Month: August 2008

OGUN SAMAST WAS WITH TWO OTHER PEOPLE WHEN HE KILLED HRANT DINK

BÄA
Aug 6 2008
Turkey

According to a telephone communication revealed by the Ergenekon
investigation, there were two more individuals with Ogun Samast when
he killed Hrant Dink and Yasin Hayal, the instigator of the murder,
was a member of the Great Union Party at the time.

News reports in connection with the Ergenekon case claim that Ogun
Samast came to the murder scene with two other people when he killed
Hrant Dink, Armenian journalist, founder of Agos, Armenian-Turkish
weekly, on January 19, 2007.

The claims confirm the Show TV images about two individuals who observe
the shooter and then disappear in a construction site after the murder.

Gurses: The kid did not kill Hrant Dink alone In Mustafa Kınalı’s
report named "Two people took Ogun to Hrant", which appeared in the
newspaper Hurriyet, Associate Doctor Emin Gurses, who was arrested
in connection with the Ergenekon case, tells that there were two
individuals with Samast when he went to kill Dink and he learned this
from a university student, a woman who witnessed the incident.

This explanation, which appears on the 159th page of the 137th
folder in the appendices of the Ergenekon indictment, is based on the
telephone communication Gurses had with an individual who he called
"PaÅ~_am".

These statements in Gurses’ telephone interview appeared in the media:
"Now the kid (Ogun Samast) who went to kill Hrant Dink went there
with two other individuals. The father of the girl who saw this comes
to us and told, ‘My daughter saw them. They were speaking about the
event and my daughter was behind them.’ The girl is a first-year
student in a university. These men and this kid went and killed
Hrant Dink. These men are not around. These men took this kid to
Hrant Dink’s door. Their identities are not known."

Allegation conforms with the Show TV images It is not known how
effective this new evidence will be, but the images that appeared
during the Show TV news seem to confirm this allegation.

The images show an individual taking on his phone with his back turned
to the Agos building and looking occasionally at someone near the
building. Later, the same person watches, with another individual,
Ogun Samast’s running away from the scene and they too disappear in
a construction site.

Hayal was a BBP member at the time of the murder According to another
report published in Radikal by Ä°smail Saymaz, Ogun Samast was met
with commotion at the Istanbul Branch of the Fight Against Terror
Department like in the Samsun branch and two very friendly pictures
taken with him were put in his file.

Another allegation was that Yasin Hayal, who is on trial as the
instigator of the murder, was a member of the Great Union Party (BBP)
until the day of the murder and that a document was fabricated to
show that his membership was terminated on December 4, 2006, that is,
a month and a half before the murder.

–Boundary_(ID_R6i/5ARPeEV0mGWNN+7DEA)–

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

TUITION PAID FOR VALEDICTORIAN IN LEGAL LIMBO
John Koopman

San Francisco Chronicle
Aug 6 2008
CA

The future looked bleak for 17-year-old Arthur Mkoyan a couple of
weeks ago.

A 4.0 student and the valedictorian at his high school in Fresno,
Arthur had lost his chance to study chemistry at UC Davis this year
because of immigration problems involving his father, who had come
to the United States more than 16 years ago. He wasn’t sure if he
would stay in the States, get deported or ever finish his education.

Until Sherry Heacox stepped in.

The Danville resident saw a story about Arthur’s plight in The
Chronicle in July and decided to help him out. She’s going to pay
for him to go to UC Davis for four years.

"I didn’t believe it at first," Arthur said. "I thought it was a joke."

No joke. Heacox said she stewed over the article for several days,
frustrated and angry over a situation that seemed so hopeless for
the young man. She wondered why no one would step forward and help
this young man who had so much to offer his adopted land.

And then, a thought came to her.

"Sometimes you have to put your money where your mouth is," she said.

Education isn’t cheap. The university estimates the annual cost for
an undergraduate student, with in-state tuition, to be about $25,000.

It’s not as if this will be easy for the Heacox family. Heacox runs
a food-importing business and her husband, Hank, is an engineer. The
couple just got done paying for their daughter’s education at UC
Santa Barbara. Heacox didn’t want to say how much she intended to
pay for Arthur’s education, other than to say she will pick up the
tab for everything: tuition, fees, books, room and board.

"This isn’t Bill Gates we’re talking about," she said. "It’s not as
if the money won’t be missed."

Arthur’s parents fled Armenia in 1991 after his father, Ruben Mkoian
(father and son spell their surname differently), exposed corruption
at the government office where he worked; the family’s house was
burned down and a shop they owned was ransacked.

Mkoian and his family settled in Fresno and Mkoian applied for
asylum. Seven years later, his claim was denied, and he appealed all
the way to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. The
court turned him down this year, saying he had failed to establish a
"well-founded fear of persecution" if he returned to Armenia.

In April, federal immigration authorities detained Arthur’s father
and prepared to deport him. His mother was allowed to remain free to
care for Arthur and his 12-year-old, U.S.-born brother until the date
of their departure.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., heard about the family’s case and,
on the very day of Arthur’s commencement, and just days before the
family’s scheduled deportation, introduced a private bill in the
U.S. Senate that led to Mkoian’s release after two months in detention
and could grant the family lawful permanent residence.

Such bills rarely pass – an estimated 3 percent are approved – but
as long as the legislation is pending, the removal order remains
suspended, which gives Arthur and his family a temporary reprieve
that could last a couple of years.

