Author: Harutyunian Christine

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10/04/2005
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1) France Says Turkey Needs to Change to Join European Union
2) Armenia Hopes EU Membership Process Will Tame Turkey
3) Members of Congress Urge President Bush to Support Karabagh’s Aspirations
4) System Of A Down Rally Attracts International Media Attention

1) France Says Turkey Needs to Change to Join European Union

BRUSSELS (AP)–French President Jacques Chirac said on Tuesday that Turkey
must
undergo a `major cultural revolution’ before entering the European Union (EU),
and reiterated that France would hold a referendum on admitting Ankara to the
bloc.

Chirac’s comments represented the tough road ahead in Turkey’s membership in
the 25-nation EU. It took last-minute wrangling after two days of arduous
talks
between EU foreign ministers to overcome Austrian objections to start the
negotiations.
The entry talks are expected to last for at least 10 years before the EU can
absorb Turkey and stretch its borders to the Middle East. There is broad
opposition among Europeans to admitting the poor, predominantly Muslim nation
of 70 million people.
`Will it succeed? I cannot say. I hope so. But I am not at all sure,’ Chirac
said at a news conference in Paris.
It will be `a considerable effort’ for Turkey,’ he said. `It is a major
cultural revolution,’ that will take `at minimum 10 to 15 years.’
He reiterated that Turkey’s membership would need to be approved by the
French
in a referendum. Austria also plans such a vote, and other countries may also
decide to hold one.
`The French will have the last word, as it should be in a democracy,’ he
said.
`We will see when the time comes.’
In Turkey, the only reaction to Chirac’s comments, which aired on Turkish
television, was from the Culture Minister Atilla Koc’s office saying he was
reviewing them. Akif Beki, spokesman for Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan,
was not immediately available for comment.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who currently holds the EU presidency,
also
said negotiations would take a long time, and would mean a `very big change’
for the Europe and Turkey.
`It will be an issue of controversy for years to come,’ he told reporters in
London.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said Turkey’s entry is
`neither guaranteed nor automatic.’
`Turkey must win the hearts and minds of European citizens. They are the ones
who at the end of the day will decide about Turkey’s membership,’ he said.
Although the EU held a middle-of the night ceremony in Luxembourg to formally
start the talks with Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, it will take
nearly
a year before the real technical negotiations get under way.
On Octoer 20, EU experts will start a broad `screening’ of Turkey’s rule
policies to see whether they meet minimum requirements to start specific talks
in 35 areas–everything from food safety rules to minority rights.
Turkey then faces a final review from all EU governments who have to
unanimously approve talks to begin in these policy areas.
The negotiating mandate says that if the EU finds `a serious and persistent
breach… of the principles of liberty, democracy, respect for human rights, and
fundamental freedoms and the rule of law,’ the EU may suspend the
negotiations.
One significant political issue that remains unresolved is Cyprus. Turkey
does
not recognize EU member Cyprus, and is the only country to recognize a
breakaway Turkish Cypriot state in the north of the divided Mediterranean
island.
Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi, appearing at the Paris news conference
with
Chirac, said shutting the door to Turkey would have been unpardonable–like
rejecting a suitor.
All EU members had agreed in December to launch entry talks with Turkey on
Oct.
3. But last week, Austrian Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik suggested a
`privileged partnership’ instead, questioning the EU’s ability to absorb
Turkey.
Ankara furiously threatened to walk away from the EU rather than accept
negotiations leading to a lesser partnership.
Plassnik eventually accepted language in the EU’s terms for membership
stating
that `the shared objective of the negotiations is (Turkey’s) accession.’
Although Turkey belongs to NATO, the Organization of Economic Cooperation and
Development and the Organization for Cooperation and Security in Europe, its
shaky human rights record and poor economic past have kept it from becoming a
full EU member. Ankara recently has introduced key political and economic
reforms, and now wants the EU to make good on its promise to bring it into the
bloc.

2) Armenia Hopes EU Membership Process Will Tame Turkey

YEREVAN (RFE/RL)–Armenia expressed hope late Tuesday that Turkey will be more
interested in normalizing relations with Armenia and recognizing the Armenian
genocide after the difficult start of its membership talks with the European
Union.
`Armenia hopes that the start of the EU accession process will prompt
[Turkey]
to open the border with Armenia as soon as possible and to make real
efforts to
protect minority rights and uphold freedom of speech and other democratic
values and standards in the country,’ Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamlet
Gasparian said in a statement.
`We also hope that during the process Turkey will recognize the Armenian
genocide, something which the European Parliament deemed a precondition for
Turkey’s membership of the EU in its latest resolution,’ said Gasparian.
The resolution adopted on September 28 `calls on Turkey to recognize the
Armenian genocide’ and `considers this recognition to be a prerequisite for
accession to the European Union.’ It also urges Ankara to drop preconditions
for improving its strained ties with Yerevan. The demands were rejected by
Turkish leaders, with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan pledging to
`continue
on our way.’
Armenia has repeatedly urged the EU make Turkish membership conditional on
genocide recognition and the lifting of the Turkish blockade imposed in 1993.

