Anatolia news agency, Ankara, in English
24 Sep 05
TURKISH MINISTER HOPES ARMENIAN CONFERENCE TO RAISE AWARENESS OF
COMMON PAST
Istanbul, 24 September: “The Turkish people are at peace with
themselves and with their history,” said Turkish Foreign Minister
Abdullah Gul.
Sending a message to the opening session of the conference entitled
“The Armenians during the collapse of the Ottoman Empire”, Gul said:
“The approaches of our government and our people towards our past,
including Turkish-Armenian relations, constitute an indication of our
confidence in ourselves and our future.”
In his message, Gul said: “The last era of the Ottoman Empire is
subject to discussion and research in academic circles, with
increased interest. Nearly every day new documents from the era
emerge and new books, articles and research papers are published.
Yet, it is not possible to say that all data and documents related to
those times have been properly analysed. With an aim to help redress
this shortcoming, our government is in the process of taking
important steps to enable the Ottoman Archives to serve researchers,
in modern conditions. Our archives have begun to serve scientists
through documents converted to a digital medium since 2003. Within
this context, many researchers, coming from 75 different countries
have completed their research on the Ottoman Archives. These
activities are ongoing.”
“We want not only our own archives but at the same time all other
archives that will shed light on the history of the day to be opened
in an organized fashion, that will serve all researchers. We believe
that deeper research into that era will bring new historical facts to
light and serve an improvement in relations between countries and
peoples. Thus, we have proposed to the government of Armenia to
establish a historical commission between our two countries, which
will research the joint Turkish-American history and which will make
its findings public. We hope to reach a conclusion on this subject,”
Gul indicated.
Gul also said: “The history of Turkish-Armenian relations is one of
coexistence and common life of almost 1,000 years. During the course
of this period, the Turkish and Armenian peoples have contributed to
each other’s culture, prosperity and security. We should not ignore
this reality when we examine the tragic period when the Ottoman
Empire was crumbling and the Turks and Armenians were deeply
suffering, like all other peoples of the empire.”
“It is a fact that in some chapters of history, or even today, some
societies cannot tolerate one other’s language, religion, identity or
even very existence. It is an unfortunate reality that such
intolerance can turn into a deep-rooted and destructive ideology,
which gets ingrained in the social subconscious. Some serious and
very dangerous trends, from xenophobia to racism and from
anti-Semitism to attitudes against Muslims are present and are on the
rise today, even in societies which represent the highest level of
contemporary civilization,” underlined Gul.
Gul stressed: “It is a source of pleasure that such a psychology does
not exist between the Turks and Armenians. This also constitutes a
major advantage for the future of relations between the two peoples.”
“Another issue I want to draw your attention to is that, many studies
so far held on the theme of the conference, particularly outside
Turkey, have been conducted with political motivations, in a manner
inconsistent with scientific ethics and objectivity. Regretfully,
humanitarian issues have been sacrificed to political designs, and
double standards have been applied in determining and presenting
human suffering. There were attempts to impose subjective, non-legal
and artificial claims upon Turkey and the Turkish people, with
political motivations. Furthermore, there have been situations in
which some foreign circles could not even tolerate scientific
scepticism,” said Gul.
Gul concluded: “Young generations from all nations must know and draw
lessons from the facts that during the last era of the Ottoman Empire
the imperialist-colonial powers ruthlessly exploited peoples’
ethno-religious sensitivities for their own gains and that some
elements, knowingly or unknowingly, became instruments to these
provocations. I hope that your conference will be a contribution to
raise awareness on this issue. The Turkish people are at peace with
themselves and with their history. The approaches of our government
and our people towards our past, including Turkish-Armenian
relations, constitute an indication of our confidence in ourselves
and our future. I convey my best wishes to all participants and hope
that the conference will be a success.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Hurriyet website, Istanbul, in Turkish
23 Sep 05
ARMENIAN TURK DENIES EXISTENCE OF “ARMENIAN PROBLEM”
Entitled “Armenian author: I am more of a Turk than many others” by
Turkish daily Hurriyet website on 23 September
Speaking at a panel discussion, Armenian author Levon Panos Dabagyan
has said, “All of us are Turks in this country. I am more of a Turk
than many of the others. God willing, I will fight against them if a
war breaks out with Armenia.” Dabagyan received a standing ovation
for what he said.
