Author: Antonian Lara

OSCE OffICE IS CONCERNED OVER CASES OF VIOLENCE AGAINST JOURNALISTS

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[04:40 pm] 12 September, 2006

YEREVAN, 12 September 2006 – The OSCE Office in Yerevan issued the
following statement today:

"The OSCE Office in Yerevan is deeply concerned over recent incidents
of violence and intimidation against local journalists which have
obstructed their professional duties and infringed upon the freedom
of expression.

According to reports, on 6 September, the Editor-in-Chief of Iravunk
newspaper, Hovhannes Galajyan, was attacked and beaten by unknown
men outside his Yerevan home. On 12 July, freelance journalist Gagik
Shamshian, who works for Chorrord Ishkhanutiun and Aravot newspapers,
was threatened and abused.

The Office considers it extremely important for these cases to be
properly investigated and calls for the perpetrators to be punished
in full accordance with the law. Law-enforcement bodies are urged to
undertake prompt measures to ensure the safety of media professionals
in order to promote freedom of expression in the country.

The Office welcomes the statements by the Human Rights Defender
(Ombudsman), the President’s Press Secretary and civil society
organizations, who condemned these acts of violence against
journalists.

The OSCE Office in Yerevan will be closely following developments
related to these cases."

SO-CALLED ARMENIAN GENOCIDE DISCUSSIONS IN SPAIN ARE UNFORTUNATE, VURAL

Turkish Press
Sept 10 2006

MADRID – "This is a wrong and unfortunate approach," said Turkey’s
Ambassador to Spain Volkan Vural when commenting on the move of two
Spanish MPs to bring the so-called Armenian genocide allegations to
the Spanish parliament.

Two MPs from Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) have asked the Spanish
parliament to debate so-called Armenian genocide allegations, taking
into consideration a letter from the Armenian committee.

In the motion they submitted to the Foreign Affairs Committee of the
Spanish parliament last June, ECR MPs Rosa M. Bonas i Pahisa and Joan
Puigcercos i Boixassa asked the parliament to acknowledge the so-called
Armenian genocide saying that "a crime against humanity was committed."

They also "insist that Turkey should recognize the so-called Armenian
genocide" and "the EU should be a means to close up this matter".

-NECESSARY INITIATIVES LAUNCHED-

In an exclusive interview with A.A correspondent, Ambassador Vural
said, "after we learned about this motion, we launched initiatives at
the Spanish Foreign Ministry and the parliament. We sent a letter to
the two MPs and the head of the Foreign Affairs Commission in which
we deemed this move as wrong, and we told them that this will harm
Turkish-Spanish relations. And, Turkish Foreign Ministry has expressed
its concerns to the Spanish government."

Vural thinks that adoption of the motion by the Foreign Affairs
Committee is not so likely.

"Even though it is adopted, it is obvious that it won’t have a legal
meaning. Everybody will see how wrong and unfortunate it is to make
historical incidents a tool for politics," he commented.

Vural said, "ERC MP Rosa Bonas wrote a letter to me, and said that she
does not have any negative feeling for Turkey. She also said that she
has always supported Turkey’s EU membership and believes that Turkey
should become an EU member."

Ambassador Vural added that he will meet Bonas in coming days.

On the other hand, Bonas said that they will change some parts of
the motion, adding, "we will take out the article asking Turkey to
recognize the (so-called) Armenian genocide."

THE PRESIDENT MUST BE INTERROGATED

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[04:31 pm] 06 September, 2006

"The scandalous story of Watergate repeats itself in Armenia", member
of the Heritage party Raffi Hovannisian told a news conference today
which wasn’t visited by a single journalist from any TV Company.

Thanking the journalists present Mr. Hovannisian mentioned that the
persecutions of his party realized during the last months are organized
by the highest level of power. "In the Republic of Armenia which is
supposed to be a lawful country late at night without the decision of
the court people close down my house which is also my office. Four days
later at midnight they commit another crime – the break into my office,
turn on the computer and steal top secret information about the party".

Examination showed that a robbery has taken place, but the law
enforcement bodies refuse to initiate a criminal case. "We demand
to reveal the "Mister Gate" scandal. The law enforcement bodies
must interrogate the president, his administration and those who
control the court system and the activity of the TV Companies",
Mr. Hovannisian said.

The Heritage party has appealed the decision of the Kentron community
police about refusing the demand of the party to initiate a criminal
case. Raffi Hovannisian is convinced that the lists of the activists
of the party and the analytic materials have been stolen in order to
threaten the members of the party. "I hope that the National Security
Service will reveal what happened. I’m sure that it was the answer
of our political activity in the atmosphere of fear which has been
reigning in the country lately".

