Month: November 2006

PAMUK A GREAT WRITER, A WORTHY NOBEL LAUREATE
The Jakarta Post, Indonesia
November 4, 2006 Saturday
Orhan Pamuk deserves the Nobel Prize for Literature; his books make
him a worthy laureate. But it is unfortunate that his success is now
being politicized.
Matt Moore and Karl Ritter wrote in The Jakarta Post (Oct. 13):
“With its selection, the Swedish academy stepped squarely into the
global clash of civilizations, honoring a Western-leaning Muslim
whose country lies on the strategic fault line between east and west
and whose people are increasingly unhappy with Europeans’ reluctance
to accept them as full members in the European Union.” Did Moore and
Ritter take the effort to read any of Pamuk’s brilliantly constructed
books? From their article it does not seem so.
Why didn’t they write about the themes and literary qualities of
Pamuk’s books? Now it seems he is being condemned because he is not
Turkish enough (i.e. he is not a good Muslim, not a good Oriental).
Is Orhan Pamuk a European because he admires Dostoyevski? If one reads
a book written by Pamuk one will see that he does not choose between
east or west, between secularism or religion, between modernity or
tradition. Pamuk takes a close look at his surroundings and tries
to make sense of them by constructing a narrative with many layers
and voices.
As Margaret Atwood wrote in a review for The New York Review of Books
(Aug. 15, 2004): “Stories, Pamuk has hinted, create the world we
perceive: Instead of ‘I think, therefore I am’, a Pamuk character
might say, ‘I am because I narrate'”.
Pamuk wants to show us that our world is not a black-and-white world,
and if we picture it as black and white, not only will it not make
sense to us but it can also become a rather unlivable place.
Pamuk is Dostoyevskian in the sense that he tries to go beyond simple
representations, his narrations are inhabited by subjects like the
honest thief, the tender murderer and the superstitious atheist;
people are never just this or that, they are both and neither.
In response to the bloody situation in Iraq, Pamuk says in an interview
with Alexander Star (The New York Times, Aug. 15, 2004): “In my books
I have always looked for a sort of harmony between the so- called east
and west. In short, what I wrote in my books for years was misquoted,
and used as a sort of apology for what had been done. And what had
been done was a cruel thing.” And in response to 9/11 he writes
(The New York Review of Books, Nov. 15, 2001):”I am afraid that
self-satisfied and self-righteous Western nationalism will drive the
rest of the world into defiantly contending that two plus two equals
five, like Dostoyevski’s underground man, when he reacts against the
‘reasonable’ Western world.
“Nothing can fuel support for an ‘Islamist’ who throws nitric acid at
women’s faces so much as the West’s failure to understand the damned
of the world”.
Pamuk’s position is subtle, for example his novel Now carries an
epigraph from Dostoyevski’s novel The Brothers Karamazov: “Well,
then, eliminate the people, curtail them, force them to be silent.
Because the European enlightenment is more important than people.”
This quote not only criticizes Turkey’s top-down modernization since
Mustafa Kemal Ataturk (1881-1938), it also criticizes the way many
Europeans, for example the Somali-Dutch Ayaan Hirsi Ali, treat Muslims:
Modernization as such is more important than the lives of ordinary
people, but what is liberty without a life? Enlightenment cannot be
enforced, that is illiberal.
Pamuk infuriates Islamists and nationalists alike. Orhan Pamuk is
critical of Islamism, because it stifles freedom of thinking and
expression. Pamuk was also one of the first to speak up against the
Ayatollah Khomeini fatwa which ordered the murder of Salman Rushdie,
who was accused of blasphemy after publishing The Satanic Verses.
Pamuk was also recently one of the co-writers of an open letter to
the Iranian president, Ahmadinejad, urging the release of scholar and
public intellectual Ramin Jahanbegloo, who is being held for having
contacts with foreigners.
Pamuk is also critical of nationalists and for the same reasons. He
gave an interview to the Swiss newspaper Tages Anzeiger (Feb. 6, 2005)
in which he said that “thirty thousand Kurds and a million Armenians
were killed”. Pamuk is referring to the killings by Ottoman Empire
forces of Armenians during World War I.
