The Globe and Mail, Canada
Sept 9 2005
True Bollywood story: its posters
By APARITA BHANDARI
A chance encounter with an article in a French magazine two years ago
inspired Rafi Ghanaghounian to curate an exhibition showcasing
Bollywood art.
“I noticed some painters in the article and asked my friend to
translate,” he says. “It was about billboard painters in Bollywood,
about how things were changing, everything was going digital. And
these artists, their grandfathers were painters, and now they are
unemployed. Because of programs like Photoshop and Illustrator we are
witnessing the demise of a trade.”
Ghanaghounian is interested in cultural trends across the world. His
previous two exhibitions explored Japanese dolls and street fashion.
His current exhibition called Tamasha!, from the Hindi word meaning
spectacle or display, runs from Sept. 11 to 25 at the Design
Exchange.
Last Friday, framed colourful Bollywood posters were lined up against
a white wall of the exhibit space, waiting to be hung. Depicting
characters and scenes, some even listing popular songs from the
advertised movie’s soundtrack, the posters are mainly from the
fifties and sixties.
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The poster for the hit film Barsaat (Rain, 1949) is a typical
example. Bollywood legends Raj Kapoor and Nargis are painted in an
embrace against a backdrop of rain falling through the blue and pink
skies, capturing the romantic chemistry between the two leads that
the movie became famous for. Raindrops are also drawn atop the
movie’s title. Realism definitely isn’t the mantra with orange and
pink tints serving as skin tones.
Similarly, the poster for the cult hit Kaagaz Ke Phool (Flowers of
Paper, 1959) illustrates famous Bollywood actor-director Guru Dutt
with his muse Waheeda Rehman. Dutt and Rehman are painted against a
green backdrop with childlike floral drawings, and a vivid red rose
highlights the title of the film.
Classic tunes from both movies are listed at the top of the posters.
Traditionally, the posters were painted and then photographed.
Thereafter, lithographs were made. The original paintings were either
painted over or destroyed.
“It’s insane,” says Ghanaghounian. “It costs a fortune. No one will
do it now. Today you have vinyl printing and digital printing. You
don’t need painters any more.
“Many of these painters are considered labourers. Despite their
talent in graphics, they are not considered artists.”
Yet an original Bollywood billboard painting can today fetch a pretty
price from interested collectors. The 24 posters framed and displayed
at the Design Exchange can also be purchased for $350 each.
Earlier this year, Ghanaghounian travelled to Bombay twice to source
the posters. An Armenian by background, he didn’t know much about
Bollywood movies, so he chose posters based on the graphics. Some
posters of classic movies were suggested to him by his guide.
“We went to Falkland Road, where you have older cinemas,” says
Ghanaghounian. “A theatre manager gave us an address in some
alleyway. We climbed up a rusty staircase. And there was this man
with thousands of posters just piled up. They don’t throw anything
away. A movie may get rereleased and they reuse the posters.”
The exhibition isn’t just for Bollywood aficionados, says
Ghanaghounian. “There are so many cultures growing up with Bollywood
today,” he says. “When I was bringing some posters from the framers,
the cabbie, who was from Africa, recognized they were Bollywood.”

Khaleej Times, United Arab Emirates
Sept 9 2005
THE CARAVAN FROM YEREVAN
(Focus)
9 September 2005
The Armenian diaspora in the UAE is a few thousand strong. SHALAKA
PARADKAR talks to Liza Saghtejian who describes her people as
hardworking, creative, inventive and resilient
My first brush with Armenian culture started innocuously enough in
downtown Mumbai. Trying to locate a sharebroker firm, I stumbled upon
a little gem of a building, nestling in the shadow of the stock
exchange tower – the Armenian Church.
There was something heartwarming about how Mumbai’s Armenians (a
grand total of four, including two octagenarians) had defied
logistics and economics to maintain their beautiful church, with its
gilded dome, polished hardwood pews and crystal chandeliers. Faith
shone bright here, as also some sentimentalism. The adjacent ghastly
grey apartment block, also owned by the church, was called Ararat –
after the mountain where Noah’s ark was believed to have landed.
Another sweet touch was the grapevine trailing over the backyard,
transplanted from Armenia and struggling to establish its identity in
Mumbai’s less-than-salubrious Fort precinct.
Thankfully the Armenian community in India has had a happier fate
than that vine. They are believed to have landed sometime in the 17th
century in the then-capital, Calcutta. Armenian contributions to the
city’s culture and cuisine include a ferocious rugby team, many fine
buildings and the delicious dolma, a dish which Bengalis believe is
as much of their soil as rossogolla and Satyajit Ray, little knowing
its roots stretch all the way back to the Caucasus mountains.
How did the dolma make its journey from a tiny landlocked nation
bordered by Turkey, Iran, Azerbaijan and Georgia to across the Middle
East, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and even as farther afield as the USA and
France?
Once a cradle of civilisation and now a republic that gained its
independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, Armenia has been witness
to ethnic strife, bloodshed and genocides in the intervening
millennia. Armenia’s history is an almost linear progression of
foreign rule under the Persian, Macedonian, Seleucid, Roman,
Byzantine, Egyptian Mamluk, and Ottoman Turk empires before accession
to the Soviet Union. Waves of emigration resulted in Armenians
finding refuge in countries such as the UAE, where they have made
valuable contributions as a hardworking community of businesspersons
and young professionals.
In the UAE, the Armenian diaspora is a few thousand strong. Much of
community life revolves around the church, Al Yarmook, built eight
years ago in Sharjah. Curious to know more about this remarkable
community and its flavoured cuisine, I met Liza Saghtejian. A 33-year
old schoolteacher, church volunteer and mother of one, Liza is
fiercely proud of her Armenian heritage even though home is Aleppo in
Syria where she was born and Sharjah where she has lived for the past
eight years.
Thanks to improved flight connections, a favourable exchange rate and
visas on arrival, many more of the diaspora are winging their way to
Armenia. Liza recently holidayed in Yerevan, the capital of Armenia,
where her son Jack attended an art camp for children. It was as much
a holiday as a homecoming, as she still has family in Yerevan. Says
Liza of her culturally gifted people, `Nearly everyone I met in
Yerevan wrote poetry or played musical instruments or sang or painted
– everyone has some creative interest.’ Liza herself plays the duduk,
a reed instrument which has to be wetted before playing. She also
embroiders intricate antabi designs on velvet, a hobby that needs
plenty of patience and skill.
Settling down for our chat over coffee and baklava, she says, `If I
were to describe my people in brief, I’d say they are hardworking,
creative, inventive and resilient. Despite all the emigrations, we
thrived and have been well-liked in the countries of our residence. I
am proud to be Armenian.’
Armenian cuisine reflects much of their history. There is a
significant Mediterranean and Middle Eastern influence in the recipes
and ingredients. Geography too plays its part in what people eat.
Thanks to the fertile, well-watered soil and the warmth of its
sheltered valleys, Armenia produces an abundance of fruit: plums,
figs, apricots, apples, cherries, oranges and grapes. (A bumper
harvest this year resulted in Yerevan’s major cultural event being
rechristened The Golden Apricot Film Festival.)
For Ara Keusseyan, current president of the Armenian Community
Council, the memory of Armenian fruits still linger from his visit
there. `The absence of chemicals and fertilisers in farming render
the fruits quite extraordinary in taste and smell. You could find
your way blindfolded to a peach being eaten 15 metres away, so
powerful is the fragrance.’
Keusseyan moved to the UAE from Beirut in 1983 to join his family
which has been here for the past 40 years, and even though his dinner
table sports an international look, traditional Armenian dishes do
make a frequent appearance. Two of his favourites are mante, a lamb
pie, and nivik, spinach and chickpea appetiser.
The colour and flavour of Armenian produce is incredible, which lifts
the dishes way above the ordinary. The cuisine is also quite healthy,
with its emphasis on grilling and steaming, and consuming choice
seasonal fruits, salads, yoghurt, spices and herbs. (The pattern of
consumption is less healthy with the evening meal being the heaviest
one, stretching into several courses, while breakfasts are light –
usually coffee, cheese, jam and bread.)
Having said that, Armenians do like it hot! Garlic is a firm
favourite, and their love of the barbie would do an Aussie proud.
`Beef, chicken and vegetable barbecues are a distinct feature of
Armenian cuisine. It is the men who are involved in grilling meat, as
we really don’t like our ladies to smell of barbecue!’ says Ara.
Spices used for meat rubs and marinades include cinnamon, cumin,
cloves, sumac and fiery peppers from Liza’s home town of Alleppo.
Meat is also air dried and spiced to make soujukh – an extremely
popular dish.
Yoghurt is usually set at home, and eaten for breakfast or as the
salty summer drink tan. The Armenian bread lavash is a staple at all
meals, for breakfast with cheese, or scooped with vegetables and
salad, or broken into bits over soup. A thin oval flatbread, it is
baked in earthen ovens called tonirs, very similar to tandoors.
Lavash can be left to dry and moistened before eating by placing it
under a damp cloth.
Showing us pictures of Yerevan – lots of fine statuary, lovely old
churches, some dating back to the 5th century, and scenic beauty –
Liza reminisces about the memorable meal she had at the Heen Yerevan
restaurant. `It’s done up like an old country house, the walls are
decorated with hanging clusters of peppers, onions and garlic. We had
a tahini and eggplant appetiser, and the entree was my favourite –
kufta made with bulghur and minced beef.’
Yerevan is located on the banks of Sevan Lich, a gigantic lake that
is home to the endangered ishkhan trout, known locally as the king of
fish, and unavailable elsewhere. Freshwater fish makes a frequent
appearance on Liza’s dinner table in many avatars: grilled with
garlic and spices, stuffed, steamed or served as soup.
Traditional harvest time specialities include preserves made from
fresh green walnuts; eggplant jam (which Liza assures us is indeed
very tasty and also has walnuts) and fruit sujoukh, a type of walnut
candy. These are not available in the UAE, but you can sample them at
the Annual Armenian Bazar in Sharjah, usually held in December, just
before Christmas.
Armenians are staunch Christians who fast during the 40 days of Lent
when delicious vegetarian versions of dolma, or stuffed vegetables,
and ghapama, or pumpkin stew, are eaten. Dolma is made by stuffing
grape leaves, cabbage leaves,
Swiss chard, eggplant slices or even firm vegetables like zucchini,
courgettes, tomatoes and bell peppers that have been hollowed out.
Accompanying sauces are simple tomato or yoghurt based.
Explaining that a typical Armenian meal is served in courses, Liza
elaborates, `Every meal starts off with appetisers: garden salad made
from fresh vegetables like tomatoes, radishes and cucumbers, panir, a
salty cottage cheese, sujukh, pickles and olives. The main course is
usually barbecued meat or fish, and the meal is rounded off with
desserts, fresh fruit that is sliced at the table and Armenian
coffee.’
Liza also shows us her collection of pomegranate curios, yes, you
read that right. Of all the fruits available in luscious plenty, the
pomegranate (noor) holds a special place in Armenian culture.
`The noor is symbolic of the cycle of life and renewal, each one of
its translucent red seeds is a metaphor for a day in your life and
one fruit is believed to contain 365. If you eat a seed a day, it
brings you good luck!’ Pomegranates are a recurrent motif in Armenian
art and craft; they appear on incense burners, cruet sets, souvenir
plates and various touristy tchotchkes.
Why pomegranates? Possibly because they are coloured red which is
also an auspicious hue for Armenians, it is one of three colours on
the national flag and represents all the blood that has been shed
over centuries (the other two being blue and orange, for Armenia’s
land and skies).
A toast to Armenia then, Genatsit! May its skies and lands be forever
free. And of course to open minds and happy tables groaning with good
food. The recipes below, courtesy Liza, serve four. Use your
imagination to adapt and improvise, for that is the Armenian way.

