Month: October 2005

ARKA News Agency
Oct 7 2005

YSMU HONORARY DOCTOR CONFERRED ON INDIAN VICE-PRESIDENT

YEREVAN, October 7. /ARKA/. The title of Honorary Doctor of Yerevan
State Medical University (YSMU) has been conferred on Vice-President
of India Bhairon Singkh Shekhavat. A YSMU “Gold Medal” was awarded to
him as well. The Indian Vice-President congratulated YSMU Rector
Vilen Hakobyan and the students on the 75th anniversary of the
University. He expressed his appreciation of the YSMU’s achievements.
“Indian citizens have a good opportunity to gain necessary knowledge
here and they must not miss it,” said Bhairon Singkh Shekhavat. He
also expressed readiness to render all possible assistance to the
cooperation between Armenian and Indian educational institutions.
Over 700 Indian students study at YSMU now. P.T. –0–

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARKA News Agency
Oct 7 2005

ARMENIA’S DEFENSE CONCEPT TO BE APPROVED IN 2007

YEREVAN, October 7. /ARKA/. Armenia’s defense concept is to be
approved in 2007, RA Minister of Defense Serge Sargsyan stated at the
Rose-Roth seminar, NATO Parliamentary Assembly. According to him, the
concept will be in harmony with the strategy of national security and
will be made public. “It will also be submitted to the RA National
Assembly, which will ensure the basis for short- and long-term
defense-military planning,” the Minister said. Sargsyan said that the
defense concept illustrates the role and mission of the armed troops
and will serve as a fundamental document for efforts towards reforms.
“It will ensure a single strategic direction for armed forces and
other government officials responsible for national defense,”
Sargsyan said. He added that the dissemination of defense doctrine
will give an impetus to public discussions of defense problems and
ensure assistance in satisfying military needs stipulated by the
document. “The defense strategy will also have a paramount importance
for reforms and modernization or the RA armed forces,” Sargsyan said.
P.T. -0–

ARKA News Agency
Oct 7 2005

CBA CHIARMAN: 95% OF MONETARY TRANSFERS TO ARMENIA ACCOUNT FOR
TRANSFERS IN USD

YEREVAN, October 7. /ARKA/. 95% of monetary transfers to Armenia
account for transfers in USD, as the CBA Chiarman Tigran Sargsyan
stated in the framework of the Second open international interbank
conference “Monetary Transfers”. According to him, the problem is
that citizens have no possibility to choose the currency of payment,
but they might like to transfer rubbles from the RF and receive AMD
in the RA. According to Sargsyan, AMD appreciation to USD has been
recorded in the RA recently. It caused discontent of people who
receive transfers in USD, since the buying capacity of USD reduced by
17%.
According to Sargsyan, the problem of monetary transfers is actual in
Armenia. “The actuality of the issue has been observed all over the
world. The issue is discussed at all international conferences. The
phenomenon is preconditioned by the inflow of migrants from many
countries and by the fact that migrants make monetary transfers to
their relatives”, he said. According to him, the second factor
contributing to the growth of monetary transfers is the active
monetary policy program of the USA and growth of dollar liquidity.
A.H. -0–

Reuters, UK
Oct 9 2005

Turkey’s Gul: writer will win genocide claim case
Sun Oct 9, 2005 7:58 PM IST

PARIS (Reuters) – Turkey’s foreign minister said on Sunday he was
confident a court would dismiss charges against a best-selling
Turkish writer who faces prison for his views on the massacres of
Armenians 90 years ago.

Orhan Pamuk has been charged with insulting Turkish identity for
supporting Armenian claims they suffered a genocide under Ottoman
Turks in 1915. He faces 3 years in jail if convicted.

Pamuk further upset the establishment and nationalists by saying
Turkish forces shared responsibility for the death of more than
30,000 Kurds in southeast Turkey during separatist fighting there in
the 1980s and 1990s.

Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul sought to play down the controversy,
telling Canal television he expected the case to be dismissed as a
court had already thrown out similar charges against a different
person.

