On Bruises, Beauties, and Makeup

[Gavur]

Reconstruction Of Surp Khach Of Akhtamar Goes On

RECONSTRUCTION OF SURP KHACH OF AKHTAMAR GOES ON

The website of Turkish NTV informed on August 18 that the reconstruction of Surp Khach Armenian church on Akhtamar Island has been completed by 35 percent. The primary goal is to finish restoration of outward walls before autumn rains begin. The NTV notes meanwhile that "the church built by Armenian king Gagik I on Akhtamar Island of the Lake Van in 915-921 stood against time". The money for restoration, 200 million 400 thousand lire, were allocated by the Culture and Tourism Ministry.

Representative of the firm carrying out the restoration, Adna Vural, told NTV, "Natural disasters and treasure hunters have severely damaged the church. We are done with the roof in the first stage. As soon as the facade is ready, we'll turn to the frescos, and specialists invited from abroad will do that job".

NTV writes that 25 specialists take part in restoration works. The works are scheduled to finish by 2006 unless nothing unplanned happens.

By Hakob Chakrian

[Gavur]

Turkish-armenian Clergyman Praises Turkish Authorities For Restoration Of

Armenpress

TURKISH-ARMENIAN CLERGYMAN PRAISES TURKISH AUTHORITIES FOR RESTORATION OF
ARMENIAN MONUMENTS

YEREVAN, AUGUST 22, ARMENPRESS: Sahak Mashalian from the Armenian
Patriarchate in Istanbul praised Turkish authorities for their latest
endeavors to restore some of Armenian historical and cultural monuments
scattered across Eastern Anatolia, citing, particularly, the recently
launched restoration of Holy t Cross Armenian church on Akhtamar Island in
Lake Van denying also allegations that restoration may result in distortion
or remodeling of Armenian churches into mosques.
"Just on the contrary, we have to encourage these endeavors of the
Turkish authorities," he told Armenpress, adding also that the Turkish
authorities have given up their policy of rebuilding Christian churches into
mosques. Father Sahak Mashalian said the Saint Cross Church on Akhtamar
island is preserved better than other Armenian churches, ascribing this to
its being located on an island. He said the Armenian Patriarchate of Turkey
has dispatched a local Armenian architect to supervise the restoration work.
Eastern Turkey was once a heartland of Armenian culture with millions of
Armenians living there at the turn of the 19th century. They were all killed
and driven out at the beginning of the 20-th century. The Holy Cross church
was one of the most important churches of those ancient Armenian lands. It
was built by Armenian King Gagik I of Vaspurakan and inaugurated in A.D.
921. Gagik's historian described it as being near a harbor and a palace with
gilded cupolas, peacefully surrounded by the lake. Only the church survived.
By 1113, the church had become the center of the Armenian Patriarchate of
Akhtamar and the center of a renowned school of scribal art and
illumination. Considered one of the most important examples of Armenian
architecture, the church has elaborate reliefs projecting up to 4 inches
from brownish-red sandstone walls, almost like sculptures. Some depict
biblical stories, such as Jonah being swallowed by the whale and Daniel in
the lion's den.

[Gavur]

