Happy is the one who can call himself a Turk

Khilafah.com, UK
March 17 2006

In December 2005 the Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk was held on trail
for violating the Turkish Republic’s criminal code, article 301: the
crime of “denigrating Turkishness”. The novelist faced nationalist
protesters hurling abuse and threatening violence. Scuffles broke
out inside and outside the cramped courtroom. Armed police in riot
gear were deployed, but failed to prevent the ugly scenes. Although
Pamuk has become the most well known individual to be arrested under
a series of patriotic laws, he is by no means the only one. Scores
of writers and journalists are being prosecuted for this crime of
“denigrating Turkishness”. Fatih Ta’, owner of the Aram publishing
house, was charged with “insulting Turkishness and the security
forces” under article 301 code, and with “insulting the memory of
Kemal Ataturk” under Statute 5816, a law to protect Ataturk. Ragip
Zarakolu, owner of the Belge publishing house, was put on trial for
“insulting Ataturk” under Law 5816, and “insulting the armed forces”
under article 301. Although he Turkish authorities dropped the charges
a month later, they failed to avoid international condemnation.

There was outrage and indignation at the Turkish moves to trample
on the principle of freedom of speech, and condemnation at Turkey’s
denial of an event that so many in the West say was the first organised
genocide of the 20th century. However, few mentioned how ridiculous
the law of “insulting the memory of Kemal Ataturk” actually is, or how
inhumane it is to have statutes that force citizens to honour such
a nebulous notion as “Turkishness”. These acts of legislation are
meaningless and insulting to the intelligence of the Muslims of Turkey.

The western press and other bodies made much of the Pumuk trial at
the time. On December 8, 2005, Human Rights Watch said: “The Turkish
judiciary must promptly acquit the novelist Orhan Pamuk and sharply
dismiss the indictment against him if Turkey is to allay serious
doubts about its commitment to free expression”. The nub of the Pumuk
case was that he expressed an opinion to a Swiss magazine Das Bild in
February 2005 that, “Thirty thousand Kurds and one million Armenians
were killed in these lands.” He expressed an opinion on events that
occurred during the First World War that are discordant with those
of the Turkish government.

This, in the modern Turkish Republic, is illegal. Similarly the
British historian David Irvin expressed an opinion about events that
happened during the Second World War. His views were also in conflict
with the official opinions held by certain governments, such as in
Austria where it is illegal.

The other similarity between the two cases is that they both involve
self publicists that have courted controversy. They have both gone
up against laws that they knew had the potential to be their undoing.

Irving was arrested in November 2005 for speeches he made in Austria in
1998 in which he denied the existence of gas chambers and extermination
camps in Europe during the period of Nazi rule. Austria has the
strictest holocaust denial laws in Europe and Irving was well aware of
this fact. However Austria also has a poor record for actually dealing
with suspects of Nazi war crimes. This case was more about “sending
a massage” rather than exposing the opinions of a quasi-historian to
be bereft of strong supporting evidence.

The rights and wrongs of the opinions of these two controversial
figures are not the issue of concern here. What is of interest is
the reaction of the western press to these two individuals voicing
their opinions, especially, as these two cases hit the news at a
time when Europe was debating the whole notion of free speech. The
vigorous defence of freedom of speech, in relation the Danish cartoons
and Orhan Pamuk, seems not to be extrapolated to protecting Irving’s
right to free speech. Similarly the outrage expressed towards Turkey,
for forcing people to hold their view and their view alone, was not
extended to Austria.

The response of Europe to the Danish cartoons, coupled with the
condemnation heaped upon Turkey and the fact that one their scholars
is now languishing in a cell prove that the idea of free speech is
merely an illusion.

hp?DocumentID=13071&TagID=1

AzerTag, Azerbaijan
March 17 2006

AZERBAIJANI EMBASSY IN MOSCOW SUBMITS NOTE OF PROTEST TO RUSSIA~RS
FOREIGN MMINISTRY
[March 17, 2006, 18:33:14]

Azerbaijani Embassy in Moscow submitted a note of protest to
Russia’s Foreign Ministry against the information published on the
Caucasus-related page of the Inter RAO EES company’s website.

In its note, the Embassy points to “inadmissibility of publications
reflecting the violation of territorial integrity of the Azerbaijan
Republic”, and requests the Russian Foreign Ministry to call on the
Inter RAO EES to eliminate the errors and distortions, and not allow
their repetition in future.

The Embassy also asks to forward the text of the note to the Inter
RAO EES for its personnel to have correct information about the
Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh deals with by the
Russian Federation as co chair of the OSCE Minsk group.

On the webpage, the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh occupied by Armenian
armed forces is presented without pointing to its belonging to the
Republic of Azerbaijan; the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic is not
mentioned as part of the Republic of Azerbaijan; names of several
Azerbaijani towns are presented as they sounds in Armenian: the
Azerbaijani towns Shusha as Shushi, and Lachin as Kashatag.

