“The Executive Board of the International Press Institute (IPI), the global network of editors, media executives and leading journalists, has named Hrant Dink, former editor-in-chief of the bilingual Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos, as one of its World Press Freedom Heroes,” reads the Dec 10, 2007, IPI press release.

IPI, that has also produced the shortest film (25-seconds long) honoring Hrant Dink, states:

[…]
“Hrant Dink’s nomination as our 52nd World Press Freedom Hero is a tribute to his bravery, but also an acknowledgement of his significant contribution to freedom of expression and press freedom in Turkey,” IPI Director Johann P. Fritz said.

Dink, a well-known Turkish-Armenian editor and columnist, was murdered in Istanbul on 19 January 2007. He had received numerous death threats from Turkish nationalists who viewed his journalism as treacherous.

Dink was shot twice in the head and once in the neck by a Turkish nationalist outside the offices of the newspaper he founded in 1996. He had faced legal problems for denigrating “Turkishness” under Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code in his articles about the massacre of Armenians during the First World War. In July 2006, he lost an appeal over a suspended six-month prison sentence handed down for violating Article 301. His prosecution stemmed from an article in 2004 about the 1915-17 massacres of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire. Aside from this criminal case, Dink was also facing prosecution for a second article condemning his conviction.

Born on 15 September 1954, Dink was best-known for reporting on human and minority rights in Turkey and for advocating Turkish-Armenian reconciliation. In a February 2006 interview, he said he hoped his reporting would pave the way for peace between the two peoples. “I want to write and ask how we can change this historical conflict into peace,” he said.

At his funeral on 23 January, 100,000 people marched in protest at his assassination, chanting, “We are all Armenians” and “We are all Hrant Dink.” Since his death, calls for the repeal of Article 301 have become increasingly vocal.

The Dink murder trial opened in Istanbul on 2 July. 18 people were charged in connection with his assassination.

The IPI award was formally handed over to his widow, Rakel Dink, on 10 December in Vienna. “The murder of Hrant Dink deprived Turkey of one of its most courageous and independent voices and it was a terrible event for Turkish press freedom in general,” Fritz said. “Hrant Dink is one of at least 91 journalists murdered so far in 2007. In most cases, these murders occurred with impunity. We call on governments around the world to ensure that those responsible for these heinous crimes are brought to justice.”

FYI UPDATE: Just noticed that ArmeniaLiberty.org has also posted an article on the same topic. I wanted to make sure to give them a credit, although my source wasn’t ArmeniaLiberty.org and their post appeared in Google News after I published this entry.

Minority Rights Group International [MRG] has issued a report on minorities in Turkey stating that “[m]illions of ethnic, linguistic and religious minorities remain unrecognized by the Turkish state, face discrimination and are now increasingly under threat as a result of a growing wave of violent nationalism.”

[…]

The only protection for minorities in Turkey has been set out in the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne but in practice its scope is limited only to Armenians, Jews and Rum (Greek orthodox) Christians.

But Turkey is home to a vast number of minorities including ethnic Kurds, Caucasians, Laz and Roma. The country’s other religious minorities include Alevis, Assyrians, Caferis and Reformist Christians.

[…]

Minorities have also increasingly becoming victims of a rising trend of nationalism in the country. In January 2007, journalist and Armenian human rights activist Hrant Dink was shot dead in Istanbul. The suspect told police that Dink was Armenian and had “insulted Turkishness”.

The report says that the EU accession process and the proposed new constitution in 2008 give plenty of opportunity for Turkey to make legal changes to protect minorities.

“We recommend speedy legal reforms – this is crucial, but to bring real change to Turkey’s minorities there has to be radical transformation of the prevalent mentality towards minorities of both the state and society,” [MRG’s Head of Policy and Communications] Matheson says.

Norway has a standing offer of sending 275 soldiers to Darfur, but so far there is no answer from UN regarding the offer.

This information was found out by a Norwegian national, a member of a Turkish-Armenian online workshop, after an Armenian member of the listserv posted a Guardian article from SaveDarfur.com and suggested “we demand our governments to provide at least one helicopter.”

Maybe we can start asking our governments to send helicopters to Darfur?

The Uncyclopedia.org joke that “no one knows anything about Azerbaijan other than that they love their minorities, especially the Azerbaijanis” has become quite ironic. While the satirical reference has meant to ridicule Azerbaijan’s official motto that the South Caucasus republic is a “heaven of tolerance for minorities,” disturbing news from Radio Free Europe gives examples of non-discriminatory human rights violations in Azerbaijan.

