Author: Andres-Papazian

Panorama, Armenia
Nov 27 2010

Russian co-chair: We hope Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan will
attend OSCE summit

After the negotiations with authorities of Armenia, OSCE Minsk Group
co-chairs of Russia and USA traveled back to Baku.
Azerbaijani media reports Russian co-chairs Igor Popov introduced the
results of their Armenian negotiations.

`The negotiations were in normal working atmosphere. We’ve discussed
preparatory stuff of Astana summit. Hhere we’ve scheduled a meeting
and will travel for Astana,’ Popov told the reporters.

Russian co-chairs made remarks on presidents’ participation to the summit.

`We think Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan will attend the OSCE
summit. If we need results we need to wait for that meeting. The
format of the meeting is still being discussed, and we hope it will be
defined soon,’ Russian diplomat said.

From: A. Papazian

Panorama, Armenia
Nov 27 2010

Erdogan has “forgotten” about the Azerbaijanis using the banned
weapons against the Karabakh population

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, while in Lebanon,
reminded Israel about the latter using cluster bombs in the Gaza
Strip, saying that, his country “will use all the means to keep this
issue on the international agenda.”

Unfortunately, the memory of the Turkish politicians is highly
selective, otherwise they would have tried to “keep in the
international agenda” also the issue of the banned weapons usage by
the Azerbaijanis against the people of Karabakh in the early 90s of
the last century. There is a comment that has already appeared in the
press on Erdogan’s statement. It reads that on March 25, 1994 cluster
bombs were used by the Azerbaijani Armed Forces while striking the
positions of the NKR Defense Army, as well as while bombing the
peaceful population of the NKR, the evidences of which are a lot.

Under the disposal of Panorama.am were found 16-year-old shots where
the first head of the OSCE Minsk Group Mario Raffaelli gives an
evidence of the usage of the prohibited weapons against the civilians
of Stepanakert and surrounding regions.
( )

Perhaps this testimony will refresh Erdogan’s memory and he will put
into the international agenda the issue of liability of Azerbaijan.
Unless, of course, he is not afraid of Baku’s reaction…

From: A. Papazian

APA, Azerbaijan
Nov 27 2010

US co-chair briefs Azerbaijan’s foreign minister about the meetings in Yerevan

[ 27 Nov 2010 14:15 ]

Baku. Victoria Dementieva – APA. The OSCE Minsk Group co-chair Robert
Bradtke (USA) has met with the Azerbaijan’s foreign minister Elmar
Mammadyarov on Saturday. According to APA, they discussed the
developments of the process of solution to Nagorno Karabakh conflict
on the eve of the OSCE Summit in Astana.

The US diplomat has also briefed the Azerbaijani minister about the
meetings the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs held in Armenia.

The OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs Robert Bradtke (USA), Bernard Fassier
(France) and Igor Popov (Russia) arrived in Azerbaijan on November 25
and held negotiations with the president and foreign minister of
Azerbaijan. They left for Yerevan on November 26. After the meetings
with the Armenian president and foreign minister, the US and Russian
co-chairs returned to Baku on the same day to inform the Azerbaijani
side about the discussions. The French co-chair returned home to brief
the French officials. Then he will fly to Astana. His colleagues will
leave for Astana on November 28.

The OSCE Summit will take place in Astana on December 1-2. Azerbaijani
and Armenian officials are expected to meet within the framework of
the summit.

From: A. Papazian

Hurriyet, Turkey
Nov 26 2010

Yet more `insulting to Turkishness’ nonsense

Friday, November 26, 2010
MUSTAFA AKYOL

Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code has become notorious for good
reasons. It used to penalize `insulting Turkishness,’ which is a very
vague term that could be interpreted as loosely as the judiciary
wanted. Thus, many liberals who criticized the dark side of the
establishment, or some dark episodes in Turkish history, were put on
trial, and some were sentenced. For worse, after being found guilty of
`insulting Turkishness,’ Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink was
assassinated by a young fascist.

