Month: October 2006

GOODS TRANSIT BETWEEN ARMENIA AND RUSSIA VIA GEORGIA NOT TO BE HALTED

Regnum, Russia
Oct 10 2006

Goods’ transit between Armenia and Russia via Georgian territory
will not be halted; Armenian presidential National security council
secretary Serge Sargsyan informed the press. It is worth stressing,
Serge Sargsyan participated in the ninth sitting of Armenian-Russian
intergovernmental commission in Moscow.

Russian Transport Minister Igor Levitin is quoted by Armenian Public
TV-Channel as stressing that goods’ transit between Armenia and Russia
will be carried out from port of Samsun (Turkey) to port of Caucasus
(Russia) and, then, to port of Poti. Two train-ferries will function
between the port of Caucasus and the port of Poti by the end of
2006. Meanwhile, one 20-car train-ferry connects these ports.

Also, it was decided to give Russian companies one month of time to
prepare schemes on involvement Armenian enterprises, handed over to
Russian side in frames of Property for Debts program. Special protocol
was signed in that connection.

It is worth stressing, in framework of paying out its $100mln
worth state debt to Russia, Armenia has handed over to Russia
five enterprises – Hrazdan NPP, Mathematical scientific institute,
Scientific institute of computer-aided executive systems, Materials
Science Institute, and Mars plant; ArmInfo reports.

HAMKOR BANK REPRESENTATIVES TO ATTEND CONFERENCE IN YEREVAN

UzReport.com, Uzbekistan
Oct 10 2006

The Third Open International Banking Conference on "Money transfers.
Retail banking services" will take place on 11-14 October at Marriott
Armenia Hotel in Yerevan (Armenia). The representatives of the Uzbek
Hamkor Bank will attend.

Among the participating banks are the largest banks of Russia
and the CIS, foreign and Russian money transfer systems, large
financial technology producers, analytical and banking publications,
international financial and banking associations.

On the agenda are the issues concerning the expansion and development
of the range of retail banking services, the liberalization of
the legislation on currency, the methods of solving technological,
economic and other challenges facing the banking community.

Hamkor Bank provides a wide range of services including foreign
currency conversion, and money transfers by means of international
money transfer systems of Western Union, Anelik, Contact, Unistream,
and Bystraya Pochta.

ERIC BOGOSIAN TAKES CHARGE ON LAW & ORDER: CRIMINAL INTENT
by Raven Snook

TV Guide
Oct 10 2006

A lot of people have the impression that Eric Bogosian is an angry
guy. The perpetually black-clad, New York-based writer/performer forged
that image with his ferocious solo shows – Sex, Drugs, Rock & Roll,
Pounding Nails into the Floor with My Forehead and Talk Radio, which
was made into a 1988 Oliver Stone film – and his over-the-top turn
as a Steven Seagal-taunting terrorist in Under Siege 2. On the right
side of the law in his current role of Law & Order: Criminal Intent’s
Captain Danny Ross (Tuesdays at 9 pm/ET on NBC), he’s still as intense
and unsmiling as usual, though he insists it’s all a put-on. In fact,
due to his L&O gig and the star-studded revivals of two of his plays,
this downtown rebel-turned-character-actor says he’s happier than
he’s been in years.

TVGuide.com: Hello, Eric? The music’s so loud I can barely hear you.

Eric Bogosian: Sorry. Let me just turn the Mozart down.

TVGuide.com: I never would have pegged you as a classical fan.

Bogosian: Well, after the 7,000th listening of "Freebird" I knew every
f–king note, so about two years ago I really started diving into
classical music. I’m hooked on opera, of all things. The Metropolitan
Opera was giving away $20 tickets the other night and I almost went.

TVGuide.com: Wow, Eric Bogosian: Bargain Hunter.

Bogosian: Always. I’m Armenian, so I’m totally fiscally oriented. I
am ridiculously frugal. Yesterday I was poring over my Sprint bill
trying to figure out why it was $10 more than usual. I spent an hour
on it, and that’s a complete waste of time, right?

TVGuide.com: It depends on how much your time is worth.

Bogosian: Currently it’s worth a lot! It went up to a much higher
level of worth because of my work on L&O.