Turkey does not deny the deaths, but denies that it was genocide,
i.e. according to a premeditated plan. Pamuk’s reference to 30,000
Kurdish deaths refers to those killed during the past two decades
in the conflict between Turkish forces and Kurdish separatists. In
Turkey, debate about this issue is stifled by stringent laws; therefore
Turkish history and identity are frozen.
Turkey should become a full member of the European Union soon, says
Pamuk. This must be possible because Turkey has long been a member
of NATO. It must be possible if the European Union stands for humanism.
But it becomes impossible if Europeans, out of fear of globalization,
deep- freeze an European identity as, for example, Christian.
But once again, Pamuk is no politician, nor is he an activist, he is
foremost a luminous artist. His books enlighten us on the difficulty of
forming an essential identity, to be someone; we are like the countries
we inhabit, i.e. complex and difficult to read. And Pamuk’s novel The
Black Book shows that to make sense of the world and ourselves the
reader has to become a writer. The clash of civilizations is simply
not an interesting narrative, it is far too colorless, and it is
about time to change that record.
Roy Voragen, Bandung The writer teaches philosophy at Parahyangan
Catholic University, Bandung, West Java, and can be contacted at
[email protected].

NAGORNO-KARABAKH TO HOLD REFERENDUM ON NEW CONSTITUTION
Agence France Presse — English
November 6, 2006 Monday 4:32 PM GMT
The disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh will hold a referendum next
month on its first ever constitution, the region’s ‘presidency’
said Monday.
The territory, whose self-declared independence is recognized by
no-one, has nonetheless organized three presidential elections and
four legislative votes since breaking away from Azerbaijan in 1991.
Now, the region’s largely Armenian population will cast their vote
December 10 on a proposed constitution already approved by Karabakh’s
national assembly.
The referendum coincides with the 15-year anniversary of the enclave’s
announced secession from Azerbaijan, which sparked a six-year war
between Baku and neighboring Armenia that caused tens of thousands
of casualties on both sides.
Despite a 1994 ceasefire, the status of the region — located 270
kilometers (170 miles) west of Baku — is unresolved, and the situation
remains tense.
Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers failed to make a
breakthrough during October talks in Paris. They are scheduled to
meet again in Brussels this month.

CRITICAL EU REPORT RISKS FURTHER ALIENATING TURKS: ANALYSTS
by Hande Culpan
Agence France Presse — English
November 6, 2006 Monday
Turkey was Monday bracing for a critical report on its progress
towards joining the European Union which could further reduce the
Turkish public’s dwindling support and trust for the 25-nation bloc,
analysts said.
“We are past the point where the report will be perceived as it should
be,” Professor Dogu Ergil, an Ankara-based political analyst, told AFP.
“We are in a climate where Turkey feels besieged and the Turkish public
views every EU requirement as unreciprocated concessions and interprets
them as dishonesty and even ill-will on the EU’s part,” he said.
The sour mood clearly showed in a survey carried out by the A Institute
on September 23-24.
Only 32.2 percent of thoe 2,408 people questioned said Turkey should
join the EU while 25.6 percent said it should not.
In a survey by the same institute in 2004, 67.5 percent said Turkey
should definitely join the EU, while 57.4 percent expressed the same
view in a poll in September 2005.
Only 7.2 percent of those questioned in the latest opinion poll said
they trusted the EU, while 78.1 percent said they did not.
The report — to be issued Wednesday by the EU’s executive arm, the
European Comission — is likely to add to the disillusionment of the
Turks. It is expected to issue harsh criticism on several issues,
most notably the divided island of Cyprus.
Ankara is under pressure to open its ports and airports to vessels
from Cyprus, an EU member it does not recognize, under a customs
union agreement with the bloc.
