401) Freed Scholar Yektan Turkyilmaz Speaks Out

Four months ago, Yektan Turkyilmaz was a doctoral student in cultural anthropology at Duke University, well-regarded but little known outside his field. Then, on June 17, authorities at the airport in Yerevan, Armenia ordered him off a plane and placed him under arrest, confiscating nearly 100 books and CDs of research he had done as the first Turkish scholar ever granted access to the National Archives of Armenia. . . .

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400) Yegisabeth Kasebian Is An Armenian Grandmother ...

Yegisabeth Kasebian Is An Armenian Grandmother - Unlike Other Diaspora Grandmothers She Says That Turkish Soldiers Protected Them During The Relocation And Did Not Harm Them,As Others Have Been Claiming For Ages,

Mahmut Esat Ozan Chairman
-Editorial Board The Turkish Forum- USA
(this article is humbly dedicated to an irreplaceable Turkish Lady called Fatma Sarikaya) . .

I do not believe that any Armenian person, man or woman, young or old, rich or poor would admit that the story below could have ever happened. These unfortunate people almost from infancy on have been fed a pabulum called the' Armenian genocide,' plus a goodly portion of pure hatred for the Turks. This has been their gospel truth inculcated in them not only in their homes and Churches but also at every phase of their lives from cradle to grave.

When I first heard recently about the story below, I promised myself to publicize it as many times as I could in the future. That is what I am doing here to let the rest of the world meet and admire this different kind of Armenian grandmother, born in the Ottoman Empire who kept her closeness to her birth place and her love for her second native tongue,Turkish.

Yegisabeth Kasebian is one courageous old woman among many who comes along and is brave enough to tell the truth as it really happened. After her narration which appeared in a Lebanese magazine, the Tashnaks started calling her ugly names. When this story first surfaced, the publication began hearing hundreds of complaints, 95 per cent coming from abroad This is a good indication that the Armenian Diaspora is alive and well and will not give an inch of their deceptive ground to historical facts. Ironically most of the mail received spoke about the fact that she was either a salaried agent of the Turkish government in Ankara or that she was senile. Many letter writers said that this grandmother's words did not jibe at all with the stories they had heard from their own grandmothers.

Yegisabeth had personally witnessed the relocation of Armenians from the war zone of Eastern Turkey. She had gone through the same marches as others had done .The only difference between her account and others' was something called the truth. .

TRUTH IS STRANGER THAN FICTION

Armenians who immigrated to Lebanon during 1915's bitter incidents in Ottoman lands formed brand new lives for themselves. Leaving the past to the historians, Armenians in Beirut, unlike those in the Armenian Diaspora elsewhere, do not hold grudges against Turkey. Along with the Anatolian culture which they left 90 years ago, they hand down theTurkish language from generation to generation in Beirut.

An old woman living in the Bekaa Valley sings a Turkish folk song. Her name is Yeghisabeth

Kesabian. She is 105 years old and the last witness of the expulsion. She was 15 years old when she came to Lebanon from Hatay via Syria in 1915. During the journey, she says they went through great hardship: "We walked for days. Turkish cavalry were always next to us. They were protecting us against the attacks, but they sometimes were beating us when we were not able to walk fast enough to catch up with the others.She admits that it was a very hard forced walk and a difficult journey." After about three months of travel, Kesabian came to the Bekaa Valley's Anjar region along with her relatives, of whom she is the oldest. She lives with her daughter Sara and her grandchildren. Even her greatdgrandson, eight-year-old Mardiros knows Turkish. Kesabian taught him Turkish songs.

Her adventure is not limited to1915. After coming to Lebanon, she went back to Samandag in Hatay (now a province of Turkey ) and got married. She cannot forget that day in Turkey. "I was so happy. Our neighbors, relatives, everyone was there. Rain after the wedding means prosperity. At my wedding, it was raining. Our neighbor prayed for rain. A short while later, it started to rain. My wedding dress got wet. Since I had no other clothes, my mother-in-law dried my dress and helped me to wear it again."

