Month: September 2009

GENOCIDE ISSUE POPPED UP IN THE LEAST CONTEMPLATED PLACE

Information-Analytic Agency NEWS.am
Aug 31 2009
Armenia

Armenian Genocide issue is one of the topical for those guided by
a sense of truth and voice of conscience. One of them is the author
of Israeli ‘The Jerusalem Post’ daily’s article. NEWS.am issues the
full text.

"Ten years ago, I was in Armenia for Genocide Memorial Day. Armenians
from their &’galut’ around the world had come to Yerevan to participate
with local citizens in the solemn commemoration. I was with a group
that came from the US, including Henry Morgenthau III. He was there
because the government intended to honor his grandfather, the first
Henry, who as the US ambassador to Constantinople in 1915 had raised
the alarm about the Armenian genocide.

The Morgenthaus and I were Jews among the Armenians. After a week
together, however, it was hard to remember that the Armenians
weren’t Jews. We have much in common: lost families, lost homes,
lost countries, lost languages, lives as minorities, a diaspora,
fears of assimilation, factions in religious practice — and genocide,
as well as foes who would deny that the genocide ever happened.

But this also is where Jews and Armenians part. No civilized society
will tolerate Holocaust denial. Nearly a century later, however,
denial of the Armenian genocide persists, and it pops up in the most
unexpected places.

Most recently it was in the federal appeals court in California. In
a ruling on August 20, two members of a three-judge appellate panel
did not quite deny the Armenian genocide; it was more like &’genocide
squelching.’ At issue was one of a handful of California laws that
collectively extended the statutes of limitations so that Nazi victims,
including slave laborers, as well as victims of the Armenian genocide,
would have additional time to file various claims for redress from
human rights abuses and other losses.

The Armenians were seeking insurance payments from the period in the
waning days of the Ottoman Empire during which they were deported
and massacred by the Turks. This was akin to efforts within the
Jewish community in the last decade to recover insurance payments
for policies written during the Nazi era.

Jewish insurance claims were handled by an international commission
chaired by former US secretary of state Lawrence Eagleburger. Armenians
fended for themselves. Claims from the Ottoman/World War I era were
handled by lawyers who dealt with individual insurance companies. The
American insurer New York Life and the French company AXA reached
settlements with the Armenians.

The case in federal court in California pits Armenians against German
insurance companies. (Let’s put aside for this discussion that German
enterprises should be sensitive to any claim related to genocide,
or that it was Hitler who blithely predicted that no one would
remember the fate of the Armenians.) The German insurers resisted
any discussion of claims, including the possibility of humanitarian
settlements with payments to charitable institutions, said Brian
Kabateck, the Los Angeles attorney representing the Armenians.

The German companies argued that US presidential foreign policy
prohibits legislative recognition of an &’Armenian genocide.’ Although
more than 40 American states have policies on the Armenian genocide,
there is no federal policy recognizing it. Each time in recent years
that a congressional resolution appeared likely to affirm that the
genocide had occurred, the Bush and Clinton administrations argued
against it, saying it would hurt American foreign policy by offending
Turkey, a key ally. The Turks have never recognized the genocide;
they refer to an Armenian revolt.

In a very broad statement that went far beyond California’s laws on
claims deadlines, the federal appellate panel concluded that &’there
is an express federal policy prohibiting legislative recognition of an
‘Armenian genocide."

&’By using the phrase ‘Armenian genocide,’ California has defied the
president’s foreign policy preferences,’ the panel ruled.

It was not swayed by the fact that the federal government has
not expressly prohibited states from using the phrase &’Armenian
genocide.’ And the US government did not participate in this case,
so its position on how states treat the genocide is entirely unclear.

Kabateck, the Los Angeles attorney, vowed to appeal to
the full appellate court, saying the two judges’ ruling was
&’genocide-squelching.’ &’The court says the words ‘Armenian genocide’
when said by any state or local government violates the foreign powers
of the US government and is unconstitutional,’ he said. &’Taken to its
logical extreme, if these two judges are correct, no state or local
government in the United States may use those words in any capacity.’

The court ignored the US record, including president Ronald Reagan’s
1981 proclamation explicitly referring to &’the genocide of the
Armenians,’ said Rouben Adalian, director of the Armenian National
Institute in Washington. &’This decision has so many egregious mistakes
it makes one wonder what else was going on. It is frightening to
see how even judges could be so misled into dangerous and really
shameful territory.’

