Month: November 2006

DIASPORA ARMENIANS ARE IN CONTINUOUS CONTACT WITH PKK TERRORIST ORGANIZATION, EGILMEZ
Anatolian Times, Turkey
Nov 16 2006
ERZURUM – “Armenian Diaspora supported and expended large amounts of
financial assistance to terrorist PKK to weaken and fragment Turkey,”
Associate Professor Savas Egilmez, the Chairman of Association on
Fight Against Baseless Allegations of Genocide, said on Thursday.
In an exclusive interview with the A.A correspondent, Egilmez said,
“we have been carrying out intensive efforts in the national and
international platforms to explain that so-called allegations of
Armenian genocide is a lie.”
“Despite the affirmative responses, we started to get negative
reactions recently. We have assessed that supporters of the terrorist
organization is the source of the reactions that were sent through
e-mail,” he noted.
Egilmez indicated that Armenian-PKK relationship was once again
revealed with the reactions, noting that “upon the reactions in the
world in 1980`s, the Armenian terrorist organizations changed tactics
and cooperated with the PKK terrorist organization.”
Egilmez said terrorist PKK organization in 1980 proclaimed April 21-28
the week of “Red Week” and remembered April 24th as the so-called
genocide day of the Armenians.
“Another remarkable example regarding Armenian-PKK relationship is the
meeting in Beirut between January 6 and 9, 1993. Lebanese Armenian
Orthodox Archbishop, Armenian party executives and 150 youngsters
attended the meetings that were held in two separate churches. At
the meeting, the Archbishop underlined that the Armenian society
was growing gradually and strengthened in economic means. He said
so-called genocide was started to be known better in the world thanks
to the propaganda activities,” Egilmez said.
“The Archbishop unveiled their real faces by saying, `Armenian state
was established and broadens its territories day by day. The support
to PKK activities in Turkey rises. Thanks to this support, Turkish
economy will drop to zero, the country will be dragged into chaos,
and Turkey will enter fragmentation process. Turkish territories will
be in the hands of Armenia tomorrow`,” Egilmez said.
-PKK-ARMENIAN AGREEMENT-
Egilmez said the Armenian diaspora in Lebanon made an agreement with
the terrorist organization in 1987.
“A decision was made in the agreement that Armenians would get
training in PKK. It was also decided that Armenians would pay 5,000
USD to PKK for each person,” he said.
Egilmez said, “it was also decided in the agreement that Armenians
would make the intelligence in the activities against security forces
in Turkey. It was even stated in this agreement that the territory
that would be seized after fragmentation of Turkey would be shared
equally. Armenians also pledged to meet 75 percent of the costs of
camps of the terrorist organization.”
-U.S. AND OTHERS-
Underlining that the United States and the European countries accepted
PKK as terrorist organization, Egilmez said, “the U.S. and European
countries know about the relations of the Armenians with PKK. Those
who want to accuse Turkey should not forget this fact.”

RAILWAY TRAIN WITH GRTT LEAVES TBILISI FOR ARMENIA
TREND Information, Azerbaijan
Nov 16 2006
(Itar-Tass) – An ahead-of-schedule removal of the equipment and
hardware of the Tbilisi garrison of the Group of Russian Troops
in the Transcaucasus (GRTT) began Thursday, an officer at the GRTT
headquarters here has told Itar-Tass.
The officer said, “The first railway train with hardware and equipment
is heading for Armenia, to the Russian military base at Gyumri”.
Another train will go to Russia via Azerbaijan in one week’s time, on
November 23. Before the year is out, two more trainloads of hardware
and equipment of the Tbilisi garrison of the GRTT will be removed,
one to Armenia and the other one to Russia.
The timetable for the pullout of the Tbilisi garrison of the GRTT has
been fixed with the Georgian side, which, in line with the existing
accords, ensures the safety of the removal of the garrison’s hardware
and servicemen, reports Trend.
“A small group of GRTT staff officers will be set up to stay on in
Georgia next year as well, at the Russian military bases at Akhalkalaki
and Batumi, to finalize the bases’ removal process,” the officer said.
The earlier-than-planned pullout of the Tbilisi garrison of the GRTT,
which is being carried out by a decision of the Russian Ministry of
Defence, is to be completed before the end of this year.
In all, 100 hardware units, 350 tonnes of equipment and ammunition,
as well as 387 servicemen will be relocated.
In keeping with the Georgian-Russian accords, the Akhalkalaki base
will be closed down before October 1, 2007, and the one at Batumi
will be wound up before October 1, 2008.

