6 Kasım 2013 Çarşamba

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    • LOCAL > Greek minority set to open private university in Istanbul


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

     

    A historic Greek minority school in Galata district will host the university. DAILY NEWS photo / Emrah Gürel
    A historic Greek minority school in Galata district will host the university. DAILY NEWS photo / Emrah Gürel

    Istanbul’s Greeks are preparing to open a private university, one of the community’s members has told the Hürriyet Daily News.

    The university will teach in Turkish, Greek and English, and will have departments such as Greek Language and Literature, Medicine and International Law. It is planned to be opened in the Merkez Greek High School in the Beyoğlu district of central Istanbul.

    The project bloomed after 2011, when the Turkish State passed a historic decree to return property taken away from minority foundations 75 years ago.

    The Yeni Yüzyıl University Health Sciences Dean Ersi Abacı Kalfaoğlu said the community discussed what to do with the foundation and high school then, and she was elected as the High School foundation head.

    After the project was first coined, there was huge support from both within and outside of the community and Abacı Kalfaoğlu said that Turkey’s Higher Education Board (YÖK) fully supported the idea. Now, even though there are some procedural problems such as the absence of an article which allows the building to be used as a university in the contract signed during the returning of the building, the Directorate General of Foundations is also aiding the project.

    Abacı Kalfaoğlu said that the university’s foundation could help to lure the Istanbul-nascent Greek academics of the world.

    “Definitely,” she said, in response to the question of whether there could be a “reverse brain drain.”

    “We have started holding talks,” Abacı Kalfaoğlu explained. “We have contacted some really important names.”

    The Greek community has been facing the problem of schools being closed down due to lack of students and it has many empty and unused buildings, which could serve as university faculty buildings.

    “There are many possibilities in terms of buildings,” she said. “The biggest problem is budget. We need a serious budget for the restoration of the severely damaged buildings. We already knew that it was not an easy project. We are planning to cooperate with other Greek foundations on that subject.”

    Abacı Kalfaoğlu underlined that the university was not necessarily a Greek community project, and said it would serve not only the community members.

    “This is the project of a foundation,” she said. “It will serve the country directly. Our aim is to contribute to the Turkish and Greek friendship, by way of science.”

    The minority foundations representative for the Directorate General of Foundations, Laki Vingas, said this was a project that needed to be supported.

    “Developing the minority communities serves the development of Turkey’s democracy, and it shows the harmony that exists in the community with the cosmopolitan structure,” Vingas said. “I am trying to contribute to any project in that sense. That is the only way we can develop a new and equal community.”
    September/21/2013
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    Efforts continue for Syrian bishops’ release
    ISTANBUL – Hürriyet Daily News
    Vercihan Ziflioğluvercihan.ziflioglu@hurriyet.com.tr

    Turkey continues to exert effort to secure the release of two Syrian bishops who were kidnapped in April.

    Speaking on the condition of anonymity, Turkish Foreign Ministry officials told Hürriyet Daily News the negotiation process continued during the talks to free two Turkish pilots and Lebanese pilgrims. “It is our utmost desire to gain their freedom. A Muslim or a Christian, it is indifferent to us,” the official said. Greek Orthodox Bishop Boulos Yaziji and Syriac Orthodox Bishop Yohanna Ibrahim were kidnapped April 22 in Syria by armed men en route from the Turkish border. Meanwhile, Lebanese President Michel Suleiman vowed to help secure the release of the bishops. Suleiman urged during yesterday’s security meeting that every effort be exerted to help secure the release of Yaziji and Ibrahim. The president also congratulated the head of the General Security Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim for his efforts that led to the release pilgrims.
    October/22/2013
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    Hagia Triada Church restoration meeting opens up rift within Greek community
     
    ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News/   Vercihan Ziflioğluvercihan.ziflioglu@hurriyet.com.tr

     

    The renovation of the Hagia Triada Greek Church, which is surrounded by small buffets in the heart of Istanbul's Taksim Square, has caused controversy.
    The renovation of the Hagia Triada Greek Church, which is surrounded by small buffets in the heart of Istanbul's Taksim Square, has caused controversy.  A renovation project around the historic Hagia Triada Greek Church has caused a rift within Istanbul’s Greek community.

    The 133-year-old church, which is surrounded by small buffets despite being located in the heart of Taksim Square, Istanbul’s most central point, came to the national agenda after Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan vowed to "give the historic building back the look it deserves."

    Members of the Balıklı Greek Foundation held a meeting with shop owners on Oct. 3 with an eye to reaching an agreement on a number of issues before a planned visit with Erdoğan. However, the Hagia Triada Foundation has reacted negatively to the Balıklı Greek Foundation's action on the issue, claiming that the body does not have the legitimacy to represent the Greek community.

