RA FM: 21st Century Can Become Age of Armenianhood
PanARMENIAN.Net
20.09.2006 15:32 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The most urgent task the Armenian Diaspora faces is
the maintenance of the originality of the young generation, Armenian
Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian stated at the Third Armenia-Diaspora
Forum. “The originality of the new generation of the Armenian youth
depends on what they bind it with. It can be the history of Armenia,
Nagorno Karabakh, the Armenian Genocide or the present of Armenia. The
Armenian nation should bind its originality with Armenia only,
otherwise it will be lost for the coming several years,” the RA FM
said. “Besides, the unification of Armenia, Diaspora and NKR should
be secured. If we succeed we will make miracles and the 21st century
will become the age of Armenianhood,” he added, reports Newsarmenia.ru.

Trend
Today 21.09.2006
Azerbaijan is ready for each format of negotiations in
interests of peace, stability and security in region –
Azeri Foreign Ministry
Source: Trend
Author: A.Ismaylova
20.09.2006
In the interests of peace, stability and security in the region, which
may allow pushing ahead the negotiations, Azerbaijan is ready for
each format of negotiations regarding settlement of Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict, Chief of the Press and Information Policy Department of
the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry Tahir Tagizade told Trend.
The Russian co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group Y.Merzlyakov announced
that the meeting of Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers in
New York will not happen. There have been planned separate meetings
of co-chairs with Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers Elmar
Mammadyarov and Vardan Oskanyan.
According to the Russian co-chair, the meetings with foreign ministers
are scheduled for September 25. They want to resume the direct contacts
between the conflict sides to renew the negotiation process.
Touching up on the statement of the Russian co-chair regarding the
issue that including Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in the agenda of the
U.S. Assembly General is counter-productive, Tagizade emphasized
that is not the position of all co-chairs, but concrete opinion of
Russian side.
It should be mentioned that the representatives of GUAM countries
(Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldavia) presented to the voting
of the Assembly General the issue of including a new clause in the
agenda of the 61st session of the U.N. Assembly General. In result,
16 countries, including Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Turkey, Great
Britain and USA, supported to include the issue in the agenda. At the
same time, 15 countries, including Russia, Algeria, Armenia, Greece,
Indonesia and South Africa, voted against this. 65 states abstained
from voting, and 96 countries were absent in the voting.

Institute for War and Peace Reporting, UK
Caucasus Reporting Service
Thursday, September 21, 2006
Georgia: The Last Collective Farm
Land reform may be the last straw for Georgia’s
Dukhobor community.
By Olesya Vartanian in Gorelovka
It is only six in the morning, but there is already a commotion
outside the house of tractor driver Oleg.
Amid angry shouts and obscenities, local residents are vying to be
the first to get his three-strong crew and old machinery to mow the
hay on their plots.
“They are all flocking in and all of them want to have their hay
mown immediately,” grumbles Oleg. “We are working at night too,
but we still have no time to please everyone.”
This harvest-time rush is something new for the Russian village of
Gorelovka in Georgia’s southern Samtskhe-Javakheti region, near the
border with Armenia.
It is a result of the land reform, which started in Georgia in 1992,
but reached Gorelovka only this summer.
Only after the haymaking had begun did villagers find out they were
entitled to land of their own. However, the news upset many villagers,
who don’t want to see their collective farm – the only one in Georgia
left over from Soviet times – broken up.
Gorelovka is home to a community of Dukhobors, ethnic Russians
practicing a rare form of Orthodox Christianity, who were exiled from
Russia to the Caucasus in the middle of the 19th century for their
pacifist views and doctrinal beliefs.
Fifteen years ago Dukhobors lived in eight villages in this region,
but today their community, once nearly 7,000 strong, has shrunk to
only a few hundred. (See ‘Special Report: Last Days of the Georgian
Dukhobors, CRS 254, September 3, 2004).
Their Dukhoborets agricultural cooperative, which the Russians still
call by its old Communist name, a collective farm, was founded by the
Dukhobor community in 1997 to succeed Gorelovka’s Lenin collective
farm.
It remained faithful to traditions of Soviet-style collective farming.
Only Dukhobors could use the lands of the farm, even though ethnic
Russians account for only half of Gorelovka’s population, with
Armenians and Georgians forming the other half. Ethnic Armenians
and Georgians, who came to live in the village in the Nineties, when
Dukhobors started to leave, were not allowed to work in Dukhoborets
but still had to buy hay for their cows from the farm.
As in Communist times, the collective farm provided each Dukhobor
family with a small plot of land. The crops were divided up between
the family and the cooperative, which was the only employer for the
Russians and paid its workforce quite well by Georgian standards at
around 150 laris (80 US dollars) a month.
The land distribution commission of the local administration has now
started to hand out land around Gorelovka. This summer, they stripped
the cooperative of almost 5,000 hectares, which was distributed among
all the local Armenians, Russians and Georgians, leaving Dukhoborets
with only 600 hectares.
“We gave between six and 15 hectares to each Dukhobor family,” said
the head of the local administration Azat Yegoyan. “This is quite a
lot for one family.”
The head of the land commission, Askanas Markosian, said no
particular criteria had been applied when the plots were being
distributed. Precedence was given to local farmers, “as they feed
the state and have people working for them.”
Auctions will soon be held to sell off the rest of the land.
Most local officials see the collective farm as an unwanted remnant of
Soviet times, which leaders of the Dukhobor community were exploiting
skilfully to avoid sharing lands with migrant Armenians and Georgians.
