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AZERBAIJAN SEES ARMENIA DIFFERENTLY AFTER ELECTIONS
By Fariz Ismailzade

Eurasia Daily Monitor, DC
April 30 2008

"Democracy in Azerbaijan is at least no worse than in Georgia, but the
comparison with Armenia is almost impossible," said Khazar Ibrahim,
the head of the press service of the Azerbaijani Ministry of Foreign
Affairs (, April 29). This statement came as a result of
presidential elections in Armenia and the shattered situation with
democracy and human rights in that country. For Azerbaijan, this
turn-around seems to bring more self-confidence, as well as positive
hopes for a resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

For many years the international community has been rating Armenia’s
democratic developments ahead of those in Azerbaijan. Rankings used
by prestigious organizations such as the Heritage Foundation, Freedom
House and others indicated that Armenia had made more progress toward
democracy than Azerbaijan. Although serious doubts remained about
the methodology and indicators used for these rankings, the general
public seemed to trust them, both at home and abroad.

This had several negative implications for Azerbaijan and for
regional security. On the one hand, many foreign governments
and international organizations have justified the occupation of
Nagorno-Karabakh by Armenia with the fact that Armenia enjoyed higher
democratic standards. The United States Congress even openly declared
support for sanctions on Azerbaijan, citing human rights problems,
although the official text of the sanctions had nothing to do with
the domestic developments, but rather the military situation between
Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Now, however, the situation seems to have changed. What was expected to
be a smooth transition of power from former President Robert Kocharian
to his closest political ally, Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian,
has become one of the most serious cases of political turmoil since
the country’s independence in 1991. Officially, Sarkisian received
a little more than 52 percent of the votes cast, with opposition
arguing that there needed to be a second round. The opposition
protested. The police and army reacted brutally. Tanks were brought
in and bullets were used against the demonstrators. As a result,
eight people were killed and more than 100 were severely wounded. The
Kocharian-Sarkisian regime imposed martial law and arrested more than
200 opposition activists. Media censorship, including on the Internet,
was imposed in the country.

The situation has severely damaged the image of Armenia abroad. The
governments of Norway and the United States, and international
organizations such as the OSCE, the Council of Europe and others have
expressed deep regret about the events in Yerevan and have urged
Armenian authorities to use democratic means to build political
dialogue and consensus in the country.

These recent developments, if closely analyzed, do not stand alone
from the rest of Armenia’s post-Soviet history. The use of violence
for political purposes has been a frequent feature in the Armenian
political arena. In 1997 President Levon Ter-Petrosian was forced to
resign by an internal coup headed by Robert Kocharian, who was then
Prime Minister, and backed by the defense and security ministers. In
1999 gunmen stormed parliament and killed the speaker of parliament,
the prime minister and dozen more MPs and government officials. It
is still unclear who was behind these gunmen and what were they
trying to achieve. Analysts believe, however, that the murder of
these high-profile officials was aimed at empowering former President
Kocharian and undermining the peace process around the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict. There are also other examples in the history of Armenia of
the use of violence and terror for political purposes.

These undemocratic developments in Armenia–the use of violence
and a brutal crackdown on the opposition activists–will affect
the future of the country and the region in a number of areas,
including political stability, economic prosperity and the state of
democracy. The biggest blow to Armenia, however, will be with regard
to the process of negotiations over the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Azerbaijan, having achieved political stability, enjoys the highest GDP
growth in the world at 35 percent (Ministry of Economic Development
website), maintains absolute sovereignty over its foreign policy
(enjoying very good, but equal, relations with both the West and
Russia) and is making further advances in political freedoms and
democratic standards.

Armenia, on the other hand, has nearly fallen into complete dependence
on Russia, both politically and economically, sees itself increasingly
isolated from regional transportation and energy projects, continues
to struggle with the economy and trade and now has also proven that
the state of democracy in the country has greatly worsened.

Under these conditions Azerbaijan’s self-confidence is rapidly
increasing, and it is likely that this will have an impact on the
future of the negotiation process as well. Azerbaijan no longer sees
itself as "second-rate" country, and its growing capacities will
push it to be more principled. It will also bring more international
pressure on Armenia, as the West is increasingly irritated by the
sharp drop of democratic standards in that country.

