Author: Jilavian Emma

Jerusalem
Andrew Clements

The Guardian,
Monday 17 May 2010

Theatre Royal, Norwich

Jordi Savall and his troupe of performers make a speciality of
thematically linked concerts and CD sets that bring together works
from diverse cultures and group them around a meaty historical
concept. Savall has devised a number of these evening-long sequences,
and for the only British appearance on their current European tour
at the Norfolk and Norwich festival, he chose his musical portrait
of Jerusalem – a potted history of the city in seven parts, from Old
Testament times until the end of the Ottoman empire in 1917, ending
with a multilingual plea for reconciliation and peace.

The whole thing is an expertly engineered package, involving more than
40 musicians. Singers and players from Israel, Palestine, Armenia,
Greece and Iraq reinforce Savall’s ensemble Hespèrion XXI and the
voices of La Capella Reial de Catalunya, and the range of instruments
is vast. The soprano Montserrat Figueras doubles on zither, while the
other main singer, Begoña Olavide, also plays the psaltery. There
are medieval harps, a hurdy-gurdy, a pair of ouds and an array of
even less familiar plucked and thrummed instruments, together with a
whole squadron of shofars and anfirs, trumpets made of ram’s horn and
brass, which launches the whole performance with a fanfare composed
by Savall himself.

These sounds are certainly seductively exotic, and the expertise of
the performances impressive, but the true significance of the result
is more doubtful. Many of the items included, whether psalms, crusader
songs, hymns to the virgin, papal pronouncements or extracts from the
Qur’an, are not specific to Jerusalem, and one could probably concoct a
similar history of Damascus or even Constantinople incorporating much
of the same material. It’s dangerously close to a rather superficial
kind of musical tourism.

"AFFORDABLE APARTMENT FOR YOUNG SCHOLARS" PROGRAM KICKS OFF IN ARMENIA
Karen Ghazaryan

"Radiolur"
17.05.2010 14:13

"Affordable apartment for young scholars" program has kicked off in
Armenia to provide apartments to vulnerable layers of population at
cost value.

Construction of a complex consisting of 300 apartments will start
in August, Deputy Minister of Sport and youth affairs Arsen Karamyan
told reporters Monday.

The construction will take two years. The apartments will be provided
to the beneficiaries at half the market price – 180 thousand AMD per
square meter. The beneficiaries will pay 63 thousand a month within
25 years.

Coordinator of the Council of Young Scholars of Armenia Atom Margaryan
says it will encourage young scholars. "The science is at the threshold
of aging and urgent measures need to be taken in this regard," he said.

TURKISH SLAUGHTERS HIT MY GREEK FAMILY AS WELL AS THE ARMENIANS
Silvia Samaras Beres

Salem-News.Com
ticles/may162010/turkish-slaughters-ss.php
May 17 2010

Unfortunately, many resist recognition of the Armenian holocaust, and
support Israel’s effort to reserve that tragic identity exclusively
for Jews.

(EUGENE, Ore.) – Turkey is under fire around the world today for
genocide it committed a century ago, and which it has tried to deny
for almost as long.

As an American of Greek ancestry, I get satisfaction from the prospect
Turkey finally could be held accountable for its violence against those
of its people who were not Muslims– Greeks, as well as Armenians.

One of the victims was my father. I would not be here today if he
had not pulled himself out of a pile of dead bodies and escaped from
Turkey 90 years ago.

That thought came to me as I read of Turkey’s ambassador being called
home from the United States because a Congressional committee accepted
charges that Turks slaughtered more than a million Armenians just
after World War I.

My parents were Turkish citizens of Greek ethnicity living in Smyrna
near the coast of Anatolia. It was a cosmopolitan city of Turks,
Greeks, Armenians,Jews and Assyrians, and felt the fury of the first
holocaust of the 20th century.

After the city was destroyed by Mustafa Ataturk in 1922, the Turks
made sure to cover up incriminating evidence the rest of the world
might see.

Smyrna was rebuilt under the new Turkish name, Izmir. But documentation
of what happened has begun to emerge, especially in books by linguist,
Niki Karavasilis, who founded the New Hampshire series of workshops,
"In Search of Excellence in Teaching Foreign Language."

She describes how Armenians– viewed by the West as too marginal to
be relevant today– stay infuriated by Turkey’s efforts to cover up
history. They say Turkey’s goal to deny the truth should not invalidate
the truth.

Although I’m not Armenian, I know the truth of the accusation because
more than a million Greeks, my ancestors, suffered the same fate when
they were subjected to Turkish genocide. My father was alive when he
was thrown into a burial pit with other victims of the Turks.

Most were dead. At night, he managed to climb out and make his way
to the Turkish coast of Anatolia, his family home for generations.

