Zarakolu given top Prize of Armenia
ISTANBUL- Hürriyet Daily News / Vercihan Ziflioğlu
Prominent publisher Ragıp Zarakolu yesterday received the Presidency Prize of Armenia in Yerevan, becoming the second person from Turkey to have received this prize. Before Zarakolu, Turkish journalist of Armenian descent Hrant Dink, (editor in chief of Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos, who was shot dead in front of his office building in Istanbul in 2007), received the same award.
Acknowledment of Armenian culture
“I am honored to be here to receive Presidency Prize of Armenia. It is an extraordinary felling to be here, in independent Armenia. Mr. President, I thank you and the institutions that awarded me this prize for my modest contribution toward the acknowledgement of Armenia’s historical and cultural heritage,” Zarakolu said during his speech.
Zarakolu also commented on the contributions of Armenians to Turkish culture.
“We can’t talk about Seljuk and Ottoman Cultural heritage without mentioning the Armenian contributions. Unfortunately Turkey prefers to deny its cultural heritage, rather than face the truth ... Anatolia misses her disappeared children. After you, Anatolia lost her aura, what remains are scared lands and ruined towns,” Zarakolu said.
Charges
Zarakolu was arrested in November on terrorism charges as part of an investigation into the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK). He was held in prison for six months before being released in April. The justification for the release was explained as the “duration of the imprisonment time, the possibility of a change to the classification of the offence, and evidence.”
The first hearing of the case will be held on July 2 in Silivri.
May/30/2012
30 Mayıs 2012 Çarşamba
28 Mayıs 2012 Pazartesi
Population decline leaves Rums with Pyrrhic Victory
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News/Vercihan Ziflioğlu
Following the return of the historic Greek orphanage, it seems unclear by whom and how the budget needed for the restoration of the building will be collected
Turkish authorities recently returned a historic orphanage on the island of Büyükada in the Sea of Marmara to Istanbul’s Rum (Anatolian Greek) community, but the community lacks the means to repair and restore the structure due to its declining numbers.
“The state did not return the building to us in the same shape it was in when they [seized] it. The most recent studies have revealed beyond any doubt that millions of euros will be required [to restore the orphanage]. It is not possible for our 2000-strong population to meet this figure,” Mihalis Vasiliadis, editor-in-chief of the Rum daily Apoyevmatini, told the Hürriyet Daily News.
Some 65 million euros would be necessary to put the orphanage back on its feet, according to reports.
“[The state] has held the properties belonging to the orphanage since 1903. The appeals process has just reached completion. The buildings will be handed back, but they are all in ruins,” Vasiliadis said.
The judicial process regarding the return of a host of properties owned by the orphanage foundation was completed only this week, after years of legal haggling, he added.
Fener Rum Patriarch Bartholomeos also has the historical orphanage in his sights, with the hope of transforming it into a center for religious-based ecological study and inter-religious dialogue.
Harutyan Şanlı, the general secretary of the Inter-foundations Solidarity and Communication Platform (VADIP), which unites the foundations belonging to the Armenian community, agreed with Vasiliadis but also added that it would not be prudent to rely solely on a particular example. “The new Foundations Law represents a step taken with goodwill, and it cannot be ignored. We are talking about a 300-plus-year-old wooden building. There is no other [building] similar to it. [We] must look at the broader picture. For instance, what solution will [the authorities] provide for those properties that were seized from [minority] communities in 1942 and passed on to third parties? This is a more vital issue,” Şanlı said.
Even if officials were to return everything that was historically seized, however, this would hardly change anything, as the Rum community in Istanbul is now almost non-existent, Vasiliadis said. “The new law requires minority communities to apply within 18 months to retrieve their properties. [The government] took everything from us. The properties’ administrators were exiled, and now they are hastily returning [the properties], but to whom?”
The Rum community owns 72 foundations in all, and some 500 people are required for their management, according to Vasiliadis. “The average age in the community is over 60. Returning the properties is only part of the issue. If [the government] truly wishes to do something, first the Rum community’s demographic problem has to be overcome. The children of the 13,000 people exiled in 1964 ought to be granted dual [Turkish] citizenship so as to compensate a little for the damage done.”
May/25/2012
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News/Vercihan Ziflioğlu
Following the return of the historic Greek orphanage, it seems unclear by whom and how the budget needed for the restoration of the building will be collected
Turkish authorities recently returned a historic orphanage on the island of Büyükada in the Sea of Marmara to Istanbul’s Rum (Anatolian Greek) community, but the community lacks the means to repair and restore the structure due to its declining numbers.
“The state did not return the building to us in the same shape it was in when they [seized] it. The most recent studies have revealed beyond any doubt that millions of euros will be required [to restore the orphanage]. It is not possible for our 2000-strong population to meet this figure,” Mihalis Vasiliadis, editor-in-chief of the Rum daily Apoyevmatini, told the Hürriyet Daily News.
