Month: May 2008

RECONCILIATION STARTS WITH CHEESE IN CAUCASUS

Turkish Daily News
May 26 2008

In an effort to contribute to reconciliation between Turkey and
Armenia, a business group from both countries has taken the initiative
to launch cooperation between Turkish and Armenian cheese producers.

Under the label of "Caucasian cheese," the yellow slab symbolizes
reconciliation between Turkey and Armenia and the entire Caucasus
region, according to an article by British-based magazine The
Economist.

The idea of a regional "peace" cheese met suspicion when mooted a year
ago, said Alin Ozinian of the Turkish Armenian Business Development
Council. Georgia and Azerbaijan are also involved in the project.

Turkey closed its border with Armenia in 1993 to protest the Armenian
forces’ occupation of the Nagorno-Karabakh region in the South
Caucasus, a de facto independent republic that is officially part
of Azerbaijan.

"We didn’t know how the authorities would react," said Zeki Aydın,
a Turkish cheese producer, who made the 10-hour-long trip from Kars
to Gumru via Georgia. "We want our borders to be reopened, and we
want good neighbourly ties, so we took a chance," said Ilhan Koculu,
a fellow cheese maker.

Vefa Ferejova, an Azeri campaigning to bury the hatchet with Armenia,
was also there. "We are told to hate Armenians: I will not,"
Ferejova said.

–Boundary_(ID_WUIs3IfZLS0RO8mOsznJKQ)–

ICRC REPRESENTATIVES HOLD MEETING WITH ARMENIANS, CAPTURED BY AZERBAIJANIS

Today.Az
litics/45228.html
May 26 2008
Azerbaijan

Representatives of the Baku office of the International Committee of
the Red Cross held a meeting with Armenian citizens Vanik Zmboyan,
Artem Zohrabyan, Karen Torosyan and Agasi Enonyan, who planned to
commit diversion in the territory of Azerbaijan, said spokesman for
the ICRC Baku office Gulnaz Quliyeva.

She said the monitoring of detainment conditions and physical state
of the Armenian citizens was held during the meeting, held on Friday.

Quliyeva noted that they do not have any complaints as to the
detainment conditions.

It should be noted that attempt of the special forces of Armenian
armed troops to commit diversion in the territory of Azerbaijan was
prevented in April of 2008. They were detained in the Nakhchivan
direction of the front line.

DJIVAN GASPARYAN TO LEAD DUDUK ENSEMBLE AT ROYCE HALL

Los Angeles Times
May 26 2008
CA

The master of the Armenian oboe will team with composer-producer
Michael Brook and family members.

On Friday night, Royce Hall will resonate with the quivering sound
of the duduk, an Armenian oboe, as played by its reigning master,
79-year-old Djivan Gasparyan. He will be accompanied by Michael Brook,
inventor and performer of the "Infinite Guitar" and a composer and
producer who has worked with such musicians as Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan,
Brian Eno, U2’s Edge and Jon Hassell.

The additional ensemble of musicians will include Gasparyan’s grandson,
also named Djivan, playing duduk, and Brook’s wife, violinist Julie
Rogers.

Brook produced Gasparyan’s album "Moon Shines at Night" in 1993, and
the pair decided on a full collaboration five years later for the
album "Black Rock." Released on Peter Gabriel’s Real World label,
it generated considerable critical acclaim — Gasparyan’s slow,
meditative phrases beautifully complemented Brook’s dreamy, sustained
and heavily processed guitar.

"The process when trying to work with people from other countries
is to create a simple backing track, giving a bit of atmosphere,
pitch and tempo. [Djivan overdubs], then I develop the frame around
the picture," Brook said. "I take what he does, what is beautiful
and magical, and provide a framework."

Their work, individually and together, has appeared on soundtracks
for such films as "Gladiator," "Black Hawk Down" and, most recently
for Brook, "An Inconvenient Truth" and "Into the Wild."

"Music is a real-time thing for me," Brook said. "There’s very little
planning — it’s a purely experimental process. I learned to feel
comfortable with the glory of the accident."

A new album, "Penumbra," is scheduled for a fall release, and the Royce
concert will include much of the new material. Brook and Gasparyan
also are recording more traditionally based Armenian music.

