Month: October 2006

Aztag, Lebanon
Oct 13 2006

Armenians Rally Against Turkish Participation in U.N. Peacekeeping
Force in Lebanon

Thousands of Lebanon’s Armenians rallied in Beirut Thursday against
Turkish troops taking part in a U.N. peacekeeping force there, on the
same day France moved to make denial of the Ottoman genocide of
Armenians a crime.
Armenian political and religious leaders attended the demonstration,
which came just two days after the first contingent of Turkish
peacekeepers arrived to police a ceasefire between Israel and
Hizbullah.

The rally took place on Beirut’s downtown Place des Martyrs, which
honors six Lebanese nationalists who were hanged by the Ottomans
during World War I.

The crowd, drawn from an Armenian community of about 140,000 people,
held high banners denouncing the presence of Turkish troops as "an
insult to the collective memory of the Armenian people", while waving
Armenian, Lebanese and French flags.

"Genocide, massacre, deportation: Turkey’s definition of peace," read
another banner.

Earlier Thursday, French deputies approved a bill making it a crime
to deny that the 1915-1917 massacre of Armenians by the Ottomans was
genocide, provoking the fury of Turkey, the modern state that emerged
from the Ottoman Empire.

"What France has done is very good. The Lebanese government should do
the same instead of welcoming Turkish troops," said an elderly
demonstrator who gave his name as Taurus.

"Chirac is on the right track," said one of the organizers, Sarkis
Katchadorian, referring to French President Jacques Chirac.

Overriding widespread opposition, the Turkish parliament approved a
government motion on September 5 to contribute troops to the U.N.
Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) following a ceasefire that ended 34
days of fighting.

In total, Turkey is to deploy some 700 soldiers in Lebanon, including
troops aboard naval ships. Those that landed on Tuesday were the
first Muslim peacekeepers to arrive in the war-scarred country.

Turkey contests the term "genocide" and strongly opposed the French
bill.

It says 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.

Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their ancestors were slaughtered
in orchestrated killings, which they maintain can only be seen as
genocide.

The French bill must now go to the Senate, or upper house of
parliament, for another vote.(AFP-AP photo shows Lebanese Armenian
demonstrators waving Lebanese and Armenian flags and holding placards
at the rally)

Today, Azerbaijan
Oct 13 2006

Azeri Councul in Kars held ceremonies on occasion of 85th anniversary
of Kars contract

14 October 2006 [00:18] – Today.Az

Several ceremonies were held on the occasion of 85th anniversary of
Kars Contract.

Azerbaijani Councul General to Kars Hasan Zeynalov said that they
laid a wreath on Kazim Garabekir Pasha’s monument who signed the
contract from Turkey side and visited the historical building where
Kars contract was signed, APA reports.

Councul General talked about the history of Kars Contract. He said
that the contract was signed by the presence of Turkey, Azerbaijani,
Russian, Georgian and Armenian representatives. The Russia-Turkey
borders were defined by this contract. Besides, Turkey got guarantee
right on Nakhchivan.

"The importance of the contract for us is the recognition of
Nakhchivan which was called Turkish Gate by Ataturk, The Gate of East
by Kazim Garabekir Pasha, as Azerbaijan territory by Armenia and
other countries."

URL:

Asia Pacific Media Network, CA
Oct 13 2006

TURKEY: Literature Nobel for Turkey’s novelist
Nobel winner praised for his literary talent, defense of freedom of
speech

Dawn
Thursday, October 12, 2006

Stockholm — Turkey’s best-known novelist Orhan Pamuk, who faced
trial this year for insulting his country, won the Nobel prize for
literature on Thursday in a decision some critics called politically
charged.

"I am very glad and honoured. I am very pleased," the Turkish writer
told Sweden’s Svenska Dagbladet newspaper when asked how he felt
about winning the 10 million Swedish crown ($1.36 million) prize. "I
will try to recover from this shock."

The Swedish Academy declared Pamuk the winner on a day when, to
Turkey’s fury, the French lower house of parliament approved a bill
making it a crime to deny the Armenian genocide.

In what was seen as a test case for freedom of speech in Turkey,
Orhan Pamuk was tried for insulting ‘Turkishness’ after alleging in
an interview with a Swiss paper last year that one million Armenians
had died in Turkey during World War One and 30,000 Kurds had perished
in recent decades.

Though the court dismissed the charges on a technicality, other
writers and journalists are still being prosecuted under the article
and can face a jail sentence of up to three years.

