Het Financieele Dagblad (Dutch newspaper)
June 24, 2004
“Recognition of genocide will help Turkey progress”
Turkey is high on the Dutch agenda with a view to an EU membership.
According to Turkey-expert Hilmar Kaiser openness of the past will
increase the chances.
BY OUR EDITOR
AMSTERDAM – Under Dutch presidency, the European Union will decide in
December whether candidate member Turkey receives a date on which
negotiations can begin for accession. The case is sensitive politically
because, among other factors, Turkey is a Muslim state, as written in a
recent report of the Scientific Council for Government Policy. It is also
notable that politicians scrupulously avoid the debate on the concealed
Turkish genocide of 1915 on 1.5 million Armenians. Wrongly, finds Hilmar
Kaiser, who was promoted at the European University in Florence after
studying Turkish archives on this matter. Kaiser is prohibited by the
Turkish authorities to carry out further archival research. Nevertheless the
Turkey expert is optimistic at this moment. Recently he spoke about his
research in Amsterdam.
– How do you estimate the chances of recognition of the genocide?
“To approach the EU Ankara has already done serious work on the Kurdish
problem and the Cyprus question. Judging the capabilities of Erdogan and
Gül, the current political leaders, I expect that the government will carry
out very generous solutions for the Armenian question. I think, however,
that they still need some time, because otherwise, in the eyes of the
military leaders, there will be too much confusion. It must, however, happen
before Turkey becomes an EU member. I have high hope that this will happen
as well.”
– What is the basis for your hope?
“This is the first government that in fact breaks with the kemalists, the
followers of Kemal Atatürk, founder of modern Turkey, who radically enforced
the separation of Church and State. Apart from the opposition, the current
politicians have nothing to do with people who have the genocide on their
conscience. Erdogan and Gül are ordinary Muslims. Their supporters originate
from people who had then saved Armenians with danger for their own lives.
This government has, as far as I know, no links with the mafia, the military
elite, the secret service and the media industry.”
– You are now referring to the car accident in Susurluk in 1996.
“Yes. A high police force officer, a member of Parliament, a mafia boss and
a beauty diva were involved. Then it became clear how the Turkish
establishment is interwoven with criminal gangs. This government has nothing
to do with that and has strong roots in a democratic tradition. Therefore, I
do not think that there are still reasons to keep Turkey outside the EU in
the long run, especially if Erdogan recognizes the genocide. Because I do
not see another government doing it so soon. Moreover this will help Turkey
enormously.”
– In which respect?
“Erdogan is able to push the door open for a completely new future for
Turkey and also for the Caucasus Region. He will not do that primarily to
please the EU, but out of personal interest. Because in the long run I see a
leading role for Turkey in the whole region. I consider Erdogan able to do
so. With the recognition of the Armenian genocide Turkey also provides
itself with the legitimacy to develop into a real regional power.
Recognition is in the Turkish interest. Problems do not get solved by
blurring or by denying them.”
– What stops Turkey then?
“Not Erdogan, because he is in fact pleading for renewal and emancipation.
You still find the opponents in all parts of the state apparatus and in the
current opposition party CHP. That party depicts Erdogan’s party AKP as
Muslim fundamentalist that tries to frustrate the reforms. CHP represents
the tradition of the genocide committers, Young-Turks, who for more than
eighty years had the power and up to 1950 sat in the government and owned
the banks. Their ideas are also widespread under Turks in Europe. They still
play the same game, but they are losing their influence.”
– This sounds like a revolution.
“This is exactly so. At this moment a lot is happening in Turkey and that is
a delicate process. AKP finds its basis among the ordinary population in
Eastern Turkey. It is striking that exactly this Muslim government releases
the Kurdish human rights activist Leyla Zana. A kemalist government would
never do that.”
– New York Life recently reached a settlement of millions with Armenian
heirs because of unpaid policies.
“This can be compared to the Jewish credit balances. There are more
financial institutions with genocide money, both abroad and in Turkey
itself. With the Armenian properties state ventures were established that
still exist today. The Turkish government must take the initiative to blow
off the lid. Transparency in companies is, in this respect, a condition for
economic and democratic development in that region. This matter should not
be seen in terms of what it costs, but in terms of new chances. That will
also make Turkey more attractive for foreign investors.”
– In the West too the term “genocide” concerning Armenians is sometimes
avoided. How do you see that?
“That is politically motivated. It was the first modern genocide, complete
with strategy and medical experiments. And also concerning the number of 1.5
million no doubt can exist. I’ll spare you the details.”
PHOTO: In Guzelyurt, Cappadocia, the party offices of ex-Prime Minister
Ecevit and Prime Minister Erdogan are next to each other. FRISO SPOELSTRA/HH

