Month: December 2008

CREDIT CRUNCH THREATENS EVEN ISOLATED ARMENIA
By Naira Melkumian

Institute for War and Peace Reporting
Dec 4 2008
UK

Until recently, banking system had managed to survive relatively
unscathed, mainly because it is only slightly integrated into world
markets.

Armenia’s economy appeared to be safe from the world’s financial
crisis, being small and isolated – though even here the shock of the
credit crunch is making itself felt.

Property prices have tumbled, and construction projects have been
forced to slow or close altogether, while the supply of remittances
from Armenians in Russia also threatens to dry up.

"The first wave of the crisis in the world markets, happily, did not
have a major negative effect on Armenia’s financial system, but we
know well that after a financial crisis, an economic crisis starts and
we must be ready," Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisian told parliament,
when presenting a plan to support the economy and subsidise companies.

He also proposed establishing a commission to examine ways of creating
more jobs, but that may be too late for workers at Armenia’s copper
smelters.

The three smelters in Kajaran, Kapan and Agarak have all reduced output
and laid off workers, which threatens to be a catastrophe for the
Syunik region where there are no other jobs. A government delegation
has already been forced to go to the region to prevent a strike.

Arpik Simonian is one of those workers struggling to know what to do
if he loses his job.

"The worst case scenario is that I remain here. I will survive, as
they say. I’ll have to borrow money. But I have no idea how I would
pay it back," he said.

He would, he says, prefer to go and get work in Russia but that may
not be possible, in the light of the crisis there.

"If the Russian financial crisis continues to deepen, then the Armenian
economy will experience an insufficient supply of direct investment
and remittances, which come to the country primarily from Russia,"
said Andrankik Tevanian, the head of the Politekonomia think tank.

He said 90 per cent of Armenians in Russia are working in the
construction sector, which is seriously affected by the crisis. Half
of them may fail to find work in Russia next year.

Since Russia is the source of 75 per cent of the remittances coming
into the country, experts predict a reduction in the amount of money
available to families and a corresponding reduction in citizens’
purchasing power, which in turn threatens producers.

However, remittances are currently still increasing, with a record 203
million US dollars coming into the country in September. The central
bank does not predict remittances to fall before the end of the year.

These same experts believe the government may struggle to maintain
its budget plans for 2009, since they were drafted before the crisis
struck. Expert Andranika Tevanian, for example, said the 3.3 billion
dollar budget relied on increased tax receipts, which threatens to
worsen the tax burden on small and medium businesses.

"In connection with the crisis, all countries in the world are taking
steps to ease the tax burden on business. In Armenia, on the other
hand, the government is taking steps to worsen business’s condition,"
he said.

The expansive budget may, experts fear, also stoke inflation, which
is already running above the government target. The International
Monetary Fund predicts full-year inflation of 9.4 per cent, which is
significantly higher than the budget target of four per cent.

"I don’t even know what to think, everyone’s talking only about a
crisis. They have promised to increase the pensions, but what’s the use
if the prices go up as well," Lyudmila Nikolayevna, a pensioner, said.

The banking system has managed to survive relatively unscathed so far,
mainly because it is only slightly integrated into world markets. But
all the same commercial banks have drastically reduced lending,
and now charge a higher interest rate on loans that they do give out.

Just a few months ago, a bank would agree to a mortgage of 15 or 20
years, but now a ten-year loan is more likely. This has had a knock-on
effect on the housing market, and caused prices to fall.

According to David Sukiasian, executive director of Armeconombank,
foreign banks are charging Armenian customers a rate three full
percentage points higher than they were, forcing his bank to raise
its own rates. Deposit rates have in turn increased from nine to 11
per cent, as banks seek to attract money.

Bankers expect credit rates to rise by one or two percentage points
over the next six months, which means credit will undoubtedly be
harder to come by and the economy will suffer.

"We currently are not seeing serious consequences of the global
crisis in Armenia. The main reason for this is that in Armenia the
financial system is still not very big. On the one hand, this is not
very good for the growth of the economy. But on the other, it is even
an advantage, because Armenia is out of the path of possible shocks,"
said Ninke Omes, the permanent representative of the IMF in Yerevan.

