JAMIL CHICHEK: “WE’LL SUPPORT AZERBAIJAN IN KARABAKH ISSUE TILL THE END”
Today.Az
19 September 2006 [20:39] – Today.Az
“Law, economy and politics are linked closely. We offer setting up a
Responsible Council of Turkish-speaking countries to enhance economic
relations first of all.
“Thus, when businessmen invest capital to somewhere they are concerned
about legal solution of disputes.
We need mechanisms to address economic disputes in a short time. This
way passes through ‘Eurasia Responsible Council’,” Turkish Justice
Minister Jamil Chichek told APA’s Turkey bureau exclusively.
The Minister said they indent to headquarter the council in Istanbul
adding tha Turkey’s Union of Chambers and Exchanges supports this
project too, “Though we have sent the project to several Turk
states, they have not demonstrated the needed political will for
the implementation.”
Touching on the cooperation in juridical sphere between Turkey and
Azerbaijan, Mr.Chichek said called Azerbaijan brotherly country and
his Azerbaijani counterpart Fikret Mammadov his close friend.
“We should make efforts to enhance the cooperation between our
countries. Our juridical systems differ.
So, we need to ensure parallelism in our systems to make the work
easier,” Mr.Chichek said.
Turkish Minister also stressed that Turkey is very concerned over
Azerbaijan’s Karabakh problem underlining necessity of ending the
occupation as soon as possibly.
“International law, justice and conscience demand this. We want the
problem to be solved soon. We’ll support Azerbaijan in this issue
till the end. You know that Turkey has taken some steps not only for
the interest of Azerbaijan. All know that. We are together with our
brothers in putting an end to injustice,” he said.
Today.Az ” Politics ” Jamil Chichek: “We’ll support Azerbaijan in
Karabakh issue till the end”
19 September 2006 [20:39] – Today.Az
“Law, economy and politics are linked closely. We offer setting up a
Responsible Council of Turkish-speaking countries to enhance economic
relations first of all.
“Thus, when businessmen invest capital to somewhere they are concerned
about legal solution of disputes.
We need mechanisms to address economic disputes in a short time. This
way passes through ‘Eurasia Responsible Council’,” Turkish Justice
Minister Jamil Chichek told APA’s Turkey bureau exclusively.
The Minister said they indent to headquarter the council in Istanbul
adding tha Turkey’s Union of Chambers and Exchanges supports this
project too, “Though we have sent the project to several Turk
states, they have not demonstrated the needed political will for
the implementation.”
Touching on the cooperation in juridical sphere between Turkey and
Azerbaijan, Mr.Chichek said called Azerbaijan brotherly country and
his Azerbaijani counterpart Fikret Mammadov his close friend.
“We should make efforts to enhance the cooperation between our
countries. Our juridical systems differ.
So, we need to ensure parallelism in our systems to make the work
easier,” Mr.Chichek said.
Turkish Minister also stressed that Turkey is very concerned over
Azerbaijan’s Karabakh problem underlining necessity of ending the
occupation as soon as possibly.
“International law, justice and conscience demand this. We want the
problem to be solved soon. We’ll support Azerbaijan in this issue
till the end. You know that Turkey has taken some steps not only for
the interest of Azerbaijan. All know that. We are together with our
brothers in putting an end to injustice,” he said.

PRESS RELEASE
Armenian Community Center of Montreal
3401 Olivar-Asselin
Montreal, Qc
Contact: Harout Tavitian
Tel: 514-331-5777
E-mail: [email protected]
ARF Armen Karo Student Association
3401 Olivar-Asselin
Montreal, Qc
Contact: Harout Bekiarian
Tel: 514-892-3362
E-mail: [email protected]
Returning Dawson College Students Receive Support
Montreal, QC- The tragic events that unfolded at Dawson College, Quebec’s
largest CEGEP and home to 10,000 students, has touched us all very deeply,
and our thoughts and prayers are with the De Sousa family, the victims and
all of those whose lives changed that Wednesday afternoon.
In light of the situation and the trauma experienced by the young CEGEP
students, many are reluctant to return, the memories still too fresh. Still,
they are determined to overcome this obstacle, and will be assisted by a
support network upon their return on Tuesday, September 19.
The Armenian Community Centre of Montreal and ARF ?Armen Karo? Students?
Association have joined the effort and have already contacted Dawson?s
Student Services Administration and Counselling and Career Development
Services Department to offer psychological assistance for students with
Armenian language needs and in general at the College.
For more information, students can contact us at 514-331-5777 (confidential
voicemail) or email us at [email protected].

The Governor has issued the following message on the occasion of the
15th Anniversary of Armenian Independence.
