82 replies to this topic

[Dave]

It isn't a good idea to buy Turkish goods, especially if neighbouring Turkic countries are doing everything to suffocate Armenia economically.

We don't need to "boycott". It should be natural for an Armenian to stay away from Turkish products.

[Azat]

And isn't that the case with the closed border today, although not necessarily of such grave consequences? I've said before that the average Hovhannes pays more for the same (or worse) merchandise.

and why is it that the borders are closed. who closed the borders to make their neighbor suffer? unfortunately the products that Turkey would have sold to Armenians in Armenia, she is selling to Armenians in US.

my boycott of Turkish goods and services may be insignificant but 7 million Armenians boycotting may be a bit more than just a drop in the bucket.

also, i rather see Hovhannes get an 'inferior' product for a little less money and make Gevork wealthy in Armenia rather than he get the 'better' product for cheaper and make Talath richer in Turkey.

as for the companies in US not having products from all thos countries listed, majority of those countries have acknowledged and apologized, not Turkey!

[Stormig]

Azat, the border is closed for a reason or lack thereof other than the anger behind this, and assume a boycott on top of that.

I rest my case with the smoke-signalling and badge and certification, as nobody seems to be bothered by the notion that they could at some point throw the baby out with the bath water.

What "Talaat," for goodness' sake? Doesn't it follow that for every Turkish exporter there has to be at least one Armenian middle man getting rich as well? And isn't it also the case that in the event Gevork the manufacturer is getting rich, he is doing it by being able to sell inside his country and export as well, including to Turkey?
In all honesty and with all due respect to all, examples such as freaking out when you talk to a certain Mehmet Something-oglu on the phone, whether he own or be employed in a non-Turkish business or not, is not the right state of psyche to be in. If you have also taken it so far as to discriminate between businesses that employ Turks, then by all means you should also be able to say something that sounds like, "We don't like you," or go up to your boss and ask of them not to do business with that Turkish construction company or quit your job if they don't live up to your expectations. That to me sounds a bit out of place given Armenians in RoA want the border opened and occasionally work in Turkish-owned businesses not only in Turkey but elsewhere as well, such as the Russian Federation.
I, too, have my personal preferences as to where I buy what from, and often if someone is going to buy me something from a store I instruct them what to buy for me and what not to. If they ask, I tell them my reasons. I can't see myself pontificating at length or rounding up a campaign.
Remember that boycotts on the grass-roots level are short-lived - Greeks have been going at this for years and apparently it doesn't change much where Turkey is concerned, plus Greeks are known for being emotionally wired and not necessarlily where it makes Italians attractive - and have nowhere the impact of official, national, or international motions, and even then you can't predict the pros and cons of such unless it is an all-arounder as with the case of South Africa - see the Arab boycott of Israeli goods - Jaffa oranges and dates come to mind - on the ground and abroad at 200+ million heads.

I think that calling for promotion of Armenian goods and funnelling efforts there would be a step toward building that Rome. It doesn't sound as gratifying as getting the shop-owner hunched up apologising for selling the other side's goods and not yours, boycotting the big bad turkey, but it is proactive and can have a life much longer than a negative association if indeed it counts as much to its supporters as they claim.

[vava]

In all honesty and with all due respect to all, examples such as freaking out when you talk to a certain Mehmet Something-oglu on the phone, whether he own or be employed in a non-Turkish business or not, is not the right state of psyche to be in.

Stormig jan,

I realise that my statement earlier can easily be misconsrtrued as an (almost) fanatical discriminatory behaviour - I was going to explain that a bit more in detail in my last post above, however I am currently getting killed at work, so no time. This weekend I'll explain my reasoning behind this and hopefully you'll understand a little better what my motivations were in that particular case....

[gamavor]

Armenians should have imposed boycott and embargo for a long time. At this specific time we have the rare opportunity to do this long awaited action for many reasons, which I will try to innumerate further down.

