Author: Kalashian Nyrie

National Public Radio (NPR)
SHOW: All Things Considered 8:00 PM EST
October 12, 2006 Thursday
Once Resented, Pamuk Takes Solace in Nobel
MICHELE NORRIS, host:
>From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I’m Michele Norris.
ROBERT SIEGEL, host:
And I’m Robert Siegel.
The winner of the Nobel Prize for literature was announced today. It
went to Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk. Pamuk’s most recent novel is
called Snow. His previous novels include The White Castle and The
Black Book. He is a writer who took Turkish fiction out of the
village and into the city, specifically into his city, Istanbul.
NORRIS: Last year, a Turkish prosecutor charged Pamuk with the crime
of insulting Turkishness. That was for remarks he made about the
Armenian genocide. The charges were later dropped. Some Turkish
reaction today mixed pride in the recognition of a Turkish writer
with some lingering resentment of those remarks.
When we reached the new Nobel Laureate this morning in New York City,
Orhan Pamuk was in no mood to talk about politics.
SIEGEL: Mr. Pamuk, thank you for joining us and congratulations on
your Nobel Prize.
Mr. ORHAN PAMUK (Winner, Nobel Prize in Literature): Thank you very
much.
SIEGEL: You know, when you were on this program back in 1995 talking
about your novel, The Black Book, you talked about coming from one of
those countries, your phrase was on the periphery of the Western
world where the art of the novel was developed, and being one of
those writers who is grabbing that art from the center to the
periphery and then producing something new to show the world. Is it
still a fair characterization of what you’ve been doing?
Mr. PAMUK: Yeah, probably. But then, now perhaps Turkey’s getting
away from the periphery and joining towards Europe, of course in a
troubled way. But I think Turkey’s not at the periphery any more,
moving towards the center of the world, going towards the European
Union and West. That was Turkey’s history for the last 200 years
anyway.
SIEGEL: You’ve described yourself as really the first novelist to
write about modern, urban Istanbul, a city that you watched grow in
your own lifetime.
Mr. PAMUK: Yeah, Istanbul is my city, my kingdom. My stories are
about Istanbul. And I accept this honor, this prize, as a celebration
of my culture, my language and my town. Istanbul. The town I come
from. The town whose stories I’ve been telling for the last 30 years.
SIEGEL: Now, I want you to talk about something that is said in
Istanbul and elsewhere in Turkey today. There are those who still are
upset with your remarks about the Armenians and also about the Kurds.
Mr. PAMUK: Yeah, but this is not a day for politics for me. This is a
day for celebrating. This is a day for peace, happiness for me.
SIEGEL: But the question that’s been raised is is the Nobel Prize for
literature in some cases tinged with politics? You don’t see it that
way.
Mr. PAMUK: I don’t know. That’s not the point today for me, really.
SIEGEL: You related a story back in The Black Book some years ago
that I always loved. It was about the man who made perfect mannequins
of Turks in Ottoman Turkey. You recall the story?
Mr. PAMUK: Yes. That story was in Black Book, which is one of my
early books perhaps, which I painstakingly found my style and my
subject matter, whether that story or others is the painful
combination of things that are coming from tradition, the Western
world, and things that come from West Europe.
My whole book, my whole life, is a testimony to the fact that East
and West actually combine, come together gracefully and produce
something new. That is what I have been trying to do all my life,
trying to prove.
SIEGEL: While you have been writing with that intent, others have
been theorizing about clashes of civilizations.
Mr. PAMUK: I don’t believe in clashes of civilizations. I think that
was a fanciful idea which, unfortunately, is sometimes coming to be
true. But no, I think that East and West meet. I think that my whole
work is a testimony to the fact that we should find ways of looking,
combining East and West without any clash, but with harmony, with
grace, and produce something new for humanity.
SIEGEL: Do you think that that award of the Nobel Prize to you, a
Turkish novelist, might assist not only you, but other Turkish
writers?
Mr. PAMUK: Of course.
SIEGEL: In gaining the respect in Turkey that you’re allowed to,
example, voice unpopular opinions and shouldn’t be thrown into court
for it.
Mr. PAMUK: First, I look at this. That it will encourage all the
aspiring young authors, all the young people who want to write in
remote corners of the world where readership is rather small. But of
course, I believe in that.
SIEGEL: What are you working on now?
Mr. PAMUK: I’ve been working on a love novel for the last four years.
The title is Museum of Innocence, but I may not find some time to
finish it these days, but I’m very optimistic. This prize will never
change my working habits. I will work ten hours a day, as I have been
doing the last 32 years.
SIEGEL: Ten hours a day.
Mr. PAMUK: Not much, you know? A day is 24 hours.
SIEGEL: Mr. Pamuk, thank you very much for talking with us.
Mr. PAMUK: I thank you.
SIEGEL: Turkish author Orhan Pamuk, winner of this year’s Nobel Prize
for literature. He spoke to us from New York City. In that interview
I mentioned the story that he related years ago in a book about a
great mannequin maker in Istanbul, a character who ran afoul first of
religion and then of fashion. Elsewhere in the program, you can hear
a reading of that passage.

