Author: Kalantarian Kevo

TURKISH HYSTERIA GOES ON

yerkir.am
18:07 – 23.12.2011

After adopting the bill criminalizing denial of the Armenian Genocide
all known and unknown political figures started making comments and
criticizing France.

During the meeting with Turkish ambassadors, Minister of foreign
affairs Ahmed Davoutoghlu came with rough announcements and equaled
Sarkozy with “dictators of Middle East”.

Prime Minister of Turkey Rechep Tayyip Erdoghan also appeared with
anti-French announcements during “Changes of Muslim society and
woman’s role” conference.

“Actions of racism, discrimination, positive attitude have become
more frequent. Sarkozy wishes to win the elections by becoming enemies
with the Muslims and Turks”, said he.

President Abdullah Gul announced during his meeting with journalists
that France must leave OSCE MG as that bill affects the stability
of Caucasus and complicates the relationships between Armenia and
Azerbaijan.

Councilor of PM Byulent Arnch was more “constructive” and expressed
his hopes that France will withdraw that bill.

PM Erdoghan again called Sarkozy review the history of France and
the Genocides they had committed in Algeria.

“His father was a soldier of French legion in Algeria in 1940. I am
sure he will have a lot to tell to his son about the mass killings”,
said Erdoghan.

Few days ago journalist of Turkish ‘Hurriyet’ daily named Erdoghan
“Allah’s fool” in one of his articles and reminded that France and
Algeria are friend countries now.

Syria’s Muslim Brotherhood claims suicide bombings in Damascus

December 24, 2011 – 17:30 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Syria’s Muslim Brotherhood has claimed
responsibility for suicide bombings in Damascus that killed 44 people,
saying they were the first step in liberating the capital and that
more attacks were to come.

The claim on Saturday, Dec 24 contradicted assertions by the regime of
President Bashar al-Assad that the blasts, which also wounded 166
people, were the work of al-Qa’ida and of the opposition Syrian
National Council that the regime carried them out.

”One of our victorious Sunni brigades was able to target the state
security building in Kfar Suseh in the heart of the … capital
Damascus in a successful operation carried out by four of our
kamikazes drawn from the best of our glorious men, leaving many dead
and wounded from the ranks of the Assad gangs,” it said on its
official website.

The bombings, the first against the powerful security services in
central Damascus since an uprising against Assad began in March, came
a day after the arrival of an advance group of Arab League monitors
who are to oversee a deal to end the bloodshed.

After Dec 23 attacks, Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Meqdad said
”this is the gift we get from the terrorists and al-Qa’ida, but we
are going to do all we can to facilitate the Arab League mission,”
AFP reported.

Qualitatively new stage in the process of international recognition of
the Armenian Genocide
24.12.2011 16:53

Artak Barseghyan
`Radiolur”

There were no signs of animation in the process of normalization of
the Armenian-Turkish relations in the passing year. The protocols
signed two years ago were not ratified, the border was not opened, no
diplomatic representations were opened in Yerevan and Ankara.

There is no Armenian-Turkish dialogue as such, and Turkey’s silent
policy yields no results today. At the same time the progress in the
process of international recognition of the Armenian Genocide incites
turmoil in Turkey.

According to expert of Turkish studies Anush Hovhannisyan, the passage
of the bill in the French National Assembly is Armenia’s victory but
`we should not forget that politics is based on mutual interest. For
now, interests of Armenia and France meet.’

`Adoption of the bill is a response to unfulfilled promises by
Turkey,’ Hovhannisyan said.

Expert of Turkish studies Artak Shakaryan said Turkey is irritated by
the increased number of Kurds in the Parliament and Res. 306 adopted
by the US Congress, which calls on Turkey to return the stolen
Christian property.

Touching upon the bill passed by the French National Assembly, the
expert said `it marks a qualitatively new stage in the process of
international recognition of the Armenian Genocide. France was the
second country after Switzerland to adopt a law that makes it a crime
to deny the Armenian Genocide.

Why doesn’t Ankara want to normalize relations with Yerevan? According
to Artak Shakaryan, `Turks were anticipating progress in the
settlement of the Karabakh conflict or some pressure that would earn
them dividends.’

