Month: March 2007

Turkish Daily News
March 9 2007

Bryza in Turkey over Caspian gas race
Friday, March 9, 2007

TOMASSO NELLI
ISTANBUL – Turkish Daily News

The U.S. drive towards enrolling Turkey on Europe’s side for energy
security has strong geo-political overtones, and focuses on ensuring
a steady supply of natural gas from Azerbaijan to Europe through
Turkey. The U.S. government "is passionate about a new strategic
era," said U.S. Undersecretary of State for the Economy Matt Bryza at
an energy conference in Istanbul yesterday. Turkish Energy Minister
Hilmi Güler also spoke. The two will discuss ways of fighting the PKK
in northern Iraq tomorrow in Ankara, issues relating to the new Iraqi
hydro-carbon law, which forces Turkey to deal with the Kurdish-led
Northern Province for many energy issues which Ankara would rather
discuss with Baghdad.

Bryza was here only last month, and went on to visit president
Alyev of Azerbaijan in a drive to ensure ironclad economic conditions
for the transit of natural gas through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceylan
pipeline, a project which was endorsed by the U.S. during the times
of Turkish president Demirel, and which has successfully been brought
to completion. Bryza said that he visited Khazakstan two weeks ago,
and that the government there has serious intentions to link to the
BTC. "We do not want to isolate Russia in the Caspian. We can’t," he
said. He was outspoken in his criticism of Russian state giant
Gazprom, which supplies 60 percent of Turkey’s gas. The conference
addressed the issue of energy diversification.

Against monopolies:

Bryza argued that a "deep disfunctionality" affects European gas
market, and that the U.S. intends to see competitive conditions in
the natural gas market, and that Russia, which buys Central Asian gas
for around $100 per billion cubic meters (bcm) to sell it in Europe
for up to $300 per bcm, was running a monopoly. While oil can be
transported by tankers, gas (unless liquefied) is always delivered by
pipeline. "We will never consume one molecule of Central Asian gas,"
said Bryza, and added that no U.S. companies were operating in
Azerbaijan.

Bryza argued that the $200 profit that Russia earned from
transporting gas to Europe was used to "fuel corruption and in some
cases organized crime."

He also said the United States hoped to nudge Gazprom to "turn
inwards" and build its own fields, and apply to Western companies to
develop them. "We don’t want another Cold War with Russia," he said.
"We want to work with Turkey and Azerbaijan to increase competitively
for the EU market."

Bryza said that Turkey had to assure Azerbaijan it would not
interrupt transport of gas through the BTC no matter how much gas it
took from Russia, and that Azerbaijan had to make sure supply was
constant. He said that rumors that Baku fields were insufficient were
Russian disinformation, and that 20 billion bcm per year could be
expected by 2012-13. This is quarter of Russian gas export to Europe,
and is enough for supplying gas through the planned
Turkey-Greece-Italy pipeline and for the first part of the un-built
Nabucco pipeline, linking Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Austria.

Russia politicizes energy:

"In Moscow people want to politicize relations with governments and
officials," said Bryza.

Despite its aut-aut treatment of Ukraine, Georgia and Belarus,
Russia has in the past proved reliable with its supply of oil and gas
to its western clients (who pay in hard cash and were never part of
the communist subsidies and barter system). In terms of international
law, degree of intervention – smashing a monopoly within a sovereign
country – is controversial.

Bryza stated that Russia was using international law and the
ecology in suspicious ways. "Russians cite Soviet agreements and say
they remain valid," he said. The 1921 treaty between the Soviet Union
and Iran, which describes the Caspian as a lake, is a focus of
disagreement because it would empower these two Caspian nations to
veto the construction of pipelines can invoke it. Caspian nations
have proliferated since the break-up of the U.S.S.R.

