Author: Badalian Vardan

Turkey, Drugs, Faustian Alliances and Sibel Edmonds
By John Stanton,
AlterNet.
July 14, 2004.
Convergence of US and foreign counter-narcotics, counter-terrorism and
US national security and economic interests prevented the surfacing of
information warning Americans of 9/11.
Taking Turkey as the focal point and with a start date of 1998, it is
easy to speculate why Sibel Edmonds indicated that there was a
convergence of US and foreign counter-narcotics, counter-terrorism and
US national security and economic interests all of which were too
preoccupied to surface critical information warning Americans of the
attacks of September 11, 2001. After all, who would have believed drug
runners operating in Central Asia? And besides, President Clinton was
promoting Turkey, one of the world’s top drug transit points, as a
model for Muslim-Western cooperation and a country necessary to
reshape the Middle East.
The FBI’s Office of International Operations, in conjunction with the
CIA and the US State Department counter-narcotics section, the United
Kingdom’s MI6, Israel’s Mossad, Pakistan’s ISI, the US DEA, Turkey’s
MIT, and the governments and intelligence agencies of dozens of
nations, were in one way or another involved in the illicit drug trade
either trying to stop it or benefit fromit. What can be surmised from
the public record is that from 1998 to September 10, 2001, the War on
Drugs kept bumping into the nascent War on Terror and new directions
in US foreign policy.
It’s easy to imagine the thousands of drug couriers, middlemen,
financiers and lab technicians moving back and forth between Pakistan
and Turkey, and over to Western Europe and the United States, and the
tidbits of information they gleaned from their sponsors as they
traveled. As information gathering assets for the intelligence
agencies of the world, they must have been invaluable.And given the
dozens of foreign intelligence services working the in the
counter-narcotics/terrorism fields, the “chatter” that just dozens of
well-placed operatives may have overheard about attacks against
Western targets must have found its way into the US intelligence
apparatus. But, again, who could believe the audacity of non-state
actors organizing a domestic attack against the supreme power of the
day, the USA? Implementing a new strategic direction and business
deals may have overcome the wacky warnings from the counter-narcotics
folks.
Back in the late 1990’s and early 2000, who would have believed the
rants of a drug courier from Afghanistan saying that some guy named
Bin Laden was going to attack America, particularly if it involved
America’s newest friend, Turkey? Or that a grand design to reshape
Central Asia and the Middle East with Turkey and Israel as pivot
points was being pushed by the Clinton Administration as a matter of
national policy.
The historical record shows that the US War on Drugs and the nascent
War on Terror kept colliding with not only within the US intelligence,
policy and business apparatus, but also with European strategic and
business interests. Turkey continues its push for entry into the
European Union and the USA wants that to happen as the June 2004
meeting of NATO, and President Bush’s attendance under dangerous
circumstances, in Turkey demonstrates. Turkey is one of the USA’s and
Europe’s top arms buyers and is located near what could be some of the
biggest oil and natural gas fields in the world. At this point, it’s
worth noting that the one of the FBI’s tasks is to counter industrial
espionage and to engage in it. Where big arms sales pit the US against
its European competitors – as is the case in Turkey (particularly
starting in 1998) – the FBIis busy making sure the US gets the edge
over its competition. Allies are friends only so far.
Did warnings foretelling of an attack on American soil by Bin Laden’s
crew get lost in the War on Drugs or the US national and economic
interest in troublesome Turkey? It seems only Edmonds knows.
Turkey Cold to UK and USA Concerns
In 1998, the US Department of State (DOS) was finally forced to admit
that Turkey was a major refining and transit point for the flow of
heroin from Southwest Asia to Western Europe, with small quantities of
the stuff finding its way to the streets of the USA. In that same
year, Kendal Nezan, writing for Le Monde Diplomatique, reported that
MIT, and the Turkish National Police force were actively supporting
the trade in illicit drugs not only for fun and profit, but out of
desperation.
“After the Gulf War in 1991, Turkey found itself deprived of the
all-important Iraqi market and, since it lacked significant oil
reserves ofits own, it decided to make up for the loss by turning more
massively to drugs. The trafficking increased in intensity with the
arrival of the hawks in power, after the death in suspicious
circumstances of President Turgut Ozal in April 1993. According to
the minister of interior, the war in Kurdistan had cost the Turkish
exchequer upwards of $12.5 billion. According to the daily
HÃ=83¼rriyet, Turkey’s heroin trafficking brought in $25 billion in
1995 and $37.5 billion in 1996…Only criminal networks working in
close cooperation with the police and the army could possibly organize
trafficking on such a scale. Drug barons have stated publicly, on
Turkish television and in the West, that they have been working under
the protection of the Turkish government and to its financial benefit.
The traffickers themselves travel on diplomatic passports…the drugs
are even transported by military helicopter from the Iranian border.”
