26 Temmuz 2013 Cuma

Gezi showed Turkish republic is in safe hands: Ex-president’s daughter
ISTANBUL- Hürriyet Daily New/Vercihan Ziflioğlu
Standing in front a painting featuring her father, late President İnönü, with his family, Toker has no fears that the Republic is in danger due to Gezi spirit. DAILY NEWS photo            

The Gezi Park protests proved that the Turkish Republic is in safe hands, the daughter of the country’s second president said yesterday.

Özden Toker, daughter of İsmet İnönü, spoke to the Hürriyet Daily News at the İnönü Museum House on Istanbul’s Heybeliada Island, during the celebrations of the 90th anniversary of the Treaty of Lausanne on July 24. She said that the young protesters who took part in the Gezi Park rallies over the last two months showed that the youth was well informed and was leading the way for the whole of society.

“Very good things are actually happening in Turkey. We should certainly be very hopeful,” she told the Daily News. “The youngsters we thought were not attached to anything are very well informed and they are guiding the way for us. We should trust the youth.”

Toker said Atatürk, the founder of the modern Turkish Republic, used to visit their house when she was a small child and he would advise the youngsters to trust themselves, be skeptical, examine and ask questions. “Now we see that the youth is doing this,” Toker said. “The latest incidents showed us that the republic is in safe hands, and will remain strong.”

Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, current leader of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), founded by Atatürk, was also among the participants of the celebrations.

The CHP leader said the youth at the Gezi Park protests, which turned into nationwide anti-government rallies after a heavy-handed police crackdown on a peaceful sit-in against a controversial city-center renovation plan, were standing up against batons, bullets, sticks and Mass Incident Intervention Vehicles (TOMA) for freedom and independence. “There is no turning back now,” said Kılıçdaroğlu, adding that people who attacked protesters with machetes were left free, while people who resisted TOMAs were tried to be sent to prison. Toker said the Treaty of Lausanne, the negotiations and the signing of which was conducted by İsmet İnönü, was her father’s hardest test and thus his biggest achievement, which he took great pride in.

The Treaty of Lausanne, which was signed on July 24, 1923, was the result of a second attempt at peace after the failed Treaty of Sevres, which was signed on August 10, 1920 between the Allied Powers of WWI and Turkey. The Treaty of Sevres was rejected by the Turkish side on the grounds that significant Anatolian territory was lost, and the second peace negotiations ended in the Treaty of Lausanne.

Upon a question about the alleged secret documents of the treaty, Toker said there was no such thing as a secret document or agreement. “All of the papers of the agreement have been published as a book,” said Toker, adding that these statements were brought out just to undermine the signatories of the treaty.

Kılıçdaroğlu, said that the treaties of Lausanne and Sevres should be evaluated separately as one of them contained elements of surrender while the other one contained freedom and independence.
July/26/2013
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RIGHTS > Istanbul’s Hagia Elia Church to reopen next month

ISTANBUL- Vercihan Ziflioğlu/Hürriyet Daily News

 

The Hagia Elia Church needs renovation that would cost around 100,000 Turkish Liras, according to the deputy head of the PAE Fukaraperver Association. DAILY NEWS photo, Emrah GÜREL
The Hagia Elia Church needs renovation that would cost around 100,000 Turkish Liras, according to the deputy head of the PAE Fukaraperver Association. DAILY NEWS photo, Emrah GÜREL

The Hagia Elia Church, which belongs to Turkey’s White Russians, is set to be reopened Aug. 2, with a ceremony led by Fener Greek Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew.

A mass in the Hagia Elia Church located in Istanbul’s Karaköy neighborhood will be held for the first time since 1972 and will be conducted by the Fener Greek Patriarch Bartholomew, who will also bless the church beforehand.

The church, which belongs to the Russian émigrés who had fled from the Bolshevik regime in 1921, is situated on the roof of a structure where monks used to reside, a style of architecture rarely seen in Anatolia. While around 100,000 White Russians reside in Turkey, according to the PAE Fukaraperver Association, they own three churches and a monk’s house, which is currently used as a commercial building in Istanbul. The properties belong to the Russian Monastery at the Ayanaroz Monastery Complex in Greece and the Fener Greek Patriarchate is in charge of the churches. Kazmir Pamir, the deputy head of the White Russians’ PAE Fukaraperver Association, told the Hürriyet Daily News that there had been improvements to the uncertain situation of the church and the existence of Turkey’s White Russians after an item about the church was published in the Daily News. Appealing to all the Russians living in Turkey, Pamir said the more Russians attended the ceremony, the stronger a message it would send to stop the demolition resolution on the church.