Some 65 million euros would be necessary to put the orphanage back on its feet, according to reports.
“[The state] has held the properties belonging to the orphanage since 1903. The appeals process has just reached completion. The buildings will be handed back, but they are all in ruins,” Vasiliadis said.
The judicial process regarding the return of a host of properties owned by the orphanage foundation was completed only this week, after years of legal haggling, he added.
Fener Rum Patriarch Bartholomeos also has the historical orphanage in his sights, with the hope of transforming it into a center for religious-based ecological study and inter-religious dialogue.
Harutyan Şanlı, the general secretary of the Inter-foundations Solidarity and Communication Platform (VADIP), which unites the foundations belonging to the Armenian community, agreed with Vasiliadis but also added that it would not be prudent to rely solely on a particular example. “The new Foundations Law represents a step taken with goodwill, and it cannot be ignored. We are talking about a 300-plus-year-old wooden building. There is no other [building] similar to it. [We] must look at the broader picture. For instance, what solution will [the authorities] provide for those properties that were seized from [minority] communities in 1942 and passed on to third parties? This is a more vital issue,” Şanlı said.
Even if officials were to return everything that was historically seized, however, this would hardly change anything, as the Rum community in Istanbul is now almost non-existent, Vasiliadis said. “The new law requires minority communities to apply within 18 months to retrieve their properties. [The government] took everything from us. The properties’ administrators were exiled, and now they are hastily returning [the properties], but to whom?”
The Rum community owns 72 foundations in all, and some 500 people are required for their management, according to Vasiliadis. “The average age in the community is over 60. Returning the properties is only part of the issue. If [the government] truly wishes to do something, first the Rum community’s demographic problem has to be overcome. The children of the 13,000 people exiled in 1964 ought to be granted dual [Turkish] citizenship so as to compensate a little for the damage done.”
May/25/2012
17 Mayıs 2012 Perşembe
Greek radio back in Istanbul
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News - Vercihan Ziflioğlu
Following a half-century break the Anatolian Greek community of Istanbul launches its radio station called Iho Tis Polis (Voice of the City). ‘We received more than 5,000 clicks within two weeks,’ its founder says
The first question directed to us is whether we are given a hard time. There is nothing that would lead us to hesitate, Andrea Rombopulos, the radio station’s founder and chief executive says.
The Rum (Anatolian Greek) community of Istanbul launched its first radio station in half a century two weeks ago over the internet with surprising success.
“Iho Tis Polis” (Voice of the City) began broadcasting at the website http://radio.ihotispolis.com, because financial constraints have forced the producers to turn to the internet rather than purchasing a radio frequency.
“We selected music as our [primary] format, because Greek music has a lot of fans, and then we enriched our broadcast with news, interviews and guests. We were targeting the 2,500-strong Rum community in Turkey, and we received more than 5,000 clicks within two weeks,” Andrea Rombopulos, the radio station’s founder and chief executive, told the Hürriyet Daily News.
The idea of establishing a radio station had been on the minds of Iho Tis Polis’s founders since the 1990s, but financial realities had dictated otherwise, according to Rombopulos, who also represents Greece’s Mega Television in Turkey and is the chief editor of the daily IHO, a Rum journal published in Istanbul.
Target audience
“We were aiming to reach the Rum community in Istanbul, but we turned out to become the voice of Greeks scattered across all corners of the world,” Rombopulos said, adding that the station has received messages from various countries around the globe.
The radio station currently broadcasts 24 hours a day with an entirely volunteer staff, Rombopulos said.
“Our primary goal is to preserve the Greek [language] and transmit the latest developments pertaining to the Rum community. If we could muster the [necessary] funds, we also want to start a broadcast in Turkish as well. We are even going to include cultural activities from the diaspora in the news,” said Rombopulos.
Some members of the Rum community from Istanbul who have settled in different countries have rebuked the producers for airing music from certain Greek pop singers on the station, Rombopulos explained. “They say [we] are a radio from Istanbul, and that [we] ought to air higher-quality songs. We respect every point of view.”
When the radio station began broadcasting, the Greek media was the first to cover it. “The first question directed [to us] was whether [we had been] given a hard time. There is nothing that would lead us to hesitate, and no one gave us any hard time,” Rombopulos said.
May/17/2012
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News - Vercihan Ziflioğlu
Following a half-century break the Anatolian Greek community of Istanbul launches its radio station called Iho Tis Polis (Voice of the City). ‘We received more than 5,000 clicks within two weeks,’ its founder says
The first question directed to us is whether we are given a hard time. There is nothing that would lead us to hesitate, Andrea Rombopulos, the radio station’s founder and chief executive says.
