Month: October 2005

WEST REPORTEDLY URGING ARMENIAN, AZERI LEADERS TO FINAL KARABAKH ACCORD IN 2006

Haykakan Zhamanak, Armenia
Oct 15 2005

“Peace soldiers”

While the opposition and pro-government officials are commenting on
the coincidence of the Armenian constitutional referendum and the
Azerbaijani parliamentary election (both will take place in November),
our sources say that the terms were fixed as a result of consultations
with the West. The reason for this choice is a desire to avoid waste
of time in the Karabakh talks. That is to say, it was clear from the
outset that in the pre-election and post-election periods, Ilham
Aliyev will not be able to take part in the Karabakh talks and in
order not to have such a break because of the Armenian constitutional
referendum, they decided to hold the referendum in November as well.

Incidentally, our sources say that the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmen
and the two presidents agreed to intensify the Karabakh talks from
January. It becomes clear that Robert Kocharyan and Ilham Aliyev feel
more confident due to this agreement. The logic of this confidence
is if the West is going to provoke a revolutionary mood in Armenia
or Azerbaijan in November or to support the opposition very much,
what is the use of making the January working schedule with Kocharyan
and Aliyev?

According to our sources, the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmen put a
condition to the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents to sign a document
on the Karabakh settlement during 2006 and Kocharyan and Aliyev agreed
to this condition. The co-chairmen told Armenian president that the
delay of settling the conflict would be destructive for Armenia as
after the functioning of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline, the
balance of forces will change in favour of Azerbaijan that may have
serious consequences for Armenia.

Moreover, after the Karabakh settlement, the construction of the
Iran-Armenia-Europe gas pipeline will become highly realistic and
will bring billions of dollars in income to Armenia and will be a
definite counter-balance to the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan [oil pipeline].

Our sources say that after the signing of a peace agreement, both
parties were promised investments and direct aid.

It is also expected that about 10b dollars will be given to Armenia if
events develop in this way. According to our information, the world
community do not even forget about personal encouragement of the
two presidents. If the Karabakh issue is settled, the two presidents
will be granted security guarantees for life and will be nominated
for the Nobel Peace Prize.

However, it is also obvious that though Yasir Arafat and Iskhak Rabin
were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for signing an agreement on the
Arab-Israeli conflict settlement in 1994, the conflict has not been
settled up to today and Arafat and Rabin have not only left the
political scene but also dead.

PREVIEW: SOUTH KOREAN PRIME MINISTER TO OPEN FRANKFURT BOOK FAIR

Deutsche Presse-Agentur
October 17, 2005, Monday

Frankfurt

South Korea’s prime minister, Lee Hae-chan, is to open this year’s
Frankfurt Book Fair Tuesday evening with remarks at a party attended
by world publishing leaders.

The attendance of Lee, 53, marks the “guest of honour” status of
Korea this year at the world’s largest book show, and his speech will
be followed by an address from Korean poet Ko Un, one of 40 authors
visiting Frankfurt this month to drum up book sales in Germany.

The fair will then be formally opened with a bang of the gavel by
Dieter Schormann, head of the fair host, the German publishers’
and booksellers’ association. The exhibition itself will not admit
business-people and the public till Wednesday morning.

While the display of books and the Korean cultural programme are
mainly intended for the German public, the “real” business of the
fair, the wheeling and dealing among world publishing companies and
literary agents, has already been under way since last week.

Those meetings are conducted in relative secrecy off the fair site
at Frankfurt area hotels.

Fair organizers say a record 7,000 exhibitors from more than 100
nations have booked stand space this year. The fair, which runs until
October 23, for the first time features a second-hand-book section
this year.

Organizers are also promoting sales of story ideas based on books
for films and television series.

On the final day, the fair organizers will hand the German Book Trade
Peace Prize to Orhan Pamuk, the Turkish novelist who has been abused
in his homeland for suggesting that Turkey re-examine its conflict
with Armenians.

