Ian Hill: Man about Town
Printers launch their seasonal workshops

Belfast Telegraph , UK
Dec 16 2004

Maybe you’d remember making prints from a cut potato in primary
school? Or from a square of gouged lino? But the craft of making
original prints gets a little more complicated – and a brave bit more
artistic – than that when you get to the work of the skilled
professionals from the Belfast Print Workshop.

Their Christmas exhibitions are now showing in the Waterfront Hall
and the Workshop’s atmospheric base in Cotton Court. That’s at No 30
Waring Street, opposite the onetime Ulster Bank.

At the Waterfront launch, BPW’s new chairman, architect Colin Maxwell
revealed that he’ll be working both sides of the street. For he’s
restoration specialists Consarc’s man charged with fashioning a
boutique hotel out of James Hamilton’s 1860 Italiante banking hall
for pub entrepreneur Bill Wolsley.

BPW manager Struan Hamilton, who was present with his spouse Lisa,
deftly explained the different techniques of printmaking: reliefs
from linocuts; lines scratched into metal etched with acids; the
greased limestones of lithography. Trustee James ‘Jim’ Allen, there
with his accomplished printmaking wife Sophie Aghajanian and fellow
artist-trustee Raymond Henshaw, recalled the 17 years since he and
Sophie first moved to live at the gatehouse of the Arts Council’s
Riddell Hall when he set up the whole operation as Printmaker in
Residence in the Big House up the drive.

James Millar, whose sensuous black and white mythical nudes form the
basis of many a collection, made a number of points.

Firstly, that each print is an original, that none are
photo-mechanical reproductions and many cost under £200. That’s a
fraction of what an oil painting by the same artist would sell for.
He was hinting, obviously, that here are the perfect Christmas or New
Year presents.

Another seasonal gift, added BPW director Paula Gallagher, would be a
voucher for the artistically minded love of your life to sign up to
one of the organisation’s printmaking courses. They run during
weekday evenings or weekend mornings in both January and February
2005, for just £75.

Then a scan of the gallery revealed a veritable United Nations of
printmakers. Sophie, a general’s daughter, is of Armenian descent.
Anushiya Sundaralingam comes from Sri Lanka – Ceylon to older
readers. Talking to complementary therapist Amanda Brady,
photographer Bill Smyth and I learnt that her printmaking
psychotherapist friend Kristine Hanish is a Latvian and that etcher
Kinga Pers is Polish. Artist Valerie Giannandrea’s genes are Italian
and Homeria Kiani Rad’s Iranian.

Amongst the hacks present several looked in vain for a print showing
No 30 Waring Street as they remember it, when it was Benny Conlon’s
A1 Bar. A stranger, who didn’t want to be identified, would have
liked something harking back to even earlier. His search was for a
portrait of a woman who lived on that same spot in the late 17th
century. She was Jane Waring, also known as ‘Varina’, daughter to the
merchant tanner who lent the street his name, and the girl who
refused Dean Swift’s offer of marriage when the esteemed author of
Gulliver’s Travels was but Vicar of Kilroot in Co Antrim.

• till December 31,

–Boundary_(ID_i6lsr6eYUMfMVEhSoMW9Jg)–

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIAN GENOCIDE DOCUMENTATION PRESENTED TO U.S. CONGRESSMEN WITH
SUPPORT OF CONGRESSIONAL CAUCUS ON ARMENIAN ISSUES

WASHINGTON, December 16 (Noyan Tapan). In anticipation of the
commemoration of the 90th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide and
the consideration of the Genocide Resolution by the incoming 109th
Congress, the Gomidas Institute has donated 500 copies of its latest
publication, United States Official Records on the Armenian Genocide
1915-17, to members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.

This initiative was taken at the request of a generous benefactor,
and made possible through the support of the Congressional Caucus
on Armenian Issues, as well as the Armenian National Committee in
Washington D.C.

“With the publication of this volume, the Gomidas Institute has, once
again, provided a vital resource for all those working to overcome the
Turkish government’s shameful campaign to pressure the United States
into complicity in Turkey’s denial of the Armenian Genocide,” said ANCA
Executive Director Aram Hamparian. “The comprehensive and compelling
evidence assembled in this book establishes the U.S. response to
the Armenian Genocide as a critical milestone in American history –
one that Turkey should not be allowed to erase.”

United States Official Records on the Armenian Genocide 1915-17
was published by the Gomidas Institute and is the latest book in a
growing body of vital sources on the Armenian Genocide. The Institute
is at the cutting edge of such work, which is utilized by students,
scholars and journalists today.

