Month: March 2007

Turkish Daily News, Turkey
March 10 2007

Turks in quest of creating diaspora
Saturday, March 10, 2007

Turkish Daily News

Weary of alleged Armenian genocide resolutions adopted by a number
of parliaments abroad, Turkey has been seeking ways to create its own
diaspora together with northern Cyprus and Azerbaijan.

More than 5 million Turkish citizens live in 118 countries in the
world but they do not have any political influence. In the
Azerbaijani capital of Baku, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoðan said
on Friday he expected Turkish and Azeri citizens living in the United
States, Europe, Australia, the Middle East and other parts of the
world to benefit from each other’s powers.

`All of us from politicians, academics, artists, capital owners,
media groups to all businessmen bear important responsibilities.
We’ll stand shoulder to shoulder, act in solidarity and carry the
entire Turkic world to a bright future,’ he was quoted as saying at
the opening of the First Forum of the World Azeri and Turkish
Diaspora Organizations.

Turkish Cypriot President Mehmet Ali Talat also participated in the
forum.

International Herald Tribune, France
March 9 2007

Putin’s grandmaster opponent seeks to stir up the opposition

By Steven Lee Myers Published: March 9, 2007

MOSCOW: Garry Kasparov, the former world chess champion, took a pen
and notebook and diagramed the protesters’ march through St.
Petersburg a week ago. Like a general reliving a battle or a player
analyzing a winning combination, he drew circles and lines. He
sketched Uprising Square and showed where the police had gathered in
strength, blocking the street leading to the governor’s office.

A tactical mistake! "This is typical for this government," he
explained. "They protect themselves."

As a result only a few police officers guarded the main commercial
street, Nevsky Prospekt. And so that was where Kasparov and thousands
of others – as many as 5,000 according to some estimates – poured
through a barricade and marched into the city’s historic center,
defying the government ban and the recent Russian history of
political apathy.

The whole thing lasted only two hours, ending with brief clashes with
police and more than 130 arrests, including those of several
opposition leaders, though not of Kasparov. Still it was one of the
largest protests to date against the government of President Vladimir
Putin.

And to Kasparov, it was a first crack in the authoritarian political
system Putin has created, one that Kasparov has committed himself to
dismantling as presidential elections approach next March.

"We never saw such a protest," he said, speaking animatedly in fluent
English. "Everybody recognizes it is a new page."

Kasparov, 43, is not Putin’s only critic, but he may be the most
prominent, the most articulate and the most fervent. He has brought
to opposition politics the same energy and aggression that
characterized his chess, attacking Putin and the Kremlin – or the
regime, as he repeatedly calls it – with language rarely spoken so
bluntly in Russia.

"This regime is getting out of touch with the real world," he said in
another interview not long ago. "It’s a deadly combination of money,
power and blood – and impunity."

Such attacks have drawn the scrutiny of the authorities, though so
far nothing worse, though someone attacked Kasparov with a chessboard
in 2005. ("I am lucky," he said at the time, "that the popular sport
in the Soviet Union was chess and not baseball.") An aide was also
attacked and badly beaten last year by mysterious assailants.

He now travels with bodyguards. He hired them out of concern for
hooligans, he said, not because other Kremlin critics have been
killed, including the journalist Anna Politkovskaya, who was shot and
killed in Moscow in October, and Alexander Litvinenko, the former KGB
officer who was poisoned in London in November. A prominent political
scientist, Stanislav Belkovsky, recently said he had warned Kasparov
that he could be a target.

"If the state goes after you," Kasparov said when asked about that,
"there’s no stopping them."

This is not the place Kasparov expected to be when he resigned from
the world of professional chess two years ago, quitting while still
the highest ranked player, if no longer the world champion. (He said
he stopped playing entirely, then added, "a bit on the Internet.")

He is a famous man and a wealthy one, the author of numerous books on
chess and its lessons for life, and he is now leading acts of civil
disobedience in an uphill battle to protest Putin’s policies.

"I am absolutely objective," he said. "I think we can lose badly,
because the regime is still very powerful, but the only beauty of our
situation is that we don’t have much choice."

Kasparov is the chairman of the United Civil Front, an organization
he created in 2005 to promote activism in a country where it has
steadily disappeared, though for reasons that are fiercely debated.
He is also the guiding strategist behind the Other Russia, a union of
groups from across the political spectrum united in their
marginalization by the authorities loyal to Putin.

The Other Russia has held conferences, including one on the eve of
last year’s meeting of the Group of 8 industrialized countries, and
staged rallies like the one in St. Petersburg.

"It was not a protest against a concrete measure," he said. "It was
not, ‘give us more money, salaries’ or ‘stop raising prices.’ It was
a protest against the regime." Their ability to unify disparate
discontents, he added, "is why the government panicked."

Kasparov has always been something of an outsider. He is half Jewish
and half Armenian, born in Baku, the capital of mostly Muslim
Azerbaijan. He moved to Moscow in 1990 when tensions between
Armenians and Azeris turned into what he called "genocide" against
the Armenians.

