Author: Navasardian Karapet

TURKEY NOT FRETTING OVER POSSIBLE ‘GENOCIDE’ BLOW AFTER DAVOS STORM

Today’s Zaman
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Jan 3 2009
Turkey

Jewish-American groups may reconsider their support for Turkey against
Armenian efforts to pass a resolution in the US Congress recognizing
claims that Anatolian Armenians were subjected to genocide in the
World War I era in the wake of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s
walkout at the Davos summit last week, but Turkish officials and
analysts expect little fallout from decreased Jewish lobby support.

"The Jewish lobby’s influence should not be overestimated," said Sedat
Laciner, head of the Ankara-based International Strategic Research
Organization (ISRO/USAK). "Many Jewish-American groups already decided
to cut support for Turkey in the face of Armenian efforts in 2007,"
he told Today’s Zaman. A major Jewish-American organization, the
Anti-Defamation League (ADL), reversed its long-held stance in 2007
and said it recognized Armenian genocide claims, although it stood
against congressional resolutions to the same effect.

Last week Erdogan stormed off the stage at Davos after an
angry exchange with Israeli President Shimon Peres over Israel’s
deadly operation in Gaza last month, which killed more than 1,300
Palestinians, almost half of whom were civilians. The incident sparked
comments in the Israeli and Armenian media that a genocide resolution,
shelved twice in the past in the US House of Representatives at the
initiative of the administration, will this time be inevitable because
Jewish groups will no longer be lobbying against it.

Although risks run higher this year for US recognition of the alleged
genocide due to the campaign promises made by President Barack Obama
to Armenian-American voters, few in Ankara believe that the decrease
in support by the Jewish lobby in the aftermath of the Davos incident
will have a major impact on whether or not Obama will uphold his
pre-election promises.

One reason for this, says former Foreign Minister Ä°lter Turkmen,
is that Obama has also committed himself to fewer contacts with the
lobbying groups in his decision-making processes.

Secondly, says Laciner, what matters is the position of the
administration, not the Jewish-American groups. Obama will issue a
traditional message on April 24, the day that Armenians commemorate
as the beginning of the alleged genocide. He is more likely than his
Republican predecessor, George W. Bush, to use the word "genocide" in
his message, given his earlier public pledges, but when it comes to a
congressional resolution, the US will follow its national interests,
according to Laciner. "When a similar resolution was shelved last
year at the House of Representatives, it was the administration,
not Jewish lobbying, that made it possible," he said. "The Armenian
question is a derivative of overall Turkey-US relations. It pops up
every time there is a problem in the course of their ties. It was on
the agenda heavily in the past years because of the Iraq crisis in
Turkey-US relations and it was shelved eventually because the crisis
was overcome and cooperation took root."

"The Armenian genocide is an international lie," reads a poster held by
participants of a demonstration protesting against claims of genocide
by Armenians.

The Obama administration is expected to work with Turkey as it readies
for a withdrawal from Iraq in the next couple of years. Obama is also
expected to watch closely a process of rapprochement under way between
Turkey and Armenia, which arose when President Abdullah Gul visited
Yerevan to watch a football game between national teams of the two
countries last September. Observers say the Obama administration will
not want to harm this process by antagonizing Turkey.

But even in the event of an April 24 message by Obama mentioning
"genocide," this may not be devastating for Turks. "The public is
accustomed to the idea that Obama might do something that the previous
administrations did not do on the Armenian issue. It’s been out there
since the election campaign," said Laciner.

Bring it on!

Separately, sources from the Israeli parliament say a bill previously
submitted there for acknowledging the incidents as genocide that
was not adopted last year is more than likely to make its way into
the Israeli parliament once again this year. Zeev Elkin, a member of
Israel’s Likud party, said recently, "Ankara’s stance has proven the
absolute inevitability of the recognition of the Armenian genocide
by the Israeli parliament."

But the mood in the government is tranquil and sources close to the
government say Turkey will not be lobbying as actively as before
to stop the US and Israeli legislatures from accepting the Armenian
allegations. Currently 24 countries have accepted the Armenian claims
by passing bills recognizing the 1915 events as genocide.

The government’s relaxed stance could also be observed in remarks
Foreign Minister Ali Babacan offered to journalists ahead of last
week’s Davos summit. Babacan stated that Turkey’s harsh stance on
Gaza did indeed irritate certain Jewish agencies, but added that
the strategic relationship between Turkey and Israel would not be
damaged. Acknowledging that the Jewish lobby’s influence in the US
Congress and administration was indisputable, Babacan also recalled
that there existed differences in opinion between various Jewish
groups. "Turkey has nothing to fear in history. We offered to set
up a commission of historians, but Armenia did not accept this. We
still insist on this proposal," Babacan said.

Speaking to Today’s Zaman, government spokesperson and Deputy Prime
Minister Cemil Cicek said he believed the tension between Turkey and
Israel would not affect relations between the two countries. He said
the Jewish lobby giving up its support for Turkey on the Armenian
question would not change historical facts.