Casey Dolan

Royce Hall, UCLA campus, Westwood, 8 p.m. Friday, $24-$48 (UCLA
students: $15 in advance), (310) 825-2101 or

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

IS LEBANON A REAL NATION, OR JUST A COLLECTION OF INTEREST GROUPS?
Harry Sterling

The Gazette (Montreal)
May 26 2008
Canada

There is a political entity called Lebanon but some days it’s hard
to call it a nation

Does Lebanon really exist as a nation?

Admittedly, there is a political entity called Lebanon recognized by
the world community.

But does Lebanon exist in the hearts and minds of its own citizens,
a nation whose people have a shared vision of their own country?

Many would dismiss such questions as ludicrous. However, the recent
violence in Lebanon and a deal announced May 21 to end inter-communal
fighting there has focussed attention on whether Lebanon is truly
a unified nation or simply a conglomeration of competing religious
and ethnic groups, rival political factions, warring clans and
self-perpetuating power-brokers, some with private militias, all
individually intent on pursuing their own interests regardless of
the bloody consequences for Lebanese society.

For some, this month’s fighting has sadly demonstrated that there
is not one Lebanon but rather several, each pursuing its own narrow
objectives regardless of the devastation inflicted upon Lebanon’s 13
million people.

Although the formal state of Lebanon obviously exists – and has all
the normal trappings of an independent state, including a parliament
– Lebanon remains a highly divided and fractured society, a society
lacking in a sense of shared nationhood and shared values

In fairness, Lebanon’s never-ending divisions are, to a certain extent,
a result of the Middle East’s own turbulent history and the creation
of artificial states by colonial powers, notably Britain and France.

What is now called Lebanon was a magnet for other cultures, resulting
in the arrival of once persecuted Maronite Christians, Muslim Druze,
Kurds, Armenians, Greeks, Arabs, culminating in the domination by
the Turkish Ottomans from the 16th century until the end of the First
World War when France was given Lebanon as a colonial mandate.

Although a Lebanese republic was established in 1926, Free French
forces occupied Lebanon from 1941-45. Full independence was achieved
in 1945.

Paradoxically, independence only exacerbated long-simmering tensions
and rivalries between Christians and Muslims over who should control
Lebanon. Those tensions were aggravated by the presence of Palestinian
refugees who fled there after Israel’s 1948 independence.

The fighting between Christian and Muslim communities eventually
unleashed full-scale civil war between 1975-90, resulting in
intervention by Syria, which always considered Lebanon part of a
greater Syria.

If Lebanon’s internal divisions weren’t already serious enough,
the arrival of the Palestine Liberation Organization led to Israeli
military attacks, including Israel invading Lebanon’s southern region
in 1978 and again in 1982 when it occupied the southern border area
until forced to withdraw by the fundamentalist Hezbollah.

While the intrusion of outside countries into Lebanon’s domestic
affairs, especially that of Syria, Israel and Iran undermined the
country’s precarious stability, the various rival Lebanese factions
deserve much of the blame for the endless violence and devastation
inflicted upon the country.

While their competition for power originally pitted Christian groups
against Muslim groups, it was never quite so black and white. The
rise of the Shiite Hezbollah movement made it a major opponent of
the traditional Sunni establishment.

Muslim and Christian groups have even joined alliances with traditional
adversaries to achieve political gains. (The Phalangist Christian
militia even aligned itself with Israel.)

During this month’s fighting Hezbollah was joined by Maronite Christian
and Sunni elements in their showdown with the Sunni-Christian dominated
government bloc.

Much of Lebanon’s domestic instability arises from a power-sharing
arrangement from 1943 that attempted to balance the competing groups
by dividing power between a Maronite Christian president, a Sunni
prime minister and a Shiite speaker of parliament.

However, determined to increase its power after its unprecedented
military successes against Israel in 2006, Hezbollah quite Lebanon’s
shaky unity coalition last autumn because its demand for more cabinet
seats was denied.

For reasons that remain unclear, Prime Minister Siniora chose this
month to challenge Hezbollah by ordering the dismantling of its
unauthorized telephone network and firing the pro-Hezbollah security
chief at Beirut airport.

Siniora’s action resulted in Hezbollah militia erecting barricades
in Beirut and seizing control of Sunni facilities, wuth 65 people
killed in subsequent fighting.