BTC is the favorite pipeline Bryza said that the U.S. had thrown
its full diplomatic weight behind the TBC, but was not doing the same
for the Samsun-Ceylan pipeline because, while the TBC was the sole
possible route to bring gas westwards past political and geographic
bottlenecks, the Samsun-Ceylan has many other competitor routes
(through Macedonia and Albania, Ukraine, as well as the
Burgas-Alexandropolis and the Costanza-Trieste). It is noteworthy,
however, that the TBC is the only one of these routes that could not
move Russian energy westwards. "If you are NABUCCO you could be
looking towards Russia or Iran. The U.S. would not be able to support
it if it moved gas from Iran," he added.

Iran:

Commenting on the proposed natural gas cartel between Iran and
Russia, Bryza pointed out that the idea had been brought to the
international stage by Russian President Vladimir Putin, not by Iran.
Asked whether the United States would ever allow the Iranian market
to find its way to global markets and turn to China and India, Bryza
said that if "Iran will become more responsible, we hope to see large
amounts of Iranian gas going through Turkey…" he paused, blushed,
and looked to the panel. "..President Güler is laughing at me!"

Rapidly developing India and China are expected to become
increasingly energy-hungry, which raises the question whether there
is another Cold War in the making behind the apparent Cold War that
is being resurrected over Caspian gas.

Bryza reassured the panel that the Bush government was against a
political solution to the Armenian question, and preferred historians
and common people to get involved. He also said that new developments
from Washington from the past two-days would be discussed in Ankara
with minister Güler, but stated that the 2007 referendum over the
fate of Kirkuk was set to take place because written into the Iraqi
constitution.

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
March 10 2007

Two Turks fined for insulting, threatening Armenian patriarch

A Turkish court fined two men for insulting and threatening Patriarch
Mesrob II, the spiritual leader of the Turkey’s small Armenian
community yesterday.

Gökmen Akman was given a fine of YTL 1,287 ($910 dollars) on charges
of both insulting and threatening the patriarch, while Hasan Ezer was
sentenced to pay YTL 77 Turkish ($55) for just insulting Mesrob II,
the Anatolia news agency reported. According to the indictment, the
two men sent e-mails to the patriarch in October 2004 which read "We
will finish you off" and "We will drive you crazy."

Turkey’s 80,000-strong Armenian community, which lives mainly in
Ýstanbul, generally keeps a low profile for fear of becoming a target
for ultra-nationalists in light of the alleged World War I massacres
of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire. Armenians describe the
1915-1918 massacres as genocide, a label that the Republic of Turkey
— the Ottoman Empire’s successor — fiercely rejects. In January,
ethnic Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, criticized for his views on
the alleged Armenian massacres, was shot dead outside his office in a
murder which prosecutors believe was the work of ultra-nationalists.
Since then, anxiety has engulfed the Armenian community, and in
recent interviews Mesrob II has said that his office had been
receiving threats.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Dallas Morning News, TX
March 9 2007

Jackson Diehl: A nonbinding resolution that matters

Why is the House ready to debate 1915 genocide?

06:47 AM CST on Friday, March 9, 2007

Can a nonbinding congressional resolution really matter? Most are
ignored by everyone except the special interests they are usually
directed at. Even the House’s recent resolution on Iraq was dismissed
by both President Bush and Democratic antiwar leader John Murtha.

Yet a vote expected next month on a nonbinding House resolution
describing a "genocide" in the Ottoman Empire beginning in 1915 has
the potential to explode U.S. relations with Turkey, sway the outcome
of upcoming Turkish elections, and spill over into several other
strategic American interests, including Iraq and Iran.

So, yes: The Armenian Genocide Resolution sponsored by Rep. Adam
Schiff does matter, logically or not. Turkish Foreign Minister
Abdullah Gul spent several days in Washington last month lobbying
against it, though the Turkish-American agenda is chockablock with
seemingly more important issues. Friends of Turkey in Washington,
from American Jewish organizations to foreign policy satraps, are
working the Hill; so is the Bush team. On the other side is the
well-organized and affluent Armenian-American community, 1.4 million
strong, and some powerful friends – including the new House speaker,
Nancy Pelosi.

Here is a debate that could occur only in Washington – a bizarre mix
of frivolity and moral seriousness, of constituent pandering,
far-flung history and frontline foreign policy. And that’s just on
the American side; in Turkey there is the painful struggle of a
deeply nationalist society to come to terms with its past, and in the
process become more of the Western democracy it wants to be.