3) Members of Congress Urge President Bush to Support Karabagh’s Aspirations

On the occasion of the 14th anniversary of Mountainous Karagagh Republic’s
(MKR) independence, over fifty Members of Congress joined Congressional
Armenian Caucus Co-Chairs Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) and Joe Knollenberg
(R-MI),
in sending a letter to President Bush.
The September 28 letter outlines the difficult road taken by the people of
Karabagh to secure freedom, build a democratic and economically viable
country,
and to establish peace.
Citing parallels between the US and Mountainous Karagagh, the letter also
says
that Karagagh `is a country of proud citizens committed to the values of
freedom, democracy and respect for human rights. We, as Americans cherish and
defend these same values at home and internationally.’ It also urges the
Unites
States to `unequivocally support’ the right of the people of Mountainous
Karagagh to decide their fate.
`We thank our congressional friends for defending the values of freedom,
democracy, and prosperity,’ said MKR Representative in the US Vardan
Barseghian. `These universal values are dear to the people of Artsakh
[Karabah]
as we continue building a rule-of-law, democratic country, contributing
meaningfully to peace and stability in the strategic South Caucasus region.’
`We call on the United States and other nations to recognize the independence
of the Mountainous Karagagh Republic, thereby affirming the right of the
people
of Artsakh to live in freedom without fear of violence, oppression, and
persecution,’ stressed Barseghian.
The Office of the Mountainous Karagagh Republic in the US is based in
Washington, DC and works with the US government, academics, and the public, in
representing the official policies and interests of the Mountainous Karagagh
Republic.

4) System Of A Down Rally Attracts International Media Attention

Multi-Platinum Band Calls for Vote on Armenian Genocide Resolution

New York Times, BBC, and MTV Join Local ABC, FOX, and WB stations and Area
Newspapers in Covering Event outside the Batavia, Illinois Office of Speaker
Dennis Hastert

WASHINGTON, DC (ANCA)–The pro-Armenian Genocide Resolution rally last
week by
System Of A Down outside the Batavia, Illinois office of House Speaker Dennis
Hastert (R-IL) received extensive media coverage–both internationally and
within the Speaker’s local suburban Chicago media market.
The September 27 event was organized by the multi-platinum band System Of A
Down, along with the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA), Axis of
Justice, and the Armenian Youth Federation. Over two hundred fans, including a
large number of Armenian Americans from Chicago, attended the rally to urge
the
Speaker to schedule a vote on legislation pending before Congress that would
recognize the Armenian Genocide. At the rally, the band delivered a letter
asking the Speaker to allow the legislation to move forward.
Speaker Hastert pledged to allow the full House to vote on Armenian genocide
legislation in August of 2000, but retreated from this promise in October of
that year, citing pressure from the White House. On September 15 of this year,
the House International Relations Committee overwhelmingly approved
legislation
recognizing the Armenian Genocide.
The highlights of the media coverage included:
* Over 560,000 households in the Chicago area watched video from the rally
via
ABC channel 7 News (Nielsen Audience: 310,980), WGN-WB (Nielsen Audience:
231,385), and WFLD-FOX (Nielsen Audience: 22,726).
* The New York Times covered the rally, as did three area newspapers read by
Speaker Hastert’s constituents: The Beacon News, The Daily Herald, and The
Kane
County Chronicle.
* News of the rally was broadcast on radio internationally via The World
(BBC)
and locally by Chicago Public Radio.
* The rally received excellent coverage in the entertainment media via
stories
on the websites of MTV (two stories), VH1, Rolling Stone, and a range of other
media outlets.

Links:
–New York Times (September 26, 2005, Arts Section)

–ABC channel 7 news
l&id=3483619

–WLS-ABC CHICAGO, IL SEP 27 2005 5:00PM CT Nielsen Audience: 310,980

–ABC 7 News at 5, WGN-WB CHICAGO, IL SEP 27 2005 9:00PM CT Nielsen Audience:
231,385

–News at Nine, WFLD-FOX CHICAGO, IL SEP 28 2005 5:00AM CT Nielsen Audience:
22,726

Fox News at 5AM

–MTV.com: (Pre-Rally coverage)

nes=true

–MTV.com: (Post-Rally coverage)
/09282005/system_of_a_down.jhtml

–VHI ystem_of_a_down.jhtml

–TheWorld.org (a radio program in done in co-production with the BBC)

–Rolling Stone:
/7670574/bobice?pageid=rs.Home&pa
geregion=sin gle1

–The Beacon News
/top/batchAU28_HASTERT_S1.htm

–The Daily Herald
ry.asp?id=98941

-Kane County Chronicle:
local/330582937821598.php

–PR Newswire
.pl?ACCT=109&STORY=/www/story/09-26
-2005/0004 131979&EDATE
–Los Angeles Daily News

–Blabbermouth.com:
mouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=42
101

–Yahoo News
l

In the two weeks since that vote, thousands of System fans have sent free
ANCA
WebFaxes urging Speaker Hastert to hold a vote on the Armenian Genocide
Resolution:

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DESTROYING AGAIN

A1+
| 15:50:29 | 03-10-2005 | Social |

On September 30 the court officers tried to evict the Hovhannisyan from
their house in Buzand 17. They even destroyed the roof of the house,
despite the fact that the very day the Hovhannisyans received the
document about the postponing the eviction till the Court of Appeal
makes a decision. The family has been living in the half-destroyed
house for the last 3 days and praying God for dry weather in order
not to soak.

