Professor Faces Trial in Turkey
The Chronicle of Higher Education
July 28, 2006 Friday
By AISHA LABI
A professor at the University of Arizona faces a possible trial in
Turkey based on the content of her latest novel, which traces the lives
of a Muslim-Turkish family living in Istanbul and an Armenian-American
family in San Francisco.
Elif Shafak, an assistant professor of Turkish and women’s studies
in the department of Near Eastern studies, has been charged with
“denigrating Turkishness” in The Bastard of Istanbul.
“The novel deals with the question of ‘memory and amnesia,’ mainly
through Turkish and Armenian women’s stories,” Ms. Shafak explained
by e-mail. “It deals with two particular taboos in Turkish society.
One of them is a political taboo — the Armenian question. The other
is a sexual taboo — incest.”
The Turkish government officially rejects the widely accepted view
that the killings of as many as 1.5 million Armenians in the waning
days of the Ottoman Empire constituted genocide.
Ultranationalist lawyers and prosecutors in Turkey have vigorously
pursued those who even suggest otherwise, using the controversial
Article 301 of Turkey’s penal code, which criminalizes insults to
the republic, Turkishness, and various state institutions.
Last year Turkey’s most internationally acclaimed novelist, Orhan
Pamuk, faced similar charges for remarks he had made in an interview
with a Swiss publication. His trial was adjourned soon after it began,
and the charges were dropped.
Ms. Shafak, a Turkish citizen who only recently moved to the United
States and who returns regularly to her homeland, is in Turkey on
leave from Arizona. She could be jailed if she is tried and convicted
under Article 301.
The Bastard of Istanbul, which she wrote in English and then had
translated into Turkish, has sold more than 50,000 copies in Turkey
since its publication there in March, she said. An English-language
edition will be published in January by Viking Penguin.
The book includes passages that have enraged nationalist critics.
Even so, Ms. Shafak said, it drew an overwhelmingly positive response
until she was notified, in June, that Kemal Kerincsiz, head of the
nationalist Turkish Lawyers’ Union, had filed a complaint against her.
Ms. Shafak and her publisher were interrogated by the public
prosecutor in a local district court, who also subjected the novel to
a thorough inspection. At the end of that process, Ms. Shafak said,
the prosecutor dismissed the case. But Mr. Kerincsiz took the case to
a higher court, which he persuaded to reinvestigate the matter. Ms.
Shafak now faces the possibility of a trial this year. If convicted,
she could be sentenced to up to three years in jail.
“This is an extraordinary situation, without precedence at the
University of Arizona,” said Jacqueline L. Mok, vice provost for
academic programs and initiatives. “What we are trying to do is
to take this time to review all our options, to determine what the
university can and should do to bring about a positive resolution to
this situation. Our preferred outcome is that all charges are dropped.”