But the Dukhobors have been reluctant to give up their common farm
and few of them understand what it will mean to have private property.
Dukhobors say the farm is far more than an agricultural enterprise,
but something that preserves their communal traditions.
“Since time immemorial Dukhobors have been living as a commune,”
explained Lyubov Demina. “People here don’t want to readjust to a new
way of life. All the other collective farms in the area were abolished,
but we reorganised ours. We did this because we thought that we would
live as long as our communal way of life did.”
Like all other Dukhobor families in Gorelovka, Olga Medvedeva’s
family still lives in a small peasant’s hut that resembles a Russian
19th-century home.
Whitewashed on the outside, the walls of the house are made of
dung bricks. The light coming in through small windows rests on
patterned embroideries, tapestries and a Russian stove that smells
of smouldering coals.
Having washed her hands in the wash-stand, Olga cuts newly-baked
bread and puts the generous slices on an old wooden table.
She said she worked milking cows in Gorelovka’s collective farm for
20 years. This year her family was given 10 hectares of land, around
the same amount as they had from the collective farm.
“A lot of people used to work on the collective farm, and if a family
had a milkmaid and tractor driver, it was a well-off,” she said with
sadness in her voice.
Tatyana Chuchmayeva, head of the Dukhobor community, said that 470
local Dukhobors had sent applications to the Russian government to
move to Russia. They are being promised free transport, housing and
benefits for six months.
“Gorelovka’s Dukhobors are now waiting for the beginning of next year,
when the State Duma will start considering resettlement projects from
provinces, and then they will know exactly where they will be moved,”
said Chuchmayeva.
Olga Medvedeva’s family is among the applicants for participation in
the program.
“If everyone goes, I won’t stay here either,” she said. “But it will
be a pity, because I’ve spent my whole life here.”
Olesya Vartanian is a journalist for Southern Gates newspaper,
founded by IWPR in the Samtskhe-Javakheti region.

Thursday, Sep 21 2006 9:56 am GMT+2
Elif ªafak’s trial begins
Thursday, September 21, 2006
ISTANBUL – Turkish Daily News — Novelist and TDN writer Elif ªafak
will today face the court on charges of insulting Turkishness for
what a fictional character in her book, “The bastard of Istanbul,”
says about the killings of Armenians in 1915.
“The Bastard of Istanbul” is a sweeping saga of four generations of
women moving between Turkey and the United States and recounting the
tale of an Armenian family that fled the massacres of 1915, leaving
behind a child who was reared as a Turk and a Muslim.
Charges against ªafak are based on the controversial Turkish Penal
Code (TCK) Article 301 that criminalizes any insult to the state,
state institutions, top officials and Turkishness.
Many other famous journalists and novelists have been subject of trials
based on the article and the government is under pressure to change it.
ªafak, who last weekend became a mother, will not attend Thursday’s
court session.
YTL 5,000 for insulting the PM:
Birgun daily columnist Erbil Tuºalp was found guilty yesterday of
insulting Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, with the Ankara
25th Criminal Court ordering the journalist to pay YTL 5,000 in
compensation.
Tuºalp was found guilty of insulting the prime minister for comments
he made in an article, where he asked if Erdogan had suffered from
a high-fever as a child and used the term, “psychotic aggressive,”
to describe him.
Tuºalp’s lawyer argued the comments were not insults, but criticisms,
failing to convince the court.
Erdogan had asked for YTL 10,000 in compensation.
–Boundary_(ID_pux6HxliC5wIMMJtktS7 sg)–

Armenia: composite consumer confidence index 103.1% in Q3 2006
FreshPlaza, Netherlands
Wednesday September 20
In the 3rd quarter of 2006, the composite consumer confidence index
was 103.1% in Armenia – a 3.1% rise compared to the 2nd quarter of
2006, the CBA press service reports. On the other hand, a 1.1% fall
was recorded in the 3rd quarter of 2006 compared to the corresponding
period of last year.
The Central Bank of Armenia (CBA) reports that in the 3rd quarter
of 2006 the consumer confidence index was 50.32 on a 100-mark scale
against 48.81 in the 2nd quarter and 51.3 in the 1st quarter. In the
2nd quarter of 2005, 51.3 consumer confidence index was recorded,
50.9 in the 3rd quarter and 51.5 in the 4th quarter.
Early in 2005, the CBA started conducting quarterly surveys of
non-financial, financial organizations and households. The goal of
the surveys is estimating the difference between the current and
previous periods, economic expectations of the entities involved,
calculating and publishing the key economic indices.
The survey involved about 700 organizations engaged in the industrial,
construction and service spheres, as well as 2,100 households both in
Yerevan and in Armenia’s regions. The business environment, economic
activity and consumer confidence indices are calculated on a 100-mark
scale. A mark over 500 shows high activity, one below 50 low activity
and 50 shows an unchanged situation.
nfidence.htm

Documents of three historical churches sent to UNESCO
IRNA
Kashan, Sept 21, IRNA
Iran-Cultural Heritage-UNESCO
Deputy Head of Iran’s Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism
Organization (CHTO) Taha Hashemi said that documents of three
historical churches in Iran have been sent to the United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to be
registered in the world historical monuments.
Speaking on the sidelines of a meeting of the organization in Niasar,
Kashan, on Wednesday afternoon, Hashemi named the three churches as;
Tataous known as ” Qara Kelisa”( The Black Church), Stepanous and
Zorzor churches.
He added according to the Armenians the Tataous church is the first
church built in the world.