TVGuide.com: Let’s talk about that gig. I’ve always thought of you
as this rebellious performance artist, so I was surprised that you
accepted a series-regular role on commercial TV.

Bogosian: Oh, I’d been trying to get on L&O forever. Every year I
would put out the word [to the producers] that if a new character
was being created, I wanted to be considered. Finally last spring
[writer-producer] Warren [Leight] asked me to come by the set to say
hi to some people. [Series creator] Dick Wolf was there and he said,
"I heard that you don’t want to do TV," and I said, "No, no, no,
it depends on what TV." So he asked if I would consider coming on
the show. I am so happy to be doing L&O. I’m totally f–king enthused.

TVGuide.com: Has acting always been your ultimate goal?

Bogosian: I originally came to New York in the ’70s to be an actor, but
I found the industry so overwhelming and intimidating that I quit and
ended up working on the alternative-performance scene. The movie Talk
Radio altered my whole relationship to the commercial-film industry,
but over the years I let a lot of things get in my way. I was just
unreliable. Even when I stopped all that, I was a hothead for a really
long time. About five years ago, my film career started to peter out,
so I made a bunch of changes. I decided I didn’t want to do solo
shows anymore because A) I didn’t have anything more to say and B)
I hated touring. I thought if I stopped doing my own shows I would
be able to reenter the world of acting as a character actor, which is
what I am. I felt like I had reached a point where I was ready to work.

TVGuide.com: And you’ve been working a lot lately, both as an actor
and a writer. I just saw a revival of your play subUrbia with quite
an up-and-coming cast: Kieran Culkin, Gaby Hoffman and Jessica
Capshaw. And Liev Schreiber is doing Talk Radio on Broadway next
year. I know you updated the subUrbia script. Are you tweaking Talk
Radio as well?

Bogosian: I’m doing a lot of work on the text, but I’m hoping it
doesn’t show. It’s tough to tinker with Talk Radio. It will be 20 years
old when it goes up and the guy who wrote it is a different guy than me
– not only in terms of where I was at in my life, but a different sort
of writer. I was bursting with ideas, but I didn’t have the technique
that I have now. Still, I don’t want to go back and mess anything up.

TVGuide.com: Before L&O came along, you had a recurring role on the
short-lived but much-beloved Love Monkey. How did that come about?

Bogosian: I did it as a favor to [series creator] Michael [Rauch],
who did an internship with me back in the mid-’90s. He’d come down
and hang out with me and we became very good friends. He directed
me in the film In the Weeds, and he filmed my solo show Wake Up and
Smell the Coffee…. There are so many guys working in TV right now –
Michael, Warren – who are mensches to the heavens. I’m really lucky
that they’re in my life.

TVGuide.com: You sound like you’re in a really happy place. You’re
nowhere near as angry as I thought you’d be.

Bogosian: I’m always playing heavies and bad guys. People make this
assumption that I’m like that in real life, but I’m really just a
big goofball.

AZERBAIJAN`S SPEAKER: ALIYEV NEVER AGREE ANY MATTER CONTRADICTING TO NATION`S AND STATE`S INTERESTS
Author: J. Shakhverdiyev

TREND, Azerbaijan
Oct 10 2006

Azerbaijan`s President will never agree any matter contradicting
to the interests of the nation and state, Ogtay Asadov, Speaker
of Azerbaijan`s Parliament (Milli Majlis) told during the sitting
of the Parliament expressing his attitute toward the proposal of MP
Igbal Aghazadeh, Chairman of the party "Umid" ("Hope") to commence the
alternatives of the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement proposed to Azerbaijan,
Trend reports.

The Azerbaijani Speaker stressed that the negotiations have been
restored and this issue is under the control of the Head of the
Azerbaijani State.

Notably, the MP pointed out that a signing of a certain document
in connection with the EU Neighbourhood Policy is expected to be
held in Brussels on November 11-12, 2006. The document points out
that Azerbaijan should take obligations upon itself to not carry
hostilities within 5 years. The MP expressed intention to organize
parliamentary debates in this connection. At the same time, he insisted
that the Foreign office should provide the MPs with all the necessary
information. He also told that these debates should be held behind
closed doors.