A normal hatred?
Prospect
July 27, 2006
By Tony Klug
Recent actions by the Israeli military in Gaza and Lebanon, and
the responses to them, have prompted renewed fears of antisemitism
among the British and other Jewish communities. Jonathan Sacks, the
British chief rabbi, had already warned earlier this year of “a kind
of tsunami of antisemitism.” Yet some voices from within these same
communities are quick to deny any link between Israeli policies and
anti-Jewish feelings. Rather, current enmity towards both Jews and
Israel, notably from within the Arab and Muslim worlds, is explained
as a phase in Jew-hatred stretching back centuries. Melanie Phillips
promotes such a theme in her book Londonistan, where she writes:
“the fight against Israel is not fundamentally about land. It is
about hatred of the Jews,” who, she says, are viewed by Islam as
“a cosmic evil.” From this, it follows that the way Israel conducts
itself is at most a minor factor in the hostility directed towards it.
This is certainly a convenient argument for those who have an interest
in making it. But the evidence points in the opposite direction, as
exemplified by the Israeli-Palestinian accords of the “Oslo years”
in the mid-1990s, which sent Israel’s stock to unprecedented heights,
both in the Arab world and globally. In the same period, according
to leading Jewish research institutions, “a general lessening of
antisemitic pressure was recorded.”
As for the claim of historical “Jew-hatred” in the Islamic world,
its validity has been repudiated by no less an authority than veteran
historian Bernard Lewis, a middle eastern scholar of impeccable
pro-Israel credentials. In a presentation in 1985, he distinguished
three kinds of hostility to Jews: “Opposition to Zionism, ‘normal’
prejudice (what has been described as ‘the normal rough and tumble
between peoples’), and that peculiar hatred of Jews which has its
origins in the role assigned to Jews in certain Christian beliefs.”
Using the term “antisemitism” to refer to the third kind of hostility
only, he remarked: “In this specialised sense, antisemitism did not
exist in the traditional Islamic world.” Although he held that Jews
“were never free from discrimination,” they were “only rarely subject
to persecution.”
Lewis identified three factors that gave rise to a more recent
“European-style antisemitism in the Islamic world”: the rise of the
European empires, the collapse of the old political structures, and
Jewish resettlement in Palestine along with the creation of Israel and
subsequent Israeli-Arab wars. While arguing that antisemitism played
a part from the start of the mandate period, Lewis claims “the real
change began after the Sinai war of 1956 and was accelerated after
the six day war of 1967.”
What distinguished the 1967 war from previous battles was that it
concluded with Israeli military rule over occupied territories that
contained over 1m Palestinian Arabs, a number that has more than
tripled since then.
The importance of the distinction highlighted by Lewis-between
the centuries-old European Christian prejudice with its demonic
conception of the Jew and the more recent antipathy sparked off by a
bitter, contemporary political conflict-is compelling. Using the word
“antisemitism” to cover antagonism to almost anything Jewish, including
Israeli policies, Zionism as an ideology or even the existence of
Israel, and then rationalising this modern tendency by slapping on
the prefix “new” seriously risks debasing the coinage.
On the other hand, it is not as straightforward as this, for in
certain circumstances the different anti-Jewish phenomena may blend
into and nourish each other (what Brian Klug has termed “poisonous
intercourse”). Consider the following hypothetical case. In the
context of a fierce, long-standing dispute, the state of Armenia
captures and occupies a chunk of neighbouring Turkish territory, builds
Armenian-only settlements and highways, allows militant settlers to
intimidate local inhabitants, imposes curfews and closures, erects
myriad checkpoints, demolishes Turkish homes, imprisons a large segment
of Turkish youth and periodically bombards Turkish-inhabited towns.
Instead of dissociating themselves from such conduct, imagine that
organised diaspora Armenian communities around the world-haunted by
memories of massacres of their kinfolk-elect to defend and justify
it in a show of solidarity while displaying no tolerance for the
dissenters-“self-hating Armenians”-in their ranks.
In these circumstances, would it be surprising if a certain
anti-Armenian sentiment developed in a spread of countries, not only
among those who felt an affinity with people of Turkish or Muslim
origin but also among those committed to human rights and international
law? Yet Armenian communities, feeling besieged and misunderstood,
might put the animosity down to a historical Muslim antipathy towards
Christians and a latent anti-Armenianism on the part of not just the
Turkish people, but much of the rest of the world too.
For their part, the Turks and their supporters might investigate their
own or Armenian scriptures to see if they could uncover historical
explanations for what may seem to them like the cruel and treacherous
nature of their oppressors. In this hypothetical case, the search
would possibly lead nowhere. However, an equivalent investigation
targeted at Jews in the case of the very non-hypothetical Arab-Israeli
conflict would be certain to produce the sought-after results, if
only because of the ancestral battles that once took place between
the Jewish tribes of Medina and the contemporaneous followers of the
Muslim prophet, Muhammad.
In general, however, Muslim scriptures are not bountiful source
material for Jewish perfidy. It is not just that the messages they
give out are not consistent but also that Jews are not an especial
preoccupation of Muslim literature. And this is where bona fide
antisemitic ideas eagerly step in. Imported into the Muslim and
Arab worlds where once it was alien, the antisemitic “explanation”
is now increasingly embraced by disaffected people with minds primed
to be receptive to a simple it’s-all-the-Jews’-fault answer to many
problems. In short, what distinguishes the Jewish predicament from
the hypothetical Armenian one is that in the Jewish case, a potent,
ready-made ideology is lurking in the wings. Thus what starts out
as a political “anti-Jewish sentiment” may, in given circumstances,
metamorphose into classical antisemitism.
While helping to explain the cause of the phenomenon, none of this
justifies the rise of antisemitism in the Arab and Muslim worlds,
or anywhere else. It poisons the conflict and is intensely inimical
to a solution. As a strategy, it is counterproductive: indeed, it was
the spread of antisemitism that played the decisive role in winning
so many Jews to the Zionist cause in the first place. As a tactic,
it is highly divisive: confusing and alienating Jewish sympathisers
of the Palestinian cause as well as many others who despise racism
of all types. Moreover, stereotyping one party is liable to prompt
equally pernicious and ignorant counter-stereotyping.
The charge of antisemitism against Palestinians and others who
champion their cause is often made too flippantly. It lumps together
real antisemites with the real victims of oppressive Israeli
policies. Equally, many Arabs, Muslims and their supporters too
easily dismiss the accusation of antisemitism as just a device for
defending shameful Israeli policies. While this is sometimes true,
the accusation is sometimes true too-just consider the Hamas covenant.
Some leading Palestinian figures have not only acknowledged the
infiltration of antisemitism into Arab society but have been
outspoken in their rejection of it. But the longer the broader
conflict continues, the greater likelihood that antisemitism per se
will indeed take root throughout the region. In that event, it would
not only outlive the putative end of the Arab-Israeli conflict but
enormously complicate its resolution in the first place.
These are matters of serious concern not just for Israelis and
their government. They could affect the standing and safety of Jews
everywhere. If only for their own protection, Jewish communities
around the world have a strong interest in distancing themselves from
Israel’s repressive practices and annexationist tendencies. Beyond
this, they are sometimes in a position to influence Israeli policies
and to help bridge the gaps between the antagonistic parties. But to
engage in such initiatives would entail jettisoning their more common
instinct of unquestioningly following the Israeli government’s cue,
whatever it may be.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