ARTICLE OF "ZAMAN" DOES NOT MENTION FACT OF ANI'S BELONGING TO ARMENIA

ARTICLE OF "ZAMAN" DOES NOT MENTION FACT OF ANI'S BELONGING TO ARMENIA

ISTANBUL, AUGUST 22, NOYAN TAPAN - ARMENIANS TODAY. The Turkish
newspaper "Zaman" published an article about Ani's ruins, noting that
the number of tourists to Ani is increasing. According to the
artcicle's author Murat Kapani, it is conditioned by the fact that
tourists who want to visit Ani no longer need permission of the
military authorities. Recently the General Staff approved a decision
made by the Council of Ministers, according to which the requirement
that tourists to Ani shall have a visa has been canceled. Those
applying for a visa were to go through quite a tiring procedure, for
which reason many were reluctant to visit Ani. Now everyone is allowed
to make a trip across this 7- sq. km area with 10 churches, a palace,
two mosques, a bridge and a land plot which dates back to 5th century
BC. According to the article, about 15 thousand local and foreign
tourists visited Ani ruins last year. This number is expected to reach
30 thousand in 2005. The article wrote about numerous tribes that
popoulated Ani, but did not say a single word that the city had
belonged to Armenia. In the article, mentions can be found about
Moscques of Menucheh and Ebul Muhammeral, Churches of Kechel and St
Astvatsatsin Mayr (Fethie Mosque). The Armenian newspaper "Marmara"
(Istanbul) reminded that the city of Ani was built on the bank of the
River Arpacha (Akhurian) and belonged to the Kamsarakans, from whom it
was transferred to the Bagratids (Bagratuni) at the end of the 8th
century. In 961, the King Ashot III was crowned by Catholicos and the
capital of Aemenia was moved to Ani, with fortresses being bult there
and the city population demobilized. In 989, the King Ambat II built a
second row of fortresses. The Byzantians annexed in 1045 the kingdom
of the Bagratunis, and in 1064 the Seljuk ruler Alpaslan captured Ani.

[Gavur]

Armenian conference chance for Turkey to repair 'inaccurate anti-democratic image’

ANKARA - Turkish Daily News


An international conference on the Armenian issue postponed after politicians condemned the conference and its participants for having ideas and beliefs against Turkey's official stance on Armenian genocide allegations will convene in a few weeks.

Hrant Dink, editor in chief of the bilingual (Armenian-Turkish) Agos weekly, expressed hope that the conference would reflect a true image of Turkey, a country that has taken significant steps towards democratization.

“The cost of the postponement [of the conference] was high and unfair to Turkey because the anti-democratic image reflected by the debates at the time was not a true reflection of Turkey,” Dink told the Turkish Daily News. At the same time he confirmed that he had received an invitation to the conference slated for Sept. 23 to 25.

The postponement of the conference scheduled for May 25 consequently turned out to be a diplomatic issue for Turkey after Justice Minister Cemil Çiçek delivered harsh remarks on the domestic initiative, which dared question Turkey's official position on the Armenian issue. Çiçek said in Parliament that the conference of Turkish historians was a “stab in the back for the Turkish people.”

“We must end this treason, the spreading of propaganda against Turkey by the people who are a part of it,” Çiçek had said.

The conference will serve as an opportunity for Turkey to repair the unfortunate consequences of the postponement, according to Dink.

Çiçek's remarks, delivered in Parliament in his capacity as justice minister and government spokesman, were described by European diplomats as “shooting himself in the foot” and would “kill any support for Turkey's European Union drive in Europe.”

A Turkey-based EU diplomat said following Çiçek's remarks the Turkish government could well have a hard time explaining to the bloc that reforms for broadening freedom of expression in the country are still priorities.

[Gavur]

A Sad Chuckle

I found this article to be most interesting i hope my translation was true to the writer's intentions excuse the poor English.

Haberler
Acıklı güldürü
(1/1)

Kaynak: akşam
Yer: istanbul
Tarih: 25.8.2005

Engin Ardıç

Boğaziçi Üniversitesi bir “sempozyum” düzenlemiş, sonra da tırsmış, vazgeçmişti ya...

Çünkü konu “Ermeni meselesiydi” ve Adalet Bakanı da “bu vatana ihanettir” gibilerden bir laf edince bazı kişilerde şafak atmıştı... (Yok, “arkadan hançerlemek” gibi daha edebi bir laf etmişti galiba...)

Yok canım, toplantı iptal edilmedi, ertelendi, yani konunun “ucu açık bırakıldı” tabii.

Aha şimdi yapılacak... 23 Eylül’de başlayacak, 25 Eylül’de bitecek. Öyle “Formula 1 yarışı” bekler gibi heyecanlanmayın, hepi topu iki gün sürecek. Seyirlik bir yanı yok. Üstelik verilecek bütün “tebliğler” de şimdiden hazır olduğuna göre, hiç toplanmasan da bunları kitap halinde birleştirip bir “üniversite yayını” olarak piyasaya çıkarsan aynı hesaba gelir... Nasıl olsa toplantıya gazetecilerden, birkaç meraklı öğrenciden, kayıt yapmak üzere MİT ajanlarından başka kimse gelmez, kitabı da kimse alıp okumaz.

