Category: News

La Nouvelle République du Centre Ouest
20 juillet 2004
Folklore arménien, demain
Le festival d’été continue son tour du monde des folklores avec la
représentation de l’ensemble « Bert » d’Arménie, demain à 21 h,
devant l’hôtel de ville. En cas d’intempérie, la représentation aura
lieu à la salle de spectacle.

L’Humanité
20 juillet 2004
La tête des Turcs à Paris;
diplomatie
par Damien Roustel
Le premier ministre Erdogan effectue une visite de trois jours en
France pour plaider la candidature européenne de son pays.
À six mois d’un sommet européen crucial pour la Turquie, le premier
ministre turc Recep Tayyip Erdogan effectue depuis hier une visite de
trois jours en France pour plaider la candidature de son pays. Lors
du sommet d’Helsinki en 1999, les dirigeants de l’Union européenne
avaient accordé à la Turquie le statut de pays candidat. La
Commission européenne de Bruxelles doit remettre, avant la fin de son
mandat le 31 octobre, un rapport d’évaluation du respect par la
Turquie des critères de Copenhague (droits de l’homme, démocratie,
économie…). C’est sur la base de ce document que les 25 pays de
l’Union décideront en décembre d’accorder ou de refuser une date pour
l’ouverture des négociations d’adhésion. « Il s’agira un rapport très
précis et équitable, selon mes informations. La Turquie sera jugée
selon ses mérites. Mais il est trop tôt de préjuger de ce qu’il y
aura dans le rapport », a expliqué Durao Barroso, le nouveau
président de la Commission. Le Portugais s’est déclaré «
personnellement favorable à l’adhésion de la Turquie à condition
qu’elle respecte tous les critères démocratiques ».
Sous l’impulsion du gouvernement islamiste d’Erdogan, la Turquie a
fait passer au Parlement plusieurs
réformes démocratiques concernant notamment la peine de mort et la
minorité kurde. Mais il reste encore beaucoup à faire. Selon
l’association turque des droits de l’homme IHD, si les cas de torture
et d’arrestations arbitraires ont diminué en Turquie au cours du
premier semestre 2004, ils restent encore importants. Au cours des
six premiers mois de 2004, 692 cas de torture ont été signalés,
contre 972 pour la même période en 2003, tandis que les arrestations
arbitraires sont passées de 5 353 à 3 688, a rapporté Husnu Ondul, le
président de l’IHD. « Pour la prévention de la torture, les
changements législatifs ne sont pas suffisants », selon lui.
Le nombre de morts au combat augmente. La semaine dernière, cinq
rebelles kurdes et deux militaires turcs ont été tués lors de deux
affrontements distincts dans l’est de la Turquie, selon des sources
officielles et l’agence Anatolie. Les affrontements, qui avaient
pratiquement cessé depuis la déclaration en 1999 d’un cessez-le-feu
unilatéral par le PKK, ont repris ces dernières semaines avec
l’annonce, le 1er juin, de la fin de la trêve.
La rébellion du PKK et sa répression par les forces de sécurité
turques ont fait près de 37 000 morts entre 1984 et 1999. La Cour
européenne des droits de l’homme de Strasbourg vient de condamner
coup sur coup la Turquie pour violation de la liberté d’expression de
trois hommes politiques jugés coupables d’incitation à la haine dans
un texte critiquant la situation des Kurdes ; pour ne pas avoir
enquêté efficacement sur la disparition d’un Kurde et pour avoir
interdit la publication d’un livre critiquant sa politique au
Kurdistan.
La possible intégration européenne de la Turquie, un pays musulman de
près de 70 millions d’habitants, divise la classe politique
française. Si Jacques Chirac a estimé « irréversible » la marche
d’Ankara vers l’UE, son fidèle lieutenant Alain Juppé a jugé que
l’entrée de la Turquie signifierait « à terme la fin de l’Europe ». À
la différence des partis de droite, le Parti socialiste est favorable
au principe de l’entrée de la Turquie dans l’UE à condition que
celle-ci reconnaisse le génocide arménien de 1915, pendant l’empire
ottoman. Ce génocide a été reconnu par le Parlement français en 2001.
Au cours de sa visite, le premier ministre turc aura l’occasion
d’avancer des arguments sonnants et trébuchants. La Turquie va mettre
en jeu un contrat commercial de 1,6 milliard d’euros. La compagnie
nationale aérienne Turkish Airlines souhaite acquérir une
cinquantaine d’avions de ligne (moyen et long courrier) pour
renouveler sa flotte. Le consortium aéronautique européen Airbus et
l’américain Boeing sont en concurrence. La Turquie espère secrètement
qu’un tel marché pourra lever les dernières réticences françaises sur
la candidature européenne de leur pays.