Firstly, Armenian Diaspora has never ever been so close to unity - be it political, religious, cultural, etc... Due to what we call "globalization", Armenian communities all over the world are building bridges that can work more efficiently for our goals. Plus, many Diasporans for different reasons change their place of habitat for "greener pastures" which gives more opportunities for the Diasporans to communicate closely with their fellow Armenians. While this positive impetus could very well be used for betterment of Republic of Armenia, our past unhealed wounds also can be softened

Turkey imposed illegal blockade over Armenia due to the war with neighboring Azerbaijan over Artzakh. The West turned blind eye to this de-facto embargo. While Armenian citizens are allowed to travel and even illegally work in Turkey, Armenian companies have hard time exporting their goods to third countries.

Both EU Parliamentarians and the World Bank representatives tried to influence Turkey to change that policy and try to establish normal relations with Armenia.

Why boycott? Boycott is a peaceful protest over certain policy conducted most of the time by a government. Any government. Someone asked, what is the guild of the ordinary Mehmet to be punished with such a measure, even though he personally may even recognize the genocide of the Armenians in Turkey and is sympathetic to our cause?

Here is why. The ordinary Mehmet working somewhere in the west sends money home which the Turkish government in one form or another taxes, hence builds her budget. Same goes for the Turkish companies be it in Turkey or abroad, same goes for the International business that conducts business with turks or Turkey. Of course, we can't influence to great extend their economy, nor we can punish the Turkish government for their stance on the genocide, but what we can do is to make them think twice. Some of the turkish businesses are built with the money and the wealth stolen from the Armenians. Why should we reward those companies by buying their products? Why we should tolerate our business partners to do business with such companies?

On the second note, there are some very big corporations in United States and Europe (mainly operated and owned with Armenian capital and participation) that can choose carefully their business partners which deal with Turkey. Ultimately, some Armenian companies from Armenia may also find a good market niche for their products.

Turks did this for long time. Even when they go to an Armenian owned store here in the States they buy their food, their goods. The Armenian in that case is a stupid middleman that thinks that he is very clever. He is not. Because, when he makes the next order, again he buys the Turkish goods intended for the same Turkish customer. I hope I conveyed the message clearly! Don't buy turkish. Don't deal with turks!

[Yervant1]

I have been boycotting Turkish products and will continue to do so until Armenian and Turkish relations come to a satisfactory conclusion.
As we speak Turkey is trying to cofiscate Armenian lands belonging to church and charitable organizations, by using every trick in the book and yet here we are can't even come to a unified position and have a peacefull boycott of their stinking products.

[Zartonk]

Some of the turkish businesses are built with the money and the wealth stolen from the Armenians. Why should we reward those companies by buying their products? Why we should tolerate our business partners to do business with such companies?

Well said gams. Plain and simple.

[vava]

I had a site hosted by a Canadian company a few months ago. I had a billing issue, and it could not get resolved until I finally ended up speaking with the general manager/owner - Mehmet something-oglu. Needless to say, I switched the next day.

It's hard to tell sometimes.

Just for the record, I was lazy when I posted this - I switched firstly as a result of the said billing problems. The fact that he was the owner was Turkish was secondary - but yes, was a factor. I have been personally boycotting Turkish goods and services for quite some time, and will continue to do so until there is an open border between the two countries with normalised trade. That is my choice, my right, and it's not based upon racism, but more on economy - why should I pour my own money to support industry in a country that is actively engaged in suffocating mine?

Oh and also, regarding this trip with companies run by Turks or companies that employ Turks (LMAO), is there an extension of this to countries other than the US and is this a whole-sale, blanket boycott, and would there also a project to document and white-list Turks that are critical of their state policy and/or that acknowledge the Armenian genocide? Hand out badges of acknowledgement certification to individuals, companies, universities, etc., to shield them (could "them" include Orhan Pamuk, maybe?) from such wrath, perhaps? What would it read? "Armenian genocide recognised here"?
Oh, and a cue from me - while you're at it, boycott Atlantic Records, too.

...

I rest my case with the smoke-signalling and badge and certification, as nobody seems to be bothered by the notion that they could at some point throw the baby out with the bath water.

