ANKARA: Pro-Armenian Istanbul Conference Starts Under Protests

Journal of Turkish Weekly
Sept 24 2005

Pro-Armenian Istanbul Conference Starts Under Protests

Hundreds of Turkish nationalists have been protesting outside a
controversial conference on the Armenians Issue in Istanbul.

The Turkish protesters chanted slogans and booed delegates entering
Istanbul’s Bilgi University for the two-day event. The conference had
been due to open on Friday, at another venue, but was stopped from
doing so by a court order. After the court decision the organization
was moved to Bilgi University from Bosphorus University. Turkish
Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah
Gul declared that the court decision was not right. Both said that
Turkey is a free country and anyone could organize any conference on
any subject.

Debate of the Turkish-Armenian killings has been taboo in Turkey and
in Armenia. Now pro-Armenian books and articles can be published in
Turkey and pro-Armenians may organize such lectures as being
witnessed in Bilgi University while it is still taboo in Armenia and
Armenian diaspora. Armenians strongly reject t discuss the Armenian
issue with the Turks. `The Armenians consider discussion as a treason
to their ancestors’ Dr. Nilgun Gulcan from ISRO says.

Armenians worldwide have been campaigning for decades for the deaths
– they claim it is more than a million, around the time of WWI – to
be recognized universally as genocide. The Turkish historians on the
other hand argue that the Armenians rioted and supported the
occupying Russian Armies during the First World War, and the Istanbul
Government had to decide to relocate more than 500,000 Armenians from
the war theatre to the Syrian province of the Ottoman State. However
many Armenians died due to the bandit attacks, ethnic clashes and war
circumstances. Bad weather conditions and famine caused a great
tragedy. More than 520,000 Turkish and Kurdish villagers were also
massacred by the Armenian armed groups. The Tashnaks (Armenian
ultra-nationalists) attacked the Turkish and Kurdish villages and
massacred many civilians. The Armenian groups continued their attacks
after the war. The Armenian terrorists killed many Ottoman
high-ranked bureaucrats and former generals after the war. The ASALA
terrorism during the 1970s and 1980s massacred more than 40 Turkish
diplomats in the name of revenge of the past.

COURT BANNED; PM ERDOGAN DEFENDS

The conference discussing the issue was due to be held at Istanbul’s
Bosphorus University, but it was banned by an Istanbul court after
complaints by nationalists that the historians behind it were
“traitors”. However Turkish Government leaders regretted the court
ruling which “cast a shadow on the process of democratisation and
freedoms”, according to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Erdogan
said `Turkey has nothing to be afraid’. `If we have confidence in our
own beliefs, we should not fear freedom of thought’ he added.

EU enlargement commissioner Krisztina Nagy said Brussels strongly
deplored the court’s “attempt to prevent the Turkish society from
discussing its history”.

“The Armenian genocide is an international lie,” read a huge banner
carried by members of the left-wing Workers’ Party.
Turkey begins talks on joining the EU in two weeks’ time.

NOT A SCIENTIFIC CONFERENCE

Dr. Davut Sahiner said that the Istanbul Armenian Conference is not a
scientific one:

`Almost all of the participants pro-Armenian. It is not scientific.
No academicians could give a reference to this conference in their
serious studies. It is political and they make pro-Armenian
propaganda. They invite no serious Turkish researchers. You cannot
see Ilber Ortayli, Turkkaya Ataov or Mim Kemal Oke. They called the
journalists, populists names, Armenians and pro-Armenians. But, I
still support the conference. It should be made. Turkey is not
Armenia. Turkey is not Switzerland. Even the Armenians or
pro-Armenians can say anything they wish, and no one will be punished
or put to prison. You remember, a Turkish scholar from Duke
University was put to the Armenian prisons in Yerevan last Summer due
to his scientific researches in Armenian archives. No Turkish
historian can go to Armenia after this. And all of us know that no
pro-Turkish speaker can speak in Lyon or California on Armenian
issue.’

Dr. Nilgun Gulcan similarly argued that a similar conference cannot
be organized in France or in Armenia. `Because they are not sincere
and democratic enough’ Gulcan added.