There is now concern that the ruling will be used as Turkish
propaganda, and to expand the assault on teaching about the genocide
in American public schools.

In June, a federal judge in Boston rejected a lawsuit filed by several
students, teachers and the Assembly of Turkish American Associations
that challenged Massachusetts’ state curriculum. The education
guidelines characterize the World War I-era deaths of Armenians as
genocide. Mark Wolf, the chief judge of the US District Court in
Massachusetts, said the sensitive questions on the historic tragedy
should be debated in the legislature, not the courts.

American Jews don’t face these horrific fights over atrocities and
whether to teach them. New York, New Jersey, California, Florida and
Illinois have laws requiring the teaching of the Holocaust. Ten other
states have regulations recommending Holocaust education. Twelve
states also have Holocaust commissions or councils that support
Holocaust education.

But we surely remember our own battles against Holocaust denial. And
as we are aggressive in protecting our history and in protesting
contemporary atrocities such as in Darfur, so should we protest the
denial of other atrocities of the past."

ARMENIA AND TURKEY TO START INTERNAL POLITICAL CONSULTATIONS

Information-Analytic Agency NEWS.am
Aug 31 2009
Armenia

NEWS.am issues the full text of the press release by the Swiss Federal
Department of Foreign Affairs, Armenian and Turkish Foreign Ministries.

"The Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Turkey have agreed
to start their internal political consultations on two protocols –
the ‘Protocol on the establishment of diplomatic relations’ and the
‘Protocol on the development of bilateral relations’ – which have
been initiated in the course of their efforts under Swiss mediation.

The two Protocols provide for a framework for the normalization of
their bilateral relations within a reasonable timeframe. The political
consultations will be completed within six weeks, following which
the two Protocols will be signed and submitted to the respective
Parliaments for the ratification on each side. Both sides will make
their best efforts for the timely progression of the ratification in
line with their constitutional and legal procedures.

The normalization of bilateral relations will contribute to the
regional peace and stability. The Republic of Armenia and the Republic
of Turkey are committed are pursuing their joint efforts with the
assistance of Switzerland."

ARMENIAN CHURCHES IN CRIMEA UNDER THREAT

Panorama.am
10:55 31/08/2009

Armenian Apostolic churches of Archangels Michael and Gabriel; and
St. George located in Crimea (Ukraine) are reported to be in extreme
bad conditions, "Yerkramas" reports.

According to the source neither Armenian Community nor municipal
budget have means to finance recovering activities.

It is said that once 39 churches were constructed in Crimea and only
4 of them stand till today. 15 years ago 3 churches – Archangels
Michael and Gabriel, St. George and St. Sargis were handed to Armenian
Apostolic Church.

TURKEY, ARMENIA TO SIGN DEALS ON NORMALIZING TIES
By Ross Kerber

U.S. Daily
Aug 31 2009

ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkey and Armenia will sign two accords within
six weeks on normalizing ties between the two countries after a
century of hostility, a Turkish Foreign Ministry source told reporters
on Monday.

The two countries announced a roadmap in April to restore ties and
end almost a century of hostility.

PHOTOS EXPRESSING PROTEST RALLY SUPPORTING ARRESTED AZERI BLOGGERS

Panorama.am
15:22 29/08/2009

A protest rally, organized by Azerbaijani-Americans for Democracy
(AZAD), was held on Friday in front of Azerbaijani Embassy in
Washington, DC, in support of the arrested bloggers Adnan Hajizada
and Emin Milli.

The action was called at the initiative of a group of
Azerbaijani-Americans and was attended by about 40 people from
different cities in the United States, including representatives of
Azerbaijani-American community, Reporters Without Borders, University
of Richmond and other American public.

Holding US and Azerbaijani flags, protesters chanted slogans and held
posters demanding freedom for Adnan Hajizada, Emin Milli, and other
Azerbaijani journalists and political prisoners.

Some of the slogans included "Free Azeri Bloggers, Arrest Corrupt
Azeri Officials", "Ilham Aliyev, You Are Responsible For Arrest of
Adnan and Emin", "Freedom for Adnan and Emin", "Respect Free Speech
and Human Rights", "Rule by Law Not by Force", "Down with Tyranny",
"Long Live Republic, Down with Monarchy" and others.