He joined others on a raft that took them to a Greek island. I heard
the story from my mother, who as a girl had escaped the slaughter,
reaching the island of Chios. There Greek Prime Minister George
Papandreou gave refugees sanctuary. His grandson of the same name is
Greek prime minister today.

Many Greeks could not manage to flee to the islands. My grandfather
was among dozens of them forced into a church the Turks then burned
to the ground. That atrocity has become part of my personal family
history. So I resent persistent denials of guilt by Turkey.

It’s awkward for the U.S. because Turkey collaborated with our
country in the invasion of Iraq. For me, it’s a relief that some
members of Congress chose to bring the charges to the full Congress
in a resolution that would give validity to Armenian claims.

They are my claims, too.

What passed in silence even in Greek-American communities of my
childhood became part of an international debate during March.

Turkey got indignant when its slaughter of Armenians formally was
recognized by the Parliament of Sweden and the Foreign Relations
Committee of our House of Representatives. It reacted by recalling
its ambassadors from both countries.

Did anyone care? Not many except Americans of Armenian, Greek and
Assyrian heritage, and some Jewish-Americans sensitive from personal
experience to terror directed toward any minority ethnic group.

Unfortunately, many resist recognition of the Armenian holocaust, and
support Israel’s effort to reserve that tragic identity exclusively
for Jews.

The only governments to tolerate Turkey’s denial of guilt have been
the U.S., Israel and Azerbaijan. Turkey felt it could hide from the
truth as it slipped further back into corners of history.

photo: The Untold Holocaust: "Assyrian Genocide Documentary Part 1"

But it is learning the truth cannot forever be hidden, just as it
cannot deny having been a World War I ally of Germany during the
Armenian slaughters.

Horrors inflicted on my family and other Greek citizens of Turkey
were recalled on the CBS-TV program, "60 Minutes." It pointed out
that Orthodox Christian citizens of Turkey in 1900 totaled two million.

After the holocaust that began during World War I, 1/2 million
remained. Another 150,000 fled when they faced more violence in 1955.

Today the number has fallen to 4,000, among them the ecumenical
patriarch of the Orthodox Church, Bartholomew. "60 Minutes" featured
his plight and that of his few remaining parishioners.

But even it, like most news media, ignored the catastrophe suffered
by Armenians and Assyrians, whose ancestors, along with Greeks,
had lived in Anatolia for generations before there ever was a Turkey.

Can any kind of restitution be made to descendants of victims? I’m
one of them, but know it is not likely. What we want and expect is
justice that would come when the entire world indicts Turkey even as
it persists in empty denials.

Silvia Beres is a retired Eugene, Oregon, art teacher, and a
watercolorist who sometimes paints with words. A Tulsa native, she is
a graduate of Tulsa University, with a master’s from the University
of Oregon. Sylvia has been a resident of Eugene, since moving here
from Chicago (Evanston) in 1976. Her two sons are television newsmen
in Nashville, Tennessee, and Madison, Wisconsin.

SARYAN, HOVNATANYAN, SHAGAL, LEVITAN: JOINT EXHIBIT IN MOSCOW

Tert.am
14.05.10

In September 2010 the Moscow-based Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts
will host an exhibition of the works by Armenian and Russian artists
of the 17-20th centuries, the Deputy Director of the National Gallery
of Armenia Hasmik Harutyunyan told Tert.am.

Titled Two Colors of the Rainbow: Reflexion of Two Fortunes the
exhibition will take place from September 13 and will last three
months.

The exhibit will include canvases kept in Armenian museums and made
by Armenian and Russian artists. The National Gallery of Armenia will
provide the exhibit with 93 works, while the rest 10 will be provided
by the Saryan House-Museum, the Ervand Kochar Museum and the Museum
of Russian Art.

Harutyunyan also said that the visitors will have the chance to get
familiar with the pieces of the Armenian artists Hakob Hovnatanyan,
Hovhannes Aivazovsky, Gevorg Bashinjaghyan, Martiros Saryan, as well
as works of Russian artists such as Isaac Levitan, Ilya Repin, Marc
Shagal and others.

ICRC REPRESENTATIVES VISIT AZERBAIJANI HELD HOSTAGE IN ARMENIA

APA
May 14 2010
Azerbaijan

Baku. Kamala Guliyeva – APA. The representatives of the Armenian
office of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) visited
resident of Tovuz region Eldar Tagiyev, who was taken hostage by
Armenian servicemen, spokesperson for ICRC office in Azerbaijan Gulnaz
Guliyeva told APA.

She said Eldar Tagiyev was visited on May 12, his detention conditions
were monitored and he gave a letter to ICRC representatives for his
family. The letter will be delivered to the hostage’s family next week.

Resident of Alibeyli village of Tovuz region, Tagiyev Eldar Heydar,
47, was fired on the line of contact near Alibeyli village at 18.00 on
December 28, 2009, and later was taken hostage by Armenian servicemen.

