Month: November 2006

NEW US CONGRESS TO POSE MORE TROUBLES FOR TURKEY
Turkish Daily News
Nov 9 2006
The Democratic Party’s landslide win in Tuesday’s U.S. congressional
polls will mean more headaches for Turkey, at least in the House of
Representatives, whose control now belongs to the election’s victors.
Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat who is expected to become the
House’s first female speaker in the new Congress, already has pledged
to support efforts for recognition of the Armenian killings in the
last days of the Ottoman Empire as genocide.
The Democratic Party garnered a clear majority in the House, Congress’
lower chamber, and also may win control of the Senate after the fate
of at least two contested seats there becomes clear.
The election outcome is a clear defeat for Republican President George
W. Bush and his Iraq policies.
The repercussions of losing even one of the houses is enough to pose
grave consequences for Bush, whose “lame duck” presidency in his
remaining 26 months in office will likely worsen under increasing
attacks by a hostile Democratic-controlled House of Representatives.
There will also likely be adverse implications of the Democratic
takeover of Congress for Turkey, although Turkey is never an actor in
U.S. domestic politics, Turkish diplomats fear. The likeliest fallout
will be on the Armenian genocide controversy.
“I have supported legislation … that would properly acknowledge the
Armenian genocide. It is imperative that the United States recognize
this atrocity and move to renew our commitment to eliminate genocide
whenever and wherever it exists. This effort enjoys strong bipartisan
support in the House, and I will continue to support these efforts in
the 110th Congress,” Pelosi said in a recent message to a prominent
U.S. Armenian publisher.
In the outgoing House, there were also resolutions for genocide
recognition, but Dennis Hastert, current speaker and a close Bush ally,
had never brought them to a full floor vote.
As Pelosi points out, there is strong bipartisan backing for
genocide recognition in the House, and her speakership will be a
great encouragement for Armenian groups who emphatically will seek
a genocide resolution’s passage before April 24 of next year.
The new Congress will meet in January, and new genocide recognition
resolutions are expected shortly after.
A potential U.S. recognition of the Armenian genocide would be a top
prize for the Armenians, who subsequently would raise compensation
and land issues with Ankara, the Turkish diplomats fear.
And that is not all. There is also the Iraq quagmire, and the Democrats
want to shape U.S. policies in ways that could hurt Turkey’s interests
even more.
Turkey has suffered enough from the Republican invasion of Iraq,
but there is more to come from Democratic-inspired approaches,
the diplomats fear. Ankara supports continued U.S. commitment to a
unified Iraq because other options will present even worse outcomes.
Recently, prominent Democrats, including leading former diplomat
Richard Holbrooke, have called for a redeployment of U.S. troops in
Iraq to Kurdish-controlled northern areas.
At a time when Sen. Joseph Biden, a top foreign policy figure in
the Democratic Party, is calling for Iraq’s effective partitioning
through the creation of three statelets in a very loosely federated
Iraq, such proposals are likely to be increasingly embraced by the
Democrats as well as by some Republicans.
Biden will become chairman of the Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee
if the Democratic Party wins the upper chamber’s control.
Such plans, including redeployment of U.S. forces in the north,
are seen by Ankara as moves that would finalize the formal creation
of a Kurdish state that could have huge repercussions on Turkey’s
Kurdish population.

EUROPEAN COMMISSION RELEASES TURKEY’S PROGRESS REPORT
Anatolian Times, Turkey
Nov 9 2006
BRUSSELS – The European Commission argued that there are communities
which can be defined as a minority in Turkey other than Jews,
Armenians and Greek Orthodox people, according to international and
European standards.
The European Commission released today the report on the progress
made by Turkey on the road to EU membership.
On the minority rights, the Commission said, “Turkey’s position on
minority rights has not changed. According to Turkish authorities,
minorities in Turkey are defined by the Lausanne Treaty signed in
1923 as the Jews, Armenians and Greek Orthodox people .”
Referring to the lawsuits filed against Turkey in the European Court
of Human Rights (ECHR) regarding human and minority rights, the
Commission’s report drew attention to the fact that Turkey adhered to
some international conventions on human rights in the last one year,
and asked Turkey to improve human rights and the related institutions.
The report noted that cases regarding torture and mal-treatment are
declining, but emphasized necessity of improving forensic medicine
practices.
-FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION-
On the other hand, the Commission stated that Turkey made some progress
in broadcasting in local languages and dialects.
Pointing out that the Article 301 of Turkish Penal Code (TCK)
constitutes an obstacle before the freedom of expression, the report
said that the Supreme Court of Turkey ratified the punishment of
journalist Hrant Dink.
The progress report noted that Turkey has to amend Article 301 to get
closer to EU standards, and expressed concern over the newly-enacted
Anti-Terror Law.
Under the religious freedoms chapter, the Commission complained that
the seminary in Heybeliada is still closed and the religious minorities
are restricted from raising clergymen. Also noting that the rights
of religious foundations to acquire properties are restricted, the
report claimed that the Directorate General of Religious Affairs is
“assuming a hostile approach” to the missionary works.
