Author: Tambiyan Samvel

RUSSIAN TOP PROSECUTOR LASHES OUT AT RUSSIAN AIRLINES OVER SAFETY CONCERNS
MosNews, Russia
Oct 3 2006
The Prosecutor General said Monday that Russian airlines use fake
and substandard parts and operate without the necessary safety and
security checks, Russian news agencies reported.
The comments by Yury Chaika came after a slew of crashes this year
that have claimed more than 400 lives and cast a harsh light on the
decrepit state of many of the nation’s airlines, The Associated Press
reports. “Flight security is extremely poor,” Chaika was quoted
as saying by the Itar-Tass news agency. “The aircraft accidents,
which have lately become increasingly frequent, engender fears in
our society and distrust of the Russian air carriers. They greatly
impair the country’s prestige too,” he said.
In August, a Tu-154 jet belonging to Pulkovo Airlines crashed in
Ukraine after encountering a storm, killing all 170 people aboard. In
July, an Airbus A310 belonging to airline S7 skidded off a runway and
burst into flames in the Siberian city of Irkutsk, killing 124 people.
An A320 belonging to the Armenian airline Armavia crashed into the
Black Sea while trying to land in the resort city of Sochi in May,
killing all 113 people aboard.
Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov called for tougher legislation
to regulate the nation’s many airlines, many of which lack the cash
to overhaul their Soviet-era fleets.
“We must start work to enlarge companies or create alliances, as well
as enshrine in law the responsibilities of the aviation industry,
repair plants and airlines,” he was quoted by the RIA-Novosti news
agency as saying.
In an effort to upgrade Russia’s pool of antiquated aircraft VAT
needed to first be reduced on domestically made planes, after which
customs duties needed to be cut on models that aren’t made in Russia,
Ivanov said.
“First the domestic industry, then the imports,” he said. Ivanov
called for cutting out the intermediary companies selling parts and
recommended raising payouts to crash victims to a minimum $75,000
(euro59,125).
Ivanov – who is also defense minister and was appointed to oversee
air safety in August – said that companies were turning a blind eye to
safety violations, in an effort to keep costs down. “Sometimes matters
of business, of commercial gain, are put before air safety,” he said.
Transport Minister Igor Levitin, meanwhile, targeted corrupt officials
under whose aegis struggling and decrepit airlines are able to
continue operating, despite the violations. “In the course of the
inspection it became clear that competing firms are using illicit
tactics bordering on the criminal,” he was quoted as saying by the
NTV television channel. “This is taking place under the control of
negligent officials,” he said.

FRENCH FM MEETS STUDENTS IN YEREVAN
Armenia TV, Yerevan,
30 Sep 06
The French foreign minister [Philippe Douste-Blazy] visited French
University of Armenia today. One of the students of the university
asked him if it was possible for France to be the first to recognize
Karabakh as an independent state. The minister gave a diplomatic
answer. He said that this was a provocative question as the conflict
should be settled in a diplomatic way via talks and dialogue, on the
basis of which there should be aspiration for peace, and the OSCE
Minsk Group is an effective format for its settlement.
Concerning French University, he said that the university was a bridge
for Armenian-French friendship and they waited for its students in
France as good specialists.
[Video showed the meeting]

ARMENIAN MP: “RUSSIA DISCARDED ARMENIA’S INTERESTS IN SORTING OUT ITS RELATIONS WITH GEORGIA”
Today, Azerbaijan
Oct 3 2006
Introducing economic sanctions against Georgia will hardly affect
Armenia, Deputy Parliamentary Speaker Vahan Hovhannisian has told
reporters.
“Unfortunately, it’s been not the first time when sorting out relations
with Georgia, Russia discards Armenia’s interests. They expect us,
probably, to treat this issue with understanding, but I personally do
not have such understanding, as it turns out that our strategic ally,
wishes it or not, joins the blockade of Armenia,” he says.
Vahan Hovhannisyan expresses hope that after Russian officers are
released the positions will alleviate. “The matter is, how the Georgian
side reacts to it: it can well try to gain revenge in other front. It
is rather difficult to predict today,” Armenia’s deputy parliamentary
speaker says.
