The Jakarta Post, Indonesia
Sept 30 2005
Can a religious nation be proud of butchering its own?
Harry Bhaskara and Kornelius Purba, The Jakarta Post
If ever they have the opportunity to read it, The New York Times’
correspondent C.L. Sulzberger’s report from Jakarta on April 13,
1966, might help three young girls understand why, on every Sept. 30,
their father locks himself away.
How well they know the grief that overcomes him as he shuffles to his
room to shut himself in on the last day of every September.
If they had the chance to read C.L. Sulzberger’s report they would
probably understand the source of his sorrow.
In the report titled When a nation runs amok, Sulzberger said the
Sept. 30 massacre was comparable to the world’s worst killings, like
Hitler’s Jewish genocide. The article was written just seven months
after the so-termed G30S tragedy.
“The twentieth century grimly remembers many monstrous slaughters:
Turkey’s Armenian massacres; Stalin’s starvation of the Kulaks;
Hitler’s Jewish genocide; the Moslem-Hindu killings following India’s
partition, the enormous purges after China’s communization.
Indonesia’s bloody persecution of its Communist rivals these terrible
events in both scale and savagery,” Sulzberger wrote from Jakarta.
Today, the girls’ father will likely repeat his annual ritual. He has
never told his daughters that his father was a victim of the Sept. 30
tragedy. Neither are they aware that their father finished his
studies at the prestigious Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB)
under a name that was not his own. The children suffer from a stigma:
They are the children of an Indonesian Communist (PKI) member. The
children inherited the “sins” of their father.
“For 33 years until 1998 (Soeharto’s fall), I and my other siblings
had to hide our real identities. I don’t want my daughters to suffer
from the same ‘disease’ although the situation is rather different
now,” said the man who has a small construction company.
The daughters do not know much about the massacre as, while they
watched the same film every Sept. 30 until 1998, they were too young
to understand it. It is hard for them to fathom why their father is
reluctant to talk about his childhood in Medan, North Sumatra.
Millions of innocent children lost their parents and have never been
informed of their whereabouts. The state treated them like pariahs
and gave them no protection, though it was their right to receive it.
In the scenario that their parents were indeed PKI members and
committed crimes, why does the state demand of children that they pay
for the sins of their parents?
September was the month when it was compulsory, under the New Order
government, to view a film depicting the murders of seven generals in
1965.
This was its view of the events that preceded a year-long program
that claimed thousands, perhaps, millions of lives.
The film — graphic scenes of the cruelness of the communists in the
eyes of the New Order — has not been screened since Soeharto fell
from power in 1998. For more than two decades, millions of
Indonesians watched it, without being able to question the historical
accuracy of it under a dictatorship.
What really happened on Sept. 30, 1965, remains a matter of
controversy. Teachers are at a loss to explain the course of events
to their students. History books were withdrawn and revised editions
published. Only a few facts, however, are revealed in the revised
histories, which has left many dissatisfied.
Along with the film’s presentation, there was an annual ceremony to
remind the people of the murders of the generals and the dangers of
communism. It was held at the Lubang Buaya (Crocodile Hole),
presumably the site of these horrendous killings. This ceremony has
been sporadically held in recent years. Former presidents Habibie and
Abdurrahman Wahid skipped it, but not Megawati Soekarnoputri —
although many people hope she will be able to clear her father’s name
in the alleged coup attempt.
Soeharto brainwashed Indonesians so thoroughly that, until now, many
Indonesians believe that the PKI and communists are despised by God.
Even as communism has lost its popularity in China, many Indonesians
still believe that there is nothing worse in this world than
communism.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is scheduled to preside over the
ceremony at Lubang Buaya on Saturday, the day that has been called
Pancasila Sanctity Day. He has promised the ceremony will reflect
more willingness to reveal the historical facts. However as his own
father-in-law, the legendary Lt. Gen. (ret) Sarwo Eddie, played a
decisive role in the rise of Soeharto to power, it is difficult to
imagine he can distance himself from the official version of history.
We proudly call ourselves a religious nation. And apparently, as a
nation, we are also proud to have killed hundreds of thousands if not
millions of people, whom we regarded as the enemies of God.
The writers can be reached at [email protected]

Washington Post
Sept 30 2005
In Turkey, a Clash of Nationalism and History
Exhibit Marking Anniversary of Istanbul Pogrom Breaks Taboos and
Kindles Anger
By Karl Vick
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, September 30, 2005; Page A15
ISTANBUL — The exhibit opened 50 years to the day after the mayhem
it chronicled in the cobblestone street right outside the gallery.
Captured on black-and-white glossies was a modern-day pogrom, a
massive, state-sponsored assault on a foreign community that awoke on
the morning of Sept. 6, 1955, still feeling safe in Istanbul. By
sunset a day later, a mob of perhaps 100,000 Turks had attacked
foreigners’ homes, schools and churches, and filled whole streets
with the contents of the ruined shops that lined them. In the
aftermath of the attack, a city for centuries renowned for its
diversity steadily purged itself of almost everyone who could not
claim to be Turkish.