DOLMA
Ingredients
4 large firm tomatoes or 4 medium bell peppers
For stuffing
Cooked rice 2 cups
Minced lamb 250 gm
Minced beef 250 gm
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp grated nutmeg
1/4 tsp allspice
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
For sauce
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup canned tomato
1 tsp lime juice
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Mix all the ingredients for stuffing together. Prepare the vegetables
for stuffing by carefully cutting off the top and removing the core
and seeds. Fill the vegetables loosely with the stuffing, leaving
room for it to expand during cooking. Arrange the vegetables in a
pan. Cover and simmer with water and tomatoes, to cook the vegetables
until just tender. Season and add lime juice. Add more water as
needed during the cooking process .

KUFTA
Ingredients
For filling
minced lamb or beef 500 gm
2 large yellow onions, chopped
1/2 cup green bell pepper, chopped
3 tbsp chopped parsley
1/2 tsp chopped mint leaves
1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted and chopped
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp dried basil
Salt to taste
For outer cover
minced lamb or beef 750 gm
3/4 cup fine bulgur
1 large yellow onion, chopped
1 tbsp chopped parsley
Salt and pepper to taste
Method
Brown the ground meat for the filling. Add onions and cook for 30
mins. Add peppers and parsley, cook further for 10 mins. Add
remaining ingredients. Cool.
Mix all the ingredients for the outer cover together. Pulse in a food
procssor until light and fluffy. Take a little of this mixture and
flatten it in your palm. Fill it with a walnut-sized ball of the
stuffing. Cover and shape into a round meatball. Make all the
meatballs this way.
Heat 1 litre of chicken stock until boiling. Drop the kofta into the
stock and let them cook for 10 minutes.

MAAMOUL or EASTER COOKIES
Ingredients
2 cups semolina
11/2 cups shortening or ghee
1 cup boiling water
3/4 cup caster sugar
2 cups roughly ground walnuts or almonds or pistachios
1 tsp powdered cinnamon
1/4 cup icing sugar
Method
Place the flour in a bowl, and cut in the shortening using a fork.
Pour the boiling water and knead to a solid dough. Turn the dough
onto a floured work area and knead some more. Cover and let stand for
an hour or even overnight.
Mix together sugar, walnuts and cinnamon. Set aside.
Preheat the over to 350 F/ 175 C.
Knead the dough again and roll into walnut-sized balls. Shape a
hollow and fill it with the nut mixture. Seal the dough over.
Place the balls on a cooking sheet, using a fork to gently make a
pattern on the top.
Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until ight brown.
Dust with icing sugar when warm.
;section=weekend&col

Today, Azerbaijan
Sept 9 2005
Prosecutor General ordered Interior Ministry to arrest Ayaz
Mutellibov

