Sunday, October 24, 2004
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SPEECHIFIERS AND SERMONIZERS
******************************************
Whenever I am invited to deliver a speech, I try to explain that what I have to say is not exactly speechifiable. Last time I heard one of our popular speechifiers, he voiced the same old familiar slogan: “We must support our beloved homeland because without it we are no better than lost sheep wandering aimlessly in a desert of alienation.” My message would be the exact opposite: the Homeland should support the people or us because without the people the Homeland is nothing but a piece of real estate.
*
As things stand, to support the Homeland also means to reinforce and legitimize a corrupt power structure and a priviligentsia whose number one concern is number one.
*
Lenin opposed all forms of charity, because, he explained, “charity does nothing but postpone the revolution.”
*
“The Homeland needs us!” yes, certainly, it goes without saying. But what the Homeland needs even more is elected officials who will live up to their responsibilities by being honest public servants accountable to the people. This may not be part of our culture or authoritarian traditions, granted. But what is the alternative besides despotism, Sultanism, or Stalinism?
*
I am not suggesting a regime change by assassination or revolution, but by gradual reform. Let us help the Homeland by all means, but let us also do whatever we can to clean up the mess there. Easier said than done? Yes, especially if you take into account the fact that before we undertake to clean up the mess there, we should clean up our own mess here.
*
We in the Diaspora may be financially better off, but morally we too are in desperate need of reform. Which is why I shiver when I see diasporan charlatans and gravediggers going to Armenia and parading as benefactors and saviors of the nation.
*
Corruption and incompetence are at the root of the exodus from the Homeland and a high rate of assimilation in the Diaspora: two “white massacres” that are more or less ignored by our ghazettajis and phony pundits, who prefer to stress such meaningless controversies as the use of the word “kef” or the adoption of the vernacular badarak.
*
If the present rate of assimilation and exodus continues, who do you think is going to support and defend the Homeland? Our speechifiers and sermonizers in the Diaspora or our wheeler-dealers with their Swiss bank accounts and villas in the Homeland?
#
Monday, October 25, 2004
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MATTHEW 7:6
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“One reason I refuse to write for Armenians is the warning in Matthew 7:6,” a reader writes.
*
A couple of days later, the same reader: “It seems to me you take Armenian affairs and your fellow Armenians too seriously, and you consistently ignore the advice in Matthew 7:6.”
*
I check Matthew 7:6 and I read: “Do not give dogs what is holy; and do not throw your pearls before swine, less they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.”
*
I dread to think what would happen to me if I were to adopt St. Matthew’s sentiments and vocabulary. As for political correctness: I agree with those who dismiss it as “semantic fascism.”
*
Ever since I read Gandhi’s definition of religion – any belief system that you think is true, including atheism – I can no longer identify myself as a non-believer. Like Chekhov, I believe that we cannot answer the most important questions with any degree of certainty, and what make most belief systems intolerant are the certainties they pretend to possess.
*
People believe for two main reasons: they were conditioned to believe at a time when they couldn’t think for themselves; and they believe because they feel a deep need to believe…and they will believe in anything and anyone, including Hitler, Stalin, Mao, and Castro.
*
As a child I was educated to be a devout Catholic. In my twenties I discovered Zen Buddhism. I now think there is a core of universal truth in all religions, provided we define religion as an endless quest. I also think if Socrates, Buddha, Jesus, Mohammed and Gandhi ever met, they would agree with one another and they would consider their followers as so many dogs and swine.
*
There is a type of Armenian criticism that I call “nuisance criticism,” whose intent is not to make sense or to expose contradictions (which is the true definition of criticism) but to make a nuisance of itself and to silence dissent. It is no exaggeration to say that some of our ablest writers – from Voskanian and Massikian to Shahnour and Zarian – fell silent as a result of this type of criticism.
*
When an American criticizes America, he is motivated by love of America. But when a Muslim jihadist criticizes America, his ultimate aim is the total destruction of the continent.
*
To my critics I say: Next time you think of attacking me, ask yourself, “Am I motivated by Ottoman venom?” and if the answer is yes, keep silent. Because, remember, the most devastating criticism is silence born of apathy.
#
Tuesday, October 26, 2004
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CRITICS AND COMMISSARS
***********************************
Times may change, continents may change, but the number of our commissars, it seems, is destined to remain constant, with one difference: they no longer have a license to kill.
*
Whenever our editors reject one of my commentaries, they never explain why, and when they do, their lies are so transparent that I experience a shiver of shame on their behalf.
*
Some of our commissars may no longer have a license to kill or to silence but they make up for it with concentrated Ottoman venom.
*
I write only about what I see, experience and think. Obviously, I am in no position to write about what someone else sees, experiences and thinks.
*
To those who say I am an enemy of the people, I say: “That’s what you think and I cannot be held responsible for what you think.”
*
To those who would like to see me silenced, I say: “You, my friend, are an anachronism. Because, in case you didn’t know, the era of commissars of culture has been consigned to the dustbin of history, where it belonged in the first place. Of course, you are free to disagree with me. But again, I cannot be held responsible for what’s in your head, only for what’s in mine. Besides, why should I write about what you think if (a) you are in a far better position to do that, and (b) I don’t even know who you are?”
*
Censorship exists where there are dark secrets and lies, which, if exposed, would tarnish the image of those in power. It is the function of a critic to expose these lies and secrets. A critic who fails to do that is like a doctor who ignores the symptoms of serious illness in his patient. Such a doctor is not a doctor but a quack whose license should be revoked. And such a critic is not a critic but a propagandist and a parrot that can repeat only what others see, think and feel.
#
Wednesday, October 27, 2004
***********************************
Because I am in the habit of trashing charlatans, a reader writes: “It is wrong to trash the Homeland,” thus identifying the Homeland with charlatans.
*
“Why is it that you consistently stress the negative and ignore the positive?” I am asked repeatedly. Allow me to answer that question by asking another, which, as far as I know, is never asked in our environment: “Why is it that we can afford to support priests, bishops, editors, and schoolteachers by the dozen, sometimes even by the hundred, but we cannot afford a single full-time investigative reporter?”
*
The publisher of a chezok diasporan weekly once said to me: “On the day I published an investigative report on the ARF, the ARF issued an order to its members to cancel their subscriptions. As a result, in a single week, I lost a thousand subscribers.”
*
An editor from Yerevan: “Once, recently, when I published an investigative report critical of the regime, my office was vandalized and my reporters beaten up.”
*
If we had an investigative reporter, would anyone tell him to investigate the positive and to ignore the negative?
*
As I see it, we are experiencing two “white massacres” – exodus from the Homeland and assimilation in the Diaspora: number of victims, a million and a half each. Please note that both semantics (“white massacre”) and statistics (a total of three million victims) are not mine. Are they accurate? You be the judge.
*
Should I apologize for not being the bearer of bad tidings?
*
You want positive? Easy! Read ARF weeklies on ARF activities, ADL (Ramgavar) weeklies on Ramgavar undertakings, AGBU- and Armenian Assembly-sponsored publications on their respective success stories throughout the world. And if you need more, expose yourself to the verbal diarrhea of our dime-a-dozen sermonizers, speechifiers, and pundits.
*
And I can imagine a member of the Party reviewing Solzhenitsyn’s GULAG ARCHIPELAGO in a Soviet literary periodical and saying: “On the whole, this book emphasizes the negative and completely ignores the many positive aspects of Soviet life.”
*
We may not have real Gulags, granted; but we do have a good number of moral Gulags.
*
Even if I were to write about real Gulags, would I be believed? To this day, Solzhenitsyn is attacked by crypto-Stalinists (you will be surprised how many of them are still with us) on the grounds that he allowed himself to be an instrument of American imperialism.
