Month: March 2007

TURKISH JOURNALIST DOES NOT WISH TO BEAR RESPONSIBILITY FOR TALEAT AND ENVER PASHAS ACT

Noyan Tapan News Agency, Armenia
March 5 2007

ISTANBUL, MARCH 5, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. Nations should be
able to face their past. This was the main subject of the congress on
the subject Confrontation with the Past organized by the Heinrich-Boll
Stiftung German Union at Bilgi University of Istanbul.

The congress held with participation of Turkish and foreign scientists
also touched upon assertions on Armenian Genocide and the policy of
denying it.

In particular, Chairman of Diarbekir’s Advocates’ Academy Sezgin
Tandkulo said that facing the past is mixed up with cleaning the
past with a sponge in Turkey. "While, the sponge of the past is dirty
and it should be put aside. But against all this, Turkey has started
facing its past."

Speaker Murad Belge noted that denying the past becomes a reason "for
an individual or public to be connected with the reality with wrong
ties." Denial of Armenian Genocide creates a morbid condition and Hrant
Dink’s murder, in his opinion, is the result of this morbid condition.

And journalist Altan Eoyme demanded that those responsible for the
crime of early 20th century be revealed. "I cannot bear responsibility
for Taleat or Enver Pashas acts all my life," he said.

CONCERT DEDICATED TO ARMENIAN CLASSICAL MUSIC HELD IN TBILISI

Noyan Tapan News Agency, Armenia
March 5 2007

TBILISI, MARCH 5, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. A concert of Caucasian
Chamber Ochestra dedicated to Armenian classical music was held on
February 27 at Tbilisi Royal district’s theater. Works of E. Mirzoyan,
A. Haroutiunian and S. Aslamazian were on the concert program.

According to the report provided to Noyan Tapan from RA Foreign
Ministry Press and Information Department, First Lady of Georgia Sandra
Ruloffs, ambassadors and diplomats accredited in Georgia, leader of
Armenian Apostolic Church Diocese in Georgia Vazgen Mirzakhanian,
representatives of Armenian community listened to the works of
Armenian composers.

RA Ambassador to Georgia Hrach Silvanian made a greeting speech before
the concert. He, in particular, said that the magic world of music
liquidates racial, ethnic differences and prejudices, destroys state
borders, disregards national hatred and conflicts.

The concert organized on the initiative of RA Embassy in Georgia
and Orchestra head Uwe Berkemer passed successfully and found a wide
resonance in Georgian cultural circles and press.

The Caucasian Chamber Orchestra was founded in 2005 by German
conductor Uwe Berkemer with the support of First Lady of Georgia
Sandra Ruloffs and Marie Anne Isler Beguin, Chairwoman of European
Parliament’s delegation for issues of cooperation with South Caucasian
countries. The main idea of Orchestra’s creation is to show art’s
force and abilities in the issue of unification and consolidation of
Caucasian region’s peoples. The Orchestra’s staff is international
and consists of Armenian. Georgian and Russian musicians.

ARMENIA MOVES FORWARD BY PATH OF STRENGTHENING OF DEMOCRACY, RA FOREIGN MINISTRY’S STATEMENT READS

Noyan Tapan News Agency, Armenia
March 5 2007

YEREVAN, MARCH 5, NOYAN TAPAN. On the occasion of 15th anniversary of
Armenia’s membership to UN, RA Foreign Ministry has made a statement,
which read:

"One of the greatest symbols of independent statehood and sovereignty
is joining the family of nations, which is especially actual under
conditions of globalization. Through joining UN in 1992 Armenia
received a possibility to become equal participant of developments
taking place in the world, to make a contribution to international
cooperation and preservation of world peace and security. This is
the goal of Armenia’s activity in UN’s main and auxiliary bodies,
participation in summits and conferences being held under the aegis
of UN.

Becoming a member of UN in 1992 and adopting principles of universal
values, protection of human rights and establishment of democracy
as integral part of state ideology, Armenia takes an active part in
activities being held within the framework of this world organization
and cooperates with many structures and links of the organization.