However, the crisis has already impacted on the building sector in
the capital, where property prices have fallen by 15 to 20 per cent,
and some construction projects have been frozen for lack of funds

"The crisis situation on the international markets requires investors
and agents, who regard the property market as profitable and secure,
to be careful. This is the main reason for the reduction in the number
of deals on the local property market recently," said Artur Javadian,
head of the central bank.

Experts currently predict the falls in the property market to continue
until at least the middle of next year, which will have a bad effect
on the economy as a whole, since construction and services together
make up 61.9 per cent of Gross Domestic Product.

Naira Melkumian is a freelance journalist in Yerevan. Nelli
Mirzakhanian, a journalist from the Sosi Studio in the city of Kapan,
also contributed to this article.

TURKISH INTELLECTUALS GIVE PERSONAL APOLOGY FOR 1915 EVENTS

Today’s Zaman
Dec 5 2008
Turkey

A group of Turkish intellectuals have apologized for the "great
disaster that Ottoman Armenians suffered in 1915" but have fallen
short of calling on the state to do the same.

A petition initiated by a group of intellectuals, including professors
Baskın Oran and Ahmet İnsel, journalists Ali Bayramoglu and Cengiz
Aktar, personally apologizes for the events.

The group is asking other people to sign the petition, which reads
as follows: "I cannot conscientiously accept the indifference to
the great disaster that Ottoman Armenians suffered in 1915, and its
denial. I reject this injustice and acting of my own will, I share
the feelings and pains of my Armenian brothers and sisters, and I
apologize to them."

The organizers of the campaign have underlined that first they will
collect signatures from intellectuals and they will then open a secure
Web site to collect signatures.

Oran pointed out that they had written the text for individuals since
the tragedy was very human. "We are searching for human beings. We
thought about urging the state to apologize but we decided to let
individuals act according to their conscience. This call is for
everybody," he said.

The petition, which has already become the target of nationalists,
has led to criticism from other intellectuals.

Aytekin Yıldız, the coordinator of the Confrontation Association
(YuzleÅ~_me Dernegi), pointed out that the Armenian community was
already aware of the fact that there are many people in Turkey of
conscience, and the important thing was not to declare what is already
known. "It is a good starting point, but not enough. Firstly, what do
they mean by ‘great disaster’? Let’s name it, it is genocide. Secondly,
the state has to apologize," Yıldız pointed out.

Historian AyÅ~_e Hur said apologizing is the duty of those who were
responsible for the act, or for those who share their arguments. "It
seems that a very elite group discussed that petition, because I
learnt about this petition from the media and I was surprised," she
said, and added: "I approach these types of events as a scientist, as
a historian, not as a member of the Turkish nation. For me, all these
events were the fault of Turkish nationalism flourishing at that time,
and personally, I don’t identify with it, so I do not feel the need
to apologize personally."

She also pointed out that the petitioners are concentrating only on
1915; however, she says there were events after and before. "There is
a state tradition which legitimizes all these events and prevents any
discussion about them. Firstly, the state has to ensure a suitable
atmosphere to discuss all these things; then it has to apologize on
behalf of the perpetrators and for itself, because it has legitimized
their actions through the years."

Another figure, a prominent intellectual who wanted to remain
anonymous, said to apologize is not the responsibility of the
individual but that of the state. He said Defense Minister Vecdi
Gönul’s remarks at a speech he gave in November were not acceptable.

In that speech, the minister suggested that the "success" of the
republic lay in the nation-building process. "If there were Greeks in
the Aegean and Armenians in most places in Turkey today, would it be
the same nation-state? I don’t know what words I can use to explain
the importance of the population exchange, but if you look at the
former state of affairs, its importance will become very clear,"
Gönul said. He added that in those days, Ankara was composed of
four neighborhoods — Armenian, Jewish, Greek and Muslim — and
claimed that after the nation-building process, it became possible
to establish a national bourgeoisie.