URL:

ARMENIA POSTS 0.3% DEFLATION IN SEPT
Interfax, Russia
Oct 2 2006
YEREVAN. Oct 2 (Interfax) – Armenia had deflation of 0.3% in September,
the National Statistics Service told Interfax.
Consumer prices rose 2.3% in January-September.
Prices for food, including alcohol and tobacco, fell 0.9% in September
compared with August. Nonfoods went up 0.2% while service charges
fell 0.5%.
Average monthly price growth was 0.3% in January-September 2006,
compared with a reduction of 0.4% in the same period of last year.
The state budget targets 3% inflation for the full year in 2006.
Prices fell 0.2% in 2005.

ERIC BOGOSIAN REVIVES THE SUBURBAN ENNUI OF THE 90S
By Hilton Als
New Yorker
Oct 2 2006
The Lost Boys
Resentment is scrawled like graffiti across the faces of the major
characters in Eric Bogosian’s 1994 play “subUrbia” (now in revival,
in an updated version, at the Second Stage). Blowing around the stage
like ragged refuse, the three boys who instigate much of the play’s
action have all-American names that suit their junk-food-filled days
and porn-obsessed nights: Buff (the exceptional Kieran Culkin),
Tim (Peter Scanavino), and Jeff (Daniel Eric Gold). This gang of
post-high-school boys from small-town U.S.A., with their worn-down
tennis shoes, dirty jeans, and stained T-shirts, are going nowhere
fast-leaving tire marks on the backs of those who show them any love
at all.
We’ve seen this type before. Their most famous predecessors hung
out at Doc’s drugstore, on the white side of the racial divide,
in “West Side Story” (1957). Seven years later, Amiri Baraka, then
known as LeRoi Jones, told some of their secret stories, with lyrical
ferocity, in his one-act play “The Toilet.” Some thirty years on,
in Bogosian’s play, these early Johnny Knoxvilles pick up where the
“Spur Posse” of Lakewood, California, left off: they want to nail
chicks and score points, sure, but their testosterone-doped minds are
just as interested in harassing immigrants and downing the booze,
pizza, and greasy Chinese takeout that invariably make one of them
sick. Sporting the uniforms of discontent, slapping one another on
the head-is this the only way for young white working-class men to
express friendship? Their creator seems to think so.
Bogosian established his niche as a monologuist soon after his
arrival on New York’s downtown theatre scene, in 1976. (He was born of
Armenian parentage, in Woburn, Massachusetts, in 1953.) With his deep,
husky voice, his large green eyes, and his dark mop of unkempt hair,
Bogosian was one of the first working-class lugs to declare himself
an artist in the androgynous age of Devo. A kind of federally funded
Bruce Springsteen (he received two fellowships from the National
Endowment for the Arts), he produced a series of angry performance
pieces-from “Men Inside” (1982) to “Pounding Nails in the Floor with
My Forehead” (1994)-that distinguished him from the relatively effete,
intellectual monologuist Spalding Gray, as well as from Karen Finley
and her physical, feminist work. Bogosian ranted in defense not of his
own world view as an artist, or of a traditional underclass, but of
the maligned and often ignored plebs in flannel shirts; he set about
bringing men back from Mars. In his short monologue “The Fan,” from
“Pounding Nails,” a male admirer goes from joy to bitterness as the
object of his obsession tries to get rid of him. And in “Superman!,”
a sketch from “Men Inside,” a little boy intones, “Hey Dad, guess
what I did today? I ran as fast as I could and I threw a rock at a
bird and I killed it! Pretty good, huh Dad?
Hey Dad, when I grow up I’m gonna be just like you, huh Dad? I’m
gonna be tall and strong and never make any mistakes and drink beer
and shave and drive a car and get a check. I’m gonna be just like
you, huh Dad?” While telling these distinctly male stories, Bogosian
was careful to maintain a whiff of irony, so as not to alienate his
audience with too much machismo.
