ORHAN PAMUK SAYS ‘NO COMMENT’ TO ARMENIAN QUESTION
PanARMENIAN.Net
08.12.2006 15:25 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Speaking to the press on the Nobel Prize in Sweden,
Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk avoided commenting on the Armenian
issue. Pamuk made a press statement at Norstedts Publishing, which
published Pamuk’s books in Sweden. When asked about his views on the
Armenian Genocide, Pamuk was reluctant to discuss politics and simply
said, "no comment," Zaman reports.
ENVOY ADMITS TO ARMENIAN LOBBYS INFLUENCE ON PARIS
AssA-Irada
December 6, 2006 Wednesday
The French ambassador to Azerbaijan Bernard du Chaffaut has said
that if the latest decision by the National Assembly of France goes
into effect, this could harm the countrys relations with Turkey
and Azerbaijan. The bill, tabled in the legislature by opposition
Socialist Party and passed Thursday, criminalizes denying the genocide
of Armenians. Although the law was passed the assembly, it will not
go into effect unless it is approved by the French parliaments upper
chamber, the Senate.
Armenians say Ottoman Turks killed 1.5 million people in 1915, a claim
strongly denied by Turkey. The envoy told a news conference Friday that
he is disappointed with the adoption of the bill in the lower chamber
of parliament, expressing hope that the measure will not be approved
by the Senate. The measure has sparked off outcry in France as well,
he said. Du Chaffaut emphasized that the fact it passed the lower
chamber does not mean it will be approved, as making any bill law
in France requires a very lengthy procedure. I hope this procedure
will not be completed. He said Frances Constitutional Council may
intervene as well. The body may deem it contradictory to freedom of
expression. Finally, although the president has no right of veto,
he may send it back for repeated deliberations at the National
Assembly. Du Chaffaut admitted that the Armenian lobby influences
the French government. I suspect that the law was supported by some
Armenian voters in some election constituencies.
The diplomat said France has come under pressure of the European
Union to reject the law. Du Chaffaut said the latest developments
will not lead to a postponement of French President Jacques Chiracs
visit to Azerbaijan next year. Such decisions, he said, are up
to the presidents, but said he is confident the visit will take
place. The ambassador said he does not expect tension to escalate
in French-Turkish relations and called on the Turkish Diaspora to
actively struggle against the adoption of the genocide law.
Azerbaijani MPs on Tuesday protested at the bill and forwarded a
relevant appeal to the French legislature. The Turkish ambassador
to Azerbaijan Turan Morali has termed the move as major injustice
against his country that is primitive and embarrassing. A group of
the Whole Azerbaijan Popular Front Party members attempted to hold a
rally outside the French embassy in Baku on Friday in protest at the
adoption of the genocide bill. The protest was prevented by the police.
Press Release
Catholicosate of Cilicia
Communication and Information Department
Contact: V.Rev.Father Krikor Chiftjian, Communications Officer
Tel: (04) 410001, 410003
Fax: (04) 419724
E-mail: [email protected]
Web:
PO Box 70 317
Antelias-Lebanon
Armenian version:
THE CATHOLICOSATE OF CILICIA PARTICIPATES
IN A CONFERENCE ON RACISM
The Catholicosate of Cilicia recently participated in the Joint Working
Group Meeting of the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Middle East
Council of Churches (MECC) in the Near East School of Theology (NEST) in
Beirut on November 27-29. The meeting gathered delegates from Egypt, Spain
the Czech Republic and Lebanon under the theme "Capacity Building in the
Churches & NGOs to Combat Racism". Ms. Nelly Vekilian represented the
Catholicosate of Cilicia in the meeting.
A special report on racism was presented during the meeting. The Armenian
experience with racism, the understanding of racism by the Armenian Church
and its efforts to combat it were included in the report.
Other papers presented during the meeting included "Globalized Cities and
the Exploitation of Refugee Work", "Racism in the Gulf", "Racism in the
Middle East", "The Media and Racism."