Noting that Turkey has developed good relationships with its neighbors,
Cicek stressed that Armenia is the only exception to this. He said
the reason for Turkey’s failure to establish a better relationship
with this neighbor was the Armenian diaspora and the Armenian
government. Arguing that Armenia suffers the most because of its
hostility, Cicek continued: "The Armenian diaspora makes a living on
enmity toward Turkey and Turks. They say the Jewish lobby will now
support the Armenian claims, because this is what they want to happen.

Turkey-US relations have been mutually beneficial since 1950. They
are good for both sides. They don’t make decisions on genocide based
on a statement or a stance, but looking back at long-term historical
decisions. These decisions are made looking from various angles and
after calculating the pros and cons fully. But, of course, there are
those who hope that it will work the other way, and make propaganda
in that direction."

Justice and Development Party (AK Party) parliamentary group deputy
chairman Bekir Bozdag told Today’s Zaman that after Erdogan’s reaction
in Davos last week, neither the Armenian diaspora nor the Jewish
lobby would act as daringly as they have before.

Bozdag said Erdogan’s harsh reaction showed the world Turkey’s
strength. He also recalled that Turkey had offered to set up
an independent commission of historians to study the events of
1915. "Those who accuse Turkey of having committed genocide should
think carefully about their future decisions. Our prime minister’s
words have shown Turkey’s place and strength in the world. This is
why the support behind genocide bills will be less. Those working
against Turkey will not be as free as before. I don’t think genocide
bills will be brought on the agenda as daringly as before. Turkey,
with its stance, has confirmed its role as a bridge between the EU
and the Islamic world. Those who have calculations in the Middle East,
the Caucasus and Asia will have to consider Turkey’s presence."

He added that Erdogan’s move had earned him great respect among
the peoples of Muslim countries and the third world. "The Armenian
lobby and other lobbies supporting it are now faced with a tougher
task. From now on, they won’t be able to make any country they want do
whatever they want. Our prime minister’s reaction is an opportunity
for Turkey. Those who are against Turkey will have to think twice
after this point," he said.

–Boundary_(ID_BkaaXhTak0wd2bqcv/Hw6g)–

ANTELIAS TO HOST CONFERENCE AND EXHIBITION ON THE 100th ANNIVERSARY OF THE ADANA MASSACRES

Gibrahayer e-magazine
4 February, 2009
Nicosia

ANTELIAS, Lebanon – On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the
massacres of Adana (1909-2009), His Holiness Aram I said: "this sad
page in the contemporary history of the Armenian nation should be
remembered with due importance and seriousness." He then continued,
"in 2009, the Catholicosate of Cilicia will organise a conference,
an exhibition, and will oversee the publication of books and documents
related to the Adana massacres.

Based on this decision, the Catholicosate informs the community
organizations, academic institutions, scholars and the general public
of the following plans: 1) During October 29-30 2009, a conference
will be held in Antelias, dedicated to the Adana massacres under
the leadership of His Holiness Aram I. All those interested in
participating in the event should contact the Catholicosate of Cilicia.

2) A Special Committee, in cooperation with The Department of Armenian
Studies of the Catholicosate of Cilicia, will screen and sponsor
publications related to the Adana massacres. The Catholicosate invites
researchers, scholars, writers and all those who possess relevant
works are invited to submit their proposals to the Catholicosate.

3) We invite all Armenians in the community who own valuable artefacts,
photos and archive documents that re late to the Armenians of Adana
and their massacre, to make them available to the Catholicosate for
the planned exhibition.

The deadline to receive all materials is 31 March 2009. All enquiries
should be addressed to: Bishop Nareg Alemezian – Armenian Catholicosate
of Cilicia – Department of Ecumenical Relations – Antelias, Lebanon
E-mail: [email protected]

MORE THAN 1500 CHESS PLAYERS TAKE PART IN MOSCOW OPEN INTERNATIONAL SUPERTOURNAMENT

Noyan Tapan

Feb 4, 2009

MOSCOW, FEBRUARY 4, NOYAN TAPAN. 4 tours have been held in Moscow
Open International Chess Supertournament being held in Moscow.

Nine chess players represent Armenia in group A, which includes chess
players with a rating higher than 2300. Rafael Vahanian and Gabriel
Sargsian have drawn two games and gained 3 points each. Masters with
ratings up to 2300 are included in group B. Among nearly two dozens
of representatives of Armenia, Robert Aghasarian, Suren Poghosian,
David Gevorgian, and Sargis Manukian have 4 points each. Armenia
has no participant in group C, which includes only women. And Karina
Ambartsumova (3.5 points) and Tatevik Hayrapetian (2.5 points) are
included in Moscow’s team.

More than 1500 chess players in total perform in Moscow Open’s
7 groups.