As directed by the able Jo Bonney (who is married to Bogosian),
“subUrbia” demands a great deal of energy from its cast. Perhaps the
play’s non-stop action is meant to compensate for its lack of dramatic
variety: shit happens, but it happens over and over. Hanging out in
front of a 7-Eleven-type convenience store, Tim drinks a six-pack. Buff
talks about banging chicks. Jeff is going out with Sooze (the great
Gaby Hoffmann), who is best friends with the bespectacled, fragile
Bee-Bee (Halley Feiffer), who just got out of rehab. Sooze wants
to be an artist. She does performance pieces about men being dicks
(“Fuck the President. Fuck the Vice-President. Fuck the Secretary
of Defense. Fuck the Secretary of Offense. Fuck the Pope. Fuck
my dad”). By including Sooze and Bee-Bee in this male-dominated
story, Bogosian is, of course, winking at the audience. The girls’
self-awareness is a perfect counterpoint to their male companions’
lack of awareness of anything at all. The men grudgingly applaud
Sooze’s efforts (“Is that supposed to be about me?” Jeff asks). But she
doesn’t capture their attention: they’d rather listen to Tim making
derogatory remarks about the convenience store’s Pakistani owners,
who are desperate for a little peace-let alone a little commerce.
Time passes in this way until an old friend, Pony (Michael Esper),
briefly returns to the fold. Once content to be a lout, Pony has
moved on to become a burgeoning rock star. Accompanied by Erica (the
excellent Jessica Capshaw), his publicist from Bel Air, Pony tries
to share his success with his friends, who will have none of it:
accepting Pony and his limo would mean letting go of their resentment
of him for having left and made something of himself. Sooze still
seems to have a thing for Pony, but she also seems to have a thing for
the boys who try to hold her back. Where would she be without their
resistance? To be with Pony, to become a woman and an artist, she’d
have to take some risks, and she’s as stunted as her boyfriend, Jeff.
To this relatively uninteresting dilemma, which is never resolved,
Bogosian adds a possible murder: Jeff believes that Tim, after a
drunken dalliance with Erica, has killed her. But this is little more
than a dramatic device. Erica has simply gone off with another member
of the gang, thus proving the age-old adage that all any upper-class
chick needs is to be brought back down to earth via a good, untutored
lay. The problem is no sooner solved than Bogosian rushes in with
a suicide, a kind of halfhearted coda to the proceedings, which,
in the end, are little more than a series of set pieces punctuated
by profanity.
When the play was first produced, “Reality Bites,” Ben Stiller’s
movie about the disaffected youth of Houston, was a modest hit,
outstripped in its freaked-out adolescent mythology (and nostalgia)
by Richard Linklater’s 1993 hit “Dazed and Confused.” (Linklater later
directed “subUrbia” for the screen.) It was chic, on the stages and
screens of the early nineties, to throw young adults into the American
cultural-and thus moral-wasteland and see what happened.
That little did happen was part of the story: the common assumption
was that the youth of the day were too dazed or confused to develop
their own narratives. Bogosian, like many other writers tackling
this subject matter back then, was so busy indicting the Zeitgeist
of suburbia that he forgot to attach a credible story to it.
As Tim, the most troubled member of the tribe, who has just returned
from a stint in the Navy, however, Scanavino gives a performance that
transcends the limitations of the script. (He brought a similar stellar
quality to his small part as a poor hustler in Conor McPherson’s
“Shining City.”) A puffy-eyed alcoholic, Scanavino’s Tim oddly
resembles Julie Harris as the sensitive tomboy Frankie Addams,
in the 1952 film version of Carson McCullers’s “The Member of the
Wedding.” You can feel his panic surge as the sun goes down; no street
light shining through the foliage can illuminate his pain. Tim uses
booze to give him the courage he needs to be an asshole, but his
sensitivity keeps breaking through. His lithe body is twisted in
an imitation of what it means to be a man. Itching for a fight,
he’s really just looking for a way out. Whenever he climbs up to
the roof of the convenience store to get a better view of the world,
one fears for him. Will he jump?
Theatrical fashions, like all fashions, change, and Neil LaBute has
replaced Bogosian as the go-to guy for visions of the depraved male.
Exhuming “subUrbia” (and trying to update it to a new decade) feels
like an attempt, on Bogosian and Bonney’s part, to reclaim the
territory that LaBute has populated so aggressively. But Bogosian
can’t compete with his successor, nor should he try to. Doing so only
lessens the value of his own work, which, in its time, had a charm
and a purpose.
