Gagrule.net News, Views, Interviews worldwide
Turkish historian Ilber Ortayli made a statement that provoked indignation of Azerbaijanis.
Speaking about the term “Azeri” Ortayli said that there is no “Azeri nation”, CNN Turk reported.
“This is a name given by Stalin – an ignorant Georgian who knew nothing about nations,” the historian said.
YEREVAN. – An entire ministry will deal with business issues and assistance matters, Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan said at Thursday’s Cabinet session.
He noted this while presenting the changes to be made within the government makeup and its activities. Accordingly, the Ministry of Economy will be renamed the Ministry of Investments and Entrepreneurship Assistance.
Speaking about the logic behind these changes, Karapetyan said, however, that even though the word “economy” will no longer be in the name of this ministry, it will be within its capacity.
“With the new name we wish to show investors that they have a department [in Armenia], where they can submit their complaints, wishes, recommendations,” added Karapetyan. “This ministry will also help entrepreneurs go through all necessary institutions, so they don’t encounter any obstacles.”
The past is present
Deciding what to call a century-old Turkish atrocity
| BERLIN
(economist) TURKEY considers the Ottoman Empire’s mass murder of well over a million Armenians and other Christians in 1915-17 a tragedy. But “genocide”? Armenia and many historians say it was. Turkey insists it was not—and berates any country, from France to the Vatican, that uses the word. Nonetheless, more than 20 countries have officially recognised the killings as genocide. On June 2nd it was Germany’s turn, when its Bundestag passed a resolution calling the killings “genocide” no fewer than four times.
That vote could not have come at a worse time for Angela Merkel, the German chancellor. She is the main architect of a deal reached in March between Turkey and the European Union, under which Turkey promised to take back refugees who cross to the Greek islands; in return, the EU will pay Turkey €6 billion ($6.7 billion) in aid, allow Turks to enter without visas and revive talks to accept Turkey as a member state one day. Mrs Merkel, more than any other EU leader, needed this deal: she wants an orderly and “European” solution to the refugee crisis, rather than brute border closings by individual member states.
But Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s president, clearly interpreted Mrs Merkel’s efforts as weakness. Since the deal he has pressed ahead in his quest to become an autocrat, rejecting European criticisms with threats to scupper the refugee deal and let hundreds of thousands of refugees make their way to Greece again. This has exposed Mrs Merkel to criticism in Germany that she has sold out to a dictator. Even members of her own coalition accuse her of kow-towing. Voters share the misgivings. In a poll in April, 68% opposed Turkish membership of the EU, and 79% said that Turkey “cannot be trusted”.
Some see the souring of the relationship as retribution for Mrs Merkel’s past diplomatic mistakes. She “showed zero point zero interest in Turkey until she rediscovered it in the refugee crisis”, says Cem Özdemir, a son of Turkish immigrants and co-leader of the Green Party who is also the driving force behind the genocide resolution. In 2007 Mrs Merkel, along with other European leaders, in effect slammed the door shut for Turkey’s ambitions to join the EU. At that time Mr Erdogan, then prime minister, was still claiming to modernise Turkey and bring it into line with EU norms on civil liberties. Stung by Mrs Merkel’s rejection, Mr Erdogan turned against the West and decided to become a neo-Ottoman sultan instead, thinks Joschka Fischer, a former foreign minister.
That psychology explains much of the recent German-Turkish antics. Mr Erdogan went ballistic in May after a German comedian ridiculed him (see article). An orchestra in Dresden has been performing a series of concerts called “Aghet”, Armenian for “catastrophe” (referring to the genocide). The European Commission gave the project €200,000; after Turkish protests, the commission removed advertisements for “Aghet” from its website. Many Germans are enraged that Turkey tries to muzzle free speech abroad.
Turkey will respond to the Bundestag’s resolution with its usual sound and fury. In late May, three groups in parliament, including Mr Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development (AK) party, condemned the draft as a “distortion of historical facts”. Turkey withdrew its ambassadors to Austria, Luxembourg, and the Vatican last year after similar pronouncements about the 1915 killings. Mr Erdogan has warned of a deterioration in ties with Berlin, albeit without mentioning the refugee deal.
Mr Özdemir originally meant to put the genocide resolution to a vote on April 24, 2015, the centenary of its start. Anxious to avoid provoking Turkey, Mrs Merkel kept delaying, he says, even though the new timing looks even worse. This spring Mr Özdemir pushed ahead again. The resolution is necessary to acknowledge Germany’s complicity in the genocide as the Ottoman Empire’s main ally at the time, he says. As for Turkey, he thinks, if it had dealt honestly with its past and its minorities, it might already be an EU member.
Photo via DIHA.
MAINZ, Germany – Many Kurds in Europe, dissatisfied with their Arab or Turkish names, think of changing them for Kurdish ones. But varying laws mean that taking on a new name can be easy in one country and complex in another.
“I have the same name as the man who is responsible for the situation in Northern Kurdistan” in Turkey, said Mustafa Gulen, referring to Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, who denied the Kurds their own state after World War One.
“My parents were forced to give me a Turkish name and I am as unhappy as one can be with a name. I want to change it to a Kurdish name,” said Mustafa, who lives in Belgium.
“I like the name Aras,” he said, explaining that is what his friends have been calling him for years.
He said he has a cousin in Norway who managed to change his Turkish name “Ceng” to the Kurdish name “Shwan.” The alteration was free and worked out without any bigger difficulties.
In Germany, where the Kurdish Diaspora of 800,000 people is the largest in Europe, a solid reason is required for a name change. Depending on the bureaucratic paperwork, the cost can range from a measly 2.50 euros to a daunting 1,022 euros.
By law, a solid reason can be an offensive or a ridiculous name, difficulties in pronunciation or spelling or the change of a child’s last after the parents have been divorced.
“The legal basis for a change of name lies in article two of the German constitution the ‘general right of personality,’” explained Kahraman Evsen, chairman of the German-Kurdish Lawyers Association (DKJ).
“I think every Kurd should have the right to change their name, especially because of the situation and laws in the occupied regions of Kurdistan,” he told Rudaw. “Take, for example, the Turkish name-law of 1934, which says that every citizen of the Turkish state has to have a Turkish name. That prohibited all non-Turkish names, including the Kurdish ones. However, the procedure in Germany remains at the discretion of the responsible administration.”
Dilek Aktepe, who lives in Germany and has roots in Erzurum in Turkey’s Kurdish east, said he seriously wants to change his name.
“It is a matter of identity: many people think I am of Turkish origin because of my name, but I want to be recognized as a Kurd,” he explained. “Even our last name had to be Turkish in occupied northern Kurdistan. A Kurdish name has a deep emotional meaning for me. I will change my name in the near future.”
Firat Akbulut, whose mother comes from Iranian Kurdistan and father from northern Kurdistan, recalled that his Kurdish name used to get him into trouble when he lived as a child in Turkey.
“When I was a kid the Turkish military often invaded our village and came into our house. Once they asked for my name, and when I said ‘Firat’ they knew I am Kurdish,” he remembered.
“Then they interrogated me, I was about four or five, but they wanted me to say something wrong. ‘What musicians do your parents listen to? Who is the leader of this country? What language do you speak?’ these were their questions,” recalling times when even speaking Kurdish was banned in Turkey.
Yasser Tamimi, who has roots in the Kurdistan Region and now lives in the Netherlands, is another Kurd who hates his name.
“I was born in Baghdad in the 1980s. An Iraqi officer with Palestinian roots saw my parents with their newborn at the hospital and told them to name me Yasser,” he explained.
“’Great men are named Yasser or Saddam’ he told them, referring to the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and ousted Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.
“How could they dare to say ‘no’ to an Iraqi officer during Saddam’s times Actually, my parents wanted to name me Kawa, like the ancient Kurdish hero. I will definitely change to a Kurdish name,” he said.
As a consequence of occupation and brutal dictatorships, millions of Kurds had to adopt Arabic or Turkish names in the past, something that happens even today.
In Turkey, bureaucratic barriers to Kurdish names still exist. Mazlum and Songul Erol, a Kurdish couple, were denied the right to name their daughter “Kurdistan.” A court ruled in favor of the parents in 2013, but the birth registration office denied the parents that right.
In the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, however, Kurdish names have been on the rise since the1960s. Since the 1991 Kurdish uprising against Saddam’s brutal rule, the majority of Kurdish newborns receive Kurdish names.