U.S. urges Turkey to open up border crossing with Armenia

Xinhua News Agency, China
March 17 2006

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs
Daniel Fried urged Turkey to open up the border crossing with Armenia
as a step toward normalization of relations between the two countries,
local media reported Friday.

Fried, who is currently on a visit to Turkey, called upon Turkey to
open up the border crossing, which he said would contribute to building
up relations between Turkey and Armenia, semi-official Anatolia News
Agency reported.

The U.S. official also discussed with Turkish officials Iran’s nuclear
program and the Cyprus issue, the report added.

Turkey and the United States shared concern over the Iranian nuclear
issue, but officials from both sides agreed that it should be resolved
through diplomatic means, Anatolia said.

But meanwhile, Fried conveyed the message to Turkey that the military
alternative was still on the table, it added.

On the Cyprus issue, Turkish Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Ali
Tuygan, who held talks with Fried, emphasized the importance of ending
the isolation of the Turkish Cypriot north.

Turkey has refused to establish diplomatic relations with Armenia on
the basis that Armenia claims that up to 1.5 million Armenians died
as a result of systematic genocide during the Turkish Ottoman period
between 1915 and 1923, a charge disputed by Ankara.

US Expects Normalized Turkish-Armenian Relations
By Cihan News Agency

Zaman Online, Turkey
March 17 2006

Published: Friday, March 17, 2006
zaman.com

Deputy Undersecretary of the US Department of State Daniel Fried,
speaking during his meeting with Turkish Foreign Ministry officials
on Friday, said that his country wished for the normalization of
relations between Turkey and Armenia.

Arriving in Turkey together with US special envoy Steve Mann, Fried
held talks in Ankara with the Turkish FM Undersecretary Ali Tuygan
and his deputy Ahmet Uzumcu.

Second Congress of World Azerbaijanis Ends in Baku

Baku Today, Azerbaijan
March 17 2006

17/03/2006 18:26

Second Congress of Azerbaijanis of the World finished its work. A
number of documents were adopted on the results of the forum.

Forum adopted the necessity of preparation the conception of Diaspora’s
activity. Until the Third Congress special attention must be paid to
these questions: consolidation of Azerbaijani communities; foundations
of the Congresses of America’s and Asia’s Azerbaijanis; creation
of the World Organizations of Azerbaijanis; adoption of measures
for Azerbaijanis’ representation in parliaments, state and municipal
organs of foreign countries; conduction of joint forum of Azerbaijani
and Turkish Diaspora organizations; rapprochement with mass media;
creation of “Sunday school” and other education-cultural organizations;
attraction of businessmen to implementation of socioeconomic programs
in Azerbaijan.

Forum decided to hold congresses of Azerbaijanis every 5 years.

Sessions of Coordinating Council of Azerbaijanis will be held once
a year.

The Congress called Azerbaijanis to consolidation. They called
the international organizations, parliaments, heads of states and
governments due to the Karabakh conflict. The document calls to
condemn aggressive Armenian separatism.

The Congress appealed to UNESCO regarding damage caused as a result
of Armenian aggression as a result of occupation of Azerbaijani
territories.

Congress re-elected Mahmud Kerimov, the President of the national
Academy to the post of chairman of the Coordinating Council.

Ukraine Finished Talks with Armenia and Columbia on Mutual Access to Markets
[17.03.2006 15:23]

UNIAN , Ukraine
March 17 2006

Ukraine finished market access talks with Armenia and Columbia within
the framework of joining the World Trade Organization.

According to an UNIAN correspondent, Economics Minister of Ukraine
Arseniy Yatseniuk disclosed this to journalists today.

Ukraine has been holding talks for joining WTO since 1994. Presently a
new date of entering WTO is expected – summer-autumn of the current
year.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

BÝA, Turkey
March 17 2006

Free Expression Falls Victim to EU Opponents

Using loosely worded laws that criminalize the denigration of the
Turkish state, conservative secular nationalists – referred to by
some as “the state within the state” – are challenging writings and
public comments on issues they dislike.

CPJ/IFEX
17/03/2006

BÝA (New York) – Nationalists opposed to Turkey’s engagement with
Europe have sought out sympathetic public prosecutors across the
country to file criminal complaints against journalists, writers and
academics who favor EU membership, a new report by the Committee to
Protect Journalists has found.

Using loosely worded laws that criminalize the denigration of the
Turkish state, its identity and its institutions, conservative secular
nationalists – referred to by some as “the state within the state” –
are challenging writings and public comments on issues they dislike,
including the Kurds, the mass killings of Armenians under the Ottoman
Empire, and the security forces, CPJ found in its special report,
“Nationalism and the Press,” released today.