07 September 2005 [11:45] – Today.Az

The Ministry of Interior Affairs was charged with execution of the
court decision on arresting Ayaz Mutellibov.
APA was informed from the press service of the Interior Ministry.
According o the information given to APA from the Prosecutors’
Office, Ayaz Mutellibov committed a number of crimes while he worked
as chairman of the Ministerial Council and as President and after he
resigned from these positions. He provided conditions for dislocation
of Soviet Army in Baku on 19 January, 1990, happening of the tragedy
`Bloody January gave way to attacks of Armenian armed groupings in
Upper Garabagh to the villages of Azerbaijan in 1991-92, provided
condition for the massacre in Khojali not taking necessary measures
to rescue Azerbaijan from blockade. After resigning from the post of
the president on March 6, 1992 he could achieve organizing of pickets
and rallies, convening an extraordinary session by means of exerting
pressure upon the parliamentarians, and abolishment of the decision
on his resigning and misappropriated the authorities of the
president, and was the organizer of the terror action against the
state head Heydar Aliyev early in 1996. Besides it, he conducted
preparation works in the direction of seizing the power by force in
Azerbaijan in September-October months of 2001.
The actions of A.Mutallibov were substantiated with the 17, 15, 59
(preparation and participation in committing a terror action), 2nd
and 3rd parts of the 70.2 clause (aggravating cases of formation of
armed unions or groups not intended in the legislation), 167.2
(aggravating cases of abusing of the authority or official post),
169th clause (carelessness), 183.3 (organization of actions causing
violation of the public order or active participation in such
actions), 192.1 (willfully introducing himself as an official figure
or misappropriation of the powers of the official person) of the
Criminal Code remaining in force till 2000 and with the 28th, 278th
clauses of the existing Criminal Code which is in force at the
present time and a sentence on his being recognized as an accused
person was delivered on May 19 2003. Because of hiding from the
investigation, he was announced to be in search being charged with
sentence by the Court of Nasimi region.
On September 5 in Baku #17 Yasamal 3rd Election Constituency,
candidacy of Ayaz Mutellibov was officially registered in connection
with the parliamentary elections to Milly Majlis. By the award of the
prosecutor general September 6, 2005 candidates registered to
deputies according to articles 70 and 151 of Election Code, as all
the inviolability provision was not referred to the deeds of Ayaz
Mutallibov commited by him before, the Ministry of Internal Affairs
was given a respective instruction on ensuring execution of the
sentence of the Nasimi region court on choosing the arrest measure on
him.
URL:
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Today, Azerbaijan
Sept 9 2005
Terry Davis: `CE drew up special election plan to help Azerbaijan –
CE Sec-Gen’

07 September 2005 [11:01] – Today.Az

Trend interviews Terry Davis, the Secretary General of the Council of
Europe.
Question: How does the Council of Europe estimate the current stage
of the pre-election campaign in Azerbaijan? For instance, the
current Election Code restricts the participation of NGOs in the
monitoring of the November elections?
Answer: The Council of Europe focuses its work on sustaining and
developing representative democracy. Transparency, awareness and
accountability in the election process are of crucial importance. I
should also like to highlight the essential need for political
parties to present a political programme, a platform to the
electorate. This would encourage the participation of citizens in the
political process. Moreover, it is essential that the voter is aware
of initiatives which a politician plans to introduce in parliamentary
work, if elected. It is important that concrete issues and
alternatives are debated. A lack of political platforms seems to be
the shortcoming of the campaign. More generally, I should like to
urge all the election campaigners to concentrate on concrete issues
and to abandon all negative campaigning directed at individual
persons.
The Council of Europe has suggested that NGOs receiving foreign
financial support should not be barred as observers to the election,
because their presence would be in line with good electoral practice
and add to the transparency of the process.
Question: What is the Council of Europe’s position on the situation
of the media in Azerbaijan? Does the policy on conduct of
pre-election propaganda in the country meet Council of Europe norms?
Answer: On joining the Council of Europe in 2001, Azerbaijan
committed itself to guaranteeing freedom of expression and
independence of the media and journalists. By working together with
the media of Azerbaijan, the Council of Europe is helping to train
media professionals in order to develop and strengthen their
professional and ethical standards and improve the quality of the
reporting of news and current affairs. Since a negative `black
propaganda’ phenomenon has recently emerged in the press, I urge all
media representatives to work in conformity with the general code of
conduct of the media and, in particular, the recently agreed code of
conduct during election campaigns.
Question: Do the Azerbaijani authorities still have time to implement
the legislative changes recommended by the Venice Commission?
Answer: Unfortunately, some of the major issues, such as the
composition of election commissions, as recommended by the Venice
Commission of the Council of Europe, have not been taken on board.
Therefore, I think that at this stage it would be crucial to restore
confidence in the eyes of the population in the transparency and
impartiality of the work of the election commission at all levels.
The elections should be conducted in an honest and open manner. Fair
elections are one of the cornerstones of democratic societies.
Question: What attitude would the Council of Europe adopt if the
elections in Azerbaijan differ essentially from `European standards’?
Answer: The Council of Europe has paid special attention to the
conduct of the parliamentary elections, and we have drawn up a
special election action plan to help Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan has
clearly made efforts as well. The Presidential Decree on the basic
principles of fair and free elections and the start of public
television at the end of August are very positive developments.
Naturally, the success of these initiatives depends on their correct
implementation. Ultimately, assessment of the observation of the
elections by the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly, together
with the ODIHR/OSCE conclusions, will define the position of the
Parliamentary Assembly regarding Azerbaijan.
Question: Are any debates scheduled during the October session of the
Parliamentary Assembly in connection with Azerbaijan?
Answer: Since the report on the functioning of democratic
institutions in Azerbaijan was discussed during the June session of
the Parliamentary Assembly (PACE), I do not think that there is a
need to come back to this issue in October. But, of course, this is a
matter for the Assembly to decide upon.
Question: How do you estimate the commissioning of public television
and radio in Azerbaijan?
Answer: One of the commitments undertaken by Azerbaijan in 2001 was
to change the national television channel into a public channel
managed by an independent administrative board. In the light of the
introduction of AZTV3, I should like to congratulate the authorities
for their efforts in making sure that this public television channel
is operational before the parliamentary elections take place. Now it
is very important to ensure that AZTV3 functions as a public service
broadcaster which serves the public interest by making sure that news
programmes present facts and events fairly and encourage freedom of
opinion. All democratic societies need impartial, reliable and
objective public information.
Question: How do you regard the perspectives of the activities of the
PACE Sub-Committee on Nagorno-Karabakh? How will the resolution of
the Committee affect the Council of Europe’s official standpoint on
the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict?
Answer: The Council of Europe follows actively the progress of these
negotiations. Both Armenia and Azerbaijan undertook to make every
effort to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict peacefully when they
joined the Council of Europe. However, as Secretary General, I do not
interfere in the work of the Parliamentary Assembly, and therefore I
am not well placed to discuss this issue further.
Also, since my visit to Azerbaijan focuses on election-related
matters, I should like to concentrate on these.
URL:

Today, Azerbaijan
Sept 9 2005
TABDC co-chairman Kaan Soyak: `Conflict between Azerbaijan and
Armenia cannot be resolved by keeping the borderlines close’

07 September 2005 [11:31] – Today.Az

Co-chairman of Council for Development of Turkey-Armenia Economical
Relations (TABDC) Kaan Soyak’s exclusive interview to `APA’.

