Author: Karakhanian Suren

AMSTERDAM TO STAGE IRANIAN ‘COW’

PRESS TV
Dec 22 2008
Iran

Amsterdam’s KIT is slated to stage the Iranian puppet show ‘Cow’.

Iranian puppet show Cow is to be staged at the Royal Tropical Institute
(KIT) of the capital city of Amsterdam, in the Netherlands.

Written and directed by Hamed Zahmatkesh and Mehdi Farshid-Sepehr, the
award-winning puppet show will be performed for Dutch schoolchildren
for six days and for the public for one day.

Produced by Iran’s Organization for the Intellectual Development of
Children and Young Adults (IIDCYA), Cow recounts the story of two
men who come across a cow on their way to the land of ‘nowhere’.

The script of the play will be translated into Dutch so that the
children can enjoy the show in their mother tongue.

Cow has participated in numerous national and international events
including the fifth High Fest International Performing Arts Festival
in Yerevan, Armenia.

Hamed Zahmatkesh received the Best Stage Designer award for Cow from
the 14th Isfahan Theater Festival for Children and Young Adults.

CLEAR ROLECASTING NECESSARY
LILIT POGHOSYAN

Hayots Ashkharh Daily
19 Dec 2008
Armenia

Armenia shouldn’t negotiate instead of Karabakh

Yesterday the Caucasian Institute of Mass Media organized a
"summarizing" discussion on Karabakh issue, in which ex presidential
candidate of NKR Masis Mayilyan was invited. The latter introduced
his viewpoints regarding the developments that took place in 2008
around the negotiation process on the settlement of Karabakh issue.

According to the speaker the Moscow declaration gave a positive
impulse to the negotiation process. It is another question that the
Azerbaijani President partially devaluated Medvedev’s initiative,
making announcements, which included "elements of perfidy", saying
that no document can exclude the possibility of restarting war.

It is not accidental that during the meeting of OSCE Foreign Ministers
in Helsinki, the Foreign Ministers of Minsk Group Co-Chairing states,
as well as the Foreign Ministers of the 56 member states, enshrined
and reconfirmed with a joint announcement, that the problem must be
settled exclusively with peaceful methods. Moreover in response to
the announcements made by Ilham Aliev, they underscored the principle
of not using force in the declaration, the expression "political
settlement" included in the Maindorf declaration was replaced by the
formulation "peaceful settlement" in Helsinki.

The second speaker, political scientist Alexander Iskandaryan said
we shouldn’t confuse the settlement of Karabakh conflict with the
negotiation process: "They are two different formats, with different
parameters, different role-players, different developments, etc. The
developments taking place in the settlement process are not always
expressed in the negotiation process.

For example they build roads in Karabakh, inhabit territories
and all the before mentioned remains unnoticed in the negotiation
process. And visa verse the rumors circulated in the press "about
ceding territories" are very often combined with articles about
inhabiting the same territories, building roads, because I must repeat
they are two different formats. That is to say Minsk process is not
only Minsk process."

As regards Maindorf declaration the political scientist considers it
strange that our political figures raise hullabaloo regarding this
neutral document.

He said the latter simply states that: "At the moment there is no
settlement for Karabakh issue." Meanwhile he says that Azerbaijan’s
endeavor to shift the issue to other instances is a waste of time.

He said the existing panic is firstly conditioned by the "alarmism
and catastrophic mentality" characteristic to our society and the
anticipation of the radicals to gain political dividends. "Actually
this is a problem, but it is not the problem of20Karabakh. It is
conditioned by internal factors."

"Is the settlement process eternal? Or one day they will bring us
face to face with fact, forcing us to solve the issue?"

According to A. Iskandaryan this can happen only if the ratio of
forces is breached and the scale works to the benefit of the one
party. Something that can’t happen in the near future. "On the other
hand who said that Karabakh conflict can’t be frozen." The speaker said
quoting the precedents of Kashmir, Taiwan, Northern Cyprus. The most
important thing is that the negotiations continue, because dialogue
is always better than cold and especially "hot" war.

Moreover as Masis Mayilyan stated: "Life shows that after the meeting
of the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan or the Ministers of the
two countries, the firings usually stop on the border.