This year’s fair will also feature seminars on publishing in Arabic,
inspired by last year’s guest of honour, the Arab World. Next year’s
special guest, India, will be putting on literary events to give
guests a foretaste of the show yet to come.

DISCUSSIONS ON TURKISH MEMBERSHIP OF THE EU HAVE SPARKED A HEATED DEBATE.
BUT WHERE SHOULD PROGRESSIVES POSITION THEMSELVES ON THE ISSUE?
by Steve McGiffen

Morning Star
October 17, 2005

Feature – Turkey and the EU;

The question of Turkey’s possible accession to the European Union
poses a number of dilemmas for left critics of this “Europe.”

On the one hand, many objections to Turkey’s membership are based on
nothing more than thinly disguised racism and Islamophobia.

On the other, there are perfectly sound reasons to question whether
Turkey is a suitable candidate for EU membership.

The Bush administration is enthusiastic for Turkey’s entry for purely
militaristic reasons and an EU member state bordering several Middle
Eastern countries would provide Western imperialism, whether directed
from Washington or Brussels, with a major asset.

It must also be remembered that EU membership would benefit only
the rich elite which already controls the country, being at best an
extremely mixed blessing for the mass of the country’s population and
more certainly a complete disaster for the millions of Turks living
in poverty.

I would argue, however, that this is something which Turkish people
and the progressive forces in Turkey must work out for themselves.

For the moment, there are more pressing concerns, as the European
Commission’s most optimistic estimate is that talks will take at
least a decade.

In the meantime, it would be foolish not to admit that the EU decision
to establish accession negotiations offers supporters of basic human
rights an opportunity to demand improvements in the country’s record
on a number of fronts.

Refusing to open negotiations or delaying them would, under
current circumstances, only have strengthened the fundamentalist,
anti-democratic forces which have acquired increasing strength both
among ordinary Turks and within the ruling circles in recent years.

Negotiations could enable progressives within Turkey and their
supporters elsewhere to exert pressure for effective democratic
reforms.

The changes which have already come about as a result of the elite’s
desire to join their country to the EU have been more than purely
cosmetic. Negotiation will make monitoring of such reforms more
effective, provided that we keep up the pressure.

Nevertheless, we should be demanding that negotiations be broken off
immediately should Turkey fail to hold to agreements affecting the
position of religious, ethnic and political minorities in the country
or regarding its armed forces’ illegal occupation of Cyprus.

Cyprus will, in fact, provide the first measurable test of Turkey’s
preparedness to hold to agreements, as Ankara has agreed to withdraw
ships and military planes within a few months.

As long as 40 per cent of Cyprus’s territory remains under Turkish
occupation, there should be no question of its being admitted to the
EU. The EU position in relation to this question is already seriously
compromised, given that the terms of Cyprus’s own admission accorded
the illegal occupation a degree of legitimacy.

If that were not the case, Turkish, an official Cypriot language,
would already also be an official language of the European Union.

Equally serious are continuing human rights abuses within Turkey
itself.

Arbitrary arrests continue to occur, as does torture, while censorship
and laws and practices interfering with the freedom of assembly
are regarded as entirely legitimate by both the army, which remains
the country’s most powerful institution, and ruling political and
economic elites.

This repression is uneven. I have personally addressed perfectly open
meetings of a Marxist organisation in Istanbul and was assured by my
hosts that I had nothing to fear, though I was also warned to avoid
any open criticism of the military.

Gradual improvement of the situation on the ground in Kurdistan
and the relaxation of laws aimed at the destruction of the Kurdish
people’s language and culture should not lead to complacency.

The situation remains volatile. The Kurdish people continue to be the
object of serious human rights abuses and, even if Turkish aggression
were to cease completely, perpetrators of crimes against humanity
should not go unpunished.