It is located in the West Azerbaijan province.
Hashemi said that Tataous was one of the evangelists close to the
prophet Jesus (PBUH), who came to the northwestern part of Iran,
Armenia and Azerbaijan.
King of Armenia ordered Tataous and his 3,500 followers, including
the king’s daughter (Seendokht) to be killed.
Tataous was buried in the venue of Qara Kelisa area.
300 years later, people built a church on the grave of Tataous and
since then Armenians have held ceremonies there annually.
Stepanous church is located in the East Azerbaijan and it is one of
the oldest churches in the world, too.
Zorzor church is located in the East Azerbaijan province, and is 700
years old.
This church was relocated in 1997 because of building a big dam in
the area and was rebuilt on the top of a hill.
The Iranian official said all documents and maps have been sent to
the UNESCO and its experts are to visit the venues soon, and then
the churches will be in the world heritage list in 2008.
So far, 44 churches from 500 existing churches in Iran have been
registered in the national heritage list.

Turkey Puts Novelist Shafak on Trial, Risking Breach With EU
By Ayla Jean Yackley
Bloomberg
Last Updated: September 20, 2006 19:29 EDT
Sept. 21 (Bloomberg) — Turkey will put novelist Elif Shafak on trial
today on charges she denigrated the national identity, in a case that
may trigger a showdown with the European Union over the government’s
failure to permit freedom of speech.
Shafak, 34, faces up to three years in prison if the Istanbul court
rules she “insulted Turkishness” in her best- selling novel, “The
Bastard of Istanbul.”
The charges, under Article 301 of the country’s penal code, stem from
a passage in which one character, an ethnic Armenian, says “Turkish
butchers” massacred his ancestors in a 1915 “genocide.”
The EU has repeatedly told Turkey that prosecuting writers for
expressing ideas isn’t acceptable and said the country’s year-old
membership talks may break down if Turkey fails to improve human
rights. Shafak’s case may show the European Commission, which is
drafting a report on Turkey’s progress toward membership, whether
those warnings are being heeded.
“The commission is following this case, and we’ll report on the
issue of freedom of expression” in an assessment due Nov. 8, said
Krisztina Nagy, a commission spokeswoman, in a telephone interview
today. Turkey must “amend Article 301 and other vaguely formulated
articles in order to guarantee expression,” she said. The commission
is the EU’s executive branch.
A setback to membership talks with Turkey, which hopes to become the
EU’s first Muslim member, may inflame tensions between Europe and
the Islamic world, and hurt efforts by Turkish Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdogan to anchor Turkey in the West and lure investment to
its $360 billion economy.
`Isolated Entity’
“My case and others like it are an attempt to stop the EU process
by forces that want Turkey to remain an enclosed, isolated entity,”
Shafak said on Sept. 5 at a press briefing. “Anti-Islamic elements
in Europe also feed off of it.”
Turkey, a country of 72 million people, has ignored the latest EU
calls for legal changes to defend free expression. The issue wasn’t
addressed in a package of EU-inspired reforms currently under debate
at an emergency session of Parliament, which cut short its summer
recess to pass the laws before the EU’s progress report comes out.
“It’s very regrettable the government has chosen not to revise or
abolish Article 301 at this time and a worrying sign it’s not committed
to the reform process,” said Emma Sinclair- Webb, a researcher on
Turkey at Amnesty International in London.
The case against Shafak, the author of seven novels and an assistant
professor at the University of Arizona, “is in the realm of thought
crimes,” Sinclair-Webb said. More than 40 writers, journalists,
publishers, academics and others have been prosecuted under Article
301, introduced in May 2005 and designed to meet EU standards, said
BiaNet, a press-advocacy group.
“The penetration of the domain of art and literature is the dimension
that worries me most,” Shafak said.
“It’s peculiar to bring a novel into court, that a fictional character
is in the dock.”
Armenians
Like Shafak, Orhan Pamuk, Turkey’s best-known novelist whose books
have been translated into 34 languages, and Hrant Dink, an ethnic
Armenian journalist, have been prosecuted for their statements on
the massacre of Armenians during World War I. Pamuk was acquitted on
technical grounds in January, while Dink was convicted and given a
suspended six-month jail sentence in May.
Armenia says 1.5 million people were killed in a genocide by Ottoman
Turks beginning in 1915. The Turkish Republic, established in 1923
after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, says the killings were the
result of internecine fighting and not part of a centrally planned
campaign.
The government considers allegations of genocide acts of treason. So
does Kemal Kerincsiz, the head of a nationalist lawyers’ group that
filed the initial complaint against Shafak, as well as Pamuk and Dink.
“We believe it’s our responsibility to bring Elif Shafak and others
who curse our national values to justice,” said Kerincsiz in a
telephone interview.
“We would be very pleased if this meant the EU didn’t take us.”
Others say Erdogan’s government, which has achieved more progress
toward meeting EU standards than any of its predecessors, doesn’t
understand how crucial unfettered discourse is for the EU.
“Freedom of speech is the government’s blind spot,” said Haluk Sahin,
a professor at Bilgi University and a Radikal newspaper writer in
Istanbul, in an interview. Sahin was acquitted in April of charges
brought under Article 301.