Nowhere is the pain of Turkey’s role in the heroin trade felt more
horribly than in the United Kingdom. According to London’s Letter
written by a Member of Parliament, “The war against drugs and drug
trafficking in Britain is huge. Turkish heroin in particular is a top
priority for the MI6 and the Foreign Ministry. During his visit to the
British Embassy in Ankara, the head of the Foreign Office’s Turkey
Department was clear about this. He reassured an English journalist
that the heroin trade was more important than billions of pounds worth
off trade capacity and weapons selling. When the journalist in
question told me about this, I was reminded of my teacher’s words at
university in Ankara ten years ago. He was also working for the
Turkish Foreign Ministry. The topic of a lecture discussion was about
Turkey’s Economy and I still remember his words today,
“50 billion dollars worth of foreign debt is nothing, it is two lorry
loads of heroin…”
Afghanistan: Top Opiate Producer and America’s Friend
Both the DOS and the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)
described in detail the transit routes and countries involved in
getting the goods to Turkey. Intelligence organizations here and
abroad must have sanctioned the role that they, and Turkey and
Afghanistan, played in the process. “Afghanistan is the original
source of most of the opiates reaching Turkey. Afghan opiates, and
also hashish, are stockpiled at storage and staging areas in Pakistan,
from where a ton or larger quantities are smuggled by overland
vehicles to Turkey via Iran. Multi-ton quantities of opiates and
hashish also are moved to coastal areas of Pakistan and Iran, where
the drugs are loaded on ships waiting off-shore, which then smuggle
the contraband to points in Turkey along the Mediterranean, Aegean,
and/or Marmara seas. Opiates and hashish also are smuggled overland
from Afghanistan via Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan and Georgia to Turkey.
Turkish-based traffickers and brokers operate directly and in
conjunction with narcotic suppliers, smugglers, transporters,
laboratory operators, drug distributors, money collectors and money
launderers in and outside Turkey. Traffickers in Turkey illegally
acquire the precursor chemical acetic anhydride, which is used in the
production of heroin, from sources in Western Europe, the Balkans and
Russia. During the 27-month period from July 1, 1999 to September 30,
2001, over 56 metric tons of illicit acetic anhydride were seized in
or destined for Turkey.”
The Ankara Pact
The Middle East Report concluded in 1998 that probably the greatest
strategic move in the Clinton post-Cold War years is what could be
called “The Ankara Pact” – an alliance between the U.S., Turkey and
Israel that essentially circumvents and bottles up the Arab
countries. Earlier in 1997, Turkish Prime Minister Yilmaz visited with
Bill Clinton to ensure him that Turkey would attempt to improve its
human rights record by slaughtering less Kurds, but also mentioned
that if the US pushed too hard on that subject or if the US Congress
adopted an Armenian Genocide Resolution, Turkey might award a billion
dollar contract for attack helicopters to Europe or maybe even Russia.
During this timeframe, and with approval from the USA, Turkey began to
let contracts to Israel to upgrade its F-4, F-5 and F-16
aircraft. Pemra Hazbay, writing in the May 2004 issue of Peace Watch,
reported that total Israeli arms sales to Turkey had exceeded $1
billion since 2000. “In December 1996, Israel won a deal worth $630
million to upgrade Turkey’s fleet of fifty-four F-4 Phantom fighter
jets. In 1998, Turkey awarded a $75 million contract to upgrade its
fleet of 48 F-5 fighter jets to Israel Aircraft Industries’ Lahav
division, beating out strong French competition. In 2002, Turkey
ratified its largest military deal with Israel, a $700 million
contract for the renovation of Turkish tanks.” But that pales in
comparison to the $20 billion in US arms exports and military aid
dealt to Turkey over the last 24 years.
Then in 1999 came a news item from a publication known as the Foreign
Report based in the United Kingdom. That publication indicated that
“Israeli intelligence, the Mossad, had expanded its base in Turkey and
opened branches in Turkey for other two departments stationed in Tel
Aviv. The Mossad carried out several spy operations and plans through
its elements stationed in Istanbuland Ankara, where it received
support and full cooperation from the Turkish government. According to
the military cooperation agreement between the Mossad and its Turkish
counterpart, the MIT, signed by former Turkish Foreign Minister Hekmet
Citen during his visit to Israel in 1993, the Mossad had provided
Turkey with plans aiding it in closing its border with Iraq, as well
as being involved in the arrest the chairman of the PKK, Abdullah
Ocalan.” That agreement also included help with counter-narcotics.
Earlier in 1998, Israeli, Turkish and American military forces engaged
in exercises in the Mediterranean, according to Reuters and Agencie
France Press. “[These exercises] signal to the radical states in the
region that there isa strong alliance between Israel, Turkey and the
United States which they must fear, Israeli political scientist Efraim
Inbar said. Defense officials said during last month’s visit to Ankara
that they hoped the Jewish lobby in Washington would help Turkey
offset Greek and Armenian influence on Capitol Hill. That’s certainly
part of this. They expect us to help them and we do help them a bit,
said David Ivri, an adviser who directs biannual strategy talks with
Turkey.” Reports also indicated that the CIA and Pentagon
intelligence organizations had regularly chaired meetings of Turkish
and Israeli officers in Tel Aviv for years.
DEA & FBI
Prior to the US invasion of Afghanistan, the DEA monitored the
Afghanistan drug trade from its two offices in Pakistan: The Islamabad
Country Office and the Peshawar Resident Office. In addition to
Pakistan and Afghanistan, the DEA Islamabad Country Office also
includes in its area of responsibility Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan,
Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, the United Arab Emirates and Oman. Asa
Hutchinson, the administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration,
testified in October 2001 that DEA intelligence confirmed the presence
of a linkage between Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban and international
terrorist Osama Bin Laden.
He went on to say that although DEA had no direct evidence to confirm
that Bin Laden is involved in the drug trade, the relationship between
the Taliban and Bin Laden is believed to have flourished in large part
due to the Taliban’s substantial reliance on the opium trade as a
source of organizational revenue. “While the activities of the two
entities do not always follow the same trajectory, we know that drugs
and terror frequently share the common ground of geography, money, and
violence. In this respect, the very sanctuary enjoyedby Bin Laden is
based on the existence of the Taliban’s support for the drug trade.