– How do you evaluate the current situation of Turkish-Armenian
economical relations?
– The economical relations are developing well despite of all
difficulties; a lot of businessmen are establishing mutual relations.
Armenian and Turkish businessmen are cooperating especially in the
market of Russia and Middle Asia. Armenian Diaspora and Turkish
businessmen have established serious relations recently. There are a
lot of representatives of Armenian Diaspora willing to meet and
cooperate with the businessmen from Anatolia.
– How much is the total volume of trade turnover between Armenian and
Turkish businessmen at the moment?
– This is not less than 100-120 million dollars. The nations of both
countries are interested in establishing economical relations. There
were large-scale trade relations between the Turks and Armenians in
the history of Ottoman too. Sale and purchase are mutually at the
moment .We have implemented some projects so far through the
organization I run. We are cooperating in a number of spheres,
especially energy, transportation, telecommunication, textile
industry, tourism.
– Have you achieved any positive results as the result of the
implementation of projects to normalize the relations between Armenia
and Turkey? Could you do any change to the public opinion in
comparison with the previous periods?
– Of course…Turkish community got to know Armenia, Armenians again.
They got to know that most of Armenians want to live in a friendly
atmosphere with Turkish people. Turkish community treats the problems
between Armenia and Azerbaijan more objectively; wrong policies of
both countries are given coverage by the press obviously. It is
accepted now that Russia’s obvious policy for the benefit of Armenia
in previous years did nothing good. Besides, Turkish public opinion
advocates objective resolution of the conflict. The economical
difficulties faced by Anatolia province are due to the closing of
Turkey-Armenia borderlines. Azerbaijan is also responsible as Armenia
for Turkey facing this problem.
– Is Turkey which is facing hardships in regard to access to European
Union expected to take any positive step in the direction of opening
its borderlines with Armenia?
-European Union is expecting Turkey-Armenia borderlines to open
obviously. There is no reason to prevent this. Thus, Europeans do not
think like Azerbaijanis regarding this matter.I mean, the conflict
between Azerbaijan and Armenia cannot be resolved by closing the
borderlines, as you see it has not been solved so far. Azerbaijan
puts pressure on Turkey for leaving the borderlines closed. However,
changing of this policy would ease Turkey and provide opportunity for
finding more active variant supported by the international community
with regard to the resolution of the conflict. If Robert Kocharyan
and Ilham Aliyev reach a consensus concerning the resolution of the
conflict in Kazan on 26 August the matter of opening the borderlines
will come to the agenda, of course.
– How does the international community assess the activity of TABDC?
– They think positively concerning our activity. We have relations
with a number of organizations. We have regular contacts with the
high ranking officials of the important states. Even the UNO approves
the activity of the TABDC and supports it. Our functioning is
indicated as a model in other similar regions of the world.
– How do you evaluate the imprisonment of historical scientist Ektan
Turkyilmaz in Turkey?
-I regretted that Turkyilmaz was imprisoned, regrettably, Armenian
government made a great mistake here. The matter of releasing of
Turkyilmaz brought Turks and Armenians together. We all want him to
be set free. Personally I do not believe that Turkyilmaz attempted to
export forbidden books from Armenia on purpose. Azerbaijanis, Turks
and Armenians can cooperate for releasing this scientist. The number
of those intending to investigate the events happened in 1915 began
to increase in the past few years. The number of those willing to
investigate these archives has increased. The step taken by Armenia
is not a right one.
– The official Ankara announced that it will not open its borderlines
with Armenia in the period when you are increasing your efforts. How
do such statements affect the activity of the TABDC?
– Of course, such statements are not approvable, Ankara stated that
its official position depends on the improvement in the resolution of
the Upper Garabagh conflict and waits for the step taken in this
direction. A consensus should be reached regarding this matter. The
step to be taken by Azerbaijan is also important as the step of
Armenia. Regrettably, it would not be right to announce the
communities of both countries about the steps to be taken. Do
remember how the radical nationalists criticized Turkey’s supporting
Annan plan on the resolution of the Cyprus conflict. The communities
of Azerbaijan and Armenia are very responsible for this matter. They
have to support the step to be taken by the government and should
know that these steps will be the most right steps for the future of
the peoples even if they are not the most ideal ones.
– We would like to know your opinion concerning the so-called
`genocide of Armenians’…
– We do not deal with this matter, however, we want the both sides to
discuss the matter together, exchange their information and
documents. I treat this matter a little bit morally. I am impressed
when seeing that Armenians from Anatolia still preserve the
traditions of Anatolia though they lived in foreign countries for 2-3
generations. Though I want to tell them `come back and turn to your
homes’ inside me I know they will not return. God willing, if
Turkey-Armenia borderlines are opened thousands of immigrant
Armenians from Anatolia will visit Turkey, Armenia, even Azerbaijan
as tourists. It is very important for us to understand each other
morally in regard with the solution of the events happened in 1915.
– Do you believe the reconciliation of Turkish and Armenian peoples
and opening of the borders?
– I believe that, peace will be restored in the South Caucasus in a
shortest time and the borderlines will be opened. Azerbaijan and
Armenia should reach a consensus and Turkey-Armenia borderline should
be opened in order to reconcile. The meeting due to in Kazan is very
important in this matter, I believe that peace will be achieved soon
if no one prevents it. The most important problem will be the status
of the Upper Garabagh, of course. There must a formula for both
countries to reach a consensus. Can Turkish businessmen cooperate
with the businessmen of Upper Garabagh if there is no peace? Why not?
There can never be any obstacle for trade. But, Upper Garabagh is not
recognized by the international community. Therefore, no credit can
be given to this region, the goods exported her can not be insured,
international banks cannot function, there is no international
guarantee for the capital invested here. There are some other
problems, only free trade can be realized with this region unless the
status of Upper Garabagh is defined, but, of course, no one wants
such trade. The situation is the same in North Cyprus that is why no
capital is invested to this region. I think, tourism must be the
first sector which will be given impulse to by Turkey, Georgia,
Azerbaijan and Armenia jointly, if peace is achieved and the borders
are opened. The South Caucasus has the richest tourism potential in
the world; this region can attract thousands of tourisms.
– The TABDC demonstrated the initiative on crossing the
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan main export pipeline through Armenia… Do you
still support your initiative?
– The TABDC called the pipeline to pass through Armenia as `Pipeline
of peace’, it means, this pipeline will link us for many years. All
the countries, including Azerbaijan admit that the pipeline to pass
through Armenia is more effective economically. The construction of
Armenia section of the pipeline means 20% reduction in the financial
expenditures. We cannot say that this matter was decided fully, there
are pipelines remained from the USSR period in Armenia and it is
possible to reconstruct these pipelines by the account of very little
investment. As the result, Turkey and Azerbaijan might gain a lot of
incomes from these pipelines.
– How much is Turkish community ready for the opinions, ideas you
mention?
-Turkish public fed up with the political difficulties, we have
Cyprus problem which has been lasted for more than 30 years and
expected to last, the problems with Iraq and Syria have not been
solved and the problem in regard with Armenians has not been solved
either. Turkish public opinion would not judge Azerbaijan 7-8 years
ago, but now the public opinion is that Azerbaijan is not making
enough efforts for achieving peace.
– What do think, your efforts will result in when Armenia makes
territorial claims against Turkey?
– The territorial claims have no ground and I have not met any
Armenian working seriously in this direction. Minor part of the
Armenian Diaspora claim this, but these claims are not accepted
seriously by the community. The borderlines of the two countries are
guaranteed by the international commitments and these claims will be
removed after the diplomatic relations between Turkey and Armenia are
restored. As the matter of fact, Azerbaijani Turks, Armenians and
Anatolia Turks must chose a target as it is in Europe in which there
is no borders and it is possible to move freely. Who can tell that
one state has a territorial claim against the other in Europe today?
Regrettably, such matters are only disputed in our region.
– There are Russian military bases in Armenia; don’t you think that
this factor might endanger Turkish capital invested to the economy of
Armenia?
– Russia is not a threatening factor for Turkey; on the contrary,
Turkey can meet some needs of Russian military bases. The Turkish are
real professionals in meeting the needs of military objects. The USA
military bases have been in Turkey for a long time and the needs of
these bases have been met by Turkey. Russia intends to function
together with Turkey. Russia and Turkey can keep peace in the South
Caucasus jointly. The dividends gained by keeping peace in the South
Caucasus are many times better for Russia than the dividends gained
by the military bases.
– Have you been put any pressures by the government and NGOs of
Azerbaijan with regard to your efforts in the direction of
normalizing the relations with Armenia?
– We want to establish peace between Armenians and Turkish people and
we believe that our activity will be the foundation of peace and
tranquility in the whole South Caucasus. On the other hand, we do not
treat the problem like Armenia or Turkey. Therefore, we have been
pressured by the organizations that interpret the problem meeting the
interests of Azerbaijan. We always tell them to take into
consideration the interests of Turkey too.
– Does the Foreign Ministry of Turkey support your activity?
– We are not linked with the government; we are NGO that tries to
normalize Turkish-Armenian relations. We have nothing against Turkey,
Armenia or Azerbaijan. Turkish Foreign Ministry is aware of our
activity.
– Are you supported by any people or organization from Azerbaijan?
– No Azerbaijani or organization from Azerbaijan judged us when we
explained our action plan. On the contrary, there are many persons
and organizations that want us to include Azerbaijan into our
activity circle. We are going to expand our action circle by the
account of Azerbaijan and Georgia in a shortest time.
URL:
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

DeFacto Agency, Armenia
Sept 9 2005
ELMAR MAMEDYAROV: BAKU IS READY FOR THE SETTLEMENT OF THE KARABAKH
CONFLICT BASED ON THE PRINCIPLE OF THE TERRITORIAL INTEGRITY
`Azerbaijan is ready for the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement
based on the principle of the country’s territorial integrity’,
stated AR Foreign Minister Elmar Mamedyarov speaking at the OSCE
Regular Council session in Vienna.
In his words, the status of Nagorno Karabakh should be worked out
with participation of both, Armenian and Azeri, communities of the
region, Interfax reports.

