Author: Madatian Greg

TURKISH COUP PLOT AWAKENS FEAR OF VIOLENT NATIONALISM

Buzzle
July 14 2008
CA

Evidence of conspiracy to overthrow pro-Western Islamist government
lays bare resentment of country’s secular elite

In a recent declaration, Turkish nationalists identified what they
described as the ‘six arrows’ of the country’s proper identity:
nationalism, secularism, statism, republicanism, populism and
revolutionism. Judging by the events of last week, it is the last arrow
– revolution – that has preoccupied the more radical in recent months.

In an extraordinary raid which led to the arrests of 21 people
allegedly tied to Ergenekon, a shadowy nationalist grouping, police
uncovered documents that revealed plans for a sustained campaign
of terror and intimidation against the Islamist government due to
begin this week. A perfect storm of disruption was to be whipped up,
beginning with a groundswell of popular protest, followed by a wave
of assassinations and bombings, culminating in an economic crisis and
army coup. Turkey’s moderate Islamist government would be ousted in
favor of a right-wing secular dictatorship. The documents appeared to
identify a 30-member assassination squad targeting judges and other
prominent figures.

The episode is only the latest trauma to convulse the Turkish body
politic. As the raids took place, the AKP government, led by Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and President Abdullah Gul, was defending
itself in court from accusations that it is trying to transform
Turkey into a hardline Islamic state. If the AKP fails to convince
the judges, 71 leading figures in the party, including Erdogan and
Gul, risk being banned from politics for five years. Increasingly,
Turkish democracy appears vulnerable to a vicious power struggle
between a secular establishment and the affluent but religiously
conservative middle class.

According to Professor Soli Ozel, of Istanbul’s Bilgi University,
the more fanatical nationalists are determined to bring down the AKP,
which despite its Islamist origins is pro-Western and pro-EU. ‘They
are trying to pump up a modern urban Turkish nationalism with a racist
tinge,’ said Ozel. ‘They are anti-Western and want to ally Turkey
with Russia, China and even Iran. It’s very schizophrenic and full
of paradoxes.’

The Ergenekon group is named after a legendary mountain in Asia where
the ancient Turks are said to have taken refuge from the Mongols. Those
arrested in dawn raids in Istanbul, Ankara, Antalya and Trabzon
included two recently retired army generals, Sener Eruygur and Hursit
Tolon. Eruygur, a former head of the paramilitary gendarmerie for
internal security, is chairman of the Kemalist Thought Association,
a group dedicated to Ataturk’s ideals of modernism, which include
subjugating religion to the state. He is believed to have played a
central role in two previous failed coup attempts against the AKP,
which was re-elected in a landslide last July. Nationalist lawyers,
prominent secular journalists, far-right politicians and even a mafia
boss have also been detained.

The inquiry began after a cache of hand grenades was found in an
Istanbul slum in June last year. Investigators claim to have since
uncovered evidence of a motley coalition of secular nationalists
colluding in a catalog of past atrocities, including bomb attacks,
a grenade attack on a newspaper and the murder last year of a
Turkish-Armenian journalist, Hrant Dink. The alleged aim was to
destabilize the AKP government by creating a climate of chaos.

Critics were quick to question the authenticity of the documents
and accuse the AKP of instigating a witchhunt against its opponents,
using its friends in the police. Nevertheless the detention of two
former senior army commanders carried huge symbolic weight in a
country where the military has always played the decisive political
role since Ataturk established the modern Turkish state in 1923.

So, too, did the timing. The arrests came hours before the chief
prosecutor, Abdurrahman Yalcinkaya, appeared before the constitutional
court in Ankara to argue that the AKP should be closed for allegedly
undermining Turkey’s secular system. The case against the AKP is
contained in a 162-page indictment accusing the AKP of trying to
create an Islamic state, a charge it denies.

Given the conspiratorial game that Turkish politics has become, cynics
are suggesting that the Ergenekon case will be used as a bargaining
counter to ensure the survival of the AKP.

The constitutional court had been widely expected to close the party
when it delivers its verdict, probably next month. But with prosecutors
saying they are ready to press terrorism-related charges against up
to 60 suspects in the Ergenekon case, some suspect a deal has already
been struck with moderate army commanders to try to avoid closure.

