The online journal “Inside Higher Ed” has published an interview with Yektan Turkyilmaz.

Some highlights:

The interrogators’ questioning in the initial few days of my arrest was entirely devoted to my research, my political views and connections with Turkish intelligence and state officials. The concept of “scholar” is meaningless to them. According to them, as the investigator put it, “all scholars are spies.” All my friends and contacts in Yerevan (most of whom have nothing to do with the books found in my suitcases) have not only been interrogated by the KGB but were also harassed and threatened. They were all told that I was a Turkish spy. My friends who were at the airport with me were threatened not to let anyone, especially my family, know about my arrest. (When my sister contacted them via phone they denied that they were with me at the airport! For that reason my family did not know about my situation for 15 hours.)

KGB officials’ mentality — a mixture of the Soviet way of thinking and nationalism with xenophobic overtones — played a crucial role in making the decision to detain me. Unfortunately, in today’s Armenia (like many other ex-Soviet republics), there isn’t adequate political control over KGB. I should also underline that there is an ongoing fight between pro-democracy advocates and pro-Russia Soviet-style rule. For me, it is relieving to know that I have received a good deal of support from the pro-democracy politicians and large segments of the Armenian society, which is very important.

The new Carnival of Revolutions is up!

PS, I’ve found housing and should begin having regular access to the internet in a few days.

Marianna’s most recent post is up.

Via RFE/RL, Police in Baku arrested dozens of activists today as Azerbaijan’s largest opposition alliance tried to hold an unauthorized demonstration.

Isak Avazogli, a spokesman for the National Front of Azerbaijan, one of three parties making up the Azadliq (Freedom) alliance, said more than 100 people were detained.

Activists gathered along several streets in the capital, Baku, carrying red carnations and yelling “Resign!” and “Free Elections.”

Reports say officers using truncheons beat them back as they tried to break through police cordons, forcing them to flee.Fuad Mustafayev, deputy head of the National Front of Azerbaijan, urged activists to suspend the rally and called on police to stop the violence. He said party leaders and authorities are meeting to discuss the situation.

Avazogli said if no agreement is reached by 1700 local time (1400 Prague time), protesters will resume their demonstration.

Hi from London. I still don’t have a place to live or consistant internet access. Please forgive me for posting sporadically.

In other news, George Soros, Mr. Fundarevolution himself has told the people of Azerbaijan via the Financial Times:

Revolutions are disastrous. Although they open up ways for democratic reforms, they do not provide guarantees to anyone. The national rebellions in Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan were a major step toward democratization in these countries. But after the revolution euphoria subsided, politicians there faced the task to start building democracy from square one. Georgia has been somewhat successful in this sense, but Ukraine is experiencing problems, while a dangerous situation emerged in Kyrgyzstan.

via Baku Today

The conference of the Turkish historians on the Armenian issue finally commenced in Istanbul today.

As Reuters reports,

…The academic conference was originally scheduled for May but was canceled after Justice Minister Cemil Cicek accused those backing the genocide claims of “stabbing Turkey in the back.”

This time, with a nervous eye on Brussels as the clock ticks toward the start of its long-delayed EU entry talks on October 3, the government has strongly backed the conference.

The court banning order, announced on Thursday evening just before the conference was due to start, drew swift condemnation from Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan as well as from the European Commission, which spoke of a “provocation” by anti-EU elements.

“If we have confidence in our own beliefs, we should not fear freedom of thought,” Erdogan told a separate gathering of academics in Istanbul on Saturday.

“I want to live in a Turkey where all freedoms are guaranteed,” the prime minister said.

Lawyers behind the original court ban condemned Bilgi University’s decision on Saturday to host the event regardless…

Erdogan’s words are of course disingenuous - had the international reaction been less forceful the court order would have been upheld by his government. Having failed to stop the conference, the Turkish authorities are now resolved to intimidate the participants or to give direction to their discussion.

News links:
Reuters:
BBC News

Read here

Harmick’s already commented.

Hi all. Tomorrow I’m leaving Vermont, USA for London, UK to go back to school. I’m not completely sorted with my housing and all that, so don’t expect much blogging over the next week or so.

Anyone in the UK, please feel free to drop me an e-mail. I don’t know anybody and I’d love to meet some people.

