Author: Antonian Lara

TURKEY URGES FRANCE TO DROP ARMENIAN “GENOCIDE” BILL
Agence France Presse — English
May 18, 2006 Thursday 1:57 PM GMT
Turkey urged France to abandon plans to criminalize denials of
the Armenian “genocide” after a scheduled vote on a draft bill in
the French parliament was called off Thursday, averting a possible
diplomatic crisis with Ankara.
“Our expectation from now on is to give up bringing the proposal to
the agenda of the French parliament again,” a Turkish foreign ministry
statement said.
It also called on France to lend support to Ankara’s proposal for
the establishment of a Turkish-Armenian committee of historians
to study the World War I massacres of Armenians under the Ottoman
Empire, research state archives and declare their conclusion to the
international community.
The bill foresees up to five years in prison and a fine of 45,000 euros
(57,000 dollars) for denying that the Armenians were the victim of
a genocide.
The debate at the French parliament earlier Thursday saw angry scenes
as supporters of the bill, introduced by the Socialist opposition,
accused members of the ruling Union for a Popular Movement (UMP)
of stalling the session.
The debate started late and the time allocated for its discussion
ran out before a vote could take place.
Discussion of the controversial text will now be pushed back to
October at the earliest, under the parliamentary calendar.
Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy came out openly against the
bill, which follows on from a 2001 French law officially recognizing
the 1915-1917 massacres as genocide.
Earlier this month, Ankara briefly recalled its ambassador from
Paris for consultations and warned that the adoption of the bill
would damage ties.
Turkey categorically rejects the “genocide” label, arguing that 300,000
Armenians and as many Turks were killed in civil strife in the final
years of the Ottoman Empire when the Armenians rose up for independence
in eastern Anatolia and sided with invading Russian troops.
Armenians claim up to 1.5 million of their kin were slaughtered
in orchestrated killings and are pressing a campaign for their
international recognition as genocide.

TURKISH MP SUBMITS BILL ON FRENCH GENOCIDE OF ALGERIAN PEOPLE
Anatolia news agency
18 May 2006
Ankara, 18 May: Mahmut Kocak, a Justice and Development Party (AKP)
parliamentarian, has presented a draft law to Turkish parliamentary
Speaker’s office on Thursday [18 May] on genocide against Algerian
people.
The draft resolution proposes that the acts carried out by French
troops in Algeria shall be accepted as “genocide” and asks that 8
May shall be declared as “commemoration day of Algerian genocide”.
The draft law also proposes that any denial of “this genocide” shall
be considered as a crime.
The draft law describes the inhumane acts which France did in several
Algerian cities on 8 May 1945 as “genocide”.
The draft resolution asks for punishment of individuals who reject
“genocide” in Algeria, with imprisonment terms and fine.
Kocak told a news conference that reciprocity principle was valid
in international relations, stating that the draft resolution was
prepared to “retaliate” [against] French proposal.
He said Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika also had a request
in this direction.
Last week, Motherland Party (Anavatan) parliamentarian Ibrahim
Ozdogan prepared a draft law envisaging three years of imprisonment
for individuals who make claims of Armenian genocide.
The draft requests imprisonment terms up to three years for individuals
who allege (through article, picture or cartoon) that Turks committed
genocide against Armenians.
French parliament ended Thursday’s session on a draft law which
proposes “any denial of Armenian genocide to be considered a crime”
without bringing it to voting.
French parliament sources said that a possible voting on the draft
law would not be held until new legislation term began in October.

OPERATION CONTINUES IN SEA NEAR SOCHI TO RAISE AIRLINER RECORDERS
ITAR-TASS, Russia
May 17 2006
SOCHI, May 17 (Itar-Tass) – The third stage of the search operation is
under way at the A-320 airliner crash site in the Black Sea near Sochi.
According to the operational headquarters, the third, final, stage
of the operation has been continuing day and night in the area where
the Armenian airbus crashed. Groups of searchers are on duty there
for eight hours and replace each other.
The strong side wind that impeded the operation subsided at about
midnight to Wednesday.
The deep-water robot device sank to the seabed during the period from
01:00 till 06:00 on Wednesday to search for the airliner recorders.
Silt on the bottom complicates the work. The video camera and the
searchlights get dirty, and the team has to raise the robot to clean
them. Its sinking takes 40 minutes, and it takes the same time to
raise it, a source in the operational headquarters told Itar-Tass.
The search groups had a break in the work for some time on Wednesday
morning. If the weather does not worsen, the search will continue.
The rescue vessel Kapitan Beklemishev delivered the RT-1000 robot
from Novorossiisk to Sochi on Monday.
The robot did not participate in such operations before. It raised
only geological samples weighing up to 20 kilogrammes and did not
work at such depths.
The device is capable to lift fragments of the plane weighing up
to 12 kilogrammes and the two flight recorders, each weighing seven
kilogrammes, said the Russian sea and river transport department’s
head Alexander Davydenko.
The RT-1000 is a system consisting of control and lifting equipment
and the apparatus itself with photo and video equipment and a hydraulic
manipulator operating in all directions.
According to reports, the flight recorders are at the depth of 496
metres. The distance between them is about five metres.
The Armavia airline A-320 airbus fell into the sea on May 3 when
approaching Sochi’s airport in an attempt to land. The crash killed
113 people.
The operation to raise the fight recorders resumed late on Tuesday
night when the wind subsided.
The vessel Navigator with the robot aboard remained at the area on
Wednesday morning, the operational headquarters said.
On Tuesday, the strong side wind blew off the Navigator from the site
and did not allow resuming the work on the bottom.
The operation to find and raise the recorders may last three days.