Photo: A visitor looks at photographs at an exhibit in Istanbul a day
after it was attacked by Turkish nationalists. (By Murad Sezer —
Associated Press)
The exhibit at Karsi Artworks attempts to confront that history,
dubbed the Events of Sept. 6-7, in the era before “ethnic cleansing”
entered the popular lexicon. But when ultranationalist thugs swarmed
into the gallery on opening night — throwing eggs, tearing down
photos and chanting “Love it or leave it!” — the question became
whether it really is history at all.
“Just like what happened 50 years ago,” said Mahmut Erol Celik, a
retired civil servant emerging from the defaced exhibit. “It’s the
same mentality. That’s what’s so embarrassing.”
Appearances have lately counted for a lot in Turkey. Under intense
international scrutiny, its government hopes to begin negotiations
Oct. 3 that should conclude with Turkey as a member of the European
Union. Even if the process takes 15 years, as many predict, the
result would apparently fulfill an ambition such as that which drove
modern Turkey’s founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, who preached that the
country’s future lay firmly with the West.
But questions arise almost daily about whether either side wants to
proceed. Europe’s mixed feelings about absorbing Turkey’s large, poor
and overwhelmingly Muslim population are well known. But Turkey
harbors its own ambivalence, apparently rooted in the recurring
question of how much the country cares about the world beyond its own
borders.
That question came up again this month, when a Turkish court made
headlines by barring a handful of scholars from gathering to discuss
the deaths in 1915 of perhaps a million ethnic Armenians, in
circumstances that Armenia and many independent scholars describe as
genocide but Turkey calls the consequences of war.
The disagreement has poisoned relations between the neighboring
nations for decades with an obsessiveness that overtakes Turkish
efforts to appear poised. This summer, readers of Time magazine’s
international edition found a DVD tucked into a four-page ad for
Turkish tourism. The disc included 13 minutes of commercials and an
hour-long propaganda film accusing Armenians of slaughtering Turks.
“It’s not a polemic,” said a spokeswoman for the Ankara Chamber of
Commerce, which paid for the disorienting mix of polished commercials
and grainy footage of dead bodies. “We just wanted to position Turkey
on this issue.”
Last May, the prospect of scholars gathering for an independent
assessment of the controversy brought a chilling warning from
Turkey’s justice minister, who called them “traitors.” After
objections from the E.U., the scrapped conference was rescheduled and
was finally held this month, but not without an accompanying
demonstration by Turkish nationalists. Also this month, a prosecutor
filed charges against Orhan Pamuk, the country’s most acclaimed
novelist, for observing that the Armenian issue was off-limits in the
country.
“There is no other country which harms its own interests this much,”
Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said.
But then few other countries are so nationalistic. Turks are raised
to believe that Turkey is surrounded by enemies and can rely only on
itself. The unitary notion of the state views all citizens as ethnic
Turks and regards any other presence as a dire threat.
So there was deep concern in official circles this month when Pope
Benedict XVI made plans to travel to Istanbul at the invitation of
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, the ethnic Greek who serves as
spiritual leader of the world’s 300 million Orthodox Christians. The
Orthodox patriarchy remained in Istanbul, then called Constantinople,
after the city was overtaken by Muslims half a millennium ago. But
modern Turkey still refuses to acknowledge the patriarch’s authority
and hastened to issue its own official invitation to the pope, who
obliged by postponing his trip.
To cultivate Europe, the government also invited Catholic, Orthodox,
Jewish, Assyrian Christian and Muslim leaders to an ecumenical
conference due to conclude four days before the crucial opening of
the prospective E.U. negotiations, which one analyst predicted will
be “contentious.”

A visitor looks at photographs at an exhibit in Istanbul a day after
it was attacked by Turkish nationalists. (By Murad Sezer —
Associated Press)
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“When a country is embarking on a major negotiation process, when
it’s trying to eradicate old taboos and embrace modern norms, you
usually do that in the name of nation-building,” said Katinka
Barysch, an analyst at the London-based Center for European Reform.
“As Turkey embarks on this, it invokes nationalism. Which doesn’t sit
very well with the E.U. process.”
So far, E.U. officials have been quick to label the prosecutions,
court rulings and other embarrassments as transparent provocations
intended to sabotage Turkey’s image. But each also reflects a debate
within Turkish society that was on plain view in the lobby of the
Karsi gallery the day after the thugs trashed it.
Two visitors were recalling the 1955 attacks from memory.
“I was in the street that day and I remember very clearly,” said
Mehmet Ali Zeren, 70. “In a jewelry store, one guy had a hammer and
he was breaking pearls one by one.”
Celik, the retired bureaucrat, called the attack a stain on Turkish
history, comparable to the infamous “wealth tax” that was enforced
only against foreigners. “Therefore Istanbul lost many things,” he
said. “It lost most of its beauty.”
“Why are you all speaking English here?” asked an agitated man,
overhearing an American reporter’s questions. He carried a bound
volume of Ataturk’s speeches and pointed angrily to a photo caption
on the wall that identified leaders of the pictured mob as
provocateurs.
“Shame on you!” he said. “These are our lands! A man holding a
Turkish flag cannot be called a provocateur!”
Can San and other officials from the History Foundation, a co-sponsor
of the exhibit, answered the man’s complaints, then watched him leave
through the exit the thugs had poured through the night before while
chanting their slogans.
“But,” San noted, “the public in the street did not join them.”
From: Baghdasarian

Dallas Morning News, TX
Sept 30 2005
Armenian festival venerates beloved culture

Carrollton: Event choreographed to honor heritage and to educate
By VERONICA VILLEGAS / Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News
For nearly two months, Rachel Adonian has been learning the
traditional dances of her native country along with other members of
St. Sarkis Apostolic Church – the only Armenian congregation in the
Dallas-Fort Worth area.