This connection defines the deadly, symbiotic relationship between the
illicit drug trade and international terrorism.”
Meanwhile, back at the FBI, the Office of International Operations
oversees the Legal Attache Program operating at 46 locations around
the world. The operation maintains contact with Interpol, other US
federal agencies such as the CIA and military agencies such as the
Defense Intelligence Agency, and foreign police and security
officers. Its job is to investigate or counter threats from foreign
intelligence, terrorists and criminal enterprises that threaten the
national or economic security of the USA. It coordinates its
activities with all US and foreign intelligence operations. In 2000,
it opened offices in Ankara, Turkey and Almaty, Kazhakstan. Since
1996, it has had offices in Islamabad, Pakistan and Tele Aviv,
Israel. In 1997, it opened one in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Combined,
these offices monitor the entire Middle East, Persian Gulf and Central
Asian threat areas developing thousands of “investigative leads.”
Edmonds has given the American people leads that show that they are
easily sacrificed for a perceived greater good.
John Stanton is a Virginia-based writer specializing in national
security and political matters. He is author of the forthcoming book,
‘America 2004: A Power, But Not Super.’

Guardian Unlimited
Turkey
Our magic carpet ride across the East-West divide
From the mosques of Istanbul to the subterranean churches of Cappadocia,
John Suchet finds the empire’s legacy of religious tolerance survives – but
few tourists are there to appreciate it
Sunday July 11, 2004
The Observer
Fate has not been kind to the Turkish tourist industry. An earthquake 60
miles from Istanbul, the bomb attacks in the heart of the city that
destroyed the British consulate and two synagogues, and overshadowing it all
the conflict in Iraq.
The result – though you might not believe it as hordes of tourists are
guided round the Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace and other sites – is that the
number of visitors to Istanbul this year is the lowest for a decade. The
government argues otherwise, citing figures that show an increase. Ask the
tour operators, though, and they’ll tell you the government’s figures are
massaged and the tourists are staying away.
I was last in Istanbul as an ITN reporter covering a hostage release
sometime in the 1980s. I remember it as a sprawling, chaotic city, with
crazy drivers and lethal traffic. None of that has changed. But think of old
men outside cafes, drawing leisurely on their water pipes and playing
backgammon, and you are thinking of an Istanbul that is long gone.
Istanbul, as every guidebook will tell you, is the only city in the world
that straddles two continents. You will also read that Turkey is the only
secular country in the Muslim world. Istanbul may have 2,000 mosques, the
call to prayer may reverberate across the city five times a day, but there
is no official state religion, and the younger generation is not beating a
path to the mosque’s door.
And Istanbul is a surprisingly young city: 60 per cent of the population is
under 24. Ask them if they consider themselves European or Asian, and the
answer is so obvious they’ll laugh.
In the main pedestrianised shopping street, just 50 metres from the
boarded-up British consulate, young women gaze longingly at designer-shop
windows. For every headscarf there are a dozen miniskirts or pairs of jeans.
Western pop music blares out on to the street, and it’s said there are more
McDonald’s outlets in Istanbul than Manhattan. Istanbul may have just played
host to Nato, but the city is far prouder that it successfully staged the
Eurovision Song Contest in May.
I was told that wealthy young Istanbulis like to go yachting off the
south-west coast and frequently find themselves straying accidentally into
Greek waters. If a Greek coastguard vessel approaches, the girls whip off
their tops. Can’t possibly be Turkish, say the Greeks; no Muslim would
behave like that. And the Greeks steam off, no doubt grinning from ear to
ear.
Daytime television offers a diet of pop music and fashion, lithe models
showing off bikinis and revealing dresses for the summer. If a young
Istanbuli asks you where you are from and you say ‘England’, it is not
enough. ‘But where?’ Name a large city, and you invite a recitation of
English footballing names. In the Grand Bazaar young carpet salesmen – who
have taken over from their fathers – will want to talk football as well as
the double knot that gives Turkish carpets their unique durability. The
Premiership is carried on Turkish television, there are no more ardent
Chelsea, Arsenal or Man U fans than in Istanbul, and my taxi driver knew
just two words in English: ‘David Beckham’.
All of which should mean that Istanbul is a multiracial, cosmopolitan city
like Paris, London or New York. All the more so when you consider that
Istanbul was the capital of the Ottoman Empire, one of the longest and most
successful empires in history because of its tolerance of the customs and
religions of its subjects in the vast areas it ruled.
Istanbul should be a real melting pot, but it is not. The streets should be
a Tower of Babel of exotic tongues, but they are not. Colourful sounds,
dress and traditions from the lands of empire should enliven the atmosphere
of the city, but they do not.
All but 5 per cent of the people who live in Istanbul are Turkish Muslims.
Turks rate among the most hospitable people on earth. Nothing is too much
trouble. Restaurants will send a car to your hotel to pick you up and
deposit you back again (free). Refuse an offer of a cup of tea in any shop
and you will cause sadness. Yet throughout the 20th century, Turkey as a
nation has been unwelcoming to outsiders, particularly to those from the old
enemy Greece.
