ASBAREZ Online [05-25-2005]

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05/25/2005
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WEBSITE AT <;HTTP:// 1) Turkey Postpones Armenian Conference, Calling it `Treason' 2) Key East-West Oil Pipeline Launched, Breaks Russia Grip on Caspian Energy 3) Chirac Says EU Constitution Would Put Back Turkey Accession 4) Azerbaijan, Turkey, and Georgia Sign Agreement for Construction of New Railway 5) Charles Aznavour Arrives in Armenia 1) Turkey Postpones Armenian Conference, Calling it `Treason' ISTANBUL (Reuters)--A Turkish university facing accusations of treason has postponed a conference that offered a platform to academics questioning a national policy that denies any World War I genocide of Armenians. The conference, due to start on Wednesday at Istanbul's Bosphorus University, was organized as Muslim Turkey faces mounting pressure from the European Union to accept that mass killings of Christian Armenians starting in 1915 was genocide. Turkey's pro-European government has broken with past administrations and said it is willing to discuss historical differences with Armenians, but official policy still vehemently rejects claims that 1.5 million Armenians were slaughtered. It accepts that hundreds of thousands of Armenians were killed by Ottoman Turks but says even more Turks died in a partisan conflict that erupted as the Ottoman Empire collapsed. Justice Minister Cemil Cicek said in parliament on Tuesday the conference by Turkish historians who say genocide occurred was a "stab in the back of the Turkish people.' "We must end this treason, the spreading of propaganda against Turkey by the people who belong to it," he said. Bosphorus University said it had decided to put off the conference because of the prevailing climate. "We are anxious that, as a state university, scientific freedom will be compromised due to prejudices about a conference that has not yet occurred," it said in a statement. Edhem Eldem, a Bosphorus University historian, said organizers had not yet decided whether they would hold a conference at a later date or cancel the event completely. "The side that will suffer the greatest loss is, unfortunately, Turkey," Eldem said. In a letter to her colleagues, Sociology Professor Fatma Muge Gocek from the University of Michigan, `It is with a very heavy heart that I write this e-mail message to you from Istanbul.' Gocek, who was one of the participants, continued, `As to my personal assessment of the matter, I think that the fact that such a conference was seriously organized to be executed, and that there was such a groundswell of interest in it demonstrates there is significant segment in Turkish civil society already mobilized to tackle this issue in a way that counters the hegemonic state view on the matter.' EU PRESSURE The European Union has said it wants to see Turkey improve ties with neighboring Armenia before it begins EU entry talks later this year. Some European officials have gone further, saying Turkey must acknowledge wrongdoing before starting talks. An EU diplomat called Cicek's remarks "unbelievable." "It not only kills the government's policy on the Armenian issue. It will also kill support for Turkey's EU drive," the diplomat said. Hrant Dink, editor of the Armenian weekly Agos, echoed that view. "This (decision) strengthens the hand of those outside Turkey who say, 'Turkey has not changed, it is not democratic enough to discuss the Armenian issue.'' "It shows there is a difference between what the government says and its intentions." Several European nations, including Poland, France and Greece, have passed resolutions that recognize the genocide. French President Jacques Chirac, whose country is home to Europe's largest Armenian diaspora, urged Turkey this week to recognize the genocide and said failure to do so could harm Ankara's drive to join the EU. Turkey has accused Europe of using the Armenian issue to mask efforts against Turkey's inclusion in the affluent bloc. 2) Key East-West Oil Pipeline Launched, Breaks Russia Grip on Caspian Energy BAKU (AFP)--A major new US-backed pipeline to bring oil directly from the Caspian Sea to Western markets and break Russia's longtime grip on the region's vast energy resources was formally launched Wednesday in a ceremony attended by presidents and dignitaries. US Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman, who participated in the opening ceremony, read delegates a letter from US President George W. Bush in which the American leader hailed the four-billion-dollar project as a "monumental achievement." "This pipeline can help generate balanced economic growth, and provide a foundation for a prosperous and just society that advances the cause of freedom," Bush said in the letter. The presidents of Turkey, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Kazakhstan were joined by other VIPs including Bodman and the head of British energy giant BP, John Browne, for the formal launch of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline. Russian President Vladimir Putin's special representative for international energy cooperation, Igor Yusufov, had been expected to attend the event. A Kremlin spokesman told AFP in Moscow that he had been forced to cancel his planned trip to Baku at the last minute due to illness. The pipeline is expected to become a major competitor to traditional export routes for Caspian oil that pass through Russia. In a step likely to irritate Moscow, Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev signed on to a declaration committing some of his country's vast Caspian oil reserves to transport through