Author: Antonian Lara

AN OPEN LETTER TO SOCIALIST INTERNATIONAL

Today’s Zaman
July 13 2009
Turkey

Dear Members of the Ethics Committee of the Socialist International,

I am writing this open letter to invite you to examine the Republican
People’s Party’s (CHP) position and stance in respect of the Ethical
Charter of the Socialist International, observance of which is
monitored by your committee.

I would not be surprised if you had received similar letters to this
one before discussing whether the CHP can be qualified as a socialist
or social democrat party at all. In Turkey, there is a largely held
view that the CHP have never been and cannot be a socialist or a
social democrat party. By European standards it is a neo-nationalist,
right-wing party. The CHP hav done everything in its power to slow
down Turkey’s progress towards Europe, has always opposed any attempt
that will ease the constraints surrounding minorities in this country,
has fought against legal amendments that would broaden the scope of
freedom of expression and has disseminated all kinds of xenophobic
ideas within society. Not to mention its prominent role in defending,
supporting and legitimizing the guardianship of the military in Turkey.

However, recently, the party and its leadership have taken some
steps that have brought them to the edge of being a partner of a
clandestine paramilitary criminal gang, which is known as Ergenekon
(Turkish Gladio).

The leader of the CHP, Mr. Deniz Baykal, has pronounced himself as
the advocate of this criminal gang right from the beginning of the
investigation. Turkey is the only country which has not dissolved
its "shadow armies" (known as Gladio or "stay behind" structures)
which were once established in all NATO countries to fight against a
possible Soviet invasion. Because of the existent fertile ground in
two countries, namely in Italy and Turkey, these Gladio structures
have turned into huge criminal networks. In Turkey, we believe,
this "deep state network" was behind almost all social provocations,
massacres and assassinations in order to prepare society for military
coups and basically to manipulate it to maintain the guardianship of
the military over society.

The Ergenekon investigation started with the seizure of hand grenades
in 2007 in a shanty house in Istanbul. These grenades that were
taken from military compounds had the same serial numbers as ones
that were used in some terrorist attacks before. During the entire
investigation, bombs, weapons and thousands of rounds of ammunition,
most of which belonged to military units, were confiscated from the
members of these Ergenekon gangs. It was clear that these materials
were going to be used to create chaos to lead Turkey once again in
the direction of a new coup. Mr. Deniz Baykal claimed that these
bombs were buried there by the very police who unearthed them.

The Ergenekon gang has many other dimensions. In the past it carried
our many atrocities through JÄ°TEM. JÄ°TEM, the illegal extension
of the gendarmerie, was responsible for the forceful evacuation of
3,000 villages in the southeast and for 17,500 extrajudicial killings
throughout Turkey. Even children in the streets of Turkey’s Kurdish
regions knew that JÄ°TEM was kidnapping people in broad daylight
and killing them after torture. Today, the leaders and founders of
these paramilitary groups are under arrest in connection with the
Ergenekon investigation. We have prima facie evidence supporting the
fact that Ergenekon was the mastermind and orchestrated the murder of
members of religious minorities in Turkey. During the investigation,
different assassination plans against the leaders of Alevi and Armenian
communities have been revealed. Mr. Deniz Baykal turned a blind eye
to these facts and claimed that the Ergenekon investigation is just
a fabrication of the government in order to weaken Turkey’s secular
system and the military.

During the investigation at least four different military coup
plans prepared in 2004 and 2005 have been exposed with all their
details. Mr. Baykal and his party again turned a blind eye to these
plans.

In Turkey we have a peculiar military judicial system and this
system is one of the biggest obstacles before the Ergenekon case’s
progress. This military judicial system, the limits of which are
extremely and arbitrarily wide, in practice turned into a privilege
system granting impunity to military personnel. Under this system,
almost any crime committed by military personnel is tried by the
military courts.

The Turkish Parliament has recently made some amendments to narrow
down the limits of the military judiciary and allow civilian courts to
try military personnel for the crimes of forming gangs, terrorism and
crimes against the Constitution. It is obvious that this is a huge
step forward for Turkey in the direction of democratization. This
amendment will ensure that military personnel involved in gangs,
like Ergenekon, brought before justice and any attempts at military
coups can be investigated and prosecuted by civilian authorities. These
amendments were taken to the Constitutional Court for annulment by the
CHP. This should be the final step for the Socialist International to
review the membership of this political party. With this last move
the CHP has proven that it is willing to sacrifice everything for
the sake of the continuation of military guardianship in Turkey.

