Month: August 2008

ARMENIAN BANKS PROHIBITED FROM PARTICIPATING IN WESTERN UNION

ARKA
Aug 25, 2008

YEREVAN, August 25. /ARKA/. On Monday, the board of the Central Bank
of Armenia prohibited the banks operating in Armenia from participating
in Western Union international payment system.

The press office of the Central Bank of Armenia told ARKA News Agency
that the board had instructed banks to void their contracts with
Western Union.

The Central Bank did that to curb banks’ risks, since Western Union
sometimes violates terms of contracts signed with commercial banks
operating in Armenia.

In particular, Western Union has stopped serving clients in some
branches of the banks. These moves can strike at the banks’ activity
and financial stability and create unpredictable situation in money
transfer sector.

The Central Bank also thinks that things can affect also Armenia’s
economic, financial and real sectors.

The CBA made s similar decision yet in February 2006. The then decision
was prompted by discrepancies in WU regulations and the fear that
they can create risks and jeopardize financial stability in Armenia.

The decision was expected to take force on March 15, 2006, but banks
obtained the Central Bank’s permission on March 14 and Western Union
started cooperating with Armenian banks under test conditions in 1995
and functioning officially in 1996.

Armenian commercial banks participate not only in SWIFT traditional
system, but also in 17 other international systems – Western Union,
Money Gram, Anelik, Unistream, Express Post, Interexpress, Contact,
Leader, Migom, Private Money Transfer, STB Express, Faster, Blizko,
Zhivie Dengi etc.

Besides, non-banking organizations HayPost (ArmPost), TelCel, Depi
Tun, Elver, Parvana, Tandem Payments and Mega Pantera take part in
the systems. ($1 – AMD 301.14)

"YOU’VE GOT TO GO", THE WORLD SAYS, YET AGAIN
By David Matsaberidze

The Messenger
Aug 25 2008
Georgia

The international community remains actively concerned by developments
in Georgia. Several high ranking US and EU officials have visited
the country, expressing their hope that Russia withdraws from the
country. They have stated that the situation as of August 6 should be
immediately restored, and the internationalization of the peacekeeping
process has been set as the priory short term target.

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband expressed his concern over
what he said was Russia’s failure to completely live up to its pledges
on pulling back troops from Georgia. Miliband said that reports of a
Russian military pullback looked like "a step forward". But he added:
"I remain deeply concerned that Russian forces have not withdrawn to
the… position as agreed. It is imperative that Russian forces fully
and speedily implement and abide by the commitments that it (Russia)
has made."

The German Government said on August 23 that Russia had yet to
fully comply with the commitments it had undertaken in the six-point
ceasefire accord. "The [German] government expects Russia to complete
the withdrawal immediately in accordance with the six-point plan signed
by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, and pull back its troops to the
lines [held] before the outbreak of hostilities, as was agreed," German
government spokesman Thomas Steg stated. In a separate statement,
Steg also said that Chancellor Merkel had proposed that the EU hold
"a neighbourhood conference" for Georgia. The German weekly magazine
Der Spiegel said Merkel’s idea would see the neighbouring countries of
Armenia and Azerbaijan participate in the conference, but not Russia,
Reuters reported.

Richard Lugar, a member of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee,
is paying an official visit to Georgia. The Senator held meetings
with Georgian senior ministers and Members of Parliament from both
the opposition and ruling parties. Lugar has already held a meeting
with Georgian State Minister for Reintegration Temur Iakobashvili.

The Senator discussed the Georgia crisis and ways to resolve
the conflict with Russia with Georgian Prime Minister Lado
Gurgenidze. After official negotiations, Richard Lugar met IDPs who
fled from their homes in the Shida Kartli and Tskhinvali regions
during the Russian military aggression.

Spokesmen for the White House also said on August 23 that Russia had
yet to fully comply. "Putting up permanent facilities and checkpoints
are inconsistent with the agreement," White House spokesman Gordon
Johndroe said. "We are in contact with the various parties to obtain
clarification." Finnish Foreign Minister and OSCE Chairman-in-Office,
Alexander Stubb, also declared the French-brokered ceasefire to be
under serious threat. After the meetings with Georgian Foreign Minister
Eka Tkeshelashvili and the State Minister for Reintegration Temur
Iakobashvili, Stubb stated that "the world should use all available
resources to ensure the fulfillment of the ceasefire agreement and the
pullout of Russian forces from Georgia". Mr. Stubb said 20 military
monitors would arrive in Georgia to observe the process of the
withdrawal and report the OSCE about the implementation of the truce.

In the light of this French President Nicolas Sarkozy urged his Russian
counterpart Dimitry Medvedev to remove Russian troops from the west of
Georgia, in particular from Poti and Senaki. Sarkozy said that OSCE
international peacekeepers will be placed in the region, as agreed
with his Russian counterpart. Russia however has released a response
arguing that Sarkozy has misinterpreted the Russian position, as Russia
has only expressed its readiness to cooperate with the OSCE and allow
international monitors to operate in the so-called "buffer zones".