Referring to the Alawites, the Commission’s report said that there
are problems in opening their places of worship, and these places
are not suppoted by state funds.
On the other hand, the report referred to some other topics like
violence in the family, honor killings, not letting girls to go to
school, insufficient participation of women in politics, and gender
equality. However, it said that Turkish people are getting more and
more conscious about women’s rights.
On union rights, the Commission argued that Turkey made no progress
in the last one year.
-EASTERN & SOUTHEASTERN ANATOLIA-
The report recalled that Turkey allowed two local channels to broadcast
in Kurdish within the scope of cultural rights, but criticized the
time limitation in this regard. It said that children, whose mother
tongue is not Turkish, cannot learn their mother tongue in schools.
Recalling that victims of terrorist attacks have been compensated, the
progress report said, “the PKK, which is in the list of EU terrorist
organizations, staged 774 attacks between November 2005 and June 2006
and 44 soldiers, five police officers and 13 civilians lost their
lives in these attacks.”
The report also referred to some measures taken by Turkey and Greece
to prevent recurrence of some incidents over the Aegean like the recent
“dog fight” which resulted in death of a Greek pilot.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

SOLDIER TO SHARE HIS STORY OF WAR
By Emanuel Parker Staff Writer
Whittier Daily News, CA
Nov 9 2006
PASADENA – Shant Kenderian will be in Pasadena next week to discuss
the harrowing experience of being drafted into the Iraqi army and
forced to fight in the Iran-Iraq War and in Operation Desert Storm.
Kenderian has written a book about his experiences, “1001 Nights in
the Iraqi Army: The True Story of a Chicago Student held as a POW by
the Americans During Desert Storm.”
He will speak at 1 p.m. Wednesday at St. Gregory, the Illuminator
Apostolic Church, 2215 Colorado Blvd. and sign copies of his book.
Tickets to the event will be $15 and include a noon luncheon.
Kenderian was in Iraq visiting his father in 1980 when Saddam Hussein
issued an order to all men between the ages of 18 and 55, “Register
for the army within 72 hours or be shot!”
The high school senior was born in Iraq and discovered Iraqi officials
considered him an Iraqi citizen, despite his American Green Card.
He served in the front lines of the army during the Iran-Iraq war
and was transferred to the Iraqi navy during Operation Desert Storm.
The boat he was assigned to hit an Iraqi mine, and he was captured
by U.S. Naval forces and held at various POW camps in Kuwait before
re-establishing his Green Card status.
“I served in both wars,” he said, “but never had a gun. You can’t
fight when you don’t have a gun.”
He also said the government supplied his boat with the wrong caliber
ammunition.
“The contrast between the American and Iraqi soldiers and the way they
were equipped was astounding,” he said. “The 15 soldiers on the L-87
had – collectively – two guns, one helmet and 15 old gas masks with
ineffective chemical kits.”
Kenderian earned an undergraduate degree in engineering in Baghdad.
He earned his Ph.D. from the Materials Science and Engineering
Department at Johns Hopkins University in 2002, and in September 2002
became an American citizen.
He joined a NASA team in the aftermath of the Space Shuttle Columbia
disaster, and helped investigate the cause of the disaster and make
improvements on the shuttle.
He is currently vice president of the Armenian Engineers and Scientists
of America, based in Glendale, and is a senior member of the technical
staff at the Aerospace Corporation in El Segundo.

EUROPE DIARY: HEADSCARF CHIC
Designer Cheek
BBC News, UK
Nov 9 2006
BBC Europe editor Mark Mardell talks to headscarf wearers and headscarf
opponents to get a full picture of the Turkish debate on Muslim dress –
plus more thoughts on the Ottoman slaughter of Armenians.
Undo the clips, and it’s a revealing halter neck Rabia Yalcin looks
stunning. I am not sure I should write that about someone who prides
themselves on dressing in accordance with the Islamic dress code,
but she is an Istanbul fashion designer who says her aim is “to show
the beauty of the flower, while covering the flower”. She’s wearing
a bright scarlet headscarf, a grey jacket and trousers modelled on
Turkish pantaloons.
She has an interesting, not to say cheeky, take on the religious
rules. She shows us one of her latest creations. It’s a floor length
pink gown with a black velvet headscarf. Very modest. But a couple
of clips undone here and there and it becomes a very revealing halter
neck evening dress leaving little to the imagination. Rabia says it’s
of course only to be worn at home in front of husband and family.
FUNKY HATS She has a similarly ingenious way of coping with Turkey’s
headscarf ban.
That’s a kalpak, not a fez
The Turkish Republic has a bit of a thing about the political symbolism
of headgear. Its founder, whose picture still adorns every office,
every public place, Kemal Ataturk banned the fez as a head covering
and expected men to wear the hat. His own favourite was evidently
the Panama, although he’s often depicted wearing a kalpak, a tall
black fuzzy number which in certain lights could pass for a fez,
but which obviously has some crucial difference that I’m missing.
Like all his dramatic changes to Turkish society, from a new alphabet
to public dances, it appears to have been accepted with remarkably
little fuss. Although he banned religious dress in public places and
railed against veiling women he didn’t make much progress against the
headscarf. It was left to a government in 1979 to make that illegal.