“Once there was and was not”: Lucine Kasbarian’s tale from Armenia

Friday, December 9, 2011

Ever since I read Lucine Kasbarian’s folktale, The Greedy Sparrow, an
Armenian Tale published this year by Marshall Cavendish, I’ve wanted
to talk with her. I wanted to understand her process of retelling a
tale and how this tale holds the traditions of the Armenian tales she
grew up hearing. Then I heard that UNESCO named Yerevan, capital city
of Armenia, as the World Book Capital for 2012. So I wrote her.
Lucine and I are connected by publisher. I also have a book coming
with Marshall Cavendish, a small press in the limelight today since
its children’s book list was acquired by a new Amazon imprint. One
thing Lucine and I hear from publishers and editors at Cavendish and
the new Amazon imprint is that they “believe in the craft of the
book.”
The Greedy Sparrow is, indeed, such a book of craft. It’s a wry
comeuppance tale of a sparrow who tries to manipulate a series of
village folk and animals – and does pay. Here’s what Luncine
explained about The Greedy Sparrow, the Armenian folktale tradition,
the city of Yerevan, and Armenia today:

“Armenian folk tales come from an ancient oral tradition, where values
and truisms were shared around the hearth to entertain and educate.
Our national epic, David of Sassoun, dates back to the 8th century. It
narrates the legendary deeds of Armenian daredevils and gives voice to
our nation’s deepest feelings and aspirations. Unlike better-known
epics such as The Odyssey, Gilgamesh and Beowulf, David of Sassoun
survived solely by word of mouth, transmitted from one generation to
the next by poets and troubadours. This epic was first recorded on
paper in 1873 by an Armenian bishop who had close contact with the
peasantry in the remotest parts of mountainous Western Armenia. There,
life had not changed for a thousand years, allowing traditions to
remain relatively intact. The Bishop discovered and later cajoled
Gurbo, a village bard from Moush, to recite the tale — an undertaking
that took several days to accomplish. Dear Gurbo, like those before
him, had memorized an epic narrative that, when finally written with
all its variants, was more than 2,500 pages long.

Folktales have a universal quality. They can touch everyone,
regardless of age or social, educational, ethnic or economic status.
They instill certain values and have withstood the test of time
because of their simplicity, humor, wisdom, and understanding of human
attributes. Armenian folk tales incorporate myths, legends, cautionary
tales, absurd humor and proverbial wisdom, often full of magic,
spirits, talking animals and a moral lesson, and show human virtues
and shortcomings.

Armenian tales traditionally begin with `Once there was and was not,’
meaning that they may have been real or imagined, and end with a
variety of sayings. One is `Three apples fell from heaven: one for the
teller of the tale, one for the listener of the tale, and one for the
child who will one day retell the tale.’ So here, we have stories
organically containing instructions advising listeners to pass along
the tale when they grow older. I followed that dictum, translating The
Sparrow’s Tale into the English from the regional Armenian dialect of
Dikranagerd (today’s Diyarbakr, Turkey). It is in that dialect that my
father relayed the story to me when I was a child. He himself learned
to recite the tale from his grandmother, a celebrated storyteller in
the Old Country, who would sing and dance as she narrated. When The
Sparrow’s Tale was told in the Dikranagerd dialect — which is an
earthy, colorful, humorous language — the wry humor really shone
through. And while I did try to recreate the absurd spirit of the tale
in English, hints and shades were unavoidably lost in translation.

In sharing “The Sparrow’s Tale” with me, my father preserved something
very precious: a part of our national inheritance. Our genocide
survivor ancestors did not pass down family heirlooms such as rare
carpets or jewelry. When Armenians were massacred or sent on death
marches, tangible valuables were left behind, stolen or destroyed and
their civilization was wiped out. But what some survivors held in
their memories — such as songs, dances, and the stories told by their
people, what UNESCO calls `intangible cultural heritage’ — endured.
Heirlooms of this sort are priceless, especially when we are talking
about endangered cultures.

I think this tale — retold as The Greedy Sparrow (a picture book for
Marshall Cavendish) — resonates with all ages, not only because the
message conveys that manipulation is ultimately not rewarded, but
because it also showcases native Armenians practicing traditional
folkways. Even as my family today lives far from Armenia, those
folkways have tremendous meaning for us. In fact, the bride’s attire
in The Greedy Sparrow bears a strong resemblance to my own folkloric
wedding gown. To repeat an Armenian proverb of exile, `Even in a
golden cage, the nightingale longs for his native land.’