I am more than a little stressed right now. I’m trying to keep breathing though.

On September 21, 1991, Armenia’s independence from the Soviet Union was recognized. Happy 14th Birthday, Armenia!

Tonight in the USA and Canada, there is going to be a pop culture event: a dance contest between two celebrities. I didn’t watch the original show, but apparently these two were neck-and-neck and one of them won. A lot of people didn’t think that it was fair, so they are going to have a rematch.

What does this have to do with anything?

Well, a Canadian entertainment writer wrote this about the competition:

Viewers will be able to vote online, during the program and afterwards. Only one vote is permitted per e-mail address — this isn’t Azerbaijan here.

A joke about election fraud or did he just pick a country at random?

Okay, I won’t argue with the fact that the Ottoman Empire up until the 19th century did tolerate religious minorities pretty well. But then those minorities started making too much money and having too much power and things changed.

But the good ol’ Voice of America has a report today that says that “Turkey an Example of Religious Tolerance for 500 years.”

Okay, problem number 1: Turkey is less than 100 years old.

Problem number 2: Check out this quote: “Modern Turkey’s founder, Mustafa Kemal, also known as Ataturk, rejected tying his new government to Islam, even prohibiting the use of traditional clothing in favor of western wear. Religious tolerance was also his government’s policy.” I don’t know if Ataturk was intentionally trying to be tolerant with his policy.

Problem number 3: “‘We have good relationships with our neighbors the Armenians and the Greeks. They come to our funerals. We go to their funerals,’ says Mahmut Uslu, a worshipper at the mosque.” It is nice to hear that this guy is attending Armenian and Greek funerals today, but I wonder if how many Armenian and Greek funerals his grandfather attended?

The article does mention Genocide allegations, but the whole thing is a little too weird, if you ask me. They do interview a Rabbi, but no Greeks or Armenians are interviewed, mostly Turks.

What’s up, Voice of America and reporter Miguel Angel Rivera?

As the Azerbaijani government has been busy preparing for the upcoming parliamentary elections, it seems that they’ve also been busy arresting more youth opposition leaders, including one from Ukraine.

I suppose that the government may be trying to get these kids out of the way. If they truly are some of the more active members of the groups, it (or so the government may think) will make it a lot easier to prevent any sort of organized protest or revolt.

But of course, as has been seen so many times before all over the world, imprisoning leaders, especially teenaged ones, tends to make the general population angrier.

It remains to be seen if the government’s plan is going to work. In the meantime, as long as the media doesn’t convince the people that these kids are really working for the Armenian government, I can only imagine that people are going to be more upset than anyone expects.

Eurasianet has a good summary of the arrests yet so far.

Gadling, a travel blog, is covering a trip to Armenia. Read post #1 here.

Turkey: Turkish Teach Azeris How to Pay The Electricity Bill

link to story, if you’re curious.

Some more embarrassing quotes:

“‘They are slowly learning to pay their electricity bills,’ Arabul added.”

“‘The people of Azerbaijan had never before paid for electricity’ said Huseyin Arabul, director of Barmek, ‘therefore, we face grave problems. Our collectors are sometimes attacked. But we insist and we will succeed.’”

I understand the point that is trying to be made, but did they have to frame it this way?

Via registan.net,a discussion of the Iranian product “BARF” (which means snow in Persian, of course), and its benefits. I love BARF.

Commoner Sense has the new Carnival of Revolutions.

I love flickr.com so much.

Check out this map.

Via Groong, the Guardian reports that politicians are voted the world’s least trusted people.

Most people believe their government does not act according to their wishes, a worldwide opinion survey shows. Lack of confidence in governments is highest in the former Soviet bloc, where 75% say their country is not governed by the will of the people, but similar views are held by most Europeans (64%) and North Americans (60%).

What is interesting about this is that, I suspect, the reasons for not trusting politicians are so different. In the U.S., I believe, most people find politicians a little too sleezy or manipulative, whereas in the Former Soviet Union, I imagine, people distrust politicians because they are corrupt.

Marianna has another great update. New blocs, protests and arrests! This is getting to be like a soap opera!

When links merge!

Nathan, from registan.net, is going to be the new regional editor for our neck of the woods at Global Voices Online. Congrats!