Married in Turkey, Kesabian puts her finger on a historical point that is missed about her return to Lebanon. In 1939, after Hatay's being included within Turkish borders, of her own will, she returned to the Bekaa Valley with a group of Armenians and continued her life in the valley. During this period, again Turks did nothing wrong against them and they returned to Lebanon upon their own free will. "The French told us, 'come here', then we went there. When we wanted to leave, Turkish soldiers helped us to get into the cars and escorted us to Damascus. Then, the French took over. In those years, Turks did nothing wrong to Armenians."

Kesabian, one of the last witnesses of the expulsion misses Turkey a great deal. In particular, she wanted to see the village in which she spent her childhood and where she was married; however, she has not fulfilled her wish yet. Now, she has a single request of her grandchildren and her daughter: She wants them to take her to Hatay before she dies.

*
They still live in Lebanon and dream of Turkey. They listen to Ibo,(Ibrahim Tatlises a Turkish singer) Support the soccer team called Galatasaray

The names in the Borj Hammoud district of Southern Beirut are the same as the ones in Turkey. Maras, Antep, Adana. The name of the biggest district is "Yeni Maras" It is the same as any district in Kahramanmaras in Turkey - narrow streets, noisy children, the smells of spices coming from the shops. jewelry brought from the Turkish cities, Adana, Mersin and Kilis, charms saying "Mashallah", "Allah Korusun" on them, dried mulberry, grape pectin. people are familiar, streets are familiar, shops are familiar. the kids cry out at Ibrahim Tatlises and Galatasaray. Everybody is like they have seen the Turkish movie "Copculer Krali" They know the Turkish actor Kemal Sunal and call him "Copcu". Children support two teams here; one is from Turkey and one is from rest of the World. They support and watch the matches of Galatasaray, Fenerbahce and Besiktas besides the matches of Barcelona and Real Madrid. Fifteen-year-old Artin Taursarkisyan is a fan of Galatasaray. He follows the matches onTurkish TV channels. The other team that Taursarkisyan supports is Real Madrid. But the football player in his dreams is not Zidane or Figo, he is Hakan Sukur. of Galatasaray. There is no animosity between these Armenians and their neighbors the Turks . (It suffices to say that they have no enmity between these people because they have not witnessed the fabricated Armenian genocide)

Not only do these Armenians watch the Turkish broadcasts of Mehmet Ali Erbil and other Turkish TV series; they even watch women,'s morning programs. People in Borj Mahmoud watch Turkish TV channels. But the Turkish TV channels broadcast by cable were closed temporarily by the Tashnak due to April 24.

Beiruti Armenians live like Turkish people and they show a different Diaspora characteristic than the widely known one. They allow the sale of food and textile products brought from Turkey, the beads with "Mashallah" and "Allah Korusun" scripts are bought by Armenians and hung on the walls of their houses. Armenian businessmen are always in touch with Turkey and they bring most of the goods they sell from Turkey. The grocer Mano Lenbelian, who sells food and jewelry, is one of them and he often goes to Turkey for this reason. He teaches Turkish to his children, a language which he learned from his grandfather. He speaks Turkish with an Adana accent and goes to Antep, Urfa, Kilis and Antep regularly. He is not interested in political issues like "Genocide" or "Emmigration" He says: "There is no problem with Turkey for me. There should be peace and dialog now. Those mistakes should be left in the past, let the historians discuss these issues. Society is negatively affected by these kinds of struggles. I get along well with Turks. We have no problems. And the others also should not create problems for us . I sell the dried vegetables and fruits to Armenians here. They like these products very much. Also Armenians buy the beads with scripts "mashallah" and "Allah Korusun, If I can sell these Turkish products, it means that there is no problem between the two nations."

RESTOKIAN : WE LIVE LIKE TURKS

Meraat Al Khaleej magazine's Editor-in-Chief Nataly Restokian, who will come to Antalya ,Turkey, for a top-level business meeting to be organized this summer, says that this is not well seen by some radical Armenians. Tashnak's attitude harms bilateral relations between the two countries according to her. "Armenians have two options:

1) Don't think about Turkey at all and wage war or 2_ Have dialogue and solve the problem. The first option is impossible. We are living here like Turks. We watch Turkish television. I eat Ulker biscuits, listen to Ibrahim Tatlises. I wear clothes made in Turkey and so do the others. But for the second option, we have to work hard. Life goes on. I don't want to deal with the past. I want peace and fraternity, not fighting." When you get to know Restokian and talk with her, you see that her expressions are not political.