By then he was already world champion, a title he won in 1985 as a
brash upstart against Anatoly Karpov, the champion considered a
favorite of the Soviet establishment. He became a strong advocate of
glasnost and perestroika, Mikhail Gorbachev’s policies of opening up
the Soviet Union in the 1980s.

When the revanchist coup against Gorbachev failed in August 1991,
Kasparov threw his support behind Boris Yeltsin and the other new
democrats. For a time in the early 1990s he was a leader of the
Democratic Party of Russia. He broke from Yeltsin to support a
challenger, Aleksandr Lebed, in the 1996 elections.

A criticism against him has been political fickleness: that he has
drifted from project to project, even as he continued to compete,
mostly abroad. A constant, however, has been his opposition to Putin.
After an initial grace period, he began to fulminate against the new
president, reaching a broad international audience as a contributor
to The Wall Street Journal. One column, published in January 2001,
barely a year after Putin became president, was titled, "I was wrong
about Putin."

"Unfortunately, my forecast, based on an assumption that a young
pragmatic leader would strengthen democracy inside Russia, fighting
corruption and level the curves of Yeltsin’s foreign policy, was
wishful thinking," he wrote.

Kasparov has not let up since. He rails against Putin’s foreign
policy, accusing him of intimidating former Soviet republics who by
culture and history should be close allies, while fostering ties with
countries Iran, North Korea and China, who should not be. He accuses
of Putin having neutered the media, stifled political opponents and
independent businessmen and undercut the essential institution of
democracy: free and fair elections.

His biggest challenge may be being ignored. The state’s control of
television ensures that his views never reach the mass public. News
reports on national channels of the St. Petersburg march described
the protesters generally, not Kasparov specifically, as "all manner
of radicals from fascists to lefties."

Kasparov is arguing for political freedoms at a time when Putin’s
approval rating hovers around an atmospheric 80 percent. The economy,
fueled by high energy prices, is growing. A retail binge is under
way, especially in Moscow and even outside of it. He argues that
Putin’s control of all levers of power has obscured the fundamental
weaknesses in the system: the corruption, the extreme gap between
rich and poor, the declining standards of health care, education, of
living standards.

"At the end of the day," he said, referring to his campaign before
the 2008 election, "it will depend on whether people care.

"You can’t invent public protest. It either exists or it doesn’t
exist."

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
March 10 2007

Sarafian bows to diaspora pressure, says Halaçoðlu

The possibility of joint research by Turkish and Armenian historians
into the 1915 tragedy of Anatolian Armenians — described by
Armenians as a genocide but contested by Turkey — has fallen
through, Yusuf Halaçoðlu of the Turkish Historical Society (TTK)
announced yesterday in Ankara, blaming Armenian diaspora pressure for
the failure.

Late last month, following an open call from Armenian origin
British historian Ara Sarafian of the London based-Gomidas Institute,
Halaçoðlu expressed readiness for a joint case study on the treatment
of Armenians in Harput in 1915.

However, in an electronic message sent to Halaçoðlu on Feb. 28,
Sarafian said: "If the relevant Ottoman records you previously
qualified as meticulously kept are not available, then we cannot
proceed. Obviously I am disappointed."

Sarafian was referring to Halaçoðlu’s remarks during a television
interview when he said that Sarafian might not be able to find what
he was looking for in the Ottoman archives.

Disclosing Sarafian’s message at a press conference, Halaçoðlu urged
Sarafian to disclose what documents he said he had regarding the
events of 1915.

"I particularly want to stress that Mr. Sarafian has probably been
subject to pressure," said Halaçoðlu. "As a matter of fact, a news
report published by [bilingual Armenian-Turkish newspaper] Agos said
that the Armenian diaspora was very angry with Sarafian because of
his proposal to study together with Turkish historians," he added.

"A big opportunity for both Armenians and Turks has been missed after
Sarafian gave up the idea of studying together. In spite of this, we
will continue keeping our doors open."

Earlier this week, the Gomidas Institute released a press statement
and quoted Sarafian as saying: "Primary sources outside of Turkey
indicate that the 1915 deportation of Armenians and the liquidation
of their properties were regulated by Ottoman state authorities.
Armenians were deported under the auspices of Ottoman officials. And
most deportees were killed through privations and outright massacres
on their way or in their places of exile (most notably Der Zor). Our
sources indicate that there never was a resettlement program as
historians defending the official Turkish thesis suggest."

The Gomidas Institute said it hoped that Halaçoðlu would "explain why
he thinks that the Ottoman deportation and resettlement registers the
Gomidas Institute requested do not exist — especially those on
Harput and its environs."

Halaçoðlu also announced he had agreed with historian David Gaunt of
Södertörns University College in Sweden to conduct joint research and
jointly open mass graves in Nusaybin in the southeastern Anatolian
province of Mardin which Armenian historians say may contain the
remains of victims of the alleged 1915 Armenian genocide.

For some time, Halaçoðlu and Gaunt have been negotiating a date for a
meeting in Mardin. Gaunt offered to come to Turkey between April 23
and 25, Halaçoðlu explained and added that he had no hesitation to
conduct the opening of the gravesite on April 24, the anniversary of
the alleged genocide, thus he accepted Gaunt’s proposal for the date.

