Marianna’s posted her update.

This time next week, we may have a whole new Azerbaijan to deal with.

There will be no revolution in Azerbaijan. Aliyev Jr. said so.

Great story about women involved in opposition groups.

An interesting short post on an Armenian tour of Istanbul. I’d love to see photos and hear more!

In all of the hubbub recently I missed this great article from Open Democracy. A more open and ethical understanding of the fate of the Armenians is absolutely essential for Turkey’s democratic future.

How to make sense of the current state of Turkish public opinion? What can it tell us about the power of national imaginations vis-à-vis the past on the future of democracy?

There are four reasons why Turkish public opinion cannot swallow the term “genocide”.

First, Turks do not believe that the “Turkish nation” is capable of committing such unspeakable atrocities.

Second, the extermination of the Armenians has been shrouded in the claims of a civil war: “if we killed some of them, they also killed many of us” is the usual reaction of ordinary Turks. It is not uncommon for the Turkish media to show newly discovered mass graves full of Turks killed by Armenian militias in eastern Turkey, or to publish memoirs of old Turks who witnessed Armenian atrocities. Turkish public opinion is stirred up by the perception that Armenians exclusively monopolise the status of victim.

Third, it is an open secret that without the annihilation of Armenians, Turkey’s eastern borders would look quite different.

Fourth, the extreme politicisation of the issue in the international arena and western pressure on the Turkish government to recognise the Armenian genocide have strongly contribute to widespread Turkish feelings of unfairness, exploitation, and inferiority vis-à-vis the west. In this connection, the passivity of western governments during the genocides in Bosnia and Rwanda, to cite the most recent cases, hardly helps their claims to serve as arbiters of justice.

I was thinking about summer in Armenia recently. Is there anything interesting for university students to do? Internships are everywhere, but, at least in my time, they involved a lot of coffee drinking, smoking, and minesweeper (obviously this was pre-internet).

There’s this program for language study that I went on.

But I was just letting my mind wander and thinking that right now, this will be the last summer that I don’t need to work. I have a student visa that is good until January ‘07 and I am eligible for student loans until my disseration gets turned in sometime in September. Maybe going to Armenia to finish my dissertation would be a good idea. Maybe.

But while I would be there, I’d need something productive to do. Any ideas anyone? Internships would have to be useful for both the organization and myself. I’d want to feel like I was contributing to something good. It would also need to be flexible so that I could find time to work on my dissertation and do some private language tutoring. Maybe I could set up that wireless Yerevan that I’ve been dreaming of! Maybe I could teach young people basic Mac and PC troubleshooting. Maybe I could do free trainings on all sorts of computer applications. Maybe I could linuxize the country. The possibilities are endless. But how to do it… that is the question.

While I’m on the subject, I am also looking around for opportunities in general for university students. The traditional internship programs are obvious, but I’m asking the readers of Blogrel if they are interested in having some summertime assistance at their organizations/companies.

Thoughts anyone?

With the discussion of Robert Kocharyan possibly going (illegally) for a 3rd term as president, I was thinking about how we could help him determine some alternative activities to do upon retirement.

Perhaps he could write a book?

He could move back to Karbakh?

He could open up a consulting business?

Any thoughts?

He’s speaking at the Carnegie Foundation. Details here and here.

Since that powerful Serzh is out of town, another powerful Serj came to visit. The other Serj is Serj, lead singer of System of a Down.

He met with FM Oskanyan. I’m not joking. Seriously.

Eldar Salaev, a prominent Azerbaijani academician, has been detained by authorities in Baku. He was president of the Azerbaijani Academy of Science during the 1980s. His son is a deputy leader of the Azerbaijani Democrat Party, an opposition group.

NDI was not granted a mandate to observe the November 6 elections.

Azadlyg and YeS blocs can nominate joint candidates in some constituencies.

Jamestown has a summary of recent events.

Financial Times has a full article on events in Azerbaijan.

RFE/RL has a summary as well.

Facing History Ourselves, an NGO based in the US developed a genocide curriculum that focuses on the Armenian case. The state of Massachusetts adopted this curriculum for all public schools.

Two high school teachers, a student and the Assembly of Turkish American Associations are suing state education officials in federal court, challenging a law that set guidelines for teaching students about human rights violations. The law, which went into effect in 1999, specifically lists the Holocaust, the Mussolini fascist regime, the trans-Atlantic slave trade, and “the Armenian genocide.”

“We are not taking sides on the ultimate issue of whether there was an Armenian genocide. We are simply insisting that both sides be allowed to have a place at the table,” said Harvey Silverglate, a Boston civil rights lawyer who represents the plaintiffs.

Read more here.

Since we didn’t have any sacking yesterday, why not have some today? This time it is former government chief of staff Akif Muradverdiyev and Fikret Sadykhov, the ex-president of state-owned chemical company Azerkhimiya. Other sources here.

If I lived in Baku, I’d be worried about getting sacked.

The Caucasian Institute for Democracy (Yerevan) has conducted a national poll in all the ten regions of Armenia and Yerevan in October. In each region 100 people participated in the poll. The sampling included people of more than 18 years old, from both sexes, with various education backgrounds, income levels, occupations. 600 respondents participated in the poll in Yerevan. The overall number of the respondents counts at 1600.

There were many questions asked, but here were the results that I felt were most interesting:

In the process of Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement impact of Russia (72.2%) and EU countries (30.9%) was positively assessed, and roles of Turkey (78.1%) and USA (17.9%) were assessed negatively. Some of the respondents believe that the peace process would become easier and faster, if the negotiations would be held directly between Armenia and Azerbaijan (35.2%) or between Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan (27.9%). The opinion that more active participation of mediator states would ease the negotiation process is shared by 24.3%. 69% hope the conflict would be resolved within the next few years (34.6%), within several decades (34.4%), and 12.1% say the conflict would be never settled.