'Money cannot be a black cat between our friendship with the Turks'

An Urfa Kebap House in Yeni Maras,in Beitut, is in a neighborhood mostly populated by Armenians. .. Besides having the most delicious kebaps and lahmacuns, the manager of the house is talkative and a gentleman and that makes interest in the restaurant grow. There are places and very polite helpers or managers who are serving various authentic foods from around the world. But this place has many things to tell Turkish people and the world, because its owner is the son of an Armenian family who immigrated to Lebanon in 1915. His name is Levon Restokian.

Speaking Turkish, Restokian is as good as a local in Urfa in Turkey. He makes the best lahmacun. The word "genocide" for Restokia does not have as much meaning as it does for Diaspora Armenians. According to him, the war incident was one of the mistakes made by Armenians during history and it is nonsense to build up an entire life over this "mistake".

Among his customers, there are many Turks as well as second and third generation Armenians who emigrated from Turkey. On Thursdays especially the biggest demand for lahmacun and doner kebap is from the Turkish Embassy personnel in Beirut. His relations with his Turkish customers are beyond those of merchant-customer. Even more so, some customers like me do not pay the bill at the store. "Money cannot be a black cat (rift) between our friendship," he says and he is still interested in Turkey a great deal. He tells his children about Turkey and teaches them Turkish.

If we leave aside the "Tashnaks" who are the most radical group of Armenians in Diaspora, Restokian represents the average Armenian living in Lebanon, namely people who speak Turkish, who prefer to leave the issues about Turkey and the "things which happened in the past to historians".

The Diaspora in this country, Lebanon is in fact quite ancient and rooted. It is organized in a wide area from churches to political parties, from media to economic organizations. They live mainly in a densely populated area in Bori Hammoud, in Beirut and Anjar, Bekaa. Valley. They have 3 deputies in parliament.Now debates over genocide are on the agenda due to the anniversary of the events of 1915. But these issues do not take place in daily life. Even the new generations think very different. The daughter of lahmacun master Restokian who, is even loved by Turks, loves Turkey and Turks as much as her father. Nataly Restokian is the editor of the magazine, previously mentioned, addresses the rich businessman of the Arab world and the elite of the country. Nataly Restokian says, "It should no longer be a problem for us that our fathers and grandfathers disagreed with each other and killed each other."

I hope that the 105 year old grandmother Yegisabeth Kasebian attains her wish to see Hatay, her birthplace in Turkey, once more before she passes away, and that the level-headed majority of the Armenians of Lebanon get rid of the radical bull-headed Tashnak politicians in order to prepare peaceful and better tomorrows for everyone concerned.

I'd like to close with the words of the American Patriot Patrick Henry who once said: "I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past."

meozan@turkishforum.com

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399) Armenian conference finally gets under way at Bilgi University

A disputed conference questioning Turkey's official line on the alleged massacre of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire began on Saturday amid protests by nationalist groups against the participants and the government.

The academic conference is apparently the first time an institution in the modern Turkish Republic, the successor state of the empire and now a European Union candidate, has hosted an event in which speakers will be permitted to argue that the fathers and grandfather's of . . .

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398) Armenian rebuke deals blow to Turks' EU ambition

Turkey received a direct rebuke from the European Commission yesterday after a court ruling prompted the cancellation of a conference of historians to discuss the massacre of Armenians early in the last century.

Coming just 10 days before Ankara is due to open EU membership negotiations the judgement prompted an unusually blunt condemnation from the . . .

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397) Kocharian Accuses Jews of Monopolizing Genocide Issues

Jan SOYKOK

 

ISTANBUL (JTW) - Armenian President Robert Kocharian said “Jews want a Jewish monopoly on genocide. I mean Jews would not accept other peoples’ genocides. But they will be changed, or they will have nothing to change�, Husnu Mahalli from Aksam daily paper reported.

