Turkish PM Erdogan: "Jews, Armenians and... -pardon my language- Greeks!"...

Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan

The words used by Turkish Prime Minister in a television interview made some waves...when asked about the unacceptable, according to him criticism to his own person, he replied: "There have been many books written about me and the President of the Republic. Untold things have been said about us in these books. They called us Jews, Armenians and they even called us -pardon my language- Greeks! The only thing remaining to us is to resort to justice."
A lot of publicity has been given in Turkey to the expression "pardon my language, Greeks" since this expression in Turkish refers to something negative. However, the Turkish television channel CNN Turk website makes reference to comments that have been posted in Turkish twitter with messages in the form of "Since when is it a swear word being a Greek?" And "is it a shame to be Greek?"
Erdogan in this case used the word "Rum" (meaning Byzantine "Roman" - "Romios" in Greek), used in Turkey for the Greeks of Turkey and Cyprus. The statement was made by the Turkish Prime Minister in the last election interview with Turkish television channel NTV.

Turkish Party Holds Friday Prayers at Ani Cathedral

By: Nanore Barsoumian
From THE ARMENIAN WEEKLY
http://www.armenianweekly.com/2010/10/01/turkish-party-holds-friday-prayers-at-ani-cathedral/

On Oct. 1, hundreds of Turkish nationalists held Friday prayers at the Holy Virgin Cathedral in Ani. (DHA photo)

On Oct. 1, Turkish sources reported that hundreds of Turkish nationalists held Friday prayers–namaz–at the Holy Virgin Cathedral in Ani.
Devlet Bahceli, the head of the conservative Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), along with other party heads, prayed in the front row of a crowd inside the cathedral.
Bahceli reportedly traveled to Ani with hundreds of supporters carrying Turkish flags and chanting “Allahu Akbar” (God is great).
Earlier this week, the Kars branch of the MHP had filed an application requesting permission for the prayer gathering; and on Sept. 30, it was reported that Turkish authorities had decided to allow the prayers.
The leader of the MHP, Devlet Bahceli, said the Friday prayers at the Ani Cathedral were in protest of the Sept. 19 Divine Liturgy held at Akhtamar’s Sourp Khatch Church.
Meanwhile the MHP reportedly said that the Friday prayers at Ani were in the footsteps of the Seljuk conqueror Alp Arslan, who upon invading Ani in 1064 removed the cross from atop its cathedral and said Friday prayers there.
During a news conference today, Hayk Demoyan, the director of the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute, said “To gain political dividends, Turkish leadership uses the religion and cultural heritage of other nations. Namaz on ruins of Ani shows the ugly face of Turkish nationalism… Allowing this namaz, the Turkish authorities involve Allah into their anti-Armenian campaign.”

MHP reportedly said that the Friday prayers at Ani were in the footsteps of the Seljuk conqueror Alp Arslan, who upon invading Ani in 1064 removed the cross from atop its cathedral and said Friday prayers there.

Despite reports that quoted the Turkish Minister of Culture and Tourism Ertugrul Gunay as having said that the act of collective prayer “can be anti-constitutional. While Bahceli personally could offer namaz in a clean place,” permission was granted for Bahceli and 40 party heads to carry out their prayers.
Earlier in the week, Turkish newspapers reported that the nationalist MHP is preparing for the 2011 parliamentary election campaign; and that Bahceli has said his party was planning to launch the campaign on Oct. 1, when members of the party begin touring the country.
The controversial Friday prayers at the Ani cathedral are the first stop on the MHP’s parliamentary election campaign tour.
On Sept. 30, Azerbaijan’s News.az said that the planned prayer service “may also involve religious people from Azerbaijan,” and that “several Azerbaijani TV channels have been invited to the action.”
The MHP is a far-right leaning political party, soaked in Turkish nationalism. In the 2007 legislative elections, the party won just over 14 percent of the vote and gained 71 parliamentary seats. After being banned by the government, the party was refounded in 1983 as the Conservative Party. The name was changed again in 1985 to the Nationalist Task Party, and back to its original and current name in 1992. Bahceli has been its leader since 1999.
According to historical sources, Ani’s Holy Virgin Cathedral is the work of the Armenian architect Trdat. Its construction began in 989 A.D., per order of the Armenian King Smbat II (977-89), and was completed in 1001 A.D. When the Seljuk Turks invaded Ani, they converted it into a mosque, and subsequently renamed it Fethiye Camisi (Victory Mosque). In 1124, it was returned to its Christian owners. However, in 1319, an earthquake caused the collapse of its dome, which might have caused the end to its formal use.