I’ve worked in Armenia many times over the years, during both the Cold
War and independent eras, primarily assisting in the restoration of
ancient monuments with a group called Terre et Culture. It would be an
honor to visit Yerevan in connection with my new book and the programs
being organized around the UNESCO World Book Capital celebration in
2012. And it would be gratifying to meet writers and illustrators and
perhaps sow the seeds for future collaborations.

Beginning five years after an earthquake in 1988, Turkey imposed a
blockade upon Armenia. Turkish officials say it was in response to
Armenian occupation of Azeri land. In reality, the uprisings by
indigenous Armenians came in response to Azeri pogroms and ethnic
cleansing on native Armenian soil, in the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh.
The result of this Armenian resistance was the creation of a de-facto
independent republic comprised of historically Armenian territory that
Josef Stalin had handed over to the Azeris in the 1920s.
What is life like with the Turkish blockade in effect? Armenians find
creative solutions to everyday challenges, and embrace a lifestyle
that would be characterized as `off-the-grid’ by Western standards.
Landlocked Armenia does trade with neighboring Georgia, Iran, and
Russia, and so is not in isolation as a result of the blockade. Like
the other former Soviet states, Armenia is dominated by oligarchs
whose leadership is not dependent upon the will of the people. Many
native Armenians are actually grateful for the blockade, which
prevents what they believe otherwise could be invasion or infiltration
by an unrepentant genocidal Turkey seeking eastward expansion.”
Lucine Kasbarian

Turkey to revise its diaspora concept: FM
ANKARA – Hürriyet Daily News

Ahmet DavutoÄ?lu says Turkish officials will have face-to-face talks
with anyone who migrated from Anatolia. DAILY NEWS photo

Sevil KüçükkoÅ?um
sevil.küçü[email protected]

Turkey renews its rhetoric that it applied within its action plan
against Armenian initiatives on the incidents of 1915. Ankara
constitutes its action plan on raising awareness in the international
arena on overall incidents of the World War I-era in a way that
includes what all Ottoman people suffered.

Turkey would change its `concept of diaspora,’ Foreign Minister Ahmet
DavutoÄ?lu said. Turkish officials would have face to face talks on
joint history with anyone who migrated from Anatolia from whichever
religion or sect they were, including Armenians, Greeks and Jews, he
said. `They are our diasporas.’ Turkey would tell how France and some
colonialists had set `riot between us’ in that era, he said.

Turkey’s short-term action plan against Armenian resolutions and
long-term plans for the upcoming 100th year of the alleged Armenian
`genocide’ will be an issue during the meetings of Turkish
ambassadors, who gathered in Ankara to review Turkey’s foreign policy,
a diplomatic source told Hürriyet Daily News Dec. 23. Ankara
was also concerned with Armenian initiatives in the U.S. because of
the upcoming presidential elections in that country. Ankara would
raise its voice against the bill `all around the world,’
DavutoÄ?lu said, adding that Turkey would decide whether to
`sharpen or ease’ measures against France according to Paris’
attitude.

Parliament scraps friendship group
In a related development, Parliament Speaker Cemil �içek said
yesterday that the adoption of the denial bill had made the France
friendship group in Parliament redundant and announced that its
350-odd members had begun resigning. �içek said the stance of French
Parliament was `biased, hostile and poisonous’ for bilateral
relations. `Maintaining friendly relations with such a country has
become meaningless and unnecessary. There will be no France friendship
group until they make up for their decision,’ Ã?içek said, stressing
that the stance of the Senate, the next legislative stage for the
bill, would be crucial. The overwhelming majority of the group’s
members belonged to the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).

December/24/2011

Genocide bill responds to Turkey’s failure to keep promises – expert

December 24, 2011 – 14:20 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Adoption of the bill criminalizing denial of the
Armenian Genocide derived from the failure of Turkish policy towards
Armenia, a turkologist said.

According to Anush Hovhannisyan passage of the bill by the French
National Assembly is Armenia’s victory but `we should not forget that
politics is based on mutual interest. For now, interests of Armenia
and France meet.’