The Turkish armed forces have come close at times to a systematic
policy of genocide in the region and, until the guilty are punished,
there should be no talk of simply “moving on.”

A much older genocide, which was perpetrated on the Armenian minority
in 1915, also hangs over the modern Turkish state.

In this case, it is too late for the guilty to be punished. However,
it is not too late for Turkey to admit what happened and to take
steps to purge its conscience of this shameful episode in its history.

Its doing so should be an absolute condition for a “successful”
conclusion of negotiations.

Turkey has shown on many occasions that improvements will come only in
the face of pressure and those seeking to exert such pressure within
the country, generally at great risk to themselves, need our help.

In the negotiations to take place over the coming 10 years, we should
be insisting that Turkey fully adhere to the human rights aspects of
the Copenhagen criteria – the conditions which an applicant country
must fulfil if it is to be accepted – and that negotiations be
suspended in the event of transgressions.

Kurdistan, the Armenian genocide and the illegal occupation of Cyprus
must all be addressed.

For all its talk, the European Commission will not prioritise
such matters above the economic advantages it believes that the
developed countries which form the core of the EU will gain from
Turkish accession.

It is hard to see how progress can be made unless the issue of
Cyprus is dealt with, but it will be up to us to ensure that Turkey’s
minorities, her political prisoners, the rights of Turkish women, the
Armenian genocide, the victims of war in Kurdistan and the right of
all Turkish people to basic freedoms are not allowed to slip quietly
from the agenda.

– Steve McGiffen edits – a left internationalist
website which focuses in particular on EU affairs.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ABKHAZIA TO ALLOW GEORGIAN GROUP TO INSPECT RAILWAY

Radio Imedi, Georgia
Oct 17 2005

Four Georgian experts are due in Sukhumi later today to examine,
together with Abkhaz and Russian specialists, the Abkhaz section of
the Tbilisi-Moscow railway.

The joint team is to assess the technical condition of the
194-km section of the railway and the amount required for its
rehabilitation. A joint Georgian-Armenian-Russian consortium may be
established to finance the work.

The experts will be carrying out their mission until 23 October.

To remind you, in August the Abkhaz side refused to grant Georgian
experts permission to enter Sukhumi, stating that the list of names
had not been agreed in advance.

GUIDED GRAVEYARD TOUR BRINGS CITY’S HISTORY BACK TO LIFE
by Wendy Leung

The Standard, Hong Kong
October 17, 2005

Most of us probably wouldn’t think of spending a day off looking
at graves, but a local historian turned Hong Kong Cemetery in Happy
Valley into a history museum Sunday, attracting dozens of visitors
who came to learn about their city by visiting the dead. Cemeteries
and history are closely related and different cemeteries can tell you
different stories,” said Joseph Ting, the chief curator of Hong Kong
Museum of History, who organized the tour.

Long known as the Colonial Cemetery, the burial ground _ opened by the
British in 1844 _ overlooks Happy Valley Race Track and was the final
resting place for generations of Hong Kong expatriates and prominent
Chinese Christians. Throughout the three-hour walking tour of the lush
green hillside cemetery, Ting told stories about the departed notables
and their impact on Hong Kong in the 19th and 20th centuries. Pausing,
he pointed to a monument engraved: Daniel Richard Caldwell. Died in
1872.” He started working as a court interpreter because he was of
mixed race and was able to speak many languages,” including Malay,
Portuguese, Cantonese and English, Ting explained.

Caldwell became an important figure at a time when corruption and
illegality were facts of life in Hong Kong.

He eventually became chief secretary.

He had many friends who were pirates, and that allowed him to do
many illegal things,” Ting explained. But he was so talented that
the government couldn’t fire him.” Ting then turned to the tomb of
Karl Friederick, a German who died in 1851. This guy was one of the
first Lutheran missionaries to China. He was also the interpreter
at a meeting of the Chinese and British during the Opium Wars,”
Ting explained. Nearby lies chief colonial surgeon William Morrison,
who died after catching a fever and is buried in a large tomb under
an imposing cross.