All of these statements prompted Georgian and Western ministers to
blame Russia for violating the French-brokered pullout agreement. The
foreign media is still actively talking about a Georgian-Russian
conflict. There are already analytical articles about the current
situation. Some Russian press releases express the opinion
that in the long-term perspective Russia is the loser in this
confrontation. Analysts admit that if not in Tskhinvali, war would
have broken out in Kodori anyway. Today there is unified opinion in
the West that Russia has to comply with the obligations it took on when
it signed the ceasefire agreement, a unity created by this conflict.

Two US Democratic Congressmen have now arrived in Tbilisi and held
negotiations with the President of Georgia. The U.S. Congress has
stated that it is ready to help restore the civil infrastructure in
Georgia. Howard Berner and George Miller visited Parliament as well,
where they met with Chairman of Parliament David Bakradze. They once
again confirmed the US’s strong support for Georgia’s territorial
integrity. Congressmen have underlined once again that the primary
and most important step in conflict resolution is the withdrawal of
the Russian army from Georgian territory.

Ukraine has become more active and sensitive towards developments
in Georgia. President Yushchenko recently agreed an increase in the
state’s defence budget, at the same time confirming the possibility
that Ukraine could play a decisive role in peacekeeping operations
in Georgia’s conflict regions, as Georgian Parliament Speaker Davit
Bakradze announced at the briefing held after the meeting with his
Ukrainian counterpart, Konstantin Eliseev. Eliseev reiterated Ukraine’s
support of the Georgian Government and announced that Ukraine was
prepared to provide humanitarian aid to Georgia. Ukraine has already
sent 24 tonnes of firefighting equipment and ammunition to Georgia.

On August 21, the UN Security Council failed to make a decision on
a Russia-submitted resolution on Georgia. Russian Ambassador Vitaly
Churkin vetoed the draft resolution proposed by the West and tried to
convince member states to approve a Russian draft. Churkin stated that
the main objection of some Security Council members was the absence
of Georgia’s "territorial integrity" in the draft resolution. He
explained that the document copied the six principles of the peace
plan for Georgia agreed by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and
his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy, whereas US Ambassador to the
United Nations Alejandro Wolfe called for the resolution to include
"territorial integrity" as one of its provisions as all previous
documents on Georgia had done.

ST. GREGORY WELCOMES NEW REVEREND
By Jason Sibert

Granite City Press Record
/articles/2008/08/25/news/sj2tn20080823-0824gcj-pa stor.ii1.txt
Aug 25 2008
IL

The Rev. Stephan Baljian starts ministerial career

The first time the Rev. Stephan Baljian stepped into St. Gregory
Armenian Apostolic Church in Granite City, the church evoked feelings
of beauty and community.

"When you see the church sanctuary, the facility, because it’s so new,
and so well built, and on such a beautiful parcel of land, it really
is an impressive experience, the first time you see it," Baljian
said. "I was very impressed, but it was not just the building. In
knowing how small this community (Armenian) is, that’s what struck
me, in knowing how hard they had to work, and how great of job that
they’ve done. This is about the nicest Armenian church that I’ve seen
in this country, and I’ve been all around the East Coast."

Baljian officially started as pastor at St. Gregory four weeks
ago. Ordained in February, he delivered his first sermon as a guest
priest in April. After his ordination, Baljian travelled around
the country to Atlanta, St. Louis, Cleveland, Springfield, Mass.,
and Niagara Falls, N.Y., preaching in front of small congregations
that have no regular priest."It’s wonderful, we haven’t had a regular
pastor in about two years," said St. Gregory Armenian Apostolic Church
Head of Publicity and Member Susan Spataro. "We’re just so blessed
to have him."

When asked about the most difficult facet of being a new pastor in
a new community, Baljian talked about moving to a new state, as he
hails from the state of Massachusetts.

"When you come to a new community, there’s things you need to learn,"
he said. "It’s a strange balance. People understand you’re new and
learning. At the same time, when you start, you’re suppose to be the
pastor, the father and the leader, all of those things. Several times,
I’ve had to make calls to people I’ve never met. You have to say ‘Hi,
how are you?’ and make it like you’ve known who I am all along, and
I’m your priest. It’s a challenge for me. It’s human nature, when you
don’t know somebody, you stay back a little bit. In this profession,
you have to be very straightforward and very open."

While taking the reins and leading a church for the first time creates
challenges for a new priest, it also provides experiences which create
fond memories.

"You do realize it will never happen again," Baljian said. "You’ll
never have that feeling of your first church again. You’ll never have
this fresh outlook and all of these fresh ideas."

The congregation impressed the new priest with their work ethic and
ability to welcome a newcomer.

"This is a very hard-working congregation," he said. "They’re a very
welcoming group of people, and they’re like one big family."