"Mad Vandalism": Turkey to Demolish Hotels of Outspoken Armenian Entrepreneur-Scholar

By: Nanore Barsoumian
http://www.armenianweekly.com/2010/09/01/mad-vandalism/

Sevan Nisanyan, the owner of Nisanyan Hotels, and a linguist, columnist, academic, and outspoken critic, is facing a demolition order on his hotels throughout Turkey. In a country packed with illegal constructions, the targeting of the Nisanyan Hotels speaks volumes about Turkey’s persecution of its minority citizens who dare to raise their voice against the government or its denialist policies.


'It is an act of mad vandalism, but I doubt very much that they will be able to carry it out.'
The Nisanyan Hotels are located in Sirince, Izmir, a village of around 600 inhabitants in the Aegean hills. Nisanyan moved there 15 years ago, and almost single handedly turned this small village with a dying agriculture into a booming tourist spot.

“I have been active in preserving the historic heritage of the village. It was mostly through my activities that Sirince has now become a well-known tourist destination,” he told the Armenian Weekly.

Nisanyan purchased and renovated many houses in Sirince, using traditional methods of building and preserving the aesthetics of the area. He then converted those house into what today is known as the Nisanyan Hotels.

“As far as I know, this is the first—and I think only—commercial establishment in the history of the Turkish Republic that carries an openly Armenian name,” he said.

Nisanyan is certainly a passionate and persistent man, and a stickler for justice when it comes to saving his “babies,” as he calls his houses. “The local bureaucracy regarded my activities with hostility from day one. I was harassed constantly, permissions were either denied or delayed by 10 years or more, I had to face more than 30 court cases, was fined repeatedly, arrested, jailed, and so on. I persevered, and my perseverance made them even angrier.”

His battle has been going on for 15 years, and now he may lose all that he has built. “They have passed a decision to demolish every single house I have built in 15 years. The governor of Izmir is behind the decision. He is a man notorious as the former governor of a Kurdish province where army-run assassination squads operated freely.”

“It is an act of mad vandalism,” he continued, “but I doubt very much that they will be able to carry it out.”

Nisanyan noted that to date, 16 criminal charges—carrying a 50-year prison sentence—have been brought against him, and all are related to “unauthorized construction,” “unauthorized repair work,” and “defying government orders.” Five cases have concluded, serving him with a total of 10.5 years in prison. His appeals are pending.

Add to those the demolition order, the court cases following his views that are often deemed as “insulting Turkishness,” and the threats he receives from individuals with ultra-nationalist mindsets, and a bleak reality emerges for the Armenian population of Turkey.

“Although there is much willingness now among the Turkish elite to revise Turkey’s traditional attitude toward minorities, the old habits die hard in the bureaucracy. There is instinctive hostility toward an Armenian. It turns rabid when that Armenian is also an outspoken critic of the Turkish system,” Nisanyan told the Weekly.


Sevan Nisanyan and his wife, Mujde—after renovating Mujde’s 'donkey shed' and turning it into their residence—bought and rebuilt a handful of other houses near ruin.
Nisanyan, who was awarded the 2004 Freedom of Thought Award by the Human Rights Association of Turkey, has often voiced views that are controversial in the tightly censored Turkish society. He has spoken publically about the Armenian Genocide, winning him more than a few enemies. His most recent comments, made during a Turkish television debate program, resulted in the punishment of the airing station by Turkey’s Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTUK), who claimed Nisanyan’s comments were excessively critical and that they “humiliated the Republic of Turkey.”

However, Nisanyan does hold on to a ray of optimism, and views this current obstacle as an opportunity for Turkey’s authorities to turn a new page in upholding and protecting minority rights.

“I believe this is a test case for the Erdogan government’s willingness to improve minority rights in Turkey. I believe it is also a test case that will show if Armenians can go on living freely and securely in this country, or whether the old system of state thuggery will go on unchanged,” he said.

Nisanyan Hotels and Sirince

Sevan Nisanyan and his wife, Mujde—after renovating Mujde’s “donkey shed” and turning it into their residence—bought and rebuilt a handful of other houses near ruin. Around the same time, Nisanyan published a guidebook to small hotels in Turkey, which turned out to be a big hit. The Nisanyans soon after decided that they, too, would operate a small hotel—and that they would do it right.

“At first they did not know what to do with their collection of refurbished donkey sheds. Then they concluded that, as the most dreaded hotel critics in the land, they might as well put their hand under the millstone—as they say in Turkish—and learn how to run an inn themselves. Nisanyan Houses were born in August 1999,” explains the blurb on their hotel website.

The hotels were a success, and they soon bought the main hotel building. It was an “ugly apartment building that some big shots from Ankara had started building years ago,” but had left incomplete. It was a huge eyesore—an “abomination”—and the largest construction in town (though only three stories tall). While renovating this main building, the authorities tried to put a stop to it, but Nisanyan refused to give in. The dispute went to court, and Nisanyan won on a technicality.

Nine more cases were filed against him. He won all but one. “They turned it into a lynching campaign,” he told the Planning Report in an interview.