Ask a Turk what he thinks of Greeks and he will say, ‘Greeks, Turks, same
thing’ – in fact, he’s likely to speak more kindly of Greeks than Greeks do
of Turks. Nationally, though, Greeks have consistently been made to feel
unwelcome. Tens of thousands of Greeks left Istanbul after orchestrated
anti-Greek riots in the 1950s. Today there are 100 Greek churches in
Istanbul but only around 2,000 Greeks. The huge fortress-like Greek school
on a hill above the Golden Horn that could easily accommodate 500 pupils has
only 30.
Other minorities fare little better. Unusually for a great city, there is no
real Jewish quarter. There are few Jews in the city – even fewer since the
bomb attacks on the synagogues and the announcement by the government that
all synagogues would stay closed for two years.
Turkey denies genocide against the Armenians in the early 20th century, and
points to freedom of worship for Armenians in Istanbul. We went to an
Armenian church in the centre of the city. The priest was concluding a
service, then turned to bless the congregation: just us.
Istanbul does have a sizeable minority, which in the past it has done its
best to rid itself of: Kurds, who make up as much as 20 per cent of the
Turkish Muslim population. They are the underclass, but Turkey has reformed
laws which openly discriminated against Kurds – it was forbidden by law to
make a public speech in Kurdish, for instance – and has now started a
Kurdish-language television station.
All this in response to European demands for reform if Turkey wants to
achieve its long-held ambition to join the EU.
Yet Turkey is now, and historically, the most tolerant of nations. My wife
Bonnie obeyed the notice asking women to cover their heads as we entered
Istanbul’s crowning glory, the Blue Mosque. She was practically the only
woman tourist in around 100 to do so, yet none of the many Muslim officials
complained at this lack of respect.
The most impressive example of such tolerance is Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia,
with its vast dome and four minarets. A mosque, then? No. A church for 916
years until the Ottomans introduced Islam, then a mosque for nearly 500
years. But the imams found the altar faced south, not south-east towards
Mecca. Simple answer: pull it down and start again. Even simpler answer:
move the altar just a little to the right, where it stands – off-centre –
today, below a mosaic of the Virgin and Child.
Then in 1935, so as to offend neither Christians nor Muslims, the new
secular Republic of Turkey declared Hagia Sophia a museum, which it remains
today. So you can enter it without removing your shoes and women do not need
to cover their head.
Another example of religious tolerance can be found in Cappadocia, the
extraordinary region in central Turkey where there are 300 churches within a
few square kilometres, a higher density than anywhere else in the world.
Three million years ago volcanoes spewed lava across this high flat section
of the Anatolian plateau. Erosion – wind, rain and snow – wore the lava
down, leaving weirdly shaped hills and mounds made of soft volcanic rock
called tuff, or tufa.
They were so soft that people made homes in them. Cave houses, tens of
thousands of them, in which, over the centuries, they successfully hid from
invaders. Christians evaded the Romans, then the Persian army, then Arab
forces. They built entire underground cities that descended 60 metres –
which you can enter today and marvel at – and that were impregnable,
unbreachable. Tunnels allowed them to move around between these underground
cities and caves, just as the Vietcong did during the Vietnam war, and Osama
bin Laden did in Afghanistan to evade American forces.
Before the arrival of Islam the area was Christian, hence the churches, all
cut into the soft, volcanic rock, many with magnificent thousand-year-old
frescoes whose rich colours are preserved by the cool dark air inside. Whose
image is painted on wall after wall? None other than local lad St George, in
the act of slaying the dragon. He was appointed patron saint of England by
Richard the Lionheart after appearing in a vision and promising him victory
in the Battle of Antioch during the now politically incorrect Crusades. How
many football fans waving the red cross of St George during Euro 2004 knew
they were honouring a Turk born in Cappadocia, or realised just what a busy
saint he is (England shares St George with Moscow, Georgia – naturally – and
Aragon).
When the volcanic lava eroded it left thousands of curiously shaped conical
rocks which more than anything give Cappadocia its uniqueness. These
extraordinary creations look as if they have burst through the ground and
grown up. In fact the opposite is true. As wind, rain and snow whittled away
at the lava, the harder portions remained.
Like so many battalions of phalluses, they dominate the landscape. Local
people – with a glint in their eye – will tell you it has nothing to do with
erosion. The priapic rocks grew up in honour of Priapus, god of procreation,
born in Turkey and famed for the only weapon he carried, his gigantic penis
– and they’ll sell you erect marble penises in his honour.
The best way to see them is from above, gliding softly and silently over
them in the basket of a hot-air balloon. ‘Love Valley. Feast your eyes,
girls,’ said our pilot as she expertly guided the balloon across the tops of
the giant rock erections. She hails from Devon and, with her Swedish
husband, has been ferrying open-mouthed tourists up to 4,000 feet and down
to a few inches off the ground for 14 years. ‘Best ballooning country in the
world,’ they say. ‘Perfect weather, unique topography, and no animals or
crops to disturb.’
Bonnie does not like heights, and as our small basket rose and rose her face
turned white – but only slightly whiter than mine. Amazingly, our nerves
settled and we marvelled at the extraordinary work of nature as we floated
serenely across its eccentric sculptures. The first European to discover the
rock formations of Cappadocia was a Frenchman 300 years ago. When he showed
drawings of the giant phalluses back in Paris, he was taken for a fool. Two
hundred years later, in the early 19th century, another Frenchman came to
Cappadocia, christened the rocks ‘fairy chimneys’, and reported back. This
time they believed him, and the French have been coming here ever since; 60
per cent of the tourists in Cappadocia are French, just 1 per cent are
British.