In 2008, following widespread criticism, the government played with
the wording of the article, and introduced the need for permission of
the Justice Ministry to file a case. Since then, the number of Article
301 cases dramatically declined, and many thought the issue was
solved.

Kütahyalı and MuÄ?lalı

Well, not really. Just two weeks ago, another 301 case came out. This
time, it is the allegedly quintessential institution of `Turkishness’
that felt insulted: the Turkish military. The chief of staff,
apparently, did not like what Rasim Ozan Kütahyalı, a young, vocal and
liberal columnist for daily Taraf, has written about them. Hence they
asked for the permission of the justice ministry to put him on trial.

One piece of Kütahyalı that the chief of staff found insulting was
titled, `You are not a statesman Gen BaÅ?buÄ?, you are a state
employee.’ It argued that the chief of staff is not an elected
statesman who can make independent decisions, and that he is rather a
`state employee’ whose job is to take orders from the elected
government. How that can amount to an insult is beyond me. The
minister of justice felt the same way, too, apparently, so the chief
of staff’s appeal was declined.

But Kütahyalı was not so lucky with regards to another piece of his,
titled `You are either despicable or stupid.’ These were indeed strong
words to use against the military, or anyone else, but let’s see why
they were used.

The topic of the piece was a military garrison in the Ã-zalp district
of the southeastern city of Van. In 2004, the garrison there was
officially named after Mustafa MuÄ?lalı, a deceased general. Many
people in the region and the media protested then, and have continued
to protest since.

Why? Because general MuÄ?lalı, who served in the 1940s in the same
district as the gendarmerie commander, ordered the massacre of 33
Kurdish villagers. The poor men were arrested in July 1943 for
smuggling animals over the Iranian border and the court had released
them for a lack of evidence. But the hawkish Gen. MuÄ?lalı ordered
their re-arrest. He then had them taken to an empty field in the
countryside and had them shot dead. He also ordered a document to be
prepared saying the victims were `shot when trying to escape.’

Quite tellingly, nobody touched this mass-murdering general for years.
That was the time that Turkey was under the single-party dictatorship
of the all-militarist Republican People’s Party, or CHP. Nobody could
dare question the crimes of the regime.

Things started to change in 1946, when an opposition party, the
Democrat Party, or DP, led by Adnan Menderes, was allowed to compete.
The DP joined the parliament that year, and began to question some of
the wrongdoings of the regime, including the `MuÄ?lalı Affair.’ Thanks
to this political pressure, MuÄ?lalı was taken to court. But only after
the DP came to power in April 1950, at the first free and fair
elections of the Republic, MuÄ?lalı was found guilty: He was sentenced
for 20 years in prison. Next year, at the age of 71, he died in jail.

Other generals felt for the man, and started to despise the DP
government, which they also disliked for not being secularist enough.
Here were the early seeds of the military coup of 1960, by which the
generals would attack the DP, imprison all its senior members, and
execute Prime Minister Menderes and two of his ministers.

The 33 bullets

Meanwhile, the `MuÄ?lalı Affair’ found its way to public consciousness.
Kurdish poet Ahmed Arif wrote `The 33 Bullets,’ a poem referring to
the 33 victims of the tragic event. In the minds of the Kurdish
citizens, the name MuÄ?lalı became a symbol of all the suffering they
went through under republican militarism.

And, in 2004, when a Turkish government was following the footsteps of
the DP, and trying to win the hearts and minds of its Kurdish
citizens, the name Mustafa MuÄ?lalı became controversial once again.
For, as I said, it was given by the Turkish military to the garrison
which is exactly in the same area where the infamous `33 bullets’ were
shot.

One doesn’t need to be a rocket scientist to understand that such a
move will be found offensive, threatening, and provocative by Turkey’s
Kurdish citizens. That’s why, apparently, Rasim Ozan Kütahyalı, an
advocate of Kurdish rights, thought that this was a `despicable’ and
`stupid’ thing to do.