Nisanyan eventually went to jail for a wall he had built in his own garden.

What is surprising is that the authorities would go to such lengths to stop a man who seems to be in love with this small village, with its historic Greek houses, and has exerted much time and effort in building and protecting it.

To remain true to the architectural heritage of Sirince, Nisanyan and his builders pulled apart ruined houses to study the materials, modes of construction, and intricacies of the earlier builders. He published this information in a booklet—a sort of hand manual—for builders in Sirince, written in a simple language, in an effort to continue the time-honored cultural and building traditions.

The village was declared a historic site in 1984, and no constructions or renovations were to take place in it. Many, however, went on with their business, building on and renovating their own properties. According to Nisanyan, there are at least 90 illegal building constructions in the village.

“When a place is declared a historical site, by law they have to produce a [zoning] plan for the village within a year. It actually took 23 years to produce the plan. It came into effect, finally, last year. Throughout this period, it was entirely impossible to build anything legally in the village,” Nisanyan told the Planning Report.

The long overdue plan is catastrophic, according to Nisanyan. The traditional structures in the building have basic mathematical proportions and a style that are entirely overlooked by the drafters of the plan. While the traditional village houses were made of stone and timber, the new plan allows the use of cement and permits 250 new houses in the village. For Nisanyan, the new zoning plan spells disaster for the village. And so he chose to defy it.



This unyielding campaign against Nisanyan and his hotels has made headlines before. In 2004, Hakan Ataman, in an article for Radikal, wrote: “There are 40,000 illegal buildings waiting to be demolished in Izmir; 70 percent of the buildings in Istanbul are illegal; 80 percent of [touristic] facilities in Olimpos are illegal; all of the buildings in Sirince are illegal. Turkey is a paradise of illegal buildings. Yet for some reason the Nisanyan houses are targeted.”

The reason, however, seems to have far less to do with the legality of the constructions than with the tolerability of Nisanyan within Turkish society. For a state so adamant in censoring all who dare to be critical of its policies—whether leaders of other sovereign states, or Google and its YouTube—a Turkish-Armenian who refuses to bend and parrot official Turkish discourse must seem like an insufferable thorn.

In Nisanyan’s own words to the Weekly, “The Armenian who openly defies the Turkish state is something they cannot tolerate.”

Η Γάζα, το Ισραήλ, η Τουρκία κι εμείς

από: Το αρμενικό περιοδικό ARMENIAN WEEKLY
Απόδοση-μετάφραση - Μιλτιάδης Μπόλαρης
http://www.hairenikweekly.com/
Άρθρο του Γκαρέν Γιεγκπαριάν
Garen Yegparian

http://www.armenianweekly.com/2010/06/09/yegparian-gaza-israel-turkey-and-we/

Το Ισραήλ τα θαλάσσωσε κυριολεκτικά με την επέμβασή του στα πλοία που επιχείρησαν να σπάσουν τον αποκλεισμό της Γάζας. Οτιδήποτε θα μπορούσε να αποκτήσει με την παρεμπόδιση της εισόδου του υλικού που επέλεξε να αποκλείσει από τη Γάζα, ξεπεράστηκε από τη διεθνή κατακραυγή που έχει συγκεντρώσει επάνω του. Αλλά αυτό δεν είναι θέμα, παρά γιά τους ακραίους υποστηρικτές της φιλο-Ισραηλίτικης πολιτικής. Τι πιο ενδιαφέρον για τους Αρμένιους είναι ο ρόλος και η θέση της Τουρκίας σε όλα αυτά, και ποιες θύρες είναι ανοικτές σε μας ως αποτέλεσμα.

Σίγουρα, κανείς δεν αμφιβάλλει ότι η απόφαση της Τουρκίας, καθώς και η απόφασή εκ μέρους του AK, γιά συμμετοχή σε όλα αυτά δεν είναι παρά ένα κυνικό, μακιαβελικό, ένα ακόμη τέχνασμα realpolitik από το οπλοστάσιο του διαβολικά ραδιούργου υπουργού Εξωτερικών της, για την επέκταση του διεθνούς κύρους του γενοκτόνου κράτους, και ιδιαίτερα μεταξύ των λαών και τα κράτη του αραβικού και μουσουλμανικού κόσμου.

Η τουρκική ομάδα υπεύθυνη οργάνωσης της νηοπομπής, συνεργάζεται με ομάδες που μπορεί κάλλιστα να έχουν άνομες διασυνδέσεις και εξαρτήσεις, αλλά δεν μπορώ να πώ περισσότερο για αυτό, ούτε και το πότε μπορώ να έχω πληροφορίες.