With 10 current journalists behind bars and a female political activist dead in prison, Azerbaijani officials haven’t fallen short of persecuting freedom of speech:

A series of abuses — some of them bizarre — have been documented in media reports.

According to the reports, local authorities have ordered state employees to perform manual labor on weekends as a condition for keeping their jobs. People who fail to pay utility bills have been seized and tied to trees outside police precincts until a family member or friend can come and settle the debt. Residents are forbidden from hanging laundry from their balconies and from baking bread at home. In a region where average salaries are approximately $130 per month, farmers are charged a steep tax for owning more than one cow or one sheep — $25 per cow, $10 per sheep.

The specific abuses mentioned above have taken place in Nakhichevan (Naxchivan), the Azerbaijani exclave where every single indigenous Armenian monument has been reduced to dust by the state authorities.

Azerbaijanis have started to refer to Nakhichevan as “Azerbaijan’s North Korea” with a reference to absence of recognition and protection of any rights in the region, reports Radio Free Europe.

The Azeri authorities of Nakhichevan have seemingly missed the not-so-old days of destroying Armenian monuments and having themselves left with none to demolish are now destroying Tea-houses (traditional cafes) in Nakhichevan, popular gathering places for Azerbaijanis:

“We hear a lot about arbitrariness on the part of the authorities, but this is nothing compared to what is happening in Naxchivan,” Samedbayli said. “Tea houses are being destroyed in the region’s villages, despite protests from the people. Other strange things are happening in Naxchivan. The authorities are destroying the ovens people use to bake bread in their homes because they say this harms the environment. They are forcing people to buy bread from shops owned by the state monopoly.”

The photograph above is from a presidential rally for Levon Petrosyan – Armenia’s first president who now wants to return to power – in the Republic of Armenia,
posted by Oneworld Multimedia

The poster in Armenian reads, “Levon VII: Armenian King,” with a reference to Cilician Armenia’s last king Levon (Leo) VI who found refuge in France as his Muslim foes destroyed the last Armenian kingdom.

It is quite ironic that the romantic nationalists who support Ter-Petrosyan call the former president a monarch, not realizing that the last thing Armenia needs is another king – which would be the case if either Levon Ter-Petrosyan or Serzh Sargsyan are elected. The Ter-Petrosyan “monarchship” was clearly demonstrated in the 1996 elections when he was celebrating his “victory” before the votes were even being counted. And I can almost guarantee to you a Serzh Sargsyan “victory” for the upcoming elections.

Armenia’s politics has never upset me as much as it does today. The more time passes the worse it becomes with former morons wanting to replace current morons.

And I think Armenia needs to change it constitution so that a president can only serve two terms in a lifetime. Otherwise, we may see lots of monarchs striving for return.

One wouldn’t expect the webmasters of Yahoo.com’s homepage be academics, but being blatant racists isn’t too helpful either.

Linking to an Associated Press article about business controversy of two Romani “clans,” Yahoo! summarized the news on its homepage several hours ago as “Gypsies’ fortunetelling feud” and that “Gypsy feud gives rare look at hidden culture.” 

From the first look, there is nothing wrong with the title, but consider how we’d feel if it said “Jews’ fortunetelling feud” or for that matter “Jews’ jewelry feud” or “Armenians’ jewelry feud.”  This is in lines with popular stereotype and racism against the Romani people, most of who prefer not to be called Gypsy (one reason the omnipresent racism against them), as seen in American TV icon Judge Judy’s racist comments and her usage of the word “Gypsy” as a derogatory term.

The Associated Press article itself is not free of stereotype; the whole style of the article is somewhat arrogant and presents Gypsies as an essentialist entity.  Although it takes a note that Gypsies faced persecution in Europe after migrating there in the 1300s, there is no reference to the Gypsy Genocide – part of the Holocaust – in which about half million Gypsies were mass murdered, a fact hardly mentioned in the context of Holocaust studies within the popular culture in the United States.  And more importantly, no reference to the unchallenged, blatant, dehumanizing and delegitimazing racism against the “Gypsies” in the United States.

I think Yahoo! the ®acists owe an apology to the Roma people.

Ara Ashjian, a pen pal I used to communicate with a few years back while he was still in Iraq, has left his beloved Baghdad for Yerevan, Armenia’s capital, and tells the moving story of leaving a homeland for a homeland.

Ara turned down job offers to the United States and Canada and chose his ancestral Armenia instead.

