Month: October 2006

Public Radio of Armenia
Oct 13 2006

Things are heading toward resolution of the Karabakh conflict, Azeri
politician considers
13.10.2006 15:37

`The OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs have started addressing their tasks
very seriously,’ member of the Political Council of the ruling `Yeni
Azerbaijan’ Party, Vice-Chairman of the Standing Committee on
Security and Defense of Milli Majlis Aydin Mirzazade told `Trend’
agency. He noted that the visits of the Co-Chairs to the region have
got intensive. `The consistent nature of the Minsk Group mediators’
visits, periodic inclusion of issues in the agenda and increase of
objective aspects provides the basis to insist that the things are
heading toward resolution of the Karabakh conflict,’ Mirzazade
declared.

Public Radio of Armenia
Oct 13 2006

Scruffle between Armenian and Azeri football fans
13.10.2006 14:21

Azeri media report that about 200 Azerbaijan football fans had
arrived from some cities of Netherlands and Belgium to watch the
Belgium-Azerbaijan match in the framework of the qualification round
of Euro-2008. They stretched a huge flag along their stand. According
to Azeri media, two Armenians raised the Armenian flag, making
indecent gestures in the direction of Azerbaijani fans. Following
this several Azeris pierced into the Armenian stand where a scuffle
started.
Employees of Belgian security services took the participants of the
fight to Police Department, but soon after the end of the match they
were set free, `Echo’ newspaper reports.
It should be noted that the assistance of the Azeri fans did not help
their national team. Azerbaijan lost the match 0:3.

Public Radio of Armenia
Oct 13 2006

Monument dedicated to the Armenian Genocide and the Jewish Holocaust
to be raised in Yerevan
13.10.2006 11:50

Monument dedicated to the Armenian Genocide and the Jewish Holocaust
will be raised in Yerevan.
Head of the Jewish community in Armenia Rita Varzhapetyan told
`Armenpress’ that the opening of the monument will take place October
27 at the crossroad of Teryan and Moskovyan streets. It has been
created by the immediate assistance of RA Prime Minister Andranik
Margaryan.
The Jewish community of Armenia includes about 250 families, which
are under constant protection of RA Government and the Jewish
community. According to head of the community Rita Varzhapetyan, at
the initiative of the community special seminars will be held in
Armenian schools for teachers instructing Common History, following
which they will teach the students about the Holocaust of Jews
perpetrated by Fascist Germany during World War II. `The growing
generation must know about these crimes against Armenians, Jews and
other nations,’ said Rita Varzhapetyan.

Public Radio of Armenia
Oct 13 2006

Vartan Oskanian comments on the adoption of the bill on Genocide
negation in the French Parliament
13.10.2006 10:38

Commenting on the French National Assembly vote of October 12, 2006,
RA Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian said, `Today’s approval of the
bill by the French National Assembly is a natural continuation of
France’s principled and consistent defense of human and historic
rights and values.
This decision is also a natural reaction to the intensive, aggressive
and official denialism of the Armenian Genocide by the Turkish state.
They have undertaken a premeditated, planned assault on the truth.
To adopt such a decision is the French Parliament’s sovereign right
and is understandable. What we don’t understand is the Turkish
government’s instigation of extremist public reactions, especially
while Turkey itself has a law that does exactly the same thing and
punishes those who even use the term genocide or venture to discuss
those events.’

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Agence France Presse — English
October 13, 2006 Friday

Greece congratulates Turkish Nobel laureate, extends invitation

Greece on Friday congratulated Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk for
winning this year’s Nobel prize for literature, praising his
"excellent" work and extending an invitation for a visit.

"The award of this top-ranking award constitutes recognition of your
excellent literary work," Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis said
in a letter to the Turkish writer.

"It would be a great joy and an honour to (see you) visit Greece
soon," she added.

A political dissident whose statements have repeatedly riled the
Turkish establismhment, Pamuk faced prosecution in his home country
last year after telling a Swiss newspaper that 30,000 Kurds and one
million Armenians had been killed during World War I under the
Ottoman Turks.

The Greek parliament in 1996 approved a resolution condemning the
Armenian massacre as genocide.

