Arsine Khanjyan: Turkey will recognize Armenian Genocide when it is able to look at its own “bloody” history

September 17, 2012 By administrator

11:21, 17 September, 2012

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 17, ARMENPRESS:

Turkeywill recognize the Armenian Genocide only when it finds strength in itself to look at its own “bloody” history and realizes that their actions were nothing but a crime. It is necessary also that the members of the Turkish society ask themselves, who am I in reality with my bad and good qualities and genetic memory. This was reported to Armenpress by the Canadian Armenian famous actress and producer Arsine Khanjyan. According to her, this all will come true, when the Turkish people themselves begin clarifying the history and exert pressure.

“They should understand that they have lived in lie for so many years and each of them will feel that in their families there is a part of that “crime”, that their grandfather was one of the implementators of the crime of the year of 1915”, – said Arsine Khanjyan. The actress is certain that the denial policy is to the detriment of the current generation. “This very denial makes them a part of that continuous crime”, – said the actress.Armeniashould pay a great attention to the Armenians living inTurkey, notwithstanding the fact if they are still Christians or forcibly made Muslims. They should join the other minorities living inTurkeyand make concrete actions. “I hope that we will come to a certain result in that case. At least, I hope”, – said Arsine.

In this issue the actress highlights the role of the international community as well. “The international community is responsible for the denial as Turkey. The international community should cease all the discussions and negotiations on this issue and look at this problem without political interest”, – said Arsine emphasizing that not only Armenians should cry about it but also the allies. According to her, notwithstanding that Holocaust was recognized byGermany, the Turkish cannot find strength in them to accept the reality. There is only one reason,Turkeylacks civilized society. “People never forget about a crime, genocide. The further generations ofArmeniaandTurkeywill always face this part of the history of their countries and it will never be forgotten. And for the sake of the Armenian and Turkish generations the international structures should exert pressure to settle the issue”, – said Arsine.

In the years of 1892-1923 the Turkish government organized the Armenian Genocide, during which mass deportation and massacre of more than 1.5 million people from the Western Armenia, Cilicia andOttoman Empirewas carried out. Conditionally the beginning of the Genocide is considered to be the April 24 1915, when 600 Armenian intellectuals were arrested and then killed inConstantinople.

Fars news agency: Turkish Airline Flying Al-Qaeda from Pakistan to Syrian Borders

September 16, 2012 By administrator

News number: 9106240242 17:25 | 2012-09-15

by: Iran’s Fars news agency

Turkish Airline Flying Al-Qaeda from Pakistan to Syrian Borders

TEHRAN (FNA)- Turkey’s national air carrier, Turkish Air, has been transiting Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants from North Waziristan in Pakistan to the Turkish borders with Syria, sources revealed on Saturday, mentioning that the last group were flown to Hatay on a Turkish Air Airbus flight No. 709 on September 10, 2012

“The Turkish intelligence agency sent 93 Al-Qaeda and Taliban terrorists from Waziristan to Hatay province near the border with Syria on a Turkish Air Airbus flight No. 709 on September 10, 2012 and via the Karachi-Istanbul flight route,” the source told FNA on Saturday, adding that the flight had a short stop in Istanbul.

The 93 terrorists transited to the Turkish border with Syria included Al-Qaeda militants from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Yemen, Pakistan, Afghanistan and a group of Arabs residing in Waziristan, he added.

The source, who asked to remain anonymous due to the sensitivity of his information, further revealed that the Turkish intelligence agency is coordinating its measures with the CIA and the Saudi and Qatari secret services.

FNA dispatches from Pakistan said new al-Qaeda members were trained in North Waziristan until a few days ago and then sent to Syria, but now they are transferring their command center to the borders between Turkey and Syria as a first step to be followed by a last move directly into the restive parts of Syria on the other side of the border.

The al-Qaeda, backed by Turkey, the US and its regional Arab allies, had set up a new camp in Northern Waziristan in Pakistan to train Salafi and Jihadi terrorists and dispatched them to Syria via Turkish borders.

“A new Al-Qaeda has been created in the region through the financial and logistical backup of Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and a number of western states, specially the US,” a source told FNA earlier this month.