If, after this last step, the CHP continues to be a member of your
organization, we will start to think that the Socialist International
is not taking its own ethical rules seriously. If the CHP continues
to be a member of your organization, this will do irreversible harm
to its image in Turkey and in the world. If, however, you and the
CHP go your separate ways, there is a good chance that some real
social democrats in this party (their numbers are very limited)
may start to question their stance. If you really want to help real
social democrats in Turkey, then do not allow the CHP to pretend to
be a social democrat party with the help it’s getting from your image.

Otherwise, if you allow the CHP to continue reaping the benefits from
being a member of your organization, then please also allow right-wing
political parties in Europe, for example Jean Marie Le Pen’s Front
National party, to be a member of your organization. We know you
would not do that. So you must remove the CHP from your membership in
order to be consistent, to preserve your image, to help real social
democrats and to foster democracy in Turkey.

ARMENIAN LEADER, AZERI ENVOY TO RUSSIA DISCUSS KARABAKH CONFLICT

Public Television of Armenia
July 3 2009

[Presenter] Armenian President [Serzh] Sargsyan has received
the members of a delegation [led by the Armenian and Azerbaijani
ambassadors to Russia], noting that he is sure that the members of
the delegation are in Armenia because they have a deep realization
of their responsibilities before posterity and aspire to establish
peace and mutual understanding [in the region].

[Sargsyan speaking in Russian with Armenian voice-over] We are living
in a unique geographical region which is different form others with
its unique culture and geopolitical significance. Unfortunately, our
region is rich with unsolved problems too and only mutual trust and
cooperation atmosphere can allow us to think about better future for
our nations. In this regard, we had always been and continue to be
of #the opinion that it is possible to resolve complicated problems
through cooperation and negotiations. We have noticed an initiative
by our ambassadors in this context and welcomed it.

[Passage omitted: the importance of developing public and culture
relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan was noted at the meeting]

[Polad Bulbuloglu, Azerbaijani ambassador to Russia, speaking in
Russian with Armenian voice-over] The meeting with the Armenian
president was more constructive. He carefully listened to us
and his attitude towards an initiative by the civilian society
was comprehensible. I would like to express my gratitude to both
[Armenian and Azerbaijani] presidents for creating an opportunity
for this meeting.

[Passage omitted: the representative of the Russian president for
cultural-social issues and former Russian minister of culture,
Mikhail Shvydkoy, speaking about close relations between Armenians
and Azerbaijani in Russia]

[Armenian ambassador to Russia, Armen Smbatyan, speaking in Armenian]
We try to establish relations in culture sphere and we are succeeding
doing this. I am sure that no-one is able to eradicate a neighbouring
institution. We are neighbours and we understand that neither
Armenians, nor Azerbaijanis will leave their countries. We can or
cannot respect each other, but we are obliged to establish relations
and think about the future.

GENTLE MACROECONOMIC POLICY IN ARMENIA AMID GLOBAL CRISIS MUST BE CONTINUED

/ARKA/
July 8, 2009
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, July 8. /ARKA/. A gentle macroeconomic policy must be
continued in Armenia mid the global crisis, said RA Minister of
Economy Nerses Yeritsyan.

"Resuming the economic growth, as well as higher-quality and
diversified economic growth, must be the main aim of this policy,"
Minister Yeritsyan told reporters today, summing up the results of
the international conference "Impact of the Global Financial Crisis
on Armenia: Short- and Long-run Perspectives".

The Minister pointed out that this was one of Armenia’s major tasks
raised by international experts at the conference.

Also, "while putting out a fire," one must be sure that the country’s
social structure has not been damaged, and the progress in poverty
reduction and expansion of employment over the last 10-15 years has
not been overshadowed.

"It will be of high importance during the post-crisis growth," he said.

The Minister pointed out that the participants in the conference made
specific proposals.

Yeritsyan stressed the need for a transition from social allowances
to promoting social programs.

