21, 2006 Thursday
State&Metro Edition
Today, in a Turkish courtroom, writer Elif Shafak will go on trial
for “insulting Turkishness” through the use of dialogue in her latest
novel, “The Bastard of Istanbul.”
In the book, whose English version will be released next year, a
fictional character refers to the historical killings of more than
a million Armenians as “genocide.”
“I am the grandchild of genocide survivors who lost all their relatives
to the hands of Turkish butchers in 1915, but I myself have been
brainwashed to deny the genocide because I was raised by some Turk
named Mustapha!” one of her characters says.
The death of 1.5 million Armenians nearly a century ago has been a
long-standing gash in Turkey’s history. Armenians portray the event
as genocide while Turkish nationalists call the deaths the unintended
casualties of war.
Shafak, a French-born Turkish citizen, is a professor of Turkish
studies at the University of Arizona. The writer, who bore a child
on Saturday, is expected to appear in the Istanbul courtroom today.
If convicted, she could face up to three years in prison for violating
Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code.
Keep in mind, these are fictional characters saying made-up dialogue.
Shafak’s trial comes less than a year after another highly publicized
Turkish trial, that of writer Orhan Pamuk. In an interview, Pamuk
said that Armenians and Kurds were killed “in these lands and nobody
but me dares talk about it.”
For his outspoken statements, Pamuk was subjected to regular harassment
during his trial. Charges against him were dropped early this year,
but the assault on expression continues to be worrisome.
More than 60 cases have been brought against writers and artists
in Turkey, including a case against a newspaper editor for writing
articles about the Armenian diaspora.
Politically, Turkey is walking a fine line as it seeks entry to the
European Union. Cases such as Shafak’s could seriously threaten its
admission. In July, Olli Rehn, the EU’s commissioner for enlargement,
issued a statement urging Turkey to amend Article 301 in order to
guarantee freedom of expression, a criterion for admission.
Ironically, the law cuts both ways.
Supporters believe it limits dissemination of a controversial past,
thereby avoiding a negative perception as Turkey bucks for entry.
Opponents say the law’s very existence indicates oppression in Turkey,
which is equally harmful to admission.
Despite a growing aversion to respectful dialogue and a tendency toward
staunch stances in this country, freedom of expression remains a
cornerstone of our democracy. To that end, the United States should
simultaneously encourage Turkish authorities to reconsider the
restrictive 2005 law and support its conditional entry into the EU.
It may be diplomatically difficult.
The U.S.-Turkey alliance has soured since 2003, when Turkey denied the
use of its territories as a launching pad for attacks on neighboring
Iraq. Chaos is now brewing along that border, as the Kurdistan Workers’
Party, or PKK, has long invaded southeastern Turkey from bases in Iraq.
The group, classified as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the EU
and the United States, has been fighting for Kurdish autonomy for more
than 20 years. With tensions in Iraq already high, the United States
has warned the Turkish government not to overstep its boundaries in
fighting the PKK.
With the war in Iraq in its fourth year, we are increasingly reminded
of the dilemma in assuming that a Western vision of democracy —
whatever the motivation — can be stenciled onto a different country
with different people who share a different history.
Both Shafak’s trial and the ongoing Turkish conflict are reminders
of the historical and cultural elements of the broader war in the
Middle East.