Author: Kajoyan Gevork

LEBANON NEW WEBSITE FOR ARMENIAN RADIO STATION

BBC Monitoring Research, UK
Nov 22 2006

BBC Monitoring observes Lebanese Armenian radio station Voice of Van
on a new website at The site is texted in English
and Armenian, and offers an extensive archive of on-demand audio files
of most of their programmes, posted online soon after live broadcast.

The station broadcasts round the clock with programmes in Armenian and
Arabic on 94.7 MHz FM from studios in Beirut. Main news bulletins in
Armenian are at 0830 and 1830 local time, in Arabic at 0930 and 1630
local time (currently gmt +2 hours).

Founded in 1986, Voice of Van describes itself on the website as "the
official radio station of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation in
Lebanon" (Dashnaktsutyun). The mother organization of this political
party has a website at

Two other Beirut radio stations have recently established a web
presence.

Voice of the People has an Arabic website at ,
offering an on-demand audio archive of their main news bulletin for the
last seven days. The station broadcasts in Arabic on 103.7 and 104.0
MHz in the FM band, between the hours of 0600-0100 hours local time.

The second programme of state-owned Radio Lebanon has a
website at Radio Liban 96.2 FM broadcasts on
that frequency round the clock in French, English and Armenian,
including several hours relaying French programming from external
broadcaster Radio France International. An associated website at
has further information and
a programme guide.

ARMENIA READY TO ACTIVATE POLITICAL DIALOGUE WITH SERBIA

PanARMENIAN.Net
21.11.2006 18:03 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Today newly appointed Serbia’s Ambassador to
Armenia Liliana Bacevic (residence in Athens) handed credentials to
RA President Robert Kocharian, reports the RA leader’s press office.

During the meeting President Kocharian said Armenia is ready
to activate political dialogue and develop economic ties with
Serbia. Remarking that Serbia has passed through serious trials the
RA President said that the two states have much in common and this
can become a good basis for further cooperation. The interlocutors
also pointed out to the importance of frequent contacts between the
two republics.

A.R.F. Shant Student Association
104 North Belmont Street, Suite 306
Glendale, California 91206
Tel: 818-462-3006
E-Mail: [email protected]
Website:

PRESS RELEASE
November 21, 2006

ARF Shant to Host Expert Panel Discussion on Development and
Integration of Western Armenian Lands Post Armenian Genocide
Recognition

HOLLYWOOD, CA – On December 3, 2006 at 6pm, the Armenian Revolutionary
Federation Shant Student Association (ARF Shant) will host a
pioneering expert panel discussion. The topic of the evening will be
the re-integration and re-development of Western Armenia upon
recognition of the Armenian Genocide. By hosting such a unique event,
the ARF Shant’s goal is to take the Armenian Cause to the next level
and begin planning for what comes after Turkey has been forced to
recognize the Armenian Genocide and provide restitution and
reparations.

The panel discussion will concentrate on the political,
constitutional, economic, and infrastructural challenges that the
Armenian nation faces in the implementation of a free, independent,
and united Armenia.

The renowned experts who will be making presentations and
participating in the panel discussion are historian and political
scientist Dr. Garo Moumdjian, economist Dr. Ara Khanjian, and Civil
Engineer Mr. Aram Kaloustian. The panelists will also field questions
from the audience.

This first of its kind event is open to the entire community and will
take place at Karapetian Hall, located at 1614 N. Alexandria Ave in
Hollywood, California. For more details, please visit
or call (818) 462-3006.

The mission of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation "Shant" Student
Association (ARF Shant) is to bring a higher level of political and
cultural awareness to Armenian students within American Universities
and institutions of higher learning. The ARF Shant’s goal is to work
side by side with the Armenian Student Associations and other Armenian
Student organizations to further the Armenian Cause.

NKR DEFENSE MINISTER: "WE HAVE MADE OUR BORDERS IMPREGNABLE"

DeFacto Agency, Armenia
Nov 20 2006

The fall call-up to the army started in the Nagorno-Karabakh. The NKR
Defense Minister Lt. General Seyran Ohanian addressed the conscripts’
relatives in the course of a meeting held at an army unit.

