Zeybek (Harmandalı) dance is part of the Turkish Culture. This dance is the symbol of courage and honour.
Zeybek’s were people living in Asia Minor. The majority of them came from Yörük and Türkmen villages. Before the establishment of the Republic of Turkey, large concentrations of Zeybek’s could be found in western Anatolia particularly in İzmir, Burdur, Afyon, Kütahya, Uşak, Denizli, Aydın, Isparta, Manisa, Mugla, Antalya, and the Balıkesir area. Zeybeks were mountain warriors of Western Anatolia during the 13th – 19th centuries. Zeybeks generally had Turkmen and Yörük origins. They acted as protectors of village people against landlords, bandits and tax collectors. A leader of a Zeybek gang was called “EFE” and his soldiers were known as “Kızan”. “Kızan” was generally used for untrained Zeybeks. There was generally a tribe democracy in group. Decisions was taken in a democratic way, after the decision was taken “EFE” has an uncontroversial authority. They followed definite rituals for all actions; for example, the promotion of a “kızan” to zeybek was very similar to Ahi rituals.
Zeybeks had a special dance in which performers simulated hawks. Romantic songs about their bravery are still popular in Turkish folk music. The Yatagan sword was their primary weapon, but most of them carried firearms as well.
The Turkish Cihan wire service made a sensational revelation last week – a Turkish hit squad had planned to assassinate a visiting Armenian Parliamentarian on March 22, 2009.
Based on information obtained from Turkish security services, Cihan disclosed that Mutlu Erdogan and Selcuk Onur Ozyilmaz, members of the Turkish Unity Revenge Squad (Turk Intikam Birligi Teshkilati), were plotting to kill an unnamed ARF (Tashnag Party) leader. They were tipped off about his presence in Turkey, after he had acquired a Turkish cell phone.
The Armenian Weekly, a Boston-based ARF publication, speculated that the target of the Turkish hit men may have been Ara Nranyan, an ARF Parliamentarian from Armenia, who was in Turkey to attend a Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) conference as Chairman of the Audit Committee of BSEC’s Parliamentary Assembly.
During a phone conversation, the hit squad members discussed their plan to assassinate Nranyan, but decided to postpone their intended action, having learned that the security forces were trailing them. “Let a few months pass and we will slowly begin to conduct operations. We won’t stand idly by,” the conspirators told each other on a phone call which was monitored by Turkish authorities.
The ARF Bureau press office expressed concern that “information about Nranyan’s entry to Turkey was made available to a terrorist organization,” noting that “such information could have only been provided by the Turkish state.”
Meanwhile, a Turkish police report established a link between the hit squad and Ergenikon, a covert group of military and intelligence officials who carried out terrorist operations, including political assassinations, in order to create mayhem and instability in Turkey with the aim of toppling the elected government.
“Nranyan’s visit was not secret, but it was not a high profile visit either. So, it is possible that the information the alleged plotters had was from a source within the Turkish government,” ARF Bureau political affairs director Giro Manoyan told the Armenian Weekly. “We are taking the issue seriously and looking into it, trying to find out as much information as possible,” he added. “The information is disturbing because it corresponds with certain facts,” said Manoyan. “In a country where someone like Hrant Dink who was considered a ‘dove’ was gunned down in broad daylight, we wouldn’t be surprised that a member of the ARF, generally viewed in Turkey as ‘hawks,’ would be targeted,” Manoyan noted. Indeed, it was revealed that the Ergenikon group had even planned to assassinate the Armenian Patriarch of Turkey!
It is surprising that ever since this most serious revelation, no Armenian government official has bothered to make a statement or issue a condemnation. Not even the Chairman of the Armenian Parliament has raised his voice at the news that a member of his legislative body had been targeted for assassination.
One would have expected that the Armenian government would have pressed Ankara to disclose how a hit squad was alerted about the upcoming visit of an Armenian Parliamentarian to Turkey — was it through a phone company insider, a Turkish visa officer or a state official who knew of Nranyan’s plan to attend the BSEC conference?
