Author: Baghdasarian Karlen

PEOPLE OF ART PRAISE SOVIET DAYS

Panorama.am
16:46 26/09/06

Translator Armen Hovhannnisyan praised the Soviet rule in a debate
today saying, "Everything was clean then unlike now when everybody is
going down to the level of consumer." Hovhannisyan believes that the
state must regulate culture. Ruben Hakhverdyan, a renowned Armenian
singer, also criticized the present day culture, particularly pointing
out to the songs of Grisha Aghakhanyan. He believes that everything
was organized during the Soviet era, though he also admits "some
censorship was used against his songs."
From: Baghdasarian

TURKEY PLEDGES TO KEEP UP REFORM AFTER EU CRITICISM

Agence France Presse — English
September 26, 2006 Tuesday

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan pledged Tuesday that Turkey
would stick to the path of democratic reform following European
Union criticism that EU-hopeful Ankara was failing to ensure freedom
of speech.

"We are keeping up the reform process, without slowing down and without
losing our enthusiasm," Erdogan said in a speech to lawmakers from
his Justice and Development Party.

Last week, the EU slammed Ankara for failing to promote free speech
after best-selling novelist Elif Shafak went on trial for insulting
the Turkish nation in a book about the massacres of Armenians under
the Ottoman Empire.

Even though the writer was swiftly acquitted, the European Commission
said "a significant threat to freedom of expression" remains in
Turkish law and urged amendements in the penal code, including the
infamous Article 301, which landed Shafak as well as a string of
other intellectuals in court.

Erdogan reiterated the government was open to proposals to amend
Article 301 in order to "to thicken the line between offence and
criticism."

He said, however, that freedoms cannot be "limitless" and underlined
that enacting higher democracy norms in the country also required
"a change in mentality" among the judiciary, "which does not happen
overnight."

Article 301 sets out up to three years in jail "for denigrating
Turkish national identity" and insulting state institutions.

No one has yet been imprisoned under the provision, but the appeals
court in July confirmed the suspended six-month sentence of a
Turkish-Armenian journalist, setting a precedent for dozens of other
pending cases.

Parliament last week began debating a package of reforms aimed at
further boosting Turkey’s accession bid before a crucial European
Commission report on November 8 detailing the country’s progress
towards membership.

Erdogan said the government was determined to press ahead with a draft
law expanding the property rights of non-Muslim religious foundations,
brushing aside criticism from the opposition that the planned reform
would grant too broad rights to minorities.

Turkey’s EU bid is already complicated by its rejection to open its
sea and air ports to Greek Cypriots on the grounds that international
restrictions on the breakaway Turkish Cypriots statelet should be
simultanously lifted.
From: Baghdasarian

NAGORNO-KARABAKH RELEASES BAPTIST SOLDIER AFTER ONE YEAR JAIL

BosNewsLife , Hungary
Sept 25 2006

NAGORNO-KARABACH/BUDAPEST (BosNewsLife)– A Christian soldier who was
imprisoned in the troubled unrecognized republic of Nagorno-Karabakh
for refusing to swear the military oath and carry weapons on
Biblical grounds, has been released, after spending one year in jail,
BosNewsLife learned Monday, September 25.
From: Baghdasarian

70% OF MEMORY CIRCUITS FOR CELLULAR TELEPHONES DESIGNED IN ARMENIA

Arka News Agency, Armenia
Sept 25 2006

YEREVAN, September 25. /ARKA/. 70% of memory circuits for cellular
telephones are designed in Armenia, Director General of Synopsys
Armenia Hovik Musaelyan told a press conference.

According to him, chips for satellites and space equipment are designed
in Armenia as well.

Musaelyan expressed regret over the fact that local profitable
production of these chips is yet impossible in Armenia.

Armenia’s IT sector comprises 100 companies, 30% of them shared in by
foreign capital. A total of 5,000 people are employed in this sphere.
From: Baghdasarian

Spiegel Online, Germany
Sept 22 2006

Positive Signs from Turkey?