Indian Express, India
June 27, 2004
Rugby requiem

The once strong Armenian team was disbanded two years ago. A sad
reaffirmation of the shrinking numbers of Kolkata’s Armenian
community

KARTYK VENKATRAMAN

EVEN as the rest of the country begins to acknowledge rugby with mild
surprise, a 72-year-old man seeks the lonely solace of the Kolkata
Maidan’s wind-swept vastness to make room for his memories. Of times
that have probably passed on forever. Arsham Sookias often thinks of
the three-plus decades of his life that has been signed over to
Armenian Rugby.
Of distant 1947 when he began playing for the Armenians as a wing
forward. That was the year the Central Asian expats won the Calcutta
Cup for the first time, under the captaincy of his elder brother
Malcolm. That began one of the longest careers in rugby, lasting till
1980, after which he used his experience in teaching young Armenian
kids the game.

Looking for a Bride Groom
of Age 18 – 25 26 – 30 31 – 35 36 – 45 46 – 50 Above 50

Tough, fit and fast, the Armenians dominated the national scene for
several decades during the latter half of the 20th century. It’s now
been two years since the Armenian rugby team was disbanded, with a
finality rooted in changes in world politics and, consequently, the
dwindling Armenian community of Kolkata.
Their list of triumphs across a century of rugby in India is the
stuff legends are made of. Participating in the annual Calcutta Cup
and the All India and South Asia Rugby Tournament since 1930, they
have won the former 17 times with a triple in 1996-98, and the
All-India six times.
This, besides the All-India and South Asia Sevens on several
occasions and contributing to the National XV at all three Asian
Rugby Tournaments at Sri Lanka, Singapore and Malaysia. Now, says
Arsham Sookias – rugby player from 1947-80 and manager at the college
for several years – there’s no one left behind.
In Chennai, the last captain of the Armenian rugby team, Emil
Vartazarian, couldn’t agree more with Sookias. “A few other boys and
I were what was left of the Armenian rugby team. We formed a team and
participated in the Chennai Sevens in 2001. That was the last time we
participated under the Armenian banner.”
Now working with the Indian Rugby Football Union (IRFU) as technical
director in the South Zone, Emil says that till 1987 the going was
great. “From then on, the number of Armenian students began to
shrink. By 1990, there were only 17; by 1999, only three. Many gave
up the game once they were 19, passed out and began to think careers.
Many left for Australia, Canada, America.”
Emil now is about the last member of the team that once had tested
sides like the CC&FC and Bombay Gymkhana. Among the Indians who
played for the Armenian side in Kolkata towards the end, Tanvir Alam
will always remember the team he was once part of, with pride.
Alam, who played for them from 1995-99, moved on to the CC&FC team
when the Armenian side ceased to exist. “For someone new to rugby,
they were the best side to play with and pick up the game,” he says.
The present lot of kids at the College are very young, say Emil and
Sookias, but add that if they are started off with the game from a
young age, they can probably go on to regain past glory. Sookias, who
was part of the first overseas tour by India in 1970 under the
captaincy of English international scrum-half Steve Smith and has
himself captained the Armenian side from 1966-80 before taking over
as manager from 1981-2000, says the Armenian Sports Club (formed in
1945) thus no longer has the feeder base for its team.
The Armenian College and Philanthropic Academy, founded on April 2,
1821 has been home to local Armenian boys and to Armenian children
fleeing war-torn Armenia. Sookias says the Iranian government has
become very strict when allowing Armenian children to study abroad.
“In recent times, students who go home (to Iran and Armenia) on
vacation often never return,” he says.
At the college, honorary manager Sonia John admits that rugby has
taken a backseat. “Yes, there was no school rugby programme in place
last year. I will allow a coach to teach touch rugby to the kids only
if the IRFU sends an official coach,” says John.
Kolkata-based IRFU vice-president Noomi Mehta counters. “We have
sent them a proposal but are still to receive any response.”
A shrunk community intermingling with the local population has
reduced the Armenians to near-memory in a city where their community
once boasted its own quarter in the city and contributed to society,
commercially and culturally.
The game has been one of the casualties of the change, and remains
part of a diverse smorgasbord of talents and skills the Armenians no
longer offer.