“The same trial has been held before, over the same phrases, the same
words,” Gul said through an interpreter.

“The judge ruled that everyone has the right to express their
opinion. The same decision will be handed down (in Pamuk’s case), I
have no doubt about this.”

Pamuk’s prosecution has highlighted concerns over whether Turkey’s
human rights record is compatible with EU membership. Some 60 percent
of French voters say they don’t want mainly Muslim Turkey joining the
EU.

In a show of support, EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn met Pamuk
at the writer’s Istanbul home on Saturday and urged Ankara to respect
freedom of expression.

Pamuk, best known for historical novels such as “My Name is Red” and
“The White Castle”, goes on trial on Dec. 16.

Gul said that despite the case, human rights had come on in leaps and
bounds in the past three years.

“We have a limited democracy in Turkey … but thanks to the reforms
of the past few years, its scope has widened enormously.”

Turkey had offered to open its archives to international historians
so as to resolve the Armenian massacre issue, which has complicated
Ankara’s bid to join the European Union.

The European Parliament last month passed a non-binding resolution
saying Ankara must recognise the Armenian massacres as a genocide
before joining the EU, and gave only grudging support to the start of
entry talks with Turkey on Oct. 3.

The Age, Australia
Oct 10 2005

Year of great boxing promise now rings hollow
By Stathi Paxinos
October 10, 2005

AUSTRALIAN flyweight Hussein Hussein’s fate against Jorge Arce for
the World Boxing Council interim world title yesterday reflected the
way of Australian boxing this year.

There had been great anticipation surrounding the fight because their
first encounter in March was regarded as one of the fights of the
year. But, by near the end of the second round and after two
knock-downs, Hussein’s corner man, Jeff Fenech, had seen enough and
threw in the towel.

It was another blow to the promise that Australian boxing had shown
at the start of the year when the fight fraternity proclaimed that
half a dozen Australian fighters could hold world titles this year.
Such predictions now appear a touch optimistic as 2005 has, instead,
produced a succession of shattered dreams with Danny Green, Anthony
Mundine, Paul Briggs and Tommy Browne all losing shots at major world
titles.

Junior-lightweight Robbie Peden won the International Boxing
Federation belt in spectacular fashion only to lose it last month
against one of the best pound-for-pound boxers in the world – Marco
Antonio Barrera.

The unthinkable also occurred when junior-welterweight
king Kostya Tszyu quit on his stool after being hammered for 11
rounds by English challenger Ricky Hatton. That leaves Australia with
one champion of a recognised belt – Armenian-born Vic Darchinyan, who
has twice defended the IBF flyweight title he won last December.
Australian light-heavyweight Paul Murdoch will be fighting for the
World Boxing Association title in December but is the outsider
against multiple world champion Fabrice Tiozzo.

So, a year that started with such promise for local boxing is heading
towards a sobering finale, although the prospect of the long-awaited
match-up between Green and Mundine early next year has provided a
much-needed attraction.

And it is also fitting that Sam Soliman will take a step towards
finally earning that elusive middleweight world title shot.

The Soliman camp confirmed at the weekend that the 31-year-old IBF
No. 1 contender had signed a deal to take on his WBC and WBA
equivalent Ronald “Winky” Wright with the winner earning the
mandatory challenger position against the victor of the rematch
between world champion Jermain Taylor and Bernard Hopkins.

Soliman is regarded as an awkward fighter who has posed too big a
risk for comparatively small financial rewards to big-name fighters.
Soliman earned a mandatory challenge for Hopkins’ IBF belt earlier
this year but Hopkins, who ruled the middleweight division for a
decade, was granted an exception by the sanctioning body and was
allowed to accept a big-dollar challenge from Sydney Olympian Taylor.
Hopkins subsequently lost his WBA, WBC, IBF and World Boxing
Organisation belts to Taylor and the pair are set for a rematch in
early December.

Soliman’s fight against Wright, a former junior-middleweight world
champion, will be held on December 11 in Connecticut in the US –
which will make it a huge weekend for Australian boxing.