The Rum (Anatolian Greek) community of Istanbul launched its first radio station in half a century two weeks ago over the internet with surprising success.
“Iho Tis Polis” (Voice of the City) began broadcasting at the website http://radio.ihotispolis.com, because financial constraints have forced the producers to turn to the internet rather than purchasing a radio frequency.
“We selected music as our [primary] format, because Greek music has a lot of fans, and then we enriched our broadcast with news, interviews and guests. We were targeting the 2,500-strong Rum community in Turkey, and we received more than 5,000 clicks within two weeks,” Andrea Rombopulos, the radio station’s founder and chief executive, told the Hürriyet Daily News.
The idea of establishing a radio station had been on the minds of Iho Tis Polis’s founders since the 1990s, but financial realities had dictated otherwise, according to Rombopulos, who also represents Greece’s Mega Television in Turkey and is the chief editor of the daily IHO, a Rum journal published in Istanbul.
Target audience
“We were aiming to reach the Rum community in Istanbul, but we turned out to become the voice of Greeks scattered across all corners of the world,” Rombopulos said, adding that the station has received messages from various countries around the globe.
The radio station currently broadcasts 24 hours a day with an entirely volunteer staff, Rombopulos said.
“Our primary goal is to preserve the Greek [language] and transmit the latest developments pertaining to the Rum community. If we could muster the [necessary] funds, we also want to start a broadcast in Turkish as well. We are even going to include cultural activities from the diaspora in the news,” said Rombopulos.
Some members of the Rum community from Istanbul who have settled in different countries have rebuked the producers for airing music from certain Greek pop singers on the station, Rombopulos explained. “They say [we] are a radio from Istanbul, and that [we] ought to air higher-quality songs. We respect every point of view.”
When the radio station began broadcasting, the Greek media was the first to cover it. “The first question directed [to us] was whether [we had been] given a hard time. There is nothing that would lead us to hesitate, and no one gave us any hard time,” Rombopulos said.
May/17/2012
15 Mayıs 2012 Salı
French hospital struggling for life in Turkey
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News - Vercihan Ziflioğlu
Istanbul’s 154-year-old French Hospital La Paix is suffering from obtaining a title deed and development schemes that threaten to fill the region with high-rise buildings. ‘We have been here to provide our friendship and our services to Turkey for 150 years without discrimination,’ one of the hospital workers says
A historic French psychiatric hospital in Istanbul’s Mecidiyeköy district is struggling for survival against bureaucratic hurdles that prevent it from obtaining a title deed and development schemes that threaten to fill the region with high-rise buildings.
“A proposal was submitted to us several years ago to vacate the estate. They want to build skyscrapers here,” Sister Maria, the nun who runs La Paix Psychiatric Hospital, told the Hürriyet Daily News.
The hospital is having problems obtaining a title deed, and the government keeps creating bureaucratic obstacles rather than lending support, Sister Maria said.
“We have been here to provide our friendship and our services to Turkey for 150 years. We are trying to serve [the people] here without discriminating on the basis of religion, language or race.”
The hospital is faring much worse than other minority institutions in Turkey in terms of its status, Erdal Doğan, who represents the hospital in court, told the Daily News.
Historic hospital
“A hospital that has been serving the people of this country for 154 years is regarded as non-existent where bureaucratic procedures are concerned, and its very existence goes unrecognized,” he said.
“[Authorities] keep putting new hurdles before [the hospital] every time it has to deal with bureaucratic procedures, let alone [conferring] a legal identity upon it or providing a license,” he said.
Sister Maria said they also suffer from the growing number of skyscrapers in the district. This is a psychiatric hospital. The surroundings have to be open and serene for the patients’ repose,”
The inability to resolve the hospital’s current problems is highly thought-provoking at a time when efforts are also underway to frame a new constitution for Turkey, Doğan added.
“This hospital’s problems could be brought to a resolution through a legal arrangement and a license could be granted, provided the
will exists to do it. They are openly telling the hospital’s administration that they are here, but not here.
This amounts to legal murder,” Doğan said.
The only French hospital left standing in Istanbul, La Paix, or “Peace,” Hospital was built at the time of the Crimean War in the mid-19th century. Sultan Abdülmecid granted the estate via an official decree to a group of Roman Catholic nuns known as the Filles de la Charité (Daughters of Charity), who were helping to treat wounded troops in the war.
May/15/2012
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News - Vercihan Ziflioğlu
Istanbul’s 154-year-old French Hospital La Paix is suffering from obtaining a title deed and development schemes that threaten to fill the region with high-rise buildings. ‘We have been here to provide our friendship and our services to Turkey for 150 years without discrimination,’ one of the hospital workers says
A historic French psychiatric hospital in Istanbul’s Mecidiyeköy district is struggling for survival against bureaucratic hurdles that prevent it from obtaining a title deed and development schemes that threaten to fill the region with high-rise buildings.
