VARTAN OSKANIAN TO PARTAKE IN BSECO SITTING IN MOSCOW
ArmRadio.am
30.10.2006 13:45
RA Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian will leave for Moscow today to
participate in the 15th sitting of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation
Organization to be held October 31 – November 1.
RA Foreign Minister is expected to participate in agenda discussions
and deliver a speech.
ACCORDING TO PRELIMINARY DATA, RUBEN HOVSEPYAN WAS ELECTED HEAD OF AJAPNYAK COMMUNITY
ArmRadio.am
30.10.2006 14:29
With 76% of the votes Ruben Hovsepyan was elected Head of Ajapnyak
community of Yerevan, President of the 6th Precinct Electoral
Commission Samvel Yeranyan declared, summing up the results of
self-government elections.
Let us remind that there were three candidates: Ruben Hovsepyan,
Gagik Sargsyan and Ishkhan Arshakyan.
"75 188 citizens in Ajapnyak community had franchise right. All in all
18 932 voters participated in the elections, 32 of which resumed their
voting right through court. The ballots were distributed as follows:
Ishkhan Arshakyan – 1 920 votes, Ruben Hovsepyan – 13 930 votes and
Gagik Sargsyan – 2 416 votes. Thus, with 76 percent of the ballots
Ruben Hovsepyan was elected head of community," Samvel Yeranyan told
"Radiolur."
CZECK MP CALLS FRENCH BILL ‘UNFORTUNATE AND INAPPROPRIATE’
By Cihan News Agency
Zaman, Turkey
Oct 28 2006
Jan Zahradil, a member of the Czech Civic Democratic Party and the
European Parliament (EP), said that distant historical events could
no longer be manipulated as a political instrument.
Czech parliamentarian Zahradil commented on the controversial French
bill to Cihan News Agency when he attended the celebrations of the
83rd anniversary of the foundation of the Turkish Republic at the
Turkish Embassy in Prague.
The Czech MP labeled the French bill, which penalizes the denial of
the so-called Armenian genocide, as "unfortunate and inappropriate."
Zahradil stressed the French bill would aggravate ties not only
between Turkey and France but also jeopardize the Turkey-EU relations.
Zahradil remarked that Czech Republic had its own negative experience
with the retroactive abuse of its past.
MARK ZORYAN: THE WEST IS BEGINNING TO REALIZE THAT THE "GEORGIAN SITUATION" IS ABSURD
Regnum, Russia
Oct 28 2006
The attempts of the US administration and the European structures to
pretend that nothing worth mentioning is going on in Javakhq no longer
make sense. As far as we know, the embassies of almost all European
states and the US embassy in Georgia have informed their governments
of the processes that took place during the local elections in Georgia
and pointed out the peculiarity of the situation in Samtskhe-Javakheti
and Kvemo-Kartli.
Presently the diplomatic circles in Tbilisi are actively discussing
the "bad marks" Georgia has received for its local elections. These
discussions got especially active after the Tbilisi visit of the
US assistant secretary of state Daniel Fried, who was obviously
trying to save the face of the ruling regime. At the same time, we
have received enough reports saying that the US administration are
extremely displeased with the style and outcome of the elections. Now
that the Georgian-Russian conflict has gone beyond any sensible limits
of inter-state confrontation, the Americans and Europeans have faced
a problem similar to the ones they faced in the Balkans and solved
by political and military interference.
The recent – deliberately representative – Washington seminar on
Russian-Georgian relations has come to a conclusion that the propaganda
task has lost any sense as it has become very hard to find arguments
to explain to the world community the point and the political causes
of this conflict, which is already spreading outside the region.
During the seminar, one of the leading US experts on Eastern Europe,
representative of the OSCE office in the US congress Michael Ox said
that the present situation in Georgian-Russian relations does not
serve the interests of the US and is a barren scheme.
On the whole, the American experts on Eastern Europe, who are known
for their colorful language, describe this situation as "an absolute
deadlock," while the attempts of the West to "separate the fighting
sides" are qualified as "rotten politicking." If there is anything
that unites the American and European experts, it is their unanimity
that the "Georgian situation" is absurd.