/articles/061009crth_theatre

JACQUES CHIRAC: TRANSFERRING THE KARABAKH QUESTION TO OTHER STRUCTURES WILL COMPLICATE THE ISSUE
Public Radio of Armenia
Sept 30 2006
“Transferring the OSCE responsibility in the process of settlement
of the Karabakh conflict to other structures less informed about
the conflict is an improper suggestion and will complicate rather
than simplify the resolution of the issue,” the President of France
Jacques Chirac said during the joint press conference with RA president
Robert Kocharyan.
Assessing the activity of the Minsk Group, President Chirac noted that
in the course of many years Minks Group experts have been working
wonderfully, “Of course, they are working on a very hard question,
but they are carrying out a good work, and their last suggestions
are very serious and come from very specialized experts.”
Robert Kocharyan also considers that resolutions to conflict should
be found in the result of work of experienced negotiating groups,
and not via forums and voting. “Every voting means the efforts of the
parties for mobilizing votes, but these will not lead to the resolution
of the conflict. Instead these will result in the thickening of the
folder file, adoption of more or less favorable resolutions. This
is the protraction of the conflict rather than resolution. If people
wish to direct the negotiation process this way, then we have serious
doubts as it refers to fair impulses, RA President noted, repeating
once again that the question should be onsidered by an experienced
group of diplomats.

COE EMPOWERS CHILDREN TO DEAL WITH BOTH POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE SIDES OF THE INTERNET AND OTHER NEW TECHNOLOGIES
Council of Europe

Sept 29 2006
/noticias.info/ The Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers has
called on member states to make information technology an integral
part of school education from an early age, to help children maximise
benefits and avoid pitfalls of the Internet and other new technologies.
The 46-member Council of Europe is taking a positive approach to deal
with harmful content on the Web, partly in response to the dangers
posed by the Internet.
Measures approved in a new Committee of Ministers’ Recommendation
include giving children the skills to create, produce and distribute
content in new technologies, respecting the rights and freedoms of
others while also promoting their own right to freedom of expression.
The recommendation calls for member states to ensure that these
skills enable children to better understand and deal with questionable
content, including violence, pornography, discrimination and racism.
In addition, the forthcoming Council of Europe Pan-European Forum
in Yerevan, Armenia, on 5 and 6 October 2006 will bring together
representatives of Council of Europe member states, civil society,
the private sector, academia and the media, and other interested
organisations.
“Empowering children to use the Internet is the best filter,” said
Maud de Boer-Buquicchio, Council of Europe Deputy Secretary General,
several days ahead of the forum.
The forum will stress that filtering and labelling Internet content
is not enough to ensure that children and young people can surf the
web safely – in the exercise of their rights and freedoms, including
the freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information
and ideas.
Children and young people need to be, and to feel, empowered when using
the Internet, so they can competently use its tools and services and
critically analyse Internet content and communications.
By equipping them and their educators with appropriate skills and
knowledge, they will be able to exercise their rights and freedoms
fully and responsibly, to improve their development and well-being
online.
On the web: .

HARD STRUGGLES OVER TURKEY REPORT IN EP
By Selcuk Gultasli – Emre Demir, Strasbourg
Zaman Online, Turkey
Sept 28 2006
The European Parliament (EP) is preparing to vote one of the most
critical Turkey reports in its history as parliamentarians who approve
Turkey’s membership into the European Union are making last-minute
attempts to add more balance to the report.
E.U. Commissioner for Enlargement Olli Rehn, in a speech on the
report, criticized Turkey but also declared that the European Union
needed Turkey.
Taking the floor at the closing session, Louis Michel, another
commissioner, emphasized the recognition of the Armenian “genocide”
could not be a precondition for Turkey’s accession to the European
Union.
Some parliamentarians displayed racist attitudes during the debate.
Boguslaw Rogalski, a Polish MP, claimed Turkey could not be a bridge
of peace among civilizations but it could only be a door to terrorists.
Belgian MP Philip Claeys claimed Turkey was an Islamic state and it
was a mistake to start negotiations with this country.
In addition to the Socialist Group, the second-largest in the EP,
the Liberals and Greens keep the option of a ‘no’ vote open unless
the report became balanced.
Liberal Democrat Group Leader Graham Watson, in a statement in
Strasbourg yesterday, said they were not satisfied with the current
state of the report and considered all options including “no.”
