"A Shameful Act" to be released in 2006

Nemesis News, 29 October 2005. Minessota.

Turkish professor Taner Akcam will be releasing his new book, "A Shameful ACT: The Armenian Genocide and the Question of Turkish Responsibility," in April of 2006.

To be published by Metropolitan Books, the book will include 448 pages discussing the Armenian Genocide and it's Turkish denial.

Taner Akcam is a Turkish professor who lectures on the Armenian genocide at the University of Minnesota. Once asked whether he had Armenian blood (many Turks deny the Armenian genocide), Prof. Akcam replied, "no, I have human blood."

Prof. Akcam's recent radio interview with the Public Radio of Minnesota (28 October 2005), a joint interview with two other scholars, is available at http://www.publicradio.org/tools/media/pla…/10/28_midmorn2 as of 29 October 2005.

Yezidis are Zooastrian Kurds, who live in Armenia and consider themselves a nation. During the Armenian genocide, 200,000 Yezidis were also killed and deported from Turkey. The article here tells about a poor Yezidi family of Armenia….. Very sad story.

Yezidi Family Condemned to Starvation

Yezidi Family Condemned to Starvation

[September 19, 2005]

On a cold winter's day four years ago, the Khatoyans went to the town cemetery in Stepanavan to bury their fourth child, who had died, as had the previous three, of starvation…

The Yezidis visit the graves of their relatives every week; it is a mandatory part of their tradition. Khato usually does so early on Monday mornings. Of all of his deceased children, only the youngest is buried in Stepanavan. If there is ever a headstone over this grave, it will say "Anoush Khato Khatoyan, born and died in the same year".

The Khatoyan family lives on the outskirts of the city. After long years of begging for shelter in garages and guard posts, Khato settled down with his wife and children in his father's old, rundown trailer. His parents moved to a house left barely standing by the earthquake.

Khato has five children. He has tried to improve the trailer and repair some holes and cracks, but largely in vain. There is a continuous draft, and on rainy days, the room fills with water. But his main problem today is not to repair the trailer, but to save his remaining five children from starvation and disease. For Khato and his wife, every day starts with the problem of earning a piece of bread.

"God keeps us in the summer. There are a lot of useful things in the forest – wild berries, raspberries, wood, acorns, spelt, mushrooms, rose-hips, and so on—all you need, but not many people come all the way here to get it," said Khato. His wife Etheri added, "It's tough to go there, I get very tired. It's especially difficult for a woman to climb those hills and get to the forest, but it is necessary. Our children have never eaten to their hearts' content. Every day our neighbors help us; the children see someone with bread and run in front of them, and they feel sorry and give them a piece of it. Sometimes they call one of the kids and give them some jam, potatoes, and so on, and that's how we scrape by."

Khato's two eldest daughters, thirteen and twelve, are illiterate. They do not go to school, and have never gone regularly, because poverty has had the final say on this issue as well. "I went to a boarding school, and they laughed at me there because I didn't have shoes. I came home crying and told my parents that I would never go back," said 13-year old Milena.

"My children have no shoes. They have no food. If you take them anywhere, they faint because they're starving,” Etheri said. “How can I leave them alone? I'm a mother, after all. Let them be by my side even if they go hungry."

Hunger and poverty have been haunted this family for years. Others, including the government, have turned there backs. Even the government's social policies have not reached this home. Etheri is a Georgian citizen, but she lost her passport when she moved to Armenia. Without passports, the parents can't get birth certificates for their children, who are thus ineligible for welfare benefits.

"I have nobody besides my five children and my husband, nobody. That's why I can't go to Georgia to bring those documents. And they want so much money there; I can't even afford a piece of bread, how can I go there?" Etheri asked.

The family's harsh fate has attracted little attention on the part of city authorities or the many organizations that implement all sorts of international programs here. Two years ago, the Armenian Apostolic Church provided them with food and clothing for a few months. The provincial authorities of Lori requested information about the family but did nothing. One of the five children has a heart defect and poor eyesight, and the youngest has been diagnosed with leukemia.

The Khatoyans have pleaded for help from various officials, starting from the local authorities all the way to the Minister for Labor and Social Affairs. But all their efforts have been in vain. Nothing distinguishes this family except for extreme poverty; little has been done to help.

Hermine Mkhitaryan

Copyright © 2002-2004 Hetq Online. All rights reserved.