“It does not appreciate the seriousness of prosecuting people for
these so-called crimes in the democratic world and how damaging it
is to our EU prospects,” Sahin said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Ayla Jean Yackley in Istanbul
at on [email protected]
Last Updated: September 20, 2006 19:29 EDT
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

e-Travel Blackboard (press release), Australia
Air France KLM 2006/2007 winter schedule
Thursday, September 21, 2006
Strong increase in capacity to Latin America and Asia
3.6% increase in Air France and KLM’s combined offer
For the winter 2006/2007 season, the Air France KLM
Group’s seat capacity will grow by 3.6% compared with
winter 2005/2006, with a 3.0% increase on the
long-haul network and 5.7% on the medium-haul network.
Both airlines will expand capacity to long-haul
destinations, particularly to Latin America (up 9.5%)
and Asia (up 6.1%). Capacity to Africa and the Middle
East will be increased by 2.1%. Capacity to North
America (up 0.2%) will remain stable compared with the
winter 2005-2006 season, while capacity to the French
Caribbean & Indian Ocean networks will be slightly
reduced (down 1.9%).
On the medium-haul network, Air France is boosting
capacity mainly to Eastern Europe, while the addition
of the seventh connecting bank at Schiphol airport
this summer will enable KLM to increase its number of
frequencies.
The fleet modernization programme continues, with the
arrival this winter of three Airbus A330-200s at KLM
to replace their Boeing 767-300s, the phasing out of
Air France’s remaining Boeing 737-500s, replaced by
Airbus A318/319/320s and the continued roll-out of the
new Boeing 777-300ERs on the Caribbean and Indian
Ocean routes. By the end of this winter season,
practically the entire Air France long-haul fleet will
be equipped with the new cabin interiors.
Air France and KLM are coordinating flight times and
expanding their respective schedules to provide their
customers with the most attractive combined offering.
Passengers now benefit from a choice of two flight
times on the same day by opting to travel one way with
either KLM via Amsterdam or with Air France via Paris
at the most attractive fares available. Flying Blue
programme members can benefit from a privileged
service, earn and use Miles on all routes served by
both airlines.
Focus on the Air France schedule
Long-haul schedule (2.7% increase in available
seat-km)
In line with this summer, Air France has upped its
capacity to the Middle East by 13.8% in available
seat-km.
This winter, Djeddah will be served non-stop four
times weekly by a “Dedicate” Airbus A319. The
suspension of the onward segment from Cairo to Djeddah
has resulted in more available seat capacity to Cairo.
There will be more frequencies to Riyadh (six weekly
flights by a “Dedicate” A319). This summer’s new daily
service to Amman is maintained and the three weekly
flights to Damascus will be increased to four this
winter.
Two-digit growth in capacity on the Latin America
network, up 11.9%. There will be more flights to Sao
Paulo with twelve weekly frequencies, including one
flight operated with a Boeing 777-300 and a second
flight five times weekly by Airbus 330-200. Thanks to
the cooperation agreement signed with the Brazilian
airline TAM in July 2006, Air France now serves a
total of 16 destinations in Brazil.
There will be more flights to Mexico City, with twelve
weekly flights instead of nine last winter, and an
additional daily flight operated with our SkyTeam
alliance partner, Aeromexico.
Air France is increasing its capacity to Argentina and
Chile, offering a total of twelve weekly frequencies,
up from last year’s ten. Flights to Santiago (five
times weekly) and Buenos Aires (one daily flight) are
all non-stop.
In Asia (capacity increase of 5.6%), Air France and
Delta, SkyTeam partners, have coordinated their
flights to India. Delta has suspended its
Paris-Chennai (Madras) service, a route which Air
France will be operating as of 30 October with three
weekly flights by Airbus A340.
There will be more flights from Paris to Mumbai
(Bombay), operated with Boeing 777-300 during the peak
season between December and February, and also to
Bangalore, now served daily.
Flights to Vietnam (Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City) will
continue to connect in Bangkok with larger aircraft
(Boeing 747-400) to cater to increased demand.
Finally, the three additional frequencies to Hong Kong
and Shanghai, launched this summer, have been
maintained, making a total of ten weekly flights.
In Africa, the main changes concern Johannesburg which
will benefit from two additional frequencies, making a
total of twelve weekly flights. There will be a fifth
weekly frequency to Port Harcourt, once the airport
reopens. Kenya Airways will be reopening its
Paris-Nairobi route served three times weekly in
partnership with Air France.
In addition to the roll-out of the new Boeing 777-300
on the Caribbean and Indian Ocean routes, there will
be more flights to most destinations to cater to
increased demand during the winter season: non-stop
flights to and from Punta Cana and Santo Domingo will
resume. Havana and Mauritius will once again be served
daily and there will now be six weekly flights to the
Seychelles, in cooperation with Air Seychelles,
instead of the previous five.
In North America, as was the case last winter, the
summer flight schedule has been reorganized to match
seasonal traffic demand. There will be fewer
frequencies and aircraft changes to a certain number
of destinations.
On this network, the main change concerns the
reorganization of services to Los Angeles and Papeete.
The new flight schedule will enable Air France to
offer four weekly flights to Papeete via Los Angeles,
and sixteen flights instead of the previous fourteen
between Paris and the Californian capital. Our
code-share agreement with Air Tahiti Nui has been
terminated.
The twice-daily service launched this summer between
Paris and Houston will continue, with twelve weekly
frequencies.
Since the beginning of September, a code-share
agreement with our SkyTeam partner Northwest has
enabled Air France to boost seat capacity on flights
to Detroit. This winter, the Paris-CDG – Detroit route
will be served with twelve weekly flights.
