Author: Hambardsumian Paul

AND ARMENIA?

Haykakan Zhamanak
Jan 8 2009
Armenia

While meeting with journalists before the New Year, Movses Hakobyan,
the defence minister of the [unrecognized] Nagornyy Karabakh republic,
made an almost sensational statement, which, perhaps, will become a
matter of discussion in Armenia.

While answering a question of our correspondent on the Karabakh
settlement, Hakobyan said literally the following: "As opposed to other
countries in the region, Karabakh is the only one where the authorities
have been elected by the people and where the people accept it".

Perhaps after this statement the Armenian government will finally start
to treat seriously the issue of what Movsisyan implies by saying the
"region", and whether he believes that the government in Armenia,
as opposed to Karabakh, has not been elected by the people. It is
quite possible that if the Armenian government is convinced that what
the Karabakh defence minister said refers to them as well, then there
could be trouble in the pipeline for Movses Hakobyan.

TURKEY’S LONG-AWAITED APOLOGY TO ARMENIANS BEGINS
By Esra Ozyurek

South Bend Tribune
dll/article?AID=/20090107/Opinion/901070427/1065/O pinion
Jan 7 2009
IN

Two hundred Turkish intellectuals last month launched an Internet
signature campaign for an apology to Armenians for the 1915 massacres.

"My conscience does not accept the insensitivity showed to and the
denial of the Great Catastrophe that the Armenians were subjected
to in 1915," the brief statement reads. "I reject this injustice and
for my share, I empathize with the feelings and pain of my Armenian
brothers and sisters. I apologize to them."

Within a month, more than 26,000 people signed on, a significant
number in a country where the fate of the Armenians at the end of
the Ottoman Empire has been largely unmentionable for decades.

To those long frustrated by Turkey’s intractability on the issue, this
campaign may appear an inadequate gesture. But it has immense value,
educating many Turks about the violence done to Armenians for the
first time and enabling those who are ready to come to terms with it.

The official Turkish position on 1915 has shifted over time. It was
a fight between local Turkish and Armenian bands. Or it was a forced
resettlement — a march on which hundreds of thousands of Armenians
were sent to Syria, but most never arrived.

Historians and politicians also have argued that it was actually
Armenians who massacred Turks and that talk of an Armenian genocide
was an international conspiracy. In contemporary Turkey, novelists,
journalists, historians or other intellectuals who call the events a
genocide or even mass murder can face trial under the infamous Article
301 of the Turkish Penal Code, which outlaws insulting Turkey, its
government or its people.

Organizers of the "I apologize" campaign notably shied away from the
word "genocide," opting instead for "the Great Catastrophe," a phrase
initially used by Armenians. Still, Turkish nationalists were quick
to condemn the project and launch multiple counter we-want-an-apology
campaigns.

Turkey’s prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, quickly dismissed the
apology movement.

"These Turkish intellectuals must have committed the genocide,"
he said mockingly, "since they are the ones who are apologizing."

Opposition parties in the parliament, other than the Kurdish-inclined
Democratic Turkey Party, have all condemned the campaign as well. The
Nationalist Action Party, for example, issued a statement that said,
in part, "There is no single page in the honorable history of the
Turkish nation for which we should be embarrassed, and no crime
for which we should apologize. No one has the right to smear our
ancestors by deviating from history, declaring them guilty, and ask
them to apologize."

Granted, 26,000 signatories to the campaign means Turks interested
in apologizing remain few and far between in a nation of 70
million. Still, this is a very significant development in Turkey.

In the last 10 years, several Turkish scholars began studying the
Armenian massacres outside the official Turkish framework, and some of
them, such as Taner Akcam, have openly acknowledged those events were
a genocide. Turkish and Armenian scholars organized joint workshops
to discuss what happened to Armenians at the end of the Ottoman
Empire. When Hrant Dink, a prominent journalist of Armenian background,
was assassinated by a nationalist thug in Istanbul two years ago,
200,000 Turks marched in the streets carrying banners that said,
"We are all Armenian."

Critics will certainly reply that these modest activities do not
compensate for the original crime or the suffering caused by its denial
for almost a century. They will complain that the current signature
campaign does not use the word "genocide." Yet the significance of
this campaign cannot be understated.