*
You want more positive? Every other day I receive a newsletter or a brochure in which the many wonderful deeds of our charitable organizations (there must be hundreds of them) are described in some detail, with the inevitable Panchoonie punch line: “Mi kich pogh oughargetsek” (Send us a little money).
#

GIBRAHAYER
Weekly e-newsletter
[email protected] r.cyprusnewsletter.com
The largest circulation Armenian
online e-newsletter on the WWW
ALUMNI ACCUSE AGBU CYPRUS MEMBERS FOR ASSISTING SALE OF MELKONIAN
Gibrahayer – Nicosia Wednesday October 27, 2004:- The Melkonian Cyprus
Alumni Association released an announcement, calling its members and
Armenians world-wide not to lose hope and work together against the closure
of the Melkonian.
It detailed the multidimensional effort put into effect by the
association during the course of last year which included lobbying at the
AGBU CE and Cyprus government level, as well as fund-raising activities.
The announcement further accused lawyers Nairi Der Arakelian and
Christos Tryantafillides for working on behalf of the restraining order on
the sale of the Melkonian buildings. It further accused architect Nazo
Tavitian for being accomplice and benefiting from the “loot” of the school.
Finally the announcement accused AGBU veteran members Hratch Manougian
and AGBU Cyprus President Karekin Costanian in assisting AGBU CE man Gordon
Anderson.
The announcement in its entirety can be read in Armenian in the
documents section of
The Melkonian Cyprus Alumni finally calls everyone to support the
Luncheon/Fundraiser which is being organised by the Cyprus Alumni, that will
take place on Sunday November 7, 2004 in “Christiana” Restaurant in Alambra.
Guest of Honour will be Jack Melkonian grand-nephew of Garabed Melkonian.
ARMENIAN GAY & LESBIAN ASSOCIATION DEMANDS COUNCIL OF EUROPE TO PUT PRESSURE
ON ARMENIA
AGLA Press release – Paris -: The Armenian Gay and Lesbian Association
(AGLA) has demanded from the Council of Europe to put pressure on the
Armenian authorities in order to thwart the rise of homophobia in Armenia.
AGLA said that authorities and media have organised an ugly campaign of
“witch-hunting” and incitement of hatred toward gays.
Last month, Armen Avetisyan, leader of the Uni on of Armenian
Aryans – a fringe nationalistic political group – announced that he has
photographs and videotape evidence that certain ministers, Members of
Parliament, and high ranking officials are homosexual. Avetisyan says he
will release a list of names before the end of the year.
“Our main goal is to clear up a list of ministers and deputies so
that they would not only hand in their resignations but also be exiled from
the republic,” Avetisyan says.
While his threats are outrageous, the controversy has nonetheless
revealed anger and attitudes of hatred toward gays by officials and their
politica l opponents. With its hateful rhetoric, the Armenian political
establishment has ignored Council of Europe (CoE) regulations stipulating
that gays, like other minorities, be assured civil rights. Armenia is a
member of the Council since 2001. At various press conferences and in
interviews in the National Assembly, Members of Parliament have mostly
agreed that homosexuals should not be allowed to govern or make laws. Deputy
Emma Khudabashyan was particularly imaginative in her denigration of the
presumed gay ministers and MPs.
“After publicizing the names these deputies must be seated backwards
on donkeys, their faces blackened with soot and they must be taken for a
ride in their electoral districts so that those who elected them, could spit
in their face,” she suggested.
Former presidential candidate Artashes Geghamyan has used the
controversy as an opportunity for general slander of the Government. “There
are not only homosexuals in our Executive Branch, but drug-addicts and
gambling ministers as well,” he said.
Garnik Isagulyan, President.s National Security adviser, told the
media that if the claims are true, the “appropriate measures will be taken”.
He also declared that if MPs or ministers are revealed as homosexual then
“they must immediately hand in their resignations.”
Association AGLA France, uniting gay, lesbian, bisexual and
trans-gender Armenians of France, expresses its consternation b y the
hateful rhetoric of the Armenian officials and politicians and demand the
condemnation of homophobia by the President and Government of the Republic
and ask them to initiate legislative acts punishing the incitement of hatred
based on the sexual orientation. They finally ask the Council of Europe to
put pressure on the Armenian authorities in order to thwart the
discrimination of gays.
Related links: ;id=121 ,
TATIANA’S CORNER
The above space will be reserved for local artist Tatiana Ferahian’s comic
strips which are amalgamations of Armenian-Cypriot social commentaries,
painted with her usual wry and ironic humour, to stimulate and encourage
awareness and interest toward our community’s everyday happenings.
NEWS IN BRIEF
* Futsal Champions Ararat AGBU are back from Europe having collected three
losses in three matches as follows:Elpozo (Spain) – Ararat 10-1, Marlene
(Holland)- Ararat 5-3, Karaka (Bosnia Herzegovina) – Ararat 8-7. Meanwhile
the Cyprus Championship has begun and on October 23 Ararat defeated
Livadiakos 7-1.
* Turkey have defeated Armenia 2-1 in UEFA’s Under 17 Championships on
October 19. All results at:
* On Friday morning His Holiness Aram I Catholicos of Cilicia, met in the
Patriarchate of Alexandria, Egypt wi th the newly elected Patriarch
Theodoros II, of the Greek Orthodox See of Alexandria.
* President Robert Kocharian arrived in Georgia for an official three-day
visit on Friday, and immediately met with his Georgian counterpart Mikhail
Saakashvili.
* Maro Gorky, daughter of famed abstract-expressionist founder Arshile
Gorky, will make her first US solo show debut in Los Angeles in early
December.
* Los Angeles Daily News reports that police believe that Russian-Armenian
Edvin Isagulyan was killed as a result of a war between two organized-crime
families.
DVD OF THE WEEK – DAGAVEEN
Sireliner,
I want to thank you for all the support you have given me during the
Dagaveen run. It meant a lot to me. For those who missed the show, this is
your chance to see it. Dagaveen has finally been released on DVD and VHS!
Dagaveen was taped live, at Rococo in Pasadena, where I performed for over
four months. It.s structure is very close to my previous monologues Yevaylen
and Nayev, with more personal stories, along with meditations on being an
Armenian in America and finally about the importance of laughter.
This is the first time we have produced DVDs along with the videos.
Dagaveen is performed in Armenian. Its one hour and twenty minutes long
and is directed by my friend Ara Madzounian.
Along with the monologue, a 10 minute candid interview is also included.
The DVDs and videos are available at most Armenian bookstores in California.
It can also be purchased via email at [email protected], my website
VaheBerberian.com or by calling Christina at (818)981-6725.
Once again, thank you for your support and remember, laughter is the fiber
in the diet of your soul.
Sirov, Vahe Berberian
For updates and information visit
SUPPORT HAY TAD ACTIVITIES IN CYPRUS
To support its political activities, The Armenian National Committee of
Cyprus has organised a raffle, participants of which will have the
opportunity to win Armenian Commemorative Coins depicting themes from
ancient Armenian history. A block costs £50.00 ($100 for our international
readers).
Your support will enable the local chapter of our enthusiastic political
action group to materialise its multidimensional political agenda, in
promoting Hay Tad activities both in Cyprus and in Europe.
You can make your contribution to the following account:
Armenian National Committee of Cyprus
P.O.Box 21171 – Nicosia 1503 – Cyprus
Hellenic Bank: account Number 122-01-039699-01
IBAN: CY88 0050 0122 0001 2201 0396 9901
g i b r a h a y c a l e n d a r
* ARMENIAN NIGHT on Wednesday 27 October, 8:00 p.m , Larnaca Armenian
Club. Live Armenian Music, dancing & a lot of fun. Delicious Food and all
inclusive drinks 6 CYP & 3 CYP for children. Last minute sign ups at Mihran
Boyadjian on 99372274
* Marie Louise Kouyoumdjian sings @ Champs on Friday and every Fr iday
starting from October 29 at 9:30 p.m. For reservations call 22873888.