 

Mahalli, who works for Aksam newspaper in Istanbul , said that Kocharian gave an interview to him in 1998 and confessed his true ideas about the Jews. According to Mahalli’s column, Kocharian accuses the Jewish people of not respecting other ‘nations’ tragedies’.

 

 

Moreover Kocharian said in his interview with Husnu Mahalli that would make anything possible to force to shift its Armenian policies in 2005. Kocharian further continued in the interview:

 

 

“In 90th anniversary of the genocide we will apply steady force on in European and American platforms in order to force to shift its policies. But will give up in 100th anniversary (2015). I mean will have to accept genocide and she will pay compensation.�

 

Kocharian also implied that the Jews in the cannot prevent Armenians.

 

‘KOCHARIAN DREAMS’

 

 

Turkish Armenian experts on the other hand found Kocharian ‘extremely optimistic’: Dr. Nilgun Gulcan from ISRO for instance argues that “Armenians accuse the Jews for anything they cannot success�. Dr. Gulcan further continued:

 

“A typical Jewish-sceptic Armenian approach. Armenian President Kocharian accuses the Jewish people. He says Jews want a monopoly on genocide issue. He implies that Jewish people intentionally rejects the Armenian genocide allegations. However he never question the Armenian policies. Armenians just accuse… to Jewish or to Turkish people for their own failures… Mr. Kocharian is extremely optimistic. He as a president cannot solve the economic problems of and rely on the imagined compensation which would come from .�

 

 

Similarly Kazim Turkcan also criticized President Kocharian: “He (Mr. Kocharian) confesses that the Armenian Government spent enormous energy for anti-Turkish lobbying in Europe and in the . If continues to undermine ’s national interests in these countries, should not expect any co-operation with . Yerevan criticized in bordergate issue. However ’s President undermines ’s interests in Europe and in the .� Turkcan added.

 

: ‘NO PARALLELS BETWEEN HOLOCAUST AND THE 1915 EVENTS’

 

In recent years the Israeli government’s attitude vis-à-vis Turkish and Armenians has changed and has not hesitate to declare its opposition to the Armenian claims. The Nobel Peace Prize Awarded former Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres for example declared that the Armenian political claims are meaningless. Peres in his speech in April 2003 left no doubt about that has a similar view with the Turkish government on the question of the 1915 Relocation, saying that the fate of the Armenians in Anatolia was a ‘tragedy’, not a genocide. Peres had further continued:

 

‘Armenian allegations are meaningless… We reject attempts to create a similarity between the Holocaust and the Armenian allegations. Nothing similar to the Holocaust occurred. It is a tragedy what the Armenians went through but not a genocide... should not determine a historical or philosophical position on the Armenian issue. If we have to determine a position, it should be done with great care not to distort the historical realities.’

 

Apart from the Armenian claims issue Peres underscored the good relations between the Turkish and Jewish peoples, and made special note of the esteem in which is held by the Jewish lobby in Washington . Peres having claimed ‘Turkey and Israel are in the same boat and Turkey-Israel relations are extremely good, said that he hoped the lobby would continue to lend support to Turkish causes. Peres’ statement caused great reaction among the radical Armenians; The Asbarez, a periodical of a radical Armenian political group, labeled Peres and as ‘denier’. Haig Boyodjian from the same periodical protested and further said ‘we Armenians in turn reject Israeli efforts at denying the reality of another genocide preceding theirs’.