After the 1988 earthquake, when UN’s agencies not well known to all
of us at that time came to Armenia from humanitarian considerations,
it was difficult to imagine that the names and activities of Chief
Commissioner for Refugees, Children’s Fund, UN Development Programs
will become an integral element of Armenia’s daily life.

Without active support of UN agencies it would be much more difficult
to elaborate and to implement intrastate programs undertaken by
Armenian government, such as poverty reduction, anti-corruption
programs, program on protection of women’s and children’s rights,
programs on fighting various ways of organized crime.

Today, summarizing 15 years of Armenia’s joining UN we become more and
more convinced that Armenia moves forward by the path of strengthening
democracy, building a civil society, establishing supremacy of law,
economic and social development of the country."

"NKR MUST PARTICIPATE IN THE TALKS"
Evika Babayan

Azat Artsakh, Republic of Nagorno Karabakh
March 5 2007

Recently the international conference "The South Caucasus: New Reality,
New Challenges" was held in Armenia. From Nagorno Karabakh the head
of the Civic Action Center NGO Albert Voskanyan was present.

He said the conference was held by the Concord Center for
political and legal research. Political scientists, experts and the
representatives of South Caucasian NGOs were present. In his speech,
the Nagorno-Karabakh representative said with regard to the settlement
of the issue of Karabakh: "Time showed that the Aliyev-Kocharyan talks
are not productive. The talks have lasted for a few years without any
progress. The publics of the sides are unaware of the proposals on
the ground, which gives rise to provocations. I think the government
of Nagorno Karabakh and namely President Arkady Ghukasyan must take
part in the talks. Nagorno Karabakh participated in the talks as
a conflict side until 1997, then for whatever reason it was left
out of the process. The people of Karabakh must be responsible for
their fate. Armenia, Russia and the other stakeholders must help
reach a lasting solution." According to Albert Voskanyan, one of
the essential conditions is the efforts to create confidence and to
overcome adversity between the publics of the conflict sides. "A
lasting solution is possible through reasonable compromise only,"
Albert Voskanyan said.

TURKEY REPLACES THE EU WITH A RETURN TO THE MIDDLE EAST
By Soli Ozel

Daily Star – Lebanon
March 5 2007

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan gave the cue for Turkey’s foreign
policy priorities in this dual election year (first presidential
then general elections) when he declared that Iraq had replaced the
European Union as Turkey’s top priority item. The statement certainly
reflected the legitimate concerns of most observers who assess that
this year could be the defining one for the future of Iraq.

Turkey has felt all the repercussions of developments in Iraq since
even before the beginning of the war. Jealously status-quo-oriented,
the Turkish elites and populace alike opposed the war from its
inception, fearing the potentially revolutionary consequences.

Although negotiations were held with the United States prior to the
war and an understanding was reached on modalities for cooperation,
ultimately Parliament denied the US permission to deploy troops in
Turkey and open a northern front. Since then, US-Turkish relations,
particularly military-to-military ties, have been rocky though never
fatally damaged.

Today, having seen many of its most dire predictions come true, Ankara
is deeply concerned that Iraq’s descent into a brutal sectarian civil
war with seemingly inexhaustible reserves of violence threatens the
stability of the entire region. In addition, as with its neighbors
Syria and Iran, the prospect of an independent Kurdistan deeply
troubles the authorities and the non-Kurdish public alike.

At the same time, Ankara is concerned with other developments in the
region such as the instability in Lebanon and the Iranian nuclear
program. And it is equally worried about American policies on these
questions. Hence it tries to maintain a balancing act by staying on
good terms with Iran and Syria while improving relations with the US
and looking for ways for the two allies to limit the damage in Iraq.

It is therefore only natural that the government would divert its
attention and energies toward the Middle East, and particularly Iraq,
this year.

But there was another sense in which Erdogan’s statement could be
interpreted. Arguably the prime minister and his Cabinet lost much
of their appetite for EU-induced reforms as early as the day after
Turkey got a date to start accession negotiations in December 2004.

