Author: Badalian Vardan

10 ANS APRES, PARIS COMMEMORE LE 11 SEPTEMBRE

Source/Lien : Licra
Publie le : 09-09-2011

Info Collectif VAN – – Dans le cadre de la 4e
Journee Internationale Contre le Terrorisme, un concert se tiendra
en hommage a toutes les victimes du terrorisme avec le soutien de la
Ville de Paris, le dimanche 11 septembre 2011 de 10 h a 12 h, Kiosque
du Jardin du Luxembourg, Paris 6e. Chacun se souvient du 11 septembre
2001. Chacun sait où il etait quand il a appris l’impensable nouvelle.

Chacun a suivi en direct, tetanise, la chute de l’Amerique avec
l’effondrement des tours jumelles de Manhatan. Cependant, au-dela
de l’emotion, par-dela l’hommage aux victimes et a leurs sauveteurs,
les commemorations du 10e anniversaire des terribles attentats du 11
septembre 2001 devraient donner l’opportunite de faire la lumière
sur d’autres realites inquietantes. Ainsi, la Turquie utilise les
lois antiterrorisme pour ecraser la dissidence kurde.

En effet, selon l’Associated Press, “Au moins 35 000 personnes ont
ete condamnees pour terrorisme a travers le monde depuis les attaques
du 11 septembre 2001”. De nombreuses personnes “se sont retrouvees
derrière les barreaux simplement pour avoir agite une affiche ou pour
s’etre exprimees en ligne. (…) Avant les attaques du 11-Septembre,
quelques centaines de personnes seulement etaient condamnees pour
terrorisme chaque annee. (…) La situation permet aussi de croire
que des dizaines de pays profitent de la situation pour ecraser la
dissidence et emprisonner leurs detracteurs. (…).”

“L’enquete a permis de constater que plus de la moitie des
condamnations ont ete imposees dans deux pays -la Chine et la Turquie-
qui sont frequemment accuses d’utiliser des lois antiterrorisme pour
ecraser la dissidence. La Turquie a prononce a elle seule le tiers des
condamnations. “Le monde realise de plus en plus que le terrorisme pose
un danger bien reel et qu’il faut l’ecraser dans l’oeuf, a explique
John Bellinger, un ancien conseiller a la securite du gouvernement
americain. Aussi, de plus en plus de pays autoritaires utilisent la
menace bien reelle du terrorisme pour couvrir une repression qui ne
tient pas compte des droits de la personne.”

“La Turquie, qui compose de longue date avec une minorite kurde
militante, arrive en tete de lice au chapitre des condamnations
antiterroristes. Il s’agit aussi du pays où ces condamnations
connaissent la progression la plus rapide. Si la Turquie jette
des Kurdes en prison depuis des annees, elle a accelere sa campagne
contre l’autonomie kurde en 2006, quand elle a suivi l’exemple de ses
voisins europeens et revise ses lois antiterroristes. Les nouvelles
lois considèrent les manifestations comme des menaces a la securite,
et reservent aux manifestants des peines comparables a celles recues
par des terroristes.”

Hormis cette depeche edifiante de l’A.P., comment ne pas avoir aussi
une pensee pour les 650 000 civils irakiens, victimes collaterales
de l’occupation des forces americano-britanniques en Irak, a
partir de mars 2003 ? La situation dramatique des chretiens d’Irak
(Assyro-chaldeens-syriaques), en butte a des attentats cibles qui
leur laissent pour seul choix “la valise ou le cercueil”, rappelle que
l’attaque contre les tours jumelles du World Trade Center revendiquee
par Oussama Ben Laden, et surtout les guerres “anti-terroristes”
qui en ont decoule, ont surtout contribue a exasperer les tensions
religieuses au Moyen-Orient.