The American Thinker
Sept 9 2005
A challenge to Islamic correctness
September 9th, 2005
Book Review
The Legacy of Jihad: Islamic Holy War and the Fate of Non-Muslims by
Andrew Bostom (Editor); Foreword by Ibn Warraq. 2005. New York:
Prometheus Books. Price $28 (HB).
Jihad is now one of the most widely discussed words in the world’s
lexicon. Once regarded as an arcane and academic subject, the 9/11
attacks and the more recent London bombings have brought the chilling
reality of it to every home. Most think it is a form of religious
war, something like the Crusades. This comparison is altogether
inadequate, for the war is only the beginning. Jihad should be seen
as a complete political and economic system that often includes
selective genocide and slavery. All this is presented in exhaustive
detail in The Legacy of Jihad compiled by Dr. Andrew Bostom. It is
the one indispensable source book needed to understand the threat
that the world faces today.
There is no shortage of experts who tell us that Jihad really is an
inner struggle against one’s own baser instincts – like yoga and
meditation in Hindu and Buddhist traditions. This `Islamically
correct’ explanation – never followed by the Jihadis – is belied both by
Muslim literature and by historical experience. Ibn Khaldun (1332 –
1406), one of the greatest thinkers of Islam, if not the greatest,
saw Jihad as an aggressive war of expansion with the religious
obligation to convert everyone. He calls it Islam’s `universal
mission’:
`The other religious groups did not have a universal mission, and the
holy war was not a religious duty for them, save only for purposes of
defense… Islam is under obligation to gain power over other nations.’
[emphasis added]
According to Sayyid Qutb (d. 1966):
`…wherever an Islamic community exists… it has a God-given right to
step forward and take control of the political authority… When God
restrained Muslims from Jihad for a certain period, it was a question
of strategy rather than of principle…’
We need look no further to understand the so-called `root causes’ of
Jihad.
It is impossible to do justice to such a monumental work in a brief
review beyond noting its main themes. The author begins appropriately
with a hundred-page exposition titled Jihad Conquests and the
Imposition of Dhimmitude. To appreciate Jihad we must understand the
concept of dhimmitude, the state of mind induced by Jihadi terror.
According to The Quranic Concept of War sponsored by General
Zia-ul-Haq of Pakistan, the founder of Talibanism:
`Terror struck into the hearts of the enemy is not only a means, it
is the end in itself. Once a condition of terror into the opponent’s
heart is obtained, hardly anything is left to be achieved… Terror is
not a means of imposing decision upon the enemy; it is the decision
we wish to impose upon him.’ [emphasis added]
This brings up an important point: terrorism cannot be separated from
Jihad, and Jihad cannot be removed from Islam. This is the reality
that we are dealing with. Every Jihadi knows this; it is time others
did too.
The book gives a comprehensive survey – many from the primary sources
going back the Quran and the Hadits. It shows how the orthodox view
of Jihad has changed not at all. In the section The Law of War: The
Jihad Majid Khadduri makes the important point that Islam abolished
all kinds of warfare except Jihad.
Should one think that all this is in the past and `reform’ can change
it, here is a sobering reminder by Bassam Tibi in his War and Peace
in Islam:
`Though the Islamic world has made many cultural adjustments to the
modern international system, there has been no cultural
accommodation, no rigorously critical rethinking of Islamic
tradition.’
According to this worldview:
`World peace, the final stage …is reached only with the conversion or
submission of all mankind to Islam.’
The book contains a comprehensive discussion of various Jihadi
campaigns spanning the period from the first century of Islam to the
present day – from Spain to the Indian subcontinent. A major bonus is
the set of color-coded maps and other illustrations giving a vivid
picture of the expansion of Islam at the cost of other nations.
Several important documents appear in English for the first time.
These include primary works in Arabic and Persian as well as
neglected modern works in modern European languages by scholars such
as Fagnan, Angelov, and Alexandrescu-Dresca Bulgaru. The work is
particularly valuable in shedding light on the horrific experience of
the Balkan nations under Ottoman rule. This is valuable in
understanding the current turmoil in the Balkans where the Muslims
are invariably cast as victims, while all the blame is placed on the
Serbs and the Croatians.
This raises an important but politically incorrect question: how did
the Hindu civilization manage to survive while the mighty empires of
Eastern Christianity, Zoroastrian Persia and the Buddhist kingdoms of
Central Asia crumbled before the onslaught? Even in India, Buddhism
was all but extinguished, while Hindu leaders rose to defend and
finally defeat Islam, though at great cost.
Genocide is often a direct consequence of Jihad though it is glossed
over by `Islamically correct’ historians. The book gives contemporary
and even eyewitness accounts of various genocides from the time of
the Prophet to present day Africa. This includes not only the Turkish
massacre of the Armenians, but also the so-called `ethnic’ conflict
in Sudan, which is the direct consequence of the revival of Jihadism.
Like genocide, slavery is also an integral part of Jihad. In fact
most Islamic regimes were based on slave economy. The Legacy of Jihad
has a sixty-page section on Jihad slavery. It makes for chilling
reading. Particularly disturbing is the revival of slavery and slave
trade in Sudan as a direct consequence of the resurgence of Islam and
the emphasis on Jihad.
John Eibner mentions one particular slave raid in 1987 in which more
than a thousand Dhinka civilians were roasted alive in railway box
cars in the town of El Diein in southern Sudan. (This was repeated in
Godhra, India in 2002 when 57 Hindu pilgrims, mostly women and
children, were burnt alive when the two bogies comprising the ladies’
compartments were set on fire.)
What is disturbing in this resurgence of slavery is the attitude of
international agencies, including the U.N. Eibner notes that the U.N.
Secretary General Kofi Annan has never publicly condemned the revival
of slavery under Jihad. A decade ago, the Cambodian dictator Pol Pot
also received U.N. support until his `Killing Fields’ became
impossible to ignore.
The documentation is so profuse, much of it recorded by Muslims
themselves, the reader begins to wonder why all this has been kept
away from the public by Islamic scholars and academics whose job it
is to inform. As the great Islamic scholar and critic Ibn Warraq (the
author of Why I am Not A Muslim) asks in his brilliant Foreword: why
did it take Dr. Andrew Bostom, not an Islamic scholar but a medical
scientist, to bring out this monumental compilation? Where were the
Orientalists, historians, Islamic scholars and other sundry
academics?
The answer: Islamic correctness driven by dhimmitude.
[Editor’s note: Andrew Bostom, author of the book, is a contributor
to The American Thinker. Further information on The Legacy of Jihad
may be found here. The book may be ordered here.]
N.S. Rajaram divides his time between Oklahoma City and Bangalore,
India.