The Scotsman, UK
June 27 2004
The battle of de Bernières’ nether parts
CLAIRE SCOBIE
LOUIS de Bernières arrives at the Sydney Writers Festival clutching a
copy of the erotic thriller In the Cut for his forthcoming session on
erotica with the New York author of the book, Susanna Moore. “The
main problem with writing erotic scenes is that the vocabulary is so
limited and corny,” he begins. “One of my favourite ever sentences I
found in one of those black-covered Mills and Boon books. It was
something like, `he thrust his proud manhood into her rich
generosity’.” He breaks into peels of laughter, so hard it makes his
belly quiver. In his camel-coloured slacks, a pressed shirt and
elegant pearl cuff-links, Louis de Bernières, 49, embodies the witty,
learned and idiosyncratic tenor of his books.
Hinting at writer’s block, de Bernières famously once likened the
pressure of trying to write a second bestseller to “standing in
Trafalgar Square and being told to get an erection in the rush hour”.
Captain Corelli’s Mandolin not only cast him as a publishing
phenomenon, but at the height of Corellimania, tourism to the Greek
island of Cephallonia, where the novel is set, rose by 20%. Since
then more than three million copies have been sold worldwide. So has
he succeeded with his latest novel, Birds Without Wings? “What, get
an erection?” He chuckles. “Yes, to begin with I had a ghastly sense
of fatalism that everybody was going to say it wasn’t as good as
Corelli… Now I think it’s probably better, although it may not be
as cuddly or loveable.”
Birds Without Wings, 10 years in the writing, is a tour de force
about the inhabitants of a town in south-west Turkey, Eskibahce
(pronounced Eskibaatchi), which was a virtual Eden at the turn of the
20th century. Christians and Muslims, Armenians and Greeks co-existed
harmoniously (mostly), bound by history, inter-marriage and
friendship, even religion, until the First World War heralded the
collapse of the Ottoman empire and the end of communal peace. It
bears de Bernières’ literary hallmarks – vast emotional breadth,
dazzling characterisation, rich historical detail (and gruesome
battle scenes), swerving between languid sensuality and horror,
humour and choking despair.
For the research de Bernières trawled the Ottoman archives and walked
the Gallipoli battlefields which he says, “made me feel very sad.
Bones are coming to the surface everywhere. That makes you understand
the fatuousness of nationalism because you can’t tell the nationality
of a bone.” While Birds was not written as a modern fable, “it
necessarily is a parable” expressing his hatred of “certainties,
absolutism” and religious dogma. “There used to be this cliché that
we are half beast and half angel. That’s what I believe – there’s
innate goodness alongside our innate evil.” He pauses, reflecting.
“The reason we create social order is to keep that evil under control
and war is all about the collapse of social order and that’s what
brings out the evil.”
De Bernières grew up in a genteel village in Surrey, “in a generation
where war was always talked about”. His father, Piers, a poet, was in
the army until around 1960 and his mother, Jean, served in the navy
during the Second World War. His maternal grandfather fought in
Gallipoli, and was shot three times in one day. Some 40 years later,
still suffering from war wounds, he shot himself. “A late casualty of
the war,” says the author. As a child, de Bernières was obstinate and
wilful, traits he still holds dear today. He read voraciously.

I had a ghastly sense of fatalism that everybody was going to say it
wasn’t as good

Aged 18 he briefly served in the British army himself but quit
because he didn’t want to be told what to do, and was much happier
strumming Bob Dylan ballads on his guitar and writing poetry. He then
travelled to Colombia, working as a teacher and part-time cowboy.
Ever since, de Bernières has been obsessed by how crazy megalomaniacs
– he had seen plenty in Colombia – affect the small lives of ordinary
people.
Aged 35, while still teaching in London, he wrote his debut, The War
of Don Emmanuel’s Nether Parts, inspired by the literary genre of
Magical Realism. Two more Latin American novels followed and in 1993
he was named as one of Granta’s best young novelists of the year. He
was awarded the Commonwealth writer’s prize in 1995 for Captain
Corelli’s Mandolin. But with success came controversy. Captain
Corelli upset Greek communists who accused de Bernières of
misrepresenting them.
“It was cooked up by The Guardian”, he sighs, a touch exasperated.
“They created a problem and then people on the far left started to
get annoyed… and it’s true the far left in Greece don’t like me,
but I don’t like them either,” he shrugs. He has returned to
Cephallonia since, without incident. The bickering continued during
the making of the film of Captain Corelli, directed by John Madden,
which de Bernières was rumoured to dislike. Today he says he would
have preferred “a European art house film rather than a Hollywood
blockbuster”. Later, he elaborates: “The reason for the film’s sex
scene was because the director wanted to see the tits of Penelope
Cruz [who played Pelagia]. A legitimate aspiration, but I felt the
sex scene destroyed the poignancy of the film.”
Louis is prepared for the fact that Birds Without Wings may invite
criticism. “I’m trying to offend everybody with perfect fairness, so
it should be offensive to Turks, Greeks and Armenians.”
But why so long to complete Birds? “I needed time for my style to
evolve. There’s no point in writing Captain Corelli twice.” For the
new book he invented words. “Shakespeare did so I don’t see why the
rest of us can’t.” And in between furious bursts of writing (he has
several books on the go) he would garden, potter and, a consummate
musical polymath, practise his mandolin, lute, flute or clarinet. He
also leisurely re-decorated his Georgian rectory in Norfolk where he
had moved to avoid journalists doorstepping him in London.
The success of Captain Corelli’s Mandolin was slow and steady. The
millions earned from it has given him the freedom to choose what to
write and when – he had no contract for this latest book until it was
finished. He describes himself as a “hedonist” and writing as “a
pleasure and a useful form of obsessive madness”. When he is deeply
immersed in the completion of a book he feels a sense of bereavement,
always showing the final manuscript first to his 32-year-old partner,
actress and director, Cathy Gill, who remains `unimpressed’ by how
famous he may be.
De Bernières, whose heritage is French Protestant Huguenot, says he
wants to be remembered for taking the British novel out of north
London and on to a world stage. “I’m quite conscious that I have
readers in Brazil and in Denmark. I put little bits in Birds Without
Wings which only the Turks or Greeks will be interested in.” His fans
often have a misguided impression of him: “People do think they know
me because they think I am like Captain Corelli. After my first novel
everyone thought I was Don Emmanuel.”
Hopefully, I venture, they don’t think he is like the canine hero of
his last semi-fictionalised novella Red Dog, with its colossal
flatulence, to which De Bernières gives his hallmark and delightful,
high-pitched chortle.
Birds Without Wings, Vintage, £17.99