L’administration Bush gardera aux yeux de l’histoire une immense
responsabilite dans ce desastre. Donald Rumsfeld a ete un des stratèges
de la guerre d’Irak en 2003. Selon le documentaire “11-Septembre au
sommet de l’Etat americain” diffuse sur France3 ce mercredi 7 septembre
2011, c’est dès le soir du 11 septembre 2001, que Donald Rumsfeld
a conclu que l’Amerique devait desormais attaquer l’Irak… Donald
Rumsfeld avait procede a la creation du Bureau des projets speciaux
(Office of Special Plans), place sous l’autorite directe de Paul
Wolfowitz, son secretaire adjoint et gere par le sous-secretaire a la
Defense, Douglas Feith. Le travail de cette officine fut d’analyser
le materiel fourni par la CIA et les renseignements militaires et
d’apporter ses propres conclusions a la Maison-Blanche. C’est a ce
bureau qu’a ete par la suite reproche d’avoir gonfle la menace des
armes de destruction massive irakiennes et d’avoir sciemment fourni
de fausses informations pour justifier l’attaque contre l’Irak. Ce
bureau a ete ferme depuis.

Si les commemorations du 11 septembre partent d’une bonne intention
et d’une necessaire compassion pour les victimes, il importe de rester
vigilant contre toutes les formes de manipulation faites par des Etats
(souvent totalitaires) ou des think tank qui utilisent la “guerre
contre le terrorisme” a des fins strictement politico-economiques.

**

Dans le cadre de la 4° Journee Internationale Contre le Terrorisme :
Concert et Marche a Paris le 11 septembre 2011

CONCERT en hommage a toutes les victimes du terrorisme Avec le soutien
de la Ville de Paris DIMANCHE 11 SEPTEMBRE 2011 de 10 h a 12 h

Kiosque du Jardin du Luxembourg Paris 6° Fresque de Jerôme Mesnager
realisee en musique Marlène Samoun * Witness Gospel * Hushh * Uchronie
* Patrick Zinck * Jean-Chistophe Dehan

Avec les artistes Diagne Chanel, Anna Macina et Eric Pierrot Regie-Son
: OPROZ EVENTS

– MARCHE ET RASSEMBLEMENT ” Non au terrorisme ! ” RUE SOUFFLOT EN
DIRECTION DU PANTHEON 12 h 30 – 13 h 30

Participation de Fode Sylla, Parrain du Collectif Contre le Terrorisme
– Malka Marcovich, consultante internationale en droits humains –
Fazal Ur Rehman Afridi, journaliste pakistanais – Richard Rossin,
President du Mouvement Pour la Paix et Contre le Terrorisme

Associations membres du Collectif Contre le Terrorisme AISC Association
Internationale Solidarite copte – AMLZ Solidarite avec les victimes du
terrorisme palestinien a la memoire de Myriam Lehman Zaoui, membre de
l’Association francaise des Victimes du Terrorisme – APIV Assocition
Pour l’Information et la Verite – ARAPREM Association de Rapatries
d’Algerie (Harkis et Pieds noirs) pour la reconciliation des memoires
– Collectif Israël Verite – Comite Soudan – HEVEL – Institut assyro
chaldeen syriaque – LDIF Ligue du Droit International des Femmes –
LICRA Ligue Internationale Contre le Racisme et l’Antisemitisme –
MPCT Mouvement Pour la Paix et Contre le Terrorisme – Paroles de
Femmes – PEREC Pour une Ecole Republicaine Et Citoyenne – Primo Info –
Psychanalyse et Ideologie – Rassemblement pour la Democratie au Liban –
Regards de Femmes – SASSOUN – SOS Racisme – UEJF Union des Etudiants
Juifs de France – Urgences Afrique

Avec le soutien de AAWE, American Wives of Europeans, French Heritage
Society, Mona Bismarck Foundation, Democrats Abroad, Republicans
Abroad, France Syrie Democratie, Objectif Kine, CLEF, Coordination
francaise pour le Lobby Europeen des Femmes, Confederation des Juifs de
France et amis d’Israë, AfVT.org, Association francaise des Victimes
du Terrorisme, American Club of Paris, AFEM, Association des Femmes
de l’Europe Meridionale, Loge Deborah Sam Hoffenberg du Bnai Brith,
Agir Ensemble, Comite Laïcite Republique, Forum femmes Mediterranee

