Glendale News Press
LATimes.com
March 26 2004

Mending discord between students

Community leaders and pupils say relations have improved, but more
can be done

By Gary Moskowitz, News-Press

GLENDALE – Differences among local youth – be it racial,
socioeconomic or just simple misunderstand- ings – have led to
tragedy in Glendale.

On May 5, 2000, Hoover High School student Raul Aguirre was stabbed
to death across the street from his school in what police believe was
a gang-related incident. Aguirre was not a gang member. The man
accused of stabbing Aguirre is Armenian American.

A group called We Care for Youth, which formed in 1992 to work toward
stopping youth violence in the community, offered Hoover High
students grief support after the incident.

Group co-founder Jose Quintanar said representatives from the local
schools, city, Glendale Community College and the community held
forums in the late 1980s and early ’90s, during which people would
meet in each other’s homes to discuss ways to improve relations. He
would like to bring the forums back.

“I think what [co-founder Linda Maxwell] and I face much too often is
whatever is going on at the home gets brought to school,” Quintanar
said. “The community needs to really start looking at their own
issues. We see how kids’ ideas of the community are formed at the
dinner table or in front of the TV when the family is together.

“I don’t think there are many students around who have the personal
experience of [the Aguirre incident]. But many remember, and it comes
up from time to time from kids who were in middle school at the time.
And they were deeply affected by it. Something like that has got to
scar you.

“I think [Aguirre’s death] brought people together, but it wasn’t
sustaining. Soon after, the emotion of it wore off, and we became
complacent,” Quintanar said.

“Could it happen again? I hope not. But are the conditions present?
Yes. Ignorance and fear of other people, and not knowing people,
exists. This is a large city now, and it’s harder to know people.”

In recent years, Hoover students created a Unity Garden and a
Friendship Garden on campus as a way of promoting peace and unity in
the Glendale community. Events like Aguirre’s death and the terrorist
attacks of Sept. 11 prompted students to create the gardens.

Hoover High senior Jessica Luevano said it is usually teachers who
bring up the Aguirre incident, not students. Teachers might mention
it in class when something new happens in the Aguirre case, Jessica
said. The case is awaiting a second trial after a Nov. 7 mistrial.

“If anything, I think it kind of brought us all closer together,”
said Jessica, 17. “There are bad people in every culture. I think
most of the fights we see here are among kids within the same race.”

Daily High School Principal Gail Rosental said that although some
parents tell her they perceive Daily – the district’s continuation
high school for students who are at risk of not graduating on
schedule – as the school for “bad kids,” she has few issues with race
and culture among students on campus. Students come to Daily from all
of the district’s comprehensive high schools.

“Because we are so small, nobody is invisible here, and we don’t have
the same kinds of problems the huge schools have,” Rosental said. “We
tend not to have intercultural tensions. When we do have tensions,
it’s rare, and it’s usually not rooted in ethnic problems.

“It’s usually more of a ‘You were talking to my girlfriend’ or ‘You
said something about me to somebody’ kind of thing. If anything, it’s
two people who used to be friends, and it’s social and personal.”

Glendale News Press
LATimes.com
March 26 2004

GUSD rejects longer break

School board drops three-week winter holiday idea from 2004-05 school
year calendar proposals.

By Gary Moskowitz, News-Press

NORTHEAST GLENDALE – A surge of disapproval from local parents about
a proposed three-week winter break has encouraged Glendale school
board members to drop the idea.

The school board submitted two 2004-05 school year calendar proposals
to the Glendale Teachers Assn. for consideration, and neither
includes a three-week winter break.

A three-week winter break would have included the Jan. 6 Armenian
Christmas. About 35% of the district’s 29,200 students – more than
10,000 students – are of Armenian descent, and most of them do not
attend school Jan. 6, officials said.

Since the Glendale Unified School District earns about $25 per
student per day in state Average Daily Attendance funds, the district
lost more than $250,000 on Jan. 6 because so many students did not
show up for class.

Several parents, during recent board meetings, said they were
“disappointed” and “dismayed” because the board did not consult with
parents’ groups about extending the winter break and shortening the
summer one.

“The feedback I’ve received, from about 160 people who have been
e-mailing me, is that they didn’t like that proposal,” board
President Pam Ellis said. “I don’t think they liked their children
going to school longer because they wanted longer summer vacations. I
think we need to move on this because people need to make their
plans. [The proposal] seemed to be too close to a sacred thing.

“If I could wave my magic wand, we would start after Labor Day next
year, but it would be my wish that over the next several years we
start in August, so students can finish the semester before winter
break. One of the problems people have is that kids come back from a
break and go right into final exams,” Ellis said.

Both calendar proposals submitted by the board include giving all
students and employees the day off Jan. 6.

Both proposals also include giving students the day before
Thanksgiving off, which the district’s current calendar does not
include. Students always get the day after Thanksgiving off, and the
proposals would continue that.

Students would make up for the extra days off either at the beginning
or the end of the school year, officials said.

The difference between the two proposals is the school year start
date. One proposal is to start the year before Labor Day, and the
other is to start school after the holiday. The district started the
2003-04 school year on a scattered schedule Tuesday and Wednesday
after Labor Day. The district opened the year on two days because of
teacher training sessions that could not be rescheduled.

School board members are expected to vote on the calendar at
Tuesday’s board meeting, which will begin at 3:30 p.m. at district
headquarters, 223 N. Jackson St. The teachers’ union plans to vote to
approve the calendar sometime in April.

The board and the union need to vote to approve the school year
calendar.

A survey of teachers in the union showed that about 63% were in favor
of starting after Labor Day, and about 37% were in favor of starting
before, said Sandy Fink, the union’s president.

“Academically, it’s better for kids to start earlier so they have
more time to prepare for exams,” Fink said. “Some parents were
concerned about their kids coming to school in August at schools
without air conditioning. It’s hard for kids to concentrate when it’s
110 degrees and there is no air conditioning. I think teachers would
prefer taking exams before winter, that way kids can be done and
enjoy their vacation. We basically have decided to keep the calendar
about the same next year, and we’ll have to revisit this again.”