Those negotiations did begin on time in October 2005, but only after
acrimonious debates within the EU and between Turkey and the union
over Turkey’s obligation to open its ports to Greek Cypriot shipping.

Some EU members tried their best to renege on their promise to
treat Turkey the same way as other candidates. Politicians in member
countries built electoral platforms on Turkey-bashing.

By the end of 2006, then, much if not all of the momentum was lost
in Turkey’s EU bid. The final blow came when EU suspended 8 out of
35 negotiating chapters and effectively put the process on hold,
although technical work still continues and three minor chapters were
opened. That some of the suspended chapters, such as foreign affairs,
had no bearing on the controversial customs union issue with Cyprus
suggest that the latter was at least partially an excuse to delay
Turkey’s accession process.

Such a drifting apart in the relationship was what the nay-sayers in
the EU and the Euro-bashers in Turkey passionately wanted. Just as
anti-Turkish sentiment in EU member countries was on the rise, so was a
rampant, xenophobic, anti-Western nationalism in Turkey. Both Turkey’s
opposition parties and the ruling AKP (Justice and Development Party)
decided to cater to nationalist sentiment.

Evidently the AKP’s higher echelons felt that to continue in an
election year with their reformist and liberalizing agenda would be a
losing proposition. They already had the example of Erdogan’s opening
to the Kurds in the summer of 2005, which fractured the party and cost
it dearly in terms of electoral support. Therefore for all practical
purposes, the reformist wave came to an end in 2006; it is unlikely
to pick up until after the general elections.

As a result of this rising nationalism, Turkey was shaken by successive
court cases brought against outspoken intellectuals. These cases
were all related to Article 301 of the penal code that criminalizes
offenses against "Turkishness." Turkey’s Nobel laureate in literature,
Orhan Pamuk, was among those who were tried and assaulted in court
by self-proclaimed guards of national pride. The AKP government
did close to nothing to contain these movements, nor did it change
or rescind 301. Arguably as an indirect result of such a climate –
jointly created by political classes, old elites and a susceptible,
offended and fearful population – a prominent Armenian journalist,
Hrant Dink, was murdered in January.

All these developments, alongside already existing anxiety about the
AKP’s so-called true intentions (read, seeking to advance Islamic
law), raised concerns in the West. Almost no conference relating
to Turkey in the West can be held lately without a panel entitled:
"Are we losing Turkey?" or "Who lost Turkey?"

Yet nationalist outcries notwithstanding, so far there is no indication
that Turkey’s Western orientation has been replaced by an alternative
one. Still, a number of problems present themselves.

First and foremost is the closing of political space in the country
because of the radicalization of nationalist discourse. Second is the
lack of harmonious relations among Turkey’s foreign policy-making
actors, particularly on Iraq. And third, the prime minister’s
aspiration to be elected president has raised tensions in the country,
corroding the government’s relations with the military.

The combination of these three domestic problems fuels nationalist
fever in Turkey. There are calls to attack the PKK inside Iraqi
Kurdistan. There are also calls for militarily intervening to stop the
Iraqi Kurds from taking over the oil-rich province of Kirkuk, whose
demography has been drastically altered by the Kurdish authorities.

Just last week, Turkey’s National Security Council put an end to
an acrimonious debate conducted mainly in the media between the
government and military. The council called for appropriate diplomatic
and political moves to solve outstanding problems with the Iraqi
Kurds. The fact that such a decision was reached in the wake of
back-to-back visits by Turkey’s defense and foreign ministers and
chief of the general staff to Washington may also suggest that the
Turkish-American dialogue on the sensitive issues of the PKK and
Kirkuk is healthier than before.

Soli Ozel is a professor of international relations at Istanbul Bilgi
University and a columnist for the daily Sabah. This commentary first
appeared at bitterlemons-international.org, an online newsletter.

