I can't believe I missed this. Enjoy.

via no dhimmitude. ANKARA (Reuters) – An official in Turkey's ruling party has been arrested for chewing gum while laying a wreath at a monument to the country's revered founder Kemal Ataturk, the state Anatolian news agency said on Monday.

The [Forever?] Sick Man of Europe
picture by Charles Henry

Veysel Dalci, head of the local branch of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) in the Black Sea town of Fatsa, was charged with insulting Ataturk's memory during Sunday's ceremony marking Turkey's National Sovereignty Day.

It is disappointing to see Armenia’s sole Christian neighbor, the Republic of Georgia, to continue the “Georganization” of that country’s rich Armenian heritage.

When Turkey and Azerbaijan “convert” Armenian churches to mosques (such as in Kars, Urfa and other places), to sports centers (such as in Kesaria) or to prostitution houses (such as in Afyon Karahisar), it is “understandable:” one would expect fanatic Muslims to desecrate Christian entities. But when the “second Christian nation on Earth” [Georgia] converts the heritage of the “first Christian nation on Earth” [Armenia], it is troubling.

This is a khachkar (cross-stone in Armenian). It was erected in memory of Father Hakob in 1681, as the Armenian inscriptions on it depicted (l). In 1997, when Georgians “reconstructed” St. Gevorg Monastery of Telet Village, the inscription (aka, it’s Armenian identity) “disappeared” ®. Why? There has never been an inscription on it, according to Georgian nationalism. From www.raa.am

Hetq Online has a new article on the uncertain developments in Georgia. "Georgia is the only country in the world where not only do Armenian churches not have legal status, but they are also the subject of heated arguments,” the Prelate of the Armenian Apostolic Church in Georgia is quoted as saying.

This is St. Gevorg Monastery of Telet Village (Republic of Georgia). The photo on the left was taken in 1988. The white marble slabs are inscriptions in Armenian and Russian telling the story of this Armenian Church’s establishment. The photo on the right is from 1990, and shows that the marble slabs have been removed. This is the traditional method of the Georganization of the Armenian culture. From www.raa.am.

The common Georgian response to the conversion of Armenian monuments is the same ol’e myth, “These monuments are originally Georgian.” So these individuals are not denying their action: they are simply justifying their vandalistic actions. The nationalists in Tbilisi, Georgia’s capital, get more angry when it is mentioned that over 90% of the mayors of that city have been Armenian and that the Armenian minority has had huge contribution to the development of that city. This could be a reason for “revenging” the Armenian culture and trying to eliminate the Armenian trace from Georgia’s history.

What do you do when you remove the Armenian letters? Exactly! You put a Georgian inscription (from The Idiot’s Guide to Denying Georgia’s Armenian Heritage)

Since the Georgian and Armenian alphabets are different (though both were, NOT according to Georgian nationalists, created by the same person – Armenian Bishop Mesrop Mashtots in the 5th Century C.E.) the “Best Way” of Georganizing an Armenian church or another Armenian monument is the removal of the Armenian inscriptions that were usually placed during the establishment and the major reconstructions. And since Georgian and Armenian architecture are very similar (and not being an architect major, I will not dare to say that Georgian architecture is based on the Armenian architecture), “letters” are the only problem.

This is the Sourb Astvatzatzin (Holy Virgin) Church, Shindis Village, built during 1866-1873. The Armenian inscription of the church was removed during a 1998 “reconstruction” by Georgians. From www.raa.am

The unjust treatment toward the Armenian heritage in Georgia may well invoke Armenian apprising in Javakhk (Armenian Javakheti region of that country); something that I hope will not make it to a war between the two Christian nations.

Hetq's article

Charles Henry, a Canadian blogger of no dhimmitude, has posted an entry about the psychotic Turkish Ambassador of Canada who has left Canada in angst after the administration of the latter said that the Armenian genocide, by the way, did take place.

Henry quotes the Turkish Ambassador as saying, “The Armenian claims are a direct attack on our identity, on Turkey's history.”

The Canadian blogger also posts a picture of a denialist Turkey with its head in the ground.