Glendale News Press
LATimes.com
March 26 2004

THE LANGUAGE OF LEARNING
Breaking down barriers

Bilingual students often help bridge the communication gap
English-language learners might have.

By Gary Moskowitz, News-Press

GLENDALE – That Sona Markaryan speaks English and Armenian fluently
makes her, and students like her, an asset in many Glendale Unified
School District classrooms.

Nearly 40% of the students enrolled in the district speak a primary
language other than English, and nearly all of those students are
enrolled in the district’s English Language Development program.

English-language learners typically receive about two hours per day
of specialized instruction in reading, speaking and writing. The rest
of the day, they sit in classes with proficient English speakers.

With more than 35 students in some high school classrooms, bilingual
students can prevent the more limited English speakers from getting
completely lost during class discussions, said Sona, a senior at
Glendale High School and student member of the district’s Board of
Education.

“I think [bilingual students] step in a lot and help, without being
asked to,” said Sona, 17. “It’s just common sense. It’s like a human
thing to do. You can sense that [the English learners] need help.

“I was born in Armenia, and came here when I was 4, so I never had
trouble with the language. But kids who come here when they are older
can get confused when the teacher explains things. Lots of times, I
will explain things in Armenian, and then go back and say the same
thing in English, to tie it together,” Sona said.

PEER ASSISTANCE IS WELCOME

Edison Elementary School Principal Linda Conover said bilingual or
multilingual students helping English learners keep up in class
happens naturally, without teachers having to ask for it.

“It happens without us even knowing, sometimes,” Conover said.
“Sometimes we formally assign students to help other students, but
many times it’s informal, and students come together and help each
other. Many of them are very compassionate and very empathetic.
There’s a lot of commonality and camaraderie.

“What students do mostly is help with translating, but it’s not a
formal English-language lesson. They let them know what’s going on,
and it’s extremely successful. The [bilingual student] becomes
someone they can identify with and communicate with. It bridges a
gap,” Conover said.

FLUENT BY GRADUATION DAY

All English learners in the program must pass five levels of English
Language Development classes to be considered fluent. To graduate,
they need to pass through the five levels of proficiency in addition
to normal graduation requirements in all subject areas, said Mary
McKee, an assistant superintendent for educational services for the
district.

Students who do not meet those requirements have a few options. They
can stay on an extra year as “Super Seniors,” take extra English
classes at Glendale Community College or pursue their General
Educational Development degree, which is equivalent to a high school
diploma.

By law, the district is only responsible for students through the age
of 18, but if a student is showing promise and is cooperating, the
district can make exceptions, McKee said.

“It is not easy,” McKee said. “They have to work very hard. If they
come in as a 10th-grader, it’s hard. As a junior or senior, it’s
almost impossible. We can’t do four years of instruction in one or
two years. Keep in mind that these kids are then going into math
classes and history classes while still trying to learn words in
English.

“We have to support them with translations where necessary and enough
modeling and examples so that they understand the concepts that are
being taught. In teaching the meaning of ‘democracy,’ just
translating is not enough. We have to make enough relevant
connections, and you just can’t just say it once,” McKee continued.

“Teachers try to make connections to what students are already
familiar with. They connect by understanding what it’s not, or what
it’s different from.”

READY TO GRADUATE

Crescenta Valley High School senior Mary Paik entered the English
Language Development program as a sophomore after moving here from
Korea. She spoke very little English.

She recently finished the program and is now considered a fluent
English speaker by state standards. Her parents speak Korean at home,
but Mary mostly speaks English with her younger brother, Howard, who
is a sophomore at her school. Mary will graduate this summer.

After two years in the ELD program, Mary said that, overall, she is
glad she took the English learner classes but sometimes felt like her
time was being wasted.

“I liked the classes, because they helped me a lot with my grammar,
writing and listening, and taught me about the culture of America,”
said Mary, 17. “I think if classes were shortened a little bit, it
might be better, so you could take other classes you want to take.
It’s not hard to understand if you study at home.

“I think sometimes teachers think your intelligence is lower than it
is, and that hurts. Once, a teacher asked us to color pictures, and I
felt like I was in elementary school,” Mary said.

Glendale News Press
LATimes.com
March 26 2004

Glendale carnival for peace planned

Peace It Together event to promote diversity in south Glendale with
food and dancing.

By Josh Kleinbaum, News-Press

SOUTHWEST GLENDALE – Charged with organizing a community event at the
Pacific Community Center, Community Services Coordinator Onnig
Bulanikian dipped into his past experiences.

At Pierce College, Bulanikian participated in a weeklong cultural
event that showcased the school’s diversity. Modeled after that
event, Bulanikian developed Peace It Together, a daylong event to
showcase the cultural diversity in south Glendale.

The event, which includes cultural dance groups, carnival games and a
variety of food, will be at the Pacific Community Center, 501 S.
Pacific Ave., from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday.

“It’s very important to educate the community about cultural
diversity,” Bulanikian said. “Southern Glendale is mainly populated
with Hispanics, Armenians and Filipinos. I’m trying to get them
together, to be united and work as one. The main thing is education.”

Saturday’s event focuses on education through exposure. A handful of
dance groups, including Quetzal Folklorico, Flamenco Dancers,
Hawaiian Hula Dancers and Hamazkayin Armenian Dancers, will
demonstrate dances native to their cultures. All of the dancers
volunteered their time.

“It’s always fun to see what other people do in their cultures –
dancing-wise, food-wise, language-wise, look-wise, it’s always neat,”
said Ari Libaridian, an instructor with the Hamazkayin Armenian
Dancers. “And you always make new friends.”

Youth outreach and other city divisions will have booths during the
day, and the Pacific Branch Library will present World of Stories, a
cultural story time, at 3:30 p.m.