“A proposal was submitted to us several years ago to vacate the estate. They want to build skyscrapers here,” Sister Maria, the nun who runs La Paix Psychiatric Hospital, told the Hürriyet Daily News.
The hospital is having problems obtaining a title deed, and the government keeps creating bureaucratic obstacles rather than lending support, Sister Maria said.
“We have been here to provide our friendship and our services to Turkey for 150 years. We are trying to serve [the people] here without discriminating on the basis of religion, language or race.”
The hospital is faring much worse than other minority institutions in Turkey in terms of its status, Erdal Doğan, who represents the hospital in court, told the Daily News.
Historic hospital
“A hospital that has been serving the people of this country for 154 years is regarded as non-existent where bureaucratic procedures are concerned, and its very existence goes unrecognized,” he said.
“[Authorities] keep putting new hurdles before [the hospital] every time it has to deal with bureaucratic procedures, let alone [conferring] a legal identity upon it or providing a license,” he said.
Sister Maria said they also suffer from the growing number of skyscrapers in the district. This is a psychiatric hospital. The surroundings have to be open and serene for the patients’ repose,”
The inability to resolve the hospital’s current problems is highly thought-provoking at a time when efforts are also underway to frame a new constitution for Turkey, Doğan added.
“This hospital’s problems could be brought to a resolution through a legal arrangement and a license could be granted, provided the
will exists to do it. They are openly telling the hospital’s administration that they are here, but not here.
This amounts to legal murder,” Doğan said.
The only French hospital left standing in Istanbul, La Paix, or “Peace,” Hospital was built at the time of the Crimean War in the mid-19th century. Sultan Abdülmecid granted the estate via an official decree to a group of Roman Catholic nuns known as the Filles de la Charité (Daughters of Charity), who were helping to treat wounded troops in the war.
May/15/2012
14 Mayıs 2012 Pazartesi
Armenian pop artist calls for peace before concert
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News - Vercihan Ziflioğlu
Armenian pop singer Nune Yesayan is in Turkey for a concert tonight in Istanbul. Yesayan says this concert was one of the greatest dreams of slain journalist Hrant Dink
Armenian pop singer Nune Yesayan will appear on stage tonight at 8:00 p.m. at Istanbul’s Lütfi Kırdar Convention and Exhibition Center, despite lingering political strains between Turkey and Armenia, and is issuing a message of friendship.
“Yes, the borders are politically closed, but our hearts are open. I do not believe there are any boundaries in music,” Yesayan, who has given many international concerts in the past, told the Hürriyet Daily News.
Yesayan said she does not know either Turkey, Turks, or the Armenians of Istanbul, and she was nervous about the reception the concert would receive.
“I will remain in Istanbul for four more days. There is a picture of Istanbul I have created in my mind. Whether I will find that or encounter completely different surprises, I do not know. Like all tourists, Hagia Sophia and the Topkapı Palace are the first places I would like to see,” she said, adding that her first concert in Istanbul has great significance for her.
Yesayan has frequently been asked in the Armenian press whether she harbored any fears about going to Turkey, and she said it was one of the greatest dreams of Hrant Dink, a Turkish-Armenian journalist who was assassinated in front of his Istanbul office on Jan. 19, 2007, that she should give a concert in Turkey. “I am in Istanbul to realize that dream.”
“There is no point in [harboring] enmity; new generations do not think like the old anymore. Yes, there are great scars among the Armenians in relation to the genocide, but this does not prevent us from looking toward the future,” Yesayan said.
Yesayan is also interested in participating in a joint concert with Turkish artists to be staged in both Turkey and Armenia, and said that she would like to see such a concert dedicated to a peaceful future, which she referred to as the “true victory.”
Proposal for joint concert with Hülya Avşar
She received a proposal to appear in a joint concert with popular Turkish artist Hülya Avşar several years ago, through the Jewish community, but turned the offer down, Yesayan explained. “Of course, I would have liked [to have appeared in such a concert], but why should the Jewish community act as a mediator between two neighboring countries like Turkey and Armenia? That was what I could not get myself to accept. I do not think we should need mediators,” she said.
Yesayan also denounced the rows that have occasionally erupted between Turkey and Armenia over the identity and origins of common songs in recent years, saying that songs have no ownership.
Despite the fact that her roots bear no connection to Anatolia, Yesayan said she still harbors great sympathy for the region. “[My] time is very limited now. I would like to journey eastwards and see those places the next time I come around,” she said.
“What hurts me most deeply are the obnoxious statements [made] against us [the Armenians]. Neither the Turks nor any other nation in the world, not only ours, could accept the use of such obnoxious language,” Yesayan said.
