Author: Frangulian Shushan

RA PARLIAMENT VICE SPEAKER: PRESENT RESOLUTION OF KARABAKH PROBLEM AT
NEGOTIATIONS IS DUE TO ARMENIAN ARMY

Yerevan, January 29. ArmInfo. "The present resolution of the Karabakh
problem at the Table of negotiations is due to the Armenian Army", RA
Parliament vice speaker, Vahan Hovhannessyan, told the journalists at
yesterday’s solemn event devoted to the 15th anniversary of the
Armenian Army. "It would not happen if our Army does not defend our
diplomats", Hovhannessyan said. Asked about the primary tasks of the
Army, V. Hovhannessyan noted that serious questions may arouse in
several years concerning the Army completion.

DISREGARD OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE LED TO NEW TRAGEDY DURING WORLD WAR II:
HEAD OF JEWISH COMMUNITY IN ARMENIA

Yerevan, January 27. ArmInfo. The disregard of the Armenian Genocide
of 1915 led to a new tragedy during the World War II, Rimma
Varzhapetyan, the head of the Jewish community in Armenia, said at a
press-conference, Saturday, devoted to the International Day of
Commemoration of Holocaust victims.

She noted that the attempts of Ottoman Turkey and Hitlerite Germany to
exterminate two nations should become a lesson for the next
generations. Nobody should stand the reoccurrence of such tragedy in
the future, R.Varzhapetyan emphasized. To remind, on January 27,
1945, Major Anatoly Shapiro, the commander of the storm-troops of the
106th infantry corps, was one of the first people to enter the Nazi
Germany’s largest death camp Oswiecim, where peaceful civil population
and prisoners of war were sent. Over a million people were
exterminated in the gas chambers of Oswiecim. In total, 6 million Jews
became victims of Holocaust during the World War II.

Murder and Paranoia in Turkey
The Boston Globe Editorial
Thursday, January 25, 2007
( turk.php)

THERE WAS a huge turnout in Istanbul Tuesday for the funeral of the
assassinated journalist Hrant Dink. Mourners held up placards saying,
"We are all Armenians" and "We are all Hrant Dink." It was a
heartening display of support for values that the slain editor of the
bilingual paper Agos defended at the cost of his life: free speech,
acknowledgment of the 1915 genocide of Armenians in Turkey, and
reconciliation between Turks and the 60,000 Armenians who remain in
Turkey.

Encouraging as that affirmation of tolerance and pluralism may be,
Dink’s murder and his funeral illuminate a dangerous conflict that
pervades state and society in Turkey.

Speaking at the slain editor’s graveside, the Armenian Patriarch
Mesrob II said: "We continue to hope that the Turks will recognize
that Armenians are Turkish citizens who have been living on this soil
for millennia and are neither foreigners nor potential enemies." What
is shocking about this plea for understanding is that it needed to be
made. The patriarch’s hope for Turkish acceptance of Armenians as full
citizens who can be loyal to Turkey reflects a deeply rooted confusion
about something called Turkish identity.

Dink was killed by a 17-year-old who had been given a gun and told to
carry out the murder by an ultra nationalist from his home town who
had served 10 months in prison for bombing a McDonald’s. The assassin
told police he had seen something on the Internet alleging that Dink
had said, "Turkish bloodis dirty." This was an allusion to the
Armenian-Turkish editor’s conviction under an odious law that makes it
a crime to insult Turkish identity.

For the people who marched in Dink’s funeral cortege, there is a clear
connection between the nationalist paranoia that produced such a law
and the murder of writers and intellectuals who are branded as
disloyal. That nationalism has been nourished on political myths that
are rooted in the ideology propounded by the founder of the
post-Ottoman Turkish state, Kemal Ataturk.

Turkey’s military and security services — what some Turkish liberals
call a "deep state" that acts independently of elected governments —
have interpreted Kemalism in a way that defines cultural and
linguistic autonomy for Kurds and other minorities as a rebellious
challenge to the ideal of Turkishness.