Turkish author Elif Shafak was acquitted on Thursday by an Istanbul
court on charges of "insulting Turkishness." A good move given that a
progress report on Turkey’s readiness to join the EU is due out soon.

AP
Turkish author Elif Shafak was acquitted on charges of "insulting
Turkishness" on Thursday.
The charge is not one you’d see in most European Union countries:
"Insulting Turkishness," it is called. But that’s what Turkish
novelist Elif Shafak, one of the EU aspirant’s most popular writers,
had been charged with. On Thursday, though, an Istanbul court
acquitted Shafak following a one-and-a-half hour session, concluding
that she had committed no crime.

The case had drawn a lot of attention from the EU and has highlighted
Turkey’s difficult road to membership. The 25-member club, which
appears set to accept Romania and Bulgaria in January, has repeatedly
criticized elements of Turkish law such as the one that provided the
basis for the charges against Shafek. A report on Turkey’s progress
toward joining the EU will be presented in mid-October.

While Turkish nationalists protesting outside the court building had
to be contained by riot police after the verdict was announced, many
in Turkey have expressed relief over the verdict. "We want a country
where people are not interrogated because of their novels," said Muge
Sokmen, Shafak’s publisher, according to the Associated Press. The AP
also quotes Shafak’s husband Eyup Can as saying that the trial is "a
shame not just for her but for Turkey."

Even if the trial did not receive much coverage in the German press,
the verdict had a few of Friday’s commentators heading for their
keyboards. An editorial in the center-left daily Berliner Zeitung
notes with satisfaction that "the court in Istanbul needed only a few
minutes to acquit the Turkish writer Elif Shafak," stressing that the
trial was "absurd" in so far as the accusations were not based on
statements made by Shafak "in essays or on discussion panels," but
rather on words uttered by the protagonist in her new novel. "It’s a
good sign that the court reached a decision so quickly," the
commentator notes. She immediately adds, however, that Turkey
shouldn’t get too smug: What is ultimately needed is for the Turkish
government to eliminate the law that made the trial possible in the
first place. The law in question, paragraph 301 of the Turkish penal
code, has a history of being used to silence debate over "Turkey’s
attempted extermination of the Armenians" during the years before the
First World War, the commentator points out. Such legally sanctioned
censorship is incompatible with EU membership. "The European Union
has rightly demanded changes to the Turkish penal code," the piece
concludes.

The trial against Shafak comes at a time when many Westerners are
convinced that predominantly Muslim countries are bastions of
religious fanaticism and intolerance. Notwithstanding the recurring
calls for a "dialogue with Islam," many seem already to have made up
their minds that such a dialogue cannot be conducted in a fruitful
way. This, in any case, is the position of a commentary in Friday’s
center-right daily Die Welt– one that takes a look back at the
Muslim outrage over the comments on Islam made by Pope Benedict XVI
last weekend. The much-invoked "dialogue with Islam," the paper
writes, is nothing but a "farce." The paper claims that the words "We
need to show more respect for Islam" have become a catchphrase in the
West and that this formula is always used when "criticism of Islam
triggers Islam’s violent reflexes." The "feelings" of Muslims — the
commentator himself places the word in quotation marks — are
"nothing but a modern form of religious dictatorship," the piece
argues. Islam is compared by the commentator to medieval
Christianity. "Just as, during the Christian Middle Ages, only church
members were considered human, orthodox Islam considers no one human
but those who are Muslim," the paper says. The commentator then
claims that "strongly religious Muslims" are in fact nothing but
"mental clones" and victims of "indoctrination." After waxing
eloquent on Islam’s "problematic history" and accusing Muslims of
"refusing to confront it," he concludes that "we can expect a
renaissance of religious dictatorship in which every so-called
prejudice and every putative lack of respect is responded to with
threats and attacks."

NEWSLETTER
Sign up for Spiegel Online’s daily newsletter and get the best of Der
Spiegel’s and Spiegel Online’s international coverage in your In- Box
everyday.