May/11/2012
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News - Vercihan Ziflioğlu
Armenian pop singer Nune Yesayan is in Turkey for a concert tonight in Istanbul. Yesayan says this concert was one of the greatest dreams of slain journalist Hrant Dink
Armenian pop singer Nune Yesayan will appear on stage tonight at 8:00 p.m. at Istanbul’s Lütfi Kırdar Convention and Exhibition Center, despite lingering political strains between Turkey and Armenia, and is issuing a message of friendship.
“Yes, the borders are politically closed, but our hearts are open. I do not believe there are any boundaries in music,” Yesayan, who has given many international concerts in the past, told the Hürriyet Daily News.
Yesayan said she does not know either Turkey, Turks, or the Armenians of Istanbul, and she was nervous about the reception the concert would receive.
“I will remain in Istanbul for four more days. There is a picture of Istanbul I have created in my mind. Whether I will find that or encounter completely different surprises, I do not know. Like all tourists, Hagia Sophia and the Topkapı Palace are the first places I would like to see,” she said, adding that her first concert in Istanbul has great significance for her.
Yesayan has frequently been asked in the Armenian press whether she harbored any fears about going to Turkey, and she said it was one of the greatest dreams of Hrant Dink, a Turkish-Armenian journalist who was assassinated in front of his Istanbul office on Jan. 19, 2007, that she should give a concert in Turkey. “I am in Istanbul to realize that dream.”
“There is no point in [harboring] enmity; new generations do not think like the old anymore. Yes, there are great scars among the Armenians in relation to the genocide, but this does not prevent us from looking toward the future,” Yesayan said.
Yesayan is also interested in participating in a joint concert with Turkish artists to be staged in both Turkey and Armenia, and said that she would like to see such a concert dedicated to a peaceful future, which she referred to as the “true victory.”
Proposal for joint concert with Hülya Avşar
She received a proposal to appear in a joint concert with popular Turkish artist Hülya Avşar several years ago, through the Jewish community, but turned the offer down, Yesayan explained. “Of course, I would have liked [to have appeared in such a concert], but why should the Jewish community act as a mediator between two neighboring countries like Turkey and Armenia? That was what I could not get myself to accept. I do not think we should need mediators,” she said.
Yesayan also denounced the rows that have occasionally erupted between Turkey and Armenia over the identity and origins of common songs in recent years, saying that songs have no ownership.
Despite the fact that her roots bear no connection to Anatolia, Yesayan said she still harbors great sympathy for the region. “[My] time is very limited now. I would like to journey eastwards and see those places the next time I come around,” she said.
“What hurts me most deeply are the obnoxious statements [made] against us [the Armenians]. Neither the Turks nor any other nation in the world, not only ours, could accept the use of such obnoxious language,” Yesayan said.
May/11/2012
10 Mayıs 2012 Perşembe
Minorities cautious despite CHP’s initiative for dialogue
ISTANBUL- Hürriyet Daily News - Vercihan Ziflioğlu
Turkey’s main opposition party leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu and prominent party figures meet with minority leaders over dinner to re-establish a dialogue
Prominent members of the main opposition People’s Republican Party (CHP) met with representatives of Turkey’s minority communities on the evening of May 8 to elucidate the party’s position on minority issues, despite minorities’ reservations.
CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu and deputy CHP leaders Faruk Loğoğlu and Osman Korutürk, a former ambassador and the son of Turkey’s sixth president Fahri Korutürk, held talks with representatives and religious leaders of Turkey’s minority groups to discuss such issues as the fate of the Khalki Seminary on Heybeliada Island, Syriac Christians’ need for a church of their own, and matters pertaining to equal citizenship.
New approach
“The new CHP has now transformed into a modern social democratic party. We keep stressing this point at every turn,”Korutük told the Hürriyet Daily News.
However, there are also doubts about the party’s new position. “The CHP says it has changed, but the practical implications of this have yet to be seen. Kılıçdaroğlu said they would provide backing if problems concerning minorities were to come before them, but nothing tangible has happened yet,” Sait Susin, the head of the executive board of the Istanbul Syriac Church of the Virgin Mary Foundation, told the Hürriyet Daily News.
The CHP is ready to back any efforts by the government to re-open the Khalki Seminary, Osman Korutürk told the Daily News, adding the party would also try to find a solution to the Syriac community’s need for a church. The 15,000-strong Syriac Christian community in Istanbul currently worships at a rented church.
