Yes but ...

The Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Turkey … agree to … cooperate in the fields of science and education by encouraging relations between the appropriate institutions as well as promoting the exchange of specialists and students, and act with the aim of preserving the cultural heritage of both sides and launching common cultural projects.

This is a passage from the “Protocol on Development of Relations Between the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Turkey”; one of the two documents that were published by the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of both countries in Switzerland on 31 August 2009.

The protocols deal with the normalizations of relations between the two countries as well as the reconciliation of the people of these countries.

As discussed on this blog on several occasions, even before Turkish President historical visit to Armenia in September 2008, the reconciliation of the two nations will be a long and complex process, and will need the participation and the engagement of different segments of both societies.

Academic mobility and student mobility, in particular, have previously proved essential to post-conflict reconciliation and peace-building efforts. The most striking and successful example is, of course, the Erasmus program that was launched in Western Europe shortly after the 2nd World War.

We, therefore, commend the signatories of these protocols for their understanding and vision. We believe that promoting close contacts between university students – the future leaders – of two countries will be a wise policy.

No one has, of course, the slightest illusion that the reconciliation between Armenia and Turkey, and between all Armenians (Diaspora and homeland based) and the Turks, will only happen on the basis of recognition of historical truth and respect for justice. The reconciliation process, therefore, cannot go very far as long as Turkey does not recognize the 1915 Genocide.

Heritage Requests University Debates on Armenia-Turkey Protocols

An unusual act: The oppositionist Heritage Party – and no other political force – has appealed to Armenian universities – and not to any other organization or structure – to organize debates on the Armenia-Turkey protocols.

According to Tert Armenian online daily, Heritage Party MP Stiopa Safarian, on behalf of his party and its parliamentary faction, appealed to 17 heads of public and bi-national public HEIs in Armenia. In a letter that was addressed to all rectors, Safarian stated:

“We are appealing to you with a request: until 10 October, [we ask that you] organize a meeting with the students of your institution where we and the other concerned political forces can present our positions [vis-à-vis the protocols] to the students in the form of debates and discussions and will answer their questions.

We expect your suggestion on the venue, date and time of the meeting in the form of a written answer.”

The Heritage Party invited all concerned parliamentary and non-parliamentary parties to participate in the debate and to present their views on the pre-signed Armenia-Turkey Protocols. As soon as the party received answers from heads of the educational institutions, it would publicize the venue, the date and the time of the debate

To our knowledge, no HEI head responded to this appeal and no other political party echoes this request.

Recognized Discriminatory: “Happy is He Who Calls Himself a Turk”

Thomas Hammarberg, head of the Council of Europe Human Rights Commission, has criticized the phrase “Happy is he who calls himself a Turk,” which is part of the morning oath recited by Turkish primary school students. For many years this has been criticized also by many local human rights activists including Hrant Dink, the Armenian Turkish journalist who was eventually assassinated by Turkish ultra-nationalists.

In his report on minority rights in Turkey, which Mr. Hammarberg wrote after holding meetings in Turkey between 28 June and 3 July 2009, the commissioner said the famous phrase amounts to “ethnic discrimination.”

According to Hürriyet Turkish daily, the Turkish government responded quickly, in an attempt to justify, saying: “The word ‘Turk’ does not represent an ethnic, linguistic or religious origin; it expresses Turkish citizenship.”

Hammarberg said in his report that there are various oaths students are made to chant every day, including another with the line, “I am a Turk and I am proud to be a Turk,” which elevate the ethnic identity over all others. The report said there are 12 to 15 million Kurds in Turkey, alongside 3 million Caucasus pupils, nearly 3 million Roma and around a million Laz, and made the recommendation that Turkey should accept these demographics as “richness.”

The Turkish government’s 11-page response refused to consider the line “Happy is he who calls himself a Turk” to be “ethnic discrimination.” The government said the phrase, commonly attributed to Atatürk, expresses the loyalty of Turkish citizens to the country. The government also said the term “minority” is defined by the Treaty of Lausanne which narrows it down to religious minorities -- Armenians, Greek Orthodox and Jews. Turkish government refuses to acknowledge the existence of ethnic minorities in the country.

For the 10th year CeBIT Eurasia 2009 Opens in Istanbul

CeBIT Bilişim Eurasia, the digital business and technology fair, will open its doors in Istanbul on 7 October 2009. The fair will end on 11 October. This will be the fair’s 10th year. It is unclear whether Armenia-based or Armenian companies will also take part in the Istanbul fair.

According to Hurriyet Turkish daily, thousands of professionals, managers, scientists, public authorities and tech geeks from around the world are expected to visit the fair. Turkish President Abdullah Gül and Transportation Minister will attend the opening ceremony.

“CeBIT Eurasia 2009 expanded in terms of the number of exhibitors and foreign participants, despite the global turmoil,” said the event organizer. Last year, CeBIT Eurasia hosted 971 exhibitors. Almost 160,000 visitors, including some 70,000 businesspeople, visited last year’s CeBIT. The number of exhibitors is expected to reach 1,000 this year.

Meanwhile, Broadcast Cable and Satellite Eurasia 2009, the fair for the television industry, will be organized concurrently with CeBIT Eurasia 2009 in a separate hall at the same fair grounds. European satellite operator Eutelsat is the sponsor of the broadcast fair, while Turksat is the main sponsor of CeBIT 2009.

Caucasus University Sends Record Number of Students Abroad

Undoubtedly the most internationalized HEI in the South Caucasus, the Caucasus University (CU) of Georgia has succeeded in sending 65 students to its partner universities throughout the world on the basis of dual and exchange programs in 2009.