Damien Roustel
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Tourism chief considering in-state jobs strategy
Overseas workers nab much of the summer employment
By SCOTT WILLIAMS
[email protected]
Posted: July 17, 2004
Wisconsin’s top tourism official is considering stepped-up efforts to
promote summer job opportunities in the tourism industry as many
attractions recruit workers from overseas despite unemployment here.
Tourism Secretary Jim Holperin said he has no indication that theme
parks and other popular destinations are intentionally passing over
Wisconsin workers. But he said the state lacks a comprehensive
strategy for matching Wisconsin’s jobless to tourism jobs, which often
go to workers from Poland, Finland or other foreign countries.
A state job center in Wisconsin Dells, for example, has stopped
sending representatives to job fairs in Milwaukee, relying instead on
the Internet to reach job seekers in the state’s largest metropolitan
area.
“There might be a programmatic gap,” Holperin said, meaning not
everyone who needs a job is being reached by existing programs.
Destinations in the Dells, Door County and other popular tourist spots
began wide-scale recruiting of foreign workers, typically college
students, when low unemployment in the late 1990s created a labor
shortage. Although the economy has since gone flat and Wisconsin
joblessness is up, many attractions continue hiring from out of the
country for their summer seasonal help, citing other forces in the
marketplace.
Some say residents who live in Milwaukee and those who live in other
areas of high unemployment cannot be coaxed into relocating for the
summer, and that young people in Wisconsin generally must return to
school before the tourist season ends.
At Landmark Resort in Door County, Personnel Director Joanne Stanzel
has hired several college-aged students from Armenia and Romania,
primarily for housekeeping jobs.
Stanzel said some Wisconsin residents seem uninterested in the
drudgery of scrubbing bathrooms and arranging bedsheets.
“Even in desperate times they don’t want to do housekeeping,” she
said.
“It’s sad to say.”
One housekeeper, Lilit Vasilyan of Romania, said she worked as a
waitress in her home country but wanted to visit the United States
this summer to improve her English.
Vasilyan, 20, said she is enjoying her job at Landmark and is most
impressed by Door County’s natural scenery.
“I imagined how it would be,” she said. “It’s beautiful.”
Dells uses foreign labor In the tourism mecca of Wisconsin Dells, just
about every tourist-related business seems to employ at least one
foreign employee, said Tom Diehl, president of Tommy Bartlett Inc.
Bartlett hired about 70 young people from Finland this summer to work
on the company’s famous water shows and other attractions.
With so many businesses experiencing peak demand during the summer
months, Diehl said, nobody in or around the Dells should complain
about not being able to find work.
“Anybody who says they can’t find a job here isn’t looking very hard,”
he said.
The state job center manager at the Wisconsin Dells said the summer
tourist season in the Dells creates as many as 8,500 jobs.
Many destinations have built relationships with international exchange
organizations or other groups that can arrange for large numbers of
young people to clear immigration channels and come to the U.S. to
work.
Tim Gantz, president of Noah’s Ark Family Park in the Dells, said he
has hired 140 students this summer from Hungary, Poland, Finland and
elsewhere to fill a variety of jobs in his water theme park. That
number actually is down from 200 not long ago, Gantz said, because the
rise in unemployment has made hiring locally easier. Park employment
is about 550 during the summer.
“We have a lot of people who want to work for us. We can probably pick
the cream of the crop,” Gantz said. “I can’t say we turn any American
away – you know, good ones.”
Lifeguards from afar Noah’s Ark lifeguard Tito Suero of the Dominican
Republic is spending his third summer in the Dells, earning about
$1,000 a month compared with the $50 a month he would earn doing
similar work in his homeland.
“I feel pretty lucky,” the 23-year-old medical student said.
Like other tourist destinations, Noah’s Ark says it pays international
employees the same salaries as American workers. Many businesses, such
as Noah’s Ark, also have built dormitories to provide housing for
seasonal employees.
The practice of recruiting from overseas has drawn criticism from
organized labor and elsewhere.
In the late ’90s, unemployment in Wisconsin was below 3%, and
employers in tourism and other industries complained about being
unable to find enough workers. Today, unemployment is 5%, which means
about 150,000 people are out of work, according to federal
figures. Some 70,000 more Wisconsin residents are out of work than
there were five years ago.
