ASBAREZ Online [08-04-2005]

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08/04/2005
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WEBSITE AT <;HTTP:// 1) Turkey under Media Scrutiny for Attacks on US Genocide Resolution 2) Turkey, France Clash over Cyprus as EU Talks Loom 3) Secretary Rice Promises Increased US Effort in Karabagh Conflict 4) Two Reported Dead in Turkey Blast 1) Turkey under Media Scrutiny for Attacks on US Genocide Resolution Major Story in Vanity Fair, Report by Public Citizen Allege Unethical Conduct by the Turkish Government and its Allies WASHINGTON, DC (ANCA)--A major news magazine and a leading citizens~R group this week focused public attention on the unethical conduct of powerful opponents of legislation recognizing the Armenian genocide. In its September issue, Vanity Fair published a 10-page story on FBI whistleblower Sibel Edmonds, who was fired after ~Sshe accused a colleague of covering up illicit activity involving Turkish nationals.~T According to the article by contributing editor David Rose, Edmonds claims FBI wiretaps reveal that the Turkish government and its allies boasted of bribing--with as much as $500,000--the Speaker of the House of Representatives as part of an alleged deal to stop consideration of the Armenian Genocide Resolution. The article cites accounts by Edmonds regarding FBI wiretaps of the Turkish Embassy and Turkish groups such as the American Turkish Council (ATC) and the Assembly of Turkish American Associations (ATAA), including, ~Srepeated references to Hastert~Rs flip-flop in the fall of 2000, over an issue which remains of intense concern to the Turkish government, the continuing campaign to have Congress designate the killings of Armenians in Turkey between 1915 and 1923 a genocide.~T Rose is careful to point out that ~Sthere is no evidence that any payment was ever made to Hastert or his campaign.~T According to the article, ~SHastert~Rs spokesman says the Congressman withdrew the genocide resolution only because of the approach from [President] Clinton, ~Qand to insinuate anything else just doesn~Rt make any sense.~R He adds that Hastert has no affiliation with the ATC or other groups reportedly mentioned in the wiretaps.~R~T The full article can be read in the September issue of Vanity Fair. In a separate development, CongressWatch, an arm of Public Citizen, recently released a 49-page report raising ethical concerns about lobbying by former Members of Congress. The report includes a 12-page case study of the Livingston Group~Rs lobbying efforts for the Turkish Government. The report details the efforts by Livingston Group founder, former House Appropriations Chairman Bob Livingston, to secure a ~S$1 billion supplemental appropriation for Turkey~Edespite that country~Rs refusal to allow US troops to use its soil as a staging area for the Iraq invasion. He also helped kill an amendment that would have formally recognized the Armenian genocide that occurred between 1915 and 1923. Turkey has always opposed this recognition.~T The Livingston Group has received over $9 million in payments from Turkey. The entire report can be read at: ~SThese behind-the-scenes accounts reveal a pattern of patently unethical and possibly even illegal conduct by the Turkish government and its allies in their efforts to oppose the Armenian Genocide Resolution,~T said Aram Hamparian, the executive director of the Armenian National Committee of America. ~SFacing growing bipartisan Congressional support for this legislation, these interests are resorting to increasingly desperate means to avoid the international isolation that Turkey will face following US recognition of the Armenian Genocide.~T In the months leading up the publication of these documents, the ANCA provided both Vanity Fair and Public Citizen with background materials, interviews, and first-hand accounts regarding Congressional efforts to recognize the Armenian genocide. 2) Turkey, France Clash over Cyprus as EU Talks Loom ANKARA (Reuters/Bloomberg)--Turkey and France clashed on August 4 over whether Ankara should recognize Cyprus, a European Union member, before it begins its own EU entry talks on October 3. Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey could not accept any new conditions for opening the talks and that he was upset by comments from France that Ankara must first accept the internationally recognized Greek Cypriot government. "It is out of the question for us to discuss or consider any new conditions with regards to October 3," Erdogan told reporters in televised comments. "We are saddened by the statements of the French prime minister and of President (Jacques) Chirac," he added. Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin said on August 2 it was "inconceivable" that Turkey start talks with the EU without recognizing one of its 25 member states, though he did not say if Paris would deploy its veto. Chirac has not publicly commented on Turkey's EU talks this week, but the French daily Le Figaro, quoting unnamed ministers, reported that the president told a cabinet meeting he agreed with his prime minister. Chirac's office declined to comment on the report. Chirac has traditionally backed Turkey's EU bid but now faces growing opposition among French voters to admitting the large, relatively poor, mainly Muslim country into the wealthy bloc. PRESSURE Maintaining pressure on Ankara, French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy repeated Villepin's criticism on August 4. "Not wanting to recognize one country in the Union while wanting to join [is] not acceptable," Douste-Blazy told Le Monde newspaper in an interview. "We would like there to be an extensive discussion on this question within the EU," he added. Ankara recognizes only a breakaway Turkish Cypriot enclave in northern Cyprus. The