WORLD BANK BOARD OF DIRECTORS TO CONSIDER NEW ARMENIAN HEALTH REFORM PROGRAM IN OCTOBER

ARKA
May 13, 2010
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, May 13, /ARKA/. The Armenian government has designed a plan
of actions to modernize its healthcare system and will submit it to
approval of World Bank Board of Directors in October, the territorial
administration ministry said in a press release today adding that if
it okayed, the implementation of the program would kick off in 2011.

According to the press release, territorial minister Armen Gevorkian
met May 12 with top managers of the World Bank health program
in Armenia. The meeting was attended by Armenian health minister
Harutyun Kushkian. World Bank representatives presented the status
of implementation of the first and second credit programs funded by
World Bank and some questions related to the new program.

According to the press release, the additional financing for health
sector modernization envisages furnishing with new equipment and
renovation of several regional hospitals, particularly, in Abovian
and Alaverdi and construction of a new hospital in Meghri.

Minister Gevorkian proposed that the new program encompasses also a
town hospital in Kapan, the administrate center of the southernmost
province of Syunik and an important industrial center of the country.

The World Bank plans to provide Armenia with a $160 million loan this
year for implementation of 8 projects.

NKR ARMED FORCES UPGRADE MILITARY EQUIPMENT

PanARMENIAN.Net
May 12, 2010 – 19:59 AMT 14:59 GMT

Karabakh people are not afraid of war, as we have firm belief in
ourselves. In case of war, we will emerge victorious, giving a final
solution to this problem, NKR Defense Minister Movses Hakobyan stated.

"This year, Artsakh army acquired upgraded their military equipment
with air defense system," he noted.

As Movses Hakobyan told a news conference, updated technical solution
will allow for increased fighting capacity of NKR armed forces,
making them ready to repulse any attack.

SHAKARYAN: ARMENIAN-TURKISH RECONCILIATION PROCESS STARTS IN 2014

Aysor
May 12 2010
Armenia

"The process of normalization of the Armenian – Turkish relations
will restart not earlier than 2014," said Artak Shakaryan.

The speaker remembered that on June of this year in Turkey will be
held a referendum on the constitutional changes, next year we too will
have parliamentary elections and in 2010 – 2013 elections in Armenia.

A. Shakaryan noticed that the US who is patronizing the Armenian
– Turkish reconciliation process as a halting day elected April
24. In that case as the speaker said the role of Washington will
take Moscow trying to suggest his own version of the Armenian –
Turkish reconciliation process.

"The Russian – Turkish recent relations show that Russia tries to
take the place of the USA," the speaker mentioned.

MOSCOW WILL ASK ADVICE OF TURKEY ON KARABAKH, SAYS MEDVEDEV

Aysor
May 12 2010
Armenia

Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev said Russia intends to continue
efforts on settlement to the Karabakh conflict and will apply for
information and advice to other sides, including Turkey.

"We will move the process towards settlement, using all the
opportunities, authority and influence of the Russian Federation.

Sure, we will apply for information and advice to the Turkish
partners," Interfax quoted the Russian President as saying after
meeting with Turkey’s President Abdullah Gul in Ankara.

Dmitry Medvedev thanked his Turkish counterpart for proposals, which
were delivered over the Russian design of the European Security Treaty.

TURKISH POLITICIAN: EU APPROACH TOWARDS BLACK SEA A ‘MAJOR DISAPPOINTMENT’

EurActiv
en/enlargement/turkish-politician-eu-approach-towa rds-black-sea-a-major-disappointment-interview-494 049
May 11 2010

The EU lacks a concerted policy towards the Black Sea region and is
becoming increasingly fragile, inward-looking and even Islamophobic,
Suat Kiniklioglu, deputy chairman for external affairs in Turkey’s
ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party, told EurActiv Germany in
an exclusive interview.

Mr Kiniklioglu is deputy chairman for external affairs in Turkey’s
ruling AK Party. He is also spokesperson of the Turkish parliament’s
foreign affairs committee.

He was speaking to EurActiv Germany’s Michael Kaczmarek.

Mr Kiniklioglu: Turkey and Russia are the big powers in the Black
Sea area. What are Turkey’s main political and economic interests in
the region?

Turkey seeks a stable, predictable Black Sea region. Our neighbourhood
policy foresees the deepening of our political dialogue, increasing
our trade and encouraging direct people-to-people contacts in the
region. We have seen significant steps in these directions in the
last eight years.

The Black Sea region is a crossroads for energy supply into the EU.

Several new pipeline projects (e.g. Nabucco) are competing with one
another, yet the region does not seem to be a political or economic
priority in the EU’s external policy. Are other international players
(China, the US, Arab countries, etc.) more ambitious in the region?

What consequences might this have for the EU’s ambition to become a
global power?

