Author: Toganian Liana

ARMENIAN FOLK TRIO TO PERFORM

Belmont Citizen-Herald, MA
Sept 29 2005

The concert of the Zulal Armenian Folk Trio, originally scheduled for
early September at Longy School of Music, 27 Garden St. in Cambridge,
has been rescheduled for Saturday, Oct. 8 at 8 p.m. at Longy.

Tickets are $20 ($15 for students) and all proceeds will be allocated
to the Hovanness Badalian Music Fund established in memory of the
late Armenian folk singer.

For more information and to purchase concert tickets visit
or call 617-733-7162

ArmInfo News Agency, Armenia
Sept 27 2005

DEPLOYMENT OF RUSSIAN FORCES IN ARMENIA IS SUBJECT OF BILATERAL
TREATY BETWEEN ARMENIA AND RUSSIA

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 27. ARMINFO. NATO’s position has always been that
foreign forces should only be deployed on the territory of a state
with the full agreement and permission of that host state. While the
deployment of Russian forces in Armenia is the subject of a bilateral
treaty between Armenia and Russia, all force levels should be in
compliance with the limits set by the Treaty on Conventional Forces
in Europe (CFE). NATO Secretary General’s Special Representative for
the South Caucasus and Central Asia Robert F. Simmons says in an
interview to ARMINFO.

‘Regarding the impact of these deployments on the balance of power in
the region, I think that both Armenia and Azerbaijan recognize that
further armed conflict would be disastrous to their people and their
economies, and so there is an enormous incentive for them to focus on
pursuing peaceful conflict resolution. With regard to NATO’s
improving relations with all three countries of the South Caucasus, I
strongly believe that NATO’s programmes with all three countries help
to enhance regional stability through promoting an efficient,
transparent, and democratically-controlled security sector. ‘ Simmons
says.

Financial Times (London, England)
September 28, 2005 Wednesday
London Edition 1

A sour mood as Ankara stands on the threshold

By VINCENT BOLAND

Last Saturday morning, a few hundred protesters gathered outside
Istanbul Bilgi University and threw eggs and insults at a group of
historians and human rights workers as they rushed between riot
police into the sanctuary of the university’s main building. Amid the
shouts of “treason” and “lies”, it seemed that, despite many
indicators to the contrary, the battle between progressives and
reactionaries that has been such a notable characteristic of modern
Turkey has not yet been won.

The cause of the most recent outbreak of hostilities was a conference
on the mass killing of Armenians that took place as the Ottoman
empire broke apart in 1915. A court ruling banning the conference
forced its relocation and sparked a ferocious row over free speech at
an especially sensitive moment, barely a week before Turkey begins
the long and arduous process of joining the European Union. It is
little wonder that Abdullah Gul, Turkey’s foreign minister, was moved
at the height of the controversy to observe that “no country can
shoot itself in the foot like Turkey can”.

The incident was revealing of the sour mood that Turkey is in as it
stands on the threshold of Europe. The country was desperate to be
asked to join the EU; now that the invitation has been extended, it
seems unsure whether to accept. In this, Turkey differs from the
former communist countries of eastern Europe. For Poles, Czechs and
Hungarians, accession to the Union was a moment of destiny, the
righting of a wrong caused by the second world war.

There is no comparable feeling in Turkey. The country was the vision
of one man – Mustafa Kemal Atatu

It is because so many Turks are suspicious of what the EU wants from
Turkey, and of what it is prepared to offer in return, that there
seems to be so little enthusiasm for the accession process. In a
public opinion survey published this month, the German Marshall Fund
of the US found that the proportion of Turks who believed that EU
membership would be a good thing had declined in a year from 73 per
cent to 63 per cent.