Eruygur’s arrest inside a military residential compound may provide
a clue, since many believe it could not have happened without army
top brass approval. Erdogan recently met General Ilker Basbug, due to
take over soon as head of the army. Basbug appealed for calm after last
week’s arrests, but avoided condemning them. ‘We all have to be acting
with more common sense, more carefully and more responsibly,’ he said.

‘The arrests were a pretty coup for the AKP,’ said Professor
Ozel. ‘Many people think this couldn’t have happened without the tacit
approval of the military, at least from the legalists within it. If
there is a tacit agreement with the military and they are working
with the Prime Minister, you can expect that the court has decided
that the AKP is not such a big threat after all.’

Whatever the outcome of the forthcoming battle of wills between
Turkey’s nationalists and Islamists, the latest tremors in Turkey’s
political landscape have revealed the enduring shadow of the country’s
‘deep state’. Secretive nationalist elements in the security apparatus
are believed to have been behind a host of atrocities against the Kurds
and other minorities, including the Alevis, a heterodox Islamic sect,
during the 1990s. But, according to Ozel, if the Ergenekon trial ends
in prosecutions ‘maybe that kind of nationalism in Turkey is going
to weaken’.

Who’s who in Turkey

The AKP: First took charge in November 2002. Re-elected in July last
year. Islamist, but has so far pursued a pro-Western agenda. In favour
of Turkey becoming a member of the EU. Attempts to raise profile
of Islam in Turkish society have led its opponents to accuse it of
flouting Turkey’s secular constitution.

Republican People’s party: The main parliamentary opposition. Secular
and nationalist. Seen as hostile to the EU.

The PKK: Outlawed Kurdish separatist party

The judges: Trial involving AKP could lead to party being disbanded
for instituting Islamic state.

The military: Staged coup in 1980. Widely seen as responsible for
fall of Islamist government in 1997.

· This article was amended on July 13 2008. In the article above we
said the AKP had been ‘in power for a year’ when in fact it first
took charge in November 2002 and was re-elected last July. This has
been corrected.

–Boundary_(ID_uhZRWNo6wyEt04Dmj5aEKg) —

ARMENPRESS

ARMENIAN PM RECEIVES ARGENTINEAN AMBASSADOR

YEREVAN, JULY 9, ARMENPRESS: Armenian Prime Minister Tigran
Sargsian received today the newly appointed Argentinean ambassador to
Armenia Leopoldo Alfredo Bravo.
Governmental press service told Armenpress that during the meeting
the prime minister congratulated the ambassador on his appointment and
on the Argentinean National Holiday ` Independence Day which is marked
on July 9.
Tigran Sargsian said that Armenia is interested in consolidating
relations with Argentina and expanding bilateral cooperation. The
prime minister said that the Armenian government is ready to support
the ambassador for activating economic partnership and making it more
effective.
They also noted about the successful Armenian-Argentinean
cooperation within the international organizations.
The ambassador on his turn said that he sees wide opportunities for
Armenian-Argentinean partnership in a number of spheres and talked
about them at the meeting with the Armenian president, ministers and
Catholicos of All Armenians.

ISSUES OF ARMENIA’S CYBER SECURITY
Samvel Martirosyan

"Noravank" Foundation
10 July 2008

Year by year Azerbaijan strengthens its positions in the information
front. It is connected with the fact that official Baku has begun
devoting more attention and finances to this issue. In its turn Turkey
traditionally demonstrates the state approach to the very question.

Security of the Armenian segment of internet
It is already the fourth year that the Azerbaijani country has been
waging a war against the Azerbaijani segment of internet. Azerbaijani
hackers are periodically joined by the Turkish ones. Thus, in February
2007 were hacked the sites of the ombudsman, `De Facto’ agency and the
one of the National Statistic service under test. The warnings sent to
the site owners have shown that even many hours after what had happened
the fact of hacking was not noticed there. Last summer the Azerbaijanis
made use of the lack of vigilance of the Armenian provider `Web’ and
took control over tens of Armenian sites, including the internet
projects of `Mediamax’ agency hosted in the company’s server. During
several months the company didn’t correct its inadvertence, and accused
the site owners of what had happened. As a matter of fact it turned out
that the state structures responsible for the security didn’t interfere
in the situation and only constant complains finally made the company
solve the problems in the server’s security system. In the meantime the
Azerbaijanis are still satisfied with hacking sites or uploading
anti-Armenian information. However, if we take into consideration that
the owners of such important sites don’t notice the fact of hacking, it
may make a ground for the Azerbaijanis to spread disinformation
prepared beforehand when necessary through Armenian sites.