LOANING IS NOT ADA’s PRIMARY PROBLEM
Norair Hovsepian

Azat Artsakh, Republic of Nagorno Karabakh
March 5 2007

In 2006 Artsakh Development Agency, which implements a program
of assistance to small and medium-sized enterprises, loaned 937.4
million drams to 106 applicants, said Armen Avagian, the director of
ADA. The terms and conditions are same. Instead, there is progress with
regard to collective applications. In 2006 8 collective applications
were met compared with 4 in 2005, although it is not a big number,
especially considering that they included wine growing only. 37.7
percent of loans in 2006 went to Stepanakert, 30 percent Askeran,
17.5 percent to Martuni, the other regions 0.4-6.2 percent.

Armen Avagian says in 2007 the loan program will focus on other
branches as well, namely food processing. However, loaning is not
the only program the agency implements, he said. The director of ADA
underlined the program for fostering exports. Namely, according to
Armen Avagian, the agency helped a few local producers participate in
Armenia Expo 2006 and Pan Armenian Expo 2006 in Yerevan, as well as
Made in Armenia Expo in Toronto, Canada. Besides introducing separate
producers the nature resources and possibilities for tourism in NKR are
presented, he says. In 2006 ADA set up a website with a special page
on the program for fostering export. Another strand in the activities
of ADA is to foster investments. "Having an attractive sphere for
investors is not enough, it is necessary to provide information
to potential investors," says Armen Avagian. As a result of the
information policy, investors from a number of countries have turned
to the agency for more information. "They are interested in banking,
light industry, tourism, and other spheres," said Armen Avagian.

GENOCIDE DENIAL TRIAL RAISES MANY QUESTIONS

Swissinfo, Switzerland
March 5 2007

The trial of Turkish politician Doðu Perincek, who made comments in
Switzerland denying the 1915 Armenian massacre was genocide, opens
in Lausanne on Tuesday.

The court case, which is centred on Swiss anti-racism legislation,
is set to test the already shaky relations between Bern and Ankara.

A meeting between Swiss Justice Minister Christoph Blocher – an
opponent of the law – and his Turkish counterpart Cemil Cicek in Bern
at the weekend has also raised eyebrows.

Perincek, the head of the Turkish Workers’ Party, stands accused of
racial discrimination after he called the genocide "an international
lie" during a public speech in the city of Lausanne in July 2005.

Under the Swiss penal code any act of denying, belittling or justifying
genocide is a violation of the country’s anti-racism legislation.

Armenians maintain the mass killings in 1915 were genocide, a charge
Turkey disputes.

Experts say the presiding judge at the district court in Lausanne
will have to negotiate some tricky waters concerning both the law
and Swiss-Turkish relations.

Tensions between Bern and Ankara were high in 2005 after Turkey
criticised the Swiss authorities’ decision to investigate Perincek.

It also later cancelled an official trip to Turkey by the then
economics minister, Joseph Deiss.

Law debate

The law itself has been the subject of debate after Blocher announced
during a visit to Turkey last October that the legislation was
incompatible with freedom of expression.

The comments were welcomed by Ankara but caused a storm of protest
in Switzerland.

Blocher has again come in for criticism by the media and some
politicians over the timing of the meeting with his Turkish counterpart
at the weekend. According to the justice ministry bilateral issues –
and not the trial – were discussed.

Legal experts have also raised questions about the law – albeit in
a different context.

"The lawmakers wanted to assimilate the negation of a historical
reality to a racist proclamation. This is controversial, because it
is about two different things," said Robert Roth, dean of the faculty
of law at Geneva University.

Roth believes, however, the central question of the trial will be
another one – who should make a judgement on historical events?

Perincek during his speech in Lausanne (Keystone)

Genocide or massacre?

The Armenians say Ottoman Turks slaughtered up to 1.8 million Armenians
in a planned genocide between 1915 and 1918. Turkey denies the mass
killings were genocide, saying the death toll is inflated.

So far most historians, the Council of Europe, the French parliament
and the Swiss House of Representatives – plus two cantonal parliaments
in Switzerland – have all recognised the events as genocide. The
Swiss government does not officially speak of genocide.

Francesco Bertossa, who was part of the defence team in another Turkish
genocide denial trial in 2001in Bern, believes the definition question
should not influence the verdict.

"The anti-racism law does not only punish genocide denial but also
any crime against humanity," he said.