The residents of the street did not allow the court officers to level
the walls to earth; they stood under the walls and did not move. And
the residents of Buzand 15 are terrified. They have no doubt that they
will be the next to be evicted. “I will do everything I can. If they
evict me with my two babies, I will apply to the UN Mothers office”,
announced Anahit Melqonyan.

Although Yervand Zakharyan had promised to revise the Buzand street
case, nothing has been done yet. On October 5 the residents of the
street will organize an act of complaint opposite the President’s
residence, and on October 6 another one opposite the Government
building.

L’Express , France
29 septembre 2005

La mémoire retrouvée;
Turquie

Demetz Jean-Michel; Ortaq Nükte V.

Quatre-vingt-dix ans après, le tabou du génocide arménien se brise. A
côté d’un discours officiel toujours verrouillé, médias et
universitaires redécouvrent un passé longtemps occulté. A l’heure où
le pays aspire à rejoindre l’Europe, ce débat passionné fait office
de test démocratique

Orhan Pamuk est l’un des écrivains turcs les plus célébrés au sein de
la république internationale des lettres. Le 16 décembre, ce
romancier devrait pourtant être jugé pour “dénigrement public de
l’identité turque” – un délit selon l’article 301 du nouveau Code
pénal. Le parquet d’Istanbul avait classé sans suite une première
plainte, estimant que “l’expression d’opinions dans le but de
critiquer n’est pas un délit”. Mais un autre procureur, celui de
Sisli, un arrondissement d’Istanbul, a finalement inculpé l’auteur.
Il lui est reproché d’avoir déclaré, en février, dans un entretien
accordé au quotidien suisse Tages Anzeiger, repris par le magazine
turc Aktuel, que “30 000 Kurdes et 1 million d’Arméniens ont été tués
sur ces terres [en Turquie]. Presque personne n’ose le dire, à part
moi”. S’il est reconnu coupable, Pamuk – qui, dans l’attente du
procès, n’a pas souhaité commenter pour L’Express cette inculpation –
risque, en théorie, de six mois à un an de prison. Tout à son rêve
d’Europe et portée par un vent de réformes sans précédent depuis
Atatürk, son fondateur, la république turque de 2005 a les yeux fixés
sur Bruxelles, où les Vingt-Cinq doivent ouvrir, le 3 octobre
prochain, les négociations en vue de l’adhésion. Mais,
quatre-vingt-dix ans tout juste après les massacres de 1915, la
question arménienne – celle du “prétendu génocide”, comme la qualifie
la terminologie officielle à Ankara – resurgit avec ses spectres du
passé.

“Depuis quelques mois, des écrivains et journalistes sont poursuivis
sur la base de l’article 301, témoigne l’avocate Fethiye Cetin. Et
toujours autour de la question arménienne.” Le 7 octobre, c’est le
journaliste arménien Hrant Dink, rédacteur en chef du magazine (en
arménien et en turc) Agos, qui comparaîtra pour un premier procès. On
lui fait grief d’avoir revendiqué son identité arménienne. L’éditeur
turc Ragip Zarakolu avait obtenu en justice, en 1997, le droit de
traduire et de publier des auteurs sur le génocide, dont Vahakn
Dadrian, directeur de Genocide Research à l’institut Zoryan de
Cambridge (Etats-Unis). Mais, depuis mai, il a été mis plusieurs fois
en examen: “Une nouvelle vague nationaliste s’attaque à la liberté
d’expression pour entraver la marche vers l’Europe”, analyse-t-il.

Une histoire vouée à consolider l’Etat-nation Faut-il s’inquiéter de
cette offensive judiciaire? Ou n’y voir que de simples provocations
isolées? La dynamique du processus de réforme, aiguillonné par la
candidature à l’Union européenne, est telle que les premiers
intéressés eux-mêmes minimisent les derniers incidents, préférant
dénoncer des résistances individuelles, ultimes soubresauts d’une
bureaucratie hostile aux réformes libérales orchestrées par le
pouvoir. “Les partisans du statu quo dans l’administration et la
justice ne sont pas mécontents d’embarrasser, par de telles
initiatives, le gouvernement juste avant l’ouverture des négociations
avec Bruxelles”, estime Fethiye Cetin. La tentative d’annulation, le
22 septembre, en fin de journée, d’un colloque universitaire consacré
aux Arméniens de la fin de l’Empire ottoman, à la suite d’une
“demande d’informations” sur les participants et invités émanant du
4e tribunal administratif d’Istanbul, lui-même saisi par une
association de juristes, confirme cependant la détermination d’une
partie de l’appareil d’Etat à ne rien céder sur la vérité officielle
en vigueur sur les massacres de 1915. Ce colloque, il est vrai, est
un tournant. Réservé à dessein aux universitaires turcs, il voulait,
pour la première fois, sur le territoire turc, et non dans le cadre
d’une conférence internationale, exposer des vues contradictoires des
événements d’il y a quatre-vingt-dix ans. Le séminaire devait
initialement se tenir en mai. Face aux menaces, le rectorat de
l’université du Bosphore avait décidé de le reporter. En pleine
séance de la Grande Assemblée nationale, Cemil Cicek, ministre de la
Justice (et porte-parole du gouvernement) – un conservateur connu
pour son nationalisme – n’avait-il pas dénoncé cette rencontre
d’universitaires comme “un coup de poignard dans le dos”? Même si le
Premier ministre avait désavoué le politicien, l’imprécation avait
choqué. Après vingt-quatre heures de flottement, le 23 septembre, le
même ministre de la Justice désavouait les juges administratifs et
donnait son feu vert à la tenue du colloque les 24 et 25 septembre.
Le Premier ministre exaltait, de son côté, les “libertés
académiques”.

