Category: News

Le Figaro, France
Jan 4 2005
UNION EUROPÉENNE La controverse sur la candidature de la Turquie
Constantinople, capitale de l’Europe !
Par GILLES MARTIN-CHAUFFIER *
[04 janvier 2005]
Le tsar Alexandre II connaissait bien l’Empire ottoman dont il
adorait grignoter les contours. Il a souvent dit : «En Turquie, il y
a deux provinces : Istanbul et le reste du pays.» Peuvent-elles
toutes les deux entrer aujourd’hui en Europe ? Pour la seconde, mille
arguments politiques et économiques se présentent, les uns
favorables, les autres hostiles, la plupart pertinents. Pour la
première, en revanche, l’histoire et la culture sont formelles :
notre destin et notre civilisation ont été sauvés sur les rives du
Bosphore. Btir l’Europe sans Constantinople et Istanbul serait un
non-sens. Et une falsification. Comme si l’Urss avait choisi
d’oublier Saint-Pétersbourg parce que la ville lui rappelait les
Romanov. On ne choisit pas son passé, on en hérite.
On se rappelle aujourd’hui que Constantinople fut une fête. Alors que
l’Occident mérovingien grelottait de froid et traînait ses sabots
dans la boue, une ville des Mille et Une Nuits dansait au clair de
lune. En l’an 1000, Byzance faisait rêver le monde. Ses parfums et
ses palais, ses courtisanes et ses bourreaux, ses patriarches et ses
princes, ses hippodromes et ses chapelles aux mosaïques scintillant à
la lumière des cierges… Perchés sur les collines ou se reflétant sur
la Corne d’Or, des dômes majestueux enflammaient les espoirs du Moyen
Âge comme les étoiles éclairent la nuit. Pourtant, si la capitale des
basileus faisait de la frivolité un art, elle servait d’abord d’écrin
ultime à notre culture.
De l’an 300 à 1453, on a enseigné Platon et Sénèque, Aristote et
saint Augustin, Horace et Homère… De génération en génération,
princes, empereurs, ministres et riches marchands ont créé des écoles
et fondé des universités. L’esprit grec, la pensée romaine et l’me
chrétienne s’y sont mariés et ont inventé notre civilisation. Sans
les murailles de Théodose, il ne serait resté des savoirs antiques
que des blocs de marbre éparpillés dans l’herbe. Là, pour la première
fois, les pensées occidentales ont appris qu’elles n’étaient pas
forcément mortelles. Les Celtes, les Numides, les Parthes, les
Phéniciens avaient disparu. Les pères de notre science et de nos
arts, eux, ont survécu. On l’oublie car on retient de l’Empire
byzantin un invraisemblable soap-opéra médiéval plein d’impératrices
nymphomanes, d’eunuques gélatineux, de prosternations protocolaires,
de mains tranchées et d’yeux crevés. Pourtant, l’Europe ne se limite
pas à Paris, Madrid et Rome. D’Athènes à Sofia et de Belgrade à
Moscou, tout l’univers orthodoxe est né à Constantinople. Et c’est
parce qu’on lui devait tant qu’on l’a tellement haïe au point de
l’anéantir en 1204, lors de la quatrième Croisade.
Deux siècles plus tard, les Ottomans n’ont fait que cueillir le fruit
que nous avions nous-mêmes arraché de l’arbre. Contrairement à l’idée
reçue, ils ne sont pas apparus un beau matin, surgissant de nulle
part et ravageant tout sur leur passage, tels des Mongols dévalant la
steppe. Voisins depuis plus d’un siècle des basileus, ils vivaient en
bons termes avec eux. Une fille de la famille impériale des
Cantacuzène avait épousé le fils d’Osman, fondateur de la dynastie
ottomane. Des cousins avaient épousé des princesses serbes et
bulgares. Les troupes du sultan étaient pleines de contingents
européens. Les Ottomans faisaient partie de la famille balkanique.
Depuis des siècles, les chrétiens d’Orient fréquentaient le monde
musulman. Et s’en portaient bien. Ils s’estimaient souvent beaucoup
plus proches de Bagdad que de Rome et de l’intégrisme catholique. La
frontière de l’Europe est, depuis l’an 1000, à la lisière de l’Irak.
De l’Atlantique à l’Oural, notre continent rassemble tous les débris
de l’Empire romain au nord de la Méditerranée. Et ses peuples, les
paysans misérables, ne s’y trompaient pas. Aucun serf croate,
hongrois ou macédonien ne tremblait en voyant arriver les contingents
ottomans : au contraire, ils savaient qu’ils allaient échapper à une
odieuse féodalité. L’occupation ottomane ne tenait pas la bride
serrée. Nul n’était contraint d’apprendre le turc, on ne forçait pas
les conversions, il suffisait que le minaret soit la construction la
plus élevée de chaque village. On ne se révoltait pas. Quand
Constantinople tombe en 1453, les Ottomans attaquent depuis l’Ouest.