Toplantı yapılacak, çünkü 3 Ekim’de şu ünlü “müzakereler” başlıyor.

Açılış konuşması da kimden, biliyor musunuz? Toplantıya şiddetle karşı çıkan adalet bakanının mensup olduğu hükümetin dışişleri bakanından, Abdullah Gül’den! Çalışma arkadaşından.

Elbette “haybeden” bir konuşma olacaktır ama siyasi anlamı büyüktür.

Çünkü 3 Ekim’de Avrupa yetkililerine dönüp, “aha toplantıyı da yaptık, daha ne istiyorsunuz” diyecekler.

Konu, “Yirminci Yüzyılda Osmanlı Ermenileri” gibilerden bir ana başlıkla yuvarlanmış, tepkiler azaltılmak istenmiştir ama burada esas olarak ele alınacak meselenin “Ermeni soykırımı oldu mu olmadı mı” sorusundan ibaret kaldığını bilmeyene eşek diyorlar.

Ve de katılacak isimler arasında “liberaller” ağır bastığına göre de, sempozyumdan “olmuştur” yanıtının çıkmasından öcü gibi korkuluyor.

Bu yüzden de, “niçin ‘olmamıştır’ diyenler de çağırılmadı” tepkisi sertçe verildi.

Çünkü bazı kişilere “konuyu tarihçilere bırakalım” deyip kaçmak kolay geliyordu ama bırakmaya da bir türlü yanaşmıyorlardı. “Bizim işimize gelecek tarihçilere bırakalım, ötekilere bırakmayalım” cümlesini telaffuz etmeye hiçkimsenin yüreği yetemezdi.

Bu kez de toplantıya katılacaklar arasında yalnız tarihçiler değil, sosyologlar, yazarlar da var. İşte size “bunlar tarihçi değiller ki, bu işten ne anlarlar” deyip su koyuvermek için de bulunmaz fırsat!

Ne olacağını söyleyeyim... Toplantıdan “olmuştur, ama...” gibilerden üstü kapalı, ürkek bir sonuç çıkacaktır.

“Kırım var ama soykırım yok” görüşü ağır basacak, ölü sayısı üzerinde pazarlığa girişilecektir. Bazı Ermeniler “on beş milyon” diye kıçlarından sallıyorlar, daha makul kişiler “bir milyon ikiyüz bin” rakamını daha gerçekçi buluyorlar, devletin resmi ağızları da akşam pazarında “üç yüz bine kadar” çıktılar!

Mesele, oldu mu olmadı mı meselesinin çok üstündedir.

Mesele, para meselesidir.

Çünkü Türkiye, amansız bir tazminat yüküyle karşı karşıya kalmaktan korkuyor. Bunun ipuçları Kıbrıs’ta da verildi.

Hani, hiçbir Ermeni’nin bir kuruş istemeyeceğini bilsek, topu Osmanlı’ya atıp lafı bitireceğiz!

1915 yılında birdenbire zengin olan ve sonra da büyük bir zevkle Ankara yönetimini desteklemeye koyulan Anadolu eşrafının torunları “Yusuf Yusuf” deyimiyle yeni yeni tanışıyorlar... Dedeleri Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi’yle niçin itifak kurmuşlardı acaba? Bu tarihi “eşraf-bürokrat ittifakının” esbab-ı mucibesi neydi? Yalnızca vatanseverlik mi?

Sonra, 1945 yılında hangi öküz öldüyse, ortaklık ayrıldı!

Hangi öküzün öldüğü de bellidir: Artık eşrafın biti kanlanmıştı, bürokrat korumasına ihtiyacı kalmamıştı, “birşeylerin” hesabının sorulmayacağına da kesin kanaat getirmişti!

Hep söylerim: Ahrar Fırkası’nın, Hürriyet ve İtilaf Fırkası’nın, Terakkiperver Fırka’nın, Serbest Fırka’nın “mirasçılarının” bu “sözde soykırım” meselesinden korkmalarına gerek yok. İttihatçılar düşünsünler.

Bu cümlemi kaç kişi anladı bilmem ama başbakan anladı.