Retour a la rubrique

POPE BENEDICT XV’S LETTER TO OTTOMAN SULTAN MEHMED V ON THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

news.am
Sept 8 2011
Armenia

Armenian News-NEWS.am presents below excerpts from Pope Benedict XV’s
letter dated September 10, 1915 to Ottoman Sultan Mehmed V on the
Armenian Genocide. In the letter, which is published in the French
website Imprescriptible, the Pope condemns the Armenian Genocide and
urges the Sultan to put an end to suffering of the Armenians.

“At this time, when the powerful empire of Your Excellency is engaged
in a great battle with the powerful nations of Europe, the pain caused
by the horrors tortures our hearts, and, also, the echo of the lament
of an entire people reaches us. Those people are being subjected to
indescribable suffering in the vast Ottoman territory. The Armenian
people have already seen how the majority of their children were sent
for punishment. We now learn that the entire population of villages
and towns must abandon their homes, in order to reach-with unspeakable
difficulties and torture-distant places where poverty and hunger will
be added to their psychological suffering. We believe these unlawful
deeds are carried out against the will of your government.

We therefore petition to you with confidence, Your Excellency, and
urge you to manifest goodness and conscience, and to intervene for
the benefit of a people who, even with the power of their faith,
are compelled to remain loyal to your country.

But Your Excellency, do not allow the innocent to be punished, and
see to it that even those who have gone astray may take advantage of
your sovereign generosity.

Speak your powerful and inspiring words of peace and forgiveness,
and, being assured that they no longer will suffer from violence
and persecution, the Armenian people would bless the august name of
their guarantor.”

168 ZHAM: SPECULATIONS ABOUT ARMENIA’S REPRESENTATIVE AT EUROVISION

news.am
Sept 8 2011
Armenia

YEREVAN.- Media outlets have been recently discussing the possible
candidates to participate in Eurovision 2012 song contest to be held
in Baku.

“One of the Armenian articles said this year Armenia should be
represented by a contestant who is not resident either of Armenia or
Nagorno-Karabakh not “to worry” Azerbaijan.

Head of the Public Television of Armenia Aleksan Harutyunyan stressed
it is not Azerbaijan’s business whether our representative will be
resident of Armenia or Nagorno-Karabakh,” 168 Zham newspaper writes.

EXPERT: NATO RADAR IN TURKEY TO CAUSE REGIONAL TENSIONS

PanARMENIAN.Net
September 10, 2011 – 13:10 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Deployment of a NATO missile defense shield in
Turkey will create tensions in the region, an Armenian expert said.

“Turkey will never convince Moscow that the NATO radar doesn’t
present any danger for Russia,” Levon Shirinyan told a news conference
in Yerevan

According to him, Ankara will found itself in an awkward position.

“Turkey will never convince Moscow that the NATO radar doesn’t present
any danger for Russia,” Shirinyan said.

“Moreover, it’s not accidental that Iran holds offensive exercise for
the first time over the past 30 years. Tehran has never eyed Ankara
as a reliable regional partner,” he added.

Turkey has recently agreed to host the early warning radar as part of
NATO’s missile defense system aimed at countering ballistic missile
threats from neighboring Iran.

The Turkish and U.S. governments said the radar system will help spot
missile threats coming from outside Europe, including potentially
from Iran. The system, provided by the United States, is to become
operational later this year.

Iran slammed the decision as “destabilizing.”

HOW KARAPETYAN RESIGNED

Lragir.am News

12:40:09 – 10/09/2011

Yesterday President Serzh Sargsyan accepted the resignation of Karen
Karapetyan, his chief of staff. Our source noted that before submitting
his resignation Karen Karapetyan had a talk with Serzh Sargsyan. He
complained of intrigues around him and said he could not continue
to work in such an atmosphere. Serzh Sargsyan said resign if you
cannot. Perhaps, this answer was unexpected for Karen Karapetyan.

