THE VIOLENCE OF HISTORY, IN PICTURES
By Steve Kettmann The New York Times
International Herald Tribune, France
Sept 27 2005
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2005
ISTANBUL Tucked away for more than 40 years, the 120 black-and-white
photographs that were on display in a gallery here recently have the
stark appearance and potential emotional impact of evidence presented
in a legal proceeding.
And that, it turns out, is what they are.
One image shows a mob outside a row of stores, with some people
watching passively and others cheering as a shop is ransacked. A
young man stands with his fist raised in the air, as if he is
egging on the vandals; his other hand rests passively on his hip,
suggesting nonchalance. A boy stares up numbly, as if looking in
vain for answers. Above him, a man in the shell of the shop’s wrecked
building heaves a baby carriage to the street below.
Fifty years ago this month, erroneous reports spread that Greeks had
set fire to the childhood home of Kemal Ataturk, modern Turkey’s
founder, in Salonika, Greece. The rumors prompted an angry mob to
converge on Taksim Square in Istanbul for an anti-foreigner pogrom
that left thousands of houses and many hundreds of shops destroyed.
Gallery officials said that about a dozen people were killed, but
the death toll has never been confirmed because of official secrecy.
Cemeteries were desecrated, dozens of churches were burned and many
schools were plundered.
Fahri Coker, a former assistant military prosecutor, served as a
legal adviser to the investigation of the events of Sept. 6-7, 1955,
an inquiry that historians describe as a whitewash. Coker had 250
photographs that had been taken by foreign news photographers and
government employees, and even a few by Ara Guler, one of Turkey’s
leading photographers. Coker held on to the pictures and left word that
they could be displayed only after his death, which occurred in 2001.
To mark the 50-year anniversary of the long night of violence, Karsi,
a gallery in the Beyoglu neighborhood, where the pogrom occurred,
organized an exhibition of the photos to open on Sept. 6. Although
curators were no doubt aware that the pictures would arouse strong
feelings, given the emotion surrounding historical discussions in
Turkey, they were surprised by the passions unleashed by the show.
The opening was disrupted by a group of nationalists who entered the
gallery, carrying a Turkish flag. Chanting slogans like “Turkey,
love it or leave it!” they vandalized some of the photographs and
tossed others out the window. They also threw eggs at the pictures.
“We left it that way, but unfortunately, after a few days it started
to smell,” Ozkan Taner, one of the gallery’s directors, said of the
exhibition, which the gallery then cleaned and restored, putting it
back on display until it closed this week.
News of the attacks spread quickly, and attendance was heavy, exceeding
expectations. On a recent day, dozens of people crowded into the
gallery to study the images. The pictures, as might be expected,
showed faces riven by anger and fear, but the photos were also packed
with small surprises.
One centered on the monument at the center of Taksim Square, so crowded
with young protesters that some were falling off as others rose to take
their places. At the top of the image, a small group was working to
hoist the Turkish flag, while a young man in a crisp, clean suit held
a small portrait of Ataturk over his head. But away from the monument,
the people in the crowd turning to face the photographer had blank,
uncertain expressions, as if they were as unnerved by the outpouring
as many of the gallery’s visitors were.
In the beginning, the photo exhibition was hailed as a major step
forward for a country that is trying to show a more democratic face
in preparation for possible membership in the European Union.
“For the first time in the history of Turkey, a shameful happening
has been brought out into the open,” said Ishak Alaton, chairman of
the board of Alarko Holdings and a leader of Turkey’s tiny Jewish
population. “Sept. 6, 1955, was our Kristallnacht.”
Ozcan Yurdalan, a freelance photographer who denounced the attacks
on the exhibition, said that the straightforward documentary style
of the photographs had made them more disturbing.
“They show directly what they saw in life,” he said. “If you take
straight photographs, they show the reality – the faces of the people,
some fearful, some thinking, ‘Yeah, we are doing something well
against our enemy.”‘
He added, “The pictures showed me this is not the past. We are still
living in the same condition today. I am ashamed of that, and also
very fearful.”
Greek-Turkish tensions over the future of Cyprus were running high
in 1955, and the future of Cyprus remains unresolved, threatening to
hold up Turkey’s bid to join the EU. More broadly, Western ideas of
the role of dissent have been limited in Turkey.
A best-selling novelist, Orhan Pamuk, has been charged with
public denigrating of Turkish identity for telling a newspaper:
“Thirty-thousand Kurds were killed here, one million Armenians as
well. And almost no one talks about it.”
Mehmet Guleryuz, an Abstract Expressionist-style painter who helped
organize a protest against the attack on the exhibition, said: “We’re
going through sensitive times. We have to have the ability to open
up hidden parts of our history and deal with it. We have to have the
ability to argue.”