Despite the fact that during the Karabagh war many Azeris of Armenia left for Azerbaijan, there are still many Azeris living in Armenia (perhaps there are some Armenians in Azerbaijan too), some of them professors, coachs, etc. (for instance, Tofig Agaev is a Professor at Yerevan's Theatre Institute, etc). Below is an interesting article from ArmeniaNow.

Grateful to a Nation: Philosophy and sport outweigh nationality for Azeri coach

By Gayane Mkrtchyan
ArmeniaNow reporter
October 29, 2005 | Issue #41(163), October 28, 2005

The blue eyes of Felix Aliyev become bluer when they are filled with tears.
Felix has a table full of awards to show for his long coaching service
Aliyev, 66, is an Azeri by nationality, but he lives and works in Echmiadzin and is a weightlifting trainer at one of Armenia’s most successful sport schools. Tears roll down his cheeks as he speaks about the years of Armenian-Azeri confrontation.

“I am sorry,” he says in a subdued voice and leaves the room.

Felix’s wife, Julietta Yenokyan, 56, goes on saying: “Children would wait until the training classes finished at the weightlifting school. Then they safely brought Felix home at the end of the day.”

Felix has been working in the village of Geghakert, which is five kilometers away from Echmiadzin, for 34 years. He has 180 sportsmen, age 13-24 in his charge.

Felix comes back to the room and lays magazines, albums, fragments of newspapers, numerous books on the table. His wife adds: “Felix has all the good things.” And she shows diplomas and orders of different years.

“Had my pupils turned their backs on me I would have left. But they supported me strongly,” he says.

Felix reads the records of his private diary. He has mottos to which he has adhered in his life. “A person, despite his nationality, should act for the sake of interests common to all mankind; should be not a nationalist but an internationalist,” he says.

The ancestors of Felix’s father Askar Aliyev immigrated to Armenia from the Iranian province of Khoy. His father lost his parents at the age of seven. Before he came of age he was brought up by Armenians, their neighbors.

“He married my mother Yepraksia Danielyan in 1936. My father played the clarinet perfectly. Everybody knew Maestro Ali in Echmiadzin. He was invited to play to the best wedding parties,” Felix says.

Julietta remembers with a heavy heart how the Armenian-Azeri strife depressed her father-in-law despite the fact that their neighbors and friends said: “Ali jan, be well and don’t worry, not a single hair on your head will be harmed.” And, indeed, nobody bothered him or his family.

Ali died in 1998. Felix says that they feel ashamed instead of their compatriots. The whole family was shocked after the Sumgait events. And when he remembers that an Azeri army officer killed an Armenian army officer at a conference in Budapest two winters ago, his voice becomes subdued.

Felix has relatives in Azerbaijan but he has no contacts with them. Once a relative of his father was taken aback when he learned from one of his acquaintances that they continued to live in Echmiadzin.

“I could not move to Azerbaijan, as my wife and my mother are Armenians. At best we had to move to another country,” he says.

Felix says he is Christian; his favorite church is Surb Gayane. He says that his purity and philanthropy are the Koran and the Bible.

Felix lives adhering to his own principle: “You should be grateful to the nation that educates you and brings you up.”

He has been a fan of weightlifting since his school years. He graduated from the Institute of Physical Training in 1966. Since 1970 he has been working at the school of Geghakert.

The merited coach brought up 33 masters of sport, two of whom are of the international level. World-famed Yuri Sargsyan, merited master of sport, is also Felix’s pupil. Sargsyan held 14 new world records and in 1982-1983 he became the world champion in his sport. Today Yuri Sargsyan is a deputy head of the Weightlifting Federation of Australia. In 1985 the school of Geghakert was named after him.

Among Aliyev’s pupils are also Vigen Khachatryan, 25, who became the third prize-winner at the World Championships in 2001, and in the same year won the silver medal at the Youth European Championships, and Arkadi Barseghyan, 22, who became the Junior European Champion in 2002.

Felix is sure that he will still give champions to the world. Reading Sigmund Freud he finds the answers to many questions worrying him.

“According to Freud, a person’s nationality depends on his self-consciousness. It is necessary to appreciate in him values common to all mankind.”

© Copyright ArmeniaNow.com 2002-2005. All rights reserved.
Articles may be reproduced, provided ArmeniaNow.com is cited as the source.

Yücel AŞKIN is Vardovian's grandson

The rector of the University of Van, Yucel Askin, who is arrested on "corruption charges" has been most likely captured for his Armenian origin. At first, his Armenian origin was allegation but now it is apparent that he is Vardovian's grandson.