The ancient Armenian State Church, where the Armenian Apostolic Church
traces its roots, started in 301 A.D. when the country, located in
Eurasia between the Black Sea and Caspian Sea, adopted Christianity
as its state religion, according to Web sites.

"As an Armenian community, in some ways they’re very isolated from
the other Armenian communities in the country," Baljian said. "Back
in New England, you had all of the communities within an hour of each
other. It was easy to have a cultural exchange. Here, we’re small
and we’re isolated. The closest Armenian community to the St. Louis
Metro Area is Chicago. It’s difficult, and I think that it’s forced
this congregation to think outside the box, to come up with new and
fresh ideas and to boldly implement steps to keep this community and
this parish strong. It’s really commendable."

When asked what the congregation achieved to keep the church strong,
Baljian mentioned its meager beginning over 50 years ago.

"They had a very small church facility, but a very vibrant and active
parish," he said. "Even when the older generation passed on, the second
generation, and now the third generation, have taken over the reigns
of the church, carried on a lot of the traditions and a lot of the
everyday work that goes into making this parish a success. They were
able 30 years ago to purchase this land, build a cultural hall to make
that a sustainable source of income, and 12 years ago, they were able
to build this church facility. It’s a testament to their strength."

The current St. Gregory Armenian Apostolic Church, located at 1014
West Pontoon Road in Granite City, replaced the former church
on Maple Ave. in 1997. The church uses the St. Gregory Armenian
Community Center, located south of the current church, as a function
hall. Various community groups and organizations rent it for meetings
and functions. In addition, it’s also used for reunions, political
functions, parties and wedding receptions. Twice a week, on Wednesday
and Thursday, the church sponsors bingo, which Baljian said receives
a great deal of support for the community.

Not willing to dwell on past accomplishments, the new priest feels the
church has the potential to continue to make an impact, even though
the ethnic flavored congregation swims against the tide of the now
large and popular mega-churches.

"I see a lot of potential in this community," he said. "It’s not the
type of potential spread out amongst myriads of people. It’s not
that kind of church. It never has been, and more likely than not,
it never will be. But that’s OK because you don’t have a diffusion of
responsibility. When you have a mega congregation with 15,000 people,
90 percent of the people feel like a number and the other 10 percent
feel like they’re doing everything or doing too much. Here there is a
nice balance of responsibility. They really step up and work hard. The
biggest amount of potential, and one of the biggest challenges the
church faces, is handing down that sense of responsibility to the
next generation."

When asked what the Armenian faith offers to those not familiar with
its tradition, Baljian talked of the church’s ancient roots.

"We go way back, right up there with the Roman Catholic Church and the
Byzantine Orthodox Church," he said. "We’re just as old and just as
valuable a tradition. Our liturgy is very inspiring, very beautiful,
it’s mostly chanted. We have a rich tradition, but we don’t go too
overboard. Our tradition doesn’t go out of Rome or Constantinople,
the imperial cities with the patriach or the emperor and all of the
pomp and circumstance. We were a much more quiet and more monastically
run society. Out of that, sprang a very balanced church. A balance
of beauty and inspiration but with a sober asceticism to it."

Baljian said younger people are growing up in a society "which is
increasingly more secular." He also said the importance of "faith,
church and community life is eroding away."

"I’m not talking about just religious community, but community life
in general," he said. "I think that will be the biggest challenge is
getting across the importance of why we are here, what we’re doing
and why we continue to do it."

Baljian, 29, hopes his age will help him reach young people.

"I don’t think I’m your average 20-something person. I’ve been
through a different experience than your average American kid has,"
he said. "I try to encourage them as much as I can. I think they
appreciate it when they realize I’m not too far ahead and I’m kind
of the same age. I look at it this way, people have a lot to learn
from me, and I have just as much to learn from them."

Being a priest runs in the family, as Baljian’s father, Antranig
Baljian, also served as an Armenian Apostolic Church Priest. He spent
a portions of his childhood and youth adult life in Springfield,
Mass., and Boston, Mass. Baljian graduated from the University of
Massachusetts in Amherst in 2001 with a music degree in theory and
composition. The priest doesn’t see much which separates his musical
and religious interests.

"Music was a great love for me, and it still is," he said. "Growing
up in the church, in the choir and serving the liturgy, music for
me, a big part of that had to do with church. It wasn’t like I was
rocking out on my guitar or anything, that was where my love of music
really flourished. My whole family is musical: my sister, my mother
and father, we all love to sing and dance. As my faith grew, I began
to examine where I was called to serve in the church, and before I
knew it, I realized I was a protege of my father. I knew so much of
what he knew, and I really had that same inclination to do what he
did. I realized I could be in the ministry and pursue my active love
of music as well."

Classical music fans will become acquainted with Baljian’s musical
talents shortly, as he’ll join the St. Louis Symphony Chorus this
fall. In the past, he’s performed with the Boston Symphony Orchestra,
the Tanglewood Festival Chorus and the Newton Choral Society.