Leur capitale est en Grèce, à Andrinople. Leurs troupes ont été
levées dans les Balkans. Personne ne les prend pour des brutes
surgies du néant.
Installés à Constantinople, les sultans ottomans se révèlent-ils de
féroces tyrans orientaux ? Loin de là. Nul ne s’échappe de chez eux
mais, au contraire, des milliers de juifs fuient nos pays pour se
réfugier sous leur protection. Salonique est la première ville juive
du monde. Grecs, Arméniens, Arabes, Albanais vivent en parfaite
harmonie dans la capitale. L’écrasante majorité des grands vizirs est
européenne de naissance. Des dizaines de confréries musulmanes
cohabitent en bonne intelligence. On n’est pas à La Mecque. Toutes
les nuances de l’islam s’expriment. Quand elles débattent, c’est lors
de concours de poésie. L’ordre règne à Istanbul, débonnaire. Sous
Ahmed III, le contemporain de Louis XV, au sommet de la puissance
ottomane, la douceur de vivre sur les bords du Bosphore est devenue
un art. Dans les manuels, on parlera du temps des tulipes et des
zibelines. On vit autour du palais de Topkapi comme dans le reste du
continent. Et quand l’empire va se désintégrer peu à peu, aucun de
ses féroces ennemis ne l’appellera autrement que comme l’«Homme
malade de l’Europe».
Aujourd’hui, Constantinople demande à réintégrer son giron.
Moralement, les Arméniens peuvent être indignés. Politiquement, la
droite xénophobe et la gauche souverainiste peuvent émettre des
réserves. Economiquement, Bruxelles peut mettre en garde. Mais
historiquement et culturellement, le débat est clos : cette ville a
toujours fait partie intégrante de notre destin. Et, entre l’an 330
et l’an 800, elle l’a incarné à elle seule. Lui fermer aujourd’hui la
porte serait un parricide.
* Journaliste, publie cette semaine Le Roman de Constantinople,
éditions du Rocher.

The Netherlands did compensate for omission on Armenia
Haagsche Courant (Dutch daily newspaper)
January 4, 2005
By Inge Drost
Just before the Christmas Holidays the House of Representatives has
unanimously adopted a motion of Christian Union leader André Rouvoet in
which Turkey is asked to recognise the Genocide of the Armenians in 1915.
With this action the Netherlands rehabilitated itself as a country of the
international law. In spite of the recall of the European Parliament and in
spite of efforts of minister Bot the Dutch EU Presidency did not succeed to
regulate this question at European level. In the motion of Rouvoet the Dutch
government is asked to bring up continuously and expressly the recognition
of the Armenian Genocide in the dialogue with Turkey. Minister Bot
considered the motion as a support for his policy and for this reason he
even Œwelcomed¹ it. With the unanimous support of the parliament and the
government at least now in the Netherlands the era of the taboo around the
words ŒArmenian genocide¹ has been definitely closed. End of era, end of
taboo: naturally it would have been better if this new sound had sounded
loudly and clearly at the European Union summit on 17 December. But finally
the important fact is the message to Turkey, who will have, under European
observance, to consider her own past, how painfully it is. The message is
arrived: in Turkey it has been already regretted that as thanks for the
Dutch Presidency a street in Ankara was named Holland Road. It is still to
be hoped that now a start will be made for the recognition of the Armenian
tragedy and for the reconciliation with the past.
Inge Drost represents the 24 April Committee of the Armenian Federation

CENTRAL BANK DEPRIVED NINE EXCHANGE POINTS OF LICENSES
YEREVAN, December 30 (Noyan Tapan). According to the press service of
the RA Central Bank, by the decision of the Board of the RA Central
Bank of December 28, nine exchange points were deprived of licenses
for the violation of the demands of the currency legislation of the
Republic of Armenia.

ENTERPRISES PROCESSING VEGETABLES UNCONSCIENTIOUS, RA MINISTER OF
AGRICULTURE CONSIDERS
YEREVAN, December 30 (Noyan Tapan). The Armenian enterprises
processing vegetables are unconscientious, that’s why the laying-in
volumes have reduced three times this year. Davit Lokian, RA Minister
of Agriculture, said this during the December 30 press conference.