A representative of Reporters Without Borders, Clothilde Le Coz,
has read a statement at the rally, demanding the immediate release
of Adnan and Emin.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

SOME NEW NEWS, TWISTS IN THE SCHMIDT V. KRIKORIAN (SIBEL EDMONDS-RELATED) ELECTION CASE IN OHIO
By Brad Friedman

Brad Blog

Aug 31 2009

A couple of quick updates, and a few notable developments in the status
of the Ohio Election Commission (OEC) case between the Republican
2nd-Distrtict U.S. Rep. Jean Schmidt and her independent ’08 (and now,
Democratic ’10 ) challenger David Krikorian.

This is the case which resulted in the recent stunning deposition
of FBI translator-turned-whistleblower Sibel Edmonds, as Schmidt
has alleged "false statements" by Krikorian when he claimed that she
accepted "blood money" from the Turkish Lobby in exchange for opposing
a Congressional vote on the "Armenian Genocide" resolution. He says
her campaign received more money from that lobby than any other member
last year, after which she became the co-chair of the Congressional
Tukish Coalition. That, despite the paucity of any actual ethnic
Turks in her district.

Krikorian offered a few interesting status updates on the case to
The BRAD BLOG, late last week during a phone conversation…

â~@¢ A FEIN MESS: Schmidt’s attorney, Bruce Fein, who, as it came
out during the Edmonds deposition, happens to be a member of the
"Turkish Lobby" himself, as legal counsel for the Turkish American
Legal Defense Fund (TALDF) and for the Turkish Coalition of America
(TCA), and, as such, will now be deposed in the case himself. Krikorian
recently applied to the OEC for permission to depose Fein, and they
have now ruled in his favor and allowed a subpoena to be issued to him.

Fein was a former Reagan Administration official who became a bit of a
hero to Progressives over the last several years due to his outspoken
criticism of the Bush Administration. As an attorney, however, his
work during the deposition, in attempting to impeach the credibility
of Edmonds may be seen as, um, somewhat less than effective (and,
at times, even quite humorous, in our opinion).

Following the 8/8/09 Edmonds deposition, when asked by an Armenian
media outlet if he felt it might be a conflict of interest in
representing Schmidt, since he could be called to testify himself,
given his position in the Turkish Lobby, Fein didn’t believe he would
be called to testify, "because this case has nothing to do" with the
organizations he’s associated with. (Video here, Fein interviewed
beginning at appx the 5:30 mark.) However, if called, he said he’d
"testify under oath there is nothing that I did that even remotely
resembles….any insinuation that [Edmonds] made in regard to this
case."

Krikorian tells us he believes Fein is the "archtect of the entire
Turkish Lobby’s defense in the U.S. … The guy who travels the country
attacking anybody he can attack vis a vis the Armenian Genocide. … We
will now be able to take his testimony, which is highly unusual given
that he is the opposing counsel in the case."

â~@¢ SCHMIDT PLAYS SGT SCHULTZ: Jean Schmidt herself was recently
deposed in the matter, though, according to Krikorian, "she would not
agree to allowing a video tape of the deposition, unless an agreement
was made before hand to not release the video tape into the public
domain." The transcript of her deposition (which we haven’t yet had
time to review, but here’s Armenian Weekly’s coverage reporting that
Schmidt claimed she had no idea why she’d received so much money from
the Turkish interests), can be downloaded here [PDF].

â~@¢ EDMONDS TO TAKE STAND?: Finally, the Krikorian team has
petitioned the OEC to postpone the public hearing in the matter,
which is currently scheduled for this Thursday, Sept. 3rd, a few days
later. The reason: They would like Edmonds to take the stand during
the hearing, though she is scheduled to be out of the country until
the end of this week. Edmonds tells The BRAD BLOG she’d very much
like to appear as a witness, though she seems less than optimistic
that Krikorian will be granted the extension he has requested.

NOAM CHOMSKY AND GENOCIDAL CAUSALITY
Marko Attila Hoare

Bosnian Institute News
ewsid=2624
Aug 31 2009

Dissection of Chomsky’s sophistry on the issue of who was to blame
for Serbian ethnic cleansing in Kosova