"And what should they do to bring Karabakh to the negotiation table
and make it a complete party to negotiation?"

A. Iskandaryan doesn’t consider this issue very urgent. Moreover he
believes at present Karabakh has nothing to do there. Once the two
parties achieve fundamental agreement over certain version and the
matter comes to the discussion of certain details of Karabakh’s
principle interests, they will not invite but even ask Karabakh
authorities to partake in the negotiation process.

According to Masis May ilyan: "It is high time for the two Armenian
states to develop the third direction, the process of the recognition
of NKR, irrespective of Azerbaijan, as for example the process of
the recognition of the genocide without Turkey’s participation. They
should start similar process in the direction of the recognition
of Karabakh. This will make Minsk group work more effectively and
Azerbaijan – to be more flexible in its stance."

On the other hand: "Karabakh and Armenia must reach an agreement
regarding their roles in the negotiation process. Which means
there should be a clear casting of roles and competencies. Armenia
shouldn’t hold negotiations regarding issues under the jurisdiction
of Karabakh. In that case they will have to speak with Karabakh."

Study the Armenian Genocide with confidence, Ara Sarafian suggests

id=3D4CD51A31-3FF3-352C-2F99C1E0C1BEA575&pg=3D 2

by Ara Sarafian

Published: Thursday December 18, 2008

Sir:

On November 26, 2008, Hurriyet Daily News published an article based
on an interview titled, "Sarafian: Focus on the Diaspora." This
interview followed a conference I participated in organized by the
International Hrant Dink Foundation at Bosphorus University, Istanbul,
on Adana in the late Ottoman period.

The Hurriyet Daily News article caused anxiety in some Armenian
circles because of the apparent harshness of my statements as they had
been rendered in the Turkish press. The most forceful response came
from my detractors in Internet chat groups.

Given the interest created by the Hurriyet Daily News article in some
Armenian circles, I would like to disclose the substance of my
interview for your information. Below are the key points:

1. Context: Turkey today

Turkey is going through a period of change. It is true that many of
the old anti-Armenian voices are still around, and one can still see
restrictions on free speech in Turkey. However, there are also
significant alternative voices being heard from academics,
journalists, lawyers, diplomats, and ordinary people. This
multiplicity of voices seems to be part of the democratization process
of Turkey.

Twenty years ago Turkish state intellectuals were denying the Armenian
Genocide by saying that nothing happened in 1915; if there were
killings, they were Turks killed by Armenians; that Armenian Genocide
allegations were the product of Armenian terrorism or a Soviet
conspiracy to destabilize Turkey. The official Turkish thesis on the
Armenian Genocide was prescribed by the state with no alternative
voices or dissent allowed.

Today, the Armenian Genocide debate has already shifted inside Turkey.
It is now quite normal to hear that "terrible things happened to
Armenians in 1915", that Armenians were poorly treated, that there
were massacres, etc. Turkish citizens are also more and more aware of
the contribution of Armenians to Ottoman-Turkish identity and
culture. Most of the protagonists making a case for the gradual
rehabilitation of Armenians are Turkish liberal intellectuals. This
change has been part of a process that is still in progress.

Armenian intellectuals can play a positive role in engaging
Turkish-Armenian debates as they open up by setting the tone for
better understanding of a shared past, including practical ways to
address the legacy of 1915. A sensitive Armenian approach can foster a
positive outcome in Turkey, while a coarse response will close minds
and play into the hands of Turkish chauvinists.

2. Diaspora-Armenia scholarship

Over the past 25 years, practically all cutting-edge scholarship on
the Armenian Genocide has taken place outside of Armenia. A good part
of this work was done by diaspora Armenians, and many non-Armenians
were nurtured or benefited by the efforts of diaspora Armenians. The
diaspora is at the core of the Armenian Genocide debate. If Prime
Minister Erdogan’s government is looking for an engaging strategy to
resolve the Armenian Genocide issue, it has to address the diaspora as
much as the Armenian government.