Baljian attended the Theological Seminary of the Great House of
Cilicia, Antelias in Beirut, Lebanon, for two years, leaving in
2003. He graduated from St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary in
Crestwood, NY., in 2006 with a Master’s Degree in divinity. Baljian
then served as his father’s assistant at a church in Watertown,
Mass. When asked about becoming educated in the ways of the priesthood
through his father, Stephan said the influence of his father’s ministry
runs strong, but that he also wants to carve out a style of his own.

"Like any good son, you take a good look at your dad and you say
‘I’m going to do things different,’" Stephan said. "And then there
are certain things, when you look at dad, and you look at his strong
points, you say ‘I’d like to be just like him.’"

Baljian said both he and his wife Alice are looking forward to spending
time in Granite City.

ARMENIA BANS OPERATION OF WESTERN UNION ON ITS TERRITORY

Today.Az
ics/47174.html
Aug 25 2008
Azerbaijan

The Board of the Central Bank (CB) of Armenia decided today to
forbid all the banks on the territory of Armenia to participate in
the international Western Union money transfer system.

As Mediamax was told in CB press service, the banks were ordered to
annul the cooperation agreements with Western Union in an envisaged
order.

The CB press service informed that this decision was made to reduce the
banking risks as "there are cases of unfounded violation of agreement
provisions between Western Union and several banks acting on the
territory of Armenia. Thus, in branches of several banks the money
transfer system stopped service which can harm the usual activity of
the banks, their financial status, lead to an unexpected situation
in the sphere of money transfers, as well as influence the economic,
financial and real sectors of the country."

Mediamax recalls that earlier Azerbaijan demanded that Western
Union, Moneygram and some other systems stopped their activity in the
"Nagorno-Karabakh Republic" (NKR) threatening to ban the activity of
the systems in Azerbaijan. As a result of this, several money transfer
systems stopped their activity in "NKR".

OBAMA’S VP PICK BIDEN "DISTANT" TO, BUT KNOWLEDGEABLE OF TURKEY

Hurriye
Aug 25 2008
Turkey

The senate record of Joe Biden, presidential candidate Barack
Obama’s pick for vice president, shows he has been consistently
anti-Turkish. Analysts, however, say his vast knowledge of Turkey
could be a plus for future ties with a possible Obama leadership.

Biden, a foreign policy guru, has almost constantly voted for or
joined initiatives against Turkey’s interests during his 35 years in
the U.S. Senate.

But still some analysts suggest that his vast knowledge of Turkey might
be an advantage if Ankara is to deal with an Obama administration
that may come to power in the wake of the United States’ Nov. 4
presidential election, according to the Turkish Daily News (TDN).

Obama, who competes against Republican candidate Sen. John McCain,
announced Saturday that he had picked Delaware Sen. Biden, chairman of
the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, as his running mate.

The choice of Biden, who has served in the Senate since 1972,
indicated Obama had put more emphasis on filling that gap in the
ticket than on finding someone who would reinforce his message of
bringing change to Washington.

Like Obama, Biden is a staunch supporter of the Armenian cause. The
two men both back last year’s draft resolution in the Senate calling
for the United States’ official recognition of the World War I-era
killings of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire as "genocide".

The resolution will probably go nowhere during this session of
Congress, but analysts expect a strong effort on this matter from
pro-Armenian politicians next year. Obama himself pledged to label
the killings as genocide if elected president.

Biden, 65, was close to and influenced by former Democratic
Sen. Paul Sarbanes, who is of ethnic Greek origin, and has adopted
an anti-Turkish position on several disputes with Greece and Greek
Cypriots.

CONSISTENT RECORD Over the past 15 years, Biden has also worked
against a number of planned U.S. arms transfers to Turkey on grounds
of alleged human rights violations and other reasons.

In the latest such case in 2003, he opposed the use of a U.S. Ex-Im
Bank loan for the purchase of naval helicopters. Eventually the
matter was resolved, but Turkey, when signing a 2005 contract for
the U.S. Sikorsky Aircraft for 17 S-70B Seahawk helicopters, opted
not to use the loan.

When the United States was in deep trouble in Iraq two years ago,
Biden came up with a proposal to divide the war-torn country into
three parts along ethnic and sectarian lines under a very loose
confederation. Turkey is strongly opposed to the division of Iraq,
and the idea was later shelved when ensuing U.S. policies helped
improve the situation in Iraq.

"It’s a fact that Biden has a consistent record against Turkey in
Congress. But it’s also a fact that he knows Turkey and Turkey’s
leaders quite well," one Washington analyst told TDN. "As a result
I think it’s better to deal with someone with a deep knowledge of
Turkey than another person who is ignorant about Turkey."

During a stopover in Turkey following a visit to Afghanistan in
February, Biden and fellow Democratic Sen. John Kerry and retiring
Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel met with President Abdullah Gul and Prime
Minister Tayyip Erdogan. In the latest meeting, Biden and several of
his committee members met with visiting Foreign Minister Ali Babacan
here in June.