Enough in-state recruiting? Jim Cavanaugh, president of the
Madison-based South Central Federation of Labor, questioned whether
the tourism industry has recruited heavily enough for Wisconsin
workers, including adults.
Plenty of laid-off factory workers and other adults would gladly
accept a tourist job for the summer just to get a regular paycheck,
Cavanaugh said.
“They would be as interested in those jobs as (in) any other jobs,” he
said.
Tourist destinations say they recruit heavily from high schools and
colleges throughout Wisconsin, as well as participate in job fairs and
take other steps to find local seasonal workers.
Holperin, the state tourism chief, said the idea of launching an
intensified effort to promote those job openings statewide is still
just a concept in early stages of discussion.
Uncertain on the extent to which foreign employees are filling the
industry’s needs, Holperin said he only knows there have been no
recent complaints about worker shortages. He suspects that businesses
fearful of a tight labor market returning are hesitant to cut off
sources of international manpower.
“They are going to keep those connections,” he said. “They are
reluctant to give those up.”
To check job listings or other resources of the state Department of
Workforce Development, go to

Providence Journal , RI
July 18 2004
Best and brightest

Success knows no boundaries for Ani Kazarian

By JOHN GILLOOLY
Journal Sports Writer

She heard it time and time again early in her high school career.
If you want to be a high school sports star . . . if you want to be
an All-Stater . . . if you want sports to help write your ticket to
college, you have to specialize, people told Ani Kazarian.
They told her the days of the three-sport superstar were a thing of
the past. They said today’s high school stars pick one sport.
But for Kazarian, sports, like the rest of life, offered too many
exciting opportunities to limit herself at a young age.
So Kazarian, whose great-grandparents immigrated to America to escape
the Armenian genocide, defied the odds and became the all-American
girl.
She not only became a three-sport star at Lincoln School, she became a
three-sport All-Stater. She earned Providence Journal first-team
All-State honors in field hockey, ice hockey and lacrosse each of the
past two school years, making her one of the few high school athletes
in Rhode Island history to earn All-State selection in three
nonrelated sports in both their junior and senior years.
She also became an academic all-star. They don’t rank students
academically at Lincoln School, but if they did, Kazarian would have
been near the top of this year’s graduation class. In four years, she
compiled a 3.5 grade-point average in an program loaded with honors
and advanced-placement courses.
Her achievements stretch beyond the classroom, the ice rink, and the
field hockey and lacrosse fields. For the past three summers, she has
traveled to Armenia to serve as a research fellow in a program that
provides financial and social support services to women and the
disabled. Her work earned her selection as a speaker at the United
Nations on the subject of using micro-finance to empower women and
people with disabilities in Armenia and other developing countries.
The combination of academic excellence, athletic achievement and
social involvement has earned Kazarian selection as the 2004
Providence Journal Honor Roll Girl.
Kazarian, a Providence resident and the daughter of Harriet and Paul
Kazarian, becomes the first Lincoln School student to be named Honor
Roll Girl in the 28-year history of the award, which symbolizes the
top female student-athlete in this year’s Rhode Island high school
graduating class.
She went to youth sports camps when she was growing up, and heard all
the discussions about specializing in one sport. But she was having
too much fun playing everything to restrict her activities.
“I always liked all three sports, so I never wanted to choose just
one and focus on it,” said Kazarian. “I had different teammates for
each sport so I had all different groups of teammates and I liked
playing with all three of them.”
It didn’t take her long to earn her first statewide high school
athletic honors: second-team All-State in both field hockey and
lacrosse in her sophomore year.
The following fall, she began her two-year run as a three-sport,
first-team All-Stater with her selection to the top All-State field
hockey team.
In the winter of 2002-03, she was named to The Journal’s first girls
All-State ice hockey team. She was one of the stars of the Rhode
Island Interscholastic League’s inaugural girls hockey league that
winter. She scored 31 points in eight regular-season games, the
second highest total in the league.
In spring 2003, she earned first-team All-State lacrosse honors after
her 29 goals and 7 assists led Lincoln School to its first
Southeastern New England conference championship in 13 years.
The three first-team All-State selections marked the first time a
Lincoln School student had earned first-team All-State honors in each
of the three high school sports seasons.
She didn’t allow her junior year accomplishments to let complacency
slip into her psyche. She came back this year and posted even more
impressive statistics en route to three more All-State selections.