Ακούγεται ότι ήταν πολύ καλά οργανωμένη και χρηματοδοτούμενη και πήρε μέρος με το μεγαλύτερο πλοίο στον στολίσκο αρωγής, το οποίο υποδηλώνει την πιθανότητα συμμετοχής του (Τουρκικού) κράτους. Ήταν, επίσης, το πλοίο στο οποίο συνέβη η βία.

Οι δηλώσεις του Ερντογάν και του Νταβούτογλου έχουν λάβει ευρεία κάλυψη. Σαφώς, αυτό είναι μέρος της νεο-Ottomanist τις προσπάθειές τους για να γίνει η Τουρκία παίκτης στον ισλαμικό κόσμο, μεγάλο μέρος των οποίων αποφεύγει την Τουρκία για τις βαρβαρότητες και την κακοδιοίκηση που υπέστησαν οι συνθρησκοί τους μουσουλμάνοι υπό την οθωμανική κυριαρχία και τον αντι-ισλαμικών τάσεων Κεμαλισμός της. Επίσημα η Άγκυρα φαίνεται να προέβη σε υπολογισμό για το πως υπάρχουν πιό πολλά θετικά που μπορούν να αντλήσουν από το να έρθει η Τουρκία σε σύγκρουση με το Ισραήλ από το να συνεχίσουν την περαιτέρω ανάπτυξη της από δεκαετίες υφισταμένης μακροχρόνιας θετική σχέσης μαζί του.

Ανάμεσα τους καρπούς της της θετική ς αυτής σχέσης είναι και η βοήθειαι στους διαδρόμους της εξουσίας των ΗΠΑ, η καταπολέμηση του περάσματος του ψηφίσματος της Αρμενικής γενοκτονίας, καθώς και άλλα αντι-Αρμενικών προσπάθειών που προέρχεται από το Αζερμπαϊτζάν και την Τουρκία. Το ερώτημα επομένως είναι, μετά τα τελευταία συμβάντα, τα εν λόγω στοιχεία στο εβραϊκό λόμπι των ΗΠΑ που έχουν λειτουργήσει επανελλημένα εναντίον μας (και ακόμη περισσότερο οι με σωστα κριτήρια και με σωστή συνείδηση και γνώμονα συναδέλφους τους), έτοιμοι να έρθουν κοντά; Θα δουν επι τέλους ότι δεν υπάρχει μακροπρόθεσμο όφελος από την υποστήριξη ενός κράτους-αρνητή της γενοκτονίας; Είναι θυμωμένοι αρκετά για να υποβαθμίσουν ή και να διακόψουν την σχέση αυτή; Μου φαίνεται αυτή είναι μια πολύ κατάλληλη στιγμή για το αναπτέρωμα των προσπάθειών μας στις ΗΠΑ Ήρθε η ώρα για κάποια ανανέωση στις σχέσεις μας.

Ταυτόχρονα, οι συνάδελφοί μας στη Μέση Ανατολή θα πρέπει να είναι να πείσουν τις κυβερνήσεις τους γιατο πόσο αναξιόπιστη είναι και πόσο πισώπλατα-μαχαιρώνει, και να αποδείξουν ότι τα πρόσφατα τερτίπια της Τουρκίας είναι καθαρός κυνισμός . Στο μέτωπο της μη διασποράς, η κυβέρνηση της Αρμενίας πρέπει να αναδεικνύει παρόμοια θέματα με τους συνομιλητές τους, ασχέτως εαν το θέμα είναι οικονομικό, το Αρτσάχ ή οι πραγματικές σχέσεις με την Τουρκία.

Αλλά αυτά είναι βραχυπρόθεσμα κέρδη. Εάν οι προσπάθειες της Τουρκίας φέρουν καρπούς, τότε θα έχουμε σοβαρά προβλήματα μακροπρόθεσμα. Θυμηθείτε που βρίσκεται η Αρμενία. Εάν η Τουρκία τραβήξει το Ιράν στην τροχιά της, θα έχοθυμε πρόβλημα. Αν οι αραβικές χώρες πέσουν θύμα εναγκαλισμού τών ψευδο-ηρωισμών της Τουρκίας, οι κοινότητές μας στις Αραβικές χώρες μπορούν να βρεθούν υπό πίεσιν. Μπορούν ακόμη και να βιώσουν κάποιον θετικό αντίκτυπο στην Ευρώπη με τον ψευδο-ανθρωπισμό τους. Είναι επιτακτική και άμεση ανάγκη να βγούν στην δημοσιότητα η ειρωνεία (και το υποβόσκον θράσσος) των τουρκικής σχολίων για τα κατεχόμενα (σκεφτείτε την Αρμενία και το Κουρδιστάν, ΚΑΙ ΤΗΝ ΚΥΠΡΟ! ΘΑ ΠΡΟΣΘΕΤΕ Ο ΜΕΤΑΦΡΑΣΤΗΣ) και Τις παραβιάσεις των ανθρωπίνων δικαιωμάτων (σκεφτείτε τις αγάπες με τον σφαγέα του Νταρφούρ, η την καταπίεση των ίδιων των μειονοτήτων της, τις σφαγές, κ.λπ.).