* AYMA Food Bazaar on Sunday November 7, 2004. Traditional Armenian food
and delicacies just like our grandparents used to prepare them! The Food
Gates open at 12:00 noon and nothing will be served before that time.
* Jashgerouyt / Khraghjank at AYMA Saturday November 13, 2004, at 8:30
p.m. Sign up with the members of the committee. Limited seats.
* Armenian Relief Society “Sosse” Chapter Fund Raising Tea for the ARS
Armen ia Projects on Sunday 28 November, 2004 at The Holiday Inn Hotel at
4:00 p.m. Handicraft, Lebanese cookies and home made delicacies on sale.
Proceeds to the “Sosse” Kindergarten of Stepanakert – Republic of Karabagh.
* Melkonian Cyprus Alumni Banquet.Sunday, November 7, 2004 – 1pm
“Christiana” Reception Hall, Alambra. Guest of Honour: Jack R. Melkonian,
grand-nephew of Garabed Melkonian. CYP 15.00 adults / CYP 5.00 students and
children. Prizes included on entrance ticket and raffle tickets. Contact
names for reservations to be announced. Directions to “Christiana” and
convoys will be arranged. All are welcome.
* California Melkonian Alumni Dinner banquet Oct. 30, 2004. “Brandview
Collections, 109 E. Harvard Street Glendale. Tickets at $50 per person which
you can reserve by ringing Janet on(818)2621266 or Raffi on(951)4539917
* AYF Badanegan Miaoutian get-togethers have begun and will continue every
Saturday at 4:00 p.m. at AYMA. Contact Vartoog Karageulian on 24-659245.
* AYMA Chicco Football practices have begun and are taking place every
Friday from 7:00 – 8:30 p.m. for children starting from the age of 7.
Contact Krikor Mahdessian on 99650897.
* AYMA Table Tennis practices have also begun and will continue every
Saturday from 6:00 – 8:00 p.m under the expert guidance of ex-Cyprus
Champion Sirvart Costanian. Classes and practice session for all ages.
* AYMA Football team practices are taking place every Tuesday and Thursday
at 9:00 p.m. A.Y.M.A. will be participating in the Second Division Amateur
Football League and will be bidding for the Championship Title and
subsequent promotion to Division One. The Championship begins on Saturday
November 20, 2004.
* A.G.B.U Women’s Auxiliary Body. Armenian Food Bazaar. Sunday 14
November, 2004 starting from 12:00 lunch time at AGBU club premises.
* Bible Study Group Organised by The Armenian Prelature of Cyprus. The
Group got together on Wednesday 13 October 2004, at the Sourp Asdvadzadzin
Church on Armenia street, Nicosia. To receive further details please call
Elise at the Prelature office on 22 493560 or email [email protected]
* This October the Pharos Trust, in cooperation with the Brazilian
Consulate, is proud to present a month of Brazilian Culture in Nicosia.
Through film, photography, literature, music and performance art, the Trust
offers audiences in Cyprus rare opportunities to experience the spirit,
history, culture and diversity of this vast and unique country. You can
subscribe to receive the e-newsletter of The Pharos Trust at
* AYMA Annual Ball at Hilton Park on January 8, 2004 featuring ANDRE.
Reservations a MUST! Book early.
* If you happen to be in London on Friday, 12th November don’t miss this
Back to Hye Skool Party. Time: 8pm-1am. Venue: The ultra-hip & funky
Babushka 41 Tavistock Crescent, Notting Hill, W11 1AD. Tix:£5 before
10:30pm, £7 after, Age: Strictly 18+ (No ID? No HYE party) Tube:Westbourne
Park (Hammersmith & City) – 1 min walk Notting Hill Gate (Central, District
& Circle) – 5 min ride (#27, 28 & 328 buses on Pembridge Road opposite
WHSmith outside station). Music:DJ Josey Kray & FBI Squad playing old skool
tunes, as well as the freshest tracks, Armenian and more. Xtra: Quality
prizes for the best dressed skool boy and skool girl. New surprises in store
for all. Contact: Raffi 07958 137 702, John 07961 166 969 [email protected]
* Armenian Radio Hour on The Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation can be heard
via real audio on . Broadcast times 17:00-18:00 local Cyprus
time (14:00-15:00 GMT) News bulletins at 17:15 local time on Sundays,
Tuesdays, Fridays. Armenian Cypriots can also tune in on the following radio
frequencies 91.1 FM (Mount Olympus – for Nicosia listeners) 94.2 FM
(Paralimni/Protaras/Agia Napa) 92.4 FM (Larnaca) 96.5 FM (Paphos).
* The Armenian Prelature announces that the next permit for the Armenian
Cemetery visitation at Ayios Dhometios on the Green line, is scheduled for
Sunday 7 November, 2004.
* Every Wednesday from 7-8 p.m. (Cyprus time +2 GMT) on CyBC’s Trito,
Puzant Nadjarian presents the “History of the Blues”. You can also hear it
on Real Audio from the Internet edition of CyBC on A repeat
program can also be heard seven hours later at 2:00 a.m. local time.
* Listen to Hairenik Association’s online Armenian Radio Station.A variety
of Armenian music online, 24 hours a day, combined with news and other
interesting information about the Armenian community in the US, Armenia,
Artsakh, Javakhk and the Armenian Diaspora.
Launch Hairenik Radio in your preferred Player
24 hours of non-stop Armenian music and programs on the internet
. . . . . News . . . . . ANC hour . . . . . Song dedications . . . . . Youth
discussions . . . . . Game Shows . . . . . Interviews . . . . . Religious
programs . . . . . Cultural programs . . . . . History . . . . .
Gibrahayer, is an independent electronic environment, now in its fifth year,
disseminating news & posting upcoming events about the Armenian community of
Cyprus, Armenia, Artsakh and the Diaspora. The list also promotes the
discussion of issues brought forward by its members. The subscription to
this service is free. To subscribe to Gibrahayer e-newsletter, follow the
instructions at To contact the
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–Boundary_(ID_L5GtFV2Vdtq80bmeKpoOfg)–

State comes 1st, mosque 2nd in Turkey’s system
By Colin McMahon and Catherine Collins Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
Sun Oct 24, 9:40 AM ET
Like the modern office building where he works, Mehmet Bekaroglu is without
flourish. His dress is Western conservative, his manner approachable, his
message conciliatory.
Islam is a peaceful religion, Bekaroglu says. And it is his job to see that it
stays that way in Turkey.
“We are like a strainer for tea,” said Bekaroglu, a senior official at Turkey’s
sprawling Religious Affairs Directorate, known as Diyanet. “We strain the
information so that when it reaches the people, it is the best possible
interpretation based on the Koran. . . . Our mission is to get people to live
in peace and harmony.”
“Peace” is invoked like a commandment at Diyanet, which supervises Turkey’s
70,000 mosques and other state religious properties. Officials prepare the
sermons for Friday prayers in pursuit of unity and understanding. Every mufti
and imam who helps Turks interpret Islam is on the Diyanet payroll.
The Diyanet system is less a separation of mosque and state than a subjugation
of mosque by state. And the goal is not to fuel Islam among Turkey’s 70 million
people. The goal is to temper it.
The outcome of this uniquely Turkish approach has implications far beyond the
borders of the geopolitically strategic nation.
No matter how Turks try to avoid the tag, many Westerners like to present
Turkey as a model of pluralism and prosperity for the Muslim world. It has
opened up politically and economically. It has expanded ties to the West. Yet
despite a constitution that dictates its secular nature, Turkey maintains a
strong Muslim identity.