According to him, these companies didn’t carry out the necessary
payments to the farms in time, in consequence of which the latters
reduced the sowing areas of vegetables (mainly tomatoes) and some
refused to cooperate with processing companies at all. The Minister,
in particular, mentioned that the large companies of Ararat marz
didn’t discharge their obligations. The Minister prognosticated that
the companies laying in store vegetables will have to raise the prices
for vegetables in order to rouse interest in the farms. According to
D.Lokian, the profit of the farms from 81 thousand tons of grapes laid
in store this year made $25m, which is a sufficient result. And the
envisaged amounts of laying-in of apricots and peaches weren’t
provided because of the small crop.

POPULATION’S DEBTS ON ELECTRICITY ACCUMULATED TILL 2002 TO BE PAID OFF
AT THE EXPENSE OF PROFIT FROM SALE OF ZANGEZUR COPPER-MOLYBDENUM GROUP
OF ENTERPRISES
YEREVAN, December 30 (Noyan Tapan). According to the RA government’s
press service, the Kajaran Council of Elders made a decision: to
transfer 27 mln dollars for the complete payment of the population’s
debts on electricity accumulated as of 1 October 2002 from the funds
transferred to the communal budget of Kajaran as a result of the sale
of the “Zangezur Copper-Molybdenum Group of Enterprises” CJSC, which
is situated within the administrative bounds of the town. According to
the same source, the decision was made taking into account the
proposals of the RA President and the RA Prime Minister on the payment
of the debts of the population at the expense of these funds. By the
government’s decision N 1318-A of 28 August 2002, these debts passed
to the “Armgasprom” CJSC after the privatization of the “Electricity
Networks of Armenia” CJSC. On December 28, RA Minister of Energy Armen
Movsisian was instructed to stop the collection of the population’s
debts accumulated till 1 October 2002 and to submit the mechanism of
payment of these debts and the list of debtors within 20 days.

DAVID LOKIAN: “ARF DASHNAKTSUTIUN PRESERVED SUCH AN IDEA THAT BECAME A
SERIOUS WEAPON FOR THE COUNTRY AND THE STATE TODAY”
TEHRAN, December 29 (Noyan Tapan). An arrangement devoted to the 114th
anniversary of the national liberation movement of the Armenian people
was held at the “Komitas” hall of the “Ararat” Armenian Cultural
organization of Tehran on December 23. According to the “Alik”
(“Wave”) newspaper of Tehran, during the evening party, which began
with the “Mshak Banvor” (“Worker”) anthem, Samvel Khudadadian made a
speech, after which the film about the activities of the “ARF”
Dashnaktsutiun was shown. Minister of Agriculture of Armenia David
Lokian arriving from Armenia came up during the evening party. He, in
particular, said: “The ideology of our party is the same, as it goes
back to the genetic sources of the Armenian.” He also said, “If I am
asked what does the Dashnaktiutiun party do for the Armenian people,
for Armenia, the facts of not so distant past showed what it
did. Dashnaktiutiun was able to preserve such problems that the
international community turned to the weapon against our enemy today
in order to find the right solution of our problems. If this idea
wasn’t preserved, if the idea of Hay Dat (the Armenian Cause) and the
Genocide wasn’t preserved, I think we would lose a lot”. David Lokian
noticed that Armenia is in the center of the region’s events and “here
the important period is being formed for us, our party, for the
Diasporan communities, for our country’s leadership, and here we have
to turn the common interest of the Armenian people, the common
interest of the RA state into the priority.” Ambassador Extraordinary
and Plenipotentiary of Armenia to Iran Gegham Gharibjanian noticed in
its speech that “ARF has carried out such activities for 114 years
whose part the establishment of the state, the First Republic of
Armenia, became. In my opinion, the second part is the preservation of
the nation, as the “nation” notion is much wider that those
territories becoming the Second Republic, as well as today’s progress,
as ARF plays a decisive role in today’s Armenia. Archbishop Sepuh
Sargsian, the Head of the Armenian Diocese of Tehran, blessed the
Armenians of Tehran in connection with the holiday. The performance of
the national-revolutionary songs took place after the speeches.

Colin L. Powell Holds A Media Availability En Route To Bangkok, Thailand
.c The Associated Press
Thailand
Colin L. Powell Holds A Media Availability En Route To Bangkok,
Thailand
xfdtr STATE-POWELL-BANGKOK 1stadd
XXX check the number.QUESTION: What’s his name?
POWELL: His name is Blackman. I’ll get the spelling for you.
QUESTION: And on the criticism?
POWELL: There is always, you know, commentary about how one of these
things unfolds. And why didn’t everybody know instantly what the
requirement was going to be. And, I accept that. It’s what
happens. But, I’m the one who is sitting there on a Sunday after
church, trying to make sense of what has happened, with reports coming
in from all over the region. When you think you are dealing with
something that has hit Phuket, and then suddenly you get reports about
the Maldives, which as a nation of islands and atolls, sits about an
average of three feet above sea level.