Si rocambolesques qu’elles soient, ces dernières péripéties sont plus
qu’anecdotiques. Paradoxalement, elles prouvent que le débat autour
de la question arménienne s’est imposé comme un test sur la
démocratisation de l’Etat et de la société turcs. “Après le
kémalisme, le rôle de l'”Etat profond”” – l’influence des services de
sécurité au sein de l’Etat de droit – la question kurde, c’est le
dernier tabou qui est levé”, estime le journaliste Hrant Dink. Très
vite après sa fondation, la République turque, btie sur les
décombres de l’Empire ottoman, avait, en effet, forgé un récit
historique destiné à consolider un Etat-nation fragile, comme, au
XIXe siècle, la IIIe République en France. Le monopole d’Etat sur la
recherche historique aura tenu pendant sept décennies. Les Arméniens
disparaissent de la littérature turque contemporaine. Dans les
écoles, des générations se sont vu enseigner cette thèse unique: la
déportation des Arméniens n’était qu’une réaction à leur soulèvement
armé en pleine guerre mondiale, au côté de l’ennemi russe, contre
l’empire, et les morts n’avaient, par ailleurs, pas été commanditées
mais causées par le typhus, la famine, les attaques de tribus kurdes
incontrôlées et les rigueurs du climat. Le nombre des victimes lui
aussi était établi une fois pour toutes. “De quelque manière qu’on
fasse le calcul, le nombre d’Arméniens qui, pour différentes raisons,
perdirent la vie au cours de la Première Guerre mondiale ne dépasse
pas 300 000, ce chiffre comprenant les pertes occasionnées par
diverses causes pendant ce transfert [la déportation]”, écrit Kamuran
Gürün, membre de la très officielle Société turque d’histoire (1). La
diaspora arménienne, de son côté, évalue à 1,5 million le nombre de
morts. “Après la guerre, les fermiers et notables turcs, enrichis par
la saisie des biens arméniens, sont devenus la base du nouveau
régime, analyse Mete Tuncay, chef du département d’histoire de
l’université Bilgi. Ils avaient intérêt à cette amnésie collective.”
“On a dépeint les Arméniens comme des traîtres, des menteurs, des
massacreurs de Turcs, on a minimisé leur forte présence passée en
Anatolie, s’insurge Hrant Dink. Oui, certains groupes ont collaboré
avec les Russes et les Français, mais la vérité, c’est que la grande
majorité des Arméniens était restée fidèle aux Ottomans. Qui a trahi
qui?”

Longtemps sous l’emprise de cette amnésie d’Etat, l’opinion turque a
progressivement redécouvert l’existence d’une question arménienne.
Tragiquement, d’abord, avec les attentats de l’organisation
terroriste Asala, dans les années 1970 et 1980. Ensuite, au cours des
années 1990, sous la pression d’une Arménie indépendante née de
l’éclatement de l’URSS et des résolutions votées par différents
Parlements nationaux appelant à la reconnaissance du “génocide”. Le
carcan d’une histoire d’Etat se desserre, sous l’effet aussi du
contexte européen, “ce mot de passe pour la démocratisation de la
Turquie”, selon l’heureuse expression de Murat Belge, professeur à
l’université Bilgi. Certes, à aucun moment (et malgré la pression de
la diaspora) l’Union européenne n’a exigé comme condition préalable à
l’adhésion la reconnaissance par les autorités d’Ankara du caractère
génocidaire des événements de 1915. Mais l’écho des polémiques à
l’Ouest – en France, deuxième terre d’accueil des Arméniens, après
les Etats-Unis, l’opposition socialiste en avait fait une condition à
l’ouverture des négociations – contribue à ouvrir le débat au sein de
la société turque. La tragédie du passé s’incarne. Des histoires
individuelles surgissent. Le travail de mémoire se met en marche.
L’hebdomadaire Agos révèle ainsi, à l’occasion de son décès, les
origines arméniennes de Sabiha Gökcen, fille adoptive d’Atatürk et
première femme pilote de chasse. Dans un petit ouvrage (cinq tirages,
15 000 exemplaires), Ma grand-mère, Fethiye Cetin raconte comment son
aïeule lui confie, à la fin de ses jours, qu’elle est un de ces
enfants arméniens adoptés par une famille turque, lors de la
déportation de 1915: “De nombreuses familles ont connu des histoires
analogues, souvent transmises par les femmes, raconte-t-elle. L’heure
est aujourd’hui au souvenir avant de présenter, demain, des excuses.”

Des images insoupçonnées surgissent aussi de l’abîme. “Turc et
musulman”, l’éditeur Osman Koker vient de publier un catalogue de
plusieurs milliers de photos et cartes postales sur Les Arméniens en
Turquie, il y a cent ans: “On ne savait presque rien des Arméniens,
c’est comme s’ils n’avaient jamais vécu ici. A l’école, on enseigne
une histoire qui commence avec l’arrivée des Turcs d’Asie centrale en
1071 et finit avec les Turcs. Mais il y avait d’autres civilisations
installées en Anatolie avant nous. Pourtant, on ne nous a jamais dit
que des villes de Turquie ont été fondées par des Arméniens.” Grce à
son travail d’édition, tout un monde méconnu émerge. L’orphelinat de
Mersine. Le quartier de l’église arménienne à Adana. Les paysans
arméniens de Kelkit. Le couvent de Saint-Ephrem. En janvier dernier,
une exposition montrait ces témoignages au public, en plein coeur
d’Istanbul, sur la très animée rue Istiklal. Il est prévu qu’elle
soit présentée en Allemagne ce mois, et en France début 2006.