This mix lends Istanbul its charm and energy. Turkey’s largest and greatest
city, though not its capital, Istanbul is a rush of narrow lanes fit for carts
and wide boulevards choked with cars; of wood-frame homes that have stood for
centuries and modern towers that mock Turkey’s deadly earthquakes; of ancient
brick and tempered steel.
Now as the European Union (news – web sites) considers whether and how to
invite Turkey in, many see a tremendous chance to exploit Turkey beyond its
cliched status as a bridge between East and West and turn it into an example
for new alliances between mostly Christian and mostly Muslim societies.
A European embrace of the nation that succeeded the Ottoman Empire, the most
powerful and longest-reigning Islamic empire the world has known, would grant
great credibility to Turkey’s approach. And it would repudiate Muslims who
argue that the West is fundamentally opposed to Islam and that Turkey has
betrayed its Islamic identity in a futile pursuit of Western riches and
respect.
If the November 2003 bombings of Jewish and British targets in Istanbul, and
about a dozen smaller bombings since, were intended to knock Turkey off its
path toward the European Union, they have so far failed. Instead the attacks
confirmed for many Turks in the military and some in civilian life that tight
control of religion is a matter of national security.
In shaping how Muslims worship, and how they don’t, the Turkish state reaches
into several critical areas of public life. It manipulates the education system
to dissuade the pious from attending religious schools and prohibit them from
expressing their piety in public schools. It imposes the first and the final
say over what is preached at mosques and who does the preaching. And it
intervenes in the political system should a religious party or leader be deemed
a threat to Turkey’s secular nature.
At the center of this system of control is Diyanet, a 75,000-member
Sunni-dominated bureaucracy surpassed in size and budget only by the education
system and the armed forces.
Most Diyanet officials are not practicing clerics but bureaucrats. They dress
in the jackets and ties that many pious Muslims shun. They rise through the
ranks by cultivating contacts and passing exams. They proudly display photos of
Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey and the national icon, but
also the man whose wariness of Islam led to the creation of Diyanet.
The Diyanet headquarters of glass and steel gleams off a new highway on the
edge of Ankara, the former backwater that Ataturk remade into a capital city as
he turned the Turkish state away from Istanbul, away from its mosques of tile
and stone, away from its history as the seat of the Islamic caliphate.
Though 280 miles southeast of Istanbul, Ankara feels more Western than
Istanbul. The new section, with its universities, apartment buildings, hotels,
theaters and embassies, now dwarfs ancient Ankara. And though urban growth has
squeezed its parks and strangled its wide boulevards, parts of Ankara still
have the feel of the European model used to build the city in the 20th Century.
At the same time, Ankara is clearly the seat of state power. The military
establishment is here, as are the courts and parliament. Ataturk rests here, in
a mausoleum built in 1953 that stands as an impressive monument not only to him
but also to modern Turkish architecture. And it is from here that Diyanet runs
the state enterprise that is Islam.
“At Diyanet, we are not working to make people more religious,” said Ali
Bardakoglu, a theologian and academic who heads Diyanet. “It is not our project
to convert [people] to Islam. . . . Religious services are to promote peace,
not conflict.”
The army likes it this way. So do many secular Turks who point to Iran and
Saudi Arabia as justification in silencing even a whisper of Islamic
fundamentalism. They say Turkey’s secular creed has afforded the country
political, economic and religious pluralism unmatched in the Muslim world.
But restrictions that some Turks find undemocratic, such as barring head
scarves in government offices and university classrooms, are at the heart of
efforts to protect Turkey’s secular system. Devout Turks, whose numbers are
growing, chafe under Diyanet control. All they ask, they say, is the kind of
freedom of worship enshrined in the U.S. Bill of Rights and available to their
Muslim brethren in the United States.
Bardakoglu acknowledges the criticism. But he says it is too soon to talk of
abolishing Diyanet.
“Turkey has paved a common way for modern, social and political life together
with individual religiosity,” the Diyanet leader said. “We should prevent
religion from being used for political purposes. We should pave the way for
individual religiosity instead.”
Diyanet: Then and now
The Diyanet system has its roots in Ottoman history. Turks point out that a
split in duties between state and mosque began to take shape in the early
1800s, a century before Ataturk made his mark as a young military officer.
But the theocratic trappings of the Ottoman Empire are undeniable. Though often
not especially devout, Ottoman sultans were also the Islamic caliphs, empowered
not merely with political and military might but also with spiritual authority.
Islam was synonymous with Ottoman and with Turkish governance into World War I,
even as the Young Turks were wresting power from the sultan in the empire’s
dying years.
It took Ataturk to formally sever Islam’s political role soon after proclaiming
the Republic of Turkey in 1923. Ataturk abolished the Islamic caliphate,
depriving Muslims across the world of a figure many viewed as “God’s shadow on
Earth.” He secularized the educational system and closed the religious
colleges. And in the 1924 constitution that codified his secular revolution,
Ataturk established Diyanet.
As a full-service employer, Diyanet pays not only salaries but also housing and
other benefits for its imams and muftis. Those who live on mosque property
don’t pay rent. They get health coverage and pensions, just as other civil
servants. The state pays for all of it.
Along with this, Diyanet lays down standards for its clerics. Anything that
hints at religious extremism violates those standards.
“Unfortunately, we do not have religious freedom in this country. The
government interferes in so many ways with our freedom to worship as we like,”
said Imam Abdullah Sezer of Fatih Mosque, in one of the most conservative
neighborhoods of Istanbul. “In a secular state, which is what Turkey is
supposed to be, that is not right. We want the same religious freedoms they
have in the United States.”
Turkey’s most conservative Muslims, an estimated 5 percent of the population,
want to turn Turkey into an Islamic republic. Larger minorities support a legal
system based on their version of Shariah, a code of conduct inspired by various
sources including the Koran, the sayings and conduct of the Prophet Muhammad
and rulings by Islamic scholars. On the issue of women’s rights, the Diyanet
line is far more liberal than what many imams would prefer to preach.
Letting such views have a full hearing, backed by the authority of clerics,
would foster discord and fuel radicalism, Diyanet supporters say.
Kemal Dervis, a parliamentarian and former vice president of the World Bank
(news – web sites), acknowledged the contradiction of having a secular state
run a religion. But he said Diyanet remained necessary as a regulator,
especially when conservative forces from other countries spend money in Turkey
to spread their views.
“It is a little like the state should not intervene in the banking system, but
it has to regulate it,” Dervis said.
A message of peace, down to the letter
Diyanet’s extensive reach can be seen in its elaborate process to shape and
deliver Friday sermons to mosques across the country.
A lower commission at Diyanet does much of the early work on draft sermons
submitted by imams or theologians across the country. Then the higher
commission, made up of 16 clerics, theologians or academics plus a former army
general, all appointed to 7-year terms, meets weekly to work the sermons over.
By the time the sermons are posted on the Internet and read at Friday prayers,
they conform to the commission’s view of Islam–and thus to the religious
interpretation of Diyanet and the Turkish state.
Topics are selected up to a year in advance, with themes such as “Love of
Mothers” and “How to Educate Our Children” and “Laziness.” The sermons are
shaped, edited, inspected and approved a few months in advance. Sometimes,
though, a sermon is written and delivered immediately to respond to events.
That was the case in April, when Jewish leaders expressed concern to the
government about the Turkish release of the Mel Gibson movie “The Passion of
the Christ.” An age limit of 16 was applied to the film, and a sermon titled
“Christ in the Koran” was whipped up.
Jesus Christ, worshipers were told, was a servant of God but not the Son of
God. And he was put on Earth not to redeem men but “to remind them of the rules
of the Torah.”