Onur Oymen, a veteran diplomat who is now a senior official in the
opposition Republican People’s Party, sums up the ambivalence of many
Turks. “The day Turkey joins the EU as a full member will be a
historic day,” he says. “It would be premature to celebrate anything
before then.” Ural Akbulut, rector of Middle East Technical
University, adds: “I believe the accession process will succeed but I
am less optimistic now than I was a year ago.”

For many Turks, the experience of the EU since December 17 last year,
when the Union’s leaders invited urkey to join, has not been happy,
involving too many concessions for too little gain. Cyprus has
bedevilled relations between Ankara and Brussels throughout 2005, as
European governments put pressure on Turkey to recognise the Greek
Cypriot administration in the south of the divided island while, in
the eyes of many in Turkey, ignoring the isolation of Turkish
Cypriots in the north.

That has been a gift to opponents within Turkey of EU accession. Many
Turks also complain that Europeans put too much focus on the plight
of Turkey’s ethnic Kurdish minority. Amid an upsurge in Kurdish
separatist violence in recent weeks, these issues have fuelled a rise
in nationalism and euroscepticism. These were the sentiments that
Saturday’s protesters against the Armenia conference undoubtedly
sought to exploit.

According to Guler Sabanci, head of the Sabanci family conglomerate
and Turkey’s leading businesswoman, there has always been a segment
of Turkish society opposed to EU membership. “These people will find
a reason, any time and anywhere, to be against this journey, and they
have reasons right now,” she says. Still, she insists, they do not
represent the broad mass of Turkish society. “Now and in the future
there is a bigger consensus that they should not get away with it any
more.”

If the rise of nationalism in Turkey is behind the fall in support
for EU entry, the government must take part of the blame, according
to some commentators. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the prime minister,
returned from last December’s summit in Brussels in Ã‚ – triumph. Yet
he failed to follow through, they say, and lost the reform momentum
that led to significant political and economic modernisation in 2003
and 2004.

A certain amount of reform fatigue was probably understandable. But
Mr Akbulut believes the prime minister underestimated the chances of
success last December. “Erdogan and his team were not prepared for
the success of December 17 and its challenges,” he says. “We can see
that they did not have the plans and people and programmes in place
to build on the momentum and this damaged his image in Europe.”

If Mr Akbulut is right, the EU has as much reason to be disappointed
with Turkey as Turkey has to be disappointed with the EU. The
negotiating process will undoubtedly provide opportunities for mutual
misunderstanding, perhaps even the reason for one side or the other
to walk away. Nevertheless, for some observers, joining the EU is
less important for Turkey than the accession process and the pressure
it puts on Turkey to lose its inhibitions about the outside world,
recognise its democratic shortcomings, reform its institutions and
strengthen its still-shaky civil society.

Dogan Cansizlar, chairman of the Capital Markets Board of Turkey, a
financial markets watchdog, says: “The EU is a direction, an
indicator, a light that Turkey can move towards.” Many Europeans, he
says, judge Turkey by the Turkish communities in their countries,
which are often more conservative and hidebound than Turks in Turkey.

Ms Sabanci believes the process of joining the EU will change Turkey
and make it fit better into the union that, she is convinced, it will
eventually join. She had a personal stake in the dispute over free
speech, because a university founded and funded by her family was one
of the organisers of the Armenia conference. She also believes the
dispute over free speech is symptomatic of a growing awareness of the
importance of such things, not just for Turkey’s EU aspirations but
for the country as a whole.

“This is a very long journey, and during this journey Turkey will
change,” Ms Sabanci says. “The Turkey that will enter the European
Union is not the Turkey we have today.”

Turkey won’t say genocide, but U documentary does

University film covers controversial Armenian genocide and garners Emmy
nomination

The Minnesota Daily
;;
By Don M. Burrows
Sept. 29, 2005

Armenian Genocide: 90 Years Later,” takes on one of the biggest
geopolitical controversies of the 20th century, even in its title: Was
the massacre of Armenians in 1915 an act of genocide?

