Month: October 2006

PRISON PSYCHOTHERAPY MAY PROVE EFFECTIVE
Evika Babayan

Azat Artsakh, Republic of Nagorno Karabakh
Oct 7 2006

Civic Action Center NGO has recently held a seminar for the staff of
the prison of Shushi on prison psychotherapy. "During the monitoring
of prisons our organization helps inmates who need psychologist’s
help. Moreover, the psychologist of the CAC works with the staff of
the prisons," says the director of the center Albert Voskanian. Zoya
Mayilian, the psychologist of the center says the necessity for prison
psychotherapy occurred due to the need of inmates for psychologist’s
help, as well as the insufficiency of ordinary methods. In answer to
our question whether prison psychotherapy may have a beneficial effect
on the prisoner’s psychology, Zoya Mayilian said it may prevent clashes
between individuals and groups of inmates, suicides, as well as help
them get used to the prison life, correctional methods more easily.

PROBLEM OF HOUSING, AND HOW IT IS SOLVED
Laura Grigorian

Azat Artsakh, Republic of Nagorno Karabakh
Oct 7 2006

One of the important components of the social policy in
Nagorno-Karabakh Republic is housing. A great number of villages
were destroyed during shelling. The population of other villages was
displaced, and the villages were ruined. For several years now the
government and benefactors have been funding repair and construction
of houses in these villages. The problem is different in Stepanakert.

A great number of refugees moved to Stepanakert, who did not have
houses, plus the families of killed freedom fighters and the disabled
of the Artsakh war. As long ago as in the 1969-1970s it was almost
impossible to get a flat in Stepanakert, and it is clear that the
newly-established republic cannot afford to build houses for everyone
for free like in the Soviet times, therefore it attends to the
socially insecure families mainly in the framework of a free housing
policy. Nevertheless, according to Armen Hakobian, the head of the
department of housing, public utilities of the City Hall, there is a
way out. There is a program on allocating free plot of land to build a
house on the application of the citizen. Those who can afford to build
a house, including on a loan, accept this offer and are checked out
of the lists of the free housing policy. Armen Hakobian also informed
that 184 families of killed freedom fighters are registered for the
free housing policy of the government. The head of the department of
housing and public utilities said although every year the government
provides some families with apartments, their number grows for some
reasons, such as new members in the family, social problems, etc. The
number of people registered in this program also grows because now
most people move from villages to the capital to find jobs and after
renting a house for three years they apply for an apartment.

ARMENIAN GENOCIDE: ELECTION PASSIONS RUN HIGH IN NETHERLANDS

PanARMENIAN.Net
09.10.2006 13:35 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Protests against the exclusion of three candidates
– ethnic Turks denying the Armenian Genocide – are going on. Parties
lose votes, chairman of the Federation of the Federation of Armenian
organizations of Netherlands Mato Hakhverdyan told a PanARMENIAN.Net
reporter. However, he remarked that the number of those discontent with
the three candidates excluded is growing and the rating of the Labor
Party and Christian Democrats has raised with 3 per cent. "Yesterday
one of the leading TV channels covered a rally held by Turk students
in one of the Dutch towns in protest of violations of freedom of
speech. Turkish organizations met with Christian Democrats, who have
not abandoned their position since the recognition of the Armenian
Genocide in 2004. They called on Turks to discussion on the Genocide,"
Hakhverdyan said. The parliamentary election is due in Netherlands
on November 22.

GERMAN CHANCELLOR MEETS MUSLIM, CHRISTIAN, JEWISH LEADERS IN TURKEY

Anatolia news agency, Ankara,
8 Oct 06

Istanbul, 6.10.2006 -Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
and German Chancellor Angela Merkel met representatives of the four
monotheist religions in Istanbul on Friday [6 October], giving messages
of peace against "disaster scenarios of the clash of civilizations".

"Such a gathering is the best and the most effective answer to
scenarios of the clash of civilizations," Erdogan told a press
conference after the meeting with Istanbul Mufti Mustafa Cagirici,
Armenian Patriarch Mesrob II, Chief Rabbi of Turkey Isak Haleva and
Greek Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew.

Erdogan qualified the meeting as "very meaningful in such a critical
moment when the world needed peace more than ever".

"I believe that politicians and clergy all over the world as opinion
leaders should avoid remarks and attitudes that provoke an exclusionist
culture of violence and conflict," Erdogan said.

"In a place where Europe and Asia meet, we cry out to the world
for the universality of peace and the alliance of civilizations,"
the Premier added. Erdogan urged for global cooperation against what
he described as "trends that seriously threaten world peace and drag
them into an endless obscurity."

