Author: Garik Boshkezenian

Al Jazeera


By Andrew Wilks
Jan. 23, 2021

[The state-run body says the eye-shaped blue amulets – believed to
date back to at least 3,300 BCE – are incompatible with Islam.]

Ankara, Turkey – The state-run religious authority has caused alarm by
proclaiming the use of talismans to ward off “the evil eye” prohibited
under Islam.

The proliferation of the eye-shaped blue glass amulets in Turkey is
widespread, as is the belief in their ability to ward off malevolent
or jealous intentions.

In a recently published fatwa – a legal or general decree by a
religious authority or court – the Diyanet, which governs all matters
relating to Islam in Turkey, denounced the use of the ornaments, known
locally as nazarlik or nazar boncugu, as forbidden.

“Although the nature and condition of the evil eye are not known
precisely, it is accepted by religion that some people can create
negative effects with their gaze,” the Diyanet said in an advisory
published on its website.

“In our religion, attitudes, behaviours and beliefs that attribute the
ultimate influence on anything other than Allah are forbidden. For
this reason, it is not permissible to wear evil eye amulets and
similar things around the neck or anywhere for the purpose of
benefiting from them.”

Ancient talisman

Belief in the power of the evil eye to cause harm dates back to
ancient times and is widespread across the Mediterranean and parts of
Asia.

The logic behind this conviction is that success or admirable objects
inspire envy, which can be transmitted in a harmful gaze. Amulets are
used to intercept the curse and protect the wearer.

The tradition is believed to date back to at least 3300 BCE and has
become widely adopted in Turkey.

Nese Yildiran, professor of art history at Istanbul’s Bahcesehir
University, said the blue colour of the beads relates to the sky god
of the Central Asian Seljuk Turks.

“The Great Seljuks who accepted Islam continued the use of this colour
in architectural decoration,” she said.

The use of two shades of blue, cobalt and turquoise in Muslim art “was
also the result of expression with the understanding of Islam”, which
incorporated the name of God and Arabic calligraphy, Yildiran added.

The charms are given to newborn babies – as new additions to the
family are thought to be especially susceptible to the evil eye – and
are also worn as jewellery.

More commonly though, they adorn homes, workplaces, cars and buses –
more or less any place where they can be hung.

In a sign of the digital era catching up with ancient folklore, a
nazarlik emoji was created in 2018.

“Many people believe in the power of the evil eye,” said Cansu Polat,
a 35-year-old construction engineer who wears a small nazarlik around
her neck.

“I’ve known many cases where people are complimented on something,
like a new pair of shoes and shortly after they trip and scuff them.
This is the evil eye, or so a lot of people think. Either way, it
can’t hurt to have some protection.”

A harmless tradition

Given the pervasive nature of the symbols, many Turks have questioned
why the Diyanet decided to issue a denouncement of a harmless
tradition.

“They’re just for decoration really,” said Aysegul Aytekin, who runs a
small gift shop in Ankara.

“They’re probably the best-selling product here, but I don’t think
people really believe in the power of them. It’s just a nice tradition
and they make good decorations.”

However, there are plenty who attest to the influence of the totems.

Mahmut Sur, 58, has been making the symbols in his workshop in the
village of Nazarkoy, near the western city of Izmir, since boyhood.

“This is a belief,” he said. “They are blue because it’s thought that
the colour blue distracts evil energy. Of course, I believe in them.
It’s part of a culture that goes back 3,000 years.

“When you wear an amulet, if someone with bad energy looks at you the
amulet averts the bad energy and protects you,” he added.

The Diyanet, or Directorate of Religious Affairs, did not respond to a
request for comment.

Criticised, ridiculed

In the past, it has been criticised and ridiculed for issuing fatwas
against other practices, such as men dying their moustaches and
beards, feeding dogs at home, tattoos and playing the national
lottery.

“For Anatolians, it is cultural and traditional to believe in the
protective power of blue beads,” Yildiran said. “The misconception of
the Diyanet is in thinking it can abolish this traditional belief
after ages.”