Such cases of massed attacks on Armenian sites happen several times a
year. At that, the attacks become more and more professional, more and
more human and financial resources are involved by the Azerbaijani
party and more and more important Armenian sites become target of
attacks. Accordingly, it becomes vitally important not only the
protection of the state owned sites but also the important Armenian
ones. There is an impression, more often proved factually, that the
Azerbaijani special services control a number of hacking groups, and
the attacks on Armenian sites are realized to reveal their weak points,
not for mere wracking. In that way it is more probable that a base is
prepared in Baku to completely destroy the Armenian segment of internet
when time comes. To confront such a threat and realize massive
counterattack Armenians must have skilled stuff as well as operation
strategy worked out beforehand.

Security of internal network
Hacking of Armenia’s foreign ministry internal network in December of
the previous year became logical continuation of the Armenian party’s
lack of system and systemized activity of the Azerbaijani party. Even
basing on open information in the press one could come to a conclusion
that the Azerbaijani special services controlled a number of hacking
groups used to attack against Armenia.

It is not the matter of little importance the task of protecting
electronic correspondence. To all appearances this issue is not devoted
appropriate attention to yet. So, the press secretary of Armenia’s
Ministry of Defense has been many years using the free Russian server
mail.ru to dispatch press-release, the hacking of which is even openly
advertised in the internet and costs $50. There is no guarantee that at
the moment this mailbox is not under secret control of Azerbaijanis and
will be used at a proper time in their purpose.

It is quite obvious what serious losses may be inflicted by hacking
electronic perspective of high ranking officials. As a whole, there
must be a unique strategy of protecting the state internal network,
system of electronic documents circulation especially taking into
consideration the fact that in the country are more and more introduced
systems of electronic government, the danger of unapproved access to
the system is aggravated. It is not of little importance protection of
non governmental commercial networks of strategic importance, for
example, connected with energy systems the vulnerability of which may
cause catastrophic after-effects.

Propaganda
Almost nothing was undertaken by the Armenian party against Azerbaijani
and Turkish propaganda. The main operations in this direction are
performed by the Armenians from Armenia and Diaspora who are led by
their individual patriotism and enthusiasm. For example, the operations
against the disinformation of Azerbaijani mass media that the Armenians
of Lvov had claimed for the city to be called `Aryuc,’ was conducted
only by the part of the Armenian internet-community, which managed to
make most of thy Ukrainian mass media take away the material from
internet sites. At that, in Azerbaijan and Turkey such issues are
almost completely undertaken by state structures. At that, not that big
stuff of specialists from the Armenian party could have conducted
monitoring of Azerbaijani agitation and disinformation and conducted
counterattacks. Taking into consideration the big number of Armenians
involved in information warfare individually, such a structure,
involving these individuals, could succeed in this front with minimum
outlets.

In Armenian press is all the time advertised Azerbaijani and Turkish
mass media, in particular in the internet. On the whole, one may say
that according to statistics the Armenian TV and newspapers advertise
Azerbaijani network resources more than the native ones. Moreover, the
Armenian mass media reprints the Turkish disinformation without
checking it properly, in that way replicating it among the Armenian
audience. Let alone that very often Azerbaijani news are just copied
preserving such terms as `Karabakh separatists,’ in inverted commas are
used the words `genocide,’ `NKR’ etc.

Besides, there isn’t even a common course of work with the state
symbolism. In the Armenian mass media is all the time spread propaganda
of state symbolism of Azerbaijan and Turkey in the most favorable
light. At the same time in the Armenian press there isn’t even a single
approach to the NKR map. More often the Armenian audience sees the
former picture of NKAR (Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region) on TV
having no connection with Armenia. The fact that in the country no
attention is paid to such `trifles’ is the symptom of lack of
understanding of the state approach importance both to inward and
outward propaganda.

In its turn, in the home market there is a complete lack of state
approach ` the local mass media almost doesn’t elucidate life in
Nagorno-Karabakh, districts of Armenia, although, while understanding
the importance of the problem each publication must have its offices of
the correspondent in Stepanakert, as well as in district centers. As a
matter of fact there is only one Karabakh agency in the internet,
Karabakh-Open.com, which is quite quick to inform about the events in
the NKR. At that, other Armenian mass media pay no attention to this
resource continuing to draw information from Azerbaijani sources.