A Sad Chuckle

Source:Aksam
Place:Istanbul
Date:25.8.2005

Engin Ardic

Remember the "sempozyum" that was put-off at Bogazici University

Because the subject was "Armenian matter" and the Justice Minister was saying things like "Treason to the Nation" that put fear in some individuals...(and some other literary words like No "This is a stab in the back")

No my dear ,meeting was not canceled merely delayed,the subject was left open ended of course.

Aha it will proceed now....will start september 23rd, and end september 25th.Don't anticepate with excitement this event like Formula 1.It does not have a spectator nature to it.Furthermore since whats to be said is a foregone conclusion,instead of the meeting these could all be acumulated in a book and published as "University broadcast" to the market will mean the same difference...anyways there wont be but a few reporters,a few curious students,goverment agents to record events,and no one will get the book and read it.

This meeting will go through, because October 3rd the famous negotiations are to begin.

Do you know who will open it with a speech?The working friend of the Justice minister who strongly opposed the meeting, FM of the same goverment Abdullah Gul.

Of course there will be meaningless speech but the political implication is great.

Because then they can tell EU oficials "Aha we've done the meeting what else do you want".

Subject,"20th century Ottoman Armenians" among other similar headings is to be presented to minimize reaction but the essance of the meeting simply will be "Was there or wasn't there Armenian Genocide".And they are calling an ass who ever doesn't realize this.

And since the particapants are mostly "Liberal",theres a fear(like a fear of a Boogieman) that the concensus and anouncement will be "There Was"

Thats why there was strong reaction "Why the one's with the opposing view was not invited"

Becuse it was easy for some people to say "Lets leave this issue to the historians"and runaway but they couldn't get themselves to "Leave it".And no one had the guts to pronounce these words "Lets leave this issue to the Historians that we agree with and not to the others"

There are among the participants not only Historians but also socialogs and writers so you have an unescapable opportunity to dismiss it by claiming "They're not Historians what do they know"!

I'll tell you what'll happen...you'll hear a spooked finality coveredup in nature like "Well there was ,but..."

Views like "Massacre was Genocide not" will dominate,attemps to negotiate number of casualtys will undertake.Some Armenians through a number like "15 million" from their ass,more reasonable persons find "1.2 million"a more realistic number,the mouthpieces of the goverment in over night negotiating went as much as "300 thousand"!

The real issue is at a higher plane of the subject of "There was or was there not".

The issue is a monetary issue.

Because Turkey is afraid of being faced with almost endless compensation.The clues to this was also given with Cypruss.

Only if ,we knew no Armenian would ask for a penny,we would throw the ball on the Ottoman's lap and end the conversation!

In 1915 the ones who "sudenly" became rich and then proceeded to support the Ankara goverment with great pleasure the grandchildren of the Anatolians nicknamed "Yusuf Yusuf" are newly newly acquinting themselves..What was their grandparents reasons for forming an alliance with the ruling republican party was it mere patriotism?

Later,in 1945 don't know whose cow died,partnership disolved.

It is also apparent whose cow died.These people who fed on fresh blood got strong,they didn't need the protection of the bureocracy anymore.They believed that no one will ask them to account for "certain things"!

I always state:The heir's of the Ahrar,HurriyetandItilaf,Terakkiperver,Serbest Firka's have nothing to fear from this "Genocide Allegations".Let the Ittihatci's ponder it.

I don't know how many of you understood this sentence but i know the President did.

[Gavur]

Kurdish Rebels Claim Unarmed Insurgent Executed By Turkish Army - Paper

KURDISH REBELS CLAIM UNARMED INSURGENT EXECUTED BY TURKISH ARMY - PAPER

Ozgur Politika web site, Neu-Isenburg
24 Aug 05

Excerpt from report by German-based Kurdish newspaper Ozgur Politika
web site on 24 August

The HPG [People's Defence Force] BIM [Press and Liaison Centre]
reported that the HPG guerrilla who lost his life in Trabzon's Macka
district was executed by Turkish military and police units. The HPG
added that the guerrillas were preparing to pull out because of the
ruling to cease activities, that they were unarmed, that no warning
was given before being fired on, and that the incident was being made
to look like a firefight.

The HPG BIM issued a statement on the death of a guerrilla in Macka,
Trabzon. The BIM said that one guerrilla was executed while unarmed by
military and police forces on 21 August, and that one more guerrilla
was taken prisoner.

