ASBAREZ ONLINE [12-20-2004]

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12/20/2004
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WEBSITE AT <;HTTP:// 1) Mixed Reaction to Turkey Decision 2) EU Fears Turkey Clash May Mask Cyprus Friction 3) Armenian Genocide and Territorial Losses on Russian State TV 4) No Karabagh in Settlement Negotiations, Stresses Baku 5) US Takes 'Terrible Tragedy' Route 1) Mixed Reaction to Turkey Decision BRUSSELS (Combined Sources)--While Turkish leader Tayyip Recep Erdogan returned home to a hero's welcome after agreeing to accession terms with the EU, there has been a less enthusiastic reaction in some European capitals. Erdogan arrived back in Turkey on Saturday, December 18 to a rapturous reception and was hailed as the "conqueror of Europe." He said, "We did not receive 100 percent of what we wanted, but we can say that we succeeded," according to Le Monde. Reflecting the momentous nature of the decision, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said, "Turkey is a very different country than it was two days ago." STREET PROTESTS But elsewhere in Europe, the reaction has been less positive. Supporters of the populist Northern League Party in Italy took to the streets to protest at the decision. According to media reports, they unfurled banners saying, "Yes to Christian roots." Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schussel announced that his country would join France in holding a referendum on Turkey's accession, adding another potential obstacle in Ankara's path. This decision was criticized by Dutch Foreign Minister Bernard Bot who said, "We have never said to the Turks, neither in 1999 nor in 2002, that a referendum would lie at the end of the process. We have to be fair." And Nicolas Sarkozy, former Finance Minister and rising star of French politics, renewed his call for a "privileged partnership" with Turkey, rather than full membership. Sarkozy, who hopes to take over from Jacques Chirac as French President in 2007, said, "If Turkey were European, we would know it…I'm for a privileged partnership but I'm reserved about membership, like a large number of notable voices". "Europe already has difficulty functioning with 25 members. The more members Europe has, the less we will be integrated, the less we will share common values and the more fragile we will be." France will put all issues to Turkey during negotiations over it joining the European Union, "including that of the Armenian genocide," French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier said Monday. "What has to be done now is start membership negotiations which are going to be very long, very difficult, during which we will put all issues on the table, including that of the Armenian genocide, with the hope of obtaining a response from Turkey before membership," he told French radio station RTL. To add the Armenian issue to a list of others--most notably Ankara's recognition of the Greek Cypriot government--is seen as a bargaining chip in the membership negotiations that are to begin in October next year, and a way of showing the French public that Turkey is being made to heed Paris's voice. Barnier said that Chirac, in supporting Turkey, "is expressing a vision, expressing where the interest of our country, our continent, lies for him." The French president has promised that the final decision on whether Turkey gets to join the European Union or not, as far as French voters are concerned, will come in a referendum at the end of the negotiations. VETO THREATS Cyprus warned over the weekend that it could still block Turkey's membership bid. Speaking on Cypriot television, President Tassos Papadopoulos said, "The Republic of Cyprus has the right not to consent to the start of entry talks." Controversy over Cyprus nearly put an end to the deal during last Friday's negotiations, with Turkey refusing to recognize the republic and the EU insisting that Turkey expand its customs agreement to the new Member States-- including Cyprus. And Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter reports that the Kurdish minority in Turkey are disappointed because their hopes to have their language recognized were not raised as an issue. Of the 70 million people in Turkey, 20 million are Kurds. MUCH WORK TO DO Even Erdogan stressed the amount of difficult work to do. Turkey must now open and close 31 "chapters" during negotiations, covering such areas such as Justice and Home Affairs and Competition. Any EU member can veto the closing of a chapter leaving much scope for blocking Turkish progress. And even if the laborious process of agreeing accession is achieved, referendums in France or Austria could still see Turkey falling at the last hurdle. 2) EU Fears Turkey Clash May Mask Cyprus Friction BRUSSELS (Reuters)--European Union diplomats voiced concern on Friday that the Turkish president's refusal to let the leader of the ruling party become prime minister might reflect friction with the powerful military establishment over an early peace deal on Cyprus. President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, a staunch secularist, vetoed constitutional amendments on Thursday to lift a parliamentary ban on Tayyip Erdogan, head of the Justice and Development Party (AKP), preventing him from leading the government. Erdogan, who has spearheaded Turkey's drive to win a date for starting EU accession talks and favors an early peace deal on Cyprus, was barred from standing for office because he received a jail sentence in 1999 for Islamist sedition. He denies his AKP has Islamist views. The AKP vowed on Friday to use its parliamentary majority to over-ride the veto. "This standoff could reflect serious differences between the military and the president, on the one hand, and Erdogan and his party on the other, over Cyprus," a senior EU diplomat said. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has called for an accord by February 28 to reunite Cyprus after the two sides failed to agree at last week's Copenhagen EU summit. Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash is widely seen as a key obstacle to a deal. "Erdogan and his advisers are very eager to move on Cyprus as soon as possible and eager to put quite lot of pressure on Denktash. The fact that this is not the line that some hardliners might subscribe to at this point could be reflected by this decision by the president," the EU diplomat said. NOT NECESSARILY SETBACK However, other EU officials played down the dispute, saying it was neither a major crisis nor necessarily a setback for Turkey's drive to meet EU standards of democracy and human rights. "This is not a major political crisis in Turkey and we would not draw conclusions on whether the move is in contradiction with the Copenhagen criteria," said one EU diplomat. Those criteria set standards on democracy, human rights, and the rule of law which every EU candidate must meet before it can open accession talks. EU leaders agreed last week to review in December 2004 whether Turkey has met the standards. Cristina Gallach, spokeswoman for EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, said the EU had taken a strategic decision on rapprochement with Turkey and hoped the constitutional issue would not affect that process. "We expect developments regarding Cyprus very soon, as the secretary-general of the United Nations has said, therefore we hope and expect this (political) situation will not affect the resolution of this major issue very soon," she told Reuters. EU officials said Sezer had acted entirely constitutionally by refusing to approve amendments which appeared to be tailored to the political ambitions of one man. "This proves that the system works. Sezer is a strong defender of democracy and the constitutional order. We trust him," one EU government official told Reuters. The amendments have the full backing of Turkey's secularist opposition Republican People's Party, which has said it would vote in favor of the changes again when they go through parliament a second time. Another senior EU source said it was strange to have the respected leader of a party democratically elected to rule a country not allowed to take office. The EU has treated Erdogan as de facto leader of Turkey since the election. "It is not good to have somebody as a real leader not able to exercise power...And Erdogan is a real leader, a strong man. This is not good news," the source said. The amendments that Sezer vetoed would have let Erdogan stand in a by-election early next year. Erdogan's right-hand man, Abdullah Gul, is now prime minister but is expected to step down if his boss enters parliament. 3) Armenian Genocide and Territorial Losses on Russian State TV YEREVAN (Yerkir)--The Russian Cultural Fund and the "Rossia" TV company, in association with the Armenian Revolutionary Federation's (ARF) Moscow office, have produced a documentary that seeks to unveil the truth about the 1917 Russian Revolution. "Who Paid Lenin?" uses rich archival footage and rare documents to affirm that the success of the revolution, and subsequent Russian concessions were the result of an agreement between Germany and Lenin. It tells of a plan offered to Lenin by Alexander Israel Helphand (Parvus), who was the connection to Jacob Furstenberg--Germany's immediate link to Lenin, whereby the Bolsheviks seized power. In the film, ARF Bureau member and Armenian National Assembly vice speaker Vahan Hovhannisian speaks of the devastating consequences the Bolshevik Revolution had for the Armenians. With the Bolsheviks signing the Brest-Litovsk Treaty with Germany, they pulled out of the war by making vast concessions to Germany and its allies. Namely, the Russians surrendered Ukraine, Finland, the Baltic provinces, the Caucasus, and Poland. Under the treaty, Russian troops--though at the edge of victory--withdrew from Western Armenia. The Kars and Ardahan regions of Eastern Armenia were surrendered to Turkey, leaving Armenians open to yet another massacre by Turkey. The 1921 Moscow and Kars treaties upheld those concessions by the Bolshevik government to Turkey. The film also contains historic footage from the Armenian genocide. "Who Paid Lenin?" will debut on Rossia TV on December 22 at 11:35 p.m. Moscow time. 4) No Karabagh in Settlement Negotiations, Stresses Baku BAKU (Armenpress)--Azeri Foreign Affairs Ministry Press Secretary Meti Mirza told "Interfax" news agency that Azerbaijan categorically rejects Mountainous Karabagh Republic's participation in negotiating a peace settlement to the conflict. "It's a mistake for the Armenian side to give direction on with whom Baku should negotiate," said Mirza responding to Armenia's Foreign Ministry's Press Secretary Hamlet Gasparian, who said last week that if Azerbaijan does not deem Armenia capable of implementing independent policy, then they may speak with Mountainous Karabagh directly. Gasparian was responding to Azeri President Aliyev, who said that Armenia is "Russia's advanced post in the South Caucasus." "If the Azerbaijani side…is confused and doesn't know with whom to hold the negotiations [on Karabagh], we will again have to point to Stepanakert. We hope they know where Mountainous Karabagh is situated," Gasparian warned. Calling for negotiations only between Armenia and Azerbaijan for seeking peace in Karabagh, Mirza also stressed: "The Armenian community in Mountainous Karabagh cannot participate in the negotiations with Baku because, as the Azerbaijani community, it sees only a one-sided resolution to the conflict." 5) US Takes 'Terrible Tragedy' Route WASHINGTON, DC (Washington File)--The United States said last week that it acknowledges the "terrible tragedy" the Armenian community in Anatolia faced during World War I, but declined to comment on whether the European Union should make it a precondition for the start of accession talks with Turkey. "Our position on the Armenia question is, I think, pretty well known…We've acknowledged the terrible tragedy that befell the Armenian community in Anatolia in the last years of the Ottoman Empire," State Department Spokesman Richard Boucher told a press briefing last week. He said Washington had been encouraging civil society and diplomatic discussions about the tragedy, as well as political dialogue between Armenia and Turkey on the issue. Boucher indicated the US position on the issue had remained unchanged since the president issued a traditional message on April 24, 2003. Asked whether the question of the Armenian genocide should or should not be a precondition for Turkey's entry to the EU, he said that it was up to the Europeans to decide. "We believe that Turkey has gone a long way in meeting the requirements of membership and the requests that were asked of Turkey, and it will be for the Europeans to make that judgment themselves." The European Parliament adopted a resolution last Wednesday calling on EU leaders to open entry talks with Turkey. It also urged Ankara to acknowledge the genocide but made it clear it would not be a condition for the start of accession talks. All subscription inquiries and changes must be made through the proper carrier and not Asbarez Online. ASBAREZ ONLINE does not transmit address changes and subscription requests. (c) 2004 ASBAREZ ONLINE. All Rights Reserved. ASBAREZ provides this news service to ARMENIAN NEWS NETWORK members for academic research or personal use only and may not be reproduced in or through mass media outlets. --Boundary_(ID_KRRuA1v3JN7XN9PrlfF2Mg)--