While the issue of deportation remains alive, the family is hopeful –
and amazed that someone would make such a generous offer of help.

"She is a wonderful, wonderful lady," said Arthur’s mother, Asmik
Karapetian. "When she called us to say she wanted to pay, we couldn’t
believe it. Arthur was jumping for joy. This is like a dream come
true."

Heacox said she decided to help Arthur because she doesn’t like how
his family was treated. "We’re all immigrants," she said. "Some of
us just got here earlier than others."

She also supports education, she said, and Arthur’s plight struck
her deeply.

"Anyone who is willing to study hard and get an education – especially
in the sciences – ought to have the chance to do so," she said.

And then, too, there was a desire to do something special, something
worthwhile. To make a difference in the life of another human being.

"I don’t want to be one of the people in life where the best thing
I did on this earth was die off," she said.

New-student orientation is on Sunday. Arthur and his parents will
be there.

And so will Sherry Heacox.

AZERBAIJANI TERRITORIAL INTEGRITY VITAL IN KARABAKH SETTLEMENT

ITAR-TASS
Aug 6 2008
Russia

BAKU, August 5 (Itar-Tass) — The Karabakh conflict must be resolved
within the territorially integral Azerbaijan, President Ilham Aliyev
said at the Tuesday meeting of the national government.

"The main essence of the settlement negotiations is the restoration
of the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. We do not discuss any
options outside this framework," he said.

It is possible to discuss the future status of Karabakh, the
president said. "However, no status is possible without consent of
the Azerbaijani state. Azerbaijan will never grant Karabakh with any
status outside its territorial integrity. This is known by Armenia
and the OSCE Minsk Group Cochairmen [Russia, the United States and
France]," he said.

There is no document at the negotiations, which could make Karabakh
independent, Aliyev said. "There is no mechanism of Karabakh’s
secession from Azerbaijan, and there cannot be any," he said.

The problem can have only a legal solution, the president
said. "Azerbaijan will not waive its rights an inch. It will mobilize
all the resources and work on the soonest settlement with due account
of all international norms," he said.

Aliyev said they should intensify diplomatic, political, economic,
propaganda and military efforts in order to resolve the Karabakh
problem as soon as possible.

The Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers held consultations
with the OSCE Minsk Group cochairmen in Moscow on Friday, August 1.

It is still a long way to the Karabakh settlement, Azerbaijani Foreign
Minister Elmar Mamedyarov said after the consultations.

"We attentively listened to the Armenian side. It is still a long
way to a breakthrough, but we have agreed to continue negotiations,"
he said.

"The negotiations were useful. We discussed remaining problems,"
the minister noted.

Mamedyarov said that the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents might
hold another meeting. "Everything depends on consultations between
the two foreign ministers," he said. "If we find a common ground,
nothing will be impossible."

Armenian Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandian did not go into the
meeting’s details. "If we tell details to the media, it will be hard
to make further progress," he said. "There are delicate issues, and
we must be careful in order not to create additional impediments. The
Moscow meeting confirmed that the sides were trying to create proper
conditions for further negotiations."

The sides agreed that the problem must be resolved gradually,
Mamedyarov said. "We are neighbors, and we must resolve Karabakh
problems," Nalbandian said. "I am sure we can resolve any problems
with political will. The spirit of the negotiations is positive and
constructive."

The OSCE Minsk Group cochairmen lauded the Moscow meeting of the
Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers.

"The meeting was very constructive. Both ministers were satisfied,"
Russian Cochairman Yuri Merzlyakov said. He abstained from forecasts
about the possible Karabakh settlement deadline, but lauded the
activity of the OSCE Minsk Group. "That was the third meeting of the
ministers in the past three months," he said.

U.S. Cochairman Matthew Bryza said that it was possible to resolve
the Karabakh problem in case of a political will of both sides. He
said their mission was to build up confidence and to promote the
negotiations.

Bryza said that the Karabakh situation was still difficult but some
progress had been made. He recalled the Madrid proposals of the OSCE
Minsk Group, which started current consultations. Bryza also said that
the possible Karabakh sovereignty would be a question of referendum.

ARMENIA: PUSH FOR KOCHARIAN TRIAL — A PUSH FOR PR?
Marianna Grigoryan

EurasiaNet
Aug 6 2008
NY

In a move that could very well hamper rather than promote political
reconciliation in Armenia, the country’s leading opposition politician,
Levon Ter-Petrosian, is mounting a campaign to have former president
Robert Kocharian tried for "heavy crimes" against the Armenian people.

The allegation is connected with the March 1 events in Yerevan,
when at least 10 fatalities resulted from a clash between security
forces and opposition protesters. [For background see the Armenia:
Election 2008 special feature]. Since then, the political healing
process has made scant progress. President Serzh Sargsyan, who was
declared the winner of the controversial presidential election in
February, has made reform promises, but his administration has been
slow to implement reconciliation measures. [For background see the
Eurasia Insight archive]. Ter-Petrosian loyalists have likewise no
let go of hard feelings.

Ter-Petrosian’s new campaign re-airs longstanding opposition grievances
against Kocharian, accusing the former president of an "autocratic"
and "despotic" rule that led to "bloodshed" — allegedly, in 1999,
when gunmen killed eight senior officials in parliament, and, again,
on March 1. [For background, see the Eurasia Insight archive.] The
petition demands "an independent, international inquiry" into
the events of March 1 and that Kocharian be turned "over to the
international court in The Hague."