HOLY SEE OF ECHMIADZIN YET SILENT ABOUT DA VINCI CODE MOVIE
Yerevan, May 17. ArmInfo. The Holy See of Echmiadzin has not yet
expressed its attitude towards the sensational Da Vinci Code film,
reports the press service of Echmiadzin.
Meanwhile, the Georgian Orthodox Church has already criticized the
movie to be shown in Tbilisi May 18. It says that the movie distorts
the life-story of Jesus Christ. But Tbilisi movie houses are still
going to show it.
To remind, the movie is opening the Cannes Festival today.

U.S.: KARABAKH CONFLICT PARTIES CLOSE TO SETTLEMENT AS NEVER
PanARMENIAN.Net
17.05.2006 14:19 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European
and Eurasian Affairs Matthew Bryza stated that “the parties to the
Nagorno Karabakh conflict are as close to the settlement as never”. In
his words, the U.S. considers the next several months to be a real
“window of possibilities”. Matthew Bryza also remarked that the
Armenian and Azerbaijani governments should demonstrate political
courage to overcome the discrepancies.
According to another U.S. State Department representative David
E. Appleton, progress can be proved by the fact that Baku requested
the U.N. Refugee Agency to develop a program for the return of refugees
after the signing of a peaceful agreement, reported RFE/RL.

GENOCIDE STATEMENT ‘FREE SPEECH’
Sunday Times, Australia
May 16 2006
A VICTORIAN MP’s parliamentary speech accusing Turkish people of
ignoring acts of genocide more than 80 years ago was a sign of free
speech at work, Victorian Premier Steve Bracks said today.
Jenny Mikakos, the parliamentary secretary for justice, whose ethnic
background is Greek, has accused Turkey of ignoring the killing of
hundreds of thousands of ethnic Greeks between 1916 and 1923.
In a short speech to the Victorian upper house during the last session
of Parliament, Ms Mikakos reportedly said: “On May 19, the Pontian
community in Victoria and around the world will commemorate the 87th
anniversary of the Pontian genocide that occurred in present-day
Turkey.
“Between 1916 and 1923, over 353,000 Pontic Greeks living in Asia
Minor and in Pontus, which is near the Black Sea, died as a result of
the 20th Century’s first but less-known genocide,” Fairfax reported
her as saying.
“Over a million Pontic Greeks were forced into exile. In the preceding
years, 1.5 million Armenians and 750,000 Assyrians in various parts
of Turkey also perished.”
Two Labor MPs of Turkish descent, Adem Somyurek and John Eren,
interjected but Ms Mikakos continued speaking.
“The Turkish government must begin the reconciliation process by
acknowledging these crimes against humanity. The suffering of the
victims of the Pontian genocide cannot and will not be forgotten,”
she said.
The comments, made under a system of 90-second free statements for
MPs established by the Bracks Government, have outraged Turkish and
Jewish groups.
But Mr Bracks today said Ms Mikakos, one of two members for the safe
Jika Jika province in Melbourne’s north, was free to make the speech.
“Free speech is something that we uphold, and I understand that,
and the freedom to criticise someone who makes a statement is also
appropriate as well,” he told Southern Cross Broadcasting.
“As to the interpretation of those events, that is a matter which,
really, other people can judge, but this is something she obviously
felt passionate about.
“It’s up to her. She is a member of parliament who can submit those
things to the Parliament.
“But equally, people have the right to vigorously disagree with her
point of view.”

Radio Free Europe, Czech Republic
May 14 2006
Turkey Threatens Sanctions Over Armenian ‘Genocide’ Law

May 14, 2006 — Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is today
quoted as threatening France with trade sanctions if it adopts a bill
making it illegal to deny that the 1915-17 massacre of Armenians in
Turkey was “genocide.”
The Turkish newspaper “Hurriyet” quotes Erdogan as saying sanctions
will be imposed if French lawmakers pass a bill making denial of the
“Armenian genocide” liable to a five-year jail term and a 45,000 euro
($58,000) fine.
Legislators are expected to vote on the measure on May 18.
Armenians allege up to 1.5 million of their kin were slaughtered in
orchestrated killings between 1915 and 1917, while the Ottoman Empire
was falling apart.
Turkey rejects the claim that the killings were systematic.