    “Frankly, we are deeply saddened with the fact that an issue, which is highly important for our community, is being discussed by third persons, and even shop owners, who are the subject of a legal feud with us,” Yorgo Papalyaris, the head of the Hagia Triada Foundation, said. “Shop owners, who had lost court cases, and who clearly used church areas [without legal justification], were called to the meeting, but not us.”

    Papalyaris said they were open to projects, but the “cleaning” of the church area should be done immediately, and added that the surrounding shops had severely damaged the church’s foundations.

    Balıklı Greek Foundation representatives refused to comment on the issue.    
    October/24/2013
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    Turkey's minority schools seek regulations to keep positive developments
     
    ISTANBUL – Hürriyet Daily News/ Vercihan Ziflioğlu vercihan.ziflioglu@hurriyet.com.tr

     

    DAILY NEWS photo, Emrah Gürel
    DAILY NEWS photo, Emrah Gürel
      Minority schools' bureaucratic problems are being solved faster than other schools, but they are demanding that a law on minority schools comes into force, worried that none of these changes are based on solid legal grounds and therefore may change in the future.

      Nevertheless, Minority Schools Coordinator Karekin Barsamyan told the Hürriyet Daily News on Oct. 28 that the problems caused by Law no. 6581 regarding the appointment of “Turkish and Turkish Culture Teachers” to Minority Schools are being easily solved these days. However, he also voiced concerns that this situation is not due to a specific law and may therefore come to an end at any time.

      Barsamyan said the Education Ministry had exercised "positive discrimination" for the minority schools, unlike in the past. Schools used to have problems due to deputy principles and Turkish language teachers nominated by the ministry, but their latest demands to change these officials have largely been met by the ministry, he said.

      “These developments are really positive. But the regulations must be done immediately and these practices must have a legal ground in order not to have such problems again,” said Barsamyan. “The possible regulations on minority schools must be held separately for each minority community. All communities have different problems, and the Greek community has the reciprocity issue.”

      Istanbul's Zoğrafyon Greek Primary School teacher Andon Parisyanos confirmed that there are positive developments, while similarly voicing concern over their "sustainability."

      “There have been similar positive developments in the past, but these were reversed too. A legal basis is necessary in order not to experience all these once again,” Parisyanos told the Daily News on Oct. 28.

      He also said the minority schools had different problems that must be held separately. “The student population of Greek schools is lower than the ones in Armenian schools. We have a reciprocity problem. Each minority must be evaluated accordingly with their own dynamics,” said Parisyanos.

      Meanwhile, the issue of so called “guest students” - foreign students at minority schools - represents another problem faced by the schools.    
      October/29/2013
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      International Publishers Association criticizes censorship in Turkey
      ISTANBUL – Hürriyet Daily News/Vercihan Ziflioğlu vercihan.ziflioglu@hurriyet.com.tr

      A member of an international publishing group calls on Turkey to release the journalists, writers and translators who are currently in jail, in a recently released a statement

      Zarakolu (L) and Sancı (R) face charges.
      Zarakolu (L) and Sancı (R) face charges.
          
        A prominent member of the International Publishers Association (IPA) called on Turkey to clear journalists, writers and translators of their charges, criticizing the country’s stance on freedom of expression.

        Swedish publisher and IPA Freedom to Publish Committee chair Ola Wallin came to Turkey to meet prominent Turkish publishers Ragıp Zarakolu and İrfan Sancı, who are also facing charges for publishing a book written by renowned French poet Guillaume Apollinaire.

        The group released a statement after its meeting, reading: “Writers, journalists, translators and publishers working in Turkey are threatened by scores of laws and regulations, specifically the country’s Anti-Terror Laws and Penal Code articles that pretend to defend the nation’s dignity, and pretend to combat racial hatred, obscenity and defamation.”

        The statement added: “As a result of the misuse of these laws, many journalists, writers, translators and publishers are currently in jail or facing prosecution. I would like to mention three examples that stand for many: Deniz Zarakolu, Ayse Berktay, and Nedim Şener, all of whom are currently in jail or threatened with jail for simply exercising their human rights.”

        ‘Something is wrong’

        Speaking to Hürriyet Daily News, Wallin said: “I am not sure if I could go on working as a publisher in these conditions if I were in Turkey.”

        “Something is going wrong here,” he added. “People are being tried for exercising their right to freedom of expression without engaging in violence. That’s unfair.”

        According to the IPA, 66 journalists, writers and translators are still behind bars, with most of them under arrest pending charges. The body called for the release of all of them, including Berktay and Zarakolu, who have been jailed for more than two years, facing charges as part of the ongoing Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) case.

        “Turkey is a modern country and has progressed economically with notable developments but the obstacles [that have been placed] on the freedom of expression are concerning,” Wallin added.
        He also highlighted the importance of the upcoming verdict from hearing of the Apollinaire case, in which İrfan Sancı, head of the Sel Publishing House, is facing charges for releasing a book that were deemed “explicit.”