Mehmet Bekaroglu, who as chairman of the religious services department oversees
the sermon commissions, said state officials outside Diyanet do not dictate the
sermons, though they sometimes inquire about a certain topic.
Bekaroglu’s career helps show how similar Diyanet is to other civil services
and government bureaucracies.
Born in 1954, Bekaroglu started studying the Koran not in elementary school but
at home with his parents. He went to a religious high school, then joined
Diyanet and worked as an imam outside Istanbul. He attended the Institute of
High Islam, scored well on tests and became a mufti.
By the mid-1980s, Bekaroglu was looking to move into management. He took
another exam and became a deputy inspector. Then, quickly, he scored well on
the next test and was promoted to inspector, one of 56 that Diyanet employs in
districts across Turkey.
The inspectorate system is a key aspect of Diyanet. Each department within the
bureaucracy is inspected every two years to ensure that its personnel are
complying with Turkish law and with Diyanet’s vision of Islam. Mosques are
inspected every three years.
Inspectors and their deputies field individual complaints as well. When imams
do push the limits, Ankara takes note. And if the local or regional muftis fail
to deal with the issue, Ankara will dispatch an inspector to restore order.
“Inspectors look to see if the system is breaking down,” said Bekaroglu, who
became chief inspector in 2002 and served about a year before moving up to his
current post. “The goal is to enforce peace, to get people to live in harmony.”
Flare-ups are rare, officials said, not surprising given that an imam’s whole
livelihood, not merely his post, depends on Diyanet.
“As long as the sermon doesn’t provoke terrorism or promote violence, there are
no serious punishments,” said Mufti Mustafa Cagrici of Istanbul. “If there are
complaints, we will issue a warning. There could even be a disciplinary action.
He could be suspended for a time.”
A case earlier this year in the eastern village of Kotanduzu, in one of
Turkey’s most conservative regions, showed how Diyanet polices its clerics.
Villagers complained that the local imam was haranguing them as being
un-Islamic. Women who wore head scarves and long skirts were told to switch to
the black chador, a head-to-toe garment. Men were taken to task for playing
cards.
Regional Diyanet officials stepped in, removed the imam from his post and began
an investigation. They blamed his behavior on health problems but made it clear
that he would not be back on the job unless the cure involved a change of
heart.
Turkish Islam is considered more pluralistic and more tolerant than most forms
of Arab Islam, having been influenced by shamanism in Central Asia; by Sufism,
an Islamic mysticism that emphasizes self-awareness and intimate and personal
religious experiences; by the Alevi Muslim minority, which has a more liberal
interpretation of Islam and makes up a fifth to a quarter of Turkey’s
population, and by non-Muslim minorities.
“Diversity in religion and political culture created a milieu where various
religious groups lived in peace and practiced their faith,” said Nilufer Narli,
a professor at Kadir Has University, tracing Turkey’s openness to the West and
to pluralism back to Ottoman times. “Respecting the other’s faith and his or
her human dignity and freedom were the virtues shared by all the religious
groups.”
Non-Muslim minorities, mostly Jews, and Greek and Armenian Christians, have
faced discrimination and even persecution, both under the modern republic and
during the Ottoman Empire. But today, they say they are better off in many ways
than Muslim Turks because the state interferes far less in the religious lives
of non-Muslims than in the lives of pious Muslims.
“The state has become so suspicious of all pious people,” said Hrant Dink, an
ethnic Armenian and a Christian by birth who edits the Armenian newspaper Agos.
“[Islam] here is oppressed by secularism.”
Education for all–who play by the rules
On a summer morning in a courtyard outside Istanbul University, young devout
women gathered to pay a personal price for the state policy of religious
control.
The women knew that their wearing of head scarves was barred from public
universities. Yet they showed up anyway to take the annual entrance exam,
joining thousands of male and female students who had gathered before dawn.
A university proctor emerged to address the students.
“Boys to the left,” the proctor commanded. “Girls to the right.”
Immediately, dozens of young women stepped aside to remove head scarves and
floor-length coats. One ducked behind a building, then returned with tears of
shame streaming down her face.
She handed a scarf to another woman and ascended the stairs, eyes down before
the male proctor. “I feel sorry for these girls,” he said.
Watching her sister go, Saziye Kirbas said: “I don’t know if God will forgive
this sin of uncovering her head, but she needs to go to school, and this is the
only way to do it.”
Though surveys show that most of the country opposes the head scarf ban, many
Turks have decided that it is better to go along.
“I never got an education, and today I am completely dependent on my husband,”
said Havva Altuntas, who brought her daughter, also covered, to the university
exam. “I don’t want my daughter to be dependent on any man. . . . Covered,
uncovered, what does it matter? Only an education matters.”
But no matter how much an education matters, some Turks want the right to put
faith first.
Covered head to heel in cloth and coat on the day of her high school
graduation, Tugba Unlu ignored the hot summer sun as she spun out a sermon
about Islam and democracy.
“They want us to give up our head scarves,” Unlu said, clutching a certificate
of academic achievement and a copy of the Koran the school had awarded her.
“But instead of compromising our religious beliefs we would rather compromise
our education.”
Unlu had been honored as a top student at her religious school in Sincan, an
Ankara township of nearly 300,000 people. For all her talk of becoming a
doctor, she knew this day might end up the highlight of her academic career.
“I don’t understand why they are trying to change us,” Unlu said. “Maybe they
think the devout among us pose a threat of Islamic terrorism and that we want
to change the democratic system. This is proof there is not democracy, there is
no equality in this country.”
Head scarves are the most visible and potent symbol of the conflict between the
devout and the state. But they are not the only way the state uses the
education system to control Islam. To get into the overcrowded university
system, graduates of religious schools must score better on their entrance
exams than students from public schools.
The state asserts that because religious schools are better academically,
public school applicants must be given a leg up. Parents who send their
children to religious schools, many because they see those schools as more
disciplined and morally upright, assert that the policy is pure discrimination.
“Everyone should be able to live the life he wants,” said Ismail Dogan, a
retired textile worker in Kayseri, a conservative city of about 500,000. “They
should respect the devout, and the devout should respect them. We are not
against the secularists. But we also want them to respect us.”
Dogan’s older sons and his daughter all graduated from religious high schools
and went on to private universities that required great financial sacrifice, he
said. But the youngest son will go to a public high school in hopes of a better
shot at a public university. It wasn’t fair, Dogan said, but for now it is the
Turkish system.
“We don’t want to cause problems in the country. We don’t want to go to the
protests,” Dogan said. “It is better to keep quiet, not to cause divisions.”
Politic in public, at home with Islam
For Turks who fear any hint of Allah in politics, the controversy last month
over a proposal to criminalize adultery affirmed their searing distrust of
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his ruling Justice and Development
Party, known by its Turkish acronym, AKP or AK Party.
Suggested as part of a sweeping revision of Turkey’s penal code, the measure to
restore potential prison sentences for adulterers had the strong support of AK
Party’s conservative base. But it angered liberals and women’s groups. It
alarmed European Union officials, already concerned about Turkey’s limits on
religious freedom.
And it provided AK Party critics with fresh ammunition: Never mind that AKP had
won praise for its 22 months of governance, opponents said, Erdogan was finally
revealing his “secret agenda.”
AK Party eventually dropped the adultery provision and pushed through the rest
of the legal package. To Erdogan’s supporters, the decision provided evidence
of how far he had come as a politician.
“AK Party is not an Islamic party, it’s a center-right party,” said Celal
Hasnalcaci, a factory owner in Kayseri, which proved to be an AKP stronghold in
the party’s stunning victory in national elections in November 2002. “The
people of the party may be Islamic, but the party is not. The vote for AK Party
was a vote against the old order.”