It is with some hesitation that I comment on the exchange between
Noam Chomsky and Ian Williams over the question of responsibility
for the bloodshed in Kosova in the late 1990s. Chomsky has no
expertise and nothing interesting to say on the topic of the former
Yugoslavia, and it is only because of his status as the world’s no. 1
‘anti-imperialist’ guru that his utterances on the topic attract as
many responses as they do. Chomsky epitomises the ‘anti-imperialist’
ideologue who believes in two things: 1) that the US is to blame
for everything; and 2) that everything the US does is bad. If you
share this worldview, then nothing said by Chomsky’s critics, such
as Williams or Oliver Kamm, is going to convince you that he may
be wrong on Kosova. If, on the other hand, you do not share this
worldview, and are not star-struck by the celebrity Chomsky, then his
rambling comparisons between the Western response over Kosova and the
Western response over East Timor can only appear extremely tortuous
and boring. It is tiresome yet again to point out, for example, the
absolute falsehood of Chomsky’s claim that ‘the crimes in East Timor
at the same time’ as the Kosovo war ‘were far worse than anything
reported in Kosovo prior to the NATO bombing’ – it simply isn’t true.

I am using Chomsky, therefore, only to open a discussion on the
question of genocidal causality, and the insidious nature of the
sophistry employed by Chomsky and his ‘anti-imperialist’ comrades:
that Serbian ethnic-cleansing in Kosova occurred in response to the
NATO bombing and was therefore NATO’s fault. As Chomsky put it: ‘The
NATO bombing did not end the atrocities but rather precipitated by
far the worst of them, as had been anticipated by the NATO command
and the White House.’ The thrust of Chomsky’s argument is that
since NATO commanders predicted that the NATO bombing would lead
to a massive escalation of Serbian attacks on the Kosova Albanian
civilian population, and since this prediction was borne out, then
NATO is responsible for having cold-bloodedly caused the atrocities
that occurred after the bombing started.

The falsehood of this logic can be demonstrated if we ask the following
questions:

1) Chomsky claims that the bombing precipitated ‘by far the worst’
of the atrocities, but what precipitated the bombing ?

The answer is that the NATO bombing of Serbia in March 1999
was precipitated by Belgrade’s rejection of the Rambouillet
Accords. Belgrade was aware that rejecting the Rambouillet Accords
would precipitate Serbia being bombed by NATO, but rejected them
nevertheless. By Chomsky’s own logic, therefore, Serbia’s own actions
precipitated the NATO bombings, and were consequently responsible for
those bombings. Since, according to Chomsky, the bombings led to the
atrocities, that means that Serbia was responsible for the atrocities
after all.

What Chomsky would like us to believe, is that if a US or NATO
action produced a predictable Serbian response, then the response
was the fault of the US/NATO. But if, on the other hand, a Serbian
action produced a predictable US/NATO response, then the response
was still the fault of the US/NATO. This is self-evidently a case of
double standards.

2) Chomsky claims that the bombing precipitated ‘by far the worst’
of the atrocities, but what would have been precipitated by a failure
to bomb ?

>From reading Chomsky and his fellow ‘anti-imperialists’, one would
almost believe that the bloodshed in Kosova had been – in Edward Said’s
words – a ‘Sunday school picnic’ prior to the NATO bombing. Yet this
is what Human Rights Watch reported in January 1999, more than two
months before the bombing began:

The government forces intensified their offensive throughout July and
August [1998], despite promises from Milosevic that it had stopped. By
mid-August, the government had retaken much of the territory that had
been held by the KLA, including their stronghold of Malisevo. Unable
to protect the civilian population, the KLA retreated into Drenica
and some pockets in the West.

Some of the worst atrocities to date occurred in late September, as the
government’s offensive was coming to an end. On September 26, eighteen
members of an extended family, mostly women, children, and elderly,
were killed near the village of Donje Obrinje by men believed to be
with the Serbian special police. Many of the victims had been shot
in the head and showed signs of bodily mutilation. On the same day,
thirteen ethnic Albanian men were executed in the nearby village of
Golubovac by government forces. One man survived and was subsequently
taken out of the country by the international agencies in Kosovo.

The government offensive was an apparent attempt to crush civilian
support for the rebels. Government forces attacked civilians,
systematically destroyed towns, and forced thousands of people to
flee their homes. One attack in August near Senik killed seventeen
civilians who were hiding in the woods. The police were seen looting
homes, destroying already abandoned villages, burning crops, and
killing farm animals.

The majority of those killed and injured were civilians. At least
300,000 people were displaced, many of them women and children now
living without shelter in the mountains and woods. In October, the
U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) identified an estimated
35,000 of the displaced as particularly at risk of exposure to the
elements. Most were too afraid to return to their homes due to the
continued police presence. [our emphasis]

(Contrary to what Chomsky says, the number killed in Kosova prior
to the start of the NATO bombing was greater than the number of East
Timorese civilians killed by the Indonesians and their proxies during
the whole of 1999).