Reuters, UK
Oct 13 2006
Turkey studying retaliatory measures against France
October 13, 2006

By Paul de Bendern
ANKARA, Oct 13 (Reuters) – Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on
Friday Turkey was studying retaliatory measures against France
following approval of a law making it a crime to deny Armenians
suffered genocide at the hands of Ottoman Turks.
“Turkey’s foreign trade volume with France is $10 billion and this is
equal to 1.5 percent of France’s whole foreign trade volume. We’re
going to make the proper calculations and then take necessary steps,”
Erdogan said in a speech.
He did not elaborate, but said the centre-right government would take
measures within Turkey and abroad.
But the ruling AK Party, facing a rise in nationalism ahead of next
year’s parliamentary elections, must tread a careful line not to
damage its success at bringing political and econmic stability to the
Muslim country seeking EU membership.
France’s lower house of parliament voted for the bill on Thursday,
despite warnings from French firms that it would create repercussions
for their business in Turkey, a fast-growing market which imported
4.7 billion euros’ worth of French goods in 2005.
“There are no real threats in current trade, though perhaps (there
could be) with some big contracts,” a French Foreign Ministry
spokesman told reporters at a regular briefing in Paris.
The bill still needs approval from the upper house, the Senate, and
President Jacques Chirac to take effect.
Turkey denies claims that Armenians suffered genocide in Turkey
during World War One, arguing that large numbers of both Muslim Turks
and Christian Armenians died in a partisan conflict that accompanied
the collapse of the Ottoman Empire.
BOYCOTT CALLS
Hundreds of French firms such as Renault and Carrefour have large
investments in Turkey, employing thousands of Turkish workers. This
week Turkish consumer groups and some trade unions called for
boycotts of French products.
The Turkish Consumers Union called on its members to begin boycotting
French products, starting on Friday with energy group Total.
“The boycott will continue increasingly until the law on the
so-called Armenian genocide is annulled,” the union’s chairman Bulent
Deniz said in a press release.
But economists questioned the effectiveness of a boycott on France as
Turkey accounts for only 1.3 percent of France’s exports.
Past Turkish calls for boycotts against other countries had an effect
only for a short time.
Big Turkish business have largely opposed a boycott and Economy
Minister Ali Babacan said on Thursday the government would not
encourage it either.
The controversy over an alleged genocide goes to the heart of modern
Turkey which is struggling to push through EU-inspired reform which
often clash with its own history and customs.
Many Turks also see the genocide vote as a way for the European Union
to keep Muslim Turkey out of the 25-member club.
“In my view the new law is likely to be counterproductive,” EU
Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said in Helsinki.
“We don’t achieve real dialogue and real conciliation through
ultimatums. It will have a negative impact on Turkey coming to terms
with its past,” Rehn said.
(Additional reporting by Brian Rohan in Paris and Tarmo Virki in
Helsinki)

INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS INVESTED OVER $50 MLN IN HEALTH SPHERE OF ARMENIA
ARMINFO News Agency
October 11, 2006 Wednesday
At the opening of the fifth “Human Health” Medical Congress, Wednesday,
Armenian Health Minister Norayr Davidyan said that during the last
2 years a number of international organizations have invested over
$50 mln in the health sphere of Armenia.
According to the Minister, long-term programs on malaria and HIV/AIDS
prevention are being implemented. The Global Fund has allocated $7
mln for these programs. A $19 mln grant program on primary health
care reform (PHCR) will be implemented from the beginning of the
next year. It will be financed by the USAID. Within the framework of
another long- term $19 credit project of the World Bank a program on
health sphere modernization is being carried out. To remind, under
this program 10 muli-sectoral medical associations have been organized
on the basis of several hospitals and polyclinics in Armenia. Under
the World Bank’s program 20 ambulance stations and polyclinics with
up-to-date medical equipment will be built.

HOLLAND: ETHNIC TURK MP CANDIDATE RECOGNIZED ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
PanARMENIAN.Net
07.10.2006 13:25 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Nebahat Albayrak, in second position on the list
of the main opposition Labour Party (PvdA) candidates, has recognized
the Armenian genocide.
After the main Dutch parties removed three Turkish candidates from
their electoral lists, Albayrak said she backed the parliamentary
motion describing the deaths as genocide, in an interview with the
analysis magazine HP/De Tijd, adding that the form of its occurrence
needs to be investigated. Albayrak, who has served in the parliament
since 1998, in her previous statements said the jurists would determine
the use of “genocide” in response to the Armenian Diaspora’s claims,
and avoided using the definition in her interviews. The media strongly
criticized Albayrak for being indecisive. Meanwhile, Turkish candidates
Ayhan Tonca , Osman Elmaci (CDA) and Erdinc Sacan (PvdA) were removed
from the election list for the general elections, reports the Zaman.

ARMENIA ENTERS NEW ROUND OF DEMOCRACY, CONSTITUTIONAL COURT CHAIRMAN SAYS
Armenpress
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 6, ARMENPRESS: The chairman of Armenia’s
Constitutional Court, Gagik Harutunian, argued today that Armenia
has entered a new stage of democracy after two Armenian citizens
sought justice at the Court and managed to defend their rights by
questioning some provisions of the country’s constitution.
Harutunian meant a Constitutional Court ruling that found several
provisions of the law on social security cards unconstitutional. The
appeal had been submitted by two retired women who complained that
because of these provisions which ban those who have no social cards
from receiving old-age pensions they did not receive their pensions
for months.
Speaking to reporters after a seminar on constitutional right in
Yerevan Harutunian said it was very important that the revised
constitution gives ordinary citizens a right to seek justice at the
highest court of the country.
He said the Court has received 300 complaints already and 11 were
being examined. The only problem, according to him, is that now the
Constitutional Court is overloaded with work.

ARMENIAN CHURCH OFFERS BAZAAR
Belmont Citizen-Herald, MA
Oct 5 2006
The First Armenian Church will hold its annual Fall Harvest Bazaar
on Saturday, Oct. 21 from noon to 8 p.m. The church is located at
380 Concord Ave., Belmont.
Traditional Armenian delicacies like the ones “Medz Mama” (grandma)
used to make will be featured. Favorites such as manti, kufte, cheoreg,
cheese beoreg, yalanchi and string cheese have been prepared and
packaged to take out. Armenian and Middle Eastern pastries, including
paklava and kadayif, will be available all day with coffee.
Fresh shish, chicken and losh kebab will be grilled to order.
Dinners will be served all day with homemade rice pilaf, salad, pita
bread and coffee. Ample indoor seating is available, or take-out
meals will be available.
Proceeds from the sale help support the needs of orphans and students
in Armenia and Lebanon, various church programs, and donations to
local food drives throughout the year.
The bazaar will take place rain or shine and all are welcome to
attend. For more information call the church office at 617-484-4779,
or visit