Rabia’s ingenious solution? Her daughter is at university and she
has designed haute couture items to satisfy both Koranic law and
the Turkish state. Her daughter wears funky hats that cover all her
hair… Many of her fellow students and lecturers just thought she
was ultra-fashionable, and I guess rather eccentric and blessed with a
talented mum, until they saw her out of class wearing the traditional
head dress. Then the penny drops.
HARD CHOICE The story of Rabia’s personal assistant, who doesn’t have a
designer mum is rather different. Aslinur Kara is one of those people
who immediately makes you think: “I wish she worked for me.” She
exudes no-nonsense efficiency and directness. She’s also devout and
had a hard choice when the time came to go to university.
Aslinur wanted a degree, so she had to remove her veil She told me that
she decided not to waste her education and ruin her life. So she took
the scarf off at the doors. She said it was hard, against her values,
an insult and against human rights. But in time it didn’t hurt so much,
and she came to feel that for her fellow students it was brains, the
person inside, that mattered, not what they wore. One is tempted to
say, “Well, precisely!” But I don’t.
She now has a job where she can wear the headscarf. But the law
remains and she couldn’t go into politics or the civil service or
teaching without making that hard choice again.
PRO-MILITARY LIBERALS I suspect many, probably most people in
Britain would see this as a matter of freedom of choice, but it’s
not seen like this here. The government’s tentative plans to change
the law meet fierce opposition. Just last weekend there was a march
through Ankara, a crowd of 12,000 people, to protest against the very
possibility. It’s an interesting twist that people who most probably
would be leftie Hampstead liberals in Britain are here supporters of
the army – the principal opponents of any weakening of what they see
as the secular state.
Bedri Baykam is an artist who clearly loves to shock. He’s working
on a series called Picasso’s women and his studio is covered with
photographs of naked women. He says that women who wear the headscarf
these days are making a statement that they are warriors for militant
Islam. He says their head covering is not like the headscarves worn
by his mother or grandmother but have tight elastic so that not one
scrap of hair escapes. He says it’s ridiculous that people should
treat hair as though it’s a sexual organ.
SLIPPERY TERMINOLOGY The former four-star general Edib Baser goes
further. He says that religious groups pay poor women to wear the
headscarf and he too makes the point that these are not the traditional
dress of his mother and grandmother. What the secularists miss is
that mum and granny would not be allowed into universities.
Spending a great deal of time and effort passing laws required by
the EU is not the usual prelude to Islamic revolution
I don’t know how Rabia and Aslinur vote but they certainly don’t
strike me as having a particularly strong political agenda. But terms
like “political Islam” are slippery. The ruling party is Islamic but
prefers to see itself as Conservative. As one academic remarks dryly,
spending a great deal of time and effort passing laws required by
the EU is not the usual prelude to Islamic revolution.
I spend some time chasing a rumour that high taxes have been imposed
on alcohol in some parts of the country, before it strikes me that
Tessa Jowell is Urging the same thing at home.
ANGRY DOCTORS But there’s no doubt some people feel deeply
uncomfortable with the current order.
The Cetins think the headscarf ban is like a growing cancer Nilufer
Cetin was in her fourth year studying to be a doctor when the headscarf
ban was introduced. She went to Hungary to finish her education but
still can’t practise as a doctor. She said: “I was shocked. It was
unbelievable, it was a terrible situation. But I think it was just
a pretext to attack believers.”
Her husband, also a doctor, is still angry. In fact he radiates
anger. When I tell him that I can never see the headscarf being banned
in public institutions in Britain he is derisive and insists I will
be proved wrong. He says the ban will have to go: he’s a doctor and
“it’s like suppressing the function of a cell, if it goes on a cancer
will grow, there will be chaos.”
THANKS FOR YOUR MESSAGES Thanks to all of you who answered my plea to
help me with understanding attitudes to the Armenia killings within
Turkey. They are all very thought-provoking and interesting.
Read your comments below last week’s diary I haven’t met many people
here who deny that something terribly wrong happened. Many however want
to put it in context. It’s true I did speak to one highly intelligent
individual who should know better than to try to convince me that
Ottoman soldiers were merely trying to escort Armenians out of a danger
zone when attacked by Kurdish brigands. But such effrontery is rare.
I have heard several stories of how Turkish families sheltered
Armenians or helped them escape. One academic made the point that
while Germany, as a state, has made full apology and admitted the
Holocaust, few Germans who were around during that time talk easily
about it. By contrast, he said, Turkish people have many stories to
tell and it is the state that cannot tolerate debate.
IMMACULATE CONCEPTION But it was Professor Halil Berktay who had us
entranced. The interview went on for rather a long time and I was
about to apologise to the rest of team when Xav the cameraman said:
“That guy is so interesting, I could stay here all afternoon and
listen.” So I’ll offer without adornment Prof Berktay’s take on why
the Turkish state cannot face up to what happened.