By the way, Karen Karapetyan had appeared in a similar situation
in December of last year but then Serzh Sargsyan did not accept his
resignation. Besides, there was reliable information that the Russian
President Medvedev’s chief of staff, Naryshkin, had interfered for
Karen Karapetyan. It was the period when the ex-mayor of Yerevan
Gagik Beglaryan beat Serzh Sargsyan’s aide, with the “help” of Karen
Karapetyan.

Then rumors came that Karen Karapetyan would be appointed prime
minister, or speaker of the national assembly or head of the election
staff of the Republican Party to balance Hovik Abrahamyan and weaken
his influence.

Yesterday the political board of the Republican Party discussed
Karen Karapetyan’s resignation. Karapetyan was absent. Sargsyan
said Karapetyan wanted to resign to run a business freely. Thus,
Karapetyan will not appointed to another post. In fact, his dream to
be prime minister will not come true.

By the way, Karen Karapetyan was on holiday and returned only a few
days ago. The Republican board discussed other issues of the party.

COMMEMORATION OF THE DEPARTED IN ARMENIA

Vestnik Kavkaza
Sept 9 2011

Armenians will have three days off in a row from September 10 to 12due
to the Commemoration of the Departed Day right after the HolyCross Day,
News Armenia reports.

The day will be marked on September 11.

The Commemoration of the Departed Day comes after each of the mainholy
days such as Christmas and Baptism, Holy Resurrection,Transfiguration
of the Lord, Assumption, and the Holy Cross Day.

The first day off for the commemoration was set on June 26,
2008,proposed by the Echmiadzin.

WAR OF WORDS ENGULF EAST MEDITERRANEAN

Hurriyet, Turkey
Sept 9 2011

Israel and Turkey exchange words on the east Med conflict after
Turkish PM vows that Turkish warships will escort aid ships. ‘Ankara
would violate international law if it tries to break the blockade,’
an Israeli Minister says

DAILY NEWS photo, Selahattin SONMEZ

Israeli officials reacted angrily Friday to the Turkish prime
minister’s vow that Turkish warships would escort future aid
ships bound for Gaza, deepening the war of words between the two
Mediterranean countries.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoðan’s remarks were “grave and serious,”
Israeli Intelligence Minister Dan Meridor told army radio, adding that
Ankara “would be violating international law” if it tried to use force
to break Israel’s naval blockade on the Gaza Strip, which a U.N. report
recently declared to be legal, Agence France-Presse reported.

The minister said, however, that Israel had “no wish to add to the
polemic.”

“It is better to stay quiet and wait – we have no interest in
aggravating the situation by replying to such [verbal] attacks,”
said Meridor, who also oversees Israel’s atomic affairs.

Neither NATO nor Egypt would let Turkey give a military escort to
future aid ships, an Israeli Foreign Ministry official told the
Hurriyet Daily News on Friday.

Earlier this week, Erdoðan told Al-Jazeera television that the Turkish
Navy would accompany aid ships to protect them from raids like the one
Israel launched on a flotilla trying to break the Gaza blockade last
year. Nine pro-Palestinian Turkish activists were killed in the raid on
the Mavi Marmara ship, sending Turkish-Israeli into a downward spiral.

There is anger and frustration in Tel Aviv over Erdoðan’s statements,
according to a senior Israeli official who spoke with the Daily News
on condition of anonymity. “We have debated in the Foreign Ministry,
with several diplomats in attendance, to examine the options in case of
such a bid. We are thinking of measures that will diffuse the tension,”
the official said.

“We do not think either NATO or Egypt will let Turkey escort Turkish
Gaza-bound aid ships. During Erdoðan’s visit to Egypt, the Egyptian
officials might let him enter Gaza [through the Rafah border gate]
if he continues to insist, even if they prefer not to,” the official
added. “But regarding Turkish warships sailing toward Gaza, they
[Egypt] will tell Erdoðan it is not a good idea. Because Egypt
neighbors Gaza, it would also be disturbed to see Turkish warships
sailing very close to its coast.”