Start with the pandering: Mr. Schiff, a Los Angeles Democrat,
cheerfully concedes that there are 70,000 to 80,000 ethnic Armenians
in his district, for whom the slaughter of Armenians by the Young
Turk regime during World War I is "anything but ancient history."
Local politics also explains why a resolution that has failed
numerous times in the past 20 years is suddenly looking like a
juggernaut: Pelosi, of San Francisco, also has many Armenian
supporters.

If Ms. Pelosi allows the resolution to be brought up, as she has
reportedly pledged to do, it will probably pass. Its language is
almost comically heavy-handed: It begins by declaring that the House
"finds" a series of 30 paragraphs of facts about the genocide,
ranging from the number killed (1.5 million) to the assertion that
"the failure … to punish those responsible" helps explain
subsequent atrocities, including the Holocaust.

Imagine the 435 members of the House, many of whom still don’t know
the difference between Iraqi Shiites and Sunnis, solemnly weighing
whether Mr. Schiff’s version of events 92 years ago in northeastern
Turkey deserves congressional endorsement.

But the consequences of passage could be deadly serious: To begin
with, Turkey’s powerful military has been hinting that U.S. access to
the Incirlik air base, which plays a key role in the wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan, could be restricted. Mr. Gul warned that a nationalist
tidal wave could sweep Turkey and force the government to downgrade
its cooperation with the United States, which needs Turkey’s help
this year to stabilize Iraq and contain Iran. Candidates in upcoming
presidential and parliamentary elections could compete in their
anti-American reactions.

No wonder the Bush administration as well as even Democratic-leaning
foreign policy experts, such as Clinton-era ambassador Mark Parris,
are trying to stop the resolution. Yet theirs, too, is a contorted
campaign. After all, historians outside of Turkey are pretty much
unanimous in agreeing that atrocities against Armenians worthy of the
term genocide did occur.

Though Congress may look silly with its "findings," the continuing
inability of the Turkish political class to come to terms with
history, and temper its nationalism, may be the country’s single most
serious political problem. Prominent Turkish intellectuals, including
a Nobel Prize winner, have been prosecuted in recent years under laws
criminalizing "insults" to Turkey – such as accurate accounts of the
genocide. In January, a prominent ethnic Armenian journalist was
murdered by an ultranationalist teen-ager.

Maybe Congress has no business debating Turkish history; maybe it is
doing so for the wrong reasons. Yet if Turkey is to become the
stable, Western-oriented democracy that it aspires to be, its
politicians will have to learn, at least, to react the way everyone
else does to nonbinding House resolutions: with a shrug.

Jackson Diehl is a deputy editorial page editor for The Washington
Post. His e-mail address is [email protected].

pinion/viewpoints/stories/DN-diehl_09edi.ART.State .Edition1.441ab32.html

Today, Azerbaijan
March 9 2007

Michel Platini: "Azerbaijan-Armenia matches will probably take place
in neutral field"

09 March 2007 [11:58] – Today.Az

UEFA president Michel Platini’s two-day business visit to Georgia is
over.

At the press conference Platini took a stance on the
Azerbaijan-Armenia match in Group A of European championship
qualifying.

"Azerbaijan-Armenia matches will probably take place in neutral
field," he said.

UEFA president stated that he had acquainted himself with the
positions of Azerbaijan and Armenia.

"We have received proposals by Azerbaijani and Armenian National
Associations. The issue will be solved in near future in Geneva," he
underscored.

Azerbaijani and Armenian national team are to meet on Sep 8 in Baku
and Seb 12 in Yerevan, APA reports.

URL:

The News – International, Pakistan
March 10 2007

Turkish leader guilty of genocide denial

GENEVA: A Swiss court on Friday found a Turkish leader guilty of
denying the Armenian genocide, the first time Switzerland’s
anti-racism law has been applied to the World War I slaughter.