The mass grave in Nusaybin was discovered by villagers in August
2006. The area where the mass grave lies is on a line of ancient
defense works and underground storage rooms dating back to Roman
times. Halaçoðlu, with a confident tone, reiterated his theory at the
press conference that the remains are from Roman times.

Separate samples from the remains will be analyzed both in Turkey and
Sweden as well as at an international institute which the Turkish and
Swedish delegations will determine jointly, Halaçoðlu said.

PRESS RELEASE

March 7, 2007

American University of Armenia
40 Marshal Baghramian
Yerevan 0019 ARMENIA
Tel: (37410) 512-522
Fax: (37410) 512-523

Contact: Diana Manukyan
E-mail: <mailto:[email protected]> [email protected]

Tobacco Free Armenia

On March 2, 2007, the American University of Armenia hosted the 2nd National
Meeting of the Coalition for Tobacco Free Armenia
(htpp://). The Coalition was formed in June 11,
2004 and is a voluntary union of 25 NGOs. This meeting was dedicated to the
second anniversary of the adoption of the Law on Tobacco Realization,
Consumption and Usage Limitations in the Republic of Armenia and the
ratification of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC).

The last few years were a time of tangible changes in tobacco
control legislation and public movement. The main purpose of the meeting
was to report on the activities of the Coalition for Tobacco Free Armenia
and to discuss the role of civil society in future enhancement of tobacco
control policies. Dr. Haroutune Armenian, the President of American
University of Armenia, and Dr. Artavazd Vanyan, Chief of Sanitary
Epidemiological Control Department greeted the 2nd National Meeting
participants.

Dr. Armenian mentioned that adoption of the Law was just the first step. He
was confident that it was important not only to strive for European
standards in tobacco control but also to demonstrate leadership to go
beyond: "The spirit of leadership and pioneering is what we need to ensure
the smoke free future of Armenia." Dr. Vanyan mentioned that legislative
changes alone could not be enough to change the situation in general; he
emphasized the important role of NGOs.

During the 2nd National Meeting, 22 organizations participated in the NGO
anti-tobacco exhibition demonstrating their anti-smoking posters, fliers,
educational materials, calendars, children’s pictures, as well as social ads
on healthy lifestyle.

With support from the Open Society Institute, the Armenian Public Health
Alliance (ArmPHA, a union between Armenian Public Health Association,
Armenian Public Health Union and the American University of Armenia)
published a brochure summarizing thirty anti-smoking programs implemented by
23 NGOs in Armenia in 2004-2006. This was the first attempt to collect and
present to the public comprehensive information on anti-smoking programs
implemented in Armenia. Narine Movsisyan, who leads the ArmPHA Tobacco
Control Program, said that this initiative aimed to increase the
transparency in the field and effectiveness of future tobacco control
programs.

As a part of this meeting, the American University of Armenia in close
collaboration with the ArmPHA partners organized a workshop on Tobacco
Control Policy with support from the Open Society Institute. The key
speakers of the workshop were Suren Krmoyan, Legal Adviser to the Minister
of Health, Alexander Bazarchyan, Tobacco Control Program Coordinator of the
Ministry of Health, and Elinar Vardanyan, Executive Director of Center for
Public Dialogue and Development. Participation of NGOs from Ararat,
Vanadzor, Goris and Gyumri significantly enriched the meeting and the
workshop.

———————————– —————————————–
The American University of Armenia Corporation (AUAC) is registered as a
non-profit organization in the United States and as the Armenian University
of Armenia Fund (AUAF) in Armenia .The American University of Armenia (AUA)
is affiliated through AUAC with the Regents of the University of California.
Receiving major support from the AGBU, AUA offers instruction leading to the
Masters Degree in eight graduate programs. For more information about AUA,
visit <;

The Vancouver Sun (British Columbia)
March 9, 2007 Friday
Final Edition

Actor finds fame as the butt of a joke: After Borat, actor Ken
Davitian wonders if his best work is behind him

by Katherine Monk, CanWest News Service

When movie stars hit the big screen in the sky, news outlets
generally pull a memorable eight-by-10 production still from a
signature role, and offer a 30-second eulogy in voiceover.

Actor Ken Davitian doesn’t mind the obituary tradition. It’s the
choice of picture that has him reflecting on his place, and claim to
fame, in the larger film universe.

"When they look for an eight-by-10 that represents my body of work
upon my passing, it’s going to be a picture of my naked butt," says
Davitian.

The California-born actor isn’t being facetious. As the man beside
faux newsman Borat Sagdiyev — a.k.a Sacha Baron Cohen — Davitian is
now better known as faux Kazakhstani producer Azamat Bagatov, the
other on-camera personality in Borat!: Cultural Learnings of America
for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, which finally hits
DVD this week.

Some actors may have an ego problem with a bare derriere defining
their career, but Davitian says he remains grateful to Baron Cohen
for the opportunity to explore the backroads of America, and make his
backside famous in the process.

"I feel like I’ve arrived," says Davitian. "My life before Borat was
about going crazy in a terrible way. Now my life is going crazy in a
good way."