Lisa Kalustian
Chief Deputy Director
Office of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
300 South Spring Street, Suite 16701
Los Angeles, CA 90013
(213)897-0322
FAX (213)897-0319
[email protected]
Septemb er 21, 2006
Armenian Independence Day
I am pleased to extend my warmest greetings to all those commemorating
the fifteenth anniversary of Armenian Independence.
It is always a special occasion when a people gather to rejoice
in their heritage, and I am privileged to join with the
Armenian-American community on this day of celebration. You enrich
our nation – and especially our state – through your hard work,
spirit of service and wonderful blend of cultural traditions. Thank
you for your contributions to California’s unique and evergrowing
diversity.
In honoring our own ancestries, we not only come to a better
understanding of ourselves, but we also gain a greater appreciation
for the breadth of cultures and customs that make up our Golden State.
On behalf of all Californians, please accept my best wishes for
a meaningful celebration and every future success.
Sincerely,
Arnold Schwarzenegger

WHERE JAZZ, SHOW BUSINESS AND POLITICS CONVERGE
By Ben Ratliff
New York Times
Published: September 19, 2006
WASHINGTON, Sept. 18 – The Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz, now
20 years old, has a private face and a public one, and there is a
dissonance between them.
Bill Crandall for The New York Times
Tigran Hamasyan performing at the Thelonious Monk International Piano
Competition, which he won.
The private one involves a small postgraduate program in jazz
performance, operating out of the University of Southern California,
presided over by the trumpeter and educator Terence Blanchard. The
public one is an annual jazz contest and a sparkly, self-celebrating
concert, usually recorded for television, buttressed with top-ranking
federal government officials and famous nonjazz performers.
There is a point at which pop’s intersection with jazz is a good idea:
their histories are intertwined, and each can renew the other’s
aesthetic resources. And there is a point at which the federal
government’s intersection with jazz makes sense, like the State
Department’s 50-year history of sponsoring jazz tours in foreign
countries. Past those points – and some of the events around the Monk
Institute’s Thelonious Monk International Jazz Piano Competition,
last weekend, kept going past them – a spectator starts to wonder
what the institute’s real purpose is.
Nevertheless, the semifinals of the Monk Institute’s annual
competition, which happened Saturday afternoon in the auditorium at the
Smithsonian’s Museum of Natural History, remain a fascinating index
of what young jazz musicians in the mainstream are sounding like,
and of what judges choose to reward year by year. The contest is
open to musicians under 30, and this year the instrument was piano;
the heavy-duty contest judges were Herbie Hancock, Andrew Hill,
Danilo Perez, Renee Rosnes, Billy Taylor and Randy Weston.
The winner was Tigran Hamasyan, a 19-year old Armenian pianist
currently studying at the University of Southern California, though
as an undergraduate, not within the Monk Institute program. His
performances, in both the semifinals and the finals, were intensely
searching, and stubborn in their intuitive force: jazz, for him,
is about constantly moving around the rhythmic accents in a piece
of music so that nearly every bar seems to be in a different time
signature from the last.
His concept of style, as he revealed in the standards “Cherokee” and
“Solar,” had something to do with Keith Jarrett (as did the sound
of so many other pianists in the contest), with his long-phrased,
almost intemperate melodic improvising; it had to do with Mr.
Hancock, too, and his sense of order and harmonic vocabulary. But
Mr. Hamasyan’s particular kind of nonstop rhythmic reshuffling seemed
his own.
Those who lost were piles of promise. Victor Gould, an 18-year-old
with a lovely, mysterious sense of time, drifted around “You and
the Night and the Music,” leaving phrases half-turned and drawing
out the house rhythm section, the bassist Rodney Whitaker and the
drummer Carl Allen, to help him finish phrases. Aaron Parks, 22,
who has been heard for four years in Mr.
Blanchard’s band, used strong arrangement ideas and leaned hard on
solo-piano performance to show the judges what he could do.
And Gerald Clayton from California, also 22 and the son of the bassist
John Clayton, came to destroy: his playing had huge, authoritative
presence, an Oscar Peterson-like style, highly controlled touch and
dynamics and rhapsodic, episodic soloing. (The audience broke into
applause during his solo.)
Had he won, it would have cast a different light on the whole
enterprise. Any musician can use the $20,000 prize money (half of it
earmarked for some kind of academic study), but Mr. Clayton seemed
fully formed.
Mr. Hamasyan was, excitingly, not.
At what point will jazz just crumble under the weight of the
glib encomiums paid to it? During Sunday night’s gala concert at
the Kennedy Center, former Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright
talked about how “the power of jazz enhances our cultural diplomacy,”
and another former secretary of state, Colin L. Powell, theorized
that the qualities that made effective international relations were
“the same as those that create a good jazz band.”