Armenia should demand that Turkey conduct a thorough investigation of this ugly incident and disclose the steps taken to ensure that such leaks to terrorists about visiting Armenian dignitaries do not take place in the future. Until Yerevan becomes satisfied that the Turkish government is doing everything possible to guarantee the safety and security of Armenian visitors, no Armenian official or tourist should step foot on Turkish soil, and no Armenian athlete or sports team should participate in any tournament in Turkey. No more soccer diplomacy! Also, until further notice, no Armenian from the Diaspora should visit Turkey.
Strangely, some naïve Armenians do not seem to realize that when they go to Turkey on vacation, they are not simply visiting another country, but going into enemy territory. Since there are no diplomatic relations between Armenia and Turkey, no Armenian consular official can come to the assistance of an Armenian citizen in trouble, as was the case in the killing of a pregnant Armenian woman near Ankara, and the beating of an Armenian family vacationing in Antalya.
Armenians should raise this assassination plot at every opportunity through the global media and international meetings, particularly the Black Sea Economic Cooperation conference, demanding that Turkish officials bring severe charges against the accused hit men, disclose the findings of their investigation, and take preventive steps before Armenia agrees to send another official delegation to Turkey.
The 29 September 2010 will be remembered as a day on which the status-quo in the world politics became upside down. Wikileaks, as an international organization which identifies its duty as “opening governments”, published documents of varying “secrecy degrees” from US-Embassies. From that day on the content of the documents has strictly been discussed; some were verified, some were refused. So what has Wikileaks done? What will happen now? These questions are not to be easily answered.
Before answering these questions, it’s beneficial to clarify certain points: First of all, Wikileaks identifies itself as an “international non-profit media” organization and has herewith an “ethical duty” in the international politics. This is more clearly to be understood out of its slogan: “We open governments”. In the light of this duty, they never declassify their sources and do not publish the documents before being completely sure about its verification.
For an organization that has such a big mission, the existence of 3 guarantees is indispensible:
Legal Guarantee: This they have from the Swedish laws. The Swedish Constitution is giving all kind of information providers total legal protection. Moreover, it’s forbidden according to Swedish law for any administrative authority to make inquiries about the sources of any type of information.
Economic Guarantee: Wikileaks, which is claimed to have no revenues except donates has almost 800 volunteers around the world. These claims create an economic-dilemma for an organization which is claimed to have yearly €200.000 expenses. However, undoubtedly the amount of its donators should be worthy to the greatness of the duty it accomplishes.
Institutional Structure: Wikileaks is hosted by a Swedish company called PQR. Actually the power it obtains is based on this powerful institutional structure. In this manner, Wikileaks is able to use a military-grade encryption and such a high-qualified protection.
From these classifications only one can conclude that the power Wikileaks acquires is very substantial. That’s why, before going into details about the content of the documents, one should recognize an important fact which I tried to explain in the following part of this writing:
For days, many have identified the USA as cornered and the USA, through its deeds, didn’t really reject it. Meanwhile, the representatives of the Turkish Government from varying degrees have not reacted strictly towards the USA and even said that such a normal event could never taint the relations between the USA and Turkey. At this point we should question what would happen if this was done by any opponent of the government inside Turkey. The Prime Minister, himself, reflected the answer of this question by accusing the opposition parties once again, as if all these claims and documents were published by themselves. Moreover, he has threatened the opponents by reminding them the ones under arrest who had accused him in a similar way. The Ankara US-Ambassador is, nevertheless, still in his place without getting any official warning from either Turkey or the USA. Because an important reality is missed: According to the international law, the ambassadors are the most authoritative representatives in the countries where they are working. Therefore what they say, as an ambassador, is both politically and legally binding for the countries they represent. If Mrs. Clinton is unaware of this normative code, while saying: “Politics is done in Washington”, then she, as the foreign secretary of the US, should have recalled all the US-Ambassadors, since the USA doesn’t need them.