If you tend to agree, and if you happen to be a Turkish citizen, I
would not suggest saying it out loud. For you might face trial for
`insulting the military’ as well. We, unfortunately, are not living in
a fully free country yet.

From: A. Papazian

Daily Star – Lebanon
Nov 27 2010

Pakradounian slams ‘personal insults’ during anti-Erdogan rally
By The Daily Star

Saturday, November 27, 2010

BEIRUT: Metn MP Hagop Pakradounian said Friday he was subjected to
`personal insults’ by the police during Thursday’s anti-Erdogan
demonstration at Martyrs Square in Beirut.

During an interview with a local television station, Pakradounian
questioned why a heavy security presence was in force for the protest,
which saw hundreds of Lebanese Armenians objecting to the official
visit of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

`Members of the Internal Security Forces directed personal insults at
me,’ Pakradounian said. `I was telephoned by Interior Minister Ziyad
Baroud, who had nice things to say, and many contacts took place … I
don’t want to blow things out of proportion, but what happened was
shameful.’

The protesters defaced a poster of Erdogan in Martyrs Square with
black paint, while there were conflicting reports of whether
rock-throwing took place. A number of scuffles took place between ISF
personnel and protesters were reported during the tense protest.

Armenians resent modern Turkey’s failure to acknowledge the 1915
genocide of an estimated 1.5 Armenians during the Ottoman era. Recent
moves toward normalization between Armenia and Turkey have done little
to alleviate the situation.

`Whoever put up Erdogan’s picture should have thought a little bit
before doing so,’ Pakradounian said. `Our message is that neither
Erdogan nor anyone else can insult the martyrs.’

`Turkey has relations with Israel, and these ties are continuing,
despite the fact that some Arabs consider Erdogan a national hero,’
the MP said, referring to the Turkish prime minister’s public
criticism of Israeli policies.

Separately, Turkey’s ambassador to Lebanon, Inan Ozyildiz, said Friday
that Turkish President Abdullah Gul would visit Lebanon in the spring.

Speaking in Zahle during a visit to the town’s municipality, Ozyildiz
said the second state visit by a Turkish president would take place
next year, after Celal Bayar’s 1955 visit during the presidency of
Camille Chamoun.

Ozyildiz added that he expected Erdogan’s visit would be followed up
by cooperation efforts grouping Turkey, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan. –
The Daily Star

From: A. Papazian

Al-Ahram Weekly, Egypt
Nov 27 2010

>From home to home

Nevine El-Aref reveals how 200 genuine objects from the ancient
Egyptian era to modern times held in a bank vault for decades were
handed over to the Supreme Council of Antiquities

Early this week, in a scene which could have been taken from The Da
Vinci Code, the Ahly National Bank of Egypt (ANBE) handed over to the
Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) 200 artefacts that had been
deposited there since early in the 20th century.

This collection includes pieces from the ancient Egyptian,
Graeco-Roman, Coptic and Islamic eras. Among them are limestone
statuary heads of ancient Egyptian, Greek and Roman deities such as
Horus, Hathor and Ptah, as well as Roman terracotta figurines and 20
Islamic and modern coins, including gold coins.

Hussein Bassir, head of the legal and technical committee that checked
the authenticity of the objects, says the most significant item in the
collection was the diary of an Armenian man called Oying Alexanian
which contained the names and telephone numbers of antiquities dealers
of the time, as well as the number of antiquities sale contracts.
“These two things gave us a vision of how the antiquities trade in
Egypt was rum at the time, especially that antiquities trading was
legal,” Abdel-Bassir said.

The story of how these artefacts came to light began several years ago
when an Armenian antiquities dealer and a British collector, who both
lived in Cairo during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, rented
two vaults at the ANBE to store some of their antiquities collection.
The rental for the vaults was paid for several years, but eventually
payments ceased and no one came forward to inquire about the vault
contents.