"As a Government member, I will be consistent in organizing discussions
of the issue for serious steps to be prepared. We need to develop
an idea of social work, find people with businesslike thinking and
assist the formation of this system," the Minister said.

"In the long run, we must be able to maintain the balance between
the debt burden and the reforms aimed to improve the resources to
pay off the debt," Yeritsyan said.

The conference was organized by the Armenian International Policy
Research Group (AIPRG). Reports were made by the leading economists of
the World Bank (WB), UN Development Program, International Monetary
Fund (IMF), OSCE and Asian Development Bank (ADB), as well as by
government representatives and businessmen.

ARMENIA NOT AGAINST TURKEY’S EU MEMBERSHIP

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
06.07.2009 19:47 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenia is not against Turkey’s becoming an EU
member. Acceding to the Union, Turkey will become more predictable
and secure, President Serzh Sargsyan said in Yerevan, during a joint
communique with his Cypriot Colleague Demetris Christofias. "By
Turkey’s becoming an EU member, Armenia will have a direct border
with the Union," RA President noted.

Demetris Christofias noted in his turn that his country shared
Armenia’s views on the issue, "We want to see Turkey inside
EU. Turkey’s big market is not a guarantee for EU membership. Ankara
should first of all comply with all the terms of membership and respect
European principles and values, as well as cease the occupation
of Southern part of Cyprus, open all airports and harbors," Cyprus
President said.

President of Cyprus to pay official visit to Armenia
04.07.2009 13:56 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ At the invitation of the Armenian President Serzh
Sargsyan on 6 July Cyprus President Dimitris Christofias will arrive
in Armenia on a two-day visit accompanied with his spouse.
On July 6, the official ceremony of meeting Cypros President will be
followed by the talk of Serge Sargsyan and Dimitris Christofias.
Later, the presidents will have a joint press conference.
During the visit, Dimitris Christofias will meet with Prime Minister
of Armenia Tigran Sargsyan, visit Holy Echmiadzin and meet with the
Catholicos of All Armenians Garegin II.
The President of Cyprus will visit the Museum-Institute of Armenian
Genocide and and lay a wreath at the memorial the Genocide Victims. He
will also plant trees in the Memory Garden.
Dimitris Christofias will hold a meeting with the Yerevan Mayor Gagik
Beglaryan and honorary citizens of Yerevan. The president of Cyprus
will get acquainted to the history of Armenian capital in the Museum
of Yerevan. The President and First Lady of Cyprus will visit Garni
and Geghard, the Matenadaran Institute of Ancient Manuscripts, the
press service of the RA president reports.

GOVERNMENT OF ARMENIA HAS ALREADY DECIDED HOW TO SPEND RUSSIAN CREDIT

Noyan Tapan
July 2, 2009

YEREVAN, JULY 2, NOYAN TAPAN. At the July 2 sitting, Armenian Prime
Minister Tigran Sargsyan said that about 180 billion drams of the
credit provided by Russia have been distributed in several directions,
which will have a great impact on the country’s economy. In his words,
this money has been distributed in such a way that it will be possible
to contribute to the growth of the resistive capacity of the economy
and to the repayment of credit resources. That is, this debt will grow
heavy on the state to the extent, to which these resources will be
allocated to interest-free current expenses and capital construction.

The prime minister said that 24 billion drams of the Russian credit
will be provided for restoration of the earthquake zone, money will be
also allocated to the Stabilization Fund of the Central Bank of Armenia
(CBA), and considerable funds will be given for credit extension.

T. Sargsyan underlined the extension of credit opportunities for small
and mideum business as a key goal. Money for SMEs will be distributed
through the German Armenian Fund that has proven the efficiency of
its operation and ensured the repayment of resources and jobs. The
second target is the mortgage market, and the Mortgage Fund set up
by CBA will also receive additional money. The third target is the
Small and Medium Entrepreneurship Development National Center which
has already prepared credit programs of a total of 5 billion drams
in Armenian marzes (provinces). These programs will help promote this
sector in Armenia.

DAVID HAKOBYAN: TAKE SERIOUSLY EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT MEANS TO BE INFANTILE

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
02.07.2009 16:09 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ "I think one must be infantile to take seriously the
European Parliament and European institutions," David Hakobyan, the
leader of the Marxist Party of Armenia told a press conference today.