Good point Stormy. Unfortunately there is no way for me as an average Armenian/North Amercian consumer to know differentiate Turkish goods/services along those lines. My only alternatives are to ignore the border blockade and buy Turkish goods, or, avoid supporting these products until the trade/border situation is resolved. In this case it becomes all or nothing - without any badges. I would hope that the Turks who are critical of their government will understand the reasons for the boycott, and not take things personally (as it's directed principally at the Turkish administration and not individuals per se. And I wouldn't quite qualify it as wrath, although I can see why you would draw such a conclusion.

In all honesty and with all due respect to all, examples such as freaking out when you talk to a certain Mehmet Something-oglu on the phone, whether he own or be employed in a non-Turkish business or not, is not the right state of psyche to be in. If you have also taken it so far as to discriminate between businesses that employ Turks, then by all means you should also be able to say something that sounds like, "We don't like you," or go up to your boss and ask of them not to do business with that Turkish construction company or quit your job if they don't live up to your expectations. That to me sounds a bit out of place given Armenians in RoA want the border opened and occasionally work in Turkish-owned businesses not only in Turkey but elsewhere as well, such as the Russian Federation.

I think that part of the protest/boycott is a result of the border closure. If there were normalised trade between the countries than there would be less impetus for a boycott.

I think that calling for promotion of Armenian goods and funnelling efforts there would be a step toward building that Rome. It doesn't sound as gratifying as getting the shop-owner hunched up apologising for selling the other side's goods and not yours, boycotting the big bad turkey, but it is proactive and can have a life much longer than a negative association if indeed it counts as much to its supporters as they claim.

Agreed - a personal boycott is just a small step. More importance needs to be placed on improving the movement of commodities and services in and out of the RoA.

Why boycott? Boycott is a peaceful protest over certain policy conducted most of the time by a government. Any government. Someone asked, what is the guild of the ordinary Mehmet to be punished with such a measure, even though he personally may even recognize the genocide of the Armenians in Turkey and is sympathetic to our cause?

Here is why. The ordinary Mehmet working somewhere in the west sends money home which the Turkish government in one form or another taxes, hence builds her budget. Same goes for the Turkish companies be it in Turkey or abroad, same goes for the International business that conducts business with turks or Turkey. Of course, we can't influence to great extend their economy, nor we can punish the Turkish government for their stance on the genocide, but what we can do is to make them think twice. Some of the turkish businesses are built with the money and the wealth stolen from the Armenians. Why should we reward those companies by buying their products? Why we should tolerate our business partners to do business with such companies?

[Stormig]

Vava, I can see where you are coming from if not buying Turkish apricots, but isn't taking an action against Turkish business owners and/or employees, even if secondary to the matter and in a "Sorry, not personal, is business" sort of way, going too far? That they send money home or pay taxes or such - this is also true for Armenians with Turkish citizenship who still have family in Turkey. Do you shun them, too? What are they in their turn to do? Throw themselves off the Bosphorus bridge for owning businesses in Turkey? What about Armenian entrepreneurs who have investments in Turkey and Armenia? They close shop in Turkey? I think that for it to be all or none and for it to continue to be a valid reason throughout if directly involving other persons - after all it is one thing to not buy products and cause the apricot processing factory loss and indirectly cost people their jobs or income and another to directly take such action - some things have to be able to be universal, at least in theory. So now there are also first instances where such doesn't hold.

[gamavor]

Boycott against Turkish products and services makes even more sense for ordinary Americans. I strongly urge them not to buy "CAMEL" cigarettes. Although I'm in the anti-war camp, the war in Iraq proved once again that Turkey is nor very reliable partner. While the American base in Inchirlig was used for re-fueling and re-enforcement the Turks absolutely refused to cooperate for the northern route of the ground operations, which cost the American taxpayer another few billion dollars of mine and yours tax money. Not to speak about the few hundred American soldiers' lives that could have been spared.

Armenians doing business in Turkey are absolutely out of use for any Armenian cause. All they can do is to enrich the turkish society and their own families and well being. To me the multy millionaire Turkish citizen of Armenian origin that few years ago opened a brand new factory somewhere in the eastern provinces in Turkey is simply a bastard.