A working actor for the better part of his 53 years, Davitian has a
long list of credits to his name, but most of them add up to little
more than a few seconds of screen time and a credit as the "fat man,"
or "fat bartender" or plain old "pawnshop owner."

"I was going out for auditions all the time, hoping I’d get the job.
That was my life — that and my sandwich shop, The Dip, where I work
all day long. I’d get to auditions smelling like roast beef."

While Davitian doesn’t know if it was the roast beef smell that
landed him the part of Azamat, he says the Borat audition was
relatively mysterious.

"Usually it will say who the producers of the film are, but Larry
Charles was nowhere on the sheet. I was told it was a really
low-budget movie by two guys — and my audition was on the last day
of callbacks. All I knew is they were looking for an Eastern European
look, and I went in character — as a dumpy guy who spoke in broken
English," says Davitian. "The only reason I even went to the audition
was because I liked the [script] breakdown."

Once Davitian got the news he had the part, more information emerged
— such as the names Sacha Baron Cohen and Larry Charles. He was
excited at the prospect of working with a Seinfeld producer and the
Brit comic behind Da Ali G Show, but he still had no idea Borat would
be the year’s biggest comic and cultural sensation.

"It was my son who thought it could be a big deal," says Davitian.
"Once we started shooting, it didn’t take long before I realized what
it could be. We’d be in character the whole time, because in
character, we could get away with just about anything."

For the most part, Davitian was simply told the day’s objectives and
general scenarios, and the rest was left to film fate. Because they
never broke character outside the privacy of their own hotel rooms,
and were shooting with a skeletal crew of five people, most observers
assumed they were a visiting news team with a crazy host.

Now famous for his haunting, bare veritas in the part of Azamat, the
only challenge Davitian faces at auditions is clarifying his status
as a born and bred American. What you see onscreen is all
performance, and while Davitian credits his extended Armenian family
for certain inspirations of character, Azamat is all his creation.

"I can’t tell you how lucky I feel, considering I was told that I
wouldn’t even be in the film. Not only am I getting offers, and
getting work . . . but my butt is legend."

Indeed, the story of Davitian’s derriere — and the now-infamous
naked wrestling sequence — is the stuff Hollywood dreams are made
of. It’s also the source of a fleshy bond between the two performers.

"I think Sacha and I will be friends for life. We don’t have to call
each other or see each other. It’s more like having a brother. And
let’s face it, when you wrestle naked with another man, you can’t
help but form a special bond."

Davitian says there’s plenty more off-colour hijinks on the DVD, and
those seeking even more time in the presence of Davitian and his
message of hope — and hair — can check out his personal appearance
schedule, which has him giving motivational lectures to college kids
across North America.

AFX International Focus
March 9, 2007 Friday 4:20 AM GMT

Hong Kong stops sale of Armenian bottled water brand after US ban

HONG KONG (XFN-ASIA) – Hong Kong’s government has told shops to stop
selling an Armenian brand of bottled water US authorities said is
contaminated with arsenic.

The health department said US studies have found Jermuk products
contain up to 60 times the international standard for the poisonous
metal.

All Jermuk products, including still and carbonated water, came under
the Hong Kong order, issued after the US Food and Drug Administration
slapped a similar ban on the brand.

Agence France Presse — English
March 9, 2007 Friday 3:45 AM GMT

Hong Kong bans bottled water brand

Hong Kong’s government has told shops to stop selling a brand of
bottled water US authorities say is contaminated with arsenic.

The health department said US studies had found Jermuk products
contained up to 60 times the international standard for the poisonous
metal.

All Jermuk products, including still and carbonated water, came under
the Hong Kong order, issued after the US Food and Drug Administration
slapped a similar ban on the Armenian brand.

Hong Kong has been plagued by health scares over imported produce,
mainly from China, the former British colony’s principle source of
foodstuff.

Imports of many species of farmed fish, eels and eggs were banned
last year after cancer-causing chemicals were found in some samples.

There have been other recent scares over pork as well as poultry
imports amid concerns over bird flu.

Scotsman, UK
March 10 2007

Naked ambition

by ROBIN ABCARIAN

WHEN YOU THINK OF KEN Davitian, you probably think of him naked,
obese and pendulous, nearly suffocating Sacha Baron Cohen in their
famous naked hotel room fight in Borat. The 53-year-old actor so
completely inhabited the part of Borat’s humourless Kazakh producer
Azamat Bagatov that many people in the film industry still don’t
realise he is in fact an American actor.

"Last week, I met with executives at Disney," says Davitian. "They
said, ‘We wanted to call you in because we thought you’d already gone
back to some foreign land.’ And I said, "But I was in Holes – one of
your movies!" As it happens, Davitian, who always yearned for the
life of a Hollywood actor, grew up in Los Angeles and now owns the
Dip, a sandwich bar in the San Fernando Valley, where he lives with
his family.

It was his son, Robert, who insisted he read for the part of the
"frumpy Eastern European" at the Borat audition. "My perfect
character!" says Davitian. "All my relatives are frumpy Eastern
Europeans, Armenians with accents," he says. "This is the character I
have been doing since I was a child."