REHN WARNS FRANCE AGAINST ADOPTING ARMENIA GENOCIDE LAW
By Mark Beunderman

EUobserver.com, Belgium
Oct 10 2006

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – EU enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn has
warned France on its planned adoption of a law making it a crime
to deny the Armenian genocide, saying it may mean that people could
"end up in prison in an EU member state" for expressing their views.

The French parliament will on Thursday (12 October) vote on a law
proposed by the country’s socialists which would penalise the denial of
the 1915 Armenian genocide, in a move which has sparked anger in Turkey
and strong concern in the European Commission and European Parliament.

Mr Rehn told Reuters on Monday (9 October) that the proposed
legislation risks impairing relations between the EU and candidate
member state Turkey, where public opinion largely denies that a
genocide took place under the rule of the Ottoman Turks.

"The French law on the Armenian genocide is of course a matter for
French lawmakers, but there is a lot at stake for the European Union
as well, and the decision may have very serious consequences for
EU-Turkey relations," Mr Rehn said.

"Such a law would have counter-productive consequences because it would
say to the Turks that there is nothing to discuss. Here you have the
final truth and if you happen to deny it you end up in prison in an
EU member state," he added.

"This would put in danger the efforts of all those in Turkey –
intellectuals, historians, academics, authors – who truly want to
develop an open and serious debate without taboos and for the sake
of freedom of expression."

The commissioner’s unusual criticism of free speech legislation in
an EU member state – instead of in candidate states – follows strong
remarks by Turkish prime minister Tayyip Erdogan who recently asked
if he would be "put in prison" if he were to visit France and said
there was no genocide.

MEPs wade into debate Meanwhile, the draft French law has also
started to raise tempers in the European Parliament, with one of the
parliament’s senior experts on Turkey warning that the freedom of
speech in the EU is under threat.

Joost Lagendijk, Dutch Green MEP and chair of the parliament’s
delegation to the joint EU-Turkey parliamentary committee, told
EUobserver that EU efforts to promote free speech in Turkey are being
made "less credible" by the French legislation.

"The EU is rapidly developing a perception problem in Turkey," Mr
Lagendijk said.

"If we ask Turkey to ensure the freedom of expression we cannot have
a situation where at the same time, people could end up jailed for
their views in Europe. Freedom of speech is at stake here."

The Dutch MEP was referring to the EU’s efforts to get Ankara to
change the notorious article 301 in its penal code, which penalises
"insulting Turkishness."

The article has been frequently used to bring charges against writers
and intellectuals – most recently the novelist Elif Safak – who in
one way or another question the prevailing Turkish view that there
was no Armenian genocide.

Was there a genocide?

Mr Lagendijk said he himself is not sure there was a real "genocide"
against the Armenians, saying that "serious historians have questioned"
whether "there was a deliberate campaign aimed at eradicating the
Armenian people, causing 1.5 million victims."

"I am among those who believe hundreds of thousands of people died in
a horrible way, but who are not sure there was a deliberate attempt
at murdering an entire people," he said.

The remarks have infuriated French MEPs, with centre-right deputy
Patrick Gaubert saying Mr Lagendijk’s comments are "unacceptable."

"I am really shocked," he said. "This gentlemen should start to
read history books. Everybody knows and nobody doubts that this was
a genocide."

Defending the proposed anti-denial law, he said "Europe is a continent
where freedom of speech is guaranteed in an extraordinary manner. But
free speech ends when the memories of a people are abused and their
feelings are suffering from lies."

‘No discrimination between genocides’ "There are certain subjects
where you have to show caution, pity and respect for those who have
suffered – like also in the case of the Jewish Holocaust," he added,
the public denial of which is already illegal in France and Austria.

Martine Roure, a French socialist MEP, said that Mr Lagendijk is
"wrong."

"There is already a provision in French law against denying the Shoah
[the Holocaust]. This does not mean that people are being sent to
prison for that – they just receive a moral condemnation."

"We cannot discriminate between genocides," she said ahead of
Thursday’s vote in the French parliament.