As AZG (English version published on 29 Oct 2005 at http://azg.am/?lang=EN&num=2005102902) reports on 28 October, 2005, the rector of Van University is the grandson of Hakob Vardovian, one of the founders of the Turkish theatre who had unwillingly converted to Islam and adopted the name Guli Hakob. Hakob's son, Necip Askin (the change of the last name was due to the Turkish law of converting non-Turkish names), is world-known violin player and had high intelectual posts in Turkey. Dr. Yucel Askin is the son of Necip Askin. Turkish newspaper Hurriyet also has article with the same information in Turkish.

Dr. Askin was perhaps the last Armenian who had remained in west Armenia (modern eastern Turkey). The region was wiped out of its Armenian population during 1915 and 1923, and presence of thousands of years (2200 churches, etc.) was destroyed during the same time and later.

When having Armenian origin is still a crime in Turkey

(photo: Yücel AŞKIN, from University's website)

NEMESIS news, 25 Oct 2005: The rector (the head) of Turkey's Van Yüzüncü Yıl University, Dr. Yücel Aşkın, was arrested last week on "corruption charges." It turns out that the only "crime" the Professor has committed is his alleged Armenian origin. The "crime" has been revealed, when according to Azg Daily, Turkish parliamentarian Ramazan Toprak has annoucned during his visit to Germany that the rector of Van's university has Armenian origin.

Yüzüncü Yıl Üniversitesi is one of the biggest universities of western Armenian (modern east Turkey) where the 2 million Armenian population was wiped out between 1915 and 1923. Few Armenians were islamized and remained in their ancestral homeland by keeping their identity secret.

76 rectors of Turkish universities have united to protest Dr. Aşkın's unjust and racist arrest.

Early this month, Armenian journalist Dink was convicted for 6 months for saying that he is not a Turk, but an Armenian.

Just like the Jews were pictured big nose demons in Nazi propaganda (see the photo below) Azerbaijani propagandist (by the way, with a rather big nose) pictures Armenians as big nose demons.

Hate meets history in Azerbaijani cartoonist's anti-Armenian art

Mon Oct 3,11:51 AM ET

Venom dripping from its fangs onto a Swastika, only the efforts of powerful arms grasping metal pincers restrain a black serpent and its desire for global domination, in a drawing displayed at a Baku gallery recently.

This could be the description a World War II-era Soviet propaganda poster depicting the concerted effort of the allies as they hold back the menace of Nazi Germany and the Axis forces.

But this poster — and others like it, recently on display in the Artists' Union in former Soviet Azerbaijan — are the recent works of an Azerbaijani scientist-turned-cartoonist.

You may not have heard of it, but the author Kerim Kerimov is on a mission to blow the whistle on "Armenian hegemony."

Slithering across a watercolor globe towards Azerbaijan, the serpent is Kerimov's metaphor for Armenia and its "Greater Armenia" policy while the six arms grasping the pincers represent Azerbaijan's Turkic brethren from Turkey to Turkmenistan.

The president of Azerbaijan's National Geophysicists Committee, Kerimov is better known in oil circles for his role in the signing of the so-called "contract of the century."

The mid-1990s Caspian Sea oil deal marked the launch of development — with Western participation — of Azerbaijan's sizable oil reserves, which Kerimov assessed on behalf of the Azerbaijani state.

Few know of his prolific political drawings however, which have appeared in Soviet and later Azerbaijani newspapers for nearly 50 years.

Much of his work targets Armenia, against which Azerbaijan fought a bloody war, and in large parts complements the government's official information campaign against the Caucasus nation.

Anyone in Baku will tell you that Azerbaijan has many enemies: Armenia with its Russian backing, Armenia's wealthy diaspora, Azerbaijan's own opposition forces and perhaps a few loose clerics from Iran.

Kerimov goes further and puts the enemies into pictures, with horned and bewarted horrific caricatures of Armenians clawing at the map of Azerbaijan or driving a wedge between the country and its ally Turkey with a giant bomb.

Schooled in the style of Socialist Realism in the days when both Azerbaijan and Armenia were constituent republics of the Soviet Union, the 72-year-old Kerimov is a self-described disciple of Russian WWII-era cartoonist Boris Yefimov.

But if Yefimov is remembered for his drawings of a contorted Hitler in the pages of Soviet propaganda sheets, Kerimov has set his sights on tackling Azerbaijan's modern-day foe.

"I don't want Armenians to see an enemy in me," he said however, claiming he has received death threats from Armenians and other "enemies" of Azerbaijan.

"I want them to see that the policies they are carrying out are wrong; then life will be better for both peoples."