Reflecting on Armenian-Turkish relations, the expert said that the
story with protocols showed that Turkey has no intention to normalize
relations with Armenia.

`Adoption of the bill is a response to unfulfilled promises by
Turkey,’ Hovhannisyan said.

On December 22, French National Assembly passed the bill criminalizing
the Armenian Genocide denial. The draft law envisages a year in jail
and a fine of 45,000 euros for those who publicly deny the Armenian
Genocide in France.

TURQUIE
Génocide arménien : Erdogan hausse le ton et accuse la France de génocide

Le Premier ministre turc Recep Tayyip Erdogan s’en est pris avec
virulence à la France vendredi, l’accusant de `génocide` en Algérie,
au lendemain de l’adoption par les députés français d’un texte de loi
pénalisant la négation du génocide arménien, que la Turquie a toujours
nié.

`On estime que 15% de la population algérienne a été massacrée par les
Français à partir de 1945. Il s’agit d’un génocide`, a lancé M.
Erdogan au cours d’une conférence à Istanbul, faisant allusion aux
violences commises au moment du processus d’indépendance de l’Algérie
de la domination française, entre 1945 et 1962.

`Si le président français M. Sarkozy ne sait pas qu’il y a eu un
génocide, il peut demander à son père Pal Sarkozy (…) qui a été
légionnaire en Algérie dans les années 1940`, a-t-il ajouté. `Je suis
sûr qu’il (Pal Sarkozy) a beaucoup de choses à dire à son fils sur les
massacres commis par les Français en Algérie.`

`Les Algériens ont été brûlés collectivement dans des fours. Ils ont
été martyrisés sans pitié`, a-t-il même ajouté.

`Le président français Sarkozy a commencé à rechercher des gains
électoraux en utilisant la haine du musulman et du Turc`, a encore
déclaré le chef du gouvernement islamo-conservateur turc.

`Ce vote qui a eu lieu en France, une France où vivent environ cinq
millions de musulmans, a clairement montré à quel point le racisme, la
discrimination et l’islamophobie ont atteint des dimensions
dangereuses en France et en Europe`, a asséné M. Erdogan.

L’Assemblée nationale française a voté jeudi une proposition de loi
réprimant d’un an de prison et d’une amende la contestation du
génocide arménien de 1915-17, suscitant la colère d’Ankara qui réfute
le caractère génocidaire des massacres survenus dans les dernières
années de l’empire ottoman.

A la suite de ce vote, la Turquie a rappelé son ambassadeur en France,
et a annoncé le gel de la coopération politique et militaire entre les
deux pays, pourtant alliés au sein de l’Otan.

Ces sanctions contre la France ne portent par sur les échanges
commerciaux ou l’activité des entreprises françaises en Turquie, mais
M. Erdogan a prévenu qu’il pourrait y avoir plusieurs trains de
mesures contre la France.

Le volume bilatéral des échanges a atteint près de 12 milliards
d’euros en 2010 et un millier d’entreprises françaises travaillent en
Turquie.

Paris de son côté s’est efforcé de calmer le jeu, face à la virulence
des réactions des Turcs, heurtés dans leur fierté nationale, d’après
les commentaires de la presse.

`Je respecte les convictions de nos amis turcs, c’est un grand pays,
une grande civilisation, ils doivent respecter les nôtres`, a déclaré
le président Sarkozy à Prague, où il assistait aux obsèques de
l’ancien président tchèque Vaclav Havel.

`La France ne donne de leçons à personne, mais la France n’entend pas
en recevoir`, a aussi dit M. Sarkozy.

`Je pense que cette initiative n’était pas opportune, mais le
Parlement a voté. (…) Essayons maintenant de reprendre des relations
apaisées. Ce sera difficile, j’en ai conscience, mais le temps fera
son oeuvre`, a pour sa part réagi le chef de la diplomatie française,
Alain Juppé.

`Il y a beaucoup de raisons de maintenir entre la France et la Turquie
des relations de confiance et même d’amitié, j’ose le mot (…) donc
j’appelle à nouveau au sang-froid et à la retenue`, a-t-il encore dit.