New Straits Times, Malaysia
June 27 2004
Visiting Bush touts Turkey as example for Iraq

US President George W. Bush aimed to bolster ties with Turkey after
strains over the war in Iraq, meeting with political and religious
leaders as he touted the country as a model for the Muslim world.
The talks came just three days before new leaders are to take power
in Turkey’s neighbor Iraq, and as an Al-Qaeda linked Islamic group
there threatened to decapitate three Turkish hostages.
“I appreciate very much the example that your country has set, on how
to be a Muslim country, and at the same time a country which embraces
democracy and rule of law and freedom,” Bush said.
During a brief joint public appearance with Turkish Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Bush said they would discuss Iraq.
He also suggested Turkey “ought to be given a date” by the European
Union for its eventual accession.
“This is my first trip to your beautiful country as president, it
also happens to be my first trip to your beautiful country ever. And
we’re honored to be here. We appreciate the hospitality of the
Turkish people,” said Bush.
Bush was also to attend a NATO summit in Istanbul Monday and Tuesday,
fortified by the alliance’s commitment to train Iraq’s new security
forces and an EU endorsement of the interim Iraqi government set to
take power Wednesday.
The US leader arrived here late Saturday amid tight security
following a string of bomb attacks and protests over his visit,
taking his armored car in a race from the airport to his posh
downtown hotel.
He was to meet with religious leaders from Turkey’s Muslim, Syrian
Orthodox, Christian orthodox, and Armenian communities later in the
day to highlight Turkey’s pluralism and tolerance, values he hopes
Iraq will adopt.
Bush traveled here from a US-EU summit in Ireland, his second
fence-mending trip to Europe this month as the June 30 date for
transferring power from the US-led military coalition in Iraq to an
interim government.
Turkey, a NATO member, refused to allow Washington to use its bases
to launch attacks on Iraq during the March 2003 invasion, and has
expressed concerns about the role of the Kurds in that country’s
political future.
Seeking to soothe those concerns, Bush has said Iraq will not be
partitioned to give Kurds in the northern part of the country a
separate homeland, something Turkey worries might rekindle a
rebellion by Kurdish separatists within its own borders.
The US leader’s visit brought life in central Ankara to a near
standstill, as authorities banned traffic and deployed thousands of
police to guarantee his safety after a spate of bombings.
All main avenues and streets leading to the city center were blocked
off, while police stopped even pedestrians from walking around
Erdogan’s official residence.
Helicopters overflew the city, while riot police with plastic shields
stood guard at key junctions. Armored police vehicles were also on
patrol.
The police department has cancelled all leave for Bush’s visit and
about 10,000 officers were expected to be on duty across the city.
Frustrated residents were seen arguing with police or asking for
directions on how they can reach their destinations.
Authorities also closed the main road leading from the capital to the
airport until after Bush wraps up his visit later in the day.
Security fears over the visit escalated Thursday when a bomb exploded
outside the hotel where Bush was to stay in Ankara, injuring three
people.
Shortly afterwards, a bomb went off in a public bus in Istanbul,
killing four people and injuring 21 others.
A number of anti-American and anti-NATO demonstrations are also
planned around the country.
Turkey has been on edge since November when 63 people were killed in
four massive suicide bombings in Istanbul, blamed on local militants
linked to the Al-Qaeda network.
Meanwhile, in neighboring Iraq, an Al-Qaeda-linked Islamic militant
group threatened to kill three Turkish hostages unless Ankara pulls
its companies out of Iraq within 72 hours, according to a videotape
broadcast on Al-Jazeera television Saturday.