Erdoðan is scheduled to pay an official visit to Egypt on Sept. 12-13.

He has expressed his intention to cross into the Hamas-controlled
Gaza Strip through Egypt’s Rafah border gate as a reaction to Israel.

Diplomatic sources have suggested, however, that Erdoðan is unlikely
to actually make the trip. Egypt is reluctant to agree to his crossing
to Gaza through the Rafah border due to its agreements with Israel
restricting entries to Gaza. Egypt has also warned of security
concerns that might put the Turkish prime minister’s safety at risk
if he travels to Gaza.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor told the Daily News
in a telephone interview that they will not comment on Erdoðan’s
statements about escorting future aid ships.

“The wisest thing at this point would be to show maximum restraint and
responsibility. I will therefore refrain from making any comments on
this statement,” Palmor said. The spokesman also strongly refuted a
report in the Israeli daily newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth that claimed
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman is set to cooperate with
the Armenian lobby and meet with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’
Party, or PKK, as a reply to Erdoðan’s statements. The PKK is listed
as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the
European Union.

The vice president of the Humanitarian Relief Foundation, or ÝHH,
one of the organizers of last year’s ill-fated flotilla, said there
were no plans in the near team to send a new flotilla to Gaza.

“The ÝHH does not have a scheduled program of sending aid ships to
Gaza for now, but we welcome Erdoðan’s recent remarks,” the ÝHH’s
Huseyin Oruc told the Daily News in a telephone interview.

* Aslý Sozbilir contributed to this report from Istanbul

EXPERT: ‘US WON’T ALLOW TURKEY AND ISRAEL TO CLASH’
Barcın Yinanc – [email protected]

Hurriyet, Turkey
Sept 9 2011

The United States which has its 6th fleet in the Mediteranean Sea,
will not let Turkey and Israel stage an armed clash, says Professor
Hasan Köni, an expert on international relations.

In addition to rationalism, each new administration’s policies are also
influenced by their culture and psychology. This administration has an
affinity with the Arab world and this influences their policy by about
20 percent, Professor Hasan Köni (L) tells the Daily News. He believes
it will be difficult for Turkey to mobilize the Arab world for a vote
on Gaza in the UN General Assembly. DAILY NEWS photo, Hasan ALTINIÅ~^IK

Neither the United States nor the Western power structure will permit
the recent bellicose rhetoric between Turkey and Israel to escalate
as far as armed conflict, an international relations scholar has said.

Despite this, violence that could erupt in the region in the wake of a
U.N. vote on Palestinian statehood later this month would likely have
a negative effect on Turkey, Hasan Köni, a professor at Istanbul’s
Kultur University, told the Hurriyet Daily News this week.

Q: The people directing Turkey’s foreign policy have traditionally
not chosen to refer any problems with another country to a third party
because of a lack of confidence in third-party mediation. Why, then,
did the Turkish government push for the establishment of a U.N.

commission to probe Israeli killings in last year’s Gaza-bound
flotilla? Is it because they thought Turkey was so right that there
would be a result in Turkey’s favor or did they simply disregard
their old way of thinking?

A: The second is true. The government distanced itself from classical
Turkish foreign policy.

In addition to rationalism, each new administration’s policies are
also influenced by their culture and psychology. This administration
has an affinity with the Arab world and this influences their policy
around 20 percent of the time, let’s say. Huseyin Gulerce [a columnist
for the pro-government daily Zaman] even wrote that the U.S. equals
Israel and Israel equals U.S. and Europe.

‘Let’s not be emotional,’ he said, meaning let’s not reflect our
cultural emotions in foreign policy. Even a person within this cultural
group has grasped the situation. International realities dictate that
Turkey and Israel remain in the same Western power system.

It seems they have not understood the strength of the Israeli lobby in
the United States. A member of the Justice and Development Party [AKP]
was saying the other day on TV that the Turkish lobby is working like
hell and that the Israeli lobby was not that influential. If there is
such a perception, it means that they have not even grasped that [U.S.