According to him, all their actions stem from their own benefit. "Every
time coming to Armenia, they give the same assessment: compared to
last year, clear progress is evident," Hakobyan said. He also added,
that after departure representatives of Euro parliament change their
views and began to contradict to all previously told. And when Armenia
must be pressed they immediately submit their resolution.

Hakobyan also commented on the events occurred during the summer
session of PACE, noting that all hysteria around Zaruhi Postanjyan
is regrettable.

"Germany and the United Kingdom caused greater harm to Armenia than
Turkey", David Hakobyan said.

Member of the Armenian delegation to PACE Zaruhi Postanjyan asked the
Azerbaijani and Turkish delegations to sign for the changes to the PACE
resolution on Armenia, including the call to Armenian authorities to
release of all people detained after the events of March 1, as well
as to restore the activities of the fact gathering Group of experts,
investigating the events of March 1, and to involve international
independent experts.

PRESIDENT OF CYPRUS TO VISIT ARMENIA

armradio.am
02.07.2009 17:48

The President of the Republic Mr Demetris Christofias will pay an
official visit to Armenia on 6 and 7 July, accompanied by his wife,
Mrs Elsi Christofia.

During his visit to Armenia, President Christofias will have a private
meeting with the country’s President, Mr Serzh Sargsyan, followed by
talks between their countries’ delegations.

The President of the Republic will also have a meeting with the Prime
Minister of Armenia Mr Tigran Sargsyan, with the Supreme Patriarch
and Catholicos of all Armenians HH Karekin II, as well as with the
Mayor of Armenia’s capital, Yerevan, Mr Gagik Beglaryan.

During his stay in Armenia, President Christofias and his wife will
visit the Memorial to the Victims of the Armenian Genocide. President
Christofias will also attend a working lunch with the Armenian Foreign
Minister, Mr Edward Nalbandian, as well as a dinner hosted by the
Armenian President.

The President of the Republic will be accompanied by the Minister
of Foreign Affairs Mr Markos Kyprianou, the Ambassador of Cyprus
to Armenia, stationed in Moscow, Mr Petros Kestoras, the Honorary
Consul of Cyprus to Armenia, Mr Armen Khachatryan, as well as the
Representative of the Armenian Religious Group in the House of
Representatives of the Republic of Cyprus, Mr Vartkes Mahdessian.

GIMME MORE TURKEY
By Naomi Wise

San Diego Reader
Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Pasha drew my eye with an ad in this paper, including a coupon for
a freebie appetizer platter. Hmm…a new bargain destination? Worth
trying? I scurried to the website and found that the restaurant
wasn’t just another generic Mediterranean eatery but specifically
Turkish. Now that’s something fresh! (There’s also the charming
Bird House Grill in Encinitas, and a doner-kebab joint downtown,
but that’s about it for Turkish, far as I know.) The menu revealed
standard Middle Eastern dishes, but also several distinctly Turkish
specialties I’d never encountered before – two salads, three entrees,
a dessert. Good enough for a start. And this would be third in a
row for an exploration of new or newish restaurants serving various
global forms of "barbecue," after Southern and Japanese, and leading
right in to July 4. Posse roundup time!

Several of my friends have traveled in Turkey. They’ve come back raving
about their trips but not so much about the food. Still, knowing a
trifle about Turkish history, I’m curious about the cuisine. First
off, Turks are not generic "Middle Easterners," even if they share a
common religion in Islam. They don’t speak Arabic (a Semitic language)
but the totally different Turkish (a Ural-Altaic Turkic language,
most closely related to Azeri and Uzbek). Their location and ecosystem
tie them to Asia Minor (Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, etc.), Persia,
and the Adriatic Sea, rather than the Mediterranean Arab world –
think snow, not sand.