RAILWAY IN RUSSIA: CARGO TRANSIT FROM ARMENIA TO RUSSIA VIA GEORGIA TO CONTINUE

Railway Market Magazine, Poland
Oct 10 2006

Cargo transit from Armenia to Russia through Georgia and back will
not be stopped, Armenian Defence Minister Serzh Sarkisyan said.

Russian Transport Minister Igor Levitin said cargoes would go to and
from Armenia through the ports of Novorossiisk and Kavkaz.

The parties said cargo turnover between Russia and Armenia would double
this year to 363.9 million U.S. dollars. Russia supplies machinery,
equipment, nuclear fuel, and surface transport to Armenia in exchange
for food and agricultural products, alcohol, previous and semi-precious
metals and stones.

Two railway ferries will run between Novorossiisk and Kavkaz by the
end of the year. Currently there is only one ferry for 20 railway
carriages.

According to Levitin, the ferry is not efficient and it will be
replaced with two ferries, each capable of carrying 52 railway
carriages.

Armenia’s National Statistics Service said Russia was the third largest
investor in Armenia in 2005 after Germany and Turkey, having invested
67.5 million U.S. dollars.

The ministers said 589 joint ventures with Russian capital were
registered in Armenia. About 300 of them are doing well, including
Armenal at the Kanaker Aluminium Plant that makes foil. It plans to
make up to 2.5 percent of foil in the world by 2008.

TURKISH PRIME MINISTER VOWS FIGHT AGAINST GENOCIDE LABEL FOR KILLINGS OF ARMENIANS

The Associated Press
International Herald Tribune, France
Oct 10 2006

ISTANBUL, Turkey Turkey’s prime minister vowed Tuesday to fight
against what he called a "systematic lie machine" pushing to label
Turkey’s World War I-era killings of Armenians as genocide.

The remarks were made in reaction to a proposed French law that would
make it a crime to deny that the killings of as many as 1.5 million
Armenians amounted to genocide.

The proposed law has sparked outrage in Turkey against France and the
European Union, both of which have sharply criticized Turkey for not
permitting freedom of expression, particularly on the highly emotional
Armenian issue.

"Let no one doubt that the Turkish Republic state and its people are
capable of breaking this systematic lie machine and of dispersing
these clouds of disinformation," Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
said in an address to his party.

"There can be no legal justification for making it a crime to say a
lie is a lie."

Turkey’s official policy is to acknowledge that large numbers of
Armenians were killed by Turks, but to reject the overall figure
of 1.5 million as inflated and to say the deaths occurred in civil
unrest during the collapse of the Ottoman Empire.

Saying otherwise in Turkey can lead to criminal prosecution.

Erdogan repeated his past calls to Armenia to jointly research the
killings by opening the historical archives of both countries to
historians, complaining that Armenia had not responded to his requests
to do so.

He said the proposed French law was inconsistent with the principle
of freedom of expression, and accused France of ignoring its own
history while trying to legislate the facts of Turkey’s.

"Let the lie and slander machines look at their own history," he said,
listing 11 African countries in which France has a colonial past.

France’s lower house of parliament is to debate the bill on Thursday.

Under the bill, people who contest that there was an Armenian
genocide would risk up to a year in prison and fines of up to ~@45,000
(US$57,000).

Some Turkish legislators have proposed tit-for-tat measures such as
erecting statues to an "Algerian genocide" committed by France and
to passing a reciprocal law that would make denying it a crime.

Turkey’s foremost Armenian journalist, Hrant Dink, who has been tried
repeatedly in Turkey for saying Turks committed genocide against
Armenians, said passing the French law would be a mistake.

"Even if it appears that the Armenian genocide denial law acts in
the principle of universal human rights and responsibilities like the
struggle against genocide, we believe it erases the basic principle
that makes human rights possible, the principle of free expression,"
he said in a statement issued in both French and Turkish.

"Moreover, we think there is no need to support with laws the
historical truths of what the Armenian people have lived through in
the past. Because looking correctly at history does not require a law,
but conscience and morality."

Dink’s letter was signed by two other journalists at Agos, an
Istanbul-based bilingual Armenian-Turkish newspaper.