"It’s a memorable day, as the NKR Defense Army’s ranks are being
reinforced. I am sure the recruits will fulfill their civil duty
before the Motherland with honor. Today we have an army capable
of fighting, which protects our country, our nation’s creative
work, thus leading to the country’s prosperity. To serve in such a
country is any soldier’s sacred duty. Our boys go to protect their
Motherland’s borders with the soldiers that do not concede to the
developed countries’ servicemen by the level of their combat training.

Having provided our borders with up-to-date engineering devices,
we’ll make them impregnable", the NKR Defense Minister noted, the
NKR MFA Press Centre reports.

TRANSLATION COMPETITION ANNOUNCED

The Messenger, Georgia
Nov 20 2006

The Deer Leap fund and State Language Department have announced
a translation competition for ethnic minority students, reports
newspaper Sakartvelos Respublika.

Young translators from Georgia’s Armenian and Azeri schools will be
asked to translate a poem from Azeri or Armenian into Georgian.

Azeri pupils will translate a poem by Azeri poet Valeh Hajiev and
Armenian pupils will translate Vahan Terian’s poetry.

In another part of the competition, famous Georgian poetry is to be
translated into Armenian and Azeri. For this component, well-loved
Georgian poet Galaktion Tabidze’s The Wind Blows has been selected.

The top three entrants will receive special prizes, including personal
computers, electronic equipment and book tokens. The deadline for
accepting translations is December 10.

"NOBODY SPEAKS ABOUT THE REAL REASONS BEHIND THE SANCTIONS"

The Messenger, Georgia
Nov 17 2006

At this time of impending winter woes and a continued deadlock in
Georgia-Russia relations, The Messenger’s Keti Sikharulidze asked
Vladimer Papava, senior fellow at the Georgian Foundation for Strategic
and International Studies and deputy chair of the parliamentary
Committee for Finance and Budget, to give his unique insight into
the crisis, and the wider economic outlook for the country.

How do you make sense of Russia’s actions towards Georgia?

Russia will do everything it can to use the levers available to
achieve its interests, the price hike on natural gas is one example
of those levers.

It is not just the embargo, but it is a range of serious economic
sanctions that Russia has used against Georgia, however, nobody speaks
about the real reasons behind the sanctions-behind wine and mineral
water stood something quite different. Falsification is a worldwide
problem, not only a Georgian problem.

Everything began much earlier, when the Georgian government announced
early this year that it might sell its main gas pipeline to Gazprom,
which connects Russia to Armenia via Georgia. Gazprom, of course, was
ready to buy it to maintain its economic influence in the region as
the main pipeline is extremely important for Gazprom. At that time,
the Georgian government did not object to them buying it at all,
because they could get a large sum of money for it. But the deal
didn’t go through because of the Americans. The American side not
only disrupted negotiations, but demanded that Georgia stop talks
altogether on the issue.

Right after the deal fell through, Russia announced the embargo on
wine and mineral water.

Russia’s anger towards Georgia grew even greater after Georgia’s
declaration that it wanted to join NATO and the final blow was the
arrest of the GRU officers. The Kremlin could simply not stomach
Georgians daring to blame GRU officers of espionage and in response
they used the harshest measures they could: deportation of Georgians,
even those ethnic Georgians with Russian citizenship.

How is the embargo and deportations influencing the Georgian economy?

Deportation of Georgians, if we discuss it from the economical
standpoint, means stopping money transfers. I do not mean bank
transfers, but those transfers that were delivered by people personally
who travelled between these two countries.

Some think that the Russian embargo would be a big economic blow
for Georgia

In the long-term, it might be good for our entrepreneurs. It might
somehow wake them up, make them start finding alternative markets apart
from Russia, though it is not easy to do and I don’t think they’ve
succeeded so far. It speaks to those problems that our businesses
are having in general, struggling to follow those market economic
principles accepted in the West. However, I do not rule out that some
companies will overcome these barriers and succeed in their business.

But if we speak about the short-term impact, closure of the
Russian market of course is a great blow to the Georgian economy
and businesses, but however strong the hit is, we should endure it,
in order to maintain our sovereignty and independence, which is so
important for building a normal state.

How successful are Georgian businesses in searching for new markets?

The main buyer of Georgian wine and mineral water is no surprise
for anybody. The Russian market and its closure to Georgian wine and
water companies was a great blow.