AUSTRALIA’S SECRET GENOCIDE HISTORY

MWC News, Canada
;Itemid= 1
April 30 2008

La Trobe, "Bundoora Eucalyptus" & Black Crimes of White Australia

La Trobe University, Bundoora, Melbourne is one of Australia’s
top dozen universities with particular expertise in paramedical
training and an excellent reputation for research and teaching in the
humanities and biological sciences in particular. The main campus is
set in beautiful bushland about 20 kilometers north of Melbourne at
Bundoora. Bundoora means "the country kangaroos like" in the local
Indigenous Australian Wurrundjeri language and indeed one can often
see kangaroos grazing and hopping about in the outskirts of La Trobe
University in the evening and early morning.

La Trobe University is named after a former Lieutenant-Governor of
Victoria, Charles Joseph La Trobe (1801-1875), who administered
the colony of Victoria from 1839-1854. However there are 2 sides
to this man that reflect a continuing dichotomy of good and evil in
Australia as a whole. Thus Charles La Trobe was a gentle, cultured
man and a mountaineer, adventurer and writer. However he was a poor
administrator and his rule over the British colony of Victoria was
associated with 2 major failures: (1) the Eureka Stockade rebellion
of gold miners that was brutally put down by British soldiers and
(2) the expansion of the Aboriginal Genocide with ethnic cleansing of
Indigenous (Aboriginal) people involving the notorious Native Police
set up under La Trobe. This paradoxical good/evil duality is perhaps
behind the statue of Charles La Trobe at La Trobe University that is
exhibited standing on its head!

The beautiful La Trobe Bundoora landscape with its wonderful gum trees
(Eucalyptus species), birds and kangaroos is the inspiration for my
huge (1.3 metres x 2.9 metres) "Bundoora Eucalyptus" painting which
also illustrates the dark/light, good/evil dichotomy of Charles La
Trobe and of Australia as a whole. On the one hand Australia is a
prosperous, educated, democratic society that was one of the first
countries to have women’s suffrage, trade unions, and compulsory
State-provided education. On the other hand, Australia has a shocking
secret history of involvement in appalling genocides that continues to
this day. Thus in 2008 Australia is involved in Palestinian Genocide,
Iraqi Genocide, Afghan Genocide, Biofuel Genocide and Climate Genocide.

Before going further it must be clearly stated that the term "Genocide"
used here is "Genocide" as precisely defined by Article 2 of the UN
Genocide Convention:

"In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts
committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national,
ethnic, racial or religious group, as such: a) Killing members of
the group; b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of
the group; c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life
calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; e)
Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group."

Further, in assessing deaths from particular policies of invasion,
occupation and dispossession one notes that deaths can be violent
(from bombs and bullets) or non-violent (from deprivation and
deprivation-exacerbated disease). Both kinds of avoidable death (death
that should not have happened) are included within the term "excess
death" used below (see "Body Count. Global avoidable mortality since
1950" (G.M. Polya, Melbourne, 2007: ).

The following catalogue of Australian involvement in Genocide as
defined by the UN Genocide Convention – and notably in British- and
American-imposed genocides – is given below in roughly chronological
order from 1788 (the year of European Invasion and First Settlement)
to 2008. A key reference is my book "Body Count. Global avoidable
mortality since 1950"; other relevant books are Chalk, F. and
Jonassohn, K. (1990), The History and Sociology of Genocide. Analyses
and Case Studies (Yale University Press, New Haven & London); Tatz,
C. (2003), With Intent to Destroy. Reflecting on Genocide (Verso,
London); and Blum, W. (2006), Rogue State, A guide to the world’s
only superpower (Zed Books, London).

1. 18th-19th century Aboriginal Genocide (the Indigenous Aboriginal
population dropped from about 1 million to 0.1 million in the first
century after invasion in 1788).

2. Tasmanian Aboriginal Genocide (the "full-blood" Indigenous
population dropped from 6,000 to zero in 1803-1776; however there are
several thousand "mixed race" decendants of Tasmanian and Mainland
Aborigines still living in Tasmania today).

3. British Indian Genocide (post-invasion excess deaths 0.6 billion,
1757-1837; 0.5 billion, 1837-1901 under Queen Victoria; 0.4 BILLION,
1901-1947: see MWC News).

4. European Chinese Genocide (10-100 million deaths in the European
imperialism-driven Tai Ping rebellion period; Australia was involved
in suppressing the Boxer rebellion).