It has also been set down for the joint Green and Mundine card in
Perth, which will act as a warm-up for the pair’s fight next year.
Victories by all three Australians would set up another exciting year
for local boxing.

Rabble, Canada
Oct 9 2005
X-Sender: Asbed Bedrossian <[email protected]>
X-Listprocessor-Version: 8.1 — ListProcessor(tm) by CREN

Bridging the Christian-Muslim divide

While no one in Europe is crazy about the Turks joining what happens
to be a largely white association (Hungary is 52 per cent in favour
and Britain is 45 per cent), only 10 per cent of Austrians favour
Turkish membership.

>by Heather Mallick
October 9, 2005

It may have taken 40 years, but it finally happened this week: The
European Union opened membership talks with Turkey.

I have watched the especially intense year-long run-up to this moment
with fascination and disgust. It was like being a spectator at a
cockfight, with ugly squawks, blood-soaked feathers and the stabbing
of beaks into the meat beneath the skin, the two cocks all the while
denying that this was, in fact, a cockfight, oh no, and the EU
spectators secretly hoping Turkey would expire in the straw of a
heart attack. It wouldn’t look good if an Islamic nation were pecked
to death.

Supposedly, the fight was over Turkey being too big, or too poor, or
too full of possible migrants. It wasn’t about Muslims joining what
former EC head Jacques Delors once called a `Christian club.’

Neither was it about whether Turkey was a European-type nation or
more of an Asian-ish, wrong-side-of-the-Mediterranean kind of
country. Not that they’re not lovely people, of course. Fine
peasants, we’re sure, but we won’t have them in our home. You do
understand.

That’s how racism works. One German-American writer in The Guardian,
disregarding the fact that the European nations fight their best wars
with each other, said white people should be allowed to mourn the
eventual loss of their culture to immigrant hordes. What is white
culture? Egg-salad sandwiches? Fridge magnets? She did not say.

The key is that while no one in Europe is crazy about the Turks
joining what happens to be a largely white association (Hungary is 52
per cent in favour and Britain is 45 per cent), only 10 per cent of
Austrians favour Turkish membership. The pollsters were surprised.
Austrians were the only respondents who saw `almost no positive side’
to letting the Turks in, the BBC reported, not even envisioning
`improved understanding between Europe and the Muslim world.’

Every EU nation agreed to negotiate with Turkey except Austria, which
said talks should take place only about a `privileged partnership,’
not actual membership.

Austria got dirty looks. The conference hall fell silent, I assume. A
polite cough was heard from Germany. It’s unlikely there were Jews in
the room, Europe having a distinct shortage of Jews on its mainland,
but they were on European minds. Far-right Austrian politician Joerg
Haider, whose election had once brought EU sanctions against his
nation, had campaigned hard against the Turkish membership effort.

So Austria caved, doubtless reassuring itself that the negotiations
will take a decade, Turkey has to swallow 80,000 pages of EU law and
even then, it will take only one vote to blackball the country.

The EU wants Turkey badly for economic reasons. With a population of
72 million, it has plenty of young, educated people. Europe is
getting panicky about its low birth rate, caused by the refusal of
working women to have large families and resultant miserable lives.
At some point, Europe will need that younger work force.

In addition, Turkey, while mostly Sunni Muslim, is a secular
republic. Kurds, who make up 20 per cent of the population, see the
EU as a guard for their human rights, which it would be. Turkey,
notorious for arrests without trial and severe torture of prisoners,
claims to be trying to improve its human-rights record and treatment
of women. The charges recently filed against Turkish novelist Orhan
Pamuk for deploring Turkey’s killing of 30,000 Kurds since 1984 and
the 1915 Armenian genocide were inspired by reactionaries aiming to
stop the talks. They failed.

After watching the cockfight for a year without taking sides, I am
convinced that Turkey’s entrance into the EU, whose human-rights laws
are a model for the world, is our last best hope for a peaceful
understanding between the so-called Christian and Muslim solitudes.