BAKU STUDYING REPORTS ON LEBANON ARMENIANS RELOCATION TO GARABAGH
AssA-Irada, Azerbaijan
July 24, 2006 Monday
Armenians being evacuated from Lebanon over the ongoing military
operations are settled in Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh, an Azeri region
under Armenian occupation, parliament member Ganira Pashayeva has
said. She noted that a scrutiny into the matter is underway. The
Armenian Foreign Ministry spokesman Vladimir Karapetian has confirmed
that Armenians are being evacuated from this country. He told the press
that first, Armenian citizens, and then ethnic Armenian Lebanese, are
being delivered from Beirut to the Armenian capital Yerevan through
Halab, the second largest city of Syria. Over 300 Armenians have
already been evacuated from Lebanon. According to official sources,
Lebanon is home to 120,000 Armenians. The head of the Azerbaijani
community of Upper Garabagh, Nizami Bahmanov, regarded the ongoing
relocation of Armenians to the occupied territories of Azerbaijan
as a consequence of indifference on the part of international
organizations. He did not rule out that Armenians being re-settled
from Lebanon would be relocated primarily to the Lachin, Gubadly,
Kalbajar, and Aghdam Districts. With the rising chances for settling
the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict, Yerevan is trying to build a live
bridge between Armenia and Upper Garabagh. The Foreign Ministry
spokesman Tahir Taghizada said the Azerbaijani government is aware
of these facts. He said that if the ongoing scrutiny confirms them,
the ministry will put forth a terse stance on the issue before
international organizations.

ARMENIA EXPECTS NEW STAGE IN PEACE TALKS AFTER US MEDIATORS VISIT
AssA-Irada, Azerbaijan
July 24, 2006 Monday
Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanian has said a new stage
in talks on the Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh conflict may begin after
the upcoming visit by the US mediator to the region. We expect the
Azerbaijani side to provide its consent to return to discussions
on the documents currently on the negotiating table, he told a news
conference in Yerevan while commenting on the visit by the US co-chair
of the OSCE Minsk Group, Matthew Bryza, to the two countries that
will begin from Armenia on July 29. Oskanian maintained that Armenia
has put forth a resolute stance on these documents, unlike Azerbaijan.
If Baku agrees to continue negotiations on the disclosed principles,
a new stage in the peace process may begin. The OSCE intermediaries
have lately said there is a framework agreement under discussion and
outlined its key principles. Armenian Prime Minister Andranik Margarian
has said the Minsk Groups recent proposals are acceptable. For all
these years, our goal has been to achieve a package settlement. The
stage-by-stage resolution is unacceptable for us, he said. Margarian
made an outrageous statement, accusing Baku of breaking off peace
talks. He said Azerbaijans alleged withdrawal from talks shows Armenias
strong position. After visiting Yerevan, the American mediator will
visit Upper Garabagh and Baku. He is due to visit Azerbaijan July
30-August 1, Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov said. Bryza will bring
some new elements that he would like to table in Baku and Yerevan,
he added.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Author may be jailed for literary ‘taboo’
United Press International
July 30 2006
University of Arizona Professor Elif Shafak was indicted and
interrogated by Turkish officials because a character in her novel
refers to the Armenian genocide.
The 35-year-old Turkish native had one of her characters in her novel
“The Bastard of Istanbul” refer to the 1915 Turkish genocidal war in
which 1.5 million Armenians were killed, and in doing so violated a
“taboo,” and possibly the laws of Turkey, the Arizona Republic said.
While the International Association of Genocide Scholars has ruled
the 1915 action by Turkey to be genocide, the concept is still not
accepted as fact in Turkey.
Turkish officials indicted Shafak based on a law which says if an
individual insults “Turkishness,” he or she could be punished by up
to three years in prison, the newspaper said.
While numerous other authors have been jailed for violating the law,
Shafak’s indictment and pending trial mark the first time someone
has had to defend a work of fiction, the newspaper said.
Shafak has not been jailed, and a trial date has not been set.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Armenia Cautious on Crash
Moscow Times, Russia
July 31 2006
YEREVAN, Armenia — A top Armenian air safety official said Friday
that a Russian-led investigation into the crash of a passenger jet
that killed 113 people in May could be premature in saying that the
cause was pilot error.
Artyom Movsisian, head of Armenia’s civil aviation authority, said
the exact cause of the crash of the A320 operated by Armenia’s Armavia
airline on the approach to Sochi remained unclear.
“Was it problems with the pilot’s health or nervousness of the air
traffic controller or the pilot’s loss of direction? This remains to
be seen,” he said, adding that the conclusions announced in Moscow
were only preliminary.
The airline’s security chief, Arshan Nalbandian, said the Russian
findings “do not correspond to reality because the investigation is
not over yet.” (AP)