Let us remind you that during the latest conference of the party Vardan
Khachatryan has been elected leader of Heritage. In this connection
Mr. Hovannisian said that natural changes are good for any party.

IDEOLOGY CAN MAKE YOU SICK
Etyen Mahcupyan

Zaman Online, Turkey
Sept 6 2006

The fear of reality forms the basis of all mental illnesses, because
mental health implies harmony between the animate creature and nature
that is harmony with the reality in its environment.

Psychology examines this harmony through the person’s connections to
his social environment and to himself. Consequently, people we call
"sick" are those who are nurtured by an unreal image of themselves…

Similarly, some societies produce unreal valuations and evaluations
about themselves and embrace them with passion. They elevate them as if
they were qualities belonging to the divine. According to the science
of psychology, the reason for this is the societies in question that
lack the maturity to accept reality and their choosing to escape from
the truth rather than face their own weaknesses. As for situations in
which this escape has been made systematic and is nurtured by official
ideology, we are confronted with a chronic state of mental illness…

Turkey lived this state for years. The rapid disintegration of
the Ottoman Empire, the inferiority felt before the West, and the
communal rejection of every kind of religion and ethnicity for the
sake of elevation as a "fair ruler" resulted in shock. After this
period of disintegration in which a feeling of being looked down
upon and a determination of truly being worthless went hand-in-hand,
unfortunately the easiest path was chosen: Instead of trying to
perceive history from an objective perspective, first history was
produced by the state and then when this absurdity became apparent,
the past was frozen and put under an ideological shield. However,
it’s not possible to prevent scientific and literary efforts and
keep them within this molded history… For example, however mature
a society encountering a different history can behave depends on how
prepared it is to use this opportunity to "get better." It can be
said that in general the public in Turkey is passing through this
threshold. We are finally aware that the history "presented" to us
is not tied very well to the truth and the works dealing with history
need freedom of interpretation.

However, some "sensitive" citizens and their natural equivalent
bureaucracy have not yet been able to pass over this mental
threshold. Consequently, for example, Elif Safak can be tried in court
for a character in her latest book who defends "Armenian genocide." In
other words, our government doesn’t suffice with saying "there was
no Armenian genocide," it even condemns characters in a novel who
say the opposite. Whereas, there are people who say "there was an
Armenian genocide…" External reality encompasses these people,
too. In short, what is said to a writer is that he/she can only put
a part of the truth in a novel. While the other part of reality is
ideologically deemed "unreal," the author is forced to be a part of
the state of illness under the protection of the government.

But there are even more "dangerous "situations. In Ipek Calislar’s
biographical novel entitled Latife, it is said that Mustafa Kemal
escaped wearing a woman’s dress when Topal Osman’s men came. Of course,
this information comes directly from Latife Hanim’s memoirs… But
our government doesn’t accept this because Mustafa Kemal wouldn’t
have done something like that. In other words, we don’t try and
understand Mustafa Kemal according to what he did, but we establish
reality according to the Mustafa Kemal in our imagination. Plus,
we want to punish those who say anything contrary to it.

How possible is it to govern a society in a healthy manner and
interpret today in a healthy way with a perspective that is afraid of
the truth? Everyone needs mental health… But it’s especially needed
by a state that claims to represent "institutional intelligence." For
when ideology begins to be perceived like a kind of mental derangement,
no "state" will remain except for brute force…

ARMENIAN PROFESSOR DECLARES WAR TO TURKISH, GEORGIAN, TURKMEN, UKRAINIAN AND AZERBAIJANI HISTORIANS

Today, Azerbaijan
Aug 5 2006

Artyom Khachaturyan, professor of the Yerevan Slavic University called
Turkmenistan’s President Saparmurat Niyazov "successor of barbarians."

Armenian professor states in his article published in Russian
"Political class" journal Saparmurat Niyazov did not stand against
one’s interest by calling Seljuk Turkish Empire Turkmen state.

"No state protests against Niyazov’s position. Because, no one wants
to be the successor of the ‘barbaric Empire’," Khachaturyan underlined,
APA informs.

The Armenian researcher attempted to distort the histories of turkey,
Georgia, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Azerbaijan as well. Accusing
Ukrainian historians of appropriating Russian history, Khachaturyan
said the claims that Ukraine is the first Slavic state and the Kyiv
Russian State belonged to Ukrainians are groundless.