Prominent journalist and writer Oral Çalışlar said he thinks minorities are right to maintain their distance from the CHP, adding that the CHP’s efforts are nonetheless positive. “The CHP is an important party. If they want to change and transform, there is no reason why we should oppose that. The opportunity lies before them [to prove their point]. If concerns regarding the Khalki Seminary and the Syriacs’ problems [obtaining a church of their own] figured into the talks, [the CHP] could make some efforts on these matters. They could try to get involved in the new process regarding [minority] foundations and lend their support to [efforts to return properties to minority communities],” he said.
May/10/2012
ISTANBUL- Hürriyet Daily News - Vercihan Ziflioğlu
Turkey’s main opposition party leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu and prominent party figures meet with minority leaders over dinner to re-establish a dialogue
Prominent members of the main opposition People’s Republican Party (CHP) met with representatives of Turkey’s minority communities on the evening of May 8 to elucidate the party’s position on minority issues, despite minorities’ reservations.
CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu and deputy CHP leaders Faruk Loğoğlu and Osman Korutürk, a former ambassador and the son of Turkey’s sixth president Fahri Korutürk, held talks with representatives and religious leaders of Turkey’s minority groups to discuss such issues as the fate of the Khalki Seminary on Heybeliada Island, Syriac Christians’ need for a church of their own, and matters pertaining to equal citizenship.
New approach
“The new CHP has now transformed into a modern social democratic party. We keep stressing this point at every turn,”Korutük told the Hürriyet Daily News.
However, there are also doubts about the party’s new position. “The CHP says it has changed, but the practical implications of this have yet to be seen. Kılıçdaroğlu said they would provide backing if problems concerning minorities were to come before them, but nothing tangible has happened yet,” Sait Susin, the head of the executive board of the Istanbul Syriac Church of the Virgin Mary Foundation, told the Hürriyet Daily News.
The CHP is ready to back any efforts by the government to re-open the Khalki Seminary, Osman Korutürk told the Daily News, adding the party would also try to find a solution to the Syriac community’s need for a church. The 15,000-strong Syriac Christian community in Istanbul currently worships at a rented church.
Prominent journalist and writer Oral Çalışlar said he thinks minorities are right to maintain their distance from the CHP, adding that the CHP’s efforts are nonetheless positive. “The CHP is an important party. If they want to change and transform, there is no reason why we should oppose that. The opportunity lies before them [to prove their point]. If concerns regarding the Khalki Seminary and the Syriacs’ problems [obtaining a church of their own] figured into the talks, [the CHP] could make some efforts on these matters. They could try to get involved in the new process regarding [minority] foundations and lend their support to [efforts to return properties to minority communities],” he said.
May/10/2012
8 Mayıs 2012 Salı
New Islamist Kurdish party to enter politics
ISTANBUL- Hürriyet Daily News -Vercihan Ziflioğlu
A new Kurdish party, which describes itself as Islamist, is set to enter Turkey’s political scene in October.
The new party is likely to set some controversy in motion, as one of its prominent figures is Sıdkı Zilan, a lawyer whose clients in the past have included members of Hizbullah, a militant Sunni group based in southeastern Turkey that is unrelated to Lebanese Hezbollah.
“We want to enact whatever is necessary [to bring to life] an entity that is inclusive, Islamic and in favor of dialogue. We do not have any institutional ties with Hizbullah. I do believe, however, there will be people fancying us from the AKP [Justice and Development Party], the HAS Party [People’s Voice Party], the SP [Felicity Party], the BDP [Peace and Democracy Party] and the Hizbullah community,” Sıdkı Zilan told the Hürriyet Daily News.
It was decided to establish a conservative, Islamic-oriented party because there currently are no political parties which represent the Islamic community among Turkey’s four Kurdish parties, namely the BDP, the Rights and Liberties Party (HAK-PAR), Participatory Democracy Party (KADEP) and the Freedom and Socialism Party (ÖSP), according to Zilan.
“Naturally, there [is] a need for an establishment that will both give voice to the Islamic solution and support the Kurdish and the Kurdistan front,” he said.
To a large extent, the Turkish state and the ruling AKP view the Kurdish problem through the prism of public security, he said, adding they were a party to the Kurdish problem even in the absence of a political party anyhow.
“The state is beset with problems of violence and public security originating from the PKK [Kurdistan Workers’ Party]. The PKK was not the essence of the matter; perhaps it is a consequence. We will have achieved our goal to some degree if we can contribute to the acceptance and comprehension of this [fact],” he added. The PKK is recognized as a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.
May/08/2012
ISTANBUL- Hürriyet Daily News -Vercihan Ziflioğlu
A new Kurdish party, which describes itself as Islamist, is set to enter Turkey’s political scene in October.
The new party is likely to set some controversy in motion, as one of its prominent figures is Sıdkı Zilan, a lawyer whose clients in the past have included members of Hizbullah, a militant Sunni group based in southeastern Turkey that is unrelated to Lebanese Hezbollah.