If successful, Bulanikian said Peace It Together could become an
annual event. The event is free, with lunch prices ranging from $3 to
$5 per entrée. For more information, call the Pacific Community
Center at 548-4098.

AzerTag, Azerbaijan State Info Agency
March 26 2004

ON GOALS OF US DEPUTY SECRETARY OF STATE’S VISIT TO AZERBAIJAN
[March 26, 2004, 12:55:38]

Ambassador of the United State of America to Azerbaijan Reno Harnish
told journalists that US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage
would arrive in Baku to discuss military cooperation between the two
countries, combat against international terrorism, implementation of
oil and gas projects and way of solution to the Armenia-Azerbaijan,
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Asked whether USA intend to deploy its
military installations in Azerbaijan, the Ambassador gave a negative
answer adding that journalist draw too much attention to this
question. According to him, however, the U.S. militaries are going to
conducts trainings in military units of the Azerbaijan Army to
provide high-level defense of maritime, land and air frontiers of the
country.

In conclusion, Mr. Harnish stressed that Washington was interested in
building Azerbaijan National Army in line with western standards.

Appleton Post Crescent, WI
March 26 2004

Fox Cities serves as health example

How area treats children may be applied in Eurasia

By Kara Patterson
Post-Crescent staff writer

APPLETON – Dr. Arzu Rustamova of Baku, Azerbaijan, says she’s found
hope for her capital city’s orphanage-bound children with special
needs in Appleton’s approach to community wellness.

`The children were abandoned because they need constant care and
attention, and the parents are not able to see their condition might
be changed for the better,’ said Rustamova through an interpreter.
`It’s important to communicate to parents that they should be active
participants of this process.’

Rustamova is one of 17 physician administrators in the U.S.
Department of Commerce’s Special American Business Internship
Training Program who spent this week in the Fox Valley learning
management strategies they’ll employ in their five Eurasian home
countries.

They say their observations of healthy American communities will help
them contribute to their countries’ transitions from
government-controlled health care to privatized systems structured
more around individual responsibility.

The Fox Cities-Kurgan Sister Cities Program Inc. and World Services
of La Crosse Inc. introduced the delegation to local health care
professionals, business leaders, teachers and nonprofit service
providers.

The group leaves today for Des Moines, Iowa, on its four-week U.S.
tour.

Rustamova, the administrator of Baku Children’s Rehabilitation
Center, met a potential mentor in Bob Russo, president/CEO of the
Appleton-based Valley Packaging Industries Inc.

Valley Packaging’s Early Intervention Program, serving children with
disabilities from birth to 3 years old, may influence the development
of Rustamova’s proposed pilot program. She’s hoping to turn full-day
orphanage care for special-needs children in Baku into a day program
dependent upon family support.

`That carries over to when they are no longer children,’ Russo said.
`One of the things I pointed out was how our program not only treats
the child but reduces the need for (future) medical attention and
other services.’

Dr. Karmella Poghosyan, who oversees a pediatric hospital in Yerevan,
Armenia, said she was impressed by displays of nutrition, personal
hygiene and healthy lifestyles information decorating the walls of
Johnston Elementary School in Appleton.

Dr. Victor Pologov, a city health department administrator in
Sevastopol, Ukraine, said his country’s employers must learn more
about health insurance because such benefits now are on the horizon
for their employees.

Kara Patterson can be reached at 920-993-1000, ext. 215, or by e-mail
at [email protected]

KurdishMedia, UK
March 26 2004

In spite of the claims of democratization in Turkey

26/03/2004 KurdishMedia.com
In spite of the claims of democratization in Turkey

Besikci’s books remain forbidden,
Armenian editor threatened with death
A fascist murderer of seven students freed

Sociologist Ismail Besikci’s books on Kurds are still forbidden

The Yurt Publications, which printed all books written by
sociologist-writer Ismail Besikci, who was judged at State Security
Court (DGM) for the 23 books he wrote and most of whose books were
withdrawn from circulation, apllied to 1st State Security Court in
Ankara and requested the ban on printing his books be removed as the
8th article of Combat Against Terrorism Laws (TMY) has been removed
due to EU adjustment regulations.

The runner of the publication house Unsal Ozturk, apllied to the 2nd
DGM and got the right for printing 8 books, as the 1st DGM hadn’t
given permission. However the ban on 15 of the books wasn’t removed
due to the reason of ‘still constituing crime according to Turkish
law’.

Despite that it was removed according to EU adjustment laws, the 8th
article of TMY is still continuing to be a problem. Removal request
of the ban on the 23 books written by Sociologist-Writer Ismail
Besikci was rejected by the 1st DGM, though the 8th article was
removed.

The books, the ban on whose wasn’t removed were the ones drawing
attention to the Kurdish question. For example, though the book
named, “An Intellectual, an Organization and the Kurdish Question” is
no more a crime according to the 8th article, the ban on it was not
removed.

Here is the Court’s decision about the book: “Though the book ‘An
Intellectual, an Organization and the Kurdish Question’ was sentenced
on the ground of making separatist propaganda according to the 8/2
article of 3713 numbered section of law and later the the mentioned
article of law was removed according to the new 4928 numbered law; it
is known that the book was also sentenced on ground of assaulting
Ataturk’s spiritual personality according to the 5816 numbered
section of law. Therefore, rejection of the request by convict’s
assignee has been decided”.

The 2nd DGM didn’t also remove the ban on the book named ‘The Huge
Plane Tree (The Kurdish Sage Musa Anter) although it doesn’t
constitute a crime within the exclosure of the 8th article anymore.
Following is the Court’s decision.

“Even the action doesn’t constitue a criminal act as a result of the
removal of the article of law organizing separatist propaganda
anymore, a book withdrawn from the circulation still constitutes
crime according to the running laws. Therefore we decided to reject
the request”.