[Azat]

Azat, the border is closed for a reason or lack thereof other than the anger behind this, and assume a boycott on top of that.

I rest my case with the smoke-signalling and badge and certification, as nobody seems to be bothered by the notion that they could at some point throw the baby out with the bath water.

What "Talaat," for goodness' sake? Doesn't it follow that for every Turkish exporter there has to be at least one Armenian middle man getting rich as well? And isn't it also the case that in the event Gevork the manufacturer is getting rich, he is doing it by being able to sell inside his country and export as well, including to Turkey?
In all honesty and with all due respect to all, examples such as freaking out when you talk to a certain Mehmet Something-oglu on the phone, whether he own or be employed in a non-Turkish business or not, is not the right state of psyche to be in. If you have also taken it so far as to discriminate between businesses that employ Turks, then by all means you should also be able to say something that sounds like, "We don't like you," or go up to your boss and ask of them not to do business with that Turkish construction company or quit your job if they don't live up to your expectations. That to me sounds a bit out of place given Armenians in RoA want the border opened and occasionally work in Turkish-owned businesses not only in Turkey but elsewhere as well, such as the Russian Federation.
I, too, have my personal preferences as to where I buy what from, and often if someone is going to buy me something from a store I instruct them what to buy for me and what not to. If they ask, I tell them my reasons. I can't see myself pontificating at length or rounding up a campaign.
Remember that boycotts on the grass-roots level are short-lived - Greeks have been going at this for years and apparently it doesn't change much where Turkey is concerned, plus Greeks are known for being emotionally wired and not necessarlily where it makes Italians attractive - and have nowhere the impact of official, national, or international motions, and even then you can't predict the pros and cons of such unless it is an all-arounder as with the case of South Africa - see the Arab boycott of Israeli goods - Jaffa oranges and dates come to mind - on the ground and abroad at 200+ million heads.

I think that calling for promotion of Armenian goods and funnelling efforts there would be a step toward building that Rome. It doesn't sound as gratifying as getting the shop-owner hunched up apologising for selling the other side's goods and not yours, boycotting the big bad turkey, but it is proactive and can have a life much longer than a negative association if indeed it counts as much to its supporters as they claim.

Stormy I am ALL for open borders and business with Turkey, but at the present Turks have decided that they want to see Armenians in Armenia suffer thus they have closed the border. SO I am standing up against that and saying that Armenians should NOT buy anything of Turkish origin. This is also why I would not step a foot in Turkey and spend a penny of my money to improve their economy and so on. I really do not see anything wrong with that. And the Armenian businesses that gain prosperity by exporting Turkish goods and selling Turkish goods for all I care they can close shop as well and that gap will be filled by an exporter who brings figs from Antarctica for all I care.

I have to say that I really do not see ANYTHING wrong with the way I am thinking about this issue. And I think that Arabs should boycott Israeli goods and blacks should boycott South African goods and so on and so forth.

BTW, just to help you understand my thought process(maybe you will realize that I am completely nuts). I also do not go into Wal-Mart because of their employment practices, I also refuse to buy Nike goods and on and on. By me not going into wal-mart does not hurt them one bit but I still have made the decision to pay 10-25% more and buy my goods at other stores.

[gamavor]

SO I am standing up against that and saying that Armenians should NOT buy anything of Turkish origin. This is also why I would not step a foot in Turkey and spend a penny of my money to improve their economy and so on. I really do not see anything wrong with that.

Not only that Azat, but the real effect of a boycott can only be fulfiled when WE stop doing business with companies that DO business with turks.
I've met an Armenian businessman who hired few Turks. When I asked him why he hires Turks, he said something to the effect that they are generally good workers and also cheap. While this might be true I still couldn't understand why he didn't hire jobless Armenians and than I heard the biggest BS ever. He said that he is paying them minimum wage and the situation will remain like this,... in other words they will not grow.

[vava]

BTW, just to help you understand my thought process(maybe you will realize that I am completely nuts). I also do not go into Wal-Mart because of their employment practices, I also refuse to buy Nike goods and on and on. By me not going into wal-mart does not hurt them one bit but I still have made the decision to pay 10-25% more and buy my goods at other stores.