5. Maori Genocide (Maori population dropped from 0.1-0.2 million in
1800 to 42,000 in 1893; Australia was involved in the 19th century
Maori wars).

6. African Genocide (scores of million perished over 5 centuries of
European slavery and colonialism; Australians participated in the
Sudan War, 1881-1898).

7. Pacific Genocide (there was a catastrophic population decline
due to introduced disease and slavery; thus 40,000 Fijians died
from measles out of a population of 150,000 in 1876; "blackbirding"
slavery was conducted by Australians in the late 19th century).

8. Boer (Afrikaaner) Genocide (1899-1902; 28,000 Afrikaaner women and
children died in British concentration camps; Australians participated
in the Boer War as immortalized in the movie "Breaker Morant").

9. Armenian Genocide (1.5 million killed; the Australian invasion
of Gallipoli as part of an Anglo-French force in 1915 helped to
precipitate this atrocity; indeed April 24 is Armenian Genocide Day
and April 25 is the day of the Australia invasion in 1915 and also a
sacred war dead remembrance day for Australians and New Zealanders –
it is called Anzac Day after the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps
(ANZAC) which stormed ashore on that first Anzac Day at Gallipoli
in 1915).

10. Bengali Genocide (6-7 million perished in the "forgotten" man-made
Bengal Famine atrocity in Bengal and adjoining provinces in British
India, 1943-1945; Australians were there and indeed the Governor of
Bengal in 1944 was an Australian, R.G. Casey).

11. British post-1950 Third World Genocide (1950-2005 excess deaths
in countries subject to British occupation as a major occupier in
the post-war era totalled 727 million; Australia has the same Head
of State as the UK and continues to be a loyal military ally of the
UK in Occupied Iraq and Occupied Afghanistan).

12. US post-1950 Third World Genocide (1950-2005 excess deaths in
countries subject to US occupation as a major occupier in the post-war
era totalled 82 million; Australia participated in all post-1950 US
Asian Wars in Korea, Indo-China, Iraq and Afghanistan with Indigenous
Asian excess deaths now totalling 25 million).

13. Australian Colonial Genocide (1950-2005 excess deaths in countries
subject to Australian occupation as a major occupier in the post-war
era, namely Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands totalled 2.1
million).

14. 20th century Aboriginal Genocide (total excess deaths clearly
of the order of 1million; 0.1 million Stolen Generations Aboriginal
children forcibly removed from their Mothers in the 19th and 20th
centuries; excess deaths in the 11 years of the Bush-ite Coalition
Government totalled 90,000 for 1996-2007).

The following Australian genocide involvements in this catalogue of
horrors areongoing.

15. Palestinian Genocide (post-1967 excess deaths 0.3 million,
post-1967 under-5 infant deaths 0.2 million and 7 million refugees;
with bi-partisan agreement Australia provides diplomatic, financial and
haven support for Israeli state terrorism – even when directed against
tens of thousands of Australian citizens as in Lebanon in mid-2006 –
and up to life imprisonment for anyone giving support to the Hamas
Party that overwhelmingly won the 2006 Occupied Palestinian elections).

16. Iraqi Genocide (4 million excess deaths 1990-2008; 2 million
post-invasion excess deaths, 0.6 million post-invasion under-5 infant
deaths and 4.5 million refugees; Australia militarily involved since
1990 ).

17. Afghan Genocide (3-7 million post-invasion excess deaths,
2.3 million post-invasion under-5 infant and 4 million refugees;
Australia involved militarily since 2001).

18. Ongoing Aboriginal Genocide (9,000 excess deaths annually; 90,000
excess deaths in the last 11 years of Bush-ite Coalition rule; see
MWC News).

19. Biofuel Genocide (16 million die avoidably each year but this is
increasingly biofuel-impacted as the legislatively-mandated US, UK
and EU biofuel perversion forces up global food prices; Australia is
a major sugar cane grower and sugar exporter with 60% of sugar going
to bioethanol production worldwide; Australia has biofuel-promoting
legislation and is a major canola grower, this being a major source
for biodiesel; see MWC News).

20. Climate Genocide (16 million die avoidably each year already from
deprivation and deprivation-exacerbated disease; Professor James
Lovelock FRS says that over 6 billion will perish this century die
to unaddressed climate change; on a per capita basis Australia is
among the very worst greenhouse gas (GHG) polluters – in terms of
2004 figures for "fossil fuel-derived annual per capita CO2 pollution"
Australia is about 40 times worse than India and 160 times worse than
Bangladesh if you include Australia’s world number 1 coal exports;
see MWC News).