This book will soon be joined by its sister publication, United States
Diplomacy on the Bosphorus: The Diaries of Ambassador Morgenthau
1913-1916. These two works are an invaluable record of the Armenian
Genocide in all its complexities, and they show how much the United
States government knew about the Armenian Genocide as early as the
summer of 1915.

US READY TO CANCEL SECTION 907 OF FREEDOM SUPPORT ACT IN CASE OF
KARABAKH CONFLICT SETTLEMENT: US AMBASSADOR TO BAKU

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 16. ARMINFO. If the Karabakh conflict is fully
resolved the US will cancel Section 907 of Freedom Support Act
banning US governmental aiding of Azerbaijan, says U Ambassador to
Baku Rino Harnish.

He says that the US welcomes the continuation of the talks between
the Azeri and Armenian FMs and hopes that this process will result
in a long term and fair settlement. Every year Pres.Bush suggests
cancelling the section. This year too he has proposed that considering
Azerbaijan’s active involvement in the international anti-terror
coalition that country get $8 mln aid. But Congress has given equal $2
mln to Azerbaijan and Armenia. Harnish notes that the law on foreign
allocations is not the only way to aid Azerbaijan.

Russia did not support anybody in outside elections – Gryzlov
By Tigran Liloyan

ITAR-TASS News Agency
December 16, 2004 Thursday 3:04 AM Eastern Time

YEREVAN, December 16 — Russia has not officially supported anybody in
the elections in Ukraine, Abkhazia and Adzharia, Russian parliament’s
lower house Speaker Boris Gryzlov said.

He is on an official visit in the Armenian capital Yerevan.

If “Russian political technologists were used there” and “if they
have not secured victory, then it was only a bad commercial project,”
Gryzlov said.

He stressed that relations of Russia and Ukraine, which are “based
on century-old friendship of our peoples, on numerous agreements
and accords that have been signed within the framework of the CIS”
would remain unchanged.

Russia will work with an elected president of Ukraine, he said,
reiterating a statement to this effect by the Russian leadership.

Gryzlov, who is finishing his three-day visit to Armenia, met National
Assembly leader Artur Bagdasaryan on Thursday.

They have discussed bilateral political cooperation, in particular
inter-parliamentary contacts and interaction of parliamentarians in
international organisations and observer groups.

Colin L. Powell Holds A Media Availability With The Minister Of Foreign Affairs Of France

The Associated Press

xfdtr STATE-POWELL-FRANCE sked

TRANSCRIPT

December 15, 2004

MEDIA AVAILABILITY

COLIN L. POWELL

U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE

WASHINGTON, D.C.

COLIN L. POWELL HOLDS A MEDIA AVAILABILITY WITH THE MINISTER OF

FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF FRANCEFDCH e-Media, Inc. (f/k/a Federal Document Clearing
House, Inc.)

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WASHINGTON, DC 20002

Tel: 301-731-1728

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COPYRIGHT 2004 BY FDCH e-Media, Inc.

NO PORTION OF THIS TRANSCRIPTION MAY BE COPIED, SOLD OR

RETRANSMITTED WITHOUT THE EXPRESS WRITTEN AUTHORITY OF

FDCH e-Media, Inc.

SECRETARY POWELL HOLDS A MEDIA AVAILABILITY WITH THE

MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF FRANCE,

AS RELEASED BY THE STATE DEPARTMENT

DECEMBER 15, 2004

SPEAKERS: COLIN L. POWELL, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE

MICHEL BARNIER, FRENCH FOREIGN MINISTER

POWELL: It’s a great pleasure to welcome Foreign Minister Barnier, who has
made a very short trip to consult with me and with Dr. Rice, and we’re deeply
appreciative that he would come over. The Foreign Minister and I have done a
lot together in recent days. We were at the Forum for the Future in Morocco
and we had NATO meetings last week, and I think that gives you an indication
of the closeness of consultations that the United States has with France.

We are looking forward in President Bush’s second term to making sure that
we have resolved any of the difficulties and differences that we have had in
the past and remind ourselves once again of all we have been through together
as two nations. And so, I want to extend to the Minister my best wishes for
the holiday season, but especially to thank him for making this trip.

It’s a great pleasure to have you here, Michel.

BARNIER: Thank you Colin. I made this special trip to say goodbye and thank
you to Colin Powell. We have made great jobs over the last eight months
together. We became friends, and I just want to say thank you for that.

And now, let’s opt for the good work to continue.

POWELL: Thank you sir.

QUESTION: Mr. Minister, did you take up with Secretary Powell your —
France’s interest in pushing Mideast negotiations, and specifically a Mideast peace
conference? Did you float that idea, discuss that idea with the Secretary?

BARNIER: If you don’t mind, I’d prefer to answer in French.

QUESTION: Could someone translate?

POWELL: We are.