January 30, 2009
Press Release
Western Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church of America
H.E. Archbishop Moushegh Mardirossian, Prelate
6252 Honolulu Avenue
La Crescenta, CA 91214
Tel: (818) 248-7737
Fax: (818) 248-7745
E-mail: [email protected]
Website:

CELEBRATING THE FEAST OF ST. SARKIS

According to our Church calendar, this year the Feast of St. Sarkis
falls on Saturday, February 7th. The Feast coincides with a three day fast,
the Fast of the Catechumens, which begins at midnight on Sunday, February
1st and ends on the morning of Wednesday, February 4th.
On Wednesday morning, services will be offered at all churches,
during which the blessing of water will also take place and Holy Communion
will be offered.
The first Divine Liturgy of the year at the Prelacy "St. Dertad and
St. Ashkhen" Chapel will take place on the day of the Feast of St. Sarkis on
Saturday, February 7th, at 6:00 p.m. The celebrant is Rev. Fr. Gomidas
Torossian. H.E. Archbishop Moushegh Mardirossian5 Prelate, will preside over
the ceremony.
In the same evening, at 7:30 p.m., evening services will take place
at St. Sarkis Church in Pasadena.
On Sunday, February 8th, His Eminence the Prelate will celebrate
Divine Liturgy at St. Sarkis Church in celebration of the name day of the
Church. The Prelate will also preside over the blessing of madagh.

FAREWELL RECEPTION FOR OUTGOING CONSUL GENERAL ARMEN LILOYAN

On the evening of Wednesday, January 28th, the Central Committee of
the ARF had organized a farewell reception for outgoing Consul General the
Honorable Armen Liloyan, who will soon be returning to Armenia as his term
comes to an end. H.E. Archbishop Moushegh Mardirossian, Prelate, attended
the reception, which took place at "Phoenicia" Restaurant in Glendale, along
with Catholicosate Central Executive member Mr. Khajag Dikijian, Executive
Council Chair Dr. Garo Agopian, Armenian Catholic and Evangelical Church
leaders, and members of community organizations. During the reception the
Prelate commended the Consul General’s service and wished his success in his
future endeavors.
The Prelacy had also organized a farewell reception for the Consul
General which took place on the evening of Thursday, January 29th, at
"Pacific Dining Car" in Santa Monica, hosted by Prelacy benefactress Mrs.
Ashkhen Pilavjian. Alongside the Prelate and Executive Council divan
members were Catholicosate Central Executive member Mr. Khajag Dikijian, ARF
Bureau member Dr. Viken Hovsepian, ARF Central Committee Chair Mr. Avedik
Izmirlian, members of the Pilavjian family.
The Prelate and attendees thanked and commended the Consul General
for his service, and especially for his collaboration in Armenia-Diaspora
matters during his term.
The Consul General thanked the Prelate and guests for their kind
words and for the cordial relations and cooperation during his term. He
spoke highly of the commitment and contributions of the Armenian community
of California to their homeland, expressing confidence that Armenia-Diaspora
relations will only get stronger with each passing year.
At the conclusion of the reception the Prelate presented the Consul
General with a memento.

PRELATE AND EXECUTIVE COUNCIL MEET WITH
NORTH HOLLYWOOD PARISH COMMITTEE

As previously reported, at the start of the year the Prelacy
established a new parish in North Hollywood to serve the spiritual needs of
the large Armenian population in the area. The first Divine Liturgy was
celebrated on the Feast of the Nativity and Theophany of our Lord. Divine
Liturgy is now celebrated every Sunday afternoon.
A committee has been appointed to oversee the progress of this new
parish, serving alongside Very Rev. Fr. Muron Aznikian and Executive Council
representatives.
On the evening of Tuesday, January 27th, the committee visited the
Prelacy where they were welcomed by H.E. Archbishop Moushegh Mardirossian,
Prelate, Executive Council Chair Dr. Garo Agopian, and Council members. The
committee members briefed the Prelate and Executive Council members on the
development of the parish and reported that a large number of faithful have
been attending Divine Liturgy and participating in Bible Study classes which
take place on Wednesday evenings.
The Prelate and Council members commended the efforts and dedication
of the committee members to the success of the new parish. An exchange of
ideas and suggestions also took place to facilitate the work of the
committee.
The visit concluded with the Prelate presenting the committee
members with mementos.

HOMENETMEN REGIONAL EXECUTIVE VISITS THE PRELACY

On the evening of Tuesday, January 27th, H.E. Archbishop Moushegh
Mardirossian, Prelate, welcomed to the Prelacy a delegation from Homenetmen
Regional Executive, headed by Chairman Mr. Steve Artinian. The members had
to come to convey their New Year and Christmas well wishes to the Prelate as
to well to discuss the recent and upcoming activities they have planned.
The guests expressed their wish for collaboration with the Prelacy
youth committee, which the Prelate welcomed, especially considering that
H.H. Catholicos Aram I has declared 2009 the "Year of the Youth". The first
collaborative event of the year will take place on the Eve of the Feast of
the Presentation of our Lord to the Temple, a service in which the scouts
and youth traditionally participate. Also discussed was the "St. Mesrob
Mashdots" Medal religious program.
The Prelate commended the valuable service of the members and above
all their initiative to create opportunities to commemorate the "Year of the
Youth".