The Republic of Turkey, the successor state of the Ottoman Empire that
carried out the killings, denies it was genocide, and has even banned
discussion in that vein.

The documentary, co-produced by the University’s Center for Holocaust
and Genocide Studies, uses interviews with historians and family members
of survivors to continue the discussion many avoid.

What is known is this: As many as 1.5 million Armenians were killed from
1915 to 1917 in an apparent depopulation strategy by the Young Turk
government. Much like Jews were singled out in Nazi Germany, Armenians –
an ethnic and religious minority of artisans and skilled laborers in
Turkish society – were removed from their homes and killed. The Turkish
government, however, claims the killings were part of ethnic clashes and
denies that so many were slain.

The most compelling part of the film is the testimony of those whose
families survived the killings. Many remember their parents telling of
the horrors of leaving their homes and hiding from Turkish officials,
and recount how a remembrance of the events of 1915 is now embedded in
Armenian identity.

The documentary features two University history professors, Eric Weitz
and Taner Akcam. Akcam is a Turkish historian who was jailed in the
1970s for broaching human rights. It first aired in April and has since
been nominated for an Upper Midwest Regional Emmy award in the News
Special category.

The timing couldn’t be better.

Just last weekend, a Turkish court canceled the academic conference that
was to occur at Bogazici University regarding this topic. The action
sparked a wave of protest from European leaders and Turkish officials
wary of bad press amid their bid for entrance into the European Union. A
previous conference was likewise banned in May amid comments from the
Turkish minister of justice, who called it treasonous.

Stephen Feinstein, director of the Center for Holocaust and Genocide
Studies, said more than 200 copies of the film have been distributed to
organizations and schools since its airing.

Feinstein said that although the current Turkish government is different
than the one that committed the slayings in 1915, it has been defiant in
recognizing it as genocide. This is despite a consensus among genocide
scholars and similar recognitions by state governments worldwide,
including the state of Minnesota. He attributes this to fears of
demanded reparations and damage to the Turkish Republic’s grand
narrative and national pride.

His main concern, and that of scholars worldwide, is that Turkey, a
supposedly free democracy, is suppressing academic discussion.

“In a democracy, you should be free to talk about the past,” Feinstein
said.

Weitz agreed, and said that while there are many Turks who accept that
genocide occurred, there are also those ideologues who fit their denial
of the genocide into their concurrent distaste for Turkey’s entrance
into the EU.

“When they challenge the ability of scholars to discuss these issues,
they are provoking the EU deliberately,” he said.

Feinstein said many documents from Turkey’s own archives prove that a
systematic killing took place, but are written in the Arabic script that

was replaced by the Latin alphabet after World War I. Consequently, many
Turkish government officials can’t even read them.

As stated in the documentary, German records are perhaps the best source
of information on the massacres, given Germany’s alliance with Turkey
during World War I.

It was the Nazis’ knowledge of the Armenians that contributed in part to
their own policy of extermination, scholars argue.

And those involved in the now Emmy-nominated film hope it will educate
the public so as to contradict Hitler’s famous quote in defense of his
genocidal plans: “Who remembers the Armenians?”

;name=3DNews&file=3Darticle&sid=3D407&mode=3Dthread&order=3D0&thold=3D0

TURKISH PREMIER REFUSED TO JOIN EU RESOLUTION CONSIDERING ARMENIAN KILLINGS AS GENOCIDE

Pravda, Russia
Sept 28 2005

20:29 2005-09-28
Turkey’s prime minister on Wednesday rejected a European Parliament
resolution calling on Ankara to recognize the mass killings of
Armenians around the time of World War I as genocide.

The EU lawmakers said in their resolution that recognition of the
1915-1923 killings as genocide should be a prerequisite for Turkey
to join the European Union.

Armenians say that 1.5 million Armenians were killed by Ottoman Turks
around the time of World War I, which Armenians and several nations
around the world recognize as the first genocide of the 20th century.

