ASBAREZ Online [07-20-2006]

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07/20/2006
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WEBSITE AT <;HTTP://WWW.ASBAREZ. COM 1. Lebanese Consulate in LA Calls for Community Assistance 2. Bryza Will Visit Karabakh During Tour 3. CIS Summit Begins Today 4. Turkish Lawyer Puts Patriotism Before Free Speech, EU 1. Lebanese Consulate in LA Calls for Community Assistance LOS ANGELES--The Lebanese Consul General in Los Angeles Charbel Wehbe issued an appeal to all Los Angeles residents of Lebanese descent to assist the government as Israeli attacks on Lebanon continue. The announcement addresses the damages caused by the nine-day old attack on the country, which has been categorized as a "disaster zone" by the Lebanese Prime Minister. The announcement asks the public to donate money, food, clothing and medicine, as well as safety and other equipment. The Consulate appeal urges the community to donate powdered milk, canned goods, baby food, diapers, rice, sugar, blankets, generators and other goods. For financial donations, the consulate asks that the contributions be made to the following address: US dollars Federal Reserve Bank of New York Bic Code FRNYUS33 Routing Number: 021084694 Favor: Banque du Liban Account number 02 700 362123 Lebanese lira Banque du Liban Account number 02 700 362123 The Consular announcement urges the community to immediately heed this urgent call and through contributions ensure that the people of Lebanon receive the basic needs during this crisis. In a related matter, Western Prelate Archbishop Moushegh Mardirossian spoke with Consul General Wehbe Tuesday, expressing his sympathy and that of the entire Armenian community for the casualties the country has suffered, wishing for unity and solidarity to prevail in Lebanon and among the Lebanese people. The Consul General spoke of the situation in Lebanon, and on behalf of the government requested that the Armenian community offer any humanitarian assistance within their means to the civilian victims. The Consulate is planning to designate a special committee to coordinate the humanitarian efforts. On Sunday July 23, a special prayer will be said in all Prelacy churches for the lives lost in the fighting. The Western Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church urges all community members to attend and pray for the peace. In Lebanon, efforts of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation Central Committee of Lebanon to assist with displaced and affected Lebanese continued in Armenian-populated neighborhoods, as institutions and organizations have all put forth their resources to aid the victims of the attacks. An ARF delegation, accompanied by parliament member Hagop Pakradouni Wednesday visited refugee centers in Bourdj Hammoud to gain first-hand knowledge of the situation. Pakradouni praised the resilience of the people of southern Lebanon and pledged the Armenian community's continued efforts to provide necessary relief and humanitarian assistance to the victims of the attacks. 2. Bryza Will Visit Karabakh During Tour YEREVAN (Lrakir)--The US co-chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group Matthew Bryza, who is scheduled to visit Armenia on July 29, will also go to Stepanakert, the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic press service announced Thursday. The press service reported that Bryza will meet with Karabakh President Arkady Ghoukassian. Bryza's visit to Stepanakert marks a turning point in the OSCE Minsk Group peace process, since during past several years, visiting co-chairmen have side-stepped visiting Karabakh. "One should not place big hopes OSCE Minsk Group's US Co-chair Matthew Bryza's visit to the region," Russia's charge d'affaires in Azerbaijan Peter Burdikin said. He said Bryza's visit to the region may be useful only from the standpoint of assessing the situation by the new appointee. "It would not be unlikely that a new meeting between the Armenian and Azeri foreign ministers be organized upon completion of the visit," he said. 3. CIS Summit Begins Today YEREVAN (Yerkir)A two-day summit of CIS leaders was scheduled to convene in Moscow Friday. The agenda of the summit includes two principal issues--the assessment of global developments and the CIS reformation. "Being the CIS chairman the Russian President invited his counterparts to arrive in Moscow for an informal summit without a precisely outlined agenda and discuss the ways of CIS reformation," said assistant to the Russian leader Sergey Prikhodko. Presidents of Belarus, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan are expected to attend the summit. Armenia's presidential spokesman Viktor Soghmonyan told reporters Thursday that a meeting between presidents Robert Kocharian and Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan was not scheduled during the CIS summit. 4. Turkish Lawyer Puts Patriotism Before Free Speech, EU ISTANBUL (Reuters)--A lawyer instrumental in trials of writers who challenge Turkey's limits on freedom of speech vowed on Wednesday to advance a nationalist campaign which has put Ankara at odds with the European Union. Bitter EU critic Kemal Kerincsiz has come to prominence this year through his involvement in bringing charges against internationally renowned novelist Orhan Pamuk and other writers for comments on the Armenian issue and insulting "Turkishness". The EU, which Turkey wants to join, is pushing Ankara to improve freedom of expression as a condition for membership, but nationalist lawyers and the judiciary are undermining the drive. This week he filed a complaint to prosecutors about comments made by Turkish-Armenian editor Hrant Dink, prompting a fresh probe of the writer just a week after a previous conviction. "You cannot view what writers like Hrant Dink and Orhan Pamuk have said as freedom of expression. They are provoking the situation under the Armenian Diaspora's influence," Kerincsiz told Reuters in his office in an Istanbul apartment block. "We will not allow insults and abuse of Turkishness in the name of freedom of expression. We will continue to defend Turkishness and the rights of Turks from Central Asia to Western Thrace (in eastern Greece)," he said. Kerincsiz heads the Grand Lawyers' Association which claims 800 members in Istanbul and devotes itself to nationalist causes. As he spoke, his colleagues prepared placards for a pro-Turkish Cypriot demonstration they were staging in Istanbul. The latest target of his campaign was an interview which Dink gave to Reuters on July 14 in which he said Armenians suffered genocide at the hands of Ottoman forces during World War One. "Dink has sealed his own fate with this comment. He has convicted himself. It is now impossible from him to escape his suspended sentence and a new conviction," said Kerincsiz. The European Parliament has called on Turkey to recognize the Armenian massacres as a genocide before it joins the bloc. The High Court of Appeals last week confirmed a six-month suspended jail sentence for Dink under a controversial article of Turkey's penal code which outlaws insults to "Turkishness". The EU has urged Turkey to scrap Article 301, which carries a jail sentence of up to three years, arguing it restricts freedom of expression. The government says the revised penal code, introduced last year, needs more time to be tested. "Nobody will have the strength to abolish 301, neither the political powers or the European Union," Kerincsiz. "If you get rid of it your are recognizing the Armenian genocide allegations." Cases against Pamuk and four columnists collapsed on a legal technicality, but only after drawing a sharp rebuke from the EU, which Turkey aims to join, and from human rights groups. Ankara began EU membership talks last October but is not expected to join the wealthy bloc for many years. Kerincsiz wants Turkey to halt those talks immediately, annul its customs union with the bloc and review its NATO and US relations. "The European Union means slavery and a prisoner's chains for Turkey," he said. All subscription inquiries and changes must be made through the proper carrier and not Asbarez Online. ASBAREZ ONLINE does not transmit address changes and subscription requests. (c) 2006 ASBAREZ ONLINE. All Rights Reserved. ASBAREZ provides this news service to ARMENIAN NEWS NETWORK members for academic research or personal use only and may not be reproduced in or through mass media outlets.