PRELATE WELCOMES ARMENIAN BONE MARROW DONOR REGISTRY REPRESENTATIVES

On the afternoon of Tuesday, January 27th, H.E. Archbishop Moushegh
Mardirossian, Prelate, welcomed to the Prelacy representatives from the
Armenian Bone Marrow Donor Registry who had come to convey their New Year
and Christmas well wishes to the Prelate. Very Rev. Fr. Barthev Gulumian
also joined in the meeting.
President of the Registry Dr. Frieda Jordan briefed the Prelate on
the upcoming projects of the organization, specifically the progress of the
stem cell harvesting center in Armenia which is scheduled to open in April,
as well as their annual banquet which will take place in July and the
Walkathon in October.
The Prelate commended the representatives and the noble work they
carry out through the Registry, and affirmed that the Prelacy and affiliated
bodies continue to support the organization morally and financially.
The Prelate wished them success in all future endeavors and
presented them with mementos.

CELEBRATING THE 108TH ANNIVERSARY OF
HOLY TRINITY CHURCH OF FRESNO

On Sunday, January 25th, the Prelate celebrated Divine Liturgy at
Holy Trinity Church in Fresno in celebration of the 108th anniversary of the
parish and presided over the annual banquet.
During Divine Liturgy the Prelate presented parish pastor Rev. Fr.
Vahan Gosdanian with a Pontifical Encyclical by H.H.Catholicos Aram I
granting him the privilege of bearing an ornamental cope.
The annual banquet took place in the church hall immediately
following Divine Liturgy, during which church members Yeretsgin Sossy
Gosdanian, Sossy Jabrayan, and Michael Srabian were honored for their
service to the parish.
The message of the day was delivered by the Prelate, the theme of
which was the importance of service to the church and community.
A DVD presentation of the past year’s activities was also included
in the program.
Executive Council members Mr. Khatchig Yeretzian and Mr. Varoujan
Der Simonian participated in the Liturgy and the ensuing banquet.

POLITICAL SCIENTIST LEVON SHIRINIAN: IT IS MORE CONVENIENT THAT DIASPORA ATTEND TO SOLUTION OF GEORGIAN ARMENIANS’ PROBLEMS

Noyan Tapan

Jan 29, 2009

YEREVAN, JANUARY 29, NOYAN TAPAN. Armenia has always tried to have at
least bearable relations with Georgia, while Georgia comes up from
positions of force. Levon Shirinian, a Doctor of Political Science,
the Head of the Law History and Political Science Chair of Yerevan
K. Abovian State Pedagogical University, expressed such an opinion
at the January 29 press conference.

According to him, when Russia’s influence in the region weakens,
with Turkey’s sponsorship Georgia tries to go out to the West at the
expense of Armenia.

According to the political scientist, the recent events in Georgia, in
particular, the arrests of Grigor Minasian, the Director of Akhaltskha
Youth Center, and Sargis Hakobjanian, the Chairman of the Charles
Aznavour charity NGO, are purely pretexts for securing their goal. And
according to L. Shirinian, the Georgian authorities’ goal is to create
such conditions, under which the Armenians will leave Javakhk.

According to his observation, the most convenient way to improve the
formed situation is to carry out active actions in that direction:
the Hay Dat (Armenian Cause) offices working abroad, as well as other
organizations should also involve issues of protection of Georgian
Armenians’ rights in their working agendas.

In the opinion of Sergey Minasian, the Deputy Director of the Caucasian
Media Institute, Georgia’s policy to Armenia is greatly affected by the
opinion formed there, according to which Armenia is Russia’s partner.

GANIRA PASHAYEVA: "DEVELOPMENTS IN ARMENIA INCREASE TENSIONS IN THE REGION"

APA
Jan 27 2009
Azerbaijan

Strasbourg. Alexander Kin-APA. "Unfortunately our Armenian colleagues
aggressively react to the speeches of Azerbaijani parliamentarians
in the discussions on the situation in Armenia, situation of the
democratic institutions and organizations and commitments undertaken
by Armenia to the Council of Europe", said Azerbaijani parliamentarian
Ganira Pashayeva in her speech at the PACE session, APA correspondent
reports from Strasbourg.

She said Azerbaijan, rather than other members of the Council of
Europe, concern over the developments in Armenia. "This country
keeps 20 percent of Azerbaijan’s territory under occupation for more
than 15 years and continues to trample on the rights of one million
Azerbaijani refugees and displaced persons tackling them to return
home. We have to seriously think over the developments in Armenia,
because it increases tensions in the region. There is no progress in
the negotiations over the settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh problem
because of non-constructive position of Armenian government. Armenian
armed forces fired on the peaceful residents of Azerbaijan from the
posts they set in the occupied Azerbaijani lands, killed and wounded
with sniper’s bullets. They commit arsons in the Azerbaijani lands and
enjoy with it when the fire covers houses and farms of Azerbaijani
people. Recently I invited the French, Norwegian, Israeli, Chinese,
Indian and other ambassadors to bordering Tovuz Region, where I run
for the Parliament, and they witnessed how the Azerbaijani cemeteries
were burned by the Armenian armed forces in the border areas. The
ambassadors strongly condemned these actions".