Turkish Workers’ Party leader Dogu Perincek received a suspended jail
sentence of 90 days or an equivalent fine from the Lausanne court as
well as a fine of 3,000 Swiss francs (1,900 euros).

Perincek had described the Armenian genocide under the Ottoman Empire
as an `international lie’ at a Turkish rally in the Swiss city in
2005.

The Turkish government also fiercely rejects the genocide label and
the issue has sparked diplomatic tensions with Switzerland in the
past.

Judge Pierre-Henri Winzap called Perincek an `arrogant provocateur’
in his ruling at the end of a week-long trial, adding that he had
`racist and nationalist motives’.

Lausanne was also the site of the international conference and treaty
signed in 1923 which sealed the break-up of the Ottoman Empire and
the birth of the modern Turkish state.

Winzap said the Armenian genocide was `a proven historical fact
according to Swiss public opinion’ and the fact that it was not
listed as a genocide by an international court did not rule out its
reality.

He also ruled that Perincek made two speeches in May 2005 in the full
knowledge that he would be breaking the law.

Charges against Perincek were pressed under Swiss anti-racism law,
which includes an offence of denial of genocide or crimes against
humanity, following a complaint by a Swiss-Armenian group.

The verdict marks the first time that the 1995 law was applied to the
massacre of Armenians, said Doris Angst of Switzerland’s official
anti-racism watchdog.

`The commission welcomes the fact that the issue has been clarified
in a certain way with this ruling,’ the secretary of the Federal
Commission Against Racism told AFP.

Perincek said afterwards that he would appeal the verdict of
Lausanne’s magistrates court. `I will appeal this decision. I still
have confidence in Swiss justice. We will take it to the end to the
European Court of Human Rights if necessary,’ he told the Anatolian
news agency.

`This decision reflects in a concrete manner the Swiss judge’s hatred
for Turkey and the Turkish nation,’ he added.

In 2001, a court in the capital Bern acquitted 12 Turks facing
similar charges.

However, two years later the Swiss lower house of parliament formally
recognised the massacre of Armenians during World War I as genocide,
despite fierce protests from Turkey.

Perincek argued in court that he had not committed an offence with
his statements during the rally, insisting there had been no genocide
in 1915.

Swiss anti-racism law was not applicable in the Armenian case while
it was fully justified for the Holocaust in World War II, claimed the
Turkey-based militant.

Trend News Agency, Azerbaijan
March 9 2007

Kosovo cannot be used as example for Nagorno-Karabakh – French Ambassador

Azerbaijan, Baku / Trend , corr A.Ismayilova / Contrary to his
Russian counterpart Yuriy Merzlyakov, the French Ambassador Bernard
Fassier, an OSCE Minsk Group co-chair who is currently visiting Baku,
stated at a news conference on 8 March that the Kosovo situation
cannot be used as an example for Nagorno-Karabakh.

He did not comment on Merzlyakov’s statement but said that each
conflict has its own peculiarity. `I will repeat my statement made in
Khankendi and that is the situation with Kosovo differs from the
conflicts existing in the post-Soviet area."

Commenting on the necessity for the European Union’s attraction to
the OSCE Minsk Group, Fassier stressed that the EU could contribute
towards the resolution of the conflict, as it is presently doing.
However, the OSCE Minsk Group is directly involved in peace
negotiations.

According to the co-chair, the Great 8, as well as the EU Special
Representative for South Caucasus, Peter Semneby, backs the OSCE
Minsk Group’s activities and this is regarded as political support.

Fassier noted that the EU could play a considerable role in the
formation and development of public opinion and the rehabilitation of
relationships between Azerbaijan and Armenia.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Los Angeles Times, CA
March 9 2007

A modern mockery
Ankara’s outdated laws to protect ‘Turkishness’ only bar free speech
and hold the nation up to ridicule.
March 9, 2007

GEORGE WASHINGTON and Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey,
had much in common. Both men led successful wars of independence;
both fought ferociously against the British; both became the first
president and "father" of their respective countries, and both proved
to be uncommonly forward-looking statesmen who made sure their new
republics were secular democracies.