BARNIER: Yes, what we want to do, of course, is to look to the future in our
relationship between France and the United States and the relationship
between the Europeans and the United States, and that clearly is the frame of mind
that we want to develop and build on.

But of course, the test of an enhanced Euro-Atlantic relationship will be
the ability to relaunch the peace process between Israelis and the
Palestinians, and I’m convinced that that will be our priority in the coming weeks, and
indeed, in the coming days, as soon as the elections on the 9th of January
occur.

QUESTION: Yeah. Is there a peace conference…

POWELL: We had a brief discussion about the conference that the United
Kingdom is planning to hold early in the New Year with Palestinian officials, but
we did not have a discussion about a broader international conference. What
we have to do is see the election take place on the 9th of January, watch how
the Palestinians form their government, and make sure that Israel shows
flexibility and cooperation with the Palestinians during this election period, get
ready for the next series of Palestinian elections, and we talked about
that. But we did not talk about, at this meeting, but we have talked previously,
about the utility of a conference at some point in the future.

QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, did you discuss…

POWELL: OK.

QUESTION: Did you discuss upcoming — your decision about Turkey’s
negotiation talks? And Mr. Foreign Minister, you said a few days ago that Turkey
should recognize the Armenian dead. If there is a refusal from Turkey, do you
think that should be a reason to end the negotiations? And what do you expect is
the decision on the 17th?

POWELL: We did discuss it. There is a historic opportunity coming up later
this week and the Minister is flying back to participate in these discussions,
but I think I will yield to him for his comment on this matter.

BARNIER: I’ll be leaving immediately, I mean, this evening, back to
Brussels, where I will be tomorrow and where the decision will be taken, this very
important decision to start the negotiation talks with Turkey. And as President
Chirac himself said this evening, we want to open the talks and our
ambition, of course, is to succeed and the outcome of the talks should be accession.
But we shouldn’t be complacent, rest on our laurels, or take any shortcuts in
the negotiation.

POWELL: One last one. Yeah.

QUESTION: Yes, Mr. Secretary, I would like to know what will be in your
memoirs about this relationship with this, let’s say, difficult French, and do
you feel relief or regrets not to see them anymore?

(Laughter.)

POWELL: Je ne regrette rien. Thank you. (Laughter.) I regret nothing.

I have given many speeches on this subject. The United States and France
have been friends and allies for well over two centuries. They were instrumental
in us achieving our independence. We came to Europe twice in the last
century to help our French friends. We will remain friends. We will remain allies.
We will have differences from time to time, and the disagreement that we had
last year, that was not the first time we have had disagreements and
differences with France or with our other European friends. And the values and the
ties that bring us together are far stronger than the disagreements that come
along from time to time. Merci.

BARNIER: And could I maybe just add a few words and say that — and recall
that I said earlier my — expressed my thanks and gratitude to Colin Powell
for the friendly relationship we’ve manage to establish over the last eight
months, but I also wanted to acknowledge his great awareness and understanding
of individuals and situations which was very valuable. But I — to complete —
to come to your point, I must say, of course, that there may be
disagreements, there may be talks, there may be differences amongst us but we should
never ever forget that France and the United States have been allies and friends
since the very beginning.

POWELL: Thank you.

END

12/16/04 11:58 EST

News and information about Kurds and Kurdistan since 4th August 1998

Kurdish PEN Centre and human rights in modern Kurdish literature

16 December 2004

KurdishMedia.com – By Dr Zorab Aloian

Ladies and Gentlemen,
Dear friends!
Goede Middag! Of dag, fijn dat u er bent!

I wish to thank Mildred Anna Middendorp, Stef de Niet, Shirley van
de Steen and other organizers of today’s Program “Turkish and Kurdish
Literature at Literair Theater Branoul” which is a part of the Festival
Horen Zien en Schrijven. I appreciate that Janá Beranová from the
Netherlands PEN Centre and Kurdish lady poet Beri Bihar proposed my
name as a representative of the Kurdish PEN Centre. I am happy to see
here all the guests and especially our close friend Ragip Zarakolu,
who through his Publishing House has been tirelessly promoting freedom
of speech and overcoming taboo topics for the readers in Turkey. I
greet Nisan Erdogan and Ibrahim Roglu who will guide us to the world
of modern Turkish poetry.

I should like to draw some schematic picture of the activities of
the Kurdish PEN Centre and the human rights topics in modern Kurdish
literature. No more than a tiny glimpse of these two very serious
issues can be given here. Therefore, I may elaborate certain points
afterwards, if you come up with your questions and ideas.