Turkey denies that the massacres were genocide, saying the death toll
is inflated and Armenians were killed in civil unrest as the Ottoman
Empire collapsed, the AP reports.

Speaking to Turkish reporters in Abu Dhabi, Erdogan also reiterated
his view that the EU has to admit Turkey or risk being branded a
“Christian Club.”

“What will the EU achieve by admitting Turkey? It will become a bridge
between the 1.5-billion strong Muslim world and the EU. It will start
an alliance of civilizations,” he added.

27-Sep-2005: HEARINGS RESUMED IN BUDAPEST

It has been 19 months since the death of Lt. Gurgen Margarian. An
Armenian citizen participating in English-language courses run within
the framework of NATO-sponsored Partnership for Peace program in
Budapest, Hungary he was hacked to death with an axe by a fellow
Azerbaijani classmate Ramil Safarov. Since then the representatives of
Azerbaijan have been doing everything possible to showcase the murderer
as someone suffering post-traumatic syndrome because of his childhood
experiences during the war in Nagorno Karabakh 1991-1994. (As it was
later discovered Ramil Safarov’s family had left their native village
long before there was any fighting there).

——————–

On September 27th, 8:30 AM the hearings were resumed on the trial of
Ramil Safarov in the Capital court of Budapest under the chairing of
Hungarian judge Andras Vaskuti.

The trial began with reading the text of interrogation of the eyewitness
Saulus Paulus of Lithuania. He was the roommate of Hayk Makuchyan – the
second Armenian officer on whose life Ramil Safarov unsuccessfully
attempted. Next, Mr. Makuchyan himself testified. He answered the
questions of the judge and of the defense attorneys. Also, for the first
time Mr. Makuchyan had a chance to direct his questions to the defendant
in person; however the latter refused to answer any of the questions
addressed to him by the Armenian officer.

Then two Hungarian psychiatrists who had conducted two consecutive
psychiatric examinations of the defendant presented their conclusions.
The first one, who examined the Safarov only four days after the murder,
convincingly opposed to any claim of her opponent that Safarov had been
suffering from post-traumatic syndrome when he killed his victim. The
latter claim is part of the strategy that the defense has undertaken in
efforts to reduce the punishment of the defendant.

For the third time Anar Rauf Aliyev, another Azerbaijani officer who had
been participating the NATO-sponsored program along with Safarov, was
not present at the trial. Instead a letter by the Azerbaijani Ambassador
to Hungary Hasan Hasanov was presented to the court claiming that the
eyewitness had difficulty communicating due to a speech disorder. The
judge expressed his discontent and required an official document
confirming Aliyev’s health problems to be presented instead.

Finally, the court decided to arrange the third psychiatric examination
of the defendant, which should bring its preference toward the outcome
of either the first or the second examinations. The trial is scheduled
to be resumed on December 15th, 2005.

Reported by Hayk Demoyan
Budapest, Hungary

For mor information on the case please visit

V. OSKANIAN: EUROPEAN NEIGHBORHOOD POLICY BRINGS ARMENIA BACK HOME

Pan Armenian News
26.09.2005 08:19

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian-Italian connections are based on rich
and ancient traditions, Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian
stated when receiving the Grosso d’Oro Veneziano award. “It was in
Italy in 1512, that Hakob Meghapart published the first book ever in
Armenian. The Urbatagirk (or Book of Days) was followed in 1513 with
the first published Armenian calendar.

