News from beyond Armenia's closed borders‏

(though this remarkable article does not give the name of the author,

it is Orhan Kemal Cengiz, a human rights advocate)

BLOODY TURK!
Today's Zaman
Sept 18 2009
Turkey

I am not a religious person. I am not Kurdish. I am not gay. I am not
Christian. I am not Armenian. I am not Roma. But I have spent all my
life defending these people's rights.

I am a human rights defender. When I describe myself, I say I am a
human rights defender, a lawyer and a writer. It was during my first
time in London in 1998 that I realized, no matter what I do, I was
a "bloody Turk" for some people. Ironically, I was working for the
Kurdish Human Right Project there, and we were taking cases to the
European Court of Human Rights, as a result of which I felt deeply
threatened by the deep state elements in my country. When I met with
the Armenian community in London, I turned into a representative of
Turkey. It was the first time my "Turkishness" took precedence over
all my qualifications.

Massacres of Armenians were orchestrated and organized by the
Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) -- which came to power through
a military coup -- while the Ottoman Empire was falling apart. After
these massacres and as a result of the lack of confrontation with our
past, the CUP and its gangs changed their format and turned into the
"deep state" in Turkey. These deep state elements continued their
massacres and manipulations and drenched Turkey with blood during
the Republican era. We have these deep state elements, but we also
have many people fighting against them with or without knowing the
history. The Ergenekon trial, in this sense, is a turning point in
this endeavor in Turkey. You can think of the Ergenekon gang as the
armed wing of the CUP in today's Turkey.

The massacres of Armenians were carried out by a certain mindset,
by a political movement. Unfortunately, this political movement also
created the official Turkish history, one in which there is no place
for Armenians. And the state is in complete denial of what happened
in Turkey in the past. This denial unfortunately gives strong support
to a racist approach toward Turkey and its people.

I was in Toronto last year attending an extremely interesting
course on genocide. For two weeks we went into all the details
of different genocides that took place in various parts of the
world. All lecturers gave exemplary presentations, and I felt I had
really learned something. However, I also realized that there was a
fundamental difference in the way in which the Armenian genocide is
being handled. When we spoke about the Holocaust, we spoke of the
Nazi regime; when we discussed the genocide in Cambodia, we talked
about the Khmer regime; when it came to the Armenian genocide, though,
we only heard the word "Turks."

Complete and blanket denial feeds complete and absolute labeling. This
is a vicious circle. It is very unfortunate that some Armenians,
while believing they are seeking justice, have turned into hopeless
racists. They do not want to believe that there are many good people
in this country. They do not want to remember that there were also
Turks who lost their lives while trying to protect Armenians. They
hold tightly on to this image of the "bloody Turk." Every Turk,
every individual living in Turkey, is just a murderer for them.

The pathology of amnesia and the pathology of blind hatred are two
sides of one coin. They both serve the same purpose: Both leave Turks
and Armenians as deeply neurotic people.

In the midst of all this madness, Hrant Dink was a safe haven of
reason, wisdom and compassion. He had a deep understanding of Turkey
and the trauma we have been suffering for so long. He was killed
because he was the hope in the face of this madness. He could have been
killed by an Armenian racist. But instead, he was killed by Turkish
racists, of course, under the guidance of the deep state. Dink was a
bloody Turk for Armenian racists and an Armenian traitor for racist
Turks. He was a dangerous figure for all who wanted to continue this
vicious circle of hatred. During his funeral, we chanted, "We all
are Hrant Dink." We all need to be Dink if we wish to contribute to
reconciliation. I bow respectfully before his memory.

RFE/RL Report

Eurovision Amends Rules, Does Not Sanction Azerbaijan
18.09.2009

The European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which organizes the song
contest, was considering fining Azerbaijan or banning it from the
contest for up to three years for violating contest rules.

The EBU said in a September 17 statement that its ruling body, the
Reference Group, acknowledges that some Azerbaijanis who voted for
the Armenian entry were called to the National Security Ministry.

The union also decried the breach in privacy of Azerbaijanis who
voted via mobile phone for the Armenian song and were reported to the
government. EBU Director-General Jean Reveillon said violating the
privacy of voters "or interrogation of individuals...is totally
unacceptable."

The EBU says the Reference Group decided at a meeting in Oslo on
September 11 to amend Eurovision Song Contest rules so that the
country's participating broadcaster is liable "for any disclosure of
information which could be used to identify voters."

The union said the rule change is aimed at ensuring that the privacy
of Eurovision contest voters is protected. It added that its previous
rules put the obligation for protection of voters' privacy on the
respective telecommunications companies. The EBU said it does not
have the ability to penalize the telecom companies but can now, in
future contests, impose sanctions against the broadcaster.

The Reference Group is made up of delegates from Norway, Russia, and
Serbia -- the last three winners of the Eurovision contest -- along
with Spain, Holland, Ireland, and two members from Sweden.

In one example of the harassment, Rovshan Nasirli, a 25-year-old
Azerbaijani, was called to the country's National Security Ministry
on August 12 to explain why he voted for an Armenian song in the
contest broadcast from Moscow in May. The officials told Nasirli that
his vote for Armenia -- Azerbaijan's long-standing rival -- was a
matter of national security and requested a written explanation
before releasing him.

ANKARA EXPECTS WITHDRAWAL FROM REGIONS

SURROUNDING NAGORNO KARABAKH
armradio.am
17.09.2009 19:01

Turkey's foreign minister and the head of the French senate met in
the Turkish capital of Ankara on Wednesday.

Commenting on relations with Armenia, Davutoglu said that Turkey
"expected the normalization of its relations with Armenia as well as
the termination of the invasion in the Azerbaijani territory."

Davutoglu said France could have a remarkable contribution to the
issue.

Gerard Larcher, the head of the French Senate, expressed on Wednesday
his full support for Turkey's Armenia reconciliation process, saluting
the country's improvements in the field of democratization.

"The normalization of relations between Turkey and Armenia is important
for us. We want to establish the future. The dialogue between the two
people should be revived. The task of examining history should be left
to historians," Larcher told reporters at a joint press conference
with Parliament Speaker Mehmet Ali Å~^ahin.
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