| Turkey |
Pray for the Turkish Women
Turkey, Armenia sign historic accord
By MATTHEW LEE, Associated Press Writer
Matthew Lee, Associated Press Writer –
ZURICH – Turkey and Armenia signed a landmark
agreement Saturday to establish diplomatic
relations and open their sealed border after a
century of enmity, as U.S. Secretary of State Hillary
Rodham Clinton helped the two sides clear a last-
minute snag.
The contentious issue of whether the killing of up
to 1.5 million Armenians during the final days of the
Ottoman Empire amounted to genocide is only
hinted at in the agreement.
"There were several times when I said to all of the
parties involved that this is too important," Clinton
said. "This has to be seen through. We have come
too far. All of the work that has gone into the
protocols should not be walked away from."
The Turkish and Armenian foreign ministers signed
the accord in the Swiss city of Zurich after a
dispute over the final statements they would make.
In the end, the signing took place about three
hours later than scheduled and there were no
spoken statements.
Read more at http://news.yahoo.
com/s/ap/20091010/ap_on_re_eu/eu_turkey_armeni
a
By MATTHEW LEE, Associated Press Writer
Matthew Lee, Associated Press Writer –
ZURICH – Turkey and Armenia signed a landmark
agreement Saturday to establish diplomatic
relations and open their sealed border after a
century of enmity, as U.S. Secretary of State Hillary
Rodham Clinton helped the two sides clear a last-
minute snag.
The contentious issue of whether the killing of up
to 1.5 million Armenians during the final days of the
Ottoman Empire amounted to genocide is only
hinted at in the agreement.
"There were several times when I said to all of the
parties involved that this is too important," Clinton
said. "This has to be seen through. We have come
too far. All of the work that has gone into the
protocols should not be walked away from."
The Turkish and Armenian foreign ministers signed
the accord in the Swiss city of Zurich after a
dispute over the final statements they would make.
In the end, the signing took place about three
hours later than scheduled and there were no
spoken statements.
Read more at http://news.yahoo.
com/s/ap/20091010/ap_on_re_eu/eu_turkey_armeni
a
Turkey's Erdogan holds rare talks with pro-Kurdish party
06/08/2009
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with the leader of a
pro-Kurdish party Wednesday to discuss a new plan to expand the rights
of Turkey's ethnic Kurds.
(Zaman, Wall Street Journal - 06/08/09; AP, Reuters, VOA, Xinhua -
05/08/09)
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan (left) and Democratic
Society Party leader Ahmet Turk pose during a meeting in Ankara on
Wednesday (August 5th). [Getty Images]
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with representatives of the
pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) on Wednesday (August 5th)
to discuss a government initiative aimed at resolving the long-standing
Kurdish problem.
Turkish Kurds account for up to a fifth of the country's population of
nearly 77 million people and are its most sizable ethnic minority. Living
predominantly in Turkey's impoverished southeast, they have been
fighting for greater autonomy and more rights since 1984, when the
outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) launched an armed insurgency
against the government. The 25-year-long conflict has left more than
40,000 people dead, most of them Kurds.
"Our nation wants unity, co-operation and solidarity. It wants the mothers'
tears to stop. It wants there to be no blood and death," Erdogan said
following his talks with DTP leader Ahmet Turk at parliament Wednesday.
Others attending the hour-long talks included Interior Minister Besir
Atalay, the co-ordinator of the government's Kurdish initiative, and two
senior members of the DTP, which has 21 representatives in parliament.
Previously, Erdogan had been resisting meeting with the pro-Kurdish
party because of its refusal to denounce the PKK as a terrorist
organisation, as it is considered by Turkey, the EU and the United States.
The DTP faces possible closure over its alleged links to the militant
group.
"We are happy and hopeful that an environment of dialogue has been
ensured," said Turk, welcoming Wednesday's talks.
"We have made clear our thoughts on the process that will include
opinions of every part of society and will ripen with time," he said.
While no details of the government's Kurdish initiative have been
disclosed, foreign ministry spokesperson Burak Ozugergin told reporters
Wednesday that his ministry is contributing to plans to introduce a series
of reforms giving more rights to Kurds.
According to Turkish media reports, the new initiative would likely
envision arrangements for the return of some of the thousands of ethnic
Kurd refugees who fled the country, and have been living at a camp in
northern Iraq.