"With all due respect to Orhan Pamuk, whose books I read and like, I
believe his comments on the Armenian genocide have been influential
in his winning this prize," said Suat Kiniklioglu, an Ankara-based
political analyst.

"There is a political dimension to all this. I do not believe he was
chosen purely on the basis of his artistic capacity," Kiniklioglu
said.

Orhan Pamuk, 54, shot to fame with novels that explore Turkey’s
complex identity through its rich imperial past.

But his criticism of modern Turkey’s failure to confront darker
episodes of that past has turned him more recently into a symbol of
free thought both for the literary world and for the European Union,
which Ankara wants to join.

"What I said is not an insult, it is the truth. But what if it is
wrong? Right or wrong, do people not have the right to express their
ideas peacefully?" Pamuk asked during the trial.

Artistic Freedom

EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn celebrated Pamuk’s award as a
triumph for free speech.

"Today’s Nobel Prize is good news for world literature, but also good
news for artistic freedom and for freedom of expression," he said in
a statement.

Pamuk’s best-known novels include My Name is Red and Snow, works that
focus on the clash between past and present, East and West,
secularism and Islamism — problems at the heart of Turkey’s struggle
to develop.

Academy head Horace Engdahl stressed on Thursday that politics did
not colour the selection process.

The Financial Times
Oct 13 2006

Turkey tries to prevent boycott of French goods
By Vincent Boland in Ankara and Martin Arnold in Paris

Published: October 13 2006 20:15 | Last updated: October 13 2006
20:15

Turkish leaders tried on Friday to head off a consumer boycott of
French goods and a mood of growing hostility towards France following
a parliamentary vote on Armenian claims of Ottoman-era genocide.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s prime minister, has been blamed for
stoking the threat of a boycott this week when he said French support
for the claim `would change everything for France’. Calls for a
boycott were made by some opposition figures and chambers of
commerce, and a consumer lobby said the action would continue until
France changed its stance.

Mr Erdogan acknowledged, however, that a boycott could be as damaging
to Turkey’s economic interests as to those of French companies.
`Let’s be calm,’ he said in a speech while opening a terminal at
Ankara airport. `What would a boycott change? We should take steps by
knowing what the realities are.’

Turkey’s trade with France was about $10bn a year, which, he said,
was 1.5 per cent of France’s total foreign trade volume. Turkey’s
gross domestic product stands at about $350bn.

French companies are significant investors in Turkey and might be hit
by a boycott, although the large numbers of Turks they employ might
temper any such action. Carrefour, the supermarkets group, owns a
chain of stores, and Renault is a key investor in the booming
automotive sector.

Jean Saint-Geours, director of Peugeot, said sanctions were a `risk’
for the carmaker, which has 5-6 per cent of the Turkish market.

Previous consumer boycotts – notably of Italian goods during a
diplomatic row between Ankara and Rome over fugitive Kurdish
terrorists – had little impact.

A more serious worry for French companies might be in the sphere of
foreign direct investment, analysts said. Turkey is preparing to
privatise its energy distribution companies and to invest significant
sums in nuclear power and in its defence infrastructure – areas where
French companies are strong internationally.

Mahmut Kaya, head of research at Garanti Securities in Istanbul,
said: `It is highly likely that French companies will be banned from
state tenders and auctions.’

Tusiad, the influential Turkish big-business lobby group, said the
proper response to the French move should place renewed emphasis on
domestic reforms, `especially freedom of expression’. This is a
reference to Turkey’s unwillingness to address concerns in the
European Union that its penal code suppresses free speech, following
prosecutions of novelists and journalists in recent months, often for
addressing the sensitive Armenian question.

The Freedom for History Association, including some of France’s most
respected historians, called the bill a `genuine provocation’. The
ministry for relations with parliament said the bill was `not a
priority for the Senate’s agenda’, suggesting it might never get the
necessary reading in the upper house of parliament to make it into
law. But François Hollande, leader of the opposition Socialists,
promised to pass the bill if the left wins next year’s elections.

Armenians say up to 1.5m of their ancestors were massacred by Ottoman
troops in 1915 in the 20th century’s first act of genocide. Turkey
rejects the characterisation of the events as genocide. It says
hundreds of thousands of Armenian Christians and Turkish Muslims died
in a civil war. The French bill would make it a crime to deny that
the massacres were genocide.