No one knows why, but for some reason this tiny corner of the world has
never caught the imagination of the British tourist. It cannot be just the
first call to prayer of the day, which in the summer echoes across the thin
air, amplified by crackly loudspeakers, at 4.10am, stretching religious
tolerance to the limit.
As in Istanbul, this is the worst year in Cappadocia for tourists – French
or otherwise – for a decade. In the four days we were there, a new road was
laid out to the town of Ürgüp, where we stayed in a luxury, all-mod-cons
cave house, occupied in more primitive form for centuries before. It’s a new
road to make it easier for tourists to get here. They’re now praying there
will be some tourists to use it.
Factfile
John Suchet travelled with Tapestry Holidays (020 8235 7777;
) and stayed for three nights at the Eresin Crown
hotel in Istanbul and four nights at the Cave House in Cappadocia. Prices
for this trip start from £1,095 pp B&B including flights from Heathrow to
Istanbul with Turkish Airlines, internal flights to Cappadocia, transfers, a
half-day city tour in Istanbul, guide in Cappadocia, and a balloon flight.

Hucknall Today, UK
July 9 2004
Byron festival off to Hellas of a start
GREECE’S sensational triumph in winning the Euro 2004 football trophy
has given a surprise boost to Hucknall’s seventh International Byron
Festival.
Festival.
There has surely been no greater champion of the Greek nation than
Byron, who gave his life when he supported its people’s fight for
freedom.
In his final poem, ‘On This Day I Complete My Thirty-Sixth Year,’ he
wrote about the glory of Greece and described the country as being
‘awake.’
The festival is always well supported by Greek people, for whom Byron
is a national hero.
Newstead Abbey Byron Society secretary Maureen Crisp said the timing
of Greece’s football success was perfect as far as the festival is
concerned.
The festival got off to an unfortunate start, with four events
scheduled for last weekend proving non-starters.
The world premiere of a new play, ‘Extraordinary Friends Byron and
Shelley,’ and a performance of ‘Beppo’, a Venetian love story, both
written by Bill Studdiford and starring Ian Frost, had to be
cancelled because Bill had suffered a serious knee injury.
An open-air rock concert, to have taken place on Hucknall Market
Place, had to be called off because of a problem with the licence.
And an international concert at Hucknall Parish Church wrongly
appeared on the festival programme, having previously been cancelled.
To make matters worse, a town crier who was supposed to have
performed the traditional opening of the festival did not turn up.
However, the festival can boast some notable successes as well,
including a fashion show at the Central Methodist Church which raised
more than £300 for Hucknall’s Hope Lea Project for people with
learning difficulties.
Food events have also been well patronised – a poached salmon and
real ale lunch, an Italian night of food, wine and music and a
strawberry fayre, all at Hucknall Community Centre. On the same
theme, there will be ‘A Tram Trip And A Thai’ at lunchtime today.
The Byron Cineplex Cinema has got its new tower, showing the word
Byron, during the ten-day festival, and there was a special showing
of the famous film, ‘The Bad Lord Byron,’ on Monday.
Another special event was a music and poetry session, ‘With Great
Pleasure,’ presented by Gwenda Watkins and Gillian Berry, at
Nottingham University’s Gallery Restaurant and Millennium Garden.
And a further highlight was a fascinating talk by Edward Enfield –
father of comedian Harry Enfield – at the Byron Dinner, held at the
community centre, on ‘Byron And The Elgin Marbles.’
The speaker said he would only be in favour of the marbles being
returned to Greece if plans for a museum to house them went ahead.
A top fun event was a ‘Fawlty Towers’ murder mystery night, also at
the community centre.
The festival will reach its climax on Sunday with the dedication of
an Armenian monument, a khatchkar, at Hucknall Parish Church in
memory of former rector the late Canon Fred Green.
This will be followed by a service and a concert of music and poetry
from members of Holgate Comprehensive School and the Lord Byron
School in Armenia.
Tomorrow night there is a tribute to a friendship agreement between
the two schools with a performance by Armenian artiste Shake
Avanessian at the Parish Church.
The final event of the festival will be an official renaming of the
community centre as the Lovelace Centre.
Poet’s on track
THE poet Lord Byron has been honoured in a special new way – by
having a tram named after him.
He is among a number of famous people with Nottingham connections who
are adorning the city’s transport of the future.
A naming ceremony for the Nottingham Express Transit (NET) trams,
which run between Hucknall and the city’s Station Street, proved a
memorable occasion.
Fittingly, it took place in the same week as Hucknall’s International
Byron Festival. Newstead Abbey Byron Society stalwarts Maureen Crisp
and Ken Purslow attended the ceremony, accompanied by three Greek
people in national costume.
Another of the 15 named trams commemorates Salvation Army founder
William Booth, who had a close affinity with the Dispatch district.
Each tram carries the person’s name on the front and back, while a
notice inside reveals more about them.
NET spokesman Colin Lea described the naming ceremony as ‘fantastic’.
THE LAST OF THE PROGRAMME
TODAY
6.30 pm – Heritage bus tour, starts from Hucknall Community Centre,
free of charge but booking essential by ringing 0115 9529303.
12 noon – A Tram Trip And A Thai, a trip by tram to a location in
Basford providing wonderful Thai food, leaving from Hucknall tram
station, £7.50 (including tram fare), bookings in advance only by
ringing 0115 9529303.