Each product has its market. Business owners should study the markets
and determine where it is relevant to sell their product.

I think our businesses are not ready to conquer developed markets.

The faster they research other markets and learn how to enter these
markets, the better it is for our economy, especially when our country
has such positive economic indicators. It can be said that Russian
embargo was a good advertisement for us.

What do you think about the Statistics Department being moved into
the Ministry of Economic Development?

Georgia has no Statistics Department now that it has become one of
the departments of the Ministry of Economic Development, which was
the greatest institutional mistake.

But there is a hidden conflict of interests. As we know, the government
works out a plan for governing the country, which should be tracked
using concrete data researched and published by the Statistics
Department. This enables the government to show its failures and
successes in figures to society.

If the department is under the government’s control, it is much easier
to control it institutionally and report figures that are favourable
for the government. I personally cannot trust the information reported
by this department.

What should be done to solve this problem?

The only way to avoid state influence on the statistics department is
to put it under the presidential administration again, as it was during
Shevardnadze’s administration. Such changes are vitally important for
the country, and especially for the president, in order to evaluate
the government’s activities and get a real picture of what is going
on. In short, the government should not have the right to poke its
head into the Statistic Department’s activities.

Rising inflation has been worrying many in Georgia, what are the
major causes of the inflation we have seen recently?

There are number of reasons. One version is the price on energy
products on world markets caused the inflation we have seen in
Georgia. While this might be one reason, we should also find reasons
look for answers elsewhere.

I suppose the main problem was the government expenses allotted
for public works. It does not mean that government should not build
roads, fountains or decorate schools or buildings, but money dumped
into the economy for these kinds of activities harms the economy and
causes inflation.

For instance, the president’s three month employment programme to
employ 50 000 people is one of the main causes of the inflation.

Governmental bodies dealing with the economic sector should have
informed the president of the possible risks this programme could
have created for the economy.

FRANCE SAYS NO WORD FROM TURKEY ON MILITARY FREEZE
By Francois Murphy

TREND, Azerbaijan
Nov 16 2006

PARIS, Nov 16 (Reuters) – France said on Thursday it had received no
word from Turkey on Ankara’s suspension of bilateral military ties,
the latest step in a row over whether Armenians suffered genocide at
the hands of Ottoman Turks.

General Ilker Basbug, head of Turkish land forces, said on Wednesday
Ankara was suspending military ties with Paris in protest at the
French parliament’s support for a bill making it a crime to deny that
the killings were genocide.

"To my knowledge, we have not received official word from the Turkish
authorities on this subject," French Foreign Ministry spokesman
Jean-Baptiste Mattei said.

The French Defence Ministry said it had only heard of the move through
the media and called for caution until Ankara told Paris exactly what
was happening.

"I think we should not prejudge the evolution of these relations. It is
not the sign of a crisis or of a major difficulty," Defence Ministry
spokesman Jean-Francois Bureau told reporters, adding the Turkish
government had said nothing.

The French National Assembly approved the Armenian bill last month,
triggering threats of a trade boycott by Turkey, which strongly
rejects the claims that Ottoman Turks committed genocide against
Armenians during World War One.

The French bill is unlikely to make it into law because it is opposed
by President Jacques Chirac, but many Turks see it as further proof
that opponents of its bid to join the European Union are gaining the
upper hand.

NATO said Turkey had assured it that the freeze would not affect
alliance operations.

NO CONSEQUENCES YET

The two NATO allies work side by side in the Afghan capital Kabul as
part of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF),
which is battling Taliban insurgents in a mission NATO says is vital
to its credibility.

"Our initial understanding is that the Turkish decision will not
affect NATO. It is focused on bilateral military activities, not NATO
operations," NATO spokesman James Appathurai said.

He said that assessment was based on statements by the Turkish
delegation at NATO and ISAF officials.

France’s Bureau said there had been a "cooling" in military
relations with Turkey in 2001 after the French parliament passed a
law recognising the 1915 killings as genocide, but they had returned
to normal since then.

"I think we should not consider that we are in a totally new
situation. We have already known periods of cooling in bilateral
relations. Until now, I do not see why that would change. They have
never taken on a definitive character," he said.

"We have no practical consequences to date of the announcement made
last night," he added.

French defence firms view NATO member Turkey, which has a fast-growing
economy, as a lucrative market for their hardware.