The runner of Yurt Book Publications Unsal Ozturk, said they were not
thinking of reprinting those eight books untill the ban on the others
was removed. Ozturk called Kurds for support, pointing to that they
had to claim the books written about themselves,

Following is the list of books, the ban on which wasn’t removed:

“12 Eylul Fasizmi ve PKK Direnisi, Bilim Yontemi, Koca Cinar (Kurt
Bilgesi Musa Anter), Kurtlerin Mecburi Iskni, Ortadogu’da Devlet
Teroru, Kurt Aydini Uzerine Dusunceler, Turk Tarih Tezi, Gune? Dil
Teorisi ve Kurt Sorunu, Zihnimizdeki Karakollarin Yikilmasi Yargilama
Surecleri ve Ozgurlesme, Bilim-Resmi Ideoloji, Devlet-Demokrasi ve
Kurt Sorunu, Devletlerarasi Somurge Kurdistan, UNESCO’ya Mektup,
Ba?kaldirinin Ko?ullari, Tunceli Kanunu (Dersim Jenosidi), Kurdistan
Uzerine Emperyalist Bolusum Mucadelesi.”

And following is the list of books, the ban on which removed:

“Dogu Anadolu’nun Duzeni ve Sosyo Etnik Temelleri 1, Dogu Anadolu’nun
Duzeni ve Sosyo Etnik Temeli 2, Cumhuriyet Halk Firkasinin Tuzugu
1927 ve Kurt Sorunu, Turk Tarih Tezi Gune? Dil Teorisi ve Kurt
Sorunu; Bilimsel Yontem, Universite Ozerkligi ve Demokratik Toplum
Ilkeleri Açisindan Ismail Besikci Davasi I, Bilimsel Yontem,
Universite Ozerkligi ve Demokratik Toplum Ilkeleri Açisindan Ismail
Besikci Davasi IV Yargitay’a Basvuru, Bilimsel Yöntem Özerkligi ve
Demokratik Toplum Ilkeleri Acisindan Ismail Besikcii – 2 Savunma,
Kurt Toplumu Uzerine.” (DIHA, Maarch 21, 2004)

Death menaces by Grey Wolves against an Armenian editor in Istanbul

The latest letter of the editor Ragip ZARAKOLU who have published a
number of books on the question of minorities in Turkey:

“As you know it, Turkish fascist party MHP lost the elections and
could not enter to the Parliament. By new agitations they try keep in
ranks their disappointed and angry militants (Grey Wolves). Their
youth organization, near to Ülkü Ocaklari (Foyers of Ideal) have
started street agitations.

“In their press, they write aggressive articles against the Kurds and
the minorities. After an article about the Atatürk’s adoptive girl
Sabiha Gokcen, concerning her Armenian roots, the Turkish army made a
statement saying that it is an attack against the memory of the
founder of the Turkish Republic. After that, Turkish fascists
organized a protest in front of the Armenian newspaper AGOS, they
said: ‘Hrant Dink you are on our list’. It means that you are
threatened with death.

“One week later, still in front of Agos, ‘the Federation of fighting
against the false Armenian thesis’ put black posters on the door and
made a protest action.

“We went to visit Agos as defenders of human rights, of writers and
NGOs. Later, we wrote a petition to make a lawsuit against the
organization Ulku Ocaklari, because they uttered heinous words and
death threats.

“Last wednesday I visited them in the name of Turkish PEN Association
with Eugène Schoulgin, vice-president of International PEN, whom I
invited to accompany me.

“Tomorrow, I will take along Jose Bove and his friends at Agos by
solidarity. Thus the French farmers will support Agos.

“The same organization launched death threats against two Kurdish
singers. The socio-fascists published an article against me, because
I had written an article against the so-called leftist nationalism of
the review ‘Turk Solu’.

“The best answer is to continue to publish. Tomorrow we will
distribute our new book: ‘The role of the special organization and
the army in the Armenian genocide.’ And we will see what will
arrive.”

Haluk Kirca, the murderer of seven socialist students, freed

As four Kurdish deputies are still kept behind iron bars in Turkey, a
notorious fascist murder, Haluk Kirci, who had been convicted in
so-called Susurluk case and “Bahçelievler Massacre” case, was
released on 19 March from the prison of Ödemis as he benefited from
Execution Law. He was nick-named Idi Amin among the Grew Wolves
(militants du neo-fascist party MHP).

Kirci had been sentenced 7 times to death for Bahçelievler massacre,
during which seven students, members of the Turkish Workers’ Party
(TIP) had been killed on 8 October 1978. This sentence had been
reduced to 70 years’ imprisonment after the changes in The Law to
Fight Terrorism in 1991. After a long evasion, he was captured a few
years ago and put in prison.

The release process of Kirci developed as follows:

Mustafa Izol, who had been sentenced to 12 times to death and 20
years’ imprisonment for killing 12 persons before the coup d’etat of
12 September 1980, appealed to benefit from the adjustment laws
approved on 3 August 2002. The court ruled that he had to serve 10
years for each killing. Minister of Justice Cemil Çiçek demanded the
decision to be lifted with a written order to Court of Cassation in
July 2003. Court of Cassation ordered the release of Izol on 30
January. In his reasoned decision 1st Chamber of Court of Cassation
stressed that the sentence had to be reduced to life imprisonment and
since the offence had been committed before the year 1991 the
sentence should have been 8 years.

After this decision converting life imprisonment to 36 years’
imprisonment according to the Law on Execution of Sentences was also
changed. Chief Prosecutor at the Court of Cassation objected the
decision alleging that those convicts had to serve at least 30 years.

The application of Kirci had been awaited since November 2003 at 1st
Chamber of Court of Cassation. The chamber converted the sentence of
Kirci to life imprisonment without waiting the result of the
objection against the decision on the case of Izol. The chamber also
ruled that the execution of the sentence would be calculated by the
court. Ödemis Heavy Penal Court decided to reduce the sentence of
Kirci to 8 years and ordered the release because he had served 16
years.