Exactly now that there is a real want of effective political
expertise, the International Crisis Group – who we know well for its
activities in Karabakh – has been assigned the task of facilitating
the development of proposals – in fact, a plan of how to settle the
situation in Samtskhe-Javakheti. This work will certainly cover
a complex of problems concerning the ethnic rights of the local
Armenian population. Certain Georgian and Armenian experts are
involved in this project. According to the preliminary information,
the group will recommend to enlarge self-government in Javakheti and
Kvemo-Kartli. Well aware of the ICG’s position on the Karabakh problem,
we can hardly expect that they will make any realistic proposals and
that the Georgian authorities will accept them. At the same time, this
initiative is hardly the result of the activities of the Armenian
lobby or of the talks of US administration representatives with
Armenian politicians. The US has just waited for a tenser scenario
in Javakhq to interfere and is now ready to show an open interest in
this region of Georgia.
Today, the problem is that the US has realized that Georgia is
a peculiar country and one can’t just apply general operational
approaches to it. That’s why they have decided to "divide" Georgia into
political or regional-political blocs and to deal with each of them
individually. Obviously, they hope that this will help them achieve
certain goals in the sphere of system security. Still, it seems that
they have not yet fully grasped Georgia’s problems. We don’t mean
the current policy but some more fundamental problems. So, we can
assume that, having learned about new circumstances in the policy of
Russia, Turkey and the South Caucasian states, the US has decided to
work out new scenarios of its political and economic expansion in the
region. Otherwise, it would be hard to explain why they have suddenly
taken so keen interest in the processes they formerly ignored.
Mark Zoryan – expert of Caucasus analytical center
EU PROGRESS REPORT STRESSES LOCAL DIALOGUE
By Selcuk Gultasli, Brussels
Zaman, Turkey
Oct 29 2006
Details of the European Commission (EC) progress report on Turkey
were leaked to press.
The draft report harshly criticizes Turkey over Article 301 of Turkish
Penal Code, which criminalizes insulting Turkishness, especially when
it comes to any discussion of the ‘Kurdish question’ deemed unwanted.
The report stated that Article 301 caused deep concern and the trial
of Turkish- Armenian journalist Hrant Dink brought out the negative
interpretations of the article.
It further warned that Article 301 might cause self-censorship and
herald a new approach to southeast Turkey.
The report again called the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) a terrorism
organization and a source of violence as it did last year, and said
only a grass roots dialogue could normalize southeastern Turkey.
It was notable that the new approach came right after Diyarbakir
Mayor Osman Baydemir delivered a controversial speech in Brussels.
Problems facing non-Muslim organizations and Alevis were cited in
the report, but it failed to refer to the headscarf problem again.
The report touched on the Cyprus declaration released by the European
Union on Sept. 21, 2005 and Turkey’s action plan regarding the
Cyprus issue.
The draft did not suggest anything over the Cyprus issue, and it is
not clear what kind of suggestions would be included in the strategy
document.
The Commission report is open to modification until its release on
Nov. 8.
The report mentioned a spate of incidents that broke out in Diyarbakir
during the funeral of several PKK members and spread to neighboring
cities, as well as bombings in the town of Semdinli and the following
arrest of two noncommissioned officers who carried out the attack.
It also mentioned the dismissal of prosecutor Ferhat Sarikaya, who
prepared Semdinli indictment.
Headlines from the Report:
Southeast Turkey: Only a grass roots dialogue can normalize southeast
Turkey.
Two local TV channels in Diyarbakir and a radio station in Sanliurfa
were permitted to broadcast in Kurdish.
However, time restrictions continue apart from film and music programs,
and obligatory Turkish subtitles cause technical difficulties.
Non-Turkish children cannot learn their native languages at official
Turkish schools.
No progress has been recorded in regards to compensating terrorism
victims in southeast Turkey.
In August 2005, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan delivered
a positive speech regarding a solution of the Kurdish problem in
Diyarbakir.
The situation of the region deteriorated after the PKK, listed
as a terrorist organization by the European Union, launched armed
resistance.
The European Union is concerned about displaced Kurdish citizens.
No step has been taken to disarm village guards, which are local
villagers armed by the government to counter the PKK.
Freedom of Speech: Progress was recorded in regards to allowing the
broadcast of local and regional languages other than Turkish.