I grew up in Turkey in a politically engaged, educated and reasonably
liberal family in the 1970s and the 1980s, and I had only a vague
idea about the animosity between Turks and Armenians. It wasn’t
until I enrolled in graduate school at the University of Michigan,
one of the most important centers of Ottoman and Armenian studies in
the United States, that I learned about the unacceptably sad end of
the Armenian subjects of the Ottoman Empire.

Turks growing up today surely are better informed about the history
of the land they inhabit. Even those who accept the nationalist line
have to be aware of the sudden end of the centuries-long Armenian
presence in Anatolia.

Regardless of the terms they employ or the specific amount of
responsibility they willingly shoulder, this next generation of Turks
is already in a much better position to face the darkest aspect of
their national history and develop a more responsible relationship
to it.

It may appear a small gesture now, but the initiators of the "I
apologize" campaign have introduced a ray of hope for reconciliation
between Armenians and Turks before the 100th anniversary of the
catastrophe comes around.

Esra Ozyurek is an associate professor of anthropology at the
University of California, San Diego, and author of "Nostalgia for
the Modern: State Secularism and Everyday Politics in Turkey" and
"Politics of Public Memory in Turkey."

Today.Az, Azerbaijan
Jan 4 2009

Armenian Foreign Ministry: `Armenia hopes for continuation of
improvement of Armenian-Turkish relations"

04 January 2009 [19:08] – Today.Az

Armenia hopes that the process of improvement of Armenian-Turkish
relations with first steps undertaken in 2008 will continue in 2009.

According to spokesman for Armenian Foreign Ministry Tigran Balayan,
the meeting of Armenian and Turkish President Serzh Sargsyan and
Abdullah Gul on September 6 and further the meeting of the Foreign
Ministers of these two countries were constructive and Armenian side
hopes that these positive tendencies will also continue in 2009.

Balayan also noted that there has not been any agreement about holding
the meeting soon.

/GHN/

URL:

ARTSAKH ACTIVIST DR.ELENI THEOCHAROUS INVOLVED IN INCIDENT WITH ISRAELI
PATROL BOAT, WHILE TAKING HUMANITARIAN AID TO PALESTINIANS IN GAZA

Friday December 26 – Nicosia – Gibrahayer e-magazine

December 30, 2008 – Associated Press – LARNACA, Cyprus – Israeli naval
vessels reportedly have rammed a Gaza-bound boat carrying doctors,
medical supplies and international peace activists – among them former
U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney.
According to a statement released early today by the aid
mission’s organisers, the 66-foot yacht Dignity was struck on the bow
side, took on water and suffered engine damage.

In recent months Israel has permitted several similar missions
to reach Gaza, but with the two sides now locked in combat the Israelis
apparently have decided to prevent the latest ship from reaching port
in the besieged territory.
The ship sailed to Lebanon after the incident, according to a
statement released early today by organisers. They also said Dignity
was 90 miles off the coast of Gaza, in international waters, when it
was intercepted by the Israelis, who allegedly also fired machine guns
into the water to stop the ship from reaching Gaza.
The Israelis have denied their ship deliberately struck the
Dignity, telling The Associated Press that the ships collided when
Dignity tried to manoeuvre around the Israeli ship.
The aid vessel left Larnaca with almost 3.6 tons of
Cypriot-donated supplies and 16 passengers, including McKinney, Cypriot
lawmaker Eleni Theocharous and activists from Britain, Australia,
Ireland and Tunisia, organisers said.
McKinney, who unsuccessfully ran this year for the U.S.
presidency on the Green Party ticket, said she will petition U.S.
President-elect Barack Obama to speak out against the Israeli attacks
on Gaza.
Theocharous, who is also a surgeon, said supplies include
urgently-needed surgical equipment and antibiotics that will be used to
treat the wounded.
"We’re hoping that the Israelis are receptive to our very clear
focus that this is a humanitarian mission," said Caoimhe Butterly, the
spokeswoman for the Free Gaza group. "This is a symbolic relief
shipment and we hope that it will be the first of many."
The Fr ee Gaza group has made five deliveries of aid by boat to
Gaza since August, defying a blockade imposed by Israel when Hamas won
control of the territory in June 2007. One of their ships was named
after the USS Liberty, an American spy ship that the Israelis attacked
during the Six Day War in 1967. Israel claims they thought the ship was
Egyptian, though surviving crew-members and others have long maintained
their identity was clearly known to the attacking ships and aircraft.
The previous aid ships have all been allowed entry to Gaza, but
organisers say they are aware the Israeli navy may stop them this time.
Israel launched the deadliest bombing campaign against
Palestinians in decades on Saturday in retaliation for rocket fire
aimed at civilians in southern Israeli towns.
The strikes in Gaza have killed at least 315 people and wounded
1,400. Israel has launched more than 300 air-strikes, and its military
has said naval vessels have also bombarded targets from the sea.
It is also sending tanks toward the Gaza border and approving
the call-up of thousands of reserve soldiers in apparent preparation
for a ground offensive.
"We will try to make it to send the message to the Palestinian
people that they are not alone and to the rest of the world that they
must consider what is going on there right now," Theocharous said.