Although the two sides have now agreed on a new cabinet- sharing deal
that enables Hezbollah to block unwanted legislation and Hezbollah and
other militias have agreed not to use weapons against one another,
such deals are only short-term measures, incapable of resolving
Lebanon’s longstanding problems.

The deals only prolong the influence of traditional power brokers at
the expense of society at large. This situation won’t change until
ordinary Lebanese people jettison their allegiance to narrow sectarian
groups, and demand leaders who govern in the best interests of the
entire population. This should involve greater central control of
the country’s infrastructure, ending the interference of factions.

At that point, Lebanon might finally evolve into being a unified
nation with a common vision of itself, not merely a geographical
entity beholden to special interest groups.

Harry Sterling, a former diplomat, is an Ottawa-based commentator.

CALIFORNIA-BASED DASHNAKS CONCERN ABOUT ACTIVITY OF AZERBAIJANI DIPLOMATS

Azeri Press Agency
May 26 2008
Azerbaijan

Los-Angeles. Husniyya Hasanova-APA. California-based Dashnaks are
concerned about the activity of Azerbaijani diplomats. "Azbarez",
an official newspaper of Dashnaktsutyun Party in California wrote
that this anxiety was expressed during the meeting with Armenian
ambassador to the US Tatul Margarian.

The newspaper says that representatives of Dashnaktsutyun Party and
the ambassador have discussed the activity of Azerbaijani diplomats
and measures for prevention of it during 90-minute meeting in Beverly
Hills. Moreover, they have exchanged views on confrontation after the
presidential elections in Armenia on March 1, damage on international
reputation of the country. Armen Livonian, Armenian Consul-General
to Los-Angeles also participated in the meeting.

BEAUTIES AND BEASTS: FOR ELIZABETH ROMHILD, LIFE IS AN ARTISTIC JOURNEY, AND THE JOURNEY GOES ON AND ON
Story By Usnisa Sukhsvasti

Bangkok Post
out01.php
May 26 2008
Thailand

‘The orange is gone!"

This observation by artist Elizabeth Romhild on her own work was made
partly in satisfaction and partly in surprise tinged with a slight
wistfulness. In the past decade her work has been dominated by the
"blue bowl with oranges", a motif that has been translated into her
series on women with the trademark round breasts in vibrant colours.

Her latest collection is no longer dominated by breasts; while they
still appear now and again, they are not the focus of the total
image. Romhild is exuberant about this collection, which is being
premie’red in her native Denmark in June under the title "Dawn". The
name is a reference to a new stage in her artistic career, the dawn
of a new beginning, so to speak. Rather appropriate, in fact, when
you consider her artistic development, which seems to have entered
a new phase of growth and maturity.

Gone are the bouncy, saucy, confident women with their bouncy round
breasts like oranges, which adorned her previous canvases. Gone is
the frivolity, gaiety and light-heartedness of those vibrant paintings.

The new collection draws inspiration from her trip to Africa. The
vibrant colours still remain, an integral part of the Romhild persona,
but the outlines are softer, less defined. Women are still featured,
but these are strong, mature, powerful Masai women in a pure, raw
environment, adorned by their colourful ethnic beads and fabrics
that put you in touch with a more basic, more intrinsic side of man
and beast.

The mysterious masked women that often appeared in her earlier
paintings is now reflected in the painted tribal faces and magnificent
wild beasts of the Savannah which, to Romhild, resemble masks that
entice you to imagine what kind of thoughts are going on behind those
haunting eyes.

Two enormous 2x2m canvases, one of a lion and the other of a tiger ("A
tiger’s not an African animal, but I couldn’t resist the urge to paint
this beautiful big cat.") both seem to embody the new Romhild. The eyes
are the main focus of the canvases, much like Romhild’s own enormous
Danish-Armenian eyes that draw you in and capture you as she speaks
animatedly of her work, exuding a deep excitement and passion for
her new collection, for her boundless inspiration, for life.

Eyes, or the lack thereof, to be more precise, are also the focal
point of a painting of a dark tribal face that has none of Romhild’s
trademark colours. This one has been executed in ominous greys,
the black soulless eyes creating a mysterious and foreboding force
that is further enhanced by the paint drizzles that have become one
of Romhild’s favourite techniques for the current collection.

The brushstrokes have also taken on a new expressiveness. She reverted
to pointillism for the tiger image, but used freer, coarser and
more fluid strokes for the lion painting. Upon closer inspection,
there is clear evidence of scratch marks on the canvas; signs of the
wild cat in Romhild letting herself loose in her form of expression,
adding an evocative texture to the overall image.

