Author: Emil Lazarian

The Chronicle of Higher Education
June 10, 2005, Friday
Conference in Turkey on Armenian Question Is Canceled Under
Government Pressure
AISHA LABI
An academic conference on the 1915-23 killing of 1.5 million
Armenians by Ottoman Turkish forces was canceled last month, a day
before it was scheduled to take place at Istanbul’s Bogaziçi
University.
The conference, “Ottoman Armenians During the Decline of the Empire:
Issues of Scientific Responsibility and Democracy,” was organized by
historians from three of Turkey’s leading universities,
Bogaziçi, Istanbul Bilgi, and Sabanci.
The organizers said the conference would have been the first in
Turkey on the Armenian question that was not set up by state
authorities or government-affiliated historians. Government officials
had pressed the organizers, first to include participants of the
government’s choosing, then to cancel the event.
Armenians, most of whom are Christians, have long said that the
killings amounted to genocide, and several European nations have
passed legislation agreeing with this view.
With Turkey pushing for admission to the European Union, which would
make it the first predominantly Muslim country to join the bloc, the
Armenian issue has become freshly contentious. European heads of
state have repeatedly raised the subject with Turkey’s government,
which, despite its eagerness to demonstrate its European credentials,
flatly rejects the notion that what occurred amounted to genocide.
The conference at Bogaziçi University, known in English as
Bosphorus University, would have marked the culmination of several
years of newly invigorated academic discussion on the Armenian issue.
Fatma Müge Göçek, an associate professor of
sociology at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, was on the
advisory committee for the conference. She is working on a book
called “Deciphering Denial: Turkish Historiography on the Armenian
Massacres of 1915.” She said the Armenian issue is a hot topic for
Turkish historians now, in part because of Turkey’s European Union
bid. “All of these human-rights issues are being taken on the agenda
now,” she said, “and this one is so closely connected with the issue
of Turkish nationalism that it becomes extremely difficult to
separate the two in people’s minds.”
Ms. Göçek and colleagues have been conducting scholarly
workshops on the Armenian issue in the United States and Europe. When
they decided that the time was right to hold such a discussion in
Turkey, they decided to invite only participants of Turkish origin
and hold it at a public university, like Bogaziçi. “We wanted
to make a stand, saying that the ones saying this are not foreigners,
it is Turks themselves,” she said.
According to Ms. Göçek, government officials asked the
organizers to include participants who would represent the official
state thesis, which holds that there was no genocide. After the
organizers declined, the governor of Istanbul called Ayse Soysal, the
rector of Bogaziçi University, and asked her to cancel the
meeting. She declined, Ms. Göçek said, and also rebuffed
government requests later that day for copies of the papers that
would be presented at the conference.
Debate in Parliament
With interest building — some 720 observers had registered to attend
the sessions and listen to the discussions — the conference also
became a subject of heated discussion on the floor of the nation’s
Parliament. Justice Minister Cemil Cicek said the conference amounted
to “treason.”
In such a polarized and tense climate, Ms. Göçek said,
the organizers decided that security might become a problem and chose
to postpone the conference.
Aybar Ertepinar, vice president of the Council of Higher Education, a
government-financed organization that oversees Turkey’s universities,
said the council had been uncomfortable with some of the organizers’
plans, which it viewed as one-sided.
“They stated that they are going to invite speakers of a certain
breed plus a certain audience, and that it is not open to everybody,”
Mr. Ertepinar said. “That makes it ideological rather than
scientific, and we found that rather unfortunate.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