ANKARA: Baykal Pleased With Ongoing Armenian Conference

Turkish Press
Sept 24 2005

Baykal Pleased With Ongoing Armenian Conference

ANKARA – Deniz Baykal, the leader of the main opposition Republican
People’s Party (CHP), expressed on Saturday pleasure that the
Conference entitled ”The Armenians during the Collapse of the
Ottoman Empire” was being held in Istanbul.

Releasing a statement, Baykal regretted the court decision that
suspended the conference, and said, ”obstructing people from
expressing their views is contrary to principles of state of law and
democracy.”

ANKARA: Preserving, Maintaining Academic Freedoms Important – Soysal

Turkish Press
Sept 24 2005

Preserving And Maintaining Academic Freedoms Is Important, Soysal

ISTANBUL – ”Where this meeting (the conference on the Armenians
during the Collapse of the Ottoman Empire) is being held is not
important. What is important is to preserve and maintain academic
freedoms,” said Bogazici University’s President Prof. Dr. Ayse
Soysal.

Soysal, Sabanci University’s President Prof. Dr. Tosun Terzioglu and
Bilgi University’s President Prof. Dr. Aydin Ugur took the floor at
the opening session of the Conference entitled ”The Armenians during
the Collapse of the Ottoman Empire”.

Terzioglu underlined importance of this conference for Turkey, while
Ugur said, ”for Bilgi University, this is an issue of freedom of
thought and freedom of organizing scientific activities.”

Meanwhile, around 300 people, including members of some political
parties and NGOs, carried Turkish flags and chanted slogans to
protest the conference.

Erkan Onsel, the chairman of the Labor Party’s (IP) branch in
Istanbul, said that the conference had nothing to do with history,
but had political intentions.

Also commenting on the conference, Sevgi Erenerol, the press & public
relations official of the Independent Turkish Orthodox Patriarchate,
said that Turks had never carried out ”genocide” during their
history.

UCLA: Groups campaign to educate campus

The UCLA Daily Bruin, CA
Sept 25 2005

Groups campaign to educate campus

By Saba Riazati
DAILY BRUIN CONTRIBUTOR
[email protected]

A group of several UCLA students sit together inside a small office.
They aren’t playing cards or discussing their plans for Saturday
night like most young adults would do during a lazy summer-vacation
day. Instead, they are planning how to educate the thousands in the
UCLA community on the Armenian Genocide of 1915.

Members of the Armenian Students Association, and many other student
organizations on campus, initiate projects to educate and take action
on issues that they feel need attention.

Issues tackled by student groups range from the ongoing genocide in
Darfur, rising textbook prices and energy-preservation campaigns.

UCLA has over 800 registered organizations on campus, and many
students find themselves involved in one of these groups and
dedicating their time to its cause.

Educational campaigns are nothing new for established student groups,
and they often play a huge role in the existence of the organization.

Last year, the Armenian Students Association facilitated a weeklong
awareness campaign, including a candlelight visual commemorating the
90th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.

Student groups with similar goals and interests will often pool their
resources to host large-scale programming and potentially impact more
students.

For instance, this year, the Aremenian Students Association, the
Darfur Action Committee and the Jewish Student Union are planning a
genocide awareness film screening, to educate students on the
holocaust, the Armenian Genocide of 1915, and the current ongoing
crisis in Darfur, a region in western Sudan.

Early last year, the Darfur Action Committtee was four people working
out of a small apartment. By the end of the year, their
letter-writing campaign was mailing over 300 student letters to
elected officials every week to draw attention to the Darfur crisis.

Some students feel so passionate about their causes that their
educational and career goals may temporarily have to take the back
seat.

Adam Sterling, a fifth-year Afro-American Studies and political
science student, also a Darfur Action Committee steering member,
chose to stay a fifth-year at UCLA, picking up a minor just so he
could continue to work to engage the UCLA community in campaigns of
letter-writing, fundraising, education and divestment.

“I stayed because we believe that humanity should come before
politics and all arguments aside; we are working to stop a genocide.
That’s why I believe in this cause; that’s why I’m back,” Sterling
said.

“Its been a great experience because we’ve been able to work with so
many different clubs. … We got to see the UCLA community come
together,” Sterling said.