The Lausanne Treaty, signed in 1923, set in motion a population
exchange between Greek Orthodox citizens of the young Turkish Republic
and Muslim citizens of Greece, which resulted in the displacement
of approximately 2 million people. The Armenian population that was
in Turkey before the establishment of Turkish Republic was forced
to emigrate in 1915, and, according to some, the conditions of this
expulsion are the basis of Armenian claims of genocide.

–Boundary_(ID_zR9f+kPorpd7wCqkTFP/6A)- –

TURKEY’S EXISTENCE NOT DEPENDENT ON EU ENTRY, SAYS BABACAN

Today’s Zaman
Dec 5 2008
Turkey

In the face of rising criticism from Brussels over the Turkish
government’s apparent lack of ambition for reform, Foreign Minister
Ali Babacan has suggested that the issue of EU membership was not a
matter critical to the existence of EU candidate Turkey.

Most recently, during a debate on a draft report on Turkey, the
European Parliament on Tuesday stated that it was impossible for the
ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government to keep its
promise to modernize the country — a promise it voiced after being
elected for the second time in July 2007 with 47 percent of the vote,
without making further political reforms.

The draft report debated by the European Parliament’s Committee on
Foreign Affairs is full of serious warnings for Ankara, which the
draft says has lost its ambition for political reform.

Babacan, who attended a meeting of foreign ministers of NATO member
countries in Brussels, spoke in an interview with the STV news channel
on Wednesday night.

Ups and downs along the EU membership process stem from the issue’s
nature and are normal, Babacan said. The government aims to raise
the standard of living for the Turkish people through reforms, said
Babacan, who is also the country’s chief EU negotiator.

However, "we do not have any issue of belonging. We are not a country
which can only maintain its existence by joining a group or becoming
a member [of a group]. Turkey is already a very important country on
its own with its history and culture," Babacan was quoted as saying
in the interview by the Anatolia news agency.

Turkey, which began entry talks in 2005 but has seen its accession
bid flag because of slow progress on reforms, often argues that the
EU would be short-sighted if it rejected a moderate Muslim country
key to its energy security and foreign policy ambitions.

In its draft report, the European Parliament praised Turkey for
its foreign policy, in particular its rapprochement with Armenia,
but stepped up calls to improve human rights, reform the judiciary
and curb the power of the military.

Turkey, a NATO member, has in recent years boosted diplomatic and
commercial ties with Central Asia, Iran, Russia, the Caucasus and
the Middle East. In October, it won a nonpermanent seat on the UN
Security Council.

With few natural resources of its own, Turkey has positioned itself
as a hub for the transport of Caspian and Central Asian oil and gas
exports to Western markets.

When a separate report by the executive European Commission last
month rapped Turkey for slow progress, Ankara hit back, saying the
EU’s status as a global power was at stake if Turkey was left out. It
also said Ankara was committed to full membership and that it would
push ahead with reforms.

Babacan was also reminded during the interview that Turkish leaders
have been paying fewer visits to Brussels in recent years.

In response, the minister suggested that frequent visits from Ankara
to Brussels took place on the eve of the EU’s December 2004 summit,
when EU leaders said the membership negotiations with Turkey should
begin in October 2005.

During that period, candidate countries were also invited to
EU summits, but such invitations have not since been extended to
candidate countries, Babacan said. He added, however, that Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was planning to pay an official visit
to Brussels in the near future, while President Abdullah Gul also
had plans to visit Brussels.

Both Gul and Erdogan have lent support to the country’s EU membership
process, Babacan said, when reminded that the European Commission’s
report praised Gul for his role in domestic and foreign policy,
while it criticized the government led by Erdogan.

—————————————- —————————————-

Babacan has bilateral talks with Armenian, Azeri ministers in Helsinki
Foreign Minister Ali Babacan had separate talks yesterday with his
Armenian and Azerbaijani counterparts in Helsinki, on the sidelines of
a meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe
(OSCE).

No statement was released following the talks, the Anatolia news
agency reported. On Wednesday, Armenian Foreign Minister Edward
Nalbandian and Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov met with
representatives from Russia, France and the United States, co-leaders
of the OSCE’s Minsk Group, working for a peaceful settlement of the
Nagorno-Karabakh dispute. Anatolia said Babacan assessed the results
of Wednesday’s meeting during talks with Nalbandian and Mammadyarov.