Une contre-propagande parfois grossière Ce printemps, pour le 90e
anniversaire, la presse turque a largement ouvert ses colonnes aux
chercheurs de toutes opinions. Car la persistance du tabou dans le
grand public reste aussi liée à une ignorance des faits. “Je me
souviens que Hurriyet, en 2001, avait publié un photomontage montrant
un chien pissant sur la statue de Komitas inaugurée à Paris, raconte
Yavuz Baydar, journaliste à Sabah. Leur rédaction en chef ignorait
que cet intellectuel arménien, sauvé des rafles à Constantinople en
1915 par ses amis turcs, est l’un des plus grands compositeurs de
notre pays! Le Beethoven de Turquie!” Et aussi l’auteur de la
liturgie apostolique aujourd’hui chantée dans toutes les églises
arméniennes. Le lendemain, ils publiaient un rectificatif. “Les
médias avaient contribué à créer le tabou, les médias ont contribué à
sa levée”, explique le journaliste de Hurriyet Sefa Kaplan, auteur
d’un recueil d’entretiens intitulé Que s’est-il passé en 1915?

La résurrection, en marge de la sphère publique, de cette mémoire
jadis abolie provoque, en réaction, une crispation chez les tenants
du discours officiel. A l’école, un nouveau programme est élaboré en
vue de démonter l’illégitimité des revendications de la diaspora. Le
ministère de l’Education enjoint même, par une circulaire datée du 14
avril 2003, aux établissements scolaires d’organiser des conférences
et des concours mettant en valeur “le combat contre les
revendications infondées des Arméniens.” A côté de la Société turque
d’histoire, un think tank nationaliste comme l’Asan, le Centre
d’études stratégiques eurasiennes fournit un matériel de réfutation.
Au nom du pluralisme, une contre-propagande parfois grossière est
éventuellement relayée par la presse. Le quotidien Milliyet, la
semaine dernière, évoquait ainsi les recherches d’un avocat turc
installé aux Etats-Unis, Eda Elitok, qui se fait fort d’établir que
les Arméniens ont, à la même époque, tué 2,5 millions de Turcs…

Revendications maximalistes Par notre conférence, nous, historiens,
sociologues, intellectuels turcs, nous voulons dire à nos concitoyens
combien nous en avons assez de ce discours nationaliste de négation,
explique Halil Berktay, professeur à l’université Sabanci, l’un des
organisateurs du colloque. Il est absurde de nier que l’arménicité
anatolienne, ce groupe ethno-linguistique distinct, a cessé d’exister
dans les années 1915-1916. Quelle que soit l’appellation qu’on lui
donne, tragédie, massacre, génocide, annihilation, disparition ou
extermination, c’est un fait.” Halil Berktay est bien placé pour
mesurer le chemin parcouru depuis l’interview donnée à L’Express, le
9 novembre 2000, où il brisait le tabou: “Aujourd’hui, avec ce
colloque, nous faisons entendre la voix de la Turquie intègre. La
question arménienne est une question turque: elle a pris son origine
dans ce qui est la Turquie contemporaine et c’est en Turquie qu’elle
est niée. C’est une blessure ouverte dans la conscience collective.”

Si les milieux nationalistes et conservateurs trouvent encore un
large écho dans l’opinion, c’est aussi à cause de ce que Baskin Oran,
professeur à la faculté de sciences politiques d’Ankara, nomme la
“paranoïa de Sèvres”, du nom du traité que les Alliés victorieux
tentent d’imposer après la Première Guerre mondiale et qui
démantelait l’empire en créant une Arménie et un Kurdistan
indépendants. Tout se passe, au fond, comme si un pan de l’opinion –
effrayé par certaines revendications maximalistes, dans la diaspora,
exigeant des réparations et une restitution des terres – doutait de
la capacité de maintenir l’Etat unitaire voulu par Atatürk, sous le
jeu des tensions identitaires internes – et d’abord du “problème
kurde”, désormais officiellement reconnu comme tel par le Premier
ministre.

