Month: July 2007

SERBIAN PRESIDENT ASSURES SETTLEMENT OF KOSOVO MAY CHANGE SITUATION IN SOUTH CAUCASUS

Trend News Agency, Azerbaijan
July 2 2007

France, Strasbourg / Òrend corr A. Ismayilova / The settlement of the
Kosovo conflict may change the situation in the South Caucasus, the
Serbian President and the Chairman of the Committee of Ministers of the
Council of Europe (CE), Boris Tadich, reported on 2 July in Strasburg.

Speaking to the political knowledge schools of the CE, Tadich said that
the settlement of the conflicts in the South Caucasus would depend
upon the decision on Kosovo. According to Tadich, Kosovo could serve
as a precedent for other conflicts. He voiced his hope that Kosovo
would not gain independence.

The Serbian President added that irrespective of the decision regarding
the Kosovo conflict he would support the territorial integrity of
Serbia. He noted that a rash decision could create problems in many
other areas, in particular in the energy field.

Tadich believes that the issue with Kosovo is similar to the conflicts
in Nagorno-Karabakh, Abkhazia, Turkey, Ukraine and Romania.

All countries of the Black Sea region have faced the same problems,
he noted.

Tadich indicated the necessity to study the conflicts accurately. In
his opinion, officials do not analyze the situation well enough. "We
should not make references to history when speaking on the settlement
of the conflicts," Serbian President stated.

–Boundary_(ID_xLYCWu+K5Q0Bcvtii40NOQ)–

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

TRIAL STARTS FOR MURDER OF ARMENIAN JOURNALIST

International Herald Tribune, France
July 2 2007

ISTANBUL: More than six months after the killing of an ethnic Armenian
journalist, 18 suspects went on trial Monday in a case widely seen as
a test of whether the Turkish judiciary will be able to investigate
allegations of official negligence in the slaying.

Hrant Dink was gunned down on Jan. 19, and his killing led to
international condemnation and debate within Turkey about free
speech. Dink was hated by hard-line nationalists for describing the
mass killings of Armenians early in the last century as genocide.

The trial is taking place behind closed doors because the accused
gunman, Ogun Samast, is a minor. The others on trial are accused of
being accomplices

Critics accused the authorities of not acting on reports of a plot to
kill Dink, and it is unclear whether allegations that could potentially
be embarrassing for top officials will be explored in the trial.

Hundreds of protesters demonstrated near the court house, appealing
for justice and carrying a banner that read: "We are all witnesses,
we want justice."

The Turkish government has promised a thorough investigation, and
the governor and police chief of the Black Sea city of Trabzon,
the hometown of Samast, were removed from office because of negligence.

Some security officials who had posed for photographs with the suspect
as he held a Turkish flag were also dismissed.

There is no evidence that directly implicates any police or government
officials in the slaying of Dink. But many Turks say they are convinced
a "deep state" of state agents or former officials, possibly with
links to organized crime, periodically targets perceived enemies in
the name of nationalism.

DINK MURDER TRIAL OPENS IN ISTANBUL

NTV MSNBC, Turkey
July 2 2007

The case is being heard behind closed doors as the accused gunman is
still a minor.

Guncelleme: 12:38 TSÝ 02 Temmuz 2007 Pazartesi

ISTANBUL – The first day of hearings in the trial of 18 people
accused of involvement in the murder of Hrant Dink, a prominent
Turkish-Armenian journalist, opens in Istanbul Monday.

Dink was gunned down outside the Istanbul headquarters of the
Turkish-Armenian bilingual newspaper Argos, of which he was founder
and editor, on January 19.

Turkish police arrested 18 persons, most belonging to a right wing
group, and charged them with involvement in the killing.

The accused gunman, who can only be identified by his initials in
the Turkish media because he is under the age of 18, has admitted to
shooting Dink outside his office.

Two of the other 17 defendants, Yasin Hayal and Erhan Tuncel,
are accused of having masterminded the assassination, and could be
imprisoned for life without parole if found guilty.