And yet the national cultures that the two men helped to create are
vastly different, which explains partly (if glibly) why the United
States produced YouTube while Turkey is producing ridiculous
justifications for banning it.

Though Washington’s name graces the nation’s capital and currency, it
is also used for such crass purposes as selling used cars and
mattresses. Ataturk, on the other hand, who died in 1938, remains the
object of a cult of personality, one in which merely insulting his
memory is grounds for imprisonment. That’s why the file-sharing
company YouTube was banned from Turkey this week after it hosted a
sophomoric video titled "Kemal Gay Turk."

Playground stuff, to be sure. But against the law? The United States
has learned through trial and error (and with the guidance of a
remarkable Constitution) that allowing citizens to insult their
leaders is an acceptable price to pay for a culture of free inquiry
that holds no president, current or dead, above scrutiny. This allows
Americans to learn from the mistakes of even their greatest
presidents – Washington owned slaves, for example – while constantly
questioning assumptions about how the country should be governed.

Turkey denies itself this opportunity, hobbling the very process that
Ataturk so forcefully set in motion. Besides cordoning off inquiry
into the country’s founder – who, like most revolutionaries, was a
man of considerable flaws – Ankara’s illiberal speech laws
notoriously prohibit the "denigration" of "Turkishness," a concept so
vague and broad as to be meaningless.

Such laws are a barrier to Turkey’s bid to join the European Union,
which would be good for both Turks and Europeans. The good news is
that more and more Turks are beginning to realize the injustice (and
futility) of such laws, especially in the wake of the slaying in
January of Armenian-Turk journalist Hrant Dink, who had been
prosecuted for denigrating Turkishness.

Playground battles belong in the playground. Young Turks have
responded to the offensive speech in question by launching a volley
of crude YouTube videos of their own, mostly aimed at Greeks. But the
underlying issue is dead serious: Turkey can, and needs to, fulfill
Ataturk’s goal of modernization by allowing him to be mocked.

Gulf News, United Arab Emirates
March 10 2007

Smooth and soulful jazz swings into Media City
By Marie-Louise Olson, Staff Reporter

It was a grand opening night at the Dubai International Jazz
Festival, which saw performances from Freddy Cole, Guy Manoukian,
Kamal Musallam Trio and Dee Dee Bridgewater. People flocked from all
walks of life to be a part of this much anticipated yearly event,
which was held in the Dubai Media City amphitheatre.

The evening started at 7pm with a fine performance from Kamal
Musallam Trio with Rony Afif on the drums, Elie Afif on the bass and
Kamal Musallam playing his artistry on the oud. People were scattered
about sitting on soft red bean-bags provided by Cacharel or on the
grass chatting and having a great time. There were also benches and
tables available for those who wanted a bite to eat.

Then came Freddy Cole. With a purple starry backdrop and green smoke
that curled around Cole and his piano on the Skywards Stage, the
audience sat mesmerised as they listened to the American legend. He
might be in his 70s, but Cole’s voice and presence on stage proved
yet again that age doesn’t matter. His captivating, smoky voice
singing, "I’m so in love. There’s nothing in life but you" was
exactly the swinging jazz sound the audience was craving. His raspy
whispers of love singing a Lionel Richie song got the audience
whistling and clapping. And as he occasionally glanced into the
crowds with a cheeky grin while biting his lower lip in passion, it
was obvious that he has surpassed the title of just being Nat King
Cole’s younger brother. Here was a true jazz legend.

Amazing energy

By the time Freddy Cole had finished his show the atmosphere was
lively and an amazing energy was in the air. People wandered over to
the Cadillac Stage to watch the next act – the young and popular Guy
Manoukian. The Lebanese singer with Armenian origins has been playing
classical piano since he was four years old. He was on fire and with
his 8-person band, he more than blew the crowd away. The music, which
Manoukian himself says is a fusion of Oriental and Arabic with rock,
jazz, blues, classical and funk, got everyone up from their chairs to
dance. Manoukian, whose onstage outfit was a red T-shirt and jeans,
played his piano with intense passion. There were no words, just
music. Half way through the show he finally spoke to the audience –
albeit with a little microphone confusion – and introduced his
musicians.