Those in doubt might wish to read Indian novelist Vikram Seth’s new
book, Two Lives, a stunning biography of his great-uncle Shanti (from
India) and great-aunt Henny (a Jew who escaped Second World War
Germany at the last minute). It brings home the horror of the slow
humiliation and demonization of the German Jews, who considered
themselves utterly German. It shows how insiders are made into
outsiders, how Henny’s sister, Miss Lola Caro, an elegant German
(Jewish) girl, went from eating Stollen with her German (Christian)
friends in 1931 to Birkenau in 1943, stripped, thrown into a room
with perforated pillars filled with Zyklon-B, gassed, grapple-hooked
and burned to ash. That’s 12 years of humiliation.

Imagine what the Palestinians feel. Imagine how a Turk, wanting to
modernize Turkey, feels at being rejected for his race and religion
for 40 years. Hitler would be giggling now. Think how much time
Muslims have had to be humiliated by the Western world. Perhaps
globalization speeded up the process.

When we seek an explanation for the existence of young, educated,
middle-class suicide bombers, humiliation fits the bill. An
Associated Press interview with a suicide bomber – he changed his
mind when he saw a mother and two children in a café – suggests that
bombers are driven `not by poverty or ignorance, but by a lethal mix
of nationalism, zealotry and humiliation.’

Turkey had already declared that it would give up on Europe if it
were rebuffed this time. The fact is, it would have been utterly
humiliated. In Western eyes at least, the squalid objections of
Austria, a country that unlike Germany has never truly faced its Nazi
past, would have been plain evidence of racism. Austria wanted a wall
around Europe, but the world doesn’t work that way, we hope.

Former French president Valery Giscard d’Estaing was angry at the
welcome extended to Turkey. The EU was risking replacing a `grand
French project of political union’ with `a large free-trade zone,’ he
said.

In fact, it is the opposite. It is a hand extended in hope.

Heather Mallick’s column is in The Globe and Mail each
Saturday. It appears on Sunday in rabble.ca.

The Hellenic Radio, Greece
Oct 8 2005

Olli Rehn’s Visit to Turkey “Proceed Quickly with Reforms”
08 Oct 2005 15:41:00

By Annita Paschalinou

The EU Enlargement Commissioner urged the Turkish National Assembly
to immediately proceed with signing the EU-Turkey protocol, while he
called on Ankara to implement the reforms at a faster pace, so that
the accession talks can commence on time. After meeting with the
Turkish PM, Olli Rehn noted that the speed of negotiations would
depend on the rate of reforms implemented by Turkey. He also
predicted that Turkeys accession to the EU would be tough and the
negotiations could last 10 years. Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke of a
tough process, while he voiced his optimism that the negotiations
will prove successful in the end.

Meeting with Novelist Orhan Pamuk

In the context of his contacts in Turkey, Olli Rehn met with Turkish
novelist Orhan Pamuk, a great defender of the rights of Kurds and
Armenians.

Turkeys most famous author faces up to three years in jail on the
charge of “insulting Turkish identity” for allegedly backing charges
that Armenians suffered genocide at the hands of Ottoman Empire
forces 90 years ago.

The incident has prompted intense reactions from the EU.

Pamuk will be called to appear before an Istanbul court in December.

Translated by Vicky Ghionis

Anatolian Times, Turkey
Oct 9 2005

Turkey’s Priority To Be Democracy & Human Rights, Flautre

ANKARA – Turkey’s priority will be democracy and human rights after
its full membership negotiations with the EU are launched, Helene
Flautre, the Chairperson of the European Parliament’s Human Rights
Sub-Commission, said on Friday.
Holding a press conference before flying to eastern city of Van,
Flautre said that efforts should be exerted to implement recent legal
reforms in Turkey.

-TORTURE, KURDS AND HUMAN RIGHTS-

Flautre stated that Turkey’s ”zero tolerance to torture” policy was
a ”perfect decision”, and said that paving the way for inspection
of independent boards could help full implementation of this policy
in prisons and police stations.

