Month: October 2005

TURKEY CLOSER TO DECADES-OLD EU DREAM, BUT NO ONE’S CELEBRATING
By Suzan Fraser

The Associated Press
10/04/05 08:42 EDT

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) – There were no street parties, no firework
displays. When Turkey took a huge step toward fulfilling its
decades-old dream of membership in the European Union by opening
accession talks Tuesday, no one was in the mood to celebrate.

The negotiations were meant to be a straightforward affair – all 25
EU members had agreed in December to beginning talks with Ankara on
Oct. 3. Instead, they opened only after EU ministers held painful
crisis talks Sunday and Monday in Luxembourg, and nearly foundered
as Austria insisted that Turkey be offered a lesser partnership as
an alternative to full membership. Turkey refused and said it would
prefer to walk out.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan described the agreement to launch
talks with predominantly Muslim Turkey as a victory over prejudice
in the mainly Christian bloc.

“We stood firm and got results,” Erdogan said. “Common sense prevailed
over prejudice. From time to time there were moments when they made
us lose our tempers, when we were made to feel really tired, when we
went through difficult moments.”

It is not unusual for Turks to take to the streets for spontaneous
street parties to celebrate sporting victories or major milestones.

Hundreds celebrated in Ankara in December when EU leaders set Oct. 3
as the date for starting entry talks.

But there were no celebrations to mark the start of the talks.

“I am not anti-EU, I want EU membership,” said Seher Besyaprak, a
24-year-old employee at an Ankara pharmaceutical company. “But Europe
has never been fair to us. We are always having to make concessions,
concessions, concessions.”

There were numerous hurdles in the final days leading up to Oct. 3.

Several countries pushed Turkey to recognize EU-member Cyprus, and
the European Parliament called on Turkey to recognize the killing of
Armenians by Ottoman Turks at the beginning of the 20th century as
genocide – further angering Turks who thought they had an agreement.

“Turkey is starting full membership talks. But it is clear that this
is not taking place in a festival atmosphere,” columnist Semih Idiz
wrote in Milliyet newspaper. “This step is unfortunately being taken
in a brokenhearted atmosphere.”

Deniz Baykal, the leader of the main opposition Republican People’s
Party, criticized the terms. He complained Turkey was treated
differently than other countries that had joined – including being
given no guarantees of joining after 10 years of talks.

“The EU approach toward Turkey is different from its approach to the
25 other members,” Baykal said. “This is cause for concern.”

Those concerns were also heard on the streets of Istanbul.

“They’re not tolerant of us,” said Ozlem Aydin, 34, who works at
a store selling Italian designer clothes in a wealthy Istanbul
neighborhood. “We can be crushed. We’ll be insulted. They’ll look
down on us. It can be bad for us.”

But Sukru Ozdemir, 50, a street vendor selling sesame-seed rolls,
said “we’re going to better days. It will be good for us. We’ve been
waiting for this.”

Turkey’s ardent striving for EU membership is the legacy of Mustafa
Kemal Ataturk, who founded the secular and modern Turkish republic
from the ashes of the Islamic Ottoman empire 82 years ago – and set
Turkey’s course toward the West. Turkey has been trying to join what
started out as the Common Market since 1963.

“We passed the most important phase on the way to reaching our 40-year
goal and the founding principles of our republic,” Erdogan said.

No one expected Europe to greet Turkey – a predominantly Muslim and
largely poor country of 70 million – with open arms. But last-minute
hurdles disheartened even the strongest EU supporters.

There were efforts “to prevent membership and make Turkey accept
several heavy conditions,” said Sami Kohen, a foreign affairs analyst
for Milliyet.

Newspapers and the stock market were upbeat. The Istanbul benchmark
stock market index, the IMKB-100, rose 2.9 percent Monday, reaching
a record 34,300 point after news of a breakthrough in Luxembourg.

Radikal newspaper printed the headlines “Happy ending: Turkey-EU at the
negotiation table,” and “The journey has begun.” Hurriyet newspaper’s
headlines read “Hello Europe,” and “Turkey’s 42-year-old EU dream
is coming true.” Ulkede Ozgur Gundem, a newspaper that supports more
rights for Kurds, said: “The EU door has opened.”