The Hagia Elia Church faces the risk of being demolished, if the demolition resolution, which is being suspended currently, were to be implemented. The demolition resolution was taken as part of the privatization of the Istanbul Salıpazarı Port, also known as the Galataport project, which is owned by Turkey’s Maritime Organization. Pamir said that the church needed renovation, which would cost 100,000 Turkish Liras.
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    • LOCAL > Historical Armenian building in Istanbul rented despite the ongoing trial

    ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News
    Vercihan Ziflioğluvercihan.ziflioglu@hurriyet.com.tr

     

    The tender for renting the Sanasaryan Han in Istanbul’s Eminönü neighborhood, was won by Özgeylani Construction Company, despite the ongoing trial over the ownership of the building. DAILY NEWS photo, Emrah Gürel
    The tender for renting the Sanasaryan Han in Istanbul’s Eminönü neighborhood, was won by Özgeylani Construction Company, despite the ongoing trial over the ownership of the building. DAILY NEWS photo, Emrah Gürel            
    The Directorate General of Foundations rented the historical Sanasaryan Han in Istanbul’s Eminönü neighborhood through a tender, despite a legal struggle by Turkey’s Armenian Patriarchate.

    The tender for renting the historical building, organized by the Directorate General of Foundations on July 18, was won by Özgeylani Construction Company, despite the ongoing trial over the ownership of the building.

    Turkey’s Armenian Patriarchate claims that the han, which was donated to the patriarchate in 1881 by a Russian-Armenian Mıgırdiç Sansaryan, belongs to them as they have the documents to prove the donation. The Directorate General of Foundations, on the other hand, claims that the building did not fall under the jurisdiction of a law on the return of properties to community foundations that took effect in 2011 as it had been owned by a person.

    Şahin Gezer of Turkey’s Armenian Patriarchate Real Estate Commission told the Hürriyet Daily News that they had hoped until the last minute that the tender would be halted. Gezer said they would continue their legal action.

    The Sanasaryan Han had an autonomous status when compared to the other Armenian foundations, Gezer said, adding that this was due to the fact that other foundations had churches and schools, whereas the han had been donated to the patriarchate by a natural person.

    Gezer said that the rent of the han should be equally distributed between Armenian schools and public schools without any discrimination, while adding that this was as an offer to the Directorate General of Foundations “as we are equal citizens.”

    Commenting on the resolution on foundations, which entered into force two years ago, Gezer said more than 400 properties were returned but major problems were being faced. “For example, the returned space is accepted as a green area or is closed for housing, so even if it is returned you cannot use it,” said Gezer.

    While the Özgeylani Construction Company left the Daily News’ questions unanswered, Aslı Ceren Demircan at the press department of the Directorate General of Foundations told the Daily News that the Sanasaryan Han was a cultural asset unregistered foundation that needed to be protected and that the rental of the building would not affect the court as the legal action was about the ownership.
    “The topic has nothing to do with the process of returning [properties] to the community foundations,” said Demircan.

    The han, after being donated to Turkey’s Armenian Patriarchate in 1881, was confiscated by the then government in 1935. The historical building became famous for torture during the time the building was used as the Police Department. The han also served as a courthouse for a while.
     
    July/20/2013
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    18 Temmuz 2013 Perşembe

    Syrian musician reflects her sorrow through melodies
     
    ISTANBUL- Hürriyet Daily News/
    Vercihan Ziflioğlu vercihan.ziflioglu@hurriyet.com.tr
     
    Syrian-Armenian musician Lena Chamamyan has come to Turkey for a concert. Currently living in Paris, Chamamyan says she is planning return to Syria with peace


    Chamamyan’s obligatory exile from Syria has given her a chance to embark on a journey of discovery. 'After the big pain, I have had a chance to discover myself. The pain turns to music.' DAILY NEWS photo, Emrah GÜREL
    Chamamyan’s obligatory exile from Syria has given her a chance to embark on a journey of discovery. 'After the big pain, I have had a chance to discover myself. The pain turns to music.' DAILY NEWS photo, Emrah GÜREL


    Famous Syrian singer Lena Chamamyan played a long-anticipated show in Istanbul on July 17 as part of a somewhat melancholic “return” to Turkey for the jazz musician, a half-Armenian, half-Syriac artist whose family roots lie in Kahramanmaraş.