TOURISTS FROM OVER 60 COUNTRIES VISITED NKR CURRENT YEAR
DeFacto Agency, Armenia
Nov 16 2006
In 2006 over 5 000 foreign citizens have visited the Nagorno-Karabakh
Republic.
75 % of the Republic’s guests were tourists, the NKR MFA Consular
Service Head Yuri Zakharian told DE FACTO Agency. The tourists from
over 60 countries, mostly the U. S., Canada, Russia, France, Australia,
the U. K., Germany and Italy have visited the Nagorno-Karabakh current
year. Hundreds of people representing research and humanitarian
organizations, business circles and mass media have also visited the
Republic. The citizens of India, Cambodia and Venezuela were among
the NKR’s guests.
Yuri Zakharian mentioned positive dynamics of the growth of the
foreigners’ visits to the NKR registered during the last five years –
about 30 % a year.

FUND RAISING CAMPAIGN FOR HADRUT REGION’S RESTORATION STARTED IN NKR
DeFacto Agency, Armenia
Nov 16 2006
A Fund-Raising Campaign for the restoration and development of
the Hadrut region’s populated localities have started today in the
Nagorno-Karabakh Republic under the aegis of Hayastan All-Armenian
Fund.
Today the Republic Staff for the TV marathon’s organization in the
NKR urged the citizens to actively participate in the humanitarian
action, DE FACTO own correspondent in Stepanakert reports.
In the course of the NKR National Assembly plenary sitting held
November 15 Speaker Ashot Gulian also called the enterprises’ staffs,
public and political organizations, all the citizens of the Republic
to take an active part in the fund raising. He said the NKR NA had
decided to transfer 350 000 drams to Hayastan All-Armenian Fund at the
expense of private donations of the deputies and Parliament employees.
The NKR President Arkady Ghoukassian is in the U. S. to prepare the
TV marathon that starts November 23 in Los Angeles.

GREAT SURPRISE ON ARMENIAN POLICY
Turkish Press
Nov 16 2006
Turkey has been getting prepared for a great surprise regarding its
Armenian policy. Foreign Minister & Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Gul
said that they could move so-called Armenian genocide allegations to
the international judiciary. “Accusations can be the biggest problem
for next 10 years,” he noted.

PATRICK DEVECHIYAN: WE SHOULD HAVE THOUGHT ABOUT PROTECTION AFTER “BOZQURDS” ATTACK
Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
Nov 16 2006
Because of harming the freedom of speech I was against of this law
a year before. But I change my mind after Turkish patriots’ actions
in Lion. “Bozgurds” did it.
Turkish diplomacy declared that Turkish people support these attacks.
We could not pat attention to the disputes on freedom of speech
after the events happened in Lion. We should have thought about our
security. We needed legal mechanism that could protect Armenians
in France,” Patrick Devechiyan, Armenian Parliamentarian, one of
the authors of the law that was adopted in France parliament said,
APA reports. Devechiyan said that they worked for three years for
France to recognize Armenian genocide and they can wait for the law
for a long time.
“We are waiting for 90 years,” he said. He said that only foreign
pressure can change official Ankara’s position.
It should be noted that Devechiyan was born in France, but he is
from Elazig region of Turkey by origin. His father was an official
during Ottoman Empire. Formerly being the lawyer of ASALA terrorists,
Devechiyan also worked as minister in France. At present he is the
leader of popular Movement Union Party and the counciller of Nikola
Sarkozi, Interior Minister.

OSCE MINSK GROUP HOPES TO AGREE ON BASE PRINCIPLES OF NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT REGULATION TILL THE END OF THE YEAR
TREND, Azerbaijan
Nov 16 2006
The Co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group for the regulation of the
Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict hope that the next
meeting of the Presidents of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and Armenia Robert
Kocharyan will take place in the nearest future, Trend reports. “We
hope that this meeting will take place on November 28, within the
CIS Summit in Minsk,” the Russian Co-chair of the Minsk Group Yuri
Merzlyakov informed RIA Novosti.
On November 16, the co-chairs of the Minsk Group made speeches before
the Permanent Council of the OSCE (France, USA and Russia).
According to the Russian Co-chair, the current year will present unique
window of opportunities for achieving an agreement on the settlement
of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. He said that at the beginning of
this year, both countries stated that earlier they were not as close
to the agreement.
“It would be a tragically successful chance for the Presidents
of Azerbaijan and Armenia to permit this window to close at the
beginning of the next year to agree at least on the base principles
for the future peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,”
Merzlyakov said. In addition, he said that the next election cycle
reaches in 2007-2008 – first in Armenia and then in Azerbaijan. “We
already have the experience of the negative impacts of the elections
on the negotiations,” the Russian Co-chair said.
Answering the question about the possible impacts of the Kosovo
regulation on the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, he
emphasized that all conflicts have own peculiarities. “However, the
regulation of the Kosovo question will somehow affect other conflicts
in the OSCE territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh,” Merzlyakov said.