Underlining importance of legal changes regarding the safeguard of
social and cultural rights of the Kurds, Flautre said, ”but, it may
be considered a little weird to urge people to attend special and
paid courses to learn their own mother tongues. In fact, Kurdish
should be taught at public schools.”

Flautre said that gender equality was also an important part of the
EU acquis, while listed associations law, foundations law, and union
rights as areas in which Turkey should make more progress.

-SO-CALLED ARMENIAN GENOCIDE ALLEGATIONS-

French parliamentarian Flautre said that the EU had recently
discussed ”whether Turkey’s recognition of the Armenian genocide
(allegations) was an obligatory precondition for its EU membership”,
not ”whether Armenian genocide was carried out”.

”The European Parliament said ‘yes’ to it (to consider recognition
of the Armenian genocide as a precondition for Turkey’s EU
membership) in the vote held last week. However, political groups and
individuals think differently about this matter. And, I personally
think that it should not be a precondition,” indicated Flautre.

”Everything that happens in Turkey becomes is an internal policy
matter in the EU. We should discuss in Europe what kind of a society
Turkey is and its possible contributions to the EU. Because, my
country, France has made an unbelievable decision that can let it
obstruct Turkey’s EU accession by a referendum. And, as a person who
knows this, I want Turkey to be discussed in Europe, with all its
dimensions,” said Flautre.

On the other hand, another member of the sub-committee Richard Howitt
said that they wanted to see Turkey in the EU, and added, ”this
(Turkey’s negotiations with the EU) will be a long run.”

-EP HUMAN RIGHTS SUB-COMMITTEE’S MEETING WITH IHD-

Earlier meeting Human Rights Association (IHD) officials, Flautre
told that Turkey would be monitored more in fields of human rights
and democracy after the start of the negotiation process with the EU.

”Before the start of the accession talks between Turkey and EU, the
EU was looking for fulfillment of the requirements by Turkey at a
sufficient level, but now Turkey should fulfill everything fully,
there is a more strict and serious agenda now,” Flautre said. She
noted that everybody whom she met was in consensus about the progress
recorded by Turkey in human rights.

Anatolian Times, Turkey
Oct 9 2005

General Ozkok In Baku

BAKU – Turkish Chief of General Staff General Hilmi Ozkok has
remarked on Thursday that close ties exist between Turkey and
Azerbaijan. ”You (Azerbaijan) have helped us in our time of
difficulty and we (Turkey) have helped you when you needed that
help.”
General Ozkok met the Azerbaijani Speaker of Parliament today.

General Ozkok indicated that 20 percent of Azerbaijani territory is
under Armenian occupation. Turkey’s problem in Cyprus, the Kashmir
issue between Pakistan and India as well as the Azerbaijani territory
under Armenian occupation are all problems whose roots come from the
past and solution is difficult, said Ozkok.

General Ozkok thanked Azerbaijan for its support to the Turkish
Republic of Northern Cyprus. ”The direct flights to the TRNC and
visits of Azerbaijani businessmen to TRNC have received a place in
the hearts of Turks,” told General Ozkok.

According to General Ozkok, military ties between Turkey and
Azerbaijan are in excellent shape. ”Our military cooperation is
purely defensive. We are for the peaceful resolution of disputes,”
noted General Ozkok.

Meanwhile, Aleskerov pointed out that, if the Azerbaijani territory
under Armenian occupation is not timely returned, Azerbaijan will use
its military might and re-capture the invaded Azerbaijani territory.
”Turkey, its parliament and government have always been on our side.
We are confident that Turkey will continue to support us and be on
our side,” commented Aleskerov.

In a separate meeting with the Azerbaijani Minister of Defense Safar
Abiyev in Baku, General Ozkok referred to a statement made by the
late Azerbaijani President Haydar Aliyev that Turkey and Azerbaijan
are one nation with two governments. ”We are determined to keep and
make our relations better in all fields,” said Ozkok.