Medium-haul schedule (7.2% increase in available
seat-km)
Growth will mainly focus on Eastern Europe in addition
to the three new destinations added to the medium-haul
network this summer: Katowice in Poland (three daily
flights), Leipzig in Germany (two daily flights) and
Yerevan in Armenia (three weekly flights) and more
frequencies to Zagreb in Croatia (now served
twice-daily).
There will be more flights to Dublin (seven daily
flights since this summer) and Edinburgh (three daily
flights). The Paris-CDG – Helsinki service has been
supplemented with a fifth daily departure, in
cooperation with Finnair.
In southern Europe, Air France will serve Athens
four-times weekly instead of the previous three last
winter. Air Europa has been operating twice-daily to
Valencia and three-times daily to Malaga on a
code-share basis with Air France since this summer.
Portugalia operates four daily flights to Oporto.
In line with this summer, the Paris-CDG – Algiers
route will be supplemented with a third daily
departure. Finally, the launch this summer of a second
daily flight to Tel Aviv will be continued.
On the inter-European network, the Nantes-London
Gatwick and Bordeaux-Dublin flight services have been
suspended.
Domestic schedule (1.4% increase in available-seat km)
The Paris-Orly – Annecy route will be supplemented
with three weekly frequencies (thereby increasing the
number of daily flights to four during peak periods)
and the introduction of an ATR-72 seating 70 replacing
the ATR-42 seating 48.
The third daily Paris-CDG-Rennes flight and the fourth
daily Lyon-Rennes flight, launched this summer, will
continue to operate during the winter season.
Finally, the Le Havre-Rouen-Lyon service will be
suspended early January. The Le Havre-Lyon and
Rouen-Lyon routes will be operated three times daily
with the ATR42 with a seat capacity for 48 passengers.

Bedford storytelling festival sure to provide some tall tales
By Kathleen Cordeiro/ Staff Writer
Westford Eagle, MA
Thursday, September 21, 2006
“Three apples fell from heaven:
One for the teller of the tale;
One for the listener;
And one for all the people of the world.”
-Traditional Armenian ending for stories
If the traditional Armenian ending for stories is true, the heavens
above Bedford will break open next weekend, when the Three Apples
Storytelling Festival brings together storytellers from around the
state and across the country in a weekend of masterful performances,
amateur story swaps and traveling tales.
Now in its 22nd year, the festival demonstrates that storytelling is
for children, octogenarians and everyone in between. And while Three
Apples (Sept.
30-Oct. 1) has adults-only events ranging from evening performances
to classes with the masters, the best memories may be made in the
family-friendly performances that take place throughout the day on
Saturday, or from the vantage point of a blanket at the free events
on Bedford’s Town Common.
The storytellers have been selected for the breadth and balance they
will bring to the event, according to Susan Harris, treasurer of the
Three Apples Storytelling Festival. The three featured performers
are a case in point. Jay O’Callahan – one of the founding members
of Three Apples – has been a storyteller for 25 years. His stories
range from his growing up years in Boston, to the dramas of World
War II to species extinction. O’Callahan has discovered stories as
well as told them as he travels around the world to perform.
“The storyteller of old got on a horse,” he said.
“I get on a plane, parachute into a community and I’m part of its
life for a while before moving on to the next one.”
O’Callahan will host a family concert on Saturday afternoon and will
open the festival on Saturday morning with fellow featured performer
Elizabeth Ellis.
Ellis is a renowned teller of Appalachian and Texas tales and stories
of heroic American women. She grew up in the Appalachian Mountains
and learned to tell stories from her grandfather, a circuit-riding
minister. Although Ellis has been a featured performer at storytelling
festivals around the world, this will be her first appearance at the
Three Apples. In addition to opening the weekend, she will perform
for school-age children.
Rounding out the trio of featured performers is Antonio Rocha, who has
studied mime with masters Marcel Marceau and Tony Montanaro. His tales
take listeners on a journey to his native Brazil and around the world,
using mime, theater and sound effects.
Rocha will host the free Community Stage on Bedford Town Common and
perform for school-age children Saturday afternoon.
O’Callahan, Ellis and Rocha will be joined by 10 accomplished
storytellers from around New England, who have been selected based
on their body of work In addition, there will be selected tellers
(all members of the League for the Advancement of New England
Storytelling) who auditioned specifically for this year’s Three
Apples Storytelling Festival. Among the storytellers hailing from the
surrounding communities are Tim Seston of Concord, Robert Isenberg
of Lexington, Jim LaChapelle of Wilmington and Joey Talbert of Sherborn
“Every year we find people we have never heard of before,” Harris
said. This year, Vics & Sticks are among those unknowns. They are
musical storytellers from Leicester and will host a portion of the
Story Swap on Bedford Common.
The festival spent its first 21 years in Harvard, a beloved venue
that the festival finally outgrew, according to Harris. “We looked
for a community that was similar to Harvard, to maintain the intimate
nature of the festival,” she said. Bedford is that town.
Bedford Center for the Arts, which is the festival host, has worked to
ensure that festival-goers are warmly welcomed, with indoor performance
venues located close to the Common, free parking – even for bicyclists
who take advantage of the Minuteman Bike Trail – and shuttle buses
from selected parking lots.
At two sites, Town Common and the John Glenn Middle School, there
will be a marketplace and food.
Visitors can find published selections from every featured
teller. Homemade meals and apple treats will be available for purchase,
benefiting Bedford community groups.