(Additional reporting by Mark John in Brussels)

Chicago Maroon, IL
Nov 17 2006

Atom Egoyan introduces jarring and strikingly personal new film at
Doc

By Rob Weisenberger
Friday, November 17th, 2006

Atom Egoyan really is having trouble with the auto focus. The Academy
Award-nominated director, whose film, Citadel, held its American
premier on campus last Thursday as part of the Chicago Presidential
Fellows in the Arts Series, is still "working things out" with his new
handheld camera. But it’s worth bearing with him as he documents his
wife’s first return to Lebanon since the civil war 28 years ago in a
travel journal addressed to his then 10-year-old son. "This trip was
full of events and details you’ll never remember when you’re old enough
to watch this," Egoyan explains in his voice-over; this trip "would
change our lives… and have an effect on yours." This highly personal
journal-at times playful and didactic-is, as a gift from father to
son, a remembrance of one journey and a guide to every future one. We,
the viewers packing Max Palevsky Cinema last Thursday, had the rare
privilege of seeing a film never intended to be shown publicly in the
company of Egoyan and the film’s star, his award-winning actress-wife,
Arsinee Khanjian. We were simply along for the ride.

And the ride was often a bumpy one: The film’s opening shot is framed
by the windshield of a car careening around the suburbs of Beirut.
The land is lush and bathed in light. The soundtrack is woven from the
soothing strains of Lebanese folk music and the incessant chatter
of Egoyan’s animated wife, while the camera aimed on her face.
Arsinee’s memories of her childhood before the war come flooding
back: Some things have changed, others remain "exactly the same." The
Cairo-born, Canadian-raised director of Armenian descent tries to
commit his wife’s ebullient homecoming to home video.

The crucial dynamics of the couple-husband and wife, artist and
subject-are as touching as they are comedic. Egoyan, as a bystander
in the film points out, must "love [Arsinee] very much, because he is
always filming her." In what will prove to be an essential admission,
he concedes early in the film: "It’s possible that the extraordinary
detail of stories and memories you’re encountering are a result of the
peculiar alchemy that exists between your mother and I. After all,
I’ve got the camera and she’s the subject." Egoyan’s constant and
loving pokes at his wife’s little idiosyncrasies add comic relief and
only boost the director’s ethos. When Arsinee’s endless ruminations
lapse into inanity, he quips: "You’re a very deep thinker." At another
moment, when she forgets the Arab word for "democracy," he prods her
mercilessly, reflecting at length in his voice-over on whether the
incident displays a failing in Arsinee’s long-unused Arabic vocabulary
or one in Lebanon’s pseudo-democratic system. Egoyan favors the second
explanation, launching into a criticism of Lebanon’s inflexible and
anachronistic system of representation.

It is Egoyan’s paternal instinct that inspires these sorts of
explanations. Besides confessing a father’s occasional difficulty at
answering his son’s innocent but incisive questions, Egoyan tries to
contextualize everything for his son’s benefit. Whenever he prefaces an
observation with "what you need to know is …" or when he frequently
admonishes his son to "think about this," either a concrete lesson
on Lebanese culture or a sweeping, cosmological reflection is about
to follow. One of the more lurid history lessons that his son "needs
to know" is on the massacre of alleged Palestinian sympathizers by
Christians during the Lebanese civil war. Despite the perpetrators’
background in humanism and the Bible, Egoyan explains, these ghastly
acts were made possible because the victims weren’t seen as human.

Egoyan is a helpful, and perhaps even too helpful, guide: Where a
viewer might normally need to draw his own inferences, he pronounces
truths at every turn. "Boundaries are taken seriously in Lebanon,"
he states portentously, and "things in this city are never what they
seem." Egoyan’s voice is, however, remarkably personal and ingenuous.
He speaks "as someone from the West," and filters and augments his
impressions through juxtaposition with the poetry of Keats and Shelley,
as well as his own childhood experience, when his father read him
the work of the Lebanese artist and writer Khalil Gibran, who advised
parents that their children "came from," but did not belong to them,
and needed to have thoughts of their own. This sentiment guides
Egoyan’s labor of love as a sort of paternal primer before his son
sets off into the world.

