ASBAREZ Online [01-27-2005]

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01/27/2005
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WEBSITE AT <;HTTP:// 1) French Foreign Minister Reiterates Turkey Must Come to Terms with Its Past 2) US Will Pay the Bill If Kirkuk Plunges into Turmoil, Turkish PM Warns 3) Armenian Charities Receive New York Life Settlements 4) President Kocharian Addresses Nation on Army Day 5) New Armenian Genocide Publications Dedicated to 90th Anniversary 1) French Foreign Minister Reiterates Turkey Must Come to Terms with Its Past NEW YORK--French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier again stressed the importance of Turkey's recognition of the Armenian genocide, speaking to reporters in New York on Tuesday. Barnier made his remarks during a press conference held after the UN General Assembly session commemorating the liberation of Auschwitz. Barnier told reporters that he hoped Turkey, "as a developed country," will come to terms with its past, and in aspiring to become a member of the European Union, will admit to perpetrating the Armenian Genocide 90 years ago. He added that the EU has an "obligation to not only commemorate the victims [of the Armenian genocide] but to, at the same time, be alert and unyielding, so that similar tragic acts are not repeated." Asked by a reporter what France's position would be if Armenia demanded that the UN General Assembly hold a session similar to the one commemorating the liberation of Nazi concentration camps 60 years ago, Barnier reminded the reporter that the French Parliament unanimously passed a law in 2001 recognizing the Armenian genocide. 2) US Will Pay the Bill If Kirkuk Plunges into Turmoil, Turkish PM Warns ANKARA (AFP)--The United States will bear the consequences of ethnic turmoil in Kirkuk if it fails to prevent the oil-rich city in northern Iraq from falling under Kurdish control, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned on Thursday. "Any wrong move in Kirkuk will have a negative impact on peace in Iraq in the future," Erdogan told reporters at Ankara airport before he flew out to Davos, Switzerland for the World Economic Forum. "The United Nations, America, and the other coalition forces should never allow an unfavorable structure there," he said. "If they turn a blind eye to such a mistake, they will pay the bill in the future." Ankara is vehemently opposed to Kurdish control of Kirkuk, which many Kurds want to incorporate into their enclave in northern Iraq and even see as the capital of a future independent Kurdish state, a nightmare scenario for Iraq's neighbors. Separatist moves in northern Iraq, Ankara fears, may spill over to adjoining southeastern Turkey, which is home to its own large and restive Kurdish community. Erdogan's remarks were the latest in a series of warnings issued by Ankara since mid-January when the Iraqi Kurds reached a deal with Baghdad that cleared the way for an estimated 100,000 Kurds said to have been expelled from Kirkuk under Saddam Hussein, to vote for the local government in Sunday's elections. The deal effectively tipped the balance of power to the Kurds, fanning ethnic tensions in the city, which is also home to a large number of Arabs and Turkmens, a community of Turkish descent backed by Ankara. Turkey has charged that more Kurds than those expelled in the past have now settled in the city and registered for the elections. Critics in Ankara believe that the population shift is taking place with the tacit approval of the United States. Crisis Group Warns of Regional Conflict The International Crisis Group (ICG) warned on Thursday that ethnic tensions in Kirkuk are the biggest threat hanging over the country's stability and could spark a regional conflict. "In northern Iraq, largely unnoticed, a conflict is brewing that, if allowed to boil over, could precipitate civil war, break-up of the country and in a worst-case scenario Turkish intervention," said the report. The ICG, an international conflict resolution think-tank, warned that aggressive rhetoric had been festering unchecked in the ethnic tinderbox of Kirkuk since the April 2003 fall of Saddam Hussein's regime, as Kurds seek to the right the wrongs of the old regime. The ICG said that as US attention is shifting to other troublespots in Iraq, the neutralizing influence of US troops is receding, and the Kurds, Arabs, Turkmens, and Chaldo-Assyrians of Kirkuk "find themselves in a violent stand-off." "Turkey is anchoring its strategy in commitment to the political process in Baghdad... (and) is banking on progress in accession talks with the European Union to reduce any appetite for secession its Kurdish population might still harbor," the ICG said. But "public pressures resulting from Ankara's manipulation of the Iraqi Turkmen question and the continued deployment of Turkish troops on Iraqi soil could create a dynamic of their own, possibly precipitating military intervention in Kirkuk," it warned. 3) Armenian Charities Receive New York Life Settlements NEW YORK (AP)--Five Armenian charities received checks for $333,333 each Wednesday as part of an insurance settlement with descendants of Armenians massacred 90 years ago by the Turks. The checks are part of a $20 million settlement with New York Life Insurance Co., which issued 2,300 policies to Armenians in Turkey before 1915 that were never paid, according to plaintiffs' attorney Brian Kabateck. The agreement set aside at least $11 million for descendants, $3 million for charities, and $2 million for administrative costs. Four charities in Los Angeles will receive the rest of the $3 million. Descendants of the policy holders have until March 16 to file claims. The settlement, approved last year by a federal judge in Los Angeles, is believed to be the first involving the events of the era. 4) President Kocharian Addresses Nation on Army Day YEREVAN (Combined Sources)--President Robert Kocharian congratulated the nation and the military on Armenia's Army Day, a holiday that was recently added to the Republic's list of official observances. The president told the nation that the January 28 commemoration is invaluable, having been "achieved through the heroic acts and collective will of the Armenian people on the borders of Artsakh and Armenia." The establishment of the Armenian Armed Forces began in the early 1990s, practically before the collapse of the Soviet Union. One of the first steps was the formation of a special regiment of the Armenian Interior Ministry in 1990 that had up to 400 men. In early 1991, when the regiment was reorganized into four battalions, it already had over 1,000 troops. At the same time, volunteers fighting on the border with Azerbaijan were organized into six to eight battalions President Kocharian congratulated soldiers for their difficult and noble service to their country. "Your professionalism and high spirit are the pillars of our freedom and independence," he told the servicemen. 5) New Armenian Genocide Publications Dedicated to 90th Anniversary YEREVAN (Yerkir)--The government of Armenia has allocated over 36 million drams, nearly $77,000, to the Ministry of Culture and Youth Affairs to fund the publishing of several books dedicated to the 90th anniversary of the Armenian genocide. The list includes 27 books, among them works by various authors and historians, as well as official documents of foreign countries on the Genocide, reports of German diplomats from 1915-18, and "The History of the Armenian Genocide," by Vahakn Dadrian. All subscription inquiries and changes must be made through the proper carrier and not Asbarez Online. 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