TRADE TALK WITH ANDREW GELFUSO: DOING BUSINESS IN TURKEY
Located at the crossroads of Europe and Asia, Turkey has a dynamic, growing economy. This video features Commercial Service Officer Thomas Bruns based in Ankara in a wide-ranging discussion on the economic opportunities for American businesses in Turkey.
Click Here For Details

GOT YOUR POUCH?
Click here for a FREE SUBSCRIPTION to the Diplomatic Pouch and get every issue of the latest diplomatic news & events sent directly to your inbox.
Click Here For Details

FOLLOW US

P.O. Box 1345
Silver Spring, MD 20915
www.washdiplomat.com

Lifestyle BY GAIL SCOTT The Washington Diplomat

Human Rights Controversy

Before humanitarian Paul Rusesabagina, the real hero behind the movie “Hotel Rwanda,” could even accept the 2011 Tom Lantos Foundation Human Rights Award on Nov. 16 in Washington, the foundation, based in Concord, N.H., started receiving protests about the choice. According to a BBC report, the major source of dissension came from Ibuka, a Rwandan genocide survivors’ group that claimed Rusesabagina “exaggerated his own role in protecting those who sought shelter in his hotel during the 100-day slaughter in 1994.”

Katrina Lantos Swett, president of the Tom Lantos Foundation, responded that the protest “is only the latest attempt to smear the good name of this year’s recipient, Paul Rusesabagina.” She noted in a statement released two days before the award ceremony on Capitol Hill that there were no protests when the Oscar-nominated film “Hotel Rwanda” was released, nor when the Lantos recipient received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Bush.

“It was only once he started to speak out about the need for more freedom and democracy in Rwanda,” she said, “including a truth and reconciliation process, that these attacks were suddenly manufactured…. This pattern is not unique to Rwanda. Other authoritarian regimes have responded in a similar fashion.”

In fact, while Rwandan President Paul Kagame has won worldwide respect for orchestrating what many have called “Africa’s biggest success story,” he’s also recently begun to attract criticism for his heavy-handed rule (also see “Rwanda’s Paul Kagame: Visionary or Tyrant?” in the August 2010 issue of The Washington Diplomat).

“Hotel Rwanda” — the 2005 Oscar-nominated film detailing the 1994 genocide of an estimated 800,000 people, mostly Tutsis but also moderate Hutus, over 100 days — put Paul Rusesabagina, the hero on which the story was based, in the global spotlight. In 1994, he was the manager of the Hôtel des Milles Collines who was credited with sheltering and saving the lives of 1,268 Tutsis and moderate Hutus by holding off the enemy soldiers with a mix of cleverness and bribes, everything from money to liquor and cigars.

In accepting the Tom Lantos Award — named in honor of the late Democratic congressman from California who was the only survivor of the Holocaust to serve in Congress — Rusesabagina, who now lives in exile and says his life is in danger, asked the audience members “join me when you have the opportunity to do the right thing.” He added: “Human rights must be a central concern of the American government.”

Today, this “ordinary man” (the name of his book) turned hero and advocate, continues his efforts for reconciliation and sustainable peace in his homeland and the Great Lakes region of Africa through the Hotel Rwanda Rusesabagina Foundation that he founded.

“My father, Congressman Tom Lantos, survived the Holocaust in one of Raoul Wallenberg’s safe houses,” said Swett, “and understood all too well that the actions of one man can change the arc of one’s life story.”

Lantos, the Hungarian-born Congressional Human Rights Caucus co-founder, also served as chair of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs during his tenure in the House, which lasted from 1981 to 2008.

This is the foundation’s third annual award. Previous recipients include Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama and holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel.

Singing Your Way to Freedom

For Latvian Ambassador Andrejs Pildegovics, who was born during the second half of the 50-year Soviet occupation of his Baltic homeland and didn’t taste freedom until his college years, celebrating the 20th anniversary of Latvia’s independence this past Nov. 17 was “a dream come true.”

“I belong to a fortunate generation that has witnessed this miraculous transformation from a captive nation where everything was against the people’s will to the second part of my life in a free, modern society,” he said at the National Day celebration held at the embassy. “It is mind-boggling to live through this and witness history. Before, in Soviet times, we didn’t have access to information, opportunity to travel, or communicate with the rest of the world. Now, Latvia is a proud, free county, a member of the European Union and NATO.”