BAKU NOT SEES PROSPECTS FOR RECOGNITION OF NAGORNO-KARABAKH BEYOND TERRITORIAL INTEGRITY OF AZERBAIJAN: FOREIGN MINISTRY

Trend News Agency
Aug 25 2008
Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan, Baku, 25 August/ TrendNews, corr R. Novruzov/ The official
Baku does not see any prospects of recognition of Nagorno-Karabakh
beyond the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan.

"The independence of Nagorno-Karabakh should be recognized only within
the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan," Khazar Ibrahim, spokesman
for the Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan said to media on 25 August.

The conflict between the two countries of the South Caucasus began
in 1988 due to Armenian territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Since
1992, Armenian Armed Forces have occupied 20% of Azerbaijan including
the Nagorno-Karabakh region and its seven surrounding districts. 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 the US) are currently holding peaceful
negotiations.

The leadership of the self-declared ‘ Nagorno-Karabakh Republic’
intends to follow the example of South Ossetia and Abkhazia and to
appeal Council of Federation of Russia to recognize its independence.

On 25 August, the Upper Chamber of the Russian parliament unanimously
voted for the appeal to the Russian President to recognize the
independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, Vesti TV channel of
Russia reported. The speaker of the Upper Chamber of the Russian
parliament Sergey Mironov stated that " South Ossetia and Abkhazia
has all grounds for the recognition of their independence".

Presidents of self-declared republics Eduard Kokoity and Sergey Bagapsh
told the Council that the people of South Ossetia and Abkhazia have
a right to be recognized than Kosovo. "We have more political and
legal grounds foe recognition (of independence) than Kosovo".

NEWS, COMMENTARY AND THE EXERCISE OF JUDGMENT
David Judson

Turkish Daily News
Aug 25 2008

As readers of the Turkish Daily News are aware, we correct our
inevitable errors and omissions in a timely basis, usually on this page
above the standing policy statement "Getting it right." Sometimes
we have to go beyond just setting the record straight, however,
to a restatement of our policy and values. This is one of those times.

So this column is first a correction and an apology to Richard
Giragosian, a guest whose essay Friday was drastically changed. It
was just one word, inserted by a copy editor. But it was a word at the
core of unresolved disputes between many Turks and Armenians and thus
the change was drastic. Giragosian said "genocide." We edited that to
"alleged genocide." While the change reflected prevailing sentiment
at this newspaper, it also violated our rules on the treatment of
commentary.

The journalistic navigation through this set of linguistic shoals
is always difficult. And at the TDN we face many such challenges
every day. We are unusual if not unique among Turkish newspapers
in that we publish in English. But that is not all that sets us
apart. Unlike many newspapers, we do not have an "agenda," nor do
we seek any specific outcome in the many deep debates that define
Turkish society. International readers are an important constituency,
but we are not a "newspaper for foreigners." In fact, a majority of our
readers are Turks who obviously come to us for reasons other than the
English language. In one sense, our job is simple: a concise snapshot
of Turkey each day. But in another sense our job is quite complex,
for the picture is always one of many hues.

As much is subjective, no memo on guidelines or rulebook can entirely
suffice. Intelligent judgment that reflects our broader values,
by each and every reporter and editor, is the only policy with a
chance of success. So it is worth a bit of ink and newsprint to again
share the reasoning that defines our policy on news, translation and
commentary, in particular for our new readers and new staffers of
whom we have quite a few.

Striving to reflect views of all sides

I will get to the anatomy of the error. But first let me share
a little about the TDN. As I say, it is a complex newspaper, in
a complex country at a complex time of history. On the editorial
side, we have about 50 staffers who are as remarkable for the depth
of their education as they are for the breadth of their worldviews
and backgrounds. This is no accident. Enabling Turkey’s stories to
be told by authentic voices is at the heart of the mission I have
sought to articulate at the newspaper; that we are succeeding is,
I hope, self-evident. Each day we also rely heavily on the expansive
resources of our corporate parent Hurriyet, the flagship of the
Dogan Media Group, and our sister newspaper Referans, the national
business daily. We subscribe to two domestic news agencies and
four international news agencies. As with all good newspapers, we
also collaborate with an ever-expanding network of informal partners
ranging from the Turkish Policy Quarterly to the Slovak Foreign Policy
Association to the Athens daily Kathimerini to make this portrait
of diversity even more so. I have remarked on a number of occasions
that we are perhaps the only newspaper in the world where Mahmud
Ahmadinejad or George Bush or Vladimir Putin or Raul Castro could
pop into the newsroom and quickly find a sympathetic face ready to
take him to lunch. People usually think I am kidding. I am not.

Each day this tiny and hyper-diverse team casts its literal and
figurative net broadly. About mid-day, what began as an information
gathering marathon transforms to a news production sprint of
translation, editing, final phone calls, rewrites and headlines. In
the news environment in which we work, of war and imminent war on a
variety of borders, of intense ideological competition at home, of
bare-knuckle politics, of social transformation at breakneck speed,
the task can be daunting. It works only because of hundreds of judgment
calls made by everyone at each step. These are judgments made in the
context I seek to describe.