In September, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York,
Babacan, Nalbandian and Mammadyarov had three-way talks to discuss
the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute.

Earlier this week, during an official visit to Baku, Babacan said
resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict will have a positive
impact on Armenian-Turkish relations, describing the conflict as a
problem not only for Azerbaijan but also for Turkey and the entire
region. Ankara Today’s Zaman with wires

THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE AND US AMBASSADORS HENRY MORGENTHAU AND JOHN EVANS

ireport
058
Dec 5 2008

I would like to call attention to the documentary "Scream Bloody
Murder," by CNN reporter Christiane Amanpour. I am a human rights
activist and would like to thank CNN for taking such an extensive
role in uncovering stories of genocide that took place in Cambodia,
Rwanda and other sites where this mass atrocity has taken place. As
Armenians are victims and survivors of genocide, I as an Armenian
American work tirelessly to ensure that these stories are not only
told – but learned as historical lessons to end the cycle of genocide
we see continuing today in Darfur.

Regrettably, I am disappointed in the lack of attention this work
affords to the Armenian Genocide. This documentary presented a unique
and supremely fitting opportunity to discuss what all genocide scholars
call the Forgotten Genocide – to educate the lay public on the first
genocide of the 20th Century. It is ironic that the word "genocide"
was coined in large part because of the Armenian case and yet the
Amanpour feature barely touches upon the Armenian Genocide.

I recently read an interview in the press with Amanpour, where
she freely uses the word of genocide to refer to the Armenian
case. However, mention of the Armenians in the documentary is only
45 seconds long with a strong inference that the narrative states
or perhaps was edited to particularly avoid using the word genocide
while going on to discuss Raphael Lemkin’s pivotal role in creating an
international law on genocide. Furthermore, as the main focus of the
documentary is on those that spoke out against what was happening
during the time genocide was being committed, the Armenian case
presents a perfect example in two ways.

In 1915, no one heard the pleas of U.S. Ambassador to the Ottoman
Empire, Henry Morganthau, whose story of witnessing the campaign of
race extermination implemented by the Ottoman government is noted in
Samantha Power’s book "A Problem from Hell: American and the Age of
Genocide". Secondly, John Evans, the recent United States Ambassador
to Armenia, was dismissed from his post in 2006 because he stated that
the Armenian Genocide was a historical fact. Evans even was slated to
receive an award for constructive dissent from the State Department
which was quickly rescinded because of the pressure applied by the
Turkish government to continue denying the Armenian Genocide.

On the website promoting "Scream Bloody Murder", I noticed that
educational pieces are provided for several genocides listed
throughout the page. Quite sadly, the Armenian Genocide is not
covered. As genocide scholars point out, denial is the final stage of
genocide, and seeing denial take place regarding a genocide that took
place 93 years ago or even genocide taking place today in Darfur is
unacceptable. The unfortunate consequence of genocide is the denial
instituted by the perpetrators and the ongoing denial of the Armenian
genocide has taken shape in many forms.

I understand that in a documentary like this it is difficult to discuss
all genocides – small or large which have taken place throughout the
world – however, given the context of this documentary, the Armenian
Genocide represented a very appropriate and highly relevant component
that strongly merits inclusion as it was the first major case of the
20th century which was seminal to the current definition and creation
of the word "genocide" itself.

GENOCIDE FEATURE WORRISOME

Hurriyet
Dec 4 2008
Turkey

ANKARA – Turkey has expressed uneasiness over a two-hour documentary,
"Scream Bloody Murder," that will be screened Thursday on CNN,
depicting systematic terror and violence throughout the years as well
as the 1915 incidents.

As the 60th anniversary of the United Nations’ Convention on the
Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide approaches,
CNN’s chief international correspondent, Christiane Amanpour, will
report on genocide and the heroes who witnessed it and called for the
international community to stop it, press reports revealed yesterday.