JASON JANIK/Special Contributor
Datevik Gharibian displays a traditional Armenian dance step as
Anaies Avidisian (left) and Magali Altunian practice a dance in
preparation for ArmeniaFest on Oct. 7-9. It isn’t easy, she said, but
it’s something she thinks she must do. She couldn’t pass up the
opportunity to learn from an instructor who traveled from Armenia
specifically to teach them.
“To be a part of something that is so important and vital to your
culture – there really aren’t words to describe it,” said Ms.
Adonian, 21, who has taken the lessons since she was a girl. “It puts
me in tune with what my heritage is, and it ties you in closer to
your family and your community. Plus, I love doing it. It’s a part of
who I am.”
The countless hours of practice culminate next week for her and about
40 other women, men and children learning the native dances when they
take to the stage during the three-day ArmeniaFest.
The festival, celebrating its 10th anniversary, is held on the
grounds of St. Sarkis in Carrollton and is organized by its
congregation.
Festival organizer Paul Kirazian said the dance performances are
important to understanding Armenian culture.
“The dances are used to tell our stories,” he said. “They represent
our history and our culture. It’s one of our major attractions.”
Mr. Kirazian said that each year, the church brings in an Armenian
dancer to teach interested members of its congregation and the
community.
During the instructor’s two-month stay, she lives with a host family.
“There is no one here locally who can teach us this,” Mr. Kirazian
said. “It’s our heritage. To be able to pass those traditions on to
our young is valuable.”
The dancing is only one of the many activities scheduled during the
festival. Live music, children’s games, cooking demonstrations and
handcrafts also are planned.
This year, the festival is celebrating the 1,600th anniversary of the
Armenian alphabet with a special history and art exhibit.
And as usual, those attending will be able to enjoy traditional
Armenian food.
“It’s all cooked by hand,” said Eva Sherenian, festival spokeswoman.
“It’s very impressive because all the women come together and work
really hard to prepare the foods and the men come together to
marinate the meats.”
“All the other festivals claim to have the most delicious foods and
be the best, but we really are the best,” Mr. Kirazian bragged.
“Whether you’re an Armenian or not, it’s a great event.”
Ms. Sherenian said that although the festival was started as a way
for the Armenian community to come together and celebrate its
heritage, organizers also wanted it to educate people unfamiliar with
Armenia.
“We want people to come and enjoy our foods and our traditions,” she
said.

Armenpress
KOCHARIAN RECEIVES CIS INTERIOR MINISTERS
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 30, ARMENPRESS: President Robert Kocharian received
today CIS member countries interior minister, who arrived in Yerevan
yesterday for a regular conference of the Council of CIS Interior Ministers
that has brought together the ministers from Armenia, Belarus, Georgia,
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan
and even a deputy interior minister of Azerbaijan.
Kocharian’s press office quoted him as saying that the Council of CIS
Interior Ministers is one of the most effective CIS structures. He also said
interior ministers in all CIS countries face the same problems which he said
is a good basis for cooperation. The agenda of the conference was dominated
by fighting corruption and illegal migration.

Deutsche Welle, Germany
Sept 30 2005
Opinion: EU-Turkey Project Hardly Realistic

Turkey and the EU: Two incompatible constellations?

Negotiations for Turkey’s possible entry to the European Union are
rocky even before they have started. Deutsche Welle’s Baha Güngör
believes that the EU-Turkey project doesn’t have a realistic chance.
Whether membership talks with Turkey can begin, as planned, on Monday
will be decided at the last minute. After ambassadors from the 25
member states failed to agree on a negotiating mandate at their
meeting on Thursday, EU foreign ministers now have to attend a
special session in Luxembourg on Sunday, since unanimous approval is
mandatory for the negotiations to start.
None of the 25 EU member states, not even Cyprus, wants to be the
spoilsport, which is why there will probably be a last minute
agreement to go ahead with the negotiations. But even if that’s the
case, the EU-Turkey project is hardly realistic.
Anyone who still thinks that one day in the distant future, after 10
or 15 years of negotiations, Turkey will become an EU member, is
either naive or has no clue about the country’s inner workings.
Turkey is a country on the periphery of Europe and therefore, a
country whose stability means much politically, economically, and in
terms of security, to Europe. Those who are sensible would want to
include Turkey in the continent’s integration process and to get
Ankara to pursue the values and visions of Europe.
Domestic politics at the center

Yet before accession negotiations started, many EU countries turned
the process into a self-serve buffet, looking to further their own
national interests. The election campaign in Germany, as well as the
French rejection of the EU constitution, which to a great deal was a
rejection of Turkey, reveal this clearly.
Demands too high, too soon
If the negotiations indeed start on Monday, it will be less a
question of whether they will ever successfully be brought to an end.
Rather, the question will be when they can be deemed to have failed,
or at least be interrupted for a few years. Grounds for failure won’t
be the EU’s regulations, the so-called “acquis communautaire.” A
lengthy transition period or permanent security clauses could be
agreed. Turkey is by far the largest and most densely populated
country that has ever attempted EU entry. In many economic areas, it
still lags far behind the EU average. But for all of these problems,
solutions could be found.