A seminar entitled “All aspects of the Armenian problem and
historical facts” has been held at the central headquarters of the
Turkish Metal Workers’ Trade Union. Panelist Dabagyan, who is a
Turkish citizen of Armenian origin, said that no Armenian problem
exists and noted that the problem had been fabricated. Describing
themselves as Christian Turks, Dabagyan asserted, “All of us are
Turks. If there are foreigners amongst us, then they should see the
pain I suffer from. It is the pain of a Turk.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

TRT 2 television, Ankara, in Turkish
24 Sep 05
TURKEY: PROTESTERS AGAINST ARMENIAN CONFERENCE THROW TOMATOES
The controversial conference has started. The venue of the conference
on Armenians, which was going to be Bogazici University, has now
changed to Bilgi University, after the Istanbul Administrative Court
decided yesterday to suspend it. However, the debates are still going
on.
Tight security measures have been taken since early morning at the
Istanbul Bilgi University’s Dolapdere campus because of the
conference on “Ottoman Armenians during the demise of the Empire:
Issues of democracy and scientific responsibility”.
Nobody was allowed to enter the area except participants in the
conference and members of the press. Only members of the press with
special permits could take photographs during the conference.
Protest demonstrations were staged outside the campus as soon as the
conference started. In addition, arguments between speakers and
participants occurred during the conference.
Lawyer Kemal Kerincsiz, member of the Executive Board of the Lawyers’
Association, said that it was unlawful to continue the conference at
a different venue in spite of a court order. Kerincsiz said that
demonstrations protesting against the violation of the court order
were being staged because they did not find anybody to address
themselves to at the Istanbul Governor’s Office or the Istanbul
Security Directorate.
During a briefing for members of the press, eggs and tomatoes were
thrown at journalist Cengiz Candar, one of the participants in the
conference, as a sign of protest.

Mediamax news agency, Yerevan, in Russian
24 Sep 05
ARMENIA BUYS 10 WAR PLANES – DEPUTY MINISTER
Yerevan, 24 September: The Armenian air force recently received 10
war planes, Armenian Deputy Defence Minister Lt-Gen Artur Agabekyan
told reporters today. However, he refused to say where the planes
were bought from.
He said that all the country’s military hardware, both existing and
purchased, is quite efficient and additional money is being spent to
improve it. He went on to say that munitions need to constantly
updated. “This is an everyday task of the armed forces,” he said.
The Armenian armed forces are equipped mainly with Russia-made
hardware.

Mediamax news agency, Yerevan, in Russian
24 Sep 05
USA CONCERNED ABOUT MEDIA SITUATION IN ARMENIA
Yerevan, 24 September: US Helsinki Commission Deputy Chief of Staff
Dorothy Douglas Taft has said that “in Armenia, media critical of the
government continue to experience considerable pressure”.
Mediamax reports that Dorothy Douglas Taft said this at the OSCE
Human Dimension Implementation Meeting in Warsaw.
“In Armenia, media critical of the government continue to experience
considerable pressure. Specifically, A1+ TV is still barred from the
airwaves, despite intervention from the OSCE’s Representative on the
Media, the Council of Europe and foreign capitals,” Dorothy Douglas
Taft said.
The US Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (Helsinki
Commission) is an independent federal agency of the US Congress.

Mediamax news agency, Yerevan, in Russian
24 Sep 05
FINNISH LEADER FAVOURS ARMENIA’S EUROPEAN INTEGRATION
Yerevan, 24 September: “Following the path of democracy and rapid
economic development, Armenia could ensure a more integrated European
future,” Finnish President Tarja Halonen has told Mediamax in an
exclusive interview.
Tarja Halonen, who will visit Armenia on September 26-28, gave an
exclusive interview to Mediamax news agency and Armenian Public TV
yesterday.
“Both Finland and the European Union are interested in the entire
region, and Armenia has many possibilities for developing relations
with Finland and the EU. In many terms, you have a European history,
and following the path of democracy and rapid economic development,
Armenia could ensure a more integrated European future,” Halonen
said.
“The possibilities offered by the European Neighborhood Policy could
really become a step forward. Every country in the region is of
interest to the EU and it depends on you how this interest will
materialize,” she said.
“Armenia has a rich history and you had difficulties as well, but you
could have a better future if you actively develop democracy, human
rights, the supremacy of the law and efficient management. So, I
strongly encourage you to study and explore the possibilities offered
by the European Neighborhood Policy,” Halonen said.
Asked about the prospects of the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict
settlement, she said: “I consider it is very important that a
presidential election was held in Armenia in 2003 and the next
presidential election will be in 2008. I hope you will use the time
left to the next election to solve the problem. You should encourage
yourselves to make decisions and move forward.”