But Turkey refuses to do so until the EU eases the international
isolation of the breakaway Turkish Cypriot community in northern
Cyprus, whose welfare has for years been a cornerstone of Turkish
foreign policy and whose plight is viewed by the Turkish public as a
“national cause”.
“The Cyprus issue has inevitably led to tension, with hardening
rhetoric on both sides,” Mehmet Ozcan, a senior researcher at the
Institute of International Strategic Studies here, told AFP.
“The Ankara government’s non-concessional attitude on Cyprus, in view
of upcoming presidential and general elections next year, has had a
direct affect on Turkish public support for EU,” he added.
The European Commission report is also likely to criticize Turkey
for failing to ensure freedom of expression by modifying or scrapping
Article 301 of Turkey’s penal code.
Dozens of writers and authors have been pursued by the courts under
Article 301, including 2006 Nobel literature prize winner Orhan
Pamuk. Most have been brought to court for remarks contesting Ankara’s
official line on the 1915-1917 massacres of Armenians, which Turkey
categorically rejects as constituting genocide.
The Commission’s expected request to modify or scrap Article 301
comes amid moves in France to push through a law penalizing anyone
who denies that the killings constituted genocide and the removal of
Turkish-origin candidates from Dutch electoral lists for refusing to
recognize the massacres as genocide.
“The moves in France and the Netherlands have led to the impression
that even if Turkey fulfills all EU requirements, there is no guarantee
that it will become a member,” Ergil said.
Ozcan said the report’s expected criticism over Article 301 was
unlikely to go down well in Turkey due to the potentially explosive
nature of the Armenian question.
“The Turkish people cannot take any more,” he said.
According to press reports here, the European Commission report will
also chide Turkey on the slowing pace of reforms, the continuing
practice of torture and the military’s influence in politics.
Turkey began membership talks with the European Union last year amid
widespread skepticism as to whether the mainly Muslim nation of some
70 million people has a place in Europe.

TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL CORRUPTION PERCEPTIONS INDEX
Agence France Presse — English
November 6, 2006 Monday 10:17 AM GMT
Rankings of 163 nations studied by anti-corruption watchdog
Transparency International for its annual Corruption Perceptions Index,
released on Monday.
The index score relates to perceptions of the degree of corruption as
seen by business people and country analysts and ranges between zero,
which is highly corrupt, and 10, which is very clean.
Country, rank (score out of 10)
=1. Finland 9.6
=1. Iceland 9.6
=1. New Zealand 9.6
4. Denmark 9.5
5. Singapore 9.4
6. Sweden 9.2
7. Switzerland 9.1
8. Norway 8.8
=9. Australia 8.7
=9. Netherlands 8.7
=11. Austria 8.6
=11. Luxembourg 8.6
=11. United Kingdom 8.6
14. Canada 8.5
15. Hong Kong 8.3
16. Germany 8.0
17. Japan 7.6
= 18. France 7.4
= 18. Ireland 7.4
=20. Belgium 7.3
=20. Chile 7.3
=20. United States 7.3