There is quite a paradoxical situation when for most of the Armenians
the main source of information in the internet is the Azerbaijani
informational portal Day.az, which at par of visits and citing exceeds
all the analogical Armenian sites taken together. It is worth
mentioning that in the period of `emergency’ Day.az was very popular
among Armenians, as it skillfully aggregated the Armenian news from all
the sources, both official and opposition, which was not able to do any
of the Armenian publications.

Conclusion
In case of preserving up-to-date tendencies Armenia will in the near
future completely lose the initiative in the information warfare
against Azerbaijan and Turkey. It becomes vitally important foundation
of interdepartmental body coordinating information activity of the
National Security Service, Foreign Office, Ministry of Defense and
other departments to counteract, and what is more important, to
initiate activities in this direction.

Other issues of author
THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE ISSUE AS ISRAEL INSTRUMENT OF PRESSURE
[15.05.2008]
KOSOVO AS THE INSTRUMENT OF GLOBAL INFLUENCE [11.04.2008]
SOME INFORMATION ASPECTS OF THE ELECTIONS IN GEORGIA [12.02.2008]
AZERBAIJAN DEVELOPING INFORMATION WAR [29.01.2008]
Internet as a field of information war against Armenia [18.10.2006]
Washington and Moscow desiring to change the world’s missile balance
[13.10.2006]

Central bank of Armenia attaches importance to formation of centralized
supervision system in financial sector

YEREVAN, July 10. /ARKA/. Central Bank of Armenia attaches importance
to formation of centralized supervision system in the country’s
financial sector.

The bank’s study placed on its website says that only a comprehensive
analysis and proper control over risks emerging in various areas of the
economy will make it possible to outline ways for ensuring stability in
Armenian financial system.

Among key directions of financial sector development in 2009/2011, the
Central Bank singles out measures aimed at ensuring stability of
financial system and financial markets.

This stability will create favorable environment for exporting
financial services and spur the process of Armenia’s transformation
into regional financial center. The bank also points out the idea of
establishing all-Armenian bank.

The Central Bank intends to support the government in its efforts to
improve pension system and rating system for enterprises. The system is
planned to be handed overt to private sector later.

The Central Bank will also improve organization of cash circulation and
enlarge cashless payments.-0—

TURKEY AGREES TO ATTEND MEDITERRANEAN UNION LAUNCH

PanARMENIAN.Net
09.07.2008 15:44 GMT+04:00

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday told French President
Nicolas Sarkozy that he hopes to participate in a major summit in Paris
on July 13 at which Sarkozy will launch his plan for Mediterranean
Union, Today’s Zaman reports.

Sarkozy yesterday initiated a telephone conversation with Erdogan in
order to personally invite the PM to the summit, officials say.

Erdogang’s attendance would be a fresh boost to the project after
confirmation on Monday that Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika
would attend the launch of the union, which brings together European
and Mediterranean countries.

Sarkozy announced the union as one of his flagship ideas after winning
election last year, saying it would bring together the Mediterranean’s
diverse nations in a European-style institution. But the plan to draw
on EU funds for a project that did not include EU states without a
Mediterranean coast irked Germany and others, forcing Paris to water
down the concept and broaden its membership.

Sarkozy invited the leaders of all the future member states to Sunday’s
summit. The only regional leader who is now expected not to come is
Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi.

LEADER OF ARMENIAN DEMOCRATIC PARTY: "ONE DAY ARMENIA WILL REJECT TALKS WITH THE COUNTRY, WHICH IS THREATENING WITH WAR EVERY DAY"

Today.Az
July 9 2008
Azerbaijan

"Madrid proposals" on the resolution of the Karabakh conflict are
unacceptable for Armenia, considers leader of Armenian Democratic
Party Aram Sargsyan.

In November of 2007 OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs presented basic
principles of the peaceful resolution of Nagorno Karabakh conflict
for consideration to presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan in Madrid.

"Though we are persuaded that they contain favorable elements for
Azerbaijan I would like to say that the idea of holding referendum on
the status of Nagorno Karabakh can not become the most important for
adoption of principles, Azerbaijan is setting before us, particularly,
of return of lands and deployment of international peacekeeping forces
in this area", said he during a press conference.