And when the Ottoman Empire swept through the rest of Asia Minor
en route to Greece, its military fell in love with Armenian food
(same as me) and scooped up large numbers of Armenians to serve as
army cooks while they were conquering the world. Greece gained an
infusion of fresh recipes from Armenia, shaping the Greek cuisine
we know today, but traditional Greek dishes also gained worldwide
currency, especially their ancient masterpiece of stuffed grape leaves
– now best known by the Turkish word dolma. One end result of all
this conquest was the settling of a huge Armenian population in the
city of Izmir, which became the "cuisine capital" of Turkey, after a
fashion, spreading its culinary influence (at least until the whole
Turkish-Armenian thing went horribly tragic, as the empire rotted,
but I’m not going to go into that in a restaurant review…). What
other influences did the Turks pick up in their conquests and meld
into their own cuisine? Inquiring minds want to know.

When we arrived at Pasha, we found a medium-small room with dark
tablecloths, paper napkins, walls painted a light terra cotta and
hung with a spare but beautiful collection of Turkish handicrafts. The
restaurant is owned by a youngish couple, the husband from Lebanon and
the wife from Turkey. Both do some cooking and some serving. But the
night we ate there, most of the Turkish dishes – the malatya (Turkish
potato salad), the etli borek (meat pie), and the spinach borek – were
all unavailable; they just hadn’t been prepared for a midweek night.

We began with the vegetarian meze platter, for which we had
the coupon. Everything on it was very pleasant, especially the
lively tabouli and the light, faintly smoky baba ghanoush. (A
typo on the website spells it "Babagannosh," which sounds like
Turkish/Russian-Yiddish for "Grandpa’s getting a snack.") None of
the appetizers on the platter seems uniquely Turkish, or in any way
different from every other meze platter in town. Be sure to save some
of the cacik (pronounced "jah-jik," the Turkish version of Greek
tzatziki or Indian cucumber raita) and the garlic-yogurt sauce for
your main courses, as dips for your grilled meats.

We also ordered the Turkish Shepherd Salad (coban salatasi) –
diced tomatoes amended by cukes, scallion, onions, parsley, and
bell pepper in a lemon vinaigrette, topped with a light snowfall of
feta cheese. The tomatoes are under a lot of pressure to perform in
this dish, and sad to say, they didn’t: They were nearly tasteless,
hard supermarket-style globe tomatoes, and June is not yet their
season. The dressing needed more acidity for "oomph" to compensate for
their blandness. "This time of year," said Marty, "the only tomatoes
worth anything are little ones, cherry or grape tomatoes." "Yeah,
even if you leave the regular ones on the counter, they never ripen
and sweeten," added the Lynnester. Oddly, the leftovers of this salad
improved greatly during two nights in the fridge, allowing the dressing
to soak in and saturate the veggies.

The best of our entrees by far was a Turkish specialty, Ali Nazik. It
features small, richly seasoned cubes of charbroiled beef served on a
warm bed of tart, creamy patlican (pronounced "PAHT-lee-jahn") salad,
mashed eggplant mixed with yogurt and plenty of garlic. It comes with
grilled tomato and grilled slices of slightly spicy red pepper. It
all works together, with a fine contrast between the chewy, salty
meat and lush, garlicky eggplant. (The eggplant is also available
separately on the meze list.) "I’d come back for this dish," said
Lynne, who lives nearby, and probably will do just that.

Shrimp kebabs came in second. The shrimps were well seasoned if quite
salty, and reasonably tender. Like nearly all other entrees, they
were accompanied by fluffy basmati rice, pita, hummus (standing in
for the baba ghanoush promised on the menu with the seafood dishes),
and the fine house salad, a lively mixture of greens, tomatoes, cukes,
onions, and (in this plate alone) a few whole basil leaves.

The lamb shish kebab was flavorful with a marinade and charring, but
dry and rather tough. It set Marty, Dave, and me to reminiscing about
Sayyat Nova, an exquisite Armenian restaurant in Greenwich Village,
way back when I was a teen beatnik, thrilled to taste this new cuisine
with my dad and stepmom. That restaurant’s rendition had a subtle,
garlic-perfused olive-oil marinade for large leg of lamb chunks charred
outside but rosy inside. At Pasha, the chunks are smaller and cooked
medium (pinky-brown) inside, and the marinade is more assertive,
possibly, judging by the result, including an acidic, tenderizing
component like lemon juice. "I think the meat’s been marinated too
long," said Dave. "The texture on the exterior, just under the char,
is a bit mealy." "And the lamb doesn’t have much lamb flavor," Marty
observed. "I don’t know whether that’s because it’s cooked too well
done or if the lamb itself is lacking."