Actually the picture is not that limited. Because neither Wikileaks is so fool that it corners the USA nor the USA is that much cornered. One should consider that only ‰3 of the 251,287 documents have been published and that the documents of the highest secrecy were either not published or censored with (***). Why hasn’t Wikileaks published the rest and actually the most-expected part of the documents? Is what had been published so far enough to corner the USA? These questions actually reflect what is aimed by Wikileaks or the so-called “9/11 of the Diplomacy”. Actually what we saw in the cables can be divided into two parts:
The personal opinions of US-Ambassadors about important people
The general opinions of the USA about certain issues.
If we look at the situation from Turkish perspective, we will see that the first part of the cables is the part which is supposed to corner the USA but actaully is not anything more than sugar-coating. For everybody knows that the long-lasting Turkey-US relations can’t be easily shaped by such an event. This is simply because of the fact that Turkey can’t easily give the USA the cold shoulder. Therefore the USA can easily get out from all the claims in the first part by apologizing one time, which it has already done. This is very obviously evident for us, when we look at the current situation: Mr. Davutoğlu was said to be “exceptional dangerous and crazy”. However, he doesn’t really seem to be angry with the USA.
The second part of the content includes the general opinions of the USA about certain issues which have created internal and international political crises. The most important characteristic of this part is that only three countries weren’t negatively influenced by it: The USA, Israel and England (The real allies). This is simply because the US-foreign policy doesn’t need to warn its allies in such a way. This is very obviously evident for us through the help of a number of examples from the current situation: The polemics between the opposition and the PM in Turkey and the comfortable situation of Israel and England after the publication of the cables. Therefore the second part of the cables, the real content, created controversies in countries and didn’t really taint the US-foreign policy.
To conclude, I can say that Wikileaks, as opposed to the popular belief, tainted the countries other than the USA, Israel and England, delivered the messages of the USA to the counties and, in this manner, consolidated and legitimized the current US-foreign policy, namely the status-quo. The Wikileaks issue, unfortunately, was not sufficient for us to believe that the long-lasting US-foreign could be opened and democratized in one night.
Diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks to German news magazine Der Spiegel show US diplomats have doubts about Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan’s dependability as a partner.
AFP
LONDON– American diplomats distrust Erdogan and his unrealistic views on the world, wrote Der Spiegel. He gets his information almost exclusively from newspapers with links to the Islamists, and allegedly has little time for the analyses of his ministries, the diplomats believe.
The prime minister, one of the United States’ most important NATO partners, has surrounded himself with “an iron ring of sycophantic (but contemptuous) advisors,” writes a diplomat. Despite his bragging, he is afraid of losing power, according to the dispatches viewed by Der Spiegel. One source is quoted as telling the Americans: “Tayyip believes in God but doesn’t trust Him”.
Erdogan’s advisors, and Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, are portrayed as having little understanding of politics beyond Turkey. A high-ranking government adviser, quoted by US diplomats, describes Davutoglu as “exceptionally dangerous” and warns that he would use his Islamist influence on Erdogan.
A cable signed by the US ambassador in January 2010 says the foreign minister wants to reassert on the Balkans the influence the Ottoman empire used to exert on the region. But the foreign minister overestimates himself and Turkey, wrote the US diplomats. Turkey, sums up a cable translated into German by the magazine, “has the ambitions of Rolls Royce but the means of Rover”.
29 November 2010
The prime minister of Turkey has made a policy, indeed a habit, indeed a rather nasty, sneaky habit, of listening to the private conversations of Turkish citizens. Accordingly, he has destroyed many reputations and killed many careers, all on the basis of circumstantial and ill-gotten evidence. He has done this under the guise of protecting the nation from terrorism. To that end, hundreds of those opposed to his regime have been jailed. Many have become seriously ill from their confinement, some have died. And many more live in fear wondering about just who is the terrorist.
Now it is the prime minister’s turn. Wikileaks has lent more smoke to the fire of what has been well and widely known about the Turkish prime minister. Few aside from his most ardent supporters would quibble with the documentary descriptions of him as willful, arrogant, and harsh. And the dimensions of his newly gained wealth, and that of his loyal followers, and their children is of no surprise to anyone marginally alert and living in today’s Turkey.