If the objection of the chief prosecutor was accepted by the General
Penal Committee at the Court of Cassation, the decision concerning
Izol would be cancelled. Since the decisions of the committee are
obliging, the decision concerning Kirci would also be objected.
(Milliyet-Radikal-TIHV, , March 21, 2004)

>From Nahost News – Kurdistan Aktuell, 25 March 2004

FORUM 18 NEWS SERVICE, Oslo, Norway

The right to believe, to worship and witness
The right to change one’s belief or religion
The right to join together and express one’s belief

=================================================

22 March 2004
AZERBAIJAN: BAPTIST AND ADVENTIST SUPPORT FOR IMAM AT TRIAL

At the opening of the trial today (22 March) of jailed religious freedom
activist Ilgar Ibrahimoglu, Azerbaijan’s Baptist leader Pastor Ilya
Zenchenko and Adventist leader Pastor Yahya Zavrichko have spoken out in
support of the Imam, Forum 18 News Service has learnt. Baptist Pastor
Zenchenko told Forum 18 that “the trial is a spectacle, a show. There is no
basis for the charges against him. He is a victim.” Adventist Pastor
Zavrichko was as forthright. “I believe he is innocent. He only spoke up
for people’s religious rights.” The Imam’s brother, Najaf Allahverdiev, is
not optimistic about the trial’s outcome, speaking of “the usual procedural
violations” and fearing that Imam Ibrahimoglu might be sentenced to several
years’ jail, possibly suspended if there is great international pressure.
Meanwhile, members of Imam Ibrahimoglu’s 1,000 year old Juma mosque are
still fighting the authorities’ attempts to evict them and turn the mosque
into a carpet museum.

19 March 2004
KOSOVO & SERBIA: “DO NOT ABANDON CONVENT TO DESTRUCTION”, BISHOP PLEADS

Kosovo’s Orthodox bishop Artemije (Radosavljevic) has today (19 March)
gained a commitment from the KFOR peacekeeping force to defend the Sokolica
convent which has been threatened with destruction by Albanian mobs amid
the continuing anti-Serb violence, Forum 18 News Service has learnt. He had
earlier complained that the Albanian mob first attacks, then waits for KFOR
and UNMIK to evacuate the Serbian population or clergy before stepping in
to burn and destroy. In devastating criticism of the local political
leaders, Council of Europe parliamentary assembly leader Peter Schieder
wrote to Kosovo’s prime minister Bajram Rexhepi to condemn the violence and
“the disgraceful … absence of clear and unequivocal condemnation of the
anti-Serb violence by the Kosovo Albanian leadership”. And he warned:
“Kosovo cannot build its future on the blood of innocent people and the
ashes of their burned homes and churches.”

24 March 2004
KOSOVO & SERBIA: DESTRUCTION WORSE THAN INITIALLY BELIEVED, AND VIOLENCE
SPARKS INCIDENTS IN MONTENEGRO, BOSNIA AND MACEDONIA

At least 28 people were killed, about 1,000 injured and 30 Orthodox
churches and monasteries in Kosovo were destroyed during the recent
violence by Albanian mobs against the minority Serbian population, KFOR and
UNMIK units. Numbers are not yet final. The Serbian Orthodox Church is
today demanding that German KFOR troops be withdrawn from duty in for
“incompetence” during the violence, as they failed to save from destruction
ten historic churches and other Orthodox property. Witnesses stated that
the German KFOR troops did nothing to protect any of the sites. Also, the
diocese blames UNMIK for failing to protect its sites in the period from
1999 to before the present violence, during which 112 Orthodox churches
were destroyed without any attackers being arrested. In Serbia, the
authorities have arrested 120 people for attacks against mosques in
Belgrade and Nis, and religious leaders, political parties and the
government have joined in condemned the burning of the two mosques. City
officials have promised to refurbish the Belgrade mosque, and the police
chief and his deputy have been fired. However, the Kosovo violence also
probably sparked incidents elsewhere in Serbia, and in neighbouring
Montenegro, Bosnia and Macedonia.

25 March 2004
RUSSIA: ALTERNATIVE ORTHODOX DENIED LEGAL STATUS

Although most True Orthodox communities do not register with the state, due
to a lingering fear of persecution, rejection of the state and a lack of
the organisational skills required to register, Forum 18 News Service has
found indications that local authorities sometimes bar attempts to register
by the True Orthodox, as well as other Orthodox who are opposed to the
Moscow Patriarchate. Without legal status, such religious groups have the
right only to worship and teach existing followers on premises provided by
their own members. They cannot, for example, produce or distribute
literature, or engage in other activities for which a ‘legal personality’
is necessary.

23 March 2004
TURKMENISTAN: “SHALL WE TRUST THE PRESIDENT?” RELIGIOUS GROUPS ASK

Doubts have been expressed about the genuineness of this month’s surprise
presidential lifting of harsh restrictions on registering religious
communities. But five groups – the Church of Christ, the Adventists, the
New Apostolic Church, the Catholic Church and the Baha’i faith – have since
the decree sought information about how to apply for registration, Forum 18
News Service has learnt. Other religious communities remain wary. At
present only Russian Orthodox and some Muslim communities have
registration, and these communities must now reregister. Unregistered
religious activity is – contrary to international law – a criminal offence.
The presidential decree will not affect the unregistered Baptists, who are
persecuted for refusing on principle to seek state registration. Meanwhile
the former chief mufti remains on a 22 years jail sentence, apparently for
opposing tight presidential control of the Muslim community, and at least
six Jehovah’s Witnesses are in jail for refusing military service on
grounds of religious conscience.
* See full article below. *

23 March 2004
TURKMENISTAN: “SHALL WE TRUST THE PRESIDENT?” RELIGIOUS GROUPS ASK

By Felix Corley, Editor, Forum 18 News Service

Despite the hesitations of some religious communities about how genuine the
government is about the abolition of the harsh restrictions on registering
religious communities, five groups – the Church of Christ, the Adventists,
the New Apostolic Church, the Catholic Church and the Baha’i faith – have
already sought information from the authorities about how to apply for
registration, Forum 18 News Service has learnt. Shirin Akhmedova, the head
of the department that registers religious communities at the Adalat
(Justice) Ministry told Forum 18 that parliament is amending the religion
law to take account of President Saparmurat Niyazov’s decree abolishing the
requirement that religious groups need 500 adult citizen members to
register (see F18News 12 March
). Many religious
communities remain wary, though.