The proud ambassador added: “On my watch, visas are no longer needed to enter the United States, we have one of the fastest broadbands in the world, and we are an independent player. It is remarkable and we thank every individual and government who supported us.”

In particular he thanked the United States for being “one of our staunchest allies,” noting that the U.S. government “never recognized the Soviet occupation. They remained steadfast, politically and legally. This was the unique case [for all three Baltic countries] … and helped our embassies to continue to operate here during those five dark decades.”

According to the ambassador, Latvia is now thanking the U.S. government in real terms, allowing the U.S. military to use Latvia as a jumping-off point for personnel and supplies, especially crucial given Pakistan’s current reluctance to provide access to conflict areas in the Middle East and Central Asia.

Other like-minded nations, especially Latvia’s Nordic neighbors, supported Baltic freedom, too. “Iceland and then Denmark were the first two countries to recognize our independence,” Pildegovics said. Surprisingly, it was Russia who was third to recognize independence “because of [Russian President Boris] Yeltsin. He was pretty crucial to our success. We decorated him with Three Stars…. He realized that the Russian people were becoming a democratic society, leaning toward openness with Latvia.”

It was also the Baltic centuries-old tradition of singing that added worldwide pressure on the Soviets to release their hold on the three Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.

Essentially, the Baltics peacefully sung their way to freedom.

“I was 19. I remember going with my father to join the more than a million people singing in the 400-mile human chain from Tallinn in Estonia through Riga to Vilnius in Lithuania,” the ambassador recalled. “It was an extraordinary time for the Baltic people, who held hands across three countries and sang about their right to freedom on Aug. 21, 1989.

“‘The Singing Revolution’ was a unique phenomenon in world history,” Pildegovics continued. “That peaceful, nonviolent protest, almost Gandhi-like, with no one attacking anyone — just stoic, calm determination exposing the weakness, exposed the … illegal status of Soviet rule. That protest was the catalyst.”

Today, Latvia has been designated by UNESCO as a world treasure of choral singing and holds a mammoth festival every fifth summer when more than 40,000 singers, following one conductor, perform for an audience that’s at least that big. The next song festival is in July 2013. The following year, the European Union will anoint Latvia as its “European Capital of Culture.”

“Our summer festival is very picturesque,” the ambassador said. “It’s held in an open-air arena, lakeside, just outside of Riga in a thick pine tree forest.”

In fact, this huge songfest has been going on since the mid-19th century, even during the Soviet period, when choirs came from all over the countryside to join other singers on stage.

“All other forms of arts were not allowed by the Soviets but they didn’t even think about outlawing singing because they thought it was such an innocent form of art. They didn’t realize what strong instruments voices could become, with the ultimate effect of leading to our peaceful freedom.”

(A local photo exhibit, “Together Again: The 20th Anniversary of he Re-establishment of Full Diplomatic Relations between the U.S. and Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania,” organized with the State Department, is rotating among the three Baltic neighbors. For information, visit www.latvia-usa.org or call 202-328-2840.)

Hungary’s Budapest Festival Orchestra in Top 10

To celebrate Hungary’s historic contributions to music and the arts and, in particular, the successful rise of its Budapest Festival Orchestra as one of the world’s top 10 symphonies under the baton of Hungarian Maestro Iván Fischer, Hungarian Ambassador György Szápáry proudly invited the world-renowned maestro and his spectacularly trained musicians to a festive dinner following their highly praised concert at the Library of Congress.

The fall evening concert and post-performance dinner at the ambassador’s residence was also an artistic and intellectual commemoration of the 55th anniversary of the 1956 Hungarian Uprising, a nationwide revolt against Soviet policies that was crushed by politburo authorities, resulting in more than 2,500 Hungarian deaths, along with 700 Soviet troops, and 200,000 Hungarian refugees.

Hungarian pianist Jenö Jandó, with soloists from the Budapest Festival Orchestra, and Hungarian cellist Tamás Zétényi, who played with soloists from the Bard College Conservatory, were welcomed to this intimate Washington stage by Maestro Fischer for the two-night concert engagement at the Library of Congress, featuring works by Hungarian composer Béla Bartók. These well-attended evenings were part of the Franz Liszt Bicentenary Project and sponsored by the Carolyn Royall Just Fund and the Kindler Foundation Trust Fund.

During the post-performance dinner at the Hungarian Residence, the ambassador praised the musicians who had just received multiple standing ovations as he showcased the success of the Budapest Festival Orchestra, which, for the last 27 years, as been under the watchful tutelage of Maestro Fischer.