The meeting also featured presentation on issues related to hatred, racism
and political interests.
Each of the presented reports were discussed by the participants who also
shared relevant experiences in small working groups. The results were then
brought together and a plan was set up to accelerate the church’s efforts to
combat racism.
##
The Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia is one of the two Catholicosates of
the Armenian Orthodox Church. For detailed information about the Ecumenical
activities of the Cilician Catholicosate, you may refer to the web page of
the Catholicosate, The Cilician Catholicosate, the
administrative center of the church is located in Antelias, Lebanon.
CBA LEAVES REFINANCING INTEREST RATE UNCHANGED
Noyan Tapan
Dec 06 2006
YEREVAN, DECEMBER 6, NOYAN TAPAN. At the December 5 sitting,
the Central Bank of Armenia (CBA) Board left the CBA refinancing
interest rate unchanged – 4.75%, NT was informed from the CBA
press service. According to the CBA Board, although the inflation
pressures coming from the external sector and related to high
international prices of power bearing substances and some other
goods (particularly granulated sugar) formed this year still remain,
inflation pressures expected to come from this sector in the next 12
months will be milder. A high economic growth continues, mainly in
the construction and service sectors. The expected increase in the
population’s incomes due to the economic development, combined with
growing remittances keep moderate inflation pressures. At the same
time, under conditions of the continuing dramization of the economy
and the seasonal increase in demand for the Armenian dram at the
end of the year, the CBA’s meeting this demand by purchasing foreign
currency will cause a liquidity surplus. The CBA Board takes the view
that neutralization of this suplus is possible at the current level
of the interest rate. If the current prospects of economic development
continue, the CBA Board does not rule out that the interest rate will
be changed in the coming months.
CUSTOM DUTY COLLECTION GROWS BY 11.2% IN ARMENIA IN JANUARY-OCTOBER 2006 ON SAME PERIOD OF LAST YEAR
Noyan Tapan
Dec 05 2006
YEREVAN, DECEMBER 5, NOYAN TAPAN. In January-October 2006, the RA
state budget’s customs duty revenues made 14.5 bln darms, exceeding
by 11.2% or 1.5 bln drams (about 3.5 mln USD) the respective index
of 2005. According to the RA Ministry of Finance and Economy, in the
first ten months of 2006, fixed payments from certain types of activity
amounted to 12.3 bln drams, exceeding by 17.8% or about 1.9 bln darms
the respective index of last year. The growth is mainly conditioned by
an increase in payments for gasoline filling, transport activity and
organization of public catering and trade facilities. In the period
under review, the state budget’s simplified tax revenues made 6.2
bln drams, growing by 12.1% or 670.8 mln drams on the same period of
last year mostly due to an increase in revenues from trade. During
the first ten months of this year, the budgetary revenues from other
taxes made over 9.8 bln drams.
Particularly, nature use and environmental protection payments amounted
to 5.6 bln drams and road payments – to 2.1 bln drams. Other taxes
grew by 30% or about 2.3 bln drams on the same months of last year,
which was mainly due to an increase in nature use payments and fines
for violation of the tax legislation.
AZERI FOREIGN MINISTER DISCUSSED NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT WITH CO-CHAIRS OF OSCE MINSK GROUP
Author: E.Huseynov
TREND Information, Azerbaijan
Dec 5 2006
A meeting was held in Brussels between the Azerbaijani Foreign
Ministers Elmar Mammadyarov and co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group,
the Head of the Press and Information Policy Department of the
Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, Tahir Tagizade, informed Trend.
The meeting focused on the present stage of the process of peaceful
settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and the plans for the near
future. In addition, despite that the meeting of the Azerbaijani and
Armenian Foreign Ministers were planned, it did not take place due
to the rich working schedule of the Ministers.
Mammadyarov met in Brussels with his Portuguese colleague, as well
as the Chairman of the OSCE Parliamentary Goran Lennmarker.