Though Kayseri may have voted against the old political order, its people
revere the old ways. As they have done for centuries in this city, which dates
to the 4th millennium BC, residents make room in their homes for workshops
where they make carpets coveted around the world. Families are close, and the
mosque is a center of many people’s lives.
Hasnalcaci belongs to an Islamic chamber of commerce known as MUSIAD, which AKP
opponents portray as a kind of Muslim cabal funding an Islamic revolution.
MUSIAD members reject that characterization and say they merely want what
capitalists the world over want: lower taxes, private ownership rather than
state control and transparency in the government bidding process. AK Party,
they say, is the most capable of breaking the cycle of corruption that has long
been a part of the Turkish government’s relationship with big business.
Looking out over the floor of his factory, located in a Kayseri industrial park
in a valley beneath the extinct Mt. Erciyes volcano, Hasnalcaci watched a few
dozen men and women, some in head scarves and some not, assemble his Keep Out
brand of clothing.
Keep Out jeans fit tight and ride low. The sleeveless shirts ride high. It’s
all designed for the bare-midriff look that competes with pious dress on the
vibrant Istiklal Avenue in central Istanbul.
If a fundamentalist regime came to power in Turkey, Hasnalcaci might not lose
his factory, but he would certainly have to redesign Keep Out’s casual line.
And an adult daughter of his who goes uncovered would have to change her ways
too.
“Yes, yes, the hidden agenda,” Hasnalcaci said, a bit exasperated by the whole
question of Turkey’s turning fundamentalist. “Well, it’s not possible.”
Power upfront and behind the scenes
With his party dominating parliament by a two-thirds majority, his approval
ratings high and his international image glossy, Erdogan is the most powerful
person in Turkish politics. But there are limits to Erdogan’s power, some
dictated by the rule of law and some by Turkey’s own complex rules of the game.
In Turkey the government and the state are not always synonymous. The state
bureaucracy can prove hard to control for even the most adept party in power.
And Turkey’s so-called deep state, made up of ruling elites from the military,
judicial branch, business and media, has long wielded tremendous power behind
the scenes.
The deep state’s various players are seen as unofficial protectors of Turkey’s
secular system. The army, meanwhile, is empowered by the constitution to be its
official protector.
Erdogan knows firsthand the dangers of being holier than they allow, having
spent four months in prison in 1999 for reciting a poem that included such
lines as, “The mosques are our barracks.”
Erdogan now leavens his piety with heaps of practicality. “In the office I’m a
democrat,” says the politician who once pursued a professional soccer career.
“At home I’m a Muslim.”
Many Turks fear this commitment to individual liberty is all talk. Some women
in particular fear that Turkey, even if it does not become Islamic by law, will
become so conservatively religious that space will shrink for liberal women to
work where they want, see whom they care to and dress as they wish.
“Trying to do my job has never been so difficult,” said theater director Almula
Merter, who has battled censors to put on various productions, including most
recently “The Vagina Monologues” and a play about incest called “Taboo.” Merter
has lived in Istanbul and New York City for the past 10 years, and she has seen
Turkey move backward on liberal values and women’s rights in that time.
“I sometimes wonder: Am I doing the wrong thing by staying here and
performing?” Merter said.
Notwithstanding its history of coups–three military overthrows, plus the
orchestrated fall of Welfare’s coalition government–the army has kept to the
sidelines. Even when Erdogan pushed for a resolution of the Cyprus conflict
that drew Turkey back from the hard line many generals supported, the military
went along.
Today, the military remains Turkey’s most respected institution. But that
public trust would be severely jeopardized were the army to override democracy
again, analysts say.
“Any Turkish army reaction that is not formulated correctly is seen as a
reaction against Islam,” said Umit Ozdag of the Center for Eurasian Strategic
Studies, an Ankara think tank with good sources among the army’s senior
officers. “An army move on AKP strengthens AKP.”
An army move on AKP would also almost certainly doom Turkey’s hopes of joining
the European Union. But then, so would a sharp swing toward conservatism by the
party’s devout leaders.
In December, the EU is to decide whether to begin negotiations that would lead
to Turkey’s membership. Should the vote go Turkey’s way, the invitation would
signal a profound break from the suspicion and hostility that have marked the
Christian West’s attitude toward the Turkish people for nearly a millennium.
A no vote, however, no matter what the justification, would fuel resentment.
“If Turkey and Europe do not become full partners, that creates more fertile
ground for extremism,” said political analyst and commentator Cengiz Candar.
“Turkey is bigger than Turkey now.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Metzger meets clergy on tensions
By the Associated Press
Ha’aretz, English Edition
Wed., October 27, 2004
JERUSALEM – Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger yesterday held an unprecedented
meeting with Christian clergy in Jerusalem to try to ease tensions
after an Orthodox Jew spat at an Armenian bishop near a holy site in
the Old City.
Metzger sat at the head of a table surrounded by clerics with gold
crosses, black robes and silver staffs and denounced attacks on any
religious clergy in Israel. “As sons of Abraham, we are brothers,” he
said. “We denounce any act that is meant to degrade religious people.”
The meeting was called after the Oct. 10 incident in which a yeshiva
student spat on an Armenian archbishop carrying a cross in Jerusalem,
sparking a fist fight that damaged the cleric’s ancient medallion.
Many of the 14 church representatives at the meeting complained that
the incident was just one of dozens of similar attacks every year.
“Unfortunately this incident was not an isolated incident,” Armenian
Bishop Aris Shirvanian said. “Quite frequently we suffer some kind
of indignity … at least once a week.”
Shirvanian said Israeli rabbis needed to do a better job of educating
their followers not to participate in such attacks.

FORUM 18 NEWS SERVICE, Oslo, Norway
The right to believe, to worship and witness
The right to change one’s belief or religion
The right to join together and express one’s belief
=================================================
Tuesday 26 October 2004
TURKMENISTAN: CONTINUED ISOLATION OF RELIGIOUS BELIEVERS
Turkmenistan has, as part of an apparent policy of keeping religious
believers isolated, denied permission for a group of Seventh Day Adventists
to visit the country, Forum 18 News Service has learnt, despite the fact
that their invitation came from Turkmenistan’s registered Adventist church.
Other religious communities facing obstacles in visiting co-religionists
include Jehovah’s Witnesses, Hare Krishna devotees, ethnic Uzbek Muslims,
and the Armenian Apostolic Church. The head of Uzbekistan’s Bible Society
has also been denied entry, as was the United Nations special rapporteur on
freedom of religion or belief. The only religious community to have
unimpeded travel to Turkmenistan is the Russian Orthodox Church.
TURKMENISTAN: CONTINUED ISOLATION OF RELIGIOUS BELIEVERS
By Igor Rotar, Forum 18 News Service, and
Felix Corley, Forum 18 News Service
Turkmenistan’s Foreign Ministry has refused permission for a group of five
leading Seventh Day Adventists to visit the country in December, despite
the fact that their invitation came from Turkmenistan’s registered
Adventist church, Forum 18 News Service has learned. The group had intended
to meet officially with the staff of the government’s Gengeshi (Council)
for Religious Affairs in the capital Ashgabad and to familiarise themselves
with the work of the Church in the country, which received registration
again in June after a seven and a half year break. Also barred from
visiting Turkmenistan is the head of the Bible Society from neighbouring
Uzbekistan, whose fourth successive application was rejected in
mid-September. Jehovah’s Witnesses and Hare Krishna devotees have had many
visa denials over the past few years.
Officials at Turkmenistan’s foreign ministry have declined to explain why
foreign religious representatives are being denied visas. Reached by
telephone on 25 October, one official even told Forum 18 that the number of
the ministry press office is a secret and that he had no right to give it
out. Agdylek Jumaniyazova, third secretary in the ministry’s consular
section, told Forum 18 from Ashgabad the same day that she had “no
right to comment on visa refusals”. Asked whether it is harder for
religious figures to get visas than it is for other individuals, she said
she did not know.