GIBRAHAYER
e-magazine _http://gibrahayer.cyprusnewsletter.com_
(http://g ibrahayer.cyprusnewsletter.com/)
The largest circulation Armenian e-magazine
Circulates every Wednesday
Established in 1999
APPEAL BY ARCHBISHOP VAROUJAN & ARMENIAN MP VARTKES MAHDESSIAN
On Monday July 24, 2006, Archbishop of Armenians in Cyprus Varoujan and
Armenian representative in the Cyprus Parliament Vartkes Mahdessian had a meeting
with the Ambassador of Lebanon Michelle El Khoury, to whom they expressed
the solidarity of the Armenian community of Cyprus towards the people of
Lebanon. They also expressed their readiness to assist in every way to thedispatch
of humanitarian aid to the refugees in the areas of conflict.
Ambassador El Khoury briefed the leadership of the Armenian community of
Cyprus about the current situation in Lebanon, and presented to Archbishop
Varoujan and representative Mahdessian with a priority list of needs that are
urgently necessary to assist the relief effort for Lebanon.
The Armenian community of Cyprus calls all its members and friends, so that
they actively participate in the collection of humanitarian aid towards the
refugees of Lebanon, who did not hesitate to help and assist the Armenian
people when they sought shelter in Lebanon as a result of the Armenian genocide
of 1915.
The financial or humanitarian assistance (**) can be delivered to the
Armenian Prelature of Nicosia (22493560), while our compatriots in Larnacaand
Limassol may contact 99465818.
We warmly urge you, that the offered items are not used. Finally, we pray
for the innocent souls that are perishing and hope that God Almighty may bring
peace to the world and love and understanding between people.
With thanks,
Office of the Armenian representative in the Cyprus Parliament
Secretariat of the Armenian Prelature of Cyprus
Nicosia, 24th July 2006
ARF DASHNAKTSOUTIUN OF LEBANON
ESTABLISH TASK FORCE FOR BEIRUT
Clip25.htm
BEIRUT (Aztag) – As the number of displaced people increased as a result of
the Israeli attacks on Lebanon, many Lebanese refugees sought refuge in
Armenian community establishments in and around Beirut Wednesday, the Aztag
newspaper reported.
Public school building have been turned into shelters for evacuees. Aztag
reporters toured the Bourdj Hammoud neighbourhood and discussed the
situation with several refugees.
To address the needs of the affected population, the ARF Lebanon Central
Committee announced the establishment of a task force, which will organise
relief efforts in and around area, coordinating activities with city hall and
relief organizations working in the area.
The Armenian Relief Society Araxi Boulghourjian infirmary has been
designated as the headquarters for the efforts.
The ARF CC of Lebanon issued an announcement Tuesday, pledging all its
organisational resources to the affected Lebanese public. This announcement
and other details about the ARF-initiated efforts were broadcast on Lebanese
television and radio, as well as other media outlets.
The Lebanon Prelacy issued an announcement Wednesday condemning what it
called the barbaric attacks by Israel on Lebanon.
Armenia’s Ambassador to Lebanon Vahan Ter-Ghevondian held a press conference
Wednesday afternoon, announcing that Armenia’s Embassy in Beirut would
continue its operations.
“Our embassy will be open 24 hours a day and our staff has been answering
phone calls and inquiries regarding the developments and continues to accept
visitors,” said Ter-Ghevondian, adding that through the embassy’s and
Armenia’s foreign ministry’s efforts Armenian citizens were being evacuated to
Armenia.
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported that some 200 more Armenian
citizens and other residents of Lebanon will be evacuated to Armenia on Thursday
amid the continuing Israeli assault on the tiny Arab state, the Foreign Ministry
in Yerevan said on Wednesday.
A ministry spokesman, Vladimir Karapetian, told RFE/RL that the evacuees
will be transported to Syria by bus and then fly to Yerevan on board two
Armenian airliners. “Most of them are citizens of Armenia,” Karapetian said. The
evacuees will be accompanied by Armenian diplomats during the high-risk
journey from Beirut to Aleppo, he said.
According to the ministry, 160 Armenians and dozens of Lebanese citizens of
Armenian descent have already escaped to Armenia since the start of
devastating Israeli raids on civilian and guerrilla targets in Lebanon on July 12. It
says some 1,200 Armenian nationals lived in the country before the assault.
Prime Minister Andranik Markarian has promised to provide “state support” to
them and other Lebanese residents who would like to take refuge in Armenia.
Two Armenian diplomats have been sent to Lebanon and Syria to assist in their
voluntary evacuation.
“I wouldn’t say there is a big influx of evacuees from Lebanon right now,”
said Karapetian. “It’s just that we are prepared for such an influx because
it
is not clear when all of this will end.”
The official added that no Armenian casualties have been reported so far.
“There is no mass exodus of Armenians yet,” Shahan Kandaharian, editor of
the local Armenian-language “Aztag” daily based, told RFE/RL from Beirut.
tatiana’s corner by Tatiana Ferahian
GIBRAHAYER IS TAKING A BREAK IN AUGUST. WE WISH OUR SUBSCRIBERS, PLEASANT
HOLIDAYS.
KHANASOR EXPEDITION REMEMBERED IN TROODOS
for images of the commemoration on Sunday please click here
In 1896, the Hamidian massacres were decimating the Armenian population of
Ottoman Turkey, and the vilayet of Van, like the other vilayets, was in the
Turks’ line of fire. However, Van proved to be a difficult target for the
Turks, because of its Armenian inhabitants’ steely resolve to resist and defend
themselves despite meagre resources.
At first, the Armenians of Van succeeded in deterring the Turks. Later,
however, the Kurdish Mazrik tribe ambushed a squad of Armenian defenders and
mercilessly slaughtered them. As a consequence, Armenians were outraged and the
ARF Dashnaktsoutiun came in to retaliate.
Geographically, the plain of Khanasor lies between the district of Van and
Iran, and was once heavily populated by Kurds. The aim of the Khanasor
expedition was to punish the Mazriks who had been terrorising the Armenians in the
area. Volunteers from the Hunchakians and the Armenakans joined the ranks of