According to Sargsyan, adoption of these principles would mean that
Armenian side will obliterate the 20 year lawful way to Nagorno
Karabakh independence and start everything anew.

In this connection, Sargsyan noted that the opinion that Azerbaijan’s
bellicose statements are made for domestic consumption is wrong as
this position has already become the position of the whole Azerbaijani
people, considering Armenians to be their enemies.

"This is not a casual propaganda and we should take such actions,
which would neutralize this process", noted the party leader.

In this connection he does not rule out that Armenia may one day
reject talks with the country, which is threatening with war and
calling "Nagorno Karabkh Republic" an occupied land.

"This means that we failed to present our position to the world
society in the duly manner, especially, regarding independence of
Nagorno Karabakh", announced Sargsyan.

S.OSSETIA ASKS FOR INTERNATIONAL INTERVENTION IN GEORGIA CONFLICT

RIA Novosti
22:13 | 08/ 07/ 2008

Authorities in South Ossetia, a breakaway Georgian region, said in
a letter to the OSCE made public on Tuesday that the international
community must not stand by and allow the regional conflict to
escalate.

The rebel province, where tensions have been escalating since
a shootout last week, has accused Georgia of planning an all-out
military invasion, and says Tbilisi has been boosting its military
presence on the border in recent days.

Four Georgian military officers were released Tuesday after being
detained earlier in the day in the conflict zone. South Ossetia
accused them of being on a reconnaissance mission while Georgia said
they were returning from visiting friends.

The breakaway republic’s foreign minister, Murat Dzioyev, wrote in
a letter to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe
that responsibility for any bloodshed "will be shared by the leaders
of the current Tbilisi regime, its patrons, and international forces
that could have put pressure on Georgia and prevented a military
scenario developing, but failed to do so."

The international community must have objective information on the
situation in the conflict zone and resume talks with Georgia to avoid
"catastrophic consequences" for the provincial capital, Tskhinvali,
and the surrounding area, the minister said.

The minister stressed that South Ossetia is seeking an "exclusively
peaceful route" to resolving differences, and is ready for civilized
dialogue with Georgia.

WHO IS SERZH SARGSYAN’S BIGGEST OPPONENT?

Lilit Avagyan

168 Zham, Armenia
July 1 2008

The situation in Armenia continues to be characterized as a crisis. If
I am not mistaken, you also share the same view.

[Richard Kirakosyan] I think that the crisis is just beginning
after the [February presidential] election. The reason is that the
authorities have not given answers to the main questions. This crisis
is not only about [President] Serzh Sargsyan or [former president,
currently the opposition leader] Levon Ter-Petrosyan. I can say
that Sargsyan’s biggest opponent is Robert Kocharyan, [Sargsyan’s
immediate predecessor in office]. Sargsyan is under immense pressure
from international bodies, the Armenian public and Robert Kocharyan
with his team. Sargsyan has another opponent – time. He is expected
to carry out reforms in a short period of time. It is very interesting
to follow these processes.

[Correspondent] It may be interesting but the political crisis also
affects the public’s mood and the effectiveness of the government
agencies as well as the private sector. People are in a strange
psychological state. They don’t understand whether Sargsyan has come
or Kocharyan has left or Ter-Petrosyan is coming back.

[Kirakosyan] I think that Sargysan’s positions are getting stronger
every day in the Sargsyan-Kocharyan struggle, and Kocharyan’s positions
are getting weaker. Ter-Petrosyan’s positions as the opposition leader
are strong too.

[Passage omitted: Kirakosyan says Kocharyan has only five or six
months to maintain his power.]

[Correspondent] So you think Sargsyan can keep his grip on power? There
are two opinions: the first one is that he won’t be able to implement
the reforms he has promised, and, therefore, his rule will not last
long, resulting in an fresh election. And the second opinion is that
Sargsyan is trying to weaken Kocharyan’s positions because of the
international pressure to ease the tough and biased stance towards
the opposition, and this would allow him to stay in power.

[Kirakosyan] Let’s be frank. I believe that [former] President
Kocharyan’s time is over. I consider fresh presidential election
technically impossible. This situation indicates that the Armenian
people are not the same. The ruling political forces and the public
alike have realized that it is impossible to return to the status
quo that existed before 1 March. I believe this government would
succeed if the reforms are not political but economic. I expect a
more dangerous crisis in Armenia – an economic crisis. The storm of
hiking food and fuel prices is moving towards Armenia. I think the
leadership should overcome this crisis. From an impartial standpoint,
the political disagreement in society is not due to Ter-Petrosyan or
Sargsyan but it is due to the polarization that exists in Armenia. Look
at the big difference between the living standards of the oligarchs
and the average Armenian.