But the EU is making a big mistake by demanding the maximum from
Turkey, i.e. recognizing Cyprus or dealing with the Armenian
genocide, right at the start of the negotiations. They’re playing
their trump cards wrongly, creating resentment and hardening the
country that could, and also has to, address such topics in the
course of drawing closer to European values.
Euphoria long gone
Turks’ enthusiasm for Europe has, for the most part, disappeared. The
country’s nationalists are gaining in popularity and are reconquering
territory it had lost before. It’s no secret that in the next
elections, expected in two years, Turkish nationalism will experience
a rebirth. The feeling is growing among Turks that the numerous
reforms in the past and the strengthening of democratic forces in
Asia Minor since the signing of the 1963 Association Agreement with
the EU have all been for naught.

It is a shame that the EU will have clumsily dropped its chance to
achieve its goal of becoming a “global player” and its credibility in
fostering dialogue between cultures and religions. For Turkey, it’s a
shame that the country’s development into a democratic state will be
threatened with large setbacks. For when the EU and Turkey start
negotiations as planned, the participants will already be sapped of
their strength. They will be short of breath for the long road ahead
— unless a miracle happens.
Baha Güngör (jdk)

,1564,1725263,00.html

Armenpress
KOCHARIAN SAYS REVISED CONSTITUTION A SIGNIFICANT STEP FORWARD
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 30, ARMENPRESS: Addressing an international conference
on constitutional issues in Yerevan today President Robert Kocharian said
the main objective of the constitutional reform process is ‘to make the
constitution a living reality,” adding also it should become accessible to
every citizen. He said law and the right have to become the axis of the
social life based on liberal values.
He praised the acting constitution saying it played a significant role in
building a sovereign Armenia and was instrumental in Armenia’s drive to
become a Council of Europe member, but added its application has revealed a
number of serious shortcomings and contradictions which hamper the country’s
further democratic advancement. Kocharian also praised the Venice Commission
of the Council of Europe that has provided a substantial support in drafting
the finalized text that will be put to a referendum at the end of November.
Kocharian said the revised constitution provides a much better balance
between the powers of the President and the Parliament, it also provides for
better recognition and protection of human rights, and a more independent
judiciary and a stronger local self-government are among other major
improvements. “This is a significant step forward in all respects,” he said.
The conference has brought constitution experts from 25 countries. On its
sidelines experts of the Council of Europe’s Venice Commission and
representatives from other international organizations held a round table
with representatives of Armenian political parties, media and civil society
on constitutional reform to discuss the proposed constitution.
The Venice Commission’s assessed positively the draft constitution, which
is shared by the European Union and the OSCE. Among the Armenian
participants were representatives of civil society and a large spectrum of
political groups, including those who oppose the referendum and who are not
represented in the National Assembly.

Rocky Mountain News, CO
Sept 30 2005
System of a Down plays heavy metal and politics
By David Milstead, Rocky Mountain News
September 30, 2005
There was a time – it wasn’t that long ago, was it? – when most
Americans equated heavy metal with Warrant’s Cherry Pie.
Knuckleheaded lyrics by knuckleheaded white guys.
Sure, there were exceptions. But those bands weren’t the era’s
platinum artists.
System of a Down is the band that shows how much metal, and America,
has changed since the 1980s. Four seemingly crazy, leftist Armenian-
Americans released an album called Toxicity just a week before the
Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
The first track wasn’t about cars and girls – it was Prison Song, a
critique of the American criminal-justice system. “All research and
successful drug policy show / That treatment should be increased /
And law enforcement decreased / While abolishing mandatory minimum
sentences!” singer Serj Tankian screamed.
The album seemed poised to stiff, a victim of bad timing and a
political climate in which, in the words of Bush spokesman Ari
Fleischer, people “need to watch what they say.” Instead, it sold 5
million copies.
Was the band heartened that its album was accepted, even embraced, at
that time?
“Well, that’s more of a statement than a question, I think,” said
Tankian, speaking from the road on a tour that stops at the Pepsi
Center on Sunday. “We had some (radio) program directors dropping the
single (Chop Suey) because of our statements. It was just a strange
feeling.”
But the band was emboldened and followed with an outtakes disc called
Steal This Album.
Now, with May’s Mezmerize, to be followed by November’s Hypnotize,
the band is in the midst of releasing a potent two-disc set that
retains its leftist message. It also accomplishes the odd feat of
being more accessible yet even stranger, in some ways, than System of
a Down’s past work.
The first single, B.Y.O.B., asks the time-honored questions “Why
don’t presidents fight the war? Why do they always send the poor?”
The song alternates between juggernaut riffs and a loping, chunky
chorus with sweet-voiced backup singers extolling “coming to the
party” to have a “real good time.”
Other efforts, like Violent Pornography, with its sendup of media
culture, aren’t quotable.
While System of a Down’s lyrics are distinctive, it’s the music that
makes the band truly unusual. Tankian refuses to be pinned down when
asked what specific artists he and his band mates have listened to,
and he instead names virtually every genre in the record store:
metal, rock, punk, Armenian, Arabic, Caribbean. “A very, very large
mix of things.”
Radio/Video, on Mezmerize, illustrates that mix. “It’s kinda got a
polka beat in the middle. It’s an interesting song. I like the fact
there are tempo changes throughout the song, and in the bridge
section it goes faster and faster. It’s kind of operatic, too,”
Tankian said.
The band could probably have fit all of Mezmerize and Hypnotize onto
one CD. At just over 36 minutes, Mezmerize is tiny by modern CD
standards. But both albums in one package probably would have been an
awful lot to swallow, particularly for the first-time listener coming
late to the System of a Down party.
“It would be a bit much,” Tankian said. “It always worked out better
for us to have people digest the first part of the double album.”
Tankian says the band’s current live set list includes only one or
two songs from Hypnotize; the band will wait for the album’s release
before adding the bulk of the disc to the playlist.
The band, in Chicago this week for a concert, took time out to stop
at the Batavia, Ill., office of House Speaker Rep. Dennis Hastert to
ask him to hold a vote on Armenian Genocide legislation that the band
says “will officially recognize Turkey’s destruction of 1.5 million
Armenians between 1915 and 1923.”
When it comes to the band’s Sunday date in Denver, however, System of
a Down welcomes all fans, whether they embrace the political message
or not.
“Certain fans may not be antiwar activists,” Tankian said. “Music has
a stronger impact on our bodies, souls and spirits than on our minds.
When our minds get involved, the experience is even stronger.”