Neither of the two international courts based in The Hague — the
International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court —
appears to have jurisdiction over any potential case against Kocharian,
however. The International Court of Justice only hears cases brought
against states. While the International Criminal Court can try
individuals for broad-based crimes such as genocide, war crimes or
systematic political persecution (committed after 2002), it cannot
try individuals who are citizens of non-signatory states. Armenia
has not yet signed the 1998 Rome Statute establishing the court.

But while the legal intent may be fuzzy, opposition leaders nonetheless
maintain that that the campaign can possibly trigger enough attention
to secure a hearing. Opposition activists, however, refrain from
providing details.

Ter-Petrosian spokesperson Arman Musinian claims that the campaign has
so far collected more than 100,000 signatures from Yerevan and various
provinces for Kocharian to stand trial. "The signature collection is
continuing. The process is ongoing," Musinian said.

That fact alone is what worries one politician. Azerbaijan, claims
Shavarsh Kocharian, leader of the National Democratic Party, could
use Ter-Petrosian’s drive to bolster its own claims that Armenian
officials were guilty of ethnic cleansing, genocide and war crimes
against Azerbaijanis in the ongoing dispute over the breakaway
territory of Nagorno-Karabakh. "This step … is simply a treachery
and a trump card in the hands of Azerbaijan," Kocharian, no relation
to the former Armenian president, told EurasiaNet.

Meanwhile, Kocharian supporters have reacted scornfully to the
campaign. "Legally, the initiative is crass ignorance. Politically,
it is an absurdity," said parliamentarian Armen Ashotian, a senior
member of the governing Republican Party of Armenia.

One political analyst believes the campaign is intended mainly for
domestic PR purposes. "This is to put pressure on authorities,"
noted independent political analyst Yervand Bozoyan. "There is an
opinion that some power still remains in Robert Kocharian’s hands,
and that the collection of signatures is a sort of event for domestic
consumption. … I don’t think [it] will acquire any serious scale."

Pro-government analyst Eduard Mamikonian agrees. "[W]ith methods like
these, an attempt is made to restore 1988 when, with his influence,
Levon Ter-Petrosian managed to unite the people," Mamikonian said
in reference to the Soviet-era campaign for an independent Armenia,
a drive led by Ter-Petrosian among others. "This time, the opposition
simply tries to keep the ‘tension’ alive. It is a game. The carnival
goes on."

Ter-Petrosian has far from faded from public view since the March 1
events. Opposition rallies and so-called "political walks" continue
in Yerevan; the latest rally, on August 1, drew a crowd in the
thousands. Ter-Petrosian has announced the creation of an Armenian
National Congress, made up of 16 political parties, and continues to
call for Sargsyan’s resignation and fresh elections. The next rally
is scheduled for September 5. While attendance appears to be holding
steady, no noticeable increase in numbers has occurred.

Kocharian, meanwhile, has kept a discreet profile. His activities since
leaving office earlier this year remain unknown, although speculation
runs rife. The recent appearance of an unauthorized, limited-edition
hagiographic survey of Kocharian’s presidency indicates that, for all
appearances, Armenia’s establishment will preserve the ex-president’s
official image as the leader who brought stability after the economic
and political upheavals of Ter-Petrosian’s 1991-1998 term.

PROVOCATIVE INFORMATION ON NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT SPREAD IN AZERBAIJAN ON EVE OF PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS: HEAD OF COMMUNITY

Trend News Agency
Aug 6 2008
Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan, Baku, 6 August /Trend News, corr. I.Alizade / The
Azerbaijani Community of Nagorno-Karabakh considers that on the eve
of the presidential elections, some forces in Azerbaijan spread
information of provocative character in the connection with the
situation which arose around solution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

"The purpose of spreading information of provocative character
in connection with the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is to reach the
recognition of legitimacy of the present government of Armenia in the
international level and inside country itself," Head of the Azerbaijan
Community, Nizami Bahmanov, told Trend News on 6 August.

Russian press reports that the leadership of the Azerbaijan Community
of Nagorno-Karabakh was moved to Khojavend region, which is located on
the front line, and the process of the returning internally displaced
persons commenced.

The conflict between the two countries of South Caucasus began in 1988
due to territorial claims by Armenia against Azerbaijan. Armenia has
occupied 20% of the Azerbaijani land including the Nagorno-Karabakh
region and its seven surrounding Districts. Since 1992, these
territories have been under the occupation of the Armenian Forces. In
1994, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement at which time
the active hostilities ended. The Co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group
(Russia, France and USA) are currently holding peaceful negotiations.

Bakhmanov did not confirm information on removal of the office of
the Azerbaijan Community of Nagorno-Karabakh to Khjavend region,
which is located on the front line with Armenia.

"In Khjavend region, which is situated on the front line and controlled
by the Azerbaijan army, there are settlements for the internally
displaced persons from Nagorno-Karabakh and other regions occupied,
and at present, in accordance with the order of the President, new
settlement is built there. Some forces, after seeing this, spread
information on removal of the Azerbaijan Community of Nagorno-Karabakh
to the front line," the Head of Community said.