Analysts believed Erdogan's meeting with Turk took place in anticipation
of the "roadmap" for a solution to the Kurdish issue that Abdullah Ocalan,
the PKK's imprisoned leader, is expected to announce next week.
Reports said this would likely happen on August 15th, the 25th
anniversary of the start of PKK's armed campaign for self rule.
Deniz Baykal, the leader of the main opposition Republican People's
Party, criticised Erdogan's move, accusing him of making concessions to
the rebels.
This content was commissioned for SETimes.com
http://www.setimes.com/cocoon/setimes/xhtml/en_GB/features/setimes/fea
tures/2009/08/06/feature-01
06/08/2009
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with the leader of a
pro-Kurdish party Wednesday to discuss a new plan to expand the rights
of Turkey's ethnic Kurds.
(Zaman, Wall Street Journal - 06/08/09; AP, Reuters, VOA, Xinhua -
05/08/09)
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan (left) and Democratic
Society Party leader Ahmet Turk pose during a meeting in Ankara on
Wednesday (August 5th). [Getty Images]
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with representatives of the
pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) on Wednesday (August 5th)
to discuss a government initiative aimed at resolving the long-standing
Kurdish problem.
Turkish Kurds account for up to a fifth of the country's population of
nearly 77 million people and are its most sizable ethnic minority. Living
predominantly in Turkey's impoverished southeast, they have been
fighting for greater autonomy and more rights since 1984, when the
outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) launched an armed insurgency
against the government. The 25-year-long conflict has left more than
40,000 people dead, most of them Kurds.
"Our nation wants unity, co-operation and solidarity. It wants the mothers'
tears to stop. It wants there to be no blood and death," Erdogan said
following his talks with DTP leader Ahmet Turk at parliament Wednesday.
Others attending the hour-long talks included Interior Minister Besir
Atalay, the co-ordinator of the government's Kurdish initiative, and two
senior members of the DTP, which has 21 representatives in parliament.
Previously, Erdogan had been resisting meeting with the pro-Kurdish
party because of its refusal to denounce the PKK as a terrorist
organisation, as it is considered by Turkey, the EU and the United States.
The DTP faces possible closure over its alleged links to the militant
group.
"We are happy and hopeful that an environment of dialogue has been
ensured," said Turk, welcoming Wednesday's talks.
"We have made clear our thoughts on the process that will include
opinions of every part of society and will ripen with time," he said.
While no details of the government's Kurdish initiative have been
disclosed, foreign ministry spokesperson Burak Ozugergin told reporters
Wednesday that his ministry is contributing to plans to introduce a series
of reforms giving more rights to Kurds.
According to Turkish media reports, the new initiative would likely
envision arrangements for the return of some of the thousands of ethnic
Kurd refugees who fled the country, and have been living at a camp in
northern Iraq.
Analysts believed Erdogan's meeting with Turk took place in anticipation
of the "roadmap" for a solution to the Kurdish issue that Abdullah Ocalan,
the PKK's imprisoned leader, is expected to announce next week.
Reports said this would likely happen on August 15th, the 25th
anniversary of the start of PKK's armed campaign for self rule.
Deniz Baykal, the leader of the main opposition Republican People's
Party, criticised Erdogan's move, accusing him of making concessions to
the rebels.