Egoyan, a relentlessly self-conscious narrator and guide (he films
himself in a mirror early on), ruminates endlessly on his own role
in the project ("maybe that’s all I am-a poacher making a souvenir")
offers some useful insight on his role as a filmmaker. Calvino,
as Egoyan explains, wrote, "The person who considers everything
not photographed lost as if it never existed. Therefore in order
to ever really live, you must photograph as much as you can. And
to photograph as much as you can, you must either live in the most
photographable way possible or consider photographable every moment
of your life. The first course leads to stupidity, and the second
course leads to madness."

Yet it is at this point that Egoyan’s film changes drastically:
Nothing we had seen thus far would prepare us for what was about to
happen next. With the same heavy-handed build-up of suspense I used to
transition from the last sentence to this one, Egoyan also build’s to
the film’s climax: the Citadel, "where everything would change; from
where things would never be the same." Here a spoiler warning should
be issued. For the sake of space, we can say in essence that Egoyan,
the loving father and ingenuous narrator who had brought us this far,
now pulls the wool over our eyes.

On a tour of the ancient ruins of the Citadel, Egoyan demonizes his
tour guide by his camerawork and commentary. "Why did your mother
trust him?" he asks. "I had a strange feeling about him from the
moment we met." By fabricating a story based loosely on reality,
Egoyan paints his benign young guide as a ruthless accomplice to
a repressive regime. We feel slightly duped after having swallowed
Egoyan’s ploy whole.

"That’s what’s absurd," Egoyan admits after revealing this fabricated
plot turn, added to an otherwise mostly truthful film. "That I could
take these images of our guide, a completely innocent man, and make
you believe that he’s a monster, and that something terrible is about
to happen." What’s more, though, Egoyan and his wife had no plans to
give the film this twist at the outset; the two began spontaneously,
when given the opportunity, to improvise and dramatize the scenario,
creating suspense and drama where there hadn’t really been any.

The lesson to Egoyan’s son about his parents that follows is as
instructive on this evening, when we meet the filmmaker and his
wife, as the film’s broader lesson. First, we learn that Egoyan and
Arsinee do reside "between stupidity and madness," in a world where
everything is to be made photographable. "You have to remember who
your parents are," Egoyan reminds his son. "I make images; your mother
acts in them."

The second, broader lesson of a touching film, heightened rather than
marred by Egoyan’s stunt, speaks to how contingent an image can be.
"There are hundreds of stories in this street," Egoyan concludes, "and
this is the only one you happen to be watching." Yet if photography
is only a matter of "capturing" rather than "creating" images, as
he considers, then how we present these images, how we show them,
and how they are seen is also crucial. It means no less than how we
see and treat others.

There were, of course, hundreds of other stories residing in that
one Lebanese street, but it would be hard to believe that there were
many ones much better than what we just "happened to be watching"
on Thursday. And it wasn’t even intended for us.

VARTAN OSKANIAN: COMMON VERGES OF CONSENT STARTED TO COME IN SIGHT DURING BRUSSELS MEETING

Noyan Tapan News Agency, Armenia
Nov 15 2006

BRUSSELS, NOVEMBER 15, NOYAN TAPAN. In the words of Armenian Foreign
Minister Vartan Oskanian, "there were moderate expectations" from the
Brussels meeting with Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadiarov.

"I would not say that even if these moderate expectations were
fulfilled completely, nevertheless, I can say that a little progress
was registered," the Armenian Foreign Minister said in his interview
to radio Liberty after the November 14 meeting.

In his words, the negotiations should be continued, as common verges
of consent seemed to come in sight during this meeting around proposals
and thoughts discussed at the Moscow and Paris meetings. "I cannot say
that this was a complete consent, but some verges started to show up."

Vartan Oskanian considered it interesting that the OSCE Minsk Group
Co-chairmen "after hearing all this informed us that they have made
a decision to propose the Presidents to have a meeting during the CIS
summit at the end of this month." "Maybe they have seen some positive
moments in our today’s discussions and proceeding from this, made a
decision to invite the Presidents to such a meeting," V.Oskanian said.

In the Foreign Minister’s words, the Presidents will decide whether
to accept the invitation to this meeting or not. "That’s why the
Co-chairmen will visit the region soon, during the coming week:
they will be in Yerevan on November 21," he said.