Associated Press Worldstream
September 25, 2005 Sunday
Turkish scholars find support in Turkey for open look at massacres of
Armenians
BENJAMIN HARVEY; Associated Press Writer
ISTANBUL, Turkey
Scholars attending a conference that addresses the mass killings of
Armenians by Ottoman Turks said Sunday that, after decades of
opposition, public opinion in Turkey was moving in favor of an open
discussion.
The Turkish media and top government officials expressed support for
the two-day conference, which started Saturday. But for a second day
nationalist protesters hurled eggs and rotten tomatoes at arriving
speakers they accused of treason, showing deep resistance to
addressing claims that Turks committed genocide.
Turkey aspires to join the European Union, and the EU said it would
view the conference as a test of freedom of expression.
A headline in Turkey’s largest newspaper, Hurriyet, on Sunday
welcomed an open discussion, saying: “Not for Europe but for
ourselves.”
Another headline in Radikal newspaper read: “The world is still
spinning and Turkey remains in its place.”
“I suppose more and more people are getting to realize that the old
positions are untenable,” said Murat Belge, a member of the committee
that organized the conference. “I mean the smoke over the question,
the policy of denial.”
The conference faced heavy opposition from the outset and was
canceled twice – including on Thursday by an Istanbul court that
demanded to know the academic qualifications of the speakers – before
beginning Saturday at Istanbul Bilgi University.
“Especially after that absurd court decision three days ago …
looking at the press the next day, at the magnitude of the public
reaction, I knew this was going to be a success,” said Halil Berktay,
a historian and member of the organizing committee. “The old clich’s
of official, conventional, denialist ideology are dead.”
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed support for the
conference and criticized the court order, which organizers skirted
by changing the venue.
Participants at the conference – including Turks and ethnic Armenians
– were mostly careful to avoid emotional language. On Saturday,
historians discussed the events leading up to and following the
massacres in 1915-1923, going through them year by year. On Sunday,
they dealt with broader issues, including “The Armenian problem and
Turkish democracy” and “Press Freedom and the Armenian problem.”
Delegates to the conference had no plans to issue a declaration on
whether genocide occurred, Berktay said, but were using the gathering
as a forum to openly examine the historical experience of Armenians
around the time of the Ottoman collapse. Many of the panelists have
previously said the killings constituted genocide. A number of them
have received death threats in Turkey for doing so.
Turkey vehemently denies that a genocide was carried out on Armenians
as the Ottoman Empire collapsed around the time of World War I,
saying that Armenians who rose in rebellion and sided with Russian
invaders were killed along with Turks in intercommunal fighting.
Armenians say that 1.5 million of their ancestors were killed by
Ottoman Turks in a vicious policy of extermination.
Turkey had never permitted the issue to be discussed in public until
this conference.
“A lot of people now understand that, if a certain society says only
one thing about a question, that is not a sign of strength, but the
opposite,” Belge said. “The atmosphere in the media has changed
overnight, and that’s going to influence public opinion.”
Turkey is under intense pressure to improve its performance on issues
of freedom of expression and human rights as it moves toward
negotiations beginning Oct. 3 for EU membership.

Imedi TV, Tbilisi, in Georgian
24 Sep 05
Ethnic Armenian groups planning to petition for federal Georgian
state
After Kvemo-Kartli, separatist groups are now becoming more active in
Samtskhe-Javakheti. The Armenian population in Akhalkalaki is calling
for autonomy. Members of the local Javakhk and Virk organizations
raised this issue at a forum of an Armenian public organization
called the Samtskhe-Javakheti union. The forum, which ended about an
hour ago, was attended by Armenians from Tbilisi and Yerevan. They
plan to petition for a federal Georgian state. Staff from several
Russian television channels and new agencies were also in Akhalkalaki
today.

Agence France Presse — English
September 24, 2005 Saturday 7:36 AM GMT
Disputed conference on Armenian massacres begins in Turkey
ISTANBUL
A disputed conference questioning Turkey’s official line on the
massacres of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire began on Saturday
amid protests by nationalist groups against the participants and the
government.
Some 30 members of the ultra-right Nationalist Action Party (MHP)
called out “cad” and booed the participants as they entered the venue
of the two-day conference which brings together academics and
intellectuals disputing Turkey’s version of the 1915-1917 massacres.
“The Armenian genocide is an international lie” read a giant banner
carried by some 150 members of the minor left-wing Workers’ Party
(IP).
“The government must resign, treason will not go unpunished,” chanted
the protestors.
Several posters depicting Turks killed by Armenians were pasted on
the security barriers surrounding the venue where some 200 police
officers were put on duty.