National Assembly of RA (press release), Armenia
Sept 9 2005
NA President to Participate at the World Conference of the
Parliaments’ Presidents

In Washington NA President Artur Baghdasaryan met Dennis Hastert, US
Congress Speaker. Issues pertaining to the wide circle of
Armenian-American relations were discussed in the atmosphere of full
understanding. It was decided to develop the relations between US
Congress and National Assembly, pointing out that their factual
absence doesn’t contribute to bilateral cooperation. An agreement was
reached on the cooperation of several concrete problems.
After meeting Dennis Hastert, the Republican US Congress Speaker,
Artur Baghdasaryan met Nancy Pelosi, head of the Democratic faction
of US Congress, Stanley Howard, head of the control body of
Democratic minority. NA President also had discussions on various
problems concerning Armenia and Armenian people and processes being
carried out in Armenia and in the region. Problems pertaining to the
elimination of lifting the blockade of Armenia by Turkey, recognition
of Genocide and other problems related to the South Caucasus region,
were discussed with Joe Knollenberg, Frank Pallone and congressmen
Anna Eschew, John Sweeney, Scott Garrett, Adam Schiff and Joe
Schwarz. Two projects are on the agenda of the Congress: Genocide
recognition and against the construction of the new railway through
lifting Armenia from blockade by Turkey. NA President requested to
assist in the above-mentioned matters and protect the interests of
Armenia, at the same time expressing gratitude to the congressmen for
their activities in favour of Armenia. Artur Baghdasaryan invited
them to Armenia, and the invistation was gladly accepted. During the
meeting at the request Artur Bahgdasaryan presented the reforms
taking place in Armenia.
The issues pertaining to democratic reforms being carried out in
Armenia and South Caucasus region were discussed with Daniel Fried,
Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs
and John Fox, Director of Caucasus and Central Asian Affairs.
Issues pertaining to RA inner political situation, constitutional,
electoral and judicial legal reforms were discussed with Glen Davies,
Acting Deputy of State Secretary on Democracy and Human Rights.
At US State of Department meetings the parties highlighted the
development of Armenian-American cooperation in different spheres in
the atmosphere of mutual understanding.
Afterwards NA President left New York, where he will participate at
the 2nd World Conference of the Parliaments’ presidents, where Artur
Baghdasaryan’s speech is envisaged, as well as a number of bilateral
official meetings.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Front Page Magazine
Sept 9 2005
The Legacy of Jihad
By Alyssa A. Lappen
FrontPageMagazine.com | September 9, 2005
Review: The Legacy of Jihad: Islamic Holy War and the Fate of
Non-Muslims, edited by Dr. Andrew G. Bostom, Prometheus, 759 pp.
It is only fitting that Andrew G. Bostom’s massive collection, The
Legacy of Jihad: Islamic Holy War and the Fate of Non-Muslims,
appears in time for the fourth anniversary September 11, 2001, for no
other collection since then has so well explained the theology and
philosophy behind those Islamic attacks on America.
The leaders of the free world have taken pains since late 2001 to
explain that Islam is a religion of peace. But in this far-ranging,
759-page collection of Muslim and non-Muslim eyewitness accounts,
scholarly Muslim theological treatises and superb historical surveys,
it appears that Islam has actually practiced a grisly jihad campaign
against non-Muslims from its earliest days, in the hope of satisfying
the Prophet Mohammed’s end goal: forcing the `one true faith’ upon
the entire world.
The somber tone of this monumental work — graced in its midsection
by a chronological summary of the first 500 years of Muslim
conquests, including color-coded maps and Islamic art — is set by
the cover, a 19th century-Islamic painting entitled `The Prophet, Ali
and the Companions at the massacre of the prisoners of the Jewish
tribe of Beni Kuraizah.’ As its name suggests, the art depicts the
slaughter of 600 to 900 Jewish men, who were led on Mohammed’s orders
to the market of Medina, where they were beheaded and their corpses
buried in trenches dug for that purpose. Their wives and children
were then enslaved.
After viewing these accounts, histories and art works, it is hard to
continue to believe that radical Islamists are in fact all that
radical. Rather, in the most logical way, this collection shows that
September 11 was not an aberration, but that Islam at its core seems
a faith bent upon the conquest and subjugation of non-Muslims.
Indeed, as many commentators here suggest, when one group of Muslims
assumes responsibility for jihad warfare — the only righteous kind
of war, in the Islamic view — the rest of the umma (Muslim
community) is relieved of this fard, or religious duty. Thus, if
radical Muslims believe they act on behalf of all Islamdom, Islamic
traditions also confirm that they do.
Bostom opens with a 124-page survey of jihad conquests and the
imposition of dhimmitude — the sociopolitical subjugation of
indigenous non-Muslim peoples vanquished by jihad campaigns. The
essay is the book’s longest section and serves as an excellent
guidepost for readers to determine which parts might most interest
them.
Beginning in the time of Mohammed himself, Bostom refers readers to
the early 20th century work of the late Columbia University professor
Arthur Jeffrey, who belittled as `the sheerest sophistry’ attempts in
some modern circles `to explain away all the Prophet’s warlike
expeditions as defensive wars or to interpret the doctrine of Jihad
as merely a bloodless striving in missionary zeal for the spread of
Islam…. The early Arabic sources quite plainly and frankly describe
the expeditions as military expeditions, and it would never have
occurred to anyone at that day to interpret them as anything
else….’
But it is not just on the say-so of Western scholars that Bostom
concludes, in the words of Mordechai Nisan, that the `praxis’ of
Islam was by the 1990s to `extend the Muslim presence and role into
the heart of Western civilization, after having constituted within
the Muslim lands themselves a formidable strategic world position.’
His arguments rest on the words, works and deeds of Muslims
themselves. America would benefit if our leaders would pay close
attention to Bostom’s conclusions and the works on which they are
based.
According to Maliki jurist Ibn Abi Zayd al Qayrawani (d. 996), `Jihad
is a Divine institution. Its performance by certain individuals may
dispense others from it. We Malikis maintain that it is preferable
not to begin hostilities with the enemy before having invited the
latter to embrace the religion of Allah except where the enemy
attacks first. They have either the alternative of converting to
Islam or paying the poll tax (jizya), short of which war is declared
against them.’
Hanbali jurist Ibn Tamiyyah (d. 1328) also supports the jihad: `Since
lawful warfare is essentially jihad and since its aim is that the
religion is God’s entirely and God’s word is uppermost, therefore
according to all Muslims, those who stand in the way of this aim must
be fought.’
The Hidayah of Hanafi Shaikh Burdanuddin Ali of Marghinan (d. 1196)
intones,
It is not lawful to make war upon any people who have never before
been called to the faith, without previously requiring them to
embrace it, because the Prophet so instructed his commanders,
directing them to call infidels to the faith, and also because the
people will hence perceive that they are attacked for the sake of
religion, and not for the sake of taking their property, or making
slaves of their children, and on this consideration it is possible
that they may be induced to agree to the call, in order to save
themselves from the trouble of war….
The Shaafi jurist al-Mawardi (d. 1058) writes in the Laws of Islamic
Governance,
The mushrikun [infidels] of Dar al-Harb (the arena of battle) are of
two types: First, those whom the call of Islam has reached, but they
have refused it and taken up arms. The amir of the army has the
option of fighting them… in accordance with what he judges to be in
the best interest of the Muslims and the most harmful to the
mushrikun…. Second, those whom the invitation to Islam has not
reached, although such persons are few nowadays since Allah has made
manifest the call of his Messenger…it is forbidden to begin an