The Adventists launched the application process at the beginning of August
for the five hoped-for visitors – Rubin Ott, head of the Church in
Central Asia, and his wife, Viktor Vitko and Valeri Ivanov from Moscow, and
John Graz, the Washington-based general secretary of the International
Religious Liberty Association. Although all the required documents were
presented, when church members went to the reception desk at the foreign
ministry in mid-September to collect the permissions they were told
verbally that this had not been granted. “No explanation was
given,” Adventist sources told Forum 18.
“This means that although we are registered as a religious
organisation and our statute specifically allows us to invite foreign
visitors, we don’t have the right to invite people in practice,”
Adventists in Turkmenistan told Forum 18. “We are upset, as
registration means nothing.” They point out that their congregations
in Turkmenistan are part of a worldwide Church and it is “only
natural” that leaders and fellow Church members should visit and learn
about Church life in the country.
Adventists have also been denied permission to worship, despite the
much-trumpeted “liberalisation” of Turkmenistan’s religious
policy (see F18News 4 October 2004
).
Local Adventists also asked the Gengeshi about how they should go about the
invitations. One of the deputy chairmen, Murad Karriyev, told them that
they need permission from the Gengeshi and instructed them to request such
permission in writing. “We wrote and got no reply,” Adventists
told Forum 18. “Karriyev told them that permission could take six
months to come through as it was not he who decided.”
Turkmenistan’s Adventist church does not know whether it will ever be able
to invite fellow-Adventists from abroad. “We have the foreign ministry
on one side insisting that it is their decision, while on the other the
Gengeshi insists they decide. But neither gives permission.”
The head of the Uzbek Bible Society, Sergei Mitin, told Forum 18 in the
Uzbek capital Tashkent on 15 October that the rejection of his visa
application was the fourth since 2000 and, as on the previous occasions,
the Turkmen Foreign Ministry gave him no reason for the refusal.
He said that on each occasion he had arranged an invitation as a private
individual through a commercial tourist company, but had indicated on the
application form his job as head of the Bible Society. He said one of his
main aims was to meet officials of the Gengeshi in Ashgabad to discuss the
return of 1,500 booklets belonging to the Uzbek Bible Society confiscated
by the Turkmen authorities in 1999.
The Turkmen Foreign Ministry has also denied visas to Hare Krishna
followers and Jehovah’s Witnesses from other Central Asian republics,
Anatoli Melnik, leader of the ruling council of Jehovah’s Witnesses in
Kazakhstan, and Andrei Gorkovy (Achuta garaji-das) of the Society for
Krishna Consciousness in Uzbekistan told Forum 18 on 21 October.
Both the Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Krishna devotees tried to obtain
Turkmen visas as private individuals because their religious communities
were unregistered in Turkmenistan and therefore could not send them an
invitation. Given the lack of success of Turkmenistan’s Adventist church in
inviting foreign leaders, it seems unlikely that even with the registration
it gained earlier this year that the Hare Krishna community will be
successful in inviting devotees from abroad.
Foreign religious representatives occasionally manage to obtain a Turkmen
visa in spite of this, but only if the Turkmen authorities fail to
establish that the foreigner is coming to make contact with
fellow-believers. Uzbek Krishna devotee Aleksandr Prinkur lived and
preached in Turkmenistan for several years in the 1990s before being
deported and his name is well known to the Turkmen special services. But
his two recent applications for a Turkmen visa have been refused. After
returning from visits to Turkmenistan, Jehovah’s Witness Anatoli Melnik
gave several interviews to journalists about the infringement of Jehovah’s
Witnesses’ rights in the country. He was refused a visa last year, as was
Fedor Jitnikov, another leader of the Jehovah’s Witnesses in Kazakhstan.
Interestingly, Uzbek Muslims have no contact with their fellow-believers in
Turkmenistan. Abdurazak Yunusov, an adviser to Uzbekistan’s chief mufti,
told Forum 18 on 22 October in Tashkent that contact with Turkmen Muslims
ceased when Turkmenistan became independent, although Turkmenistan has a
large ethnic Uzbek minority which traditionally had close links with
Uzbekistan. “No-one invites us there, so we do not apply for Turkmen
visas,” Yunusov declared. “Why should we go there if no-one is
expecting us?” The Turkmen authorities have been placing obstacles in
the way of such contacts (see F18News 4 March 2004
).
It is notable that no foreign Islamic religious dignitaries attended the
opening of the largest mosque in Central Asia on 22 October, an enormous
personal project of President Saparmurat Niyazov in his home village, which
can accommodate 10,000 worshippers. Niyazov was reported by Radio Free
Europe/Radio Liberty as saying then that “We keep religion pure and we
will not use it for political purposes, nor will we allow anyone else to
use religion for their personal ambition.”
Although it does not have registration in Turkmenistan, the Armenian
Apostolic Church was occasionally able to send one of its priests, Fr Vram
Ghazarian, who is based in the Uzbek city of Samarkand. However on his last
visit in December 1999, at the invitation of the Armenian embassy in
Ashgabad, he held services only on Armenian diplomatic territory. Forum 18
was unable to reach Fr Ghazarian on 21 and 22 October to find out if he has
tried to visit Turkmenistan more recently.
The only faith whose representatives travel unimpeded to Turkmenistan to
meet fellow believers is the Russian Orthodox Church, which has always had
registration in Turkmenistan. “The bishop of the Central Asia diocese
and accompanying members of his delegation travel to Turkmenistan whenever
necessary,” Fr Nikolai Rybchinsky, archpriest for the Central Asian
diocese, told Forum 18 on 21 October in Tashkent. “Such visits take
place at least once a year, and sometimes more often. We have no difficulty
in obtaining Turkmen visas.”
Even United Nations (UN) officials have been denied entry to the country.
The previous UN special rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief
Abdelfattah Amor applied to visit Turkmenistan in 2003, but the government
failed to respond with an invitation, as the current rapporteur Asma
Jahangir noted in her report to the UN General Assembly on 16 September
2004.
For more background, see Forum 18’s Turkmenistan religious freedom survey
at
A printer-friendly map of Turkmenistan is available at
s/index.html?Parent=asia&Rootmap=turkme
(END)

© Forum 18 News Service. All rights reserved.
You may reproduce or quote this article provided that credit is given to
F18News
Past and current Forum 18 information can be found at
–Boundary_(ID_zbeLDLzjNVyDPuY6yW7urw)–

Jacksonville.com
Last modified Tue., October 26, 2004 – 02:23 AM
Originally created Tuesday, October 26, 2004
She’ll monitor different election
Nassau woman will watch vote in Ukraine
By CHARLIE PATTON
The Times-Union
Even as candidates criss-cross Florida and nation in the last week
of campaigning, Doris Willey of Fernandina Beach is preoccupied with
a different election.
She departed Monday on a trip to the Ukraine, where she’ll monitor
Sunday’s elections on behalf of the Organization for Security and
Co-operation in Europe, a regional security organization with 55
participating members.
She’ll be one of 600 short-term observers deployed in teams of two to
various polling places throughout Ukraine, an Eastern European nation
once part of the Soviet Union. The capital of Ukraine is Kiev and
it has several famous seaports on the Black Sea, including Odessa,
Sevastopol and Yalta.
This will be the third time Willey, 58, a retired accountant and
grandmother of five, has monitored an international election. She
has twice monitored elections in Armenia. She also helped staff a
polling station in Fernandina Beach during the 2000 elections.