A écouter, le week-end dernier, les universitaires turcs présents –
la crème de l’intelligentsia progressiste du pays – à l’université
privée Bilgi d’Istanbul, il était patent que le débat cherche son
autonomie propre. Etyen Mahcupyan, éditorialiste au quotidien Zaman,
un autre Arménien de Turquie, totalement désavoué par la diaspora, le
résumait: “Notre seul point commun, ici, c’est de considérer que les
thèses officielles turque et arménienne sont toutes deux des
escroqueries.” Pour le reste, bien des divergences séparent les
universitaires. La notion même de génocide, bien sûr. La majorité des
historiens l’écartent pour son caractère juridique, d’abord – trop
normatif pour ne pas entraver une recherche libre. Taner Akcam,
professeur à l’université du Minnesota, lui, en revendique la
validité conceptuelle pour les sciences sociales. Comment, par
ailleurs, établir la distinction entre la responsabilité imputée à un
groupuscule – l’Organisation spéciale, créée par le Comité Union et
progrès – qui avait pris le contrôle de l’Etat et celle, éventuelle,
de la société? “L’étude des archives prouve de manière répétée qu’il
y a bien eu une politique de destruction des Arméniens, même si une
vingtaine de gouverneurs ottomans s’y sont opposés, cinq d’entre eux
le payant de leur vie”, soutient Taner Akcam. Pour Fikret Adanir,
professeur à l’université de Bochum (Allemagne), “contrairement à ce
que beaucoup pensent, c’était plus qu’un pogrom. C’était un génocide,
même sans ordre de destruction. Y en avait-il d’ailleurs un pour les
juifs?” Et d’ajouter: “Mais je comprends que le gouvernement turc
refuse de le reconnaître par crainte de voir poser sa responsabilité
juridique et financière.” D’autres points de clivage se sont fait
jour. “Faut-il analyser les faits avec une froideur toute
scientifique ou à partir des perceptions de ce qui s’est passé?”
interroge Ahmet Insel, professeur à l’université de Galatasaray.
Quelle place réserver à l’étude des mentalités, dans la société
turque comme dans la diaspora arménienne? Le rôle de cette dernière
est aussi objet de débat: facilite-t-elle le dialogue entre
scientifiques ou tente-t-elle de le bloquer? “Certains chercheurs de
la diaspora exigent de nous, en préalable à toute discussion, un acte
de contrition, une reconnaissance du génocide, regrette Ayhan Aktar,
professeur à l’université de Marmara. Nous n’en sommes pas là.
L’heure est au travail de recherche.” Les archives turques sont
désormais ouvertes, même si, en pratique, seule une partie est
organisée et donc accessible. Celles des mouvements nationalistes
révolutionnaires arméniens du début du siècle sont aux Etats-Unis, à
Boston. “Il est faux de dire que les Turcs niaient la vérité. En
fait, ils l’ignoraient, résume le journaliste Hrant Dink. C’est notre
mission de la faire apparaître avec patience et prudence.”

(1) Le Dossier arménien, éditions Triangle. 1983.

Post-scriptum Une exposition de photos retrace, ces jours-ci, à
Istanbul, les violentes émeutes anti-grecques, suivies de pillages,
des 6 et 7 septembre 1955 au coeur de la ville, provoquées par la
rumeur (infondée) de l’incendie de la maison natale d’Atatürk, à
Salonique. Un autre tabou qui tombe.

ARMINFO News Agency
September 30, 2005

ARMENIAN DEFENSE MINISTER AND HEAD OF OSCE OFFICE IN YEREVAN SIGN
MEMORANDUM OF MUTUAL UNDERSTANDING

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 30, ARMINFO. Secretary of the Armenian
Presidential Natinoal Security Council Serge Sargsyan and Head of
OSCE Office in Yerevan Vladimir Pryakhin have signed a Memorandum of
Mutual Understanding concerning the 3rd stage of the program of
propellant (melange) elimination.

Press Secretary of the Armenian Defense Minister Colonel Seyran
Shakhsouvaryan has informed ARMINFO that the melange will be
processed into harmless fertilizers for non-acid soil. Thanking
Armenian Defense Minister, Vladimir Pryakhin said the program was
implemented with support of highly-qualified specialists of the
Armenian Defense Ministry.

AZG Armenian Daily #176, 01/10/2005

Karabakh diary

NAGORNO KARABAKH: ON ONE LEVEL WITH DEVELOPED COUNTRIES

President of Nagorno Karabakh, Arkady Ghukasian, received yesterday a group
of members of the World Armenian Congress and Union of Russia’s Armenians
visiting Artsakh within the frameworks of the Days of Russia’s Armenians in
Armenia and Artsakh. The head of the republic welcomed the guests
emphasizing the importance of such meetings. Speaking of current
socio-economic situation of Artsakh, Pres. Ghukasian mentioned of the poor
conditions of Artsakh’s settlements. “Seeing you in Karabakh today, we are
sure that the country will revive, and we will overcome problems in all
spheres. We have to win the economic war, too. I think that will be so”,
Ghukasian said. After having roamed in ins and outs of Stepanakert, deputy
chairman of URA German Anyanyants and his friends expressed their happiness
with what they saw. “It’s hard to imagine that once there was a war here.
Karabakh does fall behind any country with its development. We got in touch
with teachers and pupils and saw happiness and faith for Karabakh’s future
in their eyes”, he said.

The members of the delegation were also interested in the conflict
regulation process. Arkady Ghukasian said on this regard: “We do not say
that Azerbaijan’s army makes no headway but a nation’s spirit is an
important factor. We had a chance to make sure of that. No matter how much
Azerbaijan fumes, Karabakh can never again be its appendage; that’s an
absurd that everybody understands”.

On behalf of the Union of Russia’s Armenians and its chairman Ara
Abrahamian, the delegation presented the schools of Stepanakert with
computers.

By Kim Gabrielian in Stepanakert

ArmInfo News Agency
Sept 29 2005

UNION OF GEORGIAN ARMENIANS: ARMENIAN GENOCIDE IS MISDEED AGAINST THE
WHOLE MANKIND

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 29. ARMINFO. “Armenian Genocide is the misdeed not
only against Armenian people, but also against the whole mankind”,
says the appeal of the co-chairmen of “New Generation” Union of
Georgian Armenians to the EC delegation head in Georgia Torben
Holtze.