Anadolu Agency
June 27 2004
Azerbaijani President Says His Country Won’t Give Up Its Territories
Just For Compromise

ISTANBUL – Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said on Saturday that
his country would not give up its territories just for a compromise
on Upper Karabakh, which was under Armenian occupation.
Aliyev delivered a speech at a panel discussion held as a part of the
conference ”NATO At a New Crossroads” jointly organized by Turkish
Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV) and U.S. think-tank
organization German Marshall Fund.
His country would never accept Armenia’s theses that Upper Karabakh
should be independent or be under its control, Aliyev said.
Aliyev emphasized that Azerbaijan would neither give up its
territories under Armenian occupation nor make any concessions of its
territorial integrity.
The matter should be discussed at the NATO summit to help other
countries understand the issue better, Aliyev said.
Aliyev added that Azerbaijan would be one of the first countries
extending support to international community’s policy towards Turkish
Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) in case there was a change in that
policy.
Azerbaijani President Aliyev came to Istanbul earlier on Saturday.
(BRC) 27.06.2004

The Gazette (Montreal, Quebec)
June 26, 2004 Saturday Final Edition
Lessons in history: Controversial Turkish Historian argues that
recognizing the Armenian Genocide is a political necessity for his
country
by LEVON SEVUNTS
It’s sometimes hard to explain to non-Armenian friends the need to
recognize the 1915 Armenian genocide perpetrated by the Ottoman
Turkish government.
“Why don’t you let it go?” I often hear. “Get on with your life. It
happened 90 years ago, for God’s sake.”
But for Turkish historian Taner Akcam, the need to recognize and
learn from the Armenian genocide is as acute now as it was when the
modern Turkish Republic was founded 80 years ago, particularly in
Turkey itself.
Akcam, a controversial historian at home whose views have made him
the target of death threats, argues that Turkey is approaching a
second crucial stage in its nation-building process and if it doesn’t
learn from past mistakes, it is bound to repeat them.
Akcam contends the collapse of the Soviet Union and the U.S. invasion
of Iraq have reawakened the Eastern Question, the redrawing of the
political map of the Middle East at the expense of the Ottoman Empire
and now the Turkish Republic.
Equally dangerous, Akcam argues, is the reawakening of revanchist
ideas among Turkey’s military-bureaucratic elites. Coupled together,
these tendencies could lead to another calamity, he warns.
>From Empire to Republic is certain to create controversy, especially
in Turkey, where discussions of the Armenian genocide are still
taboo. But what makes Akcam’s book stand out among other works on the
subject – apart from the fact that the author is a Turk – is that it
is the first serious scholarly attempt to understand the genocide
from the perspective of the perpetrator, rather than the victim.
Akcam uses a curious mix of historical research, sociology and
psychoanalysis to examine the cultural, ideological and political
climate that led to the genocide and argues it was a carefully
planned extermination, not an unfortunate byproduct of the First
World War, as is the official Turkish position.
His analysis of Turkish national identity and its past and present
propensity for political violence is shocking even for a reader who
does not see the country through the rosy glasses of Turkey’s tourism
ads.
But Akcam is not a “self-loathing Turk.” On the contrary, he comes
across as somebody who cares deeply about his native country. In
fact, one could argue that for Akcam, the issue of recognition of the
Armenian genocide by Turkey is not just a question of a moral
imperative, but of a political necessity for Turkey’s transformation
into a truly democratic country and its integration into the European
Union.
“It is a quest for Turkish national identity,” Akcam writes. “The
emergence of this Turkish national identity was one of the important
reasons for the occurrence of the genocide and today is one of the
important obstacles on the way to integration with Europe. The
existence of the same mindset that caused the Armenian genocide seems
today a major hindrance to solving the Kurdish question, and,
therefore, to membership in the European Union.”
>From Empire to Republic is also a passionate plea for a dialogue and
reconciliation between Armenians and Turks.
Akcam’s book is available online at
Levon Sevunts is a Montreal writer.
[email protected]
——-
>From Empire to Republic:
Turkish Nationalism & the Armenian Genocide
By Taner Akcam Zed Books, 273 pages, $32
GRAPHIC: Photo: RICHARD ARLESS JR. THE GAZETTE; Robert Kouyoumdjian,
a member of the Armenian National Committee of Canada, near the
Armenian National Monument in Montreal after the federal government
agreed in April to recognize the Armenian genocide during the First
World War.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Stratford Beacon Herald (Ontario, Canada)
June 25, 2004 Friday Final Edition
JAZZ GUITARIST TO LEAD CLINIC
Esteemed Canadian-Armenian jazz guitarist, Levon Ichkhanian, is
coming to Stratford to lead a guitar clinic Saturday.
Topics to be covered include jazz-world music, harmony and analysis,
improvisation, arranging, ensemble playing, listening techniques,
composition, technical exercises, producing, touring, career planning
and world stringed instruments.
Mr. Ichkhanian has been performing as a musician since the age of 13.
He plays electric and acoustic guitar, oud, bouzouki, banjitar and
mandolin.
He has published articles in industry magazines, such as Guitar
Player and Canadian Musician.
Mr. Ichkhanian has also released three solo CDs: Kick-n Jazz, with
Bernard Purdie; After Hours, with Paquito D’Rivera and John
Patitucci; and Travels, with Alain Caron.
Having just wrapped up a season as guitar player in the house band of
Toronto’s television variety program, The Toronto Show, he will be
soon returning to the studio to record his next CD.
Long and McQuade, located at 36 Ontario St., will be hosting the
clinic. The free event is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. on Saturday.
No registration is required, but space is available on a first-come,
first-serve basis. For more information, contact Long and McQuade, at
271-9102.