In the opinion Bahmanov, the settlements, built near the front line
for the internally displaced persons from Nagorno-Karabakh and other
regions occupied, can be considered the component part of "great
return". Bahmanov noted that the compact settling of the internally
displaced persons will simplify return to the territories freed from
the occupation: "Some forces, which desire to help Armenia, attempt
to form opinion about the fact that supposedly the Armenians freed
occupied territories, and remained only the return of IDPs. This is
provocation," he said.

SOLZHENITSYN LEAVES TROUBLED LEGACY ACROSS FORMER SOVIET UNION
By Claire Bigg

UNIAN News Agency
tml
Aug 6 2008
Ukraine

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, the Russian dissident writer who exposed the
horrors of Soviet prison camps, was laid to rest today at a lavish
ceremony in Moscow`s Donskoi monastery.

Hundreds of mourners, including Russian President Dmitry Medvedev
and other top officials, gathered under a gray sky to pay their
tribute to Solzhenitsyn`s literary talent and unwavering crusade
against totalitarianism.

But Solzhenitsyn leaves a complex legacy throughout the former
communist bloc.

While the world widely admired his courage in exposing the
atrocities of the Soviet prison camps, many, too, frowned on the
ardent nationalism he espoused in his later years. His warm ties with
former Russian President Putin, a retired KGB officer, drove a wedge
with many of his fellow Soviet-era dissidents.

Russia`s ethnic and religious minorities, too, took a dim view of
Solzhenitsyn`s calls for a Slavic revival based on Russian Orthodoxy.

"It isn`t customary in such moments to express anything but praise
about the deceased, but some of his articles did have an element of
xenophobia," says Armenian writer Vahram Martirosian. "Against the
backdrop of a strongly negative attitude towards migrants, including
Armenians, this only poured oil on the flames of Russian chauvinism
in today`s Russia."

`Rebuilding Russia`

Aydar Khalim, a prominent Tatar author, describes Solzhenitsyn`s
death as a "heavy loss for humanity." But he agrees that the dissident
failed the millions of non-Slavic Russians.

"On the one hand, he was considered one of the main defeaters of
Stalinist tyranny in Russia. On the other hand, for us he was a
guardian of the Russian Empire. His power to criticize and denounce
put Solzhenitsyn on par with Lev Tolstoi, but in his famous work
`Rebuilding Russia,` for example, he strove to preserve Russia as an
empire. With the fame he enjoyed, he could have tried to defend not
only Russians but other ethnic groups as well," Khalim said.

In "Rebuilding Russia," an essay first published in 1990 in
"Komsomolskaya pravda" — then one of the Soviet Union`s most popular
dailies — Solzhenitsyn urged Russia to cast off all non-Slav
republics, which he claimed were sapping the Russian nation. The
Nobel Peace laureate called for the creation of a new Slavic state
bringing together Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and parts of Kazakhstan
that he considered to be Russified.

This united Slavic state built on Russian Orthodox faith, he wrote,
would provide an alternative to the West`s decadent liberalism. The
essay drew the ire of both those who hoped to salvage the Soviet Union
and those who wished for its break-up into sovereign republics. It
offended many in Central Asia, which Solzhenitsyn described as Russia`s
"underbelly, the thoughtless conquest of Alexander II."

Kazat Akmatov, a prominent Kyrgyz writer who co-chaired the Kyrgyzstan
Democratic Movement party in the 1990s, says his literature was
heavily politicized.

"He wrote a long article saying that Russia has to be a separate
state, that it has to kick out the other 14 republics. He wrote that
the republics were Russia`s `underbelly,` meaning that Russia was
feeding them and would prosper if they were discarded," Akmatovs says.

Even long after the Soviet Union`s collapse, Solzhenitsyn remained
adamant about forming a united Slavic state.

In May 1996, a group of respected Kazakh writers attacked
"Komsomolskaya pravda" for publishing an interview with Solzhenitsyn in
which he called for northern Kazakhstan to be incorporated into Russia.

They demanded that the newspaper be banned in Kazakhstan, accusing
it of violating their country`s territorial integrity — a charge
backed by the Kazakh prosecutor-general, who described Solzhenitsyn`s
statement as a "gross intervention in the internal affairs of an
independent state."

"Komsomolskaya pravda" was eventually forced to publish an apology.

Nationalist Rhetoric

Solzhenitsyn`s nationalist leanings also earned him much criticism
in Belarus and Ukraine, both eager to steer away from their former
imperial master after gaining independence in 1991.

Ales Antsipenka, a Belarusian philosopher, says that after the
essay "Rebuilding Russia," "I realized that Mr. Solzhenitsyn was a
common Russian imperialist, despite the fact that he had lashed out
at the totalitarian system with such force. I saw it as a terrible
contradiction because any imperialistic system is, to a certain extent,
totalitarian. I saw that Solzhenitsyn was hugely contradictory in
denying Belarusians and Ukrainians the right to determine their fate."

Such sentiments are widely echoed in Ukraine, despite enduring
admiration for the man who shook the foundations of Soviet rule with
his stinging indictment of Josef Stalin`s gulag camps.

Yevhen Sverstiuk, a Ukrainian writer and poet who was jailed as a
political prisoner in the 1970s, says Solzhenitsyn played a key role
in bolstering the opposition throughout the former Soviet Union,
including Ukraine. But Sverstiuk says the author`s political views
took a turn for the worse in the mid-1970s.

