Month: November 2006

Agenzia Giornalistica Italia, Italy
Nov 11 2006
POPE IN TURKEY: ERDOGAN WILL BE SUBSTITUTED BY VICE-PREMIER
(AGI) – Vatican City, Nov. 11 – Benedetto XVI will be received in
Turkey by the president of the republic Ahmet Necdet Sezer, who will
receive him in the Presidential Palace immediately after the arrival
at the Ankara airport (scheduled for 1pm on November 28) and the
visit to the Ataturk mausoleum, the nation’s symbol. At the
presidential palace the Pope will also meet one of the three
vice-premiers in government representation (president Erdogan, as is
already known, will be in Riga, for the NATO summit). The most
internationally known amongst the vice-premiers is Abdullah Gul, who
also covers the role of foreign secretary. Pope Ratzinger will then
go to the headquarters for the department of Religious Affairs to
meet the president Ali’ Bardakoglu. In the evening the Pope will meet
the Diplomatic Corps. On Wednesday 29 the Pope will go to Efeso to
celebrate a mass and in the evening he will arrive in Istanbul where
he will quickly meet the head catholic priest Bartolomeo I and will
pray with him in the San Giorgio Church. But November 30, saints day
of Sant’Andrea, will be the important moment of the visit to the head
priest, because Benedetto XVI and Bartolomeo I will together sign a
joint statement. Then there are plans for the visit to the former
Orthodox Cathedral of Santa Sofia, today a museum, and to the
Apostolic Armenian Cathedral, where the Pontiff will be received by
the head priest Mesrob II. Subsequently, in the local headquarters of
the Papal Nuncio, Pope Ratzinger will receive the Syrian Orthodox
priest and the grand rabbi of Turkey. And finally, the meeting with
the Turkish bishops with whom he will celebrate a mass in the Santo
Spirito Cathedral the following day, on December 1. The departure
from Istanbul is scheduled for 1:15pm, with arrival at Ciampino
Airport at 2:45pm. (AGI) –
111758 NOV 06

Reuters, UK
Nov 11 2006
Two soldiers killed in Polish-led zone in Iraq
Sat 11 Nov 2006 12:17:49 GMT
WARSAW, Nov 11 (Reuters) – One Polish and one Slovak soldier were
killed by a roadside bomb in south-central Iraq late on Friday,
Polish officials said on Saturday.
The bomb exploded near the town of Al Kut in Wasit province as a
multinational convoy was returning to base, PAP news agency quoted a
military spokesman as saying. Polish troops are leading a
stabilisation mission in that part of Iraq.
“A Polish soldier, Sergeant Tomasz Murkowski, and a Slovak Sergeant
Rastislav Neplech, were killed when the vehicle in which they were
travelling was blown up by a roadside bomb,” Lt-Col Dariusz
Kacperczyk said.
Another Polish soldier and an Armenian soldier were wounded in the
attack and rushed to hospital by helicopter. Kacperczyk said they
were in stable condition but gave no details.
Polish President Lech Kaczynski said the casualties would strengthen
Poland’s resolve to help its western allies police the world’s
trouble spots.
Poland has some 900 troops in Iraq and has pledged to increase its
presence in Afghanistan to 1,000 troops in 2007 from the current 100.
“We are not in such places as Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon or Bosnia
for fun,” said Kaczynski, speaking at a military ceremony marking the
end of World War I, a Polish national holiday.
“We are there because that is required by our raison d’etat, by
international solidarity in today’s world,” he said.
Murkowski’s death brings the number of Poles killed so far in Iraq to
22.