Left-wing daily Die Tageszeitung warns against precisely this kind of
rhetoric and makes a plea against painting all Muslims with the same
broad brush. After all, even if there has been a resurgence of faith
in the Muslim world since September 11, 2001, they’re not all
fundamentalist, the paper writes. "The majority of … Muslims have
not discovered a blueprint for bombs in the Koran," the commentator
writes, "but rather a manual on how to lead a better life." Many
young Muslims have found ways of reconciling their religion with
Western popular culture. Instead of treating "reborn Muslims" as if
they were all bigots and potential terrorists, Europeans need to
understand that "the struggle is not one between religious faith and
the tradition of the Western Enlightenment, but one between
terrorists and their enemies."

— Max Henninger, 12:30 p.m., CET

——————————————- ————————————-

Hungarian Unrest Raises Questions About The EU’s Future

An estimated 10,000 people gathered outside the Hungarian parliament
on Thursday in what became the fifth consecutive night of protests
prompted by Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany’s admission that he had
lied to voters about the catastrophic state of the Hungarian economy.
The protests followed the example of those on Wednesday night by
being largely peaceful. The chaos and street battles witnessed in
Budapest earlier in the week appear to have died down for good.

But aside from the civil unrest it has prompted in Hungary,
Gyurcsany’s admission that he "lied morning, evening and night" also
raises questions about the pressures that European Union membership
entails for new member states from Eastern Europe. Hungary was one of
10 states to join the EU on May 1, 2004 — two more Eastern European
countries, Bulgaria and Romania, look set to join the club in a
little over three months. A number of commentators are scratching
their heads about Europe’s future as a result.

"Budapest is burning," the center-left daily Suddeutsche Zeitung
observes, adding that "these flames are not just a symbol of public
outrage — the unrest also shows that the road ahead for the EU’s
prospective member states is more painful than expected." In other
words, similar scenes are to be expected in Bulgaria and Romania:
"The expansion of the EU will lead to further crises. That’s why it
would be a good idea not to force the entry of Bulgaria and Romania
into the EU," the paper says. In the 1990s, the paper recalls, the
idea was that new members would reform themselves under EU
supervision — "a risky game," the commentator insists. A tough love
approach might be better. Indeed, the paper calls for "applying
especially strict standards to Bulgaria and Romania," forcing them to
battle their problems of "corruption and organized crime" by
"tightening the thumbscrews." Such a policy may seem harsh, and
"Bulgarians and Rumanians may find it unfair," but the EU has "no
other choice," the paper concludes.

— Max Henninger, 14:10 p.m., CET
From: Baghdasarian

Canadian Press
Sept 23 2006

Suspected Kurdish guerrillas set off a truck bomb in eastern Turkey,
17 hurt

Canadian Press

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) – Suspected Kurdish guerrillas set off an
explosive-laden minibus across from a police guest house in eastern
Turkey, injuring 17 people Saturday, the governor’s office said.

The Ford minibus parked across from the police guest house, went off
in eastern city Igdir on the Armenian border, the governor’s office
announced. Two of the injured were in serious condition, he said.

The injured included five police officers and some officials of a
small soccer club who travelled from Ankara to Igdir for a match,
private Dogan news agency said. The blast shattered the windows of
the police guest house and other buildings in the area.

"Thank God, we don’t have any loss," Dogan quoted deputy governor
Mehmet Yilmaz saying.

The explosion coincided with complaints by imprisoned guerrilla chief
Abdullah Ocalan about his prison conditions, which were relayed by
his lawyers, the pro-Kurdish news agency Firat reported on its
website Saturday.

The attack also comes after recent declaration of co-operation
between Turkey, the United States and Iraq in fighting the
guerrillas, who are based in northern Iraq.

The guerrillas have recently intensified their attacks across the
country and have so far ignored a recent call by the pro-Kurdish
Democratic Society party to declare a unilateral ceasefire in the
hopes of establishing dialogue with the state.

Earlier Saturday, autonomy-seeking Kurdish guerrillas detonated a
remote-controlled bomb, derailing a freight train in southeastern
Turkey, officials said. No injuries were reported in that attack
which occurred in Elazig province. Seven train carriages derailed and
a total of eight were damaged.