Turkey counters that 300,000 Armenians, and at least as many Turks,
died in civil strife when Armenians took up arms for independence and
sided with invading Russian troops as the Ottoman Empire fell apart
during World War I.

Agence France Presse — English
October 13, 2006 Friday

Turkish PM decries EU double standards after French genocide vote

The EU is not in a position to "preach" to Turkey on human rights
after France’s move to block free speech with a bill making it a
crime to deny Armenians were victims of genocide, Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Friday.

"Those who are trying to preach to us should keep their advice for
themselves," Erdogan said in a televised speech at a road
inauguration ceremony here.

"They should first rectify the backward step they have taken on
freedom of expression and then come to us," he said.

France’s lower house of parliament infuriated Turkey on Thursday when
it approved a draft law that foresees up to one year in prison and a
fine for anyone who denies that the World War I massacres of
Armenians were genocide.

The bill still needs the approval of the Senate and the president to
take effect.

European Union pressure is mounting on Ankara to either scrap or
amend Article 301 of its penal code, which has landed a string of
intellectuals in the courts for "insulting Turkishness."

Most cases, including one against novelist Orhan Pamuk who was
awarded the Nobel Literature Prize on Thursday, have resulted from
remarks the defendants made to contest the official line on the
Armenian massacres, which Ankara fiercely rejects amounted to
genocide.

The European Commission, the EU executive arm, also denounced the
French bill, saying that it "would prohibit the debate and the
dialogue which is necessary for reconciliation on the issue."

Erdogan also advised citizens not to answer the call of several
consumer and business groups to boycott French goods.

"What are we going to earn or lose by boycotting goods?… We should
consider this carefully," he said.

Erdogan pointed out that the 10 billion dollar (eight billioneuro)
bilateral trade between France and Turkey constituted only about 1.5
percent of France’s overall trade.

"We will act calmly," he said. "The steps that need to be taken will
be taken by the government on all political platforms at home and
abroad."

Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul had warned ahead of the vote that
French companies would be barred from major economic projects in
Turkey, notably a project to build a nuclear power plant.

Agence France Presse — English
October 13, 2006 Friday

Turkish press in half-hearted celebration of Pamuk’s Nobel award

Turkish newspapers were torn Friday between joy at the country’s
first Nobel prize and doubts whether the literature laureate,
novelist Orhan Pamuk, was rewarded for his writing or his political
dissidence that has often embarassed Turkey.

"He is our pride," trumpeted the liberal daily Radikal on its
front-page, while the mass-selling Milliyet said: "The world honors
Orhan Pamuk."

Next to the festive headlines were furious banners denouncing a
French bill that would make it a crime to deny Turks committed
genocide against Armenians during World War I.

The draft was voted by the French national assembly Thursday shortly
before Pamuk was named winner of the Nobel prize for literature in
Stockholm.

The massacres, which Ankara denies were genocide, earned Pamuk, 54,
the reputation of a "traitor" among Turkish nationalists and landed
him in court after he questioned in a magazine interview the official
line on this most controversial episode in Turkish history.

"Orhan Pamuk wins the Nobel prize — for what he said or what he
wrote?" the popular Vatan asked, saying his achievement brought
"bittersweet joy" to Turks.

"Undoubtedly, the award is a source of pride for the whole nation…
but the stunts Pamuk performed to win it are not forgotten," an
editorial in the best-selling Hurriyet newspaper said.

"Unfortunately, Pamuk abided by the rule of the Western world that in
order to win a literary prize, you should go against your country
whether you are right or wrong," it added.

But many commentators played down the doubts.

"Some people draw the following picture: those who say it was not
genocide go to jail and those who say it was win the Nobel… It is
not that easy," one columnist wrote in Vatan.

"These heated debates, these stale jokes will soon pass," he said.
"And what will be taught in schools in 10 years’ time will be that
Orhan Pamuk was the first, and perhaps only, Turkish writer to win
the Nobel Literature Prize."

The case aghainst Pamuk, in which he risked up to three years in
jail, was dropped on a technicality in January after only one hearing
marred by far-right demonstrators attacking and booing the author.