According to official turkish policy, it seems that we Canadians are "gravely" prejudiced for distrusting the unbiased memories of the turkish government, foolishly relying on our own memories to formulate our opinions. We are being "gravely" offensive in choosing to use facts as our foundation for understanding the history of our world. If only we could follow the noble turkish model, of using hopeful wishes instead of the "gravely" western approach of accumulating and studying data..
Turkey is increasingly resembling that great western philosopher, Chico Marx, who once remarked to a distrusting Margaret Dumont,
"Who are you going to believe, me or your own eyes?"

read the whole post at no dhimmitude

· I got an underage alcohol ticket last week 70 miles away from where I live. The reason? My brother got drunk and told my name to the police when he almost got arrested… Thankfully, he changed his mind and told the Police his real name. My first ticket ever was taken back by the same officers!

· I am done with the semester and have finished the two-year college I was attending. I am getting ready for a 500-people party (celebration) for Thursday, and am writing my speech for my Saturday graduation (I am the student speaker). I am also seriously thinking about the University I will transfer to: it will most likely be DU (University of Denver).

· I am still angry after learning about corruption in Armenian kindergartens. In order to get a “good role” in the theatrical performances or shows, the parents of the kids are supposed to pay about $20 to the organizers (aka, teachers)! Talent is a word worth $20 now… My sister, a theatrical director, journalist and art critic, refused to pay the amount in order to get a good “part” for my niece. No more biased comments .

· I had nice time in Seattle and Long Beach, California two weeks ago. The best thing about Seattle is the gum-wall they have (that very few locals even know about). Long Beach was more fun without going into personal details. Oh, and I also met Miss South Korea 2003 (according to her cousin Hong-Ju "Jason" Lee!) there; she is not in shape now, so don’t jump on my face if you don’t like her!

Ms. Korea 2003 (?) and me in April of 2006. Her cousin, “Jason,” got offended when I said, with good intentions, the girl looked liked a Mongolian.

· I was again in the newspapers in our state a few days ago. The same stuff about winning the All-USA award. California Courier, America’s most circulated Armenian weekly, also wrote about the awards. People around are getting annoyed with this stuff. There is this family who would always clip articles about me or written by me and they would send those to me. They have stopped doing so

· At the end of this month I will start a summer job at the Colorado State Capitol. A prestigious but underpaid tour guide job with many prospective opportunities.

· Many new bills to pay and a damaged, one-side-mirror car to repair. A research to finish about Tibetan-Armenian trade connections. To find a way to pay for my family’s medical expenses and continue waiting for my girlfriend to return to the States. To continue thinking of moving out of the small apartment: I need more walls to hang my certificates on (as my brother-in-law says, “Simon respects himself many times” ). To find a way out of the stupid Dean of Businesses Affairs Screening Committee. To convince Amanda to find a more creative job and to make clear to Oreet that she has to attend my graduation (READ IT, GIRL?). To send thank you notes to Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation, Mr. and Mrs. Guistwhite, USA TODAY. To hope that the number of alcoholics will not increase (I am not asking decrease) in my family.

"Admit nothing, deny everything, and make counteraccusations," this is what now resigned CIA director Porter Goss would advise students if he were addressing a graduating class of CIA case officers.

Why do I think so? Actually, Goss said those exact words on Saturday (6 May 2006) morning.

So if American policy has not made sense before, now we know why.

Another Armenian airplane destroyed, this time without victims.

Armenian Aircraft In Brussels Blaze

BRUSSELS, May 5, 2006 (RFE/RL) — A plane owned by the Armenian airline operator Armavia was one of four aircraft damaged today in an apparently accidental fire at Brussels international airport

A relative grieves during a mourning ceremony for a victim of the Airbus A-320 plane crash at a church in Adler near Russia's Black Sea city of Sochi May 5, 2006. Relatives began the grim task on Thursday of identifying bodies of some of the 113 passengers and crew killed when their Armenian airliner crashed into the Black Sea off Russia's coast. REUTERS/Eduard Korniyenko

The incident comes on a day of national mourning in Armenia for the 113 victims in a May 3 crash involving another Armavia plane.

That accident occurred as an Armavia Airbus 320 was preparing to land on the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi.

In today's incident, four Brussels airport employees were injured, one seriously.

The fire broke out around midnight in a maintenance hangar and took two hours to quell.