So what is the context that binds a team in the exercise of
judgment? It is a commitment to democracy. It is a commitment to free
expression. It is a commitment to playing it straight. I do not ask
the practitioners at the TDN to feign a lack of conviction on views or
principles they hold dear; I do insist on transparency and candor so
that we can collectively maintain balance and fairness. We strive not
just to reflect the views of "both sides" but to reflect the views of
"all sides." Our reporter Ekrem Ekinci, a philosophy graduate, helped
me out the other day in a chat where I was to trying to articulate
this. Our work at the TDN, he suggested, is less a pursuit of the
"objectivity" offered up in journalism school curriculum than it is
a pursuit of the "enlarged mentality" advocated by Immanuel Kant,
the ability to perceive and understand perspectives different than
your own without surrender of your own beliefs.

So, for example, we don’t take an editorial position on the issue
of "minorities" in Turkey which classes Armenians, Greeks and Jews
as statutory minorities but does not acknowledge such distinctions
for Kurds, Alevis, Assyrians and many others. We do, however, have a
standing explanatory "box" on the history of this issue and the 1923
Lausanne Treaty that started it all. This runs next to stories where
this terminology comes up.

Wording on religious and ethnic issues

Readers are used to seeing the sourcing above stories "TDN with wire
dispatches." Commonly, stories that we derive from other media sources
will not be as complete as our standard demands. Sometimes it is an
extra phone call to the subject of the story; sometimes it is a bit
of background or context that we add. And we routinely eschew language
common in other media that could be seen as disparaging. You will not,
for example, find a reference to "Arab capital" in the TDN’s business
pages but rather its national source, be it Kuwait or Saudi Arabia
or Dubai. A writer once insisted that it was legitimate to describe
a Russian billionaire as a "Jewish oligarch." Not unless the story is
about his donations to a synogogue. Religious or ethnic adjectives in
front of the noun are fine only when they are relevant to the subject
matter. That writer no longer works at the TDN.

And when it comes to that debate of how to describe the events in the
murderous final days of the Ottoman Empire, we avoid in translation
"sözde" or "so-called" to modify Armenian claims of genocide. A
"so-called" genocide connotes disparagement, an "alleged genocide"
denotes the current state of legal and historical debate. This is
the kind of sensitivity, judgment and "enlarged mentality" that we
try to bring to the news pages. And the news is often radically edited.

Different scale for editorial pages

The editorial pages require judgment on a different scale. For here our
license is more restricted. Our constraints include Turkish press law,
standards of decency and a wariness toward recklessness. We endeavor to
clean up the basic elements of grammar when necessary and sometimes
edit for necessary brevity. But as our standing statement reads,
"few views are unwelcome on the pages of the TDN." We will, upon my
judgment or that of another editor, include a disclosure in the case
of controversial claims by a guest columnist that go starkly against
prevailing views: "The views expressed above are the author’s own and
do not reflect the views of the TDN," is the note we will add. But
we do not ever, under any circumstances, change the direct meaning
or intent of commentary. We might well reject it in its entirety. But
if we run it, respect to the author’s views is fundamental.

Do we always execute these goals of judgment without
flaw? No. Sometimes we fail which means we start anew. And on Friday
this values-based policy ran aground. We violated this trust with
our readers.

"I have watched with interest your coverage of Armenia and
Armenian-Turkish affairs. All to the good. However, Richard
Giragosian’s piece today ‘Armenia and the new Turkish proposal’
while otherwise worthy has the word "alleged" in reference to the
Armenian genocide of 1915," wrote a reader in Montreal, Richard
Elliot. "Mr. Giragosian has confirmed that his original text did not
contain the word "alleged" and that the TDN added it without consulting
him and without disclosing in the paper that the word was not in the
original text. This is unethical from a journalistic point-of-view. It
also casts doubt on the TDN’s willingness to publish opinions not
in conformity with the official Turkish position. Finally, it causes
embarrassment to Mr. Giragosian, a respected analyst and commentator
who has taken the risk of being published in a Turkish paper, who
must now explain that his text has been altered substantively."

Mr. Elliot could not be more right. We could not be more wrong. We
apologize. And now, our values restated, we go back to work.

–Boundary_(ID_OxqGqGeNArWw7hvU1avBsw)–

FATIH CEKIRGE: U.S. LIKELY TO DEMAND NEW ARRANGEMENT FOR TURKISH STRAITS

Hurriyet
Aug 25 2008
Turkey

Turkey’s state-run Anatolian Agency Friday had published a "warning"
story, which contradicted with its news style. However it was well
prepared and based on concrete facts.