The BIM said this about the incident: "Our forces in the Black Sea area
had received instructions to return to their defensive areas after the
HPG made the decision to cease activities and were preparing to move
in order to make final preparations. They wanted to complete their
preparations in the Macka district of Trabzon. Wanting to drop their
weapons off at a suitable location then enter the district centre to
purchase supplies our colleagues were fired on without warning by TSK
[Turkish Armed Forces] and police units. While it had been possible
for them to surrender our colleagues were fired on and it made to look
like a firefight. Two police officers were injured in the incident
whereas our colleague Ferhat (Ferhat HASO from southwest Kurdistan)
was brutally executed. One guerrilla was taken prisoner."

The statement also condemned the lynching given to the captured
guerrilla. The statement called on the public to be aware saying,
"This lynching is a reflection of the racist, chauvinist mindset that
insists on war, and is an act of provocation."

[Gavur]

Istanbul: Archbishop Nersess xxxabalyan Celebrates Divine Liturgy on Kinali Island

Istanbul: Archbishop Nersess xxxabalyan Celebrates Divine Liturgy on Kinali Island
(1/1)

Kaynak: lraper
Yer: istanbul
Tarih: 29.8.2005


Lraper Church Bulletin 27/08/2005
Contact: Deacon Vagharshag Seropyan
Armenian Patriarchate
TR-34130 Kumkapi, Istanbul
T: +90 (212) 517-0970, 517-0971
F: +90 (212) 516-4833, 458-1365
[email protected]

https://www.lraper.org

THE FEAST OF THE HOLY MOTHER OF GOD IS CELEBRATED ON KINALI ISLAND

Photos: http://www.lraper.org/main.aspx?Acti...00913&Lang=ENG

The Feast of Saint Mary, the Holy Mother of God, this year was celebrated with traditional joy on Sunday, 14 August 2005, at the Armenian Church of St. Gregory the Illuminator on Kinali Island. For the occasion, Father Tatul Anusyan, Armenian Pastor of the Princes’ Islands, officiated at Vespers and later led the Vigil on Saturday night.

After the morning prayers on Sunday, His Grace Archbishop Nerses xxxabalyan, who is on Kinali Island for his summer vacation, presided over the Divine Liturgy. Father Tatul Anusyan, and stole-bearers Berc Kaprielyan and Artun Tekiroglu served at the altar. In spite of the extreme heat and humidity on Kinali Island, the church was packed from the early hours on, and thousands of church members, joining together in spiritual reverence, made for full participation in the liturgy.

Archbishop Nerses preached prior to the Lord’s Prayer. He called the Holy Mother of God a spiritual resource that we can take as an example for ourselves. He invited the congregation to do so.

Following the liturgy, Archbishop Nerses processed out to the terrace of the church where he blessed the grapes that were presented there and that were then distributed to thousands of people.

Meanwhile, as the services took place in the church, some members of a group called “Truth” (Hakikat) entered the church garden and made worshippers uncomfortable by distributing brochures that criticized the Christian faith. They said that they had permission to give out the brochures, but after being warned by those in the garden, they went back out into the street and continued handing out the brochures in front of the church entrance.

The police station on the Island, later, said that they had no information on this Islamic group.

[Gavur]

Nationalists And Islamic Conservatives Stoke The Anti-europe Passions

NATIONALISTS AND ISLAMIC CONSERVATIVES STOKE THE ANTI-EUROPE PASSIONS
By Amberin Zaman in Camlihemsin

Daily Telegraph, United Kingdom
Sept 2 2005

No country other than Turkey has had to wait 42 years at Europe's
door. With each new condition the European Union places on Turkey's
joining the EU, anger has risen and now the country is engulfed by
anti-EU feelings.

"If I were Erdogan [the Turkish prime minister] I would tell them to
go to hell," said Ender Buberoglu, a farmer in the town of Camlihemsin
in the Black Sea province of Rize, where nationalist passions run
especially high. "I would say, if you don't want us, we want you
even less."

Anti-EU feeling has been increasing since December when EU leaders
agreed to open membership negotiations for Turkey on Oct 3, but with
a string of conditions viewed as humiliating by many Turks.