Ali Mahdian told FNA that the US and the British governments have been playing with the al-Qaeda through their Arab proxy regimes in the region in a bid to materialize their goals, specially in Syria.

He said the Saudi and Qatari regimes serve as interlocutors to facilitate the CIA and MI6 plans in Syria through instigating terrorist operations by Salafi and Arab Jihadi groups, adding that the terrorists do not know that they actually exercise the US plans.

“Turkey has also been misusing extremist Salafis and Al-Qaeda terrorists to intensify the crisis in Syria and it has recently augmented its efforts in this regard by helping the new Al-Qaeda branch set up a camp in Northern Waziristan in Pakistan to train Al-Qaeda and Taliban members as well as Turkish Salafis and Arab Jihadis who are later sent to Syria for terrorist operations,” said the source.

He said the camp in Waziristan is not just a training center, but a command center for terrorist operations against Syria.

Yet, the source said the US and Britain are looking at the new Al-Qaeda force as an instrument to attain their goals and do not intend to support them to ascend to power, “because if Salafi elements in Syria ascend to power, they will create many problems for the US, the Western states and Turkey in future”.

“Thus, the US, Britain and Turkey are looking at the Al-Qaeda as a tactical instrument,” he said, and warned of the regional and global repercussions of the US and Turkish aid to the Al-Qaeda and Salafi groups.

“Unfortunately, these group of countries have just focused on the short-term benefits that the Salafis and the Al-Qaeda can provide for them and ignore the perils of this support in the long run,” he said.

“At present, the western countries, specially Britain which hosts and controls the Jihadi Salafi groups throughout the world are paving the ground for these extremists to leave their homes – mostly in Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the Untied Arab Emirates (UAE) as well as those who live in Europe and the US – for Waziristan,” the source added.

In relevant remarks, Syrian Prime Minister Wael al-Halqi last week blamed certain states, the Salafis and the Al-Qaeda for terrorist operations which have claimed the lives of thousands of people in his country, and said terrorist groups supported by certain foreign actors are misusing differences in his country to bring Syria into turmoil.

Addressing the 16th heads-of-state summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) here in Tehran on Thursday, the Syrian premier noted terrorist attacks on his nation, and said the “terrorists are backed up by certain foreign states”.

“Many countries allege to be supporting peaceful solutions in Syria, but they oppose Annan’s plan in practice,” he said, and cautioned, “The responsibility for the failure of this plan lies on their shoulder as they strove to keep the Syrian crisis going and falsified events.”

“The world should know that the Syrian crisis, in fact, rises from foreign meddling. Certain well-known countries from inside and outside the region are seeking instability of Syria,” the Syrian prime minister complained.

Elaborating on the recent developments in Syria, al-Halqi said, “It has been proved that foreign-backed terrorist groups have been misusing events and killing the innocent people.”

“These terrorists include Salafis and Al-Qaeda Takfiri groups,” he reiterated, and added, “Those states that support terrorism and oppose talks should be given moral and economic punishments as they are part of the problem in Syria.”

Syria has been experiencing unrest since March 2011 with organized attacks by well-armed gangs against Syrian police forces and border guards being reported across the country.

In October, calm was eventually restored in the Arab state after President Assad started a reform initiative in the country, but Israel, the US and its Arab allies are seeking hard to bring the country into chaos through any possible means. Tel Aviv, Washington and some Arab capitals have been staging various plots in the hope of stirring unrests in Syria once again.

The US and its western and regional allies have long sought to topple Bashar al-Assad and his ruling system. Media reports said that the Syrian rebels and terrorist groups have received significantly more and better weapons in recent weeks, a crime paid for by the Persian Gulf Arab states and coordinated by the United States.

The US daily, Washington Post, reported in May that the Syrian rebels and terrorist groups battling the President Bashar al-Assad’s government have received significantly more and better weapons in recent weeks, a crime paid for by the Persian Gulf Arab states and coordinated by the United States.