The Armenian genocide, the tragic uprooting, deportation and
annihilation is not something that sits well with [Turkey’s] narrative
of pure victimisation and suffering
Professor Halil Berktay As the Ottoman empire broke up, nations were
created from the Balkans to the Arab world, he says: “All of which
were conceived in anger and hatred and enmity and antagonism towards
one another. In each case, these nationalisms never like talking
about what they have done to others. But they can speak for hours and
hours of what others have done to them. Especially in this part of
the world. In the Balkans and south-east Europe and the Middle East
everybody loves to talk about how they have been victimised but they
have never hurt anyone else.
“The Turkish grand narrative turns to a very large extent on how Great
Power imperialism kept hounding and persecuting the Muslim Turks of the
Ottoman empire, and eventually the Turkish rump that was left. Then
we had to wage this glorious nationalist struggle against them and
against plots to partition us. Now, the Armenian genocide, the tragic
uprooting, deportation and annihilation is not something that sits
well with this narrative of pure victimisation and suffering.”
He compares it to a child believing that they were brought by a stork,
that their parents couldn’t possibly have had sex and calls his theory
“the immaculate conception of the nation state.”
30218.stm

RA FM DOES NOT EXPECT SERIOUS OUTCOMES FROM MEETING WITH HIS AZERI COUNTERPART
DeFacto Agency, Armenia
Nov 9 2006
RA FM Vardan Oskanian will leave for Brussels “without much
expectations”, however, “with some interest” to hold a current meeting
with AR FM Elmar Mammadyarov within the frames of the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict settlement.
“There are some issues to be discussed on the negotiating table and
I am going to Brussels without much expectations, however, with some
interest, always hoping we will be able to make positions closer
and really create conditions for a meeting of the two countries’
Presidents current year”, Vardan Oskanian told RFE/RL.
To note, RA and AR FMs’ meeting will be conducted in the capital of
Belgium November 14, PanARMENIAN.Net reports.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ELECTORAL LISTS FOR REFERENDUM ON NKR CONSTITUTION READY
DeFacto Agency, Armenia
Nov 9 2006
According to the NKR CEC Head Sergey Nasibian, the Nagorno-Karabakh
Republic Central Election Commission, Stepanakert city hall and NKR
regional administrations held joint preparatory and organization work
on ensuring the citizens’ full-fledged participation in a referendum
on the NKR Constitution.
In the course of the CEC sitting it was underscored the electoral
lists had been ready, while the Constitution’s text would be circulated
among the electoral commissions in the near future. The NKR citizens
that have attained their majority with the exception of those serving
their sentence will vote.
S. Nasibian noted 36 million drams had been allocated to conduct the
referendum, KarabakhOpen reports.
To remind, the referendum on the NKR Constitution will be held in
the Republic current December 10.

TURKEY’S RELATIONS WITH EU FACE DEEPER STRAINS
By Yigal Schleifer | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor
Christian Science Monitor, MA
Nov 9 2006
A European Union progress report is the most definitive sign yet of
a possible ‘train crash.’
ISTANBUL, TURKEY – It’s no secret that Turkey’s recent engagement with
the European Union has not boded well for a happy marriage between
the Muslim majority country and its Western neighbors.
EU diplomats have been warning for months of an impending “train
crash” in the membership negotiations with Turkey. The country’s
stalling political reform process, dozens of court cases threatening
free speech, and Ankara’s continuing refusal to open up its airports
and harbors to vessels from EU member Cyprus have raised concern in
European capitals.
But the release Wednesday of an EU progress report sharply criticizing
Turkey’s reform slowdown and threatening unspecified consequences
if it doesn’t open its ports to Cyprus by mid-December is the most
definitive signal yet of a further deterioration in Turkish-European
relations, observers say.
“The report represents a very important point, politically, as the
trains are heading towards a crash,” says Kirsty Hughes, a London-based
European affairs analyst.
While both sides appear to remain committed to ongoing negotiations,
any eventual fallout could have significant implications not only for
Turkey and the EU but the broader region as well. As the Turkish public
becomes increasingly opposed to EU membership, analysts are warning
that such a turn could hurt the democratization process under way in
Turkey and reduce Europe’s prospects for developing better relations
with other Middle Eastern countries.
“Only with Turkey as a member can the EU be a player in the Middle
East. Without Turkey, it has no say, no leverage, in Middle East
issues,” says Soner Cagaptay, a researcher at the Washington Institute
for Near East Policy.
At a summit next month, the 25-member body is expected to agree to
freeze its negotiations with Turkey in part, if not entirely. German
chancellor Andrea Merkel has already issued a stern warning, telling
a German newspaper that if Ankara refuses to open up its ports to
Cypriot trade – something it has promised to do as part of the deal
to begin the negotiations – “the EU accession talks cannot continue
in this fashion.”
But diplomats and analysts in Turkey are not optimistic about the
prospects of Ankara breaking out of its reform slump anytime soon. A
wave of anti-Western nationalism has been washing over Turkey, fueled
by a perception that the EU has been one-sided on the Cyprus issue and
by European moves on the Armenian issue, such as a recent law passed by
the lower house of the French parliament that makes it a crime to deny
that the mass killings of Armenians by the Ottomans were a genocide.