On Thursday night, at a half-hour White House performance presented
by the institute, with the president and the first lady as hosts –
which will be seen in February on PBS – Laura Bush gave a speech about
jazz as “an American cultural treasure.” No art should have to live
up to such cliches.
Sunday’s concert included a short, tenebrous duet between Mr. Hancock
and Wayne Shorter, as well as a number by Mr. Blanchard’s students
from the Monk Institute graduate program, playing adventurously in
up-to-the-minute mainstream jazz idioms.
But the institute saves prime spots for showboaters who aren’t
necessarily jazz performers. Anita Baker, at Thursday night’s event,
sang “My Funny Valentine” before the president, and on Sunday Stevie
Wonder was awarded the institute’s Maria Fisher Founder’s Award for
public service. Flanked by Ms. Albright and Mr.
Powell – in the kind of surreal tableau this event provides annually –
Mr. Wonder dedicated the award to his mother. “I don’t think she was a
Republican,” he added, impulsively. “I’m just trying to keep it real.”
Then he performed a drawn-out version of the standard “Midnight Sun,”
playing harmonica and singing. The rest of the band was Mr. Hancock
on piano, Ron Carter on bass, Terri Lyne Carrington on drums and Mr.
Blanchard on trumpet. (Not bad.) But it became overly eccentric,
and Mr. Wonder tried some awkward scat singing; despite the booming
power of his voice, the performance fell apart.
The program for the finals competition and gala concert recycled
old news clips implying that record-company bidding wars follow the
announcement of the winner. This is not true: the bigger labels are
barely signing new jazz artists these days, and the excellent last
two winners, the singer Gretchen Parlato and the guitarist Lage Lund,
have yet to cut much of a profile.
But whatever happens to Mr. Hamasyan, the contest brought him around
people like the judges and the contest’s rhythm section, and brought
them around him.
That’s good enough.

LACHIN CORRIDOR CONFRONTS DEMOGRAPHIC CRISIS
By Onnik Krikorian for Eurasianet
ISN, Switzerland
Tuesday, 19 September 2006
Following the 1994 Karabakh cease-fire agreement, Armenia experiences
difficulties in resettling the strategically important Lachin corridor,
which contains the road that connects Azerbaijan’s separatist republic
Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia.
The flag of the unrecognized Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh flies
over the local administrative buildings in the center of Lachin,
the strategic lynchpin connecting the disputed territory with the
Republic of Armenia. The town and surrounding area, regarded as vital
for Karabakh’s security, appear to be experiencing an unsettling
demographic shift.
Over the past 14 years, Lachin has been reshaped by the ebb and flow
of humanity. In May 1992, during the height of the Karabakh conflict,
Armenian forces captured Lachin. Typical of most military operations
against towns and villages during the war, buildings were razed and
entire populations forced to flee.
Accordingly, at least 20,000 Azerbaijanis and Kurds evacuated the
area when Armenian forces approached the town.
Armenians remained in possession of the Lachin corridor, renamed
Kashatagh, and several other Azerbaijani territories after the
signing of a Karabakh cease-fire in 1994. Shortly thereafter,
Armenia implemented a resettlement policy. Robert Matevosian,
head of the department of resettlement for the region, says that
the first Armenian arrivals came to the region out of a sense of
patriotism. These territories, “regardless of the consideration of
diplomats, must be inhabited by Armenians,” he says.
The official line is that most of the Lachin corridor’s new residents
are refugees and internally displaced persons. The situation on
the ground, however, suggests otherwise. It seems many of the new
arrivals were socially vulnerable families from towns and cities such
as Yerevan, Sisian, Jermuk and Gyumri in Armenia proper, as well as
from Karabakh itself.
They appear to have been recruited to relocate with promises of land,
livestock and social benefits.
Gagik Kosakian, deputy governor of the region, has no choice but to
stick to the official line. But he does admit that others came as
well. “There are those specialists that couldn’t find work in their
chosen profession in Armenia who also come here to find employment,”
he says from his run-down and cramped office in downtown Lachin,
which Armenians have renamed Berdzor.
Varouzhan Grigoryan, 48, is one of those professionals who sought a new
start in Lachin. The economic chaos associated with the 1991 Soviet
collapse hit Grigoryan hard. In the late Soviet era, he operated his
own dance studio in the southern Armenian town of Sisian.
Yet, amid Armenia’s economic transition, he was forced to close his
business and seek other work.
Six years ago, he moved with his family to Lachin and now he teaches
traditional Armenian dance to school children in the town, while
living with his wife and five children in a newly renovated hostel on
the outskirts. With a combined income of 70,000 drams (about US$177)
a month in addition to 20,000 drams (about US$50) in benefits for his
five children, things are better than they had been in Armenia. He
also receives another 20,000 drams in disability allowances for his
two chronically ill sons.