 

MEMORIAL DAY: NO WAY TO THE ARMENIAN ALLEGATIONS

 

In addition to Shimon Peres’ statements the First Holocaust Memorial Day in also provided clear proofs for the Jewish stance on the issue of the Armenian attempts to create parallel between the 1915 events and the Jewish Holocaust. When the British government with the BBC organised a Holocaust Memorial Day, the Armenian lobbying groups saw this as an opportunity although the focus of the day was solely the events in the World War Two. In spite of this the Armenian political groups accused the British government and claimed that the British simply ignored the Armenians. Nevertheless they applied to join the day as the ‘victims’ of, as they called, a genocide. As expected the Armenian application was turned down by the British Government and the BBC and the Armenian groups were informed by the Home Office that the memorial ceremonies were designed for the Holocaust only. The representatives of the British Government frequently declared that the had never recognized the 1915 events as ‘genocide’ and its stance regarding the Armenian allegations remained the same. Not only the British but also the Jewish people and were unhappy with the Armenian political attempts. As seen Shimon Peres had clearly refused the Armenian claims while the British Jewish never supported the Armenian attempt. ’s Jewish community also declared that inclusion of other ‘so-called genocides’ in the commemoration of Holocaust Memorial Day in would be disrespectful to the Jews killed by the Nazis.

 

As the examples demonstrated that has made it clear its position about the Armenian allegations and officially and clearly rejected all Armenian attempts to present the 1915 Relocation as ‘genocide’. Another vivid example came from the Israeli Ambassador to Armenian Rivka Kohen. Mrs. Kohen on 7 February 2002, during a press conference in Yerevan said that the Israeli people and government are sorry for the both sides of the tragic events of 1915, but she refused to draw any parallels between the 1915 events and Holocaust. Rivka Kohen implied that the 1915 events couldn’t be considered as ‘genocide’ because the mass killings in these events were not planned and the Turkish Government had no intention to destroy a nation or a group of people. As a well-known fact many people from the Armenian and Muslim groups had lost their life in these events. She further argued that Holocaust is unique:

 

‘Holocaust was a unique phenomenon, since it had always planned and aimed to destroy the whole nation. At this stage nothing should be compared with Holocaust.’

 

The Armenian reaction to Kohen’s comment was bitter: First, Dzyunik Agadzhanyian from the Armenian Foreign Ministry said Kohen’s statements were “unusual and sad�:

 

‘It is sad that the political leadership of the nation which went through the Holocaust continues to adhere to such position, based on unclear political reasons’.[101]

 

Then, the Armenian Aryan party urged persona non grata status for the Israeli Ambassador. For the Aryan party, Kohen’s “pro-Turkish� statement was “cynical and interference in ’s internal affairs�. Aryan’s press release declared as “genocide denier� and claimed that helps and against . After an anti-Israel campaign, Armenian Foreign Ministry had to change its ‘moderate’ position. On 15 February Dzyunik Agadzhanyan the spokeswoman for the Armenian Foreign Ministry gave an interview to the Armenian press and criticized Kohen and Israeli policy regarding the Armenian issue. Agadzhanyan told the reporter that the Armenian Foreign Minister strongly denounced Israeli Ambassador’s remarks:

 

‘Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan has unequivocally negatively assessed Ambassador Kohen’s statement. Earlier the Armenian Foreign Ministry also negatively assessed a similar statement by Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres. This time the Armenian foreign minister has again taken serious steps to express his dissatisfaction… It is really regrettable that Israeli diplomacy sticks to such a position, which stems from certain political considerations…’

 

 

After the statement Armenian Foreign Ministry issued a note of protest to Israel over the Ambassador’s remarks and the Ministry cancelled Oskanian’s official visit to Israel which had been planned before the Ambassador crisis as Ms. Ashjain said ‘at this moment no visit on the level of foreign affairs minister is planned to Israel, and no delegation is expected from Israel at this moment in Armenia.’ As expected did not accept the accusations and Israeli Foreign Ministry released its answer to the Armenian note of protest:

 

‘As Jews and Israelis we are sorry for the killings and tragedies that took place particularly in 1915-16. We understand the outbursts of the feelings of both sides (Turks and Armenians) know that there were many victims and realize the suffering of nation. The examination of this theme requires discussions with participation of large communities of society and dialogue of historians, which will be based on facts and proofs.’

 

As anticipated this reply did not satisfy the Armenians and the Armenian press blamed Israel and accused the Israeli Foreign Ministry of ‘playing dirty political games’ In conclusion, Israel’s attitude regarding the Armenian allegation has deeply affected the relation between both states; on the one hand Armenia has insisted on its allegations and accused Turkey and Israel for their positions, on the other it has criticized Turks and Israelis for not to develop good relations with Armenia.