Romhild has not restricted herself to canvas, either. Images of nomadic
tribesmen and beasts adorn old tabletops, kitchen cabinet doors with
handles still intact. This is the more playful Romhild, just letting
her imagination run free. The wood texture gives way to the rough hide
of the African elephant, while the cabinet handle has become part of
a necklace for a Masai woman. Buttons and even safety pins have been
added to the oil paint for added dimension and, one might say, humour.

For Romhild, this has been a journey of discovery. Like her entire
artistic career, it seems to have come in its own time, of its own
accord. A self-taught artist, Romhild personal journeys into the world
– to Iran as a young girl, then in Saudi Arabia, the US, Indonesia
and then Thailand, have helped to forge her innate talents that were
already apparent as a young girl. Scrap books from her childhood art
class show the same "oranges in a blue bowl" that were to become such
a tour de force for her artistic explosion in Thailand.

It was in Indonesia at the age of 26 that Romhild first indulged
in her passion for art seriously, drawing realistic sketches in
watercolour of the slum communities, and portraits of local people
from the eyes of a keen observer. Already her love of textures was
apparent, with meticulous attention being paid to the rust on the
dilapidated corrugated iron roofs, mildew on walls.

Seascapes were next, with local art critics in Indonesia predicting
a bright future for this young expat artist upon the launch of her
Jakarta exhibition.

Her creative juices were put on the back burner as motherhood took over
her entire being during her early days in Thailand. Two children came
in close succession, and while she indulged in the joys of motherhood,
it also played havoc with her own sense of identity.

"I lost track of who I was. Breastfeeding my children made me feel
like a milk cow, like that was my sole purpose in life," she remarked
with a laugh.

She stopped painting for four years as she raised her children in
their early years, though she managed to channel her frustrations
into a series of surreal drawings.

One shows a woman, breasts exposed, with a cloth covering her
head, hands and feet interchanged. "I no longer knew who I was,"
she explained.

Another shows a woman running, with an open mouth instead of a
head. The mouth is screaming, venting the pent-up anxiety and
frustration that most new mothers feel at one time or another.

Yet another, Birth of an Egg, shows a woman with a child coming
out of a vagina-like opening in her tummy. Others are more erotic
in content. She looks back on this series with a sense of fondness
and even curiosity now, a fulfilled mother of two wonderful teenage
children.

At this point the "oranges in a blue bowl" returned with a
vengeance. She began to play around with the idea, coming up with
various interpretations of the theme; the bowl of oranges sitting
on a table, the bowl tipping over sending the oranges flying in
all directions, the oranges turning into orange juice, two oranges
morphing into female breasts.

"The round orange breast and the blue colour from the bowl was the
main colour combination in my work for many years, with the circle
being eternal love," she noted. She considers red and turquoise to
be the colours that more represent the essential Elizabeth Romhild,
and credits the strong Asian sunlight for her use of the vibrant colour
palette. The strong outlines, the contrasting use of light and shadow,
the reds and blues, cold and hot, are very much a reaction to the
Asian environment where she has been living for the past 25 years,
as opposed to the grey and undefinable impressions of Europe.

This sense of balance is very much an integral part of her work, being
the Libra that she is. And each work is only considered complete when
she is able to achieve that delicate balance.

Romhild is an extremely disciplined artist. Mornings are usually
spent doing her daily chores and exercising (painting large canvases
is very physically demanding), but as afternoon comes, she heads for
her upstairs studio with windows running down one entire wall to let
in natural daylight.

The room is stacked with completed canvases, while a commissioned work
in progress is against one wall. Her paints are on a trolley that can
be moved around as needed. Painting such huge canvases requires an
immense amount of energy, applying the oils with sweeping strokes,
moving back and forth to get different perspectives of the image,
not to mention all the dancing that is involved!

"The moment I walk into my studio I turn on some music – classical
or contemporary, depending on my mood. Three months ago it was
Sting’s Sacred Love, endlessly. Or I might put on Queen full blast
and dance around. At other times it’s Amadeus, Requiem, Carmen
Fantasia by Anne-Sophie Mutter, or Buddha Bar. These are some of
my favourites. It’s the energy in the rhythm that moves my hands,
not the actual tune."