Davitian has been riding high since Borat but arrived through a
rather circuitous route. Although he studied theatre arts at college
and later had a small role in an Albert Brooks movie (he ended up on
the cutting-room floor), he went into his family’s waste-management
business. "With the rubbish money that was coming in," he says, "we
were doing very well."

And then he made a disastrous business foray into Mexico. The fiasco
ended in multinational litigation, trade arbitration and bankruptcy.
"It was the worst experience of my life," he says. "I neglected my
family, I neglected my rubbish business here. I lost everything. I
came home broke, broke, broke. My family was mad. I worked as a car
salesman, a telemarketer, a salesman for another rubbish company. It
was horrible."

With help from his father-in-law, he and his family opened a café in
Burbank called Gotham Grounds and later the Dip. His two sons and
wife went to work, while he tried to get his acting career off the
ground. About seven years ago he began to be cast more often, mostly
doing guest spots on TV shows."

At the Borat audition in front of Baron Cohen, director Larry Charles
and writer Dan Mazer, Davitian showed up in character, wearing the
ill-fitting beige suit he later wore in most of the movie, his
eight-by-ten headshot folded to fit in his pocket. "I did the
audition in character without giving them a resume or telling them I
am an American actor," Davitian says. When it was over, in perfectly
enunciated English, Davitian announced: "’Thank you very much,
gentlemen. If you liked the audition, please call me, I had a great
time.’ They stopped me, and said, ‘Wait a minute … ‘"

After winning the role (for which there was no script but a detailed
outline), he was told not to expect much screen time. However, about
three weeks into the four-month shoot, a cross-country romp in search
of Borat’s love object, Pamela Anderson – during which the faux-naif
Borat elicits racist, sexist and anti-Semitic views from unsuspecting
Americans – Davitian was pretty sure of a couple of things: he was in
a good movie, and he’d be getting plenty of screen time. "I don’t
want to sound immodest, but I thought, ‘This is edgy, this is
different, this is new. And there is a chemistry between this tall,
skinny Cambridge-educated genius and the short, fat guy. It works!’"

On screen, when they were supposed to be speaking Kazakh, Davitian
spoke Armenian; Baron Cohen spoke Hebrew. Davitian usually had no
idea what Baron Cohen was saying. As Borat’s grim-faced straight man,
he blow dries Borat’s hair and other body parts, chastises Borat for
running late and is licked in the ear by a bear.

But the scene that will confer cinematic immortality is the
horrifying naked fight, which begins in a hotel room, spills into a
hotel elevator and ends in a hotel ballroom during a banquet for
mortgage brokers. At 5ft 5in and weighing over 300 pounds (and having
just undergone a hip replacement), Davitian was reticent about taking
his clothes off. "I kept saying, ‘Fat, naked guy: not funny. Fat guy
in boxers: hilarious.’" And yet, when it came time to film the fight,
he didn’t hesitate. "You are in a room with what you consider
geniuses, and if the genius is gonna get naked, I am following the
genius."

He worked for close to the standard rate on Borat, which cost an
estimated $18 million (£9.5m) and has grossed $247 million (£128m),
but he has no regrets. "I am doing ER next week. Special guest. First
time for me – no audition, no nothing, they called and said, ‘We want
you.’ " He also has another movie lined up, Get Smart, with Steve
Carell and Anne Hathaway. "People are calling. This has the potential
to change my life."

Radikal website, Istanbul,
March 8 2007

Turkish Army tightens journalists’ "accreditation" to block left,
pro-Kurds

[Corrected version: Refiling to remove comments from the "comments"
field; Report: "Media Notes of the Military"]

The word "accreditation" comes from the Latin "acreditus," which
means "certifying credentials" or "granting a status of
trustworthiness." It means "to empower, authorize, or approve
officially." The word "credentials," which is derived from the same
root, carries the meanings of "identity card, certificate of
trustworthiness, reference, license." The phrase "press credentials"
is often used in the sense of "identity card for journalists."

These explanations come not from a dictionary but from a document
entitled "Memorandum" [Andic] that was presented to the Office of the
Deputy Chief of the General Staff in November 2006. The document
specifies which journalists should be authorized to have access to
news related to the Turkish Armed Forces [TSK] and offers detailed
assessments about various media organizations. The document, which
says it was written with the purpose of "re-evaluating accredited
press and broadcast organs," rates media organizations and
journalists as "pro-TSK" and "anti-TSK."

Ahmet Sik of the monthly Nokta has obtained a copy of the TSK’s
latest "trustworthiness" (accreditation) assessment of media
organizations. These assessments began with the 28 February process
and have been regularly performed in the past ten years. The nine
"service use only" documents comprised of a total of 52 pages contain
an evaluation table that rates previously accredited newspapers and
television stations by assigning "plus" and "minus" points to
TSK-related articles they published.