The newspaper, quoting opposition activists and US and foreign officials, reported that Obama administration officials emphasized the administration has expanded contacts with opposition military forces to provide the Persian Gulf nations with assessments of rebel credibility and command-and-control infrastructure.

Opposition activists who several months ago said the rebels were running out of ammunition said in May that the flow of weapons – most bought on the black market in neighboring countries or from elements of the Syrian military in the past – has significantly increased after a decision by Saudi Arabia, Qatar and other Persian Gulf states to provide millions of dollars in funding each month.

http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=9106240242

Special Thanks to: FNA Bureau in Islamabad, FNA Bureau in Kabul, FNA Bureau in Damascus

Armeno-Kurdish Relations: Love Fest or Divorce Settlement Meetings?

September 15, 2012 By administrator

Posted by Dr. Henry Astarjian on August 19, 2012

Like a first date with a potential lover or a last meeting to settle divorce property with an ex, Armenian and Kurdish individuals are in a fest, both knowing full well that negative feelings hover over the canopy under which they are sipping champagne. Both sides, dealing from a position of weakness, manage to create a façade of joviality and happiness for the created opportunity. And both sides realize that in order to settle their differences, they have to accept difficult compromises, and yield serious overdue concessions to the other side. Such are Armeno-Kurdish relations today.

Individuals from both sides, meeting individually in various places and on various occasions, are set to rediscover each other. Recently boy-meets-girl and getting-to-know-you opportunities were created. I am mindful of the visit of Armenian dance troops to Dersim (Tunceli), Armenian Diasporan participations in Newruz celebrations, and in celebrations for renovation of a church in Diyarbekir.

As part of their public relations strategy, the Kurds are desperately trying to makeover their look by attempting to erase the image of savagery, which they perpetrated during the Armenian Genocide. Their first official act came from the Kurdish Parliament in Exile in Brussels through their communiqué #1, in which they apologized to the Armenian nation for all the ills they have committed against us.

Another such sweet event was the celebration in Diyarbekir during the consecration of Surp Giragos Church, when the city hosted Armenian clergy and lay people with signs and flags welcoming their guests “Home”—an uplifting gesture indeed that goes beyond the usual mea culpa! No Armenian, to my knowledge, packed his bag to go “Home,” and none is expected to do so anytime soon.

Armenians, in turn, are making a half-hearted effort to forgive, but not to forget, the Kurdish atrocities perpetrated before, during, and after the genocide. These are very difficult tasks for both.

Kurds, some 30 million of them, have been battling for a century to gain notoriety in their own land. Their major shortcoming has been, and to some degree still is, tribalism. This socio-political structure was a major obstacle in gaining statehood when the pie was being divided at Sevres. This Treaty of Peace, which sealed a lot of deals in dividing the defeated Ottoman Empire, provided in its article 64 a rare opportunity for Kurdish independence:

“If within one year from the coming into force of the present Treaty the Kurdish peoples within the areas defined in article 62 shall address themselves to the Council of the League of Nations in such a manner as to show that a majority of the population of these areas desires independence from Turkey, and if the Council then considers that these peoples are capable of such independence from Turkey and recommends that it should be granted to them, Turkey hereby agrees to execute such a recommendation, and to renounce all rights and title over these areas.”

The mandated year passed, and now over 90 years later, the Kurdish society remains disunited in purpose. This fact does not need much to verify; one look at the societal and political make-up of Turkish Kurdistan or the Kurdish Parliament in Exile based in Brussels would convince one of its authenticity.

Further evidence comes from the recent Buyuk Millet Meclisi (Turkish Parliament) elections where the Kurdish vote was split and their goals shattered as a result.

The most recent disunity and story of betrayal comes from skeptics and conspiracy theorists who believe that Abdullah Ocalan was betrayed by his Kurdish adversaries, or I should say enemies, which led to his kidnapping from Kenya by Turkish special agents.

Kurdish political thought and institutions are so dangerously diverse and divided, that a section of them prefer their status quo within Turkey; others inebriated by religious fervor work for the return of the Islamic Caliphate of yesteryear; and yet others yearn for total independence and statehood.