“We welcome the EU position as we hope that it will help Turkey to
humble its past and overcome the complex that is passed across the
generations and causes problems with neighbors. On behalf of all the
Armenian community of Georgia let me to express the deepest
confession for this constructive decision, as well as for the exerted
efforts in recognizing Armenian Genocide”, the appeal says.

Pan Armenian News

BAKU WANTS PEACE IN CAUCASUS, ALIYEV ASSURES

29.09.2005 08:12

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Azerbaijan’s defense expenses will equal Armenia’s budget
next year, Azeri President Ilham Aliyev stated in an interview with
Yleisradio Finnish State TV and Radio Company reporter, made public in Baku
Thursday. Speaking of settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, Aliyev
said, `We want to solve the issue via peaceful talks.’ `However, when we see
it is not possible, we do not have any other choice,’ he said. `Thus,
military expenses grow in Azerbaijan. Next year we increase defense spending
two times and it will be a large sum,’ the Azeri President remarked. `Next
year our defense spending will equal Armenia’s budget,’ he emphasized. `We
should not be impelled or made to resort to steps like those,’ the Azeri
President said. `We do not want it, we want peace in the Caucasus, we want
to normally develop our country – both economically and politically,’ he
remarked. `However, we cannot put up with occupation,’ he emphasized. `Thus
the OSCE and its Minsk Group have a key role in settlement of the conflict,”
Aliyev said. Speaking of the opportunity of coming to terms with Armenia,
Aliyev noted that `opportunities are of course available for that and coming
to terms is very easy. It is merely necessary to concentrate and base
oneself on the international law.’ Territorial integrity of any country is
an essential element of the international law,’ Aliyev emphasized.
`International law is on our side, political processes are on our side,’ the
Azeri President is convinced.’ `Thus the solution of the problem is very
simple – the Armenian leaders should find will and withdraw from occupied
territories, form normal life conditions, including for their own people,’
Aliyev supposes. `When communications, borders open, transportation of loads
through territories of our countries will start and the normal process will
begin,’ he noted. `I hope we will see the day it happens soon,’ the Azeri
leader said, reported RIA Novosti.

ABUSE OF ELECTROSHOCK FOUND IN TURKISH MENTAL HOSPITALS
By Craig S. Smith

New York Times
Sept 29 2005

PARIS, Sept. 28- Turkey’s psychiatric hospitals are riddled with
horrific abuses, including the use of raw electroshock as a form of
punishment, according to a human rights report issued in Istanbul on
Wednesday, just days before Turkey begins formal talks to join the
European Union.

Photo: Mental Disability Rights International Patients languished on
the grounds of Bakirkoy Psychiatric Hospital

Photo: Mental Disability Rights International At the Saray
Rehabilitation Center, investigators from a human rights group saw
children with plastic water bottles taped over their hands to keep
them from biting their fingers. The group found abuses in Turkish
mental hospitals to include use of electroshock, without anesthetics,
as punishment.

The report, by Mental Disability Rights International, a
Washington-based group, came after several visits in the past year
by the group’s investigators to psychiatric hospitals and other
facilities for people with developmental or mental disabilities.

While the report details many types of abuses, it said the most
disturbing involved the use of electroconvulsive therapy without
anesthesia to treat a wide range of illnesses in adults and children.

The World Health Organization has called for a ban on “unmodified” or
“direct” use of the treatment and states that children should never
be subjected to it in any form.

The therapy, in which an electrical current is passed through the
brain, was developed in the 1930’s and continues to be used in
mainstream psychiatry to treat a limited number of ailments. But it
is normally administered with anesthesia and muscle relaxants.

Without them it can be painful, terrifying and dangerous. Patients
can break jaws or crack vertebrae during the induced seizures. The
report quotes a 28-year-old patient at Bakirkoy Psychiatric Hospital
in Istanbul as saying, “I felt like dying.”

The Health Ministry, which is responsible for psychiatric hospitals,
said it had not yet read the report and declined to comment, other
than to say that the director of the electroconvulsive therapy center
at Bakirkoy denied administering unmodified electroshocks there.

But on one day in April when the rights group’s staff visited the
center, 24 people received such treatments, the report said.

Technicians at the center told the group that only patients who
had broken bones, presumably from previous treatments, were given
anesthesia.

The human rights group estimated that unmodified shock treatment was
used on nearly a third of patients undergoing psychiatric crises at
the government-run hospitals, including children as young as 9. The
treatment is also administered for many illnesses, like postpartum
depression, that are not generally considered by the international
psychiatric community to warrant electroshock.

The investigators also found that the treatment was used as
punishment. The report describes patients being dragged to electroshock
therapy in straitjackets and forcibly held down during the procedure.

“If we use anesthesia the E.C.T. won’t be as effective, because
they won’t feel punished,” the report quotes the director of the
electroconvulsive therapy center as saying.

Referring to that statement, Eric Rosenthal, the founder of the rights
group, said in a telephone interview from Istanbul, “That was one
of most horrifying statements I’ve ever heard in 12 years of doing
this work.”

Turkey has been criticized for using unmodified electroshock before.