On came a guest singer, who with a raw and deep voice sang a
traditional Armenian song. After the show, Manoukian who has played
in Dubai many times before, said, "I just wanted to do one song to
add a little bit of my Armenian heritage. I did it to make one point
– that music has no boundaries. 99 per cent [of the audience] didn’t
understand what he was saying, but it was nice for the ears. When you
have a good sound, then it doesn’t matter."

Manoukian, who was pleased with the show, said: "The audience was
amazing, they were really communicating with me. I was glad to keep
them excited and stay unpredictable throughout the concert. I wanted
to leave my set on a high, and I think I did the best I could do
today."

The amphitheatre was packed now. Everyone was in a great mood, and as
the much anticipated performance by American diva Dee Dee Bridgewater
kicked off, people started dancing and grooving to the music. Dee
Dee’s music is completely African orientated. A few years ago she
started a quest to discover her African heritage and now embraces
Malian music as the connection to the ‘motherland’. With wrenching
emotion in her face, Dee Dee sang about Africa and kept the audience
captivated till the very last note.

Today, Azerbaijan
March 9 2007

Azerbaijan, Armenia Foreign Ministers will meet in Geneva March 14

09 March 2007 [11:15] – Today.Az

French co-chair of OSCE Minsk group Bernard Fassier arrived in Baku.

Fassier told journalists that he arrived in the region not only as
French co-chair, but also as the representative of other co-chairs.

There is nothing unusual in the co-chairs’ visiting the region
separately. It should not be regarded as divergence of opinion among
the co-chairs. The co-chairs reached an agreement on my visiting the
region two weeks ago in Paris, he said.
Noting that Azerbaijani and Armenian Foreign Ministers will meet in
Geneva on March 14 the co-chair said he will meet and consult with
the other co-chairs on March 13.

Bernard Fassier said that he will meet with Azerbaijani President. We
will discuss perspectives of the process of negotiations and future
measures, he said.

Stating that they will investigate thoroughly details of the issues
discussed in the meeting of presidents held in Minsk, Mr. Fassier did
not agree with estimation of these meetings as the continuation of
Prague process.

Prague meeting was held two years ago. The presidents as well as
Foreign Ministers have met for several times from that time, the
negotiation became intensive, changes occurred in the process. That
is why it is not right to call these negotiations the continuation of
Prague process, French co-chair said.

Bernard Fassier said co-chairs’ role is to mediate to the
negotiations. He also noted that presidents should adopt decision on
solution to the conflict. Commenting on the meeting of Azerbaijani
and Armenian presidents, French co-chair stressed this meeting will
be held after parliamentary elections to be held in Armenia APA
reports.

URL:

Taliya, Iran
March 9 2007

Iran’s fiber-optic network to be connected to Armenia
March 9, 2007 11:55 PM

Tehran, March 11, Taliya News – Infrastructure Telecom Company’s
Technological Affairs Deputy said here Tuesday a delegation comprised
of experts and technicians would be dispatched to Armenia to connect
country’s fiber optic network to Armenia’s through Jolfa
International Border.
Jalal Mahfouzi referring to the visit of an Iranian delegation from
Armenia a while ago, added in an interview with ISNA, `During that
visit the members of the Iranian delegation had talks with Armenian
officials regarding connection of the two countries’ fiber-optic
networks and the Armenian ICT Minister approved of the proposal.’
He said, `A company called `Fiber-Net’ has recently been established
in Armenia and commissioned to take advantage of the Iranian
fiber-optic network, of which Iran’s entire neighbors, save for
Pakistan are now benefited.
He added, `Those benefits particularly included getting connected to
the fiber-optic networks of Iran’s southern neighbors on the southern
shores of the Persian Gulf, that are connected to the international
fiber-optic network.’
Pointing out that these networks are able of transforming voice and
data inputs, he said, `It is predicted that the capacity of the
capacity of these lines would be some two STM1 links, and the
contract would be based on the IRI ratified tariffs.