PROFESSOR REACTING DURING ARMENIAN CONFERENCE REMOVED
By Emre Soncan
Zaman, Turkey
Sept 27 2005
zaman.com
Tensions rose during the second day of the conference titled “Ottoman
Armenians during the Decline of the Empire: Issues of Scientific
Responsibility and Democracy” held at Istanbul Bilgi University.
Upon the reactions of retired Professor Ilhan Cuhadaroglu, who was
among the guests, he was removed from the conference hall. Speakers
of the conference criticized for being unilateral at times quarreled
with each other.
Associated Professor Fatma M. Gocek accusing remarks made by Professor
Baskin Oran opposing the Armenian diaspora of being inconsistent.
Professor Cuhadaroglu taking the floor during the 9th session titled
“Armenian cases” criticized the conference, “There is an atmosphere
of lamentation in the conference. I felt as though I was in Bulgaria
or Greece.”
Cuhadaroglu receiving reactions from participants and the chairwomen
shouted, “You cannot bear hearing my comments, but you have to
get used to them.” In the aftermath of the experienced tension,
Chairwomen Professor Nuket Sirman from Bogazici University said she
closed the session.
“Why don’t any of you react against the decision taken in
Switzerland?” Cuhadaroglu insisted. Associated Professor Halil Berktay
sitting in front of Cuhadaroglu said, “I condemn it.”
Since the atmosphere became very tense, security guards removed
Cuhadaroglu out of the conference hall. Professor Cuhadaroglu told
to reporters that he was not invited to the conference; however,
entered the conference since he said he was a professor.
Saying he could not bear the representations given in the conference,
Cuhadaroglu went on that he was himself a Yugoslavian immigrant:
“They call it genocide. They deal with the Kurdish issue. No one
has right to tread our history underfoot. Armenians were elected as
deputies and entered any public institution. Turks were also massacred
in Urfa, Erzurum. Do those Turks not have any parents?”
Bumin: You could not persuade me
Another tension occurred during the speech of Professor Oran when he
used the term of “massacre” for the incidents that occurred in 1915
against the Armenians. Oran who also made accusations relating to
the Armenian diaspora said, “While calling on Turkey to discuss the
issue is taboo in Turkey, it is not consistent to attempt to prevent
discussions taking place in Switzerland and France.”
Participants of the conference reacted against Oran’s remarks during
the question session. Associated Professor Gocek uttered that blaming
the entire diaspora was erroneous. Upon Oran’s remark that 98 percent
of the Armenian diaspora thought same, the atmosphere tensed even
more. While some of the participants supported Oran by applauding,
Gocek accused Oran of being inconsistent.
Furthermore, Professor Mete Tuncay qualified that the Armenian
deportation as a “great tragedy” and emphasized that the insistence
on the expression of “genocide” will not contribute to a solution.
Yeni Safak newspaper columnist Kursat Bumin criticizing the commonly
held genocide allegations disclosed, “Those supporting genocide could
not even persuade me during this conference.”
Fehmi Koru and Ahmet Hakan, two prominent columnists in Turkey,
who were expected to speak at the conference, did not attend. While
attacks with eggs continued during second day of the conference,
protesters also tried to remove the European Union (EU) flag from
the front of the university building.
Representations to be combined into a book
Rectors of the Istanbul Bilgi University, Sabanci University and
Bogazici University made a joint announcement at the end of the
conference. Sabanci University rector Tosun Terzioglu said the
conference was significant in terms of the university’s autonomy and
the representations of the speakers will be combined in a book.
European Parliament (EP) Deputy Cem Ozdemir, on the other hand,
revealed holding the conference will decrease foreign pressures
on Turkey.