Yet politically correct racist Australia steadfastly "looks the other
way" and its past and present involvements in the above atrocities
are overwhelmingly not reported by racist, lying, holocaust-ignoring
Mainstream media NOR taught in Australia’s schools and universities. PC
racist White Australia just cannot see the "Elephant in the room" –
its continuing involvement in over 2 centuries of horrendous genocide.

Australians are trapped in an Orwellian dream – Australia will only
stop doing it when it is informed that it is doing it. Please inform
everyone you can.

Dr Gideon Polya, MWC News Chief political editor, published some
130 works in a 4 decade scientific career, most recently a huge
pharmacological reference text "Biochemical Targets of Plant Bioactive
Compounds" (CRC Press/Taylor & Francis, New York & London, 2003),
and is currently writing a book on global mortality —

ALI AHMEDOV: "WE SHOULD NOT PAY ATTENTION TO THE RECENT REPORT OF FREEDOM HOUSE ON FREEDOM OF MASS MEDIA"

Today.Az, Azerbaijan
.html
April 30 2008

"The fact that the report of Freedom House on freedom of press
places Azerbaijan behind Armenia says that this document should not
be trusted, as it is biased".

The due announcement was made by Ali Ahmedov, deputy chairman and
executive secretary of the Yeni Azerbaijan party, according to APA.

He said the most important is the assessment of the country residents.

"The assessments made by any public international organizations differ
from each others so much and are so discrepant and it is difficult to
trust them. To place Azerbaijan behind Armenia after all the events,
which occurred in this country in connection with the presidential
elections, is another demonstration of the policy of double standards.

We should not pay attention to such groundless and biased reports. The
document is based on principles which are far from justice".

Ahmedov said Armenia has many supporters and development of such a
report pursues the goal of concealing its shame from the world.

It should be noted that in the report, Azerbaijan occupies the 168th
place by freedom of press and Armenia 144th.

PAIN WITH SPAIN
Michael Soltys

Buenos Aires Herald, Argentina
al/editorial_english.jsp?idContent=490343
April 30 2008

A seminar on "Women in the Alliance of Civilizations" sounds supremely
abstract but somehow the Monday event contrived to become the focus
of a cluster of problems with Spain, coinciding with the Spanish
courts’ refusal to extradite ex-president María Estela "Isabel"
Martínez de Perón on the same day. The event itself suffered from
various absences, including an extremely weak presence on the part
of the Turkish co-sponsors of the "Alliance of Civilizations" series
(perhaps hypersensitive over the Cristina Fernández de Kirchner
administration’s love of the term "genocide" in general and its
application to the Armenian massacres of 1915-23 in certain Argentine
official resolutions in particular) and the absence of Spanish deputy
premier María Teresa Fernández de la Vega (despite sharing both
the gender and surname of her presidential host). Instead the reasons
for the latter’s absence became the issue and was used by President
Cristina Kirchner to continue her domestic feud with the press in
contempt of the international occasion — the Spanish socialist was
quoted as being affronted by the alleged misreporting of Clarín
in giving as the reason for her suspension of the trip her presumed
ire over the Argentine government’s pressures to "Argentinize" the
Spanish-owned Aerolíneas Argentinas.

Yet this denial is belied by the concern over these pressures
explicitly transmitted by Spanish Ambassador Rafael Estrella to
Transport Secretary Ricardo Jaime and in any case Aerolíneas has
some very serious problems quite irrespective of attendance at the
"Women in the Alliance of Civilizations" seminar. With only half of
its fleet in the air and interminable union problems, Aerolíneas
is rapidly sliding back to its parlous state of 2002 when it was
the object of what can only be called a privatization in reverse —
i.e. the Argentine state paid the Spanish tourism company 700 million
dollars to take charge of the airline after selling 90 percent of
the shares for a single dollar. The current "Argentinization" (this
clumsy term must be used because the government is not attempting any
direct nationalization of the airline but rather an acquisition by
crony capitalist interests) is flying in the face of world trends —
do the Kirchners really want to take a leaf out of Silvio Berlusconi’s
book with his anachronistic bid to keep Alitalia national?