However, lawsuits filed against non-violent thought and certain
articles of the Penal Code are still causing deep concerns and pose
the risk of self-censorship in Turkey.
Article 301 in particular remains a source of concern.
The sentence of Hrant Dink to six months suspended imprisonment in
July displayed problematic interpretations that could result from
Article 301.
This article should be modified to fit EU standards.
Other articles of the Penal Code that penalize non-violent thought
should also be abolished.
Minorities: Religious freedoms are still restricted. Non-Muslim
organizations are not allowed to form corporate bodies and their
rights to acquire property are also restricted.
The Halki Seminary on the island of Heybeli is still closed. No
progress has been recorded regarding Alevis. They still have
difficulties opening Cem evis (houses of gathering).
ROMANIAN-ARMENIAN EU COMMISSION NOMINEE WITHDRAWS
Zaman, Turkey
Oct 29 2006
Armenian-origin Romanian Senator Varujan Vosganya, who was nominated
to represent Romania at the EU Commission, requested a withdrawal of
his candidacy for that post.
Romanian Prime Minister Calin Tariceanu accepted his request. At a
press conference Saturday Vosganyan said, "Although they are unjust
and ungrounded, the allegations about me may prolong the inquiries
into my candidacy, which may also be disruptive to Romania’s image."
It was expected that President of the EU Commission Jose Manuel
Barroso, who has made his opposition to Vosganyan known, would have
rejected his candidacy because of Vosganyan’s extreme right-wing past
and lack of command in EU-related issues.
ARMENIAN SCULPTURE TO BE PLACED IN FRONT OF GERMAN CHURCH
Armenpress
Oct 30 2006
GYUMRI, OCTOBER 30, ARMENPRESS: A sculpture created by a sculptor
in Armenian Gyumri will be placed in front of a Lutheran church in
Germany’s city of Bochum.
The sculpture was made by Albert Vardanian and is called
Pulsar. Vardanian told Armenpress the agreement to erect the
bronze-cast sculpture had been reached two years ago. It will be
placed on November 19 which is marked as a day of remembrance of
peaceful population killed in wars.
RUBEN HOVSEPIAN ELECTED PREFECT OF YEREVAN DISTRICT
Armenpress
Oct 30 2006
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 30, ARMENPRESS: According to preliminary returns
of October 29 mayoral election in Yerevan Achapnyak district,
a non-partisan Ruben Hovsepian, was elected prefect. He received
13,930 votes out of 18,935 ballots.
Iskhan Arshakian from the People’s Path party received 935 votes
and Gagik Sarkisian from the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF)
received 2,146 votes. The voter turnout was 25 percent.
A spokeswoman for Armenian Central Election Commission (CEC) said
654 ballots were invalidated.
Ruben Hovsepian is the brother of Armenia’s prosecutor general Aghvan
Hovsepian.
AMONG THE INTELLECTUALOIDS
Immanuel Kant for Dummies
By James Bowman
American Spectator
Oct 30 2006
The most fundamental of all the liberal principles handed down to us
from the Enlightenment and the very cornerstone of our civilization
is the "categorical imperative" of Immanuel Kant: namely, that one
cannot act on that maxim which one cannot will to be universal. In
other words, if it’s OK for me to do it, it has to be OK for everybody
to do it. If it’s not OK for everybody to do it, then it’s not OK
for me to do it either. This principle is so deeply ingrained in us,
along with the contempt we feel for what we call " hypocrisy" when
people violate it, that we take it for granted. I was having dinner the
other night with a learned and cultured man, an internationally famed
historian of somewhat conservative tendencies, when the conversation
turned to the North Korean nuclear test. "What I just can’t get past,"
this man said, "is that we are saying it’s OK for us to have nuclear
weapons, but it’s not OK for the North Koreans or the Iranians."
Glen Suarez of London writes in a similar vein to the Times: "How can
we condemn North Korea for seeking to acquire nuclear weapons when we
possess them and say that we wish to upgrade them? How can Tony Blair
condemn the North Korean regime for ‘disregarding the concerns of
neighbours and the wider international community’ when he and George
Bush did the same when invading Iraq?" Neither of these men mention
Kant, but of course it was the Kantian principle they were appealing
to as an absolute bar against efforts by leaders in America or Britain
to prevent potential terrorist states or backers of terrorists from
acquiring nuclear weapons or doing other things which might pose a
threat to their countries.