Ganira Pashayeva said Armenia refused to fulfill PACE resolutions
1609 and 1620 adopted in the spring session. "Opposition leaders
were arrested in quarters in Armenia, the arrested oppositionists
were not released yet and originators of March 1 events were not
punished. During the hearings at the US Congress Helsinki Commission
on the elections and March events in Armenia, one of the Congressmen
said that he was horrified with the anti-Semitism in Armenia. We
were emphasizing, for many years, the Armenia’s mono-ethnic policy
and expelling hundred thousands of Azerbaijanis from their homes with
force and tortures. We have to think about the developments in Armenia
seriously and to pass serious decisions. We have not to forget that
any unpunished crime will arise other one".

Los Angeles Times, CA
Jan 25 2009

‘Inkheart’ makeup designer is a font of tattoo tales

Jenny Shircore breaks out the stencils for the medieval fantasy adventure.

By Cristy Lytal
January 25, 2009

Jenny Shircore has an uncanny ability to make people’s faces read like
books. On the set of director Iain Softley’s new fantasy adventure
"Inkheart," Shircore created hundreds of intricately lettered facial
tattoos to signify that certain characters in the film had been
brought to life from the pages of works of literature.

Born in India during the days of the British Raj to an Armenian father
and a French mother, Shircore moved to England at the age of 10. As a
child, she loved doing her friends’ hair, so she went to study at the
London College of Fashion. "My first thought was to travel, and I
wanted to work on a luxury cruiser as a hairdresser and therefore
travel and do hair at the same time," she said. "But I was put off
that idea by somebody who had done it."

Warned off the seafaring life, she applied to the BBC, where she did
hair and makeup for period films and Shakespeare adaptations for 15
years. "I was with the BBC for so long," she said, "and I suddenly
thought, ‘I can’t walk down these corridors for another day! I can’t
drive through these gates another day! I have to change!’ And so I
left the BBC and went freelance."

Shircore’s first film as an independent contractor was 1985’s
"Dreamchild," a dark glimpse into the later life of Alice Liddell, the
inspiration for Lewis Carroll’s masterpiece "Alice in Wonderland."
>From there, she went on to win an Oscar for her work on 1998’s
"Elizabeth" as well as to lend her talents to more recent projects
like the period drama "Girl With a Pearl Earring," the 2004 musical
"The Phantom of the Opera" and "Inkheart."

Not exactly by the book: Though "Inkheart" is based on a popular
series by author Cornelia Funke, none of the characters in her source
material sport facial tattoos. "In the book, they’re deformed, but
Iain Softley didn’t want the deformities, so we did the lettering
instead," Shircore said. "It was a filmic thing. We thought it would
be pretty cool if they had some of the lettering on their faces to
show that they had been [brought to life] out of a book. All of them
really were done individually. I did pick out every single passage —
poetic passages and just passages that had relevance to the story."

Font of ideas: Since the characters hail from medieval times, fonts
from that period inspired Shircore’s tattoos. "For the soldiers, for
the baddies, I knew I wanted a very strong font, and we just used a
straightforward Roman font," she said. "When we came to doing the
girls, I took a little bit of license there, and that is a gentler,
more feminine font. We also used a less aggressive color, so it was
more gray and blue rather than the black that the soldiers had on."

Words per minute: Some mornings, Shircore and her team had to apply
tattoos to more than 100 actors in half an hour. "We had to figure out
methods of doing it very quickly," she said. "We have a very clever
man here [in London] called David Stoneman, who does lovely tattoos
and makes makeups to your requirements. And he made up quite a lot of
tattoos that you would put on the face like you would an ordinary
temporary tattoo. And we also had passages from the book cut out with
laser cuts so that you could just press it up against the face and
then fill it in like a stencil.

"But there were lots of problems. The ink would run through the
stencil. Sometimes, we found that the writing came out back to front
and upside-down. But with the men, we had to just get them in and get
them out fast, and sometimes if it smudged and some letters were
bolder than others, I think it just added to the way they looked
aggressive. But on the girls, we did freehand work, so we actually
painted them on. You couldn’t do a stencil in that beautiful
lettering."

A horse of a different color: The biggest diva on set proved to be the
white Italian horse that played the unicorn in the film. "You have
this stencil, which was about six feet long, to place across the horse
and then to stamp the makeup into it," Shircore said. "An assistant to
myself went in there into his truck to put the painting on him, and he
was kicking the place down. And I said to my assistant, I said, ‘No
deeds of bravado. He stops kicking, or we get out of here.’ Anyway, we
did it, and I thought it looked fantastic, and we risked life and limb
for it. I showed it to [the director], and he looked pensively at it
and said, ‘Can you move it 6 inches over?’ I think he was pulling my
leg!"

t/news/la-ca-workinghwood25-2009jan25,0,593466.sto ry

British museum director talking collections

The Sunday Times
January 25, 2009

Neil MacGregor, Director of the British Museum in London.