Fischer was chosen as principal conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra here from 2006 to 2009. He is also in constant in demand as a guest conductor for such world-famous orchestras as the BBC Symphony and the London Symphony Orchestra. His American conducting debut was leading the Los Angeles Philharmonic back in 1983.

“This is an extraordinary story,” the maestro said. “This is an American story where you start from scratch and succeed to the top!”

The proud ambassador was also full of praise.

“The Budapest Festival Orchestra was made out of nothing, beginning in 1983, and is now ranked as one of the 10 best in the world. Hungary is very proud of its musicians … and its soccer team … among many other things. We are so pleased that dear Ivan came to Washington to celebrate this fantastic evening and the marvelous success of this orchestra,” Szápáry said.

After Washington, Fischer and his top-ranked orchestra went on to double performances at Carnegie Hall, performing with his good friend and colleague Hungarian-born pianist Andras Schiff as part of Schiff’s 11-performance Carnegie Hall “Perspectives Series.” After meeting and talking with Fischer, it is easy to understand why he works so organically with his musicians.

“There are three reasons for our magic. Playing in an orchestra is not a job but a passion. Secondly, for these creative artists, being obedient isn’t enough. I want them to express themselves from inside. I tell them, ‘Only if you experience the music, can you truly transmit the meaning, the feeling.’ And thirdly, music is a joyous act in itself. Even sad music is joyous.

“That’s how, as musicians, we build bridges,” he continued, “That’s how we will have more peace in the world, understand each other better and become more tolerant.”

The maestro said he was “thrilled to be in Washington again” and was especially looking forward to a Kennedy Center performance. “This is very emotional for me. I have so many friends here and there are so many music lovers here. I can’t wait for that extraordinary moment when, after being here for four years with the National Symphony, to once again walk out on that stage at the Kennedy Center and see all those familiar faces in the audience. I feel like I am coming home. It will be an extraordinary moment for me.”  

Singapore’s #1 Promoter

Over the last 15 years serving as Singapore’s top envoy here, Ambassador Chan Heng Chee, the dean of the female diplomatic corps, has been in the forefront promoting her city-state in every way possible. In recognition of her efforts, on Nov. 20 during Singapore’s National Day Awards ceremony, President Tony Tan Keng Yam decorated her with Singapore’s Distinguished Service Order (DSO), the country’s highest honor possible, except for those who have served in the Cabinet.

“I was delighted but this award was only possible because of the work of my staff … and the support I receive from the ministry back home,” she said. “Good ambassadors do not work solo. It is always the team that matters.”

Ambassador Chan, a former academic who believes in an egalitarian atmosphere where even the newest or youngest staff members are encouraged to share their ideas, had previously received her country’s Meritorious Service Medal and Public Administration Medal Gold.

“As an ambassador, I am known to be quite active promoting Singapore culture, whether it is music, documentaries or cuisine,” she said, explaining why Singaporean chef Jimmy Chok recently offered to cook for her at the official residence during his family vacation in Washington. “I not only accepted his offer but decided to give three different dinner parties: one for political and social Washington, one for the media and one for business people,” the ambassador said. “There are so many food stories coming out of Singapore, I wanted everyone to know about our special cuisine.”

In the last few years, “Singapore has been singled out by some food critics as the food capital of the world after Anthony Bourdain said that Singapore is one of his favorite cities in the world for food,” the ambassador proudly added. As a testament to this, the first episode of his new show “The Layover” highlighted Singapore’s cuisine.

According to chef Chok, author of “Simple: A Cuisine of a Generation,” the secret to his cooking is always using the freshest of ingredients and creating an intriguing mélange of East and West. This award-winning, self-taught chef began working in restaurants in Switzerland and came home to the kitchens of the famous Raffles Hotel and other well-known Singapore establishments before opening his own restaurant. Now free of any restaurant properties, he takes great pride in serving as a private chef, always creating signature dishes that are “individual, daring; I am a relentless experimenter” — much like the ambassador herself.  

STC Gala Marks 25 Years with Kahn
Special to the Diplomatic Pouch by Lisa Troshinsky

The Shakespeare Theatre Company celebrated Artistic Director Michael Kahn’s 25 years with the company at its annual gala Oct. 17 with a star-studded trip down memory lane, a cabaret of superb performances, and a magical night of dinner and dancing.

