*urks, Faithful To Their Traditions, Continue To Loot Armenia

[Siamanto]

[The following is automatically translated using SYSTRAN.]

A Turkish student, arrested at the airport "Zvartnots" of Erévan in possession of rare works of which some dated from the XVIIe century

INHERITANCE, Sunday June 19 2005-Armenews- on June 17, the services of safety of the international airport "Zvartnots" of Erévan stopped a Turkish citizen who was on the point of flying away for Istanbul. The Armenian police force had discovered in the luggage of Ertogan Turkyilmaz, studying at the university "Duke" of South Carolina (the United States) a certain number of works literary, religious, cultural, political and scientists of XVIIe at the XXe century, who are for the Armenian authorities of the "major elements of the Armenian inheritance". The Armenian police force opened an investigation against what it regards as a diversion of the treasures of the inheritance of Arménie. Krikor Amirzayan


Note: I have chosen to auto censor the words "*urk" or "*urkish" because it is commonly perceived as unpleasant and offending, evokes unpleasant emotions and imagery and is pregnant with immoral and evil connotations!

http://www.armenews.com/New/news.asp?id_news=8130

Un étudiant turc, arrêté à l’aéroport « Zvartnots » d’Erévan en possession d’ouvrages rares dont certains dataient du XVIIe siècle

PATRIMOINE, dimanche 19 juin 2005-Armenews- Le 17 juin, les services de sécurité de l’aéroport international « Zvartnots » d’Erévan ont arrêté un citoyen turc qui s’apprêtait à s’envoler pour Istanbul. La police arménienne avait découvert dans les bagages d’Ertogan Turkyilmaz, étudiant à l’université « Duke » de Caroline du Sud (Etats-Unis) un certain nombre d’œuvres littéraires, religieuses, culturelles, politiques et scientifiques du XVIIe au XXe siècle, qui sont pour les autorités arméniennes des « éléments importants du patrimoine arménien ». La police arménienne a ouvert une enquête contre ce qu’elle considère comme un détournement des trésors du patrimoine de l’Arménie. Krikor Amirzayan

[Thai-Samurai]

lol what an idiot. You can't steal rare Armenian stuff.

[winoman]

Well obviously some Armenians were more then happy to sell it to him. Did you know that this guy was the first Turk who has been working in the Armenian Archives? (as he can speak and of course more importantly read Armenian). I have read some of his graduate papers (exerpts) and such and he seems fairly enlightened and open minded however I am still suspicious of his motivations though I am certainly willing to give him the benefit of the doubt and still am even with this incident. He may not have understood these works to be export restricted. So don't jump to conclusions - lets see how it plays out.

[bell-the-cat]

Armenia seems to be becoming a more and more pathetic country as each day passes.

What other county in the world would arrest someone for trying to export printed books which, by their definition, are mass-produced objects. It is obvious that it was just because he was Turkish, and not because of the actual books.

And almost none of those books will have originated in Armenia! Yerevan was a mostly a mud village full of illiterate peasants until last century. Most Armenian books were printed in Constantinople, in Venice, or in Tiflis. So, ironically, he should have stayed on his home ground and gone to Istanbul to get them. During the 1970s and 80s, when Armenians were leaving in their thousands to America or Europe, countless old Armenian books were just thrown away or burned: they could be read only by Armenians and to all Armenians they were worthless. But there should still be some to be found in second-hand bookshops and fleamarkets in Istanbul.

As for Armenia, there is little point in restricting the export of books when the number of public libraries there has been decimated, and the rest have been left to rot.

[bell-the-cat]

I wonder what happened to Pars Tuglaci's library?

[nairi]

No comment, as I have no idea what or how unique these books were. The question is, did he steal the books, or did someone give him permission to take them. If the latter, then he is not to blame, but whoever gave him permission, probably an ignorant Armenian.