Chomsky is saying that if – instead of presenting an ultimatum
to Belgrade at Rambouillet and then proceeding to bomb Serbia when
Belgrade defied that ultimatum – the NATO powers had given Belgrade a
free hand in Kosova, then Serbian repression in Kosova would simply
have continued at what he considers to be an acceptable level. Of
course, there is no way of proving one way or the other what would
have happened in Kosova if NATO hadn’t gone to war in the spring of
1999, but given the catalogue of horrors in the former Yugoslavia
that were demonstrably not ‘precipitated’ by Western military
intervention – the destruction of Vukovar, the siege of Sarajevo,
the Srebrenica massacre, the killing of at least 100,000 Bosnians,
the ethnic-cleansing of 300,000 Kosovars, etc. – the evidence suggests
that it would not have resembled Edward Said’s ‘Sunday school picnic’.

3) Chomsky claims that the bombing precipitated ‘by far the worst’
of the atrocities, but even if this were true, would this make those
atrocities NATO’s fault ?

Genocides are invariably ‘precipitated’ by something or other. The
Armenian Genocide was ‘precipitated’ by the outbreak of World War I and
Tsarist Russia’s military advance into Anatolia. The Rwandan Genocide
was ‘precipitated’ by the Rwandan Patriotic Front’s offensive against
the Rwandan Army, the Arusha Accords and by the shooting down of the
plane carrying Rwanda’s President Juvenal Habyarimana. Of course,
it is entirely legitimate for historians to interpret instances of
genocide as having been ‘precipitated’ by something or other, but
anyone who uses such explanations to shift the responsibility away
from the perpetrators – whether Ottoman, Hutu, German, Serbian or
other – is simply an apologist or a denier.

On 30 January 1939, Adolf Hitler gave a speech to the Reichstag in
which he stated: ‘If the world of international financial Jewry,
both in and outside of Europe, should succeed in plunging the nations
into another world war, the result will not be the Bolshevisation
of the world and thus a victory for Judaism. The result will be the
extermination of the Jewish race in Europe.’

Hitler therefore made it explicit that the outbreak of a world war
would result in the extermination of the Jews in Europe. Indeed,
the outbreak and course of World War II ‘precipitated’ the
Holocaust. Britain and France, when they declared war on Germany
in September 1939, were by Chomsky’s logic responsible for the
Holocaust. Some ‘anti-imperialists’ have, in fact, attempted to make
this very point.

In sum, Chomsky’s case is a disgrace at the level of plain reasoning,
never mind at the level of ethics.

Let there be no mistake about this: atrocities, ethnic cleansing and
genocide are the responsibility of those who commit them. Whatever
‘precipitates’ them, they are the fault of their perpetrators. And
it would be a sorry world indeed if were were to allow perpetrators
to deter us from taking action to stop atrocities, ethnic cleansing
and genocide, by their threat to commit still worse crimes in the
event that we do take action.

This comment was posted on the author’s Greater Surbiton website,
25 August 2009

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, WILLIAM SAROYAN

Examiner.com
517-Austin-Literature-Examiner~y2009m8d31-Happy-bi rthday-William-Saroyan
Aug 31 2009

One hundred and one years ago today, playwright and author William
Saroyan was born. The son of Armenian immigrants, Saroyan was a
California native who often set his stories in his home town of
Fresno. His father died when he was three years old, and Saroyan
himself is said to have decided to become a writer when his mother
showed him some of his father’s work.

Saroyan’s big break as a writer came with the publication of his story,
The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze in 1934. Chronicling the
struggle of a starving writer during the Depression, the story gained
such popularity that Saroyan’s previous works as well as his current
writings began being published regularly. Six years later Saroyan was
awarded a Pulitzer Prize for his play The Time of Your Life, an honor
he refused based on his belief that the arts should not be judged. The
play was eventually adapted into a feature film starring James Cagney.

In 1943, Saroyan was hired to write a screenplay for MGM Studios. This
screenplay became the film The Human Comedy, but when Saroyan was
fired from the project, he novelized the story as a counterpoint
to the film. The novel, with strong references to Homer’s Odyssey,
follows 14-year-old Homer Macauley, who earns money as a telegraph
boy in California. Set during the war, Homer sometimes finds himself
delivering messages to families of fallen soldiers. Though he won
an Oscar for the original story of the film, Saroyan fell out of
favor after the war because of the idealism inherent in his work,
then considered to be out of fashion.