the Dashnaktsoutiun for the Khanasor expedition. The three leaders of the
expedition were Vartan, Ishkhan and Nigol-Douman, all of them Dashnaks. OnJuly
25, 1897, at dawn, 250 fedayis stormed the Mazrik tribe, leaving only ashes in
their wake.
The Khanasor expedition was a small triumph for the Armenians. As a result,
Armenians built up their self-confidence, their belief in their ability to
defend themselves now re-enforced. To this day, Armenians remember the event in
commemorative ceremonies honouring the expedition as an important event in
the history of the Armenian struggle for freedom.
IN CYPRUS
The traditional annual event in Cyprus took place at Loumata ton Aeton in
Troodos. The message of the day was delivered by ARF Dashnaktsoutiun Cyprus
Committee member Hagop Manougian. On behalf of AYF Armenian Youth of Cyprus,
unger Kevork Keoshgerian addressed the crowd and emphasized the importanceof
the Lisbon operation in 1983 and the act of self-sacrifice of the five young
men.
At the end of the commemoration ARF Dashnaktsoutiun Cyprus Committee
representative Vahan Aynedjian announced the Armenian Relief Society’s appeal for
assistance to war-stricken Lebanon (above)
Special tribute was paid to two late members of AYMA, Nazaret Terzian and
Artin Haroutiounian, who used to participate in the Khanasor commemorationon
the Troodos mountain range every year until the late 70s with their musical
instruments (the former with his trumpet and the latter with his accordion)
accompanying the singing of revolutionary songs. Nazaret Terzian passed away in
1979, while Artin Haroutiounian emigrated to Australia with his family in
1975 and passed away there in 1991.
In their place, two other musicians, Haig Mahdessian with his accordion and
David Simonian with his clarinet, accompanied the crowd during the singingof
the Khanasor song, “Gargoud deghats Khanasora tashdoum, fedayiner
tashnagtsagan vrijarou koroum en…”.
Click here to view images of the Khanasor commemoration in Cyprus.
AZERI-TURKISH RESOLUTIONS TURNED DOWN
At the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) summer
session, the Armenian delegation has succeeded to ensure the support of big powers
in turning down proposals put forward by the Azerbaijani and Turkish
delegations, Vahan Hovhannisian, head of the Armenian delegation to the PACE and
National Assembly vice speaker, told a news conference Monday.
Hovhannisian said, resolutions favourable for Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh
have been passed.
`This time our cooperation with big powers was successful, I mean,the US,
Canada, France and Russia,’ Hovhannisian said. `Most importantly, we
succeeded in including a provision of self-determination right in the PACE
resolutions based on the results of the Montenegro referendum.’
He noted that the adoption of those resolutions demonstrated a precise
balance between the rights to self-determination and territorial integrity.
Hovhannisian said the resolutions caused a fury of the Azeri delegation.
Azeri and Georgian delegations have tried to counter those resolutions by
two others that would put disputed territories under the control of statesthey
formerly belonged but both resolutions, backed by Turkey, were turned down,
Hovhannisian added.
Finally, Hovhannisian mentioned that most Council of Europe countries havea
vague understanding how the Karabakh conflict is to be settled but they
realise which side is ready for compromises and which one is not.
TURKEY TO MAKE NO CONCESSIONS ON CYPRUS
(20.07.2006 – PanARMENIAN.Net) Turkish PM Erdogan had important messages for
the EU upon his arrival in the “Turkish Republic of N. Cyprus” to attend the
32nd anniversary of the Turkish invasion on the island.
Erdogan was met by “TRNC” PM Soyer upon his arrival at Ercan Airport, and
told him, “We’ve fulfilled our obligations, and the international community
should immediately lift the unfair sanctions imposed on Turkish Cyprus.” Erdogan
made clear that Turkey will not make any concessions.
Later on, Erdogan held a joint press conference with “TRNC” President Talat.
Erdogan reiterated that Turkey wants a UN-backed solution to the Cyprus
problem. “The world should remove the isolations imposed on the “TRNC” so that
Turkey may fulfil its responsibilities. We have always supported a peaceful
solution, and will continue to do so.”
Furthermore, Erdogan stressed Turkey will continue to be a “brother” to the
TRNC as it has done in the past. Talat also offered support for Erdogan’s
peace plan, and called on Greece and Greek Cyprus to do the same.
Erdogan reassured the TRNC saying, “Don’t worry. We will not open Turkish
ports to Greek Cypriot traffic.” Erdogan later met former Turkish Cypriot
President Rauf Denktash at his office. “We are pursuing your goals. We will make
no concessions over the Cyprus issue,” Erdogan reportedly told Denktash.
To remind readers, the EU has warned Turkey of the possible breakdown of the
talks id Ankara fails to put into operation the additional protocol to the
customs union that was signed in July, 2005. The union provides for opening of
Turkish ports to Greek Cypriot traffic.
TALEEN WINS TOP AWARD
The Human Resource Management Association organised a competition to reward
novel ideas and advanced systems in areas of human resources management and
improvement of labour relations within a company or public organisation. The
prizes were given by the Director of the Cyprus International Institute of
Management (CIIM), Dr. Theodoros Panayiotou, during the Association’s annual
general meeting held at the Bank of Cyprus Head Offices in Nicosia. The top
honours for Management Excellence went to our very own Taleen Tchalikian
(Tashdjian) for her paper on “Values Launch Through Employee Engagement” based on her
experiences at Wagerlogic Ltd.
Origins of Armenians
The Armenian people have been described throughout the centuries as
adaptable, resilient, enterprising, and steadfast. How they managed to survive
repeated invasions, destruction, and persecution, while large and more powerful
states disappeared and how they were able to make significant contributions to
world civilisation is a tribute to the Armenian people.
The Armenians are one of the few peoples of antiquity who, together with