Unable to fulfill our hopes of a borek, we asked the owner whether
the gyro meat in the Iskender (doner) kebab plate was house-made
or bought. Bought, alas. Instead, the owner persuaded us to try a
shawarma. Because this is a newbie restaurant with not much volume
yet, the traditional shawarma of a huge hunk of flesh rotating on a
vertical spit has proven impractical. "Instead, I cut it in slices,
so the delicious marinade goes all through the meat, then I charbroil
the slices," he said. We chose beef shawarma over the alternative
chicken breast, which dries out too easily. But the beef proved just
as dry. "It’s almost like jerky!" Lynne said. "You can’t even taste
the marinade, just the charring," said Dave. Dipping the slices in
cacik or garlic sauce left over from the appetizer platter helped,
but only a little.

There are two desserts. The house-made baklava is flaky and nutty
(with both pistachios and walnuts) but sparing on the honey syrup –
much less sweet than standard versions. "I like this a lot," said
Lynne. "It’s not overwhelming." Kunafa is genuinely exotic, a large
wedge-shaped pastry with delicate top and bottom crusts of crunchy
farina flakes, sandwiching a filling of melted mild cheeses (mozzarella
and Jack or Havarti, or another cheese of that ilk). It’s topped with
crumbled pistachios, lightly dressed with fragrant rosewater-scented
sugar syrup, and is barely sweet at all. It’s like a cheese course
and a dessert all in one.

The Turkish coffee was strong and a little bitter, with all the "mud"
hiding at the bottom of the cup. It comes unsweetened. We stirred in
sugar with our fork handles (no spoons provided – yeah, it’s still
a start-up).

Bottom line: Pasha is indeed a bargain. With the coupon for a
free appetizer platter, the bill came to $28 per person total,
all inclusive. But I feel the restaurant isn’t making the most of
its greatest potential strength. Generic Middle Eastern restaurants
are a dime a dozen, some cheaper than this and some offering easier
parking. In order to compete, the Turkish dishes that distinguish
Pasha from the crowd should be available all the time, and I’d also
like to see more of them, if the Ali Nazik – outstanding hit of our
dinner – is any example. Then there’d be a reason to come back over
and over and explore what could be a unique menu. Hey, flaunt it if
you’ve got it, baby!

MINORITY REPORT
Bipin Adhikari [email protected]

E Kantipur
2009-07-02 00:30:28

The report of the Constituent Assembly (CA) Committee on the Protection
of Rights and Freedoms of Minority and Marginalized Communities, which
is now under discussion at the plenary session of the House, captures
many of the current requirements under its terms of reference. The
report contains a concept paper and a preliminary draft as much as
they relate with the minority rights issues to be covered by the new
constitution to be drafted by the unicameral House.

The report deals not only with normal individual rights as applied to
members of ethnic, class, religious, linguistic or sexual minorities,
but also collective rights accorded to minority groups by virtue of
their minority status. Marginalized groups are also carefully brought
within the fold. In its entirety, it covers protection of existence,
protection from discrimination, protection and promotion of identity,
and participation in political life. But then it also happens to
contain a very controversial provision while dealing with the right
to equality.

As a proviso to the general rule which guarantees that the state
shall not discriminate between people on the basis of ethnicity,
religion and so on, it also goes on maintaining that the state shall
provide by law special measures on the basis of positive discrimination
along with compensation for the persecution rendered in the past for
the protection, development and empowerment of the communities and
classes left behind in economic, social, political and educational
areas and in the area of health (emphasis added).

An identical provision has been proposed also in the context of racial
discrimination and misconduct of "untouchability" and religious and
personal persecution. Here, too, the state has been obliged to provide
compensation for the discrimination, misconduct and persecution,
in addition to the measure of proportional representation in state
institutions. Firstly, the committee intends to treat the first
set of communities differently than the second set of communities,
yet both these provisions maintain that Nepal has been a persecuting
state – a grave charge that remains to be substantiated on explicit
grounds. Secondly, it defines discrimination associated with the
untouchability stigma as racial.