Unprecedented political stability and economic revival under prime
minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's mildly Islamist government has boosted
national confidence. The surge of patriotism can be seen in the number
of Turkish flags hanging in windows across the country.

The swelling army of Euro-sceptics believe that Europe's "real" agenda
is to weaken and dismember Turkey. Their suspicions are sharpened
by demands within the EU that the Kurds be granted further rights
and that Turkey apologise for the mass slaughter of Armenians by the
Ottomans during and after the First World War.

"Turkey cannot allow itself to be deceived... to be forced to
make irreversible concessions on Cyprus, the Aegean Sea, Armenian
allegations and minority issues," said Gunduz Aktan, a former Turkish
ambassador, who heads a conservative think-tank in Ankara.

In a sign that the anti-EU camp is gaining ground, a prosecutor in
Istanbul this week charged one of Turkey's best known authors, Orhan
Pamuk, for "denigrating the Turkish people".

Pamuk could face up to three years in prison if found guilty for
telling a Swiss newspaper in February that "30,000 Kurds and one
million Armenian were killed in these lands and nobody but me dares
to talk about it". His comments triggered accusations of treason and
even death threats.

Some Western diplomats speculated that the timing of the case -
just as EU foreign ministers were preparing to discuss Turkey -
was planned by a coalition of anti-EU elements, who want to sabotage
Turkey's membership.

The same forces are also thought to be quietly stoking the tension
between Turks and Kurds, which spilled over into violence last week
when a Kurdish family was lynched by a crowd in the town of Seferhisar
in western Turkey after they were accused of being terrorists.

Mr Erdogan travelled to Diyarbakir, the largest city in the
predominantly Kurdish south-east last month, where he became the
first Turkish leader to publicly concede that Turkey had mishandled
the Kurds. In a landmark speech that infuriated his nationalist
opponents. Mr Erdogan pledged to address the Kurds' grievances.

Mr Erdogan's words were hailed by EU officials as proof that he will
not buckle under nationalist pressure, but he is facing criticism
from conservatives within his own party, who are disgruntled over his
failure to ease restrictions on Islamic education and on the wearing
of the Islamic headscarf.

The Turkish foreign minister, Abdullah Gul, warned in a recent
interview in a recent interview, that a "no" from Europe would be seen
throughout the Islamic world as proof that the EU is a "Christian
Club." He added: "That is when the clash of civilizations may well
and truly begin."

[Gavur]

Zaraqolu: 1915 Has Deep Roots That Stipulate Turkish Denialism

ZARAQOLU: 1915 HAS DEEP ROOTS THAT STIPULATE TURKISH DENIALISM
By Hakob Chakrian

AZG Armenian Daily #156, 02/09/2005

Turkey

The hubbub in Turkish society over the decision of the Bosphorus
University of Istanbul to hold "The Ottoman Armenians at the
Decline of the Empire" workshop postponed because of the state
authorities' opposition is as great as it was while postponing the
workshop. Interestingly, the initiative of holding the workshop came
from Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan who personal asked
Prof. Ayse Soysal of Bosphorus University about it.

Though the uproar poses the organizers to attacks and stirs
anti-Armenian moods, it still contributes to unearthing the issue of
the Armenian Genocide in Turkish reality and to revealing all bareness
of Turkish denialism. This is happening thanks to tenacious Turkish
scientists. One of such is Ragep Zaraqolu. Akos Armenian newspaper
of Istanbul published in its July 8 issue the article of Zaraqolu
titled "1915 has its deep roots" that was previously published in
Zaraqolu's Uzun Yuruyus magazine in spring. To prove the historicity
of the Armenian Genocide, the author bares the hidden reasons why
the Turkish Republic takes a firm hold of denialism.

Here is what Zaraqolu writes: "There is an impression that the
tragedy will not look that horrifying, everybody will come down and
the elimination of a whole people will be seen as something natural
once the term 'genocide' is eschewed.

"If it is not so, what's the point of sticking to disgusting
denialism? The point is, of course, distortion of the issue and
prevention of discussions over the essence of the things, over the
scale events and over the historic continuance. But there is one
more point to be mentioned, it is the tendency of keeping the truths
concerning the foundation of Turkish Republic under wraps.