And by extension, here in Canada, I prefer to purchase goods made/assembled in Canada (rather than imported from cheap labour/developing countries like China). If given the choice betweem purchasing a mitre saw at the Home Depot (American) vs. Canadian Tire - I'd probably choose the latter even if I were to pay 5-10% more. Why? Because I choose to support local business.

I also choose to support Armenian business vs. Turkish business. I think Azat summed up pretty well my attitude with respect to a "boycott" of Turkish goods. However' i would like to re-iterate that a large part of the motivation for my action, as insignificant it may be, is due to the embargo imposed by the Turkish administration on Armenia.

[Boghos]

Dear Azat, vava et al,

I have to say that intention and consequence find a greatr dissociation in your actions.
- boycotting Walmart, Nike, or favouring Canadian Tire, "buying Canadian" and other similar acts sound good but make no economic sense. First because were you to act in accordance to this rationale across the board you wouldn´t fill up your tank, hell you wouldn´t even have a car, you wouldn´t wear almost any clothes, you would not buy at any ethnic stores, you couldn´t buy a computer and on and on. If one is not to act rationally when purchasing goods and services it will just mean transfering an undue part of your income to someone else. I buy what is best for the price, however subjective that may be. The people at a sweatshop in Bangladesh (next to India, not in Yerevan) are "happy" that you buy their goods, this is part of the economic development process...

more later...

[Stormig]

Azat, I do not necessarily question the choice to boycott; however - and this may not necessarily be directed at you per se - I am firmly of the opinion that that is where the line should be drawn. You can share your reasons with your shop owner for not buying particular merchandise, but to go into negative association with the shop and shop-owner because they sell Turkish products and to compel them not to sell Turkish products is not the way to go. Because, as I said before, if every ethnic group got into these attitudes, then everyone could go back to an agricultural lifestyle or you could have quarters in cities where this or that was sold or not, and I don't say this out of concern for anybody. Azat, by Vava's example, shouldn't even step in shops that sell Nike when he wants to get his Reeboks (or whatever) unless and until the shop owner gives up selling Nike. And that deprives people who want to buy Nike despite the abuses in the sweatshops. Bear in mind that not all the NGO's who are after Nike's track record actually sanction a boycott - likewise I maintain that there ought to be ways of getting around to this, especially by way of the government in question.
I still do not find my question on Armenians from Turkey adequately answered.
Also, make sure you never use Google again - Google employs Turks, too: http://www.nytimes.c...731539d&ei=5088

Web Site Born in U.S. Finds Fans in Brazil
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By SETH KUGEL
Published: April 10, 2006
RIO DE JANEIRO — Ask Internet users here what they think of Orkut, the two-year-old Google social networking service, and you may get a blank stare. But pronounce it "or-KOO-chee," as they do in Portuguese, and watch faces light up.

"We were just talking about it!" said Suellen Monteiro, approached by a reporter as she gossiped with four girlfriends at a bar in the New York City Center mall here. The topic was the guy whom 18-year-old Aline Makray had met over the weekend at a Brazilian funk dance, who had since found her on Orkut and asked her to join his network.

Orkut, the invention of a Turkish-born software engineer named Orkut Buyukkokten, never really caught on in the United States, where MySpace rules teenage cyberspace. But it is nothing short of a cultural phenomenon in Brazil.

About 11 million of Orkut's more than 15 million users are registered as living in Brazil — a remarkable figure given that studies have estimated that only about 12 million Brazilians use the Internet from home. (And that 11 million does not include people like Ms. Makray, who clicked on Hungary as a nod to her heritage, or someone named Mauricio who wrote in Portuguese but jokingly registered as being from Mauritius.)

Expect Brazilian Portuguese dictionaries to add "orkut" to upcoming editions. O Globo, Rio's biggest daily newspaper, refers to it without further explanation. And the Brazilian media routinely measures the popularity of music groups and actors by the number of user communities dedicated to them on Orkut.