Since when has Turkey been involved in the NK process?

53.1% note that delay of the conflict resolution negatively affects the Armenian economy. As for an appropriate variant of the conflict resolution, 49.1% think that it should be recognition of Karabakh independency, 41.4% believe, it should join Armenia, and 0.6% think that Azerbaijan should grant it autonomy.

Only 53% think that the lack of a resolution hurts the Armenian economy? Hello?!?!?!?!?

Source

Aliyev Jr. himself has promised that elections next week will be fair.

Aliyev wants indelible ink applied to voters’ fingers and parliament to scrap a ban on foreign non-governmental organizations (NGOs) monitoring the election, state television reported.

Wow! Those are good ideas!

Way to go! (As I hold my breath.)

Reuters
Pravda

Serzh has a busy schedule. He was in Kansas today! I was wondering what he’d be up to while in the USA!

A delegation led by Armenian Defense Minister and National Security Council Secretary Serzh Sarkisian on Monday held meetings with the adjutant-general of the US state of Kansas, National Guards Head, Major-General Todd Banting and Vice-Governor Dennis More.

Who cares.

During the Sarkisian-Banting meeting the sides reportedly discussed issues related to bilateral cooperation both in the sphere of peacekeeping and military medicine.

What does Kansas know about peace keeping?

We are open in the matter of providing you with any expertise and assistance. I simply want to tell you that we also learn things from you,” Vice-Governor Dennis More emphasized.

Perhaps how to eat khash or do a circle dance, but other than that, what does Armenia have to teach Kansas about?

Argh. Here’s the RFE/RL link.

No sacking yet today, but here’s a quick roundup of news.

Whether by choice or necessity, Azerbaijan’s president has started a revolution from above. Transitions Online does an excellent job explaining why Aliyev Jr. may have done what he has over the past week.

Guliyev speaks!

Ariel Cohen’s POV, read at your own risk

This is a three-way struggle. President Ilham Aliev’s party, New Azerbaijan, is pitted against a fractious opposition coalition called Azadlyg (Freedom). There is also a struggle inside the Aliev political machine that he inherited from his father Heydar, who ruled Azerbaijan with an iron fist for three decades.

The World Bank released a Brain Drain report yesterday.

The study’s findings document a troubling pattern of “brain drain,” the flight of skilled middle-class workers who could help lift their countries out of poverty, some analysts say. And while the exact effects are still little understood, there is a growing sense among economists that such migration plays a crucial role in a country’s development.

In Armenia? I doubt it. Where are these people going to work and make a decent (if not good) income?

The study also included a report on:

the effect of the money that migrants from Guatemala, Mexico and the Philippines sent home, typically to their families. Those payments, known as remittances, helped reduce poverty in those countries and were a major source of foreign exchange, but the broader implications were complex.

There was also another Brain Drain related publication last week. Devesh Kapur and John McHale argue in their book, “Give Us Your Best and Brightest,” by the Center for Global Development, a research group in Washington DC, that the loss of institution builders - hospital managers, university department heads and political reformers, among others - can help trap countries in poverty.

Is this the case in Armenia? I don’t think so. I don’t think that there are enough jobs to sustain those Brain Drainers.

NY Times article

Cross-posted at neweurasia.

Serzh “Mr. Orange” Sargysan will be in DC this week. Anyone going to hear him speak?

The Minister of Defense of Armenia and Secretary of the Presidential National Security Council, Mr. Serzh Sargysan, will discuss “Armenia and Developments in the South Caucasus: A Security Perspective.”

Serzh was just in Ukraine and now in the USA? He is becoming a democratic animal!

TOL/Eurasianet has a story on this shift this week.

Check out this excerpt:

Sarkisian also outlined for the first time “defense reforms” that he said will stem from Yerevan’s growing engagement with Western powers and security structures. He said those reforms will result, among other things, in greater civilian control of the Armenian military. The existing organizational structure of Armenia’s Defense Ministry and armed forces essentially mirrors that of the former Soviet defense apparatus, with army officers holding just about every ministerial position. Armenian Foreign Ministry officials have complained that such a system is anachronistic and hampers closer cooperation with NATO.

Youth beer? Does it have sugar in it our something to make it tastier for kids?

Three local elections took place this weekend.

Preliminary results are in and it looks like we have some new politicians:

In Gegharkunik, Gavar, the incumbent mayor yielded his post to United Labor Party representative Gurgen Martirosian.

In Chambarak, a new mayor was elected as well.

And some old ones:

Ashtarak’s mayor Ashot Ghalajian defeated his rival Gagik Tamazian (Republican Party of Armenia, HHK).

In Gyumri, incumbent mayor Vartan Ghukasian from Orinats Yerkir defeated HHK’s Martin Sukiasian. (Sukiasian’s people say that the voter lists were screwed up though.)

In Gavar it looks like there was some bribery and Gurgen Martirosian won.

_____________

More importantly, do regional politics even matter in Armenia? It isn’t like the federal government lets them do anything anyway.

RFE/RL results

An Oil-Rich Test for Bush: Fair Elections in Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan Could Energize a Region from the Washington Post

Another sacking! This time is it Fikret Sadigov the head of the country’s largest chemical company, state-owned Azerkimya and an MP.

Great summary of Pamuk’s week at this blog by an activist living in Turkey (not sure of her nationality though.) She also has this post from a few months ago.