In 1997 the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture called on
Turkey to stop the practice, and the Health Ministry promised to do so.

Now, the new report is likely to complicate Turkey’s talks with the
European Union, because of the organization’s strict human rights
requirements for membership.

“There’s no question that what’s described in the report counts as
torture under the European convention and shouldn’t exist in Turkey
or anywhere in Europe,” said Richard Howitt, a British member of
the European Parliament who sits on the joint European Union-Turkish
parliamentary committee.

He said he would bring up the report as part of the membership
negotiations, because to join, a nation must be judged to follow
democratic principles, respect human rights and be on its way to
meeting certain economic and institutional standards.

The report, which includes testimony from former patients and videos
taken inside some institutions, reported other abuses as well.

Much of the documented abuse took place in orphanages and
rehabilitation centers for children with developmental or intellectual
disabilities. Investigators saw emaciated and neglected children,
many of whom had behavioral problems that were likely to have
been the result of mistreatment rather than pre-existing illness,
Mr. Rosenthal said.

“We saw children who were essentially abandoned, starving, tied down to
their beds,” he said, adding that investigators had not been allowed
to see the worst wards.

Photographs and videos taken at the Saray Rehabilitation Center,
the largest of Turkey’s government-run rehabilitation centers, show
skeletal children, some with plastic water bottles taped over their
hands to prevent them from biting their fingers. Other children with
only minor disabilities are mixed in with the rest.

Although the center keeps no mortality records, a footnote in
the report notes that the large number of admissions without a
corresponding number of discharges suggests that many children die
at the center.

“We believe there’s a very high death rate in these facilities,” Mr.

Rosenthal said.

Officials at Turkey’s Directorate for Social Services and Child
Protection could not be reached for comment.

The report said that there were no enforceable laws in Turkey to
protect mentally ill people from arbitrary detention or forced
treatment and that there were virtually no community services that
might keep them out of institutions. As a result, according to the
report, thousands are institutionalized for life.

Mr. Rosenthal founded Mental Disability Rights International in 1993.

It now has a staff of nine people, including one in Turkey.

Massacres of Armenians Recalled

STRASBOURG, France, Sept. 28 (Reuters) – The European Parliament gave
only a grudging blessing on Wednesday to membership talks with Turkey
starting next week and said Ankara must recognize the massacres of
Armenians during the years around 1915 as genocide before it can join
the Euopean Union.

The resolution, which is nonbinding, was a political slap for Turkey,
which insists that the killings, carried out by the Ottoman Empire,
did not constitute genocide.

U.S. RADAR STATION IN AZERBAIJAN WILL NOT AFFECT NEGATIVELY AZERI-IRANIAN RELATIONS

Today, Azerbaijan
29 September 2005 [09:18] – Today.Az

Azerbaijani political scientists agree in views that the construction
of the U.S radar station in the territory of the country must not
affect negatively the Azerbaijani-Iranian relations.

Commenting negative reaction of some Iranian mass media on the issue,
Vafa Guluzada, the former adviser to the Azerbaijani President,
noted that the position of Iran is natural.

“Iran must understand that Azerbaijan peruses its own goals, but the
United States carries out its own plans in the region,” he underlined.

“Iran must regard extending of the cooperation between Azerbaijan
and the United States as normal,” Uzeyir Jafarov, the military expert
noted in his turn. Issue of license on construction of radar station
is internal affair of Azerbaijan.

“If Iran strengthen it relations with Armenia, but Azerbaijan does not
regard it as serious danger for its national interests, then Iran must
accept the fact of development of the Azerbaijani-U.S. relations,”
he added.

In his turn, MP Anar Mammadkhanov stressed that the Iranian-Azerbaijani
relations would be subjected to any serious changes. “Iran must
understand that Azerbaijan takes the steps not for pleasure, but to
ensure national interests,” he said.

(Trend)

URL:

The Record (Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario)
September 27, 2005 Tuesday Final Edition

Armenian was force behind Centre in the Square

Howard Dyck

In Lianne Elliott’s Sept. 24 retrospective of the 25-year history of
the Centre in the Square, 25 Years Of Entertainment; Region’s
Cultural Gem Celebrates A Milestone, she refers to Raffi Armenian as
a “great centre supporter.” That is surely the understatement of the
year.

In fact, Armenian, with the support of strong community leaders, was
the galvanizing force behind the construction of the centre.

Especially important is the fact that while the usual nay-sayers were
stalling plans to begin construction, Armenian stuck to his guns.

The toll taken by particularly high inflation during the delay caused
by political bickering resulted in a facility not quite what had
originally been envisioned.

However, Armenian tenaciously insisted that the acoustics of the
auditorium and the stage facilities would not be compromised. It is
entirely appropriate that this peerless concert hall is named after
him.

The article quite rightly describes the centre as one of the best
concert halls in the world.

But in its pop-dominated list of performers who have appeared there,
it neglects to mention some of the world’s greatest musical artists
who have graced the centre’s stage: tenors Jon Vickers and Ben
Heppner, conductor Lorin Maazel and the Munich Philharmonic
Orchestra, violinist/conductor Yehudi Menuhin, contralto Maureen
Forrester, soprano Measha Brueggergosman, the Arnold Schoenberg Choir
of Vienna, to name just a very few.

Howard Dyck
Artistic Director and Conductor
Kitchener Waterloo Philharmonic Choir