After receiving no information or rent for two years the ANBE opened
the vaults and, in compliance with Egyptian law, confiscated its
contents. Also according to the law, these remained in the bank’s care
for 15 years in case someone came back to claim them.

This brings us to early this year, when the ANBE’s executive board
carried out an inventory of the bank’s special and long- term
possessions. No one knew exactly what was inside the two vaults as the
contents were the private deposits of the two foreigners. The ANBE
chairman, Tarek Amer, personally contacted Zahi Hawass,
secretary-general of the SCA, who sent a team of lawyers and
archaeologists to inspect the authenticity of the items. When the SCA
team confirmed their authenticity, the ANBE offered the collection to
the SCA as part of Egypt’s tangible heritage. These objects are now
being restored at the Egyptian Museum before being placed on special
display at the museum next month.

Over the last seven years, and within Egypt’s commitment to preserving
its heritage, more than 10,000 stolen and illegally- smuggled
artefacts have been returned from abroad to the SCA. The most recent
were 19 objects from the tomb of Tutankhamun formerly in the private
collections of Howard Carter and Lord Caernarvon, which were offered
by the Metropolitan Museum in New York.

From: A. Papazian

UPI United Press International
Nov 26 2010

Scientist: Big Bang not the first birth

Published: Nov. 26, 2010 at 6:48 PM

OXFORD, England, Nov. 26 (UPI) — The Big Bang may not have been the
beginning of our universe but rather just the latest in a series of
cosmic deaths and rebirths, a U.K. scientist says.

Theoretical physicist Roger Penrose of the University of Oxford says
circular patterns in the universe’s pervasive background radiation
suggest the universe was born long before the Big Bang 13.7 billion
years ago and had undergone repeated cycles of birth and death before
that time, ScienceNews.org reported.

The controversial notion by Penrose and Vahe Gurzadyan of Yerevan
State University in Armenia goes against the current standard theory
of cosmology known as inflation, which says the infant cosmos
underwent an enormous growth spurt in its first tiny fraction of a
second.

Inflation would erase the circular patterns Penrose and Gurzadyan say
they have detected.

Penrose claims the circles provide a look back past the “wall” of the
most recent Big Bang into the universe’s previous episode.

In a published paper, Penrose and Gurzadyan suggest the circles were
generated by collisions between super massive black holes that
occurred during this earlier universe, creating uniform and spherical
gravity waves that could have entered our current universe.

Other physicists say the idea is intriguing but they aren’t convinced.

“The existence of large-scale coherent features in the microwave
background of this form would appear to contradict the inflationary
model and would be a very distinctive signature of Penrose’s model” of
a cyclic universe, cosmologist David Spergel of Princeton University
says.

But, he says, “The paper does not provide enough detail about the
analysis to assess the reality of these circles.”

From: A. Papazian

Today’s Zaman , Turkey
Nov 27 2010

In Bern, Gül voices Turkey’s commitment to Armenia ties

27 November 2010, Saturday / TODAY’S ZAMAN WITH WIRES, ANKARA

Turkey is firmly committed to pushing ahead to normalize ties with
Armenia despite a stalemate in diplomatic efforts to that effect,
President Abdullah Gül has stated in remarks delivered during a
two-day state visit to Switzerland.

`It is evident that these subjects are not easily resolved,’ Gül said
on Thursday, the first day of his visit, as he was addressing the
Swiss parliament, the lower house of which is among a number of
European parliaments that have recognized the killings of Anatolian
Armenians in the early 20th century as genocide.

Turkey categorically denies genocide charges, saying there were deaths
on both sides as the Ottoman Empire tried to end an Armenian revolt in
collaboration with the Russian army that was then invading eastern
Anatolia.