the pipeline just prior to the ceremony. The move will help extend the BTC's life expectancy past 2010 when Azeri oil production is forecasted to begin its decline if new fields are not developed soon. The former Soviet republic's participation in the project has until now remained under question as it navigated choppy diplomatic waters between Washington and Moscow. "The East-West energy corridor plays an important security role in the region and it's clear that economic growth and stability would not be possible without the export of oil," Turkey's President Ahmet Necdet Sezer said at the opening. He said the pipeline would take pressure off Turkey's tanker-clogged Bosphorus Straits that link the Black Sea to the Mediterranean, another major maritime transport route for oil. Georgia's President Mikhail Saakashvili stressed the geopolitical changes afoot in the region after the fall of the Soviet Union. "After the fall of a big empire we want sources of hydrocarbons to be protected and provide for stability of their transport," he said. The 1,770-kilometer-long (1,094-mile) pipeline will transform the Caucasus and Turkey into an energy bridge between the Caspian and the rest of the world and has shifted geo-strategic alliances in the Caucasus region and Central Asia. But the presence of senior officials from the United States and other countries at Wednesday's ceremonies was tainted by a controversy as Azeri authorities continued to hold opposition members detained in connection with the pipeline's opening. Police badly beat and arrested scores of people attending a peaceful rally last Saturday as part of a wider opposition crackdown. Authorities justified their actions on grounds that the rally was held too close to the pipeline opening ceremonies, a claim questioned by Western officials. Baku was the sight of some of the first industrially developed oil fields in the world at the beginning of the 20th century. The British oil giant BP holds a leading 30 percent stake in the consortium running the pipeline. Other consortium members include Azerbaijan's state oil company SOCAR, Amerada Hess, ConocoPhillips, Eni, Inpex, Itochu, Statoil, Total, TPAO and Unocal. BP's Browne said the "BTC will take new supplies of oil to the world market and help to demonstrate that security is best achieved by having multiple sources of supply and trade routes." SOCAR president Natik Aliyev called the pipeline the "realization" of a national dream on Wednesday. The Caspian region produces a light crude of high quality but has suffered from its distance from the world's major consumers--North America, Europe, China, and Japan. The pipeline is to ship one million barrels of Caspian oil, roughly one percent of global oil production, to Turkey's Mediterranean coast daily once it is fully up and running by the end of the year. 3) Chirac Says EU Constitution Would Put Back Turkey Accession PARIS (AFX)--President Jacques Chirac said that the adoption of the EU constitution would extend the timeframe for Turkey's accession into the union. Chirac's comments came in a letter to the France-based CCAF association of Armenian organizations, and at a time when key proponents of the constitution ramp up efforts to convince the electorate ahead of the referendum on Sunday. Polls released over the past two weeks have indicated strongly that a vote against the treaty is likely. Chirac told the CCAF that Turkey 'still has a long way to go' in its bid for EU membership, and that this will become even harder under a constitution which will 'recognize fundamental rights and liberties...and guarantee them to all European citizens.' The Armenian community in France, some 400,000-strong, has been expected to lean towards a 'no' vote as a means to stop Turkey's accession. Community leaders have insisted that France urge Turkey to acknowledge the Armenian genocide as part of the accession talks. 4) Azerbaijan, Turkey, and Georgia Sign Agreement for Construction of New Railway BAKU (Combined Sources)--The presidents of Azerbaijan, Turkey, and Georgia signed on Wednesday an agreement for construction of the Kars-Tbilisi-Baku railway. Turkey's president Ahmet Necet Sezer and Georgian president Mikhail Saakashvili were in Baku to attend the inauguration of Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline. The Kars-Tbilisi-Baku railway comes as an alternative to Kars-Gyumri railway that used to connect Turkey with the South Caucasus. It was operational before the Turkish government imposed a transport blockade of Armenia. The 98-kilometer railway will stretch between the city of Kars and Akhalkalak. The project, with a 68-kilometer stretch in Turkey and a 30-kilometer stretch in Georgia, is estimated at $400-450 million. Its implementation will allow transporting 3 million tons of cargo--mainly oil--a year. Currently, oil is transported via Azerbaijan from Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan to Georgia's Black Sea ports. 5) Charles Aznavour Arrives in Armenia Yerevan (Armenpress)--World famous French Armenian singer Charles Aznavour will arrive in Armenia this week to attend the presentation of the Armenian language edition of his book--`Past Days.' Armenian officials say Aznavour also agreed to join thousands of other Armenian for a circle dance around Mount Aragats on May 28. Aznavour is planning also to visit Georgia's Javakhk region, where his parents lived before emigrating to France. Proceeds from the sale of the book will be donated to the Aznavour Pour l'Armenie charity organization. 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) 2005 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.