One trademark of loud-mouthed bullies is that when they are confronted, physically or otherwise, they shut up. Tonight, in the face of a tidal wave of information indicating how corrupt and morally bankrupt he and his minions may be, the prime minister shut up. But his eager nation awaits and deserves a well-considered response. Perhaps when he returns from Libya after receiving the Distinguished Statesman Award from that distinguished statesman and humanitarian Moammar Gadhafi, a fellow leakee? Perhaps then the Turkish prime minister will bless the Turkish nation with his usual eloquence? Like that master of revenge, the Count of Monte Christo, who summed up all human knowledge in three words, we “wait and hope.”
A leading lawmaker in Flanders deliberately insults Turks and Turkey during a live TV program with unsolicited racist remarks.
President of the Flemish parliament in Belgium, Jan Peter Peumans (59,) causes a scandal with his arrogant and bigoted comments during a quiz show, ”De Pappenheimers,” by VRT (Flemish Public Radio and Television Broadcasting Federated) on Wednesday, December 1, 2010. (watch video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQFqcaqiJi0 )
The question the organizers of the quiz show haplessly considered amusing and proper for a competition watched by general public, including children, was a related to a comment by the famous French philosopher: “Who did Voltaire think was the most disgusting nation?” The potential answers offered were Flemish, Jews and Turks. Peumans replied: “ Turks.”
After a loud laughter, he was reminded that the correct answer was “the Jews”. Peumans said he knew the right answer but was scared to say it because of possibly very strong Jewish reaction. Laughter in the audience grew. When asked “Wouldn’t the Turks do react equally strongly?” Peumans replied with a negative.
Film director Jan Eelen, another contestant, told Peumans later that the Turkish Embassy had been informed of the incident by Güler Turan — a Flemish parliament member of Turkish heritage. Turkish Ambassador Murat Ersavcı called Peumans to convey Turkey’s disappointment by the racist question and comment. The remarks also drew strong reactions from Turks in and out of Belgium.
All of this unfortunate episode took only a few minutes. But its reverberations promise to take more than that… much more!
First, it is, indeed, a sad day in Belgium if a major entertainment industry executive there thinks racist questions are fun for the entire family. A sensitization course in Belgium on issues of diversity and tolerance seems appropriate and even urgent.
Second, it must be especially ironic for such a bigoted question to surface in a country which suffered terribly under the racist persecution the Nazis (perhaps Peumans is too young to remember or too ignorant to know.) Such a question should never have been asked in the first place. How would the audience who cheered on the racist questions and response if the next question in the live quiz show was about the feelings of the German Nazis about Belgians and if the potential answers offered were A) cowards B)cheap skates C) both? Would they consider that to be “family fun?”
Third, if a Belgian politician publicly declares that he deliberately provides false answers for political correctness or expediency, and cheered on by millions in and around Belgium, and arguably around Europe, what does that tell one about the state of affairs and mind in Europe? Are prejudice, humiliation, intimidation, discrimination, and racism accepted norms of thought and/or conduct in Belgium and/or Europe?
Fourth, Voltaire was a crusader against tyranny and bigotry, which is probably why he could not keep out of trouble. Almost every person of importance was Voltaire’s enemy at some period of his life. Voltaire, the Renaissance man of the Enlightenment, was no pussycat , either, as he struck back with bitter, mocking, poignant sarcasm whenever he was attacked.
Voltaire often scrutinized the political and philosophical controversies of the 18th century and campaigned tirelessly on behalf of the oppressed.
You, Mr. Peumans, badly need to learn the tragic plight of Jean Calas, a Protestant in Toulouse, which illustrates the passion in Voltaire. Calas had a son who wanted to study law but he was denied access because he was not a Catholic. The son got very depressed and killed himself, a fatal sin then. His family decided to conceal the suicide as they did not want to see his body dragged in the streets and fed to dogs as was the common practice for those who took their own lives. A rumor started that Jean Calas had murdered his son because he wanted to convert to Catholicism. The old man was convicted of murder on the basis of the flimsiest hearsay evidence by lynch mobs. Rejecting confession even after terrible torture, Calas was tied to a wooden cross, had his arms and legs broken. Then he was strangled by the executioner and burned at the stake. The state confiscated his property, leaving his widow homeless, penniless, and childless, as the latter were forced into Catholic institutions.