Some 100 Turks representing two different political parties gathered in
front of the French Embassy in Ankara Tuesday, calling for a boycott
against French goods.

Erdogan had previously called on French companies with interests in
Turkey to lobby against the proposed genocide bill.

ISTANBUL, Turkey Turkey’s prime minister vowed Tuesday to fight
against what he called a "systematic lie machine" pushing to label
Turkey’s World War I-era killings of Armenians as genocide.

The remarks were made in reaction to a proposed French law that would
make it a crime to deny that the killings of as many as 1.5 million
Armenians amounted to genocide.

The proposed law has sparked outrage in Turkey against France and the
European Union, both of which have sharply criticized Turkey for not
permitting freedom of expression, particularly on the highly emotional
Armenian issue.

"Let no one doubt that the Turkish Republic state and its people are
capable of breaking this systematic lie machine and of dispersing
these clouds of disinformation," Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
said in an address to his party.

"There can be no legal justification for making it a crime to say a
lie is a lie."

Turkey’s official policy is to acknowledge that large numbers of
Armenians were killed by Turks, but to reject the overall figure
of 1.5 million as inflated and to say the deaths occurred in civil
unrest during the collapse of the Ottoman Empire.

Saying otherwise in Turkey can lead to criminal prosecution.

Erdogan repeated his past calls to Armenia to jointly research the
killings by opening the historical archives of both countries to
historians, complaining that Armenia had not responded to his requests
to do so.

He said the proposed French law was inconsistent with the principle
of freedom of expression, and accused France of ignoring its own
history while trying to legislate the facts of Turkey’s.

"Let the lie and slander machines look at their own history," he said,
listing 11 African countries in which France has a colonial past.

France’s lower house of parliament is to debate the bill on Thursday.

Under the bill, people who contest that there was an Armenian
genocide would risk up to a year in prison and fines of up to ~@45,000
(US$57,000).

Some Turkish legislators have proposed tit-for-tat measures such as
erecting statues to an "Algerian genocide" committed by France and
to passing a reciprocal law that would make denying it a crime.

Turkey’s foremost Armenian journalist, Hrant Dink, who has been tried
repeatedly in Turkey for saying Turks committed genocide against
Armenians, said passing the French law would be a mistake.

"Even if it appears that the Armenian genocide denial law acts in
the principle of universal human rights and responsibilities like the
struggle against genocide, we believe it erases the basic principle
that makes human rights possible, the principle of free expression,"
he said in a statement issued in both French and Turkish.

"Moreover, we think there is no need to support with laws the
historical truths of what the Armenian people have lived through in
the past. Because looking correctly at history does not require a law,
but conscience and morality."

Dink’s letter was signed by two other journalists at Agos, an
Istanbul-based bilingual Armenian-Turkish newspaper.

Some 100 Turks representing two different political parties gathered in
front of the French Embassy in Ankara Tuesday, calling for a boycott
against French goods.

Erdogan had previously called on French companies with interests in
Turkey to lobby against the proposed genocide bill.

NKR DEPUTY FM: AZERI PARTY’S GOAL IS TO UNDERMINE NKR’S FOOD SECURITY

DeFacto Agency, Armenia
Oct 10 2006

October 9 the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic Deputy FM Masis Mailyan
received the members of the OSCE Mission on the estimation of the
ecological situation in the bordering zone between Nagorno-Karabakh
and Azerbaijan.

According to the information DE FACTO got at the NKR MFA Press Service,
welcoming the commission’s members Masis Mailyan underscored the
NKR leadership was always open for the international cooperation
and did its best for the OSCE monitoring to be held. In his turn,
the Mission’s Head, Coordinator of OSCE Economic and Environmental
Activities Bernard Snoy (Belgium) expressed his gratitude to the
Nagorno-Karabakh authorities for the substantial support of their
plans’ implementation, having noted the Karabakh experts participating
in the monitoring had contributed to the Mission’s work on Azerbaijan’s
territory. Mr. Snoy expressed satisfaction that the Karabakh leadership
had allowed the Azerbaijan’s representatives to participate in the
monitoring on the Nagorno-Karabakh’s territory.