"Our joint initiative with Spanish Prime Minister Zapatero, the
Alliance of Civilizations, and the initiative ‘Ernst Reuter’ with
Germany are the best examples for that cooperation," Erdogan stated.

Speaking afterwards, the German chancellor expressed her gratitude
for the meeting which she described as "very useful."

"We are in accord that practicing violence in the name of religion
is unacceptable. I hope that this meeting will contribute to the
peaceful co-existence of religions," Merkel said.

After the press conference, Merkel departed from Istanbul’s Ataturk
Airport for Germany.

NATO CLOSELY WATCHES KARABAKH TALKS

PanARMENIAN.Net
09.10.2006 13:39 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ NATO closely watched the peaceful talks on the
Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement, NATO’s Special Representative
for the South Caucasus and Central Asia Robert Simmons said in Baku.

According to him, his visit to Baku supposes consideration of a scope
of issues including the Azerbaijan-NATO relations and the current
situation in the region. Robert Simmons met with Azeri Defense Minister
Safar Abiyev and Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov, reported Trend
news agency.

DUTCH FM CALLED ON ARMENIA AND TURKEY TO FACE UP TO PAST

PanARMENIAN.Net
09.10.2006 13:55 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Dutch Foreign Minister Bernard Bot asked the
Turkish community in the Netherlands to stay calm in regards to the
exclusion of Turkish members from the parliamentary member election
list due to their rejection of the Armenian Genocide. Bot said the
government is not the cause of the problem, noting that the parties
had decided on the exclusion themselves. Attending the iftar meal
organized in Rotterdam by Zaman Daily, he evaluated the crisis, which
broke out after Turkish candidates, who refused to acknowledge the
Armenian Genocide, were withdrawn by the Christian Democrats (CDA)
and the main opposition, the Labor Party (PvdA). Asking Armenia and
Turkey to face up to their past, Bot added that the Armenian Genocide
issue should not strain both communities until an agreement based on
serious and detailed research is reached, reported zaman.com.

TURKEY’S MEMBERSHIP IN EU WOULD BE END OF POLITICAL EUROPE

PanARMENIAN.Net
09.10.2006 14:02 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ French Interior Minister and presidential hopeful
Nicholas Sarkozy on Friday reiterated his opposition to Turkey’s
membership in the European Union. Speaking to French magazine Le
Meilleur des Mondes, Sarkozy claimed that Turkey’s possible membership
in the Union would be the end of "political Europe." "I love Turkey,
but its membership would be the end of Europe politically," Sarkozy
said, reiterating his support for a "privileged partnership" for Turkey
rather than full membership. Accusing British Prime Minister Tony Blair
and U.S. President George W. Bush of not wanting the development of
Europe politically, meaning their support for Turkish membership,
Sarkozy also described their attitude as "inconsistent," reported
The New Anatolian.

TURKEY MAY HIT BACK AT FRANCE WITH ALGERIA ‘GENOCIDE’ LAW

Agence France Presse — English
October 7, 2006 Saturday 9:11 AM GMT

Turkey may retaliate to a draft French law making it a jailable
offense to deny the Armenians were the victim of genocide under the
Ottoman Empire with a similar law on French killings under colonial
rule in Algeria, a senior lawmaker said in remarks published Saturday.

Koksal Toptan, head of the Turkish parliament’s justice commission,
told the mass-selling Sabah daily he had initially ignored proposals
made in May for Turkey to brand killings of Algerians under French
colonial rule as genocide and introduce prison terms for those who
deny it.

"I just swept them under the carpet," he said.

But following renewed attempts in France to pass a bill calling for
five years in jail to anyone who denies Turks committed genocide
against Armenians during World War I, Toptan said he had ordered
that the proposals be put on the commission’s agenda for Wednesday,
a day before the French draft is debated in Paris.

"What is France trying to do? Their attitude is damaging Turkish-French
ties and is doing no good to Turkish-Armenian ties either," Toptan
told Sabah.

"If the French parliament is acting like that, we must give a response
… in the name of our pride," he said.

The justice commission is the first instance where draft laws are
debated before being sent to a vote at the general assembly.

France already passed in 2001 a resolution recognizing the 1915-17
killings of Armenians as genocide.

The bill to criminalize genocide denial was first tabled in May but
the debate ran out of parliamentary time before a vote could be held.

Toptan said Turkish MPs had filed three proposals for retaliative laws.