Neil MacGregor
It was 250 years ago this month that the British Museum first opened
its doors to the public. When you visit the museum today, you visit
somewhere that is like no other collection, no other building on earth.
It is the only place where you can, in every sense, walk through the
world, and through time, and look at the whole range of what humans
have made and speculate as to what they have thought.

But the British Museum’s collection is a very odd one. There are great
works of art in it, of course, such as the Iris from the Parthenon or
Michelangelo’s only surviving study for Adam. But the British Museum is
not a museum of art. And its collection has always led to contradiction
with its name. It is a matter of bafflement to many people why it is
called the British Museum when such a small percentage of the objects
in it are British. But it is quintessentially British. It is
effectively the first public institution to be called British ‘ rather
to our irritation, the British Linen Bank got there first. It was
quintessentially British in 1753, when it was founded by parliament;
and it is true today.

It was set up in Montague House, on the site of the current building,
in a London that does a great deal, I think, to explain why it is the
way it is; a London that was the centre of world trade. As early as
1711, Addison wrote, `There is no place in the town which I love to
frequent as the Royal Exchange. It gives me a secret satisfaction, and
in some measure it gratifies my vanity, as an Englishman, to see so
rich an assembly of countrymen and foreigners consulting each other
upon the private business of mankind, making this metropolis an
emporium for the whole earth . . . Sometimes I am jostled by a body of
Armenians, sometimes I’m lost in a crowd of Jews, and sometimes I make
one in a group of Dutchmen. I am a Dane, a Swede, a Frenchman at
different times, or rather I fancy myself, like the old philosopher,
who upon being asked what countryman he was, replied that he was a
citizen of the world.’

It was the first time anybody could really have said that, the early
18th century, and it’s the first place it could have been said. It is
this London where Hans Sloane starts to build his collection. Sloane,
who was the friend of Newton and Handel and Voltaire, who looked after
Queen Anne as a doctor, who inoculated people against smallpox, was the
man whose collection is the basis of the British Museum. He was a very
clever doctor, an intellectual, and a rich one, because he is the man
who realised that cocoa, which is clearly good for you, but very
bitter, could be made drinkable if you mixed it with milk and sugar.
Drinking chocolate is the fortune on which the British Museum is
founded. And this enormous fortune, and this intellectual curiosity,
enabled him, using the maritime contacts of London, to put together a
collection of a sort that was unparalleled outside princely
collections, and in many senses unparalleled anywhere.

But it was a collection with a purpose. Sloane, like so many of his
generation, had been seared by the folk memory of the religious wars
that shook Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries. His idea of looking
at humanity was to see in it what united people, and his collection is
geared to showing what are the common elements of human experience. And
so, for instance, he collects shoes from all over the world ‘ wooden
pattens from Malacca, Pyrenean espadrilles, leather shoes from Morocco,
silk ones from China. What he was interested in was that everybody uses
shoes, but every society addresses that need in a different way. And
it’s a good metaphor, I think, for how Sloane saw the whole nature of
different human cultures and, above all, religion. He thought one of
the purposes of his collection was the confutation of atheism, but what
he meant by that was that while all countries worshipped a god, they
all worshipped gods in different ways.

It’s this worldwide collection of objects for comparison that Sloane,
when he drew his will, offered for sale. He had two daughters, and he
wanted to provide for them. And he wanted £20,000. Above all, he wanted
his collection to stay together; and he offered it on condition that it
should be freely available to anybody who wanted to consult it. He
offered it first to George II.

It’s important to bear in mind that when Sloane makes his offer, this
is a country that has recently experienced what was in effect a civil
war, when the French-backed Catholic Stuarts got to Derby. There was
panic in London, and a real fear that the parliamentary system of
government could collapse. Anti-Catholic riots continued all through
the century; and there was also a profound suspicion, not just of the
French, but of the Scots. They were coming to London after the union in
unacceptable numbers, and by the end of the century Richard Newton
protested against these endless arrivals of pushy, ambitious Scots,
many of them in the government, if you please!

George II doesn’t want to pay the £20,000. Parliament is asked, and
parliament says, of course, it has no money. And so, like every British
parliament, they say they can’t possibly afford to do something for the
arts, but eventually they will have a lottery. So they did, bought the
collection and then had to decide what to do with it.

This is a very crucial moment, because it’s a moment when parliament is
consciously thinking: what kind of citizen does it want? There’s a
consciousness that the role of government is to think what sort of
society is desirable, and what kind of behaviour is to be fostered. And
parliament does something completely extra- ordinary and without
precedent. It decides it will give the collection to trustees, who will
hold it for the public benefit, without private gain. It’s the first
parliamentary trust, and it establishes something very remarkable. The
trustees are to be representative of the nation ‘ the Archbishop of
Canterbury, the Lord Chancellor, the Speaker of the House of the
Commons ‘ but also non-Anglicans. From the beginning there’s a
Dissenting trustee, Lord Willoughby, and a Jewish benefactor, Solomon
da Costa; and by 1766, a Catholic trustee. Even more remarkably, the
trustees are not susceptible to instruction by parliament. So
parliament creates a system where the museum will be funded by
government, but not controlled by it. And the beneficiaries of that
trust are `all studious and curious persons, both native and foreign’.
Information and knowledge are established as a civic good. The British
Museum becomes the private study collection of every citizen. And that
is still one of its great traditions.