23. Spain 6.8
=24. Barbados 6.7
=24. Estonia 6.7
=26. Macau 6.6
=26. Portugal 6.6
=28. Malta 6.4
=28. Slovenia 6.4
=28. Uruguay 6.4
31. UAE 6.2
=32. Bhutan 6.0
=32. Qatar 6.0
=34. Israel 5.9
=34. Taiwan 5.9
36. Bahrain 5.7
=37. Botswana 5.6
=37. Cyprus 5.6
39. Oman 5.4
40. Jordan 5.3
41. Hungary 5.2
=42. Mauritius 5.1
=42. South Korea 5.1
44. Malaysia 5.0
45. Italy 4.9
=46. Czech Republic 4.8
=46. Kuwait 4.8
=46. Lithuania 4.8
=49. Latvia 4.7
=49. Slovakia 4.7
=51. South Africa 4.6
=51. Tunisia 4.6
53. Dominica 4.5
54. Greece 4.4
=55. Costa Rica 4.1
=55. Namibia 4.1
=57. Bulgaria 4.0
=57. El Salvador 4.0
59. Colombia 3.9
60. Turkey 3.8
=61. Jamaica 3.7
=61. Poland 3.7
=63. Lebanon 3.6
=63. Seychelles 3.6
=63. Thailand 3.6
=66. Belize 3.5
=66. Cuba 3.5
=66. Grenada 3.5
69. Croatia 3.4
=70. Brazil 3.3
=70. China 3.3
=70. Egypt 3.3
=70. Ghana 3.3
=70. India 3.3
=70. Mexico 3.3
=70. Peru 3.3
=70. Saudi Arabia 3.3
=70. Senegal 3.3
=79. Burkina Faso 3.2
=79. Lesotho 3.2
=79. Moldova 3.2
=79. Morocco 3.2
=79. Trinidad and Tobago 3.22
=84. Algeria 3.1
=84. Madagascar 3.1
=84. Mauritania 3.1
=84. Panama 3.1
=84. Romania 3.1
=84. Sri Lanka 3.1
=90. Gabon 3.0
=90. Serbia 3.0
=90. Suriname 3.0
=93. Argentina 2.9
=93. Armenia 2.9
=93. Bosnia and Hercegovina 2.9
=93. Eritrea 2.9
=93. Syria 2.9
=93. Tanzania 2.9
=99. Dominican Republic 2.8
=99. Georgia 2.8
=99. Mali 2.8
=99. Mongolia 2.8
=99. Mozambique 2.8
=99. Ukraine 2.8
=105. Bolivia 2.7
=105. Iran 2.7
=105. Libya 2.7
=105. Macedonia 2.7
=105. Malawi 2.7
=105. Uganda 2.7
=111. Albania 2.6
=111. Guatemala 2.6
=111. Kazakhstan 2.6
=111. Laos 2.6
=111. Nicaragua 2.6
=111. Paraguay 2.6
=111. Timor-Leste 2.6
=111. Vietnam 2.6
=111. Yemen 2.6
=111. Zambia 2.6
=121. Benin 2.5
=121. Gambia 2.5
=121. Guyana 2.5
=121. Honduras 2.5
=121. Nepal 2.5
=121. Philippines 2.5
=121. Russia 2.5
=121. Rwanda 2.5
=121. Swaziland 2.5
=130. Azerbaijan 2.4
=130. Burundi 2.4
=130. Central African Republic 2.4
=130. Ethiopia 2.4
=130. Indonesia 2.4
=130. Papua New Guinea 2.4
=130. Togo 2.4
=130. Zimbabwe 2.4
=138. Cameroon 2.3
=138. Ecuador 2.3
=138. Niger 2.3
=138. Venezuela 2.3
=142. Angola 2.2
=142. Congo 2.2
=142. Kenya 2.2
=142. Kyrgyzstan 2.2
=142. Nigeria 2.2
=142. Pakistan 2.2
=142. Sierra Leone 2.2
=142. Tajikistan 2.2
=142. Turkmenistan 2.2
=151. Belarus 2.1
=151. Cambodia 2.1
=151. Ivory Coast 2.1
=151. Equatorial Guinea 2.1
=151. Uzbekistan 2.1
=156. Bangladesh 2.0
=156. Chad 2.0
=156. Democratic Republic of Congo 2.0
=156. Sudan 2.0
=160. Guinea 1.9
=160. Iraq 1.9
=160. Myanmar 1.9
163. Haiti 1.8
From: Baghdasarian

L’AZERBAïDJAN FACE AU DESASTRE CULTUREL
Le Temps, Suisse
4 novembre 2006
L’Unesco reste impuissante face a la nouvelle campagne que mène le
gouvernement azeri pour effacer toute trace de la culture armenienne
sur son sol.
En août 2005, l’informaticien ecossais Steven Sim entreprit un voyage
perilleux au Nakhitchevan, province de l’Azerbaïdjan enclavee entre
l’Armenie et l’Iran. Sur cette terre aride et grandiose, pratiquement
fermee aux etrangers, ce passionne d’architecture esperait visiter
plusieurs eglises armeniennes, dont certaines datent du XIIe siècle.