"Our goal is to come to the conclusions based on the consensus. The
mission’s task is to strengthen confidence between the parties, which
will promote the conflict’s settlement in the future", noted the
OSCE Coordinator. In his words, the experts will estimate the fires’
short-term and long-term influence on the environment and prepare
recommendations on the actions to be undertaken again fires.

On the request of the Mission’s members Masis Mailyan presented the
situation connected with the fires. In part, he noted the fires had
begun early June, mainly because of the unprecedented dry weather.

He noted Baku politicized the problem, in part, the Azeri mass media
charged the Karabakh party with the fires’ organization. "In June we
sent a letter to the OSCE urging to hold a crisis-monitoring to refute
Baku’s ungrounded accusations. The first monitoring was held June 28,
then 3 more monitorings were held July 3, 4, 5. On the outcomes of the
monitoring the OSCE Chair-in-Office’s Personal Representative Andrzey
Kasprzyk prepared a report. However, Azerbaijan led the issue to the
U. N., and we are dissatisfied over the fact", Masis Mailyan said.

The NKR Deputy FM voiced discontent that the discussions in Vienna
on the fires had been conducted without the representatives of the
Nagorno-Karabakh – the most concerned party.

He mentioned the main reasons for the fires on the fields in the
bordering zone: unprecedented drought, Azerbaijan’s hostile actions –
the Azeri servicemen set fire to the dry grass on the neutral territory
and used tracer bullets while shooting. "The Azeri party’s goal is
to undermine the NKR’s food security. As a result of the fires the
Nagorno-Karabakh’s interests were prejudiced for 3, 5 milliard drams",
Masis Mailyan said.

He spoke up for the necessity of the joint activities to be undertaken
by the Karabakh and Azeri structures, having noted as early as in
2001 the NKR leadership had offered a complex of measures on the
establishment of trust to Azerbaijan (over 20 proposals), one of which
presumed elaboration of the preventive measures on the pastures’
fires. "However, Baku rejected the Karabakh party’s proposals,
and the mediators did not promote them properly. If our proposals
were accepted, the current situation would not be like this. Today
we are also ready to cooperate with Azerbaijan, but, unfortunately,
Baku does not get in touch with the Karabakh party even on the issues
of mutual interest", Masis Mailyan stated.

The Deputy FM answered numerous questions of the Mission’s members
who thanked him for the thorough information.

The officials from the NKR MFA, MOD, the Ministry of the Production
Infrastructures and Territorial Management, the State Department of
Ecology participated in the meeting as well.

The representatives of the U. S., Germany, Macedonia, Switzerland,
Italy, France, Moldova and Estonia are in the OSCE Mission. In
Nagorno-Karabakh the Mission will hold monitoring of the zone adjacent
to Azerbaijan for 3 days. To remind, October 5-7 the OSCE Mission held
a similar monitoring from the Azeri party with the Karabakh experts’
participation.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

CONCERNS OVER THE POPE’S VISIT TO TURKEY AFTER FATHER SANTORO’S MURDERER IS SENTENCED

AsiaNews.it, Italy
Oct 11 2006

The speedy trial left many grey areas uncovered: eyewitnesses not
called to testify; instigators not investigated. The culprit’s mother
praises the murder calling it "a gift to the state and the nation".

Nationalist-Islamist groups might create problems during the Pope’s
upcoming visit.

Rome (AsiaNews) – The sentence imposed on O.A., the 16-year-old
teenager found guilty of killing Italian priest Fr Andrea Santoro as
he was praying in St Mary’s Church in Trabzon, leaves many questions
unanswered. Whilst the boy’s mother might still defend him saying
"he did the deed in the name of Allah", Mgr Luigi Padovese, apostolic
vicar to Anatolia, views it with some concerns as it might impact
the Pope’s imminent visit to Turkey.

"It is terrible," he told AsiaNews, "that during the trial neither
the boy nor the mother showed any remorse about the murder. In fact
they almost said they would do it again . . . . And if the press
continues to show understanding for this attitude . . . there could
be difficulties" from nationalist-Islamist quarters.