    “Coming to Turkey makes me sad,” she told the Hürriyet Daily News. “This is my first visit to Turkey; I am really happy meeting with Turkish people and also Turkish-Armenians. ... Meeting with Turkish-Armenians, it’s like meeting with old friends. ... I am so glad to be here but it’s so weird in the mean time. My feelings are so mixed.”

    Damascus-born Chamamyan, who played at Yıldız Palace alongside pianist Tuluğ Tırpan, cellist Özer Arkun and kanun player Göksel Baktagir, has also had to abandon her homeland due to the civil war and is currently living in Paris. Nonetheless, Chamayan vowed to one day return to Syria. “If the fight were to finish in Syria, I’ll return to my country. As an artist, I can’t live under a foreign sky.”

    Chamamyan also talked about her family’s story in Kahramanmaraş during the massacres perpetrated by Ottoman forces against Armenians in 1915. “My grandfather told me his brother went to the army that time. My grandfather arrived in Syria.”

    On politics
    Commenting on her trip to Turkey, Chamamyan said there were many good and bad people everywhere in the world. “But in general, I discovered that the biggest problem is always the politicians. I never, ever deal with politicians. Ignorance is so painful, and politicians do nothing.”

    Chamamyan’s obligatory exile from Syria has given her a chance to embark on a journey of discovery. “After the big pain, I have had a chance to discover myself,” she said, adding that she created her music with sadness and sorrow. “The pain turns to music.”

    She also said she told herself in 2011 that to stand up for one’s own people, “you have to give your people hope.”

    The music of Chamamyan
    The singer, who combines jazz and classical Armenian music, was born in Damascus, where over the course of her elementary and secondary education she participated in many school concerts, the first of which she held at the age of 5. She started studying music at the age of 9 and graduated from the economics management department at Damascus University in 2002. She studied at the higher institution of music in Damascus and graduated as a classical vocalist in 2007.

    She has also worked with many vocalists and musicians of different nationalities in many jazz festivals in Syria.

    As part of her musical trajectory, Chamamyan has mixed classical with oriental jazz and Armenian music to reflect the unique essence of her style as a vocalist. She was charmed from the very beginning by the idea of mixing simple oriental tunes with cords. Many friends from the higher institution of music helped her understand and conceptualize the project, the first of whom was Basel Rajoub, who has arranged some of her music.

    July/19/2013
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    16 Temmuz 2013 Salı

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    • RIGHTS > Female journalists ‘abused’ in custody in Turkey

    Vercihan Ziflioğlu
    ISTANBUL- Hürriyet Daily News
      Vercihan Ziflioğluvercihan.ziflioglu@hurriyet.com.tr

           
      Derya Oktan, 32, (R) and Arzu Demir, 39, working at the Etkin News Agency (ETHA), claim that they were abused by police officers in detention. DAILY NEWS photo, Emrah GÜREL
      Derya Oktan, 32, (R) and Arzu Demir, 39, working at the Etkin News Agency (ETHA), claim that they were abused by police officers in detention. DAILY NEWS photo, Emrah GÜREL

      Two female journalists have accused police of sexually, verbally and physically abusing them during raids at their news agency over their coverage of the Gezi Park protests.

      Derya Oktan, 32, and Arzu Demir, 39, were at the Etkin News Agency (ETHA) bureau when police staged a raid at the left-wing news outlet on June 18 as part of its operations regarding the nationwide anti-government protests.

      Claims of sexual abuse toward women in detention have been widely reported on in social media, but many women have preferred not to speak about the incidents. However, Demir said victims should speak out to prevent further cases from occurring.

      “In order to cope with what’s happening, in order to prevent abuses from increasing, we need to speak out,” Demir told the Hürriyet Daily News. “That is why we don’t shy away from speaking and revealing our identity.”