Socialist Group Vice-President Jan Marinus Wiersma warned Turkey
would move away from the European Union if the report passed in its
current state, and Turkey-EU Joint Parliamentary Commission Co-Chair
Joost Lagendijk, speaking on behalf of the Greens, announced they
would abstain from voting unless the necessary changes were made.
Rehn Says EU Must Comply with Pacta Sunt Servanda
Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn clarified European Commission
President Jose Manuel Barrosso’s remarks that caused unease in Turkey
in the last two days.
Stating the European Union must comply with the principle of pacta
sund servanda and keep its promises to Turkey, Rehn said “I am tired
of warning Turkey on Article 301.”
Rehn reemphasized Turkey’s commitments to Cyprus.
However, Rehn’s remarks gained more importance in view of the MPs’
generally unbalanced criticisms.
Rehn said Turkey’s membership will be a “threshold for its children
and grandchildren.” Reiterating Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan’s words, “If not with the Copenhagen Criteria, we will continue
our way with the Ankara criteria,” Rehn said that the reform process
should continue for the Turkish people.
Louis Michel, European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian
Aid, made the closing remarks of the EP debate instead of Rehn, and
stated the Armenian genocide could not be a precondition for Turkey’s
membership and warned this would mean a change in the rules.
“If you consider Iraq, Iran, Middle East and the problems on energy,
you will see what a key player, what an indispensable ally Turkey is
for us.
Ahmet Turk and Aysel Tugluk, co-chairs of the Democratic Society Party
(DTP), held meetings in the EP before the voting.
The DTP delegation met EP President Josep Borrell and Rehn Tuesday
morning, and the timing of the delegation’s visit attracted notice.
The visit was synchronous with the case against 56 DTP mayors and
the DTP’s call for a ceasefire with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK)
terrorist network.
Rehn is reported to have allowed only five minutes for the DTP
delegation.
Turk, in a news conference supported by the Leftist Group in the EP,
said the ceasefire call they made was their “last chance.”
It was being discussed that Christian Democrats will submit a
motion of amendment for the draft due to the reactions against Pope
Benedict XVI’s remarks given by Erdogan and Turkish Religious Affairs
Directorate Head Ali Bardakoglu.
A supplement was attached to the draft on the pope’s visit to Turkey,
but the proposal includes quite positive elements.
“It is hoped Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to Turkey will contribute in
the interreligious and intercultural dialogue between the Christian
world and the Muslim world,” the proposal made by MPs Antonio Tajani,
Charles Tannock and Camiel Eurlings read.

Talking Turkey: A Conversation with Elif Shafak
By Khatchig Mouradian
The Armenian Weekly
September 23, 2006

On October 21, a Turkish court acquitted best-selling author Elif
Shafak for `insulting Turkishness,’ citing a lack of evidence. An
outspoken critic of Turkey’s official policy of denial of the
massacres of 1915, Shafak faced 3 years in jail over quotes from her
recent novel `Baba ve Pic.’ Below is an interview conducted with
Shafak earlier this year. Excerpts from this interview have appeared
in an article published on ZNet. The Armenian translation of this
interview has appeared in Aztag.
Khatchig Mouradian: Tell me about how you became interested in the
Armenian issue. I understand that your mother was a Turkish diplomat
in Europe in the `80s, Turkish diplomats were being targeted¦
Elif Shafak: That’s correct. I was raised by a single mother, and I
think this had a role in my worldview. We were in Madrid, Spain, at
the time when ASALA [Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of
Armenia] started targeting Turkish diplomats.
KM: So, in your mind, the word `Armenian’ was associated with people
trying to kill diplomats for some reason.
ES: Yes, the equivalent of the word `Armenian’ was `a terrorist who
wants to kill my mother.’
KM: And how did this definition of the word `Armenian’ evolve as the
years passed?
ES: I have to say, I am against all sorts of terrorist activity,
whatever the motivation. So I have always remained against the
activities of ASALA. However, I did not become nationalist and
pro-state like most children of diplomats tend to become. Perhaps this
is because I have always been `curious,’ interested in asking the
simplest question: Why? Why was there so much rage?
So, after that emotional genesis, I started to read, and the more I
read about 1915 the more curious I became. But it was especially after
coming to the USA that I started to fully concentrate on this subject
and further my research.