The documentary will feature ethnic slaughters such as the Holocaust,
appalling violence in Cambodia, and the 1915 incidents. Turkey defended
its own position and its proposal to set up a joint commission of
historians to study the Armenian allegations regarding the 1915
incidents, learned the Hurriyet Daily News & Economic Review.

In response to the screening of the documentary, Ankara recalled
the current atmosphere of dialogue with Armenia that started with
the Turkish president’s landmark visit to Yerevan in September and
asked that the documentary avoid bias and reflect the steps taken by
Turkey to normalize ties with Armenia.

BARBED WIRE FENCE DIVIDING TWO NEIGHBORS

Hurriyet
Dec 4 2008
Turkey

YEREVAN – Despite diplomatic relations picking up in recent months
with President Gul’s visit to Yerevan, the border between Armenia and
Turkey remains closed. People that remember once breakfasting in Turkey
and lunching in Armenia, now have a barbed wire fence cutting them off

There is a lake between Turkey and Armenia that separates the
two countries. The Armenians call it "Aghuryan," and the Turks,
"Arpacay." The lake is so fertile it is swarming with fish. Neither
Armenians nor Turks can fish in the lake. Just 20 minutes from the
lake, barbed wire splits a railroad in two.

It is just one segment of the immense railway that stretches through
Armenia to Turkey. The entrance to Haygazsor Village at the north
of the lake is under the control of Russian and Armenian soldiers. A
sharp lookout is kept at the border of the village. It is forbidden
for an ordinary Armenian to enter the church of the village, even
for the Sunday service. The only way to attend the service is with
special permission to enter the village.

Before sunrise, in a cab driven by a Mr. Suren, we hit the road for
Gyumri, the closest border point to Turkey and the second biggest
city in Armenia. We spoke with Mr. Suren throughout the journey and
occasionally stopped at villages to speak to villagers. We were told
by 90 percent of villagers that they escaped from various cities
and towns of Anatolia, especially Kars, during the events of 1915,
to Armenia, which was then under Soviet rule.

The Armenian language they speak has an Anatolian accent. Every village
has its own special dialect. Because of this, it is sometimes hard
for people in neighbouring villages to understand each other. The
villages are no different from typical Anatolian villages and neither
are the villagers. They have named the places they live in after the
towns and cities in Anatolia they migrated from. Nearly all of the
villagers understand Turkish, even if they do not speak it.

Protecting the churches The major problem these villagers face is
the regular supply of water. While Yerevan, the extremely modern
and European looking capital of Armenia, is only 40 minutes away,
these villages are still without pipes. The villagers also face great
difficulties when the temperature drops below -40 degrees during
winter. Heating is as much of a problem as water.

We traveled from Yerevan to Gyumri in just over two hours in fits
and starts. The first stop for the Hurriyet Daily News was at a
journalist’s club in Gyumri called Asparez. Without delay, we continued
on to the border with the club president, Levon Barsexyan. Along
the way Barsexyan acquainted us with the city. He told about the
one storey houses built precaution to Gyumri’s location on a fault
line. Barsexyan said the streets and houses in Gyumri were similar
to those in Kars. "The Armenians migrated from Kars to Gyumri and
brought their lifestyle with them to this city."

Barsexyan’s grandfather was born in Kars. Before the closing of the
border, they used to go to Kars for breakfast and be back in Gyumri
for lunch. According to Barsexyan, the Soviet rulers demanded the
demolition of the churches of Gyumri but the people cleverly built
tall buildings around the churches, hiding the churches in within the
buildings courtyards. They saved many thousand-year-old churches from
demolition this way. When the Republic of Armenia gained independence
after the fall of the Soviet Union, the tall buildings were demolished
and the churches were visible once more.

During Soviet rule, Gyumri was called "Leninagan," in homage to
Lenin. Barsexyan said the city was now known by both names. There
are still visible traces in the village of the 1988 earthquake. We
walked around Gyumri under Barsexyan’s guide and reached the border
with Turkey.