AA was issuing an official warning:

"Turkey should be prepared that the U.S. would demand the amendment
of the Montreux Convention…"

This statement was told by Hasan Kanbolat, an expert with Turkish
think tank, ASAM, was a signal of a concern which had been recently
dominated Ankara.

The real question is:

– Was the war on Georgia a plan to open the Black Sea to NATO forces?

The whole world had asked the same question after the war erupted:
Is the Georgian leader, Saakashvili, a mad man, who held a military
operation in South Ossetia despite Russia?

Now this question has a possible answer: This war had sped up Georgia’s
NATO membership process, moreover turned into an urgent requirement.

So Saakashvili is not a mad man.

If we go back to the straits issue. In the short term the U.S. would
propose Turkey make a new arrangement on its straits. And it would
ask for an easing on the arrangements for the passage of warships,
including American ones (possibly on the condition of a NATO decision).

It is for this reason that the Black Sea is no longer an internal
sea and had become the waterway of the world’s most important energy
lines. And Russia does not want any other country’s hegemony here.

This is the main reason for the Georgia war, Russia’s greenlight to
the invasion of Azerbaijan by Armenia and the increased partnership
of Moscow-Tehran-Damascus-Beijing.

The Montreux Convention was signed in 1936 and the NATO was established
in 1949. The U.S. did not sign the Montreux Convention and NATO was
born afterwards, meaning they could demand a new arrangement. Moreover,
the new members of NATO, Romania and Bulgaria, also have coasts
bordering the Black Sea.

In the Bucharest summit of NATO in April, Georgia’s NATO membership
caused widespread debate. If Georgia was a NATO member, then
U.S. warships would have been deployed to the Black Sea under the
NATO umbrella. Or they were about to.

Moreover as a NATO member, Turkey was likely to support this. So the
"operation on South Ossetia" could well be a part of a larger to move
to make Georgia a NATO member.

The real question for Turkey still lies ahead; because the Black Sea
is now an "energy sea" and neither the U.S. nor Russia would want to
leave it alone.

Therefore, in the short term, a debate could be opened on the Montreux
Convention at a NATO meeting. The process to water down the Montreux
Convention may have already started. The U.S. and NATO could ask
for new arrangements on the status of the Turkish Straits. Turkey,
of course, would resist this. This serious question has been debated
in the strategic rooms and corridors of diplomacy in Ankara.

LESSONS OF THE CAUCASUS CONFLICT
By Anton Caragea

World Press Review

Aug 24 2008

What Did the U.S. Really Know About Georgia’s Intentions?

Six days of war in the Caucasus (a war that started without a
declaration and ended without a peace treaty) has transformed the
geopolitical map of Europe and maybe the world. The implications
of the war transcend well beyond the region of the Caucasus. Many
questions still need answers. Was it possible for President Mikheil
Saakashvili of Georgia to launch an attack into South Ossetia without
the knowledge of the United States?

This is highly unlikely. According to independent sources in Georgia,
there are American military advisers, political trainers, and civil
contractors–more than 1,000 people–all well placed and connected
to Georgian political decision makers. In the last five years, the
United States has invested more than $180 million in Georgian military
compatibility with NATO standards and more the 100 top-level officers
from the Georgian army and security services have received training
in the United States.

This high level of involvement in the Georgian political landscape
makes it improbable that the United States did not know that Georgia’s
military had concentrated troops and prepared a massive attack against
South Ossetia.

It is clear that the Russian reaction surprised the United States. It
is possible that many in Washington had felt that Russia would have
the same reaction as in the Kosovo crises: inflammatory remarks,
strong language, and political pressure but no military response. In
this case, this was a severe miscalculation.

Why Did Russia Intervene Militarily?

For Russia, there was no option but a strong military reaction. If
South Ossetia had fallen to Georgian troops, the unfolding of the
events would have being very clear: Georgia’s next move would be to
send troops to Abkhazia (international observers in the region had
reported an important Georgian military buildup for this next phase
of the operations).

The fall of Abkhazia and South Ossetia would have undermined the
entire Russian geopolitical plan in the Caucasus.

In the next stage, the pro-American power in Baku, Azerbaijan, would
send troops in a similar operation against Armenia and Russian-backed
separatists in Naghorno Karabah. After such a blow the pro-Russian
government in Yerevan, Armenia, already under strong pressure, would
reorient his policy toward Russia. The Caucasus would then be lost
for a long period to Russian influence. This scenario could not be
tolerated by Moscow and will not be tolerated in the future either.

What Are Russia’s Next Options?

Russia has already sketched the next steps here: internationalization
of the problem of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, organizing local
referendum to decide for independence and to recognize the independence
after the Kosovo model. Serghei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister,
has already explained that Russia recognizes only the sovereignty of
Georgia not its territorial integrity–a very clear message that it
supports South Ossetia’s and Abkhazia’s bids for independence.