The evening began at the majestic Sidney Harman Hall with cocktails and performances and ended at the elaborately decorated National Building Museum, where revelers witnessed their favorite STC company members bogeying on the dance floor to a live band.

The celebrations were well deserved, as Kahn has racked up quite a few bragging rights since he transformed the small theater company into one with a national and international reputation. Under his tutelage, which began in the late 1980s, the company blossomed from its humble beginnings at the Folger Shakespeare Library to the Lansburgh Theatre. Along the way it created the Shakespeare Theatre Company Free For All and the company’s Academy for Classical Acting George Washington University. Its latest achievement was the 2007 construction of the stunning Sidney Harman Hall, part of the new Harman Center for the Arts.

The special event attracted artistic, political and intellectual icons, many of whom gave congratulatory speeches. Playwright Terrence McNally shared stories of his days with Kahn as young students at Columbia University, and crowd-favorite Patrick Stewart relayed how after numerous rejections from other renowned theaters, Kahn enabled the “Star Trek” actor’s lifelong dream of starring in a race-bending version of “Othello” (in 1997, the STC produced a “photo negative” production depicting a white Othello with an otherwise all-black cast).

Even Chelsea Clinton came out of the woodwork; she fondly compared her visits to the Shakespeare Theatre when she was a student at Sidwell Friends to a “sanctuary” that allowed her to “have somewhat of a normal upbringing.” And former students of Kahn’s, when he directed the Drama Division of the Juilliard School, thanked him for his help in shaping their careers.

The gala performances offered something for everyone. The Joffrey Ballet danced a sensitive and haunting scene from “Othello,” D.C. native Denyce Graves delighted with an exquisite version of “L’amour est un oiseau rebelle” from “Carmen,” and selections from “West Side Story” and “Kiss Me Kate” balanced out the evening with humor. For a finale, current and former actors with the STC came out one by one to deliver soliloquies from past performances throughout the years with Kahn, giving the formalities the warm and cozy feel of a family reunion.

Perhaps the most touching part of the evening was a loving tribute to Sidney Harman (who passed away in April 2011). The late philanthropist, for whom the Sidney Harman Hall is named, came back to life through the stirring words of his wife, Jane Harman, and a tender video of him discussing his passion for the arts.

Although another major milestone has come and gone, the STC is likely in store for many more to come.  

Photo: from left, actor Avery Brooks, Lonette McKee and Shakespeare Theatre Company Artistic Director Michael Kahn attend the Harman Center for the Arts Annual Gala that celebrated Kahn’s 25 years with the company. Also in attendance was Chelsea Clinton, pictured above, and “Star Trek” actor Patrick Stewart.

Photos: Kevin Allen

Austrian Envoy Reaches Out to U.S. Jews
Special to the Diplomatic Pouch by Larry Luxner

Who would have imagined, 70 years ago, that a high-ranking diplomat from Austria — birthplace of Adolf Hitler — would someday invite leading Jewish officials to the Austrian Embassy in Washington to light a menorah and recite blessings in Hebrew?

Some might see irony in such a ceremony, but Hans Peter Manz — who’s been Austria’s ambassador to the United States for only a few weeks — says Monday night’s Hanukkah celebration is part of his government’s efforts to reach out to Jews both here and at home.

“I’ve already decided to make this an annual tradition,” Manz told about 75 guests at the ceremony, which was co-sponsored by the American Jewish Committee (AJC). “My relationship with the Jewish community is not new; this has been a large part of my job for many years.”

Jeremiah Baronberg, co-chair of AJC’s Access DC program, noted that “this program is not the first, not the second, but the third time we’ve been hosted by you at the embassy here. This is really a unique relationship, and we’d like to build similar relationships with other embassies, as well as with ethnic and religious communities.”

In fact, the Embassies of India and Lithuania in Washington held similar Hanukkah receptions, while the British Embassy hosted a Hanukkah reception for children at the Jewish Primary Day School of the Nation’s Capital on Dec. 21. (The Latvian, Indonesian and Romanian Embassies, among others, held Christmas-related celebrations.)

At the Austrian event, Baronberg joined fellow Access DC co-chair Eddie Cohen and David Farber, president of AJC’s Washington board of directors, as Ambassador Manz lit the traditional menorah for Hanukkah, and Farber explained the meaning of this Jewish festival of lights to his guests.