St. Petersburg Times (Florida)
June 11, 2005 Saturday
Scholar to discuss Armenian genocide
PALM HARBOR
Scholar and author Vahakn Dadrian will speak on the Armenian genocide
of the early 20th century and the Holocaust at 2 p.m. today in the
social hall of Temple Ahavat Shalom, 1575 Curlew Road. Dadrian is
director of genocide research at Zoryan Institute for Contemporary
Armenian Research and Documentation. Based in Cambridge, Mass., the
institute is devoted to research of the history, politics, society,
and culture of Armenia and Armenians around the world. The Armenian
genocide refers to the slaughter of 1.5-million Armenians from 1915
to 1923 by the Central Committee of the Young Turk Party of the
Ottoman Empire. The event is being sponsored by St. Hagop Armenian
Church of Pinellas Park. Dadrian “happened to be passing by here, so
we lassoed him” for the lecture, said Dr. Hagop “Jack” Mashikian, a
retired psychiatrist and vice chairman of the church’s parish
council. A wine and cheese reception will follow the lecture, which
is free and open to the public.

NEF President Featured Speaker at Capitol Hill – Commemoration of
Armenian Genocide – posted Wednesday, April 27, 2005
“Something of a long term benefit has come from the terrible malice
perpetrated in the Armenian Genocide,” Near East Foundation President
Ryan A. LaHurd, Ph.D. noted during his keynote address at the
Congressional Armenian Genocide Commemoration held in Washington D.C.
“The work of the Near East Foundation argues that humanity can respond
to evil with good, to despair with hope, and to destruction with
rebuilding,” the NEF President continued. “Perhaps more than anything,
the Near East Foundation’s continuity recalls that while human beings
are capable of extreme self-interest, we are also capable of great
generosity–and we celebrate the choice of generosity,” he told the
assembly of 200 distinguished guests attending the April 20th
reception and remarks.
They included the second keynote speaker, Henry Morgenthau III, who
shares the name of his grandfather, then U.S. Ambassador to the
Ottoman Empire whose urgent telegram to President Wilson about “the
destruction of the Armenian race in Turkey” prompted the founding of
the Near East Foundation (originally called Near East Relief).
Consequently the Near East Foundation also celebrates its 90th
anniversary this year as America’s first nationwide international
relief and development effort.
Quoting an early NEF leader’s comment–“everything we know we learned
from the orphans”–Dr. LaHurd spoke about the 100,000-plus orphans
among the million refugees who were fed, clothed housed and cared for
in NEF camps and orphanages: “What these philanthropists learned is
that if we are to truly help those in need, we must move beyond relief
into development, building their capacity through education and
supplying technical assistance and resources. In this way they can
build their own better future in independence and self-reliance.”
Near East Foundation’s work with the survivors of the Armenian
Genocide became the model for the Marshall Plan of post-World War II
recovery, Truman’s Point IV Program, the U.S. Agency for International
Development (USAID), the Peace Corps, the United Nations Development
Program (UNDP), he continued, emphasizing, “Good has come from evil;
hope, from despair.”
In his comments the NEF President also called attention to the Near
East Foundation’s operative philosophy in consonance with “American
commitment to investment rather than spending, understanding the time
and energy needed to help people learn new ways and change old
approaches in a manner that preserves what is most valuable in their
culture. Ironically, this very approach which gave birth to the
U.S. Agency for International Development has largely been abandoned,”
he took this opportunity to tell assembled congresspersons.
“In an effort to streamline their approach and supposedly become more
cost-effective, USAID and other government agencies which fund
international development, now fund almost entirely short term, very
large, tens-of-million dollar projects,” Dr. LaHurd stated, adding,
“This approach has given birth to large contractors whose sole purpose
is to manage such grants, often leaving organizations like ours–with
our hands-on, people orientation–out in the cold.”
Congressional leaders attending included Senators John Kerry and Paul
Sarbanes and from the House, Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi and
Congresswomen Anna Ashoo of California and Nita Lowey of New
York. Masters of ceremonies were co-chairs of the Congressional Caucus
on Armenian Issues, Congressmen Joe Knollenberg of Michigan and Frank
Pallone, Jr. of New Jersey. Armenian American representatives from
around the country included Archbishop Oshagan Choloyan of the Prelacy
of the Armenian Apostolic Church of the Eastern United States and
Canada, Mary Ann Kibarian of the Children of Armenia Fund, also the
Armenian Ambassador to the United States Tatoul Makarian.
Over the past decade, Members of Congress have joined with civic,
religious and human rights leaders and Armenian-Americans nationally
to solemnly mark the systematic annihilation of over 1.5 million
Armenian men, women and children during the first genocide of the 20th
century. This year’s remembrances were held in the historic Cannon
Caucus Room in the U.S. Capitol. They highlighted the unprecedented
U.S. diplomatic, political and humanitarian response to the Armenian
Genocide and focused on efforts today to properly reaffirm this crime
against humanity.
The introduction of the Near East Foundation was greeted by
particularly enthusiastic and sustained applause. Last year NEF
received the 2004 Freedom Award granted by the Armenian National
Committee of America, Western Region–their most prestigious–“for
your organization’s longstanding history of aiding the Armenian people
and others in their darkest hours.” In February NEF was honored at the
“International Relief, Refuge, and Recognition Tribute” held in Los
Angeles, where Dr. LaHurd also delivered the keynote address. That
event was sponsored by the Armenian Assembly, Armenian General
Benevolent Union and the Western Diocese of the Armenian Church.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Georgia plans to buy Iranian gas
Baku, June 9, AssA-Irada
Georgia intends to purchase natural gas from Iran to be transported
through Azerbaijan, Georgian officials said.
Azerbaijan’s infrastructure is to be used for gas supplies, Deputy
Minister for Fuel and Energy and Communications of Georgia Isag
Novruzov told reporters in Baku.
`We plan to use the existing Garadagh-Tbilisi gas pipeline. Its Azeri
section was refurbished in 2004 and a capital repair of the Georgian
section is currently underway’, Novruzov said.*
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