Romhild works with her heart, not her head, and she is not afraid to
take risks. She lets her imagination run free when she’s starting on
a new canvas, working from a rough outline in acrylic but then letting
the image take on a life of its own, which often means changing things
that are already down on the canvas. She admits that she never really
knows the result of her work, since ideas often pop up during the
process. Her painting of two giraffes with their necks intertwined
underwent several transformations before she was satisfied with
the results.

For this new collection, Romhild has also moved into the sphere of
three-dimensional art with a series of sculptures in bronze that are
based on some of her paintings. They comprise a Masai bust, a horn,
and a buffalo skull, as well as "Ecstasy Ladies", a series of lively,
robust ladies in mid-pirouette.

"My hands are so strong now," she laughed when describing her foray
into a new artistic medium. "I enjoy having both hands on the material,
to be able to create three dimensions."

It started with a Christmas tree design project for the Four Seasons
Hotel Bangkok when she came up with the idea of a bronze tree with
Thai motifs. The acquisition of the techniques and suppliers inspired
her to explore the medium further, and she is currently enjoying the
process – another exciting journey of discovery.

"Like my canvases, I have played with a lot of texture in my clay
sculptures," she explained, referring to the indents and marks made
by her fingers and nails into the surface of the Masai bust. "I want
it to look a little raw, not refined," she added, the wild, earthy
side of her apparent.

Romhild is currently travelling back and forth between Bangkok and
Ayutthaya where her bronze sculptures are being cast from her clay
designs. Soon they will be packed away and delivered to Galerie Knud
Grothe Charlottenlund in Copenhagen for a June 14 opening, where she
is celebrating the 10th anniversary of her first exhibition there.

Although Romhild may have her head in the clouds when it comes to
artistic creativity, her feet are firmly on the ground as a result of
her supportive and loving family, husband Peter, and her two children,
whom she considers to be her greatest works of art.

SECOND IRAQ TOUR BRINGS SOLDIER A DARKER OUTLOOK
By Kathy Uek

MetroWest Daily News, MA
May 26 2008

ASHLAND — When Army Reservist John Merguerian returned from his
first tour in Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom, he was pleased
with what his civil affairs brigade had accomplished.

Four years later after returning from his second deployment in March,
so upset with death and dying, Sgt. Merguerian asked his mother to
remove knives and scissors from their home.

"He asked me to set the table without knives because of all the
torturing with knives and cutting off heads with knives," said his
mother Dicranuhi Merguerian. "And I hid the scissors."

Born in Framingham and raised in Ashland, the 34-year single soldier
does not like to think about the death toll. But as Memorial Day
approaches, he reflects on the more than 4,000 Americans who have
died in the war.

He thinks about when insurgents hit his base, Camp Liberty, killing
two and injuring 18 while they ate in the chow hall.

He thinks about the three women who died while riding a treadmill
when the gym was attacked at Camp Liberty.

And Merguerian remembers Vartan, a local Iraqi, who worked with him
during his first tour – Iraqi Freedom. Together Vartan and Merguerian
talked to local people. Merguerian, who speaks Armenian and Arabic,
served as an interpreter, supporting Lt. Colonel Byron Dowse on
security and intelligence.

When Merguerian returned to Iraq in 2007, he asked about Vartan.

Vartan, a widower and father of two children 10 and 12, was kidnapped,
tortured and killed – his body thrown in the street as an example of
what happens when Iraqis work with Americans, said the 1992 Ashland
High School graduate.

When Merguerian compares what he accomplished from 2003 to 2004 to
the last two years, he gets frustrated.

"The first tour was about reconstruction – fixing the water pipes,
building schools, but during my second tour a lot of that had been
scrapped because of security," he said. "It was too dangerous to
go outside the wire (base). The first time I traveled all over
Iraq. The second time, I could only travel on a helicopter, but
only occasionally, because the insurgency has weaponry to hit
helicopters. The second time wasn’t fulfilling."

During the second tour, Merguerian worked with another local Iraqi, who
kept him informed because the soldier could not go outside the wire.

"He has a 13-year-old son," said the 11-year veteran of the
military. "He is threatened because he works with Americans."

When speaking of the war, Merguerian believes in staying the
course. "But there has to be a plan set forth in what needs to be done
to settle the situation," he said. "I’ve heard local Iraqis complain
that the American government caters to the current Iraqi government."