‘JUDICIARY OBSTRUCTS DEMOCRATIZATION IN TURKEY’
By Cihan News Agency
Zaman, Turkey
Sept 27 2005
zaman.com
A recent conference on Armenians during the decline of the Ottoman
Empire in Turkey did not attract the expected level of attention from
the European media.
Despite recent reforms that have been made in line with plans to
become a member of the European Union (EU), Turkey’s judicial system
was “riddled with loopholes” the British newspaper The Financial
Times commented.
German Suddeutsche only reported that the conference location was
changed at the last moment and that the “taboos” were gradually
disappearing.
As for the cancellation of the conference on Armenians, The
Financial Times said, “Nobody yet knows whether the progressives
or the reactionaries have won the battle over free speech that has
raged in Turkey for the past few days. One thing is clear, however:
despite years of reforms, the country’s justice system is riddled
with loopholes.”
Commenting on Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk, who will appear in court
because due to his remarks on Armenians and Kurds to a Swiss newspaper,
the Financial Times noted:
“The two incidents suggest how the criminal justice and judicial
systems steeped in decades of nationalist ideology, reinforced by
an authoritarian constitution, can betray a reforming government’s
best intentions.”
The Guardian said, “The European commission accused the Turkish
judiciary of “provocation” on Friday, after an Istanbul court prevented
the conference from opening.”
Ankara’s opponents in the EU would have been strengthened if the ban
over the conference had succeeded, The Guardian wrote.
German newspaper Die Welt assessed that the conference would be
boring news if organized in another country, but it caused a scandal
in Turkey.
Turkey was absolutely against the so-called genocide thesis the
newspaper continued, and that the government had launched a campaign
to refute this opinion.
Die Welt claimed that mentioning the so-called Armenian genocide was
a crime in Turkey. The conference, asserted in Die Welt, passed in a
peaceful atmosphere and that none of the historians attending dared
to utter the word “genocide” during their presentations.

ARMENIAN GROUPS IN GEORGIA ADVOCATE AUTONOMY
Journal of Turkish weekly
Sept 27 2005
Jan SOYKOK (JTW) – A group of non-governmental organizations based
in Georgia’s southern region of Javakhk, predominately populated by
ethnic Armenians, held a conference on September 23-24 to discuss
current problems in the region, Armenian newspaper Asbarez reported.
According to the report the Armenians demanded greater autonomy
including elections for all bodies. The Georgia experts argue that
such claims mean separation of Georgia.
The Council of Armenian non-governmental organizations in Javakhk also
called on the Tblisi leadership to consider granting autonomy to the
region with `broad authority for self-governance, including the right
to hold elections for all bodies of governance.’ The resolution further
says that by offering the broadest form of autonomy to South Ossetia
and Abkhazia, the Georgian authorities are `discriminating against
other ethnicities living in Georgia–the rights of other ethnicities
who have demonstrated civil loyalty are being ignored,’ it reads.
However Dr. Yesim Sahiner says the declaration simply means a
separation of Georgia: “Armenians seek to establish their own country
in Georgia. They hope they could separate Javakity from Georgia. They
will then annex the territory to Armenian Republic. Another Armenian
aim is to separate Ossettia and Abkhazia. In Abkhazia in particular
there is a significant Armenians and they plan to establish a
Abkahazian-Armenian state.”
Kemal Yurteri, a Turkish Caucaus expert, similarly warn both Georgians
and Armenians that such a separation would be a disaster for the
region:
“None of the Caucasian countries need more territories. Armenian
irredentism caused great catastrophe in the past. Armenian forces
occupied almost 20 percent of Azerbaijan and attacked the other
Azeri province of Nahcivan. However none of the Armenian problems has
been solved since then. The EU and the OSCE accuse Armenia of being
occupier in Karabakh. Armenia still relies on Russian military while
the other countries aim to integrate their economies. If the Georgia
Armenians undermine Georgia’s territorial integrity, it will damage
both Georgia and Armenia. Turkey and the United States should take
measures to prevent the separatist movements in Georgia. Otherwise
the Western and Turkish interests too will be damaged a lot”.

CHINA TO PROVIDE GRATUITOUS AID OF 10 MLN YUANS FOR ARMENIA
Noyan Tapan News Agency, Armenia
Sept 27 2005
BEIJING, SEPTEMBER 27, NOYAN TAPAN. The delegation headed by Artashes
Tumanian, Head of the RA Presidential Administration and Chairman
of the Armnenian part of the Armenian-Chinese Trade and Economic
Commission, left for Beijing on September 26 in order to participate
in the fourth sitting of the Commission.
During the meeting with Chinese Deputy Minister of Trade Tszin,
the sides presented to each other the process of economic reforms
in Armenia and China and discussed the prospects of developing the
bilateral economic cooperation. It was noted that the realtions between
the two countries in the political, economic, cultural, scientific and
other spheres started developing intensively after the establishment
of diplomatic relations between Armenia and China in 1992.
According to the RA MFA Press and Information Department, at the end
of the sitting on the first day, an agreement was signed, under which
China will provide a gratuitous aid of 10 mln yuans (about 1 mln 120
thousand USD) for Armenia.
The Commission’s sitting was continued on September 27.