Fever is a cemetery theme, a disease that killed off many Europeans
who could not cope with the heat and humidity of Hong Kong in the days
before antibiotics and air-conditioning. Happy Valley, Ting says, is a
suitable place for a graveyard, given its early history as a swamp and
breeding ground for mosquitoes long before it was a venue for horse
racing. Sir Kai Ho Kai, one of the most prominent Hong Kong Chinese
of the 19th century, and for whom Kai Tak airport was named, is also
buried here. Ho Kai was the one of the earliest Chinese legislators and
was more than a thinker,” Ting said. He was Dr Sun Yat-sen’s teacher,
and an advocate of a constitutional monarchy in China.” Nearby is an
unmarked monument with no names, its top shorn off. It is the grave
of Yang Chu-yun, an important turn-of-the-century revolutionary and
the first chairman of the Revive China Society, associated with Sun
Yat-sen. He was killed by Ching Dynasty officials,” Ting said. Cutting
the top off the monument, Ting explained, was a way to show that a
person’s life had been cut short.

Beneath a white marble grave lies one of the most famous names in Hong
Kong _ Catchick Paul Chater, a wealthy Armenian trader, for whom Chater
Garden is named and whose first name and last name both grace local
streets. A major landowner, Chater was an early and successful advocate
of harbor reclamation, a legislator and an executive councillor. Ting
next points to the grave of another famous Eurasian.

Ho Tung was the richest land investor in Hong Kong before World
War I and identified himself as a Chinese. He wore a Chinese long
gown everyday,” said Ting. Ho married two mixed-race wives. One
was Margaret Mak, a devout Christian, who is buried next to Ho,”
explained Ting. The other” wife, a Buddhist, is buried in Pok Fu Lam.

The 40 participants of the walking tour consisted of professionals,
retired employees, tour guides, teachers and the plain curious.

We never heard these stories in school,” said Michael Chan, who was
attending the history lesson with his girl friend Kay Lee, who chimed
in: I didn’t know that graves could tell me that much about historical
figures.” Another participant, who was reluctant to give her name,
said graves are one of her favorite subjects. I visit graves whenever
I get the chance,” she said. I have visited graves in Macau, London
and Paris. But I didn’t know that Hong Kong had a colonial cemetery
like this.” The tour, advertised on the Hong Kong Museum of History
Web site, drew so much interest that many who had wanted to join had
to be turned away. Another tour is planned for December 18. Information
is available at: http:/ /

IRAN TO START GAS SHIPMENTS TO NAKHICHEVAN AUT. REPUBLIC

Asia Pulse
Oct 17 2005

BAKU, Oct 17 Asia Pulse – Head of ‘Azeri Gas’ company said here
Saturday that Iran will start shipments of natural gas to the
‘Nakhichevan autonomous Republic’ next month.

Ali Khan Melikov added that Iran plans to export 350 million cubic
meters of natural gas annually to Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic.

He added that the pipelines are ready to receive shipment of Iranian
gas and the necessary construction work in neighboring state is
almost complete.

The Tehran, Baku agreement calls for exchange of natural gas
between the two nations. The ‘Haji Ghabol-Astara’ pipeline is under
construction and will carry gas to Iran, he added.

The volume of gas from Ian to Nakhichevan is slated to be 52 million,
250 million and 350 million cube meters of gas, respectively,
he underlined.

Nakhichevan needs 250 million cubic meters of natural gas per year,
said Melikov adding that the country requires 100 million cubic meters
more to supply its power plant.

He said a 42-km-long gas pipeline will become operational between
Jolfa and Nakhichevan to put the project into practice.

The two sides reached the agreement during Iranian President Seyed
Mohammad Khatami’s visit to the autonomous republic.