Fighting back tears, Merguerian’s mother, a native of Jordan, said
she understands the culture and feels frustrated, too. "Those people
don’t know what freedom is. In the ’50s they tied their own King
Faisal to the tail of an animal and dragged him through town.

"Faisal’s brother, King Abdullah, was the past king of Jordan. I know
the history. These are corrupt people."

"It can’t be democratized," her son added.

Like his younger brother, Edward, who served in the military, John
signed up for the reserves while a junior at UCLA. "I wanted to do
something challenging," he said.

That was 1997. Merguerian felt prepared. From 2001 to 2002, he served
with the Armenian Volunteer Corps teaching English to disadvantaged
Armenian locals. He studied Arabic and political science at UCLA in
a joint program with the University of Egypt. From 1992 to 1993,
he volunteered as a teacher’s aid at Blackstone Elementary School
with City Year, Boston’s urban peace corps.

"It gave me insight into the city and prepared me for what the real
world is like," Merguerian. "It prepared me to some degree."

Now safely back home, his mother expressed both her happiness and
sadness.

"I’m happy he’s home in one piece," she said. "But I’m sad for
the hundreds of mothers who aren’t enjoying their children this
minute. When he returned, we met him at the airport with flowers and
balloons. The mothers whose children died didn’t have that moment. They
saw them when they were wrapped in a flag instead. Sometimes I sit
and cry. My heart goes out to the mothers whose sons and daughters
sacrificed their lives. They won’t be forgotten."

MINISTER: ARMENIA GATE WON’T BE OPENED UNLESS CONDITIONS MET

Today’s Zaman
May 26 2008
Turkey

Turkey will not open its border with neighboring Armenia, closed for
more than a decade, unless Yerevan resolves its problems with Ankara
and regional ally Azerbaijan, a government minister has said.

Economy Minister Mehmet Å~^imÅ~_ek, while attending a meeting on
regional development in the far eastern province of Igdır, located
near the border with Armenia, said Turkey, with its large purchasing
capacity of $950 billion, does not need economic ties with Armenia,
emphasizing that Armenia should be the one to take steps to normalize
its ties with Turkey. "We don’t need them, they need us. Turkey wants
good economic ties with its neighbors. If they see this fact and take
a step toward us, we will take a step toward them," Å~^imÅ~_ek said.

"We have no commercial or political dialogue with the Armenians
due to the problems caused by them. Opening of the border gate is
unfortunately not possible for the time being without Armenia resolving
its problems with Azerbaijan and changing its stance toward Turkey,"
Å~^imÅ~_ek, who was accompanied by Rıza Nur Meral, chairman of the
Turkish Confederation of Businessmen and Industrialists (TUSKON), and a
200-strong delegation of investors and businessmen, said late Saturday.

Turkey severed its diplomatic ties and closed the border gate with
landlocked Armenia in the last decade, following Armenian occupation of
Nagorno-Karabakh, an Armenian enclave within Azerbaijan. The Armenian
occupation of the Azerbaijani territory has been maintained. Ankara
also refuses to normalize its relations with Yerevan because Armenia
seeks a worldwide recognition for claims that 1.5 million Armenians
were subject to genocide at the hands of the late Ottoman Empire
during World War I in eastern Anatolia and fails to declare that it
has no territorial claims on eastern Anatolia despite Turkish demands
to that effect.

Hopes for reconciliation between the two countries resurfaced when
President Abdullah Gul sent a congratulatory message to Serzh Sarkisian
following his election to power in February. Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdogan and Foreign Minister Ali Babacan had also sent similar
messages to their Armenian counterparts following the establishment of
the new government in the neighboring country, expressing hopes for a
new era that will contribute to regional peace, stability and welfare.

But no visible progress has been achieved on the contentious
issues. Armenia rejected a 2005 call from Turkey to jointly examine
archives to find out what happened during World War I and Sarkisian
vowed in April to step up efforts for international recognition of
the genocide claims.

Å~^imÅ~_ek said trade with neighboring countries was vital for
the economy of the border provinces and lamented that Igdır and
neighboring Kars lagged behind compared to provinces located on borders
with other neighbors. He noted that the government would continue to
channel funds to regional development projects, supporting particularly
the agriculture and livestock sectors, and also emphasized that Mount
Agrı (Ararat) could become a tourist attraction.