ORF.at, Austria
Sept 30 2005
Talking Turkey with Orhan Pamuk

by Jill Zobel
Orhan Pamuk: One of the most popular and controversial people in
Turkey today, the best-selling author of “My Name is Red” and “Snow”
is this year’s winner of the German Booksellers Federation’s Peace
Prize which will be presented on October 23rd at the Frankfurt Book
Fair. Born in Istanbul in 1952, Pamuk dreamed of being a poet but
went on to study architecture.
He started writing at the age of 22 and ever since he’s worked hard
to explain his vast country and the Turkish soul to his own people
and the world at-large. Aggressively pro-Europe, Pamuk passionately
believes that Turkey belongs in the EU. He also believes that those
against Turkey’s joining are anti-Turk and just a little bit racist
at heart. He knows his country isn’t perfect but publicly and in his
books challenges his nation to keep moving in the right direction.

Snow
A year ago I read a book called “Snow”. Still now I can’t get the
story out of my mind. Basically it’s a novel about a Turkish guy
living in Frankfurt, Germany for the past 12 years named Ka. He’s a
poet with writer’s block. He hasn’t been able to write anything in
years.
The novel opens with his return to Istanbul so as to attend his
mother’s funeral. While there he learns that an old girlfriend named
Ipek is now divorced so he decides to hang around for a while to get
to know his country again and, most importantly, to track down Ipek
who he’s told is living in a shabby hotel in Kars, a really poor
Anatolian town close to the Georgian border.
A newspaper friend just so happens to need a reporter to go to Kars
and find out about reports that school girls are committing suicide
because they’ve been forced by their schools to remove their
headscarves. So killing 2 birds with 1 stone – Ka travels to Kars in
a snowstorm, reports on the suicides, falls back in love with Ipek,
gets back in touch with her ex-husband who now is a prominent
Islamist politician very supportive of the school girl suicides and
gets involved with Kurdish nationalists, leftist securlar publishers
and actors, spies for the military police and common people all
suspicious of him if only because of his snazzy German overcoat. And,
it never stops snowing the whole time he’s there…in this poorest,
decaying remnant of the former Ottoman empire.

Orhan Pamuk

Essential reading
“When the book was published three years ago in Turkey I was
attacked. Some people were confused because I did not make hardline
statements about nationalists, political Islamists or military. In
fact the joy of writing this novel was to let everyone talk freely as
they are.”
Even before reading “Snow”, I’d read a New York Times book review
which said: “This seventh novel from Turkish writer Orhan Pamiuk is
not only an engrossing feat of tale-spinning, but essential reading
for our times.” Margaret Atwood, NYT, August 15,2004
Then I read it and wept when it was all over. It was/is the most
exciting, interesting, frustrating and stimulating book I’ve read in
years. But, it didn’t solve my dillemma: Was I for or against
Turkey’s joining the EU? What it did do for me was it sent me back to
the bookstore for more Pamuk books, it made me passionately want to
visit Turkey (especially Kars) and got me thinking that whichever way
it goes (Turkey in or out) I could live with it either way. But,
never did I dream after reading it that I would get to interview
Orhan Pamuk.

“They don’t like poor people”
Actually, I didn’t get to personally meet him but I did get to ask
all my questions and have them answered in full … like how does he
explain anti-Turkish feelings in the EU or those who don’t want his
country to join: “They don’t like Turks. They don’t like poor people.
They don’t like people with different cultural and religious
backgrounds and they don’t want their governments to treat Turks as
if they are equal human beings, unfortunately.”