Για τους τρεις τελευταίους αιώνες, η Οθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία / Τουρκία έχει επιβιώσει μέσα από πολύ επιδέξια διπλωματία, παίζοντας τον έναν εναντίον του άλλου δυνάμεις πολύ μεγαλύτερες απο την ίδια, χρησιμοποιώντας την βασική γεωγραφία της Μικράς Ασίας. Χρησιμοποιούν τα εδάφη μας εις βάρος μας και εις βάρος του υπολοίπου κόσμου. Δεδομένου του ότι έχουμε στερηθεί κρατικής υπόστασης για όλους εκτός από τον τελευταίο αιώνα (εκτός της πολύ ασταθούς, και ουσιαστικά υποταγμένη ςστους σοβιετικούς κρατικής οντότητας), δεν έχουμε το ίδιο βάθος διπλωματική / πολιτική ιστορία, εμπειρία, δεξιότητες, και τον πολιτισμό να αντλήσει. Τώρα είναι η τέλεια στιγμή για να μάθουμε να ελισόμαστε και να πιέσουμε την κατάσταση προς τα άκρα. Δεν έχουμε τίποτα να χάσουμε, αλλά τεράστιες ευκαιρίες γιά να κερδίσουμε

Ελπίζω πως εμείς, η διασποράς και η κυβέρνηση της Αρμενίας (ειδικά μετά το φιάσκο του Αρμενοτουρκικού πρωτόκολλου) έχουμε μπροστά μας μιά πρόκληση. Ας εκθέσουμε την Τουρκία για το τι απάτη είναι και πρεσβεύει.

Mouradian: Post-Flotilla Ties Between Turkey and Israel: Irreparable Damage or Just a Hiccup?

Άρθρο του Αρμένιου-Λιβανέζου δημοσιογράφου Χατσίγκ Μουραντιάν. Δημοσιευμένο στο ARMENIAN WEEKLY
http://www.armenianweekly.com/2010/06/03/post-flottila/

By: Khatchig Mouradian


BEIRUT, Lebanon—I have been following with horror the news on the Israeli attack on the flotilla of ships carrying aid to Gaza. The outrage here in Lebanon and the Arab world is palpable. What is even more evident is the pride with which people here speak about Turkey’s “heroic stand” in the face of Israel.


Erdogan: International law has been trampled underfoot
On May 31, the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement in which it protested “in the strongest terms the use of force by the Israeli Defense Forces against the civilians from many countries who want to transport humanitarian assistance to the people in Gaza.”

The Turkish Foreign Ministry wrote that “Israel has once again clearly demonstrated that it does not value human lives and peaceful initiatives through targeting innocent civilians…such actions against civilians who are involved only in peaceful activities cannot be accepted. Israel will have to bear the consequences of these actions which constitute a violation of international law.”

In turn, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, “It should be known that we will not stay silent and unresponsive in the face of this inhuman state terror,” according to Hurriyet Daily News. “International law has been trampled underfoot,” Erdogan added.

Irony alert?
Of course, most Arab commentators said nothing about the irony in the statements above, and the many similar statements coming out of Turkey these days. That is not surprising. After all, Turkey—a strategic ally of Israel—has, in recent years, reached out to the Islamic world and presented itself as a defender of the Palestinian cause. Why rock the boat?

Some intellectuals, however, highlighted the hypocrisy of the Turkish state and of most Turkish commentators. On one online discussion board, Stergios Kaprinis, a psychiatrist from Greece, wrote: “There is no doubt that the events are tragic. The Freedom Flotilla attack by Israeli commandos can only be described as an act of piracy. However, I have been following the reactions of the Turkish government and I must say that I am appalled at their hypocrisy at the expense of the Palestinians. In the past 15 years, the Turkish government has ethnically cleansed large parts of Turkey’s ethnically Kurdish southeast, has invaded Iraq more than a few times, and keeps occupying and colonizing the northern half of the Republic of Cyprus, a sovereign country, member of the UN and the EU. Yet today, the Turkish government has somehow managed to proclaim itself the defender of international law and protector of the oppressed.”

In an article published in the Huffington Post, Israeli writer Dana Agmon, noted: “And finally, a word to the sponsors—Turkey—did anyone float into Turkey when it murdered over a million Armenians? Or did anyone do it when you arrested hundreds of Kurds, including children, merely four years ago and violated their rights? Or maybe when you invaded Cyprus?”