Sofia News Agency, Bulgaria
Oct 13 2006

Tennis Sisters of Bulgaria with Star of Fame

Photo: Katerina, Manuela and Magdalena (from R to L) pose in front of
the star of Maleeva Sisters, which was officially inaugurated Friday
on the Walk of Fame in Sofia. Photo by Kameliya Atanasova (Sofia
Photo Agency)

The three Maleeva sisters – Katerina, Manuela and Magdalena –
received their glory star on the Walk of Fame in Sofia.

The solemn ceremony was organised a few months after the youngest
among them, Magdalena, put end to her tennis career.

The recognition honoured several decades of numerous victories of the
three sisters in the world of tennis, mentored by their mother and
individual coach Yulia Berberyan.

The red-carpet ceremony took place in front of the Arena movie
theatre on Friday evening.

The stars already shining on the Walk of Fame belong to football star
Hristo Stoitchkov, folk singer Valya Balkanska, pop singer Lili
Ivanova, violin virtuoso Vasko Vassilev, Bulgaria’s first cosmonaut
Georgi Ivanov and clarinet player Ivo Papazov.

Maleeva’s mother Yulia Berberyan came from a prominent Armenian
family, which found refuge in Bulgaria after the 1896 Armenian
massacres in the Ottoman Empire. She was the best Bulgarian tennis
player in the 1960s.

After retiring from professional tennis in the 1970s, Berberyan
started on a coaching career. She trained all of her three daughters,
Magdalena, Katerina and Manuela, each of whom eventually became WTA
top six players.

Manuela, Katerina and Magdalena earned their place in the Top 6 of
the world rankings and set numerous records that will remain in the
sport’s history.

>From the first success of the 12-year-old Manuela at the 1979 "Orange
Bowl" to the present victories of Magdalena, there is at least one
Maleeva in the world’s tennis elite for over a quarter of a century
now.

In October 2005, Magdalena Maleeva retired from professional tennis,
after 16 seasons in the tennis elite, ending the era of the Maleeva
Sisters.
.php?id=71139

The Guardian, UK
Oct 13 2006

A world without taboos
Is modern society as enlightened as it’s champions like to believe?
Ralf Dahrendorf

October 13, 2006 07:30 PM |
Not long ago, one might have concluded that, at least in Europe,
there were no taboos left. A process that had begun with the
Enlightenment had now reached the point at which "anything goes".
Particularly in the arts, there were no apparent limits to showing
what even a generation ago would have been regarded as highly
offensive.

Two generations ago, most countries had censors who not only tried to
prevent younger people from seeing certain films, but who actually
banned books. From the 1960s, such proscriptions weakened until, in
the end, explicit sexuality, violence, blasphemy – while upsetting to
some people – were tolerated as a part of the enlightened world.

Or were they? Are there really no limits? Outside Europe, the
"anything goes" attitude was never fully accepted. And there were
limits in Europe, too. The historian David Irving is still in
detention in Austria for the crime of Holocaust denial. This is, to
be sure, a special case. The denial of a well-documented truth may
lead to new crimes. But is the answer to the old question, "What is
truth?" always so clear?

What exactly are we doing if we insist on Turkey’s acknowledgement
that the Armenian genocide did take place as a condition of its
membership in the European Union? Are we so sure of Darwin’s theories
of evolution that we should ban alternative notions of genesis from
schools?

Those concerned with freedom of speech have always wondered about its
limits. One such limit is the incitement to violence. The man who
gets up in a crowded theatre and shouts, "Fire!" when there is none
is guilty of what happens in the resulting stampede. But what if
there actually is a fire?

This is the context in which we may see the invasion of Islamic
taboos into the enlightened, mostly non-Islamic world. From the fatwa
on Salman Rushdie for The Satanic Verses to the killing of a nun in
Somalia in response to Pope Benedict’s Regensburg lecture and the
Berlin Opera’s cancellation of a performance of Mozart’s Idomeneo,
with its severed heads of religious founders, including Muhammad, we
have seen violence and intimidation used to defend a particular
religion’s taboos.

There are questions here that are not easily answered by civilised
defenders of the Enlightenment. Toleration and respect for people who
have their own beliefs are right and perhaps necessary to preserve an
enlightened world. But there is the other side to consider. Violent
responses to unwelcome views are never justified and cannot be
accepted. Those who argue that suicide bombers express understandable
grudges have themselves sold out their freedom. Self-censorship is
worse than censorship itself, because it sacrifices freedom
voluntarily.