Fourth-year political science and ecology, behavior and evolution
student Greg Wannier has been involved with the California Public
Interest Research Group since his first year at UCLA, and he is now
the organization’s state chairman, in charge of collective efforts
all across the state.

CALPIRG’s initiatives have educated thousands of students on
California campuses, and the organization implements a variety of
programs, including organizing letter-writing campaigns directed to
elected officials on matters such as lowering the energy usage in
universities.

Currently, there is a bill in Congress as a result of CALPIRG’s
efforts, proposing to mandate solar panel usage on campuses
nation-wide.

“When I originally joined, it was because the issues seemed
interesting, but being with (CALPIRG) has made me more of an
activist,” Wannier said.

Last year, CALPIRG was successful in pressuring and negotiating with
textbook companies to produce cheaper paperback textbooks, without
color or images, to cut costs for students.

CALPIRG’S large campaign this year is focused on what they have began
planning as the “campus climate challenge.”

The long-term campaign calls universities across the country to
reduce energy consumption by 90 percent by the year 2050.

“I enjoy being a part of CALPIRG because I feel like we are effective
and can actually make a change,” Wannier said.

“(Being in CALPIRG) has taught me how to organize, coordinate and
really be a leader,” he added.

While there is a seemingly endless list of student organizations that
do advocacy work, as third-year history student Annie Voskerchian,
public relations director of the Armenian Students Association, said:
“We’re all different groups, but we all have one similar goal – to
raise awareness and educate (the UCLA community).”

“Personally, it’s been a learning experience for me in organizing,
planning and reaching out (to the UCLA community),” Voskerchian said.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Many facets of Iran

The Tribune, India
Sept 25 2005

Many facets of Iran

Iran’s politics doesn’t put off tourists who are drawn by the
landscape and architecture. A bottle
of mineral water may be more expensive than petrol, but it makes
driving around cheaper,
says Christoph Kohler

The Blue Mosque of Esfahan is mesmerising.
– Photo by the writer

Shrouded in a mesh of political unrest, Iran may not be everyone’s
idea of a prime holiday destination but it is a treasure-trove of
picturesque landscapes and magnificent architecture waiting to be
rediscovered.

Non-existent town planning has led to uncontrolled growth. Tehran is
no exotic crossroad soaked in oriental splendour and deserves to be
explored. The presence of the Komite, the Islamic Revolutionary
Guards Corp, has visibly diminished. Make-up, nail polish and high
heels are visible, emphasising a growing feminism. Audiences flock to
Titanic, cut to a meagre one-hour trailer. These simple changes
became possible under Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s predecessor Mohammad
Khatami.

The rigid Islamic laws, imposed during the Islamic Revolution,
forbidding alcohol, Western music and card games, are still strictly
enforced.

While the dress code for men has relaxed and women’s fashion shops
abound in urban Iran, the chador is, however, the only female fashion
tolerated in public.

Tehran still has evidence of its very vulnerable relationship with
North America, perceived as the `Great Satan.’ An enormous mural of
an American flag adorns a downtown skyscraper; skulls replacing the
stars, and bombs dropping from the bleeding stripes. Paintings
celebrating the storming of the American Embassy in 1979, and images
commemorating the accidental downing of a civilian aircraft by the US
Navy in 1989, embellish the grey walls of the former `US Den of
Espionage’. Nowadays, the obsolete embassy is used as a
computer-training centre for aspiring Komite cadets.

However, it is the people who smash one’s preconceptions. Iranians
don’t really hate America, they love hamburgers, which are available
at every corner, and flush them down with Parsi Cola while
scrutinising the latest basketball results in the newspaper. They
don’t take the ridiculous propaganda seriously any longer, having
been penetrated by it for years.

Travelling around the country is very convenient and economical.
Sixty litres of petrol are sold for less than two dollars. A bottle
of mineral water is more expensive. All public transport is therefore
easy on the pocket, very reliable, comparatively comfortable and
certainly no hit-and-miss affair.