He also introduced poet Azerbaijani poet Nizami as Persian. He said
Nizami never wrote in Azerbaijani but in Persian.

The Armenian professor also raised claims against Turkey related to
its denial of the so-called "Armenian genocide".

Ukrainian and Turkmen historians have not yet reacted to Khachaturyan’s
article written by the order of Russian and Armenian political circles.

Artem Khachataryan is holding an active campaign in the forum section
of the countries.ru website for introducing Azerbaijani poets Nizami
Ganjavi and Khagani Shirvani as Persian. He also called it nonsense
that Armenians killed many Jews in Guba, Azerbaijan saying that the
world community is fed up with Jews trying to create an image of
suffering nation.

URL:

ALIYEV ATTENDS ISLAMIC CONFERENCE YOUTH FORUM FOR DIALOGUE AND COOPERATION

Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
Sept 4 2006

Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev left for one-day visit to Turkey to
attend the opening of permanent headquarters of the Islamic Conference
Youth Forum for Dialogue and Cooperation, APA’s Turkey bureau reports.

At the Ataturk International Airport, Azerbaijani head of state was
met by Istanbul governor Muammar Guler, Istanbul local authority head
Gadir Topbash and several other officials.

President Aliyev had talks with Turkish Premier Rajab Tayyib Erdogan
in his resident in Chiragan palace.

Following the meeting, the head of state attended the solemn
inauguration of the permanent headquarters of the Islamic Conference
Youth Forum for Dialogue and Cooperation at the Istanbul World Trade
Center. The opening ceremony also brought together OIC Secretary
General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, OIC members, some European government
representatives as well as UN, Council of Europe, ISESKO and other
international organizations.

The Islamic Conference Youth Forum for Dialogue and Cooperation
and the Istanbul World Trade Center concluded an agreement on the
permanent headquarters.

The ceremony continued in the Dolmabakhcha palace then. The Youth
Forum president Ali Sarikaya, secretary general ElshadIsgenderov,
Istanbul local authority head Gadir Topbash, OIC Secretary General
Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, Turkish Parliament president Bulent Arinch,
Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and Turkish Prime Minister
Rajab Tayyib Erdogan addressed the ceremony. Mr.Erdogan thanked to
President Aliyev for his support for the establishment of the Forum.

Mr.Aliyev also addressed the ceremony.

Reminding his participation in the official inauguration of the
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan main export oil pipeline in Istanbul and then
in Ceyhan a month ago, Azerbaijani President said he is pleased with
attending the inauguration of the Islamic Conference Youth Forum for
Dialogue and Cooperation.

"Youths constitute great part of the populations of the most of the
Islamic Conference Youth Forum for Dialogue and Cooperation members.

Youth are the most active layer of the society and are great force.

The interactions among our young people will give strong impetus
to our cooperation and also give a great gift to strengthening of
Islamic solidarity," the President underlined.

He underlined that like most countries, Islamic countries suffer
terrorist attacks.

"Azerbaijan suffered over 30 terrorist acts committed by Armenian
terrorist organizations early in the 90s of the last century which
claimed lives of at least 2,000 innocent people. Azerbaijan has been
suffering Armenian aggression for many years. Our historical monuments,
mosques, schools, historical sites remaining in the Armenian-occupied
territories have been destroyed.20 percetn of our territories are
under occupied, and we have over one million refuges and internally
displaced persons as a result of this aggression and ethnic cleansing
policy. We have always been the suffering side," Mr.Aliyev underlined.

He also stressed Azerbaijan is one of the active OIC members adding the
latest session of the Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers in Baku,
"Baku will host the Islamic Conference of Tourism Ministers soon. We
are making efforts to ensure close interaction among our countries."

The persons contributing to the Youth Forum have been awarded.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev was also awarded. The President
returned to Baku this morning.

FT WEEKEND MAGAZINE – BOOK REVIEWS: In brief – Paris: The Secret History

Financial Times; Sep 02, 2006
By Natalie Whittle

Paris: The Secret History

by Andrew Hussey

Penguin £25, 512 pages

Where Peter Ackroyd left off with London: The Biography, Andrew Hussey
picks up with Paris: The Secret History, another obsessive history
tour, teeming with arcane, colourful detail. Hussey’s project is to
show that Paris is not, and never has been, a city in stasis: its
staid, glamorous image has always had a dirtier, more complex
counterpart.