FRANCE SAYS NO WORD FROM TURKEY ON MILITARY FREEZE
By Francois Murphy
TREND, Azerbaijan
Nov 16 2006
PARIS, Nov 16 (Reuters) – France said on Thursday it had received no
word from Turkey on Ankara’s suspension of bilateral military ties,
the latest step in a row over whether Armenians suffered genocide at
the hands of Ottoman Turks.
General Ilker Basbug, head of Turkish land forces, said on Wednesday
Ankara was suspending military ties with Paris in protest at the
French parliament’s support for a bill making it a crime to deny that
the killings were genocide.
“To my knowledge, we have not received official word from the Turkish
authorities on this subject,” French Foreign Ministry spokesman
Jean-Baptiste Mattei said.
The French Defence Ministry said it had only heard of the move through
the media and called for caution until Ankara told Paris exactly what
was happening.
“I think we should not prejudge the evolution of these relations. It is
not the sign of a crisis or of a major difficulty,” Defence Ministry
spokesman Jean-Francois Bureau told reporters, adding the Turkish
government had said nothing.
The French National Assembly approved the Armenian bill last month,
triggering threats of a trade boycott by Turkey, which strongly
rejects the claims that Ottoman Turks committed genocide against
Armenians during World War One.
The French bill is unlikely to make it into law because it is opposed
by President Jacques Chirac, but many Turks see it as further proof
that opponents of its bid to join the European Union are gaining the
upper hand.
NATO said Turkey had assured it that the freeze would not affect
alliance operations.
NO CONSEQUENCES YET
The two NATO allies work side by side in the Afghan capital Kabul as
part of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF),
which is battling Taliban insurgents in a mission NATO says is vital
to its credibility.
“Our initial understanding is that the Turkish decision will not
affect NATO. It is focused on bilateral military activities, not NATO
operations,” NATO spokesman James Appathurai said.
He said that assessment was based on statements by the Turkish
delegation at NATO and ISAF officials.
France’s Bureau said there had been a “cooling” in military
relations with Turkey in 2001 after the French parliament passed a
law recognising the 1915 killings as genocide, but they had returned
to normal since then.
“I think we should not consider that we are in a totally new
situation. We have already known periods of cooling in bilateral
relations. Until now, I do not see why that would change. They have
never taken on a definitive character,” he said.
“We have no practical consequences to date of the announcement made
last night,” he added.
French defence firms view NATO member Turkey, which has a fast-growing
economy, as a lucrative market for their hardware.
(Additional reporting by Mark John in Brussels)

RAILWAY TRAIN WITH GRTT EQT LEAVES TBILISI FOR ARMENIA
ITAR-TASS, Russia
Nov 16 2006
TBILISI, November 16 (Itar-Tass) – An ahead-of-schedule removal of
the equipment and hardware of the Tbilisi garrison of the Group of
Russian Troops in the Transcaucasus (GRTT) began Thursday, an officer
at the GRTT headquarters here has told Itar-Tass.
The officer said, “The first railway train with hardware and equipment
is heading for Armenia, to the Russian military base at Gyumri”.
Another train will go to Russia via Azerbaijan in one week’s time, on
November 23. Before the year is out, two more trainloads of hardware
and equipment of the Tbilisi garrison of the GRTT will be removed,
one to Armenia and the other one to Russia.
The timetable for the pullout of the Tbilisi garrison of the GRTT has
been fixed with the Georgian side, which, in line with the existing
accords, ensures the safety of the removal of the garrison’s hardware
and servicemen.
“A small group of GRTT staff officers will be set up to stay on in
Georgia next year as well, at the Russian military bases at Akhalkalaki
and Batumi, to finalize the bases’ removal process,” the officer said.
The earlier-than-planned pullout of the Tbilisi garrison of the GRTT,
which is being carried out by a decision of the Russian Ministry of
Defence, is to be completed before the end of this year.
In all, 100 hardware units, 350 tonnes of equipment and ammunition,
as well as 387 servicemen will be relocated.
In keeping with the Georgian-Russian accords, the Akhalkalaki base
will be closed down before October 1, 2007, and the one at Batumi
will be wound up before October 1, 2008.

GOVT SAYS ARMENIAN BROTHERS NOT IN THE COUNTRY
By Carol Gakii
Kenya Broadcasting Corporation, Kenya
Nov 16 2006
The government has Thursday dispelled allegations that the alleged
Artur brothers are back in the country.
Government Spokesman Dr. Alfred Mutua has dismissed allegations by
Lang’ata MP Raila Odinga as baseless and asked Kenyans not to fall
for such claims.
He said the foreigners will never be allowed back into the country,
adding that reports by the Kiruki Commission would soon be made public.
Early this week, Raila alleged that the foreigners were back in
the country.
At the same time, Mutua said the government is committed to providing
security to all Kenyans.
He said security operations were underway in parts of the country
that have recently been hit by clashes.
Mutua urged Kenyans to support the government in the fight against
organized crime.