President Barack] Obama can’t exert pressure on the Palestinian issue
because of fear of that lobby.

Q: So is it because of this emotionalism that they could not foresee
the outcome of the U.N. report, which proved to be in favor of Israel?

A: I think they are conducting the process with some advisers that are
close to them, rather than with members of the Foreign Ministry. But
that kind of structure might prevent rational analysis.

Q. Then the government seems to have drawn no lessons from this
experience since it is planning to take the case to the International
Court of Justice, or ICJ.

A: These [decisions] come as a result of on-the-spot statements that
are done without consulting experts.

Q: Maybe the government has a game plan that escaped the eye of
experts?

A: There is the aim of gaining the appreciation of the Arab
world. But there should have been a bitter lesson learned from the
Libya experience. Turkey refrained from bombing an Arab country with
the hope that this would become an advantage for Turkey. But it was
Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states that wanted to bomb Libya, [and they
are part of] the Sunni bloc to which Turkey supposedly belongs. Turkey
then had to send its Navy to Libya. This tells us that some Arab
countries can be pro-American and that they ignore cultural dimensions
and act according to the international system of interests. Lessons
should have been drawn from that. It is understandable when Turkey
gets furious for the killing of its citizens. But why is there so
much enthusiasm for [breaking] the Gaza blockade?

Q: So you don’t expect a successful outcome in the U.N. either, as
the government plans to get the General Assembly to take a decision
to refer the Gaza blockade to the ICJ.

A: It is very difficult. The Arab world is divided. Even in the
case of the Goldstone report [on Israel’s 2008-2009 Gaza attacks],
the Arab world was not successful even though they were right.

Q: It looks like the prime minister won’t be able to go to Gaza.

A: The current administration is a military administration standing
on its feet thanks to the billions of dollars it receive from the U.S.

When you look at the Arab world, you see that the administrations
that were close to the West are gone and that those who were against
the West are still resisting. Isn’t that strange?

Q: Turkey says it will guarantee freedom of navigation in the
Mediterranean. Is there a possibility of an armed conflict between
Turkey and Israel?

A: The U.S fleet is in the Mediterranean. I don’t think two important
countries which are in the same power system will be allowed to have
an armed clash. When problems remained unsolved, the media is used
and there is too much noise.

Q: But once Turkey said it would be more visible in the Mediterranean,
surely its words cannot remain as mere rhetoric?

A: It looks very weird to me that Turkey would attack Israel with
ships it purchased from the U.S. It could have been another story
had it made its own ship and knew the capacity of the other side. A
Greek leader had written in his memoirs that Turks and Greeks could
not fight because the U.S. had blocked the ships and planes.

Q: Some argue the Turkey’s and Israel’s past alliance was [just for
convenience] and that it was bound to break up; they claim that it
will now take a long time to mend fences.

A: I don’t think there is a deep tension between the two countries.

The rhetoric used by both sides is very soft, not hostile. Israel says,
‘This is Turkey’s choice.’ Turkey calls Israel ‘the spoiled child.’

Q: You find this rhetoric soft?

A: Compared to Iran and other Arab countries, it is soft. There
is a lot of playing to the home fans but there is no news of the
score. The boss is the same. Turkey and Israel are both in the same
Western power system. Turkey cannot leave the Western power system.

Q: What scenario is most likely to unfold after Sept. 20 following
the U.N. General Assembly vote on Palestine’s bid to be recognized
as a state?

A: These two weeks are very important. Even though there might be a
positive outcome at the assembly, it will be vetoed by the Security
Council. The Palestinians [are ready] to start an intifada once more
if they are not recognized as a state. There could be an escalation
of violence in the region.

The current situation in Turkish-Israeli relations will not change.