7.30 pm – ‘A Poem And A Pint,’ Hucknall Community Centre, traditional
festival event, come along and listen to or recite your favourite
poems, themes this year include friendship, family and love, £3.
TOMORROW
>From 10 am – Flower festival, Seymour Road Baptist Church,.free of
charge, lunches available.
7.30 pm – Concert for Armenia, tribute to the friendship agreement
between Holgate Comprehensive School and the Lord Byron School in
Armenia, includes a performance by Shake Avanessian, supported by
Hucnall Rotary Club, Hucknall Parish Church, £5.
SUNDAY
10 am – Boatswain Walk, bring yourself and your dog for a pleasant
Sunday stroll in memory of Byron’s dog, Boatswain, starts from
Hucknall Community Centre, free of charge.
>From 10 am – Final day of flower festival at Seymour Road Baptist
Church, free of charge.
3 pm – Dedication of khatchkar in memory of the late Canon Fred
Green, followed by a service and concert of music and poetry from
members of Byron Society and students from Holgate School and Lord
Byron School, Hucknall Parish Church.
4 pm – Official ceremony to rename Hucknall Community Centre, free of
charge.

The New York Times
July 11, 2004 Sunday
Late Edition – Final
Even Loosely Defined, Armenia Can’t Beat the Rest of the World
By Robert Byrne
In bygone days there were some wonderful team matches between the
Soviet Union and the Rest of the World. This was entirely reasonable,
because the Soviet Union so dominated the game. Recently, after a
long layoff, Armenia nominated itself as the Soviet Union’s heir.
But this team was no substitute for its brilliant predecessor. What
to do? Kasparov was dubbed Armenian because his mother is Armenian.
Peter Leko was dubbed Armenian because his wife is of Armenian
heritage. And Boris Gelfand was dubbed Armenian because he was the
most famous pupil of Armenia’s world champion, Tigran Petrosian.
That did indeed make Armenia, Friends and Relatives, a powerful team,
but in a match held in Moscow from June 10 to 15, the Rest of the
World defeated them anyway, 18 1/2-17 1/2. The winning team included
Viswanathan Anand of India, Michael Adams of England, Peter Svidler
of Russia, Loek Van Wely of the Netherlands, Etienne Bacrot of France
and Francisco Vallejo Pons of Spain.
It got off to a rollicking start when Kasparov outplayed Van Wely,
winning with a striking mating combination. Unfortunately, it was a
flawed attack that could have been averted, spoiling Kasparov’s
chances for a brilliancy prize. Good thing there weren’t any
dunce-cap awards.
The English Opening, starting with 2 c4, is as much a part of
Kasparov’s arsenal as e4 or d4. In this match, it provided his only
victory, with five draws. What that means is anybody’s guess. The
Symmetrical Variation is introduced by 2 c5, and after 3 Nc3 Nc6 4 d4
cd 5 Nd4 e6 6 a3 Nd4 7 Qd4 b6 8 Qf4 Be7 9 e4 d6, there arises a
transposition to a type of Maroczy bind (white pawns at c4 and e4
confronting a black pawn at d6). This differs from Geza Maroczy’s
original setup, in which the black e6 pawn is at e7 and the black
king bishop is fianchettoed.
In this order of moves, White plays 6 a3 to prevent his opponent from
pinning with Bb4, which would otherwise limit the effectiveness of
White’s minor pieces. It seems well worth it to spend a tempo this
way.
With 15 Bg5, Van Wely sought to exchange the dark-square bishops,
presumably to make the defense of his d6 pawn easier, but this does
not work out. Kasparov played so convincingly that maybe nothing
would have worked out. Van Wely’s 21 h5 was intended to hold up an
avalanche of white pawns on the kingside. That could not work, as
will be seen, but an alternative, 21 … Kf8, keeping the black king
away from the king’s flank, may have been worth a try.
The point of Kasparov’s 26 Nb5 Qc4 27 Nd6 Qc7 28 Qh4 was to mobilize
the white pieces for an attack. After 28 Bc6 29 g4!, the full force
of his onslaught was revealed.
After 29 Ba4 30 g5! Bd1 31 gf! Rd6 32 Rg2! g6 33 fg, Van Wely gave
up. Kasparov had miscalculated, though; two moves earlier, Van Wely
could have forced a perpetual check with 31 gf! 32 Qf6 Bf3 33 Qg5 Kf8
34 Qh6 Ke7 35 Qh4 Kf8.

Azeri MP calls for European sanctions against Armenia at Scottish talks
ANS TV, Baku
5 Jul 04

[Presenter] The Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Nagornyy Karabakh
is currently being discussed at a session of the OSCE Parliamentary
Assembly in Scotland today. The assembly’s chairman and
secretary-general are now delivering their reports.
[Correspondent over video of the building of the OSCE Parliamentary
Assembly] The 13th annual session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly
has opened in Scotland’s Edinburgh. The session is entitled
“Cooperation and Partnership: Coping with New Security Threats”.
A report by the special representative of the OSCE Parliamentary
Assembly on Nagornyy Karabakh, Goran Lennmarker, was discussed jointly
by the Armenian and Azerbaijani delegations, Sattar Safarov, a member
of the Azerbaijani delegation, told ANS.
[Safarov, on the phone] The report said that [Azerbaijan’s] occupied
lands should be liberated and cleared of mines. Refugees and displaced
persons should return to their lands. It denounced aggression and
ethnic separatism. We started to discuss these issues. The
Parliamentary Assembly should impose economic and political sanctions
against the aggressor state.