This means that we have to defend Salman Rushdie and the Danish
cartoonists and the friends of Idomeneo , whether we like them or
not. If anyone does not like them, there are all the instruments of
public debate and of critical discourse that an enlightened community
has at its disposal. It is also true that we do not have to buy any
particular book or listen to an opera. What a poor world it would be
if anything that might offend any group could no longer be said! A
multicultural society that accepts every taboo of its diverse groups
would have little to talk about.

The kind of reaction we have seen recently to expressions of views
that are offensive to some does not bode well for the future of
liberty. It is as if a new wave of counter-enlightenment is sweeping
the world, with the most restrictive views dominating the scene.
Against such reactions, enlightened views must be reasserted
strongly. Defending the right of all people to say things even if one
detests their views is one of the first principles of liberty.

Thus, Idomeneo must be performed, and Salman Rushdie must be
published. Whether an editor publishes cartoons offensive to
believers in Muhammad (or Christ, for that matter) is a matter of
judgment, almost of taste. I might not do it, but I would
nevertheless defend the right of someone who decides otherwise. It is
debatable whether recent incidents of this kind require a "dialogue
between religions." Public debate making clear cases one way or the
other seems more appropriate than conciliation. The gains of
enlightened discourse are too precious to be turned into negotiable
values. Defending those gains is the task that we now face.

Project Syndicate, 2006.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Sunday Times, Australia
Oct 14 2006

Armenians rally to support genocide billFrom correspondents in
Yerevan

October 14, 2006 02:30am

AROUND 1000 students rallied in the Armenian capital overnight to
thank the French parliament for backing a bill that would make it a
crime to deny that Turks committed genocide against the Armenians in
the early 20th century.

"Thank You France!" and "Hail French Justice!" read two of the
placards held up by the students from a nationalist youth group, who
waved flags of Armenia and France as they marched through central
Yerevan.

Participants at the rally laid flowers by the French embassy
building.

"With this march we want to express our gratitude to the French
parliament and the French people," said Aik Asatryan, head of the
Dashnaktsutyun group that organised the march.

"We want to say thank you. Despite threats from Turkey, they were not
afraid and took the right decision," Mr Asatryan said.

Participants at the rally presented France’s ambassador to Yerevan,
Henry Cuny, with a letter that read: "With this step France has once
again shown its support for defending human rights and freedom of
speech."

The French parliament on Thursday approved on first reading a bill
that would make it a crime to deny that the 1915-1917 massacres of
Armenians by the Ottoman Turks constituted genocide.

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

Turkey, which strongly rejects the use of the term genocide in the
sensitive Armenian issue, slammed the vote, saying France had dealt
"a heavy blow" to longstanding bilateral relations.

Reuters, UK
Oct 13 2006

Turkey studying retaliatory measures against France

October 13, 2006

By Paul de Bendern

ANKARA, Oct 13 (Reuters) – Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on
Friday Turkey was studying retaliatory measures against France
following approval of a law making it a crime to deny Armenians
suffered genocide at the hands of Ottoman Turks.

"Turkey’s foreign trade volume with France is $10 billion and this is
equal to 1.5 percent of France’s whole foreign trade volume. We’re
going to make the proper calculations and then take necessary steps,"
Erdogan said in a speech.

He did not elaborate, but said the centre-right government would take
measures within Turkey and abroad.

But the ruling AK Party, facing a rise in nationalism ahead of next
year’s parliamentary elections, must tread a careful line not to
damage its success at bringing political and econmic stability to the
Muslim country seeking EU membership.

France’s lower house of parliament voted for the bill on Thursday,
despite warnings from French firms that it would create repercussions
for their business in Turkey, a fast-growing market which imported
4.7 billion euros’ worth of French goods in 2005.

"There are no real threats in current trade, though perhaps (there
could be) with some big contracts," a French Foreign Ministry
spokesman told reporters at a regular briefing in Paris.

The bill still needs approval from the upper house, the Senate, and
President Jacques Chirac to take effect.

Turkey denies claims that Armenians suffered genocide in Turkey
during World War One, arguing that large numbers of both Muslim Turks
and Christian Armenians died in a partisan conflict that accompanied
the collapse of the Ottoman Empire.

BOYCOTT CALLS

Hundreds of French firms such as Renault and Carrefour have large
investments in Turkey, employing thousands of Turkish workers. This
week Turkish consumer groups and some trade unions called for
boycotts of French products.

The Turkish Consumers Union called on its members to begin boycotting
French products, starting on Friday with energy group Total.

"The boycott will continue increasingly until the law on the
so-called Armenian genocide is annulled," the union’s chairman Bulent
Deniz said in a press release.