"After receiving the Nobel Prize, Solzhenitsyn deteriorated —
he switched from the great challenge of combating the evil empire
to Russian imperial issues. He fell not only in our esteem, his
international image also deteriorated. Each of his words was closely
monitored and sparked disenchantment after disenchantment,"

Disappointment at Solzhenitsyn`s mounting nationalist rhetoric,
says Sverstiuk, was all the deeper in Ukraine due to Solzhenitsyn`s
Ukrainian origin.

"Ukraine is a separate topic since Solzhenitsyn, whose mother was
Ukrainian, had a particular attitude toward Ukraine. He sought
to reject his Ukrainian half and uphold his Russian nationalist
half. In this sense, he lost his stature. He joined the very narrow,
reactionary, and primitive world of Russian imperial ideology. His
speeches on Ukraine were horrid. They were wrong, they were full of
false information, the kind of information that Russian society is
being fed," Sverstiuk says.

Solzhenitsyn also angered Ukrainians by denying the country had been
the victim of genocide during the 1932-33 famine. In April this year,
the 89-year-old wrote that the famine had killed millions across the
entire Soviet Union, adding that many of the communist officials who
had helped orchestrate it were Ukrainian.

His article, in which he scolded the West for backing what he called a
"loony fable," came as U.S. President George W. Bush laid a wreath in
Kyiv to honor the memory of the famine`s victims. It also coincided
with a State Duma resolution rejecting Ukraine`s claims of genocide.

MUBARIZ AHMADOGLU: RUSSIA’S ACTIVITY IN GARABAGH CONFLICT IS LINKED WITH AZERI GAS

Azerbaijan Business Center
Aug 6 2008
Azerbaijan

Baku, Fineko/abc.az. Today Mubariz Ahmadoglu, the director of the
Centre for Political Innovations & Technologies, has conducted a
press conference devoted to socio-political processes this July.

At the press conference Ahmadoglu said that Azerbaijan became the
first country of the South Caucasus visited by Dmitry Medvedev shortly
after he took up the duties of Russian leader.

"That testifies that Azerbaijan is more important for Russia than
Armenia," Ahmadoglu said.

The Centre’s director considers that the Declaration signed during
the Baku visit of the Russian President became more thorough compared
to the previous one.

"In the Declaration Azerbaijan and Russia undertook the commitment to
return refugees and IFPs to place of their previous residence in the
near future. The parties intend to settle Nagorno Garabagh conflict
for a short period. There are certain reasons for that. Positive
activity demonstrated by Russia in the issue of Garabagh conflict
settlement is linked with Azeri gas,’ Ahmadoglu said.

He, probably, meant Russian monopoly Gazprom’s readiness to buy whole
volume of Azeri gas at European prices.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

MIROGLU MAKES OPEN CALL ADDRESSED TO BIRAND FOR UNSOLVED MURDERS

Today’s Zaman
Aug 7 2008
Turkey

Prominent Kurdish journalist and author Musa Anter was shot dead
almost 15 years ago, in September 1992, in Diyarbakır, where he was
attending a festival held by the municipal council.

In December 2006 the European Court of Human Rights condemned Turkey
for failing to protect Anter. The European court said in its ruling
that Turkey was aware Anter had been threatened and failed to protect
his life or conduct an effective inquiry into his death. It awarded
his children 25,000 euros for emotional damages and 3,500 euros for
court costs and expenses.

Author and politician Orhan Miroglu was with Anter on the day he was
hit by five bullets on a side street in Diyarbakır. Miroglu himself
barely survived, sustaining three gunshot wounds.

On July 10 veteran journalist Mehmet Ali Birand, also the producer of
the "32. Gun" (32nd Day) debate program aired by private TV station
Kanal D, along with Rıdvan Akar, the other producer of the program,
hosted Professor Yalcın Kucuk, prominent journalist Gulay Gökturk
and strategist Ercan Citlioglu for a discussion on the trial about to
begin over Ergenekon, an ultranationalist criminal network suspected
of plotting to overthrow the government.

According to a writer on EkÅ~_i Sözluk, a Web site built up by user
contributions, Yalcın Kucuk during the program implicitly "supported
the mentality that killed Ape Musa [Uncle Musa in Kurdish] despite
calling Anter ‘my dear friend’."

What prompted the writer was the fact that throughout the entire
program, Yalcın Kucuk exerted feverish, frantic efforts to defend
alleged illegal and illegitimate activities of Turkey’s "deep state"
— at the expense of infuriating Gökturk, who adopted a determined
stance in response to Kucuk’s provocative behavior.

In the Ergenekon indictment one witness, codenamed Deniz, said Yalcın
Kucuk, also a suspected member of Ergenekon, went to Damascus in 1993
and 1996 to meet with Abdullah Ocalan, the now-jailed leader of the
outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). He explained that Yalcın
Kucuk guided Ocalan in his armed activities. Stressing that Yalcın
Kucuk was like Ocalan’s brain, the witness said in 1996 that it was
Yalcın Kucuk who saved Ocalan from assassination in Damascus.

Opening of new season of ’32. Gun’

Yalcın Kucuk’s manner prompted Miroglu to send an open letter
dated July 18 to Birand, asking him for a chance to participate
in one of the upcoming "32. Gun" programs so that he could explain
his experience and views concerning political killings committed by
unidentified assailants.