Esfahan is mesmerising. Its charm has always fascinated travellers.
As the saying goes: `Esfahan is half the world,’ which expressed the
city’s grandeur in the 16th century. Intellectually brave, the town
has been a flourishing centre of learning for decades. Nowadays, the
city’s thinkers gather behind closed doors, the music volume kept to
a minimum, barely loud enough to hear the lyrics of Pink Floyd’s `The
Wall’, the all-time favourite hymn among Iranian youth. For fear that
the tipped-off Komite might arrive on the scene of such a `heinous’
social event, within seconds all `evidence’ can be eliminated.

The cosy teahouses under the bridges spanning the river are
marvellous retreats, to linger for hours, meeting the delightful
`Esfahanis.’ They are atmospheric refuges to sip boiling tea in and
savour sweet pastry. Young and old, the locals get together in
Esfahan’s teahouses to philosophise about life and dreams of a
scholarship abroad. They exchange entertaining anecdotes of the rough
times in the compulsory army, buying booze and magazines for inflated
prices from Turkish soldiers across the border.

Shiraz, another night journey further south, was one of the most
important cities in the medieval Islamic world. In its heyday, Shiraz
was famous for nightingales, poetry, roses and even wine, which
nowadays is only tolerated for communal services in the Armenian
Church. Shiraz’s true jewel, however, is a stone’s throw northeast in
the desert. The ancient palace complexes of Persopolis, once Persia’s
glamorous capital, display only a small fraction of their past
grandeur. Rampaging Persia at the time, Alexander the Great paid a
violent visit to his enemy’s glamorous capital on a cold January day
in 330 BC. With unrestrained ferocity, Persopolis was looted and
torched to the ground.

Across the barren desert in central Iran, Yazd has always been a
centre of religion, retaining its treasure of old tradition and
architecture. Recognised by Unesco as hosting the second oldest
architecture in the world, the old town is entirely built of mud
bricks. Yazd is an important hub for Zoroastrianism, Persia’s state
religion from around 500 BC. Modern scholars trace the birth hour of
the world’s first religion based on prophesy back to 12th century BC.

Heading east, Bam is a lush-green oasis in the middle of the harsh
wilderness. In the heart of this isolated town is an incredible
ancient city, moulded in the desert’s red clay. Surrounded by a maze
of eucalyptus, the outer walls measure more than 3 km. Three levels
of fortifications were used to protect the citadel until it couldn’t
withstand a devastating Afghani raid in 1722. Currently the
government is carrying out renovations, securing this breathtaking
marvel for future generations. East of the oasis stretches the mighty
Baluchistan, bordering Pakistan and Afghanistan. This land is home to
proud tribal people, who frequently take the law into their own
hands.

The territory is also a drug trafficking belt; tons of drugs are
smuggled across the Afghani border, en route to profitable markets in
Europe and the Middle East. The provincial capital Zahedan appears
dusty and featureless.

At any given moment, skirmishes between the police and local feuds
may flare up. Nevertheless, travelling in Baluchistan is very
rewarding; The Baluchi’s remarkable hospitality is born of their
isolation, where an eye for an eye is the only way of retaining ones
honour. Iran has many faces and facets, presenting a rich
kaleidoscope of culture and tradition.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Conference sparks protest

The Guardian /Observer, UK
Sept 25 2005

The World in Brief

Conference sparks protest

Hundreds of Turkish nationalists protested yesterday against a
controversial academic conference on the First World War massacre of
Armenians in Ottoman Turkey. The conference had been due to open on
Friday at two universities in Istanbul but a last-minute court order
blocked it, embarrassing the Turkish government just days before the
start of its EU membership talks. The organisers avoided the ban by
moving the conference to a third university in the city.

Turkey split by ban on Armenian massacre conference

The Scotsman, UK
Sept 25 2005

Turkey split by ban on Armenian massacre conference

JON HEMMING
IN ISTANBUL

HUNDREDS of Turkish nationalists chanting slogans and waving flags
protested yesterday against a controversial academic conference on
the First World War massacre of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey.

The conference had been due to open on Friday at two universities in
Istanbul but a last-minute court order blocked it, causing acute
embarrassment to the Turkish government just days before the start of
its EU membership talks.

Organisers circumvented the court ban by moving the conference to a
third university in the city.