This being the situational climate, Kurds can offer us only love and good will, which they are attempting to do, and we accept all that with gratitude—but that is not enough! The price of reconciliation is far greater than that. Granted they cannot give us what they don’t have, but sooner or later 30 million or so of them will have to have some kind of self-rule—be it autonomy, federation, or confederation—with Turkey, taking our legitimate rights to Western Armenia with them. This is not acceptable!

To achieve their goals, the Kurds need to forge alliances. Among their most natural allies, aside from the mountains, are the Armenians who spread the span of the globe and can exercise their ideological and political clout to bolster the cause. This can happen if and when our love fest is consummated in concrete terms.

We have the same past, the same political and armed struggle, the same national aspirations, the same future, the same destiny, and the reciprocity of goodwill. Furthermore, regardless of all circumstances, we are locked in and destined to live together. At the beginning of the 19th century, the Kurdish Prince Badrkhan forged an alliance with the Armenians, put together some 40,000-strong armies consisting of both parties, and waged a war against the central Turkish government. At the beginning they gave Turks hell only to live in one when Badrkhan’s brother, who was commanding the forces on the right flank of the attack, betrayed them in lieu of money and perks offered him by the Turks.

When all is said and done, Armenians have their own problems and shortcomings. Physically they are scattered almost everywhere and in most places they are comfortable. The genocide and post-genocide psychological and physical translocations have created a reality of apathy in the nation. In the diaspora, people, especially the political parties, are interested in rehashing failed policies because it justifies projecting guilt on the perpetrators of the genocide, thereby avoiding a commitment to the new, necessary, risky, and difficult issue of Western Armenia.

Poverty of thought prevails in the nation; the intellectual class of yesteryear was either beheaded on the eve of the genocide, assassinated like Hrant Dink, or died a natural death. No! There are no replacements! There is a void, a political thought and action vacuum, which the church is trying to fill affirming the millet mentality and reality. History tells us how disastrous that could be!

The Third Republic is corrupt to the core and sitting on its hands while tens of thousands leave the country, creating an unprecedented brain drain.

The diaspora, neglecting the real issue of regaining our rights in Western Armenia, is busy like the hounds chasing the plastic rabbit dangled in front of us. A church here, a church there, or a monument renovated and returned to us, generates psychological but deceptive comfort. It does not address the real issue of Western Armenia.

Movers and shakers—if there are any in the nation—must have unity of purpose. Bring this issue on the radar screen, and then sip champagne with the Kurds under the canopy of the Sevres Treaty, in a divorce settlement while engaging in love fest.

Turkish Prim minister Erdoğan tells Turkish journalists: don’t cover conflict with Kurds

September 14, 2012 By administrator

By Özgür Öğret and Nina Ognianova/CPJ Europe and Central Asia Program Staff

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of Turkey is known to lash out publicly at journalists of whose coverage he disapproves. He has called on media owners and editors to discipline reporters and columnists critical of his policies, particularly when it comes to the sensitive Kurdish issue. In more than a few cases, to avoid trouble, newsroom managers have listened and dismissed the staffers in question.

But Erdoğan’s most recent televised message to the media crosses from reprimanding into directly instructing journalists to stop covering the long-standing conflict between the Turkish Armed Forces and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). This is unthinkable.

At a live TV debate on August 31, the prime minister told journalists: “This [news about the conflict] must be ignored; there is no other way.” He proceeded to claim that U.S., French, and British media do not cover military action in Afghanistan. (This, of course, is untrue. A simple Google news search of the keywords “coalition forces in Afghanistan” returns 21,000 hits.)

Erdoğan brought up the recent kidnapping by the PKK of an opposition member of parliament, who was released two days later in southeastern Turkey. The prime minister said he believed the kidnapping had been staged and, by covering the incident, Turkish media served as a propaganda platform for the PKK. “I really expect the media [to act] as one hand, one heart,” Erdoğan said. “I want to come to an understanding with you on this subject. This is a message to all the media. There are soldiers of all the coalition forces in Afghanistan. There were 158 losses in the last month, I received the numbers today. However, you cannot see this in either a British newspaper or in a French one. However, when it is us, print media covers it all.