The conference was to have opened on Friday, but a court suspended
the event late Thursday following a complaint by a group of
nationalist lawyers who called the organizers “traitors.”
The event had already been postponed once in May when Justice
Minister Cemil Cicek branded it as “treason” and a “stab in the back
of the Turkish nation.”
But the two universities organizing the conference, Bogazici and
Sabanci, refused to back down, rescheduling the event for Saturday
and Sunday.
The conference was moved to the Bilgi University which opened its
doors for the event out of solidarity in order to circumvent the
court ruling that barred the event from taking place at the original
venue.
The court decision was heavily criticised both by the Turkish
government and the European Union with which Ankara is set to begin
accession talks on October 3.
The Armenian massacres constitute one of the most painful periods of
in the history of the two peoples.
Armenians claim up to 1.5 million of their people were slaughtered in
mass killings under the Ottoman Empire, forerunner to the present-day
Turkish republic.
Ankara categorically rejects claims of genocide and argues that
300,000 Armenians and at least as many Turks died in civil strife
during World War I, when the Armenians took up arms for independence
in eastern Anatolia and sided with Russian troops invading the
crumbling Ottoman Empire.
The government, however, has encouraged researchers to discuss the
issue, arguing that it is a matter for historians and not politicians
to pursue.

The Washington Post
September 25, 2005 Sunday
Final Edition
In Istanbul, a Crack In the Wall of Denial;
We’re Trying to Debate the Armenian Issue
by Elif Shafak
ISTANBUL
I am the daughter of a Turkish diplomat — a rather unusual character
in the male-dominated foreign service in that she was a single
mother. Her first appointment was to Spain, and we moved to Madrid in
the early 1980s. In those days, the Armenian Secret Army for the
Liberation of Armenia, known as ASALA, was staging attacks on Turkish
citizens — and diplomats in particular — in Rome, London, Zurich,
Brussels, Milan and Madrid; our cultural attaché in Paris was
assassinated in 1979 while walking on the Champs-Elysees. So
throughout my childhood, the word “Armenian” meant only one thing to
me: a terrorist who wanted to kill my mother.
Faced with hatred, I hated back. But that was as far as my feelings
went. It took me years to ask the simple question: Why did the
Armenians hate us?
My ignorance was not unusual. For me in those days, and for most
Turkish citizens even today, my country’s history began in 1923, with
the founding of the modern Turkish state. The roots of the Armenians’
rage — in the massacres, atrocities and deportations that decimated
Turkey’s Armenian population in the last years of Ottoman rule,
particularly 1915 — were simply not part of our common historical
memory.
But for me today, and for a growing number of my fellow Turks, that
has changed. That is why I am in Istanbul this weekend. I came to
Bosphorus University to attend the first-ever public conference in
this country on what happened to the Ottoman Armenians in and after
1915. As I write, we are fighting last-minute legal maneuvers by
hard-line opponents of open discussion to shut the conference down. I
don’t know how it will turn out — but the fact that we are here,
openly making the attempt, with at least verbal support from the
prime minister and many mainstream journalists, highlights how far
some in my country have come.
Until my early twenties, like many Turks living abroad, I was less
interested in history than in what we described as “improving
Turkey’s image in the eyes of Westerners.” As I began reading
extensively on political and social history, I was drawn to the
stories of minorities, of the marginalized and the silenced: women
who resisted traditional gender roles, unorthodox Sufis persecuted
for their beliefs, homosexuals in the Ottoman Empire. Gradually, I
started reading about the Ottoman Armenians — not because I was
particularly interested in the literature but because I was young and
rebellious, and the official ideology of Turkey told me not to.
Yet it was not until I came to the United States in 2002 and started
getting involved in an Armenian-Turkish intellectuals’ network that I
seriously felt the need to face the charges that, beginning in 1915,
Turks killed as many as 1.5 million Armenians and drove hundreds of
thousands more from their homes. I focused on the literature of
genocide, particularly the testimony of survivors; I watched filmed
interviews at the Zoryan Institute’s Armenian archives in Toronto; I
talked to Armenian grandmothers, participated in workshops for
reconciliation and collected stories from Armenian friends who were
generous enough to entrust me with their family memories and secrets.
With each step, I realized not only that atrocities had been
committed in that terrible time but that their effect had been made
far worse by the systematic denial that followed. I came to recognize
a people’s grief and to believe in the need to mourn our past
together.
I also got to know other Turks who were making a similar intellectual
journey. Obviously there is still a powerful segment of Turkish
society that completely rejects the charge that Armenians were
purposely exterminated. Some even go so far as to claim that it was
Armenians who killed Turks, and so there is nothing to apologize for.