Athens News Agency, Greece
Dec 28 2008

Ecumenical Patriarch receives visiting Athens mayor

ISTANBUL (ANA-MPA) — Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I
(Vartholomeos) on Sunday received Athens Mayor Nikitas Kaklamanis at
his Fanar-district seat in the Bosporus metropolis. Kaklamanis later
met with the mayor of Beyo?Ä?lu (Peran), a historic district in
Istanbul, who also visited the Patriarch on the occasion of the
Christmas holiday.

Bartholomew later received two Armenian Church Archbishops of the
city, representatives of Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople Mesrob
II, who conveyed the latter’s Christmas wishes to the Ecumenical
Patriarch and the Orthodox faithful.

CONVERSEBANK PROFITS MAY REACH 2.5BLN AMD

ARKA
Dec 26, 2008

YEREVAN, December 26. /ARKA/. Ararat Ghukasyan, the Executive Director
of Conversebank, said the bank’s profits before taxation may reach
2.5bln AMD.

"In the whole, the 2008 was a successful year for the bank and we
intend to complete it with profits exceeding the expected indicators,"
he told reporters on Friday.

According to Ghukasyan, Conversebank will adhere to a policy of
expansion in the regions and improve infrastructures and services
there.

"We managed to bring the number of branches to 25 with four of them
being renovated thoroughly, expanded the network of ATMs, increasing
their number up to 41 against 29 early this year," he said.

The Conversebank CJSC was incorporated in Armenia on December 20, 1993.

Eduardo Ernekyan, an Argentina-based Armenian businessman purchased
the bank’s 95% shares last February. The other 5% is held by the
Armenian Apostolic Church.

The bank’s assets reached 63.9bln AMD this October 31, total capital
13bln AMD, liabilities 50.9bln AMD. ($1 – 308.37).

SAAKASHVILI PLEDGES TO HELP MINORITIES
By Etuna Tsotniashvili

The Messenger
Dec 24 2008
Georgia

"Every ethnic group in Georgia should feel that they are
representatives of the country," President Saakashvili stated at a
meeting with the staff of news programme National Moambe, which is
broadcast in various languages, on December 22.

The President said the Georgian Government should take additional
measures to help ethnic minority groups to learn the Georgian language
better, something which would make it easier for them to integrate
with Georgian society. "We should improve the process of learning
the Georgian language for ethnic minorities, or rather, I would say
‘so-called ethnic minorities’ because I don’t accept such a term. I
don’t think they are either minorities or should be separated out
by ethnicity, but the learning of the Georgian language should be
enhanced in Javakheti, Kvemo Kartli and other regions of Georgia
where other ethnic group representatives live," he said.

Saakashvili talked about those teachers who work in areas populated
by minority ethnic groups and stated that after consultation with the
Education Minister the decision was made to increase the salaries of
teachers to GEL 1,000. "This will enable us to attract professionals
to teach there," he said.

Saakashvili said that the Ministry of Education made a very serious
mistake in expecting minority ethnic students to pass national entry
exams of the same standard as those for native Georgian speakers and
promised that this mistake will be rectified soon. "We should give
them special privileges to help them pass entry exams. Several hundred
representatives of minority ethnic groups should study at Georgian
higher educational institutions under the simplified programmes,"
he said, adding that the Government should create some incentives
for ethnic minorities so that they will stay in Georgia and continue
studying in local universities and institutions rather than going to
Baku or Yerevan.