The schedule
Performances on and around the Bedford Town Common begin on Saturday,
Sept. 30 at 10 a.m. with the Festival Opening featuring Ellis and
O’Callahan. Bring a blanket and enjoy the free Story Swapping Ground
from 10:30 a.m. to 5:15 p.m. on the Common. Anyone from toddlers to
adults, amateurs to professional tellers, can share a story.
At 11:30 a.m. and 3:45 p.m. on Saturday are a selection of eight
performances for adult, elementary and preschool audiences at indoor
venues around the Common.
Gain insight into how storytellers work on their craft with Antonio
Rocha at the free Community Stage on the Town Common at 12:30
p.m. Rocha will work with volunteer audience members to improve their
storytelling right in front of your eyes.
Participate in Traveling Tales and see how stories evolve over time
as they are told and re-told. Look for people with story pouches
and ask them to tell you the story, then you get the pouch and pass
the story onto the next person who asks. Come to the Traveling Tales
Finale on the Town Common at 4:45 p.m. to see what happened to the
stories over the course of the day.
Special Events take place at the John Glenn Middle School including
the Family Concert with Jay O’Callahan at 2 p.m., an Adult Concert
with Jay O’Callahan at 7 p.m. and Down Home Humor featuring Elizabeth
Ellis, Kevin Brooks and Antonio Rocha at 8:30 p.m. Or if you dare,
join Terror in the Night Ghost Stories with Laura Packer, Tony Toledo
and Elizabeth Ellis at First Parish Bedford at 8:30 p.m.

Who is the Enemy of the US in Turkey?
By Sedat Laciner
Journal of Turkish Weekly
21 September 2006
Recently, there is an inflation of claims in Turkey arguing that
hatred against the US is surging and so-called anti-Semitism is on the
peak. In particular, after the Iraq War in 2003, some circles in the
US claim that Turkey is ruled by an Islamist government, and that the
government supports anti-American and anti-Israeli groups. According
to this view, Turkey is an obstacle in the implementation of the
American and Israeli policies in the Middle East. There are those
who maintain that the current government should be toppled in order
to overcome this situation.
First of all, one must admit that there has recently been a notable
reaction particularly in Turkey against the American and Israeli
policies. In the surveys conducted by our organization, ISRO (USAK),
in March 2005, we found the emergence of a reaction against the US and
Israel. The study found that 91 % of the Turkish public did not approve
the policies of US President George W. Bush. Those who support Bush’s
policies was only 0,5 %. In the USAK’s friend-enemy perception survey,
the US and Israel got the lowest ranking. However, these statistics
don’t imply that Turkish people are exception in global trends. The
US’ policies on Iraq and global terrorism are largely disapproved
by the world as well. Bush’s policies are a subject of mockery even
in the US. The same survey also suggests that Turkish people don’t
hate the US or Americans, and reactions are conjectural as a result
of current American policies. For example, 74 % of the respondents
still see the US as an ally of Turkey.
Those who state they hated the US were only 4 %. There is a fact that
Turks dislike Bush but appreciate Clinton very much. Same is true
for Israel. Turkey is one of the countries where anti-Semitism has no
historical roots. Turks and Turkey are against the Israeli policies,
but not Israel. In this sense, Turkey isn’t more anti-Israeli than
any other country in the globe.
So, why is there an increasing concern in the US that Turkey is going
anti-American? Why are some people trying to give the impression that
Turkey has become an al-Qaeda base?
There are various reasons for that:
The Turkish government is blamed for the rejection of the proposal in
March 1, 2003 (tezkere), which would have allowed the US troops to use
Turkish territory for military passage to Iraq. Some neo-cons in the
US cannot accept this result. They think that they were betrayed by
Turkey. The US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is the most prominent
person in this group.
Rumsfeld has blamed the inability to gain permission to invade Iraq
through Turkey for the power of the insurgency that the US now
faces. (1) For Rumsfeld, had Turkey given the permission, the US
wouldn’t have suffered this many of fatalities and Iraq would have
been a totally different country. Rumsfeld may be right on that
point in some degree. However, it can be seen that the US lacked
proper understanding of Turkey’s importance before the March 1
voting. Before the war, the US thought that Turkey would definitely
approve the proposal, and in a way, confused Turkish Assembly with
the other ones in the Middle East.
Moreover, the approval became much less likely because of the
US’ indifferent attitude. They treated the subject like a horse
trading. They were so arrogant in very minor topics that they
attracted great negative reaction from the Turkish public. Secondly,
it wouldn’t be fair to blame the government for the rejection of the
proposal in the Assembly. It is true that the government did some
small mistakes. However, the Turkish PM Tayyip Erdogan still says that
“the proposal should have been approved”. The government did its best
to get the approval from the Parliament.
As a matter of fact, all of those who voted for the approval were the
governing AKP’s (Justice and Development Party) MPs, who were blamed
for being “Islamist” and anti-American. In addition, the proposal
was rejected with only a few vote-margin.
Besides, those who voted affirmative were more than those who voted
negative, but there was no simple majority due to abstentions. As
opposed to the general belief, it is the traditional leftist party,
CHP (Republican People’s Party), which voted “no” collectively,
that caused the proposal to be rejected.
Even today, the party leader Deniz Baykal tells this story as one of
the party’s biggest successes. Another reason of rejection was the
Army’s implicit message a day before the voting that the result was
not very important for itself. The Turkish Army, expressing its views
in almost every case, did not make any statement in such a crucial
matter. In the National Security Council meeting which was held a day
before the voting, the Army’s silence on the issue was perceived as
the Army was against the approval.