The guerrillas have also carried out bomb attack in Mediterranean
resorts, killing at least three people and wounding dozens, including
10 Britons in a minibus bombing in the popular resort town Marmaris
in late August.

Ocalan’s guerrilla group has long demanded Ocalan be moved out of
solitary confinement. Ocalan has been in prison on the prison island
Imrali, off Istanbul, since his capture Feb. 15, 1999 in Kenya.

His guerrilla group and supporters have long expressed concern about
Ocalan’s health. But a delegation from the Council of Europe’s
committee for the prevention of torture, which visited Ocalan on the
island in 1999, said the leader’s cell was well lit and suitably
equipped.

Turkey also maintains doctors closely monitor Ocalan’s health.

The conflict has claimed the lives of more than 37,000 people since
the guerrillas took up arms for autonomy in 1984.

The United States and the European Union have called on Turkey to
improve the economy of the war-ravaged southeastern Turkey to end the
22-year-old conflict, which has killed 37,000 people. Turkey insists
it will not negotiate with terrorists, threatening to fight until all
guerrillas are killed or surrender.

Gen. Yasar Buyukanit, chief of the Turkish military, recently ruled
out any compromise and said negotiations with "terrorists" are out of
question. Buyukanit said the new co-operation with the United States
was aimed at finishing off the guerillas.

A special U.S. envoy, retired air force general Joseph Ralston,
visited Ankara earlier this month and assured Turks of Washington’s
commitment to helping Turkey and Iraq confront the Kurdistan Workers
party, or PKK, which the United States lists as a terrorist
organization. The PKK is also labelled as a terrorist group by the
EU.

Ralston, the former NATO supreme allied commander, stressed however
the use of force against the autonomy-seeking group should be a last
resort.

The bulk of the PKK’s estimated 5,000 guerrillas are thought to be in
Turkey but many operate in Iraq and Iran.

The guerrillas have benefitted from the years of a power vacuum in
northern Iraq to stage cross-border offensives in Turkey’s
Kurdish-dominated southeast, as Turkey complained of lack of U.S.
support in fighting the guerrillas while Turkish soldiers served in
Afghanistan to support the U.S.-led war against global terrorism.

The appointment of Ralston came after Turkey issued thinly veiled
threats to stage a unilateral cross-border offensive into northern
Iraq to hunt down Kurdish guerrillas.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other U.S. officials have
repeatedly warned Turkey against entering northern Iraq, one of the
few stable areas in that country, fearing an incursion would alienate
Iraqi Kurds, the most pro-U.S. group in the region.
From: Baghdasarian

AZERI FM RECEIVES DEPUTY CHIEF OF U.S. EUROPEAN COMMAND
Author: V.Sharifov

Trend
Today 22.09.2006

On 21 September the Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov
received the Deputy Chief of the U.S. European Command, General
William Ward.

The Foreign Minister praised the co-operation between Azerbaijan
and the U.S. in the defense sector. The Minister also applauded the
bilateral bonds under the Azerbaijan’s Euro-Atlantic integration.

Mammadyarov noted the importance of the repeal of Section 907 of the
Freedom Support Act for more expansion of relationships.

General Ward voiced his satisfaction regarding the relationship
between the United State and Azerbaijan and the level of Azerbaijan’s
Euro-Atlantic policy. He estimated the current growth rate and
Azerbaijan’s future plans as ideal.

Speaking about Armenia’s belligerent policy, Mammadyarov noted its
negative aspects for the entire region. The Armenian aggression will
be discussed at the 61st session of the UN General Assembly. During
the meeting they discussed issues of mutual interests.
From: Baghdasarian

KARABAKH WAR VETERANS ADVOCATE ARMENIA’S PARTICIPATION IN
PEACEKEEPING OPERATION IN LEBANON

ARMINFO News Agency
September 20, 2006 Wednesday

While Turkey is deploying almost a thousand soldiers in the Armenian
regions of Lebanon and Azerbaijan a is also planning to send its
contingent to the Middle East, Armenia has no right to sit by, says
the commander of the Artsakh regiment, one of the leaders of the
rising Movement of Commanders of Armenian Volunteers Mikayel Apressyan.