3. Partisan scholarship, prosecutorial approach

Our understanding of the Armenian Genocide has been influenced by
partisan scholarship because a number of academic institutions and
political parties in Armenian communities, such as in the United
States or Great Britain, have nurtured a prosecutorial approach to the
subject. Consequently, some important elements of the events of 1915
have been distorted. The main thrust of the prosecutorial approach has
been the assertion that the genocide of Armenians was executed with
the thoroughness of the Nazi Holocaust, and that all Turks and Kurds
were involved in the genocidal process. This approach is best
exemplified by Vahakn Dadrian’s The
< 6?ie=3DUTF8&tag=3Darmenrepor-20&link_code= 3Das3&camp=3D211189&creative=3D373489& creativeASIN=3D1571816666>
History of the Armenian Genocide: Ethnic Conflict from the Balkans to
Anatolia to the Caucasus.’ border=3D0>

4. The Armenian Genocide and the Holocaust

The Armenian Genocide is not the same as the Holocaust. The Young
Turks did not have the apparatus to carry out a genocide on par with
the Holocaust. It is also a fact that many Ottoman officials,
including governors, sub-governors, military personnel, police chiefs,
and gendarmes saved thousands of Armenians during the Genocide. Most
Armenians from the province of Adana, for example, were not
killed. This very basic fact is elided in the works of prominent
Armenian historians. There are other examples too. The "Holocaust
model" of the Armenian Genocide is fundamentally flawed.

5. Archives

Key "Armenian archives" on the Armenian Genocide remain closed to
critical scholars. This matter concerns all scholars and should be
subject to scrutiny. The most important examples are the archives of
the Jerusalem Patriarchate, which include materials from Ottoman
Turkey related to the Genocide. Partisan scholars have used these
archives in their work, though their assertions can not be checked. In
the 1980s the Zoryan Institute collected the private papers of
individuals in the diaspora, yet the materials have remained under
lock and key. Such standards should not be acceptable within our
communities. We should object to them as we object to any manipulation
of Ottoman archives in Turkey today.

6. Diaspora and Turkey

As Turkey continues to examine various taboos, more and more Turks are
discovering their human, material, and historical ties to
Armenians. If Turkey continues to develop in this direction, with
freedom of thought and expression, there is no reason why diaspora
Armenians cannot be brought into public and academic debates in
Turkey. The Armenian diaspora is historically rooted in Turkey.

7. Playing the victims of the Armenian Genocide

The present generation of Armenians cannot assume the victim role when
discussing Turkish-Armenian relations. Given the seriousness of the
subject, academics and community activists should be expected to be
well informed about their subject matter and give fair consideration
to all parties. The Genocide issue is not a simple question of
justice for Armenians, but a case of justice for everyone. This
attitude is essential for the peaceful resolution of past
differences. There is no room for ignorance and bigotry.

8. Freedom of thought, freedom of expression in Armenia

Recent events have shown once more that freedom of expression is not
something that is universally respected in Armenia. In the past weeks
we have heard of the brutal beating of Edik Baghdasaryan, chief editor
of Hetq and the president of the Investigative Journalists’
Association of Armenia. His beating was preceded by attempts to
harass and intimidate him with impunity. This is not the first time
that people have been intimidated and beaten for their critical views
in Armenia. In my opinion this lack of freedom has restricted critical
research in Armenia on the Armenian Genocide.

9. Joint commission

Prime Minister Erdogan has suggested that a commission of historians
should be formed by the Turkish and Armenian governments to examine
the events of 1915. I would propose an alternative as follows: (1)
Relevant archives in Turkey should be open to researchers, with
special procedures to allow them ready access to records; (2)
Independent groups of specialists from different disciplines should be
funded to collaborate on specific projects related to 1915; (3) The
work of such groups should be open to the scrutiny of third parties;
(4) Academic excellence should be the governing criteria in putting
research teams together, not ethnicity, citizenship, or horse-trading
among Turkish and Armenian bureaucrats; (5) The examination of
archival records should not be limited to Ottoman records but include
other archives outside of Turkey.

"WHY SHOULD I APOLOGIZE WHEN I HAVE NOT COMMITTED A CRIME?"

Sabah
99FA3334E84CFE8BFFD972BFAAD5BA.html
Dec 18 2008
Turkey

Prime Minister Erdogan has announced that he finds the ‘I apologize
to Armenia’ campaign as being illogical, and stated; "The Turkish
Republic does not have such concerns."

Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan shared his reaction to those who have
started the ‘I apologize to Armenia’ campaign. Calling the campaign
"illogical," Erdogan responded to a journalist’s question regarding
the campaign. "I have not committed any crimes that would require
me to apologize. Those that are apologizing must have done some sort
of genocide to feel such a need. The Turkish Republic does not have
such qualms. If such a crime exists then those that participated can
apologize. However not I, nor my country or this nation’s citizens
have any such issue. Erdogan, emphasizing he has expressed his
position on the issue, also brought up the steps that have been
taken towards building relations with Armenia. "We did not take any
of these actions in order to make up for anything. This in itself is
a sign. Another sign would be the president having gone to Armenia to
watch the national game between the two countries." Emphasizing that
participating in this campaign is not even in question, Erdogan stated:
"I do not support the campaign nor will I take any part in it."

DISRUPTS PEACE

Bringing up the fact that historians are debating the issue, Erdogan
stated; "I am honestly having a difficult time comprehending the
writers and academicians who are responsible for launching this
campaign. They are in essence doing nothing but rattling our sense
of peace and reversing the effects of the steps taken. Steps have
been taken in order to solve certain issues, but now with the wrong
incentive, those steps are being reversed. Approaching the issue with
good intentions is one thing; however apologizing only establishes
ties to the issue. I do not find it at all logical to apologize when
there is no offense present."

SECRETARY OF HERITAGE PARTY FACTION ON PACE MONITORING COMMITTEE DECISION: NOW THE PRESIDENT SHOULD MAKE A POLITICAL DECISION

ArmInfo
2008-12-18 19:38:00

ArmInfo. ‘Now it remains for President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan
to think over what happened and make a political decision’, Stepan
Safaryan, Secretary if Heritage opposition party parliamentary faction,
said to ArmInfo when asked to comment on Wednesday decision by PACE
Monitoring Committee.

He said that over the last 9 months the Armenian authorities have been
receiving warning messages by European officials. Unfortunately,
they did not take those messages seriously. ‘In September PACE
Monitoring Committee adopted a transitional report wherein it urged
the Armenian authorities to use the anniversary of independence
as a useful occasion to announce amnesty. When this call remained
unrealized, CE Commissioner for Human Rights Thomas Hammarberg made
rather harsh assessments. Over the last months the Armenian authorities
did not even try to imitate fulfillment of PACE resolutions No.1609
and No.1620, and now they have got what they deserve’, S. Safaryan
said. He is sure that the decision by PACE Monitoring Committee was
unexpected to the Armenian authorities since they hoped the activation
of the negotiations on Karabakh and Serzh Sargsyan’s initiatives on
Armenian-Turkish relations would allow favoring the international
community.

‘However, the authorities did not listen to the warning by Thomas
Hammarberg who had exactly declared recently in Yerevan that regional
processes cannot move the situation with human rights in Armenia
aside’, the oppositionist explained.

When commenting on Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandyan’s
statement who hopes that processes will take place in Armenia
which will make it possible to change suggestions of PACE Monitoring
Commission to better before the winter session of PACE, Stepan Safaryan
said: "I would like to hope that foreign minister expressing such
hope was basing on something specific. But must not forget that the
president adopts final decision and maybe Nalbandyan was trying to be
an optimist. At present Serzh Sargsyan has only one choice: either he
releases political prisoners, punishes those who were guilty for the
1 March events, ‘losing his face’ in a certain sense, or the whole
country will pay off for the present situation’.

ARTHUR BAGHDASARYAN CONGRATULATES EMPLOYEES OF NATIONAL SECURITY BODIES

armradio.am
19.12.2008 16:17

Secretary of the National Security Council of Armenia issued a
congratulatory message on the day of employees of national security
structures. The message sates:

"Let me warmly congratulate the employees of national security bodies
on their professional day.

National security bodies play an exceptional role in the
development and reinforcement of our statehood. At different periods
of development of our statehood you have been entrusted the most
important responsibility of ensuring security and you have carried
out your mission with honor.