You see, a couple of months after I finished “Snow” I was sitting
with a journalist friend named Radovan Grahovac who himself had just
finished the book. We started talking about it and Pamuk and he said:
I’m going to Turkey and do a Tönspuren program about him for Ö1. I
said “great and if you go promise you’ll interview him for me.” Well,
Radovan met Pamuk in Istanbul early September and asked him my big,
long list of questions.” His Tonspuren program, by the way, can be
heard tonight (Friday, September 30th and will be repeated on Sunday
night) on Ö1 at 22:15.
The same day Radovan was getting ready to leave I read on APA (the
Austrian press Agency wire service) that an Istanbul public
prosecutor ordered Pamuk to appear in court on December 16th. He was
charging him with insulting the Turkish national identity. If found
guilty, Orhan Pamuk could spend 3 years in a Turkish jail.
So, why would a nation that usually is very proud of ist famous
people charge someone like Pamuk with insulting the state. Well, in
February Pamuk gave an interview to a Swiss newspaper magazine about
the 90th anniversary of the mass killings of Armebnians and Kurds …
an event which despite the testimony of many historians the Turkish
government has always refused to take blame for. What Pamuk said in
the interview was: “30,000 Kurds and 1 million Armenians were killed
in these lands and nobody but me dares to talk about it.”

Confused?
This is what he said to me (via Radovan) about the court case:
“This is a very controversial issue about which I tried to open up a
bit, talk a bit and then there’s this case opened up by the public
prosector of my neighbourhood in Istanbul saying I have insulted the
Turkish identity because lots of Armenians were killed 90 years ago
and since so much energy is spent to silence me of course I am not
going to shut up but at least the Turkish nation is starting to talk
about it a bit.”
Now, noone really believes the court in December will find Orhan
Pamuk guilty or send him to jail but for me it’s still so
unbelieveable that they would even take him to trial.
By the time the trial begins Turkey will have probably been
negotiating with the EU for two months. So, after all is said and
done…interview made, books read I’ve had plenty of time to think
about it. What do you think should happen? Shoudl Turkey be allowed
to join this mostly Christian club?
If you also are confused all I can say is read Orhan Pamuk’s books
or, even better, listen to this Saturday’s Reality Check, october 1st
at 12 noon with Steve Crilley.