The currently registered Russian Orthodox and Muslim communities will have
to apply again for registration. This is under new registration guidelines
brought in following the harsh new 2003 religion law, which – contrary to
international law – criminalises all unregistered religious activity (see
F18News 5 February 2004
).

Akhmedova reported that the Church of Christ, the Adventists, the Baha’is
and the New Apostolic Church had come to her department since the decree
was issued on 11 March for “consultations” about the registration process.
“We gave them information about what documents they need to present to
apply for registration,” she told Forum 18 from the capital Ashgabad on 23
March. She said Ashgabad’s Lutheran community had come to the ministry
earlier in the year to enquire about registration, before the president’s
decree.

Fr Andrzej Madej, head of the Catholic mission in Turkmenistan who is based
in the Vatican nunciature in Ashgabad, told Forum 18 from the city on 23
March that he had requested a meeting via the Foreign Ministry with
Yagshymyrat Atamyradov, the head of the government’s Gengeshi (Council) for
Religious Affairs, to discuss how to register a parish in Ashgabad. At
present the Catholics can only hold Masses on Vatican diplomatic territory.
Their priests also enjoy diplomatic status.

Akhmedova explained to Forum 18 that the same registration system still
operates as before the decree, except that the membership threshold has
been lifted. “It is now much simpler,” she insisted. “Registration does not
depend on numbers.” But she declined to speculate how many religious
communities she expects to register in the wake of the change. “We have no
plan on numbers. Whatever applications are lodged will be considered and
registration will be given.”

She declined to speculate on which of the faiths that are now illegal –
including the Armenian Apostolic, Baptist, Pentecostal, Adventist,
Lutheran, Hare Krishna, Jehovah’s Witness, Baha’i, Jewish or Catholic
faiths – would be likely to apply for and gain registration.

Akhmedova reported that 152 religious communities currently have
registration, 140 of them Muslim and 12 Russian Orthodox. She claimed that
“the majority” of the Muslim communities are Sunni, insisting that some are
Shia although she said she had “no information” on exact numbers of
registered Shia Muslim communities. Other sources claim that no Shia Muslim
communities (which are generally made up of the Azeri and Iranian
minorities) are registered.

The 140 registered Muslim communities are far below the estimated number of
nearly 400 Muslim communities in the country. It is possible that with the
lifting of the registration threshold, many more Muslim and Russian
Orthodox communities will apply for registration. Forum 18 was unable
immediately to reach leaders of either community to find out.

Akhmedova freely admitted that many more religious communities had
registration before 1997, when under the provisions of the harsh 1996
amendments to the religion law the majority of the country’s religious
communities lost registration. “This was because the threshold of 500
members was brought in then.”

In the late 1990s, members of a number of Christian churches tried to
register a Bible Society to promote the distribution of the Christian
scriptures within the country. Asked whether a Bible Society should apply
for registration as a social or a religious organisation she responded: “It
must apply as a religious organisation, as its activity is connected to
religion.”

Akhmedova said parliament is considering the amendments to the religion law
to bring it into line with the presidential decree. “The changes for the
better have already been sent to parliament.” She said there are two
changes: the requirement for 500 members is being abolished, and a new
category of “religious group” – covering communities of less than 50
members – is being introduced in addition to the current category of
“religious organisation”, which will have a membership of over 50. “There
will be no differences between the two except the name,” she told Forum 18.
“Religious groups will have no fewer rights than religious
organisations.”

She was unable to say if unregistered religious activity – criminalised
when the previous amended religion law came into force last November – will
remain a criminal offence. “But there won’t be limits on registration, so
the issue won’t arise,” she declared.

Asked what would happen to groups such as the Baptists of the Council of
Churches – who refuse to register on principle in any of the former Soviet
republics where they operate – she said she did not know. Unregistered
Baptists are persecuted for their refusal to register (see F18News 26
February ), and other
Adalat Ministry officials have insisted to Forum 18 that unregistered
religious activity remains illegal (see F18News 12 March 2004
).

The Baha’i community appears optimistic. “Our community could not function
since 1997 as we could not gather the required number of signatures,” an
unnamed representative of the faith told Reuters on 12 March. “Now we are
thankful to the president for guaranteeing our religious freedom.”

Asked by Forum 18 if he is optimistic that the Catholics will get
registration Fr Madej responded: “Yes, I am, as this comes from a decree
from the president.” He added that he is waiting for news on changes to the
religion law. “They haven’t informed the public yet.”

However, other religious leaders did not share this optimism. One
Protestant leader who asked that his identity and location not been
published told Forum 18 that his community is waiting until the amendments
to the religion law are published before deciding whether to apply for
registration. “Only God knows if we would be successful,” he declared,
although he is inclined to be wary after years of persecution. “Everyone is
waiting for the change in the law.”

“I know that the Baptists of the Council of Churches in the town of
Nebit-Dag have suffered fines and a ban on their meetings as they insist on
always meeting in the same place,” he added. He said his communities tried
to avoid punishment by constantly changing the places where they meet for
worship.

Another Christian leader stressed to Forum 18 that caution was required
about the changes to the registration requirement, insisting that only when
religious communities have already registered and can function freely will
it be safe to believe that the government has changed its policy. “We
should not count chickens before they are hatched.”