      Oktan said police staged an intervention at the building, in which the two journalists’ rooms and the bureau was located, at around 4:30 a.m. on June 18. The police entered the bureau with a search warrant and took many items, including press cards, photograph archives, recorders and even the kitchen equipment, such as aprons.

      Oktan said she was in her pajamas and tried to go to the bathroom to change, but a male police officer stood in her way and asked where she was going.

      “There were 44 officers, only one of them was a woman,” she said. “The female officer took me to the bathroom, touched my breasts and then wanted me to take off my pajamas. I didn’t agree to it but she stripped them off and hand-searched me. When I objected, she said: ‘What did I do? Did I torture you? Did I put handcuffs on you?’ as if nothing happened.”

      Demir said she went through a similar episode.

      “The police took off my T-shirt, hand-searched between my breasts, my genitalia,” she said. “When I said, ‘You cannot do that, I am a journalist,’ she told me, ‘You are wolves in journalists’ clothing.’”

      The journalists said the search continued until 6 p.m.

      “It is hard for a woman to speak about abuse. You can prove that you were beaten, but it is hard to prove sexual abuse,” Demir said, before criticizing mainstream media for relating abuse stories “as pornographic material.”

      Oktan said what she experienced was not directed at “Derya Oktan the woman, but Derya Oktan the critical journalist.”

      The two reporters said almost all of their Gezi Park protest archives were taken during the raids, although they said they were expecting such raids.

      “Every year they raid ETHA, confiscating our archives,” Demir said. “We were expecting it, because we are critical [of the government], and we are the press.”
       
      July/17/2013
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      15 Temmuz 2013 Pazartesi

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      • LOCAL > Diyarbakır's Surp Giragos Church set to have Armenian museum


      ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News
      Vercihan Ziflioğluvercihan.ziflioglu@hurriyet.com.tr
      A part of the Surp Giragos Church will be opened as an Armenian museum. Officials make a call to the Armenian community to make contributions    
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      The Surp Giragos Church was reopened for services two years ago.
      The Surp Giragos Church was reopened for services two years ago.

      A part of the Surp Giragos Armenian Church in Diyarbakır will be opened as a museum for the history of the Armenians from the southeastern province.

      Ergün Ayık, head of the Surp Giragos Church Foundation, told the Hürriyet Daily News that a building within the church’s complex would be transformed into the Diyarbakır Armenians History Museum.
      Ayık said that upon his meetings with Diyarbakır Mayor Osman Baydemir and the Diyarbakır Culture and Tourism Directorate, the Armenian Culture and Arts section of the Diyarbakır City Museum, which is to open in a newly renovated historical building, would be opened within the Surp Giragos Church.

      The church was renovated and opened for services two years ago thanks to donations from the Armenian community and Diyarbakır Metropolitan Municipality. Stating that the interior design of the Armenian museum would be handled by the municipality, Ayık said the museum’s security would also be provided by the same office.

      “The cleaning, electricity and water costs will be catered by the municipality, as well as the 24-hour surveillance of the church complex,” said Ayık. “Thus, our foundation will be freed of an important amount of costs.”

      Call to Armenians

      The foundation president said the museum would be formed from personal belongings and called for the Armenians, who possessed objects from their ancestors, to send them to the Surp Giragos Church Foundation. He added that as the building was going to be constructed according to the collected objects, potential donors should make haste in shipping their belongings.

      Concerning the objects to be displayed, Ayık said belongings from Armenian artistic, cultural and economic life – including old letters, commercial documents, music pieces, household appliances, clothing, paintings, carpets and rugs, stalls and craftsmen’s tools – would be exhibited in the museum.

      He said the collected belongings would be transferred to the inventory of the foundation pending the signing of a protocol for the museum.

      Ayık said that until four years ago, the only remaining trace of Diyarbakır’s Armenians was two ruined churches in the city, adding that Armenians had lived in the region for “thousands of years” and had built a “big kingdom.”

      “I wish with my whole heart that the happiness and positive mood deriving from invigorating the past that was fading into oblivion and paying the debt of conscience we owe to our ancestors will be felt by a greater part of our society,” Ayık said.
      July/15/2013
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      14 Temmuz 2013 Pazar

      Non-Muslim communities join fraternal Şişli iftar
      ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News/Vercihan Ziflioğlu

       

      Şişli Mayor Mustafa Sarıgül (C) welcomes visitors during an ‘iftar’ meal organized by the Municipality and the Anadolu Kültür foundation.
      Şişli Mayor Mustafa Sarıgül (C) welcomes visitors during an ‘iftar’ meal organized by the Municipality and the Anadolu Kültür foundation.