The Essence of Kurdish PEN Centre

Your may well know that the International PEN was founded in 1921 in
London by Mrs. Amy Dawson Scott. After the World War I, the nationalist
wave was escalating in Europe and beyond. The first activists of the
International PEN movement headed by John Galsworthy (1867-1933),
a holder of Nobel Prize in Literature, started to work for the sake
of cultural and literary freedoms. The underlying idea of the PEN
has always been “the co-operation between writers themselves” as a
counteract against fascist and totalitarian regimes worldwide. Today,
there are 135 national PEN Centres with 100 of them being state-framed,
or representing existing states, although politically independent. In
addition, there are few PEN Centres without states of their own such
as the Gypsy, Catalan, Esperanto, Basque, Palestinian, Kurdish and
other PEN Centres. What matters for the writers is not the state
boundaries or government blessing but a language in which we create.

At the International PEN Congress in Cambridge, which took place in
April 1988, all the delegates voted for the foundation of the Kurdish
PEN Centre with no vote against and no abstention. This process has
been initiated by the Kurdish author Hüseyin Erdem and several other
writers. This was the first time in history that a national Kurdish
organisation became a member of an international body having equal
rights with others. By doing so, the PEN International exercised
its right to pressure those totalitarian regimes which are sued
to silencing freedom of speech and destroying cultural diversity
in their countries. This achievement was an important step for the
Kurdish language and literature enabling them to gather respect and
strength and to gain an international acceptance.

>> From the very beginning, the Kurdish PEN Centre has been
representing the Kurdish writers living both in the four divided
parts of Kurdish homeland, known as Kurdistan, and abroad thus
refusing to play a role of an exiled Centre. Since 2003 we have a
new Board of the Kurdish PEN Centre headed by Dr. Zaradachet Hajo
and Moustafa Rechid with me being the secretary. We try our utmost
to work for all four existing Committees of the International PEN,
that is, Writers in Prison Committee, Committee of Writers for Peace,
Translation and Linguistic Rights Committee and The Women Writers’
Committee. We have more than 60 members who live in the Middle East,
Europe and the post-Soviet states. The members of the Kurdish PEN
Centre’s Extended Board live in Germany and the UK, we have a Bureau in
Istanbul and next year we are going to visit Iraq and Iraqi Kurdistan
to set up a local Bureau over there, too. We are working on organising
a linguistic and literary conference, probably in Arbil, to discuss
the issue of the united Kurdish alphabet based on Latin script. lIt
must be pointed our that due to historical vicissitudes, the modern
Kurdish literature – although essentially united – evolves in three
major dialects and two alphabets. All are represented in our Centre.

With support of our friends and intellectuals from all nations the
PEN International backs the rights of Kurdish language and literature
and speaks up for release of Kurdish authors who had been detained
and imprisoned in the past. I can only refer to the PEN International
Congress in Mexico City, 2003. Out of 32 resolutions adopted there,
three were related to the Kurdish case: “Resolution on the Linguistic
Rights of the Kurds in Turkey, Iran and Syria”, “Resolution on Syria
concerning the detention of Marwan Osman” and “Resolution on Turkey
Concerning the Detention of Leyla Zana”.

Another important developments is the upcoming Diyarbakir Seminar
on Cultural Diversity jointly organised by Turkish and Kurdish PEN
Centres under the supervision of the International PEN and UNESCO. It
is planned for March, 2005, in the main Kurdish city of Turkey,
Diyarbakir. I am honoured to stress that recently we have developed
a very fruitful contacts with our colleagues from the Turkish PEN
Centre especially with the head of the Linguistic Rights Committee
of the Turkish Centre Mrs. Aysu Erden and our friend here Mr. Ragip
Zarakolu. Now I should rather turn to a literary part of my short
presentation, in which I exclusively deal with the writers who are
members of our PEN Centre.

Human Rights in Modern Kurdish Literature

Certainly, the men and women of literature, while creating, have no
direct goal to embody textually human rights issues. However, the
main motivation of literature lies in the premises that a person with
his or her hopes, joy, pains, spirit and talent is in a preference
to ideological and state interests. That is also exactly what human
rights movement is about. Indeed, a human being must have a certain
fascination. And this is always relevant, whether we call it human
rights or literary mastery.

Arguably the most prominent poet from South (Iraqi) Kurdistan Shêrko
Bêkes, who had been living in exile in Sweden and became a Tucholsky
Prize winner and now is back in his country, describes how inevitable
for a poet it is to be a free creator: “If you take freedom from my
poems and throw it away, I cannot survive.”