The Gazette (Montreal)
June 11, 2005 Saturday
Final Edition
Pamuk mourns the loss of Istanbul’s greatness: Born at a time of
transition, author sees a city the world has forgotten
PAUL CARBRAY, The Gazette
Merging a writer’s life with a city isn’t a new idea. It’s been tried
countless times, and a couple of publishers recently began series
marrying a writer with a city or region.
Orhan Pamuk is well-qualified to write about Istanbul. He has lived
in the city for most of his life and is Turkey’s most famous
novelist, at least in the West.
This is not a conventional guidebook. Rather, it is a moody,
introspective look at a declining city that once ruled an empire and
at the life of a young boy trapped in a family riven by squabbles.
The Pamuk family, rich by Turkish standards, lives in the Pamuk
Apartments, a five-storey block. “My mother, my father, my older
brother, my grandmother, my uncles, and my aunts, we all lived on
different floors,” Pamuk writes.
The house is ruled by his grandmother, who spends most of her time in
bed, mourning while her sons squander the family fortune and the
marriage of Orhan’s father slowly disintegrates.
The reader is led into the decaying Istanbul of the 1960s to 1980s, a
city built on past glories and one that is trying to come to terms
with its past while turning its eyes toward the West.
Nineteenth-century wooden mansions called yalis are burning down
along the Bosphorus, a symbol of the destruction of Istanbul’s
Ottoman past.
“In my childhood, these Bosphorus villas had no attraction for the
nouveau riche and the slowly growing bourgeoisie,” Pamuk remembers.
“Because the rich of the republican era were not as powerful as the
Ottoman pashas, and because they felt more western sitting in their
apartments … viewing the Bosphorus from a distance, the old Ottoman
families now weakened and brought low … could find no takers for
their old Bosphorus yalis.”
It became public entertainment to watch these yalis burn down, and
Pamuk, his young girlfriend by his side, would watch with the crowds
on the water’s edge and draw his own conclusions about the loss of
empire.
Pamuk’s book is suffused with huzun, the uniquely Turkish form of
melancholy. He is saddened by what his once cosmopolitan city has
become, its once vibrant minorities, like Greeks and Armenians,
driven out by religious and secular strife, and the city transformed
by massive migration from the countryside.
The Turkish republic was 29 years old when Pamuk was born in 1952,
but Istanbul, the Istanbullus (what residents call themselves) and
the country were still in transition. Its script had been changed
from Arabic to the Roman alphabet, new dress codes were instituted
(at one point, wearing a fez was an offence), and the state was
determined to be secular.
Pamuk grows up to despise his compatriots’ slavish imitation of the
European west and misses the social cohesion of the old Turkish
empire.
Making the book more beguiling are its wonderful pictures, many of
them by Ara Guler, which record the Istanbul of times past. “I
relived much of the excitement and puzzlement of writing this book
while choosing the photographs,” Pamuk says.
But casting a shadow over everything is Pamuk’s sense of desolation,
his huzun, at what has happened to his beloved city.
“Gustave Flaubert, who visited Istanbul 102 years before my birth,
was struck by the variety of life in its teeming streets; in one of
his letters, he predicted that in a century’s time it would be the
capital of the world,” Pamuk writes.
“The reverse came true. After the Ottoman Empire collapsed, the world
almost forgot that Istanbul existed. The city into which I was born
was poorer, shabbier, and more isolated than it had ever been before
in its 2,000-year history. For me, it has always been a city of ruins
and of end-of-empire melancholy.”
Istanbul: Memories and the City
Orhan Pamuk, Knopf, 384 pages. $34.95