These nationalist hardliners include many of our government
officials, bureaucrats, diplomats and newspaper columnists.
They dominate Turkey’s public image — but theirs is only one
position held by Turkish citizens, and it is not even the most common
one. The prevailing attitude of ordinary people toward the “Armenian
question” is not one of conscious denial; rather it is collective
ignorance. These Turks feel little need to question the past as long
as it does not affect their daily lives.
There is a third attitude, prevalent among Turkish youth: Whatever
happened, it was a long time ago, and we should concentrate on the
future rather than the past. “Why am I being held responsible for a
crime my grandfather committed — that is, if he ever did it?” they
ask. They want to become friends with Armenians and push for open
trade and better relations with neighboring Armenia . . . . as long
as everybody forgets this inconvenient claim of genocide.
Finally, there is a fourth attitude: The past is not a bygone era
that we can discard but a legacy that needs to be recognized,
explored and openly discussed before Turkey can move forward. It is
plain to me that, though it often goes unnoticed in Western media,
there is a thriving movement in Turkish civil society toward this
kind of reconciliation. The 50 historians, journalists, political
scientists and activists who have gathered here in the last few days
for the planned conference on Ottoman Armenians share a common belief
in the need to face the atrocities of the past, no matter how
distressing or dangerous, in order to create a better future for
Turkey.
But it hasn’t been easy, and the battle is far from over.
Over the past four years, Turks have made several attempts to address
the “Armenian question.” The conference planned for this weekend
differed from earlier meetings in key respects: It was to be held in
Istanbul itself, rather than abroad; it would be organized by three
established Turkish universities rather than by progressive Armenian
and Turkish expatriates; it would be conducted completely in Turkish.
Originally scheduled for May 23, it was postponed after Cemil Cicek,
Turkey’s minister of justice, made an angry speech before parliament,
accusing organizers of “stabbing their nation in the back.” But over
the ensuing four months, the ruling Justice and Development Party
made it clear that Cicek’s remarks reflected his views, and his
alone. The minister of foreign affairs, Abdullah Gul, announced that
he had no problem with the expression of critical opinion and even
said he would be willing to participate in the conference. (As it
happens, he has been in New York in recent days, at the United
Nations.)
Meanwhile, the Armenian question has been prominently featured in
Turkish media. Hurriyet, the nation’s most popular newspaper, ran a
series of pro and con interviews on this formerly taboo subject,
called “The Armenian Dossier.” The upcoming trial of acclaimed author
Orhan Pamuk, charged with “denigrating” Turkish identity for talking
about the killing of Kurds and Armenians, has been fervently debated.
Various columnists have directly apologized to the Armenians for the
sufferings caused to their people by the Turks. And stories have been
reported of orphaned Armenian girls who saved their lives by changing
their names, converting to Islam and marrying Turks — and whose
grandchildren are unaware today of their own mixed heritage.
All this activity has triggered a nationalist backlash. That should
be expected — but organizers of the Conference on Ottoman Armenians
were nevertheless surprised last week by a crafty, last-minute
maneuver: a court order to postpone the conference pending the
investigation of hardliners’ charges that it was unfairly biased
against Turkey. The cynicism of this order was clear when we learned
that the three-judge panel actually made its decision on Monday; it
was not made public until late Thursday, only hours before the
conference was to begin.
Organizers said they would try to regroup by moving the site from
Bosphorus University, a public institution, to one of the two private
universities that are co-sponsors. We were encouraged by the
immediate public reaction: Not only did some normally mainstream
media voices denounce the court order, but Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdogan, in televised interviews, repeatedly criticized it as
“unacceptable.” “You may not like the expression of an opinion,” he
said, “but you can’t stop it like this.” Foreign Minister Gul, in New
York, lamented what effect this would have on Turkey’s quest to join
the European Union: “There’s no one better at hurting themselves than
us,” he said.
Whatever happens with the conference, I believe one thing remains
true: Through the collective efforts of academics, journalists,
writers and media correspondents, 1915 is being opened to discussion
in my homeland as never before. The process is not an easy one and
will disturb many vested interests. I know how hard it is — most
children from diplomatic families, confronting negative images of
Turkey abroad, develop a sort of defensive nationalism, and it’s
especially true among those of us who lived through the years of
Armenian terrorism. But I also know that the journey from denial to
recognition is one that can be made.
Author’s e-mail: [email protected]
Elif Shafak is a novelist and a professor of Near Eastern Studies at
the University of Arizona. She commutes between Tucson and Istanbul.