An intellectual from Turkey told me that had the Kurds in Turkey had access to sea, “God knows what kind of horrors would befall on those who tried to support them.” Another noted how the discourse on the Palestinians in Turkey on one hand, and the Armenians and Kurds on the other, are so disparate, even among progressive Turkish intellectuals, that “the double standards sicken me to my stomach. States are, by definition, hypocritical. But when intellectuals who present themselves as the beacons of enlightened thought engage in such hypocrisy, is there any hope left?”

Irreparable damage?
On June 3, Turkish President Abdullah Gul said, “From now on, Turkish-Israeli ties will never be the same. This incident has left an irreparable and deep scar.”

The myth of “irreparable relations” seems to be floating around the entire Islamic world since the attack on the flotilla. Arab news sources and analysts in the Middle East continue to insist that Turkish-Israeli relations have been damaged beyond repair. Regardless of what Turkish officials declare in their public statements, this is naiveté and wishful thinking at best.

What the Arab world fails to see is that the Turkish state cannot and will not bury its strategic relations with Israel because of the flotilla attack or in solidarity with the Palestinian people. Ankara is playing an ambitious political game in the Middle East. Yes, its tactical maneuvers are already reaching beyond the bounds of its strategic capabilities (and it might soon be forced to fold back), but to view the Turkish state—or even the current government—as the extension of the Turkish street is self-deception.

Turkey and Israel will soon repair the damage done to their relations. There’s no two ways about it.

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Khatchig Mouradian is a journalist, writer and translator. He was an editor of the Lebanese-Armenian Aztag Daily from 2000 to 2007, when he moved to Boston and became the editor of the Armenian Weekly. He is a PhD student in Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Clark University. He has lectured extensively and participated in conferences in Armenia, Turkey, Cyprus, Lebanon, Syria, Austria, Switzerland, Norway and the U.S. He has presented papers on genocide and the media at several academic conferences.View all articles by Khatchig Mouradian

58 Comments
Karekin
June 7, 2010 | Permalink | Reply
How about listening to a Palestinian instead of Israeli propaganda for a change? There are lessons here for Armenians, as well:

I don’t write poems but, in any case, poems are not poems
Ghassan Hage 6/2/10 http://australiansforpalestine.com/
Long ago, I was made to understand that Palestine was not Palestine; I was also informed that Palestinians were not Palestinians; They also explained to me that ethnic cleansing was not ethnic cleansing. And when naive old me saw freedom fighters they patiently showed me that they were not freedom fighters, and that resistance was not resistance. And when, stupidly, I noticed arrogance, oppression and humiliation they benevolently enlightened me so I can see that arrogance was not arrogance, oppression was not oppression, and humiliation was not humiliation. I saw misery, racism, inhumanity and a concentration camp. But they told me that they were experts in misery, racism, inhumanity and concentrations camps and I have to take their word for it: this was not misery, racism, inhumanity and a concentrations camp. Over the years they’ve taught me so many things: invasion was not invasion, occupation was not occupation, colonialism was not colonialism and apartheid was not apartheid… They opened my simple mind to even more complex truths that my poor brain could not on its own compute like: ‘having nuclear weapons’ was not ‘having nuclear weapons’, ‘not having weapons of mass destruction’ was ‘having weapons of mass destruction’. And, democracy (in the Gaza strip) was not democracy. Having second class citizens (in Israel) was democracy. So you’ll excuse me if I am not surprised to learn today that there were more things that I thought were evident that are not: peace activists are not peace activists, piracy is not piracy, the massacre of unarmed people is not the massacre of unarmed people. I have such a limited brain and my ignorance is unlimited. And they’re so f**king intelligent. Really. Ghassan Hage

Krikor
June 7, 2010 | Permalink | Reply
Listen, Enver Turk, or whatever cursive name has been given you. Hateful comments against the Turks, you said? Well, if you find them hateful they’re well justified: you stole my ancestral homeland of Western Armenia in 1915-1921 and slaughtered, as barbarians, millions of innocent people, deported them to starve to death in the desert, portray the Armenian artifacts as Turkish, and continue to deny your crime against humanity. Can we be hateful or you expect us to give you hugs and kisses for that? And you dare to give me shame for my rightful indignation over your crime?! What a joke! Racists are those who annihilate the whole race, as your forefathers did, and not those who demand justice for the mass murdered people. There was Greater Armenia l-o-o-o-n-g before your predecessors: nomadic savages of Seljuk and Mongol origin, invaded Asia Minor. Where have the Turks been 3000 years ago, might you know? Armenians don’t have to kill all the Turks in order to return our lands and our civilization, we are not barbarians, like you, to slaughter innocent women, children, and the elders. This is a typically Turkish mentality: ‘you have to kill, KILL, in order to gain something.’ A nomadic, savage mentality in the 21st century. Nothing has changed from the times your hordes of nomads appeared in the region in the 11th-13th centuries AD. Nothing! A land means honor for a Turk? Wow! What a brilliant idea we’re hearing from a Turk. Have you ever thought that a land could also mean honor for those indigenous peoples, like Armenians, Greeks, and Assyrians, who inhabited it for millennia? Or you see things only through your narrow-minded Turkish perspective?


teyleirian s
June 7, 2010 | Permalink | Reply
Yes, Murat, I know that ‘a blockade means something different than closing borders.’ I gave you an internationally-accepted definition of the blockade in my older post, which the Turkish blockade of Armenia obviously falls under.