"Surto," a popular comedic play showing in Rio de Janeiro, is peppered with references to Orkut. And the site's jargon has entered the Brazilian lexicon, like "scrap" (pronounced "SKRAH-pee" or "SHKRAH-pee"), meaning a note that one user leaves in another's virtual scrapbook for everyone — including jealous boyfriends and girlfriends and curious suitors — to see.

But the sheer popularity of Orkut, which people can join by invitation only, has had several unexpected consequences. Almost as soon as Brazilians started taking over Orkut in 2004 — and long before April 2005, when Google made Orkut available in Portuguese — English-speaking users formed virulently anti-Brazilian communities like "Too Many Brazilians on Orkut."

And, more darkly, Orkut's success has made it a popular vehicle for child pornographers, pedophiles and racist and anti-Semitic groups, according to Brazilian prosecutors and nonprofit groups. Hatemongering on Orkut has also been decried in the United States and elsewhere, but it is in Brazil where the biggest effort is under way to halt the problem and confront Google's seemingly tight-lipped attitude.

SaferNet Brasil, a nongovernmental organization founded late last year, tracks human rights violations on Orkut and has generated much press coverage of illegal activity on the site. (Many forms of racist speech are outlawed in Brazil.)

SaferNet's president, Thiago Nunes de Oliveira, a professor of cyberlaw at the Catholic University of Salvador, said the problem had exploded in the last few months. "In 45 days of work, we identified 5,000 people who were using the Internet, and principally Orkut, to distribute images of explicit sex with children," he said. And that was aside from the racists, neo-Nazis and other hate groups the organization found.

In February, after several failed attempts to contact Google's Brazil office, Mr. Nunes de Oliveira said, SaferNet Brasil filed a complaint with federal prosecutors in São Paulo. Prosecutors summoned Google's Brazilian sales staff to a meeting on March 10 and asked them for help identifying users breaking Brazilian human rights laws.

Google declined a reporter's requests for a direct interview with Mr. Buyukkokten, but a spokeswoman forwarded some of Mr. Buyukkokten's responses by e-mail. The Brazilian office, he said, handles ad sales and does not even work with Orkut, which produces no revenue. "Orkut prohibits illegal activity (such as child pornography) as well as hate speech and advocating violence," he wrote. "We will remove such content from Orkut when we are notified."

But Mr. Nunes de Oliveira said that removing the content was not what they were asking for. "The incapacity of the authorities to investigate these crimes is principally the lack of cooperation by Google in identifying those users," he said. He also worried that Google was not archiving evidence of crimes as it deleted offending pages.

[vava]

.... but isn't taking an action against Turkish business owners and/or employees, even if secondary to the matter and in a "Sorry, not personal, is business" sort of way, going too far? That they send money home or pay taxes or such - this is also true for Armenians with Turkish citizenship who still have family in Turkey. Do you shun them, too? What are they in their turn to do?

Well, it's not necessarily a matter of "shunning" them per se. They have made their choice; I shall make mine. Where alternatives exist, I see no reason to directly support the economy of of a country that is econimically hostile to Armenia.

I think that for it to be all or none and for it to continue to be a valid reason throughout if directly involving other persons - after all it is one thing to not buy products and cause the apricot processing factory loss and indirectly cost people their jobs or income and another to directly take such action - some things have to be able to be universal, at least in theory. So now there are also first instances where such doesn't hold.

I'm not exactly sure what you are trying to ask here. Could you please explain?

[vava]

I have to say that intention and consequence find a greatr dissociation in your actions.
- boycotting Walmart, Nike, or favouring Canadian Tire, "buying Canadian" and other similar acts sound good but make no economic sense. First because were you to act in accordance to this rationale across the board you wouldn´t fill up your tank, hell you wouldn´t even have a car, you wouldn´t wear almost any clothes, you would not buy at any ethnic stores, you couldn´t buy a computer and on and on. If one is not to act rationally when purchasing goods and services it will just mean transfering an undue part of your income to someone else.