Zaman, Turkey
Nov 11 2006
EU Council Replies to Brussels on Turkey Progress Report
By Emre Demir
Saturday, November 11, 2006
zaman.com
The Council of Europe replied to the EU Turkey progress report’s
recommendation that Turkey should expand the definition of a minority
in line with international and European standards.
Speaking to Zaman, sources from the Council of Europe noted that
Europe has no universal standard on the definition of minority,
contrary to what the report said.
`According to the Turkish authorities, under the Treaty of Lausanne,
minorities in Turkey consist exclusively of non-Muslim religious
communities. The minorities associated in practice by the authorities
with the Treaty of Lausanne are Jews, Armenians and Greeks. However,
there are other communities in Turkey which, in the light of the
relevant international and European standards, could qualify as
minorities,’ according to the progress report released by the
European Commission on Nov. 8.
The report also criticizes Turkey for not having signed the Council
of Europe Framework Convention for the Protection of National
Minorities, Europe’s only official agreement on national minorities.
However, authorities from the Strasbourg-based Council of Europe
state there is no minority definition agreed on in the convention.
Sources from the Council of Europe told Zaman that Europe has no
common standards on what communities can be defined as minorities.
`Europe has no general definition of minority and no common standards
to determine which communities can be defined as minorities. As a
result, the Council of Europe won’t pressure any state to recognize
new minority groups,’ sources said.
The 45-member Council of Europe, including Turkey, promotes and
protects human rights, minority rights and democracy.
Furthermore, the progress report, in the section dealing with
minority reports, said although Turkish Public Television (TRT) has
continued broadcasting in five languages, including
Kurdish, the duration and scope of these broadcasts is very limited.
Greece, an EU member state, refuses to broadcast in minority
languages and founding members such as Germany and France are
criticized for insufficient broadcasting periods as well.
Germany faced criticism over insufficient programming in minority
languages in a Council of Europe Ministers Committee report in March.
Germany has one hour per week radio broadcast in Frisian and
10-minute TV broadcast in Sorbian.
Several minority groups in France also find the TV broadcasting in
their languages insufficient.
France broadcasts 45-minutes a week in Occitan and just five minutes
a week in the Catalan language.
Weekly broadcasts in Breton, widely spoken in northern France, were
ended in early 2006 for `lack of interest.’
One of the countries that did not sign the convention is Greece.
Though an EU member state, Athens allows no radio or TV broadcasts in
any minority language. Several languages, including Turkish,
Macedonian and Albanian are spoken in the country.
Turkey did not sign the European Charter for Regional or Minority
Languages protecting educational and broadcasting rights in minority
languages.
In addition to Turkey, France, Belgium, Greece and Luxembourg also
refused to sign the convention.

Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
Nov 11 2006
Azerbaijani and Armenian Defense Ministers expected to meet in
January
[ 11 Nov. 2006 16:08 ]
`Azerbaijani and Armenian Defense Ministers’ next meeting is expected
to be held in January,’ Special representative of OSCE
Chairman-in-Office Anjey Kasprzyk said, APA reports quoting to the
Russian press.
He said he appealed to the sides about it, but hasn’t received an
answer yet.
The Defense Ministers Safar Abiyev and Serge Sarkisian met on the
initiative of Anjey Kasprzyk on October 20. They discussed the
problem of preservation of ceasefire regime.
Azerbaijani Defense Ministry Press Service Department told the APA
they are unaware of Anjey Kasprzyk’s statement. /APA/
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Fresno Bee , CA
Nov 11 2006
Living with war
Sam Kalfayan’s 95 years have been shaped by the world’s conflicts.
By Christina Vance / The Fresno Bee11/11/06 03:53:20
War stole Sam Kalfayan’s name.
It blotted out his father’s bespectacled face and his mother’s
ability to speak of her dead children without crumbling. He believes
war’s sinister influence contributed to his first wife’s suicide.
But war spared Kalfayan’s life. The World War II survivor, at 95, is
among Fresno’s oldest veterans.
A trim man, Kalfayan still fits into his Army uniform. He continues
to wear a neat mustache, as he did when serving as interpreter to
Gen. George S. Patton more than 60 years ago.
Age has grayed Kalfayan’s hair and sapped his strength. But his sense
of humor remains bright, even though health woes have kept him in bed
a lot lately.
He’d be younger, he jokes, except “my parents made the mistake of
bringing me into this world a little too early.”
War and Kalfayan seemed destined to meet. Born in 1911, the boy was
named after a general – Sarkis, a saint revered by some Armenian
Christians.
He was born Sarkis Papazian in Samson, Turkey. His Armenian father,
two brothers and two sisters died in Turkish massacres, but the
3-year-old escaped with his mother to Cairo, Egypt.
The survivors lived in a second-story apartment without electricity,
hot water or a toilet. Kalfayan learned French at his Armenian
school, and he picked up Arabic and Turkish from other people.
Kalfayan said his mother moved to Wisconsin in 1921 to marry his
stepfather after meeting him through a mail matchmaking service. The
boy took his stepfather’s last name, and his first name was
anglicized as “Sam.” The family moved to the Visalia area a few years
later.
The Central Valley was good to Kalfayan. He grew up, married and
began to farm. Then World War II hit.
“During our days, we felt like we owed our country something,” he
said. “I felt this country had done me a lot of favors.”
Kalfayan tried to volunteer, but the government rebuffed him, saying
it was more important that he go on farming raisins. So Kalfayan sold
his 30 acres and returned to the Army. This time, they took him.
When the Army discovered the new recruit spoke several languages, it
sent him overseas to work as Patton’s interpreter. The private got a
Jeep to follow the general and often stayed some distance from the
front.
But during the bloody Battle of the Bulge – which involved more than
1 million soldiers and claimed nearly 200,000 dead and injured –
Kalfayan fought alongside other soldiers. The enemy hid, and it was
hard to tell where shots came from – or went.
“I don’t know whether I killed 10 guys or didn’t shoot anybody,” he
said.
Kalfayan was in his 30s when he served, and younger soldiers called
him “pop.” But, although he served for three years, he left the Army
a buck private – the lowest-ranked soldier – because he occasionally
disobeyed orders. Each time, he would be demoted from private first
class back to private.
Once, he took an unauthorized side trip to Paris. Another time, he
wore a wool cap with earflaps that Patton had ordered to be
confiscated. The general said it made his soldiers look like sissies.
“The hell with Patton. I was being sensible,” Kalfayan said.
Ironically, Kalfayan never performed interpreting duties for Patton
because of the famed general’s manic pace in taking territory – even
if hundreds of lives were lost.
“Patton never stayed long enough to interrogate anybody. He just kept
pushing,” Kalfayan said. “If he felt like taking it, to hell with
everything, he’d take it.”
When the war ended, Kalfayan returned home to find his wife had
become mentally ill. Soon after, she killed herself. Kalfayan
believes the war, so many thousands of miles away, was partly to
blame.
“I spent three years in the war. I didn’t get a scratch,” he said.
“She became a war casualty.”
After returning home, Kalfayan earned multiple academic degrees,
including a master’s degree in agricultural economics. He worked as
manager for several California cities, such as San Jacinto and Desert
Hot Springs. He married again, outlived his second wife of 50 years,
and then married his current wife, Lena.
Like Kalfayan, many soldiers from the World War II generation
returned home and got on with life, said Bob Specht, deputy director
of Fresno’s Legion of Valor Museum.
“That generation was very steely. They didn’t bring up all that
stuff,” he said.
At age 80, some soldiers talk about the carnage for the first time.
Specht said they’re more apt to talk to another veteran than their
families. He’s heard some of their stories himself.
“It’s not a pleasant experience,” he said. “A lot of them don’t go to
war movies.”
Living through any war “from 1776 on” unites people in a way others
can’t understand, Specht said. The museum volunteers tease one
another and enjoy a bond – one that Kalfayan shared until recent ill
health kept the longtime docent from volunteering.
Right now, Kalfayan spends hours reading and talking to his wife. He
has no children, no other family members. And, he has no regrets.
“My genes will disappear. That’s it. I don’t give a damn,” he said.
“Somebody said all good things come to an end. I’m at the end of it.
I have no complaints. I’ve lived a good life.”