And you start to try to figure out what are the implications of that?
And when you think you’re starting to get a handle on it, and you see
your task forces being set up with AID hard at work, AID setting up
task forces, State Department, Defense Department, all getting alerted
within the first dozen hours or so.
And, immediately our ambassadors in the region declared disasters. And
once they do that, they are free to give money out of their
contingency funds to the countries concerned, up to roughly
$100,000. It’s just something to get started, to show our commitment,
but also to give these countries an immediate infusion of cash.
And then by Monday morning, we had responded to the appeal of the
International Federation of the Red Cross/Red Crescent. Our military
had started to Task Force organize themselves and start to dispatch
troops. And, we started to get a better assessment of what was going
on. And then, in late Sunday I discovered that the wave had gone all
the way across the ocean and hit Kenya and Somalia.
And so, from my perspective, having been through many of these, in a
period of four days, five days, I think a great deal was
accomplished. And the reason I emphasize this is I don’t think the
American people should be given the impression that their president
and their government was not hard at work on this from day one.
BUSH: One purpose of this trip that is important to recognize is that
the people that are on the ground right now are working 24 hours a
day, whether they’re AID workers or other folks from the State
Department, or the hundreds, maybe thousands of international relief
workers that are in these communities. And they need encouragement.
My experience is that if you don’t go say, thank you to the people
that are true heroes, that are acting on their sense of compassion and
doing it under extraordinary circumstances — this won’t be pretty —
that you’re not in the way when you come a long distance and say,
thanks.
So, I know that the Secretary is very sensitive about making sure we
don’t get in the way, but I also think we need to be mindful of the
fact that there’s a lot of work being done and someone needs to put an
arm around somebody and say, thank you for a job well done.
POWELL: And one other element, of course, is that it will draw a lot
of public attention, international attention to the need and hopefully
as a result of that, generate additional support, especially from the
private sector.
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, apart from the humanitarian, which obviously
takes priority, what do you see as the political stakes for the U.S.
involvement in this effort in countries like Indonesia, Muslim
countries, Sri Lanka and for the region as a whole?
POWELL: We have good relations with all of these countries, even
though there have been disagreements on specific policy issues such
as, of course, Iraq. So, I think the political implications of us
responding promptly and responding, frankly, to the satisfaction of
the governments concerned, despite all the commentary about our
response the governments that we are responding to and are helping
were pleased from the very first night, Sunday night, when they were
called. And then when the president called their heads of government
and heads of state about 24 hours after I talked to the foreign
ministers. They were very pleased that the United States was
responding in this manner. And I think that can translate into a
political effect.
Hopefully, this might give us a little bit of traction in resolving
the conflict in Aceh, if the two sides would realize that this is a
time to not be arguing and fighting with each other, but to help their
citizens. And the same thing in Sri Lanka. Both sides are suffering
as a result of this tragedy: LTTE, as well as the government. And to
the extent it sort of quiets things in these conflicts, then maybe
there is an opportunity for political momentum. The point I have been
making all week long is that we are not doing this because we are
seeking political advantage or just because we are trying to make
ourselves look better with the Muslims. We are doing this because
these are human beings in need, in desperate need and the United
States has always been a generous, compassionate country and a
generous, compassionate people and this is what we do.
We did it in the Caribbean earlier this year in almost the same way:
small increments of money, and then finally when we got the full scope
of it, went to the Congress and got $120 million. And that’s my
experience as to how these things unfold.
One more.
QUESTION: This one is for Governor Bush. Could you tell us in some
detail as to how it arose that you came on the trip, whose idea it was
and when it was presented and what you thought of it?
BUSH: Well, I got a call from Secretary Powell, and then I got a call
from the President and I said, yes. And I was honored to be asked.
POWELL: Follow up?
BUSH: It really was that simple. This was kind of I had to clear my
.today or tomorrow, I don’t know what day we’re in right now, Monday
is the start of life again not just in the real world, but in state
government world. And so, I had a bunch of things I had to change
around, but it wasn’t a problem at all. I was honored to be asked.
In 1988, right after the Presidential election, my dad asked me to go
to Yerevan with my son, in Armenia. An incredibly devastating
earthquake, nothing in terms of the magnitude of the death here. But I
think 75,000 people may have died, as I recall. And we went and it
made a big difference: the fact that a family member would go — this
was on Christmas Eve — go to a far of place. These hardened Soviet
Communists were crying as they saw my son hand out medicine and toys
to children that looked just like him in this hospital that was needed
a whole lot of help. And so, I think family matters in a lot of places
outside of the United States just as it does in the United States. And
the fact that whoever came up with the idea, whether it was the
President or I don’t know, Secretary, isn’t it always the President
that has the best ideas?