The Minister assured that expression of people’s will in Nagorno
Karabakh remains the principle of negotiations for Armenia. "This
is one of the pivotal issues and indeed this is a necessity for the
Armenian side," V.Oskanian said. "Be it through a referendum or in
another way, the self-determination right of the Nagorno Karabakh
people should be stipulated by this document that should serve as a
means of solution. So, this issue remains on the agenda."

In response to the question, was any compromise or softening
noticeable in Azerbaijan’s position during the meeting or at the
negotiations preceding it, the Minister said: "I can say the following:
the atmosphere was rather positive, it was a constructive meeting,
rather a serious discussion developed, thoughts were voiced."

"I cannot say that there are any concrete agreements, but in the
"footnote" of the discussions it was felt that there was some
similarity of approaches," Vartan Oskanian said. "You can consider
this a flexible approach or a compromise, I do not want to qualify
this in any way, I can only register that many common verges of
consent seemed to have come in sight during this meeting."

Estimating the Armenian Action Plan signed the same day within the
framework of the European Union New Neighborhood Policy, the Minister
emphasized that "by adopting this document Armenia established new
relations from qualitative point of view with the European Union."

"This opens serious prospects for us to integrate into these structures
for even more, to deepen our relations," Vartan Oskanian said. "This
program has a duration of five years, a serious financial support,
is target and indeed, if it is implemented rightly, Armenia can make
a great use of it."

"I have repeatedly said that if we are able to completely fulfil the
opportunities given by this program, in five years Armenia can be
a different state in political and economic respect," the Minister
said and emphasized that indeed we should pursue its fulfilment.

Touching upon the forthcoming parliamentary and presidential elections
in Armenia, Vartan Oskanian said: "Today one of the pivotal issues
raised during the Armenia-European Union Cooperation Council meeting
is also the coming elections. At any bilateral meeting I have had
during the recent months one of the pivotal issues on the agenda was
our forthcoming elections. Our elections are so much spoken about
that indeed this does not permit us to be mistaken this time."

In the Armenian Foreign Minister’s words, attention, interest in the
elections is too big: "And the losses we can have are also so big
that indeed we should seriously think to do so with the whole nation,
all political forces as to be able to indeed hold different elections
from the qualitative point of view."

"Armenia’s further development, stipulation of our democratic
institutions, implementation of programs greatly and considerably
depend on the forthcoming two elections in Armenia, parliamentary and
presidential," the head of the Armenian foreign political department
concluded.

GRAND MUFTI OF TURKEY SEES POPE’S UPCOMING VISIT AS ‘STEP TOWARD DIALOGUE’

La Stampa, Itali
Nov 15 2006

[Interview With Grand Mufti Ali Bardakoglu by Claudio Gallo: "Grand
Mufti: ‘Pope Runs No Risk, He Is Welcome Guest’" – first paragraph
is La Stampa introduction]

Istanbul – Apart from a handshake with the president of the republic,
he will be the first person the pope will see on his arrival in
Turkey on 28 November: the chairman of the Diyanet, Professor Ali
Bardakoglu. He is often referred to in Italy as the grand mufti,
but one has the impression that the title is rather an honorary one,
some sort of a label for the secular guide at the Ministry of Religious
Affairs. Professor, are you the grand mufti? To answer this question
he offers a book of his, Religion and Society, with the subtitle:
"Turkey’s New Prospects," which he has just autographed, saying:
"Here you will find the answer, especially in the chapter on the
ministry chairmanship." We are beginning rather well.

The seat of the Diyanet – the word means clemency, compassion – is just
out of Ankara’s centre, a square palace with wide, clear-cut spaces,
reminiscent of the architecture of the Twenties. The office is large,
with a big desk at the end, paintings, and carpets. He sits on a big
armchair, wearing the "sarik," the headgear of religious leaders,
and a pearl-coloured robe with floral motifs and maroon cuffs. Tall,
whiskered, the father of three sons, there he sits with crossed hands,
he does not gesticulate, only now and then he moves his brown eyes. On
his left there is the linen cloth that covered the Qa’aba, Mecca’s
black stone, with the two names of God imprinted on it. He talks
without changing his tone; at times he smiles. A student of Islam,
he blends the religious with the secular component – as is inevitable
after Ataturk – with the skill of a Christian Democrat.