The secular ideology derived from Kemalism has been equally intolerant
of outward shows of religious piety, prohibiting women and girls from
wearinghead carves in school.

To gain entry to the European Union, Turkey’s political leaders will
have to conduct a broad educational campaign, uprooting myths about
the mass murder of Armenians and the military’s dirty war against the
Kurds. Before Turks can take on a new European identity, they will
have to redefine what it means to be Turkish.

al_opinion/editorials/articles/2007/01/25/murder_a nd_paranoia_in_turkey/

© _Copyright_ ( ht)
© 2007 The New York Times Company

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ARMY OF ARMENIA IS 15 YEARS OLD
[07:01 pm] 26 January, 2007

January 28 is the 15th anniversary of the Armenian army. In this
connection a number of events have been organized. RA NA Speaker
Tigran Torosyan has already sent a congratulating message.

`Fifteen years ago it would seem incredible that in such a short spell
the groups protecting Artsakh would turn into the strongest army in
the region. Today it is a fact which became reality thanks to the
effort of thousands of Armenians’, he said.

`The presence of the army tempered in war and peace is a reason for
being proud. I congratulate the Armenian nation and its soldiers on
the 15th anniversary of the army, and I pay my tribute of gratitude to
the memory of all those Armenians who gave their life for the
realization of this dream’, Tigran Torosyan said.

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
Jan 26 2007

Wilson: We want Iraq’s territorial integrity to be preserved

US Ambassador Ross Wilson said that Turkish and US policies in Iraq,
the Middle East and Cyprus were overlapping.

His main points were that both countries want to secure the
territorial integrity of Iraq, to see a two-state solution in the
Israeli-Palestinian struggle, and a settlement in Cyprus based on the
Annan Plan.

After saying in a recent TV interview that the US would not regard a
Turkish military operation in Northern Iraq against PKK camps as an
intervention in Iraq’s domestic politics, Wilson clarified the US
position by saying that Iraq’s neighbours had the right and
obligation to advise the Iraqi government on issues related to their
own securities and to raise their concerns, but not to impose any
decision. "Including us," added the American ambassador.
Wilson was speaking at a panel organized by the Eurasia Strategic
Research Centre (ASAM) discussing the future of US-Turkey relations
in 2007. The conference was chaired by Faruk Loloğlu, a former
ambassador of Turkey to the US and the president of ASAM. The
audience consisted of high level diplomats, former ministers and
retired military personnel.
Instead of making predictions on the future of relations, Ambassador
Wilson presented a history of relations and claimed that
Turkish-American cooperation on international terrorism was as old as
the history of the US. Wilson recalled that though there have been
some differences in the Turkish and US positions on international
politics in the past, like the Johnson Letter, the Cyprus issue in
the ?70s and the arms embargo, today’s reality was that the two
states want the same things. "Turkey has done several things in Iraq
that we want. But these were not favours to the US. They were also in
the interest of Turkey," said Wilson.
The US ambassador assured the audience that his country was looking
for a final solution to PKK terrorism, not just a freezing of the
problem. "This necessitates tough measures in fighting the PKK,
cutting down their financial sources and cooperation with the Iraqi
government and the local Kurdish government in the north of Iraq,"
reminded Wilson. "What Turkey needs to do," continued the US
ambassador, "is to convince the Iraqis that changing their way of
behaviour is also to their interest."
Wilson also elaborated on the future of Turkish-Armenian relations
and said that the positive atmosphere created during the funeral of
slain Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink may contribute to the
betterment of relations. Wilson assured Turkey that even if the
Congress and the Senate passed the Armenian genocide resolution, US
foreign policy would not change direction.
Answering a question about Kurdish-US cooperation, Wilson claimed
that this cooperation was not mutually incompatible with the
US-Turkish alliance. "The Kurds need to have good relations with
Turkey, and Turkey certainly needs to have good relations in all of
Iraq," said the ambassador. Wilson also warned that Iran’s possible
acquisition of nuclear weapons would have further security
implications for Turkey and US-Turkish relations, but did not want to
make any further predictions on these implications.