But his stated peaceable intentions might prove to be a tough sell to Armenians, who in his drawings are alternately depicted as big-nosed hairy demons or sometimes white-hooded Ku Klux Klan members.

In the Caucasus, Armenia's neighbors often implicate Armenians in a conspiracy to expand their territory through military conquest and migration that has been in action since World War I when they were expelled from Ottoman Turkey.

It is a charge that Armenians deny and attribute to biases which have evolved since that war.

More recently, Azerbaijan and Armenia fell out over control of the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave in the twilight days of the Soviet Union, when Moscow's centuries-long rule over the Caucasus began to crumble.

After the fall of communism, the newly independent republics launched into a full scale war over the mountainous region, which ended in a tense ceasefire in 1994 with ethnic-Armenian forces in control of Karabakh and seven surrounding Azerbaijani regions.

Copyright © 2005 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AFP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of Agence France Presse.

Documented case of cultural genocide.

AZG Armenian Daily #002, January 12 2005

TURKISH SINGER DISTORTS "ADANA LAMENTATION", A SONG DEVOTED TO GENOCIDE

She Calls this Sacrilege a Wish to Talk of Genocide

The first song of Turkish singer Seden Gurel’s "Bir Kadın Şarkı Sylyor" album (2004) is the Armenian song known as "Adana Lamentation" devoted to the massacres of Adana’s Armenian population in 1909. In her album "Adana Lamentation" turned into a love song titled "Sebebim Aşk" – "The Reason is Love".

Sibel Alas is the author of the words, and Istanbul Armenian Shirak Shahrikian’s duduk accompanies the song. The latter’s participation in this sacrilege aroused the indignation of the Armenian community in Istanbul. Shahrikian wrote an article in Turkish for www.bolsahays.com Armenian website trying to justify himself where he says that the Armenians’ disapproval was expressed by numerous phone calls. Seden Gurel, in her turn, wrote a letter in September of 2004 where she tries to convince that the aim of the song was to tell the Turkish people of the Genocide (Gurel used the word "soykırım" – genocide – thus recognizing the Armenian genocide).

It’s hard to say how the Turkish society learns about the Armenian Genocide by listening to "The Reason is Love". The song was broadcasted by one of Turkish state TV channels on April 24 with the accompaniment of semi-naked Turkish women’s dance.

The song’s video clipping is available at http://www.sedengurel.com/video/sebebimask.zip .

Russian version

Armenian version

Below is the Turkish lyrics translated into Armenian:

Even "sex shopes" in America don't have the word "sex" in their names. These places are called "ADULT STORES," or "XXX." If even the shop in Armenia should be tolerated, the name has to be changed.

“Immoral Propaganda” or “Just Like a Grocery”?: Yerevan gets a sex shop

By Suren Deheryan
ArmeniaNow reporter

October 25, 2005 | Issue #40(162), October 21, 2005

In what some praise as liberation, while others warn of sure iniquity, a “sex shop” has opened in the center of Yerevan.
“Sex and Life” is not the republic’s first “adult accessories” boutique, but it is the only. Two others had short lives in the mid 90s, but closed amid public disapproval, mostly from elderly.

Now, 28-year-old sex aide entrepreneur Petros Movsesyan is hoping times have changed enough to sustain his new business, which opened at the beginning of this month near the Cascade.

“The shop now serves as a museum,” says Movsesyan, laughing. “People come here as if it were a museum.They enter in a group, laugh at one or another assortment, but then they come separately to make purchases. There were women who phoned us to make sure there was no one in the shop, then entered and left quickly.”

Besides “toys of pleasure” for men and women the “sex museum” also has special women’s lingerie and perfumes, as well as different sexually-oriented novelty gifts. And the queen of the shop is the inflatable doll hanging on the wall for 17,000 drams ($40).

Sex toys from $10 to $70 come from the US, Germany and China.

“It can be considered an experimental shop, however we already have different orders that will be imported to Armenia. And it allows us to get a little idea about the demand here,” says Movsesyan. “Only about a hundred samples are presented now, which does not make the shop look impressive, but we will double it in the near future.”

In a society that largely believes men who wear earrings or goatees are gay, and that girls who wear mini-skirts are “whores” (see Short on Tradition”), merchandising sex is surely an adventurous venture.

But “Sociometer” independent sociological center director Aharon Adibekyan thinks that the presence of such a shop is necessary in the republic. According to Adibekyan, the polls conducted by the center show that about 80 percent of women and men over age 40 in Armenia live an unsatisfied sexual life.