The unreserved devotion to Motherland, high professional preparedness,
the effective accomplishment of the obligations entrusted to you by
the state are features characteristic of the employees of the National
Security Service.

Today we can state with confidence that the National Security Service
is one of the full-fledged pillars of our independent statehood,
which has always proved its viability at periods full of challenges.

As Secretary of the National security Council, I want to warmly
congratulate you on this Day and wish you health, family happiness,
success in your work and all the best.

Let the New Year bring new successes and prosperity to you."

POWER OF ARMENIAN DELEGATION TO PACE MAY BE SUSPENDED

ArmInfo
2008-12-17 21:19:00

ArmInfo. The power of the Armenian delegation to PACE may be
suspended. The document adopted at the Dec 17 sitting of the PACE
Monitoring Committee in Paris is direct evidence of this.

The most disputable article in the document is the 9th article
envisaging suspension of the power of the Armenian delegation to
PACE. But this article may remain on the paper if PACE Co-Rapporteurs
for Armenia John Prescott and Georges Colombier register progress
during their visit to Armenia before the winter session of PACE in
January 2009.

As the Public Television of Armenia reported, the Monitoring Committee
is mainly discontent with the so- called "case of the seven". To
recall, these persons are accused of the takeover attempt and mass
disorders. According to the co-rapporteurs, either this case should
have been stopped or these persons should be granted pardon. Before the
start of the meeting in Paris, the participants were familiarized with
the 60-page explanation of the Office of Prosecutor General of Armenia.

Meanwhile, the member of the Armenian delgeation Armen Rustamyan
said that the question was not about showing political will but about
speeding up the trial. The head of the delegation David Haroutyunyan
said that the trial was underway and one had no right to exert pressure
on it.

After the speeches of Armenian delegates, the committee decided to
send the co-rapporteurs to Armenia for examining the situation. After
the visit the report may undergo revision. In an interview to Public
Television of Armenia Georges Colombier said that Armenia had shown
significant progress in implementing resolutions 1609 and 1620 and
urged the Armenian authorities to take further steps to alleviate
tensions and to restore democracy.

WRITERS BEAT TABOO WITH APOLOGY FOR MASSACRES
Thomas Seibert

The National
Dec 16 2008
United Arab Emirates

In an unprecedented move, a group of Turkish intellectuals yesterday
started an online campaign to express publicly their apology over the
Turkish massacres against the Armenians during the First World War,
an issue still considered a taboo by many of their fellow Turks.

"My conscience does not allow me to accept that the ‘Great
Catastrophe’, which the Ottoman Armenians were exposed to in 1915, is
met with a lack of sensitivity and is denied. I reject this injustice,
and I, for my part, share the feelings and the pain of my Armenian
brothers, and I apologise to them," reads the intellectuals’ short
message on the website "Ozor diliyoruz" means
"We apologise" in Turkish.

The message is to stay online for one year, and participants hope to
gather as many signatures as possible within that time.

Until Monday evening, more than 2,000 people had signed the petition,
among them many prominent academics, journalists and human rights
activists. The Turkish-born co-chairman of the German Green Party,
Cem Ozdemir, also signed.

Although the text does not mention the term genocide, the group’s
initiative attracted criticism even before it went public. In a
country that sees itself as the successor of the Ottoman Empire and
where public talk of Turkish massacres directed against the

Armenians can result in a jail sentence even today, a public and joint
apology of this sort is ground-breaking. The group’s statement implies
that something went very wrong in Turkish history, a notion that is
rejected by many Turks and that has provoked the ire of nationalists.

Armenia and several countries around the world as well as many
international experts agree that the Ottoman Armenians became the
victims of genocide in 1915 and that up to 1.5 million members of that
Christian minority were killed in massacres and death marches. Turkey
rejects the term genocide and says the deaths were the result of a
relocation initiative under wartime conditions and that many Muslim
Turks were killed by Armenian militias.

Supporters of the apology say that it is time to ask what really
happened in 1915. Cengiz Aktar, a political scientist of Istanbul’s
Bahcesehir University and one of the leading members of the group,
said it was the aim of the initiative to address "the silence that
envelopes this question". According to Mr Aktar, some of the reactions
that started to flow in since the group announced their project two
weeks ago showed that the initiative has hit a nerve. "We got plenty
of messages of gratefulness." He compared the initiative to efforts
in Germany after 1945 to face up to the Nazi era.