their language and culture, have survived to the present day. While their
existence as a national, political, and cultural entity dates from the first
millennium before Christ, recently accumulated evidence offers conclusive proof
that the civilisations erected by the immediate predecessors of the Armenians go
back to the second and third millennia B.C.
for more click here
news in brief
A meeting of Armenian President Robert Kocharian and Azeri leader Ilham
Aliyev is not scheduled within the framework of the informal summit of theCIS
leaders.
After weeks of monitoring the region, the OSCE concluded that recent
wildfires in Nagorno-Karabakh were a direct result of arson perpetrated by
Azerbaijan. A report by a personal representative of the OSCE
Chairman-in-Office Andrzei Kasprchik was delivered to both the Armenian and Azeri foreign
ministries, concluding that Azerbaijan was the cause of the wildfires in that
area.
sports
Marcos Baghdatis led Cyprus in victory in Davis Cup against neighbouring
Egypt in Cairo this weekend, winning the tie 3-2. Click here for details.
Zaruhi Harutyunyan results. Click here
Zaruhi Harutyunyan
ZARUHI WINS FIFTH TITLE AND
STANDS AT 182
After winning in Edinburgh, Zaruhi Harutyunyan won her fifth title in
Winchester this time in the doubles.
Unfortunately, her singles challenge reached “only” as far as the semi
finals due to injury, stopping a three tournament winning streak that started in
Bolis.
Her current ranking is at 182 !
For Zaruhi Harutyunyan’s activity in 2006 – click here
CONTRIBUTE TO ZARUHI’S WORLD TOUR
Laiki Bank Strovolos Industrial Area, Stavrou 96 I, 2034, Strovolos:
Account No. 101-08-037631 for Zaruhi Harutyunyan under Simon Aynedjian
International transfers at IBAN CY30 0030 0101 0000 0101 0803 7631
Swift Code address LIKICY2N
gibrahayer calendar
Sunday 16-30 July – Hamazkayin Forum – Yerevan – Armenia. Visit the
Hamazkayin Forum site at:
12 – 30 July – Khalkidiki Summer Camp organised by the ARS of Greece for 12
– 16 year old Armenians. Sosse Chapter of ARS (HOM) Sosse Cyprus announce
that 18 Armenian youth from Cyprus are participating.
Panda Software launches Panda DesktopSecure for Linux, a free anti-malware
suite for Linux workstations- With this launch, Panda Software aims to
contribute to the Linux community, offering a free product to protect these
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Under fire
The Independent – United Kingdom; Jul 30, 2006
Robert Fisk IN BEIRUT
Sunday 23 July
To Sidon. Ed Cody has found a cool, 120-mile-an-hour driver called
Hassan – he has a black Mercedes which I nickname “Death Car” (because
that will be the fate of anyone who gets in our way) and we zip down
the coast road and turn east into the hills at Naameh, where the
Israelis have just blown the bridge.
Thirty years ago, Cody was an Associated Press correspondent in Beirut
and taught me how to cover wars. “Get in the car, drive to the battle
and find out what the arseholes are doing,” he used to say. Cody is
from Oregon, a slim, brilliant, highly subversive journalist who is
now Beijing correspondent for the Washington Post. A great guy to
travel with, eyes sharp for F-16s, brave without being a poseur,
fluent in Arabic, he understands the dirty war we are watching and
thrives on cynicism.
“Look,” he says, pointing to a blown-up highway interchange. “It’s a
terrorist bridge! And if you take the road to Zahle, you’ll find a
burned out terrorist flour and grain lorry!” If the world became a
better place, I fear Cody would contemplate suicide.
Sidon is full of Shia refugees, and I hunt down Ghena Hariri, daughter
of Sidon’s MP and niece of murdered ex-prime minister Rafiq
Hariri. She is a Georgetown graduate and reckons three more Hiz-bollah
buildings will be bombed in her city. The Israelis have just bombed a
Hizbollah mosque. Cody and I mosey over to take a look at the crushed
cupola, and the local Lebanese “Squad 112” – a kind of paramilitary
police – arrive to shoo us away.
We race back to Beirut, joining the coastal highway south of the
city. It is a bleak, desolate, empty road and we watch the sky,
detouring round the airport, the air filled with smoke from burning
oil tanks and the vibration of another massive Israeli bomb on the
southern suburbs just as we pass.
Monday 24 July
To southern Lebanon on a humanitarian convoy. No problems as far as
Zahle in the Beka’a – though we pass Cody’s “terrorist” flour truck, a
missile hole through the cab door – and then turn south towards Lake
Qar-aaoun. A bright, wonderful day of sun and fluffy clouds, and then
the scream of highflying jets.
We watch the skies again. I’m becoming an expert on light and cumulus
clouds.
In the middle of a field of tomatoes, I see a London bus. I turn to
the driver. “Isn’t that a London bus?” I ask, like the man who sees
the sheep in atree in Monty Python. “Yes, that’s a London bus.” It
is. It’s a bloody great bright red Routemaster double decker. In the
Beka’a Valley. In Lebanon. During the war.
Seventeen miles south and the road is blown up, craters in the middle
and narrow tracks on the edge for our vehicles to pass. One Israeli
bomb has blown away most of the road above a 60ft chasm and it reminds
me of that scene in North West Frontier where Kenneth More has to
manoeuvre a steam locomotive over a blown-up railway bridge, on which
the tracks are still connected but there’s nothing underneath. More
turns to Lauren Bacall and says: “Of course, it’s one of my hobbies,
driving trains over broken railway bridges.”
We inch forward along the narrow section of road and the stones spit
out beneath our wheels. The vehicle starts to lean to the right and I
lean to the left. So does the driver. Then we are across and turn our
heads like wolves to see how the second driver copes. North of Khiam,
I can see fires burning in the forests of northern Israel and smoke
drifting from Metullah, and hear the thump of shells into
Lebanon. Great weather. Pity about the war.
Tuesday 25 July
I prowl around Marjayoun, the Christian town wedged between two slices
of Hizbollah territory. This was the headquarters of Israel’s brutal
“South Lebanese Army” proxy militia, and there are still a lot of
ex-SLA men here, all with Lebanese mobile phones, but a few of them, I
suspect, with Israeli ones. No shells fall on Marjayoun – not yet – so