Swiss-Armenians

For its part, the Swiss-Armenian Association, the private party
associated with the public prosecutor in the trial, welcomes the case.

"We will finally know if denigrating our people and tarnishing our
memory is a crime in Switzerland," said co-president Sarkis Shahinian.

Prosecutor-general Eric Cottier has been quoted as saying that
unless shown to be otherwise, the Armenian genocide was "sufficiently
recognised to be defined as such".

But Perincek remains defiant. Arriving in Switzerland at the weekend
he reiterated his call for the law to be abolished and said he could
prove that genocide did not take place.

A verdict in the trial is expected on Friday.

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THE HOUSE’S OTTOMAN AGENDA
By Jackson Diehl

Washington Post
March 5 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 front-line 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: Schiff, a Democrat from Los Angeles,
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.

"There’s a sense of momentum now about the resolution that we haven’t
had before," Schiff told me. "The votes are there in the committee.

The votes are there on the floor." If 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 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. 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 teenager.

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: that is, with a shrug.

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ANKARA TO CHANGE LOBBYISTS IN US

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
March 5 2007

The Turkish government has decided to work with a new lobbyist in the
United States to able to better fight the Armenian genocide resolution,
which was introduced in the US House of Representatives in January.

For the last seven years Turkey has been working with The Livingston
Group, a Washington, D.C., public relations and lobbying firm founded
in 1999 by former Republican congressman Robert Livingston.

Taking into consideration the fact that last November the Democrats
won a majority in Congress, Turkey decided to work with a lobbyist
known to be close to the Democrats, DLA Piper.

Turkey’s agreement with The Livingston Group expires as of March 1,
but it will continue working with the firm for another six months
in an attempt to avoid any problems during the changeover period,
Turkey’s Ambassador to the United States Nabi ªensoy told Cihan News
Agency (CHA).

Nevertheless, no deal has been signed yet with DLA Piper. After six
months, Turkey may decide to work only with DLA Piper or work with
both of them, ªensoy also said.

Dick Gephardt, who retired in January 2005 after serving Missouri’s
Third Congressional District for 28 years, is one of senior counsels
working at DLA Piper.

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PATRIARCH: DINK MURDER STILL MYSTERY

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
March 5 2007

The patriarch of Turkey’s Armenians, Mesrob II, lamented yesterday
that the murder of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink has not
been fully resolved, as mourners gathered at an Ýstanbul church to
commemorate him.

Mourners laid flowers at Hrant Dink’s grave on the 40th day after
his killing.

Dink, the editor of the bilingual Agos daily, was gunned down on Jan.

19 outside his office in downtown Ýstanbul. A 17-year-old suspect,
O.S., was arrested after the murder and confessed to the killing.

Although the unemployed, secondary school graduate O.S. was quickly
captured along with several others believed to be involved in the
killing, public suspicions remained regarding the real motives behind
the murder that shocked Turkey and talk of a shadowy "deep state"
as a potential accomplice in the killing has resurfaced.

Mesrob II, speaking at a ceremony to commemorate Dink on the 40th day
of his death, said shedding full light on the murder would strengthen
the environment of peace in Turkey.

"It is extremely saddening and thought-provoking that the real inciters
of this assassination have not been found over the past 40 days,"
he said at the ceremony at Santa Maria Armenian church in Kumkapý,
Ýstanbul. "Prompt clarification of this murder is essential for the
atmosphere of peace as well as confidence in security institutions."

"This investigation is not going well," said journalist Cengiz Candar,
who was one of the mourners attending the ceremony. "It seems the
authorities will not pursue this determinedly due to the approaching
elections but this means we are heading to a point that poses dangers
for Turkey’s international image and internal peace."

Dink’s widow Rakel, his daughters, novelist Elif Þafak, Þiþli
Mayor Mustafa Sarýgul and journalists Ali Bayramoðlu, Ayþe Unal
and Oral Calýþlar, all attended yesterday’s ceremony. The tradition
commemorating the dead on the 40th day of their death is shared by
Muslim Turks as well.

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