Also sceptical of the government’s goodwill is the Turkmenistan Helsinki
Initiative, a human rights group now based in exile. “We do not believe in
the seriousness of the intentions of the Turkmen authorities to achieve
religious freedom in the country,” it declared on 21 March. “Still in force
is the far-from-democratic law on freedom of conscience and religious
organisations, which has been criticised by many international human rights
organisations.” It believes that until the law is changed, no religious
community will risk applying for registration.

It cited the harassment of the Hare Krishna community in the 1990s, as well
as the difficulties faced this year by Jehovah’s Witnesses. On 9 March, two
women from Yolatan in Mary region had been leaving Ashgabad airport to fly
to Kiev for a Jehovah’s Witness congress when they were stopped by border
guards, who told them – after consulting the black list of citizens who
cannot leave the country – that they could not join the flight. They were
told to apply to the Border Directorate of the city of Ashgabad if they
wanted further explanation.

One of the women told the Turkmenistan Helsinki Initiative that earlier
when they had applied for exit visas from the foreign ministry with
official Jehovah’s Witness invitations, they had been refused more than
once, attributing this to their faith.

The group also reported that police raided a Jehovah’s Witness meeting in a
private home in Ashgabad on 13 March, “literally the day after the
president’s decree came into force”. Police accused those present of
conducting an illegal meeting for which they could be punished and more
than 20 were forcibly taken to the local police station. There they were
interrogated by two men in civilian clothes who showed them identification
as National Security Ministry officers. Ordering them to halt such “illegal
meetings”, the officers warned them that if they meet in future they will
be charged under the criminal code for “inciting inter-religious and
inter-ethnic hatred”. They were then freed after their personal details
were recorded. The Turkmenistan Helsinki Committee reported that most of
those detained were women and children.

It remains unclear why President Niyazov – who rules Turkmenistan
autocratically, allowing little scope for dissent – made the concession
over registration of religious organisations. His decree came at the same
time as a decree easing exit procedures and as 78-year-old writer Rahim
Esenov was among a number of people released from prison, although charges
remain. Niyazov has been under great pressure to improve the human rights
situation, especially with the current United Nations Human Rights
Commission in Geneva paying great attention to the abuses in the country.

In his most recent report (E/CN.4/2004/63), the United Nations Special
Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion and Belief, Professor Abdelfattah Amor,
noted that his request to visit Turkmenistan in June 2003 to assess the
situation on the ground did not even bring a response from the Turkmen
government. (Requests by other UN rapporteurs to visit equally evinced no
response.) Amor’s numerous enquiries for further information about reports
of violations of the rights of religious believers likewise went
unanswered.

Esenov was detained by the National Security Ministry earlier this year
partly for collaborating with Radio Free Europe and partly in retaliation
for publishing in Moscow his novel “The Crowned Wanderer”, about the
historic figure Bayram Khan. Niyazov had publicly criticised the novel in
February 1997 for “historic errors” he alleged it contains. Another exiled
human rights group, the Turkmenistan Helsinki Foundation, reported on 27
February that during interrogation, national security officers repeatedly
asked Esenov why he had made the hero of his novel a Shia rather than a
Sunni Muslim as the president had required. He still faces charges of
inciting social, religious and ethnic hatred under Article 177 of the
criminal code.

Forum 18 has been unable to reach Esenov by telephone since his release on
9 or 10 March. An automatic response says his number cannot be reached at
the moment.

Meanwhile, the former chief mufti Nasrullah ibn Ibadullah remains in prison
after being sentenced to 22 years’ imprisonment on 2 March (see F18News 8
March 2004 ). This jail
term is apparently for his opposition to tight presidential control over
the Muslim community and reportedly obstructing the use in mosques of the
president’s book of his moral code, the Ruhnama (Book of the Soul). Imams
are forced to display this book prominently in mosques and quote
approvingly from it in sermons, as are Russian Orthodox priests in their
churches.

Also, at least six young Jehovah’s Witness men are serving prison
sentences, mostly for refusing military service on grounds of religious
conscience (see F18News 9 February 2004
). The Turkmenistan
Helsinki Initiative reported on 16 February that the city court in the
northern city of Dashoguz sentenced Jehovah’s Witness Rinat Babadjanov to a
term of several years in prison for refusing military service.
“Babadjanov’s relatives were not even informed where he would be detained,”
the group noted.

It also reported on a court case in one major town (which it did not
identify) against the local Jehovah’s Witness leader brought at the
instigation of the general procuracy. “Since the woman cannot be charged
with serious offences, she is accused of bringing up her children in a
spirit of worshipping Jehovah God,” the group declared.

For more background see Forum 18’s report on the new religion law at

and Forum 18’s latest religious freedom survey at

A printer-friendly map of Turkmenistan is available at
tml?Parent=asia&Rootmap=turkme
(END)

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F18News

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Books: Tangled roots of genocide

The Independent – United Kingdom
Mar 26, 2004
Mark Mazower

In the summer of 1915, Leslie Davis was American consul in Harput, a
remote town in the central Anatolian highlands, three weeks’ ride on
horseback from Constantinople. About a third of the population in the
region were Armenians – villagers, farmers, merchants and teachers –
who had always got along with their Turkish neighbours. But, a few
months into the Great War, the government ordered Armenian schools to
close, and arrested leading men. In July, town criers publicised their
imminent deportation, street by street; and homes and properties were
pillaged. A couple of months later, after the deportations, Davis rode
out into the surrounding countryside, leaving early so as not to be
noticed.

By the side of the road shallow graves betrayed human remains, and
villages once inhabited by Armenians lay in ruins. As he reached the
side of a local lake, he peered down from the path above and saw
hundreds of bodies in its waters. Neighbouring ravines contained
thousands more. On a remote part of the lake shore, he came across
hundreds of corpses piled in rows. It was, he wrote, as if “the world
were coming to an end”.