Even if Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos dutifully
painted the brightest picture of bilateral relations, Spanish
concern extends not only to Aerolíneas but to all Spanish-owned
utilities and their artificially low rates. And then there is the
refusal to extradite Isabel Perón — the Spanish courts not only
seem unconvinced of the evidence of her direct links with the Triple
A far right terrorist organization but also whether the Triple A
qualified for state terrorism and hence crimes against humanity. The
refusal to extradite Isabel Perón is less hostile than it seems and
possibly even a favour to ex-president Néstor Kirchner since the
return and trial of his predecessor would undoubtedly create rifts
in the Peronist movement he is set to chair. The problems with Spain
certainly should not be exaggerated but neither can they be ignored.

–Boundary_(ID_a7VvALxom1N2DPyR94iNYg)–

AZERBAIJAN CLAIMS CAPTURE OF ARMENIAN SPECIAL FORCES UNIT

Agence France Presse — English
April 29, 2008 Tuesday 1:31 PM GMT

Azerbaijan said Tuesday it has detained four members of an Armenian
special forces unit on its territory, but Armenia said the men were
being held after accidentally wandering on to Azerbaijani soil.

Azerbaijani Defence Ministry spokesman Eldar Sabiroglu said the men
had been detained in the ex-Soviet republic’s Nakhchivan region,
a small mountainous exclave of Azerbaijan wedged between Armenia,
Iran and Turkey.

"The defence ministry has prevented attempts to carry out provocations
on Azerbaijani territory by special forces of the Armenian military,"
Sabiroglu told AFP.

"This group of four men has been detained on the territory of
Nakhchivan and neutralised. An investigation is underway," he said. He
refused to provide any other details or say exactly when the men had
been captured.

Armenian Defence Ministry spokesman Seiran Shahsuvarian denied the
men had been conducting an operation in the region and said they had
been captured after getting lost following a visit to a friend in a
border village near Nakhchivan.

"On their way back they got lost and apparently found themselves on
the territory of Nakhchivan," Shahsuvarian said in a statement.

He said Armenia had appealed to the International Committee of the
Red Cross for assistance in having the men returned to Armenia.

Despite a 1994 ceasefire, Armenia and Azerbaijan remain officially
at war over the ethnic Armenian enclave of Nagorny Karabakh, which
broke away from Azerbaijani control during a war in the early 1990s.

The dispute is unresolved after more than a decade of negotiations
and troops remain in a tense stand-off along the frontline between
Karabakh and the rest of Azerbaijan.

Shootings are common; up to 16 soldiers were killed in a clash
last month.

Nakhchivan is home to about 365,000 people who can only reach the
rest of Azerbaijan by plane or by transiting through Iran.

Armenian and Azerbaijani forces clashed in Nakhchivan during the
Nagorny Karabakh war, but there have been few reports of fighting in
the region since the ceasefire.

VTB Leasing plans to raise its credit portfolio to $10 million till the
end of 2008

2008-04-29 16:33:00

ArmInfo. The Armenian subsidiary of the Russian VTB Leasing plans to
raise its credit portfolio to about $10 million till the end of the
year, exclusive of crediting of big projects, Director General,
Chairman of Directorate of Bank VTB (Armenia) Valery Ovsyannikov told
media Tuesday.

‘It is a not bad index for taking a proper position in the market of
leasing services in Armenia given the fact that the market’s potential
is rather great’, Valery Ovsyannikov said. He informed media that VTB
Leasing is nearing completion in crediting big projects. He said the
company is negotiating with some clients for supply of duplicating
facilities. In addition, the company is negotiating with the government
structures for import of medical equipment for hospitals. ‘Leasing
loans will be actually aimed at modernizing the fixed assets’, he said.
The company is currently negotiating also with big producers of
aviation equipment. In particular, V. Ovsyannikov said, one of the big
projects of VTB leasing is acquisition of aviation equipment, including
SSJ-100 Sukhoi SuperJet by the national carrier of Armenia Armavia
Company.

VTB Leasing aims to reequip the dynamically developing enterprises in
Armenia and make them more competitive through provision of an
effective and accessible mechanism of acquisition and odernization of
the capital stocks. The company’s goal is to increase the clients of
the subsidiaries of VTB leasing OJSC and VTB Group, on the whole, as
well as to take the leading positions in the Armenian market of leasing
services.