I was always fortunate enough to have good friends who shared their
family histories with me. I think oral stories and microhistories are
as important as written documents when tracing back a nation’s
history.
KM: What was your mother’s reaction when she saw you get involved in
the Armenian issue?
ES: My mother is worried. She respects my mind and heart, and yet she
is extremely worried that I will be prosecuted, harassed or taken to
court because of my views. She is supportive and, at the same time,
keeps telling me `to be careful.’
KM: You give a great deal of importance to oral histories. Much has
been recorded and written about the Armenian survivors’the
grandmothers and grandfathers of the current generation. What would
the grandparents of the people living in Turkey today have to say?
What importance does their account have in bringing about awareness in
Turkey?
ES: I think grandmothers can play an extremely important role, which
has not been fully acknowledged by either side yet. As you know, there
were hundreds and thousands of Armenian girls orphaned after
1915. Many of them stayed in Turkey, where they were converted to
Islam and Turkified. Many people have Armenian grandmothers but they
have no idea; it is important to bring out those stories both out of
respect for those women and also because they can blur the nationalist
boundaries and bridge the gap.
Nationalist Turks who are angry at `outsider’ scholars might listen
when they hear the same story from their own grandmothers, from the
`inside.’
KM: Even a few years ago, it would have been unthinkable to speak so
openly in Turkey about Islamized Armenians, let alone publish books or
write articles on the subject. Can you speak a bit about the changes
Turkey has undergone in the past decade?
ES: There are very important changes underway in Turkey. Sometimes, in
the West, Turkey looks more black-and-white than it really is. But the
fact is, Turkey’s civil society is multifaceted and very
dynamic. Especially over the past two decades, there have been
fundamental transformations. The Armenian Conference in Istanbul (in
2005) was the outcome of such a process. During those days, one major
newspaper had the headline: `They even uttered `the G word’ but the
world has still not come to a stop.’ Another newspaper said: `A big
taboo is shattered.’ After the conference, public debates have not
ceased; people are discussing this subject like they never did
before. The problem is that the bigger the change, the deeper the
panic of those who want to preserve the status quo.
KM: But the current changes are often interpreted as part and parcel
of a greater trend to change Turkey, so that it aligns itself with the
EU. How has the prospect of EU membership facilitated this process?
Would a conference like the Istanbul conference have taken place
otherwise?
ES: Turkey’s bid to join the EU is an important process for
progressive forces both within and outside the country. I am a big
supporter of this process and I want Turkey to become part of the
EU. The whole process will definitely reinforce democracy, human
rights and minority rights in the country. It will diminish the role
of the state apparatus and, most importantly, the shadow of the
military in the political arena.
KM: What allows an accomplished academic/writer to venture into a
realm that is taboo in her country? I mean, you receive hate mail and
threats. Many intellectuals would rather conform to the status quo, or
at least try to change it gradually. What made you become so committed
to go against the flow?
ES: I am a storyteller. If I cannot `feel’ other people’s pain and
grief, I better quit what I am doing. So there is an emotional aspect
for me, in that I have always felt connected to those pushed to the
margins and silenced rather than those at the center. This is the
pattern in each and every one of my novels; I deal with Turkish
society’s underbelly.
I also have to say that, for me, 1915 is not an isolated case in
itself. In other words, the recognition of 1915 is connected to my
love for democracy and human rights. I follow the Eastern thinker Ibn
Khaldoun in his premise that societies have a life cycle’they are
born, they pass a childhood phase, they become older, etc. Turkish
society will never be able to become mature if it cannot come to grips
with its past. Collective amnesia generates new sorts of atrocities
and violations. I think memory is a responsibility. It is the outcome
of my conscience as much as an intellectual choice.
KM: Your latest novel, The Bastard of Istanbul, deals with the
Armenian issue. What are the main messages you want to convey through
that novel to the reader?
ES: the novel is highly critical of the sexist and nationalist fabric
of Turkish society. It is the story of four generations of women in
Istanbul. At some point their stories converge with the story of an
Armenian woman, and thereby an Armenian-American family. I have used
this family in San Francisco and the family in Istanbul as
mirrors. Basically, the novel testifies to the struggle of amnesia and
memory. It deals with painful pasts, both at the individual and
collective level.