“As a result, some soon become heavy, while others lose weight. On the other hand, the nervous and psychological system is disturbed, which is an occasion for family quarrels,” says Adibekyan.

“However I don’t think that it will be affordable to all, as it is an expensive pleasure. There will not be queues, but the shop will have its clientele,” says the sociologist. “It is important that it should be properly offered here, as the sex life culture is not yet formed in Armenia.”

Movsesyan says the idea to open a sex shop in Yerevan was very tempting, since it was to be the first with its peculiar assortment.
“Though, after opening we learned that there had been something similar. They say it was closed because of the complaints of elderly people,” Movsesyan says with anxiety, and adds: “fingers crossed, it seems that during the recent period people are experiencing progress.”

But not so much.

The chairman of the Armenian-Aryan Union (who has vowed to rid Government of homosexuals) says he will protect Yerevan from becoming Sin City through such vice.

“We are unequivocally against such behavior,” Armen Avetisyan told ArmeniaNow. “It is a way to propagandize immoral ideology, which will teach people to abandon physiology and switch to artificial actions.”

And then . . .

“Similarly, one can also propagandize doing that with the aid of a cucumber or cabbage, which will only lead to sexual insanity. We will do everything for this shop to be closed.”

Entrance to the shop is prohibited to minors. However, it is situated in a place where open-air events are held mainly for youths almost every month. According to the shop management, the main customers are above 30.

“Sex & Life” works 12 hours a day – until midnight, and movement begins during evening hours.

Shop assistant Yana, 25, says she is not the least shocked by the implements, gadgets and “adult toys” of her new job.

“There is a normal atmosphere here, and I get a great satisfaction out of working here,” says Yana, a designer by training. “I studied in France for several years, and sex shops are a usual phenomenon there. There were three sex shops in the street where I lived and people made purchases from those shops just like from a grocery store, without any embarrassment.”

Հայերեն տարբերակն այստեղ http://armenianow.com/?action=viewArticle&…50&IID=&lng=arm

© Copyright ArmeniaNow.com 2002-2005. All rights reserved.
Articles may be reproduced, provided ArmeniaNow.com is cited as the source.

In 1914, there were 2000 Armenian churches and cathedrals functioning in west Armenia (modern eastern Turkey). 90% of these churches have been razed to ground (more on this click here). Turkish newspaper Milliyet reported on 19, October, 2005 about another Armenian church that was destroyed. Below is an English translation (unpublished) from the Turkish article:

They destroyed a church to build a mosque.

Namik Durukan, Ankara

The remains of a church under protection in the village of Argn in Kulp township, Diyarbakir province, ere completely destroyed in order to construct a mosque. Construction was halted following a complaint. The stone slabs belonging to the church once used by Armenians in Argun were removed and used in the mosque construction. The Church that was subsequently damaged beyond repair and the adjining Armenian graveyard have been officially certified as historical sites and have now come under the protection of the Council to protect Cultural and Natural Heritage. Contractor Kerem Emre who received the blessings of local villagers to build a two story mosque on the remains of the church did not have an official permit to start the construction. Emre bulldozed the remains of the church and a section of the graveyard to lay the foundations of the new mosque.

Belated Intervetion

However belatedly a petition from some villagers to the Kulp Kaymakamlik (sub-governor's office) and the Diyarbakir Museum directorate prompted official intervention. As a result of the ensuing inquiry construction was halted. Argun village headman, Sadik Turan, said contractor Kerem Emre had received 150 billion Turkish liras (approximately 110 thousand dollars US) from local villagers for the mosque and had appealed for further donations saying those who contributed would be blessed by God. Turan continued that he had opposed construction and that Emre accused him of being "an Armenian" for doing so. "I tried to prevent the construction and proposed a different site for the mosque. We already have two mosques in the village and I rejected demands to build a new mosque [on the site of the church]. Emre then rounded up the villagers and brought them to my home. Are you Armenian ? they demanded . I was unable to resist their pressure. "

(the original article is located at http://www.milliyet.com/2005/10/19/guncel/gun04.html)

Yerevan Nights is my favorite Armenian radio station. 100% of the songs are in Armenian!

Listen to www.YerevanNights.com.

News:

YerevanNights Programs

Having served our communities around the world for almost a year by providing commercial-free, quality Armenian music, YerevanNights is proud to announce a pivotal transition! Starting November 1st Armenia Time (GMT+4:00) YerevanNights internet radio will feature regular programming with a wide variety of exciting and innovative programs for all interests. Stay tuned for more pleasant surprises.