POWELL: Yeah.
QUESTION: 1/8When did you make the decision? 3/8
BUSH: I suggested he go.
(laughter)
POWELL: Thanks Jeb. Let’s see, I’ve got to keep my days straight, but
by Wednesday the scope of it was becoming so clear that we started to
think about a trip. Andrew and I were sitting in my office, I think
either Wednesday or Thursday morning, looking at each other saying
we’ve got to go. And then the President, in order to show his concern
and deep interest, asked if Jeb would go and I immediately called Jeb
when I got the President’s suggestion. And he, in typical fashion, he
was ready, willing and able. I am very pleased that he was able to
clear his calendar.
Let me ask Andrew Natsios if he would like to say a word.
NATSIOS: I would just add a couple of things we are beginning to see
on the ground that are a little disturbing to us because of the scale
of them. We are beginning to see real psychological problems among
many of the survivors. People are going into shock basically. They
are paralyzed, they can’t act, essentially because they have lost,
many of them, their entire families, their whole neighborhoods, their
houses, their businesses, everything is destroyed. You see this in
many emergencies but not on this scale. And so the two things that the
Secretary and the Governor just mentioned actually do contribute to
this. We’ve noticed when we see the people, large numbers of people in
shock, the visits of very visible high-level people will restore a
sense of hope that they are not being forgotten, they are not being
lost. I mean, we will get that when you visit one of these sites. You
see the change in people by the fact that you are there, it makes a
big difference.
The second thing, which the Secretary also mentioned, is getting
people to work again. One therapy that we use is simply getting people
to do something. It is a sort of form of occupational therapy. If
they are in shock and then they start getting a job to start cleaning
up the mess, it does have an effect psychologically that gets their
body functioning again and they have some sense of hope. So, the jobs
program that the Secretary mentioned that we just committed $10
million dollars to in Sri Lanka is not a lot of money, I mean 50 bucks
a month, something like that. Very small amounts of money in people’s
pockets will allow them to buy necessities on their own but also will
get them moving and it will show that progress is being made in
cleaning the mess up. Because just the physical evidence of the mess
is a reminder every hour of every day that everything is gone. And if
we can begin to get them moving, working as a community again, it has
an effect psychologically, economically and just physically on the
infrastructure.
POWELL: The other thing I might add, is when you were asking about
visits and the impact of visits, the Indonesians really wanted to have
this ASEAN summit for the purpose of bringing people to the scene, not
out to the actual scene of the disaster, but to Jakarta. And it
started out with ASEAN, and then it became ASEAN and others, and now
it has become a fairly large international conference. And these sorts
of things do have an impact in terms of generating support, bringing
public attention to the crisis but also giving a sense of optimism and
hope to the people who will see this and realize they are not alone,
folks are coming to help them.
OK?
END
01/03/05 14:55 EST
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

NEWS RELEASE
Armenian General Benevolent Union
7248 North Harlem Avenue
Chicago IL 60631
TEL: 773-792-0344
[email protected]
VOLUNTEER FOR ARMENIA Fair!
SUNDAY JANUARY 16, 2005
3:00-5:00PM (brief program presentations beginning at 3:30)
AGBU/Chicago Center
7248 North Harlem Avenue just north of Touhy Avenue
Chicago
Imagine yourself volunteering in an orphanage or after-school center in
Yerevan…Helping to build a home for an earthquake victim who is still
living in a shipping container…Sharing your professional
knowledge with someone working in the same field in Armenia…Volunteering
a week or two, or longer, of your time to participate in one of the programs
doing service projects in Armenia can be a life-changing experience!
AGBU/Chicago has assembled a number of the most prominent programs,
including some based in Chicago or with strong ties here, so you can learn
more about how their efforts are helping Armenia, match one with your
interests or needs, and develop an interest in joining one of them in the
future. Each program has a fascinating story to tell about the particular
focus of its efforts, its impact in the country and on its program
participants.
Program representatives and/or previous participants will be on hand to
give brief presentations on their program’s features and benefits, and to
share their experiences. Each will have a display table with informational
materials. If you have a friend or relative who might be interested in
going to Armenia, please pass the word along! Free admission.