She was the Interscholastic League’s second-leading scorer during the
field hockey season with 16 goals and 11 assists, and was the
league’s regular-season scoring champion in ice hockey with 19 goals
and 10 assists in 12 league games.
She became the first Lincoln School athlete in eight years to earn 12
varsity letters in three sports during her high school career.
“Ani’s accomplishments in athletics are not just solely a result of
her natural talent, but also a demonstration of the desire,
dedication and commitment that she brings to athletics, academics and
community service,” said Ronnie McFarland, the Lincoln School
athletic director and the Lynxes’ lacrosse coach.
The captain of all three teams this year, Kazarian has used her
sports experiences to expand her understanding of life off the field.
“Everybody tells you playing sports teaches you real life lessons,
and it really does,” said Kazarian. “Sports has taught me to be a
team player, but also to be a leader. In order to be a good leader,
you need to be a team player at the same time.”
It’s a philosophy she’s already putting in action helping people in
Armenia.
“I feel what makes our project unique is that we put the social
sector into the business section,” she said. “We look at how
micro-finance organizations can work with social services
organizations to help the disabled and disadvantaged.
“I like helping people. I like it a lot,” said Kazarian. “In field
hockey, it’s great when you score and there’s all the energy. But
when you get off the field you have to put that in perspective.
That’s why I like to do the work in Armenia. It helps me actually put
my life in perspective and see what I can do in the world to make a
difference for someone else.”
She finally will start specializing in field hockey when she becomes
a Brown University student in the fall, but her long-term goals are
still open for exploration. She is considering a dual major in
political science and economics.

Cyprus Mail, Cyprus
July 18 2004
Third man held over woman’s murder
By Stefanos Evripidou
A 33-year-old Armenian man was remanded in custody for eight days
yesterday in connection with the murder of Lyudmila Zipir, 34, from
Ukraine, who was found dead in her apartment in Limassol last Sunday.
He is the third man to be arrested in connection with the case. The
33-year-old was arrested on Friday night after police had searched
his house for evidence. Various items have been sent for forensic
testing. According to reports, police found his fingerprints at the
scene of the crime. The same reports say he used to live in the same
block as Zipir and was on friendly relations with the other two
suspects. He has denied any involvement in the murder.
Zipir was found by police last Sunday after her employer had called
concerned at her failure to turn up for work. She had lived in Cyprus
for three years and worked in a bar in Limassol. Pathologist Panicos
Stavrianos said the girl’s bruised naked body was found on her bed in
a pool of blood.
Police first arrested two men who lived next door to Zipir the day
after the body was found. Armen Grigorian, 25 from Armenia, and
Dionysis Tokalides, 26 from Georgia, were remanded in court for eight
days on Monday.
Zipir’s employer told police the victim had repeatedly complained
that the two men used to harass her with sexual innuendoes. He had
even visited the men on several occasions to ask them to leave her
alone.
When police arrested the two suspects, they appeared to have
scratches on their bodies as well as streaks of blood. Blood was also
found in the apartment building.
Police noticed there had been no forced entry into the apartment via
the front door, but that the balcony door connecting the victim’s
apartment with that of the suspects was closed but not locked.
The two suspects deny any involvement in the murder, but cannot give
a clear story or confirm where they were at the time of the murder.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Chicago Tribune , IL
July 18 2004
Ties between Turkey, Israel grow strained
Middle Eastern allies disagree over Israel’s handling of
Palestinians, reports of training Kurdish commandos
By Catherine Collins
Special to the Tribune
Published July 18, 2004
ISTANBUL — When Israel’s deputy prime minister arrived in Turkey
last week on a fence-mending mission, he found that Turkish Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was away on vacation.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry said Erdogan’s holiday had been planned
long before the visit. Yet it came at a time when relations between
the two allies have frayed over Israel’s actions against Palestinians
and published reports alleging that Israeli military officers are
training Kurdish commandos who want to establish an independent
nation.
As the only secular democracies in the Middle East, Turkey and Israel
have forged a friendship of mutual need and support. Both define
themselves as more Western–culturally, politically and
economically–than Middle Eastern.
Turkey was the first Muslim-majority country to recognize Israel in
1948, and ties between the two countries have blossomed in recent
years.
But in recent weeks Erdogan has been sharply critical of Israel’s
tactics against the Palestinians. He condemned the Sharon
government’s policies as “inhumane” and accused Israel of
“state-sponsored terrorism.”