Karabakh Open has posted Ara’s interesting story, thoughts and feelings:

Welcome .. My Beloved Yerevan

After my brother and I had left my beloved Baghdad on September 6, 2007, we arrived in Damascus and then Aleppo by motorcars. Many Iraqis were leaving Iraq to escape the worsening security conditions. Their departure from Iraq was hastened after Damascus had announced that it will apply to the Iraqis who enter Syria a new regime of previously getting visas from September 10, 2007. In Aleppo we stayed at my older aunt’s house for ten days. My aunt is the only alive among her sisters after my mother and my youngest aunt had passed away last July. Finally, we took the plane to my beloved Yerevan, the capital of the Republic of Armenia, which we arrived in after midnight.

[…]My sister and her family had left Baghdad in July 2006 and emigrated to the United States. They left Iraq because of the insecure conditions prevailed in the country and after terrorists began targeting and threatening the life of Iraqi scientists, engineers, academic staff members, doctors and surgeons, among whom my brother-in-law.

First, I had to place my sick brother in the hospital to be under continuous medical care. I keep visiting him at the hospital to be reassured and watch his condition. I began working as a supervisor engineer in building roads and bridges in a site of the project placed near the Victory Park and Monument region, which symbolizes the fiftieth anniversary of declaring the Soviet Republic of Armenia (declared on December 2, 1920). The network of roads and bridges in the project I work will connect Hiratsi, Saralanj and Avetisian streets in a high place that overlooks the capital Yerevan. From this place, the fascinating scene of Ararat mountain (also called Masis by Armenians), which historically symbolizes Armenia and Armenians and is captivated by Turkey, clearly appears, especially in shining days. The two peaks of the mountain appear close to us, although they are at 55 kilometers from Yerevan.

[…] 

The project is funded, as well as several other projects to reconstruct Armenia and NKR (Artsakh), by Lincy Armenian American Foundation. I

[…] 

Before leaving Iraq a friend of mine, who lives in the United States, found, without asking him to do so, a job offer for me to work as a construction engineer in the United States. Ahead of that a friend settled in Canada promised to aid my immigration to Canada. However, I apologized to accept both offers as I have the great wish to live and work in my beloved Yerevan to make true the dream I have since childhood.

Among the difficulties I faced in work at the beginning was the different method used in putting engineering designs and its language. It depends, sometimes, on the Russian language commonly used in Armenia, for being one of the republics of the former Soviet Union. The Russian is widely used by engineers and workers belonging to the old generation. I begun learning some Russian words used in work and other spheres of life and to acclimatize with the work and its mountainous environment, which varies from the working environment in Baghdad. Perhaps I am the first Iraqi construction engineer, in the recent years, who enter such a domain. It also needs mastering the Armenian language (with its eastern dialect used in Armenia, other republics of the former Soviet Union and Iran) to be able to write reports on the progress and amounts of the work. The engineering supervision here is less strict than that we were familiar to in Iraq because of what I was told it is continuing of the system existed in the Soviet era.

[…]

Some workers and engineers confuse that I am from Iran for similar vocalization of the words (Iraq) and (Iran) in the Armenian language (also in English). To prevent such confuse, I say I am originally from Baghdad, Iraq. Workers often ask me about Iraq, its situation and ethnicities, including Kurds and Yezidis, 55-60 thousand in Armenia, who consider Iraq as their historical homeland. Many Yezidis are meat merchants in Armenia. The overseer of the workers, had passed three years in Adan, Yemen, in the eightieth of the last century. He always remembers with yearning those days and tells me the customs and traditions of Yemen s good-hearted people and comes near to me whenever I hear Iraqi songs on my cellular phone!!

[…]

I attended a meeting of Iraqi Armenians in Armenia in which nearly 120 Iraqi Armenians settled in Armenia were present. The meeting was aimed at setting up a union or league which would represent and follow the affairs of Iraqi Armenians in Armenia in front of the government and the public, international and humanitarian organizations working in Armenia. An Iraqi atmosphere prevailed the meeting in which the attendance exchanged ideas and thoughts on setting up this union and its aims. The meeting unanimously adopted setting up this union which needs to put its rule, gain official approval and elect its board of directors.