After the announcement of the verdict was postponed nine times for lack
of a unanimous agreement, the court in Trabzon yesterday imposed an
18 year and 10 month prison term, but it is very likely though that
given the boy’s age and other factors, he will spend only seven or
eight years behind bars.

This brings to an end what for the Turkish government was an
embarrassment vis-a-vis Europe.

Never the less, many people are still left with doubts, pondering
over the trial’s haste and the failure to consider certain important
elements.

For instance, O.A. may be guilty in the court’s eyes, Loredana P.,
an Italian eyewitness who was in the church at the time of the murder
(she had come to Trabzon to work as a volunteer at St Mary’s parish),
is unwavering in saying that the hand and arm she saw shooting at the
priest could not be that of the boy. But she was not even heard at
the trial, which was held in camera without any representative from
either the Church or Italy.

Another element in the case that was not fully investigated was the
gun the boy allegedly used in shooting the priest, a type of gun that
was also used in the May killing of High Court Judge Mustafa Yucel
Ozbilgin, one that is quite expensive. This fact raises an important
question. How could O.A. get a hold of such a gun? And if it belonged
to his father, how could the latter get it since he is not rich?

Similarly, the court failed to look into the boy’s background, the
environment in which he was born and raised.

At the end the trial O.A.’s mother was asked what she felt. Her answer
sounds like an apology for murder. "Had he been put in jailed for
breaking the law or not respecting state rules, it would have been
a shame for us, a curse, but he is being punished for deed committed
in the name of Allah. For this reason I have nothing to say. I have
faith in man’s and God’s justice."

During the trial she always defended her son without showing any
remorse. Instead, she said her son’s deed "was a gift to the state
and the nation," that her condemned son "is a victim for Allah."

Yesterday, she went as far as comparing him to Ali Agca, the would-be
murderer of Pope John Paul II and told her son to shout "Allah Akhbar",
Allah is great.

O.A.’s brother also defended him and said that the fault lies with
Western provocations, their "attack against the nation". He accused
the West and the "American dogs" of causing all evils.

"It is clear," said Mgr Padovese, "that the background that made
Santoro’s murder possible is nationalist-Islamist. That milieu
is scary because it embodies the soul of some segments of Turkish
society, increasingly inflexible, justifying violence. It is terrible
that throughout the trial mother and son showed no remorse for the
murder. In fact they almost said they would do it again."

Pope Benedict XVI is scheduled to visit Turkey in late November. "I
hope," said the apostolic vicar, "that this [the trial] will have no
repercussions on the Holy Father’s visit to Turkey."

"The local press has given little coverage to the trial and the
sentence imposed on Father Santoro’s murderer," he noted. "They are
more concerned with censuring France which is trying to acknowledge
the Armenian genocide."

"If the press keeps up this attitude of defending the murderer’s deed
and accusing the Church, the sentence might have some influence on
the Pope’s visit," he added.

"Fr Andrea Santoro was falsely accused of proselytising, of buying
conversions and forcing young Muslims to adopt the Christian faith.

If the press pursues this line, there might be difficulties, not so
much from the government but from nationalist-Islamist groups."

SOLANA BLINKS, DEEPLY
By Vladimir Socor

Eurasia Daily Monitor, DC
Oct 11 2006

The European Union’s High Representative for Common Foreign and
Security Policy, Javier Solana, opined in a European Parliament hearing
that international recognition of Kosovo’s independence from Serbia
could set "a precedent" adversely affecting Georgia in Abkhazia and
South Ossetia. With some trepidation Solana imagined, "We are trapped
here…. President [Mikheil] Saakashvili is trapped; all of us are
trapped in a double mechanism that may have good consequences for one,
but not for the other" (RFE/RL Caucasus Report, October 6).

This statement gratuitously bows to Russia’s untenable, self-serving
theory linking the conflict settlement in Kosovo to the post-Soviet
conflicts. Given Solana’s top position, this statement — inadvertent
or improvised as may be the case in a hearing — is the strongest
public support for Moscow’s position from a Western official thus
far. It undercuts U.S. policy and that of many old and new EU
governments, which rule out any linkage between conflict resolution
in Kosovo and in the post-Soviet conflicts. Those governments —
and also Georgia, Moldova, and Azerbaijan, whose territories are
the scene of conflicts — point out that the Kosovo conflict differs
profoundly in its nature from the post-Soviet "frozen" conflicts and
that any outcome in Kosovo can have no bearing on eventual outcomes
in Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Transnistria, or Karabakh.