The other planes involved belonged to the Belgian military, the Greek carrier Hellas Jet, and Air Arabia, a low-cost airline operating out of the United Arab Emirates.

http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2006/…E72FB0CAC7.html

Sochi, RUSSIAN FEDERATION: Relative(s) of passengers killed, when the Armeninan aircraft that was carrying them plunged into the black Sea off the coast near the resort of Sochi yesterday, identify their kin 04 May 2006 with the aid of photographies. Russian rescue workers stepped up their search on today for bodies and wreckage from an Armenian Airbus A320 that plunged into the Black Sea Killing all 113 on board. French specialists have been appraoched to locate the jet's black boxes. AFP PHOTO / DENIS SINYAKOV

Workers load coffins with the bodies of victims from the Airbus 320 plane crash onto a truck at a city morgue in Russia's Black Sea city of Sochi May 4, 2006. Relatives began the grim task on Thursday of identifying bodies of some of the 113 passengers and crew killed when their Armenian airliner crashed into the Black Sea off Russia's coast. REUTERS/Eduard Korniyenko

Students mourn their two schoolmates killed in a plane crash in Adler near the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi, Thursday, May 4, 2006. Search-and-rescue boats plied the waters offshore, searching for bodies and debris from the Armenian Airbus A-320 that plunged into the sea on Wednesday. So far, 47 bodies have been brought in, and 22 of them identified, according to emergency officials. French specialists who joined the search Thursday, using sonar to scan the sea floor, have picked up signals that may have been emitted by the plane's black boxes, Russian news agencies said, citing the Emergency Situations Ministry. (AP Photo/Sergey Ponomarev)

A relative grieves during an identification procedure at a city morgue in Russia's southern Black Sea town of Sochi, May 4, 2006. All 113 passengers and crew on board an Armenian airliner were killed on Wednesday when the plane crashed into the Black Sea off the Russian coast in heavy rain and disintegrated. REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin

A 9-year-old Tajik girl was stabbed to death by seven Russian teenagers and the murderers were given 18 months to five years of imprisonment. If you don’t know what a Tajik is, don’t worry at this point for not knowing geography.

The point is that a hate crime was committed in Russia against a 9-year-old child and the murderers almost went unpunished!

ST.PETERSBURG, RUSSIAN FEDERATION: Friends of a student from Senegal who was shot dead early 07 April cry during a rally in his commemoration in Saint Petersburg, 08 April 2006. A Senegalese student was shot dead 07 April in Saint Petersburg by a racist killer armed with a swastika-decorated gun, authorities said, in the latest incident of violence aimed at foreigners and non-whites in Russia. The student, recently graduated from a technical college specialising in telecommunications, was murdered outside the Apollo nightclub in central Saint Petersburg, where he and other students had been holding an annual faculty party, deputy city prosecutor Andrei Lavrenko told NTV television. AFP PHOTO/ INTERPRESS/ ALEXANDER DROZDOV

Russia is becoming the worst racist country on the Earth where a “non-Russian” (blacks, Armenians, Georgians, Asians – whatever is not blue eyed and blond) is killed in a hate crime too often. Many attacks by Russian skinheads (Neo-Nazis) take place in the Underground Subway (Metro), where, ironically, police have huge representation.

A Mongolian friend of mine told me today that her parents might let her visit Moscow since their friends have a private bodyguard in that Russian capital! Otherwise her visit to such a racist country would be out of question.

I have myself been to Moscow’s Metro (subway) in 2002 and 2003, and every second I was expecting a group of skinheads to stab me. It was more difficult when I was traveling with my Mom (I was 15 and 16 at the time), since I didn’t know what I would do if the Neo-Nazis attacked us. I feared since I have black hair and brown eyes.

Amnesty International is finally speaking out. A 4 May 2006 press release is criticizing Russian administration ignorance to the problem.

Also, find out why a girl "didn’t remove her hat" the entire summer at Oneworld Multimedia.

There have been two important political developments in the Middle East and the Caucasus that are ignored due to the tragic airplane crash that killed 113 people.

The first one is a Russian military base’s withdrawal from Javakhk (Jakakheti), an Armenian-populated region of the country of Georgia. The local Armenians are troubled and worried about the removal, since, as RadioFree Europe informs, the “base provides many ethnic Armenians with jobs and the community sees the presence of Russian troops as a guarantee of its security.”

The withdrawal started on 3 May 2006 accompanied by a group of Armenian demonstrators. Unfortunately, nobody doubts that the withdrawal is going to cause a lot of problems. Several months ago a local Turkish group threatened Armenians with genocide and “advised” them to leave their ancestral homes.