`However, we maintain our firm vigorous commitment to the protocols,
which aim to normalize Turkish-Armenian relationship,’ he said,
referring to pacts signed between the two parties last October in
Zurich. `We will continue our efforts so that a sustainable and
comprehensive peace dominates the Caucasus,’ he added.

Gül expressed hope that his Armenian counterpart, Serzh Sarksyan
`continues with the same courage so that the process can be crowned
with success.’

Switzerland last year mediated between Armenia and Turkey, which have
had no formal ties since 1993, leading to the signing of two protocols
to restore diplomatic ties and open their border as a first step
towards ending decades of hostility stemming from the killings of
Armenians during World War I.

But the process came to a standstill after the two sides accused each
other of modifying the texts of the protocols, and Turkish leaders
began to link progress in the normalization efforts to progress in
ties between Armenia and Azerbaijan, a close ally and a key energy
supplier for Turkey that opposes Turkish-Armenian rapprochement unless
Yerevan takes steps to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute.

In a speech welcoming Gül, Swiss President Doris Leuthard also urged
Turkey and Armenia to push ahead with normalizing ties. `Switzerland
is persuaded that there must not be a retreat before any efforts to
continue the track of dialogue and cooperation, as Turkey and Armenia
have undertaken with great courage these last years,’ Leuthard said.
`May the process of normalization continue between the two countries,’
she added.

Speaking at a joint press conference later in the day, both Gül and
Leuthard addressed questions concerning the almost one-year-old
nationwide vote in favor of banning the construction of minarets in
Switzerland.

`Everybody is free to perform their religious practices. While this is
the case, I would also like to see more freedom for places of
religious worship,’ Gül said when reminded that he called the ban a
`shame’ for Switzerland at the time. `Either a church, mosque or a
synagogue; architectural styles may be formed in a way to be
integrated with the city if there are members of that religion. A
minaret is nothing to be afraid of,’ he said.

Along with Leuthard, Gül on Friday participated in a round-table
business meeting and a forum on renewable energies before departing
for Turkey. `As some commentators appropriately stated, Turkey has now
become the healthiest man of Europe,’ Gül said, in an apparent
reference to the fact that Turkey’s forerunner, the Ottoman Empire,
was at the time described as `the sick man of Europe,’ prior to its
collapse after World War I.

From: A. Papazian

Messenger, Georgia
Nov 25 2010

Georgian and Armenian officials respond to `prostitute scandal’ reports

November 25, 2010
By Mzia Kupunia

Georgian officials’ `fruitful diplomatic week’ has been marred by the
reports of the foreign media on an alleged `prostitutes scandal’ in a
Lisbon hotel, where the Georgian delegation was staying during the
Lisbon NATO Summit on November 19-20.

On November 23, Portuguese tabloid newspaper, Correio da Manha wrote
that the Georgian delegation hired 80 prostitutes and held a party in
a hotel in Lisbon on Friday. According to the newspaper, some
officials from the Armenian delegation also joined the party. Correio
da Manha reported that the French President, Nicolas Sarkozy was `so
annoyed’ by the noise that he complained to the management of the
hotel.

Police registered the case as an incident, according to the Portuguese
tabloid. `When the management of the hotel realised that the women
were prostitutes they expressed their discontent. The situation was
resolved with as little fuss as possible,’ CM reported. The newspaper
did not name the hotel where the Georgian delegation was staying
during Lisbon Summit, however noted that it is `one of the most
luxurious and prestigious ones in Lisbon’ and that it `hosted some of
the leaders of the states who attended the summit.’

The opponents of the ruling National Movement Party have criticised
the Georgian officials over the alleged `prostitutes scandal’.
Parliamentary minority group, Christian-Democratic Movement has
demanded that a probe be launched into the allegations of the
Portuguese press. MP Levan Vepkhvadze of CDM called the alleged
incident `shameful’ yesterday.