"I told Birand in my letter that his program has just played the role
of being an occasion for making this call for a debate on political
killings committed by unidentified assailants — and this call
is not necessarily solely to Birand as the producer of "32. Gun,"
but it is also a call to the entire society," Miroglu told Today’s
Zaman yesterday.

"I haven’t yet received a clear answer; however, a few days after I
sent my letter, Akar told me on the phone that they had received my
letter. He said that they are now on holiday, thus the season was over
for "32. Gun." ‘We will consider your proposal [to join the program as
a guest] in the letter, which will be featured in an upcoming program,
and we will consider this,’ Akar added," according to Miroglu.

Ugur Mumcu, Birand, Candar and ‘andıc’ experience

"In the last quarter century, Turkey has for the first time been
encountering its real agenda, which is Ergenekon. In my opinion,
this real agenda is defending democracy against coup and coup
supporters. Without standing firm behind this agenda, the Kurdish
conflict cannot be ended, the European Union process cannot be defended
and cannot improve, and a real democracy can never be founded,"
says Miroglu in his letter to Birand.

"Let me tell you just this: If the Ergenekon gang’s plans had been
achieved, today we could have been together with you and also with
democratic people like you in a concentration camp, or we could have
shared the same destiny in a prison cell," Miroglu tells Birand.

The Ergenekon indictment stated that a document found during
the search of a house belonging to retired Brig. Gen. Veli Kucuk,
arrested as part of the Ergenekon operation in January, claimed that
a six-member Israeli group, under the direction of the American CIA,
infiltrated Turkey to assassinate journalists Ugur Mumcu and Birand
to prevent Turkey from being ruled by a religious administration. The
document was undersigned by an official from the National Intelligence
Organization (MÄ°T). Mumcu was killed in January 1993.

Another fact concerning Birand was explained by prominent intellectual
Cengiz Candar in his regular column in English-language newspaper
the Turkish Daily News on July 24.

Candar wrote that a decade ago, he, along with Birand, then a
Hurriyet columnist, and Akın Birdal, the then-chairman of the Human
Rights Association (Ä°HD), "were exposed to a military ‘andıc’,"
or "background information paper," prepared by the General Staff,
which was actually a plot against them.

"The claim was that the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, allegedly
paid us some money, and this claim was appended by several commanders
to the confessions of the accused Å~^emdin Sakık of the PKK. It
was explained two years later that the note was necessary for
‘psychological warfare’ and its purpose was to belittle the names
mentioned in the document, including us. The ‘andıc’ was served by
some middlemen in the media in late April 1998. As a result of this,
Birand was fired by daily Sabah and my articles in the paper were
suspended. Publication of articles supporting us was also banned or
censored," Candar explained in the column, titled "From the Turkish
Revenge Brigade to Ergenekon."

‘Samasts’ of this country

Returning to Miroglu’s letter, he says Yalcın Kucuk has been used
to playing the role of a "genius on the brink of insanity" and also
likes to be treated as such.

"We should not forget about children who are growing up with the
cursed ideas of Yalcın Kucuk and of those similar to Yalcın Kucuk
— children who are growing up in darkness! We should not forget that
those who have been nourished by thoughts spread by the theoreticians
of Ergenekon, and should not forget murders committed [by those
children] in the cause of these thoughts!

"We should always keep in mind that Ogun Samast, after killing Hrant
[Dink], as he was escaping, shouted, ‘I killed a non-Muslim, I killed
an Armenian!’ Look what one of those children wrote to me a week ago:
‘You should know that I’m ready to do everything, but everything,
not to leave this country to people like you. Be assured that there
are thousands like me, and be worried!’

"… Ergenekon is something beyond being a coup plan," Miroglu says,
underlining the vital importance he attaches to the need for Turkey’s
people to face up to the country’s bitter recent history with courage.

He adds that the Ergenekon organization’s activities in the Southeast
should be investigated first in order to gain a comprehensive picture
of how the organization is organized and to take effective action
against it.

"I wonder if there is another country on the earth whose generals
plan to kill that country’s Nobel Prize-winning author?" he asks,
referring to the fact that the Ergenekon indictment revealed that the
Ergenekon network had incited the perpetrators of deadly attacks on
some important public figures, including Nobel Prize-winning author
Orhan Pamuk.

Miroglu concludes his lengthy letter to Birand by saying: "Now is the
exact time for asking as ‘What about the Ergenekon on the other side
of the Euphrates,’ at the expense of infuriating Yalcın Kucuk and his
‘commanders’."

–Boundary_(ID_qR75FuPU4r 3XZrqVeDyL/w)–

BLACKLISTS FOUND IN ERGENEKON HOME

Today’s Zaman
Aug 7 2008
Turkey

The Ergenkon indictment contains blacklists of hundreds of people
compiled by the state’s intelligence agencies that were found in
the family home of Fikret Emek, a suspect of the Ergenekon gang,
which allegedly carried out tens of murders and assassinations for
its ultimate aim of overthrowing the Justice and Development Party
(AK Party) government.

The investigation into Ergenekon, a shady network of political and
ordinary crime with links to various branches of the state apparatus,
began in the summer of 2007, when the police discovered a house in
Ä°stanbul being used as an arms depot. As the investigation expanded,
another house belonging to Emek’s mother in the Central Anatolian
city of EskiÅ~_ehir was discovered to have held a large number of
explosives, weapons and ammunition.