 

And now Armenian President Kocharian accused the Jews of maintaining a monopoly on genocide issues.

 

Jewish people in Armenia & Armen Avetisin, Armenian Ultranationalist Who was Tried For Anti-Semitism

 

Copyright: JTW
24 September 2005

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396) 16 Armenian Schools in Turkey Opens First Semester

ISTANBUL - The new education period has been started. The minority schools also opened the education session. There are 16 Armenian schools with 3219 students and 412 teachers. Many more Armenian students attend the ‘normal’ schools.

 

This year about 454 children were registered to the Armenian kindergartens. 2107 students were registered to the primary and secondary schools. 658 Armenian students were registered to the Armenian high schools.

 

Apart from the normal courses, the Turkish Armenian schools also give Armenian language and Armenian religion courses to their students.

 

Patriarch Mesrop II, religious leader of Turkish Armenians, said that the Armenian language courses and Arme
nian culture courses in these schools are crucial to maintain the existence of Armenian minority in Turkey. The main problem of the Armenian population in Turkey is voluntary ‘assimilation’. Many Armenians do not attend the Armenian Church and Armenian schools. Another problem is the mixed marriages.

 

There are about 100.000 Armenians in Istanbul and they have all the rights to take education in their own schools. Apart from the Armenian schools there are Armenian health institutions, sport clubs and cultural-social organizations. Moreover 3 Armenian newspaper are published in Istanbul.

 

Apart from the Turkish Armenians, more than 50. 000 Armenians come to ıstanbul to work from Armenia.

 

Armenian Schools in Istanbul and Student Numbers:

 

Aramyan: 142 students.
Bezciya: 161 students.
Bomonti Mihtaryan: 40 students.
Kalfayan: 101 students.
Dadyan: 411 students.
Esayan: 313 students.
Getronagan: 211 students.
Karagozyan: 175 students.
Levon Vartuhyan: 123 students.
Ferikoy: 237 students.
Pangalti Mihtaryan: 362 students.
Sahakyan: 400 students.
Samatya Anarat Higutyun: 74 students.
Ortakoy Tarkmancats: 143 students.
Tibrevank: 78 students.
Yesilkoy: 248 students.

 

Turkish Armenians

 

JTW, with Agos and Bolsohays.
23 September 2005.

 

turkishweekly.net

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395) 'Sword of Damocles' dangling over Turkey

Armenian genocide resolutions, if approved by the US House of Representatives, may paralyze already damaged Turkish-US relations

Turkey's relationship with the United States, already damaged by disputes over Iraq, may deteriorate at an unprecedented rate in the event the U.S. House of Representatives approves two "Armenian genocide" resolutions passed by a house panel last week, Turkish diplomats warned. . . .

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394) TURKEY AND ARMENIA SHOULD SIT AT BARGAINING TABLE WITHOUT ESCAPING FROM THEIR PAST -PanARMENIAN.Net

 

“Turkey and Armenia should not put obstacles for cooperation, but should sit at bargaining table without escaping from their past and constantly moving forward via dialogue,� stated Chairman of the National Assembly of Armenia Artur Baghdassaryan at a meting with experts at US Center for International Strategic Studies.

 

“There is nothing bad about the neighboring country becoming a EU member,� the Armenian Speaker answered to a question on Turkey’s possible accession to the EU. “I see the future of the region in the enlarged European Union,� Baghdassaryan stated.

 

At that he noted that “The Armenian Genocide cannot be consigned to oblivion.� The Speaker again reminded that in its time the Holocaust was not prevented also due to the international community not recognizing and condemned the Armenian Genocide.

 

It should be noted that A. Baghdassaryan left for the US on an official call August 31.

 

The head of the Armenian Parliament will take part in the world forum of speakers and will meet with representatives of the US executive, reported IA Regnum.

 

 

/PanARMENIAN.Net/

03.09.2005 03:52

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393) Professor Lewy Blows So-Called Armenian Genocide Allegations

 

The famous US Political Scientist Professor, Guenter Lewy, announced that documents and interpretations related to the three main plots forming the base of the so-called Armenian genocide allegations were at least suspicious and the allegations never proved that Armenian murders from the beginning of the last century were pre-planned.