ITAR-TASS News Agency
TASS
June 26, 2004 Saturday
Armenia, Russia have allies relations – Kocharyan
By Tigran Liloyan
YEREVAN
Relations between Armenia and Russia are rightfully viewed as
relations of allies and are based on traditional cooperation between
the two nations, Armenian President Robert Kocharyan noted in a
greeting addressed to participants of the constituent assembly of the
Russian-Armenian Business Cooperation Association to be held in
Moscow on Tuesday.
The organisation is being set up under the leadership of Federation
Council member and former Soviet prime minister Nikolai Ryzhkov.
Kocharyan will be honorary chairman of the organisation.
Bilateral relations between Armenia and Russia were always enriched
and supported by close cooperation in various organisations,
associations and creative unions, Kocharyan noted.
The president expressed the hope the new association would promote
developing strategic partnership between the two states and give new
dynamism and quality to trade and economic cooperation.
The association uniting well-known representatives of science,
business, medicine, education, culture, tourism and other areas is
believed to be able to solve difficult problems and implement
specific business projects and programmes, the Armenian president
said.

The Independent (London)
June 26, 2004, Saturday
THE CITY OF DISCIPLES;
TOURISTS ARE FLOCKING TO THE ITALIAN CITY WHERE MEL GIBSON FILMED
HIS
by JAMES FERGUSON House of God (main): the streets of Matera; (left)
Jim Caviezel as Jesus in The Passion of the Christ’
As caves go it was certainly comfortable, with firm beds, a
television, air conditioning and even a minibar. It was also stylish
in a stripped- down sort of way. Discreet lighting and subtle tiles
in the bathroom were complemented by quirky details like a squatting
gargoyle carved out of the rock opposite the loo. The small terrace
was decorated with a mosaic- topped table and fashionable seating. It
exuded taste. But I didn’t realise how trendy it was until Signore
Cristallo, its owner, produced a copy of Hip Hotels, confirming its
chic credentials.
The Sassi Hotel (sassi means “stones”) is, quite literally, a
collection of caves gouged out of the sandstone cliffs in the
southern Italian city of Matera. The 20-odd rooms are arranged on
various levels, joined by steps, and while from a distance the hotel
may look like a normal building, its facade is precisely that – a
front made out of stone blocks dug from the caves. The technology
might be Stone Age, but it works. The caves are cool in the fierce
Basilicata summer and retain warmth in the winter.
Like some troglodyte metropolis, Matera is largely comprised of holes
carved out of the hillsides that drop steeply down from the city’s
central plateau. Up on this spur, known as the Civita, is a more
familiar sort of Italian city, a cluster of narrow streets, palazzos
and elegant squares that eventually merge into modern, nondescript
suburbs. But tumbling down two ravines are the sassi, the tiers of
cave dwellings. Looking across the ravine, you see a vertical
panorama of doors and windows, with flights of steps winding up
between the buildings. As you climb these steps you walk across the
roofs of the caves below.
The hillsides present a bizarre geometry of arches, columns and
chimneys as well as the occasional satellite dish. Some dwellings are
more ornate than others, with balconies and towers, while the most
humble are little more than a door in the cliff face. Rather like a
Swiss cheese, the soft tufa stone is pitted with holes of different
sizes. Sometimes the effect is eerie, like a legion of staring eyes.
At other times, especially at dusk, the stone takes on a glorious
mellow tone.
The city is also exceptionally rich in churches: some conventional,
others – the so-called chiesi rupestri – dug into the rock. Some date
back to between the 8th and 12th centuries when monks from Armenia,
the Middle East and Asia Minor settled here, escaping persecution and
building monastic communities in the harsh terrain.
This extraordinary urban landscape is beginning to attract visitors
to Matera, and the tourist authorities are waking up to the fact that
the city is not only architecturally unique but stunningly beautiful.
And Matera has another claim to fame, for it was here that Mel Gibson
chose to film The Passion of the Christ, his notoriously intense
reconstruction of the crucifixion. Standing on the steep stone path
where Gibson shot Christ’s agonising climb carrying the cross, you
can make out a rocky and desolate outcrop across the valley where the
crucifixion itself was recreated.
Not that this was the first blockbuster to be made in Matera. Around
25 films have been filmed here since the 1950s, many seeking to
replicate what a biblical scene two millennia ago might have looked
like. But Gibson’s painful epic was probably the best, at least in
terms of local employment. “At least 500 locals got jobs as extras,
although 5,000 applied,” says our enthusiastic guide, Mariarosaria
Lamacchia, an art history graduate who returned home to work in
Matera’s fledgling tourist industry. “You could tell who was working
on the film as they started walking round town showing off their long
beards.”
You can’t begrudge Matera’s people their long-overdue change in
fortune. From medieval times, the gulf between the wealthy feudal few