But while life might be better for the Grigoryans, the situation is
very different for others. The Lachin corridor covers some 3,000 square
kilometers and stretches from just below Kelbajar in the north to the
Iranian border in the south. Yet, while Lachin’s pre-war [Azerbaijani]
population stood at well over 67,000, Kosakian puts the number of
[Armenian] settlers in the entire region (that also includes the
former Azerbaijani regions of Qubatli and Zangelan) at 9,800 people,
including 2,200 living in the town of Lachin itself.
Unofficial estimates, however, put the number far lower.
Because of poor social conditions, as well as a lack of investment
and the recent transfer of the regional budget from Armenia to the
Karabakh territorial government, both officials and activists in
Lachin say that many families are leaving. Indeed, while the region’s
population was estimated at 15,000 in 2002, there are concerns that
out-migration is now reaching epidemic proportions. Sources within the
local administration estimated the population to be in the 5,000-6,000
range in 2006.
In recent weeks, Armenian newspapers have reported that families living
in the territory are complaining that initial promises have been
broken. Moreover, while a budget estimated at 2.2 billion drams has
been allocated to Lachin, nobody in the administration appears to know
how the money is being spent. Benefits averaging 4,000 drams (about
US$10) per child a month on average are also reportedly paid late.
At the outset of 2006, an incentive for new settlers – the provision
of free electricity of up to 200 kw per month for the first two
years of residency – was rescinded. Meanwhile, there are questions
about misappropriations and malfeasance, including allegations that
of 750 million drams allocated for the construction of new homes,
only 50 million drams have actually been spent.
“I think that the Karabakh authorities have no real understanding of
the importance of this region,” laments Samuel Kocharian, Director
of the AGAPE Children’s Home in Lachin. He is also one of the most
vocal critics of the local administration as well as the transfer of
the Lachin corridor’s budget from Armenia to Karabakh. He estimates
the regional population now at approximately 5,000 people.
Marine Petoyan, head of the village of Karegah, located a few
kilometers outside of Lachin, touts her village as one of the most
successful in the region.
Nevertheless, she is concerned about the future.
“Sixty percent of residents don’t have water because of the drought,”
she says. “When the natural springs dried out, this became a serious
problem,” She also says that there are numerous cases of residents
in Karegah having their electricity cut off because they have been
unable to pay their bills.
Fears of a resumption of armed conflict between Armenians and
Azerbaijanis also seem to be influencing Lachin’s demographics. “The
process of resettlement started on a large scale at the beginning
because of patriotism,” says Kocharian, “but now [Lachin] is emptying
with the same enthusiasm and on the same scale. When people heard
[Armenian Defense Minister] Serzh Sarkisyan say on television:
“‘People, is Aghdam ours? Do you want another war?’ they were worried.”
Robert Matevosian does not deny that there has been an exodus in recent
years. While not disputing the allegations and articles published in
the Armenian media, he nonetheless reacts angrily to them. “If these
reports do not result in changes here, they will do more harm than
good,” he says. “Already they are having a negative effect.”
“These articles do raise various issues that are of concern,
and that do exist here,” he admits. “These problems have affected
resettlement. […] Our officials and national [political] parties
need to think about elaborating a strategic plan for this region.”
But with the international community still pushing for a Karabakh
peace agreement, few believe any national plan of action will
surface. Samuel Kocharian, for example, doesn’t. Indeed, he even
wonders if the situation is one by design. “How wide do they want
the Lachin corridor to be?” he asked rhetorically.

PENANG’S E&O HOTEL AN HISTORIC HOLDOUT ON MODERNIZING ISLAND
By Julia Yeow
Raw Story, MA
Deutsche Presse Agentur
Published: Tuesday September 19, 2006
By Julia Yeow, Penang, Malaysia- Set in the backdrop of increasingly
modern surroundings, the white-washed walls of one of South-East
Asia’s oldest hotels still oozes with the grandeur of old-world
charm and the hint of its rich colonial past. The majestic Eastern &
Oriental Hotel, or known as the E&O, is hard to miss in Malaysia’s
northern bustling state of Penang with its multi-paneled glass doors,
Moorish minarets and a large, domed lobby.
Favoured as a weekend hangout for both locals and foreigners at its
pub, the hotel, which comes with a built-in opulent 400-seater grand
ballroom and majestic sea-front lawn, is in itself a part of the
colourful colonial history of the island state.
Built in 1885 by four Armenian brothers, the E&O is one of the oldest,
thriving hotels in the region where guests are greeted by bell-boys
dressed in khaki-coloured shorts and cone-shaped hard hats.