At the end of his speech Saakashvili stated that Georgia’s
de-occupation will come soon and the unity previously created with
various ethnic groups will be decisive. The enemy called us everything
they could, but did not call us chauvinists or nationalists or accuse
us of pursuing ethnically discriminatory policies. "They failed
because such a position is totally unacceptable for the present
Georgian authorities, me personally, our nation and our multi-ethnic
society," Saakashvili said. "Our multi-ethnicity is not our weakness;
it is Georgia’s greatest wealth and strength," he added.

CHRISTMAS CONCERT BY GREEK CYPRIOT CHOIR AT SOURP ASDVADZADZIN CHURCH
Alexander-Michael Hadjilyra – [email protected]

Gibrahayer
Dec 08, 2008

Last Sunday, the Armenian church of Sourp Asdvadzadzin in Nicosia
was the venue for a heavenly Christmas concert. Participating were
the 15-member Chamber Choir "Polyfonia", directed by Maro Skordi,
the 8-member Guitar Ensemble "OKTO", directed by Demetris Regginos,
and organist Boris Alexandrov. For about 90 minutes, the Armenian house
of God was filled with heavenly melodies, songs and sounds, ranging
from the Cyprus carols, English songs and classical masterpieces to
traditional Latin, French, German and Spanish melodies.

The church bench were full of people of all ages, who with the help
of the music and the ecclesiastical environment were lifted up to
the skies.

Closing this article, I cannot but praise Vicky Kouyoumdjian’s divine
soprano voice – a voice we adore listening during the Sunday Badarak
-, who finished the concert with a solo on Lour Kisher (the Armenian
version of "Silent Night"), to the surprise and joy of the Armenians
present!

I’d like to take this opportunity to wish you all: Shnorhavor nor
Dari yev Sourp Dzenount.

PRESIDENT GUL FILES LAWSUIT AGAINST CHP’S ARITMAN

Today’s Zaman
Dec 23 2008
Turkey

President Abdullah Gul has filed a lawsuit against Republican People’s
Party (CHP) deputy Canan Arıtman, who claimed that Gul’s mother is
of Armenian origin. "Arıtman, who has political motivations, caused
doubts about the performance of the president, who has non-political
responsibilities," the petition states.

"The defendant’s claim, which is based on racism and discrimination,
is a heavy assault on the client’s personal and family values,
honor and reputation." The 1 YTL lawsuit petition submitted by the
president’s lawyer, Omer Kucuközcan, refers to Arıtman’s claims.

On Dec. 17, Arıtman attacked the campaign initiated by a group of
intellectuals to apologize for the Armenian massacres of 1915, which
Armenians claim constituted genocide.

"The false scientists signing it should apologize to Turkey," she
said, claiming that Gul — because of his "ethnic origins" — was
rubberstamping the campaign. "We see that the president supports
this campaign. Abdullah Gul should be the president of the entire
Turkish nation, not just of those sharing his ethnicity. Investigate
the ethnic origin of the president’s mother and you will see."

The petition states that Gul stands at an equal distance from all
citizens in his current position and that in his previous duties as
a deputy, foreign minister, deputy prime minister, prime minister
and president, he expressed his ideas openly at the national and
international platforms on the topic and on Turkish-Armenian relations.

"My client’s views have been distorted and it was suggested that he
has ethnic ties on his mother’s side, as if he stands closer to a
part of society because of that," the petition states.

The petition also states that according to the news reports, CHP head
Deniz Baykal has been uneasy about Arıtman’s statements.

"It would be impossible to compensate for the damages that occurred
because of this issue; however, we demand a compensation of 1 YTL
only to identify the injustice," the petition states.

Meanwhile, the CHP administration issued a warning to Arıtman after
she appeared on two TV news shows about her allegations about Gul
without the CHP administration’s permission.