“CU is the first university, not just in Georgia, but in the whole South Caucasus educational sphere, to have sent such a large number of students abroad. From the 65 students, 21 were sent to Georgia State University (Georgia, USA), Chester University (UK) and Tallinn University of Technology (Estonia) for one or two academic years in the frame of dual degree joint programs. The remaining 44 students took part in exchange programs with leading universities in the USA, UK, Turkey, Latvia, France, Lithuania, South Korea, Estonia, Austria, Germany, Japan, and Portugal,” Tinatin Gugberidze, Marketing and PR manager of CU, told The Financial, a Georgian online magazine.

Gugberidze underlined the advantages of the educational system that Georgians can presently get abroad. “The educational system abroad, and especially in western countries, is a very well structured one, which is comprised of modules that are needed for the training of the best human resources. Especially when it concerns business education,” she says.

“It’s very well known that business skills and business studies’ methodology were primarily introduced in the west, the United States is a particularly leading country in these terms, as the first School of Business was established at Harvard University. As we know economic and business literacy is crucial for a country’s development and prosperity, the future generation, trained and educated abroad will contribute its upgraded and up-to-date knowledge of the field for the further development of Georgia. Therefore the more students we send abroad, the more knowledge they will bring back to our country, and this knowledge will serve their country, in terms of business climate amelioration, the growth of different sectors representing the integral parts of the economy, and attracting more investors,” Gugberidze says.

Caucasus University has both dual degree and exchange programs available to its students. Caucasus University has dual degree exchange programs at bachelor’s degree level with Georgia State University (USA) and Chester University (UK) for Caucasus School of Business; European Public Law organization (Greece) and Tallinn University of Technology (Estonia) for Caucasus School of Law; as well as a dual MBA program with Grenoble Graduate School of Business (France).

At the same time, Caucasus University has a wide network of partner universities in almost all continents of the world.

Last week Ms. Sandra Roelofs Saakashivili, First Lady of Georgia, visited Robinson College of Business of Georgia State University, USA. A luncheon was given in her honor. Invited guests included 21 sponsored Georgian students from Caucasus University who are currently studying at Robinson College of Business.

“This is the largest number of sponsored students from any country,” Fenwick Huss, Dean of Robinson College of Business, says.

Two doctoral, one master, 14 dual BBA, and 5 exchange students were presented to the First Lady. She praised them for their scholarship and reminded them of the role they will play in building the economy of the former Soviet republic.

“We are very impressed by your achievements. You know how important it is for Georgia to have good managers. This is a key issue for Georgia,” Ms. Roelofs-Saakashivili, says.

Ms. Roelofs-Saakashvili talked about her experiences as a professor of the French Language at Caucasus University. She underlined the importance of US-educated managers for a country like Georgia. She expressed her hope that all of the Georgian students would have a deep impact on transforming Georgia’s economic landscape.

The First Lady was hosted by Bijan Fazlollahi, a professor in Georgia State’s Robinson College of Business and Director of Robinson’s Center for Business Development in Transitional Economies. Mr. Fazlollahi helped establish the Caucasus school more than a decade ago and since then has directed many programs there. In 2004, Georgian President named Dr. Fazlollahi an honorary citizen of Georgia.

Mr. Fazlollahi plans to attend the graduation ceremony in Tbilisi on Oct. 14 where he will award the first Ph.D. to Boris Lezhava. “The Ph.D. program has extended the capacity of Caucasus School of Business from a teaching establishment to a teaching and research institution,” he says.

European Internet Project Launched in Yerevan

Although political friction and conflicts continue to mark the South Caucasus region, the region’s integration into Europe, in specific areas such as IT infrastructure, continues. The most recent one of these initiatives, the Black Sea Interconnection (BSI) project, kicked off on 29 September 2009 in Yerevan in presence of Armenian PM Mr. Tigran Sargsian, Minister of Education Mr. Armen Ashotian, President of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) Mr. Radik Martirosian, and others.

Armenpress news agency, via Bsanna news agency, reports that the BSI project is being implemented according to “Framework Project 7” (FP7) of the European Commission. NAS and the Association of Armenian Scientific and Educational Networks are the local partners of the BSI project. The project aims at the construction of an international Internet infrastructure in the Caucasian region.

Thanks to the project, a high-speed Internet connection will be established between scientific and educational centers located in the south Caucasus. Since 1 June of this year, BSI ensures links in Armenia together with GEANT2, the scientific and educational Internet, and allows the importation of new services to the region.

“The integration of Armenia into the pan-European educational and scientific network is very significant. Our scientists can now be informed of the activities of their peers in other countries, and to exchange with them their work and experiences. Integration into the network settles many issues, however, it remained the issue of the lack of high-speed connection that BSI will tackle,” Vice-president of NAS Mr. Shukurian said.

According to him, BSI will join Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia in a single network. The national research networks of the three countries will join more than 15 academic networks and 45 universities thanks to which high quality Internet resources will become available to the students, and for the researchers the Internet speed will increase 2-10 times.

Due to the fast Internet, the researchers of the region will have the opportunity to take part in advanced European infrastructural projects such as ATLAS and VLBI. The projects of European Neighborhood Policy will also use the BSI for supporting the electronic management, entrepreneurship and healthcare projects.

At the ceremony were present: Representatives of Turkish Council of Scientific and Technological Researches, Greek Network of Researches, Net Union of Central and Eastern Europe, Georgian Research and Educational Internet Union, and Azerbaijani Union of Research and Educational Networks.