[Gallo] You were among the first to ask the pope to apologize for
his Regensburg speech. Will you ask him to do so again?

[Bardakoglu] I will not waste my time talking about the past. It does
not matter whether the person who says something unacceptable about
Islam is a layman, a priest, or an important person: our duty is to
correct him. But these things belong to the past, let us look ahead.

Religious leaders must respect the feelings of other believers. As an
Islamic community, we are open to criticism and discussion of religious
experience, but not of the fundamental principles of our faith: God,
the Prophet, and the Koran.

[Gallo] The pontiff’s quotation of the Byzantine Emperor Manuel II
was only a small part of a broad discourse about God and reason. Is
the God of the Koran beyond reason?

[Bardakoglu] It was a very intellectual discourse and the quotation
made by the pope leads to a wrong academic interpretation. Besides,
many Western intellectuals, even Christian ones, have criticized those
words on the political and philosophical plane. The Islamic faith
does not rule out rationalism. In the Koran there are indications
that logic is not extraneous to God. We are open to a discussion on
the relationship between God and reason, it is a great pleasure for
us to talk these questions over with other religions.

[Gallo] People often oppose Islam and Christianity like East and
West. Christianity, however, took shape and developed in Asia Minor,
more or less in the area of today’s Turkey: so people forget that it
too is an Eastern religion.

[Bardakoglu] The Middle East is the cradle of religions. We recognize
a continuity – from Adam, Moses, and Jesus, down to Muhammad. In
these lands one can at every step find traces of all faiths, which
lived peacefully one beside the other. In the Balkans too there are
Christian monuments, which were preserved under Ottoman rule. Unlike
Spain, where, with the exception of the Alhambra, the traces of the
Islamic presence have been erased. And while the Jews were being
massacred in Spain, they found hospitality and protection with us.

One of Istanbul’s synagogues goes back to that time.

[Gallo] Are you concerned about the pope’s security?

[Bardakoglu] Religious and political leaders of all countries come to
Turkey every day without problems. We are a democratic state, there
is freedom: precisely for this reason there are people who do not
want this visit and who say so. This, however, will not affect our
traditional hospitality. Tolerance and hospitality are two different
entities that can coexist. No, I am not concerned at all. This trip
will not solve all the problems, but will be a good step towards
dialogue. Peace can be destroyed in a moment, but it takes time,
it is a long process, to build it.

[Gallo] At times the word jihad is, in the Western media, synonymous
with terrorism: can you explain its true meaning?

[Bardakoglu] We condemn all kinds of terrorism, there is no cause
that can justify it. The word jihad, which is often exalted in the
Koran, cannot justify violence. The whole of the Islamic world must
be aware of that. Islam is the way to peace and love. In Islam, the
main meaning of jihad is that of interior struggle against the evil
inclinations of human nature. Our faith wants to conquer hearts by
the truth, not by force. God does not approve of forced conversions,
religions spring from the heart.

[Gallo] Do Turkish Muslims really want to join an apparently Christian
European Union?

[Bardakoglu] My role has nothing to do with the question of Turkey’s
accession to the EU. I do not believe that Europe is a Christian
club. A common way must be found: if we start with religion, we will
be divided on everything else.

[Gallo] Will the Roman Catholic Church be legally recognized in
your country?

[Bardakoglu] All religions are recognized here. Turkey is a secular
country, the problem does not exist. The task of the state is to give
a space to religions and guarantee their freedom.

[Gallo] Still, while the Orthodox and Armenian Churches enjoy
juridical status, the Roman Catholic apostolic nuncio is like any
private person. For example, the Vatican cannot own a church.

[Bardakoglu] I do not know all the hierarchies and relationships
among the various confessions. In numerical terms, the Orthodox
Armenians come first, followed by the Orthodox Greeks and all the
rest. The Roman Catholics are a small minority. George Marovich
(spokesman for the Episcopal Conference – editor’s note) is a very
popular person with us. And nobody can say that he is considered
a minor religious leader. We have met frequently over these years,
and also recently. We do not discriminate.

[Gallo] What do you say to Paris, which wants to adopt a law against
those who deny the Armenian genocide?

[Bardakoglu] It is up to the politicians to answer this question.

Anyhow, whether something is true or not cannot be laid down by law.