THE MOST EMOTIONAL HUNT OF HIS LIFE
The Herald (Glasgow)
October 4, 2006
David Dickinson is led to Armenia in the search for his natural mother
during tonight’s episode of Who Do You Think You Are? BBC1, 9pm
Who Do You Think You Are?
BBC1, 9pm David Dickinson, the man who found a career in the detritus
of an antiques showroom, is not the product of a meeting between a
Malteser, a road surface and a large steamroller, though his skin
colour might suggest otherwise. He searches for his natural mother in
a complicated but touching story that reveals his links to Armenian
traders.

MAYOR OF PARIS 9TH ARRONDISSEMENT JACQUES BRAVO VISITED TSITSERNAKABERD
Public Radio, Armenia
Oct 4 2006
Accompanied by Head of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF)
Bureau’s Hay Dat and Political Affairs Office Kiro Manoyan, Mayor of
Paris 9th arrondissement, representative of the Socialist Party of
France Jacques Bravo visited the Armenian Genocide memorial to pay
a tribute to the memory of 1.5 million innocent victims.
In the Museum-Institute of Genocide Jacques Bravo familiarized himself
with the evidences of atrocities carried out in Ottoman Turkey. “This
morning I bear the excitement of Paris people. A people that does
not want die, will never die,” he wrote in the book.
Jacques Bravo expressed the hope that in the end the Armenian
Genocide will be recognized all over the world. “Twenty years ago I
was also participating in rallies condemning the Armenian Genocide,”
he said, adding that he will do his best to promote the international
recognition of the Genocide.

PREFERENCES IN FINE ART
By Melania Badalian
AZG Armenian Daily
05/10/2006
The exhibition opened at the Albert and Tove Boyajian revealed another
aspect of scholar Aramayis Gevorgian’s talent, i.e his preferences
in painting.
Armamayis Gevorgian has defended a dissertattion in the histroy of
the Armenian Historical-Cultural Monuments of 11-12th Centuries. The
paintings included in the exhibition depicted the history of Armenia
and its neighbours, i.e. battle scenes. Gevorgian doesn’t depict
cultural monuments of his motherland, he tells the story of the foreign
nations’ struggle against their enemies or the heros of the Chinese,
Indian and Polish warriors.
Gevorgian considers the issue of our historical-cultural monuments as
a matter of nation- wide importance, responsibility and attention. “If
an evil force wants destroy an individual, a nation or a phenomenon,
it tempts that vivid force with additional wishes. As the latter
become an aim to attain,” he said.
Aramayis Gevorgian has his private attitude to the tales, as well. He
was also the illustrator of a number of tales. “The tales and eposes
are absolute truth like the philosophy is,” he underscored.

PRIME MINISTER SAYS THE END OF TALKS IS REFERENDUM
Panorama.am
01:49 05/10/06
Armenian Prime Minister Andranik Margaryan had difficulty in
forecasting the developments in case the conflict of Nagorno Karabakh
is moved to U.N. at the initiation of GUAM (Georgia, Ukraine,
Azerbaijan, Moldova) states. The prime minister said it has not
yet included in U.N. agenda. “There was a decision connected with
fires which does not relate to the settlement of Karabakh conflict,”
Margaryan said.
In his opinion, package deal is most preferred at the moment, which
will show where they started and where they are going to. “Our end
is the referendum which will decide whether Karabakh is a separate
state or not,” the prime minister said. He considered urgent the
deliberation on the status of Karabakh after which she may cooperate
with international organizations, receive credits and humanitarian
assistance.