In a recent briefing to members of his ruling Justice and Development
Party, Erdogan said: “We have no problem with the Israeli people, but
unfortunately, what the Israeli government has been doing is leading
to an increase in anti-Semitism in the world.”
Turkey’s foreign minister, Abdullah Gul, echoed Erdogan’s sentiments
last week as he warned that Israel’s actions could damage relations.
Turkish and Israeli diplomats are quick to say that ties between the
two countries remain strong. But Erdogan’s tough talk has raised
concerns.
“This is not the way that friendly nations speak to each other,” said
Barry Jacobs, director of strategic studies at the American Jewish
Committee in Washington, during a recent trip to Turkey. “But as
Archie Bunker said, `stifle.’ This relationship is too important to
allow it to be held hostage to momentary anger.”
The visiting Israeli official, Ehud Olmert, shrugged off Erdogan’s
absence and statements.
“We cannot assess policy by just one statement,” Olmert said during
an interview on CNN-Turk television when asked about Erdogan’s
comments.
Turkey and Israel have maintained strong, if not cordial, relations
for decades. Whether Erdogan’s criticism signals a substantive change
in the relationship is a matter of debate.
Turkish government officials and the public are increasingly
alienated by what they see as Israel’s severe steps against Muslims
in the West Bank and Gaza. At the same time, Turkey is trying to
rekindle relations with its Arab neighbors and improve ties with the
European Union, which is also critical of Israel’s government.
`The right context’
Turkish officials, meanwhile, have tried to avoid going too far in
angering Israel and its main ally, the United States. A spokesman for
the Foreign Ministry said the relationship with Israel has not
changed and remains important.
“The remarks by both our prime minister and foreign minister should
be put into the right context,” the spokesman said.
“They spoke out during developments in Palestinian and Israeli
relations that resulted in condemnations from many countries, even
the United Nations. Turkish reaction should be seen as part of a
general reaction, no more than that,” he said.
Ties between the nations include Turkey’s spending $3 billion on
Israeli military hardware since 1996. They conduct regular joint
military exercises, and Turkey allows Israeli fighter pilots to train
in its airspace.
Most of their bilateral trade is in the private sector and reached a
record $1.25 billion last year. Trade is expected to increase again
this year to $1.5 billion. And Turkey is considered the favorite
destination for Israeli tourists.
In exchange for the economic and military ties, Turkey has
supplemented its notoriously weak lobbying effort in the U.S. by
relying on the influential Jewish lobby.
Most prominently, Jewish-American groups have helped Turkey battle
against efforts by Armenian-Americans to declare the deaths of
hundreds of thousands of Turkish Armenians in the early 20th Century
a genocide.
Analysts and diplomats say it is unclear how to interpret Erdogan’s
criticism of Israel.
Alon Liel, a former director general of the Israeli Ministry of
Foreign Affairs and author of a book about the Turkish prime
minister, said he believes that Erdogan’s comments were not a
political ploy but an instinctive reaction to events, beginning with
Israel’s assassination of Sheik Ahmed Yassin, a Hamas spiritual
leader, in March.
“Erdogan saw Sheik Ahmed Yassin as a religious and political leader,”
Liel said in a phone interview from Tel Aviv. “And he was disturbed
by the fact that the assassination occurred as Yassin left the
mosque. And that Yassin was in a wheelchair. It was an instinctive
reaction, not something that he planned to please the Arab world.”
Playing to EU
Liel and others also see Erdogan playing to the European Union, which
is expected to decide in December whether to give Turkey a date to
start negotiations that could lead to its eventual membership.
“If there is anyone Erdogan wants to please, it’s the EU countries,”
Liel said. “I see this as an attempt to say to them, `Look we care
about human rights issues too.'”
Others think Erdogan’s comments could strike a sympathetic chord with
Arab nations, which have not considered the country “Muslim enough”
since it became a secular democracy in 1923.
But analysts cautioned that Turkey would run risks if it moves too
far from its U.S.-Israel alliance.
“While Erdogan and his party may think that the EU and the Middle
East might prefer such a Turkey, if the U.S.-Israel side does not
stand behind Turkey, then it will have no chance in the EU,” said
Zeyno Baran, director of international security and energy programs
at the Nixon Center in Washington.
Turkey’s concerns about Israel’s actions increased earlier this month
after The New Yorker magazine reported that Israeli military officers
were training large numbers of Kurdish commandos just across Turkey’s
southern border in northern Iraq.