island has been split along ethnic lines since Turkish troops invaded in 1974 after a brief Greek Cypriot coup backed by the military junta then ruling Greece. France can block the start of talks--as can Cyprus--as the 25 EU states must approve a negotiating mandate unanimously before they can begin. Villepin said France would decide its position after talks among EU foreign ministers in September. Turkey cleared the last formal hurdle to the start of its entry talks last Friday by signing a protocol extending its customs union to new EU members including Cyprus. However, Ankara also issued a declaration making clear the signing did not mean a change in its stance over the island, whose Greek Cypriot government is viewed in Brussels as the sole legitimate authority. Turkey says recognition can come only after a comprehensive peace settlement on the Mediterranean island. Ankara believes it has done all it can reasonably be expected to do about Cyprus by backing a UN-brokered peace deal last year which Turkish Cypriots also endorsed in a referendum. The plan was not supported by the Greek Cypriots. Despite the latest French comments, Erdogan said he was confident Turkey would begin entry talks on schedule. "We will start the negotiations on October 3. We think only of the negotiations," Erdogan said. The talks are expected to last many years and Turkey is not expected to join the EU before 2015 at the earliest. NOT EUROPEAN ENOUGH British Prime Minister Tony Blair, the current EU term president, advocates Turkish membership in the EU while politicians including Germany's Christian Democrats and Nicolas Sarkozy, leader of Chirac's ruling party, say it is not European enough to join in terms of geography, history and culture. Turkey won a date to start the accession process with the EU after its parliament passed laws strengthening the nation's democracy. A latest draft law on foundations has loopholes that fail to guarantee religious freedoms for non-Muslims in Turkey, European Commission spokesman Amadeu Altafaj told a Brussels press conference. While the legislation doesn't pose a new barrier to the start of EU membership talks, the commission has "expressed some concerns about the implication of this law on the non-Muslim community," Altafaj said. Turkey has promised to overhaul the law when parliament reconvenes in October, he added. 3) Secretary Rice Promises Increased US Effort in Karabagh Conflict WASHINGTON, DC (Combined Sources)--During his meeting with US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice on Tuesday, Azerbaijan~Rs Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov discussed the Karabagh conflict, with Rice promising to boost US effort to make the regulation process more effective. Secretary Rice stressed that the US position on Azerbaijan's territorial integrity is unchanged. Mammadyarov was reportedly satisfied with the talks. The meeting also focused on bilateral and economic cooperation. Expressing satisfaction with the progress of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan and Baku-Tbilisi-Erzrum projects, Rice commended Azerbaijan's leadership in the implementation of such global projects. Mammadyarov also met with Minsk Group's US co-chair Steven Mann. The conversation focused on the Karabagh peace talks on the eve of an unofficial CIS summit in the Russian town of Kazan, where the Armenian and Azeri presidents are expected to meet. Addressing representatives of the US-Azerbaijan Chamber of Commerce in the Washington based Azerbaijan Trade and Cultural Center on Wednesday, the Azeri foreign minister stressed the strategic importance of the Kars-Akhalkalak-Tbilisi-Baku railway for the South Caucasus. Mammadyarov noted that not only would the railway promote economic development in the region, but would improve direct communication between Europe and Central Asia. During his visit, Mammadyarov held meetings at the Pentagon and National Security Council, and also met with representatives of the National Democratic Institute, International Republican Institute, International Foundation for Election Systems (IFES), and non-governmental organizations. According to Azertag newspaper, Mammadyarov spoke of the pre-election situation in Azerbaijan during the round table discussion. 4) Two Reported Dead in Turkey Blast ISTANBUL (CNN)--A couple leaving a wedding party was killed and five people were injured early Thursday when a trash bin exploded in the Pendik district of Istanbul, according to Turkey's state-run news agency Anatolia. The cause of the explosion, which occurred about 12:15 a.m., was not immediately known. No claim of responsibility had been issued early Thursday. The man and woman, Eda and Hatica Muslu, were getting into their car when the explosion occurred, according to the DAWN news network. Police, firefighters, and ambulance workers were at the scene, sifting through the wreckage of destroyed cars and helping the injured. On August 2, two explosions in trash bins wounded six people in the southern Turkish city of Antalya, a popular tourist resort, CNN Turk reported. Police said the first blast went off in a trash bin, wounding two municipal workers and a passerby. About five minutes later, another blast wounded two tourists and a resident of Antalya. Authorities have not explained the cause of the explosions, but bombs have been placed in trash cans in the past. Turkey has suffered a series of bomb blasts in recent months, mostly blamed on militant Kurdish separatists. Islamic militants and far-left radicals have also been behind bomb attacks in Turkey in the past, including in Istanbul. Five people were killed last month when a bomb struck a minibus in the popular Aegean resort of Kusadasi, an attack claimed responsible by Kurdish militants. 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