PanARMENIAN.Net
Orinats Yerkir to Participate in Parliamentary and Presidential
Elections in Armenia

12.05.2006 16:57 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Orinats Yerkir party will participate in the
forthcoming parliamentary and presidential elections in Armenia, party
leader, RA NA chairman Artur Baghdassaryan stated at today’s press
conference. `Orinats Yerkir’s secession from the ruling coalition
doesn’t mean that we abandon the political arena. We will take part
both in the parliamentary and presidential election,’ he said. At
that, he said, it’s premature to speak of possible political allies at
the upcoming elections.

TURKEY TRIED TO HEAD OFF PM’S VERDICT ON ‘GENOCIDE’
Brian Laghi
Globe and Mail, Canada
May 11 2006
The Prime Minister of Turkey sent Stephen Harper a letter last month
asking him to not characterize the mass killing of Armenians in the
early 1900s as a genocide and instead support an academic inquiry
into the matter.
One day later, Mr. Harper went ahead with the statement, sparking a
diplomatic contretemps that led to the recall of Turkey’s ambassador
to Canada and the country’s decision to withdraw from a military
exercise in Alberta.
The Turkish letter, an unofficial translation of which was obtained
by The Globe and Mail, says that a push by the Armenian community
to have the mass killing of Armenians recognized as a genocide has
clouded Turkish-Canadian relations.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan also asked that Mr. Harper instead
support a Turkish initiative to have scholars from Turkey and Armenia
study the matter and issue a report to the international community.
“As you know, the allegation of ‘genocide’ is a sensitive issue for
both the Turkish people and Turkish Governments,” the letter said.
“In fact, the events that took place in 1915 constitute a period
which historians consider as contentious.”
The letter is being made public after Turkey’s decisions this week
to recall its ambassador for consultations and to pull out of an
international military exercise that is to begin in Cold Lake, Alta.,
next week. Turkey is upset about Mr. Harper’s affirmation of a free
vote of Parliament two years ago in which a majority of MPs voted to
condemn the brutal treatment of the Armenians. However, the cabinet
of the day voted against the motion and it was considered non-binding.
About two dozen other countries have recognized the deaths of 1.5
million Armenians as a genocide. Turkey maintains the deaths were
caused by civil strife, diseases and famine during the turmoil of
the First World War while Armenia was under Turkish Ottoman control.
The Turkish Prime Minister’s letter was dated April 18.
The letter said that although Armenia has yet to respond positively
to Turkey’s proposal for an academic study, Mr. Erdogan hoped that
Mr. Harper would support the idea.
He said that while bonds between Canada and Turkey have deepened —
including co-operation on stabilizing Afghanistan — “the Armenian
lobby in your country has not given up its intentions to create
problems in Turkish-Canadian relations.”
Turkish authorities confirmed yesterday there had been
correspondence. They would not say how Canadian officials replied,
if at all, although government sources said yesterday that officials
informed the Turkish embassy in advance of their plans.
Conservative sources have said that the move is not an effort to win
the votes of the Armenian diaspora in Canada, of whom there are about
70,000. Rather, the issue is seen by many in the Conservative caucus
as a historic wrong.
Conservative MP Jason Kenney, parliamentary secretary to Mr. Harper,
and a long-time supporter of the Armenian viewpoint, said yesterday
that the Prime Minister was simply acknowledging the House of
Commons vote.
“I think that personally the Parliament was right to take the decision
and the Prime Minister had no option but to recognize that decision,”
Mr. Kenney said. “I’m hopeful that the government of Turkey will have
as much respect for the decisions of the Parliament of Canada as our
government does.”
Mr. Kenney said the idea of having the two sides co-operate in a
study should not involve Canada.

TURKISH PM SAYS FRENCH PARLIAMENT WON’T PLACE VIRUS BETWEEN US
NTV MSNBC, Turkey
May 11 2006
The Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that he would hold talks
with French officials during his visit to Austria.
Guncelleme: 15:40 TSÝ 11 Mayýs 2006 PerþembeANKARA – Turkey’s ties
with France have a long history and will not be permanently damaged
by a proposal before the French parliament to make it a criminal act
to deny the so-called Armenian genocide.
Speaking at a press conference in Ankara’s Esenboga Airport before
flying to Austria to attend a summit of European Union and Latin
American leaders, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he did not
believe the French parliament would vote in favour of the proposal,
which he described as a ‘virus’.
Responding to a question from journalists as to whether there would
be bans on French products stemming from the proposed legislation,
Erdogan said that it was possible the draft laws outlawing the denial
of the Armenian genocide might be rejected.
Erdogan said he had not held talks with French officials over the issue
but added that in meetings he had had with high level French investors
in Turkey the common view was that the legislation was a major mistake.
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