“This conference is an insult to our republic and to the memory of
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk,” Erkal Onsel, head of the Istanbul branch of
the left wing but nationalist Workers’ Party, told protesters
gathered outside the private Bilgi University.

Atatürk is revered for founding the modern Turkish republic out of
the ashes of the Ottoman Empire in 1923.

The demonstrators chanted slogans such as “Treason will not go
unpunished” and “This is Turkey, love it or leave it”.

The issue of the Armenian massacres is highly sensitive in Turkey.
Armenia and its supporters around the world say some 1.5 million
Armenians died in a systematic genocide committed by Ottoman Turkish
forces between 1915 and 1923.

Ankara accepts that many Armenians were killed on Turkish soil during
and after the First World War, but says they were victims of a
partisan conflict that claimed even more Turkish Muslim lives as the
Ottoman Empire was collapsing. It denies any genocide.

But in a bid to defuse the issue, the government has opened up
Turkey’s archives to scholars, saying it has nothing to hide, and has
urged Armenia and other nations to do likewise.

The academic conference was originally scheduled for May but was
cancelled after justice minister Cemil Cicek accused those backing
the genocide claims of “stabbing Turkey in the back”.

This time, with a nervous eye on Brussels as the clock ticks towards
the start of its long-delayed EU entry talks on October 3, the
government has strongly backed the conference.

The court banning order, announced on Thursday evening just before
the conference was due to start, drew swift condemnation from prime
minister Tayyip Erdogan as well as from the European Commission,
which spoke of a “provocation” by anti-EU elements.

“If we have confidence in our own beliefs, we should not fear freedom
of thought,” Erdogan told a separate gathering of academics in
Istanbul yesterday.

“I want to live in a Turkey where all freedoms are guaranteed,” the
prime minister said.

Lawyers behind the original court ban condemned Bilgi University’s
decision on Saturday to host the event regardless.

“We will file a legal complaint against all of those people behind
this conference,” lawyer Kemal Kerincsiz said.

The court blocked the conference pending information on the
qualifications of the speakers and also wanted to know who was
participating and who was paying for it.

Conference on mass killings opens in Turkey

Provo Daily Herald, UTAH
Sept 25 2005

Conference on mass killings opens in Turkey

ISTANBUL, Turkey — A controversial conference on the mass killings
of ethnic Armenians during the last days of the Ottoman Empire opened
here amid heavy security Saturday in defiance of a court ban.

The forum was hailed by participants and Western observers as a
groundbreaking event where Turkish academics for the first time
publicly could challenge their country’s official version of the
events leading to the Armenian tragedy.

Hundreds of protesters waving Turkish flags pelted the arriving
panelists with eggs and rotten tomatoes, expressing the fury felt by
many Turks over efforts to open their country’s painful past to
debate. “The aim (of the conference) . . . is to declare Turkey
guilty of genocide,” said Erkan Onsel, head of the local branch of
the small, left-wing Turkey’s Workers’ Party.

The conference was canceled twice before, most recently on Thursday,
when an Istanbul court ruled in favor of a group of lawyers who
opposed the gathering on procedural grounds.

Turks debate whether genocide was committed

Boston Globe, MA
Sept 25 2005

Turks debate whether genocide was committed

Protesters blast forum on deaths of Armenians
By Benjamin Harvey, Associated Press | September 25, 2005

ISTANBUL — Turkish scholars at a twice-canceled conference on the
massacre of Armenians in the early 20th century cautiously discussed
the politically charged topic yesterday, avoiding inflammatory
language as protesters denounced the gathering as traitorous.

The academic conference is the first time an institution in the
modern Turkish republic has hosted a public event in which speakers
will be permitted to openly discuss whether their ancestors committed
the first genocide of the 20th century.

Hundreds of protesters waved Turkish flags and some pelted the
arriving panelists with eggs and accused organizers of treachery.

But in a sign of the deep sensitivity of the subject, the panelists,
all Turkish speakers, avoided emotional language.

”Everyone waits for you to pronounce the genocide word — if you do,
one side applauds and the other won’t listen,” said Halil Berktay,
program coordinator of the history department at Sabanci University.