During the raid on the home, the police found lists of people compiled
by various intelligence agencies that categorized people according
to their political affiliations. Many such lists were put together
by intelligence departments of the military during the years 1999 and
2000 in the Feb. 28 process, which started in 1998 when the military
overthrew the government in a non-armed intervention.

Page after page, the documents stamped "confidential" are ordered on
the basis of streets and districts of Ä°stanbul, listing hundreds of
residents as being members or supporters of armed terrorist groups
such as the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), the Revolutionary
People’s Liberation Party-Front (DHPK-C), the Turkish Workers’
and Peasants’ Liberation Army (TÄ°KKO) and the Marxist-Leninist
Communist Party (MLKP) as well as labeling them "extreme left,"
"religious fundamentalist" or names of religious orders such as Nurcu,
Suleymancı or NakÅ~_ibendi.

The lists are organized in charts. Hundreds of people are included,
from store owners to barbers, owners of karate training centers,
bars, coffeehouses and retail chains and tens of institutions such as
student associations, cultural groups and civil society organizations,
as well as the name of a mayor from the Republican People’s Party
(CHP). However, it was not clear which security service compiled
the lists.

Emek’s mother’s house

A Kalashnikov assault rifle, one Kanas revolver, a 7.65 mm Lama
gun and silencers, a homemade rifle, ammunition of various sizes,
12 hand grenades, explosives and TNT blocks and C3 plastic explosives
were seized in a raid conducted into Emek’s mother’s house on June 26,
2007. A large number of documents were found in searches conducted both
in the EskiÅ~_ehir house and the house where Emek resides in Ankara.

These documents were included by the prosecutors in the 19th
folder among more than 400 evidence folders appended to the 2,455
page indictment. These documents indicate that the state actually
blacklisted its own people, despite official denials that such a
thing has ever taken place.

914 people blacklisted

Ten pages of lists are available among the documents found during the
searches in Emek’s homes. For example, the words DHKPC/C and TÄ°KKO are
put next to the name of a completely legal and legitimate association
in Ä°stanbul’s Avcılar district, while the tags MLKP and DHKP/C
are given to another similar organization in the same district. On
the first list, which ends with the Zeytinburnu district, there are
records of 366 individuals and institutions. There are two other lists,
but the district names on these are not ordered alphabetically. In
addition to alleged supporters or members of the extreme left or
PKK supporters, these lists include people who are allegedly part
of organizations based on religious affiliation. In a list titled
"Addendum C, Individuals and organizations with links to illegal
organizations, sects and religious orders," 265 individuals are
blacklisted. In Addendum C, 283 more individuals and organizations
are blacklisted. The total number of people and organizations on
these lists is 914.

The compilers of the list — who even put in minor details such as
"the wife of a teacher" about the people whom they blacklisted —
however, seemed to be oblivious to some of the political realities in
Turkey. In fact, there is blatant ignorance about some of Turkey’s very
well-known civil society organizations. For example, the Mujdat Gezen
Culture Center, the former student movement activists’ association the
’68ers Foundation, a foundation named after socialist movie director
Yılmaz Guney and an arts foundation named after the socialist poet
Nazım Hikmet are labeled as being "extreme left." The Human Rights
Association (Ä°HD) is qualified as being part of the DHKP/C and
PKK. The Contemporary Attorneys Foundation is marked as DHKP-C on
the list.

Where there was confusion, the intelligence officers who compiled the
lists and then delivered them to Ergenekon chose to write down all
the possibilities. For example, the Barikat journal is associated
with both the left-wing DEV-YOL and DHKP/C. In reality however,
Barikat had no relation to either of the two groups.

The indictment, which was made public last month, indicates that the
Ergenekon network was behind a series of political assassinations over
the past two decades. The group is also suspected of being behind
the murder of Hrant Dink, the Turkish-Armenian journalist slain by
a teenager in 2007.

A total of 86 suspects, 47 of whom are currently under arrest,
are accused of having suspicious links with the gang. Suspects
will start appearing before the court as of Oct. 20 and will face
accusations that include "membership in an armed terrorist group,"
"attempting to destroy the government," "inciting people to rebel
against the Republic of Turkey" and other similar crimes.

–Boundary_(ID_PROEZpZ5LtDRFvhYsOvy4Q)–

WHY GUL’S INVITATION FROM YEREVAN IS NOT AN ‘OPPORTUNITY’
By Elsever Salmanov

Today’s Zaman
Aug 7 2008
Turkey

Azerbaijan is one of the most eager countries in seeking peace,
harmony and cooperation in international relations. Its commitment
to international law and the maintaining of good relations with other
countries despite being a victim is clear evidence of this.

International law recommends friendly relations between states and
bans hostile actions, recommending sanctions in the event of breaches
and violations. Azerbaijan has never been party to bad relations with
other countries. Quite the contrary, it has always favored and promoted
peace and cooperation among all countries in the world. Therefore,
in principle, Azerbaijan is not opposed to any probable rapprochement
between Turkey and Armenia. The matter that bothers Azerbaijan is this:
respect for the inviolability of the borders of the state recognized
by the international community.