Eger le naw shîirekanim
gul derawêjine derewe
le çwar werz werzêkim emrê.
Eger yar bênine derewe
Duwanim emrin
Eger nan bênine derewe
Sêyanim emrin
Ger azadî bênine derewe
Salim emrê û
Xoyþim emrim

Amid the patriotic theme Shêrko Bêkes, while admitting that there might be
better places under the Sun, makes us feel that his native piece of land
deserve affection, too:

Wilat zor e le Kurdistan
shoxushengtir
Xwêngermtir.
Wilat zor e le Kurdistan
Chawî geshtir
Esksoktir.
Wilat zor e le Kurdistan
Qisexoþtir
Destrengîntir.
Belam ey Kurdistanekem!
Wilat niye
Hergîz le to xoþewîsttir.
(Gulbijêrek ji Helbestên Shêrko Bêkes, Stockholm: APEC, 1991, pp. 14, 69)

The famous novelist Mehmed Uzun, who lives in Sweden, dedicated his
novel “Hawara Dîcleyê” to the forgotten peoples of Mesopotamia –
“jibîrbûyî”. He claims that the Kurds and many other ethnic and
religious communities – whether alive or extinct – are natives of
Mesopotamia, share its rich heritage and need to be remembered of.

Ji bîr mekin: ji-bîr-bû-yî…
Berî ku hûn bipirsin, ez bibêjim we ka jibîrbûyî kî ne.
Jibîrbûyî, ez im,,,, Biroyê Ezdî
Jibîrbûyî, Ester e…
Jibîrbûyî êzdî ne, ku bav û kalên min in, ku hertim li serê çiya û newalên kûr
ên welatê êzdiyan, tên kuþtin, hertim ferman û talana wan radibe…
Jibîrbûyî, suryan, keldan û nastûrî ne, ku bav û kalên Stêra min a gorbehîþt
in, ku nikarin li welatê xwe yê bav û kalan… azad û serbest li tîrêjên
berbangan… binêrin…Jibîrbûyî cihû ne…
…Hûn ê niha bipirsin ka ev… çima jibîrbûyî ne. Ez bibêjim we: ev…
jibîrbûyî ne, ji ber ku bindest in, biserneketine û têk çûne…Gotina min,
gotina wan e; dengê min, dengê wan e.

“Please do not forget the forgotten peoples. I’m forgotten, Biroyê
Ezdî and my sweet Ester is also forgotten. The Yezidi Kurds, my
forefathers, are forgotten since they had to hide in the mounts to
avoid massacres. The Syrian Christians, Chaldeans and Nestorians
living amongst the Kurds are also forgotten peoples, they are unable
to look freely in the ray of the Sun. The Jews of Mesopotamia are
forgotten. If you ask, why are they forgotten, I’ll tell you: they are
oppressed and already destroyed. Therefore my voice is their voice.”
(My abridged translation from: Mehmed Uzun, Hawara Dîcleyê, Istanbul:
Avesta, 2001, part I, pp. 15-17)

Another variant of creative patriotic writing is demonstrated by Haydar
Isik, the novelist from Dêrsîm (re-named to Tunceli by the Turkish
authorities). Since the literary works become often independent of
their authors, one could use a portion of imagination to put Haydar
Isik’s short story “Raya Uþen” within the framework of the current
trend towards foreigners in Europe who are blamed to be over-attached
to their home countries. Certainly, the writer’s inspiration was
different. A young Kurd Uþen (derived from Huseyn) was born and
grew up in Germany, had a friendship circle with German youths but
one day, by a virtue of free choice, he decided to go to his native
Kurdistan. His return, terrible images sawn there and his fate are
poetically shown in Haydar Isik’s ancient dialect of Dimilî-Zazakî,
the musical sounds of which are irresistible:

Uþe Almanya de ame dina, bi pîl, þi dibistane Almanu, terbiye dinu
gurete, ita bi xort. Kare dey duzena dey, waxt sero bimayena dey
þivero Almanu. Dorme Uþen’de Kirmanç çinebi. Hevale dey Alman bi û
ey zone Almanu je dine qeseykerdene. Por cirakerdena Uþen, kaye dey,
yareniya dey je Almani bi.

A sere pero piya ci welat. Ma u pi zu çim, zu dil wasteneke dewa xo biwene, le
Uþen welate pi ye xo hona nediwi. Welate pi çutiriyo, meraxe dey her roz biyene
girs…
Uþen cenc bi, semt bi, o ke feteliyene, alvoz vatene: “Maye camerd ardo dina.”
Deyde ters çinebi, serva azadiya millete xo sond û sodir xebetiya.

Le qersuna bebextu ilam girana. Qersuna xayin tenena jedera. Qersuna Reywer.
Uþen ke bi dirvetin virare estera welat. Goniya dey harde welat kerd cenc. Koye
welat tenena sare kerd berz, nika alvoz raya Uþen ra sone, þahine gile koyune.

(Haydar Isik, Raya Uþeno, 1995, Manusrcipt).