At the outset, it must be emphasized that comparative constitutional
law has developed a rich discourse over the last half century or
so on how the state might respond in varying ways to the claims
concerning historical injustices. There are different models of
reverse discrimination or affirmative action, which could be applied
to promote equal opportunity and set the balance right. They focus on
measures ranging from employment and education to public contracting
and health programmes. The drive behind them are two-fold: to maximize
diversity in all levels of society, along with its presumed benefits,
and to redress perceived disadvantages due to overt, institutional
or involuntary discrimination.

The intention here, as far as the report of the committee is concerned,
seems to be apparently different. Going beyond the historical wrongs,
it talks about "persecution", which in general may imply the systematic
mistreatment of a community by another community through murderous
activities and efforts of extermination, enslavement, deportation
or maltreatment on political, racial or religious grounds. The most
common forms of persecution are religious, ethnic and political,
though there is naturally some overlap between these terms. In any
case, the term "persecution" implies deeply traumatic injustices.

Without generalizing too much, certain apparent characteristics of
persecution could easily be established. When the committee uses the
term, (a) It assumes in the first place that Nepal has a history
of persecution (b) That the persecutors have acted with the power
of the state in the job of persecution (c) That this went on for a
long time of history and (d) Resulted in continuous deprivation of
some groups, which needs to be remedied by offering compensation by
the state. It also implies that affirmative actions or measures of
positive discrimination are not enough to redeem them.

In the given framework, the "state" must be defined as persecutor,
and compensation must be paid by it as the culprit of history. It
goes without saying that the state (persecutor) here means the Khas
community, especially Bahuns and Chhetris, who are now implicated
for capturing this country for long. This is the community that
produced King Prithvi Narayan Shah, who unified the country in the
latter half of the 18th century and allegedly started the process of
persecution through his new establishment. Linked with this is the
argument that Khasas are the invaders while the other communities
are the victims. The committee has not offered the basis on which
this conclusion has been grounded.

The world definitely has a history of systematic mistreatment of groups
due to their religious affiliation – resulting in the persecution and
killing of millions. Atheists have experienced persecution throughout
history. In the two thousand years of the Christian faith, about 70
million believers have been killed for their inability to turn back
from their religion. The persecution of Jews occurred many times
in Jewish history. Hindus have been historically persecuted during
Islamic rule on the South Asian subcontinent. The persecution of many
ethnic groups, not to mention ethnic Germans and albinos, are the
most scandalous episodes in world history. These are not stories of
isolated examples, but of unrelenting persecution over a long period
of time. But do they have parallels in Nepal?

During 1915-20, when Ismail Anwar was the ruler of Turkey, 12 lakh
Armenians, almost 8 lakh Greeks and 5 lakh Assyrians were eliminated
because of ethnic reasons. It is said that during the reign of Chairman
Mao Tse-tung of the Chinese Communist Party, more than seven million
people were killed due to political and ethnic reasons. During 1932-39,
Joseph Stalin eliminated 2.3 million people from different parts of
the Soviet Union.

Adolf Hitler of Germany was by all means the worst persecutor. He
killed six million Jews to establish what he described as Nazism
just seven decade ago. During 1941-44, almost 50 million people were
killed in Japan. Cambodia’s Pol Pot regime of 1975-79 and of North
Korea’s Kim Il Sung’s regime between 1946-1994 were the other worst
scenarios. All these examples can help explain what persecution is,
and at what time the state must be identified with the persecuting
rulers or their communities.

Even among the cases softer than them, treating the problems of Nepal
on a par with the treatment of indigenous peoples, such as the Indians
and Inuits in Canada, the Aboriginal people of Australia, the Maoris
of New Zealand, the Sami of Scandinavia, the Inuits of Greenland and
the Indian tribes of the United States cannot be prudent. There are
many such examples, where natives suffered because of persecution
rendered by outsiders who settled in the country.

Unfortunately, Nepal as a persecuting state does not fit anywhere. The
committee report must then be discussed why the state should be scolded
for grave injustices and persecution that it has not committed against
anybody. And if the purpose is only to create space for further
affirmative action and positive discrimination measures for those
who deserve them, why the reference about persecuting state or the
persecuting community. If the strategy is not to diminish the political
identity of this country, there is scope for serious discussion.