Azat Artsakh, Republic of Nagorno Karabakh
Nov 11 2006
PRESIDENT OF ARMENIA IS PESSIMISTIC ABOUT SETTLEMENT
`I am not optimistic about the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh
issue,’ said the president of Armenia Robert Kocharian during the
meeting with the Armenian community of Kazakhstan in Astana, reports
Armenpress. `I considered the year 2006 as a year of opportunities
because there were no elections in Armenia and Azerbaijan, and we
made efforts to negotiate with the Azerbaijani president. It was a
failure.’ The president of Armenia said the foreign ministers of
Armenia and Azerbaijan are meeting in November, and if the results
are reassuring, Robert Kocharian will meet with the president of
Azerbaijan in late November in Minsk. Robert Kocharian said the
recent meetings are not reassuring. `The impression is that no
progress was achieved this year,’ said the president of Armenia.

Azat Artsakh, Republic of Nagorno Karabakh
Nov 11 2006
ARMENIAN FOREIGN MINISTER DOES NOT HAVE GREAT EXPECTATIONS
The foreign minister of Armenia Vardan Oskanian will leave for
Brussels `without great expectations’ but with `certain interest’ to
meet with the Azerbaijani foreign minister Elmar Mammedyarov, reports
the Panarmenian.net. `There are questions on the table of
negotiations to discuss, and I am leaving for Brussels without great
expectations but, nevertheless, with certain interest, always hoping
that we will bring our approaches closer and create preconditions for
the meeting of the presidents this year,’ stated Vardan Oskanian in
an interview with Radio Liberty. The meeting of the foreign ministers
of Armenia and Azerbaijan is on November 14.