If found guilty as charged, the other 15 persons in the dock could
be gaoled for terms of between seven and a half to 35 years.

–Boundary_(ID_fauJqE+SF4wNZy5TGExeMQ)–

SLOVENIA TAKES UP ROLE OF EU PRESIDENCY IN MACEDONIA

Makfax, Macedonia –
July 2 2007

s of July 1, Slovenia represents the Portuguese EU presidency in
Macedonia and Montenegro, where it will perform duties on behalf of
Portugal as long as Slovenia takes-over the EU presidency next January.

Slovenia, according to rules set by the European Union, will hold the
role of EU presidency in Skopje and Podgorica for a period of one year,
as Portugal which took over the rotating EU presidency on July 1 has
no embassies in Macedonia and Montenegro.

Italy will chair the EU in Albania on behalf of Portugal. France will
carry out duties in Armenia and Kuwait and Slovakia will carry out
the duties of EU presidency in Belarus.

Slovenia, in line with guidelines by EU presidency, will carry out
the EU activities in Skopje and Podgorica pertaining to foreign
and security policy, policing and judicial co-operation in criminal
matters. /end/

RESIDENT OF AZERBAIJANI AGHDAM REGION CAPTURED BY ARMENIANS

Trend News Agency, Azerbaijan
July 2 2007

Azerbaijan, Baku / Òrend corr K. Zarbaliyeva / A resident of the
Azerbaijani region of Aghdam, Samandar Guliyev, was captured by
Armenians on the contact line of Azerbaijani and Armenian troops on
30 June, according to Armenian Mediamax agency.

During capture Guliyev did not have his identity card on him. Guliyev
said that he was born in 1972 in the region of Shusha, and lived
in the Ucoghlan settlement of the region of Aghdam. According to
the agency, the appropriate bodies of the unrecognized so-called
Nagorno-Karabakh Republic are investigating the reasons into why
Guliyev crossed the border.

The Azerbaijani State Commission on POW, Hostages and Missing Persons
and the Baku representative office of the International Committee of
the Red Cross reported to Trend that they were not aware of the case.

An investigation will be held in connection to this.

–Boundary_(ID_SG97Ybo2+CvBYolqsIpgLQ)–

BACKERS OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE BILL REACH MAJORITY IN US CONGRESS

Turkish Daily News , Turkey
July 2 2007

Majority of lawmakers in the United States House of Representatives,
lower chamber of Congress, are now supporting a resolution calling
for the recognition of World War I-era killings of Armenians in the
Ottoman Empire as genocide, a U.S. Armenian group said.

The number of lawmakers cosponsoring the measure last week rose to 218
in the 435-member House, the Armenian National Committee of America
(ANCA) said in astatement over the weekend.

"We welcome the growth of Armenian genocide resolution cosponsors to
the 218 threshold," said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian. "We
look forward in the coming days and weeks to working with our chapters
and activists across the country in maintaining and expanding the
bipartisan majority in favor of the timely adoption of this human
rights legislation."

This is the first time an Armenian genocide bill’s co-sponsors have
ever reached a majority in the House, and is a worrying development
for Turkey, which has been working since early this year to prevent
the resolution’s approval.

Obtaining the support of 218 lawmakers does not automatically enable
Armenians to force a House floor vote for the resolution, but means
a psychological threshold.

Another group of at least 218 representatives signing a separate and
special petition calling for a floor vote is required to push House
Speaker Nancy Pelosi to do that, and it would be hard for the Armenians
to collect that number of signatures, because most Democrat lawmakers
would not want to confront their congressional leader in this way.

Hard times ahead for TurkeyBut Pelosi, who has so far declined to
order action on the bill, may soon feel that the measure should be
brought to a floor vote because a House majority supports it.

The resolution, originally introduced in January by Democratic
Representative Adam Schiff and Republican lawmaker George Radanovich,
is presently pending at the House’s Foreign Affairs Committee.