the locals gather at Rashed’s Restaurant (yes, there is a restaurant
open in southern Lebanon, serving kebabs and cold beer) and watch the
war. You can sit on the ridge and hear tank fire, Katyusha fire, bombs
from jets and bombs from helicopters. Far across the valley, beside
the old fort at Khiam, there is a UN post where four unarmed UN
observers are watching the battle at first hand, reporting each shell
burst.
Wednesday 26 July
Indian UN soldiers bring what is left of the four observers to the
run-down hospital in Marjayoun. All day they had been reporting
Israeli shellfire creeping closer to their clearly marked position. An
officer in the UN’s headquarters at Naqoura phoned the Israelis 10
times to warn them of their fall of shot, and 10 times he had been
promised that no more shells would fall close to the Khiam post.
But the four soldiers did not run away – as the Israelis presumably
hoped they would – and so yesterday evening an Israeli aircraft flew
down and fired a missile directly into their UN position, tearing the
four brave men to pieces and flattening their building. I notice that
they are brought to the hospital in unwieldy black plastic bags,
apparently decapitated. One of the Indian soldiers is wearing a
turban, painted the same pale blue as the UN flag.
The schools of the region are now crammed with refugees, white flags
on the roofs. I go to a classroom where 15 Shia families are squatting
on the floor.
The lavatories are blocked, the place stinks of urine. “What are you
doing to us?” a dark-haired man with a heavily lined face asks me
quietly. How should I reply? Well, my Prime Minister doesn’t think
it’s time for a ceasefire just yet, but he promises to give you acres
of freedom and lots and lots of democracy and a new dawn later
on. But no truce right now, I’m afraid. In other words, you’ve had
it, chum. No. I just remain silent and say “Haram” in Arabic. It
means shame or pity, depending on the context, which I am happy to
leave vague.
Thursday 27 July
I sit with a French friend on a small hill, looking across southern
Lebanon at dusk, watching aircraft swooping like eagles on to patches
of scrub and blasting rocks and trees into the air. To our left,
Israeli artillery is ranged on to a house this side of Khiam. Te first
shell bursts in a bubble of flame and there is a double report, then a
barrage – a pillonage, as my friend calls it in his more powerful
French – of fire consumes the house and we can see bits of it high in
the air, then more bubbles and eventually a grey cloud of smoke covers
the wreckage.
“My God, I hope there was no one in there,” my friend says. We may
never know. All over southern Lebanon, the dead are sandwiched between
the floors of bombed houses. We discuss the language of war, and
discover that most of the French words for battle and death are
feminine.
To Nabatea at lunchtime, a few shops bravely open amid the rubble of
houses on the main road, a market blasted across the fields (a
terrorist market, I hear Cody’s spirit announcing) and then, just by
Arab Selim, a plane puts a bomb on the bridge in front of our vehicle
and we beat a hasty retreat from this unpleasant ambuscade and return
to the sanctuaire of our little house on the hill. Mosquitoes at
night, a bare mattress on the marble floor, a dirty pillowcase to
sleep on.
Friday 28 July
At 3am, a huge bombardment starts across the valley over Beaufort
Castle, the massive Crusader keep to the west. Captured by Saladin in
1190, handed over to the Knights Templar – the neo-conservatives of
their age – in 1260, besieged on one occasion by a Muslim army which
asked to negotiate with Beaufort’s commander and then tortured him in
front of its defenders, it looms over us as 46 shells ripple across
the next-door village of Arnoun.
My mobile phone rings. An American journalist is walking south of
Tibnin towards the Hizbollah-Israeli battle at Bint Jbail – a wise
precaution because all cars are now prey to Israel’s eagles – and has
found two wounded Druze men lying by the road. One of them cannot
stand. She has no car. Can I help? I am 15 miles away. “Can I tell
them they will be rescued?” Don’t lie to them, I say. Tell them you
will try to get help. I promise to call the Red Cross.
I phone Hisham Hassan at the ICRC in Beirut and tell him the precise
location. Both men are lying by a smashed roadside stall with an
orange flag in the ground, a kilometre past a road sign which says
“Welcome to Beit Yahoun” and next to a huge bomb crater. Hisham
promises to call the Tibnin Red Cross ambulance centre. Ten minutes
later, I get a text message: “Red Cross on the way.” Angels from
heaven.
I start my way back to Beirut on another convoy, grinding back over
the same dangerous roads and past the same bomb craters. There are new
ones, and a man shouts that we must detour down a dirt track. “Big
rocket on road,” he says, and that’s good enough for me. We trail past
an old, tree-shrouded cemetery.
Three hours later, we stop for sandwiches in a Christian town, among
people who traditionally despise Hizbollah. I find that they are all
watching Hizbollah’s station, and when I talk to them, an old man says
he believes Hizbollah tells the truth.
Saturday 29 July
Home. I shower and sleep in my own bed and hear the wash of the
Mediterranean on the rocks below my window. Fidele has recovered her
courage and has returned to clean and cook. I receive a call from a
Turkish journalist to talk about the 1915 Armenian genocide – a lot
grimmer than this little war – and do an interview with a New Zealand
television crew who are about to set off for southern Lebanon with
“TV” written in giant silver letters on the roof of the car. I don’t
think it will help them.
A call from DHL. Proofs of the paperback edition of my book have
arrived from London. Someone drove them and DHL’s other parcels from
Amman to Damascus and then – beneath the jets – across the Beka’a to
Beirut. I get a bill for $30 for the extra risks involved in the
freight transit. Then go through my notes of the week for this
diary. I find that my handwriting briefly collapsed after the air
attack on Thursday. I was so frightened that I could hardly write.
I sit on the balcony and read Siegfried Sassoon. Cody also reads to
calm himself in war. But Cody reads Verlaine.