She said she learned about the opportunity to be an election monitor
and registered with OSCE (the Web site is listed below), which then
contacted her. She isn’t paid to be a monitor but the organization
does pay her expenses.
All poll monitors — the 600 going to Ukraine come from 14 countries
— are expected to speak English and are provided with a driver and
a translator while in the country where they are doing the monitoring.
As a poll monitor, Willey is expected to observe procedures and offer
a written report of any violations she sees.
She said she never felt threatened during the two Armenian elections.
“There were a lot of young people there who were very, very adamant
they wanted their elections done fairly,” she said. “They were very
friendly, very accommodating.”
However, she did see “a lot of men lurking near the polls in black
leather jackets,” a violation of election law that she suspected was
intended to intimidate voters.
Reports from Ukraine, she said, indicate “it’s going to be a very,
very hot election, very divided. We expect a lot of irregularities.”
Already, she said, she has seen newspaper reports claiming that all
international observers are spies.
“If I end up in the Gulag, please send me wine and cookies,” she joked.
Willey will be back in Fernandina Beach on Nov. 3, the day after the
U.S. elections — she’s already voted by absentee ballot. She said
her experiences as an election monitor have made her appreciate how
smooth and well-organized American elections are by comparison.
“I think it should be mandatory for students in their last year in
high school to go abroad for three weeks and observe elections so
they’ll appreciate our system,” she said.
charlie.pattonjacksonville.com, (904) 359-4413

Hellenic Resources Network
Tuesday, 26 October 2004
Turkish Press Review, 04-10-26
TURKISH, ARMENIAN SCHOLARS TO DISCUSS GENOCIDE ALLEGATIONS IN VIENNA
In the first half of 2005, Turkey and Armenia are set for the first time to
discuss the so-called Armenian genocide on an international stage. The
historical evidence will be examined and discussed at an international
seminar in Vienna, Austria with Turkey represented by Institute of History
Professor Yusuf Halacoglu along with government officials. “We’ve been
working hard to get prepared for the meeting,” Halacoglu said. “Its findings
will be seen by the whole world.” /Hurriyet/

Hellenic Resources Network
Tuesday, 26 October 2004
Turkish Press Review, 04-10-26
ONE SIDED OR MUTUAL? BY TAHA AKYOL (MILLIYET)
Columnist Taha Akyol comments on the so-called Armenian genocide. A summary
of his column is as follows:
“In 1919, writer Ziya Gokalp told the following to a military court
about the Armenian issue: ‘It wasn’t one-sided, the massacre was
mutual!’ In two books, ‘Death and Exile: The Ethnic Cleansing of
Muslims 1821-1922’ and ‘Muslims and Minorities,’ Professor Justin
McCarthy wrote about Muslim- Christian clashes and massacres between
which resulted in 5 million Muslim deaths. He researched not only
the Ottoman archives, but also made extensive use of reports of the
British Consulate. McCarthy characterizes the incidents which began
with the 1915 Armenian revolt as a ‘war between communities.’ The real
issue is the ‘Ottoman response’ to the massacres which the Armenians
started. There were more Muslim deaths (Death and Exile, p. 217).
The Bosnians lived through the last massacre in the Balkans. Europe
just sat and watched this until NATO intervened! In his book ‘The
World’s Banker, ‘ Sebastian Mallaby wrote about the World Bank’s
failure to respond and the efforts of Kemal Dervis, later an economy
minister but then a WB official, to save the Bosnians. Through Dervis’
efforts, the WB eventually decided to help Bosnia’s reconstruction,
which encouraged NATO to intervene.
French daily Le Monde asked Dervis his opinion about the so-called
Armenian genocide. Dervis expressed his concerns about the incidents
and reminded them of Muslim massacres. The truth about the Armenian
question is that it wasn’t a one-sided reaction, but a mutual
massacre. If you act as if nothing happened, then people label the
incidents ‘genocide.’ Moreover, we have to remind the West of the
‘Muslim Massacre.’ The massacre, which began in 1821 on the Danube
and continued until 1995 in Bosnia… I wish there were more Turkish
people like Dervis working in the WB, the International Monetary Fund,
the UN and OECD.”
–Boundary_(ID_UNaTbXeJko6QmR6o3x/vMQ)–

The Indian Express
Tuesday, October 26, 2004
Men go down to Russia, women move up to second
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
Posted online: Tuesday, October 26, 2004 at 0000 hours IST
MALLORCA, OCTOBER 25: Fighting hard, the Indian men suffered a 1.5-2.5
defeat against top seed and defending champion Russia in the 9th round of
the 36th Chess Olympiad at the gran casino here. There was cause for cheer
in ghe women’s section, however, with India, led by Grandmaster Koneru
Humpy, beating Ukraine to be placed second.
World rapid champion Viswanathan Anand crashed through the defences of
Grandmaster Alexander Morozevich and gave India an early lead while Krishnan
Sasikiran also came good on the second board, getting an easy draw playing
black against Russian champion Peter Svidler. But while Surya Sekhar Ganguly
was outdone from a complicated position by Vadim Zvjaginsev, P Harikrishna
missed out against Alexander Dreev.
Russia, with 24.5 points, moved closer to leaders Ukraine after the win but
remain 2.5 points adrift.
With just five more rounds remaining, the US was the biggest gainer of the
day, moving to sole third spot with 24 points after drubbing Spain ‘A’
3.5-0.5. Armenia and third seed Israel are joint fourth with 23 points while
the Indians share the sixth spot on 22.5 along with Switzerland, Bulgaria,
France, Slovenia, Azerbaijan and Cuba. Poland and Moldova are next in line
on 22 points each.
Anand was brilliance personified as he outplayed Morozevich in an extremely
complicated game arising out of a Sicilian Defence and leading to a hedgehog
setup. Going for an opening surprise, Sasikiran employed the Tchigorin
variation in the Ruy Lopez rather than his normal Brayer and it appeared as
if Svidler was not well-prepared. Getting the normal complications in the
middle game, Sasikiran was the first to simplify matters as he went for
routine exchanges on the queen side to maintain the balance. In the women’
section, GM Koneru Humpy guided India to a 2-1 victory to elevate the team
to joint second spot. Playing on the top board, Humpy was undeterred by some
near ominous defence by Natalia Zhukova and recorded an impressive victory
for India, Vijayalakshmi managed a draw with Inna Gaponenko, while
Dronavalli Harika did well to hold Kateryna Lahno on the third board to
complete the Indian victory.
The battle for gold, though, appears almost over for the other teams as
China scored a comprehensive 3-0 victory, cruising past Lithuania in another
one sided contest. China’s tally now stands at 23.5 points, a massive
six-point lead over nearest rivals Russia, USA, Hungary and India.

Armenian premier and UN official discuss cooperation
Public Television of Armenia, Yerevan
25 Oct 04
Armenian Prime Minister Andranik Markaryan has received UN Deputy
Secretary General and UN Development Programme [UNDP] regional
director in charge of the CIS states and Europe Kalman Mizsei. During
the meeting the prime minister noted that the development programmes
worth 16m dollars are being implemented in Armenia. These means are
being mainly channelled into the implementation of the Millennium
Challenge programme and poverty reduction till 2015.
Congratulating the prime minister on Armenia’s indices for last year,
Kalman Mizsei suggested that the profit from the economic growth be
directed to the regions, where there are many social problems which
need to be resolved.
The programme will also assist the development of small and
medium-sized business, high technologies and the struggle against
corruption.
During a meeting with Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan,
Kalman Mizsei spoke highly of Armenia’s efforts in the struggle against
corruption. Vardan Oskanyan expressed satisfaction with the work of the
Yerevan office of the UNDP which is especially aimed at developing the
economy and has a positive impact on the county’s economy and peoples’
social conditions.
[Video showed the meeting]
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress