Turkish President Gul says hopes to normalize relations with Armenia

May 31, 2014 By administrator

Turkish President Abdullah Gul attended on Friday a panel discussion at the Harvard Kennedy School in the United States, where, among other issues, he spoke about the normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations, Turkey’s Anadolu state-run news agency reported.

Abdullah Gul reminded Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s condolence message on the eve of the 99th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide and noted that “many painful events happened in Anatolia in 1915.”

The Turkish leader stressed that Turkey opened all its archives to researchers. In his words, a “strong will and a dialogue are necessary” for the normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations.

“We approach Armenia sincerely. I am the first Turkish President to have visited Armenia. There is still hope to normalize relations with Armenia,” the Turkish President concluded.

A sports Turkish name Noyan repressed in Baku airport because his name had an Armenian sounding!

May 30, 2014 By administrator

A case which could spoil the honeymoon between Ankara and Baku. Arrived in Baku for the European Championships in wrestling, an athlete Turkish Zafer Noyan was deported from Baku airport and returned to Turkey, because his name was Armenian sounding! Zafer Noyan (24 years) was turned upon his arrival in Azerbaijan Azerbaijani customs pretext that Armenian stay … Yet the Turkish sports insisted that his name was not Armenian and he was not Armenian . Nothing helped. He was released on a plane to return to Istanbul. The press and the Turkish media have seized on this case which caused a scandal and perfectly demonstrates the undemocratic spirit of Azerbaijan through its officials orders Aliyev.

Krikor Amirzayan

Second bomb attack on Turkey’s Mosul envoy

May 26, 2014 By administrator

TODAYSZAMAN.COM WITH WIRES/ ISTANBUL report,

A convoy of the Turkish consul general was hit by a remote controlled bomb in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul late on Saturday in the second such incident targeting Co 185555_newsdetail nsul General Öztürk Yılmaz since he took office last July. No causalities were reported.

The diplomatic convoy of four vehicles was attacked on its way to the northern Iraqi city of Arbil when a remote controlled bomb detonated as the cars passed by the eastern city of Mosul. The bomb caused considerable material damage to one of the vehicles in the convoy but no one was killed or injured in the attack. Consul General Öztürk and his aides are reportedly
in good condition. The Turkish diplomat continued to make his way to Arbil under heavy security measures.

The Iraqi authorities are reportedly investigating the attack. It was not immediately clear who was behind the attack and no one has claimed responsibility.

In a statement released on Sunday, the Foreign Ministry noted that there have been four attacks against the Turkish Consulate in Mosul in the last two years. It also underlined that its embassy in Baghdad and its Basra consulate were recently the target of attacks, expressing concern that the perpetrators of the attacks have not yet been identified.

The Foreign Ministry said Turkey expects the Iraqi authorities to shed light on the incident by conducting a thorough investigation as soon as possible and taking all measures to ensure the security of diplomatic missions in the country.

A bomb attack hit Öztürk’s convoy early September 2013 which also left no causalities. In December 2004, an attack on a Turkish diplomatic convoy also in Mosul killed five Turkish security guards.

Car bomb at liquor store in northern Iraq kills 12

Another car bomb exploded outside a liquor store in northern Iraq overnight, killing at least 12 civilians, a senior police officer said Sunday.

The blast struck the northern oil-rich and ethnically mixed city of Kirkuk, deputy police chief Maj. Gen. Torhan Abdul-Rahman Youssef said. Youssef said the blast in the western al-Wasiti neighborhood wounded 29.

Kirkuk is located 290 kilometers (180 miles) north of Baghdad. Militants often target night clubs, liquor stores and brothels. They want to impose a strict interpretation of Islam in Iraq.

The attack comes as Iraq’s Shiite-led government is struggling to contain a surge in sectarian violence unseen since the country was pushed to the brink of civil war in 2006 and 2007 after the US-led invasion that toppled dictator Saddam Hussein. According to the United Nations, 8,868 people were killed in Iraq last year.

Turkish, Armenian Relations Perspectives, University of California Irvine (Video)

May 19, 2014 By administrator

The Institute for International, Global and Regional Studies (IIGaRS), International Studies Public Forum, and Center for Citizen

Peacebuilding Present: “Turkish-Armenian Relations: Perspectives from Turkey and the Armenian Diaspora”

Panel of Speakers:

Fikret Adanir, Professor of History Emeritus, Sabanci University
Etyen Mahçupyan, Advisor to TESEV & Columnist for Zaman Newspaper

Levon Marashlian, Professor of History & Political Science, Glendale Community College

Edvin Minassian, Chairman Ex Officio & Executive Board Member of the Armenian Bar Association

It was held on Thursday, May 15, 2014

5:00-6:30 p.m
Social Science Plaza A, Room 1100

University of California, Irvine

The event followed by a reception hosted by the Center for Citizen Peacebuilding in SSPA 2112

Be a reporter: Write and send your article to www.gagrule.net

Turkish, Greek jets in first dogfight after 27 months

April 16, 2014 By administrator

Yorgo KIRBAKİ – ATHENS

Turkish and Greek fighter jets engaged in a mid-air dogfight over the Aegean Sea twice on April 15 in a first since January 2012, Greek media has reported.

According to the reports based on Greek military sources, four F-16s belonging to the Turkish Air Force approached the Semadirek (Samothraki) Island before the first dogfight. Four Greek F-16s took off “to locate and prevent” the Turkish aircraft. Sides faced off against each other north of Samothraki, as well as southwest of Limni (Limnos) Island.

The official website of the Turkish General Staff did not list any violations or dogfights for April 15.

Greece unilaterally claims 10 nautical miles (19 km) of airspace, as opposed to the six miles of territorial waters, as Turkey and other NATO countries accept. Athens considers any unauthorized flight in the airspace from six to 10 miles in the Aegean a “violation.”

Dogfights between Turkish and Greek aircraft over the Aegean Sea had significantly decreased due to the economic crisis Athens is struggling with.

Ahmet Insel Turkish Intellectuals Who Recognized The Armenian Genocide.

March 28, 2014 By administrator

By:Hambersom Aghbashian

Ahmet Insel (born in 1955 in Istanbul to a Turkish Sunni Muslim and kemalist family), is a Turkish Economist, University professor, Writer and a Columnist. He did his university studies in Paris and directed the Economics Department of the University of Paris I from 1990 to 1994. Since 2004, he teaches in the Economics Department of Galatasaray University in Istanbul and since 2007, he has been Head of the department of economy in Galatasaray In France, he was one of the founders of the review MAUSS (Anti-Utilitarian Movement in the Social Sciences); in Turkey, he participates in the Iletisim venture, the editing house which published the writer Orhan Pamuk, and he is a chronicler for the daily Radikal. Ahmet Insel wrote a great number of books about Turkey and is now one of the managing editor of the progressist editing house Iletisim.(1)(2)

Ahmet Insel is one of the initiators of a Turkish petition asks Armenians for forgiveness for the 1915 genocide. On Dec. 7,2008, Robert Tait wrote in (The Guardian) “Academics and writers in Turkey have risked a fierce official backlash by issuing a public apology which came in an open letter that invites Turks to sign an online petition supporting its sentiments. It reads: “My conscience does not accept the insensitivity showed to and the denial of the Great Catastrophe that the Ottoman Armenians were subjected to in 1915. I reject this injustice and for my share, I empathize with the feelings and pain of my Armenian brothers. I apologize to them”. Tait added that “The contents expose its authors – three scholars, Ahmet Insel, Baskin Oran and Cengiz Aktar, and a journalist, Ali Bayramoglu – to the wrath of the Turkish state, which has prosecuted writers, including the Nobel prize-winning novelist Orhan Pamuk, for supporting Armenian genocide claims”.(3)

In April 2010, Ahmet Insel and Michel Marian published “Dialogue about the Armenian Taboo” (in Turkish and French).The book is a conversation between two men, one Turk, Ahmet Insel ,and one Armenian, Michel Marian , about the past, the present, and the future. Through their personal and family itineraries, the great events that marked the history of these two peoples are evoked with, as its culminating point, the 1915 genocide and the question of its recognition.(1)(4)

In his article “Could Europe have an effect on the Armenian question ? (www.repairfuture.net)- 10 October 2013, Insel wrote “it is obvious that there is a strong sensitivity among EU member countries towards genocide which Armenians were exposed to. We saw the reflection of this fact in decisions of parliaments of some EU member countries to accept the genocide and especially in the attitude of European Parliament continues from 1987 till today “. He added ” We are in an era in which the policy of “no problems with neighbor countries” is collapsed in Turkish foreign policy. Within the following two years, Armenian question shall be discussed in the world public opinion and the genocide shall be commemorated. In such an environment, the approach of Turkey towards Armenian question shall tend to be more defensive and reactive rather than to be proactive towards positive solution. The improvement which shall neutralize this tendency could be the fact that EU Council shall accelerate membership negotiations of Turkey spectacularly.”(5)

According to (hyemedia.com, 17 Oct 2013) , Ahmen Insel visited Armenia to participate in a book festival. Presentation of Armenian version of Dialogue sur le tabou arménien (Dialogue about the Armenian Taboo) co-authored by Ahmet Insel and Michel Marian was held during the festival.(6)

——————————————————————————————————————-

1-http://www.lianalevi.fr/f/index.php?sp=liv&livre_id=332

2-http://www.recon-project.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=31&Itemid=157&lang=en

3-http://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/dec/08/armenian-genocide-turkey-apology-petition

4- http://www.esiweb.org/index.php?lang=en&id=322&debate_ID=4&slide_ID=25

5- http://www.repairfuture.net/index.php/en/turkey-and-european-union-standpoint-of-turkey/could-europe-have-an-effect-on-the-armenian-question

6-http://www.zoominfo.com/p/Ahmet-Insel/529539334

Also featured in Nor Or

Demokrat Haber: Looters of Armenian houses in Kessab spoke Turkish

March 27, 2014 By administrator

Opposition Turkish media actively cover the events in the Armenian-populated town of Kessab in Syria neighboring with the Turkish province of Hatay and in nearby districts.

Citing information received from Syrian Armenians, Demokrat Haber reports that looters of Armenian houses in Kessab speak Turkish.

When Kessab resident Ani Boymushakyan called the office of the Armenian Evangelical Church in Kessab, jihadists fighting against Assad answered in Turkish. According to another Armenian, when he called his apartment after moving to Latakia, rebels answered, who he said also spoke Turkish.

On March 21, the Armenian-populated town of Kessab in Syria was attacked by armed bands from three points in Turkey. The Armenian residents were forced to abandon the town and were evacuated to neighboring Latakia.

#kessab

#savekessab

Turkish, Armenian actors break longest handshake record

December 9, 2013 By administrator

A Turkish and an Armenian actor completed the longest-ever handshake on Dec. 8 in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi in an act designed to foster peace between the two long-time foes, The Hurriyet Daily News reports.

Deniz Barış from Turkey and Hovhannes Hajinyan from Armenia stood for 43 straight hours holding each other’s hands. The performance was aimed at underlining the possibility of better relations between Turkey and Armenia and took place thanks to the initiative of a group of Turkish and Armenian entrepreneurs and artists supported by the TANGO Network (Turkish and Armenian NGO Network), which unites Armenian and Turkish non-profit organizations.

Barış and Hajinyan’s handshake beat the previous record by 25 minutes, which was set in New York in 2011.

The whole event was broadcast live on the Internet, allowing everyone to witness Barış and Hajinyan holding hands despite rain, wind and cold weather, with the temperature falling to as low as minus 3 degrees Celsius during the night. Event organizers are currently working on a Guinness World Record Book entry at the moment.

Hajinyan, an actor at the Yerevan Pantomime Theater, and Barış, from the southern province of Mersin, took the idea of participating in the event enthusiastically.

Source: tert.am

Bulgarian Nationalists Boycott Turkish Defense Minister Visit

November 16, 2012 By administrator

November 16, 2012, Friday By: novinite.com

Bulgaria‘s far-right, nationalist Ataka party staged a protest rally Friday against the visit of Turkish Defense Minister, Ismet Yilmaz, to Sofia.

The Turkish Minister, however, was met with honors by his Bulgarian counterpart, Anyu Angelov and three companies – from the land force, the air force and the navy. “The relations between Bulgaria and Turkey are an example of good partnership between neighbors and allies in NATO,” said Angelov during his meeting with Yilmaz. The two discussed matters of cooperation in the defense sector.

They also laid wreaths at the Unknown Soldier monument.

Meanwhile, Ataka leaders and followers were seen in the vicinity of the monument, holding signs such as “We cannot be brothers in arms with those who massacred Bulgarians for five centuries,” “Turkey Owes Us USD 10 B for Properties in Thrace,” and “Boyko, Don’t Lead Us to War with Erdogan.”

The rally was attended by Ataka leader, Volen Siderov, and Ataka Members of the Parliament, Pavel Shopov, Desisilav Choukolov, and Ventsislav Lakov.

Siderov complained of the strong police presence, saying it was a disgrace and a violation of the rights of the MPs. He reminded that every time a Turkish official is visiting Bulgaria his party was the only one to voice the truth that Turkey is indebted to Bulgaria.

“We represent the position of hundreds of thousands of Bulgarians who voted for us. There is no difference between the ruling Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria party, GERB, and the ethnic Turkish Movement for Rights and Freedoms, DPS. Both work not for Bulgarian, but for Turkish interests,” the nationalist leader concluded.