According to a June poll by the Pew Research Center, Turkish support
for the EU has fallen to 35 percent, down from almost 80 percent
three years ago.
With Turkey’s parliamentary elections a year away, observers here
believe that little progress will happen on the EU front as political
parties try to play up their nationalist credentials and distance
themselves from the currently unpopular membership talks.
“The public sees the EU on many issues as a threat to the unitary
state. Today it is a dividing issue,” says Suat Kiniklioglu, executive
director of the German Marshall Fund’s Turkey office.
“Certainly the military and the secularists have turned against the
EU and for them a negative [EU progress] report would be welcomed,
since it would mean a slowdown in the negotiations.”
There have been suggestions that Turkey’s government, run by the
Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party, might lead Turkey toward
a closer alliance with the Islamic world. But Ioannis Grigoriadis, a
professor of political science at Istanbul’s Isik University, says that
Turkey’s growing nationalism is looking inward rather than eastward.
“It could end up with a Turkey that is very introverted and
self-reliant,” he says.
A distancing from the EU, says Mr. Grigoriadis, could ultimately
hurt the process of democratization in Turkey. “The EU acts as both
an anchor and as a trigger, on the one hand pushing for change from
the outside, but also protecting the steps already made,” he says.
It could also complicate Europe’s efforts to integrate its growing
Muslim community.
“For [Europe’s Muslims], this is a test of whether they are European.
They are the people who are following this very closely,” Mr. Cagaptay
says.
Despite the criticism from Brussels and the nationalist mood in Turkey,
there are indications that both sides are working to reach some sort of
compromise before the upcoming EU summit. Turkish prime minister Recep
Tayyip Erdogan recently expressed a willingness to amend Article 301,
a controversial law limiting free speech, and there are also efforts
to work out an interim deal on the Cyprus issue.
“I think all parties will try until the last moment to prevent this
train crash,” says Joost Lagendijk, who heads the European Parliament
delegation to the joint EU-Turkey parliamentary committee. “A real
crisis would be if both parties would be looking for a way out [of
the negotiations], and I don’t think that’s the case right now.”
Some observers are also suggesting that, beyond compromise, what may
also be needed is a change in the way the EU approaches Turkey. Kemal
Dervis, Turkey’s former economy minister and the current head of the
United Nations Development Programme, recently said that the EU’s
constant pressure for reform will only continue to alienate Turks.
Isik University’s Grigoriadis say that the EU needs to reel Turkey in
slowly. “You can’t pull the line too tight, or it will break,” he says.

GAZPROM OFFERS CHEAP GAS IN EXCHANGE FOR PIPELINE
By Diana Dundua
The Messenger, Georgia
Nov 9 2006
Gazprom’s Medvedev warns gas supplies will be cut off if no deal
is reached
Gazprom will not increase natural gas price from USD 110 to USD
230 per thousand cubic meters (tcm) for Georgia if Tbilisi sells it
some of its state assets. Chair of Gazprom’s Management Committee
Aleksander Medvedev stated at a press conference on November 7. He
did not specify which assets he wanted.
“In the past we have already hinted in which assets we were interested
though we did not get concrete answer from the Georgian side,”
Medvedev explained on Tuesday.
According to him, if an agreement is not reached with Georgia only
Armenia will receive natural gas from Russia.
Last year Gazprom made said it was interested in buying Georgia’s
North-South Caucasus gas pipeline (the main natural gas pipeline)
that is used to deliver Russian natural gas to Armenia and Georgia.
Speaker of Parliament Nino Burjanadze categorically ruled out the
possibility of selling the main natural gas pipeline.
“There will be no trade with Russia regarding the main natural gas
pipeline. I have always been and will always be against this. And
I can say with full assuredness that Saakashvili is also strongly
against this. Energy independence is of vital importance to us and
we are ready to pay any price for this,” Burjanadze stressed at the
parliament session on Wednesday.
Prime Minister Zurab Noghaideli claimed that Gazprom’s statement was
not a surprise to him calling it “political blackmail.”
“I will say that our companies are conducting negotiations about the
commercial price for natural gas not only with Russia, but with other
neighbouring countries, and in the end we will select the best choice
for the country. I want to repeat that we are ready to pay a commercial
price for natural gas but blackmail is absolutely unacceptable for us,”
Noghaideli stated on November 8.
“Russia should change its attitude toward its neighbours. It is just
impossible for Russia to achieve its political goals by developing
economic sanctions and energy blockades against Georgia in order to
make our county change its political course,” Minister of Foreign
Affairs Gela Bezhuashvili, who is on an official visit to France,
stressed on Wednesday.
According to deputy chair of the parliamentary Budget and Finance
Committee, Vladimir Papava, Georgia will have to pay GEL 230 per tcm.
“Russia’s scheme is clear. Even if we sell these assets to Gazprom,
this will make it possible to maintain the current price on natural
gas only for this year and next year the price will go up again,”
explained Papava at the parliamentary session.
Opposition factions in parliament demanded that President Saakashvili
guarantee that Georgia will not sell the natural gas pipeline, they
also accused State Minister for Reforms Coordination, Kakha Bendukidze,
of lobbying for the sale.
In the past Kakha Bendukidze has said several times that there was
no threat in selling Georgia’s main natural gas pipeline, but he
always added that this was his personal position and was not shared
by the government.
“Gazprom has a business partner and agent in the Georgian
government-state minister Kakha Bendukidze,” one of the leaders of
the opposition Democratic Front faction, David Berdzenishvili, said
on November 8.
After the government Session on Wednesday, Bendukidze stated that
the Georgian government would not give in to Russian blackmail and
it would never agree to deals like this with Gazprom. He also lashed
out at the opposition.
“Opposition members are dishonest people and they have some new ideas
making them sound like ultra-leftists. I recommend they change their
names to Communist-Bolsheviks,” he said.
Pikria Chikhradze of the New Rights opposition party retorted that
Bendukidze was even prepared to sell his conscience too.
The opposition also demanded the administration buy back those state
assets that Russian businesses have already bought from Georgia.
According to them, this is important in order to gain energy security
and independence. Although Nino Burjanadze welcomed the idea, she
said that Georgia did not have money for that yet.

WE MUST END SLAVERY, SAYS WORLD ADVOCATE FOR DISPOSSESSED
By David W. Virtue
Virtue Online, PA
Nov 9 2006
WEST CHESTER, PA (11/6/2006)–She’s a Baroness, a 69-year old British
blue-blood, a grandmother, who lives and travels like someone half
her age, who has access to the highest levels of Government with
a phone call. But for Baroness Cox of Queensbury, who likes simply
to be known as Caroline, she is a lady whose heart really lies with
the poor and downtrodden of the earth, specifically the 27 million
peoples of the world who are enslaved by powerful forces beyond their
control. Cox is founder and CEO of HART – Humanitarian Aid Relief
Trust. She resides in London, when she is not traveling to distant
corners of the earth working for the release of enslaved millions.
She is the former deputy speaker of the House of Lords She is also
an Evangelical/Charismatic Anglican.
VirtueOnline sat down with Baroness Cox when she spoke at the Episcopal
Church of the Good Samaritan in Paoli, Pennsylvania recently.
VOL: You have been called a voice for the voiceless. You have made
secret expeditions to buy freedom for slaves captured by Arab traders
in Sudan’s war against black Africans. But you are best known for
your humanitarian work in securing medicine and supplies for war-torn
regions, and campaigning for justice for victims of the Armenian
genocide. Some consider you a menace, others consider you a saint.
How do you see yourself?
COX: To be a “Voice for the Voiceless” one must first meet them,
touch them, look into their eyes and hear them say their name and
speak on their own behalf.
VOL: The UN calls the crisis in Darfur, Sudan the world’s greatest
humanitarian crisis? Do you agree with that assessment?
COX: Yes. And that’s in the face of a lot of competition.
VOL: You founded and head as CEO something called HART – Humanitarian
Aid Relief Trust – what is this organization all about? The website for
HART says you support the forgotten people of Europe, Africa and Asia:
the oppressed and the persecuted individuals who are often neglected
by other organizations and are out of sight of the international media.
COX: Our aim is to help communities become self-sufficient by enabling
them to redevelop in ways that are sensitive to both their cultural
and religious values. HART’s aid is designed to relieve suffering and
sow the seeds of longer-term solutions; it’s advocacy is designed to
raise awareness of problems – and solutions – at home and abroad.
VOL: Can you be more specific? What projects are you engaged in?
COX: HART’S distinctive niche is its focus on forgotten peoples
in forgotten lands. For example we endeavor to work predominantly
in those areas where major aid organizations cannot operate. That
situation occurs because big and famous organizations like the
UN, UNICEF and ICRC can only go to places with the permission of
a sovereign government. If the Soviet Government is victimizing a
minority in its own borders and does not get permission for the big
boys to access those victims then they cannot go, and those who suffer
are left unreached and unheard. It is therefore one of our primary
aspects mission and made to reach such people where a relatively
small organization can make a difference. We are always amazed and
humbled how people in such circumstances add value with relatively
small amounts and amplify anything we can give beyond what we imagine
through resourcefulness and resilience and deductions.
Other area locations where risks are so great, and other aid
organizations have pulled out or refused to work there, and or posed
conflict situations where aid organizations have ceased to operate
but where needs are still very great.
VOL: According to a website some 4000,000 people
are dead and 2.5 million have been displaced in the Sudan. Untold
thousands have been raped, tortured and terrorized. Men. Women.
Children. 2500 die each week. Ending the horror will take a strong UN
peacekeeping force and a no-fly zone. And that will take leadership
from world leaders, including President Bush. Do you agree with
that assessment?
COX: Yes, 100 per cent. I raised those very issues in the House
of Lords.
VOL: Do you think the U.S. should get involved militarily in the
Sudan? If so how?