Rappelé par son pays, l’ambassadeur de Turquie à Paris, Tahsin
Burcuoglu, `est rentré pour consultations`, a annoncé dans la matinée
à l’AFP le porte-parole de la représentation diplomatique à Paris,
Engin Solakoglu. Son homologue français est, opportunément, en
vacances.

A Istanbul, une centaine d’islamistes ont manifesté sans incidents,
aux cris d’`A bas la France !`, devant le consulat de France.

Signe de la colère ambiante, le groupe d’amitié Turquie-France à
l’Assemblée nationale turque a fermé ses portes, faute de
participants. `Il n’y a plus de raison d’être pour un groupe d’amitié
dans notre Parlement (..) Et il n’y a plus de raison de maintenir
l’amitié avec un tel pays`, a déclaré à ce propos le président du
Parlement, Cemil Cicek.

AFP

samedi 24 décembre 2011,
Stéphane ©armenews.com

GENOCIDE DES ARMÉNIENS
La déclaration historique de Nicolas Sarkozy sur le génocide arménien

Hier, 23 décembre, à l’occasion des obsèques du Président Vaclav Havel
à Prague, le Président Sarkozy a répondu poliment, mais fermement,
sans le citer, aux attaques frontales du premier ministre turc
Erdogan, dans un entretien accordé à des journalistes de France 2,
diffusé aux journaux de 13h et de 20h, à la suite de l’adoption de la
loi, par l’Assemblée Nationale, visant à pénaliser la négation de tous
les génocides reconnus par la loi française, dont le génocide des
Arméniens.

Le chef de l’Etat s’exprimait devant quelques journalistes à
l’ambassade de France à Prague.

Question du journaliste : Monsieur le Président aux frontières de
l’Europe il y a un pays la Turquie qui est très en colère contre la
France après le vote hier par l’Assemblée nationale d’une loi
pénalisant la négation de tous les génocides y compris le génocide
arménien ce matin le premier ministre Erdogan estime que la France a
commis un génocide en Algérie et vous acuse je cite d’attiser la haine
du musulman et du turc à des fins électoralistes. Quelle est votre
réaction ? Est-ce qu’au vu de ses réactions cette loi n’était pas une
loi inutile ?

Nicolas Sarkozy : En toutes circonstances, il faut garder son sang
froid et son calme. La France définit souverainement sa politique, la
France ne demande pas l’autorisation, la France a des convictions, les
droits de l’homme, le respect de la mémoire. Il y a 10 ans la France a
voté une loi reconnaissant le génocide arménien. 1 500 000 arméniens
massacrés. La question aujourd’hui pour le parlement était de savoir
si la reconnaissance de ce génocide devait impliquer que ceux qui le
contestent puissent avoir à en rendre compte. C’est ce qui a été
décidé par l’Assemblée Nationale.

La France a des principes, voyez-vous monsieur elle porte un message :
chaque pays doit faire l’effort de revisiter son passé. La France ne
donne de leçons à personne mais la France n’entend pas en recevoir.

Question du journaliste : Vous ne craignez pas des mesures de
rétorsions économiques par exemple.

Nicolas Sarkozy : Monsieur Il y a des principes il y a des
convictions. Je respecte les convictions de nos amis turcs un grand
pays une grande civilisation. Ils doivent respecter les nôtres.

Question de la journaliste. Nous sommes en période crise économique.
Est-ce que cette crise ouverte de toute évidence avec la Turquie n’est
pas un luxe que la France ne peut se payer

Nicolas Sarkozy : Madame défendre ses convictions n’est jamais un
luxe, céder sur ses convictions est toujours une lcheté. Les lchetés
finissent toujours pas être payées. Nous sommes aujourd’hui à Prague,
toute l’Europe se réunit autour de la mémoirede Vaclav Havel. Quel est
le message de cet homme ? Avoir des convictions, se battre pour elles,
prôner le dialogue et le respect. Regarder son passé et en tirer des
conclusions pour l’avenir. Nous sommes au début du 21 ème siècle. Le
20 ème siècle fût le siècle des grandes catastrophes, des grands
génocides, des grandes idées meutrières. Des hommes se sont levés.
Walesa en Pologne, Mandela en Afrique du Sud, Vaclav Havel ici pour
dire on peut changer par la paix par le révolution de velours par la
concorde et le rassemblement. Ces hommes ont mis leurs convictions au
dessus de tout. Mandela fait 28 ans de prison.Havel a fait plusieurs
années de prison, Walesa chacun sait mais je pourrais aussi dire
Jean-Paul II. Voila, ce sont des convictions et on ne marchande pas
ses convictions.