 

Professor Lewy, who studies at the Massachusetts University, wrote in his article titled “revisiting the Armenian Genocide� that has been published in the fall edition of the Middle East Quarterly: “Most of those who maintain that Armenian deaths were premeditated and so constitute genocide base their argument on three pillars: the actions of Turkish military courts of 1919-20, which convicted officials of the Young Turk government of organizing massacres of Armenians, the role of the so-called "Special Organization" accused of carrying out the massacres, and the Memoirs of Naim Bey which contain alleged telegrams of Interior Minister Talât Pasha conveying the orders for the destruction of the Armenians.� Lewy emphasized that when examined in detail, those allegations were far from proving genocide claims. Initially, dealing with the military courts that were established during the last Ottoman government when Istanbul was under English occupation, Lewy accused Talat Pasha, Enver Pasha and Cemal Pasha, who took over the country during World War I, for the deaths of Armenians. Professor Lewy wrote that even the British High Commissar Calthorpe wrote in a message sent to London that those courts, like a rough comedy, harmed their prestige. The Famous political scientist also referring to the memories of Naim Bey, recalled that Dutch historian Erik Zurcher, proved that those documents that spread across the world by an Armenian called Aram Andonyan were false.

Washington

By Anadolu News Agency (aa)
Published: Monday, August 29, 2005
zaman.com

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392) Duke student's release - Jordan Green Yes Weekly

A doctoral student at Duke University was released Aug. 16 after being held for two months in a high-security jail in Armenia for violating a law regulating the removal of cultural artifacts. The scholar’s imprisonment spurred support from hundreds of fellow academics from national groups that have in the past remained divided over questions of genocide and nationalism.

 

Yektan Turkyilmaz, 33, was pulled off a plane at Yerevan Airport in Armenia’s capital city on June 17 at the end of his fourth visit to Armenia. He was there to conduct research for his dissertation on nationalist conflicts between the Armenian, Kurdish and Turkish communities in the region of eastern Anatolia during the period of Turkey’s national formation, according to a website developed by his supporters.

 

The authorities seized about 100 books Turkyilmaz had purchased at used bookstores and open-air markets, along with several CDs that contained his research. He had planned to fly to Istanbul and later to Paris to work on his dissertation before returning to Duke for the 2005-2006 academic year.

 

Turkyilmaz’s dissertation advisor, Orin Starn, who is the director of graduate studies for Duke’s cultural anthropology program, traveled to Yerevan to attend the trial, said Duke spokesman David Jarmul.

 

“We are so happy to celebrate his release,� said his friend, Ozlem Dalkiran, a human rights activist who was reached in Istanbul on Aug. 16. “His morale was fine. They were treating him okay, but of course he didn’t have access to a telephone, which was not a regular thing for prison. [After the sentencing] he himself called. He was out there drinking coffee.�

 

Turkyilmaz received a two-year suspended sentence said Charles Kurzman, a professor of sociology at UNC-Chapel Hill who is a member of Turkyilmaz’s dissertation committee.

 

Dalkiran added that the judge upheld the confiscation of the books but ordered that Turkyilmaz’s CDs be returned. He is required to stay in the country until Aug. 31.

 

Turkyilmaz was charged with violating an Armenian law that lumps cultural artifacts together with radioactive material, narcotic drugs, weapons of mass destruction and missile delivery systems as items whose export is prohibited or regulated, according to his website. His supporters say Turkyilmaz did not realize he was required to declare books more than 50 years old at customs.

 

The fact that Turkyilmaz is a Turkish citizen and a member of the Kurdish ethnic minority has made his supporters question whether he was singled out by the Armenian authorities because of his nationality. Relations between Turkey and Armenia have remained strained since World War I, when the Turkish government is reported to have killed more than a million Armenians in a genocide that was a forerunner to Nazi Germany’s Jewish holocaust. Among Turks, there are many who question whether the genocide actually occurred. Turkyilmaz’s supporters say they are mystified by his detention because his scholarship takes a critical view of the official version of Turkish history.