`It is a fact that has been registered by the local police. It is an
absolutely embarrassing incident and it should be investigated,’
Vepkhvadze noted, adding that `it affects the country’s reputation.’
Another member of the Christian-Democratic Movement, MP Nika
Laliashvili suggested Georgia `has not achieved any success on the
international arena worth celebrating with champagne and orgies.’

Officials in Tbilisi have denied the allegations of the foreign media
outlets, calling the reports `not serious.’ Vice Speaker of the
Parliament, Mikheil Machavariani linked the reports with Russia’s
attempts to `overshadow’ Georgia’s recent diplomatic achievements.
`Morning Star [which also reported about the alleged scandal] was a
newspaper of British communists, funded by the Russian Central
Committee and is now funded by the Kremlin,’ Machavariani said `the
aim of Moscow is to show the events to the world as this newspaper
sees them, however the international community sees what is written in
the Washington Post and the Guardian, which report about Georgia’s
progress,’ he added.

A MP from the National Movement Party, Pavle Kublashvili also denied
the claims of the Portuguese media, saying that `no serious comment’
can be made on this issue. `Someone can accuse the Georgian delegation
of eating newborn babies before or after the summit as well,’
Kublashvili told journalists.

The Armenian Foreign Ministry also denied the incident in the hotel in
Lisbon, calling the claims `absurd’ and `fabricated.’ `This
information does not even deserve any comments,’ Tigran Balayan, Press
Speaker of the Armenian Foreign Ministry told Interfax news agency.

Later yesterday, news agency Interpressnews reported that the members
of the Georgian delegation were staying in hotel Tiara. The hotel
managers have denied the information disseminated by foreign media
about the alleged prostitutes incident. `The information is totally
fabricated,’ Interpressnews quoted General Manager of Tiara hotel as
saying. `Nothing has happened here. I spent 24 hours a day in this
hotel and I assure you that no such incident has taken place,’ the
General Manager said, according to the Georgian news agency.

URL:

From: A. Papazian

Books: `A Self-Criticism’ by Monte Melkonian

Sat, Nov 27 2010

Translated by Seta Melkonian, edited by Gregory Topalian

London: Gomidas Institute, 2010, 66 pp.
ISBN 9781903656266, $14

Monte Melkonian became a famous military commander in the
Nagorno-Karabagh war in the 1990’s, where he was killed in action in
1993. However, in the 1970’s and 1980’s he was involved in Armenian
issues in a different way, defending Armenian civilians in the
Lebanese civil war and later as a member of the Armenian Secret Army
for the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA). As a member of the latter,
Melkonian was involved in the assassination of several Turkish
diplomats. He was arrested and imprisoned in France for possession of
falsified papers and carrying an illegal handgun. On his release from
prison in 1989, he traveled to Armenia and participated in the defense
of Armenians against Azerbaijanis over the disputed territory of
Nagorno-Karabagh.

In A Self-Criticism, Melkonian reflects on his earlier years in the
1970’s and 1980s, starting from the defense of Armenian lines during
the Lebanese civil war. Sometimes falling into ideological jargon, his
comments are forthright and he gives invaluable insights into one of
the most secretive terrorist organizations of the 1970’s. Melkonian’s
own integrity comes to the fore in these accounts and he allows us to
unravel some of the myths and realities of the so-called Armenian
armed struggles of the 1970’s, especially ASALA. One can see that the
number of participants in the latter organization was smaller than one
might have expected, and the rank-and-file much more ideologically
driven and dedicated to broader struggles against western imperialism.
Melkonian’s work suggests that ASALA was a rigid organization, even a
dysfunctional one. One does not have to endorse or oppose Melkonian’s
words, but there is value in reading his views.

A Self-Criticism is the sort of key text that history is made up of
and, as such, it is bound to lead to much debate and controversy. The
highly anticipated A Self Criticism will be followed up by Melkonian’s
Reality, which is due in the New Year.
For more information, email [email protected] or visit

From: A. Papazian