The timing of Solana’s pronouncement is — again, perhaps
unintentionally — as encouraging to Moscow as its content. The endgame
seems very near in Kosovo. The United States and the European Union
(the latter not without hesitation) are aiming for a solution in
Kosovo by the end of this year, involving international recognition
of Kosovo’s right to independent statehood or at least a decisive
and irreversible move toward such recognition.

In the U.N. Security Council and at the OSCE, veto-wielding Russia
is set for a grand tradeoff. Two options seem equally satisfactory
to Moscow: It would accept Kosovo’s independence from Serbia via
referendum, if Western powers tacitly accept the secession by a
similar scenario of one or more Russian-controlled territories from
Georgia and/or Moldova. Or, alternatively, Russia could use its veto
to support Serbia, block the Western-supported independence of Kosovo,
and exploit such a success to re-enter Balkan politics in alliance
with Serbian nationalism.

A third option, at least as advantageous to Moscow, would be
stalemate and persistent ambiguity on both Kosovo and the post-Soviet
conflicts. Russia aims to manipulate the negotiating processes on
both fronts, in no hurry to reach settlement on either, and leverage
its influence for potential tradeoffs in both. If Kosovo festers
unresolved, Russia will have its fifth "frozen" conflict, this one
in the Balkans, to exploit from next year onward.

Even the relatively moderate (compared to the ultras) Serbian
nationalists currently in power are scurrying to gain Russia’s
support for the latter two scenarios. Thus, Serbian Minister of
Foreign Affairs Vuk Draskovic is seconding Moscow in calling for an
arms embargo against Georgia (Interfax, October 6).

All three Russian scenarios are predicated on linking the negotiation
processes and outcomes in the post-Soviet conflicts and Kosovo,
falsely postulating the equivalency of all these conflicts and calling
for equivalent solutions. Moscow insists that it wants a single,
overarching conflict-resolution model, but it remains ambiguous
and flexible about its choice of such a model. At the moment, it
seems equally prepared to sacrifice Serb nationalist interests for a
"precedent" that would advance the "right" of post-Soviet secession;
or, alternatively, to short-change its post-Soviet secessionist
clients by stalling the resolution in Kosovo with lip service to the
"territorial integrity" principle.

The United States and many other governments point out that each
conflict has its own characteristics and is a case in itself,
requiring specific solutions. In Kosovo, for example, the former
titular state Serbia ethnically cleansed the Albanian population —
a process that the West reversed. In Abkhazia or Karabakh, however,
the local minority ethnically cleansed the majority population with
external support — a process that continues to this day with Russian
support. While Kosovo was an internal conflict within the former
Yugoslavia, the post-Soviet conflicts are inter-state conflicts
pitting Russia against Moldova and Georgia and Armenia against
Karabakh. Whereas the post-Soviet secessionist territories make no
secret of their desire to join another country and have taken the
citizenship of another country, Kosovo is headed for statehood of
its own, with an explicit prohibition on joining another country.

Thus, any "precedent" or linkage is ruled out. Russia, however —
from President Vladimir Putin on down — insists on linkage and
"precedent." Solana could have underscored the major differences
between these conflicts by aligning himself with the United States
and many EU member countries on this issue. Instead, he seemed to
succumb to Moscow’s views in his European Parliament deposition.

Solana has in the recent past displayed an uncertain knowledge of the
post-Soviet "frozen" conflicts and an inclination to appease Moscow.

Last year, he allowed himself to be maneuvered by Putin into meeting
with the Abkhaz and South Ossetian secessionist leaders in Sochi.

Earlier this year, in an interview with Moldova’s officious daily
newspaper, Solana completely mis-described the Transnistria conflict as
one between right-bank and left-bank economic and political elites —
an interpretation apparently designed to obscure Russia role in this
inter-state conflict.