Barsexyan warned us to hide our cameras as a precaution as we
approached the barbed wire. A few minutes later, we passed down the
road, walking along the railway line, half of which extends into
Turkey. We reached the border between the two countries, and looking
through the mesh of barbed wire, I gazed upon the country of my birth,
before rounding up my week long trip to Armenia.

TORTURE DEATH DIVIDES PARTIES

Hurriyet
Dec 4 2008
Turkey

ANKARA – Parliament discussed the human rights situation in Turkey
yesterday, while a parliamentary commission unanimously adopted a
report on the death of Engin Ceber by torture that saw a spat of
words pass between parties.

During the meeting, a discussion took place between Mehmet Ekinci
of the Nationalist Movement Party, or MHP, and Akın Birdal of the
pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party, or DTP.

Ekici said there was an instruction from the outlawed Revolutionary
Left, or Dev-Sol, organization that urged resistance to the police
and said the swelling on Ceber’s head while in custody could have
been caused by such resistance.

"All of these cases must be investigated and reports must be written
objectively," he said, and added individuals had responsibilities
to the state just as the state was in charge of torture and ill
treatment cases.

"In the Engin Ceber case there was both an active part and another
part, in which he was subjected to ill treatment. These two parts
should be separated from one another and clearly explained in the
report," he said.

His remarks drew criticism from Birdal who said torture was a crime
against humanity in international human rights and humanitarian law. He
said an individual who was detained during a peaceful demonstration
had the right to resist. "Human rights law comes out of the legitimacy
of the right to resistance. Therefore, torture is a crime against
humanity. This crime can in no way be defended."

Zafer Uskul, head of Parliament’s Human Rights Commission, said the
state had the right to self-protection. "And therefore, the state
will protect its self-legitimacy," he added.

State accepts responsibility Ceber died from injuries he received at
the Metris Prison in Istanbul. In the first public statement of its
kind, Justice Minister Mehmet Ali Å~^ahin accepted state responsibility
in the case.

Meanwhile, Uskul will participate in an international conference in
the Armenian capital of Yerevan bringing together ombudsmen from
the Council of Europe and Central Asian countries May. 25 to 26,
2009. the MHP’s Ekici criticized the visit to Armenia.

–Boundary_(ID_yRFjaPx0uUEv6oktM/feQQ)–

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

TURKISH-AMERICAN RELATIONS COULD CHILL COME JANUARY

Newsweek / Washington Post
/needtoknow/2008/12/turkish-american_relations_cou .html
Dec 4 2008

Perhaps the entire world has faith that Barack Obama’s historic victory
will redefine U.S. foreign policy and fix the blemished image of the
country abroad. However, there is one nation – in fact a close NATO
ally – that has reservations: Turkey.

During his visit to Columbia University in November, I got a chance
to ask the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan whether he has
concerns about Barack Obama’s close stance to the acceptance of what
Mr. Erdogan calls "the incidents of 1915" as genocide.

While congratulating Mr. Obama’s victory, Mr. Erdogan sent a critical
message to the president-elect. He reiterated his expectation from
the new administration to pay attention to Turkish sensitivities
regarding the issue, for the sake of bilateral relations.

Turkey believes that deaths resulted from inter-communal conflicts and
such events were common occurrence during World War I. Therefore, the
country strongly rejects the Armenian view, which claims that over
a million Armenians were systematically massacred by the Ottoman
Empire. Armenians commemorate the genocide every year in April,
which always proves to be a difficult month for Turkish foreign policy.

Controversy between the two neighbors is one of the most challenging
issues Turkey faces in the international arena today. Turkey shut
down its border, as well as channels of communication with Armenia
15 years ago due to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Perhaps Turkey’s worries are not in vain. In a letter to the Armenian
National Committee of America in May 2008, Mr. Obama wrote the
following: "I share your view that the United States must recognize
the events of 1915 to 1923, carried out by the Ottoman Empire, as
genocide […] We must recognize this tragic reality."

The president-elect also said, "The Bush Administration’s refusal to
do so is inexcusable, and I will continue to speak out in an effort
to move the Administration to change its position." Mr. Obama repeated
his dedication to the cause several times during his election campaign.