Associated Press writer Benjamin Harvey in Istanbul contributed to
this report.

POLITICAL ANALYSIS: GEORGIAN-ARMENIAN HARMONY
By M. Alkhazashvili

The Messenger, Georgia
Oct 4 2005

During an official visit to Yerevan, Armenia September 29-30 by
Georgian Prime-Minister Zurab Noghaideli, several pertinent issues
regarding the two countries’ economic relations were agreed upon
and several significant political statements were made as well. The
agreement reached by Armenian and Georgian representatives is of key
importance not only for the two countries, but for the Caucasus region
as a whole.

Part of the agreement regards the restructuring of Georgia’s USD
12 million debt towards Armenia. The sides agreed again to deepen
cooperation in the energy and transportation spheres. On the table
at negotiations was the issue of constructing a 330-km electric
transmission line linking the Georgian and Armenian energy systems.

The newspaper Rezonansi writes that the Georgians side considers
this to be a potential additional resource for energy supply. It is
decided that the Georgian and Armenian energy systems will work in a
parallel regime, much as Armenia does with Iran. This will strengthen
the stability of Georgia’s energy system.

Zurab Noghaideli strove to calm Armenian fears that certain projects
underway in Georgia will not go against Armenian interests. He then
stated that Georgia is ready to assist in the creation of transport
links with Armenia, namely automobile, railway and air transport in
the directions Tbilisi-Yerevan and Yerevan-Batumi directions.

Zurab Noghaideli and his Armenian counterpart Andranik Margarian
applied together to the European Union to allot a grant for the
rehabilitation of the Airum-Sadakhlo highway that connects the two
countries.

Margarian thanked Noghaideli for Georgia’s re-activation of the
Poti-Kavkaz ferry route, which gives Armenia a stable route to
Russia. In addition, the Armenian Prime-Minister thanked the Georgian
side for the stable functioning of the vehicle route linking the two
countries. Akhali Taoba reports that the Armenian side mentioned that
since the creation of the Patrol Police, bribe-taking and blackmail
on this road has all but completely ceased.

The meeting in Yerevan also witnessed an agreement in regard
to certain Armenian activist groups’ demands for autonomy of the
Javakheti region. As Noghaideli stated, “the people that demand the
autonomy of Javakheti are only a small part of the community there
and do not speak for the whole population.”

At the same time, he said, all citizens of Georgia will have
equal opportunities for development. For his part, the Armenian
Prime-Minister stated that the issue of Javakheti’s autonomy would
never be on the agenda. “This issue is always mentioned when somebody
wants to use it for his own interests,” he said, as quoted by Akhali
Taoba.

Armenia expressed its satisfaction with Georgian plans to restore
the Tbilisi-Akhalkalaki road within the framework of the United
States’ Millennium Challenge program. This, they say, will help the
Samtskhe-Javakheti region’s future integration into Georgia and also
serve as a “window to Europe” for Armenia.

During the visit the Georgian side once again warned Armenia that given
safety concerns, large cargo-bearing vehicles will not be allowed to
cross the Georgian-Russian boarder checkpoint at Kazbegi-Lars this
coming winter.

On Noghaideli’s demand, Georgian specialists will soon be given the
opportunity to tour the Armenian Atomic Energy Plant in order to
inspect the safety situation there. The Armenian side maintains that
the plant is completely safe and that it poses no risk to neighboring
countries.

AKHALKALAKI’S ARMENIAN POPULATION DEMANDED AUTONOMY

The Messenger, Georgia
Oct 4 2005

Press Scanner

As reported in Akhali Taoba, Armenian population of Javakheti region
prepared a big surprise for the central government as well as for the
whole country this fall. The paper notes that separatist organization
“Virk” held a forum with the Armenian population of Javakheti region.

According to the article, about 800 Armenians took part in this
forum and demanded that the government create an Armenian autonomy
in the region.