KM: I am sure you encounter many Armenians who ask you questions; it
is a cathartic experience for an Armenian to speak to a person of
Turkish origin who can show understanding of the pain suffered by
their grandparents. How do you usually respond?
ES: I am always surprised by the tone of `gratitude’ that I encounter
in the e-mails and letters I receive from Armenians in the Diaspora. I
have received deeply inspiring, moving feedback. Sometimes they start
by saying, `I have never wanted to thank a Turk before…’ Or I
receive e-mails where the subject is, `Never written to a Turk
before…’
More and more Armenians have started to attend my readings and
lectures, and almost always there is slight tension with the Turks in
the room, but also very interesting debates are taking place. For me
what really matters is to open the channels of dialogue. I truly
believe we have so much to learn from one another.
But there is one more thing I’d like to add. Sometimes, Armenians come
to me and say: `You criticize all sorts of nationalism, but Armenian
nationalism is different than Turkish nationalism.’ I respect the
differences. However, for me, all sorts of nationalist ideologies end
up in the same place. I do not believe that the solution to one form
of nationalism is another nationalism. In other words, I do not
believe that Turkish nationalism can be counterbalanced by Armenian
nationalism or vice versa. I think what we truly need is a
cosmopolitan, multicultural democratic approach that eventually
challenges all sorts of nationalist and religious boundaries.
KM: I would like us to speak a bit about the issue of identity. How is
Turkish identity perceived in Turkey, and how should that be
challenged?
ES: `Turkishness’ is said to be a supra-identity that covers all sorts
of ethnicities and minorities. The Kemalists claimed that as long as
you say aloud that you are a Turk, it is enough. Hence, Turkish
nationalism is very different than, for instance, German nationalism,
where race is more important. In Turkey, the French model is
closer. We had a policy of cultural assimilation. We Turkified the
culture, we Turkified the people and we Turkified the language.
I am one of the few authors who openly refuses to accept the
Turkificiation of the language. I do not use `pure’ Turkish; I bring
back the words that the Kemalist reformists took out of our language,
which is why they are very angry and bitter towards my novels. They
accuse me of betraying the national projects. Of course, culture
building was such an important task for the Turkish reformist elite.
KM: And as you often cite, a lot was lost during this process of
Turkification. Would you agree that embracing the past, with it
`bruises’ and `beauties,’ would give Turkey its cosmopolitan image?
ES: Embracing the past both with its beauties and bruises will give us
a sense of continuity, first of all. Today we are a nation built on
rupture. How can you have a solid foundation when there is a rupture?
Many Kemalists wanted to start history in 1923, the day they came to
power. When there is continuity, knowledge can flow from one
generation to another. You can become more mature and derive lessons
from your mistakes.
Turkey’s transition to a modern nation-state has been a transition
from a multiethnic, multilingual past to a supposedly homogeneous
nation-state. Now it is time to enter a third stage: recognizing the
losses and starting to appreciate cosmopolitanism again.
KM: Nationalists, however, would argue that facing the past,
especially the bruises’for instance, recognizing the Armenian
Genocide’would shake the foundations of Turkey. What’s your take on
that?
ES: If we had been able to face the atrocities committed against the
Armenian minority, it would have been more difficult for the Turkish
state to commit atrocities against the Kurds. If we had been able to
openly discuss the violations against human rights after each coup
d’etat, it would have been more difficult to repeat those. A society
based on amnesia cannot have a mature democracy.
KM: Some call Noam Chomsky `America’s most useful citizen.’ However,
he is often considered a person who is anti-U.S., when, in fact, he
speaks for a better U.S. and a better world. In your own experience,
what do you feel when you are called an enemy of Turkey?
ES: The nationalist discourse in Turkey, just like the Republican
discourse in the USA, thinks that if you are criticizing your
government, you do not like your nation. This is a lie. Only and only
if you care about something will you reflect upon it, give it further
thought. I care about Turkey. It hurts me to be accused of `hating my
country.’ There are essays and editorials in the Turkish media
attacking me and calling me a `so-called `Turk.” It is so
ironic. They are used to saying `so-called `Armenian Genocide.” Now,
they are also saying `so-called `Turks.”
KM: As someone who has lived both in Turkey and abroad, who has
studied Turkey’s past, and who is living in its present and actively
working for its future, what does Turkey mean to you?