During his talk, I observed that Mr. Erdogan took a cautious stance
towards a possible move by the Obama administration. He reiterated
that the controversy "should be left to the historians to decide."

He expressed nonchalance at the influence of the Armenian
Diaspora on Washington, which he characterized as "cheap, political
lobbying." Mr. Erdogan added that he hoped "the new U.S. administration
would take into account Turkey’s efforts."

During his visit to the U.S. for the G-20 visit, Mr. Erdogan got
together with representatives of the president-elect’s team, and it
is yet unknown whether Turkey communicated such worries to them.

Perhaps a possibly changing paradigm of Washington-Ankara relations
is not the only challenge that will put Turkish foreign policy under
the spotlight.

Turkey, which secured a non-permanent seat at the UN Security Council
47 years after its application, will face international pressure about
the issue, say -if the question of Nagorno-Karabakh comes to the table.

When I asked the Prime Minister about whether, in such a case,
Turkey would follow the national policy or be more in line with the
United Nations’ approach to the problem, his answer revealed Turkey’s
internal dilemma in shaping its foreign policy.

On one hand, the country of 70 million people, is speeding up
its efforts to become a key player in the region by mediating
Israeli-Syrian talks and recently proposing to do so for U.S.-Iran
relations. On the other hand, Turkey’s own historico-political
narratives regarding what the Prime Minister calls "the incidents
of 1915," clash with the views of the majority of UN member states,
which casts a shadow on Turkey’s efforts to assume a peaceful mediator
role in one of the most volatile regions of the world.

Therefore, Mr. Erdogan said Turkey would "contribute to speed up
efforts for settlement of the problem," but still felt the urge to send
a message to the world community to not to "buy into the games of the
diaspora," while tackling the Armenian-Azeri problems in the region.

It is likely though, that the Security Council members would hear
the most interesting conversations about the future of the region,
if Nagorno-Karabakh takes its place on the Council’s agenda. And
those conversations would be even more intriguing, if the Obama
administration decides to shape its foreign policy in line with
Yerevan.

Whichever direction the relations evolve in the upcoming months,
it is clear that Turkey has a lot of work to do to get ready for
possible blizzards this spring, as things might not be so rosy with
Mr. Obama at the White House.

Afsin Yurdakul is currently a graduate student at Columbia University’s
School of Journalism, having previously worked as a world news reporter
and editor at Turkey’s news portal NTV-MSNBC.

RUSSIA, U.S., FRANCE CALL FOR FINAL PEACEFUL SOLUTION ON NAGORNO-KARABAKH

Xinhua

Dec 5 2008
China

HELSINKI, Dec. 4 (Xinhua) — Russia, the United States and France
called here on Thursday for an early comprehensive peaceful solution on
Nagorno-Karabakh, a conflict-stricken region breakaway from Azerbaijan.

The three countries, or the OSCE Minsk Group’s Co-Chair countries in
the jargon of the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe
(OSCE), made the call on the sideline of the OSCE ministerial meeting
in Helsinki.

In a joint declaration, the three countries urged the parities to
the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict to "build on the positive momentum"
established in the Moscow Declaration on Nov. 2 this year.

"In keeping with the Moscow Declaration, we call on the parties to
work with the co-chairs to develop confidence-building measures,
beginning with pulling back snipers from the Line of Contact to save
lives of innocent civilians and soldiers," said the document.

"We called on the parties to work with the co-chairs to finalize
the basic principles in coming months, and then begin drafting a
comprehensive peace settlement," the joint declaration said.

Nagorno-Karabakh, a region with a large Armenian population, declared
independence from Azerbaijan in the early 1990s and has been a source
of conflict ever since.

"We reiterate our firm view that there is no military solution to the
conflict and call on the parties to recommit to a peaceful resolution,"
the joint declaration added.

On the same day, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also stressed
the necessity to coordinate basic principles on the Nagorno Karabakh
conflict.

"We call on the sides jointly with the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs
to arrive at an agreement on the basic principles and then start
preparations for a comprehensive peace deal," he said.