According to the terms of the agreement, Iran will supply Azerbaijan
with a certain amount of natural gas through Astara a month in
advance and the following month Iran will supply a similar amount
to Nakhichevan.

Melikov said that to supply gas to Nakhichevan it is necessary to
carry out a range of preparation work to receive the gas, both in
the autonomous republic and in Astara.

The Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic, an Azerbaijani territory, is
situated to the south, separated from the remainder of Azerbaijan by
Armenian territory.

Azerbaijan ambassador to Iran said that Tehran-Baku trade exchange
has increased sixfold since 1998 reaching close to dlrs 600 million
annually.

Abassali Karam Oghlou Hassanov told IRNA in June that he expects the
bilateral trade volume to increase to dlrs one billion annually in
the near future.

He also said that various development and electricity projects underway
by the Iranian experts will strengthen overall relations between the
two nations.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

GUILTY OF BEING TOO PRECISE: DIAMANDA GALA
by Luke Beesley

The Courier Mail (Queensland, Australia)
October 17, 2005 Monday

Diamanda Galas, Guilty Guilty Guilty
Concert Hall, QPAC, October 14

ECCENTRIC, internationally renowned vocalist and pianist Diamanda
Galas’ new show Guilty Guilty Guilty was much more subdued than the
reputation preceding her.

Her Defixiones performance piece is one that’s stirred up audiences
around the world with its angry exploration of a denial, by Turkey
and America, of Armenian, Assyrian and Anatolian Greek genocide.

This performance, though, was a moody, almost conventional, concert of
blues, country and jazz tunes on the themes love, death and injustice;
and she began deep and husky and bluesy, working over the bass notes
on the piano in a cover of Johnny Cash’s Long Black Veil.

Her approach to these iconic songs including original tunes and those
by artists as disparate as Screamin’ Jay Hawkins and Edith Piaf was
to begin at the bottom of the register and then push up through the
murky tones of the piano. She experimented with varied emphasis on
familiar blues moans and screeches, and her voice was heavy with a
very physical vibrato that kind of waved the audience in.

She followed Cash with O. V. Wright’s Eight Men and Four Women and
skipped octaves, suddenly, to some siren-like melodies.

Her incredible range (three-and-a-half octaves) almost mimicked the
piano’s, yet in a unique version of Ralph Stanley’s

O Death, she climbed to a sustained, scratchy note that at one point
seemed to split in two, the scratchiness separating from the fuller
note before bursting to a pure, strong voice again.

It was a highlight, this shaft of light through the gothic shade.

Overall her performance was characterised by a confident vocal control,
though something was missing.

This is music of raw, emotive communication, and it’s heightened by
a strong personal connection with an audience.

Oddly, for such an erratic and flighty approach to technique, the
performance seemed a little too precise. Her fairly still presence
at the piano for the hour or so, and demure presence on the stage,
came across as a little distanced.

As a bookend to her opening song (before covers James Carr and Desmond
Carter, as encores) Galas attempted a very slow version of Cash’s
25 Minutes to Go. She played it hauntingly, counting down the last
minutes of a man’s life before the gallows, the last line “And now
I’m swingin’ and here I go”, ironically emphasising her deathly take
on a music that’s often described as “swing” or “swingin”‘.

It was a witty end to a warmly received program of melancholic blues.

TURKISH WRITER FACING TRIAL DENIES CALLING KILLINGS OF ARMENIANS A GENOCIDE

Associated Press Worldstream
October 16, 2005 Sunday

ANKARA, Turkey

A Turkish novelists who could face prison over charges he insulted
his country has defended himself, insisting he did not describe the
killings of Armenians in the early 20th century as a genocide.

Orhan Pamuk, one of Turkey’s best-known writers, is to go on trial
on Dec. 16 and could face up to three years in prison for comments
on the killings of Armenians and Kurds. The United States and the
European Union have called on Turkey to drop charges to ensure freedom
of expression.