“The history of Hanukkah dates back to 156 B.C.E., when Greece controlled the land of Israel in every aspect. Matityahu and his five sons were zealots. They rose up and started a revolution and conquered Jerusalem,” he said. “What’s wonderful about this story is that in addition to the historical event, the rabbis somewhat hijacked the story and turned it into a story of miracles — of light conquering dark, of taking back our cultural and religious traditions. That’s what the holiday has come to mean for us today.”

After the speeches and the blessings, guests noshed on kosher stuffed peppers, pumpkin soup, cheese, crackers, fruit, kaiserschmarrn with prune compote, apple strudel, sachertort and cream Chantilly prepared by Austrian master chef Wilhelm Jonach. They also enjoyed traditional Hanukkah jelly doughnuts known in Hebrew as sufganiot.

Manz, 56, was born only nine years after Hitler killed himself and Germany surrendered, ending the European phase of World War II. But the Viennese diplomat — who has a deep sense of history — noted that Jews had always been part of the fabric of Austrian society.

Among prominent 19th-century Austrian Jews were composer Gustav Mahler, psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud and philosopher Martin Buber. Theodor Herzl, founder of modern Zionism, studied at the University of Vienna. Immediately prior to World War II, some 250,000 Jews called Austria home; nearly all of them died in the Holocaust.

But even in the postwar period, neo-Nazism and anti-Semitism didn’t entirely vanish from public life in Austria. In 1986, Kurt Waldheim was appointed president of Austria, despite having served as an officer in the Wehrmacht. It wasn’t until July 1991 when the Austrian government finally recognized its role in the crimes of the Third Reich and began to rebuild synagogues and Jewish libraries at state expense.

Nobody mentioned the Holocaust in public remarks Monday night, but in a later conversation with the Diplomatic Pouch, Manz acknowledged its obvious importance in Austrian-Jewish relations.

“You have to deal with it. This is something that will never go away,” he said. “I think we might reach a point where tensions are relaxed so that we can fully come to terms with each other and our own history. This is something we’re trying to achieve. We’ve worked very hard to redress the wrongs as much as possible, but the real loss can never be compensated for, though over time, we have succeeded to some extent to find some measure of justice.”

He added: “This [Hanukkah] celebration is not a cheap way of making a gesture. This is exactly what we don’t want to do,” he said. “Rather, we want to truly work together as friends, without forgetting what has gone on before. We must find a way of living with our past.”

Manz, formerly Austria’s ambassador to Switzerland, also served as deputy chief of mission at the United Nations, and at the Austrian Embassy in Tehran. He said that during his tenure in Vienna as diplomatic advisor to the federal chancellor from 2000 to 2007, his government completed a landmark agreement to compensate Jews for forced labor as well as the loss of bank accounts, property and household goods.

“We tried to cover everything that had not been done earlier,” he said. “We introduced the so-called general settlement fund, roughly $210 million, to be distributed to survivors and their heirs, for the loss of household goods without too much burden of proof. The law allowed for restitution for any ‘Aryanized’ property that had ended up in the hands of the Austrian government.”

In addition, he said, the Austrian state helps maintain Jewish cemeteries at taxpayer expense because there are too few Jews in Austria today (an estimated 12,000 to 15,000) to watch over them.

Manz says the danger today in Austria — and throughout most of Western Europe — is not so much anti-Semitism as Islamophobia. That’s manifested itself through the rise of far-right, anti-immigration parties as well as laws such as the one recently passed in a November 2009 referendum in Switzerland that forbids the construction of minarets. That constitutional amendment was approved by 57.5 percent of voters, and only four of Switzerland’s 26 cantons opposed the move.

“I think it is a hallmark of societies that are on the one hand extremely well off and on the other hand feel threatened by developments that they tend to lose a lot of their self-proclaimed values. This is a dangerous thing for civilization today, and that goes for the United States as well as Europe,” said Manz.

“We usually work together well and show solidarity and tolerance when it’s the worst of times, but when we’re actually having it good and feel threatened, our future is less secure, and there’s a tendency to look for scapegoats. This is a large part of Jewish history in Europe — that we blame other people for our own faults, or try to exclude them. This is far and away from being mainstream, but the seeds are there. We must continue working for tolerance on all levels. The threat is far from over.”

Photo: Hans Peter Manz, Austria’s new ambassador to the United States, right, lights Hanukkah candles as David Farber, president of the American Jewish Committee’s Washington regional office board of directors, looks on. The ceremony was held Dec. 19 at the Austrian Embassy in Washington.

Photos: Larry Luxner