SYRIA INVITES ARMENIA TO ARAB LEAGUE AS OBSERVER
PanARMENIAN.Net
05.12.2006 15:51 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Syria would be glad to see Armenia as an observer at
the League of Arab Nations (LAN), Syrian Temporary Charges d’Affaires
in Armenia Muhlis Farauni told journalists Tuesday. He noted that
three countries – Armenia, Iran and Turkey – expressed their desire to
become observers at the LAN. In his words, Syria can only welcome that
decision of Armenia, which will "more strengthen the Armenian-Syrian
relations without fail." Earlier Armenian FM Vartan Oskanian and
LAN Sec. Gen. Amr Moussa agreed to signed a respective memorandum
on mutual understanding over Armenia’s participation in LAN work
with the status of a special invited party in Cairo or Yerevan,
reports Novosti-Armenia.
ARMENIA WORKS FOR IMPROVEMENT OF RELATIONS WITH TURKEY
PanARMENIAN.Net
02.12.2006 14:52 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenia works for improvement of relations with
Turkey, however it does not accept preconditions put forward by it,
Secretary of the National Security Council at the President of Armenia,
Defense Minister Serge Sargsyan stated Friday, when presented the
draft National Security Strategy of the country. "Armenia works for
improvement of relations with Turkey via establishing contacts both
at the state and non-state levels," the Minister said.
Nevertheless, in his words, Armenia does not accept preconditions put
forward by Turkey for establishing relations. Sargsyan also added
that Armenia also considers the necessity for Turkey to recognize
the Armenian Genocide as restoration of historical justice regarding
the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire and their descendants,
and ruling out new infringement against Armenia within that context,
reports Novosti-Armenia.
MUSICIAN MANUK HAROUTIUNIAN MAKES ANCIENT NATIONAL MUSICAL INSTRUMENT CALLED "JUTH"
Noyan Tapan News Agency, Armenia
Nov 29 2006
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 29, NOYAN TAPAN. Musician Manuk Haroutiunian made
musical instrument called "juth" from maple and pear-tree wood. Juth
is one of ancient Armenian national instruments. As M.Haroutiunian
said in his interview to Noyan Tapan correspondent, various types of
juth were discovered as early as during excavations of Dvin. He gave
assurance that violin and cello origin from Armenia. M.Haroutiunian
is also convinced that in the future juth will become one of the most
important instruments of our folk orchestras.
M.Haroutiunian has been engaged in collecting national instruments
since 1984. He has rather a big collection that includes unique samples
of Armenian national instruments, including Baghdasar Dpir’s saz
(Eastern, as well as Armenian national stringed musical instrument),
pipes brought from Van, Kars, Mush, Levon Madoyan’s duduk, Makar
Yekmalian’s duduk made in 1895, zournas (Armenian national wood-wind
musical instrument, type of flute), zarbs, tars, mandolines, etc. In
his words, his collection was mainly replenished in the 1990-s when
people had to sell instruments having historic value in consequence
of hard socio-economic conditions. In those years the musician
managed to purchase many instruments with great difficulty for them
not to be taken away from Armenia. "I was anxious about preventing
these instruments from appearing in the hands of our too well-bred
neighbors. I am convinced that if our neighbors bought them after
some period of time they would announce that these were not Armenian,
but Azerbaijani instruments," M.Haroutiunian emphasized.
WHAT IS TURKEY’S IMPORTANCE ALL ABOUT?