“What are they [Turkish media] doing?” the prime minister said. “The most important target of terrorism is propaganda. [Terrorism] gets it done for free here. On whose side will the media be?”

Propaganda of terrorism is an umbrella term in Turkey, where the legal system provides authorities with ample opportunity to prosecute and imprison journalists, publishers, academics, activists, and demonstrators on the vaguely defined charge. Dozens of journalists are in prison in Turkey for their work, the vast majority of them on PKK and terrorism-related charges.

The prime minister has publicly claimed a commitment to freedom of the press and freedom of expression as pillars of a democratic society, including in last week’s exclusive interview with CNN journalist and CPJ board member Christiane Amanpour. But when he equates media coverage with abetting terrorism, he sends a message to Turkey’s judiciary and prosecutors to keep going after members of the press who cover the sensitive Kurdish story.

In his August 31 statements, Erdoğan specifically told the media to stop reporting on fallen Turkish soldiers, who are officially recognized as “martyrs” by the Turkish state. When a journalist pointed out that readers demand coverage of the issue, the prime minister was straightforward: “Here, I believe that covering it even in small ways should be put aside. It should not be covered at all.”

It’s of little surprise, then, that pro-Kurdish local television station Gün TV is banned from broadcasting its evening news programs for a week starting tomorrow. The program’s hosts were also banned from appearing on air–not only on Gün TV but on any station–for the same period. An astronomy documentary series will be aired instead of news, local reports said. The ban was ordered by the High Board of Radio and Television (RTÜK)–the state media regulator–on a complaint made by Mustafa Toprak, the governor of Diyarbakir province, on request of local police. The complaint reportedly said that Gün TV was involved in terrorist propaganda by praising the PKK and its leaders, according to the local press.

Meanwhile, the trial of more than 40 Kurdish journalists, charged with supporting terrorism, continued for a third consecutive day in Istanbul today. The accusations stem from media coverage of PKK activities.

Özgür Öğret is a Turkish freelance journalist and CPJ’s Istanbul correspondent.

Nina Ognianova is coordinator of CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia Program. A native of Bulgaria, Ognianova has led CPJ advocacy missions to Russia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Kazakhstan.

Kurdish historian on 1915 Armenian Genocide

September 14, 2012 By administrator

September 14, 2012 | 00:04

ANKARA. – Turkish Taraf newspaper correspondent took an interview from a Kurdish famous historian and writer Naci Kutlay. Armenian News-NEWS.am presents an extract from the interview, where Kutlay speaks of Kurds and their role in the Armenian Genocide.

Slaughters of the Armenians were perpetrated during the nationalist boom?

We should know one thing – the Armenians established their party in 1889 and moved into the phase of bourgeoisie, while the Kurds were not even aware of the developed feudal system. In this period all started to be cautious of the Armenians. And the Young Turks started to scare the Kurds by the Armenians.

Did the Kurds play a role in perpetrating Armenian slaughters?

They did play a great role, as majority of the Armenians were slaughtered by the Kurds.

Following those events almost no Armenian was left in Anatolia, while those who stayed hid their identity. Why the Kurds are still afraid of the Armenians?

I am afraid but the issue is still up to date. The Young Turks have told the Kurds if they will not cooperate with Young Turks in their liberation struggle, Armenians will come back and establish their country. It sounded like a verdict for the Kurds.

Is it possible that continuous silence of Turks and Kurds about the Armenian slaughters is related to the robbery of the Armenians’ property?

It is a very huge factor. If you ever happen to be a guest in any home in Diyarbakir, you will be served exclusively with Armenian plates.

The Turks are great in Taking care of their murders, soon to be released Hrant dink murder Yasin Hayal

September 14, 2012 By administrator

Hrant Dink murder instigator may be released soon

September 14, 2012 – 16:50 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Yasin Hayal, who is currently serving a life sentence for his role in the assassination of Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink, could be released in four months due to a legal loophole, according to a lawyer for the Dink family.

The court that issued the sentences in the Dink murder trial failed to properly send the file to the Supreme Court of Appeals, Hürriyet Daily News reported citing weekly Agos, of which Hrant Dink was editor-in-chief when he was murdered in January 2007,.