I always yearn to my beloved Baghdad, and follow the news of Iraq on Iraqi and Arab satellite channels, as if I am still in Iraq and didn t leave it. I feel pain for Iraq s tragic situation and for sectarian and ethnic artificial conflicts between one people created by the occupier to perpetuate the occupation, and are used by some Iraqi political forces to achieve own interests. I listen continuously to the songs of Iraqi singer Haitham Yousif and remember my beloved Baghdad, my life there and my deceased mother whom I see here in the faces of women at her age and feel sadness. My mother, how much I miss and need you, even if you were sick and I d take care of you, while I begin my new life in my beloved Yerevan to receive from you power and advice. Why do not you come to me in my dreams so I can talk to you, tell you how much I love and miss you and kiss your cheeks and hands? However, I feel your breath close to me while you watch me to be reassured on my new life here. My beloved and precious mother, I ask God to have mercy on you.

Ara S. Ashjian
An Iraqi Armenian settled in
Yerevan, Armenia
For Karabakh-Open

Even though anti-Americanism is quite high in the Republic of Turkey, the ban of the letter “w” has nothing to do with George “W” Bush or the “w”ar in Iraq in the Middle Eastern Country.

At least one person is on trial in Turkey for using the letter “w” in a Turkish article about a Kurdish holiday, Newroz, reports Bianet from Turkey.

NowKiyasettin Aslan, the Kilis province chair of the Office Workers’ Union (BES) is on trial for using the words “Newroz” and “Kawa” in articles published in two local newspapers. The “w” does not exist in the Turkish alphabet[…]

In an article published in the local Huduteli newspaper on 20 March and entitled “May the Newroz Fire Never Go Out” and another article in the Kent newspaper on 24 March, entitled “Fire and Iron”, Aslan had written about the Newroz Festival.

Prosecutor Serkan Özkanis demanding that the Kilis Criminal Court of Peace sentence Aslan to two to six months imprisonment. The trial will begin on 27 December.

The prosecution has clear roots in the Kurdish nature of the article since “www” has been freely used in the Turkish newspapers without any problems (at least, until today). 

So add to your Turkish dictionary that not only there are no Kurds in Turkey and that the Armenian Genocide never happened, but that if you want to avoid Turkish prison you’d better stop using the letter “w.”  (And in case you thought this is new invention, recall the ban of water’s formula in the Ottoman Empire where Sultan Abdul Hamid the Second thought H₂O might mean Hamid the Second is equal to zero.)

The satire news that I made up about Armenian parliament passing an act on human trafficking – with the hope to have the parliamentarians introduce similar act – was noticed by everyone but the Armenian parliament itself.

OSCE was not the only organization that posted the news. Apparently, the news item – picked up from Huliq.com – was included in Stop Violence Against Women, in the October 2007 e-Bulletin of Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women, Gender Information Network of South Caucasus, and others.

I apologize to the above organizations for the false hope that Armenia is doing something to combat human trafficking.  And apparently Armenian lawmakers don’t browse much Internet.

A newly discovered Armenian cemetery in Iran dating to the 13th century predates a famous UNESCO site it was found around.

BBC Image: Situated in the province of Zanjan, Soltaniyeh is often cited as one of the crowning achievements of Persian architecture.

According to the Cultural Heritage News Agency:

Discovery of an Armenian written gravestone within the sphere of Soltanieh dome lead to the discovery of a graveyard of Armenians from the Mongolian era by experts of CHTO and Armenian archeologists.

The result of researches revealed the fact that this gravestone is related to Mongolian time, and there is a strong existence possibility of a graveyard near the mentioned sphere.

According to Ghorban Zadeh, discovery of this Armenian graveyard near Abbas Abaad can help to discover the true history of Soltanieh dome.

Built between 1304 and 1313, Soltanieh (or Sultanieh) is Iran’s largest archaeological site. “It is also the world’s third-largest historical site proceeded by Italy’s Santa Maria Delfiore of Florence and Turkey’s Saint Sufia Mosque, of Istanbul.” 

According to Press TV, the tombstone that led to the discovery of the Armenian connection read:

“Jesus, the only born to Father, when the time arrives and you return the sleeping soul of the decedent …”

The rest of the inscription which dates back to the Mongolian age (1206-1405) was not legible.

Historical evidence suggests that Sorghaghtani Beki, wife of Tolui Khan and mother of Hulagu Khan, the Mogul ruler, was a Christian woman.

The inscription on the tombstone strengthened the case for the existence of such hallowed site for Armenian residents of the time.

Soltaniyeh was the capital of the Ilkhanid rulers of Persia in the 14th century.

While native Armenian cemeteries are reduced to dust by the state authorities in Iran’s neighboring Azerbaijan, the Islamic Republic instead uses every opportunity – and archaeologists wouldn’t complain – to advertise its tolerance toward Christianity by promoting restoration and discovery of Armenian sites and churches.

A list of Christian churches in Iran can be found here.