“We want to enact whatever is necessary [to bring to life] an entity that is inclusive, Islamic and in favor of dialogue. We do not have any institutional ties with Hizbullah. I do believe, however, there will be people fancying us from the AKP [Justice and Development Party], the HAS Party [People’s Voice Party], the SP [Felicity Party], the BDP [Peace and Democracy Party] and the Hizbullah community,” Sıdkı Zilan told the Hürriyet Daily News.
It was decided to establish a conservative, Islamic-oriented party because there currently are no political parties which represent the Islamic community among Turkey’s four Kurdish parties, namely the BDP, the Rights and Liberties Party (HAK-PAR), Participatory Democracy Party (KADEP) and the Freedom and Socialism Party (ÖSP), according to Zilan.
“Naturally, there [is] a need for an establishment that will both give voice to the Islamic solution and support the Kurdish and the Kurdistan front,” he said.
To a large extent, the Turkish state and the ruling AKP view the Kurdish problem through the prism of public security, he said, adding they were a party to the Kurdish problem even in the absence of a political party anyhow.
“The state is beset with problems of violence and public security originating from the PKK [Kurdistan Workers’ Party]. The PKK was not the essence of the matter; perhaps it is a consequence. We will have achieved our goal to some degree if we can contribute to the acceptance and comprehension of this [fact],” he added. The PKK is recognized as a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.
May/08/2012
6 Mayıs 2012 Pazar
EUROPE > Armenia heads to polls amid claims of foul play
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News -Vercihan Ziflioğlu
Armenians are poised to cast their votes on May 6 in a parliamentary election that looks set to become a battle for supremacy between the governing party and its current coalition partner, led by an ultra-rich former arm wrestling champion.
Opinion polls suggest that President Serzh Sarkisian’s Republican Party, which currently controls the majority of seats in Parliament, is ahead of its ally in the outgoing coalition – the Prosperous Armenia Party, led by millionaire tycoon and former arm wrestler Gagik Tsarukian. Authorities have pledged an unprecedentedly clean contest for the 131-seat National Assembly in the mountainous country of 3.3 million people. The general perception among the public, however, tells a different story. “If elections were fair and democratic, and the people were to choose freely, then Sarkisian’s party surely would not be their [preference.] They [the Republican Party] will do their utmost to ensure a majority in Parliament,” told Edgar Vartanian, a political scientist from the Armenian Center for National and International Studies.
Sarkisian’s government’s efforts to kick-start diplomatic relations with Turkey in 2008, which subsequently failed to reach fruition, have not made it to the election agenda either, as the issue could negatively impact the campaign, Vartanian added. Alexander Iskandarian, the director of the Caucasus Institute, countered these claims however, saying Sarkisian’s government would fail to attain a parliamentary majority, and a coalition government will emerge.
May/05/2012
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News -Vercihan Ziflioğlu
Armenians are poised to cast their votes on May 6 in a parliamentary election that looks set to become a battle for supremacy between the governing party and its current coalition partner, led by an ultra-rich former arm wrestling champion.
Opinion polls suggest that President Serzh Sarkisian’s Republican Party, which currently controls the majority of seats in Parliament, is ahead of its ally in the outgoing coalition – the Prosperous Armenia Party, led by millionaire tycoon and former arm wrestler Gagik Tsarukian. Authorities have pledged an unprecedentedly clean contest for the 131-seat National Assembly in the mountainous country of 3.3 million people. The general perception among the public, however, tells a different story. “If elections were fair and democratic, and the people were to choose freely, then Sarkisian’s party surely would not be their [preference.] They [the Republican Party] will do their utmost to ensure a majority in Parliament,” told Edgar Vartanian, a political scientist from the Armenian Center for National and International Studies.
Sarkisian’s government’s efforts to kick-start diplomatic relations with Turkey in 2008, which subsequently failed to reach fruition, have not made it to the election agenda either, as the issue could negatively impact the campaign, Vartanian added. Alexander Iskandarian, the director of the Caucasus Institute, countered these claims however, saying Sarkisian’s government would fail to attain a parliamentary majority, and a coalition government will emerge.
May/05/2012
Armenian voters ‘back’ Sarkozy
ISTANBUL- Hürriyet Daily News - Vercihan Ziflioğlu
Armenian voters in France lean strongly toward Nicholas Sarkozy in the upcoming presidential elections on May 6, according to Garo Yalick, a deputy of Armenian origin from Sarkozy’s ruling UMP.
“Both Sarkozy and Hollande say they will bring the draft law [criminalizing the denial of Armenian genocide allegations] before Parliament again if they are elected. Hollande says [he will do this] within three years, while Sarkozy says [he will do it] this September, as soon as he gets elected.