Some observers think the very fact the group has been able to publish
its apology is a sign of Turkey’s growing democratic maturity. "In the
old Turkey that we knew, an effort like this would have been banned,
the leading people would have been threatened and someone would have
tried to open investigations against them,"

Mensur Akgun, a columnist in the daily Referans, wrote yesterday. "At
the moment at least, the situation is different in today’s
Turkey. There have been no credible threats."

Still, nationalists have begun to criticise the group. "There is
no crime for which we should be ashamed of and for which we should
apologise," Devlet Bahceli, the leader of the right-wing opposition
Nationalist Movement Party, or MHP, told a party meeting this month.

"First of all let us say that just like no one has the right to
apologise on behalf of the Turkish nation, an initiative like this
that smells like provocation will not benefit anyone," Yigit Bulut, a
columnist, wrote in the daily Vatan. Mr Bulut accused the intellectuals
of doing the bidding of George Soros, a wealthy businessman whose
Open Society Institute is seen by Turkish nationalists as a tool to
undermine the Turkish state.

The Armenian initiative follows a period of an increased and at times
violent debate surrounding the events of 1915 that started when Orhan
Pamuk, a writer and later Nobel laureate, was put on trial in 2005
for saying that one million Armenians were killed by Turks. In Jan
2007, radical nationalists killed the Turkish-Armenian journalist
Hrant Dink, who had called on Turks to face up to their past. Only
last month, Mehmet Ali Sahin, the justice minister, gave permission
to put another writer, Temel Demirer, on trial for publicly speaking
of an "Armenian genocide". He could not allow the state to be called
a killer, the minister said.

With their apology, the intellectuals are trying to move the discussion
away from the word ‘genocide’ and towards a broader level of coming
to terms with the past.

"Something was done" in 1915, the sociologist Ferhat Kentel, who also
signed the text, told Vatan. "There were one million Armenians in this
country. Today, 60,000 Armenians are left. That means [the Armenians]
are no longer there. We Turks are here. So are the Kurds."

He added: "Call it genocide if you like, call it something else. One
million people were destroyed, were relocated, were killed, were sent
to the deserts, this is a truth."

PHYSICS: DATA FROM A.E. ALLAHVERDYAN ET AL PROVIDE NEW INSIGHTS INTO PHYSICS

Science Letter
December 16, 2008

"Hidden Markov Processes (HMP) is one of the basic tools of the modern
probabilistic modeling. The characterization of their entropy remains
however an open problem," scientists in Yerevan, Armenia report
(see also Physics).

"Here the entropy of HMP is calculated via the cycle expansion of
the zeta-function, a method adopted from the theory of dynamical
systems. For a class of HMP this method produces exact results both for
the entropy and the moment-generating function. The latter allows to
estimate, via the Chernoff bound, the probabilities of large deviations
for the HMP," wrote A.E. Allahverdyan and colleagues.

The researchers concluded: "More generally, the method offers a
representation of the moment-generating function and of the entropy
via convergent series."

Allahverdyan and colleagues published their study in the Journal of
Statistical Physics (Entropy of Hidden Markov Processes via Cycle
Expansion. Journal of Statistical Physics, 2008;133(3):535-564).

For more information, contact A.E. Allahverdyan, Yerevan Physics
Institute, Alikhanian Bros St. 2, Yerevan 375036, Armenia.

Publisher contact information for the Journal of Statistical Physics
is: Springer, 233 Spring St., New York, NY 10013, USA.

RA PRESIDENT TO DEPART FOR KAZAKHSTAN FOR CSTO LEADERS MEETING

PanARMENIAN.Net
15.12.2008 17:53 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan will depart for
Astana December 19 to attend an informal meeting of CSTO leaders,
the President’s spokesman Samvel Farmanyan told PanARMENIAN.Net.

The heads of state will consider ways to resist consequences of the
world financial crisis. They will gather on initiative of Kazakh
President Nursultan Nazarbayev to discuss further activities of the
Organization.