He first drew the ire of the state in the mid-1990s when he denounced
the treatment of the Kurdish minority as the army waged a
heavy-handed campaign to supress a bloody separatist insurgency in
the southeast.

The state extended an olive branch in 1998, offering him the accolade
of "State Artist," but Pamuk declined.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Agence France Presse — English
October 13, 2006 Friday

Nobel prize boosts demand for Pamuk’s books

Orhan Pamuk’s publishers in Turkey said Friday they were receiving a
flood of orders for his books after the 54-year-old dissident author
won the 2006 Nobel Literature Prize.

"In the four hours between the announcement of the Swedish academy
and the end of office hours Thursday, we sent out 6,000 of Pamuk’s
books from our warehouse," Bahar Siber, an editor at Iletisim
Publishing, told AFP.

Iletisim publishes nine of the 10 books Pamuk has written so far,
including his first novel "Cevdet Bey and His Sons", and "The Silent
House", "The White Castle" and "The Black Book", all of which have
won him awards at home or abroad.

"We have been receiving a lot of orders, mainly from Istanbul and
other major cities, but also quite a few from other parts of the
country," Siber said, adding that the company’s printing house was
working non-stop to meet the demand.

Yapi Kredi Publishing, which publishes Pamuk’s newest novel
"Istanbul", said they had also started re-printing the book on
Friday.

"We are getting a lot of orders from major bookstores which appear to
be a measure against failing to satisfy possible customer demand,"
Onur Cici, the head of the sales and marketing department, told AFP.

Pamuk became the first Turkish laureate of the Nobel Literature Prize
Thursday when the Swedish academy chose to honour him for a body of
work that probes the crossroads of Muslim and Western cultures.

He is Turkey’s best-known author at home and abraod but also a
political dissident who has often clashed with the establishment on
sensitive issues such as Ankara’s treatment of its Kurdish community
and the World War I massacres of the Armenians.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Agence France Presse — English
October 13, 2006 Friday

Barroso criticizes France’s Armenian genocide law

European Commission President Jose Manuel Durao Barroso said Friday
France’s adoption of a bill making it an offence to deny there was an
Armenian genocide in Turkey, was not helpful.

"We don’t think that this decision at this moment is helpful in the
context of the European Union’s relations with Turkey but we have to
respect all the decisions taken by the parliament of France," he told
reporters.

"Frankly, we don’t think it’s helpful that a parliament outside takes
a legislative action on a matter of historic interpretation," he
added.

The French parliament on Thursday approved a bill that would make it
a crime to deny that the 1915-1917 massacres of Armenians was
genocide.

The crime would carry a prison sentence of up to one year and a fine
of up to 45,000 euros.

However, the European external relations commissioner, Benita Ferrero
Waldner said earlier that the measure, which provoked angry reactions
from Ankara, would not affect Turkey’s EU membership bid.

"One thing is what happens in France, (a) second thing is what we are
doing as (the) European Union with a candidate country," she told
Finnish television.

Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their ancestors were slaughtered
in a deliberate genocide by Ottoman Turks. Turkey concedes 300,000
Armenians died when the Ottoman Empire fell apart during World War I,
but says large numbers of Turks also died.

Agence France Presse — English
October 13, 2006 Friday

French historians come out against Armenian ‘genocide’ vote

A grouping of French historians on Friday issued a joint statement
condemning a vote by French MPs to adopt a new law which would punish
anybody who denied that the 1915-1917 massacres of Armenians by
Ottoman Turks constituted genocide.

The bill, which was adopted by France’s lower house of parliament
Thursday and sent on to the upper house for debate, was "a real
provocation", the group, calling itself Freedom for History, said.

They said they intended to call on President Jacques Chirac to block
the bill if the upper house also voted in favour.

"So deep is the feeling of solidarity that we have for the victims of
history, we are rising in solemn protest," they wrote, adding that
the bill represented an "ebb of democratic freedoms".

The bill envisages a one-year prison term and a fine of up to 45,000
euros (56,000 dollars) on anybody who denies that the Ottomans
committed genocide against the Armenians as their empire fell apart
in World War I.

Turkey, the modern successor to the Ottoman Empire, has reacted with
fury to the bill, and threatened economic reprisals against French
firms.