Fraught with financial troubles at various points in his career,
and engaged in a tumultuous relationship with actress Carol Marcus,
Saroyan’s private life was not ideal. Married and divorced twice,
Saroyan and Marcus had two children, daughter Lucy and son Aram, who
is a poet and author in his own right today. Marcus went on to marry
actor Walter Matthau. Saroyan continued to write late into his life,
dying of prostate cancer in 1981.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

YEREVAN INTERNATIONAL MUSICAL FESTIVAL TO BE HELD AT FALL

Panorama.am
13:41 31/08/2009

Yerevan international musical festival will be held in Yerevan,
11-23 September. 12 concerts are scheduled to be conducted in Aram
Khachatryan hall in the framework of the festival held the third times,
Culture Ministry reports.

Solo performers invited to participate in the festival are Kim
Qashqashyan (alt, USA), Wolfgang Mayer (Clarinet, Germany), Anahit
Chaushyan (piano, UK), Ilia Gringolts (violin, Russia), Juzzepe
Jakomini (tenor, Italy), Karine Babajanyan (soprano, Germany),
Daishin Kashimoto (violin, Japan), etc.

The conductor of Yerevan international musical festival is Edward
Topchyan, violoncello Alexander Chaushyan from Great Britain.

It’s worth reminding that the festival is supported by the Ministry
of Culture under the patronage of Armenian First Lady.

TURKEY AND ARMENIA WILL NORMALIZE TIES

About – News & Issues
nd-armenia-will-normalize-ties.htm
Aug 31 2009

Could that have been why, when he had the chance in April, President
Obama refused to condemn the Armenian genocide perpetrated by Turks,
breaking a campaign promise?

Today, Turkey and Armenia agreed to establish diplomatic relations–to
"start political negotiations" toward a final settlement, as their
joint statement had it–seemingly ending a century of enmity borne of
that genocide during the fading days of the Ottoman Empire. About 1.5
million Armenians were massacred in that first wide-scale genocide
of the 20th century. Turkey to this day denies there ever was a
genocide. As official Turkish history has it, people were dying
on all sides at the end of World War I, of famine, of population
"transfers," of war, but Turks didn’t intentionally set out to massacre
Armenians. The record says otherwise.

Turkey’s motives for settling its antagonistic history with
Armenia isn’t a secret. Turkey wants into the European Union. The
European Union isn’t thrilled. Turkey’s human rights record, its
genocide-denial, its increasingly Islamist-flavored, and favoring,
government, are obstacles to admission. By making nice with Armenia,
it’s one obstacle removed. To that end, Turkey agreed to talks with
Armenia mediated by Switzerland last year, and in September Turkish
President Abdullah Gul pulled something of an Anwar Sadat by going to
Armenia (at the Armenian president’s invitation) to attend a soccer
game between Turkey and Armenia. It was another step in the thaw.

Had Obama kept to his promise and spoken of the Armenian genocide
as such, his administration may have calculated (over-calculated,
in some opinions, mine among them) that it would risk derailing
the talks with Armenia. It may well have had the opposite effect,
accelerating them–and ending Turkey’s assumption that any time it
bullies its allies, they’ll back down. At this juncture, we won’t know.

What we do know is that as negotiations proceed between Armenia and
Turkey, the subject of the Armenian genocide remains untouched. So
does the issue of the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh (where an Armenian
majority lives, and voted to unite with Armenia), disputed between
Armenia and Azerbaijan. Turkey backs Azerbaijan in that one.

Turkey and Armenia’s final negotiating round is due to culminate
in six weeks in Istanbul when, on Oct. 14, the two countries face
off again on the soccer pitch in a World Cup qualifying match. The
match won’t be as dramatic as it was on June 9 in Yerevan, the
Armenian capital. That was the first qualifier in the two countries
group. Armenian played as if they had a chance. They didn’t, really,
getting beaten 2-0 and going on to lose five of the six matches it’s
played to date, and being eliminated along the way.

Turkey though is still fighting for a spot in the 2010 World Cup,
barely. so the match against Armenia may carry even more significance
than a mere signing away of a century of enmity.

Don’t laugh. Soccer can do funny things for diplomacy.l Two countries
that have already qualified for the 2010 World Cup and may well meet on
the pitch in front of a world audience of hundreds of millions? North
and South Korea.