The Sarkies brothers, known back then for their taste for high society
living, were also responsible for later establishing neighbouring
Singapore’s Raffles Hotel, The Strand in Rangoon (now Yangon) and
the Mandarin Oriental Majapahit in Indonesia.
“It’s like staying in a part of history itself,” said Amanda Wells,
34, a hotel guest from Australia.
Pain-staking efforts to maintain and preserve the original structure
of the E&O has been made by all of its owners, with the last major
refurbishment in 1996 taking five years and more than 100 million
ringgit (27 million dollars) in renovations costs.
“Every effort has been made to keep the authenticity of the hotel,
even to the detail of original designs of light switches,” said
Elizabeth Dass, who heads the E&O’s communication department.
“Our guests will feel that time just stands still, and one can actually
feel the grandeur and magnificence of the hotel’s wondrous days of
the later 1890s,” said Dass.
But old-world charm doesn’t come cheap.
Guests can choose from any one of the hotel’s 99 suites, which also
come equipped with modern comforts of life such as wireless broadband
internet service, but must be willing to fork out anything from 203
dollars a night, to a whopping 3,244 dollars.
“The hotel caters to the demands of the more affluent traveler,
as it did even when it first opened,” said a hotel staff.
But while the high price tag has failed to deter guests, new government
development policies are threatening to phase out the popularity and
even existence of old-world attractions like the E&O.
Eager to capitalize on a booming population and economy, the government
has been aggressively developing new residential and commercial areas
around the island, sometimes at the expense of old and historical
buildings.
Critics have slammed the massive development as being “too fast-too
soon” and say that tourists have already begun to turn away.
“The deteriorating physical environment and the destruction of some of
Penang’s heritage sites has become more apparent in recent years,” said
Ronald Ng, a local resident involved in non-governmental organizations
lobbying for the preservation of historical sites.
“Throw in the poor public transport system, worsening traffic
congestion, flash floods and air pollution, and it’s easy to see why
we’re losing tourists,” Ng told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.
“Penang has always been an attraction to tourists because of our rich
colonial heritage. We’re slowly losing that because there hasn’t been
much effort to retain the old,” said a local tour agent.
According to official statistics, the occupancy rate at Penang’s
famous beach hotels as well as city hotels have been plunging in the
past five years.
Visitor arrivals fell from 3.8 million in 2000, to just under 3.0
million in 2003, while the amount of foreign tourists dipped from 62
per cent from the total to a mere 38 per cent.
Last year, tourist arrivals went up just slightly to 3.06 million –
40 per cent of whom were foreigners – as a result of a Heritage Trail
campaign promoting several historical sites in the state including
centuries-old temples and buildings like the E&O.
The small progress has sparked hope among local tourism agencies and
raised awareness of the need to conduct balanced development in the
state, said Ng.
“Places like the E&O are a reminder of our rich history.
“We will be losing more than just tourists if we leave these priceless
parts of our heritage unprotected,” he said.

CSTO HOLDS WORKSHOP FOR JOURNALISTS
Kazinform, Kazakhstan
19.09.2006 / 11:19
MOSCOW. September 19, 2006. KAZINFORM /Valentina Yelizarova/ – In
Moscow on the basis of the Russian employee training and education
institute of the Russian Internal Affairs Ministry is being conducted a
seminar for mass media of the member states of the Collective Security
Treaty Organization (CSTO).
Representatives of the leading mass media from Armenia, Kyrgyzstan,
Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Byelorussia and Russia are taking part in it.
Kazinform Agency and Kazakhstanskaya Pravda newspaper have received
invitations.
Such a seminar for mass media under the aegis of CSTO has been held
for the fourth time. It is aimed at giving a deep information course
for journalists who cover issues on antiterrorism protection, illegal
drug trade and illegal migration.
The program consists of theoretical and practical studies. CSTO Deputy
Secretary General Valery Semerikov and EurAsEC Deputy Secretary General
Bakhtiyar Urdashev participated in the opening ceremony of the seminar.

GERMAN WW2 EXPELLEES EXHIBITION ANGERS POLES
Expatica, Netherlands
News And Information For Expats
In Germany – 19 September 2006
The issue of Germans expelled from Eastern Europe after WW2 is
controversial, and a new exhibition in Berlin has received heated
criticism from Poland.
Clive Freeman visits ‘Forced Paths.’
The exhibition documents the fates of German expellees from
Eastern Europe Wilfried Rogasch stands in the foyer of Berlin’s
Kronprinzenpalais shaking his head in disbelief at the hostile
reactions in Poland to the exhibition he has organised.