But economists questioned the effectiveness of a boycott on France as
Turkey accounts for only 1.3 percent of France’s exports.

Past Turkish calls for boycotts against other countries had an effect
only for a short time.

Big Turkish business have largely opposed a boycott and Economy
Minister Ali Babacan said on Thursday the government would not
encourage it either.

The controversy over an alleged genocide goes to the heart of modern
Turkey which is struggling to push through EU-inspired reform which
often clash with its own history and customs.

Many Turks also see the genocide vote as a way for the European Union
to keep Muslim Turkey out of the 25-member club.

"In my view the new law is likely to be counterproductive," EU
Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said in Helsinki.

"We don’t achieve real dialogue and real conciliation through
ultimatums. It will have a negative impact on Turkey coming to terms
with its past," Rehn said.

(Additional reporting by Brian Rohan in Paris and Tarmo Virki in
Helsinki)

The New Anatolian, Turkey
Oct 13 2006

‘A heavy blow to ties’

The Turkish Foreign Ministry yesterday declared that the French
Parliament’s passing a law penalizing denial of an Armenian
"genocide" had dealt a heavy blow to Turkish-French ties.

The Foreign Ministry’s written statement acknowledged that the law
will still have to pass the Senate and then be ratified by the
president, but added, "The first step in this process, the
ratification of the law by the (lower house) National Assembly, has
created deep disappointment in Turkey."

The ministry stressed that Turkish nationals, civil society and
business groups had mobilized along with parliamentary and diplomatic
initiatives to block the bill, which would impose heavy penalties on
those who deny an Armenian "genocide."

"We will continue those efforts," the statement said, pointing to the
fact that there was a great deal of opposition to the law within
France as well.

The statement said that the law also constitutes a serious violation
of both the French constitutional system, which places freedom of
expression above all other rights, and the European Convention. "It
also contradicts the basic values of the French nation, which has
inspired the free world with its concept of liberty, equality and
fraternity," said the statement.

The declaration drew attention to what it called a "French paradox"
of leaving its own history to historians — meaning a controversial
past in colonial Algeria — but choosing to pass a law on the history
of another country. "This damages the credibility of France’s words
and deeds," it said.

The Foreign Ministry declaration carefully refrained from making any
reference to retaliatory measures, such as boycott or sanctions, but
simply referred to the sentiments of the Turkish public, saying,
"With this law, France has lost its privileged, special place in the
eyes of the Turkish people," said the article.

The Foreign Ministry statement was definitely softer in tone than the
declaration of Parliament Speaker Bulent Arinc, who called the law
"completely shameful."

"This is a very hostile attitude toward Turkey which cannot be
accepted," said Arinc. "It is a shame, totally shameful, that a
country which is seen as the cradle of democracy approves such a
law."

We hope that it will not be passed by the Senate, said Arinc.

ARKA News Agency, Armenia
Oct 13 2006

AMERIA CJSC CONDUCTS RESEARCH AND EVALUATION OF EFFECTIVENESS OF
COMMERCIAL LAW IN ARMENIA

YEREVAN, October 13. /ARKA/. In the scope of the legal indicator
survey in the countries of the European Bank for Reconstruction and
Development activity, Ameria CJSC conducts a research and evaluation
of the effectiveness of commercial law in Armenia, the press service
of the company reported.
Since 2004 Ameria has actively participated in the EBRD activities
with the objective to improve the legal environment in the countries
with transition economies.
The EBRD conducted surveys of laws on insolvency and corporate
management in 29 countries.
The Ameria experts carried out all these surveys and also the
activities on elaboration of concession and anti money-laundering
laws.
In this year the EBRD assesses the concession sector. The results
will be announced before the end of 2006.
Through the concession assessment project, the EBRD aims to
encourage, influence and provide guidance to governments, policy
makers and all those in charge of promoting new legislation for the
development of concessions-related legal reform in the region.
Through the concession assessment project, the EBRD aims to
encourage, influence and provide guidance to governments, policy
makers and all those in charge of promoting new legislation for the
development of concessions-related legal reform in the region.
Ameria is a group of professional services companies registered in
Armenia with the objective to provide a comprehensive package of
professional advisory and assurance services. Ameria specializes in
four major areas of professional activities: management advisory
services; assurance and advisory services; legal advisory services;
investment banking. Established in 1998, the company has become a
leader in the Armenian market of advisory services bringing an
international reach and local touch to complex issues rising in more
than 30 industry sectors. R.O. -0–