Instead, such pronouncements further alienated people from the
directorate, “which has caused a huge social reaction with the
enormous expenditures and waste they have made in recent years”.

The Diyanet has also been criticised for previous proclamations that
appeared to condone or belittle child abuse and violence against
women.

In such cases, the body has said its statements were misconstrued.

It has also come under fire for lavish spending on items such as
luxury cars for its officials, as well as its growing budget, which at
about $1.75bn outstrips those of both the foreign and interior
ministries.



 

                                        Friday, 

Opposition Alliance Vows More Efforts To Topple Pashinian

        • Satenik Kaghzvantsian

ARMENIA - Opposition demonstrators react while listening to a speaker during a 
rally to pressure Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to resign in Yerevan, 
December 22, 2020

Opposition leaders promised on Friday more efforts to force Prime Minister Nikol 
Pashinian to resign as they began touring Armenia’s regions in a bid to drum up 
greater support for their campaign.

The two leaders representing a coalition of more than a dozen opposition parties 
met hundreds of supporters in Gyumri at the start of the tour. They admitted 
that protests staged by their Homeland Salvation Front following the 
Russian-brokered ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh failed to attract large crowds.

“I thought that that there are one million people in Yerevan and they all will 
take to the streets because they were humiliated, but people were so depressed 
and aggrieved … I know many people who cry at home but don’t bother to come out. 
We have a lot to do about that,” said Vazgen Manukian, a veteran politician who 
has been nominated by the opposition alliance to serve as a caretaker prime 
minister.

“Many people sitting at home are urging us to act more resolutely,” complained 
Ishkhan Saghatelian of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun), a 
key member of the alliance.

“People must take to the streets, organize themselves and oust this government. 
There is no other option,” he said, adding that the alliance will also keep 
pressing pro-government lawmakers to stop supporting Pashinian.


Armenia - Opposition leaders Vazgen Manukian and Ishkhan Saghatelian meet with 
supporters in Gyumri, .

“That Nikol will leave is a fact … He won’t avoid that. The question is when he 
will do that,” claimed Saghatelian.

The parties making up the alliance as well as other opposition groups hold 
Pashinian responsible for Armenia’s defeat in the recent war in Karabakh and 
want him to hand over power to an interim government that would hold snap 
parliamentary elections by the end of this year.

The prime minister has rejected the opposition demands backed by President Armen 
Sarkissian. He has dismissed the street protests against his rule as an “elite 
revolt” not backed by most Armenians.

A group of Pashinian supporters blocked a highway outside Gyumri in a bid to bar 
Manukian, Saghatelian and other opposition figures from entering Armenia’s 
second largest city. Police intervened to unblock the road.

Manukian, who had served as the country’s prime minister and defense minister in 
the early 1990s, labeled the protesters as “tramps” hired by Pashinian’s My Step 
bloc for cash.



Russian Security Council Discusses Armenian-Azeri Summit


Russia -- Russian President Vladimir Putin holds a video conference with members 
of Russia's Security Council, .

President Vladimir Putin on Friday discussed with Russia’s top government and 
security officials the latest talks between the leaders of Armenia and 
Azerbaijan which he hosted earlier this week.

The Kremlin said Putin briefed members of his Security Council on the results of 
the January 11 talks held two months after he brokered a ceasefire agreement 
that stopped the war in Nagorno-Karabakh.

“Pressing issues of the Russian state’s internal and foreign policies were also 
discussed,” it added in a short statement.

The statement gave no other details of Putin’s video conference with Russia’s 
Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, defense, foreign and interior ministers, other 
top security officials and the speakers of both houses of the Russian parliament.

Putin, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and Azerbaijani President Ilham 
Aliyev announced after their trilateral meeting that their governments will set 
up a joint “working group” that will deal with practical modalities of restoring 
transport links between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The Russian leader said that 
“will benefit both the Armenian and Azerbaijani peoples and the region as a 
whole.”