The Kurdish language and culture in the 20th century to a big
part owes to the those mostly Yezidi Kurds who escaped the Ottoman
massacres and found refuge in Armenia. The Soviet state in general
and Armenian intelligentsia in particular promoted the preservation
and developments of Kurdish literature. The first Latin-based Kurdish
alphabet was created in 1928 in Armenia, the first Kurdish novel –
roman – was written by Arab Shamilov, an Armenian Kurd. The first
theatre, the first movie, the first section of Kurdish writers,
Kurdish schools and academic institutions in Armenia – they are a
very positive reverberation of common Armenian-Kurdish destiny. The
Kurds, on their part, highlight this memory and display their sympathy
towards the Armenian wounds.

Thus, the writer, Felat Dilgesh from Istanbul wrote a short story
called Zûra (Anosh). It is about an Armenian girl saved by a Kurdish
family during the genocide campaign after the World War 1. The
girl received a new name Zûra, remained in the Kurdish family, but
her separation from the repressed family was a heavy burden on her
soul. The author describes, how Zûra was every day looking for her
mummy, checking every room in the house.

Anosh dotira rojê bi veciniqîn ji nav nivînan rabû û cardin bi lez û
bez li hemû odeyên malê li diya xwe geriya. Belê wê ne diya xwe û ne
jî xwîshk û birayên xwe dît. Anosh wê rojê jî heta êvarê giriya. Di
serî de maliyên Shêx Muhemed, der û cîranan kirin nekirin, kesî
nikaribû pariyek nan jî bidinê. Berê êvarê tenê firek av vexwar.
(Felat Dilgeþ, Dilþa, Istanbul: Elma, 2003, p. 105).

Speaking of the memories, which are mostly a trauma on personal and
national psyche, one needs to refer to the notorious Anfal campaign
carried out by Saddam Hussein’s regime. According to Western officials,
more than 180,000 Kurds were murdered sometimes with gas on that
year. The Kurdish sources estimate not less than 300,000. The lady
writer from South (Iraqi) Kurdistan Sarfiraz Nakshabandy, who lived
in Berlin and now is back to her homeland, writes a series of novels,
one of them being “Uneasy Balance” about April 1, 1991, events in the
city of Arbil (known as Hewlêr in Kurdish). On that day, the Iraqi
troops quelled the Kurdish uprising. The Iraqi commander comes across
two brothers and gives them a demoniac chance:

“- Both of you must think it over, who is ready to die. I’ll set free
the other. I give you this choice. So that you know how democratic we
are. Even in death we give you the right to choose. We’re not those
dictators as you constantly blame us. Let God curse and punish you,
Kurds! You are nothing but the Devil’s offspring!”

Understandably every brother wants himself to die to save another
one. But as time passes, they try to justify their desire to live
on and think: maybe my brother can die, I have more important things
to do. At the end, however, the Iraqi officer, who amused himself of
that game, kills both brothers:

But they [the brothers] overcame the tremble of death and strongly
took in each other’s arms accreted as the Corinthian column. Now they
wouldn’t care of the things around them. The brothers have already
entered the world of the dead. Indeed, such a death of the two equals
one free life.

Sound of bullets again were heard under the sky of Hewlêr. Voiceless
secrecy covered fear, dignity and love of life.

(Sarfaraz Nakshabandy, Uneasy Balance, Journal Havîbûn (Berlin),
1998/No 4, pp. 167-169, my translation)

A journey follows and a Kurd from Iraq, described by a young writer
Yasîn Banîxelanî, comes to Germany to open a new page here. Currently
we are full of narrations about integration. Yasîn Banîxelanî’s hero
from a short story “Min û piyawe roboteke” (Me and the Robot-like man),
too, cannot get along the society, superficially believing that the
people in Germany live and work like robots. Yet having a necessary
impulse to understand the host society, he approaches a German worker
and hears his tragic story. Indeed, tragedy is a specificity of
every society, be it even seemingly happy. The man tells the Kurdish
immigrant of his grief, cries and the Kurd exclaims: “Oh my dear God,
I thought there is nothing from soul and human emotion to be detected
in this person!”

“Ay Xway Giyan! Min wam dezanî, hîç hestêkî mirovane le rûhî ew piyaw
da nemawe, ke çî êsta debînim, degirî, giriyan lay min le lebizwandinî
heste mirovayetiyekan ziyatir hîç watayekî niye.”

(Yasîn Banîxelanî, Min û piyawe roboteke, Manuscript, my translation)

The desperation must be so high that the people cannot utter
it. Another writer in Zazaki-Dimilî dialect Munzur Çem bases his
story entitled “The Voice of the Forest” on real events of 1994 in
the village of Mirig, Dêrsîm. Since the Turkish state forbids the
people to speak their language and their mind, the author chose to
let animals speak about the military assault presenting the story in
the form of fable.