From the start, the kind of person who came was striking. This was not
the elite world of Sloane’s friends. In 1784 it was reported to the
trustees that `those recently admitted consisted chiefly of mechanics
and persons of the lower classes’. And the museum continues to welcome
all visitors. Once it had opened totally without admission tickets, and
on days when people were not working, the numbers were enormous. On
Easter Monday, 1837, 23,000 visitors came in one day. Those are numbers
that would still strike us as astonishing.

The latest census shows that one in 20 of the population of central
London is recently arrived from sub-Saharan Africa. The questions our
collections raise, for example, about the long history of Africa, of
slavery, are not questions about another place, they are questions
about our city. We are back in the position where we have to address
the whole world, and in a new way.

We now have handling desks in many of the galleries. The notion that
this is still a private collection of every citizen is something we try
to recover. And we also make sure the collection can travel, not just
in the UK. The Discobolos statue was in Shanghai this year, for the
Olympic Games, where it was seen by 5,000 people a day; the same
numbers visited the Assyrian collection, in Shanghai too. There is no
collection in China where you can look at the achievements of Assyria,
Mesopotamia, the culture of Iraq or the achievements of ancient Greece.
If the trustees are to hold this collection for the benefit of all
curious and studious persons, native and foreign, touring is one of the
things that have to be done.

We also work with the BBC, whose programmes about us are seen by
millions; and of course we use the web, the main way of ensuring that
every citizen of the world can use the collection. We now have more
than 1m objects online, and large numbers of programmes to work with
schools, exploring particular cultures. The entirety of the old-masters
drawings collection is available online, at very high resolution, and
this means that for the first time, everybody can look at the great
masterpieces of European drawing in the British Museum’s collection.

Dürer’s famous drawing of a rhinoceros was one of the items in Sloane’s
collection that first went on show 250 years ago this month. It is, I
think, a good emblem of the museum ‘ and not just because some would
think museums are slow-moving, rather dimwitted and insensitive to
external stimulus, but because Dürer had never seen a rhinoceros. He
had read a report of this rhinoceros shipped from India to Portugal,
and on the basis of the best information available he created an idea
of a world he didn’t know. It’s exactly what the museum is for: to use
the information available, construct an image of what we don’t
experience ‘ and it will be wrong, but it is better than nothing.

Now, thanks to the web, you can study Dürer’s rhino in the most
extra-ordinary detail. We took the decision that the resolution of
these images should be of the highest, and should be freely
downloadable for noncommercial purposes. You can probably teach Dürer
better now in Sydney or in Tokyo than in the Print Room itself.

It is, I think, exactly what the museum’s first trustees would have
hoped for: the private collection of every citizen in the world.

Hear an audio recording of this lecture at

NEW U.S. ADMINISTRATION’S POLICY ON ‘GENOCIDE’ TO AFFECT TURKEY-ARMENIA RELATIONS

Trend News Agency
/1405469.html
Jan 23 2009
Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan, Baku, Jan. 23 /corr. Trend News E.Tariverdiyeva /
This year can become the year of normalization of the relations
between Turkey and Armenia, and the policy of the new American
Administration regarding "genocide" will affect these relations,
however, not compulsorily negatively, experts consider.

"Incorrect step by the USA can damage the process of normalizing the
relations between Armenia and Turkey", said last week the Foreign
Minister of Turkey Ali Babajan, writes the Turkish Hurriyet Daily
News newspaper reported.

During his pre-election campaign, the U.S. President Barack Obama,
who took the office on Jan.20, qualified the events of 1915 in Ottoman
Empire as genocide.

Being appointed to the post of the Secretary of State, Hillary
Clinton noted that the new U.S. Administration will be sequential in
this question. During the election campaign Clinton unambiguously
determined the position regarding "genocide". "I believe that the
tragic events, organized and realized by the Ottoman Empire against the
Armenian population, will force the Congress and the U.S. President
to recognize and remember the genocide of Armenians," Clinton said
during the presidential campaign last summer.

After this, the statement by the Foreign Ministry of Turkey warned
the new U.S. Administration against the recognition of the "genocide"
of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire during the First World War, saying
that "to consider the position of third country in this question
is irrational".

The diplomatic relations are absent between Armenia and Turkey. In
1993 Turkey closed borders with Armenia in connection with the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, in which it supports Azerbaijan.

On Sep. 6, 2008 at the invitation of the President of Armenia Serj
Sargsyan, the President of Turkey Abdullah Gul arrived in Yerevan to
watch the football match between the teams of Armenia and Turkey.

According to the observers, America’s interference in the issue of
recognition of "genocide" will affect the Turkish-Armenian relations,
however not negatively.