One of the documents contains extensive information about the daily
Star (which was originally owned by the Uzan Group but which was
later restructured after it was sold by the Savings Deposit Insurance
Fund) and the extreme nationalist daily Yenicag. One of the
evaluation notes is devoted to a Radikal columnist. The "service use
only" documents do not provide any evaluations of dailies like Yeni
Safak, Vakit, Zaman, Evrensel, Birgun, and Ozgur Gundem; and the
television station Kanal 7 because they were never accredited. The
documents contain specific comments about various media groups,
newspapers, and television stations. The notes also offer
recommendations with regard to the re-evaluation of the General
Staff’s accreditation system and openly state that certain named
journalists from various media should "not be accredited." The
documents recommend that TSK accreditation be withdrawn from a total
of ten journalists: four writers from Radikal, one from Takvim, one
commentator from the television station Sky Turk, two reporters from
the television station Haberturk, and one reporter from the
television station Kanalturk. In addition, they recommend that the
accreditation of the dailies Halka ve Olaylara Tercuman and Star be
suspended because they are being restructured and that a decision be
made on whether "to continue or to withdraw" the accreditation of the
television stations TGRT and Kanalturk "after they are monitored for
some time."

Newspapers

Appendix A, entitled "Evaluation of News Reports and Commentaries
Published in Newspapers" between January and October 2006, assigns
"plus" and "minus" points to newspapers based on whether their
articles related to the TSK were "positive" or "negative." According
to the TSK’s evaluation, Posta received 65 pluses and 22 minuses,
Hurriyet 195 pluses and 46 minuses, Milliyet 150 pluses and 40
minuses, Radikal 66 pluses and 84 minuses, Yenicag 206 pluses and 27
minuses, and Cumhuriyet 156 pluses and 21 minuses for the TSK-related
articles they published between January and October 2006. Star
received 71 plus and minus points. A "service use only" information
note depicts the "positive and negative article statistics" of
newspapers in the form charts plotted for each month.

Aim Is to Protect TSK

The documents also suggest that the military has substantially
expanded its tight monitoring of the media since the 28 February 1997
meeting of the National Security Council. The document entitled
"Memorandum" notes that the purpose of the accreditation system is to
protect the TKS "from the supporters of separatist and destructive
elements." The document says:

"The Office of the Chief of the General Staff began to subject press
and broadcast organs to ‘trustworthiness’ controls in 1997. That
practice has restricted the access of press and broadcast organs with
low levels of trustworthiness to activities conducted within the TSK
within the unchangeable principles of the Constitution – principles
that cannot even be proposed for amendment – the Internal Service Law
and Regulations and the indispensable principles of the TSK; and has
ensured that only members of organizations that pass the
trustworthiness controls participate in the said activities. The
purpose of this practice is to protect the press activities of the
TSK from the provocations of members of press and media organizations
that support separatist and destructive movements and from their
deliberate disinformation campaigns; and to prevent such individuals
from entering military zones, units, and facilities to obtain
intelligence in order to pass them to separatist and destructive
elements and thus to cause harm to military units, facilities,
materiel, and personnel. Also, by not accrediting press and broadcast
organs that support separatist and destructive elements, that wage
propaganda in their behalf, and that are not found to be trustworthy
in accordance with the principles and values mentioned above, this
practice has ensured that such entities are not held in high esteem
by the public."

Long-term Monitoring of Media

The document entitled "Investigation and Evaluation of Press and
Broadcast Organizations for Accreditation Purposes" rates newspapers,
magazines, and television stations individually in terms of their
"trustworthiness." Below is a summary of the TSK’s evaluation of
press organizations as presented by this document which carries the
signature of Communications Department Chief Staff Col Mustafa Oguz:

Posta: After noting that Posta is Turkey’s largest circulation daily,
the document says that one named Posta columnist "expresses
displeasure at the interference of the military in politics and
military operations" and that three named writers "are observed to
articulate positions favourable to the TSK." The document says about
one writer at the paper: "Although he expresses criticisms
unfavourable to the TSK occasionally, he writes positive articles
about martyrs in his column." The general evaluation of the daily
states: "Because the daily is the most widely read newspaper and has
endorsed a liberal-pluralist ideology that distances itself from
marginal inclinations, it is considered to be an important vehicle in
conveying the TSK’s messages to the public. Consequently, it would be
appropriate to extend its accreditation."

Hurriyet: This paper is described as: "[ Hurriyet ] is one of the
best known and best established newspapers of mainstream media. It
has a liberal-pluralist publishing policy. It is the flagship of the
Turkish press." The document notes the name of the reporter who wrote
two TSK-related news articles published on 10 March 2004, one on
"allegations that Sabiha Gokcen is of Armenian origin," and the other
on "a memorandum by the 2nd Armoured Brigade Command to district
heads requesting the names of individuals who are members of ethnic,
religious, marginal, and other organizations, an action that became
known in public as ‘snooping on high society.’" It adds that the
paper’s 10 October 2004 report "that portrayed the PKK on Mount
Kandil in a favourable light" generated public indignation. The
evaluations of Hurriyet columnists state that two writers "are
opposed to military operations," but that five named writers
"generally express positions favourable to the TSK." The evaluation
of one columnist in the paper says: "Although he articulated negative
criticisms during the tenure of former Chief of the General Staff Gen
(Ret) Hilmi Ozkok, he is a writer who is generally known to be
pro-TSK."