Participating programs (as of December 13, 2004):
Armenian Church Youth Organization of America (ACYOA)
Armenian Assembly of America
Armenian General Benevolent Union
Armenian Relief Mission
Armenian Students Association
Armenian Volunteer Corps
Armenian Youth Federation
Birthright Armenia
Diaspora-Armenia Connection
Fund for Armenian Relief
Habitat for Humanity Armenia
Land and Culture Organization
Northpark University
For more information on the event, please email [email protected] or
[email protected] or call Leona Mirza at 773-588-2844

Jan. 03, 2005
KSCI joins tsunami relief effort
By Cynthia Littleton
KSCI-TV harnessed its platform as the nation’s leading Asian-themed
television station to mount a four-hour New Year’s Day telethon to
raise money to aid relief efforts for survivors of Southeast Asia’s
tsunami disaster.
Meanwhile, Australia’s three commercial television networks have put
aside their traditional rivalry and will hold a historic joint
national appeal Saturday to aid victims of the Asian tsunami
disaster. It is believed to be the first time the networks have joined
together to raise money for a cause. “No one can remember if it has
ever happened before,” a spokesperson for the Seven Network said.
The Seven, Nine and Ten networks will produce and simultaneously
broadcast “Australia Unites: The Tsunami Relief Event” live from
Sydney’s Opera House forecourt with top names in Australian
entertainment appearing free of charge, while the networks will
provide crews, telecast infrastructure and production resources.
The CEOs of the three nets — Seven’s David Leckie, Nine’s David
Gyngell and Ten’s John McAlpine — said in a joint statement, “Given
the magnitude of the tsunami disaster, it’s appropriate that the
Australian television industry gets together in a nonpartisan way to
raise a substantial amount of money for the victims of this tragedy.
In Southern California, Saturday’s 1-5 p.m. live broadcast from
KSCI’s studio in West Los Angeles reflected the depth and breadth of
the Asian population in Southern California. The telecast featured a
mix of Hollywood celebrities and local personalities and diplomats
from some of the most hard-hit countries — including Indonesia,
Thailand and Sri Lanka — discussing the crisis and appealing to
viewers to call in with pledges.
The death toll in the region, devastated Dec. 26 by a 9.0-magnitude
earthquake and resulting tsunamis, is projected to climb to at least
150,000, international aid agencies told the Associated Press on
Sunday.
Peter Mathes, chairman of KSCI parent AsianMedia Group, said the
station’s roughly 55 employees scrambled last week to line up guests
and talent for the four-hour telecast.
Launched in 1977, KSCI carries a range of Asian-themed programming in
14 languages, from Arabic to Tagalog. The telethon was presented in
English in an effort to reach the widest possible audience, Mathes
said.
“We talk to this community more than anyone else in the market,” said
Mathes, a broadcast TV veteran who joined AsianMedia in April. “We
felt it was the right thing to do. We could have had a lot more
(Hollywood) talent participating if we had waited a week, but it felt
like we needed to do something now.”
KSCI partnered with the Red Cross and international Christian relief
organization World Vision to process the pledges; viewers were given
the option of making donations through either organization.
Estimates of the total raised through Saturday’s telethon won’t be
available for about a week, Mathes said. Toward the end of the
telecast, the hosts reported receiving a few pledges for $1,000 and
one as high as $3,000. In 1988, KSCI produced a telethon that raised
$3 million for victims of the devastating earthquake in what was then
known as Soviet Armenia.
The primary hosts of Saturday’s telethon, Sheeraz Hasan, known to KSCI
viewers as host of the “Tinseltown TV” program on Hollywood and
Bollywood showbiz news, and his sidekick Zarina Ramzan, kept stressing
how survivors in the hardest-hit areas have few basic necessities and
that those conditions are sure to lead to more suffering through
communicable diseases and tainted water supplies.
“There’s no food, no water, no soap, no medicine,” Ramzan said. “They
do not have the basics.”
The two also noted that earthquake-prone Southern California with its
hundreds of miles of coastline is vulnerable to tsunami conditions.
The telecast drew the support of a handful of Hollywood celebrities,
including “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” star Marg Helgenberger and
her husband, actor Alan Rosenberg, Lou Diamond Phillips, Mindy
Sterling and cast members from ABC’s “General Hospital,” including
veterans Stuart Damon and Jackie Zeman.
Leila Feinstein, a news correspondent at KTLA-TV Los Angeles who is of
Thai descent, taped a segment offering her personal perspective on the
tragedy. KTLA also supported KSCI’s effort by running stories about
the telethon on its Friday morning and 10 p.m. newscasts, Mathes
said.
Among the most compelling moments of the telethon was a segment
featuring a Santa Monica couple who miraculously survived the
disastrous tsunami even though they were diving off the Thai coast
near the time that it hit.
Gene Kim and his wife, Faye Linda Wachs, spoke of the chilling scene
that greeted them at their beachfront resort as they returned from a
morning of deep-sea diving. Wachs described watching more and more
unusual debris — including refrigerators and other large items —
turning up on the roadside until they finally realized their hotel had
nearly been leveled and the beach was covered with bodies, piles of
rubble and rescuers frantically searching for survivors.