“I did not say, we Turks killed this many Armenians,” Pamuk told
private CNN-Turk television late Saturday. “I did not use the word
‘genocide’.”

Turkish prosecutors filed charges against Pamuk after he told a Swiss
newspaper in February that “30,000 Kurds and 1 million Armenians were
killed in these lands and nobody but me dares to talk about it.”

He was referring to Kurds killed during Turkey’s two-decade conflict
with autonomy seeking Kurdish guerrillas, branded as a terrorist group
by the U.S. and EU, and to Armenians killed around the time of World
War I.

Armenians say that 1.5 million Armenians were killed by Ottoman Turks,
which Armenians and several nations around the world recognize as a
genocide. Turkey denies that the mass killings were genocide, saying
the death toll is inflated and Armenians were killed in civil unrest
as the Ottoman Empire collapsed.

Asked about the numbers of people killed that he referred to in his
interview with the Swiss newspaper, Pamuk said “they were spontaneous
remarks.”

“There are martyred Turkish soldiers among those 30,000 to 35,000
killed people. Let’s express our respect to them,” Pamuk said,
complaining that he has become a victim of a “defamation campaign.”

The EU, which Turkey aspires to join, has said it will be watching
closely when Pamuk goes before a judge in December.

Pamuk’s books, which include the internationally acclaimed “Snow” and
“My Name is Red,” have been translated into more than 20 languages
and the novelist has received numerous international awards.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIA’S DRAFT BUDGET 2006 TO ALLOCATE 39.1 BLN AMD FOR MEDICINE

ArmInfo News Agency, Armenia
Oct 17 2005

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 17. ARMINFO. Armenia’s draft budget 2006 allocates
39.1 bln AMD for medicine against 32.1 bln AMD in 2005, says Armenia’s
Health Care Minister Norayr Davidyants.

This includes the WB health care projects worth 3.7 bln AMD. Special
attention will be paid to the first aid – 14.3 bln AMD – 24.7% more
than in 2005. Out-patient treatment will be free of charge for all
ages except for dental services – free for children under 8 and people
over 65 only.

Family and children’s doctors will get 11,000 AMD more – 58,400 AMD
a month. Narrow specialists will get 50,000 AMD against 25,000 AMD
in 2005. 1 bln AMD will be allocated for the treatment of children
against 700 mln AMD in 2005. 1.2 bln AMD will be allocated for over
200 free first necessity medicines.

14.4 bln AMD will be allocated for in-patient treatment against 13.3
bln AMD in 2005 – 9,000 AMD per in-patient against 4,348 AMD per
out-patient. 2.1 bln AMD will be allocated for sanitary services with
sanitarians to enjoy 10,000 AMD raise to 45,000 AMD a month.

343 mln AMD will be spent on the repairs of hospitals.

DETAINMENT OF SHAREHOLDER OF “ROYAL ARMENIA” AND THE DEPUTY DIRECTOR
OF THAT COMPANY WAS ORDERED AND ARRANGED BY CUSTOMS COMMITTEE

ArmInfo News Agency, Armenia
Oct 17 2005

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 17. ARMINFO. “The detainment of a shareholder of
“Royal Armenia” LTD and the Deputy Director of that company was ordered
and arranged by the Customs Committee,” reported the lawyer of the
“Royal Armenia” company, Gevork Minasian.

The Head of the Customs Committee Armen Avetisian reported to the
President of RA about contraband at the amount of 1,5 billion AMD.

But Mr. Minasian stated that the 1,5 billion AMD is nothing else
but the amount of the customs values, disputed at the court. “If the
customs values are nullified by the court, the Head of the Customs
Committee will seem to have deceived the President. And that is why
the Customs Committee arranged the detainment of Mr. Hakobian and Mr.

Kazarian,” he added. “The Customs Committee tries its best to prevent
me from appearing before the court and thus to gain time,” said the
representative of the “Royal Armenia” company.