toute la vidéo peut être vue

?itemid=26658

samedi 24 décembre 2011,
Jean Eckian ©armenews.com

APA, Azerbaijan
Dec 23 2011

Ali Ahmadov: `Further France can not give lessons of democracy to anyone’

[ 23 Dec 2011 13:03 ]

Baku. Parvin Abbasov – APA. `The French National Assembly’s last
decision on `Armenian genocide’ overshadows the democratic image of
this county’, deputy chairman and executive secretary of the New
Azerbaijan Party (YAP) Ali Ahmadov said during the parliament’s
meeting on Friday.

He said further France can not give lessons of democracy to anyone.
Ahmadov said this decision seriously called the France’s fair position
in the Minsk Group co-chairmanship in question.

Vice speaker Bahar Muradova said Azerbaijani state, parliament and
people supported Turkey. `The French National Assembly’s decision is
contrary to the European values. These claims against Turkey are
directed to Turkey’s aspirations for EU membership. This decision of
the French parliament is ridiculous’.

Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey
Dec 23 2011

`A monstrous violation’

SEMÄ°H Ä°DÄ°Z

By the time this commentary is out it should be clearer whether
Turkish-French relations are going to take a nose dive or if a sense
of reality has prevailed in Paris. The expectation at the time of
writing was for the worst.

This commentary is therefore based on the assumption that the bill in
the French Parliament ` which aims to severely punish anyone denying
that an Armenian genocide happened ` has passed and is now headed for
the Senate.

Even if it is held up in the Senate, this issue will remain a deadly
virus in ties between Ankara and Paris at a time when level-headed
French politicians are calling for deeper cooperation with an
increasingly influential Turkey.

It is of course highly cynical for the Turkish government to base its
campaign against France on the tenet of the freedom of expression.
Looking at the remarks from various ministers one would think Turkey
has the best record in this regard.

Let alone those like Nobel Laureate Orhan Pamuk, who have been legally
hounded in the past for remarks about the Armenian issue, even current
events suffice to show where this country stands in this respect. But
one does not have to be pro-Turkish or anti-Armenian to understand
that this French attempt amounts to curbing free speech.

The best proof of this is the editorial in Dec. 21’s Los Angeles Times
(LAT). Pointing to this development in France, the paper said, `If
stating even an incorrect view of history is a crime, it amounts to
pre-emptive censorship. The bill should be voted down.’

This is significant coming from a newspaper out of Los Angeles where
an influential Armenian community lives. The paper nevertheless
indicates that what is important here is not Turkish touchiness or
Ankara’s warnings of a diplomatic rupture with countries using the
term `genocide.’

`That’s not the reason to oppose the bill. The reason the French bill
deserves condemnation is that it would be a monstrous violation of
free speech,’ it said, adding the following:

`Some would say that it’s presumptuous for Americans to lecture the
people of a fellow democracy about the rights they accord their
citizens. But robust freedom of expression isn’t some American fetish.
Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights says:
`Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this
right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to
seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and
regardless of frontiers.”
The Armenian issue is not as much of a taboo in Turkey as it was a
mere five years ago. There is a public discussion that may be
acrimonious at times but which nevertheless goes on with new
revelations. The Armenian Church in Turkey is currently interacting
with the government unlike any other time. There are also increasing
contacts between Turks and Armenians from Armenia today on various
levels.

President Nicolas Sarkozy’s political whims also threaten to overturn
this already difficult trend and restore nationalist feelings of
enmity between the two nations. Turks say, `It takes one madman to
throw a stone in a well, but a hundred wise men to try and take it
out.’

Leaving aside his personal hatred for Turkey, which he has never
hidden, it seems Mr. Sarkozy does not even see the precedent he is
creating for his own country, which can hardly be said to have the
cleanest of histories. It’s almost as if the ghost of Louis the XV has
been revived and is saying, `Après moi le deluge.’
December/23/2011