Jacqueline Lee Lewes in Sydney contributed to this report.

FORUM 18 NEWS SERVICE, Oslo, Norway
The right to believe, to worship and witness
The right to change one’s belief or religion
The right to join together and express one’s belief
================================================
Tuesday 4 January 2005
TURKMENISTAN: 2004, THE YEAR OF DEMOLISHED MOSQUES
Like the Seventh-day Adventist Church and the Hare Krishna community,
Muslims in Turkmenistan have also suffered from having their places of
worship demolished by the government, Forum 18 News Service has learnt. In
2004 President Niyazov inaugurated “the largest mosque in Central
Asia,” but at least seven mosques were demolished by the authorities,
Muslim and non-Muslim sources inside Turkmenistan have told Forum 18. The
Baptist and Pentecostal churches in the capital Ashgabad were confiscated
in 2001, leaving both communities with nowhere to worship. The Adventist
church in Ashgabad and two Hare Krishna temples were bulldozed in 1999.
Although both communities gained official registration in 2004, neither
community has been allowed to meet publicly for worship. Also, the
authorities have neither paid compensation for bulldozing their places of
worship, nor allowed them to be rebuilt.
TURKMENISTAN: 2004, THE YEAR OF DEMOLISHED MOSQUES
By Felix Corley, Forum 18 News Service
In 2004, the same year that Turkmenistan’s autocratic president Saparmurat
Niyazov inaugurated what officials describe as “the largest mosque in
Central Asia” in his home village of Kipchak in central Turkmenistan,
the authorities demolished at least seven other mosques, apparently to
prevent unapproved Muslim worship from taking place. Several Muslim and
non-Muslim sources inside Turkmenistan, who preferred not to be identified,
have told Forum 18 News Service of seven specific mosque demolitions. The
sources said they believe that other unapproved mosques might also have
fallen victim to the government’s desire to stifle unauthorised Muslim
worship. Christians and members of other faiths are still battling to be
allowed to open places of worship, or regain those confiscated or rebuild
those demolished in the past six years.
The Kipchak mosque – built by the French company Bouygues and
inaugurated with great pomp on 22 October 2004 – angered some Muslims
by incorporating on its walls not only quotations from the Koran, but from
the Ruhnama (Book of the Soul), a pseudo-spiritual work claimed to have
been written by President Niyazov. Muslims regard the use of such
quotations – and the requirement that copies of the Ruhnama be placed
in mosques on a par with the Koran as well as instructions to imams to
quote lavishly from the president’s work in sermons – as blasphemous.
Few Muslims reportedly attend the Kipchak mosque for regular prayers,
though it can house up to 10,000 worshippers. Apparently as part of a
policy of isolating Turkmen religious believers of all faiths, no foreign
Muslim religious dignatories were permitted to attend the inaugauration
(see F18News 26 October 2004
).
Islam is traditionally the faith of the majority in Turkmenistan, and it is
also the faith under the tightest government control. The president
installed the new chief mufti Rovshen Allaberdiev last August after
removing his predecessor, while the government’s Gengeshi (Council) for
Religious Affairs names all imams throughout the country (see F18News
F18News 25 June 2004
). Only about 140 mosques
– all of them under the state-controlled muftiate – now have state
registration, just a fraction of the number of a decade ago when religious
practice was freer.
Independent mosques have been demolished in recent years – such as
those built by Imam Ahmed Orazgylych in a suburb of Ashgabad [Ashgabat] and
in the village of Govki-Zeren near Tedjen [Tejen] in southern Turkmenistan,
both bulldozed in 2000 – while others that reject the forced
imposition of the Ruhnama have been shut down – such as the mosque
closed on National Security Ministry orders in late 2003 after mosque
leaders refused to place the Ruhnama in a place of honour (see F18News 19
November 2003 ).
Other faiths too face severe difficulties maintaining places of worship.
The authorities have refused to allow the two Hare Krishna temples
bulldozed in Mary region in summer 1999 and the Seventh-day Adventist
church bulldozed in Ashgabad in November 1999 to be rebuilt and have
refused to pay any compensation. Neither community has been allowed to meet
publicly for worship despite both having regained official registration in
2004 (see F18News 4 October 2004
).
Nor have the Baptist and Pentecostal churches in Ashgabad – closed
down and confiscated in 2001 – been handed back, leaving both
communities with nowhere to worship. The government has also refused to
hand back an Armenian Apostolic church in the Caspian port city of
Turkmenbashi [Türkmenbashy] confiscated during the Soviet period,
despite repeated appeals by the local Armenian community. Other religious
communities which have been denied registration – including other
Protestant churches, the Jehovah’s Witnesses and the New Apostolic Church
– likewise have nowhere to meet.