26.01.2007

KERİM BALCI ANKARA

PanARMENIAN.Net

European Court to consider Hrant Dink’s suit
26.01.2007 17:03 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The European Court proceeded to the
suit issued by Hrant Dink, the killed editor of Agos
Turkish-Armenian newspaper, after being handed a
suspended six-month sentence in compliance of Article
301 of the Turkish Penal Code (insulting
`Turkishness’). Over the death of the plaintiff the
European Court addressed his family on the issue, say
Turkish media.

The European Court of Human Rights stated that Dink’s
suit points out to violation of four articles of the
Convention on Human Rights Protection and fundamental
freedoms, reports IA Regnum.

AGOS IN PERIL

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[07:44 pm] 25 January, 2007

The editorial office of "Agos" newspaper gets letters full of threats
from an organisation called "Detachment of Revenge".

The letter says, "Come to yourselves; if you don’t behave wisely we
are capable of blowing the whole editorial office".

Reminder: prior to his death, Hrant Dink, editor of "Agos", also got
suchlike letters.

By the way, Turkish prosecutors have brought an action against five
people who are accused of Dink’s murder.

Brown Alumni Magazine, RI
Jan 24 2007

Choose Your Words Carefully

Writing would be much easier, says Salmon Rushdie, if its purpose
were merely to entertain.

By Lawrence Goodman

[CENSORSHIP]

The writers up on the Salomon Center stage may have come from different
countries, but they all had one thing in common-they’ve been persecuted
for speaking their minds.

"We are gambling with our lives when we choose a word," said Iranian
novelist Shahriar Mandanipour about the lack of free expression in his
native land. Mandanipour spoke at a panel on freedom of expression
that was part of a weeklong program titled "Strange Times, My Dear:
A Freedom-to-Write Literary Festival." Speaking alongside Mandanipour
was 2006 Nobel Prize winner Orhan Pamuk, who was threatened with
imprisonment in his native Turkey after he spoke openly about the
early twentieth-century mass murder of Armenians there.

At the forum Pamuk said he preferred not to speak about his battle with
the Turkish government. "I don’t want to go into it," he responded
when a student asked about his experience, which ended in late 2005
after the government dropped all charges.

Instead, Pamuk said, he worried about censorship in the West. As
immigrants from the East enter Europe, he said, they are "very roughly
treated." As a result, when they perceive insults against their culture
they call for less free speech or the banning of certain books. Then,
he said, Western governments ignore the underlying issues of racism
and cheap labor and instead "choose to ban books, plays, and films
just to please these immigrants."

The festival featured a one-on-one conversation with Salman Rushdie,
who in 1989 famously became the target of a fatwa offering a reward for
his murder. In an interview with conference organizer Robert Coover,
the T.B. Stowell Adjunct Professor of Literary Arts, Rushdie said
that writers have an obligation to be more than entertainers.

"It would give us [writers] a much better life if we were
entertaining," he said, "if all we were doing was to put things out
there to give people a pleasing evening."

Rushdie said the writer should be less a political activist than
an excavator of the memories and experiences a society wishes to
suppress. "It’s not a question of seeking out a political conflict,"
he explained, "but simply remembering the way it was."

Rushdie noted he will be starring as a gynecologist in an upcoming
movie directed by Helen Hunt. "Helen said that when she wrote the
part she was thinking of Salman," Rushdie said. "I have been thinking
what it means that when Helen Hunt thinks of me, she thinks of her
gynecologist."

ARMENIAN YOUTH AND STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS CONTINUE ACTIONS OF PROTEST
AGAINST HRANT DINK’S MURDER

YEREVAN, JANUARY 22, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. On the initiative
of ARF Dashnaktsutiun’s Nikol Aghbalian student union, on January
22, over twenty youth and student organizations held a procession of
protest from central annex of YSU to EU office, in connection with
Istanbul Agos weekly editor Hrant Dink’s murder.