A moment’s thought will show us that the Kantian principle cannot
apply in international relations, at least not unless we are prepared
to adopt a thoroughgoing pacifist and (I would say) suicidal policy
by disarming and disbanding our armed forces and refusing to fight
against those who wish us harm. So long as we admit that a nation has
the right to defend itself, we must also admit that it is necessary
to adopt a different standard for ourselves and for our enemies. It
is OK and probably unavoidable for us to bomb them, for example, while
it is very definitely not OK for them to bomb us. Leave aside for the
moment the question of whether or not it can be right to bomb them, if
we are to fight them at all and so preserve ourselves, our people and
property and our way of life, we must be prepared to do things to them
that we should not hesitate to deplore if and when they did them to us.
The Kantian principle really has its origins in the revolutionary
Christian notion that it is wrong for us to consider ourselves ahead
of other people. We should put our duty to others first — or at least
treat them no worse than we treat ourselves. Under the old Christian
dispensation, it was recognized that this kind of saintliness had to
be reserved for, well, saints, and those who chose to live lives that
were not of this world. They belonged, to use the Augustinian imagery,
to the City of God rather than the City of Man.
But the Enlightenment began with the idea that that kind of saintliness
ought not to be reserved for a special few but ought to be expected
of, even required of, everybody. That’s hard enough to live up
to in our personal lives. To live up to it in matters of war and
peace and international relations is impossibly utopian — unless,
of course, you’re a pacifist and are prepared to give up the right
of self-defense.
****
The Nobel Prize for literature given this year to the Turkish novelist
Orhan Pamuk caused some of his fellow Turks great annoyance.
"The prize was not given to Pamuk for being a writer, nor to his
works," said the conservative Kemal Kerincsiz who advocated prosecuting
Pamuk "for directly insulting the Turkish nation" over the wish to
acknowledge genocide practiced by the Turks against the Armenians
in 1915. When Pamuk was prosecuted (he got off on a technicality),
he denied that he had insulted Turkey. "But what if it is wrong?" he
said. "Right or wrong, do people not have the right to express their
ideas peacefully." Ah! But in an honor culture of the sort that still
holds sway in Turkey and other historically Islamic nations, the insult
is not dependent on right or wrong. This is a question subordinate to
that of honor or dishonor, and the charge itself, irrespective of its
truth or falsity, brings dishonor on the nation. In such a culture,
it remains true as it once was in ours, that if a bad act is not made
public to the shame of the doer, then it didn’t really happen.
I wonder, too, if Mr. Pamuk’s profession makes him vulnerable to this
kind of misunderstanding. The novelist almost by his very existence
must privilege the individual psyche over the demands of the group
when they come into conflict. A novel without psychological reality
— as opposed to the honor culture’s demand for conformity with which
that reality is bound to come into conflict — is not really a novel at
all. Novels and novelists naturally belongs to our Western, post-honor
world, which is why there are so few novelists in the Islamic one
and why those there are, like Mr. Pamuk or the late Naguib Mahfouz
are so often in trouble and even risk their lives merely to continue
doing what we take it for granted novelists should do — that is,
in Mr. Pamuk’s own phrase "to express their ideas peacefully." It
sounds reasonable to us, but not to those whose world-view is formed
by honor in this basic, even primitive form.
James Bowman is a resident scholar at the Ethics and Public Policy
Center, media essayist for the New Criterion, and The American
Spectator’s movie critic. He is the author of the new book, Honor:
A History (Encounter Books).
art_id=10555
ARMENIAN PRESIDENT LEAVING FOR MOSCOW ON WORKING VISIT TODAY
PanARMENIAN.Net
30.10.2006 12:52 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Today Armenian President Robert Kocharian is
departing for Moscow on a working visit, reported the RA leader’s
press office. On the same day he will meet with Russian President
Vladimir Putin.
Robert Kocharian will also meet with Russian Prime Minister Mikhail
Fradkov and Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov and participate in the unveiling
ceremony of the monument to composer Aram Khachaturian.