Some right-wing Jewish groups in the US see AKP and al-Qaeda
identical. These groups characterize governing AKP as “Islamist”,
and claim that Turkey is leaning towards Islamism at the expense
of Westernism.
However, AKP leadership totally rejects “Islamism” idea. The AKP leader
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, with an inspiration from Christian Democrats,
defines his party as Muslim Democrat. One can also say that AKP,
like the early years of ANAP (Motherland Party), is an umbrella party
embodying many different groups, including liberals and leftists. But
claiming that Turkey has become an Islamist state during the AKP
rule is a quiet exaggerated assessment. During this period, Turkey
has achieved the most notable reforms in its history in the fields
of democratization and Westernization, also thanks to the EU process.
Negotiations for full membership have begun with the EU, and the
Turkish economy has achieved a dramatic growth in integration with
the Western economies during this period ironically called by some
Islamist.
The third important reason is the claim that Turkey has shifted
towards an anti-Israeli posture with the AKP government. It is true
that the PM Erdogan has harshly criticized Israel. In one of his
speeches, Erdogan went as far as asserting that Israel has had some
conducts which might be termed as “state terrorism”. However, this
firm attitude against Israel is not peculiar to AKP’s Erdogan. His
predecessor Bulent Ecevit, a leftist politician, also blamed Israel
for committing “genocide” against the Palestinians. Similarly, the
leftist opposition party CHP’s leader Deniz Baykal also makes very
harsh statements criticizing Israel. The far leftist and rightist
parties in Turkey all also criticize Israel sharply. In other words,
we cannot say that the Turco-Israeli relations have deteriorated
during the AKP government. On the contrary, the Israeli Ambassador to
Ankara, Pinhas Avivi, has stated that the good relations between the
two countries have reached its peak in history during the current
Turkish government. Delivering a speech at ISRO (USAK) on September
6, 2006, the Ambassador said that the economic relations between two
countries have for the first time passed $10 billion and described the
relations as “strategic”. In other words, the relations are getting
stronger and stronger regardless of the discourses. In this context,
one should remember that it was the Turkish leftists which opposed
most outspokenly to the Galataport investment project in Istanbul
by the Israeli businessman Ofer, and it was leftist CHP which
initiated campaigns to cancel this deal. On the other hand, it is
interesting to see that Prime Minister Erdogan, who was accused of
being “Islamist”, warned the left-wing parties “not to act like the
economic anti-Semitics”.
The fourth, and maybe the most important, reason is the complaints
to the US from Turkey. Those who cannot win the elections or who
doesn’t trust his personal or institutional influence in Turkey think
that the road to power passes through the US. For this reason, many
politicians and bureaucrats (civilian or not) have recently visited
the US. During these visits, the most prominent argument of the
groups opposing AKP government was that there was a polarization of
Islamists vs. secularists in Turkey. Stressing that this government
was “Islamist” and “anti-Western”, these opposition groups asked for
American support to topple the government. The visitors from Turkey not
only talked to officials but also paid visits to the ethnic-religious
and political lobbies to share their views. The effects of these
groups perhaps are much more influential than anything else in the
emergence of an anti-Turkish atmosphere in the US.
The Turkey experts of Turkish origin in the US: Some of the Turkey
experts of Turkish origin, who have difficulty in maintaining their
posts or maintaining their posts with some preconditions, are trying
to retain their posts by giving an impression in the US that there is
a strong polarization in Turkey. The extension of their contracts is
conditioned to defend certain views, and these contracts are usually
offered by groups which see Turkey as we defined above. In addition,
the institutions in the US only want to hear what they want to hear
and ignore criticisms of the US, and this keeps the Turkey experts
under grave pressure. Because of this, many “experts” have to defend
the views which they don’t approve just to maintain their projects and
grants. Some other Turkish experts, who are less in number, present
their personal ideological positions as the views reflecting Turkey.
Who is the Enemy of the US in Turkey?
It is clear for many that there has been a strong anti-Americanism
in Turkey since the World War II. The US Congress’ support to the
Armenian radicals and also its support of the Greek side in the Cyprus
issue are some of the reasons for the Turkish dislike of the US.
The most important reason undermining the image of the US in
Turkey was the arms embargo imposed on Turkey in the 1970s with
the influence of the Greek lobby in the US. In the following years,
the PKK terror and the Kurdish issue in Turkey have been the main
problems in Turco-American relations. It is noteworthy to see that
it has been the Jewish lobby which defended Turkish interests in the
Congress during this period. Another striking point is that, contrary
to the general belief in the West, the basis of anti -Americanism in
Turkey is not Islamist movements, but secular leftist ideologies. The
anti-Americanism and -Westernism in Turkey is, generally, a leftist
movement. What is more, one can even say that being a leftist, being
anti-Israeli and anti-American are almost synonymous.
For example, the demonstrations protesting the arrival of the US
6th Fleet in Turkey in the 1960s has been one of the legends of the
Turkish left. On the other hand, Turkish right-wing has always been
willing to improve the relations with the US. As a matter of fact,
it is not coincidence to see that the most noticeable improvements
in relations with the US have taken place during the conservative
rightist governments (Menderes, Demirel, Ozal etc.) in Turkey.
Even the far rightist groups such as Islamists and nationalists have
never been as critical as the leftists about the US. Both groups
criticize the US and Israeli policies as a populist method to draw
support from the masses during election campaigns.