COX: I think there is an obligation from the international community,
a duty to protect the poor, downtrodden and oppressed. If the Soviet
Government is failing to provide adequate protection for its citizens,
the international community has a duty to intervene over the concept
of national sovereignty. The time is long past when the international
community should have either put so much pressure on the regime in
Khartoum (I refer to it as a legitimate government) the National
Islamic Front main ruling party. It will allow adequate provision for
its people or, in the face of continuing intransigence from Khartoum,
take the necessary intervention to stop the killing in Darfur which
has reached the proportions of genocide.
VOL: Has the U.S. failed in its moral obligations to act in Darfur?
COX: The U.S. administration along with the rest of the international
community have failed the people of Darfur. Most have failed to
respond adequately to the continuing genocide in Darfur. However,
the U.S. administration has a more honorable record, together with
Canada than, say, the British Government, in that it has recognized
that situation in Darfur as genocide, whereas the British government
has consistently refused to use that word.
VOL: Are Christians being singled out for persecution in Darfur or
is it more widespread than that?
COX: More widespread. The history of Sudan since 1989 the regime in
Khartoum has been manifestly culpable in inflicting death on a vast
scale on its own people, before Darfur hit the headlines, the regime
was responsible for military jihad in which over two million perished
and four million were displaced. Having visited Khartoum and met the
leadership in 1993/1994 it was very clear that the objectives of that
Jihad were the forced Islamization of those not already Muslims and
the forced Arabization of African peoples. Since the signing of the
comprehensive peace agreement, the theater of operation moved to Darfur
where the majority population is Muslim and African. Therefore we must
infer that this part of the agenda relates more to arabization than
to religious persecution. However, of course, the very significant
factor of oil, which has doubtless been another part of the NBIF’s
agenda throughout all these horrendous conflicts.
VOL: You have written several books, your latest is “Cox’s Book of
Modern Saints and Martyrs.” What is this about?
COX: It is about slavery. There are 27 million men, women and children
still enslaved in the world. I wrote this book because next year is the
bicentenary of William Wilberforce and his parliamentary achievement
in the British parliament and his endeavor to end the slave trade. It
is our conviction that this time of commemoration should not be used
primarily to look back to historical eras of slavery, but to challenge
us to a commitment to complete Wilberforce’s unfinished mission and
to eradicate slavery from the face of the earth. It is to our shame
that there are still 27 million people in the world today suffering
from some form of slavery. In this book, we offer not only a brief
overview of Wilberforce’s endeavors but the scale of different forms
of enslavement in our time. We also wish to put a human face on to
the concept of slavery.
At the heart of the book are three chapters in which modern day
slaves are given a voice and describe their own experiences of
the horror and humiliation of contemporary slavery. These chapters
contain first hand accounts from men women and children who have
endured the horrors of enslavement in the Sudan, the hell of being
abducted as children by the LRA in Uganda, and the various forms of
anguish experienced by the peoples of Burma subjected to forced labor,
sexual slavery and the nightmares of 70,000 child soldiers. It is our
passionate hope in writing this book that the year of celebration
of Wilberforce’s magnificent parliamentary achievement will not be
a year of condemnation of our failures.
VOL: Do you see and militant Islam on the rise and what happened in
England recently as significant in the war on terror.
COX: What happened in England was a smaller version of your 9/11. On
July 7 that was undertaken by home grown British suicide bombers. The
seeds of militant Islam have taken root and produced a harvest of
terrorism and the continuation of that trend is seen in the recent
alleged attempts to blow up a significant number of civilian aircraft
which would have cause the deaths of many hundreds of people.
VOL: Your new book “Modern Saints” includes as number of Anglican
figures. Why?
COX: Yes it does. It includes Anglican martyrs who have died or been
tortured for their faith in Uganda and Nigeria.
VOL: Is the blood of the martyrs still the seed of the church, in
your mind?
COX : Absolutely. I have authored two other books on this subject and
last year I enlarged on Islam as a religion hostile to Christianity.
Nigeria, for example has a number of Shari’a states, making it a
hostile place for Christians to live. The Anglican Bishop of Jos, the
Rt. Revd. Benjamin Kwashi is a very dear friend. He once said to me,
‘if they kill us, in two years time there will be 200 new Christians
because the blood of the martyrs is still the seed of the church.
VOL: It has been said the 20th century was the century of martyrs,
how do you see the 21st century?
COX: It may exceed that. In general terms it is because there are so
many modern martyrs, and we must not let these stories be consigned
to the dustbin of history; instead we musty remember, affirm and
celebrate the price they have paid for our faith.
VOL: Your definition of ‘saints’ might be questioned in some quarters?
COX: Being inherently “unorthodox”, I wanted to include the concept
of saints as defined in an unorthodox way, that is, those people
living on the front line of faith that could endure martyrdom
any time, any day for which our faith is the pearl of such great
price that they are willing to sacrifice everything for it. I
particularly wanted to include these men and women as role models
for our young Christians in the West for whom our churches seem
too often to fail to provide adequate, vibrant compelling role
models and thereby fail to inspire our young people with a deep
commitment to our Faith. As the bible says, ‘if the trumpet gives
an uncertain sound’ it is not compelling. The churches in the West,
too often are distracted and divided, and too often giving uncertain
sounds. Therefore young people are not convinced and many are turning
to other faith traditions including Islam which is the fastest growing
religion in the UK. However, if our young people, who travel more
widely now than ever before, would only spend one week with one of
these modern saints, they would find it a life changing experience,
because they would experience Christianity in its most inspirational
and convincing manifestation. The book is not a morbid read, it also
contains many exciting examples of contemporary miracles. Perhaps
we should not be surprised as we have a God of miracles and there is
no reason why he should not perform these in our days as much as in
biblical times. However, perhaps there are more clearly evident on
the frontiers of faith than in the comfort zones of the West.