Armenians have been pushing for decades to have the killings of as
many as 1.5 million Armenians in the Ottoman Empire recognized by the
international community as genocide.

Turkey said the death toll is inflated and Armenians were killed in
civil unrest as the Ottoman Empire collapsed.

Modern Turkey, the successor state of the empire, is a candidate for
European Union membership and the country’s commitment to democracy
is being watched.

In May, the justice minister accused organizers of ”stabbing the
people in the back.” An Istanbul court shut the conference down
Thursday, but the ruling was skirted by organizers who decided to
change the conference venue.

”The aim [of the conference] is to declare Turkey guilty of
genocide,” said Erkan Onsel, head of the local branch of Turkey’s
Workers’ Party, who was among the protesters outside the conference.

Stating that Turks may have committed genocide against Armenians
opposes the state line and could lead to prosecution in a country
where many see the Ottoman Empire as a symbol of Turkish greatness.

Turkish parley begins on Armenian massacre

Jerusalem Post
Sept 25 2005

Turkish parley begins on Armenian massacre

ISTANBUL, Turkey

Scholars held the first-ever public discussions in Turkey on Saturday
about the early 20th-century massacre of Armenians, choosing words
carefully in examining their history at a gathering that nationalists
denounced as traitorous.

The European Union called the academic conference a test of freedom
of expression in Turkey, which is hoping to begin talks for
membership in the bloc next month.

The academic conference had been canceled twice, once in May after
the justice minister said organizers were “stabbing the people in the
back,” and again on Thursday when an Istanbul court ordered the
conference closed and demanded to know the academic qualifications of
the speakers.

“This is a fight of ‘can we discuss this thing, or can we not discuss
this thing?”‘ Murat Belge, a member of the organizing committee, said
at the conference opening. “This is something that’s directly related
to the question of what kind of country Turkey is going to be.”

The Armenian issue stirs deep passions among Turks, who are being
pushed by many in the international community to say that their
fathers and grandfathers carried out the first genocide of the 20th
century.

“There are so many documents in hand with respect to the destruction
of Armenians,” said Taner Akcay, a Turkish-born professor at the
University of Minnesota, and author of books on the subject
including, A Shameful Act: The Armenian Genocide and the Question of
Turkish Responsibility.

Dozens of officers in riot gear kept hundreds of shouting protesters
at bay. Some protesters pelted arriving panelists with eggs and
rotten tomatoes.

Inside, the audience of more than 300 people was restrained, as only
those invited by the organizing committee and pre-approved members of
the media were allowed past security.

The issue has been a taboo for many years in Turkey, with those who
speak out against the killings risking prosecution by a Turkish
court. But an increasing number of Turkish academics have called for
a review of the killings in a country where many see the Ottoman
Empire as a symbol of Turkish greatness.

The panelists, all Turkish speakers, carefully avoided any emotional
language during the first day of the two-day conference.

“Everyone waits for you to pronounce the genocide word – if you do
one side applauds and the other won’t listen,” Halil Berktay, program
coordinator of the history department at Sabanci University, said at
the conference Saturday.

Several governments around the world have recognized the killings of
as many as 1.5 million Armenians in the late Ottoman Empire as
genocide.
Turkey vehemently denies the charge, admitting that many Armenians
were killed, but saying the death toll is inflated and that Armenians
were killed along with Turks in civil unrest and intercommunal
fighting as the Ottoman Empire collapsed between 1915 and 1923.

After the conference was shut down Thursday, Turkey drew condemnation
from the European Commission.

Organizers skirted the court order by changing the venue of the
conference.

The court-ordered cancellation Thursday was an embarrassment for the
country’s leaders, who are set to begin EU negotiations on Oct. 3.

Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul lamented that “there’s no one better at
hurting themselves than us,” and sent a letter wishing the organizers
a successful conference. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan also
condemned the court’s decision, saying it did not befit a democratic
country.

The participants were all Turkish speakers and included members of
Turkey’s Armenian minority like Hrant Dink, the editor in chief of
Agos, a weekly Armenian newspaper in Istanbul. There are some 70,000
Armenians living in Istanbul.