Milliyet: The notes on Milliyet say: "Although this paper has
endorsed a liberal-pluralist publishing policy, it is known to be
left-leaning. It has an unambiguous stance on Ataturkism and
publishes objective reports and commentaries." The document says that
Milliyet does not publish any sensational news about the TSK and that
this is a positive attribute. The document notes that one of Milliyet
writers criticized the TSK over the Semdinli incidents and names four
columnists who are "opposed to military operations and the army’s
interference in politics." The document says about one writer: "He is
known to criticize the TSK within the framework of his conservative
views." The other columnists are said to be "objective" and to have a
"favourable stance with respect to the TSK."

Radikal: After noting that Radikal has maintained its accreditation
since 12 May 1999, the document says: "This is the centre-left
newspaper of the Dogan Group. Its readership is known to be mainly in
the AB group (university-educated and high-income). It has
experienced columnists with high intellectual preparation. Media
commentators have described it as the paper that levelled the most
criticism against the Israeli attack on Lebanon." One Radikal
columnist is described as "the doyen of TSK commentators." The
document says about another named columnist: "He is observed to make
objective comments on the TSK." Another interesting point in
Radikal’s evaluation says:

"Radikal is a paper that the TSK must monitor carefully.
Occasionally, it has major outbursts related to the TSK. There was
strong indignation when the paper referred to our martyred soldiers
as ‘dead’ in March through July 2005. The paper corrected this stance
after the issue was raised at the TSK media briefing on 21 July
2005."

The document contains a separate information note about one Radikal
writer, who is described in the general evaluation as "a successful
and ambitious journalist." [The document adds:] "For this reason, he
needs to be paid special attention in our relations." The document
describes four Radikal columnists as "anti-TSK" and says: "In view of
this situation, it would make more sense to have an accreditation
system for individuals in addition to the system of institutional
accreditation." The concluding remarks of Radikal’s evaluation say:

"Although the majority of the paper’s columnists write articles
sympathetic to the left, its administrative staff pays attention to
the TSK’s criticisms. Because its target readership is the AB group,
the paper has a special place in the Turkish press. It would be
appropriate to extend the paper’s accreditation status because of the
presence of certain writers specialized on TSK-related topics on the
staff of the newspaper. However, it would also be appropriate to
suspend for some time the personal accreditation of columnists who
persist in their openly unfavourable criticisms of the TSK."

Referans: The document finds this paper to be objective about the TSK
because of its mostly economic focus. It recommends extending the
paper’s accreditation especially because the paper has not objected
to publishing texts that refute misleading or wrong news articles.

Gozcu: The document says that this paper has virtually never
published any anti-TSK articles and that any criticisms it has
articulated are motivated by the paper’s desire to see a more
dominant TSK role in the country’s political and social domains. It
recommends an extension of the paper’s accreditation.

Sabah: The document says that Sabah "maintains a
centrist-liberal-pluralist publishing policy." Four Sabah columnists
are described as "anti-TSK" and four other writers are said "to
articulate positions favourable to the TSK." The general evaluation
of Sabah says: "Although the paper publishes sensational news
occasionally, it is influential in steering public opinion and it is
the most important paper of Turkey’s second largest media group. In
view of that, it would be beneficial for the TSK to extend the
paper’s accreditation, even as personal accreditation criteria are
applied to reporters who write such articles and the paper’s
administrative staff is cautioned by letters of complaint and
information whenever baseless reports are published."

Takvim: The document says about Takvim: "This paper is similar to
Posta of the Dogan Group by virtue of its emphasis on celebrity news
and its neutral stance on political matters." The document cites the
inclusion of an "anti-TSK" columnist on the paper’s staff in June
2006 as the most important change in Takvim. The evaluation says that
this individual journalist must not be accredited.

Aksam: Four columnists of this paper are described as "generally
favourable to the TSK," but one writer is said to air "baseless
information and unfavourable criticisms." The document criticizes
another Aksam writer by saying: "His articles are noted for their
unfavourable view of the TSK’s interference in politics."

Halka ve Olaylara Tercuman: The document says that the paper has been
undergoing restructuring, that it has endorsed a more nationalistic
posture, and that new columnists continue to be hired. It recommends
that, in view of this situation, the paper’s accreditation be
extended even as it is monitored for some time longer and that the
personal accreditation of some writers be withdrawn if necessary.

Vatan: The document says that the paper’s general publishing policy
is known to be centrist-liberal-pluralist. It adds that the general
publishing policy of the paper may be considered favourable to the
TSK and recommends that the paper’s accreditation be extended.