So you think that blockading a third country ‘in response to the brutal invasion of Karabakh, lands of a close ally, was a rather mild and proportional response?’ Wow! Look who’s talking! A representative of a nation-state internationally known as brutal ethnic cleanser of indigenous peoples—Assyrians, Greeks, Armenians, Alawis, Kurds—of Asia Minor. A representative of a nation that brutally occupied a sovereign UN member-state of Cyprus in 1974 and established TRNC in contradiction of the terms of the 1960 Treaty of Guarantee.

Let me clarify some things for you. Armenia did not invade Artsakh (Karabakh). The overwhelming majority of Christian Armenians inhabiting Artsakh for centuries, a region that was unjustly and illegally placed under Azerbaijan’s jurisdiction by unilateral decision of Stalin in the 1920s, voted to exercise the universally-accepted right of the people for self-determination. It is essentially a conflict between Artsakh and Azerbaijan as it responded to Armenians’ petition by constant shelling and slaughters of Armenian residents in Sumgait and Baku. Where do you see Turkey in this conflict, may I ask? What does relationship between other nations have to do with Turkey so it imposed blockade of Armenia? Has Cyprus been a historically Turkish territory? Has it been populated by majority Turks at the time of invasion? Has it been transformed from Turkey to, say, Greece by an illegal decision? Your juxtaposition of a self-determination struggle, as in Artsakh, and an explicit application of military invasive Turkish force, as in Cyprus, would amuse erudites and intellectuals. Do you know that the UN General Assembly has adopted a resolution 3314 (XXIX) with the Definition of Aggression annexed to it, following the Turkish invasion of Cyprus? No? Adopted on 14 December 1974, the Definition reads as follows: ‘Invasion of a State by the armed forces of another State, with or without occupation of the territory.’ The issue of self-determination was singled out in the resolution as a different case in a clause in article 7 of the said resolution. A territory of a sovereign state of Cyprus must be 100% and not 60% in the Greek Cypriots’ hands. It’s THEIR country. Whether they live rather nice lives thanks to whatever is THEIR business. Whether the same can or cannot be said of Turkish residents or whether they are isolated or not, doesn’t matter: Turks are not the native inhabitants of Cyprus, they’re invaders.

Turkey is applying a blockade of Armenia regardless whether Armenia has control over its borders and airspace, because blockade, I repeat it for you once again, is ‘isolation of a nation, area, city, or harbor by hostile ships or forces in order to prevent the entrance and exit of traffic and commerce.’ This is exactly what Turkey does: it prevents the entrance and exit of traffic and commerce. Shall I repeat the international norm again or you understood from the second attempt?

I don’t have to preoccupy my mind with what would or wouldn’t happen to Iraq when it entered Kuwait or imagine what the U.S. response would be if a part of Israel were to be run over by one of its enemies. Relationship between the third states should not bother Armenia, just as the relationship between the third states should not bother Turkey.

As for Kurds, are you reading reports by a multitude of human rights organizations and advocacy groups regarding brutal suppression and mass murdering of Kurds in Turkey or you live on the moon? Had Kurds not been blockaded and deprived by the Turks, why does your government attempt to suppress their struggle for liberation, captured Ocalan, emptied their residential areas in the south and south-east, and qualify them not as Kurds but as ‘Mountain Turks’? Why do you commit these acts if the Kurds live unblockaded, unsuppressed, and privileged? Might you know?

Armen
June 7, 2010 | Permalink | Reply
An article by Dov Fischer posted on FrontPage magazine reads as follows:

Flotilla “supported financially by Hamas and peopled primarily by their Turkish allies” intended to transport 10,000 tons of humanitarian aid, while Israel supplies Gaza with 15, 000 tons of food and humanitarian aid every week,In the context of Turkey’s indignation with blockade of Gaza the author proposes to have a look at Turkey’s attitude towards Armenians, Christians and Kurds. “Does her treatment of religious and ethnic minorities model Western humanitarian values?” Fischer wonders.
Turkey has refused to recognize the Genocide perpetrated against Armenians in the beginning of the 20th century, he notes. Ankara did not apologize or even acknowledged it. Israel regretted publicly for killings of Turkish citizens in attack on humanitarian ships, though “Turkey still denies the Armenian Genocide ever happened.”
As regards Kurds, they do not have a right to give their children Kurdish names. The Turkish government restricts educational efforts of ethnic minorities, including Greeks and Armenians.

gayane
June 7, 2010 | Permalink | Reply
WOW.. WOW.. WOW.. that is all i can say after I read Turks’ replies…

my idea of putting likes of Murat, Enver Pasha, Kurt on a big ship and sending them away sounds better and better…

G

Karekin
June 7, 2010 | Permalink | Reply
Please don’t be so quick to embrace Dov Fisher’s comments, people….or that the Israelis/Jews are using the genocide to serve their own purposes at this moment. If you can’t realize that you’re being used, only to be thrown away once they are done, then think again.