The EU has failed to construct sound policy in the fields of
energy and foreign policy. Unfortunately, the EU constitutes a major
disappointment when it comes to having a concerted policy approach to
the Black Sea region. Regional states are increasingly aware of this.

We have an Ankara-based approach toward the Black Sea region
and continue to push our neighbourhood policy in the region. Our
neighbourhood policy seeks to establish more inter-dependencies in
the region and attract more investment from the region to Turkey.

The US has less interest in the region and we see a resurgence of
Russian influence in the region. If current trends continue, it is
highly unlikely that the EU will become a global power, so this is an
unnecessary question. Unless the question of Turkey’s full membership
is resolved and Turkey is a full member of the EU, the Union is not
likely to project power that would make it legitimate to call itself
a global power.

The countries of the region are fierce political and economic
competitors. Additionally, global players Turkey and Russia have their
own national agendas. Could the region ever speak to the EU or other
international players with one voice?

Despite a multitude of efforts to the contrary, the region has not
acquired a regional identity. The states in the region see themselves
through other references. They are either Balkan, Caucasus or Eurasian
states. Their Black Sea identity is a secondary form of identity and
is only utilised when it fits their interests.

It is only natural that Turkey and Russia – who are both kept at arm’s
length by the EU – have their own agendas. Why should Turkey align
its foreign policy objectives with a Union that does not itself have
a common agenda in the Black Sea? How can you reconcile the interests
of Poland and Latvia with those of the Germans and the Italians?

How can effective regional cooperation in the Black Sea region function
if bilateral problems in the region have not been solved?

Considering, for example, the tensions between Turkey and Armenia or
between Armenia and Azerbaijan, between Turkey and Greece, between
Russia and Georgia or on Transnistria, etc…

Regional cooperation is likely to remain limited given the
aforementioned identity issue, as well as the conflicting interests
at hand. Regional cooperation beyond limited action is a fallacy and
is unlikely to succeed.

The Black Sea region consists of EU members, EU candidate Turkey,
countries that participate in the EU’s Eastern Partnership programme
and perhaps want to join the EU later on, and Russia. How does the
different level of EU ‘participation’ shape the region? And how does
Turkey’s ambition to join the EU influence its politics in the Black
Sea region?

There is no doubt that the different levels create different
allegiances and priorities for the countries concerned. Turkey’s
ambition to join the EU has no relevance in shaping Turkey’s Black Sea
policy. Turkey’s Black Sea policy should be seen under the overarching
umbrella of our neighbourhood policy. If Turkey became a full member
of the EU, Ankara would align itself with a common European policy but
that looks distant at the moment. Turkey’s Black Sea policy is first
and foremost concerned with addressing Turkey’s national interests.

The AK Party is pushing for major constitutional reform in Turkey.

Critics say the aim is to weaken certain institutions that are
currently controlled by the opposition. Why do Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdogan and your party insist on the reforms?

The constitutional reform package is aimed at making Turkey a more
transparent and normal democracy. We would have wanted to have broader
consensus in the parliament for the package. We have attempted to
construct it.

Unfortunately, Turkey’s opposition parties pride themselves on
opposing anything and everything without considering the content and
ramifications of the constitutional package.

In fact, the current package will serve the consolidation of Turkish
democracy. That said, comprehensive constitutional change will take
place after the next general election.

The members of the EU’s monetary union have to bail out Greece. Other
eurozone members like Spain or Portugal are under pressure. How does
this crisis of the EU and the euro zone influence public opinion on
Turkey’s EU ambitions?

Needless to say, these developments feed into the perception of a
fragile EU that is increasingly becoming inward-looking, Islamophobic
and in some cases outright racist. It feeds into the perception that
Europe fails to see that the gravity of global attention is shifting
east; that Europe is missing out on major historical trends that have
come about as a result of globalisation.

Turkish public opinion still favours Turkey to join the EU, but it
is no longer uncritical and has many questions to ask. We sincerely
hope that our Mediterranean friends will quickly recover from their
current situations, particularly Greece, which we genuinely consider
as an important neighbour, friend and ally.

The Belgian parliament recently voted to ban the burqa. In other
European countries, like France, Germany and Italy, politicians
are discussing banning the burqa, niqÄ~Ab or headscarf. How do the
Turkish public and politicians view the European discussions? How do
they affect public opinion on Turkey’s EU ambitions?

One of the greatest challenges facing our democracies is to find a
modicum between the need for a separation between the church/mosque
and the state and the desire of citizens to live and practise their
religions. Turkey also struggles to find an appropriate order that
satisfies these two needs. We do not condone provisions that foresee
curtailing the freedom of citizens who simply want to practice their
religious beliefs.

That said, we are also cognisant of the different versions of
secularism in a number of European countries. It is up to the
decision-makers and the publics of these countries to decide what
sort of order they feel are appropriate for their respective countries.