Five journalists were charged in December 2005 under Article 288 of
the penal code with attempting to influence the outcome of judicial
proceedings through their writings. Four of the five were also charged
under the controversial Article 301 of the code with insulting
“Turkishness,” and if convicted could face prison terms from six
months to 10 years.

Senior Editor Robert Mahoney attended the unruly opening of the
journalists’ trial on February 7 in Istanbul where hundreds of riot
police ringed the court room and the judge adjourned the case after
two hours. He interviewed several of the journalists standing trial,
government officials and activists for the report.

Since Turkey’s penal code was overhauled in 2005, cases have been
brought against 29 journalists under Article 301, according to the
local press freedom organization Bia.

For 40 years, Turkey has been forging closer political, economic,
and social ties with Europe, writes Mahoney. But the opening last
October of formal accession negotiations with Brussels has galvanized
those who feel Turkey has gone far enough in reforming itself along
Western lines to pass the EU membership test.

The prosecution of the five journalists is scheduled to reconvene on
April 11.

–Boundary_(ID_1z27Pjr6yaQgJRNVDkz7UQ)–

BÝA, Turkey
March 17 2006

Not Many “New Approaches” for Armenian Issue

“New Approaches in Turkish Armenian Relations” conferance will
continue for 3 days witnessed the reproduction of nationalist
reflexes and unscientific propositions: “There is not more noble a
nation in the world than the Turks.”

BIA News Center
17/03/2006 Talin SUCIYAN

BÝA (Istanbul) – On the first day of the international symposium
entitled “New Approaches in Turkish Armenian Relations” organized by
Istanbul University as the Science and Literature Faculty Cemil
Birsel Meeting Hall that started on Wednesday, the symposium stayed
far away from bringing new approaches to the issue. Old formulaic
narratives were repeated.

The symposium witnessed the reproduction of nationalist reflexes and
unscientific propositions.

Propositions and questions such as “The Armenians had sold their
masters”, “deportation is a form of crisis management”, “how could
one compare those who die from deportations with those who die from
the flu”, “there is no nobler nation on earth than the Turks” were
repeated.

A 25-page anonymous brochure printed by Ýstanbul University entitled
“The Attack of the Genociders and the Reactions One Must Give to
Them” was introduced at the last minute at an unnamed exhibit.

The symposium started with a practice inappropriate for an academic
meeting, namely with the reading of the National Anthem and the March
of the 10th Year Celebrations of the Turkish Republic. Then there was
a moment of silence observed for those who had lost their lives
during World War I.

The National Anthem was sung by Katya Hallacoglu from Ferikoy
Armenian Elementary School who was elected the best national anthem
singing student and the Tenth Year (of The Republic) March was sang
by the Surp Takavor Choir. The same choir then sang some Armenian
pieces.

The Brochure with the unknown author and publisher

Among the various bookstands in the hall way were the publications of
the Prime Minister’s Office, Ataturk Research Center and the Gomidas
Institute. During the first panel, there was added next to the books
of the Gomidas Institute a brochure stand for a 25-page brochure
entitled “The Attack of the Genociders and the Reactions One Must
Give to Them.”

The name of the author was someone named “Holdwater” and the
translator the Turkish Forum member Fatma Sarýkaya who had attended
the Bilgi University conference in September 2005. Vice Rector Þafak
Ural stated that the brochure had been printed by the Istanbul
University Press right before the symposium but it had not yet been
accepted as an Istanbul University publication because it had not
been examined adequately.

There was no information in the brochure that it had been printed by
Istanbul University. The entire content of the brochure whose writer
is unknown has been taken from the website
and translated by Fatma Sarýkaya.

On the first day of the conference that will continue for three days,
a total of 18 presentations took place under the themes “Armenians
under Ottoman Adminsitration,” “Deportation according to Archival
Documants” and “Great Powers and the Armenian Issue.”

Even though the original title of the paper of Yair Auron who
participated in the symposium from Israel was “Armenian Genocide
during World War I According to the Narrtives of the Witnesses and
Jewish Documentation,” it appeared in the program as “Armenians under
Ottoman rule according to the archival documents of the Yishuv (the
Palestinian Jewish community).” This misprint was corrected at the
end of the presentation by Yusuf Halacoglu.

Auron: “1915 is a Genocide”

As could also be understood from his paper title, Yair Auron gave a
presentation on the proofs of the Armenian genocide in the Jewish
sources. Auron stated that he had been researching genocides for 30
years and the Armenian genocide for 20 years and that he employed the
term genocide not to offend anyone but because he interprets 1915
within the scientific and legal conceptualizations as genocide.

Saray: “Armenians and Greek were used as Tools for Selfish Purposes”

Mehmet Saray who presented in an emotional tone a paper entitled
“Armenians and the Ottoman conception of the state” said the
following at the end of his paper: “The Turkish nation is the most
noble nation of the world; friends, it is not possible for such a
nation to commit genocide.” Saray also stated that the Armenians and
Greeks were used by the Britain, France and Russia as ‘tools.’