“All of the suspects were acquitted by the court on charges of being a member of an organization, so the maximum time Hayal could serve [if the sentence is not approved by the Appeals Court] is six years,” Fethiye Çetin, a lawyer for the Dink family, was quoted as saying. “It is almost impossible for the Supreme Court of Appeals to announce its ruling in the next four months.”

A recent amendment to the Turkish Penal Code has limited the maximum time to be spent in prison to five years, except on organized crime or terrorism charges, with the Supreme Court of Appeals having the authority to extend this for one year.

Bahri Belen, another lawyer for the Dink family, said the issue was controversial. “We can’t know for sure if the verdict was sent to the appeals court properly,” he told the HDN. “But as long as a sentence is approved by the Supreme Court of Appeals, any convict could be released on such legal grounds.”

The 14th Court of Serious Crimes sent the verdict to the Supreme Court of Appeals on June 6, but it was sent back to the court because some intervening parties were not officially informed about it. The court wrote a notice to Istanbul police on Aug. 10 demanding addresses and contact information for the intervening parties, showing that it still was not ready to re-send the verdict, Agos said.

The verdict will first be submitted to the Chief Prosecutor of the Supreme Court of Appeals, Çetin said, and he will inform both parties of his opinion. Then the appeal will be checked. The suspects’ lawyer will probably ask for a hearing date, further delaying a verdict.

The instigator of the Dink murder, Yasin Hayal, was sentenced on Jan. 17 to aggravated life imprisonment, while the triggerman, Ogün Samast, had earlier been sentenced to 22 years in prison by a juvenile court.

In its ruling, the court argued that there was not enough evidence indicating the existence of a conspiracy behind the crime, despite lingering doubts. A prosecutor then appealed the ruling in the trial on March 30, arguing that the crime was an organized hit.

Azerbaijan oil money in full force in US Gongress, U.S. Congressman Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) now under Azeri belly too.

September 14, 2012 By administrator

September 14, 2012 – 17:36 AMT

According to PanARMENIAN.Net report said Rohrabacher (R-CA). “If the people on the ground don’t want to be ruled by the mullah dictatorship in Iran, then we should support their right to determine their future through a referendum. Mr. Rohrabacher (R-CA). Now becoming the champion of the Azeri people. Will my question to Mr. Rohrabacher is how about the a referendum in Turkey occupied Kurdistan, Armenia, Greek… no that will not happen because they do not have oil money like Azerbaijan???

U.S. Congressman Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) has introduced a House Concurrent Resolution that states the “Azeri people, currently divided between Azerbaijan and Iran, have the right to self-determination and to their own sovereign country, if they so choose.”

“The Azeri people have an innate right to choose their own political structure and to choose their country,” said Rohrabacher. “It is not up to bureaucrats in Washington or the mullah dictatorship in Iran. The ethnic Azeri’s in Azerbaijan enjoy sovereignty and independence; there is no reason why the Azeri population in Iran should not be able to make that same choice. This principle holds true for all the people who live in Iran.”

Rep. Rohrabacher wrote to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton previously that “the Azeri homeland was split between Imperial Russia and the Persian Empire in 1828 without the consent of the Azeri people.” Inspired by political discussions currently ongoing within Azerbaijan’s Parliament, Rep. Rohrabacher stated that,

“My resolution puts the US on the side of the Azeri people and with the people within Iran,” said Rohrabacher. “If the people on the ground don’t want to be ruled by the mullah dictatorship in Iran, then we should support their right to determine their future through a referendum. It is disconcerting to me that the State Department and Tehran agree that the people of Iran should be forced to live within the borders and under the same jurisdiction no matter how the majority of the Azeris believe. I am calling on the government of Iran to provide its Azeri population with a referendum to determine their own future state.”

Rep. Rohrabacher is Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations.