Voltaire heard about this and set out to clear Calas. He wrote many letters to powerful people throughout Europe, hired a lawyer, and raised money for the family. eventually securing a unanimous vote in the parliament of Paris declaring Calas innocent. Calas himself was dead but the reversal of his conviction meant that his estate was returned to his family and the children returned to their mother. That was Voltaire!
I told you this story for two reasons:
1) You and your supporters are doing to Turks today what the Catholic Church did to Protestant merchant Jean Calas of Toulouse in 1762.
2) If Voltaire was alive today, he would fight you and your kind for the same reasons he fought for Jean Calas of Toulouse
Last but not least, here is what Voltaire really said about the Turks:
“ The great Turk is governing in peace twenty nations from different religions. Turks have taught the Christians how to be moderate in peace and gentle in victory.”
It is never too late to learn new facts and proper manners.
Federe yapılı Belçika’da Flamanca yayın
yapan devlet radyo ve televizyonu VRT’nin birinci kanalında “De Pappenheimers” adlı bilgi yarışmasına katılan, bağımsızlık yanlısı Yeni Flaman İttifakı (N-VA)
partisinin Başkan Yardımcısı ve Flaman Parlamentosu Başkanı Jan Peter Peumans (59), doğru cevabı bildiği halde “Yahudilere bir şey söyleyecek cesareti olmadığı
için” Türklere hakareti tercih etti.
Yarışmada ünlü Fransız düşünür Voltaire’in, “Dünya yüzündeki en iğrenç halk” olarak hangi milleti tanımladığı sorusunda bildiğini itiraf ettiği doğru
şık “Yahudiler” yerine “Türkler” şıkkını tercih eden Peumans’la sunucu Tom Lenaerts ve diğer yarışmacı olan Yönetmen Jan Eelen arasında şu diyalog yaşandı:
Lenaerts: “Türkler cevabını verdiniz ama doğrusu Yahudiler idi. Bunu gerçekten biliyor muydunuz?”
Peumans: “Gerçekten biliyordum ama Yahudiler hakkında yeni birşey söyleyecek cesaretim yok. Çok hassas insanlar. Bir zamanlar onların sözde
liberalizmi hakkında bir şeyler söyledim ama çok çektim. Bu nedenle..” Eelen: “Fakat Türkler hakkında söylemek meğer sorun değilmiş”
-BÜYÜKELÇİLİKTEN TEPKİ-
Skandal yarışmaya tepki gösteren Türkiye’nin Brüksel Bürükelçisi Murat Ersavcı, rahatsızlığını ilettiği Peumans’tan Türk toplumuna yönelik açıklama sözü
aldı.
Büyükelçilikten yapılan yazılı açıklamada, “Bir bilgi yarışması programına yakışmayan bu tür bir sorunun sorulmuş olması ve verilen yanıttan
duyduğumuz memnuniyetsizlik Büyükelçi Ersavcı tarafından Peumans;a telefonla iletilmiştir. Peumans, ön bilgisi dışında gelişen bu durumun amacını aşan
sonuçlara yol açmasından üzüntü duyduğunu; sitayişle bahsettiği ve hiçbir şekilde rencide etmek istemediğini vurguladığı Türk toplumuna bir açıklamada
bulunacağını; anılan televizyon kanalı nezdinde de gerekli girişimi yapacağını ifade etmiştir” denildi.
-SKANDALLARLA GÜNDEMDE-
Belçika’da cumhuriyetçi olduğu gerekçesiyle Kral’ın resepsiyonlarını boykot etmesiyle tanınan ve saldırgan uslubu nedeniyle Fransızca konuşan Valon
toplumunun tepkisini çeken Peumans, eşiyle gezintiye çıktığı Valon sınırındaki Vise kasabasında, “Yeni Flaman İttifakı üyesi bir politikacının Valon bölgesinde
ne işi olduğunu sorgulayan” bir gençten dayak yerken polis ekiplerince kurtarılmıştı.