According to Akhali Taoba, the government thinks that Russian
special services are behind this demand of the Armenian population,
although “Virk” and close friends of this organization are reportedly
insulted by those allegations. The paper reports that at the forum
the participants expressed their complaints toward the government.

According to them, “Virk” hopes Georgian society will correctly
understand their demand for autonomy.

However, according to the article, Georgians have been less than
sympathetic to their demands; Virk has reportedly received obscene
messages from Georgian citizens. After the forum, the paper noted
that Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Noghaideli visited Yerevan and
met with his colleague Andranik Margarian , and informed him about
the Akhalkalaki Armenians’ demands.

Akhali Taoba reported that Margarian promised Georgia that the
official Yerevan does not stand behind this demand of Akhalkalaki
Armenians. The paper notes that Margarian added that the creation of
the Javakheti autonomy should never be included in the agenda.

OFF WITH DOLLARS, RUBLES AND EUROS

A1+
| 21:19:32 | 03-10-2005 | Economy |

The value of the Armenian Dram will continue to rise and it is not yet
clear how long the process will last. The Currency International Fund
is at present analyzing the economy of the South Caucasian countries
and giving advice to the authorities. The Armenian Central Bank does
not lead a policy of floating exchange rate, neither does it lead a
policy of fixed exchange rate.

This was mentioned by the CIF Central East and Central Asia
administration deputy head Julian Berengo. Today in the CIF Armenian
office the presentation of the booklet about the South Caucasian
countries and Kazakhstan took place. There is a flattering line in
it about our country.

“The exchange rate policy in Armenia is flexible, and in the other
three countries it is not”. This year it resulted in only 3% inflation
in Armenia, while in Azerbaijan it was 15%, in Georgia – 7.3% and in
Kazakhstan – 7.5%.

The value of the Armenian Dram rises as there is a flow of currency
from abroad into Armenia, which results in inflation of more than
10%. By the advice of the CIF the Central Bank raises the value of
ARMD in order to avoid inflation.

NO WREATH TO THE PARLIAMENT

A1+
| 21:18:41 | 03-10-2005 | Politics |

The coalition was saved; Hmayak Hovhannisyan will not bring the
promised wreath signifying the death of the coalition and the
Parliament to the NA as today the draft about the return of the
deposits was included into the agenda of the session.

“Our efforts of the last few years were finally crowned with success,
and issue will be discussed and solved legislatively, after which
a very serious procedure will start during which the Government
will establish the correlation of the deposit return. To our mind,
the return must be full and not partial”, said Hmayak Hovhannisyan
during the interview with the journalists.

He also reminded that the NA President Arthur Baghdasaryan had promised
to return 1USD for every 10 Soviet rubles. “We have the experience
of constructive cooperation with the NA President. As an independent
deputy I will continue to apply pressure on the Parliament as the
issue is entering the final phase”, Hmayak Hovhannisyan warned.

By the way, a very interesting situation has been created; Hmayak
Hovhannisyan thinks the issue has been included into the agenda under
the pressure he applied, Arthur Baghdasaryan thinks it is the victory
of OYP, and the opposition contribution the inclusion to themselves.

HEAD OF THE NOR NORK COMMUNITY HAS BEEN RE-ELECTED

Panorama
13:06 03/10/05

According to preliminary results of the elections in the Nor Nork
community (held on October 2) the acting head of the community and
the member of “Orinac erkir” party David Petrosyan has been re-elected.

As Central Electoral Commission informed, from total number of 97 000
citezens only 34 000 electors (that is about 35%)have participated in
the elections. 28 740 citezens have voted for Davit Petrosyan. The
other candidate Vardan Parsamyan has received 3 650 votes. An
interesting fact, 2 days before voting V. Parsamyan have announced
that he would not participate in the elections. According to law,
if candidate doesn’t want to participate, he must announce about it
10 days before voting. This means V.

Parsamyan’s name was left in the ballots.

TURKEY BEGINS EU MEMBERSHIP TALKS

DeHavilland, UK
Oct 4 2005

Turkey has begun membership talks with the EU after a diplomatic
crisis was averted.