Turkey bases its decision to keep its border with Armenia closed
and not to establish diplomatic relations with this country on the
following factors: the failure of Armenia to officially recognize
the Kars agreement, which determined the border between the two
countries after Armenia gained independence, Armenian demands for
Turkish recognition of the so-called Armenian genocide in the Armenian
Declaration of Independence and Armenia’s insistence on keeping 20
percent of Azerbaijan’s territory under occupation.

Those who work to smooth relations between the two countries say there
are only a few who oppose normalization of these relations, all of
whom are well known and closely followed in Turkish and Azeri societies
because Armenia suffers from difficult economic conditions because of
its aggression and it is being excluded from regional projects for the
same reason. Despite this, it still maintains its aggressive stance,
by which it violates basic international legal rules, and it still
makes attempts to ensure that its aggressive policies are endorsed by
the international community. The latest example of this is the soccer
diplomacy that has occupied a central place in the recent agenda. The
newly elected Armenian president, Serzh Sarksyan, has invited Turkish
President Abdullah Gul to watch a 2010 World Cup qualification match
between the national teams of the two countries in Yerevan. Whether
Gul will accept the invitation is not clear.

Armenia needs to take positive steps

But if the Armenian side does not consider the reasons I mention
above for Turkey’s decision not to improve its relations with Armenia
or if it fails to take positive and concrete steps toward this end,
it is most likely that President Gul will not accept the invitation,
because he is not an ordinary figure due to his position. Therefore,
none of his actions are simply and ordinary. Watching a soccer game
may be the act of an ordinary man. But if a president watches a soccer
game in a place other than his country, this may lead to different
diplomatic interpretations, particularly if the host country is known
for its aggression against your country and your allies.

Turkey is a big state. It is an actor in international
relations. Therefore, it should not be possible for a country like
Armenia to force it to give up on a policy or take any particular
step. Armenia’s suggestion of opening the border between the
two countries and assigning a commission for investigation of the
alleged "genocide" without taking any concrete steps is nothing but
an attempt to get rid of the economic difficulties that the country
is currently facing.

>From the perspective of international relations perspective and that
of big powers and other neighboring countries, we reach the following
conclusion: The US is asking for the opening of the border gate between
Turkey and Armenia to alleviate Armenia’s economic suffering because a
more economically stable Armenia will be resistant to Russian influence
and will maintain low-profile relations with Iran. Consequently,
the influence of Russia and Iran will be reduced in the region. The
reason for the Russia and Iran’s eagerness to ensure the opening of
the border between Turkey and Armenia, on the other hand, is that in
such an event, Azerbaijan will lose on the Nagorno-Karabakh issue,
because a more economically stable Armenia will adopt a harsher stance
in peace talks.

Russia and Iran are seeking to ensure that the Nagorno-Karabakh issue
remains as it is now, because it is easier for them to interfere
with the region when there are problems. Moreover, the presence of
more than 30 million Azeris in Iran has always forced it to remain
cautious in its relations with Azerbaijan. On the other hand, Georgia
does not want improved relations between Turkey and Armenia because
Armenia would then be more comfortable in demanding territories
from Georgia. Therefore, when this conjecture is con sidered, a
rapprochement with Armenia without Turkey receiving strong guarantees
that Armenia will comply with international legal rules will be a
compromise and encourage a violator of international law. It would
not be an exaggeration to say that Turkey holds the key for justice in
the Caucasus region. Furthermore, the motives of those who so eagerly
seek the normalization of relations between Turkey and Armenia should
be investigated. I hold that it would be a mistake to compromise
Turkey’s national interests for the sake of the appreciation of a
small Armenian population in Turkey and the probable economic benefits
of such a rapprochement. Moreover, concrete steps should be taken to
ensure the integration of the Armenians living in Turkey into Turkish
society. Otherwise, it is not suitable for Turkey to remind them of
their "homeland" every opportunity it gets.

Turkish-Armenian relations not a domestic issue

I think it would be useful to stress this point as well: It is wrong
to connect Turkish-Armenian relations with the domestic politics of
Turkey. It is wrong to hope that Turkey will improve its relations
with Armenia in an attempt to show that it is a democratic state
or to make recommendations toward this end after the murder of a
distinguished Armenian intellectual who was a Turkish citizen because
the Turkish administration does and did everything that needs to be
done by a democratic state. Therefore, those who hope that Turkey
will improve its relations with Armenia after dealing with gangs
and secret organizations and those who see improved relations with
Armenia as the extension of this legal process are simply wrong,
because this legal process is part of Turkey’s internal affairs and the
institutions of the Turkish state have done everything that needs to
be done. Moreover, Turkey’s insistence on receiving guarantees from
Armenia prior to improving its relations with this country because
of its own security interests and those of its allies is not an
isolationist foreign policy.

Therefore, Sarksyan’s invitation to Gul to watch a soccer game in
Yerevan is not an opportunity for Turkey because the Armenian side
is currently dealing with economic difficulties and maintaining
its aggressive policies. Those who present this as an opportunity
are approaching the issue with a fait accompli view for different
reasons. If Turkey takes action or steps toward the improvement of
relations without making the Armenian side respect international
law, this violator of international law will be encouraged and start
demanding territory from Georgia. Furtherance of the issue may even
become an international precedent. It is obvious that the improvement
of Turkish-Armenian relations without ensuring Armenia’s commitment
to international law will greatly damage Turkish-Azeri relations.