DEPUTY OF TURKISH PARLIAMENT IS IN ARMENIA WITH INFORMAL VISIT
YEREVAN, JUNE 10. ARMINFO. A member of Turkey’s parliament from
“Justice and development” party Turkhan Comes is in Yerevan with an
informal visit. This is the first visit of Turkish Milli Mejlis
deputy to Armenia.
At today’s meeting with students of the Yerevan State University, he
conveyed greetings of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Ergodan and
determined his visit to Yerevan as a first step on the way of
establishing good-neighbor relations, and strengthening confidence
between Armenia and Turkey. “We want to keep peace and develop
relations with our countries, which is possible without laying down
the preconditions. We also wish that all the countries of the region
may hope on getting the access to its riches. Turkey’s authorities
shown interest and supported my initiative to arrive in Yerevan”,
Comes noted expressing certainty that the visit will have positive
results and give an opportunity to other Turkish officials to follow
his example, especially as the Turkish side has the same wish.
Speaking about Ankara’s policy regarding Armenia in invariable
closure to Nagorno Karabakh and Azeri subject-matter, Comes noted the
necessity to focus on subjects drawn together but not separate both
peoples and states. “It is important to realize what happened in past
and speak openly and honestly about it”, he stressed. Comes informed
that he plans to meet with his Armenians counterparts in the National
Assembly. “This meeting may be decisive and have deep meaning for
future political relations”, he said. -r-

PROBLEMS OF ARMENIAN OMBUDSMAN STARTED AFTER HER ANNUAL REPORTING
YEREVAN, JUNE 11. ARMINFO. The problems of Armenia’s ombudsman Larisa
Alaverdyan started after her reporting on her work in 2004, says the
leader of the opposition Justice bloc, MP Stepan Demirtchyan.
The government did not like the report and launched an attack against
Alaverdyan through Justice Ministry, Constitutional Court and finally
National Security Service. Demirtchyan does not agree with his bloc
colleague Arshak sadoyan that the case of Alaverdyan is just an act
aimed to raise her rating. “I don’t think this is an act. She failed
to cater for the government and is now defendless before its machine,”
says Demirtchyan.