ES: This is a difficult question. I feel connected to so many things
in Turkey, especially in Istanbul. The city, the customs of women, the
enchanted world of superstitions, my grandmother’s almost magical
cosmos, my mother’s humanism, and the warmth and sincerity of the
people in general. All these are so dear to me. At the same time, I
feel no connection whatsoever to its main ideology, its state
structure and army.
I think there are two undercurrents in Turkey, both of which are very
old. One is nationalist, exclusivist, xenophobic and reactionary. The
other is cosmopolitan, Sufi, humanist, embracing. It is the second
tide that I feel connected to.
KM: What is the Turkey that you would like to see in 2015?
ES: A Turkey that is part of the EU. A Turkey where women do not get
killed on the basis of `family honor.’ A Turkey where there is no
gender discrimination, no violations against minorities. A Turkey that
is not xenophobic, homophobic, and where each and every individual is
treated as valuably as the reflection of the Jamal side of God, its
beauty.

MOSCOW CRIES FOUL AS GEORGIA ARRESTS FOUR RUSSIAN ‘SPIES’
Agence France Presse — English
September 27, 2006 Wednesday 7:46 PM GMT
Four Russian officers suspected of spying were arrested Wednesday
in Georgia, sparking furious demands in Moscow for their immediate
release.
“Four Russian officers from the military intelligence service (GRU)
and 12 citizens of Georgia who were spying in Tbilisi, Batumi and
all over Georgian territory were arrested in a special operation,”
Georgian Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili told a press briefing.
Merabishvili added that the Georgian authorities wanted to question a
fifth Russian officer, who the Georgian authorities fear may attempt
to flee the country via “diplomatic channels.”
Moscow reacted furiously to the news with the Russian foreign ministry
calling for the “immediate release” of the four and accusing Tblisi
of an “anti-Russian policy.”
The ministry said in a statement that it had called in Georgia’s
ambassador to Russia and “passed him a note demanding that the Georgian
authorities release the Russian officers immediately.”
The head of Russia’s armed forces, General Yuri Baluyevski, reacted
with equal anger, accusing Georgian Defence Minister, Iraki Okruachvili
of acting “arbitrarily,” interfax reported.
The foreign ministry statement added that the Georgian accusations
against the Russian soldiers were “baseless” and constituted a
“brutal act showing that Georgia’s leaders are carrying out an
anti-Russian policy.”
On Wednesday evening, several hundred police vehicles were seen
surrounding the Tbilisi headquarters for Russian military bases that
cover Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia.
The Georgian authorities are understood to believe the fifth officer
they want to question may be hiding in the building.
Tblisi suspects the five officers of gathering information on Georgia’s
military capacity, its energy resources and on NATO-run programmes
in the country, Merabishvili told journalists.
Two of the arrested officers were lieutenant colonels, who were
apprehended in Tblisi.
The other two, the captain of a frigate and another lietenant colonel,
were arrested in Batumi, western Georgia, where Russia has a military
base.
The espionage activites had been going on for “a number of years,”
Merabishvili said.
The interior minister added that the 12 Georgians arrested with the
Russian “spies” were accused of “high treason”.
The officers are also accused of having been “implicated” in a bomb
attack in the town of Gori, 80 kilometres (50 miles) west of Tblisi,
which killed three police officers and injured 23 other people.
Relations between Moscow and Tblisi have detriorated steadily since
the January 2004 election of pro-Western President Mikheil Saakashvili.
Saakashvili wants his country to join NATO and also wants to bring
two pro-Russian breakaway regions of Georgia – Abkazia and Southern
Ossetia – under Tblisi’s control once more.
Georgia has also been demanding for several years that Russia dismantle
its two military bases in the country — aside from the complex in
Batumi it has another base in Akhalkalaki, southern Georgia.
The bases were set up in the 1990s to help put an end to fighting
between Tblisi and the two rebel provinces. Under the terms of a 2005
deal between Moscow and Tblisi they are supposed to be dismantled
in 2008.
Saakashvili was in the Kodori gorges region on Wednesday, an area
near to Abkazia. During his visit he promised “to begin the process
of returning Abkazia” to Georgia.
Georgia was formerly part of the Soviet Union.