The renowned Briton, Lord Byron, referred to the Venetian island of
San Lazaro as a fortress of Armenian independence, since the Armenian
monks of the Order of Mekhitar had found refuge there in the early
1700s. For the last three centuries, that haven has turned into a
scientific and cultural locus. Today, if you ask the Mekhitarist
fathers whether they are Venetian, they will say yes. If you ask
them whether they are Armenian, they will say yes. One can say that
they were pioneers in establishing a common European identity,
about which we speak proudly, yet with some apprehension. If it
used to be religion that bound Europe together a millennium ago, it
certainly isn’t any longer. Nor is it the economic advancement that
was specific to Europe two centuries ago. It isn’t ideology either,
which was both adhesive and encumbrance for decades in the last
century. Europe is more than its common history, more than geography,
more than a club for members. All those who’ve said Europe is an
idea are right. It is the idea of a Europe that is the common, if
unattainable ideal. Even those living outside this space have imagined
and desired a Europe which can be addressed collectively, a partner
which can be enlisted conveniently, a Europe to which they yearn to
belong. Armenia is Europe. This is a fact, it’s not a response to a
question. The collapse of the USSR brought us to a point of economic
and political crisis. I remember our discussions in Armenia, before
our entry into the Council of Europe. There were many questions about
the choice of path to take. Dante once said that the hottest places in
hell are reserved for those who in a period of moral crisis maintain
their neutrality. I’m happy to say I won’t be going there because I
was among the loudest advocates of the European path. The choice was
clear. Armenians believe in the values of the European enlightenment,
of European civilization. The moral, ethical and existential choices
that bring individuals and societies to select democracy over other
forms of government, rule of law over rule of man, human rights over
selective rights ­ those choices have been made. A people who have
lived under subjugation, have seen ethnic cleansing and genocide even
before the terms existed, have lived as a minority without rights,
now belong to a world where warring neighbors have found that they
can accept new borders based on realities on the ground and move
on. Europe’s nation-states have found that they can transcend borders,
without diminishing or ignoring cultural spaces, without expecting
historical identities to vanish. The European Neighborhood Policy
brings Armenia back home since Armenia’s foreign policy priority is
the gradual integration of Armenia into European institutions. The
double digit GDP growth, which Armenia achieved each of the last five
years, the successful admission into the WTO, the spirit of the free
enterprise, the changing political system and society are promising
signs that we are on the right track. However, it is too early to say
that the European standard is round the corner. It is not as close
yet as Europe itself, as Venice, as Verona, as the shared cultural
and religious values of the past and present.

To highlight and share those values, we will be launching a two-month
long Days of Italy in Armenia, beginning in early October. This project
has received the blessing and patronage of President Ciampi, President
Kocharian and Governor Galan. The centerpiece of these important events
will be an exhibition of the riches from the Isla Armena. In light of
all this, then, the Fondazione Masi has, in bestowing upon me this
award, put a great stamp of approval on Armenia, its foreign policy
directions, its European orientation, its future. I am privileged
to receive this prestigious award, il Grosso d’Oro Veneziano. This
is a special day for me. And this is, of course, a special place,
a special foundation and a special family with a glorious history of
650 years stretching all the way back to one of the greatest poets of
all times, Dante Alighieri. Dante’s descendants valued their heritage
and helped pass on his legacy. This legacy clearly manifests itself
in modern Italy and the Region of Veneto. Italy and Veneto also share
a legacy with Armenians. There is much symbolism in the fact that
Armenia’s coming back to Europe is being noted and celebrated here,
in Italy,” the Minister said.

–Boundary_(ID_x4pzqllqlg/RQ0Y4brxNlg)–

CONTROVERSIAL ARMENIAN CONFERENCE HELD IN ISTANBUL

Turkish Press
Sept 26 2005

PRESS REVIEW

TURKIYE
A controversial conference on Armenians in the late Ottoman era which
was once postponed and then later suspended was held at Istanbul’s
Bilgi University over the weekend. The two-day conference was carried
out under tight security amidst protests. Scholars speaking at the
gathering underlined that through the conference, Turkey had broken
taboos on the subject. /Turkiye/

Anatolian Times, Turkey
Sept 23 2005

Suspension Of Academic Conference On Armenian Issue

ISTANBUL – Several groups held demonstrations in front of Istanbul’s
Bogazici University on Friday to protest an academic conference on
the Armenian issue which was suspended by the court.
Members of the Culture & Ethics Association hang photographs of women
and children who were killed by Armenian gangs during the World War I
on fences surrounding the university campus.