He says that it is the duty of the Armenian state to protect its
Diaspora in any country. That’s why Armenia must take part in the
peacekeeping operation in Lebanon.
From: Baghdasarian

THE WORLD TAKES NOTE AT LAST

Messenger.ge, Georgia
Monday, September 18, 2006, #176 (1196)

After a "contentious procedural debate" GUAM member states (Georgia,
Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova) have succeeded in having the
protracted conflicts on their territories discussed at the 61st
session of the UN general assembly.

The significance of this event is underlined by the hostility with
which it was greeted by Russia, who’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs
released a pre-emptive strike of a statement, and vowed to keep its
peacekeepers in Georgia’s breakaway regions regardless of any demand to
remove them. Russia was one of the fifteen countries that voted against
discussing the issue, which passed by just one vote on September 13.

The previous day Russia had successfully managed to stop the issued
from being included among those recommended for discussion to the
General Assembly at a sitting of the General Committee, which is
the steering body that sets the agenda for the GA sessions. In
a complacently victorious statement Russian MFA spokesman Mikhail
Kamynin said "We have from the outset been against politicizing this
issue and involving the General Assembly", though, as the Georgian
MFA pointed out, these conflicts are by their very nature political.

President Saakashvili is expected to address the assembly later this
week, and will probably demand that Russian peacekeepers are replaced
with an international police force in South Ossetia. Russia is furious,
as even though there is little chance of any international organisation
offering to step in and police the conflict zone in the near future,
the very fact that the issue is being discussed at the UN at all
indicates that Russia’s ‘monopoly’ on the conflicts is slipping away.

This is a significant victory for both GUAM, which has now certified
itself as a proper international organisation, and not a petty anti-CIS
with no clout, as many in Russia had hoped, and also for the Georgian
government’s policy of pushing for the internationalisation of the
conflicts-even if they are only internationalised at the discussion
level.

This is not the only indication that the tide of opinion may
be changing with regard to the conflicts, however. In May US
Vice-President Dick Cheney gave a damning speech, lambasting Russian
"bullying" of its neigbours and use of energy as a political weapon,
the opening of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline have underscored
the importance of the region globally.

All year the Minsk group on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict have
intensified their efforts to kick start the peace process, and the
appointment of the young and energetic Matt Bryza, deputy assistant
secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs, as the US
co-chair has at least injected some new blood in the system, even if
no concrete achievements have been observed.

Moldova and Ukraine, with the explicit support of the EU, have adopted
a much more robust policy towards Transnistria also. Moscow calls it
a blockade, but it seems that, with the likely accession of Romania to
the EU in January, the EU are keen to clear up this ‘frozen conflict’
which will sit uncomfortably close to its eastern border.

But it is in Georgia where wind is changing most perceptibly
perhaps. The very public support for Georgia’s territorial integrity
and its government that has been forthcoming from the Whitehouse has
been accompanied by an increased assertiveness in Tbilisi.

Parliament’s resolution to ask the government to withdraw Russian
peacekeepers has been backed by two of the most senior lawmakers
in the US, Senator Richard Lugar and, as Saakashvili remarked,
possible-future-president Senator John McCain. These two both
unequivocally stated that Russian peacekeepers should be replaced in
the conflict zones.

Perhaps as significant, but less headline grabbing, is the recent
statements from Europe regarding the conflicts, where it seems patience
may finally be running out. Since the September 3 ‘helicopter incident’
in which South Ossetian paramilitaries fired on a helicopter carrying
Defence Minister Irakli Okruashvili reminded everybody how delicate
the situation is, and underlined the lawlessness of the South Ossetian
regime. The incident was strongly condemned by OSCE chair Karel De
Gucht, who described it as "criminal".

Plans by the South Ossetian leadership to hold an ‘independence’
referendum have led to strong criticism from Europe also, with Council
of Europe Secretary General Terry Davis calling it "a waste of time".