Audits for 3 Georgia Schools Tied to Turkish Movement, New York Times

September 12, 2012 By administrator

New York Times

By STEPHANIE SAUL

Published: June 5, 2012

A group of three publicly financed charter schools in Georgia run by followers of Fethullah Gulen, a prominent Turkish imam, have come under scrutiny after they defaulted on bonds and an audit found that the schools improperly granted hundreds of thousands of dollars in contracts to businesses and groups, many of them with ties to the Gulen movement.

The audit, released Tuesday by the Fulton County Schools near Atlanta, found the schools made purchases like T-shirts, teacher training and video production services from organizations with connections to school officials or Gulen followers. Those included more than $500,000 in contracts since January 2010 with the Grace Institute, a foundation whose board has included school leaders. In some cases the awards skirted bidding requirements, the audit said.

“I would just question how those vendors were selected when price in many instances wasn’t part of the decision making,” said the Fulton County superintendent, Robert Avossa, who criticized the schools for conflicts of interest. “And those are public dollars.”

Gulen followers run more than 120 charter schools nationwide, making the loosely affiliated network one of the nation’s largest public charter school operators. Despite clear connections, the schools generally deny any affiliation with the Gulen movement, a powerful religious and political force in Turkey whose leader, Mr. Gulen, views establishing schools as part of his mission. While some of the charter schools have been praised for their academic performance, their business practices have raised questions.

The New York Times reported last year that the group’s 36 Texas schools had granted millions of dollars in construction and renovation contracts to firms run by Turkish-Americans with ties to the movement, in some cases bypassing lower bids from firms with no connections to the movement. The Texas schools also awarded deals for cafeteria food, after-school programs and teacher training to organizations affiliated with Gulen followers.

The Georgia audit, posted to the Fulton County Schools Web site Tuesday evening, focused on the Fulton Science Academy Middle School in Alpharetta, Ga., a 500-student school that was recently denied a renewal of its public charter. The school, which had received $32 million in public funds over the past 10 years, said it would operate as a private school. While the audit does not lay out all of the relationships between contractors and the movement, a chart shows connections between the people running the schools, some of the vendors and Gulen-connected groups.

Dr. Avossa said that the audit’s findings had raised concerns about the group’s two other public charter schools in his district: Fulton Science Academy High School and Fulton Sunshine Academy, an elementary school.

He said a full audit would be conducted of those schools “to gauge whether similar wrongdoing is taking place.”

The three schools have enrolled 1,200 students representing a cross section of students in the Fulton County district.

Wells Fargo Bank, trustee of a $19 million bond issue by the schools, told investors on May 15 that the three schools were in default on those bonds. The bank said the default was caused by the group’s failure to disclose in its bond offering last year that its middle school charter renewal might have been in jeopardy. “The failure to disclose the ongoing concerns with Fulton Science Academy’s charter renewal petition constituted an omission of material facts in the public statement,” Wells Fargo said.

A default gives the bondholders the right to demand immediate payment, possibly requiring a liquidation of some school assets. The bonds are trading at about 70 percent of face value.

Concerns about governance and transparency were partly behind the district’s rejection of the Fulton Science Academy Middle School’s demand for a 10-year charter renewal. The school was named a “blue-ribbon” school last year by the federal government for its performance and appealed unsuccessfully to the state.

Kenan Sener, the school’s principal, said that the audit contained significant inaccuracies and that the school would issue a statement on Wednesday, after fully reviewing the document.

Nationwide, the charter schools have pursued an aggressive expansion plan, much of it financed by public bond issues, with the Texas schools borrowing more than $200 million through bond offerings.

In Texas, the group’s spending has been the focus of investigations by the State Legislature and the Texas Education Agency. The federal Department of Education is also investigating the Texas schools, apparently focusing on allegations of discrimination against Hispanic special education students in enrollment. The schools have denied wrongdoing.

One criticism of the schools involves their reliance on teachers imported from Turkey while teacher unemployment in the United States remains high. The audit said the Fulton Science Academy Middle School had paid $75,000 in immigration-related expenses for such employees.

Although the schools are inspired by Mr. Gulen and teach Turkish language and culture, they do not teach religion.

Turkey supports Assad toppling to increase regional influence – expert

September 12, 2012 By administrator

September 12, 2012 – 16:35 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – From the very onset, Turkey supported toppling of Syria’s Assad regime as a means of boosting its regional influence, a Turkologist believes.