Ankara is worried about the possibility of a renewed Kurdish
insurgency on its southern flank and the report raised alarms.
Turkish intelligence officials said they have detected a small number
of Israelis conducting training exercises in the region, but a senior
Israeli diplomat in the country denied that the Israeli military was
involved in northern Iraq.
“It is against common wisdom that Israel would conduct such
activities against the interests of a friendly state like Turkey,”
said the diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “If we had
any intention, the Turks would be the first to know and the first
with whom we would coordinate.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Allentown Morning Call, PA
July 18 2004
The transformation of Turkey
The moderate, modern Muslim country, if assimilated into the European
Union, would be an attractive role model for other countries
Eli Schwartz
In Victorian England, there was a common reference to “the
unspeakable Turks.” Much has changed. Today, Turkey is an
independent, modernized country of about 70 million inhabitants. It
is a charter member of NATO and is currently knocking on the door for
admission to the European Union.
In fact, columnist George F. Will noted last week, it is to this
country’s advantage to have Turkey in the EU. Its economy has a long
way to go, in comparison with others in Europe, but it is a nation
that is democratic, secular — and Muslim.
Turkey was not alway democratic and secular, of course, and I believe
that its story is helpful to us today, especially in light of
President Bush’s dream of seeing democracy spread throughout the
Middle East.
The modern history of Turkey starts from the defeat of the Turkish
Ottoman Empire at the end of World War I. In 1920, the victorious
allies sat down to dispose of the Arab territories and carve up Asia
Minor.
Of the Arab countries, the French were given a League of Nations
mandate over Lebanon and Syria; the British received mandates for
Mesopotamia (Iraq), Palestine, and some adjoining territories.
Turkey, in Asia Minor, was divided into Italian and French spheres of
influence, an autonomous Kurdish area, a section given to an Armenian
Republic in Causasia, and a Greek enclave starting out from the city
of Smyrna (now Izmir) on the Aegean Sea. A small area encompassing
the city of Constantinople and an oval on the Asiatic side enclosing
the sea of Marmora and the straits to the Black Sea was left to the
Sultan of Turkey. The whole was endorsed by the Treaty of Sevres,
signed by the Sultan in Constantinople.
In the meantime, a nationalist reform party lead by Mustafa Kemal
(later to become Kemal Ataturk) coalesced around the city of Ankara
in central Turkey. In 1920, the dissident assembly declared Turkey a
republic, and an army formed around Mustafa Kemal launched a series
of attacks on the Kurds, the Armenians, and on the Greek army
occupying the area coming out of Izmir. The campaigns were undeniably
victorious, marred by internecine warfare and by what is now
sardonically called “ethnic cleansing”; much of this has never been
clearly expiated to this day.
Suffice it to say, the war ended with the victorious Turkish Army
taking Smyrna in 1922. The abortive Sevres treaty was dropped and the
new treaty of Lausanne in 1923 assigned to the new republic of
Turkey, the territory it currently holds in Asia Minor, and in
Europe, the cosmopolitan city of Constantinople (now Istanbul) and
the strategic straits between the Mediterranean and the Black Sea.
No one reigns completely alone, but the foundation of modern Turkey
rests with Mustafa Kemal, given the honorific name Kemal Ataturk
(Noble Father of the Turks), who as president ruled with a hard hand
from 1923 until his death in 1938. Kemal’s main goal was to wrest
Turkey into the modern world.
One by one, the edicts came down. The Sultan and his family were
exiled, the Caliphate was abolished, the Sharia, Islamic law, was
replaced by the Swiss Code as the basic law of the state, and the
Italian Penal Code and the German Commerce Code were adopted. This
essentially made Turkey a secular state.
Kemal made the wearing of the fez (traditional male headdress)
illegal, and he discouraged the wearing of the female head scarf. The
Islamic clergy were paid a stipend by the government, but the weekly
sermon was set by the state. The call to prayer was changed from
Arabic to Turkish.
Perhaps Kemal’s most revolutionary move was to enforce a change from
the Arabic script to the Latin alphabet. All the citizens from six to
40 years old were made to attend school to learn the new letters.
After four years, it was made illegal to use the old Arabic script. A
consistent increase in literacy followed.
There was a massive importation of typewriters and, under the law of
unintended consequences, the increased demand for stenographers led
to the increased employment of women and helped in the emancipation
of Turkish womanhood.
Even those quite critical of his methods acknowledge that Ataturk
left a legacy that has served as an obstacle to the rise of
anti-Western Islamists in Turkey.