The 2004 mosque demolitions appear to have occurred in two waves, with
three demolished in the first wave at the beginning of 2004, and a further
four in a second wave in Ashgabad since October. Two of the demolitions
were on the eve of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.
“The mosques demolished in the spring had been built without
permission,” one source told Forum 18. “The demolitions were not
reported in the media, but they didn’t take place covertly either.”
The three mosques known to have been demolished in the first wave were a
Shia mosque used by local ethnic Iranians in the village of Bagyr near
Ashgabad, as well as small Sunni mosques in the town of Serdar (formerly
Kyzyl-Arvat) in western Turkmenistan and in the village of Geoktepe, 45
kilometres (30 miles) north-west of Ashgabad. “The Geoktepe mosque was
in the middle of the old fortress,” one source told Forum 18.
“The authorities wanted all the Muslims to go to the main, newly-built
mosque.” The massive Saparmurat Haji mosque, named after the president
and completed in the 1990s, was, like the Kipchek mosque, built by the
Bouygues company. The construction cost was a reported 86 million US
dollars.
The autumn wave of demolitions began with the demolition of two mosques in
Ashgabad – one on Bitarap Turkmenistan (former Podvoisky) Street and the
second in the southern part of the city near the Customs Clearing House on
the road to the Turkmen-Iranian Howdan-Bajgyran border checkpoint. Both
were demolished on 15 October, just one day before the start of Ramadan.
“Worshippers in both mosques were told that these mosques were being
demolished because the local government is planning to build a new road and
to widen the existing one,” a source told Forum 18 from Ashgabad.
“Of course, nothing has yet been built there.”
A visitor to the Bitarap Turkmenistan Street mosque in August found it
looking “pretty good”, with people repairing and painting the
inside of the relatively large building. Sources told Forum 18 that local
people were “really unhappy” when the local authorities informed
them the mosque was to be demolished.
“According to some unconfirmed rumours, construction of these mosques
was financed by some unidentified Arab charities,” one source added.
“This might have been one of the reasons for their demolition.”
Some local imams referred to the mosque on Bitarap Turkmenistan Street as a
Wahhabi mosque, a reference to the brand of Sunni Islam that predominates
in Saudi Arabia, though the term “Wahhabi” is used more widely
(and often wrongly) in Central Asia as a synonym for “Muslim
extremist”.
Soon afterwards a privately-built mosque, located on Garashsyzlyk Avenue in
the Garadamak area of southern Ashgabad, was demolished, together with a
large number of houses in the same area. “However, I doubt that this
was the main reason to get rid of it,” a source told Forum 18 from
Ashgabad. The source, who visited the mosque in July, said that the imam,
who used to live in a nearby house, seemed at that time to be unaware of
the government’s imminent plans to demolish his mosque.
The most recent demolition, in November, was of another private mosque
located in the Choganly area of northern Ashgabad, near the city’s largest
market called Tolkushka. It too was not registered with the government but,
unlike the Garashsyzlyk Avenue mosque, could not operate due to strong
opposition from the local authorities. No other houses around this mosque
in Choganly are known to have been demolished, only the mosque itself.
Although mass rebuilding has taken place in other parts of Ashgabad in
recent years, the government does not appear to have plans to build
anything in Choganly.
One local Muslim suggested that all four of the Ashgabad mosques demolished
in the autumn were targeted because their imams refused to read Niyazov’s
Ruhnama in their mosques.
Other Muslims trace the start of the latest wave of demolitions of private
mosques to a presidential speech complaining of alleged attempts to sow
discord in the country. “Some people are coming here and taking our
lads to teach them,” Niyazov told a meeting in the city of
Turkmenbashi on 22 September 2004. “Eight lads have been taken in this
way to make them into Wahhabis. This means they will come back later and
start disputes among us. Therefore let us train them here, in Ashgabad, at
a faculty of theology.”
Sources have told Forum 18 that Khezretkuli Khanov, head of the Gengeshi
for the capital Ashgabad, has complained to visitors to his office in
recent months that he constantly faces the problem of dealing with mosques
functioning without the required permission. Unregistered religious
activity is illegal in Turkmenistan, in defiance of international human
rights norms.
For more background, see Forum 18’s Turkmenistan religious freedom survey
at
A printer-friendly map of Turkmenistan is available at
;Rootmap=turkme
(END)
© Forum 18 News Service. All rights reserved.
You may reproduce or quote this article provided that credit is given to
F18News
Past and current Forum 18 information can be found at