[Correspondent] The Armenian side had its own arguments.
[Safarov] In support of their position, Armenia’s representatives said
that Karabakh was made part of Azerbaijan in the past. The talks were
proceeding very seriously. The Armenian side tried to justify their
aggressive policy. In turn, we criticized Armenia’s aggressive stance.
[Correspondent] The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly chairman and
secretary-general delivered their reports after the discussions [as
heard].
Afat Telmanqizi, ANS.

GEORGIAN PRESIDENT’S NEW RESIDENCE TO BE BUILT IN ARMENIAN DISTRICT OF
TBILISI
21.06.2004 17:58
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The new residence of Georgian President Mikhail
Saakashvili will be obviously built in Avlabar, the Armenian district of
Tbilisi. As Georgian leader told journalists in Batumi, the construction
speeding-up depends on the sale of the previous residence located in the
suburbs of Tbilisi – Krtsanisi, where Saakashvili does not have any desire
to work. Speaking of the possibility of selling the old residence, Georgian
President said: “If someone wants to live in a building, in which Lavrenty
Beria used to sleep, and near which Eduard Shevarnadze lives, God be with
him”.

Kurdmedia.com
Kurdish rebels rearm, infiltrate Turkey from Iraq: report
04/07/2004 AFP
ANKARA, July 4 (AFP) – 15h15 – Turkish Kurd rebels hiding in northern Iraq
are rearming and 1,500 of them have crossed into Turkey to engage in
violence, CNN-Turk television said Sunday, citing an intelligence report.
According to the report, the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), known
also as KONGRA-GEL, had purchased weapons worth 1.7 million dollars from
unknown sources in Iraq, Iran and Armenia in the past year and had
intensified military training for members in camps in northern Iraq,
CNN-Turk said on its web site.
The increased activity was thought to be a prepartion for a possibile
military operation against the group by Turkey or the United States, both of
whom view the PKK as a “terrorist” organization.
Ankara has repeatedly urged Washington to take action against PKK rebels in
neighboring northern Iraq since last October, when the two countries agreed
on an action plan, including military measures, against the PKK.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan repeated the call during talks
with US President George W. Bush in Ankara last week.
The Turkish authorities estimate that about 5,000 PKK militants have taken
refuge in northern Iraq since 1999, when the group announced a unilateral
truce with the government following a call for peace by its jailed leader,
Abdullah Ocalan.
The rebels ended the ceasefire on June 1 this year.
CNN-Turk quoted the intelligence report as saying that 1,500 armed militants
had infiltrated Turkey in the past six months.
The PKK has been blamed for a recent series of deadly attacks on Turkish
security forces in mainly Kurdish southeast Turkey, bordering northern Iraq,
including the mining of roads.
On July 2, oficials accused the group of carrying out a car bomb attack on a
convoy carrying the governor of Van province, which killed three people and
wounded 25 others.
The PKK waged a bloody 15-year campaign for self-rule in Turkey’s
predominantly Kurdish southeast between 1984 and 1999. The conflict has
claimed some 37,000 lives.
The southeast enjoyed relative calm during the ceasefire period and Ankara
improved the cultural rights of the Kurdish minority in a bid to boost
Turkey’s chances of being allowed to join the European Union.

Bulgarian president receives Armenian parliamentary delegation
BTA web site, Sofia
30 Jun 04

Sofia, 30 June: The state and prospects of bilateral relations, with
an emphasis on initiatives to boost two-way trade, build
infrastructure projects, pursue regional cooperation and European
integration, figured on the agenda of Wednesday’s [30 June] session
between Bulgarian President Georgi Purvanov and an Armenian
parliamentary delegation, led by National Assembly Chairman Artur
Baghdasaryan.
Last year witnessed a breakthrough in Bulgarian-Armenian trade, but
the two countries can and should do a lot better than the 23m US
dollars’ worth of goods they exchanged, the guest said, quoted by the
President’s Press Secretariat. He stressed that Armenia is
particularly keen on regional cooperation and will assist the
implementation of specific projects in this sphere, as well as the
twinning between Bulgarian and Armenian cities. The guests expressed
readiness to invigorate cooperation in education and culture and
specifically to help Sofia University open an Armenian Studies
Department.
President Purvanov noted that Bulgaria attaches enormous importance to
infrastructure projects and specifically the connection between
TRACECA and Pan-European Corridor No.VIII. “This will be the soundest
investment in peace and security of two regions which are key to the
entire continent,” he stressed. The president promised Bulgaria’s
active support to Armenia’s efforts to reach the threshold of European
integration. He also welcomed the idea to initiate the establishment
of culture centres in Sofia and Yerevan under the auspices of the two
parliaments.
It emerged at the session that a visit of the Bulgarian head of state
to Armenia has already been scheduled for October 2004.

Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
July 1 2004
Azeri, Armenian defense ministers expected to meet shortly
Azerbaijani and Armenian defense ministers Safar Abiyev and Serj
Sarkisian are expected to meet shortly to discuss the recently
frequent ceasefire breaches.
Russia’s RIA-Novosti news agency quoted Armenian Foreign Minister
Vardan Oskanian as saying that the meeting of the two defense
ministers might take place shortly. Oskanian said that the issue of
frequent ceasefire breaches on the frontline was discussed during his
meeting with his Azerbaijani counterpart Elmar Mammadyarov in Prague
on June 21.