[Passage omitted: Kirakosyan says that while Kocharyan bears
responsibility for the clashes of 1 March, Sargsyan too had his part
of guilt.]

[Correspondent] The authorities have committed to comply with the
PACE resolution provisions but people have the right to think that
the authorities are not showing good will because those steps are
taken under an outside pressure. Don’t you think that the authorities
have crossed the Rubicon even if they ease the law on assemblies and
release the political prisoners, and it would be hard, if possible,
to regain the trust?

[Kirakosyan] The key meaning of the demands that the international
bodies put forward is not to punish Armenia but help it. When they
speak of political dialogue, to me, it is not the dialogue that matters
but political debates. It was very bad in Armenia in the past 10 years:
there was a leader whose decisions were covert, wrong and shameful. It
was impossible to maintain this model.

[Passage omitted: Kirakosyan says that despite all the turmoil,
Armenia remains the most stable country in the South Caucasus.]

[Correspondent] The Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly gave
some more time to Armenia to fulfil the Resolution 1609. It looks
unlikely that the authorities will fulfil them completely, especially
[the requirements about] the release of all political prisoners. Do
you think that sanctions could be imposed on Armenia to hurt its
political and economic elite?

[Kirakosyan] The threat of sanctions is real. But the approaches of
the USA and the OSCE are special towards countries that have found
themselves in such a difficult situation. It should not be forgotten
that Armenia gives more stability than neighbouring Azerbaijan does
with its oil. If Armenia is viewed outside of the context that exists
in the region, you can say that Armenia is a dangerous country,
but in the context of such geopolitical developments, the powerful
countries should help Armenia and not punish it.

NEW LASER PHYSICS STUDY FINDINGS HAVE BEEN PUBLISHED BY G.A. AMATUNI AND COLLEAGUES

Science Letter
July 8, 2008

"A dielectric medium consisting of roughly polarized molecules has been
treated as a 3D disordered spin system (spin glass). Having in view
the study of the statistical properties of this system on a micrometer
scale and nanosecond time scale of a standing electromagnetic wave,
a microscopic approach has been developed," researchers in Yerevan,
Armenia report (see also Laser Physics).

"Using the Birkhoff ergodic hypothesis, the initial 3D spin problem is
reduced to two conditionally separate 1D problems along the external
electromagnetic field propagation. The first problem describes a
disordered N-particle quantum system with relaxation in the framework
of a Langevin-Schrodinger (L-Sch)-type equation, while the second
one describes a steric disordered spin-chain system. The statistical
properties of both systems were investigated in detail. Based on
these constructions, the coefficient of polarizability related to the
collective orientational effects was calculated. The Clausius-Mossotti
relation for the dielectric constant was generalized. Taking into
account the generalized Clausius-Mossotti relation, a generalized
equation for the dielectric permittivity function has been found,"
wrote G.A. Amatuni and colleagues.

The researchers concluded: "A simple formula was derived for the
dielectric permittivity function in the X-ray frequency range, which
can be larger than unity on the micrometer scale and nanosecond
time scale."

Amatuni and colleagues published their study in Laser Physics
(Dielectric permittivity superlattice formation. Laser Physics,
2008;18(5):608-620).

For additional information, contact G.A. Amatuni, Alikhanyan Yerevan
Physics Institute, Alikhanyan Br 2, Yerevan 375036, Armenia.

Publisher contact information for the journal Laser Physics is:
Maik Nauka, Interperiodica, Springer, 233 Spring St., New York,
NY 10013-1578, USA.

Chicago Tribune, United States –

1915 killings of Armenians stokes Georgetown furor on academic freedom
July 6, 2008

By Susan Kinzie

The Washington Post

WASHINGTON – The issue that has roiled U.S.-Turkish relations in
recent months ‘ how to characterize the mass killings of Armenians in
1915 ‘ has set off a dispute over politics and academic freedom at an
institute housed at Georgetown University.