General Ozkok and Abiyev discussed current issues pertaining to the
region, including the enhancement of military ties and political
developments.

Abiyev congratulated Ozkok for the beginning of Turkey’s accession
talks with the EU. ”The Turks have resisted all pressures
historically and always achieved their goals,” stressed Abiyev.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Macomb Daily, MI
Oct 9 2005

Ford dealer Michael Dorian Sr. dies from injuries sustained in crash

PUBLISHED: October 8, 2005

By Chad Halcom
Macomb Daily Staff Writer

Auto dealer Michael Dorian Sr. died Friday of injuries suffered
Thursday in an auto accident.

Dorian Sr. of Bloomfield Hills, who worked his way up from
used-car-lot worker to the owner of a Ford dealership, died at 2:25
a.m. after his car on Thursday drifted over into opposing traffic on
busy Cass Avenue in downtown Mount Clemens. He was 80.

“He never really fully retired, or even semi-retired as some people
call it,” said daughter Carolyn Dorian, who serves as parts and
service manager of her father’s auto dealership. “He’d still come
into work every day, at least until 1 p.m. or so. And he’d call five
times a day. That’s the part we’re going to miss.”

Macomb County sheriff’s investigators believe Dorian, founder of Mike
Dorian Ford in Clinton Township, may have had the onset of a medical
“condition” that caused him to lose control of his 2005 Ford 500 some
time before colliding with two other vehicles Thursday.

Officials said it was his injuries from the crash, not any event
preceding it, that ultimately took his life. But it remains unclear
whether Dorian was conscious or lucid in the moments before the
accident.

“Nothing in our investigation can tell us” whether Dorian could have
survived whatever caused him to lose control of the vehicle under
different circumstances, said Macomb County Sheriff’s Capt. Anthony
Wickersham. “But we do know the cause of death is the extent of his
injuries from the accident.”

Dorian, a veteran of the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II,
started the business decades ago in Detroit before moving the company
to its longstanding location in Clinton Township. He had retired from
the day-to-day operations of the business some years ago, entrusting
it to son, Michael Jr.

Born in March 1925 to immigrant parents who had found work in
Detroit, he remained sympathetic and supportive to organizations such
as the ARS Armenian Orphanage Sponsorships Program, which aids
orphaned children with foster care and other costs.

Macomb County medical examiner Daniel Spitz, who conducted an autopsy
on Dorian Friday, said the man had a history of several medical
conditions but he could not conclude that any were the cause of his
accident. Although heart disease and diabetes were among his past
ailments, Spitz said he found no signs Dorian was having a heart
attack.

“It doesn’t appear that way,” Spitz said. “From his history there’s a
good chance of a medical event, but can I tell you he wasn’t just
distracted or trying to change the station on his radio?”

An accident investigation and witness accounts indicate Dorian’s
vehicle was heading eastbound on Cass Avenue in Mount Clemens when it
crossed into opposing traffic and clipped or ricocheted against a
westbound Chevy Suburban, then collided head-on with a
tractor-trailer truck carrying hot tar.

After the military, Dorian attended Michigan State University and
later Lawrence Technological University, where he studied finance.
After some time selling used cars, he eventually became a Ford dealer
and opened for business in 1964.

Dorian moved the business to Clinton Township in 1973, where it has
remained ever since at its location near 15 Mile Road on Gratiot,
Carolyn said. In honor of her father, she said, several dealerships
along Gratiot had lowered their flags to half-staff.

In additional to Carolyn Dorian and General Manager Michael Jr.,
Dorian is survived by another child, daughter, Michele who works as a
civil engineer. He also leaves behind three grandchildren.

Funeral services will be held at 7:30 p.m. Monday at Hamilton Funeral
Home, 820 E. Maple Road, Birmingham. Burial arrangements afterward
will be private. Visitation is from 4-9 p.m. Sunday and from 4 p.m.
until the time of service Monday at the funeral home. Memorial
contributions may be made to the ARS Armenian Orphanage Sponsorships
Program.