Entitled “Erzwungene Wege – Flucht und Vertreibung im Europa des
20. Jahrhunderts” (“Forced Paths – Flight and Expulsion in Europe
During the 20th Century”), the exhibition fills three rooms of the
newly revamped Palais building on Berlin’s landmark street Unten
den Linden, and depicts the plight of millions of European refugees,
among them many Germans, who either fled or were expelled from their
homes at the end of World War II.
In the biggest hall, nine mass expulsion episodes get pin-pointed,
ranging from the Armenian massacres in 1915 to the German persecution
of the Jews between 1933-45, and the ethnic cleansing terror in
Bosnia-Herzegovina in the early 1990s.
Under fire
When it opened on 11 August, the Polish government and a large section
of the Polish media were quick to criticise it.
I am disappointed. I saw myself as a bridge-builder between Germany and
Poland, not as a trouble-maker. – exhibition organiser Wilfried Rogasch
“All expulsions and flights linked to the Second World War and post-war
resettlements are a painful and dramatic consequence of Hitler’s
attack on Poland and Europe. This must be remembered,” Archbishop
Jozef Michalik, chairman of the Polish Episcopal Conference, said.
He added that it must be kept in mind that German expellees’ leader
Erika Steinbach herself was born in a town near Gdansk in Nazi-occupied
Poland as the daughter of a soldier who willingly served in Adolf
Hitler’s Nazi army.
Daniel Pawlowicz, an MP for the nationalist League of Polish Families
(LPR), urged Poland’s foreign ministry to “react strongly” to the
exhibition, saying its treatment of ethnic German expellees falsified
history. The LPR is the junior partner in Poland’s governing coalition.
Pawlowicz added that the Polish government must always react in
similar cases and “show the lines” that Germans may not cross.
Warsaw’s mayor Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz even cancelled plans to visit
Berlin, telling Poland’s TVN 24 news channel that his visit to Berlin
could be misinterpreted in Poland and exploited.
Judged too soon
However Rogasch told Deutsche Presse-Agentur he was surprised by the
“hysterical reaction” in Poland.
“Even without seeing the contents of the show the Polish premier,
foreign minister and culture minister had decided it was, anti-Polish,”
he said.
At the heart of the current dispute is a campaign spearheaded by German
expellee groups aimed at creating a centre in Berlin remembering the
mass expulsions of 12-14 million ethnic Germans from several countries
of Eastern Europe after World War 11.
Rogasch frankly concedes that the Berlin exhibition, which lasts for
three months, is the “first step towards a permanent documentation
centre here in Berlin.”
There has been a fiery debate over such plans, with German Nobel
Literature Prize winner Guenter Grass – himself now in the news over
his admission he was a teenage member of the wartime Waffen SS –
warning three years ago that the creation of a centre in Berlin would
open old wounds with Germany’s eastern neighbours.
Returned loans
All expulsions and flights linked to the Second World War and post-war
resettlements are a painful and dramatic consequence of Hitler’s attack
on Poland and Europe. This must be remembered. – Polish archbishop
Jozef Michalik As a result of the controversy caused by the current
exhibition, Rogasch said he had returned several exhibition art loans
back to Poland in order, as he put it, to “avoid curators there any
possible embarrassment.”
He added: “It was my decision. They did not ask that l should do
so. So, yes, I am disappointed. I saw myself as a bridge-builder
between Germany and Poland, not as a trouble-maker.”
The curator also praised several Polish museums for “standing firm”
during a trying period.
“Pressure has been put on these institutions by the (Polish)
government, and by a large proportion of the Polish press,” he claimed.
“I find this quite outrageous in a country which belongs to the
European Union, and in which scientific and cultural institutions
should be independent of the prevailing government.
“We are all members of the International Council of Museums, which
is a part of UNESCO. As such, museums should be able to decide freely
with whom they co-operate and to whom they send loans.
Traumatic experiences
What is your opinion of ‘Forced Paths’? Write to feedback
@expatica.com.Rogasch says while the Berlin exhibition involves
the fate of 12- 14 million German refugees who either fled or were
ousted from their homes in Poland, Czechoslovakia and several other
countries in eastern Europe after World War II, it also clearly
defines the traumatic experiences of millions of other expellees from
other countries.
Supporters of the centre, like German Expellees’ leader Erika
Steinbach, who is a CDU deputy, argue that it would serve as a warning
against future expulsions.
To its advocates, the centre is deemed a natural development, an effort
to remember and understand an often forgotten fact: that, in the two
years after Germany’s World War II defeat in 1945, millions of ethnic
Germans were forced to leave countries where they and their ancestors
had lived, in some cases for centuries, and resettle in Germany itself.