      Some 600 people, including Jews, Greek and Armenian Turks came together for an iftar dinner organized by the Şişli Municipality and the Anadolu Kültür foundation.

      The “iftar” (fast-breaking) dinner that took place on July 11 in Istanbul’s Şişli neighborhood, where minorities constitute most of the inhabitants, was a “dinner of abundance, friendship, brotherhood,” according to Mustafa Sarıgül, the mayor of Şişli.

      “We are all together without differentiating between religions, languages, races,” Sarıgül told the Hürriyet Daily News, while adding that their iftar dinner was the best example of uniting for a better, happier and more peaceful future.

      The preparations for the iftar dinner started early in the morning on the third day of Ramadan, which lasts for one month, and tables along the side streets of Şişli were set up to accommodate 660 people. Armenians, Jews, Greeks – minorities in Turkey – and Turks were among the guests to sit around the tables for the dinner catered by the Şişli Municipality and the Anadolu Kültür foundation.

      Tradition lives on

      Among the participants at the iftar dinner was 54-year-old Maryam, of Armenian origin, who said that the tables belonged to the Turkish nation as a whole and thanked the mayor for making such an event possible. Melahat Sarıtop, another guest, aged 83, said that these brotherhood tables were a tradition and she was happy to see it being kept alive.

      The 80-year-old Ali Yıldız said that the tables were not only tables of brotherhood but also of fruitfulness. “I am incredibly happy to be a part of it,” Yıldız said.
      July/12/2013
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      Rental of historical Armenian building in Istanbul creates controversy
      ISTANBUL- Hürriyet Daily News
      Vercihan Ziflioğlu

         
      The Sansaryan Han, which was donated to the Armenian Patriarchate in 1881 by Mıgırdiç Sansaryan, a Russian Armenian, was confiscated by the then government in 1935. Hürriyet photo
      The Sansaryan Han, which was donated to the Armenian Patriarchate in 1881 by Mıgırdiç Sansaryan, a Russian Armenian, was confiscated by the then government in 1935. Hürriyet photo            
      Directorate General of Foundations has initiated a tender to rent the historical Sansaryan Han, belonging to Turkey’s Armenian Patriarchate, at a time when the legal process over the building’s ownership is still ongoing.

      Sansaryan Han, which is located on Istanbul’s historical peninsula, became an issue of controversy after the Directorate General of Foundations initiated a tender to rent the building to a third party, even though the case is still going through a court process.

      Şahin Gezer of the Armenian Patriarchate Real Estate Commission told the Hürriyet Daily News that they did not want to make any comment until the tender was finalized. “I hope the controversy will be handled and we will solve the problem through reconciliation,” said Gezer, stressing that the legal case was continuing. “We have all the documents to show that Sansaryan Han belongs to the [Armenian] Patriarchate.”

      The han, which was donated to the Armenian Patriarchate in 1881 by Mıgırdiç Sansaryan, a Russian Armenian, was confiscated by the then government in 1935. The patriarchate took action against the Directorate General of Foundations upon a ruling on the return of the minority assets in 2011. While the case is in court, the tender to rent the han to a third party for 50 years was published in the Official Gazette. The tender is expected to take place on July 18.

      The Directorate General of Foundations declined to make any statement on the topic for the Daily News.

      Laki Vingas, minority foundations representative for the Directorate General of Foundations, said it was natural that the patriarchate claimed the rights to the historical building as an open will of the endower about the donation’s purpose was present. Vingas said the controversy arose because patriarchates and community foundations did not have legal entity status and a change in the law was needed to overcome these problems.

      “There are foundations that are listed as “unregistered” though they belong to communities. These foundations can be returned [to the owners] by an amendment to the law,” added Vingas.

      Sansaryan Han was famous for torture during the time the building was used as the Police Department. The renowned Turkish poet Nazım Hikmet, writer Ali Nesin and Armenian intellectual Aram Pehlivanyan are among the people who were tortured in the building. The han also served as a court house for a while.    
      July/09/2013
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