Hi Boghos

I understand your point. However, I was perhaps not very clear - in my examples it's not an outright boycott of all imported goods/foreign retailers etc. I neglected to mention my preference in purchasing "local" for me is a guideline that applies whenever suitable alternatives exist:

I shall choose a local supplier over a foreign multinational, an independant farmer's market over a chain supermarket, Armenian produced goods/services vs. those hailing from Turkey, environmentally friendly products vs. products that may be harmful, organic foods vs. processed/refined foods and so forth. Each purchase we make is accompanied by a choice.

I am by no means perfect and I probably do violate my own "guidelines" occasionally, but the point is as consumers, we can guide industry to a certain extent. For example: Yes, organic foods are more expensive, but they are clearly a healthier option. If we continue to purchase these products, educate the buying public, and lobby for better/more precise labelling laws - eventually organic products may find a greater niche in the marketplace - manufacture the demand to bring down the price. The same can apply for goods from Turkey - if due sto some "boycott pressure" from the local Greeks and Armenians, my local market notices that his Bulgarian preserves sell better than the Turkish counterparts - then it's been not only an effective grass roots initiative (to boycott) but it's also been beneficial for the market itself.

Now when the suitable alternatives do not exist, we are left with another type of choice. Abstain from purchasing altogether, or some form of compromise. In most cases it's the latter - I don't think we're at the point where we can avoid buying fuel, for instance.


EDIT: Please don't confuse me with some leftist, militant activist. I'm no such thing - but I do believe that in today's western societies, we cannot underestimate the power of the consumer. Yes we're "the little guy", but we can make choices.

Edited by vava, 03 May 2006 - 11:46 AM.

[Boghos]

Vahe jan,

I agree with you. I buy organic, I just found out that some Cadbury chocolate I bought at duty free was made in Turkey and that means i won´t be eating it. Individual choice is all i am in favour of. My point, and you clearly understood it well, is more related to the empowerment of the individual but unrelated to collectivist aspirations.

Edited by Boghos, 04 May 2006 - 09:38 AM.

[Stormig]

Tsk tsk... The Portuguese or aloof Armenians help the Sabanci Museum earn off of Gulbenkian's collection. Protest at once.

http://www.thy.com/e...cle.aspx?mkl=90

Where The Written Word Remains
‘The Art of the Book from East to West and Memories of the Ottoman World’, an exhibition recently opened at the Sabancı University Sakıp Sabancı Museum, presents a magnificent cross-section of the journey of the book through time and culture.


I t was once a work of art. The palace masters that produced it received the highest wages of their day and were regarded as artisans of the first rank. Its every detail demanded a different kind of expertise, knowledge and experience. Easily carried, it passed from hand to hand all over the world throughout history. As for its contents, they opened the doors of a completely different world for whoever possessed it. Time passed and, eventually, began to work against it. Although it has not fallen out of use, the thing called the book has fallen out of the high favor in which it was once held, adapting itself to the times by becoming commonplace.
The title of the exhibition, ‘The Art of the Book from East to West and Memories of the Ottoman World’, inevitably sets us thinking about the journey of the book through time and culture. For, at this new exhibition by the Sabancı University Sakıp Sabancı Museum, what you remember most of all is that ‘the book is a work of art’. The manuscripts and Korans in the exhibition are so impressive that, even without understanding what is written in them, you can’t help but be struck by this most aesthetically pleasing and spellbinding aspect of the culture created by man down the ages.