Pashinian and Aliyev failed to reach agreement on the release of more than a 
hundred Armenian prisoners of war and civilians remaining in Azerbaijani 
captivity. Yerevan says that Baku’s reluctance to free them runs counter to the 
truce accord brokered by Putin and calls into question the planned reopening of 
the Armenian-Azerbaijani border for commerce.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Azerbaijani counterpart Jeyhun 
Bayramov discussed the issue in a phone call on Friday. Lavrov spoke with 
Armenian Foreign Minister Ara Ayvazian by phone on Wednesday.



Another Provincial Governor Resigns

        • Satenik Kaghzvantsian

Armenia -- Tigran Petrosian, the newly appointed governor of Shirak region, 
holds a news conference in Gyumri, February 7, 2019

The governor of Armenia’s northwestern Shirak province, Tigran Petrosian, 
tendered his resignation on Friday after almost two years in office.

Petrosian gave no reasons for the move. Officials in the provincial 
administration said he will not comment before the resignation is accepted by 
the Armenian government.

Petrosian, 41, has governed Shirak since February 2019. He is not affiliated 
with any political party.

The government replaced three other provincial governors following a 
Russian-brokered Armenian-Azerbaijani agreement that stopped the war in 
Nagorno-Karabakh on November 10. Two of them are senior members of Prime 
Minister Nikol Pashinian’s Civil Contract party who were told to resign.

The third, non-partisan governor, Hunan Poghosian, appeared to have quit at his 
own initiative. Poghosian ran southeastern Syunik province directly affected by 
the war.

The Armenian side’s defeat in the war sparked opposition protests and growing 
calls for Pashinian’s resignation. The prime minister has refused to step down, 
pledging instead to reshuffle his cabinet and offering to hold snap 
parliamentary elections. He replaced six government ministers in late November 
and early December.



Parliament Panel To Probe Government’s Response To COVID-19


ARMENIA -- A woman wearing a face mask walks is seen against the backdrop of the 
main government building in Yerevan, June 2, 2020.

The pro-government majority in the National Assembly has given the green light 
to a parliamentary inquiry into the Armenian government’s response to the 
coronavirus pandemic demanded by the opposition.

The two parliamentary opposition parties, Prosperous Armenia (BHK) and Bright 
Armenia (LHK), called for such an inquiry in June as they accused the government 
of mishandling the coronavirus crisis.

Senior lawmakers representing Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s My Step bloc 
initially opposed the move, defending the authorities’ response to the pandemic. 
But they reluctantly agreed afterwards to the creation of an ad hoc 
parliamentary commission tasked with assessing the effectiveness of government 
efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19.

Arkadi Khachatrian, a senior LHK parliamentarian, announced late on Thursday 
that parliament speaker Ararat Mirzoyan has formally approved the commission’s 
composition and thus paved the way for the start of its activities.

“The date and time of the first meeting of the investigative commission will be 
announced in the coming days,” Khachatrian wrote on Facebook.

Although the commission will be headed by Khachatrian, eight of its twelve 
members have been appointed by My Step. Khachatrian expressed hope that its 
findings will be “objective and comprehensive” and will answer all “questions 
preoccupying the public.”

Armenia has been hit hard by the pandemic, with nearly 164,000 coronavirus cases 
officially confirmed in the country of about 3 million so far. The real number 
of cases is believed to be much higher.

The Armenian Ministry of Health reported on Friday that 11 more people have died 
from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, bringing the official death toll to 2,974. 
The figure does not include the deaths of 726 other Armenians infected with the 
virus. According to the ministry, they were primarily caused by other diseases.

The authorities largely stopped fining people and businesses to enforce their 
anti-epidemic rules following the September 27 outbreak of the war in 
Nagorno-Karabakh. The daily number of new COVID-19 infections reported by them 
grew rapidly as a result. But it has fallen significantly since mid-November.


Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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