We are in some doubt over Hollande, as there is not a glimpse of light in Hollande’s group that would [indicate] support for this issue,” Yalick told the Hürriyet Daily News.
All socialist parties across the European Union (EU) are tracing back on the issue of Armenian genocide allegations, according to Marseilles deputy Galick, who is also serving as an advisor to Valerie Boyer, who had played a leading role in bringing the draft law before the French Parliament.
Even though the more nationalistic Dashnakszutyun Party lends its support to Hollande, France’s primary socialist candidate has still failed to inspire full confidence among the country’s Armenian constituency, according to Yalick.
May/04/2012
ISTANBUL- Hürriyet Daily News - Vercihan Ziflioğlu
Armenian voters in France lean strongly toward Nicholas Sarkozy in the upcoming presidential elections on May 6, according to Garo Yalick, a deputy of Armenian origin from Sarkozy’s ruling UMP.
“Both Sarkozy and Hollande say they will bring the draft law [criminalizing the denial of Armenian genocide allegations] before Parliament again if they are elected. Hollande says [he will do this] within three years, while Sarkozy says [he will do it] this September, as soon as he gets elected.
We are in some doubt over Hollande, as there is not a glimpse of light in Hollande’s group that would [indicate] support for this issue,” Yalick told the Hürriyet Daily News.
All socialist parties across the European Union (EU) are tracing back on the issue of Armenian genocide allegations, according to Marseilles deputy Galick, who is also serving as an advisor to Valerie Boyer, who had played a leading role in bringing the draft law before the French Parliament.
Even though the more nationalistic Dashnakszutyun Party lends its support to Hollande, France’s primary socialist candidate has still failed to inspire full confidence among the country’s Armenian constituency, according to Yalick.
May/04/2012
Catholic Armenians fight to regain school
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News - Vercihan Ziflioğlu
Turkey’s Catholic Armenians are waging a legal battle to retrieve the property rights for an Armenian Catholic school that was confiscated by the Foundations Directorate General, despite the fact that it had not been proclaimed under the 1936 Declaration.
“We paid for the building’s purchase, and we are in possession of its title deed. We also have the document [showing] the back-then Istanbul governor’s approval for the purchase, but we are paying rent nonetheless,” Rita Nurnur, head of the Armenian school’s foundation, told the Hürriyet Daily News.
Meeting with Charter Commission
Nurnur said that they had already met with European Union (EU) Minister Egemen Bağış over the matter and that Parliament’s Constitution Commission had also taken up the issue at the start of this week. The number of students attending the school fell to as low as 35 due to the fear that it would be shut down.
Adnan Ertem, the head of the Foundations Directorate General, has provided much support for their cause, according to Rita Nurnur. “He encouraged us to file a new suit as the foundation, [and] the process is still underway.”
“The process is quite thorny even if the Foundations Directorate General does its best, as the [foundation] was not registered on the 1936 Declaration. The [decision] to return [the property] has been overturned for now. It is clear the foundation is facing a rights violation. It needs to push forward with its legal battle,” Laki Vingas, a representative for all minority foundations in the Foundations Directorate General, told Daily News.
Turkey’s minorities declared their properties in 1936 upon the government’s request, but many of those properties did not remain registered under the names of minority foundations, and many were even sold to third parties in the following years.
May/04/2012
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News - Vercihan Ziflioğlu
Turkey’s Catholic Armenians are waging a legal battle to retrieve the property rights for an Armenian Catholic school that was confiscated by the Foundations Directorate General, despite the fact that it had not been proclaimed under the 1936 Declaration.
“We paid for the building’s purchase, and we are in possession of its title deed. We also have the document [showing] the back-then Istanbul governor’s approval for the purchase, but we are paying rent nonetheless,” Rita Nurnur, head of the Armenian school’s foundation, told the Hürriyet Daily News.
Meeting with Charter Commission
Nurnur said that they had already met with European Union (EU) Minister Egemen Bağış over the matter and that Parliament’s Constitution Commission had also taken up the issue at the start of this week. The number of students attending the school fell to as low as 35 due to the fear that it would be shut down.
Adnan Ertem, the head of the Foundations Directorate General, has provided much support for their cause, according to Rita Nurnur. “He encouraged us to file a new suit as the foundation, [and] the process is still underway.”
“The process is quite thorny even if the Foundations Directorate General does its best, as the [foundation] was not registered on the 1936 Declaration. The [decision] to return [the property] has been overturned for now. It is clear the foundation is facing a rights violation. It needs to push forward with its legal battle,” Laki Vingas, a representative for all minority foundations in the Foundations Directorate General, told Daily News.
Turkey’s minorities declared their properties in 1936 upon the government’s request, but many of those properties did not remain registered under the names of minority foundations, and many were even sold to third parties in the following years.
May/04/2012
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