Barin Kayaoglu
Journal of Turkish Weekly, Turkey
Nov 27 2006
News agencies recently reported that former German Chancellor Helmut
Schmidt delivered a lecture at Florence last week, arguing that in
contrast to popular thinking, Turkey was not a bridge between Europe
and the Muslim world and that it was in fact disliked in the Arab
world. The heyday of the address allegedly came when Schmidt said
that "it is suffice to remember how Arabs suffered under Ottoman
rule." Because of the Ottoman past, incorporating Turkey would be
counter-productive to the European Union, Moreover, he continued,
Turkey’s EU membership was not in European interests and was indeed
pushed by the United States. [1]
It is important to attend to such questions, especially when they
come from senior statesmen. Let us embark on a mind-quest to figure
out just exactly what Turkey’s "importance" is all about. What do we
really mean by Turkey being a "bridge" or a "model country" to the
Muslim world? Is Turkey really a viable answer to the problems of
the world today? If so, what are those lessons?
Modernizing the state and the socio-economy of the land was one of
the greatest hardships that challenged the Ottoman Empire. Renowned
historian İlber Ortayli calls the 19th century the "Empire’s
Longest Century." Ottoman reforms, even though always intended to
modernize the armed forces first, extended to other aspects of the
Empire’s life: a secular legal system, a new education system, female
emancipation, the advent of a lively press and intelligentsia all came
about during the 19th century. It was during the 19th century that the
power of the sultan was legally curbed through a constitution. This
was extremely significant, one should bear in mind, because the
Ottoman sultan held the title of caliph, the nominal successor of
the Prophet Mohammed. What really happened with the Ottoman example
was the limitations imposed to the authority of an Islamic absolute
monarch who was believed to hold divine right.
For those who study political science or European history, there is
nothing new here. But it was a historic precedent for a Muslim empire
to witness the rise of a parliamentary and constitutional system.
Ottoman constitutionalism, for sure, was not trouble-free. Sultan
Abdulhamid II suspended the constitution and kept the parliament shut
for over thirty years from 1877 until 1908.
Another very important element of the Ottoman experience was what
has been dubbed Pax Ottomana (Ottoman peace). As can be inferred
from the name, this system involved the peaceful co-existence of
different nations under Ottoman imperial rule. The central government
did not interfere with the intra-ethnic workings of its constituent
communities and sustained a multi-cultural social order until the
very end. Pax Ottomana ultimately collapsed, with tragic consequences:
present-day Middle East and Balkans, as well as the mutual headaches
between Turks and Armenians are but a few of these.
The peace and tranquility that the Ottomans delivered to the Balkans
and the Middle East remain to be resuscitated.
The Ottomans had the greatest misfortune of being on the losing side
at the end of World War I. Faced with an ominous partition, Turkey
managed to negotiate a more fair peace treaty with the Allies thanks
to its successful conclusion of its War of Independence in 1922 under
the leadership of its founding father, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.
Volumes have been written on Ataturk’s legacy. There are but two very
important points to bear in mind about that legacy: democracy and
secularism. One of the virtues of Ataturk – and there were many of
them – was that he was a great visionary. He restructured the Turkish
political system in such a way that despite all of the challenges,
it has been able to remain both democratic and secular and adapt
to changing global dynamics. Secularism, the separation of church –
well, in Turkey’s case mosque – and state, has been the core element
through which Turkish society has been able to safely practice its
myriad religious aspirations. For their part, Turkish statesmen have
had an easier time in running the state as secularism freed their
hands from addressing religious concerns and allowed them to operate
pragmatically in the realm of politics. In other words, secularism
has empowered Turkey.
Democracy has also been a blessing for Turkey. Since the establishment
of the Republic in 1923, Turkey has always claimed to be a democracy
of some sort. This claim was realized in the late 1940s with the
advent of multi-party politics and an extension of the boundaries of
freedom of expression. Those years were marked by incessant political
turmoil and economic instability but today Turkish people elect
their representatives and despite all the problems that trouble the
country, such as poverty and the inadequacy of public services, they
remain hopeful. In spite all of its deficiencies, Turkey sustains
a vibrant civil society and press which exert a remarkable degree
of influence over the state. Democracy, just like secularism, has
empowered Turkish people.