On Sunday, Gul released a statement, saying: "I respect the ethnic
background, different beliefs and family ties of all my citizens and
see this as a reality and also the wealth of our country with its
imperial history. I also would like to emphasize that all my citizens
are equal to one another regardless of any differences. No one has any
superiority whatsoever over another one. Everybody has the equal and
same rights under the guarantee of our Constitution." He added, "I am
proud of our country, which has reached this level of understanding."

He also announced that his mother’s side, the Satoglu family from
Kayseri, and his father’s side, the Gul family also from Kayseri,
are Muslim and Turkish, according to centuries of written genealogy
records.

Speaking at a CHP congress Sunday, Arıtman responded to Gul’s
statement. "I never asked the president to announce his genealogical
background. I just wanted him to protect his nation and state, the
duty assigned to him by the Constitution."

"Why doesn’t the president show the principled stance shown by the
prime minister?" Arıtman asked during the congress. Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan reacted harshly to the statement, saying he had
nothing to apologize for.

"It is wrong for the president not to demonstrate the same stance. How
can a president not protect the rights and pride of his state and
nation?" she asked, telling the Milliyet newspaper that the campaign
had worked to create the impression in the international community
that Turkey had accepted the allegations of genocide.

The declaration was signed and put on a Web site by a group of
academics, writers and commentators calling on others to join the
campaign. About 20,000 people have signed the statement so far.

–Boundary_(ID_fv0Hvhny65E8XQEX3YPEug)–

FIGHTING ADOPTION OF RESOLUTION N 106 IN CONGRESS SHOULD BE TURKEY’S PRIMARY TASK NEXT YEAR

NOYAN TAPAN

Dec 23, 2008
YEREVAN

International community’s pressure upon Turkey in the issue
of recognition of Armenian Genocide becomes stronger and
stronger. Turkologist Ruben Safrastian, the Director of the RA
NAS Institute of Oriental Studies, said at the December 22 press
conference. According to him, if 7-8 years ago someone spoke in
the U.S. about the Armenian Genocide committed in Turkey, he would
be considered bribed by Armenians. And currently those denying the
Genocide are considered bribed by Turks. The probability of adoption
of Resolution N 106 on recognition of Armenian Genocide in Congress
grows more and more, and next year fighting its adoption should be
Turkey’s primary task.

According to R. Safrastian, the current Turkish authorities consider
themselves Ottoman Turkey’s descendants, therefore they fail to
get rid of the policy of denying the Armenian Genocide. As to the
participants of the signature collection on the website I Apologize,
they are Turkish intellectuals making a small part of society.

Expressing readiness to establish relations with Turkey without
preconditions, Armenia showed a europeanized approach, which in R.

Safrastian’s opinion, is a very positive step. Armenia’s "football
diplomacy" was the continuation of that approach, to which Turkey
responded to some extent.

In R. Safrastian’s opinion, putting forward the idea of "Caucasian
platform" by Turkey was its attempt to oppose to strengthening of
Russia’s positions in the South Caucasus. After the August events
the geopolitical situation in the region changed in favor of Russia,
which dislocated its forces in Georgia’s formal territories. By
putting forward the idea of "Caucasian platform," Turkey tried to
show an initiative in the political sphere. And Russia welcomed that
initiative after Turkey renounced its initial plan to involve the U.S.

For Turkey, it was very important how the South Caucasian countries
will treat its initiative. Georgia abstained because of Russia and
increased Armenia’s role by doing so. According to the Turkologist,
for the first time in history Armenia received a serious diplomatic
value for Turkey, and an exclusive situation was formed, from which
Armenia should be able to derive benefit.

R. Safrastian said that Turkey’s activity in the Nagorno Karabakh issue
was also due to Russia’s factor, which strengthening its geopolitical
positions, decided to show political activity by initiating signing of
Maindorf Declaration. According to the Turkologist, Turkey will hardly
believe that Armenia will ever agree to Turkey’s being a mediator in
the Nagorno Karabakh settlement.

According to R. Safrastian, Russia-Turkey possible rapprochement is
much spoken about in the past 2-3 years. However indeed it is of
purely economic nature. These two countries’ geopolitical visions
in the Caucasian region are mutually exclusive: both Turkey and
Russia wish to involve the South Caucasus in the sphere of their
influence. Therefore these countries’ political rapprochement at the
state level is improbable, and no real danger threatens Armenia in
that respect.