Although it’s hardly a secret that Parisians like sex and
insurrection, Hussey has an abundance of research to show how these
tastes evolved. The 18th-century boom in bookshops, for example,
begins Parisians’ fondness for pornographic writing: all classes could
read erotica as a "sexual aperitif" before seeking gratification out
on the street.

Literary figures are important players in Hussey’s underbelly history,
huddling together in cafes, wandering the streets for inspiration and,
in the case of Balzac, taking the dawn air while his debt collectors
were still asleep. We meet other kinds of outsiders too, from
prostitutes, peddlers and sans-culottes to the "apache" street gangs
of the 1900s. There are also the many immigrants who have shaped
Parisian life. (It was a pair of Armenians who opened Paris’s first
coffee-serving cafe.)

Hussey has an obvious passion for the city and what makes it tick, and
The Secret History is an excellent introduction to its many sordid
mysteries

COMPLETING HIS MISSION IN ARMENIA JOHN EVANS WILL ALSO COMPLETE HIS
DIPLOMATIC SERVICE

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 1, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. Ambassador of the
U.S. John Evans completing his diplomatic mission in Armenia has not
been appointed to any new post. He declared in his interview to radio
Liberty that he has not even asked for it as he is leaving the
diplomatic service. In response to the question, whether it was his
decision, he Ambassador said: "Yes, the documents on my resignation
were submitted by me." In connection with his untimely recall Evans
said that there is no precise term for any ambassador: "All of us
serve the President. I was very glad to receive a positive message
from President Bush recently. He expressed gratitude to me for my work
in Armenia." In response to the question, whether he retracts his
words on the Armenian Genocide voiced by him in February last year in
the U.S., which, as Armenian circles of America affirm, became the
reason for the Ambassador’s recall, Evans said: "I have never
discussed this issue here, in Armenia. And what I have done is
registered and is accessible for everybody on the website of the
U.S. Embassy." In connection with Richard Hoagland nominated to the
post of Ambassador to Armenia by the U.S. administration Evans said
that he has worked with him and highly estimates his professionalism.

CHECKPOINT OF VERIN LARS WILL BE OPEN FOR 3 YEARS

Lragir.am
31 Aug 06

The answer of Vladimir Karapetyan, acting head of the Department of
Press and Information of the NKR Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the
question of the department of Armenpress News Agency:

"The mass media, refering to the statement of the Russian embassy to
Georgia, informed that the checkpoint of Verin Lars will be opened
temporarily. Do you confirm this information?"

"In fact, according to the August 30 statement of the Russian embassy
to Georgia, the checkpoint of Verin Lars – Kazbegi will be open but
with some restrictions, possibly from August 30, 2006 to September 3,
2006, 6 o’clock PM.

The Armenian embassy to Georgia asked the Russian embassy to elucidate
the mode of the checkpoint for the citizens of Armenia.

They said in the abovementioned period the citizens of Armenia will
be allowed to pass the checkpoint of Verin Lars – Kazbegi, but only
pedestrians and small cars. It was pointed out that trucks and buses,
including minibuses will not be allowed."

THE OTHER SIDE OF FAKE DAMAGES
By Mher Ohanian

Yerkir.am
August 25, 2006

Hiding profits and stating damages through inflated expenses is
something that is widespread among the business community.

Businessmen in both the developed countries and developing ones
attempt to profit from doing so. Governments, in turn, try to thwart
tax evasion cases through laws and tax administration. It looks like
the Armenian tax authorities are trying to do the same.

Judging by the "List of taxpayers who have stated damages in 2005,"
released by the State Tax Service, one gets an impression that the key
goal of the Armenian businessmen is to get damages instead of profits.

It turns out that any business – production of mineral water,
beer or soft drinks, jewelry, import of gasoline or real estate —
is non-profitable in Armenia. The same goes for bottling Coca Cola
or selling Mercedes or even owning markets. To cut it short, every
business in Armenia is loss-making, according to that list.

Apparently, our businessmen least interested in their images: what’s
more important is making mega profits taking advantage of the loopholes
in the legislation.

Most of the businesses operating in such lucrative sectors as
construction, transportation, production of soft drinks, import of
cigarettes and others have stated petty profits thus paying more than
modest taxes.

Even those tycoons, who are also legislators, are not shamed of
registering their businesses in offshore zones, and by taking advantage
of the laws they have passed evade taxes.

None of those businesses have declared themselves bankrupts and
no court has ever ruled them bankrupt. Those businesses continue to
flourish and their owners make mega profits because they have powerful
protection or pay bribes to tax authorities.