‘SCREAM BLOODY MURDER’: CNN’S UNBLINKING LOOK AT GENOCIDE
By Tom Shales

Washington Post
Dec 5 2008

Offered perhaps as a grim antidote to all the chirpy, cheery holiday
specials glutting the airwaves this time of year, "CNN Presents: Scream
Bloody Murder," a definitely unflinching history of genocide, premieres
tonight on CNN. The network’s chief international correspondent,
Christiane Amanpour, conducts the class, calling genocide "the world’s
most feared crime."

Genocide might also be called the unthinkable inevitable, since it is
always condemned when discovered and yet continues to recur, wiping
out entire populations, entire generations, entire cultures. The word
was not invented until 1944, Amanpour says, but of course, there were
examples of genocide long before it was identified.

The vilest, most infamous and most organized commission of this
ultimate crime was, inarguably, Adolf Hitler’s attempt to eliminate
all Jews from Europe during World War II. Amanpour says the United
States and its allies were aware of the slaughter but "refused" to
bomb the death camps or, as many people advocated, destroy the railroad
tracks leading to them. A Holocaust survivor says Hitler’s anti-Semitic
rampage "wasn’t a priority" for the Allies — although after the war,
the crime and some of the criminals were dealt with at Nuremberg.

Elie Wiesel is the world’s best-known authority on the Holocaust, but
he is also an advocate for other cultures wracked by genocide. He is
seen early in the program during a segment on the genocide in Cambodia
at the end of the Vietnam War. "Nobody believed us," an anguished
priest laments, and Wiesel understands. "Better not to believe,"
Wiesel says, "because if you believe, you don’t sleep nights." The
nightmare that the Turks visited upon the Armenians is also covered,
though briefly.

Later, Amanpour takes George Herbert Walker Bush and his administration
to task for failing to intercede when Saddam Hussein rained terror
down on Iraq’s own citizens, the Kurds, in the late 1980s. Bush later
turned the proverbial blind eye to mass murder in Bosnia, Amanpour
says, with the president growling at a news conference that "we are
not going to get bogged down in some guerrilla warfare."

Although Bush ignored the slaughter of the Kurds, he grabbed a saber
and began rattling it when Saddam invaded Kuwait — and thus threatened
the flow of oil and wealth out of the Mideast. Now that was going
too far! Oil-rich Kuwait plucked at Bush’s heartstrings as the dying
Kurds had not: "We’re dealing with Hitler revisited," he declared,
adding one of his trademark threats, "This will not stand."

But Amanpour is just as hard on Bill Clinton for his response to Rwanda
when the military was found to have murdered "hundreds of thousands" of
men, women and children there. The Clinton administration’s policy was
"a failure," Amanpour says, and she includes a scene from a Clinton
news conference in which he treats one of her accusations snidely:
"There have been no ‘constant flip-flops,’ Madame," he huffs. His
indignation seems false and hollow now.

CNN is celebrating 25 years of reports by star reporter Amanpour,
although to attach a documentary on genocide to anything resembling a
"celebration" is not very good form. Nor is it encouraging to hear
Amanpour implicitly praising herself and her own courage when dealing
with genocide of recent years: "Day after day, I reported the story,"
she says of one crisis — and later, she notes of the shelling of
Sarajevo, "I was there, reporting on the scene."

The use of a dramatic musical score, though restrained, comes across
as another unnecessary intrusion; pictures as dramatic as those showing
the victims of genocide don’t need any underscoring or audio hype.

Amanpour ends the program with a look at the United Nations and its
role in preventing and condemning genocide throughout the world, a role
she contends the organization has seldom embraced with zeal. In fact,
Amanpour says, "the United Nations is powerless to force its members
to act even in the face of mass murder." The special is timed to the
upcoming 60th anniversary of the U.N. convention on genocide.

Some may find the program tough to take at holiday time, but in fact
it seems especially powerful during a season in which "peace on Earth"
and "good will toward men" are being extolled from street corners.

"Scream Bloody Murder" isn’t subtle, but then the subject rather
precludes subtlety — and instead demands the kind of doggedly powerful
approach that Amanpour brings to it.