Several board members of the Institute of Turkish Studies have
resigned this summer, protesting the ouster of a board chairman who
wrote that scholars should research, rather than avoid, what he
characterized as an Armenian genocide.

Within weeks of writing about the matter in late 2006, Binghamton
University professor Donald Quataert resigned from the board of
governors, saying the Turkish ambassador to the United States told him
he had angered some political leaders in Ankara and that they had
threatened to revoke the institute’s funding.

After a prominent association of Middle Eastern scholars learned about
it, they wrote a letter in May to the institute, the Turkish prime
minister and other leaders asking that Quataert be reinstated and
money for the institute be put in an irrevocable trust to avoid
political influence.

The ambassador of the Republic of Turkey, H.E. Nabi Sensoy, denied
that he had any role in Quataert’s resignation. In a written
statement, he said that claims that he urged Quataert to leave are
unfounded and misleading.

The dispute shows the tensions between money and scholarship, and the
impact language can have on historical understanding.

Hundreds of thousands of Armenians were killed when the Ottoman Empire
collapsed after World War I. Armenians and Turks bitterly disagree
over whether it was a campaign of genocide, or a civil war in which
many Turks were also killed.

In the fall, when Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.)
championed a bill that would characterize the events of 1915 to 1917
as genocide, the Bush administration fought it and several former
defense secretaries warned that Turkish leaders would limit
U.S. access to a military base needed for the war in Iraq.

The Turkish studies institute, founded in 1983, is independent from
Georgetown University, but Executive Director David Cuthell teaches a
course there in exchange for space on campus.

Julie Green Bataille, a university spokeswoman, wrote in an e-mail,
"We will review this matter consistent with the importance of academic
freedom and the fact that the institute is independently funded and
governed."

The institute’s funding, a $3 million grant, is entirely from Turkey.

A few years ago, Quataert said, members of the board checked on what
they thought was an irrevocable blind trust "and to our surprise it
turned out to be a gift that could be revoked by the Turkish
government."

Quataert, a professor of history, said the institute has funded good
scholarship without political influence. The selection of which
studies to support is done by a committee of academics on the
associate board, he said, and approved by the board, which includes
business and political leaders. Never once, he said, did he think a
grant application was judged on anything other than its academic
merits.

He also noted that during his time there, no one applied for grants
that would have been controversial in Turkey. Asked if any of the
research characterized the events as genocide, Cuthell said, "My gut
is no. It’s that third rail."

Roger Smith, professor emeritus of government at the College of
William and Mary, questioned whether the non-profit institute deserves
its tax-exempt status if there is political influence ‘ and whether it
is an undeclared lobbying arm for the Turkish government.

Cuthell said none of the institute’s critics ever bothered to check
the truth of Quataert’s account with the institute: It does not lobby,
Cuthell said, and "the allegations of academic freedom simply don’t
hold up."

The controversy began quietly in late 2006 with a review of historian
Donald Bloxham’s book, "The Great Game of Genocide." Quataert wrote
that the slaughter of Armenians has been the elephant in the room of
Ottoman studies. Despite his belief that the term "genocide" had
become a distraction, he said the events met the United Nations
definition of the word.

He sent a letter of resignation to members of the institute in
December 2006, and one board member resigned.

But in the fall, around the same time that Congress was debating the
Armenian question, Quataert was asked to speak at a conference about
what had happened at the institute. He told members of the Middle
Eastern Studies Association that the ambassador told him he must issue
a retraction of his book review or step down ‘ or put funding for the
institute in jeopardy.

His colleagues were shocked, said Laurie Brand, director of the school
of international relations at the University of Southern California.

Ambassador Sensoy, who is honorary chairman of the institute’s board,
said in a statement this week, "Neither the Turkish Government nor I
have ever placed any pressure upon the ITS, for such interference
would have violated the principle of the academic freedom, which we
uphold the most. The Turkish Government and I will be the first to
defend ITS from any such pressure."

Since the May 27 letter from the scholars association was sent,
several associate and full members of the board have left. Marcie
Patton, Resat Kasaba and Kemal Silay resigned; Fatma Muge Gocek said
she would resign, and Birol Yesilada said his primary reason for
stepping down at this time is his health, but that he is concerned
about the conflicting accounts of what had happened. "It’s a very
difficult line that scholars walk," Patton said, "especially
post-9/11, especially because of the Iraq war."

AP-NY-07-05-08 1144EDT
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