This content was commissioned for SETimes.com
http://www.setimes.com/cocoon/setimes/xhtml/en_GB/features/setimes/fea
tures/2009/08/06/feature-01
Kurds in the Middle East
When journalist Francis Church replied to 8-year-old Virginia O’ Hanlon in 1897, “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus,” he could have added: “in Turkey.” Hundreds of Orthodox Christians and other pilgrims descended on the village of Demre, Turkey, to the St. Nicholas Church where St. Nicholas served as the Bishop of Myra from 325-350 A.D. The church still stands today, but has been destroyed and rebuilt several times. St. Nicholas was martyred here and buried under the church until his bones were stolen by Italians in 1087 and taken to Bari, Italy, where they remain. “We’re lucky to still have this church intact,” said priest Vissarion Komezias, who was one of the celebrants at the 2009 celebration of St. Nicholas’ feast day, which is marked by Christians around the world on Dec. 6. In Demre, Turkey, merchants use St. Nicholas' name to promote business “At best, they become museums [like this], at worst they are abandoned or destroyed,” said Komezias. For the last three years, the Turkish government has allowed the Eastern Orthodox Church to once again celebrate a mass in Nicholas’ church. From 2002 to 2006, the Turkish government had organized its own “prayer for peace” instead. During the 2009 liturgy given in both Greek and Turkish, celebrant Hrisostomos Kalaycı from the Istanbul Patriarchate thanked the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. “The people of Anatolia have been famous since ancient times for their diligence, their faith in God’s orders, their honesty and modesty,” Kalayci said. “I pray to God for love and peace in our country. May St. Nicholas help us all.” Kalayci, Komezias, and other priests from the Orthodox Church served the wall-to-wall crowd. Candles flickered against the crumbling walls of the more than 1,500-year-old church while pictures of John the Baptist, Jesus, Mary and child, and Saint Nicholas himself adorned the altar. The saint’s image was brought to the center where a candle and the bishop’s mitre (traditional headdress) rested beside it. The crumbling pillars next to the altar symbolized the church’s tumultuous history that includes earthquakes and war. The church underwent several restorations including by the Romans in 1043, the Russians in the 19th century, and more recently with the assistance of the small Greek island of Megisti. “Our people rebuilt this church,” said Megisti resident Evangelia Mavrothalassitis. |
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| Arail View of Istanbul and the Bosporus Strait |
government to demand that Italy return the bones of St Nicholas to their original resting place. The 3rd Century saint - on whom Santa Claus was modelled - was buried in the modern-day town of Demre in Turkey. But in the Middle Ages his bones were taken by Italian sailors and re-interred in the port of Bari. The Turkish government said it was considering making a request to Rome for the return of the saint's remains. While Christmas is by and large not celebrated in Muslim Turkey, the Christmas figure of Santa Claus certainly is, in the Mediterranean town of his birth. He was born in what was then the Greek city of Myra in the third century, and went on to become the local bishop, with a reputation for performing miracles and secretly giving gold to the needy - on one occasion being forced to climb down a chimney to leave his donation. After his death he was canonised as Saint Nicholas, and venerated in much of the Christian world. But when Myra was occupied by Arab forces in the 11th Century, Italian sailors came and took the saint's bones to the port of Bari, where they remain interred to this day. Prof Nevzat Cevik, head of archaeological research in Demre, says Saint Nicholas had made it clear during his life that he wanted to be buried in his home town. Even without the bones, the town of Demre has not been shy about cashing in on its most famous native son - today visitors to the Byzantine church there are greeted by a large, plastic Santa statue, complete with beard and red snow-suit. |
- Van citizens for Surb Khach church reopening
17:51 / 12/29/2009Turkish Medya73 website issued
the results of public opinion poll conducted in
Gevash region of Van province (Turkey) due to
which local citizens support the reopening of Surb
Khach church on Akhtamar Island, presently
functioning as a museum.
NEWS.am recalls that recently Van mayor (city in
Turkey) Munir Karaoglu, informed that jointly with
Ministry of culture they have done all due paper
work for church reopening. The Mayor announced
September 12, 2010 a date of possible reopening
and invited Armenians to come for a visit.
A.G.
Rules in Favor of Turkish Church ISTANBUL (Compass Direct News) – In a decision many hope will lead to greater religious freedom in Turkey, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that a Turkish court ruling barring a church from starting a foundation violated the congregation’s right to freedom of association. Orhan Kemal Cengiz, a Turkish attorney and legal advisor for the litigants, said the decision earlier this year was the first time the ECHR has held that religious organizations have a right to exist in Turkey. Other issues the court addressed dealt with organizations’ rights to own property, he said. Cengiz added that this case is just the first of many needed to correct conflicts within the Turkish legal system in regard to freedom of association, known in Turkey as the concept of “legal personality.” “This case is a significant victory, but it is the first case in a long line of cases to come,” Cengiz said. Ihsan Ozbek, pastor of Kurtulus Church in Ankara, which set out to establish the foundation, said he was pleased with the court’s decision. “It’s a good thing to have that decision,” he said. “It will help future churches and Christian organizations.” On Dec. 21, 2000, Ozbek and 15 other Turkish nationals applied to a court in Ankara to form the “Foundation of Liberation Churches,” read More at: http://www.christianpost. com/article/20091219/european- human-rights-court-rules-in-favor-of- turkish-church/index.html |
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| On Christmas, Turkey celebrates its native son, our Santa Posted on 26 December 2010 by Apostolos Papapostolou |
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