Speaking of Turkish threats, the officials of the Republic of Turkey are warning France not to adopt a law that would make the denial of the Armenian genocide a crime, Voice of America reports. The Turks have threatened with “irreparable damage” if the law is adopted. Most likely, according to this blogger, France will make the denial of the Armenian genocide a crime. Not because that they love Armenians or that are sorry for what happens to them, I think, but because they want to reduce Turkish immigration to France.

If France were being “fair,” it would denounce its destructive role in the ethnic cleansings of Cilician Armenians right after the Genocide of 1915.

The complete list of the victims

Sochi, RUSSIAN FEDERATION: Relatives of those who died when an Armenian plane crashed into the Black Sea arrive at Sochi's Adler airport, 03 May 2006. An Armenian jet crashed into the Black Sea off Russia's coast, killing all 113 people on board and leaving relatives with a heart-wrenching wait as workers continued to pull bodies from the sea. AFP PHOTO / DENIS SINYAKOV (Photo credit should read DENIS SINYAKOV/AFP/Getty Images)

A relative of a passenger who was on board a crashed Armavia Airbus A320 passenger aircraft reacts at the airport in Yeravan May 3, 2006. The Armenian airliner crashed into the Black Sea off the Russian coast in heavy rain on May 3, and all 113 passengers and crew on board were killed, the Russian Emergencies Ministry said. (Mkhitar Khachatrian/Reuters)

Relatives of passengers of a crashed Armavia Airbus A320 airliner check the passengers list at the airport in Sochi May 3, 2006. All 113 passengers and crew on board the Armenian airliner were killed on Wednesday when the plane crashed into the Black Sea off the Russian coast in heavy rain and disintegrated, the Russian Emergencies Ministry said. REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin

Sochi, RUSSIAN FEDERATION: Rescue workers carry in the Sochi port docks, the life raft of the Armavia airline Airbus A320 plane that crashed 03 May 2006. The Armenian passenger jet crashed into the Black Sea off the Russian resort 03 May as it tried to land in bad weather at a nearby airport, killing all 113 people on board, officials said. The plane went off the radar screens at 2:15 am (2215 GMT Tuesday) as the plane attempted a second landing at Adler airport near Sochi after heavy rain had reduced visibility, Armenian and Russian officials said. AFP PHOTO / DENIS SINYAKOV (Photo credit should read DENIS SINYAKOV/AFP/Getty Images)

Sochi, RUSSIAN FEDERATION: A policeman passes between the tail of the Armavia Airbus A320 plane that crashed 03 May 2006 and some belongings of the dead passengers at the dock of the port in Sochi. The Armenian passenger jet crashed into the Black Sea off Russia early today as it tried to land in bad weather at a nearby airport, killing all 113 people on board, officials said. The plane went off the radar screens at 2:15 am (2215 GMT Tuesday) as the plane attempted a second landing at Adler airport near Sochi after heavy rain had reduced visibility, Armenian and Russian officials said. AFP PHOTO/Denis SINYAKOV (Photo credit should read DENIS SINYAKOV/AFP/Getty Images)

Sochi, RUSSIAN FEDERATION: A Sochi port worker carries plane debris next to the tail of the Armavia Airbus A320 plane that crashed 03 May 2006. The Armenian passenger jet crashed into the Black Sea off Russia early 03 May as it tried to land in bad weather at a nearby airport, killing all 113 people on board, officials said. The plane went off the radar screens at 2:15 am (2215 GMT Tuesday) as the plane attempted a second landing at Adler airport near Sochi after heavy rain had reduced visibility, Armenian and Russian officials said. (Photo credit should read DENIS SINYAKOV/AFP/Getty Images)

Sochi, RUSSIAN FEDERATION: A Sochi port crane lifts the tail of the Armavia Airbus A320 plane that crashed 03 May 2006. The Armenian passenger jet crashed into the Black Sea off Russia early 03 May as it tried to land in bad weather at a nearby airport, killing all 113 people on board, officials said. The plane went off the radar screens at 2:15 am (2215 GMT Tuesday) as the plane attempted a second landing at Adler airport near Sochi after heavy rain had reduced visibility, Armenian and Russian officials said. AFP PHOTO / DENIS SINYAKOV (Photo credit should read DENIS SINYAKOV/AFP/Getty Images)