Unease
But in Poland, such talk provokes considerable uneasiness. Most
critics in Poland worry the planned Berlin centre could be misused by
historical revisionists to marginalize or cast aside Nazi Germany’s
responsibility for the colossal civilian suffering which occurred
during the Second World War.
Wladslaw Bartoszewski, an Auschwitz survivor and former Polish foreign
minister argues that if a centre is created then it should be located
in Wroclaw, which prior to World War II was for hundreds of years
the German city of Breslau.
Wroclaw was almost entirely destroyed during the war, when it was
bombarded and eventually over-run by Soviet troops after a desperate
14 week German defence that lasted until four days after the fall of
Berlin in the spring of 1945.
Subsequently it became a classic “refugee city.” Those who settled in
Wroclaw after the war were Polish refugees from the eastern city of
Lvov, which at the end of World War II became Soviet Ukraine’s Lviv,
where mainly ethnic Ukrainians resettled.
Documenting history
Warsaw mayor cancels Berlin trip over refugee exhibition Polish
archbishop criticises Berlin exhibition Poland demands return of bell
from exhibition Rogasch, who has made numerous visits to museums
in Poland in recent years for talks with fellow curators, insists
that Germany has since the 1939-45 conflict worked painstakingly at
documenting the “outrageous criminal aspects of Germany’s history.”
“Now,” he says, “this country has every right to focus on groups
whose German members were also victims 60 years ago. Now they are
in their 70s or 80s. Then, they were children. So they would neither
have voted for Hitler or known anything about the concentration camps.”
“We cannot deny such groups their personal right to remember that
they were victims – victims of Nazi dictatorship and also of Stalinist
expansionism.”

ULTRA THIN MODELS ABOUND AS LONDON FASHION WEEK OPENS
International Herald Tribune, France
The Associated Press
Published: September 18, 2006
LONDON Ultra-thin models swaggered down the catwalk at London’s Fashion
Week on Monday, opening the glitzy event with a clear rejection
of arguments that waiflike young women should not be permitted to
showcase designs.
Despite a ban on super skinny models imposed by Spanish organizers
at their fashion week in Madrid, slinky women in London were ready
to flaunt the spring and summer collections of designers like Julien
Macdonald, John Rocha and Zandra Rhodes.
A-list stars including Beyonce and Alicia Keys are expected to attend
the Emporio Armani catwalk show on Thursday. U2’s Bono will be on hand
to help launch Armani’s Red collection, which will give a portion of
its profits to help fight AIDS in Africa.
The event, which runs through Friday, has long been known as a venue
for seeing cutting-edge work from creative, young British designers,
while the big fashion houses tend to showcase their wares in New York,
Paris or Milan.
This year, though, there is an air of excitement around the
spring/summer collections from designers including Jasper Conran,
Paul Smith and Betty Jackson, and new talents such as 23-year-old
Christopher Kane.
“We are not a traditional capital for fashion, but we are a very
creative crucible,” said Stuart Rose, chairman of the British Fashion
Council, which organizes London’s twice-yearly Fashion Week.
At one of the opening shows on Monday, Paris-based Garen Demerdjian,
a Lebanese-Armenian designer, presented a layered look with shorts
and skirts over long leggings, high cinched belts and leather jackets.
His models, stone-faced with tangled hair, walked slowly down the
catwalk sporting hues of brown, green, apricot, black and silky white
amid flashing lights and trance-like music.
Later, John Rocha presented a collection of cropped cargo pants,
silk shirts and parkas in shades of black, ivory, stone and khaki.
On Tuesday, designer Bella Freud is relaunching iconic 1960s label
Biba, pioneer of kaftans and flamboyant scarves.
A debate over whether models are too thin has raised the profile of
Fashion Week in the headlines, with a government minister’s calls to
follow Madrid’s lead and ban extremely thin models from the catwalk.
“The fashion industry’s promotion of beauty as meaning stick thin
is damaging to young girls’ self image and to their health,” Culture
Secretary Tessa Jowell said Saturday.
Rose dismissed calls for a ban as “a knee-jerk reaction,” but said
the debate was a legitimate one and he would discuss the issue with
colleagues.
Fashion Week canceled its opening photo shoot to avoid giving the
issue more publicity.
Madrid’s Fashion Week, the Pasarela Cibeles, announced last week it
was banning models with a Body Mass Index, or height to weight ratio,
below 18.
A 5-foot-9 (175-centimeter) model weighing 125 pounds (57 kilograms)
would have a BMI of 18.
“I think that it’s a debate that will happen all in good time, and
all opinions are welcome,” supermodel Erin O’Connor said at the show
in west London.
Top model Kate Moss added star power by sitting front row at a
pre-event fashion show for British retailer Topshop on Sunday,
alongside its billionaire owner Philip Green.