–Boundary_(ID_YLeMiQDninC9gkTk08zKpw )–

THE EU’S SAFE GUIDE ON INSULTING TURKEY
Andy Dabilis

New Europe

Ma y 26 2008
Belgium

It’s too late for Hrant Dink, the brave Armenian-Turkish newspaperman
who was murdered in 2007, not long after being convicted of violating
Turkey’s medieval Article 301 which made it a crime to "insult
Turkishness," which is pretty hard to do when so much of your history
is built on bayoneting babies and your national sport is invasion.

The European Union has weakly requested that Turkey scrap Article 301
as one requirement to become a member of the European Union, where it
is okay to insult all nationalities, allowed in real democracies. With
Dink’s murder safely behind them, and knowing the economic benefits of
being in the EU are looming, Turkey has amended its law so that it’s no
longer a crime to insult Turkishness. You just can’t insult the Turkish
nation, which means you can only insult foreigners there apparently.

What’s worse than this pretentious little tap dance around the truth
is that the EU has accepted it, allowing European politicians to save
face while smooching behinds at the same time, an acceptable maneuver
as they’ve long had the former so close to the latter. Any closer and
they’d pass the European Commission job test. The European Parliament
has said the change is not enough, but that’s yesterday’s resolution
for them, so they can move on to hiding their expense allowances. The
change regulating alleged freedom of speech in Turkey was greeted
with a quiet hallelujah in the EU, which called it "a constructive
step forward." Wrong direction. Turkey prefers its critics to be six
feet under.

"This step is both positive for Turkey and an indication of Turkey’s
continuing commitment to the reform process," the EU said, in a press
release and not face-to-face with journalists who have a nasty habit
of asking pesky questions about cowardly gestures.

Turkey is getting there though. They’ve also reduced the penalty for
insulting Turkey – which is indistinct from Turkishness – from three
years in jail to two, which, if you’ve seen Midnight Express, means
you’ll still come out squealing like a pig. Where is Orhan Pamuk,
the Nobel Laureate who was prosecuted for violating Article 301, to
write that this runningin- place change is a sham? The EU has never
had to worry about insulting Turkey or Turkishness or the Turkish
nation so they don’t really care who goes to jail or gets killed
there as long as trade continues.

The new Article 301 is the same old Article 301. "This is just
lipstick for the European Union," Eren Keskin of the Human Rights
Association told Deutsche Press Agentur (dpa). Keskin was found guilty
of "insulting the armed forces" for suggesting the Turkish military
has too much influence, so her opinion counts.

"I do not want changes. I want the article annulled,"
Keskin said. "Stating your opinion will still be a crime," she
added. Journalist and rights campaigner Ertugru Kurkcu said the new
law "still leaves a lot of space for judges to decide and give their
own definition of the demarcation line between criticism and insult."

Even Council of Europe Secretary Terry Davis, who’s never seen a
malleable law he didn’t like, said he’s unhappy. Well, kind of. "This
is to be welcomed. However, although an analysis of the new wording
indicates some progress in this respect, it does not alleviate all
concerns about excessive restrictions of the freedom of expression,"
he said. Tough talk alright.

If you want to know what happens to people who insult Turkey in any
guise, look no further than those like Dink who write about what
happened in Armenia, where a million or so people were slaughtered
by the Turks in a genocide or, in the Turkish version, all committed
suicide simultaneously. Those dissidents go to jail, or, like Dink,
into the ground, no matter what they name the law.

"This so-called reform is a joke," said Hilda Tchoboian, chairwoman
of the European Armenian Federation. "The European Union should not
let itself be anaesthetised by this gross manipulation of words,"
she said. That’s an insult to the EU, which specialises in the gross
manipulation of words. To be safe, the EU has put out a guide on what
you can say and can’t say about the Turkish nation. So far, there are
no entries in the "safe" category, but the EU should not belong to any
club that would have Turkey as a member. And Greek coffee is better.

GENERAL SECRETARY OF CSTO NIKOLAI BORDYUZHA: WE ARE A UNITED SECURITY SPACE
by Oleg Gorupai

DEFENSE and SECURITY
May 26, 2008 Monday
Russia

GENERAL SECRETARY OF CSTO SPEAKS ON ACTIVITIES OF THE ORGANIZATION
IN PROVISION OF SECURITY IN EURASIA; Due to the fifth anniversary
of the establishment of the Collective Security Treaty Organization
(CSTO) marked in 2008, Krasnaya Zvezda turned to General Secretary of
the organization, Nikolai Bordyuzha, with a request to say that these
years meant for the organization and to speak about its achievements
in the provision of security in Eurasia.