attack before explaining the invitation to Islam to them, informing
them of the miracles of the Prophet and making plain the proofs so as
to encourage acceptance on their part; if they still refuse to accept
after this, war is waged against them and they are treated as those
whom the call has reached.
And Maliki jurist and philosopher Ibn Khaldun (d. 1406), so often
quoted as a peaceful, likewise adopts a warlike tone: ` In the Muslim
community, the holy war is a religious duty, because of the
universalism of the [Muslim] mission and [the obligation to] convert
everybody to Islam by persuasion or by force…. The other religious
groups did not have a universal mission, and the holy war was not a
religious duty for them, save only for purposes of defense….Islam
is under obligation to gain power over other nations.’
In addition to this far-reaching opening summary, the book provides
the juridicial texts, historical accounts, scholarly analyses and
eyewitness excerpts elucidating the jihad rationale as formulated by
Muslim sources and highlighting the global consequences of that
philosophy for more than 13 centuries.
In part two, for example, Bostom collects many jihadist teachings in
the Qur’an, such as Qur’an chapter 9, verse 29: `Fight those who
believe not in Allah nor the last day, nor hold that forbidden which
hath been forbidden by Allah and his apostle, nor acknowledge the
religion of truth even if they are the people of the book, until they
pay the Jizya with willing submission, and fell themselves subdued.’
These Qur’anic teachings fill two pages of text.
But Bostom does not stop there. He devotes his third chapter to the
classical and modern teachings of Qur’anic commentators on Chapter 9,
verse 29, some such as Al-Suyuti (d. 1505 CE), appearing in English
here for the first time. Al-Suyuti writes:
Fight those who don’t believe in God nor in the Last Day [Unless they
believe in the Prophet God bless him and grant him peace] nor hold
what is forbidden that which God and His emissary have forbidden
[e.g. Wine] nor embrace the true faith [which is firm and abrogates
other faiths, i.e., the Islamic religion] from among [for
distinguishing] those who were given the Book [i.e., the Jews and
Christians] until they give the head-tax [i.e., the annual taxes
imposed on them] (l’an yadinl) humbly submissive, and obedient to
Islam’s rule.
Also commenting on the Qur’anic chapter 9, verse 29 are al-Zamakshari
(d. 1144), al Tabari (d. 923), al-Beidawi (d. 1286), Ibn Kathir (d.
1373), Sayyid Qutb (d. 1966) and al-Azhar, al-Muntakhab Fii Tafsir
al-Qur’aan al-Kariim, 1985. Let no one say that Bostom has taken
these teachings out of context, for the classical and contemporary
commentators interpret this passage of the Qur’an in precisely the
same way as it appears.
In chapter four, the last in section two, Bostom focuses on jihad in
the Hadith, with commentary from Sahih Bukhari and Sahih Muslim, as
translated by the Muslim Students’ Association of the University of
Southern California.
In Bostom’s third, 110-page section, classical Muslim theologians and
jurists opine on jihad. These writings span the entire history of
Islam, beginning with 8th century commentators and continuing to 20th
century contemporaries. Bostom has gleaned writings of Malik B. Anas
(d. 795) from the Muwata, for example, Averroes (d. 1198) from the
Bidayat al-Mudjtahid, Ibn Khaldun (d. 1406) from The Muqaddimah, as
well as a 1915 Ottoman Fatwa.
Here, too, Bostom includes several works translated into English for
the first time. For example, the renowned Sufi master al-Ghazali (d.
1111) writes, `One must go on jihad (i.e. Warlike razzias or raids)
at least once a year… one may use a catapult against them
[non-Muslims] when they are in a fortress, even if among them are
women and children. One may set fire to them and drown them.’ The
marriages of slaves, al-Ghazali continues, are automatically
`revoked. One may cut down their trees…. One must destroy their
useless books.’ This belies the all-too-common notion that Sufism is
peaceful.
Similarly, Ibn Qudama (d. 1223), writes, `Legal war (jihad) is an
obligatory social duty (fard-kifaya); when one group of Muslims
guarantees that it is being carried out in a satisfactory manner, the
others are exempted.’ Almost everywhere, the author is belligerent.
`It is permitted to surprise the infidels under cover of night, to
bombard them with mangonels [an engine that hurls missiles] and to
attack them without declaring battle (du’a).’
Al-Hilli (d. 1277), likewise, writes on the traditions concerning the
tax on certain infidels, who have not been enslaved or murdered. The
Persian scholar Muhammad al-Amili (d. 1621) has been translated from
Farsi concerning Jihad holy war: `Islamic holy war against followers
of other religions, such as Jews, is required unless they convert to
Islam or pay the poll tax.’
Concerning the jihad warfare in India, Ziauddin Barani (d. 1357)
writes in the Fatawa-i Janandari,
The Muslim king will not be able to establish the honour of theism
(tauhid) and the supremacy of the Islam unless he strives with all
his courage to overthrown infidelity and to slaughter its leaders
(imams), who in India are the Brahmans. He should make a firm resolve
to overpower, capture, enslave and degrade the infidels. All the
strength and power of the king and holy warriors of Islam should be
concentrated in holy campaigns and holy wars; and they should risk
themselves in the enterprise so that the true Faith may uproot false
creeds and then it will look as if these false creeds had never
existed because they have been deprived of their glamour.
Bostom turns next, in his 117-page Part 4, to ten Jihad overviews by
important 20th century scholars. Clement Huart writes on the law of
war, Nicolas P. Agnides on the classification of persons under
Islamic law (which appeared in Mohammeden Theories of Finance from
Columbia University Press in 1916) and John Ralph Willis on the jihad
ideology of enslavement. Several of these works appear for the first
time in English.
These writings are no easier to dismiss than the classical Islamic
works themselves, for the modern historians also rely heavily on
classical jurists and commentators, as indicated in a bevy of
footnotes gracing the final pages of each essay. Fagnan’s `Jihad or
Holy War According to the Malikite School,’ published in Algiers in
1908, rests for example on the work of Sidi Khalil (d. 1365-1366), as
elucidated by several Muslim commentaries. Edmond Fagnan writes,
The holy war conducted each year on the most dangerous front, even if
there is risk of an attack by bandits, constitutes, just like the
visit of the Ka’ba…, a duty of showing solidarity, which is
incumbent upon every free male who has attained the age of puberty
and is of sound mind and body….
In the case of a sudden invasion, holy war becomes a personal duty,
even for a woman or for the neighbors [of the believers who are being
attacked] if they (i.e. The latter) are too weak, as well as for
those who hold the title of imam.
According to Roger Arnaldez, whose essay `Holy War According to Ibn
Hazm of Cordova’ was published in a French collection in 1962, what
interests this Andalusian classicist about the past `is a privileged
moment of history at which the law eternally intended by God was
revealed in universal and definitive formulations. Despite the most
obvious evidence, the commandments given to the Prophet are not, in
his view, relative to the Prophet’s time…. These commandments,
rather, are valid as such for all times.’
W.R. W. Gardner’s essay, `Jihad’ appeared in the 1912 edition of the
acclaimed scholarly journal, Moslem World. He observes,
The question of what jihad is cannot be settled by reference alone to
the etymology of the word jihad….The Koran plainly teaches in many
passages,..the duty of fighting for the Faith or ‘in the way of God,’
by using the world qatala, and El Zamakhshary, commenting on 2.186,7,
says, ‘Fighting in the way of God is jihad for the glorifying of his
word and the strengthening of the Religion.’ And whatever may be the
etymological meaning of the word jihad, there can be no gainsaying
the fact that it is sometimes used in the Koran in the sense of
warlike actions, a warfare for the sake of the Faith. And when one
asks what the teaching of Mohammedanism is concerning jihad, the word
is employed in this latter sense.
After presenting a 500-year chronology and maps, Bostom moves on to
his final three sections — on jihad campaigns in the Near East,
Europe, Asia Minor and on the Indian subcontinent; jihad slavery and