Azerbaijan misusing military budget – paper

Gun, Baku
29 Jul 06

Excerpt from report by Eltac Isazada in Azerbaijani newspaper Gun on
29 July headlined “Our tank has set in motion” and subheaded “While
Azerbaijan is spending its military budget on construction and repair
work, cash-strapped Armenia is spending money on more up-to-date
weapons”

Azerbaijan’s military spending is rapidly growing. While our military
budget totalled 330m dollars just a year ago, the inflow of oil money
into Azerbaijan has made it possible to double this figure. Our
military spending reached 660m dollars after it increased by another
60m dollars a while ago. It is expected to total at least 1bn dollars
next year.

But in general, our military budget is not fulfilling its true
functions in Azerbaijan. It has become a political tool. The
authorities justify the growing military spending with the Armenian
occupation of Azerbaijani territories.

These days we often hear the commander-in-chef, the defence minister
and other officials saying that our military spending will
increase. Even President Ilham Aliyev has openly said that the rise in
military spending is connected with Armenia. Aliyev has repeatedly
said on his visits to Azerbaijani regions and during the opening
ceremonies of military facilities that Azerbaijan’s military budget
will increase and equal Armenia’s overall state budget.

In recent years, the additional funds allocated to the military have
been spent more on some construction and repair work, not on improving
our army’s defence capability and on the purchase of military
hardware. And some of the budget funds are spent on the purchase of
tables, chairs, cupboards and other equipment for our soldiers and
officers.

As one can see in the draft military budget, 73 per cent (194m manats
[230m dollars]) of the additional funds allocated to the military will
be spent on the purchase of equipment and hardware. For instance, 200m
dollars of this year’s 660m-dollar military budget will be spent only
on the purchase of equipment.

[Passage omitted: it is impossible to improve the combat readiness of
an army by carrying out construction work in military bases]

Azerbaijan’s Defence Ministry recently purchased nearly 1,000 Kamaz
trucks, pieces of sanitary-medical and communications equipment from
Russia.

One more interesting point is that most of the arms and military
hardware the government buys from abroad were produced back in the
1950s and 1960s. Even Armenia, which is at war with Azerbaijan, and
neighbouring Georgia are ahead of us on this issue. Unlike Azerbaijan,
these two countries buy more up-to-date weapons and military hardware.

Under the UN quota, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Uganda recently bought
T-72 tanks for at least 900,000 dollars each, says military expert
Uzeyir Cafarov. But the technical capabilities of the tanks purchased
by Georgia and Uganda were better than those purchased by Azerbaijan.

While Georgia and Uganda bought T-72-II and T-72-III tanks, Azerbaijan
bought T-72-I tanks. As for Armenia, this country purchased Category A
T-80 tanks, which have greater capabilities.

Under the UN quota, Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan can have 220 tanks
each. The prices of weapons and ammunition differ depending on their
military and technical capabilities. Therefore, these three countries
are free to buy weapons and military hardware that are of the same
kind, but differ in terms of their capabilities.

This means that international law allows us to spend a lot of money on
the most up-to-date weapons. The Armenians are making proper use of
this opportunity. But Azerbaijan is spending funds on the cheapest
weapons under the pretext of saving budget money.

In other words, even if Azerbaijan’s military budget grows larger than
Armenia’s overall state budget, there is little hope that this will
help improve the combat readiness of our army. Because in fact,
Azerbaijan is spending its growing military budget on the construction
of military facilities and new centres [as given], as well as on the
purchase of cheap and old weapons, while cash-strapped Armenia prefers
more up-to-date weapons.

[Passage omitted: experts say Azerbaijan should reconsider this
policy]

Azeri prosecutor issues arrest warrant for Russian commander

ANS TV, Baku
29 Jul 06

Presenter] A draft resolution has been issued on the arrest of Yuriy
Zarvigarov, the commander of the 366th regiment, which was involved in
the Xocali genocide organized by Armenians against Azerbaijanis [in
February 1992], Military Prosecutor Xanlar Valiyev has said. Official
talks have also been held with Interpol officials to track him down,
Valiyev said at a meeting of the board of the Military Prosecutor’s
Office.
[Correspondent over video of meeting] The Military Prosecutor’s Office
is trying to secure the arrest of Yuriy Zarvigarov, the former
commander of the 366th regiment, which was involved in the Xocali
genocide, and the former head of the Asqaran District interior
department, Mavrik Gukasyan. Draft resolutions and arrest warrants
concerning the two men are ready, Military Prosecutor Xanlar Valiyev
said at the meeting of the board on the results of the first six
months of 2006.
[Passage omitted: details of the investigation and criminal case
against the two, other attacks of Armenians on Azeris]