who lived at the top of the town and the majority in the sassi was
huge and insurmountable. Looking down on their poor neighbours in
every sense, the elite of landowners and professionals built
beautiful civic buildings and ornate churches, many later re-styled
to suit Baroque tastes. The cave-dwellers, meanwhile, lived in abject
poverty. Most of them were farm labourers, working for a pittance for
the landowners. Tuberculosis and malaria were rife.
Little changed until well into the 20th century. New caves were still
being excavated until the 1950s, as a growing population looked for
affordable housing. Raffaele Cristallo, who was born into a family
that lived on the plateau, recalls that women used to dump their
families’ sewage into the bottom of the ravines. “But they managed to
do it with great dignity,” he says, “hiding the buckets under their
shawls.” If there was a strong sense of communal solidarity, there
was also terrible poverty and squalor. Horses and donkeys shared the
unventilated caves with entire families. Mariarosaria showed us one
cave, now housing a potter’s workshop, in which 40 people slept.
The tragic predicament of Matera’s cave dwellers was illuminated in
Carlo Levi’s account of his political exile in Basilicata in the
1930s. In his memoir Christ Stopped at Eboli, Levi’s sister passes
through Matera and likens the sassi to Dante’s Inferno, in which
people inhabit a netherworld of disease and deprivation. “Never
before have I witnessed such a spectacle of misery,” she says,
remarking that the children begged for quinine rather than money.
“Something had to give after the war,” says Signore Cristallo,
recalling that the region had elected an energetic member of
parliament who invited the former Prime Minister De Gasperi to view
the sassi in 1950. “When De Gasperi came, he saw all those tiny beds
piled up side by side in a cave and the most tragic expression came
over his face.” Soon people began to speak of la vergogna, the
national shame of Matera. True to his word, De Gasperi enacted
legislation in 1952, ordering the forcible evacuation of the sassi
and the relocation of some 15,000 people into new, purpose- built
accommodation on the plateau. The most desperate were moved first,
and within eight years almost all had swapped their caves for an
apartment in the new city. The state took over the site. There was no
choice, but, says Signore Cristallo, everybody wanted to leave. I
asked whether some might have missed their old homes. “Perhaps they
missed the solidarity of their old neighbourhood, but they had gained
a proper home, a bathroom, a new beginning.” The caves were abandoned
and bricked up. For years the sassi were a wilderness, inhabited only
by wild dogs. The identity of the city changed as people abandoned
agriculture for the construction industry. A generation was born
knowing nothing of cave life.
That might have been the end of the story. But gradually attitudes
changed, as academics re-evaluated the importance of the site. What
had hitherto been seen as a slum began to be viewed as a culturally
distinctive human habitat. A gradual, and informal, repopulation of
the sassi took place in the 1970s, as enterprising characters like
Signore Cristallo bought some of the few caves that had remained in
private hands. Then, in 1986, new legislation paved the way for a
proper renaissance, when the Italian government announced it would
support businesses and individuals wanting to resettle in the
neighbourhood. The shame of Matera finally became its pride when
UNESCO designated the sassi a World Heritage Site in 1993.
Now, groups of visitors trudge up and down the pathways of the cave
district, and a cluster of restaurants and B&Bs have opened up. The
hammering and drilling of restoration work echoes sporadically around
the ravines. There are strict UNESCO-inspired guidelines as to what
can be done. Signore Cristallo, who has witnessed the death and
rebirth of this spectacular place, welcomes all this activity and is
proud of his regular guests, who include diplomats and artists.
He is also proud that his son has married a Brazilian girl whose
father was attending a conference in Matera. It is a small symbol of
the city’s revival. Has he seen The Passion of the Christ? “I may go
one day,” he says, “just out of curiosity.” Meanwhile, in the nearby
Trattoria Lucana, they’re advertising fettuccine alla Mel Gibson,
delighted that the director would drop in after work.
TRAVELLER’S GUIDE
GETTING THERE
The nearest international gateway to Matera is Bari, 40 miles away.
Ryanair (0871 246 0000; ) flies there daily from
Stansted from pounds 46 return. British Airways (0870 850 9 850;
) flies to Bari from Gatwick from pounds 78.70. Those not
inclined to drive from Bari to Matera can take a train there: the
Ferrovie Appulo-Lucane line ( – in Italian only) runs
from Stazione FAL to Matera Centrale. There are several departures
daily except Sunday.
STAYING THERE
I Sassi (00 39 0835 331 009; ) is surprisingly
reasonable given that this is probably Matera’s finest hotel: doubles
start at EUR84 (pounds 60), room only. Casa D’Imperio (00 39 0835 330
503; ), a refurbished 16th-century farmhouse
nearby, makes a cheerful alternative. Doubles start at EUR64 (pounds
45.70), breakfast included.
FURTHER INFORMATION
Contact the Matera Turismo, a local cooperative promoting the region
(00 39 0835 336 572; ), or the Italian State
Tourist Board (020-7408 1254; ).