The two countries’ defense ministers were sent an appeal to hold
bilateral meetings to discuss the settlement of the Upper Garabagh
conflict.
The number of the dead and injured from both conflicting sides
increased as a result of the frequent ceasefire breaches in June.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Times of Oman, Oman
June 29 2004
Oman Mobile unveils new plans to serve you wherever you are

By Sharifa Al Kindi
MUSCAT – Oman Mobile yesterday unveiled further plans to fulfil its
pledge to `serve the customers wherever they are’.
`We hope to serve our customers wherever they are, through
innovative, simple and tailor-made solutions and services,
value-added features and to introduce a positive impact on the
national economy in general,’ said Dr Amer bin Awadh Al Rawas,
managing director of Oman Mobile Telecommunications Company, at a
press conference held at Hotel Grand Hyatt yesterday.
These plans include the opening of a large multimedia contact centre,
GPRS and MMS services and other services such as
transmitting/receiving photos, music, video and roaming facilities
for Hayyak (prepared card).
The press conference was also addressed by Dr Rasheed Alsafi Al
Huraibi, assistant head of Networks Division; Erik Van Essen, deputy
managing director; and Adil Al Raisi, head of customer service, who
explained to the gathering the details of the new company, its aims,
concepts and strategies.
The multimedia contact centre will `attend to the calls, SMS,
e-mails, fax enquiries, complaints, etc. A customer can even send us
an SMS for his/her bills, and it will be well attended to. This
multimedia call centre will be well staffed, with over 150 personnel
to attend to calls promptly. We will also be introducing multi-access
billing and collection system for our customers to increase their
convenience to pay the bills,’ said Adil Al Raisi.
Oman Mobile believes that growth of the telecommunications sector is
possible through `balanced and meticulously planned concepts and
strategies,’ stressed Al Rawas.
`Our aim is to provide a wide spectrum of telecom services round the
clock. Our first priority is to concentrate on both customers and
services that we provide; introduction of more value-added services,
expansion of company’s services and products portfolio, and
activation of the partnership with both public and private sectors.
We believe and aim to provide telecom services as an acquired right
for every citizen at an affordable price for all community sectors.
Oman Mobile will implement significant projects and will facilitate
more services in the months to come, in addition to increasing the
number of the trained Omani in the telecom field,’ Al Rawas stressed.
As part of the official launch they have waived off deposits for
post-paid users and cut down prices on the pre-paid Hayyak tariffs
and rates. This has been possible because `we now have grown in
technology; we have better internal systems and standards. Earlier
the deposits were levied because of the fear of bad debts, but now
with this waiver on deposits of post-paid users, we are bound to grow
in both sectors tremendously,’ he added.
The GSM subscriber population in the Sultanate recorded 220,745 in
2003, jumped to 232,663 in May 2004, whereas pre-paid Hayyak
subscriber population, which was 359,359 last year, increased to
409,000 last May.
`And we are sure it is going to be mutually beneficial, for both the
customers as well as for the telecoms sector in general,’ Al Rawas
said.
Speaking of value-added services being introduced, Al Rawas said
further to the recently introduced `Hala’ service enabling the
subscribers to receive various subject/channel selected information,
Oman Mobile has also put forward the GPRS and MMS services as a pilot
project prior to putting them into practical service in the near
future.
As far as the international roaming service, the number of the
international mobile service operators which have active roaming
agreements with Oman Mobile have reached 115 operators in 65
countries in various continents. New agreements were signed recently
to provide the roaming service in Russia, Iran, Bulgaria, New Zealand
and Armenia.
Highlighting the importance of the roaming services, Al Rawas said:
`There were lots of complexities in acquiring the roaming facility
with a new country. Especially if Oman did not have any business or
tourist tie-ups with those nations. In the past we have faced great
difficulties in getting the roaming facilities in various countries.
Now it has been made easier. New mechanisms, new professionalism, new
ideas, new strategies have enabled Oman Mobile to achieve roaming
over many countries. We keep an eye on the economic development and
tie-ups our country has internationally and then tap the source.
These agreements are good for the economy of our nation too. Today we
have strong international links and we were able to bring in
countries who were previously hesitant to enter into an agreement.
The brand identity and logo for Oman Mobile was unveiled at a
ceremony on Monday, under the auspices of Maqbool bin Ali Sultan,
minister of commerce and industry.
The brand identity is both unified and modern with technology
undertones. The first inspiration was the Cellular Telephony’s Basic
Structure, which works on the principle of hexagonal cells. The two
colours connote both technology and nature. Colour orange, in which
the letters are written, is the colour of the shade of sunrise –
symbolising the dawn of new technology – as well as the deserts and
mountains of the Sultanate.
It also depicts the colour of honey, seen as pure and full of
goodness. The `fluorescent green’ circles signify the essence of
life, of fertility and growth – aims of the organisation itself.
The hexagon encloses two letters in each of the words of the
typography – both English and Arabic – to depict cellular
communication. This high degree of bilingual compatibility shows up
as the orange hexagon in Arabic, forming the first alphabet `Meem’ of
the word written as mobile, while in English, the green inner circle
forms the second letter `o’ of the word mobile.
To further drive home the technology feel, a new techno-looking
typeface has been used. After the presentation of the logo and the
brand identity, there was a live acrobatic event presented by the
youngsters of the New-Age circus – reinforcing the four pillars that
will reflect Oman Mobile’s values – flexibility, connectivity,
coverage and customer care.