Bozkurt: “Non-Muslims prevented equality”

In her talk entitled “non-Muslims in Ottoman Law,” Gulnihal Bozkurt
said that the legal differentiation between the Muslims and
non-Muslims occurred because the Ottoman state was a religious state
and the legal system applied a religious one. She claimed that the
non-Muslims did not support the application of the reforms that gave
them more rights but also more responsibilities and that was why the
introduction of an egalitarian understanding (to Ottoman society) was
prevented directly by the non-Muslims.

Ali Arslan who defended the view that the Armenian church and the
Armenian problem were interconnected stated that the (activities of
the) churches had to be observed very carefully and that he wished
the churches were centers of peace and love.

“Armenians have sold their Masters”

Erol Kurkcuoglu who stated while giving his paper that “the Armenian
problem is an artificial (non-existent) issue created by the Russians
and Western powers” referred to the Russian historian Velichkov in
stating that Armenians always had masters. He narrated that these
“master”s’were respectively Romans, Byzantines, Iranian, British,
French and Germans. He concluded his talk by stating that “Armenians
have always changed their masters in history and have sold them (the
masters).”

Deportation as Crisis Management

Hikmet Ozdemir stated that his talk searched for the answer to the
single question: ‘what are the reasons for the deportation?’ and
pointed out that he had “the right to ask to know what his colleagues
at Bilgi and Sabanci Universities thought about this.” Ozdemir listed
various rebellions to argue that deportation emerged as a crisis
management technique during war.

Why did Gomidas go abroad?

In his paper entitled “Deportation according to Ottoman documents”,
Yusuf Sarinay gave the example of Gomidas, the first
ethnomusicologist of Anatolia, stating how helpful the state elite
had been in sending him abroad for his medical treatment.

Sarýnay did not state that Gomidas had lost his mental health because
of what he had lived through and witnessed.

Sarýnay also argued that Armenians had been sent south in order to
move them away from the warfront to settle them at a secure place.

“Comparison of deportation and flu deaths”

Yusuf Hallacoðlu argued in his talk entitled “population loss due to
deportation and migrations” that the number of casualties due to
sickness, travel, hunger was 227 500 and that this could be compared
to those in England who died from the flu.

The Activities of the Missionaries and the Armenians are Different
from One Another

Hilmar Kaiser who presented a paper entitled “Merzifon, 1915: Ottoman
Armenians and American Missionaries during times of Crisis” stated
that one should not equate those who performed missionary activities
with the Armenians because Armenians sometimes converted to Islam to
escape genocide and this (conversion) would not be acceptable to the
missionaries.

As proof for his argument that the purposes of the two groups were
entirely different, Kaiser relayed from the memoirs of the wife the
negative reaction received by the Armenian doctor who had become the
director of the Merzifon missionary hospital.

Kaiser stated that Merzifon was totally cleansed of Armenians except
for the Protestant Armenians who were disabled or working at the
American mission.

The symposium that has not been well attended will continue at the
same place Thursday and Friday. (TS/KO/FMG/YE)

–Boundary_(ID_ak3GXP3MJkOtSxHJpac riA)–

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Akkan Suver: “Armenia should withdraw from the territories it occupied”

Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
March 17 2006

[ 17 Mar. 2006 17:55 ]

Director-general of Turkey Marmara Strategic and Social Researches
Foundation Akkan Suver held news conference today (APA). Suver said
that he visited Baku to attend the 2nd Congress of World Azerbaijanis.

Highly appreciating the Congress, Suver called it not only the congress
of world Azerbaijanis but also all Turks worldwide. “Turkey needs to
learn much from Azerbaijan regarding lobbying activity. The problem
is we lack lobbying. Azerbaijan is a good example for Turkish world
for lobbying. Turkey should develop lobbying in order to be powerful,”
the Turkish visitor said.

Referring to the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict, the director-general
said Armenia is pursuing a wrong policy. “It is imposable to develop
as a terrorist country in the civilized Turkish world. Armenia should
bear it in mind and withdraw from the territories it has occupied,”
Suver concluded./APA/

Mujgan Suver: “Turkey do not organize flights to Armenia”

Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
March 17 2006

[ 17 Mar. 2006 17:56 ]

“Istanbul-Yerevan and the opposite direction flights are not organized
by the Turkish government but a private company,” head of Turkey
Marmara Strategic and Social Researches Foundation on European Union
and Human Rights Platform, Mujgan Suver told APA.

She stated that Istanbul-Yerevan and the opposite direction flights
that are held twice a week are for Armenians who are Turkish citizens,
and they travel to visit their relations in Armenia. Mujgan Suver
also added that Turkey does not violate the rights of Armenians and
other nations living in Turkey./APA/