Noyan Tapan News Agency, Armenia
Nov 10 2006
“WE MUST WORK WITH BOTH REPUBLICANS AND DEMOCRATS,” AAA REGIONAL
DIRECTOR SAYS
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 10, NOYAN TAPAN. “The Armenian Assembly of America
(AAA) is a non-partisan public organization, and there is no
difference for its representatives who won the elections of the U.S.
Congress, and that we must continue working both with democrats and
with republicans: both parties are very important for us” Arpi
Vardanian, the AAA Regional Director for Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh
stated about it in the interview to the Noyan Tapan correspondent,
responding a question on the issue what meaning results of the late
Congress elections will have for Armenian lobbying organizations of
the U.S.
She reminded that before the elections the Congress Armenian Caucus
consisted of 163 people. In her words, it is quite obvious that this
number must change after the elections, as at the moment it is not
known yet who from this congressional caucus is re-elected, and some
weeks are necessary for summing up final results. “We must meet and
start working with newly elected members of the Congress to involve
them in work of this caucus,” Arpi Vardanian stated.
As for possible election of democrat Nancy Pelosi, a member of the
Congress Armenian Caucus, for the position of the House of
Representatives Speaker, in Arpi Vardanian’s words, though this issue
is not solved yet,”everybody considers in Washington that just she
will become the Speaker.”
A.Vardanian mentioned that N.Pelosi’s activity was addressed to
assisting solution of Armenian issues and during her pre-electoral
campaign N.Pelosi stated about the necessity of the Armenian Genocide
recognition. Besides, in A.Vardanian’s words, N.Pelosi has always
actively participated in actions of the Armenian community, addresed
to the Armenian Genocide recognition. “We’ll work with Nancy Pelosi
in the way we have always worked, and we hope that she will continue
its activity on assisting Armenia as the Speaker of the House of
Representatives as wll,” the AAA Regional Director stated.

Noyan Tapan News Agency, Armenia
Nov 10 2006
SERGE SARGSIAN: NATIONAL SECURITY STRATEGY SHOULD REFLECT OUR
NATIONAL INTERESTS
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 10, NOYAN TAPAN. “The most important is that the
draft National Security Strategy should reflect our national
interests.” RA Defence Minister, YSU Board Chairman, Serge Sargsian
said this at the November 10 enlarged sitting of Yerevan State
University Scientific Council.
In his words, the draft National Security Strategy, which he
qualified as a “political document,” is able to contribute to
development of the public and ensuring of individual’s security.
S.Sargsian said that his report under the title “The Guidelines of
National Security Service” was a basis for document’s elaboration. He
had presented the report in late February, 2005 to the senior
officers’ staff of Armed Forces. Then, by 2006 June, the document was
placed on RA Defence Ministry’s web-site and a number of proposals
were received on it.
S.Sargsian said that the document was discussed in U.S., Russia, NATO
and met with the approval of the respective structures. In the
Minister’s words, on November 17, it will be submitted for discussion
at RA National Academy of Sciences, then will be submitted to the
National Assembly, after which to RA President for signing.
In S.Sargsian’s words, after receiving a legal force the document
“will be compulsory for all state structures and officials.” “The
times should pass when various state officials express different
opinions about the same issue,” the Minister declared.

Noyan Tapan News Agency, Armenia
Nov 10 2006
ARMENIAN SCHOOL FUND TO CONTINUE DONATING SCHOOL PROPERTY TO 333
ARMENIAN AND ARTSAKH SCHOOLS IN FUTURE
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 10, NOYAN TAPAN. The Armenian School charity fund
plans to continue donating school property – desks, blackboards and
other necessary things to 333 schools of Armenia and Artsakh in the
future. Levon Aharonian, Chairman of fund’s Board of Trustees, said
this at the November 10 press conference. He said that lately the
fund gave school desks intended for 9400 pupils to schools that were
in hard financial position.
In L.Aharonian’s words, the primary goal of the fund functioning
since 2003 is especially to assist Armenian and Artsakh border
schools by giving them pupils’ and teachers’ desks and chairs. “Is is
no secret what depression shabby and broken property can cause among
children entering school for the first time,” the Chairman of the
fund’s Board of Trustees said. For the present, needy schools have
received 6000 pupils desks thanks to the Armenian School. He said
that the materials needed for making school property are bought by
the fund abroad and are made at local enterprises.
Levon Aharonian said that the fund obtains resources thanks to
fund-raisings.
RA Minister of Education and Science Levon Mkrtchian appreciating the
fund’s work and donations regretted to say that only Diasporan
benefactors are included in the fund, while in Armenia we also have
some persons who “if they wish can provide part of their sums for
native school building.”