Van Metropolitan Municipality Assembly, 704 neighborhood has returned to its former name. Municipalities no longer in correspondence to use these names.The return of the names of ancient settlements, often among the issues raised. Van Metropolitan Municipality for the return of the names has scored a major decision. Van Metropolitan Municipality Assembly, 704 neighborhood has returned to its former name. Municipalities no longer in correspondence to use these names. Report by Agos news
Process, Van Metropolitan Municipality, the village converted to the neighborhood of the district municipality started with did not want to study the old names. District municipalities as a result of their work in their neighborhood neighborhood old 704 names were identified. Turned into Armenian and Kurdish names of places commonly known as the report was submitted to the Municipality. Following the work done by the Municipality at the end of last month, the name change was taken to Van Metropolitan Municipality Assembly agenda. The names of the 704 districts in the results of the election held in the Parliament it was decided to be returned.
Bashkala 81, Chaldiran 86, Çatak 34, Edremit 18, 105 Ercis, hawthorn 37, Gürpınar 174, the Silk Road 50, Muradiye in 41, 53 and Ozalp In the palace district and 25 villages were returned neighborhood name.
After the Municipality’s decision sent letter to the Department. Sent text should be changed names in all the signs in the city. Return the names are to be used in all correspondence.
Origins of Kobani’s name
As the controversy over the FSA and Kobani simmered, Aqidi said, “Kobani is part of Aleppo [governorate] and we are taking action in the name of preserving Syria’s integrity.” Erdogan, for his part, commented on Kobani’s name in a spirit no different from that of Aqidi. Asked whether Kobani was an Arab or Kurdish city, he said, “Its name, which is actually Ayn al-Arab, speaks for itself. It became Kobani later.”
The name “Kobani,” which the Kurds prefer to use, is not of Kurdish origin. It emerged in history as the site of a station built as part of the Ottoman railway project to link Berlin and Baghdad. Speculation is rife on the origin of its name. According to the most popular theory, sites with adequate water resources were selected as stations when the railway was constructed. A small hamlet south of what is now Turkey’s border town of Suruc was known as “Arap Punar” (Arab Spring) at the time. The station there was built by workers from Suruc. On their way to work, the workers would say they were going to the “Kompanie” — the German word for “company.” In time, the word evolved to “Kobani” and stuck with the populace. According to another theory related to the railway construction, a company name — “Ko. Bahn” — took hold as “Kobani” in the local vernacular. Yet, no company by the name “Ko. Bahn” appears among the builders of the railway, which include construction heavyweights such as Philipp Holzmann and Friedrich Krupp.
The Syrian state named the city Ayn al-Arab (Arab Spring) and the city was shaped by developments originating from Turkey. Settlement in the area intensified with the arrival of railway workers from Suruc. During the 1915 genocide, it became a safe haven for Armenians. Following the 1925 Seyh Said uprising, many Kurds who fled Turkey or were deported settled down in Kobani.
Even after the Syrian-Turkish border was demarcated Suruc, which lies on the railway route, continued to be the region’s center. Clandestine border crossings were so rife that Ankara’s complaints led the French ruling Syria at the time to set up an intelligence center in Kobani to ensure border control.
In the 1950s, when Turkey mined the border, Kobani was cut off from Suruc and began to develop as a city. Following Syria’s independence, the French intelligence building became the seat of the top local administrator. In 2012, when the Kurds took control of the region, they made the building the headquarters of Asayis, the Kurdish security force. And last month, this building — the city’s only historical structure called “palace” by the locals — fell into IS hands, and thus became the target of US airstrikes.
No matter whether you call it Kobani or Ayn al-Arab, the city — which has also Armenian heritage — signifies one indisputable fact: It is one of the junctures where the tragedies of Kurds and Armenians intersected in history. Kobani was a station for communities who fled, were expelled or emigrated from Turkey. Now this place has become the symbol of resistance against IS. Kobani is the talk of the world because it is resisting, not because it has Arab, Kurdish or Armenian heritage.
It speaks volumes that Erdogan — bent on not leaving Kobani to the Kurds and trying to place it under FSA control — has come to call the city Ayn al-Arab, the name it was given under the Arabization policy of the same Syrian regime he has seen as an archenemy since 2011.
