Poor Orhan Pamuk has been attacked by nearly every media outlet and politician in Turkey for saying in an interview with a Swiss paper that a million Armenians and 30,000 Kurds died in the empire. They have even threatened to prosecute him for inciting racial hatred or something of the sort. Ironic isnt it.

I was looking at the Book cover on Amazon.com and I think in background there is an Armenian Church. Is that right? Katy?

Great point Hakob. I think that it is an Armenian church. The photo credit is to a Turkish photographer and Ka, the poet, does walk by Armenian churches quite a bit.

I worked for five years on Kurdish issues and it surprised me at how many Turks were also involved. The Technical Director of MED-TV was a Turk as was one of the lawyers at Kurdish Human Rights Project (KHRP). Both spoke openly and the lawyer said that he has raised the issue of the Genocide at conferences in Turkey itself. Probably one reason why he was a human rights lawyer working on Turkish / Kurdish issues in London and not Turkey.

He believes that in order for Turkey to evolve democratically and also to improve the human rights situation in his country for every citizen, it must address the issue of the Genocide as well as other minority rights. However, it was unfortunate that when I took him to a lecture on the Genocide by Ara Sarafian in London that a handful of Diaspora Armenians made it quite obvious that his presence was not appreciated.

It would be interesting to know if he's now back in Turkey or not. That would say a lot about whether the changes in Turkey that are reported to have occured in the past few years are genuine or not.

Incidentally, the Kurds speak very openly about the Genocide when I was last travelling the South East of Turkey during 1997. In Elazig, the Head of HADEP said he was writing a book on the Genocide and on my last night staying with the Kurdish family of the local Turkish Human Rights Association-IHD, Jaffe's daughters told me a story describing the role the Kurds played.

It was interesting to note at that time that the Turkish Security forces referred derogatorily to the Kurds, especially in Bingol, as "Armenians." Before we arrived to interview some villagers who had gathered at the local HADEP office, they had warned them that what happened to the Armenians could happen to them. After they spoke to us, they were beaten when they left and turned a corner.

Funniest thing that happened during that visit was when myself and a British journalist interviewed the then head of the State of Emergency Region, Necati Bilican, in his office in the main military base in Diyarbakir. He banged his hand on the table demanding to know where I was from when the translator introduced me. I reached for my British Passport and said England...

Would be interesting to return to that region again, I guess, to see what's changed.

Unrelated to the turkish comments, out of general curiosity, which is one is you on the pictures ?
I don't think there was anyone named Katy, did I miss anything ?

Also, how one goes about picking future leaders (FLEX) program ? Do you get voted as a future leader by your classmates ? Do you publish something somewhere? Or you are a future leader
because your parents are current leaders

VT is great, I love it. We kayak down lamoille river, starting from smugglers notch. I try to go
there as often as I can. Which reminds me, winter
is almost over and I haven't been up there yet.

Thanks Tim. I love Vermont too.

FLEX is a US Government funded program that brings high school students from the Former Soviet Union to American communities for 1 school year. It is now 13 years old.

The students have to pass a battery of tests: English language ability must be VERY good, dedication to being an agent of change, personality, grades, interest in broadening horizions, etc.

50,000 kids try out for 1100 spots - it is EXTREMELY competitive.

After the year spent in the U.S., the students return to their communities and are expected to share what they have learned. They are also organized into alumni clubs that do a lot of community service.

It is a very successful program and I am proud to be one of the U.S. coordinators. I get a few kids each year, put them into host communities, find host families, help orient them to their schools, etc.

I think that there are photos of my in our blog.

> The photo credit is to a Turkish photographer

Talking of Turkish photography, there's quite an internationally renowned photographer of Armenian origin in Turkey, Ara Güler. His book on Istanbul is gorgeous.

For anyone interested:

http://www.lesartsturcs.org/photo_gulers.php

http://www.fotograf.net/araguler/