Abdullah Gul, foreign minister for Turkey, arrived in Luxembourg for
the opening ceremony last night and was greeted by British foreign
secretary Jack Straw, who described the event as a “truly historic
day for Europe and the whole of the international community”.

Mr Gul agreed, saying that a “historic point has been reached” and
confirming that Turkey had been offered full membership.

“The text sets out very clearly the prospect of full membership.

There is no alternative option [mentioned],” he said.

Earlier in the day it seemed that Austria would scupper the talks by
demanding that Turkey should be offered only associative membership
of the EU.

But the demand was withdrawn, and some commentators are suggesting
that Austria was mollified by an agreement to begin membership talks
for Croatia.

Many in Austria and other European countries have concerns about
Turkey’s prospective membership of the EU, and point to the country’s
poor recent record on democratic principles such as freedom of speech.

Last week the Turkish judiciary banned a conference scheduled to
discuss the Armenian massacres of 1915, which the authorities refuse
to acknowledge was an act of genocide by the Ottoman Empire.

But the secular Muslim state will have to wait more than a decade
before finally gaining accession status and Mr Straw and others have
urged Turkey to make progress with its democratic reforms.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

MEDIATORS IN VIENNA MEETING OF MINSK GROUP CO-CHAIRMEN TO VISIT AZERBAIJAN AND ARMENIA

Azerbaijan News Service
Oct 4 2005

Mediators in Vienna meeting of OSCE Minsk group co-chairmen are
expected to visit Azerbaijan and Armenia, informed Elmar Mammadyarov,
foreign affairs minister of Azerbaijan. Mr. Mammadyarov also noted
structure of next phase of talks on settlement of Armenia- Azerbaijan
Daqliq Qarabaq conflict has already been determined. Noting that
the talks will be held within the frames of Prague talks process,
Azerbaijani FA minister said agreements on three points still stay
in force. The topic of the talks include such questions as release
of occupied Azerbaijani lands, ensuring of safe return of refugees
to their homeland, arrival of peacekeeping forces in the region,
perspectives of economic relations. Mr. Mammadyarov considers there is
still chance for peaceful settlement of the conflict. And official Baku
is firm in its position that is the highest autonomy to Daqliq Qarabaq
within the frames of territorial integrity of Azerbaijan Republic.

COUNCIL OF EUROPE OFFICIAL ARRIVES IN YEREVAN

Armenpress

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 4, ARMENPRESS: Giovanni Stazi, the president of the
Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe,
has arrived today in Armenia for a three day visit.

Upon his arrival he was scheduled to meet with Armenian territorial
minister Hovik Abrahamian, prime minister Andranik Margarian,
Yerevan mayor Yervand Zakharian and parliament chairman Arthur
Baghdasarian. Tomorrow he will be received by president Kocharian
and foreign minister Vartan Oskanian.

DEPUTY PARLIAMENT SPEAKER SAYS EUROPE MUST BE TOUGH WITH TURKEY

Armenpress
Oct 4, 2005

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 4, ARMENPRESS: The deputy speaker of Armenia’s
parliament Vahan Hovhannissian told a press conference on Monday that
if Europe seeks stability and peace in the South Caucasus, it must
be tough with Turkey, and request implementation of certain criteria
before granting it full membership to the European Union (EU). These
would include a resolution of the Cyprus and Kurdish issues, as well
as recognition of the Armenian genocide, he stressed.

What is most incredulous, Hovhannisian said, is Turkey’s occupation
of an EU member country, which it refuses to recognize. Hovhannisian
pointed to Turkey’s non-compliance on a myriad of issues and its tough
stance with Europe, saying that this sets a `dangerous example for
Azerbaijan,’ which is also showing signs of refusing to cooperate,
this time with the OSCE and Armenia.

He said that though European political forces understand Turkey’s
refusal to recognize the Armenian genocide is dangerous, he explained
that Armenia must nevertheless aggressively advance the issue. `We
must share our position with the Europeans; we cannot rely on Euro
officials.’