Armen
June 7, 2010 | Permalink | Reply
Noone ‘embraces’ Dov Fisher’s or anyone else’s comments. Just posting them. In politics, everyone’s using someone else or some other issue to serve their own purposes. No action is needed in this stand-off. Just observance.

Karekin
June 8, 2010 | Permalink | Reply
We do not need this kind of ‘help’…

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3899835,00.html

Gaza, Israel, Turkey, and We

from: THE ARMENIAN WEEKLY

http://www.hairenikweekly.com/
Η Γάζα, το Ισραήλ, η Τουρκία κι εμείς
Γκαρέν Γιεγκπαριάν
Garen Yegparian

http://www.armenianweekly.com/2010/06/09/yegparian-gaza-israel-turkey-and-we/

Israel screwed up in its response to the ships attempting to break its blockade of Gaza. Anything it might have gained by preventing the entry of material it chooses to exclude from Gaza is far outweighed by the international opprobrium it has garnered. But this is not at issue except by extreme spinners of pro-Israel policy. What’s more interesting for Armenians is Turkey’s role and position in all of this, and what doors are open to us as a result.

Certainly, no one doubts that Turkey’s, and its ruling AK Party’s, involvement in all this is nothing but a cynical, Machiavellian, realpolitik ploy in its devilishly competent Foreign Minister’s bag of tricks to expand the genocidal state’s international stature, and particularly among the peoples and states of the Arab and Muslim worlds. The Turkish group cooperating with the efforts may also have connections to unsavory outfits, but more on this if and when I can get details. I’m told it was very well organized and funded, and delivered the biggest ship in the relief flotilla, which suggests the possibility of state involvement. It was also the ship on which the violence occurred.

Erdogan’s and Davutoglu’s statements have received wide coverage. Clearly, this is part of their neo-Ottomanist efforts to become a player in the Islamic world, much of which shuns Turkey for the brutality and misrule heaped upon fellow Muslims under Ottoman rule and Kemalism’s anti-Islamic bent. Official Ankara seems to be making the calculation that there’s more to be gained by clashing with Israel than further developing a decades-long positive relationship.

Among the fruits of the positive relationship has been help in the halls of U.S. power, fighting passage of the genocide resolution, and other anti-Armenian efforts emanating from Azerbaijan and Turkey. The question is, after the last few incidents, are those Jewish lobby elements in the U.S. that have worked against us (and even against their more right-minded and conscience-driven colleagues) ready to come around? Do they see yet that there’s no long-term benefit to supporting a genocide-denying state? Are they irate enough to downgrade or sever the relationship? It seems to me this is a very opportune moment for our efforts in the U.S. It’s time for some renewed outreach.

Simultaneously, our colleagues in the Middle East should be conveying to their governments how untrustworthy, back-stabbing, and cynical Turkey’s recent ploys demonstrate it to be. On the non-diaspora front, Armenia’s government should be playing up similar themes with their negotiating partners, whether the issue is economics, Artsakh, or actual relations with Turkey.

But this is all short-term gain. If Turkey’s efforts bear fruit, then we will have serious problems in the long term. Remember where Armenia is situated. If Turkey pulls Iran into its orbit, it’s a problem. If the Arab countries become enamored of Turkey’s pseudo-heroics, our communities in there may become constrained. They may even get some traction in Europe with their faux-humanitarianism. It is imperative and timely to publicize the irony (and the underlying temerity) of Turkish comments about occupation (think Armenia and Kurdistan) and human rights abuses (think coddling Darfur’s butcher, abuse of its own minorities, massacres, etc.).

We have to play very hard. For the last three centuries, the Ottoman Empire/Turkey has survived through very skillful diplomacy, playing off against one another powers far greater than it, using Asia Minor’s pivotal geography. They’re using our lands to our, and the world’s, detriment. Since we’ve been deprived of statehood for all but the last century or so (and a very shaky, mostly Soviet-subservient statehood at that) we don’t have the same depth of diplomatic/political history, experience, skills, and culture to draw on. But this is a perfect time to learn by doing and pushing to the edge. There’s not much to be lost, but tremendous potential for gain.

I hope we, the diaspora and Armenia’s government (especially after the protocols fiasco), are up to the challenge. Let’s expose Turkey for the fraud that it is.