Muslim and non-Muslim chronicles and eyewitness accounts of jihad
campaigns. These in many ways outshine everything that the editor
presented earlier, for here, he clearly elucidates the ravages of
jihad campaigns as experienced by their victims.
The sixth section, on Jihad campaigns, begins with an essay by
Demetrios Constantelos, which collects eyewitness accounts of Greek
Christian and other early observers of jihad. Damascus fell in 635,
Jerusalem in 638, the same year as Antioch, and in 646 Alexandria
became an Arab possession. The coastal areas of Palestine, Cyprus,
Egypt and Syria swiftly followed. Sophronios of Jerusalem describes
`the sword of the Saracens’ as `beastly and barbarous…filled with
every diabolic savagery.’
Clearly, the Arab conquest was very violent as well as decisive.
Constantelos reports on Sophronios: advancing Saracens left behind
them `a train of destruction and havoc, with bloodshed everywhere and
abandoned human bodies devoured by the wild beasts of Palestine’s
deserts. He writes of the ‘villainous and God-hating Saracens,’ who
run through places and capture cities, who reap or destroy the crops
of the fields, who burn down towns and set churches on fire, who
attack monasteries and defeat Byzantine armies, winning one victory
after another.’ John of Nikiu in about 700 C.E., likewise described
the terrors of the Arabic Muslims. The Islamic conquest `put to the
sword all that surrendered, and they spared none, whether old men,
babes or women.’
But that was only in the beginning. Bloodletting continued on every
continent the Muslims touched. Aram Ter-Ghevondian describes the
Armenian rebellion of 703, as related by such sources as Ibn-al-Athir
and a 10th century Arab author named Muhammad
ibn-Abdullah-ibn-Aasam-al-Kufi as well as Byzantine historian
Theophanes. In one instance in about 705, the Muslim leader Muhammad
`massacred, enslaved and wrote a letter to the nobility (Ashraf) who
are called freemen (ahrar), gave guarantees and promised to give
honors. Hence they gathered in their churches…and he ordered to
encircle the churches with fire-wood, closed the doors on them and
burnt all of them.’
C.E. Dufourcq describes `The Days of Razzia and invasion’ in a 1978
chapter that first appeared in a French collection on daily life in
medieval Europe under Arab domination (another, now in English for
the first time). After dominating Iberia, the Arabs transversed the
Pyrenees and ravaged lands north of the foothills. In Aragon’s Segre
Valley, squadrons explored the Ariege River. Before 720 they attacked
Narbonne, from which they carried off church riches and many slaves.
They were driven back from Toulouse in 721 but in 725 attacked
Carcassone. Other targets included the Rhone Valley, Nimes, and
Viviers (a place still called Les Sarasins), Macon and Chalon, and
Autun (which `has never been able to return to its former state since
that destruction’), Dijon and Langres. By 731, the Arabs were 100
kilometers from Paris. They burned all the Bordeaux churches in 732.
Fortunately, Charles Martel stopped them not far from Poitiers.
But in 734 or 735 in the Mediterranean, Dufourcq continues, they
attacked Arles and Avignon. From Provence and Italy, sailors attacked
Ostia on the Tiber, and pillaged the basilicas of Saint Peter and
Saint Paul. Marseilles was devastated in 838 and again in 848 and
920. From 857 on, the Roman seaboard was attacked annually. In
Syracuse in 878, the Church of the Holy Savior was filled with women,
children, the elderly, the sick, the clerics — all of them
massacred. In 934 or 935, Arabs slaughtered all the men in Genoa and
loaded the city’s treasures onto their ships.
Terrorizing inhabitants was a tool of their trade: As the 17th
century Algerian historian al-Maqqari noted, `Allah thus instilled
such fear among the infidels that they did not dare to go and fight
the conquerors; they only approached them as suppliants to beg for
peace.’
The Muslim invasion of India was similarly cruel, according to K.S.
Lal. Throughout more than 500 years in the Indian subcontinent,
Muslim invaders killed an estimated 70 million, slaughtering as many
as 500,000 to 600,000 at a time. They also took countless millions of
slaves, who were transported to Iran, Afghanistan and later to
Europe.
In the Balkans, the people suffered equal savagery, according to a
1956 essay by Dimitar Angelov, also in English for the first time.
The campaigns of Mourad II (1421-1451) and his successor Mahomet II
(1451-1481) in Serbia, Bosnia, Albania, and the Byzantine princedom
of the Peloponnisos, were particularly devastating. In 1459, invaders
destroyed the entire harvest and leveled the fortified towns. In
1466, the Albanians were forced to retreat and fight from
inaccessible regions; whole cities were again ruined. Plundering,
arson and repeated attacks reduced the rich agricultural region to
wilderness. Famines and epidemics ensued.
All this is to say nothing of the incessant slave-taking and the
brutal devshirme tribute; Balkan families were forced to pay a tax in
the form of their eldest or most able sons. Bostom devotes 60 pages
to slavery alone.
Then we come to the eyewitness accounts, which fill five chapters and
nearly eighty pages. According to an 1148 account by Solomon Cohen,
for example, the Almohads swept through Tlemcen in the Maghren,
killing all those in it. All the cities in North Africa were taken:
`One hundred thousand persons were killed in Fez on that occasion and
120,000 in Marakesh…..Large areas between Seville and Tortosa [in
Spain] had likewise fallen into Almohad hands.’
Likewise, a 13th century Hindu account called the Kahandade Prabandha
tells of the invasion of extensive regions, including Malwa, Gujarat,
Ranthamnhor, Siwana, Jalor, Devagiri, Warangal, Ma’bar and
Ramesvaram. In Bhinmal,
Orders were issued clear and terrible: ‘The soldiers shall march into
the town spreading terror everywhere! Cut down the Brahmanas,
wherever they may be–performing homa or milking cows! Kill the
cows – even those which are pregnant or with newly born calves!’ The
Turks ransacked Bhinmal and captured everybody in the sleepy town.
Thereafter, Fori Malik gleefully set fire to the town in a wanton
display of force and meanness.
As Ibn Warraq notes in the forward, Dr. Bostom is the first scholar
to have had translated from Arabic into English the works of
al-Bayadawi, al-Suyuti, al-Zamakhshari and al-Tabari, as well as
works by Sufi master al-Ghazali, Shiites al-Hilli and al-Amili. He
also includes representatives from the four schools of Sunni
jurisprudence: Averroes and Ibn Khaldun (Maliki), Ibn Taymiya and Ibn
Qudama (Hanbali), Shaybani (Hanafi), and al-Mawardi (Shaafi).
Warraq wonders, `Why did it take a non-specialist such as Dr. Bostom,
a scholar from another discipline — clinical epidemiology and
randomized clinical trials in medicine — to discover and have
translated for the first time this primary and secondary source
material?’
Ibn Warraq continues: As Bernard Lewis points out in his important
essay, `Pro-Islamic Jews,’ `The golden age of equal rights [in Spain]
was a myth…. The myth was invented by Jews in nineteenth century
Europe as a reproach to Christians.’ There are those, he says, who
contend that while Dr. Bostom may be right to expose history hitherto
simply denied, this was not the right historical moment to express
it. But, as Isaiah Berlin once wrote, an ideologue is someone
prepared to suppress what he suspects to be true. This disposition to
suppress the truth has engendered much evil.
Bostom’s work attempts to set straight the historical record. Let us
hope that Bostom’s monumental survey is read in every corner of U.S.
and European government, as well as by the masses who wish to learn
the truth on Islamic doctrines.

DeFacto Agency, Armenia
Sept 9 2005
AZERI OMBUDSMAN IS NOT WORTHY OF THE POST OF HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSAR
`Organization for Protection of Gurgen Margaryan’s Interests’ made a
statement on Azeri press’ information concerning the fact that the
candidature of Azeri Ombudsman Elmira Suleymanova had been put
forward on the post of human rights commissar.
According to the organization, Elmira Suleymanova is not worthy of
the post. Representatives of the organization believe analysis of
Suleymanova’s actions testify to the fact that Azeri ombudsman
institute and Elmira Suleymanova herself have become a mouthpiece of
Azeri authorities’ official politics supporting anti – Armenian and
racist rhetoric within the country and outside its borders.