Although successive Turkish governments have tried to deny what was
done to the Armenians, the killing was a messy business and there were
no top- secret extermination sites such as were built by the Nazis in
Poland. The genocide was a relatively public affair, and US
missionaries, German businessmen, railway engineers and even foreign
soldiers in Ottoman service all sent graphic despatches home. The
atrocities were outlined in newspaper headlines, and the old
Gladstonian, Lord Bryce, compiled a still-useful report for the
British government. We will never know for sure, but probably between
800,000 and one million people were killed or starved to death.

The horror of it all emanates vividly from the pages of Peter
Balakian’s new history. The sheer scale of the massacres has an
overwhelming impact and his access to the accounts of survivors and
diplomats, and his understanding of Armenian culture and society, help
bring to life the world that was lost with the victims. It quickly
becomes clear that the Holocaust was not the first such onslaught on
an entire community; indeed, the parallels with that event are
frequently underlined.

Like other commentators, Balakian believes genocide can offer
lessons. He stresses the ethical challenge state-sponsored violence on
such a scale poses to bystanders and foreign powers, and underlines
the heroic response of those who tried to end the killing – activists,
relief workers and idealists who mobilised local funds of sympathy and
did what they could.

A sub-theme of the book – a parable for the present? – is how these
events resonated in the US. Calls for the country to live up to its
“duty to civilisation” by intervening led to the usual tussle between
realpolitik and the politics of compassion. President Woodrow Wilson
never declared war on the Ottoman Empire but did support the idea of
an American mandate for an independent Armenia; it failed to get
through Congress.

Balakian does not bother to hide where his sympathies lie – with those
who cared, against the isolationists and hard-nosed men who believed
national interest trumped moral imperatives. But his sympathies run
deeper than that, for the way he tells it this was a story of good and
evil, of Armenians against Turks, Christians attacked by Muslims,
blameless victims against malevolent perpetrators led by psychopaths
such as Sultan Abdul Hamid.

He describes a tradition of state-sponsored violence in Turkey that
starts with the massacres of the mid-1890s (which themselves killed
more than 100,000 people) and 1909 (about 15,000), and continues, in a
sense, to this day through the denial itself.

Only it was a bit more complicated that that. Reading Balakian, one
would not know that in 1912 the Sultan’s foreign minister had been an
Armenian, nor that the Young Turks, who instigated the genocide,
co-operated with Armenian parties up to the start of the First World
War. There was a centuries- old policy of co-operation between the
Porte and the Armenian community which only the rise of nationalism –
Armenian and Turkish – eroded.

In Constantinople, the Armenian Patriarch preached loyalty to the
sultan. But Armenian revolutionaries sought autonomy for the Armenian
provinces of Anatolia by forcing Great Power intervention, and were
even willing to provoke Ottoman repression to get there. Call it the
Kosovo strategy: it had worked for Christian nationalists in the
Balkans, and it looked to some it might work for the Armenians, too.

Balakian cannot bring himself to criticise these activists. The most
he will say is that they were naive. Russian diplomats did indeed
force the empire to accept foreign oversight of the Armenian provinces
in early 1914. Bitterly opposed in Constantinople as the first step to
secession, the agreement, abandoned when war broke out, encouraged the
Ottomans to see the Armenians as a Russian fifth-column.

Nor had Christians always been the victims, Muslims the
perpetrators. Bal- akian’s heroic American Protestant missionaries
were not neutral observers but agents of radical social and cultural
change trying to transform the Ottoman empire. Meanwhile, largely
unnoticed by the Western humanitarian conscience, a tidal wave of
Muslim refugees, well over one million, fled into Anatolia from Russia
and the Balkans after 1860: a reminder of the human consequences of
Ottoman decline.

After 1908, Bosnia, Crete, Albania and Macedonia were all lost,
too. By spring 1915, Russian troops threatened Anatolia from the east,
and the British seemed about to seize Constantinople: the empire faced
dismemberment. None of this in any way justifies what happened to the
Armenians, but it underlines the existential crisis that faced the
empire’s young and arrogant leadership, humiliated on the battlefield,
their grand strategy in ruins.

In 1919, under Allied pressure, a postwar Ottoman government set up
tribunals to investigate the Armenian murders. But in the East the war
was not really over: Armenian fighters were trying to set up an
independent state – from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean, ran the
dream – while Mustafa Kemal formed an association to stop them. The
Armenians gambled on foreign support they did not have, while
Kemalists built an army against them. Having neutered the Russian
threat by alliance with the Bolsheviks, Kemal’s men routed the
Armenians, expelled the Greeks from Asia Minor, and got rid of the
ruling family, too.

The tribunals were abandoned, a Turkish republic arose from the ashes
of empire, and ever after, Ataturk’s heirs insisted that the Armenians
had brought their misfortunes on themselves. The Burning Tigris
remains, understandably enough, a work of denunciation. Even so, more
than denunciation will be needed to help us make sense of what
happened.

Mark Mazower, professor of history at Birkbeck College London, will
publish `Salonica, City of Ghosts’ (HarperCollins) this summer
From: Baghdasarian

Armenian university wants British envoy to be declared persona non grata

Yerkir web site
26 Mar 04

YEREVAN

The History Department of Yerevan State University released a
statement on Thursday [25 March] condemning the British ambassador’s
statement over the Armenian genocide [killing of Armenians in Ottoman
Turkey in 1915].

“The ambassador has crudely offended the dignity of the Armenian
people,” the statement says. By her statement, the ambassador has
insulted the memory of the 1.5m Armenians who were victimized in the
genocide, the statement goes on.

“She should apologize, and the Armenian Foreign Ministry should
declare her persona non grata, because failure to punish those
responsible for the Armenian genocide made the Jewish Holocaust
possible, and failure to recognize the Armenian genocide today is
likely to lead to new acts of genocide,” the statement says.

We hope, however, that the opinion expressed in the ambassador’s
statement is only hers and is not the official position of Britain,
the statement concludes.
From: Baghdasarian