Star: Following recounting of the change of ownership of the paper,
the document recalls a motion for inquiry submitted by [Motherland
Party] Deputy Emin Sirin in the National Assembly on 13 March 2006
"requesting an investigation of why Star was sold to persons known
for their close ties to Fethullah Gulen for a price far below its
appraised value." The evaluation says in brief: "The newspaper has
changed ownership, and its administrative and editorial staff have
changed frequently. There have been allegations that Ihsan Arslan, a
Justice and Development Party deputy from Diyarbakir, is a secret
partner in the newspaper. Columnists with leftist and liberal views
have been dismissed and replaced with conservative writers. Because
staff changes have been completed only recently, it would be
appropriate to examine the paper’s new publication policy, to
maintain the suspension of the paper’s accreditation for some time
longer, and to review its accreditation status after an opinion is
formed following tight monitoring."

Cumhuriyet: The document says about Cumhuriyet: "Although the paper
has a relatively low circulation, it has an educated readership with
a certain status. The paper has not made any concessions from its
Ataturkist publishing policy, has always provided coverage for
topical issues, and has generally maintained a stance that is
favourable to the TSK."

Turkiye: The document says that this paper pursues a sensitive
publication policy despite its conservative character in order to
maintain its accreditation and that, in view of that, it would be
useful to extend its accreditation.

Dunya: The general evaluation of this paper says: "Although the main
focus of this daily is the economy, the paper devotes space to
articles related to the TSK. This may have a positive impact in terms
of having the TSK’s voice heard in economic circles and its messages
conveyed clearly to that community."

Ortadogu: The document describes this paper as the press organ of the
Nationalist Action Party and its general publication policy as
nationalist-conservative. It adds that the paper publishes articles
favourable to the TSK in accordance with its publishing policy and
recommends that its accreditation be extended.

Yenicag: The document says that this paper has maintained a generally
favourable stance with respect to the TSK, even though it has
occasionally published severe criticisms because of its extreme
nationalistic policies.

The New Anatolian: The document says that the paper provides a forum
for writers with academic backgrounds and reporters who specialize in
foreign policy despite the presence of certain writers with
conservative views on its staff. It adds that some of the paper’s
administrators have risky financial ties in northern Iraq and that
the paper’s publication policy must be carefully monitored after it
is granted accreditation.

Press Agencies

Anatolia Agency: The document mentions allegations that the Anatolia
Agency, Turkey’s oldest and official news agency, has been ignoring
news items that are unfavourable to the government. It says that the
agency’s failure to air Prime Minister Erdogan’s argument with a
farmer in Mersin in February 2006 generated much criticism. It adds
that the agency reports TSK-related news objectively and that it
reports all TSK activities in great detail.

ANKA: The document recalls that the accreditation of two of this
agency’s reporters was suspended but that the director general of the
agency was invited to the Victory Day reception on 30 August 2006.
The evaluation of ANKA says: "The agency has been observed to use, on
occasion, the terms ‘militant’ and ‘guerrilla’ instead of ‘terrorist’
when referring to members of the terrorist organization."

Television Stations

The information note on television stations evaluates them favourably
in general. It says: "The accreditation of CNN Turk, which is one of
the most widely watched news channels in Turkey, must be extended
despite current problems in its administration."

The information note says that Show TV and atv do not have any
ideological preferences and adds that the evaluation of the
accreditation application filed on behalf of Kanal 1 is continuing.
The note says that it would not be appropriate to accredit one
commentator at Sky Turk because of his "radical remarks." The note
describes NTV as an "objective" channel and says about CNBC-e: "It is
known have a better educated and higher income viewership. It would
be appropriate to extend the accreditation of this channel in order
to ensure that this audience receives the messages [the TSK] wants to
send." In comments on TGRT, which has been sold to Robert Murdoch,
the information note says: "It would be useful to evaluate the
accreditation of this channel after its new broadcast policy is
closely monitored." The note also recommends that the accreditation
of two reporters at Haberturk be suspended.

The TSK also finds that Kanalturk is problematic. The information
note recommends that Kanalturk’s accreditation be reviewed and that
the accreditation of one of its reporters be withdrawn.

The TSK’s information note also contains interesting comments with
regard to the TRT [Turkish Radio and Television Administration],
which is official television channel of the state, and BRTK [Bayrak
Radio and Television Administration], the official television channel
of the KKTC [Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus]. The note says:
"The TRT has recently been observed to air programmes that fall
outside its traditional objective broadcast policy. Various press
organizations have alleged and we have occasionally observed that it
has devoted air time to religious and Islamist shows and that it has
been engaged in a campaign to build a conservative staff."

We Do not Disclose Names Because…

The documents openly identify journalists described as "pro-TSK" and
"anti-TSK," but we chose to keep these names undisclosed in this
report because we believe that there may indescribable and
irreversible consequences if the journalists described as "pro-TSK"
and "anti-TSK" become the targets of certain "sensitive citizens" who
may "derive a duty from the situation."

Agence France Presse — English
March 9, 2007 Friday 3:18 PM GMT

Swiss court finds Turkish militant guilty of genocide denial

by Peter Capella

A Swiss court on Friday found a Turkish militant 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, 2,500 dollars).

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.

However Lausanne chief prosecutor Eric Cottier insisted that there
was no doubt over a genocide.

The Swiss law on incitement to racial discrimination also covers
denial, "gross minimisation", or justification of a genocide or other
crimes against humanity.

It provides for a maximum jail sentence of three years or a fine.