VTB-Leasing OJSC is a universal leasing company, belonging to Bank VTB
OJSC. The company’s capital for 2007 totaled $146 million in accordance
with IFRS, assets exceed $3.46 billion and net profit totaled 477.9
million. VTB-Leasing has regional offices in 11 cities in the Russian
Federation and subsidiaries in Ukraine, Cyprus, Belarus and Armenia.

The Central Bank of Armenia registered VTB Leasing on March 28 2008. At
present there are another two leasing companies in Armenia – ACBA
leasing and AGRO Leasing with $12/2 million summary portfolio as of
April 1 2008.

RAFFI HOVANNISSIAN: IF WE DON’T SEE SPECIFIC STEPS ON CONSTRUCTION OF NEW ARMENIA, HERITAGE PARTY MAY TAKE THE MOST RADICAL STEPS

arminfo
2008-04-30 14:07:00

ArmInfo. ‘If we don’t see specific steps on construction of new
Armenia, in that case we may take the most radical steps’, – the
leader of the Heritage party Raffi Hovannissian told journalists at
National Press-club today.

He also added that the problem of possibility of returning deputy
mandates of the only opposition party in the National Assembly has
not been discussed yet. ‘If we see in the actions of the authorities
true aspiration to correct the situation, in that case we shall
extend our participation in the process of domestic political life
settlement. Otherwise, I don’t rule out the radical approach when
defining further strategy of the Heritage party and its parliamentary
faction’, – Hovannissian said.

As for the sitting of the working group on fulfillment of
the conditions put against Armenia by PACE Resolution No 1609,
R.Hovannissian said that serious disagreement is in the prospect
of this group working: it involves a big number of people which are
responsible for the 1 March tragic events.

ARMENIAN LOT

Hayots Ashkhar Daily
Published on April 29, 2008
Armenia

According to the Press Service of the Defense Ministry, Azerbaijani
Mass Media spread rumors saying that Armenian diversion group has
been rendered harmless. The rumors don’t correspond to reality.

In reality they were RA citizens Vanik Nikolay Zmboyan (Gavar),
Artyom Andranik Zohrabyan (Noratus), Karen Jivan Torosyan (Noratus),
and Aghasy Atom Yenokyan (Noratus), who went to a military camp located
in village Khachik to visit their friend, a serviceman. On their way
back they probably lost their way and crossed the border in Nakhijevan.

According to the data possessed by Armenian side the before mentioned
citizens are in Azerbaijani Security Service, and their health is in a
normal condition. Armenian side appealed to the Red Cross International
Office to organize the return of these people, with the corresponding
office in Baku.

ARMENIAN WOMEN’S TENNIS NATIONAL TEAM TAKES 2nd PLACE IN INTERNATIONAL TOURNAMENT HELD IN YEREVAN

Noyan Tapan
April 29, 2008

YEREVAN, APRIL 29, NOYAN TAPAN. The third-group women’s tournament
of Euroafrican region of Tennis International Federation finished
on April 26 in Yerevan. The Armenian national team won in 4 out of
5 games (it beat the national teams of Finland, Montenegro, Egypt,
and Moldova). The Armenian national team was only beaten by the team
of Morocco.

The Armenian women tennis players took the 2nd place and will take
part in the tournament of the same group next year, as well. And the
winner, the national team of Morocco, passed to the 2nd group.

LAWYERS: DINK MURDER WAS COMMITTED WITH SUPPORT OF SECURITY UNITS

PanARMENIAN.Net
28.04.2008 16:01 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The accused murderers of Hrant Dink, the editor of
Agos Turkish-Armenian newspaper, will appear before the court for the
fifth time 15 months after the murder. On 28 April hearing (Monday),
the remaining questionings are expected to be completed.

The Istanbul 14th Criminal Court, which tries the 19 defendants,
eight of whom are arrested, had demanded at the previous hearing that
the physical surveillance reports and telephone records concerning the
arrested defendants Yasin Hayal and Mustafa Ozturk. It is established
now that Yasin Hayal was under the surveillance of the Trabzon Police
Department, a major province in the eastern Black Sea region of Turkey,
BIA NEWS SERVICE reports.

Dink family lawyers say that the killing of the journalist on January
19, 2007 is not "a murder planned together by a few young men and
executed in spite of the authorities; they claim that the local
security units supported this group."

Hrant Dink was gunned down at his newspaper premises in Istanbul by
nationalist Ogun Samast on January 19, 2007.