As Hakob Chakryan told a September 12 news conference, “With Turkey having a hand in toppling of Assad, as pro-Turkish forces become included in the new government, Ankara’s regional influence is sure to soar.”

Arab studies expert Hayk Kocharyan, in turn, shared his views on reaching a settlement in Syria crisis.

“First solution would be a Libyan scenario, with a protracted war. The second one is a Somalia scenario, where the country is divided between a number of armed groups, with anarchy reigning.

However, Syria’s system of values makes the 1st scenario unlikely,” the expert said.

Commenting on Turkey’s remarks, suggesting Ankara’s readiness to welcome Syrian Armenians, the expert noted, “Turkey is interested in the collapse of Armenian communities as inheritors of Genocide legacy.”

“I’m confident, however, that Syrian Armenians would never agree to live in Turkey,” he concluded

Owen, Cemal and 1915

September 11, 2012 By administrator

By: Orhan-Kemal-Cengiz

The article was quite interesting for a number of reasons. The first was obvious: A country known as a bastion of democracy is being invited to face its past. And from this article we understood that “facing history is still a hot debate,” even in a place like the UK.Owen started his article with a few quotes from British Foreign Secretary William Hague: “We have to get out of this post-colonial guilt. … Be confident in ourselves.” Jones’s article is a challenge to the “lets forget everything and reach eternal peace” mentality. Hague’s way of relating to the past is quite popular in Turkey, as you probably know. Interestingly, Owen was criticizing Hague’s approach to history by making a comparison with British expectations of Turkey. Owen said, “A foreign country such as Turkey can rightly be berated for failing to come to terms with an atrocity like the Armenian Genocide, but the darkest moments of our own history are intentionally forgotten.”

After reading Owen’s piece in The Independent, I came across a few interviews with Hasan Cemal in different newspapers, all of which were about his new book titled “1915: Armenian Genocide.” The book has not yet been published, but it is already quite famous in Turkey. Some criticize Cemal while some praise him for his soon-to-be-published book.

Cemal is quite a well-known figure in Turkey. He is a journalist and writer, writing a regular column for the Milliyet daily. He is the grandson of Cemal Paşa, one of the three leaders of İttihat ve Terakki Cemiyeti (Committee of Union and Progress [CUP]), which organized the massacres of the Armenians in 1915.

I think his book is quite timely and meaningful. So far I have only seen the cover of the book and read a few sentences from its preface. On the cover, Cemal’s photo appears; in it, he lays flowers at the site of the Armenian Genocide Memorial in Yerevan. Obviously, the book will spark quite an intense debate in the coming days, and the discussion has already begun.

Like Owen, Cemal emphasized the importance of facing the past in the interviews he gave. He said: “We cannot move forward without confronting and taking into consideration the events of the past. We cannot keep an eye on the anguish of the past. Moreover, the pain of 1915 is not a story, it is a current day issue.”

I want to conclude this piece with some words I underlined in the preface to Cemal’s new book:

“I cannot forget that Yerevan morning in September 2008. In the first sunlight of the morning, the peak of Mount Ağrı [Ararat] would emerge and then vanish in the fog. ‘The hand of history,’ I had written that morning, ‘will show the way for those who wish to see.’ In 1919, the colonial army of England had opened fire on people in India, committing a crime against humanity by bloodying its hands with the Amritsar Massacre. In 1997, Queen of England Elizabeth II, while apologizing to the people of India, had said that what happened in Amritsar was a tragedy, but ‘history cannot be rewritten, however much we might sometimes wish otherwise.’ Surely we cannot change history; however, facing history is in our hands. Without facing the grim realities of the past, how can we ever move forward? We cannot remain silent in the face of pain! We cannot allow yesterday to take today hostage. … Real peace and democracy can unfortunately only be arrived at by passing through intolerable pain, as in the case of Hrant Dink, through paying a big price. It is evident that some stones in the lives of certain societies don’t happen without the paying of a price, or they don’t sit where they are supposed to.”

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