Mais ce qu’il trouva lui fit froid dans le dos: a la place des
monuments repertories voici une quinzaine d’annees, il ne restait
que des tas de gravats.
Le temoignage de Steven Sim a ete divulgue le mois dernier a Paris,
photos a l’appui: il apporte une nouvelle preuve de la campagne
menee par le gouvernement d’Azerbaïdjan pour effacer toute trace de
la culture armenienne sur son sol. Par son ampleur, cette destruction
methodique rappelle celle des bouddhas de Bamyan par le regime afghan
des talibans, en 2001, celle des monuments ottomans de Bosnie par les
Serbes, dans les annees 1990, ou celle, plus recente, de certaines
eglises serbes du Kosovo.
“Au Nakhitchevan, je suis alle voir les emplacements de huit eglises
armeniennes”, a explique Steven Sim au Temps. “Je me suis rendu sur
les sites, a present vides, de deux [eglises], et j’ai vu d’assez
près [les sites restants] pour etre a 100% certain que les six autres
n’existent plus.” Ainsi, le village d’Abrakounis, dans l’imposante
vallee du Yerndjak, possedait une eglise de 1381 ornee de fines
sculptures. A l’endroit meme où elle fut photographiee en 1990,
il n’y a plus qu’un terrain vague jonche d’eclats de briques.
Steven Sim, qui a fini par etre expulse du Nakhitchevan pour s’etre
montre trop curieux, craint que toutes les anciennes eglises de cette
province – leur nombre est evalue entre 59 et une centaine – n’aient
ete aneanties. Une video, prise en decembre 2005 depuis le territoire
iranien, renforce cette hypothèse: on y voit des soldats reduire en
miettes les croix gravees du cimetière medieval de Jughla, situe sur
la rive azerie du fleuve Araxe. Ce site, qui comptait quelque dix
mille stèles au debut du XXe siècle, a ete aplati au bulldozer et
transforme en terrain militaire.
Après la diffusion du film, le gouvernement d’Azerbaïdjan a reagi.
Une lettre envoyee au Temps par son ambassadeur a Paris affirme ainsi
que “le cimetière armenien de Jughla n’existe pas” et que les images
montrant la destruction des croix “ne permettent pas de localiser le
site photographie avec certitude”. Pourtant, au printemps dernier, une
delegation de parlementaires europeens s’est vu refuser l’autorisation
de se rendre sur place.
Malgre des demandes reiterees, l’ambassadeur n’a pas repondu aux
questions du Temps sur les destructions d’eglises denoncees par
Steven Sim. Le temoignage de ce dernier est certes “oriente”, puisque
le coût de son voyage au Nakhitchevan a ete pris en charge par une
organisation armenienne, mais, pour l’heure, les autorites de Bakou
n’ont pas pris la peine de le refuter.
Afin de contrer les accusations concernant le cimetière de Djougha,
l’Azerbaïdjan se dit victime d’une “campagne de propagande” menee par
l’Armenie et affirme que plus de cinq cents monuments azeris ont ete
detruits par les Armeniens. Les deux Etats se sont affrontes entre
1990 et 1994 pour la province azerie du Haut-Karabakh, actuellement
contrôlee par les Armeniens. Ils se livrent aujourd’hui une sorte de
guerre froide, marquee par des echanges de tirs episodiques.
Dans ce contexte tendu, l’influente diaspora armenienne mobilise
ses amis politiques en Occident. Le 17 octobre, deux parlementaires
suisses, le Vert genevois Ueli Leuenberger et le democrate-chretien
fribourgeois Dominique de Buman, ont conduit une delegation d’elus
de plusieurs pays au siège parisien de l’Unesco, division de l’ONU
chargee de la sauvegarde des monuments anciens.
Mais ils sont ressortis consternes de leur rencontre avec le directeur
general de l’organisation, Koïchiro Matsuura. “Nous ne sommes pas
du tout satisfaits, a declare Ueli Leuenberger a l’issue de la
reunion. On a l’impression que l’Unesco n’a rien fait face a ces
destructions. C’est incomprehensible.”