Inside Higher Ed, DC
Sept 30 2005
X-Sender: Asbed Bedrossian
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Freed Scholar Speaks Out
Four months ago, Yektan Turkyilmaz was a doctoral student in cultural
anthropology at Duke University, well-regarded but little known
outside his field. Then, on June 17, authorities at the airport in
Yerevan, Armenia ordered him off a plane and placed him under arrest,
confiscating nearly 100 books and CDs of research he had done as the
first Turkish scholar ever granted access to the National Archives of
Armenia.
Over the summer, Turkyilmaz became a cause célèbre among scholarly
groups that believed the smuggling charges against him (supporters
say he was the first person Armenia has ever charged with illegally
exporting books) to be a pretext for what they considered a crackdown
on a researcher studying a politically sensitive period in the
country’s tangled history with Turkey. Major scholarly associations
and human rights groups, as well as academic and political leaders in
the United States and throughout the world, urged Armenia to drop the
charges against him.
After a short trial last month, a court found Turkyilmaz guilty of
trying to take books out of the country illegally, but suspended his
two-year sentence and released him. He returned to Duke early this
month to get back to his studies and his research. In an e-mail
interview with Inside Higher Ed, he discusses his detainment, why he
thinks he was arrested, and the implications of his situation for his
career, his profession and beyond.
Q: In court, you apparently acknowledged breaking the Armenian law
unknowingly. Does that mean you believe your arrest was legitimate,or
did the government have another motive?
A. Yes I did acknowledge that I unknowingly broke a `law,’ an obscure
law which applies to the:
`Contraband of narcotic drugs, neurological, strong, poisonous,
poisoning, radioactive or explosive materials, weapons, explosive
devices, ammunition, fire-arms, except smoothbore long barrel hunting
guns, nuclear, chemical, biological or other mass destruction
weapons, or dual-use materials, devices, or technologies which can
also be used for the creation or use of mass destruction weapons or
missile delivery systems thereof, strategic raw materials orcultural
values.’
But I am convinced the book charges were just a pretext for my
arrest. KGB officials (Armenia’s police are now formally known as the
National Security Service, but everyone, including they themselves,
still call them the KGB) were certain that I was a spy. The first day
one of the KGB agents told me that their endeavor was to clarify –
given that Armenia’s ceasefire with Azerbaijan had ended very
recently – that I had not been involved in espionage on behalf of the
Turks (they do not differentiate between Azeris and Turks!). That is
why they arrested me.
The interrogators’ questioning in the initial few days of my arrest
was entirely devoted to my research, my political views and
connections with Turkish intelligence and state officials. The
concept of `scholar’ is meaningless to them. According to them, as
the investigator put it, `all scholars are spies.’ All my friends and
contacts in Yerevan (most of whom have nothing to do with the books
found in my suitcases) have not only been interrogated by the KGB but
were also harassed and threatened. They were all told that I was a
Turkish spy. My friends who were at the airport with me were
threatened not to let anyone, especially my family, know about my
arrest. (When my sister contacted them via phone they denied that
they were with me at the airport! For that reason my family did not
know about my situation for 15 hours.)
My case was a violation of academic freedom and the right to
research. Investigators went through every bit of my research
material. They looked one by one at almost 20 thousand images saved
on the CDs and on my laptop. I was asked to prove that I had
permission to reproduce every single image and also that they
contained no `state secrets’ even though I had official permission to
do research in the archives. They posed questions about my political
ideas, dissertation topic, why I had learned Armenian, if I
personally would have had enough time to read the material I had
reproduced at the libraries and the Archives, my relations with
Turkish military and intelligence, etc.
The staff at the libraries and archives where I was conducting
research were not merely questioned about their personal connection
with me, but also forced to testify against me. They asked one
librarian `how dare you take a non-Armenian guy to `our’ national
Archives?’ I am also informed that, they had been forced to confirm
that I got permissions to conduct research at their institutions not
through legal procedure (implying that I bribed them to get
permission to do research!).
It was only later, when the Armenian secret service could find no
basis for their claims, that the issue of legally purchased,
second-hand books in my possession came into the picture.
Q: Do you think you were detained for political reasons? If so, why?
A: I am convinced that not only my arrest but also my release were
political decisions taken by (few but) very high ranking Armenian
officials. I believe this Cold War-era conspiracy was organized, or
at least encouraged, by those who have no wish to see cooperation and
improved relations between Turkey and Armenia. KGB officials’
mentality – a mixture of the Soviet way of thinking and nationalism
with xenophobic overtones – played a crucial role in making the
decision to detain me. Unfortunately, in today’s Armenia (like many
other ex-Soviet republics), there isn’t adequate political control
over KGB. I should also underline that there is an ongoing fight
between pro-democracy advocates and pro-Russia Soviet-style rule. For
me, it is relieving to know that I have received a good deal of
support from the pro-democracy politicians and large segments of the
Armenian society, which is very important.
I think the basic reason why they targeted me is that they could not
put me in any of their nationalist, primordialist categories. I was
like a UFO to them: a citizen of Turkey of Kurdish origin, student in
the US, critical of the Turkish official stance on controversial
historical issues, an admirer of the Armenian culture, collector of
old Armenian books and records, speaker of the language, a researcher
who has visited Armenia several times without any worries and
concerns, a foreigner who is vocal about his ideas, etc. A story too
good to believe, because for them, the world can never be that
colorful. For the people who were interrogating me, you are either
Armenian-Armenian with the `full’ meaning of the word, or Turkish or
anything else. If I were a conventional `Turk,’ as they would have
rather preferred to see me as, I believe, I may not have had any
troubles. I think, my endeavor to cross boundaries was deemed as a
threat by the people who decided on my arrest and by those who
interrogated me.
Q: Is there reason, legitimate or otherwise, why the Armenian
government would view your scholarly work with alarm? Can it be
perceived as `anti-Armenian”?
A: My work is not only about the history of the region but also about
historiography. Therefore, I don’t think that it favors any
nationalist historiography including the Armenian version. In that
sense my work is critical not only of the Turkish nationalist
historiography but also of the Kurdish and Armenian counterparts.
Hence my work can neither be called pro- or anti Armenian. That
question itself is based on nationalist anxieties, which I try to
analyze and move beyond in my scholarship.
There are some Armenian circles that do not sympathize with the usage
of Armenian resources by the Turkish scholars. This, too, is a
nationalist (if not racist) stance that we as academics need to
challenge for a more nuanced and sophisticated understanding of the
past as well of today.
Q: Most scholars characterize the deaths of some 1.5 million
Armenians during World War I as a genocide, but relatively few
Turkish scholars do so. What is your take on what happened?
A: It is very clear that almost the entire Armenian population of
eastern Anatolia was subjected to forced migrations and massacres
beginning in the early months of 1915.
Q: Do you think your treatment by Armenian authorities will undercut
Turkish willingness to explore the treatment of Armenians under
Ottoman rule?
A: That may be the message people will likely take away. But I think
we should be stubborn and should not give up.
Q: Were you aware, while you were being held, of the breadth of the
effort on your behalf, both from other academics and from leaders in
the political world like Bob Dole?
A: To some extent I was. I knew that my friends would realize why I
could be detained and also that they would support me to the end. I
was getting some kind of information from the outside, but it was not
always very accurate.
Here, I would like to take the opportunity to thank especially my
colleagues, Turkish, Armenian and American, who have demonstrated an
exemplary and meaningful solidarity. One upshot of my case, I
believe, is that unprecedented number of scholars, intellectuals and
activists from both groups came together, united around a common
cause. It was really great. I am grateful to all of them who have
signed the open letter to [Armenia’s] President Kocharian and hope
that my case has opened up further space of dialogue and cooperation
between the critical intellectuals studying the controversial and
painful pages of the history of the region.
I would also like to present my gratitude to the entire Duke
community, especially to President Brodhead, to Provost Lange and, of
course, to my heroic adviser Orin Starn, and to the department of
cultural anthropology. I want to mention three other names who were
crucial in the process, Prof. Ayse Gul Altinay (who orchestrated the
`global’ campaign for my release) of Sabanci University,
Istanbul/Turkey; Prof. Charles Kurzman of UNC, and Prof. Richard
Hovannissian of UCLA. Their support was invaluable.
I am also extremely grateful to the American politicians who got
involved. Bob Dole’s intervention was really crucial. I thank him
very much.
Q: Did you ever consider yourself to be in true danger?
A: Yes I think I did, especially after the first week.
Q: Do you envision returning to Armenia to continue your research?
Can you complete your dissertation without going back?
A: This is really a very tough question. I should first underline the
fact that for me there is no difference between Istanbul and Yerevan.
I feel at home when I am in Yerevan. I love walking on the streets
(especially Mashtots) of the city, or sitting at the lovely cafes
around the opera building. I have very close friends over there.
However, there is also this bitter experience I have gone through. It
is very sad for me to know that there are people in Armenia who do
not want me to do research in the country. I know that those people
are a minority, yet they are powerful. They still keep their old
isolationist way of thinking which they have recently blended with a
xenophobic brand of `Armenian patriotism.’ Whoever it is behind the
provocation against me, there is no doubt that they have damaged the
image of Armenia in the international arena. As a scholar, I have
been deeply disheartened by this incident.
But there are also people like the director of the National Archives
of Armenia, Mr. Amatuni Virabian, who from the first day of my
arrest, understood what was happening behind the scene and diligently
supported me. I received considerable support from
pro-democratization Armenian intellectuals. I also know that majority
of the people in Armenia eventually understood that the officials
made a big mistake and also that I was not an enemy of the Armenian
people.
I don’t want those who have tried to intimidate independent
researchers through my own case to win over those who have been
seeking and struggling for improved relations and scholarly
cooperation between the two countries and communities. Therefore I
will definitely go back.
I think I have compiled enough material to finish my dissertation.
That is, it is not a must for me to go back to Armenia for my
dissertation fieldwork research.
Q: Should your case make scholars wary of studying contentious
subjects? Do you have advice for other researchers contemplating
exploring such a topic?
A: Caution, they have to be really very cautious. They should be very
careful about the laws and procedures especially about permissions
necessary for research. No signal of danger should be overlooked. It
might be a good idea not to be publicly very visible. I also
recommend them to always back-up their work and if possible to
download it to the internet.
Q: What are your career plans for after you have your doctorate? Do
you envision entering the academy, and if so, any idea in what
country?
A: I am willing to pursue an academic career in the U.S. where I can
attain a free environment necessary for my studies.
Finally, I want to emphasize that I am not angry or bitter. I want to
put everything aside and concentrate on my work. I am an academic not
a politician, notwithstanding the fact that I was caught in the
middle of a fight among hostile political actors.
– Doug Lederman