"The state does not want the names of those who occupied high positions
in the mechanism that organized mass killings of the Armenians
come into light. It is attempting to keep this sphere sealed
off. Everything is being done to erase the period from 1915 till
the republic from memory. Those doing the opposite are immediately
accused of dishonoring the republic created by "heroic efforts" and
"honest" purposes. Yet, without examining the official ideology it
is impossible to create a democratic state.

"If you take a look at the group photo shot on occasion of opening the
session of the Turkish National Assembly in 1936, you will notice two
officials right behind the president (Ataturk) who occupied important
posts in 1915. One of them, Mustafa Helik Renda, was the chairman
of the National Assembly in 1936. The second figure was Mustafa
Abdulhalik who was the governor of Bitlis in 1915. I played major
role in uprooting Armenians from Bitlis and Mush. Then he tracked
down those who miraculously escaped to Syrian deserts and killed
them. Abdulhalik was meanwhile one of the chief advisers of Taleat.

"It was greatly thanks to his efforts that Ismet pasha was elected
president after Ataturk's death. The first thing Ismet pasha did
was granting pardon to members of Ittihat Party and making part of
the authority. In 1943, he signed an agreement with Nazi Germany to
convey remains of Taleat pasha to Turkey.

"Suqru Qajan, interior minister, is another political figure form
the 1936 photo. He was the chief coordinator of the Armenians'
deportation, i.e. annihilation. Qajan, secretary general of People's
Republican Party in 1927-38, rebuilt the party a la Italian fascistic
organization.

"Prof. Tevfik Salim, rector of Istanbul University in 1943-46, was a
military doctor in 1915. According to a letter published in Alemdar
newspaper on 1919, he carried out medical experiments on Armenian
soldiers injecting them a virus of typhoid. A clinic at the Istanbul
University bearing his name still functions today.

"One of the regions of Van province is named after Qyazm Ozalp,
chairman of the National Assembly in 1924-35. He was elected deputy
from the province of Van. Yet, he also was a member of Ittihat ve
Terakki Party and the commander of the 36th platoon that cleared Mush
off Armenian soldiers. Nurin, brother Enver pasha who quenched the
Commune of Baku in 1918 slaughtering local Armenians, used to trade in
drugs with Germany during the WW II. In 1945, he disappeared together
with his factory of weapons.

"As you can see, events go as deep as the year of 1915. Perhaps that's
the reason why discussion of such issues is cut immediately."

[Gavur]

Turkish nationalists attack buses carrying Kurdish demonstrators

Turkish nationalists attack buses carrying Kurdish demonstrators


Canadian Press


Sunday, September 04, 2005



ANKARA, Turkey (AP) - A group of nationalist Turks attacked dozens of buses carrying pro-Kurdish demonstrators with stones on Sunday, following violent clashes between Kurdish demonstrators and police in Istanbul, reports said.

Tensions began Sunday morning when Kurdish demonstrators in Istanbul threw stones and firebombs during a rally to protest the solitary confinement of the imprisoned Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan. Later, paramilitary police blocked thousands of other pro-Kurdish demonstrators loaded on buses from reaching the northwestern port town of Gemlik to stage an unauthorized demonstration. The port is used by Ocalan's lawyers to travel to the prison island of Imrali, where the rebel leader is the only inmate.

On their return, angry Turkish nationalists stopped the convoy at a makeshift roadblock, set car tires on fire and smashed the windows of the buses with stones, video showed. Several demonstrators were injured, according to news reports.

Nationalist Turks oppose any concessions toward Kurdish rebels who have been fighting for autonomy in southeast Turkey in a conflict that claimed the lives of 37,000 people since 1984.

Ocalan's Kurdish rebel group, the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, announced a unilateral ceasefire on Aug. 19 after Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed to improve economic conditions in predominantly Kurdish areas and offer greater cultural freedoms for Kurds.

Turkish military officials have said they will fight until all rebels surrender or are killed.

A senior rebel commander, Murat Karayilan, said he would not be "held responsible" if violence increased after the one-month ceasefire expired on Sept. 20, pro-Kurdish Ozgur Gundem newspaper reported.