A BIBLIOPHILE’S COLLECTION
In the wake of its, for Istanbul, seismic Picasso exhibition, the Sakıp Sabancı Museum is now hosting the collection of Calouste Gulbenkian, one of the greatest collectors in the world. Dr. Nazan Ölçer, director of the museum, which is playing host to
111 selected works from Lisbon’s Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, emphasizes two important aspects of the Gulbenkian collection that formed the point of departure for the exhibition; namely that the works of Ottoman-Islamic art in the collection of the Istanbul-born Gulbenkian are of great importance for Eastern culture and that the collection contains only the best of the best.
Gulbenkian, who lived in Portugal and whose collection is housed at a museum named for him in Lisbon, was born in Turkey and grew up in a typical non-Muslim Ottoman family. This naturally shaped the direction of his tastes. One of the most salient characteristics of Gulbenkian, who assembled his collection during a specific period between the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, is that he clearly identifies the source of each new addition, to the point of including even the correspondence that accompanied the acquisition process. The collection, which was assembled according to strict principles and brooked no second-class works, contains not a single piece that is in poor condition or has suffered the depredations of time. What’s more, this is a collection that was developed with absolutely no distinctions of East vs West, despite the fact that an Ottoman flavor is clearly detectable. According to Nazan Ölçer, exhibiting the Gulbenkian collection is eminently in line with the Sakıp Sabancı Museum’s mission: “At this museum we are trying to exhibit the most distinguished names in western art, such as Picasso, and Rodin, who will come in June. At the same time, we are also continuing to bring works of relevance to Turkish art and history. I could therefore say that we have a dual point of view, a dual exhibition policy. And the Gulbenkian collection is in this sense very important for us.”

THE BOOK AS A WORK OF ART
There are books in the exhibition which are not often displayed even at the Gulbenkian Museum, works the permanent exhibition of which is not advisable on account of their extreme fragility. What we have here is a collection of extremely rare tomes from the 13th to the 20th century. Among them are manuscripts copied for European royalty and books illustrated by famous painters as well as hand-written Korans and other important Islamic manuscripts. Furthermore, as we approach the 20th century, we see, alongside Japanese books, volumes that reflect movements in art such as art nouveau and art deco. Not only that, but the books are accompanied by a goodly number of Iznik tiles, velvets, silk brocades and embroidery. The result is a 111-piece exhibition entitled ‘The Art of the Book from East to West and Memories of the Ottoman World / Masterpieces of the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, Lisbon’.
“Exhibiting books is difficult,” says Ölçer, “both because of the conditions of preservation and because of the necessity of appealing to a narrow circle of people. But I believe all that is going to change with this exhibition, because the beautiful, decorative bindings of the books on display are going to remind us of an aesthetic pleasure we have long forgotten in today’s technology-intensive world. Books nourish and edify us not only by their contents but also as works of art. The most valuable objects in the Ottoman palace, for example, were books. Those who were employed in the art of the book were more richly munerated than any other artisans. With its contents, binding, illuminations and calligraphy, the book was regarded, indeed exalted, as an art in and of itself. The exhibition is going to serve to remind us of that, namely that the book is a work of art.” According to Ölçer, the exhibition is also going to compel us to reconsider the book and our changing relationship with it over time.

A MEETING OF TWO BUSINESSMEN
As one tours this exhibition, it is impossible not to sense the collector’s passion, a passion that sends mankind on a quest for the beautiful and the aesthetically pleasing. We see with our own eyes how imperative it is that no beautiful creation of any kind be lost. At the same time, visitors to the exhibition will also not fail to notice that the Gulbenkian collection exhibits all the characteristic features of the common taste and spirit embodied over the centuries by the Ottomans’ vibrant multi-lingual, multi-religious and multi-cultural society.
While we are on the subject of the collector’s passion, I should not conclude without mentioning another striking feature of the exhibition: Gulbenkian was a rich man, a well-known oil merchant who owned five percent of Iraq’s famous Mosul oil fields. Exactly like Sabancı, another famous and successful businessman. The exhibition therefore offers the added boon of bringing together these two illustrious businessmen who were also passionate collectors.
From 15 April to 28 May at the Sabancı University Sakıp Sabancı Museum.

[Arpa]

Of course!
When a so-called Armenian with a “christian” name like Galoust (the COMING) flaunts around with FURKISH surname like gul(f**k) beng(f**k)-ian.!**
What do you expect?
** We have native words for “gul”.. It is “vard” and “beng” is ”khal”. With people surnames like “Gul-benk-ian” , a f***k*n servant/slave of Mehmet, who needs Armen Yerevanian??
And. ..We celebrate people with surnames like "Balioz-(bokh)[shithouses of Yerevan]-ju)-ian!!!

Edited by Arpa, 22 May 2006 - 09:17 AM.