Cyprus Mail
Sept 30 2005
Let October 3 be a great day for Turkey
TURKEY should have been celebrating October 3 as one of the
milestones in its history – after decades in the waiting, at last the
start of full accession talks with the European Union.
No country that has ever started accession talks has failed to join
the EU. But the growing opposition to Ankara’s membership across the
continent suggests Turkey could well be the first to break the mould.
As Monday’s rendez-vous nears, the debate gets more strident by the
hour. Indeed, there is still no agreement on the negotiating
framework, without which talks cannot begin, with Austria holding out
for an explicit alternative to full membership to be written in.
Turkey has said it will walk away from talks if such a clause is
inserted.
The realisation that Turkey’s membership prospects are now for real
has suddenly reminded politicians across Europe of Turkey’s many
democratic shortcomings. People who’d barely heard about Cyprus are
now championing its cause; the European Parliament is suddenly
insisting that Turkey cannot join without acknowledging the Armenian
genocide; many point to the ill-treatment of religious minorities or
the charges laid against novelist Orhan Pamuk for comments on the
massacres of Armenians and Kurds.
They’re right of course. The `deep state’ is far from dead in Turkey,
for all the reforms of the past years, and the country still offers
its critics plenty of sticks with which to beat it. Turkey does
little to help itself with its blustering arrogance, and the
aggressive rhetoric it feels it has to offer its domestic audience to
offset the compromises it is making.
But is it helping anyone to raise all these issues at this stage and
start talks in such a negative climate? Turkey’s accession process is
a win-win for all. The kind of changes Ankara will have to undertake
will address precisely the kind of problems that so many are now
nagging about. This can only be a good thing, anchoring a potentially
unstable country in an institutional and economic framework that over
a decade will erode precisely those fears that many harbour about
Turkey.
If at the end of that process, the Austrian people – or whoever else
– are still implacably opposed to accession, then they will say no,
period. That’s when we can start thinking about special partnerships
and the like – and to have reached that stage, Turkey will in any
case have matured sufficiently not to slam the door and precipitate a
regional crisis.
So let Turkey enjoy its historic moment on Monday, and let’s have the
opportunity over the next decade, step by step, to try and bring the
country into the orbit of democratic values that the European Union
represents.