Analysts said the resolution would likely reach the House floor agenda
any time after early September, when Congress returns to work from
a summer recess in August.

But still this would fall behind critical parliamentary elections in
Turkey on July 22.Top Turkish officials, including Foreign Minister
Abdullah Gul, have lobbied against the measure’s passage in visits
to the U.S. capital since February.

Ankara has warned that the resolution’s approval in Congress could
hurt ties with Washington beyond repair, including a disruption of
some bilateral security arrangements.

A similar resolution is also pending in the Senate, Congress’ upper
chamber, with 31 senators out of a total of 100 backing the measure.

But the Armenians’ efforts focus on moving on the House side
first.Before last year’s congressional elections in which the Democrats
won a landslide victory, Pelosi had pledged to work for the passage
of the genocide measure. But after the elections, she has adopted a
more responsible position, Turkish diplomats said.

TURKEY OPENS TRIAL OF 18 SUSPECTS IN JOURNALIST MURDER CASE

People’s Daily Online, China
July 2 2007

A high criminal court in Turkey’s largest city of Istanbul on Monday
opened trial of 18 suspects accused of involvement in the killing of
Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, local media reported.

Dink, 53-year-old editor-in-chief of the bilingual Turkish- Armenian
weekly Agos, was shot dead in front of his office in Istanbul on Jan.

19.

Only a day after the murder, police arrested Ogun Samast, who later
confessed to killing Dink by shooting him twice in the head and once
in the neck.

Monday’s hearing is closed to the public and media as Samast is less
than 18 years old, Turkish Daily News reported.

The prosecutor is demanding life imprisonment for Erhan Tuncel and
Yasin Hayal, who were accused of masterminding the murder, and that
Samast be sentenced to prison terms between 18 to 24 years.

The 15 other suspects face sentences of seven-and-a-half to 35 years.

Before the killing, Dink, a Turkish citizen of Armenian descent,
hadbeen convicted of insulting Turkey’s identity over his comments
on the alleged Armenian genocide by Ottoman Turks during World War
Iand received a six-month suspended sentence. Dink had also received
threat from nationalists who considered him as a traitor. Turkey has
denied that up to 1.5 million Armenians died as a result of systematic
genocide during the Turkish Ottoman period between 1915 and 1923.

SWISS ARREST TWO TURKS FOR ALLEGEDLY DENYING ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

Turkish Daily News , Turkey
WINTERTHUR, Switzerland – The Associated Press
July 2 2007

Two Turks were arrested on Saturday on suspicion of breaking Swiss
anti-racism laws for allegedly denying that the killing of Armenians
in the early 20th century was genocide, police said.

The two were arrested at a conference in the Zurich suburb of
Winterthur, where posters were hung up and leaflets distributed
rejecting that the killing was genocide. One of the Turks organized
the event and the other was shouting slogans before a crowd.

Switzerland’s anti-racism legislation, which previously applied to
Holocaust denial, was used earlier this year to prosecute a Turkish
politician for denying at a gathering in 2005 that the Turks committed
genocide in the World War I-era killings.

Last week, a Swiss cantonal court upheld the conviction against Doðu
Perincek, the leader of the Workers’ Party (ÝP), as well as an order
for him to pay a fine of 3,000 Swiss francs ($2,450).

The case of Perincek, who was also ordered to pay 1,000 francs ($820)
to an Armenian association, has caused diplomatic tension between
Switzerland and Turkey. Turkey insists Armenians were killed in civil
unrest during the tumultuous collapse of the Ottoman Empire and not
in a campaign of genocide. Turkey also rejects Armenian claims that
the death toll reached 1.5 million.

Perincek was invited to Saturday’s conference, but was prevented
from entering Switzerland because he had not applied for a visa,
said Dominique Boillat, spokesman for the Federal Office for Migration.

Police in the canton of Zurich identified the two arrested individuals
as a 57-year-old resident of Germany and a 51-year-old Swiss resident.