ARMENIAN MILITARIZATION CONTINUES: YEREVAN BUYS AIRPLANES
Journal of Turkish weekly
Sept 27 2005
YEREVAN – Deputy Defense Minister Artur Aghabekian on Saturday
confirmed reports that Armenia purchased ten Russian-made military
aircraft from Slovakia last year, significantly boosting its air
force, Emil Danielyan from RFE/RL reported yesterday. Aghabekian said
`They are fully capable of performing combat tasks. The new aircraft
enhanced our military potential.’
Aghabekian declined to disclose the cost of the aircraft purchase.
He also insisted that the Su-25s are not outdated despite having been
used by the Slovak military for over a decade.
Armenian forces have occupied almost 20 percent of Azerbaijani
territories and Armenia seeks to strengthen its army in case Azerbaijan
attempts to recapture the occupied territories. Armenia has thorny
relations with other neighbors Turkey and Georgia.

FINNISH PRESIDENT GREETS RA AUTHORITIES FOR GREAT PROGRESS IN COOPERATION WITH EU
Noyan Tapan News Agency, Armenia
Sept 27 2005
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 27, NOYAN TAPAN. Armenia hopes to get “more
active assistance” from Finland while making up an action plan within
the framework of the “New Neighborhood” policy. RA President Robert
Kocharian declared this at the press conference convened at the end of
the September 27 negotiations with President of Finland Tarja Halonen
who is in Armenia on an official visit. Finland’s assistance in this
issue is expected especially in consideration of the fact that this
country will preside over in EU next year.
President Kocharian expressed hope that this program will be adopted
by the end of the year, it will mean continuation of reforms in a
number of directions. The issue of Finland’s assistance in the 2-3
directions in which this country succeeded was also discussed during
the meeting with Finnish President.
Expressing satisfaction with the results of “open and frank”
negotiations, RA President noted that he hopes that the visit will
seriously stimulate the bilateral relations. R.Kocharian was pleased
with the activity of political dialogue during the negotiations
highlighting that nevertheless they especially stressed steps
stimulating bilateral economic cooperation.
RA President also informed the Finnish President about the negotiations
process around Nagorno Karabakh settlement: Mrs Halonen is for the
first time in the region as a Finnish President but she had visited
the region earlier as the Foreign Minister of the same country, as
OSCE Chairwoman-in-Office. A number of regional issues were discussed,
including the issue of Armenian-Turkish relations.
The Finnish President in her turn attached importance to the meeting
of the 2 Presidents as the highest meeting of political dialogue. She
informed that she invited RA President to visit Finland. Tarja
Halonen also attached importance to the prospects of bilateral
economic cooperation, emphasizing the necessity of protection of the
investments being at the stage of final elaboration and agreements on
avoiding of double taxation. The Finnish President also highlighted
that besides the above-mentioned agreements, protection of democracy
and supremacy of law is very important for business circles, a very
important circumstance carefully followed by business circles.
As for the issue of Nagorno Karabakh settlement, the Finnish President
“encouraged President Kocharian to continue his efforts and take
further steps in order to find a final solution to the problem.”
T.Halonen congratulated and thanked the Armenian authorities for “great
progress,” as she estimated, in the sphere of cooperation with the EU,
especially within the framework of the New Neighborhood program.
The Finnish Minister of Trade and Economic Development mentioned
spheres of mining, information and communication technologies as those
representing mutual interest for cooperation between the 2 countries,
saying that there are also great opportunities for cooperation in the
sphere of tourism. He expressed hope that after the elaboration of
the 2 agreements necessary for economic cooperation business forums
will be held in Finland, then in Armenia where additional directions
for development of economic cooperation will be discussed. The Finnish
President in her turn added that there is already a great current of
tourists coming from Finland to Armenia and expressed an opinion that
“it should be extended.”