Deutsche Presse-Agentur
June 27, 2004, Sunday
Bush’s Ankara talks focus on Iraq
Ankara
Iraq topped the agenda for U.S. President George Bush’s brief visit
to Ankara Sunday, with Turkish leaders pressing for U.S. action
against Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq. In a brief statement before
meeting Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Bush said
ongoing developments in Iraq, NATO and a variety of other issues
would be the main agenda points. “I would remind the people of this
good country that I believe you ought to be given a date by the
European Union (EU) for your eventual acceptance into the EU,” Bush
said. “I appreciate so very much the example your country has set on
how to be a Moslem country and at the same time, a country which
embraces democracy and rule of law and freedom.” Bush declined
reporters’ questions and did not make any other public statement
during his stay in Ankara. After meeting Erdogan in the morning, Bush
layed a wreath at the mausoleum of the founder of the modern Turkish
Republic, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, and later met Turkish president
Ahmet Necdet Sezer. The U.S. president then flew to Istanbul where he
met various religious leaders including Greek Orthodox Patriarch
Bartholomeus, Armenian Orthodox Patriarch Mesrob Mutafyan and head of
the Turkish Religious Affairs Department Ali Bardakoglu. On Monday
Bush will participate in a two-day NATO summit in Istanbul. According
to Turkish media reports, leaders in Ankara sought assurances from
Bush, as well as from Secretary of State Colin Powell and National
Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, that the U.S. supported the full
territorial sovereignty of Iraq and that the oil-rich region of
Kirkuk would not be handed over to Iraqi Kurdish groups. Turkey is
concerned that Kurds in northern Iraq are laying claims on the region
with the view to use oil revenues that may one day allow them to
declare independence. Ankara fears that such a development may lead
to Turkey’s own restive Kurds to push for independence. On that
point, Turkish leaders called on Bush to make real efforts to rout
out rebels from the Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK) now holed up in
mountainous northern Iraq. Security was tight for Bush’s first-ever
visit to Turkey with some 13,000 police on duty in Ankara, police
helicopters patrolling the skies and some of the capital’s busiest
roads closed to traffic. Ties between Turkey, the only Moslem member
of NATO, and the United States were severely strained in the run-up
to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq when the Turkish parliament refused
to allow U.S. troops to use Turkey as a launching pad to attack its
neighbour. While government to government relations are now on a much
better level, the invasion and occupation of Iraq have been extremely
unpopular amongst Turks and anti-U.S. feeling may rise even higher if
a threat by members of the al-Tawhid wa al-Jihad group in Iraq to
execute three Turkish nationals being held hostage is carried out.
The group has said the three would be executed if Turkey does not
agree to pull its citizens and companies out of Iraq within 72 hours.
Supporters of various leftist political parties and trade unions
gathered in the Istanbul suburb of Kadikoy on Sunday to protest both
Bush’s visit and the NATO summit, but unlike protests in Ankara on
Saturday the demonstration proceeded peacefully. dpa cw sc mga