Car cela fait des mois, voire des annees, que l’organisation a
ete informee du desastre culturel en cours dans le Caucase. Il y
a six mois, ses fonctionnaires annoncaient l’envoi imminent d’une
“mission d’experts” sur place. Depuis, plus rien. “Si on devait
enqueter sur toutes les allegations de destructions de monuments
dans le monde, on aurait besoin de 5000 ou 10000 employes [il y en a
2160]”, expliquait au printemps dernier un cadre de l’organisation,
avec un melange d’amertume et de desinvolture.
Aujourd’hui, l’Unesco observe un mutisme complet sur la question des
monuments detruits au Nakhitchevan, et justifie son silence par de
mysterieux pourparlers diplomatiques en cours. Ses relations avec le
gouvernement d’Azerbaïdjan sont au beau fixe: le 19 octobre, a Paris,
la femme du president azeri Ilham Aliev a assiste a un concert donne
pour les 60 ans de l’Unesco sous le titre “Azerbaïdjan, carrefour
des civilisations et des cultures”.
–Boundary_(ID_/yuXdt6Tgcage+dYPT TWsw)–

NAGORNY-KARABAKH: REFERENDUM LE 10 DECEMBRE SUR UNE PREMIèRE CONSTITUTION
Agence France Presse
6 novembre 2006 lundi 3:13 PM GMT
Le territoire du Nagorny-Karabakh, republique autoproclamee non
reconnue par la communaute internationale et que se disputent l’Armenie
et l’Azerbaïdjan, tiendra le 10 decembre un referendum pour l’adoption
d’une première Constitution, a annonce lundi sa “presidence”.
Le 10 decembre 1991, le Nagorny-Karabakh s’est separe de l’Azerbaïdjan
a l’issue d’un referendum et a proclame son independance, conduisant
a des combats qui ont provoque la mort de dizaines de milliers de
personnes côte azerbaïdjanais et armenien.
Depuis, ce territoire a organise trois elections presidentielles et
quatre scrutins parlementaires.
Le referendum se deroulera conformement a un decret signe le 3 novembre
par le “president” Arkadi Goukassian, a precise a l’AFP son service de
presse. Le projet de Constitution a ete auparavant discute et adopte
par les deputes de l’Assemble nationale du Nagorny-Karabakh.
Le Nagorny-Karabakh est une enclave en territoire azerbaïdjanais
habitee en majorite par une population armenienne. Après le conflit
meurtrier du debut des annees 1990, un cessez-le-feu est intervenu
en 1994, mais la situation reste tendue.
Paris, Washington et Moscou ont ete charges de la mediation de ce
dossier au sein du “groupe de Minsk”, une emanation de l’Organisation
pour la securite et la cooperation en Europe (OSCE).
–Boundary_(ID_PWxNB7XZ56N+T3eMGbIvUg)–

POLISH DELEGATION VISITED TSITSERNAKABERD
Public Radio, Armenia
Nov 6 2006
The delegation headed by the Marshal of Senate of the Republic of
Poland Bogdan Borusewicz visited Tsitsernakaberd today to lay a wreath
of flowers at the memorial to the Armenian Genocide victims.
According to Bogdan Borusewicz, sufferings of the Armenian people
should become a outlook to the future. The Marshal the Senate urged
to remember the past without forgetting about future, since “it is
the responsibility of political figures to think about future.”
The delegation visited also the Genocide Museum, where Bogdan
Borusewicz wrote in the Memory Book: “We should remember the history,
the tragedy of the Armenian nation without forgetting the future. And
the good future is the good relations between everyone in the region.”
It should be noted that on April 19, 2005 the Polish Senate recognized
the Armenian Genocide.

VARTAN OSKANIAN RECEIVED IOM REPRESENTATIVE MRS. THOMAS WEISS
Public Radio, Armenia
Nov 6 2006
October 6 RA Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian received Mrs. Thomas
Weiss, Representative of the International Organization for Migration
(IOM) to Scandinavian, Baltic and EU New Neighbors Policy participant
countries.