“What happened, Brother Bear? Why did you come back?”
“What happened! Look around you. I thought I’d find a way of escape out of this
hell, but it’s no good, I couldn’t. The fire hasn’t left even the smallest
passage.”
“You mean there’s nowhere at all to get through?”
“Absolutely not: not even for an insect, let alone me.”
“And what about the others? Did any of them survive the fire?”
“I noticed only the goats. They lost their way like me and turned back,
shouting and crying. Perhaps, you’ll see them soon.”…
“The snake could not stop grieving on account of the wound he had received…
“And so I came back like many others. Just as I was about to meet with you, a
piece of fire broke off from the falling branch and caught me. Look how badly
I’m burned.”…
Seeking the answer to all these problems, our little tortoise certainly did not
know about the people far, far off in the capital city of Ankara. He did not
know, he could not know, that the administrators there talked about “the
successes achieved in the struggle against terrorism”…
“I am just a tortoise. I know I can’t do much….. Even if I do nothing else, I
shall be the voice of the forest. I’ll… try to tell everyone the story of its
suffering…”

(Munzur, Çem, The Vocie of the Forest, Stories, translated by Chris Buchanan,
Cologne: Komkar Publications, 2002, pp. 99-125).

The emancipation of the Kurdish society is stipulated by a higher
prestige of women. The lady poet from Meletî (Malatya) Nilgün Demirkaya
defies traditional descriptions of Oriental women in a patriarchal
way: the women are objects of lust, beautiful, attractive and with
red lips. Nilgün Demirkaya’s poems, erratic and impatient, merge
Kurdish theme of liberation with women’s dignity:

My mother bears
her heart
in her hand
and
rocks the empty
cradle
My shot is full of cries
gathered in the heavens.
My voice
Is the voice of mounts.
Can you comprehend what I’m saying?

(Nilgün Demirkaya, Durch unsere halbgeöffneten Türen, Manuscript, my
translation).

Another lady poet from Kurdish region of Turkey Evîn Cîcek looks for a
salvation from the exhausting fate:
“Pain makes these people writers, poets, bards, but also orphans, prisoners and
dead.”
Jan wan dike nivîskar,
Jan wan dike helbestvan,
Jan wan dike dengbêj,
Jan wan dike hunermend,
Jan wan dike hêsîr,
Jan wan dike girtî,
Jan wan dike mirî.

(Evîn Cîcek, Awaza Serpêhatiyan, Istanbul: Perî, 2004, vol. 3, p. 104).

All the mentioned writers are born in the conflict zone. They
experienced destructions of war, detentions with tortures and bans of
self-expression. Nonetheless they constantly remind us: love of native
culture and nature is a very human instinct. If I had to generalise
about the lines above and say what single quality strikes me most,
I would say that cherishing one’s own feelings without harming others
is their most memorable characteristic.

Such is an immediate identity of Kurdish literati.

Dr Zorab Aloian, Kurdish P.E.N. Center. In 1988 during the
International PEN Conference all delegates voted for the foundation of
the Kurdish PEN Center. In 1990 they were officially registered. This
was the first time in Kurdish history that a national Kurdish
organisation became a member of an international body having equal
rights with others. This achievement was an important step for the
Kurdish language and literature enabling them to gather dignity and
strength and to gain an international acceptance.

Republication and redistribution of KurdishMedia.com content is expressly
prohibited without the prior written consent of KurdishMedia.com.

KurdishMedia.com
Copyright © KurdishMedia.com – 1998-2003
email: [email protected] –

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FIRST EVER SCHOOL OF PEACEKEEPERS TO BE OPENED IN YEREVAN

MOSCOW, DECEMBER 16. ARMINFO. The first ever international school
of peacekeepers will be opened at Yerevan’s Mkhitar Gosh University,
says Gen Karen Zadoyan.

The school will train young servicemen from Germany, Greece, the
US, Serbia. The project has been initiated by International Peace
Organization (Russia) whose office will soon be opened in Yerevan.

The school will teach its trainees what is international security,
how to effectively fight terrorism, drugs trafficking and other social
vices. The school will also cultivate tolerance to other religions
and ethnic traditions.

EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT ADDS ITS VOICE FOR ARMENIAN GENOCIDE RECOGNITION

Ankara Puts Preconditions to Europe

Azg/arm
17 Dec 04

On Wednesday, the European parliament joined the French
governmentâ~@~Ys call on Turkey to recognize the Armenian genocide
in order to win the membership to EU. The European parliament made
84 corrections in “Turkeyâ~@~Ys Progress to Membership” report,
18 of which concern the Armenian Genocide. The suggestion made by
two members of the parliament were accepted. Reaffirming its earlier
resolutions, the EU parliament urged Turkey “to promote the process
of reconciliation with the Armenian people by recognizing the genocide
perpetrated against the Armenians” in 1915-1923. It also called on the
EUâ~@~Ys member states and executive commission to seek Turkeyâ~@~Ys
recognition of the Genocide during the anticipated accession talks
in Ankara.

In fact, the European parliament reaffirmed its resolution adopted
on June 18, 1987, by which the legislative body of the EU recognized
the Armenian Genocide in 1915 in the Ottoman Empire. Letâ~@~Ys touch
upon several of the 84 corrections, referring the statement made by
the European Armenian Congress. According to the statement, Turkey
should improve the rights of the national minorities and protect
their cultural legacy, recognize the republic of Cyprus, etc.

The EU parliamentâ~@~Ys call on Turkey to recognize the Armenian
Genocide has no obligatory force, so it is no precondition for
Turkeyâ~@~Ys entry to EU. Doubtlessly, the issue of the Armenian
Genocide can serve as a means for manipulations in the hands of the
European states. Only, three days ago, the French foreign minister
called on Turkey to recognize the Armenian Genocide, stating, on the
other hand that that is no precondition for the accession talks.

On December 14, RA foreign minister said in connection with the opening
of the negotiations around Turkeyâ~@~Ys membership to EU that “our
consequent efforts we made in this direction recently yield positive
results”. “Today, EU has paid attention to opening the Armenian-Turkish
borders, as well as to recognition of the Armenian Genocide. It is
hard to say how these issues will develop in the coming EU Congress,
but we are sure that after opening the negotiations on Turkeyâ~@~Ys
membership to EU, these issues will be included in their agenda,”
Vartan Oskanian said.

According to the Associated Press, in the course of the Wednesday
sitting of the EU Assembly, the suggestion made by the French and
German conservatives to elaborate “a special cooperation” program
for Turkey was rejected as an alternative to the membership. EU
parliament called on opening immediate negotiations with Turkey. Jose
Manuel Barros, chairman of EU Commission, said that EU should fix a
deadline for the negotiations around Turkeyâ~@~Ys membership to EU,
BBC informed.

On December 16 and 17 a meeting of EU member state leaders will be
held. The issue of the terms for Turkeyâ~@~Ys membership to EU will be
discussed among the other issues during this meeting. Abdullah Gul,
Turkish foreign minister, stated that his country is not ready to
become an EU member “at any price.”

Gul pointed out 4 preconditions in the interview given toMiliet. These
preconditions are the following: 1. The main issue of the negotiations
should be the issue of Turkeyâ~@~Ys full membership to EU. 2. Turkey
doesnâ~@~Yt have to recognize Cyprus. 3. The decision to open the
negotiations should not depend on the further decisions taken by EU
leaders. 4. One canâ~@~Yt force a permanent condition to Turkey on
its path to EU membership.

By Tatoul Hakobian

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16 SLOVAK MPS TO PARTICIPATE IN VOTING AT EU ASSEMBLY

Azg/arm
17 Dec 04

Recently the Republic of Slovakia officially recognized the Armenian
Genocide. Ashot Grigorian, our compatriot, businessman, head of
the Armenian community of Bratislava, greatly contributed to the
achievement of this recognition. “A wide-raging movement is unfolded
for recognition of the Armenian Genocide in Slovakia. This movement
is well highlighted in the local press and mass media. The movement
is directed against Turkeyâ~@~Ys denial of the Armenian Genocide”,
Mr. Grigorian said in a telephone interview to Azg Daily.

16 Slovak MPs will participate in the voting at the EU Assembly in
Brussels today. Ashot Grigorian promised to keep us well informed
about the details of further events.

By Hamo Moskofian

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Darchinyan wins IBF flyweight title with TKO of Pacheco

The Associated Press
12/16/04 23:42 EST

HOLLYWOOD, Fla. (AP) – Vic Darchinyan scored an 11th-round technical
knockout of defending champion Irene Pacheco to win the IBF flyweight
title Thursday night.

Darchinyan (22-0, 17 KOs), a native of Armenia now living in
Australia, controlled the pace for most of the bout and finally
knocked down Pacheco in the 10th round with a right to the head.

Darchinyan didn’t let up in the 11th. He unloaded a series of
unanswered shots near the ropes and then dropped Pacheco a second
time with another right to the head 44 seconds into the round.

Pacheco’s cornermen had seen enough, asking referee Jorge Alonso to
stop the fight.

For Pacheco, of Colombia, it was his first career loss in 31
professional fights and seventh title defense.