The new U.S. Administration or its part supports Armenia in the
problem of "genocide", and this strengthens the position of Armenia
in the world, also, in the Armenian-Turkish relations, said Russian
political scientist Mikhail Remizov.

According to him, improvement in the relations of Yerevan and
Washington under strengthening of the lobbying positions of Armenia in
the USA and, on the other hand, cooling of relations between Turkey
and USA as a result can lead to changes and cause an improvement in
the relations of Yerevan and Ankara.

"Since Turkey ceases to be the protege of the USA in the region, it
must transform into regional leader, and for this, Turkey must solve
all questions with Armenia," Remizov, director of the Institute of
National Strategy, told TrendNews.

After Barack Obama takes the office of the U.S. President, it needs
to expect "real breakthrough" in the issue of Congress’s adoption of
a resolution on recognition of "genocide" of the Armenians, said the
director of the Armenian Institute of Oriental Study of the National
Academy of Sciences of Armenia, Ruben Safrastyan, Mediamax reported.

"Certain positive changes are possible in the Armenian-Turkish
relations during this year," said Safrastyan.

"These will mainly be caused by how Turkish diplomacy will be able
to give up its policy of pressure on Armenia and gradually will
begin to approach the position of Armenia, exactly the establishment
of relations without any pre-conditions," he told journalists on
Wednesday.

Turkey advances a number of pre-conditions for establishing bilateral
relations, in particular Armenia’s refusal from the policy of the
international recognition of "genocide" of the Armenians in the Ottoman
Empire during the First World War, and also Armenia’s recognition of
Turkey’s borders.

According to the Turkish political scientist Sinan Ogan, precisely the
loyalty of the American Administration to the question of "genocide"
will accelerate the process of establishing relations between Turkey
and Armenia. America tries to establish Turkish-Armenian relations,
without acting as mediator, since it fears to spoil its relations
with Ankara, Ogan said.

"Obama’s Administration is prepared to recognize the fact of
"genocide", and therefore Turkey will attempt to establish relations
with Armenia before the fact of "genocide" is recognized in the White
House," Ogan, director of the Turksam Center for Scientific Studies,
told TrendNews in a telephone conversation from Istanbul.

Russian political scientist also considers that Turkey, as the strong
side of dialogue, in light of worsening in the relations with the
USA can think more constructively than earlier with regards the same
theme of genocide. "Possibly there are some intermediate versions
between the single-valued recognition and the categorical denial,
and they can be begun to operate," said Remizov.

According to him, simple step is the initiation of the establishment of
a commission for the more detailed study of the question. "Establishing
a commission on the joint of historical science and diplomacy can put
the beginning of a constructive dialogue and will help the sides not
connect the current political relation with this question rigidly,"
Remizov said.

American political scientist Mark N. Katz considers that Turkey and
Armenia can improve relations soon. "For Turkey, this is something
that would improve its image in the West, and thus help its chances
for entry into the EU," Katz, a professor of government and politics
at George Mason University, told TrendNews via e-mail.

According to Katz, the August events testified that Armenia’s tight
alliance with Russia is not necessarily in Armenia’s interest. "Armenia
needs more friends, including Turkey, so that it does not have to
rely so heavily on Russia," he said.

Large-scale military operations were launched in South Ossetia at
night of 8 August. Georgian troops entered Tskhinvali, capital of
South Ossetia. Later Russian troops seized the town and drove Georgian
troops back to Georgia. On 26 August, Russia recognized independence
of South Ossetia and Abkhazia and established diplomatic relations
on 9 September.

"In this dialogue precisely Turkey is the strong side, precisely it is
interested in solving this problem in order to strengthen its regional
influence, whereas Armenia is extremely vulnerable," said Remizov.

R.Agayev (Moscow), B.Hasanov (Baku) contributed to the article.

RUSSIA GIVES AN OFFICIAL ANSWER TO THE AZERBAIJAN’S NOTE

Azeri Press Agency
Jan 21 2009
Azerbaijan

Baku. Lachin Sultanova -APA. Russian foreign ministry gave an official
answer to the Azerbaijan’s note on Wednesday, APA reports quoting
the Russian ministry.

The answer was submitted to the Azerbaijani embassy’s counselor in
Moscow Bakhish Zeynalov. "The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia,
answering the note 5/10-080/04/09 of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
of Azerbaijan dated on January 15, 2009, states that the Defense
Ministry of Russia didn’t give or sell arms and ammunitions to
Armenia, as it was showed in the "document", which caused negative
resonance in Azerbaijan. The printed material is a disinformation,
which has anti-Russian character, and doesn’t contribute to the
positive development of friendly relationship between Russia and
Azerbaijan. The Russian side considers that the issue raised in the
note on January 15, 2009 was ended and we would like to be assured that
in future the sides will not make hasty conclusions if such concerns
take place and will together resolve all doubts in the atmosphere of
strategic partnership between the Russian Federation and Azerbaijan".

The Russian foreign ministry hopes that Azerbaijani colleagues will
deliver its answering note to the mass media too.