AzerTag, Azerbaijan
June 11 2005
MEETING OF HEADS OF THE STATES IN EXPANDED STRUCTURE
[June 10, 2005, 21:05:50]
On June 10, after the private meeting ended, with participation of
delegations the meeting of the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev
and the President of Croatia Stipe Mesic has taken place in the
expanded structure.
Presidents welcomed activation of efforts of the European Union and
the Council of Europe in the question of peace settlement of the
Armenia-Azerbaijan, Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, have emphasized hope
that it renders positive influence on solution of the problem.
The sides have agreed upon encouragement of cooperation between the
diplomatic representatives in the third countries.
The heads of the states have emphasized that both countries would
play important role in strengthening regional safety and stability
within the framework of Council of the Euro-Atlantic cooperation, the
NATO PfP Program and submitted by Azerbaijan the `Operating plan on
individual partnership’.
Having reminded about the threat created by the international
terrorism, the Presidents have stated that support display of global
efforts for elimination of this trouble in conditions of widespread
cooperation from the United Nations.
Having agreed with opinion that connection of Azerbaijan to the
policy of the new neighborhood of Europe will bring in contribution
to restoration of peace and stability to region, the Croatian side
also has emphasized, that at the same time it renders positive
influence on integration of Azerbaijan and other states of region to
Europe. The Croatian side has stated that supports intention of
Azerbaijan to become a member of the World Trade Organization and
welcomes the efforts shown by Azerbaijan in the said direction.
The Azerbaijan side has informed on results of economic reforms
conducted in the country, including about tendencies of intensive
development, about realization of the program on poverty reduction,
deepening of links with the European Union. Also was marked the value
of cooperation for realization of programs TRACECA, INOGATE, the
project of the railway Kars-Tbilisi-Baku. The international value of
investment was especially underlined in build of the
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline and the Southern – Caucasian gas
main.
Taking into account the importance of support of activity of the
small and medium enterprises, the heads of the states have noted
necessity of creation of favorable conditions for cooperation between
state and private enterprises of both countries, irrespective of
their form of ownership, financial and bank structures.

LITHUANIA READY TO HELP ARMENIA IN EUROPEAN INTEGRATION
YEREVAN, June 10. /ARKA/. Lithuania is ready to help Armenia in
European integration, Speaker of the Lithuanian Parliament Arturas
Paulauskas stated at his meeting with RA minister of Territorial
Administration Hovik Abrahamyan.According Paulauskas, Lithuanian
authorities are ready to share not only their successful experience,
but also faults, with Armenia, which will allow it to prevent them and
implement reforms more efficiently. In his turn, Minister Abramyan
reported that Armenia has executed 90% of its commitments tom the
CE. He proposed discussing Lithuania’s experience in European
integration at the expert level, pointing out that the signing of an
Armenian-Lithuanian intergovernmental agreement on trade and economic
cooperation may give an impetus to bilateral cooperation.
RA Premier Andranik Margaryan is scheduled to pay a visit to
Lithuania, and Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus is scheduled to pay
a visit to Armenia.
P.T. -0–

A1plus
| 15:25:54 | 10-06-2005 | Social |
IN REGIONS HUMAN RIGHTS ARE FORGOTTEN MORE OFTEN
RA Ombudsman Larissa Alaverdyan has been to Gyumri on official duty
recently.
About 20 citizens had come to receive the Ombudsman. The reception took
place in the Gyumri branch of the non-governmental organization of the
`Armenian Center of Defense of Human Rights after A. Sakharov’. The main
issue the residents of Gyumri were concerned by was of course the housing
problem.
According to Mrs. Alaverdyan, the Human rights defense is realized more
badly in the faraway regions. A case of this is the village Voghji. The
facts of complaints to the Ombudsman from this village were registered
during the visit of her representatives. Moreover, the regional governor had
applied to Regional Governing Minister Hovik Abrahamyan in March with the
request to resign the head of the village from his post but there has been
no answer yet.
The lands which are cultivated by the residents of the village are near the
border. In order to go there a permit is needed. The permits are given to
the people 1.5 month before the spring and autumn agricultural seasons.
Those people who had «dared» to send a complaint to the Ombudsman, in
contrast to the rest, had not received their permits by June 7 in order to
cultivate their lands.
Today the residents of the village do not have Property documents of their
houses. Under the present head of the village the population of the village
has been considerably reduced.
According to L. Alaverdyan, the actions of the Voghji head do not suit a
local governor.