Bako Sahakyan, President of the Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno Karabagh), just completed his third visit to Los Angeles. Unlike his previous two visits, he was received last week by prominent political figures as a Head of State, even though his country is not officially recognized by the international community.
Pres. Sahakyan was in California for 10 days on the occasion of Armenia Fund’s annual Thanksgiving Day telethon that raised over $20 million to provide humanitarian assistance to the villages of Artsakh.
In addition to visiting the local Armenian community and meeting benefactors, for the first time Pres. Sahakyan was welcomed by the City Councils of Los Angeles and Montebello, asked to speak before the World Affairs Council of Orange County, and invited to a State Luncheon held in his honor by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.
The Los Angeles City Council received Pres. Sahakyan and his entourage on November 19 and honored him with a proclamation and city resolution, highlighting his commitment to the independence of the Republic of Artsakh. Council member Paul Krekorian warmly saluted the President: “It is my distinct and proud honor to recognize Pres. Sahakyan, a true champion of freedom, justice, and liberty. He is a warrior who fought and paid in blood for the freedom and independence of his homeland and his countrymen.” The President was officially welcomed to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States, by Eric Garcetti, President of the City Council. Pres. Sahakyan thanked the Council members for the honor and invited them to visit the Republic of Artsakh. Several other Council Members also made welcoming remarks. It was heartwarming to see the flag of the Republic of Artsakh for the first time alongside the U.S. flag in the City Council Chambers during this special ceremony.
Later that evening, Pres. Sahakyan addressed the World Affairs Council of Orange County, during a banquet in his honor at the Pacific Club in Newport Beach. This unprecedented event took place without a hitch, despite demands for its cancellation by Elin Suleymanov, the Consul General of Azerbaijan, the US Azeris Network, and a handful of Azeri and Turkish demonstrators.
Pres. Sahakyan was next honored by Mayor William Molinari and the City Council of Montebello on Nov. 22. The Mayor welcomed the President and presented him a Proclamation. In response, Pres. Sahakyan expressed his gratitude for the sister-city relationship between Montebello and Stepanakert, the Capital of Artsakh. Later that evening, the President attended a reception in his honor organized by the local community at the Montebello Armenian Center.
The following day, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa gave a State Luncheon at the Getty House for the President of the Republic of Artsakh — a special honor for visiting Heads of State. Before the luncheon, the Mayor met privately with Pres. Sahakyan and discussed bilateral relations between the Republic of Artsakh and Los Angeles, a sister city with Yerevan. In expressing his gratitude, the President invited the Mayor to visit Artsakh and Armenia. The luncheon was attended by the President’s delegation, Consul General of Armenia Grigor Hovhannissian, Councilman Paul Krekorian, City Council President Eric Garcetti, and Armenian community leaders.
In a gracious gesture, Mayor Villaraigosa made an appearance on Thanksgiving Day at the telethon broadcast live on November 25, and urged viewers worldwide to contribute generously to the Armenia Fund’s humanitarian project of providing drinking and irrigation water to 200 villages in Artsakh.
On November 24, Pres. Sahakyan met with a group of young professionals who made a commitment to support the opening of a special office to represent Artsakh in Los Angeles. The President welcomed the group’s initiative, stating that a formal announcement would be made shortly.
Overall, Pres. Sahakyan’s visit to California was a resounding success, not only in raising a substantial amount of money for Artsakh’s humanitarian needs, but also in establishing valuable political ties with the cities of Los Angeles and Montebello, and the Orange County World Affairs Council, thereby strengthening Artsakh’s prospects for recognition by the international community as an independent state.
While the Consulate of Azerbaijan in Los Angeles spends hundreds of thousands of dollars annually on high-powered lobbyists to carry out anti-Artsakh propaganda, Pres. Sahakyan, with the assistance of the Armenian community, succeeded in effectively countering the Azeri campaign, without spending a single dollar!
The question the organizers of the quiz show haplessly considered amusing and proper for a competition watched by general public, including children, was a related to a comment by the famous French philosopher: “Who did Voltaire think was the most disgusting nation?” The potential answers offered were Flemish, Jews and Turks. Peumans replied: “ Turks.”