According to parliamentary records, two of them call for the
recognition of the killings of Algerians under French colonial rule —
from 1830 to 1962 — as genocide and the introduction of jail terms
for those who deny it.

The third calls for the imprisonment of those who assert the Armenians
were victims of genocide under Ottoman rule.

All three proposals were sumbitted in May — apparently in reaction
to the debate in France.

Armenians claim up to 1.5 million of their kin were slaughtered in
orchestrated killings between 1915 and 1917.

Turkey rejects the genocide label, arguing that 300,000 Armenians
and at least as many Turks died in civil strife when Armenians rose
for independence in eastern Anatolia and sided with invading Russian
troops as the Ottoman Empire was falling apart.

On Friday, the Turkish foreign ministry warned that a positive vote
at the French parliament next week could jeopardise "investments, the
fruit of years of work, and France will — so to speak — lose Turkey".

GEORGIAN AMBASSADOR’S ADVISOR DIED IN ACCIDENT

PanARMENIAN.Net
09.10.2006 14:41 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Georgian Ambassador’s Advisor on security Gocha
Merabishvili died in a car accident in Armenia. The RA Police
say the accident took place on Saturday on Ashotsk-Gyumri highway
(Shiraki region).

Mersedes-Benz-E200 turned off the road and fell into the
canyon. Merabishvili, who was driving the car, died immediately. His
wife and son were taken to hospital with injuries. A criminal case
in compliance with Article 242 and 245 of the RA Penal Code was
initiated. Investigation is being carried out, reports newsarmenia.ru.

PORTERFIELD MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR REACHES ARMENIA
by Tony Halpin

The Times (London)
October 7, 2006, Saturday

Tony Halpin on the latest posting for a man who knows a bit about
miracles

LOCATED within sight of biblical Mount Ararat, where Noah landed
his ark, the tiny former Soviet republic of Armenia knows a thing
or two about miracles. So it seems an appropriate place to find Ian
Porterfield, who earned football immortality with his winning goal for
unfancied Sunderland in the 1973 FA Cup Final against Billy Bremner’s
mighty Leeds United.

Porterfield, 60, was appointed Armenia head coach in August, the
latest stop on a foreign management career that has taken him to
Africa, Asia and the Caribbean.

His mission is to qualify for the 2008 European Championship finals
and, as miracles go, this is a tall order.

Armenia, who are bottom of group A, face Finland, the leaders, at
home in Yerevan today in a group that includes Portugal, Poland,
Serbia and Belgium. Armenia are not without hope, however, because
Porterfield has made a specialty of improving unheralded teams.

Dismissed by Chelsea in 1993 after eight years at the club, the Scot
was recruited to coach Zambia. Most of the first-choice players had
been killed in a plane crash and Porterfield agreed to stay for six
months to complete Zambia’s qualifying matches for the 1994 World
Cup. His makeshift young team came within a whisker of reaching the
finals in the United States.

"We lost 1-0 in Morocco when one point would have taken us to the
USA," Porterfield said from his Yerevan hotel after training with
Armenia’s squad. "I was really sad for the players but after that game
in Morocco, I was going to go home because I had sacrificed a big part
of my life being there. I didn’t realise that I was going to sacrifice
a lot of my life over the next 12 years to work outside (abroad)."

The Zambian authorities persuaded him to return and Porterfield led
his young team to the African Cup of Nations, going all the way to
the final before losing 2 1 to Nigeria.

Spells in Saudi Arabia and Zimbabwe followed, before a brief and
unsuccessful return to the Premiership in 1996 as assistant manager
with Bolton Wanderers.

Porterfield moved abroad again, first to Oman and then to Trinidad &
Tobago to seek qualification for the 2002 World Cup. "When I went
to Trinidad, I won the Caribbean Cup of Nations and I was so near
qualifying for the World Cup, but just missed it," Porterfield said.

"That team went to 25th in the world."

Porterfield moved again in 2003, to South Korea and the club side,
Busan I’Park.

"I won the league and cup and went to the semi-finals of the Asian
Champions League," he said.

He left Korea in May but soon after his return to Britain he was
offered another national team’s coaching job. "Not many of my friends
knew much about Armenia," Porterfield said. "But I went to have a
look and I was surprised by the friendliness of the people."

He signed a 16-month contract and Armenia played their first match
under Porterfield on September 6, losing 1-0 to Belgium. On their
Euro 2008 challenge, Porterfield said: "This is a very difficult
group and no one is expecting us to win it, but what I would love to
see is that the football improves and develops here.

"When I look back over being on four different continents, it has
made me a better human being, more patient and understanding."