 

“The irony is that the Armenians arrested one of the Turkish citizens that is most sympathetic to their cause,� Kurzman said. “A number of Turkish scholars over the last several years have started to question the official narrative of late Ottoman and Turkish history. Yektan is among those scholars. Yektan, by learning Armenian, has become central to those efforts. Turkish scholars generally ignored the experiences of other groups by downplaying the massive death of Armenians during the period of 1915 to 1920. On the Armenian side, there’s been a hostility towards Turkish and Kurdish people.�

 

Dalkiran said many of Turkyilmaz’s supporters suspect that the scholar’s detention was politically motivated.

 

“We learnt that during the first days of his custody he was being interrogated about his research, political affiliations and relations,� she wrote in an e-mail message. She cited a report by Radio Free Europe, which has been covering the story from Yerevan, as the main source of information that Turkyilmaz’s treatment might have been motivated by something more than enforcement of customs law.

 

The article reported that the Armenian National Security Service, the successor to the Soviet-era KGB, had considered charging Turkyilmaz with espionage and held the scholar in its most tightly guarded jail. Ozlem added that books Turkyilmaz left with friends in Armenia were also seized by the police, also indicating that the authorities’ interest in him went beyond customs enforcement.

 

Many Armenians in the United States rallied to Turkyilmaz’s side during his imprisonment.

 

“I’m a little puzzled by the fact that he was detained,� said Marc Mamigonian, director of programs and publications at the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research in Belmont, Mass. “I can’t really fathom why he wasn’t released in a week. If he’s being singled out because he’s a Turkish national, then I don’t understand because I don’t believe he’s some sort of genocide apologist or denyer.�

 

As a matter of establishing his importance as a scholar, Turkyilmaz’s supporters say he was the first Turkish citizen given access to the Armenian National Archives and that he has the largest collection of Armenian-language books in Turkey, a resource that has been used by many international scholars.

 

His most prominent supporter in the Armenian community is perhaps Richard Hovannisian, who chairs the modern Armenian history department at the University of California-Los Angeles, and wrote a letter to the chief judicial prosecutor offering to post bail for the young scholar.

 

“Because I’ve met Yektan, I regard him as a bright graduate student with a promising career,� he said. “He’s a person who tries to deal with controversial issues in an objective manner. I believe he was in good faith conducting research in Armenia. If he broke the law technically I don’t think he realized the seriousness of the consequences.�

 

Hovannissian’s son Raffi was the Republic of Armenia’s first foreign minister after the country gained independence from the Soviet Union. As the president of the Armenian Center for National and International Studies in Yerevan, he is regarded as a political opposition figure to the current government.

 

The case also caught the attention of former US presidential candidate Bob Dole, who said he was asked to intervene because of his reputation as a longtime supporter of Armenia and because his wife, North Carolina Republican Senator Elizabeth Dole, is a an alumna and former trustee of Duke University.

 

“Elizabeth and I remain prominent supporters of your country, but the issues raised by Yektan’s detention go beyond our ties to Armenia and past support by raising questions about Armenia’s democratic progress and commitment to the rule of law,� he wrote in a letter to President Robert Kocharian on Aug. 2. “Your treatment of Yektan makes Armenia look bad — with good reason. Armenia has many friends in the United States, but we cannot and will not defend the indefensible.�

 

Kurzman said he believes Turkyilmaz’s ordeal has helped create more understanding between academics in Armenia, Turkey and in those countries’ national communities abroad.

 

“Yektan has yet to write his dissertation, but he’s already changing relations between these countries,� he said. “He is the only scholar of his generation, possibly alive, that can work in all three languages of eastern Anatolia: Armenian, Kurdish and Turkish. There’s an open letter signed by more than two hundred scholars from Turkey and Armenia. By cosigning an open letter appealing for Yektan’s release, it’s a sign that all parties respect Yektan’s work and his potential. Perhaps there is a thaw in relations between these academic communities.�

 

To comment on this story, e-mail Jordan Green at jordan@yesweekly.com.

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