BALAKIAN’S THE BURNING TIGRIS WINS RAPHAEL LEMKIN PRIZE
Noyan Tapan News Agency, Armenia
Sept 27 2005
LOS ANGELES, SEPTEMBER 27, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. Peter
Balakian’s The Burning Tigris: The Armenian Genocide and America’s
Response has been awarded the 2005 Raphael Lemkin Prize for best
scholarly book in the preceding two years on the subject of genocide,
mass killings, gross human rights violations, and the prevention of
such crimes, Asbarez Online reported.
The award is given by the Institute for the Study of Genocide at
John Jay College of Criminal Justice/CUNY Graduate Center in New
York City. The prize, which comes with a cash award, commemorates
Raphael Lemkin, the legal scholar who pioneered the international
legal concept of genocide. Helen Fein, chair of the prize committee,
called The Burning Tigris “a book of enduring scholarly value and of
important contemporary meaning.” Previous winners include Samantha
Power’s A Problem From Hell: America and the Age of Genocide (winner
of the Pulitzer Prize), and Alison Des Forges’s Leave None To Tell
The Story: Genocide In Rwanda.
The Burning Tigris was a New York Times bestseller and a Times notable
book of 2003. Balakian is the author of seven other books, including
Black Dog of Fate, which won the 1998 PEN/Albrand Prize for memoir,
and June-tree: New and Selected Poems.

KOCHARIAN: THERE ARE SOME HOPES OF SUCCESS IN NEGOTIATION PROCESS OF SETTLEMENT OF NK PROBLEM
Noyan Tapan News Agency, Armenia
Sept 27 2005
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 27, NOYAN TAPAN. At present the process of peaceful
settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh problem “goes on rather actively,
and there are some hopes that, nevertheless, we can reach success.” RA
President Robert Kocharian stated about this answering a question of
a Finn journalist at the September 27 press-conference.
He emphasized that Armenia considers its participation in international
organizations only positive. In his opinion, this participation should
exist particularly after reaching an agreement in the sense of both
in political and economic assistance.
Tarja Halonen, the President of Finland, in her turn, mentioned that
the international involvement in the issue of the Nagorno Karabakh
conflict still will have things to do. It’s always been mentioned
within the OSCE framework that if an agreement is reached and two
countries agreed with it, placing of international peacekeeping
forces is also possible, which may become the great role of the
international community in the issue of a peaceful settlement of the
Karabakh conflict,” Mrs. Halonen emphasized.

ARMENIAN TABOO
By Derya Sazak
Turkish Press
Sept 27 2005
MILLIYET- Another taboo has been broken. The Armenian conference was
held, and the world didn’t come to an end. These are the headlines
of newspapers published in Turkey. Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Times
characterized the issue as follows: ‘a groundbreaking event where
Turkish academics could for the first time publicly challenge their
country’s official version of the events leading to the slaughter
of Armenians.’ People immediately paid attention to the fact that
the conference was held, because some tried to block the meeting at
Bogazici University with a court order. Three rectors, namely Ayse
Soysal, Tosun Terzioglu and Aydin Ugur, resisted the judiciary’s
intervention in academic autonomy and ensured the meeting was held.
However, demonstrators protested the participants in front of
Bilgi University, which was nothing but thuggery. Another series of
conferences can be held on Turkey’s Armenian thesis, but demonizing
a conference as ‘biased’ in front of universities is outmoded behavior.
What’s more, such acts took place even before any speeches were made.
The thesis of ‘genocide’ didn’t stand out, but speeches were made
stating that as long as the policy of ‘recognition, then compensation
and land’ isn’t abandoned, the process of dialogue will be difficult.
Professor Baskin Oran made striking remarks on the issue. ‘The effect
on the Turkish people of the Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation
of Armenia’s (ASALA) killing Turkish diplomats and the murderers being
left unpunished is similar to the criticisms from Armenians over the
massacre which occurred in 1915, and this situation strengthened the
Armenian taboo,’ he said. ‘Some of our colleagues say that genocide
is a term in the social sciences. Genocide is a legal term. When the
Convention on the Prevention and Repression of the Crimes of Genocide
was passed in 1948, Armenians shaped the term so it could constitute a
similarity to the Holocaust. The Armenian issue isn’t a taboo anymore,
and this conference confirms this.’ As long as democracy grows
stronger in Turkey and hurdles to freedom of expression are removed,
the atmosphere of discussion will grow more mature. The common judgment
of participants was that a similar conference couldn’t be organized
in Yerevan. The academics who organized the conference contributed
to the development of Turkey’s democratic structure, just like the
intellectuals who took the initiative for disarmament in southeastern
Anatolia. We should congratulate them.