–Boundary_(ID_AnlP5np7hU4yUP8r70q+7g)- –

DINK’S MURDER TRIAL STARTS

Turkish Daily News , Turkey
ISTANBUL – TDN with wire dispatches
July 2 2007

The first hearing of the 18 defendants in the murder case of the
Armenian Turkish journalist Hrant Dink, assassinated in Istanbul in
January, starts today at Istanbul High Criminal Courts in Beºiktaº.

Many are expected to gather in front of the courthouse to demonstrate
that the public follows the case closely. The hearing is closed
to public and media as one of the murder suspects is less than 18
years’ old.

Dink, an advocate of free speech, whose comments about the mass
killings of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire in early 20th century
infuriated hardline nationalists, was shot to death in central Istanbul
in front of the office of Agos newspaper where Hrant Dink was editor
in chief. Dink was tried for allegedly violating Article 301 of the
Turkish penal code, which penalizes ‘insulting Turkishnness’, in an
article published last year.

The police quickly arrested the17-year-old murder suspect. But
critics accused authorities for ignoring reports about the plot
to kill Dink. Allegedly all residents in the Black Sea province of
Trabzon’s Pelitli, the hometown of the suspect and his perpetrators,
knew about the murder plan.

Dink’s trial will prove judicial independency

ISTANBUL – TDN

The murder trial of Armenian Turkish journalist Hrant Dink in
last January will be an exam of judicial independency for Turkey,
the international human rights association Human Rights Watch
(HRW) mentioned in a press statement last week. "We will carefully
follow how the court will handle the evidence pointing at security
officials," said the HRW Europe and Middle Asia department director
Holly Cartner. The security officials who had connections with or
negligence in Dink’s murder should be tried, the HRW emphasized. The
organization also noted it is concerned because before the launch of
the investigation Istanbul police chief declared the murder was had
no political connections. "Turkish authorities could not protect
Dink although it was obvious that his life was in danger," Holly
Cartner said.

–Boundary_(ID_W0uKobtWfKXg5F7LPkF5Lw)–

PRESIDENT ILHAM ALIYEV: ARMENIA SHOULD UNDERSTAND THAT AZERBAIJAN IS PREPARED TO ANY OPERATIONS ANY TIME

Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
July 2 2007

Azerbaijan’s Police Academy organized a ceremony on the occasion of
July 2 – Police Day and Graduation, APA reports.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev participated in the event. After
opening Heydar Aliyev’s monument in front of the Police Academy,
Interior Minister Ramil Usubov declared the ceremony open and said
that the first police body was established in Azerbaijan 89 years
ago in 1918. The Minister noted that July 2 has been celebrating as
Police Day since 1988 in Azerbaijan. Ramil Usubov said that salaries
of police offices are increasing, their social welfare is improving
and combating against criminality is strengthening.

"1,766 gangs of 13 criminals have been arrested since 1996 up to now.

63,000 searched people were arrested and 35,000 weapons were
confiscated," he said.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev attending the ceremony mentioned
that criminogenic situation in Azerbaijan in the 90s was very tense.

"It was hard time, there were a lot of criminals. Officials of
Interior Ministry were also involved in criminality. All of them have
been punished. Today Azerbaijan is the most stable country fro its
criminogenic situation in the region and CIS," he said.

Noting that about 1,000 police officers were killed during the Karabakh
war, the President said they will always remain in our memories.

"We are close to liberation of Karabakh’s. We are powerful enough to
liberate our lands. Azerbaijan’s position regarding the solution to
the conflict is supported. Azerbaijani lands will be liberated sooner
or later. Azerbaijan is the powerful country in the region. No one
wants a new war again. But Azerbaijan is prepared to any military
operations any time. It would be better if Armenia understands it
and pull out the troops form our territories," he said.

Following this, Azerbaijani President participated in presenting
diplomas to 420 graduates of Police Academy and watched their parade.