Due to the fifth anniversary of the establishment of the Collective
Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) marked in 2008, Krasnaya Zvezda
turned to General Secretary of the organization, Nikolai Bordyuzha,
with a request to say that these years meant for the organization
and to speak about its achievements in the provision of security
in Eurasia.

Question: Is the entrance of new countries into the CSTO planned?

Bordyuzha: We do not speak about a need for the entrance of new member
states into the CSTO now. If any country wants to participate in the
collective security system and submits an application, the Collective
Security Council will consider it. There is no need to accelerate
the attraction of new members to CSTO now.

Question: You have announced recently that "There are new attempts
to weaken interaction of the post-Soviet states with Russia and to
cut it from its historic partners and current allies." Do these plans
have any chance for success?

Bordyuzha: It is impossible to speak about the success of these plans
although we see growing activeness of some ex-regional structures
and the third countries in their attempts to hinder integration in
the post-Soviet space. Various well-tested methods are used for this
purpose for the insertion of proposals regarding projects which are
alternatives to the projects already implemented by CSTO to use of
the practice of ignoring of these or those CSTO member states in
solving certain security problems.

Question: How do you think the CSTO and Shanghai Cooperation
Organization (SCO) can cooperate?

Bordyuzha: First of all, CSTO and SCO should not create duplicating
structures. For example, a mechanism of counteraction to drug
trafficking has been well tested and is working successfully in the
CSTO. In this aspect we can cooperate with colleagues from the SCO.

In the interests of security CSTO and SCO can also cooperate in the
political field coordinating foreign policy efforts, for instance,
in UN in promotion of their initiatives.

The third line of cooperation is the combating of terrorism, political
and religious extremism.

The next line of cooperation is combating illegal trafficking of
weapons, radioactive materials, their transportation and transnational
organized criminal groups.

I will say that the CSTO has many things that the SCO does not
have. For example, this is the agreement on the status of collective
forces in accordance with which we can settle issues regarding the
transportation of military units from one member states to the other
quickly.

Besides, there is a system of preferences in the CSTO format. For
example, member states can buy armament at domestic prices of the
manufacturing country. There is also an agreement on free of charge
and the privileged training of military staff.

Question: Is the organization of joint exercises of the armed forces
of member states of CSTO and SCO possible?

Bordyuzha: Yes, of course. Everything depends on political will of the
member states. I am convinced that it is necessary to organize such
exercises under two flags: the CSTO and SCO. First, this will have
very special political repercussions in the world. Second, the list
of participants having common approaches to security will be fuller
and this is really so. The potential of China will be added to CSTO
and potential of Armenia and Belarus will be added to potential of SCO.

Question: The West will criticize large-scale exercises of the CSTO
and SCO.

Bordyuzha: Honestly speaking, I am not interested in the West’s
reaction.

Question: Will the CSTO become a political pole of the world in the
future offering a path to security to the states being alternative to
NATO, a kind of alternative to NATO and the "order" that the alliance
has brought to peoples of Serbia and Iraq?

Bordyuzha: The CSTO advocates cooperation with NATO and not
counteraction to it. CSTO like SCO is not a counterpart of the Warsaw
pact of the "cold war" period. Not a single document of the CSTO and
SCO contains a paragraph on opposition to NATO. The military factor
is not the main factor in the activities of CSTO. That is why I would
not say that the CSTO is an alternative to NATO.

In any case, we register the wish of this military political bloc
to work with CSTO member states individually. This position shows
that Brussels obviously does not wish to "legalize" the CSTO by
establishment of formal relations with it and sees nearly a rally in
it in implementation of the course of NATO at "development" of the
post-Soviet space according to its standards.

Question: You proposed the organization of a meeting of five
top-ranking officials of CIS, Eurasian Economic Union, CSTO, OSCE
and SCO in 2008. Is there a response to this proposal?

Bordyuzha: All these organizations act in the post-Soviet space very
actively. We receive positive answers to our proposal from everyone
except for the UN Secretary General. We are waiting…