Meanwhile, members of the National Power Platform held another
protest to support decision of the court.

Kemal Kerincsiz, chairman of the Platform and a member of the
Executive Board of the Lawyers’ Association, said, ”yesterday, the
Armenian issue was debated at the European Parliament and a
parliamentarian said, ‘they (Turkish authorities) gave us a promise.
How could they suspend the conference now?’ Now we want to know who
has given those promises? Was it the prime minister or the foreign
minister? We expect Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to make a
statement.”

”The conference is not scientific at all. It aims to explain biased
views of the Armenian diaspora,” he said.

Kerincsiz kept on saying, ”Turkish nation has the most honorable and
cleanest history of the world. There is nothing to be ashamed of in
our history including relocation of Armenians in 1915 due to security
reasons. Turkey has already opened its archives to researches.
According to documents in those archives, 527 thousand Turkish people
were massacred by Armenian gangs.”

Meanwhile, speaking on behalf of the Patriotic Movement, Bedri
Baykam, a prominent Turkish painter, said, ”some circles wanted to
organize this conference with extremely biased, antidemocratic and
misleading mentality.”

In another part of Istanbul, members of the Association of Retired
Officers held a demonstration to protest the conference.

Riza Kucukoglu, chairman of the Association said, ”we respect
decision of the court. We believe that the Bogazici University was
saved from an Armenian occupation after the decision of the court.”

A court in Istanbul ordered the suspension of the academic conference
on ”Armenians in the Late Ottoman Empire: Scientific Responsibility
and Democracy Problems”. The conference was originally scheduled for
May but was postponed as a result of severe criticisms. The case to
cancel the conference was brought by lawyers who are members of the
Foundation of Turkish Lawyers’ Union.

US funding upgrade of two radar installations in Azerbaijan: ambassador

By AIDA SULTANOVA
.c The Associated Press

BAKU, Azerbaijan (AP) – The United States is funding the upgrade of
two Soviet-era radar installations in the Caspian Sea nation of
Azerbaijan, the U.S. ambassador said Friday.

Reno Harnish told reporters that the two-year upgrade of the sites
would help Azerbaijan fight contraband and other smuggling on the
Caspian Sea and help protect its territorial waters. He spoke to
reporters after meeting with Saudi Arabian diplomats in Baku.

Azerbaijani defense officials refused to comment on the installations,
one of which is located about 50 kilometers (31 miles) from the
Russian border, while the other is some 20 kilometers (12 miles) from
the country’s border with Iran.

“The main purpose of this project is so that Azerbaijan can quickly
reveal attempts to bring contraband across the maritime borders,”
Harnish said. “These stations serve as objects of assistance for
Azerbaijan in preventing the smuggling of contraband, including
cigarettes and illegal drugs, and will serve to protect its
territorial waters.”

Harnish did not indicate how much the upgrade was costing.

Azerbaijani defense analyst Uzeyir Jafarov said U.S. intelligence and
military authorities could definitely use the stations to monitor
Iranian military communications.

“Without a doubt, the radars that are constructed will be used by
America for its military purposes if it is necessary,” Jafarov
said. “The technical possibilities of the stations will allow the
identification of cargo movements over a wide area, not only on the
Caspian Sea and on land, but also in the air, such as rockets and
their technical characteristics.”

Azerbaijan has stepped up its military cooperation with the United
States in recent years. It is the only predominantly Muslim country
that has contributed troops to the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq, where
about 150 Azerbaijani soldiers are serving.

The former Soviet republic, which also has contributed troops in
Afghanistan, is seeking U.S. support in modernizing its military and
resolving a territorial dispute with neighboring Armenia.

09/23/05 14:31 EDT