Kemal Ataturk succeeded in modernizing Turkey, whereas operating at
the Eastern end of the Golden Crescent, the Pahlavi family (the
Shahs) failed in the avowed task of modernizing Iran.
Now, 66 years after Kemal Ataturk’s death, comes perhaps the final
test of the Turkish transition. In December of this year, the Turks
hope to start negotiations on the entry to the European Union. Many
questions arise.
Turkey is a poor country. It is not an undeveloped country, but it
ranks in the bottom rung of the class of developed countries. The per
capita GDP is about one third of the average for the EU. On the other
hand, the recent real growth rate of 4 percent to 6 percent per annum
exceeds that of the EU, and a recent report by The Economist magazine
shows Turkey with an astounding increase of 15 percent in the last
quarter in manufacturing and mining output, well above any other
country listed.
Trade with the European Union has been growing; since 1996; the
amount of exports to the EU has more than doubled from $10 billion to
$25 billion and imports have gone from $20 billion to $32 billion.
One third of new television sets sold in the EU last year came from
Turkey.
The inflation rate which had been running at a double digit rate for
35 years finally fell to a single digit level this February. The
government deficit of 10 percent of the GDP far exceeds the EU target
of 3 percent. Be that as it may, the stated economic criteria for
admission to the European Union is not perfection but the existence
of a “functioning market economy.”
Some political and social sticking points remain. The average
literacy rate is 87 percent with a significantly higher rate of 94
percent for males as against only 88 percent for females. However,
elementary school education is now compulsory for children of both
sexes. Average life expectancy at birth of 72 years is only slightly
below the developed world average, but the rate of 42 infant deaths
per 1,000 live births is shamefully high.
Of course, the main problem is the unrest and unease among the
minority Kurds, who constitute 20 percent of the population. The
current administration has eased relations with the Kurds, allowing
the public use of the Kurdish language and the development of Kurdish
culture. At any rate, Turkey would not be the sole EU member with a
minority problem; Spain has the Basques, Slovakia has the Gypsies,
and Great Britain has the IRA of Northern Ireland. The social,
political criteria for entrance to the EU is phrased as a “union of
values.”
>From my readings and experience of visiting the Middle East and
Turkey, I believe the admission of Turkey to the European Union would
be a worthwhile accomplishment. Certainly, it would help the Turkish
economy. But perhaps, more importantly, the successful assimilation
of a moderate, modern Muslim country into a vital democratic,
economic society would provide an attractive role model for other
countries to follow.
Eli Schwartz of Allentown is professor emeritus of business and
economics at Lehigh University in Bethlehem.
,0,6258142.story?coll=all-newsopinion-hed

Doghouse Boxing, Canada
July 18 2004
Nader Hamdan Fight Postponed

Australian boxer Nader `Lionheart’ Hamdan is shattered that his
scheduled July 24 WBA International middleweight title fight against
unbeaten Arthur Abraham has been postponed after the Armenian-born
German was forced to withdraw due to injury.
A disappointed Hamdan told DoghouseBoxing: `I got a phone call about
two hours ago. The fight’s been postponed until September 4th.
Abraham got injured in training so the fight won’t be going ahead as
scheduled.
`I was ready. My weight was perfect, my training has been excellent.
Everything was good and we were ready to take off tomorrow. It’s
shattering for me.’
Hamdan was originally slated to fight Brett Culey last Friday night
for the IBF Pan Pacific super middleweight title, but he withdrew
from that bout to pursue the WBA International title.
While 24-year-old Abraham has stopped all twelve of his opponents
within the distance, he is yet to fight an opponent of Hamdan’s
calibre. But with Germany having earned itself an odious reputation
in recent years for dubious decisions, Hamdan isn’t expecting any
favours from the judges come September.
`I’ll try to take it out of the judges hands. I’ll go over and do my
best. I don’t know, I can’t really say yes or no because I’ve seen
how other people have been treated over there. I want to try and take
it out of the German’s hands and take care of it myself. That’s what
it’s about for me’ said Hamdan, 36-1 (17).
`I won’t be happy if I’m standing up at the end of the fight waiting
to hear the decision. It’s safer for me to knock him out or be
knocked out, you know, destroy or be destroyed. That’s how it is
going to Europe or people’s backyard.’
30-year-old Hamdan has recently spoken publicly about his desire to
quit boxing if the big fights don’t come his way by the end of the
year. The postponement of his fight against Abraham has only added to
his frustration.