One should aviod the trapdoor of self-righteousness, however. The setup
of the Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet İşleri
Başkanligi – which does not sponsor non-Sunni Muslim places
of worship) and the remaining obstacles to free speech (such as the
hideous article 301 of the penal code) are still formidable setbacks
for Turkey. The solution to these problems are not intractable,
nevertheless. The inclusion of other major religious parties in
the country -the leaders of Alawite foundations, Greek and Armenian
Orthodox patriarchs, and the Chief Rabbi – would not only enrich the
intellectual aura of divinity schools and the Directorate itself,
but also grant tremendous legitimacy to the state’s supervisory role
over religion. As for freedom of expression, it has been stated time
and again in this column to view free speech not as a danger, but as
one of Turkey’s most important allies. Anybody who wishes to disagree
with anything – with the caveat that they do not espouse violence –
should have their say. That is the best and luckily the only option
before Turkey.[2]
Notwithstanding these nuisances, any objective commentator must
appreciate the democratic and secular character of Turkey. Turkey
is the only country that combines the elements of being Muslim,
democratic, and secular. This is a unique thing in the world today.
No other Muslim country has managed to combine these three
characteristics yet.
The question is, then, as to what can be done in a turbulent world.
Many people would agree that there is a significant democratic
deficit in Muslim countries today. We cannot afford to ignore this
problem that has global ramifications. Lack of proper governance in
distant parts of the world affects each and every member of the global
community. The answer to that problem is to empower Muslims around the
world. The only way to do that is to follow Turkey’s example. Islam is
not inherently in conflict with modernization. The problem is not with
Islam but with how Muslims interpret it. We ought to realize that not
only are secularism and democracy not in contradiction with Islam,
but they in fact augment it. Turkey is the case in point. For the
past 80 years, and even before that, religious tension has not been
a major issue in Turkey. Turkish people enjoy both the pleasantries
of mundane life while practicing their religions freely.
Perhaps the statement by Prime Minister Mr. Tayyip Erdogan’s former
senior advisor sums all of what has been said so far. About a year
ago, Mr. Omer Celik stated that secularism was the greatest power
("nuclear" power, as he put it) which Turkey had in comparison with the
Middle East. The Republic’s secular and democratic characteristics,
according to Celik, were proof that Turkey’s political ideals were
compatible with those of Europe.[3]
Turkey is at a critical juncture in its accession negotiations
with the EU. Those who follow this column already know that I have
lost my enthusiasm for Turkey’s EU membership. But it would be too
foolish to deny the fact that there is still a historic opportunity
before the EU and the West. By faithfully negotiating with a Muslim
country that has been a part of Europe for centuries (bear in mind
that the Ottoman Empire was a European power even more than a Middle
Eastern one), the EU and the West have it within their grasp to turn
to other Muslim countries around the world and convincingly make the
case that there are genuine benefits by joining the global community
through democratization and secularization. This appeal will not be
easy and that Turkey will probably not join the EU. Nevertheless,
by accepting Turkey as a legitimate partner, European countries can
counter most of the criticisms that they are Islamophobic. Following
Turkey’s example, Muslim countries will finally ease their suspicions
in their dealings with the West.
Turkey is the best asset that Europe can hope to incorporate in
the brave new millenium. The European Union with Turkey would serve
European interests more than Turkish interests in the long run. The
decision to walk that bridge is for Europeans like Helmut Schmidt
to decide.
+++
24 November 2006
Barin Kayaoglu is a Ph.D. student in history at the University of
Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia and a regular contributor to
the Journal of Turkish Weekly.
E-mail: [email protected]
[1] "Schmidt: Turkiye Kopru degil" (Schmidt: Turkey is not
a bridge), ntvmsnbc.com, November 18, 2006; available from
[2] Barin Kayaoglu, "Turkey’s Allies are Common Sense and Freedom of
Expression," Journal of Turkish Weekly, October 25, 2006; available
from
[3] "Laiklik Turkiye’nin elinde nukleer guc gibi" (Secularism is
like nuclear power for Turkey), Sabah, October 13, 2005; available
from