As has been reported widely (Armenialiberty.org, Azg Daily, Pan Armenian Network), the German state of Brandenburg has decided to remove a short reference to the Armenian Genocide from its school history textbooks. This blog (there’s only one post so far) comments on the strength of Turkish influence on the German government.

As Brandenburg was the only German state that had mentioned the Genocide in their schoolbooks the final removal would effectively mean a heavy blow to efforts regarding Genocide Recognition. It also shows Turkey’s influence in Germany. It’s hard to believe that in an independent democracy, schoolbooks can be dictated by a foreign state that is committed to the completion of the final stage of the worst crime against humanity.

Read the full article.

I would like to welcome two new people who will be posting to Blogrel. They will posting under the names Katy and Hovakim. It has been a challenge lately to keep up with posting on Blogrel with my busy schedule, and I am both grateful that they have agreed to take on some of the work, and also excited that Blogrel will get a new lease of life.

Welcome Katy and Hovakim!

Hello everyone. I’d like to make my first Blogrel post about one of my passions: technology and bridging the href="http://www.digitaldivide.net">digital divide in Armenia.




One way to make technology more affordable (and legal!) is utilizing href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_source">Open Source software. I believe that Armenia and other countries could benefit greatly if their governments would take a stand on Open Source (for example utilizing Open Source software on government computer networks).




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Just as the horrors of Auschwitz are being remembered, here is a story about ‘anti-Jewish’ propaganda in Armenia. Of course Armen Avetisian, leader of the Armenian Aryan Union is openly anti-semitic, and just having a political party which such a name says a lot.

Armenia’s Jewish community is estimated to number less than 1,000 people. It is largely formed of scientists and other professionals who moved to Armenia in the 1960s and ’70s to escape persecution in Russia and Ukraine. Most integrated quickly into society, marrying ethnic Armenians and adopting Armenian surnames.

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New York Life has made the first payments to 9 Armenian charities, after the settlement of a lawsuit last year.

New York Life has a press release on its site from last year:

The following Armenian organizations will share equally in the $3 million fund:

* Armenian Church of North America Eastern Diocese
New York, New York
* Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church Eastern US and Canada
New York, New York
* Armenian Church of North America Western Diocese
Burbank, California
* Western Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church
Los Angeles, California
* Armenian Apostolic Catholic Exarchate for Armenian Catholics in the US & Canada
New York, New York
* Armenian Missionary Association of America, Inc.
Paramus, New Jersey
* Armenian Relief Society, United States Chapter
Watertown, Massachusetts
* Armenian General Benevolent Union
New York, New York
* Armenian Educational Foundation
Glendale, California

In a story by AP on Yahoo!, Steve Gutterman looks back at the 1988 earthquake.

Less than two weeks after the quake, Soviet authorities said they had received $100 million in aid from 77 countries. An Armenian official in the Central Committee of Armenia’s Communist Party at the time of the quake said on condition of anonymity that earthquake-related aid through 1992 totaled $1.2 billion to $1.3 billion. About 40 percent came from abroad.

I wonder if all that money, and it is a sizeable amount, really went to help the people of Gyumri and immediate area.

Read the full story.

I’ve heard many stories of what happened to Armenians forcibly “turned into Kurds and Turks”. Azg Daily talks about this taboo subject today.
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Armenia Liberty reports that authorities Authorities in Yerevan began on Friday enforcing a fresh ban on street trade in agricultural produce and other foodstuffs which is seen as failing to meeting basic sanitary standards.

“It is impossible to immediately uproot the street trade that has existed for the last 15 years. But we must try to gradually address this problem,” Yerevan’s Deputy Mayor Arman Sahakian told RFE/RL.

Sahakian said police and district administrations have been instructed to free all city sidewalks from illegal traders. But he admitted that many of them have no other source of income.

Read the full article.

ArmeniaNow.com picks up on the Human Rights Watch report on the situation in Armenia.

The respected global watchdog, Human Rights Watch, reiterated its strong criticism of President Robert Kocharyan’s spring crackdown on his political opponents in an annual report on human rights practices around the world released on Thursday. It also accused the European Union of doing little to prevent human rights abuses in Armenia.

Human Rights Watch mentions Armenia in an article entitled “Beyond Ukraine, a Grim Picture”.

Armenia is not along for coming under criticism. Azerbaijan’s fraudulent presidential elections are mentioned, as well as fraud in the election in Belarus.

Onnik sent me this note about Bash, who was posted about last week.
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Amongst a few interesting stories on Azg is this piece about Turkish singer Seden Gurel and her rendition of the Armenian song “Adana Lamentation”.

Sibel Alas is the author of the words, and Istanbul Armenian Shirak Shahrikian’s duduk accompanies the song. The latter’s participation in this sacrilege aroused the indignation of the Armenian community in Istanbul. Shahrikian wrote an article in Turkish for www.bolsahays.com Armenian website trying to justify himself where he says that the Armenians’ disapproval was expressed by numerous phone calls. Seden Gurel, in her turn, wrote a letter in September of 2004 where she tries to convince that the aim of the song was to tell the Turkish people of the Genocide (Gurel used the word “soykirim” - genocide - thus recognizing the Armenian genocide).

The bolsahay website contains an article about this (in Turkish). Azg goes on to say that Turkish TV broadcast this song on April 24th.

Eurasianet has an Insight on the Karabakh conflict.

As they look back at 2004, both Armenia and Azerbaijan are claiming that fresh hope now exists for a permanent peace agreement on the status of the breakaway enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh. Yet for all the official optimism, few concrete results exist to point to anything but more of the same impasse.

Despite several meetings in 2004 between both presidents and their foreign ministers, only small steps have been made toward resolving the conflict. Despite secrecy regarding the details of these talks, Armenian officials state that they follow the Key West Principles.
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In this article, Hold the Froth: Armenian-American Youth Revel in Cafe Culture, Ishkhan Jinbashian writes about Little Yerevan in Glendale.

What perhaps most palpably distinguishes Glendale’s sprawling Little Yerevan from any number of cities with a large Armenian presence is its kitschy ostentation. Here we don’t just drive late-model German and Japanese cars, we insist on driving them extremely fast, wearing some kind of determined malevolence as a badge of honor. And we don’t merely put ululating rabiz music on in our apartments and souped-up road machines; we make sure entire neighborhoods reverberate with the stuff.

Read the full article.

Onnik has given me this urgent request for help on behalf of a group of homeless people on the streets of Yerevan. I’ll post it in full.
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This article of January 3rd from the Turkish Weekly talks about the “contrary interests” of ” Armenia Armenians and Diaspora Armenians”.

Dr. Nilgun Gulcan, political scientist and an expert on Caucasus politics, told the JTW that Armenians in Armenia and Armenians in the Diaspora had different and sometimes contrary interests.

Gulcan said “If Turkey accepts Armenian allegations Diaspora Armenians will benefit from this, but Republic of Armenia will pay for it.”

Dr.Gulcan talks about the three ways in which he thinks the Diaspora will benefit:
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Transitions online reports on the plight of the “240,000″ refugees in Armenia. 21% of these people have been naturalised as Armenian citizens, which at first looks like a success. “That, says the UNHCR, is one of the highest rates of voluntary naturalization anywhere in the world in recent decades”

However, those without Armenian citizenship face a problem; they only have old Soviet passports which do not allow them to travel abroad, and get certain other benefits.
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I am back from the holidays and will resume posting shortly. If anyone has good photos of the holidays in Armenia please let me know!

Happy New Year!