If Russia’s position is very clear, the conflict in Georgia has
also drawn further diplomatic lines in Eastern Europe and Central
Asia. Even as the war raged in Georgia, the Baltic States, Poland,
and Ukraine took a strong position condemning Russian military
reactions and going to Tbilisi to offer moral and political support
to Saakashvili. So in the former sphere of influence of the Soviet
Union, we see the building of a new entente to keep Russia out of the
region. Also, Central Asian countries such as Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan,
and Uzbekistan supported Russian actions and condemned Georgia as
provocative, a signal that they will remain allied with Russia. The
closing of the confrontation with Georgia marks the opening of a new
chapter in the fight for predominance in Eastern Europe: Ukraine.

Ukraine: The Second Chapter of the Drama?

Like Georgia, Ukraine is a very vulnerable ally of the United
States. Ukraine has an important Russian minority (almost 20 percent
of the population) and a massive pro-Russian alliance of political
parties. The sovereignty over Crimea is disputed and the possibility of
a civil war is very high in Ukraine offering to Russia the possibility
to use this liability for its involvement in the region. The Georgian
drama will be just a prelude to a Ukraine one if the leadership in
Kiev is not able to reach a compromise with Russia over Ukraine’s
bid to join NATO.

What Are the Conclusions of the Six-Day War in the Caucasus?

Russia is ready to use not only political pressure but also military
means to protect what it calls an integral part of its sphere of
protection: the Caucasus, Ukraine, Belarus, and Central Asia. Any
further interference in this region will mean the restart of the cold
war–an eventuality that I hope no one wants.

Also, Russia has adopted a new diplomatic doctrine that must be
seriously taken in account: the right for intervention in any former
Soviet area if it is required to protect the lives and dignity of
Russian citizens (as announced by President Dmitry Medvedev). This
concept will further be used to pressure Ukraine.

The diplomatic pressure being applied by the United States is clearly
directed at dissuading Russia from any further intervention in Ukraine
and any further use of this Russian citizen protection doctrine. The
effect of this pressure on Russia remains to be seen.

The Georgian crisis has dramatically changed the map of Eastern Europe
and caused Russian-American relations to descend to a level not seen
in the last 20 years.

COLD WAR II: TODAY IT WAS GEORGIA, TOMORROW UKRAINE?
By Jeff Thompson

Journal Chrétie
e14089.html
Aug 25 2008
France

On August 7th we received the startling news via telephone of a major
attack on Russia by the small country of Georgia. The caller repeated
the information they had just heard on RTV, the main Russian television
station. Georgia had attacked South Ossetia and killed 2000 innocent
Russian civilians.

The next day we found a television and watched as the RTV station
ran updates throughout the day. The Russian propaganda broadcasts
made no attempt at objectivity.

"Today the country of Georgia has attacked the Russian people of South
Ossetia, killing thousands and causing a humanitarian disaster. This
is genocide against the Russian people. In response, our Russian
peacekeeping forces have entered Georgia to protect our people and
bring peace against the Georgian aggressor financed and supported by
the United States."

RTV and all major media outlets are owned or controlled by Russian
government approved entities. At the time of the invasion our
small EEO team was conducting a children’s camp in Armenia near the
Georgia border, just 75 miles from Tblisi. In a remote location in
this mountainous region we had no other source of information. Our
village barely had running water much less an internet connection.

I was shocked to hear Russian T.V. announcers including the Minister
of Defense, Sergei Ivanov, repeatedly refer to the "unprovoked attack"
by Georgia as "genocide" against the Russian people. RTV also showed
video of a supposed American made landmine used against Russian
forces. They not so subtlety suggested that NATO and America are
providing arms to a regime hostile to Russia.

Map of the affected region

Armenia is a small country without a seaport. They are wholly
dependent on the Georgian commercial port of Poti for imported goods
and international trade. Nagorno-Karabakh is an Armenian enclave in
Azerbaijan, a disputed territory that like South Ossetia has existed
under a tense and unresolved truce for the last 15 years. They daily
exchange fire in the border zone with Azerbaijan and are unrelentingly
committed to fighting for the independence of Karabakh.

Georgian protest by Parliament Building in London

South Ossetia, Karabakh, Chechnya, Ingushetia, Georgia, Azerbaijan,
Armenia – the Caucuses Region remains a simmering caldron of ancient
ethnic enmity and fiercely independent people. With Caspian oil flowing
through the region to the Georgian port of Poti, the Russians have now
proven that they are indeed the only superpower that really matters
in this part of the world.

As Christians we need to be bold and not shy away from working in this

region of the world, showing Christ’s love in word and deed. As for
politics, well, we need to pray that an emboldened Russian State
does not decide to "liberate" the Russian citizens living in their
neighboring historical motherland "Kyivan Rus," that pro-European
and pro-western country of Ukraine.

Editor’s note: Jeff Thompson, author of "Leaving The American Sector"
and director of the California based mission agency Eastern European
Outreach () recently returned from the Caucuses region
during the Russian invasion of Georgia.

–Boundary_(ID_dpSy/6wIUh7QNkWfskD89Q)–