Even if we shouldn’t expect the blue helmets in the conflict zones
to suddenly have NATO or EU logos, these developments do indicate
an increasing engagement of the international community in Georgia’s
conflicts, and the UN decision is just the latest indication of the
trend towards ‘internationalisation’, which is exactly what Georgia
needs.
From: Baghdasarian

Turkish Daily News
September 14, 2006 Thursday

US SENATOR BLOCKS VOTE ON ‘GENOCIDE DENIER’ ENVOY NOMINEE TO ARMENIA

A pro-Armenian senator on Tuesday put a hold on the nomination of
U.S. President George W. Bush’s pick for ambassador to Yerevan, who
has refused to recognize the "Armenian genocide," in protest of what
he called the administration’s policy to deny the genocide

Democratic Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey said the United
States must recognize that last century’s Armenian killings in the
Ottoman Empire amounted to genocide

His move came after the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last week
voted 13-5 to send ambassador nominee Richard Hoagland’s case to the
full Senate for a floor vote

Although U.S. Armenian groups were disappointed by the committee’s
Sept. 7 vote to confirm the "genocide denying" Hoagland, they still
vowed to continue with efforts to block him, urging senators to put a
hold on his nomination

"Mr. Hoagland has declined to acknowledge the mass killings of the
Armenians as genocide, and has said that if confirmed, he would work
to represent the president’s policy," Menendez said, explaining his
hold. "Considering Mr. Hoagland’s refusal to acknowledge the Armenian
genocide as anything more than horrifying events, I do not feel that
his nomination is in the best interest of Armenia and her (its)
diaspora." Menendez’ move came at a time when politicians are vying
for minority votes two months before critical congressional
elections.

Under U.S. law, all senior government officials, including
ambassadors, must win the Senate’s approval, and any senator can
indefinitely block nominations. But such moves are rare, because they
put such dissenting senators under intense pressure

Until Menendez lifts his hold, the Senate cannot vote on Hoagland’s
nomination

But under U.S. law, the president can also appoint senior officials
for two years by bypassing the Senate when Congress is in recess, and
analysts said Bush may use this power for Hoagland. Congress is
expected to go for recess in October to prepare for the November
elections

"I wouldn’t be surprised if Bush opts for a recess appointment of
Hoagland shortly after the elections," said a Washington analyst.
"The administration doesn’t want to leave the embassy in Yerevan
without an ambassador for a long time." Bush in May fired the
previous envoy to Armenia, John Evans, after the latter classified
the Armenian killings as genocide. Armenian groups have strongly
protested against the decision and have pledged to block Hoagland’s
confirmation process

The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA), a key U.S.
Armenian group, welcomed the hold placed by Menendez

"We join with Armenians from New Jersey and throughout the United
States in thanking Senator Menendez for his principled stand in
blocking the Hoagland nomination," said ANCA Chairman Ken Hachikian.
"The senator’s hold represents a victory for our nation’s standing on
human rights and genocide-prevention." Addressing an Armenian
audience in the United States last year, Evans said that the World
War I killing of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire amounted to
genocide. Warned by his superiors at the State Department, he then
issued a "clarification" where he said his remarks reflected his own
views. Still pressed by the State Department, Evans later issued a
further "correction," admitting that his statement misrepresented the
U.S. policy.

But Bush fired Evans after the latter continued to deviate from the
official U.S. policy, according to administration sources. Bush then
nominated Hoagland, a former ambassador to Dushanbe, Tajikistan, to
replace Evans.

During his confirmation hearing at the committee in June, Hoagland
declined to use the word "genocide" despite pressure by pro-Armenian
senators. He tried to eschew insistent questions over how he would
qualify the Armenian killings during his planned tenure in Yerevan.
Recalling that in the latest April 24 statement Bush referred to the
Armenian killings as "a tragedy the world must not forget," Hoagland
said, "I represent the president."

He also said that "instead of getting stuck in the past and
vocabulary, I would like to move forward," angering the Armenian
groups.
From: Baghdasarian