VOL: What is your view of Islam, and how followers of Mohammed are
functioning in the modern world?
COX. They are thinking strategically. The vast majority of the world’s
Islamic peoples are peaceful, are law abiding, and culturally very
hospitable people. And it is very important in our relationships that
we build bridges not wars. However, there is a very small proportion
but growing proportion of those who adhere to much more militant
interpretations of Islam who constitute a very serious threat to out
spiritual, cultural and political heritage. It is therefore an urgent
imperative that we wake up and look out beyond our own internal
distractions to the wide world to where our brothers and sisters
are suffering at the hands of militant Islam and also look out in
the sense of wake up, inform ourselves, educate ourselves about the
complex aspects of the nature of Islam and pray for an appropriate
Christian, spiritual and strategic response.
Baroness Cox’s website can be accessed here:
You can support this ministry with a tax deductible donation at
this website.
Her books can be obtained at Amazon.com or by following this link:
online.org/portal/modules/news/article.php?storyid =4974

MURR TOUTS IMPENDING DEAL ON UNITY CABINET
By Nada Bakri
The Daily Star, Lebanon
Nov 9 2006
BEIRUT: Lebanon’s leading politicians are expected to reach a deal
over a national unity government, a key demand of Hizbullah and
the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), during Thursday’s consultation
meeting. According to MP Michel Murr, the official assigned to work
out a “formula” Wednesday to rescue the country from political crisis,
the formation of a national unity government was “70 percent” complete.
“I have so far accomplished 70 percent of my mission, and now I am
waiting for the last meeting, which is the most important,” with
Parliament majority leader MP Saad Hariri, Murr said early Wednesday
afternoon.
Murr added that Hariri did not oppose this formula.
Hariri’s office said Wednesday evening that the two officials
had discussed the new formula, but declined to elaborate. Murr’s
spokesperson was not available for comment.
Earlier meetings included talks with Speaker Nabih Berri, a close
Hizbullah ally and sponsor of the national talks, and FPM leader
Michel Aoun.
Murr said following his meeting with Berri that all participants during
the roundtable talks on Monday and Tuesday agreed to a Cabinet that
includes four ministers from Aoun’s bloc.
He added Aoun wanted to be represented in Siniora’s Cabinet – whether
in its current 24-member form or in an expanded 26-member government.
Either scenario would see the addition of two FPM ministers and two
of the party’s allies in the Armenian Tashnak Party and the Zahle
bloc headed by MP Elie Skaff.
The question is whether two or four current Cabinet members will
be tossed.
Hizbullah and the FPM have been demanding a more inclusive government
since this summer’s war with Israel ended on August 14, to correct
what they argue is a misrepresentation of political power.
The two parties threatened to take to the streets to force a change if
the anti-Syrian majority refused to meet their demands by mid-November.
Sources close to Murr told the Central News Agency that the former
deputy prime minister is looking to bring “a neutral blocking minority”
into Siniora’s reshaped Cabinet.
The sources said participants must choose one of three options: Replace
four ministers with FPM ministers; expand Cabinet to 26 members and
introduce amendments to certain portfolios; or form a 30-member Cabinet
which will guarantee a higher likelihood of pleasing all parties.
Hizbullah and Amal, headed by Berri, have five ministers, pro-Syrian
President Emile Lahoud has three ministers, including Defense Minister
Elias Murr, Justice Minister Charles Rizk and Environment Minister
Yaacoub Sarraf.
Attaining one-third of Cabinet would allow the opposition to block
any Cabinet decision it did not support.
However, media reports said Wednesday that Lahoud will not approve
any new government that includes Rizk, who has not seen eye to eye
with the president on key issues as of late.
Rizk told the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation on Wednesday that he
has had “differences of opinion” with Lahoud since the formation of
Siniora’s Cabinet on two main issues: judicial appointments and an
international tribunal to try those accused of the assassination of
former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
The Central News Agency quoted sources close to Berri on Wednesday
as saying that
a breakthrough might be pos-sible on Thursday “if the right Arab and
international coverage is available.”
But these sources said it was unlikely that a new government would
be formed – if a deal is reached Thursday – before November 13,
the deadline Hizbullah set for a new Cabinet.
Hizbullah MP Hussein Fadlallah said Wednesday his party insists on
acquiring greater representation through a national unity government.
“We hope that the governing majority realizes the importance of this
opportunity to correct the misrepresentation in power after they have
violated all the agreements, which were the basis for accepting to
participate in the current government,” Fadlallah said.
“We will not give up our demand … We are not seeking to topple the
government or change it, but we want to participate in power to boost
the country,” he added.