        Turkey’s Supreme Court of Appeals had overturned a previous ruling of acquittals of the publisher and translator of the book, “The Exploits of Young Don Juan”, stating that some of the book’s content failed to fall under applicable freedom of speech conventions due to its perversion.

        Sancı criticized the decision, saying the verdict delivered at the hearing was “highly important” and that the ruling will contribute to shaping Turkey’s publishing sector by enforcing the “self-censorship mechanism.”    
        November/02/2013
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        Turkey shows progress, says Armenian historian Raymond Kevorkian
        I
        STANBUL – Hürriyet Daily News/Vercihan Ziflioğluvercihan.ziflioglu@hurriyet.com.tr

        Armenian-descent French historian Raymond Kevorkian says the conference held on Islamized Armenians is a result of Turkey’s positive progress in democracy, but remains pessimistic about the country to take any step towards breaking “dogmas” regarding the 1915 incidents before its 100th anniversary.

        “Turkey has been changing for the good and it would be unfair not to see that, this conference is a result of that,” Kevorkian told Hürriyet Daily News on the sidelines of three-day conference regarding Islamized Armenians that started Nov. 2 in Istanbul.

        “Within the past seven years, important parts of the Prime Ministry state archives have been opened,” said the French historian, who is best known for his book on the issue, “The Armenian Genocide: A Complete History.”

        He noted he is closely watching the data obtained from the research done by using archives and there are new, significant documents among them.

        Despite hailing the opening of archives, Kevorkian implied he still does not expect drastic moves from Turkey before the 100th anniversary of the 1915 incidents, which is anticipated as a breaking point for Armenian diaspora.

        “2015 is an opportunity to break this dogma, but Turkey doesn’t look like it will take a step toward it,” he said.

        “Of course as a historian, I’m not the person to tell Turkey what to do, but the first gesture could be a return of cultural assets and protection,” he added, when asked about what the Armenian diaspora could demand from Turkey in 2015.

        Speaking about the idea of the establishment of a Historian’s Commission to be consisted of the two countries’ historians, Kevorkian said he is completely against the formation of a commission under a state’s guidance.

        “Historians should be independent; they don’t wait for the state’s approval to start working. Besides, we, Armenian and Turkish historians, are already in cooperation and congregate together in scientific meetings,” he said.

        “Moreover, there is no need to discuss the presence of the Armenian genocide as the result is obvious. The Armenian genocide is a reality acknowledged by the international community as well,” he added.
        The idea of a formation of such a commission was first planted among a historic protocol signed by Turkey and Armenia to normalize bilateral relations, which was never realized.

        A number of prominent Turkish, Armenian and international academics, as well as Armenians living in several Turkish provinces will be gathering at Boğaziçi University in Istanbul for the conference, which ends today.
        November/04/2013
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        TURKEY
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        •  Islamized Armenians voice their 100 years in ‘purgatory’


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

         

        Gathering at a conference titled ‘Islamized Armenians’ held at Boğaziçi University, members of the community gave details about their lives. Daily News photo             
                   

        Muslim Armenians say they are left in between “in a purgatory,” saying they are accepted by neither Turkey nor the Armenian Patriarch and community.

        Gathering at a conference titled “Islamized Armenians” held at Istanbul’s Boğaziçi University, members of the community gave details about their lives, mostly spent hiding their identities in the eastern and southeastern provinces of Turkey.

        “They ask what we have gone through and I answer, ‘What haven’t we gone through?’ All through our lives we have been in purgatory,” said one of the participants, identified as Sadık from Adıyaman.

        The feeling of not being accepted by different cultures in society has defined their lives, Sadık added. “I was staying at a boarding school, and the other kids called me ‘infidel.’ I didn’t know what this meant, I just thought they didn’t like me,” he said.

        Berfin, a 23-year-old who is studying the question of Muslim Armenians for her Master’s degree at Oxford University, said her identity was also problematic abroad.

        “When I applied to a student dormitory in France, they asked me for a baptism document, and they did not accept me when I couldn’t provide one. Yes, Christian Armenians have had huge problems, too, but they went on to live their identities in one way or another. We have had to live on through 100 years of silent desperation,” Berfin said.

        Another participant, only identified as H.T., said Muslim Armenians were trying to practice Christian practices in their homes but were trying to behave as Muslims outside.

        “We said, ‘Living is resisting,’ and so we stayed on our feet. Whatever we did, we were called infidels. Now the Christian Armenians don’t accept us either, so we are left in between,” H.T. said, adding that they were still trying to hide their identities today.

        Responding to a question on renowned Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, who was killed in Istanbul in 2007, H.T. said, “Yes, we fear.”

        One of Dink’s lawyers, Cem Halavurt, also attended the conference. He said that he personally did not fear revealing his identity, but also thought the Armenian Patriarch and other Istanbul Armenians were right to act with prudence.

        “There is still a taboo of missionaries in this country. Even the slightest step by the Patriarch could be seen as a missionary act,” Halavurt said.
         
        November/06/2013
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