___
On the Net:
___
Associate d Press Writer Jessica Gearhart in London contributed to
this report.
LONDON Ultra-thin models swaggered down the catwalk at London’s Fashion
Week on Monday, opening the glitzy event with a clear rejection
of arguments that waiflike young women should not be permitted to
showcase designs.
Despite a ban on super skinny models imposed by Spanish organizers
at their fashion week in Madrid, slinky women in London were ready
to flaunt the spring and summer collections of designers like Julien
Macdonald, John Rocha and Zandra Rhodes.
A-list stars including Beyonce and Alicia Keys are expected to attend
the Emporio Armani catwalk show on Thursday. U2’s Bono will be on hand
to help launch Armani’s Red collection, which will give a portion of
its profits to help fight AIDS in Africa.
The event, which runs through Friday, has long been known as a venue
for seeing cutting-edge work from creative, young British designers,
while the big fashion houses tend to showcase their wares in New York,
Paris or Milan.
This year, though, there is an air of excitement around the
spring/summer collections from designers including Jasper Conran,
Paul Smith and Betty Jackson, and new talents such as 23-year-old
Christopher Kane.
“We are not a traditional capital for fashion, but we are a very
creative crucible,” said Stuart Rose, chairman of the British Fashion
Council, which organizes London’s twice-yearly Fashion Week.
At one of the opening shows on Monday, Paris-based Garen Demerdjian,
a Lebanese-Armenian designer, presented a layered look with shorts
and skirts over long leggings, high cinched belts and leather jackets.
His models, stone-faced with tangled hair, walked slowly down the
catwalk sporting hues of brown, green, apricot, black and silky white
amid flashing lights and trance-like music.
Later, John Rocha presented a collection of cropped cargo pants,
silk shirts and parkas in shades of black, ivory, stone and khaki.
On Tuesday, designer Bella Freud is relaunching iconic 1960s label
Biba, pioneer of kaftans and flamboyant scarves.
A debate over whether models are too thin has raised the profile of
Fashion Week in the headlines, with a government minister’s calls to
follow Madrid’s lead and ban extremely thin models from the catwalk.
“The fashion industry’s promotion of beauty as meaning stick thin
is damaging to young girls’ self image and to their health,” Culture
Secretary Tessa Jowell said Saturday.
Rose dismissed calls for a ban as “a knee-jerk reaction,” but said
the debate was a legitimate one and he would discuss the issue with
colleagues.
Fashion Week canceled its opening photo shoot to avoid giving the
issue more publicity.
Madrid’s Fashion Week, the Pasarela Cibeles, announced last week it
was banning models with a Body Mass Index, or height to weight ratio,
below 18.
A 5-foot-9 (175-centimeter) model weighing 125 pounds (57 kilograms)
would have a BMI of 18.
“I think that it’s a debate that will happen all in good time, and
all opinions are welcome,” supermodel Erin O’Connor said at the show
in west London.
Top model Kate Moss added star power by sitting front row at a
pre-event fashion show for British retailer Topshop on Sunday,
alongside its billionaire owner Philip Green.

VATICAN: POPE’S VISIT TO TURKEY TAKES SHAPE
AKI, Italy
Sep-19-2006 09:04 am
Istanbul, 18 Sept. (AKI) – As Benedict XVI’s controversial remarks
linking Islam and violence continue to reverberate around the Muslim
world, his planned three-day visit to Turkey at the end of November
has begun to take shape. The schedule of the visit is not yet clear,
but the pope’s fist meeting is expected to be with Turkey’s president,
Ahmet Necdet Sezer – who invited him to visit.
During the 28-30 November visit – his first to the overwhelmingly
Muslim country since becoming pope in April last year – the pontiff
is also expected to visit the site of Virgin Mary’s alleged tomb
at Ephesus, near the western coastal city of Izmir. From there he
will travel to Istanbul to attend on 30 November the Saint Andres
feast in the Greek Orthodox Patriarch Church and to meet with the
Orthodox patriarch Bartholomeos and Armenian patriarch, Mesrob II –
the two leaders of Turkey’s Christian community.
It is not yet clear whether the Pope will meet with the head of
the Turkish Religious Directorate, (the country’s highest religious
institution), Ali Bardakoglu. Directorate officials are allegedly
saying that if a ‘religious’ meeting is scheduled to be held
during Benedict XVI’s visit, it should take place in the Religious
Directorate’s headquarters in Ankara. If the meeting is deemed a
‘political’ one however, the Religious Directorate officials will
not attend.
Muslims (mostly Sunnis) form an estimated 99.8 percent of Turkey’s 70
million population, while Christians and Jews account for 0.2 percent.