But the developments in the region will affect Turkey. We know that
from past experience. After the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, Armenian
terrorism started. Leftist terrorism in the Middle East later had
consequences in Turkey, which was also affected by the actions of
Islamic groups that emerged due to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Q: Are you suggesting that terrorism will also increase in Turkey?

A: All the dimensions of the Kurdish problem are totally connected
to the developments in the region. Once the support given to Turkey
diminishes, you will be better able to see [everyone’s] unfettered
positions.

Who is Professor Hasan Köni?

A very familiar face among the diplomatic, academic and security
circles of Ankara, Professor Hasan Köni is a graduate of Ankara
University’s Faculty of Political Sciences, a department famous for
producing many civil servants.

He went to Michigan University for post-graduate studies on
international law. He also gave courses to police and military cadets
when he was on the academic staff of the Police Academy between 1981
and 2002 and the Military Academy between 1983 and 1990.

He moved to Istanbul in 2003 and is currently teaching at Kultur
University.

He has numerous publications on issues such as Turkish-U.S. relations,
terrorism, the Armenian question and maritime law.

Some of his books include “The decision-making system in the United
Nations” and “The international politics of America.”

ERDOGAN’S MISINTERPRETED REMARKS ON ESCORTING AID VESSELS TOUCH RAW NERVES

Today’s Zaman
Sept 9 2011
Turkey

A warning by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Israel
reiterating his country’s firmness on ensuring freedom of navigation
in the eastern Mediterranean sent shockwaves throughout the region
after it was interpreted as a prelude to a naval confrontation with
its former ally.

But officials in Ankara made clear on Friday that Erdogan’s remarks
during an interview with Al Jazeera were quoted out of context. Some
of his quotes were compiled later both by Al Jazeera and Reuters in
a way that implied these quotes had followed each other, the same
officials said. “Turkish warships, in the first place, are authorized
to protect our ships that carry humanitarian aid to Gaza,” Erdogan
was quoted as saying by Reuters in the interview, broadcast by Al
Jazeera with an Arabic translation.

“From now on, we will not let these ships be attacked by Israel, as
what happened with the Freedom Flotilla,” Erdogan was also quoted as
saying by Reuters.

In the Turkish version of the text of the interview provided by the
Anatolia news agency, however, Erdogan, in response to a question on
ensuring the freedom of navigation in the eastern Mediterranean, says:
“At the moment, no doubt, Turkish warships are first of all liable
to protect their own ships. This is the first step. And there is
humanitarian aid which we will extend. Our humanitarian assistance will
no longer be attacked as happened in the case of the Mavi Marmara.”

A senior government official speaking to Today’s Zaman on Friday said
Erdogan’s remarks cannot be interpreted to mean that Turkey has been
preparing to send humanitarian aid ships to the region that will
be escorted by Turkish warships. “We have put forth a principle by
saying that we will ensure the freedom of navigation in the eastern
Mediterranean and that this field is not an Israeli playground.

As long as Israel does not interfere in the freedom of navigation, we
do not plan on sending any warships to escort humanitarian aid ships,”
the official, who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the
issue, told Today’s Zaman. “The misquoted remarks suggest that we have
been readying to provide a warship to escort each humanitarian aid
ship. This is not the case. However, Turkey will protect its citizens’
rights in the event of any interference in international waters,”
the official added.

Turkey downgraded its relations with Israel following a raid by the
latter on the Mavi Marmara, a ship that was part of an international
aid flotilla attempting to breach an Israeli blockade of Gaza. Turkey
said relations between the two countries would only return to normal
if Israel offered a formal apology for the resultant killings and
paid compensation to the victims’ families. Israel, however, refused,
saying its soldiers had acted in self-defense. Months-long diplomatic
efforts to mend relations failed to produce an agreement.

The Turkish government last Friday announced a set of sanctions
against Israel, including the further downgrading of relations to
second secretary level — effectively expelling senior-level Israeli
diplomats — and measures it will take to ensure freedom of navigation
in the eastern Mediterranean after Israel made clear that it would
not apologize for the May 31, 2010 raid.