However, when any of these parties were in power, they refrained
from any action which could harm the relations. Furthermore, the
Islamist governments, in their coalition governments, improved
relations with the US and Israel just because they were concerned
with secular reactions to their political leanings. It is striking
to note that the most significant security agreement between Israel
and Turkey was signed by the government of Necmettin Erbakan, known
to be an Islamist, in 1996.
However, anti-American and anti-Israeli stand has been an important
part of CHP, the centrist and moderate leftist party. Many MPs in
CHP take the issue back to the Turkish War of Salvation (1919-1922)
and claim that the West still wants to divide Turkey. For CHP,
the PKK is supported by the Western powers, and there is a Western
bloc against Turkey in Cyprus and Armenian problems. CHP also sees
the US’ Middle East policies as conspiracies to divide Turkey. CHP
opposes not only political liberalism, but also economic one, and it
has been the political party which resists privatization the most. In
particular, the sale of Turkish state companies to Israel and the US is
unacceptable to CHP. Its strong opposition to the investments of Ofer,
an Israeli businessman, in Turkey and its campaign to prevent these
investments are indications of CHP’s posture on this issue. Not only
CHP, but DSP, another left-wing party, is also very critical of the US
and Israel. The campaign “no sale of Turkish property to foreigners”
initiated by Rahsan Ecevit, one of the most influential figures of the
party, is the peak of distrust against Israel and the West. According
to Ecevit, Israeli citizens are buying large areas of land from the
southeast of Turkey and this will be a process which will eventually
lead to the division of Turkey.
The anti-Americanism is much more sharper in far leftist groups,
and this may turn into terrorist activities as in the case of DHKP-C
(The Salvation Party-Front of Revolutionary People). The far leftist
Worker Party, led by Dogu Perincek, is quiet sure that the US and
Israel wants to divide Turkey. Perincek strictly opposes privatization,
liberal economy, Turkey’s NATO membership, its cooperation with the
US and Israel, and even sees all of these as treason.
For some groups in the US, the Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer
acts as a balance against the so-called Islamist government in its
anti-Israeli and -Western policies. First of all, the MPs of Erbakan’s
Islamist party gave full support to Sezer’s election in 2000.
So to say, Sezer was elected thanks to the votes of the “Islamist
MPs”. It is true that Sezer is a fanatic secular, and his radical
stand against Islamism is evident. However, it is impossible to
say that President Sezer is pro-Israeli and -Western, and that he
counterweighs Erdogan on this issue. In fact, Sezer’s anti-Westernism
is incomparably stronger than that of Erdogan’s. His close relationship
with the Syrian President Beshar al-Assad, his views that Turkey should
establish regional alliances and should improve relations with Iran and
Russia instead of the US and the EU indicate that he is closer to the
“ulusalcilar” (leftist-nationalists). Sezer’s skepticism towards the
West is so strong that he has serious reservations regarding Turkey’s
full membership process in the EU. His opposition to privatization
and market economy are also noteworthy.
In 2005, he insisted to visit Syria challenging the US’ open
warnings. In brief, one cannot say that President Sezer is a
pro-Israeli and -American. In this sense, Erdogan’s government is
closer to the US, the EU and Israel than Sezer is.
Though less in number, another voiceful group is “ulusalcilar”
(leftist-nationalists). This group, which sometimes cooperate with the
right-wing nationalists, is perhaps the forerunner of opposition to
the US and Israel. This group is anti-Israeli and hostility against
the US is at the center of their policies. They cannot even get 1%
of the votes in the elections, yet they are still influential to some
extent on the President and some media companies.
Finally, the Turkish Army, claimed to be a balancer against
the current government, has no obvious anti- or pro-Western
attitude. Traditionally, the Turkish Army sees the future of Turkey
in the West. However, this affiliation can be defined as locating
Turkey in the West despite the West, i.e., it is based on never
fully trusting the West. Regarding Israel, it is seen that there is
a considerable distrust against Israel within the Army and this has
been growing recently.
Many military officers think that the US and Israel plan to
strengthen PKK and found a Kurdish state in North Iraq. In addition,
the anti-imperialist thoughts are still strong within the Army, which
originate from the Turkish War of Salvation. The most important reason
for Turkey’s ‘passivity’ to cooperate with the US during the Iraq
War has been the Army’s indetermination or skepticism. Had the Army
shown its willingness in favor of the proposal to involve in Iraq War,
the proposal would definitely have been approved in the Turkish Grand
National Assembly (TBMM). The Army’s unwillingness to send troops to
Lebanon was also observed by many circles. It is also quiet meaningful
to see that the Chief of General Staff, Gen. Yasar Buyukanit, rejected
at once the NATO’s request to send more troops to Afghanistan, without
even consulting to the government. In the Gulf War in 1991, the Army
also strongly opposed the decision of President Turgut Ozal to act
together with the US. The then-Chief of General Staff, Necip Torumtay,
did not want to take side with the US in Iraq in a moment when almost
the entire world was acting together with the US. Eventually, the
Chief of General Staff had to resign due to the disagreement.
To sum up, we must admit that the anti-American sentiments in Turkey
have been on the rise. However, this trend is not in contrast with the
world. The general tendency in Turkey is quiet similar to that in, say,
France, Germany or Egypt. In addition, it is not possible to define
the current government as Islamist or anti-Western. Furthermore,
the AKP government even has had no serious opposition in any of the
decisions concerning Israel or the US. The government every time
voted in favor of the policies adopted by the US and Israel. Hence,
it can be said that there is a significant illusion and manipulation
in the US towards Turkey.
21 September 2006
Trns. by Noyan OZKAYA; USAK