Steve, have you ever heard of the Matenadaran? Yes, Armenians have ignored and continue to ignore some of their greatest authors. The reasons for this are plenty. During the Soviet era they had no choice but to censor or rat on opposing authors. Nowadays, they censor pro-Soviet works as they're trying to move on. I don't think this will last forever. There are still plenty of Armenians who do care about their literary heritage will do everything to keep these works in a safe place until the climate is right to have them mass-published for a larger audience.

As for libraries, if public libraries have decimated in the last decade because of the economic crash, most Armenians still have a private library in their own homes. The books in these are not few.

If books were burned in the early nineties during the hunger winters, it's because there was no other fuel for fire. Armenians didn't enjoy burning these books, but they had little choice after sawing down every tree and pulling out every bench in parks.

I don't know what (all) Armenians you're talking about that threw away old books in the 70s and 80s.

[karakitap]

I wonder what happened to Pars Tuglaci's library?

I have the "Okyanus encyclopedia of Turkish dictionary" by Pars Tuglaci and I have to admit that Mr. Tuglaciyan is one of the most important lexicolog of Turkish language.

[Siamanto]

Armenia seems to be becoming a more and more pathetic country as each day passes.

What other county in the world would arrest someone for trying to export printed books which, by their definition, are mass-produced objects. It is obvious that it was just because he was Turkish, and not because of the actual books.

And almost none of those books will have originated in Armenia! Yerevan was a mostly a mud village full of illiterate peasants until last century. Most Armenian books were printed in Constantinople, in Venice, or in Tiflis. So, ironically, he should have stayed on his home ground and gone to Istanbul to get them. During the 1970s and 80s, when Armenians were leaving in their thousands to America or Europe, countless old Armenian books were just thrown away or burned: they could be read only by Armenians and to all Armenians they were worthless. But there should still be some to be found in second-hand bookshops and fleamarkets in Istanbul.

As for Armenia, there is little point in restricting the export of books when the number of public libraries there has been decimated, and the rest have been left to rot.

Maybe you and your perception are "becoming a more and more pathetic country as each day passes." LOL!

There are printed books of great value and considered to to be of great cultural value! What's your point?
Also, how the fact that it was not printed in Armenia would change their value?
So it really hurt your feelings to see your friends described as looters?

[Red Brigade]

All those problems are the consequences of One General Problem : The State.

[bell-the-cat]

No comment, as I have no idea what or how unique these books were. The question is, did he steal the books, or did someone give him permission to take them. If the latter, then he is not to blame, but whoever gave him permission, probably an ignorant Armenian.

Steve, have you ever heard of the Matenadaran? Yes, Armenians have ignored and continue to ignore some of their greatest authors. The reasons for this are plenty. During the Soviet era they had no choice but to censor or rat on opposing authors. Nowadays, they censor pro-Soviet works as they're trying to move on. I don't think this will last forever. There are still plenty of Armenians who do care about their literary heritage will do everything to keep these works in a safe place until the climate is right to have them mass-published for a larger audience.

As for libraries, if public libraries have decimated in the last decade because of the economic crash, most Armenians still have a private library in their own homes. The books in these are not few.

If books were burned in the early nineties during the hunger winters, it's because there was no other fuel for fire. Armenians didn't enjoy burning these books, but they had little choice after sawing down every tree and pulling out every bench in parks.

I don't know what (all) Armenians you're talking about that threw away old books in the 70s and 80s.

You've misunderstood me.

I was referring to Istanbul Armenians who just threw away all their old books in the 1970s and 1980s when they left to migrate to Europe or America.

Of course at that time there were too many Armenian books in Istanbul (the former capital of Armenian literary life) in relation to the now small Armenian population - but something should have been done to preserve these books and move them to places where Armenians were living.

I really regret never looking into that city's flea markets and secondhand bookshops in the late 80s and early 90s - but my interest in that sort of thing was minimal then. I bet, if I had known what to buy, I could have picked up original 19th century copies of Alishan's books for a few dollars, or 18th century printed bibles for not much more.