In Jerusalem, Erdogan’s compiled remarks found a response from Deputy
Prime Minister Dan Meridor, who termed “Turkey’s announcement that
Turkish warships would escort any future convoys to the Gaza Strip”
“harsh and serious” but said Israel wanted to avoid a war of words
with its former ally.

“The things Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan said are harsh and
serious, but I don’t think it would be right to get into any verbal
saber-rattling with him,” Deputy Prime Minister Meridor told Israeli
Army Radio. “Our silence is the best response. I hope this phenomenon
will pass.” Meanwhile, Israel’s hawkish foreign minister is planning
a series of measures to retaliate against Turkey in the recent row
over the apology, including military aid to the terrorist Kurdistan
Workers’ Party (PKK), a news report said on Friday.

Other planned measures are cooperation with the Armenian lobby in
the US in its efforts to win recognition for Armenian claims that
1.5 million Armenians were victims of a genocide campaign in the late
Ottoman Empire during World War I and to issue a travel warning urging
all Israeli military veterans to refrain from traveling to Turkey,
according to a report in Israel’s Yedioth Ahranoth newspaper. The
travel advisory will also urge Israelis to refrain from boarding
connections in Turkey, the report said.

Yedioth Ahranoth said Lieberman had planned meetings with PKK leaders
in Europe in order to find ways to cooperate with them “in every
possible area.” In these meetings, the PKK leaders may ask Israel for
military aid in the form of training and arms supplies, the report
said. Lieberman is also planning active Israeli participation in
efforts worldwide to report Turkey’s “violations of human rights”
in the treatment of minorities in Turkey.

“We’ll exact a price from Erdogan that will prove to him that messing
with Israel doesn’t pay off. Turkey better treat us with respect and
common decency,” Lieberman was quoted as saying. Whether Lieberman’s
threats could ever be implemented remains questionable.

TER-PETROSIAN STILL READY TO RESUME TALKS WITH GOVERNMENT
Emil Danielyan

Armenialiberty.org
Sept 9 2011

The Armenian National Congress (HAK) is still ready to resume
negotiations with the government if one of its activists arrested
last month is released “in the coming days,” the top leader of the
opposition alliance, Levon Ter-Petrosian, said late on Friday.

While reaffirming his pledges to force President Serzh Sarkisian to
call early national elections, Ter-Petrosian again spoke out against
the idea of an anti-government “revolution” favored by his most
radical supporters.

“If [Tigran] Arakelian is set free in the coming days, we will be
ready to return to the negotiation table,” he told several thousand
supporters rallying in Yerevan’s Liberty Square. “Or else, by keeping
the dialogue suspended, we will be compelled to talk to the authorities
in another language.”

“By another language I mean not a revolution or uprising but the
forcing of pre-term presidential and parliamentary elections through
more frequent rallies and an utmost consolidation or mobilization of
the popular masses,” he added.

Armenia – Opposition supporters demonstrate in Yerevan, 9Sept2011.

The HAK suspended its negotiations with Sarkisian’s governing
coalition last month in protest against the authorities’ refusal to
free Arakelian pending trial. The latter was detained along with
six other HAK activists after clashing with police in disputed
circumstances on August 9.

Speaking at the previous HAK rally held on August 2, Ter-Petrosian
gave the government until September to call fresh elections or face a
new wave of street protests. Sarkisian and other senior figures in his
three-party governing coalition have repeatedly rejected this demand.

“We are starting a whole campaign which will increasingly gain momentum
and, by making our public actions more frequent, bring our struggle to
a point where the regime will have to retreat and accept the people’s
victory,” Levon Zurabian, the HAK coordinator, told the protesters
on Friday.

But neither Zurabian nor Ter-Petrosian left indications that the
opposition movement is prepared for the kind of non-stop protests
that it staged following the February 2008 presidential election.

Ter-Petrosian noted only that the HAK is “not guided by the insane
idea of life-or-death struggle or the irresponsible slogan ‘freedom
or death.'” He said the next HAK demonstration will be held on
September 23.