`I’m very serious,’ said Hamdan about retiring from boxing. `I’m
about to pull the pin right now, but I need to sit down and relax a
bit and take a couple of deep breaths. But I’m very serious about
that. I’ve been around a long time. I was the WBC #2 junior
middleweight and we tried to fight in a couple of eliminators with
different fighters but nothing ever came through. And from what I’ve
seen, that’s boxing, and I not really in it for that, you know. I’m
in it to do my best.’
In recent times the former junior middleweight has fought as high as
light heavyweight, but he says that his body is suited to the 160lb
division.
`Actually middleweight feels pretty good,’ he said. `I never really
thought about going back to junior middleweight because I struggled
so long and hard to make weight and I didn’t want to do that anymore.
Even though I was a middleweight, I went up to super middleweight and
I fought at light heavyweight. But I feel comfortable at
middleweight. But wherever an opportunity comes along, I’ll fight
anybody. All they have to do is call Angelo Hyder, my matchmaker, and
offer me a fight. I’ll fight anybody and I’ll always give it my best
shot.’
Throughout his seven year professional career Hamdan has enjoyed
great fan support and admits he feels an obligation to deliver
exciting fights.
`I’ve always given them `fights of the year’ ever couple of years,’
he said. `That’s what I’m about. I love to fight. They come in and
pay their money for good fights and I like to give them entertaining
fights. I like to win and I love to fight. But I’ve been doing it for
so long and I don’t want to be one of those guys who hangs around for
too long. I’m in it for only one reason and if I can’t achieve that
reason, I’m not going to hang around. I’ve got a family, I’ve got a
future, boxing’s been good to me and I’ve looked after myself in
terms of life after boxing.’
While Hamdan clearly has one eye on life after boxing, he wanted his
fans to know that he will be giving nothing less than his best when
he steps into the ring to battle Abraham in September.
`I look forward to September 4th in Germany,’ he said. `I hope by
then mentally everything will be back to normal. I’m a bit upset
right now but in September I’ll be 110% again and ready, and we will
come back with that WBA International middleweight title.’

Radio Free Europe, Czech Republic
July 18 2004
Journalist Found Stabbed To Death In Moscow
18 July 2004 — A journalist was found stabbed to death in Moscow
yesterday, a week after a U.S.-born magazine editor was shot dead
outside his Moscow office.
Police said the body of Pail Peloyan was found yesterday on the side
of a highway. He was the editor of “Armyanski Pereulok” (“Armenian
Lane”), a Russian-language culture magazine.
On 9 July, the editor of the Russian edition of “Forbes” magazine,
Paul Klebnikov, was shot to death in Moscow. After the killing, the
U.S.-based Committee to Protect Journalists called on Russian
President Vladimir Putin to change what the group called “the climate
of lawlessness” that has enabled attacks against journalists in
Russia.

Cihan News, Turkey
July 18 2004
Turkish P.M. Erdogan Due In France Tomorrow
ANKARA (CIHAN) – Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan will pay
three-day official visit to France to promote Turkey’s EU membership
drive. The Turkish Prime Minister will head Paris tomorrow.
The Turkish Prime Minister will meet with his French counterpart
Jean-Pierre Raffarin and with Turkish citizens living in France on
the first day of visit,
Erdogan will attend a conference on July 20 where he will deliver a
speech named Turkey -France: New Perspective for Affective
Partnership. The Turkish Prime Minister is to meet the French
President Jaques Chirac on same day and ask for support for Turkey’s
EU membership bid.
The Turkish Prime Minister will carry out talks with French political
party leaders on July 21st. Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan is
expected to meet François Hollande and UMP leader Alain Juppé who
also opposes Turkey’s EU membership.
The bilateral relations, Turkey-EU relations and international
developments including the latest developments in Cyprus, Middle
East, Iraq, Northern Africa Project and Afghanistan will be taken up
in the official government meetings.
Turkey is hoping to open entry talks with the European Union (EU) by
the end of 2004, and has adopted a series of EU harmonization
packages, including political and economic criteria, to meet
membership requirements. The Turkish Parliament has adopted seven EU
harmonization packages in the last two years, and has also abolished
capital punishment in order to comply with EU standards.
EU leaders are due to meet in December to decide whether Turkey, a
candidate country since 1999, has made enough progress on human
rights and political freedoms for the initiation of the long-delayed
accession talks.
Meanwhile, Armenian associations in the French cities of Paris and
Marseille will hold demonstrations against the Turkish Prime
Minister.