During the meeting the parties discussed issues related to the
migration sphere in the light of the high-level dialogue in the UN
in September 2006. Reference was made to the cooperation between the
IOM and the Republic of Armenia on important issues in the migration
field, particularly fighting labor migration and trafficking.
Mrs. Weiss highly assessed Armenia’s cooperation with the UN and
expressed willingness deepen it, particularly in the filed of amendment
of the legislation promoting legalized migration.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

TURKEY APPEARS TO MISS OUT ON RAPID EU ACCESSION
Workpermit.com, UK
Nov 6 2006
The European Commission will decide this week if it will recommend
a partial suspension of Turkey’s membership negotiations for joining
the European Union. Turkey has failed in several key areas, including
failure to open up its ports to Cyprus and other trade issues.
This, on the heels of a new French law last month that makes it
illegal to deny that the deaths of 600,000 to 2 million Armenians
during 1915 – 1917 is genocide. The law equivocates denial with the
Jewish Holocaust during World War II.
Turkish law allows severe penalties for persons who refer to the
event as “genocide,” or the equivalent, as being subversive of the
government of Turkey.
While this last is a rather dramatic example of differences that must
be resolved, it is by no means the only one.
The controversy is complex, with a number of strong arguments in
favour of Turkish accession as well as a number of equally strong
arguments against.
Economic and trade disputes are more likely to have the final word.
The European Commission President, Jose Manuel Barroso, and Olli Rehn,
Enlargement Commissioner, are considering a recommendation to suspend
three negotiating topics closely linked to the ports dispute.
Other commissioners are urging Brussels to send out a strong message:
that many more parts of the negotiations will be affected if Ankara
does not meet the EU’s demand. Austria wants the Commission to
distinguish Turkey’s case from that of Croatia, the other country
currently in EU membership negotiations.
France, Cyprus, Austria and Greece are all pushing for a tough
line with Turkey, with the UK championing efforts to keep the talks
on course.
“If the issue was just Turkey not opening its ports, that would
be one thing and you could just suspend three chapters,” said an
EU diplomat. “But remember that the Commission will also report on
Wednesday that Turkey is not making progress on reforms. This is a
question of political control of the EU’s enlargement process.”
Turkey’s prime minister appears ready to amend a controversial
article of the Turkish penal code that the Commission says inhibits
free speech. “We are ready for proposals to make article 301 more
concrete if there are problems stemming from it being vague,” he said.
The Commission debate opens the way for a full-blooded EU dispute over
Turkey, which some officials fear could bring the entire negotiations
to a halt.
On Wednesday the Commission will also adopt a strategy paper for future
enlargement, which says that, before any new expansion takes place,
the EU will have to deal with its own institutional arrangements –
which were to have been decided by the ill-fated European constitution.
With the expansion of the European Union to the EU-27 on 01 January
this year, most EU States are ready to take a slower approach,
with a more structured and restrictive attitude toward new potential
accession states. Croatia, Turkey and the Ukraine look like they will
have to meet tougher standards to get a treaty, and then will likely
face more restriction internally from existing member States as the
economic changes begin to settle out.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

VYMPELCOM GOING TO STRENGTHEN ARMENTEL’S POSITIONS
PanARMENIAN.Net
06.11.2006 15:19 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ When commenting on the bargain sealed with Greek
OTE President of VympelCom Russian company Alexander Izosimov said,
“We are glad to announce the agreement, which will allow us to
launch activities in Armenia, the sixth CIS state our company offers
its services to. Covering some 40% of the Armenian cellular market
ArmenTel has a strong position and we are going to consolidate it.”
According to the information posted on VympelCom’s website, the
ArmenTel package costs 341.9 million euros plus 40 million euros of
net debt and obligations of the company. The final conclusion of the
bargain will depend on a number of terms including consent of the
Armenian government till end of 2006.