"The murder of leading Armenian intellectual, honored journalist Hrant
Dink in Turkey is not only a crime towards laureate of freedom of
expression, but also reawakening of anti-Armenian hysteria in the
country that committed the first genocide of 20th century," youth
organizations’ statement read.

The procession participants lit candles in front of Hrant Dink’s
portrait placed near EU office gate and stood in one-minute silence
in memory of Hrant Dink. They were carrying such placards as "Genocide
Continues," "Restrain Turkey!," "Turkey, Your Hands are Bloody."

As Abraham Gasparian, member of Nikol Aghbalian student union,
said, Hrant Dink’s murder calls in question the possibility of
Armenian-Turkish dialogue. "This crime committed on ethnic ground
should sober EU, and U.S. Congress should immediately adopt the
bill on recognition of the Armenian Genocide," the student from
ARFD emphasized.

The Nikol Aghbalian student union will continue its events against
Hrant Dink’s murder. On January 23, they will lay flowers at Yerevan
Tsitsernakaberd memorial complex. The students will also take part
in the mourning ceremony to take place at the Genocide Museum the
same day.

In A.Gasparian’s words, the Nikol Aghbalian student union also
initiated to launch a special web-site, where they will place
information about Hrant Dink in six languages, a signature collection
will be organized under the statement against the crime, which will be
addressed to the European Court of Human Rights and PEN international
organization of journalists and writers.

Slain Turk shown in documentary

By Christina Vance
The Fresno Bee
01/21/07

Knar Kahkejian braved chilly Saturday night weather to hand photographs of a
murdered man to Fresno moviegoers.

The Fresno teen never met Hrant Dink, but she didn’t need to know him to
care about his death. She is Armenian, and so was he.

Dink, a Turkish newspaper editor of Armenian descent who challenged his
nation’s version of the Armenian genocide of 1915, was shot to death Friday
as he left his Istanbul office. A teenage boy was arrested Saturday in
Turkey in connection with Dink’s slaying.

An interview with Dink was included in "Screamers," a documentary on
genocide playing at the Edwards Theater at River Park. The film combines
footage of mass killings of the last century with music from hard rock band
System of a Down, whose members are Armenian.

Carla Garapedian, the documentary’s director, also stood outside the Fresno
theater Saturday night. She was in Los Angeles earlier in the day with
others who were memorializing Dink. She described him as a charismatic bear
of a man who lived with constant threats against his life.

"Of all the dissidents in Turkey right now, he was the one who was preaching
peace and reconciliation," she said.

Garapedian chatted with people about to see the movie, many of them
Armenians. The documentary will open in New York, Boston and Chicago in
coming days, but she said it came to Fresno at the request of the city’s
Armenian community.

Fresnan Vik Sapatjian is close friends with one of the band members, but he
was going to the film first as an Armenian who is opposed to genocide.

He questioned how many deaths might have been prevented in the last century
had the world stopped what happened to his people.

"People are still killing each other in mass quantities," he said.

Vache Jierian, who attends Fresno City College, said his 95-year-old
great-grandmother survived the killings. To him, the images in the film are
personal. "We can all relate to that, since we have ancestors who were part
of that," he said.

But Jierian said he was handing out posters on Dink’s death to educate
non-Armenians.

He wanted people to understand genocides – past and ongoing.

Garapedian decided to make the documentary in 2004 when she was at a System
of a Down concert and realized how many of the fans already knew about the
Armenian genocide.

She hoped the concert footage would draw filmgoers who don’t know about such
killings.

"I think we should all be outraged, and we’re not," she said.

Knar, who attends Bullard High School, said she has been taught about
genocide since she was young.

She admitted